Between Two Worlds

After John Piper's latest sermon, Single in Christ: A Better Name Than Sons and Daughters, he received a letter asking, “If what you say about the blessing of singleness is true, then why would one even want to be married?” Here is his response.

Here's a paper I hope a lot of Baptist pastors will read and take to heart: Reinvigorating Baptist Practice of the Ordinances, by Ray Van Neste. Dr. Van Neste suggests four reasons for the neglect of the ordinances in our churches: (1) the Church bought the cultural assumption that ritual is bad; (2) our culture has lost its ability to appreciate symbolism; (3) there has been a serious downgrade in substantive biblical teaching in the Church; (4) our entertainment-driven worship services cause us to view baptism and communion as things that take up too much time and get in the way.

He goes on to show why baptism and the Lord's Supper are important, and argues specifically for immediate, as-soon-as-possible baptisms and weekly communion. Amen!

Biblica: The Bible Atlas, edited by Barry Beitzel, will soon be available. Here is the publisher's description:

Heralded as the most authoritative and up-to-date atlas of the Bible now available, Biblica: The Bible Atlas goes beyond the more traditional books of its kind. It places the biblical narrative and its peoples in their historical, cultural, social, and geographic contexts, and it makes clear the complex history and cultures of the Bible lands as they relate to the region’s modern social and political landscape. But perhaps most important of all, Biblica: The Bible Atlas incorporates the most recent archaeological findings and research, combining scholarly data with engaging discussion of the Bible’s immortal stories. In summary, this unusual volume offers readers fresher insights and a deeper appreciation of the biblical narrative than any other reference source of its kind. Biblica: The Bible Atlas is also a visually stunning guide to the Bible and biblical lands, featuring more than 650 full-color paintings, drawings, etchings, and photographs plus 125 full-color maps of the region. Following the extensive and beautifully illustrated main text are 14 pages of biblical reference tables, an extensive bibliography, a glossary of biblical terms, a large selection of biblical quotations from the Old and New Testaments, a gazetteer of biblical place names, and an extensive index. Here is a beautiful and informative book that will make a treasured addition to the family bookshelf. It will also be a much-sought-after volume in reference libraries everywhere.

From a review of the new Tolkien book, The Children of Hurin, in the Asia Times:

Tolkien is a writer of greater theological depth than his Oxford colleague C S Lewis, in my judgment. Lewis is a felicitous writer and a diligent apologist, but mere allegory along the lines of the Narnia series can do no more than restate Christian doctrine; it cannot really expand our experience of it. Tolkien takes us to the dark frontier of a world that is not yet Christian, and therefore is tragic, but has the capacity to become Christian. It is the world of the Dark Ages, in which barbarians first encounter the light. It is not fantasy, but rather a distillation of the spiritual history of the West. Whereas C S Lewis tries to make us comfortable in what we already believe by dressing up the story as a children's masquerade, Tolkien makes us profoundly uncomfortable. Our people, our culture, our language, our toehold upon this shifting and uncertain Earth are no more secure than those of a thousand extinct tribes of the Dark Ages; and a greater hope than that of the work of our hands and the hone of our swords must avail us.

I don't think one has to buy into the author's dismissal of Lewis here to appreciate, on the other hand, the points he is making about Tolkien's work.

Carl Trueman, in the course of reviewing Brian Stiller's Preaching to Postmoderns, responds to some of the secondhand (superficial?) pronouncements that are repeated so often these days.

The treatment of postmoderns has a second-hand flavor. There is nothing wrong with that in itself; the problem is that Stiller repeats some typical shibboleths about postmoderns which need to be challenged. Thus he premises his discussion on seven characteristics of the postmodern era, all of which are highly questionable:

1. Postmoderns reject reason as the only avenue to truth. Well, yes, but has anyone ever really argued that reason is the only avenue to truth. Poetry, for example, is not the preserve of postmoderns, nor was it rejected by the Enlightenment (Goethe being a great example).

2. Postmoderns reject truth as objective. Agreed, but there is a distinction between "objective" and "neutral" which needs to be made. A Christian can—indeed, must—concede we're not neutral toward the truth—we can only speak from our perspective—but an objective truth exists nonetheless. Stiller's argument at this point would have been more cogent had he at least acknowledged this distinction and, with it, the fact that many moderns knew their knowledge was not "neutral" (cf. Kant, Marx, Freud, to name but three). One can reject the postmodern attack on objective knowledge without being required to subscribe to a naive belief in the neutrality of knowledge.

