Yes kids, Mom and Dad did grow up like this...

In the 80s - yeah, we rolled like that…

Watch your mouth...

In the book of Ephesians it is clear that followers of Jesus are called to walk in a manner congruent with their calling to God in the gospel. We are a forgiven people, a people who have been shown grace, a people who were once alienated from God and under his just wrath but now reconciled and adopted into his family. We have a new life to live and everything is now shaped by our relationship with God.

Some of the interesting exhortations we are given in the middle of this New Testament letter have to do with our mouths—what we say to people and what our speaking should really be about. In this essay our goals are too ambitious. First, we are going to look at what our speech is for; why we should be speaking creatures saying things to one another. Second, with that purpose in mind, we will look at ways we dishonor God with our mouths. Finally, and please don’t skip to this part, we will cover the use of strong language and the diverse subject of “bad words.” I told you not to skip down yet, keep reading right here.

On Talking

Ephesians 4 and 5 give us some strong counsel as to how our speech is to be exercised. Chapter 4 gives us the commands to put aside falsehood and speak the truth to our neighbors (Ephesians 4:25). It should not be shocking, but lying is a big deal. It goes against God’s very nature as truthful and runs over one of his central commandments (Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20). Further, Ephesians 4:29 gives resounding clarity as to the purpose, or telos, of our talk. It is worth repeating:

 ²⁹Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Our mouths are to be used not to tear down and corrupt but rather to build others up, to give grace to them, as is fitting for the moment of speaking. With this in mind, it is easy to see why elsewhere Scripture encourages us to be “quick to listen, but slow to speak” (James 1:19). Though some more than others, each of us can tend to pipe off in ways that are not always helpful or uplifting. Anyone else guilty here? Thankfully God, uses his speech to say “I will forgive you through Jesus.”

We do not have the space here to get into all the ways God speaks and his purposes in doing so. It is clear from Scripture that God’s speaking brings life, brings joy, brings fear of judgment, leads to repentance, forgives and gives hope to those who come to him in need of grace. We are called to follow God in the way we speak to others bringing life and grace to our hearers rather than evil doing with our mouths. We need to repent of using our mouths for purposes that are just wicked. What follows is just a small look at how we use our mouths to talk schmack rather than build others up, worship God and bring peace to situations.

Talking Schmack

In several places the Scriptures teach us about the use and abuse of our mouths. The wisdom literature in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, the teachings of Jesus in his sermons and the book of James come to mind. First, on more than one occasion Jesus taught that it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouths speaks (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45). What is in our hearts is the source of the outflow of our mouths. The heart is central in this matter and hear are a few ways the our hearts lead us to sin with our lips.

Lying Tongues (Psalm 5:9; Psalm 120:1,2; Proverbs 6:16-19, John 8:44)

God simply hates lying and we do it all the time. We lie to protect our image, to try to be nice to others, to increase our financial wealth, to cover up all manner of other sins. Jesus said the native language of the Devil was to lie and we do have this family resemblance (John 8:44). Repentance always involves us putting away falsehood and confessing what is true. It also involves stepping out of darkness into the light. Yet in this very act of confession, we find freedom again. No more lies…let us speak truthfully with one another and give grace to them when they fall short of God’s ideal.

Slander, Gossip and Tearing Up People (Psalm 50:19, 20; Romans 1:28-32; 1 Timothy 5:13)

Slander is lying on people in a way that directly hurts and damages them. It is maliciously aimed speech which is designed to tear down someone in the perceptions of others. Gossip is the revealing of personal information about someone to others when there is no authority or permission to do so. Even when gossip is the true, it is a betrayal, it hurts community and relationships and is sin. Gossip breaks trust and creates confusion and can cause deep divisions that can take years to heal.

Profanity and Obscenity (Proverbs 30:7-9; Ephesians 5:4)

The English word profane is derived from Latin terms meaning “before or outside the temple” (pro-before + fanum temple). It means to deal with that which is unholy. Profane speech is defiling or making something unholy. God has made certain aspects of life holy. His name, his people, our bodies and sexuality come to mind. To speak of such things in a way that degrades, mocks, tears down and dishonors that which is holy is what we call “profanity” - it should be avoided. Obscenity is a specific subset of profanity whereby we degrade human sexuality, sex organs and acts of a sexual nature. Ephesians 5:4 calls this foolish talk and crude joking—people do this sort of thing often, particularly young men. Remember, to understand whether something is being profaned or made obscene we must know the purpose for which something exists. Perversion and profanity flows from deviating from God’s designs for something. Be it our bodies, marriages, our sexuality or the worship of God.

Cursing Folk (James 3)

This one is actually pretty easy to understand—we call down curses, or ill desires upon others with our mouths. Many times, people will use the Lord’s name in doing so (see blasphemy below) as if they are invoking God to aid in the sins of their mouths. For followers of Jesus, the book of James gives striking clarity to us here:

For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Blaspheming God

Blasphemy is to speak against and profane God and his name. Using God’s name to curse others, using his name as an expletive is to speak about God in a blasphemous way. His name is not to be used as if it is some magic trick to accomplish our will nor is it to be used to back up the truthfulness of your words.

I hope this treatment of sins of the mouth will help give us pause in how we utilize speech. We also should not overestimate the urge to pop off at the mouth—James taught us “no human being can tame the tongue.” This ought to lead us humbly to God for his help in realigning our hearts towards the gospel and the reeling in of careless words.

Up until this point I have made no comment about “bad words” as I find such discussions far too simple and not always helpful. God is far more concerned with our hearts than with creating a list of “banned words in heaven.” We will close this discussion with a meandering around the use of strong words and language. It is my hope to help us avoid both a silly legalism and serious sin with our mouths.

On the Use of Strong Language

We live in a culture quite polarized about the way we speak. Dana White, president of the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship has no pause in dropping F-bombs on camera and in his personal video blogs. James V. O’Conner is doing his part in publishing his book Cuss Control—The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing. Connor’s book and his associated Cuss Control Academy are examples of how even the secular world is wrestling to curb the tide of base language. On the other hand I have met some Christians who seem to want to make every word into banned speech unable to be used by those who are truly holy. Which usually means people just like them. In the small bit of space we have remaining I want to do a few very ambitious things. First, to look at the nature of speech how a word is considered bad.  Second, I want to look at the shifting meaning of terms over time and the question of acceptable vernacular (everyday, common speech). Finally, I want to close by challenging some misunderstandings among Christians on all sides of the issue of cussin.

Let me begin by saying that there simply is no eternal list of bad words in heaven somewhere. Each language and culture has words that are unsavory and people typically know what they are. However, we must acknowledge the fluid nature of language in that it is spoken in a sociolinguistic context. Many of us would not recognize a curse word spoken in Farsi or Tagalog. Most of us would not even recognize a curse word spoken in Old English in 1000AD. Now don’t go searching the Internet for Tagalog cuss words to use with your friends. That would be immature. So how do we use wisdom in deeming words appropriate and inappropriate today? It is a question that is not always so simple. Some Christians love to say see Ephesians says “no corrupting talk…no filthy language” as if that solves the issue. It does not because we have to say that THIS SPEAKING fits the description of the Ephesians exhortation.

