2009-06-30

Here’s a letter at True Women to pastor’s wives: The main role is to support her husband: Watch out for him, give him honest and helpful feedback, and stand with him when times are tough. Never gossip. Grow a thick skin. And be careful what you read concerning pastor’s wives. http://www.truewoman.com/?id=732

DeYoung posts an excerpt he contributed to the book, Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion, to the effect that there are volumes of those books dissatisfied with the ‘institutional’ church for this and that reason, which instead advocate ‘we want God, not an institution’ manta and ‘spirituality’ instead of ‘religion’, employing pejoratives and architectural putdowns. If decapitation is cutting off the head, this is decorpulation – cutting off the body. Mad-Libbing Church Angst

Turk continues with a followup to iMonk’s post in their debate over Driscoll and whether he should repent publically. Turk begins by talking about Pelagius – learned in theology, and the common culture, not a cleric, well known in his home town for his public life and persuasive speech. While referred to by leaders as a saintly man, he was later accused of lying about his own teachings, and he was a heretic. Now, Driscoll is in the right camp on the Gospel. Now, Turk compares refuting Pelagius to going after Driscoll in terms of congregationalism – should Augustine have remained silent? If being Congregationalist means that it is solely the duty of the elders of the local church to rebuke, then MD needs to stay home. MD doesn’t need any more elders, and neither do the churches he goes to, yet he goes out and teaches. And elders have the same responsibility that they began with: raise up disciples and protect them from error. Turk responds to these objections: i) you should go to Driscoll in private. MacArthur and Johnson tried with no results. ii) TO “Are you really criticizing a sin, or is this just a difference in ministry approach?” and ‘yer a crude watchblogger’, Turk challenges people to say out loud, and judge for themselves, “According to the Bible’s standard for Christian behavior, anyone should be allowed to make jokes about masturbation in public without any shame.” Also, try this: “The objective of Christian sanctification is that we should strive toward becoming ashamed of things which we do which the Bible does not define as sin.” “those people who are elders, or teachers with a spiritual responsibility to those to whom they are given, have an obligation locally to speak to the errors which come into their churches. That includes the errors which look like a failure to repent.” Right to Rebuke- (2)

Engwer shares some thoughts on the Mark Sanford story (possible GOP nominee for the white house having an affair). i) Engwer points out an anecdote from a man formerly involved in politics that perhaps half those in politics are involved in adultery at some point, and this appears to be because they travel a lot, they’re away from family a lot, and they are the sort who will ‘beg for money’ – the people willing to do what politicians do to get (re)elected would be more likely to get involved in adultery. ii) While we must acknowledge our capability to do such sin, we must also be realistic about our potential to avoid it, and there are sins are more common and more destructive, so we should keep things in right proportion. But God is more enjoyable and more powerful than all sin.  Some Comments On The Mark Sanford Story

MacArthur writes on "Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered" (1 Peter 3:7). Wives must submit to their husbands as leaders, and men must submit to their in fulfilling the loving duty of being sensitive to her needs, fears, and feelings: He must subordinate his needs to  hers, be considerate (understand her needs), be chivalrous (women are weaker physically and emotionally, and men should protect them), and be a companion (live life with her). These aren’t suggestions. An Understanding Way

As an indication of how ‘scientific’ modern thinking on origins is becoming, here is an an example from a leading scientific publication that makes the debate a choice between a benevolent designer and the multiverse [has anyone noticed that more than one universe is harder to explain than one universe?? If the probability of one happening is so astronomically small, isn’t an infinite number infinitely impossible? This merely backs the problem up and makes it worse!!] It’s a non-answer way of explaining away design, based on reading into quantum probabilities by assuming that the alternative happened in a parallel universe: if there were lots of other universes, with the laws of physics a little bit different in each one, then it would become probable that at least one would happen to have the properties required for intelligent observers to exist. string theory, or the theory that the universe might exist in multiple branes or dimensions, is presently completely unobservable and untestable. It’s also unfalsifiable – is this science?? http://creation.com/multiverse-theory

In discussing an engineer’s work in geology, this comment is made regarding his experiments on radiometric dating: “One ‘reliable’ method of dating involves plotting the ratios of parent and daughter isotopes on a graph. This ‘isochron’ line purportedly represents the age of the rock. Tas found that graphs of ratios of various non-radioactive elements also gave nice lines, which means that there must be causes for the lines apart from radioactive decay. This means that the lines based on radioactive elements cannot be assumed to represent the age of the rock.” The engineer says that while radiometric dating is a genuine attempt to measure the age of rock, it must assume the history of the rock in order to work. When a result of the dating is off, they come up with a different result to explain it. http://creation.com/engineer-goes-back-to-school

Richard Dawkins is running a summer camp to turn kids into life-long atheists. They are doing everything possible to emulate traditional Christian/religious camps, incl. singing songs, etc. He has ‘jumped the shark’. This is another in the line of credibility damaging actions by Dawkins, with the self-parodying ‘there probably isn’t a god’ bus signs preceding this. Also, the existence of this camp in Great Britain and its sister camps in the United States indicates something of the intellectual insecurity of contemporary atheism and agnosticism. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=4071

Mounce looks at John 2:4,“What to me and to you, woman” and asks, how rude was Jesus? i) While woman/wife is not rude or abrupt in Greek, and this use can even express respect or affection, it is unusual in the case, and not normally used by a son of his mother. It is not a Hebrew or Greek expression. So also Jesus’ words in Matt 12:48 when he says, ““Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” On the cross, Jesus commits Mary to John and John to Mary: He still cared for his mother, but that relationship was not a primary one for the Son of God who came to do the work of the Son of Man. The NLT omitted the word initially, but they put it back in – this is a strength of word for word translations, whereas the NLT was inclined to drop it since, as it could be misunderstood, it was against their translation philosophy. How Rude was Jesus- (Monday with Mounce 40)

2009-06-29

This post discusses Gideon’s fleece in its ANE context. While many today even take it approvingly as a practice to be emulated, at the least it is idiomatic now as a sign from God by which He’ll reveal the course of action. i) Gideon already knew God’s will. ii) The fleece is an effort to escape that will. iii) It tests God (contra Deut. 6:16) and comes very close to divination (Deut. 18:20-22). iv) The action has much in common with ancient divination (military crisis looms, binary answer, lack of confidence in a single sign). While God’s word was clear, seeking a sign indicates a desire for a change of mind. Gideon’s actions represented a common way of thinking at the time whereby people sought to manipulate deities in order to get the information that they wanted: Though God was gracious, we should not think we can use similar things to back God into a corner. Gideon's Fleece by Daniel I. Block

Hays writes that apologetics falls into offensive and defensive categories, the former generally for the benefit of a believer, the latter directed to unbelievers. Dogmatic apologetics fails on both counts because it begs the very question at issue - “God said it” is not a way to defend the claim that “God said it,” and false prophets employ this.  we need defensive apologetics because some Christians are racked by doubts, and the very point at issue is whether God said it, so simply reasserting it is unhelpful. Appeals to objective truth fail to explain how the subject of knowledge is privy to it. There’s a difference between a statement that claims to be self-warranting, and a self-warranting claim. Clarkian rejection of sense knowledge only serves to make the gap between the object and subject of knowledge bigger. Hays gives his own position: i) Absolute certainty as a criterion for knowledge is an artificial standard, going back to the Greek deification of the human mind. Why should we accept it? Why aim for a God’s eye view of the world? ii) What’s wrong with probabilities? If God doesn’t equip us for more, than there is nothing wrong with believing something because it is probably true. iii) Certainty is a belief about a belief. Say some beliefs can rise to the level of knowledge. “As long as I’m not wrong in what I believe about God or God’s word, then certainty is a comforting accessory, but hardly a necessity.” The psychological state of certainty is not the same as knowledge, since it can be wrong. Better to have knowledge than certainty. v) We can argue transcendentally that God limits the amount of misperception/misrecollection – global skepticism, the result of having no grounding for knowledge, is self-refuting, so we can reason backward from it. Likewise we can argue that the elect are so preserved. The task of apologetics

Turk has agreed to discuss this thesis with iMonk: "Because Mark Driscoll's sins are public, made as a pastor, it is right to rebuke him in public and seek his public repentance." If a pastor sins, he must repent; Driscoll has sinned, therefore he must repent. He aims for a global influence, so this is a concern for any elder in a church influenced by Driscoll, not just a local elder. Public sins require public fruits of repentance. Turk points out that those who take issue with this because it's not explicitly mandated in Scripture don't seem to take issue with Driscoll's deployment of crude sexual jokes, imposing personal commitments to enthusiastic marital sex on the Scriptures, and so on. Eph. 5: “sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints.” In Titus 1, an elder must be blameless, and not maturing, but mature. Claiming 'rookie' for someone who's been an elder for ten years and writes books is empty. "It seems to me that the guy who gave a global exhortation in a Desiring God conference about the value of prophetic hard words has the essential pastoral moxie to get it that nobody owes him a private lunch and a sorry tone of voice when he talks like a frat boy at spring break on national television." Paul confronting Peter, the caution to would-be teachers in James, the superapostles in Corinth: those who have a spiritual responsibility to others have an obligation to address the spiritual influences on those in their charge. Right to Rebuke-

Turk: Turns out yet another report is being suppressed which undescores the hoax which is global warming. The sky has unfallen

Chan provides an excerpt by an Ian Hamilton on the reality of a life of sore providences touching our lives. Never does the Bible indicate that a Christian will be shielded from the hardships and disappointments in life, indeed, it promises persecution. Yet, Christ is with us, His Spirit indwells us, His sovereignty works all things for our good (it isn't a complex mystery to be unraveled so much as a comfort to be embraced!), every woe is planned for our refinement and betterment and for the flourishing of grace in our lives, and He will make you more than a conqueror. A servant is not greater than his master. Though we might well be perplexed, we are never in despair. Even if we are persecuted, we are never abandoned. (see 2Cor.4v8-9). The faith-shaped life

Patton comments on Spiritual formation describes a process or path to spiritual wholeness though a practice of specific disciplines including prayer, meditation, study, fasting, solitude, confession, and worship. The end goal is that the person would be more Christ-like," saying that his vehicle doesn't run on that gas, and then he lists some issues: i) Rote routines fail to account for individuality. Imposing one's own spiritual structures upon another may not be beneficial because we are different people. ii) It can set up false expectations, when after several months, the methods for spiritual formation have not attained the results the person hoped. Then, it's the prayer that's failed in the practitioners eyes, not the legalized structure! iii) It can hinder the 'erratic movement' of the Spirit ('the wind blows where it wishes') so we shouldn't impose an implied path for God to follow, and we don't know what the Spirit will do [personally I don't think you can 'hinder' the Spirit'... I think you should align your expectations (see point 2) with the reality of the 'erratic' movement of the Spirit, not fear that a sovereign God can't do something.] iv) It can be a replacement for belief, faith, trust:  Business is not belief: Belief is the foundation for the action, not the other way around. Doing stuff is easy. Believing truly is not. Why I Don’t Think to Much of “Spiritual Formation”

Challies notes Sproul's argument that man is the enemy, criminal, and debtor to the Father, who is the Creditor, Violated One, and Judge, yet Christ is the Surety, Mediator, and Substitute. The Truth of the Cross

In the midst of suffering, Christian common sense should also remind us that divine revelation is always a far more reliable barometer of reality that our personal perceptions, distorted as they are by how we think a moral and upright God is obliged to behave in this situation or that. Should we not trust God, rather than assume something is wrong with Him?? Even when God doesn't seem good, wise, or powerful, we must know that He is good, wise, and powerful. Discount Personal Feelings

Adams writes that if you aren't living out your faith, how can you expect joy in it? A Truly Blessed Life

Piper notes that the meaning of the leftovers in the feeding of the 4000 and 5000 is that God will care for His people when they are caring for others: there were twelve baskets and twelve servers one time, and seven baskets the other - the number of complete abundance. The leftovers are for the servers. The Loving Meaning of the Leftovers

Bird thinks that a unified theology of the Catholic Epistles (the Apostolos, as it was called), has been neglected compared to the Gospels and Paul's epistles, and that this would make a good thesis for some brave soul. A Theology of the Apostolos-

John Bell writes of evangelizing in the Toronto's LGBT-oriented community [LGBT stands for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender). One of his duties as an intern pastor was to coffee-shop/pub evangelize for three hours a week, which he found to be unhappy news and quite intimidating (lots of complexities - women think you're hitting on them, and men too where he lives, looking like a mormon, etc.). So he decided to evangelize in gay coffee shops, where he correctly inferred that men would want strangers to talk to them. Many of the gay men he has since talked to came out of the closet after having been married with kids. 85% have come from a Catholic background! He asks them questions, listens to them, and they love to talk and talk about 'spirituality', and when he gets a chance to talk, he tells them the Gospel, and grounds everything in the authority of Scripture, the revelation of God that applies to all people in all places. They seem to have some degree of respect in that they recognize that he genuinely cares for all of them, since he's willing to go somewhere like a fish out of water to tell them this. How many Christians actually know and act as friends to those in the LGBT community? Too few, in truth. Sharing the Gospel in the Gay Village

T-fan notes that a kabbalist rabbi took the position that the Messiah would be named Jesus. T-fan notes that Justin Martyr argues for this, and he points to a number of passages that provide support in this direction. Messiah's Name is Jesus

Payne talks about emotions and the Christian life. He contrasts what appears to be a call for a particular set of charged emotions like passionate intensity, joyous celebration, and sweet victory, with the biblical gamut of godly emotions which covers a whole spectrum that depends on a variety of circumstances and is unique to each individual. With the former, the assumption seems to be that experiencing these emotions is an indicator of, or even a path to, spiritual maturity and intimacy with God. He will argue against this in a future post, and in so doing articulate the difference between affections and emotions. Thinking about emotions

Hays points to the incongruity of a Romanist calling it a devilish lie to say that the elements of the Lord's Supper were spoken of metaphorically by Christ, on the grounds that Christ didn't say it was a metaphor, while taking the woman in Revelation 12 metaphorically for Mary, among other things, when John didn't say it was a metaphor. Devilish lies. So too with the ark as a metaphor for Mary. Raiders of the Lost Marian Ark. So too with Jesus building His church on a rock: It's incumbent on the papist to prove that Jesus used a metaphor. To say “this rock” is a metaphor for St. Peter is a lie from the devil. Our Lord never said it was a metaphor. Upon this rock

Spurgeon reminds us to permit the perspective of God on the death of His people (it is precious in His sight) to colour our grief, so we should have tears, but hopeful joy. Death, too, we may be sure from this statement cannot be any serious detriment to the believer after all; it cannot be any serious loss to a saint to die. Precious in the sight of the Lord

Thabiti recommends a book: "Entitled Glory Road: The Journey of Ten African Americans into Reformed Theology, the book is a collection of ten personal testimonies from African-American pastors recalling both their conversion to Christ and their embrace of the doctrines of grace.  I think this book has more potential for spreading and encouraging biblical truth to a predominantly African-American audience than any one I can think of. " A Book Plug by Thabiti Anyabwile

The biggest tax increase in US history has was voted on by lawmakers who didn't read it because it doesn't exist in yet in one copy. Whatever end of the spectrum you find yourself, whether left or right, this can't be a good thing. Big Bill, Unread

Bird lists five author's who have influenced him in different ways. Tagged - Five Influences

Phil Johnson has a bittersweet, sad post, with a pervasive overarching hopeful joy about it, regarding the death of a friend, who has gone to be with the Lord. At Home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5-8)

Here’s an update on Dan Wallace’s work with the CSNTM. New Testament Manuscripts- The Beat Goes On by Daniel B. Wallace

Lisa Robinson at Parchment and Pen, talks about the idea of God as a husband. She is herself a widow. She points out that while she understands the need for God to be our fulfillment, and we know God as Father, God as Provider, God as Protector, and God as Healer, God is not a substitute for a husband, in that God created the husband relationship uniquely between a man and a woman. Some point to the descriptions of God as a husband in the Bible, but this is in the covenantal context with the nation of Israel. Each relationship has a special place and should not be confused with each other. It’s not easy being alone but this isn’t the way to deal with it. God as My Husband-

JT links to Paul Copan’s new book, True for You, But Not for Me- Overcoming Objections to Christian Faith. “True for You, But Not for Me” 2.0

Swan highlights the abortion ambivalence within Roman Catholicism over abortion (i.e. liberal Catholicism, the seemingly straightforward catechism against it, and the answer of a Romanist apologist comparing Catholicism to a big family with adolescents who don’t like everything their parents think but still love them). Quotable Catholics #3- Mark Shea vs Liberal Catholicism

The Obamas apparently have a new pastor: “The Obamas' pastor will be Lieut. Carey Cash, 38 years old, the chaplain who leads the services at Camp David's Evergreen Chapel. Lieut. Cash is a conservative Southern Baptist (a graduate of SWBTS) and the great-nephew of Johnny Cash.” Pray that he would preach/minister the Word of God to them. President Obama's New Pastor (updated)

Genderblog writes that at the SBC, Akin pointed out that nearly 3.5 billion people worldwide exist with no access to the Gospel and three out of four in North America live outside of the grace of God in Christ. Many more women than men are willing to surrender their lives in missions. Akin was blunt: “You say, “Where are the men?” They are sitting at home in their boxer shorts and T-shirts playing video games—that is where the men are. The fact of the matter today is that the median age of those who are addicted to those things (video games) is 34 years old.” The blame falls largely on men. Men- Unplug Your Xbox and Plug Into Global Missions

Burk posts a sad quote from Michael Jackson on his deprived childhood. All I Really Wanted Was a Dad

Challies, commenting on The Third Reich at War, writes that “Whenever I read about Germany in the Second World War, I am amazed that so many normal people, people not unlike you and me, were involved in acts of astounding evil.” It wasn’t just those who were actively involved, but also those who, while disagreeing, lacked the will and courage to stand against the wickedness. Yet Hitler got to put a bullet in his head. Where is the justice? The due reward or punishment for an act? God must punish evil. And Jesus died for His people: We’re shocked that Jesus died in our place. See, we’re not categorically any different than those who most actively perpetrated the evils in Germany. It’s only by God’s grace that we’re not let loose to our evil. While we don’t look forward to the punishment of people with sick glee, we do look forward to justice finally being served. Death isn’t an escape from it. It’s the entrance to the courtroom where perfect justice will be dealt out. Death Is No Escape

2009-06-28

The average teen in 2008 sent/received 2272 text messages per month. Mohler writes that text messaging has been blamed for sleep deprivation, distraction in school, poor grades, and even repetitive stress injuries. Parents enable this by purchasing the contracts, and it enables a whole realm of unsupervised communication with peers. It is changing the way that kids develop, by ironically providing a way for them to rely on mom for decisions they should make themselves. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3857

