Between Two Worlds

Fred Sanders:

Here is audio from Victor Davis Hanson’s recent speech at Biola.

Following the news day by day can kind of beat up your mind, especially right now with the election, the war, and the financial crisis. These are all big stories that don’t fit daily updates very well. Every now and then it’s nice to hear from someone with a longer memory, who can provide some commentary on current events in greater perspective.

Victor Davis Hanson is that kind of commentator: He’s well informed and stays on top of current events, but everything in today’s headlines reminds him of something around the time of the Peloponnesian war. Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, has taught classics and history at several prestigious schools, mainly in his native California. . . .

In an hour of lecture and a half-hour of questions and answers, Hanson wove together classical wisdom, the lessons of history, and his distinctive political philosophy. Though he made several comments about the current election and the state of play between the candidates as we move into the final weeks of the campaigns, he mainly explored what he called “other issues that reflect the fundamental differences in the way these candidates view the world.” So if you listen to the lecture this week, his description of the election will be relevant. But even if you listen to it a year after the fact, you’ll get vintage Hanson insight on American history and Western culture.

VDH is that rare analyst who is as good with the past 24 hours as he is with the past 24 centuries.

If you want more VDH, he also gave a lecture at Biola on "Thucydides: Understanding the Pellopenessian War and the principles which translate from a study of this ancient Greek historian to the modern political-cultural sphere."

A number of years ago John Piper put together some questions to ask when considering a new job. Given that I've passed this on to three different friends in the past few weeks, I thought it might be helpful to highlight it here:

1. Can you earnestly do all the parts of this job "to the glory of God,” that is, in a way that highlights his superior value over all other things?"
2. Is taking this job part of a strategy to grow in personal holiness?
3. Will this job help or hinder your progress in esteeming the value of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord?
4. Will this job result in inappropriate pressures on you to think or feel or act against your King, Jesus?
5. Will this job help establish an overall life-pattern that will yield a significant involvement in fulfilling God’s great purpose of exalting Christ among all the unreached peoples of the world?
6. Will this job be worthy of your best energies?
7. Will the activities and environment of this job tend to shape you or will you be able to shape it for the Christ-magnifying purposes of God?
8. Will this job provide an occasion for you to be radically Christian so as to let your light shine for your Father’s sake, or will your participation in the vision of the firm tend by definition to snuff your wick?
9. Does the aim of this job cohere with a growing intensity in your life to be radically, publicly, fruitfully devoted to Christ at any cost?
10. Will the job feel like a good investment of your life when these “two seconds” of preparation for eternity are over?
11. Does this job fit with why you believe you were created and purchased by Christ?
12. Does this fit together with the ultimate truth that all things exist for Christ?

Read the whole thing to see the biblical support and explanation behind these questions.

Over at Boundless Alex Chediak has a new article related to all of this: Vocation Plans.

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0001877.cfm

Grace Reformation Church of Woodland, CA, is hosting a very interesting event: the Unity and Diversity Forum (November 21-22).

Four distinct Bible scholars are coming together, David M. VanDrunen, Thomas Schreiner, Gary DeMar, and Barry E. Horner to discuss how Christians may disagree and still be united over issues of Infant Baptism, Believer's Baptism, Eschataology, and Evangelical Feminism vs. Complementarianism. Each has a unique perspective and will help us learn and grow in Christ.

For more information you can download a brochure in PDF.

Here's the schedule:

Friday, November 21
7:00pm – Forum: Thomas Schreiner and David VanDrunen - What Should be Practiced: Infant or Believer’s Baptism?

Saturday, November 22*
8:30am – Presentation: Thomas Schreiner - The Now & the Not Yet: Holding to the Biblical Tensions
9:30am – Forum: Gary DeMar and Barry Horner - Matthew 24: Is it Future or Fulfilled?
12:00am – Lunch
1:00pm – Presentation: Gary DeMar - Replacement Theology, Promises Fulfilled, or Future Israel?
2:00pm – Break
2:15pm – Presentation: Barry Horner - Replacement Theology, Promises Fulfilled, or Future Israel?
3:15pm – Closing Thoughts: Ron Poarch - Wise Thoughts for Unity
* An offering will be taken to help cover costs.

Sunday Morning Service at Grace Reformation Church
10:30am – Preaching: Thomas Schreiner - Men & Women in Christ’s Church: Who Does What?

John Piper posts online the closing prayer from Spectacular Sins and Their Global Purpose in the Glory of Christ.

