As I’ve noted here before, I can think of no real reason not to ordain women — except for the simple and (to me, entirely sufficient) reason that the Lord has not authorized us to do so.  Women are typically just as intelligent and just as competent — if not more so, in many regards — as men commonly are, and at least as committed, on average, to the Lord and the Gospel.   But nobody has a... Read more

    On Wednesday, I posted a quotation from G. K. Chesterton’s classic 1908 book Orthodoxy:   “Rebelling against everything?”   In my opinion, the point that he was making there is akin to an argument later made by C. S. Lewis and then by Thomas Nagel.   In 2012, Nagel, an eminent professor of philosophy at New York University — perhaps most widely known for his famous 1970s article “What Is It Like to Be a Bat?” — published... Read more

    I’m in the mood, so here are three Chesterton passages, all taken from his 1908 book Orthodoxy:   “I felt in my bones; first, that this world does not explain itself. It may be a miracle with a supernatural explanation; it may be a conjuring trick, with a natural explanation. But the explanation of the conjuring trick, if it is to satisfy me, will have to be better than the natural explanations I have heard. The thing is... Read more

    Some preliminary notes on Islam in Malaysia for The Book:   The religious history of the area known today as Malaysia parallels that of Indonesia, which is scarcely surprising, given their geographical proximity to each other.  (The large Indonesian island of Sumatra is separated from Malaysia only by the narrow Straits of Malacca.) Traders and settlers from India and China arrived in the region as early as the first century AD, establishing trading ports and coastal towns in... Read more

    President Trump has promised to announce on Monday his nominee for the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States that’s being left by the departure of Justice Anthony Kennedy.   This is, yes, certainly one occasion when it’s much better, from the standpoint of a serious conservative, to have Donald J. Trump in the White House than to have Hillary R. Clinton.  Hallelujah!   The speculation attending this vacancy is intense.  And it’s a mark of... Read more

    A very insightful comment from a man who generated insights the way a Fourth of July sparkler generates sparks:   “But the new rebel is a skeptic, and will not entirely trust anything. He has no loyalty; therefore he can never be really a revolutionist. And the fact that he doubts everything really gets in his way when he wants to denounce anything. For all denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind; and the modern revolutionist doubts... Read more

    Fairly commonly, I’m told by critics of Islam that Muslims believe it legitimate to lie to non-Muslims (presumably on just about anything).  Thus, supposedly, there’s no value in entering into any contract with Muslims or into any treaty with an Islamic state.  Moreover, according to some, you can never trust Muslims anywhere, ever.  They may seem to be friendly with you, but they’re just biding their time.  Very commonly, in fact they’re bent on killing you and imposing... Read more

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident:  That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish... Read more

    Humans, we’re sometimes told, are simply (very) slightly modified apes.  After all, we share 98.8% of our genes with chimpanzees!   Well, perhaps.  Some labs put that figure at 96%, others at 95%, and some at only 85%.   Still, that’s a lot.  Isn’t it?   Maybe.  But, according to some sources, we also share 50-60% of our DNA with chickens and fruit flies, and perhaps even more than  60% with bananas.   By some measures, we have 90-95%... Read more

    “The best data we have (concerning the Big Bang) are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole.” “If there are a bunch of fruit trees, one can say that whoever created these fruit trees wanted some apples. In other words, by looking at the order in the world, we can infer purpose and from purpose we begin to get some... Read more