Around the Horn

First, if you want to know what’s at stake in the creation/evolution debate, this post at Jesus Creed gives some insight. It is about the evolution of immorality, and what is particularly instructive is the comment section. Once you give up man as a special direct creation in the image of God, you have introduced some serious issues into the world, including the lack of a rational explanation for an almost universal sense of morality tied to something outside the individual. There are some things that are simply unable to be explained rationally from an evolutionary viewpoint.

Second, here’s a short chronology of the life of Augustine. You might like or hate him, but he is undeniably a significant figure in church history.

Third, my friend Jared Compton writes a good piece on a piece about why women still can’t have it all. It’s a good reminder for us to be cautious about what it means to “have it all.” Contrary to popular opinion, I think the Bible has a very high view of women, and we should take steps to encourage that. There’s not many ancient cultures that placed women on a par with men the way the Bible does, that encourages and honors their industry and work, and honors their personhood, (not to mention killing a whole city because one woman got raped). Having spent a few days recently being Mr. Mom, I am quite confident to say “I don’t want it all.” I like the dynamics of family partnership.

Last, Roger Olson tells us what he admires about Calvinists. It centers around the idea that Calvinists typically do a better job of teaching their congregation how to integrate life and Scripture than non-Calvinists do. I am pretty sure this post was edited after its initial version, but here’s the key part:

My experience of non-Calvinist Christians (from membership and leadership in about 12 churches during my lifetime) is that they are not, by and large, theologically trained at all. They have picked up pieces of this and that (theologies) and pasted them together in ways that seem good to them without any real reflection on the outcome (the eclectic worldview, theology that results from that informal process). I’m not saying that doesn’t also happen among Calvinists; I’m just saying it’s not as common IN CALVINIST CHURCHES.

Not sure if he’s right, though I tend to think he is. I think I can make an argument as to why, and perhaps one day I will. But until then, his thoughts are worth considering.