Mark was determined to die. And in retrospect there was nothing anyone could have done to stop him. His first attempt came when he was 18 and it left him with scars running the length of his arms. His sister found him sitting calmly in the bathtub, a razor blade lying in the pool of…
I recently finished reading Talking About Good and Bad Without Getting Ugly, written by Paul Chamberlain, a professor at Trinity Western University (Langley, British Columbia) and director of the Institute of Christian Apologetics. This book discusses ways Christians can talk about difficult issues – abortion, homosexual marriage, euthanasia – in our pluralistic society. It was…
As you may have noticed, unless you’re on of those people who only reads the site via RSS, I have done a fairly major revision to the layout of the site. While leaving the design much the same (if it ain’t broke…) I added a new sidebar which contains all sorts of good information. Most…
Ron Gleason, (pastor, doctor of something or the other, and all-around nice guy) who posts in the Community Blog has begun a series called “The Death Knell for the Emergent Church Movement.” The first article in the series has been posted and the other parts will follow in coming days. Ron begins by saying, “Bad…
This morning I received an email from Rick Warren. Yup. Rick took time out of his Sunday morning, which I assume is quite busy, to send me an email. I would have thought he’d be busy putting the final touches on his sermon or perhaps praying, but no, he emailed me to ask if I…
I suddenly find myself in a most strange position. After years of trying to provide rational discourse on Rick Warren and his Purpose Driven teachings; after posting discerning reviews of his books and even going through The Purpose Driven Life day-by-day; after expressing concerns with 40 Days of Purpose and 40 Days of Community; after…
Justin Taylor points the way to RSSxl. Justin Taylor points the way to RSSxl. I had never heard of this service before but it looks excellent. Bookmark it for when you just need to receive an update when a page changes. This is just one more good use for RSS!
As you may well know if you spend much time around these parts, I read a lot. A whole lot. In my reading I have noticed a disturbing trend in the way authors use the Bible to prooftext their books. This concern has led me to write this article in which I will suggest some…
Time Magazine recently listed the “The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.” Predictably, topping that list was Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Saddleback Valley, California, and author of the bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life. The Purpose Driven Life is a phenomenon that defies comparison. In two years it sold over 22 million…
Hang on to your hats, because I am about to spiritualize (and very possibly trivialize) one of the great laws of physics. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states, in its simplest form, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Take a look around and you will see this law in action…
I am going to pose a question and ask you to think for a minute or two before answering. Stop for a moment before you continue reading this article and answer this simple question. Who is the worst sinner you know? Chances are that you know hundreds of people. Perhaps a thousand. Think of all…
Before we go any further I’d like to point out that the title of this article is meant entirely in jest. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be like me, nor do I encourage anyone to walk down that road. The title just seemed so much more interesting than “10 Really Swell Books…
Update (5:43 AM) – I am experiencing occasional issues with phpbb errors. If you get one of these please let me know. I think if you refresh your screen it will go away. As you may have noticed, the web server that hosts this site crashed last night somewhere around 6 PM EST. It was…
Susanna, over at her blog, has just posted a stimulating article she entitled “Pious and Reclusive for Christ” which discusses Christian children who attend public schools. I’d like to point out that Susanna, who is a particularly intelligent and beautiful blogger, just so happens to be one of my three little sisters. At this point…
For some reason the whole family woke up early this morning. By 7 AM we were all out of bed and sitting in the living room, waiting for something to happen. Naturally nothing did happen, so I decided I’d catch up on some DVD reviews. After watching an episode in a 6-part history of Christianity,…
This morning we had a “guest” pastor. I put guest in quotations because he was one of the founding pastors at our church, but recently moved to a neighboring town to help stabilize a floundering daughter church. So he was only a guest insofar as we have not seen him for a while. He preached…
This will be the final article in which I address advertising and the church. Since posting the first two articles I have received many comments about what I wrote. Today I’d like to add a little bit of clarity, especially to the questions of pastorruss who wrote “As you attempt to advertise your church via…
Yesterday I posted an article about church web sites that turned out to be a little bit controversial. I was quite sure in advance of the direction the discussion would take and intended to address the controversy today. So here goes. In the article I pointed to the fact that many, if not most, church…
My church has asked me (once again) to redesign our web site. This is going to be the fourth redesign of the site in the four years I’ve been at the church. Some of the previous changes have been initiated by myself, while others were at the bequest of the staff. This time it is…
Today I’d like to once again crack open the Feedback Files, where I answer questions that have been sent to me by readers of this site. I decided to post this one because it challenged me to deal with some issues that I have often questioned but never pondered. “Certain aspects of reformed theology make…