Sunday, August 25, 2013
Friday, August 16, 2013
A Different World
Friday, August 02, 2013
Dinosaurs!
Despite the evolutionary presuppositions of the museum placards, we had an enjoyable trip to the Museum of Ancient Life in Utah. Thanks Pops and Mimi!
Sunday, July 07, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
Monday, May 13, 2013
Book Review: What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur'an
Why This Book?
If you're going to read a book about Islam, this is not the only book you should read but this must be one of the books you read! Approaching the issue from a biblically grounded and thoroughly theological perspective, James White seeks to present the Islamic doctrines of God, Jesus, Salvation, and the Scriptures. He quotes extensively from Muslim original sources and Muslim commentary on those sources to ensure that Christians get a fair and representative view of these doctrines. But this is not merely a presentation of Islamic doctrine. White also undertakes to offer a solid Christian response on an exegetical, theological, historical, and text critical level. This is one of those books that will take you deeper than you thought you could go and yet still maintain a sense of clarity for how the minutia fits in the grander scheme of the discussion.
What You Never Knew You Needed To Know
The Trinity, the cross of Jesus, the inerrancy of the Bible…these are all topics that most Christians are generally familiar with due to basic exposure in the church. But it is often when we're challenged on these important doctrines that we begin to embrace them more fully and articulate them more clearly. Though, before we get to that point we have to pass through the fires of study.
(1) Trinitarian Monotheism - When you sing the doxology on any given Sunday or around the dinner table, "praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," you are expressing historic Trinitarianism. But from a Muslim, or more specifically from a Qur'anic perspective, this looks like tri-theism (worship of three gods). But Dr. White simply and clearly points out, "Trinitarianism is not the opposite of monotheism, of which there are various forms. Monotheism can be unitarian…" (60–61). Reading this book will help you become more grounded in your trinitarian orthodoxy and know how to interact with your unitarian Muslim friends. (see VIDEO)
(2) The Centrality of the Cross - Without the crucifixion and resurrection of the divine Son of God there is no Christianity (1 Cor 15:13–19). Yet you might be surprised to find that only 40 Arabic words in the Qur'an form the whole basis for the Islamic rejection of this truth: "These forty Arabic words stand alone in the Qur'an. They stand alone without commentary in the hadith literature as well. They stand against not only the natural reading of other Qur'anic text but also against the entire weight of the historical record. Forty Arabic words written six hundred years after the events they describe, more than seven hundred fifty miles from Jerusalem. Forty Arabic words that are not clear, not perspicuous, and yet this is the entirety of the foundation upon which the Islamic faith bases its denial of the crucifixion, and hence, resurrection of Jesus Christ" (142). Reading this book will help you get more grounded in the centrality of the cross for the gospel. (see VIDEO)
(3) The Unchangeable Word - "The Word of our God will stand forever" (Isa 40:8). "Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will never pass away" (Matt 24:35). "No change can there be in the words of Allah" (Qur'an, Surah 10:64). There is a very clear similarity between this biblical doctrine and the Islamic doctrine. The Qur'an also claims that Allah sent down the Torah (Law) and the Gospel (Surah 5:44, 46). So, you might be surprised to then find out that Muslims also believe the Bible as it stands today, even in its Hebrew and Greek, is corrupted almost beyond usefulness. This discussion may be the most important thing you gather from reading this book as it will help you learn how to navigate using the Bible in a discussion with Muslim friends. (see VIDEO)
How Will This Book Help Equip You
As you read this book you will receive a lot of information, argumentation, and solid interaction. And as you read this book you'll also find yourself being equipped for your own discussions on this issue…from the local coffee shop to a cross-cultural context.
(1) You can learn a method of interacting with the holy book of Islam in a fair, respectful, and thorough manner that doesn't shy away from asking hard questions.
(2) You can learn what it looks like to respectfully disagree with someone of another faith and yet not shy away from pointing out inconsistencies.
(3) You can learn what the main issues are that come up in these discussions and find yourself growing more confident it articulating the Christian position.
So, I highly recommend picking up this book and reading it for all its worth. Then, may the Lord grant us many discussions with Muslim neighbors and friends, and the loving boldness to point them to the truth about Jesus.
