Ha! After three straight weeks, Friday in the Wild is, indeed, occurring on a Friday. Here's a roundup of some of my favourite contributions to the blogosphere this week.
Ligon Duncan posted an encouraging article on Reformation 21 about the seemingly unlikely unity that exists between John MacArthur and C .J. Mahaney, leader of the Sovereign Grace denomination of churches:
Yesterday, C.J. Mahaney preached the worship services at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. In my opinion, that is a sign of good things quietly astir in the evangelical and Reformed community today - new networks of friendship, kinship in the truth and cooperation in ministry. And it's something you wouldn't have guessed twenty years ago.
Many evangelicals will recognize Grace Church as the congregation pastored by John MacArthur. Many will also know that John has been a strong critic of charismatic theology (how many printings and editions has Charismatic Chaos gone through?), and that C.J. is leader of a family of churches that is both Reformed and charismatic. So what's up? Is John going soft on his positions? No, not at all.
This is cool: According to What Attitude Problem, a number of authors are auctioning off the right to be a character in one of their books. Stephen King, for example, appears to be looking for a female character to die horribly. (Imagine that.)
Steve Camp blogs on a theological subject that is one of my pet peeves as well:
A few years ago a gentleman approached me after a concert with a question about what I had been teaching that evening (it was Hebrews 2:9-18). He mentioned one of the verses to me that he gave a very unusual meaning to. He was taking completely out of context, but defiantly said that he couldn't be challenged on what that verse meant, because regardless what I had to say�this is what he "felt" it meant. When he calmed down and actually inquired what I thought the verse meant I replied with a bit of sarcasm saying, "I think that this verse means that Michael Jordan is going to come out of retirement, return to the Bulls, and they will win another NBA Championship." He looked puzzled at me and then barked out, "that isn't what this verse is saying!!!" I said, "Oh, we're not concerned with what it�s actually saying... just what it means to me and what it means to you." He then reluctantly acknowledged what I was driving at� that the Scriptures actually mean something textually apart from any experience or proclivities we bring to them.
[Read A Text; Taken out of Context; is a Pretext; for Proof-Text]
Meanwhile, Scott Klusendorf takes on a pro-choice blogger. This is what pro-life advocacy should look like.
Finally, Steve Hays at Triablogue takes on one of Karl Keating's "hissy fits" over something John MacArthur said recently (and apparently the fact that MacArthur's letter head calls him a "Bible teacher"):
What we have here is the difference between ascribed status and achieved status. Men like MacArthur and James Kennedy built their ministries from the ground up. They had no preexisting constituency. Folks follow them for what they say and do, not for what they are.
By contrast, the only reason that folks follow the Pope is because he�s the Pope. Who was reading the Bishop of Krakow before he became Pope? Who was reading the Bishop of Freising before he became the Prefect?
[Read Karl Keating's hissy-fit ]
There were no humorous search queries this week. I guess all the weirdos are still looking for info on Skylar "No, Really, I Was a Power Ranger" Deleon, the mere mention of whom has literally tripled my traffic for the last two weeks. Not that I'm complaining.
Until next time . . . enjoy!
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