One of the best pieces of intellectual advice I received (from a student, actually) was that “we should seek to understand before we critique.” Another person, this time a colleague, used to say that “you need to get to a place where you are an inch away from believing something before you can truly understand it,” and he was talking about Islam. Pretty risky stuff, but I think they’re both right. A solid, honest, informed—indeed, Christian—way of evaluating a new... Read more
John Piper and N. T. Wright have been two of the most influential voices in my life, and I love the confused reaction I get when I tell people this. After all, don’t these two writers come from different planets? Isn’t one an agent of God while other an agent of Satan? Or perhaps you’ve wondered what John Piper has been all fired out about in a couple of his recent books: Counted Righteous in Christ and The Future of... Read more
Today, we celebrate the birthday of one of my heroes: Dr. Martin Luther King, a Christian leader who through non-violent methods ignited and carried the Civil Rights movement until he was shot and killed in 1968. A few years ago, I became fascinated with the Civil Rights movement, which led me, of course, to study the life of King. Probably the best book out there on King’s life is David Garrow’s Pulitzer Prize winning biography, Bearing the Cross. I devoured... Read more
I’ve spent two blogs talking about the potential dangers of homeschooling. Now I want to follow up with a blog talking about the potential benefits of homeschooling. If you’re new to this discussion, you’ll need to read my first two blogs in order to get a better perspective of where I’m coming from. As previously stated, my wife and I (cough, cough) homeschool our four children—and we love it. I mean, it’s incredibly demanding and at times exacerbating, but every... Read more
A few weeks ago, I posted a blog titled “The Dangers of Homeschooling” and I promised to follow up with a blog about the benefits of homeschooling. Sorry for the delay! I had planned to post the second blog a week after the first, but the whole Christmas/New Year thing hit and I’m just now waking up. In any case, I’m going to post the anticipated blog “The Benefits of Homeschooling” tomorrow. But first, I want to respond to some... Read more
A “mixed orientation (M.O.) marriage” is where one spouse is straight while the other opposite-sex spouse is attracted to the same sex. History has seen many such marriages end in much pain and confusion—especially if kids are involved. Given their destructive potential, mixed orientation marriages are rarely viewed as an option for people who experience same-sex attraction. However, I have two friends who are in such marriages. A couple months ago, I posted an interview with Nate and Sara Collins,... Read more
One of the most heated debates in churches these days is how to school your kids. Public schoolers argue on missional grounds that kids can’t reach the world unless they’re in the world. Christian schoolers respond that kids can’t be ready for the world unless they’re equipped with a Christian worldview. And homeschoolers disagree with both on the basis that any school environment is liable to corrupt your kids. For this post, I want to address the third approach, the... Read more
The traditional image that angels have wings is pervasive. I’ve rarely heard anyone question it. But sometimes common Christian themes need to be questioned. Because actually, nowhere in Scripture do we see angels with wings. Nowhere. In Christian folklore, angels are often depicted as Caucasian men with wings, which is odd since most of the people in the Bible are middle-eastern. (Why would an angel appear to them as European?) It is true, though, that angels do in fact look... Read more
Despite what is ubiquitously portrayed in nativity scenes, Christian folklore, and every English translation that I’m aware of, there’s a good chance that Jesus’ parents never visited an inn in Bethlehem to give birth to the Christ-child. Here are three reasons why. First, Bethlehem was a very small rural village at this time—population of only a few hundred people. Historically, then, it would be extremely unlikely that there was a commercial inn at such a small village. Inns existed in... Read more
Theology in the Raw
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Farewell Trolls and Haters
I’ve always battled with the tension between the American value of free speech and the Christian value of speaking in a way that builds up others rather than tearing them down. On my blog (and Facebook), I generally let people say what they want and how they want, but a few months ago I tightened the reigns on my Facebook. I started deleting “Friends” that used dehumanizing and childish language toward others (or myself). Unfortunately, I ended up deleting a... Read more