2009-09-03

T-fan responds to a Romanist question, ‘why say mass sacrifices again?’ The problem is that Rome doesn’t claim to represent the sacrifice of Christ, but to actually involve the sacrificing of Christ. While the Lord’s supper does illustrate these things, the historical event of the cross is finished, and cannot be continued or repeated. Why Say Mass Sacrifices Christ Again-

Sholl at Solapanel continues a series on Why Johnny Can’t Preach. Thus far, Gordon believes (preacher) Johnny can't read and can't write. Now, the content of preaching should be the person, character, and work of Christ. This will include shaping a Christian moral vision in a redemptive context and encouraging confidence in Christ. Without this, sermons reduce to moralism, a how-to (emphasis on how rather than ought), introspection (building up the self-righteous, berating the weak), or a social Gospel (focus on woes and cures of contemporary culture). These are failures because they fail to nourish the believer. While this is no new observation, Gordon does make the point that the issue is a literary issue as well as a theological one. The preacher must be convinced to read the text carefully, thoughtfully, and intensely. Sholl adds that in order to encourage literary engagement (and encourage we must), it must be informed by a robust theology of hearing God's voice. Why Johnny Can’t Preach (Part 3)

Timothy Paul Jones has written Christian History Made Easy for the individual who has no desire to study church history, thinking it complicated or irrelevant. Christian History and the Church

Haykin writes that all who desire to walk in Christ will suffer persecution and know the cross, but this is seldom mentioned, and churches hide behind, liturgy, tradition, and even doctrine. They continue to meet week to week, but its a shame, since people are afraid to get into each other’s lives in case they encounter suffering. Words remain merely theoretical. We need more than only theology, as essential as it is; we need the empowering Spirit of God to get past this, to take them up like the mountain like Isaac was taken by Abraham.. The Spirit of the Crucified One, true Christian community and being like Isaac

This post makes the point that Psalm 89 shows that “the path to honor is a path of shame. Ultimately it is our enemies who are put to shame, but this happens through the shame-bearing of the Messiah, God’s promised king who is nothing less than God himself. God’s honor is at stake in the salvation of his people. Thus he acts with great wisdom and might to remove the shame of his people so that they might be with him, relishing his glory forever and ever.” Honor and Shame in the Psalms (Zabur), Part 9 – We Need More than a Messiah

Turretinfan posts a set of links to a Mormonism 101 series done by James White recently. Lot’s of useful stuff here. Mormonism 101 - Index Page

DA Carson gives a five minute talk on inerrancy here. Christians throughout the centuries have different terms for the truthfulness of the Scriptures. One is inerrancy. It has been shown that, while every doctrine is disputed somewhere, inerrancy has been held by people throughout the years in different cultures all the way from the patristics to the present. Inerrancy means that the Bible is true. It is without error. Is what God originally said true? Now truth is conveyed differently by different literary forms. Now inerrancy describes the reliability of the Scriptures. Some have tried to drop the term ‘inerrancy’. Whatever the Bible speaks on, however, it speaks truly. And hyperbole, narrative compression, and so on are not untrue. Is it essential? The Bible doesn’t say that if you don’t believe in inerrancy you won’t be saved. We are to trust Christ. It’s not a condition of salvation in the way belief in Christ is. http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/resources/video/What-does-inerrancy-mean-Is-it-essential-to-Christian-belief#