It is surprising how seldom books on parenting talk about prayer. We instinctively believe that if we have the right biblical principles and apply them consistently, our kids will turn out right. But that didn’t work for God in the Garden of Eden. Perfect environment. Perfect relationships. And still God’s two children went bad.

Many parents, including myself, are initially confident we can change our child. We don’t surrender to our child’s will (which is good), but we try to dominate the child with our own (which is bad). Without realizing it, we become demanding. We are driven by the hope of real change, but the change occurs because we make the right moves.

Until we become convinced we can’t change our child’s heart, we will not take prayer seriously. Consequently, repentance is often missing. When we see, for example, our son’s self-will, we usually don’t ask, How am I self-willed? or How am I angry? We want God’s help so we can dominate our son. We forget that God is not a genie but a person who wants to shape us in the image of his Son as much as he wants to answer our prayers.

Increasingly, parents in our culture are moving to the opposite extreme and becoming passive. Parents say things like “My son has always been angry” or “Even when he was a kid, he was throwing temper tantrums.” This passivity is reinforced by pop psychology’s tendency to make descriptions of childhood stages into rules. For instance, if a two-year-old is bad, the mom may shrug her shoulders and say, “She’s going through the terrible twos.” This mom is trapped by psychological descriptions. Her passivity is further reinforced because she’s talked to her little girl and even disciplined her, but nothing worked. This mom pushed against reality, but it didn’t budge. She tried praying, but nothing much happened. She ran into the power of another person’s self-will and surrendered. She has passively accepted the world as it is. Like the ancient Greeks, she is trapped by the Fates. When we do this, life takes on a fixed, given quality. Payer becomes pointless….

If you are on the road of Good Asking, you have also given up — but in a good way. You’ve given up on your ability to change other people. Instead, you cling to God and watch him weave his story. Frankly, Jill and I do our best parenting by prayer.

Today, I wanted to collect some helpful links for the study of Calvin. His influence and legacy deserve attention. The closer you look into the life of this man Calvin, the more absurd modern caricatures of him as a power-hungry, harsh, domineering and unfeeling leader will become. In truth, he was a humble man who was thrust into leadership often against his will. He sought to follow Scripture in all he did, and gave his life to the cause of living the Bible out in all spheres of life for God’s glory. He preached an average of 20 sermons a month, and wrote commentaries on almost every book of the Bible. His Institutes of the Christian Religion is still a treasured and worthy systematic theology book, studied with benefit by many.

Before I provide some links to other posts on Calvin today, let me offer an excerpt from the introduction to his commentary on Psalms.  Here Calvin offers a rare autobiographical sketch which gives us insight into his soul.  The section I quote here will reveal a bit of the real Calvin’s motives, I hope.

My readers, too, if I mistake not, will observe, that in unfolding the internal affections both of David and of others, I discourse upon them as matters of which I have familiar experience.  Moreover, since I have labored faithfully to open up this treasure for the use of all the people of God, although what I have done has not been equal to my wishes, yet the attempt which I have made deserves to be received with some measure of favor.  Still I only ask that each may judge of my labors with justice and candor, according to the advantage and fruit which he shall derive from them.  Certainly, as I have said before, in reading these commentaries, it will be clearly seen that I have not sought to please, unless insofar as I might at the same time be profitable to others.  And, therefore, I have not only observed throughout a simple syle of teaching, but in order to be removed the farther from all ostentation, I have also generally abstained from refuting the opinions of others….  I have never touched upon opposite opinions, unless where there was reason to fear, that by being silent respecting them, I might leave my readers in doubt and perplexity.  At the same time, I am sensible that it would have been much more agreeable to the taste of many, had I heaped together a great mass of materials which has great show, and acquires fame for the writer; but I have felt nothing to be of more importance than to have a regard to the edification of the church.  May God, who has implanted this desire in my heart, grant by his grace that the success may correspond thereto! [quoted in A Reformation Reader: Primary Texts with Introductions edited by Denis Janz, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2008), pg. 254]

Other posts on Calvin’s 500th Birthday, from around the web:

• Justin Taylor of Between Two Worlds, share’s his birthday with Calvin
• Desiring God offers a special sale today only of a classic biography (Parker’s) of Calvin for only 2$ plus shipping.
• UPDATE: IVP is offering a new biography, John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life by Herman  Selderhuis at a 30% off discount too.
• Ligonier Ministries is offering John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine and Doxology edited by Burk Parsons, for a donation of any amount today.
• My friend John Chitty at Captain Headknowledge is providing excerpts on an overview of Calvin’s life: part one, part two, part three & part four.
• Calvin500.org offers online biographies of Calvin’s life, I read this one: an excerpt from David Hall’s book.  It’s a great overview of his life that you can read in around 30 minutes or so.
• Tony Reinke shares a wonderful excerpt from a sermon by Calvin on the Tree of Life, where he discusses his view of sacraments.
• David Kjos, the Thirsty Theologian, reminds us of his Calvin flub, where he posted links about Calvin’s birthday one month ahead of time!  The links are still worth checking out.
• John Samson at Reformation Theology, reflects on Calvin’s legacy and how Calvin himself would not have been pleased that his name was tied to Reformed theology.
• Marvin Olasky has a short editorial in World Magazine on Calvin as Liberty’s Champion.
• Koinonia will be posting excerpts from Calvin all month long.
• Frank Bellizzi highlights Calvin’s abiding influence, noting that the so-called New Calvinism was recently pointed out as one of the 10 ideas changing the world again, by Time magazine.  (HT: The Contemporary Calvinist)

To enter:

1. Subscribe to Cal.vini.st
2. Visit Bibleworks.com to find the answer to this question: “Name the three standard original language grammars that have newly been included in BibleWorks 8?“
3. Fill out a form here, with your answer to the question and contact details.
4. And if you’re a blogger, post about the contest first, then enter the contest and submit your post’s link, to double your chances of winning.

Now we’re finally home at fundamentallyreformed.com!

The new design is pretty much set, but I have some minor tweaking and updating to do all over the place. But it looks good enough, and is complete enough, for me to lay the welcome mat out.

I’ll be having my old wordpress blog auto-redirect everyone over to my new site for a while. If you subscribe to my blog, please update your feed when you check out the new real estate. Oh and if you are one of the kind ones who links to my site, please update your link as well !

The best feature of the new blog is the image in the header that randomly updates from 1 of 9 FR themed images. Let me know what you think (but leave your comments at the new blog). Regular posting to resume soon….

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television.

I want to apologize for the lack of good posts around here.  My reviews sometimes get in the way of consistent posting.  Plus it’s summer, and life has its own obligations. We’re a part of a church plant launching this summer in St. Paul, and so that will take some time away from blogging too.

I realize that a few series around here are stalled, and I haven’t finished them.  I have other plans for what I’d like to do, as well as migrate this whole blog to my newly owned url.

As a result of all of this, summer posting will be somewhat infrequent, I fear.  Of course there’s no shortage of other good blogs to follow.  Check out my Recommended blogs in the sidebar if you haven’t in a while.

With all this being said, I still plan on posting a couple times this week to my blog.  So infrequent posting doesn’t mean I won’t post at all!  Thanks again to all my readers, and those who continue to find my old posts worthy enough to post fresh comments on.

Oh and let me give  a preview of some of the upcoming book reviews you can expect to see around here.  I’ll just list off the titles of book’s I’ve read or just about finished off.

• 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures by Bob Beasley (Living Stone Books)
• The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology by Larry Helyer (IVP Academic)
• The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority by G.K. Beale (Crossway)
• Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses: Clear Explanations for the Difficult Passages by Ron Rhodes (Harvest House)
• The Gift of Psalms: Devotional Wisdom from 50 of the Best Loved Psalms (includes Word of Promise Audio CD of 30 Psalms) (Thomas Nelson)

My thanks go out to Christy Wong at Tyndale House Publishers for supplying me with a review copy of Philip Comfort’s New Testament Text and Translation Commentary.

I have always been intrigued by textual criticism and the study of how we got our Bible. The Bibles we have today are the descendants of hand written manuscripts, written on papyri, vellum or paper, and in either large (uncial) or small (miniscule) letters. Those manuscripts were written originally in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic, and later translated into Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and other languages. Today we have English Bibles finely produced from the magic of printing presses and publishing houses. But how can we know that these Bibles accurately represent what was originally written? This is where textual criticism comes in – a highly disputed field, especially in today’s skeptical age. Textual scholars referred to as critics, take the time to compare all the hand written manuscripts that have been preserved down to our day. Using various methods of comparing, contrasting and evaluating the readings of numerous manuscripts (over 5700 for the NT!), they help guide today’s church in deciding which textual variants are the likely original readings.

