Bob Jones University of Greenville, SC, famous for its long-time segregationist policies, has placed a statement on its website, apologizing for that history.
…for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more directly by that ethos than by the principles and precepts of the Scriptures. We conformed to the culture rather than provide a clear Christian counterpoint to it.
Too little, too late, some will say. But I’m glad they did it.
Tip: WORLD Magazine.
Anthony Sacramone, formerly of “Luther at the Movies” and “First Things” is back blogging at Strange Herring.
I suppose he’ll suddenly give it up again in a couple of weeks, but for now, our long night of the cyber-soul is over.
Tip: First Things.
Remember the Bower family? The missionaries whose plane was shot down over Peru in 2001, resulting in the deaths of the wife and daughter?
Turns out the CIA lied about the circumstances of the action.
Story here.
To retailers who started putting out Christmas merchandise in October, and radio station programming directors who are already playing “seasonal” music, and homeowners who’ve put out their holiday lights, even though it isn’t Thanksgiving yet.
I understand. I’m a Boomer too. I know that Christmas was the most wonderful, magical time of the year when you were a kid. It was for me, too. I, too, would love to recapture that feeling.
However. You’re not a kid anymore. You’re an adult, too beaten up by life to be taken in by glockenspiel music and colored lights. Especially when you strung those colored lights yourself.
You will never get the magic of Christmas back by making the holiday longer. You’ll only get it back by making the holiday deeper.
The people who invented Christmas actually believed that God became man. That means that all our highest aspirations, dreams and hopes are not fantasy, but fact, and that Ultimate Truth came down to hang out with us a while. And then died for us. And then defeated death.
When you get that, you’ll get Christmas back.
Just thought you’d like to know.
Makoto Fujimura writes:
N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham, wanted the title of his new book to be “Life after Life after Death.” Harper Collins, his publisher, decided the title would be a bit confusing, so they re-named it as “Surprised by Hope,” surely more conventional, but an appropriate nod to C.S. Lewis’ classic book “Surprised by Joy.” I prefer Bishop Wright’s initial instinct; for the audacious reality of the resurrection claim does not invite easy, conventional titles. The claim of Christianity was, and is, a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth who redefined life, death and, the Life thereafter. The expression “Life after Life after Death” invites us to a severe paradigm shift in our thoughts on life and death. What we think of as the end, is only a pause,: and the pause is only the beginning; a beginning of a new beginning.
In 1798, President John Adams made this proclaimation:
As the safety and prosperity of nations ultimately and essentially depend on the protection and blessing of Almighty God; and the national acknowledgment of this truth is not only an indispensable duty which the people owe to Him, but a duty whose natural influence is favorable to the promotion of that morality and piety, without which social happiness cannot exist, nor the blessings of a free government be enjoyed; and as this duty, at all times incumbent, is so especially in seasons of difficulty and of danger, when existing or threatening calamities, the just judgments of God against prevalent iniquity are a loud call to repentance and reformation; and as the United States of America are at present placed in a hazardous and afflictive situation, by the unfriendly disposition, conduct and demands of a foreign power, evinced by repeated refusals to receive our messengers of reconciliation and peace, by depredations on our commerce, and the infliction of injuries on very many of our fellow citizens, while engaged in their lawful business on the seas: —Under these considerations it has appeared to me that the duty of imploring the mercy and benediction of Heaven on our country, demands at this time a special attention from its inhabitants. Continue reading A Prayer for the Country
Speaking of D.A. Carson, he has identified five points on trends in the church and Reformed Pilgrim brings them to us.
1. It is important to observe contradictory trends.
For example, “He said we have a lot more good commentaries available to us than we did fifty years ago. Yet, mainline churches have fewer conversions than ever before.”
2. Current evangelical fragments are moving into a new phase — into polarized “clumps.”
3. The most dangerous trends in any age are the trends that most people do not see.
4. There is a trend in our churches to be consumed by social concern.
5. There is a trend in our churches to emphasize discipleship over the gospel.
Phil asked me what my favorite Lutheran hymn is. That’s a no-brainer. “A Mighty Fortress” all the way. Oddly enough, I prefer it in a praise team arrangement, and I don’t think I can say that about any other hymn. This is a hymn you need to stand up and wail on.
My other Lutheran favorites—it will not surprise you to know—are Scandinavian hymns. Below is one I always think of as Norwegian, but in fact it’s Danish, the work of Bishop Hans Adolph Brorson. Its original title is Den Store Hvide Flok, which means “The Great White Host.” I think it’s particularly appropriate for All Saints’ Eve. Exactly the kind of hymn that wouldn’t go over in our day, as it takes it for granted that suffering is a necessary part of life.
The melody is a Norwegian folk tune arranged by THE MAN, Edvard Grieg. YouTube performance here.
BEHOLD THE HOST ARRAYED IN WHITE
Behold the host arrayed in white, Like thousand snow-clad mountains bright,
With palms they stand—Who are this band
Before the throne of light?
These are the ransomed throng, the same That from the tribulation came
And in the flood Of Jesus’ blood
Are cleansed from guilt and shame,
And now arrayed in robes made white They God are serving day and night,
And anthems swell Where God doth dwell
‘Mid angels in the height. Continue reading Behold the host
Joe Carter over at The Confabulum does an excellent dissection of the bad, old Chick Tracts today. (Hat tip: Southern Appeal)
I remember a counselor I used to see, years back. One day he showed me some drawings that had been done by another patient, one who was psychotic. (I think his point was to convince me that there were a lot of people around crazier than me.) One thing I noticed immediately in those ugly, violent images was that they reminded me of Chick Tracts.
Jared nails a few points for discussion to the door of the Thinklings chapel in Franklin, Tennessee. Here are some:
10. The aim of devotion to Scripture is our transformation, not merely our information.
11. The American Christian and the churches that train him are adherents to the syncretism of biblical values and the self-idolatry of consumer culture.
12. This syncretism is suffocating the discipleship culture of our churches, which are mostly predicated on therapeutic gospels and self-help which make do not glorify God and which make the disciple the center of Christian faith rather than Christ.
13. The American Christian is often offended by or secretive about the message of the gospel, which puts him dangerously in league with those who find the message foolish and are perishing.
14. The Christian in the American Christian ought to affirm and embrace the cost of discipleship, but the American in the American Christian hesitates to deny himself because Self is his highest value.
15. The modern disciple is currently being spiritually deformed by leaders in the Church who do not make that which is “of first importance” the most important thing.
16. The modern disciple compartmentalizes his life and does not realize that even a large compartment for “faith” or “church” or “God” is not healthy discipleship. The American Christian’s schedule and routines reflect he believes his days belong to himself and not to God.
17. The American Christian finds Jesus’ command to sacrifice and serve abhorrent.
Note also the Reformation Day symposium at Challies.com for many, many good theological notes, and I’ll keep you posted on Jared’s upcoming Diet of Worms.