Is it possible there are no coincidences?

So we had a mid-week family movie night last week, and we decided to watch M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs." It's one of my favorites.  If you haven't seen it, go get it.

Mel Gibson plays a priest (Graham Hess) who has lost his faith after the tragic death of his wife.   But strange things start happening when crops signs show up in the field next to their house.   As it turns out, people start freaking out when it gradually dawns on people all over the world that these signs are markings for an alien invasion.

This is a great scene between Graham and his brother, Merrill (played by Joaquin Phoenix).  In it, Graham explains to his brother that there are two groups of people in this world.... 

"People break down into two groups. When they experience something lucky, group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is a fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear.

Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope.

See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"

What say you:  Is it possible that there are no coincidences?

Wow, need a dose of racism to sober you up?

It's not everyday when you hear such calloused racism, at least not for me.  That's not to suggest that it's not there, and everywhere, but to go on record in a public forum stating your racism, well...

From Collive Community News Service, "Neoconservative thinker David Horowitz was put on the spot by a Muslim student during a speech at the University of California San Diego. His comeback revealed her true goal."



Come, Prince of peace.  

God, Time & Eternity

My friend, Joshua B, posted this quote on his facebook page.   I had to re-quote it here so I wouldn't lose it.  

"Time is the succession of thoughts in the mind of rational, created beings. God, being eternal, does not have a succession of thoughts, but rather His thoughts persist at once in their entirety, or put otherwise, they are immediate. God "interacts" with time insofar as every action of creation (including the succession of men's thoughts) is the result of God's thinking them so. Therefore time is an aspect of the created order and not an aspect of God's essential nature. Therefore time is subject to the will of God, and not God to the nature of time." (HT Aurelius Augustine, Gordon Clark)

 Thanks, Joshua, for posting this.  Beautiful.

Coffee with Dr. Gordon

Yesterday, I had the privilege of having a four-hour conversation with Dr. Bruce Gordon, associate professor of science and mathematics at the The King's College in New York City and co-editor (along with Dr. William Dembski) of the forthcoming collection "The Nature of Nature:  Examing the Role of Naturalism in Science."

Dr. Gordon loves the intersection of philosophy, apologetics, and science, as do I.  Plus he loves mathematics, which I don't, but am thankful that people like him do.   Along with his lovely wife, Mari-Anne, we enjoyed a great conversation over Starbucks coffee covering topics from his work as a senior fellow with the Discovery Institute in Seattle, his current work at Kings College, his work in Intelligent Design plus topics from the age of the universe to the Flood to biological determinism.

By way of introducing him to you, here is an article in the Washington Times by Dr. Gordon critiquing Stephen Hawkin's new book.  The article is entitled, "Hawking Irrational Arguments:  Theoretical Physicist Takes Leave of His Senses."

Check out this video (9:59) below of Dr. Gordon teaching on "The Absurdity of the Multiverse & Materialism."

Dr. Bruce Gordon - The Absurdity Of The Multiverse & Materialism 

We've enjoyed having Bruce & Mari-Anne worship with us at New City Church while they have been in town visiting family. I look forward to following his career, plus having him potentially do some teaching for us at NCC on the area of Intelligent Design.

New Focus for the Blog

Over the past few months I have clarified & narrowed what I want the focus of this blog to be. My few faithful readers over the years will have noticed posts ranging from sports to family to politics to theology. These will probably still make appearances from time to time, but the focus of this blog beginning in 2011 will be on the intersection of apologetics, mission, & culture with an aim to providing resources, links, and commentary to my (hopefully) growing spheres of influence. There is a big need in Canada to equip followers of Christ in defending and proclaiming the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

So, stay tuned. I hope it will be helpful.

Okay, this freaks me out...

Is it moving or is it static?

[source]

Going Postal Over Culture?

Mark Driscoll has a good article on Christians and culture called, "Why Christians Go Postal Over Facebook, Jay-Z, Yoga, Avatar, and Culture in General."

He writes...

I’m not advocating either a permissive or a restrictive approach to debatable cultural issues. Rather, I am encouraging Christians to involve themselves in culture not merely for the purpose of entertainment but primarily for the purpose of education. As a missionary, you will need to watch television shows and movies, listen to music, read books, peruse magazines, attend events, join organizations, surf websites, and befriend people that you might not like to better understand people whom Jesus loves.

 He offers a helpful taxonomy for dealing with culture:

·     Receive – There are things in culture that are part of God’s common grace to all people that a Christian can simply receive. This is why, for example, I am typing on a Mac and am going to post this blog on the Internet without searching for an expressly Christian computer or communication format.

·     Reject – There are things in culture that are sinful and not beneficial. One example is pornography, which has no redeeming value and must be rejected by a Christian.

·     Redeem – There are things in culture that are not bad in and of themselves, but can be used in a sinful manner and therefore need to be redeemed by God’s people. An example that has resulted in a great deal of media attention is sexual pleasure. God made our bodies for, among other purposes, sexual pleasure. And, although many have sinned sexually, as Christians we should redeem this great gift and all its joys in the context of marriage.

Check it out here.

Interesting graphic about home schooling in the US

Click graphic to enlarge

[HT: Challies]

The Subversive Manger Scene

Pretty clever commentary on our culture, IMHO.

[HT:  Reclaiming the Mission]

Back in the saddle?

Attention my dear five friends of this blog: 

I have been away for a while, really for a good half a year.   Why?

*  I've stopped blogging in order to focus on launching New City Church.  
*  I've stopped blogging in order to redefine (for myself) why I want to blog. 
*  I've stopped blogging in order to refrain from making snarky comments about US politics (not that there is anything wrong with that--I've just needed to check myself & motives for doing so).

So, what now?  

*  The church is launched and we're having a blast watching God work.   Not that there is not more work for us to do, but I feel like this blog is no longer a distraction.
*  Why do I want to blog?  Mainly just to reference stuff that I may want to remember, to keep up writing, and to share things with you--my faithful five friends (which may be even fewer now that I haven't posted anything in forever.  
*  I really have to refrain from political comments.   I'm neither Democrat or Republican (generally--snarky comment coming--I think the Dems are driving the car off the cliff at 85mph while the Republicans are content to drive it off at 65mph).   I'm generally conservative, but don't think our Republic comes anywhere near what was originally envisioned by the Signers of the US Constitution.   Plus, I'm living in Canada now, and Canadians are pretty snarky about US & Canadian politics.  

So yeah, I'm back in the saddle. 

Sports & Existential Despair

The folks over at the Onion have outdone themselves on this one.   Pretty funny.  And yes, it will show up in an illustration for a sermon or a seminar.  You can count on it.



[HT: Sean McDowell]

On Reading Less

Wise words from John Piper...

I [do not] want to give the impression that I think there is virtue in reading many books. In fact one of my greatest complaints in seminary was that professors trained students in bad habits of superficial reading because they assigned too many books. I agree with Spurgeon: “A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books which he has merely skimmed, lapping at them.” God save us from the allurement of “keeping up with Pastor Jones” by superficial skimming. Forget about “keeping up.” It only feeds pride and breeds spiritual barrenness. Instead devote yourself to boring in and going deep. There is so much soul-refreshing, heart-deepening, mind-enlarging truth to be had from great books!

 I love books, and I read a lot of them.   But I also try to have several that I'm going deep into.  The ones I go deep into are usually the ones I've read quickly through, and desire to master.  For example, I've read and have re-read taking notes along the way Wright's The Mission of God, Piper's When I Don't Desire God, and am currently going deep with William Lane Craig's On Guard as well as re-reading and listening to Piper's The Pleasures of God.

Not all books are created equally.   This is a good reminder from Piper.   

[HT:  Z]

Tripp on the "Nowism of the Gospel"

This is a good, short little article that is well worth thinking upon.  What difference does the gospel of Jesus Christ make now in my life?  Tripp explains.

1.  Grace will decimate what you think of you, while it gives you a security of identity you've never had.

2.  Grace will expose your deepest sins of heart, while it covers every failure with the blood of Jesus.

3.  Grace will make you face how weak you are, while it blesses you with power beyond your ability to calculate.

4.  Grace will take control out of your hands, while it blesses you with the care of One whose plan is unshakable and perfect in every way.

Check it out here. 

Moore: "Abba Changes Everything"

Here's a great article on Adoption by Russell Moore.

The creepiest sound I have ever heard was nothing at all. My wife, Maria, and I stood in the hallway of an orphanage somewhere in the former Soviet Union, on the first of two trips required for our petition to adopt. Orphanage staff led us down a hallway to greet the two 1-year-olds we hoped would become our sons. The horror wasn't the squalor and the stench, although we at times stifled the urge to vomit and weep. The horror was the quiet of it all. The place was more silent than a funeral home by night.

I stopped and pulled on Maria's elbow. "Why is it so quiet? The place is filled with babies." Both of us compared the stillness with the buzz and punctuated squeals that came from our church nursery back home. Here, if we listened carefully enough, we could hear babies rocking themselves back and forth, the crib slats gently bumping against the walls. These children did not cry, because infants eventually learn to stop crying if no one ever responds to their calls for food, for comfort, for love. No one ever responded to these children. So they stopped.

The silence continued as we entered the boys' room. Little Sergei (now Timothy) smiled at us, dancing up and down while holding the side of his crib. Little Maxim (now Benjamin) stood straight at attention, regal and czar-like. But neither boy made a sound. We read them books filled with words they couldn't understand, about saying goodnight to the moon and cows jumping over the same. But there were no cries, no squeals, no groans. Every day we left at the appointed time in the same way we had entered: in silence.

On the last day of the trip, Maria and I arrived at the moment we had dreaded since the minute we received our adoption referral. We had to tell the boys goodbye, as by law we had to return to the United States and wait for the legal paperwork to be completed before returning to pick them up for good. After hugging and kissing them, we walked out into the quiet hallway as Maria shook with tears.

And that's when we heard the scream.

Little Maxim fell back in his crib and let out a guttural yell. It seemed he knew, maybe for the first time, that he would be heard. On some primal level, he knew he had a father and mother now. I will never forget how the hairs on my arms stood up as I heard the yell. I was struck, maybe for the first time, by the force of the Abba cry passages in the New Testament, ones I had memorized in Vacation Bible School. And I was surprised by how little I had gotten it until now.

It's well worth checking out & contemplating.

[HT:  Justin Taylor]

Grace Network of Canada

Here is a video of our Grace Network for church planting in Canada taken from a recent retreat.  In it, you will hear from some of my fellow church planters & pastors in Canada who are working on the front lines.  ~ 10 min.

Book Log: May 2010

45.  Beyond Smells & Bells:  The Wonder & Power of Christian Liturgy.  6 out of 10 stars.

I hate it when you have high expectations for a book and then it just crashes & burns.   That's how I felt with this book by the managing editor of Christianity Today.  I must admit, I fell for the title.  But, as my Grandpa used to say, that paper will hold still and let you put anything on it you want.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm a liturgical kind of guy--when it is done right & well.  But I was hoping for a book to be able to give people that gives a biblical rationale for the different parts of the worship service.  But I was disappointed.  This book was at best a feel good explanation that probably satisfies very surface questions of what does the liturgy does for me.  There were a couple of good quotes, such as...

"The liturgy lives out a story in a story-deprived world...By participating in the liturgy, we're doing more than 'attending a service.'  We are entering a story--a story in which we also play a role.  We are the people who have indeed been gathered.  We ar ethe people who share in Go's very life.  We are sent forth to proclaim God's story and to invite peole into the grand story." 

46.  When Helping Hurts:  How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...And Yourself.  8.5 stars out of 10. 

This book is an excellent resource that would serve people well on a number of levels:  short term & long term missions, mercy & social justice ministries, as well as Christians who desire to make a dent in the issues of poverty that surround us.

The contribution this book makes is in its understanding of the creation & fall grids through which we should view the issue of poverty.  Building on the work of Bryant Myers, Walking with the Poor, the authors concur:

"Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable.  Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings."  

Basically, the book rightfully contends that poverty is much more than the lack of economic resources.  Economic, social, political & religious systems are broken.  The Gospel address all of these, and seeks to heal humans in each of these realms.  The book addresses the god-complexes of the Western rich as well as the shame & feelings of inferiority that the poor carry with them.  The book is well worth the read for any Christian that wants to help and have their help really help. 

47.  Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne.  7 out of 10 stars.

