My 700 Club

The 700 Club

My Blog is a very small thing. But it’s my little ewe lamb, and I have an affection for it. I don’t love it as I once did, but I continue to write when I am stirred up enough about something to want to write.

I noticed that a number of bloggers and online magazines listed their most read pieces in 2016. The bloggers published a list their Top 10 blogs.

Today I finally got around to looking at my 40 blogs of 2016 to see which ones had been most read. What should the cutoff be? I decided not to come up with a top 10 list (which would be ¼ of all I published), so I decided to list only those that attracted as many as 800 looks. 40 blogs published. 7 got 800 or more hits. A small thing, as I said.

Here is my 700 Club with the number of hits in parenthesis, a short annotation, and a quotation from the blog.

1. This Does Not End Well for the PCA  (3383) Reflections on Michelle Higgins presentation at Urbana.

This is political progressivism, liberation theology, and social gospel. Historic theological orthodoxy cannot long cohabit with this liberal version of orthopraxis. One or the other will have to move out.

This does not end well for the PCA.

2. A Hymn No Christian Should Sing - Ever (1600) I have published this criticism of the hymn “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” several times, and each time it attracts readers.

Mrs. Howe's hymn is a liberal hymn of hate stirred by the passions of war and based on a "God is on our side" mentality. Today, some whose patriotic zeal is high and theological discernment low might be tempted to sing it. Worse, some on the religious right may march into the culture wars singing it.

3. Why This Doesn't End Well for the PCA (1754) Answer to request to elaborate on why I believe the views represented by Michelle Higgins will undermine the PCA.

In general when political and social issues get balled up with Biblical authority and the Gospel, orthopraxis (right practice defined in terms of social/political issues rather than personal conformity to Biblical morality) will be elevated to equality with orthodoxy (right doctrine.) This happens with conservatives as well as the liberals.

4. The PCA Has Got To Get Its Mind Right on Race (940) The pressure on the PCA to adopt the social/political views of those who tie them to the Gospel.

In the church it is, "All Biblically enlightened, Biblically right-minded, Biblically good-hearted, and Biblically righteous people see things as we do." You can't say, "We have a difference about political and social matters, and we can charitably disagree about these matters as Christians while being united by our faith." No, these are matters of Biblical and Gospel righteousness. Those who disagree must get their minds right - whatever it takes.

5. Sorry, I Don't Feel Your Pain (918) I contend that the outcome of the 2016 election was just politics.

These brothers believe that God is on their side and they on God's. Their cause(s) is the cause of the kingdom of God. To them Trump was not just someone they disagreed with but the enemy of the kingdom of God. The 80% of white evangelicals who voted for Trump voted against the interests of the kingdom of God, betrayed their black brothers and sisters (who ask, "How could you?"), and proved themselves unreliable allies in the righteous causes highest on the list of black priorities.

6.  Candidates, I Don't Want to Hear about Your Faith (841) During the Presidential primaries I listed 12 priorities and concluded...

When I look at my list I find it is based on my political philosophy and principles, on prudence and common sense, and on preferences. I do not believe they are derived from the Bible or are an expression of my Christian faith. If I put flesh to them and tried to turn them into a political program, I would not look to the Bible for guidance or to my church for direction.

7. "Sex Isn't a Need." Really? Really?? (806) I respond to a Christian psychologist who argues that sex is a want not a need.

Paul teaches that those who are not married and who have sexual needs must exercise self-control and refrain from fornication. But he knows this is hard, very hard, and so urges those who burn to marry...Is sex a need? The psychologist says, “No.” Paul says, “Yes.”