Quotes: What makes Aaron Impatient

"Quote: 'It's really cool to search for God. It's not very cool to find Him.'

That adequately describes the postmodern ethos of this age that I am running out of patience with..."

-- Aaron Denbo, a younger Facebook friend and colleague at EBC

Meditation for Worship: August 24, 2008

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it

Father,

This morning we confess to you that our faith is nothing like Peter’s.
Or even Thomas’s.
So often it feels like we are standing on sand, not rocks.
Life is shifting all around us.
Jobs disappear, our bodies weaken and fail,
Our families are fractured, our spirits are ready to snap.

Then we hear your word:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

All around us we hear voices crying, “We like Jesus but not the church!”
And some of us have felt that the rock has turned us to stone.
We want to smash those rocks, and start over.
We want to be free to build a new and better church!

Then we hear your word:
“I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Break our stony hearts, Lord, and release your Spirit;
not merely to collect us together but to form us into the building that is your Holy Temple.
We confess that Christ is our Chief Cornerstone.
And we thank you for the rocks that you have already given us.
Rocks named Peter, and Martha,
Teresa and Francis,
Dietrich and Jim,
Clive, Wang, Oscar, Martin, Saji…
Make us living stones, like them;
Fixed upon the firm conviction that
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

Then we will be your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Just Wondering: Taming the Spirit?

I remember how, growing up, every summer my Southern Baptist church would schedule a revival. That always seemed odd to me.

Today, on the Fresh Fire Ministries website, I read:

"CANCELLED: Miracles, Signs and Wonders 2008"

That seems odd to me, as well. Where did all these folks learn how to tame the Spirit?

Metaphysics made Visual

1. Which picture best illustrates what it means to be a human being?

a)

b)















c)













Answers:

a) Premodern Model (realism)

b) Modern Model (nominalism)

c) Postmodern model (anti-realism)

2) Which model is closest to what Scripture says it means to be a human being?

Amazing Japanese Creativity

http://www.noob.us/miscellaneous/creative-waterfall/

This is the spellbinding waterfall at Canal City, Fukuoka, Japan.

What my incoming freshmen will be like this year

via Scot McKnight

what my incoming freshmen will be like this year:
the Beloit Mindset List for the class of 2012:

(I add my own observations afterward.)


This month, almost 2 million first-year students will head off to college campuses around the country. Most of them will be about 18 years old, born in 1990 when headlines sounded oddly familiar to those of today: Rising fuel costs were causing airlines to cut staff and flight schedules; Big Three car companies were facing declining sales and profits; and a president named Bush was increasing the number of troops in the Middle East in the hopes of securing peace. However, the mindset of this new generation of college students is quite different from that of the faculty about to prepare them to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college. It is the creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and Public Affairs Director Ron Nief. The List is shared with faculty and with thousands who request it each year as the school year begins, as a reminder of the rapidly changing frame of reference for this new generation.

The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world.

It is a multicultural, politically correct and “green” generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their privacy and has never feared the Russians and the Warsaw Pact.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.


• For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.


• Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.


• Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.


• They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.


• GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.


• Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.


• Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.


• Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.


• Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”


• Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.


• Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene


• All have had a relative--or known about a friend's relative--who died comfortably at home with Hospice.


• As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”


• Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.


• Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.


• Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.


• Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.


• Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.


• WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.


• Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.


• The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.


• Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”


• Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.


• Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.


• We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”


• There have always been gay rabbis.


• Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.


• College grads have always been able to Teach for America.


• IBM has never made typewriters.


• Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.
  
• McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.


• They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.
  
  
• There has always been Pearl Jam.


• The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.


• Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
  
• They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.


• They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.


• Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.


• Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.


• Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.


• Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.


• Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
  
• Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.


• Personal privacy has always been threatened.


• Caller ID has always been available on phones


• Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
  
• The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.


• They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
  
• Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
  
• Soft drink refills have always been free.


• They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”


• Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.


• Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.


• The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.


• The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.


• 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.


• Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.


• Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited
• Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.


• There have always been charter schools.


• Students always had Goosebumps.

