Mutual Edification

One of the elders at my church and I were talking about the benefits of family worship in our kids lives--the little roots that my kids are putting down and some hopeful signs of buds, and the fruit that his kids are showing, and the like. We talked about desires, hopes, and plans for us to be able to do what the Directory of Family Worship had in mind. That it should "be pressed and set up; that, with national reformation, the profession and power of godliness, both personal and domestick, be advanced." Some of the ends of that desire are well put (again) by the Directory "for cherishing piety, for maintaining unity, and avoiding schism and division." My guess is that schism is both intra-family as well as intra-church.

What a plague we've brought on our homes, our marriages and our churches because we don't give a rip about family worship! I know it can't be proved, but I'd be willing to wager some serious money that the degrading and ignoring of family worship is directly tied to the pathetic state of the Church and Christian family today.

Anyhow, last night we were doing our bit to advance the national reformation, and as we were wrapping up, I asked, "What great miracle does the Holy Spirit perform in the hearts of God's people?" Frodo jumps up with, "Turning Stone into Flesh?"

"And what do we call that?"

"Regeneration." And we people think we have spent too much time in the OT with him. Ha. Gimme that over a vanilla "being born again" any day. (not that the incredible doctrine of the spirit bringing new life is anything to sneeze at, just the phrase is pretty much emptied of meaning nowadays).

As I thought about that later (and I spent a lot of time coming back to it), I thought of one more reason for Dads to make family worship a priority. Stuff like that is a great encouragement for Dads! 8-D Not sure it's precisely the "Mutual Edification" the Directory had in mind...but it's close, and good enough for me.

Breeding a Snob

Frodo's having quite the quotable week...

Mrs. WhiteNoise is getting annoyed with our Science curriculm lately, the Science tests that our curriculum provider (name withheld to protect the guilty) gave us are filled with typos. For exacple, the other day Samwise took a test that asked what teeth he'd use to chew a "cooky." So she's grumbling about all the typos she's finding and Frodo pipes up in their defense:

"Maybe they went to Public School."

(groan)

at this rate I'm going to have to change his blog nickname from Frodo to Malfoy.

Goblet of Fire

Down to hours before Half-Blood Prince and we're starting to get noise about The Goblet of Fire movie. A handful of early reviews at aintitcool already, and now one from a regular.

Can't wait for this one!

Gratitude

Gratitude is one of those things that I'm really good at expereiencing/feeling, but am really lousy at expressing--which is actually the most important part, the rest is pretty useless without that.

When someone performs an act of kindness--being given a gift; being brought a glass of water by a waitress on a long day (better: being brought a few refills on that and a coffee cup that never gets empty); being paid a compliment--far too often the words "thank you" or "thanks" just don't seem to get the job done. There's a sense of obligation, or debt, that comes along with it--but it's a welcome debt; unlike, say, medical bills or student loans. Somehow that debt has to be repaid.

Seems to me that if charity and generosity are attributes that the Christian is to display, half of that needs to be the ability to respond correctly to charity and generosity. Exacty how you get better at that is the question I'm dealing with.

This meandering was inspired by an act of charity and kindness. I'm sure the man that inspired it knows who he is (he is pretty clever). And he knows what a woeful job I did of expressing it. Sorry. I'm working on it.

Quick Shot: When Grace Comes Home

No energy to do a bigger review. But this is a book to get. Basically, it's purpose is to answer the big "So What?" question regarding the Doctrines of Grace. What difference does Calvinism make to the way you live? How does it effect your prayer, your assurance, your sanctification, the way you look at evangelism or adversity? The chapter on "Law & Liberty" is better than many books written on either subject. Good read. Easy read. Powerful read. Haven't seen my wife this into a book not written by J. K. Rowling in years.

My pal, Mark Gibson (or whoever writes the "Book of the Month" blurb for his church says:

If anyone is foolish enough to think that theology, particularly Calvinistic theology, is impractical, he needs to read this book. And even if you don’t, read it anyway. Terry Johnson has provided a splendid work on how right theology bears upon our worship, character, suffering, witness and growth in the Christian life. This is exactly what the evangelical church needs because, whether evangelicals know it or not, their future as a viable movement depends upon the rediscovery of such God-honoring theology.

Basically, get it and read it.

2nd-Grade Exegesis

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)

Shockingly, tonight was the first time I remember talking about this verse with my kids. We were in John 3, and Frodo and Sam were able to get the whole talk about being "born again"--they had an easier time when I showed them it was the same thing as the "regeneration" talked about in their catechism.

But we go over the ever-so famous verse 16. Simple little questions, "why did God give his Son?" "What will happen to those who believe?" "What does perish mean?" Frodo even gets a couple of points for bringing in the Bronze Serpent. Then I ask something like "who can have eternal life?" Frodo blinks, and then realizes it's self-evident: "Those who believe."

note to Dave Hunt: my 6 year old can get it. Come on man...

Happy Birthday, Jean!

Jean Cauvin was born on July 10th, 1509 in Noyon, France. And the world has never been the same.

It's quite the understatement to say that this man has been used by God to radically alter my life. More and more it's not his doctrine--well, at least not the stuff he's famous for--that impacts me. It's his piety, it's his love for God, his heart aflame (think there's a book called that by somebody) because of his fame-making doctrine--that's what draws me. I've been telling people in my church (not sure they believe me yet) if you want answers to your theological questions, read Turretin, or Hodge, or Reymond--Berkhoff, too. But if you want your heart moved, then you read Calvin.

You can see a hint of that in these quotations (I could've killed blogger's disk space by posting everything I wanted to):

"For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by His fatherly care, that He is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond Him - they will never yield Him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in Him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to Him."

"Doctrine has no power, unless efficacy is imparted to it from above. Christ holds out an example to teachers, not to employ themselves only in sowing the Word, but by mingling prayers with it, to implore the assistance of God, that His blessing may render their labor fruitful."

"If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is 'of him' [1 Corinthians 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Hebrews 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [cf. Hebrews 5:2]. If we seek redemption, it lies in his passion; if acquittal, in his condemnation; if remission of the curse, in his cross [Galatians 3:13]; if satisfaction, in his sacrifice; if purification, in his blood; if reconciliation, in his descent into hell; if mortification of the flesh, in his tomb; if newness of life, in his resurrection; if immortality, in the same; if inheritance of the Heavenly Kingdom, in his entrance into heaven; if protection, if security, if abundant supply of all blessings, in his Kingdom; if untroubled expectation of judgment, in the power given to him to judge. In short, since rich store of every kind of good abounds in him, let us drink our fill from this fountain, and from no other."


Lord, thank you for your gift of this man, and the work you gave him to do. Soli Deo Gloria.

Optimism

Calvinism is a religion of fundamental optimism. The contentedness of the previous point [from 2 Cor. 12:10 and Phil. 4:11-12] is not a fatalism. It doesn't breed passivity in the face of adversity. Ours has been an active, resolute, even defiant, tradition. Ours is not like the world's optimism, however. The world urges a positive outlook for the future on the baseless assumption of human goodness and human potential. Auschwitz forever reminds us of the groundlessness and futility of that hope. Our hope rests in a sovereign God. Nothing is impossible for Him. 'With God, all things are possible,' Jesus said (Mark 9:23). This gives me confidence and hope in the midst of shadows and darkness. I am resolute in the face of defeat knowing that God is able even to raise the dead.

--Terry L. Johnson

The Emergent Church

Have been meaning to get around to tackling some of this new "Emergent Church" stuff that's all the rage, but haven't had time (imagine that!).

But just sampling a little here and there...pretty sure I've got better things to do with my life. So does The Church, tho', and these folks are gonna be around for awhile...anyhow, a few quick links (all critical, mind you):

• "C" is for Clueless--a review of A is for Abductive. Also the funniest book review I've read in a while. Hat Tip:Real Clear Theology
• Penguin sex, flaming liberalism, living with the hippies ... ahhh, Donald Millermy pal Rusty, rants a bit about a couple of lousy books
• Tim Challies stuff on EC
• and Emergent No, by a pal, an acquaintance, and someone I've never met, looks to be pretty exhaustive.
  

Quote of the Day

from the presbyterians-opc email list:

Christian Fundamentalists pass out tracks and annoy people at streetcorners by using a bullhorn to proclaim the Gospel. Islamic Fundamentalists blow people up.

When the worst your extremists do is talk to people about religion in socially unacceptable ways, you've got a pretty good thing going.

--N.E. Barry Hofstetter

Overcoming the World: A Review

Joel Beeke is fast becoming one of my "go-to" guys when it comes to contemporary theology, and this book is a stellar example why I'm turning to him faster than "bigger named" Reformed writers. I'll start with my complaints and then move into the reasons I think any Christian who is not yet completely sanctified should read this book.

