HeadTheology

There will be a debate between Mark Driscoll, pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and Annie Lobert, founder of Hookers for Jesus, will argue for the existence of the Satan against Deepak Chopra, author of Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment, and Bishop Carlton Pearson, author of The Gospel of Inclusion.  It looks like it will be a good debate.

It airs March 26th on Nightline at 11:35pm.  Find more details here.

From Chapter 2 - “Velvet Rembrants”

I must admit that before I give my favorite quotes from the chapter that this was my favorite one and one of the best rebuttels against the argument by Rob Bell in his book Velvet Elvis.

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“When eternal destiny is on the line and the question is sincere, you get a definitive answer from Jesus, not a question.  He did not want confusion about who He was or what He was asking from people or what the consequences were for rejecting Him.” -40

“The question [whether Mary was a virgin or not] fails to ask whether we get to or whether it is wise to poke holes in any wall we want.  It assumes something rather significant - that we have the right to repaint any painting we stumble across.  But is my Rembrandt as outdated as your Velvet Elvis?  Are the ancient masterpieces that have been regarded as priceless by centuries of experts really on the artistic level as a cheap Velvet knockoff?  Can each of us bring our bucket of Magic Markers and start repainting any canvas we think needs updating?” -41

“Good theology, like good sex, is not optional for the survival of the human race.  It is not for the religious/philosophical Geek Squad.  It is essential.” -43

“If you honor Him as a really good guy - an impressive martyr who showed us how to love and die well, and that’s it - then you’ve gotten something fatally wrong.  If you get your Christology wrong there, you lose your hope and you lose God.” -43

“Good theology and benefiting from its goodness demand that we humble ourselves adn admit we don’t know, but we know the ones who do know.” -43

“No matter how we may wish to finesse it, no matter how uncool it may sound or how stupid or culturally out of touch it may make us appear, sometimes a categorical imperative is the difference between life and death.” -44

“In theology, there are big deals and little deals, as well as big and little words. …  What you have to keep your eyes open for is whether this or that belief or doctrine - or “brick” - directly impacts a person’s ultimate relationship with God, his service for God, and whether it enhances or detracts from God’s honor.” -44

“Just because so many people have gotten it wrong or been so unkind does not mean that the attempt to decide what is big is unimportant or bad or simply a waste of time and energy.” -46

“What the key is that you know Jesus.  The real Jesus, not the “Jesus-I-prefer” or the “Jesus-that-fits-my-cutlural-tempermental-preference.”  Jesus was the one who was really insistent about that.” -47

“If your theory about any of the above makes Jesus out to be less than He said He was - merely a quaint, well-intentioned moralizer, a great rabbi even, who simply came to show us the preferred or even the “best” way to live - then the theory is no longer innocuous, it is deadly.” -48

“The issues we do not repaint are elemental:  Is Jesus the Son of God?  Did He have a sinful human nature (i.e., was His mother a virgin)?  Did he die on the corss in order to pay for, atone, forgive, adn effectively take away our sin?  Did He physically rise from the dead and thereby defeat sin, death, and Satan?  Do we need to believe in Jesus (confess, accept, trust, surrender, bow down before Him) and claim HIm as our exclusive Lord in order to be reconciled to Him and His Father?  These paintings were finished longbefore we showed up and have stood the test of time.  They are the standards by which all other paintings are judged.  The most you ever need to do with these masterpieces is carefully and respectfully posish their golden frames.” -51

From The Prologue

“Then Jesus tells it to us straight up.  He comes to rip and tear families apart because He is bringing not peace but a sword, not unity but division (Matthew 10:35;  Luke 12:49,52).  He was not on vacation in Palestine but on a mission of violence that would end violently.” (13)

From Chapter 1: “King of Fools”

“The big question that looms in my mind is this: If it’s God’s love that wins, then what kind of love wins?” (27)

“There is an inherent, settled antipathy between God’s Kingdom and the kingdom of the world.” (29)

“What we need to make clear with our bumper stickers and culture-current writings is that the move that wins is a holy love.  The love that won on the cross and wins the world is a love that is driven, determined, and defined by holiness” (30)

