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…
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Spurgeon on the Meaning of the Cross
The whole of the tremendous debt was put upon his shoulders; the whole weight of the sins of all his people was placed upon him. Once he seemed to stagger under it: “Father, if it be possible.” But again he stood upright: “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” The whole of the punishment of his people was distilled into one cup; no mortal lip might give it so much as a solitary sip. When he put it to his own lips, it was so bitter, he well nigh spurned it—”Let this cup pass from me.” But his love for his people was so strong, that he took the…
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Did Christ die for us or God?
In 1998, a Copernican Revolution was in the offing in my life. It began like a thunderbolt with a sermon from John Piper on Romans 3:25-26. I was studying theology at Dallas Theological Seminary, yet this message delivered at a collegiate conference was the most important thing I heard during my seminary career. It was the most powerful exposition of the innermost meaning of the cross that I had ever heard. As you meditate on the cross this Good Friday, I thought you might benefit from it too. Download here or listen below. [audio:http://cdn.desiringgod.org/audio/events/19980101.mp3]
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Don Miller: Who should run the church?
Donald Miller asks an interesting question at his website: “Should the Church be Led by Teachers and Scholars?” His contention is that unlike the original disciples who were fisherman and tradesman, the Christian church today has ceded its leadership to the academics. Churches today are basically schools that are run by teachers. As a result, we have a lot of arguing about doctrine in our churches and not enough doing Jesus’ commands. Miller writes: “Church divisions are almost exclusively academic divisions. The reason I don’t understand my Lutheran neighbor is because a couple academics got into a fight hundreds of years ago. And the rest of the church followed them…
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“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” Like You’ve Never Seen It Before
(HT: Tim Challies)
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Hell in 1st Century Judaism
Rob Bell makes frequent appeals to “1st Century Judaism” as the proper background for understanding the New Testament. In Bell’s hands, this is all well in good in principle, but not so good in practice. At numerous points, his appeals to 1st century Judaism are highly suspect. This is especially the case when it comes to understanding the New Testament doctrine of hell. Since Bell does not have footnotes, his portrait of Judaism is impossible to verify in the primary sources. He argues by assertion, not by evidence.
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Embarrassed about the Bible?
In a recent article for First Things, Gerald McDermott writes about the reluctance of some evangelical scholars to identify with their own tradition: “Evangelical theologians, like other orthodox thinkers, are susceptible to the peculiarly academic sort of ambition that seeks acceptance and recognition by their liberal colleagues. We want the academy’s approval, and so we are tempted to write and teach a theology that will be consistent with its moral and theological sensibilities.”
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On Doctrinal Controversy
I just read another blog post by someone who is grieved by the response to Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. The complaint is that people aren’t giving Bell a fair hearing and that we all need to be a little bit more humble about our theological commitments. The post is one among many sounding a similar theme. There just seems to be the idea abroad that all doctrinal controversy is unchristlike and unhelpful to the kingdom. With respect to the Bell controversy in particular, folks are saying that the tone has been too shrill and divisive before a watching world.