You See Dry Bones

So Many Bibles. So Little Time

Study Bibles, Reformation Bibles, Audio Bibles, Bibles for kids, Bibles for adults, Bibles for Twilight fans, Bibles for LOST fans, Bibles translated into Klingon….

I love, love, love my The ESV Study Bible. While I use a different (faux) leather bound one in most cases, I do a lot of my studying out of the ESV Study Bible. I love the notes, the commentary, the articles, shoot, I even love to read the endorsements! The layout is beautiful, it has maps, charts, diagrams, and much, much more.

But I noticed the competition: NLT Study Bible, Indexed Edition. I don’t really read my current NLT Bible, but that does not mean it is not good. I skimmed one of these once and it was impressive. The only downfall is the Max Lucado endorsement

I’m one of “those” guys.

I like Bibles. I own a dozen or so, and I want more. Sure, I have the Logos app, and a VERY generous reader of mine sent me Bible Works 7 (you know who you are, thank you, thank you, thank you!), but I always like new Bibles. I have so many Bibles I don’t use though, I may start giving some away. All that said, I want to know one thing:

What Bible do you read and why?

Leave it in the comments

-Don-

My Brain Exploded

But, I STILL want Logos software…Version four just came out

We have a study.  Granted, it is still rather disorganized, but it is a study none-the-less. I only have room for one more bookshelf. This is a shame because I want more books. Looking around my study, you will see books of every type. I have fiction, non-fiction, reference, and study guides. Of course, I have a few Bibles as well.

I have a copy of Grudem’s Systematic Theology, several introductions to the New and Old Testaments, surveys, and a good handful of Bible commentaries. I have books on Old Testament and New Testament people, culture, history, all from some of the greatest theologians on the planet. Then there is the Internet. I love my online access to the ESV Study Bible.

Is this too much?

There have always been nerds and will always be nerds. But is there too much information at our fingertips?  Books used to be highly valued possessions because they were very expensive and only few could read. Now, with a little searching, we can get a book for about the cost of shipping. Some books clearance out for under a buck. Google books has brought us books in the public domain for free. John Piper gives away a huge bulk of his work online, as does Mark Driscoll (only to a lesser extent). We have blogs (like this one) and even Twitter feeds to help us gain more knowledge.

But at what cost?

I think many of us (and I am guilty too) ingest more than we can digest. Some of us may have the ability to read countless books and comprehend and apply every single piece of information inside them. For the most part, most of us do not. It is a popular thing to be a geek these days among the Reformed circles. A common question is “what books are you reading?” We judge a mans character by what authors line his bookshelves. Some of us judge a man by pure quantity of the books he has read.

What about actual study?

What if we actually took time to study what we read. I will use Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (associate link) as an example. The book is huge (1291 pages of awesome). I could read through it in about two months if I was not reading any other books. What a notch on my belt that would be! When someone asks me, “what is the most theologically intense book you have read to date?” I could bust out the best answer ever. What would this profit me? My pride would balloon, sure. Would my life change? Would new concepts go from my head to my heart, or just log-jam in my neck until I choked?

Read for fun, and profit.

I recommend reading for the fun and joy of reading. If you have not in a while, pick up a fiction book (I recommend The Man Who Was Thursday: Centennial Edition by Chesterton) and just sit back and enjoy it. I saw my wife with a copy of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol a week or so ago. I might read it myself soon.

If you are reading some epic tome of theological greatness, take your time and actually study the concepts. Don’t just breeze through it. Pray about the concepts and how they can apply to your sanctification. Stop trying to add a notch to your belt. If you can, try and re-read a book you “flew” through in the past. If you are reading the Bible, really dig into it. Break out a couple translations and commentaries (click here for more on external resources). Pray before studying. Ask God to help this be beneficial to more than just your big head.

Most of all, do not forget what a privilege it is to be able to read. Many still cannot or do not have access to books like we do.

-Don-

They’re All Gonna Laugh at You

They probably already are.

Yesterday, my wife and I took advantage of the kids being with grandma to take big bite out of some lingering home improvements.  As I was painting a table, we started talking about some of the “weird” things we do.

Here is a list of things we tend to find ourselves explaining to our family and friends:

• My wife is a (gasp) stay at home mommy. This is despite her Masters degree and ability to earn more income than I, a lowly network technician.
• We believe having credit cards (not including bank debit cards) are evil and have none (cut up the Discover not too long ago).
• We will not take out a loan to buy a new car despite the need for some repairs on our vehicles. We do not want anymore debt.
• We both believe a wife is to submit to her husband and a husband is to love his wife.
• We believe in differing gender roles.
• We believe male-only pastoral and elder roles in the Church.
• I believe in limited atonement

We know, this could make us the subject of unfavorable (to us) conversations and the butt of many jokes.

I am going to blame Jesus for this one.

I want to be as orthodox as possible. I have said before, I take a “high view” of Scripture. Meaning, I take the Bible and its doctrine pretty literal and it is very important. I am a fundamentalist when it comes to biblical interpretation.

Why?

Simply stated, John 14:23 – Jesus answered him,“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (ESV)

Other versions translate it, “…those who love me will obey my commands…”

I believe the Scriptures tell the commands of Jesus. Even the hard-to-swallow commands. Even the commands that make no sense in our current cultural lens. Yes, even the commands that have been abused in the past. At what point are we granted the authority to pick and choose what commands we will and will not follow? Which commands was Jesus referring to in John 14:23? Was it all of them? Or just a couple, like loving our neighbors? Or was it just the easy ones?

What if following all of His commands makes us weird?

-Don-

Love Him or Hate Him.

If you have followed my blog for long, you know how I feel about John Calvin.

I was not a fan of Calvinism when I first started following Christ. The only thing I knew about this doctrine was I was not supposed to have free will.  I had a couple of friends who would kick it back and forth during Bible studies. One was pretty Calvinist, the other was not. I did not pay much attention to their debates unless I was asked. My answer was easy; I was pretty sure I had free will.

Then I went to college. The school I attended was pretty anti-Calvin.  While sitting on a hillside outside my class, I started to read The Faith Once for All: Bible Doctrine for Today by Jack Cottrell (sort of the patron saint of my school). I read his, the arguments against Calvinism seemed pretty weak.  I started to agree with three of the five main points Calvin is pigeon holed into (see below for more). Over the course of a couple years I shifted my doctrinal belief to align with John Calvin. This happened mostly because of my studies in Romans and Ephesians.

All that said, this is a secondary doctrine.

I believe Christians can be wrong Arminianist and still love Jesus and be effective in spreading the Gospel. I poke fun at those who do not believe in the outright soverignty of God, but I still love them and accept them as brothers and sisters in Christ.

But I need to know, what point really gets your goat?

My sister emailed me (forgive me sis for not getting your permission before I posted this) and asked me a “simple” question: ” Limited Atonement: What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe Christ died for all or only the ones he predetermined?” I emailed her my response (of course I do, but within the contexts of Calvin’s teachings and God’s amazing love for His son that He would not allow Christ to suffer unjustly for those who would not accept Him). Then I told my wife about the email and she disagreed with me.  Apparently, not everyone likes limited atonement.

This made me think.

What points in Calvinism do you not agree with? What points are really a stumbling block?  What points do you find silly and nonsensical? Or, if you do agree, what was the hardest point to swallow? Have you tried to modify any of the points to fit your epistemology?

For your refreshing, here are the five points (using the TULIP model)

• Total Depravity (we are born with a sin nature)
• Unconditional Election (God foreknew who would choose Him before the creation of the World)
• Limited Atonement (Christ only suffered for those who would choose Him)
• Irresistible Grace (When God offers the gift of grace, you have no ability to resist it in all its awesomeness)
• Perseverance/preservation of the saints (God will let non of the elect leave His grasp for all eternity)

Give me your answer(s) in the comments below. And be careful, if you say “I do not believe any of the five points.” I will expect you to explain why.

Have fun,

-Don-