Beloit College - 700 College St. - Beloit, WI 53511 - 608.363.2000 - webmaster - Copyright © 2008

________________________________

I also think they will be

• fewer, as the economy makes going into debt a greater risk and as monies for loans shrink


• fearful, as their world becomes more and more threatening, politically, economically, socially, spiritually


• frantic, as they try to connect with others through technology, with few incarnational models of genuine, long-term commitments and relationships


• faithful, as they realize their situation and seek to change it

A Bridal Blunder

This week Steve received an "emergency call." The minister who was supposed to perform the wedding had diverticulitus and was being hospitalized. It looked like he would miss the big day. Would Steve please take over? After meeting the bride and groom, Steve was satisfied that he could help out in good conscience.

It was a modest little affair, held at a local historical spot, with the music supplied by CD's. Everything went according to plan until it was time for the sand. Yes, sand.

Instead of a unity candle, the bride and groom had the idea of pouring two separate vases of sand into one large vase, to symbolize their new oneness. As they both approached the table with the vases, the groom nodded a cue for the music to begin. Unfortunately, things got a little confused, and instead of the selection planned, out boomed Maria Muldaur, seductively crooning that hit tune from 1973, "Midnight at the Oasis".

Steve could barely finish. It took everything he had in him to keep from doubling over with laughter.


"Midnight At The Oasis"

Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Shadows paintin' our faces
Traces of romance in our heads
Heaven's holdin' a half-moon
Shinin' just for us
Let's slip off to a sand dune, real soon
And kick up a little dust
Come on, Cactus is our friend
He'll point out the way
Come on, till the evenin' ends
Till the evenin' ends
You don't have to answer
There's no need to speak
I'll be your belly dancer, prancer
And you can be my sheik

I know your Daddy's a sultan
A nomad known to all
With fifty girls to attend him, they all send him
Jump at his beck and call
But you won't need no harem, honey
When I'm by your side
And you won't need no camel, no no
When I take you for a ride
Come on, Cactus is our friend
He'll point out the way
Come on, till the evenin' ends
Till the evenin' ends
Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Got shadows paintin' our faces
And traces of romance in our heads

On the Value of a Theological Education

"With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

--T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"

via Brad: this post by Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary. Are we beginning a new "dark ages" where theological and philosophical knowledge--yea, the liberal arts-- will be preserved in small enclaves, much like the Celtic monasteries? Wouldn't it be ironic if Fuller is someday remembered the way Iona is today?

Makes me want to reread Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, and write a parallel work, wherein the threat to humanity is not nuclear warfare, but utility. And yet--dare I hope?--even utility, when followed to its end, may bring us back to the place we were meant to be.
__________________________________________

August 14, 2008

The Attributes of God

There is some evangelical buzz right now about a new biography of the late Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade (Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America by John G. Turner). There is a helpful review of the book at the Christianity Today website.

I plan to read the biography. In my younger days I was somewhat critical of Bill Brights views on various subjects, but in his last years we got to know each other and formed a friendship. There was a time when Bill seemed to pride himself on having dropped out of Fuller Seminary, but in our conversations he expressed much admiration for Fuller, and for the cause of theological education as such. He was proud of his son Zach, now a PCUSA minister, who during his days as a Fuller student had been a leader of the student Peace and Justice Committee.

Bill and I talked by phone several times during his last months, and there was one comment he made to me that I wish I had asked him to expand upon. If I had to do it all over again,he said, I would downplay the Four Spiritual Laws and place a strong emphasis on the attributes of God.

That remark signaled a growing awareness on his part of the need for theological depth. And his specific example of the importance of good theology rings especially true for me. Several years ago I had a conversation with a pastor who had become somewhat sceptical of the relevance of seminary study. He had come to feel strongly about the kind of practical training for ministry that takes place exclusively in the local congregation. His case in point was the youth minister of his staff. This guy is terrific, he exulted. He has only two years of junior college, but he really doesnt need any more formal education. The kids love him and he is done a great job of ministry.

I ended that conversation of friendly terms, assuring him that we were there for him if he ever felt the need for using our school as a resource. A year later he followed up with a phone call. He wondered if I could recommend a good book for him on the attributes of God. It turns out that the youth minister had come to him with some theological questions. Some of the young people in the church had been talking about spiritual matters with their Mormon friends, and the kids were a bit confused about how their own churchs views stacked up against LDS teachings.

I recommended the relevant chapter in Louis Berkhofs Systematic Theology, and the pastor expressed appreciation for the counsel. Thinking back now on Bill Brights comment about the divine attributes, I wish I could also have directed him to the founder of Campus Crusade for some solid theological guidance!

Contra Arthur Pink

The Abet bulletin board is allergic to my posts, so I'm pretending that they can hear me here:

On 8/13/08, Pastor Greg wrote,

Let's tackle this one a bit, just for a refresher: I am reading an old book on Sovereignty, by Arthur Pink, 1914.

He writes:

"To argue that God is 'trying His best' to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme Being." —Sovereignty Of God, The

I agree with him there, but here is what I would say: God, in His sovereignty, does not /insist/ that his will be done though he could. Over all, God /does/ insist that his will be done. His purposes /shall/ come to their ends, taking into account the rebellion of man and devil. But part of His divine plan is to allow man and the devil to have their own way in regard to the outcome of their personal destinies though not to the extent that it can effect any defeat to His overall purpose.

Does my statement contradict the Doctrine of God's Sovereignty?

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Here is my response:

Greg, check out the Wikipedia article on "Molinism." It's really pretty good. Molinism offers a "middle way" that preserves both divine sovereignty and robust human freedom (aka "libertarianism.") Steve and I both agree with William Lane Craig (and it would seem, Dan Whitmarsh!) that God's omniscience includes knowledge of necessary truths, contingent truths, and "middle knowledge," or knoweldge of counterfactuals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molinism

God's Types of Knowledge

Taking after Luis de Molina, Molinists divide God's knowledge into three separate categories. The first is God's knowledge of necessary truths. These truths are independent of God's will and have no possibility to be false. Examples include statements like, "All bachelors are unmarried" or "X cannot be A and non-A at the same time, in the same way, at the same place".

[Beth's note: Of course, the above assumes the principle of non-contradiction, but it is important to understand that for Christian Molinists principle of non-contradiction reflects something about God's nature, not that God's nature is subservient to the principle of non-contradiction. C.S. Lewis has a great quote on this topic:

"God's omnipotence means [His] power to do all that is not
intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to Him,
but not nonsense. This is no limit to His power. If you choose
to say, "God can give a creature free will and at the same time
withhold free will from it", you have not succeeded in saying
anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not
suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the
two other words "God can." It remains true that all things are
possible with God: the intrinsic impossibilities are not things
but nonentities. It is no more possible for God than for the
weakest of His creatures to carry out both of two mutually
exclusive alternatives -- not because His power meets an
obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we
talk it about God.

... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), The Problem of Pain

I take it that in this discussion we are talking about the Biblical God, not Homer Simpson's Jesus who "could microwave a burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it!" See http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/scripts/weekend-at-burnsies.php ]

The third kind of knowledge is God's free knowledge. This type of knowledge consists of contingent truths that are dependent upon God's will; or truths that God brings about, that He does not have to bring about. Examples might include statements like "God created the earth" or something particular about this world which God has actualized.

The second kind of knowledge is middle knowledge (or scientia media) and describes things that are contingently true, but are independent of God's will. These are truths that do not have to be true, but are true without God being the primary cause of them. "If I had taken the train instead of driving, I would not have been late for work," is an example of middle knowledge. I did not take the train, so God is not involved as a cause. The train being the better option is not a logical necessity, so it is contingent if true.

Molinists support their case with Jesus's statement in Matthew 11:23:
"And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day."

The Molinist claims that in this example, God will know what is contingently true and independent of God's free will, namely that the Sodomites would have responded in such a way that Sodom would still have been in existence in Jesus' day. This would be an example of a counterfactual statement.

Matthew 11:23 contains what is commonly called a counterfactual of creaturely freedom. But counterfactuals are to be distinguished from foreknowledge. The Bible contains many examples of foreknowledge or prophecy such as Deut 31:16-17 where God tells Moses that the Israelites will forsake God after they are delivered from Egypt.[1] But counterfactuals of creaturely freedom and foreknowledge are generally considered to be two separate things.[2]

Some opponents of Molinism claim that God's foreknowledge and knowledge of counterfactuals are examples of what God is going to actively bring about. That is, when Christ describes the response of the Sodomites in the aforementioned example, God was going to actively bring it about that they would remain until today.[3] Molinists have responded to this objection by noting that scripture contains examples of God's foreknowledge of evil acts. For example, the Israelites forsaking God, or Peter's denial of Christ, are both examples of what one would call overt acts of sin. Yet, according to opponents of Molinism, God is actively bringing about these overt acts of sin. This is obviously fallacious according to the Molinist. In order for this account of prophecy to be valid all prophecies must be wholly good, and never contain evil acts; but this is not the case.


