I'm thankful:
1. For the $1000 overcharge that erroneously showed up on our phone bill. After experiencing the full weight of that "debt", my joy over AT & T erasing it was immeasurable! (A reminder to rejoice over my much greater - and deserved - debt being forgiven because of Jesus)
2. For Leah's point as we discussed the analogy (in #1)-- that our debt is not only paid because of Jesus, but we are credited with His righteousness -- which she pointed out would be like AT & T not just wiping away the charge, but then also CREDITING our account with extra money.
3. For the Lord graciously building our faith by actually completing this analogy: About 4 days after Leah's remark, we got a sizeable and unexpected refund credited to us for overpaying our homeowner's policy!
3. For two excellent movies that we got to see over Christmas: "Frost/Nixon" and "Valkyrie."
4. That Christmas was glorious and uncomplicated.
5. For 7 days alone with my husband.
6. For the relationship my children have with my mother-in-law and that she makes this house and my kids shine when she stays here.
7. For Jessica and the Pauls, who loved and cared for Buck and Buttermilk. For Debby and Jeanine and Leo, who checked in on my mother-in-law, offered rides for the kids and helped her while we were away.
8. For the smell of Roasting Turkey -- twice in two months!
9. That I really do live with a king, a shepherd and an angel.
10. For Taco Bell with my son today.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Tuesday's Tardy Ten
1. Ironically, even though I'm late with this post, I'm thankful for deadlines. This month is full, and I praise God for showing us how a sense of urgency can increase our productivity.
2. The birth of my husband 40 years ago yesterday, and the brave woman who gave him up so he could be raised in the unbelievable family God had picked. If Roe v. Wade had been decided before 1968, my brilliant husband might well have been murdered.
3. For the birth of my Dad 74 years ago Saturday, for his sense of humor, work ethic, care for the helpless things of the world, and the cards he sends that mean so much.
3. That everything went right for John's birthday!
4. That we got our tree early this year, and it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had.
5. That my children express gratitude.
6. For the new arrangement (and paint) in the living room -- the result of vision and hands-on help from three dear friends. I can't look at this room without thinking of all of them and thanking God for the Proverbs 31 women with whom He has blessed me.
7. That we have steadfast old friends and delightful new ones.
8. That my mom is an encourager.
9. For the sudden vivid reminder during a migraine that this will pass but the Word of God endures forever.
10. Our many friends who have chosen "hard" paths for the glory of God, but would never see it that way.
2. The birth of my husband 40 years ago yesterday, and the brave woman who gave him up so he could be raised in the unbelievable family God had picked. If Roe v. Wade had been decided before 1968, my brilliant husband might well have been murdered.
3. For the birth of my Dad 74 years ago Saturday, for his sense of humor, work ethic, care for the helpless things of the world, and the cards he sends that mean so much.
3. That everything went right for John's birthday!
4. That we got our tree early this year, and it is the most beautiful tree we have ever had.
5. That my children express gratitude.
6. For the new arrangement (and paint) in the living room -- the result of vision and hands-on help from three dear friends. I can't look at this room without thinking of all of them and thanking God for the Proverbs 31 women with whom He has blessed me.
7. That we have steadfast old friends and delightful new ones.
8. That my mom is an encourager.
9. For the sudden vivid reminder during a migraine that this will pass but the Word of God endures forever.
10. Our many friends who have chosen "hard" paths for the glory of God, but would never see it that way.
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Biblical Thinking 2: Evangelical Mindlessness
More excerpts from James Montgomery Boice's Biblical Thinking study guide:
We would like to think that evangelicals escape this mindlessness, and maybe we are more thoughtful in some ways. But the differences are not deep, and the quality of contemporary Christian thought is not impressive. An unremitting dose of entertainment, such as television provides, throws realty out of kilter. It changes our values. "It induces people to find the meaning of life in being entertained... Entertainment distracts our attention from the critical issues of life, and finally, our heroes become not persons of substance and achievement so much as celebrities who attract our attention." (John H. Leith, "Reformed Preaching Today" The Princeton Seminary Bulletin)
Today, large segments of the church sing songs with virtually no theology, poor poetry and mindless repetition. These trivialize the ideas that they are supposed to revere. In order to worship God in truth, we must engage our minds. John Stott has written: "All Christian worship, public and private, should be an intelligent response to God's self-revelation in His words and works recorded in Scripture." The six areas where the mind matters, according to Stott: true worship, faith, the quest for holiness, the Christian's guidance, presenting the Gospel, the ministry and its gifts. The American church needs nothing so much today as thinking Christians.
