Dear Mr. President, I saw your remarks about heaven on Fox & Friends from Tuesday morning, and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have heard them. It is a rare thing for a world leader to reflect so openly about his own mortality and about what waits on the other side. Even in polite conversation, most people don’t want to “go there,” much less in front of millions of viewers. But you did go there, and there are millions of us who are grateful that you did. Sadly, the human condition is such that people are often reluctant to think about what you brought up on Tuesday morning. Aren’t there happier…
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Should Women Serve as “Shepherds”? – CBMW Podcast
As I mentioned earlier this week, some churches are appointing female “shepherds” in an effort to get around the biblical prohibition on female “pastors.” On this episode of The CBMW Podcast, we discuss what the Bible says about gender, the office of pastor, and why it matters. [Watch below on YouTube, or listen below on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.]
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Why I Do Not Favor the Moniker “Biblical Patriarchy”
Complementarian doctrine doesn’t require adherents to adopt a certain label for their view. It’s far more important for people to accept and affirm the Bible’s teaching on manhood and womanhood than for them to embrace any specific moniker for it. Having said that, there is great value in being precise and clear when thinking about and communicating Christian doctrine. For that reason, I still prefer and recommend the use of the term “complementarianism” to label our position over “biblical patriarchy.” I have made a positive case for “complementarianism” elsewhere. In this essay, I want to respond to some of the critiques in Doug Ponder’s thoughtful essay weighing the relative merits…
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The Innermost Meaning of the Cross is Penal Substitution
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him… But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will…
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No, Southern Baptists Have Not “Officially Rejected” the Nicene Creed
From time to time, people move from one Christian tradition to another. This is not a new thing, although sometimes it can be painful and unpleasant as one pulls up anchor, says goodbye to friends and loved ones, and heads for another shore. These things happen. And the best that we can do after all the conversations are done and attempts to persuade are over is wish each other well with as much grace as possible. That is why it is usually not necessary to comment publicly on such departures. But Southern Baptists have just witnessed a departure that unfortunately may require some comment. Dr. Matthew Barrett, well-known SBC seminary…
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About the thing that happened at that Coldplay concert…
About the thing that happened at that Coldplay concert, I have seen countless memes and jokes about it online. I even saw a major grocery store chain create an ad out of it. This text from Ephesians comes to mind: “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Eph. 5:3-5).…
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How a Christian Patriot Loves His Wayward Nation
If you’ve never seen G. K. Chesterton’s reflections on being a Christian patriot, I encourage you to read “The Flag of the World” in his classic work Orthodoxy. Chesterton contends that love of one’s homeland is not like house-hunting—an experience in which you weigh the pros and cons of a place and choose accordingly. He writes: A man belongs to this world before he begins to ask if it is nice to belong to it. He has fought for the flag, and often won heroic victories for the flag long before he has ever enlisted. To put shortly what seems the essential matter, he has a loyalty long before he…
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Defending the Moderator
I have been watching certain people online criticize pastor Kevin DeYoung for the way he moderated a debate last week at the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of America. The body was debating a motion about whether to retain the current leader of Mission to North America (MNA). At the end of the allotted time for debate, teaching elder Timothy Brindle rose to speak against the motion (watch here). Brindle says that the leader of MNA had supported race-based “affinity” groups in the past, including worship services designed to serve only one racial grouping. Brindle said, “Friends, if the coordinator of MNA believes he’s not safe in space…
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Resurrection Hymn
O Jesus, Savior of my life, My hope, my joy, my sacrifice, I’ve searched and found no other one Who loves me more than you have done. So I denounce my lingering sin Whose power You have broke within My ever weak and faithless frame. Its vigor’s crushed in Jesus name. For your death did at once proclaim, The Godhead’s glory and my shame. And you did seize my cup of guilt And drank all that the chalice spilled. No condemnation now I dread Because you went for me instead To bear the curse and wrath and rage, To pay the debt I would have paid. Yet your work finished…
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The Ground of All Human Assurance before God
