Bully's Blog

or Theonomy in the Bible

“…instead of Moses and Aaron challenging the powers that be, we have Herodian preachers crying “Peace, peace” when there is no peace. Nathan is not qualified to confront David because Nathan himself has been sleeping around.”

In his post Christianity as Comprehensive Cultural Tribunal?, timsmartt questions the validity of philosophy’s self-appointed role as an unbiased cultural referee and wonders whether Christianity should take that role:

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or A Thimbleful of Watery Bible Broth

The Modernist Bible is very thin. The Old Testament is a mix of myth and history, and Revelation is just a general picture book of the gospel’s work in the world (or a polemic against first century Rome). It boils down basically to some key statements by Jesus and the letters of Paul. And even here, there are problems. Evangelicals love Paul because he communicates like a Greek, but even evangelicals choke on some things he says.

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More on baptism (sorry). Douglas Wilson writes:

“You could even say that this is one of the differences between presbies and baptists — all Christians of course believe in “covenant baptism,” but for the baptists the relationship is between the individual being baptized and the covenant itself, Christ Himself — that’s what makes it a covenant baptism. But for the presbie, other people are involved.”

Good observation. But surely this is a contrast between good presbie practice and an error baptists are only prone to?

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…but slack on Creation.

“What’s so great about Christianity? D’Souza gives this question a book-length answer, exploring Christianity’s effect on government, science, philosophy and morality, while answering the objections of atheists along the way. He also gives a warning: most of the West is living on the inheritance of the Christian culture handed down to it by previous generations, but the secular worldview is slowly eating away at the best things Western culture offers. Continue reading

“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster”  (Jeremiah 51:34)

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Who’d have thought Genesis 1 unlocks the whole Bible?
Someone suggested that Totus Christus is a pill-too-big for most to swallow, and that I should write an introductory how-to (Thanks, Eric!). Then, with a big grip on the heptamerous handle, readers can tackle the commentary more easily. I’m trying to keep this intro to 150-200 pages, including some particularly fetching diagrams.

“Ever wish someone could give you a big handle on the whole Bible without years of study? You pick up that book in a Christian bookstore and think you have finally found the answer, only to be bombarded with an endless stream of data to make sense of? All you discovered was that the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know.

Well, this book not only promises to give you that big handle—it will deliver on the promise. Yes, you will realise how much you don’t know, but you will have such a handle on God’s way of communicating, and on the big picture of Bible history, that you will be able to approach and study any passage with confidence. You should be asking, how is this possible?

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Can trying to be relevant make a Christian irrelevant? John Piper writes:

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or Why Are We Baptizing the Dead?

Peter Leithart writes concerning baptism:

“In Genesis 9:11, Yahweh promises not to “cut off flesh” by water.  That is the covenant with Noah.

A few chapters later, Yahweh tells Abram that he must cut off the flesh of all male children of Israel, not by water but by a knife.

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This passage is arranged symmetrically (chiasmus) but is also progressive, following the pattern of the Feasts (which also follow the pattern of Genesis to Judges).

Sabbath/Genesis – Paul’s word of greeting (Grace and peace)

……….Passover/Exodus – Divisions in the church

………………..Firstfruits/Leviticus – Wisdom of Christ

…………………………Pentecost/Numbers – Crucifixion of Christ

………………..Trumpets/Deuteronomy – Mind of Christ

……….Atonement/Joshua – Divisions in the church

Tabernacles/Judges – The Day will declare (judge) it (Church as Sabbath-Temple)

Kelby asked if these patterns are simply the work of the Holy Spirit, or if the authors of the Bible were consciously composing their writings in this manner. Good question. I think the answer is both. Bible books sometimes arrange events out of chronological order to fit this pattern. But then, Bible history also follows this pattern at various levels. The authorship of Scripture is like the humanity and divinity of Christ: inseparable.

A passage from Why Johnny Can’t Preach: The Media Have Shaped the Messengers, by T. David Gordon:

“All of their sermons are about Christian truth or theology in general, and the particular text they read ahead of time merely prompts their memory or calls their attention to one of Christianity’s important realities (insofar as they perceive it). Their reading does not stimulate them to rethink anything, and since the text doesn’t stimulate them particularly (but serves merely as a reminder of what they already know), their sermon is not particularly stimulating to their hearers.

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