Howdy gang.
In case you missed these, here are some items in which I thought you'd find pleasure and profit, and perhaps meet some sites worth bookmarking in the process.
- Fred Butler shares a video that you've got to stick with to "get." You'll be glad you did.
- Dr. Mark Snoeberger, assistant professor of systematic theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, has a dandy little article targeting the biggest lie about the concept of law relative to Christian living. Deconstructing deep-sounding aphorisms can be thankless, but it's very necessary, and Snoeberger does a good, Bibley job.
- Good word from Bill Mounce on logical flow of thought in Greek writing, the role the conjunction γὰρ (gar, often translated "for") plays, and how translations — ::cough::NIV!!!::cough:: — shouldn't just decide to drop them as if invisible.
- Lists are fun, particularly when they're well-done (rhyme!), and H. B. Charles, Jr. has a great list of (103!) things he's learned along the way in pastoral ministry. Not all God-breathed, of course; but all worth pondering. H. B.'s list is longer than mine; so I guess he's learned more.
- Last Sunday's sermon at CBC featured Titus 1:4 and was called "Titus: the right man for the job." We went into Titus' experience and qualifications for ministry and, along the way, the issue of racism in the professedly Christian church. I may write more on this, later.
- My two favorite written responses to last week's election in America are Tom Chantry's and Nathan Machel's (the latter known to Pyro readers as commenter "Trogdor"). Chantry's is both visceral and Biblical. Machel's is more visceral and, as usual for him, eminently quotable. For instance: "We believe it is the government's job to legislate morality, so long as that morality is immoral"; "We believe that when the government fails spectacularly and creates problems, the solution is more power for the government"; and "We think that "you have the right to use a product" and "someone else must pay for it" are equivalent." I love both posts.
Enjoy.
10 comments:
Wow. Thanks Dan. It's like a miniature H&T or perhaps a modified "Blogspotting."
Yes, a mini Hither and Thither, and just the right size too. Thanks for the link to Trogdor's list: very quotable stuff there indeed, such as "We like our leaders to go around the world talking about how awful we are" and "We are immune to concepts like "history" and "math" and "long-term thinking". We think there's no limit to how much money is out there to be taken from rich people and eeeeevil corporations, and therefore the gravy train will never ever ever ever end."
Sad, but true, and lately more and more I'm reminded of Elijah's mocking the prophets of Baal, that there is a place for mocking unbelievers and the stupidity of sin.
I'm just glad that this apparent apathy toward conjunctions wasn't so prevalent back in the '70s. Otherwise, no one would have seen any point in writing my favorite School House Rock song.
:-)
That was almost blogspotting.
I feel nostalgic.
Fred: Obviously Phil's retirement has ruined Dr. MacArthur.
Could not agree more with Mounce on the importance of conjunctions. When I came to faith in college and started seriously reading my Bible, it was an NIV, which is better than what most Christians throughout history have had personal access to, so I don't want to complain too much. But there were many passages that I just didn't get - Paul's letters and Hebrews especially seemed to lack cohesion.
After a year or so, I noticed that all the people I looked up to, those who really knew scripture, were all using the NASB. So I got one. What a difference! Just the inclusion of conjunctions and transitions made everything make so much more sense. I could actually see - in the text! - how one paragraph or sentence connected to the next. No more puzzling it out and maybe getting it wrong, or more likely just not even bothering to think about it.
Just look at one example - compare Romans 1:14-18 in the ESV, NASB, and the old NIV. Two missing conjunctions in the NIV completely disrupt the flow of the argument! It's as if Paul makes his introduction and says he wants to preach in Rome. Next topic: I am not ashamed of the gospel because that's where we find God's righteousness. In other news, God's wrath is being revealed from heaven.
Yeesh. I appreciate their desire to make a translation readable. Unfortunately in doing so they made it significantly less understandable.
Trogdor is a menace, and must be stopped.
I add Joe Carter's capital disemboweling of an atrocious and sophomoric op-ed on what the Republicans should be doing now:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/joecarter/2012/11/why-the-gop-shouldnt-take-advice-from-liberal-children/
Who?
I know John Carter.
But who?
Perhaps you should get acquainted. He has excellent taste in snark (a compliment he kindly bestowed upon me recently).
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