Education: the Christian’s Contribution to Society

King Alfred the Great of England (r. 871-899) was truly one of the most remarkable men in history. The fifth son of the previous king of England, he was a man of deep Christian faith, a man of learning, and a great warrior king, the first king of an England he united and rescued from [...]

Mockery, the last and faltering line of defense against acceptance

The progression occurs something like this:
“That is appalling! I won’t allow myself to even acknowledge its existence.”
“Well, its increasing presence is making it harder to avoid thinking about it, so I’ll act hostile toward it.”
“Hostility isn’t able to stave off the onslaught, and I’m miserable when I’m hostile. I’ll ignore it.”
“Ok, ignoring is [...]

Christians in Politics: a Conversation with Samuel Adams and John Adams

Samuel Adams: “He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man…”
Me: Hmmm…so, [...]

Who’s responsible in the Benoit case?

Today I overheard someone pondering whether the pressures of the wrestling industry were what “got to” Chris Benoit and caused the atrocities he committed. I just shook my head.
Wrestling industries don’t kill people. Wrestlers kill people.
I’m not trying to be funny here. People blame the desperation of poverty when poor people commit [...]

DeMar Tickles Creationists’ Ears

In a recent article on his website, Gary DeMar tries to pick a fight with a strawman to encourage his anti-evolutionist choir. This has bothered me so much that I had to write a response.
His main thrust comes at the end of the article in which he writes, “Atheist James A. Haught, writing [...]

Levity as Leaven in Today’s Church

Picture the children of old being taught by their elders the stories of their ancestors and the history of their faith. Imagine them with wide eyes as they absorbed and digested into their consciousness the beliefs of their forefathers. See them attentively listening to their living forbears passing down the priceless heirlooms they themselves had [...]

You might be a preterist if…

…you enjoy eschatological wit. My brother-in-law (Josh) and I have had occasion to produce a couple of zingers lately. I would like to present them as a litmus test for determining whether you are a preterist geek.
1) One of the first questions asked by incredulous Christians coming into contact with preterism for the [...]

MYSTERIES OF MY FIELD OF STUDY REVEALED: the Birth of Historical Linguistics

Earlier I was talking about the consistency of sound changes, what the nineteenth-century German grammarians called the Ausnahmslosigkeit der Lautgesetze (the “exceptionlessness of sound change”) . The catalyst for this belief, which was in turn the catalyst for the existence of the discipline of historical linguistics, was the product of the work of two [...]