Triablogue: Skeptics like to list dense collections of alleged problems with the Scirptures. (e.g. 100 Bible contradictions). This rhetoric is part of its appeal. Piper notes that “request of the non-Christian for the proof of Christianity should be met with an equally serious request for proof for the non-Christian's philosophy of life. Otherwise we get the false impression that the Christian worldview is tentative and uncertain, while the more secular worldviews are secure and sure, standing above the need to give a philosophical and historical accounting of themselves. But that is not the case. Many people who demand that Christians produce proof of our claims do not make the same demand upon themselves.” Sex and money are motives for why Christianity is rejected. Laziness in defending the faith surely is too. There is no neutral position. And just as critics of Christianity search through the Bible, trying to come up with as many problems as they can think of, critics of an atheist or agnostic worldview do something similar. There is no study anyway that suggests that men need to be less committed to the Lord Jesus Christ, that men are too Biblically-discipled, too godly, too ruled by the Word. What can we do? Preach the word, break up any racist church ghetto, disicple everyone in the church, evangelize, challenge men to rise to fulfill God’s revealed calling, and minister to singles. Stop ignoring them. Skeptical Difficulties
Phillips discusses the CNN article Does the black church keep black women single? It seems there is thought to be a disconnect between black women and black men on the matter of religion in general, and of church involvement in particular. Black women being serious about church, and the black men put up a big no sale sign on learning this. Phillips sarcastically rejects the world’s prescription to go a little easier on the faith - the world hates hypocrisy — except in Biblically-faithful Christians. There the world demands hypocrisy. Black women in church- non-religious writers opine
Turk comments on how Augustine himself disagrees with the Pyromaniacs on how to read Genesis 1, and many (e.g. BioLogos) take this to justify that denying 7 days in Gen 1 doesn't necessarily lead one down the wide and easy road to hell. i) The whole of Scripture is God’s explanation of what He intended to say. Therefore one can irresponsibly miss the forest for the trees by focusing too narrowly. We have to read what is there the way it is said. ii) Whether Genesis means "days" or "periods" does not have a uniform history exegetically. iii) What is actually in question is whether one reads Genesis in contradiction to the balance of Scripture. The other side seems to think you can without doing harm to the Bible as a whole, or to the Gospel. They are mistaken. “nobody reading this post believes everything Augustine believed.” He cites Augustine’s interpretation, noting several features they wouldn’t agree with. “Let me say frankly that if I have to choose between BioLogos' contrary reading of Genesis and Augustine's, I'd choose the Bishop of Hippo's reasoning without hesitation because it does something the BioLogos reading refuses to do: it admits the supernatural and pre-eminent nature of God's creative act.” The real problem is the modernist and post-modernist alleged debunking or deconstructing of God. To employ Augustine to this end is an terrible abuse of the bishop. A Spectacle for our very Eyes to Gaze on
DeYoung has some great advice on how Christians should respond in light of events like the overturning of Proposition 8. In summary, i) don’t disengage. ii) Pastors must teach on sexuality; iii) and assume there are people in the churches struggling with homosexual attractions. iv) Youth groups need to talk openly of sexuality. v) We must not fear talking about it; God’s word talks about it, and that is our guidance. vi) Preaching/discipleship must not neglect the fleeing of all sin. vii) We must accept that some people will conclude we are bigots, homophobes, and neanderthals for thinking homosexuality is wrong; our goal isn’t to control perception but to ensure that this perception doesn’t match reality. viii) Theologians need to explore the practicals of that perplex Christian families around homosexuality. ix) NO gay jokes. None. They’re worthless and not funny. x) Be prepared to suffer. Don’t revile when reviled. xi) Drop ‘hate the sin, love the sinner’. Rather, put homosexuality in the context of the Bible’s metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption, re-creation. xii) Be people of hope, not despair. Prop 8 Got Struck Down, Now What-
