How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytise?"

objective beauty

Great post I just read. I was really excited reading this as defining the "beauty" of God is something I am passionate about.

the paradox I live by

I feel like I need to clarify some things. The name of my blog is "reverence of the mysterious" and I want to explain the title and what it means to me. I would like say that I do not subscribe to the popular belief today that God is a great mystery that cannot be known with certainty. I believe in certainty. I think that is what makes Yahweh unique among other "gods". He has chosen to reveal himself. The reason we have the Bible is because God chose to reveal himself through human words. God is knowable and I do not buy into the false humility that comes with admitting that you are uncertain of all your theology. However, I am only 18 years old as I write this and I am uncertain about many of my beliefs and theology. I am at the stage of life where I am just starting to learn about who God is and exploring and defining what I believe. But I believe this journey will lead me somewhere and it will lead me to a place where I can define assuredly some things that I believe about God.

But in all this I would like to point out the reality that God is beyond human understanding and this is what makes God beautiful to me. He is mysterious and wonderful and I love exploring the things about him that I know I will never fully understand. So here is the paradox I live by: God is knowable and I can have certainty about what he reveals about himself in scripture yet God is also mysterious and beyond me and there are many things I cannot know about him. So my blog title means that I can know things about God, his character, how he relates to man, and what he demands of me; this is why I have the ability to stand in awe of him in "reverence". But it also means that He is a God who I see as beautifully "mysterious" and I love pursuing this being that is beyond my understanding.

kingdom epiphany

Jesus came two millenniums ago and proclaimed a kingdom. He preached the idea that the Kingdom of Yahweh was here. And the reality of this just dawned on me tonight in a new way while I was reading Matthew. God's kingdom is now. Now is the time. I do believe in a future kingdom, where Jesus will return to earth in bodily form and recreate earth, but the kingdom here and now is what will affect the future kingdom. I think Christian like to get caught up in morality and "living right". We get obsessed with being "good" when that means nothing unless it goes hand in hand with being a servant in the Kingdom. I have been struggling with uncertainty about what God wants me to do in certain aspects of my life but I feel like this sheds new light. Yahweh is calling me to pursue him and live for his kingdom and he will take care of the rest. I can be patient and trust God to be in control of my life. I can surrender control of my life to him. I know this might all sound very basic and simple, especially to those of you who grew up in a Christian church, but it has a renewed meaning to me right now. There is so much freedom in a life where proclaiming the reality of the Kingdom is all that life is about. My relationships are about showing the kingdom, my schooling is about showing the kingdom, my leisure is about showing the kingdom, my morality is about showing the kingdom, my money is about showing this kingdom, my time is about showing this kingdom, etc. I have noticed that it is such a struggle for me to living every hour with this kingdom in mind. There is still a part of me that is living for my own desires. I want the high calling of being a Kingdom servant to break me free from this.

"If Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and I believed it, would it be possible for me to proceed upon ambitions and desires that were more important to me than the ushering-in of that Kingdom?" -Nate(intothedesertblog.blogspot.com)

the purpose of earthly pleasure

“Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.” (C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity)

I Need Thee Every Hour

I love this hymn. So simple yet so beautiful.

I need thee every hour,
most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like thine
can peace afford.

I need thee, O I need thee;
every hour I need thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to thee.

I need thee every hour,
stay thou nearby;
temptations lose their power
when thou art nigh.

I need thee every hour,
in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide,
or life is in vain.

I need thee every hour;
teach me thy will;
and thy rich promises
in me fulfill.

I need thee every hour,
most Holy One;
O make me thine indeed,
thou blessèd Son.
(words by Annie Sherwood Hawks, 1872)

What if I lived like this?
What if I was conscious of my need for Yahweh every hour? every minute?

this struck me today

"There is more to life than study, study which at times can be frustrating or 'wearisome'. There is more to life than seeking; there must be finding. There is more to discipleship than sitting in an armchair reading a sound book on theology or a challenging book on discipleship. There must be commitment which flows out into action. So we come to what in this later commentator's [author of Ecclesiastes] view is the only thing left to say, 'the end of the matter': 'Fear God and keep his commandments'."

