Wednesday, December 23, 2009

There are WAY too many bowls

We have had too much experience with the doctor, and now it's the car doctor. I took the car in for an oil change and a tire rotation. Of course they found more. The front tires were worn out, as was the rotor and the brake pads. A $30 trip turned into $720.

Brother, can you spare a dime?

This isn't the only strange thing going on in this world… I was watching ESPN, and they were discussing bowls. Then they mentioned the "San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl". The Poinsettia Bowl is hardly tier one (or even tier three), but it makes me upset. If a Credit Union can buy a bowl, I could have had the kypackrat.com Bowl.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Open Prayer Requests

I ask everyone to pray for the salvation of my great-uncle "R". He knows nothing about the Bible, little about Christianity, and has absolutely no hope. I've been working to witness to him ever since my grandfather (his brother) passed away, with little effect. He is too much of a boor to hear what I'm saying. For Christmas, I gave him a care package of a Bible and several study books, and wrote a letter to witness to him. Like the sower, I've spread my seeds. Now, please pray that God leads him to read those books and makes those seeds grow.

Second, my brother-in-law W has been tentatively diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and the doctor thinks it's spreading throughout his body. Since the tests (biopsy, etc.) are not done (they will occur this week and next), we are praying that the doctor is mistaken and it is either not a tumor or that it's not malignant. If the doctor is correct, please pray that W receives peace and comfort from the Holy Spirit (W is a baptized believer).

Monday, December 21, 2009

An open tribulation Theory Blog

Over at Vox Popoli, SugarPi posted:
OK, Starbuck and DrTorch, you're tempting me beyond what Markku's admonition is able to restrain me. I'm dying to ask a sincere question that no end times, post-trib scholar I've read has been able to illuminate satisfactorily.

Comments are unmoderated. Ask and talk away.

Friday, December 11, 2009

The Manhattan Declaration -- Why I agree, and won't sign

I was reading R. C. Sproul's blog for a post by Sinclair Ferguson (more about it later), when I noted a post about The Manhattan Declaration.

I've heard some about the Manhattan Declaration, but between work and Number One Son being back in the hospital twice in the last month, we've been busy. When I read Sproul's blog post, I went and read the Declaration. In general, it makes me glad to see the Church making a principled stand on three of the serious issues facing America. I would prefer more clarity on fighting the evils of divorce and fornication too, but that's just me.

I also have trouble agreeing with RC's insistence that it would be wrong to sign the document because of whom else is signing it: Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Sproul says:
The Manhattan Declaration confuses common grace and special grace by combining them. While I would march with the bishop of Rome and an Orthodox prelate to resist the slaughter of innocents in the womb, I could never ground that cobelligerency on the assumption that we share a common faith and a unified understanding of the gospel.

As a Restoration Movement adherant, I am naturally hesitant to distinguish between types of Christians. I believe in "Not the only Christians, just Christians only" motto. Sproul goes too far (IMHO) in condemning Catholics and the Orthodox in not agreeing with his theology.

Nonetheless, I won't sign, because Sproul is not totally wrong. There is a difference between saying "You're not Christian enough" and saying "I can't co-sign on your theology". Chuck Colson said, "This document is, in fact, a form of catechism for the foundational truths of the faith." I don't believe it is an adequate catechism; that is reserved for the Bible itself. Second, the document is incomplete: any such document should have condemned divorce, fornication, and the sexualization of our society (porn, etc.) in equally strong terms.

Finally, if it is a statement of theology, then I can't agree that all Catholics and all Orthodox are preaching exactly the same Gospel as I am. There are saved Catholics and saved Orthodox. However, the Orthodox church and the Roman Catholic church both teach as doctrine non-Biblical principles. I may be in Christian union with believers in both organizations, I most certainly am NOT in union with either organization itself, and the document implies that I am.

Even without arguing the Stone-Campbell "no creed but Christ", I won't be signing the Manhattan Declaration, no matter how much I agree with 99% of it.