I have to say that I was agog when I saw that the nation’s paper of record—The New York Times, the old gray lady herself!—contained a feature-length story about my hometown of DeRidder, Louisiana. I would never have imagined such a thing to be possible, but there it was. My hometown is a dot on the map. It’s a place that means the world to me. But like many other small towns across the South, it’s just not the kind of place that has much of interest for coastal elites. We have local celebrities, but very few national ones. The big events in DeRidder are high school football games and…
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Which party holds extreme views on abortion?
Last week, I asked and answered the question, “Which candidate holds extreme views on abortion?” In this post, I ask the same question about the two major political parties. Which one holds the most extreme views on the abortion issue?
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Week 1 of College Football
Today was the first Saturday of college football—otherwise known as “the last week of scrimmages for title-contenders.” This is the week when all the big boys play weaker teams and waste all of our time. It makes for really unexciting football. Is anyone surprised, for instance, that Oklahoma State would pull out the “W” against Savannha State? No nail-biters in that one. It is, however, a bit shocking that they ran up the score 84-0! I guess after missing the title game last year with a single loss, Oklahoma State feels like it may need some style points for the final reckoning…but I digress. Congrats to Alabama-Michigan and Clemson-Auburn for…
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Which candidate holds extreme views on abortion?
Going into the Democratic National Convention next week, the scuttlebutt is that the President will emphasize the abortion issue and will try to paint his opponent as extreme on abortion rights. I’m wondering if this is really the conversation that President Obama wants to have. I’m no shill for Governor Romney. As I’ve said many times before, Romney’s record on this issue is not inspiring in my view. His conversion to the pro-life cause has appeared to many as a political expedient. Even now, Romney holds a less than pure pro-life position—one that is to the left of his own party’s platform. He’s hardly an extremist.
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The Bones Brigade
Stacy Peralta’s 2001 documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys” covered the rise of professional skateboarding in the late 70’s in the pioneering Zephyr skating team. I really enjoyed the film even though it focused on the period just prior to my interest in the sport. Stacy Peralta’s new film, however, is a different story. It’s all about the “Bones Brigade”—the skate team sponsored by the Powell-Peralta skateboarding company, the team that was all the rage when I was still skateboarding. These were the days when Tony Hawk of the Bones Brigade and Christian Hosoi of Skull Skates were the best in the sport. They had an amazing rivalry and pushed the sport…
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Lutheran Church Missouri Synod on 2011 NIV
The executive staff of the Missouri Synod’s Commission on Theology and Church Relations has issued a statement about the NIV 2011 and its use of inclusive language. It’s four pages long, but the bottom line is in the final paragraph. We find the NIV’s Committee on Bible Translation decision to substitute plural nouns and pronouns for masculine singular nouns and pronouns to be a serious theological weakness and a misguided attempt to make the truth of God’s Word more easily understood. The use of inclusive language in NIV 2011 creates the potential for minimizing the particularity of biblical revelation and, more seriously, at times undermines the saving revelation of Christ…
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Mark Regnerus Vindicated by University of Texas
The University of Texas has completed its inquiry into Mark Regnerus’ controversial study about the children of gay parents (see here, here, and here). In short, the University finds no scientific or professional misconduct in Regnerus’ research. Here’s a snippet from the University’s report: The University of Texas at Austin has determined that no formal investigation is warranted into the allegations of scientific misconduct lodged against associate professor Mark Regnerus regarding his July article in the journal Social Science Research.
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Fact-checking and Egregious Media Bias
It is a universal maxim that one is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts—unless of course you are a “fact-checker” in the mainstream media! I know, I know. It’s sort of hackneyed to complain about media bias, but the spectacle that began last night deserves some comment.
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How Important is Complementarianism? A Response to Carl Trueman
Last week, Carl Trueman asked why groups like The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel include complementarianism in their confessional commitments. In short, Trueman thinks it is inconsistent to elevate the importance of a secondary issue like complementarianism while routinely downplaying the importance of other secondary issues like baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He writes:
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Jim Caviezel Sings Chicago Song as Christopher Walken
I don’t know what it is, but Christopher Walken cracks me up. It is for that reason that Christopher-Walken impersonations crack me up as well. In the video above, Jim Caviezel is actually backstage with the band Chicago and “sings” an old hit of theirs using his Christopher Walken voice. It’s pretty rich. File this one under “total frivolity.” (HT: Josh Philpot)