blogical fallacy: January 2006

How Do I Get to Heaven?

I'm just finishing up NT Wright's latest book, The Last Word, and once again (in my humble opinion), he knocks the ball out of the park. One of the wonderful things he does in this book is to take the reader through a 'broad brush-stroke' history of how the Church has understood the authority of the Bible over the past two thousand years.

When he gets to the effects of the Enlightenment on our understanding of the Bible, and specifically the "Kingdom of God," Wright sums up the source of the problem which has led to so many people viewing Christianity in the way that this silly tract portrays it. I wish I could get everyone in the modern evangelical church to read the following quote and understand it:

"Much would-be Christian thought (including much would-be 'biblical' Christian thought) in the last two hundred years has tacitly conceded these huge claims [reducing the act of God in Jesus Christ to mere moral teaching and example], turning the 'Kingdom of God' into 'the hope for heaven after death' and treating Jesus' death, at the most, as the mechanism whereby individual sinners can receive forgiveness and hope for and otherworldly future--leaving the politicians and economists of the Enlightenment to take over the running, and as it turns out the ruining, of the world" (89, italics mine).

He goes on to say that the result is that "Scripture itself, meanwhile, is muzzled equally by both sides. It is squelched into silence by the 'secularists' who dismiss it as irrelevant, historically inaccurate and so on--as you would expect, since it might otherwise challenge their imperial dreams. Equally worrying, if not more so, it is squashed out of shape by many of the devout, who ignore its global, cosmic and justice-laden message and treat it only as the instrument of personal piety and the source of true doctrine about eternal salvation" (89, italics mine).

I can't believe so many of us have totally missed the point of the resurrection (God's act of saving and restoring the cosmos), and have bought into an individualistic 'sales pitch' understanding of the gospel. Any thoughts?

Giving Thanks

Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

General Thanksgiving, Book of Common Prayer

I Love LA

As some of you know and many of you don't, I was born and raised in LA (that's the city of angels, not Lower Alabama), and as a result, I have always had a certain affinity for palm trees and smog. Anyway, my wife and I decided to get away for the weekend, so we got up at 4:45 this morning, loaded up the car, and made the 5-hour trek (it actually only took 4 hours this time thanks to a strong tail wind, I imagine) down to sunny Southern California.

I know most people can't understand it, but I really do love Los Angeles. The weather is perfect, the scenery is breathtaking (literally!), the beach is minutes away, great food abounds (BJ's Pizza everywhere), much of my extended family lives here, and I could go on.

This is my daughter Karis' first ex utero experience of Los Angeles, and so far she's... speechless. Tomorrow we're taking her to the LA Zoo to teach her about how we humans went from fins- to four legs- to two, through a random and undirected process by which the present diversity of plant and animal life arose from the earliest and most primitive organisms, which is believed to have been continuing for the past 3000 million years; but I digress (and feign).

Post a comment, and let me know whether or not you too love LA, and why. Actually, if you don't love LA, don't bother posting.

Gospel and Justification

There are so many good quotes from NT Wright’s book, What Saint Paul Really Said, that I can’t help posting some of my favorite every once in a while. Wright has the ability to clearly and succinctly explain things that I believe are critical for every Christian to understand. On page 151, he gives a summary of Paul’s understanding and teaching of “the gospel” and “justification,” with which I fully agree, and which I also hope you will examine and comment on:

“’The gospel’ itself is neither a system of thought, nor a set of techniques for making people Christians; it is the personal announcement of the person of Jesus. That is why it creates the church, the people who believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. ‘Justification’ is then the doctrine which declares that whoever believes the gospel, and wherever and whenever they believe it, those people are truly members of his family, no matter where they came from, what colour their skin may be, whatever else might distinguish them from each other. The gospel itself creates the church; justification continually reminds the church that it is the people created by the gospel and the gospel alone, and that it must live on that basis” (Italics mine).

I am purposely not expounding on this quote, hoping that it will spark discussion here, which will lead to a clearer understanding of this topic by all contributing parties.

The Victory of the King

The following is an article that I just wrote for my church's next newsletter. Read it and let me know what you think.

As we approach the Easter season, it is important for us to remember why we celebrate. Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection cannot be extracted from its context. Why was He crucified? What did He do that was so controversial? Often, we don’t worry about understanding the historical aspects of the crucifixion, and resort to only looking at it theologically. But if we do this, then we miss out on the full understanding of the importance of this event. For this reason I wish to explore the historical context of the crucifixion, and see if it ends up leading us to a richer theological understanding of it.

When Jesus showed up on the scene as recorded in the gospels, there had long been a hope that God would vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries as He had promised through the prophets. And it was also understood that the means whereby God would do this was through the King, the Anointed One, the Messiah. They expected the Messiah to come and vindicate Israel by means of two major acts: First, he would rebuild the temple, and second, he would overthrow the adversaries of God and His people, and sit upon the everlasting throne of David.

Many (if not most) Jews during the time of Jesus’ life likely understood the promises of the prophets as we would expect: They had been in exile for hundreds of years, living under the tyrannical rule of Rome; and although the temple had been rebuilt by Herod, it was far from being the glorious temple that had been originally designed by David and built by Solomon. And so naturally, they had in their minds an expectation for someone who would come in as a warrior and literally rebuild the temple in all its glory, and overthrow Rome with military might, thus vindicating Israel and ushering in the Kingdom of God.

Now we must ask ourselves, “What did Jesus do to fulfill the role of Messiah?” The gospels record Jesus coming and announcing that the Kingdom of heaven was coming in and through Himself, and he described it at length: turning the other cheek, taking up your cross, being the light of the world, losing your life in order to save it. The kingdom Jesus announced did not look at all like what the Jews had expected. His message was not that we should use the world’s ideas and weapons to overthrow it, rather that the Kingdom of heaven is completely different from the world, and thus would overthrow the world with something much more potent than swords. The world and its principalities and powers would be overthrown through sacrifice.

And so we must now compare Jesus’ actions with Israel’s expectation of the Messiah. The Messiah was to rebuild the temple, and Jesus announced that through His sacrifice, through the turning of His cheek, the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt in three days. The Messiah was to vindicate Israel and save her from her adversaries, and Jesus did so by taking up the Roman cross, His cross, and dying upon it. The Messiah was to rule the nations on the throne of David, and Jesus did so by passing through death and out the other side, by losing His life in order to save it, along with ours. And “For this reason God highly exalted Him, and gave him the name which is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11).

Jesus was crucified for claiming that He was the King of the Jews while not acting anything like what the Jews expected of their King. He conquered death through death and resurrection, thus proving that He was indeed the Messiah, and that the Kingdom of heaven really was as He had announced it. Through sacrifice, Jesus had accomplished the salvation of the world. It didn’t look at all like what everyone expected, and yet Jesus clearly fulfilled the role of Messiah.

Therefore, as we approach that glorious day of celebration which we call Easter, may we look at Christ, his words, and His actions, and reflect them as citizens of heaven. If we are Kingdom people, then we are the ones who turn the other cheek, who take up our cross and follow Him. We are the light of the world, we must be willing to lose our lives in order to gain them. We are, after all, Christians.

Wright On, En Tizzle

As you may have noticed, I've been reading Wright's book, What Saint Paul Really Said, for some time now (yeah, I'm a slacker). I'm finally getting around to finishing it, and I want to say a just a couple of things about it.

First of all, Wright's points are easy to understand, well established, and generally sound. He also has an uncanny ability to grip your attention as he takes you through technical arguments, using the fluid and beautiful rhetoric that has come to be expected of him, yet which nonetheless impresses every time. In short, this book is convincing and winsome. It is scholarly and captivating.

Second, as I read and interact with Wright's arguments regarding Paul and his original message, I am baffled that this book is considered to be so controversial. It seems that, especially for those of us who are reformed, Wright's conclusions regarding the covenant, the righteousness of God, jusification, and eschatology, don't undercut our historic faith, rather they broaden it, and deepen it, and clarify it. For me, it's not like going from one channel to another, it's more like going from black and white to color TV, or maybe (as my buddy Rob added) it's like going from standard broadcast TV to HDTV.

Furthermore, I have attended conferences where I have heard well known pastors claim that Wright and his conclusions about Paul are not only wrong, but unorthodox and even heretical. Are you kidding me? Well, in an attempt to set the record straight, let me post a couple of quotes from this great book, and I'll let you be the judge.

"I must insist, right away, that if you come upon anyone who genuinely thinks that they can fulfil Pelagius' programme, in whichever form or variation you like, you should gently but firmly set them right. There is simply no way that human beings can make themselves fit for the presence or salvation of God" (116).

And if that isn't enough to relieve you, consider this:

"As I said earlier, Paul's conception of how people are drawn into salvation starts with the preaching of the gospel, continues with the work of the Spirit in and through that preaching, and the effect of the Spirit's work on the hearts of the hearers, and concludes with the coming to birth of faith, and entry into the family through baptism. 'No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit' (1 Corinthians 12:3). But when that confession is made, God declares that this person, who (perhaps to their own surprise) believes the gospel, is thereby marked out as being within the true covenant family" (125).

Now call me crazy, but I would consider these statements to be robustly evangelical and orthodox. But hey, you may just wish to call me worse than crazy: a heretic.

Where Do We Go From Here?

My thoughts on Tuesday at noon:

The Church is so divided at present. How in the world is God going to put this thing back together?

Anglicans, Baptists, Catholics, Disciples of Christ, Evangelical Free's, Fundamentalists, Greek Orthodox...

At present, some people are frustrated and disillusioned because the evangelical church movement has become stagnant and traditional, and thus they want to emerge (I'm not necessarily referring to the emergent movement here) from it in a fresh and new way. "Let's think outside the box; no rules, except the rule that there are no rules... and of course we have to be relevant, authentic, transparent, and missional."

Others (like myself) are frustrated and disillusioned because the evangelical church movement has broken away from the historic church in so many areas (for many of the same reasons the aforementioned are now breaking away from evangelicalism), and now finds itself with no foundation, nor the ability to see the necessity of a foundation. "Ours is the tradition of rejecting tradition, and we've been doing it that way for fifty years now. By the way, aren't those liturgical churches boring and empty? And I'm pretty sure they're all going to hell anyway, because they never have an alter call; nor do they ever encourage people to 'pray the prayer.'"

I am left feeling helpless. I want to be a part of the solution; I want to be used by God to reunite the catholic Church. But how?

A Prayer for the Church

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.
-Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer

By the way, I found a really good website called The Daily Office from the Mission of St. Claire, and I've added it to my list of blogical blinks. If you click on the button that says "Click for Today's Prayer Service," it will lead you through a robust, God-centered, daily liturgy. I'm planning on going through it every morning before I begin my workday. If anyone in the SF Bay Area is interested in getting a regular prayer service going in person, I'd love to talk to you about it. We could use this website as an example.

The Bird & Babe Public House

Hear ye, hear ye! The Bird and Babe Pub is officially open for business. It's just down the cyber-street from here; merely a click away. We offer pithy pontifications by the pint-full, and the best brain-food (Mmm... Pub Grub!) this side of Blogsford. So check us out; there's no cover charge, and it's all you can eat/drink (although we strongly encourage moderation). We always appreciate a good tip, which you can leave in the tip jar marked "comments."

Are We Always Selfish?

Aaron Southwick has a good discussion on his blog regarding Descriptive Egoism (the belief that people are only capable of being motivated by self-interest). Well... it could be a good discussion; so far, I'm the only one who has commented on his post. I'm not going to go into any of the details here, since there's no reason to regurgitate what's being said on his blog, but I'm sure he'd appreciate it (and I think it would be fun) if you checked it out and added your two cents. You can join the discussion by clicking here.

Caught Up in the Clouds

In the Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Leon Morris writes: "That Christ will return at the end of the age, bringing 'those who have fallen asleep in him' (1 Thess 4:14) and that living believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air is clearly taught (1 Thess 4:17)."

Because this passage has been misunderstood by so many who read it at face value and assume it is speaking of the "rapture," I offer this brief clarification:

The imagery used in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 should be understood as a picture of a king who has gone away from his kingdom, and upon his arrival, his courtiers and loyal subjects go out of the city gates to meet him. So, what do they do next? They escort him back into the city. In Philippians 3 Paul puts it like this: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." It's crucial for us to recognize that Paul's audience was the church in Philippi (who's citizenship was in Rome). The point of being a Roman citizen in Philippi was that you bring Rome to Philippi; not the silly notion that those citizens would someday all move back to Rome. Thus we pray with Jesus, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

These are obviously unedited and incomplete thoughts, and much more could be said on the matter. Let's discuss this matter; leave me a comment!

