Pastor's Blog

Mother Jones today posted an article with what it calls “The 8 Best Lines From Ginsburg’s Dissent on theHobby Lobby Contraception Decision.”  Here they are, with a few of my own quick observations. 1.  “‘ In a decision of startling breadth’ [the decision] would allow corporations to opt out of almost any law that they find ‘incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs.’” See my response to number six below. 2.  “The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would…deny legions of women who do not hold their employers' beliefs access to contraceptive coverage.” To be clear, Hobby Lobby provides coverage for more than twenty different kinds of contraception. The company’s objection to the Affordable Care Act’s ( aka Obamacare) mandate focuses on four kinds of “contraceptives” that are not contraceptives at all, but abortifacients  that prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg, thus resulting in the death of the newly conceived child...

We can never hope to fully understand Paul unless we constantly bear two things in mind about him:  (1) his identity as a Jew , and (2) his calling to be an apostle to the Gentiles . To lose sight of either of these (or both!) is to miss the most important context for understanding him. Paul lived at a very critical time in the history of redemption—when the saving benefits of the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants were first extended en masse to all nations. It was a period of remarkable transition, quite unlike anything Israel had ever experienced. And Paul was called to participate in that transition. It brought about a fundamental change in the composition of the covenant people. Throughout history, God had dealt in a unique way with Israel. They were his “treasured possession among all peoples…a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6). The Lord regarded them as “the apple of his eye” (Deut. 32:10; Zech. 2:8) and gave them many special favors. A...