(1) You can learn a method of interacting with the holy book of Islam in a fair, respectful, and thorough manner that doesn't shy away from asking hard questions.
(2) You can learn what it looks like to respectfully disagree with someone of another faith and yet not shy away from pointing out inconsistencies.
(3) You can learn what the main issues are that come up in these discussions and find yourself growing more confident it articulating the Christian position.
So, I highly recommend picking up this book and reading it for all its worth. Then, may the Lord grant us many discussions with Muslim neighbors and friends, and the loving boldness to point them to the truth about Jesus.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Missions in the Old Testament?
When is the last time you read the Old Testament prophets? Probably not your favorite place to turn at 5:30am for morning devotions. Oh, sure, there are some passages that we love and have heard preached on from time and time (e.g. Isaiah 9; Jeremiah 31; Micah 5). But if I can speak from my experience, these tend to be some of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand and see how they connect to our lives today. Yet, if we're going to understand Christian missions and Jesus' commission of his disciples then these books are indispensible!
I am currently in the midst of teaching and leading the discussion in the Bethlehem Institute (TBI) course called God's Mission and Christian Missions. This curriculum drives home the idea that Christian missions is our participating in God's mission to glorify himself in all the earth. One striking line from the curriculum this past week states, "Christian missions will never be rightly understood if this God-centered perspective on the goal (and fuel) of missions is not embraced and celebrated." Namely, the perspective that God is ultimate and he is rightly and lovingly seeking worshipers of himself from every tongue and tribe. But how does the Old Testament, particularly some of these seemingly obscure passages in the prophets, help us see that better?
THE INWARD PARADIGM
Many missiologists and Old Testament scholars see a paradigm in the Old Testament that has been title "come and see religion" or "centripetal mission" (i.e. moving inward). This paradigm is illustrated in a number of ways: theologically, geographically, religiously. First, theologically we see that Israel's distinctiveness among all the nations was the presence of their God, Yahweh:
"Keep [these statutes and rules] and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes will say, 'Surely this is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD [Yahweh]? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" (Deut. 4:6–8, ESV)
"And [Moses] said to [Yahweh], 'If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?'" (Exod 33:15–16, ESV)
The presence of God with his people would clearly set them apart from the other nations. Further, as they live faithfully under his rule in the land that he gives them their light will shine brighter. Thus, when nations encounter the nation of Israel faithfully living out God's law they will ascribe to them a sense of "greatness" which will go to the praise and glory of their God.
And this leads us to the second point, geographically we see how Israel was situated to serve as a light to the nations. The land given to them by Yahweh was at the cross-roads of the ancient civilizations. Egypt, Cush, and Arabia to the south, the sea-peoples on their near borders, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia to the north, and the land of Israel right in the middle. To their east was vast tracts of desert which made Canaan a particulalrly good choice for international travel, trade, and diplomacy. Thus, Israel, with God's presence in her midst, was perfectly geographically situated as a light to the nations. And in the midst of their land Yahweh chose a particular place where he said that he would make his presence dwell in a special way.
This leads to the third dimension of the inward paradigm, the temple in Jerusalem, the heart of Israel's religious activity. It was this building that God chose to indwell with his glorious presence and set his name there (see 2 Sam 7:13 & 1 Kings 9:3). It was here that the daily and occasional sacrifices took place. It was here that the people gathered three times a year during the pilgrim festivals. It was here that most faithful Israelites faced while praying (1 Kings 8:48; Jonah 2:4, 7; Daniel 6:10). So, the presence of Yahweh among his people took up special residence in this house called the temple and it became the place where people would go to meet God. Thus, Israel was theologically, geographically, and religiously situated to be a light to the nations and the nations were to come to that light and meet Yahweh.
WHAT HASN'T CHANGED?
