Posts for Sep, 2006.

9/30/2006 10:34:00 PM

Wisdom for a Daughter

Shall we re-write Proverbs?

Posted Saturday, September 30, 2006 by Sam Yeiter
Comments: 4
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My daughter is at an age and point of receptivity where I have begun to consider teaching her about wisdom.  The automatic textbook that sprung to my mind is the book of Proverbs.  I am wondering, however, if perhaps I need to do some rewriting.  Read on if you dare (especially if you have a daughter!). Read more of Wisdom for a Daughter


9/26/2006 3:26:00 PM

Biblical Bible Authority

Posted Tuesday, September 26, 2006 by Brian Beers
Categories: Bible   Comments: 6
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In my last post I wrote to establish that the Bible may be relied upon at a number of different levels. Someone may treat as simply another book, no more reliable than any of the self-help clutter on bookstore shelves. This idea did not receive a warm welcome because the Bible is truly reliable, and this sets it apart from any writing which shares the features I described.

My goal was to set the groundwork that the Bible may be externally established as an authoritative collection of writings and then to move on to describe how the Bible establishes its authority internally. Those external features prepare us to accept the authority of the Bible before we even open its pages. In this post, I will describe some principles that govern how the human authors established the authority of their writings. I will also use a passage from the Koran to contrast the basis of the Koran’s authority with that of the Bible.

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9/26/2006 11:37:00 AM

Jesus and Unintentional Sin

Posted Tuesday, September 26, 2006 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 4
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I am teaching a Sunday School class on Christology and I got a question that stumped me, so I thought I would pass it along. The question has to do with whether Jesus sinned an unintentional sin. An example would breaking a law he did not know about, or doing something his mother did not want him to do but he did not know that yet. Now, in some cases, this should not be considered sin, so he could displease his mother but not sin. But  then what about laws? Was he just more astute than the rest of us in making sure he knew all the laws? Or did he have extra help from the Holy Spirit in this area? But this latter idea causes me to wince a little, because that does not seem to be how the Holy Spirit works today. Perhaps becaue he was God he just knew he shouldn't do something? But that seems to mix the natures. Any ideas from the gallery? Read more of Jesus and Unintentional Sin


9/23/2006 9:21:00 PM

Tubthumping Theology

Channeling the Spirit of James Redfield?

Posted Saturday, September 23, 2006 by Sam Yeiter
Comments: 2
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As some of my skepticism about experience is fading, I am beginning to reconsider, or at least look more carefully, at some of the coincidences in my life.  In his book, The Celestine Prophecy, James Redfield argues that coincidence is the way God[i] shows us what we ought to do, and is how he speaks to us.  When some coincidence (especially a weird one) occurs, it is an indication that we are at a crucial moment and should trust that acting on the coincidence is God’s will.  As I read the book and compared it to scripture, I was struck by the frequency with which God does use “coincidence” to influence people and events (Joseph and Moses had some significant ones).  It seems like things are always happening at just the right (or wrong) time.  I have often listened to people ascribe divine activity to events, meetings, songs, etc, and have been fairly skeptical…which is ironic, since I am a minute decretialist[ii].  It seems like I should be on the forefront of those who believe God uses events to communicate to us.  The problem is the distinction between communication and revelation.  Part of the difference seems to be between the immanent and the transcendent activity of God, that is, his miraculous or providential handiwork.  For now I am going to leave this one to the theologians…Adam, Josh, do you want to chime in…or better yet, write a new post on this distinction, if you think there is one.  Now to my story…



[i] He doesn’t actually call it God, he refers to it as some dynamic force that is assembling all events in such a way that we as a global culture are becoming more and more spiritual…sounds like a lot of work to replace God.

[ii] That means that I believe every event, no matter how small, has been decreed by God before creation.

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9/21/2006 6:20:00 PM

Imago Dei, The Enduring Mystery

Posted Thursday, September 21, 2006 by Adam Mattison
Comments: 6
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While having a discussion several months ago now, in response to one of Brian’s posts on manliness in the Bible, one of the tangents briefly taken was about the image of God. I had hoped for some time to write a post on just that subject, and so I set to work distilling some earlier research on the imago dei, and here at last is the final result.

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9/21/2006 10:15:00 AM

Thinking about movies

The Godfather and Ocean's 11

Posted Thursday, September 21, 2006 by Charlie Trimm
Categories: Popular Culture   Comments: 6
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I like movies. There are certain kinds of movies that I do not enjoy, such as horror movies, but I do enjoy watching many styles of movies. We recently signed up for Netlix, so we are now watching a greater variety of movies than we have in the past, and this, along with having a child, has caused to do more thinking about movies, and specifically, what makes a good movie and what makes a movie moral or immoral. The first question I am not going to discuss now, but the second question is more interesting to me and more relevant to the list anyway, so that will be our topic of converstaion.  Read more of Thinking about movies


9/13/2006 12:35:00 PM

Revenge

Or, if it exists, can we call it natural revelation?

Posted Wednesday, September 13, 2006 by Josh Michael
Comments: 3
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Revenge.  Books, movies, plays, and stories often touch upon the idea of revenge.  Why is revenge one of the most powerful of human emotions? Read more of Revenge


9/11/2006 10:50:00 PM

Confession of a Hard-liner Turned Soft Mystic

Why I accept the Bible as God's word

Posted Monday, September 11, 2006 by Sam Yeiter
Comments: 5
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I was raised, theologically speaking, to distrust experience. I shudder when someone says, “God told me…” and I absolutely cringe at declarations of having met angels or even Jesus (who is often in disguise). I recently realized that, though I have not met an incarnate Christ, nor angelic
messengers (as far as I know), my faith is built on experience.
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9/10/2006 9:09:00 AM

Pain in Childbirth

Posted Sunday, September 10, 2006 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 1
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Since my wife just went through nine months of pregnancy and then forty hours of labor, our minds have often turned to what childbearing would have been like without the curse and the fall. I haven't done any formal study at all on the issue yet, but I am just going to throw out some ideas to see what ya'll think. The issue gets a little complex in another direction because we have both the curse, which directly speaks to the issue, and the fall in general, which would also certainly affect the matter. 

I think that I think that (no, that is not a typo!) there would have been pain pre-fall, but not as extensive. Clearly, no babies or mothers would have died, so that means that many of the dangers present would not have happened. So does that mean that breach babies would not happen or just that they would be able to be born normally? I think the former: all births would work according to plan, without any complications. But I do think that they would have still taken 9 months, that some babies would be born earlier or later than 9 months, that there would be pain, that there would be stretch marks, and that the babies would still need some vigorous attention to get them to stimulated when they were born. But those are just some thoughts. Anyone else have an opinion?

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9/8/2006 6:19:00 PM

Airport Security

Posted Friday, September 08, 2006 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: None
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This really has very little to do with theology, but I read a fascinating article today in the Jersualem Post about Israeli airport security as opposed to American airport security. Basically the two approaches boil down to the observation that the Americans look for the weapon while the Israelis look for the terrorist. There is a world of difference between those two. I'm really not sure how to link this with anything in theology, but I thought it was very interesting. Maybe I'll just give it the allegorical view and say that the American churches are more interested in people's stuff (money, time, energy), while Israeli churches are more interested in people themselves.  Read more of Airport Security


9/4/2006 7:13:00 PM

New Addition

Posted Monday, September 04, 2006 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 3
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Eily TrimmCharlie and EilyThe writing has been a bit slow from my end recently due to the birth of our very cute daughter, Eily Trimm. She was born August 19, weighed 8 14, and was 20.7 inches long. She spent a few days in the hospital, but is now doing well. Mariah and I are now adjusting to the "new normal" of life with an infant and continual feedings and diaper changes. But she is so cute that we don't mind! We would, of course, not mind either if she wasn't cute, but being cute doesn't hurt. Mariah heard a study one time that people think that people who like them are pretty, so maybe that is why most parents think their babies are cute? Although I'm sure that is not the case with us. We are thankful to God for his gracious gift.

 

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