John Bunyan Conference 2008

Starting this Sunday evening through Wednesday evening Simply the Gospel Ministries will be hosting the 2nd annual John Bunyan Theology and Church History Conference .  This year’s speaker will be Dr. James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries.  This year’s topic is Ancient Heresies in the Modern Church.  If you are in the Houston area it is a conference that you will not want to miss.  Come and join us at Northeast Christian Academy in Kingwood for a great time of teaching and fellowship.  May the Lord be glorified!

–Dirk

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Update: Here is a plug from James White’s own blog about the conference.

So sad

Sunday morning was Josiah’s last time with his pacifer. I hadn’t really planned on cutting him off that day, but I knew it was coming and it seemed like as good a day as any. When he went down for his after-church nap, there was no more paci there for him. I knew he wouldnt go down without a fight, so I cut the tip of it while he was wailing in his room so I could show him that it was ‘broken’.

 Of course wailing is not a strong enough word. He was hysterical that he didnt have his pacifier for his nap. Let me just say that Josiah’s paci habit was pretty well managed. He only used it for sleep and he always dropped it in the crib before I picked him up. The only problem was that he would cry out at any hour of the night if he woke up without it. Every. single. night. It was pretty annoying, not to mention the fact that he was not getting any uninterrupted sleep–and neither was I.

So I just went for it on Sunday, not knowing Josiah’s deep attachment to that little piece of plastic. He has a blanket and an Elmo in his crib at night, but they don’t hold a candle to that pacifier. I wont go into the sad hysterics or deals he tried to make with me to get it back, but tuesday night was the first night that he–both of us–slept through the whole night without any wake ups.

I did cry a few tears, not for his pacifier, but for the way his world–his little world–was rocked by the disappearance of his pacifier. He doesnt fight naps, and he goes to bed peacefully without it so I guess we are over the hump. Poor little guy.

A funny story.

We have a couple of friends who shall remain nameless and this is their story.

 They went to a baseball game the other night with a bunch of coworkers and it was hosted by the husband’s new company. The couple was excited about this because the wife was happy to be able to meet the people she had been hearing about. They arrived early to the ballpark and decided to walk over to the new Discovery Green that is right across from the George R. Brown Convention Center.

They were walking around and discussing things that their family and friends might enjoy about the area, when the wife who was looking off into the distance at what looked like mass dance lessons, turned just in time to run smack into a pole face first. It was too perfect to be real. It clanged so loud it rang out and caught many people’s attention. Who could have planned something like that? The pole hit her square in the face and she couldnt believe what had happened. The husband turned to her and asked, “Did you do that on purpose?” The couple was so shocked and–the wife’s face hurting-laughing so hard they immediately left the area to head to the ballpark. The sustained only a minor bump on her forehead and nose which thankfully did not bruise up.

Knowing his wife’s usual style of self-deprication and utter honesty, the husband politely asked his wfe to not share this funny tidbit with his new coworkers that she would be meeting soon. She happily obliged, but I thought I would share her story here, becuase it must be told.

I hope you laughed, because I still am.

 

–Kathy

So true.

I’ll be honest: I have not been reading blogs lately. I might check in on my friends blogs a couple times a week, but lately…I’ve been checked out. Its not that I’m so busy, but I go on stints and I use all my free time for whatever I’m into at the moment. For a while it has been reading and lately It has been projects for our new apartment(!).

Anyway, whatever the reason, I’m not on the computer a whole lot except to check my email when someone gets annoyed (*ahem) that I haven’t seen the email they sent. This afternoon I sat down to get caught up on all-or at least a few of them-the blogs on our blogroll and a few that I always enjoy perusing.

Here is a post that really caught my eye and I sadly had to agree.

I’m sure I’ll post more links on this post as I read them–Check back!

 

 *I’m not naming names, but if this quote sounds familiar then I’m talking about you: “Did you read the _____I sent you? No? UGH. Go check your email.”

 

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More good links:

A good one about Lifeway Christian Bookstore(also applies to all Christian bookstores I have ever been to)

A terrifying look at the marketing of abortions.

Ho hum….

I’m posting right now because I’m bored. What? Crazy.

Normally I would be playing with Josiah right now and trying to balance getting dinner stuff together, but instead its quiet. The good king is now past the 4 HOUR mark for his afternoon nap!!! I laid him down a little before one and it is FIVE!!  I’m guessing that his long sleep is due to a combination of a fever all day yesterday and him waking up every hour last night.

It was not a fun 24 hours.

I’m praying that we get some teeth out of his illness yesterday, so I’ll have to make a check when he wakes up.

Anyway, I just wanted to say we’re still here and doing great. I’m going to try and think really hard to come up with something interesting to say, or at least upload some pictures of Josiah for the masses.

We’ll be back soon!

Say Goodbye

Today I officially finished my career as a teacher.  I did enjoy giving students information (when they listened) I will miss that part along with some of the beneficial interactions I had with them.  It was sad to part ways with some wonderful co-workers who have labored hard beside me in what we somedays deemed an impossible task.  A middle school coach once told me that 7th grade football was like herding grasshoppers, I found that to be true in the classroom also.  I will not miss the behavior issues that stem from under-disciplined students, the lack of time to get all the paperwork and planning done, or the crazy parents that always seem to be lurking waiting for the worst time to strike.   So what now you ask?  Well I enter the world of oil.  Yup, I am applying that science that I taught the last few years.  Just don’t blame me when you are grumbling at the pump, I will be helping find the stuff not setting the prices.  –Dirk

TheDeeps

My friend Mickey has a blog here.  I would suggest you go over and read his insightful posts, you will enjoy it more than what I have to say over here!  I really like this blog, maybe it is his header that reminds me of home….nah its the content.–Dirk

The Canon of Scripture Part 3

Here is the last of three parts. 

Objections

There have been objections to the protestant canon as the true canon.  In this section the Roman Catholic position of adding to the OT and the Liberal position of adding to the NT will be engaged as improper views in light of the aforementioned support.

 

The Apocrypha is a collection of writings that appear in the Roman Catholic OT but are rejected by Protestants.  Why does Rome accept these books?  And should they be acknowledged?  During the Council of Trent in AD 1546 the Roman Catholic Church officially recognized these books as part of the canon.[1]  This is most likely because Jerome put them in the Latin Vulgate, which became the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church and they gained popularity.[2]  There are several reasons why this position should be rejected.  First, the NT never quotes these writings and they themselves do not claim to have divine authority.  Second, the Jewish people who wrote them did not accept them as authoritative.  Third, they are inconsistent with the NT.[3]  Fourth, the majority of early church writings do not show proof of their acceptance.  An example of this would be Melito’s list of OT books, which is the earliest known list.  It does not mention the Apocrypha, but includes all of the protestant OT books except Esther. [4]  This addition of works into the canon essentially comes down to the Roman Catholic Church believing that they can take writings and deem them scripture because the Roman Catholic Church is the ultimate authority over scripture.[5]  Protestants on the other hand subject themselves and the Church to authority of scripture because they see scripture as divine.  The arguments above make a stronger case for the Protestant OT canon and not the Roman Catholic position. What about the objections against the NT position of this paper?  The liberal tradition has those objections. 

 

It is the view of the liberal challenges of the traditional Protestant position that the NT canon should be expanded to include other expressions of early Christianity.  The most famous of these expressions in recent years, Gnosticism, has been brought to the forefront by the DaVinci Code.  Several writers including, Elaine Pagels, Bart Ehrman, and John Dominic Crossan have argued that the addition of writings like the Gospel of Thomas should have a place in orthodoxy requiring their addition to the canon along side the currently accepted gospels.[6]  This too goes against the Protestant canon.  These extra-Biblical texts contain theological error, contradict accepted canonical books, and many times claim not to be authoritative.  It is also worthy to note that the early Church fathers quote the Protestant NT canon about 36,000 times while never quoting the Gnostic writings.[7]  Along with these points there is no evidence that Gnostic beliefs were held during the first century when the scriptures were being written.[8]  Why then would these texts be added to the canon?  The only reason would be that those who hold this view have a disdain against the exclusivity of Christ.[9]  These books cannot be added to the canon if the canon is to truly be the ultimate authoritative revelation for the church because they do not teach what the true canon teaches. 

