Riffs: JMarkBertrand: Diss Isn’t Discernment

logo.gifMark Bertrand on watchblogging and the “either/or” assumptions of its practitioners. This post deserves wide circulation among all bloggers.

I’ve told this story before, but it bears retelling. I once had a young reformed Baptist pastor and his wife over to our home for dinner. We had mutual friends and I wanted to be able to discuss reformed theology with someone. After a pleasant meal, the young pastor and I went over to my office and talked shop for a while. The discussion began to take a bizarre turn.Continue reading “Riffs: JMarkBertrand: Diss Isn’t Discernment”

A Post For The Kid With The Black Eye

bullies.jpgThis is my fifteenth year working at a Christian boarding school, and one constant during all of that time has been conversations about bullies. I’ve probably talked with 300 students about how to respond to a bully. I’ve probably had 50 conversations about the effect a particular bully was having on other students.

Because I was an only child, I was never picked on by older siblings, so I did not develop a kind of toughness that children from larger families have. There’s no doubt that being teased and taunted by other kids was more difficult for me because I didn’t get beat up every week by an older brother or cousin.Continue reading “A Post For The Kid With The Black Eye”

As the last child walks away: Clarity at the Crossroads of Life

father_son.jpgUPDATE: Denise’s post of this weekend’s events.

We’d been gone from Lexington about 5 minutes when Denise started crying. “Twenty-one years I’ve been cooking for my children. That’s a big chunk of your life.”

You have such thoughts on the day you take you son to college. You stand at the crossroads, the haze lifts, and for a moment you see the journey you are on.Continue reading “As the last child walks away: Clarity at the Crossroads of Life”

Review: Finding God Beyond Harvard

Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for VeritasKelly Monroe Kullberg’s Finding God Beyond Harvard is several good things. It’s an account of the author’s own journey into a significant ministry that is touching the core of universities around America, while at the same time keeping her focus on the spiritual hungers and thirsts of university students. Kullberg is a gifted writer who does an outstanding job of making the reader feel the spiritual wreckage and emptiness that dominates a generation of university students. She’s buoyant and brave; thoughtful and filled with wonder. She’s also one of us- a person growing and learning as God moves faster than she can sometimes keep up.Continue reading “Review: Finding God Beyond Harvard”

I Hear Pepper Talking

mop.jpegPersonification. With me, it’s more than just a hobby. It’s a way of life.

I’m reasonably sure that there are entire blogs being developed to prove that I am mentally ill, “dangerously unstable,” without sufficient assurance of faith to be truly converted and unfit for the ministry. The fact is, I do have one serious problem that might qualify me in someone’s estimation as both nuts AND unfit to work with anyone’s children.Continue reading “I Hear Pepper Talking”

Thanks To Doug Wilson and Dan Edelen

The Internet Monk and Boar’s Head Tavern web sites received a real compliment today. Both were added to the “Theology” sidebar at Douglas Wilson’s site, Blog and Mablog.

As one of the BHT fellows said, Wilson is the kind of person who can say, “I disagree with you, but we are fellow Christians talking about what matters deeply to all of us.” Wilson would never agree with everything at IM or the BHT….but then that’s not the point, is it? This stands in stark contrast to some other reformed bloggers, whose approach to disagreement over subjects like postmodernity or N.T. Wright is available for anyone to read in their comment threads.

Thanks Pastor Wilson. You’re an IM/BHT favorite, and we are always happy to post links to your provocative, engaging posts and to further the mutual conversation about what matters most with you and your audience.

Another salute to Dan Edelen, who paid this site a very high compliment today in this post. Much appreciation Dan.

Do you ever doubt your Christian beliefs?

ravi.jpg“Michael, do you ever doubt your Christian beliefs?”

Yes. I do. In fact, I’ve written an entire essay on the subject of my personal doubts: I Have My Doubts. It’s an IM favorite. While it’s more confessional than comprehensive, it does address the subject of doubt, the depth of doubt, and the path of my own faith in the face of doubts.

I really need to write a follow up that is more comprehensive, but that will have to wait for another day. There are particular areas of Christian belief, particularly eschatology, that challenge my commitment to Christian beliefs. I would also like to write about the role of community in holding on to faith through life’s journey.

One of the most important aspects in my personal resolution of doubt is to understand that many of the things that “corrode” my faith, also do the same “corrosive” work on any belief system.Continue reading “Do you ever doubt your Christian beliefs?”