Theological Tuesday

~Parables of Jesus 6: The Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25:1-13)
~Why doesn’t the New Testament say more about politics?

Ethics: Can Women And Men Be “Just Friends?”

I came across a fascinating blog post today at Christianity Today from a woman who teaches a class on sexuality and gender at Messiah College. She was discussing whether you should “friend” old fames on Facebook. Although this would only apply to those of us who use Facebook or some similar social networking site, the overall principle is quite a bit broader. Can women and men be “just friends?” After they’ve been “something more?” What about spouses who have gotten divorced? Well, we’ll discuss the ethical merits of all of these questions today.

Links:
Avoiding old flames on Facebook (Christianity Today)
Old flame, now Facebook friend (Healthy Marriage)

What’s The Most Interesting Thing About You?

Today in the first hour, it’s story time. When you meet people in a social setting, what’s your best story? You know, the thing that, whether you think it’s all that interesting or not, always manages to get other people to pay attention because they think it’s really neat. If it helps, what’s the most bizarre thing that ever happened to you? Have you ever had a brush with fame? What’s the one thing you’ve done with your life that you’re the most proud of?

Various Current Events

Three questions for the Tea Party (Michael Gerson)
Half of fliers would limit where kids sit on planes (USA Today)
AZ border deaths may break record this year (LA Times)
Law grads complain about lack of jobs (USA Today)
Saudis order paralysis for man who crippled (Wash Times)
Gas prices hit eight-month low (Wash Times)
Homeownership fetish hurt the American dream (Wash Post)
GZ Mosque controversy worries global Muslims (LA Times)
Econ, Religion driving Texans to homeschool (Houston Chr.)
Muslim cabbie slashed by drunk bigot (NY Daily News)
NY man charged for stabbing Muslim cabbie (USA Today)
Religious groups protest new bill restriction (NYT)
Teacher’s HS assignment: plan a terrorist attack (Fox News)
Bloomberg defends Rauf, echoes Bush (Politico)
DEA seeks Ebonics interpreters (CS Monitor)
Seton Hall to let gay prof teach course on gay politics (EWTN)
Obscure pastor gains national attention (NYT)
A Muslim reformer on the mosque (WSJ)
Obama stem cell regulations blocked (Findlaw)
US Judge halts Obama’s stem cell research (NYT)
Judge blocks Obama’s stem cell policy (Christian Post)
Obama invites confusion about his faith (Vision and Values)
Teachers Union boycotts LA Times (LA Times)
Strip clubs near ground zero cloud debate (CS Monitor)
Prosperity preacher can sue for defamation (Christian Post)
Frederick Price information (Apologetics Index)
World Vision vindicated in firing non-Christians (Christian Post)
Teen texting and addiction (CBS)
School bans insensitive birthday song (Todd Starnes)
An attack on religion and counseling (Vision and Values)

Wacky Topic 2: Missionaries Shouldn't Go To Dangerous Places

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Um, it’s completely foolish?
~Especially in places where a war is going on, this is just idiotic.
~Most missionaries have children, which means risking their lives as well.
~The horror stories of missionary children put in orphanages for their safety are unbelievable.
~Many times they go naively and only cause more trouble.
~They are only inviting the radicals and the violent to sin by killing them, and we are supposed to not give others such opportunities to sin.
~It’s one thing to be willing to meaningfully sacrifice your life, but this is meaningless sacrifice.
~We should be prudent when we give our money, time, talents, and life away.
~Don’t cast your pearls before swine.
~Be harmless as doves but crafty as serpents.
~Some people can’t be saved.
~Don’t throw good money after bad.
~Their deaths do nothing but deprive the world of the benefits they could continue to be offering.
~Given a choice between a dangerous place and a less dangerous but non-Christian place, where would their resource be better utilized?
~In warfare, do you march up the hill directly at the defensive emplacement or do you flank the opponent somehow?
~God repeatedly tried to warn Paul against going to Jerusalem. The end result here makes Paul look like a fool who won’t listen rather than like a wise man.

