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8 Keys to Understanding Today's Hobby Lobby Ruling

My legal mind really enjoyed reading the Hobby Lobby case today. Here are 8 keys to understanding the ruling, it actually makes a ton of sense. 1. Hobby Lobby already provided 16 of the 20 contraceptives mandated by the Affordable Care Act. They only objected to IUDs and morning after pills that may prevent implantation of a fertilized egg, thereby violating their religious beliefs that life begins at conception and should be protected. 2. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was an act passed by a Democratic Congress in 1993 (and signed by Clinton) that reiterated religious protection of all "persons" by requiring that any law, even if applying to the general public, must not "substantially burden" one's religious convictions without being for a "compelling government interest" and using the "least restrictive means."
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IHOP, APEST, and The Danger of Playing Para-Church

(Note: this post was written several months ago after the release of the Rolling Stone article "Love and Death in the House of Prayer." I hesitated to publish it then but am publishing it now that time is passed and I feel good about it. Understand it is coming from a place of love for both IHOP and the Church, desiring "to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son.") I have spent a lot of time at the House of Prayer lately.  Not the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, which has been doing 24/7 prayer and worship since 1999, but the local off shoot here in Des Moines.  IHOP Iowa (IHOPIA, which is almost just as long as far as abbreviations go) is open 4 hours a day during the week and features live musicians occasionally, but mostly plays a live feed of the IHOPKC worship room.  Lately, I have been spending 1-2 hours there a day and playing guitar once a week.  There a lot of thing...
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Book Review: Santa Biblia by Justo Gonzalez

This was originally written for my New Testament class at Asbury Theological Seminary. Santa Biblia: The Bible Through Hispanic Eyes by Justo L. Gonzalez (Abingdon Press, Nashville: 1996) is a short and concise theology book expressing various interpretations of the Bible from a Hispanic perspective. Gonzalez plays the role of editor, compiler, and commentator on the views of pastors and professors, teasing out what it looks like to interpret “the Bible through Hispanic eyes (21).” He explains that this book is needed because “perspective is important for two complementary reasons: first, because it cannot be avoided; second, because it should not be avoided (15).” Perspective cannot be avoided because, despite the claims and efforts of modernism, we are still imperfect, biased, and sinful creatures who inevitably bring our experiences into the reading of Scripture. Furthermore, perspective should not be avoided because our differences are not merely hindrances to objectivity bu...
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