The Wimbledon Wii Championship

It seems that tennis has been taken to a whole new level…at least in Brooklyn. Skills required? You just have to be able to swing a Wii controller. About 120 people gathered in Brooklyn for the second annual Wii tennis tournament called Wimbledon. Being a tennis player and a Wii fan, I can’t quite decide whether this is cool in the name of fun or sad in the way of I-have-too-much-time-on-my-hands. If we start to see a whole generation of folks training for video game sports, then I have to choose the sad option. But hey, I’m all about an afternoon of fun in the sun with a Wii controller in hand.

Darth Vader Strikes Back

Darth Vader has reappeared with a vengeance. A Welshman dressed as Darth Vader attacked Master Jonba Hehol and Master Mormi Hehol, cousins and leaders of the Church of Jediism in Wales. Vader was missing his trusty light saber and had to employ the force by whacking them with a metal crutch. Lucky for us and unlucky for Vader, “his March attack was recorded on a video camera that the cousins had set up to film themselves in a light saber battle.” Classic. Can someone say You Tube?

Obama: The Most Pro-Abortion Candidate Ever

These are the words of Voddie Baucham in a recent post on Barack Obama. Speaking of Obama, Baucham says, “He could not even bring himself to vote for the Born Alive Infant Protection Act which would have protected children born in the process of an abortion. That’s right, Mr. Obama cannot even bring himself to support a plan that simply says to doctors, ‘If they slip past while you are trying to kill them, you have to let ‘em live.’”

Read the whole article.

Carried Away for Jesus

This is such a strange story. A Catholic priest, trying “to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua” (Brazil), strapped himself to a chair tied to hundreds of balloons and lifted off in an attempt to break the record for the most hours flying by balloons. It begs the question, how far are you willing to go for Jesus? Are you willing to be carried away for Him?

The sad part is that the priest was reported missing about 8 hours later and they have yet to be able to find him. Authorities say that the priest is an experienced skydiver and had a parachute pack strapped to him as well. Hopefully they will find him soon. Like I said, strange story.

Baby With Two Faces

No, this is not some deep metaphor explaining human nature from the beginning of life. What you see is what you get. This is literally a baby with two faces. I have never seen anything like it. Even crazier is the fact that doctors have a term for this condition: craniofacial duplication. The fact that a term already exists for this condition makes it obvious that this little girl is not the first two faced baby.

Like mentally handicap people, the picture of this little girl moves me. It is sad. It should be a very plain reminder that this world is not right. There is something very wrong with this world, this existence. It drives me back to the cross. It reminds me of the faith I have in Christ…that my life has been made new. God has poured out his grace on me. And the best part…His grace is made available to all people through Christ.

We are the Beggars

My friend Matt Burns has written an excellent two part series (Part 1 and Part 2) that seeks to view the homeless through a biblical lens. He identifies several types of homeless people and then poses this question: ”So now I ask you , fine readers, what do you do? Do you give them the cash? Do you ignore them and walk on by?”

In Part 2, Matt writes about the similarities between the homeless and everyone else on this planet. We approach God for salvation like the homeless approach people for money on the street. As Brennan Manning says, “We are the beggars at the foot of God’s door.” In the end, I would contend that we should be beggars at the foot of the cross. If we find ourselves in that position, we will find a God of love who has satisfied his holy wrath and judgment on his own Son. We will find a God, the God, who never turns away a beggar.

Seeking God’s Will

Mark Dever has written an excellent little piece on pursuing the will of God in everyday life and decisions. Dever is concerned that too many Christians are bound by the chains of “finding God’s will.” This phrase is often used in regard to vocation or big life decisions. I sat in several classes and discussions during my undergrad days listening to classmates stress and labor on every little decision in the hopes of finding the will of God. I will say that the desire to please God and serve Him in every area of life is the type of attitude we should carry as Christians. However, as Dever points out, far too many Christians get completely stressed out and bound by thinking that they need some sort of sign for every decision they make.

First off, what does this sign look like? It can be so subjective that no one can question it even if it sounds absurd. I’m not trying to limit the Lord here because he sometimes uses subjective means to speak to us. But it is hard to trust subjective “signs.” Second, what does it mean to “find” the will of God? Was it hiding? Did I misplace it? Did it fall between the cracks in the couch? Finally, what do we truly mean when we are searching for the will of God? It seems to me that Scripture has clearly laid out the will and desire of God. He desires that all should come to know Him. The will of God entails repenting, believing, and living for Him in every area of our lives. Are we free to make decisions without playing craps to find the answer? Indeed. God has given us a mind and when we consecrate it to the Lord, He renews and reforms it. The “free” choices that we make are then based on the new heart and new mind that God has given to us through faith in Christ. They are also based on the words of Scripture. In short, we are free to choose as long as our choices do not contradict Scripture.

