Some here, some there — December 12, 2014

by Dan Phillips

If you're one of those misguided souls who only drops by on Fridays, be sure to see the extra-edition SHST posted last Tuesday. I think many missed it.

So, let's see... what day is it today? Oh yeah.

On with it:

• Seasonably enough, Kevin deYoung is among those presenting a lot of interesting information about St. Nicholas.
• Also seasonably: before you decided to gush all over The Piano Guys' Christmas video... just remember, they're Mormons. Which, unless you're the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, will probably bother you.
• Ferguson, etc. again. An interesting exercise would be to read Doug Wilson's reflections on the significance of Ferguson and the path forward, Thabiti Anyabwile's 8 suggestions on applying the Gospel in such cases, and my essay on seven revelations of Ferguson.Then ask: which essay, if followed, would actually have prevented the situations in question? or (more likely) which aspects of each essay?

If God is a woman then Old Testament would have been full of sacrifices if chocolate instead of barbeque.
— Chet Churchpain (@Churchpain) December 12, 2014

• BTW and apropos of little, if any of you are tempted to sing or cite the song Let There Be Peace On Earth (and Let It Begin With Me), you should know that it has its origins in the cult of Religious Science (aka Science of Mind), and that's its framework. I remember singing it countless times when I was a lost teen in that cult. That Christians would sing or admire it gives me chills and nausea. No joke.
• Fred Butler offers nine bullet-points distinguishing classic apologetics from presuppositional apologetics.
• This may be the single best essay I've read on homosexuality and relating to homosexuals.
• And now, this week's installment of "Because I'm the Pope, that's why! Look it up!"
• No comment from Rick Warren as of yet, to my knowledge.

In light of Rick Warren's fondness for the Pope, will we soon see him calling Rahmi Yaran "Our Mufti"? http://t.co/8mwNwVlrmn
— The Gospel™ Corp (@TheGospelCorp) December 12, 2014

• Thom S. Rainer gives seven reasons why the pastor's salary can cause tension.
• The SBTS Journal is out with an issue devoted to Deuteronomy. I've entered a number of links in my indispensable BibleWorks.
• The indispensable David Murray offers an idea for ways older women can serve younger women in the church.
• So under the category of Things That, In A Sane World, Would Not Have To Be Done, But, Sigh, Probably Do we have Jesse Johnson's thoughts and model for coming out with a church statement on sexuality.
• Say what you will about Doug Wilson — and, as a rule, I generally say nice and admiring things about him — he is a Deep Thinker. Here are his Deep Thoughts, not so much about torture, but about thinking about torture as a means to gain potentially lifesaving information.
• Others and I have written and Tweeted about Rick Warren's foolish words about Romanism and the Pope; now comes R. Scott Clark to add some really excellent thoughts, particularly lobbing a grenade at Warren's inane “if you love Jesus, we’re on the same team.”

Koine West #theologyrappers
— The Intellectual (@churchintellect) November 23, 2014

• As you've doubtless heard, Wheaton has elevated a woman who self-identifies as a "murdering, harmless" "thieving, charitable" "rapist, nonviolent" "gay, celibate Christian." Carl Trueman offers some observations. Earlier, Denny Burke offered helpful observations. 
• If the striked-out words make you angry... well, good. Also, I remind you of Matt Moore's I Love Jesus Too Much To Call Myself a Gay Christian. And me, I've been on-record for a long time about such muzzy thinking and self-contradicting language (here too). In this post, for instance, speaking of a morally-conflicted WORLD (! — not Christianity Today!) magazine writer who struggles as to what to make of homosexuality, I asked:

whether she's struggled similarly to put her finger on just what she believes about rape, murder, Arianism, Roman Catholicism, lying, theft and other sins. Like when she mentions a "celibate homosexual Christian" friend — does she have child-molestor-Christian friends, atheist-Christian friends, murdering-Christian friends, Sabellian-Christian friends?

• By the way, I could bring up Rick Warren in this connection, too. Well, and by associations, Rick Warren's Roman Catholic brother in the Lord (!) Luke Timothy Johnson.
• And did you know that Frank Turk won a Blogger of the Year award? It's true. Congratulations!

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