The Blessing of Giving
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. Read More
Now about Trusting the Text
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. Read More
On Means and Ends
“If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.” – C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock, page 52. Given this view of the world’sRead More
Who Would’a Thunk? On Using Messy Human Choices for God’s Purposes
After reading Genesis 38, several questions came to mind. Naturally, I conferred with a commentary (one of my favorite OT guys) and found a wealth of insights. What follows is mainly from John H. Walton’s Genesis: The NIV Application Commentary, with my spin on a few things. Two questions that kept risingRead More
Is That What the Bible Means?
On Having the Right Conclusions But the Wrong Support A few days ago I received an e-mail from a dear friend who was encouraged by a message from John 11. Her pastor took verse 44b, where Jesus said, “Unbind him, and let him go” (NASB), as a call for ChristiansRead More
