Riddleblog on Off To College
Over at The Riddleblog there is an interesting post and comment section on college and education. Check it out here.
Articles
Here is what I think are a couple of interesting articles. The first is from the USA Today and here is a spot on quote.
With schools opening around the country, it’s unfortunate that many principals and school boards are not educated on the meaning of the Establishment Clause — which can be violated, for example, if a principal asks a priest, rabbi or minister to speak at commencement exercises, thereby officially favoring that form of religion, or any specific form of religion. Such behavior would appropriately be regarded as a “state action.” But under the Free Exercise Clause, a student can express his or her personal religious beliefs in an assignment or as a valedictorian.
So read When Schools Silence God Talk.
Next is an article from the Washington Post about Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla) and how her Christian faith “animates” everything she does. Good for her. No faith/value split here. If you don’t know what that phrase means please see Nancy Pearcy’s Total Truth.
Here’s the article: Rep. Harris Condemns Separation of Church and State.
JT & 9Marks on Emerging
For those of you that don’t get the 9Mark e-newsletter, Justin Taylor has posted all the articles from their latest offering, on the Emerging Church. I haven’t read any of them yet but look forward to reading them asap. I would encourage all of you out there who love The Church to become and stay informed about this movement/conversation. As I have said before, I think there are some good things about those who would catagorize themselves as Emergent, but there are some who are out and out denying basic Christian convictions and confessions, contra Hebrews 10:23. So I hope you enjoy the reading!
QOD
“The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.”
– Thomas Jefferson (letter to Spencer Roane, 9 March 1821)
Reference: The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Memorial Edition,
Lipscomb and Bergh, eds., vol. 15 (325)
Items of Interest
I wanted to pass along several items of interest this morning, two related to Wal-Mart.
The following information comes from the Family Research Council and most of you have probably heard about these items but here goes.
Misstep on the Road to a Culture of Life
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it would approve the application of a Barr Laboratories subsidiary to sell the Plan B “morning-after-pill” to women 18 years and older without prescription as an over-the-counter drug (“OTC”). Family Research Council and other strong supporters of President Bush’s policies on health and life issues have opposed to OTC status for Plan B. Apparently, this has fallen on deaf ears. The White House is allowing Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) to determine medical and social policy in America. This, in exchange for their lifting their holds on the nomination of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to head the FDA. FDA’s approval of this unprecedented arrangement for Plan B raises many legal, medical, and social questions. For example, selling an identical drug both by prescription and OTC to different populations based on age is unenforceable. Local jurisdication have tremendous difficultly enforcing sale of tobacco and alcohol to minors; will this lead to the Plan B police? We believe that FDA does not have the legal authority to approve Barr’s application. Consequently, FRC and its allies will now consider their legal options as well as ask Congress to follow the lead of Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) in conducting serious oversight of this rogue bureaucracy.
Do No Harm with Your No Harm Headlines
Today’s Washington Post splashes a banner headline across page A3. “Stem Cells Created with No Harm to Human Embryos.” Wouldn’t that be great? Not so fast. The organization announcing this seeming breakthrough is Advanced Cell Technology of Worcester, Mass. (ACT). ACT has a long history of killing embryonic human beings. They’re the Vege-matic, slice-and-dice shop of stem cell scavengers. The new technique, it is claimed, enables experimenters to remove one cell at the eight-cell stage of human development. This one cell then is “coaxed” into providing stem cells through cell division. These stem cells then, ACT contends, can be used in the treatment of disease. But what happens to the seven-celled organism that remains? ACT maintains that it develops into a normal human embryo. No harm, no foul. FRC’s Dr. David Prentice notes that the President’s Council on Bioethics has already considered this technique and has unanimously rejected it. I agree. Robert Lanza, who leads ACT experiments, is eager to proclaim an end to “the political impasse” over the killing of embryonic humans. The Nuremberg Code adopted after the horrors of the Holocaust prescribed that, among other principles, no experiments could be done on human beings where there is prior reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur. Of course, Lanza had no problem in the past with killing embryonic humans. And his “big announcement” concedes that there is an ethical issue with killing embryonic humans. Indeed, the Post reports that this latest Lanza lab act destroyed “some” embryos too.
Wal-Mart’s Odd Domestic Partners
Wal-Mart has announced an odd new domestic “partnership.” They have teamed up with an outfit called the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Wal-Mart has caved-in, obviously, to the pressure tactics such groups apply to large corporations. This is outrageous. Wal-Mart has made its billions by serving the needs of rural communities throughout America. It has never discriminated against homosexuals who want to purchase their products at low prices. Nor has it discriminated in hiring against homosexuals. But that is not enough. The activists demand that Wal-Mart grovel. They demand that Wal-Mart take sides in the great cultural clash over marriage. This is an affront to the millions of traditional families that patronize Wal-Mart. I wouldn’t be surprised if this causes a rollback in Wal-Mart’s customer base. Won’t you please join me in opposing this offensive move? You can download and print the accompanying .pdf file and drop it off at the Customer Service Desk at your nearest Wal-Mart. Let them know you know what they’re up to–and you don’t appreciate it.
And finally another Wal-Mart story, this one involves communtist involvement in their store(s) in China. Here is the story. What in the world??? Busy Friday, huh?
Driscoll on Mainline Churches
Check out Mark Driscoll’s latest blog on mainline churches here. Cool thing about Driscoll’s convo with his son. Isn’t it amazing how children cut through all the smoke and junk and come straight to the point? I thought that was cool.
Quiz
Care to take this quiz? It doesn’t take very long. I actually tied between Luther and Calvin and it took a tiebreaker to determine who I was. Sweet.
 |
You scored as Calvin. You are John Calvin. You have a Nestorian Christology and separate the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus. You believe only those who have faith are united to Christ, who is present spiritually, yet you call this “Real.”
Eucharistic theology |
Becoming Conversant
I have finished reading Becoming Conversant with the Emergent Church: Understanding a Movement and its Implications by D.A. Carson, and I thought it was great. On any future books I read of this magnitude I’m going to try and review them by chapter, or at least take notes so I can try and review them on my blog. As far as this book goes, I won’t review it but say if you are interested in the Emergent/Emerging church movement, the difference between premodern, modern, and post-modern epistemology, the ability to know truth, and issues related to culture and truth, then I think you would enjoy this book. I found D.A. Carson to write with knowledge, balance, and grace. This is a great book for the times and I highly recommend it.
Here are two reviews I recommed also that could tell you about it much better than I can. Here is the review over at Discerning Reader by Tim Challies (I think). A more thorough review can be found here by Paul Alexander at 9Marks.
Youngest Megachurch Pastor
At 28, Pastor Has Five Degrees and a 4,300-Member Flock. Church at Brook Hills leader David Platt may be youngest megachurch pastor ever.
Read the article here.
Going to try and download some of his sermons and give’em a spin.
More on the Secular Worldview from Dr. Mohler
Dr. Mohler has another blog on the secular worldview, this time referencing an article by philosopher Roland Aronson. The primary question is, just who does an athiest thank? Check it out and see if the answer is satisfactory.
Theology Without Prayer is Idolatry
Oratio obviously includes praying as requesting but it is by no means limited to this, for prayer is a many-sided expression of a God-centered life. Being God-centered in one’s life is essential to being God-centered in one’s thoughts. This God centeredness is the sine qua non of good theology, for, without it, it is impossible to think our thoughts after God, which is what defines good theology. Prayer and theology, therefore, require the total orientation of the person-of heart, mind, and will — to God. Theology without trusting, submissive prayer is no longer good theology; it is merely an academic exercise which may itself pose as a substitute for the process of knowing God. Where this happens, the means has become the end in a kind of perverse idolatry. – David Wells
The above quote comes from an article by David Wells called “The Nature and Function of Theology”. I have not read the article, but I thought the quote was incredible and I needed to pass it along before life moved on. How many people do you know who are all over theology and theological discussions but lack the Christian graces and prayer soaked attitude to make you really care what they are saying. How many of those same people ask you if they can pray for you? If not, what theology are they studying? I am writing to myself as much as anybody else. My pastor reminded us recently that nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care. That is a cliche’ I guess, but the truth of it shouldn’t be denied. In the past I think I have fallen into the trap of prayerless theology, and still do today, a lot. How about you?
(THFP: Justin Taylor)
Von Mises Institute
For those with an interest in economic theory, here is an article from the WSJ about the Von Mises institute in Auburn, Alabama. Don’t know who Von Mises is? Don’t know what Austrian Economics is? Check out the article and also here and here.
The Secular Worldview and The Bible
Check out Dr. Mohler’s commentary today on
A Deep and Radical
Antagonism—The Bible
and Secular Worldviews
Here are the closing two paragraphs.
