Dear Eugene

Dear Eugene, "People are proud to be saying Merry Christmas again. I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!" So said Donald Trump.  Yesterday I read in a Christian magazine quoting him, saying something along the same line, about him being the savior of Christmas, if not Jesus himself.  I am ashamed to say I used to write for this magazine. I suppose I shouldn't be writing when I feel angry.  Especially on Christmas day.  I have no right to be angry.  A Desert Father once said the only reason to get angry at a brother is to bring him closer to Jesus, and no other reason is justifiable.  I need to stop writing and start praying. Let me share with you an excerpt from Rowan Williams' masterful little book " Being Christian " on baptism.  The best way to fight against the anti-Christ is to know, to love, and be like Christ. Merry Christmas, my dear pastor.  Thank you f...

Dear Eugene, Last night I had a strange dream. In the dream, J. I. Packer was thumbing through a Bible, while mumbling and grumbling, "Here we go again, N. T. Wright, undermining justification, saying this and that, blah blah blah...The Bible clearly says here--wait, I will find it ( thumbing violently through the pages )--but the Bible says...here the Bible says--wait, almost got it..." Of course that ain't the real Packer, though it might be the right Wright (from the fake Packer's perspective).  In real life Packer does not need to thumb through the Bible violently to find his proof text.  In real life, despite their serious disagreement in even some crucial doctrines , Packer proclaims, "Brilliant Bishop Wright is one of God’s best gifts to our decaying Western church..."  Here are two great Christians, great human beings showing us how God's family members disagree--even "fight"--in the Spirit, in the name of Christ, for the sake of ...