Once upon a time, folk would stand in a circle, before an audience, and debate things. No, not Jerry Springer. I’m talking about the Old Days before TV. To establish the grounds for the debate the two folk arguing would first state what they’re arguing for (or against) and then proceed with given statements.
The point they were arguing for (or against) was called The Question. Each of the givens would be the premises which the debater would use as a starting point for his argument.
As my parents got older they started putting away the salt from the table. It wasn’t that they didn’t like the taste it’s that they realized that too much of it was not good for them. They were realizing it was coming out all the time and that their blood pressure was steadily rising. But what I don’t think they noticed is that when they put it away they would slowly, imperceptibly miss it—and even need it back in their bodies. The rise of Calvinism and Charismatic Continuism seems to be doing the same thing.
Someone, either Billy Graham or John MacArthur (can’t remember which) said that “we’ve all milked from the Plymouth Brethren Cow”. Too often people raise the banner of the Plymouth Brethren as a byword to be hissed at because of the damage that has been or is being done (ie: Aleister Crowly, Brian Mclaren, pop-Left-Behindism, etc.). Anyway, I wanted to underline the rich culture found in the Brethren Movement and the way it has benefited the corporate Body of Christ to try to regain some balance. The Brethren Movement was sort of like the Emergents, it wasn’t defined by any denomination and it spread from the ground up. But in stark contrast, the Plymouth Brethren was a Back to the Gospel movement focused on the truth of the Gospel by studying the Bible, adherence to the Lord’s Supper, and preaching the Word to as many as possible. The Movement in English speaking countries has greatly diminished although places like India have seen tremendous growth.
What I’ll do for these features is quote Wikipedia or something similar and link to some good reading, either about them or by them..
Today’s feature: F.F.Bruce. Yeah, He was one of us.
Firefox is fast, plays nicely with the web, and is decent with your computer resources. The new version (Firefox 3) is even better, offering a ton of stuff like an address bar that knows what you’re thinking (or so it seems like it sometimes). But that’s not why Firefox is probably the best browser ever: the perks are in the add-ons.