Luke Timothy Johnson is well-known among those in my profession. He’s a prolific, accomplished scholar of the New Testament. But in a recent essay for Commonweal magazine, he offers a shocking public endorsement of homosexual marriage, as well as a blatant rejection of the authority of scripture on this issue. Here is the relevant excerpt:
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What Evangelicals Can Learn from Flannery O’Connor
I just received the latest issue of Touchstone magazine in the mail yesterday. You won’t want to miss Donald T. Williams’ article, “Writers Cramped,” in which he outlines three things that evangelical authors can learn from Flannery O’Connor. The opening of the article sets up and asks a penetrating question: My fellow Evangelicals publish reams upon reams of prose. What we have not tended to write is anything recognized as having literary value by the literary world. What makes this failure remarkable is that our Protestant forebears include a number of people who did: Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, George Herbert, John Milton, and John Bunyan, to mention a few. Equally…
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Southwestern Homemaking Degree on NBC
The College at Southwestern’s new homemaking degree has provoked a great deal of discussion under my previous post, “Drs. Patterson Defend Homemaking Degree.” This morning I watched NBC’s “Today Show” broadcast a story on the same topic. The piece has two parts: (1) a pre-recorded report on the homemaking program including footage from the College at Southwestern, and (2) an interview with two people who have opposing views about the curriculum. Part one presents a fairly well-balanced report. In Part two, the interviewer and the woman speaking against the program dominate the conversation. They don’t give much time at all to the guy from Focus on the Family who was…
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Sex Tourism and Outrage
Be outraged and appalled when you read Michael Gerson‘s shocking article on sex tourism. According to the article, one quarter of worldwide sex tourists come from America. He writes: ‘One sexual predator, when interviewed by the FBI, described his experience with foreign child prostitutes this way: “It’s like being a star. They want to try my food. They want to see what clothes I wear. They want to watch my television.” Such “stars” are the global consumers of innocence, exercising a particularly brutal form of power over the poorest, most vulnerable children on Earth.’ That “sex tourism” is even a viable industry is an indictment on the banality of our…
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Literacy & the Gospel: Did you read a book last year?
The Associated Press reports that one in four adults did not read a single book last year. “Of those who did read,” the story said, “women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.”
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Drs. Patterson Defend Homemaking Degree
You may have heard that the trustees at Southwestern Seminary approved a new homemaking degree for the College at Southwestern. The move has resulted in some controversy and a considerable amount of media attention (e.g., Baptist Press, AP story). Last week, Dr. Jerry Johnson interviewed the President of Southwestern Dr. Paige Patterson and his wife Dr. Dorothy Patterson about the new program. Drs. Patterson defended the program based on the Bible’s teaching about gender roles in the home. It’s an informative interview, and I think you should hear it. It’s available for download here: “Teaching the Biblical Model of the Home” – Jerry Johnson Live. Frankly, I don’t see what…
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Billy Graham Update
Perhaps you have heard that Billy Graham was recently hospitalized for intestinal bleeding. According to a newspaper in North Carolina, his condition is improving. (HT: Bruce Tomaso)
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High School Musical (please forgive frivolous post)
This is a frivolous post. But I’m doing it anyway. Is there anyone out there willing to admit that they are fans of “High School Musical”? Granted, the basketball “players” look like they can hardly even dribble, much less actually play basketball [Note to central casting: Next time you need to cast a realistic looking basketball player, try not to hire a Justin Guarini look-alike]. Talking about this movie is a capitulation to a cheesy pop culture phenomenon. But I’m still wondering who will fess up to making plans to watch “High School Musical 2” tonight? “To answer your question, it’s even better than the first one.” –Los Angeles Times…
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Another Misleading Headline about Abortion
Did you read the big news that a new study has found that the abortion drug RU-486 is safe? TIME magazine’s title says it all: “Study Finds Abortion Pill Safe.” It helps to read the fine print because in this case the title by itself is misleading. The study actually only addressed certain long-term effects of the drug. The article goes on to say that many doctors continue to question the drug’s safety in the short term. Here’s the relevant section from the TIME article:
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John Piper Takes on Rabbi Harold Kushner
Pastor John Piper responds to Rabbi Harold Kushner’s misguided comments about God’s inability to prevent calamities (like the collapse of the I-35 bridge last week in Minneapolis). Here’s the conclusion: “No, Rabbi Kushner. Your soft words offer no hope in the end. The foundation is false. And the consolation does not satisfy the God-given passions for truth and meaning in the human heart. May the Lord open your eyes to the One who died for your sins and rose again, Jesus Christ, so that if you would trust him, you would be saved from the wrath of God that your blasphemy and my contaminated anger deserve.” Amen to that. You…