blogical fallacy: December 2005

On the Road

I'm not looking forward to this afternoon. My back already hurts just thinking about it. You see, in just a few hours, I will be loading my wife, daughter, and stuff into our tiny corolla (with the passenger-side door out of comission, thus Bekah has to crawl through the driver-side and over the stick shift every time she wants to get in or out of the car; but that's another story) and we will be making the 12+ hour drive up to my sister's house in Washington. Now, I tell you this not so that you'll have pity on me, but so that you'll know that I may not be posting as often for a while since I'll be on the road, and I don't know how much access I'll have to the internet once I'm at my sister's house. But keep checking back, I'm gonna do my darndest.

[Shameless Plug] In the meantime, now would be a great time to visit my archives and read some of the posts that you may have missed, and maybe even comment on them! Or visit some of my links to the right. For example, if you like music (and I know you do!) check out my link for livesay music. Jason and Nolan Livesay are of buddies of mine who compose and perform some incredible stuff, and you can listen to a lot of it in its entirety online. I especially like the film music. Check it out let let me know what you think.

Well, time to head'm up and move'm out. Cheers.

Veith on Narnia

I just finished Gene Veith's newest book The Soul of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It did a good job of arguing that Christian families ought to embrace The Chronicles of Narnia, and shows point-by-point the ways in which Lewis used the genre of fantasy to "baptize the imagination." Veith also spends a considerable amount of time commending and defending the genre of fantasy writing in general. I would recommend it to anyone who is worried (hopefully this does not include first-hand any of my readers!) about introducing their children to Narnia, as well as anyone who loves the world of Narnia and just can't read enough about it. It also serves as a useful tool for parents, as he compares Narnia to Harry Potter, as well as to the atheistic (and hugely popular) His Dark Materials fantasy books for children.

At one point, toward the end of the book, Veith analyzes both modernism and postmodernism, and argues that Lewis' many writings are able to answer both rejections of Christianity. For the modernists, he offers good reasons to believe in books like Mere Christianity. For the postmodernists, he offers good stories to relate the truth of Christianity in books like Narnia.

Here is a quote from the book at length:

"I used to give copies of Mere Christianity to my non-Christian friends. At one time, the book left a strong impression (and sometimes still does for some people, the modernists and those who still use their minds). But lately, I have been frustrated by the way they say how glad they are that Lewis has the beliefs that he does, but that they have their own truths. His logical handling of Christianity does not get through to them. For people like that, I have them read Lewis' fiction, including The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (203).

While I understand where he is coming from, I keep wondering: If someone makes the argument that "Lewis had some good truths that worked for him, but I have my own truths," how is getting them to read Narnia going to get them to say anything different? What's to stop them from concluding that "this is a very nice story that may contain truths for some people, but I have my own story, and my own truths that work just as well for me, thank you very much."

Perhaps Veith is just pointing out that we are more effective when we try to make sense to people in a way they're used to, but it seems to me that Lewis was not making modern Christian arguments for the modernist mindset, and postmodernist narratives for the postmodern mindset. Rather, he was defeating both mindsets with the Truth. He was doing so in the same exact way as the pre-modern (and thus pre-postmodern) Bible does: through rational argument and narrative (some historical, and some fictional, like the parables).

Again, I'm not necessarily disagreeing with Veith (but maybe he would disagree with me!). These are just my preliminary thoughts- straight from my cranium and out my fingertips. So if you have anything to add or correct, post a comment. Let's refine this discussion, and clarify our thoughts together.

Merry Christmas!

Well, It's 2:00am, and I'm feeling a bit sentimental, so I thought I'd show you all some of my family's 2005 Christmas pics. Above are images of from our Christmas card. Below are some random shots of some 2005 holiday events. Enjoy, and Merry Christmas from Andrew, Rebekah, and Karis.

