What I think. What I know. What I think I know.
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for the love of doctrine
I am put off by the title of a Christianity Today interview with Jamie Smith. The title is “You Can’t Think Your Way to God: Christian Formation means shaping our loves, says Jamie Smith, not just educating our minds.” The title is true enough, but I wonder why it singles out “thinking” as the way…
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against naturalism
This is the title of Alvin Plantinga’s opening chapter in a collegial debate he recently wrote with atheist Michael Tooley called Knowledge of God. Plantinga thanks Tooley for “his clear, rigorous, and detailed statement of a version of the atheistic argument from evil (p. 151),” and then pretty much dismantles it. As I read Plantinga’s…
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I am very interested in this question
I blogged a few months ago about the inconsistency of defending abortion while lamenting the horrible shooting in Newtown. An editorial in USA Today picks up on this theme, noting that President Obama demurred during the Gosnell trial to comment on its proceedings, but… “now that the trial is over, reporters should ask if President…
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the new legalism?
Anthony Bradley’s essay in World magazine is receiving some well-deserved attention. If that piqued your interest and you want to read more on the subject, I highly recommend Larry Osborne’s recent book, Accidental Pharisees. Osborne wisely and pastorally explains how we’re never free from the temptation to legalism. In fact, the more zeal we have…
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every 20 years
How will the new creation compare with the old? Maybe something like this. Update: I just sold the old one to a fellow who lived in my hometown in Ohio, so that makes me happy. I don’t know the right way to say this, but now my wife is the person/thing I have lived with…
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game on
Michael Bird has a prophetic post about where western culture is headed, and fast. It wasn’t that long ago when this essay would have seemed outlandish, even irresponsible. Now the future it predicts seems almost inevitable, because it’s already happening. This may not be the end, but it’s beginning to feel like we can see…
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top billing
Last night I attended the installation ceremony for Todd Billings, who will now occupy the Gordon H. Girod Research Chair of Reformed Theology at Western Seminary. The evening was bittersweet, as Todd has been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder that has no known cure, but as he reminded us last night, the Heidelberg Catechism…
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evangelical funerals
Readers of this blog know that I rarely reference my books in these posts–not because it would be wrong but because I don’t like the feeling that I’m trying to sell you something. I perhaps too naively believe that good writing will find readers, and am content to leave it at that. Someone mentioned last…
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into the closet
Yesterday I drove through Mitch McGary’s hometown and realized this Buckeye was going to “cheer” for the Wolverines tonight. I’ve got three reasons: 1. Rick Pitino (don’t Google Pitino and Applebee’s) 2. It’s not football. 3. Speaking of football, it might be a long time until Michigan will be able to compete with Ohio State,…
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you’re not helping
I am decidedly less worried about the sequester after a letter I received from the IRS on Friday, because apparently there is still a lot of fat in our federal government. The letter informed me that it was a mistake to mail a photocopy of my tax form because “We cannot accept photocopied signatures.” To…
Mike Wittmer 