Monthly Archives: May 2015

Science is the Enemy of Humanity Far More Than Religion Is, Mr Dawkins

Posted on by

It’s not religion people fear, it’s science gone mad and out of control. Pay attention to the apocalypses produced by Hollywood. Global warming – that’s science’s fault (science having given us technology and gas engines and other pollution producers); War- that’s science’s doing, providing, as it has, the means by which to destroy all of humanity. Science has given us the tools to destroy ourselves and the planet. Perhaps Mr Dawkins and the other angry atheists ought to look in the mirror instead of pointing at religion.

Religion doesn’t invent weapons- science does.  Religion doesn’t teach people that they’re merely animals, science does.  And when you teach people that they are little more than beasts, you ought not be surprised when they act like that.

Religion isn’t the enemy of life- but science sure can be, and it makes most of its money from just that.  Science is the purveyor of death or of life absent quality.  The greatest threat to the world are Dawkins and his ilk.

Dear Church Of England…

Posted on by

You’re what happens when a Monarch grabs the throat of the Church and wrestles it to the ground and makes it his own.  You’re dying on the vine and first you thought that accommodationism would work so you laid cozy with the world.  Still, your death wasn’t slowed.  Now, you think that you can attract the committed by calling God a woman.  You’d be better served to deepen your theology and return to the tiny roots you have in the Continental Reformation.

There are many decent and good souls among you but you’re slowly pushing them underground or out simply to pander to a tiny minority.  You should stop it.

ugh

‘Sending Prayers Your Way’…

Posted on by

People say that but surely they don’t mean a word of it.  If you send your prayers anywhere but to God the Father Almighty you’re both heretic and idolater. 

Besides- If you think the person to whom you’re directing those prayers can do anything then they don’t need them anyway.

But I suppose the untheological minds that invented ‘sending prayers your way’ aren’t terribly concerned with any of that anyway.

They Won’t Listen, But Go Speak Anyway

Posted on by

He then said, ‘Son of man, eat what you see; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the House of Israel.’ 2 I opened my mouth; he gave me the scroll to eat 3 and then said, ‘Son of man, feed on this scroll which I am giving you and eat your fill.’ So I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey.

4 He then said, ‘Son of man, go to the House of Israel and tell them what I have said. 5 You are not being sent to a nation that speaks a difficult foreign language; you are being sent to the House of Israel. 6 Not to big nations that speak difficult foreign languages, and whose words you would not understand — if I sent you to them, they would listen to you; 7 but the House of Israel will not listen to you because it will not listen to me. The whole House of Israel is defiant and obstinate. 8 But now, I am making you as defiant as they are, and as obstinate as they are; 9 I am making your resolution as hard as a diamond, harder than flint. So do not be afraid of them, do not be overawed by them, for they are a tribe of rebels.’

10 Then he said, ‘Son of man, take to heart everything I say to you, listen carefully, 11 then go to your exiled countrymen and talk to them. Say to them, “Lord Yahweh says this,” whether they listen or not.’

12 The spirit lifted me up, and behind me I heard a great vibrating sound, ‘Blessed be the glory of Yahweh in his dwelling-place!’ 13 This was the sound of the living creatures’ wings beating against each other, and the sound of the wheels beside them: a great vibrating sound. 14 The spirit lifted me up and took me, and I went, bitter and angry, and the hand of Yahweh lay heavy on me. 15 I came to Tel Abib, to the exiles beside the River Chebar where they were living, and there I stayed with them in a stupor for seven days. (Ezekiel 3:1-15 NJB)

The Creed of Athanasius for Your Trinity Sunday

Posted on by

Take note, crazy unitarians and unhinged universalists.  Without believing these truths one is not a Christian:

Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.

Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.

Now this is the catholic faith:

That we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence.For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal.

What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated.

The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal.

And yet there are not three eternal beings; there is but one eternal being. So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings; there is but one uncreated and immeasurable being.

Similarly, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty. Yet there are not three almighty beings; there is but one almighty being.

Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three gods; there is but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet there are not three lords; there is but one Lord.

Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.

The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone. The Son was neither made nor created;he was begotten from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son.

Accordingly there is one Father, not three fathers;there is one Son, not three sons; there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.

Nothing in this trinity is before or after, nothing is greater or smaller; in their entirety the three persons are coeternal and coequal with each other.

So in everything, as was said earlier, we must worship their trinity in their unity and their unity in their trinity. Anyone then who desires to be saved should think thus about the trinity.

But it is necessary for eternal salvation that one also believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.

Now this is the true faith: That we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and human, equally.

