Tuesday Miscellanea

A collection of the interesting, useful, and beautiful from this week on the web. Enjoy.

1. Though undoubtedly an incredible performer and artist, the National Review Online asks if we should be comfortable calling Michael Jackson an American “Icon.” Good question.

Jonah Goldberg writes:

But let’s pause for a moment on that word “icon.” It seemed the consensus adjective for the news networks…. Every cable network used the word “icon” to describe him as if this was some sort of safe harbor, a word everyone could agree on. “Love him or hate him,” the implied logic went, “he was an ‘icon.’”

Even though the term sounds neutral, it isn’t. An icon, technically speaking, is a religious symbol deserving of reverence and adoration.

Calling Michael Jackson an icon doesn’t let him off the hook for anything. But to listen to the news anchors you’d think it absolves him of everything.

2. Possibly the best site on the entire web has yet another great collection of photos to share: “Recent scenes from the International Space Station”
















3. Mark Driscoll has made available another free e-book. “Pastor Dad” is a (very) short book – about 40 pages – offering scriptural insights on fatherhood. I found it helpful, focusing, and very very practical in its application to the everyday life of Christian dads. As always with Driscoll it is worth a laugh every few pages. (Download the pdf version here.)

4.US men's soccer team looses in a heart-breaker to Brazil after going ahead 2-0 in the Confederations Cup Final on Sunday. The US team beat Spain (the #1 ranked team in the world) in the semi-final to advance to the first FIFA tournament final the US men's team has ever played in. Congratulations on a good showing and a turning point for soccer in America. (Hey, if I don't mention it, who else around here will?) Some great goals were scored by the way, watch below.




5. Again, a great resource for dudes that I read this week is a short sermon series on Biblical Masculinity from a pastor in Dallas, Matt Chandler.

Part 1 - Defining Masculinity
Part 2 - Men as Husbands
Part 3 - Men as Fathers

(HT: JT)

Have a great week.

Theology and Its Abuses (2)

It is not enough to write about value of theology without speaking about certain dangers that are inherent in the process because we live in a fallen world and are capable of twisting even something like the knowledge of God. So I wanted to take some time on the blog to speak about the limitations and dangers of theology.

1. We are finite and so is our knowledge: What we do not know about God will always be more than what we do know about God because he is infinite and we are finite. God has revealed things truly and we can have a certainty of them, but it must always be a humble certainty. Knowing is like digging a furrow to reach fertile soil for the seed to live on. A humble heart knows that there it is always in need of help to dig deeper and that there are treasures of God's that it does not yet have access to, they are yet to rich for it. This doesn't mean that we must enter the work of knowing with doubt and fear, as if maintaining ignorance was a good in and of itself, but it does mean that we ought to remove our shoes before we enter, for we are walking on holy ground. A humble heart, sure of its finiteness, practices theology with joy and love and never stops learning.

2. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies: St. Paul knew of human's tendency to grasp at whatever bits of glory they can find and wear them around like tin crowns, and he knew enough to know that it is so easy for us to do that with our knowledge. Theology has come to take on a negative connotation because people learn the knowledge but not the gospel, which means that they really have not learned the knowledge at all. If you can pass a theology multiple choice test but do not love others, then you need to go back and learn the lesson again. Love edifies, but knowledge puffs up. If our theology makes us proud, then we can be sure we do not know what Jesus knew.

3. No knowledge comes except by grace: Sometimes it is easy to forget, as we learn and solidify opinions and especially as we teach others, how long a journey it took for us to come to the opinions we now hold. We forget how slow and rebellious we were, how much God has to condescend to lead us by the hand. It is easy to forget, when we hold's God's jewels in our heads and hearts, that it was not our hands that put them there.

4. Learning is a process: Building on the last point, it takes a long time for us to learn things, and the process can often be spoilt and set back by forcing things to early. Currently I am learning a world of new things about God's work in creation. In the sense that I started connecting the dots and having new conversations about creation, the learning process started about 3 months ago. But the more time goes by the more I realize how this is a stage of growth that God has been preparing me to undertake as far back as my earliest memories. All the time I am combing through my past life with what feel like new eyes and seeing things I never saw before. The same lessons that I feel so enriched by now have been parading past my eyes for a decade and I failed to see them, yet, had they not, who knows if I would be seeing them now. Old conversations, journal entries, thoughts are all coming back now and feel as though the are speaking with new life. God guides the process of all of our growth and it is foolish to think that we can make it happen for ourselves or for other exclusively on our time table. We are not the Holy Spirit and should not step into his role in others lives. So much damage can be done when we forget to understand that everyone is riding the wave of the past. It may not be your role to be there when that wave becomes a breaker. Your role is to be where you are and love people faithfully wherever they are at.

5. Theology matters, but it also doesn't matter: There are two opposite things that are simultaneously true. The first is that what a person believes about God is the most important thing about them. It is the baseline from which all other lines in a persons life draw their plumb. The second is there is a basic theology, a mere Christianity, and beyond that core the importance is lessened. If you hold tightly to either one of these without holding both of them you are in danger the pendulum swinging to far in one direction. The first has been spoken of a lot on this blog, so I want to say some things about the second. There will not be a quiz on predestination at the gates of heaven. If our salvation were based on perfect knowledge, then literally none of us but Christ would be saved. But God, through his Son, is enlightening us to understand and love the truths of the gospel. We won't be asked about infralapsarianism, but we will be asked about Christ, if we knew him, and if he knew us. It is easy to make every little bit of doctrine a hill we die on, but in doing so we can win the battle and lose the war.

6. People can become not people, but the ideas they represent: Zeal for God's truth is a wonderful thing, but it goes wrong when it leads us to relate to people not as people created in God's image and precious to Him no matter what, but instead when we relate to them through what we think of their ideas. It is dehumanizing and it is unloving. We ought to want people to know and love the truth, but we can counteract that purpose by the way we think of them and speak to them. If the first thing you think about when you think about someone you disagree with is what you disagree about then you will only be able to act towards them through that wall. Doing so, you will create that wall, which is exactly what one who loves the truth must not do. The first thing that we think about when we think about anyone ought to be the image of God that they bear inside them and the inherent glory that they bear as a result. That creates a love that breaks down every barrier and makes us to treat one another as humans first, not as ideas. That is why Jesus was so irrestistible, he refused to speak or treat anyone with anything less than the honor and dignity which they, as image bearers of God, deserved.

