Just To Tide You Over...

I'm still working on my "Here's where I was on Friday" post (in response to this), some snippets from the latest skirmish over at Triablogue, as well as a quick review of the first Chronicles of Narnia movie (the short answer is go see it--the review will tell you why). Oh, and I want to comment on a couple of Doxo's Calvinistic claims.

In the meantime, I would direct you over to Centuri0n's blog for an interesting discussion of baptism, and how it relates to church membership, the nature of salvation and the sacraments, and the boundaries of the new covenant. There are actually a couple of previous posts on Cent's blog, but this is the active thread, & comments.
Update: a critical piece to this is Greg Welty's paper. It is a useful summary of the objections to infant baptism from a covenant/non-dispensationalist approach. Had I merely read his paper, I wouldn't have bothered to post any of my comments, as he makes the same points with more forcefulness and biblical acumen. Yes, it's that good.
BTW--Williams, you've been beggin' for weeks for a discussion on baptism, and now that it's full blown this is your best offering? C'mon, man--get in the game!

In other news, the two Canadians, Kim & Daniel, have generated about 60% of my traffic today (I misstated by saying 80% earlier on Kim's blog--I forgot about Pyro's "Spine" post--I may never live that one down). Apparently their readership also falls into that most coveted demographic--the one that reads on weekends. Meanwhile, I've gotten maybe two from the bossman (although in his defense, I did get some last week from Haloscan comments.)

Lastly, if you're "Truly Reformed," "Truly Baptist," or just truly interested, check out this color-coded comparison of the Westminster Confession of Faith & the London Baptist Confession of 1689. (HT: James Anderson.)

While I'm Gone--Read about What Calvinism is Not

Unexpected change of plans, so I'm posting this a little earlier than I planned.

Jeremy Weaver has written a series of posts about what Calvinism is not.

Introduction
Can Man Do Good?
What is Fatalism?
The Atonement Is For Everyone!
Everyone Limits The Atonement (Followup to the previous post)
One More Atonement Post... (Second atonement followup post)
Has Anyone Believed Against Their Will?
Eternal Security is a Half Truth, Part one & Part two

Two Favorite Quotes--John Newton & Charles Spurgeon

I'm sure there are many to choose from, but here are two quotes from two of my favorite men from church history, and both in the same context. They are taken from Charles Spurgeon's message "A Defense of Calvinism," where he quotes John Newton telling a story to illustrate his point about election.

Newton quotes a woman in his congregation:
Ah! sir, the Lord must have loved me before I was born, or else He would not have seen anything in me to love afterwards.

In that sermon (which I would commend to you if you haven't read it), Spurgeon continues the discussion of the doctrine of election like this:
"I am sure it is true in my case; I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine."

And to that I can only say, "Amen."

Blogroll Additions

More blogroll additions.

Jeremy Weaver (aka Doxoblogologist): Jeremy has a great sense of humor, and is part of that much sought after demographic--the one that reads and comments on weekends. He's even linked to my blog (I'm one of the "Avengers," though as I look at his cloud of witnesses, I wonder what in the world I've done to be included in such a group.) Plus, his blog lives up to its subtitle--"a Godward blog." Now if only I could figure out how to pronounce "Doxoblogy."

Marc Heinrich is his partner on this site. I have also added a link to linked Marc's other blog, Purgatorio. The first time I went to visit Marc's blog, I'll admit to thinking "What's so great about this? It's just a bunch of pictures." But it turns out I just wasn't cultured enough--the guy is a comic genius. His piece on how to tell if you're Emergent won me over. Well that, & reading some of his recent comments on a certain NW AR bookseller's blog. And his 7 Sevens is simply smashing! (P.S.--if your a Star Trek fan, here's a bonus link).

The third link I added was Kim in Ontario. Kim is a friend of Carla's, which is how I found her. Her writing exudes a love for the Lord and her family. She is very humble, and is no respecter of persons. For awhile, her link to Phil Johnson read simply "that Blogspotting guy."

The fourth addition is the Main Family. Bryan is in my Ironmen men's group on Wednesday mornings, and we are in the same homegroup. Plus, our three sons are nearly identical in ages, and we graduated from JBU. This could mean we have lots to talk about, but honestly I can't imagine why he wants any more of me than he already sees. Anyway, I'm glad to see him join the 'sphere, and I look forward to upcoming posts.

Here's one way to get hits...

Turns out Phil's blog is the gift that keeps on giving, even when it's not directly.

Looking through referrals to my blog, someone out there did a nice Google search on "Phil Johnson's blog," and I came out on top. Higher than Challies, Spurgeon Archive, Sharper Iron, The Black Calvinist, James White, and James Spurgeon. (A certain individual with 50,000 hits and an angry eyebrow was nowhere to be found on this search.)

Given his post last Friday, I'm thinking that it's pretty much safe to mention him with impugnity with no fear of being Blogspotted. I'm guessing that will be the first to go (it's fun, but oh so time consuming). I might try for an entire week's worth of posts that mention him, just to test the theory.

