[brad vermurlen]

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Jesus and the Dinosaurs

[by Derek Chatwood]

b.

Rolling Stone Interviews Chris Martin

An interview with Chris Martin of Coldplay
From the June 2008 issue of Rolling Stone:

You grew up in a rural part of southwest England, in a pretty religious environment. How did that affect you?

I grew up with the prospect of heaven and hell looming ever large. What I grew up with was, if you even think about boobs, you're going to hell. It was drilled in: These things are wrong. It was black and white, the way it still is for millions of right-wing Christians in the middle of America. I spent a year thinking I would be punished if I sang "Sympathy for the Devil".

Punished as in go to hell?

Yeah. When I was about 14, the first band I played in wanted to play "Black Magic Woman". I was like, "I can't sing that because I will get bad karma." As a kid, you don't know any better. But then as you go on, the cracks begin to appear and your'e like "I'm not sure about this hell thing. And I'm not sure whether it's really right or wrong to be gay, and I'm not sure whether we're right and they're wrong.

Did you ever think you might be gay?

It was more like "Oh, s#%, what if?" Because I was brought up to think that was really wrong. But it struck me. Who gives a s#%? And then it wasn't a problem. It sounds silly to say it now, but when you're a kid you think "I'm going to burn in hell for eternity if I like other guys or if I marry someone Jewish".

What was the first music you responded to?

Probably Bad, by Michael Jackson, and "Take on Me." by A-ha. We'd always be in church, so the thing I heard most was hymns. That's probably where all the life-and-death stuff in our music comes from."

[Buy their new CD if you haven't yet.]

b.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Emergent Butterflies

A Simple Reminder: Don't Worry

"Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you much more valuable than they are? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They don't labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, won't he clothe you all the more, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

-Jesus-

...and if that's not enough:

"And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Don’t you worry; you’ll find yourself."

-Lynyrd Skynyrd-

...and it all comes together:

"I like to think of Jesus like with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!"

-Cal Naughton, Jr.; best friend of Ricky Bobby-

b.

Then & Now

New York Times ARTICLE: 10.14.01 (One month after 9/11)

"If bin Laden takes over and becomes king of Saudi Arabia, he'd turn off the tap," said Roger Diwan, a managing director of the Petroleum Finance Company, a consulting firm in Washington. "He said at one point that he wants oil to be $144 a barrel" --- about six times what it sells for now.

Associated Press ARTICLE: 07.02.08 (Today)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices shot to new records above $144 a barrel Wednesday as the government reported a bigger-than-expected drop in U.S. supplies and the threat of conflict with Iran weighed on traders' minds.

b.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Serving in Tijuana Mexico

Saturday night at 9:00 we arrived back at Riverview Church after our week-long service project to Tijuana, Mexico. I must admit that while a small part of me was comforted to be home in Lansing, a large part of my heart was left somewhere on the west coast in the hills between Rosarito and San Diego. A healthy portion of stress, sacrifice, and hard work went into making this trip a reality, but in the end it was a sobering and challenging time of character growth, fellowship, and selfless service.

Sobering: We have all seen television commercials and photographs of little children and poor families struggling under conditions of extreme poverty, but so few people in this country actually take the step of faith to get on an airplane, experience it firsthand, and do something about it. For twenty-two years, I was the same way. I knew in my head that there are billions of people who live on the equivalent of just a couple dollars a day, and lack the basic human necessities of clean water, electricity, plumbing, housing, sanitation, food, or adequate schooling and health care. It was not until this past week, however, that I saw and felt firsthand the sobering reality that the majority of the world does not have the same economic and material blessings that most people in the United States have today.

After waking up in tents on our first morning in Mexico, our team of 39 drove from our desert campsite in the outskirts of Tijuana, south through mountainous terrain, and arrived in a mountain-side community half an hour away. Nonstop along the way, the roads of Tijuana revealed a lifestyle and living standard far below anything found in the United States. Most houses were smaller than a single car garage, dilapidated, and constructed of some sort of tin, particle board, sheets, or other miscellaneous building material. Fences made of broken doors and chicken wire delineated the compressed sand front yards from bumpy dirt roads. Old tires and garbage lined the streets. Barefoot children strolled along the streets with their mothers, not unlike the wild dogs roaming the mountain sides in the distance.

Today, over 800,000 Mexican families struggle to secure basic adequate housing, and 40% of families in Mexico live below the poverty line. Our service focused on two such families in a mountain-side community just south of Tijuana. One young couple operates a small convenience store from their single room home, with the help of their two young children and niece. The selection of products pales in comparison to the average American pantry, and nets zero income most days. Their home provided no plumbing, water, or electricity. Another family less than 100 yards away lives up a steeply inclined dirt road marked with the dried remnants of human waste. With four children, the young mother, Mary, stays at home while her husband works as a fruit vendor in the city. Their house was a small single room with no plumbing or electricity. This is the family for whom my half of the Riv team constructed a new home.

The sobering effect of this experience did not end upon my return to the United States. In fact, the renewed privileges of hot showers, air conditioning, clean water, a bed, lights, and internet only supplemented and strengthened the reality of what I had experienced in Tijuana. Even the grass and bathrooms at the hotel in Rosarito Beach, Mexico seemed surreal after a week of dirt, dried weeds, and outhouses; Let alone the amenities during our one night stay in the Hilton in San Diego before our flight home.