There are two drawbacks to this book. The first is that Part Four is addressed to Ministers. And that's fine, don't get me wrong. But it's not marketed that way, it's marketed for the general audience, not as an expansion on talks he did at a ministerial conference (so it makes sense that one talk would be focused particularly on ministers). It's not too difficult for a non-minister to find application for their own life in those chapters, but, there's some real gold that many probably won't bother to look for since it's in a chapter about pastors.

Second problem is bigger. Beeke's attitude toward entertainment: movies, TV, novels, magazines. Now in the aforementioned Part Four, he talks about being careful with worldly entertainment--I have no problem with that and would echo it. But in Part One, he gets overly-specific, IMO, and ends up wandering into "the doctrines and commandments of men" area, neglecting that "God alone is Lord of the conscience" (WCF XX:2). On the whole, I was able to do a little mental edit around those issues and keep his point intact. I may return to this issue in a later blog.

I guess I should mention that the only problems I had with Parts Two and Three were that they were just too convicting.

So on to the good stuff:
The first paragraph of the Preface gives a better summary of the purpose of the book than I could hope to:

Worldliness is destroying the church of Jesus Christ. Christians and churches that fall prey to it lose their saltiness. The time is thus right for us to biblically expose and condemn worldliness, and to promote the alternatives of genuine piety and holiness.

What follows is practical guidance for living that life--what Beeke elsewhere describes as "Experimental Calvinism."

In Part One: Overcoming the World by Faith, Beeke lays the groundwork: what is worldliness, why we should overcome it, some basic steps in that direction, and encouragement to the task. My complaints about liberty/entertainment come in here, but on the whole it's well worth it.

Beeke then moves on to a case study in Part Two: Overcoming the World through Piety: Calvin's Answer to Worldliness. Here we are treated (and I do mean treated) to a survey of the teaching of, and life of, piety in John Calvin, the great Reformer. What does Experimental Calvinism look like? It looks like Calvin. It's wrapped up in the Church, it's found in communion with the Lord, it's found being lived by the believer. This part of the book will encourage you to greater faithfulness, while showing you just what you're missing.

Part Three: Overcoming the World through Holiness is the heart of the book. He echoes the Biblical stress on "vital, progressive sanctification."

concretely, then, what must you cultivate? (1) Imitation of the character of Jehovah; (2) conformity to the image of Christ; and (3) submission to the Holy Spirit.

While this section does mention particular sins the believer needs to beware of, the weight of the material is oriented to the heights we are to scale. It's here, where we see how far short of the mark we are, that our sins are exposed to a greater degree than they are when he says "watch out for X." There are many, many wonderful concrete portions counsel here that I want to quote, but I can't seem to find a decent place to start and stop. Pure gold.

As I said earlier, the weakness of Part Four: Overcoming the World in the Ministry is it's (stated) focus on Ministers. But the practical advice in private holiness, prayer, communing with God, properly prioritizing your family, dealing with pride and criticism, and motivations to overcome worldliness are worth reading for everyone.

I am in awe of (but not letting myself covet) Beeke's ability to effortlessly and seamlessly mix quotes/illustrations from Scripture; Puritan/Reformer quotes; contemporary authors; and his own insight and experience into such clean and effective prose. I know it wasn't effortless gaining that ability, but to see it in action is a pleasure.

Well-written, accessible to a wide range of reader, and addressing a vitally important issue. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Ugh...it took a lot longer to read this thing, and to write the review, than I figured. How does Challies do it? hmmmm, lot less TV posts on his blog. Could that be it?

nahhhhhh

This is why they shouldn't have friends

So I'm heading out the door last night, on my way to the dreaded Golden Arches, and Samwise stops me to tell me something vitally important. I do appreciate the fact that the kids feel the need to tell me every little tidbit of information they gather during the day, but sometimes the timing could be better. But I soon stopped caring about that.

SAM: Daddy! I forgot to tell you Caleb told me today that I shouldn't point with this finger! [he illustrates his point by flipping me off] He says it's bad!
ME/MRS: WHAT?!?
FRODO: Yeah, he says it means the "F-word"
SAM: (at the same time as above) He says it means something bad
ME: He's right, it is bad.
MRS: (at the same time as above, to Frodo) What did he tell you it means?
FRODO: He didn't say, just the "F-word." And it's bad.
ME: Good. That's good enough for now. Yeah, it's bad. Sam--stop doing that with your finger! Stop it, Caleb was right.

Life was so much simpler when we didn't have a yard, or other kids in the neighborhood.

"I want to learn the ways of the Force"

I recently discovered I was failing in essential duties as a father. Frodo, at 6 years of age, didn't know what a Jawa was. He'd gotten one in a kid's meal from Burger King (mmmmmm....Whopper), and was clueless. And then a couple weeks later he got another one of those toys--think it was an Episode IV-era Luke--and if you looked up through his feet you could see pictures from the movies. One of the pictures was of an AT-AT during the Hoth invasion and he asked several questions about it, during one of my answers I used the word Stormtrooper. "What's a Stormtrooper?"

That sent me reeling. When I was his age, I had multiple Stormtrooper figures, I knew that the white armor was something the bad guys wore, they were all about helping Vader and the rest to hunt down Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie. It was one of the things I knew best in the world (not saying that's necessarily good, but it's the truth). And now my son...my eldest son...the smartest and wisest of the lot...he was completely and utterly untaught in the ways of Star Wars. Everything he knew about Star Wars was learned from seeing Revenge of the Sith commercials on TV. What kind of father am I?

So this weekend, we corrected that. Or at least started the correction. I made the kids watch Episode IV (and, yes there was a bit of coercion there). Frodo was into it, spent a lot of time discussing various things with me during the movie, but afterwards was non-committal about liking it. Samwise was leaning forward during the final battle sequence, eyes wide; he practically cheered during the medal ceremony; and had to sit on my lap during the Vader/Kenobi duel--but that was cool with me, I knew he was getting it. The Princess was lost during most of it, but cheered when the boys did.

Now I've just got to figure out when I can fit in Empire. But until then, I've got this unusually strong desire to listen to my Twin Sister CD.

Holiness

Holiness . . . extends to every part of our persons, fills up our being, spreads over our life, influences everything we are, or do, or think, or speak, or plan, small or great, outward or inward, negative or positive, our loving, our hating, our sorrowing, our rejoicing, our recreations, our business, our friendships, our relationships,our silence, our speech, our reading, our writing, our going out and our coming in--our whole man in every movement of spirit, soul, and body.

--Horatius Bonar

New Template

Okay, after receiving many, many complaints about the old template (mainly having to do with light gray text on black). I decided to lighten things up a bit. What do you think?

(and yes, I have the old one ready to return at a moment's notice)

The State of the Blog

Yeah, I know I haven't posted anything on A Different Jesus in a week, spent most of this week trying to get caught up on a few other things, and am realizing the summer is slipping away from me. There's just no way I'm going to finish my "to read" list. Which is very depressing. Especially since I've come up with another, incredibly time-consuming, project I want to work on.

I do hope to pick up the pace of blogs--especially those that require thought to deal with, not just the "ooh check out this movie/tv show/trailer" type. But this week is pretty shot in that regard.

I had thought about saying something about the whole Eminent Domain thing from last week, but the polymath and Jollyblogger covered it better than I could (in both the serious and joking ways I would've gone, respectively)

Just don't get it

Surfing on Google News Beta (btw,how long is this gonna be Beta?) this morning, I saw several articles saying this:

Bloomsbury, the publisher which was transformed by Harry Potter, is poised to launch its biggest ever advertising campaign to coincide with the launch of Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince.

ooookay, more than 1 million pre-orders of this book have been made on amazon.com world-wide, it's probably going to be the best selling novel of all time before month's end (that's July, not June, because that's now). WHY do they need to advertise this? I just don't get it. If you care at all about this, you know. You've probably known since the publication date was set last year--whether you want to or not. Why spend the money on advertising?

Ditto for Revenge of the Sith earlier this year. I mean, Hel-lo, we know! Well, okay, a good part of that advertising was to convince the jilted fan-boys that their hopes weren't going to be shattered for the 3rd time in this prequel series.

BTW, in case anyone wants to know, as I hit "Publish Post" there are 15 days, 13 hours, 40 minutes and 32 seconds 'til the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Proof is in the Pudding

There were many who had doubts when this maker of 3rd rate horror flicks got the go ahead to make The Lord of the Rings trilogy. And to say that he answered just about every doubt in The Fellowship of the Ring is to probably understate it--and he crushed the doubts, grinding them into a fine powder with The Two Towers. Then he sprinkled that powder of the graves of the doubters in The Return of the King (whether the doubters were in their graves yet or not).

So then he turns his eye to the movie he's wanted to remake since he was a kid. Many eyes rolled. Many figured he was a one trick pony anyway. And besides, do we really need another King Kong?But now the trailer's out. Jack Black plays a real human being. Adrian Brody gets to kiss the hot chick. Naomi Watts seems capable of stepping into Fay Wray's vocal chords. And we get a second or so of Andy Serkis doing his thing.

