Mike Wittmer

Month: September 2014

  • rethinking hell

    I prepped for today’s class discussion on hell by reading a new book, Rethinking Hell, which I kindly received from one of the editors. The book is a collection of evangelical authors arguing for conditional immortality—often referred to as annihilationism—which says that the damned in hell do not suffer forever but mercifully die and go…

  • is this anything?

  • on the right road but headed the wrong way

    Thanks to Bryon Morgan who alerted me to this post on religion and science from NPR. The author rightly sees the need for science to overcome its self-imposed handicap of materialistic naturalism, but he doesn’t know how to do it. He thinks it should be possible to restore wonder, passion, and value to the world…

  • classic joke

    Many of you have heard versions of this one before, but it’s a classic that all preachers should have in their repertoire. This one comes from my student, Tim Pike, who pastors East Tawas Assembly of God. Tuck this inside your Bible, and pull out in case of preaching emergency. I was walking across a…

  • Apple Watch

    The cover story of this week’s Time magazine, by Lev Grossman and Matt Vella, contains some powerful and chilling commentary on Apple’s new roll out. Here are three key paragraphs to consider before buying this latest new thing. “It’s intoxicating and also a bit disconcerting to have this much functionality perching on your wrist, like…

  • an unusual 9/11 devotional

    I saw this illustration in Neal Plantinga’s latest (and typically stellar) book, Reading for Preaching, p. 32, and thought it would make a good start for a devotional for Our Daily Journey. I’d like to turn it in tomorrow, so if you see something, say something. Thanks! Seth MacFarlane is the precocious creator of an…

  • are we dangerous?

    Last week the California State University system (23 schools) said InterVarsity Christian Fellowship could no longer be a recognized campus group because it requires its leaders to commit to certain beliefs, beliefs that naturally exclude others who do not hold them. It seems that California is punishing faith-based groups for having faith. It believes that…

  • we’re doing it again

    Yesterday Matt Lauer interviewed Nancy Writebol in front of a banner that read SIM. It was so third century. In The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark argues the Christian faith exploded in part because early Christians sacrificially helped their neighbors in times of crisis. Pagan religion had no answer for the deadly plague that struck…

  • hey

    I didn’t intend to take the summer off from blogging, it just sort of happened. I was busy with new sermon preps, building a third stall on my garage that I didn’t really need but had fun doing and thought it might help my boys learn what it means to be a man (we build…