Comments on: possibly the worst essay you will ever read

By: mikewittmer

mikewittmer — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:10:58 +0000

Bryon:

I’m not sure what “cloying” means, but it makes me feel dirty. Thanks! (how’s that for cloying?).

By: bryon

bryon — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:34:55 +0000

After picking up a copy at my local newstand, I felt ripped off.

Oh, and I enjoyed your cloying response to an odious comment. It made me smile…

By: J

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 16:10:33 +0000

I will do that Mike. Thanks

By: mikewittmer

mikewittmer — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:10:38 +0000

I have a chapter on the homosexual issue in my newly released book, “Don’t Stop Believing.” I didn’t see the need to rehash my arguments here. But if you have the chance to read that chapter, I’d be interested in your response.

By: Mason

Mason — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 00:30:54 +0000

Sadly, for the choosing Warren issue, it is not just the left or ‘progressives’ who are causing an uproar, some from the far right are as well.
Apparently they see Warren praying at Obama’s inauguration as an endorsement of the pro-choice movement, instead of seeing it as a move that speaks well to both men and gives a prominent Evangelical a global stage.
I imagine that, had Obama picked a extremely liberal pastor, the same groups would be saying “we told you so”.

By: J

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:46:03 +0000

Mike,

It strikes me as a bit funny that you’ve highlighted Meacham’s words yet your post is essentially endorsing what he said. All you did was whine about what he and Miller wrote, calling it “bad scholarship,” yet you offer absolutely no rebuttal to the actual issue..

I absolutely agree that it was poor scholarship, I also think Meacham’s words were terribly unfair, but your response here is like when my 8 year-old can’t come up with a comeback and throws out the cocky “whatever!” and walks away confident in her own mind, but completely defeated by her lack of response.

It’s a bit interesting that none of your adherents seem to have a response to the actual article either.

So what’s going on? Do you not have anything to offer? Is it just not worth your time? Is Meacham right?

By: mikewittmer

mikewittmer — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:26:53 +0000

Mike and Eric:

I caught the uproar on CNN last night, and I will say that the clip they were running of Rick was not him at his best. He was essentially comparing homosexuality to incest, which I believe is unnecessarily inflammatory. He probably wishes he could have those words back.

Here is all we need to say to the proponents of gay marriage: what is the new definition of marriage, and on what grounds are you making it? By what criteria will you prevent marriage from sliding into polygamy or any other set of committed relationships? You can roll your eyes and scoff at the question (as Fareed Zakaria did to George Will), but you still have to answer it. It isn’t responsible to overturn the standard definition of marriage without a reasonable alternative. Tell me what that is and on what basis you make it.

By: Mike g.

Mike g. — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:52:47 +0000

Hey Dr. Wittmer,
This may be for a different post you make, but I’d also like to hear your thoughts on the reaction to Barack Obama picking Rick Warren for his innauguration. This may not fall within the scope of this blog. I’d like to refer people though to some of the liberal gripes about his choice. This was posted today at CNN. I posted a comment after this article which you may find there (if CNN doesn’t censure it In case they did, I actually went to the site for the group she is a part of “People for the American Way” and posted the message I sent her there as well and asked for a response.
Here’s the article:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/18/kolbert.warren/index.html

By: Eric Strattan

Eric Strattan — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:41:13 +0000

Your thoughts about the Newsweek piece triggered my thinking about another current event: President-elect Obama’s request that Rev. Rick Warren give the invocation during the inaugural ceremonies. The negative reaction from elements of the “progressive” community seems incongruous with their mantra of tolerance. One-sided pluralism does little to bring our divided country together.

By: Andrew Rogers

Andrew Rogers — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:47:39 +0000

Don’t miss Darrell Bock’s discussion of this article either. He’s blogging through the article, piece by piece and obviously has a huge issue with the scholarship too.

http://blog.bible.org/bock/node/440