June 25, 2009
Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009)
Michael Jackson passed into eternity today. With phenomenal talent, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of 11 as part of The Jackson 5 and began a solo career at the age of 13. In time, he would become one of the most celebrated pop stars of all time, with a series of best-selling albums and a worldwide audience. He would amass a mind-staggering amount of money. He literally lived in a Fantasy Land. Yet he remained (and in all likelihood died) confused (about his gender, his race, his very human identity), without hope, and without the Greatest Treasure in the universe.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 reads, "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart." Jackson's death is an occasion for reflection--for those of us who know Christ, that we would take greater pains to make Him known in our words and deeds. And for those without Christ, that they might consider the certainty of death and their desperate need for a Sin-Bearing Savior, Lord, and Treasure.
Andrew Sullivan offers this powerful reflection:
There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.HT: JTBut he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.
I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.
I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.
Not Watching TV and Rarely Going to Movies
A great word from John Piper on the dangers of TV and movies. An excerpt:
I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.But do read the whole thing. It has massive relevance for non-preachers. Piper unpacks the spiritual dangers, mind numbing and time wasting effects of TV.If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.
A Prescription for American Health Care
Looking for some perspective on the health care issue, currently on the table in the U.S. Congress? John C. Goodman, President and CEO at the National Center for Policy Analysis received his Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University, and has taught and done research at Columbia University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas. He writes regularly for such newspapers as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily and the Los Angeles Times, and is the author of nine books, including Patient Power: The Free-Enterprise Alternative to Clinton's Health Plan
Goodman wrote a helpful overview essay for Imprimis this past March. An excerpt:
Prior to the 20th century, we handled risks with the help of family and extended family. In the 19th century, by the time a child was nine years old, he was usually paying his own way in the household. In effect, children were their parents’ retirement plan. But during the 20th century, families became smaller and more dispersed—thus less useful as insurance against risk. So people turned to government for help. In fact, the main reason why governments throughout the developed world have undergone such tremendous growth has been to insure middle class families against risks that they could not easily insure against on their own. This is why our government today is a major player in retirement, health care, disability and unemployment.Read the whole thing.Government, however, has performed abysmally. It has spent money it doesn’t have and made promises it can’t keep, all on the backs of future taxpayers. The Trustees of Social Security estimate a current unfunded liability in excess of $100 trillion in 2009 dollars. This means that the federal government has promised more than $100 trillion over and above any taxes or premiums it expects to receive. In other words, for Social Security to be financially sound, the federal government should have $100 trillion—a sum of money six-and-a-half times the size of our entire economy—in the bank and earning interest right now. But it doesn’t. And while many believe that Social Security represents our greatest entitlement problem, Medicare is six times larger in terms of unfunded obligations. These numbers are admittedly based on future projections. But consider the situation in this light: What if we asked the federal government to account for its obligations the same way the private sector is forced to account for its pensions? In other words, if the federal government suddenly closed down Social Security and Medicare, how much would be owed in terms of benefits already earned? The answer is $52 trillion, an amount several times the size of the U.S. economy.
What does this mean for the future? We know that Social Security and Medicare have been spending more than they are taking in for quite some time. As the Baby Boomers start retiring, this deficit is going to grow dramatically. In 2012, only three years from now, Social Security and Medicare will need one out of every ten general income tax dollars to make up for their combined deficits. By 2020—just eleven years down the road—the federal government will need one out of every four income tax dollars to pay for these programs. By 2030, the midpoint of the Baby Boomer retirement years, it will require one of every two income tax dollars. So it is clear that the federal government will be forced either to scale back everything else it’s doing in a drastic way or raise taxes dramatically.
June 24, 2009
Why Doug Wilson at Desiring God National Conference?
HT: Desiring God
I had the privilege of editing a book
June 23, 2009
The Stoning of Soraya M
Looks like a great movie, based on a true story, coming to select theaters this Friday:
This film is based on a true story that occurred after the Iranian Revolution of the late 70s. A village persecutes an innocent woman, and another dares to challenge the injustice. The movie shows the true, wicked face of Islamic Sharia Law as it is applied unjustly against women. Staring Jim Caviezel.
Update: Peter T. Chattaway writes about The Stoning of Soraya M in Christianity Today .
