The Decline of Christian America is a Good Thing

Dan Harris with ABC sits down with five young American evangelicals, in this ten minute interview, to discuss how they view the future of Christianity in America (thanks Roy). It is in response to this Newsweek article in April 2009. Here's the opening question/statement:

DH: You have said that the death of Christian America is a good thing.

Gabe Lyons: Yeah, what I mean by that is this moving on from where people just assume that Christian ideas govern everything in our world, and Christians rely on that almost as a basis for their ideas and their thoughts and no longer have to qualify them to just an average person who might be skeptical or cynical. That new environment is challenging for Christians and that's a good thing for the faith. Christianity historically has grown when it's been under pressure, when it's not been under this dominant power position...It's not a bad thing for us to be in a place where it's not just assumed that everyone is a Christian. It forces us to go deeper. It forces us to go back to our roots. And I think that's a good thing for the movement of Jesus.

I also came across this post from a year ago as the author responds to the Newsweek article. He says some things that I believe are dead on:

"There never was such a thing as 'Christian America.' And the Christians in America shouldn't worry about that.

There cannot be such a 'Christian America,' in fact, because citizenship and discipleship can never be synonymous terms. Christians owe an allegiance to Jesus Christ above the allegiance to the nation. And that means that a Christian's primary frame of social reference is not society at large but rather the church.

If we, as Christians, are really worried about declining numbers of the faithful in this land, we should practice a more robust form of discipleship. Ultimately, it is not by baptizing secular institutions or passing 'Christian' laws that we practice fidelity to God. It is rather by preaching the word of God, celebrating the sacraments, forming disciples of Jesus Christ, and witnessing to the love of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through our works of piety and mercy in the world.

It is good when Christians exert an influence on the society in which they live. Their participation in the larger world can lead to greater civility in social life and more compassion in the legislation and execution of laws. But the telos of the practice of Christian faith is not to make the world Christian. That makes no Scriptural sense. It is instead to spread the gospel and build up the church. And yes, there is a real difference.

So we shouldn't worry about trying to Christianize America. We should just be concerned with Christianizing the church."

Misdirecting twenty-something men in the church

This is a good, brief article discussing twenty-something men in the church today. It looks at how spiritually mature men are often misdirected by their church community to seminary or vocational ministry when they have passions and gifting for other things. The reason this is happening is because "spiritually interested young men are the exception rather than the expectation." Here's the conclusion:

When a younger brother says to me that “he feels called to ministry,” I usually understand that to mean that he craves and needs validation and would like to use the church to make him feel good about himself. Or even worse, as Leon Podles explains in his book The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity, many young men feel called to the church because uninitiated men find the church to be “a safe place, a refuge from the challenges of life and therefore attracts men who are fearful of making a break with the secure world of childhood dominated by women.”

Whatever the reason, it would be great to see local churches so healthy and full of twentysomethings that the presence of spiritually vibrant twentysomething men would be so normal that we would have better criteria for sending men into ministry beyond being “on fire for Christ” and having a desire to teach and serve. That should be simply normal for any man following Jesus.

(HT:Challies)

Your Brain on Gadgets

Coupled with my post from a week ago, this NY Times article almost makes me want to give up technological gadgets all together, for fear that this is happening to me:

"Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.

These play to a primitive impulse to respond to immediate opportunities and threats. The stimulation provokes excitement — a dopamine squirt — that researchers say can be addictive. In its absence, people feel bored."

(HT:Challies)

Your Inner Lawyer

Paul Tripp:

“When confronted, how active is your ‘inner lawyer,’ arguing in your defense? Or can you listen because Christ is your only defense?”

(HT:Of First Importance)

Godly Grief Produces True Repentance

Kevin DeYoung has some good thoughts on godly grief over sin from 2 Corinthains 7:

Godly grief sees the vertical dimension of our sin. I have a growing concern that some Christians are describing sin in categories that mask its true nature. Sin is not simply a sad thing because it can wreck our lives. It is not just the ruining of shalom. Sin does more than make God sad that his world is not the way it’s supposed to be. Sin makes God angry. It is offensive to God. His wrath is aroused not simply because we’re missing out on his best, but because we have violated his law, rejected his Lordship, and made ourselves gods in his place.

