How could I have missed it? I do not know, but I did. Yesterday, Napoleon Dynamite turned ten years old. Happy Birthday, Napoleon. You are an American treasure. Now go back to drawing some Ligers.
-
-
Good: The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood
Desiring God Ministries and CBMW have just produced a new book celebrating biblical manhood and womanhood. It’s edited by Owen Strachan and Jonathan Parnell, and it’s titled Good: The Joy of Christian Manhood and Womanhood. I’ve got a chapter in it on transgender, which you can read here. John Piper penned a nostalgic forward to the book that takes a look back at just how much has changed among evangelicals since he and Wayne Grudem first edited Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood twenty-six years ago. Grateful for the fruit of that work, Piper concludes with this: I commend this book to you, and pray that the beauty of the vision,…
-
Southern Baptists pass resolution on transgender
Last week, I wrote about a resolution that I proposed to the Southern Baptist Convention (along with my co-sponsor Andrew Walker). This morning, the resolutions committee included a revised version in their slate of resolutions for 2014 annual meeting. I think they did a fine job with it and offered many helpful improvements to the text that we sent them. The final draft of resolution #9 titled “On Transgender Identity” is printed below. The messengers just voted overwhelmingly in favor of the resolution. In fact, I couldn’t see a single ballot raised against it.
-
The future of evangelical reflection on same-sex orientation
Last week, Matthew Vines had an extended interaction with Sam Allberry’s review of God and the Gay Christian. Vines digs his heals in and defends the main thesis of his book while critiquing Allberry’s book Is God anti-gay? Those who have read my own review of Vines’s book will not be surprised that I find much to disagree with in Vines’s remarks. He continues to argue that same-sex orientation is a morally neutral—and even praiseworthy—category of desire. I won’t rehearse all my reasons for disagreement but simply direct the reader to my earlier review. It’s worth mentioning, however, that I find myself in agreement with Vines about one thing (though…
-
A movie that makes abortion funny
Louise Melling describes the new movie “Obvious Child” as a romantic comedy that tries to make abortion sympathetic and funny (view trailer here). Melling writes: In it, main character Donna has an abortion after a drunken one-night stand. But unlike most other characters who grapple with this question, Donna doesn’t torture herself. She makes the decision without angst, guilt, or extenuating circumstances. And like millions of American women, Donna follows through, then moves on with her life. A movie about an experience this common – nearly one in three American women will have an abortion in their lifetime — shouldn’t feel so revolutionary. But it does. Melling goes on to…
-
These are the boys of Pointe Du Hoc
Today is the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. Above is President Ronald Reagan’s iconic speech commemorating the event on the 40th anniversary.
-
Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible
I just saw this on The Huffington Post, and it looks like Thomas Nelson is going to get a piece of Duck Dynasty’s fifteen minutes of fame. Later this year, they will be publishing the “Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible.” It’s already available for pre-order on Amazon.com. Features of this Bible include: Full text of the New King James Version Bible A personal welcome note from Phil and Al Robertson 125 articles on the top 24 most-searched topics on BibleGateway Life application and scripture references supplement each article 30 days of life-changing testimonials Topical index and reading plans What do I think about this? I have no problem with…
-
Colorado orders Christian to participate in gay wedding
This is the epilogue to the conflict that ensued when a Colorado baker refused to participate in a gay wedding in 2012. The baker is a Christian, and he is not opposed to serving gays or baking cakes for them. He simply feels that he cannot participate in a gay wedding in good conscience. As a result, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission has ordered him to bake cakes for gay weddings and to undergo mandatory “anti-discrimination” training. Watch the report above or read it here. Again, he is not opposed to serving gay people. He simply doesn’t want to participate in their weddings. Now the coercive power of the state…
-
Kirsten Powers endorses Matthew Vines’s book?
Kirsten Powers has a very curious column in today’s USA Today. It’s “curious” because of what we know about Powers. On the one hand, Powers has gone public with her Christian commitment. On the other hand, she seems to be wobbly on the Bible’s teaching about sexuality. I’ve heard her make statements to this effect in the past, and her column today seems to be very sympathetic to Matthew Vines’s book God and the Gay Christian. I say “seems” because technically speaking the article is not so much about what she thinks, but about what American Christians might do. Her opening question frames the whole article: “Could there be a…
-
Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah
Jim Hamilton has become quite the prolific commentator and biblical theologian, and he has a new commentary out on Ezra-Nehemiah that I highly recommend to you. It appears in Broadman & Holman’s new “Christ-Centered Exposition” series edited by Danny Akin, David Platt, and Tony Merida. Thus, the aim of the commentary is not only exegetical precision but also explaining how the message of Ezra-Nehemiah fits into the entire storyline of scripture—a story which has its culminating moment in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hamilton argues that Ezra-Nehemiah are enormously relevant, though many pastors only preach sermons on them during church building programs. This is unfortunate. Instead, Jim encourages…