The Whole Counsel of God - Richard Gamble
This new book, The Whole Counsel Of God
Richard Gamble offers a comprehensive theology attuned to the methodological advantages of biblical theology combined with the strengths of historical and systematic theology. Drawing on the best work in these disciplines throughout church history, he leads us in an integrated pursuit of the whole counsel of God.The endorsements:This volume, the first of three, recounts God's mighty acts in the Old Testament, disclosing the theology of the Old Testament within the progressive and historical development of the Bible. It contains a survey of the entire Old Testament with discussions of many diverse topics.
This volume, the first of three, recounts God's mighty acts in the Old Testament. It discloses the theology of the Old Testament within the organic, progressive, historical development of the Bible. Gamble blends a survey of the entire Old Testament with discussions of topics as diverse as the canon, days of creation, faith and reason, covenants, the Ten Commandments, Old Testament ecclesiology, the nature of God, justification, and Old Testament apologetics.
"My colleague Richard Gamble has begun a very comprehensive theological project, embracing the disciplines of biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology. Nothing comparable in scope has been done in the last hundred years, within the circles of Reformed orthodoxy. Knowing Rick, and having read some of the first volume, I'm convinced that he is the man to do this job. With a doctorate from the University of Basel and an international reputation as a Calvin scholar, Rick has a formidable grasp of theological issues. His theological convictions are thoroughly biblical and Reformed. He's also a humble man of God who can write winsomely to the hearts of many sorts of readers. I hope this series has wide distribution and great influence in this time of theological confusion."
- John Frame, Reformed Theological Seminary
"Very few people living today are as capable as Richard Gamble at grasping and expressing the theology of the entire Bible. His work represents decades of reflection on interpretive issues that have perplexed scholars for over a century. He bridges the gap so many have identified between traditional systematic theology and biblical theology. He devotes himself in helpful ways to the unity and diversity of biblical revelation. Yet, throughout this work, he penetrates beyond scholarly concerns to life issues that every believer faces. I highly recommend this book. You will be glad you read it.
- Richard L. Pratt, Jr. Adjunct Professor, Reformed Theological Seminary, President, Third Millennium Ministries
"A ground-breaking piece of biblical scholarship. Modern theological scholars tend to specialize in a specific field . . . [and] tend to be unfamiliar and uncomfortable delving into other spheres of theology. Therefore, modern theologians generally do not produce comprehensive or integrated works on theology ... [and] and tend to be unfamiliar and uncomfortable delving into other spheres of theology ... Dr. Gamble's work is pioneering in that it is an attempt at integrating the major theological disciplines. . . .
Gamble has no theological axe to grind; rather, his goal is to be faithful to the Word of God. His efforts in this regard are not only commendable, but truly enriching. This volume, and this set, will be a must-have for Reformed pastors and many others."
- Anthony Selvagio, Reformed Presbyterian Witness
Memorial Service For Dr. Ralph Winter
On May 20, 2009 at 9:05 p.m., Ralph D. Winter died in his home in Pasadena, CA. There will be a memorial service and celebration of God's work through Dr. Ralph Winter's life in Pasadena, CA on Sunday, June 28 at Lake Avenue Church from 3 - 5 p.m.
Read Dr. Winter's obituary.
In the 23-minute video below, watch Dr. Winter talk about the concept of finding your vocation and intentionally pursuing difficult things for God's glory. He also shares extensively on the book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations
June 22, 2009
Homeschooling Movement Grows
Albert Mohler and USA Today (HT: Josh Harris) chronicle the growing number of American children being homeschooled. Dr. Mohler:
Homeschooling was the choice of families for 2.9 percent of all school-age children in the United States in 2007, involving 1.5 million students. By comparison, in 1999 only 850,000 children were homeschooled. By 2003, that number was up to 1.1 million. This report indicates significant jumps in homeschooling as compared to other educational options. In fact, the report reveals that the actual number of American children whose parents choose homeschooling for at least part of their education exceeds 3 million. According to the report, 1.5 million children are exclusively homeschooled while another 1.5 million are homeschooled for at least part of the school week.What's particularly interesting is that the dominant motivation among homeschooling parents is "a desire to provide children specifically religious or moral instruction." Also, 6.8% of college-educated parents home-school, up from 4.9% in 1999.
Looking to Christ for Assurance
William Gurnall:
"When thou trustest Christ within thee, instead of Christ without thee, thou settest Christ against Christ. The bride does well to esteem her husband's picture, but it were ridiculous if she should love it better than himself, much more if she should go to it rather than to him to supply all her wants. Yet thou actest thus when thou art more fond of Christ’s image in thy soul than of Him who painted it there."From William Gurnall, Christian in Complete Armour, Banner of Truth Trust, 1974
The Meaning of Man's Will
It appears that the Ligonier Ministries team is posting sections of a helpful R.C. Sproul book I recently read entitled How Can I Know God's Will?. Here's a three-part series on the meaning of man's will. (And before that, they have a five-part series on the meaning of God's will.)
The Meaning of Man's Will - Part 1
The Meaning of Man's Will - Part 2
The Meaning of Man's Will - Part 3
June 21, 2009
John Piper - A Tribute to His Father
My father was the happiest man I have ever known. Not that he never grumbled (he was a golfer who lost a lot of balls). But he was rooted so firmly in the glory of God’s grace that nothing could keep him down for long.Read the whole thing.
June 20, 2009
Why is Obama AWOL on Iran?
John Hinderaker at PowerLine breaks down the possible reasons for Obama's strange stance on the Iranian uprising (and the government crackdown about to intensify):
1) America is or has been evil, so it should do little or nothing in the world. (Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, etc.)
2) Obama is just a cautious guy who avoids risk at all costs. (Iran is the pirate "crisis" writ large, with Obama silent until someone else steps up and does something.)
A variant of this theory is:
3) Obama has no idea what to do about Iran, and he knows it. (He remembers that a few years ago he was but an unknown state senator in Illinois.)
4) Obama is bold when it comes to domestic policy but considers anything that happens in a foreign country an unwelcome distraction. (His view of the Presidency is high on domestic policy and low on foreign policy.)
5) Obama can't be in favor of democracy because Bush was for it. (Having been elected as the anti-Bush, he must remain so.)
Update: President Obama on Saturday called on the Iranian government to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people."
Obama Absolutely Clueless on Iran
Charles Krauthammer at his best:
Moreover, this incipient revolution is no longer about the election. Obama totally misses the point. The election allowed the political space and provided the spark for the eruption of anti-regime fervor that has been simmering for years and awaiting its moment. But people aren't dying in the street because they want a recount of hanging chads in suburban Isfahan. They want to bring down the tyrannical, misogynist, corrupt theocracy that has imposed itself with the very baton-wielding goons that today attack the demonstrators.He goes to describe how U.S. interest in the region is massive:This started out about election fraud. But like all revolutions, it has far outgrown its origins. What's at stake now is the very legitimacy of this regime -- and the future of the entire Middle East.
This revolution will end either as a Tiananmen (a hot Tiananmen with massive and bloody repression or a cold Tiananmen with a finer mix of brutality and co-optation) or as a true revolution that brings down the Islamic Republic.
Even from the narrow perspective of the nuclear issue, the administration's geopolitical calculus is absurd. There is zero chance that any such talks will denuclearize Iran. On Monday, Ahmadinejad declared yet again that the nuclear "file is shut, forever." The only hope for a resolution of the nuclear question is regime change, which (if the successor regime were as moderate as pre-Khomeini Iran) might either stop the program, or make it manageable and nonthreatening.Read the whole thing.That's our fundamental interest. And our fundamental values demand that America stand with demonstrators opposing a regime that is the antithesis of all we believe.
June 19, 2009
Great Online New Testament Greek Tool
Anthony J. Fisher hosts a browsable, Web-based interface to the Greek New Testament (GNT). You can select a book, a chapter, or a verse. Or you can search for all instances of a particular word. And you can narrow a word search to only those instances in which an adjacent word (such as the definite article) is present. A nifty tool.
Five Myths on Fathers and Family
Writing for the National Review magazine, W. Bradford Wilcox exposes some of the misleading Father's Day themes that tend to pop up in the media at this time of the year.
1. The Mr. Mom surge.
2. Women want all housework and child-related work divided 50-50.
3. Cohabiting fathers are just as involved as their married counterparts.
4. The children of divorced parents do just fine.
5. Dads are dispensable.
HT: Albert Mohler
June 18, 2009
On the Demise of Fatherhood
A great word from Andrew Peach (on First Things) in advance of Father's Day this Sunday. An excerpt:
Most fathers-to-be suppose that their old ego-centered lives will continue more or less unabated after the child arrives. With the exception of a few more obstacles and demands on their time, their involvement with their children is envisioned as being something manageable and marginal. Nothing like a complete transformation—an abrupt end to their former life—really enters men’s minds.A long article, but highly worth the read.But then the onslaught begins, and a man begins to realize that these people, his wife and children, are literally and perhaps even intentionally killing his old self. All around him everything is changing, without any signs of ever reverting back to the way they used to be. Into the indefinite future, nearly every hour of his days threatens to be filled with activities that, as a single-person or even a childless husband, he never would have chosen. Due to the continual interruptions of sleep, he is always mildly fatigued; due to long-term financial concerns, he is cautious in spending, forsaking old consumer habits and personal indulgences; he finds his wife equally exhausted and preoccupied with the children; connections with former friends start to slip away; traveling with his children is like traveling third class in Bulgaria, to quote H.L. Mencken; and the changes go on and on. In short, he discovers, in a terrifying realization, what Dostoevsky proclaimed long ago: “[A]ctive love is a harsh and fearful reality compared with love in dreams.” Fatherhood is just not what he bargained for.
Yet, through the exhaustion, financial stress, screaming, and general chaos, there enters in at times, mysteriously and unexpectedly, deep contentment and gratitude. It is not the pleasure or amusement of high school or college but rather the honor and nobility of sacrifice and commitment, like that felt by a soldier. What happens to his children now happens to him; his life, though awhirl with the trivial concerns of children, is more serious than it ever was before. Everything he does, from bringing home a paycheck to painting a bedroom, has a new end and, hence, a greater significance. The joys and sorrows of his children are now his joys and sorrows; the stakes of his life have risen. And if he is faithful to his calling, he might come to find that, against nearly all prior expectations, he never wants to return to the way things used to be.
HT: JT
June 17, 2009
U.S. State Department Calls on Twitter For Help
The NY Times reports:
On Monday afternoon, a 27-year-old State Department official, Jared Cohen, e-mailed the social-networking site Twitter with an unusual request: delay scheduled maintenance of its global network, which would have cut off service while Iranians were using Twitter to swap information and inform the outside world about the mushrooming protests around Tehran.Read the whole thing.The request, made to a Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, is yet another new-media milestone: the recognition by the United States government that an Internet blogging service that did not exist four years ago has the potential to change history in an ancient Islamic country.
June 15, 2009
Iran Supreme Leader Orders Vote Fraud Probe
Here are a few blogs that are following the story of the massive protests in Iran over the recent presidential election, in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a 2-1 margin within hours of the polls closing.
Today, Iran's supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei), who had already congratulated Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ordered a vote fraud probe.
Andrew Sullivan (with the Atlantic) is following the unfolding events closely, the Power Line authors have a series of videos (the first of which appears to show police riot officers breaking into a home a beating someone senseless), and the National Iranian American Council is reporting a lot of direct correspondence from relatives in Iran. Hugh Hewitt will be devoting his show today to this issue.