Carl Trueman continues with some insights from Luther on being a theologian. He talks about the second mark of a true theologian, namely, testing/temptation, or strong, terrible dread or agonizing struggle. While some hail doubt as a ‘virtue’ in faith, this is not what Luther is getting at. Faith and doubt are the antithetical poles which define the struggle of human beings caught between the law and the gospel. ‘doubt’ in contemporary usage is nearly equivalent to skepticism. “The cool chic of Christian designer doubt is really a polite way of saying, `Well, I have problems with this bit or that bit of Christianity, and I don't like the implications or requirements of this external authority; but, you know, I'm still confident God's a decent sort of bloke and I'm sure it will be OK in the end.'” It is nothing like the terrifying existential vortex envisaged (and experienced) by Luther. It is only because Luther is certain about how great and powerful God is that he can doubt in this way. This is in contrast to the contemporary domesticated vision of God. Luther’s fear was the concern that God Himself had turned on you. This sort of doubt drives you to God’s word repeatedly, and therein is its connection with the theologian. Luther On Being a Theologian III (Carl Trueman)
Challies links to a Driscoll video on Twilight. Now, I’m posting this for two reasons – his interesting comments on the author, but probably more than that, the humourous way he manages to communicate something that he is saying is so deadly serious. I dunno. Take it or leave it. http://www.challies.com/a-la-carte/a-la-carte-811-1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+challies%2FXhEt+%28Challies+Dot+Com%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
Beggar’s All: Here’s a post containing comments from Vatican I indicating the absolute language used to declare the infallibility of the papacy. “Rome has re-calibrated its discussion of the papacy since the heady days of Vatican I and Adrian Fortescue, to lead off with the fact that they are aware of "development." It is clear from the language of Vatican I that they had no concept of development in mind.” This Bridge Should Be Illuminated
Patton discusses his fears and doubts in ministry, his persistent awareness or feeling of his own inadequacy – as if he was putting on a sham, and it was soon to be discovered. Why I am Not Fit for Ministry
Burk has some comments on an interview Rolling Stone had with Katy Perry. Most know of Katy Perry now; still less probably know that she was formerly a Christian music singer under the name Katy Hudson. Her comments are extremely revealing – she comes out of a charismatic background. She still is strongly offended at blasphemy [e.g. Burk doesn’t cite this, but she took Lady Gaga to task over blasphemy]. Here’s the really revealing part, as the article explains why Perry has departed from Christian music and the strict charismatic faith of her parents. “Perry started to question the path she was on. Her Christian label shut down, and, she says, ‘My gospel career was going nowhere.’ She started to write songs about love—and boys—on her guitar. And those weren’t gospel songs. ‘Letting go was a process,’ she says. ‘Meeting gay people, or Jewish people, and realizing that they were fine was a big part of it. Once I stopped being chaperoned, and realized I had a choice in life, I was like, “Wow, there are a lot of choices.” I began to become a sponge for all that I had missed—the music, the movies. I was as curious as the cat.’” The Faith of Katy Perry
The interview with Stephen the Levite continues here: Stephen the Levite- The Interview (Part 2 of 2)
DG blog: Paul Tripp has an exhortation on the grace of God here. i) Lest you find yourself searching for substitutions, truly understand the magnitude of the grace of God. ii) The Bible is a narrative of God’s grace, grace is the most transformational word in the Bible. iii) grace is a story and grace is a gift. It is God's character and it is your only hope. iv) Grace will make you acknowledge that you can’t earn God’s favour, and remove your fear of His displeasure. v) Grace enables you to be shockingly self-reflective, but frees you from self-conscious introspection. vi) Grace will push you to the end of yourself, while inviting you to a fresh start. Does this shape your whole life? Grace- Right Here, Right Now
aomin: Some interesting videos. Did Mohammad Have Assurance of His Salvation-
JT: Citing Christianity Today, here are some interesting comments connecting the progress of the Western world fast becoming an unreached region, with the Western church’s aversion to suffering. The latter, the lack of willingness to embrace physical suffering for ministry, may nullify the Western church’s effectiveness to evangelize, as suffering has always been crucial. “Westerners influence Eastern Christians to abandon the Cross by communicating that they must be doing something wrong if they suffer in this way?” To Serve Is to Suffer