Challenging: I tend to be more content and less of a complainer than most, but when I first stepped out of my van at our desert campsite in Tijuana, the dry 105 degree air lead to some serious doubts about the wisdom of coming on this project. Luckily, that first afternoon's heat was not the standard for the remainder of the week. Aside from the heat and persistent threat of sunburn, the physical demands of working construction for four straight eight-hour days outside in the dry Mexican heat slowly took its toll on much of our team (although I tended to be fine). For many, the mental and emotional challenges of this project were just as troublesome as the physical ones --- from the girls saying goodbye to the young children at the end of the week, to staying focused and disciplined on a serving attitude throughout the week. Looking back, our challenges and struggles, both physical and mental, resulted in personal growth and eternal rewards beyond measure.

Character growth: In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that perseverance leads to character growth, and character growth leads to a hope that does not disappoint. [Romans 5:4] My experiences this past week in Mexico certainly stretched me to persevere not only physically, but also in a continuous selfless serving attitude. This trip taught me in a big way what it truly looks like to serve others first without seeking anything in return. And the joys that can be found in that. To be honest, I owe a lot of my personal growth on this trip to the strong leadership and parenting of JR, Riverview Church's high-school pastor, both explicitly in his verbal direction and implicitly through watching him lead and serve others all week. "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another." [2 Corinthians 3:18]

Fellowship: At the start of this project, I personally knew approximately a quarter of the people coming from Riverview Church. By the end, I had gotten to know, work with, share stories with, and even like each person on the team. Not only was I able to spend a week serving and worshipping with a few of my best guy friends (Chris, Judy, Ballein), but I became friends with strangers and past acquaintances alike in the process. Some of my fondest memories from this summer will be getting to know and spending quality time with many of the high-schoolers from the Element. I am thankful for the opportunity to reconnect in a real way with people from my past, particularly Garrett. It was also awesome to see that I could serve not only physically through constructing a house, but also relationally through loving, leading, laughing (with & at) and offering advice to new friends in the process (shout out to Sarah). Despite the intrinsic value of overcoming challenges, growing in character, and becoming awakened to the realities of poverty, my experiences would not be the same, nor nearly as enjoyable and vivid, without the continual company and shared memories of loving and supportive brothers and sisters in Christ.

Selfless service: The overarching theme and purpose of this trip was service. Before the trip, JR asked me to deliver a short sermon-ette to the team about service and sacrifice. So the night after our first day of construction work, I spoke to the group around the campfire about scriptural reasons why we serve. Just a few weeks prior to this, I had a conversation with Justin, Keith, and Devon about the problem some ministries have of soteriological agendas in their service --- that is, whether or not it is appropriate to serve others for the expressed purpose of telling them about the gospel of Jesus. In my preparation for this teaching, no where in the Bible did I find an example of anyone earnestly serving others so that they may verbally share the gospel of Jesus with them. Instead, I found and presented three main scriptural reasons for why Christians ought to serve others. These are 1) to be like Jesus, 2) to serve God, and 3) to administer God's grace to the world.

To be like Jesus: Jesus's favorite and most frequently used name for himself is not Messiah, or King, or Christ, or even the Son of God. It is the Son of Man. This title is extracted from the seventh chapter of Daniel, an Old Testament historical and prophetic book written 530 years before the birth of Jesus. In it, Daniel describes a vision God gave him one night: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Therefore, every time Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, he is claiming to be from heaven, to be in the presence of God the Father (the Ancient of Days), to have ultimate authority, glory, and sovereign power, that all people are to worship him, to be eternal, and that he is a king. Every time Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, he is using a literary reference that the Jews of his time would have understood to be a clear explication that JESUS IS GOD INCARNATE. In the book of Matthew, accounting Jesus's life on earth, Jesus tells his followers: "...[W]hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave —-- just as the Son of Man [Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." [Matthew 20:26-28] If anyone deserved to be served, it was Jesus. But when we make ourselves less and serve others, we are being like Jesus in the redemption and grace that comes through his substitutionary sacrifice for us on the cross.

To serve God: In the same gospel account, Matthew tells of the end-times, when Jesus will return to the earth "in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory." All people from all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another "as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." He will put the sheep (Christ followers) on his right and the goats (non-Christians) on his left. It is said that Jesus will then speak to the Christians: "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." Matthew says that we will answer him in confusion: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?" With this, Jesus will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." [Matthew 25:31-40] When we serve others, we are also serving God.

To administer God's grace to the world: Sometimes, when Christians serve others, they tell others about Jesus by saying that God shows mercy and grace to all people, just as we have shown mercy and grace to you. While this is true, the Bible tells us that service goes beyond this figurative parallel in a real tangible way. The apostle Peter tells us that "each person should use whatever gift he [or she] has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." When Christians serve others, we are not merely showing others a grace that is similar to God's grace. We are administering God's real amazing grace to others in very tangible ways through our service. Peter goes on to say, "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ." [1 Peter 4:10-11] These young couples and their children did not need a call to repentance or a four-point presentation of the gospel to experience God's grace toward them. They needed a house and food and love and mercy and kindness.

Construction details: I got a little too ideological on you there. So this last bit is for those of you more detail oriented in my expansive reader base. Our trip was organized through a Christian service organization called Amor Ministries. You can check them out HERE. Over the past 25 years, Amor Ministries has constructed over 13,500 new homes for Mexican families living in poverty, working with volunteers from over 7,000 churches. In three and a half days, our two teams of seventeen built two single family houses, while some of our younger team members kept the families' children occupied with soccer and slingshots. Even though these new houses were only slightly larger than a single car garage (22' x 12'), their structural integrity, new windows and doors, and size was a vast improvement over any surrounding homes in the community. Over three and a half days, we mixed hundreds of gallons of cement by hand to lay and level two slabs, constructed walls and roofing frames from two-by-fours, installed windows and doors, shingled the roofs, and sided the structures with tar paper, chicken-wire, and finally two coats of self-mixed stucco.