He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time; and he is human from the essence of his mother, born in time; completely God, completely human, with a rational soul and human flesh; equal to the Father as regards divinity, less than the Father as regards humanity.

Although he is God and human, yet Christ is not two, but one. He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God’s taking humanity to himself. He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence,but by the unity of his person. For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and human.

He suffered for our salvation; he descended to hell; he arose from the dead; he ascended to heaven; he is seated at the Father’s right hand; from there he will come to judge the living and the dead. At his coming all people will arise bodily and give an accounting of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.

This is the catholic faith:
one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.

Amen.  And Amen.

Hey ‘Gospel Coalition’, Would You Please Drop the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ Language? It’s Creepy

Posted on by

Why does the GC want to make loving God sound so creepy?  Can’t they express the notion of love without stooping to sexual imagery?  Because, geesh.

creepy

Sure, it’s an important topic with theological significance.  But ‘beautiful’ and ‘taste’ and such things are unnecessary.  And creepy.  Jesus isn’t your boyfriend.

Why, If You’re a Christian, You Ought to Be In Worship Today

Posted on by

Deprive not yourselves of the blessing of invoking God together with one accord, and receiving some sound doctrine and good exhortation, to make you hold on in the right path. For though each one can and should also pray to God in secret, and having retired apart, and though each can read in his own house—notwithstanding well-pleasing to God is the sacrifice of assembling ourselves to pray to him with one mouth, and offer up to him the solemn homage both of our souls and of our bodies.

And it were much to be desired, that we could do so before the world; but since by the malice and tyranny of men we are forestalled of this privilege, the least we can do is to praise God along with his people, as the scripture exhorteth us. To do this, small flocks group together here and there, till in the end the whole body of the church be collected in the kingdom of heaven. –  Calvin

Sage Observations From Richard Baxter

Posted on by
  • Especially we must reverence the judgment of our able, faithful teachers, and not by pride set up our weaker judgment against them, and resist the truth which they deliver to us from God. Neither must we set light by the censures or admonitions of the lawful pastors of the church: when they are agreeable to the Word and judgment of God, they are very dreadful.
  • No men must be pleased by sin, nor their favour preferred before the pleasing of God. Man’s favour as against God, is to be despised, and their displeasure made light of. If doing our duty will displease them, let them be displeased; we can but pity them.
  • We must place none of our happiness in the favour or approbation of men, but account it as to ourselves to be a matter of no great moment; neither worth any great care or endeavour to obtain it, or grief for losing it. We must not only contemn it as compared to the approbation and favour of God, but we must value it but as other transitory things, in itself considered; estimating it as a means to some higher end, the service of God, and our own or other men’s greater good: and further than it conduceth to some of these, it must be almost indifferent to us what men think or say of us: and the displeasure of all men, if unjust, must be reckoned with our light afflictions.
  • One truth of God, and the smallest duty, must be preferred before the pleasing and favour of all the men in the world.
  • If ministers, or councils called General, do err and contradict the Word of God, we must do our best to discern it; and discerning it, must desert their error rather than the truth of God.
  • It is not only the approbation of the ignorant and ungodly that we must thus set light by; but even of the most learned and godly themselves, so as to bear their censures as an easy burden, when God is pleased this way to try us; and to be satisfied in God alone, and the expectation of his final judgment.

The Miserable State of the Reprobate

Posted on by

[Their] unhappy consciences find no rest, but are vexed and driven about by a dire whirlwind, feeling as if torn by an angry God, pierced through with deadly darts, terrified by his thunderbolts and crushed by the weight of his hand; so that it were easier to plunge into abysses and whirlpools than endure these terrors for a moment. How fearful, then, must it be to be thus beset throughout eternity!  — John Calvin

#SBL2015 – Tentative Schedule

Posted on by

Saturday

Critical Editions of the German Bible Society: 1. Biblia Hebraica Quinta (BHQ), 2. Nestle-Aland and Greek New Testament: New Editorial Committee
11/21/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Florian Voss, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Presiding
  • Richard Weis, Lexington Theological Seminary Biblia Hebraica Quinta Among the Editions as Seen in the New Genesis Fascicle (20 min)
  • Discussion (10 min)
  • Kay Joe Petzold, German Bible Society The Masorah of L and the Editorial Concepts of the Edited Masorah of BHS and BHQ (20 min)
  • Discussion (5 min)
  • Holger Strutwolf, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and David Trobisch, The New Editorial Committee for the Nestle-Aland and the UBS Greek New Testament (25 min)
  • Discussion (10 min)

