While the problems of the evangelical Purity Movement have been well documented, one of its biggest errors was promoting a non-theological account of modesty focused almost exclusively on behaviors. With few exceptions, modesty was largely cast as the responsibility of women to . . . Continue reading →
Ethics
Gathercole: Did Paul Really Expect Christ To Return In His Lifetime?
The mystery in 1 Corinthians 15.51–52 has long been a standard prooftext for the idea that Paul envisaged the parousia happening in his lifetime.1 On this view of the passage, Paul assumes his survival and that of a portion of his generation until . . . Continue reading →
Christian Camp Litigates For Religious Liberty
For more than 75 years, Camp IdRaHaJe has welcomed children each summer to hear the Gospel, build character, and grow in faith. Nestled in Bailey, Colorado, the camp’s name comes from a simple hymn lyric: “I’d rather have Jesus.” In 2024, the . . . Continue reading →
Second Circuit Rules For Christian School
Mid Vermont Christian School forfeited a girls’ playoff basketball game to avoid playing a team with a transgender athlete. The school believes that forcing girls to compete against biological males would affirm that those males are females, in violation of its religious . . . Continue reading →
Nihilism And The American Middle
In recent years, a new form of terror has emerged: decentralized, digitally driven violence organized not around coherent ideologies but around memes, fantasies, and nihilistic impulses. The perpetrators of this low-grade terror campaign do not belong to hierarchical organizations or pursue concrete . . . Continue reading →
We’re Not The First Christians To Live In A Sexualized Culture
We’re not the first Christians to live in a highly sexualized culture. In fact, many of the first New Testament Christians lived in exactly that kind of culture. Over and over again the apostles warn against sexual immorality. They had to do . . . Continue reading →
It’s Nihilism
MAGA social-media personality Benny Johnson blamed transgenderism; Westman started identifying as female in 2020, when he was 17. (Robin Westman used to be Robert Westman.) “The trans movement is radicalizing the mentally ill into becoming violent terrorists who target children for murder,” Johnson posted . . . Continue reading →
The Vertical Dimensions Of The Cross
The Scriptures give us a robust revelation about all that Jesus accomplished on the cross. As we go about seeking to categorize all of the various dimensions of the cross, we discover that there are both vertical and horizontal dimensions to Jesus’ work. The verticaldimensions are foundational; . . . Continue reading →
Pot Is Not What You Think It Is
Rescheduling marijuana would open the door for Big Weed to go mainstream. Businesses now operating in a legal grey area could licitly deduct business expenses, access capital, and advertise openly. National brands could arise, running spots during football games, offering intro deals via . . . Continue reading →
Three AI Challenges
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is rapidly developing. It’s hard to keep up with some of the new ethical challenges Christians are facing. Especially our young people are being bombarded with all kinds of tempting new possibilities for distraction, entrapment, deceit, and apostasy. . . . Continue reading →
Concerning Scandals And Scandalizers
Richard Nixon (1913–94) was President of the United States from 1968–74. He resigned from office in disgrace because of his part in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal. By today’s standards, the Watergate scandal might be considered small potatoes. Nixon himself, who . . . Continue reading →
The Order Of Love (Ordo Amoris): Proximity, Not Ethnicity (Part 3)
So far in this brief series I have alluded to Aquinas’ discussion of the ordo amoris (order of love). It was by reading Thomas that I was sent back to Augustine but now we come to Aquinas’ own discussion of the order . . . Continue reading →
The Order Of Love (Ordo Amoris): Proximity, Not Ethnicity (Part 2)
Three times in his discussion of the nature of virtue Thomas Aquinas (c. 1224–74) referred to Augustine’s AD 388 treatise against the Manichaeans, On The Morals of the Church (De moribus ecclesiae) regarding the “order of love.”1 Even though it was a . . . Continue reading →
Sporting Chance Providence: Olympics Pedagogy
Even though I cannot use sporting “chance” as a header for a column, I still learn a lot from sports—always have. Growing up playing competitive sports taught me many lessons that I would not have learned otherwise, and these have helped in . . . Continue reading →
What The Hoodie Means
I was driving home from work yesterday when I saw a teenager walking down the street in 80-degree weather with a hoodie pulled over his head. It’s July! I wish I owned the patent on the hoodie design, if such a thing . . . Continue reading →
Is There Distinctively Reformed Medicine?
After a visit to my father at his local hospital, I had a worldview moment. What should have alerted me from the outset was the name of the place – St. Mary’s. But then I noticed that the spiritual services wing of . . . Continue reading →
Alexis de Tocqueville and American Exceptionalism
It must be acknowledged that in few of the civilized nations of our time have the higher sciences made less progress than in the United States; and in few have great artists, distinguished poets, or celebrated writers been more rare. Many Europeans, . . . Continue reading →
Advice To Young Pastors
I was twenty-eight years old when I started in full-time ministry in 1999 as associate pastor of a large Presbyterian church. I was thirty when I was called to pastor a small suburban church on my own. I made loads of mistakes . . . Continue reading →
Wasteful Gaming, Providence, And Being Truly Counter-Cultural
In 2024 when we see the participle gaming, we are likely to think of computers and headsets, but for centuries the word signified gambling. It still does. Several state governments in the USA have “gaming commissions” or the like. One of the . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: Resources For And About Children
“Behold, children are a heritage from Yahweh, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Ps 127:3). God’s Word regards children as a great blessing. To Abraham and to all believers he gives this promise: “And I will establish my covenant between me . . . Continue reading →