Be Thou My Vision
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Death in the City - Chapter Six
Death in the City: Chapter 6 – The Significance of Man
Educated men of the modern era have increasingly turned to determinism as an explanation for our existence. Determinism is usually expressed as one of two varieties: chemical determinism, where life is just the outcome of chemical forces, and psychological determinism where humans are not responsible for what they do or who they are. Man has been reduced to simply a cog in the giant machinery of the cosmos.
Schaffer emphasizes that the biblical view is radically different. Quoting Romans 1:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” he states that if man can truly turn away from the truth, then man is wonderful: he “can really influence significant history.” A creature made in God’s image cannot be trapped in determinism. Man’s ability to choose, even to turn away from his creator shows his greatness.
Naturalistic humanism leads to a lessening of man’s significance. Only the biblical view can produce a real humanism, one that recognizes man’s greatness. Humans are not part of a theatrical play where the lines are set. Humans are responsible beings. Their choices influence history. To be sure, man is lost; but he is great. He matters.
Christianity is not Platonism which views the body as bad and the soul as the only thing that matters. God made the whole man; therefore “the whole man is to know salvation, and the whole man is to know the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The great teaching of the resurrection of the body is not just abstract doctrine; it stands as a pledge and reminder of a very important and a very hopeful fact.” God made humans with both body and soul, so He is concerned with both. He made man with intellect and so He is concerned with the intellect. He created man to be artistic so He is concerned about the creation of art and beauty through such creative capabilities.
Salvation, then, is not concerned with just a small area of our lives. It applies to every part, every division of our being. “Man is separated from God…he is separated form himself, thus the psychological problems of life…he is separated from other men, thus the sociological problems of life…he is separated from nature, and thus the problems of living in the world, for example, the ecological problems. All these need healing.”
Educated men of the modern era have increasingly turned to determinism as an explanation for our existence. Determinism is usually expressed as one of two varieties: chemical determinism, where life is just the outcome of chemical forces, and psychological determinism where humans are not responsible for what they do or who they are. Man has been reduced to simply a cog in the giant machinery of the cosmos.
Schaffer emphasizes that the biblical view is radically different. Quoting Romans 1:21-22, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” he states that if man can truly turn away from the truth, then man is wonderful: he “can really influence significant history.” A creature made in God’s image cannot be trapped in determinism. Man’s ability to choose, even to turn away from his creator shows his greatness.
Naturalistic humanism leads to a lessening of man’s significance. Only the biblical view can produce a real humanism, one that recognizes man’s greatness. Humans are not part of a theatrical play where the lines are set. Humans are responsible beings. Their choices influence history. To be sure, man is lost; but he is great. He matters.
Christianity is not Platonism which views the body as bad and the soul as the only thing that matters. God made the whole man; therefore “the whole man is to know salvation, and the whole man is to know the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The great teaching of the resurrection of the body is not just abstract doctrine; it stands as a pledge and reminder of a very important and a very hopeful fact.” God made humans with both body and soul, so He is concerned with both. He made man with intellect and so He is concerned with the intellect. He created man to be artistic so He is concerned about the creation of art and beauty through such creative capabilities.
Salvation, then, is not concerned with just a small area of our lives. It applies to every part, every division of our being. “Man is separated from God…he is separated form himself, thus the psychological problems of life…he is separated from other men, thus the sociological problems of life…he is separated from nature, and thus the problems of living in the world, for example, the ecological problems. All these need healing.”
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Should I go to seminary?
No. (Though, if I had the money, I wouldn't mind taking a few courses). But I think those who want to be pastors and church/parachurch leaders (never mind theologians) should. Read John Stackhouse's take on this
Monday, March 05, 2007
C.S. Lewis's Case for Christ
C.S. Lewis’s Case for Christ by Art Lindsley (IVP, 2005)
Lindsley’s book takes a brief and concise but quite thorough look at the thought of Lewis and the importance it has for those today who are seeking for answers to the meaning of life. It covers Lewis’ views on myth and imagination, rationalism and miracles, chronological snobbery, the problem of evil, belief in God as wish fulfillment, postmodernism, relativism, non-Christian religions, and death and immortality. The discussion on all these topics hinge on the person of Jesus Christ whom Lindsley, through the lens of Lewis’ writings, considers to be worthy of trust and commitment
Each chapter begins and ends with the narrative device of a Lewis seminar given at a bookstore (such as, say, Chapters or Borders bookstore). This allows for some discussion between a cast of characters (e.g., an atheist, a pluralist, etc.) that gets the ball rolling for the main body of text. The exposition that Lindsley provides is quite good. He gets Lewis’ main points without getting lost in the smaller details. Given the short and succinct, yet satisfying, nature of his explanations, this book would make a great introduction to Lewis for those who are asking the question: “Why should I believe in Christ?”
And those familiar with Lewis should find this book interesting as well.
Lindsley’s book takes a brief and concise but quite thorough look at the thought of Lewis and the importance it has for those today who are seeking for answers to the meaning of life. It covers Lewis’ views on myth and imagination, rationalism and miracles, chronological snobbery, the problem of evil, belief in God as wish fulfillment, postmodernism, relativism, non-Christian religions, and death and immortality. The discussion on all these topics hinge on the person of Jesus Christ whom Lindsley, through the lens of Lewis’ writings, considers to be worthy of trust and commitment
Each chapter begins and ends with the narrative device of a Lewis seminar given at a bookstore (such as, say, Chapters or Borders bookstore). This allows for some discussion between a cast of characters (e.g., an atheist, a pluralist, etc.) that gets the ball rolling for the main body of text. The exposition that Lindsley provides is quite good. He gets Lewis’ main points without getting lost in the smaller details. Given the short and succinct, yet satisfying, nature of his explanations, this book would make a great introduction to Lewis for those who are asking the question: “Why should I believe in Christ?”
And those familiar with Lewis should find this book interesting as well.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
More on the Jesus Tomb
Ben Witherington has a second great post on the Jesus tomb.
One note: Christians who, when confronted with this controversy or the Da Vinci Code, should remember that the purveyors of these controversies are presenting their side of the story only. It's easy to make a case for something when you only present one set of evidence, the set that supports your viewpoint. But, orthodox Christianity has evidence on its side too, lots of it. We ought to weigh the evidence on both sides and see which fits the facts the best.
There are plenty of books one could read, for example, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Blomberg; and there are plenty of internet resources such as this article by W.L. Craig, The Historicity of the Empty Tomb, as well as various articles at Tekton Apologetics
One note: Christians who, when confronted with this controversy or the Da Vinci Code, should remember that the purveyors of these controversies are presenting their side of the story only. It's easy to make a case for something when you only present one set of evidence, the set that supports your viewpoint. But, orthodox Christianity has evidence on its side too, lots of it. We ought to weigh the evidence on both sides and see which fits the facts the best.
There are plenty of books one could read, for example, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels by Craig Blomberg; and there are plenty of internet resources such as this article by W.L. Craig, The Historicity of the Empty Tomb, as well as various articles at Tekton Apologetics
Friday, March 02, 2007
Morris on Books
Philosopher Thomas V. Morris has written a couple of articles on the value of reading good books.
Reading Great Books and Living the Good Life
Reading Great Books Part 2
Reading Great Books and Living the Good Life
Reading Great Books Part 2
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Fly the flag at half mast
I've decided, due to financial constraints, to not renew my subscription to Books and Culture. Fortunately, they're online (that's how I found out about the Plantinga review; otherwise, I would have waited for the paper issue to arrive, usually by the third week of the month in question). But still, it's nice having the actual thing in my hands (at least, it was nice). I highly recommend the magazine to all lovers of books.
Plantinga's Review of Dawkins
Is there anyone who can write like Alvin PLantinga? I enjoy reading even the stuff of his I don't understand (which is lot...anyhoo). Here's his review of Richard Dawkins' latest book.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Has James Cameron sunk Christianity?
Doubtful. See these two posts by Ben Witherington and Darrell Bock.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Fast Food Nation
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The book’s humourously nostalgic cover art belies the scariness of its subject. I finished reading and recalled all the times as a kid I ate at McDonald’s. The nostalgia was somewhat nauseating. . Schlosser’s work has already garnered much attention, with even a motion picture made from it.
Schlosser begins the book with a description of Cheyenne Mountain, one of the most secure military combat operations centers in the world. It houses units of the North American Aerospace Command, the Air Force Space Command, and the U.S. Space Command. This is as well a guarded facility as one is liable to find anywhere. It can sustain itself for a month, with electrical generators, reservoirs of water, medical/dentist office, fitness center, and of course food. And yet, Schlosser describes the absurd juxtaposition of this most secure military site with a lone Domino’s deliveryman driving past signs reading “DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED” and heavily armed guards, unloading his arsenal of pizzas and collecting his money. If somehow the U.S. (including Cheyenne Mountain) ever gets wiped out by a nuclear attack, Schlosser writes, “future archeologists may find other clues to the nature of our civilization – Big King wrappers, hardened crusts of Cheesy Bread, Barbeque Wing bones, and the red, white and blue of a Domino’s pizza box.”
This book examines the effects, as well as the causes, of the fast food industry’s being firmly ensconced in American culture. Schlosser writes: “What people eat…has always been determined by a complex interplay of social, economic, and technological forces….A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or literature.”
The industry began with a small group of hamburger outlets a only few decades ago in California and has now spread throughout the world.
Fast food can be found everywhere: movie theaters, Wal-Marts, school cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent $6 billion on fast food. In 2001 they spent over $110 billion. According to Schlosser, “[Americans] spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music – combined.”
The McDonald’s Corp. is now the source of 90 percent of America’s new jobs. They went from 1000 restaurants in 1968 to around 30,000 today. It is the country’s largest purchaser of beef, pork and potatoes. It owns the most retail property in the world. The biggest portion of the corporation’s profits come not from selling food, but from collecting rent. In a survey of American children, Santa Claus was the only cultural icon more recognized than Ronald McDonald. And the Golden Arches are more familiar than the Christian Cross.
Schlosser writes, “the…success of the fast food industry has encouraged other industries to adopt similar business methods….Almost every facet of American life has now been franchised or chained, [f]rom maternity ward[s] to…funeral homes….a person can now go from the cradle to the grave without spending a nickel at an independently owned business.”
It’s an interesting note of history that the pioneers of the fast food industry, which is so “dedicated to conformity” were iconoclasts, entrepreneurs who went against the grain. Many never attended college.
Schlosser writes, “Fast food has joined Hollywood movies, blue jeans, and pop music as one of America’s most prominent cultural exports. Unlike other commodities, however, fast food isn’t viewed, read, played, or worn. It enters the body and becomes part of the consumer. No other industry offers, both literally and figuratively, so much insight into the nature of mass consumption.”
The most humourous section is chapter 5 where Schlosser describes his visit to a chemical factory that provides the smells and scents for fast food. What you smell as walk through those restaurant doors is the chemical concoction of some scientist in Dayton, New Jersey. The most disturbing part is chapter 9: What’s in the meat. The statistics and stories he shares are chilling and heartbreaking, especially the descriptions of children who were poisoned with E.Coli O157:H7 from eating undercooked hamburgers.
If even a third of what Schlosser has written is true, then there is reason to be concerned. I haven’t eaten fast food in a while, and if I had any inclination to eat some more, this book has stamped it out. Anyone who, upon reading Schlosser’s book, continues to eat fast food would have to be described as either incredibly obtuse or astonishingly brave.
The book’s humourously nostalgic cover art belies the scariness of its subject. I finished reading and recalled all the times as a kid I ate at McDonald’s. The nostalgia was somewhat nauseating. . Schlosser’s work has already garnered much attention, with even a motion picture made from it.
Schlosser begins the book with a description of Cheyenne Mountain, one of the most secure military combat operations centers in the world. It houses units of the North American Aerospace Command, the Air Force Space Command, and the U.S. Space Command. This is as well a guarded facility as one is liable to find anywhere. It can sustain itself for a month, with electrical generators, reservoirs of water, medical/dentist office, fitness center, and of course food. And yet, Schlosser describes the absurd juxtaposition of this most secure military site with a lone Domino’s deliveryman driving past signs reading “DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED” and heavily armed guards, unloading his arsenal of pizzas and collecting his money. If somehow the U.S. (including Cheyenne Mountain) ever gets wiped out by a nuclear attack, Schlosser writes, “future archeologists may find other clues to the nature of our civilization – Big King wrappers, hardened crusts of Cheesy Bread, Barbeque Wing bones, and the red, white and blue of a Domino’s pizza box.”
This book examines the effects, as well as the causes, of the fast food industry’s being firmly ensconced in American culture. Schlosser writes: “What people eat…has always been determined by a complex interplay of social, economic, and technological forces….A nation’s diet can be more revealing than its art or literature.”
The industry began with a small group of hamburger outlets a only few decades ago in California and has now spread throughout the world.
Fast food can be found everywhere: movie theaters, Wal-Marts, school cafeterias. In 1970, Americans spent $6 billion on fast food. In 2001 they spent over $110 billion. According to Schlosser, “[Americans] spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music – combined.”
The McDonald’s Corp. is now the source of 90 percent of America’s new jobs. They went from 1000 restaurants in 1968 to around 30,000 today. It is the country’s largest purchaser of beef, pork and potatoes. It owns the most retail property in the world. The biggest portion of the corporation’s profits come not from selling food, but from collecting rent. In a survey of American children, Santa Claus was the only cultural icon more recognized than Ronald McDonald. And the Golden Arches are more familiar than the Christian Cross.
Schlosser writes, “the…success of the fast food industry has encouraged other industries to adopt similar business methods….Almost every facet of American life has now been franchised or chained, [f]rom maternity ward[s] to…funeral homes….a person can now go from the cradle to the grave without spending a nickel at an independently owned business.”
It’s an interesting note of history that the pioneers of the fast food industry, which is so “dedicated to conformity” were iconoclasts, entrepreneurs who went against the grain. Many never attended college.
Schlosser writes, “Fast food has joined Hollywood movies, blue jeans, and pop music as one of America’s most prominent cultural exports. Unlike other commodities, however, fast food isn’t viewed, read, played, or worn. It enters the body and becomes part of the consumer. No other industry offers, both literally and figuratively, so much insight into the nature of mass consumption.”
The most humourous section is chapter 5 where Schlosser describes his visit to a chemical factory that provides the smells and scents for fast food. What you smell as walk through those restaurant doors is the chemical concoction of some scientist in Dayton, New Jersey. The most disturbing part is chapter 9: What’s in the meat. The statistics and stories he shares are chilling and heartbreaking, especially the descriptions of children who were poisoned with E.Coli O157:H7 from eating undercooked hamburgers.
If even a third of what Schlosser has written is true, then there is reason to be concerned. I haven’t eaten fast food in a while, and if I had any inclination to eat some more, this book has stamped it out. Anyone who, upon reading Schlosser’s book, continues to eat fast food would have to be described as either incredibly obtuse or astonishingly brave.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Best Opening Lines...
...for books that is. This is one person's list of the 100 best first lines from novels.
Favourite Hymn #8
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Speaker pay-scale
The way we pay Christian speakers is an indication of how much we value their time and expertise. Read John Stackhouse's views on this.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Death in the City – Chapter Five
Death in the City – Chapter Five: The Persistence of Compassion
So what was the result of Jeremiah’s faithfulness in preaching to his own “post-Christian” society? “They gradually increased [his] punishment…stocks, to a prison, to a dungeon.” It takes great courage to stick to an unpopular message. Giving up would be much easier. Evangelicals can exist in their little ghettoes if they wish, ignoring the real dire situation facing their culture. Or they can follow the way of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah never saw any change in his lifetime. One can assume his trials were psychological as well as physical. We need to speak out for truth regardless of whether we see any immediate results. But, Schaeffer warns, those who are faithful to the truth will also experience times of discouragement. They will pay a real price psychologically. “It is possible to be faithful to God and yet to be overwhelmed with discouragement as we face the world….So many people seem to think that if the Holy Spirit is working, then the work is easy. Don’t believe it! As the Holy Spirit works, a man is consumed.”
Schaeffer sums up his take on Jeremiah. First, in such a time as ours, a negative message is required before a positive message can be given. Before giving the gospel, we must spend time explaining modern humans’ existential dilemma – to show that they are “more dead” than they could imagine; that is, morally dead because they are separated from God.
Second, we must acknowledge that our culture is under God’s judgment. We must emphasize this reality. Third, Christians who say they believe in truth must practice truth. Relativism will rust the church from the inside out. The outside will look shiny and new while the foundation rots away until it’s too late to repair it. Schaeffer quotes from his book The God who is There: “The full doctrinal position of historic Christianity must be clearly maintained; it would seem to me that the central problem of evangelical orthodoxy in the second half of the twentieth century is the problem of the practice of this principle.”
Fourth, we must understand that knowing truth and practicing it will cost us much, in terms of, for example, our family life, academic life, professional life, etc. Fifth, though the price be high, we need to keep on preaching the truth.
He writes: “Christianity is not a modern success story. It is to be preached with love and tears into the teeth of men, preached without compromise, without regard to the world’s concept of success. If there seem to be no results, remember that Jeremiah did not see the results in his day. They came later. If there seem to be no results, it does not change God’s imperative. It is simply up to you and to me to go on…whether we see the results or whether we don’t. Go on.”
So what was the result of Jeremiah’s faithfulness in preaching to his own “post-Christian” society? “They gradually increased [his] punishment…stocks, to a prison, to a dungeon.” It takes great courage to stick to an unpopular message. Giving up would be much easier. Evangelicals can exist in their little ghettoes if they wish, ignoring the real dire situation facing their culture. Or they can follow the way of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah never saw any change in his lifetime. One can assume his trials were psychological as well as physical. We need to speak out for truth regardless of whether we see any immediate results. But, Schaeffer warns, those who are faithful to the truth will also experience times of discouragement. They will pay a real price psychologically. “It is possible to be faithful to God and yet to be overwhelmed with discouragement as we face the world….So many people seem to think that if the Holy Spirit is working, then the work is easy. Don’t believe it! As the Holy Spirit works, a man is consumed.”
Schaeffer sums up his take on Jeremiah. First, in such a time as ours, a negative message is required before a positive message can be given. Before giving the gospel, we must spend time explaining modern humans’ existential dilemma – to show that they are “more dead” than they could imagine; that is, morally dead because they are separated from God.
Second, we must acknowledge that our culture is under God’s judgment. We must emphasize this reality. Third, Christians who say they believe in truth must practice truth. Relativism will rust the church from the inside out. The outside will look shiny and new while the foundation rots away until it’s too late to repair it. Schaeffer quotes from his book The God who is There: “The full doctrinal position of historic Christianity must be clearly maintained; it would seem to me that the central problem of evangelical orthodoxy in the second half of the twentieth century is the problem of the practice of this principle.”
Fourth, we must understand that knowing truth and practicing it will cost us much, in terms of, for example, our family life, academic life, professional life, etc. Fifth, though the price be high, we need to keep on preaching the truth.
He writes: “Christianity is not a modern success story. It is to be preached with love and tears into the teeth of men, preached without compromise, without regard to the world’s concept of success. If there seem to be no results, remember that Jeremiah did not see the results in his day. They came later. If there seem to be no results, it does not change God’s imperative. It is simply up to you and to me to go on…whether we see the results or whether we don’t. Go on.”
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
New C.S. Lewis Encyclopedia
This four volume work can be pre-ordered at Amazon. My birthday's coming up...
You can read the preface here
You can read the preface here
Redeeming movies
CT Movies has listed their top 10 redeeming films of 2006, as well as a runner's up list.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Favourite Hymn #9
I Cannot Tell
I cannot tell why He Whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
When Bethlehem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world is come.
