Dr. Greg Boyd is a well-known open theist. Open theists do not believe in God’s omniscience classically defined. They believe that God does not know the future in as much as the future depends upon the choices that will be made by His free creatures. Of course, this is a radical (and I believe dangerous) innovation in the doctrine of God that has wide-ranging implications. Last month, I wrote a short blog post on the collapse of the I-35 bridge. In it, I took issue with Boyd‘s open theist view of how God relates to calamities, and I did so using the book of Job as a case study. I…
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More on Literacy and the Gospel
I’m so thankful that God’s word is inerrant as every day reveals that my words are not! That was certainly the case in a short column I wrote last week for the Baptist Press, “Literacy and the Gospel.” That is why Dr. Grant Lovejoy of the International Mission Board wrote a helpful response to correct a potential misunderstanding that might have resulted from my article. His article is titled “Gospel’s Advance Can’t Wait for Literacy,” and you should read it. The main point of the article is on target, though I would challenge some of his supporting arguments.
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Still a Sucker for the Underdog
I’m still a big fat sucker for the underdog. I loved it when Boise State put it on Oklahoma in last Season’s Fiesta Bowl. And I loved it on Saturday when Appalachian State beat Michigan. Can you believe that? I still can’t. It’s not just that a Division 1-AA school beat a Division 1-A school. This little David beat the number 5 Goliath in the country, the University of Michigan. Pat Forde of ESPN has it right:
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John Piper on Tattoos and Body-Piercing
I get asked from time to time about the Bible’s teaching on tattoos and body-piercing. Typically, the questions center on the interpretation of Leviticus 19:28: “You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the LORD.” I am in basic agreement with John Piper on this question. I suspect that the prohibition of Leviticus 19:28 is rooted in a concern about pagan religious practices. Thus the tattoos and cutting of the body in Leviticus 19:28 were evil relative to their association with paganism. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any reasons to think twice about getting a…
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Al Mohler’s Comments on Mother Teresa
We discussed Mother Teresa’s “dark night of the soul” earlier this week. It’s also the topic of conversation at the Washington Post‘s “On Faith” blog. Dr. Albert Mohler has weighed in on the matter, and here is what he concludes:
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The Testimony of a Suffering Saint
It was a blessing to me to listen to this dear brother testify to the sovereign grace of God in his life. I think you would do well to hear it too. (HT: Justin Taylor)
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Luke Timothy Johnson Rejects Biblical Authority
Luke Timothy Johnson is well-known among those in my profession. He’s a prolific, accomplished scholar of the New Testament. But in a recent essay for Commonweal magazine, he offers a shocking public endorsement of homosexual marriage, as well as a blatant rejection of the authority of scripture on this issue. Here is the relevant excerpt:
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What Evangelicals Can Learn from Flannery O’Connor
I just received the latest issue of Touchstone magazine in the mail yesterday. You won’t want to miss Donald T. Williams’ article, “Writers Cramped,” in which he outlines three things that evangelical authors can learn from Flannery O’Connor. The opening of the article sets up and asks a penetrating question: My fellow Evangelicals publish reams upon reams of prose. What we have not tended to write is anything recognized as having literary value by the literary world. What makes this failure remarkable is that our Protestant forebears include a number of people who did: Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, George Herbert, John Milton, and John Bunyan, to mention a few. Equally…
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The Fun Factor and Ministry
According to an article in the Associated Baptist Press, college students aspiring to ministry not only have an aversion to the local church, but they also have a preference against pastoral ministry in particular. For this reason, many aspiring ministers opt for positions with less leadership responsibility within the church:
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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns
This is big news, but not because it remarkably effects the fortunes of the current administration. It’s big news because it does affect the political rhetoric leading into the ’08 election cycle. One of the key strategies of Democratic presidential hopefuls thus far has been castigating the misfires of the Bush administration. Gonzalez’s exit will justify for them adding one more item to their growing list of reasons not to vote for a Republican in ’08. If you vote Republican, you’ll get more of what you got with Bush. Their list of Bush bungles goes something like this: