Fried Pickles with Ranch, Please

Photo from the honeymoon

2007-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

Muiredach Cross, Monasterboice, County Louth, Ireland

Re-opening soon. . .

2007-09-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

13 months have passed since Kelly and I informed our handful of readers that we were closing the blog. Well, I'm bringing her back. I cannot guarantee that Dotson will be back as I have not discussed this with him, but perhaps he'll join me once again. A lot has changed in my life since August of last year: I've gotten married, bought a house, quit my job, started law school. . . Anyway, check back soon for a more detailed update.

Neill

The kitchen is. . .

2006-08-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

If there are any of you still visiting this blog, you've probably noticed that neither Kelly nor I have posted anything on here in a while. Kelly is busy being married and working at the new Madison Heights church plant, and I'm. . . well, I've lost time and interest in this blog. I became convinced some time ago that the culture of the blogosphere has done the church much more harm than good, and thus, the party must end. There are many excellent blogs out there, such as the blog over at Reformation21. I think that the best blogs, such as Ref21, are very good because they serve primarily to keep the reader up-to-date on current events in the church, new book releases, available online resources, etc. Their purpose is to inform, not speculate and theorize with matters which are too holy for such reckless play.

To any of our friends who wish to keep in touch: I can be found on MySpace and on Facebook. Just search for me by name. If you want to keep in touch with Kelly, well, try to catch him via email. I do keep a blog on my MySpace page, but it is pretty much what this blog became--a place for me to link/paste interesting bits of news.

Thanks for all the kind comments and constructive criticisms over the past year or two. Soli Deo Gloria.

The Rev. Dr. Alexander Duff on his father

2006-04-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Alexander Duff was born in 1806 and was the first Church of Scotland missionary to India. The following is a portion of what he wrote to a friend upon learning of his father's death:

"If ever a son had reason to thank God for the prayers, the instructions, the counsels, and the consistent examples of a devoutly pious father, I am that son. Though sent from home at the early age of eight, and though very little at home ever after, the sacred and awakening lessons of infancy were never wholly forgotten; and, in the absence of moulding influences of regenerating grace, the fear of offending a man who inspired me in earliest boyhood with sentiments of profoundest reverence and love towards himself, as a man of God, was for many a year the overmastering principle which restrained my erring footsteps and saved me from many of the overt follies and sins of youth.

"Originally aroused to a sense of sin and the necessity of salvation, when a young man, under the remarkable ministry of the late Dr. Stewart of Moulin... my father was led to flee for refuge to the hope set before him in the gospel. And the spark of light and life then enkindled in his soul, far from becoming dim amid the still surviving corruptions of the old man within, and the thick fogs of a carnal earthly atmosphere without, continued ever since to shine more and more with increasing
intensity and vividness.

"In the days of his health and strength, and subsequently as often as health and strength permitted, he was wont to labour much for the spiritual improvement of his neighbourhood, by the keeping of Sabbath schools, and the holding of weekly meetings, at his own house or elsewhere, for prayer and scriptural exposition. In prayers he was indeed mightyappearing at times as if in full view of the beatific vision. In the practical exposition and home-thrusting enforcement of Scripture truth he was endowed with an uncommon gift. In appealing to the conscience, and in expatiating on the bleeding, dying love of the Saviour, he displayed a power before which many have been melted and subduedfinding immediate relief only in sobs and tearsand being equally fluent in the Gaelic and English languages, he could readily adapt himself to the requirements of such mixed audiences as the Highlands usually furnish.

"In addressing the young he was wont to manifest a winning and affectionate tenderness, which soon riveted the attention and captivated the feelings. His very heart seemed to yearn through his eyes as he implored them to beware the enticements of sinners and pointed to the outstretched arms of the Redeemer...

"Next to the Bible my fathers chief delight was in studying the works of our old divines, of which, in time-worn editions, he had succeeded in accumulating a goodly number. These, he was wont to say, contained more of the sap and marrow of the gospel and had about them more of the fragrance and flavour of Paradise than aught more recently produced...

"In the sharpness and clearness with which he drew the line between the merely expedient and the absolutely right and true; in his stern adhesion to principle at all hazards; in his ineffable loathing for temporizing and compromise, in any shape or form where the interests of Zions King and Zions cause were concerned; in his energy of spirit, promptness of decision, and unbending sturdihood of character; in the Abraham-like cast of his faith, which manifested itself in its directness, simplicity, and strengthin all these and other respects he always appeared to me to realize fully as much as of my own beau-ideal of the ancient martyr or hero of the Covenant as any other man I ever knew. Indeed, had he lived in the early ages of persecution, or in Covenanting times, my persuasion is that he would have been among the foremost in fearlessly facing the tyrant and the torture, the scaffold and the stake. Oh that a double portion of his spirit were mine, and that the mantle of his graces would fall upon me!"

Duff's father was a farmer, not a minister. I love my dad, as I'm sure you love yours, but...if only we had more fathers like this today.

Ancient pyramid in Bosnia?

2006-04-19T22:01:00.000-07:00

Experts Find Evidence of Bosnia Pyramid
By AMEL EMRIC, Associated Press Writer
Wed Apr 19, 7:35 PM ET

Researchers in Bosnia on Wednesday unearthed the first solid evidence that an ancient pyramid lies hidden beneath a massive hill — a series of geometrically cut stone slabs that could form part of the structure's sloping surface.

Archaeologists and other experts began digging into the sides of the mysterious hill near the central Bosnian town of Visoko last week. On Wednesday, the digging revealed large stone blocks on one side that the leader of the team believes are the outer layer of the pyramid.

"These are the first uncovered walls of the pyramid," said Semir Osmanagic, a Bosnian archaeologist who studied the pyramids of Latin America for 15 years.

Osmanagic said Wednesday's discovery significantly bolsters his theory that the 650-meter (2,120-foot) hill rising above the small town of Visoko is actually a step pyramid — the first found in Europe.

"We can see the surface is perfectly flat. This is the crucial material proof that we are talking pyramids," he said.

Osmanagic believes the structure itself is a colossal 220 meters (722 feet) high, or a third taller than Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza.

The huge stone blocks discovered Wednesday appear to be cut in cubes and polished.

"It is so obvious that the top of the blocks, the surface is man made," Osmanagic said. He plans to continue the work throughout the summer, "after which the pyramid will be visible," he said.

Earlier research on the hill, known as Visocica, found that it has perfectly shaped, 45-degree slopes pointing toward the cardinal points, and a flat top. Under layers of dirt, workers discovered a paved entrance plateau, entrances to tunnels and large stone blocks.

Satellite photographs and thermal imaging revealed two other, smaller pyramid-shaped hills in the Visoko Valley.

Last week's excavations began with a team of rescue workers from a nearby coal mine being sent into a tunnel believed to be part of an underground network connecting the three pyramid-shaped hills.

They were followed by archeologists, geologists and other experts who emerged from the tunnel later to declare that it was certainly man-made.

The work will continue for about six months at the site just outside Visoko, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of the capital, Sarajevo. Two experts from Egypt are due to join the team in mid-May.

"It will be a very exciting archaeological spring and summer," Osmanagic said.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060419/ap_on_sc/bosnia_pyramid

Say it ain't so...

2006-04-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Barbecue meats linked with prostate cancer
Reuters - April 2, 2006 08:36:53 PM PST

A compound formed when meat is charred at high temperatures -- as in barbecue -- encourages the growth of prostate cancer in rats, researchers reported on Sunday.

Their study, presented at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, may help explain the link between eating meat and a higher risk of prostate cancer.

It also fits in with other studies suggesting that cooking meat until it chars might cause cancer.
The compound, called PhIP, is formed when meat is cooked at very high temperatures, Dr. Angelo De Marzo and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore reported.

It appears to both initiate and promote the growth of prostate cancer in rats, they said.
"We stumbled across a new potential interaction between ingestion of cooked meat in the diet and cancer in the rat," De Marzo said in a statement.

"For humans, the biggest problem is that it's extremely difficult to tell how much PhIP you've ingested, since different amounts are formed depending on cooking conditions."

For the study, Yatsutomo Nakai and other members of De Marzo's team mixed PhIP into food given to rats for up to eight weeks, then studied the animals' prostates, intestines and spleens. They found genetic mutations in all the organs after four weeks.

wrapping up the PCRT

2006-03-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

We're wrapping up the 32nd Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology here in Jackson. First, let me say thanks to the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and Trinity Presbyterian Church for putting on the event in Jackson this year. I think it is safe to say that it has been a great blessing to all involved.

I had the particular joy of being Dr. Robert Godfrey's driver for the weekend. For those of you who are unfamiliar with him, Bob Godfrey is president and professor of church history at Westminster Seminary California. I'm just going to put it simply: I really like this man. He is incredibly well-read, gracious, and genuine (I hate to use that word--sounds so postmodern).

The speakers at the conference were Dr. Godfrey, Ligon Duncan, Phil Ryken, Rick Phillips, Sinclair Ferguson and Derek Thomas. The topic: the doctrines of grace. Tonight in his sermon/address, Dr. Godfrey made a great point: Calvinism does not have five points (you know, the infamous TULIP). Arminianism has five points, and Calvinism has five answers. If you want a summary of Calvinism, the TULIP simply will not suffice. The Westminster Standards or the Three Forms of Unity--now those are adequate summaries of Calvinism!

Mouse testicle cells behave like embryonic stem cells

2006-03-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
Fri Mar 24, 4:27 PM ET

German scientists say cells from the testes of mice can behave like embryonic stem cells. If the same holds true in humans, it could provide a controversy-free source of versatile cells for use in treating disease.

Embryonic stem cells can give rise to virtually any tissue in the body and scientists believe they may offer treatments for diseases like Parkinson's and diabetes and spinal cord injuries.
But to harvest the cells, human embryos must be destroyed. Some religious groups and others oppose that.

The new research into testicular cells, published online Friday by the journal Nature, comes from Dr. Gerd Hasenfuss of the Georg-August-University of Goettingen in Germany and colleagues.

Lab tests found that the mouse cells closely mimicked the behavior of embryonic stem cells, Hasenfuss said Friday. He said he is optimistic about finding human testicular cells that will do the same. Work has already begun on that, he said.

If such cells are found in men, "then we have resolved the ethical problem with human embryonic stem cells," he said in a telephone interview.

That would also open the door to removing testicular cells from a male patient, growing some tissue the patient needs, and transplanting that tissue into the same man without fear of biological rejection, he noted.

The mouse cells were found to give rise to a variety of specialized cells in the lab, including heart cells that contracted and nerve cells that produced dopamine, the chemical messenger that Parkinson's patients lack, he said.

Cells typical of the liver, skin, pancreas and blood vessels were produced as well, he said.
___
On the Net:
http://www.nature.com/nature

Married?

2006-03-22T19:38:00.000-08:00

Yes dear friends, Kelly is a married. I've tried to load some pictures as proof of the fact, but they don't seem to want to participate in vindicating me and my marital status (that's marital, not martial. There is a difference. For more on this go to "google.com" and type in "Chuck Norris").

Now, maritally speaking, I'm no expert. I have only been married for a few days (about 11 now, I think). But after 11 days I feel as though I can offer a bit of advice to all of those men who are seeking to get married.

1. You suck. Don't try to argue the point. You do. That's all there is too it.
2. You are probably wrong, even if you are "right". And that is not some sort of off handed remark about your wife saying that you are wrong. No, even at the height of your righteousness of being "right" you still are a sinner who is wrong in more ways than you know. Thankfully, your wife will let you know that.
3. You can never love your wife enough.
4. It has to take a while to figure out number 3... I am hoping that I can figure that out before I am sixty.
5. Your wife is far better than you are... She has to be, she married you. My friend and usher in my wedding Scott Haynes put it well when he shockingly said, "We all marry up."

That's all I got for tonight. I am tired. I hope you enjoy the blog and come back often.

