Posts for Dec, 2005.

12/29/2005 2:42:00 PM

Encouraging Motivation

Pastoral Reflections

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 5
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I am going to post another academic paper soon (on whether or not we have the exact words of Jesus or just a paraphrase), but I have a more pastoral question at the moment. I do well working with motivated people who desire to grow spiritually. They are a joy to work with. But much more difficult for me is working with people who are apathetic. How do we work with people who are not motivated to grow spiritually? People who are believers, as far as we can tell, but are content with a mediocre Christian life? I realize that ultimately this is the responsibility of God to give them a passion to serve Him, but I also realize that he often gives this passion through various instrumentalities. So do anyone of you have any thoughts on this? Read more of Encouraging Motivation


12/29/2005 3:31:00 AM

Origen is Mr. Allegory

Ancient Christian Commentary on 1 Samuel 1

Posted Thursday, December 29, 2005 by Brian Beers
Comments: 2
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Did you know that wives were virtues and that we should understand the allegorical patriarchs to have had multiple virtues? If you want to know which virtue Peninnah represented and which virtue Hannah represented, read on… Read more of Origen is Mr. Allegory


12/24/2005 8:37:00 AM

The Eyes of the Lord Strike Again

Anonymity vs. Intelligent Design

Posted Saturday, December 24, 2005 by Brian Beers
Comments: 2
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The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man. Proverbs 22:12.

I had several proof-texts to choose from once I settled on a title for this post, but this was by far the most apt.

A month ago, over Thanksgiving, we had a visit from a pseudonymous Dr. Valtor. She swept in fresh from her studies in theater arts at UC Santa Cruz and criticized Dr. Vreeland for his review of Amy Coomb’s review of “The Privileged Planet.” Dr. V became curious about why a piece that he posted 6 months ago was getting any kind of attention. To answer that question, I reviewed the logs of visitors to Theoblogian to find out more about Dr. Valtor. I was amazed at the amount of information that I could piece together. Read more of The Eyes of the Lord Strike Again


12/23/2005 6:30:00 PM

Introduction to Ancient Christian Exegetes

Happy Birthday to Me

Posted Friday, December 23, 2005 by Brian Beers
Comments: 2
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For my birthday I received the Ancient Christian Commentary  on Scripture Volume IV – Joshua through 2nd Samuel. Through seminary I spent many hours in these books under the tutelage of Dr. Vreeland. He may eschew responsibility for my conclusions, but feel free to blame him any way. Having spent time in the former prophets I am eager to interact with Ambrose, Athanasius, and the others.

The ways these men interpreted and applied Scripture shaped doctrine and defined how the church approached for generations. Their methods and conclusions are often different and even at odds with current exegetical standards. This allows us to examine our own methods and assumptions, learning and gaining wisdom for our own exegesis. Michael Spencer, the Internet Monk describes theology as an ongoing conversation spanning millennia. I invite you to listen in and even participate in a conversation with these ancient scholars.
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12/23/2005 10:31:00 AM

Psalm 23 in the Feeding of the Five Thousand

Wifely observations in Mark

Posted Friday, December 23, 2005 by Brian Beers
Comments: 1
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As my wife read through Mark 6 she found a fascinating allusion to Psalm 23. She first noticed a speck of color in the otherwise visually-drab narrative, “Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.” (Mark 6:39). The mention of color only occurs 9 times in the Gospels. Five of them are the purple robe that Jesus was given during his trial. Two of them are the red sky that indicates weather in Matthew 16. One is green wood in Luke 23:31, and the green grass in Mark 6:39 is the ninth. Read more of Psalm 23 in the Feeding of the Five Thousand


12/16/2005 2:02:00 AM

Jonathan Edwards: Reconsidering Closed Communion and the Internal Condition

It's my hobby-horse, and I can ride it as long as I like!

Posted Friday, December 16, 2005 by Sam Yeiter
Comments: 7
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This is a paper that was written for my Jonathan Edwards course at Trinity.  It's fairly lengthy...but i'm not as thoughtful as Charlie, so the whole thing is here.  It deals with the issue of Edwards' firing from his first (and really only) church.  I take for granted some awareness of historical events (both of the times and of his life), so if something confuses you, please feel free to ask.  Also, I am not a church historian, nor an historian in general, so it is possible that i'm wrong about details...let me know if you see this as well (i don't have the grade yet, but i imagine that i'll make some adjustments to this post when i get his feedback).

Finally, i hope you find this edifying...and i highly recommend reading some Edwards for yourself.

                                                                                                            - Sam

 p.s. Most of the endnotes aren't worth looking at (for the casual reader), but make sure you check out numbers 7 and 11... 
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12/15/2005 6:29:00 PM

Close but no Cigar: Books Almost in the NT Part 3

Reasons for their rejection

Posted Thursday, December 15, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 7
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Well, here comes the part you've all been waiting for! Well, at least, it is the end. Here is my discussion of why these books were rejected and what impact that has on the books that were accepted.
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12/13/2005 11:41:00 AM

Close but no Cigar: Books Almost in the NT Part 2

Shepherd of Hermas, Wisdom of Solomon, Epistle of Barnabas, Revelation of Peter, Acts of Paul

Posted Tuesday, December 13, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: None
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Details about several more books that almost made it into the NT. The quotes and stories from the Epsitle of  Barnabas and the Acts of Paul are great reading!
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12/12/2005 5:07:00 PM

Are you king enough?

Terms of surrender in Luke 14:26-33

Posted Monday, December 12, 2005 by Brian Beers
Comments: 2
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The crowds around Jesus are swelling and it is time to thin the ranks of the insincere. So Jesus delivers a hard saying, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” That’s right, “If you can’t hate your family don’t even bother trying to be a disciple.” While this invitation to discipleship is inviting, I still think I can better stomach drinking blood. My purpose today is to reveal the opposing challenge that begins in verse 25. The difficulty of Jesus first statement has overwhelmed the opposing challenge which is, “If you think being a disciple is too hard, you ought to consider the alternative—which is impossible.” The traditional view of Luke 14:25-32 interprets verses 28-33 as two illustrations of how hard it is to hate your family and how you should think really hard about it before committing to being a disciple. I suggest that they illustrate the foolishness of rejecting this invitation to discipleship. Read more of Are you king enough?


12/11/2005 8:36:00 PM

Close but no Cigar: Books Almost in the NT Part 1

1 Clement, Didache

Posted Sunday, December 11, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 3
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I wrote a paper awhile ago about books almost in the NT and was thinking about presenting it at ETS this year, so I thought I would run it by you guys and see if ya'll had any comments. I've divided it into smaller chunks so it doesn't look like too much and maybe someone will actually read it.

People always like conspiracy theories, and such theories in regard to religion seem to be particularly believable to many. An issue that has received attention in the popular mind recently is the content of the canon of the New Testament. Did the Church Fathers get it right? Did they suppress books that should have been accepted? Should our canon be bigger? Is there a conspiracy to uncover here?

The topic of this paper will be to survey several books that almost made the NT canon and to examine why they were rejected. Looking at this data will help us to decide if we have the correct NT canon. The books to be surveyed here include most of the books that at least one non-heretical Church Father or canon list seriously considered at some point to be inspired. The books to be covered include 1 Clement, the Didache, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Revelation of Peter and the Acts of Paul. Besides the sources listed under each book, the extant text of each book and multiple introductions can also be found on the internet (Davis; Kirby; Knight).
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12/9/2005 10:17:00 PM

Random

Posted Friday, December 09, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: 2
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Just a few random thoughts.

I came across a website the other day that is worth a visit. It is basically bible stories with Lego's. Great concept. The interesting part is that it was made by an athiest, and I think that he just wanted people to see just how dumb the Bible. But I think he misjudged and just showed people how great it was! Fun stuff.

For those local Theoblogians, I just heard that the NW ETS will be at NBS this year. So that means you have no excuse for not being there. At least not as far as distance. Chisholm is going to be the plenary speaker, perhaps giving one of the papers he gave at the national ETS this year. March 4 is date. I'm trying to decide what paper I want to try and present. Should I be controversial or just fun?

And on a personal note, we just found out my wife is pregnant! Hurray! Very exciting. Be happy for us.

Charlie

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12/5/2005 10:55:00 PM

David's Palace

BAR article

Posted Monday, December 05, 2005 by Charlie Trimm
Comments: None
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For those of you who missed the hype, a big find this past summer was a building in the City of David that dated to the time of David. Perhaps this is the palace of David? Who knows. BAR has an article in the January/February issue by the lady who dug there, Eilat Mazar. The article is online.
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