Don’t miss SI’s cover story on Tim Tebow. Tebow is the genuine article, and SI reporter Austin Murphy knows it (even though he pokes fun at him a little bit, calling him a “nerd for Jesus”). Murphy writes: “Watching Tebow zip passes into the seams of opposing defenses, lower his shoulder in short yardage and exhort his teammates like King Henry V on St. Crispin’s Day, one might think that he was put on this earth just to run coach Urban Meyer’s spread offense. Watching him pace the floor of a gymnasium packed with 660 wayward men hanging on his every syllable is to realize that regardless of what position…
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Is the Gay Marriage Debate Over?
Mark Galli has a fascinating article in Christianity Today titled “Is the Gay Marriage Debate Over?” He says that the culture’s shifting views on marriage are due in part to radical individualism. He argues that, unfortunately, this individualism has already caused some slippage among evangelicals on the marriage question.
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The Wedding Dance
You know it’s a bona fide YouTube sensation when Matt and Meredith cover it on the “Today Show.” The interview above tells the story behind this spectacle and has excerpts from the original video. Below you can see where they recreated the dance for the “Today Show” this morning.
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President Carter Takes on the Bible
Former President Jimmy Carter recently revisited his decision to leave the Southern Baptist denomination. In an article for the British Observer, he stated the following: “My decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when th e convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This was in conflict with my belief – confirmed in the holy…
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Tebow Is Always Good in the Clutch
Tim Tebow is good in the clutch, and that includes answering tough (and even dumb) questions from reporters. In what may be the dumbest, most-out-of-bounds question to date, Tebow maintained his composure. Tebow did not get sacked in this encounter, but I hope the reporter does. P.S. I agree with Kevin Allen’s take on this one.
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Can you get de-baptized?
Here’s an article from USA Today explaining a new trend among atheists, ‘de-baptism.’ ‘Up until last summer, Jennifer Gray of Columbus, Ohio, considered herself “a weak Christian” whose baptism at age 11 in a Kentucky church came to mean less and less to her as she gradually lost faith in God. ‘Then the 32-year-old medical transcriptionist took a decisive step, one that previously hadn’t been available. She got “de-baptized.” ‘In a type of mock ceremony that’s now been performed in at least four states, a robed “priest” used a hairdryer marked “reason” in an apparent bid to blow away the waters of baptism once and for all. Several dozen participants…
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A Critical Look at Cronkite’s Legacy
The Wall Street Journal has an editorial that offers a critical look at the journalistic legacy of Walter Cronkite. This one is worth reading in full, but here’s an excerpt: “The most important moment in his career came when he departed from the newsman’s role to play editorialist… “Without the authority that derives from that trust, reporters get careless about objectivity, weakening the audience’s trust even further. “The glory of Walter Cronkite’s career is that he did more than anyone to earn his viewers’ trust and establish his profession’s authority. The tragedy is that he also did more than anyone else to undermine them.”
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Concerns about New Hate Crimes Bill
The Baptist Press reports some disturbing news: ‘The U.S. Senate passed legislation July 16 to expand hate crimes protections to include homosexuals and transgendered people.’ Here’s how the Baptist Press explains the significance of the measure: ‘The measure, combined with existing law, could expose to prosecution Christians and others who proclaim the Bible’s teaching that homosexual behavior and other sexual relations outside marriage are sinful. For example, if a person commits a violent act based on a victim’s “sexual orientation” after hearing biblical teaching on the sinfulness of homosexual behavior, the preacher or teacher could be open to a charge of inducing the person to commit the crime, some foes…
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Tom Wright on ECUSA Declaration of Independence
The Episcopal Church in the USA (ECUSA) has effectively declared its independence from the worldwide Anglican Communion. Yesterday, the House of Bishops of ECUSA voted overwhelmingly to allow practicing homosexuals to be consecrated and ordained. In taking this step, they knowingly defied the rest of the communion. Read about it here. Bishop Tom Wright has written forcefully denouncing the move in the Times online, and his remarks are worth noting. He writes:
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Richard Hays and the Authority of the NT
Recently I picked up again Richard Hays’s The Moral Vision of the New Testament in preparation for a paper I am giving at ETS this November. Hays rightly argues at the beginning of the book that the New Testament is the norm that trumps all other authorities. He writes: “This study proceeds on the assumption that the canonical Scriptures constitute the norma normans for the church’s life, whereas every other source of moral guidance . . . must be understood as norma normata. Thus, normative Christian ethics . . . must begin and end in the interpretation and application of Scripture for the life of the community of faith. Such…