Moral philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas deemed all actions to be made of both an internal act including motive and intent and the external acting out of said intent (See his treatment in the Summa here) Speech acts are no exception to this. All speech has intent, motive, sociolinguistic context and meaning. It is spoken with a purpose and it has effect and meaning to the people who hear the speech. We must consider this when looking at how we speak and whether it is corrupting, filthy or crude. It is my contention that someone can do more evil without speaking a four letter word than by using one. Imagine for a moment of a young man, broken because of his sins, weeping and confessing to a Christian friend “I have really f-ed up my life…I’m so sorry.” Are we really going to focus on the fact that the guy used the f-word in this case? Imagine another case where a husband is sarcastically belittling his wife or mocking her physical appearance without a single four letter word. I think you see my point. In Scripture, God seems much more concerned with the heart and use of language than simply the terminology employed. I am not saying certain words should be used, I am just trying to keep us from massively missing the point that Scripture actually teaches about the use of our tongues.

We have to think hard about certain words today as the meaning of terms does shift over time in a particular culture. A word with a less than ideal origin may evolve into a harmless word that has a different meaning today. Sometimes words that have less than savory origins make their way into the vernacular. A friend this week asked me if I knew the origin of the word “snafu.” I did not but I knew it roughly meant a situation of confusion—it’s etymology is a little rougher. You may disagree with me but many words that some would consider bad simply are not any longer. If you told me this essay sucked I would know what you meant and would not be offended by the term. I would just need to try and do better next time.

One last note on speaking within cultural settings. Adults may use strong language at times in certain circumstances and settings. I remember pastor John Piper’s use of the term “God kicks your ass” with a group of college students in 2007. Some understood his use of the word, some…not so much. It was controversial and he sort of apologized; you can read that letter here. However, I think the students understood exactly what he meant in a clear and compelling way. We all realize that young children do not have the experience, wisdom or maturity to comprehend something an adult would easily grasp. There is language appropriate in adult conversation that is not for children. I do not find this controversial.

In closing, there is nothing quite as silly as a Christian cursing because he thinks it is cool or because he has escaped from a Christian College and is trying to make up for lost time. It is equally silly to obsess about words that nobody considers bad in our culture and try to avoid people who speak in a gritty fashion. Anyone in sports, the military, construction or just alive today will be hard pressed to keep ones ears virgin. More importanly, mission demands us be present with people.

God considers the heart, motive and context of our speech. We need to ask if it builds up, does it honor God, does it give grace to the hearer, does it accomplish what is needed in that moment. These issues should be our concern. We should all watch our mouths and this goes far beyond vocabulary. My hope is that we might love people around us, build them up, communicate effectively with people in culture and bring honor to God with our lips. If you disagree, I would love to hear some positive interactions…

Amen?

Sam Harris is "Uncomfortable"

It doesn’t take much religion to get Sam Harris’ shorts all up in a bunch. It appears that someone having faith in God is making him “uncomfortable” again. I’m not sure why he can’t live and let live - his worldview would tell him that all beliefs are by-products of blind, physical processes operating according to routine natural law. What’s it to him if someone is religious?

This time someone is going too far once again. Harris must speak out! Barak Obama, has nominated Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health and Sam Harris is uncomfortable and is letting the world know in the NY Times. Now why is this so troubling? Collins is not some crazy creationist, he doesn’t even take the route of intelligent design. He is a full card carrying evolutionist after all. He is also a fantastic scientist and was the leader of the Human Genome Project. So why does this bug Mr. Harris so much? Well, Collins believes in God and is not really in the closet about it. Shocking!

Harris acknowledges Collins’ impeccable credentials, listen to his own words:

PRESIDENT OBAMA has nominated Francis Collins to be the next director of the National Institutes of Health. It would seem a brilliant choice. Dr. Collins’s credentials are impeccable: he is a physical chemist, a medical geneticist and the former head of the Human Genome Project. He is also, by his own account, living proof that there is no conflict between science and religion. In 2006, he published “The Language of God,” in which he claimed to demonstrate “a consistent and profoundly satisfying harmony” between 21st-century science and evangelical Christianity.

So why the big problem for Harris. It seems he does not like that Collins is not an atheist just like him! For Harris and those who think “Science=atheism” simply do not want a divine echo around anything they call “science.”

Again, hear his words as to why he is so uncomfortable with Collins’ appointment. The closing words of his essay read as follows:

Francis Collins is an accomplished scientist and a man who is sincere in his beliefs. And that is precisely what makes me so uncomfortable about his nomination. Must we really entrust the future of biomedical research in the United States to a man who sincerely believes that a scientific understanding of human nature is impossible?

If we are honest, Harris is being a bigot - he is uncomfortable with Collins because he believes differently about the nature of life and the universe. He seems to want a world where people like him can discriminate as the high priests of materialism adjudicating between who is worthy to do scientific inquiry. To be honest, I am hopeful that the Times will provide a counter opinion for his bigoted view of Dr. Collins and his abilities.

Monkey See, Monkey Do?

Many are familiar with the proverbial saying of “Monkey see, Monkey do.” The fundamental insight here is that we all imitate something or someone in our lives. People by nature want to imitate or be like others that they see. Guitar players would love to rock it out like Clapton or Mayer, little boys used to want to be like Mike on the court while today Kobe or Lebron will do. Many desire to mimic the style of a celebrity or the success of a person in business. Though some are more leaders and some more followers, human beings, by nature, are made to imitate or emulate others. There is nobody who has taught themselves everything they know.

The 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, rightly observed something profound in human nature. Though his application of this observation went tragically wrong, Nietzsche spoke of human beings as having a sort of herd mentality. People tend to mindlessly mimic and follow one another. He erroneously applied this to morality and ethics, declaring all morality to be an illusion created by other humans then followed mindlessly by the herd. ¹ What he did rightly observe is that human beings do indeed mimic one another and it seems very built into our nature.

However, we can be so consumed with the exploits of other people we can completely miss the one we were truly designed to imitate. In the middle of his exhortation of Christians to live a life that is congruent with their calling to God in the gospel, Paul makes it clear who we are to imitate in Ephesians chapter five. Without blushing, the apostle writes the following: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” This is a massively humbling idea and also one of the simplest articulations of the raison d’être of human beings.

In this essay we are going to discuss the imitation of God by human beings. We will first distinguish imitating God from trying to be a god. Second, we will look at our unique design as human beings to be reflections of God on the earth. This makes Paul’s call for us to imitate (or mimic) God quite appropriate due to what we are. We will then look at how we must “see God” and “know God” in order to imitate him. This requires God’s assistance to help us to understand who he is in order to follow him. Finally, we will close with a brief discussion of the relationship between adoration, imitation and worship.

