Redefining Words

Hey, why not go all the way?

(Reposted from my blog White Noise.)

New York Legalizes Something That Doesn't Exist

It's official. The state of New York has legalized "gay marriage":

Same-sex marriage is now legal in New York after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that was narrowly passed by state lawmakers Friday, handing activists a breakthrough victory in the state where the gay rights movement was born. ...

... Gay rights advocates are hoping the vote will galvanize the movement around the country and help it regain momentum after an almost identical bill was defeated here in 2009 and similar measures failed in 2010 in New Jersey and this year in Maryland and Rhode Island.

What's next? Legalizing square circles?

This Week in Calvinism - June 24, 2011

• A revival of Calvinism: an interview with Iain Murray.
  
  
• 48 hours in Geneva.
  
  
• Seth discusses five bad arguments against Calvinism.
  
  
• Tim Challies interviews Dr. Ken Stewart, author of Ten Myths About Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition.
  
  
• John Piper explains why this year's Desiring God National Conference may be the most strategic one ever held.

This Week in Calvinism - June 17, 2011

• Was Luther a Calvinist?
  
  
• Confessional Calvinism.
  
  
• What exactly is the "John Piper Fallacy" in Romans 9?
  
  
• How would you define terms like ordain, decree, or author?
  
  
• The Lone Calvinist rides again!
  
  
• Who's responsible for clouding men's minds with teachings of election and limited atonement? Who could it possibly be? Oh, I don't know. Could it be...SATAN?!

This Week in Calvinism - June 10, 2011

• Roger Olson argues that there is no middle ground between Calvinism and Arminianism. "In fact," he says, "Arminianism IS the middle ground between Calvinism and Semi-Pelagianism!"
  
  
• Paul Chitwood, recently elected as executive director-treasurer of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, thinks the issue of Calvinism is "needlessly a point of controversy."
  
  
• God and golf: Where every shot, shank, and duff are his will.
  
  
• Spurgeon on the folly of preaching too long.
  
  
• Is God a Christian? Al Mohler reviews the new book from R. Kirby Godsey.
  
  
• James McDonald believes congregational church government is from Satan.

Lamentations 5:12

This Week in Calvinism - Jne 3, 2011

• Join in celebrating the life of John Calvin.
  
  
• Frank Turk writes an open letter to John Piper about Piper's interview with Rick Warren.
  
  
• Les Puryear is a Calvinist no more.
  
  
• Scottish theologian John Murray on the marvel of our adoption.
  
  
• Thomas Booher on the importance of Calvinism in Christianity.

Love, Disability, and the Lessons of Grace

Wrestling With An Angel from Brian Patton on Vimeo.

(via Desiring God)

Memorial Weekend Musings

This Week in Calvinism - May 27, 2011

• With Reformer John Knox long-forgotten, the Church of Scotland is now accepting gay clergy.
  
  
• Adrian Warnock asks, "Are you an Arminian on your knees and a Calvinist on your feet?"
  
  
• Peter Kirk answers, "Arminians are not deists; we believe prayer works."
  
  
• Spurgeon on eloquence in preaching.


• John Piper interviews Rick Warren on doctrine.
  
  
• Next week you can begin reading J. Gresham Machen's book Christianity and Liberalism with Tim Challies. Download the book in PDF or audio format for free here.
  

Christian Warmongering at Its Worst

When you fail to draw a distinction between the city of man and the city of God, you end up sounding like this:

If America is really serious about combating worldwide Islamic terrorism and the increasing reports of Christian genocide among the 44 Muslim nations, then let us take up the battle cry of Ann Coulter and the Muslim author who converted to Christianity and train our military not only to kill and destroy our enemies but to convert them to Christianity. ...

... My one revision of Coulter is not that we should invade their countries: We must invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. PC (perversity correctness) means keeping Christianity, America and the West on the road to dhimmitude.

Six million Muslims convert to Christianity per year. Thank God Christian missionaries are still devoted to Christ's mandate: Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Would to God that our military would join Christ's battle cry and honor this verse of the Marines' Hymn:

First to fight for right and freedom [of religion]
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.

Semper Fi!

Would to God that American Christians would return to the belief that the kingdom of God is advanced by the power of the Gospel, not by the power of the gun.

Even Atheists Should Think Homosexuality is Morally Wrong

I believe that the atheistic worldview has no moral foundation upon which to make distinctions between right and wrong. The only way atheists can make a moral judgment is if they borrow from the Christian worldview, which adheres to moral absolutes. Still, for the purpose of this post, let's assume that it's possible for atheists to remain consistent in their worldview.

Atheists rely on a naturalistic, pragmatic morality that considers "right" to be that which is beneficial for humanity as a whole. Likewise, that which is detrimental to humanity is deemed "wrong". For example, an atheist may judge murder to be wrong on the basis that if everyone ran around killing each other, the human race would become extinct. The atheist can comfortably conclude, then, that it is good not to murder his fellow human being.

So what about the issue of homosexuality? Why do so many atheists seem to be such strong supporters of gay rights? I would think that the atheist, even from a naturalistic perspective, has no choice but to conclude that homosexuality is morally wrong. The reason is simple: If everyone were gay, procreation would cease, thereby dooming the human race to extinction.

(By the way, the same argument works for abortion, as I once pointed out to a pro-choice atheist.)

George Takei on Tennessee's "Don't Say Gay" Bill

One question: When will the pedophiles rise up and demand that teachers discuss "intergenerational intimacy" in the classroom?

In Case of Rapture...

This Week in Calvinism - May 20, 2011

• Arminian Roger Olson rejects the notion that "God always does the wisest thing."
  
  
• C. Michael Patton responds.
  
  
• Catholic Joe Heschmeyer wrongly states the Calvinist position on limited atonement, saying that "no amount of faith or virtue could ever save" those for whom Christ did not die. Actually, Calvinists would say that the gift of faith is only given to those for whom Christ died.
  
  
• An interesting article in the Huffington Post on "green Calvinism." The author concludes that, with closer examination, "we begin to see that Reformed Christians who seem so prudish and proper were actually a people of passionate desire. Calvinist believers who seem so focused on divine transcendence were closet nature mystics exulting in God's beauty everywhere."
  
  
• Dan Phillips lists 17 ways in which cult leader Harold Camping glorifies God.