Homeless World Cup

I stumbled onto this- it reminded me not only that sports can have a tremendously positive impact on someone's life, but also that the Church's heart should break for the homeless and love them very much (just as Jesus does).

Letting Paul Speak for Himself - 1 Timothy 6:11-21

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,” for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.

Grace be with you.

"The Great Debate"

If you ever have a while to sit and listen to something I would highly recommend what I have posted below. It is a link to one of the most famous debates of the 20th century and is still referred to as "The Great Debate." This debate is between Greg Bahnsen (pictured above), a brilliant Christian apologist, and Gordon Stein, the well-known and equally intelligent atheist. Stein quickly has to go into retreat due to Bahnsen's incredible ability to reveal the illogical nature of the foundation of Stein's argument against God. Granted, it will probably make your head hurt, but if you have any sort of interest in apologetics this would probably be right up your alley. It's amazing how often you hear about debates between Christian apologists and atheists, but rarely can you find one to listen to. Well, here is one for your listening pleasure.

http://veritasdomain.wordpress.com/2006/12/05/greg-bahnsen-vs-gordon-stein-the-great-debate/

Image of a Winning Shot

I thought this was a pretty cool picture, and also that I should take advantage of the Carolina Gamecocks winning a game against a ranked opponent (#23 Ole Miss). This is Dominique Archie's reaction after hitting a game-winning 3 pointer with 6 seconds left. I think the best part is the Ole Miss crowd's reaction in the background.

In Response to Arguments (whether spoken or unspoken) against Missions (part 1)

I started to write a response to 5 arguments but realized that it was just too much to post at one time. I'm not out to make anyone read a dissertation. Basically I made a list a few days ago of various conflicts people have (or I once had) with missionary work and thought I'd give a brief response to each. If you'd like me to answer another objection in the coming days feel free to let me know.

These aren't in any particular order, but here's two for now...

1. The Sovereignty of God Argument

This is an argument that hopefully nobody even knew existed, and it seems that it probably does not even exist anymore for the most part. In an overly simple summary, this is the belief that essentially views missions as unneccesary because God is sovereign, has chosen who He will save and who He will not, and since there's nothing we can do about it we might as well let God be God and sit around and do nothing. Such a stance is infamously summarized by the pastor who strongly discouraged the great missionary to India, William Carey, to pursue his call to missions: "When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without consulting you or me."

My guess is that the pastor who said that looked something like this:

Now this is not an attempt to get into any sort of Calvinism-Arminianism discussion (I promise to never blog extensively on that-ever). But I did feel it neccessary to respond to this view. This argument is always made from Scripture which certainly does affirm the sovereignty of God (such as Romans 9), but it misses the forest for the trees. Sure, someone can pick a few verses here and there to justify missional complacency, but what is ignored is the HUGE theme of missions that is consistent throughout the Bible. From Genesis (the original purpose of Abraham's call and the call that would soon come for Israel to be light unto the world) to Revelation, there is a consistent theme of the responsibility to go and tell. I guess I don't understand why someone would use verses written by Paul as a reason to ignore missions when he was the greatest missionary in the history of the church.

2. The "Isn't that dangerous?" argument

Southeastern and the International Mission Board (IMB) send missionaries into parts of the world that most sane people wouldn't enter with John Rambo. I've heard people say that it's irresponsible to send missionaries into dangerous areas or where lives may be threatened. Basically it's the view that, "you're not much use to God if you're dead." This argument also stems from a feeling that there is something wrong with living in and engaging a country other than the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe due to the difference in the "quality of life."

I wouldn't say that we should be irresponsible and simply go into any area like James Bond into a room full of bad guys in Goldeneye (for any of you N64 lovers out there). However, there would not be much of a church had the early church taken such a view that dangerous or less industrialized areas should be avoided at all costs. Look at the price that all eleven (subtracting Judas) of the remaining disciples paid once given the Great Commission. Deaths, crucifixion, beatings, stonings, etc. Paul was beaten, threatened, put on trial, but remained faithful to his call until dying for his faith in Christ. We should not be foolish, but "he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose" (Jim Elliot).

And the Best Superbowl Commercial was...

If all else fails, just have small animals scream for 30 seconds...

Marleyanity?

Megan and I went to see "I am Legend" a few weeks ago and both of us came away thinking that the movie is below average. However, one of the best parts of the movie was the inclusion of Bob Marley. His music is pretty much the soundtrack to the film, and if you look at this clip below you'll see that it included more than just his music, but also his worldview.

WARNING: if you're one of those people that doesn't like to know anything about a movie going into it I don't want to spoil it for you, so I've also posted what Robert Neville (Will Smith) says in the clip here:
ROBERT NEVILLE (talking about Bob Marley and explaining why his daughter is named Marley): He had this idea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cure racism and hate... literally cure it, by injecting music and love into people's lives. When he was scheduled to perform at a peace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why - He said, "The people, who were trying to make this world worse... are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness."


While the movie wasn't that great I couldn't help but want to listen to more of Bob Marley's music and even know more about him. During this clip I was thinking that it would be interesting to read a biography about him. I have listened to some of his music since the movie, and I believe this is because they were able to make him an attractive historical figure in the film.

However, it got me wondering- what if when Will Smith was asked his daughter's name he instead responded something like, "Christina, she's named after Jesus Christ," and then went on to describe Jesus' worldview, who He was, some of His famous sayings from the Bible, and what he wanted for the world. Chances are, it would make many moviegoers uncomfortable. And that leaves me asking why someone like Bob Marley can be made attractive in a movie but Jesus can't. This isn't a post complaining that it's not fair that we as a society are naturally drawn to the scene above when if it was the same scene, but instead talking about Jesus, it would be offensive or laughed at by many. My point is to ask why this is? Has society become so calloused that they can't take an honest look at Jesus without a thousand negative presuppositions. Have we as the church given society good reason to have that callousness?

As usual, the blame probably lies with both parties. We as the church haven't done a great job of presenting Jesus Christ as someone who is much greater than Bob Marley (is the stuff that Will Smith said in that clip really all that different then what Jesus said?). And the world is rarely willing to look at Jesus with a fresh and humble outlook. Somebody has been in church before, or saw a documentary on the History Channel, or took a religion class in college, or once read part of the Bible, or grew up in "Christian America," and they aren't willing to acknowledge that they may not have Him figured out after all. Hopefully we as the church can live in such a way that they want to know more- "Light up the darkness" or better yet, "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life'" (John 8:12).