Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
I recently read a Father's Day article from a man well-known in men's ministry circles, who described the importance of forgiving his father for certain things, as his father had to do with his father, and so on. One of the commenters launched into a bitter diatribe about his nasty Broward County divorce, about how …
Continue reading "The Important Difference Between Inexcusable and Unforgivable"
I recently came across a fascinating book entitled The Handbook of Palestine by H.C. Luke and E. Keith-Roach. Produced in 1922 by the British Mandate government which had just taken control of the country after a long Ottoman Turkish rule, it’s a fascinating snapshot of the Holy Land beginning its transition to the State of …
A few of you will remember my exchange with Russell Earl Kelly on the tithe. Given the way the tithe is generally presented in full-gospel churches, I'm surprised that I haven't gotten a great deal of blowback on my position. That has finally come from one Glendon Hermanus from South Africa, who commented on one …
Continue reading "My Reply to Glendon Hermanus on the Tithe and the Authority of the Church"
I found Emily Stone's list of ten things she doesn't get about Christians intriguing. So I set myself to answer these as follows: The Tipping Business. That goes back to Finney, who made a very big deal about Christians tallying every monetary transaction they made to be exact to the penny, which has given rise …
Continue reading "Ten Things She Doesn't Get About Christians: My Reply to Emily Stone"
It's conventional wisdom that we are a deeply divided nation these days. And the conventional wisdom, for once, is right: we are. Where things diverge is the explanation for same. Although day-to-day politics are one thing, the divides we experience these days run deeper that "go along to get along" or the horse-trading of patronage …
Continue reading "It's Hard to Explain the Desire for Freedom to People Who Have Never Had It"
It's getting complicated out there: A spate of unsavory controversies in the United States is cracking up yoga's wholesome image, with accusations of financial fraud, sexual misconduct and copyright issues involving asanas (positions) plaguing the community. As a result, India, the land where the physical, mental and spiritual discipline of yoga began in ancient times, …
It's been an active week at this blog, so it's time to catch up on the "mailbag" so to speak. Did the NAE Really Ruin the Church of God? It's been a long time since a piece I've written has gone so viral as this one. Based on the response I've been able to see, …
Continue reading "The Blowback: The NAE and the Church of God, the Baptists, and the Constitution"
Now that Holy Week is done, I'd like to turn to a very thoughtful piece by Jonathan Stone about the future of the Church of God written as if that future had passed. For superannuated hippies such an approach suggests the Moody Blues, and indeed the piece has an artistic ring to it. There are …
Continue reading "Did the NAE Really Ruin the Church of God?"
My attention has recently been drawn to an item in Christianity Today on "Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Leaders."Â Having spent proportionately as much time in ministry work as anyone dealing with leadership issues and leadership training, I can say that the whole issue of leadership has become something of an obsession in Christian circles, …
Continue reading "Failure Requires More Than Just Being Ineffective"
David French at NRO thinks so: During my years in the pews, I’ve witnessed a moral collapse — and a corresponding collapse in positive influence over the real lives not just of our fellow congregants but also of our fellow citizens in need. Of course it’s difficult to present a compelling witness when our own …
Continue reading "Is Evangelicals' Cultural Influence Collapsing?"
Positive Infinity 