Molinism in a Nutshell: God Makes Do the Best He Can

Turretinfan did a great job discussing Molinism. He explained why he rejects it as a viable understanding of how to reconcile God's Sovereignty with Human responsibility and free will. Added to the recent post from Jamin Hubner on Molinism, I think it's very evident how you can't substantiate Molinism from scripture. Turrentinfan wrote:

As you can see, ultimately it comes down to a question of whether a will - in order to be free - must have an ability that it never, ever uses - the ability to do the contrary. This rationale seems to be what drives the engine of Molinism, and while many people accept this rationale, you'll never find it in Scripture.

Agreed.

Molinism in a Nutshell: God Makes Do the Best He Can

Conan O'Brien's The Flaming C Meets Superboy [Video] - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

Conan O'Brien's The Flaming C Meets Superboy [Video] - ComicsAlliance | Comics culture, news, humor, commentary, and reviews

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Great Message From Focus on the Family

God is love, and He dwells in loving intimacy

Christians have a beautiful story to tell about the glorious nature of human sexuality. And we shouldn't be shy about telling it:

• We tell it to the world when we make decisions to protect our sexual health and wholeness from the ravaging wolves of premarital and extramarital sex.
• We tell it to our spouses when we give our total selves exclusively to them.
• We tell it to our spouses and children when we honor our spouses with our fidelity. read more

Collide Magazine | A Biblical Definition of Ministry in a Technological Age

My wife suggested I read an article by Stephen Presley in which he brings up what is the definition of ministry in an a technological age of streaming media and social networks. I like the definition for Christian ministry he gave:

Drawing these aspects together, a biblical definition of “ministry” might be defined as: a personal commission from God that labors toward the reconciliation of others to Christ through the gospel.

This is not a far cry from the definition in Fahlbusch’s (et al) Encyclopedia of Christianity: “Ministry, carrying forth Christ’s mission in the world, is fundamentally the task of the Church, the whole people of God, and is conferred on each Christian in baptism” (Eerdmans, 3.540). Most of the essential components listed above are evident: ministry is personal, interpersonal, and centered upon the person and work
of Christ.

I agree. Then he asks the question of most importance: Can you carry out ministry using the technology we have? He seemed to think that we can't.  I agree that we cannot exclusively use blogs, streaming media, and the internet to minister to the need s of people. They are just tools in doing that. Here is the point: Apostle Paul wrote letters to churches he never visited. Does that mean he was not ministering to them because he was not physically there. The writers of the Bible have long been dead, but the words they were inspired to write still minister to me although I never met them. Ministry does need to be personal and sometime in many contexts physical. Sometimes we have to minister even why physical contact is not possible. Most of this technology are just aids in communicating. Had Apostle Paul had access to the technology we do, I believe he wold shame us in the way he would use it better than us. He'd reach more people more effectively and still manage to personally travel all over the planet spreading the Gospel through cyberspace as well as on the ground.  Better believe his Facebook page would be better than yours and mine and his tweets would genuinely be interesting.

Collide Magazine | A Biblical Definition of Ministry in a Technological Age

Black History Month - Felicia D. Henderson

During Black History Month one does not need to be dead to have their contributions to American arts recognized. Felicia Henderson is a teacher and an artist. She's been writing and producing movies and television since the mid-1990s! Major series like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Sister Sister, Soul Food, Moesha, Everybody Hates Chris, Fringe, and many others! She came to my attention because I found out that she will be writing the upcoming Static comic book series and that she is the current writer on the Teen Titans comic.Part of this is the question of why hadn't I noticed her before? I've been enjoying her work for 20 years. Even in 2011, there aren't many women, let alone black people, making a living doing the kind of creative work she does. Not everyone has the kind of talents she has nor the opportunity to share them. Thankfully, she has a couple of interviews I found that tell you a lot about her as a person and her career in Hollywood and Comics.

Felicia D. Henderson - Fringe Wiki

Talking Teen Titans with Felicia D. Henderson

Henderson On "Titans," "Static" & "Girl Genius"

Felicia D. Henderson - IMD

Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: The Bible and Sex

I have found that people are constantly misrepresenting what God says about our sexuality. Part of that is the Church's fault making people ashamed of the gifts that God has given us to be expressed in the context of marriage. I really enjoyed this post by Dr. Mariottini. In a very short amount of space he takes three arguments made by Jennifer Wright Knust in her book Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions About Sex and Desire (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011). He pointed out that:

Knust, who is an ordained American Baptist minister and Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University has written the most radical, revisionist book on what the Bible says and teaches about sex.

Mariottini explained in really good detail why she is mistaken in the conclusion she draws that premarital sex, prostitution, and homosexuality were all okay in certain contexts in the Bible. What I really liked about how Dr. Mariottini answered this was his total honesty and concreteness. Many times Christians beat around the bush and try not to be very direct. Mariottin as really direct and clear!

Jennifer Knust offers a radical revisionist interpretation of the biblical texts dealing with the matters of sex and sexuality. Her interpretation departs, not only from the traditional ways those texts are interpreted, but also from the true meaning of what the texts actually say.

In her interview with Prothero, Knust concluded: “Some biblical passages can support my point of view. Others do not. So, as firmly as I believe that ‘love your neighbor’ can capture God’s point of view, I cannot be certain that I am right.”

Ms. Knust, I can help you: you are not right.

AMEN!!


Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament: The Bible and Sex

Dangers of the Lazy Apologist: MP3 by John Lennox - Apologetics 315

Here is a short interview of John Lennox discussing how to communicate effectively in Apologetics. He brings up some great points. Lennox suggest that we study and work out things and get feedback. Thanks to Brian Auten for pointing this one out. You can follow the link to Brian's blog to get at the interview.

Dangers of the Lazy Apologist: MP3 by John Lennox - Apologetics 315