Great Site For Live Recordings

This looks like a VERY cool website. Not sure if this is legal or not, but I assume it is since it is put together like this. Most of these artists seem like they would be cool with this type of thing.

Internet Archive - Music

This has a ton of artist's live recordings. Most of these bands you have probably never heard of, but go to the site and download stuff from Willy Porter. He is so good live.

(James Grant)

Jesus Spins Me 'Round?

I know we can't be totally concerned about what unbelievers might think when they come into a worship gathering of Christians and don't understand all that is going on, but this seems a bit over the top. I don't know whether to laugh or cry...



(HT: Carlos)

Intro Video To Mark Driscoll Series on Doctrine

Check out the intro video to the Doctrine series that Mark Driscoll has taught recently. This is really cool art produced at the local church level. It's short and I thought I would share it with you.

Call + Response

Brody Harper reports on viewing this disturbing documentary. He writes:

Call+Response deals directly with human trafficking and slave trading including children sex slaves. I had heard quite a bit about the horrific things that go on but this documentary does an unbelievable job of bringing some of these tragedies to light.

CALL+RESPONSE is a first of its kind feature documentary film that reveals the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets: there are more slaves today than ever before in human history. CALL+RESPONSE goes deep undercover where slavery is thriving from the child brothels of Cambodia to the slave brick kilns of rural India to reveal that in 2007, Slave Traders made more money than Google, Nike and Starbucks combined.

Director/Producer Justin Dillon hosted the night and said some pretty amazing things. One of the things that he said that really stood out to me was simple and clever, but I thought was brilliant. While talking about the need for us all to get involved in the abolishing of these thing, he said this, “It’s not called Awarenessism it’s called Activism”. Simple and brilliant.

My mind is still processing the images of a seven year old girl being sold to grown men looking for a good time. This is a very real and very local thing. I have questions like, why is it that the government can find out if I download a record illegally, but little girls are bought and sold for sex for less than an iPod? And this is happening right here in America. And it’s happening all over the world. Questions like, how far has the human race fallen when we are treating children with less value than cattle and making billions of dollars in the process? And questions like, where do I even start?

I could go on and on about how the night went, and all the terrible things that I learned, but right now I’d encourage you to go check out the trailer and at the very least find out when this film is released in your city, then bring as many people as you can. There’s all sorts of amazing music mixed into it and some great artists that are also involved. I have already sent an email to the director asking him how I can possibly help with some stuff online. I know that there are plenty of organizations out there dealing with everything from water to kids to shoes, but if this is something that you don’t know about or haven’t heard, it’s time to get educated and get involved.

Has anyone else really studied this? The numbers seem too staggering to ignore.

Amazon Daily Deal - Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Nick Drake's Pink Moon today on AmazonMP3 for $2.99.

The Living God Confronts Idolatry - Part 4

"False gods fail. That is their only truth. For although false gods never fail to fail, it seem humans never fail to forget that this is indeed the case."

-Dr. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, p. 171

Matt Chandler Has A Blog

Matt Chandler has started blogging. He is the Pastor at The Village Church in Dallas. This is one blog you'll want to bookmark...

(HT: Carlos)

Keller on Religion vs The Gospel

Michael Spencer points to a great resource from Tim Keller on the main differences between "religion" and the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is really good stuff folks and worth frequently meditating upon. If you get these truths down you'll be well on your way to defeating legalism and pride in your life. I commend it to you highly.

Soccer Tennis

Have you heard of a game called, Soccer Tennis? My friend Tucker calls it Kung Fu Soccer. Click here and watch the video to get a sense for what the game is like. Myself and some of the other staff guys here at the church are getting pretty into it. It's rather fun.

Yes, that is me in the picture. Thanks for asking.

Cross: God Dies

Recently in my car (you can get a seminary education by redeeming your drive time) I have been listening to Mark Driscoll's series on Christian doctrine. Yesterday I finished his message entitled, "Cross: God dies". I found it extremely powerful. I encourage you to download it and give it a listen as well as the whole series. It's all very foundational for Christians to understand and incorporate in the way we live.

David Ford - I'm Alright Now

Four takes, four different instruments. This is really cool:


**Update**

Amy from Original Sound emailed me the following:

The video for the single, “Go to Hell,” off his new album, Songs for the Road, can be viewed here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NVky7hwuebU and the video for “State of the Union" can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4QBRS-U50. They were also recorded live and in one take. He plays every instrument and loops each one by one.

You can find his music here on AmazonMP3 or on

Psalms - Sovereign Grace's New Release

You can find Sovereign Grace's new record, Psalms, here. I got a chance to listen to one of these tracks before this record came out and I think you'll find that the music from Sovereign Grace continues to serve the church well. You can also listen to clips from the whole record at the same site.

You Have Your Clique…but do you have the Gospel?

Erik from IrishCalvinist.com writes:

Many of us are extremely biblical and God-centered in our creeds, but regrettably exude a rank man-centered, self-pleasing, earth-clinging practice with our relationships.

Read his whole article.  It's worth your time.  

Boba Fett? Is That You?

No, not even close, but this is still kind of cool. I can already hear my son in 10 years. "Dad, can I get the keys to the jetpack?"

Watch the video here.

Do You Have Announcements in Your Church Service?

I like Jordan's take from WorshipTrench.com:

I am FOR announcements in a worship service! There, I said what very few WL’s would. Some people have suggested we not do them as it isn’t worship. I 100% disagree.

Announcements should be an opportunity for the congregation to carry out what they have heard in a message, the who, what, when, why, how and where of Isaiah’s “Here Am I, Send Me.” Stop thinking of them as announcements and begin thinking of them as “obedience opportunities.” One way to reinforce this is to place most announcements at the end of the service after the message so they better match the Isaiah 6 pattern of response. Hit them with the Word and then give a related obedience opportunity by matching announced opportunities to the sermon as real steps of obedience worshipers can take. For example, if the message was on stewardship, announce the launch of Crown Teams or systematic online giving as the first announcement afterwards. A message communal connection? Announce the launch of new small groups and challenge people to connect. A message on living outside of your comfort zones? A trip to Vietnam to expand your boundaries.

So stop making announcements in your worship services and begin making “obedience opportunities” and you’ll find out you adore announcements, too.

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Getz/Gilberto

Check out the jazz/bossa nova classic for $3.99.

Atheism Remix

Tim Challies reviews Al Mohler's new book, Atheism Remix. He concludes:

Dr. Mohler’s book is only one of many to respond to the challenge of the new atheism and it is a welcome contribution. A reader who wishes to acquaint himself with the leading proponents of atheism, the arguments they use, and the most effective ways of thinking biblically about those arguments, will want to read this book. It is an ideal addition to any church or public library. I benefited from Mohler’s wisdom and am convinced you will also.

The Living God Confronts Idolatry - Part 3

"It is significant therefore that the fear of the Lord plays such a central role in the Biblical worldview. It is a potent dimension of radical monotheism that if there is truly only one God, then He alone should be the object of our true fear. Then those who live in the fear of the Lord need live in fear of nothing else. Other objects of fear lose their divine power and their idolatrous grip. This is the testimony of the author of Psalm 34.

I sought the LORD and he answer me;
He delivered me from all my fears...
The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him
And he delivers them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints,
For those who fear him lack nothing (Ps. 34:4, 7-9)

Or as Nahum Tate put it, "Fear him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear."

The idolatrous power of fear is enormous and seems to bear no direct relation to the scale of what is feared. It has been pointed out that although in contemporary Western society we live lives that are immeasurably more safe, healthy and free from risk than any previous generation, yet we are consumed by anxieties, fears and neuroses. Fed by garish media hype, we swoon at the latest rogue virus and seem willing to spend exorbitant amounts on security measures that can never actually prevent the terror we struggle to fend off."

-Dr. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, p. 168

PushUpDate - Beginning of Week 5 - 2nd Time

I got day 1 of week 5 knocked out today. After failing miserably with it last Monday, I had to repeat week 5 starting today and I finished the workout with 42 on my max set (min of 40). Here is what I had to do today with 60 seconds rest between sets:

40
32
30
25
Max set (go until failure) - Minimum of 40 - I got 42, last week I only got 9 on this set.

Boyd on Dark Knight

Dr. Greg Boyd is a very smart man with some very dangerous theology. Here is his conclusion after watching Dark Knight:

This motif of Dark Knight harshly captures the truth that so much of life (and one could easily believe all of life) is governed by mindless chance. Why was I born me rather than you? Why does one person live a long productive life while an infant dies after five days? Why is one family slaughtered by a tornado while the family next door goes unscathed? What (more than chance) really separates Batman and the Joker? With a vengeance, The Dark Knight forces us to look straight into the arbitrariness of life and ask the question: Is this the last word about the way things really are?

I just can't square this with a Biblical worldview. Ask Job, Joseph, Paul and Jesus (and even a little sparrow for that matter, Matt 10:29) if their suffering was "governed by mindless chance".

