Culture

Culture

Thinking about Signs

I was driving through a neighboring town this past week and my route took me past one of the mainline denomination churches there.  It was one of those old, majestic buildings with plenty of stained glass and large, wooden front doors.  Personally, I’ve always appreciated those buildings because they were often built as a testimony to a creative, majestic, and…

Are Humans Really Different than Animals?

Evolutionary biological theory makes some pretty remarkable assertions about human beings in relation to the rest of life on our planet.  Most of us are familiar with many of these, which include that all life has evolved from a common single-celled ancestor, random mutations produce beneficial results, and that humanity is nothing more than a primate with elevated…

A New Year, An Old Story

Martin Scorsese has been one of the most admired and prolific directors and producers of feature films over the past 50 years.  His films are known for their unflinching takes on some of the darker aspects of life (though they do not represent his entire oeuvre, he is perhaps best known for his crime-drama works like “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” and “The Departed”). …

Receive, Reject, or Redeem?

Before Aryn and I were married, we spent a lot of time talking about our beliefs, how we did things, and how we would do things after we tied the knot (given that we had a very long-distance relationship for about three years, talking took up the vast majority of our time!).  Often, these conversations concerned how we planned to raise our children, should God be…

A New “Normal”?

Back in the early 1960s, the philosopher Hannah Arendt covered the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the notorious Nazi who oversaw the logistics of transporting millions of Jews and other peoples whom the Nazis considered “undesirable” to concentration camps and their deaths.  As Arendt spent time observing and studying the case, she was struck by the fact that Eichmann was…

Cynicism and Benny Hinn

Sometimes, you encounter an event that causes you to scratch your head and struggle to reconcile two things that you didn’t think could exist simultaneously.  This happened to me recently (as I’m sure it happened to many others) when I heard that Benny Hinn had publicly made some statements that seemed to indicate he was turning away from the prosperity gospel he had…

What Excites You?

As much as Fall may mean crisp evenings, the changing (and falling) leaves, and pumpkin spice for some people, for me it means the return of college football and my beloved Bulldogs teeing it up between the hedges at Sanford Stadium on the campus of the University of Georgia.  I love the sport of football in general, but I especially love the intricacies of college…

The Billy Graham Rule – Today

Much has been made about the so-called “Billy Graham Rule” in recent years, due to the acknowledgement of many public figures (such as Vice-President Mike Pence) who adhere to it.  When Billy Graham was beginning his ministry, he and his team understood that all of their Kingdom efforts could be undermined and discredited by a single accusation of sexual impropriety. …