Mark Dever has a good entry over at Together for the Gospel about the theological and missional implications of the message and methods of gospel ministry.  He is recommending the Desiring God National Conference for those desiring to live out these important matters in our world today.

I sent in the following comment, that I wanted to share with the readers of POCBlog.

Anyway, if you can make it to Minneapolis for the Desiring God National, I'll be there...and hopefully at a good Irish pub for dinner on Saturday night...

There has been some interesting discussion in blog world about the nature and propriety of Christian Rap.  Here are a couple of links:

• Bob Kauflan fields a question about rap music here
• Tim Challies, who personally does not like that hipity hop, gives a sort of thumbs up for Christian rap, and asks for others to weigh in.  You can read it here.
• Justin Taylor inteviewed Voice a few weeks back - you can read that here.
  

My comments over at Challies.com are copied here:

This sort of question is usually raised from within the church when genres of music outside the church's cultural mainstream begin to be harnassed and plundered for the glory of God. Can "regae" be Christian since it was made prominent by ganga smokin dudes with dreads? What about Christian punk? Hip Hop? It seems to me that your assessment is correct - music can be aimed towards edification or sin, the glory of God, or the gods of this world...in hip hop that means lyrics can flow towards the gospel, the Trinity, sin, Christ, redemption, etc. Or continue to be filled with pride, ice, rims, female dogs (keeping Challies clean for you), and other stuff full of idolatry evidenced in secular hip hop today. I pray for a flood of the former.

Our brothers like Voice and those from Cross Movement also face some discussion within the African American church, where hip hop can be repudiated by certain people. See the Ambassadors interaction with Ex Ministires for an example. The flash intro on Ex Ministries web site is also insightful. We need to pray for these guys.

Personally, I would highly recommend the Cross Movement (Ambassador, Flame, etc.) as they are doing theologically driven hip hop which is strong in the genre, Christ centered, is courageous, and exhibits biblical depth.

I reviewed Flame's new CD Rewind here. I think we need to see much more of this, not less. Additionally, check out his site for some of the lyrics. Sounds like Hip Hop to the glory of God to me.

 Personally, I love that theologically driven, Christian hipity hop...

Resurge - Listen to this series of messages from the recent Resurgence Conference on Missional Theology.  Put it on the pod, computer, or wherever - you can find it on all the Resurgence web site.

Mainline Fun - Can't walk the Labrynth to be "centered" (you know this is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible) on your own.  No worries, you can do your own virtual finger Labrynth!  Your soul be delivered! You can even turn on the icons, text (read the text...kind of sad), and spooky sacred tunes...(HT - Challies)

Girly-Church - Where are the men?  Here is a link which highlights the laments and comments on the feminization of men in the church.  Dudes arise and reject the sissy gospel!  My favorite link title here - The Modern American Evangelical Church: (a.k.a. the Evangelical Church of American Women Who, At Times, Bring Their Soft "Nice Guy" Husbands and Sons Says Murrow) (Source - JollyBlogger) 

I subscribe to the e-newsletter of 9Marks ministry, a minsitry dedicated to seeing churches find biblical health.  Mark Dever leads the ministry, and I am somewhat of a fan. The confessional, gospel-centered, nature of Dever and 9Marks are a needed balance to other influences in my life.   They point me to the Scripture and the glory of God - I love that.  Additionally, I really like the book "9 Marks of a Healthy Church." The cover design (to the right) looks a bit like a For Dummies book, but trust me it is not. 

Anyway, I am not a 9Marks hater, so when I read a quote on their recent newsletter, which seemed a bit of an overreach, I wanted to say something about it.

In the article Plexiglas Preaching, The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message, Pastor John McArthur lists his 15 reasons against the sermon-light, theologically wimpy, non expositional teaching and how this is bad news for the church.  For the most part, I found some of his assessments helpful.  But, #7 gave me some pause.  I'll explain why after reading it and hopefully reach a middle ground and a good place to stand:

7. It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ. Pastors are supposed to be undershepherds of Christ. Too many modern preachers are so bent on understanding the culture that they develop the mind of the culture and not the mind of Christ. They start to think like the world, and not like the Savior. Frankly, the nuances of worldly culture are virtually irrelevant to me. I want to know the mind of Christ and bring that to bear on the culture, no matter what culture I may be ministering to. If I’m going to stand up in a pulpit and be a representative of Jesus Christ, I want to know how He thinks—and that must be my message to His people too. The only way to know and proclaim the mind of Christ is by being faithful to study and preach His Word. What happens to preachers who obsess about cultural "relevancy" is that they become worldly, not godly.

John McArthur,  Plexiglas Preaching, The Devastating Consequences of a Watered-Down Message, 9 Marks Minsitry Web Site - available at www.9marks.org, Accessed July 27, 2006. Emphasis added.

Here is the rub.  Obviously if the pastor is too concerned about culture at the neglect of the word, then he is amis and is perhaps ready to be taken captive by the world.  Point taken.  Yet, if the preacher learns deeply the Bible, seeks in Scripture the mind of Christ, teaches the Bible expositionally, etc. and knows nothing of the people he is trying to reach, or equip the church to reach, the result is, let me say, NOT GOOD.  For instance, everyone agrees that we should preach in the language of the people - in doing so, care is taken to use words, grammar, and sentences recognizable by the people.  In preaching, the pastor must choose idiom, illustrations, etc as he expounds God's Word and makes the meaning known to the people.  To not know the stories of a culture, the questions of a culture, the art of the culture, the things that make a people tick, or ticks a people off, is to not be able to bring the Word to bear on THAT people in THIS time.  Everyone knows this must be the case. 

So I take this quote as a corrective to the over immersed cultural Christian who is worldly, who does not know his Bible, who does not study to seek the mind of Christ in Scripture.  But if some people take this exhortation to mean "ignore the culture" and just read your Greek Bible, I fear the results will be some pretty terrible preaching that does not connect the mind of Christ, the teaching of the Word, with the people sitting/standing in front of the preacher.  I think the nature of McArthur's language - Frankly, the nuances of worldly culture are virtually irrelevant to me, will lead some down this path.  In doing so, he is helping someone remain blind to his own culture, and perhaps putting a stumbling block before someone's preaching.  Culture is not all powerful, nor all determining; God is.  Yet if our goal is to have "worldly culture to be virtually irrelevant to us," I think this is an egregious mistake and we will grow more and more impotent to connect the unchanging word to the changing peoples and cultures everywhere in the world.

