Sooooo true

TommyMertonHead from the Boar's Head Tavern:

I’m trying to find a metaphor to measure the difference between Wright and Mclaren.

If Wright had entered a meeting of the Jesus Seminar, he would emerge, covered in blood, carrying the heads of his adversaries in a sack.

If Mclaren had entered a meeting of the Jesus seminar, he would have emerged in lingerie, giggling.

Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

Here is James White making light of a debate between two Islamic college professors over whether or not the earth is flat, one of them making his arguments for its non-sphericity on the basis of verses from the Qur'an.

He's trying to make a valid point about the question of corrective mechanisms within the Islamic faith regarding interpretations of the Qur'an, and how under strict Sharia law a healthy process of correcting faulty interpretations that were held by early generations of Muslims probably would not exist.

However, it is quite funny, as I would chalk up his young-earth creationism to the same kind of misinterpretation of biblical passages, namely that a proper evangelical interpretation of the creation accounts of the Old and New Testaments requires us to hold to the "calendar-day" view and thus assert that the earth and the universe in its entirety must be on the order of several thousands of years old.

What's really funny here though is that his basic argument is that science shows us the earth is round, and as such either the Qur'an has been misinterpreted, or the Qur'an does teach this and it is just plain wrong. He says that many "Muslims are fully aware of the modern world" and would only laugh at the idea that the earth is flat. However, try to make the same argument regarding the age of the earth, and most young-earth creationists will immediately accuse you of putting "man's fallible methods" over the Word of God (completely forgetting the fact that there are such things as "man's fallible interpretations" of the Bible). One cannot have it both ways where one says in one place that a faulty interpretation is illuminated by a well-established scientific result and in another place you claim the opposite (though out of necessity it must also be shown that a variant interpretation is possible and proper on the basis of the text itself).

It's also quite ironic that he makes a reference to GPS systems as being part of the proof of the sphericity of the earth, because those same systems depend on the correctness of general relativity to work, and it is general relativity that lays the foundation for Big Bang cosmology, which is extremely well-supported by the evidence of science, including the measured expansion of the universe, measurements of the cosmic microwave background both in the nearby and far-away cosmos, and the abundances of the light elements, to name a few.

The physicist Murray Gell-Mann once said that it was "easier to believe in a flat earth than a young earth." While this was doubtlessly hyperbolic, I would chalk up both beliefs to the same kind of problem. Thankfully the Word of God teaches neither of these things.

Why it sometimes sucks to be Protestant

There are times I need things that Protestantism simply isn't interested in.

• There are days when it would be nice to know that on any given day of the week there would be a prayer service with Eucharist, for me to hear the forgiveness of sins and receive Christ's body and blood.
  
• There are days when it would be nice for the church to speak with one prophetic voice to the world.
  
• There are days when it would be nice to know that when I or someone else find ourselves in broken communion with the church that we wouldn't be able to just go down the street and find people in a church who didn't give a rat's you-know-what about what sin we were up to.
  
• There are days when it would be nice to know that people actually cared about what Christians who came before us had to say.
  
• There are days when it would be nice to not have to worry about whether or not I would hear the message of Christ crucified, died, and risen for my sins when I went to church, anywhere, anytime I went.

I'm not suggesting I'm ready to swim the Tiber, because they have a long list of things they can't do for me either (and they don't really do most of the things on this list the best either). But it does have its advantages.

What is the church?

"The church is not postmodern. It's not modern. It's not even pre-modern. It is in a category all by itself."

(Pastor Todd Wilken on Issues, Etc.)

St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Almighty God,
who in your providence chose your servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the Irish people:
keep alive in us the fire of the faith he kindled
and strengthen us in our pilgrimage
towards the light of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Lent

It is a darn good thing we don't get to Easter without going through Lent first.

Power in the Blood

Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide;
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow.
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Would you do service for Jesus your King?
There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;
Would you live daily His praises to sing?
There’s wonderful power in the blood.

There is power, power, wonder working power
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is power, power, wonder working power
In the precious blood of the Lamb.

Joel Osteen, Pharisee extraordinaire

Um.... what part of "Peter, kill and eat!" (Acts 10:9-15) do you not understand, Joel?!?



He may be right of course on all of the science there... but good grief... he's using the Bible to give us a diet... Can Christians stop mining the Bible for stuff other than Jesus???

Famous One

You are the Lord
The famous One, famous One
Great is Your name in all the Earth
The heavens declare 
You're glorious, glorious!
Great is Your fame beyond the Earth

And for all You've done and yet to do
With every breath I'm praising You
Desire of nations and every heart
You alone are God

You are the Lord
The famous One, famous One
Great is Your name in all the Earth
The heavens declare
You're glorious, glorious!
Great is Your fame beyond the Earth

The morning star is shining through
And every eye is watching You
Revealed by nature and miracles
You are beautiful
You are beautiful

You are the Lord
The famous One, famous One
Great is Your name in all the Earth
The heavens declare
You're glorious, glorious!
Great is Your fame beyond the Earth

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die.
 Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

So how well was that time spent?

You have no idea how right this turned out to be.

How science is really done

According to the Onion, at least.

St. Ambrose

O God, you gave your servant Ambrose grace to proclaim the Gospel with eloquence and power. As bishop of the great congregation of Milan, he fearlessly bore reproach for the honor of your name. Mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellence in preaching and fidelity in ministering your Word that your people shall be partakers of the divine nature; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Liturgy

There's something about it... not sure what it is. Maybe I'm going through a phase. But I'm increasingly drawn back to it.

Tragedy has a tendency to drive you strongly in one direction or the other. For me, the tragedy was a long time ago (well, relatively speaking). However, I've observed from my experience and that of others that tragedy will either drive you away from God or toward him.

In my case it drove me toward him. Not just toward God, but deeper into the traditions that have formed me since my youth. I still believe that so many of my Lutheran brothers and sisters are dead in terms of their evangelistic fervor. However, I have grown tired of happy-clappy worship that revolves around my emotions and how I feel instead of the story of what God has done in Christ.

That doesn't mean I reject contemporary worship forms. In fact, the places where I've attended the past few years have carefully chosen "praise and worship" choruses that have glorified Christ, his work on the cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his coming return and renewal of heaven and earth rather than focus on me and my changing emotions. However, even so, I feel drawn to the ancient forms that I heard since I was a young child.

That probably has more to do with what's comforting than anything else. Which, of course, brings things back to my emotions, not Jesus. Hence why I think it might be a phase. 

I remember almost two years ago, at around the time my personal tragedy was coming to a close, when I went to a conference for church leaders with my best friend. On the last night of the conference, there was a long prayer time, occasion for confession of sin, and the Lord's Supper. I remember going up for confession (because boy I needed it), receiving absolution, and then receiving the Supper. I then went back to my seat to pray, feeling refreshed. There was worship music still going on as I prayed. Then the band started to play:

Jesus, what a friend for sinners;
Jesus, lover, of my soul!
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.
Hallelujah, what a Savior,
Hallelujah, what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end!

I broke down bawling. Like, literally, on the floor, crying. I remember singing that so many times in the church where I grew up. And the words just cut straight through to my heart, it was exactly what I needed. I remember going to bed that night at peace, very odd because of what was supposed to happen the next day.

It was comforting because it was familiar. We can make the familiar into an idol, yes. And we can depend on it rather than Jesus. But maybe this was (and is) something else. Maybe this is Jesus taking me down, down, back to the basics. Back to the "heart of worship," if you will. Stripping away all of my foolish pretenses about being holy and good and all of that, and bringing me back to the place where I cling to him for life, indeed, for life eternal.

Jesus, I do now receive him,
More than all in him I find!
He has granted me forgiveness,
I am his, and he is mine!
Hallelujah, what a Savior,
Halleluhah, what a Friend!
Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end!

St. Nicholas

Yes, for real... anyway... here you go.

Almighty God, you bestowed upon your servant Nicholas of Myra the perpetual gift of charity. Grant your Church the grace to deal in generosity and love with children and with all who are poor and distressed and to plead the cause of those who have no helper, especially those tossed by tempests of doubt or grief. We ask this for the sake of him who gave his life for us, your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

And Pastor Paul McCain has a great post on St. Nicholas up at his blog. Supposedly he got so mad at Arius he slapped him. Wow!

Bad Associations

To adopt an over-used phraseology from the election, the AiG Creation Museum pals around with unrepentant Jew-haters.

If you want an example click here (warning, you may be very offended, and in fact, you should).

DISCLAIMER: When I say "Jew-haters" I'm really only referring to Herman Otten, not to anyone else in the picture.

Issues, Etc. Promo Video

St. John of Damascus

O Lord, through your servant John of Damascus, you proclaimed with power the mysteries of the true faith. Confirm our faith so that we may confess Jesus to be true God and true man, singing the praises of the risen Lord, and so that by the power of the resurrection we may also attain the joys of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Christmas Needs to Get More Materialistic

This is the best Christmas sermon I've ever heard: it was preached by the Rev. Sam Wells, Dean of the Chapel at Duke University . It's entitled "Christmas Needs to Get More Materialistic," and the Scripture text is John 1:1-14 . You can get the text of the sermon here.

My favorite part, where he really hits it home:

This is Christianity: not some set of disembodied ideals and noble values, but the life shaped around the logic of God in a human form, at Christmas found in a tiny crying baby, on Good Friday found in a naked man hanging on a cross, on Easter Day found in the wonder of a man defeating death and opening the gates of glory. And this is what we find difficult about Christianity: not its sense of the spiritual, not its sense of inner logic and its appeal to a personal God, for who could be against such reassuring things; no, what we find difficult about Christianity is its materialism, its claim that God took human, material form and lived and died and rose again clothed in and surrounded by the sheer material stuff of ordinary life. A God who is watching us from a distance is a God we can keep at a distance. A God who takes human form is a God that comes up close and personal, a God so close to us we can never escape his grace.

Death before the Fall

Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason nails it on this last week's program regarding the question of what kinds of "death" were in operation before the Fall and what it all means theologically. You can hear it on this week's podcast.