Imitate God, Don’t Try to be One

The story of the world begins with the wonderful created acts of God. It then quickly moves to a tragic error made by the first human beings. People, created in the image and likeness of God, decide they would rather be as God. Tragically, this has been the course of human history. People are made wonderfully intelligent, moral, creative and willful creatures. We were made by God and for God yet we choose to exalt ourselves as little divinities rather than worship our creator.

When Scripture calls us to imitate God the word means to reflect or mimic the character of God in our own lives. It does not mean that we should aspire to follow that Satanic plea “you shall be as gods.” Scripture calls us to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, to become like God in our lives, but we should never see ourselves as becoming divine beings. Though Scripture does teach that we will be transformed to become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4) it stops short of man climbing the metaphysical ladder up into godhood. Our Mormon friends notwithstanding, ² human beings are only called to be reflections of God as we follow him, never ascending to god-status ourselves.

Uniquely Created to be a Reflection

Though not divine, human beings are completely unique in all creation. We are different than rocks, trees, lizards and even those monkeys that share 99% of our DNA. In fact, many non Christian thinkers making the case that modern science is revealing the profound uniqueness of human beings. David Berlinski’s The Devil’s Delusion, Atheism and its Scientific Pretensions and James Le Fanu’s Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves come to mind. ³ In the face of recent understandings of the genome of various animals and the baffling ignorance of consciousness in light of modern neuroscientific brain studies, many are realizing anew just how exceptional nature of the human being being.

Theologically, this uniqueness of humanity is no surprise to those who never bought into the materialistic reductions of human nature. You see the Scriptures teach us very clearly that humans and humans alone are created in the imago dei, the image of God.

Uniquely Created to Image God

Throughout the history of the church, theologians have discussed the profound description given in Genesis chapter 1:

 ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  ²⁷So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  

There are many ways in which this teaching has been understood. Some have articulated that image of God means that we are made like God in our make up in that we have emotions, intellect and will just as God does. Others have looked to the ancient context of Genesis to understand the phrase image of God. In the ancient world, someone was “image of God” when they represented God on the earth as his vice rulers. The passage above does indicate that rulership over the realm of creation is part of the mandate human beings posses. Finally, others have sought to say that image of God means that we are beings in relationship, much as God the Trinity is one God in three persons. The text tells us that image of God is male and female, designed in and for relationship with God and one another. I find it best to put all these together.

We are created with certain capacities in order to rule and reign this earth with God in relationship with him and one another. This is what it means to be image of God. As such we are designed to reflect God in our nature, in our service and in our relationships. So in one sense, there is a reflection of God in his human creation, so a call for human beings to imitate God is very appropriate. It is the part of the reason we exist; it is why we were made. One question quickly emerges, in order to imitate God we must truly know what God is like. If we cannot see God directly, how do we imitate him?

How can we imitate that which is not physically seen?

To imitate someone we must know what they are like and the way they flow. God has not left us with empty skulls relating to the question of who he is and what he desires. The truth is that God reveals himself to us in various ways so that we might follow after him.

We see God’s Works—God’s works of creation display to us the power and nature of God. Additionally, he places a moral law in our consciences so that we may know right and wrong at a basic level. We may deny this knowledge and act in contraction to it, but it is not because we do not know right from wrong.  

We receive God’s Words—In addition to showing us in creation and our consciences God tells us who he is and what he desires for human life in the Scriptures. The Bible contains written accounts of the words of his prophets and messengers through whom God reveals himself to people. By the Scriptures we are fully instructed in the character and ways of God so that we may follow him during our lives. The most important testimony of Scripture is about the person of Jesus. His followers wrote down his works and words so we could clearly imitate and follow him.  

We see Jesus and imitate him—God became a human being so we could see most clearly what he is like (John 1:1-3,14; Hebrews 1:1-3). In Jesus Christ we see a full revelation of God in human form so that in the imitation of Jesus, we find the imitation of God.  

We see the body of Christ and we imitate the faith of others—Finally, we see in the New Testament Christian leaders calling others to imitate them, as they imitate Jesus (1 Corinthians 4:9, 11:1). We are to imitate their faith and trust in Jesus in the way that they followed him with their lives (Hebrews 13:17). In the church we can see Christ living in others as he works his character into them and we can imitate their faith as well.

Worship—Adoration and Imitation

It has been often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The late secular thinker Ayn Rand once said it this way, “admiration is the rarest and best of pleasures.” ⁴ If we imitate someone it means we respect and admire them. Through this simple insight we can peer into the heart of Christian worship. We were made to give honor, glory, love, adoration and praise to God; we were made to desire to be more like him and imitate him. In doing so, God enjoys our worship and delights in his people. In turn, we find our greatest joy in seeking to be more like the one who is fully good, right and true.

Imitation in human life is a reality which will never go away. We cannot help but see excellence in something and want to imitate this. Unfortunately, there is also a dark side to human nature in that we imitate that which is self-exalting and sinful rather than imitating God. Imitation is a reality that cuts either in the direction of idolatry, worship that which is not God, or in true worship.

We live in a world of Monkey See, Monkey Do. When we see the lives of others we must ask whether they are resembling God or exhibiting the folly of men. We must wisely choose who we imitate because we become like the things we worship. So many times we follow one another like lemmings over the cliffs of life. Let us choose to follow Jesus who followed the beat of a different drummer. We too can imitate his love, sacrifice and service to others; laying down our lives so that many can break free to find joy in the forgiveness of God.

There will be a cacophony of voices calling to us as we travel the roads of our lives. Calls from the left and the right to take a path other than the one to which God calls.

Sometimes we need to realize that the herd is not always wise, but in following Jesus there is life and peace.

Yours in following him in our time,

Reid S. Monaghan

Notes

1. See Nietzche’s two works, Beyond Good and Evil and Genealogy of Morals for his constructing of his view of the “herd mentality” – A concise summary of these two works is available here: http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/wphil/lectures/wphil_theme18.htm
2. Mormon doctrine does indeed teach that human beings can actually become gods. The classic statement of this was from the fifth Latter Day Saints president Lorenzo Snow “As man is, God once was, as God is, man may become” This is a doctrine articulated by LDS founder Joseph Smith in his King Follet discourse as well.
3. See David Berlinski, The Devil’s Delusion—Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions (New York: Crown Forum 2008) 155-165 for an entertaining look at the differences between men and apes. Additionally, see James Le Fanu’s Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves (New York: Pantheon Books, 2009) 254-256. Fanu’s work is a intriguing look into recent discoveries surrounding the human genome and neuroscience. His thesis is that humans are much more unique than the typical “evolution explains everything” idea.
4. See John Piper, An Open Letter to Michael Prowse, online at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2003/1245_An_Open_Letter_to_Michael_Prowse/ accessed March 4, 2008.

On Tim Tebow and Christian Celebrities?

Everyone knows Tim Tebow is a rock star on the college football scene.  He is already a heisman winner, he already has national championship rings and he is simply the most dominant player in recent history. He is also an evangelical Christian. Today I read an article about Tebow’s recent answer to the question as to whether he was a rock star virgin as well.  The writer is obviously a Tebow fan, both of his football exploits and of his public stance for the faith. Believe me, I applaud both of these things as well, but the article did give me some serious pause.

A lurking question about Christian celebrities came to mind as Tebow’s life was lauded so loudly in this article. It reminds me of the peril of Christian celebritism reflected masterfly by the late AW Tozer:

How eagerly do wee seek the approval of this or that man of worldly reputation. How shamefully do we exploit the converted celebrity. Anyone will do to take away the reproach of obscurity from out publicity-hungry leaders: famous athletes, congressman, world travelers, rich industrialists; before such we bow with obsequious smiles and honor them in our public meetings and in the religious press. Thus we glorify men to enhance the standing of the Church of God, and the glory of the Prince of Life is made to hang upon the transient fame of a man who shall die.

AW Tozer, The Pursuit of Man (Camp Hill: PA, Christian Publications Inc., 1950) 44.

Now I think it fully appropriate for athletes, politicians, business people to share openly and publically what God has done in their lives, the saving work of Jesus and how others can come to the same knowledge. I worked for years with Athletes in Action where we did just this sort of work with young athletes. Yet this is different than the placing of people on high pedestals upon which no person really belongs. Think just for a moment about this quote by the author of this article:

I think everyone is afraid to ask, but wouldn’t this be the ultimate testament to his religious faith?” And then I further wrote, “And if he wasn’t a virgin wouldn’t this at least prove that Tim Tebow has violated a Bible verse? Something that, to be honest, there is no evidence of thus far. Put it this way, if Tebow got shot and we all thought he was dead, and then he came back to life, wouldn’t you be convinced that Revelations was unspooling before your eyes?

Now I realize that he is using a bit of hyperbole here, and for the most part I agree with the authors admiration of Tebow’s integrity.  Yet it did provoke a question I have for both the media and for followers of Jesus who esteem the “perfect walk” of Tim Tebow: “How will the media, and Christian people, treat Tim Tebow when he screws up?” Years ago, I remember people throwing David Robinson under the bus for saying a bad word on the basketball court. Today’s star and Christian celebrity can be abandoned and left to be eaten by the naysaying dogs when sin rears its ugly head.

I reserve perfection for one person who lived on earth and that guy was God. I like it that Tebow walks the walk and I like it that he is saving his sexuality for the context of covenant marriage. It is what I want for my kids. I even like it that he has mad skills on the football field. I just hope there is “grace” for him if/when he messes up in life. For we all need forgiveness and grace…that is the point of the Christian gospel…not that we can be perfect at obeying every command in the Bible. I think Tim Tebow would agree.

Thoughts?

(HT- Mike Heffner for the link to the article)

Come to save the day...

Whether you love him or not, Barak Obama is the man. Some fun fare from the funny fellas at Jib Jab - whether you swing left or right, this has something for everyone…

On our advocation of reading...

We have been on record here on the POCBlog and in other places that we are very big on reading. We just want to help that well known chartiable cause of helping “the kids that can’t read good.” At both Inversion and at Jacob’s Well we have sought to write things that would encourage further thought and learning.

In 2009 at Jacob’s Well we have been teaching in the biblical books of Daniel and Ephesians and have written some essays surrounding subjects which have emerged during that study. You can see the Daniel stuff here and the Ephesians stuff here.

In favor of that great skill known as reading I also offer some encouragement and education by way of comedy…enjoy:

Weird Christian Things...

Theologically, Christians of all stripes believe that Jesus will some day bring the fullness of the Kingdom of God to the earth at the end of history.  Yet there are various views of how all this will go down.

Graphics like this make me realize that the Christian family has all manner of strange views…this stuff makes me thankful that I do not believe in the Pre-trib dispensational view. Blessings to all my friends who do :-)

Over the Grave Vol 1

Let me first say that I love music, but am no music snob. I don’t know what bands are it and what bands are poo-poo.  I am also not a musician and know more about choking someone out with certain wrestling holds than I do about the fret of a musical instrument. Yet I am a human being…and I do like music.

I have to say I love the new album from our friends at Sojourn Community in Louisville. I am not going to review the album, I’ll let the experts do all that schmack talking…what I will say about the new album - Over the Grave - The Hymns of Issac Watts Vol 1 is this: Get it now...

The good people over at Sojourn Music have taken the excellent poetry and lyrical hymn writing and mixed it up a bit.  Well, strike that - they have writtent their own music, arranged and dropped killer tracks with these killer words. If you are new to Sojourn - their Before the Throne is very good as well.

Brooks Ritter just kills it on the track “Living Faith” - it also vibed awesomely with a message I am working on for this weekend. 

Enjoy

Spiritual Gifts from the Trinity

It is a wonderfully clear teaching of the Bible that our God is a giver. He is generous and his nature is to lavish good gifts upon his kids. God is kind in giving us Jesus as our rescuer and king and he gives the gift of the Spirit to empower us for service and be an ever present help to us in the struggles of life. Furthermore, God gives spiritual gifts and callings to his people to help them fulfill his ministry on the earth to build them up individually and as a community.

In this essay we are going to look at how the triune God of Scripture gifts his church. We will do this by first looking at the biblical doctrine of the Trinity and learning together about Father, Son and Spirit. We will then look at three major biblical passages on spiritual gifts and how each person of the Trinity is involved in gifting his church. Finally, we will conclude with a focus on the reason or purpose for which God gives gifts to his people. One note is in order as we begin.

Depending upon what sort of spiritual situation you grew up in, the term “spiritual gifts” could mean absolutely nothing, absolutely everything!!! or simply be a strange term of confusion. This essay is not getting into the issues which separate charismatic and non charismatic Christians. If that doesn’t mean a thing to you, no worries, just read on. If you have a spiritual gifts fight to pick about “those spiritually dead churches” or “those crazy charismatic people” drop the gloves and read on; there is something bigger going on with spiritual gifts that we all need to hear and heed. Now to something much simpler, the Trinity—uh, yeah right.

On the Trinity

The creator God is completely unique; God is holy, there is simply no one and no thing like Him. The God revealed to us in our ancient writings is marvelously one, yet a loving community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The book of Ephesians is one of the most Trinitarian writings in the Bible. Father, Son and Spirit seem to pervade all Paul’s thoughts of God. We notice this profoundly in his prayer which closes chapter three.

14For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19 (ESV)

The mystery of the triunity of God is one of the most precious, deep, holy and wondrous truths of our faith.1 Though this will be but a miniscule treatment of the wonder of the Trinity, please see the notes for two recent works on the subject for further reading.2 We will first briefly describe each person and role of the Triune God and then move towards how this God gifts his church.

