Mike Wittmer

Category: Politics

  • time to sell

    I’m catching up on the reading that piled up while I was playing miniature golf in Myrtle Beach (and thinking that churches should implement their own version of Jungle Safari’s stroke limit—“You’ve been hitting this sermon for 30 minutes, Pastor Woods, and it’s obvious that this one isn’t going in the hole. A large group…

  • tiananmen

    The title of this post guarantees that Google will filter it from reaching China.  That’s Google, the company that is absolutely committed to doing no evil, except in China.  There it will do a little bit of evil, enough to keep its foothold in the world’s largest market.  Today is the twentieth anniversary of the…

  • we don’t discriminate, except when we do

    Every job posting and even the cover of our seminary catalogue states that “Cornerstone University does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, sex, age or disability in any of its policies and programs.”  This important statement is enforced by our nation’s courts.  Should we ever sin by discriminating “on the basis of…

  • adoption option

    Last weekend I watched Slumdog Millionaire on Saturday, learned about my church’s new ministry to orphans on Sunday, and began reading Russell Moore’s new book, Adopted for Life, on Monday.  So I’ve been thinking a lot about adoption this week.  Should Christian families seek to adopt a child?  Are we being selfish if we don’t?…

  • an evangelical Esther?

    I have been offline for the past week, grading a couple hundred final exams and papers.  It’s exhilarating, and there are always a few surprises.  For instance, in Systematic Theology 2 I emphasized that nobody believes anymore that humans are composed of three distinct parts, body, soul, and spirit, except perhaps in some poorly rated…

  • boomers or tankers?

    This may be a gross oversimplification, and I’m willing to be corrected, as long as you’re nice about it.  But what is a blog for if not for trotting out ideas that are not yet ready for prime time?   So here goes.  While certainly there are many generations at fault for our economic crisis,…

  • uh-oh

    Turns out the top bowler in the Special Olympics is Kolan McConiughey from Ann Arbor.  He has bowled 5 perfect games since 2005 and has publicly challenged our president to “bring it on.”  I’m guessing that Obama is wishing that he had compared his bowling skills to something more innocuous, like kindergarteners. 

  • what went wrong

    If you want to understand how our country and the world landed into this financial mess, you should listen to NPR’s This American Life episodes “Bad Bank” and “The Giant Pool of Money.” They are the clearest and easiest to follow explanations that I have heard. You can listen to a streaming podcast or download…

  • is this anything?

    In the February 9, 2009 edition of Newsweek, Richard Mouw, the President of Fuller Seminary and former Grand Rapidian, objected in a “My Turn” column to Newsweek’s incendiary cover story on the Bible and homosexuality.  Mouw said that “one remark that hit especially close to home was made by the editor of this magazine.  He…

  • a series of most unfortunate presidents II

    My thanks to Brian McLaughlin, who sent me this comparison of presidential approval ratings.  It more or less supports my previous post that most recent presidencies ended with the president less popular than when he began.  The similarity between the George Bushes is especially striking.  Both enjoyed “war-time” popularity over 80%, only to see their esteem fall…