"...[S]setting up templates and saying this is what a man should be strikes me as an attempt to use a mist as a focal point. If you are a man and want to be “Biblically masculine” then here is what you must do. Trust in Jesus and obey Him. Period. You see, real men don’t waste a minute of their time or any portion of their energy worrying about their manliness. " It's just like "whiteness." Since I have a good self-image (sometimes too good), I don't have to think about how great it is to be white. And insofar as I am leading, I don't have to worry about whether my leading is manly enough. There are times to act, and times to be passive. The truest power is power under control. And God is so masculine that we are all feminine before Him; yet He fights in order...

This Sunday, the NYT Mag just published a long piece about the state of evangelicals in politics. Needless to say, things are not looking good for the old-school Religious Right. Some call it creeping theological liberalism. But I, like the author of the article, attribute the breakup of the Religious Right to a recognition that the Gospel is a holistic message, and that the Gospel is a message that can sustain itself and be compelling in a secular culture. We don't have to preserve some kind of "American civic religion" consensus in order to prepare people to hear the Gospel. Far from it. In fact, civic religion may be one of the chief stumbling blocks keeping people from hearing the Gospel as what it is - a call to die. " Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law...

Nothing is funnier to me than critiques of Axl Rose's poetry....

You know we're in a new era when the Prohibition Party presidential candidate has a MySpace....

Driving down to West Virginia Through sharp valleys in the summer's green; The fellowship of youth was free And I can hear the singing: "This is the one thing, the one thing that I know." I just got Jars of Clay's self-titled album - finally, after having loved the album for over 9 years. It's both convicting and encouraging to hear CCM that is sung with sincerity....