2009-02-15

Hays points out that with respect to Indulgences, Rome has created a fictitious problem and a fictitious solution, which only Rome is authorized to distribute - for a price. Long before there was faith-healers, etc. we had Rome. Purgatory, Inc

Here's a quick and humourous read. Fallacy of Equivocation

Helm brings up the question - does ought imply can? Augustinians would say no. Pelagians/Arminians, and Kant, would say yes. The Arminian thus holds that a person has an obligation to believe in Christ only because he has ability to exercise faith, and the hyper Calvinist holds that a person ought not to be commanded to believe in Christ because he does not have ability to do so. To the charge that John Gill is a hyper-calvinist, Helm points out that he cites the case of a debtor who may not be able to pay his debts and yet may still have the obligation to do so. The fact that a person may become habituated to evil does not entail that he does not have an obligation to live uprightly. Nevertheless, Gill makes a distinction between obedience to the law, and the performing of spiritual and evangelical obedience. He unnaturally seems to restrict spiritual obedience to the Gospel. Ought implies can, but there are different grades of ability, and so different grades of obligation, or so Gill seems to say. He seems somewhat ambivalent, and self-contradictory. But the label hyper-calvinist is hard to pin on him, and moreover, does he offer the Gospel, and to whom? Analysis 23 - Nemo obligatur ad impossibile

Genderblog provides a short bibliography for the question, "What should girls read?" Christian mothers of young girls find themselves in a difficult spot. Many "girly" books encourage frivolity by telling silly, shallow princess stories; while others seek to empower girls to "be all they can be" -- which usually includes throwing off traditional gender roles... Girls of Character- Teaching Biblical Femininity to the Next Generation through Literature

The media has venomously gone after the True Women conference, having now finally caught on that it happened. For example: "Meanwhile, can we set up a new gender for so-called True Women, so normal women don't have to share anything in common with them?" There are myriad ironies in here; Erbe, ostensibly a feminist, employs a highly abusive tone toward the women of True Women. The very thing she would presumably decry with gusto-the verbal abuse of women-she perpetrates because, in Erbe's mind, the women of TW do not fit the narrow feminist presuppositions that compose "true womanhood." By God's grace, most women are still women, even if Erbe and others hate women with their core being. Media's Clamor Over True Woman `08 is Anti-Woman

A recent article in the Post-Crescent newspaper of Appleton, Wis., ran an article under the headline, "Raising boys and girls is not so different-but not the same." Writer Lisa Strandberg interviews Dee Savides, a licensed clinical social worker with Samaritan Counseling Center of the Fox Valley Inc., on the similarities between boys and girls... it seems to represent another subtle attempt in our culture's seemingly tireless efforts toward flattening gender distinctions, it only confirms them. An Unintentional Admission- Boys and Girls Are Different

Comparing teaching types to the food pyramid, there are three types of Christian teaching. The first is expository. Expository teaching is the kind of teaching that takes you systematically through a particular part of the Bible. The second type is doctrinal, the Bible is still very important (indeed, the best doctrinal teaching will include a few mini expositions), but in doctrinal teaching, the structure and content is driven by the doctrinal topic rather than by only one particular passage. A problem with doctrinal teaching is that it relies a great deal on the integrative skill of the teacher... the teaching doesn't have much opportunity to show the work. The third type of teaching—topical teaching—is structured around the concerns of the world and the congregation. This can be like fast-food. There is, of course, overlap. Are you maintaining a healthy diet? The healthy teaching pyramid

Turretinfan gives some commentary on Proverbs 3:11-20. i) The hard times in our lives may often be chastening. For our good. God is a loving Father, not a Father who does nothing about our missteps. Solomon simply assumes that fathers who love their children will discipline them. ii) Wisdom is more valuable than anything you can desire, and discipline leads to wisdom. And wisdom has with it all the desirable things, as accessories! iii) T-fan connects Wisdom to Christ, namely, that Jesus is the wisdom of God, based on the creation of the world through wisdom, through the Son, so that to embrace the Son is to embrace wisdom. There is a double meaning. Proverbs 3-11-20

