2009-01-09

Here's John Piper making a snow angel. Literally. Friday Funnies

Michael Horton summarizes the destructive legacy and theology of the heretic Charles Finney, who is tragically lauded by today's evangelicals. "Not only did the revivalist abandon the doctrine of justification, making him a renegade against evangelical Christianity; he repudiated doctrines, such as original sin and the substitutionary atonement, that have been embraced by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. Therefore, Finney is not merely an Arminian’, but a Pelagian. He is not only an enemy of evangelical Protestantism, but of historic Christianity of the broadest sort." http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar81.htm

White comments on the next round in the debate on the New Perspective on Paul, with the release of NT Wright's book: "My main concern is simple: due to the continued degradation of evangelicalism's view of Scripture---reflected not only in the hallowed halls of academia, but in the pews of the "mega churches" that have slopped some religion on unrepentant sinners and assured them of heaven, leaving their reprobate worldview unchallenged and intact---this controversy will produce more and more who are called "Christians" who have a severely deformed view of the nature of justification. This controversy is not really exegetical, per se. Though that is the realm in which the proponents of the New Perspectives are placing it, we must keep a few things in mind. This viewpoint did not arise from a sound, believing view of Scripture. It came from liberalism, and at its heart is a severe restriction of the Pauline corpus." Get Ready to Rumble in 2009

White comments briefly on the variant in Hebrews 2:9, relevant to his upcoming debate with Ehrman, who, "in his earlier work, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, he speaks of the external sources that support the reading "without God" (χωρις θεου) over against the reading of the vast majority of manuscripts and sources, "by the grace of God" (χάριτι θεοῦ)." "In any case, all we can glean from the references Ehrman himself provides is that Origen knew of the variant in the third century. The idea that it was a majority reading at that time is not substantiated by the references he offers, and there is good reason to think otherwise, given that the reading simply disappears from the manuscript tradition outside of two 10th century witnesses. It is hard to imagine a scenario, especially in Alexandria, where we have the greatest papyri witness (P⁴⁶ contains this text and reads "by the grace of God"), where a majority reading could simply disappear, only to be found in a 10th century manuscript.". Many Thanks

Desiring God has partnered with All Nations Ministries with the aim of evangelizing Liberia. Resources for Liberia

Mohler brings up the atheist advertising campaign on buses in the UK - "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Mohler says two things of note: 1) The word 'probably' indicates the intellectual vacuity of the atheist arguments, and 2) This almost looks like a joke performed by theists on atheists! http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3075

Mohler briefly explains the capitulation of politicians, who were formerly adamantly pro-life according to the record (e.g. Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson), who abandoned this position in favour of votes. Ted Kennedy even met with theologians to construct an argument wherein a Romanist could in good conscience vote pro-abortion. Indeed, theologians will always be here to twist the truth, and politicians will jump on these deceptions for money and power. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3083

On the same note, JT adds: "Last week sociologist Anne Hendershott wrote in the WSJ on "How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma." In it she recounts: "At a meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., on a hot summer day in 1964, the Kennedy family and its advisers and allies were coached by leading theologians and Catholic college professors on how to accept and promote abortion with a 'clear conscience.'"" How Support for Abortion Became Kennedy Dogma

Challies (9)) points to this disturbing trend: "Adult Women Play House  "Many people like to stop and play with newborn babies, but now some adult women are playing house with fake babies. Some women are even going as far as taking day trips with the fake babies to the park, out to eat, and even hosting birthday parties for them.""

JT: This article discusses the history of stem cell politics. "We have learned something over these years: When science looks like politics, that’s because it is." Scientists encouraged and allowed politicians to use stem cells as a plank in the war the fight against religion, for abortion, etc. "the science of stem-cell research became susceptible to the easy lie and the useful exaggeration. A little shading of truth, a little twisting of facts yes, the politics corrupted the science, but the scientists willingly aided the corruption." Stem Cells- A Political History

JT: Here is a list of books that form the foundation for building an exegetical library. Building a New Testament Exegesis Library

JT points to some suggestions by Jared Wilson on battling doubt. Some include, doubt yourself, not Christ, and hurl yourself at Christ (by prayer). Battling Doubt

JT points to Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll, which is now available. Here's the table of contents: "1. What Is the Christian Life? 2. What Is a Christian Church?  3. Who Is Supposed to Lead a Church? 4. Why Is Preaching Important? 5. What Are Baptism and Communion? 6. How Can a Church Be Unified? 7. What Is Church Discipline? 8. How Is Love Expressed in a Church? 9. What Is a Missional Church? 10. What Is a Multi-Campus Church? 11. How Can a Church Utilize Technology? 12 How Could the Church Help Transform the World? Appendix: Sample Church Membership Covenant" Vintage Church Now Available

53 years ago Jim Elliot was killed in the mission field in Ecuador. "Justin Childers posts some of his favorite quotes from Elliot--including the famous line, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" (penned in a personal journal on Oct. 28, 1949)." Jim Elliot

Janelle of girltalk recalls some advice from Piper on how to read: "“Suppose you read slowly like I do--maybe about the same speed that you speak--200 words a minute. If you read fifteen minutes a day for one year (say just before supper, or just before bed), you will read 5,475 minutes in the year. Multiply that by 200 words a minute, and you get 1,095,000 words that you would read in a year. Now an average serious book might have about 360 words per page. So you would have read 3,041 pages in one year. That’s ten very substantial books. All in fifteen minutes a day.”(When I Don't Desire God, p. 129)" Growing in Reading

Rising early - girltalk exhorts people to join the 5:00 AM club [I'm going to settle for the 6:00 am club]. Growing in Rising Early

From Michael Bird: "Student: 'Professor, what happens at the Rapture?' Liberal Professor: 'Well, at the Rapture you walk up to your window, look outside, see people floating up into the sky, and then you should say to yourself, "Well, I'll be damned!"' " What is the Rapture-

Bird points to a bunch of posts on the Lord's Supper. He adds, "I tend to think that a church pot-luck dinner with a few prayers and hymns sung at the same time is far closer to what the early church did re: the Lord's Supper, as opposed to current practices involving a 5 minute guilt-trip sermonette, a crumb of bread, and a drop of sour grape juice. Rob Jewett wrote: "The purely symbolic meal of modern Christianity, restricted to a bit of bread and a sip of wine or juice, is tacitly presupposed for the early church, an assumption so preposterous that it is never articulated or acknowledged."[1] Bo Reicke showed that the early Eucharistic meals took in the context of a common meal shared by a broad stream of early Christianity through the fourth century (see Jude 12, Ign. Smyr. 8.2 on “love feasts”) [2]." The Lord's Supper

Haykin points out that "blogging is too ephemeral a medium to make it the basis of lasting, influential history writing." Why blogging cannot be the basis of lasting historical reflection

Calvin on being a Christian: “Grant, almighty God, since you have won us by the precious blood of your Son, that we may not be our own masters but devoted to you in steadfast obedience, so that we may set our minds on consecrating ourselves entirely to you and so to offer body and soul in sacrifice that we are prepared to encounter a hundred deaths rather than defect from the true and sincere worship of your Godhead…” Being a Christian according to Calvin

JT points to Klusendorf's response to Phil Johnson's response to his original post on a both/and strategry (politics and Gospel with respect to abortion). Conversation on the Gospel, Abortion, and Politics

JT points to an interesting looking book: "Joe Carter and John Coleman's new book is now available: How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator." How to Argue Like Jesus

Now this caught my eye: Bird quotes Gundry with respect to whether John was sectarian: ""John paints the world in very dark colors. It is full of darkness Those human beings who make up the world are children of darkness. They do not belong to the light. They do not comprehend the light. Their deeds are evil. They do not acknowledge God, God's Son Jesus, or God's children, who believe in him and in Jesus. Moreover, they hate God, God's Son, and God's children. They murdered God's Son, rejoiced over his death, and excommunicate and kill God's children as well. Satan dominates worldlings. He is their father. God loved the world; but because of their unbelief his wrath rests on them already, so that they are headed for a resurrection of judgment. And only God is said to love the world. Though John often portrays Jesus as loving those who believe in him, he never says that Jesus loved the world."" Is John's Gospel Sectarian-

Bird points to several resources on Revelation. Revelation-fest

Here's some papers on the book of Daniel and history. The historicity of Daniel

Piper on why, apart from relationship with the Son of God, there is no possibility of knowing God or relating with God. "The Father and the Son are so inseparably one in glory and essence that knowing one implies knowing the other, and loving one implies loving the other." http://www.thirstytheologian.com/2009/01/09/the_same_god.php

Haykin writes, "One of the deepest ironies of the Ancient World is that the Judaeo-Christian tradition, which has a manifest taboo about nakedity (outside of marriage), also has a deep respect for the body (it will be resurrected, for one), while Graeco-Roman paganism, which was shameless in its display of nudity, had a very low view of the worth of the body." Nakedity, corporeality and classical Christianity