Torrey Gazette is the combined work of everyday Christians blogging on books, family, art, and theology. So pull up a seat and join us. Family Table rules apply. Shouting is totally acceptable.
All in Culture
Does God lie? Does He participate in deception? Does He endorse deception? These are important questions that Christians have discussed throughout church history. I don't claim to have all the answers, but I do think the Scriptures present a more convoluted answer than we would like to believe.
If you missed it, well, GO GET CAUGHT UP. If you're still with me, tally-ho.
I've had a few more bourbons and whiskeys since then, and I have thoughts about them.
In his essay 'On Evil Euphemisms', Chesterton points out that “when someone wishes to wage a social war against what all normal people have regarded as a social decency, the very first thing he does is find some artificial term that shall sound relatively decent.”
There are no perfect systems. They each have potential flaws due to the sinfulness of man. Ultimately, Calvin supports aristocracy since "Owing, therefore, to the vices or defects of men, it is safer and more tolerable when several bear rule."
We value “realistic” stories over “fairy-tales.” The problem is that these realistic stories are all too often void of true beauty and imagination yet blatantly promote some “social or ethical or religious or anti-religious ‘comment on life.’” This is one of the main avenues that we have been deceived as a culture. We have sought to avoid deception through the very means that deception is most likely to come: “realistic” literature.
This is
I still advocate for educating your taste, in all things - food, drink, music, film. It is important to know what is worthy and what is cheap. I'm not saying that only religious music is worthy.
"It is our duty, therefore, not only to pray for those who are already worthy, but we must pray to God that he may make bad men good." - John Calvin
“We do not want to artificially endorse rigid gender stereotypes that make cultural normative expression of gender roles a marker of obedience to God or something along those lines.” (150-151)
The church cannot suffice as a law unto itself. Calvin says, "they stupidly imagine her to be such as she never can be found in the community of men."
Goodness, truth, and beauty must work together. But many modern Christians have ceded the realm of beauty to modernist ideal of relativism: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Christians need to be more consistent in their defence of an objective reality. We should continue to contend for objectivity in the realms of goodness and truth, but we should also contend that beauty is not in the eye of the beholder.
In many
Before recent times, church architecture meant something. Recently the protestant faith in the West has come to be understood in (almost) entirely intellectual terms. “Belief” is the core and sole tenet. Due to this emphasis on an intellectualized faith, aspects like architecture, city planning, and aesthetics in general, have gone by the wayside.
In light of the recent Supreme Court decision on marriage, we here at TG decided to bring in some guest writers to discuss in a round-table format.
Attempting to fit our understanding of the Bible into our narrow political landscape leads us to electing "compassionate conservatives" or to voting for "hope and change" that never materializes. And yes, there are plenty of people even today that will tell you Jesus himself would have voted for Bush, Obama, or any number of other politicians.
You’ll find stories that are far less concerned with gadgets than they are with the mind and soul of man.
As a
Think about it. If someone breaks into your house, steals your television, and then is caught, would you not rather the person repay you for the television than you pay for the person’s incarceration via taxation?
The difference between an anarchist and their opponent in this situation is not that an anarchist wants chaos and their opponent
