Should we use AI and LLMs for Christian apologetics?
Luke Plant addresses this one and comes up with both a hard ‘no’ and argues we should not even use these tools for apologetics. Both the post, and my personal interactions with AI chatbots, lead me to broadly agree with Luke.
“Those pews may not stay vacant for ever.” Indeed!
‘All the “one-anothering” of the New Testament that makes church so confronting, and – if you can hang in long enough – so comforting. But if you’re holding onto the absolute right of expressive individualism – or more to the point, if it is holding on to you – then you can gnash and rage all you like, you’ll remain trapped. And how trapped the West is. How captured. Caught in the bind of desire for the good, but clinging on to the things that are destroying it. It’s a tight monkey grip the whole way down.’
Why is baptism a means of grace?
If you want to understand what people mean when they talk about ‘means of grace’ and, specifically, why Presbyterian people believe paedobaptism is a means of grace and, even more specifically, how and when they think it becomes effectual, this one will help you out.
Historical context and lessons from Laodicea
There is a transcript available or you can listen to this one by Don Carson. But he is so helpful in laying out why historical context (and therefore why we need to read a little beyond the Bible alone) if we are to understand the Bible itself. He also helpfully lays out why that isn’t as big and worrying a task as it might sound (spoiler alert: you can get the info from just one decent commentary).
The trinity is not a team
If not a team, then what? This one helps us out.
Medhurst Musings
I was with Al Gooderham at the Medhurst Ministries pastor’s retreat. Here he shares his thoughts about it and why he appreciates going. I co-sign this one.
From the archive: The advance of the new legalism
‘The old legalism largely said keep away. Don’t do certain things and all will be well. It insisted on no cinema, no theatre, no drinking, no long hair and these sorts of things. As long as you are keeping away from A, B and C your righteousness is effectively in the bag. And most modern folks look at that and say, no thanks. But the new legalism doesn’t say ‘keep away.’ The new legalism says do more and more and the doing becomes the new law. Like with the old legalism, it takes a biblical principle and pushes it too far.’