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 →
Ethics
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 →
DeYoung On The Attraction Of Wilson
I’m convinced the appeal of Moscow is visceral more than intellectual. That’s not meant to be a knock on the smart people in Moscow or attracted to Moscow. It is to say, however, that people are not mainly moving to Idaho because . . . Continue reading →
Jesus’ Theology Of The Cross: Blessed Are The Persecuted
11Blessed are you whenever they mock you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you, lying against you. 12Rejoice and exult because your reward is great in heaven. For thus they persecuted the prophets before you. (Matt 5:11–12) During . . . Continue reading →
New Resource Page: On Pilgrim Theology
“Pilgrim Theology” is a broad category in which theological prolegomena (introduction to theology), the doctrine of God, Christology, and Christian ethics (the Christian life) intersect with eschatology (i.e., how we understand our current and future relationship to heaven and the final state), . . . Continue reading →
Bredenhof On Wilson: Mark And Avoid
I’m a Canadian living in Australia. I really don’t understand how difficult it should be to just categorically condemn American slavery as evil and move on. Why all the waffling? But in the United States there’s this phenomenon known as Neo-confederacy. It’s . . . Continue reading →
Bredenhof: Reasons Why Wilson Should Not Be Regarded As Reliable
…Wilson presents his [theonomic] position as something distinct from theonomists like Greg Bahnsen. However, as an OPC minister, Greg Bahnsen affirmed the Westminster Confession too. He too affirmed what the Westminster Confession says about “general equity.” He was a “Westminster theonomist.” What . . . Continue reading →
Dear Abusive Men In The Church
Dear abusive men in the church, I so often feel like berating you, but in what follows I actually want to give you a compliment of sorts. You are succeeding in changing hearts and minds about a key issue facing the church . . . Continue reading →