At Home On Piety Hill

Help My Unbelief

I know the Lord is nigh
and would but cannot pray
For Satan meets me when I try
And frights my soul away
And frights my soul away

I would but cannot sing,
guilt has untuned my voice
My sin, just like the serpent’s sting
Has poisoned all my joys
Has poisoned all my joys

Chorus

Help my unbelief
My help must come from Thee
I would but cannot love,
though wooed by love divine
No arguments have power to move
A soul as base as mine
A soul as base as mine

I would but cannot rest
in God’s most holy will
I know what He appoints is best
And murmur at it still
I murmur at it still

Chorus

I would but can’t repent,
though I endeavor oft
This stony heart can ne’er relent
Til Jesus makes it soft
Til Jesus makes it soft

Wilt Thou not crown at length
the work Thou hast begun?
And with a will, afford me strength
In all Thy ways to run
In all Thy ways to run.

My friend, Aaron, at I Am Chief brought this to my attention. It’s one of many hymns, besides Amazing Grace, written by the old African blasphemer and it suits me fine. I see myself in this mirror. This is what it sounds like 200 years later. 

March 4, 2008, at The University of California, Berkeley

Tiimothy Keller begins by stating the concern that belief  in religion and Christianity, in particular, is  ”too divisive in a free democratic society…” That people with strong religious convictions, “feel impelled… to impose those beliefs and… to really oppress and marginalize people.” He concedes, “I do think that religion is part of the problem with the world,” but goes on to state that robust, crunchy religion is on the ascendancy, so we must find a way to deal with exclusive truth claims. Get a drink and snack, settle in and give him a listen.

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! Hebrews 9:14

I was preparing to preach through this passage last Sunday and I stumbled upon this unexpected gem. I found it in the the original edition of The Interpreter’s Bible commentary on page 692. This is a fairly liberal reference and the scholarship, though cutting edge in the mid 20th century, is now dated. This exposition by Quaker New Testament scholar Alexander C. Purdy is refreshingly orthodox and disturbingly insightful:

This verse marks the turning point in man’s salvation. As long as he loses himself in the crowd, submerges himself in the forces that play upon him, blames his failures on his circumstances, finds his purification in external rites that do not touch the self, he is not a person. He has not encountered God. But when he meets God and sees himself, his inmost self, as the source of his misery, he begins to become responsible: i.e., he begins to be a human person. He now knows that no sacrifice will suffice unless it purifies his conscience.

But with this new knowledge comes a new despair. He cannot save himself. However heroic his moral effort, he cannot remove his own self-contradiction, i.e., his alienation from God. However long he may live, however he may multiply good works and penance to “make up for” the evil deeds that he has done, he cannot succeed. For it is not merely his deeds that were wrong, but himself. Not merely his trespasses need forgiving: he himself needs cleansing.

Nor can any easy forgiveness satisfy his conscience. The forgiveness must cost a heavy price, must leave him dwelling in the land of moral reality to which he has just become awake. This despair is the human last, beyond which the divine first begins. Completely humbled, he is finally prepared to receive the divine forgiveness. Only in the eternal self-giving of God can his conscience be purified from dead works. Only in God’s own sacrifice can the believer be restored to his rightful place as a child of God, to find his life, his destiny, his joy in serving the living God.

I just got my copy of the new 77s CD Holy Ghost Building and it’s as good as advertised. It’s raw, gospelbluesrockabillyroots. When we saw Mark Harmon and Mike Roe perform some songs from HGB a month or so ago, I got to speak with Mr. Harmon afterwards. He assured me that they had chosen songs, which would be appropriate for me to play along with on my harmonica. Oh, yeah… 

Favorites, so far? Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burnin’, City of Refuge and… well, they’re all wonderful! My advice? Buy it now.

I found this video of Mike performing City of Refuge from the CD in someone’s dining room, playing on what looks to be a vintage Kay guitar. He’s accompanied by Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer and Love Coma), Jimmy Abegg (Charlie Peacock, Sixpence None the Richer, Fleming and John, Rich Mullins), Phil Madeira (everyone, everywhere) and Steve Hindalong. Oh, and be sure to check out Mike playing Ache Beautiful with Matt Slocum on a cello or something like that.

It took nearly twenty years, but my short biography of Richard Baxter is in publication and you can get your hands on a copy of it on at Lewis and Roth, using PayPal, VISA© or MasterCard. It’s only $9.95 and a nominal charge for shipping and handling, so how can you go wrong? Most of my sales have been by money order or personal check and you can find that order form right here.

“Who’s Richard Baxter?” you ask.

The well-known Christian author and authority on the Puritans, J.I. Packer, called him “incomparable” in his zeal and abilities, as well as “…the most outstanding pastor, evangelist and writer on practical and devotional themes that Puritanism produced.”

His detractors called him Scribbling Dick, because he published over 140 works during his lifetime, all the while thinking he would be killed or die by the next Spring.

As a preacher, writes his biographer, Frederick J. Powicke, he “could sway any audience as the wind can sway a field of corn.”

I just think of him as my old friend, Dick Baxter. He taught me a lot — especially about the value of suffering in the life of the Christian. I’ll write more about Baxter later… perhaps installments of the book.

Alexander Strauch’s Biblical Eldership (BE) packs the most thorough exposition of relevant passages concerning elders in the Bible into one volume, while offering a spirited and compelling apologetic for the practice of non-clerical, plural leadership in the local church. But, it’s not just for church leaders – all readers will find a clear and well-reasoned appeal to all Christians to practice a humble, relational style of Christianity modeled after Jesus Christ. And, even if you do not find Alex Strauch’s model or paradigm ultimately convincing and advocate a monarchical episcopacy or congregational form of church government, I guarantee you will be challenged, inspired and equipped to take your ministry, whatever it may be, more seriously and you will serve with greater passion and effectiveness.

From the publisher:

With over 150,000 copies sold, this comprehensive look at the role and function of elders brings all the advantages of shared leadership into focus… Written for those seeking a clear understanding of the mandate for biblical eldership, this full-length, expository book defines it accurately, practically, and according to Scripture.

Alex builds his case upon a careful exegesis of the Bible with particular emphasis on the Body of Christ as a loving, caring family – God’s household. Over and over, he appeals to the analogy of elders as household servants, actively engaged in guiding the growth of younger brothers and sisters into maturity:

Of the different New Testament terms used to describe the nature of the church — the body, the bride, the temple, the flock — the most frequently used is the family, particularly the fraternal aspect of the family, brethren… The reason behind this preference for the familial aspect of the church is that only the most intimate of human relationships could express the love, closeness, privileges, and relationships that exist between God and man, and man and man, as a result of Christ’s incarnation and death. The local Christian church, then, is to be a close-knit family of brothers and sisters… The first Christians found within their biblical heritage a structure of government that was compatible with their new family and theological beliefs… The elder structure of government suits an extended family organization like the local church.

Moving from the imagery of the church as a family, Alex addresses the familiar Biblical metaphor of God’s people as His flock. So, elders are designated pastors, shepherding the church in hostile surroundings, where growth and maturity is achieved under the threat of predatory false teachers and opportunists. A local congregation is managed by a team of shepherd / overseers who painstakingly watch over the spiritual well-being of each member, with one eye on the horizon for any wolves that may be circling the perimeter to pick off sickly or straying lambs. Like the Good Shepherd in the Scriptures, elders tenderly nurture the sheep, but remain ready in an instant to pick up the staff and take out after interlopers, who come peddling their infectious, deadly doctrines and practices:

As he bid them farewell, Paul reminded the Ephesian elders [Acts 20] that he had taught them the complete counsel of God… The responsibility for the defense of the gospel and welfare of the church now belonged to the elders… In order to fulfill their task, the elders must first vigilantly protect their own spiritual condition… the command to guard the flock means that the elders must keep their minds on the church. They must be watchful and observant… A good shepherd is never passive. He knows the necessity for acting quickly and decisively in the face of danger. He knows when he must fight and when he must stand his ground. To be aware of danger and not to act is to be a lazy, cowardly shepherd who betrays the flock.

Biblical Eldership occupies a lofty place in my library and I’m not alone in my admiration for Alex Strauch’s magnum opus. It comes with recommendations from some heavy-hitters:

What others have to say about BE:

“Our eldership has gone through Biblical Eldership and the guide book twice. It has been the finest investment of our time in the twelve years that I’ve been at the church. It has helped us see what we’re all about and has gotten us to function the way God designed us to. Biblical Eldership is a fine work and a thorough Biblical exposition on eldership.” — Bryce Jessup, President, William Jessup University

“…a very helpful book both on the New Testament pattern and how approximation can be achieved within existing polities. …cogent, scholarly…Strauch makes good use of the best scholarly research”– Robert Duncan Culver, Author, Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical.

“Mr. Strauch has made a fine contribution to the subject of eldership…” — John MacArthur, Jr., Pastor-Teacher, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, CA

“At last, a thorough biblical study on the basis of church government and especially the function and ministry of elders! New churches will find it a valuable guideline to effective functioning and older churches will find it a trustworthy corrective.” — Ray Stedman, former pastor and elder, Peninsula Bible Church, Palo Alto, CA

I was pondering this question the other day, after hearing that old chestnut about how the religious right is working tirelessly to impose their will on the rest of us (as if the religious left, scientific atheists, secularists, materialists, pagans and agnostics stand passively on the sidelines, while the great cultural and ethical debates rage).

So, what could we expect to see if Christians imposed their morality on others? Well, duh, it’s not like it’s a big mystery or something. We are standing on the shoulders of hundreds of years of western, Christian, democratic history. You don’t have to speculate. You also don’t have to wonder how the imposition of Christian morality would stack up against the imposition of socialism, atheism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, paganism or progressivism on society, since there are plenty of those states or governments around to examine, many of which have been funcitioning for a good long time!

Under a dominant western Christian culture, I would expect to see liberals and progressives, scientific atheists and agnostics, as well as a good number of pagans and adherants to other streams of spirituality, along with Christians, at the highest places in government, educational institutions and social welfare agencies. At the same time, robust women’s, gay and minority movements would be thriving, imposing their values on the majority through the media, the arts, government policy and the academy. That’s because, historically and contemporarily, Christianity has proven to be very tolerant of others in promoting justice and fairness. Of course, I’m sure some would be quick to point to the relative few examples of Christian intolerance or bigotry down through time, but that would be… well, that would just be silly. The fact is, the levels of diverstity and tolerance enjoyed throughout Europe, the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and others who have adopted western democratic and free market ideals is light years beyond Russia, China, the Middle East and repressive nations in the Pacific Rim.

So, back to the “what if” scenario: In western nations built on Christian notions of fairness and tolerence, Christians would be alternately vilified or lampooned in the dominant media and pop culture, yet slavery would be abolished, while it flourishes in Muslim societies and Africa. Every sort of sexual practice and gender confusion would be allowed or even celebrated, while homosexuality is once more being considered a capital crime in socialist Russia, as it was until 1996. Gays, pornographers and others would be brutally treated in atheist China and majority Buddhist nations. And, what about censorship of the internet and the press? The scientific atheist utopias are the biggest offenders. When it comes to the environment and fouling one’s own nest, I’d say the atheists, pagans and Buddhists win hands down.

No, the fact is that, when it comes to imposing values, morality and ideology on others, Christians are probably the last people in the world we should be fearing. When you look at the propaganda poster at the top of the post, I think you need to ask yourself why all those pagan, Buddhist, Islamic and atheist utopians are walking away from their lands and out into the rest of the world with clenched fists and AK-47s. It doesn’t appear as if they are ready to engage in a dialogue… they don’t seem to be rooting for their favorite on American Idol… and, I doubt if they are heading to their local community college to sign up for Anthropology 27 Gender, Sex and Culture.

Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both. A community which cannot bear and cannot survive such a crisis, which insists upon keeping its illusion when it should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian community. Sooner or later it will collapse. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. God hates visionary dreaming; it makes a dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself. Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but as thankful recipients. We thank God for what He has done for us. We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily… In the Christian community thankfulness is just what it is anywhere else in the Christian life. Only he who gives thanks for little things receives big things. We prevent God from giving us the great spiritual gifts He has in store for us, because we do not give thanks for daily gifts. We think we dare not be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given to us, and that we must constantly be looking forward eagerly for the highest good. Then we deplore the fact that we lack the deep certainty, the strong faith, and the rich experience that God has given to others, and we consider this lament to be pious. We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet not so small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things? If we do not give thanks daily for the Christian fellowship in which we have been placed, even where there is no great experience, no discoverable riches, but much weakness, small faith, and difficulty; if on the contrary, we only keep complaining to God that everything is so paltry and petty, so far from what we expected, then we hinder God from letting our fellowship grow according to the measure and riches which are there for us all in Jesus Christ.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Cal Thomas penned a sober and pragmatic assessment of the typical conservative, Evangelical Christian, pro-family voter (if there is such a specimen): The Maturing of the Right.

