Monday, January 28, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Gordon B. Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008)
Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died about two hours ago. He was 97.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew so sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 17-21 ESV)
Monday, January 21, 2008
Martin Luther King Day
May God continue to spur His people to fight injustice, stand firm against oppression, and continue to bring to light that which is evil so as to transform the world.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
The New York Times published an interesting article today about the accelerating rate of international investment in America. I was most surprised by this tidbit of information. According to Thomson International “Canada still spends the most money buying stakes in American companies — more than $65 billion in 2007”
Fascinating!
Source: Peter Goodman, Louise Story, “Foreigners Buy Stakes in the U.S. at a Record Pace.” The New York Times. 20 Jan. 2008 Available:
Friday, January 18, 2008
Dever on the Gospel Story
“The good news is that the one and only God, who is holy, made us in His image to know Him. But we sinned and cut ourselves off from Him. In His great love, God became a man in Jesus, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross, thus fulfilling the law Himself and taking on Himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would ever turn and trust in Him. He rose again from the dead, showing that God’s wrath against us had been exhausted. He now calls us to repent of our sins and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness. If we repent of our sins and trust in Christ, we are born again into a new life, an eternal life with God.”
Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Wheaton: Crossway, 2007, p. 43.
Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Wheaton: Crossway, 2007, p. 43.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Early Missionary Movement
"Looking back, Christianity might have shared the same demise as the empire, symbolized best by the famous sacking of Rome by the Goths in 410. Remarkably, however, Christianity
found new vitality outside the empire, among new people groups moving westward
into Ireland and Scotland and eastward into Arabia, Persia, and beyond. Many of
the invading Germanic peoples were also brought to faith in Jesus Christ. In a matter
of a few decades the church was facing another new cultural shock with the entrance
of Visigoths (Spain), Ostrogoths (Italy), Franks (Northern Gaul), Burgundians
(Southern Gaul), Vandals (North Africa), and Angles and Saxons (Britain) all entering
the church in significant numbers."
Source: Tennent, Timothy C. Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.
found new vitality outside the empire, among new people groups moving westward
into Ireland and Scotland and eastward into Arabia, Persia, and beyond. Many of
the invading Germanic peoples were also brought to faith in Jesus Christ. In a matter
of a few decades the church was facing another new cultural shock with the entrance
of Visigoths (Spain), Ostrogoths (Italy), Franks (Northern Gaul), Burgundians
(Southern Gaul), Vandals (North Africa), and Angles and Saxons (Britain) all entering
the church in significant numbers."
Source: Tennent, Timothy C. Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church Is Influencing the Way We Think About and Discuss Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
CBC on NH
Henry Champ, in discussing the New Hampshire results on The National last night, said that social conservatives and southerners are not ‘mainstream.’
He must be unaware that the ‘South’ is the region with the highest population.
Later, the anchorwoman interviewed a Chicago journalist and political analyst about Obama’s campaign. The latter was particularly articulate and was unfazed by the anchorwoman’s odd repetitious labelling of Obama as ‘black’. The commentator, himself an African-American, used that term instead.
He must be unaware that the ‘South’ is the region with the highest population.
Later, the anchorwoman interviewed a Chicago journalist and political analyst about Obama’s campaign. The latter was particularly articulate and was unfazed by the anchorwoman’s odd repetitious labelling of Obama as ‘black’. The commentator, himself an African-American, used that term instead.
Optimistic People
We are an optimistic people.
And by ‘we’ I mean humanity.
I’ve marvelled at this interesting facet of human nature.
In reading Elie Wiesel’s book Night, an account of his horrific Holocaust experiences, what stood out most was a pervading sense of optimism. It was most evident before his capture, but even then remarkable at the extent of cruelty it took for his optimism to fizzle.
He wrote, “The people were saying, “The Red Army is advancing with giant strides…Hitler will not be able to harm us, even if he wants to…” Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us. Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means? In the middle of the twentieth century! And thus my elders concerned themselves with all manner of things – strategy, diplomacy, politics, and Zionism – but not with their own fate.”
God’s dispersion of common grace, which restrains sin among the unregenerate, and blesses them with God-glorifying talent is truly wonderful!
Source:
Elie Wiesel, Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006 (1972), p. 8.
And by ‘we’ I mean humanity.
I’ve marvelled at this interesting facet of human nature.
In reading Elie Wiesel’s book Night, an account of his horrific Holocaust experiences, what stood out most was a pervading sense of optimism. It was most evident before his capture, but even then remarkable at the extent of cruelty it took for his optimism to fizzle.
