by Managing Editor | Dec 14, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, The Bible, Theology
Guest Post by Joost Nixon Last year on a rainy day near Kathmandu, a Nepali friend and I were on an evening errand for milk. We were tight-rope walking on top of walls because the rain had transformed the dirt roads into goo. Our route took us near a rare unplowed...
by Ben Zornes | Dec 11, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Science, Theology
We knew it would only be a matter of time before this sort of thing becomes more common. A couple of women who identify as men have a child, which they have decided to not assign a gender to, and thus allow their child the freedom to “discover” itself. You can watch...
by Managing Editor | Dec 10, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, The Bible, Theology, Worldview
Guest Post by Jared Longshore Secularism is all in a tizzy. She is hot and pouty. She’s fired up and making her demands. She’s defying the armies of the living God, and she’s soft as cotton… which is not a good combo. God’s people have...
by Managing Editor | Dec 10, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Theology, Worldview
Guest Post By C.R. Wiley A lot of ink has been spilled on the subject of fragility, particularly when it comes to young people—you know, safe-spaces, and coloring books on college campuses, and all of that. And while I could add my voice to the chorus, I think...
by Managing Editor | Dec 10, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Theology, Worldview
By Jesse Sumpter You can’t make this stuff up. A 69 year old Dutch man, named Emile Ratelband, has decided he wants to identify as a 40 year old. He has even asked a court in his hometown to make it legal and change his birth certificate to say he was born on March...
by Managing Editor | Oct 30, 2018 | Blog, Laugh
“The conclusion of the matter is that Paul, like so many other biblical writers, uses hard, satiric language. He differs from the Lord Jesus in that the Lord’s jibes were frequently very ‘laugh out loud’ funny.” –[amazon_textlink asin=’1591280109′...
by Managing Editor | Oct 22, 2018 | Blog, Fight, Fight Featured Post
Managing Editor: This voter guide was created by Daniel Foucachon. Here is his website. CrossPolitic’s interview with Bill Goesling can be found here. They also discuss Proposition 1 and Proposition 2. Preface Our opinion is that principles should come before...
by Jason Farley | Oct 18, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Feast Featured Post, Jason Farley
My soul clung to the dust, now dust clings to my soul. Your life-breath, once blown up the nose of my father, once exhaled in fruit-statutes, once blown across the dry bones until they could get up and dance; breathe life on me. Speak again the six stanzas that climb...
by Managing Editor | Oct 4, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Politics
By Jesse Sumpter A lot of people turned off Twitter and Facebook when the Kavanaugh hearings were going last Thursday. It was just too much for them to handle. People on social media were threatening each other. Death threats were tossed around like emojis. I’m sure...
by Jason Farley | Oct 2, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Jason Farley
Blueberry bushes brush bungling hands. Hands heavy with age —quivering unhelpfully— gather taste gushing gems of tang. No rot. No root-break. The ripped branches are simply savaged off by shaking old hands. Hands tired of being bound- back for decades. Held mute by...
by Managing Editor | Oct 2, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Feast Featured Post, Movie Reviews
By Jesse Sumpter Black Panther engages with some important philosophical questions—some of the best since The Dark Knight trilogy. But the movie fails to give anything close to an interesting answer. The ending scene in Oakland fails to offer anything substantial...
by Managing Editor | Sep 30, 2018 | Blog, Laugh, Laugh Featured Post, Uncategorized
by Justin...
by Managing Editor | Sep 25, 2018 | Blog, Feast, Feast Featured Post
“If we understand mealtimes as an important blessing from God, then we need to carve enough time in our schedules for this most precious gathering of the day. To have regular sit-down meals as a family, and to have people over, you have to have a schedule that...
by Managing Editor | Sep 24, 2018 | Blog, Fight, Fight Featured Post
Managing Editor: This is the text of an interview CrossPolitic did with Jonathan Merritt about his book Learning to Speak God from Scratch. The video of the interview can be found here. The text has been slightly edited for sake of smoothness and clarity. Otherwise,...