I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the brokenhearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Savior, Savior of the world is here.
I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.
I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world is King!
I cannot tell why He Whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as Shepherd, He should seek the wanderers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
When Bethlehem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world is come.
I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the brokenhearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Savior, Savior of the world is here.
I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.
I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world is King!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Death in the City - Chapter Four: An Echo of the World
Here, Schaeffer examines whom Jeremiah was speaking to. It was not merely to the ordinary man on the street, but included the leaders, to kings, prophets and religious leaders anyone drawing the people away from God. His audience included even the land itself.
An example: “The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth” (Jer. 34:19-20).
But his sharpest criticisms were aimed at the religious leaders who were leading the people astray. Jer. 2:8 – “The priests said not, ‘Where is the Lord?’ and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.”
Just as then, so today many religious leaders are leading people astray, away from God’s truth. Many try to treat people with love by toning down the message of Scripture. Today’s leaders and yesterday’s prophets are not speaking for God. Schaeffer says they are merely “taking the social consensus of their day and speaking as though that was the Word of God”. Their message is just an echo of those in society, those whom we could call secularism’s priesthood, such as unbelieving philosophers, scientists and sociologists. They merely couch the message in theological jargon.
In previous generations, even if the culture at large was mainly deistic, one could still walk into a church and hear the truth. This is not the case anymore in many churches. What you hear today are echoes. Jer. 23:30 – “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.” One prophet repeats a message he heard from another prophet. The theology of today is likewise merely an echo, an echo of what “man says, what materialistic society teaches, what materialistic psychology teaches, what materialistic economics teaches, what materialistic philosophy teaches.”
Schaeffer asks, “Do you expect God to sit there and just…say, ‘Isn’t that nice?...And if such a god existed what…would be the use of having him?”
Men of today are no different from those of Jeremiah’s day. Schaeffer says, “Men today do not perhaps burn the Bible…But men destroy it in the form of exegesis; they destroy it in the way they deal with it. They destroy it by not reading it as written in normal literary form, by ignoring historical-grammatical exegesis, by changing the Bible’s own perspective of itself as propositional revelation in space and time, in history….You who call yourselves Bible-believing Christians…should be filled with wonder and amazement that men dare so treat God’s Word.”
An example: “The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth” (Jer. 34:19-20).
But his sharpest criticisms were aimed at the religious leaders who were leading the people astray. Jer. 2:8 – “The priests said not, ‘Where is the Lord?’ and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.”
Just as then, so today many religious leaders are leading people astray, away from God’s truth. Many try to treat people with love by toning down the message of Scripture. Today’s leaders and yesterday’s prophets are not speaking for God. Schaeffer says they are merely “taking the social consensus of their day and speaking as though that was the Word of God”. Their message is just an echo of those in society, those whom we could call secularism’s priesthood, such as unbelieving philosophers, scientists and sociologists. They merely couch the message in theological jargon.
In previous generations, even if the culture at large was mainly deistic, one could still walk into a church and hear the truth. This is not the case anymore in many churches. What you hear today are echoes. Jer. 23:30 – “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.” One prophet repeats a message he heard from another prophet. The theology of today is likewise merely an echo, an echo of what “man says, what materialistic society teaches, what materialistic psychology teaches, what materialistic economics teaches, what materialistic philosophy teaches.”
Schaeffer asks, “Do you expect God to sit there and just…say, ‘Isn’t that nice?...And if such a god existed what…would be the use of having him?”
Men of today are no different from those of Jeremiah’s day. Schaeffer says, “Men today do not perhaps burn the Bible…But men destroy it in the form of exegesis; they destroy it in the way they deal with it. They destroy it by not reading it as written in normal literary form, by ignoring historical-grammatical exegesis, by changing the Bible’s own perspective of itself as propositional revelation in space and time, in history….You who call yourselves Bible-believing Christians…should be filled with wonder and amazement that men dare so treat God’s Word.”
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Jesus: An Inconvenient Truth
This First Things blog post makes some observations about the pretensions a certain film director cum "biblical scholar"
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