The Glorious Father

The Bible often refers to God as “Father” and this was the preferred description used by Jesus to describe him. The Father is the initiator of creation, the sovereign sustainer of creation and the all wise ruler of all things. The Father is also the one who decreed to redeem the world through the Son. The Father is the blessed one, a spiritual being who is worshipped and praised in spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24). When the New Testament speaks of “God” in a general sense, it is usually the Father which is in view.

The Preeminent Son

The Son is second person of the Trinity and the one through whom creation came into being (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:1-3). The Son is also the one who was sent by the Father into our world to be its Savior. The Son fully reveals the character of the Father (John 14:1-11; Hebrews 1:1-3), is our redeemer who died for sins and was raised from the dead by Father and Spirit (Acts 13:26-33; Romans 8:11; Galatians 1:11). The Son is the head of the church which is his body (Ephesians 4:15,16; Colossians 1:15-24) and he is LORD, God’s appointed King who will rule and reign forever. The Son is the world’s appointed judge and only savior (John 5:22-30; Acts 17:31).

The Empowering Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the person of the Trinity who was the active agent in creation (Genesis 1:2). The Spirit is given to the church by the Father and sent by the Son (John 14:26, 15:26) to teach us, help us, comfort us and empower us for service (John 14:15-26; 1 Corinthians 12; 1 John 2:26,27). The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin (John 16:8-11), makes believers alive to God (John 3:1-8; Titus 3:5) dwells in the believer and the church (2 Timothy 1:14) and represents a foretaste of the coming Kingdom. The Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing the promise of God and our coming inheritance with him (2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14).

This God Gifts His Church

There are four main passages in the New Testament which speak of God’s giving of spiritual gifts to his people. Interestingly enough, God the Father, Jesus the Son and The Holy Spirit are said to be the giver of these gifts to his people. We will look at these three passages in turn.

The Holy Spirit—1 Corinthians 12

In the ancient church in the city of Corinth there was a church that was a mess. People were getting drunk at communion, a dude was having sex with his Dad’s wife and the churches gatherings were a bit chaotic. People were showing off with certain spiritual gifts (Greek term—charismas) which caused Paul to address questions concerning these things . A few quick observations about Paul’s teaching are in order. First, he clearly says that the main point of the gifts is to honor Jesus as Lord. Second, the gifts should be exercised in a way that unifies and serves the common good of the church. The gifts are not to exalt the gifted person. Third, the gifts unify because they are given by one Spirit and are given out in diversity to his people. Finally, the giving of the gifts is by the will of the Spirit as he sees fit so we need not despise the gifts given to us nor covet the gifts of others. On the contrary, we should rejoice in the diversity of the body and use our gifts to build up the family of faith to serve in Jesus’ ministry and bring him glory. All of this should be done in love for God and one another otherwise we will be completely missing the point.

Gifted Leadership is the Gift of the Son—Ephesians 4:7-16

In Ephesians 4 we find that God gives grace in various forms to members of his church. In particular, he gives his church gifted leadership to help equip Christians to do the ministry of Jesus and to grow up the church towards maturity. Whereas the gifts of the spirit to individuals is the subject in 1 Corinthians 12, God’s gift of people to the church is in view in Ephesians 4. In our day where “organized religion” is the object of public and personal disdain, we should observe that leadership (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) is actually a gift of Jesus to his church. The grace of Christ is the source of leaders in the church. Furthermore, these people are gifted by God with various abilities (teaching, service, leadership etc.) to fulfill their ministry. So in a sense, gifted people, are great gifts to the church. We also want to be clear that every person God adds to his church are gifted gifts for the body and when anyone’s gifts are not exercised the church’s life and ministry will gradually become impoverished.

One note should be made at this point. Leadership in Christ’s church is an act of service and should be exercised in the way of Jesus. This means two things: proper exercise of authority in the manner of a servant. Many pastors and leaders today are passive and will not exercise humble, godly authority. They will not preach and teach the truth, confront sin or guide others because of a fear of people and a need to be liked. Furthermore, many church leaders today act as if they are little gods wearing CEO hats and do not see their roll as servants of the people. Peter’s exhortation to church leaders is so needed in our day; I’ll simply quote him here:

1So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. 4And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 5Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:1-5 (ESV)

Gifts are Measured to us by God— Romans 12

In Romans 12, Paul is encouraging Christians to think of themselves in humility and to realize that the measure of faith they have is indeed a gift of God the Father. The metaphor of a body is once again employed to urge us towards unity in the diversity of people in the church. We should use and exercise our uniqueness and our giftedness in line with the faith we have been given. Once again, the context is in a loving community where we use our lives and gifts to serve others so that God would be honored and our community would reflect his goodness in the midst of a world darkened by evil and sin.

We will now close with an all to brief discussion of who and what God’s gifts are for. Why does he gift his church and individuals therein. I do pray that some clarity is beginning to emerge from the texts we have been discussing.

Who are Gifts are For?

As Americans we are simply soaked and saturated with individualism. Even the subject of spiritual gifts has been turned into a pursuit for individuals to “discover their gifts” through personal tests and assessments. I am not saying these sorts of tests are wrong; I have used them myself. What I am saying is that they can be reflective of an excessive individualism in relation to God’s gifting of the church. Spiritual gifts are simply never to be about “me” but always about “us” and how we can honor God and fulfill his ministry on the earth. I hope you have heard the language of the Bible throughout our discussion—gifts are given for the common good, to build up the body, to joyfully serve one another in Jesus name.

Furthermore, spiritual gifts are never for some supernatural magic show where spiritual super people can show off on television. The Role of the Spirit is to bring glory to Jesus. (John 16:14) Jesus was clear he came to do the will of the Father.(John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38) The Father created the world to display majesty, glory and wonder to creatures made to worship him (Revelation 4:11). So let me give you a short, hopefully memorable, raison d’être for spiritual gifts as a bottom line in our short journey here:

Spiritual gifts are given by the Trinity, for the good of his people, to build them up so that they might display the glory of God together.

The final passage in the New Testament referring to Spiritual gifts is found in the first letter written by Peter, an early apostle and central leader of the Christian movement. His words summarize well what God would have us know about his gifting of his church. We’ll give him the last word:

10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11 (ESV)

And amen.

Notes

1. For an excellent treatment of the importance of the Bible’s teaching on the triunity of God see Chapter 1—”Beholding the Wonder of our Triune God: The Importance of this Doctrine” in Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son & Holy Spirit—Relationships, Roles and Relevance (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2005) 13-22.
2. Two recent works we recommend for the importance of the Trinity are Bruce A. Ware, Father, Son & Holy Spirit—Relationships, Roles and Relevance (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2005) and Timothy George, editor God the Holy Trinity, Reflections on Christian Faith and Practice (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006). Of particular interest is JI Packer’s fine essay on the perspective of the puritan John Owen.
3. I found Klyne Snodgrass’ discussion of gifts, talents and the church in Ephesians: The NIV Life Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 212-214.

