there's something wrong with me...

I'm behind schedule on...well, pretty much everything...so why is it that I'm prepared to spend good time doing this?

The T-Shirt Says It All

Finally saw Serenity tonight. Gorgeous film. I loved the series, but this...wow. They really brought their A game. The dialogue didn't crackle the way that Whedon's usually does--but he was going for a slightly broader audience this time (I never had doubts about his Wonder Woman flick, but I have less now)

There was a rawness, a humanity to this that no Star Trek movie, and most of the Star Wars films didn't touch (maybe bits of Empire). The deaths (and there were some) meant something; the sacrifices, the nobility--they were real. Can't say that for many things on TV or in the theaters today.

River rocked. Still would give a limb for Kaylee. Would like to be half the Shepherd that Book was. Wash and Mal still make me laugh.

Not going to attempt a real review, or even what passes for one 'round these parts. Can't do the film justice. It made me laugh, made me jump, made me angry, inspired and left a smile on my face. Can't ask for much more out of a cowboy in space movie.

Too many good lines to recount, but one'll stick with me for awhile: "If you can't do something smart, do something right." I should get that on a pillow or something.

Malkin's blogging too much lately

Can't keep up with her...but man, I feel compelled to (thankfully still waiting for a couple textbooks to arrive, so it's not like I'm deliberately ignoring homework). One stop shopping for blog-reading.

• We have this bit of insightful commentary:

  Meanwhile, potty-training my son is like dealing with post-9/11 liberals. No matter how much patient educating and explaining you do to convince them to take responsibility for their actions and prevent future disasters, the end result is always the same: soiled pants.

• This interesting post on the WMD.
• Some tech-culture commentary on the Google-China deal
• And we darenot forget what Michelle does best: exposing our weaknesses on the southern border. If "The War at the Border" and "The War at the Border: Escalation" don't cost you some sleep, you aren't reading closely.
• And then hits the cultural high-brow note here (a note I should aspire to).
• and much, much more...why are you wasting time with my blather? Just read Malkin!

100th Episode

Smallville reaches the magic 100 mark tonight. (not sure why it's magic anymore, used to be the point at which shows went into syndication, iirc, it's not that anymore)

Anyway, this is the show we've all been anticipating/dreading since the season opener. To satisfy Jor-El returning Clark's powers to him (a la Superman II), someone close to him will die (unlike Superman II). Who will this person be? Someone standing close to Clark? or someone truly close to him? Well, someone from the opening credits. Maybe more than one someone. Supposedly no one on the cast saw it coming 'til they got the script (gotta be a sucky way to find out you're unemployed).

Anyway, will be at work with someone meets their doom. Hope my VCR (how much of a throwback am I? Video cassette?) does its job tonight. Won't be going online 'til I've had the chance to watch it, as a good chunk of the internet will be talking about this. If my VCR doesn't do its job, well, let's just say you won't be seeing me update the blog or check my email for a few months :)

My greatest fear is that it will be Chloe. Scribbler and I aren't sure if we're coming back for a Chloe-less Smallville (we will, we'll just gripe for a couple weeks). Lois is safe, ditto for Lex. I bet Ma is, too. Jonathan...hmm..tough call. But he's almost too obvious w/the long-term heart condition, hate-hate relationship with Jor-El. Lionel? Ha. Not close to clark at all. That leaves Lana. Oh my, I hope it's Lana. She's a drag on the show, the Clark-Lana relationship hasn't had zip for awhile. And we all know the relationship is doomed (see Lois). We'll know in a couple hours how much I think like a TV writer (there's part of me that opes I don't think much like one)

Things that made me LOL today

in no particular order:

• The latest from Purgatorio (h/t The Riddleblog)
  
• That is not my blog--in particular this and this and this (h/t Petty Athanasius)

That quote...

Okay, okay, okay...you can stop harassing me. A few days ago (well, a couple of weeks and change) I put a quotation up, with the promise of revealing the author soon. And then silence ensued--part of that was due to the fact that I was busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. Another part of it was due to the fact that I was intending on using it in the sermon I had to preach for class on 1/13, and I was reserving comment on it 'til I was done with that. (and another part is shear laziness, I'm sure).

Sorry Rusty, it was not Princess Di who wrote that. Nor was it little ol' me. And maybe using a Bible Code-type hermeneutic you could find a chicken curry recipe there, but I'm not sure. And as for Internet Lutherans...well, I'm sure the original author would deal with them in such a way as to make Steve Hays look like kitty cat. It was by the stalwart Robert L. Dabney, from the book Sacred Rhetoric. Currently published under the title Evangelical Eloquence by the Banner of Truth.

Here's the quotation w/a little context--Dabney is discussing the subjects of sermons--the type of sermon to be preached. Should they all be doctrinal? Should they all be practical? Dabney says no to both. Part of his argument for a balance between the two in preaching included that quotation. Here it is with the rest of the paragraph:

The practical definition of Christianity has been fully accepted by us. Its end and aim is holy living [author's footnote: "Eph. i.4; Titus ii.14, et passim"]. Of this holy life, the law of God is the rule. The believer justified in Christ does not, indeed, look to the law for his redeeming merit; but he receives it as his guide to the obedience of faith and love, as fully as though he were still under a covenant of works. He therefore needs practical instruction, as really as the unbeliever. It must stimulate and direct him in the Christian race, and make him a "peculiar person, zealous of good works." The exclusive preaching of doctrine to professed Christians tends to cultivate an Antinomian Spirit. The exclusive inculcation of duties fosters self-righteousness. The edification of the Church, then, demands the diligent intermixture of both kinds. This precept may be confirmed by the remark, that, as the motives and obligations of all duties are rooted in the doctrines, so the best illustrations of the doctrines are by their application to the duties. The two are inseparably connected as grounds and conclusions, as means and end; and their systematic separation in your instructions would leave your hearers incapable of a correct understanding of either.

The part that struck me is of course the part that struck the commenters: "...but he receives it as his guide to the obedience of faith and love, as fully as though he were still under a covenant of works." The words are jarring to our ears (and, I'm willing to bet Dabney's original audience). We instinctively recoil, "'Covenant of works? Oh, no, no, no. Even if you accept the outdated notion of a Covenant of Works, we know that under the New Covenant we have nothing to do with such a thing." Well, yeah, I do accept the covenant of works, and I'm not arguing that we should consider ourselves under it--nor does Dabney. I want to emphasize, Dabney is by no means arguing for moralism, if you didn't catch that in the above quotation. He later stresses, "It is only the morality of the Cross which the Christian pastor should teach."

But think of it this way: let's say, we were under a Covenant where our performance did decide our eternal state. Where our understanding, our adherence to a code of morality or a list of duties was the sole determining factor in whether we had life everlasting, or perpetual punishment. Now, given those conditions: how fully would we receive and embrace that code/list as our guide to obedience?

But, thank God, that is not the condition we are in. "The believer justified in Christ does not, indeed, look to the law for his redeeming merit" (or any other kind of merit). By God's free grace, we have been called, justified, adopted, and more. But in love we are to obey that same Lord, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15); "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words" (John 14:23,24). If we love Him, would we not therefore embrace this same code with more ardor, more fervor than we would out of fear of punishment/hope of reward? Especially when we remember, that "this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3)

Okay, there are (some) of my thoughts on the quotation. Feel free to throw some back at me.

P. S. Before I forget, while I'm talking about Dabney's book on preaching. His comments on political preaching were worth the price of the book. Should probably get it printed in pamphlet form and mail copies to everyone who attends one of those "Justice Sunday" events. If someone kindly reminds me in a few days, I'll post parts of it.

