Category: Cultural Issues
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Biblical Justice
Justice is a felt need in our world today. Justice is also a hot and controversial subject. But what is justice, exactly, and who gets to define it? In this video, the folks from Bible Project explore the biblical theme of Justice and discover how it’s deeply rooted in the story-line of the Bible that…
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Thoughts During a Pandemic
Scottish Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs mused: All men are afraid of afflictions and troubled at affliction, but where is the man or woman that fears sin and flies from the serpent, and is troubled at sin more than any affliction? It got me thinking. What if I borrowed and re-purposed Burroughs’ question: All are afraid of…
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Note to Self During Our Viral Outbreak
I admire Martin Luther’s attitude in the midst of the bubonic plague: “I shall ask God be merciful to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance…
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Repenting of Toxic Masculinity
Columnist Ross Douthat, in response to recent discussions about “toxic masculinity”, penned a piece for the New York Times, In Search of Non-Toxic Manhood. One of the frustrating tics of our society’s progressive vanguard is the assumption that every evil it discovers was entirely invisible in the past, that this generation is the first to wrestle…
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Racial Superiority is a Rejection of the Gospel
While opinions about the rise of racial tensions are many and varied, I find that I agree with these words from Al Mohler: “Any concept of racial or ethnic superiority is a rejection of the gospel of Christ – the great good news of God’s saving purpose in the atonement accomplished by Christ. A claim…
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Sasse Speaks to The Gospel Coalition
Senator Ben Sasse (R – Nebraska) addresses The Gospel Coalition 2017 Conference, with an address titled: What Has Washington to Do With Jerusalem?. Sasse, a vocal opponent of Donald Trump as his party’s presidential nominee during the 2016 election, speaks refreshingly and intentionally non-partisan about the distorted role politics plays in the American psyche. Sasse’s…
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The Benedict Option is Not Really an Option
Since I already have some pretty definite opinions about the book, I thought maybe I ought to read it. My preliminary thoughts about Rod Dreher‘s The Benedict Option is that it offers a good analysis of the present states of both culture and Church, but Dreher’s solution seems more imposed than necessary or biblical. In…
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Race & the Church RVA: Pursuing Diversity in Predominantly White Churches
The sixth and final gathering of Race and the Church took place in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday November 19. The second session of the morning featured Dr. David Prince, Pastor at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church on Lexington, Kentucky, speaking on Pursuing Diversity in Predominantly White Churches.
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Race & the Church RVA: Walking the Path of Love
The sixth and final gathering of Race and the Church took place in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday November 19. The first of two sessions that morning featured Dr. George Robertson, Senior Pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church of August, Georgia, and Moderator for the 44th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Dr.…
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Buyers Remorse: Election Edition
I have never been a fan of early voting, especially not in something as significant as a presidential election. I am of the opinion that there are some things important enough that people ought to order their lives around them in order to participate. As a Christian, and a pastor, I would consider the Lord’s…
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Race & the Church RVA: Understanding the Heart Cry of Black Lives Matter
The fourth gathering of Race and the Church took place in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday July 16. The featured speaker was Jemar Tisby, Founder and President of Reformed African American Network (RAAN). UPDATE: For those interested, Tisby outlines his Theology of Race in a May 2017 article from ByFaith magazine.
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Race & the Church RVA: Why Do We All Look the Same?
The second gathering of Race and the Church in Richmond, Virginia took place on Saturday morning March 12. The theme was: Why Do We All Look the Same? A Cultural & Theological Analysis of Underlying Church Dynamics; featuring speaker Dr. Alexander Jun. Alexander Jun is a professor at Azusa Pacific University, a TED Talk speaker,…
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Race and the Church RVA: Telling the Truth
On Saturday morning January 30, scores of church leaders, along with a smathering of parishioners, gathered in the basement of an old department-store-turned-church in Richmond, Virginia for a discussion on Race and the Church. The invited primary speaker was Dr. Sean Lucas, pastor of historic First Presbyterian Church of Hattiesburg, Mississippi; adjunct professor at Reformed…