Freedom and the 4th...

This weekend people throughout America will celebrate Independence day. Grills will be grilling, fireworks will be firing and people will be enjoying the freedom our nation experiences because of the courage of our fastidious forefathers back in 1776.

So much of our view of freedom in America is conditioned by the idea of throwing off the oppressor or getting rid of the man. After all, the King of England needed to go in the birth of the new nation. Yet I have been intrigued for some time about the Scriptural view of freedom. It certainly involves freedom from certain oppressive enemies (sin, death, demonic powers and hell come to mind), but it also involves freedom to a new dependence upon God and one another.

I have to admit that I can tend towards rebellion and want to live strong, independent and free. Nothing wrong with most of that…well, maybe the rebellion part needs some work. Yet I am reminded by the gospel that God sets us free through Jesus into relationship, into community and into service.

A few passages on freedom for the road:

• John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
• 2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
• Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
• Romans 6:17-23 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This weekend as we thank God for our nation and then let us join together on the 5th of July to give thanks for our unique freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Oh yeah, to all my patriotic Jesus friends - just remember, Jesus was not an American…so lets hold off on the artwork with Jesus drapped in American flags surrounded by bald eagles and such.  Please?

Fair comparison...

Here is how to be dorky, have fun, compare two technologies without becoming a weird zealot.  Not sure who these two dudes are, but they do a fair job discussing the Palm Pre and the Apple phone…

Bing is bangin...

I have been playing with Bing a bit as a search engine…I have to say that it works quite well. The way Bing presents search results is creative and useful - it is worth giving it a shot.

The commercial below is also pretty well done.

Phatdippin...

My boys Rhett and Link are repping some waterproof cams while Phatdippin…ahhh yeah. Other internet vid peeps make some cameos as well…think Chocolate Rain, iJustine and a great Obama.

Mawwiage, mawwiage...wove, true wove...

I am waiting for the day that a crazy young couple asks me to mimic that crazy preacher in Princess Bride at the opening of a wedding.  Not likely to happen, but I’ll go on record that I am more than willing to oblidge - would be funny.

On a more serious note I love weddings and I love marriage even more - it is God’s gracious gift to men and women as they travel through this world.  This weekend I enjoyed doing the wedding of my friends Shaun and Lesley - a great time celebrating the faithfulness of God in our lives and the gracious gift of the marriage covenant. 

Later this summer we’ll be looking at Marriage through the great lens of Scripture in Ephesians 5. I look forward to looking at this passage of our holy writings to see the beautiful living metaphor tha is the marriage covenant.  In a husband’s sacrificial servant love for his bride and a wife’s joyful submission and love for her husband we get a picture of Christ’s love for his church.  Though it is an ancient vision of marriage that many snub arrogant modern noses at, it is a beautiful dance that this much better than “the battle of the sexes” and randomly defined, throw away relationship we see in our culture today.

Anyway, true wove, is from God - not from romantic hearts saying things at a wedding.  The show of a wedding quickly fades into the reality of life together in a fallen world.  It is then that the love of God, the grace of God and the hope of God is the rock upon which marriage must be found.  The type of fare in chick flicks is awesome (yeah, I said it, you got a problem?) but it is vapid and blows away before fickle hormones and the daily torrents of life. 

Deepening love is founded on a covenant promise of the soul before God - other things called “Mawwiage” tend to blow away like chaff in the wind.  None of our marriages are immune to the challenges of sin, selfishness, vanity, unforgiveness, infidelity and hopelessness. Pray for marriage today - that no matter what others want to do with it - redefine it, slander it, throw it away - we would bring back some old school words to our marriages today: a promise of faithfulness til death do us part.

Pre and iPhone 3G - Side by Side Use

A good comparison between basic use and navigation of Palm Pre and iPhone 3G. It looks like this guy is an iPhone guy and just got a Pre. I have used both and this is a very good comparison of basic use. No, I know the Pre is not better than iPhone - that would be considered blasphemous so save the hate.

One thing I would add to this demo is the guy did not need to close his cards when going back and forth from browser and contacts.  You can keep them both open and instantly flick back and forth.  I will admit that closing apps is so fun that I do what this guy does - I close stuff down all the time when I probably do not need to. Yet when you get tons of apps running performance does slow a bit so closing apps isn’t a negative or anything :)

Also, he had his iPhone browser cached so the web browser came right up with page already loaded. Anyway, kudos to the author of the video - he does a good job.

Three Tough Questions

As we look to find an enduring hope there are many questions that human beings must face in order to build a foundation in a relationship with God. First, we must know that God is real; this is the metaphysical question. Second, we must know how we might be in relationship with God and to know God in our own experience; this is the existential question. Finally, we must face a massive problem in our own nature. Even if we know that God exists and that he loves and desires relationship with us we still resist and turn away. This is the anthropological question. Human beings by nature are rebels and sinners; we do what we want with our lives rather than that which for God has made us. This is reflected by either active rebellion or passive indifference towards God in our attitudes in actions. In today’s essay we will wrestle with these three questions and marvel together how God has graciously answered them all in his incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.

The Metaphysical Question

From the beginning of history until now, human beings have been asking about the nature and reality of the universe. We probe the outer world and the inner world of our own souls searching for what is good, right, true, just and ultimate. Various cultures and peoples seem to all be called towards some transcendent reality as a cacophony of voices echo the names of various goddesses and gods throughout the ages. Yet our search seems to prove futile for many and some retreat into a blasé agnosticism being content to only say “I don’t know what is out there.” Such frustration is warranted for to be able to ascend the heights to look upon the face of God seems to be a daunting task. I once remember hearing one teacher describe the difficulty of describing God when someone posed to him a rather strange challenge: “define God and give two examples.” God is utterly unique so there simply are no examples of what God is—there is only God. So in order for us to wrestle with the metaphysical question we must ask if there is any help given from above. As such many traditions have held that we need God to self-define or self-reveal in order for us to know him.

Our Scriptures teach that God has been kind to human beings to do just this, to reveal himself to us in many ways. The first way God reveals himself is what we call general revelation. In some simple ways we can all know that God exists from looking at nature and conscience. The apostle Paul in the book of Romans teaches us that God can be clearly seen from what has been made (Romans 1:18-24) and that we know our moral responsibility to God from the moral law written on the heart (Romans 2:12-16). The skeptical German philosopher Immanuel Kant even realized nature and conscience as a place of profound reflection in describing his awe at the starry hosts above and the moral law within.¹

Furthermore, both the every day person and philosophers have inferred from our world and conscience that there is indeed a God. Over the years I have done informal surveys with college students and other adults as to why they believe in God. The answers usually fall along these lines:

• We are here—there must be an explanation for the existence of the universe
• We are unique—the universe and human life gives evidence of design
• We are moral creatures—the universe and ourselves have a moral nature
• There must be justice—many seem to believe that there is a higher court of appeals
• I just know—personal religious experience of God

Interesting enough philosophers for years have developed intellectual arguments along many of the same lines.² God reveals his existence and our moral responsibility to him to all through what he has made and by impressing his law on our hearts. Yet this sort of general revelation³ only gives us a knowledge that God is real, but many still suppress this knowledge. Though all can know something of God through nature and conscience this is still not enough to definitively answer the metaphysical question.

