I stumbled upon the following 'challenge' the other day:
A great first response from former atheist Doug Powell:
A followup response:
Doug is a talented musician whose website can be accessed here.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Good News, but not what you think it is...
Trevin Wax: Could you give us a brief definition of “the gospel”?
N.T. Wright: I could try taking a Pauline angle. When Paul talks about “the gospel,” he means “the good news that the crucified and risen Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and therefore the Lord of the world.” Now, that’s about as brief as you can do it.
The reason that’s good news… In the Roman Empire, when a new emperor came to the throne, there’d obviously been a time of uncertainty. Somebody’s just died. Is there going to be chaos? Is society going to collapse? Are we going to have pirates ruling the seas? Are we going to have no food to eat? And the good news is, we have an emperor and his name is such and such. So, we’re going to have justice and peace and prosperity, and isn’t that great?!
Now, of course, most people in the Roman Empire knew that was rubbish because it was just another old jumped-up aristocrat who was going to do the same as the other ones had done. But that was the rhetoric.
Paul slices straight in with the Isaianic message: Good news! God is becoming King and he is doing it through Jesus! And therefore, phew! God’s justice, God’s peace, God’s world is going to be renewed.
And in the middle of that, of course, it’s good news for you and me. But that’s the derivative from, or the corollary of the good news which is a message about Jesus that has a second-order effect on me and you and us. But the gospel is not itself about you are this sort of a person and this can happen to you. That’s the result of the gospel rather than the gospel itself.
It’s very clear in Romans. Romans 1:3-4: This is the gospel. It’s the message about Jesus Christ descended from David, designated Son of God in power, and then Romans 1:16-17 which says very clearly: “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.” That is, salvation is the result of the gospel, not the center of the gospel itself.
Let’s be clear about this because many Christians in the evangelical tradition use words like “conversion,” “regeneration,” “justification,” “born-again,” etc. all as more or less synonyms to mean “becoming a Christian from cold.” In the classic Reformed tradition, the word “justification” is much more fine-tuned than that and has to do with a verdict which is pronounced, rather than with something happening to you in terms of actually being born again. So that I’m actually much closer to some classic Reformed writing on this than some people perhaps realize.
Let me put it like this. In Paul (and this is really a Pauline conversation, after all), what happens is that the word of the gospel is announced. That is to say, Jesus Christ is proclaimed – one-on-one or in a large meeting or out on the street or whatever, and even though that message is crazy (and Paul knows it’s crazy; he says it’s folly to Gentiles and a scandal to Jews), some people find that it grabs them and they believe it. This is bizarre. I shouldn’t be believing this. A dead man got raised from the dead and he’s the Lord of the world. I really shouldn’t believe this, but it does make sense. And it finds me and I can feel it changing me. Paul’s analysis of that is that this is the power of the word (he has a strong theology of the word), and another equal way of saying it for Paul is that this is the Holy Spirit working through the gospel. He says, no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Spirit is the One who through the Word does the work of grace which is the transformative thing, and the first sign of that new life is faith.
The above was found here.
N.T. Wright: I could try taking a Pauline angle. When Paul talks about “the gospel,” he means “the good news that the crucified and risen Jesus is the Messiah of Israel and therefore the Lord of the world.” Now, that’s about as brief as you can do it.
The reason that’s good news… In the Roman Empire, when a new emperor came to the throne, there’d obviously been a time of uncertainty. Somebody’s just died. Is there going to be chaos? Is society going to collapse? Are we going to have pirates ruling the seas? Are we going to have no food to eat? And the good news is, we have an emperor and his name is such and such. So, we’re going to have justice and peace and prosperity, and isn’t that great?!
Now, of course, most people in the Roman Empire knew that was rubbish because it was just another old jumped-up aristocrat who was going to do the same as the other ones had done. But that was the rhetoric.
Paul slices straight in with the Isaianic message: Good news! God is becoming King and he is doing it through Jesus! And therefore, phew! God’s justice, God’s peace, God’s world is going to be renewed.
And in the middle of that, of course, it’s good news for you and me. But that’s the derivative from, or the corollary of the good news which is a message about Jesus that has a second-order effect on me and you and us. But the gospel is not itself about you are this sort of a person and this can happen to you. That’s the result of the gospel rather than the gospel itself.
It’s very clear in Romans. Romans 1:3-4: This is the gospel. It’s the message about Jesus Christ descended from David, designated Son of God in power, and then Romans 1:16-17 which says very clearly: “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.” That is, salvation is the result of the gospel, not the center of the gospel itself.
Let’s be clear about this because many Christians in the evangelical tradition use words like “conversion,” “regeneration,” “justification,” “born-again,” etc. all as more or less synonyms to mean “becoming a Christian from cold.” In the classic Reformed tradition, the word “justification” is much more fine-tuned than that and has to do with a verdict which is pronounced, rather than with something happening to you in terms of actually being born again. So that I’m actually much closer to some classic Reformed writing on this than some people perhaps realize.
Let me put it like this. In Paul (and this is really a Pauline conversation, after all), what happens is that the word of the gospel is announced. That is to say, Jesus Christ is proclaimed – one-on-one or in a large meeting or out on the street or whatever, and even though that message is crazy (and Paul knows it’s crazy; he says it’s folly to Gentiles and a scandal to Jews), some people find that it grabs them and they believe it. This is bizarre. I shouldn’t be believing this. A dead man got raised from the dead and he’s the Lord of the world. I really shouldn’t believe this, but it does make sense. And it finds me and I can feel it changing me. Paul’s analysis of that is that this is the power of the word (he has a strong theology of the word), and another equal way of saying it for Paul is that this is the Holy Spirit working through the gospel. He says, no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
So, the Holy Spirit is the One who through the Word does the work of grace which is the transformative thing, and the first sign of that new life is faith.
The above was found here.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Humor as a Weapon
Surfing the net the other day, I came across this:
After thinking on it for a while, I am wondering if perhaps our best weapon against Islamic Fascism might be ridicule. Consider:
"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them..." Psalms 2:1-4
Maybe if our Hollywood elites would get behind a campaign to unmercifully ridicule the Islamofascists, as they often do with Christian fundamentalists, we could get some traction in driving Osama even further into hiding... On the other hand, they may be more afraid of Osama than they are of Pat Robertson...
After thinking on it for a while, I am wondering if perhaps our best weapon against Islamic Fascism might be ridicule. Consider:
"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains,' they say, 'and throw off their fetters.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them..." Psalms 2:1-4
Maybe if our Hollywood elites would get behind a campaign to unmercifully ridicule the Islamofascists, as they often do with Christian fundamentalists, we could get some traction in driving Osama even further into hiding... On the other hand, they may be more afraid of Osama than they are of Pat Robertson...
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Phil Keaggy Redux
I had heard of this guy before, but I wasn't very familiar with his music. Thanks to Doug Wilson's blog I am becoming a big fan. Check out this amazing YouTube video clip:
He is playing solo, using some electronics to make audio loops on the fly, which he plays on top of at various points in the song. If you look closely, you'll see that he is missing the middle finger of his picking hand... it doesn't seem to detract from his ability to do amazing things with the guitar. He's a pretty awesome vocalist as well. Enjoy...
He is playing solo, using some electronics to make audio loops on the fly, which he plays on top of at various points in the song. If you look closely, you'll see that he is missing the middle finger of his picking hand... it doesn't seem to detract from his ability to do amazing things with the guitar. He's a pretty awesome vocalist as well. Enjoy...
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Quote Mining Operation
I hope the casual observer will forgive my posting of the following seemingly random quotes, but I am using my blog as a repository for such so that I can easily find them in the future....
The following is from the pen of Blaise Pascal, the father of the mathematical theory of probability and combinatorial analysis:
"God makes people conscious of their inward wretchedness, which the Bible calls 'sin', and his infinite mercy, unites himself to their inmost soul, fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, renders them incapable of any other end than Himself. Jesus Christ is the end of all and the center to which all tends.... At the center of every human being is a God–shaped vacuum, which can only be filled by Jesus Christ".
Sir Isaac Newton, who needs no introduction:
"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."
"There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history."
"...men are apt to run into partings about deductions. All the old heresies lie in deductions. The true faith was in the Biblical texts."
George Trevellian (a secular historian):
"Boyle, Newton and the early members of the Royal Society were religious men who repudiated the skeptical doctrines of Thomas Hobbs. But they familiarized the minds of their countrymen with the idea of law in the universe and with scientific methods of inquiry to discover truth. It was believed that these methods would never lead to any conclusions inconsistent with Biblical history and miraculous religion. Newton lived and died in that faith."
The following is from the pen of Blaise Pascal, the father of the mathematical theory of probability and combinatorial analysis:
"God makes people conscious of their inward wretchedness, which the Bible calls 'sin', and his infinite mercy, unites himself to their inmost soul, fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, renders them incapable of any other end than Himself. Jesus Christ is the end of all and the center to which all tends.... At the center of every human being is a God–shaped vacuum, which can only be filled by Jesus Christ".
Sir Isaac Newton, who needs no introduction:
"This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."
"There are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane history."
"...men are apt to run into partings about deductions. All the old heresies lie in deductions. The true faith was in the Biblical texts."
George Trevellian (a secular historian):
"Boyle, Newton and the early members of the Royal Society were religious men who repudiated the skeptical doctrines of Thomas Hobbs. But they familiarized the minds of their countrymen with the idea of law in the universe and with scientific methods of inquiry to discover truth. It was believed that these methods would never lead to any conclusions inconsistent with Biblical history and miraculous religion. Newton lived and died in that faith."
The Hypocrisy of Naturalism
"Naturalism is a prime specimen of that towering speculation, discovered from practice and going far beyond experience, which is now being condemned. Nature is not an object that can be presented either to the senses or the imagination. It can be reached only by the most remote inferences. Or not reached, merely approached. It is the hoped for, the assumed, unification in a single interlocked system of all the things inferred from our scientific experiments. More than that, the Naturalist, not content to assert this, goes on to the sweeping negative assertion "There is nothing except this" -- an assertion surely, as remote from practice, experience, and any conceivable verification as has ever been made since men began to use their reason speculatively. Yet on the present view, the very first step into such a use was an abuse, the perversion of a faculty merely practical, and the source of all chimeras."
C. S. Lewis, "Miracles"
C. S. Lewis, "Miracles"
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Catching up...
It has been a while since I posted something here. I'll try to do better; I promise! Today, I listened to a great lecture by Fritz Schaefer entitled "The Theological Roots of Modern Science". The lecture is one of the many excellent media files one can find at The Veritas Forum's website. The point of the lecture is to demonstrate someone can be both a committed Christian and a serious scientist, at the same time! I highly recommend listening...
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