Social Justice? Social Envy:

Hand in hand with covetousness goes its close companion— invidia or envy—which hates to see other men happy. The names by which it offers itself to the world’s applause are right and justice, and it makes a great parade of these austere virtues. It begins by asking, plausibly, “Why should not I enjoy what others enjoy?” and it ends by demanding, “Why should others enjoy what I may not?” Envy is the great leveler. If it cannot level things up, it will level them down; and the words constantly in its mouth are “my rights” and “my wrongs.” 

--Dorothy Sayers, Letters to Diminished Church, Kindle location 1132.

Here is the truth by what usually names itself "social justice".

First Eggs!!!!

My wife gathered our first eggs from our chickens last evening.  Apparently the Easter-eggers mature a little quicker.  Both eggs are a beautiful light robins egg blue.
UPDATE:  Wed., August 4, 2010:
The eggs, along with two other we harvested yesterday, were delicious scrambled with two slices of bacon.

Do we still believe the Bible is sufficient?

In the past century Presbyterians fought, and ultimately divided, over the inspiration and authority of scripture.  In the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) our commitment has been solidly to the Bible.  That, I believe, is still the case.  However, there is another doctrine regarding scripture that IS JUST AS IMPORTANT -- the sufficiency of scripture.  What does that mean?  It means that the scripture is the only direction that the church needs to accomplish her mission.  How do I you share the gospel?  Go to the Bible.  How do I relate to my fellow believers?  my neighbor?  my enemy?  Go to the Bible.  What ought the church to do when she gathers together?  Go to the Bible and find out.  The Bible is sufficient for all these things, despite being over 2,000 years old, because it is the Lord's message to us.  Is his wisdom sufficient for these things?  Then so is his word.  Without a vigorous commitment to the sufficiency of the Bible, it doesn't matter a whit whether you believe the Bible is infallible or not.  Just as good works reveal the sincerity of one's faith, so living by the Bible gives proof that the church believes the Bible to be authoritative.
Sufficiency is dealt with in the Confession

New Blog in the Blog Roll

Christianbook Distributers has a great blog about Christian books. Particularly useful is their interviews with authors of new titles. Check them out.

P.S. If you're interested, they have a great contest for a set of Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics.

Wealth and Liberty

  It is commonly held that with wealth comes liberty.  I mean liberty or freedom in the classical sense: not so much the existence of choices but the removal of barriers that hinder one's goals.  One can easily imagine that a little more money, a slightly more secure situation, a larger pool of resources could open many doors that currently remain shut.  The doors might not be that obvious.  A liberal education is not cheap.  Certain social circles are hard to break into without the experiences that come with wealth.  Time comes at a price when one lives from paycheck to paycheck.  Philosophers will deny all this, but philosophers have generally come from privileged classes.
  Yet wealth comes with its own chains and burdens.