Thoughts From the Heart of Chan

Mark Driscoll's Top 5 Sermons

2012-01-03T16:39:00.027-06:00

Almost 7 years ago, I was hired as the janitor at a small church in Chicago. During that time I discovered Mars Hill Church in Seattle (no affiliation with Mars Hill in Grand Rapids) and Mark Driscoll. I would spend my hours of dusting, moping, and cleaning toilets listening to his sermons. His series on the cross is what initially interested me, but over time, I listened to just about everything he put online (he gives away all of his content for free). Over these years, I learned a great deal from Mark about leadership, culture, biblical sexuality, and most importantly, what it means to put the gospel at the center of my life. These insights have had a profound impact on everything from my philosophy of ministry, teaching and counseling, to how I eat my breakfast or exercise. Mark’s teaching was a great help to me when I was going through my own crisis of faith and realizing that even in the sanitary environment of academia, satan was at work in my life to keep me from the gospel. Although I have never met him, I cannot be thankful enough for Mark’s gospel-centered teaching, and I'm sure it will mark my life and ministry forever. I have my gripes with some of the new Reformed thinkers, especially with regard to their use of the Old Testament, and some of Driscoll's exegesis in particular. But I am also thankful for the good I have been given and how it has changed me.

Some of you may have seen Mark on a Youtube clip that your Egalitarian friend showed you (or read about him on crazy blogs). Please don’t judge him only by that. You don’t get to know someone by something they said one time, but by who they are all the time. There is something sick in people who are constantly trying to tear down those in leadership, and it is, unfortunately, very contagious. In listening to Mark (and others), I think it's only fair to consider his context (Seattle). He has explained this time and again, but it is often ignored by his critics. Ministries, like any Bible verse, should always be viewed in their context. When you just pull them out and examine them on their own, they may not seem to make sense or could be completely misunderstood. I think Mark would be the first one to tell you that he has taken things too far and has made plenty of mistakes-but so have you and I. Preference is one thing, but f you are someone that tends to be overly critical in general, I would urge you to examine your heart and understand that, if you're a Christian, ultimately Mark loves Jesus and is on your team. Please listen with an open mind and humble spirit-not just to be critical, but to learn something.

Here’s a video Mars Hill Church recently put together that will give some background to what ministry is like in Seattle, and some of the struggles Mark and his wife have faced in trying to plant a church there. It is well worth watching; the story of Mars Hill is pretty incredible. Just keep in mind the primary intended audience was the church (you can download it here):

In July, CT’s “her.meneutics” page (CT's blog for women) ran an article on Driscoll and came to the following helpful conclusion:

“I may not always agree with Mark Driscoll, but I believe in the Holy Spirit who works through him. If I find myself totally unable to learn from Driscoll or any other Christ-preaching teacher in the church, that probably would say less about the preacher than it would my own faith in the power of God.”

And just one more important caveat-don’t ever deify any speaker or teacher. If you’re getting all your information from one source, that’s always a bad idea (It’s also a good idea to use more than one Bible translation by the way). I have been guilty of that so many times in my life. So in sharing this, I don’t mean to imply Driscoll’s the only guy you should listen to or the only guy I listen to. But in so far as his teaching has pointed me toward Christ, I want to share it also with you.

Something like a "top 5" list is always subjective. You may not like all of them or think others should be on the list, but these have resonated with me in some way. There is also a chance I may have missed some that I either have not listened to or listened to and then forgot. So, here are my top 5 Driscoll sermons:

5. Humble Christians (I Peter 5:6-14)

This is the final sermon for a series in I Peter, and it focuses on the great virtue of the Christian life-humility. In it, MD says there is no such thing as a humble person, only people working toward humility by the grace of God. As soon as you say that you are humble, you have disqualified yourself from being humble! This is a wonderful text, and Mark does a great job of unpacking it. This sermon has been convicting for me, and I think it will be for you too. Audio and video available for d/l here. Or view it below:

4. Reverse Engineering your life

This message was given at a men’s conference, so the ladies will find it a bit cumbersome to listen through, although it will expose you to a guy's perspective. The premise is this: we should look down the road to the end of our lives, see where we want to go, and with God’s help, move our lives in that direction. So, you are engineering your life in reverse-hence the name. At the turn of the new year, this should be helpful to listen through as you plan your priorities. Whenever I feel out of whack and I take time to evaluate it, it's generally because I either do not know what my priorities are or because I am not sticking to them. To accomplish anything significant in life, this is a must. There is no video available, but the audio can be downloaded here. I also found a PDF of the notes, if you like.

3. Christ, Controversy and Cutting Words

The Bible seems to say a lot of things that are not that nice. Is it okay for us to say those things too? If so, when should we say them, and who should we say them to? In this message, Mark addresses these questions as he reads through some of the more cutting verses in the Bible. His answer is, the Bible has all kinds of things to say to all kinds of people, but we have to use wisdom and give the right kind of response to each person. This is a refreshing look at some difficult and obscure biblical passages, and some helpful thoughts for leaders/teachers. Audio/Video available for download, or view it below:

2. Good Sex, Bad Sex

This is a classic, and it’s the first sermon I refer people to who ask about Mark. This is a frank, honest, and humorous look at I Cor. 6:12-7:7. MD talks firstly about "bad sex" in all of its forms (all sex outside of marriage), before moving to "good sex" (all expressions of sex within marriage). It’s probably not one you’ll want your children to hear (!), but when I was a youth pastor, I did show it to my high school group. I think the vodcast is funnier than the audio. You can grab a bucket of popcorn and watch it on Google Videos or below (unfortunately Mars Hill removed the video for download). The audio is available for download here.

1. Death by Love: Reflections on the Cross

From the time I first listened to this (in, I think 2007) until today, this has been my favorite Driscoll sermon. This is a phenomenal explanation of the gospel that includes about a 10 minute detailed discussion of crucifixion. He explains why the cross is so important and why it must stand at the center of our faith (make sure the resurrection is there too!). I couldn’t find it online anymore, so I uploaded it to my Youtube channel. It is not downloadable, but you can view it below (or here) until Youtube probably flags and removes it:

Honorable Mentions:

*11 Things God Does for Church Leaders

Sometimes it’s easy to put it all on ourselves in ministry. Here MD talks about 11 things that we never should take responsibility for because God already said he will. It is short by hist standards (35 minutes), but refreshing for Christian leaders. There is no video available for d/l, but you can get the audio here.

*Diversion and Deception: Nehemiah 6:1-4

There were a lot of things I found frustrating and confusing about the Nehemiah series (for example, Nehemiah is not going to Jerusalem to build a church as a city within the city), but this is one sermon that has always stood out to me. In it, MD talks frankly about the opposition Nehemiah faced and how we should respond when we face opposition.

*Leadership Coaching

Another helpful resource MD offers is leadership coaching. These are short videos recorded on MD's webcam at his house, but they are insightful and challenging. If you are a parent, in business, ministry, or leadership of any kind, I think you will find this series helpful. You can see them at theresurgence.com (you have to sign up to view them).

*The Truth and the Lie Conference:

We were made with a spiritual capacity, and we long to worship; however, instead of bringing our worship to the creator God, we often worship created things, which is idolatry. At this conference, MD helpfully shows the theological foundation for idolatry (part 1), how it works itself out through celebrity culture (part 2), before bringing it to bear on counseling techniques (part 3). I think anyone working with youth would find this series particularly helpful, but it is a great listen for anyone interested in the issues of how idolatry works itself out practically in culture. I think Driscoll has fantastic cultural insight.

Part 1- The Truth and the Lie in Marriage

The title is deceiving because he changed the content of his sermon before the conference. In this section, MD argues that all worldviews can be boiled down to “the truth” and “the lie.” All people, including atheists, are very spiritual as can be shown by how they worship unceasingly. He calls this worldview “oneism,” the idea that behind idolatry is the belief that god and the universe are one. But he says the God of the Bible is a God who makes distinctions-distinctions between man and woman, man and animals, God and the universe, etc. This “twoism” is the belief that God is separate from the world and therefore has a right to be worshiped as creator. Video and audio d/l here or watch below:

Part 2- The Truth and the Lie in Worship

In this section, MD takes the theology he showed in part 1 and works it through pop culture. What he shows is the narcissism (self-obsession) that is prevalent in celebrity culture and how it affects our children. He points out a drive among youth to become famous using by doing extreme things (like celebrities) and using technology (Youtube, FB, Twitter, etc.) as a vehicle to communicate them. He does a masterful job of viewing our culture through the lens of the theology he laid out in part 1. His only mistake is calling Ben Rothlisberger Ben Rothwell, which is strange because he is such a big football fan! Video and audio available for d/l here or watch below:

Part 3- The Truth and the Lie in Counseling

And lastly, Mark works this practically into counseling. Video/Audio d/l here; vid below:

If you are interested, you can get more sermon content here or at theresurgence.com.

Mark and his wife Grace have recently published a book called Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship and Life Together.

The Best and Worse of Egypt

2011-12-14T14:53:00.020-06:00

At the end of the semester, my Egypt & the Bible class toured Egypt for 8 days-what an 8 days it was. We saw the entire country, including places in the Sinai. This meant 6:00am-6:30am bus calls and traveling quickly to make the most of the sunlight. In this time, we hit all the major stuff you could think of plus some extra stuff. Here I have given you my top 5 best and worst of my time in Egypt. If you want to see more pictures, you should be able to get to my album on Facebook here. Additional videos are available at my Youtube channel here. I will continue to upload videos throughout my time in Israel as I am able.

WORST:

Okay, let’s get the top 5 worst out of the way first:

(5) Cairo

To put it lightly, Cairo isn’t exactly a resort spot. I could elaborate, but this picture is a good enough representation of the city:

A typical street in Cairo

(4) Traffic

Traffic in Cairo made I-94 in Chicago look like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

(3) Water

Simply put-you shouldn’t drink the water. This includes avoiding all salads and fresh fruits because they might have been washed in the tap water. I even brushed my teeth with bottled water. It paid off-me no get sick!

(2) Egyptian Antiquities Authority

OK, just about anyone who has dealt seriously with Egyptian antiquities has a problem with Egypt’s entire approach to them. A few highlights are (1) Djoser’s Stepped Pyramid from the 4^th Dynasty that the EAA is spending money to completely reface with new brick. In other words, they are ruining a 4,600 piece of human history. Preserving something ancient is one thing, but rebuilding it is totally another. The project was underway while we were there:

Djoser's Stepped Pyramid under "renovation"

Secondly, at several of the sites, like the Cairo Museum, workman’s tombs at Deir el-medina, Valley of the Kings, and all the pyramids (even those where there is no paint left on the walls), and others, you aren’t allowed to bring your camera in or take photography of any kind. OK-bring me my soapbox. Ahem, first of all-the reason most of these sites are protected from photography, as far as I can tell, is because they want to sell the pictures and make money off of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any high resolution digital pictures for sale on site-which is what I want. Many of my friends brought cameras into tombs at the Valley of the Kings or pyramids and sneakily took pictures anyway.

Also, from what I understand-there is no evidence that photography of any sort or kind (including flash photography) destroys antiquities. Everyone, please go back and read that sentence again. I am perennially frustrated that I can’t take pictures of, for example, an inscription on a piece of rock, because of the absurd claim that my flash might destroy it. To quote White Goodman of Dodgeball (make sure to read in your Ben Stiller voice), "This is pure poppycock!" White, you are correct! This is why the curator of the British Museum has lifted the ban on flash photography. That’s right, you can run through the British Museum like I did in August, taking pictures of whatever you want, even using flash (90% of the time I don’t use flash anyway). It was great! I stood in front of an Assyrian inscription for an hour taking careful pictures of it for my buddy with no problems at all. Then I ran through the rest of the museum like a monkey and took pictures of whatever else I could in the time I had. This open approach allows people to take home a part of the antiquities with them to use them for teaching, study, or whatever. I also believe if people were allowed to take pictures, they would take less than you think. Thumbs up to the Brits; thumbs way down to the EAA. Shame, shame, shame on you! I’m not really concerned about Flem and Earl getting their picture together next to a monument they’ll forget the moment they end their trip; I’m concerned about taking quality pictures of whatever I can use to help people understand the world of the Bible and for personal study. Any time I’m prevented from doing this for a reason that doesn’t make sense, it bothers me.

Lastly, the EAA visited us while we were at a site in the Nile Delta (Tell el-Yehudiya). The site is unmarked and unkept. Thousands of people pass it every day without any knowledge of how important it was in Egyptian history. There are no signs, no brochures with historical information, no bathrooms, or even merchants trying to sell stuff. Yet within 40 minutes of us being there, the EAA showed up with the police and kicked us off because we didn’t pay to be there. Considering the state of the country, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say there are better ways they could be using their time.

The EAA and police kicking us off Tell el-Yehudiya

(1) Baksheesh

Baksheesh is the Arabic word for ‘tip,’ (quite a different substance than the “hasheesh” which I was offered numerous times on the trip) and everywhere we went, people were constantly asking for it. Baksheesh to use the dirty bathrooms, baksheesh to get directions, baksheesh to answer a question, baksheesh to (insert any action here). A frequent move of the “baksheeshers” is to grab your bag as you exit the train, “help” you carry it, and then charge you for the privilege. There were also people at the bottom of the tombs in the Valley of the Kings who would use their flashlight to point out different things that were painted on the wall (although no flash photography was permitted, they could point at stuff with their flashlights-go figure). So, as you’re standing there trying to take in the tomb of an ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, you’ve got a guy pointing at stuff and saying, “Here’s a lion,” “Here’s an eye,” “Here’s a camel.” I asked them to stop, but they just kept going on and on. Of course, that conversation ended with a request for baksheesh as repayment for their helpful “explanation” of the tomb. As a lovely addition to the “baksheeshers,” everywhere we went in the Valley of the Kings, we were assaulted by merchants wanting to pawn stuff off to us. More than a few of us left that site angry, and at the time I felt like they ruined my experience there. Another example of “spontaneous baksheeshing” occurred when people would see my camera, puff out their chest really big, and tell me to take a picture. Of course every time I refused, knowing the call for baksheesh was eminent. This probably happened to me 5 times throughout the trip. Also, a group of kids stopped me in Luxor and were very excited at the prospect of taking pictures with my camera. I was hesitant, since I was alone and worried they might try to steal it, but eventually I caved and let them. I figured using a fancy camera would have been enough for them, but when we were all done, they wanted-you guessed it-baksheesh.

Let me simply say this, if you come to Egypt, get what the Jews call some Hutzpah. Learn the art of completely ignoring people and saying ‘no’ without feeling badly. If you don’t, you’ll end up in a 5 minute conversation every time you use the bathroom. If you hear the word “baksheesh”-run.

The kids who wanted baksheesh after using my camera. I think I'm the most excited for this picture

BEST:

OK, enough being negative! Now on to the top five best things about my Egypt trip!

(5) Karnak Temple

We saw a lot of Egyptian temples (and pyramids) from many different periods, but to me, none of it compared to the pillared room at the Karnak Temple. Standing at modern Luxor, on the east bank of the Nile, this temple was built during the Egyptian New Kingdom Period by several Pharaohs. Its mammoth size shows why we refer to this kingdom as an empire. The pillared room alone has over 150, 200 ft. pillars, and looking up at them you feel like an infant (I almost caught myself saying, “What is this-a temple for ants?!”). There is nothing like this anywhere in Israel, from any period, and it really puts in perspective what the “empire” of David and Solomon would have been like by comparison. I remember standing in awe and wondering at the manpower it took to build something like this. If you’re in Egypt, you have to go-it is simply incredible. Pictures won't do it justice, but here are a couple:

(4) Sleeper Train

As a part of our constant movement to save time, we rode a sleeper train from Cairo to Aswan and back. Until about two weeks ago, I had no idea sleeper trains existed. What? You can sleep and travel at the same time-on a train?! Yes, yes you can! I thought it was the coolest thing through the whole experience. They pack you into a 3’ x 6’ room with two chairs where they feed you dinner (similar to an airplane dinner-pictured below). Then when you’re ready to sleep, they fold down the beds for you, and you can fall asleep to the clankity-clank of the train running all night. There is a lounge where Egyptian Arabs smoke and talk the night away; I sat in there for a while just for the ambiance. Also, the bathroom is interesting. The toilet is an open hole, so you are literally peeing on the train tracks while you try to keep your balance-almost a full contact sport! All in all, the sleeper train definitely created a new category for travel in my mind, although I wouldn’t want to ride it every night! I haven’t read it, but I hear the sleeper train is the main setting in Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (her husband was an archaeologist in Mesopotamia, so most of her books have a Near Eastern flavor). I suppose you can check that out for more if you like.

