"The gospel is so simple that simple children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches."- Charles Hodge
From Apologetics 315
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Charles Hodge on the Gospel
Quote from Charles Hodge
"The gospel is so simple that simple children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches."
- Charles Hodge
From Apologetics 315
"The gospel is so simple that simple children can understand it, and it is so profound that studies by the wisest theologians will never exhaust its riches."- Charles Hodge
From Apologetics 315
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Apologetic Quote
Hello,
Ran across this comment on the AOMIN (Alpha ande Omega) blog today. Enjoy it.
"Thus, anyone who believes in a god that isn't the Christian God is only using that theistic belief in order to avoid the responsibility of facing up to the true God. The Christian God is the most inconvenient and threatening thing that could possibly exist for someone who isn't a Christian. Never forget that. The Trinity demands allegiance, total worship and commitment, your entire life - from finances to marriage to thoughts - and not for religious people, but for everyone!" by Jamin Hubner
God's existence can not be denied logically. It can only be denied illogically. Thats what many unbelievers try and do time and time again.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Ran across this comment on the AOMIN (Alpha ande Omega) blog today. Enjoy it.
"Thus, anyone who believes in a god that isn't the Christian God is only using that theistic belief in order to avoid the responsibility of facing up to the true God. The Christian God is the most inconvenient and threatening thing that could possibly exist for someone who isn't a Christian. Never forget that. The Trinity demands allegiance, total worship and commitment, your entire life - from finances to marriage to thoughts - and not for religious people, but for everyone!" by Jamin Hubner
God's existence can not be denied logically. It can only be denied illogically. Thats what many unbelievers try and do time and time again.
Have a Merry Christmas!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Quotes for Sunday
Here are a few quotes for Sunday. Enjoy!
Agnosticism:
I have a great love and respect for religion, great love and respect for atheism. What I hate is agnosticism, people who do not choose. - Orson Welles
Apologetics:
We need men and women who are willing to compete with secularists in defense of Christ and His truth. R. C. Sproul.
Atheism:
"Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist there is no God." - Heywood Broun
"If there were no God there would be no atheists." - G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
"The Seventh Judicial Circuit of the Court of Appeals of the United States held that atheism is a religion and therefore it cannot be promoted by a public school. Currently public schools are promoting atheism through a dogmatic and uncritical teaching of materialistic theories of origins". - John Calvert, Intelligent Design leader
"Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding." - Plato
To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny. - Joseph Addison
Religion:
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
Agnosticism:
I have a great love and respect for religion, great love and respect for atheism. What I hate is agnosticism, people who do not choose. - Orson Welles
Apologetics:
We need men and women who are willing to compete with secularists in defense of Christ and His truth. R. C. Sproul.
Atheism:
"Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist there is no God." - Heywood Broun
"If there were no God there would be no atheists." - G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)
"The Seventh Judicial Circuit of the Court of Appeals of the United States held that atheism is a religion and therefore it cannot be promoted by a public school. Currently public schools are promoting atheism through a dogmatic and uncritical teaching of materialistic theories of origins". - John Calvert, Intelligent Design leader
"Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding." - Plato
To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny. - Joseph Addison
Religion:
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
Thursday, October 7, 2010
F.F. Bruce on the New Testament.
Hello all,
A small quote from F.F. Bruce on the reliablity of the New Testament:
"The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament than have many theologians."
- F.F. Bruce
Defend the faith. Jesus is worth it.
A small quote from F.F. Bruce on the reliablity of the New Testament:
"The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no-one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament than have many theologians."
- F.F. Bruce
Defend the faith. Jesus is worth it.
Busy Days!
You know I have too much to do. I am taking 16 hours, am teaching Wednesday night bible study for a youth group, possiblly teaching Sun day school at our church, as well as being Husband and Father.
Ok I am tired. But I will press on till the end.
Wake up John!
Ok I am tired. But I will press on till the end.
Wake up John!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Eddie Long is in trouble.
I will not comment on whether or not the charges are true or false, if he did it or did not do it. But will let the facts, as understood by CNN, speak for themselves and the chip will fall where they may.
Lord help the church!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5g7Qr34UFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm7fR2wLTIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bileB5KQHSc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJCoVT0fUhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU3A-2Z05WY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTf2am-OHY
Some other videos from Fox News 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnKDaYl-C_s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgcCobRsBU
I can not speak on Eddie Long but if the people in New Birth church do not at least wake up and ask questions....
Lord help the church!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5g7Qr34UFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm7fR2wLTIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bileB5KQHSc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJCoVT0fUhw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU3A-2Z05WY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTf2am-OHY
Some other videos from Fox News 5:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnKDaYl-C_s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKgcCobRsBU
I can not speak on Eddie Long but if the people in New Birth church do not at least wake up and ask questions....
Monday, October 4, 2010
Happy October,
Here are a few Apologetics links for you to enjoy.
http://www.apologeticsguy.com/
http://apologetics315.blogspot.com/
http://www.tawapologetics.blogspot.com/
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer (William Lane Craig)
http://www.utahgospelmission.org/
Thought you might enjoy these, so have at it.
God Bless
Here are a few Apologetics links for you to enjoy.
http://www.apologeticsguy.com/
http://apologetics315.blogspot.com/
http://www.tawapologetics.blogspot.com/
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer (William Lane Craig)
http://www.utahgospelmission.org/
Thought you might enjoy these, so have at it.
God Bless
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Push Ups in "Theology" class
A short story on the message of the cross:
There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious man who taught at a small college in the western United States . Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course his or her freshman year, regardless of his or her major.
Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.
This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor's class. One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.
"How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
"200? That's pretty good, Steve!" Dr. Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."
"Do you think you could?" again asked Dr. Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.
Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it."
Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind."
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class.
Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?"
Cynthia said, "Yes."
Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"
"Sure." Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.
Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"
Joe said, "Yes." Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"
Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.
Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship.
When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"
Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own push-ups?"
Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."
Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?" With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups.
Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!" Dr. Christianson said, "Look! This is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.
Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"
Sternly, Jenny said, "No."
Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve did ten....Jenny got a donut.
By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say "No" and there were a lot of uneaten donuts on the desks.
Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the class, to watch Steve do each push-up to make sure he did the full ten push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so Robert could count the set and watch Steve closely.
Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row. During his class, however, some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way that you want." And Dr. Christianson went on.
A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"
Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten push-ups for him?"
Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut."
Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"
Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut."
"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Dr. Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those visitors seated by the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. By this time sweat was profusely dropping off of his face, there was no sound except his heavy breathing; there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?"
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."
Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?" Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.
Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can't I help him?"
Dr. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone, I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked my grade book. Steve here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes."
"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said. "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, pled to the Father, 'into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."
Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.
"Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor, adding "Not all sermons are preached in words."
Turning to his class, the professor said, "My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He did not spare His Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift to us, the price has been paid."
"Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"
Take the time to think about the Saviors work for YOU today.
Blessings.
There was a certain Professor of Religion named Dr. Christianson, a studious man who taught at a small college in the western United States . Dr. Christianson taught the required survey course in Christianity at this particular institution. Every student was required to take this course his or her freshman year, regardless of his or her major.
Although Dr. Christianson tried hard to communicate the essence of the gospel in his class, he found that most of his students looked upon the course as nothing but required drudgery. Despite his best efforts, most students refused to take Christianity seriously.
This year, Dr. Christianson had a special student named Steve. Steve was only a freshman, but was studying with the intent of going onto seminary for the ministry. Steve was popular, he was well liked, and he was an imposing physical specimen. He was now the starting center on the school football team, and was the best student in the professor's class. One day, Dr. Christianson asked Steve to stay after class so he could talk with him.
"How many push-ups can you do?"
Steve said, "I do about 200 every night."
