The news broke late last night that one of the most celebrated athletes of our time would be stripped of his championships. Lance Armstrong has said he would no longer defend himself from the United States Anti-doping Agency’s (USADA) claims that he used performance enhancing drugs to win his seven Tour de France titles. As a result, the USADA is vacating all of his wins.
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Russell Moore on Theological Education in WSJ
Russell Moore has a really fine article in The Wall Street Journal. It’s about theological education, student debt, and the future of online education. He rightly argues that the whole enterprise needs to be more closely related to and accountable to churches. Here’s a snippet: There will always be those who get a law degree or an M.B.A. (and the resulting debt) and then sense a call to ministry. The history of the church—see Augustine and John Calvin, not to mention the original 12 disciples of Jesus—is filled with “second-career” ministers. But the ideal pattern is for churches to seek to identify, early in life, those who are gifted and…
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Do Same-Sex Partners Have Parental Rights?
Rev. Kenneth Miller is a Mennonite minister from Virginia, and he is facing prison. Why? Because he helped a woman named Lisa Miller flee the country with her biological daughter. Why was that a crime? Here’s the story from the Burlington Free Press:
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Wellum and Gentry on “Kingdom through Covenant”
A very important book hit the shelves recently, and many readers will want to make a note of this one. It’s titled Kingdom through Covenant by Peter Gentry and Steve Wellum. The book argues for a perspective called progressive covenantalism—a mediating view between dispensationalism and covenant theology. This is a massive book (848 pages to be exact) on a critical subject matter, and it is likely to ruffle the feathers on both sides of this controversy. Matt Smethurst snagged an interview with the authors, and it is actually really good. I found this particular exchange to be ironic yet illuminating:
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How to preach the steamy parts of the Song of Solomon
I have a general complaint about the way that some preachers approach preaching on the Song of Solomon. The content of the Song is sometimes cited as the Bible’s permission-slip to deliver salacious sermons about sex. I think this is wrong-headed. The Song of Solomon gives us a poetic depiction of the marital act that is cloaked in symbolic language. Should not preachers exhibit similar discretion when speaking about the marital act? Shouldn’t our speech about sex be more discreet and indirect than it is provocative and explicit? It seems to me that preachers would do well to explain what the Bible says using the same level of discretion that…
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Why the Sovereignty of God Is Important
Tom Schreiner is a dear brother, friend, and colleague, and he and his family are walking a painful road right now. On Friday, Tom’s wife Dianne was in a serious bicycle accident that left her with a brain injury. The Southern Seminary community has been praying fervently for her, and there have been some encouraging signs. Yet the injury is still a very serious one, and the prognosis is still not certain. Please pray for Dianne, Tom, and the rest of the Schreiner family.
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Skip Bayless Censored Defending Tebow?
On Friday, Skip Bayless tweeted that he would be appearing on ESPN’s “First Take” and would be defending Tim Tebow from those who “persecute” him concerning his Christian faith. Twice during Bayless’ remarks, ESPN cut abruptly to commercial. Some are suggesting that ESPN was censoring Bayless’ remarks. I suppose that’s possible, but it seems unlikely to me. Why would they be so obvious if that’s what they were doing? Why would they allow some of his remarks if they wanted to suppress Bayless’ views? To me the censorship charge doesn’t seem to add up, but you can watch above and form your own conclusions. In spite of the interruptions, I…
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The Presidential Race Is Upon Us
Chuck Todd gives us the “countdown” on the significant moments coming up in the campaigns for U. S. President. Here they are: Countdown to GOP convention: 10 daysCountdown to Dem convention: 17 daysCountdown to 1st presidential debate: 47 daysCountdown to VP debate: 55 daysCountdown to 2nd presidential debate: 60 daysCountdown to 3rd presidential debate: 66 daysCountdown to Election Day: 81 days
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Russell Moore Rightly Skewers Pat Robertson
Russell Moore’s take on Pat Robertson’s most recent abomination is a must-read. Moore writes: Let me just say this bluntly. This is not just a statement we ought to disagree with. This is of the devil…
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On the FRC Shooting and “Hate” Groups
I confess that I have been watching with some disgust the lack of coverage in the national media about the shooting this week at the Family Research Council. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you are a walking illustration of my point. If a deranged conservative had shot a security guard at the headquarters of the Human Rights Campaign, I guarantee that the news would have been as big as the Aurora shootings last month in Colorado. But this has not been the case with the FRC shooting. Case in point: The New York Times had the story on page A11.