At the end of construction, we presented each family with two large boxes full of our left-over food and cooking supplies for the week. This moment will stick out in my mind as a moment when the language barrier only served to amplify the grace and compassion shown during this project. Without being able to even say "Thank you," Mary's facial expression revealed her heart-felt gratitude and understanding that her blessing came from God through us; not merely from well-intentioned Americans. After plenty of photographs and goodbyes, we loaded up our vans and spent Thursday afternoon enjoying restaurants and beaches in nearby Rosarito. After one more night sleeping on the dried desert ground, Friday evening was spent in downtown San Diego before flying home early Saturday morning. Once again, I want to thank all of you who prayed and donated financially to make this service project a reality. Your thoughts and generosity has been well-received and put to use to further God's kingdom on earth this summer. As JR says, whenever you go on an international project such as this, a part of you stays there, but also a part of there comes home with you.

You can check out more pictures from this service project on facebook (coming soon).

b.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Purity of the Field

[click to enlarge]

from xkcd.

b.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Augustine on Humility Leading to Praise

"Look on me, so that you may not praise me beyond what I am; there, believe me, not others, about myself; there, attend to me and see what I have been in myself, through myself. And if anything in me pleases you, praise there with me Him whom I wished to be praised by me; however, do not praise me, since 'He hath made us, and not we ourselves'" [Psalm 100:3].

-St. Augustine-

b.

Congratulations Kyle & Ashley

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Church Demolition Outreach

[photo stolen from Noel]

Riverview is opening their new auditorium this coming Saturday night. Yesterday I went to Riverview to help tear down some walls in preparation for remodeling the former auditorium, and I had an idea. How much more efficient would we be, in the building project and in ministry, if we opened up the demolition project to the general public. Then anybody who is bitter or angry about God or church can come swing a sledge-hammer and tear down the walls of a church in a spiritually and emotionally productive manner! Talk about an innovative outreach to the unchurched.

b.

...Lest the Cross of Christ be Emptied of its Power.

This past Sunday evening at Justin and Devon's house, we started a new series on Paul's first letter to the Corinthians. It has been a while since any given chapter or study has struck me as much as 1 Corinthians 1, and the first bit of 1 Corinthians 2.

[1 Corinthians 1:19-25]

"For it is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.' Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

I am pretty well versed in Thomistic, evidential, and presuppositional apologetics. I can thoroughly articulate several arguments for the existence and character of God, some of which I think are philosophically sound, when presented carefully and correctly. From the cosmological and teleological arguments of classical apologetics, to historical evidence for the validity of the Bible, and especially Van Til's and Bahnsen's transcendental "proof" in presuppositional apologetics, there is plenty of philosophical discourse to be had surrounding the Gospel of Jesus. What struck me this weekend, however, is that most people do not come to know and love Jesus because they lost an argument. People are not looking for a philosophically defensible worldview; They are looking for love, joy, and fulfillment. The amazing truth is that Jesus Christ is the only thing that offers both. In our life and ministry, we must have the discernment and maturity to know which to demonstrate in any given circumstance.

In a world in which we can find so much value in being well-read and knowledgeable in philosophy, sociology, theology, psychology, history, or any other academic discipline, the Bible tells us where our wisdom should be found. [1 Corinthians 1:30] "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God —-- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." [Proverbs 9:10] "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." [Proverbs 2:6] "For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." Our true wisdom is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption, all of which come only from the grace of God through Jesus "so that no one may boast before him" [1 Corinthians 1:29]. Sometimes in our life and ministry, the last thing we need is a sound argument. Instead, we should model the ministry of Paul in humility and love: "When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" [1 Corinthians 2:1-2].

b.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

A Man's Refrigerator

My dad is a single man, and lives alone except when I'm back from school. Tonight I'm over at his house, and I went to the kitchen for a late-night snack. I found it humorous all that was in his refrigerator, so I thought I'd give you an exhaustive list: Michelob Ultra, Coors Light, Budweiser, Bacardi, Diet Coke, hard cider, onions, horseradish chedder dip, butter, beef summer sausage, buffalo sausage, two hamburgers, hot sauce, A1 steak sauce, ground beef, a bowl of tuna, pepperoni, whole garlic, jack daniels mustard, and a coffee can full of grease. Awesome.

b.

Monday, June 09, 2008

I'm Kinda a Big Deal. People Know Me.

I am mentioned in THIS ARTICLE from the front page of yesterday's Ann Arbor News. This past academic year, I co-founded a new student organization at the University of Michigan for first-generation college students (of which I am one). The group fits into the larger theme of the article, which is UM's recent efforts to recruit and enroll more students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

b.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Testimonium Flavianum

Josephus was a Jewish (non-Christian) historian born shortly after the time of Jesus (37 AD). One of his most significant works was a historical account of the first-century world from a Jewish perspective entitled "Antiquities of the Jews" (published in 93 AD). One passage in this publication offers a short non-Christian historical description of the man from Nazareth named Jesus. It provides solid extra-biblical historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus from the dead:

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was the Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again on the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."

[Translated from the original Greek]

b.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Alpha & Omega of Social Sciences

"The beginning of all social scientific inquiry, theorizing, and research ought to be its validity under scrutiny of the authoritative Christian scriptures. The end of all social sciences, like any other part of life, ought to be the ultimate glorification of God and the manifestation of His Kingdom on earth."

-Anonymous Sociologist-

b.

