Piper on ESV Study Bible

The Big Picture

For so long I read the Bible as a series of isolated stories with minimal connection to one another. All the stories were consistent in their insistence that we serve God and neighbor, but that was about it.

As I progressed through my seminary studies I began to see remarkable connectedness to the Bible. There are many ways to break down the overarching story of the Bible, but here are two:

1) Genesis 1-11 poses the question of how restoration might come.
2) Genesis 12-Revelation 22 answers that question.

Or, put more simply:

1) Genesis 1-11-the problem.
2) Genesis 12-Revelation 22-the solution.

The glue, of course, holding the whole book (and not to mention the whole universe!) together is Jesus Christ.

Religion and Politics

Joe Carter has good reminders for how Christians should engage politics. Here is the introduction:

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was purportedly asked if God was on his side. "Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side," said the President, "my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right."

Although Lincoln is often praised for this remark by those who oppose the mixing of religion and politics, it contains three of the most controversial ideas in American politics: that it is legitimate to invoke the name of God within the realm of political discourse; that God's existence not only matters, but that he is always right; and that since God takes sides on certain issues, some people will be divinely justified while others will be in opposition not only to their political opponents but to the very Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.

If you find these ideas absurd and repugnant, you are most likely a secularist. If you find them to be embarrassing truths, then you may be on the religious left. If you find them so obvious that they hardly need stating, then you are probably a member of the so-called "religious right."

(HT: Between Two Worlds)

The Sola Panel | Is church for evangelism?

This is a good, brief write-up on the place of evangelism in the church. (HT: Justin Taylor)

The Sola Panel | Is church for evangelism?

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Keller on need for good theology

Significance of clothing in ANE (Question for readers)

Anyone that has attended Gordon-Conwell is probably aware of Gordon Hugenberger's class, Christ in the OT. In that class Hugenberger often mentioned the significance of the hem of one's garment. The hem of one's garment, Hugenberger says, was indicative of one's inheritance. It was etched into the very fabric of one's clothes. Hence the seriousness and subsequent jealousy surrounding Joseph's colorful coat.

This point makes sense of a number of passages, yet I have never seen the same point made by other OT scholars (granted, my reading in OT is very limited). Does anyone else in the OT field agree with this understanding of ANE clothing?

I welcome any thoughts or answers.

Hammer Time

Aside from being hilarious, these commercials underscore that it is often media that becomes the source of our daily salvation. In this instance, salvation from the monotony of the modern workplace comes with the arrival of Monday Night Football. We are indeed "mediated"!

from "On Earth as It Is in Advertising?"

When we expose ourselves mindlessly to popular culture, we interpret little of it wisely and we permit most of what is advertised to leave residue on our consciousness.

(from Sam Van Eman's On Earth as It Is in Advertising?, 15)

from "Mediated"

I am in the process of reading Thomas de Zengotita's Mediated.  In this book, de Zengotita describes how the deluge of mediums soaking us affect our psyches.  In the following excerpt, he describes how Times Square epitomizes our predicament.  The description is haunting, especially the juxtaposition between the virtual and real.

 

Take the new Times Square, everybody's favorite icon for the virtualization process, because that's where what is happening in the culture as a whole is so effectively distilled and intensified.  All the usual observations apply--and each observation contributes its iota to muffling what it was intended to expose, including this one, my little contribution, which consists of noticing how everything in that place is aimed.  Everything is firing modules, straight for your gonads, your taste buds, your vanities, your fears.  But it's okay; these modules seek to penetrate, but in a passing way; it's all in fun.  A second of your attention is all they ask.  Nothing real is firing, nothing that rends or cuts.  It's a massage, if you just relax and go with it.  And why not?  Some of the most talented people on the planet have devoted their lives to creating this psychic sauna, just for you.  

And it's not just the screens and billboards, the literal signs; it's absolutely everything you encounter.  Except for the eyes of the people, shuffling along, and the poignant imperfections of their bodies; they are so manifestly unequal to the solicitations lavished upon them.  No wonder they stuff themselves with junk--or trying to live up to it all, enslave themselves to regimes of improvement.  The flattery of representation has a downside, as we shall see--for the flattered self is spoiled.  It never gets enough.  It feels unappreciated.  It whines a lot.  It wants attention.  

(from Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World And the Way You Live in It, 21) 

The music of Joe Garner

A friend introduced me to Joe Garner. I have really enjoyed his stuff thus far. His music can be downloaded for free at NoiseTrade.

Here is a description of Garner's music from his MySpace site:
Recorded at a mountain studio in east Tennessee and released independently, Garner's is a sound definitely grown from the ground. Earthy, honest and plaintive; Mourning Birds beckons back to the folk ballads of a simpler time and at the same time casts a shadow of unease on its own mirth. Compiled with a handful of friends giving sparse and simple accompaniment to his guitar, Garner's first effort includes six tracks that display the enigmatic range of moods that make this burgeoning songwriter and storyteller a haunted soul not soon forgotten. Songs like 'Bury the Hatchet' and 'June and God' usher the listener into the quiet moments of human longing and the subterranean rage that either break our spirits or make us whole. These stories of squandered love and utter desperation place us as near voyeurs in the midst of lives unraveling and eroding before us. Idiosyncratic yet empathic, the images conjured up by Garner's characters evoke a time and place hauntingly too near. Other songs, like 'They're All Gone', move hesitantly out from the shadows. In his way, Garner captures a glimpse of hope's somber release, the silent joy of discovering that some of life's darker doubts and questions cannot be answered, not yet. Son to a life-long and road-weary Country 'n' Western picker, Garner comes by his music honest. While not too concerned with slaying the forefathers of his genre or recreating the wagon wheel, Joe Garner has been able to move in and inhabit the best sensibilities of a songwriting once known as Country Music, but upon its exit from the country now labeled 'Roots'. May his roots grow deeper; we'll sit and listen.

evangelism

In Ephesians Paul speaks of evangelism as being one of the gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. Unfortunately, however, evangelists often inadvertently tear down the body of Christ. I can remember in high school fretting, even to the point of tears, as to whether I was actually saved. This anxiety spiked following revivals or evangelistic services because it seemed that the evangelist did everything possible in order to spawn doubt in the believer's heart. I can remember hearing these preachers relay stories about individuals that thought they were saved but then realized they had not produced a truly sincere profession of faith. If these Christians were not really Christians, how could I be sure that I was? After all, I could hardly remember my acceptance of Christ at age nine, much less remember the sincerity of such a moment.

And I have spoke with others that have had similar experiences. Last week, one person told me that he accepted Christ four times, and was baptized three! (I think this is right; it was something ridiculous like that.). All in effort to "nail down" his certainty of being a believer.

These tactics that foster doubt in Christians, especially young people, are wrong. They harm the effectiveness of the Church by causing its members to doubt their place in it! If it is the Gospel that anchors the actions of Christians, any preaching that loosens that anchor will harm Christian activity.

But at a deeper level, these tactics undermine the Gospel. They imply that the believer must muster a certain degree of enthusiasm and sincerity or at least have a certain level of sophistication in order to validate their faith in Christ. This is simply not the case. There is an episode in the Gospels where a woman seeks to simply touch Jesus' clothes in hopes that by touching them she might be healed from her sickness. This is not mature faith but a superstitious one. Nonetheless, Jesus says your faith has made you well (Mt 9.22). Why? The point Tim Keller extracts from the text is that it is not the sincerity or sophistication of one's faith but the object of one's faith that heals them. The woman did not have an accurate understanding of faith, but the object of her faith was right. Interestingly, our culture thinks the exact opposite with regards to faith: it is not the object of our faith that matters, but the sincerity of it. This is not true of biblical Christianity and it does not measure up with reality either, says Keller.

To make his case, Keller describes three men running from a bloodthirsty bear. The men reach a cliff and there is a frozen pond at the bottom. They are faced with a dilemma: take their chances with the bear, or jump onto a frozen pond that may or may not hold them. The three men all, by faith, decide to jump onto the frozen pond. Yet they all have varying degrees of faith. The first has hardly an inkling of faith that the ice will hold him but jumps anyway. The second person is about 50% sure that the ice will hold. The last guy, seeing the other two made it, had a strong faith in the ice's strength to hold him. Given their varying degrees of faith, all made it! All were saved! In other words, it was not the level of their faith, but the object of their faith, in this case, the pond. (This is Keller's illustration as I remember it; I probably botched it in one way or another)

So, it is not so much the level of our faith but the object of it that matters, namely, Jesus Christ. Many evangelists would do well to remember this point. As I think back to my salvation experience at age nine, I do not remember what exactly I believed about Jesus. I am sure it was fraught with theological problems. Nevertheless, I do know the object of my faith at that point. I simply threw myself to Jesus, just like those men threw themselves onto the frozen pond. And through that, I was saved.

Wise Saying

Last night we had dinner with several couples and we started talking about some of the whacky things churches do to get people into their church. It is amazing some of the cockeyed and crooked antics employed as "outreach."

Amidst our discussion, I was reminded of a great saying my youth minister used to say regularly: "What you win 'em with, is what you win 'em to."

In other words, if we are getting congregants in our church doors with only pizza and games, then that is what we have won them to. It is a pithy point, and one that stands as a good corrective to many of our outreach endeavors.