Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

LIFE'S MEANING AND WHETHER ONE CAN KNOW GOD

IS THERE MEANING TO LIFE?  

 

IS IT POSSIBLE TO KNOW GOD?

 

HOW CAN JESUS BE THE ONLY WAY?

 

 

WHO DID JESUS THINK HE WAS? DID HE RISE FROM THE DEAD?

Who Did Jesus Think He Was?

 

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead"  Part One:  The Facts

 

Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?  Part Two: The Explanation

ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY -- HALLELUJAH CHORUS IN ISOLATION - 2020

The Royal Choral Society performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah virtually this Good Friday, continuing a Royal Albert Hall tradition that has been going for 144 years – broken only by the Blitz in 1940/1.

Following the cancellation of this year’s annual performance due to Covid-19, members formed a virtual choir to allow audiences everywhere to enjoy this Easter institution. The choir invited the public to join them in singing the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ at 4:35pm (BST) on Good Friday 10 April 2020.

82 members of the Royal Choral Society filmed themselves singing in their own homes, and the videos were then stitched together, and shared as part of the Royal Albert Hall's #RoyalAlberHome series. Conductor Richard Cooke joined from his garden, with Richard Pearce – regular organist for the Last Night of the Proms – providing accompaniment.

ALISTAIR BEGG - "THE GOD OF HOPE"

Alaister Begg is the pastor of Parkside Church in Cleveland, Ohio.  I thought this message delivered March 29, 2020 inspirational and timely.   May God fill us with His presence and hope during this challenging experience of the Coronavirus disease.   2.3 billion people are currently in lockdown across the world.  

 

NEW HYMNS THAT STRIKE A CHORD WITH A LOT OF PEOPLE - INCLUDING ME! #1

 "His Mercy is More" - Matt Boswell and Boyce College Choir

Words and music by Matt Boswell and Matt Papa

Lyrics and chords can be found here.   

Verse 1

What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 2

What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest the vilest the poor
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Verse 3

What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood 'neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Chorus

Praise the Lord His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness new every morn
Our sins they are many His mercy is more

Copyright: 

2016 Messenger Hymns (Admin. by Music Services, Inc.), Love Your Enemies Publishing

Some supporting Scriptures - Hebrews 10: 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” Daniel 9:9  The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; Psalm 103:12 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Micah 7:18-19 18 Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. 19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. Ephesians 2:4 - 5 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

NICK FOLES, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES QUARTERBACK, GOING TO BE A PASTOR

I used to follow football avidly but much less so in recent years.  But this headline from Drudge caught my eye and the article that followed cheered me greatly.   It has generated within me much greater interest in the Superbowl than I had before.  

"I want to be a pastor in a high school," Foles said Thursday. "It's on my heart. I took a leap of faith last year and signed up to take classes at seminary. I wanted to continue to learn and challenge my faith. It's a challenge because you are writing papers that are biblically correct. You want to impact people's hearts."

Foles is part of a team that has a strong Christian brotherhood. MVP contender Carson Wentz has been outspoken about his faith and many players spend a lot of time together in prayer, studying the Bible and sharing devotionals.

Foles was one of the study leaders during his first stint in Philadelphia and has become a go-to source for younger guys. Left guard Stefen Wisniewksi also plans to become a pastor after his career ends.

"Guys like Nick and Wis can spit out scripture all day and it's awesome to take in that knowledge," said special teams ace Kamu Grugier-Hill.

Foles is passionate about helping students find their way and plans to use his experiences to inspire and encourage them. . . . 

 He was spectacular against Minnesota in the NFC championship, tossing four touchdown passes in a 38-7 win.

Foles - not Tom Brady - has the highest passer rating in postseason history for quarterbacks who've thrown at least 75 passes. Foles has completed 72 of 96 passes for 793 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions in three games for a 116.4 passer rating. . .   [more. . .]

Foles' quarterback career has been marked with a great deal of inconsistency.  I am hoping (and praying) that Sunday will prove a good day.

RONALD REAGAN ON CHRISTIAN FAITH

A friend sent me this short (under 5 minute) compilation of Reagan remarks given in various settings.  His gentleness, humility, and sincerity enobled and edified those who heard him and "had ears to hear."  But he certainly had enemies. . . 

BEETHOVEN'S "ODE TO JOY"

When I came across a link to this website and heard this familiar piece played once again, the thought ran through my mind: "You won't find anything like this in Islam."   Joy (and love and peace and gratitude) are dominant themes in Christian faith.

Hymn of Joy lyrics:

 

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee,

God of glory, Lord of love;

Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee,

Op’ning to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;

Drive the dark of doubt away;

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day!

 

All Thy works with joy surround Thee,

Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays,

Stars and angels sing around Thee,

Center of unbroken praise.

Field and forest, vale and mountain,

Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,

Singing bird and flowing fountain

Call us to rejoice in Thee.

 

Thou art giving and forgiving,

Ever blessing, ever blest,

Wellspring of the joy of living,

Ocean depth of happy rest!

Thou our Father, Christ our Brother,

All who live in love are Thine;

Teach us how to love each other,

Lift us to the joy divine.

 

Mortals, join the happy chorus,

Which the morning stars began;

Father love is reigning o’er us,

Brother love binds man to man.

Ever singing, march we onward,

Victors in the midst of strife,

Joyful music leads us Sunward

In the triumph song of life.

MOVIE REVIEW: "THE CASE FOR CHRIST"

UPDATE 4/8/2017  - I saw the movie today and agree with both Ed Morrissey's review (below) and that of Steven D. Graydanus'.  Both reviews acknowledge that this faith-based film evidences the genre's maturation.  One can watch it without cringing.  I found the acting very good, and the emotional responses of Erika Christensen (who played Strobel's wife, Leslie), particularly outstanding.

Here is a trailer followed by Lee Strobel's talk at a church last month in which he tells his story in his own words. 

Original post:

Ed Morrissey, whose opinion I regard highly, gives five stars to The Case for Christ movie.   It opens in theaters across the U.S. tonight.  Strobel is the author of the best-selling book (over 14 million copies) The Case for Christ.  Here is Morrissey's review:.

The faith-based film industry has both grown and matured over the last several years as filmmakers and investors see enthusiasm from audiences for these offerings. The new film The Case for Christ, based on the real-life conversion story of former Pulitzer-nominated journalist Lee Strobel and taken from his 1998 book of the same title, provides further evidence of this maturation.

In fact, the pursuit of evidence forms the core of the film’s narrative. In 1980, Lee Strobel (Mike Vogel) finds his marriage and professional life turned upside-down when his wife Leslie (Erika Christiansen) converts from their shared atheism to Christianity. Convinced that his wife has been brainwashed by a cult — being just a couple of years removed from the Jonestown massacre — Strobel decides to apply his journalistic expertise to debunk the central core of the Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Can Strobel find an evidence-based argument to refute Christianity, or will he be forced to face his own biases and assumptions?

The Case for Christ models a familiar tension for believers between faith and reason. People come to Christianity through both paths and generally find ways to accommodate both. Leslie’s conversion comes through an emotional tie to faith, but Lee clings to his vision of reason. That dichotomy plays out in their interactions, depicted realistically and very believably between Vogel and Christiansen on screen. For most of us, who struggle to blend the two, we will recognize ourselves in Lee and Leslie.

TIM KELLER SPEAKS AT GOOGLE - "MAKING SENSE OF GOD" (VIDEO)

This is a tremendous talk which gets better and better as it goes along.  He was invited to speak on his new book, Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical.   

 

"REVELATION SONG" - SUNG IN ELEVEN LANGUAGES!

What a wonderful foretaste of heaven!   The video below celebrates the praises of God in Hebrew, Spanish, Japanese, German, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, French, Finnish, Portuguese and English.   I agree with the friend who sent this to me; it would have been still more wonderful if singers in Arabic and Swahili could have participated!  But they will be there in that future Day!  Scripture says, before long there will be "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.. crying out with a loud voice, 'salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!'" (Rev. 7:9)   

NICHOLAS KRISTOF INTERVIEWS TIM KELLER, WELL KNOWN NEW YORK CITY EVANGELICAL PASTOR

Keller pastors Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  He is known for his thoughtful sermons which attract a large and varied audience.  He has lectured at Google on three occasions that I am aware of (here, here, and here), as well as at Oxford and other universities. Keller is also a prolific author.  Just before Christmas New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof published an interview with Keller titled, "Am I a Christian, Pastor Keller?"   I think it really good, both the questions and answers, and commend it to you.

