Enough is Enough

No play on words to this title; this post is simply a heads up to a number of people who wish to remain anonymous and post comments on my blog. While I'm inclined to call you whiners who lack the intestinal fortitude and integrity to stand behind what you say, I'm more disturbed by the self-righteous sniping that you inflict on others who aren't afraid to speak their mind. Your pharisaical pride will likely contiue to engender self-justification and prevent you from ever responding to my requests to identify yourself so here's the remedy: I've always been reluctant to moderate my comments officially -- it takes too much time for real dialogue to happen. Therefore, AS ALWAYS, I encourage ANYONE to feel free to say ANYTHING in the comments on this blog, but if you don't have the maturity or integrity to ID yourself, it will be deleted as soon as I read it. Wow. I can't believe I had to say that...

In case I used words with too many syllables, let me simplfy by extending my metaphor from above:

If this is how you behave in the comment section:

This is how I will respond to your comment:

Bad Words and Foul Language

A comment Pitchford made on one of my posts a little while back got me thinking about a number of legitimately good, in some cases, biblical words that were ruined for me during my college years, thanks in large part to chapel "speakers". As I pondered some of them, I realized I wasn't the only one out there, so I offer a few samples below and would be interested to hear if there are any others floating out there that some of my peers choke on as well. Here's my offering:

Balance - of course, this was one of the ones that sparked my thinking. Since the vast majority of the folks encouraging me to seek such a position, had little concept of what true balance was, for YEARS, I thought this was a cuss word and still struggle in my conscience with using it. It was frequently employed in the context of free will (not to be confused with responsibility) vs. sovereignty, the balanced position of course being the one that trumped free will and squelched sovereignty.

Deference - While I completely reconize the fact that I am at times to restrain my blood bought liberty for the sake of others, I used to equate this term with not having the balls to confront pharisees masquerading as "weaker brothers" and "educate their consciences."

Brokeness - This was another one I had trouble coming to terms with because I equated it with going forward, crying at "revival" services (don't worry, that's next on the list) and burning or smashing my ccm (for those unaccquainted with the terms, think of it as standing for Christ honoring Christian music). Since then, I've come to grips with the fact that it's actually a biblical term employed by the psalmist.

Revival - It's NOT actually something you schedule once a semster/quarter, and if it occurs contiguous with the preaching of an "evangelist" or "revivalist" then the circumstances are pure coincidence (and that's coming from a Calvinist - the use of coincidence that is). Again, it's not necessarily equated with smashing cd's, tossing sticks in the fire or filling out decision cards. No, it's actually a biblical term and best summarized as learning to glorify God BY enjoying Him forever.

I could probably go on, but I'll stop there for now, but by all means, if there are any other suggestions out there, put them in the comments section...

My Apologies

I really need to start reading things in their entirety before posting links to them. If you haven't read Kostenberger's review of Drama, which I linked to a week or two ago, don't bother. I just printed and read it and Barker, I'm sorry...I SHOULD have linked to yours instead. If you do feel lead or already did yourself the disservice of reading it, either disregard it and read the book anyway or at LEAST read Vanhoozer's response here (which Kostenberger had the decency to post).

It's not surprising that the review appeared on a blog and not in SBL since Vanhoozer is regularly misread, misrepresented and/or misunderstood. In fact, the tone is very fundamentalist-ish and belongs more to the fbf's Frontline, Sharper Iron, or Sword of the Lord genre (a tone and spirit I'm fighting to hold back here...and probably failing) than an academic review. [Ironically enough, my computer just shut down while I was typing this due to the battery dying. I told my wife if the stuff I just typed was lost, then I'd take it as the Lord indicating it was inappropriate--it's still here...phew :-)]. It's surprising that he declares himself a Vanhoozer fan at the end because nothing in the review suggests it. All told I was VERY dissapointed and my lesson was learned.

Wow.

And to think I almost went to school here. Only click here if you're ready to cry. At least one reason to be thankful for my alma mater (I still don't know if I got that right).

(HT: Justin Taylor)