I Found This Interesting And Helpful For My Parenting

"My son bordered on being hyperactive. I was unprepared to deal with a child who seemed oblivious to our expectations and also unconcerned about his own safety. We used a lot of traditional discipline - methods that worked with our other children - to try to coerce our son's obedience. I sometimes found myself spanking him three, four, or more times a day in attempts to gain control of him, but to my dismay my efforts failed.

No amount of correction changed him. He misconduct threatened to demoralize the whole family. As a result, I found I sometimes I disciplined out of the fury I felt over my own failure. His behavior challenged my own sense of parental adequacy. Even worse, he began to think of himself as a "wild" child because I spoke about him that way. My concern for my own reputation was robbing my son of my love, his dignity, and God's grace.

Something had to change. One day I said to my wife, "I can't spank him anymore." This was as much an admission of my failure as it was a decision to try something else. Stubborn adherence to discipline measures that had worked with other children - measures that were part of my own background and demanded the least change in me - had, in fact, driven me from what I knew Christian parenting required. I was damaging my son to prove my parental competence.

We began to consider alternatives. Still, we knew abandoning discipline was not biblically permissible. God was gracious. First, he brought into my wife's choir a child development expert who told us that in their developing years, brilliant children (such as our son) are often hyperactive. Their actions result not from intentional discobedience but from their brains' demands from new sources of information and stimuli. Second, the Lord helped us recall that even in our child's most excitable moments, he would almost always settle when he mother took him into her lap, stroked his hair, and told him about how thrilled we were the day God brought him into ou world. If we could just capture the dynamics of that calming mechanism, we thought we might have a new discipline tool.

For the next several months whenever control was needed, instead of spanking we simply made our son sit down. He had to stop and be still until we said he could resume his activity. For this active child such time-outs were almost torture, but we insisted. The technique did not work like a charm, but over a period of weeks we began to see results. By allowing him to decompress, instead of overloading his system with the additional stimulation of a spanking, our son gained control.

In hindsight, I feel foolish when I consider the mistakes I made. Yet confession of these errors gives me a greater appreciation for Scripture's wisdom and God's grace. By insisting that my son respond to a single kind of discipline in the same manner as his siblings, I was not allowing him the dignity of being the individual God made him. The Lord has developed my son into a special person. I am very proud of the spiritual maturity in his life. Yet I recognize that I could have greatly damaged the understanding of God's grace in him if the Lord had not made my errors apparent."

-Bryan Chapell, Each For The Other, p. 179, 180

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Elliot Smith - Either/Or

I have heard this record is pretty cool if you are into indie acoustic rock and good melodies. Give it a shot for $2.99.

The Living God Confronts Idolatry - Part 2

"Once this fundamental distinction is blurred (Creator/creation distinction), once this reversal takes place, then devastating personal and social consequence follow. Creation, which derives its own meaning from God cannot give us in itself the ultimate meaning we crave, so idolatry is doomed to disappointment (to put it at is mildest). Worship of the self eventually implodes in narcissism, nihilism or sheer amoral selfishness. If nature itself is treated as divine, then all other distinctions begin to be dissolved. There is no difference between human life and all other forms of life. There is no difference between good and evil since all is ultimately one. So any objective reference point for moral discrimination becomes impossible.

In the light of such confusion the mission of God is ultimately to restore his whole creation to what it was intended to be - God's creation, ruled over by redeemed humanity, giving glory and praise to is Creator. Our mission, in participation with that divine mission, and in anticipation of its final accomplishment, is to work with God in exposing the idols that continue to blur the distinction, and to liberate men and women from the destructive delusions they foster."

-Dr. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, p. 165

Albuquerque Weather

Since returning from a week in St. Louis for a week, I am reminded of how spoiled I am by the weather in Albuquerque since we moved here almost two years ago. When we got off the plane in St. Louis we were struck in the face with a huge blast of a foreign substance that I think some people call "humidity". Yuck. I don't miss it. It was 100 degrees and probably 90% humidity. Immediately sweating ensued it wasn't long before you felt like you needed towel off.

Returning to Albuquerque, I was reminded of the greatness of the weather in ABQ:

1. No humidity
2. No mosquitoes
3. 300 sunny days a year
4. A huge and beautiful view of the sky at all times (It's why they call it Big Sky Country)
5. Yet still the blessings of the seasonal variance

All this to say, if you have not visited Albuquerque you should consider it. Since we moved here I have been calling it the nation's best kept secret.

