Taking the Bible Literally
Of course our grand concern should not be to take Scripture literally or non-literally. Insofar as we claim to be Christians, our goal must be to take Scripture as Christ took it. Otherwise, we might as well claim to be “SpongeBobians” as “Christians.”
Jesus lodged a great many charges against the religious leaders of His day. He complained that their righteousness fell short of that of the Kingdom (Matthew 5:20), that they didn’t practice what they preached (Matthew 23:3), that they made proselytes who were worse than they (Matthew 23:15), and a host of other accusations.
But did Jesus ever fault them for being too literal?
via Pyromaniacs: What did Jesus (not) say about… how to understand the OT (full post).
Stand to Reason Blog: Darwin Day Is Not Really about Darwin
When you read Darwin’s book, On the Origin of Species, you can sense his honesty about the problems with evolutionary theory. Like a good scientist should do, he acknowledges that his theory could be proven false it’s falsifiable. He even offers specific examples of the kind of data that is necessary to show he’s mistaken about his theory. He was a fair-minded man.
via Stand to Reason Blog: Darwin Day Is Not Really about Darwin.
We Are Not Wesleyans
When the law and my sins accuse me I say, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. It’s all true. I am a stinking wretch. I’m not living the victorious Christian life. I’m still struggling with the very same sins with which I struggled at the very beginning of my Christian life. Should I try harder? Yes, but I fail to meet even that law. Do I need exhortation? Sure, I need the law. It doesn’t produce perfection in me or even godliness, but it does drive me to Christ, who was and remains perfect for me. When the law and my sins accuse me righteously I confess but I also say, “If Christ is for us, who can be against us?”
Morgan, Osteen, Sir Elton, and Judgmentalism
No, it’s not a law firm, it’s a commentary on what is or isn’t judgmentalism vs. moral judgment. It’s always fascinating to me that the people who are most likely to accuse of judgmentalism, in the Christian context, are those making a judgment based on no authority than their own opinion – the very quintessence of judgmentalism itself. Perversely, those they accuse of judgmentalism are often making a simple pronouncment or proclamation not based on their own opinion, but an external authority – i.e., the Bible.
To [CNN host Piers] Morgan, making any moral judgment amounts to judgmentalism. Of course, this leads logically to total moral insanity, since the only way to avoid being identified with judgmentalism is to make no moral judgments whatsoever — which no sane person can do.
via AlbertMohler.com – The Osteen Moment — Your Own Moment Will Come Soon Enough.
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A Little Something Called Context
Sam Harris, aspiring scientist and indignation impresario, is promoting this project, in order to advance the sweet voice of reason. You can look at a really cool graphic they have put together here. The base line represents all the verses of the Bible, and the red lines all arch, like so many mortar shots, to the location of another verse, with which it is supposed to collide. You can then tell at a glance that the Bible is just full of contradictions. The night sky is lit up with them. A really cool graphic is necessary to illustrate this because today’s street smart youth know that iPhone apps have dispensed with the need for actual arguments and textual study, you know, the kind with books.
I took a random sampling of just a couple of their contradictions, and addressed them below. I will perhaps be forgiven if I don’t work through them all. You don’t need to drink the whole bottle to tell that it’s vinegar.
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