Last October, I attended the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and I was greatly looking forward to hearing John Piper’s Q&A with Rick Warren. As providence would have it, Warren had to cancel his appearance at the last minute and delivered a pre-recorded video message instead. I think it is safe to say that the vast majority of us were very disappointed that we didn’t get to hear Piper and Warren mano a mano.
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Being a Fruitful Pastor without Being a Plenary Speaker
Brian Croft has some words of wisdom about being a fruitful pastor without being a plenary speaker. He writes: “Can a pastor still be fruitful if he has not spoken at a large conference? “This might appear to be a strange question, but you would be surprised at the amount of pastors asking it. Do not misunderstand, I could not be more excited about these historic movements such as The Gospel Coalition, Together for the Gospel, and others like it. Much significant work for the kingdom is being done by those who lead them. Nevertheless, a down side to these movements is an insecurity that can develop in many ordinary…
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The Hermeneutics of Gender
There was a lot of discussion last week of the Presbyterian Church’s (USA) decision to allow for the ordination of homosexual clergy. Christopher Cocca has an article at The Huffington Post, however, that pulls a thread that many have not picked up on. Cocca’s article is essentially about hermeneutics and the way that the Bible should inform our moral evaluation of homosexuality. But he comes at the issue from a different angle and argues that there is a connection between the ordination of homosexuals and the ordination of women.
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John Piper Endorses Hamilton’s Book
I think this is the strongest endorsement that I have ever seen John Piper give to a book. The Crossway blog has these remarks from Piper about Jim Hamilton’s book, God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. Piper writes: “I was riveted. Never do I sit down and read sixty pages of ANY book that I get in the mail. But I could not stop—could not stop reading and could not stop rejoicing over God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment. It is the kind of overview of redemptive history Edwards wanted to write. It’s what I hoped would be written.” Piper is right. Hamilton’s book is a must-read.…
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Moral Equivalence and Bin Laden
Doug Wilson and Kevin DeYoung both have helpful warnings against making a moral equivalence between the crimes of Osama bin Laden and the lesser shortcomings of the average Christian. First, Doug Wilson:
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SBL Greek New Testament Online
Attention, Bible nerds! BibleGateway.com has now posted online the entire text and apparatus of the SBL Greek New Testament (edited by Michael Holmes). This is an amazing resource, and as far as I know is the best Greek text available for free on the internet. The text is Unicode, so you should have no problem viewing it or cutting and pasting it into documents. Here’s a link to a page where you can begin browsing the text. Check it out! For those who are interested, you can purchase a print version of the SBL Greek New Testament here.
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Great Review of Jim Hamilton’s Book
Dan Phillips has an excellent review of Jim Hamilton’s excellent book God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment. Phillips writes: “Does Hamilton’s contribution stand out? My verdict is an unequivocal ‘Yes.’ What distinguishes God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment is a happy conjunction of various valuable features. I’ll enumerate, then expand on some of them.” Read the rest of the review to see the list. If you haven’t bought Hamilton’s book yet, you need to. It’s a must-read, and it’s available here. The Kindle edition is only $7.79!
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Gender-bending News Report
Sign of the times alert. Here’s the opening paragraph from a recent news report: Woman charged in transgender beating at McDonald’s ROSEDALE, Md. — An 18-year-old woman has been charged in an attack on a transgender woman over using a McDonald’s restroom in a Baltimore suburb —an incident captured on video by a McDonald’s employee. This is a sad story, and we should be outraged at the crime reported here. Nevertheless, the events in the report aren’t what I want to focus on. Instead, I want to highlight a subtlety in how the story is written that may go unnoticed. Notice that the victim is designated as a “transgender woman,” and…
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Adrian Warnock Debates Rob Bell
The British radio program “Unbelievable?” hosted a fascinating discussion between Rob Bell and Adrian Warnock. This program may be as close as we’ll get to hearing Rob Bell debate his book with an evangelical. I think Warnock does a good job of engaging Bell with tough questions, even though Bell’s responses still leave much to be desired. You can download the audio here or listen below. [audio:http://media.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/57af5a35-8b49-4c58-b283-fe25e4fe2d97.mp3] One item of note: Reviewers have criticized Bell’s book for not citing sources for his exegetical and historical claims. In this interview, however, Bell cites Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament for his definition of the Greek word aiÅn—that it does not…
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An Easter Hymn
O Jesus, Savior of my life, My hope, my joy, my sacrifice, I’ve searched and found no other one Who loves me more than you have done. (John 15:13) So I denounce my lingering sin Whose power You have broke within (Rom 6:14) My ever weak and faithless frame. (Rom 7:14) Its vigor’s crushed in Jesus name. For your death did at once proclaim, The Father’s glory and my shame. (Rom 3:25-26) And you did seize my cup of guilt (Luke 22:42) And drank all that the chalice spilled. (1 Cor 5:21) No condemnation now I dread Because you went for me instead To bear the Father’s hell-bent rage, To…