🎯 By definition supernatural truths are not able to be deduced/inferred from "nature's garden." Junius is so good on this:

I am saddened to learn that my former @SBTS professor, Dr. James Parker, passed away last night. Dr. Parker had an extraordinary academic pedigree. He studied at Baylor, Trinity, Princeton, Basel, and Johns Hopkins, and he delighted in pointing out that he could trace his academic lineage through generations of teachers all the way back to John Calvin. What made this even more endearing was how lightly he wore all of it. While many of his colleagues built substantial publishing careers, Dr. Parker often joked that one of his great contributions to scholarship was a 2001 Baptist Press article about Santa Claus. He could trace his academic lineage to Calvin, but he was far more likely to tell you a funny story than to remind you of his credentials. During my years as a student at Southern Seminary, Dr. Parker became a regular part of my life. I joined his shepherding group as an M.Div. student—admittedly, in part because I had heard he took his students to a very nice Brazilian steakhouse at the end of the semester. Later, during my doctoral studies, I worked in the School of Theology, and it was almost guaranteed that Dr. Parker would stop by for an hour or more to talk and tell stories. He seemed to know nearly every significant evangelical figure of the twentieth century, and his stories about them were endlessly entertaining. Dr. Parker also somehow convinced the dean to let professors eat in the seminary dining hall for half price, which meant that over my five years as an on-campus student, I shared literally hundreds of meals with him. He taught one of my doctoral colloquium, but some of the most important things I learned from him came outside the classroom. Dr. Parker taught me, among other things, not to take myself too seriously. For several years I lived at the Duck and Goose, a house long associated with men preparing for ministry at Southern. Dr. Parker told me that years earlier the men there had hosted professors for dinner, and he encouraged my roommates and me to revive the tradition—with the understanding, of course, that he would be the first professor invited. We gladly obliged and hosted him several times. I am grateful for the classes, the meals, the long conversations, the stories, and the friendship. Southern Seminary has lost one of its great characters, and I will miss him.

Every substance seeks the preservation of its on being. Sed contra: my two year old son. I answer: I had five daughters and I believed this principle. Then, I had a son. I am convinced my son violates this principle multiple times a day.

JUST IN: Elon Musk unveils the Tesla Roadster by launching it off a ramp before the car flipped in midair and safely landed on the ground. The car is a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX. One of the most insane things I've ever seen.

🔊 We kick-off a new series beginning Monday, October 19th featuring interviews with Dr. Guy Waters, @PastorPerks @PatAbendroth, Dr. Steve Wellum & @kdclaunch 🔗’s to Apple, Spotify, & YouTube in comments👇🏽

I am a death penalty advocate. In fact, I might even be a maximalist in terms of making it an eligible penalty for more crimes. But the overly clinical, medically sanitized nature of modern capital punishment is a mistake and, in some shape or form, even more deceptively cruel because it attempts to mask what the state is justly doing—killing. Bring back what is efficient and works: hanging and firing squads.

September 22nd, 2007: #2 LSU runs a fake field goal to perfection vs #12 South Carolina #GeauxTigers

Very grateful to have been able to contribute to the latest edition of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology (30.1). Article linked below.

I reread this every year. I cry like a baby every year. Todd Beamer died a father, husband, and hero. Todd: Hello… Operator… listen to me. I can’t speak very loud. This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco. Our plane has been hijacked. Lisa: I understand. Can they see you? Todd: No. There are three that we know of. They have knives — razor knives, like box cutters. Someone announced from the cockpit there was a bomb. It sounded fake. Lisa: Your name?Todd: Todd Beamer. United Flight 93.Todd: They killed one passenger in first class. They forced most of us back. Fourteen of us here. Five flight attendants. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor. Lisa: Are you okay? Todd: We’re going down… wait. No. We’re leveling off. We changed directions. We’re flying east again. Todd: A guy named Jeremy called his wife. She told him two planes hit the World Trade Center. Lisa, is that true? Lisa: I have to tell you the truth. It’s very bad. Both towers are gone. A third plane hit the Pentagon. Our country is under attack. I’m afraid your plane may be part of their plan. Todd: Oh God. Lisa, will you do something for me? Call my wife and my kids. Promise me you’ll call. Lisa: I promise. Todd: Our home number is… You have the same name as my wife. Lisa. We’ve been married ten years. She’s pregnant with our third child. Tell her I love her. I’ll always love her. We have two boys — David, he’s 3, and Andrew, he’s 1. Tell them their daddy loves them and he is so proud of them. The baby is due January 12th. I saw an ultrasound. We still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy. Lisa: I’ll tell them. I promise, Todd.(Lisa patches in the FBI.) Agent: Todd, your plane is on a course for Washington. Best guess is the White House or the Capitol. Todd: I understand. I’ll be back. Todd: Everyone knows this isn’t a normal hijacking. We have decided we will not be pawns in their plot. Lisa: What are you going to do? Todd: Four of us are going to rush the one with the bomb. Then the cockpit. A stewardess is getting boiling water. We’ll take them out. Todd: Would you pray with me?They pray the Lord’s Prayer. Then: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Todd: God help me. Jesus help me.Are you guys ready? Let’s Roll.

Thomas Aquinas on the nature of Islam from the beginning: “The point is clear in the case of Muhammad. He seduced the people by promises of carnal pleasure to which the concupiscence of the flesh goads us. His teaching also contained precepts that were in conformity with his promises, and he gave free rein to carnal pleasure. In all this, as is not unexpected, he was obeyed by carnal men. As for proofs of the truth of his doctrine, he brought forward only such as could be grasped by the natural ability of anyone with a very modest wisdom. Indeed, the truths that he taught he mingled with many fables and with doctrines of the greatest falsity. He did not bring forth any signs produced in a supernatural way, which alone fittingly gives witness to divine inspiration; for a visible action that can be only divine reveals an invisibly inspired teacher of truth. On the contrary, Muhammad said that he was sent in the power of his arms [weapons]—which are signs not lacking even to robbers and tyrants. What is more, no wise men, men trained in things divine and human, believed in him from the beginning. Those who believed in him were brutal men and desert wanderers, utterly ignorant of all divine teaching, through whose numbers Muhammad forced others to become his followers by the violence of his arms. Nor do divine pronouncements on the part of preceding prophets offer him any witness. On the contrary, he perverts almost all the testimonies of the Old and New Testaments by making them into fabrications of his own, as can be seen by anyone who examines his law. It was, therefore, a shrewd decision on his part to forbid his followers to read the Old and New Testaments, lest these books convict him of falsity. It is thus clear that those who place any faith in his words believe foolishly.” —Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles I.6

Today is a good day to share @chill1956’s great answer to this question about scholarship and inerrancy.