Historical Theology resource

Posted by Ken

Gregg Allison is currently teaching theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.  I had never heard of him before I signed up to take a theology course that he was teaching.  It was one of the best decisions I made while at seminary.  He is not only a top-notch theologian, he is very pastoral.  He really cared about each student and he cared about the people we would be shepherding in our churches.

He has a new book out.  I am looking forward to reading this great book that has been described as a companion to Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.

 

Discernment in the watching of videos

Posted by Ken Schmidt

I think this is my last post concerning the Rob Bell controversy.  It has served as a good test case for discernment.  I have posted two videos featuring Rob Bell.  Both have to do with his book Love Wins.  The first is the promotional video sent out byhis publishing company.  The second is an interview on MSNBC.  As you watch both videos, I want you to notice how easy it is to make an argument sound good and reasonable.  In the first video, Bell masterfully controls the conversation with questions that make you come to the conclusion he wants.  The second video demonstrates how silly a position is that is built upon questions (and no answers).

The wise of heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.   Proverbs 16:21

 

Discerning Conversations about Hell

Posted by Ken Schmidt

Hell is real.  The reality of hell impacts every single human-being.  Those who neglect or soften the teaching on hell do so to the peril of the people with whom they interact.  At some point, we are going to have to talk about hell to our kids, family members, co-workers and friends. Our understanding of hell and our motivation will set the tone for our conversations.  Anger and harm will be the products of a foolish motivation.  Godly sorrow and life result from a wise and discerning motivation. 

We are to be God-like in our attitude towards people and hell.  We should not wish hell upon anyone!  Note these words from God in Ezekiel 18:21-23,

 ²¹ “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does  what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²² None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. ²³ Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?

A godly person is pro-life.  We take no pleasure in death of any form (expect the death of sin and death).  We do not celebrate the death of Hitler, Hussein or the child molester.  We pray for life from death.  We pray for our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers to turn away from their rebellious sin and turn to Jesus Christ and his righteousness that he gives to those who trust in him and his work on the cross.  We weep as passionately at the death of the wicked as we do for our own family members. 

We pray for life!

 

Discerning Alternatives on Hell

Posted by Ken Schmidt

Dean and I are obviously troubled by Rob Bell’s new book that muddies the waters on hell.  I recommend checking out the sermon Dean referenced yesterday.  I would also recommend two books that will answer Bell’s questions and bring clarity in this important topic.

These books can be found here and here.

 

The Danger of Lack of Pastoral Discernment

I try and vary my reading.  In the Bible, I try and read from the OT, a Gospel and an epistle.  Theologically, I try and read a book that I generally agree with and one that I will most likely disagree with the author’s point.  I am currently reading Radical by David Platt (with whom I basically agree) and Love Wins by Rob Bell (with whom I am generally troubled). 

The last few posts I have written have dealt with discernment.  I am very troubled with Rob Bell’s writing because I think it shows a lack of pastoral discernment.  He has a large audience that listens to him.  He is artsy, edgy and hip.  He is also intentionally provocative and ambiguous.  He exalts questions, mystery and conversation above answers, clarity and authoritative teaching.

I like the quote below from Keving DeYoung as he blogs about the danger in this pastoral practice:

At some point, people need precision in our thinking.  Provocation has its place.  Ambiguity serves a purpose.  But the work of the preacher is to present the gospel in an open statement of truth (2 Corinthians 4:2).  Sooner or later people in the media, people in the hospital bed, people in the pews want to know what we think.  Conversation works in the foyer, but behind the pulpit, clarity is king.

You can read Kevin’s review of Love Wins here.  I would also recommend Tim Challies, Al Mohler, Christianity Today and Russell Moore’s as well.

 

Gospeling in the Grocery Store

Post by Ken Schmidt

Disclaimer:  I am going to brag about my godly and lovely wife.  With joy!

2 Cor 10:5 speaks of taking every thought captive to obey Christ, and Ephesians 5:15-16 challenges us to make the best use of our time.  My wife has an amazing gift of discernment.  So often we think of discernment in terms of making a wise decision or choice.  Kim’s discernment consists of this facet and more.  The discernment that I love in my wife is  the way she is able to examine the details of life and understand and explain the gospel implications.

An example of this discernment applied in everyday life happened last evening.  She attended a coupon seminar.  In the midst of this seminar, the leader told them that it is best to leave your children home when grocery shopping.  Enter Kim’s discernment.  She takes our boys grocery shopping with her.  Because it is easier? NO!  She takes them grocery shopping because it is an opportunity (i.e. a chance to redeem our time with our boys) to teach the boys about self-discipline.  We can’t afford to have every food or treat we want.  We must plan or discipline ourselves (budget, shopping list) to use the resources God has given us. 

It is taking root.  Last week, I asked our 4-year old to make sure that a jar of pickles ended up in the cart.  He said to me in a very serious tone:  “Daddy, pickles are not on mommy’s list.  If it is not on mommy’s list, we don’t get it.”  He is learning self-discipline!  The gospel teaches self-discipline.  The gospel says seek to make every thought captive to obey Christ.  We are seeking to instill in our boys a love for and obedience to the gospel.  Kim’s gift of discernment is helping us as gospeling parents to see and seize every opportunity to gospel our children.

I thank the Lord for giving me a wife who sees and seizes opportunities (and not run from them because it makes it more difficult) to gospel our children.

 

Use Discernment When Reading

Post by Ken Schmidt

I hope you are a reader.  Books, magazines, blogs, etc. occupy much of our time.  I have a plea.  Use discernment when reading.  There are many good books out there…and numerous ones that are not so good.  A year ago, I won a free book from a book website I frequent.  When I received the book, I read it and laughed harder than I have ever laughed reading a book.  The problem was that the book was supposed to be a theological memoir of a modern-day prophet.  This is an example of a book that impacted very few people.  It would be a dangerous book if it had wide readership. 

Why bring up this subject?  There are some authors that label themselves Christian who are having a major impact on the church.  They are hip, artsy, anguished.  They are concerned with reaching the lost without offending the lost.  The problem is that they appeal to a broad spectrum of people who are not using discernment.  They are throwing out the offensive or scandalous teachings of the gospel (the exclusivity of Christ is an especially offensive topic).  And they are doing so with deliberate ambiguity.  It is hard to pin them down on any doctrine because they love asking provocative questions (answering them with  more provocative questions) and hate labels. 

This plea comes in light of the newest book by Rob Bell.  In this book, Bell questions the biblical teaching of hell.  He is the most frustrating of all the Emergent authors because he does questions and ambiguity better than any contemporary author.  In this book, he is at his best.  Check out this thoughtful review of his newest book by Tim Challies.  In this review, Challies takes his artistic ambiguity to task.

 

Lessons we can learn from Charlie Sheen?

Posted by Dean Paulson

I decided it was time to try to get back on track with my blogging.  I am not sure if getting on track with a blog referring to Charlie Sheen is a good idea?:)

I have not followed the situation with actor Charlie Sheen in detail.  I have tracked bits and pieces and sound bites.  There are many things we could comment on in a situation like this but two come to mind that would be good for all of us to remember.

First, the mind is a fragile thing.   Mental health is not something to play around with.  Just like we are to keep our physical bodies healthy and our spiritual lives strong we should give proper attention to our emotional wellbeing.  Emotional fatigue is a serious matter as is depression and anxiety and the other mental health issues.  Presumably Jesus got emotionally fatigued, physically tired and spiritually worn, thus he would take off in a boat to get away from the demands that were on him.  What do you need to do for your emotional wellbeing?  If it is godly and biblical then make it a priority in your life.  Don’t wait until your emotional health is depleted, it will take a lot longer to repair it than it will to protect it.

Second, one of the great tools for Christian maturity and sanctification is a rarely used tool and discipline today.  It is called self -reflection.  Looking at ourselves in the mirror and with the help of the Holy Spirit, honestly and realistically assessing our own character and actions is essential if we want the fruit of the Spirit to be developed in our lives.   I truly believe that most of the relational problems that we have in the family, work, church and our communities exist because people cannot be honest with themselves.  The result is that those character traits that the Holy Spirit wants to transform are never dealt with.  Those patterns of behavior that hurt others and us are never addressed.  This happens mainly because we don’t believe the Bible.  We don’t truly believe it when it tells us that our nature is sinful and selfish.  Since the Bible is true, I need to realize my own propensity for denial and my own desire to look good to others.  All this leads us to a lack of personal honesty.

Here is a little assignment for you.  Spend some time asking God to reveal to you three things in your character that he wants you to give attention to.  Remember with the help of the Holy Spirit our character can be changed.  Also ask him for three ways that you relate to or treat people that he wants you to change.  This kind of self- reflection, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can be life changing.  I know from personal experience. 

After 25 years of ministry the situation with Charlie Sheen is not new to me.  Sadly, I have seen it all too often even amongst those who claim the name of Christ.  And yes even some of the exact same issues.  The good news is we have a gracious and merciful God.  And with a little honest personal reflection, and by His grace and Mercy, Christ will reveal what else he wants to address in our life.  And Christ will get the glory for, and we will get the benefit of, a transformed life.

 

I want a book I can hold

Posted by Ken Schmidt

Al Mohler has written an insightful post concerning the foreclosure of Borders bookstore and the demise of bookstores in general.  I was intrigued by this thought from the article:

The general wisdom seems to be that the bookstore will go the way of the record store and the video rental outlet. The bookstore may have been an important cultural asset in years past, many argue, but it has little place in a world of e-readers, online sales, and mega retailers like WalMart that deep-discount bestsellers.

Some go further and suggest that the demise of the bookstore is a signal of the demise of the book itself, at least as a printed product with pages between covers. That dystopian prophecy is almost surely overblown, but the book’s survival in printed form does depend, to a considerable extent, upon the survival of bookstores.

This commentary is challenging and disturbing to me because I love to read.  And I love to read books, books that I can see, smell and touch.  In the course of a week, I generally read two to three books.  Numerous people have advised me to buy the Kindle or some kind of e-reader.  I have weighed the pros and cons of each and come to the conclusion that I don’t want a Kindle or e-reader.  I like to have a book in my hands. 

Is this simply because I am old and refuse to enter the age of technology.  I imagine that may be part of it, but I think there is a bigger reason for my desire to have a physical copy of the book in my hands.  It is a matter of focus.  When I have a book, I am fully concentrating on the content of the book.  When I am online and read an article, I am bombarded with opportunities to wander in my concentration.  Most online articles have numerous links and if I understand correctly, Kindle and e-readers also have links at the tips of your fingers as well.  Yes, these links have a usefulness to them, but they also fuel the limited attention span that online technology has fostered in our generation.

To read a book or an e-reader, that is the question…

 

Mahaney & Moore on watching the Super Bowl (Go Pack!)

Posted by Jon Moore, pastoral intern, Manchester Creek Community Church

Well, as Ken is excitedly crowing, the Super Bowl is fast approaching, and the excitement is building for one of the major party opportunities of the year. Sadly, I’ll be at Starbucks, but many of you will be participating in a Super Bowl party somewhere, so I wanted to share some thoughts from author/pastor CJ Mahaney. I love Mahaney partly because he is an unashamed sports fan, and encourages people to take redemptive pride in enjoying sports for God’s glory. Below are his suggestions on how to watch the Superbowl for God’s glory, with a few less profound ones of mine thrown in.

1. Strategically assign the remote.
Some prefer to turn off all the commercials; other prefer to just keep an eye on it and turn off the offensive ones. Either way, be proactive about what shows up on your TV screen. One way to do this is to assign one person (someone with both discernment and quick reflexes) to remote-control duty.” This cannot be just anybody. Throughout the game viewers are assaulted with commercials—immoral commercials, commercials that assault and offend one’s intelligence, and commercials with immodestly dressed women (which both tempt men and belittle women). These are as much a part of the Super Bowl as the game itself.
This one is no surprise (every year GoDaddy shows the only thing they really know how to sell is the single entendre), but it also may be the most tempting advice to ignore. If you don’t care about the game, the unveiling of new commercials is one of the most exciting aspects of the Super Bowl, and it’s tempting to be lax with “bad” commercials because we don’t want to miss the “good” ones. That’s bad priorities, but it’s also a lie… you won’t miss a good commercial because they’ll be replayed ad-infinitum online and on your TV for months to come.
When choosing who holds the remote, let me recommend finding someone who is sensitive and discerning enough to know what needs to be turned off, not only for themselves but for sake of the room. This often works well if it is a person who doesn’t care about the game. Commercial time is when they’re focused on the TV, whereas for the football fan, it’s downtime meant for conversations, and their attention may be prone to wander from the task. 

2. Watch proactively.

I encourage fathers to watch actively and discerningly, never passively and superficially. There is no doubt that throughout the game you will hear one superlative after another attributed to the skill of the athletes. The accent throughout the game will be on skill, not character.
Nowhere is the word great mentioned more often in our culture than in the context of professional sports. If you watch any game this weekend and listen to the announcer’s commentary, then like a mantra you’ll probably hear the word great repeated throughout—great, great, great. Yet it may well be that nowhere in our culture is the absence of true greatness more evident than in professional sports. So be careful about cultivating an excessive love for professional athletics in your child.
Without minimizing the skill as a gift from God, I want to direct my son’s attention to character as theologically defined. So as Chad and I watch the game, I will draw his attention to any evidence of humility or unselfishness I observe, as well as any expression of arrogance or selfishness. I will celebrate the former and ridicule the latter.
This isn’t just a message for father’s and sons either. In your conversations, you have the chance to hold up truly great values not only by observation of the game, but by commending and praising how you have seen God at work in your life and how you see it shaping and transforming the life of a friend.

3. Foster fellowship.
We need to make sure a room full of people are not simply passively watching the Super Bowl. Commercial time can be time redeemed with the right leadership and by a simply changing of the channel to C-SPAN.
Don’t misunderstand. It’s perfectly legitimate to watch and enjoy the game. I’m not advocating that you invite those who have no interest in the game and who want to distract your attention from the game. You can arrange to meet with those people at another time.
No matter who we invite to our homes on Sunday, let’s not just stare at the TV, paying little attention to our families and our guests. Watching the game should involve building relationships.
 Even if you don’t turn off the game at certain points, there are still plenty of ways to make the game more social. Telly has started printing up “football bingo” cards, so that even those who don’t care about the game can learn more about football and enjoy themselves through the competition. Even more important than finding creative means of being social is being intentional about relationship building during the party. One simple way to do this is to enter the room and choose out at least one person (preferably not someone whom you already know well) upon whom you will focus your attention and make sure you know them more than when you arrived.
4. Draw attention to the eternal.
Sometime after the game—that same evening or the next day—it’s helpful for a father to draw his child’s attention to the game in light of eternity. It’s also helpful for us as fathers to be reminded of an eternal perspective.
Apart from those few who listen excessively to sports talk radio, this game will be quickly forgotten. Let me ask you this—who won the Super Bowl even five years ago?
The day before the 1972 Super Bowl, Dallas Cowboy running back Duane Thomas said, “If it’s the ultimate game how come they’re playing it again next year?” Some players seem to get it. Sadly, many fans don’t.

More recently Tom Brady, quarterback of three Super Bowl championships, is quoted in a 60 Minutes interview saying,
Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there’s something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, “Hey man, this is what is.” I reached my goal, my dream, my life. I think, “God, it’s got to be more than this.” I mean this isn’t, this can’t be what it’s all cracked up to be.

I anticipate that in a week or two, after the Super Bowl has been won, the champions will experience this same dissatisfaction. As Augustine said, “You [God] made us for yourself, and our hearts find no peace till they rest in you.”
We must impart this eternal perspective to our children.
This is a brilliant observation, and it reminds us to make Super Bowl gatherings an opportunity to spend time with those who may not know the Lord. We will have chances during the event and following it to springboard from the game and gathering to deeper issues of their lives and impart this eternal perspective, laying a foundation for the Gospel message.
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