The Love of Christmas

Christmas Eve Advent Reading
by Rob Shelton

Over this season of Advent, we have seen how God’s plan to provide for the salvation of his people has unfolded. The perfect peace and love that God and humanity enjoyed in the Garden was shattered with the first sin, but even then God provided hope by promising a messiah who would one day make things right. God then chose a people through whom He would work and reveal His messiah. This people, Israel, learned to be faithful by coming to God at His temple and looking forward to the day of the messiah. Then, when the time was fulfilled, the day of promise arrived in a little town named Bethlehem where the peace that God had promised took on flesh, and angels announced with joy the birth of the messiah. God had come to His creation as one of us. He did not merely love from on high, but humbled Himself by becoming part of His creation—that is the message of Christmas.

However, this love does not end there. The love of Christmas is not mere sentiment over an infant in a manger. On this Christmas day, let us remind ourselves that the love of Christmas is meant to continue in us. Before that first Christmas day, the people of Israel saw the glory of God meet them in the temple—they saw heaven meet earth and they knew that God loved them. On that first Christmas day, heaven met earth in a tiny baby and those who would hear the glad tidings knew that God loved them.

Today, we who declare that Jesus Christ, the messiah, is Lord are the temple of the living God. Like the temple of old in Jerusalem, we are now where heaven meets earth. The love that was demonstrated in the temple and then in the manger is now to be shown in us, not just individually, but corporately.

We…here…now…the assembled people of God who follow His messiah and declare Him Savior and Lord… we are the dwelling place of God on earth. The peace that was destroyed in the garden so long ago has been remedied and God’s great love for us is to be shouted throughout His creation. The angels declared the good news on that first Christmas. Today, we are to be that declaration—we must take His love from here and out into the world. Through our love, may people see in us Emmanuel…God with us.

Jesus the Exodus

Summing up the genealogy in the first chapter of his gospel, Matthew writes: “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations” (Matthew 1:17).

We know that Matthew intentionally left out some generations from this genealogy so that we would be left with three groups of fourteen generations; and the question I want to answer here is “Why?”

Israel’s was a story of promise from the very beginning. In fact, the birth of God’s chosen nation came out of His promise to Abraham: “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation” (Gen 12:1-2).

But as this genealogy points out, somehow it had all gone wrong. This promised nation which was to be a blessing to all the families of the earth found itself in exile. There were times when it looked like things were getting better (out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, into Babylon and back out again), but by the end of the inter-testamental period Israel was all but obliterated, and those who remained were suffering under the iron fist of Rome. Many must have wondered, “How is God going to fulfill His promises to Israel and to the world?”

The answer comes in and through Matthew’s three groups of fourteen generations. From Abraham to David we see the covenant with Abraham and his people declared, and the everlasting throne of David established. From David to the Babylonian exile we see the temple built and destroyed, and the enslavement of Israel. But then comes the last group of 14 generations, where the promise is declared afresh through the prophets: God has not gone back on His word, the final exodus is at hand! And then, at the end of this final group, we recieve The Answer: the long awaited Messiah.

But why is this revealed to us in three groups of fourteen? First of all, fourteen is a royal number: in Hebrew, the name David is represented by the number fourteen, thus pointing to Jesus’ kingship. Second, fourteen is a priestly number: it is the number of high priests from Aaron to the building of Solomon’s temple, and it is the number of high priests from the temple to Jaddua (the last high priest mentioned in the Old Testament), thus pointing to Jesus’ position as our High Priest. And finally, the Jews who read this would most likely see that the number fourteen is important when it is halved into two sets of seven. The number seven represents perfection, completion, Sabbath. So we see that within this set of three fourteens, we have a subset of six sevens; and the last person mentioned in this subset is Jesus, and He turns out to be the seventh seven.

