Changes

Well, the Lord continues to surprise me with his steadfast love. This weekend, my brother came to share my roof out of necessity. Without going into detail, the way that God guided the situation and granted wisdom through his word to those involved was amazing.

This is not going to be easy for me. Brother and I do not have much in common. And I tend to tackle objectionable theology at the drop of a hat. If he says, “God told me…” again, I’ll be struggling to bite my tongue.

But more than that, I’ve been living alone for a long time. Sharing a space and going to the bathroom with the door closed will be new again. I’m not sure the dogs understand. He doesn’t have his own TV so we’ll be sharing mine. Hmm. Hopefully, it will remain off most of the time.

I was encouraged that he did go to church with me this morning. He joined the choir right off the bat, which didn’t surprise me. Our church is singing the national anthem at the next Fort Worth Cats game and he piped right up. I’m hoping that this will be an opportunity to get some good teaching away from the influences of some of the charismatic heresy he’s been listening to. I pray that we show him love and understanding. I’m thrilled with what I’ve already seen. May God be pleased to use us as instruments for good in his life.

Comments about The Shack

My copy of The Shack says that it’s The #1 New York TImes Bestseller with over 5 million copies in print. I have the testimony of friends who call this a life changing book despite reports that God appears as an elderly black woman and other controversies. So out of concern and wanting to be able to talk about it first hand, I read the book.

One could say that this is a work of fiction and so it is not to be taken literally. I would disagree with that statement because the author has a definite truth he wants to tell. It is detailed and it has a definite purpose in revealing a God-like character to us. If it denies an essential doctrine, like the atonement, the deity of Christ, or something else, then it is portraying a false god.

It’s actually not terrible on the surface. It has some interesting, valid things to say about the Trinity and about our relationship to God. Aye, but there’s the rub. Satan’s lies are never far from the truth. This book tells the story of a man named Mack who lost his daughter under terrible circumstances. This causes The Great Sadness and he is understandably not the same. He gets a note from someone called Papa to meet this person at the place that is at the center of his Great Sadness. Here, Mack meets the Trinity in the form of a kindly old African American woman called Papa who represents the Father, a typical short Jewish man named Jesus whose representation is obvious, and a nearly intangible, oriental woman called Sarayu who represents the Holy Spirit.

A New Law

I was listening to Derek Webb’s excellent album, Mockingbird. When I heard “A New Law” this time, I just had to write it down.

A New Law

(vs. 1)
don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for

don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

(pre-chorus)
i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

(chorus)
i want a new law
i want a new law
gimme that new law

Justification

Catholics and Orthodox have always seemed a little squirrelly when it comes to stating their beliefs on justification. They’re a little like Julie Andrews because it is like taking a cloud and pinning it down. One thing they are very clear on is that Protestants are wrong in believing that we are justified, being declared “not guilty”, by faith alone apart from works. But Paul is very clear on this point in too many places to mention here. One can read the Catholics’ anathemas of the Council of Trent regarding justification by faith alone and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to sinners to understand the Protestant view correctly. There is no misunderstanding on their part.

The ironic thing is that Paul in the letter to the Galatians anathematizes anyone who denies justification apart from works. It’s the only place in all his letters that he anathematizes anyone and the Catholics of that time were foolish enough to take the opposing view. And now, because of their view of the infallibility of the church regarding these councils, they are stuck with it or they lose their legitimacy.

Ahh, Beethoven!

For whatever reason, I’ve been ignoring classical music for the last couple of years. I think one reason has to do with the iPod. It’s my favorite gadget, but it is more geared towards popular music. If you like to play your music randomly, which I do, popular music randomizes great. But Apple hasn’t gotten the hang of multi-movement classical music. You can randomize this music if you give every piece its own album, but who wants to do that? There’s that and I’ve been listening to tons of podcasts.

But now I have a Mac Mini connected to my home stereo and HDTV. Added to that, iTunes’ visualizations are amazing and are much better attuned to the music than they used to be. All of this makes it much easier to sit down in one’s comfortable living room and just listen to music without doing anything else. It’s an extremely worthy pursuit, dear reader.

I just finished listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, the “Eroica” (German for Heroic). Aside from its being one of the  most revolutionary pieces of music ever played in any period, I can hear the gospel story of Christ’s heroic life, death and resurrection in its various movements. I know that’s not what Beethoven had in mind, but it’s in there nonetheless. The second movement, the funeral march, is probably the darkest music ever composed, but the symphony ends triumphantly with all enemies put under our Hero’s feet and his chosen ones gathered together from every tribe, tongue and nation. It’s my favorite of all time.

(Wow, what a cleansing experience!)

Begone Unbelief: A Hymn for Trying Times

We sang this hymn by John Newton yesterday in church. It’s encouraging in these trying times.

Begone Unbelief

1. Begone unbelief, My Savior is near,
And for my relief Will surely appear:
By faith let me wrestle, with God in the storm
And help me my Savior, the faith to adorn
And help me my Savior, the faith to adorn

2. Though dark be my way, Since he is my guide,
‘Tis mine to obey, and His to provide;
Though cisterns be broken, And creatures all fail,
The word he has spoken will surely prevail.
The word he has spoken will surely prevail.

