Reflections on a Tragedy

I recognize it is difficult, and dangerous, to try to diagnose a situation from hours away, with people of whom I have no first-hand knowledge.  So what I say is necessarily hampered, and limited in its usefulness, by all that.  Still, a few thoughts struck me as I read more about the shootings at the elementary school in CT.
While most of the talk is about increasing school safety and gun laws (I'm for both--on the second point see Nicholas Kristof's column yesterday.  Not having grown up with guns--Germany, where I grew up, has  strict gun laws, and so does China, where I lived for many years, and I can't say I minded either--I am somewhat baffled by the second-amendment crowd in this country.  Which I realize stigmatizes everything else I say for some of my dearest friends.)  But there are some other things that the media are mentioning, but not making much of--that could be made much of.
For example, both the murderer and his mother, in one Washington Post article, were not said to have any good friends.  No one has asked for either of their bodies, according to the coroner, as of yesterday.  While the mother was not a recluse (like the son apparently was), it does not appear that she had many friends.  something tells me that this is a fruit of our present culture--especially middle-class culture--that does not bode well for us.  I could elaborate, but you probably know what I mean.  Today's middle-class culture--with its need to keep up with the Joneses, and the challenge of maintaining a standard of living, leaves little room for true friendship; you have to sacrifice numerous middle-class trappings to find and make room for friendship. 
Or, take the divorce of this young man's parents.  Now I have no desire to point a finger at people who are divorced. Life is complicated, and we live in a fallen world, and partake of the world's fallenness, which makes marriage exceedingly difficult (again, middle-class trappings, and the need to keep up middle-class appearances, add to the difficulty).  So, there but for the grace of God alone, go I.  Still, that divorce--reporters have said it was exceedingly difficult for the couple's two sons--should not be overlooked.  Children--and teenagers--are more likely to "succeed" in life (however people define that, even without the gospel) with two parents--and even more with two parents who are present and engaged.
Which leads me to the question: how should we view this in light of the gospel?  Two thoughts:
(1) Give thanks for God's common grace.  Without common grace such events would become so common as to go unnoticed. I know that is a daring statement, but consider what our life would be like if each of us always acted on our worst temptations.  By God's common grace we, and others, do not.
(2) When people ask how Jesus teaches us to think about such tragedies, point them to Luke 13:1-5.  Read that, and memorize it, and meditate on it for the next tragedy.  Note that Jesus gives no deep explanation--he does not reveal to us the mind of God on these things. And he gives us no grounds for pointing the finger at anyone, or standing in judgment on anyone in an absolute sense.  We are no better than the victims of senseless violence or catastrophe--whether man-made (vv. 1-3) or random (vv. 4-5).  Instead, these events are reason to reflect, and repent.  Hard words (as so often Jesus' words are!), but absolutely true.

How to Speak about a Tough Topic

How do you talk about homosexuality?  Here is Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterrian Church in New York City, speaking at a Columbia University forum (not exactly a sympathetic audience, by the way). I think he does an excellent job of delivering a gospel-focused response (which is not about our good works, or our not sinning, but about our trusting in Christ's righteousness, though we are sinners!).  What do you think?

Leader or Follower?

Follow this link for a neat video (by Curt Cloninger, a Christian skit-guy) about "leadership."  Leadership is of course all the rage (and with good reason, often), but is leadership overrated?  Watch this to the end to get the "punchline".

What Are the Biblical Qualifications for Elders and Deacons?

This month our church is making nominations for the offices of elder and deacon.  If you are interested in a short paper that studies what 2 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 says about the qualifications for elders and deacons (i.e. what kind of men you should nominate), please email me for a PDF file.  The blog site does not allow me to post it here--or else I have not yet learned how to do so.  (If you don't know how to email me, just leave a comment with your name, and I will get it to you).

Talking Political Candidates

One of the most frustrating (see the sermon for August 26--how we "groan" in this fallen world) things about "political season" (the time just before a major election) is how much truth suffers in all the advertising (most of it done via sound-bites and twitter feeds and short facebook blurbs).  Pundits seem to agree that this year's election is particularly bad.  What is one to do?
Sam Logan (President Emeritus--that means former president--of Westminster Seminary) has on his blog some biblical advice from the Westminster Catechisms about how to speak about the candidates.  You can find it here. And no, it is not a sound bite--and will keep you away from sound-bites, if you heed it.

No more sunburn--Chinese style

Check out this article on the latest in sun-blocking at the beach in Qingdao, China.  Better than sunscreen--at least at blocking the sun!

