Who could have predicted that terrorists groups like ISIS would overrun Iraq if America pursued a precipitous withdrawal of troops? It turns out that this result was entirely predictable and was in fact predicted by previous commander-in-chief in 2007. In a remarkably accurate warning, President Bush said this: I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we’re ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to Al Qaida. It’d mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It’d mean we’d…
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The absurdity of dividing God’s word from God’s work
The integrity of God’s word has always been under assault, from “hath God really said” until now. For this reason, Jonathan Akin highlights two recent instances in which well-known Christians have made statements that cast doubt on that integrity. He writes: First, Andy Stanley tweeted a link to an article where a young lady who has renounced Christianity talks about how much she misses being a Born-Again Christian. Along with the link, Stanley tweeted, “Why we must teach the next generation the FOUNDATION of our faith is an EVENT not a BOOK.”
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“God and the Gay Christian” on MSNBC
Matthew Vines appeared on MSNBC last week promoting his book God and the Gay Christian (video above). There is nothing new here in terms of argument, and I still stand by my previous critique of this work. Having said that, it is interesting to see that Vines’ views are received as unassailably obvious. The interviewers give no place to the entire 2,000-year consensus of the Christian Church on sexuality. Instead, Vines’s recent revision is treated as if it were the only plausible perspective to reckon with. The ground is moving beneath our feet.
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Do infants who die go to heaven?
Several years ago, Danny Akin and Albert Mohler wrote a short article explaining why they believe children who die go to heaven. Today, Danny Akin offers a revised version of that argument, and you can read it here. Akin writes: I believe that there are good reasons biblically and theologically for believing that God saves all who die and who do not reach a stage of moral understanding and accountability. Scripture may not speak to this issue directly, but there is sufficient evidence that would lead us to affirm that God receives into heaven all who have died in infancy. Some evidence is stronger than others, but cumulatively they marshall…
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An IMB Trustee on David Platt’s Election
Hershel York is one of the trustees who yesterday elected David Platt as the new President of the SBC’s International Mission Board (IMB). In a blog post today, he answers the concerns that some have raised about Platt’s assuming this role. Southern Baptists who have had such concerns should read what York has to say. His commendation and exhortation at the end are particularly relevant. He writes: I’ve been in ministry all of my adult life. I’ve known Adrian Rogers, W. A. Criswell, Stephen Olford, John Stott, and many truly great men of God. I say this carefully and reverently: I have never met anyone on whom the anointing of God rests…
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The Wrong Kind of Christian
Tish Harrison Warren is an egalitarian, a priest in the Anglican Church, and a supporter of progressive causes. None of that, however, was enough to keep Vanderbilt University from kicking her ministry off campus. She has a compelling reflection in CT on how everything came unraveled for InterVarsity at Vandy. In essence, Vanderbilt said that no organization could require adherence to a creed in order to limit membership or leadership in campus organizations. The result? The university began discriminating against Christians for holding to Christian beliefs. In Warren’s article, this bit was particularly clarifying. She writes,
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It’s passed time to get serious about ISIS
Peggy Noonan has a sobering column in today’s Wall Street Journal about the threat that ISIS poses to a war-weary United States. I encourage you to read the whole thing. When you do, don’t miss this part: One of my fears in the early years of the Iraq war was that if it proved to be the wrong war—if no weapons of mass destruction were found, if sustained unrest showed Saddam Hussein was the garbage-pail lid who kept the garbage of his nation from spilling out—it would mean that at some time in the future when America really needed to fight and had to fight, she would not. I feared…
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Refusing to call evil “evil”
I just read one of the most morally confused (and indeed asinine) things I’ve ever seen on the New York Times editorial page. The author is a professor named Michael Boyle, and he argues that we must not call the ISIS terrorist group evil. Why? Because the times don’t call for moral clarity. President Bush had moral clarity, and look where that got us–a decade of war. For this reason, Boyle argues that we should avoid describing ISIS as a “cancer” like President Obama did earlier this week. Such language keeps us from seeing the world as it is. This is the logic of appeasement. It’s very similar to the…
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Kent Brantly’s remarks upon his release from hospital
I can’t tell you how full my heart is at the news of Dr. Kent Brantley’s recovery. I can only imagine how his family must be feeling to have him back after thirty very dark days of uncertainty and perhaps even of despair. The video above is the statement that Dr. Brantly made upon his release earlier today. It’s fantastic. Among other things he describes how he cried out to the Lord as the illness descended upon him, “I prayed that God would help me be faithful even in my illness and that in my life, even in my death, he would be glorified.” How grateful we should be for…
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Mohler on Ferguson: Love your neighbor, lead with empathy, don’t prejudge, wait for the facts
Albert Mohler has timely advice about how Christians ought to be thinking about the tragic shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. He says that the shooting and its aftermath are an “excruciating reminder that the racial issues in America continue.” In sum, he says that Christians need to love their neighbor, lead with empathy, not prejudge, and wait for the facts. You can listen to his full remarks below or download them here. Here are some important excerpts from his remarks: