Riding for Stroke Awareness
I had the great pleasure to meet Andi Mills at church on Sunday when the Carolina Trekkers stopped in my little town of Camp Verde, AZ. The Carolina Trekkers are riding 3,128 miles from coast to coast on horseback to raise awareness of strokes in women and funding for early detection. I encourage my friends to link to them like this: stroke awareness.
They had some trouble getting from California to here, because the West ain’t as open as it used to be. Fences are everywhere, paths are not marked or are incorrectly marked, and the standard wagon trails have been converted to highways that are not exactly horse friendly. They face a mightly challenge, but if Andi is any indication of the group, I think they will find a way to get it done.
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Posted by blestou on May 29th, 2007 — Church Life, Daily Life
Carl F. H. Henry wrote the following in an article on a biblical view of social justice (a pet study interest of mine). Though in the context of work and its relation to the poor, this paragraph helps me better understand an appropriate Christian priority of work as it relates to righteousness.
God who adversely judges men’s works is himself the divine Worker–in creation, preservation, providence and judgement. God’s activity in the cosmos and his rule in history are specific and comprehensive. God’s assignment of work to man dates back to the creation of Adam (Gen. 2:15). As Georg Bertram observes, “the concept of reward and punishment presupposes that the biblical revelation views the erga of man as performed by divine commission” (on ergon, in TDNT, 2:648). It is man’s fall into sin that precipitates labor as a curse (Gen. :17 ff.) and involves all man’s works in sin. Passages like Genesis 6:5 and Jeremiah 44:9, among others, reflect the wickedness of all human endeavor; the Old Testament rules out any righteousness of human works as something holy that fulfills the claims of God’s law (Isa. 58:2 f., 64:5). Yet Judaism later proclaimed an untenable doctrine of works-righteousness, a self-confident trust in personal achievement that conceals the need for a substitutionary mediator, and linked the righteousness of works with an expectation of compensatory divine reward. But only for those redemptively renewed after the fall can work be restored to the moral and spiritual status known prior to the fall. The Lord promises blessing to his people who “in all the work of your hands” (Deut. 14:29, cf. 16:15) live within his ethico-religious intention. Work done in God’s name disallows a separation between so-called secular work and the work of faith. The earliest Pauline letters include the exhortation to work (1 Th. 4:11; 2 Th. 3:10 ff.; cf. Eph.4:28).
-Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority,
vol. 6, ch. 18, p. 406.
The key quote for me here is: “only for those redemptively renewed after the fall can work be restored to the moral and spiritual status known prior to the fall.”
Henry, I believe, is speaking of the difference between state sanctioned and church provided charity. However, I think the basic thought also applies to our works of righteousness. The key is to understand, as Henry suggests, that our ’secular’ day-to-day living and our faith righteousness are not different or distinct.
If we are disciples of Jesus Christ, then all that we do will be done to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). This does not just include our moral choices, or our spiritual objections to the moral choices of others, but also our common choices, particularly those chosen without any spiritual consideration whatsoever. The point is that our choices matter, and choices to work and to perform works must be chosen for the good. When we are freed in Christ to work for God, then we are expected to do so to the glory of God and our benefit in heaven (Matt 6:19-21, Luke 12:31-34).
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Posted by blestou on May 29th, 2007 — Church Life, Ministry, Culture, Doctrine, Uncategorized
You should read this.
The Revenge of Conscience by R. Albert Mohler.
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Posted by blestou on May 21st, 2007 — News, Culture, Politics, Doctrine
I usually hear arguments about the downfall of European society or American culture as it compares to the downfall of Rome. From a book review of What’s Wrong with Democracy?: From Athenian Practice to American Worship, Aaron MacLean describes Loren J. Samons II’s view of the parallels between the democracies of America and ancient Athens:
[Samons] does not simply seek to tell a cautionary tale, and draw some tortured moral. Rather, his central critique of democratic politics, or at least his most compelling, is fairly subtle. He feels that Americans have lost sight of something that Athenians knew very well, at least in the fifth century: That government is a means to perceived social ends, be they justice, private property, strong families, or other plausible suggestions. Our rhetoric frequently mistakes a means (democracy) for an end. Of course, when we get to thinking about it, we recall that ours is a liberal democracy, designed with at least one end very much in mind: to protect individual liberty (something which would have seemed curious to the Athenians, who did not share our modern notion of a state from which one needs protection, oppression being an intimate, neighbor-on-neighbor affair in those days). This retort does not impress Samons. In his own words:
The idealization of freedom through democracy has led modern America to a precipitous position. Implicitly denying man’s desire for a society based on beliefs and duties that lie beyond a system of government and the rights this government (democracy) is designed to protect, we have replaced society’s extrapolitical goals with the potentially antisocial doctrines of freedom, choice, and diversity.
Samons praises the very thing about the (fifth century) Athenians–their strong set of social and religious practices, and the sense of political duty with which they purchased their freedom as a city–which many contemporary historians prefer to dismiss as retrograde, or at the least as uninteresting aspects of Athenian society, while he blames that very thing–democratic government–which is widely held to be their greatest achievement. He feels that the modern American polity suffers from a sort of moral drift, and that, as happened to the Athenians in the fourth century, we now like to discuss our rights more than we like to perform our duties. Liberty, after all, seems pretty thin gruel when separated from responsibility.