(Note: I have blogged about Tim Keller several times.  Simply google "Muddling Toward Maturity - Tim Keller" for a list of posts.)

CHINA'S LOVE OF MUSIC AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

 

CBN'S George Thomas: Transcript

BEIJING -- China loves music. A new survey shows hundreds of millions listen to it on a regular basis. Now a small, but growing number of Chinese Christians are tapping into that market with a genre of music they hope will impact the world's most populous nation. 

Xu Chi is part of that movement. Xu was a rock singer for 20 years. 

He performed in nightclubs and other venues around China. But the fame and wealth, he says, did nothing to quench the emptiness he felt inside.

"It took me sometime to admit it, but the pleasure was temporary. It did not reach down into my soul," Xu told CBN News.

From Rock to the Gospel

Xu said that all changed in a single moment and transformed his singing career.

DAVID LIMBAUGH'S NEW BOOK - "THE EMMAUS CODE"

Kathryn Jean Lopez interviews David Limbaugh (Rush Limbaugh's brother) and a writer of no mean consequence) whose latest book is The Emmaus Code.  Limbaugh tells Lopez:

"This is the book I wish I’d had when I first became a Christian and was eager to read everything I could on the Bible and theology to accelerate my learning curve and make up for lost time. It is an Old Testament primer of sorts, with an emphasis on its Christ-centeredness. It summarizes every book of the Old Testament and shows how each one specifically points to Christ."

Some of Limbaugh's other books include Jesus on Trial: A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of Christianity (2014) and Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christianity (2004).

'GOD WILL FORGIVE': USING GRACE TO DEFEND ABORTION - ANATOMY OF A 'CHRISTIAN' MURDER

 Rolley Haggard writes:

 

Ask any sidewalk counselor. Odds are he or she has heard some version of this from those heading into the abortion clinic: “I know it's wrong. But I'm a Christian and I've prayed about it and I know God will forgive. His grace is greater than all my sin.”

What's wrong with this picture? (Other than the fact that a baby is about to be deliberately put to death.) Most Christians instinctively sense something's desperately out of whack here. But what?

Sadly, few seem able to put their finger on it. Sadder still is that after they sift through their own thoughts on the matter, nine times out of 10 they wind up less sure that, from a biblical standpoint, there really is anything substantially wrong with such statements. They know murder is wrong, but they also know the Bible teaches that God can forgive any sin.* Their reasoning often runs along these lines:

“It is true God can forgive any sin. And it's true Christ died for all sins, past, present, and future. And it's true God will forgive anyone who truly repents and asks for forgiveness. And this person really does seem to be a Christian who's in a difficult situation. So, even though it's terribly tragic that they feel the need to abort their child, technically they are correct: God will forgive them.”

Armed with such considerations, believers often succumb to the notion that since grace is waiting on the other side, even though God very plainly says “thou shalt not murder,” His commandments must be optional. Why else would He indirectly embolden sin with guarantees of subsequent forgiveness?

But does He? Can grace really be used this way, seemingly to magnify God, but actually to defend abortion? Is the above reasoning complete and sound?

What the Question Is Not

Just so we're clear: The question is not whether God will forgive the post-abortiveparent who turns to him in genuine repentance and faith. He most assuredly will. There is no sin, including abortion, that God cannot or will not forgive. God is more eager to forgive than we are to seek forgiveness. That's true regardless of whether we've sinned little or greatly.

Recall, for example, that King David committed both adultery and murder. Yet after the fact, when the prophet Nathan confronted him, David repented and God forgave him. As if to underscore His grace, God even had Nathan call David's second son by Bathsheba “Jedidiah,” which means “beloved of God.” Other examples could be multiplied.

The question is not, will the Father lavish grace upon all who turn to Him in true repentance and faith? Unequivocally, yes, He will.

What the Question Is

The question is, does God give to pre-abortive parents assurance He will forgive the murder of their child if, despite many dire warnings, they go through with it? More to the point, can they who are willing to deliberately ignore the clear moral commands of God be assured their heart will not be hardened to a degree where they will never even want to truly repent?

I submit that neither conscience (God's law written on the heart) nor Scripture gives any such assurance, and that to suppose otherwise is to confuse faith with presumption and grace with license. It is not “faith” that assumes one can deliberately sin without dire consequence; it is presumption. And it is not “grace” that holds forth the promise of consequence-free sin; it is license.

Sinning to the Glory of God?

Those who believe God's grace effectively means “obedience is optional” are likely not true Christians at all. Their thinking is desperately, diabolically wrongheaded. The theological import of it could be paraphrased thus: “Our yet-to-be-committed sins aren't that big a deal to God. Christ died for our sins, so we don't have to break a sweat to avoid them. When tempted to do something wrong, even something as serious as aborting a child, we just need to remember God's grace takes the worry out of sinning. No matter what we do, God will forgive. His grace is greater than our sin. Indeed, because our sin magnifies His grace, when we sin we do so to the glory of God.”

Reaping What We Sow

“Christians” holding to such ideas have far more in common with those who “turn the grace of God into licentiousness,” “suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” and “do evil that good may come.” They have no Scriptural basis to expect things will end well for them. They run the very real risk of being given up to a hardened heart. Indeed, their saying such things gives strong evidence that hardening has already begun. We reap what we sow.

Think about it: If I am so sure that, after I kill one of my children, I absolutely will repent to receive God's forgiveness, then why won't I repent before I kill the child? I have apparently already deceived myself into thinking I can order up my own repentance “on demand.” Yet if that were the case, wouldn't I be repenting now, before I kill my child, rather than after? No one is physically forcing me to kill my child.** If I refuse to repent now before the act, what makes me so sure I will truly repent later? What will have changed? And if I have another child, what assurance do I have I won't do it again? And if I do, did I ever truly repent after the first time?

Unless one is under the delusion that “repentance” is something done only when it's easy to obey God's commands, one can never be sure one ever did truly repent. Anyone can “repent” when there's no great cost involved. It's when the price of turning from sin is high that we discover whether our repentance is real.

It is a dangerous thing to presume upon the grace of God and say, before deliberately sinning, “God will forgive." Even if I am a genuine Christian, I am almost certainly going to be plagued, perhaps for the rest of my life, with unshakable feelings of guilt and doubt as to whether my repentance and faith was real and whether I am, indeed, a genuine Christian.

Grace never assures us beforehand that if we deliberately sin we will be forgiven. Grace only assures us that there is no sin, sincerely repented of, that God cannot or will not forgive through Christ. It is a crucial distinction.

God's willingness to forgive is never in doubt. But His forgiveness is always predicated upon the genuineness of our repentance. And the genuineness of our repentance is severely suspect if, before we go through with it, we can say in our heart, “I know it's wrong, but since God is going to forgive me anyway, I'm going to go ahead and do it.”

Those who say such things aren't looking for grace, but for permission to sin. They assuredly will not receive the latter, and it is fearfully doubtful they will receive the former, either. Not because God is unwilling to give it, but because they clearly aren't seeking it.

---

* A discussion of Matthew 12:31 and the “unforgivable sin” is outside the scope of this article.

** I recognize there is often tremendous pressure to abort, but few in this country are literally forced.

Image copyright David Castillo Dominici.

Rolley Haggard is a feature writer for BreakPoint.

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Articles on the BreakPoint website are the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BreakPoint. Outside links are for informational purposes and do not necessarily imply endorsement of their content.

COMMENTS:

Abortion and God's forgiveness

I have heard this and counseled others in the post abortive healing ministry I facilitate, who have said and thought it! True repentance does not include justifying sin. Though one can be forgiven for this sin of abortion, there must also be a broken repentance and not just an "I'm sorry I got caught in my sin" mentality and state of heart. Broken repentance means you turn away from sin, not enter into it! True repentance sees the ugliness of sin and is repulsed by it. God is not ever ok with us doing something that is clearly marked out as sin in the Scriptures, when it goes directly against God's character. Justification is not the same thing as permission. God would not give us permission to abort children just because we didn't want them for one reason or another. And just because true Christians have the Grace of God does NOT mean we are free from sin's consequences, or permitted to do as we so please. If you call yourself a true Christian, and are desiring to commit murder, and follow through with it, you might need to reevaluate if you are truly saved...because sin such as abortion, is repulsive and unthinkable to a true Christian when you realize what abortion really is and does!! I know this all, FIRSTHAND from my own life story which includes abortion, the "I'm sorry" mentality, repentance and God's Grace. Abortion is NEVER ok, I know this now after years of consequences!

