Something I was reading today triggered my memory of a sin from the past. Fresh feelings of guilt swept across me, even though it was something for which I asked the Lord’s forgiveness many years ago. Sadly, my default plan of attack for dealing with that unwarranted subjective guilt was to try to minimize my sin. “It wasn’t that big of a deal,” I found myself thinking. Other forms of rationalizing came to mind like, “I didn’t really fully understand at the time that it was sinful.” Then I noticed the feelings of guilt were starting to lessen. But by God’s grace I quickly caught myself: this was an utterly unbiblical way to handle my guilt because it amounted to a rejection of the sufficiency of the cross and a belittling of the the glory of God.
Archives for March 2007
Köstenberger on NT Commentaries
Andreas Köstenberger comments on how frequently he is asked for New Testament commentary recommendations. He’s finally compiled a list, which will appear in a forthcoming book entitled, Invitation to Biblical Interpretation, which is part of the Invitation to Theological Interpretation series. The volume is a couple years away from publication, but he shares his list in the meantime. I love it when a man of Köstenberger’s caliber recommends commentaries. They quickly get added to my wishlist.
Here are his recommendations on Galatians—a book to which I’m giving focused attention for my dissertation.
Logos vs. BibleWorks: A Brief Comparison
Someone recently asked me for my opinion about Logos vs. BibleWorks. I posted this at the Bible.org Forum in response to a discussion there. I’m reproducing it here (with some very minor changes) in case there are others who are trying to decide what Bible software to buy and use. This is by no means exhaustive, probably oversimplifies some of the issues, and certainly expresses my opinions and preferences, but it may be of help to some. I offer this not as a polished review, but as some off-the-cuff thoughts from one who uses and recommends both.
BibleWorks
I’ve been using BibleWorks since version 4. I currently have and use version 7. It’s a great program that I plan to continue to own, upgrade, and use indefinitely. Here are its strengths and weaknesses:
Bible Geography Meets Google Earth
The folks at OpenBible.info have done a real service to the Christian community by tagging every identifiable location in the Bible for Google Earth. You can download the KMZ file and explore any place in the Bible. They even give you all of the passages where each location occurs—hyperlinked to the ESV. I love being able to see the places about which I’m reading, and being able to zoom in and interact with them in a 3D environment beats a 2D map or image as far as I’m concerned, though being able to preview and link to these locations in Google Maps is still pretty cool. Here’s an example of all the locations in Galatians. And here’s a neat post that traces the locations in the Bible through six historical periods. I’m hoping Logos will implement my suggestion and use this data to link to these locations from within their software.
For more info visit:
HT: ESV Blog
Update: This blog post gives simple instructions for using the data in Google Earth.
Free! Mark Dever’s Book on Polity
Mark Dever’s Polity: Biblical Arguments on How to Conduct Church Life (also online) is available as a free download from Doxa Digital Press for the WORDSearch/Bible Explorer/Bible Navigator engine. Also newly available is the 2005 Founders Journal (4 issues), which is edited by Thomas Ascol. If you don’t already have WORDSearch, Bible Explorer, or Bible Navigator, you’ll need to download Bible Explorer 4 (free) in order to use these resources.
See my related post: FREE eBooks!
Update: It’s no longer available, and Doxa Digital Press no longer exists.
Herman Nicolaas Ridderbos
The late Herman Nicolaas Ridderbos (1909–2007), who went to be with the Lord last Thursday, March 8, 2007, at the age of 98, was one of my favorite modern theologians and has had a profound impact on the way I read the New Testament—particularly because of his emphasis on Heilsgeschichte. I became acquainted with Ridderbos a few years ago when I selected him as my theologian to study in Advanced New Testament Theology. See the links below for the PowerPoint presentation I gave, a list of his works, and some audio and video.
[Read more…] about Herman Nicolaas RidderbosWelcome to My New Blog
I’ve been blogging with Google’s Blogger for several months and have enjoyed it. It’s a great tool, and the new Blogger has added several helpful new features. But having used WordPress for the last couple months at work, I was compelled to make the switch. Since WordPress is open source and has hundreds if not thousands of free plugins, it is a much more customizable tool and has many advantages to Blogger.
Theological Ruminations is now officially closed. Please remove it from your blogroll and subscribe to my new feed. If you care to hear what I have to say, this is the place to come!