Paul's example in Acts shows us he did not eliminate the message to any audience, but rather he choose different modes and ways of communicating the same message. Whether speaking to the Jewish people of the synagogue, the common man of Lystra, or the intellectual on Mars Hill, his message is strong and consistent.  The death, burial, and resurection of Jesus - and a call to repentence...the way he brought this message was different, and this is recorded in the Bible.  So when we communicate to someone today, I think we ought know something about them...in other words, we better know their culture and yet we better not be captured by it.

Our consciences are chained to the Word of God and we become all things to all men for the sake of the same Word.  This is a hard path to find and maintain. May God help his people be faithful to both callings - into and out from the world.

If you have not subscribed to the 9 Marks Newsletter, you can do so here.  As I said, I am somewhat of a fan.

A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. Proverbs 17:10

It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools. Ecclesiastes 7:5

It seems that DNA is far more complicated and intricately configured than we originally thought - see Scientists Say They’ve Found a Code Beyond Genetics in DNA - New York Times. So much so that the author of this article slips into "design talk" towards the end:

Biologists have long speculated that the redundancy may have been designed so as to coexist with some other kind of code, and this, Dr. Segal said, could be the nucleosome code.

Some fun little Tech News out there today...

• Audio/Video - Microsoft recently announced their Zune project designed to take on the iPod/iTunes Juggernaut.  Their viral marketing site - Coming Zune is just weird.
  
• Just Video - It seems Amazon is getting into the mix on the video side of things.  It don't need any more reason to give Amazon any more money that I already do.
• Still the A/V King - And Getting Better - News out on the next generation of the audio/video butt kickin iPod.  A quick quote:
  
• "Apple is aiming to increase both the screen size and improve the battery life - two conflicting attributes that are difficult to improve simultaneously and require significant engineering," he writes. It may be worth the wait, however. The new video-iPod will feature a host of new features and advancements over its predecessor, including an advanced graphics processor supplied by Nvidia adding "3D graphics functionality", and possibly wireless capabilities.
• Cool New Motorola Phones - Why does Verizon get cool phones and Sprint gets all the mediocrity?
  

Here is a weird English grammar factoid that a friend of mine and I just ran across.  Last Tuesday in meeting at the church, one our staff was leading a devotion in Hebrews 13:2 and said, hey there is a typo in the ESV. It reads:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 

I thought, look er there – a typo.  So...I had been in recent conversation with Crossway about the little review I wrote for the ESV journaling bible that they were putting up on the ESV blog – so I took the chance to bring up Hebrews 13:2 with them to maybe correct the old ESV.
 
They told me that the “unawares” dates back to the RSV which follows the KJV – I just thought – well that is stupid reason to have!  Boy, was I wrong.  In looking at the sentence construction it turns out that the word unaware would need to be an adverb which modifies the way “some” have entertained angels.  It should be something like “unawarely” – but of course this is no word.   So, my friend and I looked up “unawares” in old Websters and wouldn’t you know.  There is a word that means “unawarely” – yep, you guessed it – unawares.

Main Entry: un·awares
Pronunciation: -'werz
Function: adverb
Etymology: un- + aware + -s, adverb suffix, from Middle English, from -s, genitivesingular ending of nouns -- more at -S
1 : without design, attention, preparation, or premeditation
2 : without warning : SUDDENLY, UNEXPECTEDLY

You can see the whole entry here.

So, if you are preaching Hebrews 13 in the English Standard Version – know that the ESV actually gets it right here and it isn’t a typo – who knew, I was piping off to Crossway confidently but unawares.

The ESV has proven to be very faithful and accurate again - and using proper English as well.  And  ain't it cool to use proper English?

Introduction

    As a convert to Jesus at the age of nineteen, there are many well known stories in the heritage and history of the Christian church to which I am a late arriver.  But as the proverbial wisdom goes, I am thankful to come late, than to never arrive at all.  Such is the case of my recent interaction with the life and witness of the Judson family, the first world missionaries from the United States.  In reading the book Bless God and Take Courage – The Judson History and Legacy, I have been humbled to the dust by the magnitude of commitment, sacrifice, suffering as well as the theological and missional vision of the Judson’s and their partners in the gospel.  This current work on the Judsons is the result of the research and labor of Rosalie Hunt, herself a daughter of missionaries, who studied the history of the Judson family for a period of six years in both the United States and Myanmar (formerly known as Burma).  The goal of the work is stated well in the acknowledgements section, with the book being written to provide “a ‘new millennium’ account of the Judson legacy.”(XI)  In this review I will summarize the content of the book, offer some analysis of the work with application to contemporary missions, and then close with some concluding thoughts about both the Judsons and their impact on my own life.

Summary

    Following the book’s title, the work is sectioned into two major parts.  The first section, which makes up the bulk of the volume, is simply entitled The History and focuses on the biography of Adoniram, his family, and their mission to the Burmese Empire.  The second section is entitled The Legacy and traces the impact of the Judsons on US Baptist missions, the people of Burma as well as accounts of each of the surviving Judson children.   I will summarize each of these sections in turn.

The History  

    As one would guess this section is a very detailed biography of Adoniram Judson, his three wives, his family and the journey in mission to the Burmese empire which began in 1812.  The biography is quite substantial covering twenty two chapters and two hundred and forty pages.  It is a full biographical examination of the Judsons which spans from the birth of Adoniram to the death of Emily, his third and final wife {1} (239).   The biography progresses at a good pace yet still includes detailed accounts, contains excellent documentation and a balanced number of primary source quotations.  The author goes to good lengths to show the humanity of the Judsons and their struggles to take the gospel to lands where Christ was not known.  The story of the Judsons is fascinating in and of itself but the author did a good job of not romanticizing the people while still telling the story in a sympathetic light.  Additionally, this volume does a great job with not just focusing on the one man, Adoniram, but also upon his wives.  The women of faith in this story are not presented as mere accessories to a man’s mission, but true partners in the gospel, dedicated servants who gave their talents, passion, and their very lives in the mission of Jesus.   