My meal on the sleeper train

(3) Nubians

While we were in Aswan, as far south as we would get to Sudan, we took a boat across the Nile to a Nubian village. Nubians are African peoples, descendants of whom show up in ancient Egyptian literature as enemies of Egypt. Here, a Nubian family welcomed us in to their mudbrick hut, gave us tea, and let us hold their pet crocodiles. Their little kids know Arabic, Nubian, French, Spanish, and German. These kids are sitting a mudbrick hut in Africa speaking 5 languages. I live in America and can’t even speak two-I am a joke. Also, they brought in the village musician who entertained us for a while. He picked one of us at a time and incorporated our names into his song. While he sang your song, he expected you to dance to it; definitely an interesting experience. The family was wonderful, and they were happy to meet us.

A Nubian villager holding his pet baby crocodiles

(2) Bedouin

My first interaction with Bedouin came on our second day in Egypt. After taking a boat across the Nile, we met up with a group of them, each one with his camel. They helped our entire group onto their camels and walked us across a part of the desert to a monastery and back. This was so flippin’ cool. I now think camels are awesome; what a bizarre animal. If you haven’t ridden one, you need to. The only downside was my guy wanted baksheesh after the ride. Go figure.

Me with my camel (it's an Avila jersey shirt, if you're wondering)

On one of the last days of our trip, we all piled into about 6 Land Cruisers driven by Arab Bedouin and tore into the Sinai desert. We off-roaded for about an hour through the desert sand until we arrived at the base of a mountain in-literally-the middle of nowhere. After a quick hike, we found evidence of ancient Egyptian mining activity and a temple to Hathor, the goddess of mining (among other things). It was in this obscure place that the alphabet was first invented (as far as we know) if you can believe it! I remember thinking afterward “Are you freaking kidding me that I was riding with a fleet of Bedouin Jeep drivers into the Sinai desert to find a New Kingdom Egyptian Temple?! Unreal.”

After the climb down the mountain and another Jeep ride, we arrived at a Bedouin tent (made of goat hair) where we had an awesome meal and tea afterward. Sitting under the stars in the Sinai desert reminded me of camping in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a return to the simple life, the way things ought to be-a communal meal and singing/storytelling around the fire. The Bedouin are also the closest analogy we have for the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) who were also semi-nomadic desert dwellers. If you have the chance to hang out with Bedouin-do it! They rock.

Arab Bedouin making us tea

(1) Sinai at sunrise

On the last day of our trip, we woke up at 2:30am (after going to bed at around 10:30) and climbed the traditional site of Mt. Sinai by moonlight. It was cold, and I had Bon Iver in my earbuds most of the way. I will never forget being halfway up the mountain and looking down in the valley below. One time when I stopped to star gaze, I could see the Bedouin fires blazing away in caves on the other side.

Every so often, there was a tent where you could buy a hot drink or some goodies and rest a bit. I was excited because I had been told there was coffee at these stations. When I asked for coffee, the shopkeeper informed me that they had Nescafe. I want to clear up a common misconception here, so permit me just one moment-Nescafe is not coffee!! Coffee is a drink made with beans that are grown, picked, specially roasted, and ground, before the drink is even brewed. Nescafe is powder that dissolves into hot water-and it tastes disgusting. Please, please, don’t call it coffee! I’m proud to say I’ve only had one sip of it this whole semester which I promptly spit into the garbage where it belongs. I’m a human being, for crying out loud-with dignity!! So, I had a hot chocolate as I sat with my group at the last stop before the final climb to the peak.

My group waiting to make the final climb

Me with my hot chocolate

We arrived on top just before the sun crested over the mountains in front of us at about 6:30. It was very cold; I had a long sleeve T-shirt, two hoodies, and gloves on as we waited for the sun to come up. After we watched the sunrise, our group gathered together to read several passages of Scripture and talk about the significance of the giving of the Law. Where the actual spot of Mt. Sinai is, no one will ever know, but it was powerful to stand in the tradition of Moses at Jebel Musa. The site is a major pilgrim spot, and there are several hotels nearby, so it’s easily accessible. If this is something you’re interested in doing, it’s worth it.

Of course, this was the cap to our 8 day trip in Egypt, which meant that if you got sick, the most likely place to leave evidence of it was on the rocky paths up Mt. Sinai. The group from our school that went to Egypt last year told us so many horror stories about their stomachs taking vengeance on them during their climb. So I wasn’t really looking forward to it. But, the more I look back on my hike up the mountain, the more I think I enjoyed it. I wasn’t sick or cold while I was hiking, and there was such an epicness to everything that made it almost larger than life. All that to say, I cannot imagine a better way to end the trip.

Sunrise on Mt. Sinai

Thanks for reading! All feedback is greatly appreciated! I will try to keep you posted on my experiences as I am able.

How was I Tebowing on ABC News??

2011-12-14T02:58:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I woke up to about 40 Facebook notifications (followed by many more throughout the day) and numerous messages that said I was on ABC News. Befuddled, I made my way down my wall until I found a link to the video, and it was true! Son of a gun. ABC was doing a special on Tim Tebow, and, of course, they mentioned the phenomenon known as "Tebowing," where people imitate Timmy T's post-touchdown prayer position. The Tebower gets down on one knee and puts one hand on his forehead, usually in the most ridiculous, unconventional place he can find. This comes in the wake of cultural phenomena like "planking," "coneing," "batmanning," and probably many others I've never heard of. Anyways, I was at the Great Pyramids in Egypt last week and figured why not? Here's the original picture I posted to Facebook, sent to Tebowing.com, and Tweeted:

(Props to my buddy Brock Orlowski, a pure-bred, Grand Rapids native who gave me the idea to do this in the first place and Max Moser who took this picture and is a stud at photography in general)

I'm not sure when the picture was posted on Tebowing.com, but just after I sent it in, I looked through some of the pictures on the site and noticed what looked like a father and sun Tebowing at-you guessed it-the Great Pyramids. Come on! So I thought there was no way they were even going to post my picture, but to my surprise, they did, a few days later. In the meantime, right after I tweeted the picture, fancite.com retweeted it and posted it on their "Best Tebowing of the Week" page. So presumably, ABC News grabbed it off there since I don't think it was up on Tebowing.com in time for their special. They only showed three pictures in the special, so it's insane that they picked mine, of the thousands that are out there. What's the lesson? It pays to tweet! Twitter is an information mover, and you never know where your information is going to end up-maybe on ABC Nightly News:

(Thanks to Gary Archer who grabbed a screen shot of this for me)

You can watch the full video here if you haven't seen it. Youtube removed the embedding feature, so I can't post it here.

Imax 3D Movie "Jerusalem"

2011-11-17T04:02:00.004-06:00

I received word today of an Imax movie Jerusalem to be released worldwide in 2013. The production aims to highlight"historical, spiritual, cultural and artistic uniqueness, as well as highlighting some of the intersections between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam." From the preview, this 3D experience will do justice to the city that for many centuries as stood at the center of the world. You can read more about the project here and view the preview below. I'm pumped.

Jerusalem | Filmed in Imax 3D from JerusalemTheMovie on Vimeo.

Five Songs to Liven up Your Fall

2011-11-09T13:28:00.014-06:00

Since I'm studying abroad in Israel for this academic year, most of my posts are related to the Bible in some way. But I wanted to break from that and share some of the music I've been listening to (if you want more music, check out my cousin's site here; he'll take care of you). I'm sharing them because I think they're good songs, but also because it's a way to connect with people stateside. Some of my memories here are naturally going to be associated with the music I'm listening to while I'm away. And sometimes when you share a song, it's a way to feel connected to people back home, even if they're making different memories with the same songs. I get the comfort of knowing that in other places around the world, people I love are listening to at least some of what I'm listening to. So here are five songs I've been listening to as I write papers and walk around the streets of Old City Jerusalem. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have been!

(1) M83 - "Midnight City"

I had never heard of M83 until my cousin Ben posted their new single "Midnight City" on Facebook last week. You can grab it by clicking on the above link or here. Their new album was released in October and is available on Amazon. The music video for Midnight City is below:

M83 | Midnight City from DIVISION on Vimeo.

(2) Paper Route - "Better Life"

Last week I found out that Paper Route (PR), one of my favorite bands, is working on a new album. This is great news! PR blends a haunting electronica feel with redemptive lyrics. This is one example of "Christian" music (if there is such a thing) done well and creatively-both musically and lyrically. So I heartily recommend to you the single from their new album. I couldn't find it on a music blog, but you can buy it on Amazon. It's well worth the purchase, and for $.99, you're practically stealing it.

(3) Radical Face - "A Pound of Flesh"

Ben Cooper is Radical Face, a "band" whose music is made in a back shed on antique instruments that give it a haunting feel. I loved their first album "Ghosts," and I'm very much enjoying their latest project "The Family Tree: The Roots". You can get the album from Amazon. The song "A Pound of Flesh" is available here or above, and the video is below, shot for less than $200:

Just before the album, Ben Cooper released the beginning of a three part EP that you can pick up by entering your email into the widget here.

(4) Stepdad - "My Leather, My Fur, My Nails"

As a West Michigan native, it's nice to see this Grand Rapids band beginning to pick up steam. Stepdad has recently remastered their Ordinaire EP along with two bonus tracks that you can get here for $8.99. Click here and scroll down to number 8 to grab "My Leather, My Fur, My Nails."

(5) Mumford & Sons - "Below My Feet"

They're at it again! With a new album coming out soon, new songs are leaking around the internet, and I stumbled upon this one the other day. No matter who says what about this band or how popular they become, I won't stop listening to them or feel bad about it. "Below My Feet" is available here. This is a live version, but it's far and away the best one I've been able to find-thanks to The Ruckus for posting this. I've been enjoying it!

Happy listening!

At the Dawn

2011-11-06T06:46:00.002-06:00

As I rise up with the dawn, I am reminded of the significance of this new day.

It is not something I deserve,

but rather something You have stewarded me with,

a gift.

Along with this new day, You will bring with it

a freshness of opportunity,

a myriad of circumstance.

The uniqueness of today carries with it the hope of new maturity in my life.

May the One who makes all things new, change me like the newness of this day,

and grant me faith to engage today as I have yesterday onto faithfulness tomorrow.

Written at dawn in Chicago, 6-9-08

Rain in Israel: A Symbol of God's Blessing

2011-09-27T14:37:00.008-05:00

The people who wrote the Bible came from a specific place-the land of ancient Canaan. There’s nothing like being in Israel to understand the role this land had in forming their worldview. One of the single most important needs in Israel is water. In an agrarian/pastoral (shepherding) society like Israel’s, rain means life, and the lack of it meant drought or famine and perhaps, death. God put His Old Testament people in this special land because it would mean they would have to rely on Him by faith to survive. All this to say that rain was very much viewed as a sign that God was blessing his people because they had upheld their end of the covenant. We see this reflected in the Bible all over the place. One such passage is Deut. 11:11-17:

“It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love YHWH your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil….”

This passage divides the rainy season in half-there are the early rains in the autumn during which crops would be planted and the late rains in the spring which are crucial for the crops to grow before harvest. It never rains during the summer months, so garbage, sewage, grime, etc. gather in the streets and valleys of the land until the early rains come to wash them away. As part of your Bible study, it will be helpful to begin to notice the images in the Bible that point back to geography of Israel, including its weather patterns and the way they view water. Look for the water imagery-it’s everywhere! Last week, I had the privilege of seeing the first clouds of the rainy season move over Jerusalem, and the next day, I saw my first rain in Southern Israel. The videos below capture both of these events.

Of course, the passage above also emphasizes that Israel is to honor its half of the Mosaic Covenant by obeying YHWH their God. If not, He reserved the right to take certain measures to discipline them:

“Beware that your hearts are not deceived and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. Or the anger of YHWH will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which YHWH is giving you (vss. 16-17).”

Like a good father, God does not punish His people, but when we sin against Him, He will discipline us until we move back toward Him. For Israel, their discipline involved taking away the very thing they needed to survive-their water. God may take away something equally as important to you or to me. The discipline of God is echoed later in texts like Prov. 3:11-12 and is picked up later by the New Testament authors (Heb. 12:4-11; Rev. 3:19). It is no coincidence that, like Israel, the seasons of God’s discipline in our lives are also the driest and least vibrant. Sometimes He needs to bring us to the end of ourselves before we will repent and come back to Him. But remember, He does this for you because He loves you:

“My son, do not reject the discipline of YHWH, or loathe His reproof, for whom YHWH loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."

-Proverbs 3:11-12

This video is a shot of some early rain clouds coming westward over the city of Jerusalem.

This video was filmed from the back of a bus and shows the early rain running down the valley’s in the Judean Wilderness. All the water you see here will eventually run down into the Dead Sea.

A Quick View of the Temple Mount

2011-09-08T15:42:00.000-05:00

The Western Wall on Shabbat

2011-09-03T14:11:00.001-05:00

2011-08-30T12:35:00.003-05:00

Old City Jerusalem at night looking north

The Western Wall and Dome of the Rock.

A view of the Temple Mount from the Church of the Redeemer looking east. The hill in the background is the Mount of Olives.

2011-08-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

A great view of Comerica Park; Detroit, MI. Tigers vs. Angels 7-28

2011-08-10T01:21:00.002-05:00

Yesterdog. East Town; Grand Rapids, MI.

3 Cheddardogs with mustard, my personal favorite.

God's Mission in Jonah

2011-08-08T12:55:00.005-05:00

The story of Jonah the prophet is a short but good reminder that believers are participants in God’s worldwide mission movement. It is also a challenge for us to have the same compassion on people that God does. The whole book is a contrast between God’s heart for lost people (anchored theologically in Gen. 3:15 and 12:1-3) and Jonah’s contempt for them. Jonah was given a simple mission-to leave his homeland of Israel and preach YHWH’s good news to the city of Nineveh to the Northeast. Yet he fled westward away from God (emphasized 3X in chapter one (vss. 3, 10). Jonah often gets a bad rap for running from his mission, but the reality is most of us would have done the same thing-and we do the same thing all the time. So after looking a little more closely at the context of Jonah, I want to focus on some reasons why we flee from God’s mission and how we can be more involved in it.

It’s important to understand the historical setting of Jonah (the Bible written in real time after all). At the time of Jonah (probably 785-750BC), Israel was split into two countries: a northern kingdom (Israel) and a southern kingdom (Judah). The only time Israel (the northern kingdom) significantly expanded its boarders was during Jeraboam II’s reign. This happened because their enemies to the north (the Arameans) were more or less neutralized (II Ki. 14:15-16, 23-27). As a result of this expansion, Israel (especially much of the upper class) enjoyed a great amount of material wealth and prosperity. At this time, God sends the prophets Amos and Micah to preach against their misuse of this prosperity and neglect of the poor (Amos 4:1-3; 6:1-8). Jonah then, is being called out of a relatively comfortable place-and into a scary one.

Nineveh was more or less the capital of Assyria (if only guy #2 talking to the bridge keeper in Monty Python & the Holy Grail would have known this). Assyria was an international powerhouse in the ancient world, but it could only grow by using warfare to steal resources from other countries due to a lack of natural resources in their heartland. The most natural way to move was westward, toward Israel. They would take tribute from any city they could and move it from outside the kingdom back to the heartland. To help with this endeavor, Assyrians developed what would become known as an “ideology of terror” to scare people into ponying up the goods. A few colorful examples include: decapitation, piling up dead bodies, flaying (which included ripping all your back skin off, sticking it on the city walls, and leaving you to bleed and writhe in pain), and impaling on a stake (either frontally or rectally-gross and ouch). At this time, Assyria’s power was spread between local governors rather than concentrated heavily in one place. Later on it would become the dominant worldwide empire under Tiglath-Pileser III who even campaigned down to Israel (II Ki. 15:19, 29). Many years later, Nahum showed how the world felt about Assyria when he foretold how people would respond to its fall: “All who hear about you will clap their hands over you, for on whom as not your evil passed continually?” (3:19)

God was calling Jonah to get out of his comfort and head east into a dangerous place-a place that Jonah did not want to experience God’s grace. God’s radical compassion on Assyria is a reminder to us all that He can save anyone He wants, whenever He wants, however He wants-regardless of how we feel about it. The minute we stop believing that is the minute we might lose out on the joy of participating in it like Jonah did. So my question is: what is it that keeps you from getting involved in God’s worldwide mission?

