A good word from Thomas Sowell here on personal responsibility and its frequent neglect in discussions of societal ills. My favorite clip (with classes about to start up again): Students are discussed largely as passive recipients of good or bad education. But education is not something that can be given to anybody. It is something that students either acquire or fail to acquire. Read the whole thing. Thomas Sowell is the author of the recent outstanding book The Housing Boom and Bust which I finished on vacation this summer. If you want a penetrating, 150-page look at the forces that … [Read more...] about Personal Responsibility and Public Policy
Dual Citizens – Jason Stellman
Speaking of the Two Kingdom Theology and Neo-Kuyperian discussion, this new book, Dual Citizens: Worship and Life between the Already and the Not Yet, probably contains some extended reflection from the Two Kingdom perspective. The author is the Rev. Jason J. Stellman, a graduate of Westminster Seminary California. Rev. Stellman is ordained by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America and is the planting pastor of Exile Presbyterian Church in the Seattle, WA area. The endorsements: "I do not know of a book quite like this one. It is a devotional theology of the … [Read more...] about Dual Citizens – Jason Stellman
Healed For Holiness – John Piper
Piper Clarifies Tornado Remarks
John Piper clarified his remarks on the tornado that ripped through Minneapolis, MN while the ELCA was having their national convention (during which they voted to allow for people in "publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church"). In a sense, he reiterated his remarks, which many have misunderstood. Piper notes:God’s message to me in my tornado [prostate cancer] was essentially the same as to the ELCA in theirs. My tornado was "a gentle but firm warning to me and all of us: Turn from every approval of sin in your life. … [Read more...] about Piper Clarifies Tornado Remarks
All The Money In The World, Redistributed
I was humbled and somewhat amazed when my wife mentioned this to me over lunch today: Question: If all the net worth (money, assets, etc.) in the world were redistributed, so that every human being had the same amount, what would that amount be? Answer: About $9,000 HT: Ask Marilyn Wow. This should evoke (from all of us) thankfulness to God, and generous, wise stewardship of the incredible wealth that He's entrusted to us. We can also observe the widespread economic blessings of a free, capitalistic economic system. For an excellent argument that wealth is actually created in such systems … [Read more...] about All The Money In The World, Redistributed
ELCA Approves Leaders in Same-Sex Relationships
How tragic:As expected, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted the following resolution: "Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding ways to allow congregations that choose to do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships." The vote was 619-402.Later that afternoon, their leadership voted 559-451 to allow "people in such publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church." … [Read more...] about ELCA Approves Leaders in Same-Sex Relationships