Wah-and might I add-hoo! Click here to see for yourself

[Expletive deleted]!

Just watched my first episode of The Closer. In many ways I've seen everything in the show before--a murder or two being shoved under the carpet so the Feds/Someone Else could take down a major underworld figure; a cop who no other cop likes, but is great at their job; the cop who tries to help out a friend who's a suspect only to find out the guy is a major creep; the cop who sets up the bad guy to get whacked as the only way to get justice for the victim; the cop who puts relationships (professional, romantic, whatever) on the line to close the case...etc.

But rarely have I seen it this well done. Got this down in the calendar for next week.

Not only was Kyra Sedgwick was great, the supporting cast was spot on. Great to see G. W. Bailey again, Corey Reynolds did a good job, and while it took me a lot longer than it should've to recognize J. K. Simmons, I really enjoyed his performance. But it's Kyra's show, and she carried it well.

Spurgeon quote of the Day

"Overcome the world by patiently enduring all the persecution that falls to your lot. Do not get angry; and do not become downhearted. Jests break no bones; and if you had any bone broken for Christ's sake, it would be the most honored bone in your whole body."

Why God Invented Elders

Nice post over at Jollyblogger, his notes taken from J. Ligon Duncan's sermon at the Opening Worship Service for the PCA's GA.

Day 2

Well, I talked about how much I hurt after Day 1 of my fitness program. Felt miserable yesterday...maybe felt worse this morning. But I made myself tackle the Day 2 regimen. Still didn't accomplish everything I should've, but got more done than Day 1. The pain is a lot less (mostly) than it was when I was dragged (kicking and screaming) out of bed this morning.

There may be hope for this ol' boy yet...

As if on cue...

Just the other day I'm lamenting how few really Presbyterian blogs there out in the blogosphere and *poof* one appears: Posse Bloggare Posse Non Bloggare. Keep an eye on this one, folks, should be worth the read (don't recall him uttering a less-than-edifying word in the pulpit or in discussion list emails...)

hmmm, maybe I should lament the lack of scholarships of OP Ruling Elders who are going to seminary... :)

A Different Jesus?, pt. 4

Chapter 3: Why a Restoration?

This chapter is significantly longer than the previous chapters, and I really don't have that much time for this today, so I'm only going to do a little bit of it...

Right out of the gate we read: "Foundational to any understanding of the Latter-day Saint conception of Jesus Christ is the idea of a restoration of divine truth in modern times." Yup. What was it that our Savior said about building on sand? He gives a couple of OT spoof texts for Isaiah and Amos prophesying about it, and then some NT spoofs for the apostles warning of it. Of course none of these texts have anything to do with a great apostasy, but why should that stand in anyone's way? He concludes his opening paragraph stating: "That apostasy entailed the loss or corruption of divine authority and true doctrine." (his emphasis) and the next section (and the only one I'm covering today) focuses on those.

Let's tackle authority first. He defines it as "the power to act in the name of God" and states that the NT "clearly teaches the need for it." But I honestly don't see this concept as he describes it in the NT. And then he simply states, "With the death of the apostles, within approximately one hundred years of the crucifixion of Jesus, this authority...was lost from the earth." No explanation of how it was lost (the spoof texts earlier don't give us enough information to test his assertion), no description of what happened, no evidence to support his claim, just "it was lost." And then he gives us roughly 1800 years of church history compressed into a couple of paragraphs and skewed horribly.

While Catholics claim apostolic succession... and Protestants speak of a "priesthood of all believers," Latter-day Saints teach that God's divine authority was not to be found in the Old World by the middle of the second century A.D.

1. This isn't at all what the phrase "priesthood of all believers" means! Hello! Doesn't Eerdman's believe in fact-checking? Who edited this book? Here's what the phrase means:

To be sure, Christ's apostles call all who believe in Christ "priests," but not on account of an office, but because, all the faithful having been made kings and priests, we are able to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Christ (Exod. 19:6; I Peter 2:9; Rev. 1:6). Therefore, the priesthood and the ministry are very different from one another. For the priesthood, as we have just said, is common to all Christians; not so is the ministry. The Second Helvetic Confession - Chapter XVIII

2. Again, no evidence for why the LDS teach that this authority was gone, it's just gone. Guess I'm asking too much...moving on:

The Roman Church had control of the Christian faith until the sixteenth century, when courageous men objected to, opposed, and broke away from Catholicism.

Church History a la The DaVinci Code. I'm guessing here (just a guess, because he doesn't spell it out) he means from the middle of the second century or so through the sixteenth. To call something the Roman church for the first few hundred years is silly. To think that as a persecuted group throughout the civilized world anyone "had control" is laughable. It wasn't 'til the 4th century that Constantine protected Christianity, and Rome certainly had no control over the Church then! And while the Reformers certainly were courageous (on the whole) the description of them as men who "objected to, opposed, and broke away from Catholicism" misses the point--sure they objected to it, protested it, but they didn't break away--they were kicked out! I do find it funny that Wesley seems to be lumped in with the Reformers--men whose doctrines he would oppose, and who were dead long before he came along.

One more point on his history. He holds up Roger Williams as someone who saw the need for apostolic authority to be given by God to the Church. He describes Williams as "the man known as the founder of the Baptist faith." I took a moment to ask a group of pretty knowledgeable Baptists if they agreed with that description. One Baptist who's taught Church History replied, "Uh, no." And that was the general consensus. I don't blame Millet for this totally, some editor along the way should've stopped this historical mess.

At this point he segues into the "loss or corruption of doctrine and I've gone on so long already, I'll leave that for tomorrow.

Ummm, Errr, Ummmm...this is a good thing, right?

Stryper is releasing a new album in August, Reborn. Here's the official press release.

Gotta Tip Your Hat to this Lady

I'll admit I'm not that up on the whole Jim West controversy (mayor of Spokane, WA), I've heard a little bit about it on TV, read some on a couple of blogs (espeically Huckleberries Online)...but he's not my mayor, so I haven't really focused too much on it. But the story of Shannon Sullivan is a gripping one. I hope she and her son come out of this thing intact...

A Different Jesus?, pt. 3

Chapter 2: The Jesus of History, the Christ of Faith

Sorry this one took so long...Real Life^TM caught up with me Friday, putting me behind schedule. Let's see what Millet has for us today.

He starts off talking about the Jesus Seminar, much his response to it (and like thinking) is on the money. I'm a little annoyed by his "I add my voice to the growing through of tens of thousands of irritated Christians." Sure, he considers himself a Christian, and part of his plan is to get evangelicals to think the same (he keeps saying it like this and many of his readers will start doing it too). But surely this is a red flag that some editor along the way at Eerdmans should've caught.

He quotes Gordon B. Hinckley, back when he was a mere apostle (emphasis his):

Modern Theologians strip [Jesus\ of his divinity and then wonder why men do not worship him. These clever scholars have taken from Jesus the mantle of Godhood and have left only a man. They have tried to accommodate him to their own narrow thinking. They have robbed him of his divine Sonship and taken from the world its rightful King.

ummm, Kettle? Pot's on line 2, something about you being black. Do I absolutely agree with Hinckley as far as Liberal Theology goes? Yup. But what does LDS theology do to Christ's divinity? They strip Him of it! He's not divine, He's not fully God yet fully man. He's just like every other spirit-child of God, He just came first! Utter hogwash.

Along the lines of thinking "Faith is based on evidence, and the stronger the evidence the stronger the faith" he favorably quotes John Warwick Montgomery...heh. You'll never see him quote Greg Bahnsen. :) Who, incidentally, would make mincemeat out of this book. I do have to admit, I agree with the Montgomery quote regarding the impossibility of any kind of Christianity without the events of the Gospels being true. He follows it with a quote from Alma, which takes a little wind from my sales. He then goes into the whole C. S. Lewis--Liar, Lunatic or Lord thing and assorted arguments on that front.

Then we come to the conclusion. It's here that my hackles really get raised, he invites people to

"Come and see" (John 1:39). We believe the final great test in determining the living reality of Jesus Christ and the essential truthfulness of the New Testament record is the test of faith, the test of spirit, the test of individual revelation, with the assurance that all can know.

Sure, sounds a little Josh McDowell-ish. But that's not what the invitation of the Scriptures is. It's not "try out Jesus for 30 days, your money back if not completely satisfied." Not even sure what the test of spirit is...need to ask someone. Okay, I asked someone; it seems the test of faith=test of spirit=test of individual revelation=test of assurance. It's the point where you're talking to an LDS missionary and they tell you to pray whether it's true or not, and you'll get a "burning in the bosom" or "a feeling of certainty" inside that it's all true. Pretty sure this isn't what John had in mind when he told us to "test the spirits." It sure ain't the apologetic Paul used on Mars Hill.

He then talks about trusting the Bible:

While the Latter-day Saints do not subscribe to a postilion of scriptural inerrancy, they do have a firm conviction that the scriptures mean what they say and say what they mean. They are to be trusted.

