2008-11-10

Dan Phillips writes about the toil and joy of preaching, followed by the post-sermon let-down [his paradoxical struggle is much like my own in the studies]. Only, with him, he won't have a chance to preach again for a while. And he needs to do it. "I just did the vocational activity in the category that uses me the most and gives me the most joy... and I've got nothing to look forward to." [Dan - move to Calgary!] http://bibchr.blogspot.com/2008/11/unnngh-post-contio-depression.html

Phil Johnson's point about politics and the church is what the church corporately should be doing with her time, not what individuals involved in politics may vocationally and avocationally do with their time. e.g. "I object to pastors who use their pulpits to organize voters rather than teach the Bible and proclaim the gospel."  The ultimate long-term answer to moral problems isn't law, but Gospel. The Gospel is what ministers ought to be known for. "It's really pretty hard to think of evangelical organizations or church leaders who are deeply involved in political causes and who are also known for being clear and uncompromising heralds of gospel truth." It is always good to tell people to do what is right (e.g. fundamental morals under the laws). But once pursuaded, the obligation is to tell these people the Good News of Christ, not focus our efforst on legislative remedies. http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2008/11/evangelical-politics-few-more-thoughts.html

Triablogue: This post examines the foundation of conservative thought. We might be tempted to think human rights, but "at its root, Conservativism is based not in human rights but upon theistic principals. And lest someone quibble, this is the actual reason given by the Fathers themselves." "So we see that our rights come, not from the whim of any man, but because we are endowed with them by our Creator. Furthermore, we see that Government is established “to secure these rights.” That is its primary purpose." He then goes on to argue that atheism cannot provide this foundation, that is, for human rights. 1. Intellect isn't a basis for human rights, since we know dumber people don't intrinsically have less rights. 2. Majority or consent of the people doesn't work (e.g. Nazi Germany and the Jews). "Human rights require a transcendent truth. They require objective truth that all men are, as part of their very being, deserving of specific rights. These rights cannot arise from nature alone. Evolution cannot explain how these rights got there, for man is but one evolutionary branch of billions. " Human rights come on account of our being, our ontology. "With this in mind, we can sum up the basic Conservative ideology. Man has been endowed with the rights of Life, Liberty, and property (understood as the pursuit of happiness). These rights are God-given rights, not Government-granted rights. As such, any Government that would deprive anyone of those rights without proper justification is an unjust Government." Read on if you're interested. http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/11/foundation-of-conservative-thought.html

Turk: Perspective on race in America. http://centuri0n.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-fight.html

Turk: Here's a PDF of the timeline of the OT (with caveats). http://centuri0n.blogspot.com/2008/11/in-case-you-ever-need-it.html

Challies recommends "A good article from WSJ. "Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty -- a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House."" Also "The Washington Post basically admits to what we already knew--they leaned heavily towards Obama. Sometimes, I guess, it's easiest to sin now and ask forgiveness later... "
http://www.challies.com/sideblog/archives/2008/11/a_la_carte_119_2.php

Challies lists the things he misses about cable TV: "<empty space here>" http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/challies/XhEt/~3/447522048/things-i-miss-about-cable-tv.php

Challies reviews Mahaney et. al. book on worldliness. "He biblically defines worldliness saying that this world we're not supposed to love is "the organized system of human civilization that is actively hostile to God and alienated from God." Worldliness is a love for this fallen world and, specifically, "to gratify and exalt oneself to the exclusion of God." Mahaney is careful to point out that worldliness is not extrinsic to us but intrinsic, inhabiting our fallen hearts. Worldliness does not consist of outward actions (though such actions can certainly be evidence of worldliness) but instead is a heart attitude that rebels against God." ... "Bob Kauflin takes on the subject of music, beginning with the fact that music was God's idea long before it crossed the mind of any human. He states that "listening to music without discernment and godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world.""  Challies basically concludes, however, that the book is a bit hodge-podge and shallow, considering the contributors. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/challies/XhEt/~3/448403239/book-review---worldliness-by-cj-mahaney.php

Mathis at DG gives a timeline of Luther's life here. http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1487_Thank_God_for_Martin_Luther/

Mohler on ABC World News Tonight. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2725

Noel Piper writes about her Grandmother and a lesson she learned from her: "Though Satan is never stronger than Jesus, he may seem stronger when we become weaker. When we are weak and sick and old, we may be the most vulnerable of any other time in our lives." In light of this, hold fast to the promises of Jesus Christ. http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1486_A_Giant_In_My_Life/

We look for comfort in many places. But in Isaiah 40, the comfort for the people of God was the proven promises in His Word. Later, Paul writes to comfort the Corinthians - and this comfort was the fulfillment of the promises of God based on the suffering of the Suffering Servant. We must remember that our ultimate comfort is not in the things of the world which whither and fade. We will find joy in suffering in the promises of God even when all the worldly comforts are gone.  http://solapanel.org/article/comfort_in_good_times_and_bad/#When:22:00:00Z

Brit Hume, a Washington managing editor at Fox News is retiring, and it will translate into more Bible Study. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BetweenTwoWorlds/~3/448589580/brit-hume.html

Some things happening in Congo and Rwanda. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BaylyblogOutOfOurMindsToo/~3/448555185/pray-for-congo-and-rwanda.html

Tom Schreiner reviews Scot McKnight's book The Blue Parakeet on Gender Blog. This is not so much a review, as it is a summary of McKnight's 'missional living' hermeneutic. McKnight apparently argues for a 'that was then, this is now' hermeneutic, and seems to have a disdain for systematic understandings of Scripture, or at least the notion that one might 'master' the Bible in so doing. McKnight wants all passages to be read in the context of the 'story' of the Bible. He is apparently trying to answer the question, why don't we do everything the Bible says? [I'm not quite sure what to make of this from this blog alone - some is good, some is bad] http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/genderblog/~3/448820318/A-Review-of-McKnight-s-The-Blue-Parakeet-Part-I

Turns out there are literal violent fights between Eastern Orthodox monks. Seems like the 'disunity' of 'sola scriptura' isn't looking so bad now. http://turretinfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/eastern-orthodox-monks-again.html

Turretinfan favours a 'five kingdom' theonomy (contra 'two kingdom'): " In our church, we should look to God's Word regarding the elders, the deacons, and the brethren; In our state, we should look to God's Word regarding the king; In our workplace, we should look to God's Word regarding the masters and the servants; In our marriage, we should look to God's Word regarding the husband and the wife; and In the family, we should look to God's Word regarding the parents and the children." The Word governs in all spheres, therefore, not just those considered 'religious.' http://turretinfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/five-kingdoms-theology.html

Read this for the insanity of Dawkin's like God-hater responses to good parenting. http://turretinfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/ridiculous-accusations-refuted.html

P39 is for sale. If you want to give James White a nice Christmas present, it's going for only 300000 british pounds. http://evangelicaltextualcriticism.blogspot.com/2008/11/p39-for-sale-again.html

Aside from what might be a misquoting of Luther here, this post points out that in James, "The "faith in Christ" (2:1) creates a changed person, and the primary way this plays out is in how we care for others, particularly the helpless. The two halves of the chapter unite in this concern, focusing in on the triumphal cry of 2:13 that "mercy triumphs over judgment!" James does not promote harsh legalism; he seeks our transformation into the merciful character of God." http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/444368031/james-2-commentary-and-discussion-with-mariam-kamell-1.html

Craig Blomberg points to James 2, and says that it is erroneus to translate adelphoi as just 'brothers' (not brothers and sisters) just because one thinks that teachers are only supposed to men. "(1) We know that the first Christian generation did not have female teachers. (2) Including “sisters” as part of the translation of James 3:1 suggests that they did. Therefore, (3) translations such as the four mentioned above are seriously in error at this point and should be shunned." [I sincerely hope this isn't an actual attempt to represent complementarianism, or it is one of the most brutal straw men I have ever seen. Complementarians have no problem with this passage being 'brothers and sisters' since women are to teach women!] Blomberg then spends his time talking about this [mythical] position. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/445679744/james-3brothers-and-sisters-as-teachers-commentary-and-discussion-with-craig-blomberg.html

Walton argues from the Hebrew stem that the prohibition on remarriage in the Mosaic law is predicated on a husband remarrying a wife that he had divorced, not on account of immorality, but ritual uncleanliness, such as perpetual bleeding. "Though her condition would not be her fault, the divorce by her husband would make this humiliating situation public knowledge. Yet, it is not so bad that another husband was not willing to take her in—an important aspect of the legislation." ... "the first husband’s divorce action had exposed her condition. Since he was the one who had forced her to publically declare herself unclean, he is not allowed to marry her again. This has nothing to do with any moral behavior of the woman (she is not restricted), and has nothing to do with the second marriage (that was only in the legislation to demonstrate that someone else could live with it, implying the first husband’s hardheartedness)." http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/445825000/hebrew-corner-11-divorce-deut-241-4-by-john-h-walton.html

Bill Mounce talks about a difficulty in Philippians 1:6, where the promise, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" is directly at the group (i.e. it is plural), so it may be difficult to apply to individuals. But he points out that God's work is completed in the group through individuals. "I have to conclude that while God was at work in the life of the Philippian church, ultimately Paul’s confidence was in God’s ability to complete what he initiated in the lives of the individual believers who made up the Philippian church."  http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/448408196/a-good-work-among-youphilippians-16-monday-with-mounce-14-by-bill-mounce.html

First part of a discussion on Greek verbal aspect. "The simplest definition of verbal aspect is viewpoint. An author or speaker views an action from the outside or from the inside. The view from the outside is called perfective aspect, while the view from the inside is called imperfective aspect." "Verbal aspect represents a subjective choice. An author chooses which aspect to use when portraying a particular action." The author argues that this has important bearing on conclusions drawn from verbs in the NT commentaries. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/448318238/the-basics-of-verbal-aspect-1-of-5-by-constantine-campbell.html

Bird quotes FF Bruce on the bounds of evangelical scholarship. He asks, "can one accept a certain view of the gospel and a certain view of biblical criticism (e.g. dating the final form of Daniel in the second century BCE or regard 2 Peter as a post-Petrine writing) and remain an evangelical?" and then suggests that Bruce is saying that one can have sufficient confidence in the Gospel not to have the veracity of God's revelation collapse if some critical source scholarship is true. http://euangelizomai.blogspot.com/2008/11/ff-bruce-on-boundaries-of-evangelical.html

Bird says: "Part of me thinks that Paul and the apostles would not care less about but Nero being married to two of his male slaves, so why should we? But there again it does affect the cultural context in which marriage is described and defined and so impacts all of us in a way. What is more, religious liberty could be eroded if religious and para-religious organisations were legally penalized for not recognizing gay marriages." He offers a video. http://euangelizomai.blogspot.com/2008/11/proposition-8.html

9Marks: Gilbert looks for ballast in an elder (pastoral maturity and confidence). On this note, these qualities are good. 1. Has a Compelling Command of Scripture. 2. You're not overly complex in your teaching, but able to apply Scripture helpfully. 3. Has Learned to Keep Things in Good Perspective. 4. Knows Largely Where He Stands. http://blog.9marks.org/2008/11/what-were-looki.html Racism is something else... http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/11/springtime-for-hitler.html

Bird has some interesting comments on a debate between John Lennox and Richard Dawkins. On a chilling note, "This brings me back to Lennox's genuine fear of Dawkins' atheism, that it is not simply leading us to a secular society with tolerance and libertarian ethics without religion, but it is leading us to Nietzsche's madman where might makes right in the absence of God, where weakness and vulnerability are eradicated in the name of progress." http://euangelizomai.blogspot.com/2008/11/debates-with-dawkins.html

A stunningly rude yet pointedly accurate antidote to grumbling about things in church that don't suit your tastes. "It's not about you, stupid!" "It really is the height of idiocy to think that church is about me and my needs and my family and my satisfaction." http://solapanel.org/article/the_five_word_antidote_to_grumbling/#When:22:00:00Z

Swan discusses and provides the context for a Luther citation by Romanists to the effect that the reprobate should rejoice in their damnation. It seems to be more along the lines of, (to put it crassly) if you fear yourself damned, rejoice, because the reprobate don't have such fears, and turn to Christ. http://beggarsallreformation.blogspot.com/2008/11/ineffable-joy-of-predestination-to-hell.html

Paul Manata has to repeat himself again because Moore does not follow the argument. Of note, he does add some commentary on Exodus 21. Aside from pointing out that the Law appears to have in view a live, premature birth, based on the language, he "[quotes Archer] What is required is that if there should be an injury either to the mother or to her children, the injury shall be avenged by a like injury to the assailant. If it involves the life (ne-pes’) of the premature baby, then the assailant shall pay for it with his life. There is no second-class status attached to the fetus under this rule" http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/11/zach-needs-moore-clothes-tale-of-pro.html

9Marks blogger Deepak Reju recommends a counseling book, How People Change, which also comes recommended by Mark Dever. http://blog.9marks.org/2008/11/weve-made-a-big.html