Thought for the Day - 1/11/06

God is glorified in the work of redemption in this, that there appears in it so absolute and universal a dependence of the redeemed on him. - Jonathan Edwards

The absolute sovereignty of God is a corollary of the absolute dependence of man. Similarly, the corollary of a partial dependence is a partial sovereignty and a partial sovereignty is ultimately no sovereignty at all.

Not doin' it on our own...

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:7-16

Of the many great gifts that our gracious Lord and Savior has given us, perhaps the most overlooked are those mentioned in v. 11 "the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers." Why are they given? The Apostle tells us, "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…"

It doesn’t take an ecclesiastical genius to see that the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son have not been reached (much less the rest of the list). So it’s easy to see that we still need those gifts. Now we have the apostles and prophets work preserved for us in the Scriptures—and most Christians have little problem remembering to be thankful for them.

But what about the rest? What about the evangelists, the pastors and teachers? What about those working to equip the saints for the work of ministry? Those who throw themselves into building up the body of Christ? How often do we think of them as gifts from the risen and ascended Christ? How often are we thankful for them?

Not just those that we see and hear week after week (hopefully), but all those who from the time of the apostles and prophets have labored to build up Christ’s body to the measure and fullness of Christ?

While in class today, listening to a godly professor cull the accumulated wisdom and teachings of many throughout the centuries to equip we future ministers (D.V.) to equip others. How little I’ve thought of that treasure lately. My fellow elders, my friends in the ministry, my professors, and all those giants on whose shoulders we stand (and a few midgets, too, it must be admitted). How gracious and generous our Lord is!

How pathetic, how shortsighted—how unappreciative, how ungrateful are those who disdain them. Lone Ranger Christians despising the gifts that Christ gave and gives now that he is on high.

May God save me—and his church—from this spirit, and help us to embrace and to utilize their work.

New Blog

Natalie Teeger's blogging--yay! Okay, I'd have rather read Sharona's blog, but this is close enough. (and I have to admit Natalie's really growing on me)

Discuss amongst yourselves

I'm going to leave the author and my take on this out of it for the moment, want to hear some chatter from my readers (even you who don't comment that often--especially you!), read this quote yesterday and I've been chewing on it since.

[Christianity's] end and aim is holy living [author's footnote: "Eph. i.4; Titus ii.14, et passim"]. Of this holy life, the law of God is the rule. The believer justified in Christ does not, indeed, look to the law for his redeeming merit; but he receives it as his guide to the obedience of faith and love , as fully as though he were still under a covenant of works.

Stranger in a Strange Land

If you took all the OPCs in Utah and Idaho, put them on a plane and brought them to the meeting room of the PCA church I attended tonight here in SC, there'd still be room for visitors. It was hard on my system (in a good way). On the other hand, the PCA church I attended this morning was smaller in attendance than my own. And both of them (and a few other PCA's in the area) have their own buildings.

Just can't imagine that embarrassment of riches in the Pacific Northwest....

How's this for a Resolution?

As I'm reading a commentary in preparation for a paper, I read the following: "James carries forward some of the central aspects of Jesus' message and teaching...This continuity with Jesus' teaching is relatively rare within the New Testament."

I showed kletois this line and he replied, "Are they reading the same leather bound book we read??" And you really have to wonder sometimes what book is being read by some of these guys. Although there is a bevy of evidence that they're reading something—and that's certainly commendable.

Thankfully, while I was writing that paper, I was able to read (and utilize) several other writers who were reading the same book. And more than that they handled the book correctly—which is of vital importance.

Chrysostom, Augustine, Calvin, Owen, Watson, Manton, Boston, Hodge, Thornwell, Ryle, Machen, Moo, Morris—for all the differences that exist between those people, there is one common bond—they're men of the Book. Men who read and handle the Word of God with reverence, respect, and understanding.

We're awash in a culture that hates that Book, and hates those who follow it. That hatred is becoming more and more apparent everyday. Even those who are supposedly on the side of the Church are showing more and more how they're not on our side. It seems every time you turn around another wolf is spotted behind a pulpit, hawking "Christian" wares, deceiving the sheep.

