2008-11-29

Engwer provides a host of resources on the reliability of the infancy narratives. Here are some excerpts: "Critics who cite sources like Josephus and Tacitus against the infancy narratives, such as when discussing the Slaughter of the Innocents or Luke's census, shouldn't then argue that reliable information about such issues wouldn't have been preserved as late as the time of the gospels. If reliable information wasn't available at that time, then Josephus and Tacitus didn't have it either." ... "An argument that Matthew and Luke are inconsistent, if granted, doesn't give us reason to reject both accounts or even everything in one account. The argument from inconsistency only goes so far." ... "The early enemies of Christianity corroborated some of the evidence for the infancy narratives that modern critics argue against, such as the authorship attributions of the gospels [e.g. Jesus' birth in Bethlehem]" Christmas Resources

Hays comments on the nature of guilt. "for a normal adult not to know the difference between right and wrong is culpable rather than exculpatory. A normal adult is supposed to know the difference. So, not knowing the difference between good and evil is, itself, evil." "even if, for the sake of argument, we say the unbeliever’s evidence for God is merely probable rather than conclusive, an unbeliever is still culpable if he responds unreasonably in the face of the available evidence." The unbeliever is culpable for a variety of reasons. Probability & culpability

An interesting email correspondence by Hays regarding government/politics and the role of layman Christians. He points out that Horton's 2K theology doesn't provide specific guidance as to what social conduct the state should prescribe. Some excerpts: "I’m not saying the Bible has all the answers. Scripture gives us a combination of general norms and specific illustrations. We can get a lot of moral mileage out of that if we try. But Scripture is silent on some issues. That’s fine. That’s a point of liberty. There can be more than one acceptable course of action in a given situation. My problem is when Scripture isn’t consulted for the answers it has." "I’m not impressed by unbelievers who accuse Christians of hypocrisy when said unbelievers don’t know the first thing about Christian ethics. Their ignorant standards need to be challenged, not appeased." "It’s not as if all our hopes are vested in one man. ... We use him until he runs out of gas. Then we thumb down another vehicle to take us on the next leg of the journey. We’re political hitchhikers." "The GOP is a temporary vehicle. Conservative Christians generally vote Republican for the simple reason that Republican candidates are generally more sympathetic to our agenda while Democrats are generally antagonistic to our agenda." "If some people choose to attack Christianity via Bush, they’re entitled to be stupid, but that’s their problem, not mine." Church, state, and fate

Turk: People may "believe" global warming, but they aren't biting on the solutions. AHA!: "Less than half of those surveyed, or 47 per cent, said they were prepared to make personal lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions, down from 58 per cent last year. Only 37 per cent said they were willing to spend "extra time" on the effort, an eight-point drop. And only one in five respondents - or 20 per cent - said they'd spend extra money to reduce climate change. That's down from 28 per cent a year ago. The Canadian results, from a poll of 1,000 respondents"

White comments on a testimony of one who claims that he was a former Calvinist and saved out of Calvinism. [During a clip from the conference, at about minute 12:00, it is ironically said that the John 3:16 conference isn't about ad hominem, and yet White is called a hypercalvinist there] http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=3000

Bayly: "Few times in salvation history have the people of God cultivated such a highly sophisticated ability to worship the God of justice and truth while living in the midst of unjust, oppressive bloodshed. Typical of cities around our nation, here in Bloomington approximately one out of every five children conceived in their mother's womb is slaughtered." Oh, and apparently killing babies is profitable - Planned Parenthood made a good 37 million profit on top of 66 million in expenses. Abortion- Here am I, send me