You can trust the Scriptures, sure they might be wrong from time to time...and the Prophet can correct them anytime he wants...but trust 'em.

A final thought about Millet's use of C. S. Lewis and J. B. Phillips, etc. This chapter is filled with quotes by evangelical apologetic works (many I have on my shelf), and there's an impulse to not be bothered because of his target: Jesus Seminar-type people. You know, the whole enemy of my enemy thing. But I am bugged by it. He's quoting these guys for a reason: he wants to appear like he's just a part of a different "brand" of Christianity. And I don't think he's trying to be deceitful or anything by quoting orthodox types, but he's clothing himself in the clothes of sheep because he thinks he is one (at least on some level). But at the end of the day, he's just a deluded wolf.

Can't stop laughing...

ROFLOL

Michael Jackson culture

James Bowman starts his review of My Summer of Love--like pretty much everything Bowman reviews, an interesting sounding movie that I'll never get around to watching despite my intentions--with the following observation. But it's stuff like this that makes me read his reviews

Writing in The Times of London about the Michael Jackson trial, Oliver James, a psychologist, notes that "The thing about people with borderline personality disorder, which I believe Jackson has, is that they have a weak sense of self - as evidenced by the need to change his skin color, his erratic moods and the fact that he thinks he is Peter Pan. They are constantly acting out different personalities, which means that the boundary between fantasy and reality is blurred." As in other ways, however, in this Michael Jackson stands for so much more than himself. Ours is the age of borderline personality disorder - not to mention the Peter Pan culture of eternal adolescence. The culture which once attempted to mould and shape us to a particular ideal now turns us loose into a world of infinite choices, and of nearly infinitely possible selves and demands only that we choose. Small wonder if we retreat and hide from such choices, or pretend like Michael Jackson in his absurd military uniforms, that we can slip from one to another without ever committing to any.

ow ow ow ow ow ow

Chat pal of mine who's really into fitness and taking care of yourself and that sort of nonsense got me hooked up with this home fitness thing. Really simple exercises, have done harder workouts back in the day (so long ago that phrase wasn't a cliche). Due to uber-mystery disease delays, today was Day 1.

I am past my prime. Not sure I had a prime that lasted more than a couple of days, really. But it was long, long a ago.

I couldn't do everything I was supposed to do, even using a ridiculously low amount of weight, and I am hurting. I will probably not be able to move pain free 'til Weds.

when it's time for Day 2.

Stick a fork in me...I'm done.

No Compromise

Don't normally do this (actually, have never) but this morning's sermon was so good, so on the money, and soooo not what most people heard this morning (never mentioned Father's Day once...Quelle Horreur!) Give it a listen: The Way God Sees It from Luke 17:1-5. The last few seconds got cut off, but you can get the gist of it.

Saw It!

Not much to say but wow! Sign me up for the sequel! Maybe in the next few days I'll find time to say more, but for now....wow!

Blogroll Housekeeping

Added a few links (Bloguccino, Patrick's Pensees, http://www.challies.com/, PyroManiac), dropped a few. If I'm overlooking anyone, sorry, feel free to remind me.

Not to sound all partisan, but I wish I had more presbyterian blogs...I know of a few, but frankly, don't think they're terribly presbyterian.

Warfield on Learning and Devotion

saw this on The Christian Mind and wanted to bring it up here:

"Nothing could be more fatal, however, than to set these two things over against one another. Recruiting officers do not dispute whether it is better for soldiers to have a right leg or a left leg: soldiers should have both legs. Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. "What!" is the appropriate response, "than ten hours over your books, on your knees?" Why should you turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must turn from your books in order to turn to God? If learning and devotion are as antagonistic as that, then the intellectual life is in itself accursed, and there can be no question of a religious life for a student, even of theology."

--Benjamin B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students

12 hrs and counting...

In 12 hours I will be in cinematic heaven. The Mrs. and I will be sitting in a theater with too many of my fellow Canyon County citizens watching the best movie Batman ever (if reviews can be believed--and so many of them are saying it, I kinda am forced to).

Man, I remember Burton's Batman. We had midnight showing tickets...pretty sure my dad fell asleep, my mom probably toyed with sleeping. Not me, not for a second. I was drinking it all in--this was probably the the moment I became a geek in the full sense of the word at the ripe ol' age of 15. Now, I watch it again and think that Burton over-stylized things...bit too gothic in Gotham. But right then...it was perfection. A year or so previously I'd gotten into a heated debate with some friends over the casting of Michael Keaton. They couldn't believe that a Mr. Mom/Johnny Dangerously could pull it off. I'd seen one picture of him in Newsweek--a still from a previous film (maybe Clean and Sober) that sealed it for me. There was an intensity, a grit, to the man. I knew he could do it. Sadly, I didn't carry the picture around with me to show my friends, and they won the debate. But I won the war. Keaton rocked--don't think many deny that.

But then came the excesses of Batman Returns, and the lousy scripts/directing of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin that made us all yearn for the restraint of Burton. And a well-deserved break/exile from the theaters. It wasn't 'til Byran Singer and Sam Raimi showed everyone you could make a decent superhero movie again that there was any hope (I remember wanting to rush out of the theater after X-Men and buy every comic book I could find).

So now Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have come to the rescue of the Dark Knight. Sure, in 5-10 years I'll be able to complain about it in the same way I can pick at Batman (still hae my doubts over Katie Holmes--you know that was a studio-pressured casting). But not tonight. Tonight's all about the fun. whoo-hoo.

for the record, this is not me in the first couple of panels (mostly because I don't have such a shirt...okay, 100% because I don't have such a shirt)

A Different Jesus?, pt. 2

Chapter 1: Jesus Before Bethlehem

So he starts by buttressing LDS belief in pre-existence of souls by showing that "many have perceived" something similar, like William Wordsworth and Marcel Proust. Okay, so Millet's proved that he survived Survey of Western Lit II, but that's about all.

Describing the pre-mortal state he says,

We developed and matured according to our adherence to God's eternal law, and in spite of the fact that we walked and talked with God, it was necessary for us to exercise faith in God's plan for the ultimate salvation of his children.

"Ultimate salvation," a phrase nicely slipped in. Wonder when that'll come back up and be explained (I'm guessing never)....kinda sounds like a Reality TV show...probably on Pax or TBN.

Millet quotes Bruce R. McConkie, saying that Christ

is described as being 'from everlasting to everlasting' (D&C 61:1), and 'from all eternity to all eternity' (D&C 39:1).... He was born, as were all the spirit children of the Father.

Now let's stop for a second here..."everlasting to everlasting" and "born." Ummmm, 'scuse me? Isn't that kind of a tough thing to pull off--he's eternal, but he had a start. And yeah, I know the LDS have some convoluted explanation for this, but Millet doesn't even bother to give it. This'd be a great time for it, but it's nowhere to be found.

Throughout this chapter there are several quotations from D&C that resemble/quote the Bible, but he only cites D&C. There's strategery here...on the one hand, you might think of citing both texts to imply that the D&C says the same as the Bible. On the other hand, by simply quoting D&C, you get evangelicals to think "oh, that's where that phrase is" (or something to that effect). There's pluses and minuses to both. On the whole, I'd go with the other tack, but that's just me.

One of his points in this chapter is to show that myths/legends/other religions have elements of truth mixed in (holdovers from early man having the truth).

In as much as the doctrines of rebirth, regeneration, resurrection, and the immortality of the soul were taught from the beginning, why should we flinch when we discover the doctrines of reincarnation, transmigration of souls, and rebirth in such traditions as Hinduism, Jainism, and Sikhism, or when we encounter a people like the ancient Egyptians who are obsessed not with death (as some suppose), but with life after death?

Now not saying anything about the truth of this claim for the Egyptians (don't know, not sure I care), but you just don't throw something like that out there without defending it. C'mon Robert, we deserve a footnote at least. Sloppy. I think the argument he's making is intriguing, and I'd like to see him flesh it out some more, but he damages his credibility with tactics like this.

Everyone has access to some measure of light and truth from the Almighty. Brigham Young thus declared that there has never been "a man or woman upon the face of the earth, from the days of Adam to this day, who has not been enlightened, instructed, and taught by the revelations of Jesus Christ.

Nice assertion, why don't you argue for it more. Oh, too busy?

He attempts--shamelessly--at this point in his conclusion to bring C. S. Lewis in to argue his case. Now whatever problems Lewis had (there are many!), there's no way he's trying to make the same case as Millet. Period. No way. This does illustrate some of the problems with Lewis' Tao. But when Lewis talked about those "who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. He's talking about a Christian malgre lui (a la O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find, not someone taught by revelations of Jesus Christ who just haven't been led to a higher light in the gospel (either in this life or the next). This is downright dishonest.

Some of these comments might seem picky, but they're the same complaints I make of evangelicals when I read 'em, Millet deserves nothing less. I'm not saying that my complaint about the Egyptian line (for example) disproves Millet's thesis, I'm just saying it takes points away from him.

