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by on 5.21.08

heard everything?

One of my Canadian news aggregator sites led me to this story:

“European Court agrees to hear chimp’s plea for human rights“

I am not sure what is more bizarre… the fact that someone is actually attempting to make a case like this or the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has agreed to take the case.

The case involves a chimp in an animal sanctuary facing bankruptcy. A young woman wants to become his legal guardian to care for him if the sanctuary is forced to shut down. In order to be a ‘guardian’, the chimp has to be a person, hence this case.

Some of this young woman’s rationale:

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Filed Under: Environmentalism, Fun and games, General Interest, Issues, Politics
by on 5.19.08

an evangelical really gets it

John Mark Reynolds, professor at Biola, writes in response to the Evangelical Manifesto on the Washington Post On Faith site I mentioned the other day. His article, Reasonable Evangelicals contains a number of very interesting statements, but this one particularly caught my eye.

An Evangelical is moderate, fundamentally opposed to fundamentalism. They believe in truth and that God has spoken to humankind, but know that understanding that truth is difficult. They are willing to walk the hard road of Socratic persuasion and of cultural engagement. Sometimes they do this badly, but modern American Evangelicals historically came into being through a rejection of any narrow intolerance that refuses to consider competing points of view.

I would describe this as the Canadian approach to self-definition.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, New Evangelicalism
by on 5.16.08

Newsweek-WaPo site ‘on faith’

Some very interesting responses to the Evangelical Manifesto can be found on the Washington Post’s site, “On Faith“. The list of contributors is a potpourri of the broadest kind of ecumenicalism.

Among others, Deepak Chopra(!) comments on what he calls  a “new evangelicalism”.

In light of recent discussions regarding the social activism of some, one of his comments is interesting.

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Filed Under: Compassion, Issues, New Evangelicalism
by on 5.14.08

an old timer on social action

Jon Trainer and Champ Thornton are talking about social action and whether there is a mandate for the church to engage in such activities. You can read some of their articles here, here, and here.

I am not sure where Jon and Champ will end up on this question, but for myself I see  no mandate at all for social action as a ministry of the church (except perhaps direct help for church members in crisis). As a Christian individual, I believe I should be kind and helpful to all as I come in contact with needs, but this really isn’t the mission of the church.

While I was working away on Romans today, I ran across a little essay in one of my commentaries on the social gospel. It is by William R. Newell, one-time assistant superintendent of Moody Bible Institute (under R. A. Torrey) and a fine Bible teacher and evangelist in his own right.

Newell left Moody in 1910 to take a Presbyterian pastorate in Florida. He published his commentary on Romans in 1938. He died in 1956.

This essay is from the Romans commentary.

William R. Newell, Romans verse by verse, pp. 46-51

TO THE PREACHERS OF “THE SOCIAL GOSPEL”

This is the doctrine that Jesus Christ came to reform society (whatever “society” may be!); that He came to abate the evils of selfishness, give a larger “vision” to mankind; and, through His example and precepts, bring about such a change in human affairs, social, political, economic and domestic, as would realize all man’s deep longings for a peaceful, happy existence upon earth, ushering in what these teachers are pleased to call, “the Kingdom of God.”

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Filed Under: Compassion, Culture, Issues, Quotables
by on 5.13.08

terms matter

While words are elastic and meaning changes over time, terms do matter. For example, would you say you “pro-life” or “anti-abortion”? (For the other side, it would be “pro-choice” or “pro-abortion”, eh?) While either one of the first pair is not all that offensive to me, the second term “anti-abortion” is primarily used by the “pro-choice” side as a pejorative against their opponents.

Many of the terms used in the debate are seen as political framing: terms used to validate one’s own stance while invalidating the opposition’s. For example, the labels “pro-choice” and “pro-life” imply endorsement of widely held values such as liberty and freedom, while suggesting that the opposition must be “anti-choice” or “anti-life” (alternatively “pro-coercion” or “pro-death”). Such terms gloss over the underlying issue of which choice or life is being considered and whose choice or what kind of life is deemed most important.[1]

But my topic tonight isn’t what you might suspect. What I want to talk about are these terms: “cessationist” and “non-cessationist”. Here is my question: who is ‘framing’ whom with these terms? Where did they come from and what is the purpose of this terminology?

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Filed Under: Charismatism, Issues
by on 5.11.08

decision decision

I mentioned my recent visit to the BG Library and picking up Decision magazine while there. One item of note is the author of one of the articles. Check out the byline on an article entitled “The Starting Point for Change“. I think Bob Bixby will be disappointed again. But he shouldn’t be surprised. It’s what new-evangelicals do.

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Filed Under: Issues, MacArthur, New Evangelicalism, Personalities
by on 5.9.08

a couple of evangelical editorials worth pondering

First, one from Paige Patterson on the current state of the SBC with some interesting insights for fundamentalists — Of grinches, goblins, gremlins and ghosts, from the May 6 Baptist Press.

Second, one from Alan Jacobs, professor of English at Wheaton, taking a slap at the so-called “Evangelical Manifesto” — Come On, You Call This a Manifesto?, appearing in the Wall Street Journal.

A few thoughts and quotes below:

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, New Evangelicalism
by on 5.3.08

they sound like young fundies

“All too often we have attacked the evils and injustices of others,” they wrote, “while we have condoned our own sins.” They write, “we must reform our own behavior.”

Read the CT blog here. Usual disclaimers apply.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, New Evangelicalism
by on 5.2.08

does desiring God mean this?

A post from Lighthouse Trails points out that the BGC magazine contains an article advocating mystical, yoga-like contemplative prayer, including pictures of yoga-like meditation poses. The BGC is the Baptist General Conference, the denomination of you know who…

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Filed Under: Issues, Personalities, Piper, Separation
by on 4.26.08

a brief history of the wcc

In an earlier post, ‘stages in the history of visible church unity‘, I left off on the point noting the emergence of the World Council of Churches on the one hand and the International Council of Christian Churches on the other. What follows is a bit of an expansion on that, again from my 28 year old Church History class notes.

Edinburgh 1910 – World Missionary Conference

  • Turning point towards WCC
  • International Missionary Council

[From this also flowed two conferences…]

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Filed Under: Church History, Issues, Scholarship, Worldliness
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