Yeah, my title's weak. But the treatment in Kevin DeYoung's blog of how the controversy has played out biblically, is quite robust. The best yet, if you're at all interested in this discussion:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/02/28/bell-brouhaha/
Monday, February 28, 2011
Hells Bells!
The publicity is an author's dream, which may just be the point. Rob is great at asking questions which get us to think, and he's certainly touched a nerve with this one.
According to Christianity Today, John Piper tweeted: "Farewell Rob Bell." Last night Rick Warren tweeted: "I believe in hell because Jesus says it's real & he knows more about it than anyone." Just added to the Gospel Coalition Conference in April: Don Carson is going to do a special session as a response to Bell's book. You can read various reactions here:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2011/02/rob_bells_book.html
It's probably good to withhold judgment until we have the text in our hot little hands, or hot little kindle (if it's just been recharged), but the wait is killing me. And if it kills me, what are my possible destinations? Or should that be singular?
This is a HOT topic, and I don't mean that as a pun because making light of the issue of our eternal destiny is utterly heartless. But so is departing from the teaching of Jesus and Scripture on the topic. Did Rob actually do that in this book, as many are now claiming? Guess we'll find out. In the meantime, he's not saying--for reasons only he knows. If Rob Bell ever tires of writing books and making Nooma videos, I think he could have a great career playing poker.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Said Musa Released from Prison
An answer to prayers, but one Afghan Christian remains behind bars.
Be inspired with the story: http://www.persecution.org/2011/02/24/imprisoned-afghan-christian-released-from-prison/
Be inspired with the story: http://www.persecution.org/2011/02/24/imprisoned-afghan-christian-released-from-prison/
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Rob Bell, Hell and Universalism
Justin Taylor has a blog I regularly read on 'The Gospel Coalition.' He put up a post about Rob Bell's new book, coming out the end of March. Justin's got a lot of flack for his comments which are based, among other things, on a promotional video Rob has.
You can find the discussion and video here:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/02/26/rob-bell-universalist/?comments#commentscomment-80217
For what it's worth, here's a comment I left on the site:
If you've ever watched Rob Bell's "The gods aren't angry" tour/message, this latest iteration should really come as no surprise. In fact, it is entirely logical. In "the gods aren't angry," Rob very skillfully indicates that any notion of an angry God who demands sacrifice is nothing more than pagan in origin and, hence, utterly unChristian. So, the idea of God being angry at and judging his own son is worse than pagan.
He does an absolutely masterful job of unpacking this approach through a narrative that connects with seekers put off by the blood and gore of Old Testament sacrifices, and of the barbarism of the crucifixion.
But it is a pyrrhic victory that costs him and the church no less than the gospel itself. For, the good news is not just Rob's "God is love," so end of story. Rather, the good news is so much better than that. The gospel is good news because in it God lovingly offers to exchange his righteousness for our sinfulness and its consequences. In Jesus' own words: "God SO loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever BELIEVES IN HIM might not PERISH but have eternal life." One doesn't need a doctorate in hermeneutics to understand Jesus, himself, to be stating that those without faith in him are in danger of perishing eternally. Interestingly, John uses the same word that Paul does in Galatians 2:20: "who loved me and GAVE himself for me." The loving giving of himself which Paul has in mind was Jesus' sacrificial death -- "to give his life a ransom for many" was how Jesus put it in Mark 10:45.
This theme of a God who is infinitely loving and yet simultaneously wrathful towards sin is one that permeates Scripture from cover to cover. Yet, it is one which Rob, sadly, ignores. Still, there is no way around it: "God presented him [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement [propitiation] through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25). It doesn't get much clearer than that.
Perhaps Rob will surprise us when we get to spend $14 on the book when it comes out the end of March. Perhaps, we will all have a good chuckle and conclude, "Great marketing ploy, Rob." But given his absolute aversion to Scripture's focus on the necessity of Christ's atonement, I suspect Justin's concerns are well-founded. My best guess is that this book will be another, but not the last, step away from the Scripture that speaks, and the Christ who saves.
You can find the discussion and video here:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/02/26/rob-bell-universalist/?comments#commentscomment-80217
For what it's worth, here's a comment I left on the site:
If you've ever watched Rob Bell's "The gods aren't angry" tour/message, this latest iteration should really come as no surprise. In fact, it is entirely logical. In "the gods aren't angry," Rob very skillfully indicates that any notion of an angry God who demands sacrifice is nothing more than pagan in origin and, hence, utterly unChristian. So, the idea of God being angry at and judging his own son is worse than pagan.
He does an absolutely masterful job of unpacking this approach through a narrative that connects with seekers put off by the blood and gore of Old Testament sacrifices, and of the barbarism of the crucifixion.
But it is a pyrrhic victory that costs him and the church no less than the gospel itself. For, the good news is not just Rob's "God is love," so end of story. Rather, the good news is so much better than that. The gospel is good news because in it God lovingly offers to exchange his righteousness for our sinfulness and its consequences. In Jesus' own words: "God SO loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever BELIEVES IN HIM might not PERISH but have eternal life." One doesn't need a doctorate in hermeneutics to understand Jesus, himself, to be stating that those without faith in him are in danger of perishing eternally. Interestingly, John uses the same word that Paul does in Galatians 2:20: "who loved me and GAVE himself for me." The loving giving of himself which Paul has in mind was Jesus' sacrificial death -- "to give his life a ransom for many" was how Jesus put it in Mark 10:45.
This theme of a God who is infinitely loving and yet simultaneously wrathful towards sin is one that permeates Scripture from cover to cover. Yet, it is one which Rob, sadly, ignores. Still, there is no way around it: "God presented him [Christ] as a sacrifice of atonement [propitiation] through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25). It doesn't get much clearer than that.
Perhaps Rob will surprise us when we get to spend $14 on the book when it comes out the end of March. Perhaps, we will all have a good chuckle and conclude, "Great marketing ploy, Rob." But given his absolute aversion to Scripture's focus on the necessity of Christ's atonement, I suspect Justin's concerns are well-founded. My best guess is that this book will be another, but not the last, step away from the Scripture that speaks, and the Christ who saves.
Palestinian Christians & Messianic Jews Forgive Each Other
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and destroyed the barrier of hostility" - Ephesians 2:14
Below is an excerpt from a blog I read today researching Jews & Gentiles together in the church (see Eph 3:6 below):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cISi_3hdTI
"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ" - Ephesians 3:6.
Below is an excerpt from a blog I read today researching Jews & Gentiles together in the church (see Eph 3:6 below):
Re: Forgiveness: Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews forgiving each other....
As a messianic Jew, I can tell you there is a beautiful relationship of forgiveness between Palestinian evangelical Christians, messianic Jews, and Muslim background believers in Jesus. This movie provides a glimpse into that picture. There are several efforts, including Musalaha and others who although have different political views come together to embrace each other as brothers....and sometimes this involves really really really Zionistic settler type messianic Jews embracing really really left-wing anti-Israel leaning Palestinians embracing each other in forgiveness.
"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ" - Ephesians 3:6.
"The Singularity is Near"
"Within 30 years, we will have the means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended" - Vernor Vinge in The Coming Technological Singularity.
To read click here:
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Downtown in the Windy City
I call this photo:
Big Building, Little Man
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Chi-Town Bound
Son #2 (he that is called 'Ryan') and I are heading down to Chicago for a day and a night and a day today. We are visiting MBI (Moody Bible Institute, for the uninitiated), my alma mater.
It also happens to be the place I met and fell in love with my son's mother (she that is called 'Doreen').
I'm not sure what's going to come of this trip, but one never knows if my son will be taking a similar trip with his son in 30 years.
That scenario is actually not that far-fetched:
- My great grand parents met there. He was Canadian; she was a Mennonite from Ohio. They studied, met, married and went out to Kenya as missionaries around 1917.
- Their daughter, Pat (my mom) came from Kenya to Moody around 1950, and then returned to Zambia where she met and married another missionary, Bob (my dad).
- Bob and Pat moved to New Zealand and had three kids, the last one an accident/surprise: Graham.
- Graham attended MBI from January 1980-December 1982, when he married she that is called Doreen, whom he met at MBI
- In February 2011 (today), Graham drove Ryan to Moody to check it out.
- Three, possibly four generations. I am VERY grateful to that school.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Pride and Pain
 |
| Before & After: The Canterbury TV Building where 15 staff are unaccounted for |
I am so proud of my fellow-kiwis' responses to this tragedy (see video below), but have a very heavy heart for the families who have lost loved ones and so much else.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/video.cfm?c_id=1&gal_cid=1&gallery_id=116952
Monday, February 21, 2011
The World is Falling Apart at the Seams
- Tunisia, Egypt, Bharain, Iran, Jordan, Libya...
- The Capitol Building in Madison, Wisconsin...
- And a major earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfcWraeZvcw
Lord, have mercy on them and us all!
And from the significant to the incidental: been in Wisconsin 4 years tomorrow.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Please Pray for an Afghan Brother About to Be Hanged for His Faith
Here's his original letter from prison: http://www.persecution.org/2010/11/16/afghan-imprisoned-for-christian-faith/
Saturday, February 19, 2011
I Am So Grateful to the Jews
It's been a month since I went on my brief pilgrimage to Israel. I wish, in one sense, I could choose a different word to describe it. Sojourn, maybe: a lengthy and leisurely stay. There is so much to drink in, one could easily be satiated for a lifetime, even in the barrenest parts. Perhaps I'll go there one day and open up a hotel chain for myself: Extended Stay Israel. In the meantime, I can't wait until March of next year when, God willing, a LakeView group will experience the Holy Land together.
As a Christian, I am so grateful to Judaism and to Jews for the incredible heritage they have passed on to me, even though that would strike them as a strange turn of phrase. After all, I am a "Goy" (Gentile) and they are Jews with a history and identity and self-awareness I can't come close to understanding or entering into.
One of the things this trip did was to powerfully impress upon me this unequaled otherness of Jews and of Israel. Since Abraham fathered the nation, they have been God's chosen people with the utterly unique blessing and burden which that relationship entails.
Jews produced the Tanakh (the Old Testament), the only God-inspired Scriptures (other than the later New Testament). Their reverence for God and His Word, along with a dogged tenacity, guaranteed a scrupulously copied Scripture in the form of such priceless manuscripts as the Aleppo Codex. Transcribed by Massoretic scribes in the beautiful city of Tiberias, where I stayed on western side of the Sea of Galilee, it is now housed in The Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.
Our knowledge of God the Creator, the Holy One of Israel, comes primarily from these rich Scriptures-- from Genesis through to Malachi (though the order differs in the Hebrew Bible). The Decalogue (Ten Commandments), which has so shaped Western civilization, comes from Moses, a Jew. The great heroes and examples of the Faith, from Joseph to David to Elijah, are all Jews. The nation, whose tempestuous relationship with her God becomes a parable of every human's sinfulness and need for redemption, is the Israelite nation, now constituted as the Israeli nation. Jews.
What other nation has enjoyed the intimacy with God they have? What other nation has endured the privation and persecution they have: exiled time and again, scattered to the four corners of the earth in a two thousand year Diaspora, exterminated by the millions, and regathered to the land promised to them thousands of years before?
Kind of patronizing for a Gentile to so blithely thank the Jews for their legacy.
Yet it was from Jewish stock that my Messiah came. His coming and birthplace and life and death, and even resurrection, was prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures--though, of course, they would "dispute such an interpretation of those particular texts." Jesus was Jewish on both sides, his lineage tracing back to King David. Some recognized him as the Promised One and cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David" as he entered Jerusalem. Others, more loudly and powerfully, screamed, "We have no king but Caesar. Crucify him!" And so he was murdered. No sanitized way to describe it.
And yet, "the Jews killed Jesus" is one of the most twisted and perverse phrases to ever adorn lips, given how it has been used. Is the statement true? Of course it is. But it is made to be the whole truth when it is only a small part of the truth. And so it becomes, ultimately, an untruth. It becomes a club. It becomes a crucifix, the new cross to which all Jews other than Jesus are nailed.
Of course it is true that Jews killed Jesus. But so did the Romans. In fact, the Jews could not have succeeded without Roman (read "Gentile") blessing. Stoning was the "preferred" method of Jewish execution; crucifixion is entirely Roman. In actuality it was Roman soldiers who flogged him to within an inch of death, nailed his hands and feet, and pierced his side. Ascribing sole, or even primary, responsibility to the Jews for Jesus' death is as foolish as Pontius Pilate thinking he could claim innocence because the order for Jesus' execution was accompanied by a the order for a bowl of water with which he tried to wash his hands of the matter.
The fact is we are all complicit: Jew and Gentile. You could even argue that Gentiles are doubly complicit. Just as we are somehow complicit in the sin in the Garden by Adam and Eve, the representative heads of the human race, the nation of Israel is not just about one ethnic group, but at some level about us all. Their specific rejection of Christ as King in the space and time of first century Palestine was enacted immediately by Roman/Gentile law, and is repeated time and again today by Gentiles and Jews who continue to reject the kingship of Jesus.
The issue is not that the Jews killed Jesus. But that we all killed him. Right after we all rejected him. And that we continue to reject him and, in essence, "are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace" with each additional rejection (Hebrews 6:6).
As a Gentile, I am so grateful to God and to the Jews, for Jesus. I put that comma in there on purpose, lest you read 'Jews for Jesus.' I am so grateful I can be a 'Gentile for Jesus' and that the Jewish Messiah is my Christ, also. My King. My Savior. That is an unparalleled gift. But my heart is heavy that there are so few Jews for Jesus.
There is a bitter sweetness to this. The great Jewish rabbi, Paul of Tarsus, who studied under Gamaliel wrote: "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1). "Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious" (Romans 11:11). "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in." (Romans 11:25).
I am one of those Gentiles, saved now and for eternity by the Jewish Messiah.
As a Christian, I am so grateful to Judaism and to Jews for the incredible heritage they have passed on to me, even though that would strike them as a strange turn of phrase. After all, I am a "Goy" (Gentile) and they are Jews with a history and identity and self-awareness I can't come close to understanding or entering into.
One of the things this trip did was to powerfully impress upon me this unequaled otherness of Jews and of Israel. Since Abraham fathered the nation, they have been God's chosen people with the utterly unique blessing and burden which that relationship entails.
Jews produced the Tanakh (the Old Testament), the only God-inspired Scriptures (other than the later New Testament). Their reverence for God and His Word, along with a dogged tenacity, guaranteed a scrupulously copied Scripture in the form of such priceless manuscripts as the Aleppo Codex. Transcribed by Massoretic scribes in the beautiful city of Tiberias, where I stayed on western side of the Sea of Galilee, it is now housed in The Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.
Our knowledge of God the Creator, the Holy One of Israel, comes primarily from these rich Scriptures-- from Genesis through to Malachi (though the order differs in the Hebrew Bible). The Decalogue (Ten Commandments), which has so shaped Western civilization, comes from Moses, a Jew. The great heroes and examples of the Faith, from Joseph to David to Elijah, are all Jews. The nation, whose tempestuous relationship with her God becomes a parable of every human's sinfulness and need for redemption, is the Israelite nation, now constituted as the Israeli nation. Jews.
What other nation has enjoyed the intimacy with God they have? What other nation has endured the privation and persecution they have: exiled time and again, scattered to the four corners of the earth in a two thousand year Diaspora, exterminated by the millions, and regathered to the land promised to them thousands of years before?
Kind of patronizing for a Gentile to so blithely thank the Jews for their legacy.
Yet it was from Jewish stock that my Messiah came. His coming and birthplace and life and death, and even resurrection, was prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures--though, of course, they would "dispute such an interpretation of those particular texts." Jesus was Jewish on both sides, his lineage tracing back to King David. Some recognized him as the Promised One and cried, "Hosanna to the Son of David" as he entered Jerusalem. Others, more loudly and powerfully, screamed, "We have no king but Caesar. Crucify him!" And so he was murdered. No sanitized way to describe it.
And yet, "the Jews killed Jesus" is one of the most twisted and perverse phrases to ever adorn lips, given how it has been used. Is the statement true? Of course it is. But it is made to be the whole truth when it is only a small part of the truth. And so it becomes, ultimately, an untruth. It becomes a club. It becomes a crucifix, the new cross to which all Jews other than Jesus are nailed.
Of course it is true that Jews killed Jesus. But so did the Romans. In fact, the Jews could not have succeeded without Roman (read "Gentile") blessing. Stoning was the "preferred" method of Jewish execution; crucifixion is entirely Roman. In actuality it was Roman soldiers who flogged him to within an inch of death, nailed his hands and feet, and pierced his side. Ascribing sole, or even primary, responsibility to the Jews for Jesus' death is as foolish as Pontius Pilate thinking he could claim innocence because the order for Jesus' execution was accompanied by a the order for a bowl of water with which he tried to wash his hands of the matter.
