Shockingly Inconsistent

For some reason, this blog post highlighting the inconsistent standards in our justice system regarding abortion really punched me in the gut. It is shameful how public "debates" on abortion seem to miss this. Read the post here.

Guide to Lead Family Worship

The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham is producing a weekly family worship guide to help their church members lead worship together in their homes. I know of some JF members who are using this who are recommending it highly. Here is the link .

Faith in Action

As we dig into the Word in class to understand how God values human life, it is our desire that the Lord would touch our hearts and spur us to joyful obedience. Here is an example of a tangible way we can do this by supporting initiatives such as this:

Here is one ministry committed to urban areas (here Los Angeles) where there are abortion clinics on almost every corner. His ministry, Heartbeat International, desires to open a "competing" pregnancy clinic to help save lives from abortion. Go here for more information. JFBC supports a clinic, Cobb Pregnancy Services, in Marietta, which does similar work. Watch this video- unbelievable what is going on in the urban centers of our country.

I once was lost....and now I'm found!

What a great picture!

Super Bowl Ad to Watch

This is exciting....looking forward to seeing this ad scheduled to run during the big game .

Haiti Giving Opportunities

Below is directly from the Desiring God blog, who I would trust without reservation if they recommended a organization to give through:

If you're looking for an organization to channel your money through for Haiti—and you probably should be—here are some options.

1. Compassion International
2. Feed My Starving Children
3. Food for the Hungry
4. World Vision
5. World Relief
6. Samaritan's Purse
7. Love a Child
8. Northwest Haiti Christian Mission
9. Compassion Weavers
10. Mennonite Central Committee
11. Water Missions International

Update: Another ministry to consider giving to is Real Hope for Haiti Rescue Center. They're operating one of the only clinics near the epicenter that's open right now.

Update #2: Another ministry worth giving through is Children's Hunger Fund.

Brit Hume Followup: Defending Proselytizing

Here is an OUTSTANDING post I highly recommend you read in light of the recent Brit Hume controversy where he publicly urged Tiger Woods to pursue faith in Jesus Christ as it offers true redemption whereas Buddhism does not. Many have been critical of Hume for his comments. This brief essay offers brief, helpful responses to others' objections against evangelism. Here are each of the objections dealt with in the article. Read the whole thing here, for responses to each objection.

Objection #1: “Brit Hume’s remarks indicate that he thinks Christianity is superior to Buddhism.”

Objection #2: “Christianity looks bad when Christians talk this way. Christians should not publicly and actively proselytize people of other faiths.”

Objection #3: “Brit Hume implied that Buddhism is deficient in some way.”

Objection #4: "It is arrogant for Brit Hume to assume he believes in the only true religion and to try to lead people to the Christian faith."

Objection #5: "Brit Hume’s attempt to evangelize Tiger Woods shows how exclusive and narrow-minded fundamentalist Christians are."

Why Creeds Are Important

As we were discussing last week in class how the Biblical canon was constructed a great question was asked on how Christians should view the different creeds that were developed in the early church. Read this interesting post by Carl Trueman on the value of the Apostle's Creed in standing firm against those who would like to rewrite history and truth and remove Christian cultural influence. Here is a sample:

"Take repetition of the Apostles' Creed on a Sunday in church. Now, the Apostles' Creed is not part of the Bible; it is not divinely inspired the way that Genesis or Romans is inspired. But it is a brilliant synthesis and summary of the basics of the Christian faith, and, in repeating it each Sunday, the church engages in an act that affirms its own identity—and act that, at the same time, constitutes an act of countercultural rebellion at a variety of different levels.

Firstly, by reciting these clear, doctrinal claims, the church affirms God as creator and as sovereign, and also declares the basics of the gospel. That is as ‘stick it to the man’ as you can get (in the most ‘in your face’ manner possible)!

Secondly, by using words passed down through the ages, the church affirms that Christianity is not reinvented every Sunday, it does not depend for its existence solely upon this generation, but rather that the church learns the faith from previous generations and is called to be the steward who passes on the form of sound words to the next generation.

Thirdly, in affirming the value of their history and the sovereignty of their God, the church stands as a witness against the wider culture, which throws off the claims of God and, from science to teen culture, despises the past as any source of wisdom for the present, let alone the future.

Thus, stuffy and archaic as some would see it, the recitation of the Apostles' Creed is potentially the most dangerously subversive act of cultural terrorism one might engage in on a Sunday. Far from being a hidebound exercise in dusty conservatism, it is potentially an act of absolute rebellion and revolution against the system, the man, the company, the establishment, the corporation or simply ‘them’—however one wishes to characterize those who hold the levers of cultural power."