This "come and see" reality colors all the Old Testament depictions of missions and salvation. This is one reason it is often very difficult for us, in a New Testament era, to understand these passages. We have to read them from the worldview of the original hearers before transferring them to our time period. Let's just take one example:
"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isa 2:2–3, ESV—see also Isa 60:1–6; Micah 4:1–2 for more examples)
Most Christians can read this and discern that something good is going on in this text and that it refers to the salvation of the nations. The hard part comes when we ask what this looks like today. The language of geography, temple, and law can often we confusing. But now we can understand from the foregoing considerations that Israel was to be a light of what it meant to live God's way, the temple was the place where one met God, and the law (synonymous here with God's word) was his instruction and a symbol of his gracious reign over his people. If this is the case then what Isaiah is doing in reference to the "latter days" (our era) is talking about missions and salvation according to the inward paradigm that he and the people of Israel understood. So, if we can read it this way first it will help when we take the step forward into what this looks like today.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
In these "latter days" after the resurrection of Messiah Jesus we live under an outward missions paradigm. The inward paradigm is still operative to an extent, as we will see shortly, but the activity of God's people takes on a new outward character that was not prominent in the Old Testament era. We can simply recall Jesus' words here, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt 28:19) and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The witnessing and disciple-making activity of God's people has an outward progression to it as we reach for the nations, the end of the earth. Thus, we are a "missionary" people having been sent out by our risen Lord.
So, if we are to be taking the gospel to the nations (the outward paradigm, centrifugal missions), how is the inward paradigm still operative? Or, to say it another way, how do we understand today the Old Testament pictures of missions that only talk about "coming in" to a place like Jerusalem or the temple?
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that Israel and the Temple pointed to about missions and salvation. In a very real sense these Old Testament types were meant to point forward to Jesus. If "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), then Jesus is that salvation (John 4:25–26; cf. Rom 9:4–5). Yeshua, his Hebrew name, means "salvation" (Matt 1:21) and he comes into this world as the perfect Israelite who will bring salvation blessings to all nations (cf. Gen 12:1–3). All the Gospel writers labor to show us this in portraying Jesus as the "Son." Israel, and particularly the Davidic King, was the Son of God in the Old Testament (Exod 4:22–23; Deut 8:5; 2 Sam 7:14; Psa 2:7).
Matthew, for example, opens tracing the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham through David. He is born of a virgin (think Gen 3:15) in Bethlehem (the city of David) and magi from pagan nations come to worship him. Then his family flees to Egypt and Matthew quotes Hos 11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matt 2:15). This refers to the people of Israel in its original context but here is brought to bear on Jesus, the son of God. Then, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry we get the brilliant declaration, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17; cf. 17:5). After this declaration Jesus is led into the wilderness where he fights temptation quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, the book written as Israel wandered in the wilderness being tested. Jesus is Israel and Jesus is the temple (Matt 26:61; cf. John 2:19–21), the place where people meet God.
We could follow a similar examination for all the Gospels but at this point it is more important to see how this connects to the issue of the inward missions paradigm still being operative in the outward missions movement of the New Testament. Jesus sends out his people as witnessing disciple-makers who call the nations to come in and meet God. Because Jesus is the very radiance of the glory of God (Heb 1:3) the nations come in to the temple where they will see this glory. So, the language that Isaiah used of the nations "flowing to the mountain of God" finds its fulfillment in the nations coming to faith in Jesus. This connection happens as the church moves outward in its missionary work to bring in the harvest.
CONCLUSION
As you read your Old Testament and you encounter missionary language about the nations coming into Israel, into Jerusalem, into the Temple, understand it according to their paradigm. Encountering Israel and coming into the Temple was how people would meet God. But now we have been sent out by the risen Messiah to call people into the Temple of his Body where they will meet God and find the light of salvation. Isaiah records the words of Yahweh regarding the Messiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa 49:6). Now we go out to call the nations in to this light.
I am currently in the midst of teaching and leading the discussion in the Bethlehem Institute (TBI) course called God's Mission and Christian Missions. This curriculum drives home the idea that Christian missions is our participating in God's mission to glorify himself in all the earth. One striking line from the curriculum this past week states, "Christian missions will never be rightly understood if this God-centered perspective on the goal (and fuel) of missions is not embraced and celebrated." Namely, the perspective that God is ultimate and he is rightly and lovingly seeking worshipers of himself from every tongue and tribe. But how does the Old Testament, particularly some of these seemingly obscure passages in the prophets, help us see that better?