There's precisely one way to eliminate the influence of the wolves. One way to survive the hatred—in all the current and upcoming manifestations. Become people of the Book.

We need to read the Book, study the Book, hear the Book preached responsibly every chance we have. We need to spend time with other people of the Book as models and guides—whether we can only know them in print, or if they're across town.

We have to get into the Book and get the Book into us.

A Year with My Children in the Bible

The clan just finished going through this survey of the Bible--sure, it's a day early, but we did double duty so I could be around for the end. Not the greatest survery of the Bible around, I'm sure--but it's pretty good. Spends too little time on some things, too much on others, in my not so humble opinion. But on the whole, sound, balanced, age appropriate (even good for the 'rents). Got my kids thinking about somethings for sure--things I wouldn't have bothered with (but am glad Cromarty did). I know my quiver liked it--they howled like banshees when we discovered a few days were missing in October (I asked Evangelical Press for the text of those days, knowing that was a long shot--that very day they sent a replacement copy, free--that's customer service).

We ended today with the following reading. Great way to finish off.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21:1-7

Notes from the Sick Ward

Had really planned on a blog-splosion while I was on break. But got fairly distracted by several things around the house, reading for the Winter Term, and now a cold from h-e-double hockey-stick--which has taken out the whole household (tired would probably insert a covenant-head joke here, but it started with the Princess and then moved on to the Kidney Kid, which is a shame, because his joke would be funny).

Took the Kidney Kid in today, got a steroid shot to help his croup. Seems to be working. He's actually sleeping tonight, as is mommy. That's a major plus.

Have gotten some intersting reading done--many books started, none finished yet. Depending how tomorrow goes, I could have a few knocked off. Have got more sleep in the last few days than I have in the last few months. Very strange experience.

Hopefully will have a few things to say in the next couple of days. And next week--since I will have gobs and gobs of stuff to do, expect me to blog about a bazillion words a day.

Sounds & a Sight of the Weekend

Things over heard that brought (and still bring) a smile to my face:
Frodo, yesterday morning, "After breakfast, let's play Mario Baseball." He's very excited about the new videogame. Samwise (poster child for video game addiction). "No, I want to play with my Narnia toys." He would only stop playing with those to open packages and eat. The latter was generally forced.

Scribbler to Princess, "Come here and bring Lalanie [Cabbage Patch Doll]. You need to take the adoption oath. Repeat after me...I promise [something, something]..." Princess just stares at her. Scribbler to Lalanie, "Oh, it's okay, Lalanie, I'll love you." Princess giggles, "Mommy, it's just a doll."

Frodo, thanking everybody, making sure his siblings did, too.

The Kidney Kid, giggling. A lot. And then some more.

Image of the day:
I get a blanket from the inlaws, use it for a minute as a pillow as we're watching something on TV.

Here's the catch--it's still in the original packaging as I do that.

The results? here.

The Application of Christ to the Soul

Of all these great doctrinal things, there still remains one lesson to be learned—-how to apply Christ rightly to your soul. Learn that and you have everything. If you have learned this well, you are a great theologian. For the right application of Christ to the sick soul, to the wounded conscience, and the diseased heart, is the fountain of all our felicity, and the well-spring of all our joy., In order to understand how this application operates (provided that you want Christ in your soul), think of what the presence of your soul within you does to this earthly body, to this lump of clay. It is by the presence of the soul that it lives, moves, and feels. As the soul gives to the body, life, movement, and sensation, so Christ does the very same thing to your soul. Have you ever grasped and applied Him to yourself? As the soul quickens the body, so He quickens the soul, not with an earthly or temporal life, but with the life which He lives in heaven. He makes you live the same life which the angels live in heaven. He makes you move, not with worldly motion, but with heavenly, spiritual and celestial motions. Again, He inspires I you not outward senses, but heavenly senses. He works within you a spiritual feeling, that in your own heart and conscience you may find the effect of His Word. Thus by the conjunction of Christ with my soul, I get a thousand times a greater benefit than the body does by the soul, for the body by the presence of the soul gets only an earthly and temporal life, subject to continual misery, but by the presence of Christ in my soul, I see a blessed life, I feel a blessed life, and that life daily increases in me more and more. Therefore the ground of all our perfection and blessedness consists in this conjunction and so even if you lived as long as Methuselah, and spent your whole life seeking, yet if in the last hour you were to get this conjunction, you would think your labour well worth it, for you would have gained enough. If you have gained Christ, you have gained everything with Him. Thus the applying of Christ to your soul is the fountain of all your joy and felicity.