Bruce Waltke wrote a book called Finding the Will of God: A Pagan Notion? that firmly addresses this issue. Run out and pick it up. It is a must read. Make sure to read Dever’s article as well. And rest assured that choosing to eat that turkey sandwich instead of a Big Mac is ok.

Greg Gilbert Reviews NOOMA Series

Greg Gilbert has written a three part review of Rob Bell’s popular (and well produced I might add) NOOMA video series. Here’s a snippet:

I don’t think every ten-minute video needs to contain a crash course in systematic or biblical theology. Christian life and doctrine is a vast and rich universe of truth, and if Rob Bell wants to do ten minutes on sex, ten on anger, ten on this or that, that’s obviously fine. It’s always easy to say by way of critique, “That ten minutes should have said more than it did.” So that’s not where I see a problem with NOOMA.

The problem is that in the videos which aim to present the Christian gospel, the gospel presented is woefully incomplete if not outright wrong in places (which we’ll discuss at more length in the second part of this series). Yes, there’s sin and even grace in NOOMA; God loves us as we are, with all our junk, as Bell puts it. But beyond that there’s little to no cross or resurrection, no atonement, no substitution. Once we’re told that God accepts us as we are, all that follows is a call to live as Jesus lived in order to make the world a better place—which if it weren’t so hip would just be called “moralism,” or even “Pelagianism.”

The Golden Compass

Surely by now most everyone is familiar with this year’s holiday blockbuster movie The Golden Compass. If you are even the least bit connected to any form of popular media, you are aware of the ruckus this movie has stirred up especially amongst the Christian community. All of the fuss can be traced back to comments made by the author of the book trilogy Philip Pullman. In February 2001, the Washington Post interviewed Pullman and ran an article discussing His Dark Materials. Responding to comparisons to The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Pullman was quoted as saying, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief. Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil’s work.“ There is no doubt that a statement like this would surely stir up a little controversy. Many concerned Christians from public figures to the average layperson have been seeking the answer the question of whether or not this movie (and the books for that matter) is suitable for our young, impressionable children. I am quite sure there have been many groups “creatively” designing their picket signs. Though I almost always cringe at the sight of Christian picketers, I do believe a level of discretion is wise when dealing with movies, music, and other forms of popular media. So the blogs have been hot with discussion on the movie and books.

After attending an advance screening of the film, Al Mohler wrote a brief commentary on the attractions and dangers of the movie and books.

The guys at Reformation 21 have been engaged in some intriguing discussion and bantering over this topic. Carl Trueman kicked things off with some words of wisdom for our boycotting Catholic friends and then proclaiming his puzzlement at all the “hoo-hah” surrounding this movie and giving an interesting critique of C.S. Lewis regarding the use of Narnia to defend against Dark Materials. Things took off from there. To follow the entire conversation, start on this page with Trueman’s post called Catholic League and Pullman and follow the discussion up the page onto the next page.

And just yesterday Adam Parker was sent on assignment to review the movie.

I am sure there is plenty more discussion around the blogosphere and other places. This should be enough to get you thinking about it. As far as my opinion goes, having not seen the movie or read the books, I think discernment is always advised in such matters. Pullman’s explicit comments should raise concerns about the agenda of such a book. At the very least, we should be concerned with the worldview it promotes. However, I plan to see the movie. And if Adam’s perspective holds to be true, then with caution we can enjoy it for the fantasy story that it is.

Relevance vs. Distinctiveness: What’s the Real Problem?

Continuing our dialogue on engaging the culture, Baptist Press recently discussed the issue of relevance with Mark Dever. Dever shared several concerns regarding an overemphasis on relevancy in ministry and the church. As he says, “I would like to suggest that the most fundamental problem in the church is not that we are not relevant enough in relation to the world, but that the church is not distinct enough from the world. Our churches must reflect the character of God.”

Dever goes on to challenge church leaders to “channel their energy toward maintaining purity in the church instead of spending great amounts of time and ministry on relating to the culture.” Yes we need to meet people in their context. However, that concept should not require a program within the church. In the midst of normal, everyday life we should find ourselves dealing with the same things as others within our community and sphere. So relevance should be very natural. This natural relevance should also lead to a shifting of priorities within the church. Instead of being driven by numbers or results, we should be driven by faithfulness to the Word of God and the Christian life. We need to be more concerned with pursuing God and less concerned with how many people fills the pews or walk the aisle (which brings on a whole other discussion).

I recommend this article to anyone like myself who is consistently pondering these issues. I think Dever hits the mark dead on.