The Wonder of Forgiveness

Jonathan Leeman reports:

Last week I attended a screening of AS WE FORGIVE in one of the House of Representatives office buildings. It’s a documentary that chronicles the recent release of 50,000 Rwandan genocide perpetrators due to a century-long backlog of court cases, and how Rwandan genocide survivors are learning not just to cope with the return of the people who killed their friends and family members, but to forgive and embrace them as neighbors.

(Two CHBC church members were involved in the production of the documentary; and a member of Church of the Resurrection, several blocks from CHBC, directed it!).

Some of the stories of forgiveness are absolutely astonishing. To cite one example: imagine if one of the men who participated in a movement that killed your husband and five children moved back into your village…and he was repentant…and he wanted to help build a new house for you…and to help you complete your farming work before the food rotted for the season! How would you respond?

The documentary has played in such venues as the World Bank or a Capitol office building (it's not explicitly Christian). And the themes and goals are clearly ones that Christians will want to support and be involved in.

Also, the processes of reconciliation between perpetrators and survivors are being facilitated by an interesting interplay of government agencies, churches, non-church ministries, and individuals.

Your church may want to consider requesting a showing at your location for the purposes of stimulating good conversations among neighbors and colleagues in your community (though I’d suggest finding some other time than your main weekly gatherings:-). Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis did. I’ve been told the aforementioned Church of the Resurrection is doing good work through partnering with a church in Rwanda.

Great Gospel Reminder

When the Christian says the first clause of the Creed (I believe in God the Father Almighty), he will put all this together and confess his Creator as the Father of his Savior and his own Father through Christ - a Father who now loves him no less than he loves his only begotten Son. That is a marvelous confession to be able to make.

-J.I. Packer, Growing In Christ, page 29

The Future of Christian Music

Charlie Peacock was always one of my favorite Christian artists. His CD "Love Life" was one of the first CD's that ever bought when I was probably in 7th grade and I still like it today. I can't say that for many other Christian CD's I bought back then (or mainstream, maybe except for Prince and U2).

Charlie was asked by CCM magazine to write a column on what he sees as the future of Christian music. I think he is wholly correct with his assessment. Read the whole article here. The most telling paragraph for me was here:

Christian music as a genre has always been a music you move on from. Young Christian baby-boomers and Gen-X once in love with the music abandoned it in adulthood and have not returned. As a result, legacy artist catalogs (ranging from Larry Norman to Amy Grant to dcTalk and beyond) do not and will not have the staying power of their mainstream counterparts such as The Beatles, The Eagles, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2. All these artists, and a hundred others, remain popular and economically viable today. Sadly, the pattern does not hold true for what was contemporary Christian music.

I wrote a similar column to this quote, months back when I was working in the industry. You can read it here if you so desire. It's called, Timeless Music And CCM.

Sex, Sushi and Salvation

Trevin Wax reviews Sex, Sushi, and Salvation. He writes:

In Sex, Sushi and Salvation, Christian shows us how God alone can quench the hunger of our souls - a hunger that demonstrates itself in our desire for intimacy (sex), community (sushi bars), and eternity (salvation). Christian’s passion is to see the Church in the West revive rather than “rot,” and he is doing everything he can to wake us up from our slumber of complacency.

Jesus Made Me Puke

Rolling Stone Magazine goes undercover at a John Hagee ministry retreat. You can imagine what their reporting will look like. Read the article here. In light of what we already knows goes on in dark corners of Christianity, it actually is not all that surprising. Sad, but true.

Jared Wilson comments on the article here. He concludes with this:

I wish Taibbi had picked a more "normal" congregation to go undercover in, but an experience in your average non-charismatic megachurch probably would not make for as good a story. The problem with this stuff is twofold: a) it makes us all look like idiots, and b) it will not do to pretend this isn't widespread.

At the same time, there is a fine line to be run by these sorts of exposes. I feel sort of the same way I do about the recent book Unchristian -- it is helpful to know, and better, to understand the culture's perception of Christians and the Church, but we err when we make our response about marketing. We do not exist to please an unbelieving world. We exist to please God. The confusion, disgust, ridicule, or animosity of those who do not have ears to hear or eyes to see should not be our deepest concerns. Scripture promises we will be despised and ridiculed; it promises that the cross will be an offense. Our chief end is not to be well regarded among all men. It would be nice, sure. But there's a fine line between cultivating a reputation for peace and love and pandering for the approval of those who are uncomfortable with our being "weird."

This Is Surely To Take My Guitar Playing To The Next Level

(HT: Marc)

The Top Audio Book and Podcast on iTunes As Of Today

We have to know how to interact with this new-age mumbo jumbo.

This would be a good place to start.

This Is Amazing

Just loops, in one take.  So good.  

(HT:  Bob Hyatt)

Transfer of Punishment

“So it was necessary, since God had purposed to save his church, to transfer the punishment from them who deserved it but could not bear it, to one who had not deserved it but could bear it.

This transfer of punishment by divine dispensation is the foundation of the Christian faith, indeed of all the supernatural revelation contained in Scripture.”

- John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 74.

(HT: OFI)

New Coldplay Single - Download For Free

From this website:

Coldplay have bowed to the realities of a music business afflicted by file-sharing by announcing that their new single will be given away tomorrow as a free download.

Violet Hill, the first single from the 30 million-selling band’s new album, Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends, will be made available on the band’s website from 12:15pm.

Continuing the “music for free” theme, the group also announced concerts at Brixton Academy, South London, and Madison Square Garden, New York, for which tickets will be given away to fans through the band's website.

Read the whole thing here.

RSS - Should I Use It?

If you read a lot of blogs and you don't use an RSS feed you might want to consider it. It's super easy and makes blog reading why faster. Don't know what an RSS feed is? Read this very helpful post from Abraham Piper here.

Deconstructing Oprah

Melinda at the str.org blog with a helpful post on Oprah's religion that is sweeping the nation (if not the world).

First is the claim that this teaching is what Jesus really was here to teach us. Bunk. Jesus Himself said that His death and resurrection was the purpose of His life, that our decision about who He is is central to our relationship with Him, and that salvation was only through Him. The New Agers have been trying to strip Jesus of most of what He Himself said for years now so that they can use Him for credibility, a nice, wise teacher. But you have to ignore most of what He actually taught in order to make that work. Jesus own words make Christianity and any New Age teaching incompatible.

Second, these books/theologies always teach an impersonal Consciousness that we are a part of. That's Hinduism. Christianity is about a personal God who created us, a personal being to have a relationship with. They merge creation and Creator; Christianity keeps the two distinct. Jesus Himself said that He was God so God is not an impersonal force or indistinct consciousness to access or achieve.

This western blend of Buddhism and Hinduism in New Age wrappings has been growing in attraction to Americans for years because it gives people the significance of a religion without the obligations and demands that a personal God and the Bible make on them. It's high on personal meaning and low on personal obligation. Underneath it all, people are God's creatures and are sinners. They're running from that fact. The best thing to do is to use the Law and Jesus' own words, and let the Holy Spirit work on their heart and conscience.

Read the whole thing.

Hymn of the Century

I think I agree here with Steven Nichols on his 2008 assessment of the "Hymn of the Century".


My note to music leaders in the church:

Don't overuse this song like a radio DJ and thus destroy it for your people!

Oh That More Of Us Would Take Up This Challenge!

John Piper:

For a moment, forget the political puzzle of getting money back when the country is nine trillion dollars in debt. The more immediate question is: How will you make much of Christ with your "economic stimulus payment"? The president says it will be in the mail in time for Cinco de Mayo.

Clue: Nobody in the world will see you spend your money on yourself and conclude that Christ is your treasure. They will assume you are just like them, no matter how loudly you thank God for this boon. That doesn't mean you shouldn't spend it on yourself (the way we do with most of what we earn). Not everything we do can look different from the world—eat, pay utilities, fill up the car, wear clothes (even thrift-store clothes). And yes, we hope (somehow) that spending on ourselves in some way contributes to our being more Christ-exalting people.

But do we really need this money? Very few do. We would have gotten on fine without it. If we didn't know it was coming, we wouldn't even be feeling the desires we are feeling right now.

May I encourage you to be radically creative and hedonistic. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). And those crazy Macedonians in a "severe test of affliction" and in "extreme poverty" had an "abundance of joy" that overflowed in a "wealth of generosity." They even begged Paul "for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints" (2 Corinthians 8:2-4). They really believed what Jesus said. Really.

Before the check comes dream of some person or ministry which might make much of Christ because you treasured him above your next home project.

The reason God created money and enabled us to earn it is so that we could show by the way we use it that money is not our treasure, Christ is. That's why the checks are coming. So we can make Christ look great.

"Be content with what you have, for he has said,
‘I will never leave you nor forsake you'" (Hebrews 13:5-6).

Getting A’s, obeying curfew, and wearing Polos doesn’t save anybody

Understanding teenage rebellion only as sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll implies that the goal is celibacy, sobriety, and employment. It’s not.

It’s Jesus.

-Abraham Piper

Don't Waste Your Life

People often ask us why in the world we would waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they, too, are investing their lives. And when the bubble has burst they will have nothing to show for the years they have wasted.

- Nate Saint, shortly before he was killed in the jungles of Ecuador by the people group he was trying to serve

(HT: Parker)

TobyMac and Integrity

Since I got to work in the Christian music industry for a couple years I got to see some things inside of it that could make a gut squirm a bit. Many artists get a bad rap. Some need to, others don't. In the "don't" category, one of the guys who consistently impressed me was TobyMac. Say what you will about his music, (I dare you to go to one of this shows. If you think you didn't get your money's worth, I'll refund it for you) this guy gets it. Here is a cool article from Dwanye Moore on blog.worship.com about Toby and integrity. It was encouraging to read.

Seriously.  Go see one of his shows if you get a chance.  You won't be sorry.  

Christ The Only Way

(HT: Daniel)

Paul, The Spirit, and the People of God

Justin Buzzard reports on this book: Paul, The Spirit, and the People of God by Gordon Fee. He writes:

This week I finished working through Gordon Fee's excellent book, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God. This 203 page book is a condensed, re-packaged version of Fee's 992 page tome, God's Empowering Presence.

Perhaps someday I'll work through the 992 page version. But for now, Fee's 203 page work will receive a prominent place on my shelf, replacing J.I. Packer's Keep In Step With The Spirit as my favorite, most helpful read on the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

From the opening pages:

If the church is going to be effective in our postmodern world, we need to stop paying mere lip service to the Spirit and to recapture Paul's perspective: the Spirit as the experienced, empowering return of God's own personal presence in and among us, who enables us to live as a radically eschatological people in the present world while we await the consummation. All the rest, including fruit and gifts, serve to that end.

Most Annoying Song Ever

Click here to listen to the most annoying song ever. It's science...

I listened to it all the way through and it certainly is annoying, but can it really compete with this?

(HT: Relevant)

McClaren on the 2nd Coming

Amy Hall from the str.org blog reports on some comments from Brian McClaren at a recent conference at Willow Creek. She writes:

At a recent youth ministry conference at Willow Creek Community Church, while discussing his latest book, Brian McLaren talked about the need to change our understanding of Jesus' second coming because:

Simply put, if we believe that God will ultimately enforce his will by forceful domination, and will eternally torture all who resist that domination, then torture and domination become not only permissible but in some way godly. . . . [And from the book:] This eschatological understanding of a violent second coming leads us to believe (as we've said before) that in the end, even God finds it impossible to fix the world apart from violence and coercion; no one should be surprised when those shaped by this theology behave accordingly.

You can read her response here. I think it's worth the read.

Truer Words Were Never Spoken

"Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. . . . In confession the light of the gospel breaks into the darkness and seclusion of the heart. The sin must be brought into the light. The unexpressed must be openly spoken and acknowledged. All that is secret and hidden is made manifest. It is a hard struggle until the sin is openly admitted. But God breaks gates of brass and bars of iron. . . . The expressed, acknowledged sin has lost all its power. It has been revealed and judged as sin. It can no longer tear the fellowship asunder. Now the fellowship bears the sin of the brother."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pages 112-113.

(HT: Ray Ortlund)

For sale: 13-year-old virgin

Tim Challies points to the heartbreaking story of culturally embedded child prostitution in India. May the church rise up in that area and be a light in the crushing darkness.

From the story:

Thirty miles west of the Taj Mahal, on the road to the pink city of Jaipur, tourists on buses pass a sight that the guide books rarely mention.A mile beyond the town of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, where the highway is being widened to four lanes, traffic slows down for roadworks. But the workmen who lounge by their bulldozers have their eyes on something else - a cluster of makeshift shelters where girls, several under 18 and at least two younger than 15, can be seen strolling or sitting, in view of the dusty carriageway.

Tonight, one girl in particular is attracting attention as she sits on a stool by a fire so that she can be seen by passing vehicles. Her heavily made-up, striking face and beautiful pink sari make her look as if she were on her way to a party. But the truth is different. Suli, 14, is a virgin and a bidding war is being held for the right to be the first to sleep with her.

Read the whole article.

(HT: Challies)

New Clarus Video

Get all the info in my sidebar.

The Visitor

This looks like it could be a cool movie:



(HT: JT)

Amazing

Stuff Christians Like

As a worship leader, I am again convicted by Stuff Christians Like. Check out post #174 - Forcing little kids to sing the end of your song.

This one is pretty stinkin' funny too. - #175. GodisGoodandBeautiful777@yahoo.com

An Interview with N.T. Wright

T-Wax reports on his interview with N.T. Wright specifically dealing with his new book, Surprised by Hope.

For all those of you who were at the Together For The Gospel conference you might be particularly interested to read Wright's interaction with Mark Dever's critique of him that was given during his message there. Here is the question posed to Dr. Wright concerning this:

Last week at the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY, Pastor and author Mark Dever critiqued the idea you put forth in Surprised by Hope that “the gospel is public.” More specifically, he worried that your readers may confuse the societal implications of the gospel with the gospel itself. What do you mean by saying the ‘gospel is public,’ and do you see such concerns such as the one voiced by Dr. Dever as valid?

Click here to read his response and the whole interview.

Personal Relationship With Jesus?

This morning on my way into church I listened to the lasted edition of The White Horse Inn podcast. The title is: The Gospel of Personal Relationship.

Should we use the phrase, "I have a personal relationship with Jesus"? What does that imply? What does the Bible say about that? It was an intriguing listen and these are important matters to think through Biblically. I could commend it to you.

You can find it here to download on iTunes.

Clarus 2008

Here is a video to promote a conference being held at our church next weekend, May 2-4, featuring Dr. Michael Horton and Dr. D.A. Carson. Click here for all the details.



(HT: Los)

Bob Kauflin on Worship Matters

Click here to listen to Bob Kauflin talk about his new book, Worship Matters. It's a great interview.

The Message and the Medium

Dan Edelen writes today:

Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost asked this question this week:

If the medium affects the message, how will the Christian message be affected by the new media?

When I reflect on my life, I can’t remember many sermons that stick out. Even the words of my favorites hymns don’t always surface in memory when I need them. I can’t remember more than hazy concepts from the blogs I’ve visited. Viral videos? Web 2.0? Dancing 3-D holograms? Heck, I can’t even tell you the movies I’ve seen in the theater in the last five years.

But I can vividly recall every single time when life beat me up and left me for dead by the side of the road and someone in the name of Jesus took me up, cleansed and bound my wounds with his or her own hands, and made certain I was cared for.

The medium of the Christian message is you and it’s me. It’s the cup we hand in person to the parched and thirsty soul.

Fifty years from now, no one will remember the name of that blogger, the genius behind that YouTube video, the author of the Web 2.0 site. Nor will we remember what all the hoopla was about.

What we will remember are those people who were there for us in tough times. Those people who invested their lives in ours by showing up on our doorstep in our bleakest hour. Those people who took the time to be Jesus for us when we needed Jesus the most.

Read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to died for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

- Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 181.