Summer So Far

I cannot believe that I have been away from Ann Arbor for a month already. It has honestly been very hard being ripped away from my academic routine and my social life on campus at Michigan. And being cognizant of the fact that I will not be back in the Fall has made it much harder than in years past. But it's not the dorm, or the classes, or the city that I miss. It's the people. Luckily, I have had a couple social situations this past month that have alleviated my friend withdrawal. This past Saturday, Tracy and I drove down to Marissa's house in Kalamazoo for a bonfire. Sarah and Katie and David and Courtney were there too. It was a fun evening of frisbee, playing with Marissa's dog Toby, and pyromania. And of course, May 10th was my graduation party at my mom's house. It was awesome to see so many of my Ann Arbor friends show up.

By far the best part of my summer so far has been the social alternative to Ann Arbor. That is, I have been thoroughly enjoying my friends from Riverview --- from Beaners with Emily yesterday to every Sunday night at Crunchies in East Lansing with everyone. I am so blessed to have such a solid and loving group of friends to come home to every summer. Upon coming home last summer, I felt like an outsider. This year, however, Kelli, Judy, Brett, and JR have especially made me feel welcome and missed during my first month back. Along with that, I have high hopes for our Sunday night Bible study at Justin and Devon's house. Just like last summer, those times and those people are what sustain me through the summer months. On a related note, I have been slowly yet surely raising financial support for the Riverview service project to Tijuana, Mexico in the end of June. More info to come.

As I have stated, I am working as a part-time research assistant this summer for a study currently underway in the Sociology department at the University of Notre Dame. Once or twice a week, I get paid to drive to Flint, attend church services, solicit consent, and then take pastors out to lunch to administer surveys and interviews about their church's mission, structure, and programs. This past Sunday morning, I made my first trip to Flint to attend a large church called Ebenezer Ministries. It was an awesome inner-city church, entirely African American, and ridiculously vocally expressive. Tracy and I were the only two non-black people out of approximately 500 in the entire service, and we were welcomed with big smiles and open arms. After sitting through the two and a half hour service, I spoke to the pastor's secretary about possibly scheduling an interview. She said that the pastor has been waiting for an online link to fill out the information online. This means that my five hour committment could have been equally fulfilled with one email. On an interesting sidenote, church volunteers were passing out fans during the service featuring the face of Barack Obama.

Aside from Saturday night church, The Element on Wednesdays, Sunday night Bible study, Crunchies, and various social engagements, most of my time this summer has been spent reading, sleeping, and looking for a second part-time job. Just so you know.

b.

Campus Ministry & Forms of the Gospel

I just emailed THIS ARTICLE to all of the student leaders and staff with Campus Crusade for Christ at the University of Michigan. From ChristianityToday.com, Tim Keller's most recent article "The Gospel in All its Forms" explains how the one eternal gospel of Jesus is articulated in various forms by Jesus and the apostles in scripture. He then outlines how we too must consequently be aware of the various presentations of the gospel during our ministry so that we can be used most effectively.

As Keller explains, "A generation ago evangelicals agreed on 'the simple gospel.'" This is "the four laws" that is currently used in evangelism by chapters of Campus Crusade for Christ throughout the world. It says: (1) God made you and wants to have a relationship with you, (2) but your sin separates you from God. (3) Jesus took the punishment your sins deserved, (4) so if you repent from sins and trust in him for your salvation, you will be forgiven, justified, and accepted freely by grace, and indwelt with his Spirit until you die and go to heaven.

The four laws presentation of the Gospel is true and succinct, yet has been criticized for being (1) too individualized in contrast to the message of the Kingdom of God at hand, and (2) too formulaic in contrast to presentations of the gospel in scripture.

Regarding the first criticism: Keller explains how we see in the four gospel accounts varying emphases on either individualized "receiving eternal life" or collectively "entering the kingdom of God." References to the kingdom of God that are found in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are virtually missing in the Gospel of John, which usually talks instead about receiving eternal life. (Although Keller equates the two as "virtually the same thing" [Mark 10:17, 23-34; Matthew 25:34, 46; John 3:5, 6 and 17].) The point here is that God is interested not only in redeeming individual souls to Himself, but also in restoring the socio-political world to its initial state of peace, justice, and shalom. Just as the scriptures do, so also must we stress both the individual and the collective aspects to our salvation.

Regarding the second criticism: The apostle Paul speaks of being entrusted with preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, while Peter preaches the same gospel to the Jews. [Galatians 2:7] In scripture, we see that Paul reasons to the scriptures when preaching Jesus to Gentiles, specifically Epicurean and Stoic philosophers on the Areopagus at Mars Hill [Acts 17:18-34]. He reasons from the scriptures when preaching Jesus to the Jews in the Synagogues of Thessalonica and Berea [Acts 17:1-15]. Paul tailored his presentation of the gospel depending on whether he was speaking to Bible-believing people who thought they would be justified by their own morality, or to pagans and non-religious people. Just as in the first century, both types of people exist in our culture today.

As Keller explained in a past article, "[O]ur typical evangelistic presentations are effective with persons who assume they should be good. Then the gospel-presenter tries to show them that they are not good enough --- they fall short of God’s perfect standards --- and therefore they need Jesus to forgive sin and help them do the right thing. This presentation was quite appropriate for almost everyone in my parents’ generation....On the other hand, if you say to those in my kids’ generation, 'You know you have to be good,' they will say, 'Who’s to say what good is?' So what are we to do with these post-everything persons who are increasingly dominating our society? The traditional gospel presentations will not make much sense to many of them."

As an aspiring sociologist, I must admit that I haven't done IRB-approved interviews or fieldwork in order to gauge the degree of postmodern, pluralistic, and relativistic thought in the weltanschauung of today's university students. (In fact, no one has.) What I do have, however, is four years of first-hand, ethnographic, participant observation data with one of the largest secular public universities in the United States. After attending classes, enjoying social events, living on-campus, and engaging with students on a daily basis for four years, I must conclude that postmodern, pluralistic, relativistic thought is pervasive, if not defining, at today's large secular university.

