Archive for March, 2008
Random thoughts from a Tuesday morning:
- For Easter, my wife bought me an iTunes gift card, which I promptly spent on albums by Jeremy Casella (10,000 Angels) and Andy Gullahorn (Reinventing the Wheel). I recommend both highly.
- Today is the day of the “big ultrasound” - if the baby cooperates, we’ll know whether a boy or a girl is coming in late July. We’re taking our three kids with us today to watch, which should be interesting! To be helpful, I told my 3-year-old son that copious quantities of blue goo was involved. Not sure if that will prove to be a good idea or not…
- I’ve been listening through John Piper’s sermon series on the new birth, and I’m almost caught up with the podcast. In the sermon I listened to yesterday, Piper pointed out an interesting relationship between I John 1:8 and I John 2:1. The verb translated “we have” (the Greek echomen) in both is a present active indicative, which indicates a continuous state of affairs. The first verse makes it clear that we have sin - that sinfulness is my condition right now. The second verse tells me that Christ is my advocate right now - to the same extent. Right now, as I type this on my computer, two things are true about me: I am sinful, and Christ intercedes for me. Those twin truths keep me from pride on the one hand and despair on the other.
- I’m thinking about buying a Flip camcorder - they get really good reviews. Anyone out there have any experience with this device?
March 25 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
This song by Sandra McCracken just came up in my iTunes rotation, and the lyrics perfectly sum my feelings right now:
No more my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of Thy Son
No more my God
No more my God
No more my God
I boast no more
Now, for the loss I bear his name,
What was my gain I count my loss
My former pride I call my shame
And nail my glory to His cross
Yes, and I must, I will esteem
All things but loss for Jesus’ sake
O may my soul be found in Him
And of His righteousness partake
Amen, amen
The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before Thy throne
But faith can answer Thy demands
By pleading what my Lord has done
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
I’m floored at God’s provision.
Like many others, I’ve been trying to win a ticket to the Together for the Gospel conference by answering the questions posted at the T4G blog. In fact, my wife and I had decided that I would go only if I won a ticket. Today, Mark Dever posted the winners of the last questions I’d submitted an answer for - and I wasn’t a winner.
I didn’t take it well, frankly. I was discouraged, depressed, and angry. Very little work got done this morning. I spent an hour pouring out my heart to my longsuffering wife, but we both agreed that it wasn’t God’s will for me to go this year.
But apparently God had other ideas. When I finished my gripe session (calling it for what it really was!), I heard a beep on my phone, telling me that I had just received an email. That email, it turned out, bore news that I had a ticket to T4G reserved in my name! (I won’t go into the specifics, but someone associated with T4G had blessed me in ways that make no sense apart from God’s leading.)
So, why did God do this? I can think of a few reasons:
- To keep me from sinning further with my bad attitude
- To encourage me with the event itself
- To make it clear that His provision is sufficient for me
- To make it clear that His power is greater then I give him credit for
- To refocus me on His grace on Good Friday
So, with immense gratitude to my Father, I have a plane ticket and hotel to book.
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Well, the debate over the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin has new legs.
Personally, I think the shroud is a forgery. (I suspect that Nate Wilson’s theory is on the right track as far as explaining how such a forgery could have been accomplished using Medieval technologies.)
But even if the shroud is the real deal, so what? Catholics and Eastern Orthodox types may think this is significant - an icon or item for veneration - but Protestants aren’t supposed to go in for that, right? Right??? (Besides, the official stance of the Catholic Church is that it’s a fake, but that’s it’s OK to venerate it. Untangle that, if you dare.)
I mean, what the shroud tells us (assuming that it is Jesus’ burial cloth) is that it once contained a man that died by crucifixion. Is anyone disputing that? Even the most diehard atheists usually concede that Jesus actually lived and was crucified under Pontius Pilate. It certainly doesn’t prove the Resurrection, theories of Jesus’ body undergoing an effect like those in the movie Cocoon notwithstanding.
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
From an article on Slate.com:
Even agnostics and atheists who don’t accept Christ’s divinity can accept the general outlines of the Christmas story with little danger to their worldview. But Easter demands a response. It’s hard for a non-Christian believer to say, “Yes, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead.” That’s not something you can believe without some serious ramifications: If you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, this has profound implications for your spiritual and religious life—really, for your whole life. If you believe the story, then you believe that Jesus is God, or at least God’s son. What he says about the world and the way we live in that world then has a real claim on you.
Easter is an event that demands a “yes” or a “no.” There is no “whatever.”
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Editorial Note: "Neither Here Nor There" will be a recurring feature (hence the #1 in the title), chock-full of items on the Web that I find interesting.
- Derek Thomas, blogging over at reformation21, has some interesting thoughts on postmillenialism today. I think his assessments are on-target - I like Doug Wilson as much as the next guy (OK, maybe more than the PCA!), but postmillenarian theology just doesn’t make sense to me Biblically. (For the record, my eschatology is pretty much classic amillenialism. Which is rather fun, since I go to a church populated almost exclusively by dispensationalists!)
- Speaking of Doug Wilson, his son Nate’s book 100 Cupboards is simply wonderful. Highly recommended for kids ages 8 to, oh, 97 or so. (Nota bene: If you get all bent out of shape at the use of the word "magic" in the Narnia or Harry Potter books, you may not find 100 Cupboards to be worthwhile. But you’d be wrong.)
- The annual Ligonier conference is about to kick off. The sessions will be simulcast here, and Tim Challies will be live-blogging as usual.
- Logos has just announced a new resource focusing on discourse analysis in the Greek New Testament (and also tied to the ESV). Check out my friend Rick Brannan’s post on the details here.
March 13 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
The guys (Al Mohler, Mark Dever, Lig Duncan and C.J. Mahaney) who put on the Together for the Gospel conference in 2006 are doing it again next month in Louisville, KY. I didn’t get to go in 2006, but I did buy the MP3’s of all 7 sessions and I’ve listened to them repeatedly. (The addresses by Dever, Mahaney and John Piper are especially good, although I can easily recommend all 7.) I would really like to go this year, but the facts are these:
- I don’t know anyone who lives in Louisville, so I’d have to get three nights in a hotel - and since I don’t want to rent a car, it would have to be close to the venue. Cost: around $350, once you factor in the hotel taxes.
- Louisville, KY isn’t within easy driving distance of Mount Vernon, WA, so I’d have to fly. Cost: $250-300, depending on when I buy the ticket.
- Then, I have to actually register for the conference. Cost: $299.
- I might want to eat sometime during my trip. Cost: $100-200, depending on what kind of restaurants are available in the area.
So, to add it all up, I’m looking at paying over a thousand dollars for this conference. Is it worth it? On the one hand, yes. The preaching will be stellar, and the opportunities for meeting people will be good. (I’d especially like to touch base with Tim, Justin and Thabiti, all of whom write blogs that I regularly frequent.) I also want to see how the mapping application that was built for T4G turned out. (The T4G guys asked software companies for bids to build it, and I was “first runner-up.” I’m curious to see the results from the winner!)
On the other hand, that’s a lot of money, and there are many other ways to spend it - debt retirement, home improvements, family trips, etc.
How to decide? Again Messrs. Mohler, Dever, Duncan and Mahaney are here to help me out. They’re asking questions on the T4G blog and giving out free registrations to the best answer to each question. (I’ve answer four of the five questions so far. Haven’t won yet.) If I won a ticket, that would probably put me over the edge into the “going” category.
So, anyone know of cheap accommodations in Louisville, just in case I find favor in the site of … whomever is choosing the best answers?
March 10 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
My good friends at Logos Bible Software are at it again. They’ve just launched RefTagger, a little code snippet that’s a great addition to any Web page. The script scans the page looking for any Bible references (like John 3:16 or Romans 3:21-31 or 2 Cor. 5:21) and automatically turns them into hyperlinks to the actual text. You also get links (the little “L” icon) that will open up the text in your installed copy of Logos (or any Libronix Digital Library System software installed on your computer). You can even choose which translation to use (I chose ESV).
And best of all, it’s totally free!
This is going to save me a lot of time typing. Bob, someone in Bellingham needs a raise!
(Full disclosure: I worked for Logos for 6 years, the owners and many of the employees are good friends, and I’m seriously biased toward their software.)
March 04 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
I intend to semi-officially kick off this blog tomorrow, but the blank home page is bothering me. So, to assuage my desire to get something up, I thought a little Q&A would be in order.
What does “reckoned righteous” mean?
It comes from Romans 4:1-5 in the New Testament:
What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
The idea here is that my standing before God as righteous does not come from my works, but through faith in Jesus.
But I don’t see the word “reckoned” anywhere in that passage.
In the old King James Version, the quotation in Romans 4:3 from Genesis reads “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”
Where did you get that quote on your header from?
I heard John MacArthur say it in a sermon. (Or, to be more precise, MacArthur said something very like it; I don’t have the sermon tape anymore to verify the exact words. I don’t think he’d disagree with the wording, though.)
Why are you blogging?
Because I want to show Tim Challies that Americans can blog better than Canadians.
Really?
No. Tim writes thought-provoking stuff every day, and although I’d like to aspire to that level of output, I’d only want to do it if the quality of my writing were at least in the same ballpark as what Tim puts out.
So why are you blogging, really?
Because sometimes I have something to say. Whether or not it’s worth reading will be for you to decide.
March 04 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »