Dinner...in the sky??

Check this out
HT:Terenthial

Loving Death vs. Martyrdom

Here's a good article by John Piper over at the Desiring God blog. He references an article where multiple Muslims are quoted as saying that they love death. Piper responds an says Christians do not love death, but Christ. He continues:

There is a long history of Christian martyrdom. Often missionaries have desired to die for Jesus. But there are two great differences between this and the death wish of radical Islam. One is that Christian martyrs join Jesus in dying to save, not dying to kill. In their own sufferings, they extend Christ's sufferings to those for whom he died (Colossians 1:24). The other difference is that they call death gain not because of the secondary benefits of paradise, but because “to depart and be with Christ . . . is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

He also references Raymond Lull who was the first martyr in trying to reach the Muslims in 1315.

Piper and the Prosperity Gospel

John Piper speaks his mind about the prosperity gospel. Good stuff. Even the song, is by one of my favorite bands right now, Future of Forestry. Enjoy.
HT:Justin

Freedom among limitations

I'm going through a situation at work right now (actually right now, in the moment) where I am becoming frustrated. Before I go further, I'll back up a little bit.

I've been in this training program for a bank since last July. The goal of the program is to teach the nine of us going through it more about credit (loans), and to eventually be a commercial lender (Loan Officer for Small Businesses), for the most part. Well, 4 weeks ago, the nine of us began to travel around the Atlanta area and visit a different bank office (branch) for two weeks and observe credit analysts (people who put together loan packages). I went to Tucker for the first rotation, my old stomping grounds of Marietta for the second, and now I'm in Cumming for two weeks.

Now that you're caught up, here's why I'm feeling this way. You see, every loan package that is put together is done differently depending on which branch you are at. Overall, there is a structure that remains constant, but underneath this larger structure, things change up a good bit. Some people use charts, others rearrange how they input information, etc.

Here's my thought, everyone likes to do things differently and has a feeling of independence because of it. Limitations to one set way would seem too constraining, and wouldn't allow people the real freedom to think for themselves. And for the most part, that's how today's secular world views something like Christianity (or any other set of beliefs). They say it's too constraining. They say limitations to ideas and behavior doesn't give people the freedom that they want or need. But, if you look at my example, what I need and desire is limitations set so that I can perform more freely in the environment of creating loan packages.

Tim Keller says it this way:

"A fish, because it absorbs oxygen from water rather than air, is only free if it is restricted and limited to water...[so]in many areas of life, freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions. Those that fit with the reality of our nature and the world produce greater power and scope for our abilities and a deeper joy and fulfillment."

"The popular concept--that we should each determine our own morality--is based on the belief that the spiritual realm is nothing at all like the rest of the world."

"Freedom, then is not the absence of limitations and constraints but it is finding the right ones, those that fir our nature and liberate us."

"The love of Christ constrains. Once you realize how Jesus changed for you and gave himself for you, aren't afraid of giving up your freedom and therefore finding your freedom in him"
- The Reason for God pgs 46-50

Shortcomings

O living God, I bless thee that I see the worst of my heart as well as the best of it, that I can sorrow for those sins that carry me from thee, that it is thy deep and dear mercy to threaten punishment so that I may return, pray, live.

My sin is to look on my faults and be discouraged, or to look on my good and be puffed up.

I fall short of thy glory every day by spending hours unprofitably, by thinking that the things I do are good, when they are not done to thy end...

Death dismays me, but my great high priest stands in its waters, and will open me a passage, and beyond is a better country.

While I live let my life be exemplary, When I die may me end be peace.

- Valley of Vision

Restoration

"The Biblical view of things is resurrection--not a future that is just a consolation for the life we never had but a restoration of the life you always wanted.  This means that every horrible thing that ever happened will not only be undone and repaired but will in some way make the eventual glory and joy even greater."

The Reason for God, pg. 32; Tim Keller

Identity Problem

Ray Ortlund posted a great quote that I wanted to pass on. I feel like this so much of the time.

"We are trying to be several selves at once, without all our selves being organized by a single, mastering Life within us. Each of us tends to be, not a single self, but a whole committee of selves. There is the civic self, the parental self, the financial self, the religious self, the society self, the professional self, the literary self. And each of our selves is in turn a rank individualist, not cooperative but shouting out his vote loudly for himself when the voting time comes. . . . We are not integrated. We are distraught. We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, oppressed, and fearful we shall be shallow. For over the margins of life comes a whisper, a faint call, a premonition of richer living which we know we are passing by."

Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, pages 114-115.

This looks cool

The Dumbing of America

This seems to be pretty accurate.

"'The mind of this country, taught to aim at low objects, eats upon itself.' Ralph Waldo Emerson offered that observation in 1837, but his words echo with painful prescience in today's very different United States. Americans are in serious intellectual trouble -- in danger of losing our hard-won cultural capital to a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations."

No End in Sight

Minutes ago I finished watching this documentary,No End in Sight. You can watch it for free via that link. It's up for best documentary and is likely to win Sunday at the Oscars. It's basically about the situation in Iraq over the last 5 years, mainly centered on 2003. It is a very gripping account of some bad decisions that were made on the part of the US involving the reconstruction of Iraq. I highly recommend watching it for possibly a fresh perspective on what has really happened over there.

Review of Nooma Videos

The NOOMA videos have been a great success for the last several years. They are created by Rob Bell, pastor of a fast growing megachurch in Michigan. Rob is a leader in the emergent church movement, and for this, has not been without criticism. His videos are very well done, short productions that are widely popular among youth groups and young adults across the country.

This review by Greg Gilbert is an great in depth look at these videos. Are they harmless? Do they point people to Truth? Read to find out.

Here is Greg's conclusion:

I realize that Rob Bell is trying to communicate with people who have never given the time of day to spiritual things. He’s trying to present Jesus to them in a way that will be accessible to them. I think that’s a noble goal, and I don’t think it’s a futile one. But I also think that the way Bell has gone about it—with particular reference to these NOOMA videos—is something far smaller than and far short of biblical Christianity.

Having watched so many of these videos, it strikes me just now how seldom Bell uses the traditional Christian language to name Jesus. He doesn’t call him Savior, or Redeemer, or Son of God, and only very occasionally does he call him Lord. Instead, he very much seems to prefer calling Jesus "teacher" or "rabbi." I’m sure part of that is that he wants to be fresh and edgy. But I think it also points to just how far these videos lower the meaning of Christianity.

The fact is, the NOOMA videos retell the story of Jesus in a pretty radical way. Though Jesus is certainly respected and honored, the point of the story no longer involves the divine Christ who died on the cross as a substitute for his people, rose from the dead, and is now enthroned in heaven, but rather Jesus the Nazarene who teaches people how to live and how to find God. Jesus shows the way, rather than being the Way. He is respected, honored, and heeded, rather than worshipped. He is "Rabbi," rather than "Savior." This is, as Darrell Bock and Daniel Wallace described it recently, the replacement of "Christianity" with "Jesusanity."

Bell would never use this word, but I believe what he’s presented in NOOMA is really just another religion that’s not so much different from any other religion in the world. For the gospel of NOOMA isn’t finally about the Son of God who lovingly dies in his people’s place to redeem them from sin and save them from God’s righteous judgment. It’s about the really great teacher who says, "Change your life. Live this way."

(HT:Justin Taylor)

To be able to say "Woe is me!"

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"  Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."
                                                    - Isaiah 6:1-7

"[Isaiah] was considered by his contemporaries as the most righteous man in the nation. He was respected as a paragon of virtue. Then he caught one sudden glimpse of a Holy God. In that single moment all of his self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness. As long as Isaiah could compare himself to other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his own character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was destroyed--morally and spiritually annihilated."

                     - The Holiness of God, R.C. Sproul pg. 44

Oh, how I need to see myself as God sees me, not man.  I can always get cleaned up before man, but never before God.  I want desperately to be free from the fear of man, and instead to fear God.

The New Atheism and Al Mohler

Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist seminary in Lexington, recently did a speaking series on the "new atheism" at Dallas Theological Seminary. They are incredibly helpful at summarizing what exactly this movement is all about.

1. The New Atheism and The Endgame of Secularism = An introduction into the movement
2. The New Atheism and The Assault on Theism = Mohler talks about Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkins
3. The New Atheism and The Defense of Theism = Mohler talks about Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens
4. The New Atheism and The Future of Christianity = A great conclusion summarizing the other 3 messages

Here were some interesting sound bites:

"We live among people who believe in belief" which most new atheists would say is one step closer to their side.

"Agnostics are failed believers and liberal Christians are failed unbelievers"

The new atheists would say that, concerning worldviews, "there is really only atheism and biblical theism, nothing in between."

Also, for a blogger who will allow you good insight into this world of atheism, check out Friendly Atheist

Steamboat

Well, I'm back from Steamboat Springs, CO. We had a great time skiing, well I guess a few of us did. Roy didn't much like it. My mom had the flu all week. And my dad got sick toward the end, so he only skied two days. So I guess a couple of us had a good time skiing. My buddy Zach and his friend Rob were able to come out and ski with us one day, which was cool. Check out this video for one of his crazy stunts.