Lust and Sex - Part 1

Our teaching pastor, Ryan Kelly, has recently started a three week sermon series on Lust and Sex from the book of Proverbs. You can find the first sermon below.

"Immodesty, Temptation, and Lust"

The Living God Confronts Idolatry - Part 1

"Arguably the most fundamental distinction in all reality is presented to us in the opening verses of the Bible. It is the distinction between the Creator God and everything else that exists anywhere. God along is uncreated, self-existent, noncontingent. God's being depends on nothing else outside God's own self. All other reality, by contrast, is created by God and therefore is dependent on God for existence and sustenance. The creation is contingent on God. It cannot and would not exist without God. God did and could exist without it. This essential ontological duality between two orders of being (the created order and the uncreated God) is foundational to the biblical worldview.

At the root, then, of all idolatry is human rejection of the Godness of God and the finality of God's moral authority. The fruit of that basic rebellion is to be seen in the many other ways in which idolatry blurs the distinction between God and creation, to the detriment of both.

Idolatry dethrones God and enthrones creation. Idolatry is the attempt to limit, reduce, and control God by refusing his authority, constraining or manipulating his power to act, having him available to serve our interests. At the same time, paradoxically, idolatry exalts things within the created order (whether natural objects in the heavens or on earth, or created spirits, or the products of our own hands or imaginations). Creation is then credited with a potency that belongs only to God; it is sacralized, worshiped and treated as that from which ultimate meaning can be derived. A great reversal happens: God, who should be worshiped, become an object to be used; creation, which is for our use and blessing, becomes the object of our worship."

- Dr. Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, taken from pages 163, 164 and 165

Embracing The Cross

Ray Ortlund:

Let’s be appropriately suspicious of ourselves. Every day we face decisions that require us to die a little. We may find ourselves thinking a very human thought like, “Far be it from me, Lord! This shall never happen to me.” If we set our own preconditions on the Lord, we might hear him say to us, as in fact he said to no one less than the apostle Peter, “You are a stumbling block to me. You do not understand that new life always comes through death. If you want to follow me there, I welcome you to. But you’ll have to pick that cross back up again. Yes, that one. The one you just dropped to the floor.

Read the whole post.

Five Dollar Friday at AmazonMP3

Some great music here today folks for pretty cheap. These deals last until Monday I think.


Sufjan Stevens, Come On Feel The Illinoise, $5.00



Kanye West, Graduation, $5.00



Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Moanin', $5.00



Nirvana, Nevermind, $5.00

Pray for Greg Laurie And His Family

Pray for Greg Laurie and his family. His son was killed in a car accident today.

For those of you who might not know, Greg Laurie is an evangelist who oversees the Harvest Crusades.

Corey Garrett - Senegal

When I do these residency classes at Covenant Seminary it is always fun to meet so many different people coming from so many different ministry contexts.  One of the most interesting people I have met this week has been Corey Garrett.  Corey and his family are missionaries in Senegal.  Last night Corey chatted with myself and some other guys for awhile and we all found it fascinating.  He said the best summary of his ministry was in this video below.  I would encourage you to check it out:

A New Open Letter to Egalitarians

David Kotter:

Mike Seaver at the blog Role Calling understands the shaping effects of sound doctrine, and is facilitating a conversation about gender roles and God's design of men and women. His recent post A Semi-Pragmatic, Less Theological Open Letter to Egalitarians has a list of 10 questions that hopefully will help egalitarians and complementarians explore the intersection between doctrine and daily life. The comment section is open now, and later this year he will provide a summarizing post.

For example, Mike would like to hear from egalitarians who are willing to weigh in on insightful questions: If the Titanic disaster were to happen again, would you desire 50% of the seats on the life boats to be left for men?

His list is not limited to hypothetical questions. For example: Do egalitarian parents train their boys that it is okay for them to be "stay at home dads?" If so, does a lot of domestic training happen with these boys?

I am eager to read the comments and gain additional insights into the inner workings of egalitarian marriages. To wit: If two egalitarians are married with children, and they hear a noise downstairs at night, should the man or the woman go downstairs to investigate, or would it depend on who had done it the last time?

To the many egalitarians who regularly read and give us feedback at Gender Blog, I would like to thank you for engaging with us in this ongoing dialogue. I would appreciate if you would invite your friends to comment over at Role Calling to help complementarians better understand the practical outworking of the egalitarian doctrinal position.

Thanks in advance; I look forward to reading your comments there.

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Massive Attack - 100th Window

Massive Attack's, 100th Window, $2.99.