Now the nation of Israel was commanded by God to sow and reap their land for six years, and then the seventh year they would give their land rest, and would live off the previous year’s bounty. But on the seventh set of seven years (49th year), they would celebrate the year of Jubilee: the year of forgiveness of debts. And so, just as Israelites could look to the year of Jubilee for the setting free of land in some cases, and of bondservants in other cases, so we see that Christ ushers in the final year of Jubilee: the forgiveness of sins!

And so we step back and look at the big picture which Matthew has so beautifully painted for us, and we see Jesus: The Everlasting King, The High Priest, The Jubilee; The Exodus.

Aaron's Book Report

Well, it's Wednesday, and I'm about to leave work, and I just haven't had time to post anything today, but I don't want to leave you empty-handed... so I'm gonna borrow from someone else's mind.

Aaron Southwick responded to my post just below this one (What Do You Mean) after having finished reading The Last Word, and I thought he brought out some good points made by Wright in the book. Here is the majority of Aaron's comment (which you can read in full in the comment section below this post):

A fabulous work from Wright as usual. His arguments are clear and his writing poetic. One cannot read this without wanting to read more.

I like what he said about the authority of scripture on page 59, “…It has everything to do with understanding human renewal as the beginning, the pointer toward, and even the means of, God’s eventual eradication of evil from the world and the bringing to birth of the new creation itself. Thus, so the early Christians believed, God’s word was at work by the Spirit within the community, to put Jesus’s achievement into effect and thus to advance his final Kingdom.”

Scripture “has nothing to do with the declaration of an arbitrary or ‘controlling’ ethic, a standard imposed from without by constricting or bullying authority in the early church.” Further, as he argues elsewhere, Scripture is not simply a set of timeless truths. Rather, it is the “book that forms the basis for the new telling of the story through which Christians are formed, reformed, and transformed so as to be God’s people for God’s world.”

This work shows a deeper understanding of the authority of Scripture then I have read anywhere else.

Further, I like his argument against the “literalist” interpretation of scripture (at least the modern, North American, traditionalist understanding…I think these are the terms he used!)When Jesus said, “this is my body” did he mean that literally? If he did, then why don’t catholic and protestants alike hold to the doctrine of transubstantiation?

What Do You Mean?

I am currently reading (actually I started reading it last week, and haven't had the chance to pick it back up till now) N.T. Wright's new book entitled The Last Word: Beyond the Bible Wars to a New Understanding of the Authority of Scripture, and in the first chapter he says something that I had never consciously thought of before, but which once I read it, seemed like the only logical conclusion:

"When we take the phrase 'the authority of scripture' out of its [shorthand] suitcase, then, we recognize that it can have Christian meaning only if we are referring to scripture's authority in a delegated or mediated sense from that which God himself possesses and that which Jesus possesses as the risen Lord and Son of God, the Immanuel. It must mean, if it means anything Christian, 'the authority of God exercised through scripture'" (25).

I agree with this statement, and I appreciate this long-overdue clarification. What think ye?

Joy Has Come

Fourth Sunday of Advent Reading
by Rob Shelton

Over the last three Sundays of Advent, our narratives have moved through both time and space. We started at the beginning in the Garden of Eden; we then came forward in time to examine the nation of Israel worshipping in the Temple in Jerusalem; and last week we moved outside of Jerusalem to the little town of Bethlehem. Likewise, we have explored different virtues along the way. Hope of the Messiah was promised in the Garden; faith directed to God and His Messiah was exercised in the temple; and peace was announced at the long-awaited Messiah's birth in Bethlehem.

Today, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, we wish to focus on joy. We all know that joy is associated somehow with Christmas, but often, we find joy difficult to express or experience. Perhaps this is because we frequently equate joy with mere happiness. There is nothing wrong with happiness, but happiness is normally related to our circumstances-- that is, when circumstances are favorable, we are happy. Joy, however, transcends circumstances: joy is experienced when we are assured of something beyond our own circumstances.