The Legacy

    The second part of the book works to go beyond mere biographical accounting by looking at the impact and legacy left by the Judsons.  The world in which the Judsons planted the seeds of the gospel, reaped a harvest, planted churches continues today long after their life and labors.   The results of their lives on the United States, the Baptists, the country of Myanmar/Burma, the children which lived on after the parents departed for an eternal golden shore is the subject of this section.  The section is actually portioned into several identifiable “legacies” with the first three chapters in Burman.  These chapters trace the steps of the story in modern day Myanmar from the landing in Rangoon, to the journey up river to Ava, to the sites where Adoniram spent time in prison, to the outposts at the British centers of Amherst and Moulmein.  The author traveled to these places looking for artifacts, monuments, and stories directly connected to the events which took place almost two hundred years ago.  Next, the attention was focused on the cultural impact along the New England trail.  The significance of the Judson and Hasseltine {2} homes and places of education were presented as Ebenezer’s in the annals of missions history (270).  The surviving children of the Judson family (from Sarah the 2nd wife and Emily the 3rd) are all investigated with their vocations, contributions, and continuing family heritage was all discussed.   An interesting fact was brought forth about the family.  Only six of the thirteen Judson children survived childhood; only four married, with only two Edward and Emily Frances having children. (302). Seeing the mixed outcome, some good some bad, in the lives of the children was an interesting read, though very scanty in content.  The spiritual descendents which trace their line back to the gospel ministry of the Judsons are also highlighted towards the end of the book.   Finally, one of the strengths of the book is the chapters dedicated specifically to the impact and legacy of each of the three Judson women: Ann, Sarah, and Emily.  One quote stood out particularly:

Missions history has no parallel to the extraordinary trio who graced the title of Mrs. Adoniram Judson.  God uniquely touched the life of each, and made an unequivocal response—a commitment to “mission for life.

The matchless Mrs. Judsons had much in common.  None lived long, but each was memorable.  Ann died at thirty-six; Sarah forty-one and Emily, thirty-six.  Not one of the unions was a marriage of convenience.  Each woman had a unique place in Adoniram’s heart and each loved him with a singular devotion. (336)

In quoting James Langdon Hill, the author continued, “Ann, Sarah, and Emily shared in his, labors, rose to his height, and deserve to shine beside him.” (337)  The final chapter of the book reflects upon the most important question of the entire work.  Its aim is to look at who this man was and why his influence was so great.  The lessons discussed in this final chapter are alone worth the price of the book.   After this brief summary, we will now turn our attention to an analysis of the unique contributions that this work holds in missions history.

Critical Analysis

    The goal of the work as previously stated is to provide “a ‘new millennium’ account of the Judson legacy.”(XI)  After finishing the book I would say for the most part this purpose has been accomplished.  To look at this in detail, I will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the two sections, reflecting on both the History and the on the Legacy.  I will then close by commenting on missiological principles learned from the successes and the shortcomings of the Judson family.

The History

    The biography paints an excellent picture of life and work in early the world of the early nineteenth century.  A romantic, glossed over view of adventures in far away lands is distant from this volume.  There is adventure, yes.  There is faith, there is glory, yes.   Yet all of these are set in the midst of a world of squalor, disease, depression, and the realities of missionary life in the mid 1800s.  Achieving balance in writing about looming historical figures is a difficult task with some falling on the side of making men out to be supermen, while others take a cynical tone, highly critical of flaws from another era.  Roalie Hunt appears to have avoided both extremes in this biography.  Emerging from her pages are real men and women of their times, in their place, serving our God faithfully and gloriously in the midst of immense suffering, through the victories and setbacks of the Missio Dei.   The biography was in no way a quick and abbreviated part of the book; the author invested copious research into painting a full picture before evaluating the legacy.  The language is contemporary and accessible to the modern reader, which fulfills the goal of making the Judson story accessible to a new generation.  I also enjoyed the use of various literary quotations at the beginning of each chapter to connect the author with the mood and tone of the part of the story about to be told.   Most importantly the biography brings forward a view of God which is neither sugar coated piety nor pessimism in the face of difficult providence.  The cause of the Judsons was presented as noble and godly and therefore the suffering and choices made were placed in a favorable light.  Perhaps the one question which is left lingering the modern reader is one forever lost to history and a lack of source material.  I would have enjoyed being able to hear more from the Burmese converts, their thoughts and perspectives as the mission unfolded.  However, their actions and faithful service do exhibit that they too had learned from their teachers that the gospel brings both joy and suffering with a long road of ministry in difficult soil.  Overall, I feel the biographical section is strong, with the emphasis on the Judson wives and family contexts a primary strength.

The Legacy

    Perhaps the unique contribution of this volume is not that it includes an excellent biography, but that this is paired with a look at the legacy the Judsons left on both lands and peoples.  The legacy of the Judson comes through powerfully when one looks at a protestant church birthed and continuing in great number today in Myanmar.  The Christians are by no means a cultural majority, but today there are close to four million (347) Burmese Christians where there were none in 1812.  Additionally, close to two million of these are Baptists (347) who trace their lineage directly back to a small zayat {3} built in Rangoon almost two hundred years ago.  

    The book focused on legacies in Myanmar/Burma, New England, in the lives of the Judson children, left by each of the Judson women, as well as an overall effect seen on world missions.  The trek through Myanmar looking for the sites where the story took place was very interesting and even had the feel of a small adventure.  The New England accounting was positive focusing mainly on the landmarks where believers find a testimony to faithful missionaries long and gone.  The section on New England could have mentioned the spiritual decline in the lands of the North East, the theological declension of the educational institutions like Brown and Andover Seminary, but the book did not investigate these issues.   This down turn in the gospel seems to be a move of providence and is in no way reflective on the Judsons, but it might have been discussed for the times were shifting under the soils of New England even as the missionary effort increased.   The seeds of universalism and modernism were well underway in Judson’s time, many sprouted while he labored for a believing church to be birthed by the gospel in lands far away.   