Indicatives and Imperatives - Get this down

Glorifying the Father of the Fatherless

Jason Kovacs:

In Psalm 10:18 we are commanded to “do justice to the fatherless.” And Isaiah tells us to “Defend the cause of the fatherless” (1:17). James writes, “religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans…in their affliction” (1:27).

Surely this means not only caring temporarily for the needs of orphans, but also permanently caring for them through adoption.

We have an incredible opportunity in adoption to live out God’s compassion and so eternally change the life of a child.

A year after we adopted, my wife gave birth to our third child, a beautiful baby girl. The wonder and beauty of becoming a parent through birth and adoption are incomparable and yet each is just as sweet and amazing and wonderful.

I encourage any of you who are praying about growing your family to consider adoption as a way of magnifying the “Father of the fatherless.”

And for those of you who aren’t called to adopt there many other ways to care for orphans such as foster-care, financially supporting those who are adopting, visiting orphanages, sponsoring a child, and praying.

The question will never be whether you should care for orphans. The question is how you will care for them and in doing so reflect the compassion of God for the least of these.

Read the whole post.

Jason Kovacs is the Director of Ministry Development for The ABBA Fund. He also blogs about orphan care and adoption and is on the steering committee for the Together for Adoption Conference.

A New Era of Religious Liberties

I am not trying to be alarmist here. Perhaps cases like this will only be isolated and infrequent. I just don't want us to be surprised if situations like this start to happen more often.

Alan at STR.org writes:

The legalization of same-sex marriage will usher in a new era where religious liberties will increasingly become restricted.

In the last year, the state of New Jersey revoked the tax exemption status of a church property because it refused to allow a lesbian couple to perform a civil union on its grounds.

The attorney representing the lesbian couple argued that the church discriminated against his clients and "could no more refuse to accommodate the lesbians than a restaurant owner could refuse to serve a black man." And the court agreed. This is just a hint of what is to come in California.

There’s one word that explains why this will happen: Consistency.

In order for California to be consistent with its new legislation on same-sex marriage, it must restrict the religious liberties of Christians, Jews, and any other group that upholds a one-man-one-woman view of marriage. These groups enjoy privileges and protections given by the state, which now also endorses same-sex marriage. Since the law supports both same-sex marriage and groups who oppose the new legislation, it’s only a matter of time before pro-gay lawyers exploit the inconsistency.

That’s what happened in New Jersey. A tax exempt church refused to allow a same-sex civil union on their grounds and so it was argued that the state subsidized discrimination.

At stake are the tax benefits given by the state to churches, non-profit parachurch groups (i.e. STR) and clergy. But there are other examples with more at stake than tax benefits. And when religious beliefs clash with state laws that protect gay rights, can you guess who wins? Here’s a hint: It's not the party who’s found guilty of "discrimination."

Sean Lucas' Analysis of Joel Osteen

Dr. Sean Lucas from Covenant Seminary:

Last night as I was flipping the channels during a second straight depressing late-inning loss by my Cardinals, I happened onto Joel Osteen's program. As someone professionally-trained as an American religious historian, it was striking to watch Osteen once again and note both the themes of his message and the manner of his method. In both respects, his popularity is not the result of originality, but his skillful repacking of positive thinking/self-esteem and Pentecostal/charismatic elements. [On this particular episode, his wife Victoria was presiding at the Lord's Table. While watching that gave me the shivers, it was also striking how much less skillful and how much more plastic she was compared to Joel.]

While there were a lot of things to critique, I couldn't help but ask the historian's analysis questions: why does this message appeal to so many (upwards of 15,000 attend services at Lakewood Church each weekend)? what are the verbal and facial cues that draw people in? why does it seem that Lakewood is amazingly interracial (a fact that is much more common in Pentecostal-oriented churches than Reformed); how do you account for that?

I think the driving reason that Osteen is hugely popular is that he sells hope. Books like Your Best Life Now and Become a Better You provide a message of hope that my life does not have to be the way it is right now; that God is powerful and able to change my life; that God is profoundly interested in my life and is near to me. And while that message of hope is packaged in the code language of the prosperity Gospel and positive psychology (like the phenomenally successful book by Tal Ben-Shahar, Happier), at the end of the day, people leave Lakewood feeling as though there is a greater meaning and purpose for their lives.

