Learning as mitzvah

To learn is to do God's work after him. Since us humans are made in his image, we have at our bestowal a vast resource if we would but take advantage of it. Most of us most of the time live our lives barely beyond crawling out of the mud. Not that there's anything wrong with mud. It's what we're made out of and God called it (us) good. We must never forget our origins and how deeply we're embedded to the land that gave us birth. Mud is where we've come from, but it's not all of who we are. And it certainly isn't where we are called to stay. We also are these creatures that have this breath of life breathed into us from above. Not just nephesh, all living creatures have that. We all breathe and have our being with them. But we, these human creatures, seem to have had a breath of heaven breathed into us, this breath called ruach. Somehow this living breath gives us eyes in a way that even other creatures, our brothers and sisters of the soil, don't have. We have a sense of divinity that may exist in other creatures, but isn't expressible by words, or maybe I mean concepts. We look out beyond ourselves and wonder about what and why, where and when, and ultimately Who. All of the other creatures, animate and inanimate, have this ingrained sense of the divine within their being. But we wonder about it. We struggle with it. We look around and see, and wonder at what we're not seeing. Thus we learn. We seek out what isn't yet seen. We struggle to learn what isn't yet known. And in doing so, we see more of what God has created. We read of God as he has shown himself to us, whether by words breathed out on scrolls, or in words found as we breathe in air given to us from our brothers and fellow creatures, the trees that surround and feed us every day. As creatures who stand between heaven and earth, filled with spirit and soil, we straddle two worlds as we struggle through this world. Our knowledge is our blessing and our curse. God help us to learn from every teacher you have given us. Help us to learn what the world, in all its entirety, is. Help us to see what is and be at peace with that reality. To learn is to grow in the knowledge of God and his world.

Biblical Global Justice

This semester at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary one of the classes I'm taking is Biblical Global Justice with the Rev. Dean Borgman. As soon as I saw the syllabus I knew I wanted to take the class. Our first textbook is "Rise Up, O Judge: A Study of Justice in the Biblical World" by Enrique Nardoni. It's by far the most scholarly of the books he's requiring for the class. But it's well worth the reading, if only for the fact that it makes abundantly clear that the Biblical model of justice predated the Biblical text. I know that this can seem scary to many Christians, especially evangelicals, since it seems to put into doubt the uniqueness of the Biblical witness. I used to struggle with that same tension. Many years ago I used to say that the pagan writers borrowed their ideas from the Hebrew writers and that that explained the similarities between the Biblical text and the surrounding cultures. I didn't know then that these writings predated the Biblical witness by hundreds of years in some cases. So as I came to realize that the Biblical writers were the ones doing the "borrowing" I had to decide how I was going to deal with that. I couldn't go back to my previously held position. The archeological evidence is far too strong to put the Hebrew text in the front of the line chronologically. I still believe very strongly that the Biblical text is unique in comparison to other texts, in that it reveals like no other texts of that time (or since) the singular Creator God Yahweh over and against the other gods of the surrounding nations. Is there a great deal of similarity between the temples, the covenant language, the creation stories, the flood narratives, and the Biblical narratives? Absolutely. As an evangelical, I believe that God has spoken in a peculiar way through the Hebrew prophets so that his Person and attributes are revealed in a way that gives us an accurate picture of Who God Is. Is it exhaustive? Not in the least. But is it sufficient for a right knowledge of the Creator God of the universe. Yes. It is also sufficient for a saving knowledge of that Creator God to those up to the time of the first advent of Christ. Once again, as an evangelical Christian, I believe in the unique salvific centrality of Christ's Person and Work.

The reason for all of the prolegomena here is that it is sometimes the case that those who would affirm what I've just affirmed regarding the composition of the Biblical text also negate or at least relativize the centrality of the Biblical witness and by extension the centrality of Yahweh in the OT and Christ in the NT as regards salvation.

