A few weeks ago, I sat on a panel at the Evangelical Theological Society discussing the question “Is Same-Sex Orientation Sinful?” Owen Strachan moderated the discussion among three of us who presented papers on the subject: Wesley Hill, Preston Sprinkle, and yours truly. Both Wesley and Preston have posted on the session. Craig Sanders has written a report as well. I am currently working on a book about sexual orientation, and much of what I presented to the panel was a rough version of what will appear in that book. So I will hold back on rehashing the entire argument here. If you want to read my paper, send me…
-
-
Doug Wilson’s gut-punch to theistic evolutionists
Doug Wilson delivers a gut-punch to the theistic evolutionary group Biologos. You should read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt: The clear tendency of the BioLogos outlook is to consider young earth creationism as the ultimate academic faux pas. Young earth creationists are not just in error, they are embarrassing. But students in our schools are being taught any number of embarrassing things — like marriage consisting of one man and one woman, for example. An essential part of our training is to show our students how scholarly tongue clucking is not an argument. So learning how to resist the academic cool shame on this point is a…
-
Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith square-off over Ferguson and New York
Two days ago, I mentioned Charles Barkley’s recent remarks affirming the Ferguson grand jury’s non-indictment. Since then, fellow commentator Kenny Smith has penned an open-letter that sharply disagrees with Barkley’s strident tone. Yesterday, Barkley and Smith faced each other on the set of TNT’s “Inside the NBA.” Instead of discussing basketball in the opening segment, they spent about ten minutes talking out their differences. Shaq made some comments as well. Be warned that Barkley has some salty language near the end, so you might not want to watch this one with your kiddos around. Nevertheless, I think it’s helpful to hear conversations like this one.
-
Trip Lee, “It coulda been me”
Trip Lee has written a new song expressing how he feels about the recent tragedies in Ferguson and New York (listen above). In short, these events have left him thinking, “It could’ve been me.” No matter what your feelings are about the non-indictments in these particular cases, what Trip is talking about here is absolutely essential. For me at least, hearing such stories over the last two years from brothers like Trip, Voddie, Thabiti, and others has transformed my view of the African American experience. Don’t miss this.
-
Toward breaking the impasse in our discussion of Ferguson
In the wake of the grand jury verdict in Ferguson, I’ve seen thoughtful commentators trying their best to do two things. On the one hand, they want to listen carefully to our African American neighbors who experience racial prejudice in their interface with law enforcement and with the criminal justice system. They want to give due regard to systemic racial inequality that still exists in our country. On the other hand, they also want to be fair in their evaluation of Michael Brown’s death and how his death relates to the overall racial disparity in our criminal justice system. This has been a difficult balance to strike in the wake…
-
Godless virtue is no virtue at all
I’ve been reading through Jonathan Edwards’ treatise on The Nature of True Virtue. This book can only be properly understood in connection with Edwards’ earlier work The End for Which God Created the World. In that earlier work, Edwards shows that God is the first and best of beings and that the purpose of all things in God’s universe is to glorify God’s own magnificence and goodness. In The Nature of True Virtue, Edwards argues that true virtue consists in having one’s heart attuned to that great reality—the glory of God. Virtue, therefore, can only exist in those who know and love God above all else. Edwards says it this…
-
Trailer for the new Star Wars movie
The trailer for the new Star Wars movie was released yesterday, and it already has over 13 million views on YouTube. The new series will be directed by J. J. Abrams. The conclusion of the matter: The Abrams trailer is already better than all three of the prequel movies. No kidding. As Darren Franich recently described it, This is a trailer that features X-Wings, Stormtroopers, Tatooine, the Millennium Falcon, a red lightsaber, and a red-brown desert speeder—it’s like an Episode IV mixtape, “Now That’s What I Call A New Hope!”
-
Leonard Fournette blows up an Aggie defender
I haven’t blogged much on football this season, but I’m ending my neglect tonight. And it’s all inspired by a smashmouth play by freshman running-back phenome Leonard Fournette. In LSU’s victory over A&M earlier this evening, Fournette had one run in which he ran right over an Aggie defender. It was positively Hershael-Walker-esque. He blasted the guy. It was painful to watch. See it for yourself above or below. Wow.
-
George Stephanopoulos’s interview with Darren Wilson
In this portion of the interview, Darren Wilson recounts his confrontation with Michael Brown. Wilson says it was the first time he’d ever fired his gun in the line of duty. He also says he has a clean conscience.
-
A few thoughts on Ferguson
I’m reluctant to say anything, so I will say very little. Here are my thoughts on the morning after. 1. We still have race issues in this country. As President Obama said last night, we’ve made progress, but we have by no means arrived. It is an enormous grief that African Americans feel so regularly alienated by police and by the criminal justice system more broadly. It is a great sadness that black fathers have to have sobering conversations with their sons about encountering the police without getting shot—a conversation I never had with my father. As a people, we are not yet what we should be. It does no…