• Christianity,  Culture

    Thom Rainer on the Penn State Scandal

    Thom Rainer has a really helpful article about the Penn State scandal. He speaks what should be common sense: It is inconceivable to me that someone could witness sexual abuse and then simply report it and leave it to their supervisors. The right response is to intervene by force at the moment, and with the police immediately thereafter. The rest of this article has some practical advice for churches to help them protect children against predators:

  • Book Reviews,  Christianity

    Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind

    Matt Hall had many positive things to say about Mark Noll’s book Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind. He also has some critiques, and this one stood out to me. He writes, Noll’s book at times rings of the most strident and elitist forms of evangelical condescension. I’ll admit that as a Southern Baptist I easily grow weary of constant screeds against my denomination’s supposed pervasive intellectual backwardness and disinterest in developing anything even close to a respectable life of the mind. With all the respect to Noll I can muster, these caricatures are not only unhelpful but also tired and inaccurate. The last 20 years have seen…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    Mohler Leads Discussion of the Historicity of Adam

    Albert Mohler led a discussion in Southern Seminary’s chapel today about the historicity of Adam and the gospel. Panel members include Tom Schreiner, Jim Hamilton, Chad Brand, and Steve Wellun. You can watch above, listen below, or download here. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/fall2011/20111108-panel.mp3] My favorite line from the discussion comes from Jim Hamilton who argues that Peter Enns seeks to replace the beginning of the biblical story with evolution. Hamilton says that replacing the beginning of the biblical story with evolution is like replacing the first scene of “Star Wars” with the first scene from “Sleepless in Seattle.” It just doesn’t work because they are two different stories.

  • Christianity,  Sports

    Check-out the Pujols Biography

    During the World Series last week, you heard sportscasters refer time and again to Albert Pujols personal story. It turns out that Pujols is a Christian and great guy. If you want to understand more about Pujols, his impact on the game, and his impact of other for kingdom purposes, then you should check out the biography written by Scott Lamb and Tim Ellsworth, Pujols: More Than the Game. Folks are already including Pujols’ name among the pantheon of greats: Ruth, Gehrig, Aaron, and Mays. The authors tell quite a story of this growing baseball legend, all the while accentuating “the unseen hand of divine providence” that has shaped the…

  • Christianity

    Secret Church Is Tonight!

    David Platt’s “Secret Church” meeting is tonight at the Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. The event will be simulcast to numerous locations including the campus of Southern Seminary. The theme for the night is “Family, Marriage, Sex, and the Gospel.” Here’s a description: Manhood. Womanhood. Marriage. Parenting. Singleness. Sex. Divorce. Homosexuality. Same-sex marriage. Polygamy. Pornography. Adoption. Abortion. Cultures around the world perceive each of these issues differently. So how does God’s Word address them? During Secret Church on November 4, 2011, we will explore how the gospel uniquely affects our understanding of family, marriage, sex, and host of related (and controversial) issues that are ultimately foundational for the…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    The “Dad Mom” and the “Man Fail”

    In a discussion over at the CCEF podcast, some counselors suggest that there’s nothing necessarily biblical about men assuming the role of primary provider for their families. [audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/ccef/HH_-_TL2C_WS2C_CC2C_AR_-_is_it_OK_to_be_a_stay_at_home_dad.mp3] I think that Owen Strachan hits much nearer the mark when he argues that the biblical ideal does not treat men and women as interchangeable with respect to the provider role. He writes, The “Dad Mom” concept is a “man fail” in my view. Men are not called by God to be “working at home” as women are in Titus 2:5. The ground is not cursed for women in Genesis 3:17, but for men, whose responsibility it was to work outside of…

  • Christianity

    How To Cope When Your Ministry Blows Up

    Tullian Tchividjian’s new book Jesus + Nothing = Everything releases today, and this is one you will want to check out. The book is born out of a time of intense pain and personal turmoil in the author’s pastoral ministry. In 2009, his growing church plant merged with one of the most famous evangelical churches in America—Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. After being installed as pastor, however, the honeymoon was short lived. He writes:

  • Christianity,  News

    Harold Camping Repents of False Teaching?

    The Christian Post has a headline reading, “Family Radio Founder Harold Camping Repents, Apologizes for False Teachings.” I just read a transcript of Camping’s remarks, but I did not see any repentance there. The closest thing appears in the second to last paragraph of Camping’s statement, but the words are kind of muddled. In any case, it doesn’t sound “repentant” of the repeated false predictions that Camping has made. In Camping’s own words: Incidentally, I have been told that I said back in May that people who did not believe that May 21 should not be the rapture date, probably had not been saved. I should not have said that,…