My New Old Favorite

Christopher Hitchens Against Unitarian Minister Marilyn Sewell

This is an interview that turns into a debate on what it means to be a Christian.  Hitchens will not allow Sewell to claim Christianity if she does not believe in the resurrection of Christ.  Here is the full interview: http://www.portlandmonthlymag.com/arts-and-entertainment/category/book-and-talks/articles/religion-god-0110/#.  The whole interview is interesting, but the debate begins around the 14 minute mark.

This is Incredible

What A Waste

Every day, New York City residents waste 270,000 pounds of food. Want to know what that looks like? Here’s an unforgettable way to imagine it – fill up a subway train with the equivalent amount of apples, and release it onto the people waiting on the platform.

The Beast Lurking Inside

David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times, has written an interesting article on President Obama’s Christian Realism.  Brooks addresses Obama’s position on fighting evil in the world as one holding the vantage point of a cold war liberal.  Although this is interesting, I am more interested in the theological concepts of Brooks’ article.

Brooks gives the reader a quick recent history of how our worldviews have shifted.  He begins his article by revisiting the common worldview that was once held concerning evil in the early to mid 20th century by quoting  former Princeton University president John Hibben, who said, “Life is a struggle to push back against the evils of the world without succumbing to the passions of the beast lurking inside.”  What a profound statement.  Hibben recognizes that when we as humans attempt to fight evil there is a chance that we will be overcome by the very thing we are fighting.  Brooks reinforces this theme by writing, “So as you act to combat evil, you wouldn’t want to get carried away by your own righteousness or be seduced by the belief that you are innocent. Even fighting evil can be corrupting.”  This has an unbelievable resemblance to 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

While this has a profound meaning for us as a nation, it also help us in our personal lives.  Fighting sin is dangerous.  Paul writes to the Galatians, “Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted also (Gal. 6:1).”  There is a real danger in trying to fight sin in other peoples lives as well as in our own because of the beast that is lurking inside.  This is why trying to appease God by mustering enough will power and performance will never ever be enough.  Its like being out on the great sea in a row boat with a large hole in it.  It doesn’t matter how nice your bucket is or how dedicated you are at removing the water, your future is predictable unless you are rescued by someone other than yourself.

This is why Paul writes, “But as for me, I will never boast about anything except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing; [what matters] instead is a new creation.  Because of Christ’s atoning work on the cross we are now a new creation if we have embraced him as Lord and Savior.  The message of Christmas is that God sent His perfect Son to live a perfect life.  Jesus, by dying on a cross that was meant for you and me, satisfied God’s wrath that was directed towards us.  God the Father resurrected Him from the dead, and now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father saying to you, “Come to me all of you who are weary and and burdened, and I will give you rest (Mt. 11:28).”

Have You Any Room?

“As the Palace, and the forum, and the inn, have no room for Christ, and as the places of public resort have none, have you any room for Christ?

‘Well,’ says one, ‘I have room for him, but I am not worthy that he should come to me.’  Ah!  I did not ask about worthiness; have you room for him?  ’Oh! but I feel it is a place not at all fit for Christ!’  Nor was a manger fit for him, and yet there was he laid. ‘Oh! but I have been such a sinner; I feel as if my heart had been a den of beasts and devils!’ Well, the manger had been a place where beasts had fed.  Have you room for Him? Never mind what the past has been; he can forget and forgive.  It mattereth not what even the present state may be if thou mournest it. If thou has but room for Christ he will come and be thy guest.

‘Oh!’ saith one, ‘I have room for him, but will he come?’  Will he come indeed!  Do you but set the door of your heart open, do but say, ‘Jesus, Master, all unworthy and unclean I look to thee; come lodge within my heart,’ and he will come to thee, and he will cleanse the manger of thy heart, nay will transform it into a golden throne, and there he will sit and reign for ever and for ever.

My Master wants room!  Room for him!  Room for him!  I, his herald, cry aloud, Room for the Savior! Room!  Here is my royal Master–have you room for him?  Here is the Son of God made flesh– have you room for him?  Here is he that can forgive all sin–have you room for him?  Here is he who can take you up out of the horrible pit and out of the miry clay–have you room for him?  Here is he who when he cometh in will never go out again, but abide with you forever to make your heart a heaven of joy and bliss for you–have you room for him?

