Biblical proof that Koreans and Chinese are related....

Second Kings 24:6

More Covenantal confusion....

You have to appreciate the courage of C. FitzSimons Allison (ret.) in standing up to the utter nonsense that the Anglican powers-that-be are producing these days.

Surely what is becoming increasingly obvious is that we have two different religions in one church...

His response to Katherine Grieb's earlier proposal is a great example of seeing through her erroneous invoking of 'covenant' in defense of her sub-Biblical agenda.

Just because it looks like 'covenant' and quacks like 'covenant'....doesn't mean it's a biblical covenant! Bravo Allison.

[HT: Jeff Hutchinson]

Bloggers beware....

I understand the antipathy many of my friends have towards the blogosphere.

Kim Riddlebarger recently made this point well, showing how the web instantly makes 'everybody a theologian'! I wonder if it's yet another variation of the 'every member is a minister' confusion that is well-intended but not always well-founded. There are a lot of people 'blogging' that simply don't know what they are talking about.

An even greater concern to me is the level of vitriol that often ensues when discussion/debate demonstrates two (or more) groups on the opposite side of the fence. And this is where the blogosphere (just as e-mail has been for the past decade) is a two-edged sword. It has a great potential of disseminating helpful information...but it disseminates a lot of vitriol of people that would be better off guarding their tongue. Indeed it can be a fire, a world of unrighteousness (James 3:6). Blogging is yet another extension of the tongue.

But I wonder sometimes if people would say in person the same things they write on their (and other) blogs. It's a worthy question to ask before you post anything to the public or respond on someone else's blog.

This is one reason why I rely so heavily on journals and books from established schools and publishers. I just don't have time for empty rhetoric with no substance. Just give me your Biblical, exegetical, theological or historical argument.....back it up with documentation....and leave all of the personal antidotes out!! That doesn't mean everything in journals is worth reading. But on the whole, it's a more productive use of my time.

Life is just too short to be wasted reading armchair theology.

So I finally did it....

About 10 days ago, I splurged on a new MacBook refurb (from the Apple store) for $800 plus change, after my iBook of 38 months developed some difficulties.

All I have to say is.....once you go Mac, you never go back! These things really are amazing.

Time to mozy....

Need an easy, cheap and secure way to back up your files, pictures, etc?

Check out:


Pretty slick site.  Comes with good reviews.  So far so good!

[Note to Mac users -- Beta software is in the works....]

A collection of random recent thoughts...

I always liked US History....but why is it that it never occurred to me to ask (until now): "Why do we call it Rhode Island...when it's not even an island?" Click here if you are as slow as I am to ask that question...

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Is Godmen suppose to be 'Promise Keepers Redux'?


Is it just me....or does this choice of a picture for their front page strike you as odd, if not altogether out of place?? This guy looks like he's in some serious pain!!

Ayeeee...yet another evangelical fad that will probably become a distant asterisk in a few short years.

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I confess that I do love men's college basketball. 'March Madness' might be the best pure sporting event...after the World Cup, of course!

However, one thing that is getting more and more ridiculous is the filling out of brackets. You know, the pool where you have have to fill out every game for a small ($10 or $20) entry fee. Winner takes all! I don't understand why there is such a craze...except that it permits people to 'gamble' without really calling it 'gambling'!

But more than the office pools. What I don't understand is why these networks like CBS, ESPN, Yahoo, and others actually *pay* these so-called experts to give the hoi polloi advice on potential upsets (aka the 'bracket busters'). Like these "experts" really have any idea how these games are going to go!! Nobody has any clue about who could win these games in a 'one and done' tournament.

I still remember one of the first 'pools' I ever heard about. It was won by some girl who clearly had no clue about who any of the teams were. She picked a team because they had a point guard who was 'really cute'....and that team ended up winning the whole thing! When a girl wins booty of a pool with *that* kind of criteria for picking teams, that tells you everything you need to know about these commentators on TV and radio who really think they know what's going on.

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I should start a blog series of overused phrases in book/journal articles.

This week's phrase: "without a doubt"

I remember Bob Strimple mentioning this in a side comment a number of years ago, and he's right.

Consider something I heard on the radio a couple days ago: "Barak Obama is, without a doubt, a better candidate for the democratic party than Hillary Clinton."

Now think about that statement. What is this person trying to communicate? They are trying to communicate 'absolute certainty'!

But now think about the comparison a little more! Is Barak Obama really WITHOUT A DOUBT the better candidate? Putting political persuasions aside for a moment, I'm thinking probably not. And so what has the comment just created in the process of his comparison?!?! Doubt!!!! {i.e. 'I doubt that Barak Obama is really 'without a doubt' the better candidate!}

You see this kind of language frequently in religious, theological, and Biblical Studies' journals and books. And it really is pointless language.  'Without a doubt' adds nothing to the argument...and that's without a doubt!! :)

A Postmodern Sandwich

I like Doug Severn's (RUF Oklahoma Univ) haiku summary of Kevin Hart's, Postmodernism: A Beginners's Guide:

Postmodernism
Lack of meta-narrative
Jimmy John’s Sandwich

Nice!

It is funny to think about how people love to drop the word 'postmodern' into the course of a conversation.

So very trendy. So very high-brow. So very sophisticated-sounding.

But now you know....

Whenever anyone drops 'postmodern' into a conversation, remember they are only talking about...Jimmy John's Sandwich.

Hockey Talk

Mike Modano finally snagged his 500th career goal on Tuesday night.



It's only the 2nd time a US-born player has ever accomplished that feat; it might be a while before we see that happen again!

I love watching Modano skate...except when he plays the Canucks.

Speaking of the Canucks, Vick and I caught them playing the San Jose Sharks last Friday night at the HP Pavilion (aka the 'Shark Tank'). A great game....especially when the Canucks silenced the crowd with the overtime game winner by Daniel Sedin. I think that's the first time I've watched a game while rooting for the visiting team...and it's remarkable how quickly a goal like that can make a rip-roaring crowd go completely silent!

I decided to spare Vicky the grief of taking a bra to the game, to cheer on Jeff Cowan (aka Cowan the Brabarian) if he scored another goal for the Canucks. See the following for further elaboration:



Only in hockey.... :)

Ridderbos passes away at 98

Here's my Google chat quote of the day....courtesy of Adam York:

did you know that ridderbos passed away last thursday?
i didn't know he was still alive.

You have to realize that Herman Ridderbos was first published (correct me if I'm wrong!) in the early 1940's. So this guy has been around for a long, long time. Most of his significant and ground-breaking work took place decades ago, and he's kind of dropped off the map in recent years. I think most of us presumed he must have already passed on to glory.

His work is first-rate. His Paul: An Outline of His Theology remains the best and most-influential (yea, monumental and comprehensive!) work I've ever read on Paul's theology. It'll do more for your reading of Paul's letters than any commentary on a Pauline letter that I've seen. It's still ranks in my 'Top 5' favorites books.

His Coming of the Kingdom is one of the best (if not THE best) theological introductions for reading the Gospels. His Redemptive History and the New Testament Scriptures is a very helpful look at the topic of the canon from the vantage point of salvation-history.

And his When the Time Had Fully Come is a little gem of a book. I still remember buying up about 20 copies of that book for $5 a pop from some New York bookstore that obviously had no idea what they had on their hands! In many respects, it summarizes the thrust of the three previously mentioned books.

All excellent stuff. He will certainly be missed.

[HT: Matthijs den Dulk]

Carson on the Spirituality of the Church

Rick Phillips relays some comments made by D.A. Carson about the 'Spirituality of the Church' at a recent Reformation conference...

During the Question and Answer session, this subject of the Church and social involvement came up. The question was asked, "Why is it that the churches are not leading the way in social good works in Sacramento?" D. A. Carson gave an answer that I think is very instructive and which guards us against false dichotomies in this matter. What I mean is that there is an important way in which Christians are to be deeply involved in works of mercy and justice, while at the same time there are indeed wrong ways for this to take place. So there is not a dichotomy on this issue, but a need for biblical balance.

Carson argued that the key is to maintain the distinction between churches and Christians. It is not the calling of the church to direct itself to fixing social maladies. Hence, the spirituality of the church and, as has been pointed out here, the fact that the ministry of the gospel -- or, to put it as Peter did in Acts 6, the ministry of prayer and the Word -- is so singularly important that the church as church must be devoted to it. But, on the other hand, Christians are to be salt and light in society. This is the lesson of Wilberforce -- not that the Church should take up social causes but that Christians called to secular vocations (and we all are in one way or another) should be agents of the grace and truth of God in those vocations. Paul does exhort us, "As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10). Given the narcissism and social indifference displayed by evangelical Christians as a whole, it is no wonder that many are expressing concern about this. I, too, am concerned about it. But that concern needs to be biblically shaped.

So the issue is not whether or not the work of the gospel includes social implications. It does, as numerous examples from church history (Calvin's Geneva; Wilberforce, etc) show. The question is in what way this happens. I say this not because I think anyone here is opposed to acts of mercy and justice, but because these kinds of debates must always be guarded against false dichotomies. The record of history strongly argues that if the principle of the spirituality of the church is lost, we are in big trouble. But history also shows that true spirituality will always flow through Christians into the streets and institutions of society.

A great model of this was Tenth Presbyterian Church, under James Boice (and still today, under Phil Ryken). Numerous ministries of "mercy and justice" blossomed from Tenth. I think of Alpha Pregnancy Centers, HOPE (an AIDS mercy outreach), and the public service of C. Everett Koop as eminent examples. But none of them was started by Tenth. None of them resulted from a meeting of the Tenth session. Instead, they all came about as God's Spirit moved in the hearts of God's people through the church's devotion to the ministry of the Word. It was because the church was devoted to the ordinary means of grace -- Word, prayer, sacraments -- that it has had such a social impact. As the Spirit lead the people of God to launch various endeavors, the church encouraged, counseled, guided, and promoted them. But the church maintained its focus on the means of grace and because of this the Christians has had a huge social impact.

(To my huge gratification, while I was writing this post, a member of my church called to invite me and my wife to attend a fund-raiser for a crisis pregnancy center. Why? Because of the effect of God's Word, preached in our church, on her heart. Thank you, Lord.)

This is helpful when it comes to evaluating strengths and weakness of the PCA and OPC. The PCA loves to emphasize mercy ministries...but the problem is that too many confuse the calling of the 'church qua church' and the calling of individual Christians. The OPC on the other hand loves to emphasize 'the work of the church'....but the thought of individual Christians being 'in the world but not of the world' is often missed.

The example of Wilberforce is timely, given the recent movie that I need to go see with Vicky.