A counterfactual is a statement of the form "if it were the case that P, it would be the case that Q". An example would be, "If Bob were in situation X he would freely choose A over B." The Molinist claims that even if Bob is never in situation X God could still know what Bob would do. The Molinist believes that God, using his middle knowledge and foreknowledge, surveyed all possible worlds and then actualized a particular one. God's middle knowledge of counterfactuals would play an integral part in this "choosing" of a particular world.

Molinists say the logical ordering of events for creation would be as follows:

1. God's knowledge of necessary truths.

2. God's middle knowledge, (including counterfactuals).

---Creation of the World---

3. God's free knowledge (the actual ontology of the world).

Hence, God's middle knowledge plays an important role in the actualization of the world. In fact, it seems as if God's middle knowledge of counterfactuals plays a more immediate role in creation than God's foreknowledge. The placing of God's middle knowledge between God's knowledge of necessary truths and God's creative decree is crucial. For if God's middle knowledge was after His decree of creation, then God would be actively causing what various creatures would do in various circumstances and thereby destroying libertarian freedom. But by placing middle knowledge (and thereby counterfactuals) before the creation decree God allows for freedom in the libertarian sense. The placing of middle knowledge logically after necessary truths, but before the creation decree also gives God the possibility to survey possible worlds and decide which world to actualize.[4]

Calvinists typically deny that God has "middle Knowledge," or knowledge of counterfactuals. (Unless one is a "Calvinist" like Alvin Plantinga!) Molinism allows possible worlds where human will is causal, and then this actual world-- that possible world which God wills to actually exist. It's premodern both-and thinking at its finest.

Pink rejects that there are counterfactuals and such "possible worlds:" there must either be an actual world where God's will is sovereign, or an actual world where human will is sovereign.

"To argue that God is "trying His best" to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent." (Pink)
This is quintessential modernist either-or thinking. To my mind, it is admirable that Pink wants to glorify God by stressing His sovereignty; but his god is a lesser being than One Whose omniscience is even greater. Or, to put it another way, which God is greater?

1) One whose knowledge includes only (a) necessary and (b) contingent truths
2) One whose knowledge includes (a) necessary, (b) contingent and (c) counterfactual truths?

Bottom line: for those of us who are Molinists, the Calvinist God is just too small! Calvinism, instead of glorifying God, diminishes his omniscience, thus causing His sovereignty to suffer as well.

(P.S. To all the postmoderns out there: notice that I am not saying that God's knowledge is LIMITED to just these truths!

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

But neither am I saying we must immediately punt to either a mysticism or to a social activism that gives up/forbids any discussion of providence and God's nature!)

Blessings in Christ,

Beth

Why Materialism Makes You Unhappy

via Brad:
Why Materialism Makes You Unhappy"

We propose four psychological needs. The first is safety/security, which is the need to feel like you’ll survive, like you are not in danger, like you will have enough food and water and shelter to make it another day. The second is competence or efficacy, which is the need to feel like you are skillful and able to do the things that you set out to do: I need to feel like a good psychologist, you might need to feel like a good journalist, etc. The third is connection or relatedness, which concerns having close, intimate relationships with other people. The fourth need is for freedom or autonomy, which is feeling like you do what you do because you choose it and want to do it rather than feeling compelled or forced to do it.

As I lay out in my book, The High Price of Materialism, people who put a strong focus on materialism in their lives tend to have poor satisfaction of each of these four needs. In part this is because of their development, but it also is because materialism creates a lifestyle that does a poor job of satisfying these needs. That is, a materialistic lifestyle tends to perpetuate feelings of insecurity, to lead people to hinge their competence on pretty fleeting, external sources, to damage relationships, and to distract people from the more fun, more meaningful, and freer ways of living life.

Or here's an even shorter Thomistic answer:
because we are not simply material beings, but beings made in the image of God, and so "according to the maker's instructions,"
we have to pay attention to the dimensions of our being which connect with truth, beauty, goodness, and love. In other words, we can't be happy apart from Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

This would hurt...

From the Eugene, OR Craigslist, 8-8-08

Stainless Kitchen double 8” bowel sink: Good condition but needs to be scrubbed with steal wool to shine again. If you’d like more information email or call xxx-xxx.