June 13, 2009
Sacred Marriage (Gary Thomas)
Some quotes from this very helpful book:
"If you want to be free to serve Jesus, there's no question -- stay single. Marriage takes a lot of time. But if you want to become like Jesus, I can't imagine any better thing to do than to get married. Being married forces you to face some character issues you'd never have to face otherwise." -p. 21
"Any situation that calls me to confront my selfishness has enormous spiritual value, and I slowly began to understand that the real purpose of marriage may not be happiness as much as it is holiness. Not that God has anything against happiness, or that happiness and holiness are by nature mutually exclusive, but looking at marriage through the lens of holiness began to put it into an entirely new perspective for me." -pp. 22-23
"...some of us ask too much of marriage. We want to get the largest portion of our life's fulfillment from our relationship with our spouse. That's asking too much. Yes, without a doubt there should be moments of happiness, meaning, and a general sense of fulfillment. But my wife can't be God, and I was created with a spirit that craves God. Anything less than God, and I'll feel an ache." -pp. 25-26
"One of the cruelest and most self-condemning remarks I've ever heard is the one that men often use when they leave their wives for another woman: 'The truth is, I've never loved you.' This is meant to be an attack on the wife--saying in effect, 'The truth is, I've never found you lovable.' But put in a Christian context, it's a confession of the man's utter failure to be a Christian." -pp. 40-41
June 12, 2009
Southern Baptist Identity: An Evangelical Denomination Faces the Future
This new book edited by Dr. David Dockery, President of Union University in Jackson, TN, should be a very interesting for all of us associated with the SBC in one way or another (and everyone else wondering where this large group of churches is headed). Dr. Dockery is an articulate spokesman on Christian higher education and one who has a great influence on my own pursuit of academic excellence (for myself and my students). He is also a great theologian, historian, and cultural observer, particularly on issues within the Southern Baptist Convention. So I highly recommend this book. (It is available for pre-order, and due for release on June 30, 2009.)
Major SBC spokesmen address key issues of theology, polity, and practice to help readers respond to the most significant challenges within evangelicalism.What was once a small, southern, predominantly white denomination has become America’s largest evangelical denomination. Yet with the Southern Baptist Convention’s growth have come the challenges of increasing fragmentation, theological controversy, and sweeping cultural change. These challenges have caused leaders and members to ask: What does it mean to be a Southern Baptist in the twenty-first century? How can a fresh consensus be established from within? What are the core biblical convictions that must be upheld, the key practices that must be sustained, to reach the lost in this age of cultural accommodation?
These essays by editor David Dockery, Al Mohler, Timothy George, Russell Moore, Paige Patterson, and eleven other SBC leaders address these important issues and themes from several perspectives. Their observations will illuminate the way not only for fellow Southern Baptists but for all evangelicals facing similar challenges in the twenty-first century and beyond.
Preaching in Bakersfield, CA on With One Voice
I'd cover your prayers for my message this Sunday at Sovereign Grace Church of Bakersfield on the topic of With One Voice. It has been an unusually challenging week in some ways and I feel drained. I was pulling up some data related to attitudes toward marriage, and the last two slides of this 2008 report from the National Marriage Project stood out.
1. A majority (~56%) of high school seniors believe that having a child without being married is "experimenting with a worthwhile lifestyle or not affecting anyone else."
2. About 60% of high school seniors “Agreed” or “Mostly Agreed” with the statement “It Is Usually a Good Idea for a Couple to Live Together Before Getting Married in Order to Find Out Whether They Really Get Along.”
June 10, 2009
Charles Krauthammer Wins Major Journalism Award
Yesterday, Charles Krauthammer, one of the most insightful political commentators of our day, received the 2009 Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism. The New York post published some of Mr. Krauthammer's remarks upon receiving the honor. An excerpt:
At a time when awards in the humanities are a near-monopoly of the left -- Nobel peace prizes awarded to those, from Yasir Arafat to Jimmy Carter, who give the most succor to the forces of terror and tyranny; Pulitzers given to whichever newspaper can expose the more damaging national-security secrets -- it is important for there to be an award to recognize and encourage journalism and, more generally, political thinking of a different kind.Fox News has a two-minute video with remarks from Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and Dick Cheney. Murdoch notes, "We think he's the outstanding conservative journalist in the country at the moment." The former Vice President concurs: "He has been, over the years I've known him, I would say, the outstanding columnist in Washington."
Congratulation, Dr. K., on the well-deserved recognition.
Do You Want a Friend? - Noel Piper
Noel Piper's latest book, Do You Want a Friend?, is now available. This beautifully illustrated hard cover book begins with the story of a little boy who moves to a new town with his family and wishes to make some friends. The narrator then asks questions like: Do you want a friend who loves you? Do you want a friend who comforts you? For each question, there is a colorful picture (over the two page spread) and an appropriate Scripture verse that shows how Jesus is that Friend. For example: Do you want a friend who helps you be strong? "I can do all things through him [Jesus, the Lord] who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). Best of all, the book ends with a succinct and clear explanation of why Jesus can be this kind of Friend for us in spite of our sins.
The illustrator, Gail Schoonmaker, also does a terrific job. You may recall that Schoonmaker also illustrated the The Big Picture Story Bible.
Browse Do You Want a Friend? online or check out the publisher's description.
June 09, 2009
D.A. Carson Publications - All In One Place
Andy Naselli has done us a huge favor by compiling a comprehensive bibliography of D. A. Carson’s publications. The list is chronological, by category: 50 books, 237 articles, 112 reviews, lyrics for music, and edited series. If you search "by topic" or "by Scripture" you'll find many audio messages that can be freely played or downloaded. Many of the articles are available as free PDFs.
HT: JT
New Sovereign Grace Music Project For Kids
My kids love music. We all love Sovereign Grace Music. So I'm excited about their new project. Bob Kauflin announces:
You can now sample songs from our next children’s CD, To Be Like Jesus, at the Sovereign Grace Music website. The album is scheduled for release later this month.Read the whole thing.To Be Like Jesus contains 12 songs. Ten of them are based on the qualities listed as the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. I know only nine are listed there, but we included two on self-control because…well, any parent knows why we have two songs on self-control. The other two songs teach that God wants to make us like his Son, and when he does, we bear the fruit of the Spirit.
We tried hard to avoid two extremes on this project. The first is assuming that every kid singing these songs is a Christian. Obviously, that won’t be true. So the songs are primarily meant to teach and proclaim, rather than express the thoughts of a converted soul (although there are some of those songs as well). Second, we wanted to be sure kids understood we can’t be joyful, patient, kind, good, etc. apart from the Spirit’s work in us. The goal isn’t simply to be a “good citizen.” It’s to be transformed by the power of God’s Spirit into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. And it’s all made possible through Jesus dying in our place for our sins.
HT: JT
June 08, 2009
Albert Mohler in Chicago Tribune
Dr. Mohler published an op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune yesterday on the murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller. Dr. Mohler masterfully contrasts the murderer of Dr. Tiller with the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who was hanged for his role in an attempt to murder Adolf Hitler).
In 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested for his opposition to the Nazi regime. The Lutheran pastor, a prominent leader in the anti-Nazi Confessing Church, had been involved in espionage and an attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler. This theologian sought to defy the regime that was murdering the Jewish people and destroying human life with homicide on an unprecedented scale. Bonhoeffer acted in defense of human life, and for this he was executed in the Flossenburg prison camp in the final days of World War II.Read the whole thing.Dietrich Bonhoeffer opposed abortion with full force. In his writings he explained: "The simple fact is that God had certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder."
When it came to defying Hitler's regime, Bonhoeffer saw that several excruciating moral questions were on "the borderland" and could not be settled with absolute certainty. Eventually, he was convinced that the Nazi regime was beyond moral correction. Christians, he then saw, bore a responsibility to oppose the regime at every level and to seek its demise. He acted in defense of life and was finally willing to use violence to that end.
America is not Nazi Germany. George Tiller, though bearing the blood of thousands of unborn children on his hands, was not Adolf Hitler. The murderer of Dr. Tiller is no Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dr. Tiller's murderer did not serve the cause of life; he assaulted that cause at its moral core.
June 06, 2009
Ronald Reagan on 40th Anniversary of D-Day
The 13-minute speech President Reagan gave at Normandy on June 6, 1984 articulates some of the great principles that carried the USA through victory in WWII and the Cold War. Watch the video or read the text.
June 05, 2009
How Tim Keller Found Manhattan
Tim Stafford with Christianity Today writes a lengthy biographical sketch of Tim Keller's ministry in Manhattan since 1989. The opening:
When Tim Keller came to Manhattan in 1989, New York City had a well-deserved reputation as a snarling, scary place. Violent crime, drug dealing, and other urban pathologies had weakened or chased off many of the faithful. While a barely perceptible renewal was under way, it seemed as if the few remaining orthodox Protestants were huddled together in historic buildings. All of Keller's formal pastoral experience had happened in a small, blue-collar town in Virginia.The Rev. Tim Keller is the author of best-selling books The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism and The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith.Yet today, almost 20 years later, he steps onstage before a packed auditorium at Hunter College on Manhattan's Upper East Side. His church, Redeemer Presbyterian, has five crowded Sunday services in three rented locations—Keller dashes between them—with an average total attendance of 5,000. The service at Hunter is the largest, the "tourist service." (For many years, Redeemer deliberately avoided publicity, but word has spread lately, and Keller estimates that hundreds of out-of-towners show up each Sunday.) Well over 2,000 people—mainly young whites and Asians you would expect to be sleeping off a late Saturday night—have come to this morning's service.
