Friday, July 13, 2012

Around the Horn

First, there’s a man who is running a church in his backyard in Phoenix. The city has fined him $12,000 and sentenced him to jail time for building code violations. I’ll spare you the commentary and just remind us that the gospel matters, and when your neighbors and your city are ticked off at you because you ignore them, it’s hurt the gospel. Filing lawsuits will not recover the gospel witness.

Second, Doug Wilson attempted to preach on the healthcare debate here. I say “attempted” because I view preaching as involving the right use of Scripture to say what God says applied to our world today. I think Wilson succeeded only in that it applied to our world today. Otherwise, I think this is a good example of how not to preach. The pulpit is far too important to use it for things like American democracy. And adding a some constitutional commentary on to a few Bible verses doesn’t make the grade.

Third, with college football just a little ways away, here’s a good reminder of just how bad things are. In this story, a young man with a serious gun charge is given a scholarship to play football at Alabama State. We live in a world that wants to pretend there are no consequences for choices. Before you yell, “Everyone deserves a second chance,” let me say that I am fine with this young man getting a second chance to go to college. But as long as schools tolerate this, there will be no incentive for it to be different.

Finally, here’s a good word from Ed Stetzer bits on ministry pornography. It’s only about three minutes long, but it’s an excellent reminder to grow where you’re planted, and not to lust after other people’s ministres. No matter where you are, some place else usually looks better. Sometimes it is, but be careful. And I never knew John Acuff looked like that.

3 comments:

Kent Brandenburg said...

You probably knew that Wilson is both a preterist and postmillennial. He sees Revelation fulfilled by the destruction of Jerusalem, so we're in the millennial age now, and entering the rest of scripture with that presupposition, he has a different approach to preaching and the world. Subjectivity must be par for the postmillennial course.

Robert said...

Crowell is transferring to Alabama State not the real Alabama. :-) Since that's a Division II school, he will be eligible to play immediately rather than having to sit out a year.

Larry said...

Yes, Kent. I saw him on the eschatology panel discussion over at Desiring God. He did as well as you can do trying to defend it, I guess. He was funny, if nothing else.

Thanks Robert. I corrected that.