December 08, 2003 Theologian Carl F.H. Henry Dead at 90 Agape Press
| The pioneering first editor of evangelical Christianity's flagship publication has died. The Associated Press reports that evangelical leader and theologian Carl F.H. Henry, the first editor of Christianity Today magazine, has died at his home in Wisconsin at age 90. |
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Henry attended Wheaton College with Billy Graham, who would later urge him to head a new magazine dealing with faith issues and defending biblical orthodoxy. Henry opposed attempts to "water down" Christianity as well as the tendency of some fundamentalists to withdraw from modern society. He was also among the early leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals, and the author of several books, including God, Revelation, and Authority and The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. World magazine editor Marvin Olasky, who published some of Carl Henry's last columns, describes Henry as "a major figure" of the latter half of the 20th century who was instrumental in shaping the evangelical movement. "He did not really care for escapism," Olasky says of Henry; "He wanted Christians to be involved and working to transform culture, and not giving up."
Weblog OD's on Christmas
check out CT's Christmas edition of its weblog- great resources!
Thoughtlife report
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This week's thought revolve around definitions. The articles below seem to diverge at the point where postmodernism is being defined. That has always been a problem- defining an anti philosophy- you only have negations to deal with. |
Colson, IMHO is oversimplifying the milieu we operate in and seems to deny that anything is any different than it has ever been. Is there nothing new under the sun? Or do we live in uniquely strange days?
December 10, 2003 Recent Leapblogging..
The Skinny one has at Chuck Colson's recent CT article...
I still love/hate CT here's a good article for consumption...
Stephen King quote on Cory Doctorow's site
from Andrew Careaga'a site take the punctuation quiz
More from the Barna Worldview Study
The research indicated that everyone has a worldview, but relatively few people have a biblical worldview - even among devoutly religious people. The survey discovered that only 9% of born again Christians have such a perspective on life. The numbers were even lower among other religious classifications: Protestants (7%), adults who attend mainline Protestant churches (2%) and Catholics (less than one-half of 1%). The denominations that produced the highest proportions of adults with a biblical worldview were non-denominational Protestant churches (13%), Pentecostal churches (10%) and Baptist churches (8%).
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What does this say about the reality of saving faith in professing Christians? the tremendous disconnect between profession and transformation reminds me of Christ's words about the many and the fewm, the sheep and goats, wheat and tares, the broad and narrow ways. So can you be" devoutly religious" and not Christian? Jesus seems to think so. |
Luke 6:45-46 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Matthew 7 22-24 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
| The question remains- can you be Christian without a Christ centered worldview? |
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December 11, 2003 God's Purpose in Redemption
God has set out to accomplish conformity to Christ in all Christians. This is a key purpose of our redemption. "To this you were called" (1 Peter 2:21a). In context here Peter is speaking of these Christians and their suffering for the sake of Christ. To suffer so with patient endurance, Peter tells us, is nothing less than being Christlike.
His point: we are "called" to be like Christ in every way, in every area of life. God has brought us into salvation, and that salvation consists in conformity to His Son.
This is both its immediate and its ultimate goal, the now and the not yet. What all this reminds us of is our natural unlikeness to Christ. We are created in God's "image and likeness" and because of the Imago Dei in us and the fact that we are also In Christ, we know something of right from wrong, good and evil; we have a sense of righteousness and morality.
| But with the entrance of sin that image has been marred, defaced, and every man born since Adam is born with a basic unlikeness to Christ. Everything we do defines us in this way, and the very act of trying to define ourselves divorces us from the grace that is available in Christ Jesus. We have faith in human potential, self worth, individualism, our own purposes and plans. . |  |
In His great salvation God has set out to restore us to our created purpose. We are In Christ, and Through Christ also. And unto Him. But also to be Like Him. In fact, this matter of Christlikeness is spoken of in relation to virtually every aspect of Salvation and the Christian life. God has set out in His eternal purposes to make us over in Christ. Rom. 8:29 speaks of this as the goal of our predestination. We are predestined "to be conformed to the image of His Son."
In eternity past God looked ahead in grace, and determined to take sinful rebels and so transform us that when He was finished we would look like His Son.
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Question- do you think there will be more or less people in heaven than you always imagined? How does God's grace enter into all this? Is His criteria different from ours? |
This Year's Christmas songs came last night.
It's to be expected but I was wondering how late the Spirit would wait to send these this year. I expect He was preparing my heart to be recognizable as a dwellingplace before the filling could come. After deep pondering of the goift and the blessedness of giving and the favor that rests on us as believers I was lifted out of the invisible pit I was in and my foot was set upon the rock that is filling the Earth. Maranatha again Lord Jesus!
| Drive out the Darkness You have called us to the light You heal blind eyes, now give us sight The darkness cannot comprehend The light that shines on without end. Drive out the darkness Make our lives shine Drive out the darkness Oh light divine! |
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Drive out the darkness As you show foirth your light Drive out the darkness By the power of your might! We walk in the light on a path that is bright We show forth your glory in this dark night The light that is the life of men Light up the world and conquer sin! Drive out the darkness Make our lives shine Drive out the darkness Oh light divine! Drive out the darkness As you show foirth your light Drive out the darkness By the power of your might! Anthony Foster December 11, 2003 |
Advent
Break forth like the rising sun I pray…
With Heaven’s glory dawns this day
To pierce our darkness with your light
Deliver us by the power of your might!
The fiery advent of God’s grace
Will drive the darkness from this place
And fill the earth with the glorious glow
Of hearts made hearths His flame to show
Chorus
Oh glory come to fill our night
We glory in celestial light
Christ comes to make the darkness bright
Oh come to us dear Christmas Light
Oh light the darknes cannot dim
Shine forth from the very face of him
Whose righteous glory is displayed
In radience that shall never fade!
So may we walk in your bright path
And so be saved from fiery wrath
All who’re found within this light
That conquers death and makes us right
| Chorus Oh glory come to fill our night We glory in celestial light Christ comes to make the darkness bright Oh come to us dear Christmas Light Anthony Foster December 11, 2003 |
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Song of the Son
Sing of the gift God is giving
Sing of the gift of the Living
Sing of the son of the star and the Dawn
He lies in the hay with a cry and a yawn.
Oh my treasure
Loved beyond measure
The savior of my heart is born
The one who by grace
My sin shall replace
With His righteousness this Christmas morn.
Oh my treasure
Loved beyond measure
The savior of the world has come
The one who by grace
Shall die in my place
And will rise again when it is done
So I shall sing the song of the Son
For His song is a longing for glory He left
To come to stand for us as heaven’s good gift
For heaven itself could not contain
The song of the Son that His birth has made plain..
Oh my treasure
Loved beyond measure
The savior of my heart is born
The one who by grace
My sin shall replace
With His righteousness this Christmas morn.
Oh my treasure
Loved beyond measure
The savior of the world has come
The one who by grace
Shall die in my place
And will rise again when it is done
So I shall sing the song of the Son
Anthony Foster
December 11, 2003