Modern Gospel Progress

At that time [in the 300s when Constantine converted] Christianity was the one religion that had no nationalism at its root, partly because it was rejected by the Jews! It was not the folk religion of any one tribe. – Ralph D. Winter, The Kingdom Strikes Back: Ten Epochs of Redemptive History

For if their [the Jews] rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? – Romans 11:15

It is fascinating to see how God orchastrated things so the gospel could go forth in the first few centuries. Roman roads, wide-spread trade routes, a common spoken and written language, general safety in travel from criminals, laws protecting Roman citizens. God used all of these things to help move the gospel out of Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Today even the most agnostic historian stands amazed that what began in a humble stable in Bethlehem of Palestine, a backwater of the Roman empire, in less than 300 years was give control of the emperors' palace in Rome. How did this happen? It is a truly incredible story. – Winter

Had the Jews accepted Jesus, then Christianity would be viewed as no more than reformed Judaism, a Hebrew religion. But God, in His wisdom, hardened the hearts of the Jews towards Jesus and pushed Christianity out of Palestine and away from a single ethnic group. Christians were Jews and Gentiles, men and women, barbarians, Scythians, slaves and free. It was a religion of the people, not a nation. This too allowed it to spread, unhindered by nationalistic ideals it could cross cultural barriers.

What is sad is that today, Islam sees Christianity as the religion of the decadent West. To be a Saudi or Iranian or Iraqi or Indonesian or whatever is to be Muslim. Today religion has become once again intertwined with nationalist identity. If you live in the West you are a Christian. What spews forth from Hollywood and MTV is Christian culture. That is how Islam sees it. No wonder Bin Laden hates us! If that is what he thinks Christianity is all about I can see why he hates it. (I'm not condoning his barbaric reaction to it, only recognizing his revulsion at it.)

So how will Western culture be severed from Christianity in the eyes of the rest of the world? Winter's take on history seems to be that we will be overrun by those we failed to reach and then they will be converted. He sites a historical track record of that happening (though there have been groups in history who were quite good at evangelizing and America has been particularly noteworthy in the past centuries). I suppose it could happen again but what I think I see happening is that Christianity is continuing to move west. It started in Israel then moved west to Rome then wast to Europe then west to America and now it appears to be moving west to China and Korea where there are numerically more evangelicals than in the US. As America and the West abandon Christianity the East seems to be taking it up. Perhaps once Christianity has moved soundly into the Eastern nations then Islam will have to reconsider exactly who they were fighting against. Maybe our brothers and sisters to the west will have more success in reaching the Middle East than we have. Maybe they will not have the disadvantage of having a decadent cultural image tied to the name of Christ as they go forth.

I just had two JWs at my door! What a thrill to begin the evangelism with them. Who is Jesus? They say he was the first created being. I said that according to John 1:3, which I read from their (mis)translation, he couldn't be created. We went round and round and they agreed to come back next Saturday. Oh, I am so thrilled to have JayDubs come over so I can witness to them! Praise God. I get to pray and study all week! :)

A new .Mac benefit is a free copy of iBlog software. It will let you publish your own blog on you .Mac homepage. I'm going to play with it and see if I can get a decent looking blog out of it. May also be a good time for a redesign. Of course that won't happen anytime soon, I have WAY too much school work to deal with.

Luther: The Movie
Okay, I saw it. It was a two hour movie and so the story was needfully rushed. The Diet of Worms consisted of Eck saying "Recant" and Luther saying "I need more time" and then they came back and Eck once again saying "Recant" and then Luther's famous reply. If you know anything about the Reformation, you know what I mean by "rushed". The movie hit most of the historical facts and got them pretty much in order with only mild fabrications. As a historical movie I would say it was pretty good. In retrospect, I think I liked it because I knew the story going in. What the movie didn't say, I said to myself. Before you go see it, read (or reread) Here I Stand, it'll help. A lot.

On a more theological basis, I was somewhat disappointed. The movie begins with Luther's pledge to become a monk and his misery trying to live under the law. He feared God and His wrath and had no way to escape it. What we miss was Luther uttering "The just shall live by faith" even once. The bulk of the debate and dissention was over indulgences. That is fine in the beginning, but as the Reformation continued the battle moved to the doctrine of justification. That was the doctrine Martin Luther said the Church stands or falls on and it is the logical extension of a battle begun over indulgences. The doctrine of justification never comes up in the movie. How that is possible is beyond me. Though Luther argues with Cardinal Cajetan briefly in the film, we never get to hear the other debates. I suppose that is because most people wouldn't understand what was being argued for and against. It was an unfortunate but understandable omission whereas justification was not.

Back to the movie as a movie. Joseph Fiennes did a good job of portraying Luther in his brilliance and his madness. Luther suffered from depression throughout his life and Fiennes pulled it off well. Alfred Molina was a very good Tetzel. A firey preacher and peddler of indulgences. The movie is 121 minutes and that was about the right length. Any longer and it'd have become tedeaous (that and they'd've had to deal with more weighty theological issues than they did!) For the life of me I can't understand why it got a PG-13 rating. There was a scene of Luther walking though murdered peasents, but even that was pretty mild by contemporary standards.

I think I'm going to go see Luther on Friday after work. I have no idea if it will be even close to what really happened or not but it should be a good story!

God Uses Means

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!" And he said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." - Luke 10:17-20 (ESV)

This was really neat to read today. Part of the way Jesus triumphs over Satan is though the work of the church. "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Rom 16:20a). As the church goes about kingdom business (preaching, healing, going) Jesus trimuphs. As the seventy went out Satan was cast down. When we carry the gospel to the nations (including the USA) we get to participate in God bringing all things under Jesus' feet. We get to be involved in His trimuph over sin and death and hell. Why would we not do these things?

Of course our work is not the totality of Jesus' triumph. We didn't particiapte in His death on the cross and we don't grant regeneration. I think this is why Jesus told his disciples to be more amazed that their names were written in heaven. While we are doing the work of the kingdom we should be mostly amazed that God would ever use or involve someone like us. Salvation is even more amazing than signs and wonders.

Oh good, it isn't just me. Barbara Streisand don't like her music either. Now, if we can only get her to take a similiarly critical look at her politics too...

Ethics sans God?
I listened to part of a fascinating program on Odyssey today on WBEZ. The discussion was on ethics. The two distinguished guests were taking calls when I tuned in and it was interesting to hear them try to form a basis for ethics which didn't appeal to "metaphysics". What that means is that they tried to define some form of morality that had nothing to do with God.

As far as I can tell, this is impossible to do and retain some viable ethical framework. The modern humanist philosophy is "do whatever you want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else." Two problems emerge. First, it makes it sound like that is really possible. If I do whatever I want, most of the time it is at someone else's expense. When I take a motorcycle ride on a sunny afternoon, no one gets hurt, right? Not if you listen to the environmentalists. I'm dumping carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. What about the underpaid workers in Mexico who made the inexpensive tires I'm riding one? What about the Muslim government I'm supporting by buying gasoline from an Arab nation that persecutes Christians? The idea of not hurting anyone only works if you mean it directly. I can swing my arm all I want but it can't impact someone's nose. That sorta' works, but in real life it doesn't.

The second problem is that I have no real reason for caring if I harm someone else. If I'm doing it and it makes me happy, why should I limit my happiness because it might affect someone else? Who cares? An ethicist might take the long view and develop an argument like this: First, you're happiness is what is chiefly important. However, to ensure the ongoing success of your happiness, you will need to limit yourself in certain areas (ethics). For example, you should not steal because while it might make you happy in the short term, in the long term, it will drive prices up and possibly close businesses thereby depriving you of that thing that makes you happy. What if everyone stole Frito Lay chips? Then Frito Lay would go out of business and you couldn't get the chips that you enjoy. Society works because we are all getting what we want in a way that benefits each other.

While that second option attempts to build ethics on a communal level, it fails on the individual level. As long as everyone else is buying Frito Lay chips, the company will stay in business. I can steal them because I want them but no one else can steal them because then I won't be able to get them. Again, what do I care if someone else is happy? It doesn't benefit me.

In the end, the only tenable ethical system is one that assumes a bigger reason than "me" and the only way that can happen is if there is at least a concept of God. Why should I buy Frito Lay chips instead of stealing them? Because God said it is wrong to steal. Since God is good, His laws are good and there is good that flows from following them. For ethics to really work, there must be a transcendent other, an external code.

When the two guys on the radio were talking, they were saying that we all know it is wrong to murder and we don't need some ethical system to tell us that. A caller worried about there being an attempt to create a universal ethical system. What if that system is wrong? The guests on the radio agreed. But I thought that if there is no universal system of right and wrong (BTW, the 'system' most often resisted on the program was Christianity) then we have no right to complain about the treatment of women in Muslim nations, for example. How can we project our ideas of equality of the sexes on that culture? Isn't that enforcing a system of ethics? In the end what the caller feared and what the professors were dodging was the genuine possibility that they might be wrong and have to change their ways. If there is a universal ethical code (Rom 2:14-16) then it turn out that they are in violation of it.

Here is why we need to get Macs out of our schools:
Face it. Macintoshes are toys. They are for drawing pretty little pictures. Mac lovers can cite all the facts and figures they want about their processor speeds, but a Macintosh simply cannot compete with a Windows machine when it comes to what matters: keeping techs employed.

Yeah! CARS is broadcasting (after a fashion) again! Glad to have those knuckleheads back.

