This post contains adult subject matter. Here in 2021, it appears that the concept of “purity culture” has imploded upon itself. Joshua Harris was sort of a punchline even before he announced his apostasy. Every Man’s Battle series author Stephen Arterburn is on his third marriage. He divorced his second wife after meeting his third […]
Jesus is Alive!: A Children’s Learning Activity for Acts 2
I am quite thankful to be back to teaching children’s Sunday school for second graders at my church. This year, we’re teaching from the book of Acts, and I recently taught the story of Pentecost out of Acts 2. One resource that was made available to us teachers at my church suggested teaching children how […]
Revisiting Andy Stanley’s “Unhitch” Remark (audio edition)
Back in the “good days” of Reformed social media when the topic du jour was inerrancy instead of critical social justice, Pastor Andy Stanley came under fire for stating in a sermon that we need to “unhitch” from the Old Testament. Some of the criticisms seemed to go beyond what Stanley had said in the first […]
On Accusations Against Voddie Baucham and Fault Lines, part 2
In part one concerning accusations against Voddie Baucham and his book Fault Lines, I argued: Baucham’s misquotation and misrepresentation of Delgado and Stefancic is a serious error, not a minor formatting mishap. The controversy online appears to have died down, and while the lack of present controversy may generally be a good thing, the reason appears to […]
Do You Feel Called by God? by Michael Bennett (book review)
Less than two months into my time on campus at Dallas Seminary, these words of unapologetic careerism came to us from a guest speaker at chapel: If you’re in your fourth year — first, second, third-year students listen up — if you’re in your fourth year, and you don’t have a job offer yet, you’ve […]
On Accusations Against Voddie Baucham and Fault Lines, part 1
On July 30th, Joel McDurmon posted a blog article titled “Voddie’s Fault Lines Worse Than Before: Fake Quotations AND Plagiarism.” McDurmon previously posted a series of videos critiquing Voddie Baucham’s book, Fault Lines, that had not captured my attention despite my having written a review. However, this particular article appeared far more serious in its magnitude. I’ve […]
Mama Bear Apologetics (book review)
I became aware of Mama Bear Apologetics by means of the Wokeness and the Gospel conference last month. The book somehow became in high demand at the bookseller table and sold out. Luckily enough, the parents of one of the authors were attending the conference, so they went home and grabbed a box of more copies. […]
Ethnos is not Ethnicity
I’ve been hearing an argument from our own side of the critical race theory (CRT) fault line as of late. The argument basically goes, “Use biblical terminology. The biblical term is ‘ethnicity’ (ethnos in Greek), not race. Race doesn’t exist.” I see a couple of problems with this line of argumentation. First, CRT advocates are […]
Everything Wokeness and Gospel (But Not the Conference)
We had a total of three current and former Things Above Us authors at the Wokeness and the Gospel conference this past weekend. It was truly a joy meeting new people, catching up with old friends, and digging into some solid teaching! I plan to have more later concerning the conference itself. For now, please be in […]
The Elect by John McWhorter — partial-book review, and it’s not about Calvinism
John McWhorter is a linguist and an assistant professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. I heavily cited his work earlier when previewing Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines and discussing McWhorter’s contention that the word “Antiracism,” referring to the new woke religion of critical race theory, ought to be capitalized as a proper noun. […]
Did They Know Jesus Yet? A Textual Criticism Case Study in John 14:7
For those of you who are tracking the release of the Legacy Standard Bible — the real, actual successor to the NASB 1995 — there’s an interesting change in John 14:7 that’s more textual criticism than translation. Let’s take a look. LSB NASB 1995 John 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and […]
Jesus and John Wayne (book review)
Kristin Kobes Du Mez (pronounced “doo may”) is a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, she lays out a seventy-five-year history of evangelical culture with an aim towards explaining the cultural rise of Donald […]
Fault Lines by Voddie Baucham (book review)
Author’s note (02 August 2021): I have become aware of Joel McDurmon’s credible accusations of misquotation and plagiarism in Fault Lines. My own independent investigation into the misquotation issue confirms Baucham’s misquotation of CRT scholar Richard Delgado on page xvi. I furthermore find — in agreement with McDurmon — that this was not merely a matter […]
You Will Be Like ‘Gods’?: Genesis 3:5 and Mormonism (re-post)
The following post originally appeared on Things Above Us in October 2019. A good friend in the ministry recently raised a question she was asked by someone else concerning Genesis 3:5 in the context of a conversation with members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and it’s a very good one. In this […]
“Antiracism” Deserves a Capital Letter: A Preview of Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines
Note: The full review is now published. Recently on Twitter, a Ph.D. student at a Southern Baptist seminary threw shade at Voddie Baucham’s upcoming book Fault Lines for many flaws such as “commitment to innuendo,” riling up a “populist mob,” and lacking integrity. He went so far as to criticize Baucham and his publisher for […]
2 Peter 1 in the Legacy Standard Bible
With the full text of the LSB New Testament now available, we have an opportunity for the first time to look through how the translation handles one of the catholic (general) epistles. I’ve sought to explain every change in 2 Peter 1 in this post. LSB NASB 1995 head Growth in Christian Virtue Precious and […]
Extrabiblical Revelation: Being Chained to the Ocean Floor (repost)
Here’s a repost from August of 2018, back in the infancy of Things Above Us, that we think might encourage you today. Here in the DFW area, much has been made lately concerning Matt Chandler of The Village Church having encouraged his congregation(s) to seek extrabiblical revelation in the form of visual images. I thought […]
Accordance-fu(n) with the Legacy Standard Bible
This post is edited from its original version. See comment from Rick Mansfield below. The Legacy Standard Bible app for iOS and Android is out, but it’s not exactly a standalone app. It’s really a repackaged version of Accordance 13. If you’ve already purchased Accordance, you can go to their web page and “purchase” the […]
Manga Messiah (children’s book review)
Manga Messiah is the first to be published in a series of manga books that covers the narrative biblical canon. Manga Messiah in particular is a harmonization of the Gospels, starting with the birth story in Luke and ending with Acts 1:8, John 20:30; 21:25. The other books in the series are Manga Mutiny, Manga Melech (“king” […]
The Church History ABCs (children’s book review)
The Church History ABCs is a fun way for kids to learn about great figures in Christian history. Twenty-six heroes of the faith march through the alphabet, boldly telling their stories in language children can understand. This wide range of characters—men and women from across the centuries and from all over the globe—reflects the breadth of […]