All right, that's it for Chapter 1.

You a little sick of the gloating?

Michelle Malkin does the work we're all to lazy to do and shows that the Schaivo Autopsy Report isn't all that some say it is.

A Different Jesus?, pt. 1

For a change of pace (and to keep myself reading this book), I'm going to be live-blogging my thoughts on Robert L. Millet's book A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints (Eerdmans, 2005). Yeah, I said Eerdman's--as Dr. White, Dr. Svendsen, and several others have chronicled reactions to and by Eerdmans publishing an apologetic work by a Latter-Day Saint (those links are just a sampling from each site, btw, look around on all of them). I personally, think it somewhat fitting that a company named for an indifferentist (to use Machen's term) like Charles Eerdman would later sellout the gospel, still, it bugs me no end. From the get-go, this book doesn't appear to be what it claims for itself--an explanation to evangelicals of LDS belief. It's an argument for it. Period.

Forward by Richard Mouw. Mouw assures us, "I still have some serious misgivings" regarding LDS thought "But I also have to admit that the misgivings do not run quite as deep as they did earlier." This is thanks to discussions with Millet and other LDS scholars. He also casts some aspersions on books by Christians on Mormonism. He makes it clear that you can't trust Christian writers on this topic, at least not as much as you can Mr. Millet. Outrageous! Because of co-belligerence on Right-to-Life work, as well as on other fronts, LDS and Evangelicals are working together more, so this is a chance for bridges to be built and us to be a "wonderful demonstration of civility in our increasingly uncivil world." Zowee! A demonstration of civility! Nothing like being civil while souls are rushing to destruction.

Why This Book Was Written
Millet starts off asking some questions:

Do we worship the same Jesus worshipped by our Friends of other Christian Faiths? [how many Christian faiths are there? Eph. 4:5] This question is not answered quickly or easily. It strikes at the heart of who the Latter-day Saints are and what they really believe. Gordon B. Hinckley, fifteenth president of the Church, asked: "Are we Christians? Of course we are! No one can honestly deny that. We may be somewhat different from the traditional pattern of Christianity. But no one believes more literally in the redemption wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. No one believes more fundamentally that He was the Son of God, that He died for the sins of mankind, that He rose from the grave, and that He is the living resurrected Son of the living Father."

One might ask: Why does it matter so much to you that some refer to you as a non-Christian sect? [see the Introduction below for Joseph Smith's thoughts on the "traditional pattern of Christianity"] For years it didn't' I felt that it really was no big deal that persons of other faiths simply didn't understand who and what we are. That was their problem. In recent years, however, it has become more of a personal preoccupation to assist others to know what we do believe and why we claim Christian status. It began to dawn on me when someone commented that 'Mormons are not Christians" that major misconceptions were being conveyed. Does it mean we do not believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ or accept the truthfulness or historicity of the New Testament? Do we not believe that our sins can be forgiven and our natures changed through the power of the blood of Christ? Do we not believe we should seek to emulate his matchless life? Do we not believe in the resurrection and the immorality of the soul? Are we like Jews or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus when it comes to our perception of Jesus?

This book is going to be his attempt to show how the LDS view Jesus Christ "his identity, his distinctive mission, his matchless teachings, his sufferings, death and resurrection, and his transforming power." Millet makes clear this isn't authorized by the LDS church, it's his perspective. That's important to remember--only the LDS church can authoritatively speak on doctrine. No matter what this guy says, it ultimately doesn't mean it's what the church teaches. This is a nice little escape clause, don't ya think?

Introduction: How It All Began
Now according to Mouw, most evangelicals writing on LDS belief can't be trusted. So imagine my surprise when I learned nothing whatsoever in Millet's introduction where he traced the histories of J. Smith's First Vision; the roots of the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price and Doctrine & Covenants; a sketch of the LDS view of Revelation and Scripture; and so on. The only thing different in this intro to what I'd read previously was the "spin" put on the events and views. Whereas Evangelicals consider it all hooey, Millet considers it true--otherwise, like I said I've heard it all before.

A couple of things to highlight. First, these quotations from LDS leaders: "My mind was opened to conviction, and I knew that the Christian world had not the religion that Jesus and the Apostles taught. I knew that there was not a Bible Christian on earth within my knowledge." (Joseph Smith) "I did not join any church, believing that the Church of Christ in its true organization did not exists upon the earth." (Wilford Woodruff, 4th president of the Church) "convinced that the sects were all wrong, and that God had no church on earth, but that he would soon have a church on earth whose creed would be the truth" (describing Willard Richards, a counselor to Brigham Young). OOOOkay, why all this fuss over whether we think you're a Christian or not, Robert? Your past leaders consider us to be non-Christian, why can't we think the same of you? Are your feelings that fragile?

On the subject of the open canon of the LDS, one leader writes, "What makes us different from most other Christians in the way we read and use the Bible and other scriptures is our belief in continuing revelation. For us, the scriptures are not the ultimate source of knowledge, but what precedes the ultimate source. The ultimate knowledge comes by revelation...through those we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators." I hope he picks up this idea some more later, because I think it's worth dwelling on...if he doesn't I'll try to return to it myself.

Okay, I think it's pretty clear I'm antagonistic to this book at the start--it's not impressing me yet. I'll try to dip into Chapter 1 tomorrow, "Jesus Before Bethlehem." That's sure to be a doozy.

Quick Plug

If you've never heard of the E4 Group before, well, you're missing out. Here's some of their canned text I'm supposed to use to get the word out:

Here's this incredible offer that I think you should check out. It's a free 31 volume QuickVerse Bible Software CD that this nonprofit ministry gives away (they do make you pick up the shipping).

I was quite impressed with the true ministry of this offer. You can get the free CD at their website: www.FreeBibleSoftware.com or by calling 866-66-BIBLE (866-662-4253).

It really is great--been using various versions for years now. Give 'em a shot.

Over at the Sem Blog

Remembered that I was supposed to be keeping my seminary events chronicled at my SemBlog, so threw up three posts over there over the last couple of days.

For those who are interested.

He's the Strongest... He's The Quickest.... He's The Best!

I remember hearing about it somewhere, Danger Mouse was coming to DVD at long last. And I dashed off to amazon.com to put it on my wish list. Then with finals/Kidney Kids' surgery/my own strange illness, I'd plum forgotten about it until Gerald blogged it yesterday. Not only was it coming out--it was out already!

So I had to start planning. My wife had been denied the luxury of cable growing up, so I knew she wouldn't be familiar with this treasure. I, on the other hand, had watched every single episode several times--loved 'em. Humor, suspense, British accents, explosions, strange catch phrases...everything that a kid could want and love. So I have to get this set--not just for me, but for my kids. This is one of those things that a father has to pass down to his sons (and some daughters, like mine, who have a taste for action heroes). But how do I convince my wife that this is just such an heirloom?

So, it hits me: my sister. Who better than the gal who watched all those episodes with me to testify to their quality? So I send her an email about him, first just to play a little, I quizzed her--she was certainly going to get this. Here's our exchange, she'll be in italics:

quick question: what's your reaction when I say _______ & Penfold

He's The Greatest - He's Fantastic!
Wherever there is Danger, He'll be There..
He's The Greatest Secret Agent In The World!
He's The Ace - He's Amazing...
He's the Strongest... He's The Quickest.... He's The Best!

I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.....

(sniff) that's truly sad. Danger Mouse!

Don't think I have ever heard of him

[I'm shocked, stunned, flabbergasted as I write] Now I think you're messing with me! It was on Nickelodeon, right after You Can't Do that on Television (or somewhere around there anyway)...White Mouse with an eye patch and an English accent, doing super-spy stuff with his little hamster pal, Penfold, who was always falling over and saying "Coor, cheif!"

You have to remember this...

Okay, so I am totally laughing at you because this is not ringing any bells, and I am kind of thinking you are crazy........

Just strange the things you remember...it was a daily ritual for us for a couple of years at least, and she doesn't have the foggiest idea what I'm talking about.

Okay, so my sister can't help me. So I turn to you, loyal reader. At least one of you remembers this classic. I know it. Help me describe the show in a way that my wife will let me get this DVD set.

Quote of the Day

There is none like Christ, none like Christ, none like Christ.... There is no learning nor knowledge like the knowledge of Christ; no life like Christ living in the heart by faith; no work like the service, the spiritual service of Christ; no reward like the free-graces wages of Christ; no riches nor wealth like "the unsearchable riches of Christ"; no rest, no comfort, like the rest, the consolation of Christ; no pleasure like the pleasure of fellowship with Christ. Little as I know of Christ, I would not exchange the learning of one hour's fellowship with Christ for all the liberal learning in ten thousand universities, during ten thousand ages, even though angels were to be my teachers.

--John Brown of Haddington

The Face of Baseball

This is quite the write-up...gotta make my kids memorize this.

PyroManaic

Phil Johnson has started blogging...the universe as we know it is over. Yay!!!!

