Comments for The World Upside Down

Comment on Reformed Confession Club by Is Reformed Theology "Isolationist?" | Heidelblog

Is Reformed Theology "Isolationist?" | Heidelblog — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 00:39:56 +0000

[...] view of the Reformed faith in order to exclude others unnecessarily and wrongly. Jerry Owen, a commentator on Frame’s review asks, “What does Reformed theology look like when it becomes a club with secret code words [...]

Comment on Bright Advent by Getting Ready for Christmas « The World Upside Down

Getting Ready for Christmas « The World Upside Down — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:18:41 +0000

[...] up on my earlier post about observing Advent, Malachi 4:6 calls those who would prepare for the coming of Christ to turn [...]

Comment on Why Communion by jwowen

jwowen — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:34:39 +0000

Here is an official statement just released about the name change: http://www.crechurches.org/documents/statements/2011_CREC_Name_Change_Statement.pdf

Comment on Why Communion by jwowen

jwowen — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 22:39:09 +0000

Agreed, muy importante. But lots of sweat did go into it, though I wasn’t privy to all of it. You would like to know the Presiding Minister of Council is in charge of getting new logo designs. Should I pass your name along?

Comment on Why Communion by peterb

peterb — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:23:43 +0000

Could this be an area where the world does things more biblically than the Church? We have at least two express affirmations in Scripture for how important naming is. Proverbs “a good name is to be chosen rather than riches” and the fact that one of Adam’s first tasks was to name all the animals. I don’t have any specific suggestions here as to name (though Reformed and Evangelical are certainly our two most meaningful descriptors within the context of the broader church), but I do think we should change the process next time we approach the subject. Hopefully we approach the subject again.

Other bodies (businesses, non-profits, etc.) take naming seriously. They have established processes, guidelines, and principles that are spelled out specifically and followed rigorously. They spend money on naming. Books (good books!) are written on the subject and people study the topic. I’m not suggesting the CREC hire a consultant, but we should think more about the process of naming. It’s important!

Comment on Checking Religious Experience by jasonfarleys

jasonfarleys — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:48:43 +0000

Blammo.

Comment on Brief Review of Generous Justice by jwowen

jwowen — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:54:19 +0000

Good question. I remember in Wright’s Surprised by Hope (I think!) he talked about the US forgiving third world debt as an application of Jesus’ resurrection, an odd and largely counter-productive measure. I would need to take a closer look to compare their views. I’ve not read Wright’s more recent book on ethics but likely that would be the place to compare.

Comment on Brief Review of Generous Justice by yodieyoyo

yodieyoyo — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:09:50 +0000

Jerry,

Curious how Keller’s views of “social justice” compare to those of N.T. Wright. Where do Keller and Wright agree and differ in this area?

Thanks,

Brett

Comment on People Don’t Stop Crimes, Guns do by jwowen

jwowen — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 00:11:11 +0000

Many people own guns for protection. Others own them primarily for sport or play. I’m not advocating “guns for everyone!” Those with criminal records etc shouldn’t be allowed to have them. According to John Lott, cited near the end of his article, gun controls laws lead to higher homicide rates:

“Gun-control advocates conveniently ignore that the nations with the highest homicide rates have gun bans. Studies, such as one conducted recently by Jeff Miron at Boston University, which examined 44 countries, find that stricter gun-control laws tend to lead to higher homicide rates. Russia, which has banned guns since the Communist revolution, has had murder rates several times higher than that of the United States; even under the Communists, the Soviet Union’s rate was much higher.”

This makes sense to me. Criminals are always going to be able to get guns. Banning them ensures responsible people who won’t break the law to get a gun will be vulnerable.

Comment on People Don’t Stop Crimes, Guns do by Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:54:44 +0000

I’m sorry, but I think I’m probably too European to understand this whole “I have a right to own a gun thing.” I guess we do not have a gun culture.

Why would you need a gun…to protect yourself I assume. (To make it all a bit easier I’m not talking about the guns used for hunting) Well I have looked up on the internet the intentional homicide rate per 10000 people and again and again I see there are a lot more people being killed in the US then in the European Union. So despite you guys much easier can get a gun, it doesn’t seem to make things much safer. This could be because it’s also much easier to get your hands on a gun for the bad guys?

The history story is nice, but we in Europe have been there as well. In the Netherlands over the years we had to fight the Spanish, the English, the French and the Germans. However we decided that sometimes it is better to hand over some rights, when you are able to save people. In fact we believe, that it is a better way to protect yourself and your children by not allowing guns to be owned by just everyone. So far…our method seems to be showing results. The freedom of owning a gun on the other hand seems to have a high price. Or is there another reason why so many people are killed?