
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Richard Muller's "Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics"

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Carl Sagan's lectures on science & religion
widow, Ann Druyan, has collected his lectures on science and religion, given in Glasgow in 1985, and retitled them (with a nod to William James) "The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God." I supposed that Sagan can be considered a generational precusor to the shrill, overrated Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion"). These lectures support that POV which says that "religion is bad", particularly in its "fundamentalist" form (see also Sam Harris' "Letters to a Christian Nation"). It seems that the pejorative term "fundamentalist" is applied to anyone who believes in revealed truth (which is particular, exlusive truth) concerning what lies beyond the metaphysical veil. I have to admit that I've never thought of myself as a "fundamentalist", just an orthodox Christian who confesses the historic, biblical Christian faith. And I certainly have never thought of myself as being part of the same cloth as Islamic terrorism. I cannot see how a snapshot of my life and a snapshot of the life of a member of al
Qaeda would in any way overlap. The fruit of our lives is different, to say the least. The claim is absurd. But nonetheless it is made. The same folly is repackaged generation after generation with an academic gloss. And people go on surpressing the knowledge of the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1). Read the New York Times article on the Sagan/Druyan book here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/science/13carl.html?pagewanted=1&8dpc&_r=2 Monday, February 12, 2007
Al Groves' letter to us...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Flossing as an Act of Hope
03.16.06 Flossing as an Act of Hope
Like many of the rest of you, I have been flossing my teeth for years, more years than I can count, it seems! Notwithstanding flossing every night, I still never managed to make it a habit, because I simply never really enjoyed flossing. Perhaps it's because I try to do it last thing of the day, at a time when I'm usually tired. Who knows? Not surprisingly, any excuse that made flossing a pass for the evening, and I was all over it. Most of the time however, I had no excuse, so I dutifully flossed.
Lately it crossed my mind that flossing my teeth may not matter any more. If I'm dying, what's the point? My teeth are in good shape (one of God's providential blessings in my life is that I have never had a cavity.) Just think: going to bed without any pre-bedtime rigmarole. Bliss. But somehow I just couldn't do it. And it wasn't the guilt of abandoned habit or improper hygiene crying out to my conscience. Rather, I realized that I would be caving in (in a small way) to hopelessness. Flossing your teeth is hardly earth-shaking. But somehow, it felt like giving up. I don't know what God is going to do with this cancer. So many people are praying for me/us. God might choose to extend my life, even bring me healing for years to come. I have not given up hope, and I'm not going to start a slide down the slippery slope.
Guess what? Each night flossing my teeth has become an act of faith and hope! At least one point in every day I am reminded that until I draw my final breath, God is my hope. And he can do as he alone is able.
In truth, I still sometimes feel the bother of flossing on the occasional late night, but each time I come to that moment of flossing, I am reminded that I want to live and that God is a God in whose faithfulness I can trust. He may choose not to heal me, but my choice is to hope in Him. If I die, my hope is in his resurrection. If I live, my hope is in Christ as well.
And this has applied across the board in my day-to-day life. What joy the little things in life have become. I might even learn that taking out the garbage is blessing. Okay. That's a bit much for now.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Evangelism and Small Groups
How You Prepare to Preach
New York, Sam Brownback, and Rudy Guiliani
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Time Mag: A Calvinist Faces Death

Al Mohler, a reformed Baptist, had a recent brush with death. To my surprise, Time Magazine interviewed him about his experience. To my even greater surprise, Time entitled the article "A Calvinist Faces Death". I've included the introduction to the article below. It speaks about how calvinism is making a comeback among younger evangelicals. Check it out.
After roughly 200 years of decline, Calvinism, the faith of the Puritans, has made a modest comeback among younger Evangelical Christians. One of the movement's potent mentors is Albert Mohler, the influential, telegenic head of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who made waves last June when he critiqued the religious claims of presidential contender Barack Obama in an essay called Secularism With A Smile.
Mohler, a Calvinist, went into the hospital in December for a fairly routine stomach operation and suddenly developed pulmonary embolisms, a frequently fatal form of clotting, in both lungs. After emergency surgery and four days in the Intensive Care unit, he made a complete recovery. David Van Biema asked him whether his crisis could illuminate his brand of faith.
Death by Ministry?
Monday, February 5, 2007
Al Groves, 54, went to be with the Lord tonight
In Memoriam, Professor J. Alan Groves
J. Alan Groves (b. December 17, 1952) met his Savior face to face on February 5 at the age of 54. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Elizabeth W. Davis Groves; by his four children, Alasdair and wife Lauren, Rebeckah, Eowyn, and Alden. Born in 1952, Al received his B.A. in 1975 and B.E. in 1976 from Dartmouth College, and an M.A.R. in 1981 and a Th.M. in 1983 from Westminster Theological Seminary. He also pursued graduate studies at Dropsie College of Hebrew and Cognate Learning and was a Ph.D. candidate at Vrije Universiteit, working on a doctoral thesis entitled “A Textlinguistic Analysis of Exodus 1-14.” He was a ruling elder at New Life Presbyterian Church (PCA), Glenside, Pennsylvania.
A wonderfully honest and tender blog has been kept these past 13 months. www.algroves.info is well worth reading to improve your hope of heaven.