"I am Who I am"

At Christianity Today, Mark Galli explains why "seeker friendly" services may fail to lead the seeker toward the God who is:

If you are trying to reach seekers, people who don't know Jesus and have had little acquaintance with church culture, you don't want them to feel lost and confused when they worship with you. .... So the urge to avoid "speaking mysteries in the Spirit" is understandable and intelligible. But when it comes to the worship of the Creator of heaven and earth, we've got a problem. ....

... [O]ur desire for worship that is "understandable" is, well, understandable for evangelistic reasons. But there is a less seemly side of this desire: It's sometimes about worshipping a God we can control. Just as we furiously pursue some line of study in order to "master" a subject, so we are tempted to pursue God in an attempt to master him. As A. W. Tozer put it in Knowledge of the Holy:

Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God to manageable terms. We want to get him where we can use him, or at least know where he is when we need him. We want a God we can in some measure control. We need the feeling of security that comes from knowing what God is like.

This is the sin of the moralist, who wants to box God into a set of religious rules, and of the rationalist, who imagines that God fits neatly into his systematic theology. This is the sin of the prideful seeker who wants to fit God into his preconceived notions of divinity. This is also our sin when our longing for understandable and intelligible worship masks an unwillingness to love God as he is—ultimately mysterious and incomprehensible.

Understandable worship, in the end, can become the sin of idolatry—the worship of that which is not God but a mere figment of our imagination. As Eugene Peterson says in A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, "We are not dealing with the God of creation and the Christ of the Cross, but with a dime-store reproduction of something made in our image." Worship that doesn't in some ways leave a large space for transcendence and mystery is not worship of the God of the Bible, who when asked to name himself—to explain his essence—said rather truculently, "I am who I am."

Seeker Unfriendly | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Children see, children do

Via the evangelical outpost, this public service announcement about the effect of adult behavior on the young:the evangelical outpost: Outtakes Videos:
PSA Edition

Ruth Bell Graham died today

Ruth Bell Graham, wife of Billy Graham, died this afternoon:

Whenever he was asked how he came to be the greatest evangelist in history, Billy Graham always turned his eyes heavenward: "It was God who did this," he would say. But if there was an earthly power who helped both raise him up and keep his feet on the ground, it was his bright-souled, big-hearted wife Ruth Bell Graham, 87, who fell into a coma and died on Thursday.

From Christianity Today:

Anne Graham Lotz, second daughter:

“I would go down to my mother’s room early in the morning. Her light would be on, and I would find her at her big, flat-top desk. She would be reading and studying her Bible, with about 14 different translations spread out around her.

“When I would go down to her room late at night, I would see the light on underneath the door and I’d go in, and she would be on her knees in prayer.

“As I look back on my childhood, I cannot remember any impression whatsoever that my mother was ever lonely. She may have been lonely, but I never saw it.

“I believe that our heavenly Father, our Savior, saved my mother from loneliness because of her daily walk with the Lord Jesus, He was the love of her life. I saw that in her life. It was her love for the Lord Jesus, with whom she walks every day, that made me want to love Him and walk with Him like that.”

Ruth Graham, Soulmate to Billy, Dies | TIME, Christianity Today: Ruth's children remember their mother

The "wall of separation"

There has been a great deal of anguish expressed about the alleged threat the "Religious Right" represents as it attempts to "impose" its theologically-motivated agenda on the rest of the country. Will those who fear religious influence be equally worried about this? Senator Barbara Boxer [D-CA] indicates that it is "a moral, ethical and scriptural mandate." Wouldn't want anyone imposing their morality on anyone else, would we?

...[A] coalition of 35 religious denominations called for an 80 percent reduction in global warming emissions by the year 2050, and bill S.309, sponsored by Boxer and avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I.-Vt.), calls for the same.

“Evangelical Christians, Catholics, African Methodist Episcopals, Jews, mainline Protestant Christians, and many other people of faith see the need for action on global warming as a moral, ethical and scriptural mandate,” Boxer said. She explained, “People of faith contacted us recognizing that science says global warming’s effects will fall most heavily on poor people. All we have to do is look at what happened during [Hurricane] Katrina, even in one of the world’s wealthiest countries.”

http://www.qando.net/ - Exploiting the religious left in the name of Gaia

Seeing "the historic and living Jesus"

A Protestant pastor likes the Pope's book:

Every so often a book comes along that deeply moves and inspires me as a person, and as a Christian. I can never know when this will happen. Many books disappoint, and many surprise. I am right in the middle of one of those amazing books. It is Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration by Joseph Ratzinger, otherwise known as Pope Benedict XVI. OK, I am an evangelical Protestant pastor. How can I speak such of a book by the Roman Catholic Pope of all people?