"200? That's pretty good, Steve!" Dr. Christianson said. "Do you think you could do 300?"
Steve replied, "I don't know... I've never done 300 at a time."
"Do you think you could?" again asked Dr. Christianson.
"Well, I can try," said Steve.
"Can you do 300 in sets of 10? I have a class project in mind and I need you to do about 300 push-ups in sets of ten for this to work. Can you do it? I need you to tell me you can do it," said the professor.
Steve said, "Well... I think I can...yeah, I can do it."
Dr. Christianson said, "Good! I need you to do this on Friday. Let me explain what I have in mind."
Friday came and Steve got to class early and sat in the front of the room. When class started, the professor pulled out a big box of donuts. No, these weren't the normal kinds of donuts, they were the extra fancy BIG kind, with cream centers and frosting swirls. Everyone was pretty excited it was Friday, the last class of the day, and they were going to get an early start on the weekend with a party in Dr. Christianson's class.
Dr. Christianson went to the first girl in the first row and asked, "Cynthia, do you want to have one of these donuts?"
Cynthia said, "Yes."
Dr. Christianson then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Cynthia can have a donut?"
"Sure." Steve jumped down from his desk to do a quick ten. Then Steve again sat in his desk. Dr. Christianson put a donut on Cynthia's desk.
Dr. Christianson then went to Joe, the next person, and asked, "Joe, do you want a donut?"
Joe said, "Yes." Dr. Christianson asked, "Steve would you do ten push-ups so Joe can have a donut?"
Steve did ten push-ups, Joe got a donut. And so it went, down the first aisle, Steve did ten push-ups for every person before they got their donut.
Walking down the second aisle, Dr. Christianson came to Scott. Scott was on the basketball team, and in as good condition as Steve. He was very popular and never lacking for female companionship.
When the professor asked, "Scott do you want a donut?"
Scott's reply was, "Well, can I do my own push-ups?"
Dr. Christianson said, "No, Steve has to do them."
Then Scott said, "Well, I don't want one then."
Dr. Christianson shrugged and then turned to Steve and asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Scott can have a donut he doesn't want?" With perfect obedience Steve started to do ten push-ups.
Scott said, "HEY! I said I didn't want one!" Dr. Christianson said, "Look! This is my classroom, my class, my desks, and these are my donuts. Just leave it on the desk if you don't want it." And he put a donut on Scott's desk.
Now by this time, Steve had begun to slow down a little. He just stayed on the floor between sets because it took too much effort to be getting up and down. You could start to see a little perspiration coming out around his brow.
Dr. Christianson started down the third row. Now the students were beginning to get a little angry. Dr. Christianson asked Jenny, "Jenny, do you want a donut?"
Sternly, Jenny said, "No."
Then Dr. Christianson asked Steve, "Steve, would you do ten more push-ups so Jenny can have a donut that she doesn't want?" Steve did ten....Jenny got a donut.
By now, a growing sense of uneasiness filled the room. The students were beginning to say "No" and there were a lot of uneaten donuts on the desks.
Steve also had to really put forth a lot of extra effort to get these push-ups done for each donut. There began to be a small pool of sweat on the floor beneath his face, his arms and brow were beginning to get red because of the physical effort involved.
Dr. Christianson asked Robert, who was the most vocal unbeliever in the class, to watch Steve do each push-up to make sure he did the full ten push-ups in a set because he couldn't bear to watch all of Steve's work for all of those uneaten donuts. He sent Robert over to where Steve was so Robert could count the set and watch Steve closely.
Dr. Christianson started down the fourth row. During his class, however, some students from other classes had wandered in and sat down on the steps along the radiators that ran down the sides of the room. When the professor realized this, he did a quick count and saw that now there were 34 students in the room. He started to worry if Steve would be able to make it.
Dr. Christianson went on to the next person and the next and the next. Near the end of that row, Steve was really having a rough time. He was taking a lot more time to complete each set.
Steve asked Dr. Christianson, "Do I have to make my nose touch on each one?"
Dr. Christianson thought for a moment, "Well, they're your push-ups. You are in charge now. You can do them any way that you want." And Dr. Christianson went on.
A few moments later, Jason, a recent transfer student, came to the room and was about to come in when all the students yelled in one voice, "NO! Don't come in! Stay out!"
Jason didn't know what was going on. Steve picked up his head and said, "No, let him come."
Professor Christianson said, "You realize that if Jason comes in you will have to do ten push-ups for him?"
Steve said, "Yes, let him come in. Give him a donut."
Dr. Christianson said, "Okay, Steve, I'll let you get Jason's out of the way right now. Jason, do you want a donut?"
Jason, new to the room, hardly knew what was going on. "Yes," he said, "give me a donut."
"Steve, will you do ten push-ups so that Jason can have a donut?" Steve did ten push-ups very slowly and with great effort. Jason, bewildered, was handed a donut and sat down.
Dr. Christianson finished the fourth row, and then started on those visitors seated by the heaters. Steve's arms were now shaking with each push-up in a struggle to lift himself against the force of gravity. By this time sweat was profusely dropping off of his face, there was no sound except his heavy breathing; there was not a dry eye in the room.
The very last two students in the room were two young women, both cheerleaders, and very popular. Dr. Christianson went to Linda, the second to last, and asked, "Linda, do you want a doughnut?"
Linda said, very sadly, "No, thank you."
Professor Christianson quietly asked, "Steve, would you do ten push-ups so that Linda can have a donut she doesn't want?" Grunting from the effort, Steve did ten very slow push-ups for Linda.
Then Dr. Christianson turned to the last girl, Susan. "Susan, do you want a donut?"
Susan, with tears flowing down her face, began to cry. "Dr. Christianson, why can't I help him?"
Dr. Christianson, with tears of his own, said, "No, Steve has to do it alone, I have given him this task and he is in charge of seeing that everyone has an opportunity for a donut whether they want it or not. When I decided to have a party this last day of class, I looked my grade book. Steve here is the only student with a perfect grade. Everyone else has failed a test, skipped class, or offered me inferior work. Steve told me that in football practice, when a player messes up he must do push-ups. I told Steve that none of you could come to my party unless he paid the price by doing your push-ups. He and I made a deal for your sakes."
"Steve, would you do ten push-ups so Susan can have a donut?"
As Steve very slowly finished his last push-up, with the understanding that he had accomplished all that was required of him, having done 350 push-ups, his arms buckled beneath him and he fell to the floor.
Dr. Christianson turned to the room and said. "And so it was, that our Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross, pled to the Father, 'into thy hands I commend my spirit.' With the understanding that He had done everything that was required of Him, He yielded up His life. And like some of those in this room, many of us leave the gift on the desk, uneaten."
Two students helped Steve up off the floor and to a seat, physically exhausted, but wearing a thin smile.
"Well done, good and faithful servant," said the professor, adding "Not all sermons are preached in words."
Turning to his class, the professor said, "My wish is that you might understand and fully comprehend all the riches of grace and mercy that have been given to you through the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He did not spare His Begotten Son, but gave Him up for us all, for the whole Church, now and forever. Whether or not we choose to accept His gift to us, the price has been paid."
"Wouldn't you be foolish and ungrateful to leave it lying on the desk?"
Take the time to think about the Saviors work for YOU today.
Blessings.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Quote of the day!
This is from RC Sproul:
No christian can avoid theology. Every christian has a theology. The issue, then, is not, do we want to have a theology. Thats a given. The real issue is, do we have a sound theology. Do we embrace true or false doctrine?
R.C. Sproul
Yep! Thats it. Right on the money RC. Get to it people.
Blessings.
No christian can avoid theology. Every christian has a theology. The issue, then, is not, do we want to have a theology. Thats a given. The real issue is, do we have a sound theology. Do we embrace true or false doctrine?
