Category: Recommended

yep, I recommend this link, article or whatever it is

Around the Web — Reference Tools

~ fundyreformed

I have been writing a series of posts for my company’s department newsletter. They are just general interest articles, but I thought I might start posting them on my blog as well. Last week, I dealt with blogs, and I have already dealt with this topic on my blog before. This week’s post is below. (I’ll have to post separately concerning online theological and Christian reference tools for my blog readers’ particular benefit, but for now, many of you might be interested and helped by this post.)
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Around the Web: Reference Tools

Okay, okay. I know that if I use the word “Dictionary” here, that I will lose any interest you might have had. Call me weird, but every once in a while I like to know what that word means or who that person was. The friendly World Wide Web offers many tools for doing this kind of research, and I thought I would highlight a few.

Do you wiki?

Wikipedia is by far the most interesting research tool on the web. It is essentially an online encyclopedia, but it is so much more than that! Anyone can update articles and add links or more information. And there are articles on almost every conceivable thing imaginable. Chances are if you read the name somewhere, or hear of the organization, it will be discussed on Wikipedia. And as far as encyclopedias go, you might consider checking out Reference.com which lists results from various online encyclopedias along with Wikipedia.

Words, words, words…

Dictionary.com will prove to be your one stop source for information on words. What does that word mean again? Thesaurus.com will provide you with synonymns and etc. And the Columbia Guide to Standard American English will provide you with even more info—etymological info that is. (Oh, you don’t know what “etymological” means? Now’s your chance to try these tools out!) If you think the above sites are boring, these next few might pique your interest. World Wide Words is your site for those strange unusual (often British) words that might not be in a normal dictionary. And if you are really nutty about words (any Scrabble players or Crossword puzzle fanatics out there?), then check out the listing of “wordy” sites here.

More worthy tools

I won’t be able to list everything (and I am specifically excluding news-oriented sites), but I have to mention a few other notable sites. Answers.com is definitely one of a kind as it claims to be an “encyclodictionalmanacapedia” — in other words, an encyclopedia, dictionary, and almanac all in one. You might also be interested in any number of online libraries (Questia seems to be the most user-friendly site in this category). If you need help with grammar, punctuation, or spelling, Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab might be able to help. And finally, you might be interested in an online dictionary of quotations, The Columbia World of Quotations.

Research Wrap Up

I have just a few odd sites left to mention before this researcher runs out of research for his post on research. (Did you catch that?) I know there is so much more out there, and of course you can Google, Ask or Digg for just about anything. But you may find this list of online searchable reference works helpful. And then you might be interested in finding articles from magazines and scholarly journals covering a wide variety of topics all available for free here. You might also find Google Book search helpful. You will actually be able to search within the pages of thousands of books for free. And since Google is king of the web, they have another useful tool that deserves mention here: Google Scholar. Scholar will search within scholarly articles for whatever it is you need help for.

Bonus

Now some of you (particularly anyone trying to finish a degree) will thank me for this post. Others will rightfully yawn. So to you yawners out there, I have a special bonus. Check out Snopes.com. This site checks out the legitimacy of most so called “urban legends”. Just because it’s online or in print, doesn’t mean its true. Check it out for yourself at Snopes. I want to recommend in passing that you check out their list of the top 25 urban legends circulating most widely now. Did you stumble across any already? Also, did you ever wonder why Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name to KFC? The answer has nothing to do with the word “fried”!

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Bob Spots More

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

 

I have a few more good reads for you. It seems that everytime I do a Bobspotted Blogroll post, that I forget something or else I find a great new read hours after I post. I know you all are capable of browsing blogs on your own, but I like to collect things here for the benefit of any who haven’t read these jewels. And these are all so good I just had to share….

