D. A. Carson and Tim Keller have written a statement on The Elephant Room controversy on The Gospel Coalition website. There is much good, thoughtful material here. They begin with this: Recent discussion, mostly in blogs, regarding the forthcoming Elephant Room conference, sponsored by James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll, provides an opportunity to write a few clarifying paragraphs on confessionalism, boundaries, and discipline. Whatever else The Gospel Coalition has or has not done, it has not prohibited mutual criticism among Council members… The richness and detail of our Confessional Statement and our Theological Vision of Ministry demonstrate that we wish to avoid lowest-common-denominator theology. But how do we negotiate the…
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Should You Buy an iPhone 4S?
The early reviews are in on the new iPhone, and MSNBC.com has a round-up of what the reviewers are saying. Here’s the bottom line: The basic message sent by the early reviewers is that the iPhone 4S is better and faster than the iPhone 4 — as expected. The consensus appears to be that it is a great upgrade, but not an absolutely necessary one. Read the rest here.
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Rachel Held Evans’ Year of Living Unbiblically
Rachel Held Evans is an egalitarian and has set aside the last year to obey every command in scripture pertaining to women. Her aim is to show what “biblical womanhood” really looks like when it is practiced consistently. She has been blogging about her year at her website, and Thomas Nelson has agreed to publish her narrative for a book set to be released in 2012. When I first heard about this, I was skeptical about the usefulness of such a project. Sarah Flashing is also skeptical, and she has a hard-hitting piece about it over at the First Things blog. She writes:
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Why the Media Disinterest in Romney’s Mormonism?
The media have spent a lot of time the past couple of days not on Mormonism, but on one pastor’s critique of it. David Murray is asking why the media have been so disinterested in the religion itself. He’s writing as an outsider looking in, and I think he’s on to something here. He writes: I’ve been reading Latayne Scott’s The Mormon Mirage over the past few days, as I prepare to interview her on the Connected Kingdom podcast. I must confess that, with most of my Christian life and ministry having been spent in the Scottish Highlands, I’ve not needed to know much about Mormonism and I’ve had very…
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Is Mormonism a Cult?
Last week, Pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Rick Perry to the Values Voter Summit. Right afterward, Jeffress was interviewed by a gaggle of reporters about Mormonism and his opposition to Mitt Romney’s bid for the Republican nomination for President. Jeffress shocked the secular press covering the event by labeling Mormonism a cult and by arguing that Christians ought to support Christian political candidates over non-Christian ones. There has already been a lot of debate about pastors endorsing political candidates and about whether calling Mormonism a cult in this setting might actually have hurt Perry’s campaign. Those are important conversations, but that is not what this article is about. What I want…
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A Good Critique of Political Reporters on the Religion Beat
Sarah Pulliam Bailey has an insightful critique of how political reporters drove the coverage the Values Voter Summit last week. In short, she argues that political reporters took old news and turned it into big news. She writes: If you have been paying attention to religion and politics for at least the last four years, you know that Jeffress’ belief that Mormonism is a cult isn’t terribly newsworthy to religion reporters. I tweeted about the endorsement because I thought it was something to note but not something to write a story about. Jeffress has been saying these things for quite a while now and political reporters are just now taking…
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Martin Luther, Mitt Romney, and the “Wise Turk”
Martin Luther is eminently quotable. He had a way with words and could wield them with force and power. I was very disappointed, therefore, to learn a couple of years ago that my favorite Luther quote didn’t actually derive from Luther. Ever since then, I have been skeptical about Luther quotes. Whenever I hear one, I verify it. I bring this up because all the talk about Mitt Romney’s Mormonism in the news is bound to summon forth another famous line that has been falsely attributed to Luther. Here’s the quote:
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Robert Jeffress Speaks to Church about Perry Endorsement
I blogged last week about Pastor Robert Jeffress’ endorsement of Rick Perry for the Republican presidential nomination at the Values Voter Summit. As you no doubt have seen by now, the endorsement and his remarks about Mormonism caused an explosion of media attention. In the Sunday morning service at the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, he addressed the congregation about what he had done. You can see his remarks above.
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The Cast of “The Princess Bride” Have Reunion
“The Princess Bride” is a classic. I still find myself quoting lines from it quite often. So it was a gas to see the cast reunited after 24 years. Watch above.
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President Obama Welcomes the ‘85 Bears to the White House
This is probably my favorite moment of the Obama administration. Yesterday he welcomed the 1985 Chicago Bears to the White House for a belated celebration of their Superbowl victory 26 years ago. The Bears’ trip to the White House was cancelled 26 years ago because of the Challenger disaster, and it never got rescheduled. So President Obama made good on that one today.