How fitting, then, that angels should be the ones to announce the joyful news that the Messiah--Jesus, the Lamb of God--is born. You see, angels are from the realm of God's existence, what we call "Heaven," a realm that transcends time and space. The angels, who are thus beyond life's circumstances as we know them, knew that this was the news for which all of creation had been waiting: the Creator beyond time and space has entered His creation in order to redeem it. The angels, the messengers of Heaven, announce that heaven has invaded earth in the form of an infant, and now, nothing will be the same. All of our circumstances will change. Joy has come...

Hear the news from Heaven:
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Lamb of God, is born!

When Atheism "Flew" Out the Window

Now I know this not hot-off-the-press news, but I thought it was worth commenting on.¹ Many of you have probably already heard that 81 year-old Anthony Flew has recently abandoned his long held position as an atheist. Flew has had some memorable debates with theists and Christian apologists over the years, among whom Gary Habermas of Liberty University has been one of his more memorable and influential opponents. In 2004, Habermas had the opportunity to interview Flew regarding his journey from atheism to theism; and rather than try to sum up Anthony Flew's position (and probably end up misrepresenting it), I thought I'd let you read the interview for yourself here.

¹ Why do I continually and consciously break the "never-end-your-sentence-in-a-prepostion" rule? I guess I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Check Out My Links

So if you've ever looked over to the right of my posts, you've probably noticed links to places like NT Wrightpage, or Mere Comments. And perhaps you saw one entitled Uberkuh, and wondered to yourself, "Why does Andrew have a link to a supercow?"

Well, let me 'splain. This gentleman (who goes by the name of Uberkuh) is a self-described artistic atheist. If you follow the link on the right, it will take you to his blog. He is a very intelligent man, and has a heckuva big axe to grind with Christians (read his post entitled My Deconversion). I have dialoged with him on a few subjects, in an attempt to represent Christianity rationally, fairly, and winsomely. I have not described myself as a Christian to him, nor have I made arguments explicitly in favor of Christianity. Rather, I have interacted with his arguments by agreeing where I agree (hopefully thus representing Christianity in an unprecedented way for him) and politely disagreeing with him where I disagree, using reductio arguments, etc.

I think all of us can benefit by truly listening to the arguments of atheists like Uberkuh, and analyzing them honestly and making sure we know why we agree or disagree. So this is my plug: Go visit Uberkuh and read his arguments. Think about them. And if you want to get some real life apologetics experience, post him a comment. But PLEASE, don't be a jerk for Jesus; he's met enough of those already.

Heroes & friends

Here is a short list of some of my heroes (from oldest to youngest):

John Calvin, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, J.I. Packer, Peter Kreeft, N.T. Wright, Douglas Wilson, Rob Shelton, Jeff Miller, Doug Matangelo, Steven Jones, Paul Johnson, Aaron Southwick.

Now, here is a short list of people I don't always agree with:

John Calvin, C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, J.I. Packer, Peter Kreeft, N.T. Wright, Douglas Wilson, Rob Shelton, Jeff Miller, Doug Matangelo, Steven Jones, Paul Johnson, Aaron Southwick.

The reason I made this list is because of something that Douglas Gresham pointed out in his book, Jack's Life, regarding C.S. Lewis and the Inklings:

"Now friendship in those days was a bit different from what it is today; friends did not have to agree on everything and often agreed on practically nothing. They were people with whom you could argue all day long and yet never get irritated or angry at all. In today's world we seem to have lost the real meaning of friendship. If someone disagrees with us, it is fashionable today to dislike them for it. This is silly and robs us of the best kind of friends we could find, for if we are always agreed with, we can never really have a serious conversation; we cannot learn from someone who agrees with what we say"(81).

I thank God that my friends understand this point well. What a blessing.

My Pal Steve

I'd like to make an announcement: I'll have it be known that one of the most intelligent men around actually reads my blog. It's true, and aren't I proud of myself? Well, I would be if it were the fact that the reason he reads it is because I'm so intelligent and witty myself, and because I'm such a durn good writer... but alas, this is obviously not the case. He reads it because he is my friend. And I appreciate it. Thanks, Steve. I miss you and your family.

