My friends at Denton Bible Church are hosting an apologetics conference this November 5-6, and it looks like they’ve got a great line-up. It’s called the “On Guard Christian Apologetics Conference,” and featured speakers include William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, and Sean McDowell. Here’s a description of the event from the conference website:
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Olasky vs. Wallis
Marvin Olasky reports for World Magazine that Jim Wallis’ Sojourners group has been receiving funding from George Soros—the billionaire leftist who has financed groups promoting abortion, atheism, and same-sex marriage. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to Wallis’ leftward commitments shouldn’t be surprised that Soros might be interested in beefing up Sojourner‘s bottom-line. Wallis, however, is denying the report. In fact, he got downright prickly in a recent interview when asked about Olasky’s article:
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Theological Journal
The July 2010 issue of the journal Themelios came out earlier this week, and the entire journal is available as a free download. I have an article in this issue about the debate among Christians over the moral status of homosexuality. You can download that single article here: “Why Evangelicals Should Not Heed Brian McLaren: How the New Testament Requires Evangelicals to Render a Judgment on the Moral Status of Homosexuality” There are some outstanding articles in this issue that you should check out as well. Fred Zaspel’s essay on B. B. Warfield is an important one. B. B. Warfield is often cited as the prime example of an evangelical…
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The WAC just got Whacked!
The beleaguered conference of my alma mater just took another hit. The AP reports that Fresno State and Nevada are leaving the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) for the Mountain West Conference (MWC). The WAC’s highest profile team, Boise State, announced earlier this summer that it was leaving for the MWC as well. There are rumors that BYU might be joining the WAC for all sports except football. That would leave the WAC with only six teams—two teams short of the NCAA minimum to have a conference. After losing our head coach this year to the University of Tennessee, this news comes as another blow to the program. For the sake…
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Anne Rice Reads Scripture
CT‘s interview with Anne Rice is a fascinating read. I have to say that I am astonished to discover how much she enjoys reading conservative, Protestant interpreters of scripture. She lists D. A. Carson, Craig Keener, and N. T. Wright among her favorites, and says, “Of all the people I’ve read over the years, it’s their work that I keep on my desk.” Here’s a piece of the relevant exchange:
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Why I don’t care for Glenn Beck’s politics
The video above is a case in point of why I don’t care for Glenn Beck’s politics. It doesn’t matter to me that he is an economic and national defense conservative. He treats the greatest human rights crisis of our time (abortion on demand) as an afterthought, and he’s totally out to lunch on gay marriage. This is libertarianism, and I’m not a fan. Here’s a bit from the exchange on gay marriage:
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McKnight Interviews McLaren
Scot McKnight recently sat down and asked Brian McLaren three questions about what exactly McLaren believes (see above). I have the three questions transcribed below, but I think the last question is the most important. In the third question, McKnight asks McLaren if he’s a universalist. Don’t hold your breath for a direct answer because McLaren doesn’t give one. McLaren says that he is not an exclusivist but that he can’t say that he’s a universalist either. He won’t commit to either view. McLaren’s says that he’s working within a new “narrative” in which those old questions of heaven and hell don’t make sense anymore. In spite of McLaren’s obfuscation,…
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The Faith of Katy Perry
The most recent issue of Rolling Stone has an interview with pop music sensation Katy Perry. I’ve written about Perry before and have noted her past life as Katy Hudson—a Christian music star and the daughter of two charismatic youth pastors. What I found interesting about this interview in Rolling Stone was her remarks about her current spiritual state and practices. She describes it this way: “Speaking in tongues is as normal to me as ‘Pass the salt.’ A lot of religions use meditation or chanting as a subliminal prayer language, and speaking in tongues isn’t that different–it’s a secret, direct prayer language to God. If I felt intuitively that…
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Inconsistent Pro-life Evangelicals
Randy Alcorn has been a heroic pro-life advocate for many years. His part in the fight has cost him greatly. Nevertheless, he soldiers on. Mark Driscoll has recorded a series of conversations with Alcorn about the issue, and it would be well worth your time to watch all of them. The most recent installment focuses on inconsistent pro-life evangelicals—that is, those who call themselves pro-life but then don’t vote their stated conviction. Here are links to all three parts. Part 1 – Why Does Bestselling Author Randy Alcorn Make Minimum Wage? Part 2 – How God Uses Evil for Good Part 3 – Are Young Pro-Life Evangelicals Inconsistent?
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Evangelical Bigots?
Carl Trueman notes that for Americans under 35 years of age, homosexual marriage is not even an issue. That figure indicates a great generational divide over attitudes toward homosexuality. The trend lines in our culture are moving decidedly in the direction affirming homosexuality as normal. Trueman predicts, therefore, four challenges that lie ahead for Christians. Here’s the fourth challenge that Trueman mentions: “Those evangelical leaders, academics and evangelical institutions that prize their place at the table and their invitations to appear on `serious’ television programs, and who enjoy being asked to offer their opinion to the wider culture had better be prepared to make a choice. As I have said…