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March Madness Bracket of Integrity

By on March 12, 2012 in Counseling, Current Events

This came up last year…is it legit to use pragmatism to enter multiple brackets into a March Madness contest? I’m a firm believer in integrity and that makes me a one bracket man. Now don’t get me wrong…go ahead and enter that bracket into as many contests as you want, however, it is no demonstration of integrity to have more than one bracket.

Case and point: I have earned two entries into the March Madness event we are doing at school. I will not and have no intention of using my second bracket. It simply does not demonstrate integrity to do so.

So who is with me? Who stands for integrity?

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The Days After Steve Jobs

By on October 30, 2011 in Current Events

Many people have been surprised as to my silence on the death of Steve Jobs since I used to work for Apple and have worked for other Apple companies. My silence thus far has not been so much intentional as it has been due to the fact that every news outlet has been saturated with the news and updates. There are many reasons to admire the man and a few why we shouldn’t. I’ll have more to say in the coming days I am sure.

I just got the new biography by Walter Isaacson. I just started reading it this afternoon but my wife is over 200 pages into it. So far from what I have read it has been very interesting and captivating. I am sure I’ll blitz through it this week.

Also, just today, the New York Times released an article that was the eulogy for Steve Jobs that his sister, Mona Simpson, read. It is moving and powerful from a worldly perspective. I would encourage you to read it.

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What Do T.D. Jakes and an Elephant Have in Common?

By on October 1, 2011 in Current Events, Theology

OK…this is no fat joke (I’m a big guy myself)—it has nothing to do with size of the man or the elephant. It has everything to do with the size of theological orthodoxy and the line for where heresy is drawn. The blogosphere has been all blown up this week about James McDonald inviting T.D. Jakes to The Elephant Room this coming January. Many of you probably are not familiar with The Elephant Room so I give you their explanation of it here.

The Elephant Room features blunt conversations between seven influential pastors who take differing approaches to ministry. No keynotes. No canned messages. These are “the conversations you never thought you’d hear.” All conversations are moderated by James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church

So what is the kerfuffle with Jakes and this conversation? Well as it turns out Jakes is a modalist. A modalist you say? Yes, a modalist. A modalist is someone that does not believe in a three person Trinity (Father, Son, Spirit), but three manifestations of one person (modes). Modalism is defined well at the Christian Apologetics and Research Center;

Modalism is probably the most common theological error concerning the nature of God.  It is a denial of the Trinity which states that God is a single person who, throughout biblical history, has revealed Himself in three modes, or forms. Thus, God is a single person who first manifested himself in the mode of the Father in Old Testament times.  At the incarnation, the mode was the Son.  After Jesus’ ascension, the mode is the Holy Spirit.  These modes are consecutive and never simultaneous.  In other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit never all exist at the same time, only one after another.  Modalism denies the distinctiveness of the three persons in the Trinity even though it retains the divinity of Christ.

So what’s the issue? What’s the big deal? Simply put this is not good. Many brighter people than I have already commented on this issue this week. I simply want to serve you with those I’ve found to be the most helpful…in order.

THABITI ANYABWILE | Collateral Damage in the Invitation of T.D. Jakes to the Elephant Room

NATHAN BUSENITZ | Modalism, Oneness, and T. D. Jakes

MARK DRISCOLL | Reflections on James MacDonald, TD Jakes, and the Trinity

TIM CHALLIES | MacDonald, Jakes, & the Elephant in the Room

CARL TRUEMAN | Is Nicene Christianity that important? An historical-ecumenical note

 

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Pat Robertson is a Fool

By on September 14, 2011 in Culture, Current Events, Marriage

Ok, so Robertson being a fool isn’t anything new. He has had a lot of knucklehead moments over the years and is rarely repentant of them. I would hear of these much more frequently when living in Virginia Beach, where Robertson lives and where Regent University and the 700 Club is based. The seminary I went to is just about a mile or so down the road.

Today’s news of Robertson takes the cake though. A caller called in during some Q&A and asked about divorce in a situation where one partner has Alzheimer’s disease. Robertson said it was ok and that they should not feel guilty about it! Robertson is a fool! The man obviously does not understand marriage nor the whole “for better of worse, richer for poorer” idea of the vows most people take. He simply reinterprets them!

If you want the fuller story on it you can find it at the Christianity Today blog. If I keep writing I’ll certainly say something regrettable.

The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin. | Proverbs 10:8 ESV

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The NIV 2011 and 1 Timothy 2:12

By on July 20, 2011 in Current Events, Theology

I have been reading in the new updated NIV more and more recently. I have enjoyed the change from the ESV, since I have been reading that for about 10 years now. There is much about the ease of reading the NIV that it is to be commended for. I appreciate their translation objectives and goals and all the much more since recently reading Fee and Stauss’ How to Choose a Translation for All it’s Worth. However, there are still places in which a translation agenda seems to bleed through. This is certainly only perceived  since I don’t know any of these people personally nor any motivations, but when I consider the translation of 1 Timothy 2:12 it leaves me scratching my head.

The ESV translated 1 Timothy 2:12 as,

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet.”

The NIV 2011 translates 1 Timothy 2:12 as,

“I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man, she must be quiet.”

Now at first glance the translations appear to be strikingly similar. However, under closer examination you can see where the ESV translated the Greek word αὐθεντεῖν as “exercise authority” and the NIV translates this word as “assume authority.” These two phrases are not even close to one another. One of the complications in translating this word is that it is only used here in the New Testament, meaning, there are no other texts to compare it to.

Upon investigating some more into the meaning of αὐθεντέω I am more and more convinced that the ESV has it right and the NIV is wrong. Throughout early Christian literature the word is understood to mean “give orders to” or “dictate to” (BDAG, 150). Other sources say it has the understanding of “rule” (EDNT), “control” (Dictionary of Biblical Languages), and “domineer” (Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament). Nothing I looked at gave any impression that it meant anything close to “assume authority.”

There are some others out there that have written on this and I would encourage you to look at them. According to Jim Hamilton, Denny Burk’s post is worthy of attention. He provides a great chart that gives the NIV translations of 1 Timothy 2:12 through the revisions of the NIV. Doug Moo (one of the translators of the NIV) even chimes in with a comment.

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