Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
With a patter and a pitter
Last Friday, as all good fans of J.R.R. Tolkien should know by now, marked the 75th anniversary of the release of There and Back Again, better known as The Hobbit, in Great Britain. And Saturday (Sept. 22) was Bilbo...
21 Observations Learned About Life
I'm writing these words on my 54th birthday, and I'm in a reflective mood. I'm thinking about what I have learned in my five and a half decades of living. Here's a list, in no particular order: Baseball is still the...
Letting God Take Control in a Revolution of Prayer
Prayer always turns our thinking upside down. Mary's song, the Magnificat, is the supreme example of this. When God is at work he is never merely in the business of "adding his blessing" to what we have decided to do....
Big Vs. Small Government: A Misleading Claim
One of the most common "talking points" in political speeches, media commentary and "coffee shop" conversations during election season is about "small government" versus "big government." We are told that conservatives...
‘Done left the church’
By John Pierce A couple of fellows, one helping his apparent wife guide the buggy, crossed paths in the grocery store aisle just ahead of me on Saturday. They obviously once belonged to the same earthly expression of...
When Good People Happen to Bad Things
With apologies to Rabbi Harold S. Kushner and to the title of his popular and helpful book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," I found this transposition helpful in reflecting on one of the troubling features of...
How Christians Can Respond to Muslim Film Controversy
The movie trailer for "Innocence of Muslims," which was considered by millions to be offensive to Islam and to its prophet Muhammad, is in its second week of controversy. Embassies have been burnt down, people have...
Obama’s Welcome to Young Undocumented Excludes Health Care
President Obama is playing politics with immigration and faith. Some of the reading public learned last week that the Obama administration doesn't want federal health care insurance coverage provided to the young...
Where is the line?
The murder of an American diplomat and three others in Libya, the deaths of many others in riotous protests, and an ongoing outbreak of rage in the Muslim world that shows no sign of abating call for us to ask an...
Great Themes of the Bible: Covenant
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga., on September 16, 2012. Jeremiah 31:31-34 Meditation Text: But through all the troubles which beat against and broke the marriage covenant...
How You Can Ace Jesus’ Welcoming Test
It was heartening to learn that so many churches in Chicago last week passed the welcoming test that Jesus created. That is, they opened their doors to welcome children. "What's so unusual about that?" you're probably...
Skype Interview: Robert Jones on New Poll about Working-Class Whites
An expert religion-and-values pollster tells EthicsDaily.com that working-class whites in the United States, despite being more than one-third of the population, comprise one of the least studied groups. Robert Jones,...
British Churches Support Arms Trade Treaty Ahead of Peacemaking Sunday
As churches across Britain prepare to celebrate Peacemaking Sunday on Sept. 23, church leaders have written to the nation's foreign secretary, William Hague, highlighting the importance of the recent United Nations...
Loose Lips
A sermon delivered by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ark., on September 16, 2012. Psalm 19:7-13; James 3:1-12 There once was a preacher – a pretty famous preacher at that – who did not...
Taming the Tongue
A sermon delivered by Jim Somerville, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., on September 16, 2012. The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost James 3:1-12 Last Sunday was a big day for us here at First Baptist...
Return to Chaos
A sermon delivered by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo., on September 16, 2012. The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Jeremiah 4:23-28 In an ancient age of wisdom, the preacher of...
More questions than answers
By John Pierce One could not grow up in the Chattanooga area in the 1960s and ’70s as I did without an awareness of Independent Baptist Fundamentalism. Highland Park Baptist Church and its related schools,...
Papyrus Fragment Stirs Discussion Again about Jesus and a Wife
The story is spreading across the country now, as local newspapers, websites, and bloggers are picking up early reports, like this New York Times account, of a discovery recently announced by Harvard scholar Karen L....
How to Know if You’re Serving Yourself or God
When I say "the way up is down," I do not mean to infer this as a strategy for personal success, honor or reward. When the disciples were caught arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of God, Jesus...
6 Steps to Help Pastors Be Effective Leaders
A man rushed up to a woman standing beside a road and asked, "Did a large group of people just pass by here?" She replied, "Yes, they went that way," as she pointed over her shoulder. "Good. I'm their leader." We have...
A provocative papyrus …
The story is spreading across the country now, as local newspapers, websites, and bloggers are picking up early reports, like this New York Times account, of a discovery recently announced by Harvard scholar Karen L....