Which Came First: The Unconquerable Sun or Christmas?

I was reading Doug Wilson's blog the other day, and he mentioned something that I had never been taught before: He stated (rather matter-of-factly) that Christians owned December 25th as a day of celebration long before the pagans did, which is exactly the opposite of what my understanding had been. Here is an excerpt:

"It is not the case that our fathers tried to sanitize some pagan celebration of the winter solstice. As it turns out, the Romans did not celebrate the solstice, and their Saturnalia was on a different day entirely. There was one brief abortive attempt by a pagan emperor to start celebrating the solstice (with a feast to the Unconquerable Sun), which was almost certainly a response to the Christian celebration of this day."

Now I'm sure that for most of you this is old news, but just in case you would like to know a little more about the origin of the December 25th date, Gene Edward Veith wrote a good article on this subject in last week's World Magazine, which you can read in full by clicking here.

Peace in Bethlehem?

Third Sunday of Advent Reading
by Paul Johnson

On this third Sunday of advent we will focus our attention on “peace.” We have so far looked at Hope as seen in the Garden and Faith as exercised by the nation of Israel at the Temple in Jerusalem. We now change our setting from the Temple to the town of Bethlehem. It seems most fitting to us that our Lord and Savior should be born in a small town on a peaceful night—a humble beginning for a teacher of humility. This setting has a tendency to become somewhat idyllic in our imaginations, but if we take a closer look at the actual account of our Lord's birth, we find that the town of Bethlehem was not exactly what we would call “peaceful.”

The town was brimming with visitors; so many, in fact, that a man and his pregnant wife were turned away from a night’s lodging. We can imagine that this was not only a chaotic time in Bethlehem but also an unsettling time for Joseph and Mary. There were so many people in town at that time that there was not a place left for them to rent a room. It is difficult to imagine that any place filled with so many people should deserve to be labeled “peaceful.”

So what exactly were the angels proclaiming to the lowly shepherds that night when they sang “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men?” First of all, they recognized that ascribing all glory to God is a necessary preliminary to peace. The peace to which the angels refer is a product only of what God has done; it is through, and for His glory alone. It is better not to think of this peace as merely stillness or quietness, although those things come along with it. Rather, we should think of the tidings the angels brought as news that a great war has ended.

The hope and faith that we have explored the past two Sundays of Advent lead to this moment where the longing of all creation for a covenant of peace between God and man is inaugurated. At Christ's birth, God reaches into history and extends to the people of His own choosing a hand of reconciliation and peace. This is not because of what we have done—our works or worthiness are not God’s motivation. Rather, God chose Mary and Joseph as He in turn chooses each of His followers; He turns our rebellious nature around and begins healing the estrangement caused by our sin. This peace between God and man is what the army of angels proclaimed that night and this is why we celebrate.

Jack's Life

I just finished reading the book, Jack's Life by Douglas Gresham, and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis, tells the life story of a man who was profoundly shaped by moments of joy and countless experiences of pain. It details in vivid prose the entire life of "Jack" (as he preferred to be called) from his birth in Belfast, Ireland to his death in his beloved home, The Kilns, in Oxford. All along the way we are introduced to family and friends, hopes and dreams, crushing losses, and in the midst of all this, a man who Gresham could describe in his own words as "the finest man and best Christian I have ever known." If you enjoy the writing of C.S. Lewis, then you'll love this opportunity to observe the world of the man who gave us Narnia, Mere Christianity, and so much more.

Advent and Eucharist

Matthew 1:22-23 tells us that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled in Jesus: His name shall be called Immanuel, which translated means God with us. In this amazing statement we realize that this is how God makes good on His promise to Abraham that in his seed all the families of the world will be blessed.

