Fear and Trembling

Today is the anniversary of the day when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the church door at Wittenberg . That was arguably the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. There are some great give-aways and promotions on the web to celebrate: The Listener’s Bible is giving away a free mp3 download of Luther’s “Here I Stand” speech . (Offer ends Nov. 1.) Ligonier Minsitries advertizes a special price on case quanitities of "The Holiness of God" by R. C. Sproul. The chapter in this book called “The Insanity of Luther” is worth the price of a whole case, and you would have some left over for friends. And what better way to celebrate than with study of some current issues on justification by faith: Find Christianity Today’s “Not All Evangelicals and Catholics Together” here . Find links to a Michael Scott Horton review of N. T. Wright’s theories on justification here .

I have cited several forms of the cosmological argument for God’s existence on this blog . One effective form of this argument comes from philosopher Norman Geisler. This argument begins from an undeniable premise: I exist. This is not always assumed to be true by modern philosophy. Geisler argues that God exists because I exist. Here’ s a rough outline: 1. Some things undeniably exist (e.g., I cannot deny my own existence). 2. My nonexistence is possible. 3. Whatever has the possibility not to exist is currently caused to exist by another. 4. There cannot be an infinite regress of current causes of existence. 5. Therefore, a first uncaused cause of my current existence exists. 6. This uncaused cause must be infinite, unchanging, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-perfect. 7. This infinitely perfect Being is appropriately called “God.” 8. Therefore, God exists. 9. This God who exists is identical to the God described in the Christian Scriptures. 10. Therefore, the ...

I recently read the Kindle for iPhone Edition of Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian . This is an excellent book written at a popular level to help Christians see that they “make a difference in this world by being different from this world; they don’t make a difference by being the same” (Location 284). That makes sense. If you want to change something, you have to make it different in some way. If what you want to change is a culture / people group / nation, you have to create a different culture within it. One excerpt: Ironically, the more we Christians pursue worldly relevance, the more we’ll render ourselves irrelevant to the world around us. There’s an irrelevance to pursuing relevance … To be truly relevant, you have to say things that are unfashionable eternal, not trendy. It’s the timeless things that are most relevant to most people, and we dare not forget this fact in our pursuit of relevance. (Location 405) There is another way to look at this. A subject’s relevanc...

I just stumbled on a Face Book application that allows a person to ‘donate’ his or her birthday to a cause in order to raise money. I ‘took the plunge,’ as my birth date is October 22. I would like to support Operation Christmas Child . I went on a trip to Lima, Peru , last year to help distribute shoebox gifts to children. You can read my stories from the trip by clicking the label “Operation Christmas Child” to the right in the sidebar. Please take the chance to pack a shoebox gift for National Collection Week this year, November 16-23. Drop off locations can be found by entering your zip code here. Also, a $7 donation will pay the shipping on someone else’s shoebox, and we get several boxes each year at our collection center that need the ‘scholarship.’ You can donate by following the instructions at the Face Book Causes link here  or by following the appropriate links here . Then children were brought to [Jesus] that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The discipl...

Two of my favorite modern parables are printed below. The first is one of my favorites not because I agree with its conclusions, but because I admire the way its point is made. From Anthony Flew: Let us begin with a parable. It is a parable developed from a tale told by John Wisdom in his haunting and revolutionary article "Gods." Once upon a time two explorers came upon a clearing in the jungle. In the clearing were growing many flowers and many weeds. One explorer says, "Some gardener must tend this plot." The other disagrees, "There is no gardener." So they pitch their tents and set a watch. No gardener is ever seen. "But perhaps he is an invisible gardener." So they set up a barbed-wire fence. They electrify it. They patrol with bloodhounds. (For they remember how H. G. Well's The Invisible Man could be both smelt and touched though he could not be seen.) But no shrieks ever suggest that some intruder has received a shock. No movement...

Links from Justin Taylor's blog question whether everyone believed the earth was flat during the Middle Ages.

The Reformation Study Bible is now available as an application for the iPhone . This is the best format and interface for a Bible program I have purchased. It beats Mantis and Olive Tree, although both of those are very good. Its most useful function is the readily accessible daily Bible reading plan. It’s a ‘must have.’

Thanks to In Light of the Gospel for a link to Redeemer Presbyterian’s new Church Planting Blog . I just wish I could add it to my Google Reader account. Bummer. Interesting that Keller spoke at a Willow Creek conference this past summer (see here for more). I missed that one. I didn’t know Presbyterians had it in them.

One of my favorite quotes from Martin Luther: If you are a preacher of mercy, do not preach an imaginary but the true mercy. If the mercy is true, you must therefore bear the true, not an imaginary sin. God does not save those who are only imaginary sinners. Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong (sin boldly), but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2. Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. (from Letter 99, Paragraph 13. Erika Bullmann Flores, Tr. from: Dr. Martin Luther's Saemmtliche Schriften Dr. Johann Georg Walch Ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), Vol. 15, cols. 2585-2590.) Are we daring enough to live  this?