Why I am a Conservative - The Sword

One of the key planks in conservative thought is a strong national defense.  Critics on the left, including the Christian left, often suggest the conservative position is nothing more than feeding a lucrative war machine at best and a direct contradiction of Jesus command to turn the other cheek at worst.  And typically the accusation against Christian conservatives is that they are dupes of the Republican party on this issue as well as others.

But I have to disagree.  Once again, I think the position of the Christian conservative has a matter-of-fact view of humanity as fallen and in rebellion against what is true and good, and because of the fall, because of the corruptibility of human nature, it is necessary to have both a police force at the local level and a standing army at the national level precisely because there are those whose aggression cannot be restrained by anything less.  (More)

The Problem of Unity - Part 5

I wrote a meandering thought experiment on Christian unity a long time ago.  More thoughts:

Here is a further illustration of the problem. Regarding the question, "What is essential?" we could attempt to categorize a list of doctrinal issues. We could categorize them in a descending hierarchy with the "Essential" things on top and the "non-essentials" on the bottom.  The problem really lies in the middle, the things some consider essential, but which others either do not, or do not agree with.  (More)

The Real Misogynists

Odd that theological complementarians are called misogynists when this stuff it going on everyday without comment from the political left, the Christian left, or supposed "women's" groups. 

An article appeared earlier this week at Frontpage detailing the unconscionable sexual degradation of conservative women.  The most recent egregious case was that of commentator S.E. Cupp depicted in Hustler as needing to be "shut up" by having a particular object photoshopped suggestively into her mouth.  It is one article of many that could be cited.  In it former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, Former Florida Congresswoman Katherine Harris and current Wisconsin lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch have all been attacked using vivid sexual imagery and conservitive commentators like Laura Ingram, Michelle Malkin and Elizabeth Hasselbeck have been subjected to rape language. (more)

Egalitarians, Complementarians, Patriarchalists and Misogynists - Oh My!

I'm not one who thinks that defining the role of women in the church is an "essential" on which the church stands or falls, but boy do folks get bent out of shape over it.  I've been in some pretty conservative churches over the years and I've never felt like this was a huge issue in the overall scope of things, because I never felt the difference between egalitarian and complementarian was all that great.

Recently  Rachel Held Evans called complementarianism patriarchy.  That seemed to me more than a little false.  Count on Tony Jones to up the ante. He referred to Russell Moore and John Piper as misogynists, haters of women. 

The reason for the consternation was apparently a statement by Moore that too many complementarians were living as practical egalitarians, which carried the suggestion to egalitarians that to be consistent, complementarians needed to "push women down" more.  I think Moore spoke poorly, but knowing what most complementarians think about "servant leadership" I tend to think the point is that Moore feels men often exercise no leadership at all, behave in a passive manner that serves no one. I do not think he was "pushing women down" as Tony Jones opined.  (More)

Why I Am a Conservative - Original Intent

Since it has become fashionable for some to portray politically conservative evangelicals as either unthinking lemmings who have been duped by the Republican Party or worse power hungry theocrats bent on establishing a fundamentalist theocracy, I thought I should get back to a topic I started long ago on Why I am a Conservative.  

My only post on the topic so far dealt with the concept of limited government as it is related to the Christian concept of the fallen nature of human beings.  (I had also written on why I fear theocracy). (More)

Atonement Theories

Much of the progressive Christian blogosphere seems to be deeply concerned about atonement theories.  I'm not sure how much of this has to do with the comment of a particular skeptic that the cross of Christ amounted to "cosmic child abuse".   At any rate, "penal substitution", the belief that Christ took the penalty for human sin by acting as a substitute for us has fallen on disfavor.

To some degree, this may be a reaction to the trend of our era toward sound bites.  Since the advent of the four spiritual laws, evangelistic strategies have tended toward trying to explain redemption in a few short bullet points - hardly leaves time for unpacking a lot of theology - and the more prominent atonement theory winds up the only one described.  (More)

Disposable People - Culture Wars

This quote from C.S Lewis often comes to mind when pondering the current state of sexual ethics in this country.  

"…when we say of a lustful man prowling the streets that he wants a woman. Strictly speaking, a woman is just what he does not want.  He wants a pleasure for which a woman happens to be the necessary piece of apparatus. How much he cares about the woman as such may be gauged by his attitude to her five minutes after fruition,  One does not keep the carton after one had smoked the cigarettes."

Over the last 50 years, three issues keep coming to the surface in the so-called culture wars, issues which conservative Christians find themselves involved with and as a result, find themselves roundly criticized for poking their noses into "political" affairs.  (Read More)

The Pragmatic Case

It usually does little good to argue about same-sex marriage as a public policy issue using Biblical  arguments, no matter how badly we wish to rebut some of the horrific exegesis that comes from progressive Christians who support this massive and unprecedented subversion of 3400 years of western civilization.

A case must be made that shows how changing the definition of marriage changes society at large in a negative way and why a government should care.  Here are a few thoughts.   (Read More)

Marriage - The Definition is the Issue

I’ll take a stab at the hot button topic of the day.  

Why is it that conservative Christians are opposed to gay marriage in this enlightened post-modern age?

Let me begin by saying it is not that Conservative Christians are opposed to “love”.  I don’t think there is anything anyone would say against two people of the same gender having a certain affection for each other.  It is true that affections can sometimes be unhealthy – even simple friendships and heterosexual romances.  Still the issue isn’t “love” as in a “feeling” two people have for each other.

Christianity is a faith that exalts a set of high moral standards and then tells us that none of us can keep those standards.  It responds to this dilemma with grace – a deep, deep well of forgiveness.  The result is that the moral law of God which none of us keep perfectly ceases to be a source of condemnation, but remains a goal.  We are not always honest, but we strive for honesty.  We are not always faithful, but we strive for fidelity.   The moral standards affirmed in both the Old and New Testament are not a means of salvation but they remain ideals by which we examine ourselves and seek to be better people.  So – the issue is “what are our ideals?” (Read more)

Andy Stanley, Al Mohler and Scot McKnight

We have apparently come to the place where progressive Christians are open to roundly criticize conservatives who simply speak their mind and portray them as judgmental while being increasingly unwilling to speak against others who pass judgment with extreme prejudice.  

Al Mohler raised a question as one part of a discussion about the megachurch phenomena.  The heart of Mohler’s post was that a generation or two ago, it was suggested in “liberal” circles that Christianity needed to change in order to reach people.  But in a short time, those churches jettisoned essential elements of the faith.  While Mohler praised – yes praised – the conservative bent of many  megachurches and megachurch leaders, he said that the temptation would be strong to water down essential truths for the sake of outreach. 

In this context, he referred to a message by Andy Stanley - "When Gracie met Truthy".  Stanley used a sermon  illustration where two men, both having abandoned heterosexual marriage for a same-sex relationship were told they were disqualified from a service role on a “host team” because one was still married to his wife, not yet divorced.  Stanley did directly speak against adultery – since one of the men was still married, and tied that to disqualification from serving in that position.  But Stanley said not a word about the morality of the same-sex relationship itself and whether that might also disqualify someone from the same role.  His silence on the obvious hot-button issue implied to at least some that had both men been divorced while having this same-sex relationship, they could have stayed in their role.  

So adultery was a disqualification while an illicit gay relationship was seemingly not.     (Read more...)