In tonight's class, in particular, we dealt largely with the issues of economics and what the Bible says about economic issues. The readings so far have leaned liberal in their analysis. But remember, this is Gordon Conwell Seminary, which is not, and never has been known as, a liberal seminary. It's a very theologically "conservative" i.e. orthodox school within the evangelical Christian tradition. But because this class is dealing specifically with the issues of global justice, and it's trying to address them from a Biblical perspective, some of the passages (and analyses) are going to sound downright liberal, whereas other passages are going to come off sounding very conservative. If your theology offends political partisans of both stripes, you're probably somewhere that's good. It's not guaranteed of course. The standard isn't who you offend. It's who God offends. If you find yourself offending the same types of people He offends in the OT and NT, then you're doing well.

Do you sound like you might be a crypto communist because you like early Acts too much, and Mary's Magnificat gives you the warm fuzzies? But at the same time you're thought to be dangerously narrow-minded because you actually believe Jesus when He says that there is no way to get to the Father except through Him, and that in the same Acts you agree that there is no other name under heaven by which women/men may be saved? If you believe that all of these passages are equally inspired, then you just might be a Christian who is equipped to speak to the idolatries of both the left and the right. You may also be a Christian who can speak to the idolatry of consumeristic consumption that has ravaged the spiritual life of American evangelicalism. But in order to be able to speak to that particular idolatry, you (I) must first own up to our part in partaking of that deadly delicacy, turn from it, and then reach out to those caught up in the same mesmerizing meme which tells us we are what we own. And that we can never own enough. Our diagnosis must be savagely precise so that we can administer the anointing oil of the good news of Christ and His Kingdom. Nothing else will do. Nothing more, because nothing more is needed. Nothing less, because nothing less will suffice. Christ and his Kingdom gives us the motivation to move mountains in our world all the while knowing that moving a mountain and not knowing Christ means you've just rearranged the chairs on the Titanic. As Christians, we're called to heal, mend, tend, and minister to the whole person, body and soul. Nothing less and nothing more. Because nothing less will suffice and nothing more is needed.

Branches before open blue sky

Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary

It's day two here at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. I'm still settling into the routine of life out here. It's been eight years since I last was in an academic environment. Classes start on Friday morning. Yesterday, today and tomorrow is orientation for all of the new students. I drove out on Monday morning and drove through the day until about 1am. I stopped in Lee, Mass. for the night and took off again at 6am for the last leg of the trip. I got into Boston around 8:30am and drove right into rush hour traffic. It was stop and go for about half an hour. But once I hit 95 north it cleared out considerably. As I got closer to GCTS I kinda knew where I should exit and I kinda knew what the main roads were that led into South Hamilton. Well, needless to say I drove for almost 2 hours around the northern suburbs of Boston looking for GCTS. Eventually, I found a cop in Beverly, a neighboring town, and asked him for directions (he was the third person I had asked BTW!). Once he realized that I was hopelessly lost, he told me he would lead to the seminary himself. A few minutes later, after he got done having a vehicle towed, he pulled beside me and led me to the front gate of Gordon Conwell! What a blessing! I wish I had gotten his name, but in any case I am very grateful for the services of this gentleman from the Beverly Police Department. He made what was turning into a very stressful day into one that I now look back on with gratitude.

The days leading up to my trip out here were just as dramatic. I only applied three weeks ago. And I also only received confirmation that I was accepted last Wednesday! My last day at work was last Friday, so either way I had to move on to something new. I drove out here with only the acceptance confirmed, nothing else. No housing had been secured. No financial aid had been secured (that's still being worked on!). But I came out with my car packed to the rafters trusting that God was behind all of this. I was excited, anxious, sad, happy, nervous; just about every emotion ran through me in the past week. In fact, on Saturday I really struggled with anxiety right off the bat and had a hard time getting packed. Thankfully, good and faithful friends helped me that day get through and I was able to get most of my belongings packed away in storage.

