Jen Wilkin writes:
My oldest son started high school this fall. At his orientation the counselors took a portion of the program to speak to parents about the greatest challenge they see students face in school. I expected to hear about poor study habits or substance abuse, but to my initial surprise, these were not at the top of the list. Apparently, the greatest challenge presenting itself in the office of the high school guidance counselor is a growing number of kids struggling with anxiety and depression. Can you guess why? A combination of over-scheduling and sleep deprivation, linked to two main contributors: electronics use and extracurricular activities. We were encouraged as parents to go home and talk to our teenagers about setting boundaries in both these areas. Parents across the auditorium scribbled notes furiously as the counselors outlined some suggestions: limit texting, monitor bedtimes, cut back on team practices. I couldn’t help but think to myself: tonight there will be many demonstrations of teenage angst when mom shows up with her new list of suggestions.
There are many issues covered in this article that I worry about for my own kids and, frankly, for myself.
Read the rest here.
26 October 2010
Turn on your light this halloween
Michael Patton writes a great post on how we, as Christians, can respond on halloween.
A choice quote:
A choice quote:
- I can’t believe I am going to say this but, WWJD? Really, what would Jesus do? Can you see it? Jesus with his lights turned off on Halloween? That would be the Jesus history never knew. That would be the Jesus of western fundamentalism. The one who is not a friend of sinners and tax gatherers. The Jesus that was never accused of being a drunkard. The Jesus who looked from a distance at the wedding of Cana waiting for the sinners to wipe the dust off their feet before he talked to them. The Jesus who saw a child dressed up as a Ghost and said, “I can’t take this anymore. It is not worth it. Give me that stone so that I can turn it into bread.”
23 October 2010
Francis Schaeffer on Christian Love
"We must remember that the person to whom we are talking, however far from the Christian faith he may be, is an image-bearer of God. He has great value, and our communication to him must be in genuine love. Love is not an easy thing; it is not just an emotional urge, but an attempt to move over and sit in the other person's place and see how his problems look to him. Love is a genuine concern for the individual "as ourselves." This is the place to begin. Therefore, to be engaged in personal "witness" as a duty or because our Christian circle exerts a social pressure on us, is to miss the whole point. The reason we do it is that the person before us is an image-bearer of God, and he is an individual who is unique to the world. This kind of communication is not cheap. To understand and speak to sincere, but utterly confused twentieth-century people is costly. It is tiring; it will open you to temptations and pressures. Genuine love, in the last analysis, means a willingness to be entirely exposed to be the person to whom we are talking. "
Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There.
Francis Schaeffer, The God Who is There.
22 October 2010
A gentle reminder of grace
Last night, I took a big step that has been a long time in coming. I returned to a Weight Watchers meeting after an absence of nearly two years.
Looking back, when I departed Weight Watchers, I had an air of confidence. I gathered up my inheritance of books, knowledge, and previous success and ventured away into a far country on my own. I soon discovered, though, that I had lost my way. I found myself floundering, longing to be back. Yet I felt a deep sense of failure. I came to a point about a week ago when the longing to return eclipsed my pride.
I walked slowly--hesitantly--to the meeting room. I muttered to the receptionist that I did not know what to do because I had been gone so long. She asked my name, a tell-tale sign of how far away I had slipped. I told her my name and the meeting leader, emerged from a nearby room and said, "I was just talking about you today, about how much you contributed when you were here." I was a dead man walking, following her to be weighed. I gingerly stepped on the scale, immediately apologizing, making excuses. "I know I have gained a lot. It has been a really hard year." I suppose in the back of my mind, I expected her to say, "wow! You certainly have gained a lot. See what happens when you don't come? Are you going to stick around this time or how long before you slip away again?" Rather than judgment, I received grace. She reminded me how glad she was to see me back without a hint of disapproval.
As I was waiting for the meeting to start, I began thinking about the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). God does the same thing for us. In my sin, I turn away from God. I venture to a far country to live a life of debauchery. When I finally remember the life I have in my Father's house, I return humbly. He does not sit me down to review all of my sins with me asking for repayment, he shows grace (Psalm 103). He welcomes me back in to His house. Every time.
Looking back, when I departed Weight Watchers, I had an air of confidence. I gathered up my inheritance of books, knowledge, and previous success and ventured away into a far country on my own. I soon discovered, though, that I had lost my way. I found myself floundering, longing to be back. Yet I felt a deep sense of failure. I came to a point about a week ago when the longing to return eclipsed my pride.
