Archive: February, 2011
Artists United Against Hollywood Whores
Hollywood whore — n a celebrity who performs for an exorbitant amount of money at a private party sponsored by a tyrranical petty potentate from a developing nation with a very dubious human rights record. Hollywood has some eminently respectable faces in the likes of people like George Clooney, Bono, Sean Penn and Don Cheadle, [...]
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Car salesmen do it. Lawyers too. And politicians. And also academics.
It was summer, 1989. I was a sixteen year old standing on the Ford lot completely dazzled by the 1988 Ford Mustang 5.0 sitting hunched down and ready for action. It didn’t take long for the salesman to emerge from the air-conditioned showroom, doing his best to appear to be on an aimless stroll through [...]
Read moreRevelation 5:9 and Inclusive Salvation
Today I want to look at an oft-overlooked text in favor of inclusivism, the doctrine that hearing the gospel and making a cognitive confession of it (as described in Romans 10:9) is not necessary for salvation. Let’s begin with the text. In Revelation 5:9 the Lamb (Jesus) is depicted opening a scroll as the saints [...]
Read moreWhy the sheep of Matthew 25 is circular
In Matthew 25 Jesus offers a riveting description of the respective fates of those who are his true disciples (the sheep) and those who are not (the goats). The key point for distinguishing these two groups comes right in the center of the passage in verse 40: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, [...]
Read moreWhen is chocolate not chocolate, and when is love not love?
Bridezilla was very clear. She asked for a wedding cake made with chocolate and strawberries. The strawberries she got. But the chocolate? Well it seems Bridezilla was not clear enough, for the chef made it with white chocolate. Not an ounce of cacao to be seen (let alone tasted). “That,” snarled Bridezilla, “is not chocolate. [...]
Read moreThe skeptic meets the demon
After presenting my first person account of putative demonic oppression, Atheist Missionary offered the following hypothesis: somebody slipped acid into my sushi (the kind of acid that makes you hallucinate, not the kind that burns you). It may have been a somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggestion but broadly speaking it is possible. It is just enormously unlikely. [...]
Read moreAwake in Japan: A first-person account of demonic oppression
It was the summer of 1993. I had travelled to Japan to spend the summer as part of a contingent of English teachers selected by a mission agency. After a week’s training in Sapporo we were sent off to our respective towns. I was sent to a scenic town on the coast which looked like it came straight [...]
Read moreGod’s (arbitrary?) love revisited
I am working on a couple blog posts on demons for later this week. Should be interesting. In the interim, I’m going to say a bit more about divine love. I argued last week that God’s electing love on the Reformed view is arbitrary. I then added to the mix my lamely-named “Token Choice Claim”: it [...]
Read moreGood Lovin’ Revisited: A Footnote to Calvin and the Rascals
As I was sitting here having just completed my last blog post I detected a critical hole in the argument. I don’t think the governor loved his son in my example. That’s not the problem. The core problem lies in my criterion for what it is to love someone: to love a person means that, if [...]
Read moreDon’t you want your baby to feel alright? John Calvin meets the Rascals
Surely y’all ain’t too old to remember the Rascals singing “Good Lovin’.” In the song the singer begins by visiting the doctor about a particular ailment. The song does not spend much time describing the symptoms but the antidote soon becomes clear: Now honey please, squeeze me tight (squeeze me tight) Don’t you want your [...]
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