2008-11-12

Triablogue: Don't waste your life. Here's another mention of Brit Hume, who is apparently retiring to spend more time knowing Christ. http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-not-waste-retirement.html

Apparently liberal radicals displayed their open-mindeed tolerance by assaulting a church in Michigan. http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=2963

9Marks: Reju recommends Instruments in the Redeemer's hands. http://blog.9marks.org/2008/11/counseling-book.html

StraightUp: The author recounts an experience of a surgery that was much more intensive than he was expecting, and compares this to sin. "Deeply entrenched sin can only be taken care of with a full surgical team. Dignity must be laid aside; others must be allowed into your shame. There can be no self-surgery with such sin—no way around the humiliation of exposing yourself to others in a less than flattering way. We cannot have both dignity and repentance; both self-respect and freedom. " http://blog.harvestbiblefellowship.org/?p=830

Gender Blog: As it turns out, Scot McKnight's 'that was then, this is now' hermeneutic in The Blue Parakeet is aimed at removing a 'law-book' mentality - which, of course, he then moves on to promote an extremely egalitarian view of women in ministry, complete with grammatically suspect conclusions like "Junia was an apostle." Apparently the Bible is quite influenced and limited by the patriarchal culture: "In reading the scriptures we need to recognize, says McKnight, that it was written in a patriarchal world by men, and their perspective shaped what was written, even though it was God's will at that time for men to write the scriptures." McKnight's hermeneutic is to have us take what people did, and use that as the normative grounds for dismissing what is said. For him, "the key texts for discerning whether women should have all ministry roles open to them are those which describe what women actually did in the OT and the NT." [Like I've said before said - egalitarians will argue on the one hand that the ministry of Jesus is a massive leap forward for women in ministry, that culture is being subverted, but on the other hand, that the Bible is a work limited by culture and in need of updating to fit the massive leap forward that is really in the ministry of Jesus but somehow didn't make it into the apostles writings. Right. Apparently he also thinks that "The Bible teaches an earth-centered cosmology, but we now realize through our growth in scientific knowledge that the sun is the center of the solar system" which makes me wonder how culturally influenced he is, since he can't seem to step outside of his post-enlightenment physicalism and recognize that the primary language is cultic and has no interest in physical descriptions. Liberals and radical fundamentalists both read the Bible the same way - rigid literalism. Moreover, I wonder if he would accept that the key texts for how to interpret the command not to hate your enemy is to see what people in the Bible actually did, and go and plunder and pillage our enemies?]  http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/genderblog/~3/449970823/A-Review-of-Scot-McKnight-s-The-Blue-Parakeet-Part-II

Turk picks up in Malachi. God loves Israel. But the image of a refiner's fire is that of burning up corrupt metal, and the image of a fuller's soap is a rather violent and caustic cleansing of wool. Basically, you're useless and disgusting unless cleaned up by the Messiah. And this isn't talking to America - but to Israel, and therefore to the church. http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2008/11/fullers-soap_12.html

Challies reviews Three Cups of Tea (secular book, apparently). http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/challies/XhEt/~3/450713135/three-cups-of-tea.php

Turk on what really happened in the election: "Obama was more charismatic, and it turns our that's who he is in person when he's with his wife in private as well as when he stands before throngs. McCain was a mediocre, milquetoast, uninspiring, undistinctive non-conservative." http://centuri0n.blogspot.com/2008/11/you-have-to-ask-yourself.html

JT summarizes Piper's aims in education. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BetweenTwoWorlds/~3/450846162/piper-on-aims-of-education.html

SolaPanel: Cheng looks at a new volume on Karl Barth. There is some rather crazy stuff in this post. Here's the conclusion: "The various evangelical contributors to this volume (and I haven't quoted all of them) have between them managed to cover an awful lot of ground. Casting further afield, I picked up a random quote from one reader who was hoping that this book would put an end to the occasional trench warfare between Bible-believing theologians and Karl Barth. But when you actually read this collection of essays, it seems far more likely that this book will inflame evangelical anxieties rather than quieten things down. And if the theologians who have contributed have done their job accurately and well, this is as it should be. For if they are right, Barth is a far greater danger to Christians wanting to know and trust God than other, more obviously false teachers." http://solapanel.org/article/engaging_with_barth/#When:22:00:00Z

[For those into word-faith Gospel-denying heresy] Kenneth Copeland has a study bible! http://kimriddlebarger.squarespace.com/the-latest-post/2008/11/12/a-kenneth-copeland-study-bible.html

Turretinfan: A Romanist cardinal erroneously cites another Romanist scholar - "Josse Clichtove, unable to find a copy of Books V to VII of Cyril's works, inserted instead the works of other ancient writers, without informing the reader" in providing a supposed quote that Cyril affirmed the immaculate conception of Mary. "the supposed sinlessness of Mary was not the universal consent of the ancient fathers. From everything I have seen, the universal consent of the ancient fathers that addressed the issue was that Jesus was the only human not to sin, and this was because he was no mere man, but God incarnate." http://turretinfan.blogspot.com/2008/11/imaginary-patristic-quotation-regarding.html

Phillips gives a worthwhile read with post-election thoughts. Of note: "In all those situations, in every situation, God is sovereign, wise, and good, and in full control. Ah, but we? What is our part? Passive, trusting resignation to the inevitable? Is that a godly, wise, Biblical response? Well, Paul believed all those things. When he heard about the incursion of false doctrine in Galatia, did he say "Oh well, we must simply pray and trust God"? Did he tell Titus and Timothy, "False teachers will try to infest your churches like termites — but oh well! God is sovereign! Just pray and trust and wait on God!"?" http://bibchr.blogspot.com/2008/11/election-2008-theologizing-and.html

Al Mohler gives an answer for whether it is legitimate to question God. His answer is yes and no, depending on the sense. Effectively, questions that do not impugn or assault God's character are ok, and those that do are rooted in disbelief. Bad things happen. 'Why?' is a good and acceptable question in itself if disbelief in the revealed character of God is not under it. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2742

As I have written about elsewhere, here is a tragic irony: while blacks have risen from the indignities and injustice of slavery in which their bodies were sold and consumed as property ... Barack Obama will increase the death toll among black human beings if he fulfills his promise to enact a Freedom of Choice Act. To those who say that this thinking about abortion is 'racist, the real problem is that we’ve forgotten the value of human skin in the first place. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BetweenTwoWorlds/~3/450860643/irony-of-electing-our-first-black.html

Here's a chart on three views of the OT use in the NT. http://andynaselli.com/theology/three-views-on-the-nt-use-of-the-ot

A 700 billion dollar bailout to save banks is huge - but consider the infinite cost required to save a man from his sins. http://girltalk.blogs.com/girltalk/2008/11/more-than-a-bai.html

Patton gives ten arguments for the existence of God. Some are better than others. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ParchmentAndPen/~3/450933085/

A continued discussion of the difference between aktionsart, aspect, and tense in Greek verbs. Three concluding points are given by the author: 1. Verbal aspect is viewpoint. Perfective aspect conveys an external view of an action. Imperfective aspect conveys an internal view of an action. Aspect is built into Greek verbs. 2. Time (or temporal reference) is not necessarily built into Greek verbs (though this is debated). However, each verb has a characteristic temporal ‘tendency’. 3. Aktionsart refers to what ‘actually happened’. It is not built into the verb, but is a product of the verb in context. " http://zondervan.typepad.com/koinonia/2008/11/basics-of-verbal-aspect-2-of-5-by-constantine-campbell.html

Continuing with Greek verbal aspect, the author wishes to "dispel an old myth about the aorist. The term “punctiliar aorist” is a common one, and refers to one legitimate use of the aorist. Unfortunately some scholars have mistakenly concluded that the term “punctiliar” describes the aorist tense-form in general. They think that the aorist always depicts a punctiliar, once-off, instantaneous action." ... "By understanding that the key meaning of the aorist is to express perfective aspect, we will avoid certain exegetical mistakes, like thinking that all aorists are punctiliar. I would argue that the perfective aspect of the aorist is also more important than the signalling of time."  http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/typepad/pQHu/~3/450844025/3-of-5.html

Bayly chides pastors who back down from proclaiming God's word under the pressure of losing the tax status of the church. After all, John the Baptist was beheaded. "First, confessing Christians must play hardball to protect our nation's First Amendment rights. We'll lose, but we must go down fighting. We don't live in the Roman Empire; it's our Constitution and we are its stewards... It's been a textbook fulfillment of C. S. Lewis' adage, "They'll tell you that you can have your religion in private, and then they'll make sure you're never alone."" He also commends the Roman Catholic organization of bishops for the sake of the unborn. [doesn't this commendation diminish the fact that the Romanists don't have the true Gospel and thus diminish the point of this post? ] http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BaylyblogOutOfOurMindsToo/~3/451058135/tim-wthanks-to-brian-yesterday-reading-this-update-from-the-christian-law-association-i-was-disappointed-at-how-much-cl.html

Turns out that LCD manufacturers have plead guilty to price fixing. http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/3088/283/

JT: There is a myth circulating that abortion rates rose under Bush. Once again, pro-abortionists don't even agree with it. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BetweenTwoWorlds/~3/451107179/abortion-rates-under-clinton-and-bush.html

People are comparing Obama to Lincoln, and patting themselves on the back for electing a black man. "Such comparisons are great theater, but sheer hypocrisy. Barack Obama is the leader of the bloodshed consuming our land and we all pat ourselves on our backs congratulating one another over our nation's great strides against racism? What is the injustice of racism compared to the slaughter of tens of millions of little babies?" Bayly gives a hypothetical speech for Obama here that is modeled after Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BaylyblogOutOfOurMindsToo/~3/451156090/two-lanky-lawyers-from-illinois.html

An animal suffering is not a man suffering. http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2008/11/inept-mental-moves.html