Christian Carnival XLV

Once again, it's Wednesday, and the Christian Carnival graces the blogospohere. The 45th incarnation is being hosted by CowPi Journal.

I was busy moving, not blogging, but obviously that didn't stop 37 others from joining in the fun. While nowhere near the record-smashing 47 entries last week, that's still pretty heavy.

My personal favourites:

Andrew at Philosophical Poetry takes on the book of Job:

Job is held up as the book of suffering; it is the book to which we are told to turn in those times of trouble. Having read through Job recently, I have once again realized that this perspective on Job is completely inaccurate. Job is not so much a book about the suffering of man as it is a book about the sovereignity of God.

[Read Examining the Job Narrative]

Be sure also to check out the comments, where an atheist reacts to the "despicable" idea that God's own glory is the most important thing there is.

Rebecca's theological musings are always good, but in her discussion of Isaiah 10, she's outdone herself:

We can't reconcile them by saying that God isn't really going to direct the activities of the Assyrian nation of the Assyrian king. The text uses the words "send" and "command" and the metaphors of a rod being wielded, an axe being used to hew, a saw being used to cut, and a staff being used to lift. The picture we get of God's involvement in what will take place is that his role will be a large and powerful one; in fact, that he will be the one who controls all of what will occur. To be sure, much of the language is metaphorical, but the particular images chosen are chosen because they express truth about the situation to us. If the images make it seem that God will be the one doing the job, and Assyria and the Assyrian king are merely tools he will use to accomplish his work, this is probably the right way to think about this act. We can't back away from the strength of this statement in order to fit the sovereignty of God and true human responsibility together in our minds.

[Read Isaiah 10 and Reconciling Friends]

Jeremy at Parableman takes on a couple of common arguments against Calvinism:

[E]ach argument, rather than ignoring one of God's attributes, instead redefines one of the two attributes so as to preclude the other. Universal salvationists define mercy as all-encompassing and inconsistent with the kind of justice the Bible attributes to God. Universal damnationists define justice as all-encompassing and inconsistent with the kind of mercy the Bible attributes to God. Both make God in human image, because only we have such diminished justice as to be without possibility of mercy, and only we have such diminished mercy as to be without possibility of justice.

[Read Universal Salvation and Universal Damnation]

The Proverbial Wife examines the death penalty:

I understand the logic behind the death penalty much more clearly than the reasons given for abortion, but I cannot reconcile the cross of Christ with the electric chair, much less the slaughter of infants in the womb.

[Read The Death Penalty]

(Marla's post has prompted William at Beyond the Rim to start his own series on the subject from the standpoint of sola Scriptura. It looks to be a good study.)

Enjoy.