Posted By: Paula Ellefson on June 10, 2015 1:32 PM

"BEYOND WORDS" PODCAST ON "SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT"

Dr. Bill Campbell's interview with Francis Frangipane on Spiritual Discernment is well worth listening to.  It's about 26 minutes.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

        II Chron. 7:14 - "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land."

Some weeks ago at a spiritual renewal weekend we heard the following prayer of confession, a prayer which continues to guide my thinking and quicken my conscience.   It is a prayer offered in response to God's call to us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 to "seek my face and turn from your wicked ways.."

                                                               *  *  *

             Lord, we thank you for inviting us -- for urging us -- to "seek your face."    We earnestly desire to respond to this call with whole-hearted obedience.

             We recognize, Lord, that you are HOLY, and we are sinful.  We cannot seek your face and at the same time cling to our sins.     We come renouncing our sins, our disobedience, our rebellion.

             We confess we have failed to keep the Two Great Commandments:

                       We have not loved you with our whole heart.   We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves.  

                       "We are truly sorry and we humbly repent"

              Because we have chosen ourselves as the center of our lives instead of you, our lives have fallen into decay and bondage, distractions and addictions.

              Many times we have heard your Voice whisper to us,  "No...  Don't...   Stop...  Turn away -- and we have gone ahead anyway.  We earnestly repent.  We thank you for your Voice speaking to us.  We know your Way is the way to our good and your glory.  We repent of our willfulness. 

              Far too often and far too much, we have been living scandalously self-indulgent lives.  Duties have been neglected.   Marriage vows have been broken.  Children have been neglected.  We have given in to the desires and impulses of the flesh.  We know little of self-control, of self-discipline.   We hear the Apostle Paul speak of those "whose god is their belly."  We repent of our self-indulgence. 

             Our feet have taken us where they ought not to have gone.  Our eyes have looked upon that which they ought not to have looked upon.  We have soiled our mind and our imaginations.  We have entertained ourselves by means of the flesh and deprived ourselves of the good, the true and the beautiful -- those objects of meditation and thought that could have nourished our moral imagination and built us up in the Spirit. 

             Our tongues have spoken that which they ought not to have spoken.  We have not consistently adhered to strict truthfulness.  We have uttered half-truths and lies, slandered others, insulted others, gossiped, even borne false witness.  Our word has not been our bond.  We have broken trust.   Oh Lord, we repent and we renounce these various abominations of the tongue.

             The sins of the spirit have been rampant within us.  We have envied, we have nurtured jealousy, we have raged with anger.   We have thought ourselves superior.  We have inflated ideas of our own importance.  We have taken others for granted.  We have withheld sympathy.  We have failed to show compassion.   Oh Lord, we repent and renounce all these attitudes and behaviors. We seek your cleansing.

             We live in a rebellious world that speaks ill of You.  Too often we have been silent, we have not stood for truth.   We have taken on the color and hew of the world, seeking to blend in and not stand out.  We have failed to be salt and light in an ever-darkening world.  We want all that to change.  We repent of our failure to bear witness to what we know is true. 

             Father, we come humbly, penitently, and with a heart desiring to truly "seek your face."    We turn from our self-centeredness, our rebellion, and our sins that we might be made new, cleansed and forgiven. 

             We make this prayer of confession in the name of Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Savior and Lord, asking for your divine forgiveness. 

KIRSTEN POWERS - FORGIVENESS IN CHARLESTON STAGGERS THE WORLD

I appreciate greatly Kirsten Powers' reflections on the power of Christian faith to affect radical change in the believer's heart attitude towards those who murder beloved family members.  She writes:

When Christians are in the news, it's usually because they have done something wrong — they've gotten on the wrong side of a culture war or cheated on their wife, or worse. What the world rarely gets to see is the powerful grace that flows from a deep faith predicated on the belief that we are all sinners in need of forgiveness.

The family members of those slain at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church bore witness to this central tenet of Christianity last week as the nation gasped in awe. "I forgive you," one after another told the stone-faced and unrepentant alleged killer, Dylann Roof, at his bond hearing.

Tweeting about the incredible scene, National Review writer Charles C. W. Cooke noted, "I am a non-Christian, and I must say: This is a remarkable advertisement for Christianity." Thankfully, the circumstances requiring forgiveness don't always involve the murder of a loved one. But sometimes they do.

THE APOSTLE PAUL'S LETTER TO TITUS, CHAPTER. 2: 11 - 14

These inspired words encapsulate the Gospel of Christ beautifully. They give identity, stability, hope, and meaning to our lives.  William Barclay offers a fresh translation which communicates the message particularly well.

11 For the grace of God has broken into history for the salvation of all men.  12 It is training us to renounce the life in which God is banished from the scene, and in which the world's desires hold sway, and in this age to live a well-ordered, upright and godly life, 13 while all the time we are waiting for our blessed hope to be realized, when the splendour of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ bursts upon the world.  14  He gave himself for us, to liberate us from all wickedness and to make us a people purified to be his own, and eager to live a noble life. 

DALLAS WILLARD: NIETZSCHE VS. JESUS (VIDEO)

Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, spoke at Stanford University in 2002 on the topic Nietzsche vs. Jesus.  I found his talk intriguing.   Willard treats Nietzsche respectfully, offering a helpful explanation of Nietzsche's historical context, and the way his perspective on "truth" now predominates in the culture of our day.  Against Nietzsche Willard contrasts Jesus and Christ's way of discovering genuine truth and reality.  The talk is nonpolemical and offers much to ponder.  Go here.

Dallas Willard passed away in 2013 after teaching at USC from 1965 to 2013.  He left  behind an influential body of work.  I have read several of his books and go back from time to time in order to better digest and internalize his thought.  Willard offers fresh vocabulary.  He replaces traditional terminology such as "disciples of Christ" with "apprentices to Christ."   Some of his books include:

     The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God

     The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives

     Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of  Christ

     Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge,  

     Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with Christ. 

A book published after his death is  The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus.

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND CHRISTIAN FAITH

Yesterday Rush Limbaugh called attention to William Galston's Wall Street Journal article, "The Christian Heart of American Exceptionalism."  

RUSH: William Galston writing in the Wall Street Journal on December 30th: "The Christian Heart of American Exceptionalism." It's quite a piece.  If this piece had appeared outside the week between Christmas and New Year's, I think it would have gotten a lot more notice than it has.  His point is that we Americans are exceptional in our belief of Christianity and that we believe it more than anybody will tell you. 

"In this year-end holiday season, it is timely to reflect on American exceptionalism. Although this phrase is much abused in partisan polemics, it should not be discarded. The United States does continue to differ from most other developed democratic countries. And the heart of that difference is religion. The durability of American religious belief refutes the once-canonical thesis that modernization and secularization necessarily go hand in hand.

"This is all the more remarkable because our Founders drafted a deliberately secular constitution. In 20 quietly revolutionary words, Article VI declares that '[N]o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.' Consistent with that prohibition, newly elected officials -- from the president on down -- may choose either to 'swear' (that is, to take a religious oath) or simply to 'affirm' their loyalty to the Constitution.

"In 1789, this secular national constitution perched uneasily atop a Christian population residing in states the majority of which had established an official religion. These establishments have disappeared. But despite the enormous growth in the nation’s diversity over the past 225 years, Christian conviction remains pervasive.

"If you doubt this, take a look at the survey the Pew Research Center released without much fanfare two weeks ago. Among its principal findings: 73% of U.S. adults believe that Jesus was born to a virgin; 81%, that the baby Jesus was laid in a manger; 75%, that wise men guided by a star brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh; and 74%, that an angel announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds. Fully 65% of Americans believe all four of these elements of the Christmas story, while only 14% believe none of them. Although Republicans are more likely to espouse these beliefs than are Democrats and Independents, each group endorses them by a two-thirds majority or more."

LOUIS ZAMPERINI - "UNBROKEN" - THE REST OF THE STORY

From CBN News:

Unbroken hit the box office Christmas day and made $47.3 million during the opening weekend.

The film focuses on Louis Zamperini's life as an Olympic runner and his amazing tale of survival and perseverance during World War II while he was held captive in a Japanese prison camp.

The film leaves out Zamperini's conversion to Christianity.

But a new video just released by Universal Pictures details Zamperini's struggles after returning from the war and how his life changed when he found Christ.