Let Neill and I know if you visit by leaving a comment. You can even tell us that we suck if you want.

Kelly

Baptist babies

2006-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

There is an interesting dialogue going on over at the Reformation21 blog between Rick Phillips and Justin Taylor regarding how Presbyterians view the status of Baptist children. Rev. Phillips does an excellent job of summarizing the Presbyterian view as well as outlining our chief concerns with the paedobaptist approach. Among other things, he points out that Baptists and Presbyterians believe baptism symbolizes and accomplishes different things. For any fruitful dialogue on this issue to occur, we must all understand where our brothers on the other side are coming from.

The conversation begins with Taylor's post "The Babies of Baptists" on Jan. 28.

Os Guinness Book of World Records?

2006-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Do you get the picture? You should cause its huge. Huge, I tell ya'. Recently my pastor, Scott Lindsay at South Baton Rouge Presbyterian sent an email to the congregation informing us that Os Guinness would be speaking at my Alma Mater, Louisiana State University, on Sunday, March 12th and Monday, March 13th. Here is a link to the Veritas Forum http://www.veritas.org/LSU/schedule.htm, the group who is sponsoring the lectures. I know very little about the Veritas Forum group. Regardless, they know a heavy hitter when they read one and I appreciate them working to have Os Guinness at LSU. Remember a few posts ago when Neill said that he was shocked that MC asked DA Carson to speak to their students and faculty? That was shocking, but this is down right scary. Most of the faculty at LSU would probably say that a man like Os Guinness has no buisness in an academic setting. If can, try to go see him. If you can't please pray for him while he is on LSU's campus. And as always, remember to pray for the men and students who are ministering in Christ's name every day, specifically, the Rev. Keith Berger and all the students of RUF.

Unwelcome visitors

2005-12-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

A few nights ago, I was walking up the steps to my apartment when I heard a scuffling. On the first landing, I saw what I thought was the ugliest cat on the planet, but then I realized that it was one of these:

Actually, there were four of them. They ran away. I thought it was funny, went into my apartment and carried on with life.

Then I saw them the next night.

And the next night.

And the next night.

Sure enough, the little thieves were back tonight. I don't know why their presence bothers me, but it does. I guess it is because, growing up in the South, raccoons are never really considered apart from 'coon huntin'. At any rate, I want these overgrown rodents outta here.

So, I googled the phrase "get rid of raccoons" and found this webpage. According to it, I should try the following:

"Sealed or sheltered trash bins will discourage raccoons."

"Fenced gardens will dissuade raccoons from feasting."

"Live 'Havahart' traps will help you get rid of raccoons."

"Motion-sensing lights and sound devices will keep raccoons away."

"Commercial repellents will stop raccoons."

This is ridiculous. I will not allow a raccoon to run the show, and thus have a better solution:

"Raccoons can't bother you if they're dead."

However, I face three obstacles in my quest to vanquish my foes:

1. The Jackson Police Department
2. The administration of Reformed Theological Seminary
3. Non-Southern fellow students who might not be used to the sound of a shotgun going off in the middle of the night.

So, I don't know what I'm going to do. However, I am confident that I will not be using any of the costly, non-violent methods suggested on the website above. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment.

PATHETIC:

2005-12-06T21:23:00.001-08:00

This story is absolutely incredible. I'm no fan of the mainline denominations, trust me. They may have no theological backbone, but AT LEAST THEY'RE NOT CANCELLING SUNDAY SERVICES BECAUSE OF CHRISTMAS!

An excellent diagnosis: "This is a consumer mentality at work: 'Let's not impose the church on people. Let's not make church in any way inconvenient,' " said David Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Hamilton, Massachusetts.

But here is what I find really interesting. Whenever something significant happens and the media wants the "evangelical" opinion, they always go to some sensationalist nut like Falwell or Robertson. When the news story is about "evangelicals" such as Benny Hinn or Willow Creek, they come to us. Remember that special that Dateline did on Benny a few months ago? NBC talked to Michael Horton at Westminster Seminary California. Now, when they want an opinion about Willow Creek and the megachurches, they came to David Wells. Astonishing. Okay, not really. But perhaps in the future, men like J. I. Packer, John Stott and James Montgomerey Boice will again be the faces that the world associates with Protestant Christianity.

(HT: Brad)

Why we love the Puritans...

2005-12-05T23:05:00.000-08:00

From The Valley of Vision:

Glorious God,

I bless thee that I know thee.

I once lived in the world, but was ignorant of its Creator,
was partaker of thy providences, but knew not the Provider,
was blind while enjoying the sunlight,
was deaf to all things spiritual, with voices all around me,
understood many things, but had no knowledge of thy ways,
saw the world, but did not see Jesus only.

O happy day, when in thy love's sovereignty
thou didst look on me, and call me by grace.

Then did the dead heart begin to beat,
the darkened eye glimmer with light,
the dull ear catch thy echo,
and I turned to thee and found thee,
a God ready to hear, willing to save.

Then did I find my heart at enmity to thee, vexing thy Spirit;
Then did I fall at thy feet and hear thee thunder,
'The soul that sinneth, it must die',
But when grace made me to know thee,
and admire a God who hated sin,
thy terrible justice held my will submissive.

My thoughts were then as knives cutting my head.

Then didst thou come to me in silken robes of love,
and I saw thy Son dying that I might live,
and in that death I found my all.

My soul doth sing at the remembrance of that peace;
The gospel cornet brought a sound unknown
to me before that reached my heart -- and I lived --
never to lose my hold on Christ or his hold on me.

Grant that I may always weep to the praise of mercy found,
and tell to others as long as I live,
that thou art a sin-pardoning God,
taking up the blasphemer and the ungodly,
and washing them from their deepest stain.

Please, stop calling allegory "typology"

2005-12-04T12:26:00.000-08:00

This post is limited in its intended audience, and I apologize for that.

I've noticed over the past few months that Federal Vision pundits in the blogosphere consistently misrepresent or confuse allegorical interpretations of Old Testament passages with typology. Thus, I offer the following:

"The theory and practice of allegorical interpretation goes back to pre-Christian times. Many Stoic philosophers respected Homer as a classic text, but were embarrassed by the crudities and absurdities of stories about the gods and goddesses of ancient polytheistic Greek religion. Some interpreters in the Stoic and Platonic tradition reduced this tension by reinterpreting the personages and activities of these gods and goddesses as human qualities or elements of nature. Stories about Apollo, Hera and Poseidon could thus be read as accounts of interactions between sun, air and water. Plato spoke of a 'meaning below' (hyponoia) the surface of the text, and many 1st-century writers describe this as allegoria. From Greek thought, this method of reading a text found its way into Jewish circles. Philo wrote as a Jew seeking to commend Jewish faith to educated Greeks and Romans. He used allegorical interpretation as a device for re-reading passages in the early chapters of Genesis which he found embarrassingly anthropomorphic, or passages in Leviticus which described the minutiae of animal sacrifice. Thus the method was established in Jewish and Greek circles before its growth within the Christian church.

"Allegorical interpretation has had an ambivalent status in Christian tradition. Origen argued that Paul himself provides precedent for allegorical interpretation in his identification of the wilderness rock with Christ in 1 Cor. 10:1-4. There has always been controversy about whether this passage and Gal. 4:22-26 constitute genuine examples of allegorical interpretation. Much depends on definition and questions about Paul's purpose. Many draw a firm distinction between allegory, which depends on a correspondence between ideas, and typology, which depends on a correspondence between events. Some argue that Paul uses typology but not allegory. However, while it is true that events are given whereas ideas are entertained, criteria for the typological interpretation of such events remain problematic.

"Clement of Rome (c. AD 96) provides a very early example of Christian allegorical interpretation. Commenting on Jos. 2:18, he observes that the Israelite spies gave Rahab a sign 'that she should hang out a scarlet thread from her house, foreshadowing that all who achieve and hope in God shall have deliverance through the blood of the Lord' (1 Clem. 12:7). Clement of Alexandria, a century later, argued that the interpreter should expect to find hidden meanings in the biblical writings, because the mystery of the gospel transcended the meaning of any particular passage. Origen argued that the interpreter should begin with the plain or grammatical meaning, but should then 'rise from the letter to the spirit'. He saw the outward events or outward grammar of a text as like the human body: what gave it soul was moral application, and what gave it spirit was the frame of reference informed by spiritual perception. In spite of his attempt to acknowledge, at least in theory, the importance of the letter, or of the grammatico-historical meaning of a text, his own use of allegorical interpretation moved too far in the direction of those Gnostic opponents who also ransacked the Bible for esoteric or 'secret' meanings. By way of response and reaction, the fathers of Antioch, especially Theodore of Mopsuestia (350-428) and John Chrysostom (344/354-407), opposed the allegorical excesses of Alexandria , and insisted on the priority of linguistic considerations."

From A. C. Thiselton, "Hermeneutics" in New Dictionary of Theology. Sinclair B. Ferguson, David F. Wright and J. I. Packer, eds. Downers Grove: IVP, 1988.

My plea: Please stop redefining words.

I do not expect these confusing eisegetical ramblings to cease, but I do hope that readers of these fast-and-loose interpreters will see these opinions for what they are: allegorical interpretations.

David Wells on accountability, knowledge, perspective and depravity

2005-12-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

"If the genesis of modern individualism lies in the idea of the dignity of the individual, the genesis of modern humanism lies in the failure to acknowledge the companion reality of human depravity. The capacity for ultimate knowledge that we are given by creation is a fearful thing when it is unhitched from the knowledge of sin. This uncoupling gives rise to individuals who are unsuspicious about themselves, who infuse their own ideas with divine authority, who are oblivious to the inherent darkness of human nature...

"The contribution of the Reformation, therefore, lay in the confession of two theses—(1) that the individual has access to ultimate reality without the interposition of any intermediaries save for the Word written and living, and (2) that this truth must be held in tension with the reality of the corruption of the human being. Note that the companion truth is human corruption, not human creatureliness. Reinhold Niebuhr assumed that the former should be understood in terms of the latter, but the Reformers distinguished sharply between them—as does Scripture. Our access to truth is fractured not by our smallness, our finitude, or the relativity of our human perspective, not by the limited and fragmented way in which we know things—not, in fact, by any natural inability at all. If that were the case, we would be without blame before God, for we could not rightly be expected to know and obey things that we are inherently incapable of knowing and obeying. No, our access to truth is fractured by a moral inability. What limits us and what always threatens to pervert what knowledge we do have is not our relativity but our moral corruption."

David Wells, No Place for Truth: Or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993, pp. 147-149.

Almost everything Wells says in this book is quotable. In this section, he is explaining the difference between the individualism of the Protestant Reformation and the individualism of the Enlightenment. The key difference, he argues, is the issue of accountability. Historic Protestant individualism was/is the result of an acknowledgement of universal human depravity and the ultimate moral responsibility of each man before God. Enlightenment individualism, however, was/is the product of a worldview which says that each person is accountable only to himself. The essence of the Enlightenment was to shake off all historic and external authority structures, particularly the religious. Tradition-be-damned, so to speak. Protestantism teaches that there are many levels and spheres of authority, but ultimate authority lies with God, not the state, the church or the self.

I also appreciate the comment in the latter section quoted above with regard to the human capacity for knowledge. In stating that we have "the capacity for ultimate knowledge", Wells means knowledge that corresponds with reality, not comprehensive, unmediated and unaccommodated knowledge. Wells' position (which is that of historic Protestantism) is in stark contrast to the postmodern view of knowledge, perspective and interpretation. The postmodern notion that all data is received subjectively, interpreted subjectively, and therefore lacks substantial correspondence with, or reflection of objective truth has infected American evangelicalism to its core. Sadly, the Reformed churches and seminaries (who should know better) in this country are travelling along this same road.

