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Abortion

To Kill or Not to Kill

It seems to be old news, but I was unaware of it until recently. Australian academics argued that mothers should be allowed to terminate the life of a newborn child. [i] Why would they promote such an idea? Because before the child is born it is not always possible to…

by Ralph Allan SmithSeptember 12, 2019
pascal
Philosophy

Is the Betting Rigged in Pascal's Wager?

This is the second of two essays introducing Pascal’s Wager. Click HERE for Part 1. In “The Pop Star and the Mathematician” I gave an overview of the apologetic approach commonly called Pascal’s Wager. In that Wager, 17 th -century French mathematician Blaise Pascal argued that the choice between Christian…

by Alexander WhitakerSeptember 10, 2019
pascal
Philosophy

The Mathematician and the Pop Star: A Pascal's Wager Primer

This is the first of two essays aiming to introduce the reader to Pascal’s Wager. The second will address criticisms of the Wager. In the early 1990s, a perennially popular British pop star was interviewed on British television about his very public evangelical Christian faith. “What if,” the reporter asked…

by Alexander WhitakerSeptember 5, 2019
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Matthew

The Secret of the Middle of Matthew

Matthew 13 is about secrets. In this chapter, Jesus teaches eight parables and tells the disciples that they reveal the secrets of the kingdom (13:11). And much like Samson who both tells riddles and is himself a riddle that the reader must solve, so Jesus not only tells secrets but…

by John HigginsSeptember 3, 2019
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Biblical Theology

David, Goliath, and the Body of Moses, (Part 2)

Click HERE for part One. THE TEXT AS TABERNACLE Creation – Initiation – Genesis (1 Samuel 17:1-11) The gathered armies not only remind the reader of Ebal and Gerizim, but also of the very reason that Israel was established (Creation) , set apart from the other nations by the circumcision…

by Mike BullAugust 29, 2019
job
Job

The Man in the Middle

What to do with Job’s Final “Friend,” Elihu Elihu is a strange character, at least in the sense of how and where he appears in the book of Job. Why does he not appear with the other three “friends?” Does his argument differ from any of the first three who…

by Eric RobinsonAugust 27, 2019

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Translation, 1 Kings 12:25-13:

And built Yarav?am Shechem in the hills of Ephraim. And he lived in it. And he went out from there and built Penu?el. And said Yarav?am in his heart, ?Now returns the kingdom to the house of David. If this people ascends to make sacrifices in the house of Yahweh…

January 11, 2005
Philosophy

Funny Philosophers

David Bentley Hart contests Thomas Oden’s claim that Kierkegaard is the most humorous of Western philosophers, offering Hamann as an alternative. In challenging Oden’s nomination, Hart has this important comment about Kierkegaard’s attack on Christendom, particularly K’s complaint about Christian “whoremongers”: Yes, in fact there are “Christian” whorehouses, and whoremongers,…

January 11, 2005
American Religion

Dulles on Jefferson

Now here’s news: A Catholic cardinal putting in a good word for Jefferson’s deism. Avery Cardinal Dulles ends an article in the January 2005 issue of First Things with this: “Jefferson would probably have insisted on the positive articles of deism as a required minimum. For him and the other…

January 11, 2005

Eucharistic Meditation, January 9

1 Kings 12:15: So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a twist from Yahweh, that He might establish His word. A ?twist from Yahweh.?EThat?s what the writer of Kings calls the division of the kingdom. Yes, Rehoboam acted stupidly, brazenly, with foolish bravado. But the…

January 9, 2005

Exhortation, January 9

The book of Kings is important because it sheds on our situation in the contemporary church, in which the church is divided into myriads and myriads of denominations and sects. Our sermon text, which describes the division of the kingdom of Israel, offers several insights into the causes and nature…

January 9, 2005
Literature

Marilynne Robinson

I had never heard of Marilynne Robinson until I saw a review of her recently published second novel, Gilead , a few months ago in The Atlantic . That review inspired me to get a copy of her first novel, Housekeeping , which is one of the most bizarre, funny,…

January 6, 2005

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