different churches // worldview

This video is presented in a way unlike many other "sermon-type" videos. Parts of it, I really liked -- Bell's style is different in that it emphasized a story, and stories (as Jesus utilized so well) stick with us. Stories get points across, and this whole video was a story. Bell's little explanation at the end was almost unnecessary; you understood the moral of the story without it being laid out for you, which means it was executed properly.

As for what that moral is -- Bell is saying that our darkest, scariest, most stormy and turbulent times can sometimes be the best, because they often bring us closer to God. They force us to cling to Him far more strongly than we ever do normally. We're holding onto Him and trusting in Him and His unconditional love completely because we have nothing else to hold onto or trust in, and we know that He'll get us home.

This reflects the truth of one of my favorite verses, James 1:2-3:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

Bell's style is different, and I do believe that it is attractive. As I've said, it depicted a story, and people like stories. It wasn't dry and boring as most sermons seem to be. Additionally, it was more modern in the sense that the scenery was constantly changing, constantly keeping your interest. It was more cinematic, in a sense -- I'm not sure whether that's good or bad theologically, but it certainly seemed attractive.

If Bell's videos and others like them are intriguing and teach God's Word, then what's the point of going to church and sitting through a dull sermon? The point is this: Church is not simply about being talked at. It's about fellowship too, speaking God's Word together, worshiping our Lord together, and praying together, as a family in Christ. You can't do that through a video.



In this video, Mark Driscoll lists four "lanes" of emerging churches:

1) emerging evangelicals 
Doctrinally, they are very traditional; they just make the doctrine more applicable and relatable in order to bring more people in.

2) house church evangelicals
While they also are fairly traditional in their doctrine, they avoid pastors, church buildings, and big groups, instead choosing to meet in smaller groups and at houses and coffee shops.

3) emerging reformers 
They, too, are very traditional in their doctrine, but they strive to make it more culturally connected, and they are big on church planting. They identify strongly with Francis Schaeffer, Martin Luther, Calvin, etc.

4) emergent liberals 
Emergent liberals are the very different ones -- and perhaps the most dangerous to Christianity, as they call into question the absolutes that God states very clearly in His Word.

While my church, College Park Church, does not exactly fit any of these descriptions, I believe that it most closely identifies with lane #3 -- emerging reformers.

If I were to create my own church, I think it would most closely resemble lane #3 -- but not identify with it completely. There would be a pastor, and while the church would have no limits in size, there would also be small groups in order to make personal relationships and grow in fellowship. Doctrinally, we would follow C.S. Lewis's idea of mere Christianity -- trusting solely in Christ as our Savior and striving to be more and more like him and closer and closer to him every day by serving others. God's Word has the final authority in everything.

the emergent church: postmodernism & Christianity? // worldview

The "emergent church" attempts to "post-modernize" how the church worships, with DJs, church members writing their names on crosses, and more. "Worship gatherings," with group discussions, are held -- not Sunday morning sermons.

"Christianity is simply not a stagnant belief," says a man interviewed in this video.

But its truths are stagnant. You can't "modernize" Christianity so far that what it is -- its truths, its laws, its principles -- is gone. You can't take it too far, or else it's not Christianity anymore. 

"There's a sort of a comfort in knowing that, one, I don't have to the answers, and that there aren't necessarily answers," says one member of an emergent church, and several other interviewees made similar statements -- and that alarms me.

Of course there are answers. No, we as humans might not know them -- but the answers are there. God has the answers. They do exist. Truths exist.

We want to be encouraging, we want to influence the culture, we don't want to remain in the 1500s, we don't want to be legalistic. But we don't want to become too wishy-washy, we don't want to ignore theology and doctrine -- after all, God gave us His Word for a reason.

Some of those interviewed in the video loved that their church had group discussions, instead of having a pastor preach a sermon to them.

Jesus taught, didn't he? His disciples referred to him as "Rabbi." Teaching is important.

Postmodernism says that there is no such thing as absolute truths. Christianity says the complete opposite. Postmodernism says that you have to be accepting, that each individual should go off of what they "feel." Christianity says that humans are fallible, and that God and His Word are the final authority.

Marrying these two opposites seems pretty dangerous to me.

