“But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.” -Isaiah 53:10 “God put [Christ] forward as a propitiation in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness.” -Romans 3:25 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” -Galatians 3:13 “It is those who cannot come to terms with any concept of the wrath of God…
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A Brief Review of Abigail Shrier’s “Bad Therapy”
I finished Abigail Shrier’s book Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up about two or three weeks ago. I’ve had a lot of time to ruminate on it, and I think it will be one of the most important books of the year. It really is a bit of a barn-burner. Her reporting gathers evidence against some of the sacrosanct totems of our age: 1. Trauma-informed therapy 2. Gentle parenting 3. Hyper-medicalization of children 4. Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score 5. Empathy run amok Shrier begins the book with a giant disclaimer that she’s not writing this book about kids with actual serious, debilitating trauma.…
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This Is the Judgment: That Light Has Come into the World – John 3:17-21
? Last Saturday morning, I Googled the following question: “What happens to us after we die?” Before I finished typing the sentence, Google autocompleted the words. I assume that means the question has been asked so many times that Google “knows” what’s coming. It occurred to me that this fact all by itself is sad. Can you imagine someone being gripped by such a question and then resorting to a Google search? After I entered the question, the top result was this paragraph from Quora.com: Your consciousness ends (we know this because all detectable signs of it stop) and your cells cease to function. Your body begins to decay until…
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For God So Loved the World – John 3:16
Love is only love if it seeks out the good and the flourishing of the loved. If in the name of love, you simply affirm what will destroy another person, it will not ultimately feel like love to them. It will eventually feel to them something more like hate. Why? Because if love doesn’t seek out the good and flourishing of the beloved, then it isn’t love at all. It is cowardice and capitulation to evil. How do we know this? We know what love is because we know how God has loved us. [Hear the rest of the sermon below.]
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Responding to Opposition to the Law Amendment
Pastor Steven Bezner has published an article arguing “Against the Law Amendment” in which he urges messengers to to vote against the measure at the upcoming SBC meeting in Indianapolis. Interestingly, Bezner doesn’t really argue against what the amendment actually says but against what he perceives as ulterior motives on the part of those who support the amendment. He writes: The Law Amendment seeks to clarify the extent of complementarian commitments within the SBC, answering this question: can a church remain in good standing with the Southern Baptist Convention if they have women staff members holding the title of pastor? If the question stopped there, the conversation around the Law…
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Did David Rape Bathsheba?
One of the perennial exegetical debates surrounding 2 Samuel 11 is whether David’s actions toward Bathsheba amount to rape. Sometimes popular discussions of the question founder on ideological concerns imposed upon the text rather than focusing on what the biblical text actually says. On a recent episode of the 9Marks “Bible Talk” podcast, Jim Hamilton argues that the author of 2 Samuel does not portray David’s relationship with Bathsheba as rape. Nor does the author portray Bathsheba as a temptress. Rather, the author highlights David’s lechery and blameworthiness in the whole affair. Nevertheless, the author does not depict David’s actions as “rape.” You can listen to the argument below. It…
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Loving and Loathing Nick Saban: An LSU Fan’s Tribute
It’s easy to love or loathe a “GOAT.” It all depends on which side of the greatness that you sit on. No one pulled harder than me for Karl “the Mailman” Malone and the Utah Jazz when they made their title runs in the late 90’s. The Mailman was a graduate of my alma mater, and his Louisiana fandom were all-in on his quest for a championship ring. There was only one problem. Our quest led us to the foot of the NBA Mount Everest, also known as the Chicago Bulls. The Jazz found themselves at the foot of this mountain in both the ’97 and ’98 finals, and the…
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Moral seriousness and the post-Christian right
Two sad things happened over the holidays that ought to arrest the attention of Christian conservatives everywhere. The first is the revelation of a calendar featuring scantily clad “conservative” women and being marketed to “conservative” dads. The second is a social media posting from former President Donald Trump calling for his political enemies to “rot in hell.” [Read the rest at WORLD Opinions]
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Top 10 YouTubes of 2023
It’s time for my annual posting of the Top 10 YouTube Videos of the Year (see last year’s list here). This ranking is totally unscientific, and I gave up on limiting myself to 10 videos a long time ago. Only one person was polled to compile this list—yours truly. This year’s slate of videos has both humor and humanity with some other odds and ends thrown in. If you think I’ve left something out, let me know. I’ll think about adding an “Honorable Mention” category at the bottom. I usually start with the humor, but don’t miss the non-humorous ones at the end. Enjoy! If you’re interested, here are links…
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A Plan to Read through the Bible in 2024
In years past, my customary mode for reading through the Bible every year involved starting in Genesis and reading right through to Revelation. I estimated that about four chapters per day would get me through in under a year’s time. The method worked reasonably well, but it wasn’t without its problems. Sometimes I would miss a day (or days) and get behind, and I had no way to keep up with my progress. I needed a schedule so that I could keep myself accountable for finishing in a year. In 2009, therefore, I did something I had never done before. I followed a Bible reading plan. I adopted Robert Murray…
