Powlison relates an anecdote which he calls the ‘ambiguously cured soul’, wherein a girl struggling with lesbian fantasies is counseled that she is the product of her degenerate family situation, and while she comes to trust in Jesus for her deepest need, there are still problems with her new self-understanding. “Knowledge of a person’s history may be important for many reasons (compassion, understanding, knowledge of characteristic temptations), but it never determines the hearts inclinations.” - the past, no matter how tragic, does not absolve us of moral responsibility. DeYoung concludes, “Our job, then, as Christians is, on the one hand, to take past hurts seriously and sympathetically, and yet to help people see that the past does not determine our future.” In Christ’s suffering there is hope for our sin, but only if we see sin as sin and not the syllogistic result of our personal history. Our History Explains Something and Causes Nothing
Phillips notes the use of ‘acts of God’ in insurance, etc. He then posits a more fair and balanced broadcast: “"...in another act of God today, billions of people drew breath, put together coherent thoughts, found the law of gravity still works, found solid footing on which to walk… Further acts of God were reported, including the vast majority having something to eat and something to drink..."” Man, of course, doesn’t start with the idea that he’s owed nothing… Acts of God
Triablogue: Steve writes that the standard criticism of mature creation is that it implies deception. Now, the natural record doesn’t even appear to show macroevolution, so mature creation isn’t needed for appearances. Thinking about this critique from one angle, we’re taken in by a constant deception all the time. We dream – and we don’t know we’re dreaming in it. Inside the dream there is no ‘outside’. Beautiful dreamer
Triablogue: Manata answers the charge that Christians have the same reasons for belief as other religions, but don’t seem to lose sleep over it. i) Sam relies on naive internalist and evidentialist premises that he does not justify. People can have reasons for a belief without that belief being based on reasons. ii) Christians don’t have the same reasons ‘i see my neighbour at the store, so he is at the store’ is the same kind of reason as ‘i see my dog at the park, so my dog is at the park’, but not the same reason. Harris’s argument depends on this ambiguity. iii) it is not at all hard to see that one may be compelled by the same kind of reason for one proposition yet not be compelled by the same kind of reason for another proposition. iv) Harris assumes he can ‘prove’ Islam wrong. Can he do this with deductive certainty? If we can’t, what of it? One can have good reasons to deny Islam, more probable than their own denial. v) Atheists think they have good reasons for atheism. Why does it follow from this that Christianity is the belief to abandon? vi) There’s no real argument there; Harris simply makes the descriptive point that we all believe we are justified in our beliefs and that contradictory beliefs are false. vii) “Loftus can continue to repeat the same old bunk, thinking he has good reasons for it, but I disagree. Does my disagreement mean that he needs to drop his belief that differences in religious belief shows something interesting? If he does, then so much for the OTF. If he doesn't, then so much for the OTF. Either way, so much for the OTF.” Truth by Repetition
Pyro: “Challenge: How can God cause a(n) [natural disaster] in ____ that kills ____? Response: You mean, why doesn't He do the same every day in every city on every continent? Why hasn't he done that to you? Excellent question! Those days are coming. But God is showing that He is long-suffering, giving the same opportunity for repentance that the people in _____ had enjoyed.” The natural-disaster-out-there dodge (NEXT! #23)
Patton on studying theology – or studying anything. He elaborates three main points (of nine): 1. pray for an open heart and mind. 2. recognize your bias. 3. get a broad overview of the topic. Nine Step Guide to Studying Theology (or Any Issue)
Pike has an interesting argument: “1) Evolutionism claims that common descent can be demonstrated via clading, where clading is broadly defined as grouping individuals in a family tree based on genetic similarity. 2) Clading is great for things like paternity testing. 3) Clading, however, is not great for predicting morphology. The Orangutan is morpholigically the most similar living animal to man, but is not genetically the most similar to man. 4) Virtually all that palentology can provide with respect to most specimens is bone morphology. The conclusion: palentology does not support (whether or not it rebuts) the contemporary argument of evolutionism.” Morphology vs. Genetics vs. Evolution
Carl Trueman has a post here on Luther and being a theologian. “The first thing that makes a theologian, according to Luther, is the grace of the Spirit.” For Luther, things are what God says they are – reality is primarily defined by words, not be ‘whatness’ or substance. Luther On Being a Theologian II (Carl Trueman)
C.H. Spurgeon on suffering: "I have learned to kiss the wave that strikes me against the Rock of Ages." Kiss the Wave
Girltalk: Strength for a weary mom is found in a trust in God, that He will fulfill His promises, leading to a radical faithfulness to train, teach, disicpline, love, and ‘do good’.
