Beardy-weirdies

This is great news (and in no way representative of how word-studies should be done).

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament tells me that the Hebrew verb for 'grow old' (zaqen) is probably derived from the Hebrew word for beard (zaqan). Which presumably means that in one sense to grow old is 'to be/become bearded.' Even when applied to females.

It gets better though.

The LXX (greek trans. of OT) translates the Hebrew word for an old man (derived from zaqen) as presbuteros. Which we all know is the word commonly translated 'elder' in our english translations of the NT (cf. Titus 1:6-9).

Which means, surely, that to be an elder of the Church you must be bearded.

Application:

1. This solves the 'women elders' issue once and for all?
2. There's just enough time for men leaving college this year to grow a beard before their ordination/ commissioning.

Summer Reading

September has arrived and the summer is drawing to a close (meteorologically it never arrived of course). As usual I have achieved a lot less than I hoped I would, though my 'to-do' list was particularly ambitious this year. I have read a few books though, which I list and describe briefly here for your delectation.

Against Christianity (sample online here): Peter Leithart thinks the Church is a new city. That means he's against 'Christianity' (a private/unsuccessful gospel and Church) and for 'Christendom' (a public/successful gospel and Church). And who wouldn't agree? Leithart also writes with considerable wit and style, which makes his book enjoyable as well as provocative.

Tested by Fire: Suffering in the lives of Bunyan, Cowper and Brainerd. John Piper has served us well with his brief (but not shallow) reflections on various Christian figures from history.

He Shall Have Dominion: A Postmillenial Eschatology. Kenneth Gentry Jr.'s comprehensive and mostly persuasive book on the ultimate in gospel optimism. Seems to be the book that other-millenialists must contend with, both exegetically & theologically.

All Families are Psychotic. Hardly Douglas Coupland's finest moment. Some interesting commentary on consequences of actions, and of course on families and relationships. Less-than-believable ending doesn't really help things. Okay as beach reading.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Satisfactory and enjoyable conclusion to the series that has been disproportionately lauded (not J.K. rowling's fault I stress). Won't change your life, but then it isn't meant to.

Pierced for our Transgressions: Necessary, scholarly, readable. More (but brief) comments here.

By Faith, Not By Sight. Richard Gaffin helps us understand justification and sanctification, showing how the forensic and the renovative aspects of the salvation of individuals flow from the same basic reality - union with Christ.

The Radical Reformission. The unique Mark Driscoll on modern mission that doesn't sell out. All that needs to happen now is for someone to write the same kind of book for the UK but in a style that won't immediately offend and repel the conservative evangelical constituency here.

I've also started reading 'City of God' by St Augustine. Man, was that guy thorough (long-winded). I'm enjoying the ride but it might be some time before I blog on that one.

Reformation Alehouses

Whilst at the reformation museum in Geneva I discovered an ale of 'biblical' proportions (here is the website). But, the real question is, would John Calvin himself have approved? I'm not sure entirely, but here's what I discovered from Mark Driscoll's short section on 'the sin of light beer' in The Radical Reformission.

'Pastor John Calvin's annual salary package included upwards of 250 gallons of wine to be enjoyed by him and his guests.'

No surprise I guess, since the Overseer must be hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2). Driscoll continues;

'Martin Luther once wrote of the Reformation, "While I sat still and drank beer with Philip and Amsdorf, God dealt the papacy a mighty blow."'

And apparently 'when the Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock, the first permanent building they erected was a brewery.'

For his own part, Pastor Mark longs 'for the return to the glory days of Christian pubs where God's men gather to drink beer and talk theology.' Evidently such pubs would serve not the watery, mass-produced, 'feminine', light beer all too common today, but what Driscoll calls the 'rich, dark, heavy, more "biblical" European beers.'

Cup of tea

For those who are weary of toil, be it study, paid employment or housework, here is a site to visit. The 'Mission Statement' is especially worth a read.

Any American readers of this blog should also take a look at this in aid of their understanding.

Badgers

My wife Claire (who should know about these things) informs me that in this country it is illegal to have in your possession a live badger. The stipulations of the Protection of Badgers Act (1992) also outlaws the possession of a dead badger or any part thereof.

Photos

Sorry for the low blog profile of recent. Been all over the place (geographically speaking), and therefore there's lots to report over the next few days/weeks (if I ever get round to it).

For now though, I'm delighted to say that you can find some photos from my trip to New York HERE ('they' assure me that even if you're not a member you can view the photos). They're photos only of all the touristy stuff we did; I didn't take any photos of interviewing people or of listening to Tim Keller preach or of talking about church planting whilst sitting in Starbucks as that sort of thing makes for good conversation but lousy photographs.