R.C. Sproul
Yep! Thats it. Right on the money RC. Get to it people.
Blessings.
This just a theological nugget.
Just a thought...
"To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in
itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a
desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of
self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against
such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it." - J I Packer
How true! As serious students and teachers of God's Word, we must
always examine our motivations. I found this quote in an email from bestbiblecommentaries.com
Read more here: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Lo96a&m=1m231IWn25C0AL&b=JsC9lrgQN_iiv1y2j6joRg
Blessings.
"To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in
itself, to approach Bible study with no higher a motive than a
desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of
self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against
such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it." - J I Packer
How true! As serious students and teachers of God's Word, we must
always examine our motivations. I found this quote in an email from bestbiblecommentaries.com
Read more here: http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=Lo96a&m=1m231IWn25C0AL&b=JsC9lrgQN_iiv1y2j6joRg
Blessings.
Monday, August 23, 2010
DO kids want "real" or "entertainment" Christianity?
A new post from Nancy Pearcey on her blog, The Pearcey Report. She is the author of the great book call Total Truth. Check it out...
http://www.pearceyreport.com/blog/2010/08/when_churches_try_to_be_cool_1.php
http://www.pearceyreport.com/blog/2010/08/when_churches_try_to_be_cool_1.php
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Preachers job!
This taken from the website of Justin Childers at CROSS-eyed.
The Simplicity of the Preacher's Task
"In the end, our calling as preachers is really very simple. We study, we stand before our people, we read the text, and we explain it. We reprove, rebuke, exhort, encourage, and teach--and then we do it all again and again and again."
-Al Mohler, He is Not Silent, p. 64.
http://justinchilders.blogspot.com/
We must speak up, speak out and and speak forth the Word of God!
The Simplicity of the Preacher's Task
"In the end, our calling as preachers is really very simple. We study, we stand before our people, we read the text, and we explain it. We reprove, rebuke, exhort, encourage, and teach--and then we do it all again and again and again."
-Al Mohler, He is Not Silent, p. 64.
http://justinchilders.blogspot.com/
We must speak up, speak out and and speak forth the Word of God!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Holy Hip Hop
Just ran across a man that has some Holy Hip Hop on the net. Check him out. http://jesusdisciple.bandcamp.com/
Monday, August 2, 2010
Something I noticed
I was talking to some Witness' today and I noticed something interesting. And as I think about it, I think it applies to all disbelieving groups and their like.
They will not believe the Bible, no matter what you try to show them.
We talked for a long time today and it was a team of father and a son. The son asked his first question and I listened and then told them what I think about it. Then I gave them my interpretation. The facts are that either I was right or they were OR we were both wrong. If what you believe is not in the Scriptures, then let it go. Every verse used today I either showed them in context or showed them using Greek or Hebrew tools. (And we are talking tools that are available to everybody, not just the "special people" that have been to seminary as I have been.) The young man had his materials from the Watchtower and was ready to go but they could not deal with the simple Word of God.
Any way in which I offended them... I am truly sorry for because I tried not too. But boy the dad was frustrated by the end. I hope they come back in a couple of weeks.
They will not believe the Bible, no matter what you try to show them.
We talked for a long time today and it was a team of father and a son. The son asked his first question and I listened and then told them what I think about it. Then I gave them my interpretation. The facts are that either I was right or they were OR we were both wrong. If what you believe is not in the Scriptures, then let it go. Every verse used today I either showed them in context or showed them using Greek or Hebrew tools. (And we are talking tools that are available to everybody, not just the "special people" that have been to seminary as I have been.) The young man had his materials from the Watchtower and was ready to go but they could not deal with the simple Word of God.
Any way in which I offended them... I am truly sorry for because I tried not too. But boy the dad was frustrated by the end. I hope they come back in a couple of weeks.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A very nice word!!!!!
Thabiti Anyabwile is Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Grand Cayman Islands and a Council member with The Gospel Coalition. He has written a nice blurb about myself and Dr. Glenn Kreider on the Gospel Coalition website. Check out what he had to say. (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabitianyabwile/)
Click on the search window underneath Thabiti's picture. Type in "decline" and "bray" and up it pops.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Mark Driscoll on the Calvinism and Arminianism debate!
This is from Mark Driscoll and it is pretty good. Check it out.
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Steve Lawson on what a preacher must avoid..
Here is a short list on what a preacher must avoid by Steve Lawson:
"What are the greatest perils that preacher must avoid?
The greatest perils that preachers must avoid: one, pride; two, lack of study; three, prayerlessness; four, withholding the full counsel of God; five, fear of man; six, lack of living the message; seven, a failure to “own” the manuscript; eight, being negative, rather than positive; nine, manipulating people; ten, a lack of compassion."
From the Unashamed Workman site: http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/
Preachers get back to work....
"What are the greatest perils that preacher must avoid?
The greatest perils that preachers must avoid: one, pride; two, lack of study; three, prayerlessness; four, withholding the full counsel of God; five, fear of man; six, lack of living the message; seven, a failure to “own” the manuscript; eight, being negative, rather than positive; nine, manipulating people; ten, a lack of compassion."
From the Unashamed Workman site: http://unashamedworkman.wordpress.com/
Preachers get back to work....
Now THAT'S a Library!
Ok I have to admit I am in awe of his library and reading material. That is what I call a well stocked library.
Work hard and work long and work hard, all for the glory of God.
Al Mohler - Study Tour from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.
Work hard and work long and work hard, all for the glory of God.
Video and song by THE VOICE on the race problem in the church.
Well the ONE gift I KNOW God has not given me is the gift of RAPPING and lyrics over any beat but I do enjoy the men and women who can.
He was talking about his song called Black Church White Church found here: Black Church White Church by avoice
Enjoy!
Black Church White Church from Curtis Allen on Vimeo.
He was talking about his song called Black Church White Church found here: Black Church White Church by avoice
Enjoy!
Monday, June 21, 2010
A Bagger's story...
This is a story about a grocery bagger and how he changed a company, What can I do, what can you do as a member of the body of Christ?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xay6sp_the-simple-truths-of-service-johnny_shortfilms
Let's get to work!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xay6sp_the-simple-truths-of-service-johnny_shortfilms
Let's get to work!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
There's a NEW church coming...
There's a new church coming and it is called Connect Church and it will be planted by Myself and Bro. Andrews.
Here's the website: http://connectchurchatl.org/index.php
It will be on in 2011! Go God!
Here's the website: http://connectchurchatl.org/index.php
It will be on in 2011! Go God!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOO!
Yesterday was a very special day.... it was my wife's birthday. SO i wanted to say Happy Birthday to her and know back to our regularlly scheduled program...
Sunday, May 30, 2010
The NICNT is on Google.
The New International Commentary on the New Testament is available for viewing in the Google Books archives. This are good commentaries, Fee on Corinthians and Moo an Romans especially, and should be looked at in any study of the passages you are looking to preach.
Google books can be a good place to go to get information from older commentaries and is an excellent source for an older look at what people have said about the Word of God.
Enjoy!
Is the Black Church Dead?
Eddie Glaude, Jr., Ph.D..Professor of Religion and Chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University
Posted: February 24, 2010
The Black Church Is Dead
The Black Church, as we've known it or imagined it, is dead. Of course, many African Americans still go to church. According to the PEW Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, 87 percent of African Americans identify with a religious group and 79 percent say that religion is very important in their lives. But the idea of this venerable institution as central to black life and as a repository for the social and moral conscience of the nation has all but disappeared.
