This 'n' That

Last night I attended a debate between Dr. Albert Mohler and Jim Wallis. The topic? Is Social Justice an Essential Part of the Mission of the Church? Needless to say, it was a fascinating dialogue to watch. As soon as the video is available, I'll link to it here. If you'd like to see a running commentary from those who were watching online, you can visit this Twitter stream. The debate did prove to be a bit maddening, as Wallis grounded his argument in proof-texting and personal anecdotes (with quite a bit of name-dropping). Mohler, unsurprisingly, grounded his position in Scripture, and did so accurately. It was a blessing to watch Dr. Mohler patiently address the issue, and even more wonderful to hear him proclaim the true Gospel over and over. That was perhaps the saddest part of the evening, as it became abundantly clear that Wallis and Mohler each defined the word "gospel" differently, and of course they cannot both be right. It was absolutely tragic to watch Wallis, a man who is considered by some to be one of this country's Christian leaders, absolutely misunderstand the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the risk of dating myself, a well known quote from an 80s cult classic movie kept coming to mind and I wanted to say to Wallis, "Gospel. You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." However, there was certainly ample opportunity to hear the true Gospel last night from Dr. Mohler, so we ought to be praying that Jim Wallis would soon have ears to hear.

On that note, I know I'm quite late with today's post, but "better late than never" certainly applies, so here's your week in review (kind of):

• Speaking of Al Mohler, he commented on Osteen's recent statements regarding Mormonism. Mohler asks the question: Does Joel Osteen Not Know, or Does He Not Care?

• The pope is calling for a central world bank. Wait a minute, didn't he do this two years ago? When do you think he's going to realize that he's not the world's go-to financial authority? Seriously, though, are we really surprised that the world is moving in this direction? Depending especially upon your hermeneutic of Revelation, such proposals and potential advances should not be surprising.

• Here's a detailed article by Pastor Larry DeBruyn on "binding and loosing."

•  The Girl Scouts will now be accepting transgendered children on a case-by-case basis. Well, they finally lost my Thin Mint business.

• Freedom of the Will and the Five Finger Death-Punch of Theology (I love the Cripplegate just for their post titles alone!)

• The Sola Sisters (Christine Pack and Cathy Matthews) were on Stand Up for the Truth earlier this week to share their testimonies.

• Apprising Ministries shares an encouraging devotional.

• *Sigh*... a literal circus church.

• The Dead Sea Scrolls are now online. This is very exciting for this archaeology nerd. I only wish I knew Hebrew.

• Here's your extra Cripplegate for the week: We Do Not Preach Ourselves.

• How to awaken a dead and unregenerate church: