Phil Gons

Bible & Tech

You are here: Home / 2008 / Archives for February 2008

Archives for February 2008

A Blog Post Is Not a Blog

by

BlogA pet peeve of mine is the improper usage of the term blog. I find that many use blog to refer to a blog post (a.k.a. blog article, blog entry, or blog posting). For example, “I wrote a blog that I think you might enjoy reading.” Or, “In my previous blog, I explained how this concept is used in the Old Testament.” In both cases, the writer is referring to a specific blog post, not his entire blog. From what I can tell, this is incorrect.

Blog, of course, is a shortened form of weblog (formerly web log). A weblog is a category of website. The Concise OED defines it as “a personal website on which an individual records opinions, links to other sites, etc. on a regular basis.”1 The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as “a website that displays in chronological order the postings by one or more individuals and usually has links to comments on specific postings.”2

[Read more…] about A Blog Post Is Not a Blog

  1. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson, “Weblog,” Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). [↩]
  2. Cf. Merriam-Webster. [↩]

“Savior” in Titus

by

In my Bible reading a couple of days ago, I was struck by Paul’s use of Savior (σωτήρ) in Titus. Several things stood out to me. First, it occurs 6 times in the small letter of only 46 verses—twice per chapter. It occurs only 24 times in the whole NT. So it’s significant that 25% of the NT occurrences are in Titus.

σωτήρ in the Greek New Testament from Logos Bible Software

Second, it occurs three times with reference to the Father and three times with reference to the Son. Paul alternates consistently between calling the Father our Savior followed by the Son as our Savior. The occurrences in chapters 1 and 3 even share the same main thought.

Titus 1:1–4

[Read more…] about “Savior” in Titus

The Triune God ≠ A Non-Triune God

by

A couple of evenings ago I read Rick Love’s response to John Piper’s thoughts on “Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to ‘A Common Word Between Us and You.'” (“A Common Word Between Us and You” is available at http://www.acommonword.com/.)

One portion caught my attention:

Q: The Yale Response seems to imply that Allah is the same God that Christians worship. Is this true?

A: I do not hesitate to refer to the God of the Bible as Allah, since Arab Christians before and after the birth of Islam use the term Allah to describe the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian and Muslim views of God are similar in that we both worship the one true God, creator of the heavens and the earth. We both believe this God will judge all peoples at the end of history. We both believe this God has sent His prophets into the world to guide His people. Christian and Muslim views of God differ primarily regarding the Fatherhood of God, the Trinity, and especially regarding the life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I believe that Muslims worship the true God. But I also believe that their view of God falls short of His perfections and beauty as described in the Bible. Thus, I try to model my approach to Muslims after the apostle Paul who said to the Athenians: “What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23).

Muslim background believers all over the world testify that they were previously worshiping God in ignorance and now they have come to know him in Jesus Christ.

[Read more…] about The Triune God ≠ A Non-Triune God