Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July 06

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. —I Corinthians 1:21

Devotional:
Philosophy is, consequently, the noble gift of God, and those learned men who have striven hard after it in all ages have been incited thereto by God himself, that they might enlighten the world in the knowledge of the truth. But there is a wide difference between the writings of these men and those truths which God, of his own pleasure, delivered to guilty men for their sanctification.

In the former, you may fall in with a small particle of truth, of which you can get only a taste, sufficient to make you feel how pleasant and sweet it is; but in the latter, you may obtain in rich abundance that which can refresh the soul to the full.

History Repeating Itself

An Altar to the Lord in the Land of Egypt

Judah was going into captivity.  He would be threshed like wheat by Babylon.  He would experience divine punishment for gross contumacy and rebellion against his covenanted Lord.  But the prophet Isaiah, inspired by God Himself, looks forward beyond the captivity to predict with equal certainty the fall and destruction of Babylon in its turn. Then eventually, Babylon would turn to the Lord and worship Him. 

The prophet holds up Babylon's gods to mockery and ridicule. 

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
Their idols are on beasts and livestock;
These things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.
They stoop; they bow down together;
They cannot save the burden,
But themselves go into captivity.
Isaiah 46: 1-2

Thus a perpetuating pattern is displayed.

Letter From America (About Foreign Relations Personality Disorder)

Stop using taxpayer money to aid Egypt's Morsy

By Senator Rand Paul, Special to CNN

July 2, 2013 -- Updated 1635 GMT 

Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy hold sticks and wear protective gear during training outside a mosque in Cairo on Tuesday, July 2. Counterprotests erupted after anti-Morsy demonstrators demanded that Morsy resign and threatened to march on the presidential palace if he doesn't step down Tuesday evening.

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STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Rand Paul: Why is the U.S. supporting Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy?
• Paul: I argued that Morsy is not someone the U.S. should necessarily embrace
• He says despite Egyptians' discontent with Morsy, we continue to give him aid
• Paul: What kind of example do we set when we side with the enemies of freedom?

Editor's note: Rand Paul, a Republican, is a U.S. senator from Kentucky.

(CNN) -- On the one-year anniversary of President Mohammed Morsy's inauguration, tens of thousands of Egyptians marched in the streets of Cairo in an effort to remove him from office.  The Associated Press described the protesters as "an array of secular and liberal Egyptians, moderate Muslims, Christians — and what the opposition says is a broad sector of the general public that has turned against the Islamists."

You would think these protesters represent an Egypt more favorable or in line with American interests. Unfortunately, our government supports the current regime of Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July 05

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; —I Timothy 6:17

Devotional:
And seeing this fault reign in us, they have need of this correction that Saint Paul gives here. For he speaks not of an exhortation that is common to all, but that must precisely serve as a medicine to them that presume under color of their riches, and set themselves aloft, and make no more account of the kingdom of God, being too much given to fleeting and fading things.

Therefore Paul says here not to Timothy, that he should command all men without exception to walk humbly and not to put their confidence in fleeting things of this world, but he will have him exhort the rich man in this matter. And why so? Because they have need.

Simplistic Nostrums Don't Cut It

More Full Than a Craft Beer Bar

Consider the following testimonies.

Citation One:

Feeding the masses will be a problem if the population continues to soar.  The news on the population front sounds bad: birth rates are not dropping as fast as expected, and we are likely to end up with an even bigger world population by the end of the century. The last revision of the United Nations' World Population Prospects, two years ago, predicted just over 10 billion people by 2100. The latest revision, just out, predicts almost 11 billion.

 

That's a truly alarming number, because it's hard to see how the world can sustain another 4 billion people. The current global population is 7 billion. But the headline number is deceptive, and conceals another, grimmer reality. Three-quarters of that growth will come in just one continent: Africa.  The African continent has 1.1 billion people. By the year 2100, it will have 4.1 billion - more than a third of the world's total population. Or rather, that is what it will have if there has not already been a huge population dieback in the region. At some point, however, systems will break down under the strain of trying to feed such rapidly growing populations, and people will start to die in large numbers. 

