Effective this post, I’m going into radio silence for approximately one month. Well, not exactly. I mean, for one thing, this isn’t radio. And for another, I hope I’ll not be altogether silent over the next month, but there are no promises, either.

What’s the occasion? Well, let’s just say that the outcome of the event that transpires in the next month is the single most definitive turning point for me so far and will largely determine what I do for the rest of my life. Am I overstating things? Hardly.

I hate that this comes now when my blog traffic is at a record high. But as I said above, I’m not planning on unplugging completely: I will still be on to respond to comments as necessary, maybe put up a link I’ve found, summarize a thought going through my head, etc. So don’t take me off your blogroll yet.

If you would, whenever (if ever) this blog comes to your mind in the next month, drop to your knees and send out a fervent prayer on my behalf - or at least whisper, “Lord, help jog Steve’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad memory.” Thanks!

~Steve

ElShaddai Edwards has tagged me with the Weird Worship meme, in which I am supposed to come up with five worship songs with strange, perplexing, or otherwise - well, weird lyrics. My peeps know I’m highly critical of worship songs in general, but this has been more difficult than I thought to come up with songs whose lyrics I might characterize as “weird”, as opposed to simply badly written, wrong-focused, or theologically errant, or which there are a host of songs I might mention. But here I go…

The Christian religion asserts that the chief failing of mankind has been its overriding predilection for self-sufficiency.

Now, God created a universe that sustains itself; even if He is not logically necessary for it to have essence as materialists contend, it is nevertheless apparent that He (or some other deity) is philosophically necessary for there to be an ultimate, objective meaning to the universe. This leads to a problem.

The better educated we are, the less we feel the need for anything but our own understanding to make sense our place in the world, because we find our own individually defined, subjective meaning for the universe to be sufficient. God has seen it fit to make a universe that runs itself, at least for the most part, so the natural mechanisms that order the universe appear to atheists to be entirely adequate. The more we lean on our own understanding and our own self-definition of meaning and purpose, the less we acknowledge God in our ways (Proverbs 3.5-6). This, as recognized by most Christians, is the danger of education.

I do think education meant to help us glorify God can continue infinitely, but if one’s pursuit of learning is solely for the sake of self-aggrandizement, I tend to think we are in peril of the pride that goes before a fall. But on this subject, here’s a question for my readers:

Do you think there’s an equal and opposite danger for ignorance? I think not, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on it.

Ok, it’s been long enough for me to do another meme, and because I am a good sport, I will respond to both memes I was tagged with by one merciless (mercilessly funny, that is) blogger friend of mine, Kev at Special Kind of Stupid (you want a laugh? check him out!). Unfortunately, my answers will not be particularly funny. But come on, Kev, just be glad I’m doing these at all

Recently I heard a theologian talking about Job and was not surprised to hear him refer to Job’s “so-called friends”. Not surprised perhaps, but as usual when I hear this common sentiment, I was uncomfortable with it. Were Job’s friends there to give him a hard time? Were they there just so they could make him feel worse? Did they offer him their dire diagnosis of the cause for Job’s travail through condescending self-righteousness?

I’m not going to say that there was none of that attitude in what they said. I do think, however, that we can make the following observations:

2. The text plainly calls Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar Job’s “friends”.
3. They sat with him and shared his grief for a week’s time.
4. They didn’t simply tell him why they thought God had it in for him, but offered a solution (repentance) to extract him from further judgement. When Job was insistent that he had done nothing to repent for, they became even more determined that he do what they felt was necessary to avoid more of God’s judgment.
5. Job thought enough of them to pray for God to forgive them their incorrect counsel.

Well, I got a Macbook. I’ve been spending a lot of time getting acquainted with it, and no time on my PC. My blog has suffered, because instead of posting online I had been using blog editing software called Zoundry. Great program. Well, it doesn’t offer Mac support, so I’ve been looking into other options. Then it occurred to me that I might as well post this one here within my browser. Trouble is, I’m somewhat addicted to having a stand-alone editor, so I can hardly stand to write any more right now. I will tell you that Qumana, which is free, works ok, but it has no support for the <—more—> tag that allows the first part of the post to appear on the main page with a link to the full post at the end. Because I have frequently used and fully intend to continue using this feature, due to my extra long posts, I cannot stick with Quamana. I haven’t really found any other free options that work. Any suggestions?

We must not then as Christians assume an attitude of antagonism toward the truths of reason or to the truths of philosophy or the truths of science or the truths of history or the truths of criticism. As children of the Light, we must be careful to keep ourselves open to every ray of light. Let us then cultivate an attitude of courage as over against the investigations of the day. None should be more zealous in them than we are. None should be more quick to discern truth in every field, more hospitable to receive it, more loyal to follow it wherever it leads. It is not for Christians to be lukewarm in regard to the investigations and discoveries of the time. Rather, as followers of the Truth, indeed we can have no safety in science or in philosophy save in the arms of Truth. It is for us, therefore, as Christians to push investigation into the utmost, to be leaders in every science, to stand in the band of criticism, to be the first to catch in every field the voice of the Revealer of Truth who is also our Redeemer. All truth belongs to us as followers of Christ, the Truth. Let us at length enter into our inheritance.

B.B. Warfield, Selected Shorter Writings (Phillipsburg: PRR Publishing, 1970), 463-65.

“Knowledge puffs up.” This phrase is customarily pulled out of the rest of 1 Corinthians 8:1 and cast as a slur upon those like myself intrinsically driven to seek more learning and understanding. Even the immediate context of this phrase in 1 Corinthians 8 shows, however, that not only is knowledge necessary, but that it is actually deficient, incomplete knowledge that puffs up, knowledge devoid of love (for more on this, see this great article from bible.org).

A lover of learning is the type of person who, while his eyes pass over the landscape, notices each glint and out-of-place shadow, and is all but incapable of resisting the urge to investigate. Sometimes I really don’t like being the type who questions things. I fear that it appears I’m doing it for fun, or because I think it’s cool to “question everything”, or because I assume everyone is wrong but I. I fear this because I’ve identified those motivations in other people who like the limelight of being unique; yet I can honestly say that I would hardly put myself through the hassle of critiquing views held by the majority or especially by those I love for no other reason than a little self-aggrandizement.

But this Christmas I began to consider the two groups of people to whom the birth of Jesus was announced. The first group was the Jewish shepherds. They were minding their business, faithfully tending to their responsibilities. They weren’t seeking anything except the protection of their livelihood. They saw the angel and heard the voices of the heavenly hosts, and at once left to find the newborn Christ.

The other group was the Magi from the East, from as far away as Persia. These Gentiles were of a completely different faith, being a priestly class from the Zoroastrian religion. They were astrologers whose dedication to the study of their writings and what they thought the stars and planets told them was so great that they trekked up to a thousand miles to confirm it. Chances are great that they did not see Jesus until at least a couple years later. These men were seekers. There was no special annunciation given to them: God spoke to them through their own learning. This gives me no end of encouragement.

Many quarters of the church nowadays, at least in America, hold instruction in and critical examination of our faith at arms’ length; few denounce those pursuits outright, but most look sideways at it, fearful of becoming “puffed up”, afraid that what they learn might make them want to live out the faith even less. They look at academic, liberal theologians and equate the first adjective with the second. What they don’t do is acknowledge that there is definitely no shortage of liberals and libertines from among the unlearned masses as well. The issue is not of knowledge making the truth-seeking Christians “puffed up”, but of satisfaction with an insufficient amount of the truth of God; this is equally a problem with the learned who are distracted by empty truths and with the ignorant who are content with what gets them their next experience. It is the truth of God that saves: belief in Christ’s lordship and confession thereof are what matters, and even the “experience” side of the equation is dependent on antecedent knowledge of the existence of the thing to be experienced.

