Proverbs 18:17, “The first to plead his case seems just, Until another comes and examines him.” “Hearers enthralled by a good speech in court can easily forget that they have heard only one side of the argument. More information is needed before a verdict can be reached. When the other party speaks in refutation, people realize they have heard only one side. The experience at court offers a lesson to all who make judgments about others. Truth appears gradually; one must listen to all sides. The old Latin axiom is relevant: audiatur et altera pars, ‘Let the other side be heard too.’ Protagoras in the fifth century B.C.E. said, ‘There…
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Dealing with Resolution 9 at the SBC
I am pre-registered as a messenger from my church to the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville next month. Because of the aftermath of 2019’s infamous “Resolution 9,” one of the most important items of business before the Convention will no doubt be a resolution relating to Critical Race Theory (CRT). I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. So I could be wildly off in this prediction, but I anticipate that we won’t leave Nashville without a strong resolution against Critical Race Theory. I won’t even try to predict the path from point A to point B, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to get to point…
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No Hedging. No Paternalism. Just obedience.
Hannah Anderson has an essay at Christianity Today warning against “paternalism” among complementarians. She says that paternalism occurs among complementarians whenever “policies and practices” are put into place “that restrict both the freedom and the responsibilities of women who do not hold the authority associated with pastors and husbands.” In other words, it’s not men in authority per se that are the problem. It’s those who misuse their authority to limit women under their charge. She then says that “The challenge for complementarians, then, is to create policies and practices that don’t unnecessarily limit the freedom or the responsibilities of women as co-heirs of the gospel of life.” Anderson cites…
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How To Turn Complementarians into Egalitarians
Mike Bird and Devi Abraham recently interviewed authors Kristin DuMez, Beth Allison Barr, and Aimee Byrd (see video below). All three of these authors have written books condemning complementarianism. Both DuMez and Barr are convinced egalitarians. While I have never heard Byrd own that label, she has said in her book that she is not a complementarian. In any case, it’s difficult to detect any daylight between Byrd’s position and that of the two egalitarians in this interview. They all three are very much opposed to complementarian theology, which is denigrated as abusive patriarchy in this interview. One thing that they all three seem to agree on is the need…
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SBC Presidential Candidates Discuss the Issues
Yesterday, the four men running for President of the Southern Baptist Convention participated in a forum discussion about their vision for the SBC. Many thanks to SBC Pipeline for convening and hosting this event. Here are the candidates: Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY) Randy Adams, Executive Director of the Northwest Baptist Convention Mike Stone, Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church (Blackshear, GA) Ed Litton, Pastor of Redemption Church (Saraland, AL) As far as I’m concerned, the best part of this video is listening to each of these men’s testimonies. They blessed me beyond words. It was also good to hear these brothers explain why they…
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A Conversation with Aaron Renn
It was a real pleasure to speak with Aaron Renn on his podcast last week. He titled the episode “Complementarianism and Its Discontents,” and it was a wide-ranging conversation from personal testimony to the current landscape of complementarianism. Aaron is a fascinating guy who writes really stimulating material on what it means to be male and female. In fact, one of the reasons he invited me on the show is due to my recent interaction with an essay he wrote for the Masculinist a couple years ago. He made the case that complementarianism is a Baby Boomer theology that is likely to fade as the Baby Boomers age out. I…
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Burying the Gospel under Trash
I love Spurgeon. No one says it like he does. I’ve been working on my sermon for Sunday and in preparation just finished reading Spurgeon’s sermon on 2 Cor. 5:14 titled “Under Constraint.” In one section, he confronts the indifference that some Christians display toward false teachers and their error. I think Spurgeon’s intensity reflects that of the apostle Paul. This is a relevant word today, and we need to hear this: He who does not hate the false does not love the true; and he to whom it is all the same whether it be God’s word or man’s, is himself unrenewed at heart. Oh, if some of you…
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Senator Tim Scott Targets CRT Head-On
Last night, Senator Tim Scott gave the GOP response to President Biden’s speech to the nation (read here or watch below). In many ways it was an ordinary political speech, focusing on policy alternatives to the opposing party. In other ways, it was extraordinary. Senator Scott talked openly about his faith. He spoke about his impoverished upbringing and “a praying momma” that kept him from going into a very dark place. He also talked about his conversion to Christ, proclaiming that “becoming a Christian transformed my life.” And then he concluded with words that are absolutely extraordinary to hear in a modern political speech: I am standing here because my…
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Concealing the Path to Justice
Early this morning, CBS News released a video featuring Ibram X. Kendi’s reflections on the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin. You can watch the video at the bottom of this post or read the transcript below. Kendi says, With today’s conviction, we can now formally say that Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. A Minneapolis jury convicted a police officer who knelt on the neck of a handcuffed Black man in a prone position for more than 9 minutes. So now what? Chauvin is headed to jail, but is America headed for justice? Is justice convicting a police officer, or is justice convicting America? When tens of millions…
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The Verdict
Earlier today, a jury in Minneapolis delivered three guilty verdicts against Derek Chauvin, the former police officer who killed George Floyd. The jury deliberations were relatively short, which seemed to signal in advance that guilty verdicts were in the offing. And indeed they were. I was not able to watch the whole trial (who could?), but I did read news coverage as it progressed. I also caught some of the closing arguments from both the defense and the prosecution. From what I saw, it was clear to me that the prosecution was very effective at proving its case. The key features that the trial confirmed were cause of death and…