Rachel Held Evans has recently asked readers whether or not there is room for Christians to “debate the nature of Scripture – like what we mean by ‘authority’ or ‘inerrancy’ or ‘inspiration’?” (source). In her own writings, Evans has certainly been calling these issues into question, and she has been giving answers that consistently land on the liberal end of the theological spectrum. She reveals that she herself long ago stopped believing in the “Bible’s exclusive authority, inerrancy, perspicuity, and internal consistency” (source). I for one am grateful that Evans is willing to engage this conversation. These issues do in fact relate to the nature of scripture, and I can…
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The Big Three
Desiring God has asked listeners to help them select the best of John Piper’s sermons so that they might feature them in the Desiring God app. They are asking not only for the sermon title, but also for a brief testimony of how God used the sermon to impact your life. I’m going to offer my response in this space. For me, there are three messages that stand out. They are messages that proved to be spiritual watersheds in my own life, and they are still impacting me today. “Did Christ Die for Us or for God?” Passion ’98, Austin, TX – January 1, 1998 I first heard John Piper…
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The Lord of the “Already” and the “Not Yet”
Dr. Brian Payne, professor of Christian Theology and Expository Preaching at Boyce College, preached one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard in Southern Seminary’s chapel. It’s just good, solid biblical exposition. You can watch it above, listen below, or download audio here. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/fall2012/20121016-payne.mp3]
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On third party candidates
The Simpsons provided some wry political commentary in the weeks before the 1996 presidential election. Bob Dole was challenging Bill Clinton for the office, and Ross Perot was running as a third party candidate. In the episode excerpted above, Homer discovers that Dole and Clinton are really aliens in disguise and that he needs to expose them before one of them gets elected president. The story lampooned the popular notion that voting for a third party candidate meant that you were throwing your vote away. I disagree with the premise of this. I do believe that voting for a third party candidate is tantamount to voting against the major party…
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What is an evangelical?
I am glad that Rachel Held Evans is stoking a conversation about the meaning of “evangelical.” Evans says that she herself is an evangelical, yet she defines the term in a way that can only be described as radically revisionist. I daresay that very few would recognize her definition as anything approaching what evangelicals have historically held. We all know that defining the term ‘evangelical’ can be controversial, but many observers still look to David Bebbington’s quadrilateral as a helpful outline of the defining characteristics of evangelicals.
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What ever happened to that KONY 2012 guy?
Do you remember the KONY 2012 video that went viral earlier this year? It was a campaign to end the terror of African warlord Joseph Kony. The efforts of the filmakers were undermined after the very public breakdown of the face of their campaign, Jason Russell. Now after many months, the campaign has come out with a new video, released just last night (see above). In it, the filmakers explain that the effort to stop KONY is still ongoing. They also attempt to explain the emotional breakdown of Jason Russell. In the video, Russell apologizes and says that he is fully recovered.
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Pastor Voddie Baucham talks abortion, adoption, President Obama
(HT: Josh Philpot)
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Paul’s Rebuke of Red-Letter Christians
Paul really had the Corinthian church’s number. He knew all about their issues, and he never shrank back from getting in their face when they needed it. In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17, he chastises the Corinthians for dividing themselves into factions based on their devotion to different teachers. He writes:
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What Is Reparative Therapy?
In my last post, I noted that California has just become the first state in the union to outlaw therapies aimed at altering the sexual orientation of minors. If you read the law, you’ll find that the vast majority of it is taken up with explaining the medical basis for prohibiting these therapies—including some rather negative assessments of reparative therapy in particular. In the opening section of the law and in other writings on this story, I see persistent misunderstandings about what reparative therapy actually is. Consequently, there’s a good bit of confusion about how Christian teaching relates to this particular therapy. Here’s the definition given in Joe Dallas’ and…
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Owen Strachan Debates Rachel Held Evans
Owen Strachan recently sat down for a debate with Rachel Held Evans on Justin Brierly’s UK radio program. Adrian Warnock joined in the discussion as well. The conversation recaps the recent dust-up involving Rachel Held Evans’ public rebuke of Jared Wilson and Doug Wilson. It also addresses the gender debate in general. I think that Owen has the better part of this argument. No surprise there! You can download the audio here or listen to it below. [audio:http://media.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/835fe16a-0a74-4070-b4ad-692c4d1af203.mp3]
