A Few Good Articles

,I thought I'd post a few good articles for your reading pleasure. The articles are on various topics in the news and I've listed, along with the link, a brief abstract of the text. It is important to keep up on your news, to know your culture, that is the Lord's command from Isaiah 22.

1) President Attends Church Service at Gangwashi Church in Beijing, China.
Here is a great story that portrays the quality of our President and as well gives Americans some insight into the state of the Christian church in China. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051120-5.html

2) Reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe with C.S. Lewis.
In this article from Reformation 21 Leland Ryken does an excellent job of explaining some of the theological themes within Lewis' classic Christian fantasy. I highly recommend that before anyone goes to see the movie on December 9th that they check out and read this wonderful article from a skilled literary scholar.
http://www.reformation21.org/Upcoming_Issues/December_Article_Ryken/123/

3) Former Vampire Queen now Writing about Christ.
Anne Rice is best known for her works such as Interview with a Vampire, she has, in her most recent novel, however, turned over a new literary leaf. Her newest book Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt explores the childhood of Jesus the Messiah. I have heard some amazing good reviews about this work and recommend that you read the article in World Magazine concerning her change and as well the brief critical analysis of it by Gene Edward Veith at the end of the article. As always be cautious and think carefully if you decide to read Rice's book.
http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayArticle.cfm?ID=11316

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

I am sorry I missed it, but apprently November 13th was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Certainly everyday should be day in which Christians pray for the persecuted church.

It is sad, but true, that most American Christians do not comprehend that Christians across the globe are facing real and severe presecution for their faith. China is one such place that desperately needs our prayers. The church in China is facing constant pressure from the government and its leaders are continually being imprisoned and beaten. World Magazine has run a few articles on the state of the church in this country which I encourage you to read. I highly recommend the article Praying for Persecution(http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=11096). The article asks the question, how should Christians in America pray for the church in China, the response from one Chinese church leader is astounding.

I encourage you all to not only pray for the persecuted church but be up to date on the state of the international Christian community. Some good resources are listed below. To be sure God's work is being accomplished across the globe and persecution will not stop it, our prayers should be not only for safety but more importantly for the spreading of the gospel and the advancement of the Kingdom. Thus if God decides that safety has to take a backseat for the sake of His glory and the conversion of souls then let us pray to such an end. For God WILL have a people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

www.persecutedchurch.org
www.persecution.com
www.opendoorusa.org
www.bibleleague.org
www.worldevangelical.org

On Christian Baptism

I love my Presbyterian brothers, but as a Southern Baptist I believe that the only baptism consistent with the New Testament teaching is the baptism of believers. In light of the recent news coming from Bethlehem Baptist church, however, I have been compelled to study this doctrine in more detail and examine why I do believe in believer's baptism and why exactly I deny paedobaptism. In the preliminary research I am doing I have found an old book reprint- On Christian Baptism by Adoniram Judson.

Judson's story of transition is a quite interesting. Judson grew up as a Congregationalist and entered the mission field under this system as well. While on board a boat crossing the ocean to India he decided to study the doctrine of baptism that when he and his new wife arrived in Calcutta he could defend his theological convictions against the legendary Dr. William Carey, English Baptist missionary in Calcutta. His investigation, however, revealed that it was he not Dr. Carey who was wrong. Out of this study Judson became a Baptist and preached a sermon on Christian baptism, which Dr. Carey urged him to have prepare for publication, so he did.

It is quite a good work. He does not deal very thoroughly with the arguments for the mode of baptism but his handling is sufficient. His main focus is on the subjects of baptism, which I believe Judson deals with thoroughly and wonderfully. By breaking down the paedobaptist arguments for baptizing infants and through exegetical examinations Judson provides solid footing for the baptism of believers alone. It is a great work and I commend it to you all, Presbyterian and Baptist alike.

My Articles

Under the links section you'll find a link to go and read some of my theology articles, some are rather legnthy, some are rather weak in argument, but nonetheless there they are and hopefully they'll be a help to somebody.

A Fall Farewell

As Krista and I prepare to head off for Seminary we had to say goodbye to our church family of three years last night. I was invited to preach a farewell message on Sunday evening which addressed the subject of "Prayer and the Sovereignty of God". We concluded by asking the church to pray to this sovereign God for us. We had a wonderful dinner afterwards with some of the folks and it was a very emotional farewell.

The local church is such a gift from God and when you are comitted to it and are serving in it you become part of a family unit that cares for one another and loves one another deeply. This is what we have had at First Baptist Church. Our Pastor, Steve Burchett, has a great understanding of pastoral care and his passion for the word of God and the care of souls is evident in his ministry.

For the last three years I have served as a pastoral student under Steve and have learned so much. Among those things I have learned how to preach, how to teach, how to understand the word, I have learned more about theology and who God is and who I am, I have learned how to be a pastor, husband, friend, mentor, and father. The Lord has given to my wife and I a great family in this congregation and I know that we won't forget them.

I hope that this will be an encouragement to anyone out there who is not now comitted to alocal church to do so. The Lord holds membership in a local church with high regard and indeed commands it. If you are still working through the local church I encourage you to get and read Joshua Harris' small book Stop Dating the Church. If you are considering what type of church you should join I encourage you to read Mark Dever's book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.

The Church is crucial to healthy Christian growth!

My Body is God's

This is a work that my wife wrote as a reminder that as redeemed Christians we are to glorify God in our bodies.

My body is God’s creation. Because of this, I should care for it because I love Him and want to honor Him. I should eat properly because I want to show Him that I am thankful for his wondrous works. I should care for my body because I want to demonstrate to the world that there is a Creator and that life must be attended to because it flows from Him. My body is the distinctive creation of God. Because of this, I should care for my body and seek to develop a heart of thankfulness for my strengths and weaknesses. My body belongs to God as His sanctuary. He lives in me so my body is to be sacred for His use. Because my body is God’s temple, I should treat it with care and concern. I should eat properly, get enough rest and exercise, and learn to handle stressful situations in a way that doesn’t cause harm to my body. For as long as God gives me health, I should thankfully seek to be a good a steward of what He has given me. My body is one of God’s tools in this world—I should not do anything that would purposely destroy it. Because Jesus paid such a price for my body and soul, I should seek to exalt Him in everything. When I am tempted to sin, I will think of the cross. I will not let my desires overwhelm me but I will let the terribly beautiful vision of His love control me.

Evolution or Autonomy

Voices from the Vatican have now weighed in on the debate in America over Intelligent Design. The Rev. George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, stated today that "Intelligent Design isn't science, even though it pretends to be." His conviction is that evolution has been a decided issue and that infact there shouldn't even be a debate over the matter. "If you want to teach it in schools," Coyne said, "Intelligent Design should be taught when religion or cultural history is taught, not science."

His statements are parallel to those in the secular community who are calling ID merely an attempt to slip religion into schools. It is suprising, however, that such things are coming from teh Catholic church. Well perhaps not that suprising! Pope John Paul II believed that evolution was more than theory. The current Pope, however, has reversed that, sort of. He stated in a rather ambiguious way that the universe was made by an "intelligent project". Whatever that means!

Coyne's comments, however, stretch beyond simply saying that ID is not science. The AP quotes him having spoken of Christians, "If they respect the results of modern science, and indeed the best of modern biblical research, religious believers must move away from the notion of a dictator God or a designer God, a Newtonian God who made the universe as a watch that ticks along regularly." Instead of dictator God should be seen as an encouraging parent, so he argues.

"God in his infinite freedom continuously creates a world that reflects that freedom at all levels of the evolutionary process to greater and greater complexity," he wrote. "He is not continually intervening, but rather allows, participates, loves."

This final quote is really evidence of the motivations behind much of the disdain for Intelligent Design. It comes down to an issue of human autonomy. There is no conclusive evidence for evolution but, as Richard Dawkins once said, many would rather beleive in evolution than that they have to answer to a Holy Judge. So are these comments from Rev. Coyne dealing with evolution or human autonomy? Well the answer must be both, for the one is connected to the other. But in the end no amount of self-deception will removed the Creator/Judge. Only repentace of sin and belief in Jesus Christ will remove His wrath from being upon you, and that is the Christian gospel, an even better message than Intelligent Design.

This is me with my D.A. Carson Book, taken yesterday. 

From Man to Beast

When the homosexual community began lobbying for the right to gay marriage Christians and their numerous orginizations responded in full force. The force of their argument was that by allowing gay marriage the door would be opened to any number of sexual pervesities. They were promplty laughed at and hailed as proposing perposterous theories. But just who was right?

In Boston serveral legislators are following their success at legalizing homsexual unions with an appeal to soften criminal charges against other sexual offenders, specifically beastiality. The wording of their bill states a clear conviction that these legislators beleive the penalties for beastiality are "archaic;" meaning that they have no place in this advanced world. The bill would amend the Massachusettes penal code for crimes of sexual acts on animals. This is sick!

More and more we are seeing sexual perversion rising to all new levels and worse, we are seeing the acceptance of this sexual perversion rise to all new levels. Recently a drama on CBS dealt with the subject of beastiality, or zoophilia (the new cute little name given to it). Before 1960 something so vile would not have even been considered sane. Now, however, its even fair as the theme of a television program.

So who was right? When Christians were mocked for suggesting that homosexual marriage would come first and then be followed by worse things? Well perhaps that's not nearly as important as is rectifying this problem is...but I think you know the answer.

This is My wife and I on our honeymoon in June of 2004 

The Ever-Increasing Ambiguity

A new word was added to the Oxford English Dictionary this year- Metrosexual. It is a word that refers to a completely heterosexual male, who happens to have feminine interests. Meaning a man who is obssessed with his hair, his clothes, his shoes, etc. Some have now, however, taken that word and applied it to religion creating "Metrospirituality". It's the new name for an old fad and its adding to the ambiguity in present day spirituality.

As the words "god," "religion," "spirituality," "faith," and even "Christian" become more and more ambiguous real Christians need to be aware that generic is not better! Al Mohler has written a brief commentary on his blog for you to check out, with links to the actual article and other commentaries on this trend. Check them out: http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=379

Metrospirituality is not healthy, nor is it even close to true faith and spirituality! Christ is the only answer to the culture and generic religion that does not offer the truth about Him as found in Scripture only offers another self-deluding, feel-good idol.

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the daily web-blog of David Dunham. The aim of this site is to offer Christian commentary on the culture, politics, history, philosophy, and theology. The title of the blog is derived from a the final words that the great German Reformer Martin Luther scribbled on a piece of paper next to his deathbed. Weirsein Bettler, Oc Est Verum- We are Beggars This is true.

Those words are indeed true. All men are beggars before God. We have nothing to offer Him but our sin and we are hopelessly lost without His saving grace. As the old hymn writer says, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling."

Soli Deo Gloria,

Dave