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/