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Showing posts from August, 2007

Obama: Muslim or Christian

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Not long ago I started seeing blogs with political cartoons that suggest that Barak Obama is Muslim. I would think this would be discussed in the mainstream media as well in the blogosphere so it bore checking out. According to the The Caucus, a NY Times political blog, Obama is a Christian and attends Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 West 95th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60628 . Their worship center is the photo above. I'm not saying that Obama and I would agree on everything doctrinally, but if he claims the name of Christ, I will take him at his word that he is a Christian. Then dialog starts with agreement that Christ is God incarnate, that God is three in one, that sin is our most fundamental problem and the atoning sacrifice of Christ is the solution. It seems less than generous to label Obama a Muslim because his father was a Muslim. It appears to be a ploy to discourage voter enthusiasm for Obama given that Islam is not the mainstream religio

All The Glory

You can listen to the song I am about to blog about at http://www.willpavone.com/ . All The Glory by Will Pavone is a refreshing worship song because it uses words of we use to describe our own desires and surrenders them to Jesus. While I often enjoy the language of Scripture to describe my prayer life and my walk with God, Will Pavone has captured something that a lot of praise music misses, a sense of self that recognizes it's selfishness and then turns that to worship. He also does some interesting switching up of the verses just to make things interesting. If you are looking for a fresh praise song, check this one out. All The Glory By Will Pavone All of my affection, All of my attention, All of my devotion, I bring to you. All of my existence, All of my ambitions, All of my allegiance, Will be for you. CHORUS: All the glory be to Jesus. Songs of praises rise to thee. Lift your voices. shout the chorus. Render praises to our King. All of my affection, All of my att

Repost from Reformation 21

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Check out this discussion between the Baptist point of view and a Presbyterian point of view. I know David Coffin so appreciate his having been a party to the discussion. By the way, this image to the left is one of the oldest images of baptism. You will notice the immersion is done by standing in the water, not dunking. The post is not about mode of baptism but statements of agreement between the two points of view. In the summer of 2001 Mark Dever (SBC) and David Coffin (PCA) held a public conversation at Capitol Hill Baptist Church on baptism. They came up with the following 17 statements that both on them agreed on: 1. No one disagrees with professor baptism (except Quakers). 2. This is a subject of great import. 3. There are clear commands for and examples of professors' baptism in the New Testament. 4. This fact is not evidentially determinate of the question (i.e., it does not preclude infant baptism). 5. God's Word alone should settle the matter (but we do not mind

Psalms As Theology

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Psalms have been something that I have for years thought was a balance in Scripture. Paul's letters reach the mind and makes you wonder, but certainly when the Lord told us the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and might, he meant to include that we should love the Lord with our emotional aspects of our being. So the Psalms seemed to be a solution or balance with those who might make Christian religion an egg head, mind centric sort of thing. But I recently read through the Psalms with refreshing insights. For the first time I saw the Psalms as theological. Take for instance, Psalm 65:2 tells us that, "When iniquities prevail against me, you (God) atone for our transgressions." In this we see substitutionary sacrifice for sin. It points to God being the source of the atonement, not man. Another Psalm with theological insights is Psalm 82:8 where it says, "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the n

Calvary Chapel Ocean City, NJ

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We had an exciting time at Ocean City, NJ. Our goal was to have a restful time. If you want pictures or other details you will need to visit here , here , here , here , here , here , or here . So part of what I love on vacation is visiting a new church. Calvary Chapel Ocean City was a great worship experience. As all five of us came in, someone asked his friend, "Did a bus just let people out or something?" I did not tell them that we did not even have all our crew, since Annalee has gone to live in Illinois with her loving husband and Corrie was back in Glen Burnie holding down the fort and working at the hospital. Ryan from Pennsylvania sat next to me. He was just visiting also. Visitors at worship during the summer is a thriving ministry for the congregation. The sanctuary had folding chairs which were just about filled to capacity when we got there. Just a few minutes later, they started packing worshipers into the overflow room who are linked via a video feed.

Bible Reading at the Beach

I'm reading my Bible each morning on the porch of our beach condo. I had already started reading Genesis through part of Joshua before I got here. I just finished 2 Samuel this morning. Here are a few insights from the past week's reading. 1. Joshua and others were told to be strong and couragous. Those who were not strong and couragous were not following God's will. I think the message for anyone reading the book is "What ever you had finds to do, do with all your might," assuming of course that you are working within a godly framework. 2. The children of Israel wanted a king like the nations around them. They got what they wanted but it did not have a good result. Saul turned out to be a good looking leader who became very self centered. Lesson for everyone, becareful that you don't seek to follow the things of the fame world. 3. David was a man after God's own heart. He depended upon God to establish his kingdom, not his own smarts. He waite

Evangelicals Support A Two State Solution To the Middle East Crisis

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Pastor Bob Roberts of Northwood Church is party to a letter to the President supporting a two state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Often evangelicals have been strong supporters of Israel for biblical reasons with the unintended outcome of disenfranchising Palestinian Christians. This disenfranchisement has led to numerous conversions to Islam by young people who came from families who were Palestinian Christians. I think the sentiment is that the Muslims care about the Palestinians while the West sides with Israel. If you want to read more follow the link to Northwood Blog called My Northwood or follow the link to this New York Times article.

So I'm Not Too Addicted

As I have blogged before, I was totally addicted to coffee and I both desire and am scared of coffee today. I go by and smell it but then never want to go back to having to have it to get through the day. I don't know that my blogging is going that way. 57% How Addicted to Blogging Are You? San Diego Singles from Mingle 2