Archive for January, 2007
A Must Read from Shaun Groves…
January 31st, 2007 | 5 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, Worth Reading
I’ve been reading Shaun Groves’ blog for about a month now and have to say… I highly recommend it. He shares a lot of great stuff.
This post, part 4 of a series entitled, “The ‘Jesus’ You Never Heard”, is a must read, and seems quite appropriate when applied to many of the recent SBC controversies. How? We, like Shaun (albeit in regard to our denominational spats rather than the Christian music industry), may see a lot of bad stuff going on… behavior that doesn’t seem to honor Christ… arguments, rhetoric, and other nonsense that just don’t seem very becoming of believers… things that cause us to lose faith and trust in our brothers and sisters… you name it. Whatever the case, we allow cynicism to creep in.
We’ve got to force ourselves to realize that the behavior of the few (or even the many) does not define the character of all. There are a good number of people out there who love God with all of their heart, all of their mind, all of their soul, and all of their strength… and they’re not just on “our side”. Chances are, in our denominational battles, even those that don’t seem very Christ-like (from our limited viewpoint, as seen from “our side”) probably believe in their hearts that what they’re doing is being done to honor God.
We’ve got to fight our tendency toward cynicism.
I feel pretty safe in saying it’s NOT a Christ-like attitude.
(Be sure to check out parts one, two, and three for the rest of Shaun’s story. It’s worth your time.)
“Beer-vangelism”?
January 29th, 2007 | 7 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues, In the News..., Quote of the Day
I’m not terribly fond of the title of this article, but it’s an interesting read about The Journey in St. Louis (a non-traditional church that is doing a phenomenal job of reaching young people) and the controversy surrounding a discussion forum they hold called “Theology at the Bottleworks”.
I have to say, I really enjoyed how the following response to this article (found on the Missouri Baptist mailing list) put this into perspective:
Nothing reveals the Glory of God to the nations, nothing communicates the power of the Risen Lord to a lost world, nothing draws all men to Jesus Christ… like a bunch of Baptists fighting over beer.
To be honest, I’m still not sure how some Missouri Baptists can let themselves get so upset about this matter. Didn’t Jesus go where the lost and hurting were? Why shouldn’t we?
Antiquarian Curiosity Seekers…
January 24th, 2007 | 4 Comments | Posted in » Quote of the Day
I heard an interesting anecdote this morning on the radio in a sermon from Pastor Bob Coy of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale (interestingly to me, he resembles my friend Kevin Bussey!). I had to share it here.
First, the quote (this is from the internet, not word for word from his sermon)…
One hundred years from my day there will not be a Bible in the earth except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker.
– attributed to Voltaire (1694-1778)
Tradition has it that at some point after his death, the Geneva Bible Society purchased Voltaire’s home, and could be found using it as a Bible printing facility.
Whether true or not (a bit of internet research raises some questions about the validity of this story), it’s a good illustration of God’s sense of humor. It’s almost as if God said, “Well, I’ll show you.”
Voltaire couldn’t have been much more wrong (unless you count millions of Christians as “antiquarian curiosity seekers”).
Wow, a Tribute Post!
January 22nd, 2007 | No Comments | Posted in » My Life
You know, I feel pretty cool now… Kevin Stilley (whose blog has far better content than mine) has featured me in Part 6 of his tribute to sidebar linkees. I’ll comment here since I can’t seem to get the visual verification to work on his blog (yes, you really should switch to Wordpress, Kevin!).
I must admit… there’s one part of Kevin’s post that upsets me a bit… the “flat screen TV installation” pictures. I’m quite upset… that I didn’t think of the idea first! 
(I’m joking of course!)
Kevin… thanks for the plug and for all of your kind words, especially those in regard to my family!
Winter Fun…
January 21st, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » My Life, Pictures
This morning, we awoke to find about six inches of snow on the ground. Church services were cancelled due to poor road conditions, so we were free to plan a day of winter fun.
As you can see from the pictures below, we had a great time. This was Jenna’s first time to actually play in the snow (she was too young last winter), so it was extra special for her (she loved it!).
Here’s my little snow princess…
Jeffrey, ready to fire a snowball my way…
Jenna is pretty good help when it comes to making a snowman…
The kids were awfully proud of their snowman…
Jenna, with her first taste of snow…
It was SO tempting to toss a snowball Nancy’s way…
Snow forts make great fun!
Under Construction…
January 20th, 2007 | 9 Comments | Posted in » My Life, Pictures
Well, my basement is officially under construction. In the year and a half we’ve lived here, I’ve been wanting to get started on finishing it out, and with the help of my dad, I finally got going today. Our guest room / hobby room is now completely framed!
A few things that came to mind today:
- Carpentry is hard work… but very rewarding. I know there’s a reason Jesus chose to have Joseph as his earthly father, and I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if his profession played at least a small role.
- When you make somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 cuts with a circular saw, you’re going to have sawdust in places you didn’t think possible. There’s something quite satisfying about it though.
- Nail guns are FUN (and VERY helpful).
- Remington power nailers are LOUD. (I’m surprised the neighbors didn’t call the police!)
- Remember the adage “If it doesn’t fit, get a bigger hammer!”? There’s actually an good application for that sometimes. (It’s much easier to move a newly framed wall into a tight space with a 10 pound sledge hammer than with a dinky little claw hammer!)
- Construction quickly reminds a person… “You’re not as young as you used to be!” I am stiff and sore tonight, but the discomfort is rather satisfying.
Anyway, here’s a few pictures:
Now I Get It…
January 19th, 2007 | 6 Comments | Posted in » My Life
When I was about six years old, I distinctly remember going out to eat one evening (probably a Friday, but the day really isn’t all that important to the story) at Godfather’s Pizza. That always used to be one of my favorite pizza places, although the one in my home town went out of business sometime in my early childhood. Anyway, that particular evening, it was just the four in my family… me, mom, dad, and my sister… out for a nice family dinner.
I can’t say that I remember too much about the dinner… I was six, video games were about the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and Godfathers? Well… they had two or three sitting there calling my name. Mom and Dad were pretty patient with me, all things considered, and they let me go check them out. I spent the better part of the rest of the evening “playing” Time Pilot. Yeah, I really thought I was playing… the demo mode had me convinced I was playing the best game ever.
As the night went on, I recall the frustration building at our family dinner… pizza was there, and all I wanted to do was “play” the game. I couldn’t quit… I was “winning”. The family dinner? Yeah… pretty much ruined. As I recall, a note was even written to management about the way that game had ruined our evening.
Tonight? I finally understand the frustration of that evening. We had dinner at a pizza place tonight… the Pizza Shoppe. My kids always seem to want pizza on Friday evenings, so that’s where we generally end up. But tonight was a bit different… we sat in the back room… the one families are generally banished to… the one with the large TV playing Cartoon Network.
Needless to say, TV is MUCH more interesting to Jeffrey and Jenna than Mom and Dad. Couple that interest with the fact we don’t let them watch shows with absolutely no redeeming qualities (there’s an abundance of that on Cartoon Network)… well you can see where this is going… our family dinner really didn’t involve much family conversation except for Nancy trying to calm me down while I fumed about the TV, and me talking to the back of Jeffrey’s head.
Anyway… Dad, if you read this, don’t laugh too hard. It only took me 24 years to fully understand that night at Godfather’s…
(Yes, I know there’s a scriptural lesson here somewhere. I’ll leave that up to those of you who read this.)
“You Shouldn’t be Asked to Choose…”
January 16th, 2007 | 3 Comments | Posted in » In the News...
Check out this story, detailing a protest at Smithfield Foods in North Carolina over the company’s decision not to give workers the Martin Luther King holiday off.
The most interesting quote from the article?
“You shouldn’t be asked to choose between Jesus and Dr. King, a man who stood for our fight for humane working conditions,” Keith Ludlum, a Smithfield worker, said in a statement released by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
HUH?
Renaissance or Rabidity?
January 12th, 2007 | 32 Comments | Posted in » Baptist Issues
Check out this article from Dr. Malcomn Yarnell III.
After reading some of quotes in this article, I have to wonder… are we really talking about Baptist renaissance here or Baptist rabidity?
Allow me to elaborate.
The thrust of Dr. Yarnell’s article is that Baptist history illustrates a strong commitment to being Biblical, and that careful study of the Bible will lead to doctrinal beliefs that are distinctively Baptist. In his own words:
Southwestern’s leading theologians do not promote Baptist theology simply because of history. We are convinced by God’s Word that Baptist doctrine is the best doctrine.
Dr. Yarnell notes that it is because of this belief… that Baptist doctrine is Biblical doctrine… that Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is encouraging a “renaissance” of Baptist beliefs through a variety of channels… conferences, websites, seminary studies, etc. If this is the sole point of “Baptist renaissance”, I would have exactly zero problems with what Dr. Yarnell has written.
However, as I read this article, I was struck not so much by the majority of the article which addresses “Baptist renaissance”, but by the few sentences and paragraphs throughout the article, that, in my words, constitute “Baptist rabidity” moreso than “Baptist renainssance”.
What do I mean by that? Simple. Rabidity, by definition, is “going to extreme lengths to express or pursue a feeling, interest, or opinion”. As such, “Baptist rabidity” is simply extreme support of Baptist belief, history, and doctrine.
The upside of this? “Baptist rabidity” can truly result in “Baptist renaissance”. The downside? Well… that’s best illustrated by quotes from Dr. Yarnell’s article.
More recently, Dr. Emir Caner proclaimed it this way, “If you give a Christian an open Bible, you will get a Baptist every time!”
Yet Baptist identity has fallen on hard times. Southern Baptists have been shocked by detractors within their own ranks.
There are two fundamental theological reasons for these distressing trends: first, there is the errant assumption that “Baptists” are simply one among many equally viable options in the broader Christian tradition. Second, there is little awareness that calling oneself “Baptist” is really just another way of saying “thoroughly biblical disciple of Jesus Christ.”
You see, rabidity (Baptist or other) can go beyond fervant support of a cause. Even if well-intentioned, rabidity can often lead to an overabundance of pride in one’s own cause… to an arrogance that causes one to look down on other causes… to the putting down or tearing down of others that don’t see things in quite the same light.
This is the problem with Baptist rabidity. Dr. Caner’s quote implies that non-Baptists might as well be non-believers. Dr. Yarnell’s generalization about “detractors within their own ranks” implies that certain Baptists are unbiblical and might as well consider themselves unwelcome in Baptist circles. His theological reasons clearly state that non-Baptists hold errant beliefs.
How dare we adopt such condescending views! Should we not be more careful with our attitudes and words? How does a pride-filled, “I’m more Biblical than you” attitude build up the body of Christ? How does this kind of thing promote the unity Jesus found so important as to take time to pray for prior to his arrest (John 17:20-26)? How does such judgment line up with Paul’s teaching regarding disputable matters (Romans 14)? What good does Baptist rabidity really do?
Now, I’m no seminarian. I’m no pastor. I have no formal theological or Biblical education. But really… Am I either so stupid or so blind as to miss the point of this?
We spend countless hours debating calvinism / arminianism, baptismal requirements, tongues, alcohol… all in the name of defining what it really means to be “Baptist” (or Biblical, if you prefer)?
Can’t we offer just a tidbit of the grace God has offered us when it comes to such matters? Let’s drop some of our Baptist rabidity, and see if some real renaissance can occur… not Baptist renaissance, but instead… the renaissance of Christian love (by which we are to be known, in case you missed it)… Christian unity (again, that was so important to our Savior that he took time before his arrest to pray for)… and ultimately… cooperation in fulfilling the commission we have been jointly given… to spread the gospel to a world without hope.
Now THAT’s the kind of renaissance I’m talking about.
(UPDATE: Dr. Yarnell has posted some clarifications over at Marty Duren’s place, SBC Outpost. Check out the comment stream in this post.)
On Hope…
January 10th, 2007 | 1 Comment | Posted in » Christian Living, Devotions / Bible Studies, Worth Reading
Don’t miss this post from Bryan Riley on hope.
Oh, be forewarned… you might experience God’s sledgehammer of conviction after reading…
Good stuff!
