Affliction goes both ways

Even more problematic for John are those congregations that seem to coexist all too peaceably with their neighbors in the shadow of Rome. There is not a hint that the Christians in Sardis and Laodicea have experienced rejection by their neighbors. Indeed, the indictment of these churches appears to stem from the fact that they blend in all too well and mingle all too effectively with the partners of Rome and worshipers of idols all around them. As we think about the diversity of the congregations John addresses, we should always bear in mind that John is equally interested in comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.— Unholy Allegiances, page 86

<idle musing>
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11-12

"Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets." Luke 6:26

That about sums up God's view, doesn't it? Of course our response to this is love:
"Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." I Peter 3:13-16
</idle musing>

Where does our allegiance lie?

If, with John, we know Jesus as “the ruler of the kings of the earth” and as the “one who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, who made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father,” our primary identity will be rooted in our place in the kingdom of God, which we share with the redeemed from every people, tribe, nation, and language group. It will not be rooted in some national or political body constructed by human beings and their party lines. Our primary allegiance will be to this One Lord and One God in every aspect of our lives, out of gratitude for our costly redemption and in acknowledgement that we have been made part of a very real political entity whose head is Christ.— Unholy Allegiances, page 82

<idle musing>
I've been reading Bonheoffer the Assassin?. This excerpt fits in very well with what they are saying about the transformation of Bonhoeffer's thinking. He began (in 1929) as a typical nationalistic German, but by the mid-1930s he had realized, through an encounter with the Jesus of the gospels, that the church transcends national and political allegiances...
</idle musing>

Here's the rub

Again because of our immersion, often from birth, in the assumptions, values, goals, and practices of our own society and its systems, we have a tendency to domesticate the voice of Scripture so that Scripture can live in the house that we have built in our society, rather than invite Scripture to tell us how to rebuild the house from new foundations. One strategy for pushing past this is to be particularly attentive to the places where Jesus, Paul, James, or John rubs us the wrong way. Where do we say, in response to something we're reading in the New Testament, “No, he can't possibly mean that”? Where do we jump to find some consideration that will blunt the force of the challenge or demand the text poses, so that we can move on without letting that word change the way we think, live, or relate to others? Where do we find ourselves making excuses for our country (“Nations have to do that kind of thing”) or for ourselves (“We've got to be practical as well, and not get carried away with this religion stuff”)?— Unholy Allegiances, page 72

<idle musing>
Good advice. If we think Jesus couldn't possibly have meant that, there's a good possibility that is exactly what he meant and you've just discovered an idol...
</idle musing>

Thought for the day

You can be straight as a gun barrel theologically and as empty as one spiritually.—A.W. Tozer

The goal of theology

The Psalms portray Israel at prayer. And it is when we pray that we find out what we really believe, what our theology actually is. Furthermore, true theology ought to end in prayer. If theology is the study of God, the knowledge of God, and if God is God, then the end of our study ought to be worship. If it is not, if it has been only a study about a subject and our thoughts on that subject, that is idolatry; I have made God a thing. It does not matter how accurate my thought is; if it does not bring me to Him as a living Person, I have only found a substitute for Him, a knowledge of something other than God. When one comes to know the true God, the only response is, in the language of the Old Testament, fearful worship. I do not mean fearful in the sense of craven terror, but rather a deep-seated awe that you have come into the presence of the Holy One of Israel, the Creator and Lord of all. In every one of those passages in the Scripture where we find a person meeting God, that response of fearful worship is always there. Whether it is Isaiah or Moses, or whether is it Paul on the road to Damascus or John on the island of Patmos, there it is. So in your study, whatever else you look for, look for God. You will know that you have found him if you find yourself on your face before him.— Lectures in Old Testament Theology, pages 15-16

<idle musing>
That's taken from a sneak peak of the book online; I'm going to have to get it via interlibrary loan, but I suspect I'll end up buying it. Kinlaw and Oswalt (he edited it) were both professors of mine while in seminary. Good stuff...watch for more excerpts once I manage to snag a copy—which won't be until December, probably.

I did a paper for Kinlaw on theophanies for his Old Testament Theology course. Life-changing stuff...
</idle musing>

How do we respond?

Exerting control and maintaining peace through violent suppression of dissent; promoting an economy arranged for the great benefit of the few; the prominent use of religious language and ritual to legitimate these arrangements—this is both the genius of Rome and the heap of her sins for which John excoriates her. To enter into partnership with Rome is to fall victim to its deceit (Rev 18:23), which intoxicates the ignorant (Rev 17:2), and thus to be united with her in her sins and their punishment at the hands of the just and judging God.— Unholy Allegiances, page 70

<idle musing>
Substitute the U.S. for Rome and you have the current state of affairs. As I asked on Saturday, what should our response as Christians who live in the U.S. be?

I still don't have an answer that fully satisfies, but I firmly believe we need to model lives that are full of the Holy Spirit. That means loving those who hate us, embracing those who are scorned by society, living lives of conspicuous nonconsumption in contrast to the conspicuous consumption of society. The list could be expanded, but the bottom line is probably summarized best by what Scot McKnight calls the Jesus Creed: Love God and love others...
</idle musing>

Share the responsibility

The wealth to be enjoyed by participating in the larger global economy was, as far as John was concerned, a dangerous lure toward sharing in the violence and political injustice that undergirded such an economy, as well as sharing in the economic injustice that allowed the resources and produce of the provinces to be siphoned off to satisfy the immoderate cravings of Rome's inhabitants and worldwide elite. John understood long before the modern era that a person cannot share in the profits of domination without also sharing in responsibility for its crimes.— Unholy Allegiances, pages 68-69

<idle musing>
John understood long before the modern era that a person cannot share in the profits of domination without also sharing in responsibility for its crimes.

Food for thought, isn't it? How do we respond to the rampant consumerism of the world around us? How do we respond to the conspicuous consumption that floods our culture? These are honest questions on my part. I grapple with this everyday.

One way we can respond is by being the opposite of what the culture around us is. If it is greedy, we should be generous. If it is selfish, we should be selfless. If it is controlling and power hungry, we should be open and humble. This response disarms the spirits behind the behavior.

What do you think?
</idle musing>

Rome unveiled

John calls attention to the parasitic side of the Roman imperial economy, countering any feelings of gratitude toward Rome by drawing attention to the pervasive self-interest that underlies Roman rule. Roma [the goddess] is an anti-benefactor, whose influence and interventions ultimately seek to secure self-serving ends. John includes no notice of anything Rome has done purely on behalf of her subjects. The emphasis on luxury, intemperance, and conspicuous consumption also nurtures indignation, as Rome is seen to consume more of the world's good than any one city, enjoying more than is due—and this often to the detriment of the provinces under her far-from-beneficent rule. If Rome brings prosperity, she does so only to the merchants and shipmasters and others who profit (or profiteer) as they direct the world's wealth and resources to her ravenous maw.— Unholy Allegiances, pages 67-68

<idle musing>
Ouch! There goes all the wonderful marketing, right out the window. John sees things as they really are—now let's turn that same light on the U.S. today...how does the U.S. differ from Rome of John's day? Exactly; it doesn't...
</idle musing>

Looking behind the curtain

John helps his audiences to look at Rome and Roman imperialism especially through the lens of the Hebrew prophets, who had long ago spoken against the self-serving practices of empires as contrary to God's good will for human beings in every nation. In particular, he accuses Rome of (1) violence against dissenters, especially against Jews and Christians; (2) economic exploitation, nurturing a system that caters to the luxury of the powerful at the expense of the many; and (3) idolatrous presumption in its claims on its own behalf. John develops each of theses in such a way as to arouse indignation against Roman imperialism, supporting his call to Christians to keep themselves free from supporting or participating in such an unjust system of domination.— Unholy Allegiances, page 65

<idle musing>
Anybody else see the United States in that description, at least in numbers 2 & 3? Think 1% controlling 40% of the wealth. Think "American exceptionalism" which is just a variation of the 19th century's "white man's burden."
</idle musing>

For each and every

It's been a while since I posted some Finney, so here's a good one:

We are not to suppose that He died for the sum total of mankind in such a sense that His death is not truly for each one in particular. It is a great mistake into which some fall, to suppose that Christ died for the race in general, and not for each one in particular. By this mistake, the Gospel is likely to lose much of its practical power on our hearts. We need to apprehend it is Paul did, who said of Jesus Christ, "He loved me and gave Himself for me."—Charles Finney

It depends on your viewpoint

[According to John in Revelation] The emperors themselves are not pious figures or mediators of divine favor, as the public image of them declares. Rather, they are founts of blasphemy against God (Rev 13:1, 5, 6). The emperor's divine titles (typically including “son of a god,” divi filius) are illegitimate, the “names of blasphemy” that offend the Most High. Flattering courtiers of Rome and local authorities in Asia Minor addressed their emperors as “lord and God”: what was for most of Asia Minor a matter of gratitude and welcome security was, for John, an insult to the one Lord and one God in the highest degree. Indeed, many of the titles ascribed to God and the Lamb throughout Revelation are stolen back by John from the emperor for the True God and for Christ throughout Revelation.— Unholy Allegiances, page 44

<idle musing>
How you see the reigning powers depends on your viewpoint, doesn't it? May we all have the viewpoint of John: centered on the Lamb. Then we will be able to see clearly; our vision won't be distorted by incorrect priorities and desires.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!
</idle musing>

The center of our lives

The vision of all creation centered in worship and obedient waiting upon God and God's Messiah invites us first of all into the experience of God's throne as the pivotal center of our lives, prompting us to make this the focal point of our corporate worship and our personal prayer and meditation. John calls us to center ourselves, and to remain centered, here. This centering for John does not belong to the fleeting moments of structured times of worship, however. It is the business of God's creatures “day and night without rest” (4:8), which for human beings must mean bringing every facet of life into orbit around the enthroned God, centered on God, on God's prompting, on God's service. In John's vision of the cosmos, there is no room for gathering around God's throne at one time as one's cosmic center and at another time in the fellowship of idols and their worshipers.— Unholy Allegiances, page 42

<idle musing>
Indeed! Serving God is an all-consuming business. Take a look at today's Jesus Creed for a good bit of commentary on that. The "two kingdoms" model is bogus—and I'm being generous! Either Jesus as the Lamb of God is LORD or he isn't. You can't choose to have him lord in one area without allowing him to be lord of all areas of your life.
</idle musing>

The center of the universe

John's visions begin at the center of John's universe, at the very throne of God (4:2). The way John unfolds hist vision of the cosmos is rhetorically significant. Many modern readers jump to the dragon and beasts as the focal point of interest; but for John the key figures in this drama are not the “bad guys.” God and the Lamb, not the beast, occupy the center stage. This is in itself an attack on Roman imperial ideology, which depicted the emperor (and the gods that give him his power) at the center of the conceptual universe.— Unholy Allegiances, pages 36-37

<idle musing>
Why do we seem to always focus on the "bad guy" in the modern world? John had it right—focus on God!
</idle musing>

Repentance

...sin has been so ingrained into our minds that we are unable to repent and have to repent even of the kind of repentance we bring before God.— The Mediation of Christ, page 95

<idle musing>
Pretty hopeless, isn't it? That's why we need the grace of God!

That's the final excerpt from this book. It's got more, but I got it through interlibrary loan and the time ran out before I could transcribe all of them...such is the time pressure of the cabins in the summer : )

Next up will be Unholy Allegiances from Hendrickson (thanks Bobby!). Stay tuned...
</idle musing>

I wish...

Discovered via Out of Ur:

Minutes before the end of John MacArthur’s Strange Fire Conference, with attendees all together in the convention hall, suddenly there was a sound like the rush of a giant wind, which filled the entire auditorium where they were seated. People reported seeing flashes of fire that subdivided and landed on each person. Everyone was filled with the Holy Spirit, and began speaking in other languages as the Spirit empowered them.

Conference delegates included people from other nations who were baffled by the sound of their mother tongues being spoken. Amazed, they asked, ‘Aren’t all these people Americans? How then are we hearing them in the national languages of our countries?’ Confused, they started saying, ‘What the heck is going on?’

Some, however said perhaps after three days of this, some of them had a few drinks during the Friday supper break.

Then John MacArthur stood up and went to the microphone and addressed the crowd.
“Well,” he said; “This is ironic.”— Thinking Out Loud

A problem with forensic theories of the atonement

...if Jesus is a substitute in detachment from us, who simply acts in our stead in an external, formal or forensic way, then his response has no ontological bearing upon us but is an empty transaction over our heads, A merely representative or a merely substitutionary concept of vicarious mediation is bereft of any actual saving significance.— The Mediation of Christ, page 90

<idle musing>
Brains on a stick...by the way, that phrase comes from something I read a couple of years ago by a Calvin College Philosophy professor. A little help from Google and I see his name is James Smith...
<idle musing>

Brains on a stick

The human heart is so desperately wicked that it cunningly takes advantage of the hiatus between what we are and what we ought to be in order to latch on to the patterns and structures of moral behaviour required of us, so that under the image of what is good and right it masks or even fortifies its evil intentions. Such is the self-deception of our human heart and the depravity of our self-will that we seek to justify ourselves before God and our neighbours by a formal, impersonal fulfillment of the divine law in which we remain untouched in ourselves and uncommitted in our own persons.— The Mediation of Christ, page 81

<idle musing>
yep...
</idle musing>

Preconceptions and their impact on our findings

Interesting post over at Black, White and Gray, a blog by some Christian sociologists:

This gets us back to thinking about the institution of science. What is true for the individual can be even truer in a community that reinforces previously accepted corporate assumptions. Thomas Kuhn argued that scientists develop paradigms based on previous ideas. This paradigm is accepted and defended until it reaches a point when there is so much disconfirming evidence that it becomes nearly logically impossible to believe in the paradigm. But usually the paradigm goes relatively unchallenged and scientists attempt to defend it against all attacks. According to Kuhn, the normal state of affairs is scientists fighting to maintain the paradigm against all attacks instead of looking for all possible answers to research questions. We like to think of scientists as individuals open to all possible answers. But the result of the article reinforces the reality that scientists, like others, when looking for answers to research questions tend to look for those that fit their presuppositions.

<idle musing>
Read the whole thing to get the full context. But, in a nutshell, it is very hard (and draining) to look beyond your presuppositions—and the Internet makes it even harder! You can search for what you want to find, thereby short-circuiting any semblance of critical thinking. It's definitely easier and makes you feel like you did real research, but the whole time you were simply looking for confirmation of your preconceptions. I've done it far too often : (

I'm convinced only the Holy Spirit can break through our preconceptions...
</idle musing>

Is he mad?

Fearful anxiety arises in the human heart when people cannot connect Jesus up in their faith or understanding with the ultimate Being of God, for then the ultimate Being of God can be to them only a dark, inscrutable, arbitrary Deity whom they inevitably think of with terror for their guilty conscience makes them paint harsh angry streaks upon his face.— The Mediation of Christ, page 70

<idle musing>
Again, I ask, "Is he mad at us?" Some theologies would have us believe that God is mad at us, but the Biblical picture is dramatically different! Praise God for that!
</idle musing>

A hidden god?

To claim that Jesus Christ is not God himself become man for us and our salvation, is equivalent to saying that God does not love us to the uttermost, that he does not love us to the extent of committing himself to becoming man and uniting himself with us in the Incarnation. But if God's love stops short at becoming one with us, what kind of God would that be whose love is limited but some finite Deity and not the Lord God Almighty. If there is no unbreakable bond of being between Jesus Christ and God, then we are left with a dark inscrutable Deity behind the back of Jesus Christ of whom we can only be terrified.— The Mediation of Christ, pages 69-70

<idle musing>
This is exactly why the doctrine of the Trinity is essential to salvation and to Christianity!
</idle musing>

The hinge

Everything hinges upon the fact that he who became incarnate in Jesus Christ, he who mediates divine revelation and reconciliation to mankind in and through himself, is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God — that is to say, Jesus is to be acknowledged as God in the same sense as the Father is acknowledged as God, for it is in virtue of his Deity that his saving work as man has its validity.— The Mediation of Christ, page 64

<idle musing>
The doctrine of the deity of Christ is no small matter; as Torrance says here, it is the hinge upon which everything—and I mean everything—turns. If Christ isn't the pre-existent Son of the Father, then he can't be our mediator; we're still lost...
</idle musing>

The root of it

That is not, of course, what the world today wants to believe, any more than Jesus' contemporaries in Israel wanted to believe it, for the Cross has the effect of emptying the power-structures that the world loves so much, of their vaunted force. And so people continue trying to make Jesus serve their own ends in the world, thereby 'crucifying' him all over again. Let us be quite frank. Jesus was crucified by the political theology of his own day, but is that not what people, even in the Church, continue to do when under a programme of putting Christian ideals into effect they politicise the role of Jesus in human society and in international relations today? The deadly root of man's inhumanity to man, the source of all human violence, is in the wickedness of the human heart, and it is there that it must be undone.— The Mediation of Christ, page 41

<idle musing>
Appropriate timing...
</idle musing>

Offended by the light

...the mediation of divine revelation through Israel has the effect not only of disclosing something of the nature of God but of disclosing the natural offence to God deeply embedded in the human heart.— The Mediation of Christ, pages 20-21

<idle musing>
He goes on to trace antisemitic behavior to this antipathy. Interesting thought...
</idle musing>

ios 7 woes

I've heard about this on the Internet, but nobody seems to know the answer: Ever since updating to IOS 7, my iPad 2 randomly locks up. I have to press the home and sleep buttons at the same time—and even then it doesn't always come back! It's thrown it into recovery mode 4 times now...

