Links for Monday AM Thinking
BOOK REVIEW : A Review of “Become a Better You” by Joel Osteen from Challies Dot Com
A scathing review of our favorite Bible exegete.
Osteen seems unable or unwilling to bring the power of the gospel to bear on life–real life. Life, he teaches, is not a meant to bring glory to God, but is meant to bring blessing and ease to the individual.
CHRISTIAN HISTORY : Skarsaune and the Jerusalem Council from The Forbidden Gospel’s Blog
DeConnick talks about a plausible explanation of the Jerusalem council, given the contradictions in Paul’s letters and Acts.
- Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem: Gal 1:18=Acts 9:26-30
- Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem: Gal 2:1-10=Acts 11:30; 12:25
- Antiochean Affair: Gal 2:11-14=Acts 15:1-3
- The writing of Galatians: before the council in Acts 15
- Paul’s third visit to Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Council: Acts 15:2-29
DeConnick thinks that there are some problems with this, but that it is a good start. She follows up this post with What about this scenario? where she proposes a new sequence of events that is too long to quote here.
RELIGIOUS THINKING : Inerrant, infallible, inspired from 4Simpsons Blog by Neil
A devotional conclusion on Christians and the [un]holy trinity of loaded i-words: inerrant, infallible, and inspired.
We can read the Bible with confidence that God has transmitted his Word to us accurately. Sometimes the words inerrant and infallible are too loaded with various meanings to be helpful, so I like to emphasize that the original writings of the Bible turned out just the way God wanted them to.
RELIGIOUS LIVING : The Center from Bentch.com
“Each day you have to decide, am I going to be Christ-centered or self-centered?”
I love this because it reminds me that life is not all about me. It is about showing others Christ’s love.
BIBLE TRANSLATION : Gender language literally speaking from the Better Bibles Blog
I have to wonder if most people really do think that gender neutral language is less literal than gender specific language. Each case has to be assessed in isolation and then the group as a whole.
First, brothers and sisters…
“Our favorite Bible exegete”
Lol, did you by chance see the 60 minutes story/interview of Osteen? The reporter certainly wasn’t treating Osteen in any delicate fashion. Michael Horton even did a brief cameo to critique Osteen’s theology. For the first time in a while 60 minutes seemed like a hard hitting journalistic show…well for about 5 minutes at least.
I caught about 10 minutes of Osteen on TV Sunday morning – I was about to gouge my freaking eyes out….The bible is proved truthful once again – people will flock to anyone who will tickle their ears!