Truth is personal

Here is a short paragraph from Vern S. Poythress' book Inerrancy and the Gospels that you can ponder for a few minutes...or a few years:

First, the involvement of persons and their perspectives in knowledge does not in itself undermine the validity of knowledge. An impersonalist worldview may suggest that truth ultimately be impersonal. But God is the ultimate standard for truth, and he is personal. We may express this reality by saying that truth is what God knows. So personal involvement, namely God's involvement, is necessary for the existence of truth. And of course, human persons must become involved as persons when they come to know something true. This involvement takes place according to the design of God. It is not innately alien or corrupting. (34)

Authenticity

Fake watches and ersatz purses. They were everywhere. Imitation perfumes and copy-cat colognes lined the shelves of the many stores. Vendors hawked their wares making note of the excellent prices of their "authentic" goods. Such was the scene on Canal and Broadway in Manhattan. I was there as a supervisor for a group of 44 students on a field trip to the Big Apple. The visit to Chinatown's purse peddlers and scent sellers was frustrating for me. There is something bothersome, even with the cheap prices, about knock-offs and fakes. They lack authenticity. There is something inside of us that yearns for the real deal. Inside, we long to be authentic people; people with integrity and a deep-down realness. But at our core, apart from Christ, we realize that authenticity, being who we are supposed to be, has eluded us. Jonathan Dodson touches upon this idea as he writes,

Sin stands in the way of authenticity. It is a silent, spiritual rejection of our identity in Christ. It denies judgment and grace. However, when we confess our sin in true repentance, we come to our senses in Jesus. We return to our selves. Confession of sin is a kind of repentance from being inauthentic ... Both the religious rule keeper and the confessionless rule breaker are inauthentic. They choose "sinner" over "son." The difference between the two is that the rebel avoids God while the religious person tries to impress him. One runs away from him, while the other runs past him. Instead, rebels and the religious need to run straight to God in confession of their sin and in confidence of his forgiveness. (Dodson, Jonathan K. Gospel-centered Discipleship. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012. Print. 68-9)

Our authenticity, our stepping into who we really are meant to be, is only possible through the forgiveness of sin. For this, we can only turn to Christ.

Why Did Jesus Have to Suffer?

After such a horrendous act of evil the world is left with so many questions. How can a family move past a day like yesterday? Jesus is the only answer. At face value it may seem like a simple answer, a cop out maybe, but it's not. John Piper has a great blog post that I found very moving. Please continue to pray for those families in Connecticut.

Blogged Through Books - Chosen For Life

Blogged Through Books is a series that I hope to continue regularly. I will use posts from this blog that have already been produced for a particular book and will compile them all in one post. This will give the reader access to all of the content concerning particular books, as it appears on this blog, in one convenient location. This edition of BTB engages with many posts on one of my favourite pastor-theologians, Sam Storms, and his book Chosen For Life.

Three Impossibilities from John 6
Spurgeon on Election
Chosen For Life - Chapter 6 - Amazing Grace
Sam Storms' problems with the Arminian view of election
Summer of Sam
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace
Ten Characteristics of Grace

Blogged Through Books - Altogether Lovely

Blogged Through Books is a series that I hope to continue regularly. I will use posts from this blog that have already been produced for a particular book and will compile them all in one post. This will give the reader access to all of the content concerning particular books, as it appears on this blog, in one convenient location. This edition of BTB covers over 20 posts I, or other bloggers, wrote while reading a collection of Jonathan Edwards sermons entitled Altogether Lovely.

• Altogether Lovely - Christ The Example Of Ministers
• Jonboy's Thoughts
• The Pure in Heart Blessed - Altogether Lovely - Seeing God
• The Pure in Heart Blessed - Altogether Lovely - Seeing God
• The Pure in Heart Blessed - Altogether Lovely - Final Post
• Christ's aims as Mediator
• Altogether Lovely - Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever
• Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ
• Safety, Fullness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ
• Blogging through Altogether Lovely Sermon #3
• Altogether Lovely - Christ Exalted, second post
• Altogether Lovely - Christ Exalted
• Divergent Excellencies
• Second Sermon of Altogether Lovely: The Excellency of Christ
• The Excellency of Christ - Post #2
• The Excellency of Christ - Post #3
• Final post on Edwards' The Excellency of Christ
• Edwards on God as our Portion
• God the Best Portion of the Christian - Jonathan Edwards
• Altogether Lovely - God The Best Portion Of The Christian
• Altogether Lovely - God The Best Portion Of The Christian - Final Thoughts
• Reading Together: Altogether Lovely 

Blogged Through Books - A Praying Life

Blogged Through Books is a series that I hope to continue regularly. I will use posts from this blog that have already been produced for a particular book and will compile them all in one post. This will give the reader access to all of the content concerning particular books, as it appears on this blog, in one convenient location. This edition of BTB deals with the best book on prayer, tied for first with Bill Hybel's Too Busy Not To Pray, that I have read recently; A Praying Life by Paul Miller.

• Cynicsm
• Bending our hearts
• A child's heart
• Quietly Confident
• You don't create intimacy ...
• Most. Dependent. Ever.
• Sloppy and meandering prayers
• Seven suggestions from Paul Miller
• A Praying Life

Fighters, Beholders, Believers

I love this excerpt from Gospel-centered Discipleship by Jonathan Dodson. It touches on the battle of our faith, the battle to behold the Beautiful One. There is a sublimity to the Christian walk. There is battle, blood, and beauty in this life we are called to.

In summary, disciples of Jesus are called to fight, not in physical or virtual combat, but for the noble cause of everyday faith in Jesus. We are called to beauty, not through performance, but by beholding Jesus. We fight to behold the image of the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. This faith fights not for perfection, but for belief. We fight to believe that Jesus is more precious, satisfying, and thrilling than anything else this world has to offer. This is faith in the gospel-the grand announcement that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us. When we believe the gospel, we get to enjoy the promises of God's grace, peace, and joy. When we don't believe the gospel, we move away from these things. most of all, we move away from Jesus, who is worth our every effort, every gaze, and every belief.

(Dodson, Jonathan K. Gospel-centered Discipleship. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012. Print. 59-60)

Blogged Through Books - A Body of Divinity

Blogged Through Books is a series that I hope to continue regularly. I will use posts from this blog that have already been produced for a particular book and will compile them all in one post. This will give the reader access to all of the content concerning particular books, as it appears on this blog, in one convenient location. In the near future I hope to write a post about the benefits of blogging through a book. This edition of BTB lists all of the posts that pertain to a classic Puritan work by Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity.

• Thomas Watson and General Maximus Decimus Meridius
• A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson - Introduction, parts 1 and 2
• A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson - Introduction, parts 3
• A Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson - Introduction, part 3
• Bees and infinity
• To Wax Eloquent
• Culturally Relevant Apologetics
• What injustice?
• Boldness and confidence!
• Have faith and trust
• Getting better or getting worse