2008-12-15

Phillips: "Is Bush an evangelical?, Irish Calvinist asks. He thinks not. Stickler that I am, I've tried to find a full, verbatim account of the Bush interview. I found this transcript, which does not contain the words most have objected to. It has a mixture of the miserably foolish, and the acceptably evangelical — if one makes allowance for the fact on which I've long remarked: that President Bush is a lamentably ineloquent, inarticulate man. To that, we can add "wretchedly-taught," by the Methodist churches he's frequented. Does that surprise us? Sadly, no. Sadder still, Bush doesn't say anything Billy Graham hasn't also said, more's the pity. So, if Billy Graham is an evangelical, nothing Bush said disqualified him from the same label. I meant that if, by the way. Perhaps Graham isn't the evangelical we wish he were. Read Iain Murray's excellent (and depressing) Evangelicalism Divided, and you'll know exactly what I mean." 08

HT Challies: "The New York Times, looking at growing church attendance in the wake of the recession, says "Bad times are good for evangelical churches."" Bad Times Draw Big Crowds, 15)

Challies argues from John 5 that Jesus freedom, goodness, and justice in mercifully healing only the one lame man is analogous to God's freedom in dispensing mercy to sinners. One in a Sea of Faces

Mohler has some tips on how to use a study Bible. http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2930

Dan Phillips writes how, despite the reviews of CT, the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still is not analogous to the Gospel, but rather disanalogous on a variety of fundamental points, and can only point to the Gospel by way of contrast. The day the Gospel stood still-

Noel Piper has a quick note that implicitly cautions against docetism with regard to the infancy narratives this Christmas. Burping Baby Jesus

Apparently yawning cools the brain. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/12/15/yawn-brain-head.html

Tom Ascol further responds to David Allen's misrepresentations of James White and ignorance of the history of hypercalvinism, and he argues that while Allen aims to build bridges, much of what he's producing works against this goal. A Brief Response to David Allen's Explanations and Rejoinder

Hays quotes some universalist argumentation that adopts a denial of inerrancy in order to support its position. He does point out that this ironically serves the truth by putting the pressure on Arminianism, which drives an "artificial wedge between universal atonement and universal salvation.". "Arminian exegesis represents a mediating position, an intellectual compromise, and universalism is putting the squeeze on that unstable halfway measure. The Arminian is the only one without a chair when the music stops."  Inerrancy or universalism-

JT links to Martin Luther's Christmas Book. It looks quite interesting. Martin Luther's Christmas Book

Turretinfan has a good post here: "there's not a corresponding statement in Calvinism, because Calvinism rejects a third category of knowledge called "middle knowledge." Instead, Calvinism addresses hypothetical questions asked now, in time, as relating either to natural or free knowledge, depending on the situation, as illustrated above." "Natural knowledge is the knowledge of all possible things - all things that are logically possible. Free knowledge is the knowledge of all things that arise from God's exercise of his will." He makes the interesting point that if God conceals the details of a prophecy He has His reasons; so too if He reveals the details - details which may result in its fulfillment. God acts in different ways, but works all things together for His purpose. Molinism Post

This is worth a read - I have commented on it (see also here: http://alwaysonenote.blogspot.com/2008/12/mike-said-on-piper-said-about-glory.html). Jeremy Pierce on the glory of God

Spurgeon writes quite vividly about the vileness of the human heart - even asking God not to fully reveal it to us, lest we utterly despair. Read it for yourself: How Total Is Our Depravity-

Gordon Cheng of Solapanel responds to some (rather ironically personal) flak he gets for going after the character of false teachers (e.g. his comments on Rowan Williams). "what exactly does Paul do to help his Roman readers identify and respond rightly to these false teachers? Simple: he attacks the character of the people doing the false teaching. As far as the content of their teaching goes, he has nothing to say. The only issue of substance Paul addresses is that they don't think the same as he does—that is, to quote Paul, they “create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught” (Rom 16:17)." Playing the man and not the ball

I don't even know what to say about this. Complementarian Hip-Hop

This post argues that the warning passages are directed at believers as well as nominal Christians, and is a means of preserving the former. The Warning Passages in Scripture- For Christians or Pretenders-

AiG has an article about how Darwin's ideas developed much later than his trip to the Galapagos Islands - and how a person's starting point will influence the conclusions that he draws from what he sees. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/am/v4/n1/galapagos