Is there such a thing as a ‘Pentecostal philosophy’? James K. A. Smith says there is. They don’t necessarily talk about it in ways we are accustomed to, but he says they have one. And here are its major elements […]
Howard Ahmanson
Does Jesus Oppose the Death Penalty?
For some reason it is hard for people, including even most evangelicals, to imagine Jesus supporting a death penalty for any sort of crime. On the other hand, if He claimed to be God the Son, “I and the Father […]
The Irrational Jacket
There has been a spate of articles recently about the strength of air conditioning in offices and the fact that women are often freezing in temperatures that men are barely comfortable in. Even before you take into account the differing wardrobes, […]
Heterosexual Cohabitation and The Church – After Obergefell
The historic church, evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox, has taken a dim view of ‘cohabitation,’ which used to be called ‘shacking up’ or ‘living in sin.’ The faithful churches in fact generally try to deny the Sacrament to those in cohabitation. […]
Some General Observations about China: Languages, Romanizations, Air Quality, General Appearance
I am late getting out this post, which should be my last about China. China does not feel like Europe. It feels like America in some parallel universe. I had always hated the science fiction tales on TV that had […]
If We’re ‘Better Behaved’ Just Because We’re Affluent, God is Not Impressed
It is often believed that poorer people are worse behaved and therefore undesirable neighbors; and certainly enough, certain pathological behaviors are more common in the poor communities. This is used as an argument for zoning and government land use control […]
Why I Am Not a ‘Caucasian’
The term “Caucasian” for so-called white people, in reality people of Old World ancestry who are not Negroid or East Asian in appearance, comes from bizarre 19th century racial theories. It in fact was coined by the German Christoph Meiners […]
‘Christian Colleges’ for The Heathen?
There has been plenty of publicity about “political correctness” on campus and on the extreme sensitivity of today’s generation to “microaggressions”. I posted “Freedom From Speech” not long ago, getting that title from Greg Lukianoff’s book of that name. I modestly […]
Some Things People Can’t See or Understand Anymore
In my last post I wrote about how the secular mind can no longer understand the difference between ‘forgiveness’ and ‘tolerance-acceptance-inclusion’. Things like this are not a surprise; in 1Corinthians 2:14, Paul informs us that “The natural person does not […]
Forgiveness and ‘Tolerance’ in Charleston
There has been some coverage about the ‘forgiveness’ offered to Dylann Roof by some of the Christian parishioners of Emanuel AME church that survived his attack. Matt Schiavenza in the The Atlantic describes this. [For some other responses as to why […]