Pandering to the Masses

I dunno. This passage from Plato's Republic seems pretty par for the course for both the liberal media, and conservative talk radio...

"Imagine that the keeper of a huge, strong beast notices what makes it angry, what it desires, how it has to be approached and handled, the circumstances and conditions under which it becomes particularly fierce or calm, what provokes its typical cries, and what tones of voice make it gentle or wild. Once he's spent enough time in the creature's company to acquire all this information, he calls it knowledge, forms it into a systematic branch of expertise, and starts to teach it, despite total ignorance, in fact, about which of the creature's attitudes and desires is commendable or deplorable, good or bad, moral or immoral. His usage of all these terms simply conforms to the great beast's attitudes, and he describes things as good or bad according to the likes and dislikes, and can't justify his usage of the terms any further, but describes as right and good things which are merely indispensable, since he hasn't realized and can't explain to anyone else how vast a gulf there is between necessity and goodness. Wouldn't you really and truly find someone like this implausible as a teacher?"

Perpetual Virginity of Mary

James Jordan and Jeff Meyers have an absolutely excellent series of posts on "Blessed Mary Ever Virgin" and virginity in general.

Concerning BMEV

More Thoughts on BMEV

Protestants and BMEV

The Impending Distress

Happy Xmas!

With the Advent season upon us, I thought I’d get this settled early on, before people start in with the “taking Christ out of Christmas” line. Contrary to popular belief, Xmas is not now, nor has it ever been, an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas.

The name Christ in Greek is Χριστος. Notice the first letter, “X”. In ancient times paper was expensive and making books and scrolls was very labor intensive, as everything had to be written by hand. Very early on, Christian monks started abbreviating Christ with the first initial “X” in order to save time and money. This can be seen in Orthodox icons (see the upper right corner of the picture), as well as many ancient manuscripts. In the Renaissance, and later with the advent of the printing press, words such as Xtian (for Christian), Xtianity (for Christianity), and, yes, Xmas (for Christmas) began to be used more widely.

This continued to be widely understood even up through the 1800s as almost all schools required students to learn both Greek and Latin. It is only until very recent times that people with scant grasp of history have alleged that Xmas is an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas. In fact, though the abbreviation was generally considered informal, many preferred the Xmas, because while retaining the name Christ (Χριστος), the X also resembles St. Andrew’s cross, and ties the name of Christ to remembrance of the martyrs who died for His sake. Hopefully this sets the record straight. Have a very Merry Xmas everyone!

P.S. - On a side note, I wonder if anyone has ever thought of a “Keep the Mas in Christmas” campaign. It seems that very few people today actually associate going to church with the Christmas holiday, which is a pity.

Disregard This Post. Trying to Salvage my Template

Free Will and Materialism

Here is a little note I wrote some time back to help explain the differences between believing in God's sovereignty and believing in atheistic materialism. I was discussing the Westminster Confession of Faith at the time, which is why I'm walking through a passage in it.

“Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.” Westminster Confession of Faith V.2

Let's break this down:

"Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly,"

Do the things that God foreknows come to pass immutably and infallibly? Do the things that God decrees come to pass immutably and infallibly?
If you say no to the first question, then God doesn't know the future. If you say no to the second, then God is not sovereign.

"yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes"

In other words, though God is the first cause of the universe, He does not directly cause everthing that happens. We don't live inside a giant puppet theatre with God pulling our strings. Rather, He decrees that things will occur by second causes.

"either necessarily, freely, or contingently."
There are 3 types of second causes enumerated here by which events occur.

1. Necessity: This is simple cause and effect. You push one domino, the others all fall. In causal determinism and materialism, this is the only cause that is recognized. In Christian theology material cause and effect certainly exist, but they are only one part of the puzzle.

2. Freely: Some events occur because men freely choose certain actions. Unlike materialistic fatalists, we don't believe that the thoughts and choices we make are governed wholly by cause and effect, just atoms and chemicals bouncing around in our brains. We have the freedom to make decisions that influence the future and change our lives.

3. Contingently: This means that whenever we make a decision it affects everything around us. Certain things may happen contingent upon the decisions we made. So when we sit down to make a decision, we have to consider, "If I do this then A will occur. But if I do that then B will occur." So A and B are contingent upon the decision I will make.

And yet, within the realm of God's providence, things that happen of necessity (Gen 8:22, Jer. 31:35), freely (Gen. 50:50, Isa. 10:6-7; Acts 4:26-28), and contingently (Deut. 30:15-19, Josh 24:15, 19-20) are occurring according to His perfect plan immutably and infallibly.

Review of Josephus

I finally finished Josephus. I think every Christian ought to read The Jewish Antiquities, as it gives the story of the Old Testament as a story, epic in sweep. (Though Josephus does go with rabbinic interpretation rather than with the OT in some places.) Also the story of the Jewish Wars with Rome helped me understand the context of the early Church much better.

Just going by the text this would be a good book, but with Paul Maier's additions of great illustrations, photographs, and maps, the history really comes to life and makes the Paul Maier edition of Josephus a great read.