Because of all of this, I have concerns for the effectiveness of the classic formula that Campus Crusade for Christ has been using for decades. In a liberal university setting where all moral statements are culturally relative and socially constructed, I fear that the majority of the student body at the University of Michigan would not respond favorably to calls for repentance from personal sin. Instead, as Keller suggests, it may be necessary at times to appeal to the bondage of idolatry (as Paul did in Athens; Acts 17:18-34). "That puts the emphasis not as much on 'doing bad things' but on 'making good things into ultimate things,'" such as relationships, partying, reputation, achievement, or even academics. As Keller puts it, "I have found that when you describe their lives in terms of idolatry, postmodern people do not give much resistance. Then Christ and his salvation can be presented not (at this point) so much as their only hope for forgiveness, but as their only hope for freedom." With this, the gospel is not expressed in terms of God, sin, Christ, and faith, but in the overarching narrative of the Bible as creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.

The trouble comes when either form of the gospel is preached with the avid denial or neglect of the other.

b.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Boston University

I heard back from most of the graduate programs to which I applied sometime in March. I never heard back from Boston University, however, and assumed that it was not an option. Today I received a letter in the mail informing me that I've been accepted to the Ph.D. program in Sociology at Boston University. If Boston had responded in March, I would have had a very difficult decision to make between Notre Dame and Boston University. Boston Sociology is strong in the sociology of religion and culture, and covers many other relevant areas such as identity formation, social change, social theory, urban sociology, social psychology in faith communities, and the changing nature of religious institutions.

The two superstars in Boston (aside from Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce) are Nancy Ammerman and Peter Berger. One of Nancy Ammerman’s current research projects is on "Spiritual Narratives in Everyday Life," examining the prevalence and variation of religious consciousness and action in light of personal spiritual stories. Dr. Ammerman’s experience and interests in congregations, religious movements, identity formation, and social psychology in faith communities fit perfectly with my research interests. Peter Berger is a world-renowned Professor Emeritus of Religion, Sociology and Theology, and is still active in research and mentoring. Throughout the last four decades of the twentieth century, Peter Berger pretty much defined the theoretical framework of contemporary sociological thought on religion.

I was also attracted to Boston University by its abundance of resources for interdisciplinary studies in religion and culture---particularly, research centers such as the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA), and the Social Science & Religion Network. Boston also has a strong Religion and Society area of specialization within their Department of Religious and Theological Studies, as well as a working relationship with nearby Hartford Theological Seminary. Not to mention, it's in beautiful big-city Boston instead of sulky South Bend, Indiana.

b.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Obedience

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Apparent Contradictions

"If we insist on putting things the Bible says into a grid of our own questions, we will often find apparent contradictions. If I drive all round the perimeter of a big city, I will see several quite different signs to the city centre. They will say different things, because I am in a different place; but they are in fact all pointing to the same reality."

-NT Wright-

b.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Missio Dei & The Church

As you may have heard, I am working as a part-time research assistant this summer for a study currently underway in the Sociology department at the University of Notre Dame. Once or twice a week, I get paid to drive to Flint, Detroit, or Grand Rapids, attend church services, solicit consent, and then take pastors out to lunch to administer surveys and interviews about their church's mission, structure, programs, etc. This may be oversimplifying, but as it was described to me, this study investigates the mission of Protestant churches, and the programs they use to achieve their mission.

To lay a little historical and theological foundation: In 1934, Karl Hartenstein, a German missiologist, coined the phrase "missio Dei" (Latin for "the sending of God") in response to Reformed theologian Karl Barth and his emphasis on actio Dei (Latin for "the action of God"). As Van Sanders (2006; p.24) explains: "When kept in the context of the Scriptures, missio Dei correctly emphasizes that God is the initiator of His mission to redeem through the Church a special people for Himself from all of the peoples of the world. He sent His Son for this purpose and He sends the Church into the world with the message of the gospel for the same purpose."

God is the initiator of His mission, which is to redeem people to Himself through the mediatorship and substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. The local Church plays a pivotal role in this mission, and I would hope that the mission of a church is in alignment with missio Dei. [Understandably, this ultimate mission of reconciliation is often expressed differently as "growing God's Kingdom," "making sacrificial followers of Christ," or other formulations.] Still, we hear of churches whose mission is not missio Dei. We see churches whose mission is ruled by a political agenda, or the desire to grow their own congregation, or even worth-while causes like social justice or community revitalization. We must continually distinguish, however, between good causes and the Ultimate Cause. Missions work and the expressed mission of the Church is ultimately not an activity of the church, but an initiative and attribute of God. As German theologian Jürgen Moltmann (1977; p.64) puts it: "It is not the church that has a mission of salvation to fulfill in the world; it is the mission of the Son and the Spirit through the Father that includes the church." There is church because there is mission, not vice versa.

This conception leads to my major concern with this current research at Notre Dame. In asking what programs are designed and implemented to achieve the mission of the church, one assumes that the mission of the Church is achieved through programs. Ask any competent and up-to-date missiologist, however, and he will tell you that in recent years the focus of the church has shifted away from programs. The emphasis throughout the 1980's and first half of the nineties was largely placed on being seeker-sensitive, with attractive worship music, hip decor, and relevant how-to sermons. This included the revitalization and reconsideration of church programs that had been utilized throughout the latter half of the 20th century. Methods were largely attractional, aiming to be culturally relevant to the unchurched persons in a local community. Under this model, the church functions as a business in a market economy, marketing a theology, message, or belief system, all while listening closely to demand.