Here are a few classic sinful attitudes Christians can have towards God’s mission in the world:

(1) Self-righteousness: This kind of person thinks their church is a member’s only club for people who are just like them. Instead of witnessing to others, they would rather spend time with those who are “in” with God like they are. People with this attitude probably have little to no relationships with unbelievers to use for ministry because they see no value in developing them. They hide the grace they’ve been given because they believe they’re the only ones who are good enough to receive it. This is the attitude Jonah had, and so rather than rejoice in an entire city coming to YHWH, he moped around like a child (4:1-3). Especially those of us who grew up in the church need to search our souls for this attitude and repent of it because God hates it.

(2) Apathy: Apathy is the default mindset of a Christian who worships comfort rather than Jesus. It is rampant in the church, especially among twenty-something college graduates who are more committed to a distorted view of love than the truth of the gospel. An apathetic person tends to be worldly and lack a sense of urgency because they do not understand they are locked in a cosmic battle for people’s lives. They prefer conforming to the setting around them to putting forth the effort it would take to make an impact. However, they take pot shots at others who are doing ministry without flinching or thinking of giving an ounce of energy to help. People with this attitude are more concerned with whether their non-Christian friend can play Settlers of Catan than the fact that they are going to hell. Ask yourself, are you motived to be a light in the world? Would you rather keep everything the same than spend the energy to witness and risk your reputation your friends? If so, you likely need to repent of your apathy.

(3) Fear: Many Christians want to witness to unbelievers but are paralyzed by their fear. The thought of taking that step can make anyone nervous, but people who struggle with fear of man are controlled by what others think of them (it’s actually a backwards form of pride). So rather than being a fool for Christ, many Christians would rather maintain good standing with their friends by managing their relationships and people-pleasing. Behind this is an idol of pride whose salvation is to know that everyone in their life is happy with them. Those of us who struggle with fear of man are not free to love and serve people but are actually using people to find a sense of significance. Indeed, this fear can be paralyzing, and it needs to be repented of so that we are free to serve Jesus and not the idol of our reputation.

As we’re thinking through what our heart for people should be, here are some questions that may serve as a helpful way to get us more involved in God’s mission to the world.

(1) What is your attitude toward the lost?

- God is after our hearts because it determines everything we do. Are you concerned for your friends who do not know Jesus? Are you indifferent towards their unbelief? Do you view opportunities to share Christ as an inconvenience or an exciting chance to participate in the mission of God?

(2) What actions have you taken on behalf of the lost?

-Your actions are a good indicator of what your attitude is. How often do you think and pray for your lost friends? Have you wept for their salvation? What relationships are you intentionally pushing in the direction of Christ? When was the last time you invited a friend to your church, Bible study, or youth event?

(3) What idols stand in your way?

-Anything from our comfort to our reputation can steal our worship from God and make us idolaters. When you think about witnessing to a friend or inviting someone to a Bible study, what stops you from taking action? Why don’t you pray for people more? As best you can, try to think and pray through what stands in your way, and you have probably identified an idol to kill.

(4) What resources do you have that you haven’t used well?

-God has given each one of us resources, and we could all use them better. Are there some unbelieving friends in your life that you could share Christ with but haven’t (think Starbucks, work, sports buddies, neighbors etc.)? Could you give a portion of your income to a missionary but you haven’t made a budget to support it? Could you start an Evangelistic Bible study in your home once a week? When our theology meets reality, what are some practical ways you can take this and let it see face time in your life?

The story of Jonah is a reminder that God is free to give His grace to whomever He wants, and that unfortunately, our sinful attitudes can prevent us from having a part in that. What attitudes and perspectives need to change in your life so that you are free to participate in God’s mission? It’s cliché to say that every Christian is a missionary, but it couldn’t be more true. And I think you’ll find that if you look closely enough, you’ll see that your mission field is bigger than you could have ever imagined.

2011-07-22T00:28:00.002-05:00

The sun sets behind the bridge to Canada. Sault Ste. Marie, MI.

2011-05-26T13:38:00.002-05:00

A rainbow appears after a hard rain in the northern woods. Tank Lake, MI.

2011-05-25T00:42:00.001-05:00

A sand dune overlooking beautiful Lake Superior. Grand Maris, MI.

Applying the Gospel to Pornography: How Christians Should and Shouldn't Deal with Lust

2011-05-08T18:42:00.005-05:00

I know it’s Mother’s Day, but this particular issue has been on my mind and heart the past few weeks, and I wanted to flush out some thoughts here. I truly hope it is helpful.

The first place to start is to recognize that pornography is an epidemic among men (and some women(!). It is readily available for anyone, anytime. Most men watch porn on at least a weekly basis or at the very least, have been in bondage to it at some point during their life. While listening to Loveline, I often hear men describe their porn intake as “a healthy amount,” as if it’s human need. Parents should not be surprised to learn that their sons have a secret porn addition on their home computer, and I have heard many such stories. Likewise, the overwhelming majority of men at Moody Bible Institute during my time there viewed pornography regularly, some of them with hidden icons on their desktops that led them to websites they knew the internet filter didn’t catch. I also know more than a few marriages and ministries that porn has devastated or is in the process of devastating. Additionally, I personally was a slave to pornography for 8 years or so, and at times it absolutely ruined my life.

The church isn’t going to get anywhere by not addressing it and not talking plainly about it in the name of Victorian nicety or appropriateness. I believe sometimes people just think they can teach the Bible and occasionally reference issues like pornography either to shame others or in the hopes that they will sort of deal with their sin by osmosis without the minister having to get involved in the messiness of sanctification or upset the religious people by talking about such issues in a formal setting. This isn’t helping anybody, and in fact, it’s hurting most men. My several years in youth ministry have also heightened my awareness for the need to deal with such matters. For these reasons, I am going to talk bluntly and frankly about pornography and masturbation in the Christian life. If you are struggling with such things, I hope you will find this refreshing, helpful, and freeing because you are living in a life of bondage and desperately need the gospel. What I want to do here is helpfully show how we can apply the gospel that sets us free from the enslavement of this particular sin to our situations. But in order to do that I need to explore how satan has taken and corrupted our understanding of the gospel so that we deal with our sin in unhelpful, religious ways.

The truth is that those of us who live by religious principles are usually self-righteous and judgmental towards others but we also are completely inept in dealing with sin (see my posts on religion). Such a misguided understanding of the spiritual life coupled with an addiction to porn is quite a destructive cycle that I will illustrate below. I understand religiosity well because I was saturated in it for 25 years and know many Christians who wake up with this kind of life perspective daily. In this article, I will refer to this worldview as “Christian Religiosity,” or “Christian Moralism.” Its basic tenant is giving lip-service to Christ’s death and resurrection for salvation but practically believing that we have been left to live the Christian life by our own power. Many of us would never advocate this, but our lives betray us. Preachers that subscribe to Christian Moralism fire their congregations up weekly to go live better rather than turning them over to the power of the Holy Spirit who alone can sanctify Christians. In this kind of a framework, Christians believe that to beat sin, they need to try harder or do better. Let’s look at how this works itself out with pornography. Here are some of kinds of gimmicks that I have seen Christians used to fight pornography and, in several instances, have used myself:

-Meeting weekly with an accountability partner to help monitor sin.

-Installing Covenant Eyes, a program that emails every website you visit to an accountability partner.

-Installing internet filters or getting rid of it altogether.

-Putting Bible verses on the wall, over the bed, or on a sticky note on the computer.

-Using a Bible verse as a screen saver.

-Wearing a ring or bracelet or getting a tattoo on the hand they usually masturbate with.

-Doing small groups.

-Counting the days since porn was last viewed.

-Reading books about how to deal with porn.

-When I was at Moody, I and three of my friends used a calendar to report to each other how we were doing with our porn struggles. We were each assigned to a specific corner of each date on the calendar and would write a smiley face if we had a good day and a sad face if we had a bad day. That way we could check up on each other and pray for each other.

Many of you will relate with this list because you have done several of these things as I have. There are two observations I want to make about this list: (1) If I wanted to look at porn badly enough, I always found a way around whatever was in my way, which shows that all this stuff doesn’t work in the first place, and (2) what’s absent from the list is the very thing God gave Christians to help with their spiritual formation in the New Covenant: the Holy Spirit (Jer. 31:33; Ez. 36:26-27; Acts 2). It’s kind of funny, really, that so many Christians are trying to live their spiritual lives in such an “unChristian” way. In fact, the problem is much, much too deep to be taken so lightly. Pornography, like all sins, is a worship problem. Guys want naked pictures of women and orgasms more than Jesus. Lust is their Jesus-that’s the issue. Porn addicts have a functional savior that they run to when they’re stressed or tired or overworked or anxious that they believe will bring peace into their lives and make it all better. But it never fulfills them, and they then end up becoming enslaved to it and pouring themselves out to it by spending valuable time staring at a computer screen. That’s not a porn problem, that’s a worship problem. Or, a better way of saying it is there are no porn addicts; there are only idolaters-but this idol can never deliver what it promises. I have a suspicion that a few pieces of paper on the wall aren’t going to change anyone’s worship practices. We desperately need Jesus to bring us the true gospel that can alone change our hearts and help us worship rightly.

As if all that wasn’t bad enough, some of the most deep-seeded shame and guilt in people’s lives is often tied to their sexual sin which damages us most intimately because being a gendered being is so integral to who we are as image bearers of God (Gen. 1:27). Sin always brings shame, guilt, and fear and has done so since we walked away from God in the Garden. Shame is what led Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness (Gen. 3:7) even though there was not shame tied to nakedness originally (2:25). Their guilt and fear is what led them to hide from God when He came looking for them in the garden and lie to Him about what they did and blame each other (3:8-13). All this is their scrambling: trying to hide, cover, or ignore the sin they have done rather than owning up to it. Porn addicts scramble in different ways: by staying up late when everyone’s asleep, deleting their internet history, pretending like their addiction doesn’t affect any of their relationships, and smiling at other Christians on Sunday mornings who have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes of their lives. I was often so paralyzed by fear of others finding out I wasn’t perfect that it was difficult to be vulnerable about my sin to people. So I tried all my gimmicks behind the scenes to deal with my sin but instead of finding freedom, I suffered the repeating cycle of guilt and shame that I bore on my own back. I know many Christian young men who dealt with their dark struggles the same way.

At the foundation of all this is that reality that the Christian life for me amounted to trying really hard to be better. When I didn’t look at pornography for a while, I felt great about myself (especially if some of my friends confessed to me that they had recently!) and when I succumbed to temptation, I was utterly depressed, knowing that my best, yet again, was not good enough. We’ve talked about some of the ways not to deal with a pornography addiction; let’s tease out the ways that God has given us to deal with sin. This is what I needed to do, and this is what I believe is the key to dealing with lust issues: I needed to repent of my idolatry and the sinful ways I was trying to manage my sin and turn my life over to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

First, I need to remind us of the gospel: God created us in his image to rule and subdue creation, create culture, and enjoy Him (Gen. 1:27-28), but we walked away from Him and chose to be our own gods (Gen. 3:1-7). Because of that, we live outside of Eden, on a planet full of sinners who regularly experience the many ways sin destroys their relationships through shame, guilt, and fear. We also see how sin has physically corrupted our planet that now groans to be redeemed. Most devastating, every human being is now cursed to die (Gen. 3:22-24). God had every right to let us sit in this mess we created and endure it, but He instead took responsibility for it. He humbly incarnated Himself into His very creation on a rescue mission for His image bearers and His creation. He was known as Jesus the Messiah, and He lived a perfect life, although He was tempted in every way that we are and can fully sympathize with our struggles. He was so hated for His teachings and beliefs that conservative and liberal religious people came together and falsely accused of being a traitor of Rome and a heretic. For these false claims, they (along with the Romans) had him crucified. But the reality is that every one of us took part in the murder of God since it was for our sin that He shed His blood as a sacrifice.

One of my favorite Bible verses that illustrates this is Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His love for us in this: that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God didn’t just say “I love you;” He demonstrated it by humbly entering into the very universe He created and sovereignly apart from to die for every one of His image bearers. He did this while we were still sinners, passionately pursuing our own idols rather than God. He died for us and rose again, defeating death, the very thing that was at the core of our being banished from Eden. Because of this, we have hope that (1) we can begin living a new life through a relationship with Christ now, and (2) when we die we will receive a resurrected body and live in the new heaven and earth with Him forever. What is needed for this salvation? Only faith! Faith that Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to cover your sin, and that you can’t deal with it on your own-you need Him to atone for it.

Many of us know this story, but how many Christian lives are characterized by fear and guilt rather than gospel grace? It’s interesting to me how much Christians functionally live like Muslims, as if God wanted their submission and obedience to the exclusion of a loving, personal relationship. We believe in relying upon Christ for salvation, but when it comes to sanctification (growing in our Christlikeness), many Christians think they can do that on their own by trying hard, or at least I did. Some of us need to stop being so dogmatic about truth like the Pharisees were and look at our hearts to see if they are being cultivated towards love, compassion, and grace that God gives us in His gospel.

The Apostle Paul lays out how we are to grow in our Christian lives through the gospel in Galatians 3-we need the gospel to be saved, and we need the gospel to grow in our salvation. The Galatian believers were being influenced by the Judaizers, a first-century group of Jews who were calling Christians to keep the OT Laws and be circumcised in addition to believing in Jesus. Paul rightly chides these Christians for listening to them; they were now trying to be sanctified by their good works and leaving the Holy Spirit out of the equation (Gal 3:3) much like Christian moralists do. The answer, he says, is faith, just like the faith Abraham had (3:6-9). We are to have faith in God, not just for salvation, but continually as we grow in Him! As he has said in 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” The gospel isn’t just to get us saved; the gospel is to form our identity as Christians and be the foundation from which we live the Christian life. God doesn’t expect His children to earn His love by white-knuckling their way into heaven or trying harder or doing better or being moral. He gave us His love in the gospel; He didn’t tell us He would love us if we made ourselves better-He loves us regardless of the fact that we can’t make ourselves better! In affect God says, “I’m going to love you until you obey Me.” So as we grow in Him, we do so on the basis of His grace-something we don’t deserve!

In addition to this, He did not leave us without help; he gave us His Holy Spirit to lead us, guide us, and make us more like Jesus. When we don’t tap into His power and influence by faith, we lose. After all, it’s easy to define what a Christian should be if you have a list of boxes you can check, but what does a Spirit-driven, faith-focused life in Christ look like? It may not be as easily definable, but it is what God requires.

So let’s return to the idea of pornography again. What I once thought was just a sinful addiction I now understand to be something much, much greater. It is at least three things: (1) a worship problem; I’m an idolater. (2)It’s a gospel problem; I had a false gospel of having to earn my righteousness instead of believing Jesus’ righteousness was enough. (3) Lastly, it’s a spiritual life problem; I was trying to sanctify myself instead of surrendering my life to the Holy Spirit who alone can make me more like Jesus. Everything about my understanding of the gospel and the Christian life was wrong; no wonder I went through 8 years of shame and guilt!

I would wager to guess many of you reading this are going through or have gone through some of the same struggles. You need to know that you’re not alone, and you should not be afraid to be honest about your struggles to believers you trust. If they love Jesus and understand the gospel, they’ll show you the same grace that God does. Those of you who are in deep, you may need preventative measures to help limit your internet intake, but you cannot trust in behavior modification as a solution to your worship problem to the exclusion of repentance or work of the Holy Spirit.

In conclusion, I’m going to suggest three things for Christians who are struggling with lust. They are not a “just add water” approach to dealing with your sin, but they are a good place to begin struggling down the lifelong path of Christian maturity and freedom from the bondage of sin.

