Wednesday, August 08, 2007
apart from God's amazing Grace:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
Romans 1:18-25
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I'm found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
Labels: amazing, grace
spoke at : 4:38 AM
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The Clash: Day 2
Woke up early.... again.... 6:30. Got a shower.... read from Matthew, then went off to breakfast.
Today I was the "tech help guy", which means I just helped set up the projector. I had to be at the lectures early too. But, it was fun.
The first three lectures were given by Dr. Iain Duguid. The first one was on Science and Theology, and the relationship they share. He got into presupositions and the role they play in the pursuit of science, and how a belief in God was key in that. After a break, he moved on to Intelligent Design (ID). He described the arguments for ID of three men who opposed Darwin and were for ID, then moved on to the limits of ID, the value of ID, and how we (as Christians) should respond to it.
After a break for lunch, we had a group discussion, then went back to hear Dr. Duguid speak on "Techno Sapiens" or genetic manipulation. He compared the difference between healing what is sick and surpassing what is healthy. I didn't completely agree with what he said, but he had some great points. I actually had a more conservative view towards it than he did, but perhaps I'll discuss that later. He ended by saying that we want to be pneuma-sapiens, or "spirit people". People who are "serving Jesus while we wait for His return."
we then went, and played basketball against the Buckley's group. We ended up winning, so it was fun... hahaha... then off to dinner.
After dinner, Nathan Sasser spoke on the Doctrine of Revelation, how God is revealed, or reveals Himself to us. He spoke about both Natural (or General) Revelation and Supernatural (or Special) Revelation. He also went into the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture.
After another short break, Nathan came back to speak on Epistematology, and disproved Descartes' arguments to show that we must start with God as a basis for our knowlege in order to get a correct worldview. (a wordview consisting of 3 elements: God, Self (or Man), and the World) This lecture basically showed that you can't start with Self as the foundation. I wasn't sure about this message and I spoke to Nathan about it later tonight. He was very hmble, and said that I had to hold scripture above anything he said, but that this was the way he understood it. I really like Nathan, he's really humble, and incredibly smart.
I met with my group (again, led bby Brent Detwiler) and we spent much of our time discussing the cannon of scripture (since Nathan didn't have time to go through everything).
I went back to my dorm and went to Steve and Chris's room where we hung out (with Drew) and talked about the lectures. Great times. Tomorrow I'm breakfasting with Steve so we can finish our discussion.
I'm having a great time. There's so much information each day, and we're so busy... but I wish I could get so much more into it. I could probably fill several semesters with these topics. I so wish I could learn more about them. We still have so much more that I'm looking forward to.
But, I'm off to bed. Goodnight. Dan's already asleep. Another early morning....
Wish you all could be here.
spoke at : 9:11 PM
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The Clash: Day 1
Today started early, with the alarms going off at 6:30. I got up, got a shower, had my quiet time, and headed off to breakfast. After breakfast, we had our first session of the day. It was kind of a intro lecture on worldview, given by Nathan Sasser (Jeff Purswell's "uber-intern"). It was really good, but I don't have time to go into it... then we had a short break, and Jeff Purswell jumped in with his first part of his lecture entitled "The Kingdom of God" on Christian worldview. Then we had lunch, then we got together with our discussion groups (mine lead by Brent Detwiler!) and discussed the messages. I have an amazing group. It's been great to get to know them, as little as I do so far.
After that, we went back to hear Jeff Purswell's second part. Then off to play games. My group played kickball.... and we lost... but we would've won if we had more time... we were coming back.... we got off to a bad start... and only played 3-4 innings....
After a shower, we went to dinner... the food isn't that bad here at Messiah College... then off to our next lecture given by Natha Sasser again, about the Doctrine of God. He got into the incommunicable atributes of God, and used God's name for himself to expound on that. (Yaweh... "I AM WHO I AM") It was really good.... and I managed to stay awake.
After another coffe/tea/soda break (where I grabbed a soda for caffine, then realized... and taking my first sip.... that it was caffine free.... so I got tea...) we went to hear our last lecture. Nathan spoke again on Metaphysics. It was very deep and definately made you think. Even though I was half falling asleep from exhaustion, I was engrossed in it. I love all the philosophy and logic that he was using. After Nathan finished, he took some questions, then released us to meet with our groups again.
Well, that's a quick overview of the first (full) day. Tomorrow's like it too, except I have to be at the lectures early to help with the "techy" stuff... So, I'm gonna grab some sleep, since it's going to be so packed. Goodnight.
spoke at : 8:59 PM
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The Clash: Intro (first evening)
A quick note, cause it's late, and I gotta be up at 6:30.
We arrived here, had dinner, then went to orientation. Then we had a ice cream social, and I was bad and ate some.... and I met my discussion group. My leader is Brent Detwiler, and he seemed pretty cool. I was excited to meet him....
So, I met a bunch of new people, and saw a bunch of people that I haven't seen for a while.... fun times.
Anyways, I have to go to bed, but just wanted to update you. I'm having fun so far. Talking to Dan right now (he's in my room)....
So, that's it til tomorrow.... which will be packed.... goodnight.
spoke at : 9:15 PM
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