Engwer writes that sometimes the church fathers are criticized in such a way that distorts the real picture, in that, while they are right on thousands of things, an error is blown out of proportion. A person can know much about one thing and less about others. Ignorance or an error in one area doesn’t mean the same in another: We must ask questions such as what interest a source has in the subject under consideration, what his standards of evidence are, and what evidence he had access to. Engwer goes on to articulate some points regarding the early church fathers and the canon. i) They had access to manuscripts that are long gone – earlier than those we have. ii) We don’t have a lot of the writings that existed then, and we’re missing a lot of the evidence used in canon discussions. iii) Early Christians were deeply concerned with evidence, and their belief system and church government were founded on fulfilled prophecy and eyewitness testimony. Apostles consisted only of eyewitnesses. iv) He points to the use of external and internal evidence by Justin Martyr, Tatian, Papias, Tertullian, and Dionysius. v) Irenaeus had access to those who were alive in apostolic times, who were widely known and travelled to teach, and thus it is absurd to think that he would have misunderstood what all of those people said or would have lied about it. Irenaeus appeals to an eyewitness of the apostle, and to lost writings, and to the historical witness of multiple apostolic churches and individuals associated with those churches who had been eyewitnesses of the apostles. vi) As to not citing sources or extending their arguments, historians of that age simply didn’t do this at any length (e.g. Tacitus, Josephus), and Demetrius wrote that "It is a slur on your hearer to tell him everything as though he were a simpleton." vii) The contrast in the knowledge of Palestinian topography between the canonical and apocryphal books, the character of the former and the banality of the latter, and so on, points to the integrity of the canonical texts. The knowledge that our New Testament contains the best sources for the history of Jesus is the most valuable knowledge that can be obtained from study of the early history of the canon. Why Trust The Canonical Judgments Of The Early Christians-

DeYoung posts an interesting point from The Praying Life. “The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn't offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet” A Praying Life

Manata points out that an argument can be sound, but not cogent. A cogent argument is accepted by your audience due to the presentation of its parts (form and content). Manata writes that patting “yourself on the back for merely announcing "the truth" to non-believer, and consoling yourself that "he'll be judged all the more for rejecting it", isn't doing apologetics” but rather the Christian should aim to make his arguments cogent, by arguing, expanding, elaborating, for and/or on one or more of the premises. (e.g. saying that God exists, and the Bible is God’s word, and the Bible says that God exists, and it can’t be wrong, isn’t cogent). Cogent Arguments

Piper has some additional thoughts on Twitter in worship. He sums up Harris’s post as, “There is a difference between communion with God and commenting on communion with God.” Don’t tweet while have sex, praying with the dying, etc: Multitasking only makes sense when none of the tasks requires heart-engaged, loving attention. Preaching and hearing are worship – expository exaltation. Great power flows through fragile wires of spiritual focus, and anything can break it. Pursue and focus upon God with all your might in worship, and then tell the world what God did. More on Not Using Twitter During Worship Services

Bird points at a statement from Liberty University that includes political conservativism, etc. in the same category as assent to the Christian worldview, which he doesn’t much like, asking what it says “about most Christians is most of the world who do not share those GOP beliefs.” Are Republican Policies Good as Gospel

JT has links to a series of posts by Sproul on God’s will and your job. Sproul- God's Will and Your Job

2009-06-27

DeYoung quotes John Newton: "If you were to send me an inventory of your pleasures, how charmingly your time runs on, and how dexterously it is divided between the coffee-houses, play-house, the card-table, and tavern, with intervals of balls, concerts, etc. I could answer that most of these I have tried and tried again, and know the utmost they can yield, and have seen enough of the rest most heartily to despise them all. Setting religion entirely out of the question, I profess I had rather be a worm to crawl upon the ground, than to bear the name of MAN upon the poor terms of whiling my life in an insipid round of such insignificant and unmanly trifles" (Letters of John Newton, 33-34). Don't Waste Your Life, John Newton Style

Abraham Piper provides a quote on preaching with utter conviction and appropriate emotion. Why Shout When Preaching

T-fan answers the charge from a Romanist that because Jesus didn’t say that his identification of his body with the bread and wine was a metaphor, that it’s a ‘lie from the devil’ to say so. i) Jesus never used the word ‘metaphor’ of any metaphors. ii) Signals that draw analogies distinguish similes from metaphors. iii) Jesus didn’t say that the cup was a figure of speech for the contents of the cup, but people recognize this by common sense. iv) T-fan points to a number of quotes from the church fathers that take this metaphorically and employ this ‘deceived’ manner of interpretation: Augustine recognizes that “I am the true vine” is a metaphor. Augustine didn't just think that "I am the living bread which came down from heaven;" in John 6 was a metaphor - he thought it was an obvious metaphor. Clement of Alexandria  said that Jesus brings distinctly by metaphor the drinkable properties of faith and the promise of the Gospel when he employs the “symbols” "Eat my flesh, and drink my blood." He expressly calls the wine a symbol of the blood. So too Chrystostom. Transubstantiation, Metaphor, and Common Sense

This post, recalling the truth that God is perfectly and infinitely happy, that He takes great joy in being the happiest being and the fountain of all joy, notes that (cf. John Frame) God has perfect self-knowledge (1 Cor. 2:10-11) unlike us. The source of God’s happiness is not merely His providence, but His self-knowledge – this is intuitive, since for the saints there is no greater joy than to know God, and increasingly so – how much more perfect knowledge of God! “there is no greater joy for anyone than to know God.” God's Happiness- Self-Knowledge

Broughton Knox’s seventh principle of prayer is that prayer must and can only be offered in the realization and acknowledgment that it is only through the work and righteousness of Jesus by which a person can have access to the throne of grace. Knox’s seven principles of prayer (Part VII- Realization)

Challies on Michael Jackson: “What a sad end to a sad life; a pathetic end to a pathetic life (by which I mean to use pathetic in its true sense as "arousing pity and sympathy). I don't know that I have ever seen, in one man, such a combination of self-love and self-loathing, shocking narcissism combined with equally shocking self-hatred.” He is the epitome of the vanity spoken of in Ecclesiastes; created by a celebrity culture which loves to see its heroes start strong and finish in shame – to create and then destroy for the culture’s enjoyment. There is no indication that Jackson knew Christ, and for this reason, it is a horrid thought to consider that this life was a mere foretaste of the consequence of sin. A Tortured Existence

The SBC in Louisville passed Russ Moore’s proposal on adoption, which aims ultimately to see thousands of SB pastors, missionaries, and leaders who started their lives as orphans now preaching the Gospel of God their Father. SBC Messengers Enthusiastically Support Moore’s Resolution on Adoption 

Phillips writes that he listened to a John Piper talk from the Resolved conference, where he said, "Sin makes you stupid." Then on Wednesday South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (GOP) admitted he'd spent his Father's Day weekend pursuing extramarital immorality. Sin makes you stupid. Oh, and “thank an Obama voter if an ACORN census taker threatens you with the law to force you to give out information — on yourself or others — that the federal government has no business whatever having (click, click, click, click). One quick, foolish choice; years of progress undone, freedoms harmed.” Hither and Tither

Gilbert writes that some have taken issue with Mohler and Southern Seminary naming a pavilion after a theological moderate who set a bad trajectory for the seminary, from which Mohler himself corrected it. This does overlook certain things, such as Duke McCall’s principled defence of civil rights against Jim Crow. Moreover, it’s sad that some have taken this as an opportunity to go after Mohler, who is acting as any good president of a Christian institution should---acknowledging the entire history of his school at its sesquicentennial, honoring its longest-serving president, and yet still maintaining firmly in his mind and in his public words the convictions that set him apart from that man. Mohler, McCall, Truth, and History by Greg Gilbert

T-fan, picking up on a post from Manata, notes that the common man's definition of "choose" is better represented by essentially the Least Common Denominator of dictionary definitions than by simply the first entry of the most popular dictionary. Many definitions have no concept of ‘possibility’ (and even those that seem to are not speaking metaphysically), but often speak of desires, etc. and selection. Common Man Argument for Libertarian Free Will (rebutted)

JT links to a list by Randy Alcorn reminding us of the horrid cost of sexual immorality as pastors. The Consequences of Sexual Immorality

Phillips briefly comments on the deaths of Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett, and then zeroes in on Michael Jackson: “He started out as a talented child in a talented family driven to success by a reportedly tyrannical father. He ended up as a bizarre, pitiable, enigmatic, repellent figure… I can't easily think of someone who less needed to degrade himself, who more eagerly seemed to invent ways to do so.” Watching Jackson over the wears is a chronicle of a man who didn’t take his pain and sin to the Cross, and instead of experiencing God’s regenerating grace attempted his own handmade makeover. Tragic and painful. This week's troika of celebrity deaths- McMahon, Fawcett, Michael Jackson

Gilber reflects on an extremely hopeful SBC this year. i) The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force is a small step, but one in the right direction, and the 95% pass indicates a very hopeful unity in its objectives. ii) He has praise for Danny Akin and Johnny Hunt. iii) The atmosphere to Reformed theology has shifted, with the idea that Calvinists could be forced out of the convention seemingly a thing of the past. Only two moments of anti-Calvinist sentiment came up. iv) the presence of 9Marks! Most Encouraging Convention I've Attended by Greg Gilbert