I read this book to the family after meals and we had a good time following the adventures of the cool Mr. Phileas Fogg, his servant Passaportout, and their perils around the world.   I must say, even though I consider myself fairly educated, I don't think I have read a book in my whole adult life that contained so much new vocabulary for me.  I take comfort in the fact that my brilliant and educated wife didn't know what half these words meant.  It's hard to fathom how my son, Jason, read this book when he was 10.

At any rate, we had an enjoyable time, and even though we knew Mr. Phileas Fogg was going to make it around the world in 80 days, we were still surprised and delighted with how the story ended.  If you are going to read through this book, keep a dictionary close by!

Churchless Christianity?

Here's a great article by Kevin DeYoung called, "The Glory of Plodding."

He starts out,

It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers living in real community without the confines of church. Besides being unbiblical, such notions of churchless Christianity are unrealistic. It’s immaturity actually, like the newly engaged couple who think romance preserves the marriage, when the couple celebrating their golden anniversary know it’s the institution of marriage that preserves the romance. Without the God-given habit of corporate worship and the God-given mandate of corporate accountability, we will not prove faithful over the long haul.

Then he poses the question:

With all due respect, what’s harder: to be an idolized rock star who travels around the world touting good causes and chiding governments for their lack of foreign aid, or to be a line worker at GM with four kids and a mortgage, who tithes to his church, sings in the choir every week, serves on the school board, and supports a Christian relief agency and a few missionaries from his disposable income? 

 He concludes by contending,

Don’t give up on the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me.

The whole article is well worth reading & pondering.  And applying.

To Justin & Kathryn

Hey Justin & Kate,

Now that you all are parents, you have to get into the parenting mode.  Important decisions have to be made.  Discipline, diapers, &  of course, transportation. 

I know, I know:  Jaycie is small and your vehicle is sufficient for your needs, but you WILL give in one day and buy a mini-van.  It is a humbling day in your life, but it doesn't have to be humiliating.

Here's a little song dedication to help you readjust your self-image to your new role as parents.  Who says you have to be uncool?  

Just remember the "Swagger Wagon."



I can see you & Justin singing the song already.

Peace out,
John

I'm a proud Uncle!!!

Congrats to my kid-sister, Kathryn, & her husband Justin on the birth of Jaycie Grace.  She was born on Monday, 5-3.10, at 9:20pm.  She is 20.5 inches long & weighs 9 lbs 13 oz. 

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

the fruit of the womb a reward."

~ Psalm 127:3

Reading List: April 2010

36. The Dante Club.  6 stars out of 10.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't get there.  It even had an endorsement from Dan Brown which suckered me into reading it.

It's the story of a group of scholars--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and J.T. Fields--who are translating Dante's Inferno into English for the first time.  There are powers that be at Harvard who don't want it to be published in English.  But when some murders appear that could only have arisen from an intimate knowledge of the sufferings in The Inferno, the scholars track down clues to prevent more deaths.  

It had lots of potential, but the book tried too hard.  It had a couple of more exciting parts to it, but for the most part, it just dragged.  It could have been about a third shorter & would have been a lot better. 

"We all revolve around God with larger or lesser orbits, I suppose, Wendell, sometimes one half of us is in the light, sometimes the other.  Some people always seem to be in the shadow....."

37.    1 Corinthians, by the Apostle Paul.

This is one of two letters that Paul wrote to an amazing gifted & amazingly twisted church in 1st century Corinth.

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

38.  "Revelation," by Flannery O'Connor.  10 out of 10 stars.

This is my favorite story by my favorite southern author.  I recently reread it for about the 4th or 5th time, and it simply gets better with every reading.  I told my wife that this might be the perfect short story.

Ruby Turpin gets a surprising "revelation" from a college girl who throws a book--aptly titled Human Development, at her in a doctor's waiting room.  The girl grew irate after listening to the jolly but self-righteous Mrs. Turpin talk about herself & condescendingly about others.

"Her gaze locked with Mrs. Turpin's.  'Go back to hell where you came from, you old wart hog,' she whispered."

The rest of the story deals with Mrs. Turpin's "revelation" & her anger at God.