I walked slowly--hesitantly--to the meeting room. I muttered to the receptionist that I did not know what to do because I had been gone so long. She asked my name, a tell-tale sign of how far away I had slipped. I told her my name and the meeting leader, emerged from a nearby room and said, "I was just talking about you today, about how much you contributed when you were here." I was a dead man walking, following her to be weighed. I gingerly stepped on the scale, immediately apologizing, making excuses. "I know I have gained a lot. It has been a really hard year." I suppose in the back of my mind, I expected her to say, "wow! You certainly have gained a lot. See what happens when you don't come? Are you going to stick around this time or how long before you slip away again?" Rather than judgment, I received grace. She reminded me how glad she was to see me back without a hint of disapproval.
As I was waiting for the meeting to start, I began thinking about the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). God does the same thing for us. In my sin, I turn away from God. I venture to a far country to live a life of debauchery. When I finally remember the life I have in my Father's house, I return humbly. He does not sit me down to review all of my sins with me asking for repayment, he shows grace (Psalm 103). He welcomes me back in to His house. Every time.
19 October 2010
Crystal Cathedral, Bankruptcy, and a watered down gospel
Christianity Today reported yesterday that The Crystal Cathedral, the church started by Robert Schuller, has filed for bankruptcy. I grew up watching Robert Schuller a lot at my grandmother's knee. Schuller, a pastor in the Reformed Church in America was highly influenced by the late Norman Vincent Peale. I recently read these comments from a radio conversation between Schuller and Mike Horton on the White Horse Inn. The statements made by Schuller here make me much sadder than their church filing for bankruptcy. If a church is preaching a false, or watered down, gospel, I would prefer they not be on television.
Here were 2 examples:
MH (MIKE HORTON): Dr. Schuller, how could the cross as you write, "sanctify the ego trip," and make us proud, in the light of passages that say, "I hate pride and arrogance (Prov. 8:13), "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18),"The Lord detests all the proud" (Prov. 16:5), "Do not be proud"(Rom. 12:16), "Love does not boast it is not proud" (1Cor 13:4). In fact Paul warns Timothy that in the last days men "will be lovers of themselves" (2Tim 3:2). Why should we as Christian ministers, myself included, why should we do anything to encourage people to become "lovers of themselves" if Paul in fact warned others that that would be the state of godlessness in the last days?
RS (ROBERT SCHULLER): I hope you don't preach this, I hope you don't preach this!
MH: What, the texts?
RS: No, what you just spoke into the microphone right now. I hope you don't because you could do a lot of damage to a lot of beautiful people. But maybe if you preach it, maybe you will demonstrate your knowledge of human relationships and maybe you'll demonstrate a sensitivity of caring about these pathetic, pathetic people that are so lost in pain and suffering because of their sinful condition, and I think you'd want to save them. I think you'd want to bring them to Jesus. And so if you preach that text, oh man, I sure hope you give it the kind of interpretation that I do or, I'll tell you, you'll drive them farther away and they'll be madder than hell at you and they'll turn the Bible off, and they'll switch you off, and they'll turn on the rock music and Madonna. Just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean you should preach it. And if you do, you have to say, "Who's listening to me? Will they understand? And will the love of Jesus come through my words and through my message; through my personality. Will it come through my spirit? Will I come across as a humble person or will I come across as a person who's kind of mean and know-it-all: I've got the answers and when people like Schuller come along, they're heretics! Be careful, it is so difficult to preach some of those texts and not come across as lacking humility...
+++++++++++++++++++
RS: I do let people know how great their sins and miseries are. How do I do that? I don't do that by standing in a pulpit and telling them they're sinners. I don't do it that way. The way I do it is ask questions. Are you happy? Do you have problems, what are they? So then I come across as somebody who cares about them because every single human problem, if you look at it deeply enough, is rooted in the sinful condition. We agree on that. So the way I preach sin is by calling to attention what it does to them here and now, and their need for divine grace!
MH: But what about what it does for them in eternity?
RS: Listen, I believe in heaven. I believe in hell. But I don't know what happens there. I don't take it literally that it's a fire that never stops burning.
MH: As Jesus said it was?
RS: Jesus was not literal. See, now this is where you have differences of interpretation. I went to a different theological school than you did. And there are different denominations, like about four hundred in the United States of America, and we don't belong to the same denomination. In my denomination, Jesus stood outside Gehenna, the city dump, and said that's outside the walls, that's hell. And in the dump there were always worms, and there were fires....
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)
Read the rest here.
