Monthly Archives: January 2010

The Outrageous Verdict

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John Piper, from Ephesians 2 & elsewhere.

This is the larger clip from which this is taken.

For my brothers & sisters at Blackhawk Ministries as we journey through the incomparable gospel on display in Ephesians.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:1-10

Superdrag – Aspertame

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Oh the sometimes poetic power of rock music…

“some of the clouds are not clouds
some of those jets pose death threats
it’s coming around
coming around
some of your rights don’t win outright
some of your lights are not lights
the consuming fires of hell
burn this place to the ground
burn it right to the ground

I just write songs
I don’t carry a gun
I want peace and safety for my innocent sons and wife
I just love God
I don’t trust in man
On with the truth against the wickedness at hand

If you wanna usurp the power
I’ll be ready in a half an hour
Give my life for that
are the devils ever nervous?
do they deserve the death they serve us?
I’m still not certain of that

sometimes brains are mundane
entertained and restrained
and sealed up tight
all the aspartame and the video games and the drugs in the food
keeping you subdued
so you’ll never recognize who put out the lights

I just play guitar
I can’t stop the war
I want peace and safety for the kids in kandahar
if you love peace
if you love mercy
you’re bound to cause a little controversy”

An Introduction to the New Testament

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some thoughts as we launch out on this course in the next few days…

John Rylands

The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical authors, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt. It is a curious fact that historians have often been much readier to trust the New Testament than have many theologians.
… F. F. Bruce (1910-1990/1), The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?, Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1949, reprint, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003, p. 10

When a comparison is made of the variant readings of the New Testament with those of other books which have survived from antiquity, the results are little short of astounding. For instance, although there are some 200,000 “errors” among the New Testament manuscripts, these appear in only about 10,000 places, and only about one-sixtieth rise above the level of trivialities. Westcott and Hort, Ezra Abbot, Philip Schaff, and A. T. Robertson have carefully evaluated the evidence and have concluded that the New Testament text is over 99 percent pure. In the light of the fact that there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts, some 9,000 versions and translations, the evidence for the integrity of the New Testament is beyond question.
… Norman L. Geisler (b. 1932) & William E. Nix, From God to Us, Chicago: Moody Press, 1974, p. 180