7. Theology is not about canned answers: We will fail if we think that theology is abotu handing people textbook answers. Theology that is all bones and no flesh is of little use to most people. What people need is a theology that they can see. If you want to help someone, if you can, win them without saying a word. Make a bed of integrity first and then your words will possess a weight they never would have before. Sometimes people do not need answers. They need a friend, they need silence, they need a movie, they need compassion. Our theology ought to make us people who know the difference and love well enough to live it out. Dead orthodoxy can be as ugly as bare unbelief.

The Senior High's Trip to Jamaica

This blog's been a little dead as of late. Lots of vacations for many of the guys, but for Luke and I, we were in Jamaica for about 8 days. Sounds like a vacation, sure. But it wasn't. It was a mission trip where we took 18 students and 7 adults to Harmons, Jamaica.

Many of you supported many of the students who went. Some of you sent along money, some of you donated items to be left, or helped decorate bags at Kids Club to give away to Jamaican kids (which, by the way, were a huge hit).

So here's some insight into the trip.

First, I don't think one person who went wasn't deeply impacted by what we saw and participated in. That's a cliched statement, no doubt, but I really believe it to be true. I'd never been there before, and now many of the images and memories are burned in my brain. The people of Harmons live in a way and at an economic level that we can't fathom as Americans. Won By One, the organization we went with, pays their workers $15 to $25 a day, which is apparently more than what security guards make in the Kingston airport. Electricity can be had for some residents, but it's terribly expensive (the Won By One building, which is not air conditioned and uses hardly any electronics or lights, costs around $650 a month).

People there make decisions we aren't forced to make. Do I send my kid to school or do I feed myself? How long can I put off getting this prescription for my sick daughter, because I literally have no money to fill it?

All who went got something of a reality check. Life is so different for us in Columbia, Missouri. We have worries and concerns that when held along side the Jamaican's worries and concerns, are found rather absurd. They often seem to be imprisoned by their circumstances and suffering. But we often seem imprisoned by our comfort.

While there we built a few foundations so that houses could go up next week. We built one house from the foundation up (something near 13' x 26', no water, no electricity). We helped in the store, where locals can fill up two Wal-Mart bags plus 3 pairs of shoes for $1 USD. We also visited a place called "The Infirmary," where mentally and physically handicapped people are left by their families because they can not be cared for.

There is more to say about the people there, the projects we helped with, and the impact it had on us than there is room in this blog. But we were all honored to be a part of some amazing things that God is doing in a place very different than we are familiar with. We are also extremely grateful to all of you who supported us financially, with donations, or with prayer. You were a part of a wonderful week...so we thank you.

Theology and Its Abuses (1)

The value of theology is a topic seen before on this blog, but I want to take two posts to speak to the dangers surrounding theology, both in neglecting it on the one hand, and abusing it on the other. The first post will make a case for why theology is something every believer should love dearly. The next will point out some ways that theology can be abused and cause our love to fail.

It can be a difficult topic. Especially right now, when so often you hear the word theology used as if it were a dirty word, as if the Christian life were really about things that theology couldn't help the believer attain. On the other hand, in making the case for a love for theology, it is easy to fall into the opposite distortion, that of believing that the Christian life is solely about bare knowledge and little else. Theology is the knowledge of God, but in a fallen world even it can be twisted in the hearts of sinful people.

But an answer can be given. The point is not to err on either side, but find the theology that Jesus knew, that made him both incredibly loving and incredibly committed to truth. Living where we do it is easy to forget that those two things are not mutually exclusive, but in the gospel they are not. So pursue that theology. Here are a few other reasons to love theology:

1. We are "bent inwards": We are fallen people living in a fallen world. We not only sin, but we tend to sin. Left alone we will not remain static, we will slowly deteriorate. It is because of this that the Christian life is meant to be one of repentance, one of constant correction, one of continuous seeking to know the Lord better and more deeply. To stop is to fail. As Jesus said, he is the vine and we are the branches. The only vines that live are the ones that remain in him. In part, this means remaining in theology. Learning to know the Lord better and come to understand his revelation of himself to a greater degree. In a sense, we are living in a river and to stop swimming is to be swept along. Theology is no different.

2. We don't know what we don't know: Everyone thinks what they know presently is everything there is to know. Sure we "know" we don't know everything, but it is easy to think we have basically enough. Then we learn and realize how much we have been missing. The new knowledge really does change the way we live in ways that we are happy to have. It is like living in a large, dark room with a narrow spotlight above you. The light illuminates a circle of ground around you and you make the mistake of thinking that this is all you need, but there are things out there in the darkness that you really need. Then you leave the room and go and live your life, love, suffer, and grow, and then when you return the circle of light has expanded and there are all sorts of wonderful things that you did not know about that are now illuminated. In a sense, you don't know what you don't know until you know it. The same is true of God, who is infinite and who every new bit of knowledge is our delight. If this is really our human position, why would we not continue pursuing knowledge of the Lord, and trying to make the how much of him we can see expand?

3. Theology is not an abstract concept: The word "theology" is so often synonymous with the word "obsolete" or "elitist." It is used as a catch all for ideas and concepts that are esoteric or unnecessary. But this is an unfortunate glitch in the language, saying more about us than about theology. Theology is not abstract, it is incredibly practical. To take an example, when I learned more about the sovereignty of God in salvation (sometimes the classic example of theology that doesn't connect to real life) it changed the way I forgive, the way I pray, the way I suffer, love, date, conflict, hope, plan, shop, etc. It changed everything. There was a connection for me between things that are true of God and the way I could live my life.

4. You cannot avoid making a theological statement: Sometimes just "loving Jesus" is offered as an alternative to getting immersed in theological debates, but even "just loving Jesus" is a theological statement. The point is to follow Jesus, but Jesus is only the starting point and all the 360 degrees to move from that point are only determined by theology. How can you even begin to answer the question of what it means to following Jesus without entering the realm of theology? If you are going to have to do it anyway, you may as well be as sure as possible where you are following him is where he is actually going. Or to put it another way, how could you possibly hope to know how to follow without knowing the beliefs about God that he was following?

5. Theology is reality: 90% of the problem people have with theology and doctrine comes in the definition. It is easy to simply define theology as impractical things that theologians argue about. How many angels can fit on the head of a pin? Infralapsarian? Supralapsarian? Etc. However, if you define theology as the Bible seems to most of the problems vanish. The Bible puts theology for as simply the knowledge of the way the world actually is. Theology is reality. If that's true then it makes no more sense to stop pursuing it than an ostrich putting its head in the sand and imagining it is safe.

6. You can know truly without knowing fully: No, you cannot know everything there is to know about God. Yes, there are areas of theology that are mystery. What else is there to expect when you are dealing with an infinite being and doing your reasoning with a finite mind? This is not a reason not to love theology. Because the sidewalk ends is no reason not to walk to the end of it, especially if your right worship of God depends on going as far as you can. Sometimes you will even be asked to take a step over the edge and trust that, though the jurisdiction of your reasoning has come to an end, you will still be upheld. Because we cannot know God fully does not mean that we cannot know God truly. I would say that I know my friends, but not that I know everything there is to know about them. God has revealed himself to us in our own language. He speaks to us in ways we can understand and tells us things that we can trust are true.

7. We are commanded to: Simply put, the Bible is full of commands to persevere in our effort to understand God better. It is filled with warnings of the danger to those who do not. It calls those who would teach lies wolves hungry to devour the flock. It calls those who would teach faithfully shepherds willing to lay down their lives for the flock. Paul warns Timothy to persevere in his doctrine because doing so would save himself and his hearers. It is difficult to put it in higher terms than the Bible puts it.

8. Theology is a mosaic: If theology is reality and it is practical, then theology is a mosaic. It is not about "accessories" vs. "the basics." Rather, each piece, like a mosaic, brings us closer to seeing more clearly the face of the father. Because theology is practical the shape of the theology is the shape of your life, because your life flows down out of your picture of God. We spend our lives placing bits of understanding on that mosaic and growing in our understanding of who God is. That is the work of theology and the grace of it. It is the promise that God has revealed himself and when we come to know and worship him rightly our lives will flourish.

Have You Learned The Secret?

Peter G. Peterson, now 83, has led a rather public and distinguished life. It started in Kearney, Nebraska as the son of Greek immigrants who owned a 24 hour diner. From there he went to Northwestern University and then to the University of Chicago where he earned an MBA. In 1972 Peterson became the first Greek cabinet officer when he was named Secretary of Commerce by Richard Nixon.

In the June 8 issue of Newsweek Peterson wrote in the My Turn column about his decision to give away $1 billion that he earned through founding the Blackstone Group, a financial services company. Why give that much money away? Why not spend it on yourself or leave it to family members? After getting the "big payday" that most people long for, Peterson discovered that it wasn't all that he'd hoped. After climbing to the top of his profession and the top of the financial ladder, Peterson discovered that he'd placed his ladder next to the wrong thing.

Uninterested in purchasing big ticket items and bored by the inactivity of retirement, Peterson began to look for opportunities to be a part of something more significant. As he looked at other billionaires, he couldn't help but notice that the ones he admired most had found the "pleasure of giving their money away." Here's another story that motivated him...

Ultimately, I decided to commit $1 billion to the Peter G. Peterson foundation—the vast majority of my net proceeds from Blackstone. Why so much? Kurt Vonnegut once told a story about seeing Joseph Heller at a wealthy hedge-fund manager's party at a beach house in the Hamptons. Casting his eye around the luxurious setting, Vonnegut said, "Joe, doesn't it bother you that this guy makes more in a day than you ever made from Catch-22?" "No, not really," Heller said. "I have something that he doesn't have: I know the meaning of enough." I have far more than enough.

So Peter Peterson realized that he has enough. That's great. It's a lesson that we all need to learn. But do you have to be on the Forbes 400 to learn that? Do you have to have enough money to give away $1 billion before you have enough? Isn't it easy to learn that you have enough when you have so much?

The answer to the last question is "No." No, it is never easy for anyone to learn contentment in this world. That's because the secret of contentment has nothing to do with how much you have. At a time in which the apostle Paul was in prison for his faith, he wrote:

Philippians 4:11-13 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

A few concluding observations:

1. No one is born content and contentment doesn't come naturally for any of us. Paul learned how to be content.

2. Contentment isn't based on your circumstances. Whether you are poor or wealthy or somewhere in between discontentment is always lurking. So to believe that you will be content when you get that house you've wanted, move into that neighborhood, land that job, finish that degree, find a spouse, improve your marriage, lose that weight, or get one more raise is to believe a lie.

3. According to Paul, the secret of contentment is Jesus. He says that he can do all things (live in plenty or in want, being well fed or hungry) through Christ. What's the secret if not that the only thing that truly satisfies and therefore brings contentment to our life is Jesus.

The Son of Man

I had to cut this from my sermon last Sunday, but I think this is pretty cool…

When you read the gospels, you discover that Jesus referred to himself as “the Son of Man” more than any other title. And so when we get to the first chapter of the Book of Revelation, we again see “son of man” as a description of Jesus. And then we get a better idea why Jesus used that term for himself so often. Because in Revelation 1 we discover that what Jesus had in mind all along was what’s written in the Old Testament book of Daniel.

Let’s first remind ourselves what John writes in Revelation 1:12-18 (TNIV)—

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and coming out of his mouth was a sharp, double–edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’”

When we read these description of Jesus in Revelation 1, we see that the descriptions of God in the Old Testament are now used of Jesus.

Let’s take a look at some of the verses from Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14, 18 (TNIV)—

“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. …I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. …But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.”

Stick with me here. There are several things that are really cool from the above verses. Here we see that the son of man in Dan. 7:13 is a divine being dwelling in heaven with the Ancient of Days. And he is worshiped (only God is rightly worshiped!). And one thing I really like is that this passage is what Jesus had in mind when referring to himself as the “son of man.” We know that because when Jesus stood trial before the High Priest, he quotes the Daniel passage above, and let’s the High Priest (who knew the Daniel passage well) draw the implications for himself.

Here’s how it’s recorded in Mark 14:61-64 TNIV—

“Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus. ‘And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ The high priest tore his clothes. ‘Why do we need any more witnesses?’ he asked. ‘You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?’ They all condemned him as worthy of death.”

Jesus claims he will fulfill this role as Daniel’s “Son of Man” when he comes at the end of the age to judge the world, and rule the restored earth in his kingdom—a kingdom that he will share rule with those who are his—they will be raised from death and possess it for ever and ever.

At the end of Jesus' ministry, when he claimed to be this heavenly “son of man” predicted in Daniel's vision, his opponents said he had committed blasphemy. That's why they had him crucified. What do YOU think? What's YOUR answer? Are you really living your life with all the true implications of your answer?