 

 The Billy Graham association has put out a 28-minute TV-special "Captured by Grace" which goes into more detail and chronicles Louis Zamperini's life including his conversion at a 1949 Billy Graham Los Angeles campaign.  Zamperini's life was changed dramatically and permanently.  Inspiring.  Highly recommended!  You can watch it online here.

QUICK TAKES

I consider all of the follow worthwhile -- indeed, important -- reading:

** Michelle Malkin - The Centers for Everything but Disease Control  (A real eye-opener)

** Thomas Sowell - Anti-American educational elites need a dose of reality  (Comments about slavery hardly anybody knows)

** Ross Douthat - Pagans and Christians  (Douthat reflects on a secularist who is mad that missionaries are doing charitable deeds in Africa when it should be done by secularists who aren't doing it)

** Victor Davis Hanson - Ruins of the Middle East: Obama shuns our friends and courts our enemies  The last paragraph offers a prophecy:

The present chaos of the Middle East was caused by our withdrawal from Iraq and a widespread sense that the U.S. had forfeited its old responsibilities and interests, and was either on the side of the Arab Spring Islamists or indifferent to those who opposed them. Tragically, while order may soon return, it is likely to be as a sort of Cold War standoff between a pro-Russian, pro-Chinese — and very nuclear – Iranian bloc, and a Sunni Mesopotamian wasteland masquerading as a caliphate, run by beheaders and fueled by petrodollars, with assistance from Turkey and freelancing Wahhabi royals from the Gulf.

IT'S FRIDAY-- BUT SUNDAY'S COMIN'

I really appreciated Justin Taylor's blog post in which he stated he never tires of listening to the Easter meditation by S.M. Lockridge (1913-2000), pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego from 1953 to 1993.  I competely agree.

 

It's Friday
Jesus is praying
Peter's a sleeping
Judas is betraying
But Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
Pilate's struggling
The council is conspiring
The crowd is vilifying
They don't even know
That Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
The disciples are running
Like sheep without a shepherd
Mary's crying
Peter is denying
But they don't know
That Sunday's a comin'

It's Friday
The Romans beat my Jesus
They robe him in scarlet
They crown him with thorns
But they don't know
That Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
See Jesus walking to Calvary
His blood dripping
His body stumbling
And his spirit's burdened
But you see, it's only Friday
Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
The world's winning
People are sinning
And evil's grinning

It's Friday
The soldiers nail my Savior's hands
To the cross
They nail my Savior's feet
To the cross
And then they raise him up
Next to criminals

It's Friday
But let me tell you something
Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
The disciples are questioning
What has happened to their King
And the Pharisees are celebrating
That their scheming
Has been achieved
But they don't know
It's only Friday
Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
He's hanging on the cross
Feeling forsaken by his Father
Left alone and dying
Can nobody save him?
Ooooh
It's Friday
But Sunday's comin'

It's Friday
The earth trembles
The sky grows dark
My King yields his spirit

It's Friday
Hope is lost
Death has won
Sin has conquered
and Satan's just a laughin'

It's Friday
Jesus is buried
A soldier stands guard
And a rock is rolled into place

But it's Friday
It is only Friday
Sunday is a comin'!

ERIC METAXAS TELLS THE STORY OF DIETRICH BONHOEFFER (VIDEO)

Metaxas, author of the best-selling book, Bonhoeffer, addressed an Anglican gathering in Charleston, SC in January 2013 on the subject of Bonhoeffer.   Reviewing the book, Wall Street Journal  stated:

''In Hitler's Germany, a Lutheran pastor chooses resistance and pays with his life. . . Eric Metaxas tells Bonhoeffer's story with passion and theological sophistication, often challenging revisionist accounts that make Bonhoeffer out to be a 'humanist' or ethicist for whom religious doctrine was easily disposable. . .

 

CHARLES WESLEY'S GREAT HYMN "AND CAN IT BE"

Justin Taylor does a marvelous job supplying background and Scriptural allusions in Wesley's great hymn "And Can It Be."  Taylor writes:

According to the editor of "The Oxford Edition of the Works of John Wesley" (Oxford: Clarendon, 1975-1983, vol. 7), “And Can It Be” was written immediately after Charles Wesley’s conversion (May 21, 1738). Wesley knew his Bible well prior to this time, but had not yet experienced assurance of new birth or the fulness of grace in his life.

The editor also that it was probably this hymn, or “Where Should My Wond’ring Soul Begin?” that was sung late on the evening of his brother John’s Aldersgate Street conversion just three days later on May 24.

John Lawson, in "A Thousand Tongues: The Wesley Hymns as a Guide to Scriptural Teaching" (London: Paternoster, 1987), says this “is perhaps the best known and best loved of all the Methodist hymns associated with the conversion experience.”

Wesley begins the first stanza by expressing amazement over the love expressed in God the Son dying for him; it is a mystery that we who caused his death now benefit from it.

In the second stanza, Wesley calls for adoration at the incomprehensibility of God’s love and mercy in this sacrifice.

In the third stanza, Wesley recounts the infinite grace and mercy of Christ’s love and humility in the incarnation, death, and finding of lost sinners.

Now in the fourth stanza, Wesley turns his attention to the bondage of his own sin and the freedom he found in Christ.

Finally, he explores the results of Christ’s amazing and merciful work: there is no condemnation for those made alive in Christ and clothed in his righteousness; rather, there is bold access to the throne as we have the right to claim the eschatological crown.

Using and adapting the notations in the reference works cited above, I have sought to identify probable biblical allusions (in the KJV) that probably implicitly or explicitly informed Wesley’s wording and concepts in this great hymn:

C.S. LEWIS DIED 50 YEARS AGO TODAY; SAME DAY AS JOHN F. KENNEDY

No individual has had a more profound effect on my thinking than C.S. Lewis.  In saying that, I realize I am but one of thousands of people who gladly say the same.   Michael Gerson, former speech writer for George W. Bush, penned a good piece on Lewis today.   It sparkles.   I urge you to click through and read it.  In the course of his article he links to Lewis's essay "The Poison of Subjectivism," a profound short essay which I have reread many times over the years.   Gerson titles his piece, "C.S. Lewis, our guide to the good life."

- John Stonestreet of Breakpoint has penned several excellent pieces on Lewis and his writings this week.  Check out "Narnia's Got it All: The World According to C.S. Lewis."   For the audio:   Listen Now | Download

- Stonestreet interviewed author and Lewis aficionado, Professor Joe Rigney,  who explains "How to Live Like a Narnia."  It's a 24 minute audio interview.  Listen Now | Download  Rigney wrote "Live Like A Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis's Chronicles.

My own previous posts on Lewis can be found here:  http://muddlingtowardmaturity.typepad.com/my_weblog/c_s_lewis/

Note: Breakpoint has been featuring C.S. Lewis all week:

Listen Now | Download

• Narnia's Got It All
  By John Stonestreet
• See-Through Morality
  By John Stonestreet
• C. S. Lewis, Reepicheep, and Our Chests
  By John Stonestreet
• Screwtape and the Cure of Souls
  By Eric Metaxas
• Remembering C. S. Lewis
  By Eric Metaxas
• God's Double Agent
  By Eric Metaxas

MARTIN LUTHER ON MUSIC

"I wish to see all arts, principally music, in the service of Him who gave and created them.  Music is a fair and glorious gift of God.  I would not for the world forego my humble share of music.  Singers are never sorrowful, but are merry, and smile through their troubles in song.  Music makes people kinder, gentler, more staid and reasonable.  I am strongly persuaded that after theology there is no art than can be placed on a level with music; for besides theology, music is the only art capable of affording peace and joy of the heart . . . the devil flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God."   - Martin Luther

Though the foregoing is often quoted, I have not yet found where it originally appears in Luther's writings. 

RICK WARREN: "THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERVIEW I'VE EVER DONE"

 

From VirtueOnline:

by Rick Warren 
http://pastors.com/piers/ 
Sept. 18, 2013

Piers, Rick, and Kay

After teaching How to Get Through What You're Going Through" for the past eight weeks, Kay and I felt it was time to grant the first media interview since Matthew's death. We chose CNN's Piers Morgan Live because it offered a full-hour for us to share our thoughts, rather than just short sound bites.

What happened in the taping surprised us all. Several members of the tech/camera crew were in tears, hugged us, and told us that their lives had been profoundly impacted by the experience. Piers Morgan was unusually sensitive to the moment, allowing us all the time we needed without interruption. At lunch, Piers shared that it was the most moving interview he's ever done.

In kindness, the CNN team came to us, taping the interview at our Acts of Mercy family foundation office. In our conversation, we discussed:

What it was like to parent a child who battled mental illness all his life.

What it has been like to grieve our son's suicide as public figures.

Mental illness, depression, guns, grief, and God.

What needs to change in our culture, including removing the stigma from mental illness.

How to support the mentally ill and the families who care for them.

How our faith has been tested and has grown stronger.

How we get our sins forgiven, purpose for living, and home in heaven through Jesus.

The overwhelming love we've received from our church family and others.

How God gives us HOPE in our darkest days.

The interview was raw and real. The CNN crew and our staff watched almost breathlessly. For an entire hour, you could've heard a pin drop, everyone was so riveted by what God was doing through the conversation.

I wanted to take an opportunity to pass along some of the most significant things we were privileged to say, and I would welcome your feedback on the interview.

The Six Stages of Grief

Rick:

Well, you know, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross did this thing, this thing called the four stages of death and dying and I actually think there are six. And we've been watching ourselves go through this back and forth now for several months.

I think the first stage is shock. And for us, shock still happens. For at least the first month, I kept waiting for Matthew to come in the door... I just couldn't believe that it happened. It was so sudden. And then you move from shock to sorrow, sadness, and this profound sadness that comes into your life. Then you move to what I call struggle and that's all the "why" questions. Why now? Why this? Why me? Why Matthew?

Then you move to a stage I call surrender. I wrote in my journal one day, I later tweeted it, and said, "I'd rather have all my questions unanswered and walk with God than not walk with God and have all my questions answered." But there is a struggle. And finally, I just have to surrender, so I'm not going to know. I'm not going to know all these answers.

And then you move to what I call sanctification which is the change that takes place in you. And then service. And service means I think God wants us to use our hurt. And one of the reasons we decided to do this interview with you is maybe we could help some other people.

On Losing Matthew

Kay:

I've said almost from the first moment that we learned that, "We're devastated but we're not destroyed." And when people ask that question of, how are you, there's no good answer.

And so, I finally just settled on, "I'm terrible but I'm OK." In other words, we're going to survive and someday, we'll thrive again. It's the worst thing that could ever happen.

Grief is Good

Rick:

I have cried every single day since Matthew died, but that's actually a good thing. Grief is a good thing. It's the way we get to the transitions of life. And I find, if I don't cry, then I stuff it.

When I swallow my emotions, my stomach keeps score. If I don't talk it out to my wife, to God, to friends, then I'm going to take it out on my body. And so, as guys, men, we don't do grief very well. It's not an easy thing for us because we don't like the negative emotion.

But actually, grief is a good thing. Grief is the way we get to the transitions of life and that's been helpful to me.

Choosing Joy

Rick:

We were sobbing. We were just sobbing. The day that I had feared might happen one day, since he'd been born, and the day that I prayed would never happen, happened. And I remember, as we stood in the driveway, just embracing each other, and sobbing. And Kay was wearing a necklace - you're wearing it today - that had the words of a book she wrote a year ago called Choose Joy.

And she held it up and it said, "Choose Joy." And in my mind I thought, "Are you kidding? How can I choose joy in this worst circumstance of my life?" But we - even in that moment, we were trying to say, "We're not in control but we do have a greater hope and we do have a source of joy that isn't based on our circumstances." And it was a holy moment.

Mental Illness

Rick:

Piers, any other organ in my body can get broken and there's no shame, no stigma to it. My liver stops working, my heart stops working, my lungs stop working. Well, I'll just say, "Hey, I got diabetes. My pancreas or my adrenaline glands, or whatever," but if my brain is broken, I'm supposed to feel bad about it. I'm supposed to feel shame. And so, a lot of people who should get help don't.

Piers:

It's hard to imagine. All that I've researched on this, with you and your family and Matthew, it's hard to imagine anyone who suffers from this kind of illness, who's had more love and support from their family, from a wide circle of friends, who's had more treatment from the so called experts, more institutionalized moments, everything you could imagine, and yet still it wasn't enough to save him.

Kay:

Well, if you look at the risk factors of what puts people at risk for suicide, Matthew had almost none of the risk factors. He had a great, as you say, a loving family, he had the access to care, he had friends. He had everything... The main risk factor for him was mental illness and he had that.

The Support of Saddleback Church

Rick:

I was overwhelmed by the love of our people. Kay and I had given 33 years to this church. And I felt like they all gave it back at the moment. It was just a very tender moment for me as a pastor. I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death with thousands of people. I have walked, I've stood at bed sides and seeing lots of people take their last breath. I have been there for those people for 33 years. And they were there for us when we needed them most.

Questioning God's Plan, but Never Questioning God

Rick:

I never questioned my faith in God. I question God's plan. There's a big difference. I know God is a good God. Nothing can shake that from my life. I know God is a loving God. The question is - it's like my children, my children have never doubted that they - that I love them but they sometimes doubt my wisdom and they don't think I've made the right decision. Not everything that happens in the world is God's will. Everything that happens in the world God allows, he permits but because it couldn't happen without his permission but we live in a world where there are free choices and if I chose to do wrong, I can't blame God for that. So God isn't to blame for my son's death. My son took his life. It was his choice and if I chose to go out and get drunk and get in a car and I was in an accident, killed somebody, I can't blame God for that.

Kay:

You know as Rick said it's not - our faith is currently what's got us - that foundation what's gotten us through and it's solid and strong but I have to tell you that, you know, before - I have something I want to show you. There's this box that it was given to me a few years and I - It's got the word - it's a marble box and it's got the word Hope on it and ...

It's my Hope box and I filled it with verses that gave me comfort, that gave me encouragement, verses that just kept my faith really strong before Matthew passed away and everyday I would sit and I would read these verses and that morning after we had been to his house the night before and I was pretty certain that he had taken his life. I got up that morning and I opened my Hope box and I went to these verses one more time and then after that I didn't open it for a month. I couldn't and then I started to think, so where do I go from here? What you'd do when your hope has been crashed and the only way I now how to rebuild it is to go back to my faith and to God's word and this time, I started putting verses in that give me Hope for the future like there's this amazing verse that it's 1 Corinthians 15:43 it says, "Our bodies are buried in brokenness but they will be raised in glory, they are buried in weakness but they will be raised in strength."

And so every time when I go to the cemetery, I quote that verse because, you know, what Matthew's body was broken, that gun broke his body and he was buried in brokenness but he's going to be raised in glory. He was buried in weakness. I think Matthew you were buried in weakness you will be raised in strength. So the struggle has been not in the living that God exists, not that God is evil because God is good.

But I have this other little tiny pot when there's questions I can't answer like did Matthew think of us before he pulled the trigger? Did he - was there any moment in which he suffered? Why after all those years of prayer and effort did he die? All these things that I have no answers for and I put them in this little pot, it's my mystery pot so here's my Hope box and my little mystery pot and so everyday I almost, I fill it with another question that I can't answer. But what I know to be true is that God will answer those questions. They will be answered and my hope is very certain.

A Closing Word of Hope

Kay:

It's so important that people know no matter how desperate, they're despaired, there is hope. There is - and not to give up, not to give up.

Source: CNN Transcripts

CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHER J.P. MORELAND ANSWERS QUESTIONS (VIDEO)

I appreciate Moreland's deep learning and wisdom and his ability to express himself clearly and succinctly.  The following Q&A is a great treat.

 

BENEFITS OF A BIBLICAL LIFESTYLE

Articles published by Reasons to Believe written by psychiatrist James C. Petterson II (which include footnotes to studies):

- “Religion and Mental Health: Going to Church Is Good for You” 

- “Live Long and Prosper: Going to Church Increases Lifespan” 

- “God Makes You Glad: Positive Christian Attitude Linked to Happiness” 

- “Going to Church Helps You Stay Clean”

FREE AUDIOBOOK OF THE MONTH: JOHN STOTT'S “BASIC CHRISTIANITY"

Download it here.     HT: Justin Taylor

As many of you are no doubt aware, John Stott's Basic Christianity is a classic book laying out the fundamentls of the Christian faith.   This is a really wonderful gift made available by Christian Audio,

SHOULD CHRISTIANS DISPENSE WITH HYMNALS?

Many churches have already done so.  Mine has.  But it makes me uneasy.  To dispense with hymnals entirely means serious deprivation and a cutting off from the rich history of the church.   To me "Contemporary" quite often means "superficial," quite often "ignorant," and  sometimes "arrogant."    It says "our generation has it right" and previous ones were all wrong.  Not so.  Justin Taylor links to John D. Witviliet's "10 Reasons Why Hymnals Have a Future,"  an article worth pondering.