Then Sunday came. I went to church. It was great as usual, but it was also emotional to see my friends there, knowing that I wouldn't be seeing them again for several months at least. Then after church Jeff and Melissa had a dinner for me with a bunch of other friends, many of them from my Hope College days. That was even more emotional. Finally, Sunday night came and I became so anxious that I thought I might not even go. Every potential drawback came roaring into my mind of why I shouldn't do this. Everything that could go wrong stared me in the face. I was terrified of what might happen. I was also very sad at the prospect of leaving Holland after 12 years. I had built up many very important friendships over the years, not the least of which was Jeff and Melissa and their little boy Tsepo. That was the hardest part by far. Even writing this causes tears to well up in my eyes.

But once again, Jeff spent time with me late Sunday night and we talked, I cried, he listened, and he asked the right questions. A little later a friend (Jon) who is staying at the house came in and we also talked for nearly an hour until I calmed down. I finished up packing what I could into my car that night, got what sleep I could, and got up Monday to leave.

I woke up later than expected simply because I was both physically and emotionally exhausted. So I didn't actually leave until 9:30am. But because of the rest and the conversations I had had the night before I awoke in a much better frame of mind. I packed what was left that could fit in my car and I said goodbye to Jeff, Melissa and Tsepo and drove off. I found out the next day when we spoke on the phone that that moment was the hardest one for them. We've shared our lives for over two and a half years and had become family. I will always be grateful for what they have been for me both as friends, but also as my sister and brother in Christ.

The trip ended up being much better overall than I had expected. The car ran perfect the whole way. The trip itself, by the end, was just over a thousand miles (part of that of course was due to my getting completely lost right at the end). Anyway, here it is, day two, and my housing is provided for; which was my biggest worry. And my financial aid is slowly coming together. I still need to find work. But I trust that that too will fall into place. So far I've had no reason to doubt that God will provide for me. After all, he's been doing just that throughout my whole life. This particular adventure is just one more example.

The Gospel Coalition

I just discovered the Gospel Coalition website when reading Michael Spencer's twitter feed (yes, I "do" twitter!). Michael had linked to a particular video of John Piper and Tim Keller speaking about how important it is for those who are God centered to listen to those who are Christ/Cross centered and vice versa. Upon listening to the initial link, I visited other chapters in the series and was very impressed. I look forward to seeing more of what they have.

Back from NY, next stop, Boston and Gordon Conwell Seminary!

What a week. I get back at 2:30am Monday morning after driving 15 hours from NY. Upon coming into Michigan I realize I'm not supposed to move to NY, but I'm not supposed to stay in Holland either. It dawns on me that my long dormant and delayed dream of Gordon Conwell Seminary may finally come true. Each day this week I've taken a step and so far so good. My transcript from Hope College is heading to GCTS as we speak. I've gotten part of the online application done. I've got three people to write the recommendation letters. I hope to have my own essays done by tonight, or at the latest, by Monday. Thankfully, since it's now an online process, once I'm done, it's received by them instantaneously. I can almost taste the lobster and clams! I hope they still do the seafood cookout for new students!

It's strange how events can change so fast. I shouldn't be surprised of course. God has long worked that way in my life. Whether 12 years ago this week when I first came out to Holland to attend Hope College on very short notice, or even further back, when God worked His strange grace through my homelessness when I was 21. Or more recently, when He worked through a convicting (literally!) grace nearly three years ago. In all of these events, God has reminded me each and every time that He has always been in the midst of my circumstances. It's just that my typical hard heart and hard head needed a glaring flashing light in my face before I would recognize His face in that light. I am and always will be grateful for the various ways that God has used the people around me to intervene in my life. His love is truly beyond comprehension.

Heading off to NYC

Well, I'm heading off to NYC. Specifically Staten Island, my hometown. I lived my first 32 years there before I moved to Holland, Michigan to attend Hope College. That was 12 years ago! It's hard to believe that I've lived here that long. Holland is seriously one degree of separation! I'm looking forward to Pizza (yes, with a capital P, b/c NY Pizza is the real thing! Thin crust rules!), gyros, and serious Chinese food. Though China Kitchen does rule Holland, and with good reason. Those fried dumplings are to die for! Boy, I seem to be food obsessed. But best of all, I'm looking forward to seeing friends (and my sis) and taking tons of pics and video for my friends. It'll be good to get away and have some down time. I definitely need to recharge.

