Most people were too busy laughing to notice; as with many sitcoms, people who morally opposed much of the behavior unfolding onscreen found themselves rooting for illicit hookups, divorces, and laughing at predatory sexual behavior (Joey Tribbiani: “She’s needy, she’s vulnerable—I’m thinking—cha-ching!”) And when religious people consumed the same entertainment as everybody else, it created... Continue Reading

Do your hips and hands hurt? Likely. Are you overlooked in ministry for younger men and women? Usually. Has your energy and creativity waned? Probably. Is God finished with you? Absolutely not! Older saints, please press on. You have walked the path of faith longer than us newbies, and although sin still sways your ways... Continue Reading

Though we know what happens in Genesis 3, suppose Adam had obeyed God. Suppose he did not eat of this tree, what then? Adam would have inherited eternal life.  This is a necessary inference of the text itself. If Adam disobeys, he dies. Therefore, what happens if he obeys? He does not surely die. Or, put... Continue Reading

True praise in worship doesn’t come cheaply. Praise is not: “1,2,3 let’s go” as the band jams for twenty minutes. Praise is not created by a hip worship band and leader up front manipulating emotions to bring people into an ecstatic state as the congregation watches, mostly in silence, the great performance. People who live... Continue Reading

Maybe Jesus does identify at least something about heavenly things when he speaks his most famous words in this Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). When the Father adopts us, the Son unites us to... Continue Reading

Anderson seems to have misunderstood the argument that I made in my essay. I did not make the argument that churches should put a “hedge” around the law. Nor did I make the argument that the “slippery slope” is the only reason that women shouldn’t be teaching Sunday School. I made the argument that 1 Timothy 2:12 prohibits... Continue Reading

A Christianity sans the book of Job is not Christianity. Heaven is not on earth yet. Death is the last enemy and it is yet to be vanquished. Our lives will be filled with varying degrees of heartache and pain. I am not saying that a Christian can never have a life without deep trauma... Continue Reading

We are not made to bear the suffering of the world on our shoulders. Only God can do that. We are made to respond compassionately to the suffering that God has brought into our own sphere of influence. And we are made to live whole lives. To not just respond to suffering, but to eat,... Continue Reading

If you are reading this, I suspect you are disturbed by an ideology that segregates people by race; that insists on a racial hierarchy in which entire racial groups are monolithically good or bad; that does away with race-blind tests in the name of progress; and that insists that any inequality of outcome is evidence... Continue Reading

By faith we should expect substantial progress in our holiness. Statement 7 does not countenance the defeatism of unbelief, whereas Revoice fails to encourage any expectation of change. The Side B view and appeal is “accept us just as we are.” Faith looks to the power of God to raise the dead and move mountains,... Continue Reading