2008-12-30

Bart Ehrman gave a less than favourable presentation on David Parker’s An Introduction to the NT MSS and Their Texts (CUP). He doesn't like it much as an intro to the field. "In some respects Ehrman actually seems to “fight himself,” since he sometimes expresses an agnostic view of the initial text, since what we have are "copies of the copies of the copies," etc. (the mantra being “we just don’t know"). In this session I got the impression that he has become somewhat more optimistic about the initial text. Just before the meeting, during November, we were involved in a long debate on the Textual Criticism discussion-list on this and related topics (here and a number of subsequent messages in some separate threads)." SBL Boston, Book Review of David Parker, An Introduction to the NT MSS and Their Texts pt. 2

Phillips observes that God-haters tend to attack the Bible by ignoring the whole of the story. But Revelation teaches that all will worship God, for (at the end) His righteous acts have been revealed. Then it will all be clear. Horrible stories and the Whole Story

John Newton struggled greatly with focus and consistency in prayer. Newton's Struggle with Prayer

Piper gives ten reasons to pray the Scriptures. 10 Reasons to Pray the Scriptures

Challies 30) points to this article: "Boundless gives a useful and biblical answer to a reader's question. As he looks toward marrying his girlfriend, he asks how he can approach and deal with her past sexual experiences." Her Sexual Experiences

Challies cautions against measuring the self by comparison to others: "There is a great danger in this habit. As I look to others and as I measure my godliness, my growth in grace by the standard of other people, I may learn to despise their godliness and to rejoice in their sin. After all, if they are my standard, their growth in grace calls into question my own. At the same time, their fall into sin will gladden me as I rejoice in not having fallen so far or so hard. I've looked to the wrong standard and have reached the wrong goals." Rather, seek to emulate Christ, and compare yourself to Him. The Best Measure

Turk asks, "The other thing is this: this story strikes me as an interesting case study for comparison to The Shack. You know: the Shack is fiction, right? So what harm can it do? Well, it turns out that Herman Rosenblat's story is just fiction -- so what harm can it do? Why should we repudiate Rosenblat but embrace the Shack?" The way we wish we were

Turk points out in dealing with the atheist objection against suffering, which suggests that God could put Joseph in power without all the suffering. "this objection is speculative at best, and disjointed from reality at worst. He has abandoned his existential reasoning for fantasy exactly when the existential truth betrays him." "The Bible uses the story of Joseph to make one singular point: in some way, men intend some actions for the sake of evil, but somehow those actions play out to redeem them in spite of themselves." You meant it for evil (2)

JT points to a plethora of resources on preaching. Resources on Preaching. Here's the direct link: this

Wells on how we should preach to a postmodern world. Wells- “How, Then, Should We Preach to the (Postmodern) World-”

Mohler lists ten noteworthy events of 2008. 1.  The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. 2.  America becomes Ground Zero of a global economic crisis. 3.  The Bush Administration prepares to depart. 4.  Controversy in the Episcopal Church leads to schism. 5.  California voters approve Proposition 8. 6.  The death of Alexander Solzhenitsyn marks end of an era. 7. Euthanasia is approved in Washington State. 8.  John Edwards is caught in a sexual affair -- and America cared. 9.  Atheists launch public relations efforts. 10.  The world takes note of a demographic downturn -- Where are the babies?  http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=3044