Whose team is Tom Wright on?

February 10, 2009 by Andy Naselli

While blogging through N. T. Wright’s Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, Douglas Wilson pithily observes,

Wright is like a wonderful three-point shooter in American basketball, but one who can’t be troubled to find out who is wearing what uniform, or which team is supposed to be going in what direction, so when he takes to the floor, he scores a dazzling series of points—sixteen for the home team, and twenty-four for the visitors. One can be simultaneously impressed and wish that he would just stop it.

What’s even more sad is that many people don’t take theology as seriously as they take sports (though, granted, the analogy breaks down on several levels when applied to theology). To recall an extreme (and unfortunate) example, do you remember what happened to the soccer player Andrés Escobar after he accidentally scored a goal for the opposing team in the 1994 World Cup?

Five New Carson MP3s: OT Sermons

February 9, 2009 by Andy Naselli

I just uploaded five new MP3s to the D. A. Carson archive:

1. TEDS Commencement Address (December 19, 2008)

The First Thing to Do in Your Ministry (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)

2. UCCF Staff Training Conference (January 5-8, 2009)

Two Piper Illustrations

February 3, 2009 by Andy Naselli

Two illustrations from John Piper‘s four-part series on Ruth (September 2008) are noteworthy:

1. Don’t plan your life.

In part 2, Piper gives a six-minute autobiographical sketch (10:20–16:45 in the MP3). It includes how he met his wife, went to seminary, and became a professor and then a pastor. The author of Don’t Waste Your Life here underscores another theme: Don’t plan your life because God already has! One could add qualifications to this (e.g., don’t inflexibly plan your life), but I think the main point is sound. (Indeed, Piper qualifies this in part 3.)

2. Learn to see the hidden hand of God when it looks like he is dealing you bitterness day after day.

In part 3, Piper recounts in 4.5-minutes (2:20-6:50) a dark cloud in the pilgrimage of Bethlehem Baptist Church. In 1993, Piper heard a romantic recorded message from one of the BBC staff members to another on staff. After a “hellish” six weeks, the male staff member finally confessed to seven years of adultery. The upshot was that 230 people left the church, which merely survived and didn’t grow for three years. “It was horrible, and the Lord’s hand was on us for good.”

John MacArthur Interview

February 3, 2009 by Andy Naselli

I just listened to Rick Holland’s recent interview of John MacArthur, who reflects for over an hour about his last forty years of ministry at Grace Church (MP3 | transcript). Enjoyable and edifying.

No Anonymous or Pseudonymous Comments, Please

February 2, 2009 by Andy Naselli

I haven’t laid out guidelines for leaving comments on this blog. Perhaps I should. But here is one request I’d like to underscore: When you submit a comment, please use your full real name and one of your active email addresses. The real name is for the benefit of everyone (including yourself!), and the active email address is for me (i.e., it is not viewable to others) in case I’d like to contact you privately.

Thanks.

A Quibble with John Piper

February 2, 2009 by Andy Naselli

On December 17, 2008, John Piper warmly recommended Leif Enger’s novel Peace Like a River. Jenni and I read it together over the last month and finished it last night.

Enger is a gifted writer who crafts words like an artist, and his novel has several redeeming qualities. The problem, however, is that the story’s plot is far too thin. It starts well but then fizzles. We kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. Perhaps this says more about us than it does about Enger—sort of like how the only thing being evaluated at fancy art museums is the people looking at the paintings, not the paintings themselves!

Should you read Peace Like a River? A cheeky side of me wants to answer, “No, don’t waste your life.” :-)

Collin Hansen Reflects on Young, Restless, Reformed

February 2, 2009 by Andy Naselli

Collin Hansen reflects on his book Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. (Cf. my review.)

Note his comments re fundamentalism:

Increasing my coverage of Reformed blogging is not the only change I would make. Readers have emerged from the woodwork to tell me about growing pockets of Reformed interest in Great Britain and among African Americans and fundamentalists. . . . As for fundamentalists, I have heard testimonies of college and seminary students who tell me something big is stirring. Perhaps there is hope that these young Calvinists will rebuild the bridges burned generations ago between evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Abortion

January 26, 2009 by Andy Naselli

I just listened to Justin Taylor’s Sunday morning sermon on abortion that he preached at his church on January 18, 2009. Three words come to mind:

Sobering
Convicting
Motivating

After listening to Justin’s sermon, I have the kind of feeling that I might have felt if I could have watched Schindler’s List while living near Nazi concentration camps while WWII was still in progress. How can this unspeakably horrific evil legally be happening all around me? What am I doing about it?

Cf. these posts on abortion by Justin Taylor and John Piper this month:

Justin Taylor’s Recent Posts on Abortion

John Piper’s Recent Posts on Abortion

See also John Piper’s resources on abortion.