Wacky Topic 1: It Should Be Illegal To Joke About Politicians

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Free speech always has limits.
~Does society have a legitimate interest in people having respect for their political leaders?
~If God selects leaders, then jesting at them is jesting at God.
~The message of a politician joke is not that this feature of Jones is laughable but that Jones is laughable, and, by extension, all politicians are laughable.
~Those whose candidates lose elections need to still believe in the leaders they did not elect.
~Jokes are fundamentally subversive of respect.
~The easiest jokes are going to be unfair in addition to being satirical. Jokes, therefore, almost always lie with just enough truth to not be real slander.
~Jokes can’t be argued with, especially when they are unfair.
~We live in a culture of dishonor, and I do not mean this as a compliment.
~Joking is the equivalent of political terrorism, at least in the sense that it primarily produces anger and makes it harder to reconcile with the other side.
~Joking implies that the person is so wrong that they are actually laughable. Thus most jokes are a kind of straw man fallacy rather than honest criticism.
~“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How does it feel when someone makes a joke at your expense and is not your friend?
~Joking is more powerful than mere criticism yet usually far less logically sound, therefore it is a kind of cultural assault weapon that deserves to be regulated.
~Which political team do you think will win an election, the one with the better policies or the one with the better satirists? That means that we the public are not well served by the ongoing culture of ridicule.
~Joking at someone’s expense has rarely been confused with being “a peacemaker.”

~Satire always comes from a place of contempt and arrogance, forgetting our own foibles and flaws.

Theological Tuesday

~Parables of Jesus 5: The Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-21)
~What does “Ask and ye shall receive” mean?
~Why doesn’t the New Testament say more about politics?
~When you think about Jesus being the only way to the Father, what do you picture?

Ethics: Letting An Evil Parent Back Into Your Life

Is there any space for keeping a bad parent out of your life and away from his grandchildren? If so, what are those limits, and how bad does he need to have been? Shouldn’t Christians be forgiving? Shouldn’t we honor our parents?

Generic Vs. Name Brand

The American marketplace is full of brand names, but it is also full of generic alternatives. From food to clothes to sundries, all of us have preferences for certain brands over others or over non-brands at all. The question is, which ones are really important to you, if any, and why?

Various Current Events

Slumdog Tourism (NYT)
Clearing away gay marriage myths (Michael Medved)
Lemonade stand girl makes $1,838 in 2nd try (CBS)
Mexico City more tolerant than US? (CS Monitor)
Scammers targeting BP and locals (CS Monitor)
Beloit College mindset list for class of 2014 (Beloit)
Cancer is #1 economic killer (AZ Republic)
Conservative group resists gay marriage (Christian Post)
NFL pro retires after one year because of faith (Christian Post)
Newsweek ranks top countries, US 11th (Newsweek)
Newsweek’s methodology (Newsweek)
Women more pro-life than men (Rasmussen)
Dearborn HS football practices at night for Muslims (ESPN)
Ground zero on the tolerance issue (Debra Saunders)
Blagojevich 23, Fitzgerald 1 (WSJ)
Some facts distorted over NY mosque (AP)
Barack Obama is not a Muslim (Time)
Growing number of Americans say Obama Muslim (Pew)
Church at Ground Zero not to be rebuilt (Fox News)
TX Sikh Temple case illuminates mosque controversy (Findlaw)
Why Egyptian men blame women for harassment (CS Monitor)
Last US combat brigade crosses into Kuwait (CS Monitor)
Political pie-protest has a history (CS Monitor)
Why Blago was only convicted on one count (CS Monitor)
FDA approves 5-day abortifacient (NYT)
FBI gets schooled on the law by Wikipedia (NTY)

A foolish trip (NY Post)

Wacky Wednesday--Intolerance Is Wrong

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~It’s mean.
~Who are you to tell other people how they should live their lives?
~God gave them freedom, who are you to take it away?
~Do you want to be known as intolerant?
~In a liberal democratic society like the United States, tolerance is a key public virtue, perhaps THE civic virtue.
~Other words for intolerance are oppression and persecution.
~Intolerance is the source of much violence and warfare.
~Famous examples of intolerance include The Spanish Inquisition, Nazis, Communists, Genocide, and Racism.
~When you try to stop something yourself, you just presume to take God’s role in controlling the world.
~Jesus didn’t set up a political kingdom full of intolerant rules.
~Christians claim to embody love, but love and intolerance aren’t exactly synonyms.
~Pushing to legislate your peculiar religious morality is not the sort of thing Jesus did.
~All Christians are sinners, so why are we so harsh toward…sinners?
~Intolerance breeds hatred, and hatred is responsible for much of the evil in this world.
~Externals are not the proof of righteousness, and even if we are effective at stopping the external, we haven’t solved the problem.

Wacky Wednesday--Tolerance Is Wrong

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~After all, if tolerance weren’t bad, why would we have zero tolerance policies?
~Tolerance is the virtue of people who don’t believe in anything.
~Tolerant of what? Sin or evil, right? Almost by definition, how can it be good to allow evil?
~Don’t we always say that if you fail to stop evil, that’s as good as being a part of it?
~“All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.” What’s the difference between tolerance and doing nothing?
~Is God tolerant?
~Sin wants to be first tolerated and then endorsed. Look at the gay movement.
~If you are supposed to love your neighbor as yourself, how can you tolerate his sin?
~Tolerance has certainly been thought the public virtue of this country for a very long time, but look where that’s gotten us. Abortion, Pornography, Divorce, Homosexuality, Greed, Profanity, Violence, Atheism, and False religions of all sorts, from cults to Islam.

Theological Tuesday

~Parables of Jesus 4: The Talents and Minas (Matthew 25, Luke 19)
~What should we say about Anne Rice’s anti-Christian Christianity?
~When you think about Jesus being the only way to the Father, what do you picture?

Ethics: Miami Heat Firing Season Ticket Sales Staff

Immediately after they went on sale, the entire inventory of season tickets to the Miami Heat games this year sold out. This comes pretty obviously as a result of them signing LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh recently. In response, the owners of the Heat decided to fire the entire season ticket sales force (about 30 people) since “there was really nothing left [for them] to do anymore.” At first glance, this will seem to some like a tremendous act of callous cruelty. To others, it will seem like merely good business. Let’s look a little more at it tonight and try to figure out whether this decision was ethical and what might (or might not) have been a better way to handle the situation.

Words You’re Surprised People Don’t Know

I was just having a conversation with my wife yesterday, in which she said she didn’t know the word “miscreant,” which the kids had been reciting from a movie they watched. Since she was the Valedictorian of her high school, I am always surprised by such vocabulary holes, but it reminded me that there are loads of words which we might assume others know but don’t. Of course, there are also words people use incorrectly without realizing it and words we think people should know but still it doesn’t surprise us when they don’t.

Wacky Wednesday--We Should Quit Resisting Gay Marriage

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~It’s inevitable.
~It’s a losing cause.
~It makes us look mean and unloving.
~Non-Christians can’t be expected to live by Christian morality.
~If you wouldn’t force people to be Christians with their money, why would you force people to be ~Christians with their bodies?
~What’s the real practical difference in a society with openly gay relationships and a society in which there’s gay marriage?
~It feels like racism to non-Christians.
~The loss to our society is pretty slim compared with where we currently are. Marriage has endured contraception, abortion, decriminalization of adultery, normalization of divorce, and no-fault divorce. Marriage will survive this, too.
~We let people marry all the time who won’t be having children. What’s the difference?
~How does it harm you?
~If gays are going to behave as gays, wouldn’t you rather have them in permanent relationships rather than not?
~You can’t complain about promiscuity in the gay community and then prevent them from forming permanent, legally binding relationships.
~Places that have gay marriage haven’t suffered the societal implosions that many have predicted.

Response:
1. Admit that the difference between a culture as it is today and one with gay marriage is not a shift from being 80% right to being 15% right, but more like a shift from being 20% right to being 15% right. This is minor in comparison with the damage already done to the traditional institution of marriage by contraception, abortion, decriminalization of adultery, decriminalization of premarital sex, and the massive facilitation of divorce on non-fault grounds. These things also mean we have granted away tremendous chunks of our moral authority in the realm of marriage issues.
2. That being said, there is still a significant difference between allowing (decriminalizing) gay behavior and endorsing it with state recognition through marital status. The two reasons to recognize marriage were that God creates it (historically the view) and (more recently) that marriage benefits the society by domesticating men, creating stability for children, and providing for the needs of mothers. Gay marriage satisfies neither of these criteria. The question isn't so much why should we oppose gay marriage. The real question is what do gay marriages have to offer society in return for the recognition and benefits desiring to be granted?
3. I generally find the view of most conservatives that gay relationships are fine but must not be called marriage a silly and indefensible one. It's a distinction without a difference. The much more defensible view is that gay relationships and gay sex are inferior to heterosexual marriage in a significant moral sense and that, therefore, gay marriage must not equate them in value. This is consistent with decriminalizing gay sex, but it is much more consistent with maintaining a criminal status for that conduct...as well as for all other similar sexual deviances (adultery, fornication, contraception, incest, etc.).
4. Sex is far too important to treat like just another activity. Everyone knows this by the way they talk about, think about, sing about, write poetry about, compose art about, and pursue sexual gratification. In other words, sex is surely not just another bodily appetite or activity. People who say that aren't even being honest with themselves. But precisely because sex is so powerful and important, it's at least plausible that there are right and wrong ways of using it, and that those distinctions will not coincide with whatever each individual thinks he wants to do.
5. Does the state have a legitimate interest in regulating marriage or sex at all? If you start with libertarianism, the answer has to be, "No." If you start with concerns about children, family structure, and God, the answer has to be, "Yes." This is a difficult argument to make in the current cultural environment. That isn't even a particularly honest admission. Look at how hard we're trying to make it and how little impact we seem to be having.

Wacky Wednesday--Churches Should Have Quran-Burnings

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~We have an example for us set in the Bible of burning evil books.
~People need to know that Islam is not just another harmless religion.
~The problem with most people is they don’t take their own positions seriously. If you believe Islam is a false religion, why not do this to emphasize the point?
~This is the most vivid way to show that Islam is not something we can coexist with.
~It would be a great opportunity to burn all sorts of evil material.
~We must not be afraid of provoking an outcry. The Bible is full of people doing what’s right regardless of the consequences
~If it does incite a violent response, that will only further prove what is so different between us and them.
~If Islam is leading people to hell, what better way to symbolize that than by showing the Quran in flames?
~How is the world worse off with less Qurans?
~If you supported the Danish Mohammed cartoons, why not this?

Response:
1. The National Association of Evangelicals has denounced this. "The NAE calls on its members to cultivate relationships of trust and respect with our neighbors of other faiths. God created human beings in his image, and therefore all should be treated with dignity and respect," it said in the statement.
2. You should also know about this group that they seem to hang out with the Westboro Baptist cult people, you know the ones who say GI's being killed is God's punishment for allowing homosexuality? That should tell you all you need to know about their credibility. They actually sell coffee mugs and T-shirts in their gift shop with the message "Islam is of the Devil" on them.
3. Only those with the weakest ideas (fascists, communists, etc.) have historically felt the need to censor viewpoints they want to suppress. When you burn books, you display weakness and fear rather than confidence and strength.
4. The book-burning in Acts 19 was by the people who had previously been into sorcery and they burned their own books. That's completely different from going out and buying someone else's books and burning them as a way of declaring your opposition to them.
5. Practical objection: How do you acquire thebooks? Are you giving someone money for them?
6. Evangelisma broad. How does it make Christianity look to Muslims? If you wanted to design a behavior which is perfectly offensive to Muslims, you could hardly invent a better one. If Muslims are your target evangelism group, would you ever consider this strategy? Of course not.
7. Evangelism at home. How does it make Christianslook to this culture? What is the popular association with book burning? Nazis. Who do the most radical anti-Christians say we are? Nazis. Who do more moderate anti-Christians or non-Christians at least fear we are? Nazis. So, it would seem like a tremendously incompetent cultural read to deliberately behave like Nazis in burning books.
8. Foreign policy. If there is video of this on the Internet, I guarantee it will be on Al Jezeera and in numerous Al Queda recruiting films. The biggest problem with the Islamic world is convincing them that we aren't against Islam, just that small slice of the most radical elements who call themselves Muslims. Burning the holy book of all of them is a fantastic way to give the radicals leverage with the moderates, thereby doing exactly what the radicals want. You really couldn't invent a worse foreign policy act than this.
9. "But this is how they treat us in Muslim countries." Yes. And how better to demonstrate how different we are than by not doing what they do?
10. Most of all, it's cowardly. Where are you going to burn these Qurans? In Florida and probably with police protection? Oooh, you're very brave. You want to impress me? Go to Riyadh and try this. If you're really convinced God wants you to burn Qurans to denounce false religion and prove the truth of Christianity, take your show to the Middle East and try it there. At least Elijah actually put his life on the line in confronting the prophets of Baal.
11. Romans 12:14-21 is abundantly clear.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly Do not be wise in your own estimation.
17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.
20 "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD."
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Links:
FL church plans ‘Burn a Quran’ day to mark 9/11 (Christian Post)
FL church plans Quran-burning on 9/11 (CNN)
NAE condemns ‘Burn a Quran’ day (Christian Post)

Theological Tuesday

~Parables of Jesus 3: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10)
~What should we say about Anne Rice’s anti-Christian Christianity?
~Should Christians protest demons and devils as sports mascots?
~Is burning Korans the right thing for a church to do?

Ethics: A Ladder In The Road

As I was driving to work the other day, I saw a rather large piece of road debris: a 6 foot stepladder. It was laying lengthwise and not quite in the middle of the right-hand lane of a four-lane median-divided surface street with a 40 MPH speed limit. Traffic was mostly swerving to avoid it. Question: do I have a moral obligation to remedy the situation?

Back-to-school Supplies And Theology

Most of us remember those Autumn days before school started again as we trekked to the store to buy our school supplies. Walking down the aisle, surveying pen and paper options, we probably didn’t think much about God. But what if Jesus happened to have been loitering in the supplies aisle just waiting to impart wisdom to these youngsters? What school supply might He choose to illustrate something about Himself or the faith He founded? Now, since we know that Christ is inside of us, the hypothetical isn’t so bizarre at all. As you might accompany your child on this journey, how might you use it as a chance to impart good doctrine as you “walk in the way” with him? (Deut 6)

Various Current Events

Miscellaneous
Google Earth used to find unregistered pools (Fox News)
Church bodies praise crack-cocaine fairness act (Christian Post)
Target, Best Buy criticized for political support (Christian Post)
Ethics woes plague Democrats (WSJ)
Temple uncovered in Goliath’s home town (Christian Post)
Missouri votes against Obamacare (StL Post-Dispatch)
Pledge finally allowed in Massachusetts (Fox News)
Golden Gate to get a suicide net (LA Times)
Pelosi punts on when Jesus’s life began (CNS News)
Outed pastor rejects homosexuality (Christian Post)

Prop 8
Federal Court overturns Prop 8, stays decision (NYT)
Federal judge overturns Prop 8 (CS Monitor)
Why the Prop 8 decision matters (Christianity Today)
Prop 8 overturned, now what? (Findlaw)
Gay judge has proven record of impartiality (SF Chronicle)
Judge being gay a nonissue (SF Chronicle)
Three key points about Prop 8 arguments (Findlaw)

Ground Zero Mosque
WTC Mosque and Pope John Paul II (WSJ)
Liberal piety and the memory of 9/11 (WSJ)
A monument to tolerance (NYT)
Bloomberg’s speech (Governor’s office)
Mosque plan clears NYC hurdle (NYT)
Ground Zero mosque: why or why not? (Hugh Hewitt)
Palin opposed, others heard (CNN)
Why the mosque must be stopped (American Thinker)
A mosque at ground zero? (Boston Globe)
Irony in Ground Zero mosque outcry (Wash Post)
Rabbis and ADL differ on Mosque (AOL News)
The wrong-headed furor over the mosque (Findlaw)
ACLJ petitions to stop Mosque (Christian Post)
Cordoba House and the real Feisal Abdul Rauf (Blog)

Wacky Wednesday--Pets Should Not Be For Sale

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Terminology matters. Pets exist for our pleasure and entertainment, but animal companions are friends who need our care. Owners are totalitarian monarchs, but animal guardians are benevolent caregivers.
~Just as we don’t believe in slavery, we shouldn’t think of pets as property or of ourselves as owners.
~Owners can destroy a thing, but this clearly isn’t true of pets
~If you were a domestic animal, would you prefer to be thought of as a companion or as a piece of property?
~The property mindset is what leads people to mistreat animals. Mistreating animals is a precursor for mistreating people. If we want to raise the stature of people and protect them better, we would do so by also raising the stature of pets.
~Pets are part of the family, just ask any child and most adults.
~You don’t sell children, why would you sell pets?
~The way we treat animals says a lot about our culture, especially since they are so vulnerable and dependant upon us.
~The best way to discourage puppy mills and kitten factories is to eliminate the profit motive.
~South Lake Tahoe and West Hollywood have already done this. El Paso and Austin are considering it.

Links:
San Francisco considers pet sale ban (LA Times)

Wacky Wednesday--We shouldn’t modernize Bible parables

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~The Bible and the Bible alone is God’s infallible Word, and every single Word is inspired by Him. ~Therefore if you knowingly change any of them, it loses it’s very nature and authority.
~Sola Scriptura, not Mostly Scriptura plus some modernization.
~If we’re allowed to “update” the parables, what is to stop us from “updating” anything or, indeed, everything else in the Bible to suit our current sensibilities?
~When someone has permission to retell these stories, they might easily take it as liberty to retell any of the Bible’s stories.
~Is the Bible itself not written well enough to work for all people? Are the Scriptures inadequate for the modern reader?
~Ask yourself why God didn’t explain them more or offer more details?
~Also ask yourself why God seemed to think that these examples might just prove to be eternal enough to withstand the vagaries of cultural drift.
~Modern retellings always change things. If they only change purely superficial things, then there’s no particular advantage to the modernization. And any change to the substantial portion is bound to change the meaning, opening up new ones, closing off old ones, and having a different impact on the audience than the original would have had.
~You may have missed the meaning in the original in your reformulation.
~Doctrinal bias can easily creep in as a parable is retold in modern terms.

Theological Tuesday

~Parables of Jesus 3: The Good Samaritan (Luke 10)
~Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 6:1-4
~What should we say about Anne Rice’s anti-Christian Christianity?
~Should Christians protest demons and devils as sports mascots?
~Is burning Korans the right thing for a church to do?

What was your first car?

Everyone has one. The vast majority of people can easily remember theirs, and of course this is partially due to the significance that our first cars had for all of us. So, tonight I thought it would be fun to talk about what that first car was, what it meant to us, and how we feel about it now all these years (and subsequent cars) later.

Ethics: Should We Criticize Politicians?

As is so often the case with my ethics questions, this one is likely to seem so obvious and easy to answer that even asking it verges on the absurd. “Perhaps you should do this as a Wacky Wednesday instead, Andrew.” Well, I originally had been intending to do just that, but the more I studied the Bible on the subject, I realized it would be more valuable to do it as an honest ethics question. So, given the range of options here (always criticize any way you want, criticize when it matters, criticize fairly, criticize politely, or don’t ever criticize), what’s the right answer? Is it ever acceptable to denounce or personally attack a political leader? Well, that’s what we’ll discuss, isn’t it?