(Robert Davidson, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Soloman, commenting on Ecclesiastes 12:12-14)

nakedness-the key to understanding "the fall"

One question has always perplexed me. Why were Adam and Eve naked? Why was this the first thing that they noticed after they sinned? One of my favorite authors, Donald Miller, deals with this question in his book Searching for God Knows What but his discourse wasn't really an answer to my question, even though it was creative and humorous. I was sitting in my Old Testament class and my professor was the first person to give me a satisfactory answer to the question.

The key phrase is "And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25 ESV). Why do humans have a natural fear and shame about showing their nakedness to others? Yet, why does this not happen in a healthy marriage relationship? I think the key is that it is a trust issue. Adam and Eve walked with God in perfection and openness. There were no barriers between them and God. Therefore, God took care of them completely. This care was so absolutely complete that humanity had no reason to worry about themselves. There was no self-worry, no self-consciousness. The fact that they were naked never had any reason to cross their minds. God provided it all in his love and care for the masterpiece of his creation.

Well when our parents sinned, they suddenly became sinners and trust in God died in that moment. With that came this new idea to them of self-awareness. They began to notice things about themselves. They were introduced to the lie that humanity needed to care for themselves. The first humans suddenly become ashamed to show God their nakedness. God was no longer the intimate lover of their souls. I can almost hear the pain in God's voice when he asks: "Who told you that you were naked?" (Genesis 3:11 ESV). "The Fall" was a fall from trust. Faith and trust are now the most difficult things on this earth because humanity was introduced to the idea of self-care, self-worry, and shame.

God's judgment was to give humanity over to this. He provided a way, through toil, that humans would be able to care for themselves (though in a far inferior way). Then our loving God set out to restore a nation, Israel, back to trust and intimacy with him. The whole Old Testament is an unpacking of this plan to use Israel to be the focal point of this restoration of the world.

When the narrative reaches the New Testament, the Word of God becomes flesh and brings about a new covenant of restoration. Jesus bears the wrath of God in the place of humanity so that sin, the barrier to trust, can be done away with. I still don't understand why God only gave us a perfect sacrifice and didn't destroy sin completely at the cross, but this was his perfect plan. But in this new era Jesus calls us to completely rely on him once more. We are told that we need to seek God's kingdom first before ourselves and that God values us so highly as his image-bearers that we have no need to worry about our basic needs (Matthew 6:25-33). And now, as Christians seeking God's kingdom first, we groan (Roman 8:23). We await the final restoration promised by God, the promise that one day we will all be like our naked parents again and spend every moment worshiping God in his new earth (Revelation 21).

So Christian, lover of Jesus, let us seek the kingdom of, and be spiritually naked before, the God who has loved us and promised to provide for all we need.

remembering the cost of discipleship

I have arrived and moved into my dorm at Biola University where I will begin classes for my degree in Biblical Studies on Wednesday. It is an exciting experience to finally be a college student and to finally get to study the bible full-time. The one thing I have been faced with is how to adjust as my life and routine has radically changed. I realized today that I have forgotten what it really means to be a disciple. A disciple is one who has given up his own plan and embraced the call to simply walk by faith. At the church service I went to today the text was Luke 7:36-49. That passage is about a woman who the reader knows nothing about besides that she is a sinner yet she has a beautiful faith. She brings a smile to Jesus' face while everyone else is lost in their religion. What I got out of it was the simple but profound reminder that the Christian walk, when broken down, is just simply living to be faithful to Christ's callings. A life of fidelity trumps all wisdom, knowledge, good works, and religion. But living to be faithful has a huge cost that I realize now that I need to constantly commit to. To be someone who simply follows what Christ calls them to everyday means that a lot of our earthly desire have to be thrown out. This is hard to come to grips with sometimes. I am a selfish person. I want to do what I want to do and it is so hard to give up what I want to do for something that doesn't seem like fun. God knows us and knows how to stretch us. Being stretched by God is something I hate but also something I am able to love at the same time because I know it is how I learn and how God forms me into the man he wants me to be. I am looking forward to being stretched at Biola as well as looking forward to better learning how to simply be faithful to what God has called me to no matter how lame or ridiculous it sounds.

Should Christians pursue apologetics?

Here is what Karl Barth says:

The Gospel is not a truth among other truths. Rather, it sets a question-mark against all truths. The Gospel is not the door but the hinge. The man who apprehends its meaning is removed from all strife, because he is engaged in a strife with the whole, even with existence itself. Anxiety concerning the victory of the Gospel--that is, Christian Apologetics--is meaningless, because the Gospel is the victory by which the world is overcome. ... It [the Gospel] does not require representatives with a sense of responsibility, for it is as responsible for those who proclaim it as it is for those to whom it is proclaimed. It is the advocate of both. ... God does not need us. Indeed, if He were not God, He would be ashamed of us. We, at any rate, cannot be ashamed of Him. (The Epistle to the Romans, 35)

I don't know if I agree but it is definitely a credible idea that should be considered.

Belize part 4

Thursday rolled around and we had our last VBS session. I felt really worn down that day and it was hard for me to press on to give my best for these kids. The afternoon bible study went pretty smoothly but we only had a few girls show up. They went off with some of the leaders and I think they had some great conversations. After the bible study we went stayed at the baptist church and cleaned it up. Afterward we had a farewell ceremony with the pastor of the church. We exchanged gifts and words of encouragement. It was a bittersweet time. We attempted to go to sleep early since we had to be up early the next morning for our trip to Caye Caulker, a local island. We took a bus to Belize City on Friday. We then got on a water taxi for a 45 minute boat ride to the island. Right when we got there we got snorkeling gear rentals and went out to the local barrier reef. It was a fun experience as we got a short snorkeling tour of the reef and then a chance to swim and pet some wild stingrays. The rest of our time on the island (Friday afternoon, night, and Saturday morning) was a time of fun and reflection on the trip. As a team, we spent some time talking to each other about what we learned and what we loved about the trip. It was a perfect way to end the trip. On Saturday it was hard to say goodbye. The trip finally came to an end when I flew into Phoenix on Saturday night

Belize part 3

On Tuesday night our team put together an outreach event on the local basketball court. Two of our team members are skilled musicians so they played some music for awhile while people came. It turned out that the basketball court was actually the local gang hangout. However, because we were the there, many children came to hangout with us on the court. It was really cool to bring the community together in a place they normally feared. That night I sat with one of the local gang members and just got to talk to him for awhile during the service. The gang members were quite welcoming of us and open to talking about whatever. I got to share the gospel with the young man I was talking to and I am glad God opened up the conversation to go that way. Well Wednesday rolled around and in the morning we did VBS again for the kids. It went quite well that morning. Then, that afternoon, instead of doing our usual games and bible study we got to take a break from ministry and our team traveled to the Mayan ruins of Xuantunich. It was a relaxing even if we were walking around the whole time. That night we had another outreach event very similar to the previous night. It was a much bigger turn out from both the community and the gang community. Just like the previous night I spent some time with the gang members. I talked to a guy named Richard. We talked for at least an hour and he did most of the talk which was fine because he was just sharing the story of his life. I loved that he was so open with me about his struggles and fears and everything else. It was probably the best ministry conversation I had the whole trip and it was one of the biggest highlights of the trip for me. I got to share a little of my story and a little about Jesus but what really mattered what I felt like we really connected and I got to know who he really was. It was the first time I got to learn how gang member's think and it showed me how human and like us they really are. A lot of the "bad" things he has done are things I could see myself doing in his situation. Then we went back to the hotel and to bed, knowing that the next day would be our last day with the children and that community.

Dark Thoughts from The Dark Knight

Great article on the themes of The Dark Knight

late night emotions

I went to see the new batman movie "The Dark Knight" tonight. It was an amazing film and it wasn't your run-of-the-mill super hero flick. This was a dark movie. Movies have a profound impact on my emotions, especially good film. This movie was one those. Dark movies bring me to a place where I can "feel" evil. I drove home crying out to God realizing the evil I had seen in the lives of people around me. I don't understand why God seems to hide his face from evil. I don't understand why God lets false ideas about him endure. I don't understand why God chooses to only show his true glory and righteousness to some and not all. I don't understand why I see people who seem to be seeking God being led into falsehoods. I thought God was a God who rewards those who earnestly seek him?

Also, for the first time in my life I think I felt what the apostle Paul felt when he said that he would rather himself be cut off from Christ so that the people he loved could know Christ. I felt like I wanted to take some of my friends place so that they could know Christ and have the peace that comes with faith in that savior. Normally, when I would read about Paul saying that, I would have to admit I was too selfish to feel that way but tonight the Lord gave me a taste of what that feels like. I feel that I could name a few people who I would trade places with so that they could experience true life.

In all this I still trust that the Lord is just, a God of his word, and full of love even if I don't see it.

Belize part 2

On the third day of our trip, Monday, we started our Vacation Bible School in the morning. A few of the members of our team went out and did home visits right before starting VBS so that we could tell more people about it. The first day was hectic and i was surprised by the number of kids that showed up. The first three days of the trip were rough on me because it took me until Tuesday to recover from having to wake up at 3 in the morning to catch our flight. Added to my fatigue from getting up so early, the first night the air conditioning in my room wouldn't work right so I could not sleep. Now on Monday afternoon we had our first bible study for the teens in the community. A good number of teens showed up but them seemed really bored and uninterested during the lesson. I was a little frustrated because these kids just seemed so apathetic. Later that afternoon our team went to a local children's home. It was basically a home for kids whose parents couldn't afford to take care of them. It was our first day there and it was hard. The guys we were trying to connect with were really closed off. We played some volleyball with them but it seemed like we could only connect with the younger children. Tuesday came around and we did the same thing in the morning and afternoon. At the bible study I undertook the responsibility of leading it. The problem was I didn't really know what I had my plan thrown out when only a fraction of the kids came back for the second day. The kids seemed even more apathetic than the day before and I don't know how I made it through the bible study. It was difficult to teach when they didn't seem to have any desire to learn. At the end of the study we broke up into smaller groups and I ended up with a group of guys. I decided that since they like sports I could try teaching about Paul's illustration of Christian's running a race. What I realized from the conversation that ensued was that these kids had no actual concept of the Gospel. They still thought that God was a militant leader who wanted them to be good so that they could get into heaven. So I spent the next 20 minutes or so telling them about Jesus and his loved that loved us first. They seemed pretty attentive to that and my only regret is not getting the chance to follow up with them on what they thought. On Tuesday at the children's home, which was our second but last day there, We played some soccer with the kids in hopes of getting the guys to open up but with little luck. The girls on our team got to spend a ton of time with the girls from the home as they painted nails and talked about life. I spent some time hanging out with some of the younger kids.

becoming spiritual

I was reading through some early Christian writings and I came across this:

"For the scripture saith; Woe unto them that are wise for
themselves, and understanding in their own sight. Let us become
spiritual, let us become a temple perfect unto God. As far as in us
lies, let us exercise ourselves in the fear of God, [and] let us
strive to keep His commandments, that we may rejoice in His
ordinances." -THE EPISTLE OF BARNABAS 4:11 Translated by J.B. Lightfoot.

