We will not be posting for the rest of this week. We are taking a break for Thanksgiving. However, we hope to have a surprise for all of you when (and if ) you return next Monday. As we contemplate all the things we have to be thankful, most of us would agree that the greatest thing we are grateful for is our precious Lord and Savior. We, Dee and Deb, are also grateful to all of you, our dear readers. We hope you are blessed by the following youtube video.
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We build fences to keep ourselves from committing certain sins. Soon these fences – instead of the sins they were designed to guard against- become the issue. We elevate our rules to the level of God’s commandments. “
Jerry Bridges
http://www.christianrecovery.com/vb/archive/index.php/t-16.html
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I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
C.S. Lewis
http://www.thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Money-Giving-Commanded.htm
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I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
C.S. Lewis
http://www.thegracetabernacle.org/quotes/Money-Giving-Commanded.htm
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"The essence of legalism is trusting in religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person – and, without fail, this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person."
http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/181223-what-legalism.html
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The essence of legalism is trusting in religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person – and, without fail, this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/christianity/181223-what-legalism.html
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After describing the long evolution of the church building sanctuary, the authors describe the pulpit, which “elevates the clergy to a position of prominence… it puts the preacher at center ’stage’ – separating and replacing him high above God’s people.”
http://blendedworship.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/viola-and-barna-pagan-church-buildings/
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After describing the long evolution of the church building sanctuary, the authors describe the pulpit, which “elevates the clergy to a position of prominence… it puts the preacher at center ’stage’ – separating and replacing him high above God’s people.”
http://blendedworship.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/viola-and-barna-pagan-church-buildings/
Read the rest of this entry »
After describing the long evolution of the church building sanctuary, the authors describe the pulpit, which “elevates the clergy to a position of prominence… it puts the preacher at center ’stage’ – separating and replacing him high above God’s people.”
http://blendedworship.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/viola-and-barna-pagan-church-buildings/
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It appears that the Southern Baptist Convention has a rising star in Texas who sits at the helm of First Baptist Church of Dallas. Dr. Robert Jeffress became pastor of First Baptist in 2007 at the age of 51. Here's a direct quote by Dr. Jeffress in the June 2009 Church Executive Magazine regarding his personal history at FBC Dallas: "I grew up here, I was saved here, baptized here, ordained here, preached my first sermon here, after which I served as the youth pastor here for seven years."
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Read this first. I am an evangelical Christian who believes that God created the heavens and the earth, ex nihilo, and specifically created Adam and Eve to have souls. I do not believe the creation of Adam and Eve occurred by a series of random, naturalistic events. I believe that one can believe in an old earth, young earth, and theistic evolution and still be a Christian. It is sad that I must say this up front but I am trying to preempt any attacks on my core beliefs.
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Our review of the Ehrman/D'Souza debate will probably differ from others. We were not looking for the clever knock out punch, but increased insight into our opponent.
Here is an assessment of the debate by its moderator, Larry Taunton, who is the head of the Fixed Point Foundation.
http://www.fixed-point.org/index.php/blog/216-whywesuffer
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On October 7,2009, The Wartburg Watch took a trip to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to listen to the debate entitled: God and the Problem of Suffering. This debate was sponsored by the Carolina Apologetics Club, which utilized the Fixed Point Foundation and its resources in order to put on a world-class debate. It was advertised on campus thusly.
“Dinesh D'Souza is a best-selling American author and speaker who has become a front line defender of Christianity. D'Souza is an accomplished debater and former policy analyst in the Reagan administration. His most recent publication, What's So Great about Christianity, is a defense of the Christian faith.
Bart Ehrman is a distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. A best-selling author, Ehrman holds a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and is perhaps most famous for his contribution to the study of the "historical Jesus." In many of his best-selling books, Ehrman challenges traditional Christian beliefs about the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and other aspects of Christian faith. He recently wrote the book God's Problem, addressing the Bible's views on the problem of suffering.
The debate will be moderated by Larry Taunton, executive director of Fixed Point Foundation”.
It is crucial to realize the importance that Bart Ehrman holds in these circles. He relishes in demolishing the simplistic arguments that Christian students bring to the classroom. He claims an evangelical heritage, attending Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College before losing his faith at Princeton. He has written a number of books highlighting Biblical “errors” and theological missteps. Many arrogant Christians, including a few pastors, have attempted to “demolish” him and usually end up on the receiving end of a club. However, Ehrman has his weaknesses, which are becoming evident the more he publishes and debates.
Dinesh D’Souza cut his teeth on challenging the entrenched political bureaucracy at Dartmouth College while a student and became a powerhouse within the neo-conservative movement. However, as a committed Catholic, he has begun to move into the issue of the defense of Christianity in light of the prominence of the New Atheism.
What is the bottom line from our perspective? It was a great beginning and even accomplished something important. What frustrates us to no end is the instant criticism from local Calvinista, JD Greear as well as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary which featured JD's remarks on it’s blog. Here is the criticism:
http://jdgreear.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/ehrman-dsouza-debate.html
“I have to admit that I was not all that pleased with the outcome of the Bart Ehrman-Dinesh D'Souza debate last night. I have enjoyed a number of D'Souza's writings, and am much more (obviously) in his camp, but don't feel that he well represented the biblical position on the problem of evil. Ehrman was at his best, raising all the right questions. I found D'Souza's answers mostly flat, unsatisfying, and not really representative of the biblical/Christian position.
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