Now let us see how we get this conjunction. This is a spiritual conjunction, hard and difficult to be acquired or procured. How then is it brought about? What are the means God uses in this conjunction, and what are the means man uses in it in order to get Christ, to put Christ Jesus in our soul, and to make Christ Jesus one with us? There is one means employed on God’s part-—God helps us to get Christ; and another means employed on our part. On the part of God, there is the Holy Spirit, who offers the Body and Blood of Christ to us. On our part there must also be a means employed, or else when He offers, we will not be able to receive. Therefore there be faith to our souls to receive what the Holy Spirit offers, to receive the heavenly food of the Body and Blood of Christ. Thus faith and the Holy Spirit are the two means employed in this spiritual and heavenly conjunction. By these two means, by faith and the Holy Spirit, I receive the Body of Christ--The Body of Christ is mine, and He is given to my soul.

--Robert Bruce
"The Lord's Supper in Particular"

Amen!

Preach it, Brother Frazz!

What the ... ?

When I got in this morning I had an email waiting for me from my wife, subject line simply saying, "WHAT?" And then there was some nonsense about Johnny Damon signing with the Yankees. I was unusually tired, so I didn't bother to go to snopes.com and show she'd fallen for some Internet hoax. Puh-leez. The guy's on record (May of this year, in fact).

But no. Johnny Damon is...(oh this is hard to type)...a...a...(be strong, you can say this) a Yankee.

The man has no arm. How is this an improvement over Bernie? Better at offense. We don't need offense...we need defense! You know, getting the ball from the outfield to the men on base quickly...that kind of thing.

This is a bad move. This is a stupid move. Sure, there's a little "in your face" action for the RS Nation (how'd they become a nation anyway? 1 lousy championship in decades and they're a nation??? Oh wait...the Yankees have an Empire. Never mind) This is all about George, his ego and his checkbook. Sorry Joe, sorry Cash. I know, I just know you weren't behind this. I trust you can pick make some lemonade from this lemon.

Okay, okay, he's a great lead-off hitter. Jeter's great at moving guys over a base. So that's going to make things interesting at the top of the order. Good 1-2 combo. I will not complain about that. But fielding...you gotta be kidding me!

First response at a Yankee messageboard I read from time to time, "Dear *** Noooooo" followed shortly by "It's better than a five year deal" (only four). My favorite response, "instead of 'We're just a bunch of idiots.' he will have to say 'We are just a bunch of consummate professionals.'"

And it's not just Yankee fans saying this, Joy of Sox says:

New York is paying for what Damon was, not what he will be. There can be no doubt that his four years in Boston will turn out to be far more productive than his four in the Bronx.

Damon's the original Idiot, the hirsute anti-Yankee who drilled the grand slam to ice Game 7. Yankee fans hate this guy. Now they have to pretend to like him, just like they're doing with Randy Johnson.

Red Sox Chick opines:

He's a great lead-off hitter. No argument there. But that is pretty much it. Everything else is either bad or annoying and yet the Red Sox fans embraced him. I have a feeling the same won't happen in New York.... Not the team. I mean it's a little lousy for the team...but I'm not worried in that regard. They'll find a centerfielder who can actually throw the ball to the infield.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I got the links to these blogs from my wife's blog. I do not consult these on a regular basis.