The fact is we are all complicit: Jew and Gentile. You could even argue that Gentiles are doubly complicit. Just as we are somehow complicit in the sin in the Garden by Adam and Eve, the representative heads of the human race, the nation of Israel is not just about one ethnic group, but at some level about us all. Their specific rejection of Christ as King in the space and time of first century Palestine was enacted immediately by Roman/Gentile law, and is repeated time and again today by Gentiles and Jews who continue to reject the kingship of Jesus.
The issue is not that the Jews killed Jesus. But that we all killed him. Right after we all rejected him. And that we continue to reject him and, in essence, "are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace" with each additional rejection (Hebrews 6:6).
As a Gentile, I am so grateful to God and to the Jews, for Jesus. I put that comma in there on purpose, lest you read 'Jews for Jesus.' I am so grateful I can be a 'Gentile for Jesus' and that the Jewish Messiah is my Christ, also. My King. My Savior. That is an unparalleled gift. But my heart is heavy that there are so few Jews for Jesus.
There is a bitter sweetness to this. The great Jewish rabbi, Paul of Tarsus, who studied under Gamaliel wrote: "Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved" (Romans 10:1). "Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious" (Romans 11:11). "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of Gentiles has come in." (Romans 11:25).
I am one of those Gentiles, saved now and for eternity by the Jewish Messiah.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was punished for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
- Isaiah 53:3-6
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Manhood
I just dropped my middle son, 17 (that's his age, not his name), off at the airport. Ryan's flying to Tennessee to spend three days at Union University to check them out and to get checked out for more scholarships. Please, Lord. Please.
Reminds me of my first big trip leaving New Zealand at age 16 for Azusa Pacific College (now University). One semester there, and the direction of my life changed radically. I returned to NZ to work for the summer and the next semester, selling encyclopedias, among other things. Then on to Chicago to Moody Bible Institute where I met my Valentine of this last Monday.
We were all so young then. But not nearly as young as my son who is a year older than I was. Interesting how that works. I didn't even know how to tie a tie. But he does. I taught him last night. Hope he remembers how for the University President's dinner. Guess if he messes up he can just say it's a funky New Zealand knot and be weird in other ways and hope to impress them with his cultural quaintness.
I just read in Isaiah 32:2 that when the King reigns in righteousness:
Each man will be a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Ryan's going to need to put on a little more weight to be like the shadow of a great rock. But I do pray that this is what he will become for the others in his life as he moves into manhood. And that the safety and security and refreshment which Isaiah's word pictures paint of godly men and their relationships, will be increasingly true of me too.
Reminds me of my first big trip leaving New Zealand at age 16 for Azusa Pacific College (now University). One semester there, and the direction of my life changed radically. I returned to NZ to work for the summer and the next semester, selling encyclopedias, among other things. Then on to Chicago to Moody Bible Institute where I met my Valentine of this last Monday.
We were all so young then. But not nearly as young as my son who is a year older than I was. Interesting how that works. I didn't even know how to tie a tie. But he does. I taught him last night. Hope he remembers how for the University President's dinner. Guess if he messes up he can just say it's a funky New Zealand knot and be weird in other ways and hope to impress them with his cultural quaintness.
I just read in Isaiah 32:2 that when the King reigns in righteousness:
Each man will be a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Ryan's going to need to put on a little more weight to be like the shadow of a great rock. But I do pray that this is what he will become for the others in his life as he moves into manhood. And that the safety and security and refreshment which Isaiah's word pictures paint of godly men and their relationships, will be increasingly true of me too.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Spiritual Retreat
Today I'm at Cedarly, this oasis in Oconomowoc (I love saying that word; writing it on a phone is a bit more challenging).
A few days ago, in my reading through Isaiah, I came across this verse in 30:15:
"In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength."
It's great to get away and be quiet with God. And I love having around 40 personal prayer requests from our church family, through Sunday's communication card, that I can bring before our loving Lord.