A Closing Prayer

Gracious and glorious Father,
because you are rich in mercy,
and great in love,
and sovereign in grace,
we ask that you would make this little book
a window onto the panorama of your glory,
and a skylight to your supremacy in all things.

By the truth-loving power of your Holy Spirit
grant that the glass pane would be clean—
that what is faithful to your word would be confirmed,
and what is not would be forgiven, not confusing.
We ask that your cloud-banishing illumination
would be given to our minds,
and that spiritual understanding would fill our hearts,
and that according to the command of your apostle,
we would grow in the grace and knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May we see the spectacular sins of the world
as horrible as they are.
And may we see the holiness of God
as pure as it is.
And may we see the rule of God over the sin of man
as righteous as it is.
And thus grant the steel of ultimate reality
to strengthen the spine of our faith,
and sweeten our lips for the bruised heart.

Put the ballast of biblical truth
in the belly of our little boats,
lest the crashing waves of calamity
in these changing times
cause us to capsize in the sea of trouble.

And according to your apostle’s warning,
forbid that the increase of our knowledge
would cause the increase of our pride.
Rather, O God of infinite wisdom,
reveal, with all our understanding,
the unfathomable sinfulness of our hearts without Christ,
and the infinitesimal smallness of our strength
in comparison to yours,
and the absolute dependence of our life on you,
and the unfathomable depths of your judgments,
and how dim is the mirror in which we see.

Grant to our minds and hearts
new and deeper capacities to see and savor
the glories of Jesus Christ.
With every new glimpse of his glory in your word,
let there awaken new affections in our hearts.
Ignite our souls to treasure Christ in a way that
destroys our sinful lusts
and delights the deepest recesses of our being
and displays his truth and beauty
to a world that does not know
that this is what it needs more than anything.
And from this all-satisfying treasuring of Christ
may there flow a liberation from selfishness,
and a triumph over bitterness and anger,
and a freedom from worry and fear,
and victory over depression and discouragement,
and the severing of every root of sensual lust.

All this freedom, Lord, we seek for the sake of love.
Grant that our contentment in Christ would be a
dissatisfied contentment,
eager to expand by including others.
Grant that the joy of the Lord would not be a solitary joy,
but the strength to sacrifice
for the good of others,
even those who hate us.
May brokenhearted boldness
and contrite courage
attend all our deeds of compassion
and all our commendations of Christ to a lost world.
Awaken in us tender affections
for those who hurt,
and self-forgetful attentiveness
for those in our presence.

And in this treasuring of Christ for his supreme glory
and this overflowing love for others,
may Jesus be exalted above all things—
honored, admired, adored, esteemed, enjoyed,
praised, extolled, thanked, and worshiped.
May our light shine in this world
so that people see you in our sacrificial deeds of love
and our uncompromising words of truth
and give glory to your hallowed name,
Father.

Through Jesus Christ,
your Son,
Amen.

2006: The Year of YouTube; 2007: The Year of Facebook; 2008: The Year of Twitter? That's what Patrick Ruffini suggested earlier this year.

At Culture11 Cheryl Miller has an article about the phenomenon: Twittering the Day Away. The teaser: "Bye-bye blogs: The net's cool kids are all on Twitter now -- and they use it for everything."

Guy Davies interviews John Hendryx.

Roger Simon--Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, novelist, blogger, and CEO of Pajamas Media--explains "why both W. and An American Carol are abysmal films in almost every way."

Abraham Piper is giving away a burgundy leather ESV Study Bible. Here's how to have a chance to win it.

Drew Goodmanson writes:

The Audio for The Total Church North America Conference 2008 have now been uploaded. Total church is a way of thinking about church and mission in the 21st century which sees the local Christian community as integral to Christian living and Christian mission. The Christian life is ‘total church’ - our identity is communal.

Below is a list of all the sessions--or go here to see descriptions along with listening options.

Seyoon Kim's latest book is now available: Christ and Caesar: The Gospel and the Roman Empire in the Writings of Paul and Luke (published by Eerdmans).

HT: Lee Irons

This is helpful:



Anthony Bradley writes:

If there's one lesson from the "war on poverty" programs the US government instituted in the 1970s it is that government programs were the primary source of the destruction of the black family and the erosion of the dignity of the black men in particular in low-income urban areas. Good intentions ain't enough. The federal programs pushed out the church and destroyed many black communities. It took about 20 years to see the effects of well-intended but stupid government programs. The crazy notion that "we just need to get the right government program" is fantasy.