Conclusion

 

Thus the affirmation of the Protestant canon as true Scripture must be the correct set of canonical writings.  Examining the evidence of the OT and NT leave no other choice except the acceptance of the Protestant position as the true position.  Christians can and should look at the 66 books of the Protestant Bible as the final and ultimately authority for the Church age.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bruce, F. F. The Canon of Scripture. Downers Grove: InterVaristy Press, 1988.

Danker, Frederick W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.

Frame, John M. Salvation Belongs to the Lord. Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2006.

Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994.

Metzger, Bruce M. The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origen, Development, and Significance. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.

Packer, J. I. God’s Word: Studies of Key Bible Themes. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988.

Pate, C. Marvin. “Current Challenges to the Christian Canon.” Criswell Theological Review 1, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 3-10.

Witherington, Ben. The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and DaVinci. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2004.

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[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 59.

[2] F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVaristy Press, 1988), 98.  See also Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 57.

[3] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 59.

[4] Ibid., 58.

[5] Ibid., 59.  See also F. F. Bruce, The Canon of Scripture (Downers Grove: InterVaristy Press, 1988), 98

[6] C. Marvin Pate, “Current Challenges to the Christian Canon,” Criswell Theological Review 1, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 7.

[7] Ibid., 10.

[8] Ibid., 9.

[9] Ben Witherington, The Gospel Code: Novel Claims About Jesus, Mary Magdalene and DaVinci (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2004), 109, 126. quoted by C. Marvin Pate, “Current Challenges to the Christian Canon,” Criswell Theological Review 1, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 10.

The Canon of Scripture Part 2

This is the second part of a three part set of posts.  See this post for an explanation.

Support

The support for the protestant canon is overwhelming.  This section will outline support of the protestant canon as final and authoritative revelation for the Christian church.  The evidence will be broken up into two different sections:  Old Testament support and New Testament support.  It is important to remember that as redemptive history moves on more revelation is given to God’s people until there is no need to give more.[1]

Old Testament

           

The support for the OT being accepted as canon by Protestants will be shown in two parts.  First, the Jews will give support historically and secondly support will be given by Jesus and the NT writers. 

The protestant canon contains the 39 books of the Jewish canon that was accepted as authoritative by the Judaism during the time of the writing of the NT and today.[2]  These writings started with God carving the Ten Commandments into two stone tablets and continued to grow thereafter.  Most often the scriptures were added to by the person holding office of prophet as he wrote down what was perceived as the word of God.  As mentioned above this normally happened in relation to redemptive history and the need for more revelation.  This process of God revealing revelation as canonical Scripture came to a halt around the year 435 B.C. until the NT was started.  There were other writings that detailed the history of the Jewish people between 435 B.C. and the writing of the NT, but they do not claim to be canonical and were not thought by Jews to be authoritative.  In fact, 1 Maccabees 4:45-46 says that the Jews were waiting for a prophet to give them direction.  Josephus the great Jewish historian says that a “complete history has been written, but has not been deemed worthy of equal credit with the earlier records.”[3]

           

Jesus and the NT writers also attest to the protestant OT as being accepted as part of the canon.  There is no dispute between Jesus and the Jewish leaders about the OT scripture as being authoritative.  There are also about 295 quotations of the OT in the NT but not one single quote from one of the other writings of the Jews including the Roman Catholic Apocrypha.[4] 

           

Because the gospel went to the Jew first and then to the Greek it was only natural for the early Christians, who were from Jewish decent, to accept their writings as pointing toward Jesus as the Christ and being inspired of God.  Jesus himself even opened the scriptures (protestant OT) and taught of himself (Luke 24:27).  These are obviously the accepted scriptures of the Jews or He would not have been teaching from them.  From this evidence the protestant OT seems to be without a doubt part of the authoritative and final authority of God to his people.  What about the NT?

New Testament

           

The New Testament is not as easy to claim as being canonical as the OT.  Regardless of the theological persuasion within Christendom books of the OT are not excluded instead parts have been added.  This is not the case with the NT; much debate about the addition and exclusion of certain writings has taken place.  Referring to redemptive history, the Apostles and divine authorship, and finally deletion or additions will support the NT as canonical scripture. 

