Back in the early nineties at Evangelical Community Church here in Bloomington, I started a Calvin's Institutes Reading Group and a young graduate student at the church named Steve Baarendsee helped lead it. For most of the twenty-five or so men and women in the group, this was their formal introduction to Reformed theology and to the PCA (at the time I was PCA)...
See what just entered my e-mail inbox. It's Wheaton College pleading for even more money. They say their president, Phil Ryken, is convinced Wheaton is "positioned to serve as an increasingly vital base of operations for the global dissemination of the Gospel."
Yes, yes; of course. Everywhere I look, one more sign of Wheaton's service as an increasingly vital base of operations for the global dissemination of the Gospel smacks me in the face. Like this alumnus, Rob Bell. Surely we all see how the degree Bell bought from Wheaton's profs is the foundation of his creation of an increasingly vital base of operations for the global dissemination of the Gospel? If I were Dick Chase or Duane Litfin, I'd be thumping my chest in pride.
Ryken's hucksterism reminds me of Richard Lovelace returning to campus from an invitation-only meeting of PC(USA) liberal and conservative muckety-mucks back in 1982 or so...
Even as the ESV translation committee has been deliberating the meaning of "slave," CTW's translation committee has been discussing the difficulties inherent in translating the Biblical word "beginning." In this video we draw back the curtain on the deliberations of this august body as they diligently strive to render God's Word for a new generation. (DB)
Sometimes we speak here on Baylyblog of "tall-steeple churches." What are they?
Tall-steeple churches are large, rich, and proud; and therefore quite influential.
Back in the day, posession of an earned doctorate was the line separating the men from the boys with the men pastoring tall-steeple churches and the boys relegated to short-steeples. Now an earned doctorate is no longer necessary. The D.Min. will do just fine.
But there's a new requirement. Don't even bother sending a tall-steeple church your dossier unless you've got a British or Scottish accent. Cockney most certainly will not do.
(TB)
If anyone still had the slightest lingering doubts about the nature of the Republican party, doubt no longer. Revulsion seizes me.
Thought you'd all get a kick out of this announcement that went out to our ClearNote Church, Bloomington e-mail list this morning:
Deer Hunting
This deer hunting season there will be an effort to coordinate usage of the church property for deer hunting. If you are planning to use or thinking of using the church property for deer hunting this year, please contact Brian Cooper at 812-500-0077 or (e-mail address), no later than this Monday, November 7.
Anyone gonna top that? (TB)
Cubs masochists like me just received an e-mail formally announcing what the world's known for some time: former Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been hired as President of Cubs baseball operations. The e-mail was five sentences long. It went out from Cubs.com over the name of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and here was the money sentence: "Today, we took another big step toward that goal by announcing today that Theo Epstein has joined the Chicago Cubs as the new President of Baseball Operations reporting directly to me."
That's about right for Cubs baseball. "Today we are announcing today..." (TB)
You the best, Jonathan. Great clip. (TB)
Cleaning up our garage, I found a box of things Mother had saved from each of her children.
Those of us assaulted by my brother David's latest eyeware may be forgiven for thinking he's a Rob Bell wannabe. Actually not.
Here's a pic showing he's the first, the ne plus ultra, and he's never altered course.
Anyone surprised a few years later his band was the Ramones?
Sick. Sad. A life wasted.
And BTW, it's good I got to the box first.
To the left, readers will find a link where they can buy a DVD
I mention the movie now because, if they watch it, readers will understand why the bling of famous Christians holds no appeal to David or me. We grew up under a father who made Christian bling utterly repulsive to us. The rejection of personality cults and self-promotion was foundational to our upbringing.
Dad wrote The Gospel Blimp after years helping to found and leading the work of the parachurch campus ministry, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. And since it was a satire on Evangelicalism's pride and self-promotion, no one was willing to publish it. So Dad did the manly faithful thing and...
Continue reading "Christian bling: Dad's Gospel Blimp inoculated us against it..." »
Saturday, Taylor climbed our American Elm tree and hung these two tire swings while Doug and I and Doug's sons, Jonathan, Nathan, and Josiah, helped as we could. Bayly watched. The rope is hemp, three quarters inch with a working load of eight-hundred plus pounds, the chain is rated for fifteen hundred, and all the hardware over seven hundred, so bring your piano--he can have a ride.
Two more swings wait to be hung, but they'll be in different trees and hung much lower. We have a swing for infants and another normal two-rope kind so we'll not need Taylor to hang them. Then next Spring we hope to hang a hammock and...
Tire-swing war absolutely will be permitted.