The final reason to pray if God is sovereign: God has ordained prayer as a means by which He accomplishes His eternal purposes. “the same God who has decreed the end has also decreed that His end shall be reached through His appointed means, and one of these is prayer.” [i.e. you cannot rend the decreed means from the decreed end simply because the end is decreed in the same decrees which decree the prayers! If you accept the latter, you must take with it the former, and then prayer has just as much a reality and effect as the other things, aside from prayer that tend to God's end.] e.g. God has elected certain ones to be saved, but He has also decreed that these ones shall be saved through the preaching of the Gospel. The post gives several examples of God's means being used to attain God's ends. Hence, this counters the error of fatalism. [I add that the fact that God's end is certainly going to be accomplished doesn't mean that the means aren't involved, because that end is accomplished certainly through the means, which are also certainly ordained]. God also revealed to Abimelech that Abraham would pray and successfully intercede for him. Same with Eliphaz and Job's friends. A similar scenario appears in God's promise that the Israelites will call on Him and will be delivered in Jer. 29:11-14. We should not think our prayers are aimed at changing God's decrees [as if we think He made a mistake?? or was less wise??]. But we pray in obedience, we pray because God has promised to answer prayer, and because He is able to. Why Pray if God Is Sovereign- (Part 4)

Spineless Westerners promote Dhimmitude in the U.K., as it would appear that banning discussion or debate over the Qur'an and Mohammed is under way. White makes a sober note to Muslims: Don't mistake the vacuous brand of postmodern 'christianity' for biblical Christianity. An Excellent Discussion to Watch

Here's some cheerleading, as it were, to get people to learn the original languages! Cheerleading by Miles Van Pelt

Challies provides this quote from Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the supposed antinomy between thinking versus faith, and Matthew 6:30. It is worth quoting: "Faith according to our Lord's teaching in this paragraph, is primarily thinking; and the whole trouble with a man of little faith is that he does not think. He allows circumstances to bludgeon him. ... We must spend more time in studying our Lord's lessons in observation and deduction. The Bible is full of logic, and we must never think of faith as something purely mystical. We do not just sit down in an armchair and expect marvelous things to happen to us. That is not Christian faith. Christian faith is essentially thinking. Look at the birds, think about them, draw your deductions. Look at the grass, look at the lilies of the field, consider them. ... Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else, and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. ... That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think." A Failure to Think

Challies reviews the book Tactics, which sounds like a book on how to maneuver in conversations so as to stay on a good track to witness, and not manipulate, etc. Koukl begins by looking at three basics skills the Christian will need if he wishes to be an effective apologist. First, he must have knowledge, having a familiarity with the central message of the Bible; second, he must have knowledge that is tempered by wisdom that makes his message clear and persuasive; third, he must have the character of a Christian, embodying the virtues of the kingdom he serves. For example, 'never make a statement when a question will do the job.' ie. find clever ways of exposing bad thinking to lead people to the truth. The goal isn't to immediately convert but to 'put a stone in the shoe', and to interact with grace, etc. Book Review - Tactics

Challies gives three reasons to be more open regarding your own weaknesses. First, expressing weakness is an expression of humility. Second, expressing weakness allows others to plead for me before God.Finally, when I refuse to express my weakness I refuse to give other people the opportunity to minister to me. On Being Weak

Piper points to the wickedness of bribery. Two judges have confessed to accepting 2.6 million in bribes from a youth detention centre to give kids longer sentences. This violates not only the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ, but even the law written on every heart. You can't sustain a legal system if the judges take bribes. Why not? Because "a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right" (Exodus 23:8). Thankfully God has made His own payment, not in a bribe, but in a ransom payment, for the salvation of sinners. The Wickedness of Bribery and the Hope of the Gospel

Interesting comment: "we quote from figures that lived hundreds of years ago rather than pointing to current reality.  Instead of saying, “Oh, yeah!  I’ll prove that Calvinism does not squash evangelism-look at what happened two hundred years ago buddy!”  Why don’t we instead say, “I can only tell you that I have never been more earnest, more involved, and more compassionate with souls than I am right now!”    The sad reality is that many times our critics have a point.  While Calvinism should not extinguish the fires of evangelism, the fact of that matter is that many of us who embrace the doctrines where once more passionate, more prayerful and more involved in personal witnessing when we were less “enlightened”." Let us let the truths affect us as they did William Carey. Is It Really True-

