Jesus Was Into Organized Religion

Justin Taylor posted a blurb from today's Newsweek/Washington Post religion section, written by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, who wrote a book called Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion. These gentlemen have the audacity to suggest that the problem may lie more so with those leaving the church than with the church itself.

The article they wrote reminds us well that to speak poorly of the church is to speak poorly of Christ's bride, who was worth the shedding of blood to redeem:

We love the church because Christ loved the church. She is his bride--a harlot at times, but his bride nonetheless, being washed clean by the word of God (Eph. 5:25-26). If you are into Jesus, don't rail on his bride. Jesus died for the church, so don't be bothered by a little dying to self for the church's sake. If you keep in mind that everyone there is a sinner (including yourself) and that Jesus Christ is the point and not you, your dreams, or your kids, your church experience might not be as lame as you fear.

Christians would do well to reconsider why they leave traditional, organized religion. While DeYoung and Kluck do not shy from admitting that the church is full of imperfect and hypocritical people, it still deserves our respect and love.

Read the whole thing here: "Church: Love It, Don't Leave It"

Hillsdale and Harvard

My alma mater, Hillsdale College, receives absolutely no federal funding, nor are any of its students eligible for federal student loans. Consequently, the college, as a private institution, has the right to do whatever it will on campus. Hillsdale gave up its funding on principle, as it has always had a blind admissions policy with regard to race, sex or creed, and the government's Affirmative Action policies would have required them to meet a certain quota deemed by bureaucrats to be the "correct" percentage of minorities. Since admission to the college is based on academic merit, such a move would cause them undercut their already just principles. If race and sex do not matter, then they should not matter. One of the often over-looked consequences of standing by these principles is that Hillsdale does not have a ROTC program. In spite of this, many students end up joining Army or Marine Reserves, and recruiters are always more than welcome on campus by virtually every student, professor and administrator.

Journalist William McGurn recently spent some time at Hillsdale College and contrasts his experience with what one can expect to find at Harvard, where Armed Forces recruiters are not welcome, and only grudgingly permitted on campus. It is a telling article and it underscores one of the many reasons why I am a proud alumnus of Hillsdale College:

How Hillsdale Beats Harvard

Radio Worldview: Evidentialism vs. Presuppositionalism

This Spring, Worldview Academy's podcast, Radio Worldview, did a two-part show on apologetic methods. A listener wrote in, asking Bill Jack and Jeff Baldwin if WVA believes in the classical, or evidential, method of apologetics, or the presuppositional method. Over the course of the two episodes, they discuss the merits and weaknesses of both approaches.

I enjoyed editing and listening to these episodes because I have been mulling over differences for a few months now. The topic deserves a much more developed thought than this, but my opinion, as a student of philosophy and theology who has taken students out to engage people on the street in meaningful, worldview and Gospel-oriented conversations, is that the person you talk to decides which approach to take. A die-hard atheist like Christopher Hitchens does not care about arguments for God's existence or historical proof of the resurrection. He has already decided that there is nothing that will change his mind. What more can you do with such a man but use presuppositional tools to help him see the contradictions and flaws in his worldview? Conversely, someone who is honestly willing to consider the evidence will benefit immensely from the wealth of evidential arguments and documentation. Since most people fall somewhere between the two extremes, it takes wisdom to discern when one should open one tool box and when one should open the other. Both have a place and are valuable, but just as one cannot pound in a nail with a screw driver or cut a sheet of plywood with a crow-bar, so also can the apologist not effectively work with only one method.

Listen to the podcasts and tell me what you think:

Presuppositionalism vs. Evidentialism, Part I (42:44)

Presuppositionalism vs. Evidentialism, Part II (45:27)

Beauty and Christianity

As I hinted at in my last post, I have been pondering the nature of beauty within the context of a Christian worldview. In classical education, we embrace three themes: the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Evangelicals today are generally good at identifying and loving the first two, but there seems to be some confusion with regards to the third. At best, we can pay lip-service to it, but have little by way of a conscious understanding of its place in our worldview. Nevertheless, we are all keenly aware of beauty in the world around us, creation itself being the most apparent. Still, I believe that we have improperly relegated beauty to the back-seat in favor of Truth and Goodness.

