QOD
“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to thepublic affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become wolves.”
– Thomas Jefferson (letter to Edward Carrington, 16 January 1787)
Reference: The Learning of Liberty, Prangle, 111.
QOD
“Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
– Thomas Paine (American Crisis, No. 1, 19 December 1776)
Reference: Thomas Paine: Collected Writings , Foner ed., Library of America (91)
Overpopulation???
Check out this great article by Mark Steyn about the myth of overpopulation and “quality of life degradation”. Here is it.
P.S. Interesting that this article was published on my birthday!
‘Nuther TV Post
Ok, I may not be as consistent on this issue as I would like, but here is some potentially freaky news concerning a link between TV viewing by young children and Autism. This is not a definitive conclusion mind you, but it is interesting. You can read the post about it here.
Here is a quote:
The researchers studied autism incidence in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington state. They found that as cable television became common in California and Pennsylvania beginning around 1980, childhood autism rose more in the counties that had cable than in the counties that did not. They further found that in all the Western states, the more time toddlers spent in front of the television, the more likely they were to exhibit symptoms of autism disorders.
And while you are over at Dr. Mohler’s blog, go ahead and read this. You probably won’t believe it. We have left “Leave it to Beaver” land everybody, hang on for the ride!
The Schaeffers
Over at CCW Online’s bulletin insert page is a nice introduction to Francis and Edith Schaeffer. I would encourage you to read it and read Schaeffer too (both of them.) I loved this section, as I can relate to a certain degree what Francis Schaeffer went through those many years ago.
Just after World War II, Francis and Edith decided to move to Switzerland to help strengthen the few, isolated churches in Europe who still taught the Gospel. Francis worked tirelessly in what was called the “Separated Movement,” a group of churches in the U.S. and Europe who left liberal denominational affiliations over the issue of the inerrancy of the Bible. But after several years in this work, he came to a crisis point. He noticed that, though these churches clung to correct doctrine, often there was no love or kindness demonstrated in relationships among the members. People within the movement were quick to turn on each other and divide over doctrinal minutia. Worse yet, he noticed even in himself a love for theological debate that had less to do with compassion for the lost and more to do with gamesmanship and self-righteousness.
As Edith prayed for him, Francis spent the next few weeks pacing the hayloft over the chalet in which his family was living. He went all the way back to his agnostic roots and rethought his reasons for believing in God. He studied Jesus’ words about how believers should live. In his book True Spirituality, he sums up his conclusions this way:
In the midst of being right, if self is exalted, my fellowship with God can be destroyed. It is not wrong to be right, but it is wrong to have the wrong attitude in being right, and to forget that my relationship with my fellow man must always be personal. . . . Christianity is not love in abstraction, but to love the individual who stands before me in a person-to-person relationship. He must never be faceless to me or I am denying everything I say I believe.1
1Schaeffer, Francis True Spirituality 1971 Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton IL pg. 152 and 157
Catalyst Review
If you’ve never heard of the Catalyst Conference that was recently held in Atlanta or if you have no interest in anything “emerging” then you can ignore this. Otherwise, the rest of you may be interested in reading this review of the conference here by Nick Kennicott. Reader beware, Nick’s view are probably colored by the fact that he attended the Catalyst Conference immediately after attending the 2006 National Desiring God Conference.
Loving Your Emerging Neighbor
Here is another voice to speak up with thoughts on Emerging churches. I think this is a great post by Christian philosopher John Mark Reynolds. I like this quote, not becuase it is negative, but because it “resonates” with me. (Yea, I did it…I used RESONATE in a sentence…I am truly hip now.) 
To be plain: there is treason amongst Evangelical academics and the emerging church must be careful not to be associated with it. When a few “philosophers” tell Emerging folk “Foundationalism” is dead in epistemology and attack the need for creeds or propositional truth, then the Emerging movement is changed from a sincere, open-hearted way to reach a new generation (as comes to the Church in each age) to an old heresy in new garb. When “scholars” hired by Christian colleges urge socialism as the cure for the economic woes of the world, then Emerging churches are in danger of becoming the pawns of one of the worst things ever to happen to the poor.
Read the whole post though and you will see some of the positive things Mr. Reynolds sees from some emerging folk. One being a refound sense of beauty and art as gifts from God to be enjoyed. Good stuff.
QOD
“The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is ingulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.”
– Thomas Jefferson (letter to Judge Spencer Roane, 9 March 1821)
Reference: respec. Quot
Driscoll Quote
Love this quote by Driscoll.
A good friend of mine and noted missiologist named Dr. Ed Stetzer has rightly said that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be both contended for (Jude 3) and contextualized (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
Relatedly, the hottest theologies today are reformed and emerging. Reformed folks have a legacy of being great defenders of biblical truth, while also being less skilled at contextualizing the gospel for various cultural groups in America. The result is sometimes an irrelevant orthodoxy. Emerging folks are skilled at contextualizing the gospel but often woefully weak at contending for the timeless truths of sound doctrine. The result is sometimes a relevant heterodoxy.
My hope is that what emerges is a blessing of both teams, so that contenders for the gospel become better at evangelism, and contextualizers of the gospel walk away from some of the heretical doctrines (e.g. denial of the inerrancy of Scripture, penal substitutionary atonement, hell, and male pastors) they are considering by returning to Scripture and the legacy of faithful teachers who have guided the church in previous generations. In short, I hope for an uprising of cool Calvinists who can preach the Bible, teach the truth, fight the heretics, plant churches, evangelize the lost, comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable, and compel men to be manly.
You can find the source from 9Marks here.
QOD
“[T]he importance of piety and religion; of industry and frugality; of prudence, economy, regularity and an even government; all… are essential to the well-being of a family.”– Samuel Adams (letter to Thomas wells, 22 November 1780)
Reference: Original Intent, Barton (346); original The Writings
of Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 4 (225)
But…colleges are neutral…right?
I haven’t recommended a Mohler blog lately so I thought it is high time. I know most of my faithful readers already read Dr. Mohler’s blog daily (all 3 of you, although I am fairly open that I am the only one consistently reading my blog…and I am ok with that.)
Anyway, check out today’s blog on the local university. Basically Dr. Mohler is saying no one is neutral, and eventually any arguments on morals will wind up being about theology, and in doing so the secular left has done exactly what they say shouldn’t be done, bring “religion” to the classroom.
Now here is where we have to ask; OK, where do we go from here? My best guess is that as those who believe the Bible to be the very words of God, we need to engage the lofty thoughts and speech of those who would seek to be autonomous and rebel against Jesus Christ. I say engage and not war or battle, as our battle is not against flesh and blood, but principalities and arguments that battle against God and his Word. Can we love the secular left and expose their hypocrisy and bankrupt belief system? Should we do this in a respectful manner that will allow them to listen and think about our position and not dismiss us out of hand? That is the challenge facing us that we must: 1)Figure out how to do individually and 2) Just do it.
Travellin’ Man
This past weekend my family and I were in the Atlanta area for a wedding and were able to visit Lake Ridge Church with a few friends of mine. This is the latest church plant by Ed Stetzer, director of research and Missiologist at the SBC North American Mission Board. My friends and I got to meet Ed and chat with him for a few minutes. It was great time and I was blessed by the worship and warm fellowship that we had there.
