Mike Wittmer

Month: December 2014

  • glorious mistakes

    Many blogs are running end of the year reviews, so it seems appropriate to publish the top thirty errors my students have ever made. I love my students, and they’re quite smart, but they write the dumbest things. When their mistakes make me laugh, I save and savor them. I have seventy-five so far. Here…

  • unbroken

    I just watched the movie “Unbroken,” which surprisingly is not about Cleveland’s record of futility (fifty years this week!). When I left the theater I learned that the University of Michigan had hired a new football coach. Michigan’s AD announced that “our guy came home.” Lebron did the same thing this summer. So this should…

  • dueling carols

    Yesterday we sang two Christmas carols with opposing views on redemption. Joy to the World rightly proclaims the goodness of creation, the tragic destruction of sin (“no more let sins and sorrow grow, nor thorns infest the ground”), and God’s plan to save the entire earth, “far as the curse is found.” This is my…

  • compassion without compromise

    Another extremely helpful book that came out this fall is from my friend, Adam Barr, and his friend, Ron Citlau. Compassion Without Compromise wisely and biblically guides Christians through the minefield of issues surrounding homosexuality. Just about any scenario that you will encounter is addressed in this book, and new ones that arise are handled…

  • ordinary

    Now that the semester is over, I’m digging into the pile of books I’ve been longing to read. Yesterday I enjoyed Michael Horton’s new book, Ordinary. This delightful reminder of the value of a normal Christian life covers one of the points I make in my forthcoming book, Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus…

  • latest funnies

    The good news is that my grading is done for the semester. The bad news is that the final papers only gave me three bloopers to add to my list. I’m now up to 75. Next week I will post the all-time best, as a Christmas gift and to give my students something to shoot…

  • do dogs have souls?

    Today’s New York Times reports that Pope Francis has once again said something controversial. He consoled a boy whose dog had died by saying, “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.” The Times added, “Theologians cautioned that Francis had spoken casually,…

  • pace and preaching

    My family watched “Father of the Bride,” the Steve Martin sentimental comedy from 1991. The movie was still funny, but less than I remembered. Mostly because it seemed slow. Some scenes lingered too long, without changing camera perspectives. Dinner conversation was reflective and took time to develop—true to life but a bit hard to watch.…