DUTCH TREAT- Cal Fox's Blog

MOVIE REVIEWS

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:04:42 -0400

Here are good reviews of current movies from Christianity Today

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/movies/reviews

THE "NEW CONVERSION" - EVANGELICAL SEA CHANGE

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:31:21 -0400

"It is not be an overstatement to say that evangelicals are experiencing
a "sea change"a paradigm shiftin their understanding of conversion
and redemption, a shift that includes the way in which they think about
the salvation of God, the nature and mission of the church, and the
character of religious experience."

Read the full article in which I respond at length to the writer of this statement published in Christianity Today

http://www.reformedliving.org/

NEW QT THOTS (my Devotional Writing) AVAILABLE

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:46:46 -0400

A new devotional is now available at http://kudospress.com/serendipity/index.php?

This month's "QT Thots" focus on prayer, where we actively ask, implore, seek, thank, praise, talk with, and otherwise communicate with God our Father, Jesus our Savior, the Holy Spirit our Counselor.

Consider taking extra time to pray this month, to pour out your heart, as Hannah does in 1 Samuel 1:12-20, the reference text for Vol. 5, Issue 1.

You may email me at cfoxinstitute@thinkersloft. com

ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS MISSING IN THE DISCUSSION OF GAY "MARRIAGE"

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Mon, 14 May 2012 09:41:29 -0400

I want to add more thought to my posts below about Gay "Marriage". A Concept that is rarely mentioned on the subject is the purpose for which God instituted Marriage in the first place.

After creating the natural world, the Earth in particular, God created "Man" in His Image so "Man" might represent God and be equipped to work with Him in the Natural world's development and care. "Man" was created to live on the earth to function as God's "lieu-tenant" here

But the collective noun, "Man", i.e.- all human beings considered collectively, is both male and female. The Image of God incorporates both genders. Together they are mutually responsible to carry out the Creation or Cultural Mandate. Marriage is the next and key step to that work. Marriage is not an end in itself, let alone simply the loving caring relationship of two people for their personal fulfillment.

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Continue reading "ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS MISSING IN THE DISCUSSION OF GAY "MARRIAGE""

HOW WE READ THE BIBLE EFFECTS HOW WE VIEW GAY MARRIAGE

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Sat, 12 May 2012 14:29:09 -0400

I have family members and friends who are Homosexuals. For them that identity is a given- how they were born- not a choice. Some of them are Christians. They are creative, enjoyable, moral and respectable people. Certainly there are heterosexuals who are not. There are also people who undoubtedly are experimenting with homosexual acts and a certain life style which is by choice. Either way, "Gay" is here to stay. And the Movement for Homosexuality to be fully accepted in America as legal and normal is not going away.

A recent poll quoted in CT shows 44 percent of younger evangelicals oppose same-sex marriage and 17 percent were not sure; 63 percent of older evangelicals also oppose it and 7 percent of older evangelicals were uncertain.

This means 56% of younger evangelicals do not oppose same-sex Marriage with 17 % not sure. Thus the majority of young evangelicals are favorable to Gay Marriage. Other surveys indicate that bigotry, narrow-mindedness and legalism, especially about homosexuality, are common criticisms by young evangelicals of churches and a major reason they are leaving churches.

What accounts for these statistics besides the influence of the world and the pressure to be Politically Correct? Many in our Society, Evangelicals and non-Evangelicals, believe that Marriage must be defined as a Legal Right for any two adults, Gay or Straight, who want to live in a loving caring, committed relationship.

How can Evangelicals accept Society's definition of Marriage? Those who do insist the Bible agrees with this definition. Accepting Gay Marriage is Biblical because doing so is in accord with the Bible's teaching about Justice for all and the teaching of Jesus about love for all.

How can they make this claim? Because they do not interpret the Bible according to the classic, grammatical-historical (Original and Common Sense) Rule of Interpretation. If they did, they would agree that Scripture tells us that God instituted Marriage, not Society, and He intends it to be only for heterosexual couples who want to live in a loving caring, committed relationship. [This, in turn, involves what the Bible also teaches about gender, gender roles and the purpose of Marriage and Family]. The grammatical-historical interpretation of the Bible is the only foundation for this view of Marriage. I do not believe, apart from it, there is any real defense of Biblical Marriage and Family. The issue of Homosexuality is a separate subject. The option of same-sex Civil Unions is a separate subject. If we want to insist on the sole definition of "Marriage" as being only for heterosexual couples who want to live in a loving caring, committed relationship, Evangelicals must get back [not just to the Bible, but] to the time-honored, historical grammatical interpretation of the Bible and teach that to our young people. Apparently the majority of them do not know it.

