If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.

Martin Luther, quoted by Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There

When you read Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, you can sense his honesty about the problems with evolutionary theory. Like a good scientist should do, he acknowledges that his theory could be proven false it’s falsifiable. He even offers specific examples of the kind of data that is necessary to show he’s mistaken about his theory. He was a fair-minded man.

via Stand to Reason Blog: Darwin Day Is Not Really about Darwin.

I am willing to accept the authority of science on any number of issues. I am fundamentally agnostic about a host of other scientific concerns — but not where the fundamental truth of the Gospel and the clear teachings of the Bible are at stake.

As I have stated repeatedly, I accept without hesitation the fact that the world indeed looks old. Armed with naturalistic assumptions, I would almost assuredly come to the same conclusions as BioLogos and the evolutionary establishment, or I would at least find evolutionary arguments credible. But the most basic issue is, and has always been, that of worldview and basic presuppositions. The entire intellectual enterprise of evolution is based on naturalistic assumptions, and I do not share those presuppositions. Indeed, the entire enterprise of Christianity is based on supernaturalistic, rather than merely naturalistic, assumptions. There is absolutely no reason that a Christian theologian should accept the uniformitarian assumptions of evolution. In fact, given a plain reading of Scripture, there is every reason that Christians should reject a uniformitarian presupposition. The Bible itself offers a very different understanding of natural phenomena, with explanations that should be compelling to believers. In sum, there is every reason for Christians to believe that the cosmos appears just as it does as graphic evidence of the ravages of sin and the catastrophic nature of God’s judgment upon sin.

via AlbertMohler.com – No Buzzing Little Fly — Why the Creation-Evolution Debate is So Important.

One good definition for tolerance is Webster’s: “the act of allowing something; sympathy or indulgence of practices differing or conflicting with one’s own.” In practice, it usually means letting others do and be as they wish without interfering with them. That’s where its weakness lies. In letting others alone, and not interfering, really means separating ourselves from one another. We sanction differences without engaging meaningfully with them. “Live and let live” is a euphemism for “Don’t criticize, ignore.”

via Tolerance? Nah, Too Easy » Evangel | A First Things Blog.

…secularists berate Christians for the culture wars, claiming that we are trying to impose our bigoted agenda on them. Often intimidated, Christians fear raising controversial questions.

But someone should ask: Who started the divisive culture wars in the first place? Far from being the aggressors—as the press would have us believe—religious conservatives have simply been responding to the relentless secularization of American life.

via We Must Not Despair | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

You may have seen this amazing news headline: 1 in 10 Teens Has Had a Same-Sex Partner.

…

Wow! Who knew? 1 in 10 American teenagers has had a same-sex partner?! That’s really terrible/terrific (depending on your point of view). What a revelation!

The only problem with this revelation is that it’s false.

via Is It True That “1 in 10 Teens Has Had a Same-Sex Partner”? – Kevin DeYoung.

That question was the title of a Richard Cohen column, but practically since Obama’s first day in office, the public has been asking, Is he a socialist? A Marxist? Anti-American? Anti-colonialist? (the last term suggested in Dinesh D’Souza’s new book The Roots of Obama’s Rage).

But there is one category that encompasses all of the above — and reveals how serious the diagnosis is.

The category Obama fits best is what scholars call the “adversary culture.” Coined by literary critic Lionel Trilling, the term describes intellectuals and artists who feel alienated from Western society and hostile to its fundamental features.

via The Pearcey Report.

Can I say it is always a sin to take a drink? No. Can I say it is almost always unwise? Yes, because it violates the biblical principles of wisdom and witness. One of America’s leading pastors is Andy Stanley. He wrote a book entitled The Best Question Ever. That question is this, “What is the wise thing for me to do?” I challenge anyone to show me the superior wisdom of drinking “in moderation,” as opposed to not drinking at all. This is not legalism but love. This is not being anti-biblical but pro-brother and sister. This is not working for evil but for good. Given the world in which we live I believe such a lifestyle honors the Lord Jesus. I believe it pleases Him. Without question it is the wise thing to do.

via The Case for Alcohol Abstinence « Between The Times.

With science, as with everything, how we do something is just as important as the result we’re hoping to reach. It’s not okay to find cures to diseases by testing on voiceless people in developing countries. And, as Alfred Nobel well knew, it’s not justifiable to create peace in one place by bombing civilians in another. No matter how worthy a goal, it’s not legitimate to try to achieve peace at any cost. As humans, we are bound by reason and ethics to be humane.

With IVF, the worthy desire to help infertile couples conceive a baby can be so great that it can be tempting to overlook the ethical and human costs: the embryos destroyed in the process that are just as human as the ones created alongside them that come to full term and walk among us; the years of pain and struggle that many women undergoing IVF experience with the assurance that it will lead to a child, when often it doesn’t.

via The Nobel Prize that Wasn’t | First Things.

When gay activists accuse conservative Christians of homophobia, they are wrong. Our concern about the sinfulness of homosexuality is not rooted in fear, but in faithfulness to the Bible — and faithfulness means telling the truth.

Yet, when gay activists accuse conservative Christians of homophobia, they are also right. Much of our response to homosexuality is rooted in ignorance and fear. We speak of homosexuals as a particular class of especially depraved sinners and we lie about how homosexuals experience their own struggle. Far too many evangelical pastors talk about sexual orientation with a crude dismissal or with glib assurances that gay persons simply choose to be gay. While most evangelicals know that the Bible condemns homosexuality, far too many find comfort in their own moralism, consigning homosexuals to a theological or moral category all their own.

What if Tyler Clementi had been in your church? Would he have heard biblical truth presented in a context of humble truth-telling and gospel urgency, or would he have heard irresponsible slander, sarcastic jabs, and moralistic self-congratulation?

via AlbertMohler.com – Between the Boy and the Bridge — A Haunting Question.