The Best of Bob's Blog: A Year in Review (2006)

As I pondered the start of a new year, I thought it would be fun to highlight my best posts from this past year. I also thought it would be nice to review some of the milestones and hallmarks of my blog from throughout 2006. To some of you this might be a trip down memory lane. But many of you  only started reading my blog in the last few months. And  surely most of you have not kept up on all the sometimes long-winded posts around here.

Before we begin, let me stress that unlike some other bloggers, I am happy to open up old discussions and interact with comments on old posts. But like most bloggers, it can be hard to keep up with absolutely every comment, so there may be a few comments that are as yet unanswered around here.

Now this could just be a simple “top 10” list of posts. But if you are familiar with me at all, you know that I rarely ever finish a post with a simple paragraph. Hey, I am a preacher’s kid whose dad is also a preacher’s kid, and so I am blessed (cursed?) with a double portion of the “long-winded spirit”. So, don’t be surprised if I try to sneak in at least 10 other posts after the “top 10” list!

So without further ado, here are my top 10 posts from 2006 in reverse order.

Storms, Sleepers, and Substitutes—Jonah As a Type of Christ
This is one of my favorite devotional posts. It also illustrates redemptive historical hermeneutics.

The Role of the Church in KJV Onlyism
This is probably my best post on KJV Onlyism to date. It deals with several misconceptions and false assumptions on the part of KJV Onlyists.

1 Thessalonians and Churches’ Greatest Need
The point I make in this post is very important. Too often in the modern church we neglect the commands to “do church” as it were.

The Rise of the Modern Hymn Movement
This post reflects my desire to see more churches make use of the best of modern worship music. Many songs I highlight can/should be used by traditional-music-only churches.

Charles Finney and the Altar Call
The issue addressed in this post is important whether or not you are Calvinist. Modern evangelicalism needs to be aware of how much they have inherited from the heterodox Finney.

“Wine to Gladden the Heart of Man”: Thoughts on God’s Good Gift of Wine          While this post sure opened a can of worms (one of many opened around here!), I hope it causes some to seriously evaluate what Scripture says on this topic.

Calvinism and Evangelism
I hope this post helps people who are predisposed against Calvinism to be able to understand, appreciate, and even affirm Calvinism’s view of evangelism.

Regeneration, Reception, and Faith
Similarly, this post attempts to explain what Calvinists mean by regeneration preceding faith. Again, please hear us out on the issue before condemning us!

Once Saved, Always Saved?!?!
This attack on a “get-out-of-jail-free” view of salvation delves into the Biblical teaching of both eternal security and the perseverance of true believers.

The Rising of the Sun of Righteousness
Hands down, this is my best (and favorite) post. It is a devotional look at redemptive historical hermeneutics and the typology of all of life.

Alright, I have mentioned the cream of the crop and I plan on giving some more posts  honorable mention, but first let me chronicle some of the blog’s hallmark events from the year 2006.

I started the year on January 9th  with a truly  foundational post for my blog: “Beyond Blogging“, which focuses on my overarching goals. January 16 saw  my second post  focusing on  a modern worship song and really set the stage for many (15+) future  posts devoted to highlighting the lyrics of great modern worship songs. On January 29  I published the  first  of (now 14) my  “Bobspotted Blogrolls”. March  (3rd) began with me interacting with Phil Johnson’s (of Pyromaniacs)  second assessment of fundamentalism. That post actually earned me  my one and only  link from Sharper Iron.

March 25 marked my launch of a new motto: “Striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God”. And I celebrated the motto with a new banner (which adorned my old blogger blog). Then on April 21st, I publicized my KJV Only Debate Resource Center  (by the way, I have much work left to do over there). On May 8, I posted a memorable post on the Together for the Gospel conference. Besides linking to many conference resources, I also  gave one of my best calls for unity and criticisms of fundamentalist separation.  

July 17, 2006 was the day I launched Fundamentally Reformed 2.0. And let me tell you, I wouldn’t trade WordPress for anything.   It is such a great improvement over Blogger. Then on August 13th, I began my attempt at creating an aggregator of Fundamental Reformers. And finally,  on August 25th, I came out with my “new and improved about-this-blog-post” which is most of what you will read when you click on the “about” tab at the top.    The last hallmark, I guess,  would be the start of my longest series ever: “The Demands of Jesus“.

Okay, we’ve given you a top 10 and chronicled the hallmark events of the year. All that’s left is to hand out some awards and give honorable mention for some posts in various categories. So in no particular order, let’s begin:

• My  best book review of the year had to be my 2 part series on C.J. Mahaney’s Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God. [part 1, part 2]
• The best resources I pointed out would be a tie between BibleCentre.Net highlighted here, and 2 Ways to Live, an online interactive gospel presentation.
• The funniest post of the year was undoubtedly “The Seven Dwarfs –An IFBx  Sermon!“
• The saddest post of the year (which discussed the saddest comment of the year) was Hyper Fundamentalism and the Family.
• The best illustration of the year was highlighted in “The Goodness of God in Election.” (Every non Calvinist needs to read it!)
• The biggest flop of the year was my much hyped and long overdue participatory worship post. (I still have not unveiled part 2, but when I do, I hope to do it right this time!)
• The most timely (and appropriate) post of the year had to be my post dealing with the Ted Haggard scandal.
• My most controversial post was probably my first post on the wine debate (#5 above).    It, like my two posts on wine several months later, generated lots of comments (32) but the controversy runs deeper than merely numbers of comments [BTW my 2nd post on wine is my 2nd most commented post–49]. Most people assume ex-IFBx people will be into modern music, but something about wine makes it seem that such people have jumped off the deep end into rampant worldliness. I know some of my readers think this of me, so please, please, go read my posts on the issue and see that I really am motivated by God’s Word in this whole issue.
• The post that generated the biggest debate, however, was my post on the John Piper and Christian Rap controversy. That post has the most comments of any on this blog (51) and several of the longest comments you will find anywhere! The article and comments print off a whopping 45 pages! (My extremely long “my story post” with its 48 comments prints off only 38 pages!)
• The most disappointing debate was the recent one on limited atonement. The debate went well enough (on the other blog and then on mine), but 1 hour and 12 minutes before I finished a reply I was working on, my chief opponent quit the debate. That reply showed how he was double-speaking on a key passage. (See the beginning of comment #16….) So just when I tried to be very clear in exposing his error, the debate was over!
• Choosing my favorite song (that I blogged on this past  year) is very difficult! So I will let the award end in a 3-way tie: “Knowing You“, “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us“, and “Before the Throne of God Above“.
• I happened to blog about my favorite new CD  of the  year (it came out the end of last year, but I got it in 2006): Lifesong by Casting Crowns.
• And lastly, I had to create a category for best new song of the year and again I couldn’t just go with one, so this past year’s award goes to both “Gospel Song” by Drew Jones (music by Bob Kauflin) and “Receive the Glory” by Bob Kauflin  [both songs are produced and promoted by Sovereign Grace Ministries, highlighted in this post (#7 above)].

So ends my most self-serving post ever! But hey, this is my blog, and I enjoyed it. So, do you have any of your own favorites that I didn’t mention? Oh, and don’t bother telling me that 45 pages of comments is ridiculous. Yeah, I know.