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by on 2.23.10

my name is johnson

[Aside to the humour-challenged, see disclaimer below.]

My name has a long and sometimes storied history. It belongs to a whole host of characters. According to wikipedia, it is the second most common name in the USA. Alas, in the land of my forebears (Scotland), it doesn’t even make the top 20.

As I understand it, my name originally meant that its bearers were descended from one John (Iain), son of the MacDonald, who branched off and formed his own smaller clan, the MacIains (son of John, i.e., Johnson – or Johnston as we were known in the Old Country).

My name has caused me a little trouble. Some unsavoury characters share the name. No end of mocking occasionally ensues when some Johnson publicly embarrasses the rest of us possessing the name.

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Filed Under: Fun and games
by on 2.22.10

series on melanoma – NYT

Our family is very grateful for targeted cancer medication. The New York Times is running a series of articles on research about an anti-melanoma drug. It is quite moving – the people going through the trials have to be dealing with many ups and downs emotionally.

Here is the first article, “A Roller Coaster Chase for a Cure”

Here is the second, “After Long Fight, Drug Gives Sudden Reprieve”

UPDATE: Here is the third and last article in the frustrating fight against melanoma, “A Drug Trial Cycle: Recovery, Relapse, Reinvention”

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Filed Under: General Interest, Health, Medicine
by on 2.21.10

there was a time when we had personalities too

I’d like to comment on myself this time. In my post on ‘the vision thing’, I made this comment:

Another complicating factor in making these comparisons is that the ‘competing’ ministries are represented by ministries strongly identified with a popular individual on the conservative evangelical side as opposed to more institutional or group oriented ministries/organizations on the fundamentalist side.

Others have noticed this difference also. The Conservative Evangelical brand is largely led by ministries centered around prominent individuals. The Fundamentalist brand, these days, really has no star power in its leaders and it tends to find whatever leadership it has in collective efforts, rather than in individual ministries.

That is a generalization, of course. There are, I suppose, some exceptions to the rule, but I think the generalization holds.

For example, when you think Conservative Evangelical, you think of a list of names: Dever, Piper, Mahaney, Mohler, MacArthur, etc. Some of these men represent institutions and work closely with a number of other men, but there is a sense that they are the focal point of the brand.

On the other hand, when you think Fundamentalism, what comes to mind? Bob Jones University, the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship, Maranatha, Detroit, Central, the Wilds, etc. Of course, individuals lead these ministries and fill up their staffs, but I would suggest that even fairly well informed observers would have to think a bit to get the individual leaders of ALL of these ministries. On the CE side, if we simply named 9Marks, Desiring God, Sovereign Grace, Southern Seminary, Grace to You… most observers – regular readers of this blog – would be able to put the names to those ministries without any effort.

Isn’t that a curious difference? It wasn’t always so in Fundamentalism. And that involves both an irony and a sign of generational change.

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Filed Under: Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism
by on 2.17.10

the vision thing

I’ve been involved in one of our interminable discussions of the state of fundamentalism on another blog. The topic of conversation shifted from the original post somewhat and one comment from a pastor in California brought up the idea of ‘vision’.

He suggests that it is easy to summarize in a few short words or a phrases the essential vision of various evangelical ministries, but questions whether that is true of fundamentalist ministries or institutions. I don’t happen to think that he is right, but he seems to think that the ‘visions’ of the evangelicals are more compelling than the lack of vision of fundamentalists.

Another complicating factor in making these comparisons is that the ‘competing’ ministries are represented by ministries strongly identified with a popular individual on the conservative evangelical side as opposed to more institutional or group oriented ministries/organizations on the fundamentalist side. In some ways we aren’t really comparing apples to apples here.

Having said that, the idea of ‘vision’ (or ‘mission statements’) leaves me cold. Too much corporate psycho-babble for me.

I wonder, however, if a few readers would like to chime in on the subject by giving us their brief ‘vision statements’ for the various ministries mentioned. Here is the list:

  • 9Marks
  • Ligonier
  • Grace To You
  • Desiring God
  • BJU
  • FBFI
  • Sword of the Lord

I am going to post the complete post I am reacting to after the jump, so I would suggest that it would be best if you write out your vision/mission statements first, without looking at the post or other comments. Then click through to my comments section and post your reaction.

We can discuss various other aspects of this post as well, but let’s start with how well we can define these ministries without looking up their mission statements on their web-sites or doing any research about them. If you aren’t that familiar with a ministry, ‘I don’t know’ is an acceptable response.

More below…

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Filed Under: Evangelicalism, Fundamentalism, Issues
by on 2.9.10

too, too horrible

Canada has found a new punishment more horrific than capital punishment.

Those with sensitive constitutions be warned. Here is the link.

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Filed Under: Fun and games
by on 1.31.10

are we anabaptists?

A very interesting discussion on names and terminology in the 17th century is going on here. Would the first Baptists have embraced the term ‘anabaptist’? Apparently not.

Apparently labels matter (or mattered) to some.

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Filed Under: Church History, Scholarship
by on 1.31.10

1.31.10 gbcvic sermons

Our first message is the preached form of our Wed, Jan 20. It is the fruit of our pastors hospital stay last weekend.

Dwelling in the Shelter of the Almighty (Ps 91.1-16)

~~~

We continue with our look at Tyndale’s Prologue to Romans, 5th part, covering mostly his summary of Romans 7.

Tyndale on Romans (5)

~~~

Our afternoon service was occupied with our annual business meeting. We thank the Lord for a good year past and look forward to a good year coming. The Lord is doing some good things among us.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 1.29.10

place of sports in Christian life

An interesting article at Christianity Today regarding the over-emphasis and over-indulgence in sports that plagues many Christians.

Sports Fanatics

I don’t endorse CT, but post this link as a matter of interest. Considering the source, the article ought to speak volumes to Christians of a more conservative persuasion.

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Filed Under: General Interest, Sports
by on 1.27.10

twisting the tail?

A few days ago I was incapacitated while comments on an earlier post piled up. I’d like to respond to each one individually in the order in which they were received, so I thought I would do it in a post. I’ll close the comments on the original post and all subsequent comments (if any) can be posted here.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues
by on 1.24.10

a little housekeeping

I have several comments in the queue for the previous post. I haven’t gotten around to digesting them or dealing with them because of a little medical emergency. I won’t go into gory details (it was gory) but I ended up in the hospital for the weekend after experiencing my first ambulance ride.

The docs were great, I am now fine, under strict orders to hopefully prevent a reoccurrence.

I do appreciate each of you (about 5) who have comments in the queue that I need to deal with. I hope you will be patient as I will get to them in due time.

A few observations from the experience:

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Filed Under: General Interest, Health, Medicine, Personal
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