 

  • Jesus’ Appearance to Jacob at Peniel — a phenomenal post elaborating on the implications of viewing the one Jacob fought with at Peniel as Jesus. I don’t keep up on Nathan Pitchford’s articles (he writes here and at  Monergism.Com‘s blog Reformation Theology)  like I want to; so while I was catching up, I came across this great article. It discusses the typology surrounding Jacob’s life. If you have ever had a hard time appreciating all the various plots in Jacob’s life, this post will give them a great significance. Once again the redemptive historical hermeneutical approach succeeds in giving us great food for our souls!
  • Type A, B, or C? [intro] & [part 2] — Joel Tetreau (who contributes to NeoFundamentalist) is posting a series on his taxonomy of Fundamentalism over at Sharper Iron. He groups fundamentalists into essentially three categories: A, B, or C. I think his approach is helpful and will contribute toward a greater understanding of our differences and similarities. Hopefully this won’t divide fundamentalism more deeply, but rather serve to facilitate more unity! This is Joel’s goal too, I believe.
  • John Piper on Rom. 16:17 — This is worth the read, or better yet listen to the sermon here. Piper discusses the “unity boys” and the “purity boys” and calls for a balanced approach which avoids the perils of hyper fundamentalism on one hand and loosey-goosey evangelicalism on the other. And he gives a great exegesis of this important verse.
  • Douglas Wilson responds to the  popular new book  Letter to  a Christian Nation — Doug writes starts his own series of letters responding to Sam Harris with this post (HT: Justin Taylor). Douglas Wilson  is always worth reading.

Libraries, Fingertips, Books, and Ears

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

This is a post about books. As you  know, I love them. And so do most bloggers,  probably. Does anyone else like libraries? Particlularly ones with a great  Biblical section?

Well, how  would you like to have your own theological library at your finger tips?      Now you can! Let me introduce to you  The Bible Centre  (HT: Boanerges). Yes, that’s centre with an “re” instead of “er”. Its British, but we won’t hold that against them.

The Bible Centre is an online library of all things theological. They have as many commentaries as you could want, almost. They  nearly have the entire WORD Biblical Commentary set for the NT available. And of course they have Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, and all the gang.    While they also provide the Pulpit Commentary, they provide others you may not have heard of too. They showcase 6 volumes of Jonathan Edwards’ works, along with a dozen or so Systematic Theologies. And they have everything a Greek or Hebrew Scholar would need. Kittel’s finds its place there and they have a wide array of text critical helps as well (did anybody say Metzger?). All in all, they have hundreds, let me repeat, hundreds, of reference and other works available for your now happy fingertips to peruse!

Better yet,  it is all free from now through Jan. 1! At that time, they will ask you to pay a $20 yearly fee if you can afford it, if not they have reduced rates or would even offer the service free. For Bible colleges and seminaries a flat $50 yearly fee covers all the instructors and students alike! Check out their fee explanation for more detail.

Update: the Bible Centre is not obeying copyright laws and has refused to comply with numerous requests from Christian publishers and others. I think the site was taken down, if not: please do not support or use such a site.

Talking about commentaries, I recently discovered that Monergism.com offers the  best one stop source of online commentaries (outside of the Bible Centre) available on the web—at least I think it is.    They link to all of John  Calvin’s commentaries, as well as the commentaries of Albert Barnes, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, John Gill, Keil & Delitzch, Matthew Poole, and  Warren Wiersbe to name just a few. They also have a listing of all of John Piper’s sermons by sermon text. And they link to the online Pulpit Commentary, some of John MacArthur’s NT  commentaries online and many, many other resources. They also have the excellent Commentary on Revelation by Vern Poythress, that I am currently reading, available on line. So be sure to bookmark their Commentaries page!

Sonic Faith I’ve covered the “libraries”, “books”, and “fingertips” from the title of this post, but what about the ears? I figured that this kind of a hodge podge post about books would be a good place to mention another resource I have discovered. Sonic Faith offers downloadable Christian Audio books. These are audio books for your iPod. Now I don’t have an ipod, but I can still listen to mp3s on my computer, and you can too, even if you don’t know it!

