Author: fundyreformed

Westcott & Hort: Victims of KJV-Only Smear Campaign

~ fundyreformed ~ 18 Comments

Okay, this isn’t exactly a news flash. But Westcott and Hort, the respected scholars who published the first major critical edition of the Greek Text of the modern era (in 1881), are the innocent victims of a mind blowing smear campaign. King James Version Onlyism has charged them with all sorts of unbelievable heresies, chief of which is the belief that their text is better than the Textus Receptus, which underlies the KJV.

Westcott and Hort both stood against liberalism in their day, to one degree or another; Westcott particularly authoring excellent, conservative commentaries. Never mind these facts, KJV Onlyists scoured through post-humously published journals and letters, and scanned through the dozens of other published books by these scholars and came up with some gems. When presented in just the right manner, to just the right kind of audience, Westcott and Hort can be successfully transformed into monsters. With ellipses (…), italics and the fundamentalist favorite: the ALL CAPS, Westcott and Hort’s quotes, already removed from their contexts are doctored into such a fashion that they are ready to be included in prominent KJV defending books.

It’s sad that the above is quite true. It’s sad that this is the extreme to which people go to somehow legitimize their view. Of course, Gail Riplinger is proof that you don’t have to stop with this extreme measure. I won’t continue, because my friend Damien Garofalo just posted the next post in a series he’s doing analyzing D.A. Waite’s KJV Only seminar slides. Dr. D.A. Waite is one of the foremost defenders of the King James Bible and in his books as well as his seminars, he makes use of the guilt by association argument concerning Westcott and Hort. I encourage you to check out Damien’s post which exposes some of the fundamentalist smear for what it really is.

Waite may be using these doctored quotes second hand. But that shouldn’t excuse him since this would then reveal shoddy scholarship rather than a fondness for libel. And as a former KJV Onlyist, I can attest that many of us are sadly misinformed about these godly scholars, Westcott and Hort. Feed a person poor arguments and faulty facts long enough, and they’ll believe anything. So forgive me, Westcott and Hort. Thanks for your work in moving us closer to the fine Greek text we have today.

A final note: check out the Westcott and Hort Resource Centre for more information. Or see some of these articles by James May at kjvonly.org.

Fundamentalist Profundity

~ fundyreformed ~ 10 Comments

Pastor Steve Anderson is the embodiment of almost everything extreme about independent fundamental Baptists. It seems he enjoys posting his often abrasive and extreme preaching as a series of video clips on Youtube.

I’ve posted a jaw-dropping clip of his before, and this one almost tops that. In it he defends the notion that Jesus actually wore pants, not the middle eastern style robe that the rest of us thought he wore.

I thought it might be fitting to post this on April Fools’ Day. It reveals ignorance more than the Biblical notion of the word “fool”. I do pray God will reveal to this pastor the error of his ways and help him.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.804431&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

more about “Jesus wore pants, not a dress!!! IFBx…“, posted with vodpod

Brotherly Reconciliation: Steve Camp's Humble Embrace of Mark Driscoll

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

I get leery of blog wars. Some are unavoidable. And I’m sure I’ve contributed to some that were.

A figrue who is especially polarizing in the Biblioblogosphere is Mark Driscoll. His edgy comments and modern methods make conservative evangelicals and especially fundamentalists nervous. But for all the hype that flows from Christian keyboards about him, you could think he was the antichrist of Seattle.

I’ve been careful in listening to his messages, and haven’t really done much of that. But the more I listen to him, the more I respect his wisdom and the more I benefit from his messages. That’s not to say I would imitate every expression he uses, but even then, the word on the street doesn’t quite match what actually is heard when you give him an honest hearing. For instance his recent series on the Song of Solomon was beyond excellent: very practical and helpful on the family and marriage (obviously). I listened to all the messages and some of the Q & A which followed them and there were only a couple times where I thought his illustration was a little inappropriate. Most of the time he was very low key and reserved when the opportunity was there for him to score points if he was trying to use sexual humor to his benefit. All in all it was appropriate for church, all the more so when one considers how few pastors even cover this book of the Bible in their ministries.

I say all that to set the stage for a wonderful blog post by Steven Camp, who has often been a critic of Driscoll. Steve humbly admits wrong, apologizes, and gives a positive assessment of Driscoll’s ministry. He models a Christ-like attitude. He doesn’t necessarily dismiss any previous concerns he had about Driscoll’s ministry, but he has a much more informed and appreciative view of Mark now.

I can’t do justice to the article. I just strongly encourage you to read it. Praise Christ that our union with Him is bigger than the occasional blog war. Let’s be sure the world wide webbers watching us Christians see more examples of this Christian humility and gracious deferment! That would be to the praise and glory of our dear Savior.

That's Hebrew to Me!

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

I’ve been studying Hebrew this year, and let me tell you. The phrase, “That’s Greek to me” now communicates nothing to me. Greek is far easier than Hebrew. I wanted to share the new Hebrew grammar we’ve been using: A Modern Hebrew Grammar by Duane Garrett and Jason Derouchie.

The book will be published in July by Broadman and Holman, but we’ve been using a prepub version. One of the authors is my Sunday School teacher at church, Dr. Jason Derouchie; so that makes studying Hebrew a little easier, as I can get help from the author, himself.

Let me give you the Shema. Here’s Deuteronomy 6:4-5 in Hebrew.

click to expand

If you’re interested, bibleworks.com offers the Hebrew Font I used for this, for free download. They also have a helpful keyboard legend. And for a final Hebrew note, you can download a free Greek & Hebrew Interlinear from Scripture4All.org.

St. Patrick's Day Devotion

~ fundyreformed ~ 9 Comments

Behold over and over again I would briefly set out the words of my confession. I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and his holy angels that I never had any reason, except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty.

But I entreat those who believe in and fear God, whoever deigns to examine or receive this document composed by the obviously unlearned sinner Patrick in Ireland, that nobody shall ever ascribe to my ignorance any trivial thing that I achieved or may have expounded that was pleasing to God, but accept and truly believe that it would have been the gift of God. And this is my confession before I die. (The conclusion to Patrick’s Confession)

For more on Patrick’s legacy from an evangelical Christian perspective check out: Understanding St. Patrick (by Nathan Finn), and Dr. Russell Moore’s What Evangelicals Can Learn from Saint Patrick.