The Torrey Honors Institute at Biola University hosted a fascinating discussion last night featuring Carl Trueman, Peter Leithart, and Fred Sanders. They discussed the future of Protestantism vis-à-vis the Roman Catholic Church. Should the shape of Protestant theology be determined by the Reformation’s reaction to Roman Catholicism? The conversation is inspired in part by an article that Leithart wrote for First Things last year. Other questions addressed by the panel: Is the Reformation over? How should American Protestantism relate to Rome or Eastern Orthodoxy? Will Protestantism need to change if it is to thrive in the 21st century? Watch above.
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Why the NBA is right and Mozilla is wrong
As you no doubt have heard by now, the NBA has banned Donald Sterling for life from the league (see announcement above). They have also fined him $2.5 million and are pressuring him to relinquish his ownership of the LA Clippers. All of this happened in the wake of revelations that Sterling had made racist remarks in a private conversation. Folks are rightly wondering about the consistency of supporting the NBA’s decision to punish Sterling’s unpopular views on race while opposing Mozilla’s decision to punish Brendan Eich for his unpopular views on marriage. Isn’t this inconsistent? I don’t think it is, and I explain why in a short piece at…
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How God became a pacifist?
Bob Gundry has a thorough critique of N. T. Wright’s How God Became King in the most recent issue of Bulletin for Biblical Research. Among other things, Gundry objects to Wright’s pacifist interpretation of the Kingdom of God. Gundry thinks Wright whitewashes depictions of divine violence in both the Old and New Testaments. Thus when Wright says that “bombs and bullets” can never bring “justice and peace,” Gundry is not convinced and asks a rather practical question: Someone is bound to ask whether countering the Axis with bombs and bullets in World War II did a pretty good job of obliterating that evil, an obliteration which has brought peace and…
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Sarah Palin’s sacrilegious remarks to the NRA
Sarah Palin delivered a speech to the National Rifle Association on Saturday in which she said that America needs leaders who would put the “fear of God” into our enemies. Because America has leaders who are afraid of offending our enemies, America has become weakened. At the 7:16 mark in the video below, Palin says, Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists. Okay, yes that’s bad. It is impolitic—but worse—it is irreligious. But maybe she just got caught up in the moment and let her rhetoric…
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Mavericks and Spurs game three finish for the ages!
The NBA playoffs are a happy time for more reasons than one. When the playoffs are on, school is almost over, and summer is almost here. And the games themselves are often quite fun, especially when they’re close. If you missed game three of the Mavericks and Spurs playoff series today, you really should see the highlights. It had quite a finish. Watch above.
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Why not three or more in a marriage?
Perhaps you have already read about the polyamorous “throuple” of lesbians who have “married” and who are expecting their first child. If you support gay marriage, on what principle could you possibly oppose the “marriage” of three or more people? Robert George’s brief analysis is spot-on: The story of a female throuple in Massachusetts (with a baby on the way) provides further confirmation, as if any were needed, of the proposition that “ideas have consequences.” Once one has abandoned belief in marriage as a conjugal bond (with its central structuring norm of sexual complementarity) in favor of a concept of “marriage” as a form of sexual-romantic companionship or domestic partnership…
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Lead singer of Jars of Clay comes out in support of gay marriage
From Metro Weekly: Contemporary Christian music isn’t a format where one might think to look for vocal supporters of same-sex marriage, but as with anything else times are changing. Dan Haseltine, front-man for the popular Christian band Jars of Clay, yesterday took to his Twitter account in a series of posts supportive of same-sex marriage, posting “Not meaning to stir things up BUT… is there a non-speculative or non ‘slippery slope’ reason why gays shouldn’t marry? I don’t hear one.” He went on to write “I’m trying to make sense of the conservative argument. But it doesn’t hold up to basic scrutiny. Feels akin to women’s suffrage. I just don’t see a…
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Another Reflection on Piper’s T4G Message
About a week and a half ago, I shared about John Piper’s final message at T4G and about how powerfully the word landed on me. I was not alone in that. It was very clear in Albert Mohler’s closing remarks after the message that the sermon had had a similar effect on him. He was visibly moved. Mohler shares about his response today in a blog post for Desiring God, and it is really well done. It is short, and I recommend it to you. Also, the video above is an excerpt showing what he, I, and so many others were responding to.
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Jesus or Nothing
Dan Dewitt has a brand new book out titled Jesus or Nothing. It’s a book that talks about the clash between theism and nihilism, and it’s very well done and accessible. I was pleased to write an endorsement of this book, which I will share below along with some others. “Jesus or Nothing is a little book about a big God. If you are a skeptic or a minister to skeptics, you should read this book about the God who is conspicuously there and who aims to reconcile sinners to himself through Christ.”—Denny Burk, author, What Is the Meaning of Sex? “To be alive today is to be at the intersection of worldviews.…
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God and the Gay Christian? A Response to Matthew Vines
Matthew Vines is a young author who has just released a new book trying to disprove that the Bible condemns homosexuality, God and the Gay Christian. Against a 2,000-year old consensus within the Christian church, Vines contends that key biblical texts do not mean what they appear to mean—that homosexuality is fallen and sinful and completely incompatible with following Christ. Vines argues that if the Bible were properly understood, everyone would see that there’s nothing inherently sinful about homosexual orientation or behavior. Thus there is no biblical reason to prevent gay “Christians” from entering into the covenant of marriage with a same-sex partner. Gay couples can fulfill the marital norms…