True, But Not Objective

From WorldMag.com:

What is it that convinces us anything is real or true? Proof, objective proof. It’s how we know we can trust a product, person, or perspective.

But what about the Bible? While many treat it like a scientific book that can be proven through processes and argument, it is, in fact, not objectively true. Yes, there are large portions that are historically provable, but the teachings of our Holy Book are not.

There is no proving the deepest realities of the Christian faith. There is no objective proof or scientific explanation for the Trinity, the hypostatic union, the virgin birth, the resurrection of Jesus, the ascension, creation of the universe ex nihilo, forgiveness, grace, heaven, or hell. We believe these to be true and can prove not a bit of it.

Read the full article HERE.

Memorial Day Reading List

It is a blessing to have been raised in a country with so much freedom, but freedom is not free. It is paid for and protected by our military. Today is a day to commemorate and express gratitude for members of the American military who have died in defense of our country. It's a day to appreciate all veterans. While I do not think largely in terms of patriotism or nationalism, I am deeply thankful for our veterans, their sacrifices, and their service to this country.

There are certain books that have fed my appreciation and admiration for our veterans. It is in these books that I have seen glimpses of the sacrifices, perseverance, brotherhood, and bravery that so elevate our servicemen and servicewomen in my estimation. Some are Novels that depict reality well and others are reality that is more captivating than fiction.

If you haven't read the following I encourage you strongly to do so. They are engaging, educational, powerful, inspiring, and moving stories of American heroes.

UNBROKEN by Laura Hildenbrand

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS by James Bradley & Ron Powers

HORSE SOLDIERS by Doug Stanton

THE PACIFIC by Hugh Ambrose

MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes

TO THE LAST MAN by Jeff Shaara











If any of you have read books that have helped you to appreciate our military personnel in a particular way please leave those recommendations in the comments. I would love to find more.

Have a great Memorial Day!

The Power of Not Knowing

From WorldMag.com

Summer is fast approaching. May is more than half spent. The days are getting longer and hotter. So too are the political pontifications. This past weekend, Chicago became the first U.S. city other than Washington to host a NATO summit. Delegates from the 28 member countries gathered to discuss various matters, but particularly Afghanistan. Maybe you heard the protestors. They were loud.

And, if you hadn’t noticed, it’s an election year, so we’ll soon be deluged with party conventions, raging debates, and candidates hitting the campaign trail even harder. We will hear pomp and bluster and be swept off our feet by grandiose promises. We will have economic, education, military, and domestic agendas hurled at us from all directions. But there’s one thing we will not hear, at least not in sincerity—not once, not ever:

"I Don't Know" 

Read the full article HERE.

Evangelize, not Indoctrinate

It's a parent's job to teach children. Children are malleable and impressionable. If we don't teach them and shape them someone else will. They need to be protected, guided, and trained. We need to put the right raw materials in so that as they mature the right refined, processed results can begin to appear and we need to help them in the actual processing and refining.

Too often, though, this effort by parents becomes skewed; it takes a weird turn. We get this idea we have authority over our children's hearts. We demand right responses to theological questions. We put in biblical material and expect biblical results. We catechize them to perfection under the assumption if their answers are right so too are their hearts. In short we indoctrinate them.

The reality is that we have no more authority over our children's hearts than we do our next door neighbor's or our office mate's. Now, if given the opportunity and liberty, we might indoctrinate them too. But I tend to think we find more pleasure and genuineness in seeing people come to belief rather than imposing belief on them. Oh, and no free-thinking adult would allow this sort of imposition, whereas our children have very little choice in the matter.

Why is it we do not often evangelize our children with the same grace, patience, interaction, and mutual respect we do our neighbors? We correct our children’s ideas about God or morality with a “no, that’s not right” method rather than an “I believe _____ because _____.” method. But what if our children don’t agree? They are under our authority and either afraid of or tired of the “no, that’s not right” response so they keep their thoughts and disbelief to themselves until the day comes they no longer have to listen to us. Then they go about believing and acting upon whatever it is they feel like.

When my daughter comes from school and asks why one classmate has two mommies or why another classmate doesn’t eat all day because of something called “Ramadan” how do I react? Or, just as likely, what about the times she will express those counter-biblical, but very cultural, notions of “self” that will suffuse her education? What if she quotes her teacher’s views on the existence of God and empathizes with the doubts? And I get the heebie-jeebies just thinking about the horrors of high school sex ed. Am I going to respond as one whose indoctrinations have failed or as a gracious evangelist seeking to win and convince?

It’s my responsibility to teach my kids. But if I replace education and evangelism with information and indoctrination I am setting them up to fall far and fall hard. My children are my neighbors and thus deserve grace and conversation about truth and belief. In their early years this is a more one-sided conversation but, it must become a two-way flow of ideas in time. I do not rule their hearts, so to attempt to wield authority over them is a vain and angst inducing effort. I shepherd them, but I do not convert them. I teach and influence them, but I do not make them. And so I should emphasize evangelizing them not indoctrinating them.

A little Radio Commentary - Authenticity

I was given the opportunity to record a brief commentary for the radio show "The World & Everything In It". It aired last weekend. It was adapted from my article "The Value of Authenticity."


