Harold Camping is a clever man

Harold Camping has been deservedly subject to ridicule because May 21, much like May 20 and May 22, was notably free from apocalypse. Sometimes, the best way to deal with heretics isn't to argue with them from Scripture, but instead to giggle at their arguments supposedly taken from Scripture. Nonetheless, I give the man credit for how he explained away this present age's stubborn refusal to come to an end: the judgment was "spiritual."

This explanation has some plausibility because most people, including most Christians, tend to think "spiritual" = "having nothing to do with real life." Hence, Christians can be spiritual (i.e., religiously-minded) without having to give God ten percent of their money or one-seventh of their time because time and money are real, and God is spiritual. Contrast that common gnostic attitude, however you see it manifested, with the Apostle Paul's insistence in 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 5 that the spiritual/resurrection body is very much corporeal.

Camping, obviously, is trying to dodge accountability. Still, it's a clever, even an insightful, dodge.

Coffee May Lower Risk Of Deadliest Prostate Cancer

Earlier research suggests coffee reduces the risk of diabetes, liver disease and Parkinson's disease — possibly because of its insulin-lowering effects, its anti-oxidant qualities and other properties, including some yet to be discovered.

Why yes, it's always been about healthy choices for me.

Get thee to a newsstand

The March 2011 issue of First Things included an essay by Timothy George, president of Beeson Divinity School, entitled "Reading the Bible with the Reformers," in which he argued the Bible should be read in dialogue with the Church's historic creeds and confessions, along with the last 200o years of interpretation. Finding this rather standard protestant fare, my only reaction was to wonder how a Baptist can place himself within the broad stream of ecclesiastical consensus. But then, I'm a presbyterian curmudgeon.

Given that I was reading First Things, I should have anticipated the vehement objections registered by several Roman Catholic correspondents in the May issue's letters column. These complained that Protestants cannot have a "churchly hermeneutics" as they do not accept Rome's (supposedly) authoritative magisterium. In a polite reply, Timothy George pointed out theological divisions within Roman Catholicism not only prior to the Protestant Reformation, but today as well, forcefully demonstrating that Rome's recourse to an ecclesiastical authority which stands over the Scriptures has utterly failed to produce anything like a doctrinal consensus.

For once, I cheered on the Baptist. This material is available online, but only to paying subscribers of the print edition. Perhaps you can still find the May issue at better newsstands everywhere.

The end is nigh

From the BBC:

An Israeli couple have named their baby daughter Like, taking inspiration from the Facebook social networking site, Israeli media say.

Apparently, that 2nd word no longer abides

Today, I once again heard someone on the radio say she is "hopeful that" her recent work will help others, and I once again thought how sad it is that the English language lacks a verbal form of the word "hopeful."

(1 Corinthians 13:13, by the way.)

Thanks for Nothing

The band Middle Brother has perfected the melancholically bitter post-breakup song; you can bear witness to this cultural milestone through a live version performed on the World Cafe. It almost makes me wish I were once again a sensitive ponytail guy in my early 20s.

Almost.

Calvin's Institutes, Battles edition: page 310-11 (vol. 1)

As he explores the manners in which man's will acts freely in Book 2 of the Institutes, Calvin turns to Job 1 as a brief, but very helpful, case study of how God, Satan, and man can all be active in the same event "without either excusing Satan as associated with God, or making God the author of evil." (Book 2.4.2)