No Fault Today, No Marriage Tomorrow

Does marriage improve the standing of a relationship? Articles | No Fault Today, No Marriage Tomorrow | Phillip Jensen:

Here then is a great paradox. At this time when the community has, by simplifying divorce, so redefined marriage as to say that it is of no real value (“only a piece of paper”), some people feel their relationship will only gain value if it is recognized as a marriage.

Predestination and Some of Its Implications

Interesting take on limited atonement: Predestination and Some of Its Implications:

...but the Bible actually puts it in slightly different terminology. It says that the sins of the whole world are forgiven because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. However, this does not mean that everyone is saved. Forgiveness simply covers over sins and wipes the slate clean, but it doesn’t then automatically produce a relationship with God. In other words atonement pays off all our debts, but it doesn’t put us straight into credit. Rather, forgiveness simply gets us all ready for a relationship with God. The way we actually do get a relationship with God is when God grants his Holy Spirit to us that moves us to put our faith in Jesus and unites us to him (again, note how this is God’s initiative) so that we then receive the credit for his righteousness (Rom 3.22). What this does is bring a forgivenperson into full communion with God the Father through Christ by the Spirit.

Richard Dawkins Torn Limb From Limb - By Atheists

Skepchick vs Dawkins. I know Christians also turn on each other, but at least don't swear as much: Richard Dawkins Torn Limb From Limb - By Atheists:

It's enough to make you wonder if anybody knows what the hell rationality's all about. Not incidentally, this isn't the first time skeptics have become so uselessly derailed. This is the movement that almost boarded up shop for a week last year while it tried to figure out if the 'Skepticon' gathering had too many atheists on its speaker roster, and oughtn't therefore be called 'Atheistcon.' This is the movement in which a respected leader not long ago gave a talk entitled 'Don't Be a Dick,' and the suggestion was so novel that nobody shut up about it for weeks.

That's skeptics. Rational about everything except themselves, self-preservation, and manners.

Should Churches Spend Money on Nice Buildings?

Also, for the first 300 years the church didn't have an official building: Should Churches Spend Money on Nice Buildings? – The Gospel Coalition Blog:

“What’s so wrong with constructing church buildings? Nowhere does the New Testament say we shouldn’t construct church buildings.”

But that’s just it. There’s also nothing in the NT that says we should construct church buildings. So why is it that, whenever we plant a church or whenever a church starts to grow, the first thing we think is, We need to spend masses of our resources on a building? Why would we spend an inordinate amount of our resources on something that is never prescribed or even encouraged in the NT? Why would we not instead use those resources on that which is explicitly promoted in the NT, such as sharing the gospel with the lost or helping the poor in the church? As I write this, more than 700 million people around the world live in slums. Many of them are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Should we really be prioritizing bigger buildings for ourselves?

What Room Is the Debate In?

Interesting point about infant baptism: What Room Is the Debate In?:

'The modern debate over infant baptism frequently shows how far removed we are from the debates of the first century. Our debates center around a question like this: 'Do you mean to say that you think the Gentiles in the first century baptized their infants? Where do you get that?' In the first century the question was more like this: 'Do you mean to say that the Gentiles don't have to circumcise their infants?' It was a foregone conclusion in the first century that something must be done with the infants -- after all, if at least one parent was a believer, the children were holy (1 Cor. 7:14)' (To a Thousand Generations, p. 79).

Those Ranting Atheists

What religion and politics have in common is the humanity behind them. Religion doesn’t kill people, people kill people. Trying to stop humanity being religious has as much hope as stopping us from being political.

Those Ranting Atheists | Jesus Creed

Veracity of Clergy

How much does the UK trust the clergy: British Religion in Numbers: news:

Clergy and priests are the sixth most trustworthy group in society, according to an Ipsos MORI poll for the British Medical Association and published on 27 June. Fieldwork was conducted on 10-16 June 2011 among 1,026 adults aged 15 and over throughout the United Kingdom.

Things Your Lutheran Pastor Totally Loves: Your Awesome Evangelism Ideas (Ep. 8)‬‏

A good jab at a church running a MMA fight. Also what's with Driscoll been pro UFC? YouTube - ‪Things Your Lutheran Pastor Totally Loves: Your Awesome Evangelism Ideas (Ep. 8)‬‏:

Your Lutheran pastor totally loves doing something to proclaim the Gospel to people. But does he love doing ANYTHING to proclaim the Gospel?

Response to John Dickson

Tamas Pataki responds to an article the Dickson wrote about him: Response to John Dickson - ABC Religion & Ethics - Opinion:

In conclusion, it seems that (i) not a single point of Dickson's critique of my article is sound; and (ii) most of Dickson's historical and philosophical contentions are untenable, to put it mildly.

Video: Big Buts

A great video worth watching: Video: Big Buts | Communicate Jesus:

We’ve all got buts. We need to make sure our ‘buts’ aren’t bigger than out ‘whys’.

New Testament Textual Criticism: Free Audio and Video

More free NT content on iTunesU. This might encourage me to install the thing again on my PC... maybe... New Testament Textual Criticism: Free Audio and Video – Justin Taylor:

Today the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) announces that it is now available on iTunes U, a dedicated area of the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) that offers free audio and video content from leading educational institutions.

Uncut Android-[Update] – XDA, Freedom of Speech & htcclay

A user on a phone site I visit got a talking to for saying Jesus is his Lord in his forum signature, pardon the language in the article: Uncut Android-[Update] – XDA, Freedom of Speech & htcclay » Uncut Android:

XDA-Developers have requested that developer htcclay (Twitter @htcclay) to remove his signature from his account. His signature simply states

Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior

Who’s in your tribe?

McKnight questions the Periodic Table of Atheists and suggests at least six shouldn't be there: Who’s in your tribe? | Jesus Creed:

There are three more people on Ungodly News’ periodic table who, in the interests of historical accuracy, I have to say don’t belong there either: Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley and Bill Gates. All three are (or were) agnostics, not atheists, and as I’ll argue below, while these thinkers all reject the claims of revealed religion, none of them deserves to be called an anti-theist. It is an undeniable historical fact, however, that the ideas disseminated by Darwin and Huxley have caused many people to lose their faith in God.

Bell on Hell: Did We Get Gamed?

Reflections on Love Wins. It is worth reading the (quite good) article Taylor is responding to by Challies: Bell on Hell: Did We Get Gamed? – Justin Taylor:

Scot McKnight was one of the first to pull together the themes, some of which continue to stick. In an interview with Christianity Today on the same day as my post, he (1) predicted the controversy would be here today and gone tomorrow (“in a week it will all be gone”); (2) he said that I would owe Rob Bell “a huge apology” if I was wrong; (3) he suggested the book’s pre-pub publicity “worked perfectly” and that I and many of my readers “bit” on it; (4) and he said that John Piper’s infamous tweet (“Farewell, Rob Bell”) was a “flippant dismissal of Rob Bell” and “unworthy of someone of Piper’s stature,” and that a phone call or private letter to Bell would have been better.

I still disagree with all four of these suggestions.

Conference Audio - A Fresh Look at Mission

Nice, 20-30min talks from a conference in Sydney that just happened. I like free stuff: Conference Audio - A Fresh Look at Mission:

Here are all the talks and Q&A sessions from the one-day conference held on June 17, 2011.