Photos of the Lewis statue in Belfast

2005-11-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, in a post over at the Reformation21 blog, Derek Thomas posted perhaps the smallest photo on the planet of the C. S. Lewis Centenary Statue in Belfast. I'm sure it was the best he could find, or that he had a reason for posting what amounts to an icon (not that kind of icon!). Online photos of this statue are actually quite rare, although I am sure that will change with all the hype surrounding The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I would like to point our readers back to a previous Fried Pickles post in which I displayed some photos of the statue I took while in Belfast over the summer.

Click here to see the post and photos.

December Reformation21 focuses on Lewis

2005-11-29T20:28:00.000-08:00

Head over to Reformation21 and check out the latest issue. This edition focuses on C. S. Lewis in anticipation of the December 9 theatrical release of Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The featured article is titled "C. S. Lewis: Apologist with an Imagination" and is written by Dr. Andrew Hoffecker, our esteemed church history professor here at RTS Jackson. I actually signed up for Dr. Hoffecker's class on C. S. Lewis last semester, but had to drop it due to time constraints. I regret that decision, and have since before I even turned in the drop slip. Go read the Ref21 articles, and don't miss the movie on December 9. And if you are planning on seeing the film, and have not read the book, do yourself a favor and read something (anything) which will explain the symbolism of the story before you see it. It will mean a great deal more to you if you do so.

Official SUPERMAN RETURNS Teaser Trailer

2005-11-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

Click the shield.

What Should We Do With All These Promises?

2005-11-16T12:11:00.000-08:00

Readers and Non-Readers Alike,

Here is a great critical article on the popular book/lifestyle The Purpose Driven Life, written by Mike Horton at the White Horse Inn. Warren's popularity is waning and has been for the last year or so from over-exposure-- even Evangelicals get tired of their heroes from time to time-- but I still think that we should know the benefits or dangers of Warrenianism (my word, just made up on the spot). So read the article if you think you should be conscious of the Evangelical world around you.

A theme park for the Holy Land?

2005-11-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

American Evangelicals and Israeli officials plan to unveil this month a $60 million park where Jesus walked.
By Ilene R. Prusher Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

JERUSALEM - Officials in Israel say that out of about 2 million people who will realize their dream of visiting the Holy Land this year, more than half will be Christian. And among those, more than half will be Evangelical.

With that in mind, the Israeli ministry of tourism has gone public with a plan to build - in partnership primarily with American Evangelical churches - a sprawling Holy Land Christian Center on the northern shores of the Sea of Galilee, home to some of the most notable chapters in Jesus' ministry. The center, to be built on approximately 125 acres that the Israeli government is offering free of cost, would be a Christian theme park and visitors' center, one that would be particularly attractive to Evangelicals and other Christians who want to spend more time in the places where Jesus walked.

Highlights may include a Holy Bible Garden, full of plants and trees mentioned in the New Testament, and equipped with quiet sites for reflection and prayer. A Sea of Galilee Amphitheater will overlook the mouth of the Jordan River and hold 1,500-2,000 worshippers. And the park will have a Christian Experience Auditorium and a Multimedia Center. The center would also feature an online broadcast center, which would give religious leaders an opportunity to address their followers back home, live, near the tranquil blue waters of the Sea of Galilee (which today is considered a lake).

"It will focus on the real places where Jesus walked," says Ido Hartuv, a spokesman for the tourism ministry. "It's a place where pilgrims can touch the experience - they can touch the Bible."

Israeli officials say they are in advanced discussions with several prominent churches that will serve as investors and builders of the $60 million center. Tourism Minister Abraham Hirschson told the Haaretz newspaper that he hoped the first of several agreements would be signed this month, and that one of the key figures at the heart of the project would be Pat Robertson, the prominent televangelist and founder of The 700 Club.

"It thrills me to think that there will be a place in the Galilee whereEvangelical Christians from all over the world can come to celebrate theactual place where Jesus Christ lived and taught. It will be our pleasure tofully cooperate with this initiative of the Israeli Government," says Mr.Robertson.

The plans to build the center - and to turn a large swath of the pastoral waterside territory, from Magdala to Bethsaida, into a Galilee World Heritage Park, complete with hiking trails along paths Jesus would have walked - come at a time of seesawing in relations between Israel and various US churches.

Ever since Benjamin Netanyahu - Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999 - cultivated ties with US Evangelicals and other Christians during his tenure, Israeli governments have sought to strengthen relations with the sector of the Christian world which, for religious reasons, tends to take a pro-Israeli view of the Arab-Jewish conflict. On Mr. Robertson's website, he says that God gave this land "to the descendants of Israel," not to "so-called Palestinians." Older churches, such as Orthodox and Catholic denominations, have more local Palestinian followers and tend to support that side of the conflict.

But Uri Dagul, the head of the Israel Youth Hostels Association and the creative force behind the project, says it is more focused on tourism than politics. The idea, he says, reflects an improvement in Jewish-Christian relations, underscored by the visit of Pope John Paul II here in 2000. Mr. Dagul says the project should be a nondenominational Christian center, not an explicitly Evangelical one.

Some of the existing churches and monasteries the shores of the Sea of Galilee - such as in Tabgha and Capernaum, where Jesus lived for a time, were built as recently as the early 1900s by prominent churches in the Holy Land: the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholics, represented by the Franciscans. But the area has not, more recently, been developed for visitors, says Dagul, and so the busloads of tourists who come to the coast north of Tiberius find it difficult to secure a place to pray and reflect, much less find a rest-stop equipped to accept hundreds of pilgrims.

"Jerusalem comes only later in the story, but most of Jesus' history is in the northern part of the Sea of Galilee," says Dagul. "We can give people the opportunity to experience it, to pray here, to broadcast to their home congregations, to walk on Jesus' trails. People go to churches all over the world, but this is the place where it happened."

A spokesman at the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ), which represents Christian Zionists from around the world, views the center as an important step towards developing sites for Evangelicals, whom he says make up the fastest-growing segment of Christians.

"The Protestant world in general got a late start on the Bible-sites business. While the Greek Orthodox - as the successor to the Byzantine empire - and the Roman Catholics have been involved in identifying Christian sites and maintaining them for pilgrims for centuries," says David Parsons of the ICEJ. "It's very astute of the Israeli government to do this, with all the support of the Evangelical world out there," he adds. "We have a stake in the tourism industry here, and this gives us a place to call our own."

Whether the development will resemble a study center more than a theme park is unclear. The developers say they plan to check kitsch and commercialism at the door. "No way will it be a Disneyland. We have to keep the spirit of the place," Dagul says. "You can see the movie about Jesus' life, then see the mountain," he says, referring to the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus gave his Sermon on the Mount, containing some of his essential teachings. "But if we lose this spirit, with too many lights and projectors, it will be a catastrophe."
And bowing to protests from Orthodox Jewish groups, the Christian partners will have to agree not to go out and proselytize to local Jewish Israelis.

www.csmonitor.com Copyright © 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved.

Click here for the full article.

What are we supposed to do with this?

Minesweeper PUNISHED!

2005-11-15T11:51:00.000-08:00

Confession: I'm addicted to Minesweeper. New high score:

Two kinds of dangerous

2005-11-10T15:35:00.000-08:00

I was talking last night with my roommates and one of them expressed concern about the danger of postmodern theology. His concern was specifically for his less discerning friends who might fall into the snare of the Emergent Church movement. I have actually spent a good deal of time lately thinking about how to gauge the danger of recent trajectories in theology, specifically the New Perspectives on Paul and postmodern theology.

I have come to the conclusion that there are two kinds of danger. The first category is "Big Angry Bear Dangerous." I would apply this to the New Perspectives on Paul.

The second kind of danger is "Small Child Running with Scissors Dangerous." This description fits the Emergent Church quite well.

Please don't ask me to explain why I've designated said movements as such. If you don't get it, don't worry about it. Besides, it would take more time than I have to explain.

An exciting discovery

2005-11-09T18:09:00.000-08:00

To attempt to describe this wonderful find to you would inevitably ruin its beauty. Please click here and visit The Sacred Sandwich. Possibly the best website I've come across in months.

Rating:

"Thank you for calling ONSTAR. How may I be of service?"

2005-11-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hello All My Friends,

I have returned from the "Islands". The British Virgin Islands to be more specific. It was a wonderful trip. Just the thing I needed to refresh my soul after my bout with Mono/streptococcus/tonsillitis and having my tonisils and uvula removed. I wish I had a picture of my throat to show you. Here are some pictures from last years trip, with more to come from this years trip as soon as I get them... Ok, so they are up there. Enjoy.

I never thought it was possible...

2005-11-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

Press release from the Mississippi College website:

ANNUAL SPELL LECTURE FEATURES D.A. CARSON, TRINITY EVANGELICAL DIVINITY SCHOOL, GUEST LECTURER

(17 Oct 2005) The Department of Christian Studies, Mississippi, will present the annual Spell Lecture on Monday, November 7, at 7 p.m. in Anderson Hall East of the B.C. Rogers Student Center. Dr. Wayne Van Horn is chair of the Christian Studies Department. The guest speaker is Dr. D. A. Carson, Research Professor of New Testament Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield Illinois. Admission to the lecture is free and the public is invited to attend.

On Tuesday, November 8, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m., in Anderson Hall East of the B. C. Rogers Student Center, Dr. Carson will lead the study for the Christian Leadership Institute. The study is entitled “Why Does the New Testament Quote the Old Testament Like That?” The study will center around studies from the Book of Hebrews. There is a $20 registration fee.

Donald Carson's areas of expertise include biblical theology, the historical Jesus, postmodernism, pluralism, Greek grammar, Johannine theology, Pauline theology, and questions of suffering and evil. He has written or edited over 45 books including the 2005 revised edition of An Introduction to the New Testament (Zondervan). Carson and his wife, Joy, reside in Libertyville, Illinois, and they have two children.

I will go on record as saying that Carson is one of the finest theologians alive today. Honestly, he has forgotten more stuff than you or I will ever know. His grasp of ideas and history is unbelievable. And he is an outstanding lecturer and preacher. If you can make it to MC to hear him, GO.

Why am I so surprised that MC would host Carson? True, MC is a baptist school, and Carson is a baptist (Evangelical Free Church). However, he is also very Reformed, and MC is not generally known for its hospitality towards Calvinism. But I'm not going to ask too many questions. Maybe there is hope that one day my alma mater will allow me, a Presbyterian, to teach theology and church history there (doubtful).

Happy Reformation Sunday!

2005-10-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

While the rest of the world is celebrating Halloween, Protestants are (or should be) celebrating Reformation Day. It's not that we are necessarily opposed to Halloween, but that we have something much better to celebrate. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the church at Wittenburg, an act which is generally considered to be the formal beginning of the Reformation. The Sunday which either falls on October 31 or the Sunday preceding that day is celebrated as Reformation Sunday in Protestant churches. Today is that day. Thank God for Saint Martin, that "drunken little German monk."

It's that time of year again...

2005-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

PCA teaching and ruling elders + rented sailboats = Island Time. Yes, several PCA leaders get together every year around this time and take a much needed vacation. Every now and then, some unordained men are allowed to accompany, if their gifts are seen to be complementary to the sailing task. Our very own Kelly "OnStar" Dotson has received this honor for the second consecutive year, and we hope that this will give him a chance to relax and fully recover from the MONO which nearly took him a few months ago. I believe that Kelly was invited last year because, well, he is very good at Island Time-ish activities. However, I contend that last year his true gift was discovered and this was the basis for his current invited status. It seems that Kelly is a human GPS unit. He can sense when land is near, even from as far as 100 yards away, earning him the nickname "OnStar" (he also owns an OnStar visor, which he insisted on wearing the entire trip). You never have to worry about accidentally running ashore when Dotson is aboard:

Setting: Sailboat, somewhere in the Virgin Islands.