In the coming days and weeks I hope to have some new posts on issues related to our cultural slide toward extremism. It's such a big issue, that I've been intimidated by it and haven't posted anything so far. I'm also planning a detailed review of Derek Webb's new album Stockholm Syndrome, which I finally bought and have listened to many times. Still processing that one! It's different to be sure. I like the message, but the style is taking some time. If I have access, I've post from NYC with pics and video!

Matthew Elmore-Calling All Navigators!

A customer at my store (thank you so much!) gave me a CD of a musician from Hudsonville, just up the road from Holland, named Matthew Elmore. The CD is called Calling All Navigators! His vocal style is reminiscent of Josh Garrels and to some extent Phil Ochs, an old sixties protest singer I've always enjoyed. In one of his songs his raw vocals remind me of Keith Green and his unapologetic passion. The final song, Rescue Me, Almighty God, could easily become a new hymn classic. It reminds me of the theological richness found in the hymns of William Cowper and Augustus Toplady. Needless to say, I look forward to hearing more from this gifted young musician. As I said yesterday at work, sometimes we get our best theology from the poets and musicians. This is an example of just that.

The "controversial" Derek Webb

Derek Webb is a Christian musician who used to sing lead vocals with Caedmon's Call back in the 90's until 2003, when he left to pursue a solo career. It's since then that he has gotten the label of "controversial", since his lyrics have included what some consider to be mild profanity and have also touched on political/social issues in a confrontational way. What is it about Derek Webb that makes him so controversial? Is it just the "strong" language that he occasionally uses in his songs? Is it the hot button issues that he tackles in his songs? Well, the answer to these questions is yes, and more. Derek has written what I consider to be the most theologically mature lyrics in Christian music in recent years. There are others who also write theologically accurate lyrics, to be sure, such as Michael Card and Fernando Ortega. But Derek takes these theological insights and lets them loose on politics and culture. It's in this that he's gotten himself in trouble. You see, Derek Webb is speaking with what is sometimes called the "prophetic voice", a voice that is never popular, because it speaks to the idolatries of God's community, the church. Whether it's Wedding Dress calling us whores chasing after other lovers besides God, Saint and Sinner saying that we're a damned mess before being united with Christ, or King and a Kingdom, where he says that one of two great lies he's heard was that Jesus Christ was a white middle class Republican, Derek hits the American Evangelical church where it hurts. He hits them where they have chosen to elevate these cultural issues above the call of the gospel. Derek makes clear in his music that we are all guilty, himself included. In one song from his first solo album, he says that he's a dangerous crusader, turning over tables, but he's starting in his own living room. This is what a real prophetic voice does. Many, who would like to be seen as prophetic voices, whether on the left or the right, simply use their accusative voice to make their own side sound better. That's not a prophetic voice in the biblical sense, that's just another partisan trying to sway the vote. A true prophetic voice will point out his own log before mentioning the splinter in any one else's eye. His new album, Stockholm Syndrome is more of the same true prophetic voice. The "controversial" song on this album is What Matters More, where he uses scandalous words like damn and shit. What seems to be lost in the midst of the controversy is what the song is actually about. Derek Webb is an important artist, not just for his social commentary, but for the fact that his commentary comes from his Christian convictions. Maybe the true controversy is what the American evangelical church has become.

Raspberries!

Regina Spektor's Laughing At

Regina Spektor has a new album called Far and it's fabulous. Her voice has even more range than before, and her nuance and control is stronger than ever. The song I'm most interested in, the one featured on her website front page, is Laughing At. The song basically declares that no one's laughing at God when bad things happen. It then also declares that God can be funny, even hilarious. I know that Spektor is a Russian Jew, but I have no idea of what her own views are of religion/spirituality. I have to admit that my favorite part of the song is when she rips on those who offer a god more like a Genie, Houdini, Jimminy Cricket or Santa Claus then the One who actually exists. In this she seems to intuitively know that these gods are just our selfish wishes externalized. God is not our cosmic bell hop, rushing to feed our glutinous appetites. But who/what is the god of Regina Spektor? Since her songs are pretty post-modern, what we get are the questions, but not the answers. I am curious though.