(More video resources here and here.) 

take from me all my trumpery

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more

From all the victories that I seemed to score;

From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf

At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; 

From all my proofs of Thy divinity,

Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me.

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead

Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head. 

From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee, 

O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free.

Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye, 

Take from me all my trumpery lest I die. 

-C.S. Lewis, "The Apologist's Evening Prayer"

What a prayer that is. 

I'm human. I'm messed up. I'm prideful -- I have to remind myself that the things I can do, I can do because of God. My thoughts are corrupted, even some of my thoughts of God. 

So, God, give me peace. Give me silence, so I can be set free from my own wacked thoughts. I don't want any of the extra stuff, any of the trumpery. 

Take from me all my trumpery lest I die.

reviewing Turning Point: "The Priority of a Devoted Mind" // worldview

This post takes a look at the April 14, 2013 episode of Dr. Jeremiah's "Turning Point" on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, entitled "The Priority of a Devoted Mind."

"You're not what you think you are, but what you think...you are!

... What you think, say, do, starts in the mind."

- Dr. David Jeremiah

The human mind is a truly astounding thing. As Dr. Jeremiah says, we are set apart from all other creatures because God has bestowed upon us the ability to think. It's an amazing gift that comes with the responsibility to use it as God desires. Matthew 22:37-38 says, "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.'"

If what we think, say, and do starts in the mind -- and if we're supposed to be loving God with all of our minds -- then it should be a priority to make sure what we're putting into our minds is glorifying and pleasing to God.

So how can please God by devoting our minds to him?

1. We love God with all of our minds when we feed on His Word.
Dr. Jeremiah references the lengthy Psalm 119, and David's dedication and love for God's laws. The more we meditate on Scripture, the more we will love it, and therefore, the more we will love God. He says:

You cannot have a Christian mind without reading the Scriptures, because you cannot be profoundly changed by that which you do not know. [...] Generally speaking, a relationship to God runs along the same line as our relationship to His Word.

Taking the time to read God's Word must be made a priority in the life of every Christian. The more of Him that we pour into us, the more we will spend dwelling on Him and His Word...and that will further lead us to finding God's wisdom.

2. We love God with all of our minds when we find His wisdom.
Proverbs speaks often of the precious value of wisdom -- that beautiful thing that allows us to use the knowledge provided by God's Word and apply it to everyday life. However, how can the Holy Spirit provide us with the wisdom of God if we don't have any of God's Word in us with which to work?

Not only that, but when we read God's Word, it's also important to take the time and let that settle. Meditate on it. Dr. Jeremiah says, "In order to find wisdom, we must think and pray."

Once we find His wisdom, this allows us to follow His will.

3. We love God with all of our minds when we follow His will.
God has one perfect, holy will. He has a plan for everything, and a special, unique plan for each one of us. The question is, how do we know what that plan is? How do we find the calling that God has given to us?

The word "calling" implies that someone else has to be on the receiving end of the call, and that they have to be listening. We can't know God's plan for us unless we're openly listening. The best way to do that? Feed on His Word. Find His wisdom. Pray, so that we might find our calling and use it to fight His war.

4. We love God with all of our minds when we fight His war.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says this:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

There's only one God, and there's only one way to that God: Jesus. (As Dr. Jeremiah says, there's only one way to become a human: you have to be born. So why not have only one way to be reborn?) We are fighting a perpetual war against Satan and against the world in order to bring others to Jesus, to defend our faith, to further God's Kingdom. It's a war that we can't fight on our own -- we need to know God's Word, His wisdom, and follow His will in order to do it.

As Christians, it's our duty to, as Dr. Jeremiah puts it, get into this "intellectual culture war," defend our faith, and "given an answer that brings glory to the Lord."

C.S. Lewis wrote this:

If all the world were Christian, it might not matter if all the world were uneducated. But, as it is, a cultural life will exist outside the Church whether it exists inside or not. To be ignorant and simple now -- not to be able to meet the enemies on their own ground -- would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen.

If we don't engage in the culture and don't meet the enemy where it's at, then we can't further the Lord's Kingdom.

