An assumption is the taking of something for granted. More precisely, it is a proposition that is accepted without proof or evidence as the basis for a further conclusion. But sometimes an assumption is just that, an assumption. It might be true, only partly true or even completely false…. Assumptions are inevitable – we all have them. But what is it about one assumption that makes it any better than another? And what, if anything, obliges you to assume anything? Even if you think an assumption might be worth checking, how do you check it? If it is an assumption and you wish to check it, then what assumption does…
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The Coming Consistency
Inconsistency is good. What? Surely I should be stripped of my qualifications, marched down to logic 101 and given a thorough going over! Not so fast. First, one has to ask: consistent with what? For there are two articles I have read this week that demonstrate consistency of the kind I do not want. First, Mary Elizabeth Williams writes on the anniversary of Roe v Wade (see here for the full article): “I know that throughout my own pregnancies, I never wavered for a moment in the belief that I was carrying a human life inside of me. I believe that’s what a fetus is: a human life. And that…
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Chalke Talk
Church leader, Steve Chalke, has released his opinion on human sexuality and marriage (here). Chalke is a well known evangelical leader in the UK. While I disagree with his view, what interested me was how he consistently said that his view is Biblical. Just what does he think of the Bible? This is what he said: “The Bible… doesn’t claim to be the word of God; it claims that Jesus is the word of God. It is a book that guides us to Jesus… A Christian’s way to understand the Bible should be to read both Old and New Testament through the lens of Jesus.” It appears that there is a more fundamental difference between Chalke’s view and…
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Two Kinds of Passion
Phil Johnson, over at Pyromaniacs, has written a little critique of artificial passion in the church (here). He is critical of that whipped up, for its own sake, temporary, fluffy passion. Johnson hits upon something important, but what exactly is it? Consider, for a moment, a passion for cupcakes. One might be passionate about cupcakes, committed to them with one’s whole heart, believing that cupcakes are, in fact, the best combination of sugar, butter, flour and eggs that is humanly achievable. One might be so passionate that one seeks to share the marvel of the cupcake with anyone who will take a bite. But even being that passionate about cupcakes…
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A Mind for Eternity
In the movie, The Grey, several men survive a plane crash in a remote part of Alaska. The story charts their attempt to escape a pack of ravenous wolves through inhospitable land. In one scene the men talk of what keeps them going, what motivates them. All that they said was good enough–family, love, another chance at life–but all of it was this world focused. In The Christian Mind by Harry Blamires, Blamires reminds Christians that an essential difference between the secular mind and the Christian mind is that the Christian sees life in eternal and spiritual terms. Our frame of reference is not merely this worldly. It is not that the Christian doesn’t…
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Money Money Money
Money, as traditionally understood, is a unit of payment for goods and services recognized and established by a government within a country. It is a medium of exchange, cutting out the need for exchange of physical goods; it is a standard by which any good or service is measured in terms of value, a method for the preservation of value through for example, savings, and a means of settling a debt. If that’s what money is, then how do we, as Christians, make sense of it? The following is almost entirely drawn from Leland Ryken’s book, Worldly Saints: For a start, is money good or bad or morally neutral? Historically, the Roman Catholic Church…
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Debunking Bumper Stickers
In a book that has done the rounds, Who’s Afraid of Postmodernism, James K Smith critiques evangelicals for their unfair dismissal of postmodern thought. He takes the three most common “bumper sticker” lines from three of postmodernism’s most influential thinkers, tells us what they really mean and why their contributions are helpful for an “emerging postmodern form of church.” I remember the postmodernism/postevangelical debates we all had (far too late) in the early 90’s. And, as I have mentioned before (here and here), the whole thing left me rather non-plussed. However, I thought Smith’s summary of radical orthodoxy in his book of that title was so good that I would flick through his contribution to…
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Why Actors Need Directors
Jodie Foster’s somewhat befuddling speech proves one thing: Actors need directors. Foster’s fluency, keen mind and sharp discourse are nowhere to be found when left to fly. Some can improvise, but most need a script and a director. And so to a point: so do I. I am mere actor and I need a director – a pastor. And, like an actor left to go off script, I too need a director who knows the script and can direct lives according to it. This is the admirable job of a pastor; he takes up God’s script and teaches the flock to follow and apply it to their lives. This sounds like…