(...)

There is an eternal difference between regret and repentance. Regret feels bad about past sins. Repentance turns away from past sins. Most of us are content with regret. We just want to feel bad for awhile, have a good cry, enjoy the cathartic experience, bewail our sin and how selfish/stupid/sorry we are. But we don’t really want to change. We don’t really want to live different than we have been.

Godly grief produces true repentance, which leads to salvation (v. 10). Instead of obsessing over regrets and feeling bad due to the opinions of others, godly grief mourns for sin, turns from sin, and finds forgiveness for sin in Christ.

Read the whole thing

Science Cannot Account For Everything

William Lane Craig explains how science cannot account for everything:

1. Logic and Mathematical Truths (Science presupposes logic and math)
2. Metaphysical truths
3. Ethical beliefs about statement of value
4. Aesthetic judgments
5. Science itself

(HT:JT)

Being Truly Reformed

Ray Ortlund has a great post about what it means to be Reformed. He does this by comparing much of what (wrongly) goes on in the Reformed church today to the error held by the many in the Galatian church. Like circumcision back then, Reformed theology today can become for many a form of divisiveness in the church, functioning as an addition to Jesus.

I am a proponent of Reformed theology because I believe this is what the Bible teaches. As I've come to understand Reformed theology I have been less than gracious with others who hold other views. However, I have been challenged the last couple of years (mainly through my Ecclesiology and the Sacraments course at RTS this past spring) to be more ecumenical. And this article by Ortlund is another encouragement towards this kind of unity.

Here is his conclusion:

...Let Jesus alone stand forth in my theology, in my emotional well-being and in my relationships with other Christians!” This settledness in Paul’s heart made him a life-giving man for other people. He was a free man, setting others free (Galatians 5:1). This is the acid test of a truly Reformed ministry – that other believers need not be Reformed in order to be respected and included in our hearts.

Whatever divides us emotionally from other Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians is a “plus” we’re adding to the gospel. It is the Galatian impulse of self-exaltation. It can even become a club with which we bash other Christians, at least in our thoughts, to punish, to exclude and to force into line with us.

What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).

My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart – toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one – in Christ alone.

Read the whole thing

Guinness Is Good For You

I recently read the book The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield. My roommate Roy read it several months ago and I was intrigued by the things he learned from the book. It's the story of how the Guinness beer company was founded and what set the Guinness family and company apart.

Mansfield begins by explaining a little bit about the history of beer. One of the things that I found most interesting about this chapter is that one of the first things built when the Pilgrims landed in America was a brewery, mainly because beer was much safer than water to drink at the time. Mansfield goes on to show how integrated beer was with the church. It was seen as a gift from God and many drank it as a way to honor Him.

The rest of the book tells the story of how Arthur Guinness founded the company in 1759 and how this company impacted the world. The culture created at Guinness was unlike any other. Workers received far better pay than other companies and received benefits that were unheard of. One of the maxims around the company at one point was "You cannot make money from people unless you are willing for people to make money from you."

The other thing that made Guinness stand out from other companies was its investment into the community. It was a large help in turning the city of Dublin around during many years of poverty, famine, and sickness. The faith of many in the Guinness family caused them to put millions of dollars back into the community in the form of education, housing, and medical help.

Company leaders have also had a very large impact in the missionary movement. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, was good friends with the Guinness family and his ministry was helped by missionary training facilities funded by the company.

I love this book because it looks at a extraordinary company behind an excellent beer and shows the impact that Guinness has had around the world. I also love the way it points us to appreciate beer instead of getting drunk off of it or putting pressure on others to abstain from it completely. Somehow, the latter of these two extremes has been embraced by many churches (in error), causing a very unhealthy view of what alcohol is.