Kelly: (standing, pointing) "Land ho!"
Person 1: (laughing) "Thank you, Kelly, we see that."
Kelly: (still standing and pointing) "Land ho!"
Person 2: (laughing) "Okay, Dotson, we get it. You're OnStar."
Kelly: (still standing and pointing) "Land ho!"
Person 3: (laughing, but becoming annoyed): "Kelly, we see the land. It's like 50 yards away."
Kelly: (pauses, looks confused, then smiles and points) "LAND HO!"

Kelly will be back in a couple of weeks. Please keep these men in your prayers.

THEOLOGY OF GLORY vs. THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS

2005-10-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Read:

http://www.opc.org/new_horizons/NH05/10b.html

Here we go again...

2005-10-25T21:39:00.000-07:00

The latest "zine" from Thomas Nelson, Inc. You may be familiar with Nelson's other BibleZines. According to the publisher's site, the Align New Testament offers men articles on the following topics:

Leadership
Family
Relationships
Women
Sex
Bible Knowledge
Community Involvement
Money
and much more...

I hope that the "much more" category includes THE GOSPEL. While this is the list that Nelson provides in the product description, the cover of the "zine" lists the following content:

Sexcess: Success with the opposite sex!
Improve your people skills and WIN!
Learn to prosper without cutting corners
Maintenance HOW-TOs for life & faith
Top Ten lists for getting ahead
Got Gadgets? 34 Tech-savvy IDEAS

Just when I thought that Evangelicalism couldn't get any worse...More cheesy nonsense. Why not just call it The Osteen Study Bible?

HT: Justin Taylor

James MacDonald on the Emergent(ing) Church

2005-10-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

On Christianity Today's leadership blog Out of Ur, James MacDonald (pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois) explains why he has not jumped on the postmodern bandwagon. He makes the following points, explaining each quite well:

1. Because observing the bad is not a credential for guiding us to the good.
2. Because God is looking for obedience to revealed truth, not just sincerity.
3. Because Christ’s is a kingdom of substance, not style.

Stay tuned to Out of Ur for the Part 2 of this article.

New baby in Neill's family

2005-10-19T20:14:00.000-07:00

No, she's not mine. Yesterday (Oct. 18), my cousin Brad Noel and his wife Christy had their second child and first daughter, Mary Grace. Christy and Mary Grace are both doing fine, and Brad and John Taber are very excited. The Noels live in Oxford where Brad is in grad school, Christy is a teacher, and John Taber runs a daycare.

A "real" photo, as requested by "yankee"

2005-10-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

Someone called "yankee" who left a comment on a previous post has requested that I post a "real" photo of myself, claiming that in my mustachioed photo (see below) I am trying to look like a professor. I think that in that photo I look like a used car salesman or a sex offender, but I digress. Here is a photo of myself and my brother Scott outside Castle Coole in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

Phil Johnson's "Emerging" Comic

2005-10-05T22:37:00.000-07:00

I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this. Check out Phillip Johnson's blog, PyroManiac. Loads of great commentary.

Phil says:

Oh, it's a conversation? Huh? My two cents? Sure...

Here's 35 cents worth:

I've Been Looking Around...

2005-10-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

I've had some time to look around the old internet the last few days. I've been visiting other "blogs" (called blogging, I think) put out there by people I "know" and "know of" but don't "know directly". I gotta tell ya, I think Neill has put together one heck of a blog. I know what your thinking--I'm biased in my assessment. Well, your right. I am biased. I as fellow contributor have a lot to gain by saying that this blog page is better than most of them out there: fame, glory, $100. Yes, all these things could be mine and, therefore, my opinion counts very little in the long scheme of things. But apart from my subjective opinion I believe that there are, objectively speaking (as if that were even possible), things that make this blog better than most. Our evaluation begins by noting the things that this blog does not have:

1. Pedantic rambling
2. Irrelevant subject matter
3. Photos of Neill or I holding a gun
4. An abundance of references to fantasy literature (they are in here, but not too much)
5. No squirrels

What this blog does have:

1. Pedantic musings
2. Relevant subject matter
3. Photos of Neill and I with moustaches
4. Some references to fantasy literarture, but not too much.
5. Lots of great links
6. A myriad of material on a variety of subjects
7. Heart
8. Soul
9. Rhythm

That's right... Rhythm. You can't have a decent blog page without it. So I conclude by saying we rule and you drool. How's that for a theology of Glory!

Kelly Out.

Since I Have Some Time on My Hands...

2005-10-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I know what your thinking, "Two posts in two days. What is going on." Well, I don't have much to do right now. I get tired pretty quick. It doesn't take much for me to want to take a nap, but that was true before I got sick.

I thought that I would give an update on my recovery. I ate some food a few minutes ago, which maybe doesn't sound like such a big deal. But before Sunday it had been two weeks since I was able to eat anything with substance. My first meal: a hotdog with chili and cheese and onions and relish. And boy did I relish it. It hurt to eat, but it was worth it. I just got finished eating some biscuits and gravy. That hurt too, but again, it was worth it.

For the last two weeks my diet has mainly consisted of Ensure and Gatorade (Both "trademarked, I don't want any legal trouble. I've got enough to worry about without having to pay a lawyer). Every now and then I would try to get some soup broth down, but it usually hurt so badly that I wasn't able to eat much. I lost 10 pounds over the two week period. I am looking forward to gaining it back, but I still don't feel like eating very much. I will let you know when I am ready to accept cookies and other food stuff to help me get back up to my fighting weight, or at least to my usual lounging weight.

Ok, that's all I got today. I am still accepting money to help differ my medical expenses. You can send it directly to me or send it to me via the seminary to get a tax credit for it. I am not incorporated (not yet anyway, but if enough people send me money I will look into it) so I can be of no help there. You can contact my finacial advisor, Neill, if you have any inquiries about the spending of any moneys that you may wish to send to me.

God Bless.

The half-dead Dotson returns

2005-10-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hello All My Faithful Readers and Fans,

I am back. Doing much, much better, thank you very much. I would like to extend many thanks to all who prayed for me over the past few weeks. Please continue praying. I am not quite out of the woods yet. Mononucleosis is a "marathon" virus, not a "sprint" virus. Let me give you an example of my continuing battle: now, I'm no doctor and I don't play one on TV so I really don't know what I am talking about... That's true most all the time, but my liver is swollen. You don't really have to be a doctor to know if your liver is swollen. Here is the quick, easy test you can give yourself. Ask yourself these questions: 1) Does my abdomen hurt? 2) Is the area on the right side of my abdomen, just below my rib cage tender to the touch? 3) Do I have Mono? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions you might have Mono, or a swollen liver, or some other type of disease. Be careful. These swollen livers are no laughing matter. They are more likely to rupture, which is bad. They don't make 'em like they use too.

I would like to further express my gratitude to a few special people who over the last few weeks kept me breathing and made me a bit more comfortable. When I found out that I had Mono, Amy really sprang into action to make sure I was ok. She cooked me meals. Drove me around. Made me go to the doctor, get shots and finally go to the Emergency Room when I didn't think I needed too (even after the tonsils had closed up my breathing hole). Amy drove me to McComb so my parents didn't have to drive all the way up to pick me up and then drove down this weekend just to hang out with me. She's great. So thank you Amy. Also, my parents drove up this past Friday when they found out that I was having surgery. Most of you are probably saying to yourselves, "Kelly, they're your parents. Of course they would come up." Yeah, but what you don't know is that extended family fleeing Hurricane Rita had just arrived at my parents house when they found out. They had to leave them with my sister in charge of the house while they drove up to see me (you have to know my sister). Further, on Sunday they met me and Amy in McComb and took care of me/put up with me this past week. And, don't let me forget they have paid my medical bills up to this point. Thank you Mom and Dad. I do appreciate it.

To everyone who visited me in the Hospital (in alphabetical order): Ben, Greg, Neill, Roy thanks for making me talk too much so that my recovery over the next few days really, really, really hurt. To Amy's family: Larry who checked on me before surgery, thanks for making sure I was ok. And to Hedi, Corry, Audrey and Hayden, well thanks for making me feel loveable even in a hospital bed.

I'm not gonna lie to you. I felt so good when I was in the hospital. They have this stuff called Demerol, I recommend it. What I don't recommend is leaving the hospital without it. It is hard to match for a pain killer.

So here I am, back in Jackson, fighting Mono.

More posts to come as I recover, slowly but surely in God's good timing.

the half-dead Dotson

2005-09-28T14:57:00.000-07:00

Kelly Dotson, the other (rare) contributor to this blog is seriously ill, and I ask that you all keep him in your prayers. Here is what happened:

A couple of weeks ago, I get a text message from Kelly:

"Im at MEA med clin. Tell Miles."

(Miles refers to Miles Van Pelt, our illustrious Hebrew prof and co-author of Basic of Biblical Hebrew, whose class Kelly would be missing that day.)

An hour later, this:

"I have mono."

So, Kelly has mono and for the next week, we see very little of him. He is either asleep (understandable) or over at Amy's house being cared for (understandable). Friday of the next week, I come in from class and have a voicemail message on my cell. It's Amy, telling me that Kelly is in the hospital. The short version of the story: Kelly has two absessed (sp?) tonsils and the mono has sent them into overdrive. Emergency surgery removes the tonsils, and we later find out that Kelly had the same kind of tonsilitis that killed George Washington. At present he is at his parents' house in Zachary, LA.

So, as I said, please keep him in your prayers. And if anyone would like to contribute to the "Kelly Can't Work but He's Still Gotta Eat Fund", please send contributions to him at 5422 Clinton Blvd., Jackson, MS 39209.

In other news, the new issue of reformation21 is up. This is a great issue, focusing on the controversial topic of Open Theism, a subject thrown into the headlines (relatively speaking) in the wake of Katrina.

Back in the routine

2005-09-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

Life has pretty much gotten back to normal here in Jackson. Last night I got to spend some time with my friends John and Leslie. I met them at their house and we went to Que Sera for dinner. They had never been to Que Sera, or even heard of it, which I found astounding. They've lived in Jackson now for several months, but come on! I guess it is my fault for not having introduced them sooner. Great seafood and burgers, Guinness and Bass on tap, and a big patio--who could ask for more?

I know many people who simply hate Jackson, and I guess I just don't get it. I was talking with my friend Mitch Peters a while back about this very issue. We both love this city, and see enormous potential here. Mitch is a real estate developer and has put a lot of effort into making the Fondren District even better than it is (for example, he and his dad are responsible for Fondren Corner (across the street from Que Sera):

This is the kind of initiative that is going to turn Jackson around, and I cannot wait to see it happen and perhaps be a small part of the change that is slowly taking place.

A significant part of reviving Jackson will be bringing back to life its distinct musical heritage, particulary the blues. Someone once told me that before they moved to Jackson, they expected to find an incredible music scene here, given the contributions that Mississippi has made to music over the past century (Jimmy Buffett, Bo Diddley, Faith Hill, B. B. King, Elvis Presley, Charlie Pride, LeAnn Rimes, Conway Twitty, Muddy Waters, Tammy Wynette, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Howlin Wolf, Pinetop Perkins, Mose Allison). He was quite disappointed upon arrival.

Tonight I will be heading over to Schimmel's for Subway Lounge Night to hear the Houserockers. The Subway was featured in a 2002 documentary by Starz Network titled The Last of the Mississippi Jukes.

Great blues, from some of the last Delta Blues greats and their heirs. Show starts at 10 p.m.

Northern Ireland 1, England 0

2005-09-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

Kinda makes you doubt everything you thought you knew. Way to go, boys!

Bethlehem Baptist making a great move

2005-09-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

The elders of Bethlehem Baptist Church, home of John Piper and Justin Taylor, have taken a historic step which I hope other Baptist churches will follow in the future. The decision has been made to allow convinced paedobaptists to join the church. This is an incredibly giant step and brings Bethlehem closer to the Presbyterian stance on the issue. For those of you who are not very familiar with this subject, Baptist churches require new members to have been baptized post-conversion by immersion. This means that someone baptized as an infant must be re-baptized, although Baptists would deny the "re" because they deny the validity of infant baptism altogether.

Presbyterianism practices both infant baptism and believer's baptism. While infant baptism is the default practice, unbaptized adults who are converted are baptized. In the end, I've found it is much easier to convince a Baptist of the acceptability of pouring or sprinkling (mode) than it is to convince them of the acceptability of baptizing our children (recipients). Presbyterianism accepts credobaptists with open arms, and now a major Baptist church has taken the wonderful and loving step of doing the same for paedobaptists.

To exclude someone from membership solely because they hold a different view of the proper mode and recipient of baptism is simply wrong, because both sides of the argument have strong arguments from Scripture and from history. The answer to the question of baptism is not as clear as most people think, else there would not be such stark disagreement among so many Christians and denominations who are all likewise committed to the authority of God's Word and the importance of tradition. A church simply has to make a decision, based on Scripture and history, so that it can move forward. Otherwise, we could debate baptism until our Lord returns to settle the matter. Having been raised a credobaptist, I know exactly where our friends are coming from. However, I think that the paedobaptist position is the most consistent with Scripture and with history. This, however, in no way brings into question the validity of the baptism of my Baptist brothers and sisters.

"But why don't these paedobaptists who want to join Bethlehem just go join the Presbyterian church down the street?" The issue is not about that. Perhaps there is not a faithful Presbyterian church in the area. Perhaps the congregation of Bethlehem has reached out to them in a way that the Presbyterians did not. But this is not an issue which should be addressed because there are paedobaptists who want to join a credobaptist church. Churches need to begin to address this issue, whether or not a paedobaptist ever decides to join their church. Why? Two reasons:

First, evangelical churches need to break free from the bubbles they are living in and recognize that there are actually Christians in other traditions. We need a bigger picture of the universality of Christ's bride.

Second, and closely related to this, is the issue of the Lord's Supper. I must admit that I have not found myself lying awake at night lamenting the fact that Presbyterians cannot join Baptist churches. What does bother me is that communion in most Baptist churches is expressly limited to those who have been baptized as believers by immersion. Even though I was baptized as a believer by immersion, I abstain from the Lord's Supper in churches which refuse to allow my fellow Presbyterians a seat at the Lord's Table.

I hope and pray that this move by Bethlehem will be the catalyst which causes many Baptist churches to rethink the way in which the Table is fenced in their own churches. Christian charity, biblical fidelty and gospel unity--by God's grace these shine brighter each day. Praise him for it.

Head over the the Ref 21 blog to read Justin Taylor's comments regarding the matter.

Satellite images of Katrina's destruction

2005-09-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

The website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has uploaded extensive satellite imagery of Katrina's destruction. Click here.

Aftermath

2005-09-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

I just returned from Laurel and the situation is improving. All McNeills and Bryants are accounted for and doing fine, with little or no property damage to speak of. Gas is in short supply, but this morning we were able to get my parents enough so that they could get around for the next few weeks if they need to.

Family Update:
Martha and Sonny have gone to Oxford to stay with Brad and Christy.
Gary's house in Ocean Springs is okay. Tammy and the girls are staying with family and he has gone to Dole's Miami office to work until they get a temporary office set up in Gulfport.
Deborah and Tim are fine and so is their house.
Scott's power came back on and he is working around the clock. His employer, Hattiesburg Medical Supply, is keeping alive over 500 sick and elderly people in south Mississippi by keeping them a steady supply of oxygen. Please keep him and his co-workers in your prayers. They are exhausted.

Please continue to pray for the people affected by Katrina and those who are working to rescue and relieve them. Looting is a problem as far north as Laurel. Less than a mile from my parents, looters beat an old man and left with his generator and gas. Pray for safety and patience, diligence and wisdom. Thanks.

Soli Deo Gloria

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

All of you who are not in Mississippi or Louisiana have undoubtedly seen the coverage of Katrina's destruction on television. South Mississippi is almost completely destroyed, and central Mississippi suffered a great deal as well. I am at my office right now, which has power, water, etc. For my friends and family whom I have been unable to contact, I wanted to give an update as to the situation here in Jackson.

We have been without power or water since Monday. However, last night the water at the seminary did start working again. We are under a boil water notice indefinitely, but hope to have our power back on today. Classes at RTS will hopefully resume next week, as there was roof damage and subsequent water damage to the Dean Center and a few classrooms. The only significant damage to the seminary property was when a huge oak tree fell on the White House, the home on our property where the seminary began and which is now used to house guests.

Now for a quick update for my family:
When the storm hit Laurel, it knocked out all landline and cell phone service. After trying to get in touch with my parents and other family member in Laurel on Monday, I decided to try to drive down there yesterday morning. After 3 and 1/2 hours and a significant amount of off-road maneuvering, I finally made it to my parents' house. Everyone in Laurel is fine. No damage was done to any of the houses, although there are countless trees down and they expect to be without power for at least one month. I will be heading back to Laurel on Friday with some supplies.

Scott is still in Hattiesburg, and although that city was almost completely destroyed, he is fine and his apartment suffered minimal damage. He is still without power and electricity, but his cell phone is working.

Gary and his family evacuated Ocean Springs for Panama City Beach, and they are fine. I spoke to Gary yesterday and, miraculously, he had received word that his house is still standing. His office at the Port of Gulport, however, is completely gone. He hopes to return to Ocean Springs soon.

Jimmy and his family in Florence are fine. We spoke on the phone yesterday, and he said that they have some trees down, but the house and their church were virtually untouched.

Frances, Sharla and Bryan are all fine. Bryan has power, so Frances and Sharla are staying with him for the present.

As of yesterday, we have not heard from Deborah and Tim, who stayed in Hurley. Given the fact that Gary's property in Ocean Springs survived, I am sure that they are okay. If any of you hear from them, please let me know.

Thank you all for your concern and prayers. Please continue to pray for all the victims of this hurricane, which many are saying is the worst natural disaster to hit the United States in recorded history.

Soli Deo Gloria

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:19-24, ESV

C. S. Lewis Centenary Statue at Holywood Arches

2005-08-27T19:49:00.000-07:00

C. S. Lewis is one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century. Before going to Belfast this summer, I attempted to find a photo on the web of the C. S. Lewis Centenary Statue at Holywood Arches. Alas, the only photo I could find was on the homepage of the C. S. Lewis Association of Ireland, and that photo is not a very good one.

Up to this point, I had been under the impression that you could find anything on the Internet. I was wrong. So, for those who are interested, below are some photos of this magnificient work of art to an extraordinary man.

In the last photo above, you can see a letter on the back of the wardrobe. Lewis had been written by a little girl who was having some trouble with the symbolism in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The letter in the photo above is an exact replica of the reply that Lewis sent to her, simply explaining the story to the little girl. Click on the photos for higher resolution.

And I thought it was just me...

2005-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

For the past year, I've been known to occasionally visit various blogs written by Emergent folk. One thing that has always struck me is an almost violent reaction to anyone who criticizes their writings, particularly among the Emergent leadership.

In his introductory post on the Reformation21 blog, Carl Trueman has confirmed my observations:

"I was struck while visiting one of the leading webpages for the Emerging/ent Church recently by the overall tone of the 'conversation,' to use the favoured term. The writer clearly made reaction to his writings the acid test as to whether one was being faithful and humble as a Christian. Indeed, those who offered strong critiques were described, if I remember correctly, as 'only harming themsleves.' Strange that an individual should arbitrarily raise his writings and thoughts to the level of a basic criteria of orthodoxy, however that may be conceived (or 'revisioned,' to use another favoured term). I guess I've written a fair bit myself over the years, but the idea that I should make reaction to my writings some kind of test as to whether someone is a good Christian or not would strike me as the apex of arrogance, no matter how modestly I couched the claim, or how carefully I disguised the obvious dogmatism of such an idea in the shallow cliches of 'conversation,' 'community,' 'revisioning,' and 'new paradigms.' But apparently that is not the case and another picture is 'emerging,' where any Tom, Dick or Harriet with a webpage, a publisher, or a blogspot can set aside the historic creeds of the church and make response to their own jottings the real measure of a Christian."

Speaking of Reformation21, the new issue is now online. This issue focuses on (yeah, you guessed it) the Emergent Church movement. Content includes articles by Jeffrey Jue and Derek Thomas, book reviews, cultural commentary, and even a short piece on the relationship between the Emergent Church and the Bible by yours truly.

FPC Jackson's new blog

2005-08-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

First Presbyterian Church in Jackson now has its own blog, which I am sure will be very well received by the members of the church. As it now stands, the two contributors to the blog are Ligon Duncan and Derek Thomas. Drs. Duncan and Thomas are already very active in the blogosphere through the Reformation21 blog, but the issues with which they interact on that blog are much broader and cover the span of the Reformed and evangelical world. This blog will serve as a resource primarily for the members and friends of FPC Jackson. The blog looks great. Many thanks to the ministers and session of First Pres for once again thoughtfully considering how best to educate and inform those under their care.

I've added a link on the right to the FPCJ blog. You can also visit the blog by clicking here.

Calvin and the merit of Christ

2005-08-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

The notion of merit is under attack in certain circles of Reformed Christianity. These Christians claim that a theology of merit is a last vestige of Rome which the Reformers should have thrown out with the rest of the Roman doctrine of salvation. Merit is opposed to grace, or so the argument usually goes. Is this a new argument? Not really.

Calvin writes:

'There are certain perversely subtle men who--even though they confess that we receive salvation through Christ--cannot bear to hear the word "merit," for they think that it obscures God's grace. Hence, they would have Christ as a mere instrument or minister, not as the Author or leader and prince of life, as Peter calls him [Acts 3:15]. Indeed, I admit, if anyone would simply set Christ by himself over against God's judgment, there will be no place for merit. For no worthiness will be found in man to deserve God's favor. Indeed, as Augustine very truly writes: "The clearest light of predestination and grace is the Man Christ Jesus, the Savior, who brought this to pass by the human nature that was in him, through no preceding merits of works or of faith. Answer me, I beg of you, whence did this man deserve to be the only-begotten Son of God, and to be assumed into unity of person by the Word co-eternal with the Father? We must therefore recognize our Head as the very foundation of grace--a grace that is diffused from him through all his members according to the measure of each. Everyone is made a Christian from the beginning of his faith by the same grace whereby that Man from his beginning became the Christ." Likewise, in another passage: "There is no more illustrious example of predestination than the Mediator himself. For he who made righteous this man of the seed of David, never to be unrighteous, without any merit of his will preceding, of unrighteous makes righteous those who are members of that Head,", etc. In discusing Christ's merit, we do not consider the beginning of merit to be in him, but we go back to God's ordinance, the first cause. For God solely of his own good pleasure appointed him Mediator to obtain salvation for us.

'Hence it is absurd to set Christ's merit against God's mercy. For it is a common rule that a thing subordinate to another is not in conflict with it. For this reason nothing hinders us from asserting that men are freely justified by God's mercy alone, and at the same time that Christ's merit, subordinate to God's mercy, also intervenes on our behalf. Both God's free favor and Christ's obedience, each in its degree, are fitly opposed to our works. Apart from God's good pleasure Christ could not merit anything; but did so because he had been appointed to appease God's wrath with his sacrifice, and to blot out our transgressions with his obedience. To sum up: inasmuch as Christ's merit depends upon God's grace alone, which has ordained this manner of salvation for us, it is just as properly opposed to all human righteousness as God's grace is.'

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 2.17.1. John T. McNeill, ed., Ford Lewis Battles, trans. Louisville: WJK, 1960.

The Osteen post

2005-08-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

We have removed the Joel Osteen post because it offended some people. We do not think they should be offended, but that doesn't change the fact that they are. We do think this type of content has a place in the kingdom, but this blog may not be the place for it. Again, we sincerely apologize for the tone of the post.

We are greatly offended by Joel Osteen and the gospel of straw that he "preaches" every week to millions of people. We are also dismayed by the lack of response to him from biblical Christians. Forgive us if our response was sinful or in poor taste.

