The rest of the evening was spent
locating books. I moved 137 banker's boxes, but I found most of the
ones I was looking for. Now if they will tell us the last three, I can
get them ordered...
Da Vinci Code redux
As you may have
noticed, no blogging here on the DaVinci
Code movie. After hearing Ian McKellan declare in an interview that
the Bible needs to have a disclaimer declaring it fiction, I
decided not to put any money in their coffers. With the critics panning
it, I suspect it will still make money. IMHO, it would be great if it
was a tremendous flop.
Apart from it being a bad movie and
apart from our fallen
nature, interest will continue to rise in the Da Vinci code for two
reasons, I
predict. First, the world wants Jesus to be like them. There is
something
compelling about removing Jesus from his sanitized context that was so
well-informed
by the counter reformation depictions of the Christ. The idea of Jesus
and Mary
of Magdala hooking up and having a royal family that the church
continues to
persecute sounds about right to many people. Problem is, it is not just
a fiction,
it is a lie that smells like smoke and is from the pit of hell. Our
culture
would rather believe a National Enquirer-type fiction that is
titillating than
a compelling true story, especially if it discounts the Bible’s claim
to define
the supernatural.
Secondly,
a conspiracy theory
mindset associated with most
notions of authority reigns as well. Authority is suspect because it is
perceived to destroy autonomy. Therefore a fiction that impugns an
established
authority, especially one that claims exclusive authority, will be the
stage
for many battles yet to come. The world’s version of authenticity may
ring true
to ears conditioned to be tuned to the cacaphony of our culture.
Against
the raging tide of
cultural relativism, the Church
must stand as a Biblical literati against the gnostic illuminati, prepared to give the reason for the hope
within us. We’d better be sure of that hope in the days ahead.
Not so
Special revelation
I had a milestone
epiphany early in my
marriage, which I owe
to my dear wife. The path to hell is paved with good intentions. The
fact that
this is a proverb or maxim tells me two things: there is probably some
truth in
it, and I am not the first prideful man to have it break upon his
psyche.
I have
been thinking about
authenticity in a fallen world. I
see anomalies everywhere and I am
troubled. I am not just talking about
watching the pastor take of his coat for the so called “contemporary”
service
and show up at the next service with a coat and tie, though that
qualifies as a
bit irksome. I don’t think Paul’s contention that he was
“all things to all men” really had much to do
with apparel for worship.
We have
been visiting churches
and have discerned a lot of
“good intentions” but not hearing much of substance. I am convinced
that most
evangelical churches have followed the lead of the charismatics, who
have
changed their serviced to a celebratory service rather than a
learning/edification environment and have seen great increases in
attendance.
To
me authenticity has to
do with being true to what God
says is true, and we only know that through study of the scriptures. It
has
less to do with expressing our feelings.
But
with Biblical
illiteracy abounding in the land, I want
to become part of the solution. Here is how I see it. The best churches
I have
been in over the past twenty years or so are churches that
have preserved the primacy of the Word in
worship. These were mostly expository-preaching based, where a passage
of
scripture is broken down and observed, interpreted and applied to life.
In the
past ten years I have increasingly seen the dissipation of that modus
operandi.
And the churches have been getting broader and broader but not deeper.
Yet the
thing we have observed in
the lives of believers and
in our own lives is that it is a steady diet of the Word of God, not
just
reading devotionally, but seeing it as the source of life and feeding
upon it-
is what changes and transforms lives.
Topical
sermons can be used as
organizers for
exposition of the word, but more often the primacy of the word is given a wink and a nod and
the stories, anecdotes, illustrations and
alliterative three points take the helm. Scripture memorization has
been relegated
to something you do in children’s Sunday School. It is very difficult
to find a
Southern Baptist church that has expository preaching these days. I
think the
seminaries and Bible colleges mayneed to step up the training
based on the quality of the
handling of the Word from the pulpits we have recently sat under.
Is Tech
Hurting the kids?
And what is the
physical cost (beyond lack of exercise) of constantly operating
computers and video games?
Online Predators
Rep.
Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.--is intended to keep online predators
from
contacting children through social networking web sites. Fitzpatrick
reportedly
conceived of the bill after receiving complaints from parents and
educators
concerned about the use of social networking sites by online predators
to lure
children.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=6307
Spammers
win...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/16/AR2006051601873.html?nav=rss_technology
Updike takes on the
technoratii
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/21/AR2006052101349.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email