White points to the reason why the Gospel is foolishness to the perishing, and why human wisdom empties it. It has to do with the context in which God has placed the gospel: the sinful, fallen world. The gospel, in all places, at all times, calls rebel sinners, no matter what their culture, their language, their education, to repentance and obedience to His Lordship. Man will always respond to that message—and outside of grace, that response will always be negative. "Abandon the cross, atonement, forgiveness, and all you have is…worldly wisdom." Word of the Cross

Hence it is perfectly plain,that the observance of the Commandments consists not in the love of ourselves, but in the love of God and our neighbour; and that he leads the best and holiest life who as little as may be studies and lives for himself; and that none lives worse and more unrighteously than he who studies and lives only for himself, and seeks and thinks only of his own. Calvin and Your Best Life Now

Bayly points out that it doesn't seem as though those who claimed to be 'pro-life' yet supported Obama are crying out against his adamantly pro-baby-murder actions since he took office. As one Roman Catholics says, “There's something a little odd about rhetoric that tells that we're the ‘divisive’ ones, and lectures adult citizens about what we should challenge, and when we should stop. In a democracy, we get to decide that for ourselves," he said. “An issue that involves the life and death of unborn children and the subversion of entire traditional societies can't be ‘put behind us’ with an executive signature," Chaput added. Obama supporters claiming to be pro-life were never, really, opposed to abortion

Here's an open letter to African American Christians from an Reformed pastor in Africa: "Mr. Obama’s transition team has announced “that the new president will remove all restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research immediately after taking office.” Stem cells are gathered from aborted children and used for scientific research. “The Mexico City policy (which requires all groups that receive federal funds not to perform or promote abortion abroad) will disappear the first day, as well.” Why all this talk about “the first day” he takes office, “the first thing I’ll do”? It designates priority. This is what Mr. Obama is about. These are his priorities. And he was elected with the votes of Bible-believing, pro-life Christians. Many of us call this a schizophrenia of the worst kind. I’m still trying to understand it." "Please pray that Christians in America, will come to their senses and see what they have done and repent, henceforth only voting for candidates who will do all they can to support and sustain life, so that we can start the slow process of rolling back the culture of death that has engulfed America for so many years." An open letter to African brothers in Christ on the occasion of Obama's Inauguration

Interesting comment from Jay Adams: "Why wouldn’t we expect a good father, who (as Jesus said) would give his child an egg rather than a stone, to assure his children that they are truly members of His family? What cruelty to keep him dangling on a string, wondering whether or not he was a genuine child of God?" Certainty

In counseling, counselors will have to be constantly reminding people of their own responsibilities to God's laws, and to steer clear from blame-shifting, as Adam and Eve did in the garden. Tell Me About It!

David Ogden's legal defence of pornography, on the basis of calling it a form of protected speech, has made it more difficult to prosecute those who sell pictures of child molestation and rape, etc. Porn is in the culture war, and since ordinary Americans see it as a threat to the family, liberals have added its defence to their agenda. Mohler writes that "pornography is one of the most insidious dimensions of American culture today.  It is a plague that is ruining lives, marriages, and public morals.  It endangers women, children, and the most vulnerable among us.  Putting one who can only be described as an extremist for pornography in such a high position in the Department of Justice -- Deputy Attorney General of the United States -- sends a clear signal at home and around the world.  If David Ogden is confirmed, the U.S. Senate becomes a party to this disaster." http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3287

Ascol writes, "Now that the dust has settled a bit, there seems to be a consensus that there will not be any faculty at Southwestern removed on the basis of their Calvinistic soteriology." He points to three lessons: 1) The Bible's wisdom about discernment and judgment should be heeded at all times. "The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him" (Proverbs 18:17). 2) The divide over Calvinism in the SBC is significant and will not go away by pretending it is not there. Thankfully, there is a growing number within the convention who are serious about building bridges... 3) The SBC is in desperate need of leaders who refuse to put their fingers to the political winds before determining what steps to take. We need leaders who are willing to cooperate with all those who are confessionally committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and are determined to see the Gospel shape our churches and impact our world. Reflections on the dust-up over Calvinism at SWBTS

