Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Cats and Dogs in the Old Testament

Isaiah's Lips Anointed with FireImage via Wikipedia
Dr. Claude Mariottini has posted an article in response to an question asked about Isaiah 1:3 which says:

The ox knows his master,
the donkey his owner's manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand."


The question is would it be more clear to change the text to read "dog" and "cat" instead of "ox" and "donkey"? The idea behind the passage is that people are so disobedient to God compared to oxen and donkeys towards us. Mariottini did a great job explaining why this a bad idea because of how cats and dogs figure into the context of the Old Testament and ancient Hebrew society as well as the undniable fact theat the verse does not say "cat" or "dog". I believe that what was written is what God really gave Isaiah to say. I want what God really said, not some distilled mistranslation. Besides, I don't think cats are obedient.

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: Cats and Dogs in the Old Testament

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This Sounds Familiar

St. Peter's Basilica at Early Morning Photo wa...Image via Wikipedia
I was going through my blog feeds and I found a post from James White about Frank Beckwith  talking smack against Frank Turk. I agree with Dr. White and Turk that Beckwith offers no logically defensible, let-alone theological defensible, reason for turning from Catholicism to Protestantism and then back to Catholicsm. I mean what is this? Musical chairs? I agree that the problems pointed out by Turk concerning Roman Catholic dogma as being unbiblical are unscalable and if you don't hold those pieces of their doctrine than according to them you are anathematized. I agree with Turk. If disagreeing that Mary was immaculately conceived and bodily assumed to heaven and co-redeemer from sin,  or rejecting transubstantiation, celibate priests, purgatory, and all other unbiblical teachings, make me anathema according to the Roman Catholic Church, then I'm proudly anathematized. When I read the quote from Beckwith on the blog post, I had to wonder where did I hear that before? Beckwith wrote:

I had no idea that Mr. Turk was so gifted in the clairvoyant arts, able to not only jump the space-time continuum to observe my teenage years but to pierce the veil of cognitive and spiritual privacy in order to extract from my soul the reflections, contemplations, and judgments that were instrumental in my journey back to Catholicism. Given his unusual interest in comic book aesthetics, perhaps he possesses powers not unlike the mutants that populate the imaginary world to which he seems so drawn (pardon the pun). Or perhaps he is just ill-mannered and presumptuous.


Then it hit me: This is the same kind of things I get from atheist on Twitter! Scary. Take a look at White's blog post and then tell me he's wrong. For that matter Turk's remarks are unassailable He's right. Roman Catholicism as taken from the official teachings of the Popacy is not the same Gospel as found in the Bible That's not saying that all Roman Catholics hold to these ideas, but I think it is fair to say that if you don't you may not be a true Roman Catholic.


http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=3568
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LouRugg vs TurretinFan Debate Regarding Calvinism


I have heard that there is a debate between an apologist I have been admiring, who calls himself TurretinFan, and Lou Rugg who fancies himself the defender of Arminianism. On the Dividing Line, James White played a portion of the debate. Here is the debate in its entirety







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Here is a link to that particular Dividing Line and it contained several other interesting things like an Atheist who attempts to save Dan Barkers' Justin Martyr's argument; and a call in which I was confused as to what the caller was arguing concerning the Harold Camping debate. Apparently, the caller thinks that the church age is over but because most of it thinks that its Arminian dictrine.

http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php?itemid=3538

Here is a post TurretinFan made listing quotes from throughout history that shows that many folks believed that God actively hardened Pharoah's heart so that he would not let Israel go so that events would play out as they did.

Baking Clay Pots - Subtracting Water or Adding Hardness?

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