Christmas Time is Here...

Merry Christmas! And indeed, I hope it is just that: merry. For what we celebrate this day is the hope of the gospel. And that hope should make us glad, and it is right that we praise God on this day. The gospel is a beautiful thing; in large part because it explains to us the condition of the world and of our own souls: broken. And were we to only know that part of the gospel, it would not be good news at all. But, no matter the pain we know because of the fallen world we live in, no matter the trials and burdens we face now, today we see the part of the story that follows the account of sin; today we celebrate a very hopeful event. Or as the angel said,

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord (Luke 2:10-11)."

GREAT JOY! Or, "Behold, in the midst of the sinfulness and depravity of this world, I bring you GOOD NEWS which should be the cause for you to REJOICE GREATLY!" And what I love about God and they way He does things, is that he doesn't do things the way we expect him to. He sends us the Savior, but he's found on a bed of animal food. Jesus steps down out of his place of glory and true wealth into poverty in the world he created. The one God promised would set his people free, for once and for all, came. And it was kind of a conspiracy. At least, I'm sure if you talked to Herod or the magi you would get that impression.

As I was leading our youth Sunday school at Eternal this past Sunday, I told them that Christmas should really bring to mind 3 specific points in history: Jesus' birth, his death and resurrection, and his second coming. And all three call for great rejoicing. For if Jesus had never come, the world would probably be at least a thousand times worse than it is today, if he had never died and resurrected, we'd either be sacrificing a lot more animals, or we would be eternally screwed, and if he is never coming back, then I'd ask why he even came in the first place. But he is coming back, and it will be quite the event:

^"11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. ¹²His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. ¹³He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. ¹⁴And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. ¹⁵ From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. ¹⁶On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords."

And so we rejoice. REJOICE! Not because life is peachy and nice and you have no problems. We rejoice because despite the pain, despite our sin, despite the seeming hopelessness of the world, Jesus is greater, and He has authority, and as sure as He has come and died and risen again, He is coming again, and He will make everything right. And for now we REJOICE! because Jesus did come as a baby, and his life, death and resurrection brought about what Paul called the mystery of the gospel, or "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ. In us. How do we have any excuse not to rejoice? Our God is abundantly good. That is was Christmas is about.

So I pray that your Christmas day is one of great rejoicing and praise. And Christmas carols are often a great way of doing that, as many of them are full of the message of the gospel and it's hope. Merry Christmas my friends, merry Christmas indeed.

If you move the "n" in "Santa" to the end of the word, what does that spell?

Satan. That's right folks, it gives you the name most commonly attributed to our enemy, the father of lies, the one who seeks to steal, kill and destroy. He prowls around like a lion (think Scar from the Lion King--who is actually not a half-bad analogous lion--and not Aslan, because that's Jesus), searching for souls to feed upon. And other times, he comes cleverly disguised like a cheery old fat man, dressed in a red suit and sporting copious amounts of white facial hair ("Angel of light" anyone?).

About now seems the appropriate time to say, "Don't worry, I'm not actually saying that Santa IS Satan." And while that isn't really what I'm saying, (after all, Santa, at least the one of the North Pole and flying reindeer, is merely a fictive character) I do think it is fair to say that Santa is a pretty effective puppet for Satan. John Piper puts it this way:

" 'Religion is the opiate of the people.' That statement is not simply classic Marxism. It is classic American materialism. The difference is that American materialism doesn't outlaw religion; it imitates it and then uses it. That is the real meaning of Santa Claus."

But Santa can't be all bad, right? I mean, he must have some redeeming qualities.... But consider the following story from my fiancee's CRTW (Critical Reading, Thinking and Writing) class:

"There was a lot of discussion and murmuring on both sides of the issue. Disturbingly, though, the only solid reasons people could give in favor of telling your children the myth of Santa was that they would be that one kid in the class who knew the truth, and they may tell other kids that they're believing a lie. Oh, what a travesty! There were no arguments for the benefits of telling them about Santa except that they may not be able to conform to the world at a young age."

Now, I realize that this example isn't the end all be all of the argument. For instance, one might argue that Santa helps to engender creativity and imagination in children. But really? Santa? Is that the best we have? And the thing is, we don't present him as imaginary but as a real, primary figure of Christmas. Which I guess you could argue isn't a big deal since we jacked the holiday from the pagans anyway. But if creativity is what you are going for, check out some Dr. Suess or other excellent literature like Where the Wild Things Are or The Chronicles of Narnia. Or just find some other creative outlet, be it music, acting, theater, what have you, but please, PLEASE don't settle for a culturally defined, socially acceptable (really crappy) imitation of the greatest gift-giver that has ever lived on the earth:

"The true meaning of Christmas—that God sent his Son into the world to save us from our evil hearts of sin (Matthew 1:21), and to destroy the works of the devil in our habits and homes and schools and workplaces (1 John 3:8), and to rescue us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10)—that meaning of Christmas is unacceptable to the spirit of this world. But the impact of the truth of the incarnation is so undeniable after 2,000 years of influence, that the god of this world behind American materialism cannot oppose it outright, but simply imitates it with Santa Claus and a hundred other trappings in order to direct the religious impulses of the masses into economically profitable channels."

And sometimes, the things that are close to the truth lead us the furthest away. (See: prosperity gospel, Mormonism, Emergent theology, etc.)

What about St. Nicholas? Well, he wasn't really as big as Santa was on instilling moral legalism, but rather focused on helping the poor. He loved Jesus, suffered for his faith, and gave gifts to poor children. So if you think children need to know about an old man around Christmas time, give them a story worth hearing. And use that to point them to an even better story: the gospel. Katie says it well:

"All kidding aside, what are we learning by promoting Santa? If you are good you get presents and if you're bad you get coal. This Santa knows what you're doing at all times, knows when you cry and when you laugh, everything. What are we teaching our kids, really? That in order to receive gifts you must present yourself worthy? I would much rather my kids believe they received gifts because they are loved, not because they were "good" enough. No wonder we have a complex over whether or not God loves us. We have been taught since birth that only the "good" kids get shown love and the others get crap thrown at them. May it never be said that God treats His children that way. He loves beyond our disobedience. He is faithful beyond our unfaithfulness. Praise God for He is a good father, very unlike our Santa Claus."





Addendum: To be fair, I realize that not everyone is going to want to "kill Santa," and how we present him to children makes a big impact on the type of influence he will have on them. So here is where I offer you a link to some other ideas about what to do with Santa, via the brilliant mind of Jon Acuff (You should subscribe to his blog. Really...go do it). My main point here is to get us to think twice about the patron saint of American pop culture, before we just embrace him wholeheartedly. The devil is a crafty (hence the serpent), and I think it is important that we remember that the Church is at war here on Earth.


Second Addendum: I saw this quote and I thought it was funny. It is from someone who commented on a John Piper status about the "prosperity gospel": "prosperity gospel. almost the same as believing in santa."


Third Addendum: And maybe the most important of them. Here is a website that I think helps to give a better perspective on Christmas. From what I've seen in it so far, it's pretty solid, so go visit the Advent Conspiracy.

Greater Things Than These

"It behooves us, my dear Brothers and Sisters, to have a firmer faith than Old Testament saints because we see more clearly our ground of trust. Those who lived in the comparative darkness of the previous dispensation were saved by faith and among them there were not a few eminent Believers--surely we, also, ought to excel in our confidence in God! Let the 11th chapter of Hebrews stand as a triumphal arch with the names of ancient Believers recorded--these all died in faith and they were no mean men--but inasmuch as we enjoy a brighter light and are living under a better economy, we are called upon to be their superiors in faith! Our faith should be clearer, calmer, stronger, more effectual in working--we should do greater things than these, in the name of Jesus." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Did I mention I love this guy?)

So let's see...that would be: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, just to name a few. Kind of a weighty list there. But Jesus actually says something in John 14 that sounds way crazier than Spurgeon's claim:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." (14:12)

Now, obviously none of us are going to go out and justify all those who place their faith in Christ. But I think those words probably need to shock us more than they do. And hopefully they will prove effective in helping to move us to action. For if we are called to greater things than what Jesus did on earth, it will only happen when we get off our lazy butts and out into the world, to be a part of the establishment of the Kingdom that is already and not yet come. But I'm preaching to myself here too, because I'm at least as guilty of not being in the world, if not more so, than the rest of you. So let us "work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12-13).

