Beckwith Returns to Rome

Christian philosopher Dr. Francis Beckwith just returned to the Roman church.  What makes this interesting is not that a protestant converted to catholicism as this happens in both directions every day.  What makes Beckwith's case interesting is that he is the current president of the Evangelical Theological Society a primary academic society of evangelical theologians.  Dr. Beckwith was raised Roman Catholic and did his PhD work at a Roman Catholic Institution (Fordham), so in some sense he is returning to his roots.  What has confounded some was his reasoning for return.  You can read his account on the blog Right Reason, where he is a regular contributer.

Carl Trueman over at Reformation 21 has a charitable response where he questions the basis Beckwith gives for his decision. Catholic bloggers and apologists (Armstrong, Akin) are quite pleased, protestant response is mixed...from opposition, to friendly dissent, to lament. Doug Groothuis' comments on Dr. Beckwith's site is indicative of the feelings of many.

The unfortunate reality is that none of the reasons Beckwith gives for converting to Roman doctrine seem to come directly from the teaching of the Bible.  Most evangelicals would not even give time to understand the doctrines of the reformation and could not interact with our dissent from Rome.  I know many evangelicals who are enamored with Rome due to its intellectual tradition and the appearance of unity in "one church" - Evangelical churches are not a hot beds for thinking and wrestling with deep theological and philosophical questions...so the thinking man wanders away.

Yet the richness of Christian reflection is very present in both Protestants and Roman Catholics past, but the levity of most evangelical churches today is unbearable to many.  In my own struggles with the unbearable lightness of contemporary evangelicalism, I have found fertile soil in those who thought deeply in the Protestant tradition (Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Hodge, Spurgeon, John Piper) and enjoyed the fruit of Christian thought in the pre-Reformation Catholic philosophers.  Yet becoming a loyal subject of Rome is something I see as a great mistake.

We quickly forget (and many never even know) that the reason there is a "Roman" church is a story where the gospel was mingled with the civitas of a great ancient empire - and in that soil the bishop and political power mingled as one.  Europe then was under the grip of an ecclesiastical hierarchy which grew progressively wayward from the teaching of Scripture. When in hopes of reform, the church's own sons and daughters questioned its doctrine and practice in light of Scripture, many were tortured, poisoned and burned.  The history of the reformation is vastly undertold today in both public and Christian education.

There is much to commend in Catholicism - but to measure the doctrines of any group of people one must compare its teaching to a standard of truth. Protestants hold that the teaching of Jesus and the apostles - found in Holy Scripture - should be the standard by which we judge all such teachings.  Here I will stand - joyfully - I can do no other. 

Best wishes to Dr. Beckwith in the good work he does in the academy and public sphere.  He will continue to be an ally in some arenas...yet I cannot help but regret his return to Rome.  

Uncommon Descent

For those of you who may not be aware of this site, I wanted to highlight it.  Uncommon Descent is a collaborative blog put out by William Dempski and his intelligent design peeps. Dempski has always been an interesting guy to me as he is highly trained (PhD in Philosophy, another PhD in Mathematics, and even slipped in an MDiv while he was at it) and he is quite bold in speaking on stuff. He always seems to be starting some sanctified trouble somewhere...

A few interesting posts to wet the appetite:

• Gigantic Bacteria has 300 Times More DNA than Human Cells
  
• Michael Behe comments on Richard Dawkins - the bull dog atheist from across the pond
• Darwin dissed by doctors, and a design revolution continues at MIT - interesting
• Another Icon of "Bad Design" goes down - a brief discussion on the retina of the vertebrate eye
  

 A good feed to subscribe to to keep up with the discussion.

POC Tech Bundle 5.4.2007

This is a spooky cool concept out of R&D at Mikeysoft.  Digidesk of the future - make sure to watch the video if you have a minute.

Logos Bible Software for the Mac is progressing nicely 

Figs, Flocks and 401ks – A Meditation on God’s Provision for Joy

As we come to the close of the ancient prophecy of Habakkuk we arrive at one of the most beautiful and poetic passages in Scripture. Habakkuk has seen the coming judgment upon Judah and wrestled with his God about the coming days. He has been reassured both of the righteousness and justice of God’s plan which will in no way clear the guilty Chaldeans of their treachery and God’s faithful preservation of a people for himself who will come out on the other side of the coming disaster. His questions have been asked, his concerns raised, his passion poured out and he has heard a great reassurance from the living God. What is left to do? Should he go buy bullets and shotguns to prepare for the end times of Judah? Should he rally the army and try to protect his nation? An interesting thing happens here at the end of the book. Habakkuk contemplates the coming reality and welcomes it in with worship. Lets look at his beautiful poetry in chapter 3, verses 17-19.

17Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

For us this requires a little reflection to grasp fully as we are a people who find their daily provision from the Publix or Kroger grocery store (or in the case of some of the single guys, frequent trips thinking outside of the bun at Taco Bell). So journey with me back into ancient Judah for a moment and feel the force of this poem. The people of Jerusalem lived in a city, but their lives were coupled more closely to land and livestock than we think we are today. In this poem Habakkuk progresses through various aspects of life coming unglued, a progressive desolation of all of life from its joyful delicacies down to the very things without which we would die. Let me write a poem for us that describes in modern terms what the ancient reader would hear.

Though Baskin Robbins should close, there be no wine at the party and nothing safe to drink, there be no gas in the car, no job, no medicine for our illnesses, no clothes for our children and no food left anywhere for us to eat...yet I will rejoice in the LORD I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Do you feel that? He is saying that if everything in life becomes chaos, all comforts, all joy, all things are wrecked and ruined...he will rejoice. What has happened to this prophet during this vision he received from God. He begins with questions and complaints before God and he ends in worship. I think there is something profound that happened in him which we need to understand.

The Uncertainty of Circumstances

All of our lives are a series of choices and events, relationships and changes. As much as we like to think we can control it all we just can’t. We do have a huge part to play in the way things go in our lives and our choices do shape our reality. Yet we must remember we do not control all things–in fact attempting to do so is a great burden and usually ends up jacking up people around you. Even in light of this truth we are so prone to try and find our deepest joys in our circumstances. Now don’t get me wrong, I love certain circumstances in my life and consider them deep blessings from God. I love what I do, I love my family, I like having decent health, I love laughing with friends at Cross Corner Bar and Grill, and I really enjoy listening to podcasts on my iPod. Yet all of these things are not guarantees in life. It all will some day pass away. The great Christian philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo1 once wrestled with where we could find our supreme good, our greatest joy in life. His line of thought was that our hope, our greatest good, cannot be found in this shipwrecked world of suffering. If we place our hope in the good of our health, it can be lost. If our greatest hope is in our wealth, the value of our 401k, this too can be easily lost. If our hope is placed in the good of home and family, loved ones too can be lost and even taken from us. If our hope is placed in safety and security, our world is one where people are conquered and stuff is plundered. Our supreme good would have to be found in another place than in this current shipwrecked and fallen age. Indeed, desire and attachment placed in temporal things and circumstances is an unsure love which can 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–are not from the Father but are from the world. In placing our ultimate hope in the things of this world we could never write the poem which flowed out from Habakkuk’s walk with God. He had an anchor for his soul’s joy which was of a different sort and it was based in the constancy of God.

The Constancy of Jesus

In James Montgomery Boice’s excellent commentary on the prophecy of Habakkuk, he reminds us of the great promises of God. In reflecting on God’s promises he wrote the following:

God’s mighty past acts in history [and I would add, our stories] amply demonstrate that he is able to save those who look to him infaith. But he has promised to save his people and therefore will save them. The God who makes promises stands by his promises. The God who makes oaths keeps them.2

He then goes on to quote some of the great promises of Jesus to each of his followers–I’ll share them here as well for your own meditation:

Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV) 25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

John 14:1-3 (ESV) 1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

John 14:25-27 (ESV) 25“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV) 18And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Hebrews 13:5-6 (ESV) 5Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

I would be amiss if we did not transition away from God’s promises to us, to the very treasure of the gospel…namely God himself. Habakkuk could have no expectations of coming temporal blessing – of figs, flocks or 401ks. Yet he tells us he will take joy in the God of his Salvation. Too many times we get caught loving the gifts more than the giver. Too many times when the gifts are not present we forget that we still have Jesus himself with us. John Piper in his recent book, God is the Gospel brings us a great reminder of that wonderful treasure for unsinkable joy.

When I say that God is the Gospel I mean that the highest, best, final, decisive good of the gospel, without which no other gifts would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment.3

Habakkuk ends the entire book by sending his song and poetry to the musicians for he knew that it was time to sing. God had spoken, God had revealed himself in sovereign, faithful glory. Habakkuk would live by faith and demonstrate that with a song in his heart. Even in sorrow, the soul that gazes upon the beauty of God will be able to sing. Inversion–as we continue to seek our lives and satisfaction in the goodness and greatness of God we will be ever more free to serve others in his name. To enjoy telling others about the Jesus that saves our butts from sin, death and hell, to enjoy loving kids and families in need, to enjoy serving on Thursday night Gathering teams, to welcome strangers, to be in and lead community groups, to give some of our vacation time to take the gospel to other countries, to walk obediently with God in the midst of a flood of temptations, and to become men and women who change the world. Yes, only with Jesus as our treasure will we be able to live upside down lives which overcome evil with good. Jesus has a mission before us, it is costly, it is wonderful, it requires our lives. Yet in the middle of it all we will never lose the greatest treasure which is eternal – our reconciled relationship with God who purchased us through the death, burial and resurrection of his own Son. This God, the Father who ordained us to be rescued by Jesus, the Son who enacted and obediently took the cup of God’s wrath on himself for our sins, the indwelling Spirit who comforts us and gives us power to serve….this God, never forsakes his kids. So with our good friend Habakkuk, I call on you to scream out: YET I WILL REJOICE! And then put your hands to some kingdom work alongside your friends.

Never forget the lessons he has taught us in the Old School–we will need them as we journey in the way of Jesus on mission with him in this world.

Reid

Notes:
1. Richard N. Bosley and Martin Tweedale, eds., Basic Issues in Medieval Philosophy, 1999 Reprint ed. (Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1997).512-518.
2. James Montgomery Boice, The Minor Prophets, 2 vols., vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006). 432–Emphasis in original.
3. John Piper, God is the Gospel, (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2005) 13. Emphasis in original

Energy Drinks for Jesus?

 

I like Red Bull and Rock Star - Who Knew there was a Faith Based Alternative?

1in3Trinity Launches First
Faith Inspired Energy Drink

1in3Trinity brings a bold attitude to an existing market encouraging everyone who purchases their products to live out their faith.

Southlake, TEXAS—September 1, 2006, Faith-inspired company, 1in3Trinity is proud to announce their latest product extension to their signature, branded line of Christian clothing and accessories.  In response to a growing market, 1in3Trinity has launched the first faith-based energy drink under the label 1in3Trinity Energy Drink.

“We are hopeful that 1in3Trinity will change the energy drink landscape,” says Dawn Pencil Marzka, Director of Business Development. “Not only are we offering a great tasting beverage, but an opportunity for the consumer to extend a positive message into the community. We really feel that 1in3Trinity energy drink offers positive energy with every sip!”

The premier 1in3Trinity Energy Drink is a perfect companion for today’s active Christian lifestyle, providing benefits not only for the consumer, but for spectators as well.  In an eye-catching aluminum can, the company has an opportunity to convey a positive and unique message in an innovative and distinctive way to not only the drinker, but also to those in which they come in contact. Each drink carries a full-bodied taste with an essence of pomegranate and grape. Lightly carbonated, with only 10 calories and an array of B vitamins and vitamin C, 1in3Trinity Energy Drink is sure to be one of most refreshing energy drink on the shelves – literally!

”We now have an opportunity to reach one of the largest generations to hit the marketplace since the Baby Boomers – Generation X and Y - with dynamic products and a value-added message,” shares President and Co-Founder, Paula Masters. “Studies show there lies a shift in values on the part of these new discerning consumers. Today’s young market is making it clear to companies hoping to win their hearts that they will have to learn and think like they do, understanding that faith-based values carry great importance to this civic-minded consumer,” says Masters.

1in3Trinity has a strong vision and is committed to contributing a percentage of our profits to youth ministries around the world.

1in3Trinity energy drink will soon be available in select convenience stores, retailers and coffee Café’s, but is currently available on the companies own website.

Lower calories than Rock Star as well. But I like Rock Star...am I am sinner if I do not choose the 1in3Trinity energy drink? But I really don't know what to make of this line: "We really feel that 1in3Trinity energy drink offers positive energy with every sip!" I am tempted to mock this so I will close this post.

Virtual Church in Second Life

A few weeks back I ran a short post in entitled Should a Church Not Meet in Person? In that short post I was sort of kidding around about just going to church in Second Life. Well...I spoke to soon. Here is church in Second life.... 

 

Apparently you can sit, raise your hands, or just walk around and watch in Second Life Church.  You can be your own individual avatar - do your thing unencumbered by others.

A few questions that arise for me...what are you guys' thoughts? 

• Can our avatars obey the command of Scripture in Hebrews 10:24, 25?  If not does this help Christians directly disregard this command?
• Can our avatars be baptized, partake of the Lord's Table "together" with others? 
  
• Is this a natural extension of geographically dispersed video preaching churches?  I am not talking about campuses within the same geography - but campuses in multiple states, countries, or video with no campus at all.  Is it OK to watch a video church alone in your pajamas if it is OK to go to video church "with others?"  Maybe there is no connection, maybe there is?
  
• Does Hebrews 13:7 - Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith...need to mean "look at  your pastor's blogging habbits, go and do likewise?"  OR "observe how they  talk about loving their wife and kids...then do likewise?"
• How do Internet churchers bear each others burdens?  When someone has a baby, do they send Amazon.com links to parenting books, write up a blog of encouragement, look at the family pics on Flickr and smile?  I am not saying we should not do these things - we should, but wouldn't it be better to be able to bring a meal, babysit the older kids in the family, do a little laundry for the new mom?
  

In defense of this church (maybe) they do still "suggest" that face-to-face is an OK thing to do...maybe once a year.

Again, I am all for the full use of technology and geek gear in the church. Podcast stuff, vodcast stuff, blog stuff, communicate, connect, etc.  But replace embodied worship, connection, communion, and meeting with one another?  This seems goofy.  I am not even saying there should not be a church in Second Life world where people hang out, but I am saying that this should not BE someone's "church." In fact, a church is a gathered embodied assembly of people who follow Jesus Christ.  It is not a scattered people watching a video, chatting and posting on a blog. 

Missional contextualization does not mean becoming the culture...it means moving within it natively but as a distinct people under the gospel.  For me this means that we still like the hug...and assembling together.  Part of our prophetic voice has been lost in a zealous, pragmatic bog lacking theological reflection.

POC Bundle 4.29.2007

Technology/Pop Culture

I am a big fan of the Transformers...these are funny headphones...I wouldn't wear these though.

 

Pop Culture/Gospel and Culture

 

Dog the bounty hunter describes his faith - he loves Jesus...but doesn't seem to think anyone else really needs him...a little sad. Dog still cracks some heads
, but it might not hurt to read some more Bible.

Just for Fun 

A funny picture Engadget used for an article on a government sniper program...Get em kitty:

 

Technology 

As much as the Macintosh fun bunch wants to say how bad Vista is, it sure does suck all the way to the bank.  Here is a quote from a Business week article on the hot selling Windows Vista.

Revenue in Microsoft's (MSFT) Client Division, consisting primarily of Windows sales for PCs, hit $5.3 billion, a 67% jump over a year earlier. That includes $1.2 billion in deferred revenue from presales of Windows Vista, money paid by customers before the quarter started but not counted in results until the product shipped. But even without that spike, the group's sales climbed 17%. In other words, Vista sales growth topped Microsoft's estimates of overall PC unit sales growth, which came in between 10% and 12%. That's largely because 71% of customers opted for the high-priced premium editions of Vista.

Now I know Mac folks may say. This is just because Vista is installed on my PCs which are sold worldwide...not because people like it.  Yeah, but we seem to overlook that it is on most PCs sold worldwide.  Like that doesn't matter?  Sales are likely to increase as many will wait to get a new PC before upgrading.  I know that is my plan.

Hey Lucy, I'm Home!

 

Many people have been told the story of that wonderful prehistoric ape named Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis).  Found some 33 years ago in Ethiopia, she has been the cuddly ancestor we descended from long ago on the African plains.

Well, just when you want to feel safe in knowing that favorite monkey you came from...news comes back that Lucy is no ancestor at all.

• Piltdown man - a hoax
• Nebraska man - a pigs tooth
• Lucy - an extinct ancestor of gorillas

Now, I am not making any claim today about evolution, but I will note that the science behind many claims has shown to be well "specious."

POC Bundle 4.24.2007

Just for Fun

1. I am among the few, the proud, the 36% of brave wikipedia users in America. 

2. How to know your ticket price is TOO HIGH for the local soccer game:

 

3. Christian people...quick pointer...Don't EVER design crap like this. People do not think this is cool - it is goofy.

 

Source - Drew Goodmanson in a presentation on church communication - Yes, he used it as an example of what not to do in communication

Review - The Jesus Storybook Bible

Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007)

There are times in life when something truly exceeds the expectations you had for it.  Recently, my daughters (5 and 3) and I were pleasantly surprised.  I love good resources for teaching children and walking through biblical and theological themes with them.  Unfortunately much of what is out there for kids can be a bit cheesy, not as gospel centered, and many times has illustrations that make Jesus look like a white European woman in a dress.  When I read about a new kids Bible endorsed by Tim Keller, a pastor of whom I think quite highly, we ordered it up in one of the those wonderful little brown Amazon.com boxes. What arrived was actually quite delightful.

The Jesus Storybook Bible is written by Sally Lloyd-Jones and is illustrated by Jago (one word named people are usually cool...or weird...in this case cool).  The title of the book is very appropriate as  this is a book of Bible stories.  The difference here is that the stories are all told from a christological standpoint with Jesus the foreshadowed rescuer in every narrative.  To be honest the understanding of theological typology in the Old Testament demonstrated by Lloyd-Jones is wonderful and her writing causes the reader the feel the expectation of a coming Messiah with great anticipation.  Jesus is found on every page, subtly anticipated in every story. Indeed, the subtitle of the book "Every story whispers his name" is very accurate for the text written by Lloyd-Jones.  It should be noted that this is a narrative based closely on biblical content, but not a translation of the Scriptures.  I do not think this detracts from the work but the term "Bible" might throw some people.

Here is an excerpt of the delightful prose:

“It’s like an adventure story about a young Hero who came from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne, everything to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that have come true in real life. You see, the best thing about this story is—it’s true. It takes the whole Bible to tell this story. And at the center of the Story there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle—the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture. And this is no ordinary baby. This is the Child upon whom everything would depend. This is the baby that would one day—but wait, our story starts where all good stories start. Right at the very beginning...”

