Archive for the ‘Theology’ Category

To My Facebook Friends

September 16, 2008

Since posting a couple of links critical of Sarah Palin, I’ve received several emails from friends on Facebook with questions ranging from “How can you support Obama?!” to “Could you please clarify what you’re trying to accomplish.”

Instead of writing a dozen responses, I’ll simply post one response here which I believe covers the gamut of concerns raised. Thanks for your input and questioning - I love good and lively discussion!

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To my facebook friends,

Two of my friends told me “Ms. Palin is the savior of our nations values.” That raised some alarm with me. Then seeing almost all of my Christian friends go from “eh, whatever” regarding McCain to “OMG! This is God’s will and we need to help usher it in” moved the alarm to high alert.

Some concerns…

1) How political the church is. Don’t we see that McCain’s strategists are pandering to our view that “God is republican”? Not to mention the (false?) hope our hearts cling to with the thought that we are somehow on God’s side by supporting “values” that are only talking points to win elections.

2) I agree with several commentators on the Christian right that in no other area of life do we give someone our approval to lead based solely on values. You may have heard the analogy drawn by one of Liberty’s guys that “if we are selecting a new pastor for a church of 5,000 we don’t pick a guy who’s previous experience was at a church of 150 just because he has the same values.” We would question whether the experience is comparable and make our decision based on that. (Note: please don’t waste your breath keyboard strokes arguing that “God looks at the heart - look at David.” While that is biblically accurate, the hypocritical chasm between that truth and how every church in America picks its leaders all but nullifies any argumentative attempts to all of a sudden apply that standard to picking a political candidate.)

3) Holding the view that America is a “godly nation” and that picking the “right” leaders will somehow get us back to a right standing with God is completely out of line with Scripture, namely that a) the USA is not Israel of the OT b) Jesus said the whole world lies under the sway of the evil one c) that view absolutely contradicts the new covenant and the glorious truth that blessing crosses nationalistic lines d) it perpetuates a mindset that seems very analogous to the Pharisaical thinking of Jesus’ time - actions that simply prove we are white washed tombs. To me that is the biggest mortal danger of politicizing the church, we are creating a bunch of white washed tombs that equate being a Christian to whether or not we are “pro” this or “anti” that. I can’t overstate how detrimental I think this is to our churches today.

4) On a purely pragmatic level the USA is a democracy, not a theocracy. And you can’t convince me that God is trying to get America back to being a theocracy. We never were one and He doesn’t want us to become one. That’s reserved for his second coming as it relates to the church, not a particular country. Holding to that view distracts us from engaging the culture, and puts the focus on overtaking the culture, which only serves to polarize and moralize people away from God.

I have no problem with someone voting for whichever candidate they choose. However, I do have a problem with the role of the church as it relates to government being manipulated, theological truths being muddled and hearts and emotions swayed on faulty premises - all for political gain, which once in office will have no bearing on the spiritual state of our country.

My aim is to get us thinking about being more careful in how we individually delineate these important issues. But so far I guess all it’s done is inaccurately label me as an Obama supporter and a McCain/Palin hater. I guess such is the nature of our political system and season

Blessings!

Brandon

Great Preaching

August 20, 2008

The glitz and glam of American Evangelicalism increasingly becomes more nauseating to me. I am glad, however, that there are preachers who’s focus is not money, fame and materialism, but rather a sound combination of soul, Bible, God, genuine piety and circumstantial-free joy. One of my favorite clips from John Piper is below.

I Need Wisdom

June 24, 2008

As I work towards finishing my book I am in need of wisdom and grace to find a palatable combination of pithy critique, thoughtful dialouge and useful suggestions. (Just in case you are wondering, I’m currently heavy on the first of those three.)

Off to LA

June 19, 2008

I’ll be back Monday night so if my posts are sporadic you will know why. While I’m gone you should read this.

“Both/And” vs. “Either/Or”

April 17, 2008

Last night my wife and I discussed our culture’s love affair with “either/or” scenarios and how it seems that most of us love to make snap judgments about an issue, argument or person. My wife commented that this practice short circuits the process of drawing logical conclusions. I agree with her.

So this morning, I find Bill Walsh’s comments about how Christians judge culture very interesting. An excerpt:

“The problem comes when the line is drawn compartmentally rather than spiritually, putting certain aspects of culture inside the Kingdom of God and others outside.” (Read the rest of the article here.)

What do you think? Is “accepting truth wherever it appears” good? Or is it a slippery slope into other vices?

(Hee, hee - how do you like my “either/or” approach?)

Faith in Future Grace

April 10, 2008

I read John Piper’s book Faith in Future Grace a few years ago and to be frank it didn’t make much sense to me at the time. I found the whole distinction between gratitude and faith to be rather insignificant. I recently picked up the book again and have been reading it with my wife. This time around it is much clearer and the distinction between gratitude and faith as drivers for piety is much more important. In light of the upcoming move chapter 3 has been especially timely. You can read it here. Have a good evening!

Favorite Quotes

April 1, 2008

“It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”

- CS Lewis (quoted in a John Piper article called “Christian Hedonism“)

Accountability Partners Continued

March 15, 2008

Sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to the previous comments. Work has been very busy and I think I accidentally deleted the text doc I was writing the comment in. Anyway, instead of burying my response in a post that is over a month old, I will pick up the discussion here.

To answer the question regarding the level to which spouses should share encounters with temptation:

No, my wife and I do not explicitly track and then share every temptation we encounter throughout the day - at least not to the level of detail I have heard others encourage. Perhaps we should. I have heard Piper say that he keeps an “accountability log” of every encounter he has with lustful temptation throughout the week and then shares it with a man on his staff.

I cannot fault someone for their desire to pursue a pure heart. Let me say, however, that I have seen similar practices be counterproductive to fighting for “faith in future grace”. I have also seen similar practices result in wrong comparison of your list against that of your accountability partner, which again, I have seen lead to false hope (i.e. I did better than you) or unnecessary discouragement (i.e. I did worse than you.)

I’m sure you could argue that the problem is the WAY in which people go about this practice and not necessarily the practice itself.

However, and this is the heart of the issue for me, regardless of how detailed your “accountability log” is, I have never understood, why married people choose to do this with someone other than their spouse. I cannot reconcile the biblical texts regarding the special intimacy of marriage with the practice of keeping certain things secret from my wife. It doesn’t make any sense and I fear that many men use it as an excuse to deflect dealing with real issues. The same goes for women.

So, no my wife and I do not explicitly track every temptation we encounter. Perhaps we should. What we have done, and Lord willing, will continue to do, is commit to daily being transparent with and trusting of one another, giving special priority to those heart issues which we sense are more likely to “stick” or “take root”. Throughout our marriage, this list of “sticky” things has run the gamut on various temptations.

With that said, quite frequently, we do seek advice and counsel from trusted friends and family. And quite frequently, also, we discuss heart issues and affection battles with people in our church. But never as a substitution for our own, one on one, husband and wife dialog.

If there are convincing biblical reasons to keep secrets from your spouse, I am willing to listen, but so far I have not seen biblical support for it, no do I see the reasoning behind it.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

The “Rapture” and the “Second Coming” - Are They One in the Same?

March 13, 2008

A very compelling case that God’s faithfulness, not, pinpointing exact dates, should be the focus and hope of Eschatology. Thoughts?

UPDATE: thanks to Jonah’s comments, I have tried to clarify the intent of this post. As a result, I have updated the title of this post from “A Case Against the Rapture” to its current title “The Rapture and the Second Coming - Are They One in the Same?” Also, I include the this link for further consideration and discussion. Have a great day!

Favorite Quotes

March 12, 2008

“Some of the inherited categories of (modern) “Christian” thinking are so out of sync with the Bible that they work against the very obedience they are designed to promote.”

- John Piper in his book Future Grace