Sonic Faith has a fairly good selection of Christian books—some of the more recent and more widespread “bookstore” variety books, as well as some Bibles. Hey, they even carry the ESV! I also  like the fact that it has Ted Dekker’s and Randy Alcorn’s fiction books. I haven’t read Ted yet, but Alcorn’s fiction is out of this world good—and also spiritually substantial.

Sonic Faith also has a yearly membership deal whereby you can save even more off the price of books by getting them as downloadable digital files. The site is worth checking out and very easy to use. It also looks like they will be including free audio books  sometime soon. So if you like audio books, let your next one come from a Christian audio book company.

Well, that’s it for now. I need to go and read some books!

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Artificial Heat

~ fundyreformed ~ 7 Comments

I came across an interesting article on global warming. Now, I am all for caring for the environment in a Biblically responsible way. We are called to steward God’s creation not abuse it.  

However, there has long seemed to be an ulterior agenda behind the scientific “consensus” concerning global warming. And I have never taken their claims too seriously.    One reason concerns the fact that the vast majority of greenhouse gases are purely wator vapor! Add to that the fact that one  giant volcanic explosion  (like that of Krakatoa), can in one instant launch more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than all the pollution mankind has achieved in more than 100 years!

Well, here is the article from the Telegraph.    By reading it I learned several interesting facts, some of which I will list here below, and others  you  will only  see if you go read the article yourself (HT: Phil Johnson).

  • There was a global  warming period back in the Medieval Age  (from around 1000 to 1400 AD). This period had average temperatures well above our own. (For example, back then Norwegians could farm the soil in Greenland, today we cannot as it is under a layer of permafrost.)
  • This warm period has been edited out  in the United Nations’ most recent global warming report. This was achieved through an ingenious method of redefining terms and messing with data.
  • In the past half century, the sun has been warmer than it has been in the past 10,000 years plus! Certainly this fact could be seen as a big cause in the recent warmer temperatures! (We haven’t polluted the sun yet!)
  • “In 1988, James Hansen, a climatologist, told the US Congress that temperature would rise 0.3C by the end of the century (it rose 0.1C), and that sea level would rise several feet (no, one inch).”

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

More on Music

~ fundyreformed

Around here, we have been having quite the discussion on music lately! And that has been the case around the fundamentalist blogosphere for the most part, as well.

I just wanted to take this time to highlight a great post on the subject by Tom Pryde. It would be well worth your time to read his thoughts on this matter.

Let me give a few excerpts here, too, if I may.

The problem is that it really isn’t about drums, guitars, microphones, or any other atomistic element of the issue. The whole question is one of communication. Of course, it is true that this communication is heavily dependent upon cultural context, but this is hardly a justification for “anything goes.” The fact is that our culture can identify the emotional content of music more clearly than many would like to admit, and since we are not independent of our culture, it makes little sense to argue as if we are outside of it.

The fact is that the better the emotional expression fits both the message and the context, the more clearly, powerfully, and effectively the message will be conveyed. This is at least one very good reason to take music seriously. It is also true that musical communication is highly flexible and not at all precise. This means that context can heavily influence the nature of the emotional expression.

….

Proper corporate worship requires us to adapt to a form of expression that suits the whole, rather than our own individual tastes. If we fail to adapt, then we are left finding music that suits us, or we at least want the occasional use “our” kind of music. In both cases, the focus is wrong, and a deep misunderstanding of both music and worship is revealed. When my heart is right before God, the style of music matters far less than my own heart’s expression to God. If you need a particular style to “feel” worship, then there is a deeper problem in your worship.

For these reasons, at least (there are more reasons) a more conservative approach to corporate worship is essential. In the first place, it drives us to music that is less faddish and more enduring. In the second place, it drives us to music that is easily accepted by the entire congregation and is especially suited for congregational singing.

The careful reader will notice that I have not actually endorsed any style or approach to church music. Rather, I believe a principled approach will lead each Spirit-filled congregation to expressions of worship that are meaningful and communicative in their context.

…

Do go and read his post, there is much more on this over there. And while you’re at it, you may want to keep an eye on Brian McCrorie’s recent post on this subject too!

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7