Saturday, January 31, 2009

Narnia Revived

Disney backed out of Narnia due to a less than stellar (not terrible mind you, just less than stellar) performance of the first two movies in the series. Thankfully, Fox has taken up the task, and Ross Douthat believes that is a very good thing. Douthat gives us Narnia fans some hope for a brighter future for Lewis' classic series. Read his article here.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Driscoll on Nightline

ABC Nightline ran a story on Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill. Check out the video here.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Pro-Life Argument of President Barak Obama

Let us pray that our new president will realize the compelling argument of his own life for life.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Romans 2:17-29

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” 25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. (Romans 2:17-29)

Who are God’s people? To many first century Jews what gave them the edge over their Gentile counterparts were three things: 1) physical descent from Abraham, 2) possession of the truth and law of God, and 3) no foreskins. Paul takes one look at the list and wonders whether a Jew, knowledgeable of the law, and of course foreskinless is still in good with God if he lives in the lies, though knowing the truth, is a thief, adulterer, and idolater, though having the law, and is an embarrassment to God, though physically carrying the mark of God’s gracious covenant with Abraham. Suddenly the list seems to be missing something. Paul, a Jew, is not engaging in anti-Semitic vitriol; he is merely pointing out a rather obvious point. True participation in God’s grace is an internal, and not simply external, act. Beauty may only be skin deep, but salvation is not.

Paul points out what is the default thought pattern of all people in basically every religion in the world. It is so much easier to make a list than to be inwardly transformed. We hardly need to stop at religions, non-religious philosophies work just as well. Everyone makes a list of what marks them off as special and better than others. I am compassionate for the poor, says one. Yes, you love the poor, but do you love that filthy, rank drug addict that just lifted your wallet to have money for his next score. It’s easy to love the poor until you meet them. I despise bigotry, says another. Do you also despise bigots? And if you do, is that not bigotry? On and on we could go. It matters little that you have a list. If Paul is right in Romans 2:12-16, and we all have a God-wrought consciousness of morality, than all of us will have lists, and many of them will be quite similar. The real question is whether you keep your list. And if you do not, then why do you not?

Monday, January 19, 2009

Death By Love Thoughts

Read another chapter of Driscoll's Death By Love(see below). Driscoll wrote the chapter to a guy who molested a girl and plead guilty. The horror of his act and the life long shame it brings (his name is on the known sex offenders list) has brought him into suicidal depression. Driscoll starts off the letter: "Dear John, you are a despicable human being." Okay, that is not at all where most people would start, but that is where the gospel starts. Later in the chapter Driscoll comments on the fact that sin is so real. Honestly, I think on some level we, and certainly guys like John, are grateful when we call it like it is. There is something wholly disingenuous about the self-esteem culture that tries to paint everything pretty. How do you paint rape up pretty? "You just molested a little girl and probably messed her and her family up for the rest of their lives. But don't feel too bad, you're really a good person." I don't know, something about that just doesn't ring true. So long as you don't do something atrocious, there is hope for you. But for guys like John, who's acts are so beyond redemption the message is quite despairing.

Of course, Driscoll doesn't stay at "your despicable." He goes on to point out that in Christ there is no sex-offender list. He took the punishment and disgrace and has exchanged his purity and righteousness. Due to the cross, John doesn't have to be seen by God as a pedophile but as a righteous, pure, holy, and perfect son. Sin is real, but so is this love. I think that is what I appreciate most about this book. As you delve into the darkest corners of human depravity, corners that make sin so real, and you see blood atonement provide the solution, you cannot help but see how real is the power of the cross.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Serious Cold

For those of us whining about the cold, here is a reminder of how good we have it.

Death By Love

I have been reading this book by Mark Driscoll. It's turned out to be one of those books I don't like putting down. It is a powerful reminder of the power of the cross.

Romans 2:12-16

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. (Romans 2:12-16)


I have decided not to answer the second question posted below. I know, you are all very disappointed. The reason for my decision is that to explain how “doing good” results in eternal life and yet how that is not earning salvation with good works would be to explain the next six or so chapters. I hope the answer will soon become very clear.

So on to the rest of chapter 2. Paul is on a mission to explode a smug assumption of self-righteousness. He does this by pointing two terribly important aspects to the law. The first point is that law is internal as well as external. We all know what a law is. Even those ignorant of it nevertheless still have it. His evidence of this fairly bold asseration is our natural accusing or excusing thoughts. Mistakes and failures simply do not disappear from memory. Often they don’t even fade away with time. They keep accusing us, sometimes to an unbearable degree. Perhaps, you may object that this is only because of the oppressive moral standards ingrained in us since birth. But remember it is not just accusing thoughts but also excusing thoughts that prove Paul’s point. What produces guilt as well as what produces license reveals the law. The adulterer reasons that the inattention of their spouse excuses their behavior. But the excuse that justifies the breaking of the law is itself a tribute to the law’s power. There is a standard that we all assume. In one case it may keep us moral; in another it may provide license for immorality. For most of us this all very complex. Our inner life is made up of a complicated web of accusing and excusing thoughts. But the thoughts are universal, and give evidence of the nature of God’s law.

This is an important point, for it demonstrates that God’s law is not merely a moral code invented for a specific group of people at a specific point in time. No, his law is a reflection of his nature, an unchanging nature. Therefore, it is possible, at least in principle, to keep and to break the law whether or not you have possession of it. What God revealed in his law is already what our accusing and excusing thoughts tell us. The implication of this thought is pretty disconcerting. You cannot escape God’s law. It haunts you no matter how far you fly from it. Whether you spend your days in despair over your failures or in partying while excusing your behavior, the law speaks to you. And when it speaks, what do you say? One day, as Paul points out, not only the law but the Law-giver will speak, and when he does what then will you say?

Saturday, January 10, 2009

God Followers

This is a great little summary of the martyrdoms of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Flemming, the five brave missionaries who sought to reach a brutal tribe in the jungles of Ecuador, and the great harvest that was reaped due to their sacrifice. I've heard the story many times, but there is something about seeing the faces.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Romans 2:6-11: First Question

Being that the responses to my last post on this passage were so overwhelming . . . eh hem . . . I thought I’d go ahead and post some attempts at answering my own questions.

1) Being self-seeking leads to God’s wrath, but isn’t doing good to gain glory, honor, and immortality self-seeking? Maybe we can best answer this question with another question. Is it selfish of me to seek for a happy marriage? The philosopher Kant would say yes, and that such motives are not truly altruistic. Only when you have absolutely no self interest are you acting morally. Thankfully, the Bible emphatically does not take us in this direction. It says things like “He who loves his wife loves himself”(Ephesians 5:28). This is an obvious appeal to the “self” as motivation for loving another, my wife. Even when Scripture declares “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others”(Philippians 2:4) notice that self-interest is assumed but not condemned. Don’t get me wrong. This is certainly no modern self-esteem message: “Before you love others, you must first love yourself.” Self-interest is not promoted; it is assumed. But it is assumed as natural and proper. The first command given to man doesn’t say, “Do not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden just because I said so," but “Do not eat . . . or you will surely die.”

Clearly, then, biblical self-denial is not to have no thought of the self. This is good news, for Kant’s ethics are abysmally depressing. Telling my wife that I will love her because it’s the right thing to do may sound moral, but I can tell you she sure isn’t going to like it. Nor should she. Biblical self-denial is not the rejection of personal pleasure; it is the choosing of greater pleasures over lesser ones. That is ultimately what is at the heart of love. To love someone is to delight in them, or at least the two are so intimately linked that they can’t possibly be separated.

So back to Romans. I hope I’ve shown that to work for the greater pleasures of glory, honor, peace, and immortality is not necessarily selfish. It could be, of course. Kind of like working for a really big paycheck. My boss may like my good work ethic, but it is hardly altruistic. So I suppose we have to define what exactly “glory, honor, peace, and immortality” truly are. They aren’t quite like my paycheck. We don’t have to read very far to get some hints as to what Paul is talking about. In Romans 5:1, Paul says through Christ we get “peace with God,” and then in 5:2 he speaks of the “hope of the glory of God.” We could go more in depth, but I don’t think we need to at this point. All you have to see is that “glory, honor, etc.” are derivative. That is, they come from God. Or more precisely, they are found in God. Therefore, to seek for glory in Paul’s mind is to seek for God as God. Those thirsting for God are those who seek for glory, honor, peace, and immortality, which I think Paul sums up as “eternal life.”

For clarity sake, I will repeat the point. Acting for personal benefit is not necessarily selfish. The door, then, is open to a selfless search for personal benefits. Sounds radical, I know, but I don’t think it is quite as radical as you might think. We are, to use some imagery I got from C.S. Lewis, created to be leeches on a host, namely God. All glory, honor, joy, life, peace, etc. is found in him. Therefore, we are most human and most righteousness living like leeches upon his grace. “Doing good” then should not be seen as a payment for some eternal prize, but as joyfully sucking down the fluids of grace provided by our host. Maybe I can say that a bit more tastefully. We pursue good works not to barter a better deal, but to participate in the real life found in God.

That’s all for now. I’ll deal with the second question later.