It's a daily must read folks...trust me.

Checkin' In

Been sick the last few days, so not much energy to post (and unable to sit in front of this box much, too.) Sick with what? No idea, really. Handful of theories, no evidence to support them, and no apparant willingness on the part of the on-call docs at the clinic to follow up (my doc is on vacation, alas).

Have had the chance to read some--nothing really worthwhile and edifying. Finished The Poet by Connelly (WOW!); read Double Play by Parker in one sitting (not bad, but not as good as the blurbs on the cover says, as Gerald So indicated); finished off Peter David's trilogy featuring everyone's favorite secondary character in Tong Lashing (some great moments, disappointing ending); and continue to plow my way through The Last Disciple by Hannegraaff and Brouwer (ugh! I really want to like this book, but the authors aren't helping me much).

Watched 2 movies: Meet the Fokkers (funny) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (looked great...well, let's just leave it at that, shall we?).

Watched some TV: nothing worth remarking on...it is summer. Oh, saw the end of the Monk re-run from Season 2 where he was in prison, that was nice.

I fully intend on blogging more on The Poet and Tong Lashing...we'll see if I get around to it.

Footnote: I find it slightly amusing that blogger's spell check suggests "answerable" for "Hannegraaff"

Trailers

Okay, was shooting for something more deep to be my next post, but I gotta do this one.

One of the coolest looking trailers I've seen in ages is this one for Richard Linklater's A Scanner Darkly, based on the Philip K. Dick novel. Basically live-action anime. w00t. Here it is.

And I can't remember if I blogged this or not, if I did, oops. If I didn't, shame on me. This looks absolutely gorgeous.

Personal Note

Oh commenter Kelly, over to your right, you will see the words "my complete profile." Click on them, and then use that e-mail link to drop me a note. How'd you find this little patch of cyberspace? How you doing? Etc. Etc. Etc.

Great to hear from you! Been far too long... (which is my fault, too)

The Management

P.S. Anyone else (Vince, don't think we've met) is welcome to do the same :)

Friday Night Videos, pt. 1

Last Friday, the Mrs. and I did something we hadn't done in at least a year, and really haven't done regularly in two years...we did rented movies. We used to do this multiple times a week...now, practically never.

I so need a new life.

Oh, anyway, the first movie we watched was In Good Company. This film got some great reviews in Newsweek (prompting no riots) and World, but pretty much no attention in the box office. It was a surprisingly charming film--at moments it was pretty much cliché romantic comedy type stuff, but it didn't ever fall into that rut 100%.

As for the acting...I was very pleased. Dennis Quaid was very restrained as the loving father/dedicated employee/old-school salesman who believes in his product. Quaid's been a personal favorite since his days as Gordo Cooper in The Right Stuff (I was even able to forgive him for Inner Space), and it was very nice to like him again in a role. Topher Grace did a great, great job. Showed me that he can handle stuff beyond sit-coms (which I love him in)--I expected he could, but was glad to see I was right. I'd never seen Scarlett Johansson in anything before, but now I want to (and for purely platonic reasons). I'd apparently seen Clark Gregg before (AI, State and Main, Clear and Present Danger, Usual Suspects) but I only remember him as Mr. Quo Vadimus in Sports Night. He played pretty much the same character in this movie, only without a heart. David Paymer was excellent as usual, wish he got bigger roles--tho' I think he does better in the small stuff.

Like I said the story was border-line cliché: Old School Business vs. New Order of Profit at all Costs; Forbidden Love; Old Dog vs. Young Pup; and a few others. But they were meshed together so well you don't care. A few genuine laughs, a couple of great scenes, a couple things they could've given you more of/resolved better. All in all a nice movie, and those are too few and far between. Nothing I would make an effort to see again, but if given the opportunity to, I wouldn't mind a bit.

Beautiful Sight

Looking at the AL-East standings gives me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling. Yankees (winning 15 of the last 17) are now at 26-21, .553 PCT. Sure they're 4.5 games behind Baltimore, but after that rocky start, having them in second place is a sight for sore eyes.

Yeah, that's right I said second place. So what happened to Boston? Well, after being swept by Toronto they're 5 games out of first. And they're starting a 3 game series at Yankee Stadium. Wakefield vs. Johnson...this is gonna be good.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Fine. I admit I was wrong. That's my quota for this month. Last night, I stuck to my guns (that "Independence Day" was embarassing for Carrie--on the little flashback they showed tonight displayed that she really can sing it very well), sure he messed up on the first dreadful tune, but Bo came back strong. Still thought he had a lock, but it was closer than I had thought.

But today when I was watching the video of last night (don't laugh, I'm not that sad, my kids didn't get to see it when it first aired) I started to waver. Guess this shows I should stick with my gut and not have reconsidered my original claims about Carrie.

BTW, major kudos to the brains behind American Idol--that "Crime Time" segment was HI-larious, brilliant way to deflate the whole Corey Clark thing.

"Piety Kills the Creative Mind"

Saw this today as an advertisement for some group of Christian artists...disgusting, isn't it? The all-too typical "Yeah, I'm a Christian, but I don't let that interfere with my art" mentality that we saw a lot of in the 80's and 90's--can anyone say U2? (I had a couple other references jumped to mind this morning, but they've slipped off the tip of my tongue...I may update this later). It's meant to be shocking, it's meant to be in your face, it's meant to challenge your assumptions. Flummery, humbug and balderdash. As with most things meant to shock it just comes across as juvenile. Listen, it's not deep, it's not thoughtful, it's not Christian. It is rebellion.

First, piety doesn't kill the creative mind. Tell that to David. Tell that to Solomon. Tell that to Jesus.

Secondly, what exactly is piety? A couple of my favorite definitions, from that big old nasty opponent of the arts, John Calvin:

• "I call 'piety' that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces."
• "True piety consists in a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death."
  

Give me piety any day.

Now I didn't name the group or link to 'em because I don't want to deal with a bunch of those poseurs coming over here and showing their intellectual superiority over me because they "get it" and I don't. Yeah, I do get it, and I know what name to apply to it. Vanity.

She's a little bit Country, He's a little bit Rock 'n Roll

Somehow, despite my repeated intentions to the contrary, I've blogged very little about American Idol (and several of you are very grateful). So I figured I'd better do this now, while I had a spare moment.

First off, I fully expect either tonight or tomorrow they'll give us Carrie and Bo doing a duet of that old Osmonds song.

Secondly, back before we got the final 12--and were immersed in the Mario/Nicco switch, the shady past of "The Body" and had to figure out just why Constantine thought that same Hannibal Lecter stare into the camera was sexy--I was saying definitively that there was no way that anybody but Carrie Underwood would win. When Simon said that she was going to win the competition and sell more than any other winner, I was pleased to see him catch up with me.

But tonight...sorry, Carrie, my dear, but the best you can hope for is that 1 hr before taping Simon and Paula run off to Vegas for a quickie wedding and they have to declare it a draw because Randy can't decide which of you is more aaight. There's just no way you can beat Bo. You don't have it in you. The fact that you beat Baby V last week is a testimony to your fans' loyalty (and Clive Davis' comments about her)--and sadly, not you. Tho' I still bet you sell more records than any Idol contestant.

Last year, I had very little doubt that Fantasia was going to walk all over poor little Diana. This year I have none. It's all about Bo.

this should be fun...

A few websites are reporting that Ken Jennings is getting his own Comedy Central game show.

"Research has shown that our viewers are clamoring for more shows hosted by software engineers from Utah and, fortunately, Ken was available and had a screen test handy," said Lauren Corrao, senior vp original programing and head of development at Comedy Central.

This is great...there's soemthing about Jennings that just makes you want to root for him and see him make big bucks (recent stories about him not spending much of his record Jeopardy winnings yet for some reason make me want to see him get more). And Comedy Central's game shows like Win Ben Stein's Money and Beat the Geeks were great.

Going the lazy route on posting

Gotta respect a guy like this, from a Mike Straka piece:
"The thing that I have to deal with," [Jason Alexander] said, "is finding a way — particularly being that I live in Los Angeles, which is a town full of illusion and questionable values and morals, and the fact that my children are being raised with financial means and the odd behavior that surrounds a celebrity — so imparting to them what really has value and worth is a little harder than how I was brought up in a middle-class family," he said.

When Alexander goes to Disneyland with his children, for example, he says they don't wait in lines. It's important, therefore, he says, to teach his two young boys that that is not normal and that they are not better than the families who are waiting in line. It's just that skipping the lines is the only way for them to experience the rides as a family, as otherwise he'd be bombarded by autograph requests.

"I can say that until I'm blue in the face," he said, "but will they get it? I have to deal with giving them a real sense of what is valuable, what is right and what is moral, when all they see at their age is privilege, and that's tricky," he said.

Kidney Kid Update 5/18

Not much to say, but enough to litter your inbox with. We had a new ultrasound on Monday, and we saw pretty much what was expected--dark blobs on top of light gray blobs, with intermittent splashes of color. Assuming that the people at the hospital know what they're talking about, they saw what they should've, too. The "very bad" kidney is still very bad, and the "not as bad" kidney has grown some. The good news there is that it's what we were supposed to see.

This ultrasound was the precursor to the operation we mentioned in the last update. That was this morning, we've been sketchy on details on this because one day he'll be old enough to get embarrassed and he wouldn't like it if we gushed on this, but basically he had some work done on his urethra. Surgery went well, we were told that afterwards we'd hear him before we'd see him in the recovery room. Well that didn't happen. When he came to, he was basically the Kidney Kid, just very subdued (not at all the person we were told we wouldn't recognize in our son's body). He's still subdued now, just less so, he's wanting to get up and walk around--and doesn't understand why we won't let him (nor does he understand why his legs seem to have been transubstantiated into jello). For the next few days, basically our job is to keep him relaxed and to watch out for "bladder spasms"--which sound just horrible, then we go back in a week for a follow-up with the Urologist.

Unless something changes, that's about it for now. We'll just leave you with this word of advice: if you're ever given the opportunity to care for a 1-yr old with a catheter: skip it. :)

Whoo-hoo!

Skewlz out for summer!

Paper's done, debate's over, final's submitted.

My brain is officially mush.

9 in a row...

The boys are back! Tino, Bernie...aw man...it's like 2001 all over again. Tino had 8 homers in 8 games last week! Tied for 1st in the majors right now!

And Bernie's career 11th Grand Slam tonight, man! Wish I could've done more than read about that.

Keep it up guys! August is right around the corner.

3 for 3

Well, that's three trips to Greenville. Three times my flight out has been cancelled.

I...don't...believe...it

As my hostess said, "at least he's consistent."

Apparently, the big to-do about the Cessna flying into Washington's restricted airspace resulted in some flights being grounded/delayed. That made our flight out to Chicago 2 hrs late, which would make us late for our connecting flight. Soooo, I get to wake up at 4 am to try this again.

National Day of Prayer

I don't get it...just don't get it. Never have. Don't know if I ever will.

Anyone want to explain it to me?

"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." (Matt. 6:5-6, ESV)

Seminary of the Kitchen Table

...that's what Tom Tyson calls the theological education (catecheses, etc.) that his mother gave him as he was growing up. There are times when that seems like a very fitting name.

Tonight at dinner we had the Dividing Line on in the background and Frodo hears something about Joseph Smith and the Bible. "Joseph Smith was in the Bible? What did he do?" So I tell him no, that Joseph Smith lived about 150 years ago, taught something about God, changed the Bible, taught that God has a body, that Jesus and Satan were brothers, there are many gods... he responds (slack-jawed and wide-eyed) "That is evil." Of course, that earns him a bear hug from his pa.

Not everything went that smoothly, Samwise didn't catch it all so we were repeating that for him, expanding along the way, and included that if you're really good and do all the things you're supposed to do, after you die you can become a god and get your own planet. He gets excited "COOL!" Frodo, the Mrs and I jump in at that point with a correction (the Princess stayed focused on her Mandarin Chicken).

In the end we had a long and good conversation about LDS beliefs and contrasted that with what the Bible teaches. A little earlier than I'd planned on having that talk, but man, when your 6 year-old shows that level of discernment, you step up to the plate. (If only folks at Eerdmans, Fuller Seminary, etc. had the same level!)

Each Generation's Task

It strikes many Presbyterians with surprise that the General Assembly and our leading periodicals in this year 1860, one hundred and fifty years after the beginning of our church in America, should be largely occupied in discussing the question, "What is Presbyterianism?" They ask with displeasure, "Are fundamentals never to be settled among us? Is the church never to be relieved of these debates, which thus agitate the settled foundations of our theory?" We may answer to these indignant questions with an emphatic No. The good brethren who thus deplore these renewed discussions of first principles misconceive the nature of the human mind and of free institutions. While man remains the creature he is, such discussions are to be expected and desired. Each generation must do its own thinking, and learn for itself its own lessons in first truths and general principles. If we insist that this generation of Presbyterians shall hold our fathers' principles on trust, and by mere prescription, the result will be that they will not hold them sincerely at all. For by the very reason that general principles do not lie on the surface, but are to be detected by analysis and induction, they are always in every science, other than first appearances and first impressions would lead men to suppose. Hence, in every science, the true general principles are unpopular and paradoxical, in the first, unthinking view. Prior to this active investigation, it is, in astronomy for instance, the earth which seems to stand still and the heavenly bodies to move; in hydrostatics, it is the empty tube which seems to suck up the water; in theology, it is the Pelagian view which commends itself to the natural mind, instead of the Calvinistic. So in church government, the actual first truths of the New Testament are not those which our unreflecting impressions would lead us to suppose. Hence each generation must correct those first impressions for itself, and be led down to the true principles by the laborious collision of debate and investigation.

Beside this, the human mind loves the concrete; and the labor of abstraction and correct generalization is most irksome to it. Yet it is certain that all general truths, that are properly such, are abstractions. Hence, most minds never trouble themselves to attain independently to an intelligent view of such truths, but adopt the practical results of them with a sort of imperfect comprehension and conviction; and of many who make such first truths the regulative sources of their practical opinions, the general views are more or less vague, and their agreement with each other in them is only approximative. Now we cheerfully grant that both these classes may be practically very hood and honest Presbyterians, and that their detailed opinions and conduct may be much better than the general principles of their theory. But it is none the less true that the general principles sooner or later work out their logical details in the public mind; and that it is the men who hold the abstractions--a Plato, an Augustine, a Calvin, a Des Carts, a Jefferson, a Calhoun--correctly or incorrectly, who in the issue determine the practical opinions of their fellow-men for good or for evil. The practical opinions can only be kept correct by a perpetual recurrence to first truths. Hence we must expect the perpetual agitation of those first truths. It indicates, not, indeed, the perfect health of the body ecclesiastical, a condition not to be expected while Christians are imperfect, but its sanative tendencies.

from R. L. Dabney, "Theories of the Eldership"

a rarity

Since the blogosphere is filled with places that seem to exist only to say nasty things about Dr. James White, figured he's due to have at least one nice post made about him from time to time (even if he can't pronounce my name).

One of the things that Dr. White is most frequently accused of is being a nasty, divisive Calvinist who will disfellowship those who don't agree with him en toto. If this is true, please tell me why he would include this paragraph in one of his blog posts today?

Now, you will notice, I am recommending a book that contains, as one example, a very Presbyterian discussion of baptizw, with which I would take exception. That's called allowing for differences, even important differences, and still learning from godly men who do not agree on every jot and tittle.

We here at the Noise of course agree with that spirit--which is why despite the fact that Dr. White doesn't get baptizw right (in fact, he gets it horribly wrong), we've been linking to him from the start :) Don't get me wrong, baptism is a huge issue, and one of us is sinning when we teach on/practice it. So we can acknowledge this divide, and learn from those on the other side of the chasm. I'll take that ecumenicism any day over the "let's brush everything under the rug as long as we can elect a decent president together" mentality so prevalent today.

So anyway, kudos to the Doc for saying what he did. Now off to drool some more over that book he was recommending...

Just wrong...so wrong

okay, the Health Nazi's take away our Super-Sized Fries/Drinks; they turn the Cookie Monster into a health food eater, and we sit by and take it. This has to stop now...they've gone too far: They're changing the Oreo Filling

Stand up! Take to the Streets! Let the Revolution Begin!

tip o' the cap to: Not So Fast

rolling my eyes

1. Wow! 1 week and change since a post...have a handful running around my wee little brain...need to do something with them.

2. Someone, don't know who (but I have a guess) signed me up for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee e-newsletter last fall. So once a week (sometimes more), I get this email from some DNC big-wig whining about the President, Majority in the Senate/House, something like that. It's normally worth a chuckle and a shake of the head (what fools these mortals be!) but that's about it...today's was no exception. Under the heading The Lion Roars , we read:

Sen. Ted Kennedy has been on the Senate Judiciary Committee for years and knows the difference between good nominees and bad nominees. And, boy, has Bush nominated some real stinkers!

followed by a link to his web page wherein he smears these nominees.

So the question of the day: If they're just that bad...why not let the Senate vote on them?

HGTTG

David Learner gives his review of the Hitchhiker's movie...he played Marvin on stage and on TV, so his thumbs up means something..the way he writes about Adams tho is what makes this one worth a read. (marvin is played by Warwick Davis and Alan Rickman in the movie)

lighter side

The Top 5 Signs You're About to Be Fired

FYI

Over at my semblog is a very half-hearted reading report on Fighting the Good Fight: A Brief History of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

New Blog on the list...

Lukerisms, aptly subtitled "The only place on the web for Lukerisms" (unless I quote them here...which I probably will). Today's entry, "The real question . . . . " is one of the tamer, and yet wholly sound things I've read on the topic of John Paul II's eternal destiny.

