So what is marriage? Is it a legal contract? A covenant? A sacrament rendered effective by a priest? William F. Luck’s Divorce and Re-Marriage: Recovering the Biblical View examines this sort of question in chp 2 of his book. When a man and woman marry, what do they “covenant” to do and to be? Marriage, he says, is a covenant. A covenant is “an agreement between two parties” (23). And covenants involved parties (people involved not dancing, though that too, unless... Read more
So what is the religious life of emerging adults today like when compared to the last twenty-five years? What is it like when compared to other age groups? What Smith and Snell discovered in their fantastic new book: Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults is nothing short of stunning. Again, we’re talking about 46 million emerging adults… How does the following conclusion encounter you? I begin with a fundamental conclusion of theirs: “Overall, then, the... Read more
From CNN.com. Are you seeing any signs of this? Or do you see signs that the Recession Generation plans on a return to usual? We all know the type of person who came of age in the Great Depression. They are the grandmothers and grandfathers who can’t use a tea bag too many times, yet are enjoying comfortable retirements in warm climates. And we know what the children of the 1950s are all about. They are the optimistic boomers who... Read more
Last weekend I (without Kris) flew to Hartford CT to speak at First Church Wethersfield, and I said “without Kris” because I messed up with the tickets — well, I forgot to book any tickets. Having now confessed my inattentive stupidity, let me say a few things about a wonderful weekend. First, and for anyone it would be first, the architecture of this early American, historic church — Jonathan Edwards attended this church in his school days and George Washington... Read more
Luke describes yet another event in Paul’s missional work in Corinth — correct that, God’s missional work through Paul. That God is doing something in Corinth was made abundantly clear in the previous passage because Paul is told to stay in Corinth because God had many people in Corinth. Here’s Luke’s next report (and a picture of the Bema — judgment seat — after the jump; it is the stone object to the middle right): 18:12 Now while Gallio was proconsul... Read more
Stephen C. Meyer has published a (very long, but readable) book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, outlining his argument in favor of intelligent design. This book essentially argues that life is very complex, the origin of life is a puzzle, and the information content in DNA cannot be explained by natural means. In the first several chapters of his book Meyer describes some of his personal history, the discovery of DNA and the double... Read more
So, what are the implications of that long listing from Wednesday for religion for emerging adults? Here is what Smith and Snell discovered in their fantastic new book: Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults . They explore what they call “causal mechanisms”: cultural codes that are impacting religious faith of emerging adults. How would you rank the following from most significant to least? Which is at the top in your view? Which is the most... Read more
Mark McGwire, who some years back embarrassed himself in front of our country’s highest legislators, says now the time is right for him to come clean and admit that he used steroids to enhance his physical abilities during his incredible home-run slugging seasons. In particular, he used steroids when he broke the HR record. Admission is the first step. I have two more suggestions: First, McGwire needs to ask the Commissioner to remove his name from HR records and wipe... Read more
We don’t often enter into the business side of life or discuss loans and mortgages and foreclosures and bankruptcy, but this article — HT: RJS — suggests to me that there is something to be discussed here and we need some financial folks to speak up. The issue is that many people today are “strategically” deciding to default on their loans; they are “shrewdly deciding” that defaulting and going belly up will help their financial situation. What do you think?... Read more
Even if the results of Paul’s preaching on the Areopagus were negligible (Acts 17:32-34, but who is to pronounce on results?), Paul moves on to Corinth. Here are the words of Acts 18: 18:1 After this Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 18:2 There he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. Paul approached them, 18:3 and because he worked... Read more
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