One of the editors of Touchstone Magazine writes Postlude to the Morning of an Editor. He reminds us that clear writing requires clear thinking. (HT: Justin Taylor)

John Mark Reynolds takes NBC to task in No Excuse: Why did NBC air so much evil now? NBC had the right to air the sick video, but that does not make it right to do so. Reynolds points out:

The reality is that NBC had (so far as I know) the only copies of this wicked stuff. If they had given their only copy to the police, then there would now be no copies on the Internet. The authorities could have decided if there was matter in the videos that went beyond disturbed ranting and could (possibly) tell anyone something they did not know.

It’s hard to see how the public interest is served by publishing these rants. Hugh Hewitt calls it The Single Worst Editorial Decision In The History Of Broadcast News. As one comment on the article says, “I may have missed it, but I don’t think NBC has given that much time to Professor Liviu Librescu.” Apparently evil is more interesting than good. That’s just another reminder that we live in a fallen world.

We were all stunned and grieved by the killings yesterday at Virginia Tech. I don’t have anything more to add at this point, except to say that we should all pray for the victims and their families. Please pray also for the Christians and churches in Blacksburg, that they would be a source of blessing to those around them. They have the difficult task to comfort their grieving and traumatized members and at the same time minister to their community. Tim Challies has some suggested prayer items, as well as some comments from a local pastor in Blacksburg.

John Piper has a new sermon on The Beautiful Faith of Fearless Submission. If you want to understand the biblical teaching on a wife’s submission to her husband, this is a good place to start. (HT: Justin Taylor)

Johnny Hart, the creator of the ‘B.C.’ cartoon strip, passed away yesterday of a stoke. According to his wife, he died at his story board where he worked on his cartoon strips.

I will miss Johnny Hart, although I hope that the papers will continue to print reruns of his strips for years to come. Each year on Christmas and Easter I knew that I could expect a ‘B.C.’ strip with a clear Christian message. In a world in which there is immense pressure to hide your faith, Hart set an example by courageously sharing the Christian message through his humor. Because of his outspoken Christianity he endured some controversies and some papers dropped his comics, but he continued to stand firm.

There is a wikipedia article on Hart, which has already been updated to include his death. The article describes his conversion through the witness of a father-son contractor team that installed a satellite dish. Starting in 1977, there was a noticeable shift in his strip to include Christian themes. Only in heaven will we know the full impact of the faithful witness of those contractors. You can read more about his life and conversion in this biography and this story about his Christian convictions.

Good bye Johnny Hart. See you in heaven!

A hostage drill at a New Jersey high school, which was intended to prepare the school for a Columbine-style crisis, portrayed the gunmen as fundamentalist Christians. In the drill, which took place on March 22 in Burlington Township, police detectives portrayed two men who went to the school to supposedly seek justice because the daughter of one of them had been expelled for praying before class.
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What difference does it make whether or not the body of Jesus remained in the tomb? The way in which you answer this question reveals a lot about your understanding of the Christian faith.

To many, Christianity is a religious system that has much in common with the other religions of the world. Most of them teach that we should live for a higher purpose, treat others well, and try not to be too selfish. In that case, what really matters is that the teachings of Jesus live on. What happened to his body after his death isn’t really important.
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