I find it incredible that people would take offense at our preaching the gospel in other nations. While in Burma I saw televisions blaring MTV in our hotel lobby. That kind of thing corrupts morals by promoting immodest dress and overt sexuality. It suggests promises of a better life for the sexually liberated & promiscuous. It touts a life of partying and fun. Yet it can never deliver these things. The sex it promote leads to over-population, AIDS, greater poverty and suffering. The 'fun' life style leads to wasting scarce, hard-earned money on clothes, cigarettes, alcohol, and clubbing. The pain of all this is anesthetized by the dream-wish that this is the good life.

But when I go and preach salvation in Christ I am some how doing them a disservice! When I hold out the promise of eternal fellowship with God through Jesus Christ, a promise that can and does deliver, I am ruining the natives' happiness. The gospel is seen as corrupting the culture but MTV is benign. There are calls for the gospel to stay home but not a whisper against Hollywood or MTV.

9/11

Two years ago I was driving to the shopette to get some milk before I went to work. I turned on KCRW and it sounded like it was CNN. I checked the radio and it was KCRW. They were talking about a plane crash. I had no idea what they meant. A man said that planes can crash into buildings on accident like that. I got out of the car and bought the milk. When I got back in they were talking about how it couldn't be an air traffice controller mistake, the pilot had to see the building before he hit it. Furthermore, the possibility that it could happen twice was just too much.

I dropped the milk off at home and headed to work. On the way I heard about an explosion at the Pentagon. I thought, "Is this it? Are we under attack and we can't defend ourselves? Is this the end of America? When will the explosions end?"

When I got to work, I immediately got busy with the work I'd been doing for the past couple of months. I was reviewing maintenance records for some Pakastani F-16s we were pulling out of the boneyard. We needed to decide what kinds of updates they had missed that had to be done. I was working with a civilian and another Master Sergeant. When we heard about the towers falling, Ray (the Master Sergeant) got really mad. He wanted to nuke just about everyone. He was ready to go to war on the spot. Someone was going to pay.

A week later, I was on an airplane flying to Burma on a short-term mission trip with my church. People said we were nuts. Perhaps we were, but I was not going to let Osama Bin Laden stop me from bring the gospel to the world. In Burma, after a day in the field, I returned to my hotel room and put on BBC. The retaliation had started in Afganistan. I was geographically closer to the retaliation than I was to the inital strike. On the way back, I sat in a hotel in Singapore watching the news of Anthrax being mailed to different people. I was actually more afraid of going home than I was of leaving.

Last night I watched a special on PBS about how the towers fell. When they showed the plane crashing in to the second tower I burst into tears and sobbed for a minute. I didn't do that two years ago. This time I saw the airliner not as a missle but full of people who didn't have a clue what was about to happen to them.

Today, my wife is on her way to China on a short-term mission trip. On the two year anniversary of 9/11. We're still not going to allow Satan or the world stop us from telling others about Jesus Christ. He is worth the risk.

For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
  and declares to man what is his thought,
who makes the morning darkness,
  and treads on the heights of the earth--
  the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! - Amos 4:13 (ESV)

Calvin's (not John) take on religion in public school:

Back in 198? I came home from England on my first leave. Before leaving London, I had to stay in a hotel where I watched Agatha on TV to while away my hours till my flight. When I arrived in Detroit the next day I saw a commercial on channel 50 for the "World-wide Television Premier" of Agatha. I hand't realized how America views the world. It am us. Or US.

Well, it seems that the world has bought that line of thought. In Cambodia a "Fear Factor"-style TV program has been axed. Information Minister Lu Laysreng said, "It is a dirty game. It might be OK in America, but it is not proper for Cambodian culture." Sure, fine. I hate Fear Factor anyway, but don't blame us. In the mid-80s I watched a British program on Japanese television programming. They were doing Fear Factor kinds of things long before we got around to it.

It just strikes me as funny that an Asian country rejects a television program that "might be OK in America" which we copied from another Asian country!

It appears that Office 2003 will include some rights controls so people won't be able to monkey with your document. Fair 'nough, sounds like a nice feature. What has me worried is this:

The technology is one of the first major steps in Microsoft's plan to popularize Windows Rights Management Services, a wide-ranging plan to make restricted access to information a standard part of business processes.

Microsoft. Security. One simply cannot say those two words in a single breath and not smile. As expressed in the article, I think this is a move to eliminate the alternatives. You can use a handful of other applications to open and edit and save Word documents. Guess what. When this new version of Word (and other Office apps) debuts, those other won't be able do that any more. Microsoft doesn't appear to be changing its stripes nor its preditory business practices. (via AtAT)

A hymn

Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed,
See who bears the awful load;
'Tis the Word, the LORD's Anointed,
Son of Man and Son of God.

It appears these computer viruses are getting more agressive!