Controversy regarding pastor Mark Driscoll has come to a head recently. The responses to this generally fall into one of two categories in my mind. I believe there is an important, key difference between the responses. I think this difference is worth examining because it can help us understand how to respond in other situations
Book Review: The New Tolerance, Part 3: “Absolutes” (Moral Truth)
(This post is a continuation of the reviews found in part 1 and part 2.) While the authors complain about the use of the word “tolerance”, I was more confused by the way they used the words “absolute truth”. Being as it is that I have grown up in conservative evangelical circles, I’ve heard people
Book Review: The New Tolerance, Part 2
(This review is a continuation from part 1.) As mentioned, the first half of “The New Tolerance” basically says “liberal ideas have come and are taking your kids away from you!” However I feel the authors mainly argued against a straw-man. They defined “new tolerance” rather than having someone who fairly represents a thoughtful liberal
Book Review: The New Tolerance, Part 1
The New Tolerance is a book written by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler about fifteen years ago. The book is a bit of a challenge to review in that there are several different messages being communicated on various levels. Overall, I consider the book political even though it doesn’t promote any political action. The reason
Evangelicalism’s PR Problem: Private Love, Public Condemnation
I recently read a book written from a conservative Christian perspective. The authors’ spend much of the book warning of their perceived dangers of liberal / progressive ideas. I admit I was surprised that their solution to all this was a call to love people. Though I don’t directly share their point of view, I
Questions for Understanding Beliefs and Productively Engaging Disagreement
People have disagreements about many things. When a person is passionate about an issue, I venture to say it’s typically because their belief represents one or more values which are important to them. When people have disagreements over an issue, they’re often talking past one another without digging into what is really driving the other
A Single Perspective
I had the honor of being asked to write a guess blog post for Dan Brennan. It took me a while to pull it together, but it is now published. Check out “A Single Perspective” on Dan’s blog.
Book Review: Invitation to Tears
“Invitation to Tears” is a new book coauthored by Jonalyn Fincher and Aubrie Hills. If I were to describe “Invitation to Tears” in a word, it would be “permission”—permission to grieve. The authors are sensitive to the various ways people grieve. They also recognize that the death of a loved one is not the only
Problems With Focusing on Sin
I once heard a preacher in a sermon briefly mentioned the corresponding dangers of legalism and license (or sometimes referred to as libertinism). The latter is the fallacy of thinking we have freedom to act any way we choose because of God’s grace and forgiveness. It seems as though this preacher understood legalism to be
Secret Church Review and Problems of Focusing on Sin
Secret Church is an annual event put on by David Platt and his church in Alabama. The event is promoted widely and simulcast to groups meeting across the U.S. and world. Some friends of mine had participated before and organized a viewing locally this year. So I joined them. It was scheduled for a single