David Bahnsen was kind enough to send me a copy of The Good of Affluence: Seeking God in a Culture of Wealth, which I began to read last night. I have really enjoyed what I have read thus far, and because it has been a while since I blogged through a book, here we go. …
Fox News Indignation
A lot of attention in this last news cycle is being rendered to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Obama. Apparently there have been cameras running when he unleashed some of his loonier sentiments, to wit, that the United States government has been actively trying to kill black people by inventing the AIDS virus. This …
Boasting is Par for the Course
The word aladzon means boaster, which is how it is rendered in Romans 1:30, in the midst of another Pauline list of sins, including, but not limited to, “backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parent . . .” And in the perilous times, Paul says, “men shall be …
Puritan Types
“Following this lead, Calvinists customarily distinguished typological meaning from allegory and all other figurative modes in scripture, identifying it as part of the full or entire or perfect literal sense — the symbolic dimension of the literal sense which, in the course of time, is uncovered and fulfilled” (Lewalski, Protestant Poetics, p. 120).
Deep Preachers
“I believe that many ‘deep’ preachers are simply so because they are like dry wells with nothing whatever in them, except decaying leaves, a few stones, and perhaps a dead cat or two” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 210).
Cool is Distant and Love Closes Distance
“Real compassion is not sexy. It is not cool. It is inefficient and painful. And it is also faith, and hope, and love. This is real church” (Paul Grant, Blessed Are the Uncool, p. 107).
Maybe I Should Make Something For It. Like A Tea Cozy.
The ladies of our two churches here in Moscow now have a craft blog going on, which can be found here, and which my daughter briefly explains over here.
Blenheim Talks Now Available
Last month we were visiting the kids in the UK and took the opportunity to have a small one day conference at Blenheim Palace. Canon Press has now packaged those talks (along with an autobiographical chat I had with some seminary students), and they are available here. In addition, please note that Canon is making …
Sins Are Like Grapes
Related to akrasia, the word akrates is used once (2 Tim. 3:3), and it means incontinent. It is found in the middle of some other bad company — “For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers …
A Slander on the Oyster
“I heard one say the other day that a certain preacher had no more gifts for the ministry than an oyster, and in my own judgment this was a slander on the oyster, for that worthy bivalve shows great discretion in his openings, and knows when to close” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. …