We have already celebrated New Years. Not the January 1st New Years mind you, but the Christian New Year. With the beginning of Advent (11/29/2009) the Christian New Year began. We have passed from Advent to Christmastide now. Christmas will end after 12 days with the celebration of Epiphany on January 6th. Epiphany will give way to Lent and Lent will give way to Easter. Easter will culminate in the celebration of Pentecost.What follows is called Ordinary Time or Kingdomtide.
Why do I tell you all of this? If you are like the majority of Protestants, you celebrate Christmas and Easter with some vague awareness that Lent falls in there somewhere. However, the celebration of the traditional church calendar year takes the season from Advent to Pentecost to celebrate the entire life of Christ, to once again center ourselves on the greatest of great stories, the whole story of Jesus our Lord. It seems tragic to me that in a misguided attempt to be un-Roman-Catholic, many protestants miss the delight of walking with Christ through his time here with us.
The fear of being too Catholic has driven us away from many wonderful and rich Christian traditions. Instead of shying away from all things Catholic, we ought to reclaim them as Evangelicals and drink deeply of the great tradition in which we all stand!
Merry Christmas!
12.28.2009
12.21.2009
Drunk Preacher
I hate it when I get lumped into a "we" that I want nothing to do with. Christians are especially bad about this. For whatever reason, believers are under the delusion that true faith in Christ necessarily leads to their position on all sorts of things. It is not uncommon to here things like, "Of course, we're all Republican here..." or "We believe the world was created in 6 days about 10,000 years ago..." or "Of course we all know that miraculous gifts have ceased..."
The "we" that concerns me now is "We as Christians don't drink." I cannot tell you how many times someone has said that and looked at me as if they were stating obvious blatant fact. Many Christians were raised to believe that the Bible flatly condemns the consumption of alcohol. I know I was.
However, as I grew into my faith, and read the scripture for myself, I discovered that the case against alcohol consumption is as flimsy as a wet Kleenex. I don't want to sound dismissive, but I cannot fathom how someone could read the NT and think that there was something innately wrong with drinking alcohol. If so, Jesus is a sinner, and Paul actually suggested that Timothy sin to cure his stomach ache.
Having said that, I understand the need for caution here. I understand why some people scared by the abuse of alcohol, or by the appearance of approving the abuse of alcohol abstain from it altogether.
So where are you on this issue? Those of you who know me know my position (and for those who don't, I am a bit of a beer connoisseur). What issues are important for you as you think about this?
The "we" that concerns me now is "We as Christians don't drink." I cannot tell you how many times someone has said that and looked at me as if they were stating obvious blatant fact. Many Christians were raised to believe that the Bible flatly condemns the consumption of alcohol. I know I was.
However, as I grew into my faith, and read the scripture for myself, I discovered that the case against alcohol consumption is as flimsy as a wet Kleenex. I don't want to sound dismissive, but I cannot fathom how someone could read the NT and think that there was something innately wrong with drinking alcohol. If so, Jesus is a sinner, and Paul actually suggested that Timothy sin to cure his stomach ache.
Having said that, I understand the need for caution here. I understand why some people scared by the abuse of alcohol, or by the appearance of approving the abuse of alcohol abstain from it altogether.
So where are you on this issue? Those of you who know me know my position (and for those who don't, I am a bit of a beer connoisseur). What issues are important for you as you think about this?
12.14.2009
Somebody Help Me!
In a course I was teaching, the topic of baptism came up. We discussed various passages dealing with baptism. Prominent among these in our discussion was the story of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8.26-40). During our discussion, it was noted that some of our Bibles contained v.37, "And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he replied, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,'" while other Bibles omitted it. One student promptly raised her hand and told us how the evil modern versions were "taking verses out of the Bible because they don't want us to know the truth." I proceeded to give a brief explanation of textual criticism and how that sentence was probably not original, but added later. Her response was, "Well you can't just skip a verse! You have to have verse 37!" I then proceeded to explain how editors of printed Bibles had added verse numbers in the 1500's and how they weren't actually original. Her eyes were as wide as if I had told her Jesus is just some guy who doesn't really matter.
In fact, verse numbers are one among many innovative helps that have been added to the Biblical text for our benefit. The original text contained no verse numbers, no chapter numbers, no system of capital/lowercase letters, no punctuation, no paragraphing, and no spaces between words. The OT did not even have a system of vowels.
THENTWOULDHAVELOOKEDSOMETHINGLIKETHIS
THOTWLDLKLKTHSEXCPTBCKWRDS
In addition to these innovations, modern Bibles contain section heading, red lettering for the words of Christ, cross-reference systems, footnotes, study notes, chain reference systems, maps, concordance, etc...
