May 16, 2007
The Bogeyman Is Dead
I commend to you this short obit by Joseph Bottum, editor of First Things.
The Reverend Falwell was different things to different people. His legacy shall be mixed. He was both a voice for the Too-Often-Silent Majority, as well as, well, just a voice, or rather a mouth.
He had this tendency to see the judgment of God in events such as September 11. This is theologically daft. God's judgment on sin came finally, irrevocably, permanently, at Calvary. There is no other judgment in history.
The nations shall be judged, yes—but at the end of history. And I promise you, my Lutherans, that judgment shall make 9/11 look like a bar fight . . .
The Reverend Falwell was different things to different people. His legacy shall be mixed. He was both a voice for the Too-Often-Silent Majority, as well as, well, just a voice, or rather a mouth.
He had this tendency to see the judgment of God in events such as September 11. This is theologically daft. God's judgment on sin came finally, irrevocably, permanently, at Calvary. There is no other judgment in history.
The nations shall be judged, yes—but at the end of history. And I promise you, my Lutherans, that judgment shall make 9/11 look like a bar fight . . .