I remember hearing Johnny Cash commenting on the Nine Inch Nails’ song “Hurt.” His words: “Well, a good song is a good song.”

And a good book is a good book.

A few words about it...

First, this is not a book which carries in the mind of its distinguished writer, the head of the Roman church, what we might refer to as "papal authority." It is not, using Catholic language, and Benedict's own words, a “Magisterium,” which means that it does not carry the teaching authority of the Church or of the Pope as pope. ....

Third, the Pope is a superb scholar, in the very best sense of that word. He is a man who has obviously devoted much of his long life to biblical and theological and historical studies. He is well read, current, respectful, and knows what he is talking about. ....

I have always been struck by this observation – that where we as historically orthodox Catholics and Protestants agree (and that is in a very large number of the most essential matters), the Catholic writers just put it differently. I have found their way of putting things, drawn from their long history, culture, and spiritual temperament, to be refreshing. I even love the Catholic Catechism. Where I disagree with it, say about Mary, or papal authority, or justification, or the Eucharist, or veneration of the saints, or purgatory, I can read respectfully, or just skip over. Where I agree with it, I find I am blessed by the way it puts things. ....

Sixth, I think because of the more serious nature of much Catholic spiritual writing, as compared to so much of the mass-market driven Protestant drivel out there, I think this book provides an opportunity for people to see Jesus, the historic and living Jesus, in a new and deeper way. Benedict really is gifted at cutting to the core of the matter. ....

In conclusion, if you want to see into the heart of Jesus of Nazareth, and would like to understand better who he was (and is), or shall I say, who historic orthodox (as compared to liberal) Christians understand Him to be, I strongly recommend this book. ....

Joel Gillespie: Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI

When Christians argue

At Between Two Worlds - good advice for Christians [actually, for everyone] about how to engage in controversy, taken from "On the Ethics of Controversy" by Tom Wells:

• show respect for the persons with whom you differ
• give your opponent accurate definitions of your key ideas
• when in doubt, put an orthodox construction on your opponent's words
• suspect a man's judgment before you suspect his sincerity
• be ready to believe that the truth is larger than you have understood it to be

Between Two Worlds: The Ethics of Controversy, Resurgence: On the Ethics of Controversy

Fred Thompson

As he has edged toward a declared candidacy for the Republican nomination for President, Fred Thompson has been making a number of appearances which may provide a better sense of who he is and what he stands for. I have already decided that he is my preferred candidate and interviews like these confirm my feelings. The first is an appearance last night on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The second is rather considerably more substantive - an interview at the Hoover Institution on Monday.

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More Bible tools

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds calls attention to a couple of "topical Bibles" online:

1. Topical Bible at OpenBible.info.
2. Find Out What the Bible Says About ... at Logos Bible Software.

Justin Taylor comments:

Does it actually work? On many topics, especially, popular ones, it does a pretty good job. It doesn’t work as well on more obscure topics or ones that the Bible really doesn’t have much to say (directly). In some ways it’s disconcerting to scan the topic list and learn what people really want to know about; some topics lay bear the reality of sin.

Between Two Worlds: ESV Tools

Presidential politics

Presidents operate under many constraints in a system like ours but their influence is most long-lasting with respect to judicial appointments. Both of the leading Republican candidates have mixed records on an issue important to religious conservatives: abortion. Giulani is "pro-choice," but promises good judicial appointments. Thompson once sounded like he was also opposed to legal limits on abortion, but had a consistent pro-life voting record in the Senate and now sounds firmly ant-abortion.

Giuliani, this morning, made "Twelve Commitments" he promises to fulfill if elected President. [They can also be found here.] Of particular note for religious and social conservatives:

• I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children.
• I will reform the legal system and appoint strict constructionist judges.

And Fred Thompson, an as yet undeclared candidate, moves into second place in the race for the Republican nomination.

When GOP primary voters were asked to choose among the top four, the field broke into upper and lower ranks. On top were Giuliani, 32%, and Thompson, 28%; below were McCain, 17%, and Romney, 14%.

The new Rasmussen poll has it even closer:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has to share his spot atop the field of Republican Presidential hopefuls this week. The newest face in the race, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, is now tied with Giuliani. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds each man earning support from 24% of likely Republican Primary voters. A week ago, Giuliani had a six percentage point lead over Thompson, 23% to 17%.

Giuliani's 'Twelve Commitments' - Latest Politics Blog, latimes.com: Giulani retains lead as Fred Thompson gains, Rasmussen Reports: 2008 Republican Primary

god is not Great by Christopher Hitchens: A Response

On his blog, Mark D. Roberts, having debated Christopher Hitchens on a radio talk show, proceeds to point out multiple factual errors in Hitchens' book.

god is not Great by Christopher Hitchens: A Response

Summer Reading II

Inspired by Albert Mohler's non-fiction summer reading list, I thought I would share some that I would recommend. When I was teaching I read very little during the school year apart from preparation for work, and the pile of books would assume major proportions by this time of year. As a retiree, I can read just about whenever I wish. My list includes both fiction and non-fiction, some that I have already read, some that I have begun, and others that are still on the pile:

1. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I'm about 150 pages into this one, finding it an easy and enjoyable read. It is a group biography of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination in 1860. After his victory, Lincoln asked all of them to join his cabinet - resulting in a cabinet filled with individuals each of whom considered himself more qualified to be President than Lincoln. Apparently each of them came to accept his ability. I have thought myself well-informed about the Civil War era, but I have already learned new things about Lincoln, his personality, political career, marriage, as well as much new about the others. Seward, especially, was an admirable individual, thoroughly convinced of the evil of slavery, and one of its most relentless opponents. Although the book is long [almost a thousand pages in paperback], this is going to be a quick read.


2. The Children of Hurin, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R.'s son, has edited material left by his father into an additional novel about Middle Earth, this one set thousands of years before the events recounted in Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's first version dates back to shortly after World War I, and, like much of the mythology of Middle Earth, he apparently returned to it many times. Christopher Tolkien says he only edited the materials, supplying some necessary connecting narrative. Morgoth, for whom Sauron was a mere servant, was the Dark Lord of this era. Glaurung, a dragon, is another of Morgoth's lieutenants. I haven't been a fan of the appendicies and other reference works created by Tolkien, his son, and others. I'm told that if I were, I would already know this story. I've begun it and I'm finding in it some the same pleasure I received from LOTR.


3. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, by Richard Bauckham. In an earlier post I quoted the Amazon description of this book:

   This new book argues that the four Gospels are closely based on eyewitness testimony of those who knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the accounts of Jesus circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the name of the original eyewitnesses. To drive home this controversial point, Bauckham draws on internal literary evidence, study of personal names in the first century, and recent developments in the understanding of oral traditions. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses also taps into the rich resources of modern study of memory and cognitive psychology, refuting the conclusions of the form critics and calling New Testament scholarship to make a clean break with this long-dominant tradition. Finally, Bauckham challenges readers to end the classic division between the "historical Jesus" and the "Christ of faith," proposing instead the "Jesus of testimony."



4. The Canon of Scripture, by F.F. Bruce. First published in 1988, it remains a very readable historical account of the decisions leading to the settled content of the Scriptures. The longest part of the book is about the New Testament, and one of the conclusions I've drawn from it is that when the canonical books were listed by individuals or decisions were made by councils, they were simply ratifying what had already become common practice in the churches. Most of the decisions about books which were excluded were pretty easy, based on the absurdity of their contents. Bruce is one of those scholars who seems to demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the relevant materials [I say "seems" only because I have no expertise], but his writing is very accessible. Bruce has been a strong defender of the historicity of the New Testament documents and I anticipate that Jesus and the Eyewitnesses will reinforce that argument.


5. Invisible Prey, by John Sandford. Sandford lives in Minnesota and his books are set there and the upper Midwest. Wisconsin plays an important role in several of them. All of the books featuring detective Lucas Davenport, originally of the Minneapolis police department, include "Prey" in the title. His character is developed through the series, which makes the idea of reading the books in order attractive. Sandford's villains are usually serial killers and always multiple murderers, always well realized. It sometimes bothers me that I can empathize with them, although I seldom sympathize. The evildoers in this book are Carleton College graduates - like one of my best friends [although that is all they have in common]. Those who enjoy thrillers will enjoy these. Invisible Prey is the most recent in the series [the 18th, if my count is correct]. I just finished it and it is a good addition. My only complaint was that it only took me about a day to read.


