My dissertation probably reveals a lot about trends in my thinking. I took a century-old Baptist squabble and sought to explain how I think societal trends in the culture at large were the driving force behind the controversy. It's not that I'm a soft-sciences pragmatist. Quite the opposite: I'm a (sometimes bombastic) theologue who regrets that culture so frequently drives the church. So, amid everyone's analysis of recent votes, missionary policies, and the leadership profiles of Jerry Rankin, Tom Elliff, and David Platt, I'm sitting here thinking that something much broader and less … [Read more...] about How My Church Website Fires Missionaries
Homeschooling Post-Duggar
It has been a difficult year for fans of the TLC's celebrity Duggar family. The show "19 Kids and Counting" reaches a lot of constituencies. Quiverfull fecundity fans, conservative Evangelicals, Arkansans, debt-avoiding coupon-clippers, and hash-brown casserole fans all alike can find something entertaining in the show. Alongside all of these, the show also has a strong following among homeschoolers—particularly those who reside in the general neighborhood of Tier 2. For the people in this last category (and perhaps no less to the others), the scandals surrounding Josh Duggar can evoke more … [Read more...] about Homeschooling Post-Duggar
Merritt’s Misunderstanding
Jonathan Merritt's recent RNS article, “Southern Baptists Cozy Up to GOP after Pulling Back” entirely misunderstands, I think, the nature of what happened with the Ben Carson matter earlier this year and with the SEND North America conference. At least, as someone who had some involvement in the former matter, I can say that Merritt's analysis misses the mark on what I was trying to do. This wasn't about political parties. Correcting what one person has written is probably not a good use of anyone's time, even if that one person is a journalist with a national audience. But Merritt is not … [Read more...] about Merritt’s Misunderstanding
The Biblical Case for Religious Liberty
I am doggedly committed to the idea of universal religious liberty not because it is American or self-serving but because it is biblical. As a pastor, I am obligated to follow the Word of God even when doing so puts me at odds with contemporary public opinion. When the day comes that I do not have the courage to do so, I will relinquish my pulpit to a better man. The biblical case for religious liberty is not merely some marginal case; it is a case made as nearly invincibly as any found in the biblical text short of such matters as the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Indeed, … [Read more...] about The Biblical Case for Religious Liberty
Connecting the Dots
SBC Voices has been overwhelmingly fixated recently on questions of racial reconciliation. SBC Voices will be overwhelmingly fixated in the near future on same-sex marriage. I'm about to disengage from online media for a while in order to turn my attention to other tasks. This is a temporary vacation, not a retirement. But as a parting contribution, permit me an uncharacteristically brief post to connect these two topics. A post of mine is forthcoming Monday at Canon & Culture in which I will suggest, among other things, that the racial integration of American Evangelicalism at the … [Read more...] about Connecting the Dots
Recidivism
Growing is the list of "unchangeables" from the perspective of our society. Terrorists do not change, we are told. They can never be rehabilitated. Lock them away forever. Bullies do not change, we are told. It's better not to trust them. Failed cities and their inhabitants do not change, we are told. That's just the way that neighborhood is. Let the police clamp down on it as much as they can and keep those people over there. Sexual offenders do not change, we are told. Register them. Monitor them. Never give them a break. Sexual orientation and gender identity do not change, we … [Read more...] about Recidivism
Trying to Find the “Private Only” Option in Scripture
My position makes sense to me. I think it would be wrong to forbid speaking in tongues. I just have never encountered anyone actually doing that, as I understand the biblical gift: miraculously speaking in an actual language (a system of meaning-conveying sounds used to communicate ideas) that one has not naturally acquired. And so, I'm not in a position of encountering a biblical spiritual gift but forbidding its practice (as I see it). If I am in error, it is an error of being underly perceptive rather than overly restrictive. Whether the gift be exercised in public or in private really … [Read more...] about Trying to Find the “Private Only” Option in Scripture
More Than One ‘R’
PBS's NOVA has a fascinating recent episode entitled The Great Math Mystery. The "mystery" explored in the episode is the question of whether mathematics are ontologically real or are merely a way that we classify and think about the universe. In simpler words, where is math? Is it something in your head, or is it something out there? Appearing in the episode is a colorful MIT physicist named Max Tegmark who claims not only that math is ontologically real (let's call this "Mathematical Platonism"…uh…since that's what it is), but that math is the only thing that is real (a step beyond … [Read more...] about More Than One ‘R’
How Joel Osteen Makes Me Worry Less about the IMB Policies
Joel Osteen will be thrilled, I'm sure, to know that he's made someone a little bit happier today (since I've never heard him say anything that scratched much deeper than wanting people to be a little bit happier today). You see, Joel Osteen doesn't speak in tongues. OK, so I don't know what he does in private, but if you tune in to his multimedia self, although you'll get a lot of gibberish, none of it will be of the glossolalic variety. Osteen comes from a charismatic background. He leads a church with a charismatic background. They've put tongues on the back burner. And Osteen is not … [Read more...] about How Joel Osteen Makes Me Worry Less about the IMB Policies
Make Your Old Phone Useful Again
The iPhone 6 has been out now for many months. I've still got an iPhone 5. Actually, I've also still got an iPhone 4, sitting in a drawer at the house, totally unused. Once your contract expires and you upgrade to the latest-and-greatest, what to do with that old phone? I gave one to my mother, once. People hand them down to the kids, often stripped of telephony services, as a platform to play Jetpack Joyride. Here's another option for you: Donate it to missionaries and help spread the good news about Jesus to the world. The Terms I need to come up with at least six iPhone 5s by the … [Read more...] about Make Your Old Phone Useful Again