Hey All,
Just wanted to let you know that I will be shutting things down over here pretty much, as my wife and I have recently been appointed as missionaries to Ivory Coast, West Africa. We have started up a new blog that will chart our journey to and in Africa that will bring all the great insights that I did here, only with a twist towards what God is doing in us along the way! Check us out at http://dodsonsinafrica.wordpress.com/
Here is something I am wrestling with: Does mission arise from within the nature of God or does it flow out of God’s love? Is God a “Missionary God” essentially, or is he a “Loving God” who expresses himself in mission? I admire the works of many who try to make mission bound up within the Trinity, but if it is bound up in the Trinity, then doesn’t mission have to go beyond the restoration of all creation into heaven, and in some sense does mission exist into all eternity? If so, then in what sense will it continue to exist? I think that if we tie mission to who God is essentially, then, in some sense mission must be bigger than just what he does in Christ to restore creation back to himself. So is Mission bigger than we typically think of it, or is it attached to love in a way that makes it understood as we typically think of it? Thoughts…
Earth Day and Good Friday collided today 2,000 years ago, even though neither of these titles existed! Little did the earth know that the affects of the death of Jesus would be so great. For in the moment of His death, a cosmic hiccup took place, and the earth was released temporarily from the grip of sin and death (Mt.27.51-53). In that moment the evil powers were defeated and the King who reigned on the cross staked his claim on all of creation over the cosmic hijackers! Who knew Good Friday would have such an impact for Earth Day 2,000 years later?!?!
Due to the amount of people asking about what is for sale and where they can get it. Here is the list of what is on Amazon for sale. You just have to find the one under the seller name: 2Cor521. Thank you ahead of time and feel free to pass this on! Remember all sales are for my move to Ivory Coast, as Im trying to move from paper to electronic copies. I am willing to work on the prices, so if you would like to bargain, then by all means please don’t hesitate!
NIGTC:
Pillar:
NAC:
WBC:
BECNT:
IVP Dictionaries:
New Dictionary of Biblical Theology
Bible Background Commentary: NT
OTHER:
Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology
So I am having a large book sale due to the need to make a shift to electronic copies for our soon departure overseas. We will be moving to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, and just wont have the room to bring all my books with me. So if you would like to get a cheap price on my brand new to barely used commentaries, then please let me know! I have most volumes in the following series:
NIGTC
Pillar
WBC NT
Baker Exegetical
A few NIVAC NT
A few NAC OT
So if you hold to credo-baptism (or even if you dont and want to chip in any pastoral advice), then here is my question. Should someone who was baptized as a 9 yr old, who went through the motions to be “in” with all their other cronies, and only later at age 19 began following Christ. Then should they get re-baptised, or rather baptised for the first time? Just wondering… because Im beginning to face that issue for myself and am looking for help on how to think through this…
Love is putting your rights and interests aside for the sake of another so as to point them to Christ.
If we fail to point people to Christ, then we fail to love them. If we simply give up our rights for someone else it is selfless, but it is not love. For the most loving thing one can do is show their actions in such a way as to reflect the very Christ who has been so loving towards us in his faithful love. May we see this day as a renewed opportunity to pour this kind of love on all those around us.
I have been in a few conversations recently that have really been with people who are not just looking for a way out of religion so as to justify their behavior. Rather, they genuinely struggle with an omnipotent God who is Good, but yet this God wont halt the injustices before him with the snap of a finger. I have thought very little on this issue and just didnt know what has helped you in helping others. I know this is not a one liner that will change the game, but what resources, people, and thoughts have helped shaped your ability to help others through this?
I read this this morning in Surprised By Hope and was moved to reflection and worship. I pray it does the same for you.
Thomas: Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I shall not believe.
The sea is too deep
The heaven’s too high
I cannot swim
I cannot fly;
I must stay here
I must stay here
Here where I know
How I can know
Here where I know
What I can know.
.
And after eight days, the disciples were again indoors, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came again, although the doors were shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be with you.Then he said to Thomas, Come here with your finger, and inspect my hands; come here with your hand, and put it into my side. Do not be faithless, but believe.
.
The sea has parted. Pharaoh’s hosts −
Despair, and doubt, and fear, and pride −
No longer frighten us. We must
Cross over to the other side.
The heaven bows down. With wounded hands
Our exiled God, our Lord of shame
Before us, living, breathing, stands;
The Word is near, and calls our name.
New knowing for the doubting mind,
New seeing out of blindness grows;
New trusting may the sceptic find
New hope through that which faith now knows.
.
Thomas, in reply, said, My Lord, and my God!
In Robert Plummer’s new book (I can say new because we haven’t quite hit 2011), 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible, he does exactly what the title says he would do. He takes a look at 40 questions that often come up in discussions of interpretation and offers a response. Plummer sets the book up in four parts and starts with a section on text, canon and translation. Here he takes up some important questions regarding the nature, contents, and history of the Christian Scriptures. Secondly he deals with questions related to interpretation and meaning, where he discusses some essential principles, tools, themes, and questions about interpreting the text. Third, he picks up the weighty discussion of genre and speaks into the necessity of it and then provides some key thoughts about the various kinds of genre that are most frequented in the Old and New Testaments. Finally, he closes up the book with a section on matters that have taken up recent discussion when talking about interpretation, where he provides some helpful answers for the novice that knows little of such discussions.
This book review thus far, as broad as it has been, is the best way that I can review this book so that you know what you are getting into. The depth at which I have gone into this book review is the depth at which Plummer goes to answer these 40 questions, which is why I wouldn’t reccomend it to everybody. I mean what else do you expect from a book that attempts to answer 40 questions in 300 pages, when each question could easily take up a 300 page book itself, and some questions 300 volumes. So I say this not to mock Plummer’s work, but to make it apparent that he very shallowly delves into these questions, which makes me wonder if “tackle” is the proper word to be used of these questions, as assumed on the back of the book. Rather, he “sets the stage” to each question and allows someone who is brand new to interpeting Scripture jump in and begin to ask the right questions. I think that is the value of this book, is that it helps the new reader of the biblical text come with the right set of questions, so that they can find a platform from which to begin their exploration of the Christian Scriptures. So I do reccomend this for a new reader, and I think it provides a great outline to what every interpretation class should take up when educating one on how one ought to go about interpretating the Bible.