Sabbath on the Ranch

One of my abiding longings is to learn to properly take a Sabbath on Sundays (we call it the Lord's Day, following the apostle John, Rev. 1:10).  Sure, in the morning I work--but my work is also worship, and so it is, still, for me, the Lord's Day.
Here is an article I found on a blog that is a good reflection on Sabbath and rest, by a rancher in Wyoming.  Perhaps you will find it helpful.

Syria from another perspective

We live in a fallen world... we know that, at least in theory.  How that plays out is varied, and sometimes frightening.  Take Syria for instance.  From our news sources we know that the Assad regime in Syria is cruel and totalitarian, as the regime has, over the last year, squashed demonstrators, who then turned into a guerilla force, and now an opposition army.  American sympathies are mostly with those opposed to the regime.  But here is a bit of news from Syria that shows the situation is more complex.  (This blurb comes from the web site powerofchristatwork.net.)  Keep this in mind as you hear the news, and pray for Syria and her Christians:

Update on Syria

Syrian Christians are heartened by the outpouring of prayer for their protection. They are threatened by Islamists opposing the government. The worst incidents have been in Hama and Homs. 

A predominately Christian neighborhood of west Hama named Mahrada, was overrun by Islamist armed men.  They forced families to flee and occupied homes.  Three men were shot dead before their families. 

In Homs the same occurred on a larger scale in the predominately Christian neighborhood called Hamidiyah.  There tens of men were killed and 23 women were kidnapped and repeatedly raped before being freed when the Syrian army regained control.  Christians are gradually returning to their looted homes. 

Pray for peace and stability as well as repentance, healing and forgiveness.

Law and Grace

As I'm working through Romans 8 right now, it is a good time to (indeed, Romans forces us to) consider the relationship between law and gospel, or law and grace.  Some truths from Romans that need to be kept together:
1. The law--God's law--is good (7:12).  It is Spiritual (with a capital S, i.e. it is of the Spirit of God, 7:14).
2. By works of the law no one will be justified (declared righteous) in God's sight (3:20).
3. Justification is a gift of God's grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ (3:24); and it is based on the righteousness of Christ received by faith (3:22), not on the law.
4. God's purpose is for the requirement of the law to be fulfilled in us, his people (8:4).
5. The law is weakened by the flesh (i.e. our sinful disposition, 8:3), so that we cannot by nature keep it (see 2.).
6. But when we are made alive by the Spirit, we can submit to God's law (implication of 8:7) and thereby please God (implication of 8:8), both of which are very good things.
Here is a quote from John Murray: "We must guard grace from the adulteration of legalism and we must guard law from the depredations of antinomianism." (Principles of Conduct, p. 182; "antinomianism" is the belief that the law is no longer to guide Christians).

Blog Worth Following

Recently I got onto Tim Challies' blog.  After a few weeks, I will recommend it to you (the few of you who read this, but then, perhaps you have people you can pass it on to :)).  You can find it at challies.com.  Challies is the guy who wrote the book The Next Story, about technology; I posted about that book in May of last year.
The last few days Challies has had an interview with R.C. Sproul.  Nothing earth-shattering there, but some good thoughts by a thoughtful man.  Well worth a read.

We're Back!

Well, we're back from the "large country in east Asia."  There are many things to say about that; if you are in Reading, we are going to do at least two presentations at Covenant Church during the month of August.
In the meantime, I want to encourage you to read a book that came out not long ago: Escape from Camp 14.  It is the account of a young man who was born (!) in a North Korean prison camp; and as far as anyone knows, he is the only one born in a prison camp ever to escape.  It is at times a brutal read.  But especially, if you ever feel like you are not getting a fair shake out of life, read this book.
While in said "large country in East Asia" I encountered one man who said he was from N. Korea. He was asking for food and money (we gave him food and about $1.60).
We were about 100 miles as the crow flies, give or take, from North Korea's "Camp 22," a prison camp the size of Los Angeles.  N. Korea is very committed to its prison camps.  If you don't know much about it, Escape from Camp 14 is a good, very readable, and not too long place to start.  By the way, my copy is from the library; it is available in the Berks County Library system.

"Knowing God" free audio download

Yes, that's right--you can download J.I. Packer's classic Knowing God in audio format (mp3, etc.) for free, during the month of January.  Find out about it here.
You will be asked to register, and you will receive monthly emails from christianaudio.com.  But I have been signed up for these for many months, and have not been upset by further emails or spam from them.  I highly recommend this, especially if you have any kind of commute.  Present your mind to truth like this (Rom. 6:12).