HT: Z

There's a good article in CT by Collin Hansen, looking at pastor-theologians in the Twin Cities.

"Together, Minneapolis and St. Paul are big enough to sustain diverse expressions of Christian theology, but small enough to bring those expressions into contact. In many ways, the Twin Cities are a microcosm of the current tensions in American evangelicalism."

Hansen talked to Doug Pagitt, Tony Jones, John Piper, Leith Anderson, and Greg Boyd for the article.

Andy Naselli has a helpful post giving an overview of the new Zondervan book, Three Views on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, ed. Kenneth Berding and Jonathan Lunde.

Here are five key questions:

1. Is sensus plenior an appropriate way of explaining the NT use of the OT?
2. How is typology best understood?
3. Do the NT writers take into account the context of the passages they cite?
4. Does the NT writers’ use of Jewish exegetical methods explain the NT use of the OT?
5. Are we able to replicate the exegetical and hermeneutical approaches to the OT that we find in the writings of the NT?

Andy reproduces a nice chart that summarizes the diverse answers in the book from Walter Kaiser ("Single Meaning, Unified Referents: Accurate and Authoritative Citations of the OT by the NT"), Darrell Bock ("Single Meaning, Multiple Contexts and Referents: The NT’s Legitimate, Accurate, and Multifaceted Use of the OT"), and Peter Enns ("Fuller Meaning, Single Goal: A Christotelic Approach to the NT Use of the OT in Its First-Century Interpretive Environment").

Russ Breimeier at Christian Music Today reviews Andrew Peterson's latest. An excerpt:

I know I keep saying it in my reviews, but it's true: if you miss the late great Rich Mullins, Andrew Peterson is carrying his torch about as well as anyone. One track he's an evocative poet, the next a storyteller, and before long he's singing praise to the Lord—all within the same album. Though he resides in the same folk-pop vein throughout, he varies his scope from song to song (like Mullins) and thus more fully articulates Christian living than most of today's faith-based artists.

Listening to a song like "Hosanna," I'm struck by Peterson's rather gutsy approach, contrasting and confessing sins, then giving praise to the One who forgives all: "I have cursed the man you have made me/I have nursed the beast that bays from my blood/I have run from the One who would save me … See the long-awaited King, come to set his people free/Won't you tear the temple down, raise it up on holy ground?/Hosanna!"

"Love Is a Good Thing" is equally provocative. Think about how many Christian artists have sung about love by lazily reciting 1 Corinthians 13. Now consider Peterson's mastery of language to express the power and potency of love: "It knocked me down, it dragged me out, it left me there for dead/It took all the freedom I wanted and gave me something else instead/It blew my mind, it bled me dry, it hit me like a long goodbye/Nobody knows here better than I that it's a good thing/Love is a good thing."

HT: Challies (again)

Bob Kauflin:

1. Aim to write the next worldwide worship hit.
2. Spend all your time working on the music, not the words.
3. Spend all your time working on the words, not the music.
4. Don’t consider the range and capabilities of the average human voice.
5. Never let anyone alter the way God originally gave your song to you.
6. Make sure the majority of your songs talk about what we do and feel rather than who God is and what he’s done.
7. Try to use as many Scriptural phrases as you can, and don’t worry about how they fit together.
8. Cover as many themes as possible.
9. Use phrases and words that are included in 95% of all worship songs.
10. Forget about Jesus and what he accomplished at the cross.

Read the whole thing for explanations behind each of these points.

HT: Challies

Someone asked in the comments section if my talk on vocation at CrossWay Community Church in Kenosha, WI, will be made available online.

It looks like the hour-long talk (including Q&A) is now posted.

HT: James Grant!

Hypothetically, what if the choice in an election comes down to two candidates--one who supports abortion policies, and the other who supports an unjust war? Whom would--whom should--you choose?

Commenter "GloriousRuin" passes along this imaginative dialogue by political philosopher J. Budziszewski that I think is quite helpful. There's probably no better way to get a quick introduction to the distinction between formal and material cooperation than this dialogue!

If I may be permitted one additional comment: I don't like the label "single-issue voter" and don't use it to describe my position. I'm not sure there's a better term--but the fact remains that there are many issues that are of concern to me. By using the term "single issue," I think we suggest that an issue like abortion is the only issue of serious consequence in this election. Some may believe that, but I don't.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that abortion is the great moral outrage of our day--and no one, for example, in the mainstream media (or in many churches) makes a peep about the daily slaughter of the weakest members of the human race.

