, in the last IPCC report on the science of climate change in 2007, the terms "uncertain" or "uncertainty" appear over 1,300 times in 900 pages, and the report describes our level of scientific understanding of key aspects of climate as "low" or "very low." The IPCC chapter on the climate models that are the principal tool predicting our future doom refers to "significant uncertainties" in all the models, and admits that "models still show significant errors."

Hmmmm.

As President Barack Obama presents his first budget Thursday, the most daunting goal he sets may not be the ambitious proposals for economic recovery, health-care reform or revamping the nation’s energy policy. Big as those challenges are, they may be child’s play compared to his promise to slash the federal budget deficit in half by the end of his term.

Now read this excerpt from the Washington Examiner from August 21 2009 :

Obama’s 09 deficit exceeds all eight years of Bush red ink

And now read an excerpt from the Business Standard from today October 8 2009 :

The US federal budget deficit has ballooned to a staggering $1.4 trillion, the highest since World War II, for the fiscal year 2009 as massive government spending and lower revenues widened the gap.

Hmmmm. America, has your Obama-bubble burst yet?

Historical context:

See 2 Kings 2:23-25. What do we know about Bethel? What does baldness signify? Conclusion : the details of the story explain why the prophet called down judgment on the gang. Elisha is not a mean-spirited prophet unleashing his power against teasing children. Rather, idolaters from a rebellious city mock the Lord’s prophet, and the Lord sends judgment.

The main idea : to get the most from Bible reading, learn to use every form of context.

Literary context

Historical context

Studies the written text

Studies the people and culture receiving a text

Can ignore the identity of author and audience

Stresses identity of author and audience

Can study words in themselves

Stresses author’s intent as he uses words

Considers what any competent reader hears

Considers what the original audience heard

Is accessible to any attentive reader

Is accessible to readers who know background

Rewards intensive study of one text

Rewards cumulative study of many texts

General historical context

Jer 17:9  The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick–who can understand it?

1Co 2:14  But the natural man does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to know it since it is evaluated spiritually.

Pro 20:9  Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin"?

The only way people are drawn to God are if He does it. we as believers are simply there to preach the Word of God :

Rom 10:14  But how can they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15  And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How welcome are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things!

These churches, in a nutshell, say that traditional preaching is too difficult for people nowadays to be able or willing to sit through. People are used to information in bite-sized (or byte-sized!) chunks and we cannot overload them too much. And they point to supposed trends in modern secular society.

However, besides the overwhelmingly Biblical basis for traditional exposition, there are other reasons these thought pattern adopted by the ‘seeker-sensitive’ churches is wrong.

In actual fact, nowadays, people are going back to formal didactic-style lectures. Here are some examples : Randy Pausch gave his Last Lecture, which was published and is now a best-seller. It was an actual LECTURE, not a brief byte-sized info package! There is a website called www.ted.com, where you can download a large number of LECTURES. True, they generally use a PowerPoint-style presentations as well, but they are still LECTURES/talks. A good friend of mine is the pastor of Knysna Baptist Church here in South Africa. He uses PowerPoint during his sermons. And if they are used judiciously, I do not see any problem with that.

If these ’seeker-sensitive’ churches want to carry on with these ‘hip’, ‘cutting-edge’ style of preaching, they MUST NOT use the excuse that this is what secular society is used to. They are not. They are seeking deep truth.

I truly believe that it is important for us believers to have a collection of books that is sound and profitable, but the Word of God must always be central to our lives as believers.

(Image courtesy of J. Mark Bertram of Bible Design and Binding, used with permission. I highly recommend his wonderful blog, especially if quality Bibles are your thing.)

James 2:24

You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift – not from works, so that no one can boast.

However, context is key, and if we look at the verses surrounding James 2:24, we see that James clarifies his statement in verse 26 :

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

He explains what he means in verse 24 by essentially concurring with Paul.

Literary context :

Definition : the set of words, sentences and paragraphs that surround and relate to the study.

• A text without a context is a pretext.
  
• Every passage in the Bible connects to the verses before and after it. So when we read the Bible we must ask “Why is this passage here? How does it build on the last passage and lead to the next one?”
  
• Every unit has its place and purpose.
  
• Take Luke 17:5 as an example :
  
  • If taken by itself, it seems to be an admirable request.
    
  • But, we need to find out the context. Why do the disciples ask Jesus this?
    
  • Read verses 3 and 4. Jesus charges his disciples to forgive one another seven times in a day. Now, their request seems ambiguous. ‘Give us more faith so we can obey you’, or ‘We cannot obey unless you give us more faith.’
    
  • The way Jesus answers their request shows us that they were guilty of the second attitude. Jesus basically tells them that they already have enough faith, thus they have no excuse. Then, he goes on to tell them a parable about a servant doing his duty. Thus, the implication is that forgiving someone is no extraordinary feat.
    
  • Thus, returning to the verse itself, far from being commendable, it is an excuse for disobedience.
    
• Exploring the main idea with two metaphors – ladder and conversation.
  
  • When we study a Bible passage, we are on a ladder of ideas, each leading to the next. That is, in order to understand a passage, we need to climb on the preceding ideas – each text becomes the context, or the “next rung” of the ladder, the idea that follows it.
    
• NOTE :
  
  • Proverbs and parts of the law and prophecy can be atomistic, not advancing by steps.
    
  • In some passages, thought skips around slightly, returning to prior subjects or points made a few verses, paragraphs or even chapters earlier.
    
  • Try to determine why does this passage belong precisely HERE and nowhere else?
    
  • Literary context is like a series of concentric circles radiating out from a chosen text.
    

     
     

  From Getting the Message by Daniel Doriani :
  

   
   

• Begin by finding the main themes and purposes of the book to be studied.
  
• Literary context is the words, sentences, paragraphs, or chapters that surround and relate to a text. The study of literary context :
  
  • Describes how a paragraph or some other unit fits into a larger section of the text, even the whole work.
  • It gains access to literary context by reading the original document attentively. The study of context can go on, even if we know nothing about the writer and his times, and nothing about the original readers and their concerns.
  • To exaggerate slightly, the literary context allows us to ignore the author and the audience and to study words of the text by themselves.
• Studying Literary and Historical contexts differ but both begin by finding the main themes and purposes of the book to be studied. What is the main theme? What are the main division? What issues come up repeatedly? Who is the author? What prompted him to write? Who is the intended audience? Are they believers or not, faithful or not, Jewish, Gentile or mixed? How much do they know? What are their needs and concerns?
  
• Principles :
  
  • Interpret single verses in light of their immediate context.
  • Interpret paragraphs and episodes in light of the paragraphs or events around them.
  • Try to determine why your text belongs precisely where it is, and nowhere else.
  • Look for thematic statements that introduce or interpret an entire section.
  • Look for repeated words or phrases.
  • Locate your text in the purpose of its section and the whole book.

   
   

  This information was taken from the following Web site: http://www.westshore.edu/webs/ltc/cornell_note_taking_method.htm
  

   
   

This was reinforced when I read their views on homosexuality. They have absolutely butchered the Word of God. Their ability to twist Scripture and explain to suite themselves is astonishing. I have two main emotions currently. I am angry that they have totally deconstructed God’s Word. Their consistent anti-Biblical views tell me only one thing – they may not be saved at all. So my second emotion is pity – I pity them for their apostate views. Only God will be able to judge them, and for that I am terrified for them.

See! they had been in Egypt. They had seen the Egyptians worship the god Apis in the form of a bull, so that they must needs have a bull too.
I daresay that they said, "The bull is an emblem of strength. We do not worship the image; the image is only used to help us to think of the power of God."
But God forbids us to worship him under any image of any sort. "Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, nor in the earth beneath. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them." All images, pictures, crucifixes—the whole lot of them are abhorrent and abominable to God.
We must have nothing to do with them as helps to worship, for they are not helps. They are destroyers of the worship of God.
But, you say to me, "You tell us that it was a bull."
Yes, and, in contempt, the man of God here calls it a calf. You cannot be too disrespectful to objects of idolatrous worship. They may be esteemed by others, but do not show any kind of respect to them yourself; but if there be a name that you can give them that is full of sarcasm, let them have it.

Brian Maclaren said : “I share that minor correction in hopes that you would want to be as accurate in your understanding of Muslims and their beliefs as you would want them to be of your own.” The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Muslims DO NOT WANT to learn anything about Christianity – perhaps he should actually read the Q’uran.

By the way, Brian Maclaren is “gracious” in his response to someone who berated him (see here), according to Graeme Codrington here in order to draw out the more extreme responses and thus to belittle EVERYONE who disagrees with him. And, as usual, Brian Maclaren’s responses centre around him, and not around Jesus.

The other thing is that irrespective of what he MEANT, the way it was PERCEIVED is the problem.

Overall, all I can really say is that my heart grieves for the lost-ness of Brian Maclaren and those who think they have found a ‘new Christianity’. All I can do is to plead with them to place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The process of church discipline cannot be applied in the blogosphere, so all I can do is go to the point where I need to preach the Gospel (according to Jesus) to them and plead with them to turn from their sin and place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. If any of these people I have mentioned in this post happen to read it, please turn to Christ – I beg of you!