The illustrations are both age appropriate and fun for children but also culturally sensitive. In other words, the pictures are enjoyable and Jesus looks like a guy who was likely a middle eastern Jewish carpenter.  Jago's style is unique and creative, with almost all of his work done digitally.  You can see a sample by clicking on the following image.

 

Finally, I would recommend this for anyone to read to familiarize with Christ-centered, redemptive-historical, narrative theology.  The text is engaging and serious enough for all ages to gain from it.  I highly recommend the fathers out there to read this to their children.  There will be benefit to all involved.  Tim Keller sums this up well so I will let his words end the review.

I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian—from pew warmers, to ministry leaders, seminarians and even theologians! Sally Lloyd-Jones has captured the heart of what it means to find Christ in all the scriptures, and has made clear even to little children that all God's revelation has been about Jesus from the beginning—a truth not all that commonly recognized even among the very learned.”

Dr. Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC

The web site for the book is very informative and you can find an author interview, samples, ordering information, etc. on the site.  Here is the basic 411: Sally Lloyd-Jones, The Jesus Storybook Bible, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007) - Hardcover, 352 pages ISBN: 0-310-70825-7 $16.99 US $22.99 CAN £9.49 UK age: 4 and up reading level: 9-12 suitable for all the family

Continental Breakfast OR Philosophical Ultimate Fighting

Today's guest post is from Tim Dee's Fact of the Day:

------------------------------- 

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

The word philosopher conjures up an image of an ancient Greek with a long beard and an entourage of young followers.  In this fantasy world, they sit around and issue aphorisms.  But the reality is that philosophers can be just as petty as the rest of us.  This can be seen most clearly in the conflict between the analytic and continental philosophers.

But first, let me talk a little about those two terms, and it's worth noting that it's tough to generalize about the two schools, but let me try anyway. 

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, philosophy had stalled out.  They had been asking the Big Questions - existence, non-existence, God, being, ethics - for a long time, and they had started spinning their wheels. 

On the analytic side, one philosopher, Bertrand Russell, had grown tired of the whole thing, and he decided to strip philosophy down to its logical roots.  One young Austrian, Ludwig Wittgenstein, started showing up at Russell's lectures, and the two quickly became friends.  Shortly after, Wittgenstein locked himself in a cabin in Norway and wrote a book entitled the Tractitus Logico-Philosophicus, which effectively boiled language down to its bare logical elements.

Wittgenstein's book sent shockwaves through the world of philosophy, and Russell decided that this was the new way in philosophy.  The Tractitus attempted to make philosophy less fuzzy; if Wittgenstein and Russell had their way, philosophy would no longer be a brazenly unscientific inquiry into the Big Questions, it would be an extremely scientific dissection of language.  This grew into the analytic school.  The analytic philosophers sought to break language down to its barest elements.  If there was any room left for the fuzzy in analytic philosophy, Wittgenstein blew it away with the last line of the Tractitus, which has since become a manifesto to analytics: "what one cannot speak of, one must remain silent about."  That means that philosophers couldn't ask the Big Questions anymore.

Meanwhile, on the continent (hence "continental") another movement was going on.  Edmund Husserl, a spunky German Jew (who was later booted out of academia during the Nazi period), put together a number of disciplines - math, psychology and philosophy - and came to the conclusion that there was no objective reality.  Everything, Husserl contended, was subjective.  This meant that the things that seemed scientific and mathematical to the analytic philosophers were actually just as flaky and ephemeral as the Big Questions.

Because, to the continentals, everything was subjective, one had to talk about the Big Questions in light of history.  Thus, philosophers became involved in the moment.  They began to write history books and political books, and they began to leap across disciplines.  If there is one person who sums up the continental movement, it is Michel Foucault, a French philosopher who has used history as a means of exploring philosophy.

So the battle lines are drawn between the analytics and the continentals, and the two do not get along.  Since the 1970s, the rift has grown, and now the two will rarely even hold conferences together.

But what makes this spat different is the technique that the analytics have found to push out the continentals. 

In 1989, Brian Leiter, a hard-core analytic, published a set of philosophy program rankings, known as the Philosophical Gourmet Report (PGR, for short).  In 1996, the PGR went online, and shortly thereafter it became orthodoxy. 

There's just one problem with the PGR: Leiter slanted it toward analytic philosophy.  Thus, programs with excellent analytic departments, such as NYU and Rutgers, were highly rated, while programs with superior continental departments were bumped to the bottom, or left off altogether.  For instance, in 2006, Emory's program, which boasts a top-notch continental department, was simply not ranked.  On the PGR's website, Leiter has posted an essay that amounts to a defense of the relevance and importance of analytic philosophy, and it dismisses continental philosophy in passing.

Stories began to circulate about the effect of the PGR: tales of professors hired or fired in an attempt to impact rankings became commonplace, and finally Richard Heck, then a major analytic professor at Harvard, became worried that the PGR was bullying continentals out of philosophy.  A group of professors joined Heck and posted a petition, but the damage had been done.  Attempts to set up rival rankings for continental programs--such as the Hartmann Report--failed to gain traction.

The net result of all of this is that analytic philosophy runs the show in America these days.  They get the best graduate students, the best rankings, the most funding, and the most clout.  It has little to do with the merits of the two philosophical systems; it has everything to do with the state of the modern university.

POC Tech Bundles 4.24.2007 - MacIdolators Weep

The folks at Apple and all the Mac OSX fanatics love to mock windows and gloat about how secure the MacOS is in comparison.  Many have said that this is only because nobody is trying to hack it.

It turns out that a guy entered a Mac Hack contest and was able to hack one in less than 30 min. Here is an exerpt:

The hacker that won the challenge, who asked ZDNet Australia to identify him only as "gwerdna", said he gained root control of the Mac in less than 30 minutes.

"It probably took about 20 or 30 minutes to get root on the box. Initially I tried looking around the box for certain mis-configurations and other obvious things but then I decided to use some unpublished exploits -- of which there are a lot for Mac OS X," gwerdna told ZDNet Australia .

According to gwerdna, the hacked Mac could have been better protected, but it would not have stopped him because he exploited a vulnerability that has not yet been made public or patched by Apple.

Apparently apple just sent out a patch to all Macs with 25 security patches...twenty five.  I wish Microsoft would make a commercial that has the nerdy "PC guy" smack the hip cocky mac guy around.