3. Rejecting authority as "will to power" leads to seeing history as a distortion, written by those who wield power. This may sound facetious, but having worked as a professional historian for some fifteen years, I cannot begin to describe how marginal history is to the real centers of power!

4. Postmoderns reject the notion of metanarrative. But here’s the rub: Christianity is metanarrative. To fail to set the parables within the metanarrative of the Christian story may be the reader’s choice, as Stiller says; but, if Christianity has any transcendent validity, one cannot avoid the conclusion that this is a wrong choice.

5. Postmodernism rejects the Enlightenment’s view of the autonomy of the individual for more communitarian approaches. Again, a valid point as far as it goes, but the Enlightenment developed numerous concepts that were key to much of its philosophical content, that were far from individualistic in nature, and which clearly stand in continuity with this allegedly more recent communitarianism—for example, the concepts (and language) of race, class, and nationality. This basic point must surely qualify dramatically any simple generalizations about Enlightenment individualism.

6. Postmodernity emphasizes the culturally conditioned nature of the world and views language as a prison. Stiller never makes it clear how this "linguistic prison" view really connects to what he is trying to do with the parables.

7. Postmodernity rejects the optimism of the modern era. Highly questionable. Many of the great modernists (Conrad, Eliot, Huxley) were profoundly pessimistic. Modernism’s optimism (and that generally a middle class phenomenon; not too many child laborers or chimney sweeps in the Industrial Revolution, I suspect, were very optimistic) is too often overplayed as a means of making the contemporary era seem exceptional and discontinuous with the immediate past.

Reuters: "If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday. . . .The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said. The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime."

Snap Preview is gone from this blog.

Thank Joe Thorn.

Menachem Wecker interviews Joe Carter on Christianity and art.

(HT: ThinkChristian)

The editors at Christianity Today now have a group blog.

Robert Gagnon writes:

The U.S. House of Representatives will be voting this week, possibly Thursday, on the passage of a “Hate Crimes” bill that seeks to make “sexual orientation” (i.e. homosexuality, bisexuality) and “gender identity” (i.e. cross-dressing, transsexuality) specially protected legal categories (HR 1592: the so-called “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act”).

At first glance one might ask, “Who could be against criminalizing group-hate?” The problem comes in the interpretation of “hate.” As regards the volatile issues of homosexuality and transgenderism, one person’s definition of love is defined by another as hate. If you believe that true love means loving homosexual and transsexual persons but not their error—as Augustine once said, “Love not in the person his error, but the person; for the person God made, the error the person himself made”—then it is important for you to know that this ‘Hate’ Crimes bill will legally treat your love as hate. This is not pluralism, tolerance, and diversity. It is oppression.

Since genuine intimidation and violence is already covered by the existing legal code, the ultimate purpose of such a bill can only be to intimidate those who speak out against the endorsement of homosexual practice and transsexualism. In the current political climate—obvious cases in point are repeated oppressions of any who dare speak against homosexual practice in Canada, England, and Scandinavia, to say nothing of sectors of the United States—one cannot assume that there is a common definition of what constitutes hate against homosexual and transsexual persons. Any public words against homosexual practice will be treated legally as words that incite others to violence and/or discrimination against homosexual persons, and thus subject to criminal prosecution.

His brief article is here: Let the “Sexual Orientation Hate” Bill Pass and Invite Your Own Oppression.

Colin Adams interviews Vaughan Roberts on preaching and ministry.

If Scott Clark ever asks you how you're doing, now you'll now the correct way to answer.

He writes:

God sustained me amazingly last week--and all through this seemingly impossible spring. Thank you so much for holding me up--like the arms of Moses that sagged.

Now the writing leave starts. I will be away for four Sundays total and will aim at two small books: one on justification and one on marriage. Please pray that I would have strength, discipline, biblical faithfulness and wisdom, compelling, creative expression, and that Christ would guide all my words for his glory and the good of his church and the world.

Thank you again for your sustaining me in these last heavy months.

Pastor John

ChristianAudio's "Free Audiobook of the Month" is Richard Baxter's classic, The Reformed Pastor.

In his introduction, Baxter writes: "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." This charge from Acts 20:28 only is the beginning of a solemn and overarching task to be personally involved and disciple all of your congregants. Richard Baxter's plea for shepherding his flock continues with a charge to pastors to verify their own spiritual walk and then walks them through various disciplines, strategies, and goals to guide and instruct their congregation.