UPDATE: I found a pithy paper by N.T. Wright that relates to this post. Obviously my thinking on this matter has been greatly influenced by my reading of and listening to Wright over the past couple of years. You can read his paper by clicking here.

A Missionary Prayer

The following is a prayer that I wrote for a Lord's Day Service a while back. I would like to get back into the habit of writing out my prayers, so one or two of them might show up on this blog once in a while. I wrote this one for our annual missions conference, and I dedicate it now to my dear friends Doug and Anna Matangelo.

Great Father of glory: We gather together today to extol you as King, and to proclaim you as Lord. We know that you have called us all to be missionaries, to be ambassadors of your son Jesus Christ. We declare together, “Here am I, Lord. Send me.” As we recognize our calling as messengers, we also recognize our need to be transformed by the message. How can we be representatives of one whom we don’t know? So our prayer is that we will not be conformed to this world, but that you would transform us by the renewing of our mind. And as a result of this transformation in us, may we work to see the gospel preached, Christ proclaimed, the Bible obeyed, and the kingdom extended. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Getting to Know Me

The following excerpt was taken from my application to Reformed Theological Seminary, where I am currently working (very slowly) on an M.A. in Religion. The bold font is a question taken from the application, and what follows is my response. I put this here simply to help you get to know me...

Please type a comprehensive account of your conversion, your Christian experience, your church life, your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, and your Christian ministry experience in or outside the church.

I was born into a faithful Christian household, and was consequently raised being thoroughly indoctrinated with a Christian and biblical worldview. As my parents raised me, I gradually began to recognize my sinfulness and helplessness before a holy God, and that I could not save myself from the wages of my sin. I repented of my sin, and recognized my need for forgiveness-- which could only be granted through faith in Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life and died on the cross for my sins, and was raised on the third day, thus conquering sin and death, and paying the penalty for my sin and redeeming me. Admittedly, I was not able to articulate these truths in this manner as a youth, but as I grew in Christ because of my parents' dedication to teach and train me in the way that I should go (with the assistance of the church and through the power of the Holy Spirit), I continued to understand more fully the truths of Christianity.

I spent the first 11 years of my church life at Grace Community Church under the teaching of Pastor John MacArthur. This church grounded me solidly in the fundamentals of the faith, and I am forever indebted to the pastors and Sunday school teachers there. Upon entering middle school my family moved to Seattle, Washington, where we began attending Kent Covenant Church. It was at this church that I was challenged doctrinally in a number of areas, which forced me to study deeply and think clearly about my faith. Although the pastors and I rarely resolved theological questions, I feel this time was very beneficial for me as it forced me to question, "Why should I believe what I believe?" After High School I moved back to Southern California and attended Azusa Pacific University, where I was part of a number of traveling musical ensembles which ministered in semi-local churches every Sunday morning and evening. Consequently, I was unable to attend any particular church fellowship, but I did make it a point to visit my original church home (Grace) whenever I had a Sunday off. Upon graduating from college, I immediately was called to Redwood Chapel Community Church, where I served as Director in Music Ministries for five years. Redwood Chapel is a nondenominational, conservative, broadly evangelical church in Northern California. In May of 2003, the senior pastor offered me the position of Pastor of Children's Ministries, where I have been serving ever since. Being surrounded by fellow pastors who fervently desire to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, has encouraged me to continue reading, studying, and growing-- seeking God's truth in all that I do.

My relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ can be explained in this manner: Christ is Lord. Therefore I will follow him and serve him. The Lord tells us what our relationship with him should look like in Luke 9:23: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me" (NASB). I will continue to make this my life's goal as I seek to advance His Kingdom for His glory.

Wilson on Wright on Egalitarianism

In September of 2004, N.T. Wright presented a paper entitled "Women 's Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis," which you can read in its entirety here. Recently Doug Wilson reviewed this paper (which you can take a look at by clicking here) on his blog, and I think that it as well is worth a read. I know many people have a problem with one or both of these men, but I think this review by Wilson is a great example of how good Christian men can charitably disagree, while appreciating what each other has to offer. Let me know what you think of both.

What's in a Name?

