WWJB – What would Jesus believe? J. P. Moreland offers the following helpful discussion on what Jesus believed about Scripture.

First, Jesus held that Scripture’s assertions are true. This is nicely illustrated in two texts. John 10: 35 says “the Scripture cannot be broken.” In context this means that it cannot be found to assert a falsehood … Similarly, Jesus taught that all (each and every) things taught about him had to happen (Luke 18:31; 24:44). Why all of them and why did they have to happen? The underlying assumption is that everything Scripture asserts is true. Thus, Jesus can simply claim, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:3).

Second, Jesus held that inspiration characterizes Scripture down to … the smallest units of language that convey meaning … Thus, inspiration is not a mere feature of paragraphs, sentences, or the general drift of a passage. Within the proper framework of interpretation, the very words themselves (in the original Hebrew and Greek texts) were inspired. In the heat of theological debate, Jesus defended views in which his entire case turned on an implicit tense of a verb (Matthew 22:32) or the choice of a single word (Matthew 22:43-45). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that even the smallest letter or stroke of God’s Word would be fulfilled (found to be true) …

Finally, Jesus held a plenary view of inspiration, i.e., that all the components of the Old Testament were equally inspired. This set him apart from some (e.g., the Sadducees) who accepted only the inspiration of the Books of Moses and others who held that the Law was more inspired than, say, the prophets. Not so for Jesus. In Luke 24:44 Jesus uses a widely employed threefold division to refer to the inspired canon of Scripture—“the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms”—a canon that includes the thirty-nine books of the Protestant Bible and excludes Intertestamental writings. However, in Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus uses an odd, lesser used phrase to refer to the same canon—“the Law or (not and) the Prophets.” In so doing, Jesus means to place the “Prophets” (the rest of the Old Testament) on an equal footing with the Books of Moses.

You can read the full article for Moreland’s explanation and defense of the above points.

The month of Ramadan begins today (September 13 – October 12 for the year 2007). Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic calendar and the most sacred month of the Islamic year. Muslims believe that the first verse of the Qur’an (Koran) was revealed to Muhammad during Ramadan in AD 610. Each year at this time Muslims fast during the daylight hours for the whole month. In addition to fasting, Muslims are encouraged to read the entire Qur’an.

30-Days International produces a “30-Days of Prayer for the Muslim World” Christian prayer guide coinciding with Ramadan each year. The booklet contains daily readings with prayer points, informative background articles, a list of titles for further study and a resource section featuring ministries and services focusing on the Muslim world. There is also a Children’s Edition with quizzes, stories and maps. You can order the 52-page booklet here, or you can sign up for the free email version which is distributed daily during the 30 days of Ramadan. Free pdf versions of the adult and children’s editions are also available for download.

I have signed up for the daily emails and look forward to participating in this prayer effort. If you are a Christian, would you consider participating also? Here is an additional challenge. When you consider that Muslims around the world are committed to fasting and reading through the entire Qur’an this month, how much time are you investing in prayer and Bible reading?

HT: Between Two Worlds

This is a pretty neat feature if you like to keep track of your favorite teams’ sports scores.

Totally Scored makes it easy to track your favorite sports or teams using any RSS reader by subscribing to the feed. You can customize the display so that you only see the results you are interested in. Whenever a game ends, the final score will be automatically downloaded to your computer, cellphone, or other RSS reader.

The site gives you scores for both college and pro teams. You can use the RSS feature or bookmark the site with your browser and check back for scores later. I just signed up for the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Florida Marlins; the Boston Celtics and Miami Heat; and the New England Patriots and Miami Dolphins.

By the way, if you enjoy the posts here at RayFowler.org, you can subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, too. It’s easy, and it’s free! Click here to subscribe.

Click here for more Helpful Hints.

HT: Lifehacker

September 11th Remembrance Ceremony
Town of Agawam, MA
September 11, 2007; 9:45 a.m.

I was honored today to bring the Words of Remembrance for our town’s September 11th Remembrance Ceremony. We met in front of the Memorial Towers at the Agawam Fire Department. There was a light but steady rain. The American Legion Post 185 presented the colors complete with rifle salute. Local pastors led in prayer. Candles were lit, wreaths placed, songs sung. The Fire Department made a presentation while a trumpet played taps. Here is what I shared:

9/11/2007 – Words of Remembrance
Dr. Rev. Raymond E. Fowler

Six years ago today the people of our nation were attacked without warning or provocation. It was a Tuesday morning, just like today. Many of us were just arriving at work. Others were in our homes or at our schools. On the west coast some people were just waking up from a night’s sleep. But through the medium of television, together we watched the horrific events we now know as 9/11 unfold before our very eyes. In the weeks to follow we would continue to watch and mourn and grieve together as a nation.

We all remember the details and events of 9/11. For many of us, just a mention of the day’s name or perhaps an image of one of the planes can still catch us off guard and stir up the same disturbing mixture of anger, shock, fear and outrage we all experienced on that first day. There are those times when we probably wish that we did not remember, and yet we know that we cannot ignore this or somehow put it away on the shelf. We lost too much on 9/11 simply to let go and move on.

And so we have gathered here today in order to remember.

We remember first of all the lives of those innocent people who died. The terrorists who planned and carried out the attacks had no right to take these lives. We remember the passengers and flight crews on the planes. We remember the workers and children in the towers. We remember the people in the Pentagon. We remember wives separated from husbands, children separated from parents, loved ones separated from family and friends.

We also remember those people who willingly sacrificed their own lives in order to save the lives of others. We remember the firefighters, policemen and first responders. We remember the medical workers and emergency personnel. We remember those who bravely entered the devil’s cloud of dust and debris and did not return to their homes and loved ones that night. We are inspired by their courage, stunned by their sacrifice and challenged by their example. They have rightly earned the title of “heroes.”

And then today we also remember those who continue to serve our country, both here and in foreign lands, to protect us from further attacks. We remember those who serve in the various armed forces of our nation. We remember our veterans. We remember those who serve in government. We remember those who serve the public as policemen, firefighters, paramedics and in various other capacities. We are grateful to all of you who risk your lives in order to protect our country and preserve our freedom.

Innocent lives lost, willing lives sacrificed, determined lives continuing to fight on for freedom – these are the reasons we have gathered here today. These are the reasons we choose to remember 9/11.

Related posts:
    • 9/11/2010
    • 9/11 Proposed Memorial Quadrant

Yesterday’s message was the first in The Ten Commandments for Today series from the book of Exodus. This first message was an Introduction to the Ten Commandments, taken from Exodus 20:1-17.

Exodus 20:1-17 – 1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (NIV)

Here is a brief outline of the message:

What’s the fuss?
    1) The secular fuss – separation of church and state
    2) The religious fuss – separation of law and grace

What’s the need?
    1) We live in an age of lawlessness
    2) We live in an age of pluralism
    3) We live in an age of spiritual ignorance

What’s the context?
    1) God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt
    2) Israel’s arrival at Sinai and time of preparation
    3) God’s appearance on Mount Sinai before the people

What’s the purpose?
    1) The law is not designed to:
        – bring you into relationship with God
        – serve as some type of entrance exam into heaven
    2) Rather, the law is designed to:
        – reveal God’s character
        – restrain human evil
        – convict you of sin and your need for a Savior

Some general observations:
    1) absolute commands rather than “if/then” statements
    2) directed to the individual (“you” singular)
    3) spoken and written directly by God
    4) different numberings of the commandments
    5) two tables of the law
    6) two versions recorded in Scripture (Exodus 20; Deut 5)
    7) good three-fold rule of interpretation
        – where any duty is commanded, the contrary sin is forbidden
        – where any sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded
        – the internal heart condition leading to the sin is also forbidden

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.

Fall carnival season is here, and Blifalloo spills the secrets on how to win at carnival games. Example: “Balloon Dart Throw: The balloons are under-inflated, and the dart tips are dull. Forget accuracy and throw the dart as hard as you can. Most people aim for the middle, so the game operators will often hide the ‘good prize’ tags behind balloons on the outside edges.”

Chad Knudson asks, “Would you buy a pocket Old Testament?” “We should not allow the word ‘old’ to distract us from the importance of the Old Testament. For example, when you go into Christian Bookstores you usually find pocket New Testaments and single volumes of the Gospel of John, but when was the last time you saw a pocket Old Testament or a single volume of the book of Deuteronomy?”

John Beukema relates a hilarious story called The Day I Tried to Preach Like Rob Bell (or, How a goat got into my sermon). “We noticed a potential drawback to the goat’s [Victor's] usefulness in my sermon. Apparently my role in Victor’s abduction had traumatized him. As a result, every time Victor spotted me, he emptied his bowels and bladder. This was not the kind of Pavlovian reaction we were hoping for on Easter Sunday.”

D. A. Lague provides a brief biographical sketch of Henrietta Mears, the director of Christian education at First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood and an influence in the lives of Bill Bright and Billy Graham. “From an early age she struggled with her eyesight and doctors told her mother that she would be blind by the age of thirty. However, Mears was convinced God had a purpose for her life so she read, studied and memorized large portions of Scripture in case her eyesight failed.”

Michael McClenahan reveals some things you probably didn’t know about Jonathan Edwards. “Jonathan Edwards is sometimes criticized for having too dim a view of human nature, but it may be helpful to be reminded that his grandmother was an incorrigible profligate, his great-aunt committed infanticide, and his great-uncle was an ax-murderer.” (from George Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life, p. 22) Note: That’s Jonathan Edwards the preacher/theologian – not John Edwards the presidential candidate.

Christian writer Madeleine L’Engle died today. A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite books as a child, and I read the whole trilogy (which was later expanded to a quintet). I have also enjoyed L’Engle’s poetry and her reflections on faith and art.

Related articles from Christianity Today:

• A walk through her books with a look at her spiritual pilgrimage
• Interview with L’Engle
• Reflections on good and evil

Two hundred years ago today, on September 7, 1807, the first Protestant missionary set foot on Chinese soil. John Piper writes:

His name was Robert Morrison. He was a Scottish Presbyterian, and except for one furlough, he spent the next 27 years in China. Persevering against the hostility of official opposition and the resistance of foreign merchants, Morrison baptized the first Chinese Protestant Christian, Cai Gao, on July 16, 1814. After the baptism of Cai Gao, Morrison wrote prophetically in his journal, “May he be the first-fruits of a great harvest, one of millions who shall come and be saved on the day of wrath to come.”

Piper goes on to share about the great harvest of believers that has taken place in China over the past two hundred years and continues to grow. He also shares the dream of many Chinese believers to take the gospel into Muslim lands in a campaign called “Back to Jerusalem.”

I am inspired by Morrison’s perseverance in sharing the gospel for nearly seven years before baptizing his first convert. Piper draws a further lesson from Morrison’s life:

One of the lessons to draw from this anniversary of the arrival of Protestant Christianity in China is that we cannot measure the significance of our lives in our own lifetime. Robert Morrison could not see what we see. It is astonishing.

Finally, Piper recommends a four-part video series issued in 2003, called “The Cross: Jesus in China” which interviews many leaders of the current revival in China. The videos are available for free download at ChinaSoul. I encourage you to visit the Desiring God website to read the full article on China and missions.

Dane Carlson has a fun little application at his Business Opportunities Weblog which computes and displays your blog’s worth based on the link-to-dollar ratio used by AOL-Weblogs Inc.

Here is my blog’s “worth” compared to some other blogs I visit:

I am truly a small fish in a very big ocean.

Of course, there are more important ways of measuring a blog’s worth than link-to-dollar ratios. Here are just a few:

• God being glorified
• friendships strengthened
• relationships formed
• lives touched
• truth communicated
• encouragement given
• laughter spread
• information shared

Can you add some others?

Nuke fluke. “A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week . . . The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were mounted onto pylons on the bomber’s wings and it is unclear why the warheads had not been removed beforehand.” That’s a little scary.

Don’t say can’t. Can’t say don’t. A Siberian mayor has banned his staff from using the phrases “I don’t know” and “I can’t.” Those who do not comply risk losing their jobs. I don’t know. I can’t say this is a great idea.

You’re never too old. Meet Olive Riley, the world’s oldest blogger. Olive was born in 1899 and blogs from her native country of Australia. Her blog is called The Life of Riley. At 107 years old, I am sure she has plenty of stories to share.

Having been trained in Evangelism Explosion and as a frequent listener to WAFG radio when I lived in South Florida, I found the following paragraphs from the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church press release on Dr. D. James Kennedy’s death very interesting:

Dr. Kennedy was born Nov. 3, 1930, but his Christian life did not begin until 1953. Sleeping late on a Sunday morning, his radio alarm went off and a preacher’s booming voice invaded his slumber. “Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to ask you, ‘What right do you have to enter into My heaven?’—what would you say?”

Dr. Kennedy soon discovered that answer was to trust in Christ alone for eternal life, and shortly after he made that commitment was called into the Gospel ministry. Crediting this radio program for hearing the call to Christianity, he founded WAFG (90.3 FM) in 1974 as an outreach for Christ to the South Florida community.

Anyone who has taken E.E. (Evangelism Explosion) knows the two diagnostic questions that help you transition a conversation into sharing the gospel:

1. “Have you come to the place in your spiritual life where you know for certain that if you were to die today you would go to heaven, or is that something you would say you’re still working on?”
2. “Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and He were to say to you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’ what would you say?”

I have personally seen the power of asking these questions to many people over the years. What I didn’t know is that God used a variation of these questions to bring Dr. Kennedy to faith! I also did not know that God used the medium of radio to bring this question to bear on Dr. Kennedy’s life, and that this was part of what inspired him to launch WAFG so many years later. What a wonderful testimony to God’s grace and how he works in our lives to advance his kingdom!

Related posts:

• D. James Kennedy Passes Away (1930-2007)
• Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires

Dr. D. James Kennedy passed away “peacefully, in his sleep, at home” earlier this morning. Dr. Kennedy had just retired as pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church ten days ago. A memorial site has been set up at www.djameskennedy.org. Here is a great quote from Dr. Kennedy featured at the memorial site:

Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.

D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.

Related articles:

• Article at the Christian Post: D. James Kennedy Dies at 76
• Wonderful tribute from Dr. Samuel Lamerson (who has been preaching at Coral Ridge in Dr. Kennedy’s absence)
• Albert Mohler also offers a fine tribute with some personal remembrances.

Related posts on this blog:

• The Power of a Question: “If you died today . . .”
• Dr. D. James Kennedy Retires