Americans and Dependency

Last updated on: September 23, 2012 at 2:42 pm By Scot McKnight

From Matthew Spalding: Do you think benefits ought to entail working for them? Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that 49% of the population lives in a household where at least one person gets some type of government benefit. The Heritage Foundation’s annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks government spending and creates a weighted score adjusted for inflation of federal programs that contribute to dependency. It reports that in 2010, 67.3 million Americans received either Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Social Security, support for... Read more

What’s With the Junk? (DNA that is) (RJS)

Last updated on: September 28, 2012 at 11:22 am By RJS

The topic of Junk DNA has come up a number of times in posts on this site over the last year or so. In particular one commenter has referred on several occasions to the supposed debunking of junk DNA as a serious blow to the theory of evolution. This is a fairly common misunderstanding. But the recent flurry of publicity over the release of a large series of papers by the ENCODE project the first week of September and a... Read more

The Four Elements of Missional Theology

Last updated on: September 26, 2012 at 10:28 pm By Scot McKnight

If you had to pick the top three, four, or five ideas in “missional theology” which would you choose? I know some would choose justice, and others — those who think “missional” means “evangelism” — salvation or justification, while yet others would choose church-state relations or even participation in society. Do you think anything central is missing? We’re reading three books about the church at once — Keller, Hill and this book — what do you think Keller would rate as his... Read more

Sleep in Shifts?

Last updated on: September 23, 2012 at 2:28 pm By Scot McKnight

From David K. Randall, discussing the sometimes heard that sleeping in shifts might be best: Any stories? Kris and I both wake up every night, sometimes for just a few minutes but often for 30 minutes or more. How about you? Typically, mention of our ever increasing sleeplessness is followed by calls for earlier bedtimes and a longer night’s sleep. But this directive may be part of the problem. Rather than helping us to get more rest, the tyranny of the eight-hour... Read more

On Preaching Politics

Last updated on: September 23, 2012 at 2:35 pm By Scot McKnight

From Cristina Corbin: Have you been hearing about this? Will you be defying the IRS? More than 1,000 pastors are planning to challenge the IRS next month by deliberately preaching politics ahead of the presidential election despite a federal ban on endorsements from the pulpit. The defiant move, they hope, will prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which is holding the October... Read more

A Resurrection Apologetic

Last updated on: September 26, 2012 at 5:39 am By Scot McKnight

Apologetics has been through some rough waters in the last twenty or so years. Some have found apologetics to be arrogant or so rational it leaves the seeker cold. Yet others, and many read folks like Bill Craig, Lee Strobel, and Paul Copan, are excited to the point of obsession with apologetics. In their book, The Cross is Not Enough, Ross Clifford and Philip Johnson make an astute point, one that can be both threaten and liberate at the same... Read more

Tax Returns

Last updated on: September 23, 2012 at 6:47 pm By Scot McKnight

I’m sitting here musing on what would happen to church giving — and charities in general — if everyone had to make their tax returns public? Here’s a few paragraphs from the CNN Money news story: “It’s between you and God,” you might say. I don’t blame you for saying that. Romney’s and Obama’s are not. And many were urging to see Romney’s — for criticism fodder. But the real question for Christians is this: What happens inside you when... Read more

What Churches are Influential in University Communities? (RJS)

Last updated on: September 25, 2012 at 12:51 pm By RJS

Scot linked yesterday to the Missio Alliance website – where the page starts with an observation: “North America has become a mission field. In large parts of our culture, Christianity now exists at the margins and is met with a sense of antagonism amidst the growth of religious pluralism.” Nowhere is this more true than on our college and university campuses – especially our elite secular colleges and universities. Universities are great places, the environment is exciting, the intellectual atmosphere... Read more

Seattle or Green Bay?

Last updated on: September 25, 2012 at 3:43 pm By Scot McKnight

OK, I’ve watched the replay a number of times but I can’t see that the evidence is so abundantly clear that the Packer defender (Jennings) was the one who caught that ball. I’ve got no dog in this fight; the Bears aren’t going to beat the Packers in the Black and Blue division; I’m not a fan of the Seattle team… … as I watch it the Packer player got to the ball first but as the ball was brought... Read more

The English are Civil when it comes to Squatters Rights

Last updated on: September 25, 2012 at 11:45 am By Scot McKnight

From WaPo: Squatting, or the unilateral occupation of at least temporarily vacant property, has been a rite of passage for Britain’s young, down at heel and artistically inclined since at least the psychedelic 1960s. But with evidence that squatter numbers are surging — intruder eviction cases have doubled over the past year in posh London neighborhoods including Knightsbridge and Mayfair — a new law criminalizing the practice came into effect this month that is upending the rebellious and politically charged... Read more

Which Old Testament book is composed mostly of love poems?