Christians are often perplexed by resistance to the Bible and to the Gospel. We tend to distance ourselves from the reality that the Bible sounds so exceedingly strange to modern and postmodern ears. We underestimate the distance of the divide between biblical Christianity and secular worldviews.
All this should remind us of our constant evangelistic and apologetic task–and of the fact that salvation is all by grace. After all, it’s not that we were smart enough to wade through all this and emerge as believers. Instead, our eyes were opened so that we would see. That radical antagonism James Orr was talking about isn’t overcome by force of argument and persuasion alone, but by grace. As we engage in the controversies and debates of this age, we had better keep that great fact always in the forefront of our thinking.
I think what is important here is Dr. Mohler’s reminder not to abandon evangelism and apologetics, but for them to be grace filled, winsome, and characterized by an understanding of the role of God’s grace in each of our lives.
McKinney Loses!
Democratic Congresswoman Loses Georgia Runoff for Re-election
I don’t know a thing about Henry Johnson Jr., but come on, can it get any worse?
Philosophy of Blogging & How to keep your house cool
My current philosophy of blogging is simple. I am trying to apply Biblical principles to all areas of life. That is not always easy, and it is one of the things that makes the Christian life fun and interesting. I am not interested in a narrowly focused, naval gazing, same subject/same people just back slapping me blog. This is also an attempt to keep blogging from becoming an exercise in narcissism. Do you know what I mean?
So in the vein of sphere sovereignty and all that stuff, how many of you are getting slapped down by the heat? And how many of you operate on a pretty tight budget? Well, if there are any of you out there you may be interested in this article on 25 cheap ways to keep your house cooler. Let me know if any work for you.
Reggie White & The Bible
Check out this article about the late Reggie White from USA Today and then this post by Gene Veith on said article. Any thoughts?
The First of Books
The American Revolution…is fixed forever. Washington began it with energy, and finished it with moderation.
- Louise Fonaines, 1800
I just finished The First of Men by John Ferling, a 513 page epic biography of George Washington. This book covered Washington from his birth in the early 1730’s to his death at age 67 in December of 1799. I could never do a book this in- depth any justice in a review, and I did not take notes, but read it rather hurridly. Because of that, I would like to read more about our first president, but thanks to this book I feel I have a good foundation to build on. Washington was a peculiar man, but determined to make something of himself. This drive carried him to be the most honored and revered man alive in the infant United States.
This is my third book by John Ferling and I continue to recommend his writing, even though while this book is exhaustively researched and thorough in many details of Washington’s life, it did not seem to be as polished or forceful as “Adams Vs. Jefferson” or “John Adams: A life“. Nevertheless, it was an informative and engaging read, and I don’t think you could go wrong with adding this selection to your revolutionary period reading list.
John Piper Giving Thanks
I found this article from Desiring God/John Piper’s fresh words very interesting.
Thank You, Thank You,
Thank You
25 Years of MTV
25 Years of Pushing the Envelope : MTV is our leading purveyor of crudeness.
How many remember when MTV first aired? I never saw the first few years of MTV, but I was conscious of it and watched vidoes as much as I could on network TV (remember Friday Night Videos on NBC anyone?). Make that probably the first decade of MTV. That was due to living on a dirt road in a rural neighborhood that didn’t have cable. That was probably a good thing. Why do I say that? Well if you don’t know, then read the article. Although I watched my fair share in college and after.
Anyway, I don’t have cable again. This time it is by choice. Well, sort of by choice. Either cable goes or eating every day goes. My wife and I chose cable to go. And you know what? I know it is a good thing. Now if I could just do something about those last 10 or so channels I still have.
Primer on Ammillenialism
Over at Fide-O Jason Robertson has a very cool primer or short description, or not so short, of the Ammillenial end times position. Interesting is his list of prominent theologians who are/were amill. Now, before anyone gets testy, some of the big names from days of old are harder to pin down because our current terms of amill and postmill weren’t around back then. These two positions can be very close, so both camps claim some of the names. This is no big deal to me, because even though historical positions of churchmen are helpful, the final determiner is which position is more consistent, overall, with scripture.
Age of Accountability?
I have been reminded lately of the important work of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. Their call is for evangelical churches to remain faithful to the historic, biblical gospel.
I wanted to bring to your attention the latest question and answer featured on their web site. The question is, Is there an age of accountability? Good short answer.
