Choosing A Song For Your Funeral

Justin Taylor has been posting a series in which he asks "a few godly leaders I trust and respect for one song that they would like to have played at their funeral". That's a good idea. He's posted entries from Joni Eareckson Tada, Russell Moore, Michael Reeves, John Piper, and Scott Swain. I don't know how many more entries there will be.

There's some value in all of the songs that are mentioned, but I like Piper and Swain's answers the most. Swain mentioned my favorite song, "The Sands Of Time Are Sinking", which is derived from the writings of Samuel Rutherford. But the video Taylor linked has a different tune than the one I prefer and less than half the verses. I prefer the first tune here, and that site shows all nineteen verses. Some of my favorite ones aren't included in the video Taylor posted. But I think Piper's answer is the best so far. The best song for a funeral isn't necessarily your favorite song. You have to take contextual factors into account, like the nature of the situation and what you want the audience to go away with. Piper's song is a good choice because of the importance of its themes and how concise, clear, moving, and memorable it is.

"When Amazon erased my book"

As many know, conservative Catholic political philosopher and ethicist Ryan Anderson (PhD, Notre Dame) had his book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment removed from Amazon mere days ago. This represents the latest battle in the culture wars. A battle which is all the more pressing in light of Biden's Equality Act. The left and its sympathizers will seek to cancel even the most reasonable, informed, and charitable voices if the voices dissent from leftist convictions or commitments. Anderson writes about all this and more in his First Things article "When Amazon erased my book". I don't agree with everything, but it's still worth a read.

For now, people can still purchase Anderson's book on Encounter Books (the book's publisher), Christian Book, Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.

Update. From Ryan Anderson:

Update 2. From Abigail Shrier:

Read the rest of the thread.

The Historical Reliability of the Geography in the Gospels

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/simon-gathercole-on-the-reliability-of-new-testament-geography/

What are worldviews?

https://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/justintaylor/2017/02/21/what-are-worldviews-why-do-worldviews-matter-how-does-one-change-worldviews/

The Positive Attention The Great Christ Comet Is Getting

Christianity Today recently interviewed Colin Nicholl about his new book on the star of Bethlehem, which argues that the star was a comet. And Justin Taylor just put up a positive post on the book. Earlier in the year, it got some positive coverage from Tim Challies, Tim Keller, and others. The book's endorsements are highly impressive. You can read them in Justin Taylor's post linked above. I expect the book to get a lot of coverage during the upcoming Christmas season.

But I have some problems with Nicholl's argument. You can read my review of his book at Amazon here.

Evangelicalism and OEC

Yesterday, Justin Taylor did a post questioning the calendar day interpretation of Gen 1. To judge by reactions I've seen, this generated some shock waves.

Some people seem to think this represents a sinister shift away from the status quo ante. Now, I don't think Justin made a very strong case for his position.

But I'm struck by how many people seem to find his position surprising or even shocking. Yet OEC has been pretty mainstream in evangelism, including Calvinism and/or Dispensationalism, for generations.

The SBC is noncommittal on YEC. Reformed denominations like the OPC, PCA, and URC are noncommittal on YEC. Likewise, most prominent Reformed seminaries are noncommittal on YEC, viz. WTS, RTS, WSC, Covenant Seminary, Knox Seminary. 

An exception is GPTS, which represents Old School Southern Presbyterian theology. But even R. L. Dabney, in his old age, promoted the ruin-reconstruction theory in his epic poem ("The Christology of the Angels").

Likewise, I don't believe that DTS, the flagship of Dispensational seminaries, has ever been committed to YEC. And many venerable Dispensationalists espouse the gap theory/ruin-reconstruction theory, or the day-age theory.

So Justin's position doesn't represent a novel trend or sudden defection from the status quo ante. Why do some critics act so surprised or shocked? Are they just unacquainted with modern church history?

Keep in mind that this is distinct from evaluating his proposal. I'm just struck by how many of his critics find this startling.

One reason may be if this is seen in the context of concerted efforts like BioLogos, John Walton, and Peter Enns to redirect the church and redefine Christian theology. But to my knowledge, there's no evidence that Justin is part of that agenda. To the contrary, I believe he's behind the publication of recent books defending the historicity and inerrancy of Scripture. 

Dating the death of Christ

http://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2014/04/april-3-ad-33

Hear the word

Happy New Year, everyone!

A good way to kick off the year is to acquaint oneself with the Bible to acquaint oneself with its Author.

With this in mind, Christian Audio is offering the ESV on audio for free. Please see here.

Also, Justin Taylor has several Bible reading plans to help.

Prodigal Sam

"6 Ways to Love a Depressed Person" by Sammy Rhodes.

On a totally different note, Rhodes' "Tweeting Myself to Death: The Rise & Fall of @prodigalsam" is worth a read as well.

HT: Justin Taylor.

Late-term abortion in ABQ

HT: Justin Taylor.

"Suicide, Mental Illness, Depression, and the Church"

Here is a post from Justin Taylor that might be helpful to some people.

"How Could God Command Genocide in the Old Testament?"

JT has a helpful post addressing the Canaanites question.

How to Get a Do-It-Yourself MA in Political Philosophy

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/09/10/how-to-get-a-do-it-yourself-ma-in-political-philosophy/

Illustrating the Some Truths about the Trinity

"The illustration here is one attempt to capture in a diagram some of the truths related to the persons of the Godhead".

Read more about it here.

Orthopathy

Darryl Hart has weighed in on the “angry Calvinist” meme. I actually agree with Hart that this is a slur. As I remarked recently:

Problem with this stereotype is that it becomes a vicious cycle. It’s often the same type of circular proof that’s used in Freudian psychology. Freud says sons suffer from a repressed Oedipal complex. When normal men deny this, the Freudian says that just goes to show the denier is in denial. His very denial of a repressed Oedipal complex proves the he’s repressed his Oedipal complex.

 

Likewise, if a Calvinist attempts to rebut the “angry Calvinist” stereotype, then the very fact that he defended Calvinists against the sweeping charge is treated as damning evidence that he must be an angry Calvinist.

 

It’s also like the stereotype of an “angry white male.” If you’re a white male, and you reject the accusation, then the accuser takes your very rejection as incriminating evidence that you must be an angry white male.

 

The whole thing takes on a Kafkaesque quality–where the allegation becomes unfalsifiable.

Unfortunately, Hart uses a legitimate point as a pretext to score some illegitimate points:

Which is why it is possible that the problem afflicting the evangelicals at the Gospel Coalition is one of sentimentality. That is, they value feelings more than doctrine. This is what Ken Myers called orthopathy instead of orthodoxy. This does not mean that the folks at TGC ignore doctrine. Obviously, they promote it. But they never let it function in a way that might make leaders, readers, or bloggers uncomfortable — that is, doctrine will never be offensive, especially to the co-allies. But they seem to have no problem patrolling the Christian world for incorrect emotions.

http://oldlife.org/2011/09/the-problem-of-sappy-evangelicals/

i) I don't see any evidence that TGC values feelings more than doctrine.

ii) Not every blog has to be cut out of the same cloth. It's good to have some blogs which present Calvinism is a more irenic and winsome fashion.

iii) I don't think "Confessional" Calvinists like Hart, Scott Clark et al. really place a premium on doctrine. In reality, they value loyalty over truth. Allegiance to their traditions.

They don't make much effort to prove what they believe from Scripture. Their orientation is more sociological than theological. Be faithful to the in-group. Kith, clan, and Mother Kirk.

JT, not really simplistic, binary, or boilerplate here since those who have a higher regard for the church than the parachurch know that discipline, even if angered, is beneficial. The church, not a coalition, is the biblical way. Why is it you guys never seem to concede that confessionalists are more biblical than evangelicals on this one?

Several problems with his reply:

i) Justin’s a blogger, Hart's a blogger. Justin’s an elder, Hart’s an elder. Same thing with DeYoung. So what's the big difference?

ii) Notice the false dichotomy between "church" and "coalition." Hart belongs, not merely to a local church, but to a denomination. Well, what's a denomination if not a coalition of churches?

iii) In addition, his objection is schizophrenic. He also criticizes you and other TGC types for not going after Piper on infant baptism, or for not going after Driscoll and Mahaney.

But these are pastors. They represent the "church" side of things.

Out of a far country

Book here.

HT: Justin Taylor.

New Testament Metaphors for the Church

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/05/16/new-testament-metaphors-for-the-church/

Bill Stuntz

A recent post from Justin Taylor informs that William J. Stuntz has passed into glory. Stuntz's articles, testimony, and last interviews are well worth reading or viewing. See here, here, here, and here for some of what's available. Thank God for Bill Stuntz.