• Christianity,  Complementarianism,  Egalitarianism,  Theology/Bible

    Taking a Dog by the Ears

    Last week people kept asking me if I was going to weigh-in on the drama du jour generated by a salacious post at The Gospel Coalition website. My response was that there was no way I would be taking this dog by the ears (Prov. 26:17). As far as I could tell, this was “strife” not belonging to me, and there was no sense in making it mine for no good reason. Nevertheless, over the weekend it became clear that the conversation had taken a turn in a way that implicates not just me but all complementarians. So here I am now. The controversy concerns an essay that Joshua Butler…

  • Christianity,  Complementarianism,  Egalitarianism,  Theology/Bible

    Sprinkle Reconsiders His Views on Complementarianism

    Preston Sprinkle is reconsidering his views on the debate between complementarians and egalitarians. If I’m not mistaken, he has claimed the complementarian label up until this point. But now he’s doing a deep dive on the issue and is processing out loud so that others can follow him on his journey. Recently, he released a two-hour video in which he talks his way through the exegesis of 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and especially of verse 12 (watch video below). He announces at the outset that he is not going to come to any firm conclusions by the end of the discussion. He is merely going to talk through the issues. I…

  • Christianity,  Homosexuality,  Theology/Bible,  Transgenderism

    FBC Jax Speaks the Truth in Love about Sexuality

    I just finished watching one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen. A megachurch pastor and his congregation took a strong and clear stand on sexuality and gender, and then held an open mic forum for community members (hostile or otherwise) to come and speak or ask any question they wanted of the pastor. I have never seen anything like it, but it was astonishing. You can watch the video below, but first a little background. Some of you will recognize Heath Lambert’s name because he and I were coauthors of a book linked in the sidebar, Transforming Homosexuality. Heath now serves as the pastor of the First Baptist…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    The Bible of “Trumpists”? Hardly.

    Over the weekend, sociologist Samuel Perry raised eyebrows by suggesting that the ESV is the official Bible translation for “Trumpists.” I’m not sure what he was trying to accomplish with this. Was he trying to cast shade on the ESV by showing the nefarious characters who read such a translation? About an hour and a half after posting this, he shared some data that sort of deflates the nefarious connotation of his earlier claim. The data show that readers of the NIV, Amplified, and KJV are also likely Trump voters. He then draws a more limited conclusion, saying that “voters who read evangelical translations vote like evangelicals.” Hardly earth-shattering news.…

  • Christianity,  Complementarianism,  Egalitarianism,  Theology/Bible

    Does the Bible Portray the Triune God as Feminine?

    Last night I posted an item on Twitter that received a good bit of negative reaction from some readers. While reading through Chapter 7 of Herman Bavinck’s excellent book The Christian Family, I posted several quotations from the chapter. This is something I frequently do when reading material that stands out to me. You can look through my timeline and see clusters of quotations from books that I believed were worth sharing. But a quotation from Bavinck last night seems to have touched a nerve. Here’s what I posted last night from Bavinck’s work (in order of appearance on my timeline): 12:06am: “People and nations were very different from each…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible

    Can a true Christian lack assurance of salvation?

    Thomas Watson addresses whether a true Christian may lack assurance of salvation: “We must distinguish between weakness of faith and nullity. A weak faith is true. The bruised reed is but weak, yet it is such as Christ will not break. Though thy faith be but weak, yet be not discouraged. A weak faith may receive a strong Christ; a weak hand can tie the knot in marriage as well as a strong; a weak eye might have seen the brazen serpent. The promise is not made to strong faith, but to true. The promise doth not say, Whosoever hath a giant faith that can remove mountains, that can stop…

  • Christianity,  Theology/Bible,  Transgenderism

    What Happened at the Rocky Mountain ETS?

    Another annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) is now in the books. We met in Denver, Colorado this year, and it was a really good week. For those of you unfamiliar with ETS, it is a society of theologians and biblical scholars who are dedicated to biblical inerrancy and a belief in the Trinity. At the annual meeting, members come together to present academic papers, meet with publishers, and catch up with old friends. Keep in mind that I only experienced a narrow slice of things, but here are my reflections on what I saw. 1. Denver, Colorado It’s really cold there. It’s also a place where marijuana…

  • Christianity,  Complementarianism,  Theology/Bible

    A Discussion of Issues Facing the SBC

    Albert Mohler hosted a panel discussion about issues facing the Southern Baptist Convention in Southern Seminary’s chapel this morning. We discussed the conservative resurgence, woman as pastors, Saddleback, celibate “gay Christian” movement, and abuse reform. You can watch the video of our discussion below. If you prefer audio, here’s a link to the podcast. I’ll also embed the podcast audio below. P.S. I go by “Denny the Bruce” now. Podcast Video

  • Complementarianism,  Egalitarianism,  Theology/Bible

    Saddleback Pastor Affirms Intention to Continue in the SBC

    The new pastor of Saddleback Church, Andy Wood, told the Associated Press earlier this week that he intends to expand the number of women serving in pastoral roles. He highlights his own wife’s role at Saddleback saying, “My wife has the spiritual gift of teaching and she is really good. People often tell me she’s better than me when it comes to preaching, and I’m really glad to hear that.” These remarks of course raise more questions about Saddleback’s status as an SBC-affiliated church. The SBC’s statement of faith says the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture, and Saddleback’s practice obviously contradicts what our doctrinal…

  • Theology/Bible

    Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones vs. Expressive Individualism

    In December 1970, BBC journalist Joan Bakewell interviewed Dr. Martyn-Lloyd Jones on national television. I love this entire interview. The good doctor bears faithful witness to Christ throughout. The clip below, however, is cued up to an excerpt near the end where Bakewell asks Lloyd-Jones about what we now call expressive individualism. Lloyd-Jones’ response is classic. Watch below. Then after you’ve watched the clip, rewind and watch the whole thing.