I sometimes envy the unquestioning, simple-trust sort of believers whom I know. They just believe and that’s it: this sort of belief, while tending too far towards “blind faith” and utterly impossible to pass on to unbelievers, is apparently sufficient for their own lives and helps them worry less over details. Similarly, the shepherds, being Jewish, were privy to the honor of experiencing the angelic visitation; but don’t forget that the point of the visitation was revelation, which is itself knowledge. God wants us to know so that we can experience. For this reason, God wishes to educate even those in the humblest circumstances. Those who seek, who delve deeper and deeper — God is faithful to lead us the whole thousand miles to bring us to the same place. Thank God for that.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Technorati : Christmas, education, knowledge, learning, theology

[video]http://youtube.com/watch?v=v0bKq3×74UE[/video]

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manucripts is engaged in a wonderful project. This is an effort to host high resolution scanned images of early biblical manuscripts. Right now, they’re working on the New Testament. They already have Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, Washingtonensis, and Alexandrinus (all 5th century and before!), as well as some other, later medieval manuscripts. If you have any money lying around - please contribute to the effort in my stead

Sometimes money makes the world go round — at least a few more revolutions for a few people.

Someone known only as “Anonymous Friend” has given $100 million dollars to the Erie Community Foundation. This organization “is a collection of charitable endowments operating under the administrative umbrella of a single public charity.” The anonymous donor apparently singled out fifty-one nonprofit groups to receive the money in various amounts, based on the donor’s perception of need.

Amazing what good can be done by one person Providentially supplied with money and with the will to give hilariously. I wonder if this donor is a Christian? I wonder if there are Christians with such means willing to give and make such necessary strides toward advancing the interests of the Kingdom.

In his response to Clarence’s good-natured remonstrance that Heaven’s denizens have no need for currency, I think George Bailey was right: “Comes in pretty handy down here, bub!”

God is fully aware of this. God gives to givers for giving. I am not the best steward of the money I do have, but I hope to prove faithful enough to be given more so that I may give more.

I’ve always rolled my eyes when I encountered the “Revelation” nuts in the church: obsession with the day’s headlines, thinking that they elucidate the details of the fulfillment of end-times prophecy, this bugs the ever-loving stew out of me.

I realize I’ve been talking a lot of eschatology lately. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m a one-trick pony or that I’m unhealthily devoted to discussion of this particular doctrine. I thought I’d dedicate a post explaining why I’ve been talking about this, and why I am not likely to completely stop posting about eschatology in the future (although I’m sure it will slack off here and there).

I never could stomach codswallop, and especially widely celebrated codswallop. It’s always been natural for me to be critical of things handed to me to believe, even when I understand that the majority believes it. And then sometimes I discover that I have unquestioned, inaccurate presuppositions on a subject. Now, when I realize that I have been eating food with a hair in it, I make absolutely sure that I have purged my mouth by rinsing it with drink and stuffing it with a prodigious amount of uncontaminated food. So it was with my eschatology. Having long since rinsed my mouth out and cleared away the bunk I believed before, for the last few years I have been on the mission of preparing and chewing up the replacement meal. I am using this blog as a way of probing everything and getting my own ducks in a row, but also of answering the questions of some friends who have lately been asking questions.

Although my interests are by no means limited to one or two topics, I do bury myself in one or two at a time until 1) I reach a dead end, 2) I’m distracted by the luster of another topic, or 3) I obtain a measure of comfort with what I believe on that topic. And when this last is achieved, the teacher in me makes me dig just a bit deeper so that I can explain it to others.

This is where I am with eschatology. I am fully aware that there are some divisive topics which do not request to be voiced abroad, or if so, more as a heads-up full disclosure than a “Repent of your contrary belief!” sort of thing. Christianity can tolerate a lack of homogeneity of belief on a number of peripheral topics.

But eschatology is different. Not only does futurism needlessly make Christianity a laughingstock with its endless failed predictions, it’s based solely on a ludicrous hermeneutic for Scripture interpretation that undermines even our Lord’s own credibility. Moreover, my eschatology needs to make substantial gains in acceptance within the Church if its chief implication, the victory of Christianity throughout the world, is to be realized any time soon.