Since the mid-1990's, emerging leaders and young pastors have been asking crucial questions about what it means and looks like for the church to worship, do ministry, and live faithfully in postmodern, post-Christian, pluralistic, experiential, global, relativistic, epistemologically skeptical culture. Throughout the new decade, this conversation has lead to the varying streams of the Emerging Church, responding both methodologically and sometimes theologically (Emergent) to postmodern cultural contexts. This concern initially birthed churches that made surface-level updates to their music, facilities, sermon-style, and services. However, those involved in the conversation have recently broadened the scope of the question---addressing the approach rather than the characteristics of the unreached population. As missiologist Ed Stetzer (2006) explains, "Because we've heard so much about planting postmodern churches, we've come to think that's the goal. It's not. The goal of church planting is to reach people. They may be postmodern in their thinking, or they may be Korean or African American or young families or established professionals or counter-cultural or baby boomers or combinations of the above."

This broadening missiological understanding in recent years has lead to a new answer (and a new buzzword) to the question of how to achieve this mission of the Church. The answer is almost humorously simple: be missional. This is not a program. It is a mindset, a lifestyle, a posture toward a local culture. It is taking the approach of a missionary not only in foreign and underdeveloped nations, but also to one's own local culture. It is being indigenous to the culture, seeking to understand the culture, and adapting methods to the mission field while holding steadfastly to eternal Biblical truths. It is based foremost on theological conviction translated effectively to a culture, not church growth pragmatism. It is being incarnational, living faithfully among the non-Christians around us [John 17:18], just as God entered into human history in the man of Jesus Christ to save the lost, reconciling them unto Himself.

Finally, it is not enough to merely be a missional church and live a missional life in one's own culture. We must also speak a missional message. Nobody will understand the Gospel because you were their friend and showed them hospitality. The shift from attractional ministry alone to attractive missional church shifts the mindset from "come and see" to "go and tell." And it does not work without the "tell." While reworked and innovative church programs (like RiverBrew) may provide tangible answers to Notre Dame's research question, I fear that this misses the significant yet subtly shifting mindset of many larger Protestant churches today. Many Protestant churches' mission is met through missional thinking, living, and speaking, not the reworking of church programs. Over the last two years of engaging with current sociological research on religious life in the United States, I have continually noticed one overarching problem: Secular scholars are consistently five to ten years behind what is actually going on. Or they're at least off topic.

PS. Via Dan (one of the pastors at Riverview Church), here is a list of all of the ministries, programs, and activities that Riverview has going on. According to Dan, at least half of the ministries are new within the past four years. So which is it? Acknowledging that it is a balance: How do large Protestant churches strike a balance between new church programs and missional living? Is missional church only a theory masking the practice?

b.

Time Magazine's List Of 299 Million Least Influential Americans

The Gospel ≠ Western Culture

"'Christendom,' that realm or time when Christianity was the assumed religion of the West, has come to an end. No longer is Christianity the 'chaplain' to the broader culture. Until the last several years in the history of the United States, Christianity was thought to be the "American religion" even though it was not embraced by everyone or practiced with the devotion that committed Christians would like. It once was perceived as part of America's national ethos. No longer can that claim be made....But here's an advantage: The end of Christendom allows the church to recognize that the gospel is distinct from Western culture."

-Ed Stetzer-

b.

Decline of the Church: A Brief Literature Review

Institutionalized expressions of Christianity—--the established Church—--have seen a sharp decline in participation and influence in recent decades throughout the Western world. Many researchers predict that this cultural shift is indicative of an even stronger trend, possibly leading to the complete erasure of organized Christianity during the first half of the 21st century. Even some Christian researchers have suggested that institutionalized structures of Christianity will have all but disappeared in Britain before 2040, with a similar trend likely to follow suit within the United States (Brierley 2005).

From 1991 to 2004, the number of unchurched adults in the United States has nearly doubled, from 39 million to 75 million (Barna 2004). Eighty to 85 percent of churches in the United States are plateaued and declining in membership and attendance (Malphurs 1992; Driscoll 2007). Win Arn (1988) reports between 3500 and 4000 churches close in the United States each year. Throughout the 20th century, the church-to-population ratio has been steadily declining. One hundred years ago, there were 28 churches for every 10,000 Americans. In 1950, there were 17 churches. And today, the ratio has dropped to less than 11 churches per 10,000 Americans (Clegg & Bird 2001). Over the last century, the number of churches has increased just over 50%, while the national population has almost quadrupled (Stetzer 2006).

On an individual level, the percentage of adults in the United States identifying as Christian dropped 9 percent from 1990 to 2001 (Herlinger 2002). However, such predictions are not intended to imply that Christian spirituality itself is likely to see its demise any time soon. For instance, the increasing popularity of Protestant house-church and cyber-church in the past two decades justifies many researchers' predictions that active and devout Protestant Christians will soon be pursuing spiritual growth and direction outside of any formal or institutionalized congregation (Drane 2006; Barna 2005). In the year 2000, 30% of Christians in the United States who were actively pursuing spiritual growth did not consider a local church to be their primary context of spiritual experience, and some scholars predict that this figure will increase to near 70% by the year 2025 (Barna 2005). Alan Jamieson (2006) notes that the outlook for institutionalized expressions of Christianity may be even worse in Europe, Australasia, and the United Kingdom, where the Christian church has not been as stable or culturally accepted as in the United States.

Furthermore, recent research has established that spiritual experiences are not only for those with an explicit commitment to a particular faith. Rather, many people in today’s Western culture adhere to a sense of individualized or ambiguous spirituality within the secular sphere of everyday life (Hay & Hunt 2000). In a 2002 Gallup Poll, one in three U.S. respondents said that they are "spiritual but not religious," while 11% identified as neither spiritual nor religious.