Belize part 1

I just returned from a 7 day trip to Belize. I love mission trips. I always come back how feeling like I learned and experienced so much. This trip was a very surreal experience but now that I am back home I really miss it. I think this past week I really got to live. I got to live the way that God wants me to and it was so freeing. I arrived in Belize on Saturday, July 5th and when I was only in Belize for a few hours we were already serving the people of Belize by going to a local rest home and hanging out with the people there. On Sunday we attended church at the Baptist church that we hosted our Vacation Bible School at. Our team was made of 18 college students from my church, a group of high school students from a Roman Catholic church in Atlanta, and then a lady and her niece from Illinois. I feel that God really put a very good team together. Even though I had never met the people from Atlanta or Illinois, we really worked well together.

rhetoric

I am reading Ben Witherington's book The Living Word of God and he talks about this idea of biblical rhetoric. I was really stuck by his unpacking of Paul's persuasion techniques in the letter to Philemon. He shows how Paul's rhetoric would be considered manipulative and arm-twisting in our 21st century culture but in Paul's cultural context it was the norm as far as persuasion goes. Then Witherington mentions the fact that all preaching and evangelism is based on persuasion, however, our rhetoric needs to change based on the culture. We cannot compromise the truth of the message, we just have to present things in a culturally sensitive way that uses a type of persuasion that the current culture can respond to. I was thinking about this in context of evangelism. In most high schools, English classes read Jonathan Edwards' famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." Now this sermon uses a rhetoric that is considered to be very manipulative by post-modern standards. Most preachers today realize that preaching hell and damnation is not something people respond well to. However, in Edwards' context, people really could relate to what he was saying and his preaching was very effective. So knowing all this, it is the job of the preacher and the evangelist to find a rhetorical style that speaks to their specific cultural context.

grim reality

there are 10 million millionaries in the world yet the majority of the world's population lives in poverty

Why do we follow the Christian God?

This is a question I have been pondering lately. I have been looking at all the different reasons that human beings, including myself, give for worshiping this God. Many say that its because of the "joy" it brings. Now I believe that a life devoted to God will ultimately bring a kind of joy and peace that goes beyond understanding but is it our fundamental reason for following this God? If our faith was based on this, then it would be greatly weakened when joy seems distant. No human being that I know of has ever been joyful their whole life, times of sorrow, pain, and despair are natural results of being a human in this broken world. Sure we can say we have joy in knowing that Christ has loved us and that everything will be made right in the end, but isn't that just simply comfort? I can be comforted but that is not always the same thing as having joy. I know in my Christian life I have had plenty of times when joy seemed to escape me. Did Job have joy when he lost everything? no, he thought God was out to get him, yet he still fell on his face and worshiped.

Now for the second major reason. I grew up thinking this and I think I am beginning to realize that it is not true. The second reason is that Christianity offers the best answers to life's questions. I think this is a huge mistake on Christianity's part to ever assume it has all the answers. It doesn't. All we have is an ancient collection of books about God's interaction with humanity. This is where we can find truth, this is where we find answers but this ancient narrative leaves many questions unanswered. The more I learn about the bible and theology the more questions I have. Its common for apologists to try to portray Christianity as the religion that is rational and answers life's deep fundamental questions. While I agree somewhat that in Christ some deep fundamental questions can be answered, only some are and we can disagree amongst ourselves what is really important to answer or even can be conclusively answered. This is part of the reason that the church is divided today.

Now what are we left with? If we aren't worshiping God because he gives us joy or or he gives us answers then why have millions of people chosen to follow him with their lives?

I think the answer is quiet simple.

He is GOD
and he is worthy of our complete trust and obedience.

Or as the writer of Ecclesiastes said it:
"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV)



Just what I have been thinking about lately. Feedback is very welcome

N.T. Wright on the Colbert Report

Waiting

Where I am at:

"To you, O Lord, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
Do not drag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts." -Psalm 28:1-3


Waiting to get here:

"Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever." -Psalm 28:6-9

the things churches do...

bringing sexy back or bringing serving back?

confused and frustrated

I feel like a "child" who is being "tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Ephesians 4:14) and yet I don't know how to escape.

I don't know who to believe, what to believe.

I am just so lost when it comes to faith and doctrine. It seems that there is no way to know what is true. Granted the bible is our authority on what is true but the problem is that we are all flawed interpreters. How am I suppose to know what the bible was really saying? Some say that we need to pray, ask the holy spirit to guide us as we read and study but there are many bible scholars who are doing that and are still coming up with completely different interpretations.

