I thought PAL-TALK was bad

Dude: avoid Yahoo! Answers like the plague. It's like dawn of the intellectual dead over there - and you can't kill something that's dead already.

Sheesh. I thought it was going to be a good idea. Nice try, anyway -- it's a snappy interface.

Don't start with me

While I link to my Homeschool Mom sidekick Carla in the sidebar, I don't link to her blog Emergent-No. That's not a value judgment: that's a clutter judgment. She's linked at TeamPyo, and TeamPyro sends traffic to everyone they link to, so I feel good about that. I also support the work of Emergent-No because friends don't let friends drive pomo.

Recently, Carla's cohort at E-No had a few words to say about John Piper's liberal quotation of Dallas Willard in, of all things, When I Don't Desire God.

Listen: while I agree with the point that you have to exercise some spiritual discernment in your Christian life, spiritual discernment is not a black-and-white issue. Now, what do I mean by that? I mean that, for example, it would be a bad thing in general to endorse Nietzsche as a spiritual mentor. But we can also take a look at some of the things he said and weigh them on the spiritual scales and find out if it's quotable and usable. If you'd like an example specifically, I think it is wholly-Christian to think well of the maxim, "that which does not kill you makes you stronger." It is a poor sister of what James is elaborating on in James 1 & 2, but it'll do in a pinch.

Even the Apostle Paul cited pagan poets when preaching the Gospel. And by "pagan" I don't mean "people with a shifty view of the Scriptures": I mean "guys who disavowed God the Father and rejected God the Son and would hear nothing of God the Spirit in favor of a pantheon of gods who are frankly dramatic jokes." But Paul cited poets of this stripe when speaking to the Greeks.

Why?

It is because Paul was trying to show them that they were not in utter blackness on the topic of God. If Romans 1&2 means anything, it means that men are not in utter blackness but have in fact turned away from the light that they have in order to be more and more disobedient to a law they know they ought to obey.

In that, when Piper cites Willard -- about, of all things memorizing Scripture (!) -- and we see that as John Piper compromising the Gospel by a poor association, maybe we ought to take a day off or something. Piper is not endorsing ECM by citing Williard: he is underscoring the benefit and necessity of Scripture memorization.

Please: let's not confuse John Piper -- of all people on earth -- with the likes of Doug Pagitt or McLaren. Let's also not confuse him with the confused Mark Driscoll or the confused me. Blogging is blogging, and discernment is important, but let's not turn ourselves into pitchfork-wielding caricatures.

Solid Husband

I forgot to metion that we were in a bit of a hurry on Saturday to get "chores" done because we had a wedding to go to. It's one of the benefits of being an employer of people who need an entry-level job: you get to see their lives get started.

The Bride was a former employee who is frankly sharp as a tack, and she has netted a fine young man who is a "PK" (pastor's kid) who turned out real good -- he's an engineer and a great guy.

Anyway, his dad presided and spoke to the issue of godly marriage. Particularly, he was very much on about conforming our ideas about marriage to what God has said about marriage, and not trying to make marriage into something we think it ought to be. It was very touching hearing a father exhort his son to be like Christ to his wife, and to sanctify her through sacrifice of self.

My point, of course, is that while it may be charming and funny to think of something as "liquid husband", it is far more important to be considered a "solid husband" by one's wife. If you're a man who is reading this, and you are married, you should think about how solid a husband you are right now.

And I mean right now. Roll back from the keyboard and think to yourself, "when was the last time I sacrificed myself to sanctify my wife?" I am sure the answer is humbling, because even a guy like me who has a wife who calls coffee "liquid husband" is not half as good at this as he ought to be. God be willing that I will listen to and obey the Holy Spirit to be a better husband today than I was yesterday.

Liquid Husband

Since my wife will not blog, let me blog this conversation we had this weekend.

Saturday morning we were cleaning the house and cutting the lawn (you can imagine who was "we" in those tasks), and when I can inside from pushing the lawnmower around, I heard the coffee pot doing its thing. Now, keep in mind that it's like 95 in the shade outside and the A/C in the house is struggling to keep the temp at 72.

"Having a cup of coffee?" I ask as I pour a glass of water for myself over ice.

"Ugh," she says. "I have a headache, and I tried a Coke but it did't work. It doesn't give me that feeling of warmth and comfort and security that coffee does."

Hmph, I thought. And I didn't get to finish my thought.

"It's kinda like liquid husband," she said, "except that it can't cut the lawn."

Another link

Just for kicks, you should read this link, which is an overview of Finney and his theology which anyone can find quite useful.

Especially, for example, Baptists. Of all stripe.

I'm a phony

On Monday, I blog by linking to a short blog by Mark Dever rather than turning out my own thing.

However, if you read that, I could not have said it better. And it makes my blog look more like InstaPundit.

Clutter?

What "clutter"? I have no sidebar "clutter".

And the bottom of the right-side sidebar is not properly rounded for your ocular and aesthetic pleasure. Which, I realize, may be illegal in some states, but I say fie on North Carolina and Utah!

The curse of a short week

Assorted readers: I didn't blog or consider the blog whilst on vacation, and I have no baptism post this week to show for it.

Please place your concerns here.

Get serious for a few minutes

Michael Spenser's mother is having some kind of medical emergency this morning -- he thinks it might be a stroke.

Please pray for Michael and his mother before you click next blog. Because you're a reader of mine and that's what we do here: pray for all people in all stations and walks of life.

UPDATED: Michael's mother suffered a massive and fatal stroke, and went to be with her Lord last night around 2 A.M. Prayers for the family would be great.

It's a strong word

I'm not sure I'd use the word "redeem" regarding Hugh Hewitt's performance in the last 2 weeks, but he sure has been a kind of voice crying out in the wilderness on this SWIFT program thing.

Friday he said this:

Well, I've only been doing [journalism] for 17 years. But before that, I spent 6 years in the government, and I've handled a lot of classified information, and I am confident when I say that 95% of America's journalists don't have a clue about intelligence, and how it works. And they are not in a position to judge the impact of these stories, because they don't get out much. They live in little bubbles, and they're not that well educated to begin with, and they're not very good thinkers. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I won't correct him. He's right, and journalists deserve our contempt for thinking they are smarter than the average person, given that most of them are barely average people.

They also deserve our pity and our prayers. God willing they can come to grips with the fact that they are just like the rest of us -- including the kind of danger their lifestyle and culture is currently in.