Senior Saint Hip Hop April 13, 2009
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I’m speechless. I guess this was done as an object lesson for the youth group. And man . . . what a lesson!
An Ugly Death April 11, 2009
Posted by Ivan in Gospel, Notable Articles, Video.add a comment
From TeamPyro (Dan Phillips):
It depicts Jews preparing, then slitting the throat of a sacrificial animal, and gathering its blood.
You watch it, hearing their ritual in rapid Hebrew, not understanding. But you have this feeling of dread, a horror for what you know is coming. Odds are that you had never quite seen the like, as I hadn’t. But you feel it coming, you watch perhaps with a hand to your mouth, wanting to look away, but stopping yourself. The struggling victim, no clue what is coming; bound, prepared, shaved, given some liquid (sh’teh! sh’teh! — “Drink! Drink!” a speaker urges in Hebrew).
Then the blade slashes, the blood spurts and is gathered, and surprisingly quickly, the victim’s struggles subside.
This was God’s ancient pedagogy. From the very start, He taught us all that sin called for shed blood. He showed this to Adam and Eve in the Garden (Genesis 3:21). Somehow Abel knew it (Genesis 4:4). Shed blood meant death (Genesis 9:6), and shed blood was the means that Yahweh instituted, for covering and paying for sin (Leviticus 17:11, 14).
This was God’s pedagogy for the nation of Israel. The sight that so shocks us in the video is a sight every Israelite was exposed to from childhood, by divine design. Had they heard Yahweh, had they listened and learned, they would have known: sin-blood-life. Sin can only be atoned for by innocent life, life is in the blood, blood brings life and forgiveness. Violent death of an innocent victim, a substitute on whose head the offerer presses his hand, transferring, marking it as his substitute.
Yet all those animals never really finish the job. God forgives the believing worshipers… but then they have to bring another victim. And another. And another (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11).
Then God tells Israel that these animals would one day be summed up, fulfilled, in one grand Substitute, a Man who would die for His people and bring final and lasting peace and atonement (Isaiah 52:13—53:12).
That Man comes. Many reject Him, many do not. He dies. God removes the Temple. No more sacrifices according to the prescription of the Law are even possible. As if embarrassed (but not humbled), the nation fabricates substituted traditions, works, programs, rituals. The reality has come, but they keep trying to pencil in shadows.
It is like a child that ignored its entire childhood instruction. Blood is necessary for atonement; it would be offered, it has been offered. But the lesson was not heard.
Don’t feel smug, Gentile reader, Christian reader. From our own numbers, from professed “evangelicals,” there are plenty who just as badly — more badly — miss the point.
Imagine that, instead of watching a video of an animal’s death, you somehow saw this day, nearly 2000 years ago. Imagine that, instead of that animal, you were watching Jesus Christ at last night’s supper, at prayer in the garden, arrested, subjected to mock-justice, condemned. Imagine you were watching him being beaten and whipped, and led away.
Imagine the sick, nauseated, worsening clench in your gut as you saw Him stagger off, carrying the cross. You want to tear your eyes away. You want to make it stop. You want to scream “Stop! STOP! This is wrong!“
Yet He goes. He hangs. He bleeds. He dies. He is buried.
Why such an ugly, horrid death? Why, if penal, substitutionary, blood atonement were not indispensable for our salvation? Do we dare shake our heads at Jews who don’t “get” the millennia of instruction?
Best not to mock, while such folly is tolerated in our numbers.
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?Refrain
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give my self away
’Tis all that I can do.Isaac Watts, 1707
The Hunt for Gollum April 8, 2009
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Apparently I’ve been out of the loop about this. On May 3rd, there will be fan-made movie released online. Check here for more info and see the trailer below. Go Gollum!
Transitory Life March 12, 2009
Posted by Ivan in Notable Quotes.add a comment
Do you ever have those moments when you’re reading a book and a few words just stick out and grab hold of your heart? Well, that happened last night as I was reading a short biography on a pastor.
What is man apart from the grace of God! How transitory is the longest life!
This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered a saying with the same thrust. We all realize the shortness of this life and the fact that without the grace of God we would be reduced to ashes, not even worthy of pity. Those words gripped me and I began meditating on that truth. And what a truth it is! May I be sobered up to the reality that soon my life will end . . . and only what I’ve done for Christ and His Kingdom will last unto eternity.
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P.S. – The quote is by Iain Murray in Truth Endures.
Mint February 16, 2009
Posted by Ivan in Miscellaneous.1 comment so far
Mint.com has been a site that I came across by chance. I wasn’t sure if it was legit or not at first. I did some checking around and saw that it was. And let me tell you, it has revolutionized my spending and my (very small) budget . . . oh, it FREE!
You can add all your accounts onto it. All you need is the sign in name and password. They don’t ask for your address and SSN or anything of that sort. Here’s a video by the founder and CEO explaining it all.
You can see where all your money goes.
Indulgences February 13, 2009
Posted by Ivan in Cultural Issues, Notable Articles.add a comment
I had no idea that the Catholic Church continued to do this. NY Times has an interesting article.
There are partial indulgences, which reduce purgatorial time by a certain number of days or years, and plenary indulgences, which eliminate all of it, until another sin is committed. You can get one for yourself, or for someone who is dead. You cannot buy one — the church outlawed the sale of indulgences in 1567 — but charitable contributions, combined with other acts, can help you earn one. There is a limit of one plenary indulgence per sinner per day.
Theology-ology February 12, 2009
Posted by Ivan in Notable Articles, Spiritual Growth.add a comment
Do we love theology (the study of God)? Or, do are we fascinated with simply studying theology? Tim Challies provides a helpful self-examination (for himself and us) of the constant danger of falling in love with studying the truths of God rather than the actual God behind those truths. Challies’ thoughts are penetrating and convicting. This trap is a constant threat I must guard myself against.
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Theology-ology
Tim Challies
Theology remains something of a bad word in Christian circles. I’d believe that the success of a book like The Shack has proven this to us yet again. Many people seem eager to embrace some form of Christian spirituality but have little desire or love for theology. Theology is linked in people’s minds with frigid, dead religion that cares more about principles and matters of the head than deeds and matters of the heart. It is associated with fundamentalism and with cold conservatism. We need only look at the meaning and etymology of the word, though, to conclude that God requires all Christians to be theologians.
The word theology, as I’m sure you know, is derived from two Greek words. The root “theos” means God and the suffix “-ology” comes from the Greek word for speak. So what theology really means is “speaking of God” or as has become the more accurate definition, “the study of God.” That sounds quite inoffensive, doesn’t it? If you are a Christian, I suspect that it sounds exciting. If you love God and if you are loved by God, you will want to know him. I don’t think any Christian can deny that we are called by God to learn more about him and to study his ways. The process of sanctification is just that–learning more and more about God and his requirements for our lives. Our lifelong challenge is to mold our lives to fit into that image.
So what is it, then, that people are rebelling against when they disassociate themselves from theology? I believe that what they are running from is better termed “theology-ology.” It is a study of the study of God. If a Christian is diligent in studying God through the right motives and methods and for the right reasons, there will necessarily be change in his life. He cannot help but be changed by the living Word of God. However, if someone studies God only to acquire knowledge about him without applying any of that knowledge to his life, he is not so much studying God as he is studying the study of God. The study of God when done as he has commanded must always lead to application, heart change and then life change. Conversely, studying God through improper motives and methods with no view to application cannot affect true heart change in anyone.
There seems to be a fine line between theology and theology-ology. The line is not found in what we study as much as it is the motives behind the study and the result we expect to achieve. For example, 1 Corinthians 11 speaks about the necessity of women wearing head coverings while in church. I can look at that section of the Bible in two different ways. I can go in with a motive of wanting to show that women are subservient to men and sin if they do not wear head coverings in church. I can begin this study with the intent to prove to my wife that she needs to wear a head covering next Sunday. On the other hand, I can turn to this section with a motive of wanting to understand what God is trying to teach us in this passage. I can seek to understand the principles the Bible is teaching and how those relate to people today. I can begin my study with the intent to learn something that I can humbly and prayerfully apply to my life. This is an extreme or simplistic example perhaps, but it displays the difference between wanting to acquire knowledge of God through proper or improper methods and for right or wrong intentions.
I love theology. I love studying God and continually learning about him and about what he has done. I must confess that there is a part of me that also loves to study the study of God. There are many times in my life where I have learned about God simply so I could have more knowledge about him, never intending to change myself in response to what I have learned. There have been times where I have studied God just so I could convince others of their need to change. It is my prayer that whenever I study God I do so with proper motives and with a humble attitude, preparing myself to be changed by what I learn about him.