1. Preach the gospel to yourself (pt. one and two)
2. Prize your husband (pt. one and two)
3. Parent all the time (pt. one, two and three)
4. Pay attention (pt. one, two and three)
5. Pursue help in parenting.
GenderBlog: Discussing the problem of sex for women, in his book Sex is Not The Problem (Lust Is), Joshua Harris explains that “when a woman sees a seductive ad featuring a man, she might be tempted to fantasize about him, but odds are that this temptation will be rooted in a fantasy about a relationship with him, with physical pleasure being a subset of her craving for passionate affection and emotional intimacy.” (86) The same way that visual pornography is a distortion of God’s good design for male sexuality, fantasizing is a distortion of God’s good design for female sexuality. The Playground of Your Mind
JT: Judge Walker, who approved same-sex marriage in California, commits the “fallacy of composition—taking something true of a part and concluding that it is also true of the whole of which it is a part.” He argues from modern egalitarianism to the conclusion that marriage isn’t a gendered institution, to the conclusion that same-sex couples can marry. The problem is that he thinks that gender doesn’t matter as it once did in the relation of a husband and a wife, meaning you can have a wife+wife or husband+ husband, but his error is here: ‘To say that the status of men and women in marriage is one of equal partners is not to say that men and women are the same, such that it does not matter what sex their partners are’. The Moral Reasoning in the Same-Sex Court Decision
“Biblical creationists believe in a global flood, but did you know secular geologists have a global catastrophe, too? Both groups converge on evidence at a certain layer of rock… Either way, a global catastrophe occurred to form the Great Unconformity seen at Sante Fe, Grand Canyon, Denver, and other continents around the world. Dates and mechanisms may differ, but creationists and evolutionists can’t dispute that flat, worldwide layer in the rocks.” Ancient Earth Smackdown at Santa Fe Tells Global Story
Wow. JT points to Hipster Christianity, and provides a chart detailing the evolution of the hipster. [I am struggling here not to be astounded at the poignant narcissism of it all; the rampant individualism and self-absorption with self-expression; the iPod class faddism, and all of it having a veneer of being unique and avant-garde, yet looking profoundly like everyone else who tries to do the same thing – the ultimate of conformists. /rant] http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/files/2010/08/evolhipster.jpg
The problem with pastoral plagiarism: “When I assign a paper, I’m asking my students to analyze material and tell me what they think. Plagiarism amounts to avoiding the assignment, and turning in something that appears to be one’s own analysis. The transgression—dishonesty—is not complicated, and it has nothing to do with theories about the possibility or impossibility of originality.” The problem is lying. Lying about competence. The Problem with Pastoral Plagiarism
Here’s a reminder to workaholics not to allow the business and pressures of life to cause fathers and husbands to neglect the spiritual care of their homes. An Admonition to Workaholics
Piper answers the question, what do i have to believe to be saved? Video and transcript after the jump. He observes central texts in Scriptures, which point to the core in the death of Jesus, belief that you are a sinner, that there is a holy God, substitutionary atonement, that Jesus was the God-man (Ps. 49, no man can pay the ransom for a man, but God did), and sinless. “what is required is the core of the gospel—that the remedy is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who never sinned got in my place and took the wrath of God for me.” You must believe that Jesus rose from the dead. You also have to believe that belief is required. As for the Trinity, he says that you cannot reject it, but you don’t need to be able to articulate it. He even says, “I don't think a person has to even hear about the Holy Spirit to be saved.” You don’t need to know how you came to believe (e.g. by the Spirit). “denying it once it has been made known to you—that would undermine essential things.” What Do I Have to Believe to Be Saved-
Challies points to Professor Horner’s ten chapter a day Bible reading system. “From the outside it looks like this will be a massive amount of work, a huge commitment of time. But I have found that it is not. The beauty of the system is that you will be reading every day at a pretty good clip. The purpose is not to spend a great deal of time in pondering each word, but in reading the Bible so much and so often that Scripture begins to explain Scripture.” Ten Chapters Per Day
An interview here with Calvinist Hip-Hop artist Stephen the Levite. “Stephen's first solo album, To Die is Gain... was released in '06, and he has a forthcoming EP called The Forerunner coming out in September. Lyrics to all of Stephen's songs can be found at his blog.” Stephen the Levite- The Interview (Part 1 of 2)
Paul Tripp’s book What Did You Expect, points out that a reason people withhold forgiveness is that there is a short-term, genuinely destructive power in refusing it, and thus holding onto one’s spouse’s wrongs gives the upper hand in the relationship. The Dark “Benefits” of Unforgiveness
Here’s some of Luther’s commentary on Galatians 6. When Satan cannot suppress the preaching of the Gospel by force
Beggar’s All: Here’s an account providing some insight into the life of the earliest Christians (even pre-pauline) in Rome. It concludes, “for those Roman Catholics who simply assume that there was some kind of "successor of Peter" in Rome, in the form of a monarchical bishop over all the city, much less, over all the world, how many of them were aware of the political structures of the Roman "vici"? Or the network of synagogues, near which the house-church "parishes" emerged? Or that these groups were very far away from each other, because it was a very large city? And the people of these communities weren't mobile, because they were poor?” Another portrait of early Christians in Rome
In case you didn’t know, men do not have less ribs than women. Don’t try to use this to support the Genesis account. Women Have More Ribs Than Men
Mohler discusses the wholesale rejection of biblical truth by Michael Dowd, author of the book, Thank God for Evolution, who has become an ‘evolutionary evangelist’, spreading his message of “the epic of evolution” or “the Great Story.” For him, God is metaphorical, not personal; the ‘ultimate wholeness of reality’. Sin is merely compost for new growth; he caricatures those who resist naturalistic evolution as holding to a ‘flat earth’; the new atheists rescue us from biblical Christianity. For him the God of the Bible is immoral. Interestingly, Dowd thinks of the new atheists as modern prophets, giving guidance from ‘humanity’s common creation story’. He says, in light of learning that he has an aggressive form of cancer, “Preach the New Atheists as God’s prophets.” [Odd, I thought that they the new atheists were against religion…] Mohler writes, “When asked by a reporter if Dowd’s views amount to heresy, I responded by saying that Dowd’s proposals actually give heresy a bad name.”. “We are engaged in a great battle for ideas that Christians understand to be a battle for hearts, minds, and souls. Dowd and his fellow evangelists for evolution are certain that they own the future, and that biblical Christianity will simply fade and disappear.” Mohler notes that Dowd is an example of where rejection of biblical Christianity leads. http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/08/10/thank-god-for-the-new-atheists/
Still reaching for that rainbow: "A new theory argues that the first life on Earth got started "between the sheets" -- sheets of flaky mica minerals, that is." http://news.discovery.com/earth/mica-minerals-key-to-the-origins-of-life.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1. Surely this just came into being out of nowhere! http://news.discovery.com/space/colliding-galaxies-erupt-with-violent-beauty.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1
UK research group.MyJobGroup.co.uk, (through polling) discovered that 2 million of Britain's 34 million workforce spent more than one hour on social media sites throughout their workday. And that 55 percent admit to accessing those same sites. That time lost (1/8 of the workday) could potentially be costing British industries upwards of 14 billion pounds ($22.16 billion). Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/08/08/hey-ease-off-the-facebook-social-media-costing-companies-billions/#ixzz0wD3Jh09f. HT: A La Carte (8/10)
The only hybrid that pays itself back: "It's one you may not even have put on your short list: the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S 400 Hybrid, a mild-hybrid version of the large, pricey, prestigious full-size http://www.allcarselectric.com/category/luxury,new luxury sedan." Only One Hybrid Car Pays Back Its Owners
No comments:
Post a Comment