Southern Seminary professor Dr. Jim Hamilton made the case for premillennialism at a debate on eschatology last week at Bethlehem College and Seminary. Pastor John Piper moderated the discussion. Doug Wilson and Sam Storms represent the postmillennial and amillennial views respectively. The discussion lasts two hours, and I think the second hour is the most important. In it, they have a spirited discussion about the interpretation of Revelation 20. Of the three debaters, Jim Hamilton presents the most biblically compelling case. This is an outstanding resource, and I hope you will take time to listen to it.
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Mutual Submission in Ephesians 5:21?
S. M. Hutchens‘ recent post about “mutual submission” in marriage got me to thinking about the interpretation of Ephesians 5. Hutchens and I are on the same page theologically when it comes to gender-roles in marriage, though my exegesis of this particular passage differs a little bit from his. Here’s my go at it. In Ephesians 5:22-25, Paul directs wives to “submit” to their husbands, and husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Traditionally, this text has been understood to teach that husbands should be the leaders of their families. A newer interpretation, however, says that the command in verse 21 shows the older view to be…
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The Apocryphal Martin Luther
One of my favorite quotes from the great reformer Martin Luther is this one: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battle front besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” It’s a powerful, provocative word, and I have used it I don’t know how many times in speeches…
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Is emotive preaching manipulative and wrong?
The first time I heard John Piper preach I didn’t like it. It was about fifteen years ago. Someone had given to me a cassette tape of Piper speaking on the topic of the supremacy of God in preaching, and in this particular message he stressed that the preacher’s delivery of the sermon should match the emotional gravity of the text. I disagreed with Piper, believing that he had embraced an anthropocentric view of the preacher’s task. As far as I was concerned, the Bible was the point of preaching not the preacher’s delivery. I didn’t understand how Piper could be so wrong.
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Collision: Is Religion Good for the World?
In my earlier post about Douglas Wilson, I posted a link to John Piper’s interview with Wilson about the new movie “Collision.” In short, the movie is a documentary of a debate tour between Wilson and Christopher Hitchens. In each stop on the tour, they debated the question “Is Religion Good For The World?” Wilson argues as a Christian, and Hitchens as an atheist. The movie will be released on DVD in October. I’m looking forward to seeing it, as I am sure many of you are too. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.com.
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Doug Wilson Speaks about “Collision” and Calvin
The Desiring God conference on John Calvin wrapped-up this morning in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Audio and video of the sessions are now available from the conference website. I’m still making my way through the messages, but I especially enjoyed Doug Wilson’s contributions, which were two-fold. First, Piper interviewed Wilson about his new movie “Collision,” a documentary in which Wilson faces-off against the atheist Christopher Hitchens. Wilson’s dictum concerning apologetics is insightful: You never try to win an argument; you try to win the man. That’s a good word indeed. Second, Wilson’s delivered an outstanding lecture on John Calvin’s view of scripture. Calvin remains a giant today because of his absolute devotion…
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Boyce College Eschatology Forum with Schreiner, Ware, and Brand
Yesterday morning, I hosted a panel discussion on eschatology at Boyce College : “Tribulation and Millennium.” [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/BoycePodcast/20090923_boyce%20chapel_forum.mp3] The panel met during Boyce’s Wednesday chapel hour and included Dr. Tom Schreiner, Dr. Bruce Ware, Dr. Chad Brand and myself. Among other items of interest, Dr. Schreiner explains why he recently moved from an amillennial position to a premillennial one. I thought this was a fascinating discussion, and I commend it to you.
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Death-Defying Faith for Gospel Ministry
I was stunned last week when one of my colleagues told me that he didn’t care whether or not he died from Swine Flu. We were talking about the flu season and how the much ballyhooed Swine Flu might affect our campus, and he was simply not very concerned about it. It’s not that he believed the Flu would miss us. He actually felt that things would be okay even if the Lord allowed the worst to happen to him—death. On Monday, I got to hear another colleague preach to Boyce College students on Acts 20:24 (listen here). He told the story of some missionary pilots that he knew who…
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Unbelievable Providence
If you have a weak stomach, you might not want to watch this one. You can read the story here. The text that comes to mind is Psalm 139:16: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
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8 Years Hence
Of course I’ll never forget where I was on September 11, 2001. My wife and I were in our second year of marriage, and we were living in Louisville, Kentucky while I was working on my Ph.D. On the morning of the attacks, I was in our apartment, and she called me from work to tell me to turn the television on. I think both buildings had already been struck by the time I tuned in, but I was watching live television as both of them eventually crumbled to the ground.