"we can't be one-issue voters" ???

Who do we want as the leader of our nation? What direction do we want our nation take? Some time ago, I preached a sermon directed against Christians who will vote for a pro-abortion candidate because of other issues, often with a statement to the effect "The issues are complex, and we can't be one-issue voters." My illustration in the sermon imagined some German in 1938, "Well, I don't really like his attitude toward the Jews, but look what he's done for the economy!" Right. ~ Barry Hofstetter, from his blog, Theology Thoughts

http://my.opera.com/BarryHofstetter/blog/2008/09/27/good-king-bad-king

5 Points and a Poem

Well...maybe not the poem, (unless you know a nice little limerick about a tulip,) but a friend posted this on his facebook wall and I thought it would be of great benefit for those who come here too...so here it is, "What We Believe About The Five Points of Calvinism" by John Piper:

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/articles/bydate/1985/1487_what_we_believe_about_the_five_points_of_calvinism/

and for those who consider the Doctrines of Grace to be "abhorrent!" make certain you read this article, and not just some ignorant drivel about them, before you decide that you actually think.

And oh yeah, PLEASE, by all means, THINK!

S.M. Hutchens on Quenching the Spirit

But I am more confident now that the Holy Spirit, while mysterious, infinitely subtle, and often counter-intuitive is for all that no fool. The gabbling of enthusiasts is not his favored means of communication, nor is he a private gentleman. If he has a message for one who speaks for him, it meets what he has already placed in many of his own, and agrees. He is a friend to reason because he invented it, a friend of counsel, because he is eternally in counsel himself (some would even say, and not without reason, that he is Counsel), and a friend to the wisdom of age and experience, for he is the one who has given it, presumably for use toward his ends. (The presence of these virtues in the church virtually eclipses, I believe, the need for much of what is commonly regarded as charismatic gift. Since they are themselves part of the concrete and enduring telos of the Spirit’s work, there is good reason to suspect that the overuse and overvaluation of charismata--which may indeed be from God--is also, in whatever age and in whatever church they appear, a sign of spiritual infantilism.)

read the rest here:

http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecomments/2008/09/quenching-the-s.html

i found the comments to be interesting as well, this one was especially entertaining:

>>>False prophets were stoned in Biblical times.<<<
A lot of modern ones are stoned, too. Just not in the same way.

LOL!!!

You can’t legislate morals...?

Now the other myth that gets around is the idea that legislation cannot really solve the problem and that it has no great role to play in this period of social change because you’ve got to change the heart and you can’t change the heart through legislation. You can’t legislate morals. The job must be done through education and religion. Well, there’s half-truth involved here. Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also. So there is a need for executive orders. There is a need for judicial decrees. There is a need for civil rights legislation on the local scale within states and on the national scale from the federal government. ~ MLK

now, apply to abortion

WOW! Look At This!!

Dr Wayne Grudem teaches his "Systematic Theology"...on MP3...for FREE!!!

Here:

http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/MP3-Audio--Multimedia/All-Speakers-Lectures-and-Sermons/Wayne-Grudem/Scottsdale-Bible-Church--System/

The left wing/right wing distinction

Doug Wilson comments....

I try not to describe myself as a man of the right -- although I do self-identify as a conservative. With the former, when joking, I will say that my positions are slightly to the left of King Arthur. With the latter, when I say that I am a conservative, the obvious question is "what are you seeking to conserve?" The answer to that is "the heritage of Christendom," and to do so in a way that looks forward to the contributions of the next Christendom. There is no way to be "medieval" or "reformational," as I am, and not be a conservative of some stripe. And the fact that I am looking forward to the glories of the coming Christendom does not make me "progressive," as I am sure would be plain once I was allowed to describe what I think those glories might actually look like.

the rest:
http://www.dougwils.com/index.asp?Action=Anchor&CategoryID=1&BlogID=5878

Duty of A Theologian

The duty of a Theologian, however, is not to tickle the ear, but confirm the conscience, by teaching what is true, certain, and useful. ~ John Calvin, Institutes