I noticed tonight that our pastor was mentioned on Joshua Harris' blog a couple days ago. Here's the link:

http://www.joshharris.com/2007/08/for_preachers_learning_from_mr.php

Aubrey de Grey

"Like the downward pull of gravity without which the dancer cannot dance, the downward pull of bodily necessity and fate makes possible the dignified journey of a truly human life."
- Leon Kass

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
- Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12: 9-10)

John 11:5-44
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." After saying these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover." Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out." The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Boys and Girls in America

"Since men enjoyed very great leisure, they used it to pursue many kinds of commodities unknown to their fathers; and that was the first yoke they imposed upon themselves without thinking about it, and the first source of the evils they prepared for their descendants. For, besides their continuing thus to soften body and mind, as these commodities had lost almost all their pleasantness through habit, and as they had at the same time degenerated into true needs, being deprived of them became much more cruel than possessing them was sweet; and people were unhappy to lose them without being happy to have them."
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

...I wrote some other stuff, but deleted it. Rousseau is a tough act to follow

Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home

There may be a song better than this one...but, I haven't heard it yet.



Also, Sam Cooke may have the most perfect voice on God's green earth.

And, for Springsteen fans like me...it's hard to under-estimate the influence of Sam Cooke on the Boss. Specifically, Springsteen has sucked his vibe straight out of the marrow of the following songs:

(What A) Wonderful World
Meet Me At Mary's Place
Having A Party
Twistin' the Night Away

In some sense, if there's no Sam Cooke, there's no Bruce Springsteen.

Also, here's Sam Cooke singing Blowin' in the Wind.

Lots 'o Links

Click on the link below for a helpful table of contents (with hyperlinks) to Mark Dever's series on "Where'd All These Great Calvinists Come From?". I'm including the subjects up for discussion to tempt you....

http://blog.togetherforthegospel.org/2007/08/monday-morning-.html

1. The Writings of C. H. Spurgeon
2. The Ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
3. The Publications of the Banner of Truth Trust
4. Calvinists Evangelizing - Jim Kennedy and Evangelism Explosion
5. Calvinist Leadership in the Inerrancy Controversy
6. The Founding of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
7. J.I. Packer and Knowing God
8. The Teaching Ministries of R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur
9. John Piper
10.The rise of secularism and decline of Christian nominalism

Bruce Springsteen: Magic

"We’ve been together since 1974 and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more excited than he is right now about this record.”

-- Jon Landau (Springsteen’s manager)

Modern Day Gnostic Heresy

"'A market economy has nothing remotely to do with getting what you want. It has everything to do with making yourself feel good about what is available' (Carl Elliott, Better Than Well). This is a Gnostic truth indeed, for it trades in and ultimately depends upon there being a radical distinction between the feeling, wanting human subject--that is, the 'I' who feels and wants and the particular, concrete circumstances of any one person's existence.

"Seen through the lens of orthodox Christian theology, such a distinction is nothing more than heresy. For what self, apart from the gift of the body, exists to shop the identity market? And if the mind and identity itself can be altered with medications, what part of the disembodied self is making these choices? Apparently there is nothing left to enliven this puppet self but the tiny part of the mind or soul that makes choices. Choosing itself becomes the defining mark of human identity. In remaking identity as a consumer item, the person is whittled away into sawdust, and modernity's precious autonomy is revealed as little more than the triumph of the well."

- Joel Shuman & Brian Volk (Reclaiming the Body: Christians and the Faithful Use of Modern Medicine)

...more on Keepon the Robot

There's a line at the beginning of the movie AI where William Hurt says: "...in the beginning, didn't God create Adam to love him?" The scene opens a movie that examines what makes a person human...and perhaps more profoundly, what do we look for in other humans? ...what expectations do we have of others? ...what do we need from others? ...can a robot fill this gap?

There's a group of folks out there called transhumanists. Transhumanism as described by Nick Bostrom of Oxford University:

Transhumanists view human nature as a work-in-progress, a half-baked beginning that we can learn to remold in desirable ways. Current humanity need not be the endpoint of evolution. Transhumanists hope that by responsible use of science, technology, and other rational means we shall eventually manage to become posthuman, beings with vastly greater capacities than present human beings have.
http://www.nickbostrom.com/ethics/values.html

A key step in achieving this goal of transhumanism is getting computers/robots to form relationships and show emotions to people. ...and, this is why Keepon the robot is so fascinating. Here is a quote from Keepon's webpage describing the project.

We are developing and evaluating an architecture that will allow these robots to perceive, model, and generate social rhythms such that the robot's behaviors are synchronized with those of a human interactor. We believe that rhythmic synchrony will be as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.

For example, synchrony between the tempo of a speaker's voice, the punctuation of the speaker's gestures, and the frequency of a listener's nodding is characteristic of smooth and comfortable interactions. Social scientists such as William S. Condon and Adam Kendon have identified interactional synchrony as a phenomenon that plays an important role in the regulation and coordination of movements, vocalizations, and other social cues.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~marekm/projects/beatbots

Keepon has a microphone in "his" nose, two cameras for eyes, and his yellow rubber skin. He makes his own decisions as to his dance moves. He can be set up to dance according to the sound of the music or the movement of other people dancing. Perhaps this is a step closer to the questions of AI and the sci-fi world of the transhumanists?

A Dancing Robot for Rhythmic Social Interaction

The Extropy Institute

The World Transhumanist Association

Nick Bostrom

Betterhumans

John Piper is Bad

Coveting Prestige

I watched The Prestige this week. It's a movie about two rivaling magicians in the late 1800s. More than that, it's a study in obsession...perhaps the more specific word "coveting" could be used.

The movie shows that what you are obsessed with is what you become. And, what you covet you will never attain...because the thing that you want, the thing that looks appealing...the thing your imagination has already experienced (the warmth, the taste, the feel, the buzz)...that thing is never quite what you tricked yourself into believing it would be. That same trick of the mind is almost always transfered to something bigger and better, because there is always something bigger and better to obsess over and covet.

Movies like The Prestige are the true horror films, in my opinion. They're the movies that shine lights into the depths of what we are capable of. In other words, they're movies that show us the potential of our darkness.

ABC

"It is a cheap zeal that reserves its passions to combat only the sins and temptations of others."
- Don Carson (The Gagging of God, p 358)

The Gospel Coalition Interviews

The Gospel Coalition webpage now has interviews up.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/interviews.html

Don't miss "What Makes the Gospel Coalition Different?" by Tim Keller and Don Carson.

Keepon, The Robot

Someday robots will rule the world...


http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~marekm/projects/beatbots/

Christian Music

The distinction between "Christian music" and "secular music" is truly an unhelpful one. A couple exceptions (people who do find it helpful): the Christian music industry, parents who don't want to be involved in their children's culture...these are stereotypes, I'm sure, but I think there's something there. These three lyrics came to mind this morning as I was thinking of some songs that contain honest reflections of the world.

We spend all day getting sober
Just hiding from daylight
Watching TV
We just look a lot better in the blue light
Well, you know I gotta get out
Bit I'm suck so tight
Weighed by the chains that keep me...

And this girl listens to the band play
She says "where have you been?
I've been lying right here on the floor"
Well, I got all this time
To be waiting for what is mine
To be hating what I am
After the light has faded
- Adam Duritz

I ain't never been to Vegas but I gambled up my life
Building newsprint boats I raced to sewer mains
Was trying to find me something but I wasn't sure just what
Funny how they say that some things never change
- Ryan Adams

In the garden at Gethsemane
He prayed for the life he'd never live,
He beseeched his Heavenly Father to remove
The cup of death from his lips

Now there's a loss that can never be replaced,
A destination that can never be reached,
A light you'll never find in another's face,
A sea whose distance cannot be breached

Well Jesus kiss his mother's hands
Whispered, "Mother, still you tears,
For remember the soul of the universe
Willed a world and it appeared."
- Bruce Springsteen

Trouble - Ray Lamontagne

If you haven't checked out Ray Lamontagne, you should. Here's one of my favorite songs of his. I like the relationship between trouble, worry, and the woman who saves him. All three might be the same thing...

"The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World"

Succinct and clear. The best thing I've read/heard in regards to Christians interacting with postmodernism. If you know of something better, let me know.