(HT: OFI)

Noah and the Mercy of God

This morning as I was reading for an assignment on Noah for a seminary class I am taking I was struck afresh by the mercy of God. Just meditating on the fact that God responded to wickedness in the lives of his people by justly pouring out his wrath by killing all except for Noah and his family. It was genocide hundreds of times over. Should that not stop us in our tracks? God has dwelt with sin and he will finally deal with it again in a similar fashion, but I was today struck with the patience of God in light of our sin. Could we ever say that we are less sinful that the people in the days of Noah? I think not. Every breath certainly is a gift.

If Jesus Had A Blog

Brant Hansen pens (or types) an interesting post imagining if Jesus had a blog. In his usual way, it's funny, but also not so funny if you get the point. Read the whole thing here.

On the Abortion "Art" at Yale

Steve at str.org blog writes:

The saga I described on Friday included a new episode over the weekend. Yale University, frustrated that Aliza Shvarts won't recant on the truthfulness of her abortion-as-art senior project, has decided that either she must say the whole thing is a performance art fiction or she can't display the project.

This is a curious demand. If abortion doesn't kill a human being, what could possibly be wrong with Shvart's project? It's a bit crude, I suppose, but with all of the other things that pass as art these days, it seems odd to exclude abortion from the mix. If someone were displaying the tissue that was removed during their liposuction surgery, people would recoil, but I doubt the university would censor it.

And if Yale is censoring this project because abortion kills a human being, and Shvart's art may have included that sort of killing (she claims one point of her project was to be ambiguous about this), then is Yale willing to follow that logic and discourage all Yale students from getting abortions? Why is Yale so concerned about such a small-scale abortion operation as Shvarts's when the Yale Medical Center Family Planning Department teaches doctors to perform abortions and appears to offer abortions as a service?

So, the question remains: Why is Yale censoring the Shvarts art?

Regardless of the answer, I contend that the situation continues to create a good opportunity to begin a dialogue on abortion with common ground. Whether pro-life or pro-choice, don't most people agree that Shvarts's art project is not a good reason for abortion? Once we have agreed that we think abortion shouldn't be used as art, we're ready to discuss why.

See Common Ground Without Compromise for 25 other topics you can use to build common ground in order to discuss abortion effectively.

New Piper Sermon Series

From Doug Wolter's blog:

John Piper is launching a new series at Bethlehem Baptist Church on a vison for the next generation and how the church is called to make this vision a reality. I’m personally excited to listen to these messages and spread the vision of investing into young people.

Here’s what Piper said about why he’s doing this series:

One of our premises is that living for the glory of Christ is not on hold until you are eighteen or twenty-one. There is a way for six-year-olds to make much of Christ and a way for ten-year-olds to make much of Christ and a way for sixteen-year-olds to make much of Christ. And there is a way for parents and church leaders and all of us to create a matrix of relationships and teachings and expectations and blessings that awaken young people from the emptiness and aimlessness of our popular youth culture and give them a vision for Christ-exalting significance throughout their pre-teen and teen years.

Piper mentions the Harris brothers and their desire to ignite a passion for teenagers to do hard things for the glory of God. Their book, Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion against Low Expectations has received excellent reviews from respected pastors around the country. They also started The Rebelution when they were sixteen, and now at nineteen they are doing conferences on this theme. Gregg Harris, their father, will give the final message in this series at Bethlehem.

• Watch, Listen, or Read the first message in the series
• Buy the book, Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
• Visit the Rebelution website

Uh... I think it goes without saying that I am geeked about this

From the John Mayer blog:

"WHERE THE LIGHT IS" LIVE CD/DVD WILL BE RELEASED ON 7/1/08.

"Where The Light Is", a live CD/DVD from the December 8, 2007 show at Nokia Theatre LA Live in Los Angeles, CA, will be released on July 1, 2008. The film is directed by Danny Clinch.

Acoustic Set:
1. Neon
2. Stop This Train
3. L.A. Song
4. Daughters
5. Free Fallin'

Trio Set:
6. Everyday I Have The Blues
7. Wait Until Tomorrow
8. Who Did You Think I Was
9. Come When I Call
10. Good Love Is On The Way
11. Out Of My Mind
12. Vultures
13. Bold As Love

Band Set:
14. Waiting On The World To Change
15. Slow Dancing In A Burning Room
16. Why Georgia
17. The Heart Of Life
18. I Don't Need No Doctor
19. Gravity
20. I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)
21. Belief
22. I'm Gonna Find Another You

Developing and Equipping Leaders

From the Acts 29 blog:

At the most recent regional training day in St. Louis, Darrin Patrick spoke of developing and equipping leaders. It is a vital topic for church planters as they seek to build, multiply, and facilitate good leadership. Darrin spoke out of the books of 1st and 2nd Timothy; books that were written to a scared young pastor and are a gold mine for planters wrestling with the task of being a leader.

"You may be raising up your own assassin." Acts 20:30 tells us that wolves will arise from your own number. Patrick spoke of how it is crucial to understand the gospel and have it identifying you so as to be better able to warn off wolves and lead your self and others.

This session is a great encouragement and learning tool for church planters and pastors seeking to guard and grow their flock by growing in their own leadership ability and the leaders around them.

Listen to this session: Developing and Equipping Leaders.

What Do You Mean By "Free Will"?

C. Michael Patton with a great post dealing with the issue of "free will". I remember arguing with a buddy in college about God's sovereignty in salvation and coming back at him with, "Well, you know, we all have free will." At the time I didn't know that "free will" as I understood it at the time doesn't really square that well with the Bible. Patton fleshes this out for us in his article. He writes:

There are many words and concepts in theology that suffer from misunderstanding, mis-characterization, and misinformation. “Predestination,” “Calvinism,” “Total Depravity,” “Inerrancy,” and “Complementarianism”, just to name a few that I personally have to deal with. Proponents are more often than not on the defensive, having to explain again and again why it is they don’t mean what people think they mean.

The concept of “free will” suffers no less with regard to this misunderstanding. Does a person have free will? Well, what do you mean by “free will”? This must always be asked.

Do you mean:

1. That a person is not forced from the outside to make a choice?
2. That a person is responsible for his or her choices?
3. That a person is the active agent in a choice made?
4. That a person is free to do whatever they desire?
5. That a person has the ability to choose contrary to their nature (who they are)?

Calvinists, such as myself, do believe in free will and we don’t believe in free will. It just depends on what you mean.

Be sure to read the whole thing.

How Much Television Should a Christian Watch?

Owen with an interesting post on TV watching. It's worth reading. Here is a paragraph that I found compelling:

Let's wrap this up with a personal word. My wife and I are working hard at this. At night, when we're both tired, it comes fairly naturally to put the tube and put our feet up. It's easy, it's fun, and it makes sense. While we've both realized that there are definitely times in the week when it is fine (and even good!) to do so, we can also both see that a steady diet of tv or movies dulls us spiritually and hinders us from doing really important spiritual things that will mature and grow us both personally and as a couple. We've recently drawn up a weekly schedule (shades of legalism--flee!) that will give us a basic form for the week. On a number of nights, we'll do lots of different things--have company, pray together for an extended time for the salvation of family (or the defeat of institutional abortion, the welfare of orphans abroad, the coming of God's kingdom), go on a walk, read a book on parenting--and on other nights, we'll watch something, often just a few shows of something we like, like The Office. In this way, we hope to avoid legalism and self-righteousness on the one hand and undisciplined media gluttony and spiritual torpor on the other.

Read the whole thing. I'm not sure I totally agree with all his conclusions, but I think this issue needs to be continually checked by those of us who gravitate towards the TV.

Keep Sweet

Here is a heartbreaking story: I Grew Up in a Polygamist Family by Jan Brown.

She begins by writing:

I was one of 13 children raised by our father and three mothers in a polygamist community in Utah. We were fundamentalist Mormons who practiced the original teachings of Mormonism from its founder Joseph Smith. This teaching includes following the Principle, which states a man must practice polygamy—marrying at least three wives—to enter the Celestial Kingdom.

Even though I knew which woman was my biological mother, we were encouraged to treat all the wives the same. Outwardly, our family seemed content, but beneath the surface lay jealousy and pain. We never acknowledged these feelings because we were supposed to sacrifice our emotions. Even laughter was discouraged.

We were constantly told to "keep sweet" and that "perfect obedience produces perfect faith." Behind these sugary slogans lay the impossible duty of living in complete obedience to the Prophet.

Keller At WTS

Steve McCoy points to some new videos of Tim Keller at Westminster Theological Seminary. Check it out here.

D.A. Carson on Liberal Theology

And now at the beginning of the twenty-first century, classic liberal theology looks more and more outmoded. It still embraces more than its share of scholars, of course, but its denominations are shrinking, its influence in the culture is declining, and its more extreme and vociferous proponents - The Jesus Seminar, for instance - simply look silly. Worldwide, people in the "liberal Christian" heritage make up only a tiny percentage of those who call themselves "Christians". Apparently, then, liberal Christianity and Gnostic Christianity have this in common: for a while, both seemed to sweep everything in front of them, such that if orthodoxy is measured by poularity rather than by some mueasure of commitment to conform to God's self-disclosure in Scripture and in his Son, they constituted the new orthodoxy. And both will be left on the ash pit of history.

He goes on to write this a few paragraphs later:

At the moment, it is worth reflecting on the fact that in the United States there are now more M.Div. students in seminaries belonging to some branch or other of the evangelical tradition than in all other seminaries combined, and that the best of the confessional seminaries are as academically tough as anything put forward by traditional liberal seminaries and theological faculties.

- D.A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited, pages 34 and 35

Breach

My wife and I watched this movie last night. It was great. Here is the description:

In February, 2001, Robert Hanssen, a senior agent with 25 years in the FBI, is arrested for spying. Jump back two months: Eric O'Neill, a computer specialist who wants to be made an agent is assigned to clerk for Hanssen and to write down everything Hanssen does. O'Neill's told it's an investigation of Hanssen's sexual habits. Within weeks, the crusty Hanssen, a devout Catholic, has warmed to O'Neill, who grows to respect Hanssen. O'Neill's wife resents Hanssen's intrusiveness; the personal and professional stakes get higher. How they catch Hanssen and why he spies become the film's story. Can O'Neill help catch red-handed "the worst spy in history" and hold onto his personal life?

Here are some reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.com. We found it quite entertaining. Great script, great acting, great art.

Find it here on Netflix.

Mama's Got A Brand New Belly

Wow. So sad and destructive. Read about this new children's book here and here.

**Update: Josh Harris with a great commentary here**

(HT: Los)

Is There A Uniqueness To Men Singing Together About The Gospel?

(Image taken from Challies.com)

Being at the Together for the Gospel conference these last three days got me thinking about the topic of men singing together. I found myself profoundly moved to tears numerous times during our times of singing. I don’t completely chalk that up to the experience of singing in that context, but I think there is something unique going on when 5,000 (mostly) men gather and sing together. I’ll never forget when I attended a Promise Keepers event for the first time in the mid 90’s and heard (and felt) the thunderous roar of roughly 70,000 men belting out Crown Him With Many Crowns. That memory is forever etched in my mind.

As I contemplated these feelings in the last few days, I asked myself, “What is going on here? Why am I so moved?” My mind was quickly draw to my experience as a junior and senior high student when I attended many different Bible camp retreats in Northwest Iowa. At these retreats, there was usually the group of young boys who sat in the back row who were too “cool” to sing along with the camp songs. They resisted submitting themselves to what everyone was being called to do. I don’t assume to know all the psychological motives of a 13-year-old young man, but I was reminded of the opposite greatness of what I witnessed and participated in these past few days through singing with other men about the gospel. For me what is brought to mind is that this kind of singing is a great sign of gospel humility for a few reasons:

1. It displays solidarity in participation
Many men are wired to desire to be set apart and identifiable. I know this tendency tugs at my soul. Usually this comes in the form of achievement. We desire to show that we are significant through what we do. Being independent and strong is a high value for most men, especially in the culture of the United States. But when we sing as one group, we lay down our individuality and embrace the collective whole that is together to glorify another with our voices. This is a very good thing. Jesus did not die so that I could glory in my personal uniqueness. He died so that I could be numbered among the ransomed who will for all eternity rejoice in the greatness of “Lamb who was slain”. Our solidarity in participation around this great truth may be a foretaste of what one day will be fully realized.

