Category Archives: Commentary

Living In One Room

In Screwtape Letter 10, the senior tempter reminds Wormwood that, as much as possible, he should strive to have his patient lead two completely separate and parallel lives. It’s basic demonic advice, and few of us would need much explanation. Someone ought to add that’s there’s no good reason to stop at two separate lives.Continue reading “Living In One Room”

Talk Hard II: Defending Dissent

The Original Talk Hard: Defending the Role of the Critic in Christianity. Lots I would change in that essay, but it still holds up 6 years or so later. Recently, I received an email from someone who has been a longtime reader of this blog, giving his reasons for being a regular reader and generousContinue reading “Talk Hard II: Defending Dissent”

The Coming Evangelical Collapse (3): Good or Bad?

UPDATE: Great Minds Think Alike: Jared Wilson heard Tim Keller recently. Here’s the quote from Jared’s summary: Related to that, he predicted, in response to someone’s question in the Q&A time, that in one generation’s time, there won’t even be the nominal Christianity in the South that there is now. The megachurches will flounder andContinue reading “The Coming Evangelical Collapse (3): Good or Bad?”

The Coming Evangelical Collapse (2): What Will Be Left?

2. What will be left after the evangelical collapse? a. An evangelicalism far from its historical and doctrinal core. Expect evangelicalism as a whole to look more and more like the pragmatic, therapeutic, church growth oriented megachurches that have defined success. The determination to follow in the methodological steps of numerically successful churches will beContinue reading “The Coming Evangelical Collapse (2): What Will Be Left?”

My Prediction: The Coming Evangelical Collapse (1)

I’m not a Prophet or a Prophet’s Son. I can’t see the future. I’m usually wrong. I’m known for over-reacting. I have no statistics. You probably shouldn’t read this. The “Gracious God” post depressed me. Part 1: The Coming Evangelical Collapse, and Why It Is Going to Happen Part 2: What Will Be Left WhenContinue reading “My Prediction: The Coming Evangelical Collapse (1)”

Theology, Depression and the Unsolvable Problem of the Right Church

I’ve written another essay (March of 08) on this topic called “The Happy Enough Protestant.” I recommend it highly, but it doesn’t deal with depression. I am going to write rather directly to those of you who feel that you are experiencing some measure of mental anguish, anxiety and depression in regard to theology and,Continue reading “Theology, Depression and the Unsolvable Problem of the Right Church”

Thinking Differently, Disagreeing Charitably

I was recently reading a book of Catholic apologetics that wanted to illustrate the insufficiency of sola scriptura. For an example, the author selected some issues about which evangelicals feel strongly, but which the author believed are not specifically spelled out in scripture to the extent that evangelicals claim. One of the issues was polygamy.Continue reading “Thinking Differently, Disagreeing Charitably”

Riffs: 01:18:09: Are Southern Baptists Getting It? Maybe.

An IM reader sent along this piece from the Nashville Tennessean newspaper on the current decline of the Southern Baptist Convention. There’s some rare honesty in this piece, and I hope SBC leaders are listening. For example, Bill Leonard, one of my favorite professors from seminary days, talks about the SBC’s changing demographics. This reallyContinue reading “Riffs: 01:18:09: Are Southern Baptists Getting It? Maybe.”

Is This the “Better World” You Were Talking About?

Comments are moderated. I grew up as television was growing up. I was born in 1956 and lived through the “Golden Age” of network television. Television was part of my childhood and teenage years, but I had no reference point before television. Captain Kangaroo had always been there on the black and white television inContinue reading “Is This the “Better World” You Were Talking About?”