I am the kind of person who is easily swayed but a good argument and any diligent search will reveal a convincing argument to any side of an issue, especially in theology.

My biggest frustration is with the existence of so many different denominations, and types of "Christianity." I am lost to why God would allow so much confusion in his church, so much division. I don't accept the Mormon answer to this problem (the Mormon church is God's reinstated true unified church) but then again, how the heck am I suppose to know that Mormonism isn't true? Granted it goes against the bible in its doctrine but then again, how the heck do we know we are interpreting it right?

I read Ephesians 4 and am utterly depressed by how far removed the church today seems from the way it is described there.

And in all this God seems silent to me. I don't know where to turn.



P.S. No, Don't worry I won't become a Mormon, if for no other reason, I have a personal problem with Mormonism, God is presented as an exalted man just like us. I just couldn't bring myself to worship an exalted version of me.

The Authoritative Bible

I found a very enlightening essay by N. T. Wright on the authority of scripture

Is the Bible inerrant?

Interesting blog series by Chris Tilling discussing that question.

can we have truely objective theology?

"Sometimes we dream fondly of a 'purely objective' knowledge of God - a knowledge freed from the limitations of our senses, minds, experience, preparation, and so forth. But nothing of this sort is possible, and God does not demand that of us. Rather, He condescends to dwell in and with us, as in a temple. he identifies himself in and through our thoughts, ideas and experiences." -John M. Frame

a major problem with many Christians including myself

Christians today, in my experience, seem to not know how to be brutally honest. I am one of those people. I bet every person who has ever named the name of Christ has had times in life where they simple felt angry at God, confused, and wronged by Him. But yet this isn't something that we tend to talk about openly. My question is, Why not?

Job is a great example of a healthy anger against God. I just read this blog post that does a good job of explaining what i am talking about.

God taking responsibility

"The gospels thus tell the story, centrally and crucially, which stands unique in the world’s great literature, the world’s religious theories and visions: the story of the creator God taking responsibility for what’s happened to creation, bearing the weight of its problems on his own shoulders. As Sydney Carter put it in one of his finest songs, ‘It’s God they ought to crucify, instead of you and me.’ Or, as one old evangelistic tract put it, the nations of the world got together to pronounce sentence on God for all the evils in the world, only to realise with a shock that God had already served his sentence." (N. T. Wright, Evil and the Justice of God, 94)

Spirit lite

Interesting Sermon

follow up

Here is a more favorable review of Expelled.

I am still pondering the issue of the "Intelligent Design movement." In light Romans 1, I think it is valid to assume, looking at creation, that life was designed by a divine creator. But I still think we need to be clear when dealing with atheists that we define what we mean by God as a being that is far more than a scientific hypothesis.

I still feel like an amature in this discussion so please take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Darwinism, Creationism, Intelligent Design, Evolution, what a mess

I have the past few months been continually looking at these "scientific" issues. I still have yet to come to any firm conclusions other than that God created the heaven and the earth according to scripture. But how does this all work together with science and the natural world where nature seems to be bound by a beautiful system that runs things. Are the modern day evolutionary atheists correct in saying that the natural world can run itself and there is no need for a divine creator, especially the God of the Bible?

I recently saw the movie Expelled which is a documentary by Ben Stein (remember that good old teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?)examining the reasons that intelligent design is a valid theory and should be taught in our classrooms. I was very disappointed in the film. I am afraid that the movie didn't do a decent enough job of explaining the issue. The film was more propaganda than it was objective reasoning. The Intelligent Design (ID) proponents, for the most part, attacked and ridiculed the atheists and Darwinist which only made the IDers look stupid themselves.

Due to this blog and some great conversations with my girlfriend (who is currently reading Dawkins' The God Delusion), I am being to question whether Christians should be pushing ID. I am being to believe that ID is a weak counter argument to Darwinism because it reduces God into a simple hypothesis that can easily be taken apart by any astute thinker.

