Round the Sphere Again: Following Up

On Complementarianism
There’s one more post in Thabiti Anyabwile’s series: I’m a Complementarian, But… Women Should Pray in Public:

[I]t seems clear to me that women prayed in the public gatherings of the early church.  As the disciples waited for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost, they “were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers” (Acts 1:14).  Presumably as the Lord added thousands of women to the ranks of the disciples (Acts 2:41), these women were among those devoting themselves to prayer (Acts 2:42).  During times requiring fervent intercession, the disciples gathered and prayed together with women–even in the home of a woman (Acts 12:12).  The book of Acts generally depicts the female disciples devoting themselves to prayer along with the rest of the church.

On Annihilationism
Annihilationists argue that eternal punishment would not be just deserts for sin that’s not eternal, but is that a good argument?

In the first place, the amount of time spent in wrongdoing is often irrelevant in determining the sentence. As I write these words, police in London are looking for thugs who attacked a forty-five year old man in broad daylight, almost severed his arm with a billhook, pummelled him with a baseball bat and sprayed hydrochloric acid in his face. The assault was all over in less than a minute; would sixty seconds in jail be an appropriate sentence? As William Hendriksen says, ‘It is not necessarily the duration of the crime that fixes the duration of the punishment…What is decisive is the nature of the crime.’

John Blanchard, in Six Arguments Against Annihilationism, quoted by John Samson. Read the article for five more reasons why the argument that eternal punishment is unjust doesn’t work.

Update 1: On Evangelism
J. Mack Stiles, author of Marks of the Messenger: Knowing, Living and Speaking the Gospel, quoted right here on this blog last week, posts at The Gospel Coalition Blog, answering the question What If I’m Not a Gifted Evangelist?

Update 2: On Adoption
(Oh, how I wish I could call this section On Adoptionism so that the section headings were parallel.) February’s free audiobook from Christian Audio is Adopted for Life by Russell Moore. You’ll find links to other Adopted for Life resources there, too.

I reviewed the book Adopted for Life a year or so ago.

A Catechism for Girls and Boys

Part I: Questions about God, Man, and Sin

19. Q. Have you a soul as well as a body?
      A. Yes. I have a soul that can never die.

(Click through to read scriptural proofs.)

Click to read more ...

Good Riddance

I’m celebrating the end of January. After January, we’re on the upside of winter: three months down and three months to go. Our shortest day, back on December 21, was just over 5 1/2 hours long; today was nearly eight. That’s a difference in daylight that we can see.

I used to look forward to the cold, dark days of January. It was a good time for relaxing by the fire and working on a big jigsaw puzzle. But I’ve developed an allergy to pine, the only firewood available, so relaxing by a warm fire is out.

I did start to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle of a Van Gogh painting. I made it half way through before the cat pushed a puzzle piece onto the floor for the pup to chew, and by chew, I mean he made it into something that looks like a piece of used chewing gum. Now I can’t decide whether to go ahead and finish the puzzle or not. I only put a puzzle together so that when it’s finished I can spend a few days rubbing my hands across it’s perfectly put together pieces. This one ain’t gonna work for that.

Today there was a wild wind. Youngest son took the dogs on a short walk and came back with his cheeks burning. But tomorrow, the first day of February, will be several degrees above freezing.

It’s too bad the passage of time does nothing for a chewed puzzle piece.