Fire and Knowledge

For those interested in the corrosive growing “emergent church” movement, be sure to check out JT’s post regarding it at Between Two Worlds. I like the quote from Koukl:

Be forewarned. The Emergent Church is the most theologically corrosive view/movement/trend in a long time. The Seeker movement and the “Laughing Revival” of the last decade pale in comparison. And it’s consuming millions, especially young people.

Update: I should also mention Al Mohler’s review of A Generous Orthodoxy which explains why this is such a strange movement. A movement with no orthodoxy can hardly be orthodox, as Mohler says:

The Emergent movement represents a significant challenge to biblical Christianity. Unwilling to affirm that the Bible contains propositional truths that form the framework for Christian belief, this movement argues that we can have Christian symbolism and substance without those thorny questions of truthfulness that have so vexed the modern mind. The worldview of postmodernism–complete with an epistemology that denies the possibility of or need for propositional truth–affords the movement an opportunity to hop, skip and jump throughout the Bible and the history of Christian thought in order to take whatever pieces they want from one theology and attach them, like doctrinal post-it notes, to whatever picture they would want to draw. . . .

The problem with A Generous Orthodoxy, as the author must surely recognize, is that this orthodoxy bears virtually no resemblance to orthodoxy as it has been known and affirmed by the church throughout the centuries. Honest Christians know that disagreements over issues of biblical truth are inevitable. But we owe each other at least the honesty of taking a position, arguing for that position from Scripture, and facing the consequences of our theological convictions.

Orthodoxy must be generous, but it cannot be so generous that it ceases to be orthodox. Inevitably, Christianity asserts truths that, to the postmodern mind, will appear decidedly ungenerous. Nevertheless, this is the truth that leads to everlasting life. The gospel simply is not up for renegotiation in the twenty-first century. A true Christian generosity recognizes the infinitely generous nature of the truth that genuinely saves. Accept no substitutes.

The New York Times: Unintelligent Design

While there is much that is marvelous in nature, there is also much that is flawed, sloppy and downright bizarre. Some nonfunctional oddities, like the peacock’s tail or the human male’s nipples, might be attributed to a sense of whimsy on the part of the designer. Others just seem grossly inefficient. In mammals, for instance, the recurrent laryngeal nerve does not go directly from the cranium to the larynx, the way any competent engineer would have arranged it. Instead, it extends down the neck to the chest, loops around a lung ligament and then runs back up the neck to the larynx. In a giraffe, that means a 20-foot length of nerve where 1 foot would have done. If this is evidence of design, it would seem to be of the unintelligent variety.

Of course there is the curse of sin which Holt ignores in his treatment of intelligent design, but overall I think Romans 1:18-21 would be an appropriate response for Jim Holt’s article and attitude:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

That being said, it would be nice to see a detailed response to this article (and I am sure there will be), especially regarding his complete misunderstanding of pain and suffering.

An interesting post regarding John Calvin and geocentrism is over at Prosthesis.

Wayne Grudem has a new article on the TNIV that will be published in this week’s World Magazine. It is very informative! Here is his conclusion:

In many hundreds of places, then, the new words in the TNIV do not accurately reflect the meaning of the words God originally caused to be written, and thus they are not the words of God. They are human words that men have substituted for the words of God, and they have no place in the Bible. “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it” (Deuteronomy 4:2).

A parent’s primer to computer slang

What, you don’t know this l33t language your children speak? Don’t worry, Microsoft is there to help.

It is scarce possible to enslave a Republic of Civilians, well instructed in their Laws, Rights, & Liberties.
—Ezra Stiles, President of Yale (1777)

HRTWRK is

Joshua Blankenship’s new design company. Take a look!

There is a poem floating ‘round,
Describing someone who chowed down

Not on a rich creamy truffle–
This boy ate his iPod Shuffle!