I have been taken to task elsewhere on the web for a few posts on my site that included obscene and vulgar words. It’s been argued that my posts violate biblical standards for speech and writing. That’s the issue I want to address in this post. One of the most relevant passages of the NT is Ephesians 5:1-12. In the ESV, verses 3-5 read, “But ?sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness ?must not even be named among you, as... Read more
Here is another older piece, first published in the Chalcedon Report in 1988 (hence the dated bibliography and references), on the question of how Christians should talk about sex. Part of the point is that even non-obscene terms can be used in ways that undermine Christian sexual morals. Asterisking f-words is no guarantee that our speech will be pure. I hope this article also gives a hint of why Christians should take an interest in the way way talk about... Read more
INTRODUCTION John is a true apostolic pastor. His letters address the universal church (1 John), a particular congregation, the “chosen Lady” (2 John), and an individual Christian, Gaius (3 John). 3 John is full of names: Gaius (v. 1), Diotrephes (v. 9), Demetrius (v. 12). John is not content with speaking to crowds, but also encourages, rebukes, and exhorts individuals. He addresses the church as a whole as “beloved” (1 John 2:7; 4:1, 7), professes his love for the chosen... Read more
2 John 1, 3: The elder to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth . . . Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. In the sermon, we reflected a bit on John’s use of the word “elect.” John doesn’t use it here to refer to some sub-section of the church, but to the church as a whole.... Read more
2 John 4: I was glad to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we have received commandment to do from the Father. As we saw in the sermon this morning, John addresses this second epistle to a church that he calls the “chosen Lady.” This Lady is the mother in a home, for she has children, the individual members of the church. John writes to the Lady so that she and her children will know ahead... Read more
This Wednesday is “Ash Wednesday,” the beginning of the traditional church season of Lent. Lent is a fast season, traditionally set aside as a time of penitence and abstinence, a forty-day period of self-denial and meditation on the cross. How depressing, we might think, to spend forty days every year meditating on the cross, thinking about our sins, fasting. Don’t we want to be more upbeat? Aren’t Christians supposed to be happy? (more…) Read more
Why did God make horse flies? In 1728, William Byrd of Virginia had a guess: God made horseflies “that men should exercise their wits and industry to guard themselves against them.” Read more
INTRODUCTION The opening verses of Proverbs 17 continue a section begun in 16:31. 16:31 refers to the “crown of glory” of gray hair, and that matches the “crown of old men” and “glory” referred to in 17:6. These verses form a frame around the section and set up the themes of the section, which, like the Proverbs in general, are concerned with the wisdom and authority of those who have gained wisdom through experience, by walking in the way of... Read more
Elsewhere on the Web, a number of people have taken issue, vigorous issue, with a few posts on this site where I quote other writers using vulgar words. I intend to write something more specific in response to that, but for the moment I’ll simply post an article I wrote in 1991, first published in issue #3 of Jim Jordan’s Open Book newsletter, which is also available on Jim’s Biblical Horizons web site. Some of the references here are dated,... Read more
I’m just now getting around to looking at Damon Linker’s expose book on the Theocons , so’s I can find out what those First Things folks are really like. I discover that Neuhaus early developed a “pattern of defiance.” Evidence? Oh, you would ask. Well, Neuhaus said his father was not a man you could “directly cross . . . without direct repercussions.” Hmm. Not surprising for a Lutheran pastor of the old school. Any more? Yes: Neuhaus was sent... Read more
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