Chorus
Begone unbelief, The Savior is here (3x)
Though cisterns be broken And creatures all fail
The word he has spoken will surely prevail
The word he has spoken will surely prevail

3. Why should I complain, Of want or distress
Temptation or pain? He told me no less
The heirs of salvation, I know from his word
Through much tribulation Must follow their Lord
Through much tribulation Must follow their Lord
Chorus

4. Since all that I meet will work for my good,
The bitter is sweet, The medicine food;
Though painful at present, will cease before long,
And then, O! how glorious, The conqueror’s song!
And then, O! how glorious, The conqueror’s song!
Chorus

The Oscars: Idolatry

I love movies. I really do. They are my favorite form of entertainment and they help me feel the pulse of our age. The first time I watch the Acadamy Awards was in 1978 when Star Wars was up for Best Picture. But alas, a Woody Allen piece of celluloid beat it out for reasons I still can’t understand. No one can tell me that Annie Hall is a more important film than Star Wars even if judging film relative to one another isn’t so objective.

Lest  you think I’m drinking the juice of sour grapes: Later I watched the beautiful and talented Gweneth Paltrow beat Meryl Streep with her performance in Shakespeare in Love. I didn’t see Meryl Streep that year, but I did see Gweneth Paltrow and as lovely as I thought she was, there’s no way you can tell me she displayed more talent than Ms. Streep on her worst day. Folks, it’s all decided by invisible campaigns and politics. I doubt that most voters even saw the movies they judged.

So I ask why anyone cares how Hollywood judges itself? Tonight I hit the Live TV button on my TiVo remote and there was Oscar. What became immediately obvious was that this was the most self-important, self-admired, deluded bunch of people on the face of the earth. Their whole identities were wrapped up in the opinions of their peers about their work and lives. They reached these heights of delusion for a couple of big reasons. One is that their profession is to create a delusion for their audiences. The other is that their audience has bought the illusion and has lifted these poor folks who are typically flops in every other facet of their lives up on pedestals of grandeur and glory unmatched since Louis XIV or Marie Antoinette (“Let them eat cake.”).

So is it any wonder that Sean Penn won the Oscar for best Actor and stood up and insulted the majority of Americans who do not believe in gay marriage? We are so obsessed with the goings on of these lunatics that they feed off our worship thinking they have the authority of gods on high to dictate morality, justice and right.

Folks, why do we care so much? What does an awards show mean to us? These people don’t care what we think of them. They only care what their peers think of them. That’s all the Oscars are is a peer review. And we gobble it up. Or at least we used to. It’ll be interesting to see what the ratings are for tonight’s show.

I think it would be so cool if the Oscars disappeared from TV followed by all of the Hollywood gossip shows. Our obsession with these professional liars needs to end. They have no special knowledge or standing that makes their opinions on anyting viable or worthwhile. Personally, I don’t care one wit about any of them beyond what they put on screen. Their politics, religion, romances, sexual orientation, the clothes they wear or the cars they arrive in can only detract from their real jobs: fakery. Let them and us be satisfied with that.

Last Day of a Job I’ve Struggled With

I thank God for the job that I have that ends today. It hasn’t been easy. I work in I.T. and my boss is an accountant. Accountants should NEVER, EVER be decision makers for I.T. departments. As a group, they are resistant to change and I.T. exists to guide a company through changing times and provide information to let the company excel. So, it’s been a struggle to be a Godly employee of a micro-managing tyrant whose personal morals and religious outlook I deplore. Otherwise, he’s a nice guy.

Still, that’s what God calls us to. In 2 Peter 2, the apostle exhorts us to submit to authority, calling slaves to obey their masters and for Christians to honor the emperor knowing the evil in those institutions. It would be fool-hardy for me to expect my boss to be a godly boss, but what I am responsible to be is a good, submissive employee. I’ve given him the respect his office deserves and have been faithful to point out where he “might” be in error, yet to do what he says should be done.

But that’s all done as of today. I don’t have a solid prospect for Monday or thereafter. I’ve been through this particular Red Sea before and I know that the God of Israel is still in charge and will bring me through the other side. There is peace in that and I cling to the one who gives it. May he preserve all his saints in these hard times for the sake of his name and to his praise.

Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven

I’m watching the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven on Blu-Ray. I have to say that this is a much better movie than the theatrical release. I really, really have to.

Time to get back to the movie.

Comfort ye. Comfort ye my people.

Those words from the King James translation of Isaiah 40 start one of the most beautiful chapters in all of the Bible. My favorite parts of the Bible are where God speaks out of the gloom and shatters our understanding of who he is. Isaiah 40 and Job 38-41 are passages such as these. When Paul makes his doxology in Romans 11 after having laid out the gospel in the previous chapters, he quotes from these great passages saying,

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”

36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The Gospel, the Good News, is not an intuitive thing to us fallen creatures. The fact that God himself became man to suffer as we suffer yet not sin in any degree and die the death of a criminal to satisfy God’s wrath on our behalf for those who believe is beyond our imaginings. I hope to delve into these mysteries on this new blog.