PREACHING THIS MORNING...'You Have Eternal Life' from 1 John 5:13-21. Throughout the epistle of 1 John, John has focused on what we 'know'. We are to know the One who is True, and knowing Him we know we have eternal life.

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'A People of Compassion', just as our salvation depends on undeserved compassion from God, so we, too, as God's children, show compassion to those created in His image.

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'God's Great Love Affair'. Rejected by His bride Israel, God intended to woo her back, redeeming her to be a bride shining in righteousness.

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'Will You Choose Life?'. With the Tim Tebow ad for the Super Bowl and the Tiller-Roeder trial recently completed, abortion has been swirling in the news. God asks us: Will we choose life?

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'Overcoming the World' from 1 John 5:1-12. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world.

HARVARD CELL VIDEO

I showed this amazing video to our high school Bible class--'Is There a God?'--last week. Can you say irreducible complexity?

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'What the Scribe Wrote: The Khirbet Qeiyafa Inscription', an examination of the discovery that provides physical evidence of that the Hebrews had writing as early as the 10th Century. Such discoveries can help bolster our confidence in Scripture and be used as evidence to help convince others.

BREAKING NEWS: BIBLE POSSIBLY WRITTEN WHEN IT CLAIMS!

News of the Khirbet Qeiyafa fragment is filtering into the mainstream press, and continues to undermine the long accepted position of Biblical minimalists who have argued that the Bible could not have been written when it claims to have been written:

The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.)

Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month.

"It indicates that the Kingdom of Israel already existed in the 10th century BCE and that at least some of the biblical texts were written hundreds of years before the dates presented in current research," said Gershon Galil, a professor of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, who deciphered the ancient text.

Archaeology continues to vindicate Scripture, and the more this is realized on a popular level the better.

R.L. ALLAN PERSONAL SIZE REFERENCE

This little beauty arrived a few weeks ago, a lovely pre-Christmas present. It's my second Bible from the Scottish firm of R.L. Allan, both ordered through the good folks at EvangelicalBible.com. It is in single-column format (my preference) and is bound in Red Alhambra goatskin. In the second and third picture is the PSR with its R.L. Allan and ESV older brother bound in tan highland goatskin. And at the bottom is a Bible stack (loved by all readers of the dangerous Bible Design Blog) with a goatskin Cambridge Pitt Minion helping to form an ESV stairstep (click on each for a bigger image).

THE KHIRBET QEIYAFA INSCRIPTION is being closely followed by friend of Theosebes, the globetrotting Luke 'Indiana' Chandler, here and here. The inscription is--and this is like a broken record with archaeological discoveries these days--challenging the 'accepted' timeline and understanding of the Bible by liberal critics while strengthening the case for Scripture.

The inscription testifies to the fact that the Hebrews were literate much earlier than claimed by Biblical critics. If the early Hebrews did not have writing, then early books such as the Pentateuch could not have been written until much later than Scripture claims.

'LET IT SNOW, Let It Snow, Let It Snow', a new bulletin article now posted at the Hickman Mills church website.

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'Living For Jesus', in keeping with our congregational theme for 2010. Our lives must be hidden in Christ, who is our life.

I have also for the first time created a fill-in the blank hand-out to go with the lesson. We'll see how that goes.

BRIT HUME NOT BACKING DOWN, which is good to see.

(Thanks to Beverly for the link.)

KUDOS TO BRIT HUME

Brit Hume said what needed to be said about Tiger Woods: become a Christian. He knew he would be opening himself up to criticism, but it's high time Christians were willing to stand by their faith.

PREACHING THIS MORNING...'Soldiers of Christ' based on 2 Timothy 2:3-4. Are we prepared to follow our orders and be willing to lay down our life as a soldier in the the Lord's army?

(Hmmm...there seems to be a lot of dust around here.)

CONTEMPORARY PULPIT COOL

David Weaver hits this one out of the park:

They did what pastors all over the world have learned to do, they copied what they saw major contemporary pastors wear. That quickly turned into “contemporary pulpit cool.” A new tradition; a contemporary fashion dogma was born. Now pastors feel compelled to speak with their shirt out even in churches that minister to businessmen in suits. They all look alike. Some have become fashion trendsetters with their own line of “church cool clothing.” It really came into focus recently as I flipped through the channels and saw a young man standing on a stage dressed a certain way and immediately I said to myself, “He’s a pastor.” Sure enough it was a religious program and he was a pastor of a “contemporary church”, whatever that is.

Fighting the 'oppressive' status quo leads to its own unassailable status quo. Tuck in your shirt.


[Thanks to JMB for the link]

"JUSTICE CONSISTS of finding out a certain thing due a certain man and giving it to him. Temperance consists of finding out the proper limit of a particular indulgence and adhering to that. But charity means pardoning what is unpardonable, or it is no virtue at all. Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all. And faith means believing the incredible, or it is no virtue at all." -- from G.K. Chesterton, Heretics

NIV TO BE REVISED

After the debacle that was the Today's New International Version (TNIV) a few years ago, Zondervan has announced a full revision of the best-selling NIV:

The top-selling Bible in North America will undergo its first revision in 25 years, modernizing the language in some sections and promising to reopen a contentious debate about changing gender terms in the sacred text. The New International Version, the Bible of choice for conservative evangelicals, will be revised to reflect changes in English usage and advances in Biblical scholarship, it was announced Tuesday. The revision is scheduled to be completed late next year and published in 2011.

"We want to reach English speakers across the globe with a Bible that is accurate, accessible and that speaks to its readers in a language they can understand," said Keith Danby, global president and CEO of Biblica, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Christian ministry that holds the NIV copyright.

But past attempts to remake the NIV for contemporary audiences in different editions have been plagued by controversies about gender language that have pitted theological conservatives against each other.

The NIV is facing a challenge from the English Standard Version, which is a more conservative/literal translation but also very readable. The NASB, too, revised its language last decade, so the NIV is somewhat behind the curve on this. I am not anti-NIV as many are, although I wouldn't personally be comfortable using it as a primary study or pulpit translation. For me, the ESV gives me readability but combines that with a concern for a more literal translation.

A revision of the NIV is a major event in Bible translation. Let's hope they don't blow it.

'GOOD BEATS UPON THE DAMNED incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see.' --C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

MORE WITH 'INDIANA' CHANDLER...at the audio blog/podcast The Book and the Spade where Luke Chandler discusses his recent work at the Elah Fortress dig in Israel via telephone interview. The second half of the interview airs next week.