And Another Quote Worth Pondering

Du bist Gottes Werchzüg – er fordert din Dienst, nit dine Ruow.  — Huldrych Zwingli

Quote of the Day

As no part of our body suffers pain without extending to the other parts, so every evil which our brother suffers ought to excite our compassion.  — John Calvin

Where In The World Is Chris Tilling?

In Fairfield, Connecticut perhaps? Because he sure hasn’t been working lately…

Fairfield police said they didn’t have much problem tracking down a theft suspect, a bearded man dressed in a tank top and capri pants. Police say a 22-year-old Norwalk man was caught on tape taking $30 from the tip jar at O Bar Wednesday night.

Come on Chris. Capri pants????

Police say the man was found a short time after the manager of the bar noticed the missing tip jar and checked the bar’s surveillance video. There, he saw a bearded man carrying a large woman’s purse and wearing a dark tank top and light colored capri pants go behind the counter. Police gave the man a misdemeanor summons for sixth-degree larceny.

So if you’ve missed Chris Tilling, that’s what he’s apparently been up to…

Texas, Again…

There’s obviously something in the water out there.

A 35-year-old Texas woman has been jailed after police say she made her 12-year-old daughter drive her to a bar. Police in Longview say they watched a minivan turn into a driveway without signaling on Wednesday and bump into a home at a low speed. They say the car was driven by Jennifer Lynn Rosenberg’s daughter.

This is the state that just approved guns in school.

Police say the girl told an officer she had just dropped her mother off at a bar. They say they found Rosenburg at the bar and that she admitted having her daughter drive her there.

I’m surprised they arrested her.

Of Course, It’s Texas

Reuters tells us

A Texas school district will let teachers bring guns to class this fall, the district’s superintendent said on Friday, in what experts said appeared to be a first in the United States. The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district’s superintendent, David Thweatt.

It’s Texas, what do you expect? The rationale is, well, Texan:

“We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, ‘What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?” he said. “It’s just common sense.”

They must have a different definition of ‘common sense’ in Texas than in the civilized world.

The Most Awesome Spam Email Ever!

I got this one a bit ago.  It’s a hoot!  How anyone would ever be stupid enough to fall for such things escapes me altogether.

Hello my good friend,

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I am using This opportunity to inform you that this mlti-million-dollarbusiness has Been concluded with the assistance of another partner from Chile who financed the transaction to a logical conclusion. Due to your effort,sincerity,courageandtrust worthiness You showed during thecourse of the transaction. I have left a certified international bank cheque for you worth of $420,000.00 cashable any where in the world wide.

CONTACT: MR.ERIC MOOLA.
Cotonou, Benin Republic.

Mr Eric Moola!   HAHAHAHA!  And Mr Moola hopes all is well with my family??  Come on Eric, aren’t you sure?  I reckon if I had helped out with a multi-million dollar deal I’d remember it- but I don’t remember our work together.  So, Eric, go ahead and give the money to Simcha.  He can cash it ‘any where in the world wide’ and he can use it to produce another bible related scam.   Scammers belong together and should, in a spirit of cooperativeness, scam together.  In fact, doesn’t the Bible say ‘the scammers that scam together, stay together’?

Simcha’s At It Again…

And you believed his Talpiot nonsense or watch his ‘archaeological’ ’specials’? Here’s what he likes best: fantasy and speculation pure and simple.

… documentarian Simcha Jacobovici (The Lost Tomb of Jesus – pictured) sets out to determine how advanced science can understand the human soul in his latest project, The Science of the Soul, set for ‘09. Jacobovici will also appear in new episodes of the series The Naked Archeologist, airing Fridays at 10 pm.

Science of the soul? Yup, that’s Simcha at his best. Spinning something out of something else for which he has no proof- nor can he.

New in the Review of Biblical Literature

A few caught my eye…

Paul J. Achtemeier –Jesus and the Miracle Tradition , Reviewed by Michael Labahn

Lester L. Grabbe — Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? , Reviewed by Brian B. Schmidt

Tom Thatcher, ed. — What We Have Heard from the Beginning: The Past, Present, and Future of Johannine Studies, Reviewed by Cornelis Bennema

Christianity Today on ‘The Messiah Stone’ (Or Whatever)

Nothing new really, but it does remind us that such artifacts are always good to stimulate discussion and fill a few pages. The essay quotes the right wing of evangelicalism’s go to guys- Bock and Witherington. Personally, I’m waiting for Giovanni Garbini’s remarks on the subject. And Stephen Pfann’s too. If I ever hear from either of them, I’ll certainly pass it on. Whatever they say, it will be a delight and loads of fun!

Talk of Antichrist: Such Nonsense

Ethics Daily has an interesting essay about the frequent and regular labeling of various political figures with the title ‘Antichrist’. Obama has been tarred with that term and, unsurprisingly, so has McCain. Naturally neither are (unless they are opponents of Christ, which is what the term means anyway). But the Ethics Daily essay gives me an opportunity to remind sensible folk (for who else visits here but the most sensible, intelligent, and insightful lot? The dolts, they are over at Ker’s Hippo page…)(Just kidding David!)

Back to my point- the author of 1 John (who, whether or not the same chap as penned Revelation, certainly lived within the same theological worldview and so had a profound insight on the book of Revelation) maintains — τίς ἐστιν ὁ ψεύστης εἰ μὴ ὁ ἀρνούμενος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ Χριστός; οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἀντίχριστος ὁ ἀρνούμενος τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν. (2:22).

Or, in other words, if you’re looking for “An” Antichrist you have misread the biblical narrative. There isn’t just one- there are tons of them- all those who deny that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah) are, in biblical terms, anti- Christ. Antichrist.

By the way, the book of Revelation never mentions an Antichrist. It mentions a ‘beast’. So it is eisegesis to insist that the ‘beast’ = the ‘antichrist’. Note, in fact, what the author of 1 John says a few verses earlier — Παιδία, ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν καὶ καθὼς ἠκούσατε ὅτι ἀντίχριστος ἔρχεται καὶ νῦν ἀντίχριστοι πολλοὶ γεγόνασιν, ὅθεν γινώσκομεν ὅτι ἐσχάτη ὥρα ἐστίν. (2:18). And again– καὶ πᾶν πνεῦμα ὃ μὴ ὁμολογεῖ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν· καὶ τοῦτό ἐστιν τὸ τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, ὃ ἀκηκόατε ὅτι ἔρχεται, καὶ νῦν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἐστὶν ἤδη. (4:3). And finally, in 2 Jn 7 — ὅτι πολλοὶ πλάνοι ἐξῆλθον εἰς τὸν κόσμον, οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ πλάνος καὶ ὁ ἀντίχριστος.

The antichrist isn’t coming. The antichrist, has come, is here now, and will continue to come as long as history itself continues. Hence, the silly and ignorant politicization of the term is evidence of both poor reading skills, poor exegetical skills, and poor theological skills. And those who contribute to the nonsense by referring to one particular individual as ‘THE Antichrist’ are adding to the pool of ignorance on the subject.

A Brunnerian Gem

The aforementioned third volume of Brunner’s Dogmatics contains the following gem of a thought:

Der Mensch versteht sich selbst nur, wenn er nicht nur sein Sosein in Betracht zieht, sondern ebenso sein Seinsollen (S. 289).

Chaw on that a spell (as we say here in the South).

Dogmatics, Volume Three

By Emil Brunner, was published on August 15, 1950.  It’s publication saw the completion of the finest systematic theology produced since Calvin’s.  Brunner was able, in that work, to do what no one had ever done- write a cogent and useful theology that could be understood and applied to everyday life by everyday people.  This was something Barth never was able to accomplish.  Indeed, Barth’s theology was never written with the church in mind- but theologians; whilst Brunner’s work was written with the Church in mind, for normal believers.  If it has been a while since you’ve read Brunner’s Dogmatics, now’s the time.