Cake Bakers, Crossfit, and The French Revolution

I was recently sitting in on a lecture from a local university professor on the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. Whitworth University’s Dr. Van Inwegen explained that there are stories from history, “that help us understand the world we are in.” One of his stories did just that.  During the French Revolution, after […]

Wing Lift

Wing Lift Psalm 91:3-4 Death-wrenched, life-drenched, each pinched soul fledged to soar on raptorial sails. A fowler-freed fire-bred goldfinch, carols unhitched, stretching and reaching, on wind-held wings. Held in glide and lift, windhover pinion, piloted upwards, against the pull, against the pitch, rich wind hovers over the face of the waters fixing and fastening the […]

How Do Millennials Thrive in the Church?

A Church for the Next Generation, Part Three In the past two posts, we’ve looked at whether young people are going to church less, and why some young people leave the church. Now I want to answer another why question: if the church is as stuffy and old-fashioned as we’re always hearing, why do so […]

The Problems with “Optimistic Nihilism”

The world was made for us. It’s a comforting idea, isn’t it? And for many thousands of years, humans believed it was true. Our ancestors looked up at the sky and saw a bright yellow ball which lit our days and warmed our skin. There were plants and animals for us to eat. There was […]

A Black Man Dead, A Cop Acquitted. The NRA? Silent.

This is the nadir of the Black Lives Matter movement; this the moment where it fizzles and dies, where it throws up its hands in exasperation and stops protesting, or when it becomes something altogether more sinister. It will be a battle within the movement, between ennui and anger. I do not support many of the aims and goals of the Black Lives Matter movement–in fact I think this movement fighting racism can be racist itself. But it doesn’t take much of a prophet to say that the more bad cops get acquitted, the more sway Black Lives Matter will have over the narrative on race in this country. That’s not a good thing.

You Got Pregnant. You’re Keeping Your Baby. Now, the Media is Exploiting You.

But this isn’t just about Maddi Runkles anymore. When a controversy between Christians makes The Washington Post and The New York Times, you know that a power play is going on. Secular media aren’t interested in the plights of pregnant girls who choose abortion–it’s not news. It’s news when a girl courageously and publicly chooses life. But the real reason we’re seeing this in the news? It’s meant to make you think the Pro-Life movement is inconsistent with the Christian belief in chastity, and that this invalidates both beliefs.