I get asked from time to time about the Bible’s teaching on tattoos and body-piercing. Typically, the questions center on the interpretation of Leviticus 19:28: “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.” I am in basic agreement with John Piper on this question. I suspect that the prohibition of Leviticus 19:28 is rooted in a concern about pagan religious practices. Thus the tattoos and cutting of the body in Leviticus 19:28 were evil relative to their association with paganism. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any reasons to think twice about getting a…
-
-
Al Mohler’s Comments on Mother Teresa
We discussed Mother Teresa’s “dark night of the soul” earlier this week. It’s also the topic of conversation at the Washington Post‘s “On Faith” blog. Dr. Albert Mohler has weighed in on the matter, and here is what he concludes:
-
The Testimony of a Suffering Saint
It was a blessing to me to listen to this dear brother testify to the sovereign grace of God in his life. I think you would do well to hear it too. (HT: Justin Taylor)
-
Luke Timothy Johnson Rejects Biblical Authority
Luke Timothy Johnson is well-known among those in my profession. He’s a prolific, accomplished scholar of the New Testament. But in a recent essay for Commonweal magazine, he offers a shocking public endorsement of homosexual marriage, as well as a blatant rejection of the authority of scripture on this issue. Here is the relevant excerpt:
-
What Evangelicals Can Learn from Flannery O’Connor
I just received the latest issue of Touchstone magazine in the mail yesterday. You won’t want to miss Donald T. Williams’ article, “Writers Cramped,” in which he outlines three things that evangelical authors can learn from Flannery O’Connor. The opening of the article sets up and asks a penetrating question: My fellow Evangelicals publish reams upon reams of prose. What we have not tended to write is anything recognized as having literary value by the literary world. What makes this failure remarkable is that our Protestant forebears include a number of people who did: Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, George Herbert, John Milton, and John Bunyan, to mention a few. Equally…
-
The Fun Factor and Ministry
According to an article in the Associated Baptist Press, college students aspiring to ministry not only have an aversion to the local church, but they also have a preference against pastoral ministry in particular. For this reason, many aspiring ministers opt for positions with less leadership responsibility within the church:
-
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns
This is big news, but not because it remarkably effects the fortunes of the current administration. It’s big news because it does affect the political rhetoric leading into the ’08 election cycle. One of the key strategies of Democratic presidential hopefuls thus far has been castigating the misfires of the Bush administration. Gonzalez’s exit will justify for them adding one more item to their growing list of reasons not to vote for a Republican in ’08. If you vote Republican, you’ll get more of what you got with Bush. Their list of Bush bungles goes something like this:
-
Mother Theresa and the Dark Night of the Soul
A new book sheds an unexpected light on the iconic Mother Teresa. The description in TIME magazine has shocked many, and when you read the following excerpt you will see why.
-
D. James Kennedy Retires
Evangelicals know him as the author of Evangelism Explosion. Reformed believers know him as a driving force behind the resurgence of reformed theology in America. The people of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida know him as their pastor of 48 years. I am of course referring to Dr. D. James Kennedy who announced today that he is retiring from the church that he founded in 1949. What a blessing Dr. Kennedy has been to the church. Godspeed to him. “Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires” – ALR News Release
-
Southwestern Homemaking Degree on NBC
The College at Southwestern’s new homemaking degree has provoked a great deal of discussion under my previous post, “Drs. Patterson Defend Homemaking Degree.” This morning I watched NBC’s “Today Show” broadcast a story on the same topic. The piece has two parts: (1) a pre-recorded report on the homemaking program including footage from the College at Southwestern, and (2) an interview with two people who have opposing views about the curriculum. Part one presents a fairly well-balanced report. In Part two, the interviewer and the woman speaking against the program dominate the conversation. They don’t give much time at all to the guy from Focus on the Family who was…