    After focusing on the lands, the chapters on the people were interesting if not always as thorough.  The lives of each surviving child were covered though this was perhaps an interesting effort, it was also the most tedious part of the book.  It seems that the author was repetitively recounting “there is not much information on this person” making these chapters read a bit slow.  I think the information could have been organized around the kids who struggled and the kids who prospered perhaps alleviating the necessity of having additional chapters which were less compelling.  Overall, I did enjoy looking at the children, specifically Abigail, who along with the times seemed to leave the faith for less orthodox, even heretical alternatives.  Perhaps more than anything about the book, I enjoyed the focus on the wives; the legacy section including great chapters given to each of these fascinating women.  

Effects Upon Missions

    In many ways the Judsons were well ahead of their times in the history of missions.  Many of their intuitive practices were to become missiological principles which evolved over the course of time.  Particular examples were the focus on contextualization, indigenous church leadership, and utilizing single women in the missionary effort.  One would assume that learning the difficult Burmese language and script would be part of ministering in foreign lands, but the Judsons brought the gospel into Burma in both language and culture.  The examples of contextualization are many.  Adoniram Judson taught from a zayat, taught while seated in the eastern style, not standing in the western fashion.   Ann Judson took on typical Burmese dress during her time in Ava working to save her imprisoned husband’s life.  It was said of Judson that he understood the Burmese people and culture as well as any person in the world.  Additionally, the Judsons did not hesitate to raise up indigenous Christians who understood it was their task to evangelize their people, with some of their converts immediately understanding.   He taught the Burmese leaders and took them on jungle preaching tours to give them first hand experience. (343) Finally, his employment and commendation of single women in the ministry was groundbreaking at the time and was utilized later by others as well. (343)

Conclusion   

    Many things can be said about this new book on the life of the Judson missionary family.   Perhaps the lasting legacy is presenting this story fresh before the minds of a new generation.  In our modern, pluralistic culture, the Judsons are a bit of an oddity, but one that needs to be seen.  They did not hesitate to see a land full of Buddhists as a catastrophic disaster in great need of the gospel.  They understood Jesus to be the only way for people to be forgiven and left all and gave all so that others would hear and heed the gospel call.  In many ways Judson and his family represent people simply believing and then acting upon the word of God, the commands of their Lord.   GK Chesterton once rightly remarked that Christianity had not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried.  Depending upon prayer, captured by a vision of God and the urgency of the gospel mission, Adoniram Judson and his family were extraordinary because they obeyed their Lord in spite of personal cost and temporal security.   Christians long for this primarily because they are unwilling to do anything of the sort in their own lives.  But in his grace God uses the stories of the faithful: Old Testment and New Testament saints, people from church history, the continuing great cloud of witnesses to shake people loose and inspire others to the mission of God.  May this work be read widely and used by the Lord to move many into the mission both locally and globally so that many more might echo the mantra which the Judsons so often held to and by which Hunt closes this book: “How many times did the Judsons ‘bless God and take courage’?  Their theme is our challenge.” (348)  Amen, indeed it is.

Hunt, Rosalie Hall. Bless God and Take Courage : The Judson History and Legacy. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 2005. 404 pp. $21.00.

Notes 

1 Judson had three wives over the course of his life with the first two dying in the mission field due to the effects of various diseases and debilitating conditions.

2 Ann Hasseltine was Judson’s first wife and a looming figure in her own right upon the landscape of evangelical missions in America.

3 A zayat is a small teaching shack on stilts where eastern teachers would instruct their students.  Judson, using a fine illustration of contextualized ministry, taught an preached the gospel in a zayat on the highly traveled roads near a great Buddhist shrine in Rangoon.

Yes, there will be a blast from many of our pasts here in the next year.  The autobots and the decepticons will be launching into a full big screen production in July of 07.  As a kid I jut loved the transformers and this movie looks to be a treat for sci-fi geeks.

We love things that change - a truck that can turn into a robot super hero.  An evil dude that turns into a big gun, airplanes which flip and change into upright robots.  I think we all want to be transformers - we all want to be something that we are not.  Or we want to be in reality more than we appear to others.  The best kind of transforming happens when people are changed...

I can still hear the song in my head from when I was a little dude:

Transformers, more than meets the eye,
Transformers, robots in disguise. 

I'm not certain I will be around in July 07, but if God still has me here I will be glad to see the transformers on the big screen next summer.

We have some speakers in our kitchen for our iPod - we love to put on classical music, hip hop, or whatever the kiddos are into and spend time goofing off and dancing as a family.  But you know, I just can't stand it when I have to go the john and my tunes get interupted.  But now, I have no worries - I can get a toilet paper roll mount for the iPod so I can keep the tunes rolling at all times. 

Question - Who would use this thing?  I guess it can take a while for some of you out there - but if you really needed to have the iPod playing, couldn't you use the headphones?

Islamic Watch

What are the little kiddos learning in school today?  Pluralism? Political Correct Speech codes? Diversity? Maybe a little math and a few spelling bee words?  Perhaps in America.   Or maybe that Jews are apes and Christians are swine?  Or maybe that the Muslim must wage jihad in order to spread the faith in battle against the infidel? Or that Jews and Christians are the "enemies" of Muslims?  Well that would be in Saudi Arabia.  There is an interesting article over at MSNBC about what the kiddos are learning in the land of princes and oil.

Technology

Mac's do have some cool stuff going on today...namely cool Logos Bible Software on the way (PC users like me have had this for years) and now a cool Bible Widget to go with.  Mac users, download today

The Church 

Mark Driscoll comments on Calvary Chapel's recent statement of concern regarding Emergent.   

 
Engadget put out a story about a Jews for Jesus' tract entiteld "What's Next for the iPod guy." It has made its way to being mentioned on Digg, Gizmodo and a few other tech sites...I'm positive if this is real, but it looks to be from what I am able to ascertain. 

Perhaps this is a great example of a bad attempt at contextualization... 