On the Vista front, Samsung has announced a new hybrid hard drive which will couple nicely with Vista and provide significant performance and major boosts to laptop battery life. 

No Such Luck

Though there be no such thing as Chance in the world; our ignorance of the real cause of any event has the same influence on the understanding, and begets a like species of belief or opinion.

 

David Hume (1711–76).  An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. The Harvard Classics.  1909–14.

There a strange idea associated with modern life that I want to explore a bit. My oldest daughter, Kayla, and I have discussed it as a word began to creep into her mind and vocabulary.  The word and idea is that of "luck" or "good fortune" and the way this is looked upon in culture. We are a people who love to talk about being lucky - whether it is when we get a new job, win a few bucks on a scratch off lottery ticket, or meet that special someone to walk down the aisle with.  When good times roll, American people feel and they usually talk about it. 

My noodling on this one goes back to the very early days of of being a Christian guy.  In college there was a zealous Jesus guy who just would not use the word "luck" or the well wishing phrase "good luck."  Now remember, I was sports guy so avoiding the phrase "good luck" is quite an accomplishment.  Saying "good providence" never seemed to work for me and avoiding use of the word "luck" is tough to do in today's vernacular.  It can be done - I hardly ever use the word, but to be honest I don't want to sound like a weirdo just to avoid the term.  But this is a reason I avoid using the concept of luck - not just because I believe in God's providential leading of the affairs of humanity - but because I find the term to be a philosophically vacuous term.  For me, there is simply no such thing as luck, and I find the term to be technically meaningless.  Lets look first at how it is used, then what it reveals truthfully about the human heart, and then try to redeem the feelings we have when we talk about being lucky.

First, we use the term good luck to describe outcomes that we interpret to be pleasant, advantageous to our current life goals/aspirations, or when something "good" comes our way that did not necessarily have to be.  We use the term as we look out of the mass of humanity that is not always experiencing such wonderful coincidences, so we feel a thankfulness and gratitude that we are lucky today even though we see so many who are "less fortunate."  But if we begin to ask questions we quickly see that the concept is meaningless.  The Scottish skeptic David Hume, whom I quoted at the beginning, was right about one thing, to ascribe causal powers to "chance" or "luck" betrays our ignorance of true causes.  Frankly, when something good happens today, many people simply do not have a clue why it is so...so we chalk it up to karma, rabbits feet, or literally our lucky stars.  What does this reaveal about us, this love affair with the empty idea of luck? I find it tells us quite a bit.  Lets turn to the human heart and find what we see in ourselves.s

In ascribing things to luck we are betraying some things which are fundamental to us being human.  First, we believe in objective, real goodness that comes to us at times.  We certainly know that there is a difference between good and bad, pleasant things and evil things, and this knowledge is a huge indicator as to the nature of the universe.  This is the first indicator that luck is a sham.  We know something good has come our way.  Second, we do not have any idea why this has happened to me and not someone else.  We know it does not have to be this way.  Instead of winning the lottery, you could just as easily get hit by a bus today.  Not knowing the source of something happening, we feel thankful, we feel blessed.  Yet not knowing who to thank - we just say we are "lucky," feel good about that and move on in our bliss.  But if we stopped and asked the "why questions," at least every now and then, we would have to face a different reality.  Either the world is under a control that is not our own - for instance, God is providentially guiding all things towards his desired ends.  Or the world is completely out of control and the winds of cursing can as easily befall us as the lucky winds of the day. 

Additionally, we also feel a sense of duty to others in the midst of our good fortune.  We see this in western culture - a duty is felt to others, but many times it is not out of charity or love, but out of guilt that "we have it so good" and "others have it so bad."  With a belief that the world is run be chance, human accomplishment is diminished and human misery is emptied of any meaning.  So we feel good about our luck, but we feel bad about feeling too good when others are getting screwed.  Most of the time we just raise taxes to feel like we have done something.  But what this feeling of duty reveals is an innate sense of justice.   So luck betrays our deepest desires to be thankuful and the universe to be just.  But these two feelings accord with belief in God, but have no grounding in the secular worldview.  For that matter, thankfulness is a strange idea in the pantheist worldview where all is one and all is divine.  You thank everything and in doing so, thank no-one.

So what is luck? Luck is nothing at all - an empty word to wrap around human experience which is related to us being created by God.  I believe people in more secularized Western Culture have a love affair with "fortune" and "luck" because it is a way to avoid reality and continue in what Socrates called an unexamined life.  Such life is empty and trite - and will be tossed onto the rocks when the winds of the world change one's fortune.  For the secular mind, when you have "good luck" there is nobody to thank, but feeling lucky and sharing this with friends may do the trick to keep you moving.  We feel deeply a sense of gratitude but thanksgiving is personal and the secular view is that the universe and its events are impersonal.  The other side of the coin is equally void. When you have "bad luck" there is nobody there to blame, and you are left empty.  Here we see the strange occurrence of people getting angry at the God in whom they do not believe.  Steve Turner wrote a satirical poem called Creed whose postscript exposes the emptiness of chance in the face of tragedy.

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear
State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!
It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

So I don't believe in Luck - it is an empty concept, for both the theist and the atheist.  For the theist, we know there is a personal aspect to the universe charged with the purposes of God.  A belief in luck or chance is out of place in the mouth of the believer.  I believe God is active in the affairs of men and any bit of goodness and any bit of pleasant circumstance, I properly call it a blessing and not "good luck."  Any bit of pain, suffering, or evil that befalls my path I believe first came to me through the hands of a good God - I can endure because the end of the story is not the pain, but the things which will be accomplished in and through it. For the atheist, every event may be explained through a series of causal relationships that did not favor anyone, but just took place.  You win some, you loose some - but there is nobody running the games.  So when you feel a deep gratitude, just drop back into the lucky chair - it is an easier place to be and not have to think about the deep mysterious of human life and reality. 

As Hume exhorted us - we can do better than saying all things happen "by chance" as if chance has the causal power to do anything at all.  Yet to take away luck is to either fill the universe with purpose or to empty it of all universal meaning.  Most don't want to make that choice today - after all, American Idol is on again this week and Sanjaya's luck just ran out!

