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David & Bathsheba: Why It’s Better to Accept the Biblical Narrative About David Rather Than a Superficial One

David & Bathsheba (source) Most of us tried to let it go. You know. The recent flair up over whether David committed adultery with Bathsheba as recorded in 2 Samuel 11: 1-5 or forcibly and brutally raped her. But those who insist King David maliciously, violently raped the innocent, sinless Bathsheba continue to fuel the flame. The fact is, there's enough ambiguity in the biblical text to sustain a possible rape if we allow the modern constructs I've noted. But only a possible rape not a definitive rape. To conclude... Read more →

Karen Swallow Prior on John Piper's Advice to Women in Troubled Marriages

OK. I'm not much on Twitter. I've never liked it. I don't think I ever will. Moreover, it can get very vicious, even more vicious than Facebook. Yet it appears it's definitively made its mark for usefulness even among Christians, so I logged on to my old account this AM and posted a link to the piece I put up on my blog entitled, "How do Patterson Critics View John Piper on Spousal Abuse?," a piece asking some of the leaders among Southern Baptists who are bent on seeing Paige... Read more →

How do Patterson Critics View John Piper on Spousal Abuse?

Since the social media mob, led by @JonathanMerritt, @edstetzer, and @KSPrior, judges Paige Patterson's counsel to women in troubled marriages so entirely unChristian as to merit his immediate dismissal as President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, one wonders what they think evangelicals ought to do with evangelical icon, @JohnPiper, and desiringGod.org for the counsel Piper offers to women in troubled marriages. Check it out. For that matter, thoughts about John Piper's counsel to women in troubled marriages from high-profile Christian celebrities and organizations could be helpful in determining exactly why... Read more →

President of Southern Baptists' ERLC on suspending Duck Dynasty's patriarchal leader

Phil Robertson (pic source) Dr. Russell Moore offered commentary on the recent A&E suspension of Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty's patriarchal figure. Moore described the network television decision "censorious cultural fundamentalism" that is neither “progressive” nor “pluralistic.” The ERLC president went on to conclude: "Let’s have genuine diversity, meaning let’s talk honestly with one another about what we believe and why. Muting one another isn’t what debate is for in a free society. It’s what remote controls are for." Read the entire statement-- "Duck Dynasty?" on the president's blog, Moore to... Read more →

Young Christian author Margaret Feinberg battling cancer

About a month ago, Christian author and blogger, Margaret Feinberg, discovered she had a form of breast cancer. On July 26, she had her first chemotherapy treatment. Pray for Margaret and her family during this difficult time. You can read her thoughts about it in her latest post "A Note to our Tribe: Battling Cancer" Read more →

Pink is for girls...or is it?

My oldest daughter1 just had her fourth child--a beautiful little 7lb. 2oz. girl, Jessica Lee. She joins her trio of elder sisters now making our son-in-law, Joe, the sole male in their domestic kingdom. He insists when the family gets a pet, another male will join him in holding the definitive female majority in check. Though Kathy and I think it's magnificent to have four little cuddly girls to love on and make over,2 I must admit I've had some fun with Joe by threatening to buy him a Hello... Read more →

Heritage Foundation Fellow hounded by Piers Morgan and Suze Orman for his position against gay marriage

(pic source) Ryan T. Anderson serves as the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society for The Heritage Foundation, a conservative thinktank in Washington, DC. According to his bio, Anderson researches and writes mainly about marriage and religious liberty, but also has expertise in justice and moral principles in economic thought, health care and education, and bioethics and natural law theory. In addition, he co-authored the book entitled What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense (Encounter Books, December 2012) along with two Princeton scholars, Robert P.... Read more →

'Chatty Cathy' no misnomer after all; Women do talk more than men...

image source "Chatty Cathy" dolls were introduced by Mattel Toys into the I-want-a-dollie-for-Christmas market beginning in 1960. For years, my youngest sister (who is older than I am, ha!) drooled for a "Chatty Cathy" to be found under our modest annual Christmas tree in the living room of our four-room shack at Coon Creek Hollow, Tennessee. As I recall, she never got one. "Chatty Cathy" not only remained one of the first talking dolls on the market, she served as an icon for what seemed to be conventional wisdom growing... Read more →

