Parchment & Pen Blog

In my house, there are many uninvited guests. These guests show up from time to time and really disturb the comfortable situation that I attempt to make the norm for my day to day living. The Uninvited, as some people call them, bring their friends, associates, and family members who all do their part to [...]

Mother seemed well, relatively speaking, this weekend. Thank you for your prayers and concern. Saturday morning she was taken to the ER again. They say that she had another minor stroke (TIA). They are not yet absolutely sure that it was a stroke, but, if it was a TIA, they say that she cannot progress [...]

My mother had an “episode” yesterday during therapy. They said that it could have been a seizure or another stroke, but they cannot tell. I guess her functionality is so impaired that there would be no symptoms to be able to gauge what happened. I am heading to Arkansas to see her tomorrow morning, so [...]

I hope you like it. We are still in the process of updating many things here, but I thought that it was time to begin to make the transfer. I think I will continue to post the blogs on the main site for a while as well. Any suggestions or comments? What do you think?

As if California needs this. You would think that the lack of experience would make someone timid to introduce such a law.

Here is an interesting article on the current demise of the label “Evangelical.” It is becoming more clear every year that the designation of “evangelical” is losing its value. Its demise is probably due to many things, all related:   1. Lack of distinction (identity). The term is used in many diverse ways. It could refer [...]

I have heard many people use an illustration when talking about atheism and its viability. Many will say that they can convert an atheist to an agnostic with this simple illustration. Here is how it goes. If someone claims to be an atheist, you can easily convert them to agnosticism thereby moving them one step [...]

Yes, I thought that the title would get you in. But your internet filter might flag this. I am having some trouble and I would like to hear some thoughts of the wise and experienced. My daughter Katelynn is 8 years old now and we have yet to have “the talk” with her about sex. [...]

If you were not able to make it to Thursday night’s CWS broadcast with Mike Licona, you really missed out. Not only did our new ConnectionGate (CG) program shine brightly, but Mike did a fabulous job talking about the evidences for the resurrection and preparing us for encounters with Muslim objections. I am sorry to [...]

Scot McKnight has a interesting post today in answer to someone’s question. I can assume from the answer (since the question is not posted) that the question has to do with where the Emerging Church fits into the Evangelical movement. This is a really good question that I have thought about quite a bit lately. I [...]

John Wesley and George Whitefield were good friends in the 18th century. Both were instrumental in the first Great Awakening, a revival of the Gospel that swept the American landscape bringing renewed commitment to the Christian faith. Both were traveling speakers on the circuit ride.

This is a question that has continually been brought before me lately. I will continue to speak on this in the coming months, but I thought that I should get something out there. The question that titles this blog can be very misleading. There are really three distinct yet related questions that should be asked: Are [...]