2. It displays humility to follow
Most people and men especially, don’t like to be told what to do. We are reluctant followers. It’s probably something of the junior high “too cool” impulse coming out in all of us. But when I see a room of 5000 (mostly) men joyfully submitting to the leadership of another it surely is an evidence of grace in our lives. When a leader says, “Let’s all sing!” and we do, it points to a collective humility that I find very powerful.

3. Is displays a willingness to be emotional in light of the gospel
No matter what is visibly seen on one’s face during singing, that fact is that singing is usually an emotional experience. Singing is somewhat mystical in terms of what exactly it is, but my experience tells me that all creation rings of music and singing. Birds sing and tides move in and out to a rhythm. When we sing something unique happens to us, that we have to submit ourselves to, but when defenses are down, music and singing can have a profound emotional impact. Seeing men not flee from, but embrace this reality in light of the truth we were singing about is a great sign of humility.

All this to say, I was greatly encouraged these past few days seeing a tangible rejoicing in the gospel as we sung so many great confessions of the gospel. May it continue to be the norm for men who claim the name of Jesus Christ to flee from pride and humbly embrace a joy filled willingness to join together and exult in the truths of the gospel through singing.

Funny

A couple of the latest posts from Stuff Christians Like that I found quite amusing:

#159. The "pray if you feel led" prayer.

#161. Refusing to make songs you can slow dance to.

Books, Books, Books

These are all the books I got FOR FREE at the Together For The Gospel conference. 22 in all I think. If I would have paid for all these myself it would have most likely been more than the conference fee. Amazing. Can't wait to read them all!

Pics from Day Two at T4G - Images of Louisville

Albuquerque Pastors Go To White Castle

So it was our lunch break time at Together For The Gospel. When you have 5000 people trying to eat at the same time things can be a bit congested in the eating establishments within walking distance from the convention center. So our newest hire at the church, Clint, certainly trying to score some brownie points tried to impress us all and found a Subway that was near, but kind of off the beaten path so potentially would have much smaller lines than the ones you can see in the food court pics in the post this one.

Here is the Subway Clint found:


They had a horse statue out front.


Memo tried to mount it.

Unfortunately the line was super long. I wondered aloud, "I bet there might be some other places around here". The team sent me on a mission to find a place with no lines. I walked a block or two and found a couple of choices: White Castle and the somewhat scary run down Chinese place. I called the guys on the z-phone and told them to come down. I was leaning toward the Chinese place since I am from the Midwest where we actually have White Castle. When it comes to White Castle one word comes to mind: BARF. These poor brothers from ABQ had not been exposed to the "glories" of White Castle and so they were just thinking, "Burger and Fries? Sounds good to me!" They had no idea what they were getting themselves into. I tried to sway them, but to no avail.

Pictures tell a thousand words:


I challenged Clint to eat one of his burgers in one bite. He did:


YUMMY!!!


The face says it all:


Can you say false advertising?


Noteable Quotables from our lunch:

1. "You call this food?"

2. "Is meat supposed to have holes in it?"

3. "You mean people actually like this stuff?"

4. "My bread is wet, is that normal?"

5. "This is the nastiest thing I have ever eaten."

6. "I wouldn't feed this to my Compassion child."

Pics from Day One at T4G

The bookstore is insanely huge. Over stimulation all the way.


Al, where is "Your Best Life Now"? Can't believe that didn't make the cut.



Standing in line is fun.



These two jokers are pumped about the conference. I personally think they look like a couple of muppets.



Sweet hotel.



Band of Bloggers session was cool. Good insights about blogging.



The main sessions have been great. I won't have many pictures of them since we not supposed to take pictures.



Looks like a basketball game to me.



The downtown Louisville foodcourt got rocked. These poor people have never seen so many khakis and golf shirts in their lives. Like my buddy Carlos said, when 5000 pastor's descend on one place "it's like Eddie Bauer threw up around here". Well said.