In Defense of Biblical Humor

Mark Driscoll (a.k.a. "The Cussing Pastor") is a pastor that I have a lot of respect for. Like any man, he's not perfect, so all of his theology isn't going to be either, but he is, nonetheless, quite solid. One subject where I have questioned him as of late is his use of humor. This isn't random--I think the guy is hilarious. And I think he often uses humor quite well. For example, the following quote:

"There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity." (1)

Recently I started reading his book Religion Saves: And 9 Other Misconceptions. In it, Driscoll addresses 10 common misconceptions that Christians have, one of them being that the Bible is always serious, and so good Christians must be very serious people. But Driscoll argues that the Bible is full of humor (which I certainly think it is), and that Christians should use humor effectively like Jesus did (which in principle, I have no problem with). I think my biggest hangup was how cutting his humor can be sometimes when directed at certain groups. But after having read the whole chapter, I think I understand what he is saying. And he admits that he has crossed the line and addresses that issue. Perhaps the most compelling argument he makes he borrows from Charles Haddon Spurgeon (who also is solid):

"I do not know why ridicule is to be given up to Satan as a weapon to be used against us, and not to be employed by us as a weapon against him. I will venture to affirm that the Reformation owed almost as much to the sense of the ridiculous in human nature as to anything else, and that those humorous squibs and caricatures, that were issued by the friends of Luther, did more to open the eyes of Germany to the abominations of the priesthood than the more solid and ponderous arguments against Romanism....'It [humor] is a dangerous weapon,' it will be said, 'and many men will cut their fingers with it.' Well, that is their own look-out; but I do not know why we should be so particular about their cutting their fingers if they can, at the same time, cut the throat of sin, and do serious damage to the great adversary of soul."

In addition to making his case for why he thinks humor is biblical and helpful, he supplied a "Ten Commandments for Sanctifying Comedy." Number 8 on the list I think is a particularly important one that helps shed light on the heart behind properly used humor, and helps keep those who use humor accountable so they don't become prideful or arrogant in their humor:

"Don't forget to laugh at yourself--often. The best material is the stuff of your own life. You know better than anyone that you are a nut job, so do not waste such precious comedic fodder. Tell stories about yourself, pointing out your imperfections, folly, stupidity, pettiness, self-righteousness, and the like before you turn your funny guns on anyone. By doing so you will reveal that your humor is not scorn but, rather, the acknowledgment of a common mess we are all in as sinners [emphasis mine]. In the end, we are all hypocrites and good for a laugh. By laughing together at one another and ourselves, we are experiencing biblical fellowship and celebrating gift-righteousness from Jesus; his gift removes our pride and vain attempts at self-righteousness, which in the end make us deadly serious defenders of our goodness, as if we had any. In short, we are all Pharisees to varying degrees."

In his conclusion, Driscoll poses one last question to those who might be offended by him:

"To those who have been offended by my comedic banter, I would simply ask why. If it is because I have sinned, then I ask your forgiveness. But if it is because I have hit a nerve of sin or self-righteousness, then I would welcome you to repent and have a good laugh with me."

So have a laugh today. Be like Jesus, and as ridiculously intelligent as he is, not like Spock:

"Cultivating your sense of humor heightens all your other emotions. The person who can laugh deeply is passionate enough to also weep deeply. Those who bottle up their emotions in a Spock-like existence display little if any of the characteristics of their passionate God, who both laughs and weeps, as Scripture says. Scripture also commands us to 'rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.' "

I Begin This Blogging Blitz With a Funny Song...

Thanks to Mr. Schley, I started listening to the band House of Heroes and I'm quickly becoming a big fan. At times they remind me a bit of Relient K, but hopefully they are better behaved. Anyway, they write good music, and this is a particularly funny song off their album The End is Not the End, called "Baby's a Red." Since I'm not the biggest fan of free-market Capitalism (now don't go McCarthy on me), I greatly appreciate this song. It's not really hatin' on Capitalism, but still. It's funny. Go buy the album on iTunes.

"Baby's a Red"

"Oo oo little red,
With your heart in Stalingrad,
Oh, it kills me how they hate you,
But they just don't understand.
Oh red,
When they put me on the stand,
I will testify I loved you,
And I'm not ashamed to be your comrade.

Red, red, baby's a red,
She's blood red,
Baby's a red,
The feds said,
"Lock her in lead,
She's red," but I love her.

(Hammer and sickle on my mind.)

Oo oo little red,
It's not like McCarthy said,
Though we differ on religion,
We both support the working man.
Oh red, if the bombs fall on our lands,
Then our politics won't matter,
Only that I loved you until death.

(Hammer and sickle...)

Red, red, baby's a red,
She's blood red,
Baby's a red,
The feds said,
"Lock her in lead,
She's red," but I love her.

