Dikaiosune

.

Interesting articles on Sola Fide and the Scriptural concept of “Justification” via Grace Online Library…

“In other words we do not justify ourselves before God. God justifies us, and He does it–and this is the argument of the first four chapters–entirely apart from us and our works. It is not the result of any merit that is in us.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Romans 8:28-30

“The Latin Vulgate, Jerome’s 4th century translation of the Scriptures, had been the official translation throughout the middle ages, and its integrity was generally assumed. But then came the Renaissance, a recovery of classical learning that included a return to the original Greek text of Scripture. As Oxford theologian Alister McGrath observes, the best example of the errors in the Latin Vulgate, corrected in tail end of the Renaissance, concerns its translation of the Greek word “dikaiosune,” which means “to declare righteous.” It is a legal term, a verdict. But the Latin Vulgate had translated “dikaiosune” with the Latin word iustificare, which means “to make righteous.” Erasmus and a host of classical scholars recognized that the Greek text required an understanding of justification that referred to a change in status rather than to a change in behavior or mode of being. Again, Erasmus had no doctrinal stake in this matter. He was not only a loyal son of the Roman church; he had engaged in heated polemics with Luther over free will. Nevertheless, he was Europe’s leading authority on the classical languages and could not overlook the glaring mistranslations. For this reason it has been said that Erasmus laid the egg that Luther hatched. It is quite remarkable that the Roman Church would continue to embrace its erroneous view of justification, given the advances in scholarship by their own best minds.” – Michael Horton: Are We Justified by Faith Alone?

“Dikaiosune…” How’s that pronounced? As spelled?

The Possibility of Unrest?

.

Curt and concise as always, Amando Doronilla sums up Erap’s attempts to abort his own plunder trial and foment polarization and unrest:

Estrada and his lawyers are sore losers. Because the courts have thrashed all their delaying tactics that have made a mockery of the notion of speedy trial, the lawyers are now saying that Estrada cannot expect a fair trial and that he is being rushed into being convicted. By attacking the integrity of the judicial system and throwing the cases to the howling mob for judgment, his innocence or guilt of the charges will remain unresolved.”

The test now is this: How efficacious have Pres. Gloria’s public relations propaganda been at swaying the thronging masses to her side — or at least away from Erap’s? Will they consider her social and economic reforms promising enough that they are willing to wait for the outcome of the plunder trial? Or will they swallow Erap’s bid to paint himself as an underdog, and blindly mass behind their beloved movie star once more?

Teddy Benigno certainly doesn’t think so. Even more boldly, he states:

Mr. Estrada, understand this. You do have our supporters among the masa, even in the Senate and the House, and it’s just possible their heart throbs for you. But they will never die for you or expose themselves to shoot and shell for you. Theirs is probably pity, Christian compassion, that emotional surge for the underdog. But take to arms, rise in revolt, they won’t.

The jig is up, sir. Admit that everything you are doing now, with the connivance of your decrepit lawyers, while pretending to rise up to the stature of a freedom fighter, betrays desperation. There’s that saying: If you have the law, pound on the law. If you have the facts, pound on the facts. If you have neither the law nor the facts, pound on the table. And that’s what you are doing now, pounding on the table, struggling mightily to look like d’Artagnan but succeeding only in looking like, yes, General Marciano Ilagan.

You blundered, Mr. Estrada. Now you’re going for broke. You signed your death warrant when you admitted you indeed forged the signature Jose Velarde.

What catharsis to read Benigno’s columns! But whether he is correct — that Estrada’s lower-class supporters are not so ardent that they will die for their silverscreen idol — remains to be seen. I’m not as certain as he is that the Filipino urban poor cannot be incited to another bloody uprising as they attempted last May.

(And ARGH, General Ilagan’s utter prissiness is enough to make any of us slap our foreheads in shame.)

Learned From Anime

.

All I ever needed to know in life, I Learned From Anime. These were my favorites:

  • When you die, make a long speech, and don’t finish the last sentence.
  • Snow means love.
  • Cherry blossoms mean nostalgia.
  • Everyone wants to conquer Japan.
  • The good guy has the blue glow.
  • Teachers have excellent aim with small objects.
  • Romance never comes simpler than in a triangle.
  • The secret for an impossibly tangled love triangle? Put them all in the same house.
  • You can do anything to the human body as long as you hit the right pressure point.
  • All young children can pilot mecha — you just need to give them a few days.
  • It is possible to incorporate martial arts into any aspect of life.
  • The psychic girl is the one with the really cool mark on her forehead.
  • A moment of truth is always punctuated by a sudden gust of wind.
  • When women are sent out to fight the bad guys, there’s always a hunk busily watching over them, often in secret.
  • The longer it takes to say what your punch is called, the less effective it is.
  • The two-foot-tall geezer is someone to be feared.
  • The rival in a love triangle is always a better cook.
  • When a man and a woman tumble and fall together, his hands will always end up on her breasts.
  • If a boy and a girl grew up together as next-door neighbors, then they’re made for each other.
  • The coolest guys wear their hair over one eye, Veronica-Lake-style, or better yet, don’t let their eyes show at all.

Another violent revolt coming?

.

Crap, crap, crap. The Filipino mob’s penchant for self-destructive idiocy may soon rear its ugly head once more:

Estrada forces mobilizing, says nat’l security adviser

A Cabinet committee on security convened Friday amid reports that supporters of ousted President Joseph Estrada had resumed agitation in urban poor communities for an uprising similar to the assault on Malacañang on May 1 last year.

The oversight committee on internal security discussed the “national security implications” of Estrada’s termination of his lawyers’ services on the grounds that he could not get justice from the courts….

“It’s a legal strategy that he knows would trigger Edsa IV because he would come out as the underdog and that’s where he is good at. He’s playing his cards well,” Barbers said.

Update: The Possibility of Unrest.

Trek Nemesis spoilers

.

Star Trek Nemesis movie spoilers! (Don’t look if you don’t want key plot and character development points given away!) We’re looking at a long-awaited marriage, at least two clones of major characters, one crew member “dying,” and an echo of Spock’s katra transfer from Star Trek 2 to 3.

(And, of course, a cameo by Wesley Crusher.)

Erap History

.

I saw an interesting column today about ex-president Joseph Estrada in the Manila Standard, but too bad, the website doesn’t have an online copy. Basically, the columnist details Erap’s “last stand” shortly after the 1986 Edsa revolution, when he refused to relinquish his post as San Juan mayor to Cory Aquino’s new government. In protest, he and his aides locked themselves up in the munisipyo office, and President Cory sent a formidable police general — Alfredo Lim — to force him out.

When Lim arrived at the office, however, he found the mayor’s office empty, and stinking of urine and feces. Erap and his friends had scuttled off, but not before leaving an undignified mess for his successor to clean up.

Likewise with this latest “strategy” of his: seeing that his lawyers are unable to defend him against his own flapping tongue, he has resorted instead to “poisoning the well,” so to speak, with loaded statements about the “bias” of the court and the “power” of public opinion. He knows he is going down, but he is going to make it as difficult and as messy as he can for his opponents, possibly even fomenting yet another popular class revolt.

More commentary from Teddy Benigno, and an interesting twist from Conrad de Quiros.