Thank you Taylor and Doug and Jonathan and Nathan and Josiah and Heather! (TB)
A dear brother sends notice of the Academy's anthrophobia that's culminated in this howler from our intellectual superiors at NASA and Penn State. Without tongues-in-cheek, they warn that space aliens may be so righteously indignant over our incandecent lights and hot water heaters that they mount an assault against the only inhabitants of Planet Earth who bear the Image of God.
As Joe Sobran oft observed, some things are so spine-tingly stupid only the highly educated could ever believe them. Brother Tibbs writes:
You know how Paul warned that God would give people over to vile affections because they worship the creation rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever? Well, here's a very sad story about His judgment.
Hippies from outer space might arrive in their bong-ship to wipe out humanity in order to save the earth and punish us for blaspheming Gaia. Far out, man. Groovy. Pass the weed.
This is what they believe?
Continue reading "Fearing space aliens rather Almighty God..." »
National Geographic breathlessly announces: "Even after centuries of effort, some 86 percent of Earth's species have yet to be fully described, according to new study that predicts our planet is home to 8.7 million species. That means scientists have cataloged less than 15 percent of species now alive—and current extinction rates mean many unknown organisms will wink out of existence before they can be recorded."
So let me get this straight...
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside the door...
Continue reading "The French you'll always have with you..." »
It's important to remember that pride is made clear by both word and deed and not by words alone in assessing pride and humility.
Neglecting this truth leads to false accusations. In Numbers 16, Korah, Dathan and Abiram lead a rebellion against Moses and Aaron saying, "You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
They accuse Moses of lording it over the people by speaking for God. Moses "angrily" defends himself before God by saying, "Do not regard their offering! I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to any of them." His defense lies in his deeds. He is not proud simply because he speaks for God. He has done them no harm, nor has he profited from them in any way.
Listen to the first minute or two and it's so clear what this video and at least two of these men are about. You'd have to be highly educated to miss it. Then the last minute or two, it surfaces again. As that patriarch of all things Evangelical, the late Vernon Grounds, said some years back, Evangelicals worship "the bitch goddess of success." Followers of Jesus Christ should have nothing to do with multi-site video venues.
And by the way, Mark Dever pulled in his horns after being whupped by the two alpha-males going two-on-one on him with fangs bared. Try to imagine the good doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, agreeing to be part of this exchange. I apologize for posting it, but some things have to be seen if they're going to be properly condemned. (TB, w/thanks)
Multiple Sites: Yea or Nay? Dever, Driscoll, and MacDonald Vote from Ben Peays on Vimeo.
Later this week, our American-African correspondent will have to trade in his credentials for the next twelve months or so to serve, instead, as our Tottering and Aged Track and Field correspondent during home assignment here in these United States. Anyhow, that most esteemed man forwarded a news article reporting stunning news from important Oxford U scholars.
It turns out every four inches of a woman's height above five feet is correlated to a sixteen percent increase in cancer risk...
Although it's written for iPhones, here are instructions for saving any electronic device that falls into a pail of water (or some other similar place).
Key point: pull it out of the water and turn it off, as soon as possible. TURN IT OFF! And if at first it doesn't respond to your efforts to turn it off, keep trying! (TB)
Take a look at these two women and guess which one says she wouldn't warn her daughter against dressing provocatively? We're so intent on not blaming the victim we've turned into a nation of idiots.
(TB, w/thanks to Mike L.)
Once again, we have that paragon among unreforming preachers asked about his take on sex--this time homosexual marriage.
Lauren Green of FoxNews did the interview March 28, 2011, as part of the Justice Event hosted by Redeemer's Hope for New York, Diaconate, and Grace & Race ministries. The place was packed, bases were loaded, bottom of the ninth, the pitch floated in waist high...
If you think Luther and Calvin sinned in their rhetoric and you suspect parody does not edify, you may want to pass this one up. For the rest of us, here's an emetic for all the feminist toxins we're force-fed each day.
And if you're wondering, my dear wife Mary Lee liked it. But then this is a woman who pierced her own nose back in 1975 so let the reader undestand her opinion doesn't count for much.
(TB)
No doubt readers have noticed I've been trying to take Doug's advice and "stop throwing rocks at the moon." He's so wise.
But occasionally I howl, and tonight you may hear me after some idiot sent me to JT's blog and I saw this ad. Twenty percent off? How can a man resist? Talk about preaching to my heart! And you pomos aren't scandalized!
Preaching has become a commodity and we consume it as if it were yogurt or socks.
Money, it's a hit...
(TB)
Can two walk together, except they be agreed? -Amos 3:3
In their recent outreach meeting featuring former staff worker William Campbell promoting sodomy, InterVarsity enlisted the campus organization Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality (SAGE) as a co-sponsor of the event.
This past week SAGE sponsored another event titled "GenderF**k." Billed as "a gender-inclusive drag show with no restrictions on gender presentation, sexual orientation or birth sex," the audience found it all quite delightful. Argenta Peron gushed, “It’s awesome because of the fact it’s not just a drag-show. It expresses a vision of what gender really is.”
We haven't heard if InterVarsity co-sponsored this event, also.
(TB: this is tenth in a series of posts [one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten] responding to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's promotion of sodomy at an Indiana University campus forum they sponsored the evening of Monday, March 28, 2011.)
Vaun Swanson says Denver Seminary taught her to "determine for myself what the author (of Scripture) was intending to communicate to us..."
Even the most complementarian of men will go to any length to avoid Scripture texts that speak of women being susceptible to deception. But then we get hit in the face with a stiff dose of women-together-doing-yikes! and it's hard not to wonder if it's time for someone to blow a clear note of warning...
Continue reading "What is a "transformational breath facilitator"?" »
(David, w/thanks to Isaiah) Harold Camping's foretelling of the world's coming end notwithstanding...
(Tim) Dad used to say there were only three articles in Readers Digest:
1. Oh, the wonder of it.
2. Oh, the horror of it.
3. Oh.
This may be a numer three for you, but I found it interesting.
(Tim) Kamilla passes on some good news from a Naples New Year.
(Tim, w/thanks to Jeffrey M.)
(Tim, w/thanks to Michael) Slate considered the matter and offers an opinion:
...when he sits down to type, Julian Assange reverts to an antiquated habit that would not have been out of place in the secretarial pools of the 1950s: He uses two spaces after every period. Which—for the record—is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.
(Tim) For best effect, read this out loud following a late supper (and while taking a little wine for the stomach).
Decades have come and gone while Church of the Good Shepherd elder and ClearNote Pastors College instructor David Canfield has bought and sold classical vinyl. Until he (sort of) closed his store, Ars Antiqua, a couple years ago, he had the largest classical record inventory in the world. For years he produced the definitive price list used by dealers and collectors. Last week in David and Carole's dining room with a good snow falling and loved ones around the table, we told jokes and laughed outselves sillier. In the mood, David went back to his office and returned with a thick folder filled with stuff that had struck his funny bone through the years.
For instance, here are the program notes transcribed exactly (spelling and punctuation) as they appear in an “English” translation from the original Slovenian notes on a long-playing record on RTV Ljubljana LD 0540. David suggests someone might find these notes good fodder for a doctoral dissertation. Religious Studies would be the logical match.
Well, I'm shivering over the abyss. On to the notes...
Continue reading ""The bristly in life, the shrivelled over the abyss..."" »
(Tim, from son Taylor) Honestly, I'd fly there for it. Notice everyone using their cell phones to record it. Likely everyone was saying, "It was just like the movies!" We're so busy making and consuming images, we don't live. Maybe the best firewords ever? Certainly better than anything I've seen, including Boston on several Fourths of July and D.C. on the Bicentennial.
(Tim) Readers may remember how the Rev. Fred Harrell took his San Francisco church plant, City Church, out of the Presbyterian Church in America and into the Reformed Church in America. Wanting to rebel against God's Creation Order and the Apostolic Scriptural commands of 1Timothy 2:9-15, Pastor Harrell led his flock into one of the many denominations where this sin is approved. Pastor Harrell now has woman elders.
Here's a FAQ from the church's web site:
Q: Why does City Church charge for counseling?
(Tim, w/thanks to Pastor Curell) The scientific method is coming in for some hard knocks, recently, as efforts to replicate a number of critical studies fail. Some would prefer to put it that "replication is proving difficult," but after reading some of the stats, "failure" seems the right description. In discipline after discipline, scientists doing experiments over again find themselves unable to replicate earlier findings that minted academic superstars and set the standard for medical practice, for instance.
Some of the inability to replicate is likely attributable to the very old problem we all fall into of looking for proof that we're right. The problem is too widespread, though, for that alone to be the answer. Thus the New Yorker subtitled its article reporting on this crisis under its Annals of Science: "The Truth Wears Off: Is There Something Wrong with the Scientific Method?"
After reviewing hundreds of papers and forty-four meta-analyses, Australian National University's Michael Jennions found "a consistent decline effect over time, as many of the theories seemed to fade into irrelevance. ...Jenions admits that his findings are troubling, but expresses a reluctance to talk about them publicly."
Continue reading "Merry Christmas: science isn't all it's cracked up to be..." »
(Tim) The internet is used for so many bad things. Let's move it in a more positive direction.
One of my grandsons was getting bundled up for play in the snow, yesterday, and he lamented to his mother, "Mom, it's hard to pick your nose when you have mittens on." This started a discussion among Bayly family members wanting to help the poor boy, but we haven't come up with much. One said, "Teach him the farmer method" and another suggested, "He should practice with his thumb."
So we'd like your input. There will be kids all over the world playing in the snow wearing mittens this Christmas season, so lend a hand and tell us how you've approached this problem with your children or grandchildren?
(Tim) Watching men in dresses gives me the same kick I get watching women march in uniform on the parade ground or run up the basketball court. But of course, thirty years ago I would have been all for them.
Ah, but I was so much older then.
I'm younger than that now.
(Tim, w/thanks to David G.) In the particular denomination calling itself the Presbyterian Church in America, here's what it's all come down to. WWTD.
This as reported by the PCA's monthly promo magazine, byFaith:
(Tim) I may live in Bloomington but I went to UW.
(Tim) A Google News headline and the linked article's first sentence:
WASHINGTON STATE BANS SALE OF...Olympia, WA, United States (AHN) - A second state has banned the sale of alcoholic beverages containing alcohol.
Yup. Baptists and Moslems are taking over our country. You watch: Taylor Swift will appear at next year's Country Music Awards wearing a burka.
(Tim) Pastor Sam Andreades, a longtime member of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, now serves New York's Village Church affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. Recently, Pastor Andreades did a five minute spot on WFMU's Seven Second Delay radio show concerning Village Church's willingness to help those "who are conflicted in their desires and their identity and would like to determine themselves differently." (Here's a pic from the occasion.)
Near the end, Pastor Andreades was asked if he wanted to lead in prayer? The interview begins around 18:30 and the concluding prayer at 23:30. Here's Pastor Andreades' prayer:
HOST: Sam, would you like to lead a prayer?
SAM ANDREADES: Uh, I'd be willing to pray if nobody laughs; if we can do it reverently.
HOST: Sure, let's give it a try and see what happens, OK? Ready?
(Tim, w/thanks to Lucas) Don't you just love it when eBay does theology? Or rather, when eBay has theology done to them by all their "basically good" customers they've always believed in?
Welcome to the Fall.
The way I put it sometimes is to ask whether, if your heart were a Hallmark card, anyone would want to open or read it? Anyone at all--even your mother.
(Tim) I admit I was hungry, but something I can't quite put into words held me back. Would I bite down on a piece of earlobe, or swallow a plug of tongue?
(Tim) From my trip to Chicago, this for a friend of mine who will remain nameless.
(Tim) This past week, I was in Chicago overnight and took a pic of this sign in front of Broadway United Methodist Church a couple blocks from Wrigley Field in the Lakeview neighborhood. Note the usual word 'Worship' accompanying Sunday times is missing; also the women pastors; and then the suitable author and quote.
(Tim) On a number of levels, oy vey.
(Tim, w/thanks to Andrew D.) My brother David is in Chicago for a couple days so I thought I'd let Baylyblog readers know of this event hard approaching sponsored by the presbytery David and Christ the Word held membership in until four months ago. David and I are humbled--truly humbled--to see Baylyblog's wide influence. And just in the nick of time, this seminar is. Heard tell several Great Lakes' teaching elders sent e-mails to their senators this last year...
(Tim, w/thanks to David W.) When we're near the ocean or one of the Great Lakes, I love to snorkel. PADI certified, I've never had the money for scuba gear, but skin diving is cheap. So being an open water lover, this gave me pause:
...a left leg popped out of its mouth as they hauled it in...
(Tim, w/thanks to David W.) If you've travelled to sub-Saharan Africa, you know baboons aren't cute. Now they've infiltrated the wine country around Cape Town and some of them are drunk. Too many evenings observing the white natives at their soirees. The monkeys have decided to get liquid, too.
(Tim: this just in from Heidi Bayly, up in Speedway)
I thought you'd all appreciate the 2" x 3" business card we had in our door one day. It said:
Carrera's landscaping
We do?
Cut grass
Plant plants
We do Mooching
We cleaning house
Remove snow from porch
(random photo of a hydrangea)
I thought maybe we'd call and ask if they actually charge in addition to mooching, or if they would be willing to remove snow from our driveway since we don't have a porch?
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. (Emerson, "Self-Reliance")
(Tim) Last night moving boxes for the garage sale at the church-house, someone pointed out the irony of the title given this edition of the New Living Translation--the best-selling gender-neutered translation in print today. They've removed thousands of male inclusives from the text of God's Word, yet market the book (it's not really a Bible at all) under the title, "Every Man's Bible." Or rather, "every man's Bible."
So let me get this straight: naming the race "man" is hip again, now. Just keep the letters all lower case--all of them except that 'B' in Bible.
ClearNote Church
Bloomington, Indiana