" 'What do you send me a message like that for?' she said in a low fierce voice, barely above a whisper but with the force of a shout in its concentrated fury.  'How am I a hog and me both?  How am I saved and from hell too?'"

A-gruntin and a-rootin and a-groanin.

She unexpectedly gets one more revelation, and was graced to hear "the voices of souls climbing upward into the starry field and shouting hallelujah."

This is no cheesey Christian fiction stuff that is so prevalent today.  O'Connor was a Roman Catholic writer writing in the Christ-haunted protestant south back in the 1st half of the 20th century.  Good stuff.  Go get it & read it.

On a side note, one's reading pleasure from O'Connor will be enhanced if one reads along with it Baylor Professor Ralph Wood's excellent work, Flannery O'Connor & the Christ-haunted South which I am doing as I'm making my way through her works.

39.  "Parker's Back," by Flannery O'Connor.  9 out of 10 stars.

This is another favorite story of mine.  O.E. Parker meets the ugly (speaking more to the inside) Sarah Ruth.  They have nothing in common.  He's a regular ol' guy, lost as he can be both in relation to God & in life.  She's a stuck-up, self-righteous, Scripture quoting, people-hating Christian (I know, an oxymoron).  They end up married.  And nothing good can come of that.

When Parker was 14, he saw a man at a fair whose body was covered in tattooed from head to foot.  O'Connor narrates,

"Until he saw the man at the fair, it did not enter his head that there was anything out of the ordinary about the fact that he existed.  Even then it did not enter his head, but a peculiar unease settled in him."

One day, while driving a tractor, he runs into a tree & it bursts into flame.  Parker shouts, "God above!" as he falls out of the tractor.  His conversion experience sends him immediately on a search for a tattoo that will impress his wife.  He settles on getting a picture of Jesus tattooed on his back--the only place where he has any blank canvas left.

He goes home to show his wife, takes off his shirt & makes her look at it.

"Don't you know who it is?" he cried in anguish.

"No, who is it?" Sarah Ruth said.  It ain't anybody I know."

"It's him," Parker said.  

"Him who?"

"God!" Parker cried.

"God?  God don't look like that!"

I'll leave the rest to you, but there are so many layers to this story, from the significance to their names, to his longing for communion, to the emptiness of self-righteous religion.

Again, go & read it. 



40.  1, 2, 3, John & Jude.

Great *little* letters at the end of the Old Testament.  The letters of John were written by the Apostle who also wrote the Gospel bearing his name plus the book of Revelation.  John writes,

"Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Jude, the brother of James writes this short letter urging, among other things, that we "contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints."

41.  Total Church:  A Radical Reshaping around Gospel & Community, by Steve Timmons.  8 out of 10 stars.

This is a good book that connects gospel communities ("the church") with Jesus' mission in this world.  There is so much good stuff to say, but let me just point out on a chapter on evangelism in which he ties in the importance of the church.  Here's a diagram illustrating the connection:

Here's a couple of videos explaining more if you're interested.



42.  Job.  This ancient, classic text tells of a man named Job who wrestled with a lot of junk that happened to him.  He lost his family, his children, & most of his wealth.  The bulk of the book is a dialog with Job & his friends, who implicated him for suffering for the guilt of his sin.  Job was guilty of accusing God of wrong & being more worried about clearing his own name.  In the end, God blesses him more than ever.  In the meantime, Job (& we) learn much about the mysterious ways of God.

"For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another."

43.  Acts, by Luke.  Acts is the second volume of Luke's work on Christ, the first of which was the Gospel according to Luke in which he describes all that Jesus began to do and teach.  Acts is about the continuing work & teaching of Christ through His Church.  In this book, we see the birth of the early church, the preaching of Peter, and the conversion & ministry of Paul.  My favorite chapter is number 17 in which Paul speaks to the Epicurean & Stoic philosophers in Athens.  My favorite verse comes from ch. 20:

"But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

44.  Unpacking Forgiveness, by Chris Brauns.  9 stars out of 10. 

An excellent book on forgiveness.  Brauns avoids the trap that says we should forgive others so that we will feel better.  Christians should always be ready to forgive, and to offer forgiveness, but we forgive others based on their confession of wrongdoing, just as God forgives us in Christ.  Filled with real-life stories & examples, this book is an excellent resource & guide.