Oh...And

One last reason, I can have several other pages imbedded in my blog. Very nice for folks like me who like free sites to host their thoughts. Check out my “About” section and “Resources.”

I'm Done With Blogger...Sorta

A long hiatus from blogging due to personal life changes. Found out that my wife and I are expecting our first child. Started a new job with a phenomenal company. Bought a house. Decided to stay and work on my PhD (apologies to Kevin, Matthew, and Harold - keep in touch because I still want to plant a church, revitalize a church, etc). Went through three weeks of training. Have been reading several books on pluralism (Hick, Tillich, Kung, Knitter) for a paper I am writing on the subject - granted this does not count as a life change (for all who were sweating), but just a time commitment. The title for this post is due to my leaving Blogger to go to WordPress. Several reasons: 1. I am able to keep up with replies easier - as are readers so dialogues can be encouraged. 2. The categorization can be tracked easily with WordPress for those who would like to peruse by subject. 3. I need something I can write on while on lunch at work - I use a program called MacJournal right now. It’s a great program, but the version I use is not the updated one that can post to WordPress. So I will just do it from the Internet site. I know, you could post from Blogger, but a) I never figured it out, b) it is easier to do with WordPress, and c) I am running out of reasons so I figured if I could get more words down it would look more thought out than it is really is! 4. I wanted to... 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Okay, so I ran out. My hope is that the new site will encourage discussion. Check back often. My project right now is to categorize everything, but I still have a way to go as you will see. You can still access this site, as I will keep it up for folks to find articles when googling. If anyone has any ideas on CSS design I would greatly appreciate it...as I would like to customize my site some more. My New Home: http://offthewire.wordpress.com

Are You Guilty of This?

Wondering How Much CEO's of Christian Organizations Make?

Mike Sense looked through Forbes 200 Largest Charities database and found this startling information. Read his post, Non Profit? For Forbes’ list you can go here. [HT: Common Grounds]

The Whole Glory of God: Imputation (Part 2)

The last session of Piper’s time in Seattle is now available...here.

The Whole Glory of God: Imputation

Session Three of John Piper’s time at the Reformission Conference at Mars Hill Church in Seattle is now up.

Postmodernity

Rushdoony gives a concise and helpful parsing of the postmodernism we live in today. It is easy to think that “postmodernism” is such a fancy and obtuse word that the “run-of-the-mill” Christian can’t possibly begin to understand his times. This article is a step at understanding your times in order to apply the cornerstone of the Gospel - so that uncertainty and foolhardy hubris doesn’t get the best of you. Of particular notice is Rushdoony’s connection between the uncertainty offered by postmodernism and the health-wealth-prosperity blasphemies. Since people have become lazy in reading to rightly understand the Bible, they have slipped into a pit of despair. As a result, they have nothing to offer except some happy-go-lucky superficiality they pass off as Christianity. In the end, consistent postmodernists will have to sit in the corner and drool or live like hell because there is no meaning. However, most postmoderns aren’t consistent, so they talk about how everyone is right and let’s stop fighting. Lah-tee-dah. Don’t talk to me about how postmodernism will answer my questions, because in the end it is nothing but a cover-up for sin. It loses itself in an ocean of relativity because it has not done the hard work of thinking and critiquing. We have become so enamored with who got kicked off the island on the latest “reality“ show than what is happening in reality! Quotation: In the final analysis, postmoderns insist that two plus two can equal five. It's a valid interpretation for certain groups, and you should not condemn them. Do they say this with certainty? If so, then they practically operate as if two plus two equals four. There is no reason to assume that simply because there are a multiplicity of beliefs that this somehow justifies pluralism. It rather demonstrates man's sinful creativity to cover himself in diverse philosophical disguises. Please at least skim the article to be aware of the issues that postmodernism is built upon. Do yourself a favor: get a cup of joe in your local coffee shop, think about why someone would want to say that all beliefs are right, and talk to your neighbor as to why he thinks that all rivers lead to the same ocean.

The Whole Glory of God {Part 2}

Here is the second installment of John Piper’s series at the Reformission Conference in Seattle, WA in 2004.

