Does Calvinism Justify Domestic Abuse? Recently there has been some “buzz” in public and “around the water coolers” that Calvinism justifies domestic violence and abuse. Because I am one of Calvinism’s best known critics, I feel the need to wade into this controversy and nip it in the bud, so far as possible, early—before it gets to the point of people accusing Calvinists (people) of justifying domestic violence and abuse. *Note to readers and potential commenters: Here, as always, I… Read more

Who’s Really a “Fundamentalist?” Again—the American Media Gets Religion Wrong One of my main complaints about the American media—both “news” and “entertainment” (and the line between the two is increasingly blurred)—is their tendency to get religion wrong. Often these are journalists who have easy access to religion scholars and don’t use them (us). Often these are entertainment writers of television (or other broadcast or streaming media) programming. *Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest… Read more

Back to Theology: Again with Arminianism     When I first began this blog my primary intention was to focus on reclaiming original Arminianism and correct the many misrepresentations of Arminianism especially among evangelicals (including theologians). I hope that by now, after many years of fighting this battle (against misrepresentations) that began in about 1992, I have made a dent in the armor of the opposition. (I know I’m mixing metaphors but that has never stopped me from doing it!)… Read more

Why Income Tax Is the Only Fair Tax Whenever I make this case, someone jumps to a wrong conclusion. The person obviously does not read my whole essay! (I have written on this subject before and it has been published as a guest column in a local newspaper. Many who responded with letters to the editor made fools of themselves because they clearly didn’t read my whole essay!) I am not advocating adding an income tax to other taxes; I… Read more

What Is “Situation Ethics?” What Should Be a Christian’s Response? When I was a kid growing up in the “thick” of American evangelical Christianity in the 1960s there was one great horrible “bugaboo” (cause for fear and alarm) against which we were being warned lest it infect our thinking and lead us down a road to complete personal decadence and eventual loss of salvation: “situation ethics.” I don’t recall anything being as forcefully condemned as that—by my spiritual mentors. Now,… Read more

The Many Faces of Socialism Let’s talk about “socialism.” Especially since Senator Bernie Sanders ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States this word, which he uses for his own economic policies and proposals, has been bandied about and, I fear, greatly misunderstood by many people. Sanders has made clear that what he wants is “democratic socialism.” In most conversation I have overheard the “democratic” has been dropped and Sanders has been accused (or sometimes applauded)… Read more

A Call to Protestants Everywhere to Take “Marriage” Back from the State Immediate clarification is needed to prevent and ward off objections from people who don’t read anything but the title of this blog essay! By “Protestants” I mean specifically those denominations and churches that are orthodox doctrinally but not Catholic (with a capital “C”) or Eastern Orthodox. I also mean those mostly non-fundamentalist but relatively conservative, biblically-committed Protestant denominations and churches that have slipped into the habit and custom… Read more

Who Is God? (Sermon to a Baptist Congregation) John 14:8-10 We Baptists tend to be more concerned with what God wants with us…than with who God is because we take who God is for granted. But I want to say that we can’t take that for granted anymore because there are so many powerful and influential “pictures” of God in culture that bleed into Christian and even Baptist thinking about God and can distort our beliefs about what God wants… Read more

Is Truth Worth Seeking? What if the Experts Disagree? Every once in a while I run across a paragraph that leaps off the page and causes me to think (if not utter aloud) “I wish I had said that!” Often the paragraph encapsulates an idea I have been wrestling with, an idea rolling around in my mind, that I have not quite figured out how to put into words. Said another way: What I’m talking about here is an idea… Read more

What Most People Don’t Know about Hitler, Naziism, Fascism and 1930s Germany One of the most quoted clichés is from philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Another cliché is that history repeats itself, but that’s false. History does not repeat itself; people repeat it—often out of ignorance. I’m a theologian by vocation and profession, but my avocation is history, especially 20th century history. Specifically, since high school, I’ve been fascinated, some would… Read more