Thabiti Anyabwile has written a hard-hitting piece titled, “Collateral Damage in the Invitation of T.D. Jakes to the Elephant Room.” You need to read the whole thing, but here’s a little taste: It’s difficult to see larger-than-life heretics given a platform in circles of pastors and leaders we respect and we regard as co-laborers in defense and confirmation of the truth…

Tim Challies has weighed-in on The Elephant Room flap. He writes: As I think about round 2 of the Elephant Room, here is what I want to know: Will T.D. Jakes be challenged very specifically on what he believes about the Trinity? Will this be the elephant in the room when he sits there with MacDonald and whoever else? Will these men be willing to ask him very difficult, very nuanced, very penetrating questions? And if he finally says, “Yes, I am a modalist” will they then be willing to tell him, “You are a heretic; you are not a Christian”? If he proves himself to be a modalist, will…

Yesterday, the Baptist Press ran a slightly revised version of an essay I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the term “gay Christian.” Since then, comments have been appearing under that older post. I’m going to repost the Baptist Press article here so that we can open a new thread of comments. The article is below, and the comments are below that. Thanks for reading!

Yesterday, we learned from Psalm 1:1-2 that “blessedness” is “happiness.” If you want to be a happy person, you have to avoid being like the wicked, the sinners, and the scoffers (v. 1). The root of blessedness—indeed of true happiness—is knowing God through His word (v. 2). There is one other item that we need to look at from verse one—the word translated as “scoffers.” Perhaps it is not too difficult to comprehend what David means by “the wicked” and “the sinners,” for in both cases he is talking about law-breakers. But what is a scoffer, and how do we avoid sitting in his seat? We can answer both questions…

Sometimes the usual translation of Psalm 1:1-2 conceals the real point of the text. I have in mind the words that are commonly translated as “blessed” and “delight.” Take the NASB for example: 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers! 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. The NASB has not mistranslated these two terms. It in fact tracks right along with many other major English versions (e.g., ESV, NIV, RSV). The problem is…

Union University recently hosted the “KJV400 Festival,” a conference celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Version of the Bible. All reports are that the conference was a great success. The audio from the conference is now available for free download from the Union University website. I have already begun listening to the plenary sessions, and they are fantastic. I have linked them below so that you can hear them too. There are many more presentations from the breakout sessions that are available at Union’s website.

I have been listening to John Piper’s annual Martin Luther King Day sermons for about thirteen years now. What I have found most compelling about these messages are the moments in which Piper delves into his own background as a boy raised in Greenville, South Carolina during the Jim Crow era. He has told about his home church’s vote to bar blacks from their worship services, about his mother’s heroic actions to escort black guests at his sister’s wedding when the white ushers refused to seat them, about growing up across the tracks from Jesse Jackson, who is roughly the same age as Piper and who also grew up in…

Tim Suttle has an interesting article at the Huffington Post about “The Failure of the Megachurch.” I don’t agree with the entire analysis here, but this one line is worth highlighting the whole article: If the church is the body of Christ, then the mega-church is a body on steroids.

Rachel Held Evans has been doing an interview series, and today’s installment is “Ask A Calvinist.” Justin Taylor does a fantastic job fielding questions from Rachel’s readers. I think his engagement is a model of gospel clarity and charity. Be sure to read this one.

The latest issue of Christianity Today arrived in the mail yesterday, and I was interested to note an editorial about the Southern Baptist Convention’s resolution concerning the 2011 NIV. The article represents the editorial opinion of CT, and predictably it disagrees with Southern Baptists about the new NIV. Readers of this blog will not be surprised that by and large I disagree with CT’s editorial (see my previous posts: reviews of NIV, SBC Resolution, response to translators, response to Bock). But there was at least one item in the article that I do agree with. Here it is: “The only criterion for a good translation is this: Does it accurately…