In less than two months, the fairgrounds in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, will be filled with a talented bunch of non-Christianeze Christian musicians. And I can’t wait to be there! AudioFeed is a rather new music and arts festival; it started in 2013 and runs every year around the 4th of July (July 1-3 this year). AudioFeed is more than a festival. It’s a community. Which is why I absolutely love it. If you’re anywhere near Champaign-Urbana (IL) this July, you’ve got... Read more
We’re coming up on Eternity Bible College’s second year in Boise, and I’m excited about the students God is going to bring our way. I’m particularly thrilled since as of this week, Eternity Bible College is now, officially, no doubt, yes it’s true—FULLY ACCREDITED! That’s right, folks. After 9 long years of pursuing accreditation, we’ve finally received a two thumbs up from our accrediting body (ABHE). There’s never been a better time to come to EBC! (Apply HERE.) As I’ve... Read more
I want to thank Doug Wilson for the challenging and thoughtful dialogue about the issue of guns, violence, and the Christian way. I’m sure Doug’s a busy guy, so in no way do I assume that he needs to, or desires to, keep responding to my posts. My flurry of blogs on the topic began as an effort to continue our Q Denver dialogue, but over the last couple posts, I’ve moved beyond the Wilson-Sprinkle debate and have tried to... Read more
I want to point out up front that the stuff Doug and I keep discussing—violence in self defense—lives at the fringes of the main topic. It’s common for people to race to the “killer at the door” scenario (and its variations) without stopping to consider the main problem of militarism in the church. My primary point, in my books and blogs and even my Q talk, is not that using violence as a last resort—a lesser of two evils—is the... Read more
I’ve very much enjoyed my ongoing dialogue with pastor Doug Wilson about all things related to guns, violence, damned lies and statistics. I must say, however, that Doug keeps moving the goal posts around the field that I hardly know where to kick any more. Like when I addressed the “good guy with a gun” myth and Doug slides the discussion over to whether I would call the cops during a mass shooting if I had a cell phone. It’s... Read more
In Doug Wilson’s recent Q talk, he referenced this famed saying, and, no joke, integrated it as part of his defense. “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I grew up hearing this phrase and it seemed simple enough for an American boy raised on a healthy dose of spaghetti westerns. Good guy with a gun meets bad guy with a gun. Good guy fires gun. Bad guy drops... Read more
Last Friday, pastor Doug Wilson and I gave talks on guns and violence at the Q conference in Denver. Might sound like a real shocker—two white dudes from Idaho talking about God and guns—but despite our cultural context, we arrive at different views about using violence to stop bad people from harming good people. We were both given 9 minutes to present our views, and then we participated in an 18 minute Q & A hosted by Gabe Lyons. I... Read more
I’ve been interacting with Lisa Diamond’s fascinating book Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire. In my previous post, I summed up Diamond’s conclusions about sexual fluidity and ended with her thoughts about the whole nature vs. nurture debate. In short, not only does Diamond say that the strict biological (nature) explanation is wrong, but that it’s been disproven quite thoroughly by recent scientific studies. “In textbooks and the popular media alike, sexual orientation…is described as strictly biological, and yet... Read more
The Gospel Coalition just published a review of my two books, People to Be Loved and Living in a Gray World. The author of the review was Anne Paulk. As a writer, I enjoy good, constructive criticism of my work, and I’m so thankful to have people in my life who give it to me. Since I’m not Jesus, everything I say contains a mixture of truth and error, and I’m on a mission to weed out the latter. This... Read more
Well, that title’s going to attract a wide range of readers. I’ll never forget reading Lisa Diamond’s book Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire at my kids’ afterschool events and getting some rather strange “ewe, what a creeper” looks from the other moms. (Some looks were of the opposite sort, but that’s for another blog.) But it’s true. I confess. I’m not ashamed. I’m interested in sexual fluidity among women. And in men, for that matter. I’m on a mission... Read more
Theology in the Raw
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In