Many of you have probably seen at the bottom of my posts: "posted by drewdog..." and wondered why my screen name is Drewdog. Perhaps if you've never met me, you think that I'm trying to be hip, or cool, or real, or whatever they call it these days. If you know me, then you know this is fo' shizzle not the case. So here's the real reason: I have always been called (as you likely have as well) many different nicknames by different freinds in my life. This is intriguing to me, and I think sometimes it says a little about the nicknamer, and a little about the nicknamee. Anyway, a number of years ago, some of my freinds would affectionately call me Drewdog, and when I began using the internet and had to enter usernames, I couldn't think of anything so I used "Drewdog." Here is a list of other nicknames people have thought up for me over the years:

Andruja- Eli Yervez
Drewbert- Mike Warner
Drewsky- Sarah Harrison
Dreweena- Rob Shelton
Drizzle- Steve Jones (could also be Andrizzle)
Andy- My brother, Chris
Shmoopy- My wife (it's a joke, get over it!)
Uncle Drool- Emily & Erica Shelton (just look at my baby pics or my pillow to see why)

My parents had a knack for giving nicknames to us children growing up: Alissa was Alley Cat (Her name is Alissa Catherine, and she hated this nickname), I was Andy Pandy, Amy was Amy T. Wamy (or just Amy-Wamy for short), and Chris was Christophopher-dopher.

That's all I have to say about that.

Gluttony and Winebibbing

The following is taken from a conversation I had with Vijay on moderation. Let me know what you all think by posting a comment.

The Bible records in various places specific occasions where it is appropriate to eat more than would be healthy (if it were to be done on a regular basis). These special occasions are called "feasts." During a feast, it seems that the point is to celebrate by eating rich food (and drink) in abundance to the glory of God. This should not be associated with gluttony (which, by the way, is obviously considered a sin in the Bible). Gluttony comes in when someone adopts the lifestyle of feasting (often enough to show that his belly controls him), even when there is no feast to celebrate. I think the same goes for drunkenness. A drunk is not someone who occasionally drinks to the glory of God (and may or may not feel the effects); while a drunkard is one who drinks in excess as a lifestyle, and is thus out of control of himself.

It is noteworthy that when Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast, he did so after all of the good wine (and the not-so-good) wine had been drunk. This was seen as extraordinary, because the best wine is always served first, when your taste buds and brain cells are working at their best. After the guests have lost some of their critical tasting skills, the lesser wine is brought out. But Christ then made the best wine of the evening after even the worst wine had been drunk! Certainly this implies that at least some people were a little loosey-goosey when Jesus performed the miracle. After all, it was a "feast."

That being said, let me make it clear that I am not claiming that it follows that since some people were drunk at the marriage feast, Jesus condoned drunkenness. Rather, it seems clear that Jesus condoned drinking "a lot" by making more wine after all was drunk. Note that the passage records nothing about a shortage of wine (less than would be customary at a wedding feast, or due to an over-abundance of unexpected guests), so his miracle allowed for even more consumption than a typical feast. Therefore, it follows from this that for the Christian, wine is a worthy drink to imbibe in abundance for purposes of celebration.

Jesus was accused of being a glutton and a winebibber for a reason. This was not just pulled out of thin air. Everyone agrees that it was culturally and religiously accepted to drink wine, yet Jesus was singled out as a winebibber. I wonder why this would be if he simply did what every other religious leader did. I'm not implying that Jesus was indeed a lush (obviously), but He must have been one who was known for His participation in feasting on good food and strong drink.

I don't think we should ever seek to eat or drink ourselves into dissipation, but I wonder if the occasional feast which leads to a very full stomach and a glad heart (one of the beneficial effects of wine mentioned in the Bible) is not appropriate and, in fact, biblical.

Blogam's Razor

Hey Everyone, long time no blog! I'm still here in Washington with very limited internet access (there's a little man sitting here with me with a phone, to whom I dictate, and who in turn tells the little man on the other end of the phone "SHHHHHH-KHKHKHKH-THHHHH-BEEEEEEEP-SHAAAAHHH").

I will be home tomorrow night, and hopefully back into the swing of things by Thursday morning, so check back then.

Until then (since I'm sure that all 3 of you who read this blog have nothing better to do than wait for me to post something), check out Aaron Southwick's new blog entitled Blogam's Razor. I just briefly looked at it (so as to not overwork the poor little internet gnome here) and what I read of it was both witty and thought provoking; Aaron is one of those guys who has forgotten more than I know.

I'll post more on Aaron and his blog when I get back; until then, see it for yourself.