Archive for May, 2008:
Seminary Papers and Donkeys
My contributions to discussions here and on other blogs has really waned the last month or so, and I thought it might be nice to share with you all the stuff that occupied so much of my time! I wrote three major papers this semester, and I think I will post two. This paper is on Balaam and Numbers 22-24. I chose the topic because I had no idea what was happening in that story. So if you are as curious as I was, you may find this article beneficial. Stay tuned for my second paper which I will post sometime next week. Read more »
Around the Wire…
- We’ve had a lot of discussion about the deity of Christ, stemming from the historical (un)reliability of John. Dan Wallace over at Parchment and Pen just started a mini-series analyzing the historical reliability of the gospel, and some very interesting insights into academic history regarding it. A very good read!
- Over the summer, I am going to take a more in depth look and write about issues of masculinity (starting next week actually). This article, written by Dr. Anthony Bradley and hosted by The Resurgence, is an excellent look into the problems facing men in our culture, and the sad state of masculinity in desperate need of some redeeming. It is helpful in establishing the “problem” into which I plan to write. Read more »
Heretic!!!
So this guy is walking on a bridge, and he sees this man about to jump. He runs up to him and asks him why he wants to kill himself.
‘Well, I just don’t think there’s any meaning to life.’ The first man responds,
‘What are your religious beliefs? Do you believe in God?’
‘Why yes, I do.’
‘No way, me too! Are you a Muslim, Christian, Jew…?’
‘I’m a Christian’
‘Are you Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant?’
‘I’m Protestant’
‘No way, me too! What denomination are you part of?’
Things that should bother me more…
As a Christian & a human being, I am growing in my concern for justice issues throughout the world. I feel that most of my life, I have been oblivious to the needs of others, who lack some of the most simple things in life which I largely take for granted.
While this has escaped my concern for so long, I am actually grateful for some of the advances in technology & art. Example: I can no longer plead ignorance to the fact that right now there are around 300,000 children being coerced, forced or kidnapped to participate in armed conflicts throughout the world as child soldiers, most of them in Africa alone, since I went & saw Blood Diamond. I can’t say that I have no awareness that entire people group’s are having their simple rights as human beings trampled upon, because I spent over $150 to go see U2 in concert. The technology & art of today has made social concern and awareness an inescapable reality.
But what do I do about it?
Well, Jesus answered this question nearly 2,000 years ago. Read more »
Expelled vs Exposed!
Well, I dont want to steal to much of the thunder from these sites, but if you havent heard about Ben Stein’s presentation of the movie Expelled, it is creating some waves. Probably the largest reaction to it I have seen is the site Expelled Exposed, and it offers an opposing point of view regarding the material presented in Expelled. The whole issue is regarding the inclusion of intelligent design as an equal theory to the theory of evolution. Exposed claims that science operates on assumptions that can neither prove nor deny theological claims, and as such intelligent design theories have as much place in a science classroom as a geometry theorem in an Old English literature course. What are your thoughts?
An Evangelical Manifesto
Two posts in one day?!?! Can it be?!?! You bet… this is just too good not to share.
From CNN:
Conservative Christian leaders who believe the word “evangelical” has lost its religious meaning plan to release a starkly self-critical document saying the movement has become too political and has diminished the Gospel through its approach to the culture wars.
The declaration encourages Christians to uphold traditional marriage, as in this Massachusetts protest.
The statement, called “An Evangelical Manifesto,” condemns Christians on the right and left for using faith to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, according to a draft of the document obtained Friday by The Associated Press.
“That way faith loses its independence, Christians become ‘useful idiots’ for one political party or another, and the Christian faith becomes an ideology,” according to the draft. Read more »
Maple’s Story
I’m sitting here at a local coffee shop, grabbing some dinner, reading my new favorite book (Tim Keller’s The Reason for God), and otherwise trying to get away from campus and have some uninterrupted time to myself, when a little girl walks up to my table and asks me, “What chapter are you on?”
That was the first of many questions.
“What do you do?”
I’m a student.
“Are you in high school?”
Weeeell… It’s after high school, and after college.
“Do they talk on a stage, for a long time?”
Yes, very often.
“What’s your name?”
Brad. What’s yours?
“Maple. When a baby is born, how do they know if it is a boy or a girl?”
Well Maple… I…. uhhh… the doctors know.
“But how do they know?”
They went to a lot of school and… they just know.
“You go to a lot of school. Do you know?”
Uhhh…. No. Do you like to read, Maple? Read more »
