James 2:5-7. “Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? Yet you have dishonored the poor. Don’t the rich oppress you and drag you into court? Don’t they blaspheme the […]
Fixated on Fixing the Nation?
Recently, Bart Barber posted the following words on Facebook: Want to fix the nation? Fix the churches. Want to fix the churches? Fix the SBC (or your own family of churches). Want to fix the SBC? Fix your local church. Want to fix your local church? Start with yourself. #SpiritualAwakening101 Before proceeding with my response […]
Do You Have an Abner Spirit or a Joab Spirit?
It was a time of civil war in Israel. King Saul and his oldest son, Jonathan, had died in battle. The people of David’s native tribe of Judah had proclaimed him the new king. The prophet Samuel had anointed David years earlier and had let it be known that God had rejected Saul. But those […]
Worse than an infidel?
In recent days, in response to those calling on Christians to have compassion on needy people from other countries, I have heard or read several people reference 1 Timothy 5:8: “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than […]
“But we already said we’re sorry for that”
The conversation goes on. And from the perspective of some among us, it goes on and on and on and on and on. “Why can’t we just let bygones be bygones? Why do we have to keep on dredging up the past and revisiting the same sins over and over again? Didn’t we already say […]
The Rub
Driving home in my car just now I turned my radio on to the local Christian talk station just in time for the Jay Sekulow Live program. The topic of discussion for today was tax reform. Even though it is not the topic I want to write about, nor what I really want to discuss […]
Business as Ministry vs. Ministry as Business
Rule of thumb: “Business as ministry,” as a general principle, is honorable and good. “Ministry as business,” as a general principle, however, is neither honorable nor good. Necessary points of explanation and nuance: * God created man to be industrious and to work. Work has intrinsic value in and of itself. * God expects us […]
American Civil Religion & New Testament Christianity
As I have reflected on the matter, I have come to the conclusion that the underlying cause of many of the conflicts between different groups of Christians today in North America is a difference in the way we conceive of the proper relationship between civil religion and the practice of our Christian faith. In order […]
Nationwide and Citywide Revival
Though the concept of revival (or spiritual awakening) is certainly not absent from Scripture, it is my contention that some of the ways in which this topic is frequently broached in contemporary North American Evangelicalism are either Scripturally unbalanced or unfounded. One example of this is our tendency to talk of revival more on a […]
An Antinomist’s Perspective on Life in the SBC
Dave Miller’s post the other day got my mind to working, and conjured up an image that I am going to try to describe to you in this post, which could also be titled “Calvinism, Free Will, and Narnia: Redux,” as it picks up where I left off in another post I once wrote called […]
The Worst of “the Christian Right”
A recent article at The Christian Post entitled “Christian Leaders Call on Believers to be Less Rigid, Support Flawed Politicians” embodies what I consider to be the worst of what the political Christian Right has to offer. The setting of the article is the recent Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Harbor […]
Eschatology and Religious Liberty
Q. What is the one thing that is not present in heaven (or in the millennium, or in the New Jerusalem, depending on your take on eschatology) that we can be thankful is still present with us here today on earth? A. Religious liberty. “[The woman] gave birth to a male child, one who is […]