Some interesting facts about Steamboat while we were there.:
1) Steamboat, up until our first day of skiing, had not seen the sun since December 1st.
2) It had already received 300 inches of snow, which is what it usually gets for the entire season

This means we had some incredible powder to ski on!

Alright, now on to some pictures.

Here's Kara and I in the Gondola square area right outside of our condo.

Roy



I'm about to ski on some of the best snow ever...and I'm about to eat it


And check out all of them here.

Freud on death

I don't like most things Sigmund Freud has to say, but I thought the following quote was dead on. I found it as I finished up with my latest Ravi book, Can Man Live Without God?. By the way, it's an incredible book. Here's the quote:

"...at bottom nobody believes in his own death...every one of us is convinced of his immortality. We regularly emphasize the accidental cause of death, the mishap, the disease, the infection, the advanced age, and thus betray our eagerness to demote death from a necessity to a mere accident. Toward the deceased himself we behave in a special way, almost as if we were full of admiration for someone who has accomplished something very difficult. We suspend criticism of him, forgive him any injustice, pronounce the motto, de mortuis nil nisi bene, and consider it justified that in the funeral sermon and on the gravestone the most advantageous things are said about him. Consideration for the dead, who no longer needs it, we place higher than truth."

The Dangers of Scientology

I just saw this article that came from Time Magazine. Having lived next one of the worldwide centers of Scientology in Clearwater a couple of summers, and seeing these guys walk around downtown, it hits a little close to home. It's a very eye-opening, in depth look how this self proclaimed religion operates. It reminds me how thankful to know the Truth. The article opens up with this:

"By all appearances, Noah Lottick of Kingston, Pa., had been a normal, happy 24-year-old who was looking for his place in the world. On the day last June when his parents drove to New York City to claim his body, they were nearly catatonic with grief. The young Russian-studies scholar had jumped from a 10th-floor window of the Milford Plaza Hotel and bounced off the hood of a stretch limousine. When the police arrived, his fingers were still clutching $171 in cash, virtually the only money he hadn't yet turned over to the Church of Scientology, the self-help "philosophy" group he had discovered just seven months earlier."

(HT:Tim Challies)

New Red Mountain CD

I am very excited to now have Red Mountain's new CD, This Breaks My Heart of Stone. At this point, I've only made it through a couple of times, but so far I really dig it. There's such a raw emotion that is felt in all their albums. And I'm really attracted to it. They redo old hymns, most of which you've never heard of, which I really enjoy. The hymns embrace the idea that God has everything to do with our salvation and how His love is on us, even when our hearts are cold.

I was having a conversation with my roomie this morning about how a lot of Reformed music seems to have a depressing feel. And Red Mountain Music definitely fits that description to some degree. But, honestly that's why I think it's so great. Like the Puritans, who were so in tune with the depth of their sin, these redone hymns talk a lot about how screwed up we all are. But becuase of this acute awareness of sin, the lyrics are able to continue on and talk about the grace of God through Christ in a much more profound way. I think it's a good thing to come to a point of near depression over the depravity of our own hearts, and not to wallow in that guilt, but to lift up a now humble, broken heart to God and praise Him for His grace.

Here's what the producer said about the album:

The further we get, the less we seem to be sure of, the less we seem to know. If I'm honest, I'll admit that I struggle with being angry. I struggle with cynicism. It's not only hard to believe. It's hard to love. It's hard to be hurt. It's hard to see so many other people hurting. It's hard to stay. It's easier to just be cynical.

And yet, there are moments where the light shines. There are moments where I am "convinced as a sinner, to Jesus I come". There are moments when I meet someone and their belief shakes me somewhere deep inside, because I feel a similar belief inside myself. These moments of belief don’t seem to happen very often, but when they do, it feels like rain is falling on the drought of my soul.

For me - and I think for a lot of us - these moments of belief often coincide with music. These songs remind me, they remind us, that the gospel is at work. That redemption is taking place. That sad things are being made untrue. That hopefully in small pieces and small moments, our hardened hearts are breaking.

I miss the Office

(HT:Aaron)

(HT:Trailer Mash)

MLK Jr.'s conviction and determination

Over the years I've grown to appreciate more and more the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I love his relentless pursuit of justice to overcome the sin of racism. Desiring God posted this excerpt from King's Letter to a Birmingham Jail. It is a powerful reminder of the oppression that he and the black community were facing.

Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging dart of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six- year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking: "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored"; when your first name becomes "nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when you are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.

There will be blood update

I got to see it last night, and I was not disappointed! It had incredible acting, incredible cinematography, an incredible story, and an incredible soundtrack. It is a very raw account of a man's pursuit of wealth and all that comes with that.