My big concern is not just that the world church should become more evangelical, but that world evangelicals should become more biblical.Then since he takes biblical prophecy seriously, he socks it to us:
For there are scandals and abuses in the world-wide evangelical community that are reminiscent of the worst features of the pre-reformation medieval church in Europe.Read it the full short article!Will we have the courage to identify and renounce such scandals and to seek a reformation of heart, mind and practice?
- There are some mega leaders, like ancient prelates, wielding vast wealth, power and control – unaccountable, unattractive and unChristlike
- There are multitudes of ordinary Christians going to so-called evangelical churches, where they never hear the Bible preached or taught. They live in scandalous biblical ignorance.
- Instead they are offered, in the ‘prosperity gospel’ a form of 21st century indulgences, except that you pay your money not for release from pains after death, but for receipt of material ‘blessings’ here and now.
- And there are evangelicals parading ungodly alliances with secular power – political, economic and military – identifying themselves (and the gospel they claim to preach) with agendas and ideologies that reflect human empire not the kingdom of God in Christ.
The 16th Century Reformation was criticized because it lacked missionary awareness and energy until much later. They were so obsessed with tackling abuses in the church that they
neglected world mission. How ironic and tragic will it be if 21st Century evangelicals are so obsessed with world mission that we neglect abuses in the church, and remain wilfully blind to our own idolatries and syncretism?The Lausanne Covenant, like the Bible itself, commits us to the integration of both.
- If reformation without mission was defective,
- then mission without reformation will be deluded, self-defeating and even dangerous.
May God grant us the will and humility to respond with equal commitment.
Labels: evangelical, evangelism, old testament, theology
We honor both the discipline and our students by teaching them how to think likeWhich as Nichthus recognises raises, for teachers, the question: How do theologians think? I'm delighted that in seeking to answer this he returns to my favourite description of theology, Anselm's "Faith seeking understanding". In the light of this what theologians do is seek to understand (life, the universe and everything) as believers.
historians or biologists or literary critics rather than merely how to lip-sync the conclusions others have reached.
Labels: biblical.studies, teaching, theology
Like so many in Silicon Valley in the 1990s, I thought the Web wouldSo, the one time author of a manifesto "Piracy Is Your Friend" now admits "I was wrong. We were all wrong." He also writes:
increase business opportunities for writers and artists. Instead they
have decreased. Most of the big names in the industry — Google,
Facebook, MySpace and increasingly even Apple and Microsoft — are
now in the business of assembling content from unpaid Internet users to
sell advertising to other Internet users....
There’s an almost religious belief in the Valley that charging
for content is bad. The only business plan in sight is ever more
advertising. One might ask what will be left to advertise once everyone
is aggregated.
To help writers and artists earn a living online, software engineersIt is an exaggeration, there are other factors at work (as I have argued in "Back to the Future: Virtual Theologising as Recapitulation" Colloquium, 2005, 37,2, 115-130.), but it is an exaggeration that points towards truth. If the digerati agreed, and convinced the big holders of "content" the movie distributors, TV companies, music labels, "timeless" magazine publishers (things like National Geographic and others whose content does not date fast)... we could have a system that allows a very small charge to access, widespread acceptance, and the new age of digital creativity could begin.
and Internet evangelists need to exercise the power they hold as
designers. Information is free on the Internet because we created the
system to be that way.
Labels: audio, bible, language, reading, text criticism
Labels: baptist, hermeneutics, lévinas
Labels: hebrew, open.biblical.studies, teaching
Approach: This is the time to draw near to God, to collect our thoughts and tell God that we are present. There is a suggested prayer to enable us to focus our lives before God.If you know someone, or better still some group, who need to work through complex decisions, or who want to nourish the gift of discernment please point them to this book. It is free and online. Geoff is talking of making PDF files available for printout, and may even offer a print version for those who want it.
Scripture: This is normally a short passage but the suggestion is to read it slowly, repeatedly and meditatively, in such a way that it stays with us through the day.
Silence: With the Scripture echoing in your mind, spend a significant time listening to what the Spirit of God is saying to you.
Reflection: This provides brief comments related to the Scripture theme and often a story to illustrate some aspect of the practice of discernment.
Journal: It is suggested that you record your changing ideas, concerns and discoveries. You might also find your experience of journaling to be like author, Joan Didion’s who said, “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”[1]
Don’t see this like writing an examination answer! This is for your eyes only. Get yourself a special notebook or create a discernment file on your computer if you find this method easier. You might want to work through this book at a later time and what you write this time round may be quite different from what you write on a subsequent journey. You might find it useful to doodle or draw as well as to write words.
Selecting a Souvenir: Tourists love to buy souvenirs from the places they have visited. They remind them of a person, a place or an occasion. A souvenir is something that causes us to remember or literally “to come to mind.” Each day on this journey in discernment there is an opportunity to select a souvenir—some word or image that might bring your earlier reflections to mind for further contemplation. For instance the reflection on Day 1 records the habit that Jesus cultivated of weekly worship. The souvenir you select on that day might be the succinct statement, “As was his custom.” Or on the same day you might be taken with the story of The Little Prince and select the souvenir statement of “readying the heart to greet” God. Or on Day 14 when the reflection is about Moses and the burning bush your souvenir could be a thorn (to remind you of the ordinary way that God often appears) or a sandal (to bring to mind the holiness of every place).
Prayer: A short prayer provides a springboard for your own conversation with God and with others. Prayers are often expressed with the ‘we’ rather than the ‘I’ as some may wish to experience these daily times with a friend or partner. If so, take turns and share the different tasks—the leader of the day, the Scripture reader or the leader in prayer.
Commission: At the end of your prayer time, sense God sending you forward afresh on the journey of discovery and service.
Labels: teaching, technology
Labels: humour
Labels: education, open.source, portfolio, web
(Judgment against hollow worship - 5:18-27)Incidentally I tried the same sort of thing for Amos 4:4-5 today? and I began to write an "Out of my Mind" column for the NZBaptist in 2003 using a quote from Joel Drinkard's article in which he rewrote the whole book. I planned the piece to begin like this:
"You want Jesus to come back? Yeah right! You know when He comes, He's going to judge the wicked, don't you!!?? It's not going to be fun for you! God says, 'Nothing makes me sicker than your conferences. I want to vomit during your church services. Even though you offer your so-called 'worship' I couldn't care less! I don't listen to junk like that! Will you please just shut up already?? I don't want to be your boyfriend! I want you to be passionate about justice! I want you to live lives that are righteous! Hello? Did you organise music festivals, worship conferences and other such 'Christian' things? I'll make your 'Hill' songs into 'Valley' songs – for the 'god' that you are worshipping is the music god you've made for yourself!!! I'm going to make you completely and totally irrelevant and non influential in your own culture. No one will care AT ALL what you have to babble on about!
This book should be banned. It attacks freedoms fundamental to our way of life, it ridicules our leaders, it seeks to undermine the very fabric of our society. It’s on sale openly in many NZ bookshops. What’s worse it’s available for free on the Internet. At least it’s not yet being taught in the schools my children attend – though I’ve heard that it might be taught in some schools.
Any book that lays siege to the way Western democracies live as blatantly as this one is probably written by a supporter of Osama bin Laden. To show you what I mean here’s an extract from near the beginning:
For three transgressions of America and for four
I will not revoke the punishment
because you spent millions to store surplus food
and permit varmints to eat that which could feed thousands of starving children,
because you pour milk on the ground,
saying the price is too cheap,
when infants in Ethiopia die without milk,
because you squander the world’s resources
thinking only of your own comfort,
because you turn to soap operas for your moral values
and seek success as your most important virtue.
So you shall suffer for your sins.
Your mammoth aquifers will be squeezed dry,
your bread basket will become a dust bowl,
your cities and your countryside will become
polluted by sin,
your national symbol will become the vulture
instead of the eagle.
You are big –
you will fall hard.
Thank goodness the anti-terrorism bill was recently passed by the NZ parliament. Perhaps now we can see that such works are not distributed more widely.
Joel F. Drinkard “Thus says the Lord” Review and Expositor 92, 1995, 222.
Labels: amos
Labels: bible, interpretation, pentateuch
In the presence of the naked woman, one does not find in one's inmost being the same terrifying emotion that one feels before the revelation of the cosmic mystery. There is no rite, there is only a secular act, with all the familiar consequences ….He comments drolly:
Mircea Eliade, Yoga: Immortality and Freedom
Eliade never experienced fear in the presence of a naked woman?Something about this quote did not ring true, I followed Q's link to his source (the Quelle of Q?), and found a post Dangling Listicles dealing with magazine covers (never a strong field of my interest, I read from the "back" like any good Hebraist ;-) Their version of the quote looks even more "wrong", so I checked with Google books (nul return) and Amazon online reader (p.259). Bingo! The quote should read:
The ritual nudity of the yogini has an intrinsic mystical value: if, in the presence of a naked woman, one does not find in one's inmost being the same terrifying emotion that one feels before the revelation of the cosmic mystery, there is no rite, there is only a secular act, with all the familiar consequences…Much less entertaining, but more accurate I suspect...
Labels: colombo, refugee, sabbatical, teaching
Labels: audio, education, teaching
“When a person is in a space with a 10-foot ceiling, they will tend to think more freely, more abstractly,” said Meyers-Levy. “They might process more abstract connections between objects in a room, whereas a person in a room with an 8-foot ceiling will be more likely to focus on specifics.”
From Researchers find ceiling height can affect how a person thinks, feels and acts
HT The End of Cyberspace
Labels: carey
Labels: nz
Labels: biblical.studies.online
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