Several reasons immediately come to mind for this state of affairs. First, black churches have always been complicated spaces. Our traditional stories about them -- as necessarily prophetic and progressive institutions -- run up against the reality that all too often black churches and those who pastor them have been and continue to be quite conservative. Black televangelists who preach a prosperity gospel aren't new. We need only remember Prophet Jones and Reverend Ike. Conservative black congregations have always been a part of the African American religious landscape. After all, the very existence of the Progressive Baptist Convention is tied up with a trenchant critique of the conservatism of the National Baptist Convention, USA. But our stories about black churches too often bury this conservative dimension of black Christian life.
Second, African American communities are much more differentiated. The idea of a black church standing at the center of all that takes place in a community has long since passed away. Instead, different areas of black life have become more distinct and specialized -- flourishing outside of the bounds and gaze of black churches. I am not suggesting that black communities have become wholly secular; just that black religious institutions and beliefs stand alongside a number of other vibrant non-religious institutions and beliefs.
Moreover, we are witnessing an increase in the numbers of African Americans attending churches pastored by the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick Warren or Jentzen Franklin. These non-denominational congregations often "sound" a lot like black churches. Such a development, as Dr. Jonathan Walton reminded me, conjures up E. Franklin Frazier's important line in The Negro Church in America: "In a word, the Negroes have been forced into competition with whites in most areas of social life and their church can no longer serve as a refuge within the American community." And this goes for evangelical worship as well.
Thirdly, and this is the most important point, we have witnessed the routinization of black prophetic witness. Too often the prophetic energies of black churches are represented as something inherent to the institution, and we need only point to past deeds for evidence of this fact. Sentences like, "The black church has always stood for..." "The black church was our rock..." "Without the black church, we would have not..." In each instance, a backward glance defines the content of the church's stance in the present -- justifying its continued relevance and authorizing its voice. Its task, because it has become alienated from the moment in which it lives, is to make us venerate and conform to it.
But such a church loses it power. Memory becomes its currency. Its soul withers from neglect. The result is all too often church services and liturgies that entertain, but lack a spirit that transforms, and preachers who deign for followers instead of fellow travelers in God.
Black America stands at the precipice. African American unemployment is at its highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows. Of course, countless local black churches around the country are working diligently to address these problems.
The question becomes: what will be the role of prophetic black churches on the national stage under these conditions? Any church as an institution ought to call us to be our best selves -- not to be slaves to doctrine or mere puppets for profit. Within its walls, our faith should be renewed and refreshed. We should be open to experiencing God's revelation anew. But too often we are told that all has been said and done. Revelation is closed to us and we should only approximate the voices of old.
Or, we are invited to a Financial Empowerment Conference, Megafest, or some such gathering. Rare are those occasions when black churches mobilize in public and together to call attention to the pressing issues of our day. We see organization and protests against same-sex marriage and abortion; even billboards in Atlanta to make the anti-abortion case. But where are the press conferences and impassioned efforts around black children living in poverty, and commercials and organizing around jobs and healthcare reform? Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, appears to be a lonely voice in the wilderness when he announced COGIC's support of healthcare reform with the public option.
Prophetic energies are not an inherent part of black churches, but instances of men and women who grasp the fullness of meaning to be one with God. This can't be passed down, but must be embraced in the moment in which one finds one's feet. This ensures that prophetic energies can be expressed again and again.
The death of the black church as we have known it occasions an opportunity to breathe new life into what it means to be black and Christian. Black churches and preachers must find their prophetic voices in this momentous present. And in doing so, black churches will rise again and insist that we all assert ourselves on the national stage not as sycophants to a glorious past, but as witnesses to the ongoing revelation of God's love in the here and now as we work on behalf of those who suffer most.
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is currently the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University.
This post made me made. It was found on the Huffington Post board (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eddie-glaude-jr-phd/the-black-church-is-dead_b_473815.html) The question that has to be asked is WHAT IS THE CHURCH? That is the question that has to be answered before you can enter the discussion of if the church is dead. The church is the New Covenant Community of the Spirit, that is the definition of the church and it must be kept in the forfront of our minds. Churches are for PREACHING THE GOSPEL and that is the main thing they are for. The gospel is the cure for ALL man's ills. Any problem that you face in life can be fixed, over come and defeated by the gospel. If we, if you, if I want to fix the problems in the "black" church, then the black church has to hear and respond in repentence and faith to the gospel.
That's the answer to the question and the solution to the problem.
Posted: February 24, 2010
The Black Church Is Dead
The Black Church, as we've known it or imagined it, is dead. Of course, many African Americans still go to church. According to the PEW Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life, 87 percent of African Americans identify with a religious group and 79 percent say that religion is very important in their lives. But the idea of this venerable institution as central to black life and as a repository for the social and moral conscience of the nation has all but disappeared.
Several reasons immediately come to mind for this state of affairs. First, black churches have always been complicated spaces. Our traditional stories about them -- as necessarily prophetic and progressive institutions -- run up against the reality that all too often black churches and those who pastor them have been and continue to be quite conservative. Black televangelists who preach a prosperity gospel aren't new. We need only remember Prophet Jones and Reverend Ike. Conservative black congregations have always been a part of the African American religious landscape. After all, the very existence of the Progressive Baptist Convention is tied up with a trenchant critique of the conservatism of the National Baptist Convention, USA. But our stories about black churches too often bury this conservative dimension of black Christian life.
Second, African American communities are much more differentiated. The idea of a black church standing at the center of all that takes place in a community has long since passed away. Instead, different areas of black life have become more distinct and specialized -- flourishing outside of the bounds and gaze of black churches. I am not suggesting that black communities have become wholly secular; just that black religious institutions and beliefs stand alongside a number of other vibrant non-religious institutions and beliefs.
Moreover, we are witnessing an increase in the numbers of African Americans attending churches pastored by the likes of Joel Osteen, Rick Warren or Jentzen Franklin. These non-denominational congregations often "sound" a lot like black churches. Such a development, as Dr. Jonathan Walton reminded me, conjures up E. Franklin Frazier's important line in The Negro Church in America: "In a word, the Negroes have been forced into competition with whites in most areas of social life and their church can no longer serve as a refuge within the American community." And this goes for evangelical worship as well.
Thirdly, and this is the most important point, we have witnessed the routinization of black prophetic witness. Too often the prophetic energies of black churches are represented as something inherent to the institution, and we need only point to past deeds for evidence of this fact. Sentences like, "The black church has always stood for..." "The black church was our rock..." "Without the black church, we would have not..." In each instance, a backward glance defines the content of the church's stance in the present -- justifying its continued relevance and authorizing its voice. Its task, because it has become alienated from the moment in which it lives, is to make us venerate and conform to it.
But such a church loses it power. Memory becomes its currency. Its soul withers from neglect. The result is all too often church services and liturgies that entertain, but lack a spirit that transforms, and preachers who deign for followers instead of fellow travelers in God.
Black America stands at the precipice. African American unemployment is at its highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows. Of course, countless local black churches around the country are working diligently to address these problems.
The question becomes: what will be the role of prophetic black churches on the national stage under these conditions? Any church as an institution ought to call us to be our best selves -- not to be slaves to doctrine or mere puppets for profit. Within its walls, our faith should be renewed and refreshed. We should be open to experiencing God's revelation anew. But too often we are told that all has been said and done. Revelation is closed to us and we should only approximate the voices of old.
Or, we are invited to a Financial Empowerment Conference, Megafest, or some such gathering. Rare are those occasions when black churches mobilize in public and together to call attention to the pressing issues of our day. We see organization and protests against same-sex marriage and abortion; even billboards in Atlanta to make the anti-abortion case. But where are the press conferences and impassioned efforts around black children living in poverty, and commercials and organizing around jobs and healthcare reform? Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr., the presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ, appears to be a lonely voice in the wilderness when he announced COGIC's support of healthcare reform with the public option.
