03 Jan

Top Ten – 2015 Week 1

Rather than sharing a multitude of articles through the week, and sometimes daily, I thought it would be more considerate to curate my top for the week and share in a single post. I will try to do this weekly.

Bible Reading Is an Art – Ever wondered what the difference between meditation and study of scripture is? This was one question that was answered in this piece.

Reflection on my 40-day fast

Worship Like a Puritan – I’ve been reading and thinking about family worship this week.

Family Worship – Tim Challies reviews a book on family worship. Tim’s reviews often teach the main concepts when you don’t have time to source or read the book yourself.

More Archaeological Evidence That Supports The Bible – It’s always encouraging to read about more evidence to support the historical accuracy of the Bible.

Pursuing Holiness – Jerry Bridges’ final few thoughts on key biblical understandings really resonated with me.

What Cessationism Is Not – A helpful look at a biblical perspective on the view that the more miraculous spiritual gifts are no longer around.

The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin – Newsweek with some commonly used but totally hopeless arguments against the Bible. I suggest reading this first and seeing whether you can answer the objections before reading a couple of responses to this article below.

Newsweek on the Bible: So Misrepresented It’s a Sin – Albert Mohler responds to the Newsweek article above.

A Christmas Present from the Mainstream Media: Newsweek Takes a Desperate Swipe at the Integrity of the Bible (Part 1) – A more detailed look at the arguments presented in the Newsweek piece.

10 Jan

“Making Sense of Scripture’s ‘Inconsistency'” by Tim Keller (243/1137)

Tim Keller addresses the common objection to Christianity, that of the inconsistency of Christians following only the rules from the Bible which seem to suit them. For example, the Old Testament sacrificial laws and laws about stoning disobedient children are ignored but the laws about prohibiting homosexual behaviour are not.

Keller explains that the essential morality in the Old Testament continues in the New Testament and in the teachings of Jesus, however the ceremonial laws and laws about ritual cleanliness are no longer in action as they have been fulfilled in Jesus.

He also explains that the punishments for moral crimes in the Old Testament are different to those for today. This is because of the difference between the religiously controlled state law of Old Testament Israel and the church instituted by Christ which is a part of all nations and cultures under their own state rule.

Keller finishes with the observation that, “If Christ is God, then this way of reading the Bible makes sense,” and that those objecting to Christianity on the grounds of their misunderstanding of what seems to them to be inconsistency; those people are asking Christians to deny this core of Christianity in order to make Christianity not make sense, i.e. they make an assertion without logic behind it.

Christianity, properly understood, must lead to picking only some rules to follow from the Old Testament.

The full article is required reading for a deeper understanding.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/mobile/article/tgc/making-sense-of-scriptures-inconsistency