T4G Article II: Canon within Canon
In a previous entry I discussed the inspiration of the Bible in response to the Together for the Gospel statement, Article I. Since I disagreed almost entirely with that article, and Article II also deals with the Bible, it is no surprise that I find much to disagree with in this second statement as well….
Links to start the week
As you can see if you look back through my posts, these “links” entries are pretty irregular, and that will probably continue. Some things I link immediately, but to avoid many short posts I post collections like this one. Let me start with things I’ve collected, in categories. Bible Translations There was an excellent, dispassionate…
T4G Article I: The Bible
The first two articles of the Together for the Gospel statement relate to the Bible. I’m going to deal primarily with the first article in this short essay. The article reads: I find myself so fundamentally in disagreement with this article that practically every word requires some sort of response. Since I have written fairly…
Is this the Gospel? (Overview)
In an earlier post I responded to the Together for the Gospel statement, which I do not think represents any real “togetherness,” nor do I think it represents the gospel. Now I want to be clear that I am not suggesting that my side, whatever that may be, needs to exclude the writers of such…
Basis of Faith and Meaning
A number of people over the years have suggested that because of some doctrinal position or another that I hold, I no longer have a basis for my faith. Those who express themselves a bit less forcefully see it as a weakening of faith, a distancing from God, and a lessening of belief in God’s…
The Dog DID my Homework
We’ve all heard the traditional excuse for missing homework: The dog ate it. Well, intelligent design creationists (IDCs) now have a better one. The dog did their homework. Well, it’s analogous to that in any case. Thanks to Pim van Meurs of The Panda’s Thumb in his entry Eugenie Scott: The Big Tent and the…
What’s the Impact?
In what is destined to become a classic understatement, Newsweek subtitles their aricle Face of the Enemy about the death of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi Zarqawi’s many roles in the Iraqi tragedy suggest his deminse may have side effects that are very difficult to predict. One thing we can be fairly certain of is that his…
Excellent Post on Gay Marriage
There’s an excellent post on gay marriage by Jon Rowe over on Positive LibertyA Theoretical Solution to Maggie Gallagher’s Problem (thanks to Ed Brayton on Dispatches from the Culture Wars for pointing this post out.) I’m particularly pleased with the argument here that allows religious toleration for those who believe homosexuality is a sin, and…
Roy Moore (Governor) and Alabama Supreme Court Slate Lose
There have been a number of articles on these races because of the national issues raised, including the idea that a state court should be permitted to ignore a federal court order that it regards as unlawful. Roy Moore gained fame by refusing to remove a monument to the ten commandments, but when it came…
Isaiah 24-27: Basics of Criticism
Now that we’ve looked over the text and found a set of transitions in it, we can start looking at how critical methologies will apply to this material. Will they help us interpret and apply the passage? This is a moment to look at some of the reasons I’ve been writing this series. Frequently, Bible…
Hebrews 1:5-14
I’m going back now to fill in some of the blanks in my blogging on the book of Hebrews. My series of classes is finished, and I’ll focus just a little bit more narrowly than I did in a series of thematic classes taken from the book. Following his introductory long sentence (1:1-4) our author…
Mixing up Symbol and Reality
It’s interesting that the following article, Burning Gods: Fear and Free Speech in America, is written by an atheist. The principle is so strongly applicable to Christian thinking as well. Carol’s article reminded me of the Ten Commandments flap in Alabama, which produced some interesting pictures of Christians bowing down in front of the ten…
Educating for Reality
This is good stuff! Kudos to North Carolina, not because they have succeeded, but because they are trying in a number of innovative ways to solve actual problems that students are observed having. You always have to try before you can succeed. The Newsweek story is here: The Future is in Their Hands. The key…
Wayne Leman on Translation Errors
Wayne Leman has written an excellent post on the Better Bibles Blog, in which he discusses what should or should not be called an error in Bible translation. He is looking for a list of genuine translation errors; not differences of opinion or ideology, but genuine errors. I’ll be watching with interest to see what…
Christian Violence?
A Christian game company is producing a game based on the Left Behind series. Their own advertising quotes the New York Times saying that the game “Combines Tom Clancy-like suspense with touches of romance, high-tech flash and Biblical references.” The game puts players in the position of either killing or converting their opponents and includes…
Unity, Diversity, and Confusion
Recently I wrote a couple of entries, first on diversity and liberalism, and then on the Together for the Gospel statement. The issues I discussed in those two posts raise quite a number of questions about truth, unity, and Christian fellowship. Many might decide from my comments thus far that I don’t care about truth…
Who’s Together for What?
A group of evangelical men has gotten together with the purpose of defending the gospel from, it would appear pretty much everyone. In their statement, T4G Affirmations and Denials, they say: We are brothers in Christ united in one great cause
Hebrews 11: Honor Roll of Faith
Hebrews 11 is one of those chapters that tends to get treated apart from its context. Many people who are largely unacquainted with the basic themes of book of Hebrews are nonetheless acquainted with this one chapter. But this chapter fulfills a specific purpose in the argument of the book as a whole. Without any…
Misrepresenting Science in God’s Name
The Smithsonian magazine online has an article Dinosaur Shocker, talking about the work of Mary Schweitzer who has found preserved soft tissues in fossilized dinosaur bones. The topic has been picked up by young earth creationists and used as an evidence for a young earth. This has already been discussed on the web, but if…
Good Point, Bad Exegesis
John the Methodist on Locusts and Honey has an excellent post on sexual ethics and the exegesis behind it. He discusses the misuse of the story of David and Bathsheba in order to make a point that was nonetheless a good one. When he encountered this in a small group discussion, John was silent on…
The Danger of Ineffective Intervention
In February of 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, I wrote an essay entitled Revenge! in which I made some comments on the justification of violence. I think what I said then reflects well the situation in Iraq now. I’m not claiming special prophetic gifts here, but folks, I told you so! Sometimes that…
In and Around God
I found a wonderful post on the relationship to which God invites us over at connexions (via the the Methodist Blogs Weekly Roundup), titled Living in God. The author, Richard Hall, brings to us the word “perichoresis” used by early church fathers to describe the union of the human and divine in Jesus and then…
Some Links for Saturday
I’ve been doing some writing on many of the links I’ve found during the week, but I do want to list some of what I’ve been writing elsewhere and also a few assorted blog entries I’ve found that interested me. First, while perusing Wrong Words, I noticed the entry Child Abuse or Child Discipline, which…
Genesis 3: The Story of the Fall
I just completed drafting a translation of Genesis 3 for my Totally Free Bible Version project, which is simply where I make my personal translation work available free on the web for anyone who wants to use it within a very limited set of rules. I want to comment some on this story and its…