Salt and Light, Chameleon and Musk Ox

Christ's teaching on salt and light is probably quite familiar to all of us. It has been to me since I was a boy in Sunday School. But I've always grouped them together, seeing them as two ways of saying the same thing. Here's the passage from Matthew 5:13-16:

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

I'm currently re-reading a book that I first picked up years ago, entitled Chameleon Christianity by Dick Keyes (Luke Miedema and I had a brief conversation about it the other day...we both agreed that the first half of the book is excellent, while the second half isn't quite as good...feel free to pick it up, however, if you wish). In it, Keyes describes the sociological reaction of dissonant groups. They either "compromise their distinctive beliefs and way of life and so reduce their conflict with society" or they "keep their dissonance and tribalize, retreating within their own group and thus losing contact with society." It is easy to see that we Christians often are tempted to do the same thing.

Keyes parallells the first reaction with "saltless salt" and the second with "hidden light." There are two other images he uses that resonated with me. He sees those who are "saltless salt" as chameleons, creatures that blend in with their environment so perfectly that they are indistinguishable from those around them who hold different beliefs. He points out that when attempting to blend in with culture, the first ideas that Christians let go of are Christ's uniqueness and anything that would suggest intolerance.

Those who are "hidden light" he sees as musk oxen, which are arctic animals who spend much of their time huddled up in a tight circle with their horns pointed outward. They represent "tribal Christians" who are so caught up in their Christian bubble that they no longer interact with the culture at all. The light that they have been given by God can't be seen by others ("Live such good lives among the pagans that...they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." - 1 Pet 2:12).

These two common responses to being a Christian are not what God intends or wants. But of course, most of us don't become chameleons or musk oxen consciously. Months ago Dave preached a sermon in which he challenged us to not only have Christian friends. As I was listening I nodded along in agreement, for I could think of lots of friends who wouldn't associate with non-Christians because they might be led astray or adversely affected in some way...but then on my way home I realized that compared to my college years, my contact with non-Christians had plummeted. I wasn't intentionally or consciously only spending time with Christians. But I was essentially doing so nevertheless.

We all do similar things. We begin using the same words, or are conversations begin bordering on the inappropriate, or we tell bawdy jokes. Maybe we drink a little bit more than we should, to make sure we fit in with our friends. Sometimes our spending habits begin to mirror our peers, not because we are following God's lead, but because our proclivity for materialism has been fed by those around us. Is it possible that we've unconsciously acted like saltless salt and chameleons?

Or maybe we distance ourselves from friends who don't believe in Jesus. Sure, we're cordial to them for the most part, but we've ceased being real parts of their lives because we think we have so little in common. Or maybe we've stopped being around such non-Christians because we're so terribly offended by their language or values, or we're worried that they'll taint us in some way. It's much safer to be a tight knit tribe. Is it possible that we've subconsciously acted like hidden light or musk ox?

An Excercise in Engaging with the Arts: U2 in Concert

This summer, I’ve had a great opportunity to participate in a weekly discussion group with a handful of college students participating in Veritas’ Project Columbia. The goal of the group is to develop a biblical appreciation of the arts—something that happens to be a significant interest of mine. Needless to say, I’ve really enjoyed the process of thinking through various biblical passages, readings, and works of art for the group to consider. And it’s always interesting and rewarding to discuss these things with other people. With that in mind, I thought I’d let those of you who were interested come a long for a bit of the ride by engaging one of the works we’ve looked at in our group.

Owing to the fact that I’m a huge fan of the rock group U2, I couldn’t resist bringing in a in a clip from their 2001 Elevation Tour for this week’s discussion. Occurring at the conclusion of the concert’s main set, it consists of two full songs bridged by the (partial) chorus of a third. The first song, “Bad,” addresses someone struggling with drug addiction, a reality the band saw often enough growing up in Dublin. The connecting chorus is taken from “40," and the final song is one of the bands most enduring anthems, “Where the Streets Have No Name.”

I managed to find a couple of YouTube clips that, when watched in sequence, give you gist of the experience, though the continuity suffers just a bit. I've embedded them below, but the quality isn't the greatest, so it might be better if you go to YouTube directly and search for the videos yourself.

A few things to keep in mind as you view them:

1. How would you describe the “mood” of each of the three segments of the sequence?

2. How is the change communicated? Consider a number of factors in addition to lyrics and musical expression, including lighting, the physical expression and posture of the band (particularly Bono, the band's lead singer), and how the scene is actually filmed (the framing and editing of the shots, etc.).

3. What is significant about the order of the sequence? Another way to think of this might be to consider where we start as viewers and where we end.

4. I would argue strongly that a biblical view of art insists that art doesn’t have to always communicate overt messages (it’s entirely appropriate simply to enjoy a picture of a beautiful sunset, for example). Nevertheless, art can and often does express ideas in powerful ways. With that in mind, what do you think is communicated by the overall presentation of these songs?





If you like, you can find the lyrics here: Bad, 40, Streets (though I should note that Bono makes an important lyric change in the midst of the final song).

Next week I hope to offer a few thoughts of my own.

Kids Club 09

By any measure Kids Club 09 has been a fantastic success. The theme this week is Quest and the kids (preschool through 5th grade) are knights and ladies-in-training searching together for the one true king. Through skits, Bible stories, games, and crafts, the kids are learning that King Jesus is the only true King that is worthy of their love and devotion.

Fun Facts:
1. Almost 450 kids signed up and participated in the week long event.
2. Over 300 volunteers served on a variety of teams.
3. Over 1000 people have already RSVP'd for the Friday night finale.
4. The crafts included medieval tunics, tiaras, and medallions.
5. As a service project the kids made backpacks for children in Jamaica and food mixes to be distributed in the Douglass Park area of Columbia.

One of the best things about this week is that hundreds of people from The Crossing volunteer their time and talents to make this week a success. Some people built and painted huge, elaborate sets, some have selflessly served food, some have prayerfully prepared Bible stories, some have patiently worked registration, some have helped kids put together crafts, then there's the music/dance team, the skit team, the tech team, the set up team, the first aid team, and more. Everyone has worked hard and been very flexible but more importantly they've had a great attitude.

One of the groups that makes the week special for the kids are the team leaders who stay with the same group of kids all week. These leaders make the week fun as they get to know kids, create team cheers, dress up in crazy outfits and do whatever else the kids want.

I know that all the volunteers will be worn out by the end of the week, but I hope that it's that good kind of worn out feeling. I hope that it is the kind of worn out feeling that comes knowing that you spent your time well, you invested in kids' spiritual lives, and you were a part of a team that served God together.

A Real Devil and Real Demons in the Bible - Part Two

As weird as it seems for us moderns, Satan and his demons are a biblical reality. Reading through the gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), you can’t avoid the fact that Jesus unquestionably believed in the reality of Satan and demons, and he taught and warned about their reality to his followers. There are simply too many places to cite them all here, but a few passages in just Matthew alone are 8:28-34; 10:1, 8; 12:43-45; 13:19 (see parallel account in Mark 4:15); 17:18; 25:41. So take a look for yourself.

Last week I discussed a few key passages in the letters written by the apostle Paul that tell us, as believers, to be aware of and warned by and active in resisting the very real efforts of demonic spirits to ensnare us and destroy us, and those to whom we minister. Read that first if you missed it.

The very real presence of Satan and his demons are a sobering and critical fact for you and me as we live out our faith. They are part of the reality we tend to overlook because of our materialistic way of seeing the world. But we ignore them and their intelligent schemes to our own serious peril.

But do YOU believe that? Is that part of YOUR worldview—your view of the Christian faith? Do you believe what God is telling you—warning you—in his word?

The apostle Peter quotes Proverbs 3:34, and warns believers in 1 Peter 5:5-9—

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith….”

Here the apostle Peter is clearly saying that our pride and our anxiety and our spiritual apathy open a window in our lives for the devil (and his demonic forces) to devour us in some real way. And, it’s also true, that our pride, anxiety, and spiritual apathy may be key indicators that we’re already being devoured or ensnared in some way. He depicts the devil (the Greek word the New Testament authors used for “the devil” means “the Slanderer”) as prowling around your life like a hungry lion, looking for a way to devour or ensnare you, or a way to use you to devour someone else.

And he ensnares and devours primarily through slander. First, he slanders God and his word and his will in your thoughts. This is always the ultimate cause of anxiety in our lives. We’re failing to trust that God is always sovereign over all things in our lives, and we’re failing to trust in the goodness of God’s will for us in some way.

Second, he slanders others in your thoughts (your spouse, your church, your friends, your co-workers, etc.). This is the result of pride in our lives. Beyond not seeing who God truly is, and who we truly are, pride is also emphasizing and dwelling on and condemning and being offended by the failings and shortcomings and sins of others. Pride is our aspiration to rise above others so we look better. Pride makes us feel justified in our accusations and qualms and quarrels and our anger and resentment and defensiveness and unforgiveness and lack of grace toward others. Pride makes us easily offended by others. Pride prevents us from being able to overlook an offense and makes us dwell on and hurt by every perceived insult. And pride gets energized in our lives by our slanderous thoughts toward others—thoughts often breathed into our minds by the Slanderer.

And third, he slanders us in our thoughts. This is often a cause of our spiritual apathy. We only see our shortcomings and failures of faith and our repeated sin, so that we become cynical of our own spiritual growth and joy in the gospel. The gospel seems unreal to us because of our failing to see its fruit in our lives. Our efforts of belief and obedience in the past seemed pointless, so we gave up. But that’s because the Slanderer has deceived us. We stopped seeing that there really was growth and joy at times—that we really did have faith that was slowly changing our lives—but we gave up the fight of faith that all Christians must persevere in. And we let spiritual apathy rob us of what we had/have in Christ. We’ve let ourselves be ensnared by the Slanderer.

Are there areas in these three ways that the devil slanders where you’re letting yourself be ensnared by the Slanderer? Or do you not believe in a real devil and real demonic spirits speaking slanderous thoughts in your mind and heart.

So, Peter says, (1) humble yourself under God’s mighty hand, (2) cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you, and (3) be alert and sober minded—be spiritually awake—to this reality. That’s how we resist the devil.

But make no mistake, there IS a devil and he IS presently scheming to ensnare and devour you in very real and painful ways. And he will crawl in any open windows of your pride, or your anxiety, or your spiritual apathy. And you won’t even know he did it. You'll just think that God let you down in some way, or it’s someone else’s fault that let you down in some way, or that you just suck. Period. That’s what the Slanderer does. Are you letting him?

So James quotes the same Proverb that Peter did when he writes in James 4:6-8—

“That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.”

Like Peter, James is telling us that our unchecked pride gives the devil an open window to our lives. But when we submit ourselves to God—when we stop doubting God’s sovereignty and stop rejecting God’s perfect will for our lives—we are then able also to resist the devil and his slanderous schemes. We’ll find that Satan will be more and more de-clawed in his slanderous accusations, and God will draw nearer and nearer to us in real ways. This is the crux of how we fight in this very real spiritual warfare we’re all in—the spiritual struggle God tells us about and warns us about in so many biblical passages. We must aggressively submit to God and his will and aggressively resist the devil and his slander by drawing near to God daily and believing his promises to us in Christ and resisting slander in all its deceptive forms.

A very powerful and practical way to fight your spiritual warfare:
Many years ago, I started praying daily through a prayer that I found and have adapted from several books I read on spiritual warfare. I now call it “A Daily Prayer,” because we need to intentionally submit to God and resist the devil on a daily basis. I would suggest to you that you pray this prayer now and then—even daily for a while—but especially if or when you feel like you're going through spiritual struggles in your life or your family’s lives. There are places in this prayer where you can intercede for others, especially for your family members. And it would be awesome if members of The Crossing used this to intercede for our church community and its pastors and staff. I highly recommend that you get alone somewhere where you can pray through this pray aloud. That will help your concentration, and also help you engage more aggressively in your fighting this spiritual warfare. Note that there is intentional repetition in this prayer. That is to help you focus better on crucial areas of submission to God and resistance of the devil's typical schemes.

You can view this prayer here, or you can right click here to download a pdf version.

Evangelism in Post-Christian America

America is our mission field. We have been sent to this place by God. How do I know? Because we are here, therefore this is where God has sent us.

In my blog last Tuesday I highlighted the recent conversation about “Post-Christian” America. Both Newsweek and Mark Driscoll seem to agree that America is, indeed, moving toward a more secular, less overtly Christian culture. What they disagree about is the impact such a cultural shift will have.

