Jake Wasdin

Mar 08 2010 ∞
“ The just soul and the just man, then, will live well, and the unjust man will live badly. — So it seems, according to your argument.
Surely the one who lives well is blessed and happy, and the one who does not is the opposite. — Of course.
So the just man is happy, and the unjust one is wretched. — So be it.
It profits no one to be wretched, but to be happy. — Of course.
And so, my good Thrasymachus, injustice is never more profitable than justice.
— p 27 Plato’s Republic trans. Grube (1974 Hacket)

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Feb 25 2010 ∞

Won my first tennis match 6-2 today.

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Feb 22 2010 ∞
“ Can a doctrine be “horrible” and “dangerous” that gives God His true place, that maintains His rights, that magnifies His grace, that ascribes all glory to Him and removes every ground of boasting from the creature? Can a doctrine be “horrible” and “dangerous” which affords the saints a sense of security in danger, that supplies them comfort in sorrow, that begets patience within them in adversity, that evokes from them praise at all times? Can a doctrine be “horrible” and “dangerous” which assures us of the certain triumph of good over evil, and which provides a sure resting-place for our hearts, and that place, the perfections of the Sovereign Himself? No; a thousand times, no. Instead of being “horrible and dangerous” this doctrine of the Sovereignty of God is glorious and edifying, and a due apprehension of it will but serve to make us exclaim with Moses, “Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11).
— A. W. Pink, Sovereignty of God, ch 12 (last paragraph)

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Feb 18 2010 ∞
“ Speaking hypothetically, but reverently, be it said, that if God had done nothing more than given Christ to die for sinners, not a single sinner would ever have been saved. In order for any sinner to see his need of a Saviour and be willing to receive the Saviour he needs, the work of the Holy Spirit upon and within him were imperatively required. Had God done nothing more than given Christ to die for sinners and then sent forth His servants to proclaim salvation through Christ, leaving sinners entirely to themselves to accept or reject as they pleased, then every sinner would have rejected, because at heart every man hates God and is at enmity with Him. Therefore the work of the Holy Spirit was needed to bring the sinner to Christ, to overcome his innate opposition, and compel him to accept the provision God has made.
— A. W. Pink (ibid, ch 4)

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“ The conception of Deity which prevails most widely today, even among those who profess to give heed to the Scriptures, is a miserable caricature, a blasphemous travesty of the Truth. The God of the twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the creation of a maudlin sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit is an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring reverence.
— A. W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God, chapter 1

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Feb 16 2010 ∞
“ The most interesting thing about objective truth is that there are people who deny that it exists. One might wonder how anyone could deny that there is such thing as objective truth. For some people, I am fairly sure, the explanation is something like this. They are deeply hostile to the thought of anything that in any sense stands in judgment over them. The idea toward which they are most hostile, is, of course, the idea of there being an objective universe that doesn’t care what they think and could make their most cherished beliefs false without even considering them.
— Van Inwagen, quoted p. xliv The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell

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Feb 15 2010 ∞
“ King James…despised the weed he’d made popular at court. James even penned a tract called ‘A Counterblaste to Tobacco,’ which described smoking as ‘a custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmfull to the braine, daungerous to the Lungs, and, in blacke stinking fume thereof,’ resembling the smoke of hell.
— p 319, A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horowitz

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From Marilynne Robinson’s The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought (Picador, 2005), page 117:

“Good theology is always a kind of giant and intricate poetry, like epic or saga. It is written for those who know the tale already, the urgent messages and the dying words, and who attend to its retelling with a special alertness, because the story has a claim on them and they on it. … Theology is written for the small community of those who would think of reading it. So it need not define freighted words like ‘faith’ or ‘grace’ but may instead reveal what they contain. To the degree that it does them any justice, its community of readers will say yes, enjoying the insight as their own and affirming it in that way.”
— Reading Good Theology « Miscellanies.

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All of Grace by Spurgeon

This is a wonderful book that I got used. I began reading it some months ago but had since lost it. Upon finding it, I started over and read the book in a couple of hours. I would recommend it to all believers and searchers alike.

Spurgeon begins this book by making his plea clear from the first statement: “My intention in writing this to you is that many will be led to the Lord Jesus.” Indeed, this is a great presentation of the Gospel that I believe the Lord has likely and will continue to use to bring others to himself. In the book, each chapter goes through and explains a simple Scriptural truth relating to salvation so that the common man might understand. He goes through texts such as “God justifieth the ungodly,” “by grace are ye saved,” and “ye must be born again.” He explains these verses and ideas such as faith very simply and uses many illustrations to help his point. His illustrations are brilliant, as is expected of Spurgeon.

As a believer, the book was still a great comfort and joy to read. I recommend that you read it first and loan it then to some unbelieving friends who are receptive to the gospel.

The book is available as a free audiobook as well. I listened to a couple of chapters, and despite being machine read, it is quite understandable. If you prefer that, you can find that there. Many different books are availalbe, but I read from the slightly edited version shown below that I got used.

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Feb 13 2010 ∞
“ Much of the theological framework needed to understand the significance of Jesus’ coming, life and death was put in place by Moses in his writing, and perhaps above all in Deuteronomy. For it is here that the theology of blessing and curse which lies at the heart of Jesus’ sin-bearing work is first articulated. It is here that the hopelessness of humanity trapped in sin, even when chosen by God, is exposed. It is here that the prospect of a divine intervention so radical that it changes people at the very core of their being first appears. (New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, pp. 164-165)
— Don’t Stop Reading in Exodus :: Desiring God

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