Anybody know what the problem is? Is there a fix out there? Why isn't Apple offering another update to IOS 7?

This time it really died...the Apple logo is on the screen, but it won't move. Won't shutoff, won't respond to plugging into the Macbook...I hate computers!

Update: it came back—again! But this is getting old...

Renewal

To be the bearer of divine revelation is to suffer, and not only to suffer but to be killed and made alive again, and not only to be made alive but to be continually renewed and refashioned under its creative impact.— The Mediation of Christ, page 20

<idle musing>
I borrowed this book from the library via inter-library loan. Great book! I didn't have time to transcribe all the great thoughts in it before I had to return it (busy summer with the cabin work!), but I did finish the book. Maybe someday I'll borrow it again and have time to really absorb all the great stuff. Meanwhile, enjoy the next few days of excerpts...
</idle musing>

Ouch!

From Guy Muses's blog

One of the most common questions I am asked in church planting training is: at what point do we start taking the new believers to church? This question always frustrates me, but I understand the paradigm struggle many face with house churches being "real churches."

The response I am tempted to give is, "what I hear you asking is at what point do we stop making disciples, and allow them to just start attending church services?" Of course, I bite my tongue before saying this, but it reflects the difficulty we have of understanding the who, what, when, where, and why of the true nature of the New Testament ekklesia.

Read the whole post; well worth your time!

Remember when

Remember when Bonhoeffer wasn't an Evangelical?

He isn't, of course; he was a liberal German Lutheran. But he's been "adopted" into the evangelical world, just like C.S. Lewis. But, he wasn't always welcomed by evangelicals; I was warned not to read him in the early-mid 1970s—I was told he was "dangerous." Ain't that the truth! But not for the reasons that person had in mind...

That change got me thinking about changes in general. Here's a few that came to mind:

Did you know that the "Pledge of Allegiance" was written by a socialist?!
Did you know that the phrase "under God" in the Pledge was added in the 1950s to distinguish "godly" America from the "godless" Soviet Union?
Did you know that the Puritans were against the celebration of Christmas? So much for putting the Christ back in Christmas, eh?
Did you know that "In God we trust" has only appeared on paper money since 1957? Check it out!

Book comments

I read When a Nation Forgets God over the weekend. I went into it knowing the politics of the author (typical right-wing Evangelical), so it didn't surprise me that the warnings were mostly about left-wing agendas. As you probably have gathered, I'm not a big "culture wars" proponent—the church did just fine when the Roman Empire was arrayed against it! Nor am I a big fan of the right-wing. OK, that's an understatement! I'm closer to socialist than I am to capitalist...

That being said, there are some good points in the book. He does make a point of saying that God doesn't favor one political or economic system over another. But he does use socialist almost as a swear word—as if capitalism has done a better job of the economy : (

The final chapter is definitely the best. He expounds on the danger of equating nationalism with Christianity. He sees this one of the reasons that the German church was unable to stand against Hitler. I think he's right.

If I had written the book, I would have included a few chapters on the problems of the right-wing agendas. For example, the left may be trying to expunge God from the public square, but the right is fine with him being there as long as he is the nationalistic, cultural god. They want to keep god confined to the U.S.'s interests—in short, God is an American.

I also would have included a chapter on the dangers of unbridled greed (read capitalism). The prophets rail against the greed of the upper class continually—there are more rebukes for exploiting the poor than there are about sexual immorality. Lutzer is silent on that, although he warns against the state. I fear big business more than big government! Big businesses are multinational, which means no government can control them. At least with government, you can either "vote the bums out" or perform a coup (I'm not advocating that!). Try that with a big business...

Hitler came to power promising to restore the values of Germany. Sound familiar? Octavian (Augustus) became emperor (technically, he wasn't called emperor, but he was in fact) promising to restore Roman values. Sound familiar? I haven't done a formal study, but my gut feeling is that more totalitarian regimes have come to power to restore traditional values than the ones promising to transform things in a new direction...

Just an
</idle musing>

The end of the matter is this...

This brings us back to a point I made in the first chapter: Jesus didn't come to hurt us; He came to kill us. If we want to follow Him, we must deny ourselves, crucify the flesh, die to our flesh and selfish desires, and let the Spirit of God live through us. That's what it means to die to self and live to God. Anything less may taste great, but it can't fill the gnawing emptiness in our hearts. We were made for more than painkillers and empty pleasures. We were meant to live an adventure, but first we have to die.— Christianity Lite, page 211-212

<idle musing>
And that's the end of this book. I hope you enjoyed the excerpts enough to read the whole thing.
</idle musing>

A couple good posts

I haven't posted any links to other blogs for a while. Don't take that to mean that I think there haven't been good posts on other blogs! But, this morning I ran across two that I think deserve a wider audience—not that my readership is large enough to make a difference (right, Ted).

On the Simple Church blog:

Although most of us understand that we, as God’s people, are the church, we consistently misuse that term and many others. I remain guilty of this myself. But, the result is that we use language that continuously waters down the true wonder of who we are in Christ and our purpose in Him.

When we say, “I’m going to church,” we are not affirming that we, His people, are His church, His spiritual temple, filled by the Spirit of God in order to take His fragrance everywhere we go. We must regularly declare the truth of who we are in order to fully walk in it!

He goes on to note other ways we misuse the word and why it matters. Good stuff! Read the whole thing, it's short.

And Alan Knox links to a good article that he wrote on "doing" as opposed to "being" in the life of the church:

I know how to do a Bible study. For as long as I can remember – at least from elementary school – I have been in Bible studies. They have had many different names: Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Discipleship Class, Youth Group, Bible Fellowship. But, they all had something in common: a bunch of people got together to hear someone teach a passage or topic from the Bible...

But, I have also learned something else. Bible studies, participatory church gatherings, and communal serving are very important. However, they often work to segregate our lives into “sacred times” and “regular times.”

Living as the church of Jesus Christ together does not mean holding Bible studies, participatory church gatherings, or service projects. Instead, living as the church of Jesus Christ means sharing our lives together – all of our lives, including the dull times and the messy moments.

Spend time together. Eat together. Talk together. Play together. Work together. Serve together. Study together. Grow together. This is the essence of life in the Spirit of God together as the church of Jesus Christ.

Amen! Do read the whole thing. It's a window into modern american church life—whether house or institutional—and how we fall short of what God desires for us as a body.

It's terminal

If we had an operable cancer but the doctor offered only a painkiller, we'd rightly accuse him of malpractice. We'd walk out of his office and find a doctor who would do the painful surgery to rid us of the disease. It's no different with spiritual cancer. Many people go to churches where the pastor prescribes painkillers instead of exposing ugly, deadly sin. Spiritual sedatives feel good for the moment, but having the courage to be honest is the only way sin can be eradicated. Forgiveness requires truth about two things: the depravity in our hearts and the cleansing blood of Jesus.— Christianity Lite, page 210-211

<idle musing>
And that, my friends, is the gospel in a nutshell. Unfortunately, it seems that people tend to concentrate on either one side or the other. Some only talk about the depravity of humanity and make it sound like there is no hope this side of heaven. Others tend to go light on the depravity and speak only of the cleansing we have in Christ. But without the realization of how deeply depraved we are, we can't fully appreciate the extent of the cleansing. Likewise, if we only concentrate on the depravity, we minimize the power of God. You have to hold the two together—that's the true gospel.
</idle musing>

Envy

From our perspective the broad road often looks very appealing. In fact, many people on the narrow road envy those who are on the broad road. We look at their power, their money, their lavish lifestyles, their beauty, and their prestige, and we long to be just like them. The broad road is the source of unspeakable crimes and abuses, but more often it's subtle: It lures people in with seductive charms. It promises ease, plenty, and power with no cost to them and no sacrifice for others. No wonder it's so attractive! But it's a dead-end street.— Christianity Lite, page 186

<idle musing>
Yep. It's seductive; after all, Satan doesn't come waltzing in saying, "Here, try this. It will kill you." No, he makes it look attractive to the senses. The end results are hidden by the eye-candy of the moment...and far too often it works! : (
</idle musing>

Thoight for today

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous. Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice. Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever. They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Their hearts are secure, they will have no fear; in the end they will look in triumph on their foes. They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor. (Psalm 112:4-9 NIV)

Is it good news?