Tis all I ask.  your emptiness, your nothingness, your want of feeling, your want of goodness, your want of grace–all these will be but room for him.  Have you room for Him?  Oh! Spirit of God, lead many to say, ‘Yes, my heart is ready.’  Ah! then he will come and dwell with you.”

-Charles Spurgeon- from the sermon “No Room for the Christ in the Inn.”  December 21, 1862.

An All American Marriage

I just recently read an article on Salon.com that is titled “The real Threat to Marriage.”  This article focuses on the gay-marriage bill that has recently been defeated in New York.  This article is disturbing because it is true.  Sen. Diane Savino’s speech forces a person to look at the cold hard facts concerning marriage today.  Here are some of her words:

What are we really protecting?  When we look at the divorce rate in our society–turn on the television. We have a wedding channel devoted to the behavior of people on their way to the alter. They spend billions of dollars, behave in the most appalling way, all in an effort to be a princess for a day.  You don’t have cable television?  Turn on network TV.  We are giving away husbands on a game show.  We can watch “The Bachelor” where 30 desperate women will compete to marry a 40 year old man who has never been able to maintain a decent relationship in his life.  And my favorite show, which thank God only ran one season because it was truly distasteful, was the littlest groom where 30 desperate women competed to marry a dwarf.  That’s what we have done to marriage in America!  Where young women are socialized from the time they are five years old to think of being nothing but a bride.  They plan everyday what they will wear, how they will look, the invitations, the whole bit, but they don’t spend five minutes thinking about what it means to be a wife. People stand up there before God and man, even in senator Diaz’s church, to love, honor, and obey, but they don’t mean a word of it.  So if there is any threat to the sanctity of marriage in America, it comes from those of us who have the privilege, and the right, and we have abused it for decades.

An argument can be made that this is directed to the nation’s view of marriage and does not reflect what is happening within the church.  However, let’s all remember that the divorce rate is just as staggering under the steeple.  I am convinced that healing must happen within the church before it can happen in the nation.

Savino mentions the corrupt training of young girls in preparation for marriage and her solution is to spend more time training them what it means to be a wife.  I couldn’t agree with her more.  What she is promoting is a Titus 2 environment that is missing within most evangelical churches.  The great divide that exists between generations in the church seems to only be expanding.  Church planting seems to be picking up momentum, but what seems to be lacking is multi-generational congregations where the older members of the church are investing in the younger generation.  I am not saying that pastors need to stop preaching against divorce, but it can’t stop there.  The solution is the gospel.  It’s our only hope for healing, and it has to be the foundation of all that we do.  We do not come to Christ for better marriages, we come to Christ because we realize that we are hostile to God and every effort at self-help apart from Him has ended in idolatry.

Prayer Request

I just received this email from a friend of mine that is a missionary in Belize:

 

What’s been happening is that a family back in one of the villages close by has been keeping the two babies (6 month old and 18 month old) in a homemade crate/cage. The children are left unattended most of the day while they go off to work in town. The children are not theirs but we’re not sure of if they could be from relatives etc? A thirteen year old who also lives at the house, but is not related, told one our fellow missionaries that the children were abused. When he asked how bad it was the thirteen year old said, “It’s bad.”

We want the Lord to intervene and help in this situation. We’re learning that this is one of the milder cases unfortunately.

Please pray.

 

 

Clever Evangelism Or Just Another Trick

“America’s universities are supposed to be marketplaces of ideas, but last week they looked more like theaters of the absurd, as representatives of an evangelical group descended on an undetermined number of campuses to hand out free copies of Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species.” The catch: They used an edition of Darwin’s seminal 1859 text that included an introduction by Ray Comfort, a minister who has made a specialty of arguing for creationism.”

Read the whole article here: http://www.salon.com/books/creationism/index.html?story=/books/feature/2009/11/23/origin_into_schools

Prepare Yourself

There are several things that you need to pay attention to in this video.  1) Van Morrison is arguably one of the best singers on the planet.  2) His outfit is amazing and I am wondering why performers have chosen fashion over comfort.  3) Van’s little dance at the end should only performed by a professional in the privacy of his/her own home unless you have very forgiving friends.  Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYr60DVzehg