As I thought about all this, though, I couldn't help but think about John Piper's question from God is the Gospel (and other places): do you delight more in the fact that God makes much of you in the Gospel or that the Gospel frees you to make much of God? The fault in Osteen's message is that it overplays and wrongly prioritizes the fact that God makes much of us (and God does make much of us: as I read in my morning worship today, God cried out to a wayward Israel, "How can I give you up, O Ephraim?...My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender" Hosea 11:8).

The biblical priority is that God in the Gospel rescues, delivers, frees and sustains us to make much of God. He is the great good in the Good News--and it truly is amazing: that God would save his wayward children for the fame of his name; would shape worshippers who will find their deepest satisfaction in making much of God; and would gather together a worldwide body of worshippers who hallow his name!

And that is the great hope: not that our material position would be better or our relationships grow stronger. Rather, our great hope is that the steadfast, committed love of our God is transforming us into worshippers who find their hearts satisfied in God himself.

I Am Looking Forward To This Book

This book is one that I am looking forward to getting: Dr. Michael Horton's, Christless Christianity It is now available for pre-release orders.

Product Description
Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton's words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.

Michael Horton (PhD, University of Coventry and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford) is J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. He is the main host of The White Horse Inn radio broadcast and editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. He is the author/editor of more than fifteen books, including Putting Amazing Back into Grace, Too Good to Be True, and A Better Way.

(HT: Jared Wilson)

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Peter Gabriel - So

Another classic from the 80's. Remember the songs, Sledgehammer, Big Time, and In Your Eyes? That is this record. Get it today for $2.99.

What Do We Learn From "Dark Knight"?

I'll let Margie Hack do the deep reflection on the movie for me. I think she is right on here:

In the movie, The Dark Knight, The Joker declares, “You know who people are in their last moments,” and I wondered who actor Heath Ledger was in the last moments of his life. When I saw him as the Joker on the set of The Dark Knight I looked with concern and wonder, knowing he was no longer alive, knowing that most think he committed suicide after the movie was filmed, although that can’t be proved – he died of a drug overdose, a toxic cocktail of pain and sleep medication. I watched him, trying to perceive, is this just acting or is this partly witness to the pain and darkness of his true beliefs in the meaninglessness of life as he pursues The Batman across Gotham City detonating everything in his wake?

At the end of the Dark Knight I was left in want of a hero large enough to make life meaningful again, someone who could bring light to the set, who could heal the lives ruined by injustice, crime, ambition, violence. The Batman, the faltering, finite hero we love, disappears into the night still determined to try to fix the world, but everyone, including him, knows how impossible and grievous this calling will be.

The movie underscores how hopeless this task for human heroes – to heal the earth of all its injustices, to offer choice even to The Jokers of the world. We wait for consummation, like Simeon the priest waited for the Consolation of Israel. Dostoevsky describes it perfectly in The Brothers Karamazov:

I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.

Great Question

In our devotional this morning at Covenant Seminary, Dr. Bob Burns asked our class this poignant question:

Are you as intentional about your relationships as you are about your theology?

His point was this: If we think we have good theology, but this theology doesn't lead to good relationships, then our theology is probably not as good as we think it is.

One Reason To See "Dark Knight"

So we went to Dark Knight last night on the IMAX. I’ll spare you of all the cultural analysis and pontification. I won’t be reading into the true meaning of the plot and what it points to. Go see this movie for one reason alone: Heath Ledger.

Some have said he is a "force of nature" in The Dark Knight. I’ll define that a bit further: He is a cinematic tsunami. He completely takes over. I can’t remember that last time I was so moved by the artistic expression of an actor in a movie. When the movie was over I immediately wanted to watch it again and I credit most of that sentiment to Heath Ledger’s performance. It actually makes me sad that we won’t be able to experience his gifts as an actor any longer due to his recent death. If he doesn’t get the Oscar for best actor I’ll boycott movies for the rest of my life. (Are you tiring of my overstatements?) It really was that good. Freaky good. And The Joker was freaky. Probably one of the scariest characters ever on film but oddly one that I couldn’t get enough of. When he wasn’t in a scene I found myself wondering when we would get to see more of him.

You have probably read a lot about this movie if you have not seen it by now. When it comes to Heath’s character, it’s all true. Go see it for all the reasons that you probably have already heard of, but if you don’t believe those go see a very special artist pull off a performance that you’ll likely never forget. And sadly we know that we’ll never see one like it again.

Song of The Day - Shai Linne - Atonement Q and A

Want to hear a great catechism in the form of a cool Hip-Hop song? Check out Shai Linne's Atonement Q and A. What a great way to help kids (and adults) be reminded of the great truths of God's word through music and rhyme. Check this out for sure.

