America is my home away from home. I am a sojourner here, just like everyone else, passing through on my way to eternity. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Nevertheless, I regard it as a smiling Providence to have been born here, and I give thanks today. About a year and a half ago was my last visit to Washington, D.C. One of the highlights of my trip was a visit to the Lincoln Memorial. My favorite political speech is inscribed on the wall inside the memorial. The speech is Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
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Schoolhouse Rocks the 4th of July
Now this is nostalgic. I used to watch “Schoolhouse Rock” every Saturday morning. This is where a whole generation learned about manifest destiny (“Elbow Room”), English grammar (“Conjunction Junction”), how a bill becomes a law (“I’m just a bill”), and much more. So I thought what could be more fun this 4th of July than to post Schoolhouse Rock’s videos on the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution.
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Gender Talk on “The Albert Mohler Program”
Yesterday, Dr. Russell Moore hosted a discussion of biblical manhood and womanhood on “The Albert Mohler Program,” and I was pleased to be a guest along with my good friend Jim Hamilton. You can hear the show at AlbertMohler.com, at the show’s podcast, or at the player below. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/MP3/totl/2008/AMP_06_30_2008.mp3] At the beginning of the program, Dr. Moore mentioned that he had been in the Dallas area to deliver some messages at Denton Bible Church. Not only that, he offered a noteworthy tribute to Tommy Nelson, the pastor of Denton Bible Church:
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Dr. Russell Moore on Husbands and Wives
Dr. Russell Moore finished out Denton Bible Church’s three-week series of sermons on biblical manhood and womanhood. Dr. Moore’s text was Ephesians 5:22-33, and it was a powerful message about marriage as a display of the gospel. [audio:http://dbcmedia.org/podcasts/1309-062908.mp3]
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Gun Rights and Hermeneutical Confusion
In today’s Washington Post, Eugene Robinson posts his reflections on The Supreme Court’s recent declaration that gun ownership is an individual right. In essence, Robinson says that The Supreme Court interpreted the second amendment correctly but that he would nevertheless favor restrictions on the right to bear arms. The meaning of the Constitution is clear on this point, he says. Robinson just disagrees with the Constitution. What caught my eye about Robinson’s column, however, was the last two paragraphs. He writes:
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Let’s Get Technical: The Meaning of authenteÅ
WARNING: This post is going to be a little bit technical. Enter at your own risk! Commenters under my previous complementarian posts have been debating the meaning of authenteÅ in 1 Timothy 2:12—whether it has a negative meaning (“usurp authority, domineer”) or a neutral one (“exercise authority”). In particular, the comments have called into question the work of Henry Scott Baldwin who has argued that authenteÅ does not have a negative meaning.
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Gender-Debaters Point the Finger at Themselves
Christianity Today has published two essays in which an egalitarian and a complementarian point the finger of critique at their own movements. John Koessler represents the complementarian point of view, and Sarah Sumner represents the egalitarian. I’m not going to comment on this exchange point-by-point. But I do have a question about one of Koessler’s statements. He writes: “When God created humankind in his image, he created them to be male and female (Gen. 1:27). It is often said that men and women bear the image of God equally. But it might be more accurate to say that men and women bear God’s image together. Men and women collectively reflect…
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Bruce Ware’s Complementarian Reading of Genesis
On Sunday, Dr. Bruce Ware delivered one of the finest, most succinct presentations of the Complementarian point of view that I have ever heard. His address was the second of a Complementarian series of sermons being hosted by Denton Bible Church (the first address is here). The message is deeply biblical and powerfully delivered. The audio is available from DBC’s website, or you can listen to it below. The substance of Ware’s address consists of ten reasons “why we should affirm that God designed there to be male headship” in the original created order. In essence, Dr. Ware explains how Genesis 1-3 teaches male headship as a part of God’s…
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Unorthodox Baptists
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) is a splinter-group of moderate to liberal Southern Baptists who do not agree with the conservative orientation of the Southern Baptist Convention. In the past, CBF annual meetings have included worship services to “Mother God” and controversies over homosexuality. One presenter at the most recent meeting of the CBF openly questioned the deity of Christ. According to David Roach of the Baptist Press, John Killinger said the following words at a CBF workshop in Memphis, Tennessee:
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To Spank or Not To Spank?
What do you do when the Bible conflicts with expert sociologists? Especially when the sociologists are warning against spanking your children as a means of discipline? U. S. News & World Report recently interviewed spanking “expert” Murray Straus, professor of Sociology at the University of New Hampshire. Among other things, Straus argues that children who are spanked are more likely to grow up to be violent and sexually deviant. Pretty scary, right? Well, I think that’s was the point. The spirit of the age is virulently opposed to spanking of any sort and is unable to distinguish between abuse and corrective discipline. At the end of the day, I think…