Philip Comfort is one of these scholars, and he has provided a fabulous resource for Bible scholars, pastors, and others to study the textual data on all the 3,000 or so places in the New Testament where we find textual variants that may affect the Bible translations we have in our hands. Comfort focuses primarily on the variants which result in differences between the various English Bible versions in use today (KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, HCSB, NLT, TNIV, NRSV, etc.). He also highlights some of the intriguing variants and places where the Western family of manuscripts often expands the text. What makes Comfort’s work so especially valuable is that his discussion is all in English! He discusses the Greek and other languages, but is mindful of the non-technical, English speaking reader. This makes New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (NTTTC) very accessible, opening up the intricacies of textual critical studies to the average Bible student.

While Comfort may not include all the textual data accessible to scholars in the UBS4 or NA27 Greek texts and other scholarly resources, he does format his work and provide relevant information in a much more user-friendly format. In places where there are two or more variants that have affected the English Bibles, Comfort will first give each variant reading in Greek and English, then he lists the Greek manuscripts and other supports for each variant, and he also adds which English Bibles follow that variant in their text or margin. Following all of this, he offers a brief discussion of that particular variant, taking us step by step through how a conservative, evangelical scholar will assess this textual evidence to arrive at a conclusion concerning this particular reading.

This detailed analysis of each major variant in the Greek New Testament makes up the bulk of the book and provides an easy to look up reference for practically any passage where one might encounter a variant. Comfort also provides a brief overview of textual criticism and a very interesting assessment of the major textual witnesses for each section of the New Testament. He displays an extensive understanding of the papyri manuscripts in particular as well as the history of textual criticism and all the relevant data. A few appendices are also included for more specialized discussions.

NTTTC doesn’t stick to strictly textual critical matters. In Mk. 7:3 a discussion of manners and customs of Bible times is required to understand the Greek phrase “wash their hands with a fist”. Exegetical matters are also addressed, such as in the conservative and delicate handling of the variant at 1 Cor. 14:34-35. NTTTC’s format makes difficult and highly technical discussions much easier. When discussing the ending of Mark, he helpfully lays out all 5 variations of the ending providing a few pages of discussion. At Acts 20:28 he discusses two variants together, by first delineating all the various combinations of the two variants, and helpfully summarizing the options and discussing each option in light of exegetical matters as well.

The discussions in NTTTC prove enlightening. One learns the importance of understanding the patterns of particular scribes when discussing variants such as Luke 24:3 where Comfort explains why Wescott and Hort were wrong. The major passages like the ending of Mark and John 7:53-8:11 are covered in depth. Comfort is honest about some variants being driven by theological considerations, such as in Heb. 2:9. Interestingly, the theological bias in textual variants was almost always rejected by the church in days of old as well as today.

One excerpt of this work will serve to illustrate its value well. Regarding Jude 4, Comfort states:

The reading in TR, poorly attested, is probably an attempt to avoid calling Jesus δεσποτήν (“Master”), when this title is usually ascribed to God (Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24; Rev. 6:10). Hence, θεος (“God”) was appended to δεσποτήν. However, 2 Pet. 2:1, a parallel passage, identifies the redeemer, Jesus Christ, as the δεσποτήν. So here also the WH NU reading, which is extremely well documented, shows that Jude considered Jesus to be the absolute sovereign.

As one well attuned to the issues relating to King James Onlyism, I found this volume especially helpful. 26 times I found a KJV reading to be supported by no Greek manuscripts. Western additions such as “full of the Holy Spirit” at Acts 15:32 and “Jesus” at Acts 17:31 reveal that “omissions” are in the eye of the beholder. Does the TR omit these important phrases or the Western texts add them? It was through my KJV Onlyism debate lenses that I discovered a few minor errors in Comfort’s text. He wrongly claims the KJV followed Stephanus’ 1550 TR (along with the WH/ NU modern Greek Text) at Rev. 16:5 when in fact they followed Beza’s conjectural emendation “and shall be” instead of “holy one”. He also seems to state that a variant at Rom. 7:6 was introduced by Elzevirs’ TR and then later adopted by the KJV, however the KJV was translated 22 years prior to the Elzevirs’ work. The reading in question was introduced by Beza in one of his editions used by the KJV translators. Also at Luke 2:38 he lists the Vulgate as the sole support for the KJV reading, but Robinson-Pierpont’s Majority Text edition includes the KJV reading “Lord”.