After a factual and fair rundown of the candidates for President on the Republican side, Thomas concludes with this analysis:

That substantial numbers of conservative evangelical voters are even considering these candidates as presidential prospects is a sign of their political maturation and of their more pragmatic view of what can be expected from politics and politicians. It is also evidence that many of them are awakening to at least two other realities — (1) they are not electing a church deacon; and (2) government has limited power to rebuild a crumbling social construct.

I think Mr. Thomas has it right here, which would explain why Giuliani is polling so well among social conservatives. But, he doesn’t stop there and points out that, perhaps rather than simply voting “right,” professing believers need to live “right.”

Until this election cycle, most social conservatives supported candidates and policies based on the married with children “ideal” family model. It may be the ideal, but it is no longer widely practiced, including by many conservative evangelicals. Researchers have found many conservative Christians live in states where divorce rates are highest. These states overwhelmingly oppose same-sex marriage. Too bad they don’t do a better job supporting opposite-sex marriage in which they claim to believe.

Thomas interjects a potent dose of pragmatism, when he writes:

While “character issues” can overlap with other concerns when considering for whom to vote, conservative evangelicals are beginning to see them as less important than who can meet the multiple challenges faced by the nation. Put it this way: if you are about to have major surgery and your only choice was a church-going doctor with a high mortality rate, or an agnostic with a high success record, which would it be? I’d choose the agnostic.

I think this would square well with Paul the apostle of Jesus, who recognized the God-given role of secular government and who appealed to his rights as a citizen on a number of occasions. He never seemed to care if he was heard by a pagan, a Jew or a Christian. He simply sought basic human and civil rights.

What does Thomas’ column have to do with LDS week here at PietyHill Press? He seems encouraged that some Evangelicals will overlook Romney’s peculiar beliefs, and consider his position on issues.

Romney, a Mormon, is the poster boy for family values: one wife, handsome children, and no apparent personal skeletons in his closet, but some, not all, evangelicals can’t get over the Mormon belief that Jesus once visited America.

Once in a while you may happen upon something you wish you’d written, but in my case that happens, oh, about fifty times a day! I found this poem by journalist Steve Turner at PoemHunter.com and was impressed by his perceptive wit. Often, we deny verities and creeds so vehemently that our persistent dissention becomes dogma which, ironically, congeals into a creed of our own — a positive confession of our contrarian attitude, systematizing the tenets of our rebellion against any form of alien correction or restraint that might hinder us in our pursuit of pleasure and self-interest. In the end, we may become the bigoted haters that so excited our righteous passions in the first place.

Steve has done the contemporary humanist the favor of canonizing his negation of traditional values in this memorable confession:

Creed

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin.
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don’t hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before during
and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy’s OK
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated.
You can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes,
UFO’s and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man just like Buddha
Mohammed and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher although we think
his good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same,
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation sin heaven hell God and salvation.

We believe that after death comes The Nothing
because when you ask the dead what happens
they say Nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it’s compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What’s selected is average.
What’s average is normal.
What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between
warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It’s only his behaviour that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth
that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust. History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds.

Steve Turner

Everyone has a film, a book, a piece of art that has a revolutionary effect on the way they look at everything. And, if one is fortunate (I would say “blessed”), that may happen many times along this journey we call life.

I first read Unholy Devotion as a young Christian, involved in ministry to people caught up in cults. The book received rave reviews within the apologetics community, so it was required reading for any aspiring counter-cult evangelist !

I had no idea what I was in for. Rather than focus on cultic strategies to deceive the naive or unwitting Christian into joining the Baha’i Faith or Watchtower Society, Harold Bussell identifies cultish tendencies among mainline and evangelical groups that set up otherwise solid believers to cash in their pearl of great price for a worthless counterfeit faith, presenting itself as the genuine article.

