Posts Tagged ‘Culture’
Review: Alcohol Explained
Alcohol Explained, by William Porter manufactured by Amazon.ca, Bolton, ON, n.d. William Porter is, by his own description, “a middle-aged lawyer” who gave up drinking after 25 years. On his website (Alcohol Explained) he says he began drinking and smoking at the age of 14, first giving up smoking and later giving up drinking. He…
Read MoreCancel Abraham
Cancel Abraham. He owned slaves and even impregnated one of them. Cancel Sarah. She enabled her husband’s escapade and persecuted the victim. Cancel David. His behavior is only acceptable in a movie. Samson and Jephthah? Let’s not even go there. How can God exalt such obviously flawed people in Hebrews 11 as examples of faith?…
Read MoreHelp Wanted – the vanishing work ethic
Right after graduating from college I enrolled in seminary to pursue a master’s degree. At the time I also became engaged to the young lady I would marry. I needed an increase in income to match my increasing financial obligations, so I applied for a job at a textile mill not far from my school. …
Read MoreWhat Do We Do Now?
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee (Psalm 102:1). I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication (Psalm 142:1). Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all…
Read MoreAnti-Christian Animus in the Sports Pages
I spent the first 33yrs of my life in Ohio. I often say that my blood is not red, it’s scarlet! I love my Buckeyes! Thankfully, living in West Virginia that works out just fine. I can still be a Buckeye and a Mountaineer with little conflict. Being a Buckeye does carry with it some…
Read MoreShould You Watch the Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Last year I wrote a blunt blog about the Super Bowl halftime show. It was reactionary, partly written in frustration that so many people complained about the highly sexualized nature of the event when we should have seen it coming. That blog was also my most read piece of 2020, probably because it had the…
Read MoreThe Compromising Church at Pergamos
This letter is the third in a series of seven letters written to churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD. In these letters, John gave a personal message from Christ to each church. Each message expressed Christ’s up-close perspective on the spiritual condition of each one. Just as we benefit…
Read MoreSeeing Souls with a Gospel Lens
1 Corinthians 9:19–23 sets an important example for effective evangelism and discipleship. “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law,…
Read MoreThe Butterfly Lovers, the Cultural Revolution, and the Hand of God
Recently I attended a concert of the Hangzhou Symphony Orchestra. A violin concerto called “The Butterfly Lovers” was a part of the program. My youngest daughter, who knows about such things, told me that the piece was quite controversial, having been composed during the Cultural Revolution, which rejected all things Western. To my ears, the…
Read MoreRespect, Conscience, and Culture
1 Corinthians 9:19-23 John and the Tardy Taxi Driver: I once heard the true story of a man from the United States who flew to another country on business. (We’ll call him John.) John was told that when he arrived at the destination airport, the friend of a friend, who was native to that country,…
Read More