Atheism isn't really growing. http://christiancadre.blogspot.com/2009/02/atheism-by-numbers-going-nowhere-fast.html

More insanity from the environmental priests. The prophets of population doom seem unembarrassed by the failures of their prophecies.  Figures such as Paul Ehrlich warned decades ago that the world would be devoid of human life by now... The reduction of a child to a "carbon footprint" is about as twisted a formula as can be imagined.  A child is compared to the loss of "2½ acres of old-growth oak woodland." http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3235

An interesting article detailing the deficiencies in some of Ayn Rands thinking. http://maverickphilosopher.typepad.com/maverick_philosopher/2009/01/is-ayn-rand-a-good-philosopher-rand-on-the-primacy-of-existence.html

A post from a Catholic Catechism upholding partim-partim: How has divine revelation come down to us? Divine revelation has come down to us partly by writing—that is, by the Holy Scripture, or the Bible; partly by word of mouth—that is, by tradition. 11. Is it enough to believe only what is contained In the Holy Scripture? No; we must also believe Tradition—i.e., those revealed truths which the Apostles preached, but did not commit to writing.  Quotes on Tradition (partim-partim)

Challies positively reviews Haykin's book: Though Haykin has inevitably chosen letters by a process that is somewhat less than objective, he has chosen well. I very much enjoyed reading this small collection of letters and commend it to you. With Valentine's Day fast approaching, this may well be a good gift for your spouse. Read it and be blessed. Read it together and be doubly blessed. The Christian Lover

This post discusses the vacuity of the American dream. People seek happiness in everything but God. "This is the cotton candy fate of the American Dream that befalls all who embrace the cult of celebrity. From a distance it looks so appealing—a big and beautiful ball of glistening spun sugar. But those who finally get it, and taste it, find that it isn’t very filling. Sure, it is sweet for a moment. But it doesn’t bring lasting happiness. After a quick melt in the mouth it is gone forever . . . then what?" Until sinners submit to God, the acquisition of what they desire will always turn to dust. God alone is satisfying, in Christ Jesus. Let us not be the Samaritan woman, confusing physical satisfaction for spiritual life. The Emptiness of the American Dream

Speaking of video games, this post points out how they are a waste of time. Time invested in such pursuits is lost, and cannot be reused for things that matter. Hours that could be spent working, praying, reading, serving, fellowshipping, evangelizing, or just thinking, are instead wasted on activities that have no lasting value. time is precious (Ps. 90:12; cf. 39:4–5); we are not our own (1 Cor. 6); and we are to make the best use of our time. (Eph. 5:15-17). Video Games and Eternity

Interesting post on what a 'cut down' church would look like, assuming the NT church is the minimum, essential understanding of church: we could have a group of Christian people (of any size), with a qualified elder or overseer (or more than one, appointed or elected, we care not how), meeting in the name and presence of Christ in any location, at any time of day, on any day of the week, with any frequency (so long as it was regular and often), at which time they spoke and heard God's word together (through Bible reading, preaching/teaching, prophetic encouragement, etc.), and responded in prayer and thanksgiving, with the result that God is glorified in Christ and the people edified. The post asks this question: "what things do you currently regard as of the absolute essence of church—things without which you could not imagine church being ‘real church’—things that, in fact, are accidental, traditional or cultural details that could be otherwise?" This is not a real church

Jay Adams recommends empathetic disagreement, wherein the counselor acknowledges the seriousness of the situation of a counselee, but works to disavow them of dangerous beliefs (e.g. no one understands!) with biblical responses. "Yes, it is serious, but..." This is very important. To simply empathetically agree is to just wallow in the mud. “Nobody Understands”

Biblical counselors worth their salt are very much aware of their own sin or potential sin, that they see in the ones they counsel, and its potential effects upon them. What Biblical Counseling Does for the Counselor