David Westerfield

Is Social Media Bad For Our Souls?

On April 19, 2009

A couple of articles from Carl Trueman and one article sent to me by a friend from Justin Taylor’s blog, quoting another article, all do a great job of helping us consider what we’re using social media for. Are we merely making exhibitions of ourselves, using these tools to become our own personal marketers to make us feel like we belong somehow or to draw attention to ourselves because … well, we just think we’re that great? Or in the context of Christianity, are we using it to make God look good or promote and make ourselves look good instead (that whole messy idolatry thing, exchanging the glory of God for anything else)? These articles are seriously making me take a step back and consider what I do with social media, because I surely know I’m not guiltless in how I use these things.

No Text Please, I’m British! (Archive) – Carl Trueman, Reformation21.org

Making Exhibitions of Ourselves (Archive)- Carl Trueman, Reformation21.org

Twitter: The Telegraph of Narcissus (Archive) – Justin Taylor, theologica.blogspot.com

Faith Implies Certainty – Calvin

By David Westerfield

On April 18, 2009

In Apologetics, Christian Culture, Culture, Theology

This is a “prophetic” word from Calvin out of the Institutes related to the postmodern sensibilities of Western Christianity. I’m not implying Calvin was speaking directly against postmodernism itself as a formal philosophy, as it had not yet been articulated, but this certainly does speak against its core tenets asserted today, to be sure. And I would say that ultimately, postmodernism, within the setting of Christianity, leaves a person without certainty that they will be accepted before God, which is exactly what Calvin explains in this section. The reason for this is because if you have no certainty and a house built on solid rock, ultimately, you will try and pick up the slack of uncertainty through your own deeds, works and effort in order to please God, which oddly enough, is what we see happening with many (though not all) postmoderns in the focus of various ministry focal points (i.e. deeds versus creeds).

Tim Keller on MSNBC

By David Westerfield

On April 17, 2009

In Christian Culture, Culture, Politics, Theology, Video

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

What is a Disciple? – Voddie Baucham

By David Westerfield

On April 17, 2009

In Christian Culture, Theology, Video

David, the Bread of Presence and the King of Glory

By David Westerfield

On April 17, 2009

In Scripture, Theology

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. – 1 Samuel 21:1-6

Insightful Emails I Receive

By David Westerfield

On April 16, 2009

In Personal

“Subject: Ever Think About a Different Domain Name?

Message: You know that David Westerfield is also the name of a convicted child raping murderer on death row at San Quentin? It was a huge case 6 or 7 years ago. Just a little ‘Fun-fact’ for you to chew on. Keep on keepin’ on.”

With all due respect … nooooo, really? It’s not as if I haven’t done a Google search on my name before 🙂

My response:

“Trust me, I’m very well aware of it 🙂 thanks for letting me know though … and no, I’m not changing my site name, haha :)”

I get quite a bit of traffic just from people searching that name and stumbling across my site actually … it’s a traffic driver. Why would I change it? 🙂

What is Reformed Theology? An Overview

By David Westerfield

On April 16, 2009

In Theology

The below quote is taken from Monergism.com‘s section entitled An Overview of Reformed Theology.

“Reformed theology…

presupposes God’s Word alone as our ultimate authority.
stresses the sovereignty of God, that is, His reign over all things, meticulously determining (Eph 1:11) all that comes to pass (i.e. God is never taken by surprise).
ephasizes a Christ-Centered proclamation of the gospel, that salvation is wholly of God, by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone as revealed in the Scripture alone to the Glory of God alone.
views the Bible as a redemptive-historical organic unfolding of revelation which is structured by three covenants (redemption, works and grace).

It goes without saying that those in the Reformed Tradition hold to the doctrines of grace (the five points of Calvinism), man’s helpless condition apart from Christ, the necessity of evangelism and the work of the Holy Spirit who (monergistically) quickens the dead to life through the preaching of the word as God turning their heart of stone to flesh, and opening their eyes to the excellencies of the gospel (uniting them to Christ). In other words, RT stresses the way the objective, written Word together with the inner, supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit work together. For the Word without the illumination of the Holy Spirit remains a closed book. We (the church) cast forth the seed of the gospel and the Holy Spirit germinates it, so to speak, with the blood of Christ bringing forth life in people from every nation, tribe, language, and people (Rev 14:6). RT traces its historical and theological lineage back to the theology of Christ, Paul, Augustine and to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century.”

A few links with summed up statements concerning Reformed Theology:

A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith – B.B. Warfield
Reformation Essentials – Michael Horton

Colbert Takes Ehrman to Task

By David Westerfield

On April 13, 2009

In Apologetics, Funny, Theology, Video

Just a warning: being the equal opportunity offender he is, there are a couple of parts in these videos where it sounds like Colbert is mocking the claims of inerrancy and in addition makes some off-the-wall comments (it is Colbert after all). But nevertheless, he surprisingly makes some good (hilariously glaring) points and even pushes Ehrman a bit on his claims. Seems like maybe Ehrman is getting frustrated in portions of the videos? Not positive on that, but you’ll just have to watch and see for yourself.

Colbert “vs.” Ehrman (2006)

A Position Based Purely on Emotions

By David Westerfield

On April 12, 2009

In Apologetics, Culture, Theology

Quoting anonymously from the The Shack Facebook group, discussing my post found here, someone said in response to the person who posted my article as a discussion point: “____, I read a portion of your link and after about 7 paragraphs of beating around the bush and Paul-bashing, I quit. Why? Because I loved the book and I’m not going to let anybody’s negative comments ruin my experience in reading it. Why don’t you just stop busting our chops and give up? Most people love it; some don’t. We agree to disagree. End of debate.”

Ahh, pure intellectual integrity. Haha, Paul bashing? (Paul Young of course) Right. You decide. Instead of working through the difficulty of beliefs (or rather denials) that can lead people to hell when accepted, it seems some are content to just shut you out of the conversation altogether instead of seriously and honestly engaging any kind of debate because of what the book has done for them, at least emotionally speaking. Since when did the individual become the standard-bearer and authority on what’s truth or not? They just don’t want to talk about any criticism of it, even if it’s a legitimately serious issue concerned with none other than the very Gospel itself by which one is saved.

The American Dream Versus The Gospel

By David Westerfield

On April 12, 2009

In Culture, Theology

¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But [Jesus] said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” ¹⁶And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, ¹⁷and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” – Luke 12:13-21

There is a gospel that is proclaimed loudly everyday from the rooftops of this country, a gospel that is antithetical to the Gospel of Christianity. For years this competing gospel has been spoken as one in the same with the message of Christianity, particularly by many conservative Christians. Yet Jesus’s parable above makes it abundantly clear this is not the same message. The American Dream (or what could rightly be called the Gospel of Human Autonomy) is now touted as a fundamental human right from most within this country, conservative and liberal alike, and even from many of those within the evangelical movement. In fact, legislation has been instituted by many of our legislators to help those who have not yet fulfilled this dream (gospel) attain it by granting them government support and tax-payer funded benefits to get them on their way to this ultimate end. At the heart of our culture, we believe we are fundamentally entitled to this dream, as if it is the ultimate goal of human existence. But nothing can be farther from the truth.