Tim Keller Mania

Tim Keller mania has hit Reformed circles hard over the last few years and for good reason. Keller took Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan from a few old fogies in the late eighties to a megachurch that has planted dozens of churches throughout NYC. Keller is also one of the finest preachers working today. Unfortunately, Redeemer does not post his sermons on iTunes but there are a few free ones out there and you should download them RIGHT NOW. Like Fred Craddock before him, you can bet that these sermons are being "re-preached" in pulpits around the world. The following link is a mildly amusing homage to "Keller mania":

(http://jollyblogger.typepad.com/jollyblogger/2007/12/judge-rules-in.html).

Christianity Today's Response to "Unchristian"

The Editors of Christianity Today have posted an interesting assessment of Lyons' & Kinnamman's book "Unchristian." On the one hand, CT warns the church not to craft their theology based purely on the views of the unchurched, as history has taught us that this is a disastrous move, but, on the other hand, they caution:

"While we think we're standing for righteousness, we often come across as judgmental. While we think we're trying to apply Christian ethics to the social scene, it comes across as mere politics. While we think we're paragons of virtue, others see deep moral flaws in us. These are not merely image problems, but character issues that get to the core of what the church is and should be."

It is true that a number of outspoken Christians need to soften their rhetoric and remember that, according to Scripture, the harshest criticism is reserved for those within the church. That being said, it may be impossible to stand for the unborn and not appear to many as "political" and and the only Christians I know who see themselves as a "paragons of virtue" are arrogant, liberal emergents rather than orthodox Christians who, by and large, see themselves as nothing more than sinners saved by grace.


http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/december/23.21.html

Scholar Frauds Are Coming To Town!

New Testament Professor Darrell Bock has a good article over at Christianity Today Online about how to react to the annual holiday spate of wing-nut theories on "the real Jesus." Check it out:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/december/22.40.html

Whoever Hates His Brother Is Still In Darkness

According to media accounts, Matthew Murray was home schooled by faithful parents, briefly attended a missions training program and has a brother at Oral Roberts University where he himself considered recently applying to, but then, last weekend, Matthew Murray took the lives of four followers of Christ in Colorado because, according to Fox News, "he hated Christians."

Why did Matthew Murray walk in darkness and reach out from it to rob good families of their loved ones and his own family of their reputation and, most importantly, their child?

Murray either quit or was thrown out of the missions training institute where he killed two young people and then, apparently still filled with rage, drove 65 miles to Colorado Springs to the campus of New Life Church, which has already had a turbulent few years, and took two more lives before being gunned down by a volunteer security guard.

Murray's parents are said to be in shock. Who can blame them? Of course, the media will comb through their trash for "warning signs" but what parent looks into the eyes of their own child and sees "a killer"?

There are no real answers to be found here--only the reality of the darkness.

The great pulpiteer Fred Craddock tells the story of a Native American woman who once wrote a weekly column in broken English for a newspaper in Oklahoma. After the assassination of President Kennedy she wrote, "I have no words today. I have no words to say. I walk around the house all day saying (painful sigh)." Craddock said that it is a sin to put words into the mouths of those deeply aching and he was right but, regardless, all I can think of is:

"How long, O Lord? How long?"

May God wrap these families in comfort until the trumpet sounds and time and tears are no more.

Down with NPP

For the last 10 years I have read the Bible through every year in a different translation (NIV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, NEB, NASB, JB, ESV, The Message, and the NLT). Next year, however, I think I'm going to try something a little different.

I am going to focus solely on Paul's Epistles and simultaneously read widely on both the New Perspective on Paul (NPP) and the classical Reformed perspective in order to nail down the pros and con on each side as well as to memorize the Book of Romans.

I will not enter this "Year with the Apostle" objectively. I have serious issues with the idea that church is just now getting the doctrine of justification right (See N.T. Wright) and that first century Judaism was just as much a religion of grace as Christianity is (See E.P. Sanders) but I will commit myself to taking these arguments seriously.

I have already read quite a few of the works in the NPP field but I'm going to slowly read them again along with Luther's lectures on Galatians, Calvin's commentaries and modern tomes by Moo, Piper, Westerholm, etc.

Should be a fun year.

For an introduction to the NPP, check out the largely pro-NPP The Paul Page (http://www.thepaulpage.com/) and more critical links at Monergism.com (http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/New-Perspective/).

Should be an interesting year.

Nativity Flap and The Real Meaning of the 1st Amendment

Here in southern Ohio over the last week there has been a serious fuss over the removal of a nativity scene at the Shawnee State Forest Lodge. Management received a single complaint from an atheist in Columbus that the "holiday display" represented only one faith. The self-proclaimed "offended atheist" wanted to add a Hindu Swastika, among other things, to the scene. Instead of fighting, management simply took down the nativity scene altogether which prompted an uproar from local citizens. Governor Ted Strickland, to his credit, ordered the state lodge to put the nativity scene back up immediately.

The controversy reminded me how far we have strayed from the vision of our nation's founders and how poorly most of us know the history and meaning of our own Constitution. One of the best resources online is Wallbuilders, which is a ministry dedicated to fighting revisionist historians. Check them out at http://www.wallbuilders.com/ and their radio show www.wallbuilderslive.com which is only 30 minutes and one that I listen to every day. Be sure to hit the archives and download the shows from October 24-25 as they focus on the so-called "separation of church and state." All of their presentations are culled from original sources (i.e., the very debates over the Constitution or letters from the founding fathers, etc.). Great stuff and very informative.

Emergent Village Idiots Part 4--Rob Bell on Tour

Christianity Today Online's Out of Ur blog recently focused on Rob Bell's latest "sermon on steroids" tour entitled "The Gods Aren't Angry." I listened to Bell speak about the tour a few weeks ago on the XXX Church podcast. Bell's main argument appears to be that despite mankind's long, intuitive sense that God (or the gods) are "mad at us", Jesus came to teach us that this is not true.

But Bell is only half right. The Bible clearly teaches that God is angry at us (Psalm 5:5; 7:11; 11:5; Hos. 9:15). God hates sin (Proverbs 6:16-19) and considers the unrepentant sinner his enemy (Rom. 5:10) BUT that the propitiation (hilasmos Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10, etc.) of Jesus Christ appeased His anger towards those who have placed their faith (i.e., belief, trust and loyalty) in His son. However, the wrath of God remains on those who do not place their faith in His son (John 3:36).

Funny that man who teaches at a place called Mars Hill BIBLE Church tends to ignore...the BIBLE!