Burk weighs in with similar thoughts as Gilbert. He adds a thought on the constructive resolutions: “The Convention overwhelmingly approved Russell Moore’s resolution on adoption and orphan-care, and it was a poignant testimony to the gospel as Moore stood on the platform with his two sons. Also, the committee struck the right balance in its resolution about the presidency of Barack Obama. The convention, therefore, celebrated the election of the nation’s first African American President even as they reiterated their opposition to his policies on abortion and gay “marriage.”” Why there’s a buzz about the SBC Annual Meeting

Hays writes that Jackson was, simply put, overrated. Musically, he wasn’t that special. “what makes him stand out in the pantheon pop culture? I think it has more to do with a calculated effort to redefine human nature. Transhumanism. Jackson was transhuman. He denied his race. Denied his gender… a frontal assault on any residual Christian values. The futuristic face of secular humanism.” The king of pop

Phil Johnson comments on the severe trial of those who always come up right after a sermon to correct some fine point (most often irrelevant to the point of the sermon). The worst thing about it isn’t the negativity, or even the predictable negativity. It’s the clear agenda and mental self-defence mechanism at work in them to keep them from hearing the real point of the sermon and to avoid taking the preaching seriously. Now, it’s actually not bad to have someone come up and voice something that shows that he was actually listening. You can actually learn something; you can actually avoid embarrassment regarding some factual inaccuracy later, it can provide the opportunity to correct an erroneous belief, and you can clarify some muddled point. By all means, speak to the pastor: Just don’t make it a weekly habit to persistently correct some trivial detail or ride your hobbyhorse on every sermon. And don’t forget to encourage. After the Sermon

Carolyn Mahaney offers five points of advice for women who are looking at bivocation (work and homemaking) as a necessity due to tough economic times: i) Get counsel first. ii) Regularly re-evaluate your course of action. iii) Keep it simple – put unnecessary things on hold in life – think food and clothing. iv) Watch your heart – don’t let a job steal you from home. v) Trust God. A Homemaker’s Dilemma, Pt. 6

JT provides a quote on Nietzche: “from The Anti-Christ: "The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it." Spake the paralytic. The man fed with a spoon by those who loved him.” Neitzche went on, ironically: "What is more harmful than any vice—Practical sympathy for the botched and the weak—Christianity…” Thus Spoke the Man Fed by a Spoon

Here’s some excerpts from worthwhile thoughts on Jackson’s death (3/4 have been summarized on this blog in the last few days): Reflections on Jackson, Death, and the Celebrity Culture

Manata goes after T-fan’s approach to Christian apologetics (which he summarizes as, ‘God said it, so there…’). The Death of Christian Apologetics

Straight Up blog aims to tie together the typological relationship between gender roles and the image of Christ’s relationship with the church, going to Eph. 5:21-33 as the key text, which establishes a parallel between Christ and His church and marriage: human marriage exists for the sake of the heavenly marriage. Essentially Paul is saying, “Because of the spiritual relationship that exists between Christ and his church . . . therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleaves to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Christ’s posture toward the church must be represented by the husband and the church’s posture toward Christ must be the wife’s posture toward her husband. “A husband is called to self-sacrificially love his wife as an expression of Christ’s sacrificial love for the church. And a wife is called to respect and submit to her husband as an expression of the church’s respect of and submission to Christ.” Marriage is more than just finding a soul-mate or reproducing. It’s aim is to make known the glory of God in the Gospel. Gender Roles and the Image of God- Part 3

Moore continues with his advice on the ethical dilemma of the transgender convert: Should he seek to undo the gender surgery. Moore says no, on these grounds. i) The big issue is honesty. John is a man, and his gender was never reassigned. He was maimed by his sinful act. He would only create another cosmetic illusion atop the former. ii) He should consider himself the equivalent of the eunuch, someone wounded by sin, but awaiting the wholeness of resurrection. He should stop taking female hormones and allow his body to revert to its relatively natural state. iv) He should live now as a man, dress like a man, identify himself as a man, and the congregation must help him through this very difficult task. How the Gospel Ministers to the Transgendered, Part III

Though there is much yet unknown, Patton is increasingly convinced of the simplicity of the Christian life: God wants us to believe him. Trust, belief, conviction, assurance. Reformers understood faith as expressed in three separate yet vitally connected aspects: notitia (the basic informational foundation of faith, the propositional truth, the content of it), assensus (the assent/agreement that the notitia is correct. This involves evidence, etc. we must be convinced that it is true), and fiducia ( resting in the info based on a conviction of its truthfulness. This is a personal, subjective experience, going beyond the intellect but built on its foundation). “The Church today seems to lack #2. Nominal Christianity lacks #3. Postmodernism lacks #1 and #2.” Descartes aimed for absolute certainty (absolute assensus), Hume responded with radical skepticism (non-assensus), and Kant provided a mediating framework. But from Kant arose a popular dichotomy between faith and reason (as he distinguished between the phenomenal and the noumenal, saying that you can believe in God,  but not like you believe in your friends). Notitia and fiducia without assensus is blind faith, common in evangelicalism: “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” It’s an appeal to emotional conviction, assuming that it is from the Spirit, when it could really be self-produced or demon-produced. The parable of the soils shows us that one can indeed believe and yet fall way. Don’t neglect any of the three aspects of faith. “You Ask Me How I Know He Lives . . . He Lives Within My Heart” And Other Stupid Statements

“Nothing is more damaging to cross-cultural missions, short-term or long-term, than a patronizing, paternalistic attitude. Paul came determined not to present himself, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As for Paul, he wanted to be known as Christ's bondservant. A servant's spirit starts in the home church or group with a willingness to do whatever is asked.” We need a Phil. 2:3-8 mindset in missions The Importance of Doing Missions as Servants

MacArthur rejects the stats that Christians divorce as much as non-Christians: i) It reduces the power of the Spirit in believers lives to practically nothing to think this. ii) Who did they survey? Likely not Christians at all. Probably the same crowd from which they obtained the stats that many don’t want the Bible preached in the pulpits. MacArthur points to his 10000 person church, where divorces are occasional, not frequent, and they are most often done by those who don’t truly know the lord. Divorcing Fact from Fiction

Piper apologizes for a poor and snide answer to a question on the incongruity of him seemingly rejecting television and Driscoll encouraging it for relevance. i) Driscoll and Piper would not agree on the degree to which the average pastor needs to be movie-savvy to be relevant. ii) Relevance hangs very little on movies: Exposure to worldliness does more to deaden our joy in Jesus than make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of power are not in cinema. iii) You don’t watch movies with tumbles in a brothel to be relevant to prostitutes: You immerse yourself in the Gospel (which is tailor-made for prostitutes) and you watch Jesus interact with  prostitute and then you find one and talk to her an listen to her, not a movie. iv) PIper has a high tolerance for violence and language in film, and none for nudity, because no matter how it is explained the nudity is not make-believe, a real man is looking at a real naked girl who has a real grieving father somewhere. v) The only nude female body a guy should ever see is his wife’s (Job 31:1; Matt. 5:28-29) – better to gouge out an eye than go to hell. Jesus is deadly and violently serious about this. “the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.” Christ-exalting transformation comes from beholding the glory of Christ (2. Cor. 3:18), and what dulls our eyes and mind is destroying us. The bare breasts of another woman do not leave one more moved by the beauty of Christ. v) The triviality of TV is deadly. And how little you’ll get done while wasting time with TV. http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2009/4023_Why_I_Dont_Have_a_Television_and_Rarely_Go_to_Movies/

2009-06-26

Challies writes that while Romanist apologists are wrong for claiming that Protestants don’t believe in confession (i.e. this is only true insofar as its auricular confession – confessing to a priest for forgiveness), this is certainly an aspect which Christians neglect. i) Lev. 16:21 shows that confession is important, that the priest identified with the goat, and that he confessed specific sins. ii) Ps. 32:3-5 shows the burden of unconfessed sin and the experience of forgiveness following confession to God. iii) Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication is a good and a logical way of ordering prayer in that dwelling on God’s perfections will show us how far short that we have fallen. iv) Characteristics of confession are: a) Confession is specific; this shows true repentance. v) Confess the consequences. Acknowledge how sin has affected you, your life. vi) Confession precedes forgiveness. The two are distinct, but both are essential. vii) Confession before someone we have harmed. Care must be given here, in case revealing your sin could hurt others and damage relations. viii) Confession before men – this is what we often overlook, and it is helpful to confess to someone you know. “having confessed to him and having thanked him for forgiveness, we can pour out our requests to him, asking that he would help us turn from our sin and become more and more like his Son.” The Practice of Confession

AiG posts a paper on the creationist perspective of beneficial mutations in bacteria. The abstract briefly notes that mutations, usually a loss of genetic information, can result in often temporal benefits under particular conditions. However, these provide a poor mechanism for evolution since changing conditions can render the mutations harmful. Mutations potentially enable the bacterium to survive exposure to various antibiotics, but the resistance results from loss or reduction of pre-existing activities such as enzymatic,  regulatory, or transport systems. Also, there may be a directed adaptive mutation in bacteria, the mechanisms of which are not yet understood. “Beneficial mutations of bacteria fit concisely within a creation model where (a) biological systems and functions were fully formed at creation, (b) subsequent mutations can provide conditional benefits that enable the organism to survive harsh post-Fall conditions even though the mutation is generally degenerative, and (c) most bacteria need the ability to rapidly adapt to ever changing environments and food sources.”  http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v4/n1/beneficial-mutations-in-bacteria

While a Roman Catholic apologist claims that Augustine held to the immaculate conception, T-fan shows this isn’t true. Augustine writes, “For to speak more briefly, Mary who was of Adam died for sin, Adam died for sin, and the Flesh of the Lord which was of Mary died to put away sin.” Augustine didn’t concede to the Pelagians, who thought Mary was sinless, but rather refrained from particularly discussing her sin out of respect for Christ. The confusion on the Romanist’s part may be due to an unoriginal quote of Augustine in Aquinas’ interpolated copy of his words, where Augustine is claimed to have said things to the effect of the sinlessness of Mary. Augustine and the Immaculate Conception

Manata quotes some excerpts from Michael Sudduth’s book, The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology. i) He distinguishes between epistemic certainty and psychological certainty (mere maximal conviction). ii) Epistemic certainty is usually articulated in terms of immunity from doubt or indubitability (i.e. the absence of any grounds for doubting a proposition p or doubting that one knows that p). Propositional knowledge is viewed as requiring that a person firmly believe p, that the belief is adequately warranted, and that he believes p is true. iii) Now, a person’s belief that p will be epistemically certain only if there is no epistemically possible proposition q for the person that would result in lowering the warrant of his belief that p ever so slightly if q were added to his beliefs. iv) There are perhaps many propositions that could be added to a theistic belief that could lower its warrant. v) Sudduth points out some problems with the idea (entailment principle) that if one is warranted in theistic belief he’s warranted in denying every proposition logically incompatible with it. But doubt makers need not be reasons for believing that theism is false; many are compatible. This also overlooks the possibility this warrant may be less than the warrant for believing some proposition against it. vi) Epistemic certainty as maximal warrant understands that a proposition p is epistemically certain for a person S just if S is warranted in believing p and there is no other proposition q that has more warrant for S than his belief that p. This is more modest, and does not entail indubitability. There may be no proposition more warranted or better justified, but it still may be that another belief could lower the warrant slightly. An indubitable belief will be maximally warranted, but a belief can be maximally warranted even if it is not indubitable. Introspective beliefs seem to have better warrant, however (i.e. i feel tired) – they seem to have some sort of privileged status. vii) Plantinga holds that a person whose relevant cognitive faculties are functioning properly will hold a firm theistic belief that has a high degree of warrant. The noetic affects of the fall are the reason why there are defeaters against theistic belief, but a fully rational person would believe God exists as must as he believes he exists. viii) On this, Suddeth concludes that theistic beliefs simply are not epistemically certain either in the sense of indubitability or maximal warrant. ix) Theistic belief is certain in a purely logical sense if God’s existence is logically necessary, but this isn’t epistemic certainty. x) Sudduth suggests that the relevant and plausible kind of certainty is moral certainty. This does justice to biblical passages the require Christians ought to be certain about their faith. Epistemic Certainty and Belief in God

T-fan takes issue with the excerpt summarized above from Sudduth, arguing that i) he’s essentially relativistic, basing the argument on consensus, and that the problem is that Sudduth isn’t reckoning with competing warrants, and that there is no stronger warrant than divine revelation. ii) Truth is an objective and communicable reality – God’s word is truth. Knowledge is belief that rests on a proper foundation, and it appears that certainty is the thing is question. Certainty is connected to the foundation for believe. But foundations are assigned a subjective ranking by people, yet God’s word is objectively the most sure foundation. An inability of proof to the satisfaction of the skeptic does not negate the objective reality of the solidity of revelation. iii) ”when God conveys truth to men (whether it be in propositions provided innately to man or propositions provided in Scripture) such truth has better warrant for belief than the testimony of our own eyes, even while it informs us of the general reliability of our senses.”  Epistemic Certainty - Competing Warrants

Trueman writes about the difference between French depictions of executions (which focused on the victim) and English depictions (which focused on the crowd, which was being entertained), and notes that the media has done the latter with Michael Jackson, obscuring the real tragedy of his death by focusing on the ‘grief’ of all those who never knew him and serving it up as just more showbiz and entertainment. And “the response to his death by the people on the street says a lot about the importance of entertainment in our age, indeed, about the idolatries of the modern world.” Jacko- a Very English Death Scene (Carl Trueman)

New York will now pay women for their eggs for stem cell research, and now, though Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, we have found ways to kill people before they can even bleed. Perhaps God will curse the fruit of this destructive research as He cursed the ground soaked in Abel’s blood – Christians should pray to this end. Cain's Medical Research Program

Edwards on the types in the OT: “God puts a final and fatal end to the typical state of the Jews, and all things appertaining to it, blots out all of those types at once, and wipes them clean away, and poured the utmost contempt upon them, and covered them with the most dreadful darkness, and destroyed, as by one great fatal, and final blow that whole typical world . . .” Shadows

JT points to the tragedy that is the death of Michael Jackson, in that his whole life was a tragedy, from an awful childhood, used and abused, to his life as a shell of a man, without identity, let alone the identity of Christ, worshiped by culture yet also destroyed by it, seeking the normal life we all take for granted yet imprisoned in the narcissism of money and fame… Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

This is a remarkable public apology for adultery by a pastor. The concluded addendum says, “He expressed regret about the hurt he has caused, admitted wrongdoing without passing blame, offered to meet 1:1 with people to hear what they need from him, made a commitment to go forward remembering and talking about his mistakes as needed, and requested forgiveness. ” http://drjenthomas.wordpress.com/2009/05/11/announcement-an-unprecedented-public-apology-part-ii/

2009-06-25

Adams recalls his doctoral program where students asked him "what do you feel about such and such?” He’d reply, great!, or lousy! and they would proceed to try to ask the same question again. People today use weak language – they should say opinions, thoughts, etc. Pastors especially. Lousy

DeYoung writes that all Scripture is not just tolerable, but profitable and breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16).The law should be our delight (Psalm 1:2; 119:77; Rom. 7:2). We should love the commandments of God (Psalm 119:47; 1 John 5:3). All our obedience must therefore be from delight, not mere duty, and we must abandon pseudospiritual language like "I don't like what the Bible says about this, but I still believe it." When you’re effectively thinking, if I were God, I wouldn’t do it that way, you’re basically believing that you know better than God (e.g. doctrine of hell). We should delight in the fact that God is glorified in the judgment of the wicked. I Like What the Bible Teaches

Mathis writes that in 2 Sam. 11, David committed adultery. In 1 Kings 1, however, he did not ‘know’ Abishag, who attended on him. Surely this speaks to the purifying of David in some regard. Lean on God for hope in sexual struggle. Hope for Sexual Strugglers

Swan points to another example of Romanist duplicity in going after Protestants for all the doctrinal anarchy. Tim Staples has called the explanation of a priest on the mass ‘heretical’. Tim Staples Says It's Wrong to Clap and do The Wave at Mass

James MacDonald writes that this is his life verse: Jeremiah 15:16: Your words were found unto me and I did eat them, and they became in me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. The older he is, the more laid back he is about allegiances to politics, sports, but not to the truth. Increasingly he has no patience for people who distort and deny God’s Word. He hates untruth because he loved the truth. I LOVE the Truth!!!!!!! I Looooveeee!!!!!!!! It –)

Ascol has some thoughts on the latest SBC roundup. He notes Dr. Chapman’s anti-calvinist rhetoric, the encouraging personal conversations, and the great commission resurgence, noting the passing of Mohler’s motion to form a task force. Reflections on the #SBC2009

Turk has some high praise for Piper’s apology for giving a snide answer to a question. He demonstrates his gift for leadership and humility. He knows when he’s a jerk. And this qualifies him for leadership. Apologetics

Heistand at StraightUp discusses the tension with physical beauty. On the one hand, it's good. On the other hand, it can get a sinner into a lot of trouble, as it can be an object of distraction from the deeper beauty of God and an idol. That, and it's fleeting, so to set one's hopes on it is vain. But Christians often reject material beauty, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Such rejection is Platonic, not Christian, and beauty is to be appreciated. We should neither unduly prize nor wrongly despise beauty. What will you do with your beauty? Use it as a means to self-gratification? Or will you use it in service of the kingdom? For those who lack it, don't jealously desire it. For those who have it, don't exploit it. To whom much is given, much will be required. Why I’m Cautiously Glad My Daughter Is Beautiful

Creation.com notes Russ Humphrey's new creation cosmology, which employs general relativity as an answer to the light-transit-time problem—to explain how light traveled from the distant cosmos and reached Earth, all during one ordinary-length day on Earth, the fourth day of creation. http://creation.com/new-creation-cosmology

MacArthur picks up form a previous post with 9 marks of saving faith. i) Love for God (cf. Romans 8:7). The regenerate delights in God, and makes it his goal to love God with all his heart, strength, soul, and mind. God is his first and highest affection, his chief source of happiness and satisfaction, and he thirsts for Him. ii) Repentance - a hatred for sin must lead to a life in line with God's will. You seek the interests of those you love. So if you love God, you'll obey Him. We must ask ourselves if we really have a hatred for sin and a sense of its evil. iii) Genuine humility - you come to God empty handed in real humility, as a child. iv) A devotion to God's glory. This must be the direction of a Christian's life. v) Continual prayer - hypocrites are deficient in the duty of secret prayer. vi) Selfless, Christlike love for others and especially those who believe (John 13:35). vii) Separation from the world. There must be an abstinence of love for the world. True believers are not ruled by worldly affections. viii) Spiritual growth. You ought to be increasingly Christlike, righteous, and devoted to God. ix) Obedience is not optional for believers. (John 15:1-8) The Marks of Saving Faith (Part 2)

