Our Canon is the Protestant Canon.
Mar 9th
Someone asked me why I hold the Protestant Canon to be my Scripture and not the Apocrypha or the Quran. This is the best I can come up with, from my statement of faith.
We have no scriptural basis, no manuscript basis, and no scientific basis for this claim. It rests solely upon our faith in the Spirit guiding our historical spiritual community. It was not delivered to us on plates of gold; it came into being through much struggle, trepidation, and time. We listen to other Christian works such as the Catholic Apocrypha, popular Christian devotional and academic works, and even ancient Christian non-canonical texts (such as the Acts of Mar Andrew and Mar Matthias) for human and divine wisdom, but hold the Canon over and above all these as the only set of works co-opted by God as his instrument of communication.
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PETA and the Angels
Mar 8th
Go and read JR’s second post concerning PETA’s latest ad campaign. PETA’s Sexy Beasts Pt 2 (of 4): Like a Virgin…
Here is a taste:
Because we do not have access to any sort of transcendent religious reality, these ads are free to reinterpret ‘spiritual’ to mean whatever they want, using whatever religious symbols they choose. Whether intentionally or not (and I think PETA’s way too smart to do anything unintentionally), these ads appropriate cherished Christian symbols and subvert their meaning, thereby communicating a message that is consistent not with the Gospel, but with a modernist worldview.
Take up and eat 
.
Sometimes we are forced to slow down
Mar 8th
Meredith and I, because of the nature of our beings and our situation, go go go go go.
Last night I tweeted that it was going to be a long day. I had two lecture to give, a hour and a half to drive, a test to compose, two other lectures to write, a study guide to finish, a test to take, and cursed Hebrew homework to slug through, yadda, yadda, yadda.
Then, at about 11pm, Reed threw up. We spend much of the night tending to his needs, trying to get him to keep formula and pedialyte down to no avail.
My “important” tasks fell by the wayside, swept aside by the humanity and suffering of our son.
I’ll get those other things done later.
Do we have a duty to die?
Mar 7th
Even more so than sex, Death in the West is taboo.
We don’t talk about death.
We don’t discuss death.
We have convinced ourselves that we must stay alive at all costs.
(no matter the quality of life or thought to the effects upon others)
Death disjoints us. Scares us. Kills us.
Should it?
In a very humble and humanizing article, John Hardwig asks a very pointed, but necessary question: “Do we have a duty to die?” He says that our individualistic fantasy and our ridiculous wealth and medical technology have somehow tricked us into thinking we are exempt from a duty to die. (Or even an acceptance and embrace of death – though that is a post for another day)
But have wealth and technology really exempted us? Or are they, on the contrary, about to make a duty to die common again? We like to think of modern medicine as all triumph with no dark side.
Our medicine saves many lives and enables most of us to live longer. That is wonderful, indeed. We are all glad to have access to this medicine. But our medicine also delivers most of us over to chronic illnesses and it enables many of us to survive longer than we can take care of ourselves, longer than we know what to do with ourselves, longer than we even are ourselves.
Give the article a once-over. For you Christians, ask yourself what place life and death have in the Kingdom of God. Should we continue to climb technology’s Tower of Babel without regard to God or others?
John Hardwig – Do We have a Duty to Die?
If you want, click the “read more” link for a set of reading/discussion questions.
Something is a Batmobile if…
Mar 3rd
I got a little geeky today in class. First, I asked if we would all say something (I forget what). When the class was quiet, I said “So say we all?” They relied in unison “so say we all.” I then chuckled and offered bonus points for identifying the reference to “so say we all.”
No points were awarded.
Second, I talked about Aristotle’s idea of function. For my example, I asked “What makes a good Batmobile?” I used the following as a poor Batmoblie:
If the purpose of the Batmobile is to get the Bat Man around town, and the Bat Man just needs to go down to the corner to grab some smokes, then perhaps the above is a good Batmobile. However, if he needs to catch the Joker, perhaps not.
That lead me to my next slide, where I included some of my favorite panels from Batman and the Monster Men:
I just couldn’t resist that fin comment.
Air
Mar 2nd
Our lil man, Reed, grinning at our waiter at Rio Grande last night. The lil man was shy at first, or perhaps inquisitive, but he soon warmed up to him. You can see is four front teeth in the pic.
Here’s another pic from last night:
Sometimes it is good to stop and enjoy the blessings from God. As I’ll talk about shortly, Mere and I often feel as though we are treading water far at sea. Last night, we found land in love and stillness.
BW3 on Nooma
Mar 2nd
I know this is a year or so old and not many of you might care, but here is a link to BW3 appraising Rob Bell’s Nooma videos.
On the surface, some might be tempted to accuse Rob of serving up chicken soup for the soul, or pablum for the masses, or what passes for Christian pop psychology, but in fact on further review there is much more Biblical substance to these videos than might appear on first glance, and one needs to bear in mind that Rob is speaking to a post-modern generation that even if church attending are largely Biblically illiterate, and Rob is not. Indeed his teaching, including in his books tends to be consistently grounded in the Word, and those who keep complaining that this is not so: 1) need to lighten up; 2) need to consider the audience and level of discourse Rob is dealing with, especially in these videos.
Rob has learned the truth that you have to start with people where they are and lead them somewhere or persuade them to go on a journey of discovery. It is no good starting with them where you would like them to already be. And yet there needs to be enough challenge and impetus in the message and presentation to motivate a response, a change, a repentance, a recommitment.
I have to say that I agree with BW3’s appraisal and the necessity Bell’s overall approach. As my wife is fond of saying, “Books like Jesus wants to save Christians are perfect for adult new believers to give them a holistic vision of the biblical story.”
We often critique Bell for being too simplistic, but a close reading – nay, a close listening, reveals not only many embedded biblical truths but subtle spurs.
Missions?
Feb 27th
Missions then is less about the transportation of God from one place to another and more about the identification of a God who is already there.
Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, Highlight Loc. 1242-44
Thinking Out Loud
Feb 26th
- Great conversation w/ @graceisunfair about Demons, 1Cor11, Healings outside the Body, and the Gifting of NonXians – wonderful stuffs #
- The recliamation of myth is the key. #
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Moses and the Lamb
Mar 1st
Posted by The Pomo Xian in Texts
Comments
“The Song of Moses has become in Revelation the Song of the Lamb, the "new song." Both songs praise God’s redemptive activity in the deliverance and liberation of the people of God.” [1]
Notes: