Friday, April 30, 2010

Precious Death Lives!


Here's a secret . . . a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . . grunge and metal were the only tunes pumping from my '85 Celica GT. Oh yes, oh yes. Alice in Chains, Bush, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, Megadeath, Metallica . . . and yes, Precious Death (ala King's X). My homie LY ~ a diehard, US Navy, bodyguarding bassist ~ intro'd me on the PD. Ah yes, they live. They live here. Guess which one band member is the theologian? Reformed at that?

Thursday, April 29, 2010

"Don't be Wimp Man!"

Yes, that is my jab at single men. C.J. Mahaney's great pre-marital talk "Preparation for Marriage" which originally aired back in '94. A Christ-centered, gospel-driven teaching for those who are single. Mahaney underscores the talk with the Puritan ethic of marriage: "Look not for a partner whom you love passionately at this moment, but rather for one whom you can love steadily, as your best friend for life, and then proceed with God’s help to do just that." Click here for the 2 part series from Sovereign Grace Ministries.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Coffee: The New Health Fad

I've always known that coffee contained amazing supernatural powers. Such that researchers have known found that coffee drinkers "may be at lower risk of liver and colon cancer, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson's disease" (not to mention that café is America's #1 source of antioxidants). CNN posted this amazing article on coffee and health.

And yes, the only way to drink coffee is always leaded and always "straight black." When you are out in the bush and you fall and fracture a bone . . . no worries, just pour some coffee on that open wound. Hoo-rah!

Monday, April 26, 2010

"No, Mr. President" - John Piper's Response to Obama



When the sovereignty of God is diminished and the ability of humanity is elevated, one finds themselves amidst the ghosts of the Enlightenment. The prophets of which foretold the great deception that "humanity would kill the idea of God." Are we truly that autonomous, with such potential waiting to unleash, able in and of ourselves? Rights and privileges . . . do we, at a cosmic level, deserve or dare demand the divine right of choice apart from a Holy God? Right to choose, whatever the choice - sexual orientation, sexual deviation, life, death, war, peace, God, Satan - is humanity morally able to do such a thing apart from God's grace? Scripture reminds us that dead men are dead, they are slaves to darkness. IF dead people make choices, THEN all that follow is certain to be void of life and light.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Navigating the Culture Waters

I'm not talking about "culture" in the Newbigin/Niebhur-ian sense ~ which might be a useful tool to use if you are fluent in North American culture attempting to evaluate Western society. Culture as in the one that clashes between the "motherland" and "wherever you just so happened to be doubled parked." Nowadays, it is common knowledge amongst emerging generations of immigrant families living in North America that "things aren't the same back at the ranch." You've got different traditions/customs, cuisine, languages . . . values that guide the practices/rituals. "Am I black or am I white?" (props to MJ) I'm neither! A completely different issue that arises for me are the black or white guys who show up to multicultural church dialogues (where the "truly" invisible, visible minority brethren gather - Hmong, Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, South Asians, Koreans, etc.) ~ sorry black & white boys, you just too political for me.

Often times, especially amongst second-generation, visible minority, "my-parents-are-immigrant" Christians - we have basically two options to take for evangelical spirituality and church growth. The first is "by-the-numbers" - as though the statistics and academics of our parent's dreams were not good enough . . . there are the Ph.D.s and engineers that analyze second-generation ministries. The second, less common, are those who have a deep rooted understanding of the Bible, God's mission and the fallness of humanity. This latter group tends to be less vocal - more pastoral geek and less missiologist or contextual theologian geek. I think of the John Neufeld's (Willingdon Church in Burnaby, BC) or the Tim Keller's (Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC) or even yes, the likes of Erwin McManus (Mosaic in LA). Theologically from different teams (MB, PCA and hybrid SBC), but the one thing they hold is common is a firm grasp on the Bible (I know that McManus pushes everyone the wrong way) . . . less formulas, less tables, less methods, less practice . . . more Scriptural, more theology, more uncertainty. Somehow, these guys resonate more with me . . . more on gospel church and gospel community, less on multicultural church and multicultural community. I think that the whole multicultural church effort may have become just another church growth method. Case and point, people are making lots of money off of it (e.g. conferences, books, speaking deals, etc.) and its results are minimal. Obviously, if you are a numbers guy everything you see and think will be filtered through that lens . . . and just think if you are a gospel guy? I guess to be fair I should toss in the third group that I failed to mention . . . the culturally comfortable despondents. I think of all the American/Canadian Toi-san 30-40 something folks that I know of who continue attending church and doing whatever they need to do to rid themselves of shame and gain points with their parents. These guys prefer the glorified babysitting English Ministries . . . as long as the preacher or speaker has something relevant to their context (e.g. parenting, finance, educational/vocational development, etc.) - which in turn feeds their competency to please their parents. And for a second, cultural relativists unite, by which culture would this type of behavior be interpreted as being "less, weak, incomplete, infantile, underdeveloped . . ."? Hmmmmmm. But then again, what does Scripture say in regards to these practices and types of behavior?

How does one develop a solid biblical theology within the second-generation? Does it require for us to adapt to the North American banter of "taking out the white guy" and "replacing him with a non-white guy"? Are we adopting Western ideology (and become white-ified) in order to achieve success? Do we hold hands with the dominant minority groups (e.g. blacks, hispanics, and the ever present hyper political LGBT) in order to achieve God's will? Does it require for covert operations of "reverse racism" amongst the ranks of our denominations to occur? Does it require for more modern studies and methods to take place? Does it require for more "dialogues" and "conversations" to be perpetuated? (is it only me or have discussions regarding English Ministries hit 40 years in US circulation?) For the record, this is my rant . . . no answers, just rant . . .

If God is sovereign and has called each of us to a particular place and time for His particular purposes, why does He do that and for what reason? And to what extent does it matter to Him that we are a visible minority?

My adopted white Mennonite dad used to always remind me, "it still takes 50 years to grow an oak tree!"

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Cleaning Up Your Online Reputation


Was listening to talk radio on the AM yesterday and came across an interesting conversation. Apparently, employers are increasingly adding to their arsenal of vetting potential workers the simple use of Googling a persons's name. Everything from the most recent blog entries, facebook photos and "hate" mail pops up using the mega search engine. Newsweek even featured an article on "Cleaning Up Your Online Reputation" which outlines how one can retake one's online identity. So it goes multiple directions: twittering enables employer's to track one's productivity, blogging and a facebook status can enable employer's to track one's satisfaction and "team capacity", flickr enables employer's to become the moral police sifting for people "who don't fit the company profile." Not to mention, if someone really hates you they can always hijack your online reputation and "go to work" on you with the text-based hating (or for that matter, create a fake identity which drags you all over cyberspace in shame) . . . Which then naturally begs the other question "How Does One Hide From the Internet?"

Monday, April 12, 2010

CBC Radio: "Canada Live!"

I love CBC Radio . . . I listen to both 88.1 FM & 105.7 FM (though CBC Radio 1 in the morning is more favorable to my taste ~ "The Current" & "Q w/Jian Ghomeshi"). Want something musical and tasteful, check out the Alex Cuba band or on myspace (Alexis Puentes, a Cubano living in Smithers, BC). A live performance recorded at the Park Theatre in Winnipego. CBC Radio 2 also has in their archives the likes of Bruce Cockburn and bites from Folkfests across Canadiana.

What is the Greatest Theological Challenge facing the Next Generation of Pastors?

This was a post on Resurgence of which both Dr. R.C. Sproul & Dr. Michael Horton responded to. Horton's response resonated with me - his thoughts regarding the emerging theological challenges for modern pastors. Historic orthodoxy, for example, in particular the doctrine of the Trinity is being challenged and replace with (evangelicals in favor of) on one hand unitarinism and on another hand a social tritheism.

Horton goes on to unpack why this is the case in revealing that the Christology of many modern evangelicals is biblically deficient and frankly heretical [my add & emphasis].

"Christology is the next frontier for tinkering . . . if Jesus Christ leads us by His moral example - that's how he saves us . . . then what you really need is a tool kit not a Redeemer . . . then there is absolutely no reason for God to descend to us in the flesh to save us . . . If we can save ourselves OR If there is not need to save ourselves from God's righteous, just wrath . . . then there is no need for Jesus to be divine, no need for Jesus to absorb the judgement meant for us."

If there is no need for a divine Jesus then these moralistic, fake, socialists-in- pastor's-clothing should pack up and go home. Not to say that we throw out the baby with the bath water. Yes, I firmly believe that social justice is important to Jesus. But when someone throws out the divinity of Christ for the humanity of Christ - "I follow the moral example of Jesus . . . to the detriment of the divinity of Jesus" . . . that's not Jesus anymore (can we say "both ands" here?). God, sanctify us in this pastoral endeavor . . . not to be moralistic, therapeutic demonics . . . but faithful followers of the Way.