Phil Gons

Bible & Tech

Catalyst Conference 2006—A Summary Article

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I had the opportunity to attended the 2006 Catalyst Conference (dubbed “Clearly”) in Atlanta on Thursday and Friday two weeks ago (Oct 5–6) with a good friend of mine—and ostensibly over 10,000 pastors. Catalyst claims to be the largest pastors conference around.

My place of employment asked me to write a review article of the event—and to be as objective as possible. I’d like to write a full critique of the conference, but probably will not due to time constraints. So if you read my review, please understand that the article would look significantly different if I had written it here. I believe what I wrote in the article is accurate; it just doesn’t go far enough (understatement!) in its critique.

Paradigm Shift—Paul’s Use of Σάρξ

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Over the past couple of years, and particularly the past several months, I’ve been in the process of a fairly significant paradigm shift in the way I read the NT—particularly Paul. Though I have already made a major shift, I’m still somewhat in transition; I’m still testing my conclusions to see if they fit naturally or if they must be forced to work. The shift involves a significant challenge to the way interpretors for hundreds of years have understood Paul’s use of σάρξ.

Several factors have influenced this transition.

(1) I chose Herman Ridderbos for my Adv. NTT theologian project, whose emphasis on Heilsgeschichte has opened my eyes to the objective, historical elements of Paul’s thought that are too often read in a more existential, ahistorical (and acontextual!) way. One example: when Paul says that now is the day of salvation, he doesn’t mean this text to be used (primarily) as a appeal to teenage campers to make a decision for Christ before it’s too late; rather, he is arguing that the fulfillment of the promise of the New Covenant has dawned with the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are living in the era of salvation foretold by the OT prophets.

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Loving God Supremely

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I found these words from Piper to be convicting in that they reveal my all-too-idolatrous heart—my tendency to enjoy the gifts of God more than God the Giver:

The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?

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Gal 6:16—Some Additional Thoughts

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If you read my previous post about the function of καί and its implications for the various interpretations of τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ, you may have been left with some lingering questions—as was I. In addition, I was missing one vital piece of information that makes view #1 slightly more plausible. Since I don’t think I expressed the issues quite cogently enough the first time, I’m going to take another shot at it.

The two questions that I was left asking myself were:

  1. If the interpretation which understands καί to mean and is so clearly wrong, why do the majority of English translations translate it that way?
  2. Is the English word and capable of being used to join two items when the former encompasses the latter? For example, is and being used properly in this statement: I love food and pizza? Or does and—to be used properly—have to join two distinct items?

Allow me to (1) recap, (2) revisit the view that understands καί to mean and, and then (3) answer the two questions posed above.

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Gal 6:16, the Israel of God, and the Use of καί

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This passage has been the subject of no small controversy in recent centuries. I don’t intend to solve it all with a brief blog post. But I would like to make a few comments on the use of καί and its implications for the possible interpretations. A friend asked me a question about it, so I figured I’d take the opportunity to put some theology on a blog that is supposed to be about theology!

There are three functions of καί that are possible candidates for this text. They follow in order of grammatical likelihood (i.e., not giving considering to contextual or theological factors).

The most basic meaning of καί is and—a coordinating conjunction that joins two or more distinct items. While this is the most likely meaning from a grammatical perspective, contextually, this is absolutely impossible. Paul pronounces peace and mercy on those who walk in accordance with his rule (κανών)—that Gentiles are equal to and on the same plain as Jews and that the former need not submit to circumcision, et al. in order to be right with God and be part of God’s covenant people. Verse 15 is a summary statement for the argument of the book. Ιt is absolutely inconceivable that Paul would be pronouncing a blessing on two distinct groups of people: those who obey his instructions and the Jews (who don’t obey them—the necessary implication if καί means and). Oddly enough, Paul Benware defends the meaning of and here in a very befuddled argument (see Understanding End Times Prophecy, 87-89). O. Palmer Robertson obliterates this view in his The Israel of God, 40ff.

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Copernic Desktop Search 2.0

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The newest version of the Copernic Desktop Search is now available. If you don’t use a desktop search program, you’re missing out a real timesaver. If you use Google’s desktop search, you’re still missing out. (BTW, I love most of Google’s software, but their desktop search has some weaknesses that make it an inferior product–detailed quote searching being one of them.) Copernic’s desktop search is the best available–at least for the PC. Fast, intuitive, and incredibly accurate. There are plenty of new features in version 2 that make it even better. One I especially like is the ability to narrow down a search if it’s bringing up too many results. Narrow it by a word in the title, or the file type, size, date or folder. Check it out; you’ll be glad you did.

LibraryThing.com

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Well, I finally decided to check out this LibraryThing that I’ve been hearing so much about, and I must say that I’m sold. In fact, after about 15 minutes of playing around with it, I paid the $25 for a lifetime membership. The options are: (1) 200 books for free, (2) unlimited books for $10/year, or (3) unlimited books for life for a one time $25 charge. That decision was a no brainer.

So what does it do? Well, you’ll need to try it out for yourself to really get the feel for it. In short, it allows you online access to a database of your library. But wait, there’s more: you also get access to the library of everone else who has a public listing. In addition, you have access to other users’ comments and reviews of books in your library. You can also discuss books you share with other users and even get connected with someone who may want to swap books with you. I could go on, but you need to check it out for yourself to see how cool it is.

You can view my list of books here. How did I get all those in there, you might be wondering? Well, the books you see there come from four different sources. (This doesn’t include most of the books in my print library.)

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