HeadTheology

Normally when athletes give God any sort of recognition or glory it is only when they score or win which is why Colt McCoy’s postgame interview after Texas lost the college football national championship is so good.  He basically says that God does all things for a reason, speaking of his injury, and still gave God glory on national television.  It reminded me of Job 13:15 where Job says, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”  Watch the interview below.

God does show his glory even by horrible events, like letting Alabama win the National Championship by having Colt be injured.

One of my favorite books I have read this year is The God Who Smokes by Timothy Stoner which is one sale now at Amazon for $3.02 which is what I am getting a few folks for Christmas now since I saw the price drop.  It is one of the most engaging and non-laborious theology books I have read in a while.  Check out some of my favorite quotes from the book here and here and go buy the book.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting opinion article on children in the church.  More specifically, if they should be allowed to attend the “adult” services.  The last sentence is convicting…”Jesus told the disciples to let the children come to him, we have no record of him adding only if they can keep quiet.’”

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 and 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, and 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

This probably isn’t a huge secret but I must say that Timothy Brindle’s Killing Sin and Shai Linne’s The Atonement albums are awesome.  In my option there is no other artists that gives the truth of the gospel, God, and man as straight as they do.  I’ve probably listened to each of these albums every day at work for the last two weeks……and I usually don’t care for hip-hop/rap.  Don’t take my word for it check out their music in the above links.

Ch. 10 – God Records The Piety Of His People
From The Great Gain of Godliness, by Thomas Watson

“We may be losers for him, but we shall not be losers by him.”  -p.  106

“God will not upbraid his people with their former offenses.” -p. 107

“A mother may sooner be unnatural than God forgetful.” -p. 109

Ch. 11 – God Rewards The Piety Of His People

“It is better to lie prostrate at God’s feet, and to meet him with tears in our eyes rather than weapons in our hands.  We overcome God, not by resistance, but by repentance.” -p.116

Ch. 12 – God Rewards His People By Owning Them

“Many failings do not invalidate the covenant of grace.  I grant the least sin makes a trespass upon the covenant, but it does not cancel it.” -p. 119

“The Lord may give a man riches and not love him.” -p. 121

“We are not free from God’s anger as a Father. but as a Judge.” -p. 122

“Indeed if salvation has no better pillar to rest upon than man’s will (as the Arminians hold) no wonder if there is falling away; but a Christian’s stability in grace is built upon a surer basis, namely, God’s ‘everlasting (or inviolable) covenant.” -p. 123

“A star may sooner fall out of its place than a true believer be plucked away from God.” -p.123

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“Any religion that becomes the religion of the majority and slowly turns into a social habit tends to grow humdrum and flat, regardless of its original glow of enthusiasm.”

Bruce Shelley in his book Church History In Plain Language (p.325) says this of Lutheran Germany in the 17th century but I find the quote quite fitting for what I have seen of the religious South where I have grown up.  It is disappointing to see many friends and acquaintances fall away from their childhood ‘faith’, or at the very least subscribe to a thin veneer of Christianity.  I wish that pastors would preach a strong, big, and just God, who will not be stopped and will crush anyone who does not submit since grace is for only those who bow to him.  Perhaps once God becomes big and man small then  Christianity will become exciting.  No one wants to work for or especially worship someone who they can manage and are merely friends with.

Check out these overdubbed videos of parts of old Jesus movies, they are hilarious.  They were made by Vintage21, which is a Acts 29 Network church in North Carolina.