Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

How to Find a Good Church

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Mark Dever, What Is a Healthy Church? (IX Marks; Wheaton: Crossway, 2007), p. 79:

Quick Tips: How to Find a Good Church

1. Pray.

2. Seek counsel from a godly pastor (or from elders).

3. Keep your priorities straight.

  • The gospel must be truly affirmed, clearly preached, and faithfully lived out. A serious lack in any of these expressions of the gospel is very dangerous.
  • The preaching must be faithful to Scripture, personally challenging, and central to the congregation’s life. You will only grow spiritually where Scripture is treated as the highest authority. [Read more…] about How to Find a Good Church

Letham Reviews Giles on Subordinationism

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Robert Letham reviews Kevin Giles’s The Trinity and Subordinationism (Downers Grove: IVP, 2002) in this eight-page appendix:

Robert Letham. “Appendix 2: Kevin Giles on Subordinationism.” Pages 489–96 in The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian & Reformed, 2004.

Letham explains,

Kevin Giles, vicar of St. Michael’s Church in North Carlton, Australia, has for thirty years contended for the ordination of women. . . .

He targets conservative evangelicals who maintain a hierarchical view of the sexes on the basis of a presumed hierarchy of being, function, or role in the Trinity. By subordinationism he means the idea that the Son is eternally set under the Father. . . . All forms of subordinationism [Giles argues] are ruled out, both by Scripture and church tradition. From this it follows that arguments for the subordination of women cannot be buttressed by appeal to the Trinity.

Letham disagrees with Giles for three major reasons: [Read more…] about Letham Reviews Giles on Subordinationism

Gone Rafting

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I plan to leave today for an eight-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon, so this blog will be quiet until July 18.

I’ve had several friends go on this same trip with Canyon Ministries in previous summers, and they all loved it. Some people who go on this trip are young-earth creationists, some aren’t, and some are undecided.

Here are some previous reflections on this rafting trip:

Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

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From a funeral homily by Jack Collins:

On Saturday, I heard Jackie say, “No parent should ever have to outlive their own child.” I heard the same words from my father’s mother when my father died; and my wife and I said the same thing when we lost our first child. The pain is horrible; the loss is beyond our ability to describe.

When we feel this grief, we are feeling that it’s just not right for this to happen. We don’t want our loved ones to suffer; we don’t want to be separated from them by death. We want to be sure that they are happy, and we want to be able to enjoy their company always.

The Bible tells us that these feelings we have are right. Death and suffering are intruders in God’s good world; they don’t belong here. And the story of Adam and Eve, the first human beings, tells us how these evil things came in: When these, the parents of us all, disobeyed God, they opened the door to all manner of sin and evil, not only for themselves, but also for us.

You don’t need me to prove it; it’s all around us. It’s why we are here today.

But the Bible story doesn’t end there: instead it tells us about how God wants to help us, to heal us of what is wrong with us.

—C. John Collins, Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 136. [Read more…] about Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be

The Importance of Dignified Translations

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Translating is complicated because it involves so many factors. One factor is dignity. And that’s not the strength of some translations or paraphrases.

Three examples:

1. 1 Samuel 20:30a

  • וַיִּחַר־אַף שָׁאוּל בִּיהוֹנָתָן וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ בֶּן־נַעֲוַת הַמַּרְדּוּת
  • NASB (cf. KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, ESV, HCSB, NIV): Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!”
  • NET: Saul became angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You stupid traitor!”
    • Translator’s note: Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
  • NLT: Saul boiled with rage at Jonathan. “You stupid son of a whore!” he swore at him.
  • The Message: Saul exploded in anger at Jonathan: “You son of a slut!”
  • Original Living Bible: Saul boiled with rage. “You son of a bitch!” he yelled at him.

2. Acts 8:20

  • Πέτρος δὲ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν· τὸ ἀργύριόν σου σὺν σοὶ εἴη εἰς ἀπώλειαν ὅτι τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνόμισας διὰ χρημάτων κτᾶσθαι·
  • NASB (cf. RSV, NRSV, ESV, NET): But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! [Read more…] about The Importance of Dignified Translations