JT: Collin Hansen has some striking words in light of last week’s martyrdom in Afghanistan and the media questions: “Even non-Christians will grant that the men and women who lost their lives for treating eyes demonstrated their love for Afghans in their good works. But love turns to imperialism when eye camp gives way to Bible school. Evangelism is perceived as arrogant disregard, even hatred, for the Afghans or anyone else who does not yet believe in Jesus Christ for salvation.” A Clash Over the Gospel
JT: A brief primer, following Grudem, on the sufficiency, clarity, authority, and necessity of the Scriptures. SCAN the Scriptures
C.S. Lewis: Only the Supernaturalist Can Truly See Nature
This post notes how things can stretch in the scientific arena: “What does observable reality imply about unobservable reality? Some scientists say, a lot. But is unobservable reality really real? Or is it an oxymoron? A couple of recent articles in the science media show scientists observing things in the present, then saying they have “huge implications” for things no scientist ever observed. In one article, some Yale geologists measured the angle of magnetization in rocks in Australia in the present. That’s the data. The implication they drew was that a supercontinent in the unobserved past called Gondwana underwent a 60-degree rotation 525 million years ago.” The article goes on to list massive implications drawn from space dust and organisms found in the mediterranean that can live without oxygen. Like this: “There was no magisterial progression from simple to complex life as oxygen levels rose; no inevitability about it,” he ended. “Instead, there was a symbiotic union between a bacterium that could make hydrogen and an archaeal host cell that could exploit that hydrogen: a freak event that changed the world.” Conjuring Up Evolutionary Implications from Current Data
Worship Matters: Kauflin reflects on a non-Christian book, The Invisible Gorilla, applying some of its observations, and asks: “This is where the conclusions of The Invisible Gorilla can be most helpful. If I trusted my own opinions and perspectives less, and sought to understand others more, how would my relationships be different?” He discusses how we like to filter and interpret feedback, etc. so that it reflects better on us. The author’s intent in the book is this: “The Invisible Gorilla is a book about six everyday illusions that profoundly influence our lives: the illusions of attention, memory, confidence, knowledge, cause, and potential. These are distorted beliefs we hold about our minds that are not just wrong, but wrong in dangerous ways…We call them everyday illusions because they affect our behavior literally every day.” Invisible Gorillas and Humility
Challies reminds us of the praises he sung of The Trellis and the Vine a short while back, and notes that there will soon be a sequel to it titled The Archer and the Arrow. Great Servants, Lousy Masters
AiG: Another human ancestor doesn’t make the cut. “In place of the science-fiction, sadly, offered by evolutionists, there is verifiable data to help us. The picture of the Au. sediba skull shown in the Science article reveals that it looks strikingly like a chimpanzee. A study of my plaster cast of a chimpanzee skull confirmed it to my own mind, and one can find a picture of a chimpanzee skull in almost any book on physical anthropology. The Berger team also write: “The closest morphological comparison for Au. sediba is Au. africanus… Many have observed that while there are thousands of fossils of humans and their alleged human ancestors, there are relatively few fossils of non-human primates. The reason is quite simple: when a non-human primate fossil is discovered, it is not recognized as such, but is instead claimed to be an evolutionary ancestor of humans.” The Problem with Australopithecus sediba
Aomin: This post continues interacting with mis-applications of 1 Peter 2:8-9 by hyper-dispensationalists. “… there is no absolute dispensational “Israel program” and “church program” that cannot be mixed. Under the New Covenant, there is one, united people of God, and Paul couldn’t have been more clear in that regard… The New Testament gospel gains clarity in light of the Old Testament. Both Peter and Paul (not to mention the other New Testament authors) refer back to the Old Testament to support their arguments about the coming of Christ and His redemptive work.” Paul vs. Peter- Round 2
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