Saturday, October 22, 2005

Weekly Wrapup

Here are some blog highlights from this week. Kind of like Blogspotting, only not as cool. And definitely not as cool as Blogwatching.

The guys over at TMS Alumni wonder if the new Chronicles of Narnia movies is just another way of exploiting the church for cash. I'll admit, I've been wondering the same thing.

Carla Rolfe has an interesting post on Halloween. She tells about the different extremes she has gone through during the course of her life, and how her family handles it now. She ends by saying that we shouldn't judge others salvation based on whether they agree with us about trick-or-treating. I say, "Amen to that!" BTW, her blog is filled with some of the most beatiful pictures on the web.

Tim Challies also talks about "the inevitable Halloween discussion." Frankly, I think I'd rather talk about Petra.

Adrian Warnock does research about what Bible translations are used by bloggers. He finds the results interesting. Given his methodology, I question some of his conclusions (as did others in the comments section). Nevertheless, I will state categorically that the ESV is by far the easiest translation to use for the internet & blogging. One of my favorite reasons for using it on the blog is the Firefox search box extension. (The ESV blog also has info on Wordpress Plugins, and a cool javascript thingamajig that gives you popups for webpages). Warnock also surprises everyone, including apparently himself, by quoting the NLT.

Al Mohler talks about the scandal of Biblical illiteracy. It's as scandalous in 2005 as it was in September 2003, when he originally posted it. This is one of the reasons for my comments about the 100 Minute Bible--the need is out there, even if their proposed solution is flawed.

The Black Calvinist, Kerry Gilliard, makes a rather straightforward statement about the Roman Catholic church's rejection of Biblical authority (specifically the idea of justification by faith alone) that turns into a full-blown discussion. (I had to jump in--near the bottom of comments, if you care).

Centuri0n has some great posts this week, but I think my favorite thing of all he wrote was this comment on another blog: "I'm completely spent writing, btw. Trying to keep up with Doug Wilson has been like taking a joy ride with Lance Armstrong one random saturday." I can't even keep up with reading those two (much less writing...). I keep wondering if he's gonna delink me (or worse--move me down to the Num 22:9 section) after a couple of comments I've made. On the plus side, I did ask for an instant replay on his alleged yellow-flag penalty. Still, here's hoping he really doesn't have a three strikes rule.

Hemsch wonders about the message in Sci-Fi, specifically, why do heroes who aren't Christians have moral values? He and I share a passion for the stuff (Thomas Watson would call this our "besetting sin"). I've been trying to write a response, but both the topic and the genre are so big, it's hard to know where to begin. As an opening volley, I'll just say that all forms of non-Christian belief believe there is some goodness in man (how it manifests itself varies). This is not unique to Sci-Fi at all. What is unique about Sci-Fi is its ability transport us and force us to think about things that, if they were presented in their current context, we might never consider. This is Sci-Fi at its best (and worst). I hope to write a post soon about the worldview of Star Wars, where I will probably cover this topic at greater length.

Oh, and Phil Johnson is back.

3 comments:

Carla Rolfe said...

Thank you for your kind words :)

This might be a silly question, but with the last name Gumm, I have to ask: are you related to Judy Garland (who's real last name was Gumm, I think?).

Silly Saturday Trivia, I hope you forgive the lame question.

SDG ~ Carla

BlackCalvinist aka G.R.A.C.E. Preecha said...

Thanks for chiming in on that discussion, Matt. Pray for Steve. It's amazing (well...not...) how blind folks are to the plain meaning of the text and its' implications.

FX Turk said...

Matt --

I feel like you're my blogson. I could never delink you ... unless you went pomo. Or if you got a TELIP tat. Or if you started dating married women that aren't married to you.

Other than that, it's all grace.