Distinct Personality of the Spirit

The above title comes from a section in John Frame’s Doctrine of God. This book is highly worth the money (would that be considered a pun?)...Anyway, the data I am going to share here comes mostly from that and I want to offer some more info you can go to in order to understand the third person of the Trinity. First of all, there is no necessary contradiction between saying that God is Three in One. The way the church fathers articulated it was: One essence, Three persons. As goodwillhiking mentioned in one of his comments, “It is good to live with mystery.” With regards to mystery, it is right to say you live with the mystery as long as it is prescribed in Scripture. For example, I have spoken with several people that say they are comfortable living with contradictions. You shouldn’t be comfortable with contradictions. A contradiction is “logical incompatibility between two or more propositions” (acc. to Wikipedia). This is not the case with saying one essence, three persons. With that said, now for the Holy Spirit. Frame: “We are often inclined to equate ‘spirit’ with the nonmaterial realm, so that it amounts to a force that animates matter. But spirits in Scripture, human as well as divine, are persons, not impersonal forces” (p. 691). Also: “The power of God is never impersonal. It is a power directed by God’s intelligent plan to accomplish his purposes...The Spirit has a ‘mind’ (Rom 8.27). Often it is quite impossible to substitute power for spirit (see, e.g. Acts 10.38; Rom 15.13; 1Cor 2.4). The Holy Spirit is not a mere power; he is the personal bearer of divine power” (italics original; 691)

Friday Foto

East & West Taken in Lebanon this summer.

Islam: Religion of Peace

Is this true? Kim Riddlebarger points to this article and claims otherwise. I have oft raised the question as it seems that the Muslim you meet next door is friendly enough for our culture to say, “If it works for them...” But I have constantly been thinking, are these Muslims consistent with their teaching? If an imam tells them that it is righteous to kill, and they do not kill, can we legitimately say that Islam is a religion of peace? Here is a great excerpt from Riddlebarger’s post: The irony is that twenty years ago this threat was not even on the radar.  Who would have thought that American evangelicalism would become so doctrinally wimpy as to be helpless against Islamic growth and ideology?  Seeker-centered worship and vapid felt-need oriented preaching are quickly exposed for what they are in the face of a threat like Islamic expansion.  Islam is growing and expanding in most communities in the United States, probably yours.  And what are you doing about it? After traveling to the Middle East, I can say that all Muslims are not terrorists. It is foolish to think so. That would be like assuming everyone who goes to church in the United States is a Christ-follower. Just because people who call themselves Christians aren’t living consistently with Christ’s teaching, does this mean we make value judgments on the religion? No. We point to the teachings and show the person that he is inconsistent and he should get his knee bowed to Jesus’ lordship. How long will it take until the imams do the same with their inconsistent parishioners?

The Whole Glory of God (Part 1)

This audio of John Piper has just been put up by The Resurgence from a conference they had back in 2004 for church planters. I was able to go and was thoroughly blessed by the Reformission group (affiliated with Acts 29 - a church planter’s network affiliated with Mars Hill Church in Seattle). This is Part 1 of (I believe three sermons that were preached at the conference). It was at this conference that much was confirmed in my appreciation for Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill group. May you be as blessed as I was.

Could You Write a Letter Like This?

Adoniram Judson wrote a letter to Ann Hasseltine's parents asking for her hand in marriage. He knew that he was going to Burma and did not make false promises: "I have now to ask whether you can consnt to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her departure for a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this for the sake of Him who left his heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness, brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?" (taken from The Three Mrs. Judsons, p. 8).

The Third Person in the Trinity: Scriptural Data [2]

Lk 3.22 - the three distinct persons of the Trinity represented (voice, dove, Son) 1 Cor 6.19 - a temple of the Holy Spirit...would this be idolatry of the Holy Spirit if he were not God. In other words, Paul would be encouraging us to be temples to an idol! Heb 3.7 - The Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear his voice...” This is citing the Old Testament reference to Psa 95.9-11. In these verses YHWH makes it explicit that they sinned against him. This is YHWH speaking and the preacher of Hebrews says it is the Holy Spirit. (see also Heb 4.6-7) Heb 10.15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16         “This is the covenant that I will make with them                 after those days, declares the Lord:                 I will put my laws on their hearts,                 and write them on their minds,” 17   then he adds,          “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” Is this a mere slip of words? Doubtful. This is cited from Jer 31. The Lord speaks of a New Covenant that he will ratify and make effective by giving new hearts. This is done by God. The preacher of Hebrews makes it clear that the Holy Spirit is God in v.17 when he attributes remembering their sins and lawless deeds no more to the Holy Spirit’s activity. Additionally, the Holy Spirit is called “he.” I will discuss this aspect of spirit being equivalent to personhood in the next post.

Friday Foto

Ascension & Parousia When I looked at this picture, I couldn’t decide whether it was of Christ’s ascension or his return. I then remembered the angel asking the disciples: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1.11). I had put it in b&w but the orange glow doesn’t come off like in color.