6. Flashman on the March (Flashman Papers), by George MacDonald Fraser. This is the most recent volume recounting the adventures of Sir Harry Flashman. The character was actually created by a 19th century writer Thomas Hughes in Tom Brown's Schooldays. He was the villainous, bullying, upperclassman in that story, eventually expelled from Rugby. Fraser's conceit was to pick up Flashman's career at that point in the original book of the series, Flashman. Harry joins the British Army, and thereafter finds himself in just about every trouble spot in the world. In that and subsequent books he is the sole survivor of the British retreat from Kabul, a participant in the charge of the Light Brigade, a captive in the Sioux camp at Little Big Horn, a member of John Brown's conspiracy to attack Harper's Ferry, and so on. In this volume, he is sent into Abbysinia. He is a thoroughly despicable character, and a pleasure to read about. The books are surely the easiest and most pleasurable way to learn a great deal of 19th century history.


7. The Dangerous Book for Boys, by Conn and Hal Iggulden. If I had a nephew of middle-school age, or perhaps a bit younger, I would buy this book for him. It is intended for that age group, but adult males [and probably women, too] will also find it a joy. In the earlier post I made about it I quoted Albert Mohler:

   .... A boy armed with this book will have a very fun summer indeed.
   
   The book instantly recalls the great Victorian era of books for boys - books about boy heroes, adventurers, soldiers, and naturalists. Those books, often recognizable in their ornate cloth covers, were read and read again by boys as they grew older.
   
   The Dangerous Book for Boys is a worthy successor to that tradition.
   
   This book will tell a boy how to read cloud formations, make a battery, make a periscope, and construct "the greatest paper airplane in the world." Boys are told of the essential gear of boyhood - including Band-aids. Young adventurers will also learn of famous battles, the history of artillery, and how to understand girls.

Enjoy!

Emergent

The "Catechizer" at the Wittenberg Door doesn't think he cares much for the "Emergent" Church:

I haven’t spent much time on the Emergent Church movement (I know they don’t like to be called a movement, but hey, if the label fits . . .) .... I will take a moment, though, to mention something that really irks me—the label “second Reformation” being applied to this movement. Here’s what bothers me: The Reformation was a call back to the Scriptures, back to the doctrines of Christ and the apostles. The battle cry was Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone, and for God’s glory alone.

As far as I can tell, the Emergent movement is a call to refashion the church into the culture’s image. Trends not truth seem to rule the day. The faith once and for all delivered to the saints is traded for the ethereal post-modern rejection of all things dogmatic, at least by many of its figureheads. ....

And the Internet Monk would prefer not to be identified with the movement.

The Wittenberg Door: The Emergent Elijah, internetmonk.com: walls that won't fall - basics for the local church

The congregation as unaccountable consumers

Michael Spencer, in his series about "The Baptist Way," has interviewed Wyman Richardson, author of a book about "biblical church discipline." One of his questions was about that subject:

Your major work has been in the area of church discipline, but many Baptists are deeply opposed to discipline of any kind, including many who are questioning the entire idea of church membership. What does the abandonment of church discipline among Baptists mean for our future as a definable movement of churches?

It is a tragedy. It was John Dagg who said that “when discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it.” This is something I’ve wrestled with a good bit, and I’ve come to believe that congregational polity without discipline is an absolute recipe for disaster. Ironically, most congregations have maintained discipline of the pastor and staff while recoiling at structures of accountability being placed on themselves, an idea that not only earlier generations of Baptist pastors, but also earlier generations of Baptist laypeople would have found tragic. Yet this accountability of the pastor to the people does not itself arise from biblical concerns, but rather from a nascent corporatism that sees the pastor as an employee and the people as customers. In this and other ways the abandonment of discipline has already begun to cripple Baptist congregational life.

As for our future as a definable movement of churches, our basic infidelity to the witness of Scripture in the area of discipline will logically erode our reflection of the biblical witness in other areas of ecclesiological identity. The inevitable relaxing of doctrinal standards and definition that has come and will come in local churches with the disappearance of church discipline will also bear the bitter fruit of identity erosion. In short, I believe that the abandonment of church discipline is going to finally result in a lowest-common denominator doctrinal stance, an unchecked and rampant consumer mentality in Baptist churches as the congregation continues to see itself as the unaccountable consumer and the ministers as the accountable employees, and the eventual abandonment of other Baptist distinctives.

internetmonk.com: The Baptist Way: Interview with Dr. Wyman Richardson on Baptists, The Lord’s Supper, Church Discipline and Tradition

Summer Reading

Albert Mohler suggests some non-fiction books for summer reading.

Books for the Backpack - Recommended Summer Reading

The wrong direction

Seventh Day Baptists are inclined to believe that our problems are unique when, in fact, we track - on a much smaller scale - what is happening to Evangelicals generally. Internet Monk is a Southern Baptist - a vastly larger denomination - but I suspect many Seventh Day Baptists will find that many of our problems are similar to his description of theirs:

.... Thousands and thousands of our people are going to vanish into generic evangelical churches and thousands and thousands of our churches are going to become generic evangelical churches. Among those who remain in our churches, the level of specifically Baptist doctrinal knowledge and practice is minute and decreasing by the day. Anyone with a distinctive point of view, be they Calvinist or evangelical Catholic, can have a field day among Southern Baptists.

