OK, let’s try that again. Reboot. Reset. Restart. Reinstall. Seek to be born again, as it were. Big news. Really big news. Very exciting news, I think, but also not terribly disruptive news if we do this right. Well, safe to say I’m 0-for-1 so far. Let me first address what the move won’t mean. The good news is it won’t mean any changes in the substance, content or frequency of this blog. And thus, of course, the bad news... Read more
Tribulation Force, pp. 346-352 The set-up: The man at the counter handed Buck a message from Rayford, but since it was not marked urgent, he decided not to call him until morning. Rayford Steele had just learned about the implausibly rapid takeover of every media outlet in the world by Nicolae Carpathia, creating a global monopoly — the Antichrist’s One-World Media. Jerry Jenkins devotes quite a bit more space and readers’ time to this set-up, orchestrating a situation in which... Read more
In response to some concerns about hospitality toward atheists and the nonreligious here at the new site I started to write about why that saddened me and why its terribly important to me, personally, that my own faith and the various faiths of my new friends here not in any way be perceived to be exclusive or unwelcoming to the contributions of anyone, but somehow what started out as a description of why and how much I value the presence... Read more
I’m still learning to drive the new car here in WordPress/disqus land, and there’s more flexibility to it than I’ve yet learned to navigate. So consider this an open thread on comments and the comment system here. What’s good/better with the comment system and structure? What’s bad/not working? I don’t want to lose any voices from the ongoing conversation or, worse, to silence/shut out anyone who wants to participate and is having trouble doing so here. So please let me... Read more
They knew that they would never pass this way again … “The Gate of the World,” Daniel Amos “Gavin’s Song,” Marc Broussard “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You,” Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You,” Billie Holiday “Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes),” Carla Thomas “Geek in the Pink,” Jason Mraz “Geek Stink Breath,” Green Day “Generals and Majors,” XTC “Genesis 3:23,” Mountain Goats “Genius Next Door,” Regina Spektor “Therefore the Lord God sent... Read more
Couple new items up on the new site: "Honoring the Mad Farmer" and "The Gate to the Genius Next Door" Read more
That picture there (by AP photographer Charles Dharapak) shows President Barack Obama presenting Wendell Berry with a 2010 National Humanities Medal on Wednesday at the White House. Wendell Berry scares me. He is a poet, novelist, essayist, farmer, husband, conservationist, radical and gentleman. He writes with an unrivaled clarity of language, clarity of thought and clarity of conviction. It’s that conviction that scares me, because often when I read Wendell Berry I can’t help but think that if he is... Read more
I have two envelopes. The first is labeled, “To an Honest Man Who Argued in Good Faith and Was Truly Afraid.” The second is labeled, “To a Dishonest Man Who Has Been Lying Deliberately and Who Will Say Anything in Pursuit of Power.” I am not sure if I will need to use the first envelope. * * * * * * * * * In an 8-1 decision announced Wednesday the Supreme Court of the United States overwhelmingly struck... Read more
"Supreme Court strikes down key argument of same-sex marriage foes" Read more
Or we could look at it this way. What we’re really talking about here in our dispute with Team Hell isn’t just “What about Gandhi?” — it’s also “What about Ninevah?” Scores of evangelical pastors and authors have condemned Rob Bell for asking “Will billions and billions of people burn forever in Hell?” and for expressing discomfort at the idea. But Bell’s question echoes this earlier question: And should I not be concerned about Ninevah, that great city, in which... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In