Educating for the Polis or the Love of God?
Perhaps you have noticed that the educational system in America is a cultural battleground. Radical ideologues are implanting their worldviews into our culture through our various educational institutions. In Pennsylvania, nursing students’ grades are adversely affected if they do not offer preferred pronouns.[1] In New York, a state legislator has produced legislation that would require public schools to provide instruction...
Awakening to Independence
Religious belief and practice directly influence society in myriad ways. However, the extent and character of its impact is a contested matter. Historians of colonial America have often argued that the First Great Awakening significantly influenced the development of the War for Independence. Paul Johnson, Harry Stout, and Rhys Isaac have each attempted to explain the connection between these historical events. Unlike revisionist...
Hypocrisy in the Twitterverse
Hypocrisy is the public display of virtuous actions or thoughts with the ultimate goal of drawing attention to one’s own moral superiority in contradistinction to others. Because it is sin, all peoples struggle at all times with the temptation of hypocrisy. However, the recent proliferation of portable communication devices and social platforms has made this particular vice especially enticing and pernicious. Our pride is stroked by...
The History of Free Will Baptist Histories
If a stranger were to ask you who you are, how would you respond? You might begin with your name and occupation, but you would turn eventually to history. You would begin to explain where you came from and to whom you are connected biologically, intellectually, and spiritually. History tells us who we are, helps us explain ourselves to others, and gives us guidance. Our denominational history serves the same function. With a strong...
The Midwife’s Baptism: Thomas Helwys and Believer’s Baptism
The Free Will Baptist Treatise defines baptism as the “immersion of believers in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”[1] For this reason, Free Will Baptist churches cannot accept candidates for membership who have not received believer’s baptism by immersion. During my years in ministry, people occasionally have asked why we would not accept the infant baptism of someone who had clearly accepted Christ as...
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