           

As mentioned above, Scripture is written as God works through redemptive history.  At the close of the OT canon there is the expectation of the coming Messiah as the next stage of redemptive history.[5]  This would mean that Scripture would begin again when the Messiah arrives.  Regardless of their beliefs in the particularities of Christ, no true Christian group denies that Jesus is this Messiah.  Christ, being the next act in redemptive history opens the canon for new writings.

 

The apostles, those ordained by Christ, were the main writers of these new Scriptures.  These men were ones who were either close to Jesus during his time on earth, or were called into apostleship by him (Paul for example).  There were others who were close to these apostles that were empowered by the Holy Spirit to also write the scriptures.  The authors who wrote down the NT used their writings to confirm that the words they were speaking and writing were new scripture.  The NT writers claim multiple times that they have the Holy Spirit and that equates their teaching and writing as divinely authored, not human (2 Peter 3:2; Acts 5:2-4; 1 Cor 2:9; 2:13, 14:37; 2 Cor 13:3; Rom 2:16; Gal 1:8-9; 1 Thess 2:13, 4:8, 15, 5:27; 2 Thess 3:6, 14).[6]  These words are substantiated multiple times as the Apostles healed and taught with great authority.[7]  The NT writers also point to other NT writings as canonical by equating it with the OT.  An example of this is 2 Pet 3:15-16.  Peter claims that Paul’s writings are being twisted as other scriptures are being twisted.  Grafh (graphe meaning writings or scriptures), the Greek word used here, is only used when referencing the OT.  This equates Paul’s writing with the OT as scripture.  1 Timothy 5:17-18 also provides an example of equating NT writing with the OT.  Paul tells Timothy that others should honor preachers and teachers and then quotes Deut 25:14 and Luke 10:7 with equal authority.  These two passages show that early in formation of the Christian church that the NT canon was starting to form.[8] 

Along with the witness of redemptive history, and argument that God through the Apostles authored the NT it is helpful to look at candidates for addition or deletion from the NT.  At this point in time there are not writings that provide strong evidence for addition into the canon.  Some of these writings that received some promotion in the early church have errors that conflicted with the accepted protestant canon of the NT.  One example of this is “The Shepherd” of Hermas which teaches penance and that the Trinity came into existence after the resurrection of Christ.  The Gospel of Thomas teaches that women should make themselves male to enter into the kingdom of heaven. These teaching are not consistent with the teachings of the Apostles who obviously had divine authority to write new scripture.  Other writings of the time that may not have conflicted with the Apostles teachings had disclaimers by the authors that indicate the writing is not scripture.[9] 

Some throughout history have argued for the removal of some of the established NT writings because they seem to contradict other books[10] or for the promotion of unity among churches.[11]  These attempts however must be brushed aside as we remember that the work of the early church was not to pick some writings and give them divine authority.  Only God can make a text have divine authority, the work of the early church was to recognize God’s writings and affirm them as scripture.  It is difficult with much success to argue against nearly two thousand years of acceptance and recognition by the church that these texts are divine.

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[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 60.

[2] Note that the Jewish Bible is the same as the protestant Old Testament however the division of books is different.  The Jewish Bible is only divided into 24 books instead of the 39 of protestants.

[3] Josephus,  Against Apion, 1.41., quoted in Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 56.

[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 56-57.

[5] Ibid., 60.

[6] Ibid., 61. 

[7] See Acts chapters 3,4,5,8,28 as examples.

[8] Ibid., 61-62.

[9] Ibid., 66-67.

[10] Ibid., 67.  Martin Luther was hesitant about James because it seemed to him to contradict justification by faith.

[11] Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament: Its Origen, Development, and Significance (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 274. Kurt Aland proposed this during a 1961 lecture at Oxford.

In the garden

A family in our church has a fabulous garden next to their home and every spring we are blessed with lots and lots of fresh zucchini, squash, and tomatoes–its one of the highlights of the summer. My mom thought it would be fun for the grandkids to visit the garden and see how vegetables grow, so we went last weekend and had a great time! Josiah had a blast walking around outside and inspecting all the vegetation. Thanks Frank and Ann!