Maybe they [people who don't talk about God/Jesus in their daily conversation] aren't convinced the gospel is really “good news.” To them, maybe Christianity is just a long list of dos and don'ts, a strict moral code no one can meet. Or maybe a watered-down gospel seems irrelevant to their hopes, fears, and relationships.

If that's what we're to proclaim from the housetops, no wonder we're quiet! But that's not the real gospel. We have the life-changing, life-saving message of grace—nothing weak, nothing superficial, nothing phony.— Christianity Lite, page 176

<idle musing>
Could it be? Do we not believe the gospel is "good news?" I suspect he's right. We read these great claims in scripture, but—for whatever reason—we don't see them in our own lives. So we shrug and figure we must be doing something wrong. And we leave religion in its Sunday morning slot.

What do you think? Is he right? Have we bought into a watered-down, superficial gospel that isn't really a gospel at all?
</idle musing>

Talk, talk, talk

<idle musing>
The fact that a bill was passed to pay the military—but nothing else—says far more about our priorities as a nation than any amount of speech-making can...Just an
</idle musing>

What drives you?

What do we value above all else? In the lite version of Christianity people see Jesus as their consultant but not their King. They see Him as their butler, maid, or cook—running around wearing a chef's hat and apron and waiting for their next command. When we only value Jesus for what He can do to make us happy and successful, we live to advance our career and our reputations. We don't care much about the eternal destiny of others. But that's not real Christianity. When our hearts are filled with the grace and power of Jesus Christ, nothing matters but His honor—nothing. What breaks His heart breaks ours. The passions that drove Jesus drive us.— Christianity Lite, pages 174-175

<idle musing>
I like that word picture: Jesus as consultant versus Jesus as their king. Huge difference! A consultant gets paid, but you don't necessarily listen to their advice. Sounds suspiciously like a lot of christianity these days...
</idle musing>

Quick! Hide!

If we don't know our identity in Christ, we'll be constantly insecure and full of self-doubt. In our desperate need to be accepted we work compulsively to prove we're worthy of praise, we please people to earn their approval, or we hide to keep them from knowing how flawed we really are. We buy the right clothes, drive the right car, get the right position at work, and live in the right neighborhoods so people will think we're cool. In church we want to serve where we'll be noticed. We wear masks to pretend we have it all together, but we're dying inside. We're terrified somebody will know we're phonies.— Christianity Lite, page 158

<idle musing>
Genesis 3 all over again. We run and hide—especially from God! And, ironically, God is the only one who can rescue us, but we have such a warped view of who God is that we don't see he loves us. We see him only as a stern judge...

Lord, deliver us from our warped perspective of who you are!
</idle musing>

This is going to hurt

Well, that's their decision [to not take a chance of being hurt in a relationship], but it's one that puts severe restrictions on their ability to give and receive love for the rest of their lives. Self-protection has some value, but it comes at a very high price. It limits love and makes them utterly miserable.

God made us relational beings. We were meant for love. Sure, it's a risk, but refusing to take a risk—with God and with people—eliminates the greatest source of joy and meaning in our lives.— Christianity Lite, page 156

<idle musing>
Ain't that the truth?! Life and love open one up to hurt, but the alternative is death, despair, and depression. I'll take my chances with love. What about you?
</idle musing>

Good stuff

I've been woefully behind in mentioning a few books that I've received recently. I won't have time to read them for at least another month. Between the cabins, getting the garden ready for winter, and editing/proofreading work, and sneaking a hike or two in, there isn't much time left for reading.

Anyway, a long, long, long time ago (July, I think), Adrianna from InterVarsity Press sent me a copy of Atonement and a copy of Incarnation by T.F. Torrance. I'm really looking forward to reading these...look for snippets to begin appearing later this fall.

Much more recently—in fact, just last week—Bobby K. from Hendrickson Publishers sent me a copy of Unholy Allegiances by David deSilva. This looks really good. Here's part of the blurb on the book:

This is a truly unique book that studies Revelation by (1) stating the context in which it was written (Roman Asia in the first century), (2) noting why John wrote what he did to the church, and (3) powerfully applying John’s message to the church today. It is concisely written and carries a genuine spiritual message.

And, earlier this week, Jeremy from Baker Academic sent me a copy of Bonhoeffer the Assassin?. This one piqued my interest when I saw it in the Baker catalog earlier this year. Here's the blurb from the book:

Most of us think we know the moving story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life--a pacifist pastor turns anti-Hitler conspirator due to horrors encountered during World War II--but does the evidence really support this prevailing view? This pioneering work carefully examines the biographical and textual evidence and finds no support for the theory that Bonhoeffer abandoned his ethic of discipleship and was involved in plots to assassinate Hitler. In fact, Bonhoeffer consistently affirmed a strong stance of peacemaking from 1932 to the end of his life, and his commitment to peace was integrated with his theology as a whole.

We'll see...I'd love to believe them, being a person of nonresistance myself and liking Bonhoeffer's theology.

Oh, and much earlier, Jeremy also sent me a copy of Cook and Holmstedt's Beginning Biblical Hebrew which has an integrated reader. Well, actually the reader is more a graphic novel than anything. They use their insights from linguistics and second language acquisition studies and attempt to bring them to bear in teaching Biblical Hebrew. Good stuff...

Got friends?

Many of us give up on people if they hurt us. If that's the case, we won't have any meaningful relationships because sooner or later every human being will let you down.— Christianity Lite, page 154

<idle musing>
And we let ourselves down, as well. So, I guess there's no hope—under the sun, that is (to steal a phrase from Ecclesiastes). We need divine intervention!
</idle musing>

Offenses

Nursing offenses is one of the enemy's traps that keep us in bondage to old hurts. Forgiveness releases us from the trap. We don't wait until the person asks for forgiveness or promises to never hurt us again. We forgive the way Jesus forgave us. Author and pastor Lewis Smedes commented, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”— Christianity Lite, page 142

<idle musing>
Like the old saying, "Unforgiveness does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored than that upon which it is poured." Unforgiveness eats away at you, poisoning everything you see or experience. Get rid of it! Real and imagined hurts are a trap you don't want to fall into. Walk in forgiveness!
</idle musing>

Itching ears

Offenses are windows into our hearts. Disappointments can reveal our deepest desires and expectations. If our hopes line up with God's values and purposes, we'll handle suffering with calm assurance that God will work everything out for good according to His eternal purposes. If our hearts don't line up with God's, we'll complain, gripe, lash out, and run away. And we'll keep looking for somebody to tell us what we want to hear.— Christianity Lite, page 130

<idle musing>
And we'll deny that we could possibly be at fault in any way, right? It's always "the other guy" who is to blame; if only they had done things differently, then everything would be fine. NOT!
</idle musing>

Pardon me, but your biases are showing

When many of us read the Bible, we don't pay attention when we find God's requirements and demands. We only pay attention when it says things that benefit us and promise to make our lives easier and more fun.— Christianity Lite, pages 129-130

<idle musing>
Because fun and easy living are the goals in life, right? At least that's the american dream version of life...
</idle musing>

More on the changes

When I changed the title of the blog yesterday, I also changed the description. The previous description mentioned what I did as a bookseller; I still wanted to include what I'm doing now, but wasn't quite sure how to say it.

Right now, I do freelance copyediting and proofreading of ancient Near Eastern and biblical studies monographs. I also edited a couple of DMin dissertations and I did some stuff for Baker for the Cook/Holmstedt grammar. Those all bring in money to live on, but most of my time right now is tied up in the cabins, which gives us a place to live, but no cash. So, how do I describe that?

I do a lot of different things: maintenance, repairs, painting (although Max does most of that), lawn mowing, laundry, housekeeping, and on and on it goes. But, the one thing that none of these really mention is that I clean toilets. Somebody has to, you know! Hi, I'm James and I clean toilets for a living!

But, if the creator can become human and stoop to washing the feet of his betrayer and denier, surely I can clean toilets and not let it define who I am. That shouldn't define who I am anymore than, "Hi, I'm James and I just copyedited a Dead Sea Scrolls Hebrew Grammar." Which one sounds better to our ears? But neither of them should define us. In God's eyes, the toilet cleaning is just as important as the book I'm editing. Both are what he has called me to do right now. Both should be done with rejoicing and to his praise and glory.

But I still would rather say, "Hi, I'm James and I copyedit academic books...!" Although, the "Hi, I'm James and I clean toilets" does have a nice shock value to it...

Self-centered or other-centered, that is the question

When we're easily upset about things going wrong in our lives, the cycle is self-feeding: We become even more self-absorbed and self-righteous. We play the role of victims, and we demand that everybody on the planet jump to make us happy—which, of course, doesn't work out very well, which causes the cycle of demands and despair to continue.— Christianity Lite, page 127

<idle musing>
Viktor Frankl said that the best cure for this kind of mental illness—and it is a mental illness!—was to get involved in helping others. Once you get involved in the lives of others, you realize that you aren't the center of the universe and that others have problems that are even worse than yours. Sounds like biblical advice, doesn't it?
</idle musing>

Changes

As you can see, the name of the blog has changed. My official employment with Eisenbrauns is now over—fourteen months after leaving Indiana. Not that I've done much since January anyway. In fact, in the whole of June-September, I only worked two hours and twenty minutes for them!

Now that I'm no longer employed by Eisenbrauns, I can share a story that I've wanted to share since it happened...get ready for some juicy gossip. NOT! This story reveals the character of Eisenbrauns as a company, and especially Jim as a person of integrity.

Last fall (2012), right around this time, I believe, a book went to press (I don't recall the title). I was reading through the PDF when I came across what looked like a lacuna; it appeared that a Hebrew word had dropped out of the text. The Hebrew was essential to the argument that was being made, so it wasn't a minor issue. This was on a Saturday morning.

I immediately sent Jim an e-mail, pointing out the possible error. I figured that maybe the book was still at the point where the press could make the correction before the book was printed. Jim responded within an hour or so, confirming my observation. He made the correction to the PDF and forwarded it to the press. Because it was a weekend, nothing more could be done until Monday.

Monday revealed that the book was already printed, but not yet bound. A choice had to be made. The book could be bound, as is, with the error. Or, at the cost of an additional 10%, that particular signature could be reprinted. It would also delay the delivery of the book—which also had repercussions for the cash flow. Tough decision; 10% may not sound like much, but on short-run academic books, that's very significant.

As you probably guessed (at least if you know anything about the quality of Eisenbrauns' books), Jim decided to reprint the signature and eat the cost...

That's just one of the many reasons I enjoyed working for Eisenbrauns for 10 years.

Trapped!

How do we act when we're trapped? The same way an animal responds when it's captured. We fight back, we wrestle, and we try to get out. Some animals have been known to chew their leg off to get free from a snare. I've seen people who blamed everybody in the world, including God, for their problems instead of learning the lessons God wanted to teach them through suffering. They were deeply offended that God didn't do what they expected Him to do.— Christianity Lite, page 126

<idle musing>
I guess it all boils down to our view of God. Do we see him as our butler, just waiting for our command? Or do we see him as an ogre, just waiting for us to step out of line? Both views are wrong. Both sell God far short of who he is.
</idle musing>

That can't be in the Bible!

We like the glowing promises, but we feel deeply offended by Jesus's demands. Deny ourselves? No, we'd rather indulge ourselves. Pick up our cross? We prefer to buy the newest gadgets, kick back and watch television, and go on nice vacations. Die daily? That can't be in the Bible, can it?— Christianity Lite, page 123

<idle musing>
It all comes back to our desire to be gods—no, our belief that we actually are god!
</idle musing>

The saccharin gospel

I'm not suggesting that we need to lay grace aside and impose oppressive rules on anyone. That's not the gospel, either! We need a full-orbed gospel message—the one Jesus taught, modeled, and imparted to His disciples. Anything else leaves us with a saccharin-sweet taste in our mouths but feeling empty. A lite version of the gospel simply can't satisfy the deepest needs and longings of the human heart. We can't be truly saved by a “Lite Savior.” We need the Lamb of God to die for us, but He's also the Lion of Judah who demands everything we have as we follow Him.— Christianity Lite, page 122

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! We have to hang onto grace while preaching a serious message of death to self. It we drop grace, we end up with empty legalism. But if we drop death to self, we end up with a cheap imitation of the gospel. The hymn Trust and Obey got it right: we have to trust, but we also have to obey. If try to do one without the other, you end up with a sorry caricature of the real thing...
</idle musing>

High calling

If we don't feel offended by God from time to time, it's not the real God we're following. If we don't feel confused by Him, we don't realize that His infinite wisdom is far beyond human comprehension. If we don't have spiritual anxiety at the demands of discipleship, we haven't really heard His clear command to follow Him into sacrifice and suffering. Jesus gave all, and He demands all. That's a chilling prospect, even for the bravest among us.— Christianity Lite, page 120

<idle musing>
But that doesn't preach very well, does it? Tough to fill the auditorium with a calling like that. Ask Jesus. When he preached about death to self and the cost of discipleship, the crowds just seemed to melt away. They loved the miracles and the love—but the cost was a bit tough to swallow for most of them.

The same with the early Christians. They had a great reputation—the emperor Julian used them as an example of conduct for his pagan priests!. But, the cost was martyrdom. A high calling indeed!
</idle musing>

Interesting little tidbit

Fill in the blank:

Christ Jesus our ________.

Did you answer "Lord?" That's my natural response, and the most common one in the epistles. Did you answer "Savior?" That's the second most common one in the epistles. But, how many of you answered "hope?"

Yep. "Christ Jesus our hope." It occurs but once, in 1 Timothy 1:1. I've read that hundreds of times over the years, but yesterday it hit me for the first time...

The gospel

Does the cost seem too high? Does following Jesus seem too demanding? If it doesn't, you don't understand what He requires. Following Him with your whole heart isn't hard; it's impossible! We can't do it by turning over a new leaf, trying harder, or gritting our teeth. To follow Jesus, we need a supernaturally transformed heart. We need the wonderful love, grace, and acceptance of God, and we need the power of the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. Nothing else will do.— Christianity Lite, page 112

<idle musing>
And that, my friends, is the gospel. We can't do it! But God can and does! And we get to participate in it!
</idle musing>

There isn't any shortcut

Crucifixion is excruciating, but it's the only path to a resurrection.— Christianity Lite, page 111

<idle musing>
I'm reminded of Hebrews 12:2b-3, "For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (TNIV)

You have to die in order to really live. Death to self leads to the resurrection life of Jesus living inside us.
</idle musing>

It's all a matter of perspective

The difficulty, of course, is that sin doesn't look evil and wrong—unless we see it in someone else. In our lives it appears to be benign, attractive, and even indispensable. How could we live without it? We're so familiar with our sins that they seem second nature. That's the problem!— Christianity Lite, pages 109-110

<idle musing>
Yep! He pegged it, didn't he?
</idle musing>

Who's in charge?

Christians today are soft. We complain at the slightest disappointment. We criticize God if we suffer any inconvenience.— Christianity Lite, page 105

<idle musing>
Because we all know that God exists to make our lives comfortable, right? I mean, after all, I'm the center of the universe, right? So, bow down and worship me and serve me! NOT!
</idle musing>

Who defines it?

When we write the definition of a disciple, we make it easy. We make the door really wide and the requirements simple. The concept, though, isn't ours to define. It's up to God to define the concept and establish the requirements. He has only one condition: We have to put Him above everything. No exceptions. Everything.— Christianity Lite, page 99

<idle musing>
What part of everything don't we understand? That's a high and lofty calling—but one that the Holy Spirit living within us enables us to fulfill.
</idle musing>

Blessings?

If we're willing to sign on to put Him first, we'll have countless blessings thrown in. But if we focus primarily on the blessings, we'll get neither Jesus nor the blessings. There are a lot of people in churches today who come every Sunday, but only for the blessings. They don't really love Jesus more than anyone or anything else. They're consumers, not worshippers. They just want the blessings, and they're very disappointed in Him when He doesn't deliver.— Christianity Lite, page 91

<idle musing>
That is so true! We are a society of consumers—but the Holy Spirit is stronger than culture, if we let him transform us...
</idle musing>

What kind of god do you see?

Excellent post this weekend on Jesus Creed. It's actually a repost from another blog, but Scot posted it in full. I'll just pull out a snippet, but definitely read the whole thing.

God hates you. God’s fed up with you. God’s sick and tired of you. God’s suffered long enough with you.

God’s against you.

You would NEVER say that to someone else. Ever.

But here’s the thing- and maybe you do need to be a pastor know this:

There are plenty of you

who say things like that

to yourselves

all the time.

Not one of you would ever say things like that to someone else, but, consider it on the job knowledge, plenty of you say it to yourself every day...

But I wonder.

I wonder if we persist in imagining that God is angry and impatient and unforgiving and at the end of his rope- I wonder if we imagine God is like that because that’s what we’re like.

I wonder if we imagine God must be angry because we carry around so much anger with us?

I wonder if we imagine there are some things even God can’t forgive because there are things we won’t forgive?

I wonder if we imagine that God’s at the end of his rope because there are plenty of people with whom we’re at the end of ours?

<idle musing>
Go! Read the whole thing! And then revise your opinion of who God is. Let God be the Christian God, not a theological construct that reflects who you are.

I had a professor in seminary who said that we reason from the given to the divine. We look around us and figure God must just be a bigger version of what we see.

To an extent, that is true. But—and the but is huge—God is more than that. God revealed himself in Jesus. If your image of God is anything other than an image of Jesus, you've missed who God is...
</idle musing>

The easy life

We live in an age of softies and quitters. We want to eat chocolate cake without gaining weight. We expect to have lean bodies without the effort and discipline of exercise. We want new cars and houses without thinking about the ravages of debt. We demand easy love, sex, money, school, marriage, parenting, and everything else imaginable. We're sure life should be fun. When we have to put out some effort and exercise a modest amount of discipline, we soon quit because “it's just too hard.”

Christianity Lite follows the same lines. May people who claim to be believers are absolutely sure God exists to make their lives pleasant. They love promises of blessings, and they don't want to hear anything about struggle, pruning, testing, and the process of growth.

Jesus was under no such illusions.— Christianity Lite, pages 88-89

<idle musing>
People want a vending machine god—no, that's not it. A vending machine god would require us to put something in! They want a Santa Claus god—no, that's not right either! A Santa Claus god would have a list, checking to see if you've been naughty or nice. They want a butler god; a god who is standing there, just waiting for their next command.

The problem is that no such being exists. Life can be hard. Life can be full of troubles. Life can be, well, life. We live in a fallen world; troubles and trials are a part of it. But, we have the promise of a loving God that he will be with us—no, he will be in us—through it all. That's a promise worth getting excited about!
</idle musing>

Far more than a butler

When we pray, we need to remember who is listening. We have a real relationship, but we're not equals, We need a huge dose of respect for our heavenly Father. He dwells “in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16 NKJV). He knows the end from the beginning, and He knows our thoughts and hidden intentions far better than we do. We often treat Him like a butler or a fairy godmother, but He's nothing of the kind.— Christianity Lite, page 81

<idle musing>
God is far greater than a heavenly dispensing machine! When we treat him like that, we sell him and ourselves far short of the relationship he wants with us. It would be like getting married just so you have someone to do your laundry and wash the dishes! That's not a relationship—you can hire a servant for those things!

It's the same with God. Sure, he answers prayer and gives us all kinds of blessings. But that's not the point or the goal of the relationship. We were created for far more than that! We were created for fellowship with God.
</idle musing>

Prayer

Prayer is the umbilical cord between heaven and earth. When we pray, we're tapping into God's heart, God's will, and God's power here and now.— Christianity Lite, page 78

It's overwhelming

When we look into the abyss of our struggles, we first frantically try to control the people and the situations. Sooner or later we realize all our efforts are useless. The problem is much bigger than anything we can handle. When we pray, we bow in humble admission that we're powerless. Pride insists that we know it all and can make it work out, but humility acknowledges there's a far greater power and far higher wisdom than our own.— Christianity Lite, page 75

<idle musing>
Some people never get to the point of acknowledging that the struggle is too great. Others just give up, overwhelmed by the immensity of it all. The wise person is the one who in humility acknowledges that only Christ can handle life with all its complications.
</idle musing>

False promises

New technologies promised to make our lives simpler, easier, and less troubled, but today our lives are more complex, full of things that need to be fixed, and clouded by worries over the added activities and responsibilities. The levels of stress are exceptionally high, even among those who have plenty of money and are the envy of their friends.— Christianity Lite, page 72

<idle musing>
The false promise of a fake messiah. Technology is a marvelous thing—but it can never fix the problem of a broken relationship with God.
</idle musing>

What's wrong with this picture?

Most of us can talk for hours on the phone with someone who has no ability to fix our problems, but we find it hard to spend more than five minutes in prayer with the One who has all power in heaven and on earth. Claiming to be too busy is a lame excuse.— Christianity Lite, page 69

<idle musing>
Yep. Might be because we don't really believe God has the ability to answer...what do you think?
</idle musing>

Things that make you go hmmm...

I was reading in 2 Corinthians yesterday and came across this:

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” (2 Cor 8:13-15 TNIV)

<idle musing>
Sure sounds like the classic definition of socialism to me: "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Granted, that is impossible among the unredeemed; everyone is told to grab for everything they can in this life. But, shouldn't it be the goal among the redeemed?

Unfortunately, I don't even see it being attempted in most of the U.S. church. Sermons are preached about the evils of socialism; people are encouraged to follow the American Dream. Precious few sermons are preached on self-denial or death to self. Significant chapters of scripture are conveniently ignored.

The early church was known for its giving—and not just to believers! I suspect the American church of the late twentieth to early twenty-first centuries will be known for its selfishness and lack of generosity... Just an
</idle musing>

Move that mountain

Going to church doesn't move mountains. Singing praise songs doesn't move them. Giving money doesn't level them. And certainly worry doesn't bring them down to size. We can be involved in all kinds of activities in the church but still have mountains that can't be moved except by prayer and fasting.— Christianity Lite, page 67

<idle musing>
But that doesn't fit in with good-time christianity! Self-denial? You've got to be kidding me, right? : (
</idle musing>

By what criterion do you chooose?

Plenty of people choose churches today with one criterion in mind: they're looking for a pastor who will tell them what they want to hear. They want pleasant messages about God's love and promises about God's blessings. They'd like to be entertained by wonderful music and inspiring stories, but they sure don't want to invest time and passion in prayer.— Christianity Lite, page 66

<idle musing>
Can you say "itching ears"?
</idle musing>

What about you?

Many modern people don't pray because they trust advances in technology and medicine to solve their problems.— Christianity Lite, page 62

<idle musing>
What about you? Is your god really technology? When you have medical issue, to whom do you turn?

Our response to that question reveals our real god.

Or, suppose you lose your job. To whom do you turn for financial support? Emotional support?

The fires of daily life just reveal our true heart--that's why James could say to "count it all joy."
</idle musing>

Why did Jesus pray?

As we read the Gospel accounts of the life of Jesus, one of the most startling observations is that He spent so much time in prayer. He was God, wasn't He? Why did He pray so much? I don't believe it was only because He needed to pray; I think he wanted to pray. He wanted to spend time with the Father, enjoying the give-and-take of love and determining direction for the future.— Christianity Lite, page 61

<idle musing>
The theologians might not like his answer, but I think it makes sense...
</idle musing>

Bored yet?

I have a confession to make. Before we moved to Grand Marais (over 13 month ago now), I was concerned I might not have enough to do. I told Debbie, Jim, and Shannon that. They all laughed. Jim said, "Only if they close the library!"

Well, I certainly haven't been bored! On the contrary, I've been almost overwhelmed at times. Yesterday was the first day in ages that I didn't have proofreading, editing, or other projects hanging over me. And we only had 1 set of guests leaving and one coming in. And because we have guests in the cabin we are trying to paint, I couldn't do any painting.