Church History and Development

I know I'm forever telling people to read things, but here I go again. A great post about history and the church. Everyone moves and is moved, history is messy, and the Church is found as a body of people in Christ, not in a hypothetically perfect body of ecclesial and doctrinal ideas.

Organically Speaking...

Add this to the list of reasons I love Doug Wilson.

Church Fathers on Riches and Giving

Well time has passed, and I've left the Apocrypha far behind. Suffice to say, it was highly interesting and profitable. Read it.

Now, as I'm reading the Apostolic fathers, I'm intrigued once again to see the huge, no enormous emphasis that the Early Church put on almsgiving and works of charity to the poor. The quote from Tobit that I quoted previously was used by St. Clement of Rome in a sermon. In addition, I found these sections about giving to the poor.

"If thou hast ought passing through thy hands, thou shalt give a ransom for thy sins. Thou shalt not hesitate to give, neither shalt thou murmur when giving; for thou shalt know who is the good paymaster of thy reward. Thou shalt not turn away from him that is in want, but shalt make thy brother partaker in all things, and shalt not say that anything is thine own. For if ye are fellow-partakers in that which is imperishable, how much rather in the things which are perishable?" -The Didache or Teaching of the Apostles

"'But the white and round stones, which did not fit into the building, who are they, lady?' She answered and said to me, 'how long art thou foolish and stupid, and enquirest everything, and understandest nothing? These are they that have faith, but have also riches of this world. When tribulation cometh, they deny their Lord by reason of their riches and their business affairs...their wealth, which leadeth their souls astray, shall be cut away, then will they be useful for God. For just as the round stone, unless it be cut away, and lose some portion of itself, cannot become square, so also they that are rich in this world, unless their riches be cut away, cannot become useful to the Lord.'" -The Shepherd of Hermas

"Now then hear me and be at peace among yourselves, and have regard one to another, and assist one another, and do not partake of the creatures of God alone in abundance, but share them also with those that are in want. For some men through their much eating bring weakness on the flesh, and injure their flesh: whereas the flesh of those who have nought to eat is injured by their not having sufficient nourishment, and their body is ruined. This exclusiveness therefore is hurtful to you that have and do not share with them that are in want. Look ye to the judgment that cometh. Ye then that have more than enough, seek out them that are hungry, while the tower is still unfinished; for after the tower is finished, ye will desire to do good, and will find no place for it. Look ye therefore, ye that exult in your wealth, lest they that are in want shall moan, and their moaning shall go up unto the Lord, and ye with your good things be shut outside the door of the tower." - The Shepherd of Hermas

Apocrypha Continued

Well, I'm plugging along and will hopefully finish reading the Apocrypha today. I'm taking this brief opportunity to catch up on my notes. This post will most certainly be shorter than my last one.

The Letter of Jeremiah: Just 73 verses intended as a letter written by Jeremiah to those about to be exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. The section in the letter about the idols of the heathen is very much in line with the humor in the book of Jeremiah.

Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews: This appears (according to my ever-handy footnotes) to be a hymn to God later attributed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. This one was really short, so I don't have much to say about it.

Susanna: This was a really fun story. I had actually read this one previously, but it deserves a re-read. Susanna is a chaste and beautiful wife, who is stalked by a couple of lustful elders. They catch her alone in her garden and try to force themselves upon her. When she resists, they begin shouting loudly so that people come running. The elders inform the household that they caught Susanna in the garden with a young man. With no witnesses, everyone naturally believes two elders of the people over one woman, so Susanna is sentenced to death for unfaithfulness. But thankfully, Detective Daniel is on the case to investigate and clear Susanna's good name.

Bel and the Dragon: What can I say? This story is hilarious. Centered around food references, Daniel shows to Cyrus that the god Marduk (Bel) is not eating all the food that the people leave for him each night, but rather the priests of Marduk and their familes. Daniel is a good detective in this story as in Susanna. Daniel then kills a large dragon that the Babylonians worship by feeding it poison. In the last part of the story, Daniel is thrown into the lions den again, and is miraculously fed by the prophet Habakkuk. It's like comic books when the writers decide to do a crossover between two popular comics (Wolverine and the Hulk, Superman and Batman, etc.). Daniel emerges from the lion's den unscathed, and his persecutors are tossed in and quickly eaten.

1 Maccabees: A great historical narrative. I had read brief blurbs in textbooks about the intertestamental period, but I got a much clearer picture by reading this book which is culled from letters and contemporary sources. Epic in scope and very interesting. 2 Maccabees tells, essentially the first part of the story of 1 Maccabees, but rather than follow Judas and his men, the story focuses on the plight of the people in Jerusalem. It is much more theological in nature than 1 Maccabees.

1 Esdras: This is the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is almost identical to the Biblical narrative, except for one interesting scene that show Zerubbabel earning the right to rebuild the temple by winning a contest of wit set by the king.

Well, that's where I am now. One more post should finish off the Apocrypha, and then I can get on with the rest of the books I have to read before the end of the summer. I love my job.