Now we find that we've come full circle, because we can't "give an answer that brings glory to the Lord" when attacked for our faith if we haven't read the Bible, if we haven't been given God's wisdom.

When we read the Bible, we will find wisdom. When the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and discernment, we can follow God's will in order to fight His war. 

boldly going where no man has gone before // worldview

Star Trek is known as one of the most influential television phenomena, ever. While the original program ran from 1966-69, it's been followed by four other shows, ten movies (and counting), countless books and toys, and one of the most (if not the) largest and most dedicated fanbases in all of TV, movies, and books. The show itself followed its characters' brave proclamation "to boldly go where no man has gone before," by crossing racial boundaries and taking on deep moral lessons at a time when that just wasn't done in television. 

As Dwayne Day said in his essay "Star Trek as a Cultural Phenomenon" [emphasis added]:

"As many fans later explained, Star Trek presented a positive image of the future at a time when the news was filled with stories of racism, social strife, and war. When many people wondered if the world would emerge intact from the Cold War, Star Trek depicted many different races working peacefully together several hundred years into the future. At its most basic level, Star Trek had a simple humanistic message: humanity will be okay."

Let's break down one specific scene from Star Trek: 

The obvious message is one against racism; when one of the characters says of the oppressed race, "Slaves? That was changed thousands of years ago, you were freed," the other character says, "Freed! But were we free to be men? [..] Free to live our lives in equality and dignity?" I don't know if the faces of the aliens, which look like those delicious frosted half-moon cookies, were meant to be symbolic, but it could certainly be taken that way. 

Yet while the scene is definitely anti-racism, there is a deeper underlying message as well. As the title of the scene says, both these men (or aliens, I guess) are "committed to hatred." At a time in history when the racial debate in America was full of hatred, and when we were in the midst of the Vietnam War and the growing concern over the Cold War, hate was everywhere, on every side of every debate. This was Star Trek's way of showing this fact. 

Boldly go, said Star Trek. Whatever your race, whatever your background, wherever you come from. Go. Fight the hatred. Don't worry so much. Humanity will survive. Everything will be okay in the end. 

Now go fix it. Go be the good in the world. Go.

Boldly.

Blogging "A Clear View": Truth and Knowing, Part I

This post is the second installment in the blogging of Keith Ogorek's "A Clear View."

how do we know anything?
It's the question that mankind has attempted to answer for millennia. Do we learn things from experience? Have we always "known" things, and then experience simply makes us realize that we know them? 

According to Ogorek, as Christians, we believe that we know things by three different ways...

the upper story (the unseen world)

revelational // revealed to us by God

{example: God reveals himself to us}

the lower story (the seen world)

cognitive // we know intuitively; what's already in the mind

{example: we know how to cry}

empirical // we've learned through experience and observation; what we learn

{example: we learn how to read and write and dress ourselves}

what can we know?
Once again, man has come up with many different answers. 

Herodotus said that we can never know "the true nature of the universe," because the universe is constantly changing -- and therefore truth is constantly changing as well. 

Parmenides said that the world is unchanging and fixed, but we can't know it through our senses; we can only know it through reason. 

Plato said that there are two layers to the world -- one layer that we can know through our senses, and another that is constantly changing and has no real truth. 

Aristotle thought much like Plato and also believed that there are some things that cannot change. Unlike Plato, however, Aristotle said that the unchanging "universals" are present in material, physical "particulars," and that by studying particulars, we can understand the universals. Therefore, we can know and understand this objective world of universals.

Thomas Aquinas drew from Plato's and Aristotle's ideas and said that the world has two stories: an upper story that cannot be seen, the world of God and grace, understood by faith and revelation; and a lower story that can be seen, the material world of man and nature, understood by reason, interaction, and observation. These two stories are separated by the "line of dispair."

During the Aristotelian Revolution (commonly known as the Renaissance), the material world -- nature -- began to overshadow the unseen world -- the world of grace. This heavily influenced the arts and sciences, and Michelangelo, da Vinci, and others rose up. The Sistine Chapel and the Mona Lisa were painted. Da Vinci began his work in the field of aviation (and about a billion other areas, too). 