He wrote, “The people were saying, “The Red Army is advancing with giant strides…Hitler will not be able to harm us, even if he wants to…” Yes, we even doubted his resolve to exterminate us. Annihilate an entire people? Wipe out a population dispersed throughout so many nations? So many millions of people! By what means? In the middle of the twentieth century! And thus my elders concerned themselves with all manner of things – strategy, diplomacy, politics, and Zionism – but not with their own fate.”
God’s dispersion of common grace, which restrains sin among the unregenerate, and blesses them with God-glorifying talent is truly wonderful!
Source:
Elie Wiesel, Night. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006 (1972), p. 8.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Emergency Managers
Emergency managers are public servants that help jurisdictions reduce the liabilities that lead to disasters. These government employees and other concerned stakeholders aldo endeavour to build capabilities to deal with them more effectively. Such efforts are commonly described as the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.
Source: David McEntire, Disaster Response and Recovery. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007, p 3.
Source: David McEntire, Disaster Response and Recovery. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2007, p 3.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Less Respect
The New York Times published an interesting article today about the declining prestige of physicians and lawyers.
The author attributed a declining level of respect to many things including television shows that attribute an unrealistic glamour to the professions, a rise of high-profile college dropout millionaire entrepreneurs, patients and clients brazened up by reading information on the Internet, and increasing mundane paperwork.
Apparently in the States, applications to medical and law schools have declined. Another reason, he argues, is that hard work for (relatively) low pay, and brutal hours are unattractive to many of the young who prefer the risky, but high potential gain business of investing and enterprising.
I think an underlying reason he misses is a general decline in the respect of authority and those with more education than oneself.
My cousin, a pharmacist, told me that the least pleasant part of her job is dealing with the customers. Not all of them of course, but the handful of obstinate, disrespectful and rude ones dampens her job.
It occurred to me during our conversation, that unlike other professionals (engineers, physicians, professors etc), pharmacists deal with the public all of the time and in a different capacity than most other professionals. They are, after all, well-educated retail clerks – or at least perceived as such by some customers.
My cousin told me that customers expect pharmacists to be both doctors and salespeople, even though they are neither.
I too have experienced the same galling lack of respect from people, primarily, although not always, from the underclass.
It is an unfortunate trend, albeit in a fallen world, not unexpected.
Source
Alex Williams, “The Falling-Down Professions”, The New York Times. 6 Jan. 2008. Accessed 6 Jan. 2008. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/fashion/06professions.html?em&ex=1199768400&en=d89d70d4a191d0d5&ei=5087%0A
The author attributed a declining level of respect to many things including television shows that attribute an unrealistic glamour to the professions, a rise of high-profile college dropout millionaire entrepreneurs, patients and clients brazened up by reading information on the Internet, and increasing mundane paperwork.
Apparently in the States, applications to medical and law schools have declined. Another reason, he argues, is that hard work for (relatively) low pay, and brutal hours are unattractive to many of the young who prefer the risky, but high potential gain business of investing and enterprising.
I think an underlying reason he misses is a general decline in the respect of authority and those with more education than oneself.
My cousin, a pharmacist, told me that the least pleasant part of her job is dealing with the customers. Not all of them of course, but the handful of obstinate, disrespectful and rude ones dampens her job.
It occurred to me during our conversation, that unlike other professionals (engineers, physicians, professors etc), pharmacists deal with the public all of the time and in a different capacity than most other professionals. They are, after all, well-educated retail clerks – or at least perceived as such by some customers.
My cousin told me that customers expect pharmacists to be both doctors and salespeople, even though they are neither.
I too have experienced the same galling lack of respect from people, primarily, although not always, from the underclass.
It is an unfortunate trend, albeit in a fallen world, not unexpected.
Source
Alex Williams, “The Falling-Down Professions”, The New York Times. 6 Jan. 2008. Accessed 6 Jan. 2008. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/fashion/06professions.html?em&ex=1199768400&en=d89d70d4a191d0d5&ei=5087%0A
Friday, January 04, 2008
Prosperity Gospel Lineage
An article about Joel Osteen appeared recently in Slate. The author’s lineage of the Word-Faith/Prosperity Gospel Movement is insightful.
“Word-Faith holds that believers possess, in divinely sanctioned snatches of scripture, the stuff of miraculous self-healing and prosperity—an odd turn for the Pentecostal movement, which first took root in some of the poorest (and blackest) stretches of the West and Southwest. Then again, the Word-Faith tradition is also part of a much broader movement toward therapeutic healing in American Protestantism—including the Mind Cure and New Thought teachings of the late 19th century that produced Christian Science, the positive thinking homilizing of Norman Vincent Peale, and all manner of New Age folderol, up through The Secret and The Prayer of Jabez.”
Source:
Chris Lehmann, “Pentecostalism for the Exurbs.” Slate. 2 Jan. 2008. Accessed 4 Jan. 2008. Available: http://www.slate.com/id/2180590/
“Word-Faith holds that believers possess, in divinely sanctioned snatches of scripture, the stuff of miraculous self-healing and prosperity—an odd turn for the Pentecostal movement, which first took root in some of the poorest (and blackest) stretches of the West and Southwest. Then again, the Word-Faith tradition is also part of a much broader movement toward therapeutic healing in American Protestantism—including the Mind Cure and New Thought teachings of the late 19th century that produced Christian Science, the positive thinking homilizing of Norman Vincent Peale, and all manner of New Age folderol, up through The Secret and The Prayer of Jabez.”
Source:
Chris Lehmann, “Pentecostalism for the Exurbs.” Slate. 2 Jan. 2008. Accessed 4 Jan. 2008. Available: http://www.slate.com/id/2180590/
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Choosing to Curse
I pondered why people curse last night – and especially why religious words are so muttered. Why all do (mainly) secular people take God’s name in vain, when they don’t believe He exists? And why do ‘Christians’ even think to use their Saviour’s name to vent?
Today at the library, I happened rather randomly to select a book about just this! Steven Pinker, a Harvard Psychology Professor examines how language acts as a window into human nature. He devotes one chapter in his book, The Stuff of Thought, to curse words.
After exploring the history of curse words (despite lingering religious connotations, the most common inappropriate English words are now sexual) he editorializes on the use of curse words.
He makes several interesting observations, including the point I’ve occasionally made myself. Namely, that those who curse are unable (or unwilling) to find other, more situation-suitable words, and so they resort to stale phraseology.
“Language has often been called a weapon, and people should be mindful about where to aim it and when to fire. The common denominator of taboo words is the act of forcing a disagreeable thought on someone,” he writes. “Even in its mildest form, intended only to keep the listener’s attention, the lazy use of profanity can feel like a series of jabs in the ribs. They are annoying to the listener, and a confession by the speaker that he can think of no other way to make his words worth attending to. It’s all the more damning for writers, who have the luxury of choosing their words off-line from the half-million-word phantasmagoria of the English lexicon.”
Source:
Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, New York: Viking, 2007, p. 369.
Today at the library, I happened rather randomly to select a book about just this! Steven Pinker, a Harvard Psychology Professor examines how language acts as a window into human nature. He devotes one chapter in his book, The Stuff of Thought, to curse words.
After exploring the history of curse words (despite lingering religious connotations, the most common inappropriate English words are now sexual) he editorializes on the use of curse words.
He makes several interesting observations, including the point I’ve occasionally made myself. Namely, that those who curse are unable (or unwilling) to find other, more situation-suitable words, and so they resort to stale phraseology.
“Language has often been called a weapon, and people should be mindful about where to aim it and when to fire. The common denominator of taboo words is the act of forcing a disagreeable thought on someone,” he writes. “Even in its mildest form, intended only to keep the listener’s attention, the lazy use of profanity can feel like a series of jabs in the ribs. They are annoying to the listener, and a confession by the speaker that he can think of no other way to make his words worth attending to. It’s all the more damning for writers, who have the luxury of choosing their words off-line from the half-million-word phantasmagoria of the English lexicon.”
Source:
Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, New York: Viking, 2007, p. 369.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Mark Dever on Evangelism
We don’t fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not converted; we fail only if we don’t faithfully tell the gospel at all. Evangelism itself isn’t converting people; it’s telling them that they need to be converted and telling them how they can be.
Evangelism is not an imposition of our ideas upon others. It is not merely personal testimony. It is not merely social action. It many not involve apologetics, and it is not the same thing as the results of evangelism. Evangelism is telling people the wonderful truth about God, the great news about Jesus Christ. When we understand this, then obedience to the call to evangelize can become certain and joyful. Understanding this increases evangelism as it moves from being a guilt-driven burden to a joyful privilege.
Source: Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007, p. 82.
Evangelism is not an imposition of our ideas upon others. It is not merely personal testimony. It is not merely social action. It many not involve apologetics, and it is not the same thing as the results of evangelism. Evangelism is telling people the wonderful truth about God, the great news about Jesus Christ. When we understand this, then obedience to the call to evangelize can become certain and joyful. Understanding this increases evangelism as it moves from being a guilt-driven burden to a joyful privilege.
Source: Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007, p. 82.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
2008: Year of Engagement
Resolved: To engage more deeply with the people who surround me, the community I live in, and the church I belong to.
Resolved: To embrace the gospel with abandon.
Resolved: To embrace the gospel with abandon.
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