In the 19th century, liquor was often associated with drunkenness and the dilapidation of society while beer on the other hand was associated with a flourishing community. Partly due to this observation, the slogan "Guinness is good for you" was created. I would have to agree...mainly because it is delicious! If you drink (and you're over 21), I'd encourage you to go enjoy one with a friend and appreciate its history.

You can also click here for a video introduction of the book from the author.

Lost Summary

This will probably be my last Lost post. I've been back and forth on what I thought of the series finale. I read something yesterday that really helped summarize and make sense of a lot of things. If you're on Twitter, Facebook, or on the internet in general much, you've probably seen it. But just in case, here's the post that was helpful.

What Kind of Brain is the Web Giving Us?

A recent Wired Magazine article, written by Nicholas Carr, looks at the effect of the internet on the human mind. In it he asks an interesting question:

"What kind of brain is the web giving us? That question will no doubt be the subject of a great deal of research in the years ahead. Already, though, there is much we know or can surmise—and the news is quite disturbing. Dozens of studies by psychologists, neurobiologists, and educators point to the same conclusion: When we go online, we enter an environment that promotes cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning. Even as the Internet grants us easy access to vast amounts of information, it is turning us into shallower thinkers, literally changing the structure of our brain."

He goes on to note a few studies done and statistics measured over the last 30 years. The research shows that are brains are actually changing. Here's his conclusion:

There’s nothing wrong with absorbing information quickly and in bits and pieces. We’ve always skimmed newspapers more than we’ve read them, and we routinely run our eyes over books and magazines to get the gist of a piece of writing and decide whether it warrants more thorough reading. The ability to scan and browse is as important as the ability to read deeply and think attentively. The problem is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of thought. Once a means to an end, a way to identify information for further study, it’s becoming an end in itself—our preferred method of both learning and analysis. Dazzled by the Net’s treasures, we are blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture.

What we’re experiencing is, in a metaphorical sense, a reversal of the early trajectory of civilization: We are evolving from cultivators of personal knowledge into hunters and gatherers in the electronic data forest. In the process, we seem fated to sacrifice much of what makes our minds so interesting.

I post this because I already can see how my reading comprehension and ability to focus over has drastically waned over the last 10 years. It even took me several tries to finish the article because of my mind kept wandering elsewhere. I don't know if this is just inevitable and we'll adapt accordingly, or if this is something we can control. In any case, it's worth thinking about.

(HT:Challies)

The gospel produces sustained obedience

Tullian Tchividjian:

When John (or Jesus) talks about keeping God’s commands as a way to know whether you love Jesus or not, he’s not using the law as a way to motivate. He’s simply stating a fact. Those who love God will keep on keeping his commands. The question is how do we keep God’s commands? What sustains a long obedience in the same direction? Where does the power come from to do what God commands? As every parent and teacher knows, behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be shallow and short-lived. But shallow and short-lived is not what God wants (that’s not what it means to “keep God’s commands.”). God wants a sustained obedience from the heart. How is that possible? Long-term, sustained, gospel-motivated obedience can only come from faith in what Jesus has already done, not fear of what we must do. To paraphrase Ray Ortlund, any obedience not grounded in or motivated by the gospel is unsustainable.

(from an interview with JT)

The Ballard's are moving to Nashville

A good friend of mine, Matt Ballard, is leaving with his family in a couple of months to be the pastor of a church plant in an area just south of Nashville, Tennessee. The church is affiliated with the PCA and is called Southpointe Community Church. Matt is going to be leaving Perimeter Church in Duluth, GA where he has served for the last 5 years as the Pastor to Young Adults as well as being on the teaching team.

I've known Matt a little over four years now and he has made a profound impact on my life. Always willing and able to speak truth to those around him, he is one of the most gifted communicators that I know. He has helped me see the beauty of Christ and the love of God for me in a way that is unrivaled. He will be greatly missed, but I'm excited because I know his heart is big for what God might do through him in this next venture.

If you're in the Nashville area, be sure to stop by. If not, consider praying for him and giving to him financially. He needs to raise a good bit of money over the next few months. Why not be a part of how God provides for him?

