Discuss Theology

Brooksley Born graduated number one from Stanford Law School in 1964. Bill Clinton placed her high in his administration. She resigned after working for three years as head at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. PBS featured her story October 20, 2009 titled “The Warning”. If you are ready to be terrified, go to the web site and watch it for 55 minutes. This chronicles the past but at the end of the piece she gives her opinion of the financial future. “Pretty” would not be the word to use for it.

Between Daniel chapters 5 and 6, there is a seismic world power shift that is virtually imperceptible. Babylon falls and Persia takes over-the world. It struck me the other day as I was out here in Asia teaching this book that God really does see the nations as a mere drop in the bucket. The greatness of Babylon outshines most other world powers in history and they vanished-in one night. The Bible almost glosses over it and gives the world to Cyrus, the King of Persia-also known in history as “The Great”.

After you read this, I suggest you pray.

From the House of Representatives, Ways and Means committee:
7 Months After Stimulus 49 of 50 States Have Lost Jobs
America Now Over 6 Million Jobs Shy of Administration’s Projections
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The table below compares the White House’s February 2009 projection of the number of jobs that would be created by the 2009 stimulus law (through the end of 2010) with the actual change in state payroll employment through September 2009 (the latest figures available). According to the data, 49 States and the District of Columbia have lost jobs since stimulus was enacted. Only North Dakota has seen net job creation following the February 2009 stimulus. While President Obama claimed the result of his stimulus bill would be the creation of 3.5 million jobs, the Nation has already lost a total of 2.7 million – a difference of 6.2 million jobs.

Well, I find myself in Singapore today. I teach Daniel this week. I was thinking through the Aramaic parts of Daniel. Professor Douglas Stuart forced us to translate all of it when I was a student at Gordon-Conwell in the 1970’s. The good news is that we can trust our English translations to say what the Aramaic actually says it says. We can trust our Bibles in English.

I am amazed at the onslaught against the traditional understanding of justification being mounted by truly good but unorthodox and quite non-reformation oriented teachers. John Wesley, John Calvin and Martin Luther would weep at the state of our theological education.

“The Case for Early Marriage” in the August edition of Christianity Today is quite eye opening. Regnerus, A Ph. D., published a recent study with Oxford titled sex and the American teenager. In his article, he states that 90% of Americans have sex before marriage and that 80% of singles in our churches are having sex of some kind. That is the highest stat I have read anywhere.

From a recent Christianity Today poll online:

Christianity Today Poll
Do you financially support overseas missionaries?
Yes, several missionaries
66%
Yes, we give money to one we know.
16%
No, we are unable to because of the economy.
2%
No, (other)
16%

Total Votes: 383

Alistair McGrath still rules the field with his quote:
“If Wright is right then Luther was wrong.”

I was with Dr. Christy Wilson only 6 weeks before his death. We ate Korean food together in Colorado. He reminisced about my student days at Gordon-Conwell under his tutelage. What a legend and what a heritage he has left behind. I wonder how much of the history of Afghanistan is directly linked to his shaking the dust off of his feet as he stepped onto an airplane, leaving there [permanently] in the early 1970’s–shaking the dust off of his feet as a testimony against them. As well, I was in attendance with Dr. Ralph Winter at a conference in Wheaton, not long before his death, seated next to him listening to Steve Saint. Saint called for commitment all the way to death at the end of his brief discussion. Of course, Winter stood up. All heaven rejoices because both Winter and Wilson are with them up there right now among all of the other good and faithful servants who have gone before them. I am not sure we really understand who we lost when we lost those two.

That is how the ad in Christianity Today reads. I wonder how NT Wright would answer Martin Luther?