There is a venerable old put-down, attributed to Samuel Johnson: “Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.” (more…)
Category Archives: Sola-Panel
God in a particle?
Sometime today (Wednesday, Australian time) scientists will turn on the biggest atom smasher ever built. For those unschooled in the wonderful world of physics, atom smashers are very big rings (this new one is 27 km round) that are designed to throw very, very small pieces of stuff (so small, in fact, that you can’t see them) into each other at close to the speed of light. According to all reports, the results are pretty amazing. (So amazing, in fact, that at least one group of people are worried that the new particle smasher in Switzerland will actually end up destroying the world). It’s almost possible to hear the scientists salivating from my desk.
Driscoll’s wounding words
I got plenty of food for thought from Mark Driscoll’s two lectures at the Sydney Ministry Intensive conference the other week. As he was requested, Mark delivered what he called “the wounds of a friend” (Prov 27:6) who shares many theological convictions with us Moore College-types. Much of his analysis was penetrating. Again, I was impressed with how hard and well he has tried to understand Sydney’s cultures—both church and pagan.
Mark Driscoll rolls grenade down aisle
Mark Driscoll recently addressed 600+ Christian leaders at St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral (1 September, 2008) about ‘18 obstacles to effective evangelism in Australia’. Below is a summary of the address taken from Gordon’s blog (after me cleaning up the text a little):
The Word and the Bible
In our last two classic Briefing snippets, we’ve looked at how Christianity is essential a word-centred faith, and also at how that focus relates to the Spirit. In this third and final snippet (from the third and final article in the series), we turn to this question: When we talk about the centrality and importance of the ‘Word of God’ are we simply talking about the Bible, or something different or more than that? (more…)
Server troubles
Apologies for all the server troubles. We are now back online and have fixed the problem with the redirect to Ben’s blog.
You need more money, and other false teaching
Here is a quote from what I was reading on the bus yesterday.
I’m going to get straight to the point: YOU NEED MORE MONEY!
Is church for evangelism?
Apologies for posing what, at first glance, may seem an obvious and even silly question, but it’s one I’ve pondering lately: is evangelism a key purpose of Christian assemblies (or ‘churches’)?
All the way to 11 …
“The numbers all go to 11. Look, right across the board, 11, 11, 11 and …” Nigel Tufnel, the lead guitarist for the fictional rock band Spinal Tap, is explaining to the reporter that unlike other rock bands who only have amps that go to 10, theirs go all the way to 11. When the reporter stops and asks, “Why don’t you just make 10 louder and make 10 be the top number and make that a little louder?” there is a long pause followed by “These go to 11”.
Driscoll’s word of knowledge
Like hundreds of others (no doubt), I recently watched this interview with Mark Driscoll regarding his visit to Sydney. Unlike some, I haven’t been very interested in Driscoll— I’ve only heard the audio of one conference and none of his sermons. But I really liked the effort he made to try and understand Sydney culture, and his commitment to missionary effort. Alongside his reformed theology, there’s clearly lots to like.
Caution: Parenting book. Read with care. (Part 1)
Recipe for one parenting book
Take one favourite and fashionable parenting philosophy.
Add 10 sets of 10 steps, five guarantees and six dire warnings.
The greater judgement
I’ve often been intrigued by James 3:1. Here is a rather literal translation of the verse from the New King James version:
Self-immolation in ministry
Gordon’s stirring and encouraging piece on Spurgeon finished with a typically Chengian twist of the knife: do we work hard enough these days in ministry? Has the pendulum swung too far towards stress-relief and self-maintenance? Do we worry too much about ‘overdoing it’, and thus fail to take up opportunities that come to hand?
Spurgeon: For the sick and afflicted
I’ve appreciated reading the sermons of 19th-century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon over the years, and have quoted him on my blog a number of times (not as much as the Pyromaniacs, but still a bit).