You can listen to a sample here on AmazonMP3 or on

Garden Of Eden Revisited

Dr. Dan Zink, spoken today in my seminary class on Marriage and Family Counseling:

Every couple assumes that they would have a great marriage if the other person would just change. It's the Garden of Eden all over again.

New Radiohead Video

Steve McCoy:

Radiohead continues to do weird 'n' wonderful things. Like in their new "House of Cards" video...

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - Ray Charles - Genius Loves Company

Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company, 12 songs with a variety of other artists joining him, $2.99.

St. Louis On The Horizon

I am off today for a week long residency class at Covenant Seminary. I am taking Marriage and Family Counseling. I will be accompanied by three other staff guys from Desert Springs church who have just started the same Masters program that I am almost finished with. I'll try to stay up on the blog while I am there.

PushUpdate - End of Week 4

Week 4 ended well. It was not that much of a jump from week 3. Now we are onto the week 5 of death. Here is what I have to do tomorrow:

40, 32, 30, 25, Max - at least 40. I am scared. And these 5 sets have to be done with only 60 seconds rest between sets. Most guys have failed on this set and have had to repeat week 5. We'll see how I do...

Dark Knight Of The Soul

Brant Hansen has an interesting take on the new Batman movie. He writes:

"The Dark Knight" is cultural rigormortis. It's what happens when we are done, and we are done. Jacques Barzun had it right, when he wrote a history of western culture up through the 1990s, and said, certainly, that our age is defined by boredom. We are excited by nothing, really, but maybe for a moment here, or a moment there, we can try to be turned on. Sex can do it (or fake sex, much more likely) but brutal violence can work, too, if for a short time.

Our culture is lying on the table, and "The Dark Knight" is just another jolt before the flatline resumes.

At least give us this: Our mass-market (which included me, yesterday) is willing to pay for it, but also demands some sense that it was all, ultimately, high-minded, that it was making some statement, that it was horrific, yes, but redemptive, blah blah blah. Expect many hip Christian types to write as much, because 1) That's the essence of being hip, and 2) Who doesn't like Batman?

But it's not redemptive...unless...

Unless we can emerge in the sunlight, after ALL THAT HYPE for this masterwork, this penultimate expression, this marvel-ous creation, saying, "Really? That's as good as it gets?"

Then we walk out into the sun, and decide it's infinitely more interesting than what we just paid to see.

I think I get what he is saying here, but I don't find myself bored by experiencing great art. Perhaps he doesn't classify this film as "great" art". I guess having your expectations in line is probably the first step to not being bored or disappointed. When I see this movie on IMAX on Monday night (God willing) I don't expect to have it change my life or makes all my problems go away, but I do expect to marvel in the creative gifts of the hundreds of different people that collaborated to make this movie. When I observe this kind of artistic expression I find myself pointed to the ultimate Creative One and I find satisfaction in that. The finite creative expressions of humans point me to the infinite Creator. I don't think we have to disparage the former to see and worship the latter.

This line of thinking for reflecting theologically about movies certainly has it's limits. Can watching porn draw my attention to the beauty of God's ideals for sex? Certainly not. Should a movie be watched that seems to simply glorify violence or torture? Probably not. Decisions about what kinds of movies should be viewed need to be made with much prayerful discernment and wisdom. Perhaps the artistic bad will outweigh the good in Dark Knight. I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to see...

JUMP!!! (But make sure it's in tune when you do)

This is one of the funniest things I have seen in awhile.

Brant Hansen:

I laugh a lot, but not this hard in some time. Van Halen, LIVE, wrapping up their big show with "Jump", here. One problem: The synth runs at 48k instead of 44.1k. That means, try as Eddie might, he can't possibly get in tune with it. It gets better and better and better...

Cost-Benefit Analysis

“It’s interesting that we’re more willing to do a cost-benefit analysis of having children than to do a cost-benefit analysis of eagerly participating in a culture of narcissism.”

- “Children and Happiness” | Alan Jacobs | The American Scene

(HT: ADIAPHORA)

I Find This Greatly Encouraging

(HT: Jared)

This Is Funny

Go to Google’s mainpage and type in: “How do I find Chuck Norris?”

Then click, "I’m feeling lucky".


(HT: B-Lo)

New Frontiers

Here is a new band that you might want to check out: New Frontiers. Think solid pop/alt-country/rock with a melancholy edge that you know I dig. If you like the Doves and Keane, I think you'll dig this.

You can listen to clips here on AmazonMP3 or on .