Here's what bugs me the most, a few quotes from the new acquisition:

They were coming after me aggressively. We know George Steinbrenner's reputation. [Yeah, heard you say that back in May when discussing your pending Free Agent status. You said you knew they'd come hard and with money and you essentially said "doesn't matter, never gonna happen"]He always wants to have the best players. He showed that tonight. [You arrogant punk!]He and Brian Cashman came after me hard. Now I'm part of the Yankees and that great lineup. We're going to be tough to beat.["We"? "We"? Slow down, kemo sabe. Not sure it's "we" yet. You know how long it took Roger to earn his 'stripes? Took A-Rod longer (some say he hasn't earned 'em yet!) You have no fans in NY. Watch the pronouns, cowboy]

and

Our policy with the Yankees is to go out and win, and we're going to try to bring another championship to them. They haven't had a championship since Chuck Knoblauch was there when they had a great leadoff hitter so I think the leadoff role has been underappreciated. A good leadoff hitter is tough to find and I think New York just found the best leadoff hitter in the game.[Nice bit of analysis re: Knobby--you probably had to pay someone for it, or Cashman told you that little fact. But that kind of pride and aggrandizement belongs in the WWF, not in Yankee stadium. You're a pretty good player amongst some great ones--and in the shadow of greater. Shut up and go tend to your hair-do, caveman]

Ah well, at least I got to read this in a Boston Globe column this morning.

So now your Boston Red Sox have no center fielder, no shortstop, and no first baseman to go along with no Theo Epstein and no clue. It's fair to say this is becoming a winter of discontent in Red Sox Nation. Ben and Jed and Craig and Larry and Tom and John and Crosby, Stills & Nash can spin this anyway they want, but Sox fans can't escape the conclusion that there's chaos at the top. The Josh Beckett trade bought some goodwill and glad tidings, but losing Damon to the Yankees is a devastating blow to the foundation of the Nation.

The Sox won't recover from this one easily. In an already dismal offseason, they've now lost their center fielder and their leadoff hitter. They've also lost a local icon, a rare favorite of teenage girls and fanboy bloggers. Losing Damon hurts them on the field and in the arena of popular opinion. And losing Damon to the Yankees compounds the damage. When Alex Rodriguez got away a couple of years ago, Sox fans were fairly quick to scorn A-Rod and move forward.

Losing Damon won't draw the same reaction. The Idiot center fielder is Johnny Angel with Sox fans and his production in pinstripes will be a personal affront to Red Sox fans around the world.

Schadenfreude may not be nice, but it can be fun.

Prediction: We will get 1-2 good years out of him, and then we'll be right back where we were with Bernie in '04 and '05. The A-Rod deal was over the top (and so far, not really that effective). The Johnson deal was dumb (see this post-season and June-July). This deal was wrong.

A Few Comic Strips for your Perusal

Not sure how many of you read Boondocks, but it's frequently hilarious (and fairly thought provoking). Incidentally, Cartoon Network's new animted show based on the strip is pretty good, too. Anyway, last week's story arch was fantastic: great job showing the unusual mix between Santa and Christ that happens all too easily in our culture: Monday's is a must read; Tuesday's starts to take it in a different direction; Wednesday's is freakishly perceptive--how many kids have this understanding?; Thursday's and Friday's get a bet pedantic; and Saturday's brings us back to Tues. ending the story perfectly.


Partially Clips ("a web comic for grownups")--is usually worth a read, but Ordering Soda is a classic.

And if you haven't stumbled across The Pet Professional yet...give it a look, probably best to start at the beginning.

Big News

Haven't had much to say the last few days, not sure why. But hopefully that'll change over the next few.

When I got home from work tonight (technically, this morning) I had waiting for me some big news. I'm a commissioner to this year's General Assembly of the OPC. [gulp] Downside: another week away from wife and kids. Upside: get to see presbyterianism in action at the broadest level, and get to play my small part. :)