Life inside the Headphones

I really love my job with the Tax Commission...work is steady, consistent. Sit down, look at a form and type, when finished, move to the next. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. It would literally be the perfect job if it went year round....

This last Saturday was a little creepy--I had a string of forms that must've come in the same envelope from a military base. They all had this little note in the corner, "COMBAT ZONE"--a little unnerving. Thankfully they all got refunds, would've felt guilty if they had to pay Idaho taxes on top of everything else--oh, and all of them? Woefully underpaid. Disgusting.

Anyhow, one of the nice things about the gig is that as it is so conssistent, you don't have to pay a lot of attention to it and still do a good job. So for a few hrs a day, I get to just sit in pretty much silence, and let my mind wander, think of a particular issue, book, whatever. Last year I plotted out about half a dozen short stories...never got around to writing them, 'tho. Go through a bazillion batteries for my CD player, though.

Recently listened to a very challenging, convicting and convincing sermon by Joel Beeke, The Great Boon to Sanctification: Conducting Family Worship. Glad no one was around to see me on the verge of weeping... "You okay there? Yeah, those Fuel Use Deductions really get to me, too."

A few years ago I decided that the best music to do data entry to was Boy Band stuff like 'Nync or Backstreet Boys (or is it Boyz? Don't care). For the record, never bought any, but would keep the radio tuned to a station that would play that a lot.

But a good second place entry is 80's music. So last week I made this huge mp3 CD of 80's tunes, taking full advantage of the size of mp3's and the CD. A playlist that would make Methuselah and Mithradites say, "Dude, this is taking forever..." Granted , there's no art to it, Rob Fleming would be disappointed in it for that. Basically just dragged and dropped 700 MBs on to the disc. There's a danger to that tho, there's this impulse to sing along...can you just imagine sitting there tap-tapping on your keyboard to hear my caterwauling:

I’m begging you, please...
Don’t talk to strangers, baby don’t you talk
Don’t talk to strangers, you know he’ll only use you up
Don’t talk, don’t talk, don’t talk,
Don’t talk, don’t talk to him
Nobody, talk, nobody, ever told you, don’t talk

Okay, enough time-killing, I have report/paper/stuff to write...putting the headphones back on to get some done...but at least I'm at home and my kids won't complain (they're used to it)

Turnaround, every now and then I get a
little bit lonely and you're never coming around
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit tired of listening to the sound of my tears
Turnaround, Every now and then I get a
little bit nervous that the best of all the years have gone by
...

Sing along!

Another reason to be a Red State kind of guy

Can you imagine how lame John F(ancy Pants) Kerry would've looked doing this?

yeah, I know...lame post, beating a dead horse...hey! haven't posted anything since Monday, had to do something

Big Weekend

Samwise played his first T-ball game. He's got great instincts--only kid out there who once he got his hands on the ball didn't have to be told where to throw it (who says MLB2004 for the Game Cube isn't educational?). Getting his uniform was one of the proudest moments of his life. He kept saying "I'm a [team name] today! I'm a [team name] today!"

Frodo was clearly a veteran on the field--always the second man to the ball (usually by a step). Why do I think that's good? Because it wasn't long before he'd figured out that no one else knew what to do, so from Left Field he started dashing for any ball that made it out of the infield--all of which were to Center or Right. So something'd get hit to RF and he'd take off, and get there one step behind. Good hits, too.

Turns out that it's not next Sunday as originally planned that will be my last doing pulpit supply, but it was yesterday. Relieved to be done and have more time in my life...but hate to give it up. (unless something goes horribly wrong at Presbytery and I'm in for another 6 mos. + of this)

Biggest news of the weekend: the Kidney Kid WALKED!!! Friday we tricked him into taking a couple of steps while he was distracted by a toy. But Saturday we got him to walk between the Mrs and myself. After doing it a few times, he realized what he was doing :) Yesterday I broke out the videocamera to capture the steps. He took a couple steps toward me and then stopped, uncertain. So I flipped the little LCD screen around so he could see himself in it. He uttered a very Tim Allen-esque grunt (it's in the genes) and hobbled towards the camera :)

If you'd asked us a year ago to predict where he'd be...we'd have been sure he'd have been healthy. But probably on dialysys, maybe a feeding tube (and of course, the humane thing would then have been to starve him and let him die a peaceful, noble death). This is beyond all our expectations and hopes. Soli Deo Gloria.

Welcome to Post-Schaivo America

Granddaughter yanks grandma's feeding tube

May God have mercy on us all.

Sell Out

Could Chuck Colson sell out to Rome just a little bit more? Is that possible?

From today's tribute: "Under his care, the Church opposed, both in word and deed, the false idols at whose altar so many of our contemporaries worship."

Gut Wrenching Irony on Line 2.

John Tesh, Criminal at Large

Okay, I'm on the way from Job 2 to Job 1 tonight, and Jerry Doyle plays this song clip
from the new John Tesh album, and then goes on a huge, and mildly
entertaining, anti-Tesh rant. Now if I was to say just 10% of the things he
said in the chat channel I hang out in, Dr. White would click a couple of
buttons, and I'd be unable to chat for at least 1-2 minutes, maybe a day.
And on the whole, I can see his point: nice guy, apparently Christian, gives his audience what they want.

But this... this ... is just wrong.
This is audio vandalism, this is a crime against art, this is...ugh. Words
fail me. But my pop music listening readers, you have to click on that link
(Bernice, Susan..eh, don't bother) AND, you really need to listen to the
whole clip. Feel my pain.

I love this internet thingy...

All while sitting in this little chair in front of my desk, I:

• Attended Presbyterian Church History class this morning via videoconferencing.
• Am listening to the archived edition of today's Dividing Line
• Just finished watching the Yankees beat the Sox on mlb.com's Gameday.

Couldn't have done any of this 10 years ago. Just think of that!

New Blog

D. Patrick Ramsey has a new blog, Patrick's Pensees, well worth reading and pondering. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to arrive at the same conclusions he seems to be going with his thinking on the covenant. But I find his thinking and method profitable--much more so than most contemporary explorations of the topic. His latest two posts, A Greater Scandal in the Church and Covenant Children and the Kingdom of God are keepers.

Well today officially cannot suck

I don't care if I get fired (from either/both jobs), if I get hit by a train, mugged, stabbed, lose the house in a blaze because I forgot to turn off my George Foreman grill....doesn't matter. Great Day.

Close to an actual transcript:

Frodo (comes out of his room) Did you know there's actually eleven commandments?
Me: What?
Frodo: Jesus said, I give you a new commandment.
[quick discussion about said commandment]
Me: Um, when did you read this?
Frodo: Just before you told us to come out...
Me: You were reading the Bible?
Frodo: Yeah, I was reading Joshua, but decided I didn't want to, so I was reading John.
Me: Why?
Frodo: I wanted to.
Me: You were reading the Bible just because?
Frodo: Well, I didn't want to read Joshua, so I was reading John and Jesus said "a new commandment."

UPDATE: Seeing how impressed I was at Frodo's doing that, Samwise is flipping through the book of Hebrews :)

"Let's go, Tino!"

Warning: for the next few days in particular, and over the next couple of months, there will be a lot of Yankee Noise.

Watched some clips of last night's season opener on mlb.com with the kids. Tino's diving catch and toss to to Sturtze...nice. Would be very nice any day, but for your first game back in pinstripes in front of a crowd just begging for a chance to go crazy for you? Priceless.

Oh, and don't get me started on Matsui's home-run denying catch in the second. My kids had me play that 3 times :)

9-2, baby. One game down, 161 (and the post-season) to go...

Health Plan

Yesterday's Pearls before Swine sums it pretty nicely.

Building Generational Bridges

I like to have music on during the day with the kids (it discourages talk about whatever might be on TV). But we have a problem, what do we listen to? Kids music (which I can tolerate and occasionally enjoy a track or two) or Daddy's music (which they can tolerate and enjoy a couple of tracks of)?

Well, we might have found an answer: They Might Be Giants. A favorite group of Daddy's since 1990(!!!), who just released Here Come the ABC's. Educational, fun, quirky. Peace in the land.

Thank you, Johns!

Taking the easy way out...

Was going to try to do a quick review of the new Jill Phillip's CD: Kingdom Come, but decided to be lazy/efficient and just post the log of my comments on it in an IRC channel. Less than eloquent, but it's done.

hey...for those of you who read Cent's blog...he was recently praising a CD by Jill Phillips
got my copy in the mail today (from Kingdombound Books, no less) it's very, very good
think Fernando Ortega but with guitars where he has piano, and with a female vocalist
so, pretty much, not at all like Fernando
But...if you like Fernando Ortega, you'll like Jill Phillips
and if you don't like Ortega, there's something wrong with you

really need to post something not so down

okay after the last three posts, need something more on the uplifting side.

Sure it'll be outdated by the time anyone reads it, but

5 days, 16 minutes, 20 minutes until Opening Day, baby!!!