News From the Frontlines: October 17th, 2026
Often it has been said that the central tenets of Greek thought form the backbone of what we now call ‘the West’. In many regards, this is true. At a purely societal level, we owe a great debt to ancient Greek philosophy, ethics, culture, and politics. These pillars find their root in Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle—around whom much of secular reasoning seems to orbit, whether they realize it or not. The manifold influence of the Roman Empire on the West cannot be disregarded either.
However, the greatest mentor of Western culture is neither Greek nor Roman, but Jewish. To the Jews “belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever” (Romans 9:4-5). Among these three—Greece, Rome, and Jerusalem—the influence of Jerusalem is greatest, for it was out of the Jews that a Savior was born.
Not far from where Socrates himself met an end after his famous trial, and only several hundred years later, one greater than Socrates took a stand on the Athenian frontlines, just under the shadow of the Acropolis, proclaiming One greater still. Shortly after the dawn of Christianity, a Jew named Paul declared to the men of Athens that “[God] commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising [Jesus] from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). The voice of Paul—and above all, the voice of Him about whom he spoke—continues to echo across not only the West, but each of the four winds, calling all men everywhere to repent and put their faith in Christ alone for salvation.
—News From the Frontlines—
Recommended Reading, Listening, & Watching
(And the holiness of pleasure): “C. S. Lewis once called God ‘a hedonist at heart.’ Lewis spent much of his life combatting the false idea that God doesn’t care about pleasure. He regularly pointed out that pleasure was God’s idea and then took inventory of all the earthly gifts God has lovingly given to his creatures to enjoy—food, drink, marriage and sex, sleep, nature, friendship, art, recreation, work, sport, and beauty.”
I think Jacob Crouch is absolutely right here. God’s law demands that justice be executed upon the evil doer—and in the case of murder, this means the swift execution of the murderer (Genesis 9:6). Even in the Old Testament (not to mention throughout much of human history, even in the West), public executions were the norm. This wasn’t harsh; it was just. However, such public displays of justice become fertile ground for abuse and confusion at a societal level when the death penalty is suddenly removed from any theological contexts of justice, not to mention the hope of God’s word and the Gospel.
Speaking of Western values, Al Mohler had this to say in response to the Secretary of State’s recent speech in Athens: “Last week, with a majestic view of the Acropolis of Athens behind him, the secretary of state of the United States of America delivered an address in which he declared the enduring achievements of Western civilization, set out a defense of the West, and warned of incalculable loss if that prized civilization were to be destroyed.”
As this particular technology continues to advance, more and more it’s becoming abundantly clear that the creators behind A.I. are trying their hand at playing God (as is the risk with a lot of technology)—in this case, going so far as to say that you, O man, can even sin against their creation. “To be clear, Anthropic has not yet officially declared that Claude is conscious. Rather, it has operated on a sort of Pascal’s Wager: Because AI might eventually gain consciousness as technology improves, it is better to err on the side of caution by treating it like a person. However, this argument is loaded with an assumption that Christians ought to challenge.”
“Every time I’d go to visit with him, I’d have to introduce myself. And then five minutes later, I’d be a stranger to him again. He didn’t have the mental capacity to remember me or any other family members. For a long while, he still knew about his God and Saviour, but eventually that went too. He became a shell of a man. Throughout his life up to then, he’d been a professing Christian, but now he couldn’t tell you anything about his faith or the Saviour. When he died, was he lost? No, because even if you lose your grip on Christ due to illness or some other circumstance, he’ll never lose his grip on you.”
“Marriage is a gift of God and a great blessing. ‘He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD’ (Prov. 18:22). One of the chief blessings of marriage is sexual intimacy. The Bible has an overwhelmingly positive view of sex. It is not something naughty, dirty, sinful, or wrong. It is a good gift of God, meant to be celebrated and enjoyed—only within the confines of marriage.”
In the spirit of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Jerry Dorris encourages us to preach to our hearts rather than indulge our itching ears with everything our hearts may have to say to us.
—Flashback Friday—
(October 16th, 2026)
In my opinion, this is among the best articles I have written—and if not the best, certainly one of the most ‘me’. “I fully realize that not everyone had a great childhood, or even a good one. While there is a difference between good and great, I sense that the gulf existing between good and bad is far wider and more treacherous. Perhaps your childhood is marked not by the light of a setting sun, but rather by storm clouds, sleet, and many dark nights.”
Photo by Leonhard Niederwimmer, Unsplash
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