My other thought is that observable evolution is the only thing that should be considered if one wants to simply look at the facts and at science only. Intelligent Design, Creationism, and Darwinian Evolution are all dealing with metaphysical ideas that are somewhat apart from scientific inquiry. These three ideas, though one might call them "scientific", are really ideas that belong in the realm of philosophy.

But then again...

Someone I know asked: "How can you separate the natural from the spiritual?"

Good question.

It seems to me the answer to Atheistic Darwinism is not a simple one. I think the task of the Christian to "defend the faith" on this issue is incredibly difficult.

If you want to read more, Check out this review essay

God and the problem of evil

There is a great (though far too brief) dialogue between the brilliant New Testament Scholar N.T. Wright and Bart Ehrman. Ehrman is a former "evangelical" who now claims to be agnostic and does not believe in the Christian God anymore partially because of the strong presence of evil in this world. I found it to be very interesting as I have been pondering this issue in conjunction with reading Wright's book Evil and the Justice of God


Click Here

Good Ol' Snoopy

There Will Be Blood (of Christ)

parody of the film, There Will be Blood, from Princeton Theological Seminary. Very funny.

Google Reader

I recently was introduced to this amazing tool for blog fanatics like myself and it has made blog reading so much faster and easier

Quote I read today: "Defend the bible? It needs about as much defense as a lion!"

a holy prayer

Two things I ask of you;
deny them not to me before I die:
Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches;
feed me with the food that is needful for me,
lest I be full and deny you
and say, “Who is the Lord?”
or lest I be poor and steal
and profane the name of my God.

Proverbs 30:7-9 (ESV)

Dear God...

I came across this interesting web site where anyone can go on and write out their prayers to God or Allah or whatever. It contains some stuff that will almost bring tears to your eye and other stuff that will bring joy. I have quite enjoyed reading it the past few days.

First century christianity brought to the 21st century?

I have been reading Shane Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical recently. It is my "back-pack" book, meaning that I carry around at school in case I am in a class with nothing to do (which is common in American high schools). Shane is what you might call a "liberal" Christian. He beliefs in living a type of monastic life and in, probably to the horror of the Religious Right, a type of redistribution of wealth (though it's not in the traditional political sense). His book is fascinating to me as someone who grew up in a very conservative tradition. The reason being that he is part of a Christian "movement" that I never thought would be possible in modern America. It is a way of living that tries to replicate the way that the early disciples lived in the book of Acts. For example, everyone puts all there money into a community pool and all money made by any individual goes to the community income. They try to live in a way in which money no longer holds value to them. I always thought that in the American economy this kind of thing would just plain never work, but here is, this small community in Pennsylvania. Now my mind now begs the questions: what would it be like if American Christianity or even Christianity world-wide would embrace this community and materialism-denying lifestyle? Is this is what God had in mind for Christianity even today? We do on one hand know that was his plan for the beginning of his church. Or maybe there is the reality that the Christian church needs to adapt the culture's system sometimes to make things work. Either way, Shane's story shows a functional attempt to go against the grain and do something different. I still haven't finished the book so these are only my preliminary thoughts and I will have to ponder this more and maybe do some research to truly come to a conclusion on what I should believe about all of this.

my life...

has been quite crazy as of late. I am finishing up my last few weeks of high school and preparing to go to college at Biola University in August. I just got back from a two day trip to Biola and am very excited to go there in a few short months. Many things are changing in my life and I am just trying to make sense of it all. I am coming to realize that I am going through a time of transition from being a boy to being a man and I am anxious to see what kind of person i will become in the next few years.

details of the murder that happened on 'good' friday

This is an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association

if you pee sitting down you are disobeying scripture

This man should not preach:


but he does give us someone to laugh at

Some great lyrics

There is a metal band that I enjoy to listening to called Extol. They writes some pretty deep lyrics that I thought I would share.

this song talks about the fall of humanity:

Inferno

The result of a failure
Genetic error
A system out of control
Creative energy
Transformed into hatred
A twisted perception of truth

Mankind breeds mortality
Sickness passes on through generations
The effect shows through genocide
Malfunctioning minds

A bite of the fruit
Termination activated

This creation destined for success
Now violated and raped by one
Given access to the heartland
Evil dominion over their spirits

Divorced from its creator
Crying out

I especially like that those last 2 lines.


