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