2010-08-24

JT notes that a judge has blocked Obama’s executive order to expand funding for embryonic stem cell research. Judge Lamberth wrote, in part, “ESC research necessarily depends upon the destruction of a human embryo.” JT points to Joe Carter’s Q&A on the matter, and a number of resources on the immorality of Obama’s executive order. FAQs on Stems Cells

Piper couldn’t speak before groups until college, and he got C- in preaching!, but God made him a preacher. He says he learned to preach by watching his dad, and how not to do it. He learned to preach as he was so discouraged that he had to dive deep into Scripture, and God made him a preacher by shutting his mouth. He was passionately thrilled by what he saw in the Bible in seminary. Exegesis classes, not homiletics, compelled him to want to preach. He doesn’t understand preachers who go everywhere but the Bible to find something scintillating. He has to work hard to leave the Bible to go somewhere to find an illustration, because everything in the Bible is mind-blowing. Piper says thats not much you can do to be a preacher but know your Bible and be unbelievably excited about what's there, and love people, to connect them with Scripture. How Piper Learned to Preach

CMI points out that every NT author alludes to or quotes Genesis, with 60 allusions to Genesis 1-11, 103 in total. CMI notes how the Gospel writes, Jesus, Romans, 1+2 Corinthians, Hebrews (e.g. Abel, Enoch and Noah are heroes of the faith), Peter, and Jude treat it as history. Genesis in the New Testament

Beggar’s All notes that a “scholar like Thomas Schreiner (and with him, Carson and Moo) can not only say that they hold all 13 Pauline epistles as authentic (and the works of 1 and 2 Peter to be authentic as well, for example), they are able to say precisely what the theories are of the scholars who disagree with them, and in the process of stating these other theories as clearly as they can, they also argue strenuously for their own (conservative) positions.” That is the most intellectually honest approach there is. The most fundamentally honest approach that I can imagine

DeYoung asks, what would you write a Christian friend who is in trouble, and buckling under all manner of pressures, be it from the world and sin and social ostracization, and so on? He then takes a short on the emptyness of contemporary bleeding heart approaches that empty God of His Godliness in favour of sentimental platitudes about ‘journey’ and ‘Christianity needing to change or die’ and ‘don’t cling to outmoded views on homosexuality and eternal punishment’. DeYoung instead looks to John’s writings in Revelation 1:4-8: the first thing John told struggling Christians was of the majesty our Triune God–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “What you and I need most is not the affirmation of our stories, nor content-less, shapeless platitudes about the mysterious journey of faith, nor a morality pep talk, nor the undermining of God’s sovereignty. What we need is a glimpse of God in all his terrible splendor and wonderful weightiness.” Need Help- Know God

Pyro: Blast from the Past- 26 ways in which doing IT Support is better than being a pastor

Challies reviews the Archer and the Arrow. While the Trellis and the Vine stood on its metaphor, this does not, and it seems that the metaphor is too complicated or obscure. He does not anticipate many churches speaking of arrowheads, shafts, and features in the way they speak of trellis/vine work. However, while the metaphor is not the most compelling, the book’s contents are far more so. Preachers ought to labor throughout their lives to become better in crafting sermons, in delivering sermons and even in understanding the purpose of sermons. To that end most preachers continue to read books on preaching. And this is just the kind of book that may well prove beneficial to them, as it calls them to be faithful to the task of preaching, though it offers no new techniques or understanding into the task. The Archer and the Arrow

JT posts a substantial comment by Wallace on the Comma Johanneum. One gem: “There is also a significant updating to the list of MSS that have the comma Johanneum. Up until a few weeks ago, scholars knew of only eight Greek NT MSS that had the comma either in the text (four MSS) or in the margins (four MSS). The earliest textual reading, as I said above, is found in a fourteenth century MS. The marginal readings are found in one 10th century MS, one 11th century MS, and then three later MSS.” Also, “The Textus Receptus differs from the Byzantine text 1838 times! The Byzantine text also differs from the standard critical text 6577 times. In reality, all of them are closer to each other than they could be; there are several MSS that are ‘out there,’ far more disparate from either the Byzantine or critical texts.” Wallace on the Comma Johanneum at 1 John 5.7

AiG notes that ‘NASA scientists found the missing day in the Bible’ is a bad argument: investigation reveals that this type of tale dates back to the late 1800s. The story picked up more steam after the 1936 book The Harmony of Science and Scripture promoted it. AiG points out that we have no frame of reference by which to tell if a day is missing from our vantage point. NASA Found Joshua’s Missing Day

Turretinfan points to a video of a Romanist priest interviewing fellow New Yorkers about the assumption of Mary. T-fan notes that though the video doesn’t go into much depth, it still messes up a few things – confusing the year of the definition of the dogma with the year of the feast, and asserting that there have been only two exercises of papal infallibility. There is a very open question about whether there have been other examples throughout history where a pope has used this alleged gift of infallibility. Basically, if you are going to evangelize Roman Catholics, you need to know their religion better than they do, rather than relying on them to explain to you what their religion teaches. Assumption or Guess-

Patton has a post discussing the issue of the prohibition of alcohol. He notes a preacher who makes the good points about the danger of compromise, and the point that God knows best, but whose examples are irresponsible, representing a legalistic folk-theology which is more destructive than constructive. Ironically, the preacher has compromised by failing to properly qualify his examples (e.g. Accepting a mixed drink at a party.). We must balance the warning passages in Scripture with those that speak positively about alcohol. Some encourage its celebratory, medicinal, and emotional purposes and effects. Even Christ was accused of being a drunkard. Why? Because he drank alcohol! “In the end, these things must be dealt with carefully and with much wisdom. We must understand that the possible abuse of something neither makes the abuse necessary or even likely. Most importantly, we must recognize that it is a sinful compromise to deem that which is not sinful sinful, due to misapplied folk theology, no matter how good our intentions are. Drinking alcohol is not sinful. Let us get over this legalistic fascination and represent the principle truly and with perspective.” My View About Prohibiting Alcohol

Burk comments on Mohler’s convocation address, saying, “Dr. Mohler argues that the evangelical movement provided the theological resources that the SBC needed to mount its conservative resurgence in the 80’s and 90’s. Now, Southern Baptists find themselves in the position of returning the favor.” He calls Southern Baptist to theological integrity, Gospel clarity, and biblical authority (Mohler takes on Peter Enns, Kenton Sparks, and others at the Biologos site). The Future of Evangelicalism and the SBC

CEH – apparently the moon is not so geologically dead. Moon May Be Active Today

Dusman of Triablogue continues to relate his experience doing outreach on campus. The story is worth a read because he models tremendous respect throughout the course of his efforts, especially in his interactions with law enforcement. He also notes an example of atheistic irrationality. “After open-air preaching for about 1.5 hours, an atheist student associated with the above group briskly walked up and stood directly in front of me such that I was literally preaching over his head for a few seconds. Once he positioned himself directly in front of me he started laughing at me while smoking his cigarette. I knew where this was going, so I immediately stepped off my soapbox and tried to engage him in a rational conversation as he continued to giggle at me like a little schoolgirl.” UNCG Outreach Report 8-24-2010

Jensen has seven tips for preachers: “When you preach, be as good as you can. Fledgling preachers tend to be boring. Work out how long you can preach for and still be interesting. Avoid commentaries (he writes, “Spend more time in the biblical text and thinking for yourself about it, and less time answering the problems of the commentators. Scholars who write commentaries are talking to each other, answering each others' questions. They are not the questions that the person in the pew has, and they're often not what the text is about either.” Good to know, but you can’t let it take up all your prep time). Find the logic units of the book; don’t just preach on chapters or paragraphs. Young preachers should start with bigger sections. Expository preaching is worth fighting for (but a lot of other things are not)” Tips for Young Preachers

Hays writes, “the Ground Zero mosque is just another attempt by Muslims to mainstream their image. Deceptive PR. When Muslims can’t subjugate the kafir by direct conquest, they resort to an incremental campaign of infiltration to gradually gain political power and dominance. We see this strategy play out in England, Europe, and Canada. And we also see it being implemented in places like Dearborn (to judge by reliable sources).” The Ground Zero mosque

Darrell Bock addresses a commentator who claims that Jesus accepted same-sex marriage. i) He defined marriage by Genesis 2. It is a definition of what marriage is and a description of what happened when God brought Adam and Eve together to start the helpmeet relationship that made for a marriage, a male-female design that Jesus affirms. ii) There is no biblical evidence at all for this notion. This claim says something Jesus denied by the very passage he used to define and discuss marriage. iii) To use one poorly handled moral area to open the door for another is not moral progress. iv) Not only is nowhere a same sex marriage in the Bible endorsed, but every time a sexual relationship between the same sex comes up, it is condemned. Jesus even referred to Sodom and Gomorrah as evidence of evil. Bock on homosexuality

Trueman has some interesting words about responses to his comments on the doctrinal significance of the appointment of the new president at King’s College, which have been seen as a result of me confusing the different roles of a seminary and a college.  “My concern for doctrinal indifferentism at a Christian College arises not out of a seminary-college category confusion but rather out of my belief that one huge mythological misconception is simply being allowed to continue unchallenged: that there is `a [singular] Christian life and world view' that can be separated as some kind of Platonic ideal from the phenomena of particular confessional commitment, whether Reformed, Anabaptist or whatever.  It is time to come clean: we need to speak of Christian life and world views (plural) and we need to acknowledge that  those who talk of such in the singular are more than likely privileging their particular view of the world (including their politics -- Left and Right) as the normative Christian one, and thus as being essentially beyond criticism and scrutiny -- whether that view is doctrinally complex or indifferent to all but being `born again.'”

From Aomin. Peter Stravinskas Threatens to Sue Alpha and Omega Ministries