I have been reading and very much enjoying David Dockery’s new book Southern Baptist Consensus and Renewal: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Proposal. Dockery is a lifelong Southern Baptist who has a keen eye for the challenges that face the denomination. This is not a full review of the book, but I have read enough of it to recommend it to you (especially if you are a Southern Baptist). My aim in this post is simply to highlight a passage that is particularly insightful. Dockery writes:
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President Bush’s Biggest Blunder?
Douglas Feith was under secretary of defense for policy from July 2001 until August 2005. He was in the thick of things before and during the war in Iraq. In Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal, he explains how the President “nearly cost the U.S. the war.” In my view, Feith’s piece is the best analysis of the case for war that I have read all year. He writes:
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Where does Arminianism come from?
“Arminianism trumps biblical sentences with metaphysics.” –John Piper, “How A Roman Catholic Anti-Calvinist Can Serve Today’s Poet-Calvinists” (DesiringGod.org)
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Remember the Gospel of Judas?
Do you remember when the National Geographic Society unveiled the Gospel of Judas a couple of years ago? The newly discovered document supposedly contained a positive portrayal of Judas Iscariot, the man whom the canonical Gospels say betrayed Jesus. The Chronicle of Higher Education has a story about the aftermath of National Geographic’s unveiling, and it is not a pretty picture.
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Adoption and China’s One-Child Policy
Two stories appear in the news this morning that are related to one another only in this sense that they are likely to be of interest to pro-life readers. First, as many of you know, the pro-life movement has become increasingly pro-adoption in recent decades. This is a wonderful development that we can all be thankful for. The New York Times reports, however, that the “color blind” approach to some adoptions is coming under criticism.
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How To Read 500 Books a Year
D. A. Carson recently revealed that he reads about 500 books a year . . . sort of. During a question and answer session at a conference in New Mexico, Carson was asked about his reading habits, and he explains how he approaches the reading of books. Some books, he will read every word. Others, he gets the main idea and skims. He doesn’t necessarily read every line of every book he reads. “There’s reading, and then there’s reading,” he says. If I remember correctly, this is in keeping with Mortimer Adler’s advice in How To Read A Book (but I can’t be sure because I think I skimmed it).…
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Tornado Video
Tornadoes never cease to amaze. That was certainly the case with these images that were captured by a man who got a little too close to a recent touchdown in Kansas.
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Ross McGinnis Gets Congressional Medal of Honor
Memorial Day is a fitting occasion to give honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7). The Associated Press has the story: WASHINGTON — The White House announced Friday that a Pennsylvania soldier who jumped on top of a grenade in Iraq and saved the lives of his comrades will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor.
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Are we all cessationists?
Are we all cessationists? Jim Hamilton says we are in an interesting essay on the cessation of the gift of apostleship. His conclusion: “So it seems to me that everyone who thinks that there are no more Apostles like Peter and Paul thinks that at least one spiritual gift has ceased. It seems, then, that this discussion is simply over the degree of cessationism that we hold, because anyone who holds that there is no one in the church today with the same kind of authority possessed by Peter and Paul believes that the gift of Apostle has ceased. In conclusion, it seems to me that, at least as it…
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Defending the Unborn: An Evangelical Priority
God bless Stan Guthrie for speaking more clearly in one sentence than I have been able to do in many posts on this subject. In a piece on Christianity Today‘s website, Guthrie confronts the likes of Jim Wallis and Ron Sider who say that defending the unborn is one among many issues that evangelicals should be concerned about. Guthrie’s response gets right to the heart of the matter: ‘If everything is a priority, then nothing is.’