Brian J. Lund

husband to @SamanthaJLund pastor @ZionERChurch interested in @HermanWitsius
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[Dr. Sally Sharif @Sally_Sharif1]

I just gave a closed-book, pen-and-paper midterm exam in my 300-level course at UBC with 100 students. All exams were graded by an experienced graduate-level TA according to a rubric.

*** The average was 64/100.***

My class averages at UBC are usually 80-85.

Context:
• This was the first midterm, covering ONLY 4 weeks of material.
• Students had a list of possible questions in advance: no surprise questions.
• Questions included (a) 3 concept definitions, (b) 3 paragraph-long questions, and (c) a 1.5-page essay.
• I have taught this class multiple times. Nothing in my teaching style changed this semester.
• We read entire paragraphs of text in class, so students don't have to do something on their own that wasn't covered during the lecture.
• Students take a 10-question multiple-choice quiz at the end of every class (30% of the final grade).
• Attendance is 95-99% every class. Attention during lectures and participation in pair-work activities are very high → anticipating the end-of-class quiz.

*** But unfortunately, I suspect many students are not reading the material on the syllabus. They are asking LLMs to summarize it instead.***

After the midterm, students reported:
• They thought they knew concept definitions but couldn't produce them on paper.
• They thought they understood the arguments but struggled to connect them or identify points of agreement and disagreement.

My view:
It might be “cool” or “innovative” to teach students to summarize readings with ChatGPT or write essays with Claude. But we may be doing them a disservice: reducing their ability to retain material, think creatively, and reason from what they know. If you only read what AI has summarized for you, you don’t truly "know" the material.

Moving forward:
We have a second midterm coming up. I don't know how to convey to students that the best way to do better on the exam is to rely on and improve their own reading skills.

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

Rom 7:25 is a great reason to NOT read preconverted Paul. If the law of sin vs law of mind in Rom 7 is preconversion, then "Thanks... Jesus Christ!" is the *end* of that struggle. But that isn't how 7:25 ends. Jesus is is the hope *within* the struggle between nous and sarx

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

Wollebius: Peccatum primum Deus noluit & voluit.

Ross' translation: God did both will, and nil, the first sin.

Behold, reformed brevity.

[Scott R. Swain @scottrswain]

Revisiting this morning Herman Witsius’ *Animadversions* on the antinomian-neonomian controversy.

Witsius may be our greatest Reformed controversialist: equally committed to truth and peace, and marvelous in his eloquence and clarity.

(Side note: He loves William III.)

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

"... but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” -G.K. Chesteron
Chesteron may-or may not-be close, but immaturity, childishness, etc are never allowed.
6/6

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

Maturity is always prized in the NT, but it is not the only thing prized.
Maturity is the goal of ministry: "we present everyone mature in Xr" (Col 1:28). Maturity is for the Church: "growing up in every way...into Christ" (Eph 4:13-16). Maturity is for every individual:
/1

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

"...strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun.; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic monotony that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, ...
/5

[Edward Feser @FeserEdward]

Seriously? How about not doing things like: pretending that the affordability issue is a "hoax”; pretending that the Epstein issue is a "Democrat hoax" when MAGA influencers are the ones who pushed it for years; bullying an ally to get its territory; insulting our allies' war dead; the endless narcissism (sticking his own name on public buildings, implying that the reason it was bad that a woman died is because her parents voted for him, etc.); badmouthing a man who has just been murdered by his own son; pledging to raise housing prices, and on and on – to name only the most recent lunacies?

Too many MAGA people rationalize or at least minimize this sort of behavior, but to everyone else it seems absolutely demented, and people who refuse to acknowledge this obvious fact seem cultish and cut off from reality. That is the kind of thing that is turning swing voters off.

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

So often Christians spread more heat than light. Grateful for clarifying words on empathy and truth

[Jason Kovacs @jasonkovacs]

The call to remove empathy from the Christian vocabulary feels like an overcorrection to me. This is a helpful and clarifying word on the value and virtue of empathy from @joe_rigney.

[Tim Scott @votetimscott]

Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.

[Ned Stark @FantasyWorldW1]

Lord of the Rings characters as popular memes!

[Chris Jackson | SEO Priest @revcjackson]

When you've been pastoring 20 years and the latest crisis rolls through.

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

..."he will carry along with him his legal spirit which will always be a slavish and unholy spirit."

3/3

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

From the Marrow of Modern Divinity:

"The antinomian principle, that it is needless for a man perfectly justified by faith to endeavor to keep the law and do good works, is a glaring evidence that legality is so ingrained in man's corrupt nature ...
/1

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

..."that until a man truly come to Christ by faith, the legal disposition will still be reigning in him. Let him turn himself into what shape or be of what principles he will in religion though he run into antinomianism; ...
/2

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

[resolved] confessional duties of pastors "...to watch tirelessly with holy studies and the Word of God, and with the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit, and with all-powerful art to persecute and weaken Satan with internal hatred..."

https://t.co/iPUiUtR55g

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

🧵 Thread on 10 Commandments and the Heart

[Brian J. Lund @brianjlund]

Matt 5:19 Jesus reminds us that sin proceeds from the heart, and then nearly perfectly itemizes the 2nd table of the Law. In Reformed theology, the Moral Law is an expression of God's character, the Law is from His heart (a la Owen). But the Decalogue could never be written...
/1