Our pastors are overwhelming becoming practitioners of an atheological, pragmatic, entrepreneurial model of ministry that’s entirely about church growth and church imitation, which in generic evangelicalism is primarily about fluff, fizz and putting on a good show. Preaching, once the showcase of the SBC’s commitment to its distinctives, now wallows in the quicksand of generic moralism, imitative devotional pabulum and stale fundamentalist carping.

Worship leadership has suffered twenty years of worship wars, and left every church looking for a twenty-five year old CCM artist-in-training willing to sing choruses and put together a band. Music schools in our seminaries have become dinosaurs and traditional worship is increasingly the domain of left-of-center SBC churches.

Our denominational leadership speaks of revival endlessly, yet the direction of our churches has never been less spiritual, more pragmatic, more imitative of secular marketing methods or less God-centered. ....

internetmonk.com: The Baptist Way: The Dire Situation of the Southern Baptist Convention as I See It

The actual historical Jesus

Are the gospel accounts historically accurate? The power of the Christian faith depends on the reliability of what we are told in the gospels about what Jesus did and said, what happened to him, and the significance of it all. An interview, at Christianity Today, with Richard Bauckham, author of Jesus and the Eyewitnesses:

Has your study of eyewitnesses and tradition affected your confidence in the historical accuracy of the New Testament? Are critical scholars too quick to dismiss the "reporting" in Gospel accounts?

Yes, it certainly has! Most Gospel scholars, including some conservative ones, have been locked into a picture of how Gospel traditions reached Gospel writers that we owe to form critics at the beginning of the last century. I think the form critics were wrong in almost every respect, and we need a new model. I propose one in which the Gospels were much closer to the eyewitnesses and the way the eyewitnesses told their stories than has been envisaged by the dominant scholarly tradition. My proposals need to be debated, and some of my arguments may be proven wrong. We shall see. But that we need a new model is certain.

How would the new model you're proposing affect average believers' devotional lives? Would it make any real difference for them?

The most important point is we can be confident that in the Gospels we find the real Jesus. We don't have to try to get behind the Gospels to "the historical Jesus," as the Jesus Seminar tells us we must. Instead, we can find in the Gospels "the Jesus of testimony," Jesus as he was understood by those in the best position to know him. [more]

The Evangelical Outpost reviews Can We Trust the Gospels?: Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by Mark D. Roberts, and says:

Can We Trust the Gospels? caught me completely by surprise. While I knew a scholar of Mark Roberts' caliber could convince skeptics the Gospels are reliable, I never expected to have my own preconceptions uprooted and replaced with a more solid trust in these biblical texts. This book not only makes a compelling case for trusting the Gospels, it illuminates the creative ways in which God worked to bring us His word.

They Really Saw Him | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction,
Can We Trust the Gospels | The Evangelical Outpost

The "gospel" of health and wealth

John Piper on a false gospel:Source: Desiring God: America's Ugly Exported "Gospel"

Free tools for Bible reading

The ESV blog commends several free tools that can help us keep up with our Bible reading. They are described at xaueious, and all the resources include the English Standard Version.

ESV Bible Blog » Free Tools to Help You Keep Up with Your Bible Reading

"Where Is God When It Hurts?"

Christianity Today posts a sermon delivered by Philip Yancey at Virginia Tech only weeks after the shootings.

Christianity Today: Where Is God When It Hurts?

"...by the righteousness of our cause..."

Sixty-three years ago, June 6, 1944, American, Canadian and British forces under the command of Dwight D. Eisenhower landed in Normandy to begin the final push to defeat the Nazis. Everyone knows the story of that day. The cost was very high. About 2,500 Americans were killed. The landing was successful and by the end of the day the Allies had moved beyond the beaches -- but the war was far from over.

In an era less concerned about a "wall of separation" between church and state, President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the nation in prayer. Much of what he prayed then we could pray today:

Almighty God: our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day without rest - until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom. ....

Ronald Reagan, forty years later:

... The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge - and pray God we have not lost it - that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.

You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you. ....

Ronald Reagan, Pointe Du Hoc, June 6, 1984

Sources: Historical Documents - Franklin D. Roosevelt's D-Day Prayer - June 6th 1944, RealClearPolitics: The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc