Love and Obey: For There’s No Other Way
Our culture is consumed with romantic love. Admittedly, sexual gratification is often confused for love. Even so, pop songs are filled with promises of eternal happiness in the arms of another, romantic comedies remain a perennial favorite for moviegoers on dates, and the Valentine’s Day industry is as strong as ever even amid massive inflation and economic turmoil. However, such understandings of love are extremely shallow. Love is...
A Difference in Kind: The First and Second Great Awakenings
As we look around the landscape of modern evangelicalism, we find a wide range of beliefs and practices. The kaleidoscope of low church denominations and “non–denominations” can be almost dizzying in their variety. However, these developments result from historic events. By studying how past Christians adopted certain emphases and practices, we better understand current circumstances. Revivalism is one very important aspect of...
Blessing the Nations: Biblical Nationalism II
Earlier this year, I offered a short reflection on God’s creation of nations as recorded in Genesis 10 and 11. In that post we found that God created nations with distinct characteristics, such as a shared language, kinship, common territory, culture, and laws. Since God created these distinctive categories for our benefit, we cannot blame them for the existence of human conflict. Nor should we attempt to eliminate them in favor of...
Faithful at All Times: A Review of Top Gun: Maverick
This week my wife, Megan, and I had a rare day to ourselves, with all our children staying with grandparents overnight. We took advantage of the opportunity to do something we almost never do—see a movie in the theater. Beyond the prohibitive cost of seeing films in this way, we just do not find many new movies very appealing. Hollywood’s general lack of imagination coupled with its clearly articulated social aims that contradict...
The Table of Nations: Biblical Nationalism I
Since 2001, we have seen a marked decline in American patriotism. A 2019 Gallup poll showed that the number of Americans who are proud of their country began to drop in 2005 and now hovers under fifty percent.[1] In 2013, researchers with the Pew Research Foundation discovered a generational devolution from the Silent Generation (b. 1925–1945) to Millennials (b. 1980–2000) of confidence in America’s prominence compared to other...
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