Virginia Tech - Our Home for Six Years

I have waited many hours before even beginning to write down my thoughts and feelings regarding yesterday's atrocious murders on the campus of Virginia Tech.  Yesterday was a very odd day for me.  I was personally laid up in bed with illness, unable to do much of anything.  I prayed quite a bit, fielding phone calls from friends, listened to voice messages from many more, and refreshed my web browser often to see the latest news.  Many of you may not know that Kasey and I spent some six years in Blacksburg, a place that we still consider in many ways "our home."  We had several miscarriages there, had our first two children there, connected deeply with the local church there, ministered there, loved there, and some ways left a part of our souls in that little Southwestern Virginia town. 

Watching the images on TV and on the net for us was more than surreal - it was very real.  West AJ, the site of the first two murders, was on my normal route from athletic facilities, to Cochrane dorm where many athletes lived, to the West End dining facility where I ate many a meal with students.  I can still see in my mind the doors of West Ambler Johnson from the windows of West End.  The hokie stone buildings, the green grass of the drill field, all echoed the joys of work with human beings on that campus.  It is all to real for me.  Norris Hall is a stone's throw from the philosophy classes I took on campus, where I experienced September 11th with a group of students in class that cold Tuesday morning in 2001.  So many good, right, and true things took place in my soul on that campus, and in the lives of many students there.  God is at work there - then, and now, but in such a different way on this Tuesday morning. It is all too real to me.

Yesterday, evil visited the campus at Virginia Tech.  Yes, I am sure the normal tripe about the shooter being crazy, insane etc. will be offered.  We like insanity and sickness for our own much better than we like evil and depravity.  The fact that 33 young people died of gun shot is no stranger to the inner city hospitals of America, but this is different for enlightened civilized western culture.  Here the shootings were not in the ghetto, but on the campus.  Here the shootings were among the elite, educated, the height of the civilized world - the university.  Our view of ourselves as moderns cannot bear the weight of such inhumanity happening amidst the halls of learning.  Our schools should be safe, this should not happen and so we are shocked that it did.  So now the normal media circus and blame game has begun in typical fashion while no one seems to be stopping to examine our own souls.  The worldview of Scripture is much different than that of mainstream western culture.  We see ourselves as good, pure, civilized with only the bad apples of ignorance, poverty, and lack of education letting us down.  Yet are we that good?  Or are we in need of grace, forgiveness, transformation?  Something is afoul in the heart of the human race, though we numb ourselves with entertainment and material possessions to not have to face this any more.  The reality is that a human being murdered 33 of his fellow souls yesterday, even his own life.  What are we to do?  Many will blame God, many will go to him, many perhaps might hear the voice of Jesus through it all, most will blame others, weep, and wonder what is happening in this thing called life.

What did Jesus say in the midst of tragedy? It is both shocking and liberating  to read.  It is not as kind as you may hear from a grief counselor, nor as crass as you will hear from the talking heads pointing their fingers.  But in his words we see reality - the world indeed is fallen, and those in it depraved.  But in his own suffering of violence we can be changed, redeemed yet the cost is high to humanity.  It requires looking in the mirror, being honest about our sin, and coming needy to God.  I will let him speak for himself:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:1-5 

Our paths ahead are no doubt lingered with atrocities, our own mortality, and  the call of the gospel receive grace from God.  How do we make sense of wickedness? We do not.  Evil is to life as a contradiction is to reason - it simply is out of place, twisted, and grotesque.  Yet until we acknowledge the verity of Jesus' words “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him...For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” we are no further along than we imagine ourselves to be.  This is a moment not for pessimism, but for hope - but hope not that we humanity will save itself and we shall never have to see the face of darkness again on the earth.   No, our solace, hope, and triumph must come from our maker - the one who can transform and redeem our darkened hearts...even during the days that threaten to crush the soul and lead us to despair.  Yet repentance and faith are humiliating to us when we would rather blame others and exalt ourselves.  We would make the world better you see - if it were not for THEM, the world would be a better place.  So we remain self-deceived in the midst of our pain and confusion. 

When God visited this world in flesh, it is not surprising where he went and what he had to undergo.  His blood was spilled and splattered on ancient soil so that the blood of the living might be redeemed. Let not this time pass in vain.

Please pray for our friends in Blacksburg, there are many burdens to bear and move love to give, grief and mourning to be shared...in just such a time as this.  Friends on the ground in Montgomery county, Kasey and I are praying for you and love you very deeply.  We are deeply sorrowful and ache with all of you.

JP Moreland Blogeth

JP Moreland, one of the top evangelical philosophers in the world has joined the blogging world.  This is a site to bookmark no doubt.  I'll be checking to see if he writes on issues related to Philosophy of the Mind...

I have respected and benefited greatly from Moreland's works...he has been a valuable guide on many issues for me...though I diverge from him on issues of contra-causal libertarian free will. 

Here is his site over at the Scriptorium. 

TaxRap Update

My boys Rhett and Link ended up getting third place in the TurboTax Tax Rap contest over at YouTube.  My wife and I picked the one who would win the grand prize...the 2nd place guy's deal I thought was pretty weak.  I would have had Rhett and Link #2.  For those of you who don't know Rhett and Link are videographers, comedians, musicians, etc. who work to connect others to the gospel of Jesus Christ through creative efforts. 

Good job guys...here is the congratulatory version of their video:

Material Things, Monotheism, Pride and Idolatry

The following were notes given as supplementary essays along with the message Idolatry! - Habakkuk 2:18-20 given at the Inversion Fellowship on April 12th 2007. 

The Role of Things in Our Lives

American Christians can get caught into thinking that idolatry is something that happened in the ancient past or perhaps today in far away lands. After all, the religious landscape of our lives is not littered by gold statues dedicated to the gods nor are we silly enough to believe a creation of our own hands can really helps us. Or are we? AW Tozer rightly observed something about idolatry:

Let us beware lest we in our pride accept the erroneous notion that idolatry consists only in kneeling before visible objects of adoration, and that civilized peoples are therefore free from it. The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him. It begins in the mind and may be present where no overt act of worship has taken place. ¹

Additionally, a revealing passage of Scripture that sheds light on our own hearts is found in a shocking passage in Ephesians chapter 5.

