Ruminations over Maunday Thursday, 2008
It’s Holy Week, Thursday, March 20, 2008. This is the day that Christians around the world remember the Last Supper and recall especially the deep grief Christ experienced over his impending arrest, trial, and crucifixion on a cross. And, just as the tragedy of the cross ended with triumph, this week has been filled with tragedy…and with triumph.
A New Kind of Christian [Egoism]
Lately I’ve been struck by how many seemingly mature Christians are “bent in on themselves” (to borrow from Martin Luther). While John Piper’s Christian hedonism, outlined in his now classic Desiring God, has merit (namely that believers are most satisfied with life when God is most glorified in them), I cannot get over how many I know who name Christ as Lord, but seemingly think only of themselves! It’s no surprise that those of this stripe are the least pleased with their life circumstances despite all the efforts to infuse pleasure into their existence.
A Brief Treatise on Inspiration, Infallability, and Inerrancy
At the outset it’s necessary to define some terms that are are thrown around rather loosely in Christian circles, such as “inspiration,” “inerrancy,” and “infallability,” and zero in more precisely what they mean. As is well known, 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that “all Scripture is inspired by God [literally, “God-breathed”].” The term “inspired” more precisely connotes expiration rather than inspiration, since the source of Scripture is God and he “breathed out,” as it were, the content of Scripture. The mode by which he chose to communicate was, of course, human agency, but without displacing the writer’s peculiar style, background, personality, et al. In so far as copies were faithfully reproduced from the original manuscripts, truthfulness and accuracy was preserved in the text.
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