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Tomorrow marks the 1 month birthday of The Fool’s Gold blog. To celebrate, I’m moving it to a new home:
The blog will be through Word Press. I’m excited about the new digs for three reasons:
1. A simplified domain name.
For $15, you can purchase an available domain name through Word Press. The domain is good for a year, at which time you can renew it if you wish.
2. Aesthetics.
I find it mildly painful to look at the blog as it is now. This is owing to my consummate nincompoopness when it comes to site design. The folks over at Word Press provide a number of options for blog appearance. This makes me very happy.
3. Ease of commenting.
To leave a comment with Blogger, you are required to have a Blogger or Google username and password. Not so with Word Press. All you need to do is enter your name and e-mail address (which does not appear publicly when you post a comment). I find this to be a very attractive feature.
My deep desire is to see God use The Fool’s Gold to spread the fragrance of Christ as far as he sees fit. I’m still figuring out things as I go along, but I know God will give grace. I’m eager to learn with you.
We’ll be having a housewarming party tomorrow at the new homestead. Feel free to stop by and say hi.
Today marks the release of the widely-acclaimed “Grand Theft Auto IV.”
BBC reports:
“Highly anticipated video game Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV has gone on sale worldwide with analysts expecting it to smash sales records.
Many shops in the UK and the United States opened their doors at midnight.
The game is tipped to break the opening week sales figures of Microsoft’s Halo 3, and pull in up to $400m (£201m).
Early reviews of the game have hailed it a ‘masterpiece’ and it is on course to be the most critically acclaimed title of all time.”
Seth Schiesel from the New York Times wrote in a review of the game: “Grand Theft Auto IV is a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun.”
The game is rated “M” for mature audiences.
Allie Cook from World Magazine wrote an interesting article on April 24 titled “Video games = less violent kids?” In it she cites an interview with Harvard professors Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson, who argue that there is no evidence to support the claim that playing violent video games necessarily produces greater tendencies toward violence in young people.
What do you think?
Denny Burk has the scoop. He quotes the Vancouver Sun:
“One of the world’s most famous evangelical theologians quit the Anglican Church of Canada this week because he believes many of its bishops are ‘arguably heretical’ for adhering to ‘poisonous liberalism.’”
Here is Burk’s summary commentary:
“After reading the excerpt above, you may be thinking: ‘I thought the split within the Anglican Communion was about homosexuality, not liberalism.’ Well, it’s about both. The Anglican Communion is being split apart because the liberal wing of the church is willing to ignore or distort the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality. At bottom, this is a question of biblical authority, and the liberal wing of the Communion has rejected that.”
After waking up this morning, I looked out the window and saw snow on the ground. Granted, it wasn’t much, but it was enough to make my heart sink like a cast-iron rowboat.
I got in the car after clearing my windshields of winter condensation. A heavy-hearted southerner met me on the radio, lamenting a fresh case of “Deep River Blues.”
My computer tells me it’s 34 degrees outside. If it were alive, I know it would be choking down a maniacal snicker.
On days like this, how do you keep from muttering? Here are five things I can think of:
1. Thank God for the snow.
This sounds counter-intuitive, but I have to remember that my “intuiter” is rotten. “Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
2. When people ask, “Why is it snowing in April?!?!?!”, tell them, “God told it to.”
This can become excessive, but take a risk. And don’t scowl when you say it! “For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour” (Job 37:6).
3. Remember that, compared to the lake of fire, out-of-season flurries aren’t that bad.
God has saved me from so much. When I think about the fury my sins deserve, parking it right above freezing for a day is blissfully refreshing.
4. Shock someone by telling them how thankful you are for a day like this.
To do this step requires that you actually mean it. See steps 1-3.
5. Remember that valiant acts happen on snowy days.
“And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen” (2 Samuel 23:18).
I was talking with my wife a few minutes ago, and she told me it would be a good idea to throw up a personal post about us and what we are doing right now.
I am currently enrolled in an apprenticeship program at Bethlehem Baptist Church called The Bethlehem Institute. I go to class on Mondays and Thursdays with eight other men. We sit in a circle and discuss everything from participles to poverty. It has been a mercy from God to be here.
Crystal, my wife, works part-time as a pediatric hemotology/oncology (blood diseases and cancer) nurse at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. She goes to work three days a week with about eight other people. They neither sit in a circle nor debate participles. However, they do get to see poverty first-hand.
We have been married for two years, nine months, and twenty-six days. I love her two years, nine months, and twenty-six times more than I did the day we wore a tux and a white dress.
Random fact: Crystal likes to sew potholders, and I was wildly obsessed with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as a boy:
To round up our discussion of sin, I would like to bring in a long-silenced voice from across the Pond. Thomas Watson (born 1620) was a Puritan who studied at Cambridge and went on to pastor St. Stephen’s in Walbrook, London from 1646 until 1662 when he was ousted due to the Act of Uniformity. Undeterred, he went on to preach privately and then publicly until 1680, when he retired on account of poor health. Husband to Abigail, father of at least seven (four of whom died young), Watson died in 1686 while he was praying.
He wrote a number of books, one of which is “A Body of Divinity.” In this book Watson gives a chilling description of sin:
“It is a defiling thing. Sin is not only a defection, but a pollution. It is to the soul as rust is to gold, as a stain to beauty. It makes the soul red with guilt, and black with filth” (pg. 133).
He goes on to expose the heart of sin: “Sin strikes at the very Deity…. Sin is God’s would-be murderer. Sin would not only unthrone God, but un-God him. If the sinner could help it, God would no longer be God” (pp. 133-4).
Sin is horrendous. What unspeakable mercy that God would condemn this murderous pollution in the flesh of his Son for all who will trust him (Romans 8:3-4).
Here are three observations I have in thinking about Baba’s definition of sin from yesterday (“There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft”):
1. Baba’s definition works….for a while.
Baba’s definition of sin is not logically inconsistent. At least not on the surface. It actually makes a good deal of sense. If a man kills, he steals a wife’s right to a husband. If a woman lies, she steals another person’s right to the truth. Fair enough. But all this talk about rights raises the question, What happens when perceived rights conflict? A thief may believe it is his right to do what he pleases. What then? Does Baba’s explanation leave room for the possibility that I may not be an impartial judge when it comes to determining what I’m entitled to?
2. Baba leaves God out of the picture.
Amir’s father is not a believer. Therefore, it is fitting that his understanding of sin does not include God. Fitting, but tragic. The question of sin becomes clear when we understand that God created us. We owe our existence to him. It would follow, then, that God’s rights ought to determine our notions of morality. This is the testimony of the Bible: “Has the potter no right over the clay….?” (Romans 9:21). “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). The fact that we are deeply resistant to this possibility may indicate more about our hearts than it does about reality.
3. Sin is stealing……from God.
What is God entitled to? What is the Right that trumps all our creaturely notions? In a word, it is glory. God, as our Creator, is entitled to all honor and praise. He says, “I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8). When I do anything that attempts to exalt myself as supreme, I steal glory from God. This is the heart of all sin.
Murder is sin, not ultimately because it steals a wife’s right to a husband, but because it steals God’s right to determine the length of a man’s days. Lying is sin, not mainly because it steals another person’s right to the truth, but because it exalts me as supreme over another person’s mind. Cheating is sin, not finally because it steals a man’s right to fairness, but because it places my desires on the throne of the universe.
The reason Baba’s definition won’t work isn’t because it’s implausible. It won’t work because it’s idolatrous. It never leaves the swamp of man-centered reasoning. In fact, rather than defining sin, Baba’s definition compounds it by insisting that the creature’s rights are divine. If only his idea was as fictional as his character……
I said I would post some thoughts about issues raised in “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. Here is one hot off the Bunsen burner.
It has to do topic of sin. Amir, the main character, tells his father (Baba) what he has been learning in school from the mullah (an instructor). Amir’s report concerns the mullah’s statement that Islam considers drinking a horrible sin. Baba, who likes to drink, sits Amir on his lap and begins to explain to him what he thinks about sin. Here is what Baba says:
“Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?”
Amir is clueless, so Baba attempts another go at it:
“‘When you kill a man, you steal a life,’ Baba said. ‘You steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?’”
The lights go on for Amir. He gets it.
I’ll let you chew on Baba’s definition of sin for a bit. More to come tomorrow…..
I just started reading “Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)” written by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck. In his chapter on the postmodern infatuation with uncertainty and mystery, DeYoung comments insightfully on blogging:
“We live in a blogging culture, which suggests that just because we have an opinion on something it must be worthwhile and just because we are in touch with our spiritual journey it must be worth sharing” (pg.34).
In my opinion (which may or may not be worthwhile!), this is perceptively accurate. Spot on, as the Brits would say.
I was unable to post last night because we were barreling northward in a church bus. There is nothing quite like being stuck with thirteen other guys in a rolling rectangle for hours on end. We had lively conversations about Biblical inerrancy, slept in odd positions, and watched the Bourne Ultimatum on a borrowed laptop. All three were very enjoyable. I am happy to be home and to see my lovely wife.
John Piper preached yesterday morning. His message was titled, “How the Supremacy of Christ Creates Radical Christian Sacrifice.” His text was Hebrews 13:13 – “Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.” He referenced other texts in Hebrews to demonstrate that the surpassing value of having Christ impels us to risk-taking ministry. It was a deeply moving message. Piper pled with us to not spend our lives accumulating endless possessions and cultivating churches that idolize ease. Rather, he said, we ought to embrace suffering because of the promise of eternal, deeply-satisfying fellowship with Jesus.
Here’s an excerpt from early in the message:
“My desire and prayer to God is that your life and your ministry would have a radical flavor. A risk-taking flavor. A gutsy, counter-cultural, wartime flavor that makes average American people in your church uncomfortable. A strange mixture of tenderness and toughness that keeps people a little bit off-balance, a pervasive summons to something more, something hazardous, something wonderful. A saltiness and a brightness about your life and about your church. Something like Jesus.”
Finally, a closing ballad:
Amid the sweeping tide of ease and leather La-Z-Boys,
John Piper bellowed, “These are not the most enduring joys!
The fellowship of Jesus blazes hotly like a lamp
And beckons us to join him on the hill outside the camp.”
John Piper bellowed, “These are not the most enduring joys!
The fellowship of Jesus blazes hotly like a lamp
And beckons us to join him on the hill outside the camp.”
