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:
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Mo Isom: First Female LSU Football Player?
For a long time, all I knew about Mo Isom was that she was a female athlete at LSU who had produced some entertaining light-hearted videos with some of LSU’s football stars. What I didn’t know (until last night) was her riveting backstory. I was not aware of the fact that this LSU homecoming queen had a real shot at becoming LSU’s first female place kicker. Nor did I realize that she was an outspoken Christian who had walked through a tremendous amount of turmoil in her own life. The jokester in the YouTube videos had betrayed none of those things.
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Illegitimate Responses to Illegitimate Rape Remarks
I have been out of pocket this week and until now unable to comment on the controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks about rape. As a result, much of what needs to be said in response to this enormous gaffe has already been said by others. Nevertheless, I would add one observation to the discussion that has been bugging me all week. I have been disappointed by Republican responses to Akin that are driven more by politics than by pro-life principles. Over and over, I have seen politicos trying to dissociate the Republican presidential nominee from Akin’s “illegitimate rape” remarks by emphasizing that Mitt Romney supports abortion rights for women…
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Russell Moore on Theological Education in WSJ
Russell Moore has a really fine article in The Wall Street Journal. It’s about theological education, student debt, and the future of online education. He rightly argues that the whole enterprise needs to be more closely related to and accountable to churches. Here’s a snippet: There will always be those who get a law degree or an M.B.A. (and the resulting debt) and then sense a call to ministry. The history of the church—see Augustine and John Calvin, not to mention the original 12 disciples of Jesus—is filled with “second-career” ministers. But the ideal pattern is for churches to seek to identify, early in life, those who are gifted and…
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Do Same-Sex Partners Have Parental Rights?
Rev. Kenneth Miller is a Mennonite minister from Virginia, and he is facing prison. Why? Because he helped a woman named Lisa Miller flee the country with her biological daughter. Why was that a crime? Here’s the story from the Burlington Free Press:
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How to preach the steamy parts of the Song of Solomon
I have a general complaint about the way that some preachers approach preaching on the Song of Solomon. The content of the Song is sometimes cited as the Bible’s permission-slip to deliver salacious sermons about sex. I think this is wrong-headed. The Song of Solomon gives us a poetic depiction of the marital act that is cloaked in symbolic language. Should not preachers exhibit similar discretion when speaking about the marital act? Shouldn’t our speech about sex be more discreet and indirect than it is provocative and explicit? It seems to me that preachers would do well to explain what the Bible says using the same level of discretion that…
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Why the Sovereignty of God Is Important
Tom Schreiner is a dear brother, friend, and colleague, and he and his family are walking a painful road right now. On Friday, Tom’s wife Dianne was in a serious bicycle accident that left her with a brain injury. The Southern Seminary community has been praying fervently for her, and there have been some encouraging signs. Yet the injury is still a very serious one, and the prognosis is still not certain. Please pray for Dianne, Tom, and the rest of the Schreiner family.
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Skip Bayless Censored Defending Tebow?
On Friday, Skip Bayless tweeted that he would be appearing on ESPN’s “First Take” and would be defending Tim Tebow from those who “persecute” him concerning his Christian faith. Twice during Bayless’ remarks, ESPN cut abruptly to commercial. Some are suggesting that ESPN was censoring Bayless’ remarks. I suppose that’s possible, but it seems unlikely to me. Why would they be so obvious if that’s what they were doing? Why would they allow some of his remarks if they wanted to suppress Bayless’ views? To me the censorship charge doesn’t seem to add up, but you can watch above and form your own conclusions. In spite of the interruptions, I…