Sunday

Current Historiography and Ancient Israel and Judah
11/22/2015
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Andrew B. Tobolowsky, Brown University “Knowledge Problems” and the future of the biblical past (30 min)
  • Erin Fleming, Johns Hopkins University Accusations of Sexual Misconduct in the David Narrative (30 min)
  • Ellen Lerner, Vanderbilt University East Manasseh as a Historiographical Category (30 min)
  • William Luther Martin, Jr., University Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas, USA Reaction against imperial epistemological influence as an explanation of the indictment of David (30 min)
  • Gili Kugler, Tel Aviv University Breaking Past Negative Patterns – A Religious Message with Political Agenda in Psalms 78 (30 min)
  • Ian Wilson, University of Alberta, Presiding

Novum Testamentum Graecum: Editio Critica Maior
11/22/2015
4:00 PM to 6:45 PM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Holger Strutwolf, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Presiding (8 min)
  • Michael Clark, University of Birmingham Constructing a Stemma for Nicetas of Heraclea’s Johannine Catena (28 min)
  • Georg Gäbel, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster ‘Versional and patristic evidence in the apparatus of ECM Acts’ (28 min)
  • Gunnar Büsch, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster “The Western text of Acts evidenced by Chrysostom?” (28 min)
  • Garrick Allen, University of St. Andrews ‘Textual History and/as Reception History: Textual Variation in the Greek Manuscript Tradition of Revelation 4-5’ (28 min)
  • Business Meeting (45 min)

Monday

International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies
11/23/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Theme: The Septuagint: Across the Corpus
  • Jan Joosten, University of Oxford, Presiding
  • John Lee, Macquarie University The Puzzle of tís dôê: Solved (25 min)
  • James A. E. Mulroney, The University of Edinburgh Interpretative Translational Choices for Conditional Sentences in LXX (25 min)
  • Martin Rösel, Universität Rostock A Theology of the Septuagint? (25 min)
  • Patrick Pouchelle, Centre Sèvres Neologisms in the Septuagint, Case studies and criteria (25 min)
  • James Aitken, University of Cambridge and Sigfried Kreuzer, Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel Two new Handbooks of the Septuagint: Purposes and Future Prospects (25 min)
  • Business Meeting (25 min)

Warfare in Ancient Israel
11/23/2015
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Theme: Warfare in Early Israel: The State of the Question
  • Brad Kelle, Point Loma Nazarene University, Presiding (5 min)
  • Mark Smith, New York University, Panelist (15 min)
  • Jacob Wright, Emory University, Panelist (15 min)
  • Aren Maeir, Bar-Ilan University, Panelist (15 min)
  • T. M. Lemos, Huron University College, University of Western Ontario, Panelist (15 min)
  • Christoph Levin, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Panelist (15 min)
  • Discussion (60 min)

Tuesday

Historical Jesus
11/24/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

  • Theme: Jesus and Purity
  • James Crossley, University of Sheffield, Presiding (5 min)
  • Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill “They Shall See the Glory of the Lord” (Isa 35:2): Eschatological Purity at Qumran and in Jesus’ Movement (25 min)
  • Cecilia Wassen, Uppsala Universitet Jesus’ Table Fellowship with Sinners and Purity Halakhah (25 min)
  • Thomas Kazen, Stockholm School of Theology A Perhaps Less Halakic Jesus and Purity: On Prophetic Criticism, Halakic Innovation and Rabbinic Anachronism(25 min)
  • Jonathan Klawans, Boston University, Respondent (15 min)
  • Lutz Doering, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Respondent (15 min)
  • Panel discussion – Discussion (20 min)
  • General discussion – Discussion (20 min)

Now THAT’s A Crowded Session…

Posted on by

I can see now why my paper was rejected.  There’s just no time for more than two papers in a session.

Blogger and Online Publication
11/22/2015
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD

Theme: Blogging Comes of Age
This session will feature two papers, followed by a panel of blogging scholars who will share their thoughts about the benefits and challenges, rewards and hardships, of academic blogging. The panelists will then participate in a Q&A with the audience.

James McGrath, Butler University, Presiding
Rick Brannan, Faithlife
From Blog, to Book, to the Larger Scholarly Discussion (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Christian Brady, Pennsylvania State University
The Life of a Blog from Cradle to Maturity (?) (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Panel discussion
Bart Ehrman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Panelist (10 min)
Wil Gafney, Brite Divinity School (TCU), Panelist (10 min)
Lawrence Schiffman, New York University, Panelist (10 min)
Discussion (60 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)