Safe Haven

I'm going to the game tonight; Yankees and Cardinals. Everybody wants to see Jeter, and rightly so. What a career! Update: Derek did not play. However, the Cardinals were airing a video tribute in the middle of the 6th inning, when a huge groundswell of a cheer came up. The Yankees pressed their captain to head out there and tip his cap to over 45,000 fans in an opposing ballpark. He complied, and we cheered like he had been a Cardinal these twenty years. Great baseball moment. These are the moments that make it hard to hate the Yankees. I got pretty emotional before the game, actually, because I was standing by the smaller Musial statue, with its inscription: "Here stands baseball's perfect warrior...here stands baseball's perfect knight." How good of a player and person do you have to be, to have the commissioner of baseball say this in a speech on the last day of your playing career? Jeter is tasting a little portion of that kind of goodwill, and every drop...

Rachel Held Evans is not the problem . There, I said it. These hermeneutics are the inevitable result of having ignored and subsequently redefining "God-given apostolicity." Yes, it's about Sola Scriptura. If the individual can interpret Scripture any way he likes (with the witness of history rendering at best an advisory opinion), sooner or later, you're going to reject something "traditional" in favor of something else. Isn't Rachel breaking the same ecclesial "shackles" that Luther did? But it was OK, then, right? Why? Doesn't every maverick say, "This other view is tainted by..." or "This organization is not legitimate, because..." Somebody better figure out what they mean by "apostolic" and "tradition," and I mean quickly. Look, I agree that the Scripture is plain on the matter. But the only reason I do is because I know who gave me the Scriptures, and so I read them how she reads them, and onl...

Devin is all over this. I don't need to be upset about it; you all know my arguments by now, probably, and I've said my peace concerning Leithart personally. This theology is nothing but a dead-end; you either spend your life dreaming of the mental phantasm you call the "Church," blissfully believing that every subtle tweak, every adjustment you make in response to the "shocking" reality that not everyone agrees with you, is from God (and not yourself), or you humbly recognize that some piece of the puzzle is missing, and you go find it. If the basis for the agreement between all Christians--such as it is--is an ecumenical council, (as one example) you must define the term. You must inquire how it got there; you must find out why that is important. You have to carry that forward--if it's part of the rule of faith--as a principle, and apply it in a principled manner. If ecumenical councils are an invaluable part of the definition of the rule of faith, be...

5. Man, when the Boomer rockers were older and not trying to be edgy, they made truly great pop music, even if a solid chunk of their audience wanted to vomit. 4. I call malarkey on anyone who claims to dislike "Glory Of Love" by Peter Cetera. 3. I know she changed Christian music forever, but someone should say it: Amy Grant's pop albums are better than her Christian ones. 2. I wish I had written "Endless Summer Nights" by Richard Marx. 1. You hear "This I Promise You" by NSYNC, and you think, "It's an adequately serviceable ball of sap from some teenage crooning sissies." You hear the songwriter (Richard Marx) sing it, and there's a credibility there, even if it's still melodramatic.

I've got a hope for unity, too . I sought communion with the Catholic Church in order to realize it. And the reason--indeed, the only reason I did--is because my hope absolutely could not be realized on the "Reformers'" terms. The big lie of the fig-leaf of "derivative authority" is that there is a difference between "me and my Bible" and Sola Scriptura. There isn't. Leithart is the perfect embodiment of the more perfect fundamentalist; his interpretive skills are better than most. And he appears to take history seriously. That's a major step forward. But it makes it harder for someone like him to realize that, after all the shell games, he's submitting to himself. I must be able to tell the difference between a fallible opinion (like my own) and the Word of God. And on Protestant terms, if my community does not have a charism of infallibility, there is little point in pretending submission in the first place. And if the Church is funda...

5. "Science"--The heathen use this word as a catch-all for certain dubious metaphysical conclusions drawn from empirical science, like a billy-club. Example: "Science has proven...." There is no personal "science," you buffoon. The scientific method is a method, not a life coach. 4. "Homophobia"--This word designates as a disorder any person who does not rush to celebrate homosexual acts (and the resulting political activism) as the GREATEST THING EVER!!! 3. "Bigot"-- See #4. 2. "Equality"--This word refers to giving any group of unhappy, imbalanced people whatever their whims dictate. 1. "Progress"--This refers to a person's relative success in using the apparatus of government to cater to the whims of unhappy, imbalanced people, at the expense of everyone else.

