These are quotes which stood out to me, possibly for use in a sermon someday. Their presence here does not mean I agree with them, it merely shows that I might want to reference them later. The default view is five random selections. Use the tag list on the right to view all quotes relevant to that theme.
Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 a throw on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.
The critical scholar is not committed, within the area of his research, to accepting the Church's presuppositions about Jesus, but he should not be committed to accepting naturalistic presuppositions either. If he does accept the latter, then the results of his research will in all probability contradict the beliefs of the Church, but this is because he has begged the question from the start. In examining, for instance, the evidence for the virginal conception [of Jesus], if he begins with the presupposition that such an event is impossible he will end with the same conclusion; if he begins with the presupposition that it is possible he may end with the conclusion that the evidence for it is good or that it is bad or that it is inconclusive. This is as far as scholarship can take him. The Christian will accept the virginal conception as part of the Church's faith. In the rare cases where faith appears to be contradicted by scholarship whose conclusions have not been prescribed from the start, [the critical scholar] may be cast down but will not be destroyed. For he will know how temporary and mutable the conclusions of scholarship essentially are, and he will also be conscious that he himself may not have perfectly comprehended the Church's faith.
SYNCHRONIZE SWIMMING . . . BUT NOT DISCIPLESHIP This edition of e.quipper focuses on equipping the saints through a look at some of the principles presented in Greg Ogden's book, DISCIPLESHIP ESSENTIALS. In conversation this last week, Greg identified three core principles that form the foundation for disciple making. First, disciple making is a relational investment NOT a synchronized program. Classes don't make disciples; only personal investment will. Discipleship is more of a discovery process than a program. If it were illustrated, it would look more like a mosaic than a flowchart. WHAT'S ESSENTIAL? Second, disciple making is about transformation and transformation is the product of three essential ingredients: 1. Vulnerable, open confessional relationships 2. Exposure to truth content 3. Accountability SPREADING THE VIRUS Third, disciple making is fundamentally about reproduction, about spreading the discipleship virus so to speak. This involves training people to disciple others to maturity. The principle is what Greg calls "transferability" and the model he recommends is a peer mentoring model rather than a hierarchical model. This model focuses on discipleship in triads moving strongly away from one-to-one, to individuals inviting two others into a side-by-side relationship as they together walk toward maturity in Christ. For more on discipleship see Greg's DISCIPLESHIP ESSENTIALS: A GUIDE TO BUILDING YOUR LIFE IN CHRIST go to www.gospelcom.net/ivpress/title/toc/1169.html.
Want to know how fast Slammer (a.k.a. Sapphire/SQL Slammer) proliferated? "This worm required roughly 10 minutes to spread worldwide making it by far the fastest worm to date. In the early stages the worm was doubling in size every 8.5 seconds. At its peak, achieved approximately 3 minutes after it was released, Sapphire scanned the net at over 55 million IP addresses per second." Nicholas Weaver and his team at UC Berkeley have a fascinating report on SQL Slammer at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~nweaver/sapphire/
I should either have been less specific or more correct…