Must Read from John Piper

• If your head is not stuck in the sand, you probably have heard about the latest Muslim hissy fit. This time it is over statements from the pope taken out of context, rather than Danish cartoons. For us Christians, who routinely endure harsh criticisms from both West and East, it is easy to get bent out of shape over Muslims’ insistence to make mountains out of molehills. And it is probably good to be somewhat upset over the inconsistency of Muslims. When someone infuriates us Christians, we might strike back with a torrent of words. But when the Muslims are infuriated, public calls for anger, violent demonstrations and attacks are the result.
• Well in the midst of all of this, John Piper provides some very encouraging and insightful comments. He describes just how Christians should respond to the controversy surrounding Muslim outrage over the pope’s comments.
• Late Addition: Clickhere to read the pope’s speech. It is very good, actually. His main point is that Western society is wrong to  exclude questions of faith  from the category of reason. And he further argues that this feature of the West in effect makes religion and faith a kind of sub-culture. So it is no wonder, he concludes, that the West cannot effectively interact with Eastern and other religious-based cultures. (HT: John Chitty for the link)

On the Dearth of Cross-Centered Worship

• Bob Kauflin has an excellent post concerning a contemporary tendency to  not focus on the cross in worship songs. He mentions song writers who are focusing on the cross, and gives some reasons as to why others are not. It is a very worthwhile read.

Redemptive Historical Hermeneutical Jewels

• Doug Eaton has started a series of posts looking at the OT cities of refuge as a manifold picture of Christ. Posts on Golan and Shechem are available to read and meditate on. New posts in the series will be listed here.
• Nathan Pitchford has also given us a great post on the redemptive historical significance of the Book of Esther. I know I already blogged about it, but I just had to mention it again.

On the King James Only Issue

• William Dudding keeps the good posts coming over at The Reforming Baptist. In this post, he steps out on a limb and gives us his thoughts on the King James Only issue. If that issue interests you, then this post would too.

Radical Thoughts from World from Our Window

• Eradicate youth ministry as we know it.
• De-program the church.
• We need less preaching!  —  only one sermon a week.
• How radical is that, huh? Actually these posts are well worth considering.

On Interpreting 1 Cor. 13:12  

• This verse is important as it defines when prophecies, knowledge, and tongues will cease. Their are  two primary interpretations of that verse: the first  says it  refers to the closing of the canon, and the second sees it fulfilled at the second coming of Christ.
• Mathew Sims turned a  debate happening over in the comments at Adrian Warnock’s blog, into a good post defending the second view mentioned above.
• But I came across an interpretation of that verse that almost all cessationists and charismatics alike have not considered. (HT: this thread at Sharper Iron)

“For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.” — I Corinthians 13:9, 10. This verse was written by the apostle Paul, who only had a partial Bible (the Old Testament). The word “perfect” in the Bible means complete (see James 1:4 et al). Today we have the complete, perfect King James Bible, and as God promised, that which was in part has been done away (i.e. the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts used in time past, which were only a part of the Bible respectively).

(And yes, he is defending the absurd view that the KJV  English is superior to the  Greek).

Some of Those Other Guys  

• Everyone has their circle of friends and list of blogs they keep track of. As you all should be able to tell from now, I try to faithfully keep up with some ex-IFBx bloggers, and other  reforming  fundamentalists (most of these blogs are listed in this post).   I also try to keep abreast with what is going on over at  Sharper Iron,  occasionally spending some time in the forums there. I do try to  keep my ear to the ground for any great posts from Pyromaniacs, Reformation Theology, Between Two Worlds, Adrian Warnock’s blog, and a few other blogs for good measure, too.
• Well this means, obviously, that there are a whole host of other blogs run by other guys (and gals), with whom I rarely interact with. No one can interact with all the blogs out there, unless of course you are Mathew Simsand you can read 5 blog posts a minute. (Check out his ridiculously long blogspotting posts–which always seem to exclude me :)! Just kidding here, he is a blogging pal and I do hold a place of honor in his very long blogfolio—a daily read, no less)
• Boy, this is turning into quite the long introduction! Anyway, I wanted to make my readers aware of some of those other guys—a group of guys who are fundamentalist reformers in their own right. I think most of them are loosely connected with Northland Baptist Bible College, and some are blessed (?) to know my brother Dave.
• To introduce you to a few of them, let me link to some good posts.  
  • T. Robert Baylor of Luther’s Stein, has an absolute must read post: “Postmodernism and the Decline of Fundamentalism“. It explores a possible reason for the “continental drift” away from fundamentalism by the young fundamentalists. (Warning, you may need your dictionary or philosophy manual when reading this post, but it still is worth reading.)
  • Adam Thomas has an interesting post proclaiming that he and his buds have already watched the separatist ship sail by.
  • Nathan Mihelis of Boanerges  makes two interesting observations—one concerns a potential SBC drift towards fundamentalism.
  • And, lastly, Dave Wetzel posts a hilarious video clip of Albert Mohler.

Finally

• I must  include a  shameless self plug for my recent post: “Lord’s Supper—Snack or Feast?” I would love for some more input from my readers as to whether they agree with my thesis that the Lord’s Supper would be better celebrated with a meal than with cracker crumbs and thimble-sized cups of juice.

Late Addition

• Justin Taylor points us to some great eschatology charts  [pdf] (courtesy of Kim Riddlebarger). They show, in picture form, the 4 main positions: dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. These are really good and helpful for comparing and contrasting.