Strange way of getting people to church

Here's their website.

And thanks to Hemant for the link.

Irony in Modern Intellectual Progress

I've been reading a book called The Passion of the Western Mind by Richard Tarnas. It was Arnold's idea, and a good idea at that. It's just been slow moving.

Anyway, the subtitle is "Understanding the Ideas that have shaped our Worldview." It particularly focuses on the worldview that us "Westerners" operate in. I read this quote tonight:

"...it was the irony of modern intellectual progress that man's genius discovered successive principles of determinism...that steadily attenuated belief in his own rational and volitional freedom, while eliminating his sense of being anything more than a peripheral and transient accident of material evolution."

Now you know why it has been taking me so long to get through it. Good quote though. It points to the fallacy of naturalism and such a high regard for the intellect.

Paste Magazine

For those of you who don't have a subscription yet, Paste Magazine just made it so you can name your own price for a year subscription. And if you don't know, it's a music magazine that is excellent at introducing new, up and coming artists, as well as talking about bands that have been around for a while. Their tagline, "signs of life in music, film, and culture," pretty much sums up how they differentiate from other magazines (thanks MV).   They seek to give great insight into what really inspires the music that is created.  This is a great time to check it out.  

Saint Augustine

I was flipping through one of my favorite books today. It's called Confessions by St. Augustine. It was written over 1600 years ago, and still has some incredible thoughts for us today. I encourage you to read it if you haven't yet. Here's a good thought:

“It is not for nothing, not mere chance, that the towering authority of the Christian faith has spread throughout the world. God would never have done so much, such wonderful things for us if the life of the soul came to an end with the death of the body. Why then do I delay? Why do I not abandon my worldly hopes and give myself up entirely to the search for God and the life of true happiness.?”

He was writing these words as a non-Christian. But, they hit me today because although I am a Christian, I seem to forget a lot that true happiness is found in Christ. I often turn to cisterns that can hold no water, desperately searching out that which can give me life. And I forget that God Himself is the true source of my everlasting joy.

"Thou has formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee."

- Augustine

Very Nice...I like

UGA 42 - Florida 30
What a great celebration















I want to hug Knowshon too.










I'm a happy guy

Mike Huckabee

The presidential race is well underway. And though I am not fully convinced of the candidate for me, I have been impressed with what I've seen about Mike Huckabee. Here's a pretty good blog post that sums up what he's all about. And here's the intro from Justin, Joe, and Matthew:

"When it comes to politics, we three are pragmatic idealists. We are dedicated to the pursuit of noble principles and goals while never forgetting that politics is the "art of the possible." Because we are idealists we are choosing to endorse a candidate who most aligns with our principles and values and is most worthy of our sacred trust. Because we are pragmatists we are choosing to endorse the one candidate who we believe is most capable of defeating Sen. Hillary Clinton."

Rosie Thomas...and loneliness

I went to Eddie's Attic last night, along with Bailey and Evan, and saw a pretty incredible show. I went for the amazing voice and songwriting ability of the opener, Rosie Thomas, and was quite thrilled to be able to experience her musical talent. However, Bailey assured me that I would not be disappointed with the main act, Over the Rhine. And I definitely was not. You should check them both out.

Moving back to Rosie, she has a song called "Say Hello" that I'm quite fond of. She didn't play it last night, but I just wanted to point some lyrics within the song. She says:

"Loneliness is just a crime, look each other in the eye...and say hello."

I like that line. It's very true. Eye contact is such a simple way to care for someone who you might not even know.

History of Religion

For those of you interested in a quick version of the spread of religions around the world, check this out:
Thanks to Justin for the link

Willing to be saved by grace

I listened to a song called "Draw my soul to thee" this morning by a favorite group of mine,Red Mountain Music. In it these lyrics really stuck out to me:

"Bid me seek Thy smiling face;
Willing to be saved by grace"

and later

"Teach me to confide in Thee; Thy salvation's wholly free."

These lyrics struck me because most of the time recently, I have not been willing to be saved by grace alone. I find it more comfortable to try to do good things. And of course, when I fail, I suffer much guilt and shame because I can't measure up.

So, that's my prayer today. That I would be willing to let myself to rely completely on Christ's work for my salvation and standing before God.

DG conference 2007

Though I didn't get to go to the Desiring God conference this year, I did take full advantage of the audio resources on their website. I wanted to highlight three talks that I listened to that are well worth hearing:

Four Essentials to Finishing Well by Jerry Bridges

A Call for the Perseverance of the Saints by Helen Roseveare

and of course

Getting Old for the Glory of God by John Piper.

2 things wrong with "Christianity" lately

Child preachers

and

Joel Osteen on 60 minutes.
Here's a good summary of the Osteen segment.

A new addition to my blog

Be sure to check out the new addition to my blog. It's the Recently Read section and is found on the right below my currently reading stuff. Here I intend to rate and briefly review recent books that I have read. My hope is to encourage you to read well. Enjoy!

Embracing Accusation

So, after about a month of listening to it, the new Shane and Shane CD is great! There is one song in particular, lately, that has really given me much encouragement. It's called "Embracing Accusation" (much thanks to Aaron for pointing it out.) Here are some of the lyrics:

"Father of lies...saying,
'cursed are the ones who can’t abide.'
He’s right, hallelujah, he’s right.
The devil is preaching the song of the redeemed,
that I am cursed and gone astray.
I cannot gain salvation...
Embracing accusation.

The devil’s singing over me an age old song
that I am cursed and gone astray
Singing the first verse so conveniently over me,
he’s forgotten the refrain...
Jesus Saves!"

Being very aware of my sin this week, despair began sinking in. The self-talk is very loud, "David, you are so messed up. How can you call yourself a Christian?" Thankfully, the Truth of the gospel hit me in a very fresh way through the words of this song. I am so grateful, not that I do sin, but that sin gives me the privilege of relying fully on Christ for redemption. Man, how freeing it is to know that my sin has nothing to do now with my standing before God. My salvation is already secured in Christ's redeeming work.

So, next time, when "Satan tempts you to despair and tells you of the guilt within," remember that "God the just is satisfied, to look on Christ and pardon you."

Solitude pt. 2

About a year ago, I posted a quote by Os Guinness about solitude. I just recently read another very intriguing paragraph by Dallas Willard (in the Divine Conspiracy). What he says really hits me right now, because I haven't had much of this kind of time. Even when I do manage to create some solitude, my mind is often racing around, making sure I have all my future plans in order. I really needed to be reminded that I am not in control.

"[Solitude and silence] take the world off our shoulders for a time and interrupt our habit of constantly managing things, of being in control, or thinking we are. One of the greatest of spiritual attainments is the capacity to do nothing. Thus the Christian philosopher Pascal insightfully remarks, 'I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own room.'"

Robby Seay and Brandon Heath

Robby Seay and Brandon Heath are playing Tuesday night (10-2) at Perimeter Church. It should be a great night. Everyone in the area, be sure to make it out.

Brain McLaren's new book

Tim Challies recently reviewed Brian McLaren's new book "Everything Must Change." In the review, he mentions countless dangerous ideas held in the book.

For those of you unaware, Brain McLaren is the leader of the Emerging Church movement. Also associated with this movement are prominent leaders and pastors such as Rob Bell and Tony Jones. This is a recent movement that is encouraging others to value relationships over Truth, and is also revamping the traditional view of salvation in Christ. I realize some of my readers are at least somewhat involved in this movement, so please tell me if I am being too subjective here. And I would appreciate any feedback.

Moving on to the book, Mclaren states that:

"With no apologies to Martin Luther, John Calvin, or modern evangelicalism, Jesus (in Luke 16:9) does not prescribe hell to those who refuse to accept the message of justification by grace through faith, or to those who are predestined for perdition, or to those who don't express faith in a favored atonement theory by accepting Jesus as their 'personal savior.' Rather, hell--literally or figurative--is for the rich and comfortable who proceed on their way without concern for their poor neighbor day after day."

Tim summarizes views on heaven, hell, and salvation with this:

"Rather than being eternal realities, heaven and hell become states we create on this earth as we pursue or deny the kingdom of God. Because Jesus' message is not one of sinful men becoming reconciled to a holy God through an atoning sacrifice, those of any creed can seek and participate in the kingdom. People of other creeds may well be participating in it more fully and more purely than ones who claim to be Christians. Men and women of all creeds can be followers of Jesus living out the kingdom of God even if they have never heard His name."

Wow!!! Tim sums up the book with this statement:

"It seems increasingly clear that the new kind of Christian McLaren seeks is no kind of Christian at all. The church on the other side of his reinvention is a church devoid of the glorious gospel of Christ's atoning death. It is a church utterly stripped of its power because it is a church stripped of the gospel message. McLaren's new gospel is a social gospel, a liberal gospel and, in fact, no gospel at all. This Emerging Church has managed to do something remarkable--it has emerged into something the church has already seen, has already wrestled with, and has already defeated. The Emerging Church has gone suicidal."

The reason I point these things out is not to create arguments for arguments sake. The Truth is a very sacred thing, and I am interested in knowing God and the gospel as explained in the Bible. Obviously, some might point out that I have a skewed view because of my theological presuppositions, or just by the fact that I was born in the late 21st century. But as I explained in a recent post, my pursuit and understanding of Truth is only further confirmed by the history of the church throughout the ages.

Billy Graham, C. Hitchens, and Woody Allen?

I found this info. from a great blog that I read called Looking Closer.

This short Time article shows how Christopher Hitchens, a famous atheist, had some unflattering words towards Billy Graham. The article states that Hitchens uses evidence that actually proves himself wrong. And it also shows what conviction Billy had in sharing the gospel as the Bible presented it, rather than conforming his message into what the itching ears of the masses wanted to hear.

Also, Looking Closer provided these two videos that were really cool.

Props to Evan

So, my buddy Evan McHugh played a show last night at Smith's Olde Bar in Atlanta and he get a pretty cool write-up from the AJC.

"Atlantan McHugh's "From the Second Chair" is a little marvel. If any major label A&R department heard this and passed, they should be flogged. The songs are smart and memorable. The musicianship and arrangements couldn't be more luscious if they were drenched in butter, recalling the best moments of David Gray and Damien Rice. But it's McHugh's swoon-worthy voice that steals the show."

Wow...I couldn't agree more. Especially the part about the butter.

Reading tips

I like reading a lot, as mentioned earlier. And I found this article of reading tips to be very helpful. In the article Tim Challies list 10 ways to read more books and to read them better, or as I would like to say, to read books more better. :)

I'll list the tips here, but check out the article for more info.
1)Read
2)Read widely
3)Read deliberately
4)Read interactively
5)Read with discernment
6)Read heavy books
7)Read light books
8)Read new books
9)Read old books
10)Read what your heroes read

My personal favorite is #9, reading old books. As I've heard many people quote before, and as Tim points out, C.S. Lewis has a great quote that I live by in this arena:

"It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones. Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”

Improbable People

"God does impossible things through improbable people"

That was the message last night at the Gathering. It such an encouraging truth to me. I often feel very inadequate to do anything of worth towards advancing the Kingdom. But, the Bible's heroes are mostly men who were wretches and nobodies. It gives me hope.

This idea is also written all over books and movies. It's really what makes a good book or movie good. Well, here's a video made by my buddies James and Scott, in case you missed it last night, of several different nobodies doing impossible things. Enjoy.