The first time I heard John Piper preach I didn’t like it. It was about fifteen years ago. Someone had given to me a cassette tape of Piper speaking on the topic of the supremacy of God in preaching, and in this particular message he stressed that the preacher’s delivery of the sermon should match the emotional gravity of the text. I disagreed with Piper, believing that he had embraced an anthropocentric view of the preacher’s task. As far as I was concerned, the Bible was the point of preaching not the preacher’s delivery. I didn’t understand how Piper could be so wrong.
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Justin Taylor Is Kind of a Big Deal
Justin Taylor is a kind of a big deal when it comes to blogging. He isn’t called the “Evangelical Drudge Report” for nothing. As far as I’m concerned, his site is my one, daily, must-read site. If I don’t read anything else online, I’m going to read what Justin Taylor is saying at “Between Two Worlds.” That is why it’s kind of a big deal that Justin has just moved his website. Starting today, “Between Two Worlds” will no longer be hosted at http://theologica.blogspot.com. Justin has moved all his blogging to The Gospel Coalition site. If you haven’t done so already, go check out his new digs at the following…
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Death-Defying Faith for Gospel Ministry
I was stunned last week when one of my colleagues told me that he didn’t care whether or not he died from Swine Flu. We were talking about the flu season and how the much ballyhooed Swine Flu might affect our campus, and he was simply not very concerned about it. It’s not that he believed the Flu would miss us. He actually felt that things would be okay even if the Lord allowed the worst to happen to him—death. On Monday, I got to hear another colleague preach to Boyce College students on Acts 20:24 (listen here). He told the story of some missionary pilots that he knew who…
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David Robinson Represents
David Robinson was inducted into the basketball hall of fame last week. He gave a short speech that Voddie Baucham has praised in this way: “David Robinson is far from perfect. I’m sure he has as many flaws, foibles and faults as the rest of us. However, for seven minutes, he represented his team, his family, and his Lord very well. And he showed us all how attractive humility and grace can be.” I agree. See video above to watch it for yourself.
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Abortion and the Sexual Revolution
Dinesh D’Sousa argues that the pro-choice movement prevails—in spite of its bad arguments—because of its connection to the sexual revolution. Pro-choicers by and large are not concerned about the humanity of the unborn. Indeed, some will grant that the unborn are human beings, but they will not grant that the unborn have a fundamental right to life. Why? He answers: ‘I think it’s because abortion is the debris of the sexual revolution. We have seen a great shift in the sexual mores of Americans in the past half-century. Today a widespread social understanding persists that if there is going to be sex outside marriage, there will be a considerable number…
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No Right To Homeschool
If you haven’t heard about this story yet, you need to read this. A court in New Hampshire has denied a mother’s right to homeschool her child. The judge said that the child “appeared to reflect her mother’s rigidity on questions of faith” and ordered the child to attend public school for the 2009-2010 schoolyear. For the full story, read here, here, and here. Last week, Albert Mohler devoted an entire episode of his radio program to this issue. Listen to it below. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/totl/2009/AMP_09_08_2009.mp3] This ruling is nothing short of astonishing. If a court can weigh-in like this against the wishes of a child’s parent and legal guardian, then something…
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Mohler and Piper on Obama’s Speech
Albert Mohler and John Piper agree that the brouhaha over President Obama’s speech to school children is much ado about nothing. In fact, both of them commend the speech’s message. Go read their remarks. Albert Mohler – “The Obama School Speech Controversy — What to Think?” John Piper – “I Hope My Daughter Hears the President’s Speech” John Piper – “I’ve Read the President’s Speech: Amazing”
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TNIV Is Dead . . . Sort of
On Tuesday Zondervan, Biblica and the Committee on Bible Translation issued a joint statement announcing a new revision of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible to be released in 2011. They also announced that when the new edition is released, the TNIV will be taken off of the market. For those of you who are just joining this conversation and are wondering why this is important, let me bring you up to speed.
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Boyce College Dorm Meeting Worship
We just had an outstanding dorm meeting at Boyce College tonight. Dr. Russell Moore preached a message from James 1 (which will appear on the Boyce College blog tomorrow). Buck Buchanan is leading our worship band, and they are doing a bang-up job—really incredible. I hope they’ll record some of their music this year so that I can share it with you here. Until they do, please enjoy the album that the band produced last school year. You can download the entire album as a zip file here, or listen below.
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A Second Tornado in Minneapolis
You have probably heard the news of what happened this week with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). At the denomination’s national meeting in Minneapolis, delegates voted to allow gay men and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as members of the clergy. Just before delegates were to debate the measure, a tornado touched-down and damaged the church in which they were meeting (as well as some other buildings nearby).