What I think. What I know. What I think I know.
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school daze
Egyptian monks called sloth the “noonday demon,” for the heat of the sun and their growling stomachs (dinner was at three) distracted them from their intellectual tasks. I am going to nominate a northern substitute. The new sloth is the “five o’clock shadow,” for that is pretty much when the sun goes down in December,…
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humor with a point
Jonathan Shelley forwarded this satirical look at our national debt. It’s only three minutes long, and be sure you watch it all the way to the end.
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sad news
The news that Christopher Hitchens has died is particularly sad. I cite him as an illustration of a bad way to die on my forthcoming book on that subject, for it seems that he kept his atheism all the way to the end. I’m sure I would have enjoyed knowing him. It’s tragic–and that is too light a word–that he…
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a very small Christmas miracle
Someone is giving away free copies of Don’t Stop Believing, and they wanted me to tell you about it. If you click here you can enter the giveaway promotion, which ends tomorrow at noon. This book is perfect for regifting, as long as you don’t scribble all over the margins, so think of this as…
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Plantinga’s latest
Yesterday’s New York Times had a compelling story on Alvin Plantinga’s new book, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. One of the main differences between Reformed Epistemology and Presuppositionalism is that the former was content to play defense (it’s rational to believe in God) while the latter was always on offense (it is…
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was Paul an exclusivist?
I want to thank you who commented on “the Achilles heel of inclusivism” post. It’s unusual to have such a civil conversation on the Internet, where people frankly express their views while respecting those who disagree with them. I have benefited from the discussion, and want to thank everyone for the way it was conducted.…
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ironic racism
Everyone knows that it’s impolite to make fun of the way other ethnicities look and speak, but some comedians have found a loophole. If you have a racist bit that really kills, you can still do it as long as you do it ironically. For instance, Stephen Colbert periodically breaks into his Chinese character, Ching…
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the Achilles heel of inclusivism
The Evangelical Theological Society’s national conference focused this year on the issue of how salvation comes through Christ. The majority of the society seems to be exclusivists, though there is an increasing and sizeable group that argues for some variety of inclusivism (that it is possible to be saved by Jesus without knowing that he…
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go with God
Andy Naselli has an embarrassingly cute man crush on Tim Tebow. After reading this Wall Street Journal story, I understand why. Tebow played for Florida and now Denver, two teams that Ohio sports fans have learned to hate. But it’s very hard not to root for him–and most of all, to pray that God will…
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De gemeene gratie
If you can’t read the title above, you’re in luck. Abraham Kuyper’s seminal work on common grace is now being translated into English, with the first book being launched tomorrow at Calvin Seminary at 10:00 A.M. If you live near Grand Rapids and the roads improve, consider coming by (Calvin is 5 minutes from the mall, so…
Mike Wittmer 