The road to success

Getting into the Book of Psalms

There are lots of great resources to assist you in studying Psalms, but here are three of my favourites:

1.  Memorising some Psalms. Getting them into your head allows you to chew them over.

2. You really can't beat John Collins introduction and notes in the ESV Study Bible. They are tops. Looking up some psalms I've been memorising showed the value of this great resource again, today.

3. Geoffrey Grogan's Two Horizons Commentary on Psalms is also very useful and answers questions that  some other commentaries don't.

 

Chantry versus Frame

I like what Fred Zaspel has to say in his Credo magazine blog article about Tom Chantry's harsh words about his former teacher, John Frame.

 

And then, Dan Phillips sent this link to an interchange between Chantry and Frame on Dan's Biblical Christianity blog, which clarified things more.

 

 

Marquis Laughlin: dramatic Bible presenter

Marquis Laughlin recites extracts from Genesis

This bloke is good!

Website making links from Melissa Freeman

http://abbeythoroughbreds.com.au/

http://josefandadriana.com.au/

http://www.jumba.com.au/

http://mindyourownwebsite.com.au/

http://www.websitebaker.org/en/home.php

Is David Attenborough an Atheist?

Is David Attenborough an Atheist?

 

Sir David Attenborough does not believe that an understanding of evolution is incompatible with faith in God, he will tell Radio 4 listeners on Sunday.

Attenborough, who was invited back to Desert Island Discs to mark the 70th anniversary of the radio programme, explains that, while he is still agnostic, he does not rule out the possibility of the existence of a deity.

"I don't think an understanding and an acceptance of the 4 billion-year-long history of life is any way inconsistent with a belief in a supreme being," the 85-year-old broadcaster and writer will tell presenter Kirsty Young. "And I am not so confident as to say that I am an atheist."

 

Hard to understand?

“The Bible is very easy to understand. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.” Kierkegaard

Is atheism irrational?

New York Times article on arguments for atheism

 

Another attempt to bookmark an article, so I can find it later.

 

Meditating ...day and night

 

When I started walking with Louie, half-way through 2013,  I decided to recommence memorising Scripture. After some to-ing and fro-ing, I've settled into working through Psalms.

We learnt Psalm 1 and Psalm 23 in Sunday School, and so I first began revising those. Then I remembered that I had learnt musical versions of Psalms 150, 100, 121, and part of 46 in the 70s, in Scripture in Song versions, and so found it fairly easy to relearn them.

I think the King James Version has a lot going for it. It isn't perfect, but it certainly has power, and I'm enjoying learning these psalms in that venerable edition of God's Word.

So far I have learnt eleven psalms and am currently tackling my first lengthy one: Psalm 73. This is going to take some time!

For a sixty-one year old, learning an unfamiliar isn't easy, so I cheated and began with 117 - the shortest one! I've also tackled two other short psalms [70 and 82].

I hope to learn psalms from each of the five books, and intend to expand my repertoire proportionately, so that I learn a similar amount of each of the books, and gradually commit the same proportion of Psalm 119 to memory.

But I'm only going to be able to do this with God's help, as the opening verse of Psalm 127 reminds us:

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:

except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

 

 

Engaging with your opponents

Dr Rosaria Butterfield at Wheaton College

 

I was surprised to read that Wheaton College had students demonstrating at their own conservative college about a lecture by someone presenting conservative views. The world is so different now from the late 70s when I attended Kenmore Christian College.

 

But I think the first link shows how well Dr Butterfield engages with those who disagree with her.

 

 

Don't neglect the LXX

The Importance of the Septuagint 

Some interesting reminders here:

It is the largest extant piece of Ptolemaic Greek.
• It is one of the major works of Egyptian Greek literature.
• It is one of the first works of Hellenistic Judaism, though mostly ignored in books on the subject.
• It is (possibly) the largest work of translation literature from antiquity, offering valuable insight for translation studies on both bilingual interference and translation technique.
• It is a work of sub-literary Greek that demonstrates the complexities of Greek register.
• It is a major lexical resource for lesser-known koine words. (not only illustrated by papyri, but illuminating for papyri).
• It testifies to a distinct Jewish-Greek (even Egyptian?) identity.
• It tells us much about educational levels in Egypt and among Jews.

(To understand its theology, we must place it in its context first).

 

Facts about boat people

Yet another link to help me find a good link again!