Around the Web and Blogosphere (7/01)

For those of you have spent time on the web you may have found that the doctrine of Penal Substitution has been under attack, particularity by those that hold to the “New Perspective on Paul (NPP). Well here is a site that has articles on the subject: Pierced for Our Transgressions.


Jim over at Old Truth has an article on the issue of patriotism in the church: Will You Be Setting Up Asherah Poles on The 4th? I do not think the issue is whether a Christian should be patriotic or not but where ones ultimate allegiance lies and how that shows itself in the life of the church. As American believers all too often the line between patriotism and being a Christina is blurred so much so that we have statistics that say America is 85% or more Christian. I would have to say if this statistic, which is sometimes a little higher or lower, was true we would be an entirely different nation than we presently are and such things as the issues of abortion would not be an issue. We need to make sure that while we are to pray for and honor our leaders we can not let this cloud our judgment when it comes to our true allegiance, to God.


Along the same lines there is a review of a new book called: Jesus Made in America that going by the review touches on an area that has always bothered me and that is the commercialization and Americanization of Christ. The review says at one point:

"What's fascinating about this book is that it shows how American Christians have been domesticating, commodifying and otherwise trivializing our Lord from the historical outset."

Does it not bother anyone else at the things we in the west will make and by that I am pretty sure Christ would have cursed many a “Christian Bookstore” with what is sold and peddled as “Christian”. I can not speak to the book but it does sound like it should give us something to think about.


There is a debate between Dr. Albert Mohler and Orson Scott Card on: Are Mormon’s Christian? It will be interesting to read how this goes because it would not have been too long ago that Mormon’s would have been arguing as to whether “Evangelicals” were Christian instead of simply wanting to sit at the same table.


Over at Against Heresies there is an interview with Mark Dever: The Faithful Pastor and the Faithful Church: an interview with Mark Dever