1. Hymnals are especially well suited to good group singing of many kinds of songs (though not all).
2. Hymnals are portable.
3. Hymnals are splendid for home piano or keyboard devotional playing.
4. Hymnals are an efficient one-stop worship planning resource.
5. Hymnals make it relatively easy to stumble on and fall in love with good music you never thought you would like.
6. Well-designed hymnals offer a vision of a balanced thematic diet.
7. Hymnals help connect songs with elements of worship.
8. Hymnals give people access to a “cultural memory bank” that many desperately want.
9. Hymnals can be appealing to seekers.
10. A hymnal can be a surprisingly effective catechism for both brand-new and lifelong Christians.

Me:  Read the article for an expansion of each point.  As I was growing up, I found myself playing hymns on the piano and embibing the words and music that have stuck with me to this day.  I am blessed.  Those who have grown up with hymns have a rich theological fare hard to come by today.

Witviliet concludes:

In summary, hymnals are a good resource, not the only good resource. And they may not be even the best single resource for every one of these functions. But for overall value, it’s pretty hard to beat a single book that does so many things at once:

• provides a comprehensive reference resource for finding songs and one technological mode of presenting songs;
• functions as a musical collection and a worship book, with prayers and liturgies for congregational use;
• presents a single-volume snap-shot of the diversity of the church throughout time and space, a kind of working experiment in the “catholicity” or “universality” of the church; and
• acts as a single source for strengthening devotional, pastoral care, educational, and liturgical ministries, making it possible to integrate these dimensions of the Christian life.

JESUS' FEMALE DISCIPLES

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola make some often overlooked observations in their new (2012) book, Jesus: A Theography:  

"When Luke wrote his gospel, he referred to the twelve disciples with the shorthand phrase 'the twelve.'  But he also used another shorthand phrase: 'the women" or 'some women':

The Twelve were with him, as well as some women: Mary called Magdalene; Joanna, the wife of King Herod's cupbearer; Susanna; and many others.  They provided for them out of their resources."  [Luke 8:1-3]

And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid."  [Luke 23:55}

These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.'  [Acts 1:14]

"Jesus and His disciples were not beggars; discipleship did not equal destitution.  Jesus and the Twelve had financial backers who supported the ministry, many of whom were women.  In fact, they had sufficient funding not only to warrant a treasurer but to elicit Jesus' insistence that His and the disciples' taxes be paid to Rome.

FRANK SCHAEFFER'S TRIBUTE TO HIS MOM, EDITH SCHAEFFER, DEAD AT 98

Some readers of this blog will be familiar with  the extraordinary work of Edith and Francis Schaeffer in the founding of the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland.  Their son, Frank, subsequently left the evangelical faith and wrote a number of novels and memoirs which were quite unkind to his parents.  So I was surprised to learn from watching a live-streamed appearance of Ravi Zacharias at Princeton earlier this week that Frank Schaeffer published an extraordinary tribute to his mother,  March 30, 2013 in the Huffington Post, the day she died.   Such a glowing tribute to a mother has rarely been equalled.   At the very end, he wrote "You won, Mom.  I believe."  I'm not sure exactly what that means, and I look forward to learning more.

An excerpt:

I trust my mother's hope-filled view of death because of the way Mom lived her life. Mom first introduced me to a non-retributive loving Lord who did not come to "die for us" to "satisfy" an angry God but came as a friend who ended all cycles of retribution and violence.

Mom made this introduction to Jesus through her life example. Mom was a wonderful paradox: an evangelical conservative fundamentalist who treated people as if she was an all-forgiving progressive liberal of the most tolerant variety.

Mom's daily life was a rebuke and contradiction to people who see everything as black and white. Liberals and secularists alike who make smug disparaging declarations about "all those evangelicals" would see their fondest prejudices founder upon the reality of my mother's compassion, cultural literacy and loving energy. . . .  

And another:

Besides a loving God and her steadfast support for the arts -- even when she disagreed with some of my writing -- here's who else my mother introduced me to: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Verdi and Vivaldi. She made them my friends. They are still my friends and companions and I have made them my children's and grandchildren's friends too. And that is my tribute to her example.

He goes on to list great painters and great authors, and writes further of his mother:

Here's what my mother showed me how to do by example: forgive, ask for forgiveness, cook, paint, build, garden, draw, read, keep house well, travel, love Italy, love God, love New York City, love Shakespeare, love Dickens, love Steinbeck, love Jesus, love silence, love people more than things, love community and put career and money last in my hierarchy of values and -- above all, to love beauty. I still follow my mother's example as best I can and I have passed and am passing her life gift to my children and grandchildren not just in words but in meals cooked, gardens kept, houses built, promises kept, sacrifices made, and beauty pointed to. . . .

He concludes (it's a much longer tribute than these quotes would suggest and filled with fascinating details):

I'll miss her voice. I learned to trust that voice because of the life witness that backed it up. I know I'll hear her voice again. You won Mom. I believe.

Books By Edith Schaeffer:

SCIENCE AND THE SHROUD

I have not followed the debate about the Shroud of Turin very closely, supposing like many others that it had been dated to around the 14th century.  The latest tests, however, indicate that it dates from between 280 BC to 220 AD.  For those wanting an update on current dating, the New York Post has printed a useful article.

. . . The shroud is a 14-foot rectangular woven cloth that bears the faint image of a crucified man, both front and back. The man has all the wounds suffered by the biblical Christ at the crucifixion, including the crown of thorns, the scourging, the nailed wrists and feet and the wound in the side.

Barely visible to the naked eye, the genuine image was revealed only accidentally, in 1898, when Italian photographer Secondo Pia was allowed to photograph the shroud for the first time. In developing the negative plates, Pia discovered to his shock and amazement that the reversed image on the cloth was now fully visible.

Since then, the shroud has been an object of veneration for some and an object of derision for others.

The case for its authenticity was dealt a serious blow in 1988 when, after much wrangling with the Vatican, a team of scientists was permitted to snip off and destroy for radio-carbon testing a small piece from a corner of the shroud. The results, announced with great fanfare, seemed to prove that it dated only from 1260-1390, and thus couldn’t be real.

But questions quickly arose about the piece of fabric that had been tested. Critics said the results were inaccurate, because the piece of cloth was not an original part of the shroud, but a repair and reweave done after it sustained some medieval fire damage.

The latest results seem to bear them out. A team from the University of Padua, based on infrared radiation analysis, has determined that the shroud dates from the period 280 BC to 220 AD — i.e., right at the time when Jesus is said to have lived. . . .  [more. . .]

KINGSTON TRIO - "DESERT PETE"

I saw the conclusion of a Ravi Zacharias live streaming appearance this evening in New Jersey.  Near the conclusion Ravi referred to the story told in the Kingston Trio song, "Desert Pete."  I remembered the song -- at least somewhat -- and decided to look it up on YouTube.  And now for your listening pleasure I present:  "Desert Pete"

 

For those who don't know what "priming the pump" means, here's a gentleman who explains it:  

 

And here's Norman Rockwell's painting: "Winter Morning" in which a young boy "primes the pump."

And here's someone's creative depiction of "Desert Pete":

 

"Give, and it will be given to you.

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together,

running over, will be put into your lap.  For with

the measure you use it will be measured back to you."

                                                             -  Luke 6:38

CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

I'm aware that I posted a Keith & Kristyn Getty Easter hymn a couple days ago, but today I came across another of their great Easter hymns that I would like to post as well.   

 

How can it be, the One who died,
Has borne our sin through sacrifice
To conquer every sting of death?
Sing, sing hallelujah.
For joy awakes as dawning light
When Christ’s disciples lift their eyes.
Alive He stands, their Friend and King;
Christ, Christ He is risen.

Chorus
Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!
Oh, sing hallelujah.
Join the chorus, sing with the redeemed;
Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

Verse 2
Where doubt and darkness once had been,
They saw Him and their hearts believed.
But blessed are those who have not seen,
Yet, sing hallelujah.
Once bound by fear now bold in faith,
They preached the truth and power of grace.
And pouring out their lives they gained
Life, life everlasting.

Verse 3
The power that raised Him from the grave
Now works in us to powerfully save.
He frees our hearts to live His grace;
Go tell of His goodness.

Bridge
He’s alive, He’s alive!
Heaven’s gates are opened wide.
He’s alive, He’s alive!
Now in heaven glorified.

Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Ed Cash; © 2012 Gettymusic and Alletrop Music (BMI) (adm. by MusicServices.org)

CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATIONS

 

 

 

The World's Largest Ever Male Voice Choir from the old Cardiff Arms Park in Wales sing "Were You There" (May 1993)

 

 Keith and Kristyn Getty

 Lyrics:

Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood. 

CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross. 

Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev'ry bitter thought,
Ev'ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow. 

Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
"Finished!" the vict'ry cry.

Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love. 

FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow'r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost! 
We stand forgiven at the cross.

MICHAEL POTEMRA'S REFLECTIONS ON HEARING BACH'S B-MINOR MASS LAST NIGHT AT LINCOLN CENTER

Potemra writes:

Lent is, paradoxically enough, a joyful time in New York City, because it tends to feature some of the world’s very best performances of sacred choral music. Tonight offered one such, the New York Philharmonic’s rendition of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. It is my opinion, and not mine alone, that this is the greatest work by history’s greatest composer; and the Philharmonic and its associates did an excellent job of traversing it. Among the featured soloists were celebrated mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter and soprano Dorothea Röschmann (I don’t follow the music world closely at all, so I hadn’t heard of her before; she has a great voice, and the pictures of her do not do justice to her physical beauty).

The B Minor Mass reminds me vividly of how true Ratzinger’s remark of many years ago really was: There are as many ways to God as there are people. Picture a packed house at Lincoln Center, enraptured by a theological document composed when the Roman Empire still existed. The central section of a full Mass setting is devoted to the Nicene Creed, a traditional summary of the basics of the Christian faith, and Bach spent part of his final years on earth working on precisely this section of the Mass. How many people in that auditorium endorsed each of the exactitudes specified in that document? How many would have been agitated by the word “filioque” — which once split Christendom in two? How many paid attention to the words at all? And yet the work speaks to all of them, because the God who is beyond words is in the music every bit as much as in the words.

G.K. CHESTERTON'S "ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI"

I find myself recommending G.K. Chesterton's "St. Francis of Assisi" to people from time to time, and with the new pope taking the name Pope Francis, it is perhaps more timely than ever for us to re-study the life of the original St. Francis.  I can think of no more delightful introduction than G.K. Chesterton's biography.   It's a slim, easy read and available in various editions.  If you want to save money, you can read it free on the internet.  Here's one source:  http://archive.org/stream/francisofassisi00chesuoft#page/n9/mode/2up

* Previous posts on Chesterton:

G.K. Chesterton: Unfailing in Wit, Wisdom, and Sanity

G.K. CHESTERTON ON "THE INNOCENCE OF SEX"

Quote of the Day - G. K. Chesterton on Original Sin, Beggars, and Kings

"100 YEARS OF WIT AND WISDOM" - G. K. Chesterton's Book "Orthodoxy"

G.K. CHESTERTON: REASON NEEDS TO BE BALANCED BY POETRY AND IMAGINATION

HERE I AM, LORD

A friend concluded his chapel message with this hymn.  I thought it beautiful

 

HOW AN UNBELIEVING LESBIAN ENGLISH PROFESSOR BECAME A REFORMED PASTOR'S WIFE

Justin Taylor writes:

"What a fascinating and instructive and encouraging interview, as Marvin Olasky talks with Rosaria Butterfield about her memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith."

This is, indeed, a fascinating interview.  I know it's long (about an hour), but it will be time well spent.

You can read a sample here.   Justin Taylor goes on to quote Carl Trueman:

"This autobiography is the launchpad for numerous sophisticated reflections on the nature of life, faith, sexuality, worship, education and other matters. As one would expect from a lover of nineteenth century literature, the book is also beautifully written with many a well-turned sentence; and as one would expect from someone schooled at the highest levels in critical theory, it eschews simplistic pieties for stimulating analyses of both Christian and non-Christian culture.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I do not agree with everything she says; but I did learn from everything she wrote. It deserves the widest possible readership."

About Justin Taylor

 

Follower of Christ. Husband of one, father of three. Elder at New Covenant Bible Church. VP of Editorial at Crossway. More…

 

 

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Jan

18

2013

Justin Taylor|12:00 pm CT

How an Unbelieving Lesbian English Professor Became a Reformed Pastor’s Wife

What a fascinating and instructive and encouraging interview, as Marvin Olasky talks with Rosaria Butterfield about her memoir, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey into Christian Faith.

You can read a sample here.

Carl Trueman writes:

This autobiography is the launchpad for numerous sophisticated reflections on the nature of life, faith, sexuality, worship, education and other matters. As one would expect from a lover of nineteenth century literature, the book is also beautifully written with many a well-turned sentence; and as one would expect from someone schooled at the highest levels in critical theory, it eschews simplistic pieties for stimulating analyses of both Christian and non-Christian culture.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I do not agree with everything she says; but I did learn from everything she wrote. It deserves the widest possible readership.

In particular Carl highlights her discussion of sexuality:

Her treatment of sexual sin and gender politics is fascinating and so much more sophisticated than the kind of simplistic drivel which passes for discussion in evangelical circles. Chapter Two, ‘Repentance and the Sin of Sodom’ along with her accounts in Chapter Three of talking to students at Geneva College about sexuality, are worth the price of the book. Every pastor should read these chapters and take her analysis to heart.

WONDERFUL NEW FLASH MOB VIDEOS

Thanks to Betty for alerting me to the following two recent flash mobs.  In watching each I laughed and cried. . .  sheer tears of joy. I love the reaction of surprised onlookers.  Enjoy!

 

Journey of Faith performed a Christmas "Flash Mob" at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, CA on December 18, much to the delight of local shoppers

 

 

JESUS HAS BORNE OUR GRIEFS AND CARRIED OUR SORROWS

Isaiah 53:4 - "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows..."   Tragedy struck a family in our church recently; a three year old girl died in a terrible auto accident.  The grieving mother is finding comfort in the closeness of the Lord.  She testifies that the comfort of the Holy Spirit is washing over her soul as she presses close to Him.  The veil separating this life and heaven has become thin.   The Holy Spirit ministers to those who move closer, rather than away, from Him.  It's been rightly said, "Whatever we're going through, Jesus will meet us there."

 

WHAT RAVI ZACHARIAS SAID TO A FOUNDER-LEADER OF HAMAS

Three minutes of substance worth pondering.  (HT: Justin Taylor)

Ravi's website is here.

A STORY OF AUTHENTICITY AND HUMILITY

TimChallies tells a moving story:   (HT: Justin Taylor)

Doug Nichols is a friend of mine through the Internet. He is the Founder and Director of Action International Ministries and in that role he travels all over the world promoting missions and evangelism. He emails me often and from all parts of the world with words of encouragement. He closes almost every email by saying, “Let me encourage you with this” and then shares a Scripture passage. I love it.

It was a long time ago, in the summer of 1966, that Doug was working for Operation Mobilization and was stationed in London during their big annual conference. He was assigned to the clean-up crew. One night at around 12:30 AM he was sweeping the steps at the conference center when an older gentleman approached him and asked if this was where the conference was being held. Doug said that it was, but that just about everyone had already gone to bed. This man was dressed very simply and had just a small bag with him. He said that he was attending the conference. Doug replied he would try to find him a place to sleep and led him to a room where about 50 people were bunked down on the floor. The older gentleman had nothing to sleep on, so Doug laid down some padding and a blanket and offered a towel for a pillow. The man said that would be just fine and that he appreciated it very much.

Doug asked the man if he had been able to eat dinner. It turns out that he hadn’t eaten since he had been travelling all day. Doug took him to the dining room but it was locked. He soon jimmied the lock and found some cornflakes and milk and bread and jam. As the man ate, the two began to talk. The man said that he and his wife had been working in Switzerland for several years, where he had a small ministry that served hippies and travellers. He spoke about his work and spoke about some of the people he had seen turn to Christ. When he finished eating, both men turned in for the night.

Doug woke up the next morning only to find out that he was in big trouble. The conference leaders came to him and said, “Don’t you know who it was that you put on the floor last night? That’s Francis Schaeffer! He’s the speaker for this conference! We had a whole room set aside for him!”

Doug had no idea that he was sleeping on the floor next to a celebrity, that he had told a man to sleep on the floor who had a profoundly important ministry. He had no idea that this man had helped shape the Christian church of that day, and really, the church of our day. And Schaeffer never let on. In humility he had accepted his lot and been grateful for it.

That is just a tiny little glimpse into a man’s life. Francis Schaeffer lived for 72 years and this little story consumed less than half of one of the 26,000 days of his life. But it tells you a lot about the man. I think it tells you as much about the man as his public ministry does. A book may proclaim that he is brilliant, but a story like this proclaims that he is humble. A speech in front of thousands may proclaim that he is a great philosopher, but the story tells us that that he is godly. There is so much we can learn about a person from those little otherwise-forgotten moments. It’s not only the great things a person does that make the man, but the small things.

When Doug tells the story he offers an application that has helped him. Not many of us can have the intellect of Francis Schaeffer; not many of us will ever have his abilities or his wisdom. But what we can do is reach out to others and minister to them with godly humility.

Me:  I love this story.  Years ago I met Doug Nichols.  He's authentic and humble, too.  I know OM life, and can imagine the setting of this story.  As for Francis Schaeffer, like so many others, I owe him a huge personal debt.  Encountering his person and works dramatically enlarged and deepened my own understanding of the Gospel and it's  relevance to all of life. Schaeffer started a spiritual and intellectual revolution that changed the face of evangelicalism.

Justin Taylor offers the following resources:

• Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life
  
• Barry Hankins, Francis Schaeffer And the Shaping of Evangelical America
• Lane Dennis, ed., The Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer
• Bruce Little, ed., Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God
• Bryan Follis, Truth with Love: The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer
• J. I. Packer, “No Little Person“
• Jerram Barrs, “Francis Schaeffer: The Man and His Message“
• Credo Magazine, “Francis Schaeffer at 100“
• William Edgar, Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality, Theologians on the Christian Life Series

I would strongly recommend you visit Credo Magazine's articles “Francis Schaeffer at 100“  The introduction points out:

The year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). It is difficult to think of an evangelical figure in the 20th century who so seriously engaged the philosophies and ideologies of the secular world and set them over against the Christian worldview than Francis Schaeffer.

But Schaeffer was no ordinary evangelical. The man wore knickers and knee high socks when he lectured, sporting not only long hair but a goat’s-chin beard! Most importantly, Schaeffer did not fear man, but feared God. Not only did he engage secular worldviews, but he confronted his fellow evangelicals, even rebuking them for doctrinal concession and compromise.

As many have observed, it is not an overstatement to say that the Schaeffers transformed, reshaped, and in many ways reformed American evangelicalism. Those writing in this new issue of Credo Magazine are proof, each writer bearing testimony to how Francis Schaeffer has made a monumental impact on how we understand and articulate the Christian faith and life in the world of ideas. Contributors include Bruce Little, William Edgar, Bryan Follis, and Stephen Wellum, and many others.

• Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life
  
• Barry Hankins, Francis Schaeffer And the Shaping of Evangelical America
• Lane Dennis, ed., The Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer
• Bruce Little, ed., Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God
• Bryan Follis, Truth with Love: The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer
• J. I. Packer, “No Little Person“
• Jerram Barrs, “Francis Schaeffer: The Man and His Message“
• Credo Magazine, “Francis Schaeffer at 100“
• William Edgar, Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality, Theologians on the Christian Life Series

   

 

 

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• Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life
  
• Barry Hankins, Francis Schaeffer And the Shaping of Evangelical America
• Lane Dennis, ed., The Letters of Francis A. Schaeffer
• Bruce Little, ed., Francis Schaeffer: A Mind and Heart for God
• Bryan Follis, Truth with Love: The Apologetics of Francis Schaeffer
• J. I. Packer, “No Little Person“
• Jerram Barrs, “Francis Schaeffer: The Man and His Message“
• Credo Magazine, “Francis Schaeffer at 100“
• William Edgar, Schaeffer on the Christian Life: Countercultural Spirituality, Theologians on the Christian Life Series

  

 

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DANGERS OF EXCESSIVE INTROSPECTION

Helpful comments and links on the subject can be found in Justin Taylor's blog post, "Inspect but Don't Introspect."

Brief notations I've made in the past:

- C.S. Lewis - "The attempt to discover by introspective analysis our own spiritual condition is to me a horrible thing which reveals, at best, not the secrets of God's spirit and ours, but their transpositions in intellect, emotion, and imagination, and which at worst may be the quickest road to presumption or despair."  Transposition, p. 66  (Macmillan edition)- See Leanne Payne, ch.12 "Introspection versus The Imagina­tion" of The Healing Pressnce

 - Leanne Payne in Real Presence, ch. 11 says "We may, in a manner, become incarnate of the Object; for as we look to the Object, loving it, we participate in its being." . . .  "Only in loving that which is outside ourselves can we our­selves be whole and free to create.  p. 151 

 - James Houston wrote, "The real meaning of enjoyment is... the act of going outside one's self, as a small child does, to be involved with other objects for their own sake.  It is therefore the antithesis of introspection, of being imprisoned within one's self.  Such joy is a desire, yet it is not trapped in self-seeking.  It is a response, even an intellec­tual response, such as a mathematician may have to the beauty of numbers, yet it is not self-congratulatory.  It is love, but not self-love, rather it is love of everything for its own sake.  Joy is akin to humility, to unconscious self-forgetful­ness and to kindness in respecting the uniqueness of the other." - I Believe in the Creator,  p. 205

FREDERICA MATHEWES-GREEN - - "SPIRITUAL FEELINGS" AND THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Some years ago I wrote friends about something I had read.  Invariably they wrote back saying it had been helpful.  It recently resurfaced, so I thought I would post it on my blog.  Here's what I had written:

In her book, At the Corner of East and Now: A Modern Life in American Christian Orthodoxy (NY: Tarcher/Putnam, 1999), Frederica Mathewes-Green writes of her visit to the fifteenth annual Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois where she encountered 25,000 "screaming, stomping, tattooed, metal-studded Christians."  The festival hosted some forty different bands including heavy metal and Christian death metal bands.

Mathewes-Green offers a fascinating and generally sympathetic glimpse of a Christian sub-culture to which many of us are a stranger.  You'll have to read chapter 10 ("Twelve-Inch Mohawk at a Campsite in Bushnell") if you want to be introduced to this world that exists below most of our radar screens.  It is my intention here simply to reproduce the judicious comments she offers on "spiritual feelings" and the Christian life.  She writes as a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church but her perspective applies to all Christians.

At one point while listening to a ska band, she recounts that,

"Between the songs the lead singer urges listeners not to let the joy of the faith grow cold in their hearts.  I hear several bands give messages like this between songs, which makes me wonder if cooling emotion is a recurrent problem.  It doesn't seem to be a concern that listeners will actually lose their faith, but rather that they'll fail to experience a sufficiently vivid level of emotional engagement with it, that they may gradually grow numb or take it for granted.

"A liturgical Church has an advantage over one where worship is relatively spontaneous, in that people powered by religious emotion simply do run out of steam.  Where there is a Liturgy, you show up each week and merge into that stream, and allow the prayers to shape you.  But where the test of successful worship is how much you felt moved, there's always performance anxiety; even the audience has to perform.

"I had been a Christian about ten years when I noticed to my dismay that my spiritual feelings were changing; the experience was growing quieter, less exciting.  I feared that I was losing my faith, or that I might hear the Lord's words to the church at Ephesus, 'I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first' (Rev. 2:4).  Then I came to sense that my faith had undergone a shift of location.  It had moved deep inside and was glowing there like a little oil lamp; if I was swept away with emotionally noisy worship, it might tip and sputter.  Silence and  attentiveness were now key.

"I think this happens naturally in a believer's relationship with God, just as it does between two people who are in love.  At first, being in love is all so strange, and the beloved is so other and exciting, that every movement is a thrill.  But gradually over long years the couple grows together and grows alike.  They no longer find each other a thrilling unknown but drink deeply of a treasured known that will always extend to mystery.  At the beginning, the heart pounds just to see the beloved's handwriting on an envelope; at the end, two sit side by side before a fire and don't need to speak at all.  When these rock bands urge their audience not to let the joy fade, they may be calling them to fight a fruitless battle against moving to the next stage of spiritual communion, the one where God moves deep inside.  when years shape us to be like him, his presence is less electric and strange, yet as we draw nearer, deeper faith yields deeper awe."  (pp. 170-177)

Now, years, later, I still find Mathewes-Green's observations true and accurate, and continue to share what she says with others.   I especially like the way she puts it:

"My faith had undergone a shift of location.  It had moved deep inside and was glowing there like a little oil lamp...  silence and attentiveness were now key."

See also previous "Christian Spirituality" blog posts: