"It may be, Heaven forgive me, that I did try to be original; but I only succeeded in inventing all by myself an inferior copy of existing traditions of civilized religion." --G.K. Chesteron
It may seem odd that a 31-year-old white male from the epitome of suburbia in the South would like hip-hop, but I do. I see GOOD hip-hop as a poetic art form that, like all other art, can be an expression of our God who created so many gratuitously beautiful masterpieces.
There are a couple of recording labels for Christ-minded artists that are trying to bring the light of the Gospel to urban society. (Humble Beast and Reach) They also a have a lot to say about fatherhood. Below are a couple of videos that I found inspiring and enlightening on the topic of fatherhood and our Father God.
Even if you don't like hip-hop (and it's fine if you don't), at least listen to the message.
By Lecrae from Reach Records and 116 Clique: (see also ManUp116)
I'm not suggesting such artists are a watered-down, christianized alternative to a secular art form--that gives the art form over to the Evil One. Art is God's, and these guys are doing it well to the glory of the One from whom all aesthetic beauty flows.
I'm no expert in the philosophy of religion, so please bear with me if you are. But, reading Alvin Plantinga's Where the Conflict Really Lies has me thinking about my own theology. Help me out.
Part I of Plantinga's book discusses the philosophy/theology of how God acts in the universe. I've grossly oversimplified a few of the options here in my doodle. Which view is most biblical? (Hint: It is not "A".)
Click the image for a larger view
A) There is no God; therefore, God (who does not exist) does not act in the universe at all. Consequently, the universe must be either 1) self-made or 2) eternal. It is hard to take either of these propositions seriously without some real sophistry (i.e. Richard Dawkins). This universe is closed to any outside action or intervention. This also results in pure material determinism, because every state of being in the universe is the necessary result of the preceding state of being. It could not have been otherwise, including the fact that I'm writing this unfortunately boring blog post.
B) God created the universe to operate according to certain natural laws, which he authored. The regularity makes science, production, and decision making possible. As Plantinga says in his book, when we drive our cars to work everyday, we don't have to worry that they will suddenly turn into tiny elephants. This is a partially open universe--with a door, so to speak. God, being the Master, is perfectly able and welcome to come in and alter or suspend his laws (i.e. gravity) by way of a miracle. People don't normally walk on water or rise from the dead. Essentially, everything works according to natural laws until God steps in and alters things a bit. This, too, may have some challenging implications for free will.
C) God created the universe but did not simply set it loose to operate according to its laws. He is sustaining it at every moment. Descartes said God is recreating it at every moment. He, of course, actively operates the universe with great consistency (hence, our cars don't turn into elephants...yet), but his activity is constant. When he does perform an irregular action (i.e. a resurrection or the unlikely event that your car does turn into an elephant), he is not violating some law. He's just acting a little differently than he normally does. This is not considered to be "intervention," because that implies the suspension of some regular rule. Although, they may still be called "miracles."
Pick the one that you find to be the most biblical, and leave a comment. It's even better if you say why you picked it. Thanks.
Given the nature of this fallen world, it is reasonable to assume that all people will face dark times. In Christ, we do enjoy an abundant life (John 10:10), but there are also the moments that we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Ps. 23:4; 2 Cor. 4:16) and experience unspeakable pain.
Some pains are what we would properly call "moral evil," the direct result of someone's sin. These are such things as divorce, suicide, abuse, theft, adultery, addiction, murder, or even mass terrorism on the scale of 9/11 or the Holocaust.
There are also events called "natural evil." It's not the result of someone's evil intent, but it is bad nonetheless. Heart attacks, miscarriages, strokes, hurricanes (think, Katrina), cancer, tsunamis, car accidents, the natural but untimely death of loved ones. There is no one to blame for such things; they are just part of living in a world that has malfunctioned. It's like a copy machine, which, instead of making copies, chews up the paper and jams. Something has gone wrong internally.
We have less trouble spiritually with moral evil. There is someone to blame. Just having some place to point our finger gives us a bit of emotional relief. Perhaps this is why unsolved murders can be so difficult for victims' families. We cry out to God to save us from that pain and deliver us from that evil--whether it be Satan or some other person (or both). (Matt. 6:13)
When it comes to natural evil, however, we don't seem to know what to do. We pray superficially, "God, if it be your will, fix this..." But, we leave out a very important element of the prayer that Old Testament figures like Job included in their prayers--recognition that God is sovereignly responsible. As I read the impassioned laments of Jeremiah and the pain-laden pleas of Job, their prayers seems so much more real and substantial than the typical American prayer meeting. They don't beat around the bush in an attempt to spare God's feelings; they just get right to the point:
"The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s terrors are marshaled against me. (Job 6:4, NIV)
Job was afflicted with all sorts of evil by the permissive will of God, who allowed Satan to sift Job. While Satan was morally to blame for the afflictions, Job insisted on taking his complaint to God, against the advice of his wife and friends. Job was even willing to confront God on the possibility that God might strike him down for such an impropriety as demanding an audience with the King. Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face." (13:15) His own wife, exasperated by his continual pursuit of this apparently abusive God, said to him, "Curse God and die." Job replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” Job affirmed that the trouble was from God, even though he wasn't sure he deserved it. Then, the author of Job applauds Job, "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said." (2:8-10, NIV)
Likewise, King David cried out, "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me? (Psalm 22)," a phrase, which Jesus said himself as he died on the cross. (Matt. 27:46) In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the eve of his execution, Jesus cried out to the Father, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." (Matt. 26:39) Satan did not put Jesus on the cross--God the Father did. Look, too, to the prophet Habakkuk. As God was about to unleash the godless and blood-thirsty Babylonians upon the nation of Judah, Habakkuk cried:
LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (Habakkuk 1:12-13, NIV)
Like Job, David, and Jesus, Habakkuk never questions the goodness of God. In fact, he affirms it. But, he does bluntly broach the apparent conflict. For Christians today, it might look something like this: "God, I know that you're good and holy. I know you love me, because you sent your own Son to die in my place for my sin. I know that you are all-powerful and good. So, why are you doing this to me? What's the purpose? Please tell me."
Habakkuk ended his prayer to God this way:
I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he
will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint." (Habakkuk 2:1, NIV)
Is this accusatory and inappropriate as a way of approaching God? Or, is it a humble recognition of God's sometimes incomprehensible sovereignty? I suggest it is the latter. Sometimes reality challenges our view of who we think God is, and that is OK.
[The question as to why God would allow and/or cause some natural evil is a different post; I'll make no such theodicy here. God may never tell us why He does certain things, and He is not obliged to answer to His creation. But, God's revealed Scriptures tell us that we may trust that they are for the good of God's children. (Romans 8:28; James 1:2-4; Hebrews 12:7-12)]
When reality conflicts with your theology, don't ignore it through superficial prayers and don't curse God (like Job's wife). Take it to God and, in humility, plead with him to explain it to your soul. And remember: one such prayer of suffering poured from the lips of Jesus himself, the man-God who ultimately will be the one to judge you. (John 5:22)
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. [emphasis added] (Hebrews 4:14-16, NIV)
The King loves you and longs to have a real relationship with you. He desires it so much that he gave his only son to make that happen. Don't be afraid to be real with Him.
Below is a letter that I felt compelled to share in order to express what adoption means to me as an adoptive father. I have written letters to both of my children. They are much more specific and very private, the exact contents of which I want to keep as a special bond between me and my children.
My dear child,
I'm your father. We certainly don't look alike, but I am your father. I was your father the day you were born, and, even though we didn't meet until you were a little bigger, I have always been your father. I can't explain it, but I felt that I knew you long before we ever met. We lived thousands of miles apart, in different cultures with different languages, but I knew you. I longed for you. I dreamt of you. I told people about you and called you my child. Your mom and I were praying for you before you were even born.
You've probably noticed by now that most children look like their parents and that you don't look like me or your mommy. It's OK. God made our family in a special way, called adoption. God made you in the belly of your birth mother, a brave woman who loved you very much. You look like her. She must be a beautiful woman. For reasons you probably can't understand right now, she was not able to care for you the way mommies want to. Because she loved you so much, she gave you to us to be loved and cared for. I'm certain that your birth mother thinks of you often and hopes that you are happy and healthy.
When you talk to God, pray for her and say thanks for her. Maybe you can meet her someday and thank her for being so courageous. That will be your choice, and we will support whatever decision you make. We are thankful for her, too.
God is writing your life story, and it is an amazing story. God, who made the vast universe and the uncountable stars, knew you before you were ever born. He made you in your birth mother's belly, and then He placed you, for a short time, in the loving arms of your foster parents. Just before you were born, God placed an emptiness in my and your mother's hearts for a child, and it was a hole that only you could fill. You see, your life has worked out exactly the way it was meant to. You are no accident.
My highest prayer for you is that you would come to know this God who is writing your story. He loves you more than you can imagine. But, you have a problem. You and I and everyone one else have sinned, and our sin separates us from God, because He is perfect. God has never sinned. As long as we have sin, we can't be God's children. Just like I longed to be your father, God longs to be your Father, too. In order to take away your sin, he sent his very own son, whose name is Jesus, to take our sin away. He did this by living a perfect, sinless life and then dying on a cross as a sacrifice for us. Jesus died, but, a few days later, he raised from the dead and came back to life, defeating death once and forever. While he was on the cross, Jesus took away our sins and gave us his perfection as a gift. In order to get this gift, all we have to do is trust in Jesus.
I want you to know this Jesus and understand that, if you trust in him, you will be considered perfect. When we trust Jesus, we become the adopted children of God. That's the great part. All of God's kids are adopted, just like you, and that was God's plan all along.
I love you and your mommy more than my own life.
Love,
Dad
[God] predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will — to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves ... In him we were also chosen,having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will... (Ephesians 1:5, 11, NIV)
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13, NIV)
I've begun reading Alvin Plantinga's latest work, Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion & Naturalism. In it, Plantinga argues that the alleged conflicts between theistic religion and science are only superficial; that is, deep down there is a deep concord between theistic belief (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and science. In fact, the scientific endeavor only makes sense from a theistic point of view.
Then, he turns the argument back on philosophical naturalists--those who presuppose 1) that there is no God and 2) that all natural processes (i.e. evolution) are completely unguided. This atheistic naturalism is held by the likes of Daniel Dennet, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens (known popularly as the "Four Horsemen of the New Atheism").
The ultimate discord is not between religion and science but between naturalism and science.
I'll post a short review of the book when I've finished it.
Alvin Plantinga is the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at Notre Dame University and a notable Reformed (Calvinist) Christian.
Note: When I review a book, I'm not endorsing every idea in it. Thinking Christians must learn to read widely and take truth wherever they find it, leaving behind that which is not true. In this case, Plantinga is a theistic evolutionist, a point with which I entirely disagree; however, such a disagreement should not invalidate his entire argument.
Seinfeld, a "show about nothing," is a philosophical topic in and of itself. I think Nietzsche might have written that already. Of course, it doesn't really mean "nothing" as much as it means "mundane," but "a show about the mundane" doesn't have the same ring to it.
One of my favorite scenes is when George Castanza has one of his characteristic meltdowns, because his friends, Elaine and Jerry, invited George's girlfriend Susan to the movies. This supposedly rips the Castanza continuum, because it now collides two of George's worlds--the world of Independent George, which he enjoys with Jerry, Elaine and Kramer, and the world of Relationship George, which he enjoys with his girlfriend Susan. Interestingly, and probably not intentionally, in his explanation of the two-worlds theory, he makes an allusion to Jesus' words to the Pharisees and teachers of the law: "A George [house] divided against itself cannot stand." (Matt. 12:25)
The brilliance of this scene is that it is, in fact, mundane. It happens in regular life all the time. People live their lives as multiple selves. They are: work self, school self, relationship self, independent self, family self, out-with-the-guys self, church self, etc...
As Christians we are not immune to the reality of operating in separate spheres. We divide our time among work, school, family, hobbies, and church. Do we live genuinely as undivided selves in whatever "world" we happen to be inhabiting at the moment? Or, like George, do we find ourselves modifying our personality and behavior to fit that world? What is the properly Christian thing to do?
Over the last few months, my small group and I have studied the Gospel of Matthew, and one of the themes that has clearly emerged is Jesus' criticisms of the Pharisees. They were wolves in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15) and white-washed tombs (Matt. 23:27). They fasted and prayed but did it only for the purpose of being seen as holy. (Matt. 6:5-18) They paid the required tithe but paid in coins that would clang when they hit the bottom of the metal coffers. In public they "loved" God. In private, their dark sin despised the light of God. By the estimation of both Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist, the Pharisees were a hypocritical "brood of vipers." (Matt. 3:7; Matt. 23:33) Are we George Castanzas any different?
There is one more world that I have not mentioned yet. The world you inhabit when you're alone. What kind of person are you when you're alone, hidden from the perception of others? What if all your worlds could suddenly see the world of Alone George? In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis compares this to suddenly turning on the lights in the basement and seeing the rats scurry. Jesus called his followers to cultivate the inner life--to get rid of the rats, rather than give them warning and time to hide. Pray behind closed doors, give in private, fast but don't tell others you're fasting, don't lust in your mind, don't have anger toward your brother. Love God in ways that no one even knows about. If this is the person that you allow God to make you on the inside, it will be considerably easier to live authentically on the outside.
We must try to cultivate one genuine self who tries to walk in obedience to the Lord in whatever world we find ourselves, especially if we are alone in that world. Our coworkers, classmates, and family members should all be able paint the same portrait of the same person. And, that person should match the person we are when we're alone.
George (and Jesus) was right--A person divided against itself can't stand. If you're trying to live in multiple worlds, you likely feel isolated, lonely, and stressed out. If you're trying to be genuine but can't ever seem to do it, you probably need salvation and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
We all need wisdom, and God gives it abundantly to those who ask.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." --James 1:5
@CSLewis (C.S. Lewis) - Clive Staples Lewis is so impressive that he even tweets from the grave. Not really. He's really dead. In fact, he's been dead for a while. He died the same day as John F. Kennedy (11.22.63). I don't know who takes the time to quote him daily on Twitter, but I appreciate being reminded of his illuminating words and ideas. Note: I don't like to follow anyone I haven't actually read or studied in historical context. Otherwise, it is far too easy to take their quotes out of context and arm yourself with an intellectual prooftext. I've read C.S. Lewis deeply, so I usually can recall the context of the most noteable passage.
@albertmohler (Albert Mohler) Dr. Mohler is the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He's a devout Christian intellectual and the host of Thinking in Public, a podcast in which Dr. Mohler "engages in conversations about frontline and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them."
@urban_prof (Clive Craigen) Mr. Craigen is a professor of evangelism and missions at Moody Bible Institute (undergraduate school). I did attend Moody but do not know Mr. Craigen personally, because I was in the graduate program. He's a man of great reputation who understands urban evangelism. His tweets are insightful and often provide links to articles about important issues related to urban life and ministry.
@jpmoreland (J.P. Moreland) Dr. Moreland is a prolific author and a philosopher at Biola University in LaMirada, CA. Bio here.
@drmoore (Russell Moore) Dr. Moore is Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He's also a pastor, theologian, and adoption advocate. Read his blog at Moore to the Point.
@epsociety (epsociety.org) The Evangelical Philosophical Society publishes Philosophia Christi and holds regular meetings. Its purpose is to foster philosophical excellence among Christians in both the church and the academy. I think the Church is experiencing something of a philosophical renaissance right now, and the members of EPS are the leading edge of it.
@WORLD_mag (World Magazine) The news of the world from a tough-minded but warm-hearted Christian perspective. www.worldmag.com
@CTmagazine (Christianity Today) CT is a non-profit communications ministry founded by Billy Graham. It's chief product is Christianity Today magazine.
@baptistpress (Baptist Press) The news service of the Southern Baptist Convention. They post news and articles as they relate to Southern Baptists and American evangelicals more broadly. good reading.
@TripLee116 (Trip Lee) "Trip Lee" (William Barefield III) is a hip-hop/rap artist and a seriously devout Christian. Hip-hop is an art form that is little understood by the church (particular white ones) and that is very heavily influenced by sex, drugs, and violence. Trip and a number of other like-minded artists (at Reach Records and 116 Clique) are reclaiming the art form for the Kingdom of God and holding it in obedience to Christ. Whether you like hip hop or not, these guys are bringing the light of the Gospel to a very dark industry.
@maxeoa (Max Andrews) Max is a graduate student in philosophy at Liberty University. I don't know much about him, but he writes an excellent blog on philosophy and theology, particularly as they relate to science. His posts on cosmology, teleology, and astronomy have been very helpful to my theological development recently.
@TimDalrymple (Timothy Dalrymple) Dr. Dalrymple is the Managing Editor of the Evangelical Portal at Patheos.com. He got through Princeton, Stanford, and Harvard without losing his soul, so he intrigues me. I read his articles at Patheos on a regular basis. See his bio here.
Everyone else I follow can be seen here, and there are countless luminaries that I wish had Twitter accounts (i.e.Alvin Plantinga).
I've created this blog to serve as a supplement to my Bible classes at Conway Christian School in Conway, Arkansas. My plan is for this blog to be a conduit by which I may engage students in Biblical and theological discussions and maybe even debates. The assumption is that following Christ and learning to follow the Scriptures, which God inspired for us, will dramatically affect our whole being. That is, no part of our lives is isolated from our faith and salvation.
We will discuss the obvious, such as Biblical hermeneutics (meaning interpretation) and systematic theology, as well as politics, education, world religions, human relationships, apologetics, and contemporary moral issues. This blog will not be about mindless rhetoric but about thoughtful, rational, and Biblical discourse.
I believe Christians should reject the popular notion that "religion" is something, which ought to be relegated to one's "private" life and left out of "public" matters. If your faith is only a private one with no public implications, you have no faith at all. It is not only false but irrational.