In the midst of such cultural shifts regarding spirituality and organized religion over the past quarter-century, contemporary and emerging Christian leaders are facing the harsh reality that the majority of Western culture finds, or is beginning to find, little value in historically established forms of the institutionalized Christian church (Drane 2006). Missiologist Ed Stetzer states: "Our churches are dying, and our culture is changing. We know new churches can make a difference. Church planting is not easy, but without it the church will continue to decline in North America." (Stetzer 2006:14).

b.

Monday, May 05, 2008

A Letter of Recommendation from Jesus.

Maybe I would have gotten into Berkeley if I had just sent them this:

[2 Corinthians 3:1-3]

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

b.

The Aroma of Christ

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

[2 Corinthians 2:14-16]

b.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Artistic and Insightful Quotations by Awesome Godly Men

[from Monergism Books]
[click to enlarge]

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Along Those Same Lines...

As Mark Driscoll explains, all people are created beings, made in the image and likeness of God. This doctrine leads to a life that honors all human beings. Therefore, all people---all nationalities, both genders, the born and the unborn, all races, the brilliant and the mentally deficient, rich and poor, young and old, healthy and dying, conscious and comatose---bear the image of God equally, with dignity, value, and worth. One who holds an atheistic, evolutionary philosophy, however, if he is to be logically consistent with his own worldview, ought to allow the elderly, lame, poor, simple, mentally deficient, and handicapped to simply die. An atheistic "survival of the fittest" mentality, in which some people are more closely related to animals than others, is the root of all racism, classism, and sexism. Not the Christian Bible, when interpreted and applied correctly. When a non-Christian calls for, acts with, or feels compelled toward compassion and love, it is the image of God within them overriding their own deceptive and false philosophy.

b.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Discussing Moral Absolutes, Relativism, Theology, and Discrimination With One of my Professors

This past semester, I had a brief email exchange with one of my professors. He is a professor emeritus of psychology, and since retirement, has dedicated his years to teaching social justice courses at the University of Michigan. Despite adhering to an atheistic worldview, he has a compassionate heart for society's oppressed and marginalized. After providing him with a short list of some of my beliefs and stances that arise out of my Christian faith, he responded:

I must admit that I feel a potential pinch in part of your list. When you say that a merely cultural or nominal Christian does not have to stand for "such values and lifestyles," I am not certain whether you are saying that all practicing Christians must agree with your list of beliefs.

Some of the most devout Christians I know would say that it is their Christianity itself which leads them to celebrate gender equality and flexibility of gender roles, homosexuality, believing not in universals and absolutes, but instead in "the spark of divine in all persons," etc., etc. In fact, for myself, it is precisely the lessons I learned at my church that lead me to be pro-choice, relativistic, feminist, etc.

I'm not sure how we avoid prejudice and discrimination if there are absolutes and universals about what are best things. To me, you seem NOT a prejudiced or judgmental person---how do you believe in absolutes and not feel the need to "correct" others?

With respect, Charles

My Reply:

I do not mean to imply that all practicing Christians must agree with the list I made in my previous email, only that they should. What makes somebody a Christian is not what they believe in terms of gender roles, absolutes, abortion, homosexuality, marriage, or anything else like that. What makes somebody a Christian is only that they have repented of their sin and have accepted the free gift of grace that is offered through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. With that stated, however, I would say that any Christian that claims to follow Christ and His Word, and does not hold to those values that I listed is simply incorrect, and not basing their beliefs or lifestyle off of the Bible. This does not mean that they are not a true Christian.

Also, you ask an awesome question when you say:

"I'm not sure how we avoid prejudice and discrimination if there are absolutes and universals about what are best things. To me, you seem NOT a prejudiced or judgmental person-- how do you believe in absolutes and not feel the need to "correct" others?"

I too would hope that I am not a prejudiced or judgmental person (at least any more so than all people are). I certainly try not to be. There is a big difference between being judgmental or discriminatory, and simply knowing what is absolutely correct and incorrect. As an analogy: I can know that it is against the law to murder. And I can know that someone is breaking the law when I know that they have murdered. However, until I, personally, sentence them to jail time, I am not "judging" them. That's the Judge's job. I am only acknowledging the law...what is correct and incorrect. I have no authority to sentence anyone to jail time, just like I have not authority to condemn anyone to hell. All I can do is acknowledge what is correct and incorrect, right and wrong.

Along those same lines: How can I believe in absolutes and universals (ie. God's will) yet not feel the need to correct others? Well, in a sense I do feel the need to correct others. Because I believe that God has one will, and that it is best to be in accordance to that will, I believe that the world would be a much better place if some people believed differently than they do. That is why I want to be a pastor, a teacher, a father, and a mentor. However, I must also recognize that it is not my job to change everybody's minds. It is only my job to represent Christ to the world through my words, deeds, and beliefs. All I can do is show Christ to the world, and let them form their own beliefs.

In terms of discrimination: If you would describe anything that I said above as "discrimination"...then, fine, I discriminate unapologetically. However, I do not believe that anything that I have said above, or anything that I believe in general, condones discrimination. For me, discrimination is the unequal treatment or consideration of a person based on the group, class, or category to which that person belongs rather than on individual merit. I believe that all people, regardless of race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, or religion, deserve to be treated with respect, love, and equal opportunity. I believe this value is an absolute, a universal that resonates with the human heart because it reflects the character of God. In other words, we need absolutes and universals of what is right and wrong (God's will) in order to be against discrimination and fight it together. Otherwise, in a world ruled by relativism, who is to say that discrimination, oppression, or anything is worth fighting against.

He never responded.

What do you think? Did I handle that well?

b.

Religious Discrimination and Lawsuits in the US Military

THIS ARTICLE from Saturday's New York Times tells the story of Jeremy Hall, a 23-year-old soldier in Iraq who was sent home early because of threats from fellow soldiers. This past July, Hall started the "Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers" at Camp Speicher, near Tikrit, Iraq. Hall and fellow atheist soldiers were reportedly berated and threatened by higher level military officials. Hall has filed a suit in federal court against the US Army for violating his right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment. In 2005, the Air Force issued new regulations regarding religious freedom in response to complaints from cadets at the Air Force Academy that evangelical Christian officers used their positions to proselytize. Since 2004, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been contacted by more than 5,500 service members about incidents of religious discrimination in the US military.

b.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Young Male Christian Leaders

"Interests: Music, hockey, reading, technology, computer stuff, artwork, good beer, poker, fishing, hunting, outdoor stuff, guitar, film, paintball, Christian theology, and most importantly Jesus Christ."

One of my male friend's list of interests on facebook reminded me of this:

Friday, April 25, 2008

The End of an Era

Now that I am completely done with my undergraduate career at the University of Michigan, I have some time to breathe and update you all on my last couple weeks.

At 1:38 pm this past Tuesday, I submitted an eight-page take-home exam for Judaic Studies 478: Modern Jewish Thought, which marked the end of my time at the University of Michigan. I pretty much did half a semester's worth of reading in the two days before it was due, but my professor absolutely loved it! I stayed up until about 5:30 a.m. working on it, and put the finishing touches on it after lunch. It was on dialectical tensions and the significance of language in Jewish theology. Pretty neat.

That night, with a newfound sense of freedom and the impending bliss of summer, my friends and I went to Cru's annual Spring Banquet. It is always one of the best events of the year. This year it was extra sweet because not only was I a senior, but I didn't have any final exams looming over me. We ate, danced, mingled, enjoyed a talent show, and overwhelmed the local Steak'n'Shake with about 50 people at one in the morning.

Here are some of the seniors:

And here's me limboing:

Since that Tuesday, I've been milking these last ten days in Ann Arbor for all I can. While I am looking forward to summer, I am going to miss Ann Arbor and my friends here immensely. It's kind of hard to leave every Spring, but this time it seems surreal knowing that I will not be back with the same people in the Fall. Siiigghhh... Over the last ten days, we've had several great afternoons outside, playing ultimate frisbee in the arb, movie nights, and plenty of late night soccer at Angell Elementary. Personally, I've been cherishing all of those lunches and dinners with Joel, Marissa, Bevys, Corinne, Evan, Sarah, Brian, and Emily in the West Quad cafeteria.

This summer, I am pretty sure I will not be painting apartments. No longer needing to pay for tuition, my primary goals for this summer are to love people, read books, and have fun. I also have a pretty awesome summer job through Notre Dame. While living in Lansing, I will be a part-time research assistant, gathering data for a study on the mission and programs of various Protestant churches throughout the Midwest. Once or twice a week, I get paid to drive to Flint or Detroit, attend church services, and then take pastors out to lunch to administer surveys and interviews about their church's mission, structure, programs, etc. (...and don't worry, they're reimbursing me for gas and food.) I'm excited. Aside from that, I am looking forward to reconnecting with friends, going to Riverview on Saturday nights, Sunday evenings at Justin and Devon's house, afternoons on Lake Lansing, and Tijuana in June.

Finally, the Sociology Honors Symposium was this morning. My mom and dad came into Ann Arbor, and all fourteen soc honors students gave a brief presentation of their honors theses for their parents and faculty mentors. At the end, I was surprised to be awarded the Robert Cooley Angell Award for the best undergraduate honors thesis (which comes with $500)! My faculty mentor was so proud of me that he came up to me afterwards in tears. He hugged me, and said that "this probably crosses the student/teacher boundary, but it's ok with my fellow Christian brother." Sweet. He is a former pastor and current Sociology Lecturer, specializing in religion and social theory. Ever since I took his course (money, sex, and religion) second semester freshman year, he has been a great help in guiding my academic growth and career path. Commencement is on the diag tomorrow morning, and I'll be home shortly thereafter. Now, I'm going out to a sushi dinner with Tracy.

b.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Done.

At 1:38 pm today, I finished my undergraduate career at the University of Michigan.

b.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Value of Good Questions

"Knowledge in general and self-knowledge in particular are gained not only from discovering logical answers but also from formulating logical, even though unanswerable, questions. The human logos is as concerned with an honest inquiry into an insolvable antimony which leads to intellectual despair and humility as it is with an unprejudiced true solution of a complex problem arousing joy and enhancing one’s intellectual determination and boldness."

-Joseph Dov Soloveitchik-

"[God] is the answer to man's ultimate questions. The moment we become oblivious to ultimate questions, religion becomes irrelevant, and its crisis sets in. The primary task of philosophy of religion is to rediscover the questions to which religion [faith] is the answer. The inquiry must proceed both by delving into the consciousness of man as well as by delving into the teachings and attitudes of the [Christian] tradition...In the process of thinking, an answer without a question is devoid of life. It may enter the mind; it will not penetrate the soul. It may become a part of one's knowledge; it will not come forth as a creative force."

-Abraham J. Heschel-

b.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Big Day...kinda.

I just turned in the final version of my honors thesis.

And this past evening, I officially accepted the offer from Notre Dame.

Now I am going to bed.

b.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

My third-grade pen pal is pretty much the coolest kid ever.