2009-01-02

Peter Pike provides a short narrative to describe the underlying reason that pornography is attractive - because it appeals to the desire to do evil. They have a beast in them. And they long to let it out. An Underlying Reason Why Porn is Wrong

N.T. Wright has written a book articulating his position on justification and a response to critics like Piper. Wright's Response to His Critics on Justification. Michael Bird seem nothing less than ecstatic about it, and offers these spoilers: "(1) Wright wonders what Protestant theology would have been like if we read Romans and Galatians in light of Ephesians and Colossians rather than the other way around. If the Reformers were gripped by the major themes of Ephesians then perhaps there would never have been a split between Rom. 3.28 and 3.29, no marginalization of Romans 9-11, we would have a tangible rationale for linking the sola gratia of the gospel and the proleptic unity of all mankind in Christ (from Ephesians 2-3), and perhaps even modern German Lutherans would not have been so dubious about Pauline authorship of Ephesians! (2) And, what I've been harping on about myself, God's plan to deal with the root problem of sin and God's purpose to bring Jew and Gentile together are not mutually exclusive. Importantly, Wright communicates with great verve and genuine pathos that what ultimately matters for him is that we do not pursue any perspective (Wright, Old, New, or otherwise) but settle for nothing less than Paul's perspective!" Bird encourages people to take advantage of the 'iron sharpens iron' debate between Piper and Wright on this issue. N.T. Wright's Response to John Piper!!!

Hays responds to a criticism towards him that he's preemptively judgmental in figuring that women will dress to please men. Pornography and other innocent pastimes

Hays comments on mental adultery (cf. Matthew 5) "Mental adultery would either involve someone's spouse mentally seducing a single person or else a single person mentally seducing someone's spouse. Something along those lines.Most readers equate Mt 5:27-28, not only with mental adultery, but mental fornication. However, that’s broader than the OT background which informs this text." It's an interesting discussion. Sexual boundaries

Manata shows that Arminians, while admitting that the extent and meaning of "all" is contextually defined, come to the text with a priori assumptions about what God would do. "they should stop pretending that they have exegeted things like unlimited atonement from Scripture. They should do the honest thing and admit that they have certain philosophical assumptions, and so, with Wesley, they say, "I don't know what the text means, but I know it can mean that [where "that" means "Calvinism"]." Arminianism Unveiled. This is a followup to his post here, where Manata demonstrates that Scripture obviously uses "everyone" and "all" and "whole world" without a universal every-single-person connotation, which means that the Arminian "Calvinists deny the plain meaning of the text when it says 'all'" removes the Arminians from rational discussion. All Means All, Except When It Doesn't

Manata points out that it is obvious that if a moral theory is good, it should be taught. However, the relativist should probably lie about relativism and teach some other moral theory, since teaching it may result in someone doing something that the relativist thinks is immoral (ironically). Now, if the relativist decides to impose relativism, because tolerance is necessary, etc. he contradicts his own philosophy by suggesting there is a transcendent morality. For the relativist, teaching relativism is probably immoral. Hush Hush Relativism

JT has a list with summaries of various Bible reading plans. Bible Reading Plans

Joseph Bottom: "After every election, out in full howl come the voices declaring that the fight over abortion is over. And, after every election, those voices prove wrong. That’s because, in the long run, the fight will never be over until the slaughter of the unborn ceases. And it’s also because the supporters of abortion will not rest with their electoral victory. They are going to push and push until, at last, we stop them." Abortion After Obama

Turk has a parable that illuminates the right to life debate. Wanted- Actual Writers