My wife was fully vaccinated with Moderna in May.

She tested positive for COVID yesterday.

Her symptoms have been relatively mild compared to many others I know who had the virus before or without the vaccine.

I’m grateful for God’s providence and the gift of medicine. Micah is the type who gets a flu shot every year and still gets the flu every couple of years.

We’ve come to learn that vaccines aren’t magic forcefields that prevent illness but treatments that *can* minimize the effects of a disease or a virus.

A few traits characterize the theologians, pastors, and students I know who have walked away from their faith. They “loved human praise more than praise from God” (John 12:43). They often seemed more concerned about being open-minded than having their minds renewed (Rom 12:2). They often flexed their scholarly muscles in study but were lethargic in ministering to the church or the needs of others. Their lifestyles showed patterns of sinful decadence rather than the pursuit of holiness, and their love for God grew cold (Matt 24:12).

On the subject of “biblical masculinity”:

There was a time in my life when I truly felt out of place for not conforming to particular “masculine” stereotypes.

I was never athletic and generally uninterested in sports as a kid. (In God’s goodness, I love sports now.) /1 I ran the other direction when my dad tried to show me how to fix things. I couldn’t wait to go inside and play Nintendo. Honestly, I wish I had paid more attention. I’m still playing catch-up. /2

For the record, I can disagree with the approach taken by John MacArthur to church meetings and simultaneously (1) appreciate his ministry and (2) respect his right to hold in-person services without fear of government reprisal. /1 Dr. MacArthur has done many great things for the kingdom I will gladly acknowledge. I have been to his church before and am grateful for the students I have known out of Master's Seminary. /2

We can affirm the objectivity of biblical truth AND acknowledge we are finite interpreters shaped by our time and place in history.

We can acknowledge the author-given meaning of biblical texts AND apply the text in different ways in different cultural settings. The hard work of hermeneutics helps us alleviate misunderstandings of Scripture, but it doesn’t guarantee infallible interpretations of Scripture.

I appreciate the contribution Gadamer makes to our understanding of hermeneutics and interpretation, but what do I know? I only bothered to read his work. Seriously though, Gadamer has a more "conservative" group of interpreters and a more "radical" group of interpreters. I have been more influenced by the former than the latter, people like Thiselton and Vanhoozer.

Last year, @kswhitfield and I began work on the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture as it relates to other non-theological disciplines.

If Scripture is sufficient, why should we engage with philosophy, the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the like? /1 @kswhitfield We then drafted this statement:

We affirm the classical Protestant doctrine of Sola Scriptura. We recognize Scripture as the supreme source and only guiding norm of Christian theology, /2

Perhaps a little Sunday afternoon discussion on the language of “identity” will help us think through some of the “gay Christian”/“Christian with same-sex desires” semantic dispute. Warning: this long thread will involve a little metaphysics and theological anthropology. /1

https://twitter.com/ostrachan/status/1197991735978123264

Part of the problem with the cultural moment is that our “identity” language is notoriously fuzzy. People on all sides of this debate are using the term “identity” differently, causing them to pass one another like ships in the night. /2

There seem to be two theological issues behind the Moore-MacArthur controversy larger than soft vs. hard complementarianism in the SBC: disparate understandings of ‘prophecy’ and the related issue of cessationism/continuationism. /1 The BFM does not take an explicit position on either of these issues, but it seems that for some in the convention, this is a settled issue, so much to the point that disagreement on the matter is counted as “sin” or “false teaching.” /2

Biblically speaking, "false teaching" is more than an incorrect propositional belief about some aspect of Christian doctrine. It is not a simple interpretive mistake; it is an act of volition that stems from spiritual immaturity, unbelief, arrogance, and illicit desire. First, false teaching preys on the spiritually immature. Paul repeatedly expresses concern for the minds of believers who may be “led astray” by belief in a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel (2 Cor. 11:3–4; cf. Gal. 1:6–7).

The time I preached from the wrong translation at a rural KJV-only church: a bedtime story. In was the fall of 2004, and I was an undergraduate in Christian ministries at Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge, AR.

I will admit I haven’t spent much time reading the primary sources of CRT, so I will gladly withold judgment for the moment on its value as tool or its evil as an ideology. I will go out on a limb and say the vast majority of Baptists on the internet who are critiquing it haven’t read much of it either. They are following the lead of people they trust, which I can appreciate.