by Managing Editor | Sep 21, 2018 | Blog, Laugh, Laugh Featured Post
“When Jesus looked on the rich, young ruler and loved him, it is very easy to say that we should be loving as He was. When preachers make such applications, no one thinks anything of it. But when Jesus looked on the rich, old rulers and insulted them, why do we tend...
by Jason Farley | Aug 10, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Feast Featured Post, Jason Farley
SONG OF YOUR OWN People take on the shape of the songs and stories that surround them, especially if they don’t have a song of their own. Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys Like the slender-ankled daughters of ocean shaped by the banks that decide their path, we are...
by Jason Farley | Aug 2, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Book Reviews, Feast, Feast Featured Post, Jason Farley
Thanks for joining us at The Westminster Confession of Funk. And thank you for such a delightfully named blog. It’s always been one of my favorite names. Your novel Strays, what’s it about? What inspired the story? It’s about a boy named Rodney who...
by Gabriel Rench | Jul 29, 2018 | Blog
Find the full episode here on iTunes or here on our Youtube...
by Jason Farley | Jul 26, 2018 | Abortion, Culture, Fight, Jason Farley, Politics, Theology, Uncategorized
What happens if Roe vs. Wade is overturned? That would be, no doubt, a good thing. We should rejoice when it happens. But how much of America’s difficulties are centered in the decisions of the Supreme Court? As a law, it is a judicial tragedy. But it is not enough to...
by Rhett Burns | Jul 19, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns
When I was a young boy I met someone who seemed like a giant to me. At six-foot-seven-inches Jose Rondon was the tallest person I had ever seen in person. He was also incredibly kind, a good baseball pitcher, and loved Jesus. Originally from Venezuela, Jose lived...
by Rhett Burns | Jun 21, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns
My denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, held its annual meeting last week. In response to current cultural trends, namely the #MeToo movement and the Paige Patterson fiasco, leaders and messengers spent a significant amount of time addressing women’s issues....
by Jason Farley | Jun 13, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Jason Farley, Politics
I was recently sitting in on a lecture from a local university professor on the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Whitworth University’s Dr. Van Inwegen explained that there are stories from history, “that help us understand the world we are in.” One of...
by George Grant | Jun 13, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Current affairs, Fight, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, History, Politics, The Bible, Theology, Theology, Worldview
In his Confessions, Augustine (354-430) describes mankind’s universal sinful bent as “concupiscence.” The Greek word epithumia (ἐπιθυμία) occurs 38 times in the New Testament. It describes the utter enfeebling of mankind’s freedom of will through the bondage of sin....
by George Grant | Jun 6, 2018 | Blog, Culture, George Grant, History, Religion, The Bible, Uncategorized
Poet, literary critic, and novelist, Arthur Quiller-Couch, was best known for his incomparable anthology, The Oxford Book of English Verse. As a lecturer at Oxford beginning in 1886 and a professor at Cambridge from 1912-1944, he taught an entire generation of English...
by Rhett Burns | Jun 6, 2018 | Culture, Rhett Burns
Adam Ford has sold the Christian satire news site, The Babylon Bee. Launched in 2016, the Bee employs The Onion-style satire to spoof American evangelicalism—its popular pastors, authors, and fads—while taking occasional jabs at our larger secular culture. It has been...
by George Grant | May 26, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, History, Religion, Theology, Theology, Worldview
Haarlem is a beautiful little Dutch town on the River Spaarne, fifteen minutes by train from Amsterdam. Founded sometime in the 10th century, in 1245 it was granted city status or stadsrechten and was made the capital of the province of North Holland. By the 14th...
by Rhett Burns | May 23, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns
Last week was crazy. The United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Hamas greeted the move in their usual manner, which means with bombs and human shields. Major media outlets portrayed Hamas in their usual manner, which means referring to them as...
by George Grant | May 7, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, Religion, The Bible, Theology, Worldview
When I was in seminary, the “Church Growth Movement” was just getting its sea legs. So, of course, it was all the rage in the hallowed halls of academia—if not amongst the profs, most assuredly amongst their charges. Filled with uninformed enthusiasm my peers tended...
by Jason Farley | May 7, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Jason Farley
Joel, thanks for joining us at The Westminster Confession of Funk, hosted by CrossPolitic. So you have a new Kickstarter out. Your last one was a big success. What have you learned about yourself as a musician since your last kickstarter, “The Nature of Us”? Great...
by Rhett Burns | May 3, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight Featured Post, Rhett Burns
By now the tragic story of Alfie Evans is well known. The English toddler with an undiagnosed neurodegenerative disorder died last week, five days after doctors extubated him and abandoned all treatment, except palliative care. A judge denied Alfie’s parents the right...
by George Grant | Apr 26, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, History, Religion, Theology, Theology
The years leading up to the Scottish Disruption and those immediately afterward produced some of the most remarkable servants of God in the history of the church. Andrew Alexander Bonar (1810-1892) was a member of that galaxy of brilliant, Reformed Scots preachers,...
by Rhett Burns | Apr 23, 2018 | Blog, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns
Last week, I posted my article on just war and the ascendance of foreign policy hawks in the White House on the same morning President Trump tweeted this: Two days later, President Trump, along with his British and French counterparts, ordered a limited missile strike...
by George Grant | Apr 20, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Current affairs, George Grant, History, Religion, Worldview
The horrific ruthlessness of ISIS, the brazen cruelty of Boko Haram, the obsessive repression of the North Korean Juche, the vicious terrorism of Al-Qaeda: I confess that when faced with the gleeful persecution of my Christian brothers and sisters around the world in...
by Jason Farley | Apr 17, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Book Reviews, Feast, Jason Farley, Theology
Having recently had The Rev. Joseph Carlson as a Guest on the recent episode of CrossPolitic, I thought it might be nice to get one of his sonnets before you. This is for the 24th Sunday of the Trinity Season in his book of Sonnets for the Church Year. Waiting Four...
by Rhett Burns | Apr 11, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Three weeks ago, I wrote a response to Michael Gerson’s essay in The Atlantic about evangelical support of President Trump. I found it hypocritical that Gerson, a senior policy advisor to President Bush and a member of The White House Iraq Group, was lecturing...
by George Grant | Apr 9, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Current affairs, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, History
Every year new words and phrases find their way into our vocabulary. Sometimes these neologisms are the result of political turns of events, like Brexit, alt-right, or newsjacking. Sometimes it is technology and digital media that introduce new words like hashtag,...
by admin | Apr 5, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Theology
Idaho Senator Bob Nonini has come under fire recently for nodding his head in agreement with the view that those who murder a baby in the womb should face criminal charges. CrossPolitic hosted a live show interviewing three of the Republican candidates for Lt....
by George Grant | Apr 4, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, History, Religion, The Bible, Theology
In his classic book, The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul bemoans the absence from our vocabulary of certain, once-familiar, King James Version words. It wasn’t so much the loss of antiquated verb forms like walketh and talketh, or sayest and mayest that bothered him. It...
by Jason Farley | Mar 31, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Jason Farley, Theology
“The Church is like a great ship sailing the sea of the world and tossed by the waves of temptation in this life.” St. Boniface, letter 78 From the very beginning of our lives, we are dependent upon received grace. Grace that we have never given. Grace that we cannot...
by Rhett Burns | Mar 27, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
A few weeks ago, I reviewed Andrew Peterson’s beautiful new EP, Resurrection Letters: Prologue. His new full-length album will release on Good Friday, and in advance of that, The Gospel Coalition premiered the video for Peterson’s Revelation 5-inspired song, “Is He...
by Rhett Burns | Mar 19, 2018 | Blog, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns
Michael Gerson, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, published a takedown of Trump-supporting evangelicals in the latest issue of The Atlantic. Gerson attempts to answer the question of how a once confident and influential cultural movement became an...
by Jason Farley | Mar 8, 2018 | Arts, Feast, Jason Farley, Theology, Uncategorized
Hannah, thank you for joining us at the Westminster Confession of Funk hosted by CrossPolitic. The Clouds Ye So Much Dread was such a delight to read. But it is obvious that a lot of tears and pain was required to fill this particular pen with ink. Do you find it...
by Jason Farley | Mar 5, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Feast, Jason Farley, Theology
Wing Lift Psalm 91:3-4 Death-wrenched, life-drenched, each pinched soul fledged to soar on raptorial sails. A fowler-freed fire-bred goldfinch, carols unhitched, stretching and reaching, on wind-held wings. Held in glide and lift, windhover pinion, piloted upwards,...
by George Grant | Mar 3, 2018 | Blog, Culture, George Grant, History, Religion, The Bible, Theology
“And thus was he called Ichabod, for the glory of the Lord had departed.” 1 Samuel 4:21 The rising tide of heresy in the latter half of the fourth century very nearly engulfed the entire church. Most of the Nicean fathers had either passed into glory or were...
by Jason Farley | Mar 1, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Culture, Feast, Jason Farley, Movie Reviews
Every once in a while you hit a movie that is just plain beautiful. I mean, real life beautiful. The story is wonderful, the characters and acting are wonderful, and it moves you to want to do what you were made to do. Chef (written, produced, directed by, and...
by Moses Bratrud | Feb 28, 2018 | Blog, Book Reviews
The Reformation: A History By Diarmaid MacCulloch Penguin Books, 2005 When Protestants celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation last year, we weren’t the only ones cheering. Other celebrants included cheerleaders of the modern secular state. This may seem...
by Rhett Burns | Feb 26, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns
The news cycle following a mass shooting is predictable. Thoughts and prayers are offered, outrage and demands are expressed, and the cable news stations fill up time with people yelling for or against gun control. The week after Parkland has been no different. Yet,...
by George Grant | Feb 26, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, The Bible, Theology, Theology, Uncategorized
“Jeremiad.” Definition: an elaborate and prolonged lamentation; a cry of woe; and expression of righteous indignation. “Nehemiad.” Definition: an elaborate and prolonged humiliation; a cry of grief; an expression of righteous repentance. Well might we plead the case...
by Jason Farley | Feb 23, 2018 | Abortion, Blog, Culture, Fight Featured Post, Jason Farley
I love basketball. In particular, I love the NBA. I watch a game multiple times a week. And every February they do a passably good job of celebrating Black History Month. I do not have a problem with black history month itself, but I have begun to wonder about one of...
by Toby Sumpter | Feb 17, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Politics, Toby Sumpter, Uncategorized
As you have no doubt heard, there’s been another school shooting, and seventeen people are dead. An evil man took lives he had no right to take. His actions were full of hate and spite. These were human beings made in the image of God, most of them young people, lives...
by Rhett Burns | Feb 14, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
The best music is imaginative in the Chestertonian sense. It does not attempt to create a new world. Rather, it seeks to uncover and reveal the truth, goodness, and beauty God has already placed in this world, but remains hidden because we do not have eyes to see....
by George Grant | Feb 10, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Fight, George Grant, Politics, Uncategorized
All leaders are controversial. They invariably risk the ire of others. Because they stand for certain things, they necessarily stand against certain things. This causes them to stand out. It makes them more than a little peculiar in this plain vanilla world of...
by Rhett Burns | Feb 8, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl Sunday night to conclude a controversial NFL season. This year, pregame inaction eclipsed the action on the field, as many players refused to stand for the national anthem, choosing instead to take a knee in protest. Former...
by George Grant | Feb 5, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, Politics, Religion, Theology, Theology, Worldview
It is one of the great ironies of our day that Christians can pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and not actually mean anything by it. Indeed, it is a stunning paradox that we can live as if such a prayer could not be answered. Even worse, we can...
by Rhett Burns | Jan 31, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Mixed martial arts fighter Ronda Rousey became a professional wrestler Sunday night. The UFC women’s bantamweight champion agreed to terms with WWE and appeared unexpectantly on the pay-per-view Royal Rumble show in Philadelphia. Rousey, who won a bronze medal in judo...
by Rhett Burns | Jan 24, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Politics, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
It has been two weeks since President Donald Trump allegedly referred to Haiti and some African nations as “s***hole countries” in a meeting with congressional officials discussing immigration policy. In the wake of these comments, his detractors offered their...
by George Grant | Jan 23, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, History, Religion
In 1821, Dr. John Rippon, pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in Southwark, London, began a ministry to the homeless poor. A complex of almshouses was erected on a property adjacent to the church and the monumental task of rehabilitation was begun. Rippon wrote,...
by George Grant | Jan 19, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, Religion, The Bible, Worldview
“We ought to bring our minds free, unbiased, and teachable, to learn our religion from the Word of God.” Isaac Watts One of the basic demands of Christian discipleship, of following Jesus Christ, is to change our way of thinking. We are to “take captive every thought...
by Moses Bratrud | Jan 15, 2018 | Blog, Book Reviews
G.K. Chesterton once wrote that original sin was “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” His thinking here is that we are not confronted every day with virgin births or resurrections, but the evidence of human frailty is all around us. In the...
by Jason Farley | Jan 14, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Jason Farley, Politics
In 1652 John Milton went completely blind. His eyes had been waning, the world fading, for some time. The darkening was complete the same year his first wife and only son died at one year old. He was a published poet, but he had spent his energy in English politics...
by George Grant | Jan 13, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, Science, Science, Worldview
Watkins’ Bookshop in Cecil Court, just off Charing Cross between Leicester Square and Covent Garden in London, was established in 1891 by John Watkins, and is still London’s premier occult bookstore. One of its most famous customers was Carl Gustav Jung, who, together...
by Rhett Burns | Jan 11, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
When Tua Tagovailoa woke up Monday morning, he was a relatively unknown backup quarterback for the University of Alabama. Sure, he was a touted freshman signal-caller, perhaps the future for the Crimson Tide. But on Monday morning, few college football fans outside of...
by George Grant | Jan 9, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Culture, George Grant, History, Theology, Theology
A doxology is a short chorus of praise to the Lord, often sung as a stand-alone piece or as a coda at the conclusion of psalms, hymns, or canticles. The word comes from the Greek doxa, meaning “appearance” or “glory,” and logia, meaning “study” or “declaration.”...
by Toby Sumpter | Jan 4, 2018 | Blog, Fight Featured Post, Toby Sumpter
Look, I know it’s easy to criticize prominent men. I know it’s easy to point fingers, to blame, to accuse, to read the worst into what people say. I get that. It’s hard to be put on the spot, under the spotlight, and, given that, we really should be...
by Rhett Burns | Jan 3, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns
Iran is once again embroiled in national protest. The demonstrations started a week ago as an economic protest, but have taken on an increasingly anti-government tone, resulting in twenty-one deaths and over 450 citizens imprisoned. This protest marks the largest...
by George Grant | Jan 3, 2018 | Blog, Culture, Fight, George Grant, History, Politics
“In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” – Thomas Jefferson “I confess that there are several parts of this Constitution which I do not at present approve, but I...
by Jason Farley | Jan 3, 2018 | Arts, Blog, Culture, Jason Farley, Laugh, Movie Reviews
Team Farley has a number of Family Rules that are beyond discussion. Rule #1: When Billy Idol comes on the radio no one may leave the car until the song is over. You must respect the Idol. It is our most sacred Family Rule. Rule #2: “Hello,” by Adele, requires that...
by Rhett Burns | Dec 21, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns
Fight, laugh, feast. You’ve no doubt heard and read those words around the CrossPolitic podcast and website, as they capture our vision of cultural engagement. Faithful Christians are joyful warriors. They are mighty in battle with their enemies, yet they fling jokes...
by George Grant | Dec 18, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Fight Featured Post, George Grant, History
Humbug is an old word of indeterminate etymology meaning “spectacle” or “hoax” or “jest,” often referring to some unjustified reputation or publicity. Of course, the word is most often associated with Ebenezer Scrooge, a character created by Charles Dickens in The...
by George Grant | Dec 18, 2017 | Blog, Current affairs, George Grant, Theology
I met R.C. Sproul during the first week of March 1982 in San Diego at the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy’s Congress on the Bible. I was introduced to him by my friend, Franky Schaeffer, and immediately I was struck by Dr. Sproul’s boundless energy,...
by Luke Dickson | Dec 11, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Fight Featured Post, Politics
The estate tax (or death tax, or silver spoon tax, depending on who you ask) is the state’s attempt to redistribute the money of the wealthiest families in America. In recent months, it has seen support from Bernie Sanders, and has been sharply criticized by President...
by Rhett Burns | Dec 11, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Fight, Politics, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
After another dismal football season, the University of Tennessee has now fumbled its coaching search. Last week, the Volunteers had reached an agreement to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano as its head football coach. However, the deal was dropped...
by Rhett Burns | Nov 20, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
So…witches are on the rise. Sadly, this is not the beginning of a stand-up comedy routine, but a religious trend in the United States. According to this report, millennials are trading traditional religion for witchcraft and astrology. A majority of young adults...
by Rhett Burns | Nov 13, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Twenty-six of our brothers and sisters in Christ were gunned down a week ago during Sunday morning worship in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The victims ranged from unborn baby to seventy-seven-year-old, including eight people from one family. Devin Kelley, dishonorably...
by Rhett Burns | Nov 3, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Racial reconciliation is all the rage these days, and rightly so. It is hard to deny the animosity and division that plague our nation and that race-based attitudes are often involved of such hostilities. Further, Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11 are still in our...
by Jason Farley | Oct 30, 2017 | Arts, Culture, Feast, Jason Farley
In my first church job the Pastor gave me a bit of advice that stuck. Children learn most of their theology from the songs that their church sings. They may not remember your sermons, but they will carry the songs they sing in church the rest of their lives. This is...
by Seth Bloomsburg | Oct 28, 2017 | Blog, Book Reviews, Theology
It’s common these days for heretical teachers to point out something that is clearly in the text of Scripture and then act as if there is some kind of misty significance to it all that those truncated fundie Bible teachers must have missed. Then when all is said and...
by Rhett Burns | Oct 27, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns
For several years Peter Hitchens has made a sustained argument against the legalization of cannabis. One feature of his argument is to point out the correlation between cannabis use, mental illness, and violent crime. He links mental illness with both legal and...
by Moses Bratrud | Oct 26, 2017 | Fight, Politics
Vice President Mike Pence is one heartbeat, or resignation, away from the top job. But with Trump’s robust health and seeming immunity to the effects of scandals that would have sunk a normal presidency, Pence’s accession is unlikely–certainly not unless the...
by Moses Bratrud | Oct 16, 2017 | Culture, Fight, Politics
Like a sniper in a war zone, Stephen Paddock found a defensible position 400 yards from his target, and set to waging his little war on the Route 91 Harvest music fest in the early morning hours of October 1. From the killing fields of the darkened concert ground it...
by Tyler Hatcher | Oct 13, 2017 | Culture, Theology
Recap In this series, we’ve been dealing with some of the idols in the world that need to be torn down and the fact that Christians keep their own version of these idols in their hearts. Same-sex mirage out there is akin in some ways to fornication and sexual...
by Rhett Burns | Oct 13, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Fight Featured Post, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was outed as a sexual predator last week in a New York Times story. Or, more accurately, he was outed nationally and with corroborating evidence. His predations on young women have long been the rumor of the film industry. Thus far...
by Rhett Burns | Oct 5, 2017 | Abortion, Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
Carrie DeKlyen, a Michigan mother of five, started getting headaches last March. After the pains worsened she saw a doctor, and scans showed a brain tumor. According to the Chicago Tribune, the pathology report revealed something more cruel: glioblastoma, a rare and...
by Brianna Bratrud | Oct 3, 2017 | Arts, Feast, Theology
This autumn marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s pinning of the ninety-five theses. Whether you’re Lutheran or not, Luther and the Reformers’ impact on the world is undeniable, unforgettable. Of all Luther’s works, the De Servo...
by Jason Farley | Oct 3, 2017 | Arts, Culture, Feast, Jason Farley
The Blues are sad songs. No one wants that. And yet The Blues persist. There is little reason to believe that The Blues is going away. Even when the current pop music is thumping and protesteth its cheerfulness too much, The Blues continue to hold a steady fanbase. I...
by Luke Dickson | Sep 20, 2017 | Abortion, Blog, Culture
Most of the people who walked by us looked indifferent; they probably didn’t even notice our signs. But of those who actually looked at us, most of them smiled or gave thumbs up. Many stopped by and said thank you for volunteering. One woman stopped by to talk about...
by Tyler Hatcher | Sep 20, 2017 | Culture
Round Two Same-sex mirage and divorce. Same-sex mirage and fornication. In a previous post, I argued that far too often, the idolatry we enshrine in our own hearts matches the idolatry present in same-sex mirage. As Christians, when we countenance any sort of abuse of...
by Brittany Martin | Sep 18, 2017 | Science
Several years ago, a lot of press was given to the new Common Core standards that were implemented nationwide. At the request of several state school boards, the Common Core standards are English and Math requirements handed down by the federal department of...
by Seth Bloomsburg | Sep 15, 2017 | Blog, Book Reviews, Culture, Theology
Given what Bell has said so far about the Bible, a brief excursus about the doctrine of Scripture would be helpful. As I have pointed out, one of Bell’s problems is that he will simply not accept some things that the Bible says, especially what the Bible says about...
by Luke Dickson | Sep 12, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Politics
We must move toward serious welfare reform not by simply pressuring people to work, but rather by supporting the pursuit of higher-wage employment. The ultimate goal would be to get rid of welfare entirely, or at least reduce it to being a last safety net for those...
by Ben Zornes | Sep 11, 2017 | Blog, Science
If you’ve made a handful of trips around the sun, you might be old enough to remember the likes of Pat Robertson declaring every natural disaster a judgement from God upon our nation for sodomy, abortion, feminism, and whatever else deemed contrary to God’s Word. The...
by Moses Bratrud | Sep 8, 2017 | Book Reviews
A Christian’s Introduction to David Foster Wallace, Part 1 When I read the Parable of the Sower, I often feel like the young plant sown among thorns. I am beset every day precisely by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, not so much the...
by Rhett Burns | Sep 8, 2017 | Blog, Politics, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
I’ve always wanted to watch an extended political interview where the host stubbornly refuses to allow the politician to retreat to pat answers and stump speech talking points, where he interrupts evasive techniques and forces arguments to their logical ends. Sure,...
by Luke Dickson | Sep 5, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Politics
When we think about states’ rights, our minds often go straight to the Civil War. Few of us recognize that the debate is actually still quite alive. Events like those in Charlottesville draw our minds back to unresolved animosity of the War Between the States, but we...
by Rhett Burns | Sep 1, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
The LGBT war machine rolls on. According to the latest polling data from the Pew Research Center, natiohttp://www.people-press.org/2017/06/26/support-for-same-sex-marriage-grows-even-among-groups-that-had-been-skeptical/nal support for so called same-sex marriage is...
by Ben Zornes | Aug 30, 2017 | Blog, Politics
There’s a world of difference between a just war and just war. There is war for a just reason, and there is war just to be able to say you did something while in office. Wars can serve to boost patriotism, nationalism. and For the GOP, it often bolsters the “rah, rah,...
by Jason Farley | Aug 29, 2017 | Arts, Blog, Culture, Feast, Fight Featured Post, Jason Farley, Laugh, Politics
Editing is an art form. My son Cedric was coming in the front door a few days ago when his sister asked, “Did you eat an ice cream sandwich?” He replied, “Malachi had two.” That was, strictly speaking, true. Malachi had eaten two ice cream sandwiches. The...
by Luke Dickson | Aug 28, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Politics
After the Charlottesville riots, America was thrown into a fit of iconoclasticism. Tearing down statues of Confederate leaders, demanding the renaming of streets named after “white supremacists.” When did American history become so binary? I always thought that there...
by Moses Bratrud | Aug 23, 2017 | Theology
A Church for the Next Generation, Part Three In the past two posts, we’ve looked at whether young people are going to church less, and why some young people leave the church. Now I want to answer another why question: if the church is as stuffy and old-fashioned as...
by Rhett Burns | Aug 21, 2017 | Blog, Culture, Politics, Rhett Burns, Uncategorized
One of the central plays the Left is running is to paint Christians and conservatives with the same dirty brush as they do the alt-right white supremacists. They have been calling conservatives Nazis for years, a standard retort to such offenses as budgetary math and...
