Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 358
January 24, 2014
More on Lutherans, Calvinists, & Evangelicals
James R. Rogers (a Lutheran) advances our perennial topic of why evangelicals tend to prefer Calvinism to Lutheranism in a post for First Things. He begins with some practical issues–the difficulty of “finding” Lutheranism, the relative inaccessibility of Lutheran confessional documents (the Augsburg Confession being too difficult; the Small Catechism being too simple) as compared [Read More...]
Child sacrifice then and now
Collin Garbarino tells of a controversy in archaeology about whether or not the ancient Carthaginians practiced child sacrifice, as the Romans always said they did. Recently, evidence has arisen that they did, in fact, sacrifice children. Some archaeologists, though, just won’t believe it. Mr. Garbarino says that the Carthaginians sacrificed children for the same reason [Read More...]
Ranking states by how corrupt they are
We now have metrics that allow us to determine the most corrupt states in the union, based on the number of public officials that have been convicted of corruption in office. Can you guess which ones are in the top 10? Where do you think your state ranks? The least corrupt state is Nebraska, providing [Read More...]
NSA surveillance declared illegal, but will continue
An independent review board has said that the NSA surveillance system is illegal. But the White House says essentially that it doesn’t care. The courts are going to have to weigh in. From White House rejects review board finding that NSA data sweep is illegal | Fox News: The White House on Thursday disputed the [Read More...]
January 23, 2014
The church’s “Kodak moment”?
We’ve been pretty hard on the Church Growth Movement lately, so let’s allow an advocate to have his say. Thom Schultz, the founder of Group Publishing (and I think originally a Lutheran, though whether he is now I’m not sure) has written a provocative post entitled “The Church’s Frightful Kodak Moment.” It was occasioned by [Read More...]
What Tullian Tchividjian learned from Lutherans
Tullian Tchividjian is Billy Graham’s grandson and the successor to D. James Kennedy as the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. As we’ve been blogging about, Rev. Tchividjian has been studying Lutheranism and is bringing such concepts as the distinction between Law & Gospel, active and passive righteousness, and the Theology of the Cross vs. [Read More...]
The best states & the worst states for the unborn
Americans United for Life has compiled a list of the best, the worst, and the most-improved states when it comes to protecting the unborn. Go here and see the map after the jump.
January 22, 2014
March for Life day
Today is the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion. So thousands of protesters will march on Washington for the annual March for Life. It will be a cold, cold day in our nation’s capital, but not as cold as the hearts of those who see nothing wrong with [Read More...]
Conservatives “have no place” in New York
Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York often mentioned as an alternative to Hillary Clinton as a Democratic presidential candidate, doesn’t want pro-lifers, Second Amendment advocates, or believers in traditional sexual morality in his state. Here is what he said on the radio: “Are they these extreme conservatives who are right-to-life, pro-assault weapon, anti-gay? Is [Read More...]
The case against the Olympics
The Winter Olympics begin February 7 in Sochi, Russia, and people are getting nervous over terrorism threats, anti-gay laws, the toilet situation, and whatever Vladimir Putin might do. Columnist Charles Lane argues that the Olympics have gotten too politicized, too expensive, too drug-saturated, too corrupt, and too corporate. We should just end them. Read his [Read More...]