Prophetic energies are not an inherent part of black churches, but instances of men and women who grasp the fullness of meaning to be one with God. This can't be passed down, but must be embraced in the moment in which one finds one's feet. This ensures that prophetic energies can be expressed again and again.
The death of the black church as we have known it occasions an opportunity to breathe new life into what it means to be black and Christian. Black churches and preachers must find their prophetic voices in this momentous present. And in doing so, black churches will rise again and insist that we all assert ourselves on the national stage not as sycophants to a glorious past, but as witnesses to the ongoing revelation of God's love in the here and now as we work on behalf of those who suffer most.
Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. is currently the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and chair of the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University.
This post made me made. It was found on the Huffington Post board (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eddie-glaude-jr-phd/the-black-church-is-dead_b_473815.html) The question that has to be asked is WHAT IS THE CHURCH? That is the question that has to be answered before you can enter the discussion of if the church is dead. The church is the New Covenant Community of the Spirit, that is the definition of the church and it must be kept in the forfront of our minds. Churches are for PREACHING THE GOSPEL and that is the main thing they are for. The gospel is the cure for ALL man's ills. Any problem that you face in life can be fixed, over come and defeated by the gospel. If we, if you, if I want to fix the problems in the "black" church, then the black church has to hear and respond in repentence and faith to the gospel.
That's the answer to the question and the solution to the problem.
Catechism, the lost art of disciple making.
Hey this is a great article that promotes catechisms for all to use. Read and obey.
Grounded in the Gospel
Recommended in the CT article, "The Lost Art of Catechesis:" http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/march/14.26.html?start=2
The Lost Art Of Catechesis
It's a tried and true way of teaching, among other things, Christian doctrine.
J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett | posted 3/12/2010 10:31AM
Historically, the church's ministry of grounding new believers in the rudiments of Christianity has been known as catechesis—the growing of God's people in the gospel and its implications for doctrine, devotion, duty, and delight. It is a ministry that has waxed and waned through the centuries. It flourished between the second and fifth centuries in the ancient church. Those who became Christians often moved into the faith from radically different worldviews. The churches rightly sought to ensure that these life-revolutions were processed carefully, prayerfully, and intentionally, with thorough understanding at each stage.
With the tightening of the alignment between church and state in the West, combined with the impact of the Dark Ages, the ministry of catechesis floundered. The Reformers, led by heavyweights Luther and Calvin, sought with great resolve to reverse matters. Luther restored the office of catechist to the churches. And seizing upon the providential invention of the printing press, Luther, Calvin, and others made every effort to print and distribute catechisms—small handbooks to instruct children and "the simple" in the essentials of Christian belief, prayer, worship, and behavior (like the Westminster Shorter Catechism). Catechisms of greater depth were produced for Christian adults and leaders (like Luther's Larger Catechism). Furthermore, entire congregations were instructed through unapologetically catechetical preaching and the regular catechizing of children in Sunday worship.
The conviction of the Reformers that such catechetical work must be primary is unmistakable. Calvin, writing in 1548 to the Lord Protector of England, declared, "Believe me, Monseigneur, the church of God will never be preserved without catechesis." The Church of Rome, responding to the growing influence of the Protestant catechisms, soon began to produce its own. The rigorous work of nurturing believers and converts in the faith once for all delivered to the saints, a didactic discipline largely lost for most of the previous millennium, had become normative again for both Catholics and Protestants.
The critical role of catechesis in sustaining the church continued to be apparent to subsequent evangelical trailblazers of the English-speaking world. Richard Baxter, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, and countless other pastors and leaders saw catechesis as one of their most obvious and basic pastoral duties. If they could not wholeheartedly embrace and utilize an existing catechism for such instruction, they would adapt or edit one or would simply write their own. A pastor's chief task, it was widely understood, was to be the teacher of the flock.
The Problem with Sunday School
Today, however, things are quite different, and that for a host of reasons. The church in the West has largely abandoned serious catechesis as a normative practice. Among the more surprising of the factors that have contributed to this decline are the unintended consequences of the great Sunday school movement. This lay-driven phenomenon swept across North America in the 1800s and came to dominate educational efforts in most evangelical churches through the 20th century. It effectively replaced pastor-catechists with relatively untrained lay workers, and substituted an instilling of familiarity (or shall we say, perhaps, over-familiarity) with Bible stories for any form of grounding in the basic beliefs, practices, and ethics of the faith.
Thus, for most contemporary evangelicals the entire idea of catechesis is largely an alien concept. The very word itself—catechesis, or any of its associated terms, including catechism—is greeted with suspicion by most evangelicals today. ("Wait, isn't that a Roman Catholic thing?")
We are persuaded that Calvin had it right and that we are already seeing the sad, even tragic, consequences of allowing the church to continue uncatechized in any significant sense. We are persuaded, further, that something can and must be done to help the Protestant churches steer a wiser course. What we are after, to put it otherwise, is to encourage our fellow evangelicals to seriously consider the wisdom of building believers the old-fashioned way.
So all get to it and learn a catechism.
Grounded in the Gospel
Recommended in the CT article, "The Lost Art of Catechesis:" http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/march/14.26.html?start=2
The Lost Art Of Catechesis
It's a tried and true way of teaching, among other things, Christian doctrine.
J. I. Packer and Gary A. Parrett | posted 3/12/2010 10:31AM
Historically, the church's ministry of grounding new believers in the rudiments of Christianity has been known as catechesis—the growing of God's people in the gospel and its implications for doctrine, devotion, duty, and delight. It is a ministry that has waxed and waned through the centuries. It flourished between the second and fifth centuries in the ancient church. Those who became Christians often moved into the faith from radically different worldviews. The churches rightly sought to ensure that these life-revolutions were processed carefully, prayerfully, and intentionally, with thorough understanding at each stage.
With the tightening of the alignment between church and state in the West, combined with the impact of the Dark Ages, the ministry of catechesis floundered. The Reformers, led by heavyweights Luther and Calvin, sought with great resolve to reverse matters. Luther restored the office of catechist to the churches. And seizing upon the providential invention of the printing press, Luther, Calvin, and others made every effort to print and distribute catechisms—small handbooks to instruct children and "the simple" in the essentials of Christian belief, prayer, worship, and behavior (like the Westminster Shorter Catechism). Catechisms of greater depth were produced for Christian adults and leaders (like Luther's Larger Catechism). Furthermore, entire congregations were instructed through unapologetically catechetical preaching and the regular catechizing of children in Sunday worship.
The conviction of the Reformers that such catechetical work must be primary is unmistakable. Calvin, writing in 1548 to the Lord Protector of England, declared, "Believe me, Monseigneur, the church of God will never be preserved without catechesis." The Church of Rome, responding to the growing influence of the Protestant catechisms, soon began to produce its own. The rigorous work of nurturing believers and converts in the faith once for all delivered to the saints, a didactic discipline largely lost for most of the previous millennium, had become normative again for both Catholics and Protestants.
The critical role of catechesis in sustaining the church continued to be apparent to subsequent evangelical trailblazers of the English-speaking world. Richard Baxter, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, and countless other pastors and leaders saw catechesis as one of their most obvious and basic pastoral duties. If they could not wholeheartedly embrace and utilize an existing catechism for such instruction, they would adapt or edit one or would simply write their own. A pastor's chief task, it was widely understood, was to be the teacher of the flock.
The Problem with Sunday School
Today, however, things are quite different, and that for a host of reasons. The church in the West has largely abandoned serious catechesis as a normative practice. Among the more surprising of the factors that have contributed to this decline are the unintended consequences of the great Sunday school movement. This lay-driven phenomenon swept across North America in the 1800s and came to dominate educational efforts in most evangelical churches through the 20th century. It effectively replaced pastor-catechists with relatively untrained lay workers, and substituted an instilling of familiarity (or shall we say, perhaps, over-familiarity) with Bible stories for any form of grounding in the basic beliefs, practices, and ethics of the faith.