Poll Results

Can be found here for anyone who cares.

Given that the poll revealed chronic voter apathy (20 votes in all, and I know that one of them was me and I suspect Ros voted more than once) and the fact that I don't really like democracy anyway, I have decided to ignore the results of the poll. Against the views of 35% of the electorate (7 people, though again, not sure of the exact numerical value of the Ros factor) this blog will not be turning 'pink and fluffy'.

Five

Pete Matthew has kindly accused me of either being bored of blogging or of being a boring blogger (something to do with posting my essays, which are long). Anyway, being a people-pleaser by nature I think the solution is shorter blog posts and more of them from now on (if possible).

To kick off, here's my list of five things I've been enjoying this wednesday afternoon. Maybe you can enjoy them too.

1. Romans 5:17. It was a little complicated to fit together in the greek, but what a verse!

2. Slowly becoming a postmillenialist. I still have loads and loads of questions, but increasingly the bits of the picture fit together (and the picture looks postmillenial). For anyone confused, have a look here for a decent brief definition and some interesting links. And yes it does matter.

3. 'Knights of Cydonia' by Muse. Like Pink Floyd and the Smashing Pumpkins got married, had a baby and then the baby grew up and listened to 'rock-era' Queen all his life, read some sci-fi novels, got mad, got sad, then made a song about it.

4. Tea/Coffee Breaks. Ros may have departed for bigger and bolder things, but the spirit of conversational theology lives on.

5. My new Mac. In the coming gospel age (see 2. above) we will all own one, to the glory of God.

So true...

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Where will you go on your holidays?

As someone who loves the place (and married into it) THIS report from the BBC is very funny. Especially the comparison with Beiruit!

Meaning of Meme

Following on from the previous post, I have discovered what Meme means, thanks to
dictionary.com, which tells me that

Meme = 'A cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes'

It was coined by Richard Dawkins in 1976 from the greek /mimeisthai/ which means 'to imitate/copy'.

Presumably then, your worldview or culture is your 'memetic makeup'?

Blog Tag

The Bluefish tagged me so here goes...

Why do you Blog?
Practical reasons - writing helps me think myself clear on an issue/issues. It also means I have somewhere to store the thoughts I have so I don't lose them, and an interactive format for sharing them with others.
Other reasons - At my best, it's because I love the truth about and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and thinking outloud and online about him and with his people will only serve to glorify his name and help re-make me (and who knows, maybe some others) in his image. At my worst, because I love myself and I crave the praise and admiration of others.

How long have you blogged for?
This is post 64. The first was December 2005, though I didn't really get going until this summer.

Which of your posts gets too little attention?
I suspect very few people want to read my exegetical paper on Deuteronomy 34 (see here), although I enjoyed doing it.

What was the last search phrase someone used to find your blog?
'Don Carson'. Ahh, we all owe that man such a debt anyway, and now I owe him an even greater one.

Your Current Favourite Blog?
Mmmm, at the moment I'm loving some of the discussions over at Daniel Newman's Blog though Big Pete has so much more to say on his blog than his lean back-catologue suggests.

Which blog did you read most recently?
That'll be the Bluefish again (which is how I found out he tagged me). He blogs with much thought and not a little passion. Bring it on.

Which feeds do you subscribe to?
None.

Which 4 blogs are you tagging with this meme and why?
Big Pete because he's so funny and he really needs to get some more material on the blogosphere.
Ros because she's in the USA and we at Oak Hill miss her.
Daniel Newman because his blog is good and more people should see it.
Helen because she gave me biscuits the other day.

Now I have a box in which to put myself, oh joy!

I did this silly online test to find my 'theological worldview' (in reality the 'test' was a bunch of statements that you could interpret just about anyway you wanted, often pitting things as theological opposites which in fact are not). And I came out as a Wesleyan (I think it might've been because I said revival and holiness are important). Not really sure what this means or what use it is to anyone but the results are below. Why not try the quiz out yourself? If you come out as a Roman Catholic or a Liberal we need to talk.

You scored Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavily by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 93%
Reformed Evangelical 93%
Neo orthodox 54%
Fundamentalist 50%
Roman Catholic 43%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 43%
Emergent/Postmodern 36%
Classical Liberal 11%
Modern Liberal 4%

Pictures, oooh...

You can find selected snaps of our holidays HERE.

Any involving me in swimwear have been left out due to the demands of good taste and common decency.