Listen to it here:

The World and Everything in It - May 12, 2012

The Unskeptical Questioner

From WorldMag.com:

Skepticism is the preferred belief system of the intellectual. Ever since the Enlightenment brought about the emphasis on empirical evidence it has been on the rise. A general attitude of “prove it” has pervaded among those who are, or would like to be seen as, sharp thinkers. From Daniel Dennett and Stephen Hawking to Jon Stewart and Joy Behar, skepticism reigns.

I even consider myself a borderline skeptic. Not the rabid, virulent sort, but rather one who is prone to questions and teeters on the brink of that slippery slope into “prove it.” I am insatiably curious and very rarely is the first answer I receive satisfying. There must be more. So I keep questioning things, especially relationship, belief, and aspects of faith.

For many Christians, someone who questions everything is already a skeptic. Questioning is seen as a mark of unbelief. There’s a fine line, though, between being someone who questions and being someone who refuses to believe any answers—a true skeptic.

Read the full article HERE.

Pansies, Pearls, Pigs

My response to the responses to Dan Savage and Rick Reilly's anti-biblical comments. From World Mag.com:

Late last month, nationally syndicated columnist and noted gay-rights activist Dan Savage made headlines for his abrasive (abusive?) anti-Bible comments at a high school journalism seminar. He encouraged students to “ignore the [expletive] in the bible about gay people” just like they do about virginity, masturbation, and a few other subjects. Then when offended students began leaving he called it a “pansy [expletive]” reaction.

This past week, Rick Reilly wrote a column at ESPN.com lambasting a Christian assistant football coach at the University of Nebraska for his view on homosexuality. He took special umbrage to the idea that the coach would use his platform at a large university to spread his views. Reilly referred to it as “campaigning for the right to discriminate.”

Understandably, these comments, especially Savage's, raised the hackles of Christians. Even as I write them they bother me. The Christian response to them on websites, blogs, and social media has been strong, decisive, defensive, and, dare I say . . . wrong? 

Read the full article HERE.

Leave it to The Imagination

A few months ago I wrote here about the value of evil in literature because they make the good and noble that much more obvious and beautiful. I referenced a few different works, one of which was the Harry Potter series. As a natural follow up question one commenter asked whether, since the evil in such a work has value, it would be wise to let her children watch the Harry Potter movies.

That is an interesting question and one which deserves broader consideration than simply a “yes”, “no”, or “not yet.”

There is a phrase that goes “some things are best left to the imagination.” There is much unconsidered wisdom in this phrase, and it is one which producers, purveyors, and consumers of the visual arts would be wise to consider. 

One of the values of the written word is that, when done well, it leaves much up to the imagination. It creates a framework for a character or story or event which the imagination then fills with detail, both good and evil. Even the descriptions in the best literature allow for maximized imagination; they lead the brushes of the mind to paint a picture with whatever color palette and skill the mind has available.

This means that the reader of a story will fill both the good and evil details of a story to the extent her imagination is able or willing. The mind of reader might put limits on the horrors of the villains by simply choosing not to consider them deeply or by being unable to imagine anything truly heinous. This is particularly true for children since they have yet to have their minds filled with gory, grotesque, and sexual images to fill in the story’s frame.

None of this holds true for the visual arts such as movies, illustrations, or video games. The visual creations replace the imagination. Instead of having self-imposed and safe limitations on the imagination, the viewer is forced to see the story as the artist demands. Just last month my six-year-old daughter watched Disney’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time. When stone table scene arrived and she saw the white witch mock and murder Aslan and saw his sad meekness,  she burst into tears. I had read her the same story just a week earlier, and while she was enraptured then, there were no tears. In hearing the story she wasn’t able to imagine the horror and sadness, but in watching she wasn’t able not to.

Does all this mean that visual art is bad? Not at all; it’s simply more explicit. In viewing something we are having images etched into our minds – both good and ill. We no longer have choice in what a character looks like, how gory a battle scene is, or how long a kiss lingers. It’s all just there in living color.

How this affects a person is determined by their own propensities. There are those for whom the imagination is wild and untamed. The written word might send them to places they dare not go. For others an image might be carved into the stone of their minds and only centuries could erode it. And so discernment is in order. There is no simple answer.  

Draft Grades and Withholding Judgment

From my article at WorldMag.com

“With the first pick in the 2012 NFL draft, the Indianapolis Colts select Andrew Luck, quarterback, Stanford University.” With this sentence last Thursday evening the National Football League’s annual collegiate player draft commenced. Seven rounds and 253 total selections later it concluded, and at that point the analysts and pundits began doling out their “draft grades”—those subjective evaluations given to the quality of each team’s player haul. 

Letter grades are assigned to each team. “Winners” and “losers” of the draft are declared. All within 24 hours of the draft’s completion. In the coming years these drafted players will be judged against these grades, these assumptions of what they will become. A bunch of 21- and 22-year-olds are signed, sealed, and better deliver, or else. 

Seems premature judgments about future value are the order of the day. 

But should this really come as a surprise to those in the evangelical church? Do we not give snap “winner” and “loser” grades to key ministers and so-called “movements”? 

Read the full article HERE.