Influential & respected evangelical leader Chuck Colson dies at age 80 & he is now with Jesus. May his influence multiply here on earth through the work he begun and through others that follow.
Psalm 116:15.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/aprilweb-only/chuck-colson-dead.html
Yesterday I had the chance to talk with some Grace University seniors that are just a few weeks away from graduation, some of whom are actively