Friday in the wild - September 9, 2005

Say, what time is it, kids? It's "Friday in the Wild" time! Here is my weekly roundup of the interesting bits of the blogosphere that I came across.

Ten years ago, Tony Campolo was an evangelical "leader" whom, even if I disagreed with him on a few minor matters, I considered a worthwhile authority, because he wasn't afraid to say some things I thought needed to be said. I don't know whether I've changed my views since then, or he's just stopped saying those things. Either way, ten years later I can no longer recommend Campolo as worthwhile for anything, except perhaps as an example of how far evangelicalism has fallen if it still listens to him. Tim Challies gives one good reason:

Theology can often seem abstract and uninteresting. You may remember the article I posted a couple of months ago in which I discussed the doctrine of Open Theism. I said "What began on the fringes of scholarship has quickly gained a popular following, in part because of the publication of entry-level titles such as Gregory Boyd's God of the Possible and in part because of the acceptance of the doctrine by various popular authors." The first point I made about Open Theism is "God's greatest attribute is love. God's love so overshadows His other characteristics that He could never allow or condone evil or suffering to befall mankind."

[Read Open Theism in Action]

The PyroManiac has started a series taking on Robert Millet, the Mormon apologist and author, and his attempts to peddle Mormonism as mainstream Christianity:

Even though I missed the initial buzz about Millet's book, I still want to weigh in on a certain aspect of this controversy that has annoyed me for some six or seven years. I'm talking about way Dr. Millet and his fans (both Mormons and post-evangelicals) continually invoke my pastor's name as if he were friendly to their cause.

He's not.

This is neither mine nor John MacArthur's first attempt to set the record straight. (I'll be posting some past correspondence on the issue in the next few days.) John MacArthur has repeatedly attempted to make his position absolutely clear: He does not regard Mormonism as legitimate Christianity - not even close. But you might get the opposite impression from some of Millet's publicity, and especially from his Internet groupies' postings.

[Read Peddling Mormonism as Mainstream Christianity]

It so happens that before the A.V. 1611 Answers Association (by the way, isn't that splash graphic just really freaky?) had its own Web site, it was a Blogspot blog. I was one of Jeffrey Nachimson's first blogroll links, in fact. Unfortunately, I appear to be an official "Alexandrian Apostate" no longer (although the proof remains in Google's cache), but Fred Butler of Hip and Thigh is. He takes on Nachimson's missives against his own view on Bible translation:

I primarily wanted to point out with my first entry in response to Mr. Jeffrey, the main tactic of meaningless ad hominem utilized by KJV onlyists. Woven through their publications defending KJV onlyism is a thread of personal animosity towards any person who would dare to either question, or heaven forbid, change the translation of the King James Bible. This animosity reveals itself as a Tourette's syndrome like flurry of ridicule and scornful heckling designed to belittle and discredit the non-KJV individual as a critic of KJV onlyism, while at the same time providing the KJV defender with an appearance of true, righteous zeal for God's Word. It is my contention that this type of mockery is only characteristic of a lack of genuine spirituality on the part of a good number of KJV only defenders, as well as a clear indication of the serious deficiency in their overall apologetic for KJV onlyism.

With this entry, I wanted to move onto addressing some specific charges leveled by Mr. Jeffrey against my convictions and understanding of God's Word, the Holy Bible. I liken Mr. Jeffrey's arguments to an old fashioned zeppelin filled with volatile gas, so that when the sparks of truth and fact come into contact with them, they ignite in a flash, causing his entire KJV only ballon to come crashing and burning to the ground.

[Read A Ride on the Hindenburg: KJV Only Arguments Crashing and Burning]

There was but one interesting search query this week that brought Googlers to my humble site:

• zeppelin slash fanfiction: Oh heck no. I don't even want to think of Led Zeppelin unclothed, if I can help it. (Coincidentally, Robert Plant is playing here in Ottawa tomorrow night, and naturally, I can't go.)

That's all! Until next week, enjoy.