I don’t go to the movies much anymore, and neither does anyone really. If video killed the radio star, then streaming killed the big screen. It takes a lot to get anyone interested in actually going to a theater to see a movie these days, but people will still go to the spectacle of the summer blockbuster. As we approached the summer, there were three spectacles that I wanted to see—Mission Impossible, Superman, and Fantastic Four. As I said in my previous reviews, I was disappointed with the first two movies. Mission Impossible was an implausible matriarchal farce, and Superman was vacuous and silly. So perhaps my expectations were a little low before I…
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How Should Preachers Deal with the Story of the Woman Caught in the Act of Adultery?
I have been preaching through the Gospel of John at my church, and on Sunday I reached John 7:53-8:11–the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Without question, this is one of the most beloved passages in all of Scripture, but it is also one of the most poorly attested in the Greek New Testament. No version of the story appears in any copy of John’s Gospel until the 5th century–about 400 years after the Gospel was written. Also the language and style of the Greek stands apart from the rest of the Gospel. Linguistically, it’s like a whole different world than the rest of John’s account.…
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What You Get When Superman’s Dad is Larry-the-Cable-Guy
I finally saw James Gunn’s Superman over the weekend. If you are looking for a light popcorn movie, then you’re gonna like this one. If you’re looking for a film that is not only entertaining but also stays faithful to the best parts of the Superman myth, this one is probably going to disappoint. What does this film have going for it? If you like over-the-top, immersive CGI, this is your movie. It was a really good cartoon—along the lines of the second Dr. Strange movie. I personally appreciated the throwback to the old Super Friends Hall of Justice. I didn’t see that coming, but there it was in all…
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No, Southern Baptists Have Not “Officially Rejected” the Nicene Creed
From time to time, people move from one Christian tradition to another. This is not a new thing, although sometimes it can be painful and unpleasant as one pulls up anchor, says goodbye to friends and loved ones, and heads for another shore. These things happen. And the best that we can do after all the conversations are done and attempts to persuade are over is wish each other well with as much grace as possible. That is why it is usually not necessary to comment publicly on such departures. But Southern Baptists have just witnessed a departure that unfortunately may require some comment. Dr. Matthew Barrett, well-known SBC seminary…
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About the thing that happened at that Coldplay concert…
About the thing that happened at that Coldplay concert, I have seen countless memes and jokes about it online. I even saw a major grocery store chain create an ad out of it. This text from Ephesians comes to mind: “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Eph. 5:3-5).…
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Is Marriage a “Submission Competition”?
Andy Stanley posted on X about what the New Testament requires of husbands and wives. He writes: New Testament Marriage is a submission competition. “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Eph 5:21) “Walk in the way of love, JUST AS Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…” (Eph. 5:2) The only problem with this argument is that neither this text nor any other in the New Testament tells husbands to submit to their wives. Thus, egalitarians are mistaken to interpret “one another” to require mutual submission. The Greek term for “one another” does not always denote strict reciprocity. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t.…
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner (1970-2025)
I just read the news about the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner. According to reports, it was an accidental drowning. He was 54. For folks in my generation, Warner lives in our imaginations as Theo, the precocious teenage son of Clair and Cliff Huxtable. Even though it was a fictional family, they were nearly universally beloved. They were a picture of what everyone wished their family could be–loving, committed, loyal, not broken or perverse. They honored the grandparents and hung together. And they made us laugh. Pure joy. It was more than a sitcom. It was an ideal. An aspiration. That is why it was so hard to learn the distance…
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The Reports of Complementarian Demise Are Greatly Exagerrated
Aaron Renn is very insightful when he’s offering cultural and sociological analysis. However, his most recent essay on complementarianism doesn’t engage either theology or history. In this case, his analysis of complementarianism goes awry because he takes his generalizations about Boomers (which are generally correct) and then uses them as axioms to interrogate a biblical doctrine. The result is that he makes some pretty basic theological and the historical mistakes. Beyond Boomerism – Evangelical gender theology and why younger generations have to unshackle themselves from being overly wedded to Boomer thinking https://t.co/l2Kc93eC5v — Aaron M. Renn ?? (@aaron_renn) July 17, 2025 He claims that Piper and Grudem enjoy pope-like status…
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How a Christian Patriot Loves His Wayward Nation
If you’ve never seen G. K. Chesterton’s reflections on being a Christian patriot, I encourage you to read “The Flag of the World” in his classic work Orthodoxy. Chesterton contends that love of one’s homeland is not like house-hunting—an experience in which you weigh the pros and cons of a place and choose accordingly. He writes: A man belongs to this world before he begins to ask if it is nice to belong to it. He has fought for the flag, and often won heroic victories for the flag long before he has ever enlisted. To put shortly what seems the essential matter, he has a loyalty long before he…
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Defending the Moderator
I have been watching certain people online criticize pastor Kevin DeYoung for the way he moderated a debate last week at the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of America. The body was debating a motion about whether to retain the current leader of Mission to North America (MNA). At the end of the allotted time for debate, teaching elder Timothy Brindle rose to speak against the motion (watch here). Brindle says that the leader of MNA had supported race-based “affinity” groups in the past, including worship services designed to serve only one racial grouping. Brindle said, “Friends, if the coordinator of MNA believes he’s not safe in space…
