The Breadth of Incarnation

"...people are more interested in seeing Christians actually live in a way the reflects what they believe instead of an hollow invitation to come to a church service where you can meet God."

-Chris Burton on the changing scene of church in America

Exactly. It's not only non-Christians who feel that the invitation is hollow...

Our breadth of incarnation has been insufficient. Meeting with God happens no more on Sunday morning than on Friday night. Everything is sacramental, every moment "charged with the grandeur of God." And yet, Sunday morning or Saturday night, or whenever the church gathers for worship, is special, or should be special. It is not so much the place to come meet with God as it is the place to come and celebrate having been met by God and to find the context for and learn the shape of what it means to be God's image out there in the world.

This morning in church we danced. Not the palm leaves, people with banners in the aisles, and tambourines kind of dancing (not that there's anything wrong with tambourines per se), but the all we needed was a strobe light and some turntables kind of dancing. And it was beautiful. Not because people were so holy and so spiritual that they had ascended to the heights of "holy dancing" or "holy laughter" or any other imaginary spiritual watermark, but because we are material beings who live in bodies that engage in life with God and life with others through the bodies God has given us by seeing and eating, singing and dancing. Much of Christian subculture has been stiff and split down the middle by a dualistic gnosticism that says "this material world is bad, the spiritual world is good. Only what is 'supernatural' is good. Whatever is 'natural' is bad." Tim Keller talks about how Jesus is the happy ending to every community's cultural narrative. Today I saw how Jesus breathes life into his design for us to worship Him with rhythm. And besides, it was all still pretty tame compared to the church in Africa...

Light and Heat for the Path

This is from a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Kevin Vanhoozer, from the beginning of an essay in the March 2005, edition of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society entitled "Lost in Interpretation? Truth, Scripture, And Hermeneutics". I'm looking forward to the rest of the article, but I thought this first part was too good not to share! (italics mine)

There has been too much wrangling over whether evangelicalism is a matter of doctrine or piety, the head or the heart. Those who see the essence of evangelicalism in pietistic terms tend to see the Bible primarily as a means of spiritual sustenance. Those who see the essence of evangelicalism in doctrinal terms tend to see the Bible primarily as a means of propositional communication. It is neither necessary nor advisable to take sides in this debate. Indeed, to do so is to reduce, and so distort, the very concept of biblical and doctrinal truth. Let no one put asunder what God has joined together. Far better to see the Christian life as a way where head and heart come together to get the feet moving. Evangelicals need to put feet on the gospel, and on our doctrine. Evangelical theology should provide direction for walking the way of truth and life.

Truth, Knowledge and Communication

Some thoughts on some quotes from Faith Thinking, by Trevor Hart, pp. 92-95.

Although the "ideal of truth as absolute certainty, knowledge as a subjugation of reality by the mind, and true statements as a direct and exhaustive mirroring of reality in propositional form" is an ideal which cannot be attained, "least of all where God is concerned, ...knowledge does not need to be absolutely certain nor (do) statements (need to be) precise verbal representations in order for there to be true knowledge and speech which bears appropriately upon the world."

For all the science folks out there, I would put it like this: at the beginning of college you learn certain equations and models for evaluating things that happen in the world around you, but these equations and models on approximate an actual situation. Towards the end of college your equations and models become more sophisticated, with more variables, constants, coefficients, and even more sophisticated approximations, but you're still approximating to a certain extent. That's why there are safety factors in engineering, to provide buffer for all the things that your approximations might have misjudged.
Now, just because a scientist or engineer can only really just refine and reshape all these approximate models and equations doesn't mean that the effort is pointless and better left to the backyard mechanic who finds a way to make it work for himself and his situation. There are discoverable reasons he is able to "make it work," and the pursuits of those reasons are worthwhile, and even authoritative to a certain extent, even if they are only approximate.


The references outside the system of Christian theology are "the very thing(s) with which Christian theology begins and ends: namely the claim that an extra-systematic reality is indeed to be known here; not on the basis of human endeavor and self-transcendence alone or as such, but because he makes himself know in particular ways, times and places. The claim, in other words, that God has revealed himself. Such a claim may well be impossible to prove or to demonstrate in 'public' fashion, but it furnishes the very starting point for theological activity as a passionate, committed quest for further understanding and truth. . . For if God has indeed spoken or acted in such a way as to give himself to be known here, then to withhold or suspend fiduciary commitment to this story as public truth is to fail in one's moral responsibility in the face of reality."