Here is a song about the guilt that comes with falling to lustful desires:

Time Stands Still

Temptation

Time stands still
The whisper in my ear
The spirit within
A struggle destined to fail

Infested thoughts
Spirit contracts
Lust dominates
Fallen once again

Frustration accumulates
Anger towards the fraud of the world
Anger towards the lack of self control
Condemnation, immediate repentance

How much can you take?
The disappointment of my deceit
Pain
Disobedience to Your will

Of my weaknesses I'm desperately aware
Do I even dare
To repent again?
Why would you endure the pain?

Prisoner of filthy chains
Unclean, unclean

Help me God
Set me free

This song has a cool effect. The last part has someone chanting "unclean, unclean" with slow music. Then it picks up and the singer begins to scream "Help me God, Set me free." It really captures the emotion of it all.

wow

theological liberalism

american spirituality

"American spirituality has glorified 'searching' for spiritual meaning but de-emphasized 'finding.' In other words, it is good to be looking for spirituality, but it is intolerant to actually believe you have found a right faith."
- Ed Stetzer, quoted in Kane County Chronicle

something I have been thinking about

Recently, I have been fighting legalism in my life. But through that I have come to realize that I threw out holiness. I am afraid I have stopped the strive to be set apart. I fell victim to the belief that all rules without clear reason behind them are stupid and should not be heeded. This is not true. I have been going through Ephesians with my Thursday night bible study group and there are plenty of points where God sets up rules that seem at times frivolous. There is always a time to ask questions. But there is also a time when God calls us to simply trust and obey even if we do not know why. I think that even as christians we can still use our freedom to enslave ourselves. (Galatians 5:1)

dissatisfied

I am so dissatisfied with my life right now. I have become someone who I am embarrassed of. I have become lazy, complacent, comfortable. I have always been struggling with things like laziness but right now I feel like it is engulfing me. And When I say I feel comfortable I mean that I am content with the way I live. I hate being content in some ways. I love being challenged. I feel like Christ has called me to live so much differently then I have been. There is a famous saying that says "God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable." I find myself being a part of the latter category. I miss being daily challenged with deep things about life and God. The days when I am not I don't feel like I have been really living. I have had days were I have wasted every moment of it doing things like playing computer games or aimlessly surfing the Internet. Now I the love Internet because I love being connected to the world and culture. I also love how I can stay up on what is happening in American Christianity through blogs. But I have not used this tool in moderation. I have been involved in the world of online computer gaming and I feel like that stuff just sucks your time away and leaving me feeling so empty. I feel like I have not been making wise use of my time (Ephesians 5:15-16)


"Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you."
-Ephesians 5:14 ESV

one way God gets the glory he deserves

I just got back from a retreat with the high school group at my church. It was an intense 3 days of a ban on cell phones and other common distractions. I feel like the Lord really moved in the lives of myself and others that came. I know the Lord convicted my heart about a great many things and I am sure he has done the same for most, if not all, of those who was part of the retreat. But I wanted to talk specifically about how I got to experience one way in which God gets the glory he deserves. Last night we had a time of worship as the last thing before bed. What made it special was that we had a time earlier to deal with some sin and guilt in smaller groups. I had a time with some a few good friends to just confess sin, pray for each other, and simply embrace the fact that grace is already ours. All this brought an overflow of emotions within a ton of people there. And this brought heartfelt worship directly to God as we sang some humble songs. That alone is a beautiful expression of people just giving God exactly what he deserves from screwed-up human beings. But there was more to it. I got to hear from two separate people that seeing people worship like that brought them to a place of humble gratitude toward God. So some sang out of their hearts, and some watched while praising God for what they were seeing. If that isn't a glimpse of heaven, I don't know what is.