Here is why this sort of evangelistic tool is not a helpful strategy in my opinion:

1. It clearly will be perceived as being aimed at an individual - in this case Steve Jobs
2. It appears to be an invasion of tech space by outsiders...rather than a wise move to share Jesus with tech people from tech people
3. It is cheesy looking and a bit silly (the ole byte of the apple line)
4. By sharing the gospel story this way, being techie-cute, it trivializes the transcendent importance of the message.
5. It is funny - yes, it is pretty stinking funny.  But would it dull people to actually talking about the Messiah in the future?
6. It may be easily dismissed by those who actually know the Apple story and the tech world.  The apple story has a bit of mythological feel to those who are computer industry insiders. 
   

For Fun - Check this out - ESV “To Do” Bible - purgatorio - and yes, if you are new to Purgatorio, this is a joke. Too funny...

The Church - The PCUSA trashes the Trinity

When one California pastor was asked how he felt about the new terminology for the Trinity, he told the Los Angeles Times newspaper, "You might as well put in Huey, Dewey, and Louie." That minister is not alone in his sentiments -- another conservative Presbyterian theologian and pastor is similarly expressing disgust at what he describes as the denomination's move to "alter a major doctrine of the Christian faith."

For Young Dudes - Great Article - Stop Test Driving Your Girlfriend by Michael Lawrence (HT - Theologica)

On Science and Philosophy - Interesting article on moving robotics with brain impulses...now what causes the brain to move? (HT - Pearcey Report)

From time to time I find little interesting tidbits around the net and in the past have made them separate entries...

To make this a bit cleaner and not bog down everyones RSS readers quite as much I am going to start bundling these together.  

POC Bundles will also be a new category so you can click through these historically as well.  

Bundling at one time in America was a stange cultural phenomena, but now it just will pull together fun little bytes on the POCBlog.

There are some excellent video interviews rolling out over time from several of the speakers from the upcoming Desiring God National Conference - Above All Earthly Powers - The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. 

• HTML Link to the Video Page
• Get the videos via iTunes/podcast
  

Ethicist Wesley J. Smith has a quote (#127 to be exact) in Starbuck's The Way I See It Campaign. It is certainly one I pray many people discuss over a cup of five dollar joe. Here is the quote:

The morality of the 21st century will depend on how we respond to this simple but profound question: Does every human life have equal moral value simply and merely because it is human? Answer yes, and we have a chance of achieving universal human rights. Answer no, and it means that we are merely another animal in the forest.

For the complete article, go over to the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network Web Site.

In this post I will compare some Buddhist views of suffering, desire, and the attending solution to the human dilemma with that of my own understanding of the Christian faith.  Before beginning with this task I am reminded of some advice I once heard.  A man once said “if you try to make a major world religion look bad in just a few moments, you really do not understand it.”  Such is a reminder everyone should heed. My intention with this essay is not to malign a major religious worldview, but rather to affirm the insight of the Buddhist tradition and the philosophy’s assessment of the human condition.  In this essay I will first lay out the Buddhist diagnosis of the human condition by looking at two of its four noble truths, that of Dukkha or suffering and Samudaya or desire.   I will then communicate my own understanding of the Christian faith on the same topics of suffering and desire.  Next I will look at the solutions offered to the human condition by both religious views.  Finally, I will give some thought to how one might share the gospel with a Buddhist through the concepts of suffering and desire and make some concluding remarks.

Buddhist Assesment of the Human Condition

The Buddha was quite adamant that his philosophy was that of practice and of practical importance to solving the problem human beings face in the passage of life.  He claimed to only have observed our condition, realized the truth about it, and offered the right medicine for people to apply.  Speculation and theorizing, he claimed, was not helpful and should be avoided about things we have little access to through our minds.  The illustration that was offered is that of a man dying with an arrow lodged in his flesh.  If one stops to ask too many questions he places himself in deeper peril.  If while bleeding he asks: What type of arrow is in me?  What is the tip like? What are your credentials for removing arrows? If he asks such questions, the man will continue to bleed and die before he is assisted.  The wise man will just remedy the problem; he will just remove the arrow.  In this essay I will argue that the Buddha did indeed have great insight into the human condition; we are in a desperate situation with arrows lodged deeply in us.  The question I will ask is this; did he know the proper path for removing the insidious darts?  Before we turn to that question, we must first look at his diagnosis.  To do so we will look at the first of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths.

The first noble truth of the Buddha is that of Dukkha, which means that life is in essence suffering.  From a purely human perspective, life under the sun is to experience suffering, lack of satisfaction, as the writer of Ecclesiastes also teaches; life is vanity of vanities, a chasing after the wind.   I find this world to be very much like the Buddha describes.  In realizing that to live is to suffer, the Buddha then turns to his second noble truth to provide an explanation as to the source of our suffering.  While I find his identification of the source of our suffering to be perhaps incomplete, I find his insight to be helpful.  To the reason for our suffering we now turn.

The second truth tells us that we suffer due to desire or attachment, a self orientation which causes a preoccupation with fulfilling our earthy wants.   We try to quench the thirsts of our desires only to find that the attempt to find satisfaction leaves us even more unsatisfied, full of suffering.   An analogy may be helpful.  Think of a man who is set adrift at sea who has run out of fresh water to drink.  He sees water all around him and he deeply desires to drink.  Yet when he does he only finds that the water will kill him, multiplying his bodies thirst, rather than quenching it.  We desire, we are attached to this world, seeking to quench our thirst in a vast ocean of suffering.  If we drink, we only thirst more; if we continue to desire and stay attached, we will never be released from our suffering and pain.  In summary the Buddha teaches us that our problem in this life is suffering and this suffering is produced by our attached and self centered desires.  It is not hard to guess what his solution to this dilemma might be.   Yet before moving to that very important task, let me first explain my own view of the human condition from my perspective as a follower of Jesus.  Although the reason for our condition finds a very different explanation in my view, the condition we find ourselves is very near to that of these first two of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths.

