Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger?

Sean Michael Lucas, assistant professor of church history at Covenant Seminary commends Phil Ryken for his recent article discussing his marriage and makes some comments of his own about resolving conflict. They both practice a literal interpretation of Ephesians 4:26 that says, "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger". I commend them for believing in the blessing of resolved conflict in this way but my wife and I have a slightly different take on the application of this verse.

I would submit that the point of the text is not that we "don't let the sun go down on our anger" meaning, if the sun goes down at 5:30 pm in Dec and you are still angry, then you are in sin, but rather the application of this text would be to simply resolve your conflict as soon as possible!

What my wife and I have found (and counsel young couples in) is that sometimes a conflict at 2am is not going to go anywhere positive due to tiredness, (maybe it's just me, that my brain completely shuts down when I am tired) thus sleep is the exact thing your conflict needs for some clear thinking and repentance in the morning. There have been many times we have seen this to be true in our marriage. Oftentimes, we wake up in the morning and find ourselves saying "what were we even fighting about?"

For sure we try to resolve, but there are times when you just need to go to bed and talk in the morning. This is not the norm for us, but rather a needed exception at times. Every couple is different and I think there should be a degree of freedom of application with this verse.

Just my take. I would love your thoughts.

These Commercials Are Telling the Truth

New Mexico really is the best... :)





(HT: Josh)

Neil Postman on Technology

Here is an interesting clip from Neil Postman, author of "Amusing Ourselves to Death" on some news show from 1995. His words ring true even as he could then have no way of really knowing what was coming down the pipe 10 years later and beyond. It's a 10 min clip but probably worth your time and consideration.



(HT: Dr. Doug G.)

Jazz Jam, The Gospel, and Cool People

Last night I went to the usual jazz jam session that I attend every Tuesday night at a restaurant here in Albucracky. There was a dude that wondered in and he seemed kind of awkward. I could tell that he was there for the jam. He went up to the guy who runs the jam session and I could tell wanted to chat with him a bit, but he did so awkwardly, giving the air of being uncomfortable and out of place.

Here is where my sin was exposed last night: I found myself not really caring about the awkward guy and didn't have any desire to make him feel welcome. It was exposed in my heart that I really only gravitate toward the "cool" or the talented. Why is this? Most likely it's due to my need for acceptance and validation by those around me that I view as significant. If you don't fall into my "significant" category then I couldn't care less about you. This is raw sin in it's purest form.

An amazing thing happened last night. I was introduced to this awkward guy and we struck up a conversation. He asked what I did for a living and I told him I was a music minister at a church in town. He then began to talk about spiritual things and questions he had about Christianity, etc. This provided me the opportunity to share the gospel with him and we had a good chat and I could tell that he was really thinking over what I shared with him. I gave him my card and told him to email me if he wanted to continue the conversation a bit further, or if he had more questions. This is exactly why I show up to these events! It's great to see God blessing my intentions, even when they are shot through with depravity.

I don't think "coolness" (at least as the world defines it) was on Jesus' radar when he shared the truth with people. Why is it on mine? Is it on yours?

Praying for less of me and more of Him.

Interesting Perspective on the iPhone

Click here to read about the service plans that have just released.

(HT: Challies)

What is a Healthy Church?

iMonk reviews and heartily recommends Mark Dever's newest book, What is a Healthy Church?

He says:

Mark Dever is a very interesting combination of scholar- Ph.d from Cambridge-, Southern Baptist pastor in a renewed church in Washington, D.C., Founder’s movement Calvinist and practical church health consultant. Dever has effectively translated his love of the Puritans and his interest in the local church into the widely respected 9 Marks ministry, which is making a major contribution to a renewed emphasis on the local church among evangelicals. Without going down many of the Calvinist/Reformed rabbit holes, Dever gives very interesting, helpful, broadly ecumenical help for churches that stands distinctively apart from the predictable rhetoric of the church growth movement.

Honest About Sin

The gospel gives you psychological freedom to handle the wrong things that you will do. You won’t have to deny, spin, or repress the truth about yourself. These things don’t make it impossible to know who you are. Only with the support of hearing Jesus say, “You are capable of terrible things, but I am absolutely, unconditionally committed to you,” will you be able to be honest with yourself.

