I found this (linked) blog post earlier and didn't know how to feel. My first reaction to this kind of video, honestly, is to disbelieve that any of it is true. After all, I have been to China for a year myself, and I saw plenty of extra Bibles, still in the plastic wrapper.
That's forgetting something, though: China is a very large country.
So that doesn't mean that the Bible is known or understood there by all, though, and far from that is the truth: the Word has spread rapidly there, praise God, for doors are opening--but there are still millions who haven't heard it preached or taught right. (And by "right," I do not mean my particular interpretation of the Word, but rather, they haven't heard the word taught as the truth).
So, I watched the following video earlier today--all 40 minutes of it. What can I say other than I was sucked into it. What was meant to be a quick glance at an editor (who looks a tad like Einstein) turned into almost an hour venture.
Usually I post faith-related updates flavored like a Bible study. That was my plan, anyway. However, the English major in me (which was my undergraduate work) loves stuff like this.
John Wilson, editor of “Books & Culture: A Christian Review” describes his experience in being a editor in order to help aspiring writers to think on both sides of the equation instead of just one.
Near the end, Mr. John Wilson has some great advice, and I'll paraphrase what I can remember (with apologies to Mr. Wilson): don't feel like you have to have read all of the classics, or whatever the latest gab is about. Read what you enjoy, and enjoy what you read. That is not to say that we shouldn't read anything difficult, or that we shouldn't read the classics. They're classics for a reason.
So, have "...not a belligerent rejection but an independent spirit..."
"There is a sort of false idea that there is some set of books that if you want to be really educated, or you want to be really hip, or whatever the category is--you have to do this, you have to do this--and it's false..."
I might start to read Books and Culture sometime. Thank you for telling the truth, Mr. John Wilson.
As so often happens, my wife received a phone call from a friend asking questions about her faith and how one can trust that the Bible as true.
The time was 10:00pm, and since I was in a place to consider sleep, I reached for my Kindle and thought to browse the "Theo"(logy) section for some titles that might be of use to my wife's discussion.
First, I saw Dr. R.C. Sproul's "Can I Trust the Bible?" and as great as it is, I did not find that for which I was hoping. I was about to give up when I saw that classic title: "Mere Christianity" -- always worth a read. Lewis didn't say what I was looking for either, but I was hooked.
The first paragraph which my eyes came across -- when I skipped around the work's natural order -- was worth highlighting. (That in itself is noteworthy, considering how unpleasant highlighting can be on the oldest, most basic Kindle). Once the highlighting was completed, I realized the next paragraph was a continuation of the genius that was the previous paragraph. [Spend another 30 seconds highlighting the next paragraph.] Not too long thereafter, lo and behold: another highlight-worthy passage. We could almost underline or highlight the whole book...
Thus, here they are -- probably over-quoted but worth the re-read again and again -- from the first book's fifth chapter. (NOTE: this is in not meant to be a comprehensive list of the work's best quotes. These are the paragraphs that captivated me in my ten minute gander, before provoking me to rise again and share them on the blog.) Now...
You may have felt you were ready to listen to me as long as you thought I had anything new to say; but if it turns out to be only religion, well, the world has tried that and you cannot put the clock back. If anyone is feeling that way I should like to say three things to him.
First, as to putting the clock back. Would you think I was joking if I said that you can put a clock back, and that if the clock is wrong it is often a very sensible thing to do? But I would rather get away from that whole idea of clocks. We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic.
When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start over again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pigheaded and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.
...
Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth-- only soft soap and wishful thinking to being with and, in the end, despair. Most of us have got over the prewar wishful thinking about international politics. It is time we did the same about religion.
God "speaks and summons the earth." Right off the bat, The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons. He is the boss, but what kind of boss is he?
Well, we get a picture -- of the sunrise and sunset. The Psalmist is saying that this speaking and summoning is done from dusk 'till dawn, but with the words sunrise and sunset comes a memory of a splendid sight for those who've seen the sun rise and/or set. For any who haven't had working eyesight to see a sunrise or sunset, this must be calling upon the one of the greatest faculties of the human mind: imagination.
Either way, clearly we are invited to get a greater understanding God by mentioning him directly after the sun's radiant rising and setting:
"God shines forth."
He is not a gloomy God. This is not Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The Lord Almighty is righteous, Holy, and just, always loving and using honest weights and scales (Proverbs 16:11). He is not an oppressor. He is the Great Giver. That's why He doesn't need anything from us, nor can we provide much for him past adoration, worship, trust, and thanksgiving.
"I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.
For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,
and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
(Verses 9-15)
Thankfulness is how I should feel and be toward God. You and I were created to glorify and ENJOY Him -- to bask His radiance, mercy, and forgiveness -- forever. All of that is made possible, of course, by Jesus Christ, who was slain for that purpose, then resurrected: the greatest news in the history of mankind.
This morning I read in Genesis the forty-first chapter and noticed something new to me: Joseph forgets his past suffering, because God has blessed him so greatly. Are we all capable of receiving such blessing that we might be able forget all of the past pain?
Here are the verses in which I learned about Joseph forgetting the old misfortunes:
Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house.” The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” (Genesis 41:50-52, ESV)
How beautiful it is that God did not only make Joseph fruitful and happy, but God did so for Joseph in the same place Joseph was in during his worst period of suffering. Moreover, it was so good that Joseph forgot about the slavery he was in before the sunshine came.
The apostle Paul adds insight here:
"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18, ESV, emphasis added)
By the way, if you haven't read The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis, the book is well worth the time and money.
Lewis writes therein, “At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.”