We would like to think that evangelicals escape this mindlessness, and maybe we are more thoughtful in some ways. But the differences are not deep, and the quality of contemporary Christian thought is not impressive. An unremitting dose of entertainment, such as television provides, throws realty out of kilter. It changes our values. "It induces people to find the meaning of life in being entertained... Entertainment distracts our attention from the critical issues of life, and finally, our heroes become not persons of substance and achievement so much as celebrities who attract our attention." (John H. Leith, "Reformed Preaching Today" The Princeton Seminary Bulletin)
Today, large segments of the church sing songs with virtually no theology, poor poetry and mindless repetition. These trivialize the ideas that they are supposed to revere. In order to worship God in truth, we must engage our minds. John Stott has written: "All Christian worship, public and private, should be an intelligent response to God's self-revelation in His words and works recorded in Scripture." The six areas where the mind matters, according to Stott: true worship, faith, the quest for holiness, the Christian's guidance, presenting the Gospel, the ministry and its gifts. The American church needs nothing so much today as thinking Christians.
Biblical Thinking: Secular Mindlessness
We're listening to a seminar by James Montgomery Boice on Biblical Thinking. The following is a summary of key points found in the study guide:
In our culture, very little Christian thinking is going on. In fact, very little thinking of any kind is going on in the Western world, Boice says. We are becoming a "mindless society." As Christians, we are called to think. We are called to mind renewal, as stated in Romans 12:1-2: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
Our present mindlessness has many causes, but Boice points to television as the chief source as well as the best point at which to analyze modern mindlessness. Even if you never watch television, the medium ends up affecting you because it has shaped aspects of our culture that then affect you. (This seminar was recorded in 1994, and one ends up wondering what Boice would have to say about the similar effects of the internet.)
In his analysis of television, Boice cites Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, written in 1984.
The first half of the book is a study of the difference between what Postman calls "the age of typography" and our present television age or "the age of show business." Typography is print, and it concerns the communication of ideas by newspapers, pamphlets and books. It is rational, analytic, because that is the way written words work. Television does not operate by rational forms of communication but by images.
News on television moves quickly form one unrelated story to another with a simple, "Now... this." Postman says that television gives us "news without consequences, without value, and therefore without essential seriousness, that is to say, news as pure entertainment." In other words, it is not only mindless, it is teaching us to be mindless, to the point at which we even suppose our vast ignorance to be knowledge.
Politics on television has become show business. The object is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty, but to appear as if you are. In The Selling of the President, Joe McGinniss quotes Bill Gavin as saying, "Break away from linear logic, present a barrage of impressions, of attitudes... Reason pushes the viewer back, it assaults him, it demands that he agree or disagree; impression can envelop him, invite him in, witout making an intellectual demand..."
Religion also appears on television, but most commonly in an entertainment format. The chief loss is a sense of the transcendent. God is missing. Postman says, "Everything that makes religion an historic, profound and sacred human activity is stripped away; there is no ritual, no dogma, no tradition, no theology, and above all, no sense of spiritual transcendence. On these shows, the preacher is tops. God comes out second banana. ... If I'm not mistaken, the word for this is blasphemy."
Postman is a secular guy and yet he sees the blasphemy. This reminds me of a recent blog post by theologian Doug Wilson, in which he says wryly, "No one can blaspheme like an evangelical."
In our culture, very little Christian thinking is going on. In fact, very little thinking of any kind is going on in the Western world, Boice says. We are becoming a "mindless society." As Christians, we are called to think. We are called to mind renewal, as stated in Romans 12:1-2: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will."
