MA party

We had our work Christmas party two nights ago. It was a ton of fun.

A great Huckabee response

I think this is a little old, but I thought he was right on.

Burned by the church

Lately, I've been hit a lot by the truth that many have been burned by "the church." I met someone last night at dinner who had been. I met someone else today who had a rough experience. And I read about it on a blog today. It's everywhere. It's a very sad reality. But the reason I put the term in quotes is because there are so many people who are masquerading as the real thing and there is no transformation going on in their lives. Some people blatantly don't care, and some really have good intentions of following after God, but are misinformed about what that looks like.

At first, I become prideful that I know the real thing. I consider myself a thoughtful Christian, one who has wrestled through different truth claims and have come to understand that the message Jesus Christ is Truth. But when I reflect on the grace imparted to me when I was God's enemy, I begin to be humbled. And I begin to really hurt for people who think they've seen people who have met Christ, and have nothing to do with the claims of Christianity today because they don't want to associate themselves with those "self-righteous jerks."

My heart aches. And I long for the day when the true church of America will shine more brightly and the dividing line between Christian and non-Christian will be much more distinct (more like the other countries of the world). When it isn't easy to associate yourself with the church, because of the persecution that could come from it. I long for that day because then people can take a more honest look at the church and see the people of God for who they really are (and hopefully be attracted to it instead of repulsed). We're normal, screwed people, but who have been transformed by the gospel of Christ. And then conversations can be had about Truth, because no one feels the guilt anymore that comes from the hypocrisy of been associated with the church while at the same time not knowing God at all.

I don't really know how to end this. So, I'll just say my desire is to love people well. I want to be up front with everyone about my short-comings and how I haven't done anything to earn the wonderful gift of salvation.

Unchristian

Gabe Lyons, co-author to the book Unchristian, speaks on CNN about his book. I've heard good things about the book, and after watching this video, I was a little more intrigued. I think he has some good things to say.

Thanks Steve.

Bert's Bacholer Celebration

Bert's getting married next weekend. It was fun to celebrate his life at little bit last night. Old college friends (and some new) hanging around playing poker, recalling crazy stories, playing Halo till 3:30 in the morning, praying over Bert, and sleeping 12 to a two bedroom place. There's nothing like that kind of community.

Also, who knew jumping in Lake Hartwell at 1 am in 40 degree weather would be refreshing? Pics here

UGA's bowl game

Though the opportunity to play an undefeated Hawaii in a BCS bowl is exciting, most UGA fans are disapointed we didn't get a shot at the title. Here's an article I found from Bert's blog that does a good job of showing some of the inconsistencies of keeping the Bulldogs out of the title game. And even though I grew up a loyal LSU fan being from Louisiana, my alma mater ties still leave my somewhat disappointed.

Here's a teaser:

Georgia got jumped without losing a game or even playing one. LSU was hoisted above the Bulldogs on the dubious strength of a seven-point victory in a game it was favored to win by 7 1/2 points. Georgia was No. 4 in the BCS standings last week — LSU was No. 7 — and two of the top three teams lost. Simple math should have put the Bulldogs in the title game. Turns out the BCS flunked math as well as logic.

Phil Wickham

I've been listening to Phil Wickham's new CD "Cannons" recently, and have enjoyed a lot of it. There are two ballads new the end that are incredible. Check out "Beautiful" and "True Love" if you can. Here's a couple lines from "True Love"

The earth was shaking in the dark
All creation felt the Fathers broken heart
tears were filling heavens eyes
The day that true love died, the day that true love died
When blood and water hit the ground
Walls we couldn’t move came crashing down
We were free and made alive
The day that true love died, The day that true love died

Faith and Reason

I was perusing Arnold's blog yesterday and I ran across this speech delivered by the Pope, a little over a year ago. Arnold's post on the juxtaposition of religion in and of itself was intriguing, but I would just like to further point out a section of the Pope's speech that I enjoyed.

The scientific ethos, moreover, is - as you yourself mentioned, Magnificent Rector - the will to be obedient to the truth, and, as such, it embodies an attitude which belongs to the essential decisions of the Christian spirit. The intention here is not one of retrenchment or negative criticism, but of broadening
our concept of reason and its application. While we rejoice in the new possibilities open to humanity, we also see the dangers arising from these possibilities and we must ask ourselves how we can overcome them. We will succeed in doing so only if reason and faith come together in a new way, if we overcome the self-imposed limitation of reason to the empirically falsifiable, and if we once more disclose its vast horizons. In this sense theology rightly belongs in the university and within the wide-ranging dialogue of sciences, not merely as a historical discipline and one of the human sciences, but precisely as theology, as inquiry into the rationality of faith.

Only thus do we become capable of that genuine dialogue of cultures and religions so urgently needed today. In the Western world it is widely held that only positivistic reason and the forms of philosophy based on it are universally valid. Yet the world's profoundly religious cultures see this exclusion of the divine from the universality of reason as an attack on their most profound convictions. A reason which is deaf to the divine and which relegates religion into the realm of subcultures is incapable of entering into the dialogue of cultures. At the same time, as I have attempted to show, modern scientific reason with its intrinsically Platonic element bears within itself a question which points beyond itself and beyond the possibilities of its methodology. Modern scientific reason quite simply has to accept the rational structure of matter and the correspondence between our spirit and the prevailing rational structures of nature as a given, on which its methodology has to be based.

The courage to engage the whole breadth of reason, and not the denial of its grandeur - this is the programme with which a theology grounded in Biblical faith enters into the debates of our time. "Not to act reasonably, not to act with logos, is contrary to the nature of God", said Manuel II, according to his Christian understanding of God, in response to his Persian interlocutor. It is to this great logos, to this breadth of reason, that we invite our partners in the dialogue of cultures. To rediscover it constantly is the great task of the university.