If such a shift is, in fact, happening right now in our culture, there is a very important question for us, as Christians, to ask:
How do we best evangelize and share Christ in a culture that is not longer familiar with the basic story of Christianity? In other words, how do we best live as missionaries in our culture – a culture quickly loosing familiarity with the story of the gospel?

Tim Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC and one of the leading voices for Christians engaging the wider culture, has a short little article titled “Post-Everythings” that sheds much light on this very question.

“Post-everything” people are those who are now in their teens and twenties – and they are our future.

These persons are increasingly post-secular. They are much more open to the supernatural, to spirituality, and to religion but not necessarily to Christianity. They are also post-ideological. On the one hand, they are perhaps too concerned about issues of social justice to be labeled “conservative.” On the other hand, they are also post-liberal. Not only is the old Liberalism too self-righteous for contemporary tastes, it is also cracking up due to 9/11, the demise of socialism, and war. The emerging culture is also post-modern. Our society increasingly is opposed to purely rationalistic explanations for experience, and does not accept the hard-nosed, scientific secularism of the past.

Later in the piece he explains how our gospel presentation needs to change in light of our audeince:

Our typical evangelistic presentations are effective with persons who assume they should be good. Then the gospel-presenter tries to show them than they are not good enough – they fall short of God’s perfect standards – and therefore they need Jesus to forgive sin and help them do the right thing. This presentation was quite appropriate for almost everyone in my parents’ generation. My parents, who are evangelical Christians, and my in-laws, who are not at all, had basically the same social and moral values. … They were part of a world in which Christianity was the folk-religion even if it was not the heart-religion of most people. They believed that the purpose of life was to be a good person. This world no longer exists everywhere.

On the other hand, if you say to those in my kids’ generation, “You know you have to be good,” they will say, “Who’s to say what good is?” So what are we to do with these post-everything persons who are increasingly dominating our society? The traditional gospel presentations will not make much sense to many of them.

The content of our message – the gospel – must never change, but our words, forms of thought, attitudes, and cultural particularities must be understandable to those to whom we speak. As our culture changes, so must our language.

So how does Keller propose we proceed in being effective missionaries to our post-everything neighbor? He gives 6 suggestions:

1. “Post-everything people like narrative and story and tend not to like… simply enunciated doctrinal principles.”

This is great news for Christians trying to share the truths of the Bible because at the end of the day, the Bible is one grand overarching story of creation, fall, and redemption. Jesus is the center of the story found on every page of the Bible. Keller writes, “The plot of the human dilemma thickens, and the hero that comes to the rescue is Jesus.”

2. “Post-everythings are experientially oriented. They do not simply want intellectual propositions.”

This can actually make the story of the Gospel very attractive to post-everythings because Jesus did not come to redeem us to a perfect systematic theology but to a relationship with him. The gospel is fundamentally relational and experiential. We can emphasize that in our conversations with friends and neighbors.

3. “Post everythings are very much against moralism and self-righteousness.”

Good. So are we. Emphasize that Jesus saved his harshest words for the Pharisees and always engage others with humility, respect, and a keen awareness of God’s timing in their life, not our own.

4. “Take note of post-everythings’ concern for social justice.”

Concern for social justice is a great ‘common ground’ on which to start conversations with post-everythings. Concern for justice may be the current social ethic that most accurately aligns with Biblical teaching. (Sexual ethics, on the other hand, may be where our culture and the Bible are farthest apart, but that is a conversation for another day.)

5. “Recongnize that post-everythings love art because they love the natural world.”

Art is a powerful force to inspire belief, one way or another. Are you prepared to engage the art in our culture – movies, music, advertising, and all the other forms – in a way that gets to the heart of its message? It is an important skill to develop if we are to have influence in a post-Chrisitan America.

6. “Post-everythings are not strongly swayed by evidence and proofs.”

In The Reason for God, Keller points us to the great philosopher Alvin Planginga who “believes that there are no proofs for God that will convince all rational persons. However, he believere that there are at least two to three dozen very good arguments for the existence of God…. And the accumulated weight of the ones you find appealing can be very formidable.” In other words, there is no airtight proof for the God existence of God. Instead, our goal should be more humble, to persuade, to pile on evidence, to point to the most reasonable conclusion to the facts we have before us.

As we strive to be missionaries to our post-Christian culture, I pray we will learn to communicate the message of the gospel in a language that is understandable, influential, and ultimately life changing for those around us.

Maybe the Best 2 Minutes of a Movie I've Ever Watched

About a month ago I had a project due in a class taught by Jerram Barrs (some of you may remember him, he's a professor at Covenant Seminary who spoke on Harry Potter at The Crossing a while back). The project allowed for a lot of flexibility, so I wrote a short student ministries curriculum based upon The Lord of the Rings. I watched many video clips while preparing, but this one literally brought me to tears multiple times. This two minute clip has given me a picture to remember, one that has encouraged and challenged me in my faith the past month. Maybe it will impact you as well.

Allow me a quick soapbox. If you haven't watched these films, or read the book, give at least one of them a try. You may not be a fantasy person. Good, I'm not either. And these movies are probably my favorite, and the book (or books, if you wish) is right up there as well (and on a side-soapbox...watch the Extended Versions. Yes, they're even longer. But they're worth it, especially for those who have read the book).

Here's the setup: this comes at the end of the second film. Wars have been fought, people have died, evil has begun to spread. There have been a few glimmers of hope, but despair and hopelessness have begun to set in. Immediately before this clip, Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) essentially was resigned to defeat and was going to allow the ring to be captured. But then Sam Gamgee (Sean Astin) says this:



Here are my thoughts in bullet points:

• He begins by speaking of "the great stories...the ones that really matter." If there was ever a story that really mattered, it is the story of God redeeming people and the world from sin, destruction, and pain. That is the story that God has given us parts in as Christians.
• We all have moments of despair, moments of hopelessness. Times when the world or our lives just seem too dark and far gone to ever be fixed. God promises restoration to us and the world, but sometimes that seems impossible, "How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?"
• The hope of final redemption is summed up well: "It's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass, a new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."
• He also gives a challenge that has sustained me. The "folks" in the really important stories don't turn back, they don't give up. They have chances to, but they don't. And the reason they don't isn't just because they're more persistent or diligent or strong. It's because they believe in something good and that belief is strong. But we've got it even better than these two hobbits. They had no promise of success. We do.
• And finally, I want us to notice the impact such belief and hope has. Check out Gollum's face. Sam's speech melts his hard heart, and you see it all over his face.

