Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Compartmentalized Christianity

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!  You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deut.6:4-9, NASB95) 

As I finish the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament) in my through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, the thought that has been circling around in my mind has been how the religious system of Israel was designed to make the worship of God central in their lives.  All the feasts, sacrifices, priestly system, ceremonies, diet laws, the tabernacle, etc., functioned to set the nation apart from the surrounding pagan nations and provided a means of atonement for sin.  But it was also intended to keep God at the forefront of their thinking and living from the moment they awoke until they went to bed at night.  God was not a part of the lives of a Hebrew family--He was central to their lives.  They got into trouble when they allowed other issues of life to take His rightful place.  


This convicts me, as so often I seem to compartmentalize my faith.  Life is so busy and there are always so many things vying for my attention and my allegiance that I pigeonhole things, and sometimes I pigeonhole Jesus Christ.  I imagine there are many of you who can sympathize.  We have a tendency to only reach for Him at certain times of the day--if we remember--or when something bad happens, or on the one day a week that tradition has set aside as the Lord's Day.  This pattern misses the sense of great privilege we have of walking with Him throughout the day, centering our day on Him by abiding in Him and offering ourselves continuously as a living sacrifice, not by law-keeping, but  through the Holy Spirit.  This great New Covenant reality adds to my sense of conviction.  Liberty from the Law through Christ is a great thing, but when that liberty turns to spiritual laziness, it is just as sinful as legalism.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Tornadoes and the Sovereignty of God

John Piper recently ignited a media firestorm when he stated that the tornadoes that devastated rural America were from the hand of God (read it here). Going beyond the statements that some have come to look for from Pat Robertson (viz a viz natural disasters are to be interpreted as God's judgment upon sinful people), Piper concludes that tornadoes and their ilk are also God's judgment upon His people.  However, he cautions against absolute statements like those of Robertson when he acknowledges that finite understanding cannot fathom the infinite purposes of God.  In other words, Piper's conclusion is that the tornadoes are from God, but we ought to be careful making dogmatic claims as to His reasoning for them.

Piper's words are not popular out there in the world, but he must be commended for his consistency--he believes in the supreme sovereignty of God.  So what do you think?  Did God give the command for these tornadoes to devastate these communities?  How would you answer someone who had just lost their family, home, and livelihood to a tornado and asked you if God's hand was behind these terrible disasters?

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Scholar's Corner: Introducing Dr. Daniel Wallace

Every week or so, I am going to devote a post to introducing folks to Biblical scholars who are doing important work in some field of biblical or theological studies. This week I have chosen Dan Wallace, Professor of New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary.

For over 26 years Dr. Wallace has been guiding students through the Greek of the New Testament, and in that time has become one of the preeminant experts in the field of New Testament textual criticism. He is the executive director of The Center for the Study of the New Testament Manuscripts, a non-profit organization which travels around the world taking digital photographs of the manuscripts of the New Testament in order to preserve them for generations to come.  He also served as managing editor of the NET Bible.

Dr. Wallace is also well known for his debates with skeptical biblical scholars such as Bart Ehrman.  During last month's debate, Dr. Wallace revealed the exciting news that a fragment of the Gospel of Mark dating back to the 1st century has recently been found, which, if true, makes it the oldest recovered manuscript of the New Testament! I will pass on new information on this discovery as it becomes available.

Here are links to several audio interviews of Dr. Wallace in which he discusses topics such as Bible translations, New Testament textual criticism, Bart Ehrman, as well as the archeological discovery of the Gospel of Mark.

Daniel Wallace discusses text criticism over coffee at The Credo House.

Debate Between Dan Wallace and Bart Ehrman 2012 

New Testament Scholar Interview: Daniel B. Wallace (discussion includes Dr. Wallace's background, the trustworthiness of the Bible, the meaning and effect of textual variants, advice for apologists, and do's and don'ts for defending the Bible)

Audio interview with Dr. Wallace on the reliability of the NT text

Books by Dr. Wallace:



http://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Jesus-J-Ed-Komoszewski/dp/082542982X/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1330795514&sr=8-9http://www.amazon.com/Dethroning-Jesus-Exposing-Cultures-Biblical/dp/0785297855/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1330795514&sr=8-12

Comments Has Now Been Fixed

I apologize to those who have tried to leave comments but were unable to. The default settings have now been changed and commenting should be as easy as one would expect.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Friday Fluff


The other night as our family was eating dinner, my iPad started chirping on the counter, and my five-year old daughter Jorja wanted to know why it was doing that. I explained to her that I had told it to remind me that there was something that I needed to do. She seemed satisfied with that explanation, so we continued with our dinner and our night.

Yesterday when I stopped home for lunch, Sarah started laughing as she was preparing my bagle topped with smoked salmon, cream cheese, red onion and capers (like, YUM!). She told me how that morning Jorja had again asked about the alarm on the iPad, and Sarah again explained to her that Daddy had told the iPad to remind him to do something.

A few minutes later, Jorja went into the kitchen where the iPad was plugged into the wall, and Sarah heard her whisper to it, "Remind Daddy to take us to Chucky Cheese."

How Can I Delete That?

Creeping. Lurking. Prowling. These are words that conjure up images of a shadowy stalker-type figure, hiding in the bushes outside a bedroom window with nefarious intent. In today's vernacular, however, these words are often used to describe behavior engaged in by a large mass of the world's populace. I'm talking about Facebook subscribers.

Apparently (and this was news to me), it is considered very poor etiquette to lurk, creep, or otherwise prowl on Facebook and other social media sites. Admittedly, accusations of being a lurker, creeper, or prowler of pretty much anything are not something I want to have leveled at me, regardless of the context, so it would seem beneficial to make myself familiar with what exactly constitutes lurking, creeping and prowling, if for no other reason then to avoid committing this most serious of social sins.

So how exactly does one lurk on Facebook? Well, it turns out that it is a rather simple crime to commit. If you have every looked at someone's post without commenting on it or "liking" it, or clicked on a "so and so has updated their profile status" or scrolled through their pictures, all without revealing your presence, you, dear reader, are guilty of lurking. Furthermore (and this is where the offense becomes particularly heinous), if you have ever jumped from someone that you are friends with to a non-friend by clicking on their comment and then checked out their profile or posts, this also constitutes lurking. Are you feeling appropriately shamed, yet? Don't feel like you're the only one. The 1% Rule of Internet culture states that for every one person who posts on a forum ( or Facebook post, or blog, etc.), there are 99 other people who only read it and don't post anything. In other words, 99% of Facebook subscribers are creeping, lurking, and prowling at any given moment, reading and viewing your posts without your ever knowing they are there.  Oh the humanity! (Coincidentally, at the time of this post, this blog has received exactly 100 views and 1 comment...weird!)

A friend of mine who is a youth pastor learned how socially faux pas this kind of activity is considered when he mentioned to one of his youth group kids his concern over the content of one of their posts. Their response was one of shock, not out of guilt or shame, but out of indignation that the youth pastor had invaded a "private" conversation.

And therein lies the breakdown. Somehow, it has escaped the notice of people, young people in particular, that social media is just that, social. What you post, be it pictures, videos, links, or comments, is in no way private, but is available for anyone to see and spread (which reminds me of another word that has recently gained new meaning--viral!). This means that once it is posted, there is a very real possibility, even probability, that it is out there forever. In the business world, this has become so important to ascertaining what kind of an employee a candidate may be that businesses will look at places like Facebook to gauge the character of a potential hiree. Many would-be careers have been derailed by an ill-advised post of pictures from spring break, never imagining that one day those pictures might resurface and destroy an opportunity.

All of this serves as a warning that what we may think is private may not truly be as private as we think, and what we may think no one sees, actually may be being viewed by those we would rather not have see it. You just never know who is lurking, or when some dumb click of the mouse may come back to bite you.

And this illustrates an important spiritual truth: there is One who sees everything we say and do. Although we don't always think about it, the Lord sees everything we do and hears everything we say. Solomon stated this truth in clear language: "the eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good" (Prov.15:3). Furthermore, these things done in secret will be brought into daylight at the Judgment Seat of Christ by the One who sees everything done in secret.  In Matt.12:36, Jesus declares that we will have to give an account for every careless word we speak (or post).  The potential for temporal consequences of the things we publicize on social media is great.  How much greater the potential for spiritual consequences?  In light of that sobering truth, how precious is the truth that the One who knows all our secrets is always ready to forgive and restore when we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9).  His grace is available to all.  No matter what we have done, His blood is sufficient to wash us clean and restore us.

So are Facebook and other social media sites bad?  Of course not.  Should we use good judgment before we post things, aware that anyone may read or see what we have posted, and knowing that Someone does see what we have posted?  We certainly should!  A practical suggestion would be to ask ourselves, "Does this bring glory to God, does it further His Kingdom or damage my testimony, and do I really want to stand before my King and give an account for what I am about to post on Facebook?"  Perhaps its time to add a new verse to the children's Sunday School song: "O be careful little hands, what you post.  O be careful little hands, what you post.  For your Father up above is looking down with love, so be careful little hands, what you post."

Oh and by the way, if you want to lurk on this blog and never leave a comment, feel free.  Lurkers, creepers and prowlers are welcome at livingtogod!!  :-)

Soli Deo gloria