Blog Wars, The Yankees, Fur, and Other Stuff from Around the Web

Everyone who blogs ought to familiarize themselves with the recent dust-up as described here.  Click here: CAMPONTHIS: BATTLES IN THE BLOGOSPHERE ...when conflicts arise, how should we respond and work towards resolve?  My advice is familiarize yourself with your blog provider's terms of service, know what constitutes libel and slander, and know your legal rights should someone falsely accuse you and then pressure your service provider to pull your blog.

So, animal rights groups don't like the Pope wearing fur.  It creeps me out too--for theological reasons, not because I think animals have rights.  Andy has all the rights that I choose to give him!  I guess we Reformed-types are safe from such protests until someone complains about the wearing of oxford cloth button-down shirts--the official garb of the Reformed minister.  Click here: AFP: Animal rights group protests over Pope's fur

Lets see. . .   Gays can now marry in California, but they can't consume trans fats.  I'll be glad when Arnold goes back to making Terminator movies.  This state just keeps getting weirder and weirder . . .   Click here: Schwarzenegger Terminates Trans Fats

What a great couple of days for Yankee fans.  We get Marte, Nady, and I-Rod (we surrender only one top ten prospect, and a relief pitcher who can't be trusted in big games), while the Red Sox lose Manny (a true Yankee killer), two top prospects, and 7 mil, and only get Jason Bay in return.  Makes me think there might be at least 163 games for us this year, the last in the old Yankee Stadium. 

Click here: ESPN - Ramirez traded to Dodgers in three-way deal - MLB

"Does the Prosperity Gospel Really Work?" and Other Interesting Stuff from Around the Web

This is interesting.  According to an AP story, close associates of Kenneth Copeland have somehow managed to significantly improve their own personal financial status.  Copeland's brother-in-law and son have made huge profits in real estate.  Members of his board have made big bucks through various speaking engagements at Copeland's church.  Hmmm . . .  Prosperity principle in action?  Or just old fashioned nepotism and "insider" benefits?   click here: Those close to televangelist prosper (OneNewsNow.com)

Speaking of televangelists, seems that our perpetually smiling friend Joel Osteen is also doing pretty well despite the current economic woes.   Why?  Seems like a bunch of folk think the solution to $5.00 a gallon gasoline, and the depressed housing market, is to tithe to Joel, who is teaching them to be "victors" not "victims."  Why didn't I think of that?  Click here: God Wants Me to Be Rich - WalletPop

Let me get this straight.  Before leaving on recess, our Congress does nothing about a comprehensive engery policy which deals with increasing supply and lowering demand . . . and that the only thing they actually talked about was re-instituting the 55 MPH speed limit?  And we wonder why our congress has a 9% approval rating????  I'm with Sammy Hagar on this one.  "I Can't Drive 55!"  Besides, according to my fuel calculator, I get much better mileage @ 72 MPH than I do at 55.  Click here: The Insanity of Drive-55 Laws - WSJ.com

I hate to admit, but I can really relate to this guy.  I've got an old Trimmer lawn mower with a 3.5 HP Briggs and Stratton.  The stupid thing goes through pistons and points like crazy, and just kills my shoulder trying to start it.  I finally got a lawn service.  If I didn't live in the nanny state, wacking the stupid thing might be an option.  Click here: FOXNews.com - Man Accused of Shooting Lawn Mower for Not Starting - Local News | News Articles | National News | U

Who Said That?

"If Jesus is the true man through his dedication to God's future, in his message of the nearness of God's Lordship, as well as through the anticipatory fulfillment of human destiny in his own person through his resurrection from the dead so that truly human life becomes possible through community with him, then that realization toward which all human hopes are aimed is already fulfilled in him in an anticipatory way."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.

Update on Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 07:06PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is a quotation from Wolfhart Pannenberg's famous text, Jesus -- God and Man (p. 206).

