Advertise on podcast: Blog & Mablog

I have noticed that I have been asked more questions about the 19th Amendment over the last year or so than I had ever been asked in all of my life prior. There is of course some sort of strategy behind all the questions, which is usually aimed at discrediting our larger project, and so some friends have therefore wondered about what reasons I might have for even answering the questions. I subsequently hit upon the device of addressing all the questions in one go, through the construct of an imaginary interview. That way I can just refer people here. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So on Monday I was slated to appear on a panel with Piers Morgan and, having done so, I encountered what passes for enlightened discourse these days—you know, in the twilight of our Republic. Piers was the host, and did an okay job trying to be the host, and I shared the panel with Tim Miller of The Bulwark and Wajahat Ali, who has a Substack newsletter, The Left Hook. When I say we “shared” the panel, that way of putting it is kind of misleading. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Dear Ehud... Thanks for the email, and for the follow-up phone conversation. I think I have a good grasp of your questions now, and of your dilemma, and hope that I can be of some help. I am thankful that your friend Dawson recommended that you contact me—Dawson’s a great one. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Secularism is not a workable common sense solution for getting along in a pluralistic society. Secularism is simply apostasy and godlessness. And the fact that there are numerous Protestant theologians and ministers who are privately orthodox, and who would never themselves burn incense to the Queen of heaven on their own rooftops, but who nevertheless publicly argue for a “neutral” public square illustrates—as few other things could illustrate—that the heresy of secularism has made deep inroads among us. Nothing else can account for such confusion. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So the war in Iran has been going on for a little over a month now, and enough of it has unfolded that I am now being asked on the regular what I think of the big picture....There is an additional factor in all of this in bello discussion. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, worships as part of our church service in Washington D.C. How does that factor into all of this?...On the one hand, some critics want us to intervene and “make Pete stop it.” But then, think for a minute. Do these same critics really want me or any of my fellow pastors—with no background on the intel, with no military training at this level, with no security clearance, and with no basis for sticking our noses into the internal workings of the Pentagon—to be giving Pete any specific policy advice? For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

One of the ways to test whether truth is a person’s absolute, as opposed to whether his tribal loyalty is, would be by seeing whether he ever acknowledges that his political opponent, the one who is against his tribe, has ever made a fair point. Or is he wrong about absolutely everything? This is how our polarization has come to pass; this is where it comes from. Far from making everyone more tolerant, relativism pushes people into the assumption that anyone who differs must be an orc. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

AI is a very slick search engine. You need to be careful with this one though. When you use google to search, it gives you a column of links, and the clear implication is that you need to evaluate the claims made on your own. “These are places that talk about your question, and now you are on your own.” But AI responds to you with an authoritative voice, telling you that this is the way it is. But it got that info by scrubbing the entire web, and there is a lot of bum dope out there. In addition, AI doesn’t just search for things, it just flat makes things up. More than one attorney has gotten busted for submitting a brief with non-existent court cases in it. AI is not a truth machine, but rather a consensus machine, so take care. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

If you are anything like me, you may have wondered from time to time about the precise nature of the argument between Job and his three friends. Everyone in the book speaks a lot about the greatness of God, but in all the back-and-forth, what was the nub of the issue exactly?... His three friends thought that he should take responsibility in some way, but for what exactly? This Job refused to do, but what was he refusing to do exactly? Was it simply a matter of did too/did not? What were their arguments revolving around exactly? For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So here is what happened—in case you are not up to speed. My friend Brooks Potteiger was on a podcast with Joshua Haymes and the topic of James Talarico, a death angel from Texas, came up. Now to be fair, he doesn’t look like a death angel. As one meme put it, he looks like a walking embodiment of that COEXIST bumper sticker. But despite the choir boy appearances, he is a card-carrying member of the abortion death cult. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

We have already had suicides of young people guided to it by chatbots. We already have had a pastor setting up chatbot hot line, with the semblance of his voice, so that parishioners can call and get comfort and counsel from something that is no more than a souped-up answering machine. As things currently stand, we are not ready for what is coming. People who worship the way we currently do are exposed and vulnerable….A people without worldview wisdom are not prepared for what is coming. It all seems ridiculous for those who are running along on common sense, but then absurd claims are advanced, and we discover that we have no grounded answers. Is a married man who has intercourse with a sexbot an adulterer? Scripture please. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

To be frank, this entire interview occurred in the middle of a rather intense fever dream, which is probably the only reason it went as well as it did. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So I want you to follow me closely here. A hypothetical Protestant republic, centuries from now, would be . . . chock full of Protestants. That would be the ethos of the whole place. Gaming it all out is how you test the principles of the various systems. What would still be there, and what would be long gone? Pride parades would be long gone. Catholic church bells would not be. Why and how come? Let’s talk about it. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Now with this literalist hermeneutic, it was natural that dispensationalists would interpret the many passages in the Old Testament that prophesied a glorious future for Israel as being about the literal nation of physical Israel (“literal unless absurd”)...And so this is one of the central reasons why evangelicals tend to have a default setting in support of Israel. However and whenever the world ends, Israel is going to be right in there, and very much a part of it. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

The theology of a slut walk, however, by its outrageous embrace of slutty dress, behavior, and thought, absolutely and definitively rejects any level of moral responsibility for anything. Now lest I be misunderstood at this point — which I understand has happened before! — let me hasten to add that I am not seeking to minimize or excuse violent sexual behavior, or otherwise absolve rapists in any way. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

In the biblical worldview, the seed of the woman is justified and the seed of the serpent is not....When you read about some incident, or see some appalling footage on the tube, and you immediately start thinking in terms of approved and justified groups—congratulations, you’ve just been ejected from every sane jury pool. You were applying the categories of one realm to the other one, and the seed of the woman are always called to keep them distinct and separate. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/