Paul adds again, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18, ESV)
One day, God will right all the wrongs and bless you who would be in Christ out of this world and into a far, far better one that is unimaginably fantastic, yet -- real. That is not to say this one is to be tossed out and forgotten just yet. Uncertain as we are as to how long it shall take us to get to the next world, it is our duty to make this one as much like the next as possible.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20, ESV)
Last night Linli and I watched a movie given to us by a dear friend who asked us to pass it along after we watched it: Match Point. She probably asked us to pass it along not because the message is the best, but more likely because not many people will want to watch it more than once. By no means is it a "feel good" film, but Match Point is interesting and definitely provocative. I will not go into more detail, but I do want to share the opening scene because I think it is beautifully done.
The movie's themes, aside from commenting on the dichotomy of love/lust and marriage, strongly revolves around fate having a greater role than ability.
I love reading, listening to, and watching artist's explorations of the ancient question: how much of life is in our control?
One verse in the Bible that I believe gives us insight, despite how many Christians will disagree, is the one at the top of this post, and below:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Genesis 50:20, ESV)
The NIV even translates the word as "intended" rather than "meant." There is a large difference between this idea, that God not only knew it was going to happen but moreover meant that it take place, is quite different from the common, "oh, God will use it for good, even though you meant it for evil." True, he will, but this verse, often misquoted, says that he meant it for good, and I do not believe that He makes mistakes.
*By the way, I do not recommend the aforementioned movie to everyone. To the Christian strong in faith, I do. To those easily offended, I do not. Indeed, the taking of the Lord's name in vain several times in the movie is hard to hear, but for some, the movie may provide insight without causing them to sin. The film is rated R for "some sexuality."
“Dads,start with being a son, and I mean a son of God, and if you’re not a son of God get that right through faith in Jesus. Start by being reconciled to your Father.
“Secondly, don’t let your imperfections presently and failures of the past dictate your efforts at love in the future. I think all of us, if we are honest, look back and say, ‘Good night, I could have done this better!’ Because you learn so much as you get old. You learn from your grown kids, really. And it’s easy then to be paralyzed.
“God is in the business of taking a mess and making it useful in the future. Don’t let the past failures hinder your future with your kids. Your kids may be 40, 50 years old, and you can venture new things, you can reach out in new ways to them because God is a God of redemption.”
Fifty years ago, a hard-working, risk-taking, family-loving man was shot in the back, dead in his own driveway for his efforts leading the NCAAP in the Civil Rights Movement. His name was Medgar Evers.
That was only fifty years ago.
As we get older, history seems shorter in perspective. In high school, to me, the Civil Rights movement and segregation sounded so far away because it was forty of fifty years earlier, and that was almost three or four times my age then. To a twenty-five year old now, however, fifty years ago is only twice that age, so the perspective changes.
Thankfully, We The People have come quite far in the last fifty years, in terms of segregation, by the grace of God. There is, of course, still work to do, and there always will be.
I first heard of Medgar Evers, though, in the opening lines of "Only a Pawn in Their Game," a song Bob Dylan wrote in 1963, the same year of Evers' death:
A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers’ blood A finger fired the trigger to his name A handle hid out in the dark A hand set the spark Two eyes took the aim Behind a man’s brain But he can’t be blamed He’s only a pawn in their game
The last verse also explicitly references Evers and his burial:
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught They lowered him down as a king But when the shadowy sun sets on the one That fired the gun He’ll see by his grave On the stone that remains Carved next to his name His epitaph plain: Only a pawn in their game
Thirty years passed before the jury convicted Evers' murderer, according to Debbie Elliot's NPR blog today. Those years surely crawled by, especially for Reena Evers-Everette. Even when Medgar was alive, however, the last decade of their marriage was still fettered to fear, she says:
"And we never knew from one day to the next what would happen. I lived in fear of losing him. He lived being constantly aware that he could be killed at any time." (NPR-Elliot)
So the shooting of Medgar Evers was not something that happend randomly: it had been a long time coming, and Evers lived waiting for it. Yet he kept at the work he knew he was called to do.
In the book of Phillipians, Paul writes: Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. (3:17, ESV)
I am certainly no expert on Medgar Evers nor the Civil Rights, but it seems clear that Evers was a man who looked fear and evil in the eye, without a blink, and kept on working.
The following words are Charles Spurgeon's (not John Piper's), and I want to note them here, for sharing with you and personal review later:
"Oh, that you and I might get into the very heart of the Word of God, and get that Word into ourselves! As I have seen the silkworm eat into the leaf, and consume it, so ought we to do with the Word of the Lord—not crawl over its surface, but eat right into it till we have taken it into our inmost parts. It is idle merely to let the eye glance over the words, or to recollect the poetical expressions, or the historic facts; but it is blessed to eat into the very soul of the Bible until, at last, you come to talk in Scriptural language, and your very style is fashioned upon Scripture models, and, what is better still, your spirit is flavoured with the words of the Lord.
I would quote John Bunyan as an instance of what I mean. Read anything of his, and you will see that it is almost like reading the Bible itself. He had read it till his very soul was saturated with Scripture; and, though his writings are charmingly full of poetry, yet he cannot give us his Pilgrim’s Progress—that sweetest of all prose poems — without continually making us feel and say, “Why, this man is a living Bible!” Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved."
"Puritanism, Protestantism, [and] Calvinism are poor names which the world has given to a great and glorious faith: the doctrine of Paul the Apostle, the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
"Those who do away with Christian doctrine are, whether they are aware of it or not, the worst enemies of Christian living."
Defining preaching: "to know the truth as it should be known, to love it as it should be loved, to proclaim it in the right spirit and in it's proper proportions."