Pannenberg is a very important theologian.  But as I was reading this, I found myself going back over it, again, and again . . .   Will someone please translate this into English?  Wait, someone already did . . . 

The Archbishop, Grass-Skirts, Buddhist Chants, and other Interesting Stuff from Around the Web

Updates from the Lambeth Conference keep getting stranger and stranger.  "Anglicans stand in the middle of “one of the most severe challenges” to have faced the Church in history, the Archbishop of Canterbury said last night.  And then comes this line.  "The Archbishop was speaking as the bishops emerged from three days of retreat and a service featuring Buddhist chants and grass-skirted Melanesian dancers in Canterbury Cathedral."  You simply can't make this stuff up.  The church has become its own parody.  Click here: Archbishop of Canterbury says: 'Now we must work out what is really important' -Times Online

Here is another reminder that pastors need to be careful about the props they use in the pulpit.  A pastor has crashed his dirt-bike five rows deep into the seats--during a sermon.  This is why we are very careful about which URC ministers we invite to do pulpit supply.   Click here: FOXNews.com - Pastor Injured in Dirt Bike Accident During Church Service - Local News | News Articles | National N

Now this is cool (and hopefully, only the beginning of similar on-line projects), the entire Codex Sinaiticus will soon be on-line.  Click here: Codex Sinaiticus Project

Here's a good reason to polish the brass on a sinking ship.  Click here: Second Coming Ecology | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

The Sad Decline of the Christian Retailer's Convention

Apparently, the International Christian Retailers Convention (it used to be known as the CBA convention) is in a sad state of decline.  Attendance at this year's convention in Orlando was half of what it was in 1999.  Click here: Low Numbers at Christian Retail Show     - 7/21/2008 7:16:00 AM - Publishers Weekly

There was a time when attending the annual Christian Retailer's Convention was truly the social highlight of the year.  The reason--the entire White Horse Inn crew was turned loose in a gigantic convention where every Christian publisher (heroes and heretics) and purveyor of "Christian merchandise" was on hand to sell their wares.

My favorite CBA incident was in Orlando in 1999.  Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, and I were walking down one of the aisles when we were passed by R. C. Sproul and Bob Ingram (going the other direction).  R. C. says (loud enough for us to hear), "Look at that . . . Horton's got a Lutheran.  I gotta get me one of them . . ."  Rod has never heard the end of that one.  Listening to Rod and R. C. playfully spar with one another is one of the highlights of my life!

And then there was the time when Mike Horton approached the dear little lady selling "Christian" bed sheets with Bible verses on them.  Mike asked her, "what book of the Bible are the verses from?"  Without missing a beat she answered, "Oh, the Song of Solomon, of course."  We should have known . . .

When CBA was held here in Anaheim, Jan Crouch from TBN showed up in all her glory.  Rod couldn't believe his eyes.  Jan had on some bizarre hot pink outfit that included leggings, culottes, a hoop-skirt, and a bib-apron.  Rod followed Jan around in utter disbelief trying to get my wife (like she would know) to explain to him what all of it was and why anyone would wear such a thing.  It was hilarious . . .

Yes, I miss the days when our producer (Shane Rosenthal) would take his video camera and ask people basic theological questions.  Even better, was the time Shane filmed a noted televangelist gorging himself on pancakes in the cafeteria while he was pushing a new book on dieting, or the time Shane caught another televangelist flirting with an attractive young lady in front of his booth, and the time Shane filmed another wearing a shiny royal blue suit which was so bright it had to glow in the dark. . .

Oh yes, CBA . . .  What fond memories . . .

Squarespace Made Me Do it!

Squarespace released a new version of their software this morning, (v 5.0).  While I like their product, they've got a lot of nerve releasing a new version which pretty much wiped out my old template.  So, in order to use the new features, I've had to tinker all morning with the blog format.  I'm not a happy camper!!!  I've got work to do . . .  Ugh . . .  Please bear with me.

