Apologetics, Debate, Historical Jesus Debate, Lectures, Mp3s, New Perspective on Paul

An Evening Conversation on Jesus and Paul

For those of you interested in a little bit of informative reading… The conversation on Jesus and Paul that took place between Jimmy Dunn and Tom Wright in October 2004 has been transcribed into a well formated PDF.  There were two sessions, one on the Historical Jesus debate and another regarding the New Perspective on Paul. Both conversations were very informative and this newly published PDF includes a full bibliography of works that Dunn and Wright cited during the conversation.

Here it is.

Also, if you would like to listen to this discussion instead of read it, you can download the two mp3s here and here.

Enjoy!

Church Planting, Promotionals, Testimonies

Update on Driscoll/Hybel Situation

5 Comments

I always want to have clear and accurate information. Thankfully Matt Payne posted a comment on my previous entry….

He attended the conference that Mark Driscoll’s video was sent to and afterwards was able to get a copy of the video along with many other people who wanted it.

I trust that Mark’s story was sincere, but I’m not quite sure that everything Mark said about the event is accurate.

Thanks Matt!

Also, Matt, could you please further elaborate on the things that Bill Hybels said about the video and why he didn’t like it?

Church Planting, Promotionals, Testimonies

Someone needs to put the “Smackdown” on SOMEONE?

2 Comments

Correction: Please see the post after this post, along with its comments, for a clearer picture of what took place at this church planters conference regarding the Mark Driscoll video. I honestly do not want to say anything else about Mark because I trust he was sincere in his post. But after the diligence of some who were involved with the conference, I believe that my original post is no longer accurate or proper. I hope that the record can be set straight on this issue. Thanks again for all the comments.

– Glenn

========================= 

Well, it’s official, Bill Hybelsjust made a very stupid decision. I will not comment about any other things regarding Dr. Hybels since I do not know much about him, but I will comment about something I know he did that was wrong.

Mark Driscoll has just made it known, this weekend, what happened with the 8 minutes video he was asked to make for a church planting conference in Florida. Some 5,000 copies were sent to the conference for distribution to all attendees. Unfortunately, Bill Hybels did not like the video when it was shown and (the video having been well received by the audience) proceeded to castigate the video for its lack of recognition… of WOMEN church planters! After this, the organization hosting the conference decided not to hand out any of the videos.

Therefore, at the bottom of this post, you will find the video that Mark posted on YouTube for everyone to see since none of the copies were allowed to be distributed. You can read about this story from the horses mouth.

By the way, I really loved the video and I fully believe that Mark Driscoll said what those church planters needed to hear. I can only hope that God will teach Bill Hybels a lesson for his egalitarian non-sense and blaspheming of God’s written word. Titus 2:4-5: “train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.”

Funny

I knew I would find it again one day!

A long time ago I was sent this video in an E-mail… like back in high school… Well, needless to say, I recently found out that it was placed on youtube and I knew I just had to share it with everyone!  🙂

This is a video that many of us should all understand and sympathize with. I can just imagine what everyone else in the office was saying after they found out about it.

Do you have the fruit of the Spirit known as self control?

Books, Justification

Justification in Perspective

Justification in PerspectiveThis is the book I am currently reading: Justification in Perspective: Historical Developments and Contemporary Challenges

Here is what one reviewer said:

“As the doctrinal fountainhead of the Reformation and subsequent Protestant tradition, any innovation concerning justification tends to spark explosive discussion. All too frequently, these incendiary debates favor collateral damage over precision strikes. Alternatively, serious debate across lines of disagreement has often spurred past theological leaders to further, careful reflection and insight. Justification in Perspective is an excellent example of this latter sort of constructive theological dialogue. Each contributor comes from one of Reformed Protestantism’s many strands and examines justification within a particular period or theologian from the early church and Augustine through the Reformers to modern developments in Barth and the New Perspective.”

So far, the book has been an excellent read. Their interaction is honest and humble in seeking to understand and explain the history of the debate. If you want to look at much of the past and current debates and viewpoints regarding the doctrine of Justification, then this is the book for you.

As an example of what I’ve read, I found the chapter about the Council of Trent extremely eye opening and helpful.

Here is a breakdown of the chapters:

PART 1: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: The Heart of Protestant Preaching

1. Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference Sermon (Mark Bonnington)

PART 2: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: Its Antecedents and Historical Development

2. Justification in the Early Church Fathers (Nick Needham)
3. Justification in Augustine (David F. Wright)
4. Simul Peccator et Justus: Martin Luther and Justification (Carl Trueman)
5. Calvin’s Doctrine of Justification: Variations on a Lutheran Theme (Karla Wubbenhorst)
6. A Tale of Two Imperial Cities: Justification at Regensburg (1541) and Trent (1546-1547) (Anthony N.S. Lane)
7. Justification and the Ordo Salutis (A.T.B. McGowan)

PART 3: The Protestant Doctrine of Justification: Continuities and Discontinuities in Current Challenges to the Traditional View

8. Justitia Aliena: Karl Barth in Conversation with the Evangelical Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness (Bruce L. McCormack)
9. The Lutheran-Catholic Declaration on Justification (Henri A. Blocher)
10. The Doctrine of Justification in Paul and Beyond: Some Proposals (Simon Gathercole)
11. New Perspectives on Paul (N.T. Wright)

Author Information: Bruce L. McCormack (Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary; Dr. theol. h.c., Friedrich Schiller University) is the Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. A world-renowned Barth scholar, he is a frequent writer and lecturer on topics of Reformed theology.

Current Events

More Evil at Virginia Tech

I point to this video as a display of the sadness and depravity of humanity put on display throughout, but especially at the end of, the Convocation Service for Virginia Tech that was held on April 17, a couple of days after the shooting.

Starting at 50 minutes into the video (you can scan ahead on the above link and start listening at the 50 minute mark), one of Virginia Tech’s English Professors came to the podium to give the closing remarks. In those remarks, these things were said:

“We do not understand this tragedy… We know we did nothing to deserve it… But neither does the child in Africa dying of AIDS… neither do the invisible children walking the night away to avoid being captured by a rogue army… neither does the baby elephant being ??? in its community being devastated for ivory… neither does the Mexican child looking for fresh water…” etc… Then: “No one deserves a tragedy!… We are better than we think!”

And the point of the convocation was to speak against the devaluing of human life???

Other absurdities went on during this service, but I simply want to focus on what was said above at the end of the service.

How is it that anyone can come away from this service and not wonder why human life doesn’t matter to that many people anymore? I mean, we’re just random products of the evolutionary process and we’re only as important as a baby elephant being ‘murdered’ for its ivory… right?

I wonder how many people in this service were thinking about the passage I quoted the day before the convocation on my blog? Let’s read it again:

Luke 13:1-5…

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

If the standing ovation given at the end of those closing remarks was a hint of how the people of Virginia Tech view themselves, then Virginia Tech will go on devaluing human life and denying the image of God they were created with. This is the true sadness of the whole event. It is not surprising to anyone who knows the story of Genesis, but in a service where a Christian minister speaks and does nothing to exalt the glory of Jesus Christ for a room full of many people that would call themselves Christians… why did this women, speaking destructive lies, receive such glory from the audience?

The answer: DEPRAVITY

Until all of us understand the depravity of the human heart, no one will understand why things like the Virginia Tech shooting happen. No one will understand why the children in Africa are dying of AIDS. No one will understand why “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Genesis 8:21)

Well, this is all I will say for now. Anyone not familiar with the Bible, who reads the story of Genesis, might understand a little bit about what I am saying. But it is truly sad and evil that the image of God was further spit upon by the English professor who is ignorant of God’s power and God’s glory.

In Christ and In Defense of the Faith,

Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

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