The Soggy Spaniel

Thanks to the research of Mark Regnerus and others, there is an emerging awareness that the greatest impediment to Christian discipleship and church growth in the 21st century is a disordered view of human sexuality that began with the so-called "sexual revolution" of the 60's. The Bible explicitly declares, and historic Christianity has affirmed, three…

In last Saturday’s New York Times, Christian columnist Ross Douthat asks, “Can the Meritocracy Find God?” "The secularization of America probably won’t reverse unless the intelligentsia gets religion,” writes Douthat. Nor is he sanguine for the prospects of that occurring. Douthat postulates two primary obstacles. First, “a moral vision that regards emancipated, self-directed choice as…

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.” C. S. Lewis, Preface to The Screwtape Letters. A personal journey I almost thought I’d figured it…

“You can’t handle the truth!” That classic line from Colonel Jessup in the witness stand became a waving flag for many. It is so enticing to think we own the truth, and that those who can’t “handle” it are naïve, weak, or cowardly. Delivered to perfection by Jack Nicholson, Jessup hammered a wedge between truth…

This could be the good news event of the year. Why is no one talking about it? COVID infections in the US have been plunging over the last 3 weeks. 2020: Goodbye and good riddance. The world is exhausted. Over a year after the SARS-Coronavirus-2 pandemic escaped China and infected the world, we are lonely,…

(Part 5 in a series on sexual apologetics) What is the state of marriage in Western society? How did we get there? What are the implications for the worldwide body of believers? We began this series in June discussing a report from a study committee of the Presbyterian Church in America calling for a Biblically…

The Sexual Devolution After millennia in which universal, heterosexual marriage and childbearing was the normative standard for human sexual activity, a counter-narrative swept the Western world in the mid-20th century. Like Godzilla from the ocean depths, the dragon wrought havoc and mayhem, not on the skyscrapers of Tokyo, but on that fragile social compact governing…

Has the church lost its focus? Perhaps no other verse is so singularly preeminent in defining the Church’s mission to the world, and for good reason: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations,…

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at two common objections to a traditional Christian view of sexuality: "What about other Old Testament rules we don’t keep?" and, “The New Testament teaching on sexuality was socially constructed and not intended for universal application.” In Part 2, we will examine two more recent arguments that…

Discerning right from wrong. What is the foundation of your moral principles? If you consider that a simple question, you’ve never really thought about it much. The gut reaction of most Protestants would be “Scripture” – certainly a fitting place to begin – but when one drills down into the details things get complicated rather…

Just when it looked like we’d turned a corner, COVID has returned with a vengeance – or so it seems. Most of the recent media attention has focused on rising infection rates in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. Three of those four (FL TX, CA) top the list of most populous states, so their raw…

“Be Safe” is the official mantra of our age, and has been for quite some time now. No wonder we're anxious. While 21st century America emerged as the safest time and place in human history, we came to perceive our pampered vantage point as a reality against which the most trivial of threats seemed terrifying.…