Any other thoughts? Thanks for reading...

Parenting Toward Humility

Having children has been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Seeing my baby daughter raise her little head in the morning to greet me with a positively radiant smile as I walk in her room gives me a simple but deep joy. Having my two-and-a-half year old son ask, “Daddy hold you,”—getting the pronouns mixed up—or hearing him sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” fills me with the same. Children are certainly a continual source of wonder and delight.

Of course, they are also an enormous responsibility, a fact that I was reminded of while reading C. J. Mahaney’s short book Humility. I finished the book some time ago, but the content of its final chapter, the portion of the book that deals most directly with parenting, continues to come to my mind. Though I’d certainly recommend you read the book yourself, I thought I’d summarize a handful of Mahaney’s important points:

1. Parenting is about preparation.

The book’s foundational point is that humility is absolutely essential to our embracing and living consistently with the gospel and God’s purpose for our lives. In that respect, it’s our greatest friend and the mark of biblically defined greatness. Therefore we need to be asking ourselves what we’re doing to cultivate a proper humility in our children. In Mahaney’s words:

“As I understand it, parenting is about preparation. Preparation for our children’s future and for the fast-approaching final day of judgment. If you are a father or mother, let me ask you: How’s the preparation going. What is your plan for preparing your child? What are the content and goals of your preparation? What kind of legacy will you be leaving for your son or daughter? …If humility is to endure in our families and churches, it must be cultivated by parents and pastors and passed on to our families and churches” (156).

2. Examine your ambitions for your children.

“Are any of your ambitions for your child more important to you that their cultivation of humility and servanthood—the basis for true greatness as biblically defined? Are any of these ambitions more important to your that their learning to serve others for the glory of God? In other words, are you more interested in temporal recognition for your child than your in his eternal reward?” (158).

3. Model true greatness.

“Modeling precedes teaching. We cannot teach or train our children if we don’t provide a pattern or model to follow. …Effective teaching, in fact, involves explaining to our children what they’re already observing in our lives by example.” (158-59).

To be sure, this won’t be done perfectly, as Mahaney himself asserts. But it should be something that we consistently seek to demonstrate in our own lives. And certainly, that will mean regularly seeking the grace of God for just such a purpose.

4. Celebrate godly character.

Offering what strikes me as an extremely wise practical recommendation, Maheny writes:

“If you’re a parent, don’t celebrate anything more than you celebrate godly character in your children. I commend and encourage my son for academic achievement or an athletic award, but we break out into real celebration around my house only when there’s a demonstration of humility, servanthood, or godly character” (160).

Should You Praise Your Kid?

Most parents today feel like a big part of their responsibility as a parent is to be their child's cheerleader. Good parents, so the story goes, praise their kids: good hit, great job, you're so smart, good girl, etc... The idea is that kids who are praised often will feel validated. They will feel good about themselves and turn that positive self-esteem into a successful life.

But what if that idea is completely wrong? What if instead of helping your child, your praise is actually hindering your child? That's the conclusion arrived at by psychologist Carol Dweck and her team of researchers and explained in New York Magazine. The study, involving 400 fifth-graders in a dozen New York schools, found that much of what passes as parental praise can be quite harmful.

In one set of tests the research team either praised the child's intelligence or their effort. What they found is that those children who were praised on the basis of effort were far more likely to seek out more difficult challenges and persevere when problems arose. Those children who were praised based on their intelligence ("You're so smart.") were more likely to underestimate their own abilities, expect less of themselves, underrate the importance of effort, and avoid risks.

"Giving kids the label of "smart" does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it."

Why is this the case? According to Dweck, "Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure."

The report revealed that praise hinders the performance of students in every socioeconomic class, both boys and girls--especially the very brightest girls, and even preschoolers.

One set of tests was performed in the magnet school Life Sciences which had 700 low achieving students. Students who received a 50 minute lecture focused on the idea "that the brain is a muscle" and "giving it a harder workout makes you smarter" dramatically improved their math scores as compared with students who received the same instruction but didn't hear the lecture.

But not all praise is harmful. In fact some can be quite helpful. However, in order for praise to be beneficial it must be specific and sincere. Starting at age 7 kids begin to look at the motive behind the praise. "Once children hear praise they interpret as meritless, they discount not just the insincere praise, but sincere praise as well."

The article concludes with the suggestion that maybe the real praise junkies aren't the kids but the parents. Maybe generic praise helps parents feel good about their kids so that the parents can feel good about themselves.

I'd strongly recommend the entire article. On the same subject see Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards.

A Real Devil and Real Demons in the Bible - Part One

Like Keith wrote in his blog last Thursday, in reading through The Crossing’s Bible Reading Plan so far this year, I too have been struck by how often Satan and/or demons show up in the Bible. Whether reading through Matthew or Acts, or just recently Mark, it’s quite noticeable that Jesus did indeed believe that Satan and demons were very real, and so did the apostles. It is part of the worldview that the Bible reveals to us. But not just in Matthew and Mark and Acts.

We should read the teaching of the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2, where he is talking about the importance of their forgiving a church member who had repented of his sin. Now, of course, in doing so Paul is only teaching what is in line with the teaching of the gospel. But then he pulls his theological thread a bit more through the needle by adding a warning in v. 11—“in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

That's a strange kind of warning for us moderns. It is not likely to get our attention. But Paul is saying that Satan is an intelligent being who is presently and actively trying to outwit believers by his schemes of destruction. And he's saying that certainly one of Satan's schemes is to motivate us into being unforgiving people to those who repent. So—catch this—Paul’s worldview was such where at least one major motivation for us to make sure we are living in line with the truths of the gospel is that if we don’t, we’re being outwitted by Satan’s scheming against us.

But do YOU believe that Satan is trying to outwit YOU by his schemes to coax you into not living in line with the gospel? Is that part of your worldview?

Paul also warns all believers in Ephesians 6:10-12—

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Again, the apostle Paul believed and warned that we’re all targets of the devil’s schemes—schemes that are employed by his spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And these schemes produce a real struggle for us. And we must learn to take our stand against them in the strength of the Lord and in his mighty power and full armor (which the next five verses describe as basically living by faith in the truth of the gospel found in God’s word and by prayer).

But do you see YOUR life in the context of this struggle against real demonic forces?