(1) Every one of us going through these dark, sinful seasons needs to repent not only of our lust but also of our idolatry. Honestly evaluate your heart and ask yourself the question, “Do I love Jesus more than lust?” Ask yourself what lust gives you that you believe Jesus cannot and why your God isn’t big enough to provide you with all your needs. Lust is a different god than Jesus that we really believe can satisfy us in ways He cannot. This is a lie. Worship starts in the heart, and we must search out the worship tendencies of our souls.

(2) In addition to repenting of our idolatry, we need to believe the gospel. Do you honestly believe that God’s love doesn’t change for you regardless of your actions, or do you believe that He only loves you when you don’t sin? You can know if your idea of God’s love is performance-based if you are depressed when you fall into sin. We should be broken and convicted about our sin, but conviction motivates us to do something about our sin, to repent and change. If you’re not able to repent but are instead devastated and depressed when you look at porn, you have a functional savior that is continually failing you. It’s a catastrophic thing, indeed, when our god abandons us. Believe Jesus. Pray that God helps you to believe Him not just for your salvation, but that you trust in His love regardless of what you do. This does not enable you to sin further; it motivates you to want to change.

(3) We need to make the Holy Spirit an integral, daily part of our spiritual lives. Cessationism is as bad as western materialism or naturalism when it stops people from looking to Him daily. If I hear the Holy Spirit called ‘it’ one more time, I’m going to punch myself in the throat. He is the chief way God is working through His people in the New Covenant. When we live in sin, one of the effects this has is that it cuts us off from His influence and opens us up to the influence of the world and our flesh, along with satan and his demons. But as we walk with Christ, we will open ourselves up to the continual sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. Do yourself a favor-make the Holy Spirit your accountability partner instead of an imperfect person. If you think it won’t work it’s because you haven’t tapped into His transforming power. Jesus sent Him to us for a reason. He can revolutionize people’s perspectives and actions like no behavior modification could.

Dealing with deep-seeded lust issues is not easy, and change won’t happen overnight, but if you can give yourself over to the gospel and the Holy Spirit, you can begin to find forgiveness, love, and wholeness in a way that internet blockers and accountability partners can never bring you. You will find Jesus-and that’s enough to reach beneath all the crud in your life, grab you by the heart, and change you from the inside out.

MSNBC’s Martin Bashir on The Paul Edwards Program

2011-03-21T22:12:00.004-05:00

A Michigan pastor interviews Martin Bashir about his interview with Rob Bell. Listen to it here. Very clarifying as to Martin Bashir's intentions in his interview with Rob Bell and understanding of the nature of journalism.

Rob Bell on MSNBC

2011-03-16T01:04:00.001-05:00

The best interview I've seen with him yet.

Rob Bell on Good Morning America

2011-03-15T15:05:00.001-05:00

While this video was edited (not by me), it was the only full video I could find of this right now. This is almost a short summary of what he said in NY yesterday.

Here's a review of it at townhall.com

Rob Bell on Heaven, Hell, and His New Book

2011-03-15T00:05:00.003-05:00

Watch live streaming video from lovewins at livestream.com

This is an hour long interview about Rob's book and theology.

Kevin DeYoung on Rob Bell

2011-03-02T13:53:00.004-06:00

I think Kevin DeYoung makes some great points in his post about the Rob Bell mess:

"Look at how the apostles handled false teaching in the New Testament. There’s nothing to suggest Paul sat down to talk with Demas (2 Tim. 4:20), Jannes and Jambres (2 Tim. 3:8), Hymenaeus and Philetus (2 Tim. 3:17), or Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:20). And even when Paul opposed Peter “to his face” he made a point to do it “before them all” (Gal. 2:11, 14). No one is required to talk to me before they criticize my books, and no one was required to call up Rob Bell before commenting on his Love Wins video."

"I know many young evangelicals barely have any stomach for controversy, let alone strong words about a serious topic. But if there is no way to be simultaneously bold and humble; if there is no way to be a gentle, caring person while still speaking in clear tones about hurtful error; if there is no way to correct those who oppose sound doctrine without being a moral monster; if there’s no way to love truth and grace at the same time, then there’s no way to be a biblical Christian. Judgmentalism is a sin and Calvinists can be jerks. But not every judgment is sinful and not every truth is cruel just because Reformed people teach it."

"I realize this post will not make universalists, inclusivists, and non-Christians change their minds. But perhaps there are some Rob Bell fans who have enjoyed the Noomas and learned from the books and you aren’t quite sure what the fuss is all about. Why is everyone ragging on your favorite preacher? My exhortation is to watch the video again. Read through the words and see if they line up with the hymns you sing. See if the questions sound right next to Isaiah 53, John 3, and Revelation 20-22. Look into Gandhi’s Hinduism and see if that seems compatible with Christianity. Explore the giants of church history (e.g., Augustine, Luther, Calvin) and see what mainstream Christians have believed through the centuries. Read through some of the confessions or catechisms you may have grown up reading. Above all, search the Scriptures and see what God says. You may just conclude your old Sunday school teachers knew a thing or two."

Shying away from taking a firm stand on anything is such a trademark of our generation. I'm beginning to think people's problem with Piper and Taylor isn't so much that they made a preemptive judgment about a public video, as much as the fact that they would dare to say anything critical at all.

Cf. also another post my friend linked to me on this issue.

Rob Bell, Heaven and Hell, and The Problem With Academia, the Youth for Christ Era, and Post-College Urbanites

2011-02-28T02:21:00.006-06:00

The discussion surrounding Rob Bell’s forthcoming book: Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, seems to have exploded over the past couple of days. Many of us have watched the drama unfold via Twitter, on various blogs and seen it flushed out in facebook discussions. (For those of you who are not familiar with the issues, you can get the synopsis here). There are a wide array of opinions all the way from those prematurely calling for Bell’s head to those who see no harm in such discussions whatever conclusion we may come to about eternity. As far as Bell is concerned, the simple fact is we’ll all have to suspend judgment until his book comes out and we can get all the facts. What is interesting to me, however, from the little bit I have read about this, is the way Christians approach such discussions in the first place.

We have, in my estimation, two basic groups: first, the more traditional fundamentalists firmly grounded in their doctrine, and second, a more open group willing to expand the boundaries of Christianity beyond most of our comfort zones. While the former group follows in the footsteps of the fundamentalist movements of an earlier generation, the latter group tends to be academics, and what I will deem: post-college, twenty-something, urbanites. The alarming thing to me, when it has to do with hot button issues (pardon the pun) like hell, is what our discussions reveal about how a young generation of Christians is thinking about them. While I take issue with the assumptions of both groups, I believe the epistemology of academia is more deadly. Any Christian can be trained to think outside the box on certain issues, but there must be a solid foundation from which to launch these cognitive campaigns. In an academic setting, all boundaries are removed, and the greater one abandons conviction and dogmatism, the more he is praised and the more legitimized his knowledge becomes. The problem is that once the academic takes a full step outside his boundaries and abandons anchor points of conviction, it is very difficult, and almost impossible for him to regain the very gospel boundaries that are supposed to set him apart from the world around him. In this position, satan is most assuredly free to take footholds and work his destruction.

This recent reaction against traditional thinking is best understood when seen in the broader scope of the past half a century. I’m no historian, but in the following discussions, I’ll offer both what I have learned about church history and experienced myself.

On the one hand, we have an older, more traditional generation of Christians and their disciples. This generation, which came out of the 1940’s – 50’s was marked by evangelistic crusades and the Youth for Christ movement, among other things. It embodies conservatism and a deep commitment to the fundamentals of the faith, but was focused primarily on evangelism. The roots of this run back through American Evangelicalism to classic evangelists like D.L. Moody and others. I have experienced the vestiges of this movement in many forms of ministry and am well acquainted with its beliefs and practices. In its worst forms, it was characterized more by religiousity and churchianity than Jesus (cf. my post about religion). But even in successful ministries influenced by the thinking of this era, I have noticed a latent Dualism, or worse, an escapism. Doctrines and church participation were emphasized sometimes to the neglect of the love, joy, and celebration that should result from gospel centered fellowship. Heaven and victory in Jesus were also overemphasized (over-realized eschatology), and the gospel was often presented as purely an exercise in escaping our “bad” earthly struggles for the glory of heaven (cf. most southern gospel songs). The “old time” gospel generally offered eternal hope but no authentic way to integrate Kingdom-living into areas of pain and suffering right now. In many ways, it was asking people to be unhuman. This kind of a practical disconnect allowed more room for emphasis on the spiritual truths of Scripture while neglecting its human aspects. This can still be seen today in people who can glean propositional truth from Scripture but lack the ability to empathize with the suffering of biblical characters like Joseph or to dive into the pathos of a lament Psalm. In other words, disciples of this kind of thinking know all the spiritual truths but have difficulty showing it lovingly and authentically in their relationships.

People coming out of this movement also tend to be very modern, which usually leads them to look for objective answers to theological problems and to place confidence in the categories they developed. There are two problems with this: First, a more modern approach inclined people to look for answers not for the truth. Most anyone can come to a conclusion about an issue, but following the truth wherever it leads is uneasy, difficult, and often frightening. Second, placing confidence in our incomplete answers for the sake of surety (or to affirm our doctrinal statement) is problematic at best. I myself am a product of such thinking, which is why it took me so long to understand that my categories of inspiration and scientific inerrancy did not exactly match up with Scripture’s testimony about itself. This was subsequently influential in leading me to abandon my traditional categories of Bibliology (my set of “answers” about what the Bible was) and to abandon my spiritual growth for most of my college years (cf. my post on my agnosticism).

The reason I bring up this very brief evaluation of this more vintage approach to the Christian faith is to illustrate what a more recent group of Christians is reacting against. Although there is some continuity, it seems many from the subsequent generations have reacted in some way to the religion of their fathers. At times this reaction has been violent and bitter, at other times it was within reason, but it has always been noticeable. In this category I am placing the academics and post-college, twenty-something urbanites (often they are one and the same).

The academic usually goes through the process I described above where after opening himself up to new truth about Scripture, God, etc., he abandons not only his previous knowledge, but his epistemology changes. In other words, he learns that legitimate knowledge comes from people with reputable publishing and letters after their name. Usually this breaking point includes also the delegitimizing of sources of his previous Christian experience and education, whether they came from a youth pastor/pastor, devotional or summer camp experience, or their parents, to name a few. No one is able to empathize with me, the academic thinks, except people who are like me. Now that the sources of legitimate knowledge have been identified, the student has put himself in the position where he will open his convictions and categories ever wider.

The academic is not so much a threat to the Christian community as much as he is useless to it. This is a condition I will deem academic paralysis. Its symptoms include, among others, a lack of a sense of urgency and conviction, bitterness toward their conservative upbringing, and an inability/lack of desire to beneficially contribute to the body of Christ. My own academic hubris is also part of the reason why I became an agnostic. While I certainly was not destructive to the church (I was a youth pastor who taught orthodox things, even though I wasn’t sure I believed any of them), I did not have an authentic relationship with Christ that motived me. For example, I worked at a catering company for four years, and although it was widely known that I was a believer, I did not witness to a single person. I simply was not able to. My own opinion is that satan is very much at work within Christian academia and the more days we wake up unaware of his schemes against us, the more we are setting ourselves up for long term deception and failure (for a good summary of spiritual warfare, cf. Clinton Arnold, espec. his book Three Crucial Questions About Spiritual Warfare).

Eventually these academics move from their college into a city and become post-college, twenty-something urbanites. While they aren’t working their part-time jobs, they are busy catching up on the latest indie music, going to concerts, watching shows like The Office, smoking hookah, and enjoying loose leaf tea. While I don’t at all think this phase of life is necessarily bad, many of my experiences with it have been. I have been a part of many of these kinds of Christian groups over the past 7 years or so, and they all have traits similar to the academic setting: lack of motivation, low sense of urgency, and little to no contribution in the areas of spiritual formation, church life, or ministry. In other words, these communities serve to foster spiritual immaturity.

While this phase of life is existential, it is not really very real. Marriage, family, involvement in society, and development of mature ministry absolutely requires that one develops authenticity in his humanity and takes ownership of his spiritual life, to say nothing of developing a sense of urgency and motivation. As with academic paralysis, the problem here is lack of usefulness for the gospel.

I have often heard people like this take pot shots at people like Mark Driscoll but are perfectly willing to put at least cursory support behind someone like Rob Bell. This is because it’s not so much Mark they can’t stand, as much as the fact that he is able to bridge the gap between theology and reality by setting down anchor points in his ministry, something academics simply cannot do. The reason this infuriates me so much is because Mark has already done more for the cause of the gospel than most human beings could do in 100 lifetimes. He has successfully singlehandedly pioneered an enormous gospel cause in one of the most liberal cities in the world. By no stretch of the imagination am I reformed, and there are plenty of things I would disagree with someone like Driscoll about, but the fact that johnny academic, who, in reality makes almost no meaningful contribution whatsoever in the gospel cause, feels the right to critique, and in some cases condemn him as a detriment to the church while knowing or caring little for his gospel-centered ministry speaks for itself.

Watching people react like this has been further confirmation to me that Christians going through these kinds of issues really aren’t as concerned with the gospel as much as they are about staying comfortable in their uncertainty. So when Rob Bell’s book comes out, it will not surprise me in the least to see academics or post-college urbanites shrug off whatever conclusion they come to in the name of community, dialog, or apathy rather than doing something useful, like an exegesis of the pertinent Biblical texts to determine whether or not what Bell is propagating is orthodox or helpful. When we are not grounded in the gospel and do not make it the core value of our lives, it is difficult to see exactly what beliefs matter and why.

Many of us probably find ourselves trying to wisely evaluate the evils and successes of past and present generations and apply them together in our lives. We need to be willing to follow the truth, rather than look for answers. We need to integrate theology into the darkest realities of human suffering. We need to offer a salvation to people that is authentic because it addresses and affects the duties on this side of the grave even as we long for salvation’s consummation in the new heaven and earth.

I already bought my copy of the book, and after it comes out and we are stretched by its contents, we can debate his argument until he writes another one. But without a foundation on which to stand and a realization that what we believe matters and affects reality, all our words are hot air, and all our discussions continue to make fruitless the cause of the gospel mission that we are supposed to be living for in the first place.

We Were Promised Jetpacks - It's Thunder & It's Lightning

2011-02-19T17:42:00.000-06:00

In the News

2011-02-13T18:18:00.003-06:00

Today, in keeping with the events in Egypt, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi called the Muslim world to "create a problem for the world" by holding a peaceful revolt on the borders of Israel until Palestinians uprooted from their homes are allowed to return. Here are some notables from today's speech:

"All Arab states which have relations with Israel are cowardly regimes."

"The white colour (American and Europe) has decided to get rid of the green colour (Muslim world)," Gaddafi said. "These countries should be united against the white colour because all of these white countries are the enemies of Islam."

"Why did this (Jihadist) movement emerge? Regardless of its behaviour, in my analysis this movement appeared in response to the American arrogance towards the Islamic nation and in response to its hegemony of the Islamic world," Gaddafi said.

The conflict continues...

Mark. 1:21-22, my translation

2011-02-03T10:34:00.001-06:00

"They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at his teaching; for He was teaching them like one having authority, and not like the scholars and academics."

Ancient Port of Caesarea Damaged by Storm

2011-01-03T11:10:00.005-06:00

Caesarea Martima (distinct from Caesarea Phillipi which was further inland) is an ancient port city in Israel just south of the Carmel Range (where Elijah had it out with the prophets of Baal in I Ki. 18). Caesarea was built from 22BC - 10 BC and dedicated in 9 BC in honor of Caesar Augustus (as the name suggests). Herod the Great is known for his building projects and architecture seen at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Herodium, Masada, and his winter palace at Jericho, among others. At Caesarea, he used an incredible underwater cement technology to create a port city in an area where there was otherwise little sea access available.

Unlike other near eastern cities, it was very Greek in character with an amphitheater, aqueduct, and hippodrome (pictured below). It became a political capital for Rome in Judea, and we have found the only extrabiblical mention of Pontius Pilate on a stone slab in Caesarea. This suggests that Pilate and other important officials resided here. Pilate happened to be in Jerusalem for Jesus' trial due to the massive amounts of people who come to the city for Passover. Religious revolts were common around holy days, and it would have been important for Pilate to be there in the event that things got out of control.

Due to its gentile character, Caesarea was a disgusting place to the Jews. For example, there was a statue of Dionysius, the Roman god of excess outside the theater (see below). Because of this, the rabbis called it "the daughter of Edom." Caesarea was ultimately the place where the First Jewish Revolt against Rome would start in 67 AD after 20,000 Jews were slaughtered over a dispute about entrance into the synagogue.

The city is rich with Biblical significance, especially in the book of Acts. Peter was told to go to Caesarea after his vision of the unlcean animals in chapter 11, a geographical symbol of God's movement toward the gentiles. Likewise, Philip would have continued on the road northward to preach the gospel here after baptizing the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8). Paul was also imprisoned here before he was taken to Rome. A number of church fathers were also from Caesarea (Origen, etc.).

Unfortunately, a recent major storm has damaged parts of this important city and nearby aqueduct (pictured several posts back). This is a major concern for Israel, since it is a tourist attraction with over 1 million visitors annually. You can read about the storm and damage further here.

Pagan statue outside the theater

The foundations from Herod's palace at Caesarea.

The inside of the theater. Herod Agrippa (son of Herod the Great) died here. There is a biblical account in Acts 12:19 and parallel in Josephus. The theater could hold around 4000 people.

A replica of the famous Pontius Pilate inscription. Even if you don't know Latin, it's easy enough to make out.

RELIGION BLOWS (3/3) - THE INTENT OF LAW

2010-12-31T15:40:00.003-06:00

“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you; did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain-if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?”

-Galatians 3:1-5

Lately I've been meditating on the grace that God has given me. In this process I've realized that grace hasn't played a noticeable part in my Christian life or in the lives of many Christian communities I've been a part of. Not only does it usually not play an active part, it is almost never even acknowledged. I believe the lack of attention given to grace is because it is not well understood. My conviction and sadness has led me to write this down and try to explain it so that we can all learn from my mistakes and the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. If it sounds like I'm angry, it's because I am. But most of my computer-typed preaching is to myself:

In my previous posts, I’ve defended the idea that religion (morality without the basis of grace in Christ) is an absolute abomination to God and one of the chief sins of the church in America. In an effort to be transparent, I have chronicled parts of my upbringing in the conservative Bible-belt of West Michigan and the self-righteous attitude that was fostered and reinforced by this environment and my own sin nature. I have also presented the gospel of Christ to show what Jesus went through for us via the horrifically shameful nature and physical torture of crucifixion, as well as the spiritual unleashing of sin, guilt, and shame upon Christ so that He could act as our substitute for our sins. In light of this act on our behalf, any self-salvation or self-sanctification project is laughable since it can never deal with the ramifications of the human condition, and it will only produce self-righteousness (if we succeed) or depression (if we fail). The only thing that matters is what Christ has done for us, and in our corrupted state, there is nothing we can contribute to it (Gen. 8:21; Rom. 3, 5). Therefore, I have argued that Christians should always and only view their morality on the basis of this grace (see my two previous posts for a full discussion).

But the question of law remains. If so much grace is given to people via the gospel, what is the point of the rules that God gives us in Scripture? No one can deny that God expects His people to be holy and to repent of active sin in their life (Lev. 11:44; I Pt. 1:10), but what I believe the church needs to discover is a way to connect grace and Christlike-living. More precisely, we need to place our Christian morality within the context of grace. It’s easy to either emphasize merely grace alone and be a nominal Christian or morality only and be self-righteous, but it seems clear to me that Scripture says we need both. The right combination of morality and grace will help to form the godly foundation that we can build our lives, relationships, and ministries upon.

The Law was given by God for specific purposes among His covenant people. By the time of the New Testament, there was such a staunchly misguided approach to the Old Testament Law (OTL) seen in the Judiazers and Pharisees. Religious-people are really doing a similar thing to the Law of Christ today in my opinion. So, it will be helpful for us to spend some time examining aspects of OTL and then contrast them with how the Law was misused later. This discussion will be broken down into two parts. In this section we will show what I believe to be the intent of the OTL, and in a later post we will see how this became distorted by religious people in a key New Testament text and why this matters.

The setting of the Law

The Ten Commandments are some of the most well-known and oft quoted verses in all of Scripture, but they are also some of the most misused. Believing them to be simply plug-and-play commands, they have often been ripped out of their Old Covenant context and put on courtroom walls or used as proof text not to swear or miss church on Sunday. What is often not emphasized is what God had in mind when they were given to ancient Israel via Moses on Mt. Sinai.

God precedes the Ten Words with a powerful reminder of what would become the central redemptive event in the Old Testament: “I am YHWH your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Ex. 20:1).” The entire Decalogue which is the foundation of the Law is itself built upon the Exodus event. YHWH bought Israel when He fought for them at the Re(e)d Sea as their divine warrior (Ex. 15:3), and He would continue to fight for them when they entered the land (vs. 14-16). All this means that YHWH was the only rightful king of Israel (vs. 17-18). The Ten Commandments (and by extension, they whole Law) are not something that Israel was to perform to earn salvation; they were given to God’s people to show them the proper way to respond to what YHWH had done on their behalf. God is saying in effect, “I am your God, I will fight for you, I love you, and because of that you are my people and should act this way.” So with this introduction in 20:1, the Ten Commandments are framed in a unique manner that makes it impossible to see them as strictly religious rules to be kept. In other words, Israel responded to God because He initiated with them. This concept Paul would later apply to Christians in the context of sexual immorality when he says, “For you have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body (I Cor. 6:20).” Now for us, instead of the exodus, the gospel is the focus, and Christ’s death means that He owns our entire personhood. Only to the degree that we understand what it cost God to deal with sin will we be motivated toward obedience, not for morality’s sake, but because we understand that our lives aren’t “ours” anymore.

In addition to the Exodus event, the Law is given in the broader context of the Abrahamic Treaty (Gen. 12, 15, 17, 22). God called Abram the gentile out of the pagan land of Ur so that He could make a great nation out of him and bless him. This blessing was designed to be spread from Abraham’s descendants to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:3). The reason God chose that specific land for Israel is because it was the central land bridge that connected the ancient near east. As people traveled, they would hear about YHWH, the one true God, and His news would spread to all the nations. In Gen. 15, God told Abram that his people would be oppressed 400 years before they were brought back to this land. So the Law was given 400(ish) years later to God’s special people who He already had committed Himself to via the covenant. The Law was unique revelation given to Israel that made them aware of the holiness of God and their sin. It also showed how sinful people could continue in fellowship with a holy God-through sacrifices of atonement. But this Law was never meant to become a factory of guilt and shame for those who could not keep it or a prescription for becoming self-righteous by trying to keep all of it. In any event, God gave Israel these commands on the basis of how He had already initiated with them in relationship in the Abrahamic Covenant, something Paul would pick up on later (Gal. 3:17).

God’s Discipline

The Law then became a window into the heart of God that showed people whom He had chosen how to live in the midst of unholy nations who worshiped other gods. Israel’s motivation to obey God was on the basis of what He had done on their behalf, both in the covenant and redemption from Egypt. Those who did not obey, God reserved the right to discipline (Dt. 28). God’s discipline on His children is a pattern in the Old Testament (Prov. 3:11-12) and a theme later picked up on in the New Testament as well (Heb. 12). He would stop at nothing to bring His people back to Him, even by sending on Israel the brutal Assyrians who were known to behead, flay, impale on a stake (frontally or rectally), and burn alive rebellious peoples (II Ki. 17:7-20; Nahum). The better part of these ten tribes were assimilated into Assyrian culture and never returned to the land. Later God brought Babylon on Judah. YHWH warned them of these coming attacks through His prophets, but the northern and southern kingdom ignored Him time and time again.

This same pattern of discipline is clear throughout the New Testament. God will discipline His people, which generally involves giving us over to sins that we want to pursue (Rom. 1). When God gives us over to our own desires, we are brought to the end of ourselves and experience the full destructive power of our natural tendencies. Christians who sin quench the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives and within the Christian groups they are involved. They also invite satan and demons to influences them through their sin nature (Eph. 4:26-27; I Thess. 5:19). Sin spoils relationships and always invites death to come and corrupt. But even as we wander from God, Christ’s death and resurrection means that we can never be condemned since Christ already was condemned for us and our sinful core will never allow us to stop sinning entirely (Rom. 8:1). Instead of punishing His children, God disciplines them, as any wise father would (Prov. 3:5-7).

At the end of the day, followers of Christ must accept the standards that God has set for them in Scripture. Christians who have sex outside marriage, manipulate others, have out of control anger, are committed homosexuals, live in the fear of man, drink excessively, are porn addicts, do not take responsibility for their children, etc., and refuse to repent and change the way they think and live must understand that their lifestyle is not acceptable to God. Sin is something at the core of every person that needs to be killed, not managed, ignored, or tolerated (Rom. 6, Col. 3). The most significant human problem is not poverty, oppression, or lack of education no matter how many academics want to cloud the issues at hand by blaming external forces for every evil that exists. There are external evils and problems, but the human heart is the nest where wickedness is first tolerated and incubated so that it can grow and flourish in some of the most heinous ways imaginable. Christians are not exempt from the flesh, and we ought to expect to repent of sin until we die. But we are not doing this to get God’s love or acceptance, or to avoid condemnation. We are doing it because Christ loves us, and He bought us; we are a part of His covenant community. God now gets to set the standards for our lives, and if we don’t orient our heart in the right direction, He reserves the right to discipline His children. He has given us something that no one deserves, and He is working in everyone’s hearts because of His love for us. This can humble us as we gain a realistic understanding of the human condition and grace first in ourselves, then others. Rule-keeping for its own sake is a weak, short-lived morality that makes us judgmental of others and makes God vomit. Cultivating a heart that humbly recognizes our own sin and the depth of grace will rightly set us on the long-term trajectory of repenting of sin and doing life God’s way. This kind of person is on the path to true Christian maturity and is infinitely valuable in life, relationships, and ministry.

Having outlined how God’s standards are supposed to work, we’ll spend the next post in Galatians 3 and see how and why religion distorts them to become the basis of self-righteousness and self-sanctification.

2010-12-28T18:19:00.002-06:00

A beasty Roman aqueduct built during the first century AD and rebuilt by Emperor Hadrian. It brought water from Mt. Carmel to Caesarea Maritima, 13 miles away.

Stephen climbs everything.

The Lord's Supper

2010-12-23T14:07:00.007-06:00

Here's another excerpt from my paper on the church. This time I am writing about the establishment and function of the Lord's Supper:

The Lord’s Supper is robust with theological truth. The Biblical text suggests that the Lord’s Supper was originally Jesus’ reinterpretation of the Passover meal.[1] The passover meal included reading the story of YHWH's deliverance at the Re(e)d Sea, drinking several cups, and eating small portions of a meal that were theologically interpreted. Jesus is now applying the redemption of God, embodied in the Passover event, to Himself. Indeed, the words of institution ("this is My body") reflect the truth that Jesus has become our Passover lamb. The theologically significant preposition uJpeVr ("for") is used here to indicate substitutionary atonement.[2] Additionally, as believers partake in the meal, they are also sharing in the future reality of the Kingdom of God. Jesus reminds his followers that He will not partake of it again until the coming of His Kingdom (Lk. 22:16-18). As Paul also says, when believers do this, they “proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (I Cor. 11:26).” The Lord’s Supper was a means for the disciples to remember the gospel which has already come and eschatologically (future) oriented nature of the church which has not yet fully arrived. So then, this meal is deeply theological in nature, but it is also relational.

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the unity of Christians during the Lord’s Supper is as important as the theological truths it embodies. At Corinth factions and selfishness were evidenced in the lack of order, drunkenness, gluttony, and the complete disregard of the upper class for those who had nothing (11:17-22). This lack of unity meant that believers were drinking judgment to themselves which even resulted in death for some of them (29-30). Believers should instead repent of their relational sin against their brothers and sisters so that they do not “drink the cup in an unworthy manner” (27). This suggests that thirty seconds of silence for individuals to look for sin in their own hearts prior to eating a cracker is a misuse of this passage, for it is the neglect and abuse of other people in the church that Paul has in mind here. The result of this repentance should be valuing others and each person taking care of their own needs at home rather than at the expense of the body of Christ (33-34). This passage is a beautiful picture of the relational nature of God’s people in the New Testament.

The question of the frequency of the meal is difficult. It is clear from the above discussion that the meal is to be repeated, but the Passover meal was only eaten once a year. However, we have seen that it has become a regular occurrence for all the believers at Corinth (I Cor. 11:33) and probably to the early Jerusalem church (Acts 2:42) and within other settings (Jude 1:12). It seems fair to say based on these texts that the Passover meal has developed within early Christianity into a regular meal eaten together which includes aspects of the bread and wine. Paul has certainly applied the words of institution to a semi-regular community meal at Corinth. The later church fathers were instrumental in separating out the bread and the cup from the rest of the meal, completed by the time of Tertullian.[3] However, it seems that this separation does not have biblical warrant. Therefore, it is perhaps best to understand it as a relational meal with theological significance that should have frequent occurrence among groups of believers. The wine and bread should be given prominence at some point during the meal to orient everything around the gospel.

The love feast is a relational and theological act that the body of Christ should be doing, and the idea that it must be administered by some kind of clergy cannot be found anywhere in Scripture. The idea of celebrating Jesus with Christian people we love sounds like a wonderful thing, but in many Christian traditions the organic nature of the Lord's Supper is yet one more thing contained within an institution so it can be controlled and regulated. The result is that it is anything but relational and celebratory. The reason this is probably so misunderstood is that we have blindly accepted the Roman Catholic institutionalism that the Reformers retained in their practice. Drinking grape juice and eating a cracker once a month can be good cause for reflection, but to teach that this is the intent of Jesus and the apostles in the above passages is absolutely misleading.

[1] So Driscol/Breashers, Vintage Church 123-124.

[2] Cf. Also Rom. 5:8; I Cor. 15.3, etc.

[3] Barna/Viola, Pagan Christianity? 193. They also note that in the Didache, communion remained a part of the love feast.

Some Thoughts on Church Leadership

2010-12-21T16:10:00.005-06:00

My recent lack of posting is due to the end of the semester's solitary confinement for the writing of papers and studying for exams. Let the writing continue! Here's an excerpt from a paper I wrote on the church. This is a brief discussion about church leadership. Enjoy:

In discussing leadership in the New Testament church we must avoid punting to the extremes of anarchy or institutionalism. Church leadership is clearly a reality to be acknowledged in Scripture, but its institutional aspects are simply not as developed as some theologians would have us believe. Considering all the pertinent biblical texts is important; unfortunately, there is not adequate space for any kind of a lengthy discussion here. However, we hope that the following survey will help to provide basic support for some principles that surround the nature of Christian leadership.

First, every believer had a responsibility of leadership in some capacity.[1] There are several biblical texts that indicate actions with have leadership ramifications should be performed by all Christians. After commending to the Thessalonians those who “have charge over [them] in the Lord,” Paul urges all the believers to “admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with everyone… (5:14-15).” Also, Paul reminds Timothy that the accusation of any Christian against an elder is welcome if it can be sustained by two or more of them (I Tim. 5:19). Christians are not to form personality cults around leaders (I Cor. 1:10-17; 3:5-15), nor is their message to be authoritatively accepted without being tested on the basis of the gospel.[2] This corporate participation should help to produce discernment to guard against the influence of false teaching. These things imply that all members are to be involved, to some degree, in the leadership affairs of the community.[3] This should come as no surprise, since every believer has been gifted and is expected to mature in their knowledge of God and service to others.

Second, there were specific New Testament leaders who organically emerged through their function within a group to whom believers should submit themselves. In Romans 16, Paul commends Phoebe to the church at Rome based on the work she has done for the church (vs. 1-2). Paul reminds the Colossians that Epaphras “labors earnestly for [them] in his prayers,” and that “he has a deep concern for [them] and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col. 4:12-13).” Likewise, Paul tells the believers at Thessalonica that they should “appreciate” and “esteem very highly” those who “have charge over [them]” “because of their work” (I Thess. 5:12-13; cf. also I Cor. 16:15-16).[4] The author of Hebrews commands believers to obey and submit to their leaders (13:17). Likewise, Peter commands Christians to be subject to their elders (I Pt. 5:5). It is important to observe that the motivation for such submission is the work of the shepherds on behalf of the sheep and their exemplary life. This shows that the early church took the example of Christ’s servant leadership seriously (Jn. 13:5-20). Since godly leadership in the New Testament is expressed through equipping and serving of the community, submission to leadership, like everything else in the church, is an organic exercise.

Third, elders and deacons are a recognized function of leadership within relationships, not an ecclesiastical office invested with special power and authority. Although Paul sought to appoint elders frequently during his missionary journeys, it cannot be said that every city had elders.[5] The only epistle of Paul addressed to elders and deacons is Philippians. However, one should note that their inclusion falls under the general rubric of all the saints at Philippi, and that the terms do not have a definite article (they are not called the elders and the deacons).[6] This suggests that they indicate a general function within the group, not an office in the ecclesiastical sense.[7] Within the “Pastoral Epistles”[8] there are clear lists of qualifications for eldership for Timothy and Titus to use in appointing them (I Tim. 3; Tit. 2). Indeed, Paul now says that someone may aspire to be an overseer (I Tim. 3:1). The men who manifested these qualifications would become apparent to Timothy and Titus as they observed their service within their respective Christian groups. Those who worked especially hard at preaching and teaching were worthy of “double honor” (5:17). Their eldership was acknowledged publically by the laying on of hands.[9]

Appointing leadership today is a relational matter. The “Pastoral Epistles” describe what Paul told Timothy to do at Ephesus and Titus to do in Crete. Today, there are no more Pauls, Timothies, or Tituses. While there are helpful principles the church must apply from these letters, we cannot perform everything in them as if we were Timothy or Titus. Perhaps the best way for the church today to apply eldership is for Christians to identify and submit themselves to godly men as they emerge through their teaching and service. This network of influential relationships which the apostles invisioned is unfortunately a far cry from what the church has become.

These brief discussions of several important principles have hopefully served to set the issue into a somewhat proper perspective. Banks helpfully sums up the conclusion of our discussion here:

“[Paul] did not vest authority in one person, or in a group of people, over the remaining members…Paul’s communities were instead theocratic in structure… [the leader’s] authority comes from the ministry discharged by them in the community rather than from their status outside or position within it, and it is not an irrevocable possession…authority resides not only in the core contributors but in everyone without exception.”[10]

[1] So Banks, Community 144-145.

[2] Gal. 1:9; Acts 17:11; I Jn. 4:1-4; II Pt. 3:14-18.

[3] Naturally, some believers will have greater capacity for leadership than others. Scripture indicates that the more mature have a responsibility to those who have not come as far in the faith (Gal. 6:1; Jms. 5:13-15). But this cannot be used to establish a clergy/laity distinction or negate the implications of the corporate responsibility for leadership based on the above texts.

[4] It is noteworthy that Paul handles his own authority this way as well. When he sends his coworkers on missions to the various churches, it is their service that is emphasized. He says of Tychicus, he is a “faithful servant and fellow bondservant in the Lord” to Colossae (4:7-8). When Timothy comes to Corinth, he is to be accepted because “he is doing the Lord’s work (I Cor. 16:10).” He also says of Timothy, “I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare (Phil. 2:20).” Titus freely volunteers to travel to Corinth on behalf of the apostle (II Cor. 8:17). Paul notes his labor for the churches and ultimately for Christ as the reason the Corinthians should openly accept him (23-24). Even Paul himself, though he has been directly called as an apostle and missionary by the risen Lord, occasionally reminds the communities of the work he has done on their behalf (I Thess. 2:9-12; II Thess. 3:7-13).

[5] Corinth is one example of a city without elders.

[6] ejpiskovpos and diakovnois.

[7] Banks, Community 144.

[8] There is absolutely no correspondence between men who hold the office of a pastor within a church institution today and the historical function of Timothy and Titus. These men were itinerate missionaries under the command of the apostle Paul, rather than single bishops who remained in one place as they would from the second century onward. Indeed, by end of the II Timothy, Paul is already preparing to send Tychicus to take Timothy’s place at Ephesus so that he can go to be with Paul (4:9, 12, 21). In that regard, it is quite misleading to call these letters “Pastoral Epistles.” I do so with great hesitancy and only in quotations.

[9] However, to posit this as ordination is an eisegesis of text. The laying on of hands (I Tim. 5:22) is a relational way of affirming someone’s functional eldership, not one of establishing ordination in an institution (Banks, Community 198).

[10] Community 148.

2010-12-09T00:41:00.002-06:00

A pond in the Golan Heights. In the heat of June it's a nice place to cool off.

Me doing some cliff jumping.

Down the same trail a bit is an extinct volcano that has been filled by this waterfall. We enjoyed the view while we ate our lunch.

Paste Magazine's Top 50 Albums of the Year

2010-12-03T14:32:00.003-06:00

You will doubtless disagree at many points, but Paste Magazine's top 50 albums of the year is always an intriguing take. Some of my favorites that made an appearance were: Sufjan, Mumford & Sons, Arcade Fire, Frightened Rabbit, and Free Energy. I was surprised that Gaslight Anthem was not on the list. Check 'em out for yourself here.

2010-12-01T20:27:00.002-06:00

A man fishes next to the remains of Herod's Palace at Caesarea Maritime, Israel

Confessions of a Practical Agnostic

2010-11-29T21:03:00.004-06:00

I have been a Christian as long as I can remember, but once I went to Bible school, everything that had been my foundation began to slowly erode beneath me. For those of you who know me, this may be hard to believe, but from roughly 2006 until the later part of 2009, I lived the life of a practical agnostic, sometimes basically a deist. I was studying the Bible at such a high level that the simplicity of my past faith or ideas about the nature of the Bible were no longer sustainable in my mind. I had new data about the Bible that could not fit into my old categories. Because the Bible was the basis of all I believed, I was left with no foundation. So I threw out my old categories of what Scripture was but with them went all my past spiritual convictions and experiences. At first this was crippling, and over time, it became absolutely devastating.

This radically affected the way I lived my Christian life-without confidence or a sense of urgency. For example, I worked a catering job for four years, and not one time did I witness to a single person there (from this point on, I consider my witness a serious mark of what I do believe). I was in youth ministry through these years and taught orthodox things to my youth group; however, if you would have forced me to confess what I believed about the Bible being inspired, or Jesus being the only way to God, I would not have been able to give a confident answer. My life also continued in similar fashion as before, and many people would have noticed no practical difference in my behavior. No doubt this can be at least partially attributed to my life-long training in covering up my true problems with religiosity. But inside I was a mess. Satan was using my unbelief to hamper my usefulness, and I felt like I could not resist his influence in my life. The summer of 2009 was the darkest time of my life. I would grab my pipe and go for a walk to call out to a god who I was not sure existed. I asked him to do anything to make me believe in him again, to give me a sign. But no sign ever came.

In the spring of 2009, as I was nearing this intense time of struggle, I remember being struck with a thought while I was sitting in church one Sunday morning. During the sermon, I sat down and scribbled the following on the church bulletin:

"Because of ideas I have been exposed to, I have naturally come upon a suspicion of everything I have known and been taught about the Bible, since these new things have cast them in a different light. This unfortunately includes everything that pertains to my spiritual life since I learned it all before I went to school. Since there is now such an overall discrepancy between what I know I should do and what I actually do, I can only conclude that I do not believe those things anymore though I desperately want to. My spiritual life has become one of suspicion, since my new perspective has attacked me at my very foundation. I should like to think this feeling is circumstantial, but it keeps coming back to me and I believe Satan is using it to haunt me. I need to find a way out of this and be reassured that it is okay in the meantime. It is a depressing thing that I am constantly seeking for an answer in myself which leads to less answers and more questions and doubts, yet I somehow feel I have been restrained from looking to the Bible or anything else."

All this from a Moody graduate and second year seminary student.

By God's grace, the story did not end here, but through a series of different circumstances over the past year, He has marvelously worked in my life and brought me to a much more confident, joyous place. I am now stronger and more confident in Him than I ever have been, and I realize just how deceived I was and why. In fact, God has used my struggle to bring me to a much deeper realization of my own limitations and sin. I am sharing a piece of this with you because I want it to be known that I am not ashamed of my struggle and the work that God has done in me because of it. I also know that there are many people who do lose their faith because of problems of an academic nature. Know that others are struggling with you, and that there is always hope when you surrender yourself before Jesus. You don't have a savior that is going to abandon you, but one who will continue to love you back to Him.

Middle Schoolers Write in Cuneiform

2010-11-23T09:24:00.003-06:00

Last week, a middle school class in Sayville, NY invited an expert in ancient languages to come teach them about how alphabets developed. Afterward, the kids were given clay and wrote their names in Ugaritic as outlined on the chart below. From this hands on experience, these kids probably learned more about these languages in one day than most adults will ever learn! While ancient near eastern history is often neglected for the study of things westerners commonly find more exciting (ancient Greeks/Romans), it is encouraging that it is being emphasized to these young kids.

"Apprentices gathered around the master scribe who pounded lumps of clay into pillow-shaped tablets. Closely following all the instructions, each student then used a wooden stylus to impress a series of horizontal and vertical wedges into the pliant material—rendering a cuneiform writing system that predates the birth of the modern alphabet."

Read the full article.

Ugaritic is a West Semitic language (in the same family as Biblical Hebrew). It is named after the city where most of its tablets were found (Ugarit). The Ugaritic language was lost after a group known as "The Sea Peoples" destroyed Ugarit around 1200 BC. Since Ugaritic was discovered in 1929, it has been a help to understanding how Biblical Hebrew verbs developed. Also, it has helped show us the meaning of some words that are only used one time in the Old Testament (called a Hapax Legomenon).

A student writing her name in a clay tablet.

Some Thoughts on Marriage

2010-11-18T09:49:00.009-06:00

Yesterday, I noticed that yet another celebrity marriage has fallen apart. Eva Longoria, a star in TV's Desperate Housewives, has filed for divorce from Tony Parker, the San Antonio Spurs' point guard. Their storybook wedding took place in 2007 in a church across the street from the Louvre in Paris. In case there was any confusion, they have each noted on their Twitter accounts that, "We love each other deeply and pray for each other's happiness." This seems like an interesting definition of love, to say the least, but it's good to know that happiness may presumably be found in another marriage down the road. This was Eva's second marriage.

Today Matt Drudge linked an article titled, "Marriage: What's It Good For?" to his site. The statistics indicate that today almost 40% of those polled believe marriage is becoming obsolete, while in 1978, only 28% believed so. In it, the author interestingly remarks, "Neither men nor women need to be married to have sex or companionship or professional success or respect or even children — yet marriage remains revered and desired."

Even more telling is the trend of young people choosing singleness over marriage. This survey
(linked to from the previous article) indicates that in the 1960's, 68% of twenty-somethings were married, while today only 26% were. This is a statistic worth paying attention to in my opinion. Biblically, there is no way to divorce sex or children from marriage. It is clear that the normal, God-intended place for sex is between two heterosexual marriage partners, and children are to be born and raised in that environment. There are tens of millions of boys in their mid-twenties in America who don't want the responsibility of becoming a man, yet they are having sex all the time. I see them at bars when I cruise around downtown Chicago on late nights. This irresponsible attitude can be seen in just about every episode of popular shows like How I Met Your Mother, where it is glorified as the great right of late twenty-something urban living.

This neglect of marriage is not Christian, but neither is worship of it. The conservative Evangelical response to this is often to turn marriage into an idol by awarding mature, godly status to all married people and looking down on those who are not. People who graduate from Christian colleges unmarried or without plans to be are often made to feel like there is something wrong with them. It is, of course, ironic that Christians look so highly upon marriage also worship the God-Man Jesus Christ, who was himself unmarried. My caution to conservative Evangelicals is not to lump all unmarried twenty-somethings into the same category and judge them as if they were jobless party-ers who live at their mom's house.

There are actually all kinds of wise reasons to be an unmarried twenty-something (at least for a time): to pursue an education, get out of debt, focus on spiritual/personal growth/wisdom, or be more actively involved in ministry, among others. In some cases, it may actually be more beneficial to deal with some of these issues before pursuing a relationship. For example, I am currently working on two masters degrees while part time youth pastoring at a church 45 miles from where I go to school (as well as working on a host of personal issues-cf. my religion posts). These are all beneficial pursuits, and there is nothing wrong with (or less mature about) delaying marriage while I pursue them. I know many people in similar situations who are single and many who are married or on that track. Great! Whatever you life situation, we need to ensure that we are getting married for the right reasons, not for security/identity or because it's the Christian college norm! Marriage is a big decision. Be careful! There's a reason Christian divorce rates are essentially no different than those of non-Christians.

I think we have a lot to learn from paying attention to the statistics mentioned above. The nature of our culture is to remain single longer. Biblically, there is nothing wrong with this. But it is not okay to enjoy the benefits of sex or remain irresponsible in the meantime. More disturbing is the apathetic attitude toward divorce and belief that marriage is becoming obsolete. Living together is not a viable alternative to being married, and divorce is always because of sin; while it may be a lesser evil in some cases, it is never God's ideal. Christians are fighting an uphill battle for the sacred institution that we believe God ordained with our first parents. As Jesus said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore, God has joined together, let no man separate (Mk. 10:7-9)."

2010-11-16T21:55:00.001-06:00

My cousins and I making the best of a beautiful upper Michigan day

The Pythagorean Theorem - Before Pythagoras?!

2010-11-15T12:10:00.006-06:00

Before excavations of sites in the Ancient Near East (ANE), most of our ancient history sources were Greek. The Greek witnesses were highly esteemed and used to write ANE history before modern archeology was invented and we were able to consult all the stuff buried away in Mesopotamia. The Greeks were credited for that invention of just about everything and other ancient peoples were usually written of as barbaric idiots. Herodotus for example was credited as "the first historian" (good to know that no one wrote history before that - including Biblical writers!), and Pythagoras "the first mathematician." The emphasis started early, for many people through the ages have been classically trained without any regard for things that existed before Homer or Aristotle. To be sure - there is much value in the classical education, and we would all to do well to read the classics - but the over emphasis on the ancient Greek and western sources have done great damage in everyone's minds to the value of learning about other, much older civilizations (for example, anyone who has taken an ANE backgrounds to the Old Testament course can see its value). And now ANE folk, like myself, are fighting an uphill battle for relevancy. So it goes. However, we can now see that as the Greeks started interacting with the east, they began to incorporate many ANE ideas into their own ideology. Consider:

-They probably borrowed their concept of the alphabet and their ideas for plays and epics from the Phoenicians (an ANE semitic people, like the Israelites).

-The concept of a law code was probably invented by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia and incorporated into other civilizations (for example Hammu-rapi) including eventually the Greeks.

-The concept of a temple, idols, sacrifices, and priests are very ancient, and probably go back into the Stone Age (and no, YHWH did not invent them either; He used something that ancient peoples would have been able to relate to as a part of the worship that He demanded.)

-Stories of pantheons of gods (like on Mt. Olympus) are about as old as the invention of writing (3500 BC). The Greeks borrowed the idea.

-The Babylonians were renowned for their mathematics and intricately developed study of astronomy. Most of this was borrowed by and credited to the Greeks. The clay tablet below is from 1900BC, written in cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing in clay). It explains how to find the square root of 2 using right triangles. If you flip it over, it explains how to find the square root of 3 using right triangles. This predates Pythagoras by 1300 years, but is still erroneously called "the Pythagorean Theorem."

Much more attention needs to be given to the ANE materials for history in general and in the study of the Bible in particular. At the very least we need to recognize that ancient peoples were not dumb as the Enlightenment thinkers perpetuated. They made many contributions to civilization that we are still reaping the benefits of today.

In this article, some more of these ANE contributions are discussed.

RELIGION BLOWS PART 2/3 – THE HEART & COMPARATIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS

2010-11-14T22:37:00.005-06:00

“With what shall I come to YHWH and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does YHWH take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

-Micah 6:6-8

A religious person is someone who doesn’t understand grace. As we concluded the discussion with last time, there are both unregenerate people who claim to be Christians but actually are not because they are trying to earn their righteousness by rule-keeping. There also regenerate Christians who are saved by grace but don’t live by grace or the power of the Holy Spirit. The line between them is thin, and the actions of one often reinforce the actions of the other. What’s missing from this picture a realistic view of the spiritual life. What matters is the kind of person we are becoming, not whether we keep certain rules from day to day. We ought not look at the Christian life as a sprint but more like a marathon. When this happens, we can more closely focus on our hearts.