THE INWARD PARADIGM
Many missiologists and Old Testament scholars see a paradigm in the Old Testament that has been title "come and see religion" or "centripetal mission" (i.e. moving inward). This paradigm is illustrated in a number of ways: theologically, geographically, religiously. First, theologically we see that Israel's distinctiveness among all the nations was the presence of their God, Yahweh:
"Keep [these statutes and rules] and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes will say, 'Surely this is a wise and understanding people.' For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD [Yahweh]? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?" (Deut. 4:6–8, ESV)
"And [Moses] said to [Yahweh], 'If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?'" (Exod 33:15–16, ESV)
The presence of God with his people would clearly set them apart from the other nations. Further, as they live faithfully under his rule in the land that he gives them their light will shine brighter. Thus, when nations encounter the nation of Israel faithfully living out God's law they will ascribe to them a sense of "greatness" which will go to the praise and glory of their God.
And this leads us to the second point, geographically we see how Israel was situated to serve as a light to the nations. The land given to them by Yahweh was at the cross-roads of the ancient civilizations. Egypt, Cush, and Arabia to the south, the sea-peoples on their near borders, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia to the north, and the land of Israel right in the middle. To their east was vast tracts of desert which made Canaan a particulalrly good choice for international travel, trade, and diplomacy. Thus, Israel, with God's presence in her midst, was perfectly geographically situated as a light to the nations. And in the midst of their land Yahweh chose a particular place where he said that he would make his presence dwell in a special way.
This leads to the third dimension of the inward paradigm, the temple in Jerusalem, the heart of Israel's religious activity. It was this building that God chose to indwell with his glorious presence and set his name there (see 2 Sam 7:13 & 1 Kings 9:3). It was here that the daily and occasional sacrifices took place. It was here that the people gathered three times a year during the pilgrim festivals. It was here that most faithful Israelites faced while praying (1 Kings 8:48; Jonah 2:4, 7; Daniel 6:10). So, the presence of Yahweh among his people took up special residence in this house called the temple and it became the place where people would go to meet God. Thus, Israel was theologically, geographically, and religiously situated to be a light to the nations and the nations were to come to that light and meet Yahweh.
WHAT HASN'T CHANGED?
This "come and see" reality colors all the Old Testament depictions of missions and salvation. This is one reason it is often very difficult for us, in a New Testament era, to understand these passages. We have to read them from the worldview of the original hearers before transferring them to our time period. Let's just take one example:
"It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.' For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." (Isa 2:2–3, ESV—see also Isa 60:1–6; Micah 4:1–2 for more examples)
Most Christians can read this and discern that something good is going on in this text and that it refers to the salvation of the nations. The hard part comes when we ask what this looks like today. The language of geography, temple, and law can often we confusing. But now we can understand from the foregoing considerations that Israel was to be a light of what it meant to live God's way, the temple was the place where one met God, and the law (synonymous here with God's word) was his instruction and a symbol of his gracious reign over his people. If this is the case then what Isaiah is doing in reference to the "latter days" (our era) is talking about missions and salvation according to the inward paradigm that he and the people of Israel understood. So, if we can read it this way first it will help when we take the step forward into what this looks like today.
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
In these "latter days" after the resurrection of Messiah Jesus we live under an outward missions paradigm. The inward paradigm is still operative to an extent, as we will see shortly, but the activity of God's people takes on a new outward character that was not prominent in the Old Testament era. We can simply recall Jesus' words here, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (Matt 28:19) and "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). The witnessing and disciple-making activity of God's people has an outward progression to it as we reach for the nations, the end of the earth. Thus, we are a "missionary" people having been sent out by our risen Lord.
So, if we are to be taking the gospel to the nations (the outward paradigm, centrifugal missions), how is the inward paradigm still operative? Or, to say it another way, how do we understand today the Old Testament pictures of missions that only talk about "coming in" to a place like Jerusalem or the temple?
