How It’s Going and All That

I am almost finished with my post on “Dispensationalism and TULIP: The Perseverance of the Saints,” but I’m running low on inspiration today so I thought a lighter, more irrelevant piece would be the ticket.

I started this blog in October 2007 simply as a way of putting thoughts somewhere.  I had gone through a difficult experience with the institution I had worked hard for (fired after my presence was considered to be a threat to the new leadership), so my dear wife thought blogging would be good for me; that it would unclutter my mind, and, as usual, she was right.

At the outset I was clear on what I did not want to do.  I am not at all a faddish person.  Neither am I a “fan” of the evangelical superstars that are around today.  I dare say many of these men are far better Christians than I am and I know that they have wrought much good for the sake of truth.  But I just don’t feel comfortable with any of them, and I have never been set alight by any of their writings or sermons.  Sorry, the problem is probably more with me, but there it is.

When I was a bi-vocational church-planter back in the late 90’s I worked for two and a half years in a Christian Bookstore.  I’m not going to go into all the usual rot about what was wrong with the bookstore.  I bring the matter up for another reason.  It was while there that I noticed what to me was a disturbing phenomenon: it was that one personality would publish a book; say about the resurrection, or the cross, or the end times; and this would immediately be followed by another book on the exact same subject by another personality through another publisher.  I watched this trend for quite a while and found that I could predict the next book a certain evangelical statesman would bring out.  I am a cynical old dog and this did nothing to help me.

Another thing I did not want to do is to follow the hot topics that everyone else was writing about.  That is why, for instance, you cannot find my opinions about Rob Bell and his agonizingly overly-scrutinized book.  Like, who didn’t already know he was to be avoided?

The last thing you will not find much of here is autobiography.  To me there is something weird about telling everyone about yourself for no good reason other than they might be odd enough to want to read about it.  Since I am myself quite uninteresting I am sure that I would bore the socks off my readers were I to indulge myself in that direction.  This post is proof enough of that!

I frequent a few blogs which are usually varied and interesting.  Fred Butler , SharperIron, The Arminian, and a few others normally can expect me to read their stuff.  I find the normal “New Calvinist” blogs all the same and pretty boring.  Other blogs (some popular) do not evidence the fruit of the Spirit so I avoid them.

A ministry I am happy to be part of is Spirit & Truth run by my friend Tony Garland.  And, of course, my energies go into my own main ministry, Veritas School of Theology (which I really should write more about on this blog).

I am gratified to report that I now get over 3,000 of you a month.  That’s probably what Tim Challies or Pyromaniacs get per hour, but I suppose it’s not bad.  One thing this relative anonymity grants me is that I am usually not on the radar of the weirdos whom I see commenting on other sites.  At any rate, I am thankful for you all and I hope you get something out of this blog.  I try to write on what I think are important matters of scriptural truth.  I have a review of “The Meaning of the Pentateuch” coming soon, and i want to get back to my dual projects of outlining “The Parameters of Meaning” and “Some Problems I Have With Covenant Theology”.  I also have several more reviews to complete (e.g. Craig Keener’s “The Historical Jesus of the Gospels”).

That’s probably as much as you want to read and more than you want to know.  Thanks again for visiting.

God bless you all in whichever ministries He has called you to!

Your brother,

Paul