I'm back!

And I can add College Graduate to my list of accomplishments. Though at this junction of my life, it seems less of an accomplishment than it did a few years ago. Now it seems like something I had to do or I would be missing out on something. Though I am glad nonetheless. I guess the future is closer than it once was. Hopefully I'll be able to get some more writing done in the future. Thanks again and God bless my friends.

A few things:
I'm going to be writing about a few things like the Bible, more book reviews and responding to a friend of mine on the Bible. But I also want to explore with more essay writing. Finally, I hope to have some pics up of a few recent events. My birthday and graduation.

Movie Review: Expelled

Intelligent Design. Mention it among Christians and you may get some good conversation. Talk about it in academia and it might cost you your job. So goes the main thesis of this movie. Ben Stein (the intelligent conservative actor) talks to voices on both sides of the issue. He talks with pro-ID people and pro-evolution people. But he also talks to people who's careers have been lost, damaged etc... because they dared to question (even in a small way) the dogma of Darwinism. Free speech is the name of this game and "Expelled" truly raises some great questions. Very intelligent people are raising questions and are being shut up. Stein also looks a little at the origins of Darwinism (going to Europe in the process) and he looks at the implications (visiting a Holocaust museum in Germany) and leaves you with much to think about. The most interesting thing is that a lot of the pro-darwinian scientists, actually are willing to talk about Aliens, crystals etc... being the origin of life (which NO ONE HAS EXPLAINED YET! No one knows how life started) but no way is the idea of an intelligent Deity even possible.
Great cinematography, good interviews and graphics make this a great documentary worth seeing. I hope it gets a good exposure in the awards circuit.
A+

Movie Reviews: Baby Mama

So, I've gone to Laemmle's of Claremont again. This time to see "Baby Mama". Starring SNL alums Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. I've been a fan of their work ever since they were both the first female co-anchors on SNL's Weekend Update. They were always funny (though too liberal leaning in their news for me) and so I came to the movie not sure of what to expect. But I was pleasantly surprised. It deals with a 37 year old working woman (Fey) who feels her biological clock tick as she climbs the corporate ladder. After many tries to get herself pregnant, she turns to Amy Poehler to be her surrogate mother. So what happens when a free spirit and an uptight business woman live together? More so, what will happen along the way as Poehler tries to get pregnant and lives with a secret that could mess things up?

What's interesting is that Fey's character wants what many women want: a family. Though there is this blatant idea (taken for granted really) that you can have a family on your own as a single. Technology seems to have opened that door for many. More so, in the movie that causes a problem with Fey's boyfriend. So what are we to do? To begin with, the movie actually points to that at the end: kids need Mom and Dad's as best as that situation is possible. And family can't be done on your own. More so, the other idea that I saw in the movie is the idea of what happens when you don't think ahead.

Fey's character focuses on her career to the point of neglecting her maternal instincts, Poehler's character makes a decision that she really didn't think about as well. Much to think about in your life. What do you want? Is it worth the things you're going to give up? What are the consequences of the choices you make?

Go see the movie and find out. It has a lot of people in it that weren't mentioned, and over all the story holds, though the movie feels a bit slow at the start it soon gets its pulse. I just wish it had had more humor. The fish-out-of-water angle can be milked for only so much. Fey and Poehler make a great comedy duo. If they keep this up we may have a new comedy group on our hands. Move over Frat Pack, make room for the Chick Clique. B+. Easy laughs and a good time.

Matt Slick using the Transcendental Argument

Matt Slick of CARM recently had a debate with an atheist and he employed the Transcendental Argument. You can read his opening statement HERE. He'll have the video of the event out for sale soon. I've read Matt's formulation of TAG and it's pretty persuasive. He's a great apologist who also has a book he's working on. Here's a bit of what he says:

Now, I have a question for you Mr. Kagin. How do you, as an atheist, account for the existence of logic? Remember, the question is directed to you as an atheist. How do you, account for the existence of logic?

The question is important and it directly relates to God’s existence. Asking that a person give an account for something based on his worldview is not a kindergarten exercise. It is not a word game. It is an important philosophical question worth answering, especially given the fact that we live in a finite and physical universe yet use logic which is transcendent and conceptual.

So, I hope to show that the atheist perspective cannot rationally account for logic, but the Christian one can because it acknowledges God’s existence.

But, in order for me to show this, I need to do two things:

First, I need to offer a definition of God. God is that Supreme Being who exists independent of the universe, who does not change, is absolute, transcends space and time, who is self aware, who is all-knowing, ever present, and can accomplish whatever he desires to accomplish. In short, I am proposing the Christian God.

The Second thing I want to address a simple logical principle. If there are only two possibilities to explain something and one of the possibilities is incapable of explaining it, then by default the other is validated. Let me illustrate.

Let's say that there is a man named Frank who has a small room in his house in which he keeps valuables. This room is encased in thick metal, has no windows, no vents, and only one light with one table inside. The door has a very strong lock which can only be opened by a keypad that requires a sequence of numbers that only Frank knows. There is an alarm, a heat detector, and a motion detector. Now Frank has just acquired a bag full of rare coins. He puts them inside the room on the table, exits, and immediately locks the door behind him.

Frank then goes directly to his car, drives to a meeting, and returns 3 hours later to inventory his currency. But to his surprise, after he disables the alarms, unlocks the door, and enters the room, he finds the coins are not in the bag where he left them. Instead, they are neatly stacked on the table. Upon further examination he discovers that the stacks of coins are in separate piles in sequences of prime numbers from 2 through 31. Frank wants to know how this happened. He calls the police.

When they arrive they find no physical evidence that anyone else besides Frank had been in the room. For all they know, he arranged the coins. There aren’t any fingerprints, shoe prints, or traces of DNA other than Frank’s.

But Frank knows he did not arrange the coins and the coins didn’t arrange themselves. Frank is bewildered and refuses to believe that someone got into the room. His criteria for proof necessitate that there be some finger-prints, shoe prints, pry marks, or the alarms having gone off. But none of these evidences are there. So, he refuses to believe the obvious because his criteria for proof doesn’t include the possibility that someone intelligent arranged the coins logically without also being detected in the manner that he chooses.

Now, we can see that the proof is there. Obviously, someone arranged the coins. But Frank is not persuaded. Why? Because proof is different than persuasion.

Okay, so let me reduce this illustration to a simple proposition: Either an intelligence or non intelligence arranged the coins. There aren’t any other options.

In like manner, in this debate we have only two options: there either is a God or there is not. Since there are only these two options we can take a look at them and ask a question. Which position, the theistic or atheistic, can account for the existence of logic? One of them has to be able to, otherwise we have no rational reason for the existence of logic at all.

Now, Mr. Kagin might just say that he doesn’t know how to account for logic. I have no problem with him pleading ignorance should he so choose; after all, Christians sometimes do the same thing. Or on the other hand, he might say he doesn’t need to give account for the existence of logic and he might offer various reasons why he doesn’t need to. In either case, whether it is ignorance or ignoring, I’ll continue through with this debate using my argument and enjoy Mr. Kagin’s neglect in responding to it. But, I do expect a logical response from Mr. Kagin and I hope it is forthcoming.

So, in anticipation of possible responses from my atheist opponent, I want to enlist the help of previous atheists who’ve tried to give me an account for the existence of logic. I will list their arguments and attempt to show why they are invalid. But, I won’t stop there. After I have shown that their arguments are invalid, I’ll try to show that the Christian perspective can account for logic and thereby demonstrate that God exists.

Read the rest here

My Birthday

Seeing that I had to cancel my birthday plans, many people came through for me. I want to thank 4 of them.

Joanthan Chan
Sunday night we got to some great sushi. As you can tell, we had a blast.




The Oh my God roll!


Pink Berry Ice cream is great. It truly is post-modern ice cream


We also went to see Expelled. It was great.


Alexia
My friend Alexia made me great lamb kabob's at her restaurant in La Verne. It's Angel's Place near the University of La Verne. Go there now. She is truly a good friend.