Grimmond writes that the real key to godliness, and to avoiding the polar errors of legalism and licentiousness, is not merely to recognize the grace of God on the one hand and the Lordship of Christ on the other, but to understand that the Lordship of Jesus is essentially connected to the grace of God (Titus 2:11-14, grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness; Rom. 2:1-11 reminds those who are self-righteous of the purity and impartiality of God's judgment). Sin is trying to take God off the throne and exalt oneself, and it really binds one in chains of slavery. "Submitting to Jesus as your Lord is the ultimate righting of wrong and the greatest display of the grace of God. " Godliness isn't about avoiding ditches but keeping your eyes on the Lord. How to stay in the middle of the road

Gene Bridges points out the absurdity of the moral outrage of secularists at suicide. For example, there are those who disagree with the idea that the worst thing about suicide is the impact on your loved ones. But the problem is that in a secularist view, any impact on others is necessarily immaterial. Moral outrage and sentiment are illusory. If we're all just blobs of protoplasm with ideas above it's station, then so what? "Secular / atheological ethics logically conduces to moral nihilism, illusionism, and / or relativism. So, their moral outrage is rather misplaced. They are very judgmental relativists, and libelousness is just an illusion, as are anybody's feelings about the "tragedy" of suicide." The Moral Virtues of Suicide

2009-06-24

Phillips points to a resource with guitar chords for hymns. (See THIS). Guitar chords for hymns

Ascol reports that Mohler’s motion for a Great Commission task force in the SBC (for bringing a report/recommendations to the SBC concerning how the SBC can work for faithfully and effectively together in fulfilling the Great Commission). (Rancorous opposition came from a pastor who blamed Calvinism as the problem in the SBC.) Ascol has some other comments. Of note, he says that the message the the IMB has encountered financial shortfall (receiving just 2.6% of the 16 billion collect by SBC churches last year) seems to be rallying Southern Baptists to renew a commitment to getting the gospel to the unreached peoples of the world. The Great Commission Resurgence Task Force Vote Passed

Here’s another report on the convention noted in the previous post from a pastor at 9Marks. Seven Reflections from the SBC by Aaron Menikoff

Turk notes that Paul doesn’t tell Titus that elders must read out loud and expound from the Bible, but that they will "hold firm" to the trustworthy word as it was taught to him. Paul is telling Titus to find men who are informed about the word (not those particularly informative about the word). i.e. men who listened to the word’s teaching and are made better for it. The ‘blameless’ is a product of this, and so is him being a disciple, and therefore being able to disciple and discipline others. He’s one who’s cleaved to and listening to the word, standing against the world, and can therefore tell others things they don’t know. This is a man who delights in God’s testimonies, and meditates on them day and night. Planted by

Zondervan has some comments from someone on Joshua. My question - Why is it that people are ‘uncomfortable’ with the slaughter of the Canaanites at God’s command? Have they no concept of the holiness of God, and the horror and perversity of sin? Shouldn’t the real ‘uncomfortable’ feeling be, why didn’t we die too?? Now, About all that Killing...by Robert L. Hubbard Jr

From Engwer: The full, professional video of William Lane Craig's recent debate with Richard Carrier, on the topic of Jesus' resurrection, is now available to view for free online. Links On The Resurrection

MacArthur notes the command to examine ourselves (2 Cor. 13:5) and the reality that there is a kind of empty profession (James 2:17-26), and enumerates some criteria that neither proves nor disproves that faith is genuine: i) Visible morality – it didn’t help the Pharisees. a man can be loyal to everyone except God; He can do all sorts of good things but have no love for God. ii) Intellectual knowledge – merely understanding the truth cognitively, while necessary, is insufficient. iii) Religious involvement – there are those who practice an outward form of godliness, but deny its power. iv) Active ministry – Judas was one of the twelve, and a public preacher (see also Matt. 7:22-23), where those involved in public ministry will be told by Christ that he never knew them. v) Conviction of sin – our world is full of guilt-ridden people (so Felix, Acts 24:24-6). Conviction of sin is not saving faith – even the demons know their sin. vi) The feeling of assurance – one can be self-deceived, and Paul’s exhortations to self-testing presuppose this. vii) A time of decision – knowing when ‘it’ happened doesn’t confer salvation. The Marks of Saving Faith (Part 1)

Creation.com reviews From Hitler to Darwin. How could the horrors of the Holocaust occur in the most civilized country in the world? Richard Weikart (prof of European History at California State) has thoroughly documented the Darwinian roots of many aspects of the Nazi terror: Darwinism provided many of the foundations for Nazi principles. (For example, Darwinism undermined the uniqueness of humanity, which in turn undermined the sanctity of innocent life.) Moral relativism was able to take hold as Darwinism undermined divine foundations. Evolutionary fitness was applied to to groups as well as individuals. Weikart even points out that pre-darwinian racism was usually repulsed by the dominant Christian worldview. http://creation.com/the-darwinian-roots-of-the-nazi-tree-weikart-review

DeYoung’s church had Eric Washington, Assistant Professor of African-American and African History, speak on "The African-American Church Experience". Here’s a remarkable quotation from the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church: “There’s always been a mystery why the impartial Father of the human race should have permitted the transportation of so many millions of our fellow creatures to this country to endure all of the miseries of slavery. Perhaps his design was that a knowledge of the gospel might be acquired by some of their descendants in order that they might become qualified to be messengers of it to the land of their fathers.” The African-American Church Experience

Walsh at DG quotes an interesting point that seems to articulate a wrong-headed view of Africans as helpless victims that negatively manifests itself in short term missions, with most Americans simply going to check of a list of things to do, in investing time and money, that will advance the Gospel. “Our counterparts in the developing world are more resourceful than we imagine—and we need them at least as much as they need us.” We Need Them at Least as Much as They Need Us

iMonk has some interesting thoughts on the SBC roundup. He notes the younger leaders taking power in the SBC, a pull to have the Gospel above all else as the centre of unity, the utter waste of time the culture war has been in the SBC (as indicated by motions from the floor), and a call to young leaders to be mature, gracious and kind in light of 'winning'. "God is amazingly kind to our old ship. Born in a love of slavery. Arrogant. Blind to the Kingdom outside its own borders. Cantankerous and stubborn. But the ship still sails because the Holy Spirit says it will be so."
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/my-thoughts-on-todays-southern-baptist-convention-meeting-62309

Genderblog points to and commends several blogs here: An Annotated Biblio-BLOG-raphy

Manata points out that if God is 'loving' those in hell in such a way to seek their "re-tribution, re-mediation, re-probation " then God is either irrational (since classical Arminianism holds to omniscience, and that God knows they will never come out of punishment), or universality, or open theist. If the Arminian resorts to a retributive God, how is God omni-benevolent? Classical Arminianism less loving than other variants on Arminianism, or does it lead to means-end irrationality, Universalism or Open Theism?

JT says on prison rape, "I've been trying to think of another example but haven't for the strange situation surrounding this issue: namely, a brutal, horrific, devastating crime that frequently functions as a punchline in countless movies, sitcoms, and late-night shows. And if we're honest, many Christians laugh and pass along such jokes quite easily. (I know have been guilty of doing so.)" Prison Rape

Hays responds to the claim, "Eastern Orthodox Church has been most faithful to the apostles' Old Testament. They still use the LXX and usually base their translations of the Old Testament on it " (i.e. the NT prefers the LXX, so it should be accepted). i) Our extant LXX is not the same as the 1st century LXX. ii) NT writers don't often quote verbatim - they feel free to reword things (i.e.they don’t treat the wording of the Greek OT as inviolate.) iii) Some quotes are closer to the Massoretic Text. iv) One must distinguish between NT speakers and NT writers, since NT writers recorded speakers who would use the Greek OT directly. v) NT writers quote the Greek OT because they’re writing to Greek-speaking Jews and Gentiles; it can also be a matter of answering one on his own grounds. The Bible of the Apostles

Phillips quotes an illustration of sovereign grace (and asks for help in locating its author), where one attempts to give a life-giving elixer to a bunch of corpses in a morgue, and after preaching flawlessly to them, asks them to simply reach out and take a sip. If it were left to this, none would life. Calling the Brain Trust: help me source an illustration on sovereign grace Gospel

Danny Akin: "Great missionaries must be theologians, and truly great theologians will be missionaries." Missions Driven By Theology by Michael Mckinley

Hays points to the Quartodecimanism, the Filoque, the Tridentine Canon, the Assumption of Mary, Novus Ordo, and Anglican Orders to show the fundamental tension between the claims of Rome to be a champion of Christian unity, as well as a leader in ecumenical dialogue–on the one hand–and various actions by which she has alienated many professing believers and ejected them from the ranks of the “faithful”–retroactively defined.  Mother Church or mother of schism?