A Catholic voice on living a sustainable life

A good friend of mine emailed me an essay written just today about being environmentally attuned, advocating eating locally through organic farmers, and looking at where our clothing is made before we buy it. A typical arugula eating lefty? Not in the least! The author is a traditional Catholic who recognizes that we live in an enchanted world, and that this means that everything natural is of value, because Yahweh, the God of the universe, is the Creator of it all. I look forward to seeing what else he has to say.

A video I shot during last night's storm

Who is Dennis Petersen, and what is Young Earth Creationism (YEC)?

Last week I asked an online friend, James Kidder, who runs a website called Science and Religion: A View from an Evolutionary Creationist/Theistic Evolutionist, if he knew who Dennis Petersen was. I was quite pleasantly surprised when he responded with a full essay on his blog with details including a review of the text in question from fellow YEC's (young earth creationists) that is surprisingly critical. Please check out his essay in response to my question and check out what else he has to say. His voice represents a much needed antidote to what is usually thought to be the "Christian" view on all issues scientific, and especially anything regarding evolution. Thankfully, as my sidebar attests, there are several Christian voices out there now that are doing yeoman work of showing that scientific literacy and Christian orthodoxy do not need to be mutually exclusive.

The combination of the YEC book, Jim's response, and the question concerning the Creation Museum that came up at church today makes me realize that an avenue of communication needs to be established within the theologically conservative community concerning what it means to be Christian in light of scientific advances, in particular as they relate to evolution and cosmology. My biggest concern is for those Christians who adhere to traditional orthodox Christianity, of which I'm one, but who have also rejected almost completely modern science when it comes to biology and cosmology, of which I'm not.

Many of my Christian friends are concerned to raise their children in the faith so that they will pass on that faith for many generations to come. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Yet part of what it seems to mean when the "faith" is described includes YEC belief. I understand the impulse. To take doctrine seriously and in detail is to go against the grain in almost every way. Our culture, whether secular or even Christian, is consumed with the desire to avoid anything that divides. We seem to be guided by a public theology that says, along with Rodney King, Can't we all just get along? Pragmatism rules the day. Relativism relagates anything distinctive and exclusive as irrelevant or even a threat. Thus the temptation is to avoid any controversy by avoiding anything precise, anything exact.

Here we find an irony that connects, in a healthy way, the disciplines of orthodox Christianity and the scientific enterprise. Both require precision and exactness. Both disdain flabby logic and rationales from emotionalism. They also share a common thread of questioning the assumptions of a stale orthodoxy that loses its vitality as the environment changes. They both deal with the details on the ground as they are. In both cases, the institutional forces usually strike out at these "heretics" in their midst, whether scientific or religious. They upset the norms as they have been understood for ages. It is my contention that to be an orthodox Christian does not neccessitiate being a Young Earth Creationist. In fact, to be faithful to the God who has revealed Himself through the word of Scripture and the final Word, Christ Himself, is to honor the achievements of scientsts, both Christian and non-Christian, who have made amazing discoveries of our natural world. The God of the universe, who is the Word Incarnate, and Who is Reason Incarnate, rules the universe according to His own nature. God is coherent. Thus the natural world is coherent. Thus even fallen human reason is capable of understanding aspects of this creation as it searches it out diligently.

I drive a car every day to work. The reason I am able to drive a car is that multiple people working in multiple places worked together to put that car together. So far it works enough for me to get where I want to go. But where did those people working together get the idea to put this car together so that I can drive it? The car was designed by engineers working with materials and formulas. (BTW, I'm not going where you think I'm going. I don't buy into ID) The materials and formulas are themselves the product of the scientific enterprise, which came out of the enlightenment, sometimes called the scientific revolution. Some of the people involved were Christian. Many were not. However, the modern industrial economy we experience is a direct result of their scientific and theoretical work in years past. We do all of what we do and live the way we do because of the work of men and women who labored in laboratories and worked on theorems that have borne fruit both intellectually and economically.

