Adolphus Writer's Blog, page 18
July 15, 2015
Confess with Your Mouth, Believe In Your Heart
In case you don’t already know, an elevator speechis a short summary description of a product or service and the benefits that result from receiving them. The Apostle Paul offers us just such a statement:
“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
I’ve always wondered; is that one sentence enough? Is its prescription adequate to attain eternal life?
First, where does this statement come from? The Apostle...
July 9, 2015
Settled Climate Science
Let’s admit that ideology and religion figure prominently in the firestorm of climate change. Even though climate changes’ proponents decry the opposition, they seem reluctant to remedy the situation.
I always think of a statement attributed to Keynes:
“When my information changes, I alter my conclusions. What do you do, sir?”
We should reconsider our approaches for the sake of the next generation.
Trees do burn but don’t let that stop us from replenishing the depleted rain forests all over t...
July 2, 2015
Confess Your Sins
It’s frightening to admit our sins to God and man. But they see them whether we confess or not. Our audacity, dignity, authenticity, or autonomy may stand in the way. Let’s not let them.
Confess your sinfulness to God to receive His forgiveness and cleansing. As the Apostle Paul says:
“Nothing good dwells in me.”
Confess your sins to one another to receive their forgiveness and restore the broken relationship. The relationship is broken whether we believe it is or not.
It takes humility on ou...
June 25, 2015
Everyone Divided
There’s no sidestepping it, scripture divides us. This principle applies to everyone we know and everyone we may never know. The Apostle John, in his first letter to the Church, describes what is true of everyone.
Writing about the Christ, John says:
If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 1 John 2:29 English Standard version (ESV)
To this, Calvin says:
If you know that he is righteous [John] again passes on to exhortat...
June 17, 2015
Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences?
Eugene Wigner, theoretical physicist and mathematician, famously addressed the effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences in a lecture delivered at NYU on May 11, 1959. The Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) recently held their spring 2015 essay contest on the same topic.
According to Wikipedia, there are three main responses to Wigner’s lecture:
Richard Hamming, applied mathematician and a founder of computer science, extended Wigner’s arguments. But finally, he considered the...
June 12, 2015
Sin No More
I’d always worried about the meaning of Christ’s phrase: “sin no more.” Only in the last few years have I come to a settled understanding closer to what the Lord meant by it:
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” John 5:14 English Standard Version (ESV)
Calvin has many words to say about this verse. Here are a few of them:
After these things Jesus found him. …When he charges him, sin no more, he does no...
June 5, 2015
Titus’s Charge
Paul, in his letter to Titus, charges Titus to finish establishing the church in Crete:
This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— Titus 1:5 English Standard Version (ESV)
As I read the letter, I was struck by how often Paul urged Titus and the people in his congregations to love and good works. Especially, good works.
After speaking about those who are insubordinate, Paul admonishes:
To the pure, all th...
May 27, 2015
The Fourth Revolution – The Nordic Future
In the fourth and last installment of our review and commentary on The Fourth Revolution: The Global Race to Reinvent the State by Micklethwait and Wooldridge, we examine the authors’ contention that Sweden and the other Nordic nations represent the future for the West’s reinvigoration.
Before and After
For most of the twentieth century, Sweden embraced the Fabian ideal for their society. Marquis Childs called their social experiment the “middle way,” one between capitalism and communism. In...
May 20, 2015
The Fourth Revolution – Lee Kuan Yew and the Asian Consensus
Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015) was founder and Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore. He started out as an advocate for Beatrice Webb’ssocietal view.
Lee shifted right to counteract communism and tighten control over Singapore. He ended closer to Hayek‘s views while developing a unique blend of authoritarianism, self-sufficiency, and meritocracy. In the process of his transformation, Lee Kuan Yew molded Singapore according to his principles.
As a result, Singapore has...
May 15, 2015
A New Prophet like Moses
“The end is near, the end is near!” We all associate this trope with crackpots and lunatics. Especially street corner prophets wearing sandwich boards. However, they are right in a sense. Around 150,000 people die every day, worldwide. Their ends are no longer near but already past.
We have to be wary of a prophet and his message. Thus Moses pointed us to the Prophet we should all listen to:
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to...
