Do good Christians make bad citizens?

When greeting people in the foyer after a sermon, it’s not unusual for a preacher to wonder, “Just what did they hear today?” when someone says, “I liked it when you said…” and they proceed to tell the preacher something he said that he is quite sure he did not say. That curious wondering might […]

The Bible, the President, and homosexuality

This week the President announced his support for same-sex marriages: “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” What has been missed in some of the discussion is that he also […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from around the internet: Justin Taylor offers “Eight Reasons Why My Anxiety is Pointless and Foolish.” In “Pray the Scriptures,” Scotty Smith confesses, I am a recovering self-centered pragmatic pray-er — a believer who spent many of my first years in Christ thinking of God more as a sugar daddy than the […]

What belongs to God?

In the final days of Jesus, His opponents used various means to attempt to discredit His teaching and malign His character. The questions they asked were not genuine desires to learn from Him or to clarify their understanding; the queries were not-so-cleverly disguised attempts to trap Him into saying something unintended that would make Him […]

Jesus, taxes and the government

Ask most people what topics are the most controversial and should be avoided if interpersonal conflict is also to be avoided and most people will reply with the paired answer, “politics and faith.” And yet Jesus very willfully and intentionally injected Himself into that very discussion in Matthew 22: when the debate about whether or […]

After jury duty

I spent the first two days of this week serving our community in the juror’s box. On Monday I was part of the selection process for two different juries before eventually being seated as a member of the second jury. I’ve been called for jury duty before but never had the privilege of sitting on […]

Free Voter’s Guide

The next general election is three weeks from today. Are you wondering who to vote for or what the issues are? Get your free Voter’s Guide here:

The believer and his taxes

Part of America’s heritage is a tax-revolt. And since an infamous tea-party, we Americans have quite consistently looked for opportunities to reduce, object to, fight against, and refuse to pay taxes in a variety of different forums. Argumentation against taxation has often also been a frequent topic among believers, who have often sought tax relief […]

A prayer for the new President

I spent today at the library reading and studying, so my attentions were away from the inauguration this morning. When I left the library for a few minutes to get a sandwich for lunch, a television in the restaurant pulled me back to reality as President Obama was giving his inaugural address. Which precipitated a […]

Today’s Quote (11/4/08)

Al Mohler, “A Prayer for America on Election Day:” First, we should pray that God will bless America with leaders better than we deserve.… Second, we should pray that Americans will be motivated to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship, yet also that we will be stripped of an unhealthy and idolatrous confidence in the power […]

A woman in the White House but not in the pulpit?

Apparently, the selection of Sarah Palin by John McCain has triggered a number of questions and accusations against evangelicals. The debate is essentially over this question: “Evangelicals are willing to have a woman serve in the White House, but not as the pastor of a church? Isn’t that just a little inconsistent?” In light of […]

Rick Warren and the Presidential candidates

On August 16, Rick Warren and Saddleback Church hosted a pair of one-hour interviews with each of the Presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama. If you missed it, you can still see the video, or read a transcript. Additionally, the answers of each question by the candidates have been placed side-by-side for an easy […]