-Tim Keller from the most recent Journal of Biblical Counseling.

Michael Mckinley, writing for the the Church Matters blog responds with why it's important for him to be honest about his own sin with the people in his church. He says:

-- It promotes the gospel of grace. I am a sinner in need of a savior.
-- It encourages them to trust Christ ultimately, not me.
-- It encourages other Christians to be honest about themselves and promotes a
culture of transparency in the church.
-- It protects me from nurturing the hypocrisy that hardens our hearts.

Church or Career?

Deepak Reju writing for Church Matters blog asks some good questions:

Have you ever thought how long you will stay committed to your church? American society is very transitory. Often people leave their church to move to another part of the country because they’ve accepted a better paying job. They are moving up on the corporate ladder, buying a bigger house, and enjoying life with more disposable income.

Here’s a novel idea: Why not turn down a job promotion in order to stay committed to your local church? That is, make your church more of a priority than your career.

Read the whole post here.

iPhone

You know you want to watch this. It's amazing.

Fences

Chapter nine of Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace, has been may favorite thus far. He deals with legalism and the type of legalism that he calls man made rules or fences. He says on page 124:

I think my parents' pool hall fence was appropriate. But there is a lesson in my experience for all parents: Don't focus on the fence. If you erect a fence for your children - for example, in regard to certain movies or television programs- be sure to focus on the real issues, not the fence. Take time to explain and re-explain the reason for the fence.

If you decide, as my parents did , that you don't want your children going to the local pool hall, explain why. Distinguish between playing the game itself - which has neither negative nor positive moral value - and the atmosphere you are trying to protect them from.

For all of us, it may be good to have some fences, but we have to work at keeping them as just that - fences, helpful to us but not necessarily applicable to others. we also have to work at guarding our freedom from other people's fences.

Some of the fences in our respective Christian circles have been around a long time. No one quite knows their origin, but by now they are "embedded in concrete". Although it may cause conflict if you violate one, you must guard your freedom. To paraphrase Paul, "Stand firm in your freedom, and don't let anyone bring you into bondage with their fences."

I'm not suggesting you jump over fences just to thumb your nose at the people who hold to them so dearly. We are to "make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification" (Romans 14:19). Use discretion in embracing or rejecting a particular fence. but don't let other coerce you with man made rules. And ask God to help you see if you are subtly coercing or judging others with your own fences.

Evan Almighty

I guess I won't be going to see Evan Almighty anytime soon. I really wanted to like this movie, but sounds like it's pretty lame.

Which Theologian Are You?

All you theology dorks will like this...

I scored as Karl Barth. If you take the test, leave a comment as to who you scored as.

(HT: Sean Michael Lucas)

Relationships vs. Consumerism

"The local congregation is the primary place for dealing with the particulars and people we live with. As created and sustained by the Holy Spirit, it is insistently local and personal. Unfortunately, the more popular American church strategies in respect to congregation are not friendly to the local and personal. The American way with its penchant for catchy slogans and stirring visions denigrates the local, and its programmatic ways of dealing with people erode the person, replacing intimacies with functions...

The great American innovation in congregation is to turn it into a consumer enterprise…If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our congregations is to identify what they want and offer it to them…We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?

Give the conditions prevailing in our culture, this is the best and most effective way that has ever been devised for gathering large and prosperous congregations. Americans lead the world in showing how to do it. There is only one thing wrong: this is not the way in which God brings us into conformity with the life of Jesus and sets us on the way of Jesus' salvation…The cultivation of consumer spirituality is the antithesis of a sacrificial, "deny yourself" congregation. A consumer church is an Antichrist church."

Eugene Peterson, from The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus is the Way, pp. 5-6.

(HT: Brant Hansen)

All Books for $5

Desiring God Ministries reports:

Every book in our store will be $5 on June 27-28, Wednesday and Thursday next week.

No limits, so spread the word.

(This sale is online only.)

Anniversary

Today is my wife and I's 9th anniversary. God has been gracious to grant me such an amazing wife to live life with. She is a faithful partner who loves me and our children well. What a blessing! It's amazing to look back on your wedding day and remember thinking you couldn't love anyone any deeper, and then years later there is a depth of love in place that is something you could have never imagined. Truly this is a testimony to God's grace in our lives as He gives grace to believe his promises for our marriage.

Uncreated One

I recently taught a new song at church that has received quite of bit of positive response. You might want to consider it for your church. It's called, "Uncreated One" and is found on the newest Chris Tomlin record called, See the Morning(iTunes). My buddy Matt Gilder played the keyboards on this track. He is a genius and if you ever see Chris Tomlin live you'll see Matt rockin the keys with his usual flair.

Here are the lyrics:

Uncreated One

Holy Uncreated One Your beauty fills the skies
But the glory of Your majesty is the mercy in Your eyes

And worthy Uncreated One from heaven to earth come down
You laid aside your royalty to wear the sinner's crown

Chorus:
And, O Great God, be glorified, our lives laid down, Yours magnified
O Great God be lifted high, There is none like You

Jesus, Savior, God's own Son, Risen, reigning Lord
Sustainer of the universe by the power of Your word

And when we see Your matchless face in speechless awe we'll stand
And there we'll bow with grateful hearts, unto the Great I Am

New Coldplay Website

Coldplay has a new website. Here is how they describe it:

All four members of Coldplay have been heavily involved in the re-design of the site. Their hand-written accounts will accompany each of the entries on the constantly-expanding timeline, for which the band have opened up their extensive archive of flyers, pictures, videos and audio recordings.

Protection and Parenting

Recently I was having an interesting discussion with a new friend from church about parenting. He has kids that are older than mine and we got to talking about styles of parenting and such. He told me that he and his wife work very hard to protect their kids from any and all negative outside influences from the culture. Here is the run down:

1. Home school the kids
2. Almost no contact allowed with peers in the neighborhood
3. Very limited contact with peers from our church due to most of our families being too "liberal".

I appreciate this man's desire to protect his kids and I can't sit back and say that these three things above are necessarily wrong. As a father of 3, I can greatly relate to this primal need to shield my children from anything harmful. The thought of my oldest going off to school next year is about enough to make me pee my pants.

But here is my question...(and it is a question, not a judgment)... If we have such a fierce streak of protective structure placed upon our kids lives, do we expect them at some point to just flip a switch and become radical Christ following, pagan culture influencing, truth declaring for the sake of love, kinds of disciples?

But perhaps even more importantly, here is another question: Do our kids see us modeling evangelism as something that they will someday grow into, or do we simply model in our adult lives that same fortress mentality of protection from the world? When do our kids see us relating to people who don't give a rip about Jesus? When do they hear us teach them about the fact that some people who don't love Jesus behave differently than we attempt to?

If we say we are Christians then we HAVE to take The Great Commission seriously. How will our kids learn to do it unless they see us doing it?

Now, do I take my kids to strip club because strippers need Jesus too? Of course not. We certainly need to be discerning in terms of who and what we allow our kids to be exposed to, but my main point here is that if we protect our kids to the extent that they don't ever see us actually engage with real life pagan culture, I don't think they'll probably ever emerge well from behind the protective walls we set for them.

I ask these questions to my friend (and maybe he has great answers that we just didn't have a chance to dive into), but I ask them also to myself as I pray for the grace to love people who, like me, need a Savior.

"Helping" Alcoholics

This sounds pretty wack... May the Church rise up!

(HT: Relevant Mag)

Doggie Painting

Melinda, writing for the Stand to Reason blog has some good theological reflections on a painting done by a dog that recently sold for $350.

What It Means To Be A Man

Dan Edelen writes on what it means to be a man:

No, the greatest mark of a Christian man is that other men desire to emulate him because they see Christ in all His glory living in him. The true manly man serves as a hallmark, a lighthouse, and roadsign on the path to heaven. He’s not afraid to cook a meal for the poor. He visits the sick. He looks out for lost little children. A bent reed he does not break. A smoldering wick he does not quench.

Chances are he won’t know who’s on top in the AFC North, can’t regale you with the specs of the hottest electronic gadget, and won’t be out training for a triathlon. God’s man kneels in his prayer closet, where no one sees, and tears down strongholds that would make William Wallace wet himself. That kind of man makes tough choices that take him in a direction the rest of the world can’t understand, even the rest of modern Christian men. He may not be considered the prime example of manhood in his day, but he’ll leave a legacy that shines like a beacon for generations to come.

I’m writing this on Father’s Day. Yesterday, my son and I built a hand drum. We had a good time. A friend gave me The Dangerous Book for Boys (thanks, Eric!) this past Friday, and my son and I will probably do a lot of good projects out of that book this summer. But none of that makes me an acceptable dad. The only thing that makes a man a man is to model Christ for his generation and the next, even if that model doesn’t look anything like the models we typically hold out for manliness. It may mean we holster our gun and take the spear. We may have to forgo the bear-hunting trip to run errands for the elderly lady next door. That won’t make us popular, or even understood.

But it does make us men.

Singing Salesman

I don't know why this moved me so strongly, but I was sitting here this morning literally crying on my computer. It's from American Idol, the British version. You can watch it for yourself below:



Read about it briefly here.

(HT: Stand to Reason Blog)

New Mac OS - Leopard - Coming in Oct

Check out all the cool features by taking a video tour here.

Are Two Loving Mommies Better Than an Idiot Daddy?

Might be a misleading question, but you can reflect on that yourself...

Click on the cartoon to read it:


Jennifer Roback Morse has a commentary here.

(HT: Stand to Reason blog)

JT - (no, not Justin Taylor)

I never thought I would be writing this because I hate boy bands with a passion, but Justin Timberlake is freaky talented. It's not too often when someone will emerge from the boy band scene to have a successful solo career (can you think of one other than him?) I recently got his second solo record and at first I thought it was way too programmed and produced as compared to his first record, but after awhile it has really grown on me. It's really good. Really good. Sure Justin has all the world's million dollar producers at his fingertips, but you can tell that Justin is not just a record company creation that they will chew up and spit out when they are done making phat cash off him. He actually has something to offer that is personally artistic. This should be commended and celebrated.

All the slobbering over Justin aside, I grow weary of this record's attempt to be more "naughty" than the previous one. It seems to be a trend with artists, like they assume they have to be oversexed with each concurrent record. In the end, it just makes me bored and sad that this is all that they have to write about. I know sex sells and all, but how boring after awhile. Sure, in the right context, sex is an amazing gift of God (that I think Christians should feel the freedom to appropriately write about), but to write a whole record where 80% of the songs are about "booty" and "getting yours", I have to ask, "Can't we attempt to be a bit more creative?"

So yes, Justin, you are freaky talented and I know you can pull chicks like no one has ever seen, I get it. I believe it. You don't have to prove it to me, but dude, on the next record can you at least attempt to write about something other than all your sexy ladies?

Evan at the Movies

Mikey at ThinkChristian.net reviews the soon to be released movie, Evan Almighty.

Where have all the players gone?

Here is an interesting article from the New York times concerning the dying breed of gospel musicians in black churches.

(HT: Think Christian)

Burden of Proof on the Pro-Abortionist

From this lecture found on CovenantWorldWide.org:

If human life is held at one point to be inviolate, but not from conception when a new biological organism comes into being, then the burden of proof is on those who would inflict death to show that the point at which you may inflict death is not arbitrary but is grounded in something in reality.

