I Hate Mondays
Blogging, Theology
Reading: The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God by John Frame (P&R, 1987)
Listening: "Mass for the Dead"
Enjoying: CAO with, surprisingly, coke
"Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning, of what was to be..."
What a day. I barely know where to begin.
I should start with what is most important.
"Today is the day the Lord has made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. 118:24
I will rejoice and be glad in it." Ps. 118:24
So regardless of how I may feel, or how my day is going, I have certain joyous duties to my King, who has created this day. And not only are they under creation ordinance, but the context oblates that this day is the day that the "stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (v. 22). So actually, this is the day that Lord has made; and He has made it as the resurrected Lord whom the builders rejected (cf. האבן הראשׁה Zech. 4:7; 1 Peter 2:7). So today, this miserable Monday, is a day I ought to rejoice in Jehovah both for creating it, and for redeeming me to enjoy it as His good gift to His child whom He loves for the sake of Christ. There, I'm feeling better already.
Kalia is off to the Big Apple with the rest of the women in my family. That means I'm a bachelor for the week: a scary thought. I've been left in charge with a good list of things I need to get done, and I'm in big trouble. So pray for me (that I'd survive without her) and pray for my wife that she and my mom, sister, grandma, aunt, and cousin, would have a wonderful, God-glorifying time in NY.
Justin Taylor, after taking a short hiatus from his prolific form, is back at blogging as of today.
I mentioned what I was reading, and this is in part of a larger effort I laid out at the request of one of my fellow students. He was interested in the issue of epistemology, and knowing that I foolishly embarked upon the path of trying to get a degree in philosophy (def. "the art of taking on school loan and debt to get a recommendation that is difficult to ever get paid for"), he asked for advice on where to start digging. That prompted me write up a little ditty to intro those who would like to go wading in such a difficult topic. I drew up a graded intro, an annotated bibliography, a map of web-related sites, and a short glossary of terms. I'm going to email this to him tonight. If anyone else would like a copy of this, shoot me an email (link to the right) and I'll send one to you (its the picture of the hand writing).
I mentioned this to him as well, but I enjoy reading voraciously, and on several topics. If you or someone you know would like a "where do I start?" or annotated bibliography on this or another topic (theology, philosophy, or narrower fields - e.g., sacraments, Calvinism, covenant theology, metaphysics, postmodernism, etc.) I'd be happy to oblige. Same deal - hit the link to the right.
I took a theological quiz, courtesy of the White Horse Inn. Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt, Ken Jones, and Michael Horton work over the crowd on this most ecumenical of theological talkshows. Here's how I scored. I got tricked on a doctrine of God question. The question was something like, "Is God so sovereign He can change His mind?" The point they were driving home was, "No. God's immutability, his nature, is not trumped by his attributes, such as sovereignty and omnipotence." They alluded to this by saying God can't answer things like "Is yellow round or square" or the age-old "creat a rock so big he can't lift it."
Generally, I tend to think a bit differently. While I hold that God is logical, I see no scriptural or classically reformed theological reason to think that this is one of his incommunicable, necessary attributes. Why couldn't the fact that God is logical be something that he has chosen to be in covenant with man? Therefore, I usually like to answer questions like the above one of two ways. If asked, "Can God make a rock so big he can't lift it?"
"Yes, he'll make a rock so big, and a meter that measures its 'lift-able-ness' and then shatter the meter and your frail human mind by lifting it."
or
"I don't know. But I do know for sure he can make hell so hot you'll wish you'd never thought of such a ridiculous question."
Regardless, I still got a doctrine of God question wrong. And you know what that means: I need to read more of Bavinck's The Doctrine of God. Ahh, I love my own self-imposed theological punishments.
I will have to mention more about my movie watching habits, and my recent obsession with mutlitple personalities, as well as the terrific time I had with various couples.
Kalia is off to the Big Apple with the rest of the women in my family. That means I'm a bachelor for the week: a scary thought. I've been left in charge with a good list of things I need to get done, and I'm in big trouble. So pray for me (that I'd survive without her) and pray for my wife that she and my mom, sister, grandma, aunt, and cousin, would have a wonderful, God-glorifying time in NY.
Justin Taylor, after taking a short hiatus from his prolific form, is back at blogging as of today.
I mentioned what I was reading, and this is in part of a larger effort I laid out at the request of one of my fellow students. He was interested in the issue of epistemology, and knowing that I foolishly embarked upon the path of trying to get a degree in philosophy (def. "the art of taking on school loan and debt to get a recommendation that is difficult to ever get paid for"), he asked for advice on where to start digging. That prompted me write up a little ditty to intro those who would like to go wading in such a difficult topic. I drew up a graded intro, an annotated bibliography, a map of web-related sites, and a short glossary of terms. I'm going to email this to him tonight. If anyone else would like a copy of this, shoot me an email (link to the right) and I'll send one to you (its the picture of the hand writing).
I mentioned this to him as well, but I enjoy reading voraciously, and on several topics. If you or someone you know would like a "where do I start?" or annotated bibliography on this or another topic (theology, philosophy, or narrower fields - e.g., sacraments, Calvinism, covenant theology, metaphysics, postmodernism, etc.) I'd be happy to oblige. Same deal - hit the link to the right.
I took a theological quiz, courtesy of the White Horse Inn. Kim Riddlebarger, Rod Rosenbladt, Ken Jones, and Michael Horton work over the crowd on this most ecumenical of theological talkshows. Here's how I scored. I got tricked on a doctrine of God question. The question was something like, "Is God so sovereign He can change His mind?" The point they were driving home was, "No. God's immutability, his nature, is not trumped by his attributes, such as sovereignty and omnipotence." They alluded to this by saying God can't answer things like "Is yellow round or square" or the age-old "creat a rock so big he can't lift it."
Generally, I tend to think a bit differently. While I hold that God is logical, I see no scriptural or classically reformed theological reason to think that this is one of his incommunicable, necessary attributes. Why couldn't the fact that God is logical be something that he has chosen to be in covenant with man? Therefore, I usually like to answer questions like the above one of two ways. If asked, "Can God make a rock so big he can't lift it?"
"Yes, he'll make a rock so big, and a meter that measures its 'lift-able-ness' and then shatter the meter and your frail human mind by lifting it."
or
"I don't know. But I do know for sure he can make hell so hot you'll wish you'd never thought of such a ridiculous question."
Regardless, I still got a doctrine of God question wrong. And you know what that means: I need to read more of Bavinck's The Doctrine of God. Ahh, I love my own self-imposed theological punishments.
I will have to mention more about my movie watching habits, and my recent obsession with mutlitple personalities, as well as the terrific time I had with various couples.