Oh, yea, baby's a red,
She's blood red,
Baby's a red,
The feds said,
"Lock her in lead,
She's red," but I love her.

I want to touch you, and I'm not afraid,
I want to touch you , and I'm not ashamed,
I want to tell you, that I'm not afraid,
They'll burn us at the stake!

I want to love you, and I'm not afraid,
I want to love you, and I'm not ashamed,
I want to love you, and I'm not afraid, oh baby.

Hammer and sickle on my mind.
Saint Petersburg in summer time.
Hammer and sickle on my mind.
Stars over Moscow shining bright.
Hammer and sickle on my mind.
The shores of Astrakhan are fine.
Hammer and sickle on my mind.

Red, red, baby's a red,
She's blood red,
Baby's a red,
The feds said,
"Lock her in lead,
She's red," but I love her. "

Gotta Love Your Puritans

This is a prayer from The Valley of Vision, a book of Puritan prayers of old. They are excellent, although I have hardly delved into it myself. But this one gives you a great example of the richness of their prayers. I long to be able to pray with the fervor they did. So get a copy ASAP homie.

"Christian Love"

It is thy will that I should love thee
with heart, soul, mind, strength,
and my neighbour as myself.
But I am not sufficient for these things.
There is by nature no pure love in my soul;
Every affection in me is turned from thee;
I am bound, as slave to lust,
I cannot love thee, lovely as thou art,
until thou dost set me free.

By grace I am thy freeman and would serve thee,
for I believe thou art my God in Jesus,
and that through him I am redeemed,
and my sins are forgiven.
With this freedom I would always obey thee,
but I cannot walk in liberty,
any more than I could first attain it, of myself.
May thy Spirit draw me nearer to thee
and thy ways.

Thou art the end of all means,
for if they lead me not to thee,
I go away empty.
Order all my ways by thy holy Word
and make thy commandments the joy
of my heart,
that by them I may have happy converse
with thee.
May I grow in thy love and manifest it
to mankind.

Spirit of love, make me like the loving Jesus;
give me his benevolent temper,
his beneficent actions,
that I may shine before men to thy glory.
The more thou doest in love in me and by me,
humble me the more;
keep me meek, lowly,
and always ready to give thee honour.

The Malebox

So our house will be completed tomorrow with the moving in of the 5th member of our family, one Timothy John Schley. Now, I know there are a good many people who are still yet to move in...but when you get here you should come hang out. Because our place is awesome. Not that yours isn't. But I'm betting ours is bigger. And we want you to come hang out. So facebook, call, come knock on the door, or whatever, just do what you need to do to come hang out. That's all for now.

Give a Shit

In the course of casually following all the fun stuff concerning Derek Webb's newest album "Stockholm Syndrome" my most wonderful girlfriend and I have both discovered that Derek is starting a new organization called "Give a Shit", which will go to dig latrines in Africa to try and help stem the tide of thousands dying daily from lack of clean drinking water. Sojourners magazine wrote an article about Derek's plans, saying,

"Derek Webb wants to dig latrines for Jesus. And he’s looking for a few thousand friends to lend a hand. In a world where as many as 8,000 people die each day from waterborne diseases, he says, it’s the Christian thing to do. To get the word out about his latrine campaign, Webb, a Nashville-based Christian singer-songwriter who doesn’t mince words, is planning to launch a new Web site—www.giveashit.org. The name, he said, is meant to startle people into action."

Webb said in the interview, "The twin towers fall every day in Africa for lack of clean drinking water—7,500 or 8,000 people dying every day and the church does not appear to give a shit."

But before you get your undies all in a bundle over Derek's use of the word "shit," I'll ask you to consider two things:

1. Derek said this about his use of the word: "Part of my job is to take language and redeem it and to use it for good. This is a great opportunity for me to use language creatively to stir people to action." And part of that is his using it in one of the songs on Stockholm Syndrome.

2. The apostle Paul also used strong language when he thought it was appropriate, as is seen in Philippians 3:8 when he writes, "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ..." I don't think too many people would like a translation that inserted "shit" in there, but from what I've heard and learned, Paul here uses the strongest word in Greek to make his point.

I'm not trying to advocate the general use of "foul language" for any reason, but I do think Derek makes a good point in that we as Christians can use language in a redeemed and appropriate manner to indeed edify our brothers and sisters in Christ. And frankly, I think Derek's use of the word shit in the title of the organization he is starting is both appropriate, sobering, and a little humorous, given that the biggest contributor to dirty water in Africa is human waste.

I hope I get the chance to go dig latrines with him. And that my heart will be softened and tuned into God's so that I, myself, will give a shit about the issues that break God's heart.

On Indwelling Sin

Well, these aren't actually my own thoughts. This is a sermon the lovely Katherine Manley sent to me. I think it describes well our challenge with sin in this life, as well as our hope for victory over said sin. So I'll just go ahead and let you read it...


INDWELLING SIN
And I John saw these things and heard them.
And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not : for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book ; worship God.
Rev. 22: 8, 9
'I, John ' — I, who was just a fisherman on the Lake of Galilee, called to follow Christ— 'I saw all these great things.' Then we may see great things yet, as John did! It is interesting how many traits of John's character we find in this wonderful Book of Revelation. He tells us that when he saw his Master after so many years, he fell at His feet as dead, as much with delight as with fear. Then he tells us he 'wept much' when no one was found worthy to open the book; and how honestly he tells things about himself that are not to his credit. It is a great proof of grace when a man can do this—not only say he is a sinner, but tell things he did that were wrong. Our text tells us of the second time that John did this. The angel peremptorily commands him to rise: 'Why worship the servant when the Master is here?' From this incident let us learn the doctrine of indwelling sin in a believer's heart.

I. Indwelling sin as a doctrine.—A believer is entirely free from guilt. God cannot point to a spot of sin on a soul that has believed on Jesus. The believer is also free from the dominion of sin; but he is not free from the existence of sin in the heart. Never till we see Christ as He is shall we be free from the presence of sin.

'One look of Jesus as He is
Will strike all sin for ever dead.'

'If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.' If we say the root of sin is out of us we deceive ourselves. In Rom. 7:21 Paul says, 'I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.' 'Law' means a powerful tendency, like a law. There are always remains of the old nature, and in the old nature there is always deceit. 'It doth not yet appear what we shall be.' We are only on the way to complete deliverance.

II. Indwelling sin illustrated by our text.—John was now about ninety years old. For seventy years he had walked close with God. We should have thought that indwelling sin was dead in him. But indwelling sin is often benumbed, but not dead. Paul had no sooner come down from Paradise and the third heavens than God says, 'It will be needful to send him a messenger of Satan, lest he be exalted above measure.' God did not say, 'I will strike his sin dead,' but 'I will keep it down.' There was indwelling sin still in Paul's heart. This disciple John, who had got on so far in the divine life, tells us that when he had been allowed to listen to and see, all that is recorded, and had heard the invitation to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, he fell at the angel's feet to worship him. Soon after this, John was walking through the New Jerusalem and saw its wondrous walls, its gates of pearl, the redeemed in their robes of white. Would you not have thought that his indwelling sin would be withered up now? 'When I heard these things, I fell down at the feet of the angel,' etc. He had forgotten for a time the glory of the Master, wondering at the glory of the servant. We need to watch to the very end. Satan knows there is tinder in your heart, and he tries to throw in a spark. The beloved John is not perfect yet, though he has been through New Jerusalem.

III. Why does God leave a root of sin in our heart.— He does not take away the existence of sin, but He does take away its dominion. It is like Psalm 110:2: 'Rule . . . in the midst of thine enemies.' The consequences of indwelling sin being left in us are—
(1) To keep us from leaning on our personal holiness. We cannot point to one day of perfect obedience, to one work of perfect holiness. Till the last moment we have to stand upon the blood.
(2) To make us press onward to the day of Christ. 'When He shall appear, we shall be like Him.'

IV. How we are to deal in the meantime with this indwelling sin.—Sin in a believer is as really sin as in any other. I do not know that indwelling sin waxes weaker and weaker. But here is what we are to do.
We are to think of the indwelling Spirit; for as surely as we have indwelling sin we have the indwelling Spirit. Then we have help always at hand. It is like Christ in the ship. We think often we must meet trouble or temptation alone, forgetting the indwelling Spirit. He is not asleep, He is there in the ship, but He waits till we come to Him, and, as it were, awake Him. It is thus we get the victory over indwelling sin.
Another way is to feed faith. 'They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of His testimony.' Nothing startles the devil like holding up the blood. He flees from it. Give every now and then a look to Christ, and if you look to Him He will look to you. Be of good cheer, believer! In spite of indwelling sin we shall not be shut out of heaven, and at length He will present us 'without fault before the throne of God!'

