Monthly Archives: August 2020

WHY I AM NOT A (ROMAN) CATHOLIC

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There are many reasons I am not a Roman Catholic, but one certainly is the pervasive, historic, and systemic secrecy. Many examples could be offered. For example, the secrecy of the curia coupled with the condescending clericalism I’ve seen firsthand from priests in spite of what Vatican II says about learning from the laity are just a few.

It stretches credulity to think the Roman Catholic church can properly handle such things given its long and problematic history.

And for the record, I taught in Poland and know many dynamic Christians who are in the Roman Catholic church. I just think the overall system is badly broken, but lacks the proper theology in doctrine, leadership, and praxis to make things right.

PHIL’S CRAZY COFFEE CONCOCTION

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https://www.barstoolsports.com/blog/2739641/phil-mickelsons-morning-coffee-routine-is-a-goddamn-science-experiment?utm_content=buffer42171&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co&utm_campaign=organic_social_twitter_BarstoolTweetss

After watching this, my friend, Scott Shadrach, said:

I’m playing Monday with my son,  Peter. I wonder if Phil’s coffee concoction will keep me from shanking, slicing, chunking, blading, and/or whiffing?  Oops, I forgot about topping, hooking, casting, swaying, or reverse pivoting. 

COMPLEMENTARIANISM

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From Carl Trueman:

I rarely read complementarian literature these days. I felt it lost its way when it became an all-embracing view of the world and not simply a matter for church and household. I am a firm believer in a male-only ordained ministry in the church but I find increasingly bizarre the broader cultural crusade which complementarianism has become. It seems now to be more a kind of reaction against feminism than a balanced exposition of the Bible’s teaching on the relationships of men and women. Thus, for example, marriage is all about submission of wife to husband (Eph. 5) and rarely about the delight of friendship and the kind of playful but subtly expressed eroticism we find in the Song of Songs. Too often cultural complementarianism ironically offers a rather disenchanted and mundane account of the mystery and beauty of male-female relations. And too often it slides into sheer silliness.

LESSER THAN TWO EVILS?

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Many times I’ve heard the “lesser than two evils” objection brought up by those who voted (and will vote again) for Donald Trump. Here is David French:

And yes, Christians also hasten the decay if we vote for policies and people who would scorn the church, denigrate the value of unborn life, and celebrate other values contrary to biblical truth. But we do not have to choose between evils. Our nation’s two political parties do not dictate to the church how it must use its vast cultural and political power. The church must instead communicate its standards to our parties. 

If the world’s wealthiest and and most powerful collection of Christians are supine before their political masters in the United States, marching to the beat of secular drummers (even if allegedly “holding their noses” all the while) then I fear the message that sends is that we do not have faith that God’s providence governs the nations. We cannot and must not “put our trust in princes.” There is no such thing as a “binary choice.” We can choose not to yield to the spirit of the times. 

Theological truth can also create a pragmatic reality. Over time, perhaps the best method of cleansing our political class of the low, narcissistic characters who all too often occupy public office is to stop voting for them. “

BART EHRMAN

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Bart Ehrman on opening day of class at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
Okay, hands up…
How many of you believe the Bible is the Word of God? 
Many hands go up
How many of you believe God actually wrote a book?
Still many hands go up
How many of you have read the Bible from beginning to end?
Most hands go down
I’m not telling you the Bible is the Word of God.  You are, so don’t you think you ought to be reading it if you think it is the Word of God!

WHY IT IS HARD TO SHARE THE GOSPEL

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Some of my reflections on why sharing the gospel is so difficult today:

The combination of globalism and connectivity via media makes this generation much more perplexed, even immobilized to know how or whether to share the gospel. Sharing the gospel seems more scandalous than ever.  We are more proximate to other religions and have a growing difficulty in believing we are right and everyone else is wrong.

NOT BEING AN IDOLATER…A BIG DEAL WITH GOD

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In I Kings 9:4 God says how Solomon will be blessed if he follows his father David’s example.  You mean, the adulterer and murderer?  Yes, says God.  He had integrity.  Huh?!  The clue seems to be in I Kings 9, verses 6 and 9 in that David was never an idolater.  Job makes much of not being an idolater as well (see Job 6:10). That carries lots of weight with God!