If we were to read Paul’s letter in the original Greek in which he wrote it, we would read “the devil” as “the Slanderer.” That’s primarily what the devil’s schemes against us involve—slander. (1) Satan slanders God in our thoughts (as he did with Eve in Genesis 3); (2) Satan slanders others in our thoughts (as Paul warns about in 2 Cor 2:11 and Eph 4:26-27); and (3) Satan slanders us in our thoughts (i.e., “I suck! Who am I kidding!”). Often these thoughts feel like our own thoughts. That's because Satan usually works his slanderous schemes by giving us first-person thoughts, not second-person thoughts. In other words, his thoughts sound like and feel like our thoughts, and not the thoughts of some alien presence speaking to us.

How often do you think your slanderous thoughts—be they about God or his word, or about others in church, or about the church or church leadership, or about your family or others at work, or about your own faith and spiritual progress or your ability to be used by God in other people's lives—how often do you think your slanderous thoughts are actually the implanted thoughts of Satan (a demon) trying to outwit you by his slanderous schemes? Do YOU think of sin and slander this way? The Bible does.

So Paul writes in 2 Timothy 2:24-26—

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”

This is another of so many biblical passages that teach us that God is the one who grants (produces) any real repentance in someone's life. God is the one who leads to a knowledge of the truth. God is the one who brings people to their spiritual senses. And God is the one who allows them to escape from the trap of the devil, who takes people captive to do his will.

But God uses the humble, godly manner of speaking and teaching and listening and gentle instruction of his servants to do so. That's why how we as Christians treat people and talk to people and listen to people and instruct people really matters. It can either be something that hardens people's hearts even more, and pushes them more into the devil's trap and captivity, or something that God uses to soften their hearts and they come to their senses and a knowledge of the truth and escape from the devil's trap and captivity by repentance. All our interactions and conversations really matter!

But we need to catch here that Paul is actually saying that there ARE people in our church and in our lives who have been trapped by the devil and taken captive by him to do his will. That THAT'S a real thing that happens! We’re ministering to people like that at The Crossing, I have no doubt. And it is a warning for every one of US as well—don’t let unrepentant sin remain in your life so that eventually the devil traps you and takes you captive by it to do his will. That’s a real potential for all of us, I believe. Unrepentant sin is a serious threat to us because there is a real devil (and his demons) who is a real threat to us if we suppress the truth that we’ve been shown and lose our spiritual senses and remain unrepentant of our sin. There is a real threat that God will permit us to be taken captive if/when we allow this to happen in our faith and our life.

But do YOU see your life in the context of this real spiritual danger? Is the devil that real in your worldview?

Next week I want to talk about the biblical reality and warnings regarding this a bit more, and I’ll provide a specific prayer that I’ve used for many years to help me stand against the devil’s schemes in my life and in my family, church, friendships, etc.

Post Christian America

Many of you may have probably seen the feature story that ran in Newsweek titled 'The End of Christian America.' Jon Meacham sites statistics that show that in the last 20 years individuals identifying themselves as Christians have fallen 10 percentage points in our country and Americans claiming no religious affiliation have doubled since 1990.

Meacham writes:

This is not to say that the Christian God is dead, but that he is less of a force in American politics and culture than at any other time in recent memory.

Two thirds of the public (68 percent) now say religion is "losing influence" in American society... The proportion of Americans who think religion "can answer all or most of today's problems" is now at a historic low of 48 percent.

The rising numbers of religiously unaffiliated Americans are people more apt to call themselves "spiritual" rather than "religious."

Writing about the political dreams of what was dubbed the 'Moral Majority,' he comments:

Fearing the coming of a Europe-like secular state, the right longed to engineer a return to what it believed was a Christian America of yore.... But that project has failed, at least for now.

He closes the article by quoting Al Mohler, the president of Southern Seminary:

"What we are seeing now is the evidence of a pattern that began a very long time ago of intellectual and cultural and political changes in thought and mind. The conditions have changed. Hard to pinpoint where, but whatever came after the Enlightenment was going to be very different than what came before." And what comes next here, with the ranks of professing Christians in decline, is going to be different, too.

Mark Driscoll, a pastor at Mars Hill in Seattle, recently responded to Meacham's piece in an article he wrote for fox news, Has Christian America Come to an End?

He writes:

I do not find the report surprising or discouraging. Newsweek missed the subtle — but vital — difference between Christian America and Christendom America....

Christian America is comprised of those people who have had a truly transforming experience with Jesus Christ and are living new lives as practicing Christians....

Christendom America is comprised of those people who have not had a truly transforming experience with Jesus Christ and are living lives virtually indistinguishable from those who are non-Christians. The confusion is that it was common in Christendom for people who did not practice Christianity to profess Christianity. This was often done for social reasons, such as living in a culture that expected church affiliation, being born into a religious tradition and assuming it was simply part of one’s identity (like a cultural or racial connection), or personally, socially, and vocationally benefitting from being connected, even loosely, to a church or denomination....

With the social benefits of professing to be a Christian no longer in place and the social stigma of not professing to be a Christian now lifted, those who were part of Christendom America are simply no longer pretending to be part of Christian America.
Since those who professed faith but did not practice faith were confusing to account for, this is actually a good thing. Now, it is more likely that if someone is a Christian or non-Christian, he or she will state so plainly....

Therefore, the number of Christians has likely not diminished as much as has been reported, but rather we are seeing an increasingly accurate accounting of actual Christian America.

Regardless of whether you resonate more with Meacham who sees these developments as a failure to procure a truly Christian political society, or with Driscoll who sees them as the reality of the spiritual situation in America finally shining through the fog, the undeniable conclusion is that our culture, at this very moment, is changing. The cultural at large is shifting. The baseline assumptions of the majority of people is moving from a Judeo-Christian worldview to Post-Christian assumptions and presuppositions.

DA Carson, a seminary professor at Trinity Evangelical once said that 40 years ago when you were talking to an atheist, you could assume he was a good Christian atheist - that is, the God he dis-believed in was our God. The conversation was still on our turf. Those times have passed.

There are a number of interesting and important questions wrapped up in the onset of a Post-Christian America. When I blog again next Tuesday I will try to address the question: How must our presentation of Christ and his gospel change in lieu of a culture that is becoming more and more "Post-Christian."

Until then, here is a question to ponder (and comment on if you are so inclined):
Is the emergence of "Post-Christian America" a good thing or not?

Thanks for reading.