THE NOT SO GAY NEWS ABOUT GAY MARRIAGE

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Sat, 12 May 2012 13:32:40 -0400

"The latest Gallup poll found that 50% of Americans believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages down slightly from 53% last year, but marking only the second time in Gallups history of tracking this question that at least half of Americans have supported legal same-sex marriage. Forty-eight percent say such marriages should not be legal. Since Gallup began asking the question in the mid-1990s support for same-sex marriage has risen 27% while opposition has fallen from 68%."

James' White has a very good post about the issue of Homosexuality in our Society here

http://www.churchandculture.org/blog.asp?id=2742

One of the best resources for the study of Homosexuality and Sexuality in general from a conservative evangelical, New Testament scholar is Robert Gagnon

http://www.robgagnon.net/

LEARNING HOW GOD THINKS

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:18:26 -0400

God has a mind- Romans 11:34 "who has known the mind of the Lord"

God thinks- Isaiah 55:9 as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are ... my thoughts than (yours)

God thinks logically.

Logical thinking or rational discourse presupposes and requires certain Rule or Laws of Thought:

    Identity (A is A)
    Contradiction (A can not be Not A at the same time and place)
    Excluded Middle (A or Not A)

"The Law of Contradiction is a presupposition and non-negotiable principle for Christian Theology and Apologetics." "Without [logic] no knowledge of anything cognitive can be achieved." "The basic Law of rational intelligibility (is) the Law of Contradiction." - R.C. Sproul

Secular Philosophers agree-

"denial of [the 3 Laws] would make all discourse impossible." "Without assuming the Law, [no one could] assert anything, not even a denial of the Law itself"- Hospers

"any system to be workable at all must be governed by some principle of consistency" - A.J Ayer

What is the justification of these Rules of Logic? They are considered self-evident. Their proof is pragmatic: they work. However, these Laws have a much better foundation: they are derived from the way God actually thinks. He is not obeying the Laws, they are derived from Him.

http://www.reformedliving.org/index.php?option=com_

LEARNING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:08:44 -0400

Critical Thinking is a skill set that we can all learn. Identify what you already know and then apply explorative questions to discover what was not initially obvious.

In 1956, Benjamin Bloom led a group of educational psychologists in a study on intellectual behavior used by learners. The result is known as Bloom's Taxonomy. According to his original research, learners move up through six levels of critical thinking skills:

1) Knowledge
2) Comprehension
3) Application
4) Analysis
5) Synthesis
6) Evaluation

In the 1990's, Lorin Anderson, a cognitive psychologist, changed the terms and order, demonstrating that multiple viewpoints exist on how we learn and how we view learning. Having said that, the following adheres to Bloom's original taxonomy as I see it.

Read the full Article and learn the skills at http://kudospress.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives

JOHN STOTT on ACTS 2:42

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:56:27 -0400

This digital recording was created at Kudos Press from an original tape cassette recording: Listen to John Stott speak about the fellowship of the believers as found in Acts 2:42: John Stott and The Fellowship of the Believers, 1977 (41:43)

http://kudospress.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/110-John-Stott-and-The-Fellowship-of-the-Believers.html

CHRISTIAN ECONOMIST ADDRESSES CAUSES OF WORLD POVERTY

nospam@example.com (Cal) — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:49:33 -0400

From a review of a recent Lecture at Stanford (Calif) University- "Making Money, Spending Money: What do we owe to the poor?"

"How do we develop macro strategies through political action and through public information?" [The speaker] argues that that kind of engagement really matters, not just individual acts of charity. Nishan's discussion at the Forum centered on dealing with social and political structures and the underlying issues as well as having and developing macro strategies as a sustainable response to poverty and changing people's lives for the better.

As for our obligation, Nishan states that as Christians, we value life and thus must value all lives, and as people who are not poor, we are however complicit in others' impoverished lives by living as we do and we must therefore do what we can to change sociopolitical structures so that poverty is addressed and alleviated"

See more here

http://kudospress.com/serendipity/index.php?/archives/111-Discussing-Poverty-