Here were 2 examples:
MH (MIKE HORTON): Dr. Schuller, how could the cross as you write, "sanctify the ego trip," and make us proud, in the light of passages that say, "I hate pride and arrogance (Prov. 8:13), "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18),"The Lord detests all the proud" (Prov. 16:5), "Do not be proud"(Rom. 12:16), "Love does not boast it is not proud" (1Cor 13:4). In fact Paul warns Timothy that in the last days men "will be lovers of themselves" (2Tim 3:2). Why should we as Christian ministers, myself included, why should we do anything to encourage people to become "lovers of themselves" if Paul in fact warned others that that would be the state of godlessness in the last days?
RS (ROBERT SCHULLER): I hope you don't preach this, I hope you don't preach this!
MH: What, the texts?
RS: No, what you just spoke into the microphone right now. I hope you don't because you could do a lot of damage to a lot of beautiful people. But maybe if you preach it, maybe you will demonstrate your knowledge of human relationships and maybe you'll demonstrate a sensitivity of caring about these pathetic, pathetic people that are so lost in pain and suffering because of their sinful condition, and I think you'd want to save them. I think you'd want to bring them to Jesus. And so if you preach that text, oh man, I sure hope you give it the kind of interpretation that I do or, I'll tell you, you'll drive them farther away and they'll be madder than hell at you and they'll turn the Bible off, and they'll switch you off, and they'll turn on the rock music and Madonna. Just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean you should preach it. And if you do, you have to say, "Who's listening to me? Will they understand? And will the love of Jesus come through my words and through my message; through my personality. Will it come through my spirit? Will I come across as a humble person or will I come across as a person who's kind of mean and know-it-all: I've got the answers and when people like Schuller come along, they're heretics! Be careful, it is so difficult to preach some of those texts and not come across as lacking humility...
+++++++++++++++++++
RS: I do let people know how great their sins and miseries are. How do I do that? I don't do that by standing in a pulpit and telling them they're sinners. I don't do it that way. The way I do it is ask questions. Are you happy? Do you have problems, what are they? So then I come across as somebody who cares about them because every single human problem, if you look at it deeply enough, is rooted in the sinful condition. We agree on that. So the way I preach sin is by calling to attention what it does to them here and now, and their need for divine grace!
MH: But what about what it does for them in eternity?
RS: Listen, I believe in heaven. I believe in hell. But I don't know what happens there. I don't take it literally that it's a fire that never stops burning.
MH: As Jesus said it was?
RS: Jesus was not literal. See, now this is where you have differences of interpretation. I went to a different theological school than you did. And there are different denominations, like about four hundred in the United States of America, and we don't belong to the same denomination. In my denomination, Jesus stood outside Gehenna, the city dump, and said that's outside the walls, that's hell. And in the dump there were always worms, and there were fires....
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4 ESV)
Read the rest here.
17 October 2010
The Church's Love Affair with America
RC Sproul writes:
Evangelical Christians love America. Some see in her the last hope of creating a Christian nation. But it is not a Christian nation. It is pagan to the core. It is in danger of becoming, if it is not already, the new “Evil Empire.” The Mayflower Compact is a museum piece, a relic of a forgotten era. “In God We Trust” is now a lie.
Yes, we must always work for social reform. Yes, we must be “profane’ in Martin Luther’s sense of going out of the temple and into the world. We do not despise the country of our birth. But in what do we invest our hope? The state is not God. The nation is not the Promised Land. The president is not our King. The Congress is not our Savior. Our welfare can never be found in the city of man. The federal government is not sovereign. We live—in every age and in every generation—by the rivers of Babylon. We need to understand that clearly. We must learn how to sing the Lord’s song in a strange and foreign land.
Read the rest here.
Evangelical Christians love America. Some see in her the last hope of creating a Christian nation. But it is not a Christian nation. It is pagan to the core. It is in danger of becoming, if it is not already, the new “Evil Empire.” The Mayflower Compact is a museum piece, a relic of a forgotten era. “In God We Trust” is now a lie.
Yes, we must always work for social reform. Yes, we must be “profane’ in Martin Luther’s sense of going out of the temple and into the world. We do not despise the country of our birth. But in what do we invest our hope? The state is not God. The nation is not the Promised Land. The president is not our King. The Congress is not our Savior. Our welfare can never be found in the city of man. The federal government is not sovereign. We live—in every age and in every generation—by the rivers of Babylon. We need to understand that clearly. We must learn how to sing the Lord’s song in a strange and foreign land.
Read the rest here.
13 October 2010
Advice for single men (and women)
Owen Strachan wrote this "Letter to a (frustrated) single young man" today. It is packed with rich advice and wisdom. If you have any input into the lives of young men and women, or if you are a young man or woman, or if you can read, you should take the time to read this through.
