Ever heard those stories about Calvin killing Servetus?

To bring some balance and historical truth to the mythical nature of Calvin killing Servetus, James Swan put together a list of interviews concerning John Calvin by Calvin experts. These interviews are in MP3 format and free for download.

Go to Calvin and Servetus Revisited to find out more.

The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do

"Gunny" Hartman, from SEMPER REFORMANDA, has been doing a series of blog posts on Mark Atteberry's book, The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do.

Based on Gunny's review, I already like the book.

So, what are those 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do?

• Dumb Move #1: Slinging Mud on the Bride of Christ
• Dumb Move #2: Winning People to the Church Rather Than to the LORD
• Dumb Move #3: Living Below the Level of Our Beliefs
• Dumb Move #4: Speaking Above the Level of Our Knowledge
• Dumb Move #5: Hopping from Church to Church
• Dumb Move #6: Fighting Among Ourselves
• Dumb Move #7: Missing Golden Opportunities
• Dumb Move #8: Settling for Mediocrity
• Dumb Move #9: Allowing Wolves to Live Among the Sheep
• Dumb Move #10: Accepting the Unacceptable

Gunny finished this series on 8 September 2009.

Mark Atteberry's book can be purchased here and here.

NCT Friday: Summarizing New Covenant Theology - Part 2

This post a a continuation of the previous one.

Summarizing New Covenant Theology (Part 3)

A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology
A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology (Part 2)
A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology (Part 3)
A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology (Part 4)
A Bird's Eye View of New Covenant Theology (Part 5)

First NCT Friday.

Christian book store sales people selling what they don't know

I dropped into a local Christian book store today just to browse around.

As I came to the Bibles section I overheard one of the store's sales people, a young guy, trying to tell a boy of about 16 and his mother about the different Bible translations.

I stood there for a few minutes listening in on his advice as to why they should buy one translation over another. For a moment or two I was quite stunned at what I heard.

The young boy asked the salesman about the ESV, just to be told that in the ESV and other more modern translations some words have been left out. At this point I jumped into the discussion just to help this poor boy and his mother out of the big hole they have been dumped into by this salesman.

I firmly believe that the salesman had no clue what he was talking about, read a couple of internet sites that claimed that modern translations leave words out and believed it! He referred to the KJV and the NKJV as the better translations based on his internet research.

The problem with the Bibles section in any Christian bookstore is that you cannot have a salesman like this with just a little bit of knowledge. He knows just enough to cause serious damage.

Each Christian bookstore should have a resident, trained person who understands the different translations, and not just the translations, but should have a strong understanding of the theory of Bible translation and of manuscript transmission.

If you do not know the product you are selling, you end up causing more problems than solving any. The same goes for the Bibles section in a Christian bookstore.

A couple of books I can recommend are:

The King James Only Contoversy, James R. White – Purchase: Amazon, Kalahari.
The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th Edition), Bruce M. Metzger – Purchase: Amazon, Kalahari.
The Word of God in English, Leland Ryken – Purchase: Amazon, Kalahari.
How to Choose a Bible Version (Revised), Robert L. Thomas – Purchase: Amazon, Kalahari.