My Assesment of the Human Condition as a Christian

As a follower of Christ and the teachings of Scripture, my view of the world is not that far from that articulated by the Buddha.  Indeed, I see a world that is fallen, fractured and quite full of suffering.  This world, as a result of human being’s disobedience to God, is now under a curse; a curse which includes death, disease, and suffering in this present age.  It is a creation under the bondage to decay which is awaiting redemption and is in great need of liberation.   As GK Chesterton once aptly implied, this present age is one resembling a shipwreck, a golden vessel which went down at the foundation of the world and its goods are scattered amidst the wreckage of the world.

Additionally, if our desires and attachments are only for this world, I agree that this is a great source of suffering.  St. Augustine provided me with some great insight in a discourse I read where discussed the Sunnum Bonum, the greatest good for human beings.  His line of thought was that our hope, our greatest good, cannot be found in this world of suffering.  If we place our hope in our health, it can be lost.  If our greatest hope is in wealth, this too can be taken from us against our will.  If our hope is placed in the good of home and family, loved ones too can be lost and taken from us.  If our hope is placed in safety and security, our world is one where people are conquered and goods are plundered.  Our supreme good would have to be found in another place than in this current fallen age.   Indeed, desire and attachment placed in temporal “goods” is an attachment which will lead to despair and suffering.  Ephesians teaches me that deceitful desires are part of our sinful nature and 1 John is very clear that the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

Yet my view as a Christian does not hold that all is lost in this fallen world of suffering.  For I am not a pessimist about our current condition and this is perhaps where the teaching of the Buddha and my view greatly diverge.  For the Buddha lives in a world of human problems, and does not allow a divine light into his noble Truths.  As we turn our attention to the solution of suffering and selfish desire, we will see that the gospel calls forth, evokes, directs new desires, where the Buddha only seeks to amputate desire from the human soul.   Though the diagnoses are similar; that we are in need of deliverance from suffering produced by sinful desires, the salve for our condition is very different as offered from Buddha and offered from Jesus Christ.  To this we now turn.

Solutions to the Problem of Misplaced Desires

In examining the Buddhist view of solving the diliemna of suffering caused by attachment/desire we move to the third of the Four Noble Truths.  If Suffering is caused by desire, the Buddhist makes a reasonable, though deeply flawed move.   If desire is the culprit, then he must be terminated.  The third truth, Nirodha, means that desire and attachment to the objects of desire must end.  The goal is to be free from desire so that one will not suffer.  In fact, one must be free of the illusion that he is an entity we would call a “self.”  You realize that you have no essential identity and as a result desire, attachment and suffering fade away as one is extinguished into nirvana.  Instead of removing the arrow from a man’s leg; it seems the solution of the Buddha is to cut off the leg completely.  Even more so, to deny there is an arrow, a “you”, any real reality to any of it at all.  But the questions which arise to me are the following: What if desires, loves, wants, and attachments are essential to human beings?   What if there is a “self” that is intrinsically valuable but does not have to be the center of all things?  Yes, desire can be wrongly aimed and projected to the wrong persons and things; yet this hardly assumes that there is not a proper person for the highest and most intense desires.  In this I find the person of Christ to offer a much more excellent way.

In looking at the human soul many have observed that there is something essential to our nature that longs for relationship and worship.  Human beings are always worshipping – in fact it would not at all be improper to call us homo adorans.  Yet in our fallen state we can aim our affections at many things both good and sinful.  The problem is that our desires are deceitful and our affections are for sin and self, not that I have desires.   My Christian faith and experience informs me that there can be pure affections and holy longings; desires for a person that is true, right, and good.  Our sins need forgiveness and our desires need to be placed firmly upon the living God.  In the gospel we see that our desires need not amputation but rebirth.  Our desires need not to be removed but captured by a greater master; the Lord God himself.

The Buddhist offers meditation as a way to clear and empty the mind and remove earthly desires.  In contrast as a Christian I seek to mediate with a full mind, inflamed and set upon God’s majestic beauty, benevolent character, holy justice, his word and works in this world.  Jesus told us not to kill desire but rather to love fully.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.   How can this happen to selfish people who are stuck in the miseries of sin?  God is his grace redeems us, forgives us, removes our guilt and gives us new loves, new affections, and yes, new desires.  He then fills our lives with his own Spirit to lead and guide us through this fallen world.  All of these things take place under the gigantic shadow of the wondrous promise of his coming redemption of all things.   This world of death, disease, despair, and suffering – even Dukkha, will one day be brought into the full liberation and renewal of the Kingdom of God.  In that day the tears will be dried, hopes eternally realized, and we shall run without amputation with the beauty of consummated and realized desire.

Dialogue With those who Embrace Buddhist Views

When I think about how to apply this understanding to sharing the gospel with others, the method represented in a book I read comes to mind.  In the book, Engaging Unbelief, a Captivating Strategy from Augustine and Aquinas (IVP, 1999), author Curtis Chang looks at to historical models of engaging other worldviews.  To summarize quickly he encourages us to enter the story of the other person by their own presuppositions and definitions.   Second, we retell the story from within that view exposing its flaws in explaining our human condition.  Third, the truthful insights of the worldview may be captured in the broad Christian narrative which better explains where the other view falls short.  In living this in conversation with someone with Buddhist views (something I did in travels to Eastern Europe - lots of Buddhist philosophy floating around today in that idealogical vacuum known as Europe ), there is a great entry to his story via the two Noble Truths regarding suffering and desire.  We can affirm the insight of the Buddha and his good understanding of the human condition.  We can then ask questions about the nature of the solution.  Is all desire bad?  What sort of desire could be good desire?  If there are good desires what are they for?  What if our desire for relationship was a great clue to where our desires ought to find culmination?  In looking at the Buddhist story we can share that only certain desires are corrupting and others might perhaps be a clue to something wonderful, relational, and true.  Additionally asking one other other question is helpful: what if our primary purpose was for love and worship?  We can then affirm the intuitive Buddhist drive for this reality by their practice of prayer (note: Mahayana Buddhists have more of an idea of god than Thervada Buddhists...so ask some questions and see what a person is into).  Prayer is the greatest validation of the I/Thou relationship which can only occur between the self and the “other.”  This urge towards prayer demonstrates something profound in of our nature.  Namely, that desire for someone else is perhaps very essential to being human.   Finally, the themes of suffering and desiring within the Christian story can acknowledge this world of suffering, yet offers a very different solution to our dilemma.  The solution of reconciliation with God, the only one in whom we may loose ourselves in deep desire, even worship, and thereby find our truest selves in the process.

Conclusion

In today’s world many who claim to be disciples of Christ have adopted a view of the world that suffering is somehow abnormal and strange for them.   Christians need to expect and know “to live is to suffer” – too many have been sold a happy, two hand clappy, version of the Christian life, seeking your best life now.  Our Christian forebears in the Bible and on the pages of Church history have told us that this world is indeed fallen, full of disease pain and suffering.  Our Buddhist friends have observed this well.  When all is done we are made not for extinguishing ourselves, but for worship.   The traveling soul on its earthly sojourn will not find ultimate and final rest in anything but worship and relationships.   Indeed Augustine wrote insightfully:

Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts [the center of our desires]are restless till they find rest in Thee   

This web site is spooky weird. Who welcomes you to the site? A fully animated white guy with flowing haired who is supposed to be Jesus.  Here is a picture of it - you have to go to site to see the video for yourself.

Worth a laugh, a tear, or just a puzzled look.  Here is the link: Welcome To Cross Rev Connect

On the bottom of the site is the following tag: This site was created and inspired by God through the Power Of The Holy Spirit. Maybe, but I'm not so sure that the Jesus video thing was inspired by God and of the Holy Ghost.

(HT - Tim Challies)

I ran across this quote today in an e-mail interview done by Christianity Today with Mark Driscoll of Mar's Hill Church in Seatle (Men Are from Mars Hill - Christianity Today Magazine)

No offense to the Moms of the megachurches - but I found this to be pretty funny...

The major blind spot of megachurches is that they tend to be very effeminate with aesthetics, music, and preaching perfectly tailored for moms. Manly men are repelled by this, and many of the men who find it appealing are the types to sing prom songs to Jesus and learn about their feelings while sitting in a seafoam green chair drinking herbal tea—the spiritual equivalent of Richard Simmons. A friend of mine calls them "evangellyfish" with no spiritual vertebrae...

Mark Dever's Introductory Sermons on the Bible are Available for free download from Capital Hill Baptist Church's web site.  This is the audio version of the text that forms the books "Promises Made" and "Promises Kept" - I blogged and linked to the books here.

• Old Testament Books
• New Testament Books
  

This is a good to have as a reference if you are involved in teaching the Bible. Here is how you might use the audio:

1. You are ready to begin teaching or personal study of a certain biblical book - it is always good to get a flyover picture of the book.  Read it five times straight through - jotting notes in margin or in a moleskin - or, get the ESV journaling Bible and have both.
   
2. Download one of these MP3s -listen to it, take notes (or buy the books)
3. Look for launching ideas for your own brainstorming.  Ideas for illustrations, further study, digging deeper.
   

I love ministries and churches that see giving away free content - sermons, studies, articles, etc. as part of their calling. A great gift to the greater church in the world.

Tim Challies has a great review of the book While Europe Slept which documents the coming Islamization of the continent should current trends continue.

It has long been my contention that Europe has lost its cultural center, worldview, and no longer has anything to hold it together. Europeans are not breeding, they are aging, and do not seem to have the will to survive.

Decades ago, the Brittish Journalist Malcom Muggeridge summed up the downward spiral of Western Culture in the following fashion:

Thus did Western man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania; himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down. And having convinced himself that he was too numerous, labored with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer, until at last, having educated himself into imbecility and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keeled over, a weary, battered old brontosaurus, and became extinct.

Here is the link again -Challies Dot Com: While Europe Slept

Just when everyone thought that the deepest jungles were the choice destination of classic ape living with the highest of style, another location emerges as the great ape living place of choice.

Instead of living in those terrible jungles, or even more disgusting, a prison human's call a "zoo", great apes may now immigrate to balmy mediteranean destination known as Spain!  Oh yes, in Spain the apes are afforded a legal status of equality with human beings, complete with labor laws, paid vacations, and maternity/paternity leave.  They can even join the union and only be required to work 26 hours a week!

As the European population ages and the Euros just refuse to reproduce, many see the new Ape population as a great asset to the economy.  Jose Noway, a prominent Spanish politician, recently commented:

I think it is great to have our Ape brothers in the work force.  We don't have any more people for jobs so someone will have to do it.   We think Apes may be our solution.  Up until now radical Islamists have taken over our jobs, but now we have a second source of labor.  Granted, Apes cannot use computers, do simple math, count money, understand simple abstractions such as banking, but they do have similar DNA to us.  Plus, we think if put in the right environment, such as Europe, the Apes will rapidly learn and evolve.  Additionally, we hope the apes can help our sorry football team in future world cups!  The apes have been victims of speciesism for too long.  Spain is leading the world in this new revolution! 

Peter Singer echoed great enthusiasm as the goals of his Great Ape Project are being realized!  The goals of the great ape declaration are finally coming to past in the enlightened lands of Spain.

We demand the extension of the community of equals to include all great apes: human beings, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orang-utans.

The community of equals is the moral community within which we accept certain basic moral principles or rights as governing our relations with each other and enforceable at law...

Apes everywhere rejoiced at the movement in Spain.  Though the ape community's reaction was mostly positive, there have been some mixed responses.  Some, who desire to remain anonymous, shared their disappointment by the slow progress in America.  Many understand that the ape community really dislikes Europe as they see no future for the continent.  Most prefer the state of California as the true golden coast of ape rights.  They feel it is the first state which may grant them moral standing in the community of equals.  Though thankful for the movement in Spain, many want to see lobbying dollars and more social pressure put on California.  Ape Lincoln (R - Asia) did go on record about the so called Californian Initiative:

The great apes of our lands do appreciate all the efforts, hard work, and tireless service to achieve this great victory for ape-kind in Spain. Yet much more work is to be done.  We have many, many zealous friends in California that need our support in their struggle.  Once apes have rights in California, we will be truly free from the bonds of speciesism - plus, we can go live in Hollywood and continue to follow our dear brother Clyde in the movie business. 