Thus, for most contemporary evangelicals the entire idea of catechesis is largely an alien concept. The very word itself—catechesis, or any of its associated terms, including catechism—is greeted with suspicion by most evangelicals today. ("Wait, isn't that a Roman Catholic thing?")
We are persuaded that Calvin had it right and that we are already seeing the sad, even tragic, consequences of allowing the church to continue uncatechized in any significant sense. We are persuaded, further, that something can and must be done to help the Protestant churches steer a wiser course. What we are after, to put it otherwise, is to encourage our fellow evangelicals to seriously consider the wisdom of building believers the old-fashioned way.
So all get to it and learn a catechism.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Things to remember in Seminary!
This is a post on the FROM THE STUDY blog by Derek James Brown. He is a graduate of the Master’s College and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Oh dear brothers and sisters read this a learn. PLEASE!
How to Waste Your Theological Education
by Derek on May 14, 2008
1. Cultivate pride by writing only to impress your professors instead of writing to better understand and more clearly communicate truth.
2. Perfect the fine art of corner-cutting by not really researching for a paper but instead writing your uneducated and unsubstantiated opinions and filling them in with strategically placed footnotes.
3. Mistake the amount of education you receive with the actual knowledge you obtain. Keep telling yourself, “I’ll really start learning this stuff when I do my Th.M or my Ph.D.”
4. Nurture an attitude of superiority, competition, and condescension toward fellow seminary students. Secretly speak ill of them with friends and with your spouse.
5. Regularly question the wisdom and competency of your professors. Find ways to disrespect your professors by questioning them publicly in class and by trying to make them look foolish.
6. Neglect personal worship, Bible reading and prayer.
7. Don’t evangelize your neighbors.
8. Practice misquoting and misrepresenting positions and ideas you don’t agree with. Be lazy and don’t attempt to understand opposing views; instead, nurse your prejudices and exalt your opinions by superficial reading and listening.
9. Give your opinion as often as possible – especially in class. Ask questions that show off your knowledge instead of questions that demonstrate a genuine inquiry.
10. Speak of heretical movements, teachers, and doctrine with an air of disdain and levity.
11. Find better things to do than serve in your local church.
12. Fill your life with questionable movies, television, Internet, and music.
13. Set aside fellowship and accountability with fellow brothers in Christ.
14. Let your study of divine things become dull, boring, lifeless, and mundane.
15. Chip away at your integrity by signing your school’s covenant and then breaking it under the delusion that, “Those rules are legalistic anyway.”
16. Don’t read to learn; read only to refute what you believe is wrong.
17. Convince yourself that you already know all this stuff.
18. Just study. Don’t exercise, spend time with your family, or work.
19. Save major papers for the last possible moment so that you can ensure that you don’t really learn anything by writing them.
20. Don’t waste your time forming friendships with your professors and those older and wiser than you.
21. Make the mistake of thinking that your education guarantees your success in ministry.
22. Don’t study devotionally. You’ll never make it as a big time scholar if you do that. Scholars need to be cool, detached, and unbiased – certainly not Jesus freaks.
23. Day dream about future opportunities to the point that you get nothing out of your current opportunity to learn God’s Word.
24. Do other things while in class instead of listening – like homework, scheduling, letter-writing, and email.
25. Spend more time blogging than studying.
26. Avoid chapel and other opportunities for corporate worship.
27. Argue angrily with those who don’t see things your way. Whatever you do, don’t read and meditate on II Timothy 2:24-26 and James 3:13-18 as you prepare for ministry.
28. Set your hopes on an easy, cushy pastorate for when you graduate. Determine now not to obey God when he calls you to serve in a difficult church.
29. Look forward to the day when you won’t have to concern yourself with all this theology and when you will be able to just “preach Jesus.”
30. Forget that your primary responsibility is care for your family through provision, shepherding, and leadership.
31. Master Calvin, Owen, and Edwards, but not the Law, Prophets, and Apostles.
32. Gain knowledge in order to merely teach others. Don’t expend the effort it takes to deal with your own heart.
33. Pick apart your pastor’s sermons every week. Only point out his mistakes and his poor theological reasoning so you don’t have to be convicted by anything he says.
34. Protect yourself from real fellowship by only talking about theology and never about your personal spiritual issues, sin, and struggles.
35. Comfort yourself with the delusion that you will start seriously dealing with sin as soon as you become a pastor; right now it’s not really that big a deal.
36. Don’t serve the poor, visit the sick, or care for widows and orphans – save that stuff for the uneducated, non-seminary trained, lay Christians.
37. Keep telling yourself that you want to preach, but don’t ever seek opportunities to preach, especially at local rescue missions and nursing homes. Wait until your church candidacy to preach your first sermon.
38. Let envy keep you from profiting from sermons preached by fellow students.
39. Resent behind-the-scenes, unrecognized service. Only serve in areas where you are sure you will receive praise and accolades.
40. Appear spiritual and knowledgeable at all costs. Don’t let others see your imperfections and ignorance, even if it means you have to lie.
41. Love books and theology and ministry more than the Lord Jesus Christ.
42. Let your passion for the gospel be replaced by passion for complex doctrinal speculation.
43. Become angry, resentful and devastated when you receive something less than an A.
44. Let your excitement for ministry increase or decrease in direct proportion to the accolades or criticisms you receive from your professors.
45. Don’t really try to learn the languages – let Bible Works do all the work for you.
Found here at http://fromthestudy.com/2008/05/14/how-to-waste-your-theological-education/
This is a great list and a encouragement for any one that reads it and takes its wisdom to heart. Brother I thank you and put it here to remind myself of the issues when going to seminary. Thank you.
Back to Hebrew.
How to Waste Your Theological Education
by Derek on May 14, 2008
1. Cultivate pride by writing only to impress your professors instead of writing to better understand and more clearly communicate truth.
2. Perfect the fine art of corner-cutting by not really researching for a paper but instead writing your uneducated and unsubstantiated opinions and filling them in with strategically placed footnotes.
3. Mistake the amount of education you receive with the actual knowledge you obtain. Keep telling yourself, “I’ll really start learning this stuff when I do my Th.M or my Ph.D.”
4. Nurture an attitude of superiority, competition, and condescension toward fellow seminary students. Secretly speak ill of them with friends and with your spouse.
5. Regularly question the wisdom and competency of your professors. Find ways to disrespect your professors by questioning them publicly in class and by trying to make them look foolish.
6. Neglect personal worship, Bible reading and prayer.
7. Don’t evangelize your neighbors.
8. Practice misquoting and misrepresenting positions and ideas you don’t agree with. Be lazy and don’t attempt to understand opposing views; instead, nurse your prejudices and exalt your opinions by superficial reading and listening.
9. Give your opinion as often as possible – especially in class. Ask questions that show off your knowledge instead of questions that demonstrate a genuine inquiry.
10. Speak of heretical movements, teachers, and doctrine with an air of disdain and levity.
11. Find better things to do than serve in your local church.
12. Fill your life with questionable movies, television, Internet, and music.
13. Set aside fellowship and accountability with fellow brothers in Christ.
14. Let your study of divine things become dull, boring, lifeless, and mundane.
15. Chip away at your integrity by signing your school’s covenant and then breaking it under the delusion that, “Those rules are legalistic anyway.”
16. Don’t read to learn; read only to refute what you believe is wrong.
17. Convince yourself that you already know all this stuff.
18. Just study. Don’t exercise, spend time with your family, or work.
19. Save major papers for the last possible moment so that you can ensure that you don’t really learn anything by writing them.
20. Don’t waste your time forming friendships with your professors and those older and wiser than you.
21. Make the mistake of thinking that your education guarantees your success in ministry.
22. Don’t study devotionally. You’ll never make it as a big time scholar if you do that. Scholars need to be cool, detached, and unbiased – certainly not Jesus freaks.
23. Day dream about future opportunities to the point that you get nothing out of your current opportunity to learn God’s Word.
24. Do other things while in class instead of listening – like homework, scheduling, letter-writing, and email.
25. Spend more time blogging than studying.
26. Avoid chapel and other opportunities for corporate worship.
27. Argue angrily with those who don’t see things your way. Whatever you do, don’t read and meditate on II Timothy 2:24-26 and James 3:13-18 as you prepare for ministry.
28. Set your hopes on an easy, cushy pastorate for when you graduate. Determine now not to obey God when he calls you to serve in a difficult church.
29. Look forward to the day when you won’t have to concern yourself with all this theology and when you will be able to just “preach Jesus.”
30. Forget that your primary responsibility is care for your family through provision, shepherding, and leadership.
31. Master Calvin, Owen, and Edwards, but not the Law, Prophets, and Apostles.
32. Gain knowledge in order to merely teach others. Don’t expend the effort it takes to deal with your own heart.
33. Pick apart your pastor’s sermons every week. Only point out his mistakes and his poor theological reasoning so you don’t have to be convicted by anything he says.
34. Protect yourself from real fellowship by only talking about theology and never about your personal spiritual issues, sin, and struggles.
35. Comfort yourself with the delusion that you will start seriously dealing with sin as soon as you become a pastor; right now it’s not really that big a deal.
36. Don’t serve the poor, visit the sick, or care for widows and orphans – save that stuff for the uneducated, non-seminary trained, lay Christians.
37. Keep telling yourself that you want to preach, but don’t ever seek opportunities to preach, especially at local rescue missions and nursing homes. Wait until your church candidacy to preach your first sermon.
38. Let envy keep you from profiting from sermons preached by fellow students.
39. Resent behind-the-scenes, unrecognized service. Only serve in areas where you are sure you will receive praise and accolades.
40. Appear spiritual and knowledgeable at all costs. Don’t let others see your imperfections and ignorance, even if it means you have to lie.
41. Love books and theology and ministry more than the Lord Jesus Christ.
42. Let your passion for the gospel be replaced by passion for complex doctrinal speculation.
43. Become angry, resentful and devastated when you receive something less than an A.
44. Let your excitement for ministry increase or decrease in direct proportion to the accolades or criticisms you receive from your professors.
45. Don’t really try to learn the languages – let Bible Works do all the work for you.
Found here at http://fromthestudy.com/2008/05/14/how-to-waste-your-theological-education/
This is a great list and a encouragement for any one that reads it and takes its wisdom to heart. Brother I thank you and put it here to remind myself of the issues when going to seminary. Thank you.
Back to Hebrew.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Please get this book!!!!!!!!
Please what ever you do if you are a Christian parent and want to teach your children in the way of the Lord, get this book!
Rediscovering Catechism: The Art of Equipping Covenant Children by Donald Van Dyken
This book gives a history of catechising, and tells the why of the art. It is a wonderful read, short and to the point. I am glad I picked it up at the book sale at Theological Pursuits a few weeks ago.
Even though it is from a covenant standpoint it is still great work. I am still looking for that dispensational catechism. Lord help me!
Rediscovering Catechism: The Art of Equipping Covenant Children by Donald Van Dyken
This book gives a history of catechising, and tells the why of the art. It is a wonderful read, short and to the point. I am glad I picked it up at the book sale at Theological Pursuits a few weeks ago.
Even though it is from a covenant standpoint it is still great work. I am still looking for that dispensational catechism. Lord help me!
Conference Last Weekend
I attended the Psalm 119 Conference last weekend and it was a blessing. All the speakers were very good and the information was wonderful. But what stood out to me the most was a comment by Phil Johnson. He said, "Why do preachers wear robes?" And I started thinking. And I started thinking hard... and came up with nothing.
This what he said. Preachers wear robes and preach behind big pulpits so that out attention is not on the man but on the God he proclaims. He said that the preacher was a talking head, a mouth peace for God, the preacher is only a messenger.
That is powerful. When you stand up to proclaim, are you there for you or are you there for the people that God has sovereignly place under your charge. Think hard about what it is you preach and for what reason.
Lord help me clear my motives and have a clean heart before you.
Here is a list of speakers form the conference:
Todd Friel www.wretchedradio.com
Phil Johnson teampyro.blogspot.com/
Peter Hammond www.frontline.org.za/
Justin Peters www.justinpeters.org
Paul Taylor www.answersingenesis.org/UK/
Emilio Ramos www.sovereignjoycc.com/
Go Fish www.gofishguys.com
This what he said. Preachers wear robes and preach behind big pulpits so that out attention is not on the man but on the God he proclaims. He said that the preacher was a talking head, a mouth peace for God, the preacher is only a messenger.
That is powerful. When you stand up to proclaim, are you there for you or are you there for the people that God has sovereignly place under your charge. Think hard about what it is you preach and for what reason.
Lord help me clear my motives and have a clean heart before you.
Here is a list of speakers form the conference:
Todd Friel www.wretchedradio.com
Phil Johnson teampyro.blogspot.com/
Peter Hammond www.frontline.org.za/
Justin Peters www.justinpeters.org
Paul Taylor www.answersingenesis.org/UK/
Emilio Ramos www.sovereignjoycc.com/
Go Fish www.gofishguys.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Lena Horne Dies
Actress and Pioneering Black Singing sensation Lena Horne passed away the other day. It is sad that this classy lady is gone from this planet. I hope and pray she knew Jesus Christ as her savior as he is the ONLY way to heaven.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Help for Hebrew students
The Cambridge Introduction to Biblical Hebrew with CD-ROM (Paperback) ~ Brian L. Webster.
Dr Webster is my Hebrew professor at Dallas Seminary and I must say that his book is a valuable addition to the feild. I am NO hebrew scholar but this has been a joy to work through (and a pain in the neck). He honestly tries to make the language easier to learn. If you like the inductive method, that is teaching yourself, then this book is for you. The book comes with the CD-Rom that has all the information you could ever need on it.
You might like the layout but you might hate the layout. Check it out for yourself and get to work on the hebrew bible.
Dr Webster is my Hebrew professor at Dallas Seminary and I must say that his book is a valuable addition to the feild. I am NO hebrew scholar but this has been a joy to work through (and a pain in the neck). He honestly tries to make the language easier to learn. If you like the inductive method, that is teaching yourself, then this book is for you. The book comes with the CD-Rom that has all the information you could ever need on it.
You might like the layout but you might hate the layout. Check it out for yourself and get to work on the hebrew bible.
An Oldie but Goodie
The Handbook of Today's Religions by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart.
This book is a little dated and some of the information is incorrect but if you can find it at a used bookstore for a good price it is still worth having. (It is still to high on Amazon's used list price) The articles are excellent introductions to whatever subject they are covering. Think of this more as a reference book than your first line of defense.
Recommended but with the above reservations.
It is also online at http://www.greatcom.org/resources/handbook_of_todays_religions/default.htm
Monday, April 12, 2010
Theology Quote of the Day
This is from Perry Downs in his book entitled "Teaching for Spiritual Growth."
If Christian education is to be effective, it must recapture a proper understanding of the role of the mind in spiritual growth. The church must again value the way people think as an important aspect of being the people of God. We must learn to follow the biblical imperatives regarding the relationship of thinking and acting, valuing both the cognitive and the volitional in Christian living.
