Collin Hansen on Joe Paterno’s Legacy

I don’t know how I missed this a couple of days ago, but Collin Hansen has written an excellent article on Joe Paterno’s legacy. It’s titled “When Good Isn’t Good Enough,” and I highly recommend it.

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Spielberg To Direct New Moses Movie

Here’s the scoop:

The two-time Oscar winner is closing in on a deal with Warner Bros. to direct “Gods And Kings,” which is described as a “‘Braveheart’-ish version of the Moses story” mixed with the “gritty reality” of “Saving Private Ryan.”

Warner Bros. has been courting Spielberg for the project since last September, and now it appears they are close to nabbing him. That in itself is an accomplishment: the notoriously busy Spielberg always has a full dance card, but will have time for “Gods And Kings” next spring. The director just finished “Lincoln” and will soon start on “Robopocalypse”; “Gods And Kings” would hope to begin lensing in March or April 2013.

I confess that when I first read “gritty reality,” the first thing that came to my mind was Exodus 4:25. And that is small potatoes compared to the rest of the Exodus story: the death of firstborn children, the slaughter of the lambs, water turning to blood, the plague of boils, and on and on. This is not a story for the faint of heart. So I am quite curious to see how far Hollywood is willing to go with “gritty reality” in telling this story.

Read the rest here.

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Women in Ministry and 1 Timothy 2:12

1 Timothy 2:12 has become the most debated verse in intra-evangelical debates about women in ministry. For this reason, it was no small matter when the translators decided to revise the rendering of this text in the 2011 edition of the NIV. Paul appears to be prohibiting two activities—teaching and exercising authority—but the new NIV alters that reading. Continue Reading →

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Kevin DeYoung on the Ironies of the GOP Race

Kevin DeYoung has a clever post the morning reflecting on what the GOP debates say about us as Americans. He really captures some glaring ironies that suggest how schizophrenic the American electorate really is. He writes:

  • We want to be rich and want politicians who will promise to make us richer. But we don’t like our politicians themselves to be wealthy.
  • We want candidates to give straight answers and not dodge hard questions. But when they give specific answers to hard questions their answers will be ridiculed as dull or will be held against them.
  • We want our leaders to be super confident, super competent, and super intelligent. But we hate elites.
  • We want the president to be one of us and above us and unlike us at the same time.
  • We want someone to be an effective executive in the labyrinth of legislative, judicial, bureaucratic, military, and diplomatic tasks that face the modern President. But we also want him to be a complete outsider with no experience in how any of that works.
  • We want politicians unsullied by the real life tradeoffs, lobbyists, and interest groups of politics. But what they are like in the rest of life doesn’t really concern us. They can compromise in everything but politics.

As usual, Kevin is hilarious and insightful all at once. Read the rest here.

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Hymn To God the Father

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One of my favorite poems of all time is “Hymn to God the Father” by John Donne. If you are not familiar with this poem, you need to be. Donne composed this piece near the end of his life when he was facing death (circa 1631). As he contemplates his demise, he is overcome with a sense of his own sinfulness, and he wonders how he will stand at the judgment. Donne evokes all the anguish of the “wretched man” in Romans 7:24 before he sounds a final note of hope that Jesus will rescue him at the last day. There is a wonderful play on the word “done” in this poem, and you’ll note that it can either mean “done” or “Donne” (as in John Donne). It really is beautiful, and you can read the full text below. Continue Reading →

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Gingrich: Life Does Not Begin at Conception

Wesley Smith highlights an interview that Speaker Gingrich gave to ABC News last month. In a conversation with Jake Tapper, Speaker Gingrich said that he did not believe that life begins at conception. Here’s the exchange: Continue Reading →

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Joe Paterno, Justice, and Eternity

I tried to write a reflection on the life of Joe Paterno yesterday. After spending a good bit of time on it, I gave up. There is so much that I admire about the man, and yet it all seems eclipsed by what happened at the end. Still, it seems unfair not to acknowledge all the good that came before the end. How do you put all of that into something that makes sense?

Thank you, Barnabas Piper, for putting into words the feelings that so many of us are having about JoPa’s legacy: “Conflicted. Complex. Complicated.” Piper writes:

There is no single side to the memory of Joe Paterno any more than there is to any other person. He was good and he was bad. He did great and wonderful things for hundreds and thousands of people, and he failed miserably in a moment of great need. But beyond this is the reality of eternity. Defining the reality of Joe Paterno cannot be limited to the space between birth and death but must be recognized as eternal.

Read the rest here.

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An Uncomfortable and Awkward Question

Francis Beckwith asks conservative Christians an uncomfortable and awkward question:

Are you prepared for America to have a First Lady who was a home wrecker and was once the President’s mistress (if Gingrich were to become President)?

Beckwith presses the point because he was unsatisfied with Gingrich’s fiery answer to a character question in last week’s GOP debate in South Carolina. Instead of addressing a question about past infidelities, Gingrich opined about everyone knowing what it’s like to go through “personal pain.” Beckwith responds: Continue Reading →

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Hebrew and Greek Bibles for Kindle and Nook

I just learned this week about a two excellent versions of the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments for Kindle (and Nook) e-readers. The Hebrew Text is based on the Leningrad Codex. The source for the LXX text is not listed. If anyone figures it out, let me know. In any case, these two versions plus the SBL Greek New Testament that was released last year allow us to have the entire text of scripture on our e-readers in the original languages. Thanks to Miguel Echevarria for bringing to my attention these versions of the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. Here are the links followed by some sample pages:

Hebrew Bible (TANAKH) for Kindle and Nook – $9.99

Septuagint (LXX) – $3.99

SBL Greek New Testament – $.99

Continue Reading →

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Jefferson Bethke Hates Religion on CBS Morning Show

I thought Jefferson Bethke did a fantastic job on CBS News’ morning show earlier today. He said a lot of good things, and he included some of the critical feedback he had received from Kevin DeYoung and others. He even gave a shout-out to Tullian Tchividjian and Tim Keller. He seems like a humble guy who is trying to honor Christ. Good on him.

If you don’t know who Jefferson Bethke is or if you have somehow missed his viral YouTube video, you are one of the few. It has been all over the internet that last couple of weeks, and you can watch it here.

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