Recent Viewpoints

Penna Dexter Believing saint, are you ready for Christmas? Maybe I’m being a “Martha,” but I’ve gotta be honest: Christmas is hard work. If you’re the planner of Christmas in your home, you know what I mean. Every year, in early December, my stress level spikes and I secretly wonder if I couldn’t just go into Mary mode this year and forget the Martha stuff.  Wouldn’t it please God — that I would just sit at the feet of Christ…

by Kerby Anderson On this Christmas week, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on the coming of the Messiah. The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies that give specific details about the “anointed one” who is the Messiah. The prophets proclaimed that He would come to save the people. The Bible is unique in many ways, especially when it comes to fulfilled prophecy. At the time when it was written, 27 percent (1800 verses) of the Bible was…

Kerby Anderson During this Christmas week, I have taken the time to discuss the theology of some of the Christmas hymns and carols that we sing. Today I would like to talk about The First Noel. It is an English song dating back to the sixteenth century. Some people believe that the First Noel was French because of the French spelling of Noel, but it actually an English song. The French word Noël does mean “Christmas” and is relevant to…

Kerby Anderson It is estimated that Charles Wesley wrote over 6500 hymns. Perhaps his best- known hymn is “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Over the years it has been edited slightly, but the meaning and theology remains as he wrote it more than two centuries It begins with a proclamation of the birth of Jesus: “Hark! the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.” The hymn reminds us why…

Kerby Anderson This is Christmas week, and so I thought we might reflect on the hymn, “O Holy Night” by John Dwight. “O holy night! The stars are brightly shining. It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.” Jesus came into the world to save us and so we feel valuable and our soul feels its worth. Perhaps the most quoted…

Kerby Anderson This is Christmas week, and I thought it might be worthwhile to spend a moment to reflect on the words to the hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem. It was written in 1867 by Phillips Brooks (an Episcopal pastor from Philadelphia). He had been in Israel two years earlier and had celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem. He wrote this song to reflect on what the night of the birth of Jesus might have been like. O little town of…

Penna Dexter Some public education officials are conflicted this time of year. Oh it’s fine for educators to celebrate all the trappings of Christmas at school. Even to get a couple of weeks off because of it. But dare mention the real reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, and you’re censored. That’s what happened to Dedra Shannon, a staffer at Patterson Middle School in Killeen, Texas. She decorated the school’s nurses’ office door with images to recreate…

Kerby Anderson After many long hours on a road trip, I decided to stop at a McDonald’s to use the restroom and get something to drink. As I entered, I saw their new self-service kiosk. Immediately I thought, “this is what happens when you demand a $15 minimum wage.” I was not wrong. Ed Rensi, is the former president and CEO of McDonald’s USA. He explains that increasing the minimum wage is why we will be seeing more of these…

Kerby Anderson For more than six years, Republican politicians have been repeating the mantra of “repeal and replace” concerning health care. But they were never very clear about what the replace part of the equation would look like. Now we have a much better idea. When Donald Trump tapped Representative Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services, he signaled that the proposal by Dr. Price would most likely be the Obamacare replacement plan. For the last…

Kerby Anderson The CEOs of major corporations may be smart people when it comes to business, but many of them apparently don’t know when to keep their comments to themselves after the 2016 presidential election. Their public rants against Donald Trump’s election and their criticism of voters aren’t likely to encourage people to buy their products. Matt Maloney is the CEO of Grubhub. The company offers take out, but lately seem more intent in telling its conservative employees to get…

Kerby Anderson A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) finds that teenage virgins are healthier than other students who are sexually active. At first, you might think that is merely an obvious conclusion since virgins are not likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD). But the conclusions are based on many other factors as well. Students who are virgins actually rate significantly and consistently better in nearly all health-related behaviors and measures than their sexually active…