Perry Downs, Teaching for Spiritual Growth, (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan Publishing House), 60.
If Christian education is to be effective, it must recapture a proper understanding of the role of the mind in spiritual growth. The church must again value the way people think as an important aspect of being the people of God. We must learn to follow the biblical imperatives regarding the relationship of thinking and acting, valuing both the cognitive and the volitional in Christian living.
Perry Downs, Teaching for Spiritual Growth, (Grand Rapids MI: Zondervan Publishing House), 60.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Value of Learning the Languages
Here are just a few quotes on learning the Greek language by some well known theologians:
Do I understand Greek and Hebrew? Otherwise, how can I undertake, (as every Minister does,) not only to explain books which are written therein, but to defend them against all opponents? Am I not at the mercy of every one who does understand, or even pretends to understand, the original? For which way can I confute his pretence? Do I understand the language of the Old Testament? critically? at all? Can I read into English one of David’s Psalms; or even the first chapter of Genesis? Do I understand the language of the New Testament? Am I a critical master of it? Have I enough of it even to read into English the first chapter of St. Luke? If not, how many years did I spend at school? How many at the University? And what was I doing all those years? Ought not shame to cover my face?
-John Wesley, An Address to the Clergy
Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit;
they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought;
they are the vessel that holds the wine;
and as the gospel says, they are the baskets
in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude. . . .
As dear as the gospel is to us all,
let us as hard contend with its language.
-Martin Luther
As can be seen the value of learning the languages can be great. But it comes at a cost....
You might not be able to watch so much TV.
read an excellent article here: http://new.theophilux.com/2009/01/19/does-your-pastor-read-greek-and-hebrew-i-sure-hope-so/
Study hard as if lives depended on it.
THEY DO!
Do I understand Greek and Hebrew? Otherwise, how can I undertake, (as every Minister does,) not only to explain books which are written therein, but to defend them against all opponents? Am I not at the mercy of every one who does understand, or even pretends to understand, the original? For which way can I confute his pretence? Do I understand the language of the Old Testament? critically? at all? Can I read into English one of David’s Psalms; or even the first chapter of Genesis? Do I understand the language of the New Testament? Am I a critical master of it? Have I enough of it even to read into English the first chapter of St. Luke? If not, how many years did I spend at school? How many at the University? And what was I doing all those years? Ought not shame to cover my face?
-John Wesley, An Address to the Clergy
Languages are the scabbard that contains the sword of the Spirit;
they are the casket which contains the priceless jewels of antique thought;
they are the vessel that holds the wine;
and as the gospel says, they are the baskets
in which the loaves and fishes are kept to feed the multitude. . . .
As dear as the gospel is to us all,
let us as hard contend with its language.
-Martin Luther
As can be seen the value of learning the languages can be great. But it comes at a cost....
You might not be able to watch so much TV.
read an excellent article here: http://new.theophilux.com/2009/01/19/does-your-pastor-read-greek-and-hebrew-i-sure-hope-so/
Study hard as if lives depended on it.
THEY DO!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Christian Quote from Lois LeBar
Lois LeBar in the book Education that is Christian has said a wonderful little statement about learning in a Christian context. In relation to the spiritual gifts, LeBar said, "It's futile to try to develop the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) before we have developed the the graces of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Oh church, a truer statement was never uttered. Learn from it and live a life that is Christian to the Core.
Oh church, a truer statement was never uttered. Learn from it and live a life that is Christian to the Core.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
International Society for Women in Apologetics
International Society for Women in Apologetics
I am so very glad to see this website. It tickles me pink and makes me smile. If your a woman apologist or interested in checking out the International Society for Women in Apologetics please go to the websitr and check it out. Membership requirements can be found here. Briefly, the ISWA mission is:
- To encourage women to enter the field of apologetics
- To encourage women to be defenders of the faith and to equip their children
- To fill a void in current women’s ministry
- To equip women with ministry opportunities in the field
Check this website out. Now if there was only a African American Apologetics Society. Man I can hope.
I am so very glad to see this website. It tickles me pink and makes me smile. If your a woman apologist or interested in checking out the International Society for Women in Apologetics please go to the websitr and check it out. Membership requirements can be found here. Briefly, the ISWA mission is:
- To encourage women to enter the field of apologetics
- To encourage women to be defenders of the faith and to equip their children
- To fill a void in current women’s ministry
- To equip women with ministry opportunities in the field
Check this website out. Now if there was only a African American Apologetics Society. Man I can hope.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Some more on "why" apologetics.
This is from Sean McDowell's blog. It is a wonderful article and should be read and studied by all. Please read and enjoy.
Why Apologetics Has a Bad Name
March 13, 2010, 2:17 pm » Sean McDowell
I love apologetics! Anyone who has either heard me speak, sat in my class, read any of my books, or spent more than twenty minutes with me knows that I believe deeply in the importance of defending the Christian faith.
I'm not alone in my belief. Pastor and author Timothy Keller, who ministers in New York and has written one of the better apologetics books of our time, The Reason for God, says one of the big issues facing the church today is the need for a renewal of apologetics. Keller says apologetics is important for two reasons.
Read more here: http://www.conversantlife.com/belief/why-apologetics-has-a-bad-name#continue.
Why Apologetics Has a Bad Name
March 13, 2010, 2:17 pm » Sean McDowell
I love apologetics! Anyone who has either heard me speak, sat in my class, read any of my books, or spent more than twenty minutes with me knows that I believe deeply in the importance of defending the Christian faith. I'm not alone in my belief. Pastor and author Timothy Keller, who ministers in New York and has written one of the better apologetics books of our time, The Reason for God, says one of the big issues facing the church today is the need for a renewal of apologetics. Keller says apologetics is important for two reasons.
Read more here: http://www.conversantlife.com/belief/why-apologetics-has-a-bad-name#continue.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
The LIBRARY! I Gotta Go.
I have recently rediscovered the library! Oh what a treasure trove of books, books, and more books. There are thousands of them. I am looking for books I want to read before I leave seminary. Turpin Libray (pictured) is definitely a full service of bookshop. My prayer is for a church library to rival the essentials at DTS. Oh to have good books for the people of God to take advantage of and grow their faith by leaps and bounds.
Is There a Dispensational Catechism?
I have been trying to find a suitable catechism for the family (mostly the kids) to use. And guess what? I can not find one. Am I going to have to make one up myself. I sure hope not. i I do it will be real short, like 50 questions and answers. If I find one I'll let y'all know and if I make one you'll hear me screaming.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The Face That Demonstrates The Farce of Evolution by Hank Hanegraaff
Hanegraaff is the President of CRI, a Christian Apologetics Ministry based out of Charlotte North Carolina.
The book was an easy read. One could finish it in one early evening. It lays out a simple case for an apologetic against atheism and why atheism stands on faulty philosophical grounds. WHat the book says is right on target but the length was very short and it has large type in the body. There are better works out there for your money but for a compact treatment it will do if nothing else is available.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Tiger Woods - First word and last word. Period!
Well, well, well. Tiger Woods is at it again. he has denied Brit Hume's encouragement (and well many others also) to embrace a Christian outlook on life. To fbow his knees at the feet of Jesus and accept the finished work of Jesus on the cross. As of today, HE WILL NOT!
Shameful but what are we to do. Tiger Woods believes he can save himself and is determined to try by his lifestlye. But it was that lifestyle that got him trouble in the first place.
See Tiger's website: www.tigerwoods.com/
See here: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/golf_experts/post/What-was-the-story-with-Tiger-s-Buddhism-bracele?urn=golf,229463
Tiger, there is no forgivness unless you first acknowledge your a sinner and you are and I am. What are we going to do. Cast our sins at the feet of Jesus.
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