The heart is basically the seat of your emotions. It’s your core personhood-what defines who you are. Based on my observations in Scripture, I want to suggest that God cares more about the trajectory of your heart and less about how often you do or don’t keep quantifiable rules. What matters is not what you do or don’t do but how your heart responds to the risen Christ. I grew up thinking that if I could graduate high school without committing any of the “big sins” (having sex, getting drunk, committing a crime), I would be a success. I did graduate a success by my standards, and I felt great about myself because there were always people I could compare myself to who had “failed”. It made me an arrogant jerk in my own mind, judgmental of people who were not as good as I thought I was. I felt righteous not because of Jesus, but because of me. Clearly, I was headed in the wrong direction. I thought a Christian who lost his virginity was the worst person. In reality, I was the worst person. It would have been probably a little better for me to commit any or all of those “big sins” if it would have helped me come to understand grace earlier (in fact I did sin in many ways but I was able to convince other people of my righteousness via my personality, appropriate attitude, and quantifiable rule-keeping). I am convinced that we need to see religion for what it is, as disgusting as anything we see in society. It was the religious people who wanted Jesus killed, not the sinners. Far too many Christians are living Pharisees who think they are righteous but are actually looking up the moral ladder at prostitutes, homosexuals, and porn addicts like I was. This is because self-achievement projects like religion breed pride, probably the most utterly demonic and worldly ethic that exists. Pride is an attitude in direct opposition to God brought about by any value we derive apart from Him. I’m convinced most Christians would sanction the crucifixion of Jesus all over again if He came and spoke his mind about our institutions because we already like what we’ve got. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous (those who have already derived self-righteous value from their religious systems), but for sinners (people who humbly recognize their sinful nature and need for a savior) (Mk. 2).

You can know instantly if you have Pharisaical tendencies by answering this question: if you met someone and found out that they were openly gay (or insert anything you think is sinful: addicted smoker, slut, person who uses bad language, had a child out of wedlock, etc.), would you feel in your heart that you are better than them? Would you use their uncleanness to reinforce your sense of self-righteousness and therefore feel good about yourself? Would you gossip about them to your religious friends so you can all be thankful that you’re not like them? It doesn’t even have to be a conscious action; in fact, you’re probably so used to it that it’s second nature to you. It often begins with a subconscious affirmation of their sinful action which you impose over the rest of the person before you even bother to talk to them. This sounds familiar. Consider the parable of the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18; “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people; swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’” Getting righteousness by this method is really just comparative righteousness, and it’s the same sort of thing that YHWH called a dirty menstrual rag, or bloody tampon (Is. 64:6). Our works that we perceive as righteous out of a wicked heart are as disgusting to God as a bloody tampon is to us. We would do well to burn that image in our heads and meditate on it in churches every Sunday.

We need to have the attitude of the tax collector who was considered one of the worst, most disgusting people in Jesus’ day. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to judge oneself in relation to him, which the Pharisee did in his prayer above. “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner! (vs. 13)’” This man was focused on his own sin to the point that he refers to himself as “the sinner.” Jesus’ response: “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

If we adopt the Pharisee’s comparative righteousness approach in any way, at any time, it is at that moment when we have departed from the essence of Christianity and entered into a self-salvation/sanctification project. We fail to understand the gospel at any point that we judge ourselves in relation to anyone other than God. It makes no difference to God if you’re more moral than a homosexual (because everyone has the capacity to be moral), but it makes all the difference in the world to Him if you are humbly repenting of sin in your own life because your heart is growing closer to Jesus.

Imagine that you see someone who is 500 pounds. What would you think about them? What would you say to your friends about them? It’s easy to make fun of people or look down on them because they don’t meet up to our standards for what is appropriate. What if you found out they used to be 800 lbs. but had lost 300 pounds after years of hard work? You would hopefully feel like a tool and realize that you used the wrong standard of judgment. He is headed in the right direction, and that matters to God more than his present state. Jesus said, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment (Jn. 7:24).”

American Christians tend to judge themselves specifically in relation to unbelievers when they should be having compassion on them (Mk. 2:14-17). This smacks of a self-focus where we use others for our own benefit rather than a God focus where we love and serve others. In my view we should engage culture, enjoy the beautiful and true aspects of it, but avoid being influenced by those parts of it which will turn us away from a direction of Christlikeness. Judgment, however, should be almost altogether reserved for the religious. People who claim the name of Christ and are actively living in sin need discipline for their sake and for the sake of the purity of the body of Christ (I Cor. 5:1-8). But, as the Apostle Paul points out, we should not have anything to do with the judgment or condemnation of those who are unbelievers (I Cor. 5:9-12). Preaching condemnation or holding it over the head of an unbeliever may allow us to feel better about ourselves, but it doesn’t make us any better. And there certainly isn’t anything Christian about this approach. The grace of God will make us more compassionate towards others, not more judgmental. Religion is what makes us judgmental, condemning, and altogether too serious. Christian communities that take potshots at the evil world system will miss the point that the religious are at least as bad as the world and in some cases, worse because there’s so much pride involved in religion.

It’s worth noting here that the only time Jesus (the person who talked about hell more than anyone) ever brought up hell was in the context of religious people. I believe our basic approach toward unbelieving sinners in society should be one of compassion, like our Lord (Mk. 2). This doesn’t negate the reality of hell for everyone, but it does leave the condemnation of unbelievers up to God. In the meanwhile, we should do a better job of preaching hell to self-righteous church people. If you’ve based your righteousness on anything other than Jesus like I have, I would seriously encourage you to stop and think about this for a while. I’m sure there’s a special place in hell for moral republican virgins who went to church every Sunday. I would suggest you don’t want to be there.

It’s easy to judge someone’s righteousness by what you observe them to be doing every week. It’s hard (and probably impossible) to see into someone’s heart and determine where they will be in a year, or 5 years. That is what God cares about. Micro-managing our daily Bible reading or church attendance is really doing ourselves a disservice if it makes us care less about the kind of person we are becoming. God wants to conform us into the image of Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. My guess is keeping rules can never make us Christlike, compassionate, gracious, wise, joyful people. But the grace of God will transform us as we meditate on it daily and grow in our relationship with the one without whom we would be totally lost. Compassion comes as a result of being loved, not by trying to earn love.

So what direction is your heart oriented?

Do you get value by comparative righteousness?

Only you know the truth, but my guess is that we all have some repenting to do.

There is much more to be said, like what the point of God giving us rules is if there’s all this grace available in Christ, but we’ll have to explore that further later…

2010-11-12T09:54:00.000-06:00

The sun sets on Piatt Lake, Eckerman, MI

Brandon Flowers - Only The Young

2010-11-09T16:13:00.003-06:00

2010-11-08T02:54:00.001-06:00

The Mediterranean Sea looking north from Caesarea Maritima, Israel

RELIGION BLOWS (pt. 1/3)

2010-11-05T21:06:00.010-05:00

Lately I've been meditating on the grace that God has given me. In this process I've realized that grace hasn't played a noticeable part in my Christian life or in the lives of many Christian communities I've been a part of. Not only does it usually not play an active part, it is almost never talked about. I believe the lack of attention given to grace is because it is not well understood. My conviction and sadness has led me to write this down and try to explain it so that we can all learn from my mistakes and the work of the Holy Spirit in my life. If it sounds like I'm angry, it's because I am. But most of my computer-typed preaching is to myself:

God has rules. If you don’t like that, you’ll end up throwing out the majority of the Bible. But every religion, even atheists have rules. If your perception of the Christian life is based on morality, there is nothing unique about you. I’m convinced a Buddhist priest or secular humanist in good conscience could give many of the same sermons often I hear that are filled with nothing but moral imperatives. The application of such messages usually amounts to, “Let’s go and be better this week.” There is nothing Christian about that; anyone can be moral as long as morality is quantifiable.

The difference between Christianity and religion (morality) is Jesus. The Christian life must recognize that all people, including ourselves, are touched by the effects of sin in every part of our being. Every person has a sinful bent in their inherent nature from a young age (Gen. 8:21; Rom. 3; 5) and cannot find the answer for salvation in themselves or any self-salvation project, although they try to so desperately. Far too many Christians (myself included) do not understand the size of the payment for their sin because they minimize it so much. It is true that we are victims of sin, but we cannot stop there. Everyone is also a sinner themselves. We have made a mess down here, and our world is full of violence, injustice, and suffering. God has every right to let us sit in that until we die and go to Him for judgment. But instead he extends grace to us through Jesus Christ.

Christ suffered one of the most absolutely horrific, shameful, and unjust deaths in the history of the world. He was scourged and crucified for a crime He was innocent of. In scourging, His back was ripped open by a whip with shards of bone and metal tied to its many ends (Mk. 15:15). People’s backs were known to be broken and internal organs exposed simply from the scouring.. He had suffered so much blood loss that He was not even able to carry His own cross (Mk. 15:21). When someone was tied to the cross, he could sit there and suffer for days. Due to the blood loss, the person’s arms would actually turn to gangrene as he slowly suffered. Jesus being nailed to the cross was actually merciful because it ensured a less painful, quicker kind of death (I bet many of us wouldn’t consider having railroad spikes put through our wrists, feet, and possibly penis’ as merciful, but that’s how awful crucifixion was).

Crucifixion caused death by the slow loss of breath known as asphyxiation. Jesus’ body would sink down, and cause difficulty for Him to get air into His longs. In order to breath, He would have pull himself up by His nail-pierced wrists, causing His exposed back to scrape along the splintered cross. While Jesus was suffering profusely, the crowd below sat around and mocked Him (Mk. 15:27-32). Jesus experienced all this pain like a man because He rejected a narcotic that would have dulled His senses. He wanted to be fully alert (Mk. 15:23). Every one of us deserved to suffer like that, but Jesus offered Himself as our sacrifice instead.

Much more painful though, was the spiritual suffering of Christ. On the cross, He took the penalty for sin, as well as the effects of sin (guilt, shame) (II Cor. 5:21) to the point that His eternal fellowship with the Father was broken (Mk. 15:34). This spiritual payment does two things: (1) It allows us spend eternity in the renewed creation with our God rather than in Hell apart from him. (2) Since the cross was cosmic event, it also allows us the joy of participating in the redemption of creation now (Gen. 3; Col. 1). We get to experience partial redemption now and full glorification in heaven with God at judgment.

Everything Christians do, every command we obey, every evil we avoid is always and only because of what grace God has extended to us, understanding what He has saved us from. How dare we talk about salvation or give moral imperatives without talking about the cross of Christ and what He did to even make salvation possible. Without repentance of sin and belief in Jesus, there can be nothing Christian about our behavior, however moral it is. Jesus was not just our example; He was also our substitute.

Therefore, all the moral imperatives in Scripture have to be tied in to the theology of Scripture. Even the 10 commandments are given in the context of what God has already done for Israel, fighting for them against Pharaoh as their divine warrior (Ex. 18; 20:1), and entering into a covenant relationship with them (Gen. 12; 15; 17; 21). Both of these things involved no initiation in Israel’s part. It was YHWH who did the work and who set them apart to be a people unto Himself. Essentially YHWH said to them, “I love you; I choose you; you are My people; I will covenant with you and fight for you; and on the basis of these things, I am giving you my instruction so that you can be holy to Me and others can come to know Me too.”

The reason Christians are often so legalistic, in my opinion, is that our lives are not based on grace because we haven't bothered to understand it. We don’t know how bad we are and how much Christ went through for us. This is due, in part, to the fact that we only use the gospel as a way to get us in the door of Christianity. Our prayers of salvation are oftentimes very detached from a new life in Christ where we are also supposed to live by grace. The result of all this is that we often end up attaching grace only to the salvation prayer and detaching it from the Christian life, so we try to white-knuckle it into heaven. We make rules and work hard to keep them, not understanding that keeping them isn’t the point. This often results in the Sunday morning services turning into pep rallies where Christians get pumped full of energy to make it through the week without screwing up. Then we return to get pumped up again. In doing this we are falling back into the idea that we can earn our own righteousness (self-salvation) or that we can make ourselves more holy by law keeping (self-sanctification; Gal. 3:3).

Rather than either of these, I believe we desperately need to be convinced of the reality that it’s only by Jesus’ righteousness that we can live the Christian life. We pursue sanctification by grace through faith and the work of the Holy Spirit rather than by law-keeping. The entire Christian life should be characterized by grace. As we continue to exercise faith, the Holy Spirit will work in our human spirits and reveal Jesus to us more. This grace will transform us, but belief that our works continue to save us or perfect us will only make us more self-righteous (if we succeed in keeping our rules) or depressed (if we fail to). To make things more tangible, consider if you have ever felt good about yourself because:

-You only listen to Christian music.

-You’ve never been drunk.

-You don’t go to parties.

-You’re a virgin.

-You don’t swear and look down on people who do.

-You don’t smoke and feel like people who do are dirty.

-You read your Bible or pray every day.

-You don’t dance.

-You attend church regularly.

-You’re pro-life.

-You vote republican.

-You don’t support homosexual marriage.

-You went to seminary or Bible College.

-You tithe to your local church every month.

-You don’t watch bad movies.

-You haven’t looked at porn in a while and find out that one of your friends is struggling with it.

Any time we feel better about ourselves because of any of these things, we show that we don’t understand the gospel. Keeping these rules is the very kind of thing that Paul said he considered to be shit in light of the gospel (Philippians 3:8; the translations are sanitized as “rubbish”). There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we do that makes Him love us any less. In a very real sense, the amount of times we sin should produce no guilt within us whatsoever. Christ took all of our guilt upon Himself at the cross! Satan wants believers to sit in guilt or depression, but the Holy Spirit convicts us of specific sin that we can repent of. Likewise, the amount of times we don’t sin shouldn’t make us any more self-righteous because we already have Christ’s righteousness imputed to us! These rules are ways that we judge among ourselves who is better than who so that we can feel good about ourselves or our community; they are not the criteria God uses to judge us. According to Him, we’re all bad.

Our problem is two-fold in my opinion. There are firstly, those who try to earn their righteousness by keeping rules like the Pharisees did, but they are not actually believers. The second are people who have believed in Christ, but like the Galatian church, have been pressured into a framework of rule-keeping for maturity in their spiritual life rather than faith and the Holy Spirit. It is often impossible to distinguish between these two kinds of people in practice. Both would see their righteousness as being maintained by quantifiable rules and tend to judge themselves in relation to others. The second will be saved yet as through fire (I Cor. 3), and the first will spend eternity apart from the God they thought they were serving. This issue matters. It matters now because it affects how we treat people and live our spiritual lives. It matters for the future because it will be a part of determining the state of our eternity.

We will continue to flesh out some of these themes in the near future...

Reformation Day

2010-10-31T17:09:00.005-05:00

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted The Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences Commonly Known as The 95 Theses. The post obviously added to the building tension against Roman Catholic theology that became known as the Reformation. Although he had not completely broken ties with the RC at this point (these were ideas to be debated when he posted them), their posting is widely celebrated as the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

On such a day like today, I hereby deem it appropriate to reproduce the 95 Theses in its entirety:

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.

3. Yet it does not mean solely inner repentance; such inner repentance is worthless unless it produces various outward mortification of the flesh.

4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.

6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God; or, to be sure, by remitting guilt in cases reserved to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in these cases were disregarded, the guilt would certainly remain unforgiven.

7. God remits guilt to no one unless at the same time he humbles him in all things and makes him submissive to the vicar, the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to the canons themselves, nothing should be imposed on the dying.

9. Therefore the Holy Spirit through the pope is kind to us insofar as the pope in his decrees always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity.

10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.

11. Those tares of changing the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory were evidently sown while the bishops slept (Mt 13:25).

12. In former times canonical penalties were imposed, not after, but before absolution, as tests of true contrition.

13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties, are already dead as far as the canon laws are concerned, and have a right to be released from them.

14. Imperfect piety or love on the part of the dying person necessarily brings with it great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater the fear.

15. This fear or horror is sufficient in itself, to say nothing of other things, to constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.

16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ the same as despair, fear, and assurance of salvation.

17. It seems as though for the souls in purgatory fear should necessarily decrease and love increase.

18. Furthermore, it does not seem proved, either by reason or by Scripture, that souls in purgatory are outside the state of merit, that is, unable to grow in love.

19. Nor does it seem proved that souls in purgatory, at least not all of them, are certain and assured of their own salvation, even if we ourselves may be entirely certain of it.

20. Therefore the pope, when he uses the words "plenary remission of all penalties," does not actually mean "all penalties," but only those imposed by himself.

21. Thus those indulgence preachers are in error who say that a man is absolved from every penalty and saved by papal indulgences.

22. As a matter of fact, the pope remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to canon law, they should have paid in this life.

23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few.

24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.

25. That power which the pope has in general over purgatory corresponds to the power which any bishop or curate has in a particular way in his own diocese and parish.

26. The pope does very well when he grants remission to souls in purgatory, not by the power of the keys, which he does not have, but by way of intercession for them.

27. They preach only human doctrines who say that as soon as the money clinks into the money chest, the soul flies out of purgatory.

28. It is certain that when money clinks in the money chest, greed and avarice can be increased; but when the church intercedes, the result is in the hands of God alone.

29. Who knows whether all souls in purgatory wish to be redeemed, since we have exceptions in St. Severinus and St. Paschal, as related in a legend.

30. No one is sure of the integrity of his own contrition, much less of having received plenary remission.

31. The man who actually buys indulgences is as rare as he who is really penitent; indeed, he is exceedingly rare.

32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.

33. Men must especially be on guard against those who say that the pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to him.

34. For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of sacramental satisfaction established by man.

35. They who teach that contrition is not necessary on the part of those who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessional privileges preach unchristian doctrine.

36. Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters.

37. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.

38. Nevertheless, papal remission and blessing are by no means to be disregarded, for they are, as I have said (Thesis 6), the proclamation of the divine remission.

39. It is very difficult, even for the most learned theologians, at one and the same time to commend to the people the bounty of indulgences and the need of true contrition.

40. A Christian who is truly contrite seeks and loves to pay penalties for his sins; the bounty of indulgences, however, relaxes penalties and causes men to hate them -- at least it furnishes occasion for hating them.

41. Papal indulgences must be preached with caution, lest people erroneously think that they are preferable to other good works of love.

42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.

43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than he who buys indulgences.

44. Because love grows by works of love, man thereby becomes better. Man does not, however, become better by means of indulgences but is merely freed from penalties.

45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a needy man and passes him by, yet gives his money for indulgences, does not buy papal indulgences but God's wrath.

46. Christians are to be taught that, unless they have more than they need, they must reserve enough for their family needs and by no means squander it on indulgences.

47. Christians are to be taught that they buying of indulgences is a matter of free choice, not commanded.

48 Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting indulgences, needs and thus desires their devout prayer more than their money.

49. Christians are to be taught that papal indulgences are useful only if they do not put their trust in them, but very harmful if they lose their fear of God because of them.

50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the indulgence preachers, he would rather that the basilica of St. Peter were burned to ashes than built up with the skin, flesh, and bones of his sheep.

51. Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.

52. It is vain to trust in salvation by indulgence letters, even though the indulgence commissary, or even the pope, were to offer his soul as security.

53. They are the enemies of Christ and the pope who forbid altogether the preaching of the Word of God in some churches in order that indulgences may be preached in others.

54. Injury is done to the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or larger amount of time is devoted to indulgences than to the Word.

55. It is certainly the pope's sentiment that if indulgences, which are a very insignificant thing, are celebrated with one bell, one procession, and one ceremony, then the gospel, which is the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a hundred ceremonies.

56. The true treasures of the church, out of which the pope distributes indulgences, are not sufficiently discussed or known among the people of Christ.

57. That indulgences are not temporal treasures is certainly clear, for many indulgence sellers do not distribute them freely but only gather them.

58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the saints, for, even without the pope, the latter always work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outer man.

59. St. Lawrence said that the poor of the church were the treasures of the church, but he spoke according to the usage of the word in his own time.

60. Without want of consideration we say that the keys of the church, given by the merits of Christ, are that treasure.

61. For it is clear that the pope's power is of itself sufficient for the remission of penalties and cases reserved by himself.

62. The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.

63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last (Mt. 20:16).

64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes the last to be first.

65. Therefore the treasures of the gospel are nets with which one formerly fished for men of wealth.

66. The treasures of indulgences are nets with which one now fishes for the wealth of men.

67. The indulgences which the demagogues acclaim as the greatest graces are actually understood to be such only insofar as they promote gain.

68. They are nevertheless in truth the most insignificant graces when compared with the grace of God and the piety of the cross.

69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of papal indulgences with all reverence.

70. But they are much more bound to strain their eyes and ears lest these men preach their own dreams instead of what the pope has commissioned.

71. Let him who speaks against the truth concerning papal indulgences be anathema and accursed.

72. But let him who guards against the lust and license of the indulgence preachers be blessed.

73. Just as the pope justly thunders against those who by any means whatever contrive harm to the sale of indulgences.

74. Much more does he intend to thunder against those who use indulgences as a pretext to contrive harm to holy love and truth.

75. To consider papal indulgences so great that they could absolve a man even if he had done the impossible and had violated the mother of God is madness.

76. We say on the contrary that papal indulgences cannot remove the very least of venial sins as far as guilt is concerned.

77. To say that even St. Peter if he were now pope, could not grant greater graces is blasphemy against St. Peter and the pope.

78. We say on the contrary that even the present pope, or any pope whatsoever, has greater graces at his disposal, that is, the gospel, spiritual powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written, 1 Co 12[:28].

79. To say that the cross emblazoned with the papal coat of arms, and set up by the indulgence preachers is equal in worth to the cross of Christ is blasphemy.

80. The bishops, curates, and theologians who permit such talk to be spread among the people will have to answer for this.

81. This unbridled preaching of indulgences makes it difficult even for learned men to rescue the reverence which is due the pope from slander or from the shrewd questions of the laity.

82. Such as: "Why does not the pope empty purgatory for the sake of holy love and the dire need of the souls that are there if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of miserable money with which to build a church? The former reason would be most just; the latter is most trivial.

83. Again, "Why are funeral and anniversary masses for the dead continued and why does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded for them, since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"

84. Again, "What is this new piety of God and the pope that for a consideration of money they permit a man who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God and do not rather, because of the need of that pious and beloved soul, free it for pure love's sake?"

85. Again, "Why are the penitential canons, long since abrogated and dead in actual fact and through disuse, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences as though they were still alive and in force?"

86. Again, "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is today greater than the wealth of the richest Crassus, build this one basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with the money of poor believers?"

87. Again, "What does the pope remit or grant to those who by perfect contrition already have a right to full remission and blessings?"

88. Again, "What greater blessing could come to the church than if the pope were to bestow these remissions and blessings on every believer a hundred times a day, as he now does but once?"

89. "Since the pope seeks the salvation of souls rather than money by his indulgences, why does he suspend the indulgences and pardons previously granted when they have equal efficacy?"

90. To repress these very sharp arguments of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve them by giving reasons, is to expose the church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies and to make Christians unhappy.

91. If, therefore, indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the pope, all these doubts would be readily resolved. Indeed, they would not exist.

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and there is no peace! (Jer 6:14)

93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is no cross!

94. Christians should be exhorted to be diligent in following Christ, their Head, through penalties, death and hell.

95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven through many tribulations rather than through the false security of peace (Acts 14:22).

James Ossuary Forgery Case Dropped

2010-10-26T14:43:00.008-05:00

The Aramaic inscription on the ossuary

The infamous forgery case surrounding the James ossuary has been dropped. From this article, it would seem that the antiquity of the ossuary itself (which everyone agrees on) as well the inscription has been proven. The famous inscription comes from the first century and reads “Yaqub bar Yahosef achuyi d’Yeshua” (“Jacob ("James"), son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”).

As a side note, the name of the brother of Christ should be translated "Jacob," not "James." This is plain to anyone who knows even a small amount of Aramaic or Greek. The New Testament book should also be translated "Jacob". Why this is not the case I'm not sure. Therefore, I will refer to the brother of Christ as "Jacob," not "James."

In the New Testament period, the burial practices included the collection of the bones into a small bone box (ossuary) after the body decayed. This differs from the Old Testament practice of being "gathered to the fathers," where all the bones of a family would be placed together in a pit inside of the family tomb.

It is interesting that this case was dropped and the inscription on the box seems to be authentic, and indeed, this could refer to the brother of Christ. Jacob was known to remain in Jerusalem, where the ossuary was found, and shepherd the church there in the first century. Furthermore, we know that the Jews only used these bone boxes from around AD20 until the destruction of the temple in AD70. The fact that the ossuary was found in Jerusalem (in Silwan, across the Kidron Valley from the temple mount) means that there high degree of probability that this ossuary contained the bones of Jacob Jesus' brother. Of course, if it were, it would be to the dismay of the Orthodox Armenians who have believed Jacob to be buried in the church of St. James in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. We will never be able to say with certainty that this is the ossuary of James Jesus' brother (though it is highly probable), but it's authenticity would lend credibility to the gospel narratives' first century setting.

Some ossuaries at Dominus Flevit on the Mt. of Olives, Jerusalem.

Blood Feud and the Revolving Door of Revenge

2010-10-22T15:05:00.006-05:00

The Albanian blood feud has taken the lives of thousands of people since its inception, including the life of husband, father, and brother in Christ Dritan Prroji who was murdered a few weeks ago. Please do what you can to get educated about blood feud here. See my earlier post below for more details. Pray for Elona and her two kids, who survive their husband and father, Tani.

Thanks to my sis for the picture above.

A little tip to keep your coffee hot

2010-10-21T20:16:00.006-05:00

If you're anything like me, you enjoy sipping on a hot cup of coffee over the course of a long period of time. A mug of coffee is drinkable to me for between 15 and 20 minutes before it is no longer drinkable. Lukewarm coffee is repulsive. Imagine being able to enjoy the same 20 ounces of coffee for over 5 hours. Enter the new Starbucks Tumbler. This bad boy is double walled for maximum effectiveness and works with cold drinks too. The thing that makes it so phenomenal is its twist-open top which releases minimal heat from your drink. It is FAR superior to a thermos because you don't have to expose the liquid to the air or pour it into another cup to drink it, and it is way better than any travel mug I have ever seen. It's the convenience of a travel mug with the efficiency of a thermos.

Some of you are turned off because it's a Starbucks product and isn't cheap. I have owned the Tumbler for almost a month, and I have enjoyed the fruits of a great investment. Before this I'm sure I wasted at least $20 of lukewarm coffee a month, but now I drink every drop. For pastors, students, and business men alike, this is one more thing that makes your life a little more effective and enjoyable. Go to your nearest Starbucks and check it out today!

The Dead Sea Scrolls going digital!

2010-10-20T11:14:00.003-05:00

It's official, by some time early next year, anyone with access to the internet will have access to high resolution images of all 30,000 fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls! This is phenomenal. Here's a direct quote about the quality of the photos:

"The images will be equal in quality to the actual physical viewing of the scrolls, thus eliminating the need for re-exposure of the Scrolls and allowing their preservation for future generations,"

Check out the full article on ABC news here

Sufjan Stevens in Chicago 10/15/10

2010-10-17T22:38:00.005-05:00

I had the privilege of catching the beginning of Sufjan's The Age of Adz tour in Chicago this past Friday. It was my first time seeing Sufjan, and I will remember this show for a long time to come. The concert itself was less about the music and more the experiential outpouring of the heart of Sufjan. From the stage of the Chicago Theater came music, lyrics, and artwork that told the story of a musician's "inner universe" and explained why his songwriting has taken the turn it has. This concert only confirmed that he is a truly great songwriter of our time, adopting the frantic medium of a schizophrenic to express ideas of heartbreak and restoration. My respect for his artistry has indeed risen along with my intrigue. You may not enjoy The Age of Adz right now, but understanding the story of the man behind it will leave you in awe of its consistency, brilliance, and creativity amidst chaos.

Be sure to check out this excellent review of the concert @ 1000xpm.

2010-10-16T12:45:00.002-05:00

Clyde's Diner. Sault Ste. Marie, MI

The Big C burger in all its glory. My namesake.

Is Cancer a Man-made Problem?

2010-10-15T18:36:00.002-05:00

This article argues that cancer is largely a man-made disease based on the study of many ancient mummified bodies. It's short, interesting, and worth a read. I would think all this artificial stuff we're eating has to affect us at some point.

Matisyahu - One Day + Beatbox

2010-10-13T16:07:00.000-05:00

2010-10-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

The sun sets over beautiful Piatt Lake, MI

Mumford & Sons - Roll Away Your Stone

2010-10-12T11:38:00.001-05:00

Shkodra Weeps Tonight

2010-10-08T17:19:00.007-05:00

Today I received this email from my dad about his friend Tani in Albania. Tani's family was under blood-feud for the last five years (that means a blood avenger from another clan was trying to kill a male from Tani's family). Rather than leaving the city to hide, Tani stayed and continued his ministry, even though every time he left his house he was putting his life at risk. Please pray for his wife Elona and their kids who are left without their husband and father.

Tani Prroj, long time personal friend and pastor of one of the five churches in Shkodra, was shot dead today as result of a long-standing blood feud.

He is survived by a wife Elona, two elementary-aged children (Gabriel and Sarah), and the "Gospel of Christ" church. He was a passionate evangelist.

He was murdered merely because of his last name, being part of a clan embroiled in a blood feud. To understand more about Albanian blood feuds, click here.

Please pray for the funeral which will be held tomorrow morning (it will be afternoon in Shkdra). All the churches of Shkodra will be gathered and Christ will be lifted high. Please join me in praying that Tani's testimony will bring more to Christ in his death than ever he won in his lifetime.

With tears,
David Hosaflook

Left behind, these little ones need our prayers the most.

Rebloged from MissioMishmash

Martin Luther on the BIblical Languages

2010-10-08T16:29:00.003-05:00

The plain fact of the matter is that people who are pursuing an understanding of the Biblical languages are in a much, much better position to address the meaning of Scripture than those who have no knowledge of them. In a day where educated leaders in the church are increasingly looked upon with suspicion, we would do well to be reminded of the words of Martin Luther, the great reformer:

"And let us be sure of this: we will not long preserve the gospel without the languages. The languages are the sheath in which the sword of the Spirit is contained; they are the casket in which this jewel is enshrined; they are the vessel in which this wine is held; they are the larder in which this food is stored; and, as the gospel itself points out, they are the baskets in which are kept these loaves and fishes and fragments. If through our neglect we let the languages go (which God forbid!), we shall....lose the gospel..."

"There is a vast difference therefore between a simple preacher of the faith and a person who expounds Scripture, or, as St. Paul puts it, a prophet. A simple preacher (it is true) has so many clear passages and texts available through translations that he can know and teach Christ, lead a holy life, and preach to others. But when it comes to interpreting Scripture, and working with it on your own, and disputing with those who cite it incorrectly, he is unequal to the task; that cannot be done without languages. Now there must always be such prophets in the Christian church who can dig into Scripture, expound it, and carry on disputations. A saintly life and right doctrine are not enough. Hence language are absolutely and altogether necessary in the Christian church, as are the prophets or interpreters; although it is not necessary that every Christian or every preacher be such a prophet..."

"...Therefore, although faith and the gospel may indeed be proclaimed by simply preachers without a knowledge of languages, such preaching is flat and tame; people finally become weary and bored with it, and it falls to the ground. But where the preacher is versed in the languages, there is a freshness and vigor in his preaching, Scripture is treated in its entirety, and faith finds itself constantly renewed by a continual variety of words and illustrations. Hence, Psalm 129 likens such scriptural studies to a hunt, saying to the deer God opens the dense forests; and Psalm 1 likens them to a tree with a plentiful supply of water, whose leaves are always green."

2010-10-07T21:02:00.001-05:00

The view southwest from the top of Mt. Hermon, Israel

Mumford & Sons - Come Thou Fount

2010-10-04T15:31:00.002-05:00

A cover of Sufjan Steven's version of the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by Mumford & Sons.

2010-10-02T12:48:00.002-05:00

Grand Marais, MI with Lake Superior in the background and the Jod in the foreground.

2010-09-28T11:07:00.002-05:00

Old City Jerusalem, looking west from the Mount of Olives