by Bret Capranica | Jan 13, 2007 | Culture, Miscellaneous
Who will be the first conservative Christian or conservative Christian denomination to come under the Moyer’s malaise as he takes back to the set soon? Moyers to return to PBS with weekly show – Yahoo!...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 11, 2007 | Presidential History, Southern Baptist Issues
Some of Jimmy Carter’s own supporters appear to be abandoning him in his continued slide toward extremism. Carter Center board members <br>rebuke Carter’s leadership –...
by Bret Capranica | Jan 1, 2007 | Presidential History, Time/Life Management
Being a productivity junkie as well as a lover of presidential history, I found this brief article about President Ford’s work routine to be interesting. I’m not in to cottage cheese and ketchup, but I can relate to the restlessness ’til the work is done syndrome. KESQ NewsChannel 3 Palm Springs, CA: Ford’s White House secretary remembers his routine, and his work...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 17, 2006 | Culture
TIME.com: Person of the Year: You — Dec. 25, 2006 — Page 1 I am “Person of the Year.” In fact, you are too. How fun. Obviously the people at TIME forgot to give much time to this topic, with all of the other really important things they do for the world. Were sales down and so they felt a last minute urge to glorify their customers? Do we have a low self-image? It’s really hard to believe that because I have a blog, a My Space and use You Tube, I made the cover of TIME. Somehow, this feels...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 16, 2006 | Culture, Personal
Biblical Foundations » A Puritan Christmas Adreas Kostenberger put together an intriguing article describing the 16th and 17th Century Puritans and their attempts to snuff out Christmas. I enjoy much of what I read from the English Puritans and have gleaned great spiritual benefit from them in my personal life over the past twenty years. But, should we go to the same extreme as they when it comes to Christmas? My wife has done an excellent job of decorating our house for the holiday season. From Thanksgiving through next week, we will have had just over 100 people in our home for holiday celebrations. For Christmas day, we will travel to Texas to see family and friends and perhaps even have a white Christmas. Kelly has a collection of Christmas CDs that she plays often in our home during this time of year. In my car is Handel’s Messiah which I have enjoyed listening to over and over. Today our choir will have a special outreach performance of our Christmas concert at a local senior mobile home park and Sunday we will have four services (two normal morning services and two Christmas concerts) connected with the Christmas season. All of these will be geared toward strengthening the hearts of the saints in their commitment to Christ and exposing the lost to the Gospel of Jesus. In this sense, I love Christmas. But there is another sense that makes me almost sick (literally) when I think about Christmas. It fuels pride. How so? This should be obvious. Pride is fueled at Christmas time as it exposes the rank materialism that...
by Bret Capranica | Dec 12, 2006 | Culture, General Theology
Gay and Evangelical, Seeking Acceptance – New York Times “Justin Lee believes that the Virgin birth was real, that there is a heaven and a hell, that salvation comes through Christ alone and that he, the 29-year-old son of Southern Baptists, is an evangelical Christian. Just as he is certain about the tenets of his faith, Mr. Lee also knows he is gay, that he did not choose it and cannot change it.” So, mere mental assent and emotional affection for God and Jesus means one is a Christian and a conservative Evangelical. Have you ever heard this theology before? The New York Times article is another example of how the debate over the lordship of Christ in salvation has indeed resulted in a redefinition of the gospel. This group of evangelical homosexuals is also a fascinating display of the mixture of liberal theological approaches to the Bible. I have had a few conversations with some conservative Christians in more liberal denominations, who believe homosexuality is still an unbiblical issue of sin. Yet, they also reject the idea that the the inerrancy of the Scripture has had any effect or relevance in the debate over homosexuality. The NYT article shows differently. “In fact, both sides look to Scripture. The debate is largely over seven passages in the Bible about same-sex couplings. Mr. Gagnon and other traditionalists say those passages unequivocally condemn same-sex couplings. Those who advocate acceptance of gay people assert that the passages have to do with acts in the context of idolatry, prostitution or violence. The Bible, they argue, says nothing about homosexuality as it is largely...
