I’m watching with interest Eric Svendsen’s attempted interaction with Paul Owen. I am sending two large bottles of Advil to Eric as a gift. He’ll need them.
If you are dying to comment on the Caner/Lynchburg stuff, Tom Ascol’s blog has a comments section. I’m actually reading them.
I had a real interesting experience today. Did a 36 mile ride this morning, listening to debate prep materials, and came into the office around lunchtime. Around 2:35pm I see this van pull into the parking lot. A guy gets out, and starts casing the area, trying doors, looking over my bike. He did not know I was watching, obviously. Now, check out this pic of him. OK, he eventually goes back and sits in his van for five or ten minutes, gets out, and heads for my bike. He has something in his hand, but I cannot tell what it is. He jumps a fence and heads around behind our building. He was unpleasantly surprised by yours truly, jumped another fence, ran back to his van and took off. But, check out this picture of him as he walks around one side of the building. Notice something? Yeah. He is wearing a blonde wig. Yup, a wig. The cops found that mighty odd, too. Of course, we had great coverage of the van, too, so they are looking for our visitor. My this has been an odd week.
Finally, a paragraph from Pulpit Crimes. I can think of one or two folks who just cannot seem to resist reading and commenting on my blog who will blow a gasket on this one.
Eisegesis. The reading into a text, in this case, an ancient text of the Bible, of a meaning that is not supported by the grammar, syntax, lexical meanings, and over-all context, of the original. It is the opposite of exegesis, where you read outof the text its original meaning by careful attention to the same things, grammar, syntax, the lexical meanings of the words used by the author (as they were used in his day and in his area), and the over-all context of the document. As common as it is, it should be something the Christian minister finds abhorrent, for when you stop and think about it, eisegesis muffles the voice of God. If the text of Scripture is in fact God-breathed (2 Tim. 3:16) and if God speaks in the entirety of the Bible (Matt. 22:31) then eisegesis would involve silencing that divine voice and replacing it with the thoughts, intents, and most often, traditions, of the one doing the interpretation. In fact, in my experience, eisegetical mishandling of the inspired text is the single most common source of heresy, division, disunity, and a lack of clarity in the proclamation of the gospel. The man of God is commended when he handles Gods truth aright (2 Tim. 2:15), and it should be his highest honor to be privileged to do so. Exegesis, then, apart from being a skill honed over years of practice, is an absolutely necessary means of honoring the Lord a minister claims to serve. For some today, exegesis and all the attendant study that goes into it robs one of the Spirit. The fact is, there is no greater spiritual service the minister can render to the Lord and to the flock entrusted to his care than to allow Gods voice to speak with the clarity that only sound exegetical practice can provide.