The Order
It was a huge surprise to me when they threw me a party on Monday night. It was great. Thanks Mig and Sarah and especially James and Nathan for making their apartment useful for the event. Much fun guys.

Josh England
The new nifty banner was kindly made by him. If you squint at the right angle, you'll see a pic of me he took years ago. He's talented and a true blue friend.

We'll, it's been fun, and I hope to have up a few book reviews up soon.

Blogger Appreciation Day

The good people at Said At Southern, have joined with others in declaring today Blogger Appreciation Day. Well, I want to shoot out a few thanks to people's blogs and why they matter.

1. Alpha and Omega Ministries
AOMIN is the blog where James White blogs at. Great articles and insight accompany the blog. I highly recommend it.

2. Purgatorio

Purgatorio was mentioned as a blog of note, however, it bears mentioning it again. Funny reformed humor. I hope you read his "You might be emergent it..." post. It's classic.

3. Tom-in-the-box-news-network

I've said it before: reformed people have the best humor. Here's a sampling of what you'll find in this fake news service:

Rick Warren joins together for the gospel.
Turbo tithe-so you won't tithe more than you have to.
Don't slay me bro! An article dealing with Benny Hinn slaying a heckler.
And.....











4. FIDE-O
The guys at fide-o have the biggest blog roll I've seen. Updated frequently, you'll also get their thoughts on sports, and theolgy. Very good page.

5. Challies
Time Challies is truly the Christian book guru. I pale in comparison to his ongoing book reviews, celebrity interviews and cultural insight. Visit his page now!!!!!!

6. Perez Hilton
WHAT? Indeed, I peruse his page from time to time. I like hearing about the foibles of celebs as much as anyone else. But, in a very weird way this guy is becoming the new Matt Drudge. He's got the pulse on what's going on culturally and has a new record contract and a radio show. Trends, news, and even political and moral ideas come out of his blog. (You have to look really close!). This page is definitely PG-17. But, if you want to see where our culture is (a part of it anyway) go here. If only to know what the false prophets are saying.

7. CARM
Not a blog, but CARM is truly one of my favorite theology pages to visit. If you want a good answer to a theological question, you'll find it here. Go here now!!!!


8. Monergism


Moner-what? Monergism is the idea that God does all the saving. Even the faith I use comes from him. Thus Monergism.com has compiled thousands of theological articles from the reformed perspective showing that God truly is sovereign in salvation and in all of the Christian life. Equipped with a blog as well (reformation theology), visit it and find any subject you want to study and you'll find hundreds of articles on that subject. I go there all the time. You will too.

Saving the best for last.......

8. BIBLICALTHOUGHT.com

The NEW Reformation begins here! Many of you know, I'm friends with these guys. They are wonderful men of God who truly want to inform the Christian world at large about what's going on. I trust them and have had the pleasure of joining these guys in theological conversation, pints of Guinness and clove cigarette's (I love being Reformed!) I know their hearts and have learned a lot as I've dialogued with them and others on the blog. Visit them and read what they have to say. You won't regret it.

James White Debate and mexican dinner!

Wow, after a great debate with a Muslim apologist, many of us went with James White to a nice Mexican restaurant. Much conversation took place as we heard some great stories and got some great advice from Dr. White on apologetics. More so, his debate was amazing. He cleaned the Muslim guys clock and really held his own against him. He actually stayed to the point! The other guy just quoted the King James as his text of choice. He eisegeted scriptures and went off topic. Very sloppy. White nailed him pretty good. He's a really nice guy who cares about what he does. I might add, I loved a really cool ring he was wearing with thte trinity symbol on it. One of the things I was reminded of during the debate was that we really need to learn hermeneutics and hwo to answer people's answers. One of the more revealing things he said tonight, Dr. Wite said the most helpful things he learned to be a better apologist were greek and Church history. There you go. Nites!

BOOK PREVIEW: ESV STUDY BIBLE!!!!!!!

Mark Driscoll (Lucky Punk!) got a sneak preview of Crossway's upcoming ESV study Bible. I'm very excited to see Andreas Konsnberger's work on John, Thomas Shreiner's work on Romans (his commentary on it is huge!) and J.I. Packer and others rounding a out a great cast. It's a who's who of conservative/reformed scholarship. More so, for those of you who said this was not needed due the Reformation Study Bible: jokes on you!!!!! I really want this, if you're interested in getting me a gift. Mark may have gotten choked up, but I am really excited to see this coming out. This will be yet another thing to take down the NIV's hold on the bible market. Here is Mark's review.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The ESV Study Bible
April 11, 2008

Posted by Pastor Mark Driscoll
My friends at Crossway have been great to work with on Vintage Jesus and other forthcoming books I am publishing both with my co-author Dr. Gerry Breshears and by myself this year. They sent me some prerelease, hush-hush confidential proofs of their forthcoming English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible to look over and consider endorsing. To be honest, I actually got choked up when I looked through it for the first time because I know what a gift it is to an emerging generation of Bible preachers and teachers who are committed to timeless truth and timely methods.

To test my hypothesis, I showed the confidential proofs to some of our newly converted, well-tattooed indie rockers and they reported that it looked “filthy” and “sick”—for those of you who wear khaki pleated pants and tuck in your shirt, this is a really good endorsement. So, thank you Crossway for the “filthy sick” ESV Study Bible.

Without blowing all of their marketing strategies in preparation for its October 15, 2008 debut, I decided to leak a few details that are particularly exciting.

The ESV Study Bible is the result of extensive work from 93 evangelical Bible scholars from 9 countries representing nearly 20 denominations and over 50 seminaries and Bible colleges. To the best of my knowledge, none of the theological contributors owns a prayer labyrinth or has ever finger painted their doctrinal statement, which is very comforting. Heading up the team are Lane Dennis (Executive Editor), Wayne Grudem (General Editor), J. I. Packer (Theological Editor), C. John Collins (Old Testament Editor), Thomas R. Schreiner (New Testament Editor), and my buddy Justin Taylor (Managing Editor).

The ESV Study Bible includes the 757,000 words of the Bible along with an additional 1.1 million words of theological resources, which is the equivalent of a 20-volume resource library. Those resources include 25,000 notes, over 50 articles, 200 full-color maps, 200 charts, 80,000 cross-references, and some 40 color illustrations that are far cooler than the typical Bible pictures that look like a kindergartner tried to draw the Temple with their left hand.
As a geek who always reads the footnotes, I am particularly excited about Clinton Arnold’s work in Colossians and Philemon, Andreas J. Kostenberger’s work in John, Raymond Ortlund’s work in Isaiah, Grant Osborne’s work in James, Simon Gathercole’s work in Galatians, Thomas Schreiner’s work in Romans, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude, and Frank Thielman’s work in 1 Corinthians.

The theological article lineup is nastier than the heart of the Red Sox order. Here are just some of the titles:

“The Authority and Truthfulness of the Bible” by Wayne Grudem
“How to Interpret the Bible” by Daniel Doriani
“Overview of the Bible” by Vern Poythress
“Reading the Bible Theologically” by J. I. Packer
“Reading the Bible as Literature” by Leland Ryken
“Reading the Bible for Application” by David Powlison
“Reading the Bible, Prayer, and Communion with God” by John Piper
“Reading the Bible with the Church” by John Hannah
“The Bible’s Use in Preaching and Public Worship” by Kent Hughes
“God’s Plan for Salvation” by Mark Dever
“The Theology of the New Testament” by Thomas Schreiner
“Reading the Gospels and Acts” by Darrell Bock
“Reading the Epistles” by Thomas Schreiner
“The Canon of the Old Testament” by Roger Beckwith
“The Old Testament and Critical Scholarship” by Walter Kaiser
“The New Testament and Critical Scholarship” by Darrell Bock
Lastly, I want to sincerely thank my friends at Crossway for pulling together all of the amazing scholarship and creative support that has culminated in the publishing of the ESV Study Bible. It sets a new standard in study Bibles and is an invaluable gift to the church. When it drops, I plan on carrying mine around with me like Linus’ blankie for a while and buying a copy for each of our elders at Mars Hill Church and for some newly converted indie rockers.