He writes,
Men today are in trouble. Many need a stiff challenge.
Many evangelical and particularly “new Calvinist” commentators are noting problems endemic to modern manhood—Al Mohler, Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, and Rick Phillips, to name a few. This could not be more welcome. Guys today have been taught by countless sources and media outlets that they are inherently dumb, ignoble, and inferior to women. Guys hook up with girls, shirk responsibility, take only unserious things seriously, and generally neglect the great opportunities before them. The statistics related to college attendance, marriage, and workforce entry and advancement offer boundless testimony to this reality. A generation raised on Maxim sees women as conquests and children as an inconvenience. A generation devoted to Jackass embodies it. A generation obsessed with fantasy football gives itself over to a fantasy world, where games and players replace serious pursuits and leadership of others. Men are in trouble, with Christian men falling prey to many of these lesser things.
So let the horn sound. Challenge boys and men to follow a different path. Model what this looks like. Show them how to live for Christ, and to serve family, church, and society. Absolutely.
Read the rest here.
He writes,
Men today are in trouble. Many need a stiff challenge.
Many evangelical and particularly “new Calvinist” commentators are noting problems endemic to modern manhood—Al Mohler, Mark Driscoll, Darrin Patrick, and Rick Phillips, to name a few. This could not be more welcome. Guys today have been taught by countless sources and media outlets that they are inherently dumb, ignoble, and inferior to women. Guys hook up with girls, shirk responsibility, take only unserious things seriously, and generally neglect the great opportunities before them. The statistics related to college attendance, marriage, and workforce entry and advancement offer boundless testimony to this reality. A generation raised on Maxim sees women as conquests and children as an inconvenience. A generation devoted to Jackass embodies it. A generation obsessed with fantasy football gives itself over to a fantasy world, where games and players replace serious pursuits and leadership of others. Men are in trouble, with Christian men falling prey to many of these lesser things.
So let the horn sound. Challenge boys and men to follow a different path. Model what this looks like. Show them how to live for Christ, and to serve family, church, and society. Absolutely.
Read the rest here.
Spurgeon on Free Will and Determinism
That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon
12 October 2010
10 reasons why a daughter needs a dad
I found this on The Resurgence today. It is a list of 10 items taken from a book by Greg Lang (Why a Daughter Needs a Dad: 100 Reasons).A daughter needs a dad...
- to show her that true love is unconditional
- to teach her that her value as a person is more than the way she looks
- to teach her that family is more important than work
- to show her that a man can be trustworthy
- to be the safe spot she can always turn to
- to teach her that a man’s strength is not the force of his hands or his voice, but the kindness of his heart
- to be the standard against which she will judge all men
- to help her take risks that will build her confidence
- to hold her when she cries
- to teach her she is important by stopping what he is doing to watch her
11 October 2010
What if?
What if forever attaining the highest good in the universe means not getting what we think we want now? What if the highest good means learning to trust God and becoming more Christlike? What if the author chose the right setting and plot twists after all, and in the end we'll be eternally grateful for our God-given part in the story?
Given the option, surely Joseph would have walked off the stage of God's story. After betrayal and abuse and the false accusation by Potiphar's wife, Joseph had surely had enough for one life.
Talk to Job in the middle of his story--with ten children dead and excruciating boils covering his body, his friends haranguing him and his feeling abandoned by God. Ask him if he wants out. I know what he'll say: "why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came out of the womb?" (Job 3:11).
But that's all over now. On the New Earth, sit by Job and Joseph at a banquet. Ask them, "Be honest, Job. You too, Joseph. Was it really worth it?"
"Absolutely," Job says. Joseph smiles, nodding emphatically.
"But Job, had God given you the choice back then, wouldn't you have walked out of the story?"
"In a heartbeat. I'm just glad he didn't let me."
-Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil
Given the option, surely Joseph would have walked off the stage of God's story. After betrayal and abuse and the false accusation by Potiphar's wife, Joseph had surely had enough for one life.
Talk to Job in the middle of his story--with ten children dead and excruciating boils covering his body, his friends haranguing him and his feeling abandoned by God. Ask him if he wants out. I know what he'll say: "why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came out of the womb?" (Job 3:11).
But that's all over now. On the New Earth, sit by Job and Joseph at a banquet. Ask them, "Be honest, Job. You too, Joseph. Was it really worth it?"
"Absolutely," Job says. Joseph smiles, nodding emphatically.
"But Job, had God given you the choice back then, wouldn't you have walked out of the story?"
"In a heartbeat. I'm just glad he didn't let me."
-Randy Alcorn, If God Is Good: Faith in the Midst of Suffering and Evil
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)