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that Israel and the Temple pointed to about missions and salvation. In a very real sense these Old Testament types were meant to point forward to Jesus. If "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22), then Jesus is that salvation (John 4:25–26; cf. Rom 9:4–5). Yeshua, his Hebrew name, means "salvation" (Matt 1:21) and he comes into this world as the perfect Israelite who will bring salvation blessings to all nations (cf. Gen 12:1–3). All the Gospel writers labor to show us this in portraying Jesus as the "Son." Israel, and particularly the Davidic King, was the Son of God in the Old Testament (Exod 4:22–23; Deut 8:5; 2 Sam 7:14; Psa 2:7).
Matthew, for example, opens tracing the lineage of Jesus back to Abraham through David. He is born of a virgin (think Gen 3:15) in Bethlehem (the city of David) and magi from pagan nations come to worship him. Then his family flees to Egypt and Matthew quotes Hos 11:1, "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matt 2:15). This refers to the people of Israel in its original context but here is brought to bear on Jesus, the son of God. Then, at the beginning of Jesus' ministry we get the brilliant declaration, "This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17; cf. 17:5). After this declaration Jesus is led into the wilderness where he fights temptation quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, the book written as Israel wandered in the wilderness being tested. Jesus is Israel and Jesus is the temple (Matt 26:61; cf. John 2:19–21), the place where people meet God.
We could follow a similar examination for all the Gospels but at this point it is more important to see how this connects to the issue of the inward missions paradigm still being operative in the outward missions movement of the New Testament. Jesus sends out his people as witnessing disciple-makers who call the nations to come in and meet God. Because Jesus is the very radiance of the glory of God (Heb 1:3) the nations come in to the temple where they will see this glory. So, the language that Isaiah used of the nations "flowing to the mountain of God" finds its fulfillment in the nations coming to faith in Jesus. This connection happens as the church moves outward in its missionary work to bring in the harvest.
CONCLUSION
As you read your Old Testament and you encounter missionary language about the nations coming into Israel, into Jerusalem, into the Temple, understand it according to their paradigm. Encountering Israel and coming into the Temple was how people would meet God. But now we have been sent out by the risen Messiah to call people into the Temple of his Body where they will meet God and find the light of salvation. Isaiah records the words of Yahweh regarding the Messiah, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isa 49:6). Now we go out to call the nations in to this light.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Learn Some Greek!
Ever wonder what its been like since I've transitioned to trying to learn Biblical Greek and Hebrew like living languages? You can see part of the curriculum right here...
See more HERE
See more HERE
Friday, March 22, 2013
Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen
Here is part of a moving poem written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. All the more moving when you know that it was one of his last written the New Years of 1945 just before his execution at the hands of the Nazis.
Maybe I'll get my own translation up sometime, but here is the chorus rendered by F.Green:
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting, come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.
(German)
Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen
erwarten wir getrost, was kommen mag.
Gott ist mit uns am Abend und am Morgen
und ganz gewiss an jedem neuen Tag.
Maybe I'll get my own translation up sometime, but here is the chorus rendered by F.Green:
By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
and confidently waiting, come what may,
we know that God is with us night and morning,
and never fails to greet us each new day.
(German)
Von guten Mächten wunderbar geborgen
erwarten wir getrost, was kommen mag.
Gott ist mit uns am Abend und am Morgen
und ganz gewiss an jedem neuen Tag.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Minnesota for Marriage Rally
Here is what BCS Professor @joe_rigney had to say at the Minnesota for Marriage Rally. ow.ly/iEnyY
— BCS (@BCS_MN) March 10, 2013
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Friday, March 01, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 09, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Women in Combat?
Here is an important article detailing some of the issues surrounding this recent "political" decision and why Christians should care. The line that made me shake my head was: "The decision to open combat jobs was not made because anyone in the military believed it was necessary to enhance military readiness. Rather, the rule change was a politically motivated decision to advance the abstract notion of "equality." Because, if it was an issue of military readiness or need of recruits I would be the first one in line down as the recruiter's office.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Mexico!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Sanctity of Human Life Month
With some friends who just adopted their second baby and the national grief over murdered school children, this new ad campaign caught my attention. This is an important message for our generation of disposable everything! There are some things we need to treat with the dignity and care they deserve...like unborn children made in the image of God.
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