Real Soul Mates

“Nearly all marriages, even happy ones, are mistakes: in the sense that almost certainly (in a more perfect world, or even with a little more care in this very imperfect one) both partners might be found more suitable mates. But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.” –J.R.R. Tolkien

HT: George Grant

 

History is Bunk?

“You all remember,” said the Controller, in his strong deep voice, “you all remember, I suppose, that beautiful and inspired saying of Our Ford’s: History is bunk. History,” he repeated slowly, “is bunk.” He waved his hand; and it was as though, with an invisible feather wisk, he had brushed away a little dust, and the dust was Harappa, was Ur of the Chaldees; some spider-webs, and they were Thebes and Babylon and Cnossos and Mycenae. Whisk. Whisk–and where was Odysseus, where was Job, where were Jupiter and Gotama and Jesus? Whisk–and those specks of antique dirt called Athens and Rome, Jerusalem and the Middle Kingdom–all were gone. Whisk–the place where Italy had been was empty. Whisk, the cathedrals; whisk, whisk, King Lear and the Thoughts of Pascal. Whisk, Passion; whisk, Requiem; whisk, Symphony; whisk …

-Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

 

No Longer A Critic, But The Criticized

Barack Obama has taken on a new role. I don’t just mean he has taken on the role of the presumptive President-elect. I mean he has moved from one realm of existence into another. He will no longer be a critic. He will be the criticized. To criticize leaders is easy. The phrase “Monday morning quarterbacking” comes from the idea of critiquing the football games from the previous day. It seems to come natural to humans. When we become Christians this sinful tendency is not taken from us.

Unless you have occupied a leadership position you will not fully understand this post. Sadly, it is true that churches are not immune from this. Church members tend to find it easy to criticize their pastors. But let one of those church members cross the line and become a pastor and suddenly he is no longer the critic, but the criticized. He must make the difficult decisions. He is the one who is called out in the middle of the night for a pastoral visit. He is the one who wrestles in prayer for the straying sheep. He is the one who now knows the sweat, blood, and tears of the struggle of leadership – and of being the criticized.

My guess is that the first time Obama must make the decision to send American troops into harm’s way (overtly or covertly) and hears of the death of some of those young men and women he will long for a time when he does not have to make such decisions. The same will be true when he must make a hard decision only to find he has made the wrong choice.

The glory of the Presidency won’t appear so glorious any longer. At that point there won’t be anyone else to criticize. He will come to a full realization that he is no longer a critic, but the criticized. Yes, the ambition for leadership is indeed an ambition to become the criticized.

 

Four More Years!

Barack Obama is a politician. I believe one of his primary goals, and perhaps the primary goal, is to get re-elected four years from now. I think he will be in campaign mode throughout the next few years. Even in his victory speech he began to prepare the people for the need to re-elect him four years from now. This is presumably because he will not be able to accomplish this nebulous “change” he has spoken of in this “short” time frame.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year, or even one term… (Barack Obama)

 

Church History Conference Audio Available

For those who are interested in church history, and specifically Baptist history, the audio of a conference I recently attended is now available here.

 

Man’s Natural Faculties and Salvation

God does not act unsuitably to the rational powers and faculties he has given, when he clothes his word with omnipotence, makes it the power of God unto salvtion, and attends it with an unfrustrable operation upon the understanding, will, and affections; since no coactive force or violence is offered to them, the understanding is wonderfully enlightened, the will is sweetly drawn, and the affections delightully engaged and moved, without any injury, yea with an advantage, to these natural faculties. (John Gill, The Cause of God and Truth, p. 180)

 

Links Page

I just added a links page to the blog. I plan to continue to update it in the future.

 

The Vanishing Church

In a section of his book, The Courage to Be Protestant, under the heading, The Church Vanishes, David Wells, in speaking of the results of marketing the church in our culture, says:

The truth is that without a biblical understanding of why God instituted it, the church easily becomes a liability in a market where it competes only with the greatest difficulty against religious fare available in the convenience of one’s living room and in a culture bent on distraction and entertainment…The constant cultural bombardment of individualism, in the absence of a robust theology, meant that faith that had rightly been understood as personal now easily became faith that was individualistic, self-focused, and consumer oriented. That was the change to which the church marketers attuned themselves. Instead of seeing this as a weakness to be resisted, they used it as an opportunity to be exploited. Increasingly, evangelical faith was released from any connections with the past, from every consideration except the self, and was imbued with no other objective than entrepreneurial success. As the evangelical experience was thus cut loose, it became increasingly cultural, increasingly empty, and increasingly superficial (pp. 11-12).

If this is how the church has “vanished” in our day, what must the church do to “reappear”?

 

Fathers and Modesty

Here is a good post by C.J. Mahaney on the role of the father in helping their daughters dress modestly.

HT: Michael Haykin