Michael Gerson has a fascinating Op-Ed in today’s Washington Post. He argues that Barack Obama’s record on the Iraq War is mixed and will be a weakness for him in the general election. I think Gerson is right. Here’s an excerpt: “Obama will find — as John Kerry found in 2004 — that Americans are suspicious of a prospective commander in chief who votes against funding U.S. troops in the field. “The Iraq war determined the paths for McCain and Obama. But there is a large difference between them. McCain eventually won his nomination because he showed political courage in the face of overwhelming pressure. Obama may eventually win his…
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Wayne Grudem on Drawing Doctrinal Boundaries
Wayne Grudem has written a short article on when it is appropriate to draw new doctrinal boundaries. He writes: “Christian groups usually have doctrinal statements that define the ‘boundaries’ of their organizations. How can they know whether to add new topics to their doctrinal statements from time to time?” Grudem goes on to ask and answer four questions:
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Fetus Fatigue
The evangelical left has been chastising other evangelicals for their “narrow-minded” focus on abortion. Folks like Jim Wallis, Tony Campolo, Shane Claiborne and others are encouraging evangelicals to “broaden” their horizons when it comes to Christian involvement in the public square and in politics. I have argued on this blog that Wallis and friends are actually demoting abortion on the list of evangelical social priorities. I think this is a grave error. Douglas Groothuis wrote a piece last week that is a prophetic call to evangelicals to stop listening to the siren song from the Wallis’ and the Campolo’s. I’m only going to post an excerpt here, but you should…
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Families Together at Sunday Worship
Pastor John Piper and his wife Noel have some very helpful suggestions for families to worship together on Sunday mornings. By the time their kids were four years old, the Pipers had their children participating in “big church” with the rest of the family. They do not believe that “children’s church” is helpful at all for children in the long-run, and I agree. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
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Albert Mohler on California Homeschool Decision
Here’s the description of today’s edition of “The Albert Mohler Program“: “Like a bolt from the blue, a California appeals court has ruled that the state’s parents have no constitutional right to homeschool their own children. In a flash, a child welfare case that no one had noticed has become a flash point of controversy in the nation. Will homeschooling be ruled illegal in California? On today’s program, Dr. Mohler welcomes Michael Farris for a discussion about the significance of the decision and the threat it poses to parents’ rights.” You can listen to the audio below or visit the website for “The Albert Mohler Program.” [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/totl/2008/AMP_03_10_2008.mp3]
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Richard Bauckham Lecture at Criswell College
I teach at Criswell College in Dallas, Texas, and last week we hosted Dr. Richard Bauckham for a lecture on the biblical book of Revelation. Dr. Bauckham’s lecture was titled “How To Read the Book of Revelation.” The main point of his address was to explain how the genre of Revelation should effect the proper interpretation of the same. What was fascinating to me was the Q&A time at the end. Criswell College has a premillenial confessional statement, which suggests a certain reading of Revelation 20 that does not cohere with Dr. Bauckham’s. At the very beginning of the Q&A you’ll hear me ask Dr. Bauckham whether reading Revelation “symbolically”…
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Daniel Wallace in the Dallas Morning News
Daniel Wallace is probably best known for his intermediate grammar of Koine Greek, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics. I know him because I was his intern for a year when I was a master’s student at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also supervised my master’s thesis and inspired the thesis of my book. Needless to say, I and many others have benefitted greatly from his scholarship.
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Progress in Iraq
Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have dominated headlines lately because of their prolonged fight for the nomination of the Democrat Party. Both of them have downplayed progress in Iraq as a part of their justification for rapid troop withdrawals should either of them become president.
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Proportional Representation Bedevils the Democrats
Former Senator Tom Daschle squared-off against Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on “Meet the Press†today. Daschle made the case for Obama, and Rendell for Clinton. The ironic thing is that Rendell seems to have the stronger argument—that Clinton should receive the Democrat nomination for president despite winning fewer delegates than Obama. Watch it for yourself and see if you agree about the strength of Clinton’s case for the nomination. One this is clear. The Democrats are having a problem with proportional representation in their primary and caucuses. If the primaries and caucuses would have been winner-take-all contests, the Democrats would have settled on their candidate by now. And that candidate…
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Schwarzenegger Vows To Protect Homeschooling in California
In response to the outrageous appellate court decision issued earlier this week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vowed to protect homeschooling in California. I’m including this story in the links list of my previous post. But since his remarks are an extremely important development, I reproduce them here: “Every California child deserves a quality education, and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children. . . Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education. . . This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.” “Governor…