Al Mohler, Homosexuality, and the "New Liberalism" by Peter Lumpkins

Last week, I raised the question concerning Andy Stanley’s perplexing story about a gay couple in his church. I wrote: Stanley tells the story of a couple who divorced while members of his church. The issue was, the husband had fallen in love with another man... The problem is, not once in the entire story did Stanley question the homosexual relationship the two men experienced. Instead he questioned whether or not the men could serve in their Buckhead branch since one of the men was still married... Stanley questioned the... Read more →

The Calvinists are here: a guest editorial by Gerald Harris

UPDATE: the word is LifeWay is preparing a detailed response to Gerald Harris' essay and is scheduled to post this evening on Baptist Press. I'm anticipating precisely what facts in the essay LifeWay intends to dispute. ======================= Below is the current editorial in The Christian Index, the Georiga Baptist Convention's state paper. Dr. Gerald Harris has served as editor of The Christian Index since May 2003. We happily publish by permission Dr. Harris' latest editoral, "The Calvinists are here" >>> SBC Tomorrow welcomes Gerald Harris as guest contributor* John Calvin... Read more →

Why I Think Mark Driscoll is a Misogynist: a Southern Baptist Woman's Perspective by Mary England

The first time I came across the name Mark Driscoll was on a rabid feminist blog. It was the sorry Ted Haggard affair. Driscoll’s thoughts of the situation sent the internet into conniptions. Mark’s basic take was that wives of ministers are purposefully letting themselves go and controlling their husbands with sex because the husbands are trapped into fidelity >>> SBC Tomorrow welcomes back Mary England as Guest Contributor* Therefore a man caught in the act of adultery was most likely pushed there because his wife wasn’t “helping him out... Read more →

Mark Driscoll laments "disrespectful, adversarial, and subjective" interview by Peter Lumpkins

Mark Driscoll is on the defensive over an interview about his newly released book, Real Marriage, going terribly bad. At least that's how he's reacting. On his site, he writes a post entitled "A Blog Post for the Brits". In it, he laments the upcoming release of the interview: >>> There is reportedly an article coming out in a British Christian publication that features an interview with me. As is often the case, to stoke the fires of controversy, thereby increasing readership, which generates advertising revenue, a few quotes of... Read more →

Al Mohler, homosexuality, and continued moral confusion (part II) by Peter Lumpkins

continued from part I >>> The second public response Mohler offered was in personal correspondence he allowed North Carolina pastor, Les Puryear, to post on his site. Mohler was responding to Puryear's personal question to him concerning his statement about "homophobia" and the reference to "we've lied…" In part Mohler wrote: "...I point out that I never said anything remotely like what you suggest in your message. As you must know, my original statement made no reference whatsoever to the Southern Baptist Convention nor to Southern Baptists, but was a... Read more →

Al Mohler, homosexuality, and continued moral confusion (part I) by Peter Lumpkins

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, made headlines at the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix when he openly affirmed quoted words by Jonathan Merritt: "We've lied about the nature of homosexuality and have practiced what can only be described as a form of homophobia…We've used the 'choice' language when it is clear that sexual orientation is a deep inner struggle and not merely a matter of choice" (//link). In response to whether those words were accurately quoted, Mohler said: >>> "I'm thankful for the question, my brother, and... Read more →

Brian McLaren Encourages Al Mohler: "Please don't back down" by Peter Lumpkins

Emergent icon and well-known radical theologian, Brian McLaren, posted an encouraging note he wished someone to pass along to Dr. Mohler. Dr. McLaren desires to express his genuine thanks and appreciation to Mohler for his courage to "take a risk and say things that you believe need to be said" even when Mohler knew he would be "maligned for doing so">>> Of course, McLaren is referring to Dr. Mohler's controversial words at the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix when Mohler not only charged evangelicals and Southern Baptists with lying about... Read more →

Question Raised Over Baptist Press Silence Concerning Al Mohler's Provocative Claim about Homosexuality and Southern Baptists by Peter Lumpkins