Andrew A. Bonar.

Ahhh fiction...

If you had known me in high school, you would have known that the only things I ever read were the stuff assigned in school...if that. When I hit college, I started getting interested in reading more, especially theological stuff. Thanks to my super-awesome-my-facebook-status-changing girlfriend, shortly before Christmas I picked up and read through my first fiction book since...well. A long dang time. And it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. If you had known me in middle school, placing that book in my possession would have meant condemning it to a firey death in a bonfire. However, I whipped through the series like apparating from one country to another and loved it (often staying up til 3 or 4AM to finish books). So to keep the fiction train going, I started reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm starting with The Magician's Nephew because it's the first in the chronological story of Narnia, and let me tell you, I'm loving it. Please, go get the series and start your reading with this one. It's epic. You will not regret it. I'm sure I will have more posts that come from this series. Also...read more fiction. And C. S. Lewis.

On The Sinfulness of Sin by Ralph Venning

First, I must thank James Brown for giving me something to read on our journey down to RUF Winter Conference. The Sinfulness of Sin was certainly an interesting read for what I got through, and I really want to buy it now. Anywho, at Eternal yesterday, Skip encouraged us to contemplate our sin throughout this week leading up to our annual celebration of Easter. Not in a self-condemning way, but to reflect on the meaning of the cross. Just how vital it is to us, and how beautiful it is to us. So to share a bit of what I will be reflecting on this week, and maybe to give you a little food for thought as well, I thought I'd share this passage from Venning. If you haven't felt a good dose of conviction in awhile, then you might want to brace yourself. But I encourage you to not stop there. The following is a description of why the cross is necessary when you think about it. But that's part of the point: we have the cross. And as Jesus himself said with his last breath, "It is finished." 

"Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, the contempt of his love. We may go on and say, it is the upbraiding of his providence (Psalm 50), the scoff of his promise (2 Peter 3:3-4), the reproach of his wisdom (Isaiah 29:16). And as is said of the man of sin (i.e. who is made up of sin) it opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God (and above all that God is called), so that it as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing itself as if it were God (2 Thess. 2:4)." - Ralph Venning

Infants, Imbeciles, and Domestic Animals

I was randomly perusing the book of many faces, when I stumbled upon this C. S. Lewis quote on his fan page. I thought it was pretty interesting. I have no clue which of his writings it is from. But I think he hits on some important things here that are really relevant to our current culture. I don't have time to go into all I see in it now, but I wonder what you see...a chance to comment perhaps?

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classes with infants, imbeciles and domestic animals."
--C. S. Lewis

Hope and Comfort Usually Follow Genuine Humiliation and Repentance

So this quote was on our RUF notes sheet one week. It's part of a much longer sermon by Jonathan Edwards, which is the title of this post. I haven't really gotten to the rest of it, but I plan to.

"Souls are wont to be brought into trouble before God bestows true hope and comfort. The corrupt hearts of men naturally incline to stupidity and senselessness before God comes with the awakening influences of his Spirit. They are quiet and secure. They have no true comfort and hope, and yet they are quiet; they are at ease. They are in miserable slavery, and yet seek not a remedy. They say, as this children of Israel did in Egypt to Moses, "Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians." But if God has a design of mercy to them, it is his manner before he bestows true hope and comfort on them, to bring them into trouble, to distress them, and spoil their ease and false quietness, and to rouse them out of their old resting and sleeping places, and to bring them into a wilderness. They are brought into great trouble and distress, so that they can take no comfort in those things in which they used to take comfort. Their hearts are pinched and stung, and they can find no ease in anything. They have, as it were, an arrow sticking fast in them, which causes grievous and continual pain, an arrow which they cannot shake off, or pull out. The pain and anguish of it drinks up their spirit. Their worldly enjoyments were a sufficient good before; but they are not now. They wander about with wounded hearts, seeking rest, and finding none."

Here's the rest of the sermon

Whac-a-Fox for Jesus

So I haven't listened to the Peasant Princess series at all yet (Mark Driscoll on Song of Songs), but sources (a.k.a. my girlfriend) have it that the series is really good. This is a game that's on the homepage of the series site, and it's pretty much awesome, so I thought I'd share it...


WHAC-A-FOX!!!

Who does this?

Blogging. Yep. I'm jumping on the train. Just thought you should know. It should be interesting...