C.S. Lewis is a hero to evangelicals in general, and most Christians everywhere. If you've actually been an evangelical for any length of time, you might notice he doesn't square up with it very well . Well, duh. Anglican. Which roughly translates to, "Vomit-inducing heresy, or Catholics in denial." I digress. But do you know why we still loved him in our evangelical days? Because when evangelicalism is good, preserving something true, it's Catholic. That's the reason. It's up to you to figure out where the stuff you believe that doesn't square with Lewis comes from, but the stuff that does is all Catholic. There is no mere Christianity without the Catholic Church. No, not "small c" catholic. Big 'c'. Get over it. Feel free to disagree. But when you get broad-minded, when you get the thirst for "historic" Christianity, you're looking for the Tiber. We could stick a little flavoring in there, and call it "Tiberian ...

Big-time hero-stuff.  Good luck, Coach. Rest in peace, Malcolm.

Michael Sam is headed for Hell. And that's nothing to celebrate. This isn't a conversation about how Christians should approach the unique challenges of those who experience same-sex attraction. It might even be true that we haven't done very well; I don't know. My primary concern on most days is my own soul. I do know that the Christian teaching is abundantly clear: Any sexual acts outside of marriage (and a few that are not proper to spouses within it) are grave sins, and put one at risk. If you sin, repent. Some of you attend some "church" that tells you that this, and many other things, are OK. This is why someone should also say that ultimately, only the Magisterium of the Catholic Church speaks with the authority of Christ. Even princes of his holy Church may lead you astray. And just so we're clear, the University of Missouri is my alma mater. We're all huge fans of the football program, and Michael Sam in particular. He's a great foot...

5. Apparently, you weren't allowed to do a soft rock album without a cameo by Michael McDonald. 4. This Christopher Cross dude definitely doesn't suck. 3. When we culturally recapture the '80s, we tend to grab onto the latter part. The early to middle part was a lot like the '70s. (Not that I was there for the '70s, but style doesn't change that fast.) 2. I fell asleep reading St. John Paul the Great again. I am a bad person. 1. You will be addressed as "Cardinal Sparky" until you repent of your heresy. It's for your own good.

Of course, Audrey Assad is coming out with a new EP, and of course, she likes John Donne! I have no idea what I'd have to do to covet my neighbor's wife, but seriously, William, you won the lottery. Like 5 times. Honestly. Anyway, I haven't loved a Christian pop artist this much since Rich went to be with the Lord. My friend Sam said he thought Rich was just meh, and after I spent 15 seconds or so mentally wondering if he was insane, I realized that Rich has a special bond with deeply wounded people (whether he would have appreciated that or not) and I realized I should be thankful my friend doesn't really "get it," because then he'd be as screwed up as all of us. (Of course, we're all screwed up, but there are definitely levels, and I'm thankful some of you don't reach them.) Peace.

5. No, really. We actually think the Council of Trent was correct. 4. That's what Ecumenical Councils do; it's a Holy Spirit thing. 3. Actually, I love the Council of Trent. That's not just popish cheerleading, mind you. Certain things about about participation in a theological sense would be much hazier without it. 2. What sort of brass ones do you have to have to say that an Ecumenical Council was wrong? I never even realized how crazy this suggestion was. Or, you could just call God unfaithful. Same difference. 1. Nothin' like sittin' down with Pastor Challies and enjoying a nice, cool glass of begging the question . [Vaguely Biographical Love-Rant] I can remember when I started to see the differences between the paradigms of Protestants and Catholics. Every time someone Reformed would stake out a different position than the Catholic Church, I could appreciate that; after all, if you thought it was correct, you'd go with it. It's your heritage. ...

If I were to take a broad brush to our political conversation as a nation, it would seem that we have at one and the same time an intrusive federal government, whose interests and activities are legitimately and really injurious to socio-economic self-determination, and a substantial group of people who have no access at all even to the limited gravy-train serving up goodies to large firms in union with said government. You've got people who look at this and say, "They've 'assisted' quite enough, thank you, and perhaps it was never licit to try." That is, the adverse economic outcomes resulting from attempting to provide for the general welfare are not only obvious, but lacked legitimate sanction from the start. Others (like myself) point out that an unstated premise is that a contract entered into mutually by two or more parties is per se morally licit, and contributes (albeit indirectly) to the common good of all. This is false on the face of it, as a contra...

