Who Do You Get Your SAS From?

In a very good post at Street Prophets, Rabbi Brian challenged folks:

It often feels easier to be a caretaker for others than to take a good, hard look at myself, acknowledge what it is that I want, and then do it. Also, being "selfless" looks good.

But, to be healthy, functioning adults, we need to put ourselves first. If not we are willingly -- and often unwittingly -- committing violence against ourselves. Putting others first is both exhausting and unfair.

Now, this of course started a very good discussion about the balance in loving ourselves and loving others.

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The Monday Tour: 6/05/06

"Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?", a debate between William Craig and Bart Ehrman (HT: Stand to Reason Blog)

Two folks took on this Washington Post story of a women blaming the politics of the Bush administration for her having an abortion. The first is Melinda with "Bush Made Me Do It" at Stand to Reason Blog
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Kyle at Habakkuk's Watchpost is fascinated by this index on the rapture. Hope springs eternal - but I would start writing my papers.
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Omar at Iraq the Model looks at the "Rumor of the Day" with interesting thoughts on conspiracy theories and new democratic thought.
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Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed in "The Apostle of Grace", his introduction to a summer bible study on Romans, quotes N.T. Wright:

“Romans is neither a systematic theology nor a summary of Paul’s lifework, but it is by common consent his masterpiece.”

Scot is working through Romans this summer. Up to now he has had (after the introduction):

• "The Gospel of Grace"
• "Paul's Prayers for Rome"
• "The Gospel That Makes Things Right"
• "Wrath"

are the 1st five. You can pick up on the series and keep track of it under the Bible Studies category.
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"Christian Carnival CXXIV" highlights:

• Ray at The Bible Archive looks at the "The Condition of Man"
• For those with a philosophic bent, Brian at ChristianThinker.net recommends "The Analytic Theist: An Alvin Plantinga Reader"
• Funky Dung at Ales Rarus is "Investigating NFP [Natural Family Planning]: The Great Embryo Killer?"
• Brendt from Musings of Two-Sheds Gomer continues his "Lies That Will Kill You" series with "Only One Flavor of Fear"
• Dave Taylor looks at the difference between a believer and a disciple in "Second Thoughts on Making Disciples: What Difference Does it Make". In case you haven't read it (I haven't) Dave links the "Lausanne Covenant (1974)" which seems to be the Nicene Creed of evangelicals. Five evangelical churches and I have never seen it though. Huh. Also linked here, "The Manila Manifesto (1989)"
• Wow, what a useful list of Christian definitions (HT: Nerd Family)
• Lingamish wants you to know "The Bible Wasn't Written to You"
• Leslie examines the death of David Sharp on Mount Everest after being declared "Effectively Dead"
• David, the JollyBlogger, examines "Women in Church and the Power Paradigm"

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Rick is the second blogger I ran into on the women that George Bush made have sex
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Next Week?

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50 Ways to Leave Your Lover

The title has little to do with the post - it is just I think of the Paul Simon song every time I read the title of the book my community group is reading. Community Group is the name for an adult Bible study at my new church - and it is a good name. Small groups within a church are where the real community occurs.

The book is John Piper's Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die. Posting the reasons here was inspired by a discussion at Street Prophets that ended up revolving around atonement and the various views of whether it happened (or not) and what it meant (or not). Before that discussion I had thought about posting about the book; and had been mulling over how to do a single post, or a series - and how in-depth I would get. After the discussion, I knew I would - because humans always try to find the main reason - the proper theology - when all of the reasons matter..

The "donut theology" discussion - I think the largest number of comments at Street Prophets yet - highlighted this point linked above:

The death of Jesus is of foremost importance for the world. And the central issue of Jesus’ death is not the cause, but the meaning—God’s meaning . . . John Piper has gathered from the New Testament fifty reasons behind the crucifixion of the Christ. Not fifty causes, but fifty purposes—in answer to the most important question facing us in the twenty-first century:

Why did Jesus suffer and die?
A book review/bible study

These are the chapter titles, and the key verses.

1. To absorb the wrath of God: Galatians 3:13; Romans 3:25; 1 John 4:10
2. To please His heavenly Father: Isaiah 53:10; Ephesians 5:2
3. To learn obedience and be perfected: Hebrews 5:8; Hebrews 2:10
4. To achieve His own resurrection from the dead: Hebrews 13:20-21
5. To show the wealth of God's love and grace for sinners: Romans 5:7-8; John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7
6. To show His own love for us: Galatians 5:2; Ephesians 5:25; Galatians 2:20
7. To cancel the legal demands of the law against us: Colossians 2:13-14
8. To become a ransom for many: Mark 10:45
9. For the forgiveness of our sins: Ephesians 1:7; Matthew 26:28
10. To provide the basis for our justification: Romans 5:9; Romans 3:24; Romans 3:28
11. To complete the obedience that becomes our righteousness: Philippians 2:8; Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9
12. To take away our condemnation: Romans 8:34
13. To abolish circumcision and all rituals as the basis of salvation: Galatians 5:11; Galatians 6:12
14. To bring us to faith and keep us faithful: Mark 14:24; Jeremiah 32:40
15. To make us holy, blameless and perfect: Hebrews 10:14; Colossians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 5:7
16. To give us a clear conscience: Hebrews 9:14
17. To obtain for us all things that are good for us: Romans 8:32
18. To heal us from moral and physical sickness: Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:16-17
19. To give eternal life to all who believe on Him: John 3:16
20. To deliver us from the present evil age: Galatians 1:4
21. To reconcile us to God: Romans 5:10
22. To bring us to God: 1 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 2:13
23. So that we might belong to Him: Romans 7:4; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Acts 20:28
24. To give us confident access to the Holiest place: Hebrews 10:19
25. To become for us the place where we meet God: John 2:19-21
26. To bring the Old Testament priesthood to an end and become the eternal High Priest: Hebrews 7:23-27; Hebrews 9:24-26; Hebrews 10:11-12
27. To become a sympathetic and helpful priest: Hebrews 4:15-16
28. To free us from the futility of our ancestry: 1 Peter 1:18-19
29. To free us from the slavery of sin: Revelation 1:5-6; Hebrews 13:12
30. That we might die to sin and live to righteousness: 1 Peter 2:24
31. That we would die to the law and bear fruit for God: Romans 7:4
32. To enable us to live for Christ and not ourselves: Hebrews 7:23-27; Hebrews 9:24-26; 2 Corinthians 5:15
33. To make His cross the ground of all our boasting: Galatians 6:14
34. To enable us to live by faith in Him: Galatians 2:20
35. To give marriage its deepest meaning: Ephesians 5:25
36. To create a people passionate for good works: Titus 2:14
37. To call us to follow His example of lowliness and costly love: 1 Peter 2:19-21; Hebrews 12:3-4; Philippians 2:5-8
38. To create a band of crucified followers: Luke 9:23; Matthew 10:38
39. To free us from bondage to the fear of death: Hebrews 2:14-15
40. So that we would be with Him immediately after death: 1 Thessalonians 5:10; Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8
41. To secure our resurrection from the dead: Romans 6:5; Romans 8:11; 2 Timothy 2:11
42. To disarm the rulers and authorities: Colossians 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8
43. To unleash the power of God in the gospel: 1 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 1:16
44. To destroy the hostility between races: Ephesians 2:14-16
45. To ransom people from every tribe and language and people and nation: Revelation 5:9
46. To gather all his sheep from around the world: John 11:51-52
47. To rescue us from final judgment: Hebrews 9:28
48. To gain his joy and ours: Hebrews 12:2
49. So that He would be crowned with glory and honor: Hebrews 2:9; Philippians 2:7-9; Revelation 5:12
50. To show that the worst evil is meant by God for good: Acts 4:27-28

Again, these are the chapter titles in the book, and the key verses for each chapter. The book has two pages for each chapter heading; and much more discussion and analysis. Pick up a copy and enjoy.

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Christian Carnival CXXIV (124) is up

The introduction from Jeremy Pierce at Parableman:

This week's carnival progresses through the scriptures, with each post assigned to a different book of the Bible. In some cases, the choice was obvious. In others it might be more of a stretch, or it may be one out of several possible choices. I didn't want to repeat any so as to use as many books as I could, which means some posts may not be with their most obvious pick. Some posts didn't have any obvious choice, so I tried to find the closest I could. With a few I just chose a book actually mentioned in the post, even if that book wasn't central. So on to our tour through the scriptures . . .

About Christian Carnival:

Contributing a Post to the Christian Carnival

The Christian Carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this Carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought.

Posts need not be of a theological topic. Posts about home life, politics, or current events, for example, written from a Christian worldview are welcome.

Update: As the goal of this Carnival is to highlight Christian thought in the blogosphere, entries will be limited to blogs that share that goal. Blogs with content that is focused on a business, that has potentially offensive material Christians may not want to link to on their sites, or has no reference to distinctively Christian thought may not be included in this Carnival. There are other Carnivals that would be a more appropriate venue for that material. I realize that this will be a judgment call on the part of the Carnival administrator, and being human she may make mistakes. However, as the Christian Carnival is getting quite large, and it is sometimes questionable whether the entrants are seeking to promote Christian thought, I find this necessary.

Update: We also expect a level of discourse that is suitable for a Christian showcase. Thus entries may be refused if they engage in name-calling, ad hominem attacks, offensive language, or for any similar reason as judged by the administrator.

So, if you have a post in this framework - go here to find out more: Christian Carnival Participation Instructions.

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