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What Saint Paul Really Said

29 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

I decided to post brief reviews in this space of each book that I read this year, even if they are 11 years old. In 1997, N. T. Wright wrote, What Saint Paul Really Said, which I finished reading yesterday (and, about which I wrote a 4-page academic review). In the book, Wright basically reconstructs Paul’s background and setting, and then uses that background as a lens through which to read and interpret the Epistles. The outcome is a theological re-write, especially concerning justification and the gospel. The book is interesting, written with a razor-sharp style and compelling to a degree (especially many facets of the socio-historical setting of Paul).

However, Wright’s imbalanced hermeneutic makes many of his conclusions suspect. He puts excessive emphasis on the historical setting; so much so, that at points Paul seems at odds with Paul, especially concerning justification.

So, I cautiously recommend this book to anyone who wants to investigate the claims of the New Perspective on Paul. I say cautiously, because one must weigh carefully Wright’s theological conclusions. Perhaps, a good follow up book is The Future of Justification, by John Piper.

Filed Under: Books

Got Milk?

28 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

Today is Sunday, but I’ll be working. Not sure how this happened, but I got way behind. Today, while it is called today, I need to finish reading What Saint Paul Really Said and write a critical review, take a mid-term exam on Spiritual Formation readings, write a short essay on an important aspect of exchanged-life counseling, not to mention a few other minor tasks. Oh, and then there is Church.

Crazy!

Filed Under: Daily Life

Avoid Foolish Questions

24 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

A friend mentioned this excellent entry by Charles Haddon Spurgeon in his Morning and Evening devotional:

Avoid Foolish Questions, Titus 3.9

Our days are few, and are far better spent in doing good, than in disputing over matters which are, at best, of minor importance. The old schoolmen did a world of mischief by their incessant discussion of subjects of no practical importance; and our Churches suffer much from petty wars over abstruse points and unimportant questions. After everything has been said that can be said, neither party is any the wiser, and therefore the discussion no more promotes knowledge than love, and it is foolish to sow in so barren a field. Questions upon points wherein Scripture is silent; upon mysteries which belong to God alone; upon prophecies of doubtful interpretation; and upon mere modes of observing human ceremonials, are all foolish, and wise men avoid them. Our business is neither to ask nor answer foolish questions, but to avoid them altogether; and if we observe the apostle’s precept (Titus 3:8) to be careful to maintain good works, we shall find ourselves far too much occupied with profitable business to take much interest in unworthy, contentious, and needless strivings.

There are, however, some questions which are the reverse of foolish, which we must not avoid, but fairly and honestly meet, such as these: Do I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I renewed in the spirit of my mind? Am I walking not after the flesh, but after the Spirit? Am I growing in grace? Does my conversation adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour? Am I looking for the coming of the Lord, and watching as a servant should do who expects his master? What more can I do for Jesus? Such enquiries as these urgently demand our attention; and if we have been at all given to cavilling, let us now turn our critical abilities to a service so much more profitable. Let us be peace-makers, and endeavour to lead others both by our precept and example, to “avoid foolish questions.”

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening : Daily Readings, Complete and unabridged; New modern edition. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006), November 19 AM.

Filed Under: Daily Life

Yapping Little Ankle Biters

23 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

Once, I watched a group of three angry Chihuahuas bark ferociously at a large German Shepard. The Shepard, in turn, calmly continued eating his food before walking through the little ankle biters (they had to move from his path) to find a shady spot for a nap, seemingly oblivious to the loud-but-impotent attempts to intimidate him.

And that happened again today in the UN. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yapped away at the Big Dog, and even prophesied the end of our influence. Yawn.

I bet he likes New York, though.

Filed Under: Politics

Writing Progress

22 September 2008 By The Grinder 3 Comments

I would never have described myself as a decent writer. What I would have said was that I could wield a pen with modest effect, and could guide a cursor across my laptop’s screen with a bit of elegance. The point is, I could write a sentence and convey a meaning and do it with a splash of style.

Then I went to college and enrolled in 18-credit hours per semester. Essays that should have taken six hours to write were hastily punched out in three, fueled and fouled by espresso coffees. Typos and errrors that I would have caught during my former habitual proofing sessions were caught only by the professor’s second-rate student graders. After four years, style hid in a closet.

Then email replaced hand-written correspondence. Instead of saying Dear Frank, I would write Hi Frank!, or just Frank. Wrote sometimes without a subject, and I used it (empty-subject pronouns) way too much. Turned off my grammar checker, as everything was always underlined, and that bothered me. Used superlatives everywhere – it was the coolest thing. At that point, I began, you know, typing like I talk, and using commas at every turn, and running on sentences like they were meant to be that way, and… um… that is when I discovered how to use the ellipsis… wrongly; oh – and the dash. My grammar philosophy went descriptive.

Then I went to grad school and had to write even faster. You know; with work, family and school one must put out a paper just to check it off his list. The academic writing style of this author may have improved (Foster, 72), however, as Adams put it, “that did little to aid his hand at common writing” (Letters, 563). All writing during grad school was a quick affair, and thoughtfulness took a vacation.

Oh, and I shuld put ‘n a word bout chats, text messages and IM, cuz that wuz r-ly bad 4 me, or, shuld I say – 4 English – LOL. N’t’n wuz t/same after that, sept that I b-gan 2 :-) more. + it wuz fast.

Now that is progress!

Filed Under: Witless

All Seek Happiness

22 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

…All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themsevles.

- Blaise Pascal

Filed Under: Faith

Logos Bible Software Review by Douglas Wilson

22 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

Douglas Wilson reviews the best Bible software platform ever. He writes:

When I am working through a passage now, I have a stack of commentaries that with a click flip open to the passage I am considering. I can immediately answer any question I might have about the syntax of the Hebrew or Greek. If any person is mentioned in the passage I have that person’s family tree. I can pre-select a number of Bible versions in a way that creates my own customized parallel version, with my base translation on the left, and the comparative versions in a row on the right. The places where the versions render the passage the same way are all in black, the base translation is highlighted as one color within the comparative text, and the comparative rendering is highlighted with a different colar. I can tell at a glance who is doing what and why. If geographical place names are featured in the passage, a map quietly unrolls itself to the appropriate place and patiently waits for me to look at it. And this is just the beginning.

Click here to read the whole review.

Filed Under: Bible Software

Kids for the NRA

18 September 2008 By The Grinder 2 Comments

David and Hannah have been watching Sarah Palin in the news, and they so admire her that they wanted to join the NRA. Well, not really, but the three of us did go shooting on Saturday. David fired off several rounds and actually hit the paper a few times. He was using my first gun, a Marlin Model 60. Here he is sighting in on his target.

Meanwhile, my Dad and I enjoyed making a lot of noise with a 9mm, a .357 magnum and a .44 magnum. We had a blast. Where was Hannah, you might ask? She enjoyed herself too. See:

We had a great time.

Filed Under: Family, Kids

Piper on the Gospel

16 September 2008 By The Grinder 1 Comment

Watching this brief clip, in which John Piper explains the 6 aspects of the gospel, will be three minutes of your time well spent:

Filed Under: Theology

Regard for our Beast

12 September 2008 By The Grinder 7 Comments

Maya reminded me of Proverbs 12.10 today, which was timely since I have been wondering for two days about what to do with Hops (that is the name that the children gave the little rodent pooch that showed up on our doorstep this week). No one wants him. He was probably abandoned, and if we take him to the pound they will surely put Hops down – the mere thought of which brings tears to the little eyes in the family. So, what do we do? Our options boil down to these three: 1) We could give him away as a present to someone we love, and look offended when they balk at our thoughtfulness. 2) Make a warm hat out of Hops to protect us from future Siberian winters. 3) Or we could keep the little critter. Since the second one is definitely out – lest my kids disown me, and the first one will likely alienate us from some of the few friends that we have, it looks like we have another mouth to feed.

He is not living inside. End of story.

Filed Under: Daily Life

Free Commentary

10 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

I just learned from Phil Gons that for a limit time Logos is giving away the 560-page Mathew, Mark volume of the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, by David Turner and Darrell Bock. The cupon code is CORNERSTONE.

Filed Under: Books

Child-like Intercession

10 September 2008 By The Grinder 2 Comments

From the family devos tonight, when Hannah wanted to pray for her slightly under-the-weather brothers:

Hannah: “Dear Lord, thank you that David and Timothy are always sick.”

David (whispering): “Hannah, I have a cold.”

Hannah: “Oh, thank you that David is old.”

David (not whispering): “I am not old! I have a cold. A cold.”

Hannah: “Oh, thank you that David is in snow.”

David: “Uhh”

Hannah: “And thank you that Timothy always cries much. Amen.”

Filed Under: Family

Hannah’s Built-in Fly Swatter

10 September 2008 By The Grinder 1 Comment

Filed Under: Daily Life

Is this Your Dog?

9 September 2008 By The Grinder Leave a Comment

If this is your dog, or if you would like it to become your dog, please drop me an email. The poor delusional fellow thinks that he is our pet. Aside from that, he is a nice little yapper and I am sure that you will like him.

Filed Under: Daily Life

On Being Nice

8 September 2008 By The Grinder 3 Comments

Two weeks ago, while preparing a message on 1st Peter, I wrote a brief thank-you email to a brilliant New Testament scholar whose exegetical commentary helped me to understand a problematic textual issue. I thought nothing more of it until today, when the mailman brought a package full of books by the same scholar – sent as an expression of thanks for the encouraging email.

How cool is that!?

Filed Under: Books, Sentiment
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