I have been asked the tattoo question many times and have always hesitated to give a public answer for reasons not necessarily relevant here, but Doug Wilson’s post “7 Reasons to Not Tattoo You” seems like as good an occasion as any could be to offer my own thoughts.
Read MoreWhat’s been eating at me for some time and I did not see it is that we have a large segment of Christians who are highly advanced in nothing but the fundamentals, and their leaders have never moved them on. Through an abundance of study and reading theology books, podcasts, conferences, etc., we have created an illusion of maturity without the substance of it. Let me explain.
Read MoreThe militaristic mindset wants to build walls, bomb “evil” nations, reinstitute torture, jail millions of people for all kinds of minor offenses, and maintain a “show of force” as a means of “keeping the peace”—but it knows nothing of peace. The problem with modern Christianity—and indeed a large swath of historic Christianity—is that it has separated the realms of the state and military apart from God’s revealed word. It has created a radical division between “two kingdoms”: the private kingdom of God and the church, and the general public and civil society. The private kingdom of God and church are ruled by the revealed word of God, they say, but we dare not “impose” God’s revealed standards upon the civil realm, for God rules that only by his secret providence. Here, Christians must repose and allow a mixture of Christians and pagans, or perhaps just pagans, to rule society by “natural” law (whatever that may be), or humanism, or whatever is the law de jure.
Read MoreWhile it is helpful to remind ourselves that the technical definition of “Socialism” is quite narrow, and that by that definition we must understand “Socialism” is indeed a dead political and economic philosophy, let’s not be so black-and-white minded that we ignore the obvious. Whether the government technically owns the means of production, or whether the government simply has its finger in every pie, is only a matter of degree. I argue that both are therefore Socialism since they partake of the same principle: theft by government.
Read MoreThe short answer… yes. Absolutely.
Read MoreThis notice is by no means limited to the two named in the title, but is for all who have misappropriated the biblical theme of “exile” in order to describe the status of the Christian church in this age. The denial of God’s Law for social ethics entails the denial of it in total, including for personal ethics. It’s only a matter of time, then, before it becomes of question of how far we sell out in denying it. And now we have a case in point:
Read MoreMy article on the Confederate battle flag stimulated much discussion. Among the limited but strident opposition, with few exceptions, was exhibited much of the sentimentalism and illogical non-sequitur already refuted in the article. For the few exceptions, perhaps, if time and chance allow, I will offer my responses at some later date. I wish only to address, in a way, one point here: an analogy drawn to flying the American flag.
Read MoreAs a radically conservative defender of liberty and states’ rights, I say that there is no good biblical, historical, or strategic reason to defend a state’s flying of the Confederate battle flag today. It is rather a sign of utter hypocrisy, sentimentalism, and misguided zeal. Every Christian of every stripe ought to be calling for the removal of that profound distraction in SC—and every other state-sponsored location—in the name of Christian integrity and the advance of true Christian values and culture.
Read MoreGod Almighty owns everything. This is the biblical view: “The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Ps. 24:1); God says, “Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all it contains (Psa. 50:9-12).
Read MoreWe are further brainwashed into thinking (and feeling) that guns are somehow dirty and evil, and that Christians should have nothing to do with them. In this view, we have departed from the Scriptures, Christian legal history, as well as America’s Christian history.
Read MoreThis is classic dispensationalism, perhaps just with the curtains pulled back more than normal. What is called the “third phase” or “interim” kingdom here is nothing less than the classic dispensational “church age” in which the real kingdom program is put on hold until Jesus returns to knock heads, literally.
Read MoreOne response that always comes from certain Reformed quarters regarding theonomy is: “but Calvin rejected theonomy!” Then follows, inevitably, the quotation from Calvin’s Institutes, 4.20.14, in which said rejection is manifest. Then, with said quotation, the full discussion of the full scope of the theonomic debate is assumed to be settled for all times in all Reformed venues.
Read MoreRecently I wrote about an “admission” from Kevin DeYoung of how some theologians run to two-kingdoms theology because it provides a “bulwark against theonomy and reconstructionism.” But that was nothing compared to the level of candor we have now gotten from Carl Trueman. I never expected this. But I have to say, as much as I disagree and even dislike what I read here, I am grateful when our opponents get this consistent and this candid with their consistency. This, my friends, is an unambiguous, unapologetic theology of total retreat and surrender. Defeatism never earned the label so fully before.
Read MoreRev. DeYoung for the Gospel Coalition has written a piece on “Two Kingdoms Theology and Neo-Kuyperians” which is unhelpful in its “broad strokes” but helpful in its passing admission. DeYoung glosses that on the “plus side” of two-kingdoms theology is that it is “A bulwark against theonomy and reconstructionism.”
Read MoreThe United States in no way has been attacked, and therefore there is no true “defense” on our part. Nor do we even have allies attacked, which is already beyond the specific issues addressed by Madison, Hamilton, etc. But just this far is enough to show the one basic principle: the power to make war—and you don’t even have to call it a “police action” or “limited military action,” you can just call it “war”—is not exclusively and solely vested in Congress. It is, in fact, sometimes, an Executive power, apart from Congress, and that is constitutional.
Read MoreThe leader of the neoconservative warmongers, William Kristol, called Congressional Republicans to “Hail Ceaser!” yesterday. No, that’s not a misprint. It refers to First Things blog editor James Ceaser (not Caesar), who has penned a shocking case for Republicans to wholeheartedly, unconditionally support Obama in attacking Syria, no matter what.
Read MoreWe are aggrieved, though not surprised, to learn of another ministry taking direct shots at our “Restoring America” message 1) without quoting us (let alone in context), and 2) widely misrepresenting our easily accessible views. Since the ministry in question is widely respected and has something of a following, and mostly among a younger, internet crowd, the record needs to be set straight. This article, in part and in brief, will do so. In doing so, I will lay down an offer . . . or challenge.
Read MoreIn a previous partial review of Michael Horton’s The Gospel Commission: Recovering God’s Strategy for Making Disciples, I began documenting some of his duplicities in regard to the Lordship of Christ and the meaning of the subject matter of that book. I mentioned how clearly he writes of Christ’s all-encompassing power early in the book, but then spends the rest of the book qualifying it to death. He began:
Read More
