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