You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2006.
Piper Quote of the Day
“Eternal security is a community project (Heb. 3:12-13) and preaching is part of God’s securing power. He calls effectually by the Word and he keeps effectually by the Word.”
(The Supremacy of God in Preaching, pg. 59)
Piper Quote of the Day
“If you want to become a loving person, by all means pray for the transforming and empowering work of the Holy Spirit. Love is his fruit. But also take down your Bible and look to Jesus in his Word. Meditate longingly on his promises until he satisfies your heart with all that God is for you in him.”
(A Godward Life Volume Two, pg. 202
A great article on faith and justification and why all grounds for boasting is removed.
http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/99/053099.html
Piper Quote of the Day“…Faith in Christ is not just assenting to what God is for us, but also embracing all that he is for us in Christ.”
(Future Grace, pg. 161)
Not your health, wealth and prosperity type of quote to be sure.
Piper Quote of the Day
“There are no easy rules to tell us whether the call on our lives is the call of the rich young ruler to give away all that we have, or the call of Zacchaeus to give away half of what we have. What is clear from the New Testament is that, while we live on earth, suffering with joy, not gratitude in wealth, is the way the worth of Jesus shines most brightly.”
(Let the Nations Be Glad!, pg. 104)
Your state is not at all to be measured by the opposition that sin makes to you, but by the opposition you make to it.
John Owen
Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Darrell L. Bock, PH.D
Let me first say that I haven’t read the book of fiction that this book is in response to, namely Dan Brown’s best selling “The Da Vinci Code” which is also coming to theaters in May of this year. But after hearing some of the buzz about the contents of the major premise of the book I found that I just had to dig a little deeper into the controversy. For those that aren’t acquainted with the controversial aspects I will summarize them here. According the fictional premise of Mr. Brown’s book. Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and they had a family together. This was a secret the early church leaders suppressed. Furthermore, the deity of Christ was decided in the fourth century by a close vote of the church council in Nicaea. Now you have an idea why I got so interested in the “buzz” this book has created. On now to “Breaking of the Code”
In a word I would describe Mr. Bock’s “Breaking the Code” book as scholarly. He does an admirable job of defending reality. He explains in detail where the rumors that Jesus was married to Mary where created, and with deft expertise destroys them. In particular he goes into great detail about the Gnostic Gospels, where they came from and how they differ from the gospels that we know and love. Also of interest is his discussion of when and what the early church believed. He provides detailed evidence that main stream Christendom held the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as core documents and not the much later Gnostic gospels. He shows that a serious reading of the Gnostic gospels requires one to admit that the marriage of Jesus and Mary requires a major stretching of the text. The notion that the deity of Christ was not affirmed by the vast majority of the church from its earliest days and was merely an attempt to gain power is again proven in documented detail to be totally false. At the Council of Nicaea a victory against heresy was won, and the Deity of Jesus was affirmed. As it turns out the purported history of the fictional work of Mr. Brown’s book is indeed fiction. If you have read or will watch the “Da Vinci Code” and are looking for some answers please consider picking up a copy of “Breaking the Da Vinci Code” as an excellent guide.
Piper Quote of the Day
“A Christian is a person living under the constraint of Christ’s love. Christianity is not merely believing a set of ideas about Christ’s love. It is an experience of being constrained by that love-past, present, and future.”
Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens’ hearts, and brings them to ruin.
John Owen
Piper Quote of the Day
“Christ is praised by being prized. He is magnified as a glorious treasure when He becomes our unrivaled pleasure. So if we are going to praise Him and magnify Him, we dare not be indifferent as to whether we prize Him and find our pleasure in Him.”
(The Dangerous Duty of Delight, pg. 27)