It is ridiculous and foolish to deal with the system of Christian theology as if it had no meaningful references or sources outside its collections of propositions and doctrines, as if it were just a "value meal" among "value meals" with no connection to the cow or potato or food distribution warehouse from which it came. The system of Christian theology claims a source outside itself, rooted in the public and observable, even if it still open to interpretation in public. To ignore Christian theology's claim on reality while seeking to do Christian theology is not to do Christian theology at all. It is as if, stranded in the wilderness, one said to one's family "Well, we believe that we are stranded in the wilderness so let's use these resources we have to make it out" while saying to and of others, "They may not believe they're stranded in the wilderness, and they could be right, so we'll not bother them too much. I'm sure they'll work things out as what's best for them, and maybe we can learn something from them too." It may still be a theology of some sort, but not of the Christian sort.

ugh...this one is hard

Here's a Bible quiz that Alastair Roberts created after he conquered all the others. It's quite challenging. How do you fair?

You rank 53% on the biblical comprehension scale.

Good work. You obviously know your Bible well. However, there remains plenty of room for improvement. Close attention to the details of Scripture can result in great rewards over time. Perhaps a more focused Bible study plan would help you improve your level of biblical comprehension.

How Well Do You Know Your Bible?
Quizzes for MySpace

"The Bible says it, and that settles it!"

So my friend and I were talking about the meaning and nature of language over a bowl of red curry today, and I said something to the effect of, "It makes me nervous sometimes when I hear people pick up their Bible, read a short story or a couple of verses, and matter-of-factly say 'The Bible says ____, and that settles it.' We're so far away from the cultural context of the New Testament at the least, not to mention the range of cultural settings in the Old Testament, that if it weren't for the sovereign and active work of the Holy Spirit and all the elements of common grace, it would be very difficult for the Bible to mean anything to us at all."

As I was cleaning my room up a little bit, and even as I am writing this, I think that I had overplayed in my mind the enormity of the influence of such a cultural divide and downplayed the extent of the Spirit's work and of elements of common grace in any and every age and culture. The Spirit has in fact been at work both in the academy and on the streets and in the jungles to enlighten and to teach, to open up the Scriptures as Jesus did on the road to Emmaus, and to cross cultural divides as Paul did on Mars Hill. Truth is not out of reach for anyone to receive and believe, even though our hands are not so big as to hold it all at once.

Jesus loves porn stars, just in case you were inclined to think otherwise...

Several friends of mine have been telling me about these guys who go to porn conventions and tell people that "Jesus loves porn stars." So, when I saw that they would be on ABC Nightline with Martin Bashir, I put down the remote paid attention for a few minutes.

Basically, XXXChurch.com started as a web resource for Christians struggling with pornography, but changed courses a bit when the founders, Craig Gross and JR Mahon, decided to set up a booth (not unlike my organizations "FSK tables") where they handed out New Testaments with "Jesus loves porn stars" on the cover.

The Nightline interview seemed to focus heavily on their impact, or lack thereof, on the porn industry, to which they replied that they weren't trying to stop the porn industry, just inform and educate. By which they meant, I assume, to inform and educate as to the destructive capacities of pornography and the restorative and redemptive power of the Gospel. Mahon and Gross weren't as articulate and insightful as I hoped they would be (but would I be on national television?). But, their actions, of course, were the most telling, which is exactly what they would want, I'm sure. They stand in good company with others that have dined with prostitutes and tax collectors...

While they had some great things to say about pornography and the sex industry, their most powerful confrontation came not in the parking lot of the adult video store but in the front lawn of the local church. In a clear and passionate prophetic voice they said,

"The church is good at sitting in their pews and judging the world, but if you really want to change the world, get off your butts, get out into the community, and do something for a fellow human being. If you're not doing that, and you're just sitting in your pews raising your hands and praising God, then you're not really doing even that." (my rough paraphrase)

It reminded me of something else someone said along the same lines:

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. - James, Jesus' brother, from James 2:8-13

And from Jesus' closest disciple John,

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. - 1 John 3:16-18

If you want the scoop from Nightline, check it out here:
ABC News: The Porn Pastors: XXXChurch.com

If you do anything with this information, pray for these guys and all the ones that labor with them. Pray that God would use them and their living out of and proclamation of the Gospel to bring real transformation and freedom and that He would protect them from temptation. They are right in the middle of all sorts of spiritual battles. And then pray for yourselves, that the Spirit of Jesus would show you how you might grow in faithfulness, purity, and how to love "in deed and in truth."