I would have liked Comfort to address more passages relevant to the KJV Only debate. It would have been great if he had mentioned which variants the printed Greek Majority Text’s of Hodges-Farstad or Robinson-Pierpont adopted as well. But space constraints are totally understandable. I also wish he had somehow indicated if the manuscript listings given for a particular passage are complete or not. If more evidence is available (or not) for a given variant, it would be nice to know. Perhaps using an asterisk when all the known witnesses to a variant were listed would help.

All in all, I can’t recommend Comfort’s work more highly. This is an important volume and I will be referring to it often in years to come.

You will want to pick up a copy of this book at Amazon.com or some other retailer!

This review is available in .pdf format.  Feel free to explore all my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, or here on my blog.

Authors: Patti B. Ogden, illustrated by Mary Manning
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Productions
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9780981678368
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

As the father of four young girls, I have to pay attention to kid’s books.  As a Christian, I look for good Christian literature that is age-appropriate for my children to read.  As a blogger and self-proclaimed book reviewer, I am blessed with the opportunity to review good kid’s books on my blog, for free.  My thanks go out to Capstone Productions for providing me a review copy of Keoni’s Big Question by Patti B. Ogden, and illustrated by Mary Manning.

This book is big and colorful, and very attractive.  With an old fisherman, a boat, fish and animals, a young boy, family, church and home pictures, it is sure to grab the attention of many a young inquiring mind.  The story contained in the book is good as well.

A young boy wants to know if anyone can see God.  He is frequently let down when various adults evade his question.  Along the way he has an adventure with his friend the old fisherman.  The fisherman finally answers his question and Keoni begins to understand what it is to know God.

Such a story provides ample opportunities for Christian parents to ask (and answer) questions of their children about spiritual matters.  Children will certainly identify with the boy and his quest to get a “straight answer” from adults.  They too have wondered why we can’t see God physically.

I would guess this book to be appropriate for children from ages 3 through 12, and it really is produced well.  The only drawback of the book comes on the last page.  There we discover that this book and others were “inspired and written using stories excerpts and actual sentences from the sermons of William Branham”.  Who we are later told “received revelation and visions from the Lord Jesus Christ of what actually happened down throughout Bible history.”  Branham’s personal stories are told, they believe, “to inspire spiritual growth so that we would personally know the character and loveliness of our savior”.

I can agree with that last line.  That purpose and aim is worthy.  But setting Mr. Branham up on a pedestal as if he is uniquely inspired by God is troubling to me.  I don’t know much about Branham or his teachings, but such undue admiration for and devotion to one man should be cause for strong caution and concern.  Because of this unqualified promotion of a man, and implied belief in extrabiblical revelation of “what actually happened” in Biblical history, I cannot unreservedly give my recommendation to this book.  It gets only 2 out of 5 stars from me.

All in all, its a great book for kids.  The theology and message of the book is not at all troubling.  I was quite surprised when I read the above sentiments on the last page.  Parents can discerningly take advantage of this book, but they would need to be careful not to blindly follow the teachings of Brother Branham however, and use the book with caution.

You can pick up a copy of this book at Amazon.com, or directly from the publisher.  You can also preview some of the artwork and pages at both of the above links.

Feel free to explore all my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, or here on my blog.

Since blogging is inherently narcissistic, I guess no one is surprised that I’m tooting my own horn right now!

Seriously, the article is an interesting read, and MinnPost.com looks like an interesting mix between online journalism, blogging and a traditional newspaper format.  A couple of my local blogging buddies also make honorable mention: Jamsco at The Responsible Puppet, and Shaun at Bible Geek Gone Wild.

The article does bring up a good point.  Talking about faith has been enhanced through the online media.  Many who are in oppressive religious groups or who are just hesitant to make their questioning or religious seeking known, find the internet very helpful in evaluating their religious beliefs.  The world wide web both equips and propels one to find out what they believe and why.  The one thing you can count on with respect to the web is that your opinion will be challenged — from all sides.  Personally, I think that is a good thing, as Biblical Christianity can stand on its own two feet, and a well-grounded faith is a strong faith.

So all my loyal blog readers will have to go over and read the article.  Be sure to leave a comment too, and say how awesome my blog is!