Wyatt Graham

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When Christian Nationalism went Wrong — Ansbacher Ratschlag

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I explained my theological reasons for rejecting Stephen Wolfe’s “The Case for Christian Nationalism” in my review. Here, I want to point to similar arguments made by Christian nationalists in the last century, which did not stand the test of time.

These principles are: God wills that a people order itself according to natural relations of family, people, and race and thereby exclude others; that the church’s obligation to the natural order remains the same but positive law or changing societal norms can change the shape of how the church integrates into a specific place and time; and that a völkisch society is a necessary, natural good. [Read more…] about When Christian Nationalism went Wrong — Ansbacher Ratschlag

Does Government only Restrain Evil or also Commend the good? the Question MAID Forces

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Canada will assist the mentally ill by terminating their life, starting in March of 2023. This assistance euphemistically takes the name, medical assistance in dying (MAID). MAID is euthanasia. It terminates life. The mentally ill in March 2023 and those impoverished due to disability can now choose to receive a sponsored death from the state.     [Read more…] about Does Government only Restrain Evil or also Commend the good? the Question MAID Forces

Should We mock Those We Disagree with?

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Recently, I saw a Christian Journalist by the name of Megan Basham write, “I make no apologies for mocking people who claim the name of Christ but have pronouns in their bio.” 

Basham later reinforced her view by invoking Jesus’s words in Matthew 23 and Luke 13 and saying: “These are Jesus’ words for some of his neighbors. The only-gentle, only-soft Christ is a myth, perpetrated to allow wolves to come into church and lead some to Hell by preaching a Jesus who did not harshly confront the sin of those who were brazenly rewriting God’s law.” 

Jesus indeed calls the pharisees white-washed tombs and Herod a fox. And more besides. It is worth reflecting on what Scripture says about mocking to understand if Jesus here models a normative rhetorical technique to mock people who, in Basham’s language, “claim the name of Christ but have pronouns in their bio.” And by extension, to mock people for other similar claims.   [Read more…] about Should We mock Those We Disagree with?

Living in an Activist age: Escaping Thought by Turning to Action

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The world of the Bible feels far from us. The psalmist claims that the blessed person “meditates day and night” on God’s Torah (Ps 1:2). Paul tells us that growing in the Christian life means not just doing something but standing there, “beholding the glory of the Lord” and so “being transformed” (2 Cor 3:18).

The one thing David yearns for is “to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple” (Ps 27:4). David even looks to the work of the Creator to contemplate his glory: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” The drive to know God and his works, wait and not act, to contemplate spans the Scriptures and is everywhere present in the ancient world.

But not so for us. We live in an activist age, one characterized by escaping thought into action, fleeing thorny problems into political solutions, running from theology to a more practical faith.  [Read more…] about Living in an Activist age: Escaping Thought by Turning to Action

The Last T4G: The Unraveling and Reweaving of North American Evangelicalism

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I attended the last T4G. It marked the end of an era. But something was not quite right. Two of the four original founders were not there: Al Mohler and CJ Mahaney. Yet undoubtedly the conference and the theological culture it helped cultivate changed the evangelical landscape. Baptists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans fellowshipped at T4G. At one level, T4G 2022 evinced its success. We were there. All together.

But its success, significant as it is, does not match the larger evangelical scene. The Southern Baptist Convention—my former convention—has recently entered into a crisis. Russell Moore goes further and calls it an apocalypse. I am too far away from the SBC today to really understand what’s happening. But if Peter Wehner’s piece in the Atlantic is accurate, then apocalypse may very well be the right word.  [Read more…] about The Last T4G: The Unraveling and Reweaving of North American Evangelicalism