The "theory" of evolution is no different. It's a theory just like Einstein's theory of relativity. And it's had just as much practical effect. Einstein gave us nuclear power (and weapons) and a much deeper understanding of the universe. Sounds pretty practical to me. The theory of evolution, especially in light of modern genetics, has given us an incredible tool to be able to understand the natural processes of mammals, both human and many other. The practical impact of this of course is medicine. How we treat diseases is directly related to our evolutionary relationship to every other species on earth. I can't think of anything more practical than that.

In thinking about this, my thought is that I would like to see a paper written to Christian parents of children concerning their educational future. If you are a Christian parent, and you want your child to glorify God as fully as possible, then you should want your child to be as scientifically literate as possible. If you are are a Christian parent who wants to homeschool your child (a position I'm sympathetic to), please consider how your child's faith will be effected when they enter higher education. Many lose their faith because they see the scientific evidence and then think it means that Christianity must not be true.

Christianity and science are not enemies. In fact, the coherence of science, I believe, is predicated upon the nature of God, Who is coherent and is Reason Incarnate.

Here's a cool thunderstorm video from Monday night.

A new blog I just found by Gershom Gorenberg called southjerusalem

I was reading Foreign Policy's online magazine and saw that they had an article by Gershom Gorenberg and knew I needed to read what he had to write. My previous experience with Gorenberg was his masterful work, The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. In his FP piece, he was laying out why Bibi Netanyahu needs to be careful in his upcoming speech this weekend in Tel Aviv concerning the settlement issue. In a nutshell, "natural growth" ain't what we think it is. Gershom's vision for an Israeli/Palestinian future is idealistic to be sure. But even if we acknowledge every past hurt, there has to be a time when we decide to move forward. I'll be honest, I'm not hopeful for the near future, but that doesn't mean we stop working for a better future with those willing to work with us. It may not be our generation that gets to enjoy the benefit of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians (although I hope it is), but we can at least do the work of planting the seeds of peaceful coexistence between two peoples so different and yet so similar.

What is an oblique mitzvah?

An oblique mitzvah is a good work done, if you will, from a sideways glance. It's almost an inadvertent good deed. It's not quite intentional. An oblique mitzvah manages a moral act in the midst of an immoral situation; a situation I might add, that emanates from within. I think when we engage in oblique mitzvahs, we illustrate the goodness of God. The Creator's goodness is shown in a dirty, messy situation. The term came about when I picked up a call today at work and it turned out to be a telemarketer. Instead of hanging up, which is what I (and everyone else) normally do, I set the cordless phone on the counter and let the recorded voice continue its spiel. It's at that moment that I realized that by putting the phone aside without hanging up that I was keeping one phone line busy at that telemarketing company, and thus they were unable to make another call to someone else at that moment. The whole event lasted maybe a minute. It won't go down in the annals of human history as a transformative moment. It won't even go down in my own life's history as being a game changer. But, for one moment, I kept a company that's most likely a scam operation, from harassing someone else. That, my friends, is an oblique mitzvah.

Grateful

I am grateful for faithful friends. I'm reminded that this is how God usually speaks to my deepest needs.

A good article from Christianity Today

Christianity Today has an article about the relationship between the radical fringe and the mainstream of the pro-life movement. The fringe, both on the left and the right, end up effecting the mainstream, again on the left and right, in such a way that they both speak what the other is unable or unwilling to say. Obviously, the violent expressions that both extremes occasionally act out cannot be sanctioned, but they do effectively express concerns that the center is usually unwilling to entertain. In any case, it's a delicate balance. Both the right and the left should consider what their respective voices at the fringes have to say without giving in to the violent impulses that too often drive their actions.

Some nice sunset pictures from this evening.