You can make a one-time donation to the Ballard's account at Mission to North America here. Or you can set up recurring donations by contacting Annette Keller (with MNA) at 678-825-1200.

Lost - Answers?

In line with my post yesterday, this is a pretty good video expressing the need for answers in Lost:

The End of Lost

Well, it's finally coming to an end. This Sunday, from 9pm to 11:30pm, will be the last episode in this very intriguing series. I didn't watch Lost for the first three seasons. My rationale was that I didn't need another TV show to get hooked on. I already had 24 and the Office. That was enough for me.

Well, all that changed when I decided to watch the season finale to season 3 (spoiler alert), the one where Charlie dies, back in 2007. I instantly became hooked. It took me about 3 weeks to watch seasons 1 & 2 (this long because I had a job and had to sleep some too). Then I waited very impatiently for Season 4 to start 8 months later.

I've loved the show for a lot of reasons. I've loved the character development. I've loved the way philosophy is weaved into various elements of the show. I've loved the intrigue of always being surprised about what's going to happen next. And it's just fun. Who hasn't thought about what it would be like to survive on an island?

Well, the last season or two, my excitement has waned a bit. I no longer care when the music gets all dramatic and some big mystery is revealed. I think my capacity was reached for how many confusing and mysterious things could take place, and I'm just ready for everything to start getting tied up.

Paste Magazine reviews the show each week and I thought the conclusion to the latest episode review was humorous. It sums up both my doubt and hope that I've been feeling for quite a while that the show will have a satisifying conclusion:

"What seems most important now is that Smoky must die. Before everyone else does—which may very well happen if the current death rate on the island continues. Let’s hope somebody survives the upcoming two-and-a-half-hour finale, because if the past six years of Lost have all been about protecting a mysterious light, then somebody better protect the damned light."

A Spirit of Wonder

From Tim Keller's sermon, Beholding the Love of God (4-2-95):

A real Christian is the person who says, "It is an absolute miracle that God loves me. It's just a miracle that I'm a Christian." This is actually an acid test...

There's two kinds of people that go to church. There's religious people, then there are real Christians...A real Christian is somebody who sees everything that comes as a gift. In other words, a real Christian sees that you're totally in debt to God. But a religious person is someone who is working hard, making an effort, trying to be good, going to Bible studies, just saying "No" everywhere, denying themselves a lot of pleasures, and so forth. A religious person is someone who is trying to put God in their debt. That's the difference...And a Christian is somebody who sees themselves in God's debt.

Here's the acid test. If you're a real Christian there is a spirit of wonder that permeates your life. You're always saying, "How miraculous. How inter-planetary. How unreal." You're always looking at yourself saying, "Me, a Christian? Incredible! Miraculous! Unbelievable! A joke!" But a person who's trying to put God in their debt, there isn't any spirit of wonder at all...

If you ask a religious person, a person who doesn't understand the grace of God. You say, "Are you a Christian?" They say, "Of course I am. I've always been a Christian. Sure I'm a Christian." My friends, if you are a Christian there's no "sure" about it, and there's no "of course" about it. Not a bit.

The acid test is your spirit of wonder stays there even when things go bad. You see when things go bad, when problems happen, here you can tell the difference between a moralist and a Christian. A moralist says "What good is all my religion? What good is going to God? I tried hard to be a Christian. I'm trying hard to be obedient to God. What good is it? God owes me." You get mad....

Christians, to the degree you behold the grace of God. To the degree you meditate on it and let it become a holy fire in your heart. To the degree you experience in a sense and behold the love of God. To that degree you're going to find that in difficulties, you'll be able to say "My Father must have a purpose for me, because He loves me. Besides that, He doesn't owe me a good life. He owes me a far worse life than I've got." You can handle anything. And when good things come you say, "Behold, what a miracle!"

Because I am Afraid

Over this last week, I've been reading Chesterton's book The Man Who Was Thursday. It was recommended to me by Michael and so far I'm enjoying the story.

A conversation took place in the book that grabbed my attention. I can't stop thinking about it. It takes place between two men, the Professor and Syme. These men are both detectives who are spies in a small group of anarchists. They are somewhat relieved because they just found out that the other is a detective as well. They begin to talk about the leader of the anarchist group and the following conversation occurs:

"Yes," he said in a voice indescribably, "you are right. I am afraid of him. Therefore I swear by God that I will seek out this man who I fear until I find him, and strike him on the mouth. If heaven were his throne and the earth his footstool, I swear that I would pull him down."

"How?" asked the Professor. "Why?"

"Because I am afraid of him," said Syme; "and no man should leave in the universe anything of which he is afraid."

De Worms blinked at him with a sort of blind wonder. He made an effort to speak, but Syme went on in a low voice, but with an undercurrent of inhuman exaltation--

"Who would condescend to strike down the mere things that he does not fear? Who would debase himself to be merely brave, like any common prizefighter? Who would stoop to be fearless--like a tree? Fight the thing that you fear. You remember the old tale of the English clergy man who gave the last rites to the brigand of Sicily, and how on his death-bed the great robber said, 'I can give you no money, but I can give you advice for a lifetime: your thumb on the blade, and strike upwards.' So I say to you, strike upwards, if you strike at the stars." (p.49)

That is remarkable logic to be able to say that because I am afraid of him I will seek him out. I am afraid of many things. I probably fear rejection most of all, so I avoid conflict and orient my life in order to have everyone like me. My fear often leads me to avoid a situation or avoid confronting someone when engaging would be the most loving thing to do. I'm also afraid of speaking in front of other people, fearing that I wouldn't be able to live up to what I perceive their expectations are of me.

There is a deep desire in me to leave this world without something of which I am afraid. Or rather, I long to get done with my life knowing that I at least exhibited courage in the face of my fears instead of letting them control and crush me. I know this can only happen as I understand the degree to which I am loved by God in Christ. As I rest in his pronouncement of "Well done" over my life I can have fear removed and be able to say with another David:

When I afraid, I put my trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? - Psalm 56:3-4

The Swagger Wagon

If I had kids, I think this would be the minivan for me:(HT:22 Words)

Moving Toward People

From the latest CCEF article by Ed Welch:

God moves toward us. By the time we get to the New Testament, we are no longer guided by the sometime inscrutable laws of the Old Testament. Human life changes after Jesus died for sins, rose from the dead and sent the Spirit. Now, the law of love simplifies and captures the intention of the Torah. And when we want to understand what love looks like, we look to the character of God in Jesus.

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. (Ezekiel 34:11)

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. (Luke 19:10)

The triune God pursued people when they were suffering in bondage in Egypt. He pursued people when they were hardened in their own sin. God’s people reject him and hold him in contempt, he responds by moving toward them and guiding them through the wilderness...

God always moves toward us.

And as his servants, we do the same. We move toward others too. Because we are relentlessly pursued, especially when we not are worthy of such pursuit, we also become pursuers. We turn toward others and move in their direction. That is how the kingdom of heaven works. Sin scatters people, grace draws us toward each other. The possibilities in that grace are endless.

Read the whole thing

What Facebook is For

A video commentary on Facebook:(HT:Roy Keely)

How to Cultivate Delight in God

Speaking to those of us who sometimes feel discouraged in our devotional times, Jon Bloom at Desiring God provides five purposes for having a devotion:

1. Soul Exercise
2. Soul Shaping
3. Bible Copiousness
4. Fight Training
5. Delight Cultivation
   

I thought the fifth one was particularly helpful:

When a couple falls in love there are hormonal fireworks. But in marriage they must cultivate delight in one another. It is the consistent, persistent, faithful, intentional, affectionate pursuit of one another during better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and healthy times that cultivates a capacity for delight in each other far deeper and richer than the fireworks phase. Similarly, devotions are one of the ways we cultivate delight in God. Many days it may seem mundane. But we will be surprised at the cumulative power they have to deepen our love for and awareness of Him.

Read the whole thing