“Our accomdation to our culture’s insistence on a half-truth puts us in danger of declawing and domesticating the mighty King, whose presence made deamons scream and death flee in shame.” (31)

“His coming was not to be marked by peace and tranquility - He came to impose a test of absolute allegiance.  He forced people into a divisive crisis of choice (Matthew 10:34-39).” (31)

I have just finished reading Timothy Stoner’s book The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditations on Faith.  I had never heard of the book before and upon seeing the title it initially does not give the impression like it is sound for the soul for two reasons: first, I thought that it might be about how Jesus toked it up (I have seen articles on this); and secondly, being a good Southern Baptist Calvinist who likes his faith thoroughly reformed and neat the word ’scandalous’ did not sit with me well.  But as the cliche goes, “You cannot judge a book by it’s cover”.  And I would have done just that if Trevin Wax had not written such a positive review of the book.

I certainly do not agree with everything in the book.  For instance I would never say that Jesus was a revolutionary like Che or Castro (I would not say he is like George Washington either).  Also, I have a little trouble agreeing that unbelievers can serve God through their art (174).  But taken as a whole I would heartily recommend this book to everyone.  It is very readable and winsome.

Here are the 3 top reasons I like it:

1.  He gives a good explanation of who God is as a joyous, vengeful, righteous, merciful, jealous, and patient King who wants to share his joy with you while demanding that you bow down and worship him.

2.  He gently takes the emerging church to task (especially Rob Bell) by validating their concerns but noting that many times their cure is worse than the disease itself.

3.  He gently takes the fundamentalists to task by giving a solid defense of the arts as a legitimate Christian occupation and that “Apparently for Jesus - no works, no heaven” (156).

I hope soon to post a few of my favorite quotes from the book.

Here is a great video by Penn, from Penn & Teller, talking about a Christian who gave him a small Bible.  What I think particularly noteworthy is the fact that Penn hits the nail on the head of why so many Christian’s don’t share their faith because it would be socially awkward and why he respects them for prostletizing since they take seriously the reality of the impending judgment day.  (I must admit that the still on the video front is sort of freaky.)

Sorry for the delay to those who print out the Hebrew flash cards which I post on my Biblical Hebrew Resources page.  It’s been a rough couple of weeks with Hebrew and I feel like I have not been able to keep my head above water.  But nevertheless, the flash cards for Ch. 13-15 have been posted.

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“A godly man bears God’s name and image; godliness is Godlikeness.  It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble him.” -32

“God’s power makes him mighty; his mercy makes him lovely; but his holiness makes him glorious.  The holiness of God is the intrinsic purity of his nature and his abhorrence of sin.  A godly man bears some kind of analogy with God in this.” -32

“The godly set themselves against evil, both in purpose and in practice.  They are fearful of that which looks like sin.” -33

“Many pretend to love Christ as a Saviour but hate him as he is the Holy One.” -34

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“As faith enlivens, so love sweetens every duty.” -30

“A godly man loves God and therefore delights to be in his presence; he loves God and therefore takes comfort in nothing without him.” -30

“Let us test our godliness by this touch-stone: Do we love God?  Is he our treasure and centre?  Can we, with David, call God our ‘joy’, yes, our ‘exceeding joy’?  Do we delight in drawing near to him, and ‘come before his presence with singing’?  Do we love him for his beauty more than his jewels?  Do we love him when he seems not to love us?” -31

“Many court him, but few love him.  People are for the most part eaten up with self-love; they love their ease, their worldly profit, their lusts, but they do not have a drop of love to God.” -31

These are quotes from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“Faith enlivens the grace; not a grace stirs up till faith sets it working.” -28

“When I believe God’s love to me, this makes me weep that I should sin against so good a God.” -28

The following quotes are taken from Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture.

“True knowledge brings a man out of love with himself.  The more he knows, the more he blushes at his own ignorance.” -23

“Though God requires knowledge of God more than burnt offerings, (Hos. 6:6), yet it is a knowledge accompanied by obedience.  True knowledge not only improves a Christian’s sight, but improves his pace.” -24

“Knowledge which is not applied will only light a man to hell.  It would be better to live a savage than to die an infidel under the gospel.” -26

“Saving knowledge is not by speculation, but by inspiration.” -27