‘Reformed and Smitten’

From The Sacred Sandwich:

Although he had sat next to her many times in Sunday School, Bill never realized how beautiful Mary was until he saw her “Calvin 500″ commemorative earrings.

Watch talks from the recent Ligonier ‘Holiness of God’ Conference

Here (HT: Justin Taylor >> Tim Challies)

Download John Piper’s Finally Alive for free

… as well as a number of other books by Piper, via the Desiring God website

Book review: The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards, by Steve Lawson

Michael Dewalt

Weekend Walkabout, December 20, 2008

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

“All” Always Means ALL. Right? - Phil Johnson

A Bad Sign - The Sacred Sandwich

CCM Magazine’s Top Ten Artist Blogs of 2008 (HT: Worship.com)

Don’t Waste Your Sexuality - Josh Harris

The Elvis-Beatles Relativity Fallacy - Rod Dreher

“Free” Christian music downloads from CompassionArt - Gospel Soundcheck

Glorifying God in Our Christmas Shopping - Tony Reinke

“Does my gift serve the soul of the recipient?”

How Hellish is ‘Time Out’? - Russell Moore

If Only it Were That Clear - Mark D. Roberts

Jonestown and the Reformed Movement - R. Scott Clark

“As weird and impossible as Jonestown seems today, what happened to them and what they did to themselves, is not utterly unrelated to ideas, causes, and personalities in the Reformed movement over the last three decades.”

Killing is My Business, and Business is Good - Paul Manata

Lewis’s Famous Essay on Bulverism (HT: Victor Reppert)

Martin Luther’s Christmas Book - Between Two Worlds

No Good Reason - Cerulean Sanctum

“In sorting through this clothing, the realization that I throw away just about nothing hit home.”

Online Community…Does it exist? YES! But I Think You Are Asking the Wrong Question - Rhett Smith

Phillips Daylight Window Concept Presentation - Joshua Sowin

Q+A :: How many U.S. churches exist? - Church Relevance

Reflections from a Church Pianist - Amy Scott

“When I have a brain freeze at a bad time, I’ve got a special look for the other musicians that asks, ‘What are you people thinking, man?’”

Six Christmas Poems - Marcus Goodyear

Tim Challies Day - Justin Taylor

Unpacking forgiveness in real life - Dan Phillips

Volition: A Short Film - Jonathan Ignacio

“It is a fifteen minute film focusing on three of the worst atrocities of human rights this world has faced.”

Why read through Calvin’s Institutes in 2009? - Ligon Duncan

Xmas Giveaway - Trevin Wax

“For the next ten days (Dec. 15-25), you have the opportunity to register to win all ten of my favorite books this year. Plus, an ESV Study Bible. That’s $260 worth of books!”

You Should Subscribe - Green Baggins

Zeitgeist as Agent? - Pseudo-Polymath

“Consider … for a moment the intelligent ant colony … from the ant’s perspective … here with man as ant. “

“More from the ‘Cesspool’ about Catholicism”

Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Seminary, responds to the bloggers at reformata.org, who have referred to the institution as “Fuller Theological Cesspool Seminary” because of his sympathetic stance regarding Roman Catholicism.

Mouw cites quotes from John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon, conceding that some that remain within the Catholic Church are redeemed.

The Calvinists are coming

See this essay by Errol Hulse, “The Calvinistic Resurgence in America“, at Banner of Truth (HT: John Samson).

And see this post by Timmy Brister: “Hyper-Calvinism, Anti-Calvinism, and Founders Ministries“:

“When Calvinism in the SBC could not be defeated by truth, by pragmatism, by heavy-handedness, or rewriting history, the alternative agenda is (5) to change terminology and pursue “hyper-Calvinists” in the SBC …”

Desiring God interviews editor of John Calvin book

Doug Mathis posts a brief interview with Burk Parsons, editor of John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, Doxology, which features contributions from Sinclair Ferguson, John MacArthur and Jerry Bridges:

“DG: How did you put together such an outstanding team to write on Calvin?
 
I threatened each of the potential contributors with the curses of Deuteronomy 28 if they didn’t write. No, not really. Actually, I suppose that each of the contributors who wrote for the book did so on account of their desire to have a book on Calvin for laypeople …”

“SBC and Calvinism: Three events that widened the divide”

Tom Ascol posts at the Founders Ministries blog. In case you were wondering, the three events he lists are

1. Steve Lemke article
2. David Allen’s review
3. The John 3:16 Conference

Two blog births

Fide-O ‘dogmatician’ Jason Robertson has started a blog called Compelling Truth, which will showcase his theological articles.

And Matthew Blair (The Foolish Galatian) has just launched a photo blog called Life With a Bible.

Weekend Walkabout: Nov. 21, 2008

[Friends, I'm pressed for time today – please pardon the dearth of posts. May your weekend be a joyful one. You can help it in that direction by making time to seek Him. See you Monday, Lord willing.  - HC]

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

• The Addict in Us All, Carolyn McCulley
• Benedict on Monasticism, The Anchoress
• Considering Servant Leadership (parts one, two, three), Jan Lynn
• Dear Church Member, Ragamuffin Soul
• The Empty Promise of Meditation, Al Mohler
• Five by Five, Defending. Contending.
• Great Ideas for churches to make the most of Christmas, what’s next
• Happy 100th Birthday, Irene Peterson!, John Piper
• If not consumerism, what?, Rod Dreher
• Joshua Guthrie: Dollar for a Drink, Alex Harris
• Korea - 14 Days - Questions, Questions, Questions…, John Saddington
• Lately, I’ve Been Rethinking My Position on Gay Marriage, Locusts & Honey
  
• A Mother’s Hope, girl talk
• New Archaeological Evidence for the Old Testament?, Aaron C. Rathburn
  
• Operation 513: In Memory of a Fellow Evangelist, Reformed Evangelist
  
• Puritan Reformed Journal, Vol. 1, Michael Dewalt
  
• Qeiyafa, Looting, and Buried Secrets, Todd Bolen
• The Realism of the Supernatural, Sally Thomas
• Study: Two Thirds of Americans Believe Their Values Not Shared by Hollywood, Sharper Iron
  
• Ten Dollar Blessings and a Lesson in Circles, Billy Coffey
• The Unresolved Tensions of Evangelicalism Part 1: The Biblical Worldview, Michael Spencer
• Videos of the Week - 11/20/08, Collide
• Why I Gave Up ‘Humility’, John Stackhouse
• X-Ray Discovery Sparked 19th-Century DIY Craze, Wired Science
• Your ‘past’ year resolution?, Eugene Cho
• Zondervan Acquires Online Community-Building Resource for Churches, Justin Taylor

Wrestling with the Sabbath

Michael Dewalt, a student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, offers the first of a series of posts in which he examines the arguments of those who hold that Sabbath-keeping is not a requirement for Christians:

“These post[s] that I plan are only and will be only my thoughts as this next 3 months I plan to study the other side (against the keeping of the Sabbath) and just place them up for whoever wants to read, whoever wants to comment, and whoever wants to bash me.”

Weekend Walkabout: Nov. 15, 2008

26 posts from the week that escaped mention (almost!):

• Announcing Ligonier Academy
• Beautiful Earring Found in Jerusalem
• Church Marketing Podcast
• Desiring God Pastors Conference (2009)
• ETERNITY, EVOLUTION, AND EMERGENCE
• Female Christian Bloggers
• Gospel and Culture Project
• Have no Fear
• In Remembrance of Veterans
• Jessica Simpson’s gospel background
• Keeping a Promise In Spite Of Himself
• Let’s Go Christmas Shopping!
• Matisyahu on Music, Religion, and Charity
• Nollywood: The Nigerian film industry
• One Week After The Election …
• Picture of the year - bulls*#t or prophetic?
• A QUANTUM OF SOLACE– A QUOTIENT OF PAIN
• Reminded of the Power and Priority of the Word
• SC priest: Voted for Obama? No Eucharist for you!
• Ted Haggard Speaks on Scandal for First Time
• Ur 2.0: Get Farther Out of Ur
• Visit the Sick, A New Book from Brian Croft
• When the World Slanders, and Christians Follow
• X-Mas in Goa video (OK, not a Christian blog … but some great percussion)
  
• Young Adults Make Bad Jurors?
• Zealous Police Officer (again, not a Christian blog … but a decent joke)

[FYI: A sure way to get cited here is to write a post beginning with the letter X or Z. Those are especially hard to find.  - HC]

On Peter Leithart and the Federal Vision

The views of theologian Peter J. Leithart were recently evaluated by the Pacific Northwest Presbytery. A majority of the committee found them consistent with the Westminster standards.

R. Scott Clark has some background links.

Ordinary Means provides a podcast interview with Jason Stellman, who chaired the committee that examined Leithart’s views.

And Bob Mattes discusses the committee’s conclusions:

“I spent some time last night going over the two NW Presbytery reports in some detail. I had said in this post that I would be writing a series of critiques of the majority report, but have changed my mind. It has already been done. The minority report thoroughly covers anything that I would have said. Together with the podcast, the minority report captures all of Leithart’s key errors that place him outside the Westminster Standards and strike at the vitals. In addition, Lane has an index of his posts engaging Leithart’s views on justification here. I have engaged Leithart’s position on final justification here, here, and here; and touched on baptismal efficacy here. In those posts, I draw on early Reformed writers to show the historical errors in both Leithart and, as it turns out, Rayburn’s argumentation.”

Peter J. Leithart’s website

Are Arminians saved?

A Calvinist answer at Reformation Theology:

Question: ‘If we are saved by grace alone (and we are) how can anyone be saved if they believe that you can lose your salvation? If one believes they can lose their salvation does not that faith then become a work, rather than a gift of God? …’

Response: ‘We do not exactly hold the view that Arminians are lost. Much bad theology turns out merely to be inconsistent theology and it is possible to be saved in spite of bad theology, but only if you are inconsistent, and you don’t really believe what you think or say you believe. …’

Read the entire post.

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