Christian Carnival CLIII Posted
Christian Carnival CLIII has been posted at Lux Venit. It looks good, but I may not have time to look at much this week. Thanks to Leslie for a good job!
Can one Like both George Bailey and Howard Roark?
Joe Carter has a wonderful post today, The Fountainhead of Bedford Falls: Comparing George Bailey and Howard Roark, discussing elements of the style and meaning of It’s a Wonderful Life and The Fountainhead. While I might quibble about some points in the evaluation, it’s a well written and thoughtful piece, and you should take a…
Joe Meert in Conversation with John Baumgardner
The Florida Citizens for Science blog has an interesting account of a conversation between Joe Meert (Florida Citizens for Science vice-chair) and John Baumgardner, geophysicist and young earth creationist. It’s worth reading. Joe asks the right questions. You can find it here.
Fear and Bible Study
I was preparing a devotional for my wife’s devotional list on facing fear when it suddenly occurred to me that the verses I was using could also apply to Bible study. I regularly encounter Christians who are afraid to study the Bible. Their concern is that they will get it wrong, but more especially that…
New Life Church Behaving Responsibly
I’m not one to spend a great deal of time criticizing the media for their treatment of Christianity, but I do think that in general journalists in this country have a really good idea for what’s not the most important story, and as soon as they detect such a thing, they print it immediately. That’s…
Tripoli 6 Sentenced to Death
(HT: The Panda’s Thumb) The way this case is being handled illustrates why religious and traditional beliefs about the physical world should be subject to scientific testing. I don’t mean that one’s beliefs about spiritual matters need to be so tested, but when your beliefs or mine say something about the physical world, then they…
Moderate Christian Blog Roundup
I went wandering through the Moderate Christian Blog Aggregator today. I really should do this more often as there are always some really excellent posts. I simply try to read so much stuff that I often don’t get around to writing about all the things I’d like to. In any case, here are some selected…
Dave Warnock on Wayne Grudem Interview
Dave Warnock has posted an excellent set of reflections on the Wayne Grudem interview series. I strongly recommend reading it, especially some specific reflections from a Methodist perspective. While I do not use the term “evangelical” and Dave does, the problem is a difference of definition. Some of us try to hang onto words and…
The Proper Bounds of Political Correctness
In my experience, political correctness is invoked more as a way to stifle requests for courtesy and consideration than it is to actually stifle freedom of speech. People here in the southern part of the country want to avoid the charge of political correctness at all costs. It’s sort of like being accused of being…
The Wayne Grudem Interview – Reflections
I’ve been responding at some length to Adrian Warnock’s interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem. He has now posted his Highlights and Reflections and I’m not going to respond point by point to that as it simply deals with issues I’ve responded to earlier. I think probably the best question to ask at this point is…
Grudem and Church Leadership
In part 9 of Adrian Warnock’s interview with Dr. Wayne Grudem the subject turns to church leadership. While I disagree with much of what Dr. Grudem says about church leadership, I could wish he would show some similar sensitivity to different points of view on male-female authority issues that he does on church leadership. Certainly…
Grudem Interview #8 – Arguing from Numbers
I’ve had a day or so delay in responding to sections of Adrian Warnock’s interview with Wayne Grudem, so I’ll take on the last couple of sections and do my own reflections post today. This post takes a small sample from Part Eight – What Does the Future Hold for the Church? The main part…
Developments on the Plagiarism Front
There have been a couple of very interesting posts about the flap over Judge Jones’s alleged (falsely it turns out) plagiarism in the Kitzmiller decision. I pointed out previously that I saw this as essentially a broad scatter ad hominem attack that reflects no credit on those who perpretrated it. In the meantime, if there…
A Practical Application of Grace Before Law
In an earlier post on salvation I mentioned that I would try to expand on some of the points I had only briefly mentioned. I have followed up with an extract from my earlier essay A Fruitful Faith. I encountered an excellent example of the grace before law principle in my devotions the other day…
A Fruitful Faith
As I mentioned in a prior post on salvation, I plan to make a few more comments over the next few months filling out my views. In support of some future posts, I want to post an extract from a previous essay, A Fruitful Faith. You can read the remainder of that essay by following…
Inerrancy and Liberal-Conservative Dialogue
In a comment at , Adrian Warnock says the following: Dr Grudem has expressed regret for the use of the word “blasphemy”, and as far as the quote from his systematic theology goes you have to understand that his aim is explicitly to build a theology based on the assumption that the bible is inerrant…
Critical Thinking and the Attack on Judge Jones
In my Bible Translations FAQ, I respond to a common question about Bible translation and about the NIV in particular. Let me quote my basic response first, and then I’ll discuss why I’m bringing this up now. No, this is not a post about Bible translation, though I’m going to use a translation issue as…
NASB to NASB95 in Isaiah 27
In my materials for my Bible Translation Selection Tool, I only have one entry for the New American Standard Version even though that version was revised in 1995. The major change was the removal of archaic language in prayer–no more thee’s and thou’s. A few other changes were made. In preparing an entry on exegesis…
Idolatry and Male Representation
The new, young associate pastor was praying, and in her prayer she referred to God as “Father-Mother God.” Silence settled over the congregation as mental gasps replaced “Amens.” The associate pastor had transgressed the unofficial line. You can represent God as vengeful or loving, gentle or angry, gracious or demanding, present or distant, but don’t…
Agreeing with Wayne Grudem on Something
Well, I wasn’t sure it would happen, but it has. I agree with a portion of Dr. Wayne Grudem’s comments in the seventh part of Adrian Warnock’s interview with him, Things We Can Agree to Disagree About? Of course, he reaffirms the key points on which I disagree profoundly, namely that making penal substitutionary atonement…
ID = Intense Desperation?
Or perhaps it had set in a long time ago. I hadn’t really meant to comment on the current uproar about the Discovery Institute’s apparent “discovery” that part of Judge Jones’s ruling in the Dover case came “almost verbatim” from the propose findings of fact from the plaintiff’s attorneys. I’m not an attorney, and I…
Christianity vs Paulianity
Dave Warnock has made an interesting discovery while looking at the interview with Wayne Grudem that Adrian Warnock is publishing on his blog (#6 entry). Jesus has been almost totally left out of the argument. I commented on the type of view of scripture that seems to lead to this previously, and in my recent…
Response on United Methodist Apportionments
Some time ago I posted an entry that dealt broadly with apportionments and accountability in churches. A very good friend of mine, Dr. Bob McKibben, author of Holy Smoke! Unholy Fire!, which I publish, wrote me an impassioned and information filled e-mail in response. Some of the contents of that e-mail were not appropriate to…
Christian Carnival CLII Posted
It’s at Buzz Blog and looks like some good stuff. Go read and stir up the blogosphere!