Use the coupon code MAY2007 during checkout to get the download format of The Reformed Pastor for free!

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(HT: Travis Carden)

A couple of items of interest:

The Life of John Murray, by Iain Murray (no relation, except in Adam and Christ). (This is also found in the four-volume Collected Works of Murray. It is a both a helpful set and an encouraging sketch.)

The Letters of John Newton. The author of Amazing Grace wrote wise, practical, insightful, pastoral letters that every pastor (and others) should read!

Barry Danylak's redemptive-historical survey of singleness is now online.

(HT: DG Blog)

Christianity Today reviewer Douglas LeBlanc describes Tony Campolo's Letters to a Young Evangelical as, in part, "combative and simply inaccurate." Closing line: "Have fun with that semantic game, brother, but don't expect the evangelicals you caricature to play it with you." First Things posted an open letter to Campolo in response to the book.

Paul Helm reviews John Franke's The Character of Theology:

I will argue that Franke has seriously miscalculated what is involved in relating Christian faith to its cultural context, for he has overestimated the ease with which a non-foundational Christian theology may be developed. By a happy irony, he has not succeeded in his project and (I shall imply) must fail to do so. What he offers remains a foundational theology. Nevertheless, it is a seriously deficient form of foundational theology. It is theologically unstable because it concedes too much to the culture and downplays the importance of truth. Theology is no easy task.

Scott Thomas of Acts 29 responds to seven misrepresentations of the church-planting network:

1. That we are affiliated with the Emergent church

2. That we advocate alcohol use

3. That we view women as inferior because they do not serve as elders

4. That we receive money from our member churches

5. That we are a threat to the SBC

6. That we are Liberal

7. That we are independent of other networks

(HT: Steve McCoy)

From my reading, I would say that Slate.com's Will Saletan is one of the most fairminded, thoughtful writers who favors abortion and seeks to understand the arguments of his opponents.

His latest article is on the recent SCOTUS decision on partial-birth abortion and the impact of the ultrasound machine on the future of the debate. Here's an excerpt:

Pro-lifers are often caricatured as stupid creationists who just want to put women back in their place. Science and free inquiry are supposed to help them get over their "love affair with the fetus." But science hasn't cooperated. Ultrasound has exposed the life in the womb to those of us who didn't want to see what abortion kills. The fetus is squirming, and so are we.

Read the whole thing.

(HT: Al Mohler)

John H. Armstrong recently took evangelicals to task for their silence on Zimbabwe. Joe Carter responds: "While I am sympathetic to John's complaint, I think my friend has been rather ungenerous in his criticism. His complaint is unduly harsh and not entirely fair." Read the whole response.

From the latest 9Marks newsletter:

Where Does Your Congregation Turn For Help?
By Deepak Reju

Preaching Up: Applying the Word of God to Midlife and Beyond
By Israel Hass

Preach to the Non-Christian, Christian, and Church Member
By Aaron Menikoff

Preach to the Ignorant, the Doubtful, and Sinners
By Mark Dever

From the latest 9Marks newsletter:

A Conversational Approach: Will it Preach?
By Mike Gilbart-Smith

Pastors' and Theologians' Forum on monologues

Ajith Fernando, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., Kevin Smith, & Derek Thomas

A Narrative Approach: Will it Preach?
By Mark Driscoll

A Biblical Case for Expositional Preaching
By Mike Bullmore

Mark Dever talks to Russell Moore, Randy Stinson, and C.J. Mahaney:

What does Randy Stinson say feminism is? Why does Russ Moore say most members of our churches are in "same sex" marriages? Why does Mark Dever think pastors should pay attention? Why does C.J. Mahaney think Mark needs to make a bigger deal of complementarianism vs. egalitarianism than he does?

From the latest 9Marks newsletter:

Book Review: Him We Proclaim
By Dennis E. Johnson
Reviewed by Aaron Menikoff

Book Review: Preaching Christ from the Old Testament
By Sidney Greidanus
Reviewed by Aaron Menikoff

Book Review: Preaching Christ in All of Scripture
By Edmund Clowney
Reviewed by Paul Alexander

Book Review: Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture
By Graeme Goldsworthy
Reviewed by Paul Alexander

Book Review: Preaching Parables to Postmoderns
By Brian C. Stiller
Reviewed by Carl Trueman