This article from AiG briefly argues that the church in Europe has collapsed because they disconnected the Bible from reality, and this is now happening in North America, where Christians are immersed in secularism. "the Bible is not some “pie in the sky” theoretical book. It’s a real book connected to the real world. It has everything to do with history, geology, biology, anthropology, and sociology. It provides the true history of the world, as opposed to evolution over millions of years." Already Gone

This article from AiG offers a basic primer on the principle of interpretation as they relate to literary forms, and how this applies to interpreting the Bible (i.e. grammatico-historical method). http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v4/n1/literary-forms-biblical-interpretation

T-fan recalls this illustration: "Old Woman: I hear there is a new pastor in town. Old Man: Oh? Is he any good? OW: An excellent speaker - everyone who goes enjoys the sermon. OM: None of that "fire and brimstone" eh? OW: Oh, no! Certainly not! This young man actually insists that there is no hell. Everyone will be saved. OM: Well, if he's right we don't need him, and if he's wrong we don't want him." Mark 9:44 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (identical statement at vss. 46 and 48): There is a hell, and yes it is eternal - not of finite duration. People are not punished temporally. Universalism

Turk answers the question as to whether an elder should step down if his children are unbelievers, pointing out that the ESV translation ought to be revised. On what basis? i) The NET translation notes: The phrase could be translated “believing children,” but the parallel with 1 Tim 3:4 (“keeping his children in control”) argues for the sense given in the translation. ii) In Mt 25:21, Luke 12:42, Acts 16:15 (and about 50 other places) all use this word to indicate reliability or trustworthiness or obedience.  Paul is looking for a man who can train others up to be trustworthy or reliable members of his household. [The children are faithful, that is, to the parent]. Family is the place where a man shows that he can lead well. His Children

McKinley points to a Peruvian man in their fellowship, who cam to America to make as much money as possible. Having converted, one fruit of this is that he'd rather spend time with believers than work, so he doesn't work Sunday anymore. And he said that he has 'Thursday off' - i.e. he only works from 7 am to 3:30 am (he has 3 jobs). An 8 hour day is a day off??? You Think You Are Busy by Michael Mckinley

McKinley provides this quote: "Imagine a spectrum as horizontal... from good looks to athleticism to brains to money to fluency to how well you know the Bible to how big your church is (you could pick a hundred areas... but what our sinful hearts do is they take what is a horizontal spectrum and they turn it vertical as a ladder to nowhere.  They rank themselves and either feel superior to people or inferior to people. " Ladder to Nowhere by Michael Mckinley

Jean Williams quotes CJ Mahaney on unanswered prayer, where Mahaney is thankful for it. The Savior is sovereign, not sentimental. He sees things we don't. And we are disappointed and angry at unanswered prayer because we think that we know better than God. Unanswered prayers purify the motives. God doesn't say “yes” to His children's petulant, childish demands. Like a loving parent, he says “no”. The blessing of unanswered prayer

Hays quotes some interesting stats. Here's some highlights: "Overall, then, 80% of those who were raised as Protestant are still Protestant, either within the same denominational family in which they were raised (52%) or within another Protestant family (28%). So only one-in-five (20%) adults who were raised as Protestant have left Protestantism altogether (7% for a non-Protestant religion and 13% for no religion at all). " "Overall, 31.4% of U.S. adults say that they were raised Catholic. Today, however, only 23.9% of adults identify with the Catholic Church, a net loss of 7.5 percentage points. "  "Two of the religious groups with the lowest retention rates are Jehovah’s Witnesses and Buddhists. Only slightly more than a third (37%) of adults who were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses still
identify themselves as Jehovah’s Witnesses. Half of all of those who were raised as Buddhists (50%) are still Buddhists. " Religious demographics in America

Russ Moore continues with what he understands is at stake in an ethical dilemma having to do with a transgender individual who has come to Christ. i) The Gospel is first. All sin is weird and perverted, so the pastor must not be repulsed. ii) Repentence is next. Has the sinner counted the cost? iii) There is no simple solution: no matter the action, there will be havoc. The man's daughter will learn that 'mom' is really a man. iv) It's essential to articulate the sin that this man is walking away from: In seeking to "become" a woman, John has established himself as a god, determining the very structure of his createdness. God creates male and female, not in generics. v) The pastor must therefore address him as a man, in line with the 'new creation' that he is in Christ. vi) While gratuitous disclosure is unnecessary, the pastor must not deceive the congregation, and they must be told who they are baptizing. vi) "Joan is not going to "feel" like John, and that's okay. But the pastor must start ministering to him by helping him identify what peace looks like, what the destination is to which he's headed. And that's as a man." Moore aims to address some practical concerns in a following post. How the Gospel Ministers to the Transgendered, Part II

JT has a quote to the effect that while Orwell saw our undoing as the result of external oppression, Huxley said there would be no need for it. People would love their own oppression, i.e. they would come to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one." "In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us." Brave New World vs. Nineteen Eighty-Four
JT has some good advice from Bruce Ashford on reading: How to read, what to read, why to read. On Disciplined Reading

Here's a Q&A for parents on the sacraments from Covenant Life Church. Q&A for Parents on the Sacraments

JT points to a study guide and an outline of John Frame's The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God. Q&A for Parents on the Sacraments

JT links to a video from Os Guinness, who believes that the only way forward for America is to tackle and resolve the major question of whether a free republic can maintain and sustain its freedom. Os Guinness: Can America Sustain Its Freedom?

Here's Piper challenging children to have a holy ambition for God. "Mom and Dad, single people, young and old, Christians should have a holy ambition. Something you really, really want to do for the glory of God. Something that controls you. It helps you decide not to go to Rome yet. It gives eternal focus and passion to your life." Do You Have a Holy Ambition?

Ray Ortland argues that the gospel requires us to have high expectations of one another on biblically central doctrines and strategies, and it cautions us to be more relaxed with one another the further we have to move out from the center. Conclusions should be modest in inverse proportion to the clarity of the appeal to the Bible. "May we become more certain where we've been too open and more open where we've been too certain, according to Scripture alone. And where it seems helpful to provide further definition on our own authority, may we do so with candor and humility but without apology." Certainty vs Openness

In the book, Through His Eyes, Jerram Barrs aims to understand how God sees women. Through His Eyes: God's Perspective on Women in the Bible

2009-06-23

Adams writes that there is no biblical precedent for basing the truth or falsehood of any statement on one’s own feelings, yet many do it, when they should be turning to the Scriptures. “I Feel It’s So”

Bird comments on the debate in the French Parliament to ban Burkas because they demean women/restrict freedom. i) On the one hand, they are a cultural expression in Arab culture that derived from Byzantine culture. ii) On the other hand, should the state prescribe dress? If a woman consents, who has the right to stop her? What about churches that mandate head coverings. Burkhas and Religious Freedom

Jeff continues going after the Word-Faith health and wealth teaching (which has been fatal) by pointing to John 9 to definitively demonstrate that their thesis that disease is a result of a lack of personal faith. While all disease is ultimately the result of sin, this destroys the idea that a one-to-one connection can be established: "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. Pool of Siloam Found in Jerusalem

JT provides a quote on good writing. Don’t make assertions. Put forward why someone should care about your thesis, and not with vague unsupported claims, but solid reasoning. Good Writing Is Good Arguing

Clint point to messages by Dr. VanVliet, who spoke on the topic , "Who is Afraid of John Calvin?" and the corresponding sermon highlighting some of Calvin's favorite texts of Scripture.

Creation.com observes that researchers imitate lizards, etc. in building the SandBot: Man’s efforts to engineer robots that can emulate what animals do “effortlessly” surely speaks volumes about the Master Engineer who engineered them to function so efficiently in the first place. http://creation.com/desert-creatures-inspire-sandbot

MacArthur highlights and praises the example of a coach of a high school basketball team, which steam-rolled the competition and won the state championship. The coach discovered that a player had been ineligible to play because had failed some courses, and even though this was immaterial to the victory, reported it, because the team’s character was more important than the victory. Biblically speaking, where you are young yourself or one who influences them, you have a divine mandate (Deuteronomy 6:7; Prov. 22:6; 1 Tim. 3:2-4; Titus 1:5) to be a good example, and one cannot underestimate how important our youth truly are. "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:12). Be constantly aware. The Importance of a Good Example

Walsh at DG writes, should we still be sending and going? Yes: “1. God wants his name to be great in every place as well as among every people. 2. There are still hundreds of remote peoples who haven't heard the gospel. 3. Too little money is given to missions, not too much. 4. In many cases, the Church in the West has something to offer (Just as it would be arrogant to think that we know it all and have no need of the global Church, it would be arrogant to sit on our wealth of resources, history, and doctrinal development rather than make it accessible to the world). 5. Crossing cultures is a fitting means for the message.” Should We Still Be Sending and Going-

DeYoung looks at Acts 15:1 and writes that the New Perspective on Paul argues that the Reformers misunderstood Paul, seeing him as a crusader against works righteousness. They hold that first century Judaism was gracious, not legalistic. DeYoung points out that while the Law was supposed to function in response to God’s gracious deliverance and election, this is not how it was taken, as we see that there were those who boasted of righteousness that came from the Law instead of God (Phil. 3:9). He dismisses the distinction between being saved by keeping the big parts of the law or the small parts or the ethnic boundary marker parts, observing that either way they trusted themselves. They thought Jewishness saved, which was indistinct from covenant law-keeping. Peter responds to those in Acts 15, “but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will” (15:11). These Judaizers weren’t covenantal nomists but placed circumcision in opposition to grace. I Still Don't Get It