I previously interviewed Mr. Keller on his choice of the title "The Prodigal God."
R.C. Sproul - The Prayer of The Lord
R.C. Sproul's most recent book, The Prayer of the Lord, arrived in the mail yesterday and looks very good. Early in the book, Sproul observes that the Lord's prayer spells out the manner in which we are to pray, not the precise content:
He did not say, "Pray this." Rather, He said, "In this manner, therefore, pray" (Matt. 6:9a). Jesus did not give His disciples a prayer they should slavishly repeat, though, as I noted above, repeating the prayer can be good and useful if it is handled correctly. Jesus' intent was to give His disciples a model prayer, an example to follow, one that would teach them transferable principles for conversation with God."In the subsequent chapters, Sproul unpacks the Lord's prayer section- by-section in roughly 10-page chapters (digestible in one sitting). The publisher's review:
What is the Lord's Prayer? In The Prayer of the Lord, Dr. R. C. Sproul writes, "Jesus' intent was to give His disciples a model prayer, an example to follow, one that would teach them transferrable principles for conversation with God." In short, Christ gave the Lord's Prayer to teach His disciples about prayer, and Dr. Sproul, in his trademark fashion, brings out many of the truths Christ intended for His followers to learn. Readers will learn how not to pray, then will be led into a deeper understanding of such topics as the fatherhood of God, the kingdom of God, the will of God, the nature of sin and forgiveness, the dangers of temptation, and the cunning of Satan. The final chapter includes questions and answers on various aspects of prayer not covered elsewhere in the book, and the appendix addresses the difficult question of the relationship of God's sovereignty and prayer. The Prayer of the Lord is an eye-opening journey, one that reveals new vistas in familiar terrain.A subset of the endorsements:
R.C. Sproul has an amazing gift for explaining difficult truths in pithy, memorable, and easy-to-grasp ways. He is the ideal teacher for a study of the Lord's Prayer, because the prayer itself is a profound lesson on a difficult subject, given by Jesus to His disciples in an amazing economy of words. You will be greatly blessed and edified by this book.
Dr. John MacArthur, Pastor/teacher
Grace Community Church
Sun Valley, California
Here is a very special book on prayer. It will not leave you overwhelmed with failure and crushed into "giving prayer yet another try"--as many books and sermons on prayer do. Instead, it will lead you gently by the hand--as Jesus did when He taught the disciples the prayer on which these pages are based. It will draw you into a sense of the privilege of prayer, stimulate new desires to pray, even leave you with a sense of the delights of prayer. These pages have an atmosphere of light and are permeated by a sense of freshness and joy. Happy indeed is the theologian who can stimulate prayer. And happy are we that R.C. Sproul has become such a theologian. The Prayer of the Lord is--quite simply-- a spiritual treat.
Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson
Senior minister
First Presbyterian Church
Columbia, South Carolina
June 02, 2009
Americans Strongly Oppose GM Bailout
Rasmussen Reports reports the trend: From Day 1, and in increasing numbers, Americans have consistently opposed taxpayer-backed assistance of auto dealers such as GM and Chrysler.
1. CEO Chairman Rick Wagoner first approached the Bush administration and Congress seeking $18 billion in taxpayer-backed loans last fall. In November 2008, just after the election, 45% opposed the loans, 30% supported them, and 25% were undecided.
2. By Thanksgiving, a few weeks later, opposition had risen to 55%.
3. By February, when the automakers returned to Congress and (now) to President Obama, opposition had risen to 64%.
4. This week, GM declared bankruptcy. But 67% of voters are opposed to the plan that would provide GM with billions in federal funding and give the government a majority ownership interest.
The whole story.