Our present mindlessness has many causes, but Boice points to television as the chief source as well as the best point at which to analyze modern mindlessness. Even if you never watch television, the medium ends up affecting you because it has shaped aspects of our culture that then affect you. (This seminar was recorded in 1994, and one ends up wondering what Boice would have to say about the similar effects of the internet.)
In his analysis of television, Boice cites Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, written in 1984.
The first half of the book is a study of the difference between what Postman calls "the age of typography" and our present television age or "the age of show business." Typography is print, and it concerns the communication of ideas by newspapers, pamphlets and books. It is rational, analytic, because that is the way written words work. Television does not operate by rational forms of communication but by images.
News on television moves quickly form one unrelated story to another with a simple, "Now... this." Postman says that television gives us "news without consequences, without value, and therefore without essential seriousness, that is to say, news as pure entertainment." In other words, it is not only mindless, it is teaching us to be mindless, to the point at which we even suppose our vast ignorance to be knowledge.
Politics on television has become show business. The object is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty, but to appear as if you are. In The Selling of the President, Joe McGinniss quotes Bill Gavin as saying, "Break away from linear logic, present a barrage of impressions, of attitudes... Reason pushes the viewer back, it assaults him, it demands that he agree or disagree; impression can envelop him, invite him in, witout making an intellectual demand..."
Religion also appears on television, but most commonly in an entertainment format. The chief loss is a sense of the transcendent. God is missing. Postman says, "Everything that makes religion an historic, profound and sacred human activity is stripped away; there is no ritual, no dogma, no tradition, no theology, and above all, no sense of spiritual transcendence. On these shows, the preacher is tops. God comes out second banana. ... If I'm not mistaken, the word for this is blasphemy."
Postman is a secular guy and yet he sees the blasphemy. This reminds me of a recent blog post by theologian Doug Wilson, in which he says wryly, "No one can blaspheme like an evangelical."
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
The Secret Strength and Danger of Socialism
Veiling itself under Christian forms, attempting to distinguish between Christianity and the Church, claiming for itself the authority and immense popularity of the gospel, denouncing Christianity in the name of Christianity, discarding the Bible in the name of the Bible, and defying God in the name of God, Socialism conceals from the undiscriminating multitude its true character, and, appealing to our strongest natural inclinations and passions, it asserts itself with terrific power, and rolls on its career of devastation and death with a force that human beings, in themselves, are impotent to resist. Men are assimilated to it by all the power of their own nature, and by all their reverence for religion. Their very faith and charity are perverted, and their noblest sympathies and their sublimest hopes are made subservient to their basest passions and their most grovelling propensities. Here is the secret strength of Socialism, and here is the principal source of its danger.
--from "Socialism and the Church" by Orestes Brownson
--from "Socialism and the Church" by Orestes Brownson
Ten on Tuesday
1. That my sinfulness and stupidity continually remind me of my need for a Savior whose righteousness is credited to me -- and God sent One!
2. For photos and videos, capturing mannerisms and little voices that would otherwise be forgotten
3. For the smells of Christmas
4. For my totally cheesy DVD of a blazing fire in a fireplace
5. For my in-laws, who adopted and poured so much love into my husband.
6. For Walmart and online shopping
7. For all the furniture in this house that I never had to buy (Most of it!)
8. That we have such easy access to sermons by great pastors, living and dead
9. For the e-mail my son sent me
10. For Leah's one-liners while shopping
2. For photos and videos, capturing mannerisms and little voices that would otherwise be forgotten
3. For the smells of Christmas
4. For my totally cheesy DVD of a blazing fire in a fireplace
5. For my in-laws, who adopted and poured so much love into my husband.
6. For Walmart and online shopping
7. For all the furniture in this house that I never had to buy (Most of it!)
8. That we have such easy access to sermons by great pastors, living and dead
9. For the e-mail my son sent me
10. For Leah's one-liners while shopping
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