However, it wasn't all good; while things were getting done on earth, the important questions weren't be answered. The world of nature was celebrated, and the world of grace was shunned.  By looking at the time period's works, we can clearly see that the upper story was ignored: philosophy attempted to explain all the big questions, such as those about God, but completely ignored revealed truth like Scripture. Artwork portrayed biblical figures with mythological creatures -- a clashing of worlds. Humanism became the prevalent worldview.

Sadly, mankind sought real truth, but they were looking in the wrong places -- the places they could see and touch physically instead of the world of grace revealed by God -- and thus found it impossible to reach.

Then, in response to the Renaissance, along came the Reformation. 

Reformation = "an attempt to restore a proper relationship between nature and grace -- between the upper and lower stories" (Keith Ogorek)

The Reformers, including Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, dealt with the issue of "nature vs. grace" by reaffirming doctrine -- by rejecting humanism (which had trickled into the church), emphasizing the authority of Scripture above all else, and denouncing human "works" as necessary for salvation. 

sola scriptura // scripture alone

sola Christus // Christ alone

Like the Renaissance before it, the Reformation hugely impacted culture. This cultural "re-birth" is evidenced by the blossoming of education, learning, economics, civil government, just laws, creativity in arts and music, etc. The Reformers realized that reason needed to be balanced by revelation, and nature needed to be balanced by grace -- and the world flourished because of it. 

"If you read all the annals of the past, you will find no century like this since the birth of Christ. Such building and planting, such good living and dressing, such enterprise in commerce, such a stir in the arts, has not been since Christ came into the world. And how numerous are the sharp and intelligent people who leave nothing hidden and unturned: even a boy of twenty years knows more nowadays than was known formerly by twenty doctors of divinity." 

-Martin Luther on the Reformation

security cravers // worldview

When Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living," he was surely pointing to what say social sciences would say when they talk about every human being needs a sense of security and a sense of meaning and belonging. We need to make sense of our world. We need to find security in life. And the deepest answers -- the deepest philosophies of life -- the deepest worldviews are actually grounded in faith and in religion. Science does not answer many of those deep questions, and it's only faith and worldviews which do.

-Os Guinness [emphasis added]

Just as men crave respect and women want to be loved, every human being desperately desires to feel secure. They need a place to belong, they need to know the meaning of their own existence, they need answers -- they want to know that they do, in fact, belong in the first place.

So, throughout our lives, we seek to quench that desire for knowledge and a sense of belonging. We try to find that security in all sorts of worldly things -- wealth, a relationship, popularity, a career. But it's only through God that we can find true security, and know the true reason why we're here, and begin to understand the answers and meaning to all the big "life questions." Through Christ, we know where we belong.

Blogging "A Clear View": Introduction to Worldview

This post is the first in a series of blogging Keith Ogorek's "A Clear View."

Everyone has a worldview. Constructed of our beliefs, our worldview is the lens through which we see the world. As a Christian, it is my goal to have a sound worldview based firmly on biblical principles. More than that, I want to be able to understand other people's worldviews, in order to influence them and bring them to Christ.

Because, after all, what's the point of having knowledge if we don't use it? Keith Ogorek makes a very good point:

If we simply study worldview to increase our knowledge, but fail to use that knowledge to communicate the reality of the Christian life at every point of culture we touch, there is the potential for us to live in an "intellectual gated community."

Believers in Christ are called to go boldly and spread the Gospel. We are not to live double lives, and keep our "everyday" selves separate from our "church" selves. If our identity is truly in Christ, than we should allow -- no, we should emphatically desire to blend our church lives with our everyday lives, and influence the secular culture. 

Therefore, knowing our own worldview, and having an understanding of the worldviews of others, simply isn't enough. Simply having that knowledge would only give us the capacity to label others, depending on their worldview. Yet if we truly love people as God has called us to, we won't merely label them; we'll use our knowledge of worldviews to help them understand the beauty of the Gospel. 

So what, exactly, is a worldview made up of? 

a worldview = "a set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold consciously or subconsciously about the basic makeup of our world." (James Sire)

According to Ogorek, there are three major components that form a person's worldview:

1) the person's view of God

does He exist?

what are His attributes?

can we know Him?

