Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then? One short sleep past,…
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Transgender: When Psychological Identity Trumps Bodily Identity
Earlier this week, I spoke at the ERLC National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. I was asked to address the topic of transgender. An adapted excerpt from my manuscript is below. The full video is below. ————— Now that the gay marriage cause is all but won, sexual revolutionaries are turning their attention to the “T” in LGBT. Both Newsweek and Time have written cover stories in the last two years arguing that the transgender cause is the next phase of the LGBT revolution. There seems to be evidence confirming this in headlines across the country. From the city ordinance in Houston that led to the subpoena of pastors’ sermons to…
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How to wage culture war and win
Peter Leithart has a great little piece over at First Things about the rapid shift in public opinion on gay marriage. He concludes with a sage word about how Christians should “wage war” in the midst of a majority culture that stands decidedly against what God has revealed about human sexuality. Leithart writes: I will be accused of demonizing opponents, but my argument leads to the opposite conclusion. If “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and rulers in heavenly places,” then flesh-and-blood persons are not our principal adversaries. They are victims—willing victims, perhaps—of demonic deceit. But we should focus on fighting the real enemies,…
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What David Gushee’s change of heart really means
Jonathan Merritt reports for Religion News Service that David Gushee no longer believes homosexual, bisexual, or transgender behavior to be sinful. Who is David Gushee? He is an ethicist that has been a part of the evangelical movement for many years—which is why Merritt has splashed his story. Merritt puts forth Gushee’s change of heart as a decision of great consequence for the evangelical movement saying, “It is difficult to overstate the potential impact of Gushee’s defection.” Several thoughts come to mind in response to this report:
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Division on Wheaton’s faculty about Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate
Ruth Graham reports that some of the faculty at Wheaton College have problems with the college’s opposition to Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate. Obamacare requires Christian schools like Wheaton to provide insurance coverage for abortifacient drugs. Wheaton has sued the government (like many other institutions in their position) to get relief from Obamacare’s infringement upon religious liberty. Nevertheless, Graham reports that some of the faculty are opposed to the lawsuit. She writes:
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A coach’s wife writes to tell about her marriage
In my previous post, I made reference to the fact that being a head football coach in the SEC can be a real trial for marriages. As the video makes clear, the husbands are so busy that the wives are left alone for long amounts of time with minimal input from the husband. One woman said that her husband starts working on July 13 and does not get a full day off until Christmas Eve. In other words, it is really tough for husbands and wives. A high school football coach’s wife left a comment under my last post that I thought was really helpful. She says that she and…
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ESPN profiles wives of SEC head football coaches
ESPN has produced a brief feature on the wives of SEC football coaches titled “The Better Half.” It’s really short, but I also think really telling. One of the wives says that her husband goes to work on July 13 and won’t get a day off until Christmas Eve. Another is pictured with her kids (sans husband) at the kitchen counter saying that it’s a hard life but that you get what you sign-up for. Yes, there is lots of money and big houses if you’re an SEC coach’s wife. Still, there seems to be an underlying sadness with some of these women. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t…
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All law is imposed morality
The inimitable Doug Wilson is in rare form over the subpoenaed sermons in Houston. He writes: I have been pointing out the totalitarian impulse of progressives for some time, but they are not totalitarian because they want to impose morality. They are totalitarian because they want to impose an immoral morality. They are not totalitarian because they want to suppress something. All laws suppress something. The problem is what they want to suppress. They want to suppress decency and glorify kink, when they ought to be doing the opposite. There are only two options — public virtue or public vice. There is no neutral third zone that enables our ruling…
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When Popes and councils contradict each other
Andrew Sullivan calls the news out of the Vatican yesterday a “pastoral revolution.” That point is being vigorously contested right now by the likes of Robbie George, George Weigel and R. R. Reno, who point out that the statement in question has no official status. Some reports say that the report reflects the sentiments of a plurality of bishops participating in the synod. Still, it is significant that a synod of Bishops has even released an interim report affirming the church’s traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality while calling for “courageous pastoral choices” that include valuing gay “sexual orientation.” At least some of these bishops wish to maintain the language…
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Did the Roman Catholic Church just change its position on divorce and gay marriage?
The headlines coming out of the Vatican yesterday are nothing less than eye-popping. Here’s just a handful: Washington Post: Vatican stuns Catholic world with greater openness toward gays and lesbians USA Today: Catholic bishops show new tolerance toward gays ChristianToday.com: Synod on the Family: Could the Catholic Church be liberalising on divorce, contraception and homosexuality? Huffington Post: Vatican Proposes Dramatic Shift In Attitude Towards Gays, Same Sex Couples New York Times: At the Vatican, a Shift in Tone Toward Gays and Divorce What is going on here? Did the Roman Catholic Church really just nullify its 2,000-year old teaching on the nature of marriage and sexual ethics? If all you…