 

 

 

This will be the great day of rejoicing for all ape-kind - when California drops her great deception of human superiority.  This will signal the end of ape oppression! 

Americans are mixed on the whole matter - some realizing that we are no better than apes want to go ahead and codify this evident truth in law.  Some simpletons (particularly Jews, Muslims and Christians) want to maintain that human beings are ontologically distinct from the apes.  But some superstitions are slow to pass in the minds of men. 

[For the Reuter's story on Spain to grant equal rights to Apes, see
Demanding rights for great apes]

For all those who are interested Darryl Bock has a concise and clear definition of Progressive Dispensationalism

Progressive Dispensationalism - June 29 | Bock's Blog

(HT - Justin Taylor)

By the grace of God we will be having a baby boy next month.  We are so filled with awe that God would bestow upon us this grace of being parents once again.  This time to a little male munchkin - we know he is likely to be a short little dude as Dad is 5'7'' and Mom is 5'4''.  In thinking through a name we came down to two finalists.

First was the name Blake.  To be honest this was probably the family favorite, but seeing it was inspired by a guy on the Amazing Race, we felt that was a little weak in giving meaning to our Son's name.  I want all my kids to know that their names have significance and call each of them forward in life.  Though Blake and Page were cool folks racing around the world, I could not find enough to give my boy in that.  So, the name we finally lande on was Thomas Reid Monaghan.  

This name has multiple degrees of meaning for us - and our kids.  Much fertile ground here for calling a little man up in this life.  Here are the 5 degrees of meaning for the little dude's name. 

• Thomas Michael Echstenkamper - Mike X is the guy who led me to Jesus when I was a knucklehead 19 year old wrestler at UNC. His investment in me, his compassion to share the gospel with a lost soul, encouragement for me to ask questions, grow, walk with me in those early years are deposits from a faithful man I do not want our family to forget.
  
• Thomas Aquinas - Obviously this Thomas is one of the looming figures in the history of thought.  His philosophical realism is still influencing many thinkers today - the rise in Thomistic thought among theistic philosophers is an encouraging trend in some academic circles.  When I teach little Thomas the basic laws of logic and realism I want him to know the name Aquinas.  Something is what something is...something cannot be and not be at the same time and the same sense.  Yes, the Christian who synthesized the thought and rigor of the ancient world will be remembered.
  
• Thomas Reid - His whole name will remind him not only of his Daddy (Reid), but also of the Scottish philosopher who influenced the great theological minds of Hodge and Warfield at Old - Princeton Seminary.  A unique synthesis of common sense realism merged with reformed theology.  I want my boy to know about this.
  
• Thomas the Tank Engine - Well, an Anglican reverend created this little gem of a kids series for his own little boy in the 1940s.  My little girls liked that one - Thomas the Tank Engine is big in our home.  I pray little Thomas will love little trains with his pastor Daddy as well.
  
• Thomas the Disciple - Many times known as "Doubting Thomas" by those who do not read the whole story.  I want my boy to know that people who once did not believe can be radically changed.  That someone can go from doubting soul to a radical knee bent worshipper of Jesus...Additionally, some reliable tradition holds that Thomas brought the gospel to India where he died as a witness to Jesus.  I want my boy to know the power of the gospel to change lives and send people on mission with Jesus.

Finally, Thomas is very nicknamable.  Some day if he is a tough little dude we can call him Tommy.  If he has potential to be a philosopher warrior we can call him Thomas R. Monaghan...if just a warrior, perhaps in the UFC, we can give him one of those southern hyphenated names - not a progressive feminist last name - but a three syllable first name.  Tommy-Reid.  If he is a theologian with an amazing mind, he can go by TR Monaghan. Anway, very nicknamable - smile.

Now young Thomas, not yet born, do know that a kind providence is bringing you into this world with a family that greatly anticipates your arrival.  You have brilliant little sisters, full of zest and joy, waiting to pull your ears, poke you in the tummy and almost drop you a hundred times.  You have a mother who is talented, compassionate, humble, and faithful who is going to sacrifice body and soul for you.  You mess with her heart - you answer to me.  And Son, you have a Father who is praying to be a strong and wise and godly man for you.  To teach you how to think, pray, love Jesus, fight for what is good, right and true - to teach you to wrestle, respect women, and most importantly the fear of the Lord.  We are ready - we pray you make it into the world without too much struggle.  We trust you even now, your soul and body, to the Sovereign King who has numbered your days.  

Through good and bad - he is God.  In all our roads ahead together, we have a great high King - you would do well to bow your knee and arise a Knight of his realm.

We love you Thomas Reid Monaghan - I pray you will be worshipper of YHWH and a servant of men.

Ten Important Research Findings on Marriage & Choosing A Marriage Partner

Specifically, all those who think "you gotta try before you buy" are just plain spinning nonsense to themselves. Cohabiting does not make for a better marriage - it is hazardous to future matrimonial success.

6. Living together before marriage has not proved useful as a "trial marriage." People who have multiple cohabiting relationships before marriage are more likely to experience marital conflict, marital unhappiness and eventual divorce than people who do not cohabit before marriage. Researchers attribute some but not all of these differences to the differing characteristics of people who cohabit, the so-called "selection effect," rather than to the experience of cohabiting itself. It has been hypothesized that the negative effects of cohabitation on future marital success may diminish as living together becomes a common experience among today's young adults. However, according to one recent study of couples who were married between 1981 and 1997, the negative effects persist among younger cohorts, supporting the view that the cohabitation experience itself contributes to problems in marriage. 

So kick out that nappy head boyfriend of yours and drop that week shackin up schmack! Men who take all the benefits with no commitment are little boys masquerading as men...get rid out that kind of chump. Men, get your game together, get a job, serve someone else through the church so that you will be worth marrying some day. I have hope for you guys.

Al Mohler has a great commentary being re-issued on a recent book by Steve Salerno about America's self-help addiction.  I heartily agreed with this commentary and fear much of this has infected all of us.

We need to work hard for God-helped, men, who refuse to see their lives through victimization, and then get to work. 

Here is the link: America Should Be Ashamed of SHAM