Citation Two:

Letter From America (About a Paper Constitution)

The Simulacrum of Self-Government

We might as well put the Constitution out of its misery.

By  Mark Steyn 

June 28, 2013 4:30 PM

NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE

Wednesday, June 26, 2013 — just another day in a constitutional republic of limited government by citizen representatives:

First thing in the morning, Gregory Roseman, Deputy Director of Acquisitions (whatever that means), became the second IRS official to take the Fifth Amendment, after he was questioned about awarding the largest contract in IRS history, totaling some half a billion dollars, to his close friend Braulio Castillo, who qualified under a federal “set aside” program favoring disadvantaged groups — in this case, disabled veterans. For the purposes of federal contracting, Mr. Castillo is a “disabled veteran” because he twisted his ankle during a football game at the U.S. Military Academy prep school 27 years ago. How he overcame this crippling disability to win a half-billion-dollar IRS contract is the heartwarming stuff of an inspiring Lifetime TV movie.

Later in the day, Senator John Hoeven, Republican of North Dakota and alleged author of the Corker-Hoeven amendment to the immigration bill, went on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show and, in a remarkable interview, revealed to the world that he had absolutely no idea what was in the legislation he “wrote.”

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July 04

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? —Isaiah 40:18

Devotional:
"To whom then have ye likened God?" The Prophet, as we formerly suggested, does not address merely the men of his own age, but posterity; who would have a still severer contest with the mockeries of the nations whose captives they were, and likewise with bad examples and customs; for when, in consequence of being mingled with heathen nations, they daily beheld many corruptions of piety, it was more difficult for them steadily to persevere.

That they might not entertain any foolish notion that high prosperity attended the worshippers of false gods, the Prophet meets this error, and reminds them that God, whom they and their fathers worshipped, ought not to be compared with the gods of the Gentiles; for these were made by men, and were composed of gold or sliver, wood or stone; but God created all things; and therefore that the highest injury is done to God, not only by comparing his majesty with things of no value, but even by not placing him far above the angels and everything that is reckoned divine, —Commentaries

---

John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Dangerous Times

Where the Real Threats Lie

Several days ago we called attention to our own backyard example of state oppression of one of our citizens.  Mr Dotcom had fallen foul of US authorities because he represents competition for some very powerful US communications and media interests.  Big Hollywood players appealed to the US Vice-President who then concluded that Dotcom was a national security threat. What was a civil dispute suddenly morphed into a threat to national security--a kind of terrorism. 

Within a nano-second big monied interests (donors to politicians) were able to parley protecting private commercial interests into protecting national security.  Dotcom was spied upon, and New Zealand intelligence services became immediate willing parties to the illegal activity (due to our intelligence alliances with the US).  One small problem: the New Zealand intelligence agencies broke New Zealand law. 

Now the New Zealand government wants to change the law under urgency so that extensive spying can take place on any citizen at any time without judicial warrant.

Perspective

Why the Church Needs Cranky, Cynical Historians

Justin Taylor
June 27, 2013

From an older piece by Carl Trueman:

Some years ago, Phyllis Tickle likened Brian McLaren to Luther and the Emergent Church to the kind of paradigm shift that happens only once a millennium. The amazing thing was not that she said this; in a world shaped by the continual escalation of sales rhetoric, this kind of language is to be expected in advertising. No. What was truly amazing was that people actually took her seriously, friend and foe alike. Such people are in urgent need of help to stop them saying or believing things that are very, very silly and absurdly self-important.

Enter the church historians. Any intellectual historian of any merit will tell you that the last 1,000 years in the West have only produced two moments of paradigm shifting significance, and neither of them was the Reformation.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July03

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. —Job 1:1

Devotional:
It is true that we may withhold ourselves from evildoing, and that we may have a fair reputation before men; but that will amount to nothing if we are hypocrites at heart or misrepresent our actions before God, who sees the heart.