Wow! What to do? Believe me, there was still plenty, but it wasn't rushed. I was able to organize the hoop house stuff that was just thrown in a couple of stacks earlier this spring. I'm getting ready to put it up in the backyard, so that was nice.

Plus, I was able to modify the rabbit hutches, putting 1/2 inch mesh on the floor instead of the 1/4 inch that I had used. Oh, you didn't know we had rabbits? We have 2 mini-Rexes. We have had them for almost 2 weeks now. I'll try to get some pictures posted later today or tomorrow. Plus, we are taking care of Joel & Renee's 2 mini-Rexes while they are in Alberta. The 1/2 inch mesh allows the rabbit poop to fall through; I don't have to clean the cage every day anymore : )

Today, we only have one cabin leaving and no one coming in! Wow! We're planning on going hiking. We haven't had a chance to go yet this summer. That's about the only downside to seasonal based work like this. When the weather is good for outdoor activities, the guests arrive to take advantage of it. You have to squeeze it in as best you can... But we love it!

Just an
<idle musing>

It's the truth

Don't assume you're powerless and helpless any longer. God has entrusted His power to everyone who has trusted in His Son. If you're depressed, there's a power to give you hope. If you're addicted, there's a power to set you free. If you're sick, there's a power to heal. If you're in a strained relationship, there's a power to forgive and be reconciled. There's a power to overcome your fear, loneliness, self-pity, and suicidal thoughts. You may feel stuck and hopeless, but God's power is far greater than chains of sin, doubt, and disease.— Christianity Lite, pages 59-60

<idle musing>
It's the truth! But do you believe it? If you say you do, but your life isn't reflecting it, then I would say you don't really believe it. Intellectual assent isn't the same as belief—even though our society seems to equate the two.
</idle musing>

Believe it!

He [God] doesn't send His power to those who don't want it, don't believe in it, and will misuse it.— Christianity Lite, page 47

<idle musing>
Unfortunately, I think he is mistaken in the last part of his statement. I've seen far too many misuse God's gifts over the years...
</idle musing>

Thought for today

What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7 NIV)

Who's in control?

Evil spirits don't obey nice sermons, and they don't flee from good programs and beautiful buildings. They only obey the power of God.— Christianity Lite, page 44

<idle musing>
Tempting to think it's our power, though, isn't it? But it's the power of God and all our programs, sermons, and buildings can't conjure that power up. It has to be God.
</idle musing>

Friday's thought

The issue isn't that we ought to be different if we claim to know Jesus; it's that we will be different if our hearts have been transformed by the power of His grace.— Christianity Lite, pages 37-38

<idle musing>
Yep. It isn't by my power or strength; it is all by his strength and power at work in me through the Holy Spirit.
</idle musing>

Being formed into the likeness

Jesus doesn't want us to insult Him by going to church week after week without genuine change. More and more churches have forgotten they exist to see people transformed. Have we torn the pages out of our Bibles that call us to authentic Christianity?— Christianity Lite, page 31

<idle musing>
In the words of 2 Peter 1:4, "...so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature" (NET). The change is via the power of the Holy Spirit—don't ever forget that and try to produce the change on your own strength, though. Dead to self, but alive in Christ Jesus.

That's good news!
</idle musing>

Thought for a very busy Monday

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:1-4 NIV)

Come let us worship--ourselves

In our society today we seem to think we have the inalienable right to feel great about ourselves. The “self-esteem movement” has swept our school systems. “Grade inflation” is used to give almost all kids a high mark, no matter how poorly they've performed in the classroom. However, the thirst for a positive self-image isn't limited to education. We avoid honesty in our homes, friendships, and businesses because our first priority is to avoid hurting anyone's feeling...ever...in the least.

Even a casual reading of the Bible shows us that God doesn't let us off the hook so easily. He points out our sins at every turn—not because He's a sadist who enjoys blasting us, but because blunt honesty about sin is the only way to expose our need for His forgiveness and restoration.— Christianity Lite, page 20

<idle musing>
We are definitely a self-centered culture. How can God break in on our obsession with ourselves? It can only be by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. Praise God for the "hound of heaven" as Augustine called the Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit! Search us and and cleanse us!
</idle musing>

Where's the change?

If you think you've encountered Jesus Christ but there's no difference in your attitude or lifestyle, you need to reexamine your understanding of saving faith.— Christianity Lite, page 18

<idle musing>
No transformation = no salvation. How can you encounter the living God and not be changed?

Salvation is not just a forensic exchange—if it is that at all! No! It is an encounter with God that results in the living God taking up residence in you—"Christ in you" is how Paul describes it. That has to result in changes. But, always remember, those changes are wrought by the presence of the Holy Spirit in you and never as a result of self-effort. All by grace, always by grace. All freely available to all through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, sealed by the resurrection and confirmed by the Holy Spirit.

Now that's good news!
</idle musing>

I want the original

When advertisers promise their product has fewer calories, they mean they've tampered with the original. They want us to think it tastes the same and looks the same, but it's fundamentally changed. It's not like it used to be. Christianity Lite is fundamentally different from the original. It says God will please our sense, but we don't have to pay the price. It promises life without any hint of death.— Christianity Lite, pages 13-14

<idle musing>
Reminds me of Luke 5:39, "And none of you, after drinking old wine, wants the new, for you say, ‘The old is better.’”
</idle musing>

Watered-down

If you prefer the watered-down version of the faith, Christianity Lite, you can certainly have it, but it inevitably leads to disappointment, heartache, and emptiness because it can't provide the firm foundation of hope, forgiveness, and purpose. It's self-focused, not Christ-focused. It's shallow, not deep. It's weak, not dependent on the Spirit's power. Isaiah said it's like a bed too short to lie down on and blanket too narrow to keep us warm (Isa. 28:20). It just doesn't work!— Christianity Lite, pages 8-9

<idle musing>
Amen! I prefer my Christianity undiluted.
</idle musing>

It's not the same anymore

The Christian life, then, isn't just a different set of moral laws, rigid rules, or habits to follow. It's dying to ourselves and being raised back to life in Him! Now everything is different. Nothing is the same. Things that used to be so important begin to lose their grip on our hearts. We want to know, love, serve, and honor God out of a full heart of thankfulness. Our purpose has changed, our hearts are transformed, and our loyalties are forever altered.— Christianity Lite, page 6

<idle musing>
At least we hope that's the case! If it isn't, I wonder how much of a grip Christ has on your heart...
<idle musing>

The bottom line

Today many Christians are convinced that Jesus Christ came to earth to make them happy and successful. In the church world we seem to gravitate to books and messages that focus on success, fulfillment, and pleasure. When they experience any kind of disappointment, they believe God has let them down. Pain isn't part of the plan! They then assume God is mean because He let them be hurt. But Jesus didn't come to make us feel better about our selfishness and sins. He came to forgive our sins, transform us, and change our hearts so we find sin detestable instead of desirable. To make that happen, something deep inside us has to die.

Here's the truth: Jesus didn't come to hurt you. He came to kill you.— Christianity Lite, page 4

<idle musing>
Yep! And praise God for that! I don't want to live in the old self; it stinks. I'd rather live in the new creation, filled with the Holy Spirit and manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. Wouldn't you?

By the way, this is the first of many excerpts from this book; I hope you enjoy them enough to read the whole book. : )
</idle musing>

Substitution

We must not think of our salvation as less than a complete exchange, for there is nothing good in fallen Adam, he is totally and incurably corrupt in all his parts and passions, There is therefore no hope for him; death is the only “cure,” for it is by death only that Adam can be saved from his fallen self and become a new creation. That is is what Christ has done for Adam. He took his place, not only as his Substitute to take away his sins, but as his Representative to crucify his fallen nature, that in his sinless body he might slay and remove the old, and by his resurrection replace it with the new.—William Still, Towards Spiritual Maturity, cited in The Shack Revisited, page 256

<idle musing>
This is the final snippet from The Shack Revisited. I hope you enjoyed my selective excerpts; it was an excellent book which I can easily recommend. : ) </idle musing>

It's real

Our freedom is not an illusion. We are free to be exactly what we are. For the Father, Son, and the Spirit want the real us, not the Sunday church version, to experience their shared life and love.— The Shack Revisited, page 237

<idle musing>
Amen! That's freeing, isn't it? God already knows what we are, so why try to hide it behind that facade? And he loves us—not some whitewashed version of us that we project to the outside world.
</idle musing>

Don't listen!

There are two knowings within us. The one is the knowing of the Spirit, the other is the knowing formed in the crucible of our experience and the whisper of the father of lies. The witness of the Spirit gives us a divine basis within our own darkness, for repentance and new faith, which lead into liberation and life.— The Shack Revisited, pages 235-236

<idle musing>
We need to learn to ignore the lies and only listen to the Holy Spirit. Once we learn that, we can experience true freedom and the abundant life.
</idle musing>

Summer? in Grand Marais

It's been a while since I gave a status update, so let's give it a shot...

It's been a cold spring/summer here so far, averaging about 10°-15°F below normal. That, in turn, affected the number of people vacationing in May/June. That actually was a blessing, because we weren't really ready when we opened in May. It took us about 2 weeks more to get things where they needed to be—just in time for Memorial Day!

It's been fun watching the weather here. The lake and the ridge behind us have a strong effect on it. There has been a lot of fog—or low-lying clouds if you look up the ridge : ) Not infrequently, there will be fog rolling in from the lake, obscuring anything beyond the harbor and then, if you turn around and look up the ridge, the fog will be rolling down the hill. A neat effect that is difficult to describe.

Needless to say, we've been busy. The cabins have kept us hopping and then I've been trying to get a garden going. Dave and Geneva had a garden, but I've expanded it a good bit (no surprise there, eh?). I'm experimenting with different vegetables, especially short-season tomatoes. We'll see how it goes. So far, we've been eating radishes, broccoli raab, Romaine lettuce, mizuna, arugula, and spinach from the garden. I planted some short-season flint corn (for cornmeal); it wasn't knee high by the Fourth of July, but it has really taken off in the last week.

As far as other things go, one of the proofreading jobs that I had was pulled in-house to save money. But, God has given me other jobs—almost too many sometimes! I'm finishing up a job for Baker right now, doing the on-line flashcards for the Cook and Holmstedt Hebrew Grammar. That's been fun and frustrating at the same time. The web site they are using doesn't know what to do with close parentheses when you mix Hebrew and English... I've also proofed a couple of books for Augsburg/Fortress.

God has pulled me—kicking and screaming—into doing some copyediting. I've always sworn I wouldn't do any—after working with some of the best in the industry at Eisenbrauns, I've been intimidated to try. But God made it abundantly obvious that I was supposed to do it. So, I'm copyediting three dissertations right now; they are all defending in August! That's quite a tight schedule, to put it mildly!

My spare time (right!) has been filled with reading copyediting books...which explains the dearth of posts here. Enough for now...

There's hope

We bring into Jesus' relationship with us a most bizarre and alien way of thinking and seeing, which, of course, makes perfect sense to us, and to which we cling with a vengeance. And as we cannot hear our own accents, neither can we see our own blindness. It is impossible for us to push aside the weeds of our fallen minds and believe anything other than what we perceive through our blindness, but Jesus has penetrated our darkness and brought the Spirit of truth with him.

The Holy Spirit is not a spectator watching from the outside, giving abstract and external instructions that she hopes we will apply to our lives. She meets us in our gardens, in our garbage cans, in our shacks, bearing witness to the “unbelievable” world of Jesus and his Father—and our world, too...But we are a hardheaded lot, strong-willed and obstinate. Like first graders who think they are college professors, we know it all and cannot be told a thing, even as we leave a trail of wreckage behind us.— The Shack Revisited, pages 233-234

<idle musing>
Praise God that the Holy Spirit isn't on the outside! But we are a hardheaded group of people. I like his comparison of first graders and college professors; it sums up the situation nicely.
</idle musing>

Eyes to see

Inside our darkness is the one, special, and unique Spirit of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit. And she [he follows the Hebrew in giving the Spirit a feminine pronoun] is the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of adoption, and the Spirit of grace, and the Spirit of life in Christ, working with and within us that we may become what we are in Jesus. But like a briar patch, our inner world is a tangled mess of guilt and shame and anxiety, of self-centeredness, hiding, and fear, all of which coalesce to give us a profoundly wrong way of seeing.— The Shack Revisited, page 231

Thought for the day

Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31, 32 NIV)

Faith

Faith has no power without truth. Without reality, without Jesus, faith is simply a form of magic where we try to weave our spell over someone, wrest the cosmos to our will apart from Jesus.— The Shack Revisited, page 223

What, then, is salvation?

...it involves giving ourselves—our minds, hearts, and wills—to participate in what Jesus is doing. Our agenda, our independence, our confused self-will must die, so that the life and concerns, the burdens and joys, the music and other-centered love of the blessed Trinity can come to undiluted and unique expression in us.— The Shack Revisited, page 222

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! That is good news! And so much better than the "say a prayer, go to heaven someday" kind of salvation that is so common.

Salvation, having cost God so much, should involve the whole life of a person—now and in the future.
</idle musing>

Unwitting cooperation

As a shrewd political move, Caiaphas and the priests sacrificed Jesus to save their place. But it was an unwitting move of dramatic irony, which became the occasion of infinite grace. For in sacrificing Jesus, Caiaphas became the only high priest in Israel's long history to actually do his job: he offered up the one, true Sacrifice—though he never knew it, and did it for the wrong reason.— The Shack Revisited, page 201

<idle musing>
Interesting thought, isn't it? I hadn't realized this until he mentioned it. I wonder how many times we unwittingly assist the Lord in doing his will? Food for thought...
</idle musing>

Now THAT is good news!

It deserves repeating again: the gospel is not the news that we can accept an absent Jesus into our lives. The gospel is the news that the Father's Son has received us into his. In Jesus the alien world of our darkness and pain, of our obstinate pride and anger, was drawn within the life of the blessed Trinity, and the trinitarian life of God set up shop inside our hell forever. Our adoption is not a mere theological doctrine. Adoption is the way things really are, now and forever.— The Shack Revisited, pages 194-195

<idle musing>
Amen! May this truth be real in your life today!
</idle musing>

Ain't it the truth

What kind of reconciliation would it be that declared humanity legally clean, yet left us lost in the darkened cosmos of the fallen mind and its appalling pain?— The Shack Revisited, pages 186-187

<idle musing>
And yet, that is exactly the "gospel" that most believe and is most widely preached : (
</idle musing>

Come let us reason apart...

The one thing that the Lord could count on from his fallen creatures was that we would not be able to cope with his presence and love, and that we would do everything within our power to escape them both, including twisting his Word into religions custom-designed by our fallen minds to keep the Lord at a distance.— The Shack Revisited, page 178

Where do your thoughts go?

Some, and I fear a multitude which no man can easily number, there are amongst us, who call themselves Christians, and yet seldom or never seriously think of Jesus Christ at all. They can think of their shops and their farms, their plays, their balls, their assemblies, and horse-races (entertainments which directly tend to exclude religion out of the world); but as for Christ, the author and finisher of faith, the Lord who has bought poor sinners with his precious blood, and who is the only thing worth thinking of, alas! he is not in all, or at most in very few of their thoughts.—George Whitefield

Made in our image

In our pain, we, like Adam, have condemned ourselves, created a god in the image of our shame and handcrafted religions to go with it, all of which we project onto the Father and defend with a vengeance.— The Shack Revisited, page 172

<idle musing>
I'm proofreading a book on the history of Christianity right now, so I can verify that we defend false doctrine with a vengeance! : (
</idle musing>

And what about the Fall?

The problem of the Fall, of evil and sin, is not simply that there has been disobedience to a divine command. The problem is that Adam is now so lost in his own fallen mind that he is utterly incapable of relationship with the Lord. How could he possibly trust the God of his broken imagination? Trapped in the tragic nightmare of his self-referential confusion, he has become the judge, and in his judgment, he believes that the Lord is the enemy to be feared and avoided. He is ashamed of himself and terrified of God. He hides.

The hiding of Adam—from the presence of the concerned and caring Lord—tells us that the Fall, at the very least, is about a terrible twisting of human perception, about an alien, ungodly confusion that so warped Adam's fundamental way of thinking that he actually hid from the greatest friend in the universe—and believed he was right.— The Shack Revisited, page 170

<idle musing>
And we still hide. We think that we can fix ourselves and then we'll be good enough for God. It doesn't work that way...we'll never be "good enough for God." And the wonderful thing is that we don't have to be; "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!" What a blessed promise that is!
</idle musing>