2) the person's view of Man

good vs. evil

fate vs. free will

immortal vs. mortal

who or what his Man's authority?

3) the person's view of Existence

origin and end

good vs. evil

material worlds vs. immaterial worlds

how do we know knowledge?

how do we know truth?

How we view each one of these three things -- God, Man, and Existence -- determines our worldview. And our views in each of these three areas will influence our views on the other two.

Ultimately, our "Life Picture" is the application of our worldview:

"A Life Picture is the perspective or conviction we have about the common things of life that is informed and influenced by our worldview." (Keith Ogorek)

Our "Life Picture" is how we view everyday issues, such as money, family, work, music, sports, leisure, etc. We develop our "Life Picture" through our worldview, so a person's Life Picture is a window into their worldview. We can often determine a person's worldview based off of their Life Picture -- something important to remember when evangelizing.

So let's talk about individual worldviews:

I think that one's experiences and education are what make a worldview personal and dynamic.  While more than one person might have the same worldview, their individual experiences and thoughts are what brought them to it, and that's what will determine how passionate they are on certain points and less emphatic on others. Each situation is unique. 

As for how one develops a worldview in the first place -- I believe that everything influences one's worldview, and contributes to its formation. The books we read, the songs we hear, the movies we see. How others act, whether it be in person or through the television. How others talk, whether they be our friends and family and pastor and coworkers or a radio personality. Words, spoken and written. Pictures, moving or still. Everything.

I think the question that has the most influence in shaping a person's worldview is the question, "Does God exist?" While singularly believing in His existence or denying it does not form a complete worldview, how we view God will influence all of our beliefs. For example, a belief in God will allow us to answer the question, "Who or what is Man's authority?," and help us determine how the origin and end of the universe has come and will come to pass. 

As for the Life Picture, I personally believe "leisure" is the most important issue. What we do in our leisure time is, I think, the most telling of our worldview and mindset.  How much leisure time do we have? Do we spend so much time working, in pursuit of wealth, that we have very little time left for leisure? And the leisure time that we do have -- Do we spend it with family? Do we spend it in prayer and God's Word? Do we spend it doing selfish things?

Our worldview influences everything we do, and everything we do and observe influences our worldview. 

At the end of the introduction, Ogorek leaves his readers with some questions to consider. Questions that I think would be good to ponder every night, as we reflect back on the previous day, and prepare ourselves for tomorrow:

"Would the non-Christians you come in contact with know you are a Christian? If so, why? If not, why?"

love isn't just for valentine's day.

"For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16)

Why do we celebrate Valentine's Day with reds and pinks? Because hearts are red? 

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:13)

Red stands for blood. Blood that was shed for us, blood that was drawn by a crown of thorns, and nails driven through a pair of holy hands and holy feet. 

"We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

Love is not roses and chocolate and candlelit dinners. Love is not hearts cut out of red construction paper and little candies with sweet messages imprinted on them. These things--these material things--are used to symbolize our love for each other, and there's nothing wrong with that, but lately it seems they have taken the place of love itself. 

Love is more than a feeling. Humans' emotions swell and fade, come and go. Emotions fail, and as we know from 1 Corinthians 13, love never fails. While we can definitely feel love and affection, love is so much more than an emotion.

Love is dedicating ourselves to persevere through our emotions, through any situation, so that when we no longer feel "attracted to" or when we feel angry or hurt or unwanted by someone we love, we stick by them all the same. Love is sacrificing your own wants, desires, and ambitions for someone else, even when it hurts.  Even when they don't deserve it. Especially when they don't deserve it.

Love is sacrifice. Love is a verb. Love is something you do.

Love is cleaning the house for your mom, not to score "awesome daughter/son points," not for personal gain, but because you sincerely want to make things easier for her. Love is helping your little siblings even when they're bugging you like crazy. Love is walking with your friend through a tough time even when it's hard for you. Love is praying for an enemy. Love is sacrificing your time, your desires, your possessions, your blood for someone else. Love is dying in the place of another. 

God is love. Jesus dying for us is love. 

Dying for someone is so much more than just a feeling. 

True love -- God's love -- is worth everything, and more. 

Share God's love with someone today. 

{1 Corinthians 13}