4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

If we are covetous, are we idolaters? Yes. Coveting is an interesting sin found in Scripture. Before defining it I would just note that it is one of the Ten Commandments and therefore central to the moral law of God. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s—Exodus 20:17. Wanting stuff that other folks have is coveting—it is a movement in our hearts towards being captivated with people and things we do not have. The apostle Paul equates coveting with idolatry and nails us American folk right between the eyes. Our culture is built around consumerism and the creation of needs and wants that we must fulfill by having more and more and more. The advertising industry prays on the covetous nature of our hearts by showing us things that we don’t have and how our lives are impoverished because we lack them. This builds in us until we feel we must have something—many times building up piles of debt as our badge of honor in our consumerist pursuits. So, should we all live on the ground under an oak tree possessing nothing but the clothes on our backs? Is it an evil to have things in our lives? Of course not—but if we do not examine our hearts regularly and fill them with other loves, the materialistic urge in America will sweep us into twisted idolatry which leaves our souls parched, empty and spiritually bankrupt.

There are no easy rules to give that will solve this issue for us. We must be guiding by biblical principles that we value and guarding the loves of our own hearts. I believe that if we have to sin in order to have something or if we would sin if something was taken from us, we are looking into the face of an idol. I love a quote from the ancient theologian Augustine of Hippo when reflecting on the role of things in our lives. He uses a great illustration of an engaged couple to illustrate:

Suppose brethren, a man should make a ring for his betrothed, and she should love the ring more wholeheartedly than the betrothed who made it for her….Certainly, let her love his gift: but, if she should say, “The ring is enough. I do not want to see his face again” what would we say of her?...The pledge is given her by the betrothed just that, in his pledge, he himself may be loved. God, then, has given you all these things. Love him who made them.²

All things may be received in thanksgiving and not worshipped and loved to the point of stealing our love for God. We live in a world of personal hoarding and lifestyle building which amputates generosity and treasuring Christ above all. Jesus teaches us that where your treasure is, there is your heart also (Matthew 6:21) and I believe far too many of us in America treasure our comfort, our security, our social status, our homes, our cars and our stuff at too high a degree. Our treasure must be Jesus, for he is the only person we can love unreservedly with no fear of idolatry. For he is God—and we can recklessly give ourselves to him. Any thing can become an idol and all things may be used for the glory of God. It is a matter of the heart that must be examined. My fear is that we far too often skip the examination and just swipe the credit card.

On Idolatry — Pluralism, Monotheism and Jesus Christ

Idolatry can be defined in a simple fashion: Idolatry is ultimate devotion, trust, or allegiance to anything that is not God, it is the worship of someone or something other than God. One of the central claims of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths is that there is but one God. The sixth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, in what is known as the shema, bellows forth this truth: 4“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And the shahada, the first pillar of Islam forthrightly states: Ashhadu an la ilaha illa 'llah; ashhadu anna Muhammadan rasulu 'llah" : "I witness that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. All of the great monotheistic religions claim that there is but one creator God. From the very definition of monotheism, any other god that is not God is an idol—something falsely worshipped by human beings. In a world that wants us to believe that all religions are equally valid, or even equally true, Jesus Christ stepped on to planet earth claiming to be the incarnation of the one true God. This was divisive in Jesus’ times, so much so that it got him killed. It remains divisive in our world today—as the worship of Jesus as God seems narrow to many secular minds and blasphemous to religious ones. For instance, thinking Jesus is the unique way to the Father (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) brings charges of intolerance and bigotry from the crowd which teaches all religions are valid ways to “the divine.” Additionally, Muslim believers call the Christian worship of Jesus shirk, which is defined as an unforgivable sin of associating anything [partners, helpers, other gods] with Allah. The Qur'an accuses Christians for their belief that Jesus is Lord and God, calling them unbelievers (kafiroon) and idolaters (mushrikoon), or those people who are committing shirk.³ So idolatry is real and worshipping anyone other than the triune God of the Bible is called idolatry in Scripture. Yet we realize that the gospel is for all people and all idolaters. All who will come humbly by faith to lay down idols will be accepted by God. Hindus, Muslims, materialists, the greedy, the secular, the hypocrite, the church person. All the needy may come. Jesus is an open door for all that the Father draws to him and any that come he will in no way cast out (See John 6:35:51).

Self-Esteem, Pride and God-Centeredness

Pride and Idolatry are intricately related to one another in the human heart. It is pride that says to God “I do not need you, I can do it on my own.” Out of this posture flows the creation of “new gods” which the person may worship. Be they the gods of religion, materialism, or self-exaltation, the heart of pride will create new objects of worship. In this short essay I want to explore the relationship between self-esteem, pride, and a God-centered view of life.

Our culture has been on a decades long crusade to increase the “self-esteem” of young people. In fact, for many years we have stated this to be one of the most important aspects of growing up, having good self-esteem. A recent study was completed by a group of scholars that attempted to take a state of the union, so to speak, of the self-esteem culture of young Americans. This study’s results were recently published in an article on the Boston Globe website.⁴ In the study, Jean Twenge, author of "Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -- and More Miserable Than Ever Before," said we have raised a generation of self-centered young people who can “tend to lack empathy, react aggressively to criticism, and favor self-promotion over helping others.”5 The Scriptures however have a very different view of things. We are never told to be self-oriented or to esteem ourselves more and more highly but rather to look to the interest of others.

I think we need balance in thinking about self-esteem. On one hand, we are made with built in value due to our creation in the image of God. Each one of us is a unique, wonderfully knitted, tapestry and design of God. I like the way some of my friends used to say it: “God don’t make no junk.” Yet the reality is the modern self-esteem movement is really a cloaked version of an old enemy—the sin of human pride. It exalts humanity and says “look at me, look how wonderful I am.” This is far from the teaching of Scripture which teaches that each of us is fallen, depraved, and marred by sin. The biblical view of humanity is both lofty and lowly; it depicts man as the beautiful crown and pinnacle of God’s handiwork, yet fallen and rebellious and deeply flawed. The cure for the pride that comes from making self the center of things is the gospel, the good news which places God at the center of all things.