Later on Dr. Jones goes on to say:

I think that the idea that these are not actual persons is mistaken. I would say that we ought to say something like this: the fetus is an actual human being who in due course will exhibit the personal characteristics of human nature. Now, those characteristics as a functioning human being are as yet unrealized, because the fetus is still developing. So he is not functioning as a self-conscious, rational, free, moral agent, but that is what he is. I would put it this way and say that these characteristics are as yet unrealized, because the fetus is still in that developing stage. But here is my point. It is crucial to note the child does not become a person when these things are realized; rather, these things are realized because he or she is a person. A human being is a person. And given the development, he will exhibit personal characteristics. He does not become a person when he starts thinking; rather, he starts thinking because he is a personal human being. And I think there is a vast difference between a potential person and a person who has not yet reached his or her potential. I think it is worth recalling the old nonfunctional definition of a person as "an individual subsistence in human nature." It will not fit on a bumper sticker. It is an individual subsistence in human nature, not a choice. But it is the truth and the way we ought to look at it. It is an individual subsistence in human nature; that is what a person is. A human being by definition is a person.

The child does not become a person when these characteristics are realized; that is, when he starts functioning as a thinking being relating meaningfully to others. That takes a while, at least a month. Well, it is early. Rather, they are realized because he or she is a person. In other words, you would not start thinking if you were not already a person. You do not become a person when you start thinking; you are a developing person that starts thinking. If you take the definition of a person as rational, reflecting, and relating meaningfully to others, an infant is not any more of a person than a fetus in the womb, if that is your definition. And so, it is a matter of being consistent. We cannot say it is a potential person in the womb; then we lose the argument against Peter Singer, because he is making the same argument. It is basically the same. If you define a person in terms of these functioning characteristics, then you remove the protection of Down syndrome babies as well.

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?

Do you dig the classic "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix? Here is a cool remake from Gabe Dixon (iTunes). Very cool.

Jerry Bridges' Test for Legalism

“Think of a time recently when you really fell on your face spiritually. Then imagine that immediately afterward you encountered a terrific opportunity to share Christ with a non-Christian friend. Could you have done it with completely confidence in God’s help?”

Transforming Grace, p. 17

Hate Speech Definition

Hate speech in the work place? We might be in the edge of a new definition. This seems pretty far out there, but it's probably only a matter of time.

(HT: Relevant Mag)

I Am Legend

Here is a trailer for the new Will Smith movie coming out in Dec. It's looks pretty intense.

Religion vs. The Gospel

Mark Driscoll writes:

Religion says, if I obey, God will love me. Gospel says, because God loves me, I can obey.

Religion has good people & bad people. Gospel has only repentant and unrepentant people.

Religion values a birth family. Gospel values a new birth.

Religion depends on what I do. Gospel depends on what Jesus has done.

Religion claims that sanctification justifies me. Gospel claims that justification enables sanctification.

Religion has the goal to get from God. Gospel has the goal to get God.

Religion sees hardships as punishment for sin. Gospel sees hardship as sanctified affliction.

Religion is about me. Gospel is about Jesus.

Religion believes appearing as a good person is the key. Gospel believes that being honest is the key.

Religion has an uncertainty of standing before God. Gospel has certainty based upon Jesus' work.

Religion sees Jesus as the means. Gospel sees Jesus as the end.

Religion ends in pride or despair. Gospel ends in humble joy.

(HT: Joe Carter)

MuteMath and Transformers

MuteMath has landed the theme song for the new Transformers movie. It's pretty cool and will be a phat paycheck for those guys! You can listen to it on their myspace page found here.

An Interview with Bill Hybels

J.D. Greear reports on a recent interview that he had with Bill Hybels. I found it to be very interesting in light of how Bill has changed some of this views over the past 20 years. When I was younger I was a huge follower of Willow Creek church, but in probably the last 7-8 years I have chosen to prefer a different style of ministry.

This interview is worth the read. The whole thing is found below:

Got to meet and have breakfast with Bill Hybels yesterday. An incredible learning experience. Sure, there are things we do differently. But the man is a leader, and is leaving the world a legacy of doing whatever it takes to get the Gospel to people. I'll rise to applaud that any day.

He talked about second conversions...certain things that he has been "reborn" to in recent years of his ministry. Here is a handful of them (in my paraphrase):

• "A church is to be missional, not just attractional." Jesus did not die to attract a crowd on Sundays, but to train believers to work righteousness in the streets and bring the Kingdom of God to the world.
• "A church ought to be diverse IN EVERY WAY that its community is diverse if it is to properly be called an Acts 2 church." That means age diversity, ethnic diversity, socioeconomic diversity, and religious tradition diversity. Many of us have figured out we can grow a church more quickly by doing our music and programming to attract only one kind of person. But how does getting a group of people who all resemble each other and like to hang out with each other anyway demonstrate the awesome mystery of the body of Christ? Wouldn't a group of young people who got along with old people and black people with hispanic people and rich people with poor people be a mystery the world would have to notice?

I asked Pastor Hybels point-blank... "If programming for diversity meant that you could only grow half as large as a church, would you still do it?" Without batting an eye, he said "Absolutely... The larger witness of the church is more permanent than a temporary number surge. Plus, it's biblical. The Bible is the manual for the church and it tells us that in the same Christ-community ought to be people of all flavors. The church is to be a house of prayer for all nations. It angered Him when the Jews turned it into something different. I imagine it angers Him still today when we do it." (My paraphrase)

He continued, "The New Testament strategy for church growth is not to find a niche of people to reach, but to strive to make the footprint of your church resemble the footprint of your community."

• "Numerical growth is not the best, and certainly not the only, indicator of the health of the church." This has been a lesson that I will probably forever be relearning. We do care about numbers because we want to reach as many people as possible as fast as possible. But I have to remind myself that God evaluates disciples, not numbers. And I have to remind myself that I should never sacrifice what the Bible says a church should be for what works in bringing in a big crowd or lots of money (not that those two are always opposed). I have to remind myself that God's evaluation has much more to do with how faithful I am to Christ than how large my church is.
• "It is the church's responsibility to speak out against injustice and care for the poor in their community and around the world."
• "White churches are often oblivious to the racial dimensions of the society around them." For example, predominately white churches often don't see why they should acknowledge Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, since they don't acknowledge Lincoln or Washington Day either. But black Christians can't fathom why they don't, and feel it disrespectful and denigrating not to do so. White Christians think that because they have black friends they have fulfilled their role in racial reconciation. But the issue is more complex than that.

One other thing that stood out to me was his humility... It always amazes me how some great men and women never lose the learning edge. And not fake, smarmy humility either. Bill was honestly trying to learn something me (and the other pastors I was with), who collectively have not done 1/10 of what he has done.

OK, those were just a few teasers... it was awesome and inspiring. And please don't write me and tell me that you have concerns with Bill Hybels. That's not my point here. From the conversations I often have at pastor's conferences, you'd think that his middle name is "now, we don't really support everything he says."

I do not deny do we need to be discerning, but I do maintain that we can always learn from spiritual giants.

Knowing God - Knowing Self

Calvin in Institutes of the Christian Religion: Introduction states:

"Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he 'lives and moves' (Acts 17:28). For, quite clearly, the mighty gifts with which we are endowed are hardly from ourselves; indeed, our very being is nothing but subsistence in the one God. . . . Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating Him to scrutinize himself."

What My Piano Practicing Has To Do With Evangelism

Since I have been back working at the church I have been convicted that I oftentimes spend 40 hours a week in a my nice and safe little Christian cave, affectionately called, "The Z Lounge" (my office). I know we all have our different callings, and I believe that mine is to work for the church, but the downside of that is that I don't get rub shoulders that much with unbelievers.

I have been preaching to myself and to some around me that those of us (especially those like me who live in suburbia) that we have to find a context or an imposed structure that forces us to spend some time everyday day, week or month, etc, where we hang out with people who need Jesus. I have found that if I don't have a structure for this I simply won't do it. When I was starving musician in Nashville I waited tables as Applebees (Craplebees, as I like to call it) and this gave me a context where I shared my faith more in 9 months that I probably have my whole life. The point here is that since I was an employee there was a structure for evangelism that was imposed upon my life. Now that I live in Albuquerque my context of choice is the jazz community. There is a jam session every Tuesday night at this cool restaurant in town and I try and go sit in whenever I can.

If you want to be a missionary, what is the first thing you are told to do? Learn the language of the people you are trying to win. This is where the piano practicing comes in. If I rolled in there every Tuesday night and didn't have my stuff together in terms of the jazz language I don't think I would have much of a platform to communicate other things about Jesus in English words (as opposed to notes and musical phrases). As is unfortunately too often true in the church and my own heart, people tend to judge you based on what you can do. Thus, my degree of excellence as a piano player may have a direct effect upon how I am received and respected by those I am trying to reach, thus there is much at stake in terms of the time I spend at the piano.

I am a relational evangelist. I have never been that kind of a guy who can just roll up on people and drop the gospel bomb on them and it's all good. I know people who can do this well, it's just never been me. I think it's a gift that a majority of people don't have, but most of us do have the opportunity to build relationships with those around us who have similar interests and passions. Do the work and find your context!

I know in terms of strategy there are those who would oppose what I am promoting here. That's fine and that's another post for another day, but the big question is:

1. Do you have a context for evangelism?
2. If yes, what are you doing to learn the cultural "language" of those you are trying to reach?
3. Do you speak it well?

Piper on Modern Day Heresy

Baby Bot

This is the creepiest thing I have seen in awhile.

(HT: Relevant Mag)

Filth and Family Values

Joe Carter reviews the movie, Knocked Up.

When Superficialilty Replaces Hard Work and Excellence

Doug Wilson says in his book on ecclesiology, Mother Kirk:

"Whenever a culture's goal becomes entertainment, a law of degeneration immediately sets in. In the field of economics, Gresham's Law states that bad money drives out good. In the same way, bad entertainment displaces that which is not quite as bad. In a sinful world, poor comedians will go for the easy laugh with dirty jokes, lousy screenwriters go for high ratings through half-dressed sex cookies, and mindless rock bands yell into the mike, using a lot of dry ice and lasers in the background. In the Church, the principle is no different" (p. 128).

God is love

So God is love, not is spite of His passion to promote His glory, but precisely because of it. What could be more loving than the infinite, holy God stooping to work for us? Yet in working for us rather than needing our work, He magnifies His own glorious self-sufficiency. It is the stream that glorifies the fullness of the spring. And the stream that flows from God is love. If He creased to seek His glory, He would be of no value to us. But, praise God, He is holy. He is righteous, and therefore, He is love.

-John Piper, Brothers We Are Not Professionals, p. 16

Shlogcast

Shaun Groves has a podcast now. You can read about it here. In this first episode he talks to Derek Webb and they have a lively discussion about Christians on Christian radio, Christian marketing and all other sorts of dicey subjects.

Doug, Evan and CT Magazine

Doug Groothuis is not so pumped about Christianity Today's promotion of the new movie, Evan Almighty. He says with his typical flare:

You see, the magazine features a story on this new movie about Noah's ark. So, the brilliant promoters of the movie bought the cover of Christianity Today. But how is a movie going to "change the world" (for the better)? Why must everything on magazine covers--even on the once intellectually serious Christianity Today, founded by Dr. Carl F. H. Henry--be breathless and pointless hyperbole? It wears terribly thin after awhile.

What will "change the world" is the rediscovery of the Triune God of the Bible: God's holiness, sovereignty, grace, gospel (justification by faith alone), all God's biblically-revealed and uncomfortable and countercultural truths that hurt and heal, break and build. That means: Get serious about what matters most. Of course, this requires discerning what matters most--something far from the minds of most North American Christians, addled as they are by popular culture, endless mediation, overwhelming entertainment, and chronic business. No one knows how to theologize with a hammer.

"Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." Who had the nerve to say that?

The Wild Wild

A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa's Kruger National Park while on safari. This has got to be one of my favorite youtube's yet. Wait for the lion to get launched!

Hitchens vs. Wilson - The last word

The final installment of the Hitchens/Wilson debate is now online. This one is my personal favorite.

DRM iTunes update

Interesting update from Wired.com about the new DRM free iTunes.

Lebron

Last night Lebron James has one of the greatest game in NBA history. Keep in mind that this guy is only 22 (someone had to have screwed up his birth certificate). You can read about it here and watch the highlights below.

Did he just say that?

Tall Skinny Kiwi has some reflections on how we should discern what is "offensive language".