The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Postmodern World
by Tim Keller

The Gospel Coalition

If you haven't already done so...take a trip over to The Gospel Coalition web-page. It is up and running with stuff to listen to, read, and watch.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/

The Gospel Coalition may be something that blows over in a few years, or it may be the start of an impacting voice in evangelical churches. The site has pretty pictures of the first Gospel Coalition conference...but, it's more a site for folks interesting in reading (or listening to) focused thoughts on the gospel's place in church ministry.

The organization started out of a relationship between Tim Keller and Don Carson. It grew from those two into a coalition of (mostly) pastors. And, then, morphed into this gospel coalition. From what I've heard stated, it's likely that The Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel will alternate years for their conferences. The web-site above will grow in its documents and aids to those interested in the practical application of the gospel in their ministries.

...if you have to pick just one of the lectures, go with Tim Keller.

Viewer Mail - Answering the Atheist

My buddy Andy and I used to convene in high school study hall every day and discuss our late nights with David Letterman. One of our favorites was Thursday night when Dave would answer the viewer mail. Paul Shaeffer would sing..."letters, we gets stacks and stacks of letters....letters". The story is semi-true, I'm not sure how excited we actually were for viewer mail, but since Andy's wife has plagued my comment section with deep, dark atheistic questions I thought it was an appropriate intro.



So, here we go with our first instalment of viewer mail...

'Life happens: we decimate the rain forests and kill the native species; the earth's crust destroys our coastland and kills lives. It's the flux and flow of life. There is no cause or reason. It's the looking for a reason that fosters the anger and resentment.' Where do you categorize this type of atheist? And how do you answer him?

I've been reading some of the philosophy genre lately...in thinking about my answer, I can already see that effecting/affecting me. Anyway, without any further stalling on such a question...

Categorizing & Answering:

In my mind, the issue of "cause" seems to be the weak area of this atheist's argument.

"There is no cause or reason." To me it seems that a causeless, reasonless world has no anger and resentment in it because nothing has existed to cause the anger/resentment. I'll attempt to explain my thinking behind that statement. By the very act of saying "it's the looking for...that brings anger", the person has entered into an causal argument stating that the cause of B is A. In this case, the cause of anger and resentment is in the looking-for-a-reason. Therefore, if my second rate logic works, how could there be any anger/resentment in the world when we've removed some sort of evil causing it? Whether this "evil" is a tsunami, an earthquake, or looking for a reason for suffering...there has to be a cause.

Let's assume for a moment that the cause exists, but it is unknowable ("There is cause and reason, it is unknowable. Anger is a result of searching for the cause."). In this case, perhaps we would feel emotions of anger when we experience the frustration of tracking down something unknowable. Still, I would want to ask similar annoying questions. For example, our new and improved statement seems to have tracked down a knowable cause of anger and frustration...and, again, this anger stems from trying to pinpoint any causes. But, if our statement were true , we would not have been able to discover the unknowable cause of our frustration toward discovering causes. In other words, we still have a causal statement, it has just been expanded with a "it is unknowable" footnote.

If my two short paragraph's semi-coherent statements are convincing...and, if the atheist admits that some sort of "cause" exists in the world, then the discussion moves to a different level. What is the cause? The where does evil come from question should be as difficult for an atheist as why does suffering exist is for a theist.

That is the long answer to your question. The short answer is that I would just try to confuse him or her with alot of philosophical mumbo-jumbo until they were confused and walked away.

Anyway, I'm not sure any of that actually works logically. Another option would be giving them a 4 Spiritual Laws Tract. How would you answer the question?

Anger At God

We want to decipher God. We want to figure Him out. We want to turn him into a video game, a book, or a Rubik's Cube. We want something that we can finish, unlock, and put on the shelf.

Once we understand something we can make sure it follows the rules. If it does abide by the rules we experience comfort. If it breaks the rules we experience anger. Think about sports. There’s anger that enrages thousands when the referee misses the call.

The question emerges: Does/can God miss the call? We certainly act like he has the ability to. Our rage and bitterness is frequently focused on God rather than the sin that should be the focus of our anger.

More questions: Why? Why are we so easily angered at God? Perhaps it stems from partial belief? Let’s examine two extremes of the spectrum…

A) A true atheist. If a true atheist exists, they are incapable of feeling any true emotions toward God. I don’t believe in Santa Claus, therefore, when my car breaks down or my wife gets sick or when a friend dies…I am incapable of being angry at Santa Claus. Any anger at God assumes the existence of that God.

B) Who else is never angry at God? We need to stretch ourselves here…we need someone who is the total opposite of an atheist…someone 100% confident in the existence of God. Hopefully, without cheating, I can use Jesus as an example. Equality with God seems in some way to be the opposite of atheism.

So, does someone 100% confident in the existence of God get angry at God? Was Jesus ever angry at God? Did He have reason to be?
When Lazarus died…
When His Father was sending Him to a cross…
When He wept…
…was He angry at God? Did He have reason to be?

What does this tell us? I think it tells us that any anger at God must exist because we live our lives somewhere in the middle of this unbelief scale. There seems to be some sort of tension here, and I think it comes out in many of the Psalms. On the one hand, there's alot pointing to a brutal honesty of our emotions toward God. But, on the other hand, a contentment with our lack of understanding of God does not seem to be encouraged (James' "count it all joy" passage comes to mind).

I've been thinking about Psalms 116 a little bit lately. Here are two verses from this optimistic Psalm (make sure you check out the context sometime):

I believed, even when I spoke,

'I am greatly afflicted';

I said in my alarm,

'All mankind are liars.'

The two quotations seem as though they are statements the author is not proud of, in one sense. But, he still admits that he believed when he spoke. Even honest discontent still reflects a belief in God. Perhaps we can call this "anger" at God. If so, the emotion doesn't seem to be the problem, I think the problem is the follow up to the emotion. Do we feed the emotion with Truth or do we follow it up with an extra dose of self-pity? I think it's a hard question to answer, because the question seems to imply some limits to our negative emotional expression toward God. ...all sorts of slippery-slope troubles seem to tie me up in these thoughts.

For the sake a semi-short post, I have two thoughts. Anger at our situations, frustration at God, whatever we call it, needs to be expressed. It's honest...if God already knows how we're feeling, why should we try to mentally hide anything from Him. But, these emotions need some reminders of who God is...and I think they specifically need reminders of the cross. If anger at God is only possible along side of a level of unbelief…then, that unbelief begins at our understanding of the cross.

Romans 8:32 - He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

God had to be up to something when He sent His Son to the cross. Sometimes we act/think as though God was up to nothing when He sent Jesus to die.

A second passage that seems relevant is Paul's quotation of the Psalm mentioned earlier.

II Corinthians 4:13-14

Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, 'I believed, and so I spoke,' we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

Although I haven't done alot of study on this passage, there seems to, at the least, be an emphasis on an overarching awareness of God's love through the cross in our speech. I think it's safe to infer from Psalm 116 that any expression of frustration or anger toward God be reigned in with thoughts of God's love through Christ's death.

So, in regards to anger at God. I think it stems from a lack of understanding of God. And, since a full understanding of God and His ways is impossible...maybe the best thing we can do in times of intense hardship is meditate of the love expressed through the cross, have faith in a God bigger than us, and, if possible, relax. There is much good in seeking to know God more. But, red flags should appear any time we think we have God figured out. He’s not a puzzle. He’s not a riddle. And, I think it is safe to say that He never misses the call.

Abortion in the Movies - If it's good enough for Al Mohler's blog...

...I borrowed this link from Al Mohler's blog. It's a great article about abortion and the movies. Here is the link:

You Won't See Termination 2 at the Movies

It's about how Hollywood can't seem to bring itself to promote abortion. And, I think the article is on to something. I think movies are a good example of that circular pattern of the culture feeding on the media and the media feeding off the culture. As already mentioned on this blog, movies give us an insight into what the culture is up to. I think this example offers us insight into the fact that few people in this generation view abortion as any sort of a happy ending. And, as the article states, if it's not a child...if it's a mass of cells, why shouldn't an abortion provide a potential happy ending.

As a school project, I entered overacheivish mode and did a 50-page project (huge fonts, lots of double space, etc.) categorizing bioethics in the movies. With several exceptions abortion is almost always viewed negatively (If These Walls Could Talk was one of few exceptions). You can see similar negative trends with cloning, which is intricately tied to the problem of abortion in my mind. The natural aversion to modifying and killing humanity is worth paying attention to. Will this aversion lessen in another 40 years because it's something left over from our parents generation? Or, will we still squirm when it comes to cloning and abortion because it's part of our make up, our conscience, what is written on our hearts?