Let’s look very briefly at the god-centeredness of all things in Scripture:

• God is self-sufficient in that he needs nothing—not even you and me—The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,? nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. Acts 17:24, 25
• God is the creator of all things—In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
• All things were made by him and for him—For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16
• All things belong fully to God—The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1
• All things have been put under the authority of Jesus, the Son of God—For “God? has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. 1 Corinthians 15:27, 28
• All glory, honor and power should be given to God—To the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen—Jude 25

For our pride to be defeated we do not need to think more of ourselves, we need to see ourselves as we really are. We need to see ourselves as finite and created beings owing our existence to someone else. We do not even exist “by ourselves” but only because God wanted us to. We need to see our sin in light of the perfect law of God which exposes the sickness of our hearts. Then we need to see the utter hopelessness of saving ourselves through good works, through religion, through any sort of self created, self help, morality. As we see this we need to see that God has done everything to save us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the wonderful story that God the Father, through the work of God the Son on an executioner’s cross, applied to sinful creatures by the work of the Holy Spirit has fully saved us, bought us out of slavery to sin and death, reconciled us with God, and is currently transforming us. In doing so he forever removed self from the center of the universe so that all glory and praise and honor go to God. Not to us, not to us, but to your name be glory! (Psalm 115:1) When this happens, we can see God slay our pride in the shadow of a cross. A cross that is not a testimony to how great we are or how wonderful we are, but that God was wonderful and gracious enough to pour out love and grace upon the undeserving. And we respond in praise, in the worship of God rather than idols, and receive a joy and peace that transcends all understanding. I will close with some words that the apostle John used to end his first epistle. Words that are addressed to the humble, not the proud; some very loving and gracious words that I will echo here for me and you:

Little children, keep yourselves from idols...

Reid S. Monaghan

Notes:

1. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (San Francisco: HaperCollins, 1961), 3-4.
2. Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1969) p. 326 (Tractate on the Epistle of John, 2:11) - Emphasis added.
3. See Shirk at the Index of Islam at http://www.answering-islam.org/Index/index.html accessed April 11 2007.
4. See David Cary, Study finds students narcissistic — Says trend among college youths can harm society, Associated Press, February 27, 2007 http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/27/study_finds_students_narcissistic/ - accessed April 11th 2007.

Flood of new ESVs

Crossway has is releasing a flood of new formats of the English Standard Version Bible.  Here is a short list from the ESV Blog.

The ESV Literary Study Bible 

The ESV Literary Study Bible approaches the Bible as literature and shows how the application of literary tools of analysis helps tremendously in reading and understanding the Bible. Readers are introduced to the literary features of each book of the Bible and to each section within each book.

While traditional Bibles are reference books, this is truly a reader’s Bible. The format (single-column, black-letter, 8.5-point text, no section headings) and commentary make it ideal for private devotional reading, for preachers and Bible teachers, and for use in group Bible studies.

Download a 16-page brochure (1.3MB PDF) with sample pages from The Literary Study Bible. $49.99, available in Fall 2007.

Large-Print Pew and Worship Bibles 

The ESV Large-Print Pew and Worship Bible will be available in three colors (red, blue, and black to match the current Pew and Worship Bibles) in summer 2007.

Two New Wide Margin Reference Bibles 

The ESV Wide Margin Reference Bible will be available in Black TruTone and Portfolio Design TruTone (both for $54.99) covers in late summer 2007.

My very favorite: Two New ESV Journaling Bibles

The ESV Journaling Bible will be available in natural leather ($75.00) and plum ($34.99) covers in late summer 2007.

The ESV Journaling Bible allows readers to interact with the Scriptures as they read and study them. Its 2-inch ruled margins allow plenty of room for reflections, prayers, praises, and the like. The rules in these new Bibles have slightly more space between them than the ones in the original Journaling Bibles.

My review of the ESV Journaling Bible is here.

Cowhide Leather Thinline Bible 

The ESV Thinline Bible will be available with a stylish, high-quality cowhide leather cover. The flap for closing and strap for tying make the new cover of this popular Bible even more distinctive.

Coming late summer 2007, this Bible sells for $69.99.

Finally, the folks at Crossway have an ESV Twitter out for those of you who are Twittering... 

For Logos Users Who Are Preachers

If you are a user of the Logos Libronix software (sorry MacIdolaters, the Mac version is in the works but not out just yet) and do any sort of preaching, the following Addin looks just great.

Sermon File Addin Here is the description from Logos' web site:

Convenient

Copy and paste your sermon or illustration from Microsoft Word, another word processor, email, or a web page. Or import a lifetime of sermons from the MS Word files (or any HTML formatted files) on your hard drive.

The Sermon File Addin grabs the text, formatting, and automatically hotlinks Bible references within your text! Just key in a few optional details like title, date, topics, and Bible passage to easily find things later.

The addin remembers topics and tags you've used in the past and suggests them as you type, which helps keep your index clean and consistent over time.

Flexible

Your sermons and illustrations can be formatted and structured the way you want. You can apply standard topics or invent your own. Add tags to organize your sermons and illustrations by duration, occasion, rating or any other attribute you can think of!

Powerful

Sermon File Addin applies the power of the Libronix Digital Library System to the task of organizing your illustrations and sermons.

That's right...we're unleashing several million dollars' worth of technology on your sermon file!

Your sermons and illustrations are compiled as two separate books within the Libronix Digital Library System. These books are fully indexed and searchable by word, phrase, topic or Bible reference.

Greek, Hebrew and other language text within your book of sermons or illustrations is recognized, so you can KeyLink to a lexicon. You can even embed links to other resources within your digital library.

Serendipitous

The old joke says that when you get to a certain age you can hide your own Easter eggs. But regardless of age, we've all experienced the feeling "I know I have a clipping somewhere that relates to this topic." Or the sinking feeling of "I wish I'd found this in my files a week ago!"

The Sermon File Addin provides the solution: your sermons and illustrations will show up in Passage Guide reports. So when you're studying a passage you will be alerted to every relevant illustration and sermon you've written or collected…and never again forget that you were saving it for just such a time!

In fact, you could say that Sermon File Addin facilitates serendipitous discovery.

Looks like a good deal at $49.00 bucks...I'm going to read up on it a bit more and may take the plunge today.  Personally, I try to use electronic sources for everything - I seldom keep paper articles and illustrations.  I use the web, store/archive stuff I write electronically (always on two hard drives), and footnote using ISI's EndNote (which is now out on the Mac)  To be able to search all my past teaching with Logos tricked out search technology is compelling indeed.

POC Tech Bundle 4.13.2007

Keeping up with the Tech Lingo Jones

Here is a fun article on Net language.  If you really want to be in then check out NetLingo.com Just in case you have a need to know what twittering means.

New Get a Mac Ad - Macidolaters Rejoice! 

The Mac and the PC Flashback to their younger years in the latest rendition of the Mac/PC ads by Apple Inc. Macs and iPods are cool, but Apple consistently puts out the suckiest mice.

Pink Zune Now Available

Yes, put your sleek black iPod away...I know you have been waiting for this.