Church, Politics, and Culture
Drowning Out the Truth
Denise Paolucci wants to hand out iPods to Texas women who want an abortion so they won't have to hear the sound of their baby's heartbeat during the mandatory pre-procedure ultrasound. Eric Metaxes has a great column on the subject, drawing an apt parallel between...
Dan Savage’s Rank Hypocrisy, President Obama’s Weak Theology, and Bill Maher’s Illusory Superiority
The Don Johnson Show, 5-14-12 Don and Brandon wonder if Dan Savage works for the Ministry of Tolerance. They also discuss President Obama's interpretation of the Golden Rule to support gay marriage, referencing great articles by Denny Burk and Francis Beckwith along...
Don’t Dream Away the Hand that Saved You
The clip is taken from the August 29, 2011 episode of Australian X Factor. If you don't want to take time to watch the whole thing, here is a quick summary:Emmanuel Kelly, a young man with obvious limb deficiencies, receives polite applause as he limps to the...
Why Christianity is more Reasonable and Scientific than Atheism
Don Johnson Show, 4-2-12 Atheists like to present themselves as lovers of reason and science on a crusade to expose the irrationality and superstitious tendencies of religious believers. Don and Brandon spend the show examining this claim. Along the way they read a...
The Pastor that Rejected Christianity
The Don Johnson Show, 3-15-12 Don talks with Wes, a secular humanist chaplain. Wes recently rejected Christianity after 10 years as an evangelical pastor. He has a B.A. in Biblical Studies with a minor in philosophy from Dallas Baptist University and an M.A. in...
Why Christianity Lost America
Great article by Vishal Mangalwadi.
Life, Thrown Over the Fence
The Don Johnson Show, 9-19-11 Don and Brandon find it hard to argue with the logic of Justice Joanne Veit, who gave Katrina Effert a suspended sentence instead of prison time for strangling her baby boy to death and throwing the body over the fence into the neighbors...
Christian vs Worldly Definitions of Love
Some reflections on Kierkegaard's Works of Love: As a full-time evangelist, I spend much of my time interacting with atheists and other unbelievers, trying to convince them that Christianity is true and that they should follow Jesus. As a result, I am often charged...
Europe’s Real Problem
From Mark Steyn's great new book, After America: [T]he self extinction of Europe is not just a matter of economics. Advanced social democracies don't need a value added tax; they need a value added life...Europe's economic crisis is a mere symptom of its economic...
On Living without Religion, Granting Equal Rights to Plants, and Knowing when not to Cry
The Don Johnson Show, 5-2-11 Osama bin Laden, Hell, and Atheism This part of the conversation includes a reference to Ross Douthat's defense of hell in the New York Times. Living without Religion is out to convince people that atheists can hope, care, and love just...
Murder in a Meaningless Universe
The Don Johnson Show, 1-17-11 On this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at least one segment of the black community is not living the dream. Michael Shermer advises us to quit looking for meaning in life and in the process finds moral equivalence between Jared Loughner's...
Why Ricky Gervais Needs to Re-think His Atheism
The Don Johnson Show, 12-20-10 Don and Brandon talk about the difference between emotional and intellectual doubt, then tackle Ricky Gervais' defense of atheism in the Wall Street Journal. Don argues that Mr. Gervais is typical of many atheists: he does not understand...
Slandering the Righteous
The anti-religion crowd sure spends a lot of time and energy trying to make spiritual leaders look bad. (Really, Christopher Hitchens, a screed against Mother Theresa?) This is nothing new, of course, and neither is the reason for it: bringing down the saints is...
The Demise of Biblical Preaching
I posted a link to this article over on my facebook page and got a couple of good comments, but I couldn't privde links in my response, so I brought it over here. Dan wrote: I would tend to agree with the entertainment portion but I am not really sure that using what...
The Relationship between God, Government, and Human Rights
The Don Johnson Show, 3-29-10 Don discusses the recent discovery of evidence that the ten plagues of Egypt actually happened and why even some Christians don't know what to do with this data. He also clarifies some points from last week's show and expands further on...
The Nanny State as a Religion
Mark Steyn is a genius. I recommend everything he has written, but today these two columns on health care and the effects of big government on a society are especially relevant: The Nationalization of Your Body Men are From Venus A sampling: In a nanny state, big...
The Gospel According to Obama
Saw this theological comment in support of Obamacare on Facebook: "I think Matthew 19:21 and Matthew 25:35 are [good] verses for what Obama is doing." Must be reading from the New Obama Version: Matthew 19:21: "If you want to be perfect, go take someone else's...
God, Freedom, and Obamacare
The Don Johnson Show, 3-22-10 Don and Brandon rant about Obamacare while answering listener questions and comments. They discuss, among other things, whether the New Testament supports nationalized health care, how Christians should respond to the fall of the American...
Can One be Talked Out Of Being a Christian?
The Don Johnson Show, 2-22-10 Don and Brandon talk with caller Brian about whether it is possible to be "talked out of" being a Christian. More on the Dark Ages in which we currently live, including a reference to a NY Times piece on kids and boredom and a story about...
On MLK, Avatar, and The Finger of God
The Don Johnson Show, 1-18-10 Don and Brandon discuss Martin Luther King Jr.'s beliefs about extremism and his enemies, the message of Avatar and the alleged miracles chronicled in the documentary The Finger of God.
Columnists who Don’t Understand Religion and Atheists who Don’t Know How to Read Books
The Don Johnson Show, 1-11-10 Don and Brandon talk about Brit Hume's advice for Tiger Woods and the nature of religious discussion in the public square. Don references several articles, including pieces by Tom Shales, Jenny Block, Kyle Drennen, and Michael Gerson....
Living in Slavery while Believing You’re Free
The Don Johnson Show, 12-14-09 Don and Brandon clarify some points they made last week about the Manhattan Declaration, discuss the meaning of freedom according to Jesus and answer a listener question about the use of icons in worship, among other things. Along the...
The Manhattan Declaration and More
The Don Johnson Show, 12-7-09 Don and Brandon answer some listener questions about seeking meaning in life and whether or not Christianity makes extraordinary claims that require extraordinary evidence. They also discuss The Manhattan Declaration, a recently released...
On Loving your Neighbor, Saving the Panda, and Keeping Kids in Church
The Don Johnson Show, 10-5-09 Don and Brandon clarify some points they made last week about biblical interpretation and answer a listener question about whether or not loving your neighbor means we have to believe that all nations are equal. They also address a...
Don’t Try This at Home
The Don Johnson Show, 9-28-09 Don and Brandon discuss: An atheist's attempt to defend religion. The Episcopal Church's attempt to attract more young people. A pastor's attempt to connect Barack Obama and the Antichrist. (Here is John Mark Reynold's excellent piece on...