On-Line Articles I’ve Read this week, XXVI

One of the Dead and Inert Ideas in Calvinism, Namely “Loving One’s Neighbor”

Sound psychological ideas in religion and life becameconfused and dead and inert.

An Address to Talented Students

And how is a person to get out of an arid and sterile intellectualclimate? Read something new and different. It may be wrong.But expose yourself to new ideas. Wisdom and truth are not diicoveredexcept there be the friction of conflicting ideas.

The “Stuff” of Biblical Counseling

It is not enough for us to merely speak the truth. We don’t just wrap a lavish gift in a trash bag and toss it to someone. One of the pleasures of ministry is that we get to wrap it, include a personal note, maybe even a thoughtful poem, and then smile as the other person enjoys the present.

President Obama’s enigmatic intellectualism

Pragmatism is fine — as long as it is complicated by regret. But that indispensable wince is precisely what Obama doesn’t show. It is not essential that he get angry or cry. It is essential, though, that he show us who he is. As of now, we haven’t a clue.

The Loose Vuvuzela

They’re calling him the World Cup’s “loose vuvuzela.” They’re swooning as he spreads the love, jumping into his players’ arms like some cuddly bear with diamond earrings and no neck.

Still Re-Thinking the Church

Christians don’t need to know everything to know something. They don’t need all the solutions to the church’s splintered condition to know that there’s a better way. Like Rhymin’ Simon sang, “I can’t run but I can walk much faster than this.” We may not have all the answers, but surely a humble look into the Word can help us do better, eh?

Augustinianism, Pelagianism, (Semi or not) and Works

One of the frustrating things about some writings within the so-called “New Perspective on Paul” is the mistake that justification by general good works can simply be equated with Pelagianism. The claim is made that Paul’s contemporaries were not Pelagians and, therefore, they were not guilty of “legalism” as Evangelicals understand it. What has been even more frustrating is to see Reformed Church historians allow this construction to stand.

Where are you God?

For instance, why does Jesus, having toppled Pharisee Saul off his camel (both literally and figuratively) say, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” “No offense, Jesus, but Stephen told us at his death that he could see you at the right hand of God the Father. Saul’s mission wasn’t against you, but against your followers, the Church.”  The only way in which this statement makes any sense is if, at least in Jesus’ mind, persecuting his people is the same as persecuting him. They are one and the same thing.