As N.T. Wright, as well as many others, has pointed out, Matthew’s gospel is all about the Immanuel principle. In the first chapter this gospel, we are startled to find that God is with his creation in the person of Jesus. And in the very last verse of the very last chapter, we read Jesus’ final words to His disciples before ascending into Heaven: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

When we partake of the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, we are remembering that the prophecy of Isaiah was indeed fulfilled, and because of this, we have reconciliation with God. We acknowledge God in fleshly presence (body and blood) every time we eat the bread and drink the wine. And we acknowledge that because of Immanuel, we are part of the fulfilled promise made to Abraham, being ourselves some of those families of the earth that are blessed through Immanuel’s sacrifice. And because of the resurrection that took place through the sacrifice, we are taking part in the New Genesis at Communion. His body and blood led to the redemption which makes us a new creation, and in that Holy Meal we proclaim this New Genesis through Immanuel until He comes.

Take a Moment

Ok, so I have gone to Denny's many times, and never filled out the customer survey, nor left comments to help them better serve me. And I have gone to many a blog, and never posted a comment. But I know that there are quite a few of you out there in blogdom who have read some of my posts, but I don't know what you think.

So I'm just making one small request: If you read any of my posts, could you take a moment to comment; it doesn't have to be long, just let me know what you thought. You don't have to say that you agree or disagree for this or that reason; just let me know if you enjoyed it or not. Or let me know if the topics I am covering are of any interest to you, or if I'm hitting too much on one area, and there's another area you'd rather read and think about. Or just tell me that I'm plain boring, and that you're never coming back! Anything! Throw me a bone here!

Church Basics 101

Rob Shelton is the Pastor of Student Ministries at my church, and (in spite of this) a pretty witty guy. The following is a list of definitions he came up with and put in our Student Ministries magazine, The S.W.O.R.D. (or as we sometimes affectionately refer to it, The "S" Word):

Lord: Absolute master and ruler.

Gospel: The Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Faith: Believing that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Repentance: Changing one's life because one believes that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Disciple: One who follows Jesus Christ as Lord.

Christian: A disciple.

Christianity: A way of life that advocates following Jesus Christ as Lord.

Church (big C): The body of Christ--the collection of those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord.

church (little c): Where the local collection gathers to worship and be equipped to follow Jesus Christ as Lord.

Pastors: Those called out to do the equipping.

Bible: The book that contains the stuff with which disciples are to be equipped.

Narnia

A friend of mine just pointed me in the direction of a 9 minute trailer of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and it is phenomenal! If you'd like to take a look, you can do so by clicking here.

Faith at the Temple

Second Sunday of Advent Reading
by Paul Johnson & Rob Shelton

Our first Sunday of advent focused upon the hope that was given in the garden after the fall. Despite the bad news of humanity's rebellion against God, He was already at work to transform it into good news through the hope provided in His Son. Our scene shifts this week from the garden to the temple in Jerusalem.

You see, to fulfill his plan, God chose a particular people--Israel--to work through and He chose to have a special relationship with His people. He told them He would dwell among them, and it is at the temple where His people saw Heaven meet earth. His people could commune with Him through a mediator, the high priest, who would offer a sacrifice for the sins of the chosen, yet fallen, people of God.

God dwelt among His people in this way and they approached Him in faith. In faith, Israel could take God at His word that His presence was real, and they could look forward to a day when His presence would be revealed to them in a new way. This faith led them in anticipation of the coming Messiah, who would come to save them.

Christmas is the time of year marking the coming of God among us, the time when, through Christ, we become His temple. We are the chosen people of God with whom He communes and it is in us that He now dwells. It is the same faith that led Israel in anticipation of the first advent that causes us to look forward from the manger to the time when God will complete in us, through Christ's second advent, the redemption hoped for so long ago in the garden.

you might be emerging if...

My good friend Jeff Miller just started a blog, and on it he put a link to a hilarious assesment of the emerging church. I thought it worth propagating, so you can take a look at it here.