I’ve written too much on this story over the last two years not to mention this new (final?) development. From the Washington Post: “A federal judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA officer Valerie Plame and her husband against Vice President Cheney and other top officials over the Bush administration’s disclosure of Plame’s name and covert status to the media.” But perhaps the most important line from the story: “No one was charged with the crime of intentionally disclosing Plame’s covert identity.” Whether or not this will be the end of the so-called “Plame Game” remains to be seen. But it needs to be.
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Giuliani: Abortion Not a Litmus Test for Judges
Rudy Giuliani says today that he won’t use Abortion as a litmus test in appointing judges to the federal bench. The Associated Press quotes Giuliani: “Abortion is not a litmus test. Roe v. Wade is not a litmus test. No particular case is a litmus test. That’s not the way to appoint Supreme Court justices or any judge.”
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New Journal on the Atonement
I just got a note from Chris Cowan, associate editor of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. It looks like the newest issue is going to be really good. It’s on the atonement, and all the articles favor a penal substitutionary view of the atonement. In his opening editorial, Stephen Wellum writes: “In the evangelical church today we are in danger of downplaying and even distorting the true meaning and significance of the cross. A number of examples could be given to demonstrate this last observation, but I want to focus on one disconcerting trend that is increasingly occurring in evangelical theology, namely, an effort to reinterpret the cross in…
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Let’s Amend the ETS Constitution
Dr. Ray Van Neste (Union University) and I have been working on a proposal to amend the constitution of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). We have been in touch with senior members of the society (e.g, living founders, past presidents, and executive committee members) and have received some excellent, critical feedback (though no endorsements). We have completed our proposal, and now we want to go public and to gather support for it from our fellow members of the ETS. In short, our aim is to expand the doctrinal basis of the ETS. We are not naïve about the challenges of uniting such a diverse body around an expanded doctrinal basis.…
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I’m still at least 51% Protestant
Evangelical-Catholic dialogue has been a hot topic in the wake of the Pope’s recent affirmation of the Roman Catholic Church as the only true church. For example, Christianity Today‘s “Honest Ecumenism, Again” and “Virtue That Counts” as well as Al Mohler’s “No, I’m not offended” have been making the rounds in the blogosphere. In this context, it is interesting to read some questions raised by my old mentor Daniel Wallace over at the “Parchment and Pen” blog. Although Wallace’s remarks are not a response to the Pope’s recent announcement, they are relevant to Evangelical-Catholic dialogue. Wallace says, “I’m still at least 51% Protestant.” You’ll want to go and read the…
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Tommy Nelson: A Real Live Dispensationalist!
People are often surprised when I tell them that I became convinced of the doctrines of grace through the preaching of a dispensationalist. Nevertheless, it is true. It happened when I was in college. Pastor Tommy Nelson’s exposition of Romans 9 changed my worldview forever.
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President Nixon and Chuck Colson
The National Archives has released some new tape recordings of President Nixon’s telephone conversations. Some of the tapes record the President’s speaking to the yet to be born again Chuck Colson. Listening to these exchanges only magnifies the contrast between the old Chuck Colson and the new one. The Chuck Colson on these recordings has given way to the new creation that I heard preach in San Antonio last month. The Lord’s arm is not too short to save (Isaiah 59:1).
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Voddie Baucham’s Unforgettable Message
I wrote last month that the best sermon that I heard at the Southern Baptist Convention was delivered by Voddie Baucham, pastor of Grace Family Baptist Church in Houston, Texas. Baucham’s message wasn’t actually a part of the official program of the Southern Baptist Convention. He preached at the Founder’s breakfast which meets annually in conjunction with the Convention.
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The Gay Shibboleth
This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the Surgeon General and his stance that homosexuality is a sin. Christianity Today has an editorial out today titled “The Gay Shibboleth,” which takes basically the same position that I do, but states is much better: Affirmation of homosexual behavior seems to be shifting from an in-group shibboleth to an unwritten requirement for American leadership. Where does that leave biblical Christians? We may soon come to the point where supporting a sexual ethic based on an orthodox reading of Scripture becomes part of our cross to bear. . .
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Was the Iraq War a Mistake?
It appears that the conventional wisdom is that the Iraq War was a mistake. One of the striking things about Michael Moore’s much publicized joust with Wolf Blitzer is that Blitzer seems to just concede the point that now everybody agrees that the Iraq War was a mistake. The conventional wisdom even prevails at CNN. I for one don’t agree with that analysis, and neither does Peter Wallison over at the Wall Street Journal, who writes about what would have happened if Sadam Hussein had remained in power. He writes: