nosmiles (1)

The Family Devotional, Reinvented

June 18, 2013 By Leave a Comment

My nearly-five-year-old daughter loves ABCMouse.com.  And I have to admit: it's pretty terrific.  Sure, the images and animations are very simple, and sometimes they games seem way too easy for the designed age group.  But I like that she's engaging in something educational and entertaining at the same time, and she likes that she's singing along with dancing squirrels or assembling digital puzzles or popping all the red bubbles that come tumbling out of the magical bubble-maker. It's … [Read More...]

I love on private property.

June 13, 2013 By 2 Comments

My Dad once pointed at that all my toys belonged, legally, to him. This was frightening until he explained further: I had visions of him swooping up my army men, Teddy, and Sir Gordon and his horse Bravo  (not dolls, but action figures). He comforted me quickly: he had the right to my toys, but this right secured my use of them until I was a man. How? I was very small and my swords were all plastic, Dad would protect me to play in safety. I was not comptent to own things, because I … [Read More...]

Peter Wehner

An Evangelical Christian Looks at Homosexuality – by Peter Wehner

June 11, 2013 By 20 Comments

I'm honored again to have a guest post from my friend Peter Wehner, former deputy assistant to President George W. Bush. Wehner served also in the Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations, serves now as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and coauthor with Michael Gerson of City of Man and with Arthur Brooks of Wealth and Justice. * An Evangelical Christian Looks at Homosexuality By Peter Wehner I recently had a series of exchanges with a Christian … [Read More...]

Prevailing over Depression

June 3, 2013 By 1 Comment

Sorrow in my life comes several different ways. If I sin, fall short of God's standards, then my sin makes me sorrow. If I hold onto sin, then my depression deepens, eventually becoming a "new normal." The only cure for this sort of sorrow is change: Jesus releases me from the guilt and empowers me to live a new life. I can recall the calm and joy settling on me when I gained victory … [Read More...]

Virtuous Minds – Faithful Christianity in College

June 2, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Recently I published the first part of an essay from professor Douglas Groothuis and adjunct professor Sarah Geis, both of Denver Seminary.  As of this posting, it ominously has 666 shares.  In spite of this ill omen (please, all ye who assume evangelicals are idiots, see my tongue firmly planted in my cheek here), I'm going to forge ahead with the rest of the series.  The care and … [Read More...]

The Merits (and Demerits) of the “Radical” Movement

May 28, 2013 By

As noted below, an important and complex discussion has arisen around the "radical" movement.  My thanks to Barton Gingerich of the Institute on Religion and Democracy for his contribution to this conversation: * Remember Your Baptism: A Message for Radicals, Legalists, Wheat and Tares By Barton Gingerich American evangelicals are finally debating the merits of the … [Read More...]

On the Grad Glam Shots

May 22, 2013 By

My high school graduate picture combined bad taste on my part with artless camera work on the photographer's part with hair so puffy that it had no part. A great blessing of being (almost!) fifty is that such pictures are hidden: a blessing I share with the world by not sharing with the world. Recently I received a question about high school pictures, a good question from a very … [Read More...]

Simply Wrong

May 21, 2013 By

An odd temptation of blogging is to hold forth in righteous indignation against evils that you cannot impact and nobody suspected you supported. It is a big world and lots of people someplace are doing something wretched about which I can work myself into a fit of moral indignation, but my rule has been before launching jeremiads to have the love for the rebuked that Jeremiah had for … [Read More...]

The Best Reaction Ever

May 16, 2013 By

I write most often at this blog on the faith dimensions of social, cultural and political issues.  But every now and then I can't resist sharing a little from my family life.  So from time to time I'll write about Why We Have Children or Why We Marry. One of the weapons in my daddy arsenal, something I can pull out to entertain children, is my patented Duck in a Propeller noise. … [Read More...]

Now Save Gosnell

May 14, 2013 By

The defenders of abortion "rights" are quick to decry comparisons between abortion and the Holocaust as irrational, morally monstrous and dangerous invitations to violence against abortion providers.  Yet Gosnell's house of horrors has a distinctly Auschwitzian feel about it.  Baby's feet collected in jars, dying babies flailing in toilets, playing with newborns before "snipping" their … [Read More...]

Missing: Does anyone care?

May 13, 2013 By

If an Orthodox bishop is kidnapped on a humanitarian mission, and the American press ignores it, did it happen? If a second Orthodox bishop is kidnapped while on a mission of mercy, and the American government is slow to respond, did it happen? Sadly, the answer to both questions is "yes, two Christian bishops were kidnapped in Syria even if American Christian have remained … [Read More...]

Five Questions to Ask a Christian Secondary School

May 2, 2013 By

New Covenant Christian School gave me more in high school than I gave her. The coaches let me play a high school sport with limited talent. I was able to play an instrument and do a play with even less talent. Miss Balentine taught me English grammer and writing . . .and is not to blame for the mistakes I still make. (Miss Balentine: I still cannot edit my own work.) Mr. Larkin fired … [Read More...]

On Desire

April 29, 2013 By

Talking about some issues is hard, because I do not share some of the assumptions in the mainstream conversation. That can make for misunderstandings and so every so often it is good to state what I think are the basic ethical truths that form my bigger ideas. Romance is good, but not a very important, if by romance one means the combination of sexual desire and intimacy sold with … [Read More...]