In Case You've Ever Wondered...Who Does Those WSJ Portraits?

I just found out there is an artist who does all the fabulous portraits that appear in the Wall Street Journal, a paper I read daily. Noli Novak is her name.
And here is how it is done.

(HT: Grant Thomas.)

Celebrating Sentimentality

Gene Edward Veith is out this week in World Magazine with an article on holiday programming. He goes through the various programs, and at the end proclaims that Charlie Brown Christmas is still the best.

The article is definitely worth the read, as you'll probably find (as I did) some of your favorites on the list and see how he ranks them.

Here are three key statements I'd like to highlight:
"...for many viewers, watching these classics each and every year has become a staple of their Christmas observance."
"...few of the TV Christmas classics have any references to the birth of Jesus Christ. What they provide are good clues to what secularists celebrate instead."
"For many people, the true meaning of Christmas is nostalgia."

I think he's dead on. One of our favorite movies, White Christmas, fits this category perfectly (although he's a bit kinder to it, not relgating it to the nostalgia level). The whole thing was inspired by the song of the same name. The king of the classic holiday specials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, originated as a department store promotion.

Consider commercials. Until a couple of years ago, every time the Budweiser Clydesdales came on, I'd get a little choked up, and I don't even drink beer. For years, Coca-Cola has had retro Santa on their cans, and now they've got Christmas polar bears.

Then there is music. Although I'm not a big fan of the sacred/secular distinction, it seems appropriate here. Christmas music seems to run down parallel tracks, and the secular path has a nostalgia all its own. I mentioned White Christmas already, but there are enough truly secular songs to fill many albums.

But we must be careful--even if we limit ourselves to sacred songs, we still have those that are traditional, despite the fact that they contain theological errors. One example is Angels We Have Heard on High. What were the angels doing? Were they singing? No, they were proclaiming. But we sing this, despite the error, because we've always sung it.

I hope none of this will take away from our enjoyment of family, friends, and holiday traditions during this blessed season. But it serves as a sobering warning. With the possible exception of Thanksgiving, America's "holy days" are all secular holidays; and particularly at Christmas, if we're not careful, we Christians can easily end up side-by-side with the secularists, celebrating sentimentality.

Time to head back to Toastmasters...

I was in Toastmasters a few years back. It was interesting. I didn't make it very far, but it was still good practice. They had this person designated as an "Um Counter." Their job was to count "ums," and I kept them pretty busy when it was my turn.

Anyway, the other night we are in family worship, and we're trying to teach the kids how to be respectful in prayer by closing their eyes and bowing their heads. My 18month old is on my lap, and as I'm praying, we keep hearing these noises from him. When I finally say "amen," my wife says "guess he doesn't know when to say amen." And I replied, "No honey, he was saying 'um.'"

Yes, that's right. My son was mimicking my prayer, and his prayer went like this: "Um, um, um, amen."

Guess it's time to head back to Toastmasters...and maybe I should take my son with me.

Expanding my vocabulary

I'm no Bill Buckley, but it isn't often that I come across a word I'm completely unfamiliar with, and I guess I'm not actively seeking to expand my vocabulary like I once was (at least not my English vocabulary--Spanish & Greek are another matter).

So I was pleasantly surprised when Phil Johnson used a word I'd never heard before in one of the discussions last week. Thanks Phil.

rodomontade

P.S. Spell check on Blogger tried to replace rodomontade with rudimentary. Oh, those wacky machines!

Closing thoughts on the Thanksgiving Blogwar

A semi-confessional essay

I've decided that Dec 1 was an appropriate time to start afresh, so I'm going to finish this off with some closing thoughts. I've seen at least a couple posts that have decided to go with the "here's what's important for the blogosphere to understand about this situation." If you want to read those, you can do a Google blog search on "imonk," "blogwar," or "brouhaha."

Instead, here are some random things; things I've learned, been reminded of, or am thankful for. These are not directed at anyone except me alone; if you find them instructive, then to God be the glory.

First, who knew that cataloging a brouhaha would be so good for stats?


Yes, that's right. My stats went up 10-fold, about 45 a day to 450 a day. It's silly, I know, but it's amazing what a few links from well-placed sources will do for you.

Second, I want to thank all those who stopped in, and especially those who took time to comment. I'm hopeful that I've gained a few more readers as a result of this (perhaps Glenn is the first).

Third, I've learned that if I ever insult someone and invite them to say whatever they want to about me on their blog, I had better be prepared for them to take me up on my offer.

Finally, I was reminded learned that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires (Jas 1:20, ESV). At least once, and probably three or more times I was angry to the point of sinning. I am thankful that a couple posts were deleted before I showed the truth of this James passage in how it applies to me.

Yes, I still have a lot to learn. Yes, there will be more discussion, more debate. If you really want to know how I feel about this, check out Phil Johnson's comment. He does a more than adequate job of summarizing where this whole thing went, and probably represents my own position better than I could myself at this point.

A part of me will miss the Brouhaha. But it's time to sink back down into obscurity, and let others fight the Blogwars. At least for awhile.