As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The court ruled in the case of a Texas inmate, John Henry Ramirez, who challenged state rules that would have forced his pastor to remain silent and apart from him as he is put to death.” - C.Index
Related: High court ruling for Texas inmate praised and Supreme Court backs a prisoner who sought his pastor’s touch at the time of execution
“Abuse is much worse than abandonment…. Abuse of a spouse or a child is exactly what God condemns everywhere in the Bible—the leveraging of power to hurt the vulnerable (Ps. 9:18; Isa. 3:14–15; Ezek. 18:12; Amos 2:7; Mark 9:42; etc.).” - Russell Moore
“The Public Religion Research Institute last week released the latest findings in its ongoing project of assessing Americans’ feelings about LGBTQ issues…. (Mormons) are still more conservative than the nation, but show a broadening of LGBTQ support compared with past surveys.” - RNS
“I gladly admit that I am simply bewildered whenever I meet someone who claims to be an evangelical Christianity but rejects substitutionary atonement as the latter is so intrinsically tied in with the former—historically and theologically.” - Roger Olson
“Dr. Hauser taught at Buffalo Bible Institute, San Francisco Baptist Theological Seminary, Denver Baptist Bible College and Seminary, and for 20 years taught at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.” - CBTS
Read the series.
When I first heard of the concept of COVID-19 lockdowns in the United States, including effectively closing down many churches, my first thought was how many lives this would cost—not save.
“The lack of evangelicals on the Supreme Court is partly a supply issue. While evangelicals make up a quarter of the American population, Crane found that they’re just 7 percent of the student body at the country’s top law schools.” - C.Today
Founder, Brian Houston: RNS: Hillsong pastor Brian Houston resigns after revelations of indiscretions with women, C.Today: Hillsong Church Founder Brian Houston Resigns
“Transhumanism is far from a household term, but, whether or not they use the word publicly, its adherents are in places of power…. Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is devoted to boosting ‘cognition’ and co-founded the company Neuralink toward that end.” - Slate
Related: Brain Inspired Hardware (Breakpoint)
“Unless we challenge our hearers to respond to God’s Word, we’ve only given them biblical information without telling them what to do with it … . Whether you prefer the term ‘response’ or ‘invitation,’ consider 5 ways to help your listeners respond to the Word.” - Chuck Lawless
“…a long tradition before them—from Augustine to C.S. Lewis—considered themselves Christian Platonists…. philosophy capable of defending Christianity’s belief in an eternal, unchanging first cause whose goodness, truth, and beauty explain reality and give this life true meaning and purpose.” - Credo
Read the series.
I am still writing some introductory remarks about Covenant Theology. I still think that we need to say something more about how to orient oneself to CT thinking. If I just move to outline the three basic covenants of CT I will obscure an important truth that should be out in the open right at the start. That important truth is this: Covenant theologians do not begin their thinking with the OT. They do not start at Genesis 1. They start at the death and resurrection of Jesus.
“the film ultimately advocates a wrongheaded central message under the guise of empowerment: embrace who you are, even your reckless vices and dangerous impulses, and don’t let anyone stop you.” - TGC
“I don’t mean that magnanimity is unique to men or that women are not also called to this trait. After all, Witherspoon calls it a Christian virtue. But I do think magnanimity is a virtue particularly befitting to manhood, and that manhood bereft of magnanimity is especially lamentable.” - DeYoung
“How to understand wildly different estimates from Ukraine, the West, and Russia itself—and what to make of a pro-Putin tabloid claiming it was hacked.” - The Dispatch
“…the overall share of U.S. worshippers who say their congregation is open to in-person services has not increased over the last six months, but fewer people say their services include coronavirus-related precautions.” - Pew
“A same-sex wedding led the university to split with its longtime research center over Christian teaching on sexuality.” - RNS
“Mohler responded by noting that the ‘whole context of the wedding as a public event is the public exchange of vows and the public declaration of the rightness of this relationship.’” - C.Post
“…avoiding these texts doesn’t make them disappear. Eventually you or someone you love will want an explanation.” - TGC
“Lawmakers appeared largely convinced by the report, peppering the panelists with questions over the course of the hour-long briefing.” - C.Leaders
“Similar to how payday lending is predatory with astronomically high interest rates and short loan periods, online gambling is designed to line the pockets of the company rather than to promote the common good rooted in the dignity of all people.” - BPNews
“This year marks 75 years since the discovery of the first scrolls near the Dead Sea. Noted archaeologist W. F. Albright once called it the ‘greatest archaeological find of modern times.’ His statement still holds true today, for at least three reasons.” - TGC
“In this short reflection, I don’t propose to address the question of whether a particular set of economic sanctions on a given country in the past or present was or is morally acceptable. Instead, I’d like to propose some key criteria by which we can assess the ethical status of a given choice to use economic sanctions.” - Acton
“ ‘How much longer, Lord?’ and ‘God, break the bones of my enemy’ now equal hallelujahs as leaders ask for advocacy and assistance, lamenting the silence by Russian Christians.” - C.Today
“I am leading a massive, multi-year study of how churches have fared during the pandemic. Nearly every conversation I have gets around to just how exhausted clergy are and how many of their colleagues are thinking about quitting the ministry.” - RNS
“Americans’ wariness about this wide arc of emergent developments runs through many of the survey’s findings.” - Pew
“What the ‘facts don’t care about your feelings’ and ‘the truth matters more than how it makes you feel’ crowd often fail to appreciate is that while they’re often at pains to tell us that they’re speaking this way from a place of love, they could’ve fooled us. From where many of us sit, it kind of seems like the other thing.” - Dale Chamberlain