5. I thump the Bible in the general direction of people who post dumb, self-congratulatory memes about their moral superiority to Bible-thumpers. 4. I want to get one shirt that says, "I'm With Frank, The Hippie Pope," and one that says, "Meet The New Boss; Same As The Old Boss," and wear them alternately, to annoy people for whom being a child of the Church isn't good enough. 3. The next time someone asks me what I think of President Obama, I'm going to say, "Not bad, except for the 'killing people for no defensible reason' part" and roll away. 2. What if the next-worst part about the triumph of Obama (after "KPFNDR") is the death of neoliberalism ? 1. GO, SPURS, GO!!!

5. From a glory standpoint, God doesn't need us, but He wants us. 4. It seems to me the heart of the gospel is, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 3. I do not touch the heart of the gospel, the heart of Jesus, if I believe there is someone for whom Christ did not die. 2. Grace can be refused. 1. Thus, there is nothing universalistic about the offer of salvation.

Heads up: this will be an offensive post. The people who tut-tut the Catholic Church's soteriology and sacramental system as a "sacramental treadmill" are right. So what? What do you have against treadmills? Do you like being out of shape? On the one hand, I loved Jerry Bridges' "Transforming Grace". It takes the time to remind you of all the wonderful Scriptures about God's love for us in Christ. That never gets old, and it never should. (Lord, have mercy!) But I never realized until I was Catholic how much Protestants confuse the subjective experience of God's (often overwhelming) attracting love with false "Reformation" assertions about the atonement, "faith alone", etc. We did it all the time. He doesn't mean to, but Bridges is confusing these 2 things, and he's twisting the Scriptures. That's why we need a Magisterium; not because we don't know how to read, but because we do. It is asserted that Catholic...

Just read this . Did you catch The Question? "What is the Church?" People my age and younger are asking this question, and it won't go away. It seems abstract, but it's not. As I have written probably a thousand times, I'll do it again: People need to know what God said in the places closest to their lives in order to be Christians. This is why infallibility MUST be part of the discussion. When God speaks, He speaks without error. A sectarian is nothing more and nothing less than a person who believes that God is speaking inerrantly to him. And it's a reasonable choice; you need infallibility somewhere. But the Noltie Conundrum  comes to cast more than a reasonable doubt on any particular view I may be holding, by taking the bad faith, "Well, he disagrees because he's stupid, sinful, etc." out of the equation. It works because it's a strictly theological problem. Ask it this way: "What does it say about God that the Holy Spirit is speaki...

5. I almost died from the joy of reading this . No, I'm not joking. It's the little things. 4. "Will the Progressive Bullying and Insanity Ever End?" Department. 3. Gloat at your own risk, Sterling-haters. It's all a party until you're the pariah. Just ask Eich, or Dan Cathy. Do you think these emotionally-immature intellectual lightweights who run our culture won't move the line of "socially acceptable" and "prejudice" and crucify you on it? Good luck with that. 2. All the more reason to ground a society's baseline morality in something more than majority opinion, BTW. I'd like to slap every "Enlightenment" "thinker" right in the face. Ah, but, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Yes, Lord. 1. DO IT!  You're right; it does get my Counter-Reformational juices flowing at least 23 percent of the time. But it's awesome, seriously. I read it every day. I don't even wat...

I really appreciate this from Dan Haseltine. And...I told you so. It really is about Sola Scriptura. Here's Dan: "I care about what scripture says. It matters. The second round of poorly chosen words surrounded the clarity of scripture. I was trying to communicate that although we often say, “Scripture is clear about this or that,” the very fact that so many people disagree or have alternate perspectives or interpretations of scripture, means that we have to move beyond simply quoting a scripture to prove our point. We have to dig into the scripture and help translate it and offer context. Simply quoting a scripture can stall out a good honest dialogue. But what I wrote was: “Never liked the phrase: “Scripture clearly says…(blank) about…” Because most people read and interpret scripture wrong, I don’t think scripture “clearly” states much of anything regarding morality.” Did you catch that? He might as well say, "The interpretive crisis caused by the alle...

5. Dear Heroic Fighter of Communism, I will be happy to read your book...for something less than $175. [You just didn't want to spell his name, did you?--ed.] Guilty. 4. I can't really spell "Gulag Archipelago," either. 3. Do you think What's-his-name would have enjoyed Kenny Loggins in a less-intense version of his life? 2. I wonder if John Paul the Great liked Kenny Loggins? [Seriously, what's with you and Kenny Loggins?--ed.] He's awesome. 1. If I were not white, and therefore disqualified from speaking on any matter of consequence involving race [sarcasm]--unless I parroted the usual progressive nonsense about my unworthiness to speak--I'd say the Los Angeles Clippers are a bunch of cowards. Sure, change your socks! Put on a hoodie again! Your courageous ineffectual symbolism will destroy racism forever!