I love older buildings. Architecture of the past as a certain weight or gravity to it that inspires a certain amount of awe. There is place where this is more clearly seen than in churches and cathedrals. The majestic Gothic-style churches of Medieval Europe demand your respect and by its arches and buttresses and spires, directs one's gaze from things below to the grandeur of the One Above. Sadly, such sublime architecture fell out of favor with Christians and it is quite common to see churches building structures that could otherwise be mistaken for a Wal-Mart: big, ugly boxes. In many cases, the rationale given is that it was all the church could afford, or it was the only space available that would meet their needs. Yet, other times it is often taken as a point of pride that the structure they meet in is an ugly warehouse. Lavish buildings and ornate wood-work are a waste of resources that could be better spent on helping starving people or supporting missionaries.

While there is nothing wrong with helping those in need, or funding missionaries, I think Christians utilizing that kind of rhetoric fail to recognize the importance of beauty and begin sliding toward what eventually becomes a kind of gnosticism: only the spiritual is good and of any importance. While I do not accuse many Christians of adhering consciously to this, in many cases, it seems to be an implicit, unconscious zeitgeist of Evangelicals. Beauty is nice, but there are other things of more importance, they say. Such Christians would do well to heed what Scripture teaches about the importance of beauty. Consider the following thought:

"What, therefore, was to be in the temple? For one thing, the temple was to be filled with art work. "And he (Solomon) garnished (covered) the house with precious stones for beauty" (2 Chron. 3:6). Notice this carefully: the temple was covered with precious stones for beauty. There was no pragmatic reason for the precious stones. They had no utilitarian purpose. God simply wanted beauty in the temple. God is interested in beauty." - Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible.

Note well why the temple was covered with precious stones: "for beauty." Schaeffer elsewhere in Art and the Bible points to similar passages in which God gives Moses instructions for the Tabernacle and the sundry objects it was to contain. Details for things like a lampstand are given that include specific instructions for an almond leaf motif, again, "for beauty," are found throughout. Clearly God cares about beauty and the place where he was to be worshiped was to be beautiful.

Schaeffer hints at the reason why so many Christians forget about beauty: it had no utilitarian purpose. If it does not bring about a desired good end, it lacks utility. The American mindsight has become plagued by pragmatism and inflamed with utility to the point that it has tainted even our faith and practice. However, God does care about beauty and Scripture seems to indicate that he thinks it is valuable for its own sake. As such, a Christian need not be ashamed if he is fortunate enough to worship God in a beautiful building, or for spending money on a beautiful painting. The appreciation of beautiful things is simply another part of a life of leisure, a life of wonder and worship that God has called us to. In Christ we are free to enjoy the beautiful things and praise him for them.

What He Said: Voddie Baucham

The demands of teaching have been such that I have had little time of late to blog. Since the school year is coming to a close and my work schedule is changing for the summer, so I may have time to resume regular blogging. I have a few topics to research, including an opportunity to visit the past topic of beauty (the thought exercises related to which can be read here and here).

In the meantime, enjoy the words of Voddie Baucham in the video above.

(HT: VBM)

He Is Risen

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

- Genesis 3:15

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

- Isaiah 53:5

And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

- Hosea 2:21-3:5

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

- Romans 8:1-4

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

- Matthew 28:5-7

Good Friday 2009

The Lord did delight in his dear Son, and when he was found in fashion as a man, and became obedient unto death, he still was well pleased with him. Strange mixture! Jehovah delights in him, and yet bruises him; is well pleased, and yet slays him.

- C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Psalm 22:8

David's Psalm 22 is a majestic and beautiful cry for deliverance to God. Yet, more than just the prayers of David, it foretells the sufferings of Christ. The opening lines of the Psalm read, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" These are the very words of Christ as he hung on the cross: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabacthani!"

Throned upon the aweful tree, King of grief, I watch with thee,
Darkness veils thine anguished face: none its lines of woe can trace:
None can tell what pangs unknown hold thee silent and alone.

Silent through those three dread hours, wrestling with the evil pow'rs,
Left alone with human sin, gloom around thee and within,
Till tha'ppointed time is nigh, till Lamb of God may die.

Hark, that cry that peals aloud upward through the whelming cloud!
Thou, the Father's only Son, thou, his own Anointed One,
Thou dost ask him-can it be?-"Why hast thou forsaken Me?"

Lord, should fear and anguish roll darkly o'er my sinful soul,
Thou, who once wast thus bereft that thine own might ne'er be left,
Teach me by that bitter cry in the gloom to know thee nigh. Amen.

- John Ellerton, 1875