While many talk of the power of prayer, and it being the most powerful thing, and so on, Phillips writes that Biblically it's one thing, and one thing only: prayer is talking to God. It’s not a dialogue, or conversation, and has no intrinsic power. Now, if God talks to me unmediated, I’m a prophet. If I talk to God, I’m praying. Scripture never directs us to engage God in conversation, or wait for God to speak back in prayer, or to do an Eastern-style emptying of the mind. Rather, it’s like the soldier pressing the button on the walkie-talkie. If you want to hear God speak to you, go to His Word in faith, and He will (Proverbs 6:20-23; Hebrews 3:7ff.; 2 Peter 1:19-21, etc.). The prayer of the one who turns from the Law is an abomination. Sometimes prayer is wrong, and the only appropriate prayer would be a prayer of broken, heartfelt repentance and confession (Psalms 32; 51; 1 John 1:9). When prayer is expressive of relation with God and in accord with His will it accomplishes much (James 5:16; 1 John 5:14). But it’s not prayer that has power but the God to whom it is directed. And note that the weapon in Eph. 6:18 is the word, not prayer. Now there are some words with power (Psalm 33:6, 9; Jeremiah 23:29; Hebrews 4:12). Use them. What prayer is and isn't [requested classic re-post]

Engwer discusses the apostolic era further with respect to the canon of Scripture. Apostolicity is a canonical criterion (i.e. written or approved by an apostle). By traditional authorship 21 of the NT books are known to be written by apostles, and James likely counts as well (cf. Gal 1:18-19, 2:9). Only Mark, Luke, Acts, Hebrews, and Jude remain, which were accepted by the patristic era Christians whose primary criterion was apostolicity. Engwer aims to corroborate their judgment: i) Date: Metzger finds reference to Mark, Luke (and by extension Acts as they were a pair) and Hebrews in sources from the last half of the 1st century and first half of the 2nd century. By AD 200 Jude was accepted in Alexandria (Clement and Origen), in Rome (Muratorian Canon), and in Africa (Tertullian). Since Hebrews mentions that they were not yet persecuted to death, this indicates that it is before the Nerorian persecution, and also refers to the sacrificial system in present tense (favourable pre-AD 70). Jude identifies himself as a brother of James and his description of heretics doesn’t match those in the 2nd century. ii) Authorship: Mark and Luke were associates of multiple apostles. Jude was well-known also (1 Cor. 9:5) and the brother of an apostle. As to Hebrews, the earliest authorial attributions are Paul himself or one of Paul’s companions. Given the unique discussions of authorship it may have been the product of a group, surely of Paul’s companions, perhaps Barnabas (cf. Tertullian, Jerome) who was a Levite (Engwer has more detailed notes on this). iii) Apostolic awareness: Engwer cites a few scholars who indicate the utter implausibility of the prevailing notion in form criticism that the Church was utterly ignorant and cut off from the founders of the faith (as if the apostles were somehow translated directly into heaven after the Resurrection!). Rather, not only did Christian writings proliferate much more quickly in the first century as compared to other works of antiquity, but the apostles’ writings indicate quite an awareness of the church. Papias seems to indicate that John was aware of Mark, if Matthew/Luke depend on Mark, they are likewise aware, 1 Tim. 5:18 likely quotes Luke, so also 2 Cor. 8:18. iv) Apostolic approval: Matthew’s use of Mark shows a high view of the document. Papias suggests that John also held a positive view of Mark. Clement of Rome has a high view of Hebrews (so too do other sources in the 2nd century, and it was widespread), implicitly suggesting apostolic approval. None of the documents have any significant objection to their apostolicity. From Apostolicity To The Twenty-Seven-Book New Testament

Challies points to this: "More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green claims bear an environmental badge that has no inherent meaning, said Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice." A La Carte (6/23)

Phillips points out that while it’s in vogue to say that “dad is a pastor!”, the Bible never says anything like that. Shouldn’t that be significant? Why didn’t God come up with this? Some may argue that he leads his family, teaches them the word, and prays for their souls, and that’s what pastors do. But the Bible never says that dad is, is like, or is sort of a pastor. Does this make mom an associate pastor? The ugly side of this notion is that it can encourage arrogant, self-absorbed, loveless isolationists to withdraw from actual church fellowship. Dad is a pastor- Hunh; why didn't God think of that-

JT points to an endorsement of Scott Klusendorf’s book on abortion, which says that he is precisely the sort of advocate the pro-life position needs – someone who has the intellectual wherewithal and charisma to navigate and communicate the argument and insights of philosophers. Watson, Is the Abortion Debate Over-

Challies recommends The Betrayal, a novel that recounts John Calvin’s life as historical fiction. Book Review - The Betrayal

Turretinfan responds to a ‘reformed leader’ who says there are three important aspects of Calvin’s legacy (and therefore reads his modern sensibilities back into Calvin): Ecumenism, social justice, the environment. T-fan points out that Calvin’s Institutes give us a better idea: a) God is Creator; b) God is Redeemer; c) Salvation is by Grace; and d) The Church Preaches the Gospel. As to ecumenism, Calvin saw all true believers as united in Christ by the Spirit, but rejected the Romanist religion. Calvin certainly says provision should be constantly made for the poor, but this wasn’t the focal point of the work of pastors. Calvin also recognized that we must not be wasteful (for man is entrusted with the earth by God), but also that man has dominion over the earth. Misunderstanding Calvin's Legacy

Grimmond writes, “Theologians are as risk-averse as actuaries, so how can they contextualize the gospel successfully?” He looks at Wesley’s hymn, which says, “Jesus, the name that charms our fears”, observing the inherent risk that Christ might be seen as a charm (though Wesley here responds to the superstitious practice of magic/incantations to ward off fear). All theology is risk-taking. All good Gospel-preaching is risk-taking, for without it you’ll never communicate with anyone. Wesley, charms and church planting (Part II)

Bayly commends John Piper for inviting Doug Wilson to the DG conference… “John will pay for escorting Doug into the Reformed big top. But like Doug, John has some courage and those who specialize in anti-Wilson bile should take note that, among men who are reformed pastors of national reputation, John stands with Doug.” John Piper explaining his invitation to Doug Wilson.

Burk writes on Psalm 115, “The dead do not praise the Lord.” Skeptics claim that the Psalmist has no eschatology, yet there are hints and pointers in the Psalms and other OT texts that are suggestive of an afterlife (Psalms 17:15; 49; 73; Ezekiel 37:12–13; Daniel 12:2-3). Moreover, this reading misses the point, since the Psalmist isn’t contrasting life with afterlife but live bodies with dead ones, viewing it from the angle of those who have not yet died – as long as he lives he will praise the Lord publically, and if he were to die, one living testimony to the greatness of God is gone. Would the world’s worship be diminished if you weren’t here? Is embodied life continual worship in your life? Do dead people praise God-

Patton summarizes young earth creationism, gap theory (between Gen. 1:1 and 1:2), time-relative (Belief that the universe is both young and old depending on your perspective, based on relativity), old earth creationism (the days aren’t literal), theistic evolution (with literal Adam and Eve) and theistic evolution without. He briefly summarizes problems in approaches on both sides. Evolution Debate

A KJV Only Arminian claims that White is putting human thoughts into the text of Romans 9. [insisting on libertarian free will and the autonomy of man is the epitome of imposing a human thought on a text]. He claims that ‘knowing’ is a state of being verb (i.e. awareness). He also doesn’t know Greek. But he proceeds to laugh at White, mock White, etc. White notes that God knew Jeremiah, He knew Israel, and that when God knows something that thing is always personal, never what people will do. God is actively involved in foreknowing His people. The term means, when used with God, that God chose Jeremiah, and God chose Israel. White suggests that if someone wishes to contest this, he must first show that the LXX and the OT are not the background upon which Paul is operating. He also encourages a more humble approach to studying theology. Young Arminians Attack on YouTube!

JT quotes Lewis on those who want ‘black to be blacker’, a mindset which makes us into devils. Do you want to see everything that your enemies do as bad? e.g. do you hope that when you hear something bad about Bush/Obama that it’s true? Or do you hope that it isn’t? Lewis on Seeing Everything Your Enemies Do as Bad

Empiricism is “reliance on experience as the source of ideas and knowledge. More specifically, empiricism is the epistemological theory that genuine information about the world must be acquired by a posteriori means, so that nothing can be thought without first being sensed. ” Philosophy Word of the Day – Empiricism

Here’s a proof from James Anderson that Twittering is wrong, from nearly every ethical system (it’s quite funny). Against All Tweets

Payne gives a brief summary of a report which he recommends (and helped produce) on the biblical data for the question: Why do Christians gather? What is the purpose of Christian assemblies? Why did Jesus say He would build His assembly? (Matt. 16:18) As a testimony to Christ, bearing witness to the crucified and risen Lord. For fellowship in Christ – not merely friendship or human fellowship. For building towards maturity in Christ – all we do in our assemblies should contribute to this end. So why do we gather-

To the statement, “No mistake was made in heaven when God gave you the gift of leadership or teaching. Every gift you have came from the hand of a loving Father who crafted you” which taken apart from its egalitarian agenda is accurate, Genderblog writes, “No mistake was made in heaven when God authored the qualifications in Scripture concerning the exercising of spiritual gifts. Every gift you have been given should be exercised according to the qualifications laid down by your wise and loving Father.” The Bible limits how and when spiritual gifts should be exercised, and for some reason egalitarians miss this point. 1 Tim. 2:9-15 applies to women and leadership. So too there are limits on men in various areas. Even Jesus was limited: Specifically, Jesus spoke of not being able to do anything unless it was willed by his Father (John 5:19, 8:28). The presence of Spirit-gifting is not the last word concerning ministry: Believers must also practice gifts in ways that honour the qualifications and commands of Scripture. Spirit-Gifting and Ministry in the Church