Gallup Poll Shows Cheney beat Obama in Gitmo Debate
It now is clear that the much-maligned and "highly unpopular" former Vice President Dick Cheney has defeated the eloquent, popular President Barack Obama in their recent high-profile debate (of sorts) on the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which holds some 240 prisoners. A Gallup poll of 1015 adults was taken by landline and cell phone from Friday to Sunday and the results were summarized in USA Today yesterday. The key findings:
1. By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn't be closed. By more than 3-1, they oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states.You may recall that last month Senate Democrats stripped $80 million to close Gitmo from a spending bill and have thus far blocked any transfer of detainees to U.S. soil. Given the Gallup poll, that position is unlikely to change. Obama faces a dilemma in that he has promised to close Gitmo by early 2010.2. Americans were inclined to accept the argument by Cheney and former president George W. Bush that the detention center had made the United States safer. By a 40%-18% margin, those surveyed said the prison had strengthened national security rather than weakened it.
3. Those who want the prison to remain open feel more strongly on the subject that those who want to close it. A 54% majority of those polled say the prison shouldn't be closed, and that they'll be upset if the administration moves forward to close it.
In case you missed the rival speeches of Mr. Obama and Mr. Cheney, here they are in their entirety:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Response to the Murder of Geore Tiller
As you likely know, the well-known late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller was murdered yesterday while serving as an usher in his church. Far from being justified, such actions inevitably set back the pro-life movement as they play to the leftist fears of crazed fundamentalists. Remember that Homeland report awhile ago that warned that (among others) "pro-lifers" could be a vital source of domestic terrorism?
Proponents of abortion rights often charge that the rhetoric of the pro-life movement leads to violence. After all, we describe abortion as murder and point to the business of abortion as the murder of the unborn. We make clear that abortion is the taking of innocent human life and that what goes on in abortion clinics is the business of death.Read the whole thing.We make these arguments because we know they are true. Abortion is murder. What goes on in those clinics is institutionalized homicide, often for financial profit. Abortion is a moral scandal and a national tragedy and a blight upon the American conscience.
But violence in the name of protesting abortion is immoral, unjustified, and horribly harmful to the pro-life cause. Now, the premeditated murder of Dr. George Tiller in the foyer of his church is the headline scandal -- not the abortions he performed and the cause he represented.
Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing. The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands. No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him. We are a nation of laws. Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence. Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers. "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished. By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion. Every human life is precious. George Tiller's life was precious. We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life. Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit.JT has some other useful links on this topic.
June 01, 2009
Krauthammer and McCarthy on Sotomayor
Charles Krauthammer has a typically brilliant column on Sonia Sotomayor, with just one problem: In spite of all her jarring difficulties, Dr. K. says she should be confirmed because "elections have consequences." He advises Republicans:
Make the case for individual vs. group rights, for justice vs. empathy. Then vote to confirm Sotomayor solely on the grounds -- consistently violated by the Democrats, including Sen. Obama -- that a president is entitled to deference on his Supreme Court nominees, particularly one who so thoroughly reflects the mainstream views of the winning party. Elections have consequences.Andy McCarthy picks apart that logic, noting that "at most, the senate owes the president only to have a confirmation vote, not to win a confirmation vote." His closing remarks:
I don't think Senators owe any deference on judicial selections. There is no reason to weight the system beyond ordinary politics — if senators vote unreasonably against the president's good nominees (or rubber stamp his bad ones) voters can punish the senators in the next election. That's more than enough pressure to do the right thing. But even if I accepted, for argument's sake, that some deference is owed, it would be very slight deference — not nearly what the president should get for executive branch appointments — and it could be overcome pretty easily if the judicial nominee were bad enough.I'm with McCarthy on this one.
Update: McCarthy posted additional thoughts.
John Piper and Josh Harris on Twitter in Worship
In case you missed it, John Piper and Josh Harris interacted about why twitter use during corporate worship can be a big-time distractor. I agree.
The Dangers of Excessive Texting
I previously reported that excessive Facebook use leads to lower grades. Not surprisingly, the same is true of texting, reports Albert Mohler:
Authorities now blame excessive texting for sleep deprivation, distraction in school, poor grades, and even repetitive stress injuries. These teens are texting while they should be sleeping, and they are sleeping with the cell phone set to vibrate so that they can respond to texts from friends without waking parents.
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