
Carl R. Trueman
Voices Contributor
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What a tangled web
We have no shared moral vision and hence we default to the experts — the biologists and the medical professionals — abdicating our responsibility to their technical expertise. Yet this approach does not give us an adequate view of reality.
Liturgy of the powers
Like the idea that pornography liberates women, transgender theory is arguably one of the most effective male confidence tricks in recent history: Nothing that women can lay claim to as women is now off-limits for men.
When evil is called good
In short, there is a clear push to grant LGBTQ+ ideology a favored legal and cultural status that enforces it without compromise. It also labels any and all dissent as morally evil. You don’t have to be an Old Testament prophet to see where this is all heading, or at least where those in power hope it is heading.
A society ashamed of shame
A sense of shame is nothing of which to be ashamed. Shame and modesty are not in principle oppressive. On the contrary, they are the means by which children learn to grow up, and to handle their emergence as sexual beings with responsibility.
Playboy makes perversion woke
The fate of Hefner’s reputation, like the success of his career, speaks eloquently about the state of America and perhaps the West as a whole. Self-indulgent to a tee, the only morality it knows is that which chimes with whatever the tastes of the moment happen to be, whatever works, whatever makes money.
Why preaching is central to priesthood
Preaching lays claim to that power of language but does so with the authority of God behind it. It is thus an assertion of reality, a reminder of God’s sovereignty and our dependence upon Him, a demonstration that He is great and we are but dust in the wind.
The strange fate of 'Hamilton' and 'Harry Potter'
Years ago, when teaching at seminary, I used to tell the students that moral relevance in the modern world was a cruel and fickle mistress. However much Christians accommodated themselves to her demands, sooner or later she would want more. Christian morality and the morality of the world simply could not be reconciled in the long term.
Linguistic violence
Once upon a time it was assumed that words reflected reality. At least, it was assumed that some words did, such as “man” and “woman.” That assumption in turn rested upon the notion that the world had a particular structure and shape. In our present age, both of these ideas are proving unpopular.
Blame it on Luther?
The above is not intended as a piece of Protestant triumphalism. Rather, it is a call for more self-awareness regarding the matter of the problems of our present age.
Lessons from the Reformation's pamphlet war
It is increasingly clear that social media, particularly in forms like Twitter, is the modern-day equivalent of Reformation pamphlets as produced by all sides. Two hundred and eighty characters are hardly enough to mount a coherent argument about anything.