In 1998, the famous agnostic vampire novelist Anne Rice quietly converted to the religion of her youth—Roman Catholicism. The news of her conversion was fairly dramatic. The “I Am Second” campaign even featured her testimony in one of their videos (watch it here). In a recent video, however, Rice explains that she no longer believes in Jesus (see above). She doesn’t give much explanation as to why she no longer believes, but she does mention that her first steps away from faith happened in 2010 when she decided that she could no longer be a part of organized religion (read here). At that time, she left the Roman Catholic Church…
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Don’t Believe the Hype on the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife
My college Greek professor taught me more than simply how to read the Greek New Testament. He also instructed me that to be a theologian I would have to learn my “ABCD’s.” That was my prof’s acronym for “A Built in Crud Detector”—only he didn’t use the word “crud.”
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Compromising God’s Standards for Sexuality
Tim Challies suggests five ways in which Christians may compromise God’s standards for sexuality. He writes, It is not only unbelievers who compromise God’s standards for sexuality. We, as Christians, allow compromise to creep into our lives, and from there into our marriages, and from there into our churches. We, too, as compromisers. We, too, need the grace of God to resist the endless temptations to give up God’s good standards and to live by our own.
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Do gay rights conflict with Conservative Christian values?
Doug Wilson recently debated R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. The event was sponsored by Collegiate Reformed Fellowship at the University of Idaho, and it addressed this question: “Do Gay Rights Conflict with Conservative Christian Values?” Wilson argues that they do, and Cooper argues that they don’t. At two and a half hours, this is a lengthy discussion. Watch it above, listen to it below, or download the audio here. [audio:http://www.foucachonmedia.com/music/debate-gay-rights-christian-values.mp3]
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Mormonism and the 2012 Presidential Election
Albert Mohler hosted a panel discussion in Southern Seminary’s chapel yesterday about “The Mormon Moment? Religious Conviction and the 2012 Election.” Panelists included Russell Moore, Mark Coppenger, and Greg Gilbert. It’s an interesting conversation. In short, the speakers agree that Mormonism is a serious heresy that is not in any way Christian—even though sociologically there is much to commend about the way Mormons live. Panelists also seemed to agree that a candidate is not disqualified from our vote simply because he is Mormon. There’s much more to this discussion, and you can watch it above.
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Pat Robertson Advises Wife-Beating?
In a recent broadcast of the “700 Club,” Robertson advises a viewer to become a Muslim so that he can beat his wife (see above). After a viewer writes-in asking advice on how to deal with a rebellious wife, Robertson responds: “Well, you could become a Muslim and you could beat her… This man’s got to stand up to her and he can’t let her get away with this stuff.”
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Atheism, the NY Times, and My Hometown
I have to say that I was agog when I saw that the nation’s paper of record—The New York Times, the old gray lady herself!—contained a feature-length story about my hometown of DeRidder, Louisiana. I would never have imagined such a thing to be possible, but there it was. My hometown is a dot on the map. It’s a place that means the world to me. But like many other small towns across the South, it’s just not the kind of place that has much of interest for coastal elites. We have local celebrities, but very few national ones. The big events in DeRidder are high school football games and…
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Lutheran Church Missouri Synod on 2011 NIV
The executive staff of the Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations has issued a statement about the NIV 2011 and its use of inclusive language. It’s four pages long, but the bottom line is in the final paragraph. We find the NIV’s Committee on Bible Translation decision to substitute plural nouns and pronouns for masculine singular nouns and pronouns to be a serious theological weakness and a misguided attempt to make the truth of God’s Word more easily understood. The use of inclusive language in NIV 2011 creates the potential for minimizing the particularity of biblical revelation and, more seriously, at times undermines the saving revelation of Christ…
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How Important is Complementarianism? A Response to Carl Trueman
Last week, Carl Trueman asked why groups like The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel include complementarianism in their confessional commitments. In short, Trueman thinks it is inconsistent to elevate the importance of a secondary issue like complementarianism while routinely downplaying the importance of other secondary issues like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He writes:
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Forcing Religious Groups Off Campus at Vanderbilt
The Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has produced a video explaining what Vanderbilt University has done to drive religious groups off campus. You can watch it above. Here’s the description: