Comments for Matt Jones' Random Acts of Verbiage

Comment on “Communities of Grace” – Hebrews 12:28-13:9 by Matt Jones

Matt Jones — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:41:02 +0000

Nice, well reasoned addition. Cheers.

Comment on “Communities of Grace” – Hebrews 12:28-13:9 by Landon

Landon — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:42:34 +0000

Your God is an asshole

Comment on N.T. Wright on Blogging: A Christian Ethic by Daryl

Daryl — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:46:33 +0000

This xkcd is so true. Love that comic.

Comment on Judges 19 by Joe Walter

Joe Walter — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:11:18 +0000

For me I have come across many very difficult passages like this when I finally decided to read the entire bible end to end a number of year ago. I realized I was trying to analyze them from a secular perspective and a modern viewpoint. Judged in todays society we would probably assign a life sentence in prison to the owner of the house who treated someone like he did. And no one would deny he didn’t deserve it. But this occurred in a different culture that didn’t have the same biblical values we have today. Within that context and culture it might be perfectly moral for the owner to have made the choices he did. Cutting someone up and sending the pieces elsewhere may not have been inherently evil and simply accepted by the society for whatever reasons.
We must always remember that no matter what passages imply there is always a reason one can find to explain the passages and make it make sense in a world where God loves his creation so much. If we find difficulty we must find a solution. Who wants to be like an atheist who refuse to find any potential good in offering your concubine up for ravishment by an enemy.
In another area of the bible when Jephtha kills his daughter to fulfill a promise to God we also cannot look at this with a modern morality. Human sacrifices in todays society are considered an abomination in all cases but in the time of Jephtha there was no notion of human sacrifices being necessarily evil or wrong. Nothing was said about the morality of Jehptha’s initial promise to potentially sacrifice the first human that walked out of the door of Jephtha’s home. If Jephtha’s society saw human sacrifice for any reason an abomination Jephtha would never have made that promise to God to begin with. But Jephtha’s culture was different and readers of these verses need to be fully aware of that context.

Comment on 6 Year Blogversary! by Kate Brown

Kate Brown — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:28:16 +0000

Sooo, are you free friday?

Comment on The Lonely Forest Lyrics! by Mobile Last.fm

Mobile Last.fm — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:42:52 +0000

[...] wrote: http://www.mattjonesblog.com/the-lonely-forest/the-lonely-forest-lyrics/ May 2010 ZabrinasFM wrote: I can't seem to find the lyrics to this song online anywhere. [...]

Comment on Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis by Peter

Peter — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:50:43 +0000

Hello, please visit my page and listen to the sermons of Scott about Lewis “In His Own

Words”, they are eye-opening! He quotes him from his own books (and so on), showing who

he really was. Its very important, you should listen to!
http://www.4shared.com/dir/NqMKaOV_/Scott_A_Johnson.html
Peter

Comment on 6 Year Blogversary! by Matt Jones

Matt Jones — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:05:26 +0000

Oh, there is no “kinda” about it. I know who I am and am quite fine with it.

Comment on 6 Year Blogversary! by Kate Brown

Kate Brown — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:32:14 +0000

dude your kinda a nerd..i kinda like it

Comment on Lonely Forest at Pickford Dreamspace by YouTube - Lonely Forest @ The Pickford Dreamspace: Are You Afraid?

YouTube - Lonely Forest @ The Pickford Dreamspace: Are You Afraid? — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 15:41:43 +0000

[...] Forest performance at the Pickford Dreamspace. "Are you Afraid of the World" See my blog post: http:/… mattithyahu — August 05, 2006 — A Lonely Forest performance at the Pickford [...]

Comment on Sex! Sex! Sex! by Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage » 6 Year Blogversary!

Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage » 6 Year Blogversary! — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:53:49 +0000

[...] I just realized that last Wednesday, May 19th, was the 6th anniversary of starting my blog! Hard to believe it was that long ago that I started letting my thoughts explode into 1s and 0s on teh interwebs. For good or bad, you’ve got 6 years of my inane verbiage for you to ingest, I wonder how long I will keep this up. My first post, which is largely devoid of content: Why am I here? and another post because I was recently asked about my thoughts on the issue: Sex sex sex! [...]

Comment on Why am I here? by Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage » 6 Year Blogversary!

Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage » 6 Year Blogversary! — Sun, 23 May 2010 06:52:38 +0000

[...] ingest, I wonder how long I will keep this up. My first post, which is largely devoid of content: Why am I here? and another post because I was recently asked about my thoughts on the issue: Sex sex [...]

Comment on N.T. Wright on Blogging: A Christian Ethic by Under One Blog (beta): NT Wright on Blogging

Under One Blog (beta): NT Wright on Blogging — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:03:21 +0000

[...] from NT Wright about physical anger and habits being transferred to the blogsphere. I find his writeup insightful. Thanks Matt for spotting this. Do check out his website for other great blog articles. [...]

Comment on N.T. Wright on Blogging: A Christian Ethic by conrade

conrade — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:32:27 +0000

Matt, Thanks for this highlight. I have included part of your quote of Wright's book on the Regent alumni collaborative blog platform (Under One Blog), and credited you. May I invite you to join this platform. Simply send me an email and I will invite you to be a collaborative blogger. conrade

Comment on On Censoring and Double Standards by Katie L.

Katie L. — Mon, 10 May 2010 03:46:27 +0000

This has been a long standing frustration of mine, probably since middle school. It’s the same thing as schools being able to teach about every religion except Christianity. Completely ridiculous.

Comment on I’ve been saved! by Five Movies Christians Hated « Jesus In Seattle

Five Movies Christians Hated « Jesus In Seattle — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:18:43 +0000

[...] give it a second chance (but I’m not really a Harelson fan). Saved I liked quite a bit (and wrote about here) but came to the same conclusion as you (the ending was lacking). I wish it had been written by [...]

Comment on The Lonely Forest Lyrics! by Logan

Logan — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:31:56 +0000

Hey could you post the lyrics to Kendal’s song, or “KBsong6″ from And the moon be still as bright?

Comment on The Lonely Forest by Craig

Craig — Mon, 03 May 2010 21:17:39 +0000

love it, posted it here too:

http://www.themusicmag.com/music-videos/the-lonely-forest-we-sing-in-time-acoustic-video/

lets help spread the word as they are fantastic.

Comment on N.T. Wright on Blogging: A Christian Ethic by Matt Jones

Matt Jones — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 05:48:09 +0000

Thanks for not using your pseudonym Bill, but if you start swearing around here, feel free to use it.

It appears, at least as he introduces the book, that Wright is not necessarily aiming at saying why Piper is wrong, but why we need a complete view of the context that Paul is writing in, which he would claim Piper and others in the reformed tradition are missing. I am reading it mainly because I want to hear what he has to say about justification.

I do tend to do that, the “I’m with Wright” kind of thing. But I suppose that is because usually I am. I do think that is a little silly, however being able to engage with intelligent discussion should be helpful and edifying. I think these arguments can be, assuming we aren’t just picking a side for the sake of piking a side but actually delving into the subject matter, namely the Bible!

“Paul and his theology firmly rooted in 1st century exilic Judaism.” I think the distinction here between Wright and Piper would be the use of “exilic Judaism”. Two of Wright’s claims relate to this context: the work of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and the use of covenant language. Both of those arguments relate to the Jewish milieu of Paul’s (and Jesus’) time. So I don’t feel this is necessarily about the non-legalistic nature of the culture, but more about covenant expectations. Wright also noted that he wanted to get this argument out because he wouldn’t be focusing on these specific things in the forthcoming edition of Christian Origins centered around Paul. I am sure it will be enlightening… if not long.

One thing I have been really appreciative of is that Wright has, at least so far, really been focused on the nature of justification and salvation. The problem that Wright has seen with some of the reformation tradition is the focus on me and my salvation. That I am justified because I have been saved. And while that is true, Wright wants to bring back a focus on God and His work in the universe of which we are just a bit character.

God made humans for a purpose: not simply for themselves, not simply so that they could be in relationship with him, but so that through them, as his image-bearers, he could bring his wise, glad, fruitful order to the world.

Thanks Cori. I think we have to find a balance between bring critical and being spiteful. What are things that we could say to someone in person vs. things we would only say online? If there is a discrepancy between those things, we might have problems.

Comment on N.T. Wright on Blogging: A Christian Ethic by Cori

Cori — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:53:16 +0000

That’s a great quote. I should probably take it more to heart when I’m writing reviews of books I didn’t enjoy. Something to think about…