Quality interweb mischief from Jared Bridges
The Alabama shooting, like the Virginia Tech massacre before it, is sure to unleash a wave of speculation about what drove the troubled young Michael McLendon to do what he did. Even this morning on my commute, I overheard a discussion of the killing spree in which one fellow conceded, “Since he killed that many … Read more
There is much to commend in Tyler Wigg-Stevenson’s Christianity Today cover story, “Jesus Is Not a Brand,” but this excerpt is especially noteworthy: The difficulty with the pro-marketing arguments, however, is the failure to recognize that marketing is not a values-neutral language. Marketing unavoidably changes the message—as all media do. Why? Because marketing is the … Read more
In the most recent issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal, Ken Myers spoke with Eugene Peterson on the place of reading in the spiritual lives of Christians. They reference a brilliant poem by Emily Dickinson from which Peterson takes the title of his upcoming book, Tell it Slant. Here’s the poem: Tell all the … Read more
It’s a good question — one posed by Ron H. in his comment on my recent “Darwinism and good” post: What can adequately explain why something is or isn’t good? Equivalently: What is good? For many (in practice this is most, I imagine), something is good if it turns out the way a person wishes. … Read more
Just how crazy are those wacky evangelicals? Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone wanted to find out, so he went “Undercover with the Christian Right” by immersing himself in the world of TBN star John Hagee’s Cornerstone Church. There’s much not to like about the methods that Taibbi employed for the piece, which is an excerpt … Read more
Well, more or less: “It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out one’s own glory.” [esvignore]Proverbs 25:27[/esvignore], NASB
It’s ironic that within the evangelical church — a people who by and large claim their ultimate authority to be Scripture alone — it is tradition that is often the most difficult thing to change. Voddie T. Baucham Jr.’s book, Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes to Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk with … Read more
[Editor’s note: In light of today being Earth Day, I thought I would do my green duty and recycle a post from June 2005 that is remarkably still relevant today.] The pregnancy of Britney Spears and the trial of Michael Jackson notwithstanding, the hottest topic in the news today has to do with the intersection … Read more
Several years ago, I accompanied two friends — Eastern European university students who were visiting the U.S. for the summer — into a Christian bookstore. One of the two, Andrei, was a Christian who wanted to visit the store while in America to purchase some Christian music. The other student, Sasha, was an admitted atheist … Read more
As I was reading from Proverbs today, it dawned on me just how similar money is to time: Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven. Proverbs 23:4-5, ESV This reminded me … Read more