Dr. Mohler’s convocation address this morning was outstanding, and it relates to the subject matter of my last post. The title of the address is “Which Way to the Future? Southern Baptists, Southern Seminary, and the Future of the Evangelical Movement in America” (download audio here).

In essence, Dr. Mohler argues that the evangelical movement provided the theological resources that the SBC needed to mount its conservative resurgence in the 80’s and 90’s. Now, Southern Baptists find themselves in the position of returning the favor. As the theological identity of evangelicalism becomes increasingly amorphous (and in some cases theologically liberal), Southern Baptists—with Southern Seminary included—need to lead the way in the defense of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

In particular, Dr. Mohler notes that the doctrine of inerrancy is now up for grabs again. So is Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement, the exclusivity of Christ’s saving work, and a host of other moral and doctrinal concerns. In this context, he calls Southern Baptists to three ideals:

1. Theological Integrity – Southern Baptists must be both a “centered” and a “bounded” movement.

2. Gospel Clarity – Southern Baptists must be clear about the gospel and the necessity of conversion.

3. Biblical Authority – Southern Baptists must not abandon inerrancy, even though many in broader evangelicalism are. In this point, Mohler takes on Peter Enns, Kenton Sparks, and others at the Biologos site. [His full response to Karl Giberson should be published on his website very soon.]

This is an important, programmatic address given by a leading statesman for the cause of the gospel. Give it a close listen.

Albert Mohler’s address on the age of the earth has rattled the cages of the evolutionists at the Biologos website. If you missed Mohler’s address, you can watch it here or read a transcript
here. In short, Mohler argues that many of the theistic evolutionists are simply allowing general revelation to trump special revelation and that the most straightforward reading of the creation narratives in Genesis presents a young earth view of creation.

As I noted a month ago, Mohler’s address has provoked a spirited conversation with the theistic evolutionists. At the Biologos site, Peter Enns, Darrel Falk, and Karl Giberson have all responded to Mohler. And now, Karl Giberson has written another response which appears on the Huffington Post blog. Keep Reading →

The publisher B&H has just released an important announcement:

“B&H Publishing Group, the publishing division of LifeWay Christian Resources, has named Andreas J. Köstenberger as director of acquisitions for its academic program. In a unique partnership, Köstenberger will continue to serve as director of Ph.D. Studies and professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Köstenberger also serves as editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS).” Keep Reading →

There was quite a hubbub last week over President Obama’s faith after a Pew Forum survey showed that 1 in 5 Americans believe Obama to be a Muslim. I don’t know how so many Americans could be so misinformed as to believe such a thing, but there it is. In fact, Obama professes to be a Christian, and all the indications are that he is a progressive one at that. In other words, his Christian faith resembles more what you would find in one of the liberal mainline churches than what you would find in an evangelical church. Keep Reading →

Gotta love Allen Levi. He’s a musician and storyteller, and I’ve been a fan for about 12 years. If you’ve never heard him before, now’s your chance. I just came across these videos on the internet and thought I’d pass them along.

Here’s his page on Amazon.com.

Have you had any Sun Chips lately? If so, you would remember the experience. Last Earth Day in an effort to “go green,” Sun Chips came out with a new compostable package. It is the loudest packaging that I have ever heard in my life. My wife and I were astonished at how noisy it was when we first had one some months ago. It’s so loud that you hardly want to touch the bag. It’s that annoying.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones annoyed. There’s now a Facebook page devoted to despising the Sun Chips bag. It’s titled “SORRY BUT I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THIS SUN CHIPS BAG,” and it has over 37,000 members. “The Today Show” reported about the widespread consumer dissatisfaction with the new packaging, and they found that the new bag is louder than the New York Subway. The Subway was 91 decibels, and the Sunchip bag was 95.

I wonder how long these bags will last. I predict not long. It’s not easy being green.

I have been using Olive Tree’s BibleReader app on my iPhone since late last year. Without question, Olive Tree’s Reader is the best Bible app that I have ever used on a mobile device. For what I use it for, it simply has better features than any of its competitors. So here are my six reasons for commending to you the Olive Tree BibleReader. Keep Reading →

My friends at Denton Bible Church are hosting an apologetics conference this November 5-6, and it looks like they’ve got a great line-up. It’s called the “On Guard Christian Apologetics Conference,” and featured speakers include William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, and Sean McDowell. Here’s a description of the event from the conference website: Keep Reading →

Marvin Olasky reports for World Magazine that Jim Wallis’ Sojourners group has been receiving funding from George Soros—the billionaire leftist who has financed groups promoting abortion, atheism, and same-sex marriage. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to Wallis’ leftward commitments shouldn’t be surprised that Soros might be interested in beefing up Sojourner’s bottom-line.

Wallis, however, is denying the report. In fact, he got downright prickly in a recent interview when asked about Olasky’s article: Keep Reading →

The July 2010 issue of the journal Themelios came out earlier this week, and the entire journal is available as a free download. I have an article in this issue about the debate among Christians over the moral status of homosexuality. You can download that single article here:

“Why Evangelicals Should Not Heed Brian McLaren: How the New Testament Requires Evangelicals to Render a Judgment on the Moral Status of Homosexuality”

There are some outstanding articles in this issue that you should check out as well. Fred Zaspel’s essay on B. B. Warfield is an important one. B. B. Warfield is often cited as the prime example of an evangelical inerrantist who also held to theistic evolution. Zaspel shows that the conventional wisdom concerning Warfield is incorrect. He was not a theistic evolutionist.

Steven Dempster and William Edgar give critical reviews of Jeffrey Niehaus’s Ancient Near Eastern Themes in Biblical Theology. Niehaus has a response at the end.

D. A. Carson has a short essay on preaching for conversion.

There is a mountain of book reviews. Check out especially Barry Joslin’s review of James Thompson’s commentary on Hebrews.