Class question from Jan 3 on the NT letters

Here is a very good excerpt extracted from an article included in the ESV Study Bible on "Reading the Epistles" (ESV Study Bible, pp. 2147-2149), that addresses a great class question from last week on why the NT includes so much of God's word in the form of letters:

The Epistles are not abstract philosophical or theological essays that explain the salvation accomplished by Jesus Christ. In almost every instance, they are addressed to specific situations facing churches. It is clear in reading Galatians, Colossians, 2 Peter, and Jude that the letters were written because false teaching had infiltrated the churches. Upon reading 1–2 Corinthians, we realize that Paul wrote in response to various problems in the Corinthian church. The letters are crafted to speak to readers as they face everyday life. In his first letter, Peter addresses readers who were suffering discrimination and persecution. Colossians responds to some kind of mystical teaching that promises readers fullness of life apart from, or going beyond, Christ. Philippians hints that the church suffered from some type of dissension and lack of unity. In the two Thessalonian letters, the church was confused about eschatology, and some believers were apparently becoming lax and failing to work hard. While many themes in Paul's thought are set forth in Romans, even that letter does not represent a comprehensive exposition of the gospel, for we do not find in the letter a developed Christological exposition (cf. Phil. 2:6–11; Col. 1:15–20), an explanation of Paul's eschatology (cf. 1–2 Thessalonians), or an unfolding of a Pauline doctrine of the church (see Ephesians; 1 Timothy; Titus). Ephesians may be a circular letter sent to a number of churches, in which Paul sets forth a more comprehensive understanding of the church, but even Ephesians lacks a complete exposition of all of Paul's theology. We must mine all of Paul's letters to determine his theology—and God, in his providence, has given us all the letters (and, of course, the whole of Scripture) so that we can understand the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

In interpreting the Epistles, then, we should try to understand the specific circumstances that the original readers were facing. Upon reading Galatians, for instance, we see readily enough that Paul is responding to opponents who are subverting the gospel. Our understanding of Paul's purpose in writing Galatians is sharpened if we piece together the clues in the letter to reconstruct the views of Paul's opponents. We see that certain outsiders had infiltrated the church and were arguing that the Galatians must submit to circumcision and keep the OT law in order to be saved (cf. Gal. 1:7; 2:3–5; 3:1–14; 5:2–6, 12; 6:12–13). Paul contends vigorously that no one is saved by works of law but only through faith in Jesus Christ.

As readers of the Epistles today, we face a disadvantage that the first readers did not have, for they knew firsthand the situation that the letter writer addressed. Our knowledge of the circumstances is partial and incomplete. Reading the letters can be like listening to half of a telephone conversation: we hear only the writer's response to the situation in a particular church. Still, we trust that God in his goodness has given us all we need to know in order to interpret the Epistles adequately and to apply them faithfully.

Brit Hume on Tiger Woods

You don't see this kind of statement on the morning talk shows very often....here is a clear comment proclaiming the superiority of the Christian faith over another belief system, by a news journalist.

New Year's questions

Happy New Year!

As we begin 2010, Don Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, has compiled for us ten good questions to ask ourselves at the start of the new year:

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

If these were helpful for you, there are more questions here. Questions like these, used in an extended time of reflection alone (or with your spouse) can be very useful in helping us get re-focused spiritually as we start a new year.

2010 Daily Bible Reading Plan

Here’s a quick overview of the Bible Reading Plan we are using in class obtained from the ESV Study Bible

This plan has four readings each day, divided up into four sections:

• Psalms and Wisdom Literature
• Pentateuch and the History of Israel
• Chronicles and Prophets
• Gospels and Epistles

The introduction to the plan explains:

In order to make the readings come out evenly, four major books of the Bible are included twice in the schedule: the Psalms (the Bible’s hymnal), Isaiah (the grandest of the OT prophets), Luke (one of the four biblical Gospels), and Romans (the heart of the Bible’s theology of salvation).The list of readings from the Psalms and the Wisdom Literature begins and ends with special readings that are especially appropriate for the opening and closing of the year. The list of readings from the Pentateuch and the History of Israel proceeds canonically through the five books of Moses and then chronologically through the history of the OT, before closing the year with the sufferings of Job. The list of readings from the Chronicles and the Prophets begins with the Chronicler’s history of the people of God from Adam through the exile, followed by the Major and Minor Prophets, which are organized chronologically rather than canonically.

You can print out this PDF, which allows you to cut out four bookmarks that you can insert at the appropriate place as you go through your Bible reading. You can then check off the boxes provided by each reading as you complete it. I used these to read through the Scriptures this past year and found them very beneficial.

If the four readings turn out to be difficult to keep up with, I recommend you drop one of the OT readings, and then read the Psalms section, the NT passage, and one of the OT readings. Again, this plan is not to promote guilt in us and to get us down when we miss our daily reading, but to cultivate a lifetime of joyful anticipation of opening the Word consistently. If you get behind, don't sweat it - either pick up at the current day's reading, or wait for a good window of time where you can do some extended reading. I pray that for each of us the Word would become the daily food that we cannot live without.