What sort of health, Samons inquires, can one attribute to a society in which abortion is viewed not as a violation of the duty to one’s own but rather as a right, an exercise of personal liberty, which might even be celebrated?
Interesting, but I am not enough of a classics guy to really critique the view. I think I should add the book to my reading list. Thoughts?
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Posted by blestou on May 17th, 2007 — Culture, Politics, Doctrine
Al Mohler beat me to a post on the news of the latest British decision to allow selective abortions based on “eye squint.” (He places the news in a larger context and is worth a look over.) This really strikes home to me because my little boy has a developing “lazy eye” that we are currently using glasses to correct. The thought that a precious boy like Niam could be killed simply because another set of parents think it is too inconvenient or embarrassing to have children with less than 20/20 eyesight forces me to conclude that the 21st century apple has fallen far from the Western Civilization tree.
One of the most chilling quotes from a Baptist Press article:
When asked about hair color, Grudzinskas said, “If there is a cosmetic aspect to an individual case I would assess it on its merits. [Hair color] can be a cause of bullying which can lead to suicide. With the agreement of the HFEA, I would [screen and destroy the embryos].
Such sentiments rightly categorize abortionists and embryo screeners with ethnic cleansers and murderers. The less we value human life, the less civilized we become. It is not the angry pro-lifers who are suppressing the rights of the few - it is the cold pro-control crowd that is eroding the rights of us all.
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Posted by blestou on May 15th, 2007 — News, Culture, Politics, Doctrine, Family
Without weighing in too heavily on the Calvinist/Arminian debate, I do note that I am often surprised as I read Scripture at the number of times the Lord asserts his comprehensive sovereignty over all things.
Today I was reading in Isaiah and found the following passage from chapter 10. God is describing the discipline he is going to bring upon the remainder of Israel (the southern kingdom of Judah) through the king of Assyria and his armies.
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones. My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped.”
Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.
The king of Assyria believes that he is really bringing the heat and the Lord says, “How dare that axe handle believe that he raised himself!”
I do not deny that we humans have choices that yeild real results. But any theory or theology that does not appropriately deal with the commonplace assertions like the one above is found wanting for completeness and satisfaction.
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Posted by blestou on May 12th, 2007 — Church Life, Ministry, Doctrine
Kevin Ryan, “O for the Days of Finger Wagging”
Finger wagging, both actual and metaphoric, is a necessary part of life in a society. We don’t come into the world ready for the give-and-take necessary for the smooth interchanges of social life. We are born selfish and need to be taught how to be considerate of the other, whether a sibling who wants to play with our ball or a blind man needing help across a street. It has always been the province of the adult to instruct the young in the rules of the social game. And when the young… and the not-so-young… violate the rules with rude and selfish behaviour, adults have known instinctively that it is their duty to step in and remind offenders of the rules. Until recently.
One of the more obvious signs of societal change is seen in the relationships between adults and children. A generation or two ago in this country, adults… any adults… felt free to correct a young person using foul language in public or to break up a fight between two youngsters. The wagging finger behaviour, however, is all but disappearing. It is perceived as the province of the school marm and the local busybody. On the other hand, the gently wagged finger is actually a sign of our concern for others and for maintaining civility. Finger wagging harkens back to a time when adults were not afraid of their children. This, of course, was before the average sixteen year old was 6’ 5″ tall, weighted 235 pounds and gobbled steroids instead of Life Savers.
Finger-wagging is a gentle reminder. It tells us that someone is watching. It says, “You can do better. What would your mother think of what you are doing? What does God?” It is even a mild appeal to that most discredited human emotion, shame. Contrary to much of pop psychology, shame is an important corrective device. When we violate social rules, shame is natural and helps us self-correct. The wagging finger helps us to see what we have been doing and to get ourselves back on track.
I confess to a struggle with finger wagging - I cannot stand by and do nothing, but I have very few good examples of social correction in action (outside of direct parenting).
Do you have experience with finger wagging? How’d that work out for you?
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Posted by blestou on May 8th, 2007 — Ministry, Church Life, Daily Life, Culture, Politics, Doctrine
Israeli archaeologists say they have discovered the tomb of King Herod.
After focusing for years on the middle and lower parts of the Herodium, a flattened hilltop visible from Jerusalem, Netzer and his team recently moved their excavations to a higher level of the structure where, three weeks ago, they say they found pieces of King Herod’s sarcophagus. Netzer, who teaches at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, says it is a sarcophagus fit for a king.
A tomb fit for a king indeed. Well, except that it is still a tomb. A final resting place for one who connived, cheated, and murdered so many. A place not of rest, but of violence, as seen by the destruction to the site that accompanied the devestation of the rest of the ancient city.
This discovery reminds us, of course, of another man - one who was not recognized by the Roman Senate - who was not feared as a ruler - who was not found in his tomb.
Herod was an outsider. Jesus was the original.
Herod was a puppet. Jesus was authentic.
Herod ignored the law. Jesus fulfilled it.
Herod killed his family. Jesus calls us his brothers.
Herod died over an oath. Jesus became a curse for us.
Herod raised the eagle. Jesus was raised on a cross.
Herod lost a kingship. Jesus built a kingdom.
Herod died. Jesus lives.
Hail to the King. Long live the King.
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Posted by blestou on May 8th, 2007 — News, Church Life, Culture, Doctrine
