Academy

He died in 1692 when he was 39 years young. Eight years before death, he left his brilliant career as a physicist and mathematician for the monastery where he defended the Jansenists against the Jesuits. He explained the change:

Reason has its own sphere, mathematics and the natural sciences… but the truths which it is really important for man to know, his nature and his supernatural destiny, these cannot be discovered by the philosopher or the scientist. I passed a long time in the study of the abstract sciences, but the scant communication which one can have in them (that is, the comparative fewness of the people with whom one shares these studies and with whom one can communicate) disgusted me. 

A brother in Christ sent me this...

Shows are meant to be consumed in front of the curtain—not behind it. Behind are the things you don't want the audience to see or know because it would ruin the performance.

Bible translations are hammered out behind the curtain, and for good reason. It wouldn't give people confidence in the trustworthiness of the English Bible they read to watch the arguments and votes over how to translate this or that Hebrew or Greek word or phrase. Other parts of the Bible publishing business may be even more disconcerting, but let's focus here on the academics' work.

Although the scholars who produce Bible text for their Bible publisher are paid for that work, most of their income is from tuition paid by seminaries whose curricula require those students to spend years studying Hebrew and Greek. So these scholars have two priorities at odds with each other.

First, in order for their publishers' investment in their translating work to realize a profit, scholars must not stop assuring church people that every last word of the text of their version is precisely what God Himself inspired. Nothing has been changed...

[UPDATE: Tuesday morning, June 28, Liam Goligher texted me with his Calvin source. To quote, "Calvin to Cecil, 28th January 1559, ZL, vol. II, p34-36." Liam says this proves his point. Of course, it doesn't. Calvin held the very opposite of what Liam continues to claim and it seems apparent Liam hasn't read the sources I provided in my earlier post (including another letter he wrote to Cecil). 

Liam and Carl's halfway covenant of male authority limited to home and church ordination is not the doctrine of Scripture. Thus it was never taught by the Reformers—least of all John Calvin. Rather, Calvin said the government of women "ought to be counted among the judgments with which God visits us," that it "ought to be held as a judgment on man for his dereliction," and that it "is utterly at variance with the legitimate order of nature."]

Carl Trueman teaches church history at Philly's Westminster Seminary. In his WTS profile, among his credentials, Trueman includes:

 [I am] currently co-editing with Bruce Gordon the Oxford Handbook of Calvin and Calvinism...

Trueman claims he knows Calvin, so it's quite embarrassing that Trueman's blog published a howler of a misquotation of Calvin twenty-four days ago, now...

Beijing lawyer Zhang Kai was arrested August 25, 2015. Zhang had been giving legal counsel to churches in Wenzhou where pastors had been arrested for opposing a systematic campaign by government officials to relegate churches' crosses from the peaks of their roofs to interior courtyards and other places hidden from the public eye.

Here's the noteworthy quote from the World article:

Yang recalled officials explaining to him that the church and the government were competing for the role of “elder brother” in society: “There can only be one big brother. The government must be the big brother.”

This is precisely the issue in these United States, also. I have no desire to aid the White House campaign of Donald Trump by saying this, but the intolerant liberalism of the West is just as authoritarian as the intolerant Communism of China. The issues are different, but the dictatorial aspirations are the same. Washington's central committees will not stop... 

Wheaton College's Dennis Hastert is the quintessential sodomite predator. Read this article, watch this video, and note all the details—every last one of them if you want to guard your children and the children of your church and school from being corrupted by such a man.

Evangelical.

Wheaton College alum.

Husband.

Father.

Note his easy access to young boys.

Note his taking these young men and boys on trips to the Caribbean.

This is precisely what the music director at one of the best-known PCA churches in the country did with the young men he taught and worked with in the church...

Open access scientific journal PLOS ONE made a big boo-boo. They published a paper that attributed the design of the human hand to the "Creator." Hell hath no fury to equal biologists finding the word 'Creator'. After receiving complaints, PLOS ONE's editors responded:

A number of readers have concerns about sentences in the article that make references to a ‘Creator’. The PLOS ONE editors apologize that this language was not addressed internally or by the Academic Editor during the evaluation of the manuscript. We are looking into the concerns raised about the article with priority and will take steps to correct the published record.

It's plagiarism when a scientist fails to attribute the design of the object of his study to God, but now we know why he never does so. Among Scientism's priesthood, giving proper attribution to God is the most serious heresy and will not pass unpunished. Someone should take them to court for their...

Why bother continuing to warn souls against the betrayal of God by the profs and administrations of Evangelical colleges?

A quarter century ago, I bought a book that put some social science muscle behind what I had observed growing up in Wheaton and knowing Wheaton's profs, administrators, and their families firsthand. The book was Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation by University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter. Originally published in 1987, Hunter's work was based upon a careful survey of students at Evangelical colleges and seminaries, including Wheaton College, Gordon College, Westmont College, Seattle-Pacific University, Taylor University, Messiah College, Fuller Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Wheaton Graduate School, and Westminster Theological Seminary.

University of Chicago Press summarized Hunters' work..

Driving up to the Home Depot in Benton Harbor the other day, I passed a billboard. At 70 MPH, I had just enough time to read the come-on, take a look at the picture, and note the brand.

The come-on was "You were made to renew." The pic filling the center of the billboard was of three or four college-age men and women standing in a tight circle engaged in some sort of religious ritual. One of them was kneeling while the others peered into his devotional life sending affirming and supportive vibes cascading down upon him. The object of their devotion wasn't clear, but my quick glance left me with the impression that the man kneeling was holding dirt. I'm assuming the point of the billboard was to communicate to people driving northward on I-94 that man's chief end is to renew creation, starting with dirt.

The whole thing was an ad for Calvin College, so I'm guessing Calvin's mission statement has something in it about renewing creation. Or dirt.

If you go over to their website, you'll find this under "Calvin's Identity"...

(NOTE: “Johnny” is a diminutive of “John.” After titling this piece, it occurred to me that using the title “Johnny get your gun” would be seen as disrespectful, so I’ve changed it to “John, get your gun.” I respect John Piper and apologize for a title that didn’t show proper respect for him.)

The Reformed church has been all atwitter over John Piper’s response to Jerry Falwell encouraging the students of his Baptist college to get a gun and help protect the campus against armed attack. John tells his readers that he talked with Jerry before writing him up. Then, he frames his response to Jerry this way: 

The issue is about the whole tenor and focus and demeanor and heart-attitude of the Christian life. Does it accord with the New Testament to encourage the attitude that says, “I have the power to kill you in my pocket, so don’t mess with me”? My answer is, No.

Of course, this is an uncharitable summary of President Falwell’s position since no one carrying a gun on Liberty’s campus is primarily concerned about himself. Christians don’t carry guns because they don’t want to be killed themselves, but because they want to be faithful to defend others—particularly women and children. This is our calling as Christian men. We defend the innocent and defenseless. It would have been more kind for John to phrase it this way: “I have the power to defend my sisters in Christ here in my holster, so don’t mess with them!”

(Henry Holsters are the superb work of a member of our church, Andrew Henry. Buy one.)

I haven’t read any of the responses to John’s anti-gun piece except Doug Wilson’s. Doug makes a good point when he begins his defense of John this way...