Pastoral Poetry In the last post we attempted theological poetry with “Jesus the Poster Boy.” Here is an example of pastoral poetry. One aspect of pastoral ministry I enjoy is talking and listening to old people, people in their late 80s and early 90s. In an age when we warehouse old people in care facilities, we may easily lose touch with their influential wisdom. Intelligence is never a good replacement for wisdom. Often it is better to listen to a... Read more

Can sexual orientation or same-sex attraction change? This is the question Justin Lee in Torn asks and it is also, from a few years back, the one Jones and Yarhouse ask in chp 7 of Ex-Gays?. The consensus of the American Psychological Association (APA) is that orientation cannot change. Justin Lee agrees with them but J-Y test that claim and claim some change is demonstrable. What do you think? Do you have any evidence or any reasons for your beliefs... Read more

From The Art of Manliness: At age 20: Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and cofounded Microsoft, and Sir Isaac Newton began developing a new branch of mathematics. At age 21: Thomas Alva Edison created his first invention, an electric vote recorder, Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Inc., and Alfred Tennyson published his first poetry. At age 22: Inventor Samuel Colt patented the Colt six-shooter revolver, and Cyrus Hall McCormick invented the McCormick reaper, which allowed one man to do the work of five... Read more

The story is now known, but there’s a bigger story as sketched by Brian Palmer: When Applebee’s tried to impose an automatic 18 percent tip last week on the bill of Atlanta pastor Alois Bell, she crossed it out, reduced the tip to zero, and added the note, “I give God 10%, why do you get 18?” A waitress posted the receipt online, earning Bell nationwide derision and the server a pink slip for violating Bell’s “right to privacy,” according to... Read more

Zealotry is the choice to protect holiness by living beyond what the Bible says, and it finds in that zeal a source of immunity from being wrong. I contend that zealotry reflects an absence of trust in God’s Word. Its motivation is the fear of freedom. Its environment is inevitable: judgmentalism and boundary-marking that together destroy, in separable ways, the unity in Christ. God’s people were not meant to be penguins, waddling all alike, but instead freed, separable, unique individuals... Read more

From Newsbusters: When the story went viral that the network had ended the program because of its audience’s ethnicity, a CNN spokesman responded: To clarify, Feder’s issue with “Starting Point” was that the audience was too small and happened to be predominately comprised of minorities. A source close to the show insists that the ethnicity of the audience was never the issue, it was the size. Feder in no way meant to imply that the audience was too ethnic. A look... Read more

From Carl Ruby: I (Carl Ruby) belong to a group called the Evangelical Immigration Table, a loosely connected group of evangelical Christians who are advocating an approach to immigration that is rooted in Judeo-Christian principles like respect for the dignity of life, the rule of law, and the importance of family. We are asking fellow evangelicals, and people of other faiths to advocate comprehensive immigration reform adhering to the following six principles; Respect for the God-given dignity of every person.... Read more

Justin Lee, well known founder of the Gay Christian Network, both defines “gay” and then sketches typical claims about reasons why people are gay. He details this in his book Torn. “Gay” for Justin Lee means that someone is “attracted to the same sex” (52-53). It does not refer only to same-sex sexual relations or to behavior. So when asking “Why?” the issue is about why some people are attracted to people of the same sex. What do you think? How do you... Read more