An interview with the author of the book of Womanly Dominion. http://reformedbaptistfellowship.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/womanly-dominion-more-than-a-gentle-and-quiet-spirit/

Challies gives some concluding thoughts on Compassion's work in the DR: "I came to Dominican Republic on something of a fact-finding mission. I do not sponsor a child. I've thought about it many times, but have never had confidence that Compassion is what they claim to be. But having seen it in action, I now have no doubts. I'm willing to stake my reputation on it. When I get home we will be visiting the web site as a family to choose at least one child to sponsor. Frankly, I'd like to have each of my kids sponsor one child (though I still need to talk this over with Aileen!). Compassion is all that they claim to be--more even. They were true to their word and allowed me to open every filing cabinet, look behind every door, and so on." http://www.challies.com/archives/dominican-republic/dominican-republic---ordinary-superheroes.php

Challies writes some random thoughts about the DR, such as the seeming dual industry of tourism and prostitution, the rampant presence of American pop culture, and this gem: "I was amazed also at the pervasiveness of the cellular telephone. Several times we were sitting with or talking with the poorest of the poor, people who barely had the means to feed themselves. And then the silence would be punctuated by the "Nokia" ring tone. I'll grant that cell phones are far cheaper here than they are in Canada (or even the US) while land lines are rare and unreliable, but it was still a surprise to be sitting in what was little more than a slum and to see a nice new cell phone in a person's hand." http://www.challies.com/archives/dominican-republic/dominican-republic---random-reflections.php

James targets the intrinsic pride in thinking that your life is under your own control, such that you can say you will do this and that - and exhorts people to instead humbly acknowledge that God is sovereign over all creation. http://zondervan.typepad.com/koinonia/2008/11/business-under-god-insights-from-jas-4--mariam-kamell--my-father-was-a-coptic-egyptian-who-immigrated-to-the-us-when-he-wa.html

CotW reflects on the Darwinian underpinnings in Russian "biologist Ilia Ivanov’s attempts to create an ape-human hybrid in the 1920s." http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/6094/

CotW offers an interview with a Christian apologist. Here's an excerpt: "How often do creation/evolution issues come up in your public speaking engagements? I am almost always asked questions about origins in open forums and debates. A sad fact is that when speaking I often find the orthodox doctrine of creation more viciously attacked in seminary contexts than in secular universities. " ... "Suggesting this is a ‘side issue’ not only reveals a lack of exposure to skeptics and seekers in our time, but a profound ignorance of the Bible and the elementary questions of philosophy. Can you imagine, Moses, Jesus, Paul, Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Pascal, Copernicus, Galileo, or even Darwin, Marx, and Freud referring to the question of origins as a ‘side issue’? " ... "When we talk about ‘allegory’ we need to consider something important. If we believe a certain passage of Scripture to be allegorical or figurative, we need to ask what earlier literal antecedent we have on which an allegorical and figurative interpretation can be based. ... Genesis is the history upon which all later figurative uses rest!" He seems to take a presuppositional approach. http://creationontheweb.com/content/view/6158/

Commenting on Matthew 13:32, the late Professor Mare wrote: "In the first place, although, the orchid seed may be the smallest, or one of the smallest plant seeds, and thus smaller than the mustard seed, it is not necessary to consider Jesus’ statement in Matthew 13:32 as containing scientific error since the class of seeds with which the mustard seed is associated is the garden herb group (lachana) which may possibly be interpreted as being the “all the seeds” category to which reference is made in the earlier part of the statement, “all” there being limited to the specific group (lachana) under consideration in the total context of the verse. Since the mustard seed probably was cultivated in Palestine in ancient times, for its oil, it may be argued that Jesus, when speaking of this type of seed, was talking about it in a comparison with all those seeds which were planted by farmers for food. Since panton is used with the lachana group in the parallel passage in Mark 4:31, it may be further argued that the panton ton spermaton group in both Matthew 13:32 and Mark 4:31 is intended to mean only the lachana species, the “all the garden herb” group. In this limited context of garden herbs then, Jesus speaks of the mustard seed as extremely small." ... "Secondly, that the expression comparing smallness with the size of mustard seed was a common Jewish saying argues for the fact that scientific literalness and preciseness need not be pressed upon it, it being able to be understood then, as men certainly understand it now, as a general and popular expression of smallness." http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2008/11/10/contradictions-seeds-of-dissent

White addresses Muslim argumentation against the deity of Christ. http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=2870