From the back cover:

The lure of the cults is not doctrine, but style. Not reasoned faith, but the promise of a better life. Many evangelical youth are drawn to cults because too often the marks of spirituality they set forth uncannily resemble the qualities we exhibit in our own Christian churches…

Bussell comes locked and loaded, leaving the evangelical pasture strewn with the carcasses of some of our most cherished sacred cows, including these bogus bovines:

• You Just Have To Hear Our Pastor!
• The Lord Led Me
• But We Have A New Testament Church
• But Mormons Don’t Drink or Smoke
• But You Can See the Love on Their Faces

The author tells story after story of real people he has known during years of youth and college ministry, who became easy prey for the cults. Take Terry for instance:

Terry was an active leader in the youth group of the first church I served in California. He had become a Christian the previous year and gave a glowing testimony. Then, astonishingly, Terry became a Mormon… I still remember my confusion and dumfounded reaction to his defense: “But Mormons don’t drink or smoke.” As with many of us, Terry’s conversion to Christianity included adoption of specific cultural taboos important to American Evangelicals. These taboos, along with the popular emphasis on personal happiness and group support, confused Terry in his journey toward spiritual maturity… Evangelicals tend to yoke their definitions of spirtuality with certain cultural convictions… An overemphasis on taboos has misled some believers to feel more guilty about sipping a glass of wine than about sleeping with a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Rather than focus on the negative, each chapter ends with a set of questions for discussion and lessons emphasizing corrective truths from the Bible on each topic. Bussell points the reader back to Jesus and His Word — the only antidote for false gospels and faux spiritualities. In my case, it caused me to look carefully at my own faulty notions and convictions that have no basis in Christ or His Word. That, in turn, deepened my relationship with Jesus, caused me to treasure Him more deeply and to value His sufficiency in all aspects of my life.

So, this book is for every Christian. It’s not just for those who have an interest in apologetics or the cults, but for believers who want to develop their critical thinking skills, strip away harmful accretions to faith and grow in their affection for the Christ.

If you ever decide to take a trip to Africa, you need to buy and read this book! If you hope to make friends you will keep in touch with, it’s an absolute necessity. In the West, the minute a friend asks for money, things get weird and the friendship probably won’t last long. In Africa, if there is no exchange of money or resources involved, things will get weird and the friendship probably won’t last long. East is east and west is west and there will be no meeting of the minds on the issue of money (and a lot of other customs) without help from someone like David Maranz, a linguist working in Africa since 1975.

I traveled to Uganda twice before I read this book and each page offered at least one “aha!” moment, as perplexing scenes and situations I had witnessed in Africa were given context and clarity. The style makes for a very enjoyable read and the iillustrations by African artists are insightful, amusing and familiar. Even if you have no interest in traveling to Africa, the book is a collection of anecdotes that will keep you riveted for hours.

Reading the book was sometimes uncomfortable as I realized how I had insulted and misunderstood my African friends during my previous visits (though they tell me they understand and knew we were acting out of ignorance). It was also a tragic revelation into the mindset and harmful attitudes of westerners I met, who were living in Africa. For missionaries and Christian workers - next to the Bible, this book is compulsory reading!

The author presents 90 examples illustrating the differences between African and western thinking on:

• Use of Resources
• Friendship
• The Role of Solidarity
• Society and People of Means
• Loans and Debts
• Business Matters

Here is a list of some of the most colorful and crucial examples — I’ve seen most of these first hand and could comment endlessly, but I’ll spare you:

• The financial need that occurs first has the first claim on the available resources
• If something is not being actively used, it is considered to be “available”
• Africans readily share space and things but are possessive of knowledge
• Precision is to be avoided in accounting as it shows the lack of a generous spirit
• Budgeting, in a formal accounting sense, is not an accepted way of handling personal finances
• A network of friends is a network of resources
• People constantly work at maintaining and enlarging their network of friends
• Africans are more hospitable than charitable. Westerners are more charitable than hospitable
• Compliments are frequently given indirectly in the form of requests for gifts or loans and often formulated in questions
• Africans find security in ambiguous arrangements, plans, and speech
• Giving preference to the employment of kin over nonkin is a normal expression of family responsibility and solidarity
• The reputation of people of means is enhanced through the frequent visits of their clients. Foreigners are typically frustrated and inconvenienced by frequent, uninvited visits of African friends and acquaintances
• Old debts are forgotten and are not expected to be repaid, neither by the debtor nor by the lender
• The value of a development project is not to be measured by its long-term success
• The use of the word loan when requesting money from someone is often a euphemism for gift
• Bargaining for a better deal in any transaction involves important social as well as economic factors
• When a customer is told that an ordered article or service will be ready on a specified time or date, it is unlikely to be ready at that time

This is, by far, my favorite and most personally uncomfortable observation in the entire book:

It is also true that Africans readily share space with others… they are with others almost constantly. They avoid being alone… If an individual has a preference for being alone to a noticeable extent, he or she is considered strange, antisocial, or even to be feared.

