Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
Stirring good memories
For 13 weekends and counting, I have enjoyed serving as interim pastor to the good people who make up the historic yet lively First Baptist Church of Chattanooga, Tenn. This experience puts me in close proximity to...
Missing a Perfect Game, Witnessing Perfect Grace
Until June 3, most of us had never heard of Armando Galarraga. But now, even if you are not a baseball fan, you probably know a part of his story: Galarraga is the 25-year old journeyman pitcher for the Detroit Tigers,...
Two Baseball Heroes Show Us How to Behave
Unless you choose to live as a hermit, which is understandable, or choose to pay absolutely no attention to baseball, which is not, then you have heard about the perfect game that wasn't. In a game played between the...
Medical Experiments Used to Refine Torture
Fuller's School of Psychology has an ethics review board that monitors all experiments on people, as the law requires for all psychological and medical experiments. I have served on it. All of us who have served on...
Baptists Offer Moral Critique of Israel’s Deadly Attack on Freedom Flotilla
The Israeli commando attack last week on a pro-Palestinian flotilla 80 miles from Israel's coast that resulted in at least nine civilian deaths and 30 wounded has drawn a moral critique from global Baptists. "What is...
Even Columnists Need to Take a Sabbath
Webster's dictionary defines "sabbatical" as "a recurring period of rest." The biblical idea of Sabbath and sabbatical is a bit more involved. The ancient Hebrews observed in their creation story that after the work of...
George Edwards: A Giant in Peace Activism
I got up early on my day off to tackle an industrious list of things to do now that our hardwood floors are finished. A Diet Coke and the morning newspaper are my companions before a time of quiet. Scanning the...
There’s nothing like a rule …
People who live in subdivisions are familiar with something called a "Homeowners' Covenant." It's basically a list of rules for what you can and can't do with your own house and land. Home buyers are supposed to read...
The tackiness of Ted Haggard
Former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard is the Brett Favre of evangelical Christianity. He always finds a way to stay in the news.As anyone with any exposure to news knows, in 2006 Haggard left New Life Church in Colorado...
The Certainty of Things Hoped For
A sermon delivered by Joel Snider, pastor, First Baptist Church, Rome, Ga. on May 30, 2010. Hebrews 11:1-16 Morning Prayer: O God, we thank you for the lives of those who were once part of our journey, those who now...
God Stories: Free Fall
A sermon delivered by Howard Batson, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Amarillo, Tx., on May 30, 2010. Genesis 3 This story really begins in chapter 2, verse 25: And the man and his wife were both naked and were not...
Gulf Gusher Is Moral Issue “ Don’t Blame God; Look to Man-Made Root Causes
Six weeks after oil began gushing into the Gulf, the United States faces what appears to be its worst man-made ecological disaster with estimates as high as 19,000 barrels of oil per day destroying the environment and...
A Minister’s Guide to Personal Finances
We ministers are really knowledgeable about a variety of subjects. Finance is not usually one of them. And while I'm not a financial expert, this "quick and dirty" on retirement accounts – for ministers who will not...
“Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time”
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer took a theme-park ride, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and turned it into a blockbuster movie franchise. With “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” he attempts to make a franchise from a video...
Musical Segregation
Music is sometimes described as universal, and I suppose it is. Songwriters often think of their music as a way to bring people together (think "We Are The World"), but I was reminded Wednesday night that musical...
There can be perfect games but never perfect people
Surely 54-year-old Jim Joyce had a hard time sleeping last night. The American League umpire's missed call at first base — with two outs in the ninth inning — cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga the rare...
Flawed Assumptions in Faith-Based Initiatives
I remember back when President George W. Bush proposed and saw implemented his faith-based initiative. At the heart of this proposal was that the government would open up funds to be used by faith-based institutions,...
The Absurd Logic of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’
On May 27, The New York Times reported that the U.S. House of Representatives voted to include an amendment in the annual Pentagon policy bill that would make it possible for the military to repeal a ban – popularly...
“With or Without God: Why the Way We Live Is More Important Than What We Believe”
Canadian Christianity is often cast in the shadow of its American counterparts. But it also has its own provocative, self-generated contributions. A recent example is Gretta Vosper's "With or Without God: Why the Way...
Fighting to the death?
I love this time of year when spring is turning into summer, when my squash plants are producing and the tomatoes are promising, when mosquitoes have yet to emerge full force. The massive greenness of the season and...
Challenging Franklin Graham’s Falsehood
Unchecked falsehood multiplies mendacity and quickly becomes an acceptable truth. One persistent falsehood is that Islam is by definition a violent religion. Call it the Franklin Graham Falsehood. Remember that...