Reformed Seminaries (MDiv degrees)

How I came up with this list:

• Search in google: "masters of divinity distance learning reformed"
• Here is a list from another blog.
• Here is a discussion board of people who have suggestions.

Accredited

• Reformed Theological Seminary
• $450/credit hour for 106 credits ($48,000 total)
• Calvin Theological Seminary
• 5-year distance learning sequence
•  $443/credit hour
• Westminster Theological Seminary: $455/credit hour
• Westminster Seminary California: $395/credit hour
• Rockbridge
• ~$15000 total
• Distance learning option
• 
  

Nonaccredited, but member of a peer-review association

• Reformation Theological Seminary
• Not accredited, but backed by other group of seminary counsels
• $110 credits @ $75/credit hour: ~$8250 total
• Members of the Association of Reformed Theological Seminaries
• Birmingham Theological Seminary
• Geneva Reformed Seminary 
• ~$150/credit hour
• some online courses
• Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary: 
• $170/credit hour
• doesn't seem to do distance education
• New Geneva Theological Seminary: 
• $300/credit hour
• Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
• Western Reformed Seminary
• Western Reformed Seminary
• $175/credit hour for 13-14 hrs/semester with 106 hrs, so ~$19,000 total
• Not accredited, but a member of the Association of Reformed Theological Seminaries
•  Birmingham Seminary
• $100/credit hr
• Member of Association of Reformed Theological Seminaries
• Some courses taught through distance education
• Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
• $250/credit hour for 115 credits (~$29,000 total)

Nonaccredited

• The North American Reformed Seminary - online, free
• Reformed Baptist Seminary: $425/credit hour
• Whitefield Theological Seminary
• Can't find a price

Thoughts from some guy:

"Students considering an unaccredited school should think carefully about whether there is a legitimate reason for a school not being accredited or whether a school lacks a real accreditation (i.e. one recognized by the Department of Education) because it is simply a poor school and thus, likely, a waste of money. There are more than a few home-made seminaries, which are unable to provide the necessary education, which lack a qualified faculty, which lack the necessary library (and other) resources, that are all too ready to take your money and give you a degree. Would you attend medical school in someone’s basement? Would you trust your health to a physician trained at such a school? Why we should entrust the care of our congregations to pastors trained at home-made seminary? Consistories/sessions, classes/presbyteries and other bodies should consider why should we are sometimes willing to accept lower standards in our seminaries than we would for medical schools."

Here are some thoughts gathered as I was searching for information on the recent direct evidence of gravitational waves found by the BICEP2 collaboration. I may first define a few terms though. Also, since this is for the benefit of sharing only with friends, I outright steal sentences from other articles. I aim to reference them though.

First, I here is the best article I found for the layman, which links to this nice article in Sky and Telescope magazine.

Cosmic Microwave Background (Sources: 1, 2)

"... among the most carefully examined piece of evidence for the Big Bang is the existence of an isotropic radiation bath that permeates the entirety of the Universe known as the "cosmic microwave background" (CMB). In 1964, two young radioastronomers, Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, accidentally discovered the CMB using a well-calibrated horn antenna. It was soon determined that the radiation was diffuse, emanated uniformly from all directions in the sky, and had a temperature of approximately 3 Kelvin (2.73K). Initially, the two young scientists were bereft of a satisfactory explanation for their observations, and considered the possibility that the CMB may have been due to some undetermined systematic noise. However, it soon came to their attention through Robert Dicke and Jim Peebles of Princeton that this background radiation had in fact been predicted years earlier (1948) by George Gamow, Ralph Alpher, & Robert Herman as a relic of the evolution of the early Universe."

Reference 2 above gives a beautiful description of the temperature fluctuations in the CMB. "This lumpiness affects the CMB largely because of gravitational redshifting. Radiation emitted from a dense spot in the sky has to fight against a bit of extra gravity as it heads toward our detectors. When it leaves that gravity well, the radiation will be a little less energetic than radiation emitted from a less-dense region, so that spot of the sky will appear to be a little colder. A map of the apparent temperature of the CMB across the sky thus gives you a map of the density of matter in the early universe." (emphasis added)


Gravitational Waves

Polarization (Sources: 1, 2)


Polarization refers to a light wave that prefers to vibrate in a particular orientation rather than randomly. Any polarization pattern can be described by two distinct components. These two polarization modes are convenient because they are independent of the choice of a coordinate system. One mode of polarization 

Circular polarization of light
Linear polarization of light

Movies I Want to Remember

• Fireproof (marriage/divorce) 
• Courageous (family/parenting) 
• Facing the Giants (sports/drama/fear&failure) 
• Luther (about Martin Luther) 
• The Ultimate Gift (lifestyle/money/happiness) 
• October Baby (abortion) 
• Bella (adoption/abortion) 
• Flywheel (integrity in work/family) 
• Love Comes Softly (illness/love) 
• Amazing Grace (slave trade; William Wilberforce)

Encouraging Reminders

These statements were posted on the same day by different people on facebook and I just found them encouraging:

"Tears, I feel you. You make me want to quit life. But excuse me, the Master has given me work to do. I must prepare a sermon." - John Piper on Oct 29, 2011

So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where he is there I shall be also!"-- Martin Luther

What legacy do you wish to make?

The entire set of lyrics from Hillsong United's song "The Fathers Heart" I find powerful, however I was particularly taken in by the following phrase:

"There's no other who can love me like You do
And forever I keep running back to You"

What fools we are to run after power, success, friendships, satisfaction from only a relationship, approval from men. Do these things not just stay for a while and then run away from you? Yet, I am taken in by them, day after day and week after week. I keep believing them. There is a high for a short period, but they are not there to stay with you for the long haul. But there is one who not only promises to be there with you for the long haul, but has already proven that he will do so by dying for you.

Lord, this is a prayer for my strength and my flesh are weak:

There's no other who can love me like You do
And forever I keep running back to You"

And snippets of more that stand out to me:

"When the walls close in around me
Let Your glory light the darkness of my night
...
May I walk with You by faith and not by sight
...
Greater love I have not found it
Oh by mercy You have eased this troubled mind
Open hearted I will search and I will find

Humble king You go before me
..
There's no other who can love me like You do
And forever I keep running back to You

Confession of Sin

This was the confession of sin reading that we had at church today and was something I enjoyed. It is adapted from Augustine's Confession, I. v-vi; VII, iv.

Our soul is like a house, small for You to enter, but we pray that You will enlarge it. It is in ruins, but we ask You to remake it. It contains much that You will not be pleased to see; this we know and do no hide. But, to whom can we cry except to You? Forgive us, O Lord. Cleanse us from our sins, O Lord, and our secret sins. What wretches we are! In your mercy, Lord our God, tell us what You are to us. "Say you our souls, I am your salvation" (Ps. 35:3). Come, O Lord, and stir our hearts. Call us back to Yourself. Kindle Your fire in us and carry us away. Be our fire and our sweetness. Let us love You and hasten to Your side. In Jesus name, Amen.

Breathe

Job 33:4
The Spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Lies Woman Tell Themselves

These messages are from Nancy Leigh DeMoss's radio program.

When you Feel Inadequate

Free from Condemnation

No Situation is Hopeless

Let Us Reason Together

"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be too hasty and miss the way. A man's own folly ruins his life yet his heart rages against the Lord." Proverbs 19:2-3

"Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God." Isaiah 8:21

"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord." Lamentations 3:39

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 1:18

Hungry

"Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger. Well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

For reading at some point if it is fruitful:
http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/desire.htm