So please don’t roll your eyes when you see me writing about this particular topic, and please do make sure that you’ve tried to understand why it means so much to me and that you are satisfied that you have given it the level of importance that it deserves.

“A major advance in fertility treatment is signalled today as doctors unveil details of a technique that will allow human eggs to be grown in the laboratory from ovarian tissue samples.

The procedure, which is being pioneered by two British fertility clinics, involves taking a piece of ovary tissue from a woman and ‘banking’ it in a laboratory until she is ready to start a family.”

Read the rest here.

Interesting. What do you think about this? Any possible ethical/theological problems? What about those people we always assumed were just never meant to have their own children? If there are such people, can we assume that God will find a way for the procedures involved to not work? Any other issues that come to mind?

No, it’s not who some of you think. Of course, those of you thinking that will probably dislike that label being applied to the person I am applying it to. The fictional person I’m talking about is Harry Potter, the boy wizard.

(This entire post is spoiler-free - would you expect any less from me?)

My background

I remember when the Harry Potter books started making waves in the late nineties. My first exposure to them, while I was in the vacuum called “college”, was when an elderly, revered, theologically conservative professor of mine (most called him “stodgy”) remarked, “I’ve read the first book and I don’t see what all the controversy is about. I’m not sure how it’s much different from the Grimm’s fairy tales I read as a kid!” So my first thoughts on the issue were that my beloved Dr. Bowdle likes the books despite the fact that there are Christians who have a problem with the magic in it; that sounded like some of the overreactions I encountered when I first mentioned The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Lord of the Rings to some Christians I knew.

Yet that single endorsement was soon lost in the din raised by venerable and esteemed Christian leaders like Dr. James Dobson. Amidst the noise raised by panicking Christians, I found two objections that seemed like valid concerns: 1) the magic in these books is more like the occult than the magic in Lewis and Tolkien; 2) kids all over the world are already joining the witchcraft movement in response to the interest raised by these books.

I assumed that these two were, for the most part, correct. I did not read any of the books (they were for kids!) and I did not seek out discussion. I considered that maybe the books got worse, and that Dr. Bowdle hadn’t gotten far enough into the series to see the evil it was championing. Yet because I had not read them, I could not in good conscience comment on them, a scruple that I saw ignored by other Christians alarmingly often.

With the release of the last book and the buzz surrounding it, not to mention the recognition that a few respected Christian friends enjoyed the series, I recently decided to look into it all firsthand. What I found shook the very foundations of all I believe.

Today I overheard someone pondering whether the pressures of the wrestling industry were what “got to” Chris Benoit and caused the atrocities he committed. I just shook my head.

Wrestling industries don’t kill people. Wrestlers kill people.

I’m not trying to be funny here. People blame the desperation of poverty when poor people commit murder, the corruption of wealth when rich people commit murder, the rat-race of middle class life when the bourgeoisie commit murder. The only real common denominator is that we have disturbed people committing the murder in each situation. And even this doesn’t appear to be particularly helpful, given that there are plenty of disturbed people who are poor, rich, or middle-class and yet somehow not murdering people. Obviously, there is more than one factor causing people to fly off the handle and do the unthinkable. Not only are the situations of each individual who makes those wrong sorts of choices infinitely more complex than one or two social factors, in the end I think that the primary blame cannot be placed anywhere but on the person whose internal moral composition does not respond correctly to the external stimuli that so many people cite as the chief factors in immoral behavior.

Ok, so let’s blame the murderer’s “internal moral composition”. What factors are responsible for defects in that? As far as I can tell, the largest single determining factor for the formation of one’s morality is parenthood. Nothing but chemically unstable mental conditions can account for a child growing up to be a murderer when the child’s moral and loving parents both effectively communicate a healthy view of ethics to the child.

Yet parenting is not completely determinative, because there have been plenty of children with awful parents who have made their own decisions when they got older and ended up being adults of outstanding character. I still say that culpability comes down to the individual’s in-born aptitude for morality. Only the Kingdom is able to compensate for such dangerous variation.