Blog for Western Trip

This Monday morning my family leave on a trip out west. I'll put that on a separate blog, not wanting to presume on anyone's interest in that. You can find that blog here:

proudfootwest.blogspot.com

By way of explanation, "Stoltzfus" is German for "proudfoot" (a name featured also in The Hobbit, you may recall).

Mystery and Objectivity

That is the title of an interview World Magazine's Marvin Olasky did with Stanley Fish in a recent issue. I stumbled on Mr. Fish's fine columns in the New York Times a few years ago, and have often read them--with great pleasure (as a writer, he is superb) and to my benefit in understanding what some of the brightest and more thoughtful minds are contemplating. So I was happy to see Olasky interview him.

Fish understands, from his reading of Augustine and John Milton, what many Christians do not, alas: that much (if not all) sin is at heart a violation of the first commandment; that is, whenever we try to find life in anything but God (and worshiping is in one sense a seeking after life), we tend instead toward death. I hope you will read the interview.

Forgiveness: Indifferent vs. True

A French philosopher famously said (and I paraphrase): "Of course God forgives. That's his job." That is the attitude we often have about God and forgiveness (I ought perhaps only to speak for myself, but I would guess you, the reader, share with me in this). It is an attitude that fails to take into account who God is: that he is holy and just; that the sin we glibly take for granted he will forgive, is abhorred and despised by him; that by all rights we deserve not forgiveness but condemnation. Moreover, when we come to God with that mind-set, his forgiveness does little for us--it does not produce a good deal of gratitude (after all, how much gratitude do I feel toward the garbage truck driver when he is doing his job by collecting my trash?), nor does it motivate me to change. It leaves me indifferent, and feeds a contempt for God.

By contrast, true forgiveness involves a grasp, and an embrace, not only of the fact of forgiveness, but of the way that God forgives. At the heart of the gospel is the wonder that a righteous and holy God forgives. That when God forgives he does not merely glibly dismiss my sin with a "no big deal." He is not like us--nor is he simply a more powerful rendition of us. He is God--infinite, eternal, and unchangeable (not finite, temporal, and changeable) in his justice as well as his goodness. His forgiveness is not merely immunity from punishment (sometimes that's all we really want, after all). But God's forgiveness has a higher aim, as Psalm 130:4 says: "With you [God] there is forgiveness, that you may be feared." True forgiveness results in overwhelming gratitude; and in a fervent desire to honor, obey and fear God.

John Owen writes: "There are none in the world that deal worse with God than those who have an ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness." By contrast, "Great love will spring out of great forgiveness."

Let's face it--we are usually somewhere along the spectrum between having an "ungrounded persuasion of forgiveness," like the French philosopher, and a fully grounded, assured conviction of true forgiveness that leads us to greater fear of God. Let's recognize that--and ask God to give us a more fully grounded sense of his forgiveness, that comes to us through Jesus Christ.

The Next Story free as MP3

I've been plugging along in the book The Next Story, about how we are shaped by technology. Just wanted to let you know it is available free this month in MP3 format from www.christianaudio.com. Now you will have to register, and you will get monthly emails with advertising for their free book-on-audio specials, along with other recommendations. But that is all--they are not going to fill your inbox with spam. So especially if you have a decent commute, I suggest you check it out.

I've just finished reading the chapter called "Tune off and Tune in" on the way our digital technology contributes to a weakening in our ability to concentrate on one thing (something the Bible calls "meditating") for extended periods of time. We are simply always looking for the next distraction--the next thing to fill our minds with "new" information. It was for me a very convicting chapter; I miss out on a great deal in my desire for "new" data. If you do too, read it, or listen to it. And then stop to reflect, and see if there is good advice for your own sanctification.

Does it all end this Saturday?

Harold Camping and Family Radio's shenanigans are usually so far out there that I hesitate even to comment on them--and this year's is no exception. But I was at the barber's recently, and one of the barbers joked about it "all ending this Saturday." She, too (yes, this barber was a "she") was joking about it--but I was surprised to hear mention of it at the barber shop (Anthony's on Penn Street in West Reading).

It reminded me that people do hear about these things. And while on one hand it brings Christ's name undoubtedly into disrepute when people make wrong-headed predictions about very serious and significant events. But on the other hand, it also provides opportunity to point people in the right direction--winsomely, but with a humble boldness. It is the same with Rob Bell and his denial of hell (behind which is, even more significantly, a denial of God's perfect justice. Can you worship God if he is not perfectly just? Does God's love mean anything without his justice? The unfathomable glory of the gospel is that it combines God's perfect justice--and yes, his wrath--for sin and sinners with his perfect love in the work of Jesus Christ).

This is a time to think: if someone asks me about these things, what do I say? What do I believe--as in, what do I trust in? And can I speak that winsomely and clearly when someone asks--without seeming reactionary or defensive? Let's "be prepared to give a defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in us" (1 Peter 3:15). After all, God is always at work.

Shallow Small Group

Here's for a laugh:

Should We Rejoice at bin Laden's Death?

Last week I had a conversation over lunch with several pastor-types, and the question came up: should Christians rejoice over Osama bin Laden's death? The answers varied, mostly from "no, we should not rejoice, it is gloating" to "yes, but only moderately so."

I agree that we should never gloat--even over the death of someone whose deeds are so very reprehensible. At the same time, there is cause for some rejoicing. We may rejoice that justice has been done; we may also be sad that this man, who bore the image of God (as many have reminded me) had become so evil, and so trashed God's image that he destroyed others made in God's image.

Over on her blog, Barbaranne Kelly has a few choice links to comment on bin Laden's death. Of those, John Piper hits the ambivalence best, I think. Emotions are, and should be, mixed (as they often are in this already-not yet world, where the kingdom of God and the "present evil age" [Gal. 1:4] intersect).

On a side note, this has been a rare time when in the larger media the word "justice" is used in the sense of "retributive justice." In our postmodern world many do not like to admit that anyone "deserves" punishment. That our culture can only see it in a truly despicable, and evil person is unfortunate; that they still see it is cause for hope, nevertheless.

Please Hold Me to This

Over on the Reformation21 blog, Carl Trueman has been reflecting on the "conservative Reformed mega-pastor" and theology conferences. I'm not opposed to theology conferences, and realize I will never be a "megapastor"or a famous conference speaker--that's OK, 99% of pastors will not be. But in his reflections he hits on the necessity of personal ministry in this post. If I am your pastor, please hold me to this. I want to know you, and be known by you, as much as humanly possible (so does Pastor Ross, and so do our elders). If we're missing this, please let us know.