The following video is very painful to watch--but I believe it is necessary as a reminder that we are not discussing abstract policies and arguments but rather innocent lives being systematically killed:

Here.

Gerard Bradley, Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School, has an essay online today entitled When Is It Acceptable for a ''Pro-Life'' Voter to Vote for a ''Pro-Choice'' Candidate?

I commend to you his careful, insightful discussion. Professor Bradley uses the Golden Rule to think through "the three best arguments that 'pro-life' voters voting for 'pro-choice' candidates have made to justify their decision": (1) we should instead attack the root cause of abortion; (2) the pro-choice candidate is better on other issues than the pro-life candidate; (3) the laws allowing "choice" on abortion are instrumentally essential to ensuring the equality of women and men.

John Scanlon at Culture11 reviews the new film, Call + Response (trailer below), about the movement to abolish sex trafficking.

The LEAD Conference takes place Tuesday and Wednesday this week in St. Louis. The purpose is to explore the theological and practical implications of ministry in an urban context.

Kevin Cawley writes:

For those unable to attend the conference, you can listen to the conference via Live Stream. All the main sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday will be streamed live on the Planting Channel. Check out the schedule below and tune in.

Tuesday, October 21
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM: Darrin Patrick on "Gospel Centered Repentance"
10:45 AM - 11:30 AM: Eric Mason on "Hybrid Leaders"
1:45 PM - 3:00 PM: Dr. Bryan Chapell on "Christ-Centered Preaching"

Wednesday, October 22
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM: Randy Nabors on "City Leaders"
1:45 PM - 2:30 PM: Matt Carter on "Broken Leaders"
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM: Jonathan McIntosh on "Missional Leaders"

HT: Z and Blazing Center

Josh Moody (PhD, University of Cambridge; pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in New Haven, CT) has accepted a call to be the senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois.

Moody is the author of a helpful book on Edwards: The God-Centered Life: Insights from Jonathan Edwards for Today.

Here are some of the blurbs for it:

"The God-Centered Life is a graced prescription for truly engaging today's culture...."
-- R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church in Wheaton

"Tremendous. Extremely well-written. It will be a blessing for many. . . . I heartily commend this work as a timely and valuable resource. . . ."
-- David S. Dockery, President, Union University

"Josh Moody is uniquely qualified to bring the reader along the path of a greater joy of knowing God and loving God through a person whose life was ablaze for this Triune God of glory and grace."
-- Paul Lim, Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity, Vanderbilt University

"Potent, thoughtful, and constructive. . . ."
-- R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

"At last, someone who stands in the tradition of Edwards as a pastor-scholar, interpreting and applying the lessons from Jonathan Edwards for today...."
-- E. David Cook, Holmes Professor, Wheaton College, Fellow, Green College, Oxford

"I recommend this book most highly, praying that Josh Moody's labors will encourage the kinds of `Edwards influenced' lives and congregations that our world so desperately needs. . . ."
-- Douglas A. Sweeney, Associate Professor of Church History, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Carolyn McCulley's latest book is now available: Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World.

Here are just a few of the blurbs:

"Few voices are speaking the truth contained in these pages—but so many need to hear it. Amidst our culture's radical confusion about womanhood, Carolyn teaches the radical truth of God's wise and gracious design for women...Women young or old, married or single, will be instructed and inspired by this book."

- C. J. and Carolyn Mahaney, Sovereign Grace Ministries

"As a young woman, Carolyn McCulley eagerly embraced many of the tenets of our 'feminist world.' A personal encounter with Christ radically changed her life and led her to pursue what it mast to live as a redeemed woman. This book is the fruit of her journey."
- Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Host, Revive Our Hearts radio program

"Like an intravenous drug coursing through the vein of an unconscious patient, feminist thought has thoroughly permeated our culture. In this insightful, engaging, and relevant book, Carolyn McCulley encourages us to wake up and become radical —to live as biblically savvy women in the modern world. It's and excellent read and a stirring challenge!"
- Mary A. Kassian, author of The Feminist Mistake

<

You can pre-order the book, Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different by Tullian Tchividjian.

From the foreword to the book, by Tim Keller:

Here you will learn how we must contextualize, how we Christians should be as active in Hollywood, Wall Street, Greenwich Village, and Harvard Square (if not more) than the halls of Washington, DC. And yet, there are ringing calls to form a distinct, ‘thick’ Christian counter-culture as perhaps the ultimate witness to the presence of the future, the coming of the Kingdom.