The differences between the woman in the revealing swimwear, drunken coeds on Girls Gone Wild, a prostitute, a stripper or a sexually exploited child are only in the extremes and opportunities. The mindset is the same. Objects have no opinion, no right of refusal, no humanity, no femininity. Like a tire or a piece of... Continue Reading

There are likely far bigger disappointments to come than the one that dropped last Thursday. We did not choose this culture war and it is not about to leave us alone. The media, the academy, the government, the libertine elite–they may sully our reputation and shame our convictions, but they cannot steal our joy. We... Continue Reading

Even on its own terms, cohabitation doesn’t “prepare” couples for marriage. Without the security of permanence and fidelity a “relationship” is wholly different from a marriage. As a matter of fact, “dating” isn’t a preparation for marriage either, beyond the level of discovering whether this couple have a reason not to marry.   Most Christians don’t look to Chris... Continue Reading

The question of the Obamacare contraception mandate has a simple answer for Christians: we must obey God instead of man. At the same time, we should realize the question of communicating our position to non-Christians is not so simple, and requires us to maintain a calm, gracious, and thoughtful demeanor in making our case before... Continue Reading

At the same time, if a sense of shortcoming is all that we come away with, then the image we’ll form of God is of a God who is perpetually irritated with us. We’ll consider Him to be a scowling God, a God who is constantly tossing His arms up in the air as if... Continue Reading

The tones of dictatorship are all over the Hobby Lobby case. No ball game I’ve ever attended included referees so blatantly determined to help one team win. If only it were just a game. It was 20 years ago this week that I argued in this space that we were in the late stages of... Continue Reading

What are people to do, then, if their candidate is not on the podium on the day of the inauguration? Do they despair about America? Do they give up? No. They are to be reminded that a virtuous society has a larger network of mediating institutions that shape the mores and norms of human flourishing.... Continue Reading

Now, some may want to accuse me of mischievously making differences over the issue of evolution/Adam among the leaders of these new evangelical consortia into a big deal. On the contrary, I am merely drawing attention to the fact that high profile members of these consortia have themselves publicly stated that it is a very... Continue Reading

The universal church, but especially the churches in America, needs to have a responsible public witness that doesn’t exchange the Gospel for a political agenda but does relate the Gospel to the wider culture and political reality. The institutional church should not be routinely endorsing or opposing legislation, but should be giving lay people the... Continue Reading

It has been curious to me that many who seem least concerned to be biblical about the Lord’s Supper are those who administer it most frequently. In fact, during the General Assembly, more than one minister who emphasizes weekly communion told me that intinction was necessary because the biblical procedure takes too long.   One... Continue Reading