The most recent version of this post is available here.
“Love often manifests itself in giving people what they can’t appreciate and don’t want, and
in demanding from them precisely what they most want to retain for themselves.” — Tom
- Home
- What We’re Doing Here
- F A Q
- Anonymous Asks
- Apocrypha-lypso
- Book Reviews
- The Commentariat Speaks
- DAMWWTIM
- Flyover Country
- How Not to Crash and Burn
- Inbox
- The Language of the Debate
- Letters from the Best Man
- Mining the Minors
- On the Mount
- Quote of the Day
- Recommend-a-blog
- Semi-Random Musings
- That Wacky Old Testament
- Time and Chance
- What Does Your Proof Text Prove?
Friday, June 14, 2019
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
More Teaching Won’t Help
Yesterday I drew attention
to what at first glance might appear to be an imbalance in the teaching of the
book of Proverbs. Solomon gives many dire warnings about “women on the make” to
young men, but no warnings at all to young women concerning the dangers of
lustful men.
This was not because God is uninterested in maintaining the virtue of women, as we will see shortly.
However, ancient Eastern societies, and especially Israel, had a culture of built-in
familial and legal protections for ordinary women which made them difficult for
men on the prowl to access or seduce, and this without imposing on them pillbox-style
face-coverings and body bags.
And of course there was no internet in those days. Where temptation is concerned, that was far from
a negative.
Labels:
1 Corinthians
/
Proverbs
/
Temptation
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Discriminating Against the Adulteress
Modern readers flipping the pages of Proverbs would have to be incredibly inattentive to fail
to notice that the warnings about lapsing into sexual sin are ... all
directed at men.
In fact, where adultery is concerned, it could be argued that Solomon viewed women of a
certain sort as cunning predators and men as their potential victims. Foolish
and gullible victims, certainly. Unknowing and uncaring of the consequences of
their actions, definitely. But victims all the same ... even though we
know it takes two to tango, right?
Where are the parallel passages warning
young Hebrew women against the prowling adulterer with lust in his eyes? Why,
they are nowhere to be found.
Labels:
Adultery
/
Discimination
/
Proverbs
Monday, June 10, 2019
Anonymous Asks (44)
“If you are not a Christian and believe that Jesus died on the cross to relieve us of our sins, can you still go to heaven?”
There is a significant difference between believing about someone and believing in someone.
The book of James points out that even demons get some of their facts right. They are
strict monotheists, for one. Mark’s gospel records that unclean spirits repeatedly fell down before
Jesus and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” In that respect, the demons were better theologians than the Pharisees, who hotly
disputed that very issue.
However, believing something correct about Jesus — even something very
important indeed — doesn’t mean demons are on their way to heaven. Far
from it.
Labels:
Anonymous Asks
/
Lordship
/
Salvation
Sunday, June 09, 2019
Semi-Random Musings (13)
“Go, tell his disciples and Peter …”
The earliest manuscripts of the gospel of
Mark end with a “young man” (read: angel) instructing three terrified women at the
open tomb of the Lord Jesus to go and share the news that while Jesus of
Nazareth had died and been buried, Christ the Lord had risen and planned to
meet with his followers once more.
No wonder they trembled.
Labels:
Grace
/
Peter
/
Semi-Random Musings
Saturday, June 08, 2019
How Not to Crash and Burn (62)
Entropy is pretty much the governing
principle of our present universe. Systems and sub-systems are not
independently or permanently functional. They require replenishing from other
sources.
The earth cannot
survive without sunlight. The sun could not warm the earth were it not fueled by
both hydrogen and helium. And without the collapsing clouds of interstellar gas
and dust we call nebulae, there would be no stars.
Labels:
Agur
/
How Not to Crash and Burn
/
Proverbs
/
Satisfaction
Friday, June 07, 2019
Too Hot to Handle: The Church and Fatherhood
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Church
/
Family
/
Fatherhood
/
Too Hot to Handle
Thursday, June 06, 2019
The Pastor of Disaster
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Clergy
/
Leadership
/
Pastors
Wednesday, June 05, 2019
The Commentariat Speaks (15)
“Why is there not an option to fully bow out? Neither Heaven or Hell, just
non-existence?”
Doug’s own response is brief and related to the need for God’s holy justice to be displayed. I agree, and I’m not sure I can offer anything more
profound in terms of an answer, but I was sufficiently taken with the
question that I felt the need to explore it a little here.
It’s my observation that the sorts of questions we ask about God often say more about us than they
say about him.
Labels:
Justice
/
The Commentariat Speaks
Tuesday, June 04, 2019
Quote of the Day (40)
“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” The book of Acts begins with this question.
Jesus does not answer it directly. Instead, the Lord draws his disciples’ attention away from Israel’s
earthly kingdom and redirects it to their mission promoting his spiritual
kingdom in this present age. After this, he is taken up into glory.
Some read this to mean there will be no
restoration to national prominence for the Jews. Others believe the restoration of
the kingdom to Israel is fulfilled in the Church’s present ministry on earth.
Labels:
Acts
/
David Gooding
/
Kingdom
/
Quote of the Day
Monday, June 03, 2019
Anonymous Asks (43)
More than a few Christians have a strong aversion to neo-Calvinist determinism. They don’t agree with the teaching that
God micromanages the universe, controlling and pre-arranging everything that
happens within it, including the choices made by all created beings.
I don’t blame them. I don’t like that idea much either, and I don’t think it’s an accurate representation
of what the Bible teaches about either God’s sovereignty or human choice. Giving
us a Bible full of commands seems an unlikely thing for God to have done if our
responses to him are all predetermined.
Labels:
Anonymous Asks
/
Neo-Calvinism
/
Omniscience
/
Prophecy
Sunday, June 02, 2019
The Divine Memory
“I will not remember your sins.”
Some people teach that God’s knowledge is
limited. They rely on verses like the one I have just quoted to make the
case that there are boundaries to the Infinite, self-imposed or otherwise.
We may disagree with them, but they bring up a point worth examining, and that is
this: What does it mean that God does not “remember” the sins of his people?
After all, it’s a promise, and we know we can
put our confidence in God’s promises. That being the case, we might be wise to figure
out what exactly it is that God is promising.
Labels:
God
/
Memory
/
Omniscience
Saturday, June 01, 2019
How Not to Crash and Burn (61)
The remainder of Proverbs 30 is made up of a series of individual sayings irregularly interspersed
with six lists of four things Agur has observed in the natural world and in the
world of human interaction. As I have mentioned, these groups of four are often referred to as quaternions or tetrastiches. We have already encountered one in Agur’s introduction. The resulting verses are a peculiar arrangement; not entirely regular, but not quite random either.
Unlike some of Solomon’s longer assembled proverbs, Agur’s lists do not seem to have a single, powerful
point to which they are building. The fourth item on each of his lists usually appears
no more significant or insignificant than the others. As the Pulpit Commentary
puts it, “the conclusion is wanting.” We must attempt to elicit one for
ourselves.
Notwithstanding some of the more astute observations we find here, it’s a curious chapter, and one
whose point always perplexed me as a child.
Labels:
Agur
/
How Not to Crash and Burn
/
Proverbs
Friday, May 31, 2019
Too Hot to Handle: Responsible Fatherhood
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Family
/
Fatherhood
/
Too Hot to Handle
Thursday, May 30, 2019
Dear Dinesh: On Evil and Suffering
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Apologetics
/
Dinesh D'Souza
/
Pain
/
Suffering
Wednesday, May 29, 2019
The Ripple Effect
“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it
killed me.”
There’s a new law in Alabama, and it has become the occasion for a great deal of sin. I can’t go
anywhere without hearing about it or being provoked to talk about it. If you’re
on Twitter you’ll already know that most of the sin is verbal, and the vast
majority of it advocates for wrongdoing: “I had one, and I feel FINE
about it! If you’re a good person, you’ll support it too.”
Relax, I’m not going to recycle badly overheated rhetoric.
I have a more general point to make.
Labels:
Abortion
/
Alcohol
/
Romans
/
Temptation
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Loving an Abstraction Abstractly
“It may have been as the result of hearing a sermon, or perhaps reading a book. But I distinctly remember thinking that my
Christian life was sorely lacking in the love of God.”
Not only that, but as Galli frankly concedes, he wasn’t even really sure he wanted
to know and love God more deeply. He certainly did not yearn for intimacy with
God as he felt he should.
Ouch.
Labels:
Affection
/
Christian Life
/
Love
Monday, May 27, 2019
Anonymous Asks (42)
Outside of the modern religious and political contexts, the word
“minister” simply means “agent” or “assistant”. More importantly, when we find the word “minister” used
in the Greek New Testament, it has an established meaning which translators have replicated inconsistently in English.
That meaning is “servant”.
Labels:
Anonymous Asks
/
Ministry
/
School
/
Spiritual Gifts
Sunday, May 26, 2019
Hope Against Hope
I’d like to play an under-par round of golf
this summer. I’d also like to play QB for the Browns once Baker
decides to hang up his jersey. Sadly, neither the PGA nor the NFL have been in
touch to schedule my appearance. If you’re making a list, I also wouldn’t mind
winning the lottery; although apparently I’d have to actually buy a ticket to
have a chance of that happening.
Some people might call those things “hope”.
I call them pipe dreams.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)