I was struck this morning when NBC’s Today Show offered glowing and nostalgic remembrances of how great New Orleans was before the hurricane. The parties, the good times, the food, and the music. According to the Today Show‘s reporting, New Orleans was a virtual heaven on earth—a true American original. I have to say, however, that as a native Louisianan, I don’t think that description of pre-hurricane New Orleans really rings true. Yes, it is true that the city had its charms, but it also had its challenges, the kinds of challenges that are routinely overlooked by reveling tourists. I could relate story after story about how difficult the city…
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More on Bethlehem’s Position on Baptism
After my last blog, people asked why the elders at Bethlehem Baptist (John Piper‘s church) are proposing to change its requirements for membership. The new policy being proposed by the elders is that under certain conditions members need not be baptized by immersion after coming to faith. Of course, the change would have to be approved by the congregation before the policy would go into effect. One of the reasons that the elders are moving in this new direction is that “the doctrinal bar of the eldership at Bethlehem” has been raised significantly in a statement of faith titled “Bethlehem Baptist Church Elder Affirmation of Faith.” Here is the section…
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John Piper on Accepting the Unbaptized as Members
John Piper, Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN Pastor John Piper has just made a stunning announcement concerning who will be accepted as members at his Baptist church. “The Council of Elders believes that membership requirements at Bethlehem should move toward being roughly the same as the requirements for membership in the universal body of Christ . . . The most obvious change this involves is allowing the possibility that a person may become a member who has not been baptized by immersion as a believer but who regards the baptismal ritual he received in infancy not as regenerating, but nevertheless (as with most Presbyterians) in such a…
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Military Chaplains Pressured Not to Pray in the Name of Jesus
Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt, a chaplain and a priest with the Evangelical Episcopal Church, has accused the Navy of religious discrimination. The Washington Post reports today on an little known controversy among the ranks of chaplains in the U.S. military: “Evangelical Protestant chaplains are fighting what they say is a legacy of discrimination in hiring and promotions, and they are bridling at suggestions they not pray publicly ‘in the name of Jesus.'” You can read the full story here.
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Watching and Waiting With Apprehension and Prayers
My wife and I are watching the impending disaster as it creeps ever closer to the shores of our home state. We are apprehensive about our family and friends who live in and around the New Orleans area and who are preparing for the worst. One of my friends from high school just evacuated his family at 4pm this afternoon. They left Covington, LA to head back toward our hometown DeRidder, LA (which is in the southwest part of the state and out of the way of the storm). The westbound traffic on I-10 between New Orleans and DeRidder is crawling along very slowly. In some spots it is taking…
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What do college students do when they aren’t studying?
My Greek teacher Rev. James Lipscomb and I during one of our tutoring sessions at his home in Ruston, LA (circa 1994). “What do college students do when they aren’t studying?” According to the Wall Street Journal‘s Naomi Riley’s review of two books about college life, college students are primarily engaged in idleness. No, they are not studying and going to class forty hours a week. They certainly are not becoming avid readers. Rather, they are in pursuit of the ideal represented in their ubiquitous watchword: “fun.” “Fun” includes among other things a great deal of binge drinking (often beginning on Thursday night and going through the weekend) and frequent…
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Pro-Life and Hip-Hop: Nick Cannon’s Amazing Video
Nick Cannon and His Mother It’s not often that a rap video brings a tear to your eye. But my wife and I watched one tonight that did. Some of you may know Nick Cannon from the hit movie “Drumline” or perhaps from his new show on MTV, “Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘N Out.” What you may not know is that he released a music video this summer that is powerfully pro-life. The lyrics to the song tell the true story of Nick Cannon’s mother. When she became pregnant with Nick, she was an unwed teenager. She made it all the way to the operating table of the abortion clinic…
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Mohler and Moore on Pornography
In light of my blogs from last week on the XXXChurch, I would like bring your attention to R. Albert Mohler and Russell D. Moore’s blogs. Dr. Mohler investigates “Pornified America—The Culture of Pornography” in a review of a book by Pamela Paul. Dr. Moore’s essay is about “Praying for Porn Stars.”
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“No Miracles Allowed”
Today’s Washington Post runs a story on the Intelligent Design (ID) debate titled “In Explaining Life’s Complexity, Darwinists and Doubters Clash.” One opponent of Intelligent Design explains why he thinks ID is unscientific: “One of the rules of science is, no miracles allowed. That’s a fundamental presumption of what we do.” Isn’t it telling that the proponents of Darwinism reject ID based solely on the presumption that ID can’t be right. There’s no serious engagement of the arguments and data cited by ID proponents, just an a priori dismissal. This just goes to show the atheistic naturalism that is at the heart of much of modern science. This God-less presumption…
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“Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive”
Even the title of the story reveals that the New York Times is on the war-path against intelligent design: “Politicized Scholars Put Evolution on the Defensive“. This article reads like an opinion piece, but it’s not. It’s reported as straight news. There is no serious engagement of arguments in this article, just the usual ad-hominem accusation that Intelligent Design scientists are politically motivated culture warriors.