As the disclaimer on our blog states, the views stated on this blog do not necessarily represent those of RTS, the PCA, or any site or blog linked from this blog. These are the views of the authors unless otherwise stated. Please do not hold RTS or the PCA responsible for any lapses of judgment on our part.

You have the right to respond if you are offended. If you think we are in sin, please call us on it. As the comments on this post from one reader show, we are more than happy to respond to any concerns over content (thank you, Glenn).

We know what your response to us is. What is your response to Joel Osteen and his message? Do you have one? Are you developing one? Are you even thinking about it? There are many more people out there being influenced by his "gospel" than people being influenced by this blog by two seminary students. Let me repeat: more people are being influenced by the false gospel of Joel Osteen than by the "bad attitudes" of two guys with a blog. What are you going to do about it? Anything at all?

For a tastefully done post on the errors of Joel Osteen, click here to read a post by Rick Phillips on the reformation21 blog.

Joe Rohan at Fenian's

2005-08-19T16:07:00.000-07:00

Several of us headed out to Fenian's Irish Pub in Jackson a few nights ago to celebrate Tony's triumph over the basics of biblical Greek. Soon after we sat down and ordered drinks/appetizers, a lone bald man with a guitar takes the stage.

I have heard some really bad musicians at Fenian's. I have also heard some really good ones. Joe Rohan is the best in recent memory. He played a mix of covers and his own tunes, and I can't remember when I've enjoyed original music as much.

Most musicians fall within a certain genre--country, rock, blues, etc. Joe's music is interesting because his style is more "blues-washed." If I had to put him in a genre, it would be blues/folk (No, I cannot settle on one genre). But it is hard to say that someone is just a blues/folk singer when he is covering Stone Temple Pilots one minute, Stevie Wonder the next, and Johnny Cash after that. At times Joe sounds very much like James Taylor, but he definitely has his own sound that he controls with impunity. This is probably what draws me to his music: Joe exercises a control over his voice and guitar to the extent that you can truly say that he is playing the song. Sadly, many musicians you encounter at the grassroots level sound as though the song is playing them.

Joe currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He is playing this weekend at the Cutting Edge Music Business Conference in New Orleans. Check this guy out.

Click here to visit Joe Rohan's website.

To End All Reviews--a Review of To End All Wars

2005-08-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

To End All Wars

Directed by:
David L. Cunningham

Written by:
Brian Godawa
Ernest Gordon

I first heard about To End All Wars from my roommate Sammy. He said something about it being "the best movie ever made". Forgive me for being a bit cynical, but every time I hear someone say that a movie is "the best one ever made" a voice in the back of my head says, "how could you even know that... Idiot." I do respect Sammy and his opinion, however, and last week sat down to watch the movie. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. To End All Wars is a commitment of your time, energy, intellect and emotions. I cried at least half a dozen times during the movie and needed a few minutes after it was over to collect myself (I am a crier, and I make no apologies for that). Now, I am not saying that this is "the best movie ever made". But I will say that it is powerful and is well worth a watch. Especially given the fact that most of us have no problem sitting down and watching mindless drivel. (For more on mindless drivel see Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and pretty much anything put out by those guys in the last five years)

To End All Wars (or, from here on out TEAW) was released in 2001 and stars Kiefer Sutherland as Lt. Jim Reardon and Robert Carlyle as Campbell. And you may be asking yourself, "if this is such a great movie, then why am I just now hearing about it?" Good question. The themes and images in this movie are so blatenly Christian and powerful that it is not hard to understand why TEAW never made it to the big screen as Hollywood types (I'm not sure what a "Hollywood type" is, I think I read that phrase in a magazine somewhere and threw it in to see if it worked in this context) would be uncomfortable with the suggestion that Christ's life and death actually does make a difference in people's lives. Compound that with the fact that TEAW is based off the book THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE KWAI by Ernest Gordon, POW survivor, dean of Princeton Chapel for years after World War II, and it tells the true story of Gordon's experience as a Prisoner of War under Japanese rule. The movie pits two competing worlds and world-views against one another: East (Bushido) and West (Christianity).

While TEAW's story is propelled by the unimaginable hardships that the Gordon and his brother POW's lived through, the most compelling story in the movie is the triumph of the Christian world-view over Bushido. Early on in the story Gordon has dreams and aspirations of teaching. He gets his wish as his fellow POW's implore him to teach them the meaning of their captivity. They ask Gordon, "Why are we meant to face such injustice? Is there any such thing as "justice" in the world?" The obvious assumption being that if there is no justice in this world then every man should look after his own needs and wants and should put down anyone that gets in his way.

In response to this Gordon secretly begins a "jungle university" to teach, first from Plato's Republic, where the question of Justice is put to Socrates by the interlocutors. Socrates response is to say that, yes, justice and the just man do exists, but instead of being applauded, the just man will be crucified. Not all of the prisoners sit under Gordon's teaching, however, and choose, not to understand their plight, but to flee from it. Led by Campbell, these men see Gordon and his teaching as a threat to their escape as more and more men join with Gordon and not with Campbell. Their response is to expose the school to the Japanese Captors.

The Japanese are persuaded that the teaching actually makes the POW's better servants. Why? Because true freedom does not come from unfettering yourself from chains that can not be removed, but from living life to the glory of God in the midst of captivity. In one of the final scenes of the movie (I will not give it away) we see the real result of Christ and his teaching: extreme self-sacrifice. Freedom does not come in getting all you can for yourself while you are here but in giving up yourself, because it was never really yours anyway.

I do recommend this movie and even would go so far as to say that everyone needs to watch it. But be careful. There is some cursing if that is offensive to you("Should their be cussing in a Christian movie?" some ask). There are some fairly brutal scenes of torture, abuse and execution. This movie is not for the faint of heart. But if you saw Mel's Passion (which I did not... I've only heard) TEAW should be a "cake walk" for you.

A man in desperation:

2005-08-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

A man ran through a crowded train looking very agitated, calling out, "Is there a Catholic priest on board?" When he got no reply, he ran back up the train shouting, "Is there an Anglican priest on board?" Still no reply. By now becoming more desperate, he ran down the train shouting, "Is there a Presbyterian minister on board?" Eventually, a gentleman stood up and said, "Can I be of any assistance, my friend? I'm a Baptist minister. "The man looked at him and said, "No, you're no bloody good. I need a corkscrew!"

Fried Pickles is expanding...

2005-07-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks. We're doubling our efforts here at Fried Pickles. I recently added a post about a paper written by my friend, Kelly Dotson. He and I were talking tonight and I was suddenly gripped by the decision that K-Dot should be brought on board the FP team. In the future, look forward to posts from Kelly as well as myself. We have very different styles which I think complement each other well. His first post, which will hopefully be up in the next day or two, will be a review of the movie To End All Wars. We here at FP are very happy to add a fresh and insightful voice to the blog.

As always, Soli Deo Gloria.

9 Assumptions of Youth Ministry

2005-07-27T22:07:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a church where everyone meant well but nobody knew what they were doing. It hurts me to say that, but it must be said. Especially when it comes to youth ministry, most churches pathetically fall down on the job. I contend that there are three reasons for this. First, bad theology yields stupid, rebellious and confused teenagers. Second, the adults who are supposed to be teaching these kids simply do not carefully consider how they minister to the children (and that is exactly what they are). Third, parents and/or church leaders simply do not care to disciple the young people in the church. Many adults are content that their children are off the streets and being taught moral lessons. What I have found, through experience and observation, is that youth ministry is being done poorly and that the church is throwing everything at these kids except the gospel.

What should be the basis for how we minister to teenagers? A few years ago Kelly Dotson wrote a piece for South Baton Rouge Presbyterian Church titled "9 Assumptions of Youth Ministry." In it, he outlines how the youth ministry of SBR Pres is conducted and how it differs from prevailing practices and opinions. Although Kelly is no longer the youth director at SBR (he is now a student at RTS-Jackson and my personal counselor, occasional cook and sanctifying friend), his paper still sits prominently on the SBR website as the model for how youth ministry can and should be done: Christ-exalting and biblically formed. Click here to read the paper. If you don't already have the free Adobe Reader, crawl back into your cave because you've obviously not being paying attention to the world around you for a couple of years now (or just click the link, but do please try to keep up).

Reformation 21 has launched!

2005-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals has launched its new ezine (that's a web-based magazine, for those who aren't down with the lingo), Reformation 21. That makes two religious magazines that I can read all the way through without disappointment (the other, of course, being Modern Reformation). I am sure there are others, but nothing springs to mind. Reformation 21 is edited by Derek Thomas and features articles and commentary by him as well as Ligon Duncan, Rick Phillips, Carl Trueman, Phil Ryken, Guy Waters, Donald Macleod, and the list goes on. Children, gather 'round. Biblical Christianity has a new portal on the web.

As an aside, RTS has also launched a new website. While similar to the one launched a few months ago, this updated version does not have all the useless animated navigation which tended to confuse and annoy. The Jackson section also now includes links to The Reformed Informer and chapel programs. Bravo, guys.

Both sites are linked on the right for your future navigational pleasures.

A word about the Bethany Christian Services controversy

2005-07-20T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Jackson chapter of Bethany Christian Services recently made national headlines by refusing the applications of two Roman Catholic couples. Bethany is a nationwide adoption and counseling service, and employees as well as potential adopters must sign a form stating that they agree with the organization's statement of faith which can be viewed here. Can Catholics agree with the statement of faith as it is written? Yes. But when agreeing with it, do they understand its assertions in the same way as the Protestants who wrote it? No.

Issue #1: Can Bethany, in good faith, deny its services to those it believes are not in accord with its own beliefs? Yes. The gap between Roman Catholics and Protestants is simply too wide. Does this mean that placing children in Catholic homes will damn them? Of course not. I'm not saying that Catholics are monsters or a cult or anything like that. In fact, many Christians in mainline denominations would also be disqualified by Bethany's statement of faith. Neither Bethany nor I are saying these people are not Christians. They simply cannot honestly say that they meet the standard which the organization has put in place.

Issue #2: Is it right for Bethany to accept money from the state from the sale of "Choose Life" car tags? Some Roman Catholics may believe that their tax money is being given to an organization which discriminates against them. However, this is simply untrue. Bethany receives money from the sale of specialized tags, which taxpayers electively choose to purchase at extra cost. Bethany receives no tax money. The state keeps as much (if not more) money from these special tag purchases as it does from regular tag purchases.

At any rate, Bethany issued a press release today in which it stated: "The local Board of Directors for Bethany Christian Services of Mississippi met in Jackson on July 19, and voted unanimously to change their practice to now include Catholic families in all adoption programs."

So now the question becomes, should Bethany be allowing those who do not agree with their statement of faith to adopt children through their service? If they have changed their standard, then so be it.

This whole story only caught my interest because any private organization which is religiously oriented has the right to set its own standards. If someone is concerned about to whom the money they freely spend on their specialty tags is given, they should look into the matter before they purchase the tag, not after.

In the end, do I care? Not really. Children are being placed with families who want them, and that the important thing. Catholics and Protestants have enough to fight about as it is.

The Cave Hill, Belfast

2005-07-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple more pictures we took in Ireland. This is my friend Brian (otherwise known as Rev. Black) and his two sons, Adam and Reuben. We are standing on the top of the Cave Hill overlooking Belfast, which we hiked up one Sunday afternoon. Below is a photo of Scott and me standing to the left of where the picture above was taken.
According to VisitNorthernIreland.com, the "Cave Hill rises to 1207 feet (and we hiked/climbed every inch of it) above sea level and forms part of a line of low mountains stretching for almost eleven miles between Newtownabbey and Lisburn. Remains of early settlements including a stone cairn, crannog, raths and ringforts create a site of archaeological interest." From the top, you can see not only most of Belfast, but also Mount Slemish (where St. Patrick was supposedly held prisoner) and the western coast of Scotland.

