God

God’s Truth

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Justin Taylor highlights the slogan, “All truth is God’s truth,” and the principles behind it, including: God exists. (“This is the most basic idea of all. It is the foundation for all that a Christian can know.”) Through the agency of his Son, God created the universe and all that is in it. We can therefore entertain an … Read more

Unleash Bad Voddie

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This is not a new video, but Voddie Baucham talk never goes out of style. And this might as well be ripped from today’s headlines anyway:

When My Son Figures it Out

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Something occurred to me the other night when we were in hour number two of our nightly battle to get my 3-year-old to eat his dinner. And it’s not like we ever serve him anything that he doesn’t already like. Nothing makes you feel like a sketchy parent more than yelling at your kid, “Young man, … Read more

Can You be Good Without God?

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In the spirit of previous musings on this blog about the nature of “goodness,” here’s a video that asks if there could be such things as “good” and “bad” if there were no God: (Also note that all arguments sound more convincing when made by a person with a British accent.)

One Way to God

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More from the Doogie Howser of evangelical Christianity, David Platt. This time, he addresses those who ask, “Is there really only one way to God?” (Via Justin Taylor)

God and Logic

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I kind of agree with this, and also kind of disagree: Barnabas Piper says God is not logical: We try to add up the causes to equal the effect or lay out the events in sequence so that they make sense. But God doesn’t always make sense. He is a puzzling being who often leaves … Read more

Moral Absolutes Have to Come from Somewhere

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From the Stand to Reason blog, a quick explanation of how the existence of moral absolutes points to the existence of God. Also, something about bowling.

The “Wrath” God vs. The “Love” God

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Personally, in that fight, I’d put my money on the “Wrath” God. But there doesn’t have to be a fight; D.A. Carson explains how to reconcile the Old Testament image of God with the New Testament image of God: (Via Justin Taylor)

God’s Character and Moral Law

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From the Department of Posts That Affirm Stuff I Wrote Before, J. Warner Wallace writes on how God establishes the difference between right and wrong: From a Christian worldview, God doesn’t simply tell us what is righteous, He is righteous. Goodness and righteousness are attributes of his innate character. While it’s tempting to think there … Read more

The (Long Form) Meaning of Christmas

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Walter Russell Mead is doing an extended and interesting disquisition on the meaning of Christmas. And I don’t just mean “Baby Jesus!” I mean all the beliefs and all the promises that are wrapped up in, and extend outward from, the birth of baby Jesus. Here are some links: The Meaning of Christmas Meaning in … Read more

Favorite Christian Music of Someone Who Hates Christian Music

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I tend to go on and on (and on) about how much I dislike “church music.” But after posting my least favorite Christmas songs recently I was inspired to then post my most favorite Christmas songs, just to prove that I’m not a complete curmudgeon and I do actually have some favorite Christmas songs. And then I thought, hey, instead of complaining all the time about the spiritual music I don’t like, I need to post some that I do like.

Bear in mind, most of this isn’t “church music” strictly speaking, in the sense that it would probably never be played in any church  worship service anywhere, ever. But listening to these songs makes me feel the way that people seem to be feeling when they lift their hands in worship services. They’re all spiritual music to me.

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How Wrong Can You Be and Still Be a Christian?

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If salvation depends on a perfect knowledge and understanding of God and His will, then we are all screwed. But I think that a gracious and infinite (and infinitely gracious) God grants a lot of leeway to his finite creation for their lack of understanding. For instance, the Church of Christ denomination thinks that it’s … Read more

Well, We Know He Believes in the Devil

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Josh Fults comments on Stephen King’s thoughts about God which really aren’t very scary at all: Last week, National Public Radio interviewed Mr. King, and he was asked about his beliefs in God. King asserts, “If you say, ‘Well, OK, I don’t believe in God. There’s no evidence of God,’ then you’re missing the stars in the … Read more

Melancholia and Relativity: Some Father’s Day Thoughts

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I came to fatherhood later in life than most. Way later. I’m sure my son is going to have to listen to more than his share of comments along the lines of “It’s so sweet that you’re out with your granddad!” throughout his childhood. I hope he’ll think it’s as funny as I will. People … Read more

God’s Sovereignty in the Face of Tragedy

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After catastrophic events like the Oklahoma City tornado, people understandably ask the same questions–questions along the lines of, “Why would a good God allow this to happen?” Coincidentally-named Oklahoma City pastor Sam Storms has obviously heard those questions many times before, and he writes on the struggle to answer them: I’m inclined to think the … Read more

This is Your Brain on the Eternal

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An interesting post at Acculturated scratches the surface (“And believe me, it’s a surface that needed scratching.” – David Letterman) of the question of transcendence: Are religious experiences real or just a fluke of misfiring neurons in our brain? So many good quotes in that piece, it’s hard to pick just one that gives you … Read more

Reconciling God’s Love with God’s Wrath

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Wrath is an aspect of God’s nature that every Christian should understand, but we tend to shy away from. Justin Taylor looks at the Old Testament fire-and-brimstone God from a New Testament perspective, asking “How could God command genocide in the Old Testament?“ It is commonplace in our culture to ask whether this or that … Read more

A 5 Minute Argument for the Existence of God

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Don’t have all day to make an argument for an infinite, omniscient God? Prager University helps you boil it down to five minutes (or so): Update: My dad reminded me that this argument is reminiscent of an earlier post of mine on goodness, in which I wrote: When we say “God is good,” we’re not describing … Read more

Does the Universe Need God?

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According to physics, that is. Prosblogion explores the question, as asked by a CalTech physicist, of whether the the physical explanations of the universe need a philosophical explanation to explain them. And if you’re following that so far, and if you like words like “metaphysical” and “ontological,” you are gonna love this: Near the beginning … Read more

And Your One, True King Is…!

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The White Horse Inn blog has been watching a lot of Family Feud lately. But let’s call it “research” because they’re picking up a lot of interesting cultural cues in the process. (Anthropology students, there’s a paper waiting to be written in between Richard Dawson’s re-run kisses.) Here’s the tragically hilarious survey response to the … Read more