North Carolina pastor, Tim Rogers, raises the question concerning Baptist Press' silence about Dr. Al Mohler's claim at the SBC in Phoenix that evangelicals broadly and Southern Baptists particularly "have lied about the nature of homosexuality" and practice "what can only be called a form of homophobia." During the Q/A time at the end of the seminary report at the SBC, Dr. Mohler affirmed the words were his and accurately quoted by cultural critic, Jonathan Merritt >>> In his article entitled, "Where is Baptist Press Coverage?" Rogers explains: "When one... Read more →

Al Mohler and Homosexuality: Setting the Record Straight by Peter Lumpkins

Now that we have moved into some calmer waters since last week's rapids over my question and Dr. Al Mohler's response at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), I thought it necessary to set the record straight. My understanding concerning Al Mohler's position on homosexuality before the SBC has been entirely swept aside by much of the internet buzz >>> Why people make such broad-brush implications in the face of clear facts remains a tribute to the unmitigated nonsense one finds so often on the internet. It really makes me ashamed... Read more →

Al Mohler on the Southern Baptist Convention: Liars and Homophobes? by Peter Lumpkins

Below is an edited video with the relevant portions of my question to Dr. Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, along with his direct response to the question posed at the 2011 Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, AZ. The truth is, almost of all Dr. Mohler's response, after the first portion of his answer, addressed concerns he introduced, possessing little, if any, relevance to the concerns I specifically raised >>> Hence, this video is shorter in length.* It only has a selected snippet of... Read more →

Are Most Baptists Unitarians? A Brief Response to Dr. Curtis Freeman by Professor Malcolm Yarnell III

I suppose we could call this particular post "Round 2" from Enid, Oklahoma pastor, Wade Burleson's outlandish charge that many Southern Baptist theologians are teaching theological heresy by embracing an historic and fully orthodox understanding of the inter-personal relations between the Divine Persons within the Holy Trinity. The issue specifically pertains to whether the eternal functional subordination of the Son to the Father is acceptable orthodoxy. Most recently, Burleson apparently discovered the charges several evangelical-feminist theologians have leveled against conservatives, accusing them of resurrecting the old fourth century heresy of... Read more →

10 Most Powerful Women of the Modern World

Hillary Rodham Clinton gave her rousing speech last evening at the Democratic National Convention. Swooning Obama supporters, she uttered what, to them, were words on golden plates descended from heaven and translated by Joseph Smith descendants: "Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president." Many believe the failed candidate in her impressive run for the White House--a run which no other female has accomplished, at least without embarrassment--demonstrates her status as one of the most powerful women in the world. Not so according to LiveScience.com. In their... Read more →

Dr. Sheri Klouda: Hearing Her Lament, Honoring Her Lord

UPDATE AT END OF POST* This post may constitute the most careful post I've penned in the almost two years now I have been blogging. It surely possesses the most potential for provocation. As it opens up, the reader will see precisely why. Mr. Wade Burleson currently posts what's entitled "An Email From Dr. Klouda Revealing Her Feelings". It stands a moving note of gratitude to Mr. Burleson and Mr. Cole for the "continued support" they afforded her. Indeed she openly confesses "If it were not for both of you,... Read more →

Wade Burleson's Complementarianism: An Unnecessary Theological Argument That Is Doomed to Later Destruction

In the final instructions the inspired Apostle offers to Rome, he sees fit to warn the believers there to "watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." (Romans 16.17-18, ESV). The admonition Paul offers here seems out of sync with the rest of the letter. Heretofore, the Apostle has been content... Read more →

SBCOutpost: Gender Issues in the SBC

"Well, the nerve of them! How dare they delete my well-thought-out comment! Who do they think they are, anyway? Censorship, censorship, censorship!" For those of you who know me, I hope you clearly read through the apparent emotionalism of the above statement. I am really not upset even though they really did delete my comment. And, understand: they have every right to do so if they choose. Nor may I legitimately charge "Censorship", as in the facetious remark above. That's one of the more positive advantages of blogdom. One may... Read more →