Kneading Bread

I’ve got a few loyal (I can see your IP’s, I know you’re out there) readers, so because of the quiet news week I’ll share a little bit from what I’ve been reading.

“Are there problems raised by this Biblical doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God in providence and grace? Of course there are. Evertything that God reveals of Himself transcends man’s comprehension; every doctrine, therefore, must of necessity terminate in mystery and man must humbly acquiesce in havingit so.”

-J.I. Packer and O. R. Johnston in their Historical and Theological Introduction to Luther’s Bondage of the Will

So many Christians are misled into thinking that they can get their head around God, but as Jonathan Edwards was so fascinated with, His characteristics are all infinite. God isn’t just big, He’s incomprehensible; God doesn’t just exist in Time,  He defines it; God doesn’t just have some control over this world, He is the sovereign God; The capacity of His propitiation is not just enough for a finite number of sinners, but for a but for all who repent, an infinite capacity. So adelphoi, think on the infiteness of God and rejoice in it.

In our world of hyper-sexualized media it can be hard to imagine that media execs are opposed to anything that helps them make more of a profit. Apparently, for NBC at least, a bunch of vegetables in a children’s show have been spreading the forbidden love, the love of Christ. Thanks to Get Religion.

But wait, there are now more calvinists!

Check it out here… I’ll let you all decide how you feel on the subject.

Fox is planning on targeting the “christian” audience with new movies under it’s new “FoxFaith” division, hoping to attract the evangelical world to increase their profits. I think that there can be two opinions on this. First, that this is a good thing that means increased safe viewing material with positive values. The second, and the one I believe, is that this is just disgusting… welcome the moneychangers into the temple (remember, our bodies are the temple!) There is this crazy mindset in Christians that seems to think that as long as it looks okay, it must be okay. Whether this is in the performing, visual, recording, literary, or any other art “christians” flock to it, this pale substitute. Wake-up-call, Jesus was more concerned with the inside of things than the outside… even if these movies look “christian” they have a rotten core. The more we encourage large media the more this tendancy will be exploited. I do not advocate removing ourselves from this world and these things, rather I propose that something new is happening.
I see inklings, like the sky before dawn, of an emerging Christian awareness to create media and that goes beyond the bizarre ‘evangelizing’ films produced in the later 20th century to an artistic Christian community that revels in the glory of God – in a way that neither conjures the image of moneychangers nor of washing the outside and leaving insides dirty. I pray that these are not my delusions, but rather a hopeful vision grounded in the reality of a resurging Christianity.

We owe God a death

“We cannot live long in this world.
We owe God a death.
We owe nature a death.
The sentence of death is passed upon us.
We cannot enjoy the comfort of this world long.
And for favour and applause of the world,
we must leave it,
and it will leave us,
we know not how soon.
And this meditation should enforce us to be willing,
however it go with us,
for anything here, for life, or goods, or friends,
or credit and reputation, or whatsoever,
to be willing to seal the cause of Christ
with that which is dearest to us.”
(Works of Richard Sibbes, volume 3, pp. 84-85)

(via together for the Gospel)

Birds of Paradise

Golden-winged, silver-winged
Winged with flashing flame,
Such a flight of birds I saw,
Birds without a name:
Singing songs in their own tongue—
Song of songs—they came.

One to another calling,
Each answering each,
One to another calling
In their proper speech:
High above my head they wheeled,
Far out of reach.

On wings of flame they went and came
With a cadenced clang:
Their silver wings tinkled,
Their golden wings rang;
The wind it whistled through their wings
Where in heaven they sang.

They flashed and they darted
Awhile before mine eyes,
Mounting, mounting, mounting still,
In haste to scale the skies,
Birds without a nest on earth,
Birds of Paradise.

Where the moon riseth not
Nor sun seeks the west,
There to sing their glory
Which they sing at rest,
There to sing their love-song
When they sing their best:—

Not in any garden
That mortal foot hath trod,
Not in any flowering tree
That springs from earthly sod,
But in the garden where they dwell,
The Paradise of God.

Christina Georgina Rossetti
14 November 1864.

(via Biblicalia)

I already own this CD and I can definitively say that it is awesome… politically agitated and pro-Jesus… just not in the way the religious right would want you to have it!

I have tons of respect for Mark and the church he pastors. I pray that this attention is fruitful for the Kingdom… but it is also refreshing to see it openly discussed in general. I feel that many non-religious people have such a blighted view of the Church that they can no longer see the beauty of Christ until He breaks into that world (which I believe He is always doing, He is always breaking down the walls.) Bringing this conversation into a educated, jaded, and post-modern dialogue is important, it is a blessing to have these places saying “look here, look at this pastor in Seattle, his Jesus is more than just whitewash and ritual.” While I feel the article is genuinely trying to cover this story, there is a tone of fear in it that frightens me. There seems to be a value judgement, the use of kool-aid as an adjective ties this to Jonestown an immediately extreme and negative tie.

Driscoll promises his followers they don’t have to reprogram their iTunes catalog along with their beliefs — culture from outside the Christian fold isn’t just tolerated here, it’s cherished. Hipster culture is what sweetens the proverbial Kool-Aid, which parishioners here seem to gulp by the gallon. This is a land where housewives cradle babies in tattooed arms, where young men balance responsibilities as breadwinners in their families and lead guitarists in their local rock bands, and where biblical orthodoxy rules as strictly as in Hasidism or Opus Dei.

Salon via BoingBoing.

or at least 61% of Christians believe that He wants them to be, according to this article. Because, as we all know, Jesus was rich and successful in this life and He wants you to be so as well!

and harder to find an answer. This article highlights the ethical questions surrounding in vitro fertilization, good questions. I think the Biblical answer is not the answer most people today want to hear… but, then again, most people don’t like much of what the Bible has to say any more. Anyway, it makes an interesting read.