All of this raises the question for me, how many of these "helps" are really helpful? The anecdote above shows how verse numbering can cause difficulty. Similar arguments could be made about red lettering causing readers to value those words above other words, the insertion of letters in the text for a footnote or cross reference system making it difficult to enjoy reading, and others. Once, I actually had a teen say something like, "The Lord is our shepherd, I shall not F want." She read the letter pointing her to footnote F as if it were part of the text.
For me, I like a minimal number of helps. I am not going to try to argue against verse and chapter numbering, although I think offering editions of the Bible without these would be awesome. I do however, prefer a simple, unadorned paragraphed black letter text edition. I understand the need for study and reference Bibles, and I appreciate them. But for daily use, I prefer to simplicity of a text edition.
What kind of helps do you like in a Bible? Which ones do you think should be taken out?
In fact, verse numbers are one among many innovative helps that have been added to the Biblical text for our benefit. The original text contained no verse numbers, no chapter numbers, no system of capital/lowercase letters, no punctuation, no paragraphing, and no spaces between words. The OT did not even have a system of vowels.
THENTWOULDHAVELOOKEDSOMETHINGLIKETHIS
THOTWLDLKLKTHSEXCPTBCKWRDS
In addition to these innovations, modern Bibles contain section heading, red lettering for the words of Christ, cross-reference systems, footnotes, study notes, chain reference systems, maps, concordance, etc...
All of this raises the question for me, how many of these "helps" are really helpful? The anecdote above shows how verse numbering can cause difficulty. Similar arguments could be made about red lettering causing readers to value those words above other words, the insertion of letters in the text for a footnote or cross reference system making it difficult to enjoy reading, and others. Once, I actually had a teen say something like, "The Lord is our shepherd, I shall not F want." She read the letter pointing her to footnote F as if it were part of the text.
For me, I like a minimal number of helps. I am not going to try to argue against verse and chapter numbering, although I think offering editions of the Bible without these would be awesome. I do however, prefer a simple, unadorned paragraphed black letter text edition. I understand the need for study and reference Bibles, and I appreciate them. But for daily use, I prefer to simplicity of a text edition.
What kind of helps do you like in a Bible? Which ones do you think should be taken out?
12.07.2009
Must Read Now!
When I became a Christian, I hated to read. I actually got by in high school having only ever read one book all the way through (Catcher in the Rye). When I got to college, I met several Christians who were extremely dedicated to growing in the Lord. Every one of them read constantly. Not only this, but every one of them had a short list of books (besides the Bible) that "every believer ought to read." Common titles were Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, or Desiring God by John Piper.
Since that time, I have become a reader. I love to read. I love books. I love used book stores (that's more of an addiction than a love, but whatever). Those who know me now, know me as a guy with a lot of books. In my reading, I have developed some opinions about a 'must reads for every believer' list.
Here is my list in no particular order:
1) The Ragamuffin Gospel or Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning (they overlap a lot, but they are both excellent)
2) The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (my first "deep" read, a classic that still has bite)
3) A good survey of church history (because if you don't know where you came from, you don't know who you are)
The IVP Pocket History of the Church by Jeff Bingham, and Pocket History of Theology by Roger Olson and Adam English are quite good as short surveys. For a more in depth look, I recommend The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez.
4) How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Fee and Stuart (actually lives up to the title)
5) The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the OT (Judith, Tobit, Maccabees, etc... Some of or brothers and sisters read these as scripture, we ought at least to know what they say)
6) My most recent addition, Life With God by Richard Foster (to my mind, Foster's most complete and helpful work)
I am sure you think I have either included something that should be left off, or left something off that should be included. What say you?
Since that time, I have become a reader. I love to read. I love books. I love used book stores (that's more of an addiction than a love, but whatever). Those who know me now, know me as a guy with a lot of books. In my reading, I have developed some opinions about a 'must reads for every believer' list.
Here is my list in no particular order:
1) The Ragamuffin Gospel or Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning (they overlap a lot, but they are both excellent)
2) The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (my first "deep" read, a classic that still has bite)
3) A good survey of church history (because if you don't know where you came from, you don't know who you are)
The IVP Pocket History of the Church by Jeff Bingham, and Pocket History of Theology by Roger Olson and Adam English are quite good as short surveys. For a more in depth look, I recommend The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez.
4) How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth by Fee and Stuart (actually lives up to the title)
5) The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books of the OT (Judith, Tobit, Maccabees, etc... Some of or brothers and sisters read these as scripture, we ought at least to know what they say)
6) My most recent addition, Life With God by Richard Foster (to my mind, Foster's most complete and helpful work)
I am sure you think I have either included something that should be left off, or left something off that should be included. What say you?
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