The Psychologist and the Ad-Man: Saviors of the World?
David Wells, the historian and theologian, has pointed out that a number of transitions have occurred in our culture since the 19th century, including:
Virtues→Values
A move in conversation about the necessity and importance of Virtues (of character manifestations such as goodness, integrity, courage, fortitude) to Values (personal preference). (more…)
On Browning’s “Christmas Eve”
One of the interesting struggles I always faced at the holidays during my time back at college was the terrible collision between the new life and identity that I was discovering for myself away at school with the old, established and traditional way of life back home. I would walk through the doors of the old house with the joy of homecoming, only to quickly be knocked flat with the realization that I had changed, but life back home had not.
Now, I went to Biola University, basically a Bible college, and so one of the places where I felt this collision most was going to Church with my family again on Sunday morning. You see, I had just spent a whole semester expanding and broadening my mind as to how to think about who God is, how to read and interpret the bible, and how to worship. You name the topic, and you can bet that my new-found friends and I had spent hours pouring over all the possible ways of looking at the topic and, obviously, had found the only solution imaginable. (more…)
I’ve got 98 theses but the Pope ain’t one!
In lieu of anything substantive to say, here’s something rather silly.
That’s right, it’s a Reformation Rap! And considering that Reformation day has just passed, I find this a fitting celebration.
My favorite line:
“Oh snap, he’s messin’ with the holy communion.”
But I ain’t never dissed your precious hypostatic union!
Praise the Living God: Songs of Grace
My Church- Grace Ev Free La Mirada has just released at worship album.
Walt Harrah, our beloved and amazing worship leader who has written pretty much all the songs on the album, and various other musically talented members of our church have worked endlessly for the past three years trying to complete this project.
This past Saturday night we had a concert that celebrated this release.
The great thing about this is that you can download the whole album for free!
Just go to www.songsofgrace.org. We hope it blesses you.
Where are God’s Hands?
With a God who cannot reach out and touch me, it is hard to know where God is. If the Father is near, if He is at work on me, where are His hands?
“O Lord, You have searched me and you know me” is the theme of Psalm 139. God searches me and knows me not only by seeing me, not only by being cognizant of my lifestyle, but by using His hands. (more…)
Greed: What the “Credit Crunch” means for the Unemployed
Proverbs 21:25-26
“The desire of the sluggard kills him,
for his hands refuse to labor.
All day long he craves and craves,
but the righteous gives and does not hold back.”
We are watching wealth recede from the American economy and solvency from the average American. National unemployment rates hover at 6.1%, and this month the US Department of Labor released that the largest mass lay-off event since 2001.
Who is to blame? The problem has manifested itself to be deeper than what can be caused a handful of corporate sharks. Their disastrous speculation with American funds has its broad fallout because a large portion of America has been grossly speculating with their own resources for years. We are spending money we don’t have. Yes, the extent of this problem is limited – the majority of Americans do not have any credit card debt. But our nation remains a republic of citizens, and it’s problems belongs to her citizens, and not to an aristocracy or oligarchy. (more…)
America, Politics, and Christianity
For normal, working people in America the political milieu in our overly media saturated culture is doubtlessly tiresome.
On every front page of every newspaper in our country is the latest coverage of the most recent sound byte, gaffe, or event that either presidential candidate made or attended. Talk radio won’t shut up about the election, even some sports radio stations I listen to are now talking about politics!
And, while it is understandable why many are turned off by politics, it is staggering to me how many Christians are “apolitical.” (more…)
Theology of Vocation
This past weekend Justin Taylor, Project Director of the brand-new ESV Study Bible, spoke to a local church about a Theology of Vocation.
Of the 112 hours per week that most people spend awake, about half of this time is spent at work! Because work takes up such a large portion of our lives and energies, wouldn’t it be a good idea to learn how to evaluate our working situation theologically?
Is there Hope in this Difficult Life?
There is an ancient myth known well in our culture.
It is the story of Pandora and her “box”. The story of a woman unable to subdue her curiosity, so she foolishly looks into the box to see the “beauties” that lie within. As a result, she recognizes that what is inside is not anything beautiful but all the diseases and evils in the world, which are naturally let out of the open box.
Yet, this is not the whole tale. Firstly, the original story does not contain a box, rather it is a “jar”. And, while diseases and evils are let out of the jar, Hope is trapped inside under the lip of the jar, and Pandora shuts the lid of the jar with Hope still within.
What is this Hope that is left in the jar? (more…)
36,000 Are Writing the Bible, One Verse at a Time
Christianity Today has the article here. The gist of it is that to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the NIV translation Zondervan is having 31,173 Americans copy a verse, on at a time, from the NIV translation to create this memorial.
“The road-worthy Bible will be driven in a 42-foot RV by the Joneses and a Florida couple, Brooke and Tim Pancitz, to 90 cities in 44 states. At each stop, they will set up a tent and invite locals to print one verse from Zondervan’s New International Version”