Kneel before Zod!

2005-07-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Another quick post.

If you are like me and love all things Superman (except the TV show Lois and Clark...man, that show sucked), you have to see this site. Remember General Zod? This is a website which offers commentary from our great leader on a variety of topics. Don't be foolish, slave. Kneel before Zod or be destroyed!

An extremely quick review of BATMAN BEGINS

2005-07-06T17:11:00.000-07:00

Batman Begins kicks A. Go see it.

JUSTICE is now spelled M-E-L-T-O-N

2005-07-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the City of Jackson swore in her new mayor. Less than 12 hours after taking his new position, Frank Melton was out on the streets of Jackson kicking criminals in the teeth and proving that a new day has dawned in Chimneyville. Just look at the picture on the left...this guy is definitely not messing around. For those of us who see the potential in Jackson but have felt helpless and hopeless during Harvey Johnson's reign of apathy, Melton's first 24 hours in office were freakin' euphoric. Last night, he personally led the JPD S.W.A.T. team on raids and roadblocks all over the worst parts of Jackson. Honestly, I hear a helicopter outside right now and I bet you it's Frank. He is taking no prisoners. Johnson may have tried to develop our city, but he repeated refused or failed to make Jackson safer. I know, it has only been one day. But if Melton continues to produce results at even 25% of what he is doing at present, yours truly will most certainly be voting for a Democrat in 2009. HAIL MELTON!

Click here to read WLBT's coverage of last night's rampage. Be sure to watch the video.

ADVANCE RELEASE: Cover photo from Brian McLaren's new book

2005-06-29T21:33:00.000-07:00

No, not really. While postmodern theology is largely a spiritual train wreck, that's not what this photo is.

I woke up yesterday morning and was getting ready for work when I heard a loud BOOM! Unsure of what the sound was, I wrote it off as something related to the recent construction going on here at RTS. As I left the campus, however, I saw the large column of black smoke rising from just a few hundred yards away. As I drove by Midway Baptist Church, I could see that the smoke was coming from the treeline behind the church. The fire brigade and police were everywhere, and I was late for work, so I went on to the office.

It is a sad thing that my first assumption was that another meth lab had blown up. Scott told me that you can be anywhere in Mississippi and be an average of no farther than 2 miles from a meth lab. I don't know how true it is, but for some reason I do not doubt it.

At any rate, the truth about this incident is that two trains collided head-on about 500 yards from RTS (and spitting distance from homes and a daycare full of kids...Who builds a daycare next to train tracks, anyway?). Thanks be to God that no one was killed. Click here to read the article in the Clarion-Ledger.

The grave of Saint Patrick

2005-06-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is a photo from my recent trip to Ireland. Scott and I are standing next to the grave of Saint Patrick. The tombstone (that large rock) is engraved with "Patrick" and a large Celtic cross. The site is located in the cemetary of Down Cathedral (Church of Ireland, not Roman Catholic) in Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland. There is a really nice lady who works in the cathedral and, like most of the Irish, will gladly spend the day telling you more than you ever cared to know about anything and everything.

A word about Saint Patrick. According to the plaque next to the gravestone,

"Saint Patrick was born in Britain. At sixteen he was captured and taken to Ireland, where he was sold into slavery. He escaped to France, but one night in a dream he heard the voice of the Irish calling him back. How Patrick answered that call and brought Christianity to Ireland is one of the most splendid chapters in our history. According to tradition the remains of Saint Patrick with those of Saint Brigid and Saint Columba who is also known as Columcille, were reinterred on this site by John de Courcy in the 12th Century thus fulfilling the prophecy that the three Saints would be buried in the same place."

The above paragraph represents the legend and myth surrounding Patrick, not the actual history. Sometimes, however, it is much more fun to go with the myth, with a wink and our fingers crossed behind our backs.

Both Protestants and Catholics in Ireland claim Saint Patrick as their own, and we must actually admit that both sides are correct and incorrect. He belongs exclusively to neither, but to both. When Protestants left the Roman Catholic Church, they did not disavow 1500 years of Christianity, but saw themselves (rightly, I would argue) as preserving and carrying on the Church of Christ and standing on the shoulders of the previous 1500 years of Christianity. The right-headed Protestant should argue that the church fathers belong to Protestants just as much (if not more) than the Roman Catholics. That is the Protestantism of Luther and Calvin.

[NB] A note to my Protestant brethren--No, I an neither advocating nor acknowledging the canonization of saints as practiced by Rome. My reference to Patrick as "Saint" is due to the common usage of the title. Patrick is a saint, but no more than any other Christian.

Has the SBC lost its collective mind?

2005-06-21T20:05:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by emphatically stating that I love my Southern Baptist friends and family, and have a great deal of respect for many Southern Baptist congregations, pastors and theologians. Historically, Southern Baptists and Presbyterians have shared the same basic theological understandings, such as the sovereignty of God and the covenantal structure of redemptive history and the Bible. However, most of today's Southern Baptists have abandoned their heritage of faithfulness to orthodox Christianity in favor of practices and doctrines more characteristic of Methodism and the Charismatic movement. (The exceptions to this broad generalization would include churches such as Capitol Hill Baptist Church in DC and Greater Union Baptist Church in Compton, CA, and pastor/theologians such as Al Mohler, Ken Jones, Mark Dever, etc.) It truly grieves me to see the pathetic state of the tradition in which I was raised and came to know Christ.

The above photo is of Pastor Don Martin of Happy Trails Cowboy Church in Taylorsville, NC. The North American Mission Board of the SBC has begun a new strategy in church planting called "affinity churches." They take interests such as cowboy culture, biker culture, golf, etc., and plant churches which are modeled on these themes. According to the Associated Press article:

"Even though the Southern Baptists are the nation's largest Protestant group, its leaders say their churches appear to be stagnating. The number of new member baptisms has declined over the past four years, prompting the denomination to set a goal of baptizing 1 million people a year in the United States."

Though not a direct quote from the denomination, this statement is indeed indicative of the general attitude among Southern Baptists that the health of a church is determined not by the spiritual maturity of its members, but by the swelling of the membership rolls. This is one of the more troubling characteristics which Baptists have picked up from the revivalism of Charismatic and Wesleyan groups. It is absolutely not historic Southern Baptist practice.

This is just one more page in the seeker-sensitive church growth movement. Positively, I do not doubt the sincerity of these Christians' desire to seek the lost. Let me repeat: I am not coming down on them for wanting to reach out to those outside the faith. However, their methods betray a lack of confidence in the transforming power of the preached gospel as the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of sinners, convicting them of their guilt and and uniting them to Christ through faith alone in the finished and perfectly sufficient work of Christ.

Ultimately, this type of "ministry" divides the body of Christ along the most trivial of lines: hobbies and interests. The local church must be bigger than that. We do not start new churches because we like bikes or golf or flying kites. The body of Christ must transcend earthly barriers, particularly preferences of attire or sport or transportation. If you like bikes, join a club. Golf? Join a club. Horses? Buy one. The church is not a club. The church is not a club. The church is not a club.

Click here to read the article.

News from the General Assembly

2005-06-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of the 33rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Because of my trip to Northern Ireland, I was unable to attend this year's GA in Chattanooga. If you are like me and want to keep up with what is happening at the seminars, committee meetings and the proceedings on the floor, here are some helpful links:

The host committee's website: http://www.ga2005.com/
The General Assembly weblog: http://gablog.chattablogs.com/
LIVE General Assembly webcast: http://www.pcaga.com/

Back from the UK...

2005-06-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Scott and I have returned from the United Kingdom and I'm back at work. We had a great time and I have around 250 pictures, some of which I will post here soon (i.e., when I'm not at work). More on the trip later.

Victory!

2005-05-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

The semester is over! Going to RTS graduation tonight (I'm not graduating just yet), Bobby's wedding in Brookhaven tomorrow, Laurel on Monday, and on Wednesday Scott and I are leaving for two weeks in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The end of the semester:

2005-05-16T22:31:00.001-07:00

NOW...

IN 8 DAYS...

Just for fun...the Reformation Polka!

2005-05-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin

[Sung to the tune of "Supercalifragilistic-expialidocious." Click here for the music.]

The Reformation Polka
by Robert Gebel

When I was just ein junger Mann I studied canon law;
While Erfurt was a challenge, it was just to please my Pa.
Then came the storm, the lightning struck, I called upon Saint Anne,
I shaved my head, I took my vows, an Augustinian! Oh...

Chorus:Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

When Tetzel came near Wittenberg, St. Peter's profits soared,
I wrote a little notice for the All Saints' Bull'tin board:
"You cannot purchase merits, for we're justified by grace!
Here's 95 more reasons, Brother Tetzel, in your face!" Oh...

Chorus:Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

They loved my tracts, adored my wit, all were exempleror;
The Pope, however, hauled me up before the Emperor.
"Are these your books? Do you recant?" King Charles did demand,
"I will not change my Diet, Sir, God help me here I stand!" Oh...

Chorus:Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

Duke Frederick took the Wise approach, responding to my words,
By knighting "George" as hostage in the Kingdom of the Birds.
Use Brother Martin's model if the languages you seek,
Stay locked inside a castle with your Hebrew and your Greek! Oh...

Chorus:Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

Let's raise our steins and Concord Books while gathered in this place,
And spread the word that 'catholic' is spelled with lower case;
The Word remains unfettered when the Spirit gets his chance,
So come on, Katy, drop your lute, and join us in our dance! Oh...

Chorus:Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation
Speak your mind against them and face excommunication!
Nail your theses to the door, let's start a Reformation!
Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation!

Mike Horton on the Emergent Church

2005-05-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael S. Horton was recently interviewed about the Emergent Church movement on Issues, Etc., a radio program produced by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Mike is Professor of Apologetics and Theology at Westminster Seminary California, co-host of The White Horse Inn radio program, and a minister in the United Reformed Church in North America. I have recommended some of Mike's work in the past, and I encourage you to check out this interview. Click here to listen.

This is a great commercial...

2005-05-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

Man, pirates are great. Family members on the McNeill side of my family should know that for a few centuries our ancestors in Scotland were pirates. Click the photo above.

This week in church history...

2005-05-07T18:36:00.000-07:00

Knowing the history of the church is important for many reasons. The two which I think are the most important are that (1) knowing our history helps us understand who we are, and (2) we learn from the wisdom of the past and hopefully avoid some serious mistakes which have already been made. In that spirit, the following are some important events that happened this week in church history.

May 1
1572 - Pius V, pope from 1566, dies at age 68. He ordered bishops and clergy to accept the propositions of the Council of Trent and he vehemently opposed the Reformation. He rarely hesitated to use the Inquisition in Italy and hastily excommunicated England's Elizabeth I (creating serious problems for English Catholics).
1873 - Missionary-explorer David Livingstone dies.

May 2
373 - Church father Athanasius, "the father of Orthodoxy," dies. He attended the Council of Nicea, and after becoming bishop of Alexandria, he fought Arianism and won. He was also the first to list the New Testament canonical books as we know them today.
1507 - Martin Luther is consecrated a priest, a role in which he would serve for 13 years before being excommunicated.
1559 - John Knox (considered the father of modern presbyterianism), having spent several years on the Continent studying and writing, returns to Scotland to help lead the Reformation there.

May 3
1675 - A Massachusetts law goes into effect requiring church doors to be locked during services. Officials enacted the law because too many people were leaving before sermons were over.
1738 - English preacher George Whitefield, the most famous religious figure of the 1700s, arrives in America for his first of seven visits. In his lifetime, Whitefield preached at least 18,000 times to perhaps 10 million hearers.
1861 - The Southern Congress approves a bill installing chaplains in Confederate armies. The American military did not normally employ chaplains, but they became a permanent fixture during and after the Civil War. Between 100,000 and 200,000 Union soldiers and approximately 150,000 Confederate troops converted to christianity during wartime revivals.

