What They're Saying 06.19.11

Gene Fant thinks Evangelicals Are (Kind Of) Like Intellectual Golden Retrievers

"...evangelical theologians, like other orthodox thinkers, are susceptible to the peculiarly academic sort of ambition that seeks acceptance and recognition by their liberal colleagues. We want the academy’s approval, and so we are tempted to write and teach a theology that will be consistent with its moral and theological sensibilities."

Do Jewish Christians Have to Observe the Old Testament Laws? Stuart Dauerman Thinks So. What Do You Think?

"And weren’t the apostles careful to honor Torah-living when, for example, in Acts 21, Ya’akov, a.k.a. James, urged Paul (the Apostle to the Gentiles mind you) to participate in a Temple rite as proof that he himself walked orderly (that is, halachically) according to Torah and that there was no truth in the rumors that Paul, as a Jew, urged other Jews in the diaspora to forsake Moses (that is, Torah living), circumcision, and Jewish customs (Acts 21:23-24)? And didn’t Ya’akov say that it was of Gentiles that the Church required “no such thing,” while that living by the precepts of Torah was expected of Jews who had believed in Yeshua (Acts 21:25)? And if Paul the Jewish apostle to theGentiles maintained a halachic life, then is not woefully inadequate to refer to Messianic Jewish Torah living as simply part of our “ethnic heritage” like bagels and lox, but ”simply [not] an explicitly religious issue?” And finally, was it not the same Paul who said that anyone who receives circumcision is obligated to keep the whole Torah, who was himself a circumcised Jew, and who personally circumcised Timothy? (Gal 5:1; Acts 16:3)"

Desiring God Lists 6 Truths on Christian Involvement In Society

"In a 2000 sermon, John Piper draws out six truths from 1 Peter 2:9-17 about how Christians should be involved in society and culture: (1) We were once all in darkness, along with the whole world; (2) God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light; (3) God's aim in calling us out of darkness is to send us back to (but not in) that darkness to "proclaim his excellencies;" (4) God's aim is that the way we make his excellencies known to the darkened culture around us take place both by avoidance and by engagement; (5) Submission to cultural institutions (like the state, and places of employment and family) is not canceled out by our freedom in Christ (and our citizenship being in heaven, and our being "strangers and exiles on earth), but our submission is put on a whole new footing of submission to God; (6) Finally, Christians honor all persons, and seek to do it in different ways that are not the same for each, but appropriate to their roles in life."

Justin Holcomb on How Kindness Leads to Repentance

"But now we have a different problem. She enjoyed that moment so much that she knows she can hit me randomly (and gently) just so she can say, “I’m sorry, daddy” and hear me say, “I forgive you.” Eventually, we need to get to Romans 5:20-6:2. But I’m not in a rush, because I want Sophia Grace to get so used to unconditional love and forgiveness that she expects it from me and doesn’t doubt it. That’s what God does with me."​