Baptisms, the Fourth of July, and Other Interesting Stuff from Around the Web

Rick Warren will be hosting both Barack Obama and John McCain at a meeting at Saddleback.  I wonder if they are also going to the "hula" worship service?   Click here: Presumed Presidential Nominees McCain and Obama to Make First Joint Campaign Appearance on August 16 at Saddleback

Here's a great new tax deduction.  You simply declare that your house is a church, and then you stop paying your property taxes.  Somehow I get the feeling that this is not going to work in Orange County.  Click here: Lake Bluff man declares his home a church, gets tax break -- chicagotribune.com

It shouldn't come as a surprise that baptisms, boating, and the Fourth of July don't quite go together.  Nothing ruins a good Fourth of July water skiing party like an outdoor baptism at the local boat dock.   Click here: 7/19/2008 - Baptisms, Boaters Clashing In Soddy-Daisy - Breaking News - Chattanoogan.com

No, this is not a Reformed program for life extension, but here's a guy who hit 100, who smoked 10 cigars a day, as well as enjoying a wee bit of whiskey in his morning tea.  Its in the genes, I guess.   Click here: Smoker who has 10 cigars a day celebrates his 100th birthday - Telegraph

Who Said That?

"The biblical picture of a saving experience is masterful in its clarity and simplicity. A single, one-time appropriation of God's gift results in a miraculous inward transformation that can never be reversed.

Since this is true, we miss the point to insist that true saving faith must necessarily continue.  Of course, our faith in Christ should continue.  But the claim that it absolutely must, or necessarily does, has no support in the Bible . . . . It is sufficient to observe that the Bible predicates salvation on an act of faith, not on the continuity of faith."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please no google searches or cheating. 

Update on Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 03:52PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is a quote from Zane Hodge's book, Absolutely Free, (p. 63) which was a reply to John MacArthur's "Lordship salvation" position.  In one short quote Hodges succeeds in turning faith into a human work (a one-time appropriation), he denies the perseverance of the saints (faith need only occur, not continue), and he makes the act of faith (not Christ) the ground of our salvation.

Would that every theologian be able to accomplish so much in so few words! 

An Intriguing Headline and Other Interesting Stuff from Around the Web

Tell me this headline doesn't grab your attention!   Click here: The Pope meets the serpent ... and the koala and the parrot| News | This is London   OK, the article itself is more like Dr. Doolittle than the Westminster Confession of Faith (XXV.6), but I'll bet it got your attention!  It did mine.

So, who are you going to believe when it comes to global warming?  Al Gore (Click here: My Way News - Gore sets 'moon shot' goal on climate change)  or 50,000 physicists who think he's full of methane?   Click here: DailyTech - Myth of Consensus Explodes: APS Opens Global Warming Debate

Speaking of global warning and the nanny state, here's more idiocy from our beloved state government.  California cars will now have a "green sticker" which supposedly indicates their impact upon global warming.  The climate nannies forget to mention the environmental impact on the climate from all the electricity required to charge all those hybrids.  They also forget to tell us about the serious environmental impact of disposing of all these highly toxic nickel-cadium batteries which will wear out and have to be replaced after five years.     Click here: New Cars in California Must Display Global Warming Score | GreenBiz.com

In the "why dogs are superior to cats department," here's yet another story of a cat trying to do away with its owners.   I'm telling you . . . cats have a sinful nature.  Click here: Official: Cat likely caused fire at Minatare home 

A Great Introduction to Calvin and the Reformed Faith

Here is a link to a great lecture on John Calvin.  This is from Dr. W. Robert Godfrey's series of lectures entitled "Heroes of the Faith."  For those of you who don't know him, Dr. Godfrey is the president of Westminster Seminary California and professor of church history.

Dr. Godfrey is a superb lecturer--this one is a real gem and one of his best.  This is also a great lecture to send to your evangelical/Arminian friends who may have misconceptions about Calvin and Calvinism.    Click here: SermonAudio.com - John Calvin