The Existential Question

Even when we come to the conclusion that there is a God, there is still the question as to how we relate to God. Is God personal? Is God loving? Does God relate to people at all or is God a distant deity or force lurking behind the curtains in the universe. We long for there to be a path shown to us, a way demonstrated and a connection with God made. The existential question is ultimately related to how we might know God personally, rather than simply know about him.

In our experience we find life to be a mixture of good times and bad, joys and pains, struggling to find meaning and purpose. Many times life can just leave us numb, longing to be more alive than our current experiences. Most of the time we just medicate our emptiness with shopping, substances, relationships, food, drinks and toys. In doing so we place things other than God at the center of our lives and build the foundation of our hope on things which do not last.

In the ancient world, the Hebrew King Solomon had more money, power, women and influence than anyone. He would make the finances of a Bill Gates and the activities of Hugh Heffner look smallish. He had tried everything in life and all that money and power could afford. Yet his conclusion after doing it all was that life was quite empty, quite meaningless all together. The book of Ecclesiastes in our Old Testament records his meditations and reflections on the emptiness and vanities of life lived apart from our creator.

Our modern world is filled with example after example of the very rich and very successful making it “to the top” only to realize emptiness still pervaded life. The existential question longs for meaning and relationship that is stable; it reveals the longing of the human heart for a connection with the divine. Whereas the metaphysical question wrestles with the question of God’s existence and identify, the existential question is the soul begging to be connected to God in meaningfully, loving relationship.

The Anthropological Question

If we think for a minute about the human struggle, we will realize something quite strange. If someone knows God is real and knows it is possible to relate to God in loving communion and worship, why doesn’t everyone jump in. Why are people still resistant to the idea of God?

The Scriptures teach that we are not honest seekers of God and his goodness and truth. In fact, human beings rebel against God’s rule in their lives and choose to live apart from him. Even if intellectual answers to God’s reality are given to solve the metaphysical question people still will not love God. Even if a person hears of God’s love for them they may not drawn near to him. The most massive problem that needs to be overcome is the problem of our own sinful resistance to God. The anthropological problem demands that forgiveness for sin and reconciliation must happen before someone really becomes a follower of the living god.

Jesus Christ—Revelation, Relationship and Reconciliation

I have always found it fascinating that in the incarnation of Jesus, God answers deeply the longings of the human heart and overcomes our deepest problem of sin. Let me explain.

Jesus—The Revelation of God

As we wrestle with the existence of God, he chose to give very specific evidence of his nature by becoming one of us. God gives a special and detailed revelation of himself by becoming a human being and actually showing us what he is like. Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), God become a human (John 1:1-14) and the imprint of God’s nature (Hebrews 1:3). His apostles and prophets have told his story, conveyed his teaching and explained his message to us in authoritative Scripture. God could have written in lasers across the heavens “I am like this and I am like that” but instead he became one of us to show us his love for us in a form we most easily understand. His portrait is painted for us in the gospels of the New Testament.

Jesus—The Way to Relationship with the Father

The gospel according to John tells us that God is actually seeking out worshippers and desires to be known by them. John 17:3 declares And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Jesus came to show to us the Father (John 14:9) and to connect us in a real relationship with our creator. Our longing for significance and purpose is fulfilled in a love relationship with God. God himself, in Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, becomes the answer to all our existential longings.

Jesus—Reconciliation and Pardon with Him

Finally, and most importantly, Jesus over comes our sin by dying for us so that we can find peace and reconciliation with God. Whereas the metaphysical question is answered by the revelation of God in Christ and the existential questions is answer in knowing him, Jesus death actually makes it all possible. In Christ’s death on the cross God reconciles us with him providing full pardon and forgiveness for our sin. Our resistance to God is removed and we are given a deep desire for God that only finds culmination in worship. Former archbishop of Canterbury William Temple described the fulfillment of the human soul in worship as follows:

Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by His truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. And all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of human expressions of which we are capable.

Conclusion

So it is in the incarnation that God became human so that we might see a revelation of God. It is also in the incarnation that we come to know God face to face. Finally, it is through the work of the incarnate Son that we are reconciled to the Father. The late British journalist Malcom Muggeridge so eloquently described the marvelous effects of the incarnation of Jesus:

Thereby [by the incarnation], He set a window into the tiny dark dungeon of the ego in which we all languish, letting in a light, providing a vista, and offering a way of release from the servitude of the flesh and the fury of the will into what St. Paul called the glorious liberty of the children of God.⁴

The question of God’s existence was answered fully when God put his feet on planet earth. The knowability of God was established fully when God stretched out hands and feet to die for us. As Scripture teaches us, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

I will close with a small stanza of a hymn written by the 18th century song writer Charles Wesley.5 It’s words describe the amazing depth of the gospel whereby God would reveal himself, lovingly encounter us and set us free into a relationship of joy and worship.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Following with you,

Reid S. Monaghan

Notes

1. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason, 1788. This was also the phrase inscribed on his tombstone.
2. For those interested see “The Five Ways” of Thomas Aquinas in Summa Theologica, CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity and the modern philosophical arguments of Alvin Plantinga—Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Proofs found here—http://bit.ly/14bimm and William Lane Craig in Reasonable Faith-Christian Truth and Apologetics 3rd Edition (Wheaton: Crossway, 2008)
3. J. Budziszewski, What We Can’t Not Know: A Guide (Spence Publishing, 2004)
4. Malcolm Muggeridge and Cecil Kuhne, Seeing through the Eye : Malcolm Muggeridge on Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2005), 5-6. Emphasis in original.
5. Charles Wesley, Psalms and Hymns, 1738.

We are finally back...

Apologies to those who visit the POCBlog via RSS, Google Reader, etc. We have been switching our domain host and it has gone less than smoothly.  Thankfully all is now well and all the links, feeds, etc. should be working.  If you had trouble getting here via RSS but now can happily see us again, drop me a comment to let me know that everything is working again.

Thanks guys.  There has been some flow on the blog while we were away, enjoy the essay on the church and first impressions of Palm Pre.

Holla back

POC Bundle 06.11.2009

The Church

• Sojourn Music is about to pop out Over the Grave Vol 1 - their new arrangements of Issac Watts’ hymnology.
• How Tim Keller found Manhattan - good story on the beginnings of Redeemer Pres, NYC.

Gospel and Culture

Two new books on God/secular/Atheism type stuff are floating around and getting some interesting discussion…

• Reason, Faith, and Revolution by Terry Eagleton - interesting use of “Ditchkins” to describe ideas of Dawkins/Hitchens…funny.  Discussion of the book here.
• Editors of The Economist study how religion is not going away with modernity…but rather is on the rise.  God is Back: How the Revival of Religion is Changing the World, by Economist journalists John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge.  Review by the The Humanist (a not so excited about God mag in the UK). 
• A little more on the Globalization of faith from the Pew Forum and Peter Berger a few years back.

Theological Reflection

• Paul Helms Deep continues a wranglin with compatibalist middle knowledge

Technology

• How much do the Smartphones really cost? BillShrink.com tells the truth
• Crazy cool stuff going on with the Firefox 3.5 Beta
• While technology is cool - our “amazing sci fi future” just hasn’t realized
  

Palm Pre - First Impressions...

OK, this is not going to be a full on tech review - others more qualified and with more time have done that elsewhere (see entry here).  Yet I wanted to drop my impressions here briefly after having the Palm Pre for two days. Mind you, I am a pastor so Saturday and Sunday did not afford as much time to play with technology but I have put it through its paces a bit.

Before I begin though, these links are some response in the press to the Pre and its launch:

• New Pre Apps Just Announced Today - Palm Blog
• Review: Dazzling Palm Software Beats the iPhone - Associated Press
• 8 People Palm Poached to make the Pre - MobileCrunch - this an interesting deal on the Helio and Apple people Palm hired away to team up for webOS/Pre
• Palm Pre sells out as Sprint customers line up for thin stock - Blomberg
• Bill Shrink’s Excellent Pre/iPhone comparison - the comparing apples to apples (sorry about that one) on device price, AT&T and SPRINT plans.

First Impressions

When I first grabbed the device in person on Saturday morning (yes, I am one of the nerds who waited in line) I was amazed at how small it really is.  It resembles a smooth river stone and fits nicely in the palm of your hand.  The screen is 3.1 inches and seems roomy as you never have the screen real estate used up by a virtual keyboard.  It feels sturdy in the hand and has a glossy finish.  If you pay the ridiculous high price for the touchstone charger (I must admit I did) the back panel is replaced with a really nice matte finished piece that grips nicely.  To say the least it is attractive in person and I recommend those considering the phone to go by a store to see the demo.

Hardware

The build quality is good and it does not feel like a cheap phone in the hand.  There are dedicated volume button on one side and ringer/vibrate and on/off button on the top right.  These are perfectly located for use with the index finger when holding the Pre diagonally in the left hand.  The entire front looks like one black panel with a small pearl like button on the bottom. When the screen comes on it really pops and is as vibrant and clear as anything I have seen.  In the past I have not been a big fan of slider phones, but the Pre has changed my mind here. The slider is quick and sturdy and makes the phone a nice curved shape that is nice when talking.

The keyboard has been a feature of some discussion as to whether it is too small, cramped etc. Let me preface my remarks in saying that I am switching from a Palm Centro that has an even smaller keyboard. So far I have had zero problems with the keyboard and it works really well. It is a big thin as it lives on the bottom of the slider, but I am adjusting to that fine.  I have typed on virtual keyboards and I found no love for those - having the keyboard hidden away keeps all your screen available and it is accessible when needed.

The touchstone charger is just cool and works as advertised.  It does cost too much but I had a 25% off discount as a long term SPRINT customer that at least brought the price down a bit. The phone just sits perched upon the angled hockey-puck like touchstone and charges inductively through the special back panel.  Did I say this is just cool?

Software

OK, here is where I am going to make iPhone fan boys angry.  I find there is no comparison between webOS and iphoneOSX.  I have nothing but superlative praise for the thoughtful design that went into this UI.  The multitasking card metaphor just works fantastically and the handling of notifications (alarms, emails, texts, music playing, GPS nav running) is simply brilliant. The experience is way better than I anticipated.  I will say that you do have to learn all the gestures and unlearn certain ways of doing things.  If you are convince that you always have to “go to a home icon screen” to move around and switch applications you will waste time on the Pre.  You can leave apps running, switch quickly with flicks and swipes, use quick launch, universal search etc.  It is better on Pre but I have found myself going to the launcher when I don’t need to.  Here is an example.  If I want to Google search something on some phones, I would go to Home, launch Google and search.  On Pre I just start typing search terms from anywhere and then click Google.  Fast, simple - but something I need to learn to do more intuitively rather than always launching the browser.

The contacts, calendar and email apps are all great and they really “just work” in pulling in information from various sources on the web (Gmail, Facebook, etc).  When the Sprint guy asked me “do you want to transfer your old contacts to the phone” - I said naw, I’ll just sync it with my Gmail contacts.  Done. The web browser is fast works well on both WiFi and EVDO Rev A.  I downloaded Tweed a twitter app from the beta App Catalog and it is awesome.  The apps are thin now but I sense the developer world will show up more and more in the coming days.  PC Mag plays with the apps here.

GPS nav from Sprint is robust and supports turn by turn voice directions as well as the animated interface.  I will say that GPS drains the battery pretty quickly but this is the case with most phones. One last thing, the iTunes integration works great.  I dropped about 2GB of music over to the Pre and it plays fantastically on the Pre’s media player.

Not Perfect

The only concerns I have are battery life as if you are constantly surfing, emailing and enjoying the data connection the 1150mA battery can get chewed up.  Yet because this is not Apple, you can have a spare battery - this is your choice and choice is good. I have heard that SEIDO’s 1350mA battery for Centro/800w will work but I have not ordered one yet.  Will look for others review of doing this…

Also, the apps do have to load on the Pre as it is a smartphone and there is a tiny pause when loading applications.  The response is instant though when you switch to an app that is already running. Multi-tasking is good friends and the Pre’s UI makes it much easier than other phones.

One final hardware issue that I will complain about.  The center button on the front should also be able to turn on the device. I want to do this ALL the time.  The button’s main use is to bring up card-view for switching programs and it is effective in that role, but it should turn the phone on.

Conclusion

All in all, I have enjoyed my first two days with Palm Pre.  The team at Palm did a fantastic job with aesthetics, user interface design and did all the small things right. As a Palm user since 1996 I was stoked when Pre was announced and even more stoked to purchase the phone (saved my pennies from Jan-June :) I am also a SPRINT customer who has had zero complaints about the network and find its data connections robust and speedy.  The customer service issues from a few years ago are also better (it was bad) and we are glad to continue with the company.

For those of you who are not religiously affiliated with Apple, Inc. the Palm Pre is a great smartphone and from the initial response it seems it has a bright future.  As to whether or not it is better than iPhone, I will not say. I will say that I do not want an iPhone and after using my Pre I see no reason why I would.  It just would be a clunky and disappointing user experience for me.

For all those out there who incorporate data from multiple sources, need to work on the go, want a device that merges personal/business functions (small biz owners, church planters :) I can think of no better device than the new Palm Pre. 

Cheers.