Browsing Articles Written by

Ken Keathley

America’s Campuses Are Getting Weird

Commentary By November 13, 2015 Tags: , No Comments

Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. … In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. “I’m a…

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The Exclusivity of the Gospel

Commentary By October 29, 2015 Tags: , , , No Comments

I have a confession to make. I think that the title to this article stinks. I hate the label “exclusivist” when it is applied to the Gospel. Hate, hate, hate, HATE, HATE it. Missiologist Harold Netland observes, “It is probably safe to assume that the term ‘exclusivism’ was not first introduced into the discussion by adherents of that perspective, but…

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The Prosperity Gospel is Wrong and Sometimes Cruel

Commentary By October 27, 2015 Tags: No Comments

An acquaintance of mine attended the funeral of an acquaintance of his who had died after a long struggle with cancer. He recounted the remarkable sermon he heard preached at the service. The presiding minister informed the attendees that the deceased woman’s death was their fault. If only they had exercised sufficient faith when praying for her, the preacher explained,…

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Church Discipline and Jesse James

Commentary By October 5, 2015 Tags: , , No Comments

Years ago I had the privilege of preaching at 1st Baptist Church of Kearney, Missouri. The pastor (at that time) told me a fascinating story about the church’s most infamous member: Jesse James. Evidently Jesse was a member in good standing when he led the first daylight bank robbery in Liberty, Missouri, a town about ten miles away. The church…

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Disneyland Vs. Dismaland: Why Both Are Incomplete

Commentary By September 29, 2015 Tags: , , , No Comments

Recently PBS aired a two-part documentary on the life of Walt Disney. The program presented Disney as a man who recoiled from the dark side of life. He withdrew from the real world by re-creating a parallel, sanitized version of reality. Disney was a remarkable visionary and storyteller, so he powerfully communicated this safe, uber-reality through movies, television, and ultimately…

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Is Prayer Simply Giving God Advice?

Commentary By August 31, 2015 Tags: No Comments

Prayer remains one of the most mysterious and marvelous endeavors in which a Christian can engage. What happens, exactly, when we pray? We are not telling God something he didn’t already know. And I don’t think we are trying to talk him into doing something he doesn’t want to do. Think about it: God is infinitely good and wise. If…

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What if the Superstitious Peasant Is only Half Wrong?

Book Review By May 5, 2015 Tags: , No Comments

For a generation, C. S. Lewis’ Miracles: A Preliminary Study was, at a popular level, the best book on the subject of miracles. Last fall Eric Metaxas published Miracles: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How They Can Change Your Life. His work probably will be the new standard. Here’s just a brief excerpt: “What if we could accept…

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Practicing Vs. Pretending

Commentary By May 5, 2015 Tags: , , No Comments

“I know I should have done the right thing, but then it wouldn’t have been sincere.” Such an explanation is sometimes presented as an amusing rationale for wrong behavior, or for failing to take the correct course of action. But it highlights a serious point. No one wants to be a hypocrite. Even in our nonjudgmental culture, few character flaws…

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The Rise of the Big-Bang Hypothesis (Age of the Earth Part 6)

Book Excerpt By March 31, 2015 Tags: , , No Comments

The 20th century will see the rise of two completely different paradigms for understanding the age of the earth: the big bang hypothesis and young-earth creationism. Actually, the time can be pinpointed even more closely. Both paradigms will ascend during the 1960’s. In 1916 Albert Einstein presented a paper in which he applied his general theory of relativity to the…

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