I heard about this hero and had to track down his story. Glad I did:

Being blind is no different than being sighted,” he said. “You just live life a little differently.

Smiley and his wife both credit their faith with sustaining them over the past 16 months. “I just thank Jesus Christ every day that I’m even alive,” Smiley said after he was promoted.

Pastor Steve has been busy here in Nevada County. We’ve been to prayer meetings, a youth meeting and even a Reformation Bible Conference, where Pastor Steve met Dr. Henry Krabbendam. Pastor Steve attended a pastors prayer meeting and spoke at a sports awards banquet for William Jessup University. He’s taught us some African praise songs. And, he’s working on a mission for Bo to come to Uganda. The indications so far point to May 2007, if the Lord wills.

Why, that would be Camille Paglia, of course! Now, here’s a woman from the other end of the spectrum I think I could have an enjoyable discussion with, even though we strongly disagree on a number of issues. She’s smart, she’s tough, but she’s fair minded and has a good grasp of history, I think. She was interviewed on Salon.com and here are a few choice excerpts.

On religion:

But religion is absolutely central to this country in ways that Europe’s secularized intellectuals fail to understand. I’m speaking here as an atheist who studies religion and respects it enormously. In the history of mankind, the benefits that religion has brought to society in shaping behavior and moral choice are overwhelming in comparison to the negatives, which anyone can list — like religious wars and bigotry. Without religion, we’d have anarchy.

On Condoleeza Rice:

Condi Rice looks lost lately. She’s overstretched and on a learning curve. Her training (by Madeleine Albright’s father) focused on the Cold War era when the world was polarized between two superpowers. It didn’t prepare her for the baffling and frustrating complexities of the highly sectarian and factionalized Middle East. You need to know the turbulent history of the ancient Near East to understand what’s going on there now. It’s always been a roiling cauldron — wars and more wars and massacres from the Egyptian, Assyrian and Roman empires down to the fascist rule by the Ottomans. Every feminist who wants to smash the glass ceiling should realize she has a stake in Condi Rice’s success. Rice is a brilliant woman, but diplomacy is an art.

On George Bush:

I’m not a Bush hater. I’ve always viewed him as a decent fellow who was pushed into the presidency because he was his father’s son. But he’s been out of his depth in foreign affairs from the start. He certainly lacks the basic verbal skills for the presidency — reading speeches authored by others is no substitute. But I’ve become concerned about Bush’s mental state in the past few months. Sometimes in his press conferences or prepared statements (which I listened to on the radio), I heard a sort of Nixonian tension and hysteria. His vocal patterns were over-intense and his inflections impatient, lurching and sarcastic. There was this seething quality to his speech that worried me and that seemed to signal that something major is being planned — perhaps another military incursion.

More excerpts to follow… I really enjoyed this interview.

That was my response to Denise on Saturday night after witnessing a so-called debate over abortion between Katherine Kneer and Scott Klusendorf. Katherine has served as the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of California and Scott is the President of the Life Training Institute.

One would think that the president of the Planned Parenthood franchise in the most populous and, perhaps, liberal state in the US would have some command of the facts of abortion or a mastery of just a few of the philosophical/moral/ethical justifications for the practice! This was not the case and she conceded over and over that she did not intend to argue a case for abortion. Instead, she played to the emotions of the audience, poured effusive praise upon the work that that the LivingWell Clinic is doing in Nevada County and made the most pathetic plea to embrace her cynical real world view that infanticide is inevitable in our world, so we all need to welcome the culture of death. With the Sacramento cultural and political scene dominated by policy makers like Katherine, it’s no wonder people are plunging into despair and anti-depressant use (abuse)! She almost had me running for the prozac!

Scott responded with facts, well-reasoned arguments and plenty of compassion, even helping Katherine to articulate her position at times. He was kind, gracious and loving. His presentation was one of optimism, hope and courage in the face of a very nasty crowd that imposes their dogma of intolerance, violence and hopelessness on the rest of us.

For those women who have had an abortion and the men who pressured them into that decision, Scott offered compassion, understanding and real solutions.

Denise and I came away with the realization that the combination of government, the media, the educational system… the entire culture, militates against and is prevailing over common sense, common decency and the common good. But, we will not surrender.

Credit: Photo of post-natal abortion courtesy of the University of Maryland

I only recently learned that Leon Morris went to be with the Lord in July ‘06. He was one of my favorite Bible commentators and authors, who had the ability to pack a lot into a few words, composed in an orderly, pleasant style. That may owe to his background as a science teacher, self-taught Bible scholar and pastor turned academic — a powerful combination. He was also accessible and among my treasures I still have a personal letter he wrote in response to some questions I sent him. I was pleased to find this appropriately thorough, yet simple obituary to a man who wielded such a huge influence on modern Evangelicalism. Here is the kernel:

Leon Lamb Morris was perhaps Australia’s most prolific biblical and theological author. He wrote over fifty books of theology and biblical commentary which have sold nearly two million copies worldwide and been translated into many languages. This is an astonishing output for an Australian writing technical or academic books. He was well-known throughout the Christian world as a careful, conservative biblical scholar. Extraordinarily, Morris received no formal theological education, apart from two years of supervision for his doctorate in Cambridge. He was self-taught theologian who brought his rigorous and disciplined training in scientific enquiry to his study of the Bible and theology.

I always enjoy learning about the personal lives of technical authors or scholars who somehow resonate or “speak to me” through what I expect to be dry or analytical works. Sometimes, I even find points of similarity (usually some annoying trait — rarely anything of their intellect or learning) Leon Morris is one of those writers and I was so pleased to find this anecdote which could have been written about Denise and I, as I try to make the most of my Bible study time:

Mildred, whom he married in 1941, would drive the bumpy, dusty roads of South Australia while Leon studied New Testament Greek in the passenger seat.

Farewell, Leon… I will see you in the resurrection.

Why read obituaries? Why, the thrill of getting to know someone you only knew of before, of course! That was the case with this remembrance of Jaroslav Pelikan, who authored a number of books scattered throughout my library. He was “delighted by doctrine” and one of his final works was his four-volume Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition:

Judaism has its shema and Islam its shahadah, but Christians, responding to Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” have produced literally thousands of statements of faith across the centuries. Pelikan’s collection includes several hundred of these, among them the Masai Creed from Nigeria. This creed Africanizes Christianity by declaring that Jesus “was always on safari doing good.” It also declares that after Jesus had been “tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died, he lay buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch him, and on the third day, he rose from the grave. He ascended unto the skies. He is the Lord.”

Jaroslav is my kind of theologian — energetic, smart, pastoral, witty and humble… on safari with Jesus. What a great way of approaching the Christian life — on safari with Jesus, learning to do good, because of the good He has done and is doing, in and for me!

Denise and I will be hosting our friend, Steven, a pastor from Uganda during the month of November. Steve was our translator, evangelist and all-around ambassador when we worked in Africa. He has an infectious laugh and broad, warm smile which he flashes often. The last time I spoke to him was through his speaker phone at his home and, when my voice came over the line, I could hear the children break out in laughter as they began jumping excitedly around the house. I got a little teary-eyed.

Press Release: Christian Music Singer-Songwriter super-group The Lost Dogs to wander in to Roseville.

On Thursday, September 28th, 2006, Valley Springs Presbyterian Church will host an intimate evening with The Lost Dogs at the Underground Café in Roseville. The Lost Dogs are a collaborative singer-songwriting effort that brings together some of the best musicians from the past 30 years of Christian music. It features the skills of Terry Taylor (of the 1970’s Jesus Movement band Daniel Amos), Derri Daugherty (of both the 1980’s alternative music group The Choir and City on a Hill fame), Mike Roe (of the Sacramento-based college radio favorites The 77’s) and Steve Hindalong (also of The Choir and City on a Hill, as well as the writer of the chart topping worship song, “God of Wonders“). They will be touring in support of their eleventh album, The Lost Cabin and the Mystery Trees.

Showtime is 7 PM. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. For more information, or to purchase advance tickets, please visit www.UndergroundCafe-Roseville.com, or call 916-786-7940. The Underground Café is located at 2401 Olympus Drive in Roseville, and is a ministry of Valley Springs Presbyterian Church. Media information and images can be obtained at http://www.provisionnational.com/thelostdogs.html.

Denise and I will be there… will you? I learned quite a bit about the Lost Dogs I didn’t know from running down the links in this post. For example, Steve Hindalong’s song God of Wonders was used by NASA each morining to wake up the astronauts in the Space Shuttle.