What must we do then? We must begin with the heart. And then to have perfect soundness, it is proper that our eyes, our hands, our feet, our arms, our legs, be conformed to this standard; so that in our whole life we may show that it is our desire to serve God, and that this is a sincere desire and not a mere pretense.

More Lastrade than Holmes

Vain "Reconciliations"

There are plenty of professing Christians who, to all intents and purposes, are genuine believers.  But they have chosen to lay aside the first eleven chapters of the Bible as authoritative and divinely inspired.  Why have they done so?  Because they consider rationalistic science to be more inspired and more authoritative than the Bible itself.  When science conflicts with the Bible, the latter must give way. 

Others have sought to "reconcile" the teaching of  both the Bible and science.  They have devised all kinds of ingenious pretexts to make the early chapters of Bible say something other than what they actually do say.  Note, it is always the Bible which has to change under such tortuous procedures, never science. 

This is folly indeed.  We all know that science is not neutral.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Jabba the Hutt With a Thyroid Condition

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Douglas Wilson

Chesterton observed — and why wouldn’t he? — that we drastically misunderstand the nature of our sin and rebellion. We like to flatter ourselves in our discontent, saying that the spirit of rebellion rises up within us because of all the things that are wrong. But the reality is the other way — things go wrong because rebellion has risen up within us.

Satan did not revolt against God because of the grim conditions of Hell. Hell is the result of him revolting against the delightful conditions of Heaven. Adam did not rebel against God because he was tired of living in a slum. No, his children live in slums because he grew tired of living in Paradise. Thus far Chesterton.

Now that history is mixed — good and evil mingled together — we have multiple opportunities to make our confusion on this point more plausible. There are evils present, and so we may readily point at them, but our revolt is actually against the good things that are present. That’s our story, and we continue on our way, sinners in search of plausible deniability.

This is the fundamental difference between radicals and reformers.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July 02

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Reproduced from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: —Philippians 3:8

Devotional:
On the other hand, we know not what it is to part with everything for the love of him, until he has brought us to the test. True it is, that he who has taken off his affection from the goods of this world has already sold all, and has made himself poor, so far as depends on himself; but the fruit and the proof of this spiritual poverty are, patiently to endure the loss of worldly goods, and without any regret, when it pleases our heavenly Father that we should be despoiled of them. I do not set these things before you as to one who is ignorant, or who has need of lengthy remonstrances, but for the love that I bear you, of which God is my witness.

I pray our good Lord that he would so work in you now more powerfully than ever, to make you despise all that is in the world, and to make you breathe upwards direct to him with your whole heart, without being turned aside by anything whatsoever, making you taste what is the worth of the hope which he reserves for us in heaven;

When Ideology Becomes A Cataract

Blindingly Obvious

The Child Youth and Family ("CYF") division of the Ministry of Social Development has a chequered history.  It is despised by many, hated by some.  Here is the latest outrage:

A Child, Youth and Family caregiver beat children in his care, called them ''peasant'' and ''charity kid'', and told them ''whatever happened in the home stayed in the home''. Peter Wayne Purcell was employed by the Heretaunga Maori Executive in Hastings, which was contracted to the CYF Service to care for children and young people from difficult backgrounds and those before the courts. In Napier District Court this morning Purcell, 54, pleaded guilty to three representative charges of assaulting three boys aged between 10 and 14 in 2010 and 2011.

 The specific assaults for which Mr Purcell has been convicted are:

One of the Greats

Flannery O’Connor Reads “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”

Justin Taylor
June 24, 2013

On April 22, 1959, the 34-year-old southern novelist and short-story writer Flannery O’Connor visited Vanderbilt University and read her best-known story, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” first published in 1955:



When she gave a reading of this story at Hollins College in Virginia on October 14, 1963—just 9 months before she died from complications of lupas—she prefaced it with some remarks.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

July 01

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: —I Thessalonians 3:12

Devotional:
He who forbids the character of our brother to be bespattered with falsehood wills also that as far as the truth will permit, it be preserved immaculate. For although he only guards it against falsehood, he thereby suggests that it is committed to his charge. But this should be sufficient to induce us to defend the fair character of our neighbor—that God himself is its protection. Wherefore detraction is without doubt universally condemned.

This commandment also extends so far as to forbid us to affect a pleasantry tinctured with bitter sarcasms, severely lashing the faults of another under the appearance of sport; which is the practice of those who aim at the praise of raillery, to the prejudice of the modesty and feelings of others. For such wantonness sometimes fixes a lasting stigma on the characters of our brethren.

More Contradictions Than Oxymoronia

A Devolved Human Being

Consider the following statement by Jacques Monod, reacting to unfaithful Christians who have embraced "theistic evolution".  Monod is a Nobel Prize recipient in molecular biology and an atheist.  He both points the finger at one of the stumbling stones in theistic evolution theories and manages to self-condemn at the same time.  Not a bad effort.  Two for the price of one.

No Surprises Here

Extreme media bias in favour of same-sex “marriage”

Posted on | June 25, 2013 by J.C. von Krempach, J.D.

From Turtle Bay and Beyond

 

In a report released last week, the Pew research center exposes an overwhelming media bias in favour of same-sex “marriage”. The bias probably is even much stronger than indicated by the diagram reproduced above, given that reports where statements in favour outweighed statements against by a ratio of 2:1 were still considered a “neutral”.

Note the disproportion between the opinions expressed in the media and the public opinion as determined by opinion polls. Are we all being brainwashed?

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

June 29

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. —Isaiah 55:1

Devotional:
So, because the Apostles have sent us to Jesus Christ, and have declared to us that it is to him we must look, and since he also invites us so sweetly to himself, saying, "Come unto me," let us not hang back or go wandering away; let us approach him boldly. For he did not say that for the prophets alone, or for the apostles and martyrs, or for the virgin Mary; but he wants to keep us all to himself, as also it is very necessary for us.

Keeping Perspective

The Greater Treachery

Ad hominem attack is mounting upon Edward Snowden.  Apparently he conspired from the get-go to infiltrate the government spy agencies and exfiltrate information and data.  A local blogger had this to say:

So let's put aside the fantasy of Snowden being some sort of caped crusader, fighting for truth and justice; he is anything But. He made a deliberate and conscious decision to take up a job with the pre-meditated intention of stealing data and releasing it publicly. We reckon that this will harden people's attitudes towards Snowden. He is a spy, just like those that he is trying to vilify. He has certainly forfeited the moral high ground.

It has been reported that the US Government has cancelled Edward Snowden's passport, so that he cannot legally enter Russia, nor can he go anywhere else legally. Perhaps 10 years "incarceration" in the transit lounge of a Russian airport might give Snowden the opportunity to reflect on his treachery and deceit.

Treachery and deceit.  Well, it seems to us that such a petard would hoist all whistleblowers.

German Public Health Dangers

“Anti-Discrimination” policies always were ridiculous. But now they turn into a serious danger.

Posted on | June 25, 2013 by J.C. von Krempach, J.D.

Turtle Bay and Beyond

 

The fight against “discriminations” reaches a new extreme in Germany, where the Bundesärztekammer (BÄK), a body representing the country’s healthcare professionals, has proposed to abolish a ban against homosexuals to act as blood donors. The BÄK announced its intention to work towards the lifting of this prohibition, which it described as “discriminatory”.

The ban has, however, an objective reason: it is the fact that “men having sex with men” ("MSM")  are 100 times more likely than other people to carry HIV. Indeed, when HIV/AIDS first emerged in the 1980s, it was mainly through homosexuals that the virus spread, and contrary to Africa, where it affects much wider spheres of the population, in Europe and the US it still remains a disease with a nearly exclusive link to male homosexuality.

Is this “discriminatory”? It is one of the most remarkable successes of the gay lobby that it still is allowed to frame HIV/AIDS as an issue related to “LGBT discrimination”, just as if it was unfair for the virus to befall them rather than anyone else.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

June 28

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. —Zechariah 13:9

Devotional:
After the greater part, both of the world and of the Church (at least such as profess to belong to it) shall be destroyed, we cannot be retained in our position, except God often chastises us.

Let us then remember what Paul says, that we are chastened by the Lord that we may not perish with the world; and the metaphors which the Prophet adopts here are to the same purpose; for he says, "I will lead them through the fire." He speaks here of the faithful whom God has chosen unto salvation, and whom he has reserved that they might continue safe; yet he says that they shall be saved through fire, that is, hard trials.

But he sets forth this still more clearly, "He will prove them," he says, "as silver and gold."

Hollow Progress

 In Need of Mercy

Christians believe in progress.  For good reason.  They believe in things getting better because they believe in God, Who is the Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer of all things.  In other words, the Christian view of progress is decidedly non-secular. 

Redemptive history reveals at the earliest beginnings that without God, human history becomes a maelstrom of self-destructive evil.  The covenant God subsequently made with Noah assures us that never again would He permit evil to become universally regnant upon the earth.  Progress becomes at least possible in a world where evil is constantly being restrained from its worst excesses.

Secondly, the Bible declares God's providential control and sustenance of His creation.  He loves what He has made, and hates the despoilation wrought by wickedness.  He feeds the animals and cares for them.  He sets boundaries for the sea.  He brings the life-giving sequence of the seasons. 

Thirdly, He has settled the reign over all things upon His Son, Who has come into human history to cast out the Devil and destroy all his works.  This gives a certain assurance of historical progress.

Letter From Turtle Bay (About Russia)

Russia adopts model adoption law

Posted on | June 20, 2013 by J.C. von Krempach, J.D. 

Turtle Bay and Beyond

New law protects all children in Russia against gay adoption and other forms of human trafficking 

Reacting to the disturbing fact that some Western countries have put in to place legislation that under the pretext of a “right to adoption” makes it possible to hand over innocent children to homosexual couples, Russia has enacted a new law that makes sure that such a thing cannot happen to Russian children. Under this law, Russia will prohibit adoption by foreign couples whose homeland recognizes same-sex “marriage”, as well as by single people or unmarried couples. The Duma adopted the law unanimously.

Often criticised for its poor human rights record, Russia appears to be turning into a flagship for the protection of innocent children against moral corruption.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

June 27

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, —II Timothy 2:14, 15

Devotional:
And therefore when any of us comes to a sermon, let it not be to hear some pleasant matter and to have our ears tickled and to have the preacher make flowery discourses; but let us do it to grow in the fear of God and humbleness, and stir us up to call upon him and to confirm ourselves in patience.

And so, if we have heard one exhortation today and hear the same tomorrow again, let us not think it needless, let us not be grieved at it; for if every one of us will rightly examine himself, he shall perceive that he is far wide, and has not remembered his lesson well to practise it aright. This it is that we have to note in this place, when Saint Paul says, "Put them in mind of these things." —Sermons

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Means of Grace

Breaking Down Paganism

Tertullian on church charitable capacities at the beginning of the Third Century, AD.

"There is no buying or selling of any sort of things of God.  Though we have our treasure chest, it is not made up of purchase money, as of a religion that has its price.  On the month day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he is able; for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary.  These gifts are, as it were, piety's deposit fund.  For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking bouts, and eating houses [as was the case in pagan religious meetings and temples], but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls of destitute means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in prisons for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God's Church, they become the nurslings of their confession."  [Tertullian, Apology, Chapter 39.  Cited in Rodney Stark, The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion (New York: Harper One, 2011), p. 113.]

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

Like Watching a Hummingbird Fly

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Douglas Wilson

As previously mentioned, here is my second installment on chapter two of Coyne’s book. As this chapter makes apparent, long stretches of time are essential to the project of evolutionary hand-waving, a process whereby impossible things are made more plausible to us by having them happen very, very slowly. Don’t think I can walk across that swimming pool? Watch this as I inch my way out there. Bet I can do it if a spend three months at it. Time fixes all implausibilities.

Going with Coyne’s figure of 600 million years of evolution in 4th gear, after leaving out those halcyon days of one-celled organisms just bobbing about, not to mention the subsequent time of the eukaryotes (p. 28), and not messing with leap years, we come up with, using a simple arithmetical process, 219,000,000,000 days available for evolution. Roll that around in your mind for a moment. All the marvels that evolution has wrought were accomplished in a matter of countable days. This has ramifications.

I said earlier that I was going to be offering a variation on Haldane’s Dilemma, but before getting to my version, let my brother Gordon (the scientist) explain Haldane.

Calvin's Daily Devotional

Daily Devotional

June 26

Thine Is My Heart: Devotional Readings from the Writings of John Calvin

by John Calvin (compiled by John H. Kromminga)
Republished from the OPC Website

Bible Text:
And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. —Zechariah I:19

Devotional:
If then we neglect not these helps which God affords us, and especially if we ask him to guide us by his Spirit, there will certainly be nothing obscure or intricate in the prophecies, which he will not, as far as it is necessary, make known to us.

He does not indeed give the Spirit in an equal degree to all; but we ought to feel assured that though prophecies may be obscure, there will yet be a sure profit derived if we be teachable and submissive to God; for we find that Zechariah was not deprived of his request, as the angel gave him an immediate answer. —Commentaries

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John Calvin was the premier theologian of the Reformation, but also a pious and godly Christian pastor who endeavored throughout his life to point men and women to Christ. We are grateful to Reformation Heritage Books for permission to use John Calvin's Thine Is My Heart as our daily devotional for 2013 on the OPC Web site. You can currently obtain a printed copy of that book from Reformation Heritage Books.

Legitimate Concerns

John Key, Smiling Leviathan

New Zealand is in the middle of its own public controversy over government snooping into the affairs of private citizens.  It would probably have been a storm-in-a-teacup affair were it not for the Snowden expose of US, British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand world-wide electronic surveillance causing so much disquiet in the United States.

But New Zealanders can now conceive of the risks in a concrete manner.  It has moved from the potential to the actual.  With the NZ government trying to amend the  the Government Communication and Security Bureau ("GCSB") spy agency law to plug some loopholes right at this moment, the spotlight has been switched on.  Will the GCSB end up doing what the US spy agencies have been doing--which is collecting digital data on its own citizens containing their private messages--with no probable cause whatsoever?

At the outset, let us be clear.  On this matter we simply do not trust our Prime Minister, John Key.

Douglas Wilson's Letter From America

That’s A Rabbit, You Doofus

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Douglas Wilson

Comes now chapter two of Jerry Coyne’s book, called Written in the Rocks. It will take a post or two to deal with this chapter, so patience, all of you.  My first post will address the structure of his argumentation, and later I will look at the time involved in all this — my own variation on what is called Haldane’s Dilemma.

First, we may take as an indicator of how Coyne represents data generally by how he represents the position of his adversaries. He refers to the “creationist prediction that all species must appear suddenly and then remain unchanged” (p. 32). As stated, this is simplistic and wrong, and when he tries to qualify it a moment later, he misrepresents even as he qualifies.

“Even some creationists will admit that minor changes in size and shape might occur over time — a process called microevolution — but they reject the idea that one very different kind of animal or plant can some from another (macroevolution)” (pp. 32-33)

It is not “some creationists admit that changes might happen.” It is all creationists insist changes have happened. Variation within kinds, including significant variation, is not something that any competent creationist denies. Indeed, it is an essential part of the creationist model.

That said, here is the problem with the structure of Coyne’s argument.