May 5
1525 - Frederick III, the elector of Saxony also called "Frederick the Wise," dies. An avid collector of relics and a supporter of modern scholarship (he founded the University of Wittenberg), Frederick protected Martin Luther after the Diet of Worms condemned the reformer.
1813 - Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard is born in Copenhagen. The Danish philosopher believed no philosophical system could explain the human condition; the experience of reality was what mattered, not the "idea" of it. His most famous and his first book, Either/Or, sought in part to explain why he suddenly broke off his engagement.
1816 - The American Bible Society (ABS) organizes in New York to distribute the Bible throughout the world. The organization has distributed hundreds of millions of Bibles in thousands of languages worldwide.
1925 - John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution in his classroom. (He volunteered to admit violating a recent statute prohibiting such teaching so that the law could be tested in court.) The resulting trial—the first "trial of the century"—led to public mockery of fundamentalist Christians, driving them into a more self-contained subculture. It would become known as the Scopes Monkey Trial.

May 6
1527 - An army of barbarians who had been sent—but were no longer controlled—by Emperor Charles V sacks Rome. Many Protestants interpreted the attack as a divine rebuke, and some Catholics agreed: "We who should have been the salt of the earth decayed until we were good for nothing," wrote Cardinal Cajetan, Luther's adversary. "Everyone is convinced that all this has happened as a judgment of God on the great tyranny and disorders of the papal court.
1638 - Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen, who inspired a reform movement in the Roman Catholic Church, dies. Jansen opposed the teachings of the Jesuits and of Thomas Aquinas, urging the church to rediscoverAugustine's doctrine of irresistible grace. For his views on grace and predestination, the church prohibited Jansen's teachings.

May 7
1274 - The Second Council of Lyons convenes with the goal of reunifying the Roman and Greek churches. Orthodox delegates agreed to recognize the papal claims and recite the Creed with the filioque clause, but the union was fiercely rejected by the majority of Orthodox clergy and laity fiercely rejected the union.
1833 - German pianist and composer Johannes Brahms is born in Hamburg. Intensely religious, he wrote many works for the church though one never officially employed him. He even compiled the biblical texts for his "German Requiem" himself.

The above information was provided by the online version of Christian History & Biography Magazine. For more information on this wonderful publication, visit www.christianitytoday.com/history.

The Valley of Vision

2005-05-02T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Valley of Vision is a collection of Puritan prayers, some as early as the 16th century and some as late as Charles H. Spurgeon in the 19th century. Baptists, Congregationalists, Anglicans and Presbyterians, these prayers show how far the quality of our prayers have degenerated. Below is the introductory prayer to the book, written by Arthur Bennett, Canon of St. Albans Cathedral, England, and editor of The Valley of Vision.

LORD, HIGH AND HOLY, MEEK AND LOWLY,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee
in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold
thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from
deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter
thy stars shine;
Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

The Royal O'Briens and Macneils (O'Neills)

2005-04-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

My brother (Scott) and I are going to Ireland for a couple of weeks this summer, and some folks in our family have been asking me to look up some information on our heritage and family roots while I'm there. I thought about this, and realized that most of my family probably has not given a lot of thought to our history. Above you will see the family coat of arms of O'Brien, from which the Bryants descended. The inscription "Lamh Laidir in Uachtar" (Lawv lawder in Oohkter) is Irish Gaelic for "The Courageous Will Prevail." There is plenty of info out there on our family, and I suggest that if you are interested you should start with http://www.obrienclan.com. You can also simply google "o'brien clan" or "brian boru" for other sites.

No, I have not forgotten about the McNeills. For my beloved kinsmen on my mom's side of the family, there is a good deal of information about Granddaddy's mother's side of the family, the Gunns. There are several copies of a binder put together by some of our distant kin in Texas which traces back from me (including Kathy, Deborah, Lisa, Brad and Scott) to our great-great-great-great-grandfather (I think that is the correct number of "greats") who came over from Scotland and fought in the Revelutionary War. Also, you can google "clan gunn" and "clan macneil" for endless amounts of information about that side of the family. The image above is of our clan badge. Scotland is somewhat different from Ireland, in that only the clan chief may display the family arms. Members of the clan (that's us) can wear the badge shown above, but it must be shown with the phrase "An Cirean Ceann Cinnidh" which is roughly translated from the Gaelic as "The Badge of the Clan Chief." The Gaelic on the badge itself, "Buaidh No Bas," can be translated "Victory or Death" or "Conquer or Die." The Macneils were originally from Ulster, with the Irish O'Neills trace their lineage back to Niall of the Nine Hostages (who once kidnapped the Welshman who would later become St. Patrick), are also descended from a high royal family of Ireland (there are only three high royal families, and yes, I've descended from two of them), and for a while we were pirates. I encourage you guys to read more on your own.

Michael Horton on the new pope and Catholicism

2005-04-21T22:12:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael S. Horton, professor at Westminster Seminary California, has written an article for the web version of Modern Reformation magazine entitled, "WHAT CAN REFORMATION CHURCHES EXPECT FROM THE NEW POPE?" Mike is an astute apologist for the Reformed faith and this article includes much information which Protestants should know about not only the previous writings of Joseph Ratzinger, but also the official positions of the Roman Catholic Church since the Council of Trent. I commend this article to you. Click here to read it.

The Mississippi Braves - My First Game

2005-04-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight I watched the Montgomery Biscuits destroy the Mississippi Braves. Although they got slaughtered (and I mean SLAUGHTERED), I still had a great time. I highly recommend that if you have the opportunity, head out to Trustmark Park in Pearl one night. It's cheap and a lot of fun, especially if you have a lot of people. Click here to visit the M-Braves website.

Real Ultimate Power!

2005-04-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

I was introduced to realultimatepower.net about a year ago. Click here, go past the intro page and read the main page of the site. Then, click here to see a great parody of the site, Presbyterian style.

Apparently, Google hates France like the rest of us...

2005-04-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my cousin Brad for pointing out the following:

Try this:

1. Go to www.google.com
2. Type "French military victories"
3. Press the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button

(Yes, I know it's a parody, but it's funny all the same.)

Mohler on Pope Benedict XVI

2005-04-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the College of Cardinals chose a successor to John Paul II--Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. All along, I've thought to myself that if I were a Catholic, he would be my choice. I commend the current post on Al Mohler's blog as an excellent statement of the appropriate Protestant response to the election of Pope Benedict XVI. Click here to read the post.

NC State Elects Pirate for Student Body President

2005-04-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

William Piavis, AKA "The Pirate Captain"
An NC State student who ran as "the Pirate Captain" won the run off election for student body president with 58% of the vote. Some of the students (especially those whom he defeated), think that William Piavis made a mockery of the system. They should keep in mind that he won because the student body liked him and/or his campaign. Stuffing the ballot boxes would be making a mockery of the system. Piavis simply realized what others did not--student governments in college are a joke and few people care. He actually gave students a reason to pay attention and get involved. Click here to read an article about this wonderful story. Also, Google "NC State Pirate Captain" to read more.

2005 General Assembly

2005-04-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Click the logo above to visit the website of the host committee for the 2005 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. This GA promises to be quite lively, with all the activity by several presbyteries concerning the Federal Vision controversy. I have considered this matter and will not pretend to be impartial. See the link in a previous post to read the report issued by Mississippi Valley Presbytery concerning the Federal Vision, and Dr. Guy Prentiss Waters' book Justification and the New Perspectives on Paul for an excellent critique of all things NPP.

I used to be this guy...

2005-04-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

Check out this article on LarkNews.com from March of this year. This used to be me, so I found it amusing. In my own defense, I also read a lot of books, approached the matter from a fairly academic basis, but I still had the sense of urgency that this guy has. Again, keep in mind that this is a parody site. It does not matter that it's not true. It is funny because it could be.

My cousin's blog

2005-04-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've added a link on the right to my cousin's blog, Old Taylor Outlook. He is in graduate school at Ole Miss, and if you are familiar with Oxford, Mississippi, you will know of Old Taylor Road (where he lives). He may be a papist, but we love him just the same!

Superman & Batman movies

2005-04-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, I was a comic book child. Not a collector, but I did have a few. Despite some of the really good comic-based movies that have come out in the past few years (X-Men 1 & 2, Spider-Man 1 & 2, The Punisher, Hellboy, etc.), and the bad ones (Elektra, Daredevil, etc.), I am very much looking forward to these two. Batman Begins opens this summer, and Superman Returns is slated for the summer of 2006. I have added some links to the right about these movies.

Mohler on "A Generous Orthodoxy"

2005-04-13T13:32:00.000-07:00

Much is being made in the evangelical community over what has been called the Emergent Church movement. Stanley Grenz, who died on March 11, 2005, was largely recognized as this movement's theologian (See his chapter titled "The Gospel in Postmodern Context" in his Primer on Postmodernism (1996) for a good summary of this movement's core beliefs). Brian McLaren is the most prolific Emergent writer and has come to be known as "the Emergent pastor." Al Mohler has done an excellent and concise job of critiquing McLaren's recent work, A Generous Orthodoxy, on his crosswalk.com weblog. Click here to read the post.

I am currently researching the link between Yale postliberal theology and the Emergent Church. When I finish the paper (in roughly a month), I will post an extensive bibliography on this weblog and eventually plan to post the paper itself once my professor has graded it. Books promoting this movement are numerous, so you will have no trouble finding them if you are interested. However, see Mohler's blog and the following books for very excellent critiques of this movement:

Reclaiming the Center: Confronting Evangelical Accommodation in Postmodern Times, edited by Millard J. Erickson, Paul Kjoss Helseth & Justin Taylor

A Confessing Theology for Postmodern Times, edited by Michael S. Horton (does not directly deal with the Emergent movement, but with the issues involved)

The Church in Emerging Culture: Five Perspectives, edited by Leonard Sweet (see Michael Horton's chapter and note his comments within the others' chapters)

Just plain tasteless

2005-04-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

The next week it rained, and the sign was actually changed to "Crucifixion Cancelled." I swear I'm not making that up.

Aaarrr!!! Thus sayeth the Lord!

2005-04-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is a recent article on larknews.com about a man who "received the gift of prophecy" and began prophecying (sp?) in pirate-speak. Keep in mind that this is a parody site. Click here.

Mississippi Valley Presbytery Report on NPP

2005-04-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the MVP Ad Hoc Study Committee's Final Report of February 1, 2005. If you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader, click here.

byFaithonline.com finally addresses FV controversy

2005-04-12T21:03:00.000-07:00

About two years ago, the PCA announced that they were going to begin a new denominational monthly magazine. Like many, I was excited about this because the same folks who ran the now-extinct pcanews.com were slated to run the magazine. (Side note: pcanews.com was loved by most because it allowed a forum where pastors and theologians could interact with each other about controversal topics within the PCA and the larger Reformed community.) Before publishing the magazine, however, pcanews.com was overhauled--much prettier, but virtually without any substance. I kept an eye on the site, and when I saw that things were not improving, I emailed them and asked for a refund of my subscription (keep in mind, I sent the check a year and a half earlier and had yet to hold a printed copy in my hand).

Today, however, I was proud of the folks over at byFaith. They finally addressed a matter of no small significance or consequence within our denomination and the larger Reformed world (two and a half years after the controversy began). Click here to read the article.

Getting started...

2005-04-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hey there, folks! I'm starting this blog for a number of reasons. First, for anyone who cares it will allow them to get a better feel as to what I'm actually doing at RTS. I'm sure there are countless people out there who are wondering what it is I'm doing here and why I'm here in the first place. Another reason is that it allows me to bring together my thoughts on a variety of topics into one place. Several people have asked me about things like the New Perspectives on Paul (to which I am opposed) and the movement called the Emergent Church (to which I am opposed). Now, I can simply tell people to come here rather than burning them CDs with a lot of articles, etc., on them. As the subtitle of my blog indicates, these posts will probably be fairly random. Hope you enjoy!