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Critics Slam U.S. Government, Media for 'Weak' Response to Anti-Christian Attacks
Published February 15, 2011
FoxNews.com
At least 65 Christians have been killed in attacks across the Muslim world in recent months, sparking sharp criticism from human rights groups that charge the U.S. government and media aren’t doing nearly enough to speak out against the violence.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/15/critics-slam-government-media-weak-response-anti-christian-attacks/#ixzz1E5v4Iuii
Up-Coming Series at LakeView
Mythbusters (6 weeks: Mar 20 - Apr 24). A lot of people are skeptical about Christianity, and with good reason. The church has too-often said, "just believe!" whenever questions have been raised, as if faith is like a good belch that you just have to work up from deep in your belly. In this 'Mythbuster' series, we're going to take an honest look at these popular statements which reflect genuine intellectual objections to to Christianity:
- Science disproves Christianity
- A good God wouldn't allow evil and suffering
- All roads lead to God
- The church is responsible for so much injustice
- Good people won't go to hell
- Jesus never rose from the dead
Remember, you read it here first. :)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Leadership Conference
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Suffering, Worship & Music
It's almost as if he's more concerned about worship than music. Funny that. I guess he said as much. What a great, and important distinction. Worship is not music. But that's what we've reduced it to. And since we've made worship synonymous with music, the Church regularly engages in "worship wars"--which are not about worship at all, but all about musical style and personal preference.
Worship focuses on God and His character and His greatness. I loved Aaron's fixation with that, despite all the heartache he and his wife have been through in losing three little ones. Those tragedies became the catalyst for worshipping God on a whole new level. They also became context in which their worship was able to be seen and tested for what it really is. Also the context in which God, the object of their worship, is seen more accurately for who He is: in spite of seeming evidence to the contrary, no charge can be levelled in this fallen world against the perfections of His character. Ultimately, God brought good from the evil, which was the loss of their little ones, and taught them how to become true worshippers, how to "worship in spirit and in truth" (Jn 4:24).
Is it possible that authentic worship of God when life is falling apart is qualitatively better than authentic worship when everything's peaches and cream? That would certainly add an extra dimension to the question of theodicy--maintaining God's character in light of evil and suffering.
I am grateful for Aaron's rare and biblical emphasis in an age where we increasingly ask and expect God to dance to our tune. Job cried out in 13:15 "even though He slay me, yet will I trust him." What an unparalleled expression of trust. Of faith. Of worship.
Lord God, may I, may we, worship you by affirming your unwavering goodness and love no matter what we experience in life. The way Job did. The way Aaron does.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Quotable
"You're closer than you were before"
- Doreen Kaye Blaikie (after a hug & now that I have lost some pounds)
Friday, February 11, 2011
Where Do our Vision and Mission Intersect?
- LakeView's Vision: To Make God Famous (Hab 3:2)
- LakeView's Mission: To Lead People Into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ (Matt 28:18-20)
Where they Intersect:
"The deepest passion of the heart of Jesus was not the saving of men,
but the glory of God;
and then the saving of men, because that is for the glory of God."
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Quotable
"Graham! You're not on Facebook until
you put a picture of your face there!"
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
LakeView Hosting EFCA Externally-Focused Church Conference
This April 8th & 9th, LakeView is privileged to be hosting The Externally-Focused Church Conference for pastors, staff and lay people in the Forest-Lakes District of our Association, the Evangelical Free Churches of America. This is going to be a great conference. Eric Swanson will be here. Yeeha.
"If your church vanished, would your community weep? Would anyone notice? Would anyone care?"
That question, from the book, haunts me. And it should every pastor. After all the self-justifying and excuses are done, that question really gets to the heart of whether we exist for ourselves or for others.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Humility: True Greatness
"It is evident that a man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and comes down after such contemplation to look into himself."
- John Calvin.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Vision Verse & Cheeseheads
Yesterday Eric preached on our Vision. Great message. In closing the services, I shared a verse I'd just come across that echoes our vision of making God famous:
"Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts" (Is 26:8b)
May it increasingly be so for me, and for us!
Also closed with the benediction: "God bless. And 'Go Packers!'" And they did. Superbowl Champions. Most viewed programme in history. 111 million viewers, eclipsing the 106 million viewers of the1983 finale of MASH. Move over Alan Alda.
Proud to be a Wisconsonite/Cheesehead.
"Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts" (Is 26:8b)
May it increasingly be so for me, and for us!
Also closed with the benediction: "God bless. And 'Go Packers!'" And they did. Superbowl Champions. Most viewed programme in history. 111 million viewers, eclipsing the 106 million viewers of the1983 finale of MASH. Move over Alan Alda.
Proud to be a Wisconsonite/Cheesehead.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Why I've Given Up on Ice Fishing
Minnesota Ice Fishermen Catch Scuba Diver on Lake
Published February 04, 2011
FoxNews.com
A pair of ice fishermen thought they had caught a monster fish -- but they got an even bigger surprise than they bargained for at the end of the line.
Jason Mechtel and Jeff Klein went out on Lake Waconia in Minnesota to try and lure a monster muskie, but they quickly got a shock, MyFoxTwinCities reported.
“I mean, it didn’t take two seconds and this rattle reel went off,” said Klein.
Soon, every line was going crazy. The pair thought they had a monster fish pulling their lines out until they looked down.
“I literally almost had a heart attack,” said Klein.
A hand broke the surface of the water.
“I didn’t know what to do -- if I should shake it, or what,” said Mechtel.
A scuba diver whose safety line got snagged began sending rope up to them, and soon, they found their hook.
They removed the hook and sent the line back down, and were given a thumbs up by their aquatic acquaintance.
It turned out that three divers had gone into a hole just a short distance from where the two men were fishing, and had placed a flag indicating that they were down -- but the two fishermen had never seen one before and didn’t know what it meant.
The diver later came by to apologize and offered a couple beers as a peace offering, the fishers said.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
LakeView's Vision & Some Painful Stats
This weekend, we start a 2-week series on Vision & Mission titled "Compass."
Here's our Vision for 2010-12, followed by why I am more convinced than ever that it is urgently relevant.
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Here's our Vision for 2010-12, followed by why I am more convinced than ever that it is urgently relevant.
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Our 2010-2012 Vision: Making God Famous (Habakkuk 3:2)
“LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day, in our time make them known. In wrath remember mercy.” (Hab 3:2)
Over these next two years the focus of our vision will be spreading the fame and glory of our God who has shown us such mercy in Christ and desires all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).
This means that on campus we will seek to create a warm and inviting place where anyone can come as they are, learn about Jesus at their own pace and, like Him, grow in wisdom and favor with God and men (Luke 2:52).
Off campus, we will look for opportunities to serve the people of Stoughton in order to not only show but also tell them of the love of Christ, who came not to be served but to serve and give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
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Why is this so relevant?
Recent research in a book I'm reading:
"58 percent of those studied stopped coming to church because of relational problems. For example, 26 percent said church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical; 20 percent didn't feel connected to people in the church; and 15 percent said churches were either unfriendly, unwelcoming, or cliquish." - Ed Stetzer & Philip Nation, Complelled By Love (New Hope, 2008), 83.
This is not what God intends His Church to be. What have we become? And why?
Contemplate This: Idolatry
"The biblical concept of idolatry is an extremely sophisticated idea, integrating intellectual, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual categories. There are personal idols, such as romantic love and family, or money, power, and achievement; or access to particular social circles; or the emotional dependence of others on you; or health, fitness, and physical beauty. Many look to these things for the hope, meaning and fulfillment that only God can provide.
There are cultural idols, such as military power, technological progress, and economic prosperity. The idols of traditional societies include family, hard work, duty, and moral virtue, while those of Western cultures are individual freedom, self-discovery, personal affluence, and fulfillment. All these good things can and do take on disproportionate size and power within a society. They promise us safety, peace and happiness if only we base our lives on them."
- Tim Keller, Counterfeit Gods (Dutton, 2009), xix.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
President Obama says He Accepted Christ as Savior
Fox News, February 3, 2011
Thursday Obama told the crowd at the National Prayer Breakfast that faith wasn't really in his background or instilled much from his parents, but nearly 20 years ago he accepted Christ as his savior. The president said his faith though wasn't always a "straight line" and had some "twists and turns." He said his faith has grown since coming into office, and even more so when others doubt it.
Click here for full article:
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/02/03/president-obama-recently-shows-subtle-signs-faith
Thursday Obama told the crowd at the National Prayer Breakfast that faith wasn't really in his background or instilled much from his parents, but nearly 20 years ago he accepted Christ as his savior. The president said his faith though wasn't always a "straight line" and had some "twists and turns." He said his faith has grown since coming into office, and even more so when others doubt it.
Click here for full article:
http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/02/03/president-obama-recently-shows-subtle-signs-faith
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
From Kosher to Contemplative. What's the Deal?
Well, the Israel trip is over and the Kosher Kiwi is dead. But we've got another trip coming up. And there's plenty else going on. So we'll see what happens with this. Might be a good forum to contemplate, ruminate and cogitate about things biblical, theological, ecclesiastical and, perhaps, fantastical. Then again, it just might follow the Kosher Kiwi and undergo rigor mortis rather quickly. Time will tell.
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