Must Read from John Piper
- If your head is not stuck in the sand, you probably have heard about the latest Muslim hissy fit. This time it is over statements from the pope taken out of context, rather than Danish cartoons. For us Christians, who routinely endure harsh criticisms from both West and East, it is easy to get bent out of shape over Muslims’ insistence to make mountains out of molehills. And it is probably good to be somewhat upset over the inconsistency of Muslims. When someone infuriates us Christians, we might strike back with a torrent of words. But when the Muslims are infuriated, public calls for anger, violent demonstrations and attacks are the result.
- Well in the midst of all of this, John Piper provides some very encouraging and insightful comments. He describes just how Christians should respond to the controversy surrounding Muslim outrage over the pope’s comments.
- Late Addition: Clickhere to read the pope’s speech. It is very good, actually. His main point is that Western society is wrong to exclude questions of faith from the category of reason. And he further argues that this feature of the West in effect makes religion and faith a kind of sub-culture. So it is no wonder, he concludes, that the West cannot effectively interact with Eastern and other religious-based cultures. (HT: John Chitty for the link)
On the Dearth of Cross-Centered Worship
- Bob Kauflin has an excellent post concerning a contemporary tendency to not focus on the cross in worship songs. He mentions song writers who are focusing on the cross, and gives some reasons as to why others are not. It is a very worthwhile read.
Redemptive Historical Hermeneutical Jewels
- Doug Eaton has started a series of posts looking at the OT cities of refuge as a manifold picture of Christ. Posts on Golan and Shechem are available to read and meditate on. New posts in the series will be listed here.
- Nathan Pitchford has also given us a great post on the redemptive historical significance of the Book of Esther. I know I already blogged about it, but I just had to mention it again.
On the King James Only Issue
- William Dudding keeps the good posts coming over at The Reforming Baptist. In this post, he steps out on a limb and gives us his thoughts on the King James Only issue. If that issue interests you, then this post would too.
Radical Thoughts from World from Our Window
- Eradicate youth ministry as we know it.
- De-program the church.
- We need less preaching! — only one sermon a week.
- How radical is that, huh? Actually these posts are well worth considering.
On Interpreting 1 Cor. 13:12
- This verse is important as it defines when prophecies, knowledge, and tongues will cease. Their are two primary interpretations of that verse: the first says it refers to the closing of the canon, and the second sees it fulfilled at the second coming of Christ.
- Mathew Sims turned a debate happening over in the comments at Adrian Warnock’s blog, into a good post defending the second view mentioned above.
- But I came across an interpretation of that verse that almost all cessationists and charismatics alike have not considered. (HT: this thread at Sharper Iron)
“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” — I Corinthians 13:9, 10. This verse was written by the apostle Paul, who only had a partial Bible (the Old Testament). The word “perfect” in the Bible means complete (see James 1:4 et al). Today we have the complete, perfect King James Bible, and as God promised, that which was in part has been done away (i.e. the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts used in time past, which were only a part of the Bible respectively).
(And yes, he is defending the absurd view that the KJV English is superior to the Greek).
Some of Those Other Guys
- Everyone has their circle of friends and list of blogs they keep track of. As you all should be able to tell from now, I try to faithfully keep up with some ex-IFBx bloggers, and other reforming fundamentalists (most of these blogs are listed in this post). I also try to keep abreast with what is going on over at Sharper Iron, occasionally spending some time in the forums there. I do try to keep my ear to the ground for any great posts from Pyromaniacs, Reformation Theology, Between Two Worlds, Adrian Warnock’s blog, and a few other blogs for good measure, too.
- Well this means, obviously, that there are a whole host of other blogs run by other guys (and gals), with whom I rarely interact with. No one can interact with all the blogs out there, unless of course you are Mathew Simsand you can read 5 blog posts a minute. (Check out his ridiculously long blogspotting posts–which always seem to exclude me :)! Just kidding here, he is a blogging pal and I do hold a place of honor in his very long blogfolio—a daily read, no less)
- Boy, this is turning into quite the long introduction! Anyway, I wanted to make my readers aware of some of those other guys—a group of guys who are fundamentalist reformers in their own right. I think most of them are loosely connected with Northland Baptist Bible College, and some are blessed (?) to know my brother Dave.
- To introduce you to a few of them, let me link to some good posts.
- T. Robert Baylor of Luther’s Stein, has an absolute must read post: “Postmodernism and the Decline of Fundamentalism“. It explores a possible reason for the “continental drift” away from fundamentalism by the young fundamentalists. (Warning, you may need your dictionary or philosophy manual when reading this post, but it still is worth reading.)
- Adam Thomas has an interesting post proclaiming that he and his buds have already watched the separatist ship sail by.
- Nathan Mihelis of Boanerges makes two interesting observations—one concerns a potential SBC drift towards fundamentalism.
- And, lastly, Dave Wetzel posts a hilarious video clip of Albert Mohler.
Finally
- I must include a shameless self plug for my recent post: “Lord’s Supper—Snack or Feast?” I would love for some more input from my readers as to whether they agree with my thesis that the Lord’s Supper would be better celebrated with a meal than with cracker crumbs and thimble-sized cups of juice.
Late Addition
- Justin Taylor points us to some great eschatology charts [pdf] (courtesy of Kim Riddlebarger). They show, in picture form, the 4 main positions: dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. These are really good and helpful for comparing and contrasting.
Thanks for the mention!
Bob,
This is pretty comprehensive a list of subjects…
My only comment is this…(regarding your comments about the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:12)… I hope that others reading here don’t infer the idea that all fundamentalists are KJV-only heretics. We certainly aren’t. Thankfully, Greg Linscott over at SharperIron had placed a ban on those who believed in ‘secondary (read: KJV) inspiration’. At least they had the balls to be true fundamentalists and put an end to KJV-only trolls on SharperIron as well as define this element of KJV-onlyism as being heretical.
Regarding the cessationist/open-but-cautious continuationist views on revelatory gifts, Dan Phillips over at Pyromaniacs had written an extensive four-fold treatise on the subject. I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone (see http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2006/07/tongues-across-water-response-to_31.html to get started). Just a question (which I think I already know the answer to) is this: are you one or the other (cessationist or continuationist)?
Larry,
First, by all means yes. I do not mean to imply that all KJV only people believe what that guy does. That is an extreme position and a good number of KJV onlyists would have huge problems with that position.
Second, with regards to the whole continuationist/cessationist question. I am not at this point ready to deal with that question on my blog. I will be interacting with Matthew Sims’ posts over on World from Our Window on this topic, however. If you read Dan Phillips’ posts, just be sure to read Adrian Warnock’s posts also. His posts sparked Dan’s and now he has three or so posts responding to Dan’s posts.
I think it is important to stress that people can disagree charitably as Dan and Adrian do. And further that both of these men can have significant fellowship and do not need to treat each other as less than Christian due to their difference on this position. A good example of this is the Together For the Gospel conference which included people that are firmly rooted on opposite sides of the camp on this issue. MacArthur, who authored Charismatic Chaos, preached with C.J. Mahaney (a reformed charismatic) and even had Mahaney preach in his church. So in this whole debate we need to underscore this big point.
Thanks for stopping by, Larry. I may answer your question via personal email.
God bless you in Christ,
Bob Hayton
Indeed, Dave’s a good guy and friend from NBBC and the infamous road trip to BJ (if you haven’t heard about it be sure to ask him). However, speaking for me, Baylor and Thomas, I’m not too sure we’d be considered reformers so much as separatists/puritans. In other words, I think all three of us have made decisions at various points that have put us outside the movement altogether. Thanks for the shout out!
Nate,
Thanks for stopping by. (I need to hang out in your neck of the blogosphere’s woods more often!)
I understand what you are saying. I myself am “outside of the movement altogether” too. But I am working to spread my understanding and I hope to help some of those within the movement. And I don’t necessarily think that the answer for everyone is to leave.
You guys are fundamentalist enough to comment on Sharper Iron (you could jump through their hoops on what qualifies one to be a fundamentalist) and you guys are working towards reform which sometimes touches fundamentalism. Hence I introduced you all to my readers.
Sorry for the long explanation, but hey I have fundamentalist roots and I’m related to Dave! I’ll be sure to ask him about the BJ pilgrimmage. Did you guys worship at the Mecca?
Blessings in Christ,
Bob Hayton