"Reverend" Jesse Jackson?

Thabiti Anyabwile:

I don't know what it is, but iconic African-American clergymen in the twilight of their careers have been falling like flies around Barack Obama. First Wright, now Jackson. Men who have served for decades now watch either their reputation or their work burn like wood, hay, and stubble in the flames of indiscretion, immorality, and public outrage. What will the flames of Christ's judgment do?

I remember the first time I heard John Piper pray that the Lord would keep him from falling and would enable him to finish well. It was a lightning bolt through my soul. I had not been praying that way for myself or for others, and I instantly knew I needed to. I can fall. I can ruin myself, my family, and the reputation of my local church, and most of all bring disrepute upon Christ. In an instant, off-mic, leaning to a colleague, I can do almost irreparable harm.

So, Jackson reminds me that mine is a public life as well. Every pastor's life is a public life. And perhaps a case can be made that every Christian life is a public life. And we all can fall to depths that make us shudder when we're sober-minded enough to think about it. We are Christ's, but Satan has asked to sift us like wheat, sin lies crouching at our doors. We'd better watch our lives and our doctrine carefully.

Read the rest of his post here.

Dark Knight Reviews Please

So who went to see Dark Knight last night? Please report...

AmazonMP3 Daily Deal - John Lennon - Imagine / Friday for $5

A classic for only $3.99.


Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon - $5.00



Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - $5.00



Red Hot Chili Peppers - Greatest Hits - $5.00


Diana Krall - Love Scenes - $5.00

Maxed Out

You want to know why there is all the gloom and doom in our economy right now? Maxed Out will give you a bit of a clue as to why.

You should see this documentary. My wife and I watched it last night and both found it very interesting. It falls short of telling the truth about the source of the problem (that most people operate with a kindergarten like need for instant gratification, our family did up until a few years ago) and places all the blame on the snake-like credit card companies (which is what they are). Even though the diagnosis falls short of curing the real problem (people's greed), it's still a great movie to watch.

You can find it here on Netflix.

You want to get your money in order? Check out Dave Ramsey.

Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned

This looks like an interesting and heart-breaking read. I remember reading about the genocide in Rwanda years back and feeling a sense of awe that this could have actually happened. I then watched a powerful documentary on those horrific 100 days and it didn't make more sense (evil of this magnitude of always senseless) but I at least understood the context better. May the church of Jesus Christ have the will to love in these hard places and bring light to the seemingly impenetrable darkness. This book might help towards that end.

Michael Spencer reviews:

Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned is a brief, straightforward book that gives a full account of the causes of the Rwandan genocide, the social, political and cultural forces at work in the event, and the opportunities for healing and ministry that exist today. Archbishop Kolini and professor Holmes combine their knowledge to give a clear and helpful picture of tragedy and hope.

Christ Walks can be read and understood by any high school level reader. The authors do not dwell on morbid detail or emotional manipulation. They want the world to understand all of the diverse elements that combined to see almost a million people killed in 100 days, and how this event implicated the failures of the church and gave rise to opportunities for the church.

Christ Walks can be read in a few hours and will reward to reader with an understanding on African Christianity, the complex roots of racism, the lingering effects of colonialism and the present needs of the Rwandan people.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in Africa, Rwanda, African Christianity or mercy ministries. Well written and helpful.

How To Help The Mom Of A Still-Born Baby

Molly Piper recently wrote a very poignant post dealing with the lost of a still-born baby. It specifically deals with helping those who love these hurting parents to get inside the head of a mom who has just had her whole world turned upside down. It's an insightful read and many of the principles transcend the loss of a child specifically to suffering and loss in general. I commend it to you highly.

You can find Molly's whole series on how to help a grieving friend here.

Missional As Humbling and Reassuring

So all our missional efforts to make God known must be set within the prior framework of God's own will to be known. We are seeking to accomplish what God himself wills to happen. This is both humbling and reassuring. It is humbling inasmuch as it reminds us that all our efforts would be in vain but for God's determination to be known. We are neither the initator of the mission of making God known to the nations nor does it lie in our power to decide how the task will be fully accomplished or when it may be deemed to be complete. But it is also reassuring. For we know that behind all our fumbling efforts and inadequate communication stands the supreme will of the living God, reaching out in loving self-revelation, incredibly willing to open blind eyes and reveal his glory through the treaures of the gospel delievered in the clay pots of his wtinesses (2 Cor 4:1-7).

-Dr. Christopher J.H. Wright, The Mission of God, p. 130