What I Read Online – 02/23/2012 (a.m.)

• Covenantal Apologetics and the Doctrine of Scripture – Justin Taylor

  • Scott Oliphint, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, talks about the relationship of philosophy, apologetics, and the doctrine of Scripture:

• Moore to the Point – Let’s Have More Worship Wars

  • But the more I reflect on what I like, and why, the more I’m convinced that my preferences are almost entirely cultural and nostalgic.
  • What I am saying is that most of our varying critiques of musical forms are often just narcissism disguised as concern about theological and liturgical downgrade. That’s why I think we need more, and better, worship wars.
  • if it’s simply because we’ve so segregated ourselves into services and congregations that reflect generational and ethnic and class-oriented musical commonalities.
  • When we seek the well-being of others in worship, it’s not just that we cringe through music we hate. As an act of love, this often causes us to appreciate, empathize, and even start to resonate with worship through musical forms we previously never considered.

• Let No Man Depsise You Because of You’ve Been Round the Block a Few Times – Reformation21 Blog

  • Most of them would imply that mature age is normative for office bearing. 
  • Yet Paul’s reason for holding back on giving such office or platform is important: to do so simply creates an opportunity for pride and gives the devil a potentially lethal foothold.  If ‘too much, too soon’ is the epitaph which should be written on the grave of many a rock star in an early grave, then it could just as easily be the epitaph on the spiritual graves of young converts given too much responsibility and influence too soon.   We do new converts no favours whatsoever by allowing them positions of power and influence within the church.  It is, indeed, pastoral cruelty to do so.
  • So elders are to be those with a track record in the faith.
  • Of course, what I said about the enthusiasm of the new convert as a good thing still applies. If the new convert is not to be an elder, that does not mean that the enthusiasm is not to be directed in the right channels.  And that is surely one of the greatest delights of being an elder or of simply being a faithful church member: the discipling of the young convert or Christian in a way that does not stifle such enthusiasm or allow it to be transformed into cynicism at the first setback; but which uses it for the expansion of God’s kingdom.

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What I Read Online – 02/22/2012 (p.m.)

• Teach Children the Bible Is Not About Them – The Gospel Coalition Blog

  • Editors’ Note: The new Jesus Storybook Bible Curriculum by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sam Shammas contains 44 lessons revealing how Jesus is the center of each Bible story and how every story whispers his name. It includes activities, notes for teachers based on material from Timothy Keller, memory verses, handouts for children, a hardcover copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible, and three audio CDs containing David Suchet’s reading.

• The Cathedral lies in ruins – does Christianity? « the kiwifruit blog

  • Today, the Anglican Church in Latimer Square is simply a vacant block; there aren’t even any ruins. And yet the ministry of the Word which was centred there for decades flourishes more and more across the city. Several other Christian ministries across the city, both Anglican and not, have grown out of this church, including a course aimed at training people to proclaim the Bible as the Word of God. The word which Bishop Latimer preached 500 years ago does not lie in ruins. Under God we pray it will be a key aspect of the rebuilding of the city of Christchurch. In 20, 50 and 200 years from now, I suspect people will see more clearly that this Word has done anything but lie in ruins. Rather I suspect it will be shown to be what it has always been: living, active, powerful, unstoppable and eternal.

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What I Read Online – 02/22/2012 (a.m.)

• A Question of Character (5) – Reformation21 Blog

  • The pulpit and a man’s public ministry often hide many sins the confines of his home exposes
  • First and foremost, the minister must be a shepherd and overseer of the little flock entrusted to him in his home
  • I think he is calling upon the minister to be an example of true Christian parenting in his home
  • The minister’s home should also show forth the daily joys of parenting. He should regularly gather his little flock for family worship. He must catechize his children. He should pray with them every day. He should speak frequently about God’s wonderful works in creation and redemption. And he should see that his children are constantly trained to see all of life through the lens of Christ. And while he will not seek a “crisis conversion” experience for his children, he will not neglect to pray for and look for the fruit of children who have owned the precious and amazing covenant promises of God for themselves. 

• The Bono Effect and Corporate Worship – The Gospel Coalition Blog

  • We also consider Wardell’s provocative question of why church leaders talk so much about contextualization when no matter where you travel, you see them wearing the same clothes and hear the signing the same songs

• Give Up the Gimmicks, Youth Pastors – The Gospel Coalition Blog

  • The absolutely amazing truth is that God has already supplied us with the means to nourish his people, and we find ourselves thinking we can do better
  • The irony is that these same teens actually want to grow and learn hard truths. They want to know how to think about suffering, how to pray, and why Jesus had to die

• Your Conscience Can Tell You Bad News, Not Good | CCEF

  • The conscience does have its limitations though, and they are significant. For one, it can only make you feel bad. Every once in while you might have a clear conscience—meaning that there is nothing you have to hide—but it only lasts for a moment. That’s just the conscience being the conscience. It has the power to make us feel guilty but not innocent. It has the power to say “don’t do that” but not the power to keep us from doing it.
  • It is not able to give direction on how to be right with God. The conscience is a natural ability, not an enlightened one. The conscience is a valuable asset, but you can’t get to any place good from there

• Why I Hope Real Books Never Die (and They Won’t) – Kevin DeYoung

  • I can’t tell you how many often I sit at my desk, push back my seat, and allow my eyes to drift around the room full of bookshelves. I’m not procrastinating, not exactly. I’m scanning the room to see my friends. Their covers jog my memories. They remind me of what I learned once. More than that, they me of my life–where I was when I first read Lloyd-Jones on the couch, how I knelt by the bed with tears when I read Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, how my life was so different 15 years ago when I read my dad’s copy of the Institutes as a college student. If all my books disappeared on to a microchip I might have less to lug around and I might be able to search my notes more easily, but I’d lose memory; I’d lose history; I’d lose a little bit of myself

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What I Read Online – 02/21/2012 (a.m.)

• Church: be who you are « the kiwifruit blog

  • One of the very important things God has done for us is to save us into a people, a community. We are saved into the church, the body of Christ – as Peter puts it so beautifully, we are ‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God’ (1 Peter 2:9). None of those terms are individual, they are all talking about a group. Salvation is certainly something that happens to individuals, but they aren’t saved to be individuals.
  • We are the church, so we need to live that out as the church, as groups of people, not just as lone individuals. If we are going to be who we truly are in Christ, we need to be committed to a local church.

• Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? A Review – Reformation21

  • Although Collins argues for the historicity of Adam and Eve, the way the argument is presented raises significant concerns not only for the interpretation of Scripture, but also for the character and authority of Scripture. The purpose of this review will be to try to lay out the argument of the book and then to show the problems and implications of the argument. 
  • The traditional view, however, should include not just the historicity of Adam and Eve and the immediate special creation of Adam and Eve, but also the traditional understanding of Genesis 2:7, which is that God took soil from the ground and made Adam from it. 
  • However, he so stresses the figurative aspect of the literary approach that he actually says that the Bible should be understood as non-literal, pictorial, and symbolic (pp. 17, 20, 31). He even says that what we are left with in Genesis 1-11 is an historical core (p. 35). This allows him to move away from clear statements in the Bible concerning the formation of Adam in Genesis 2 and to entertain other scenarios. In fact, there are several places where he warns against a literal reading of the Bible (pp. 58, 85, 92, 124). Thus, we cannot be sure of the exact details of the process by which Adam’s body was formed, or whether the two trees in the garden were actual trees, or whether the Evil One’s mouthpiece was a talking snake (p. 66)
  • Such views seek to redefine the genre of Genesis 1-11 as something other than historical narrative. However, Genesis 1-11 is historical narrative like the rest of Genesis. The historical narrative marker, the imperfect waw consecutive, is prominent throughout Genesis 1-11, just as it is prominent throughout the rest of Genesis. Of course, there can be figurative language in historical narrative, but the predominant way to read historical narrative is not in a symbolic, pictorial way.
  • Although Collins is trying to maintain sound thinking, the acceptance of groups of humans from which Adam comes has implications for the place of Adam in relationship to the human race.
  • Now it appears that not only is the question of how God created in Genesis 2 an open issue, but the nature of the historicity of Genesis 1-11 is also being questioned. Presbyteries are going to have to decide what are acceptable views concerning Genesis 2:7.
  • The line in the sand must be drawn concerning the interpretation of Genesis 2:7 and the historical nature of Genesis 1-11. The reason is that the nature and authority of Scripture is at stake. The current discussions of Genesis 2:7 are being driven by science. Scholars are willing to allow the findings of science to determine which interpretations of Genesis 2:7 are acceptable. In fact, the findings of science are the basis for denying clear statements of Scripture. We must make a stand on what Scripture says; otherwise, Scripture is not our highest authority.
  • The interpretation of Genesis 2:7 is a watershed issue because it brings into focus whether the clear statements of Scripture are going to be accepted, or whether they are going to be denied based on scientific concerns.

• A question of character (4) – Reformation21 Blog

  • But there are certain things that this man must be in himself. These are the bare minimum. Whatever else he is or is not, these are the things that he must be: they are non-negotiable for any man who aspires to the office of elder, and woe betide the church who either waters down the requirement or who adds to it.
  • In short, the man is not to be given to intoxication and gluttony. The extended application would cover the abuse of legal and illegal drugs and other “mind-altering substances
  • In addition, then, to his evident self-control with regard to alcohol, the would-be overseer must not be violent
  • Again, note that such gentleness is not a contradiction of his manliness, but the very demonstration of it. He does not need to hide this quality of soul behind the iron-studded curtain of worldly machismo. In fact, gentleness is a function of true strength. Gentleness is not weakness, but strength exercised in kindness, might demonstrated in mercy
  • Covetousness usually involves greed for money, for the desire usually leads to corruption in the pursuit of its object

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What I Read Online – 02/20/2012 (a.m.)

• the kiwifruit blog

  • 
    • Excellent stuff

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What I Read Online – 02/19/2012 (a.m.)

• A New Argument for the Existence of God – Justin Taylor

  • In this paper we offer a new argument for the existence of God. We contend that the laws of logic are metaphysically dependent on the existence of God, understood as a necessarily existent, personal, spiritual being; thus anyone who grants that there are laws of logic should also accept that there is a God. We argue that if our most natural intuitions about them are correct, and if they’re to play the role in our intellectual activities that we take them to play, then the laws of logic are best construed as necessarily existent thoughts — more specifically, as divine thoughts about divine thoughts. We conclude by highlighting some implications for both theistic arguments and antitheistic arguments.

     

• The Call to Radical, World-Changing Discipleship: A Question for Preachers – White Horse Inn Blog

  • Now, all of these people are there before you. After their long week, filled with the hopes and fears of this present age, they are longing to hear something new, that they have not—could not—hear from the various institutions, media, and personalities they’ve encountered over the last six days. There are single people who are struggling with their relationships, wondering if they will always be lonely—and whether they’re to blame. Others are struggling in their marriages, troubled by the way their children seem to ignore them, wrestling with real possibility that one or both of them will be laid off at work. You are Christ’s ambassador, entrusted with his words. You dare not speak in his name, except for the fact that he authorized and commanded you to do so. What will you say?

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What I Read Online – 02/18/2012 (p.m.)

• Praying So As To Teach | 9Marks

  • Public praying is a responsibility as well as a privilege… Many facets of Christian discipleship, not least prayer, are rather more effectively passed on by modeling than by formal teaching. Good praying is more easily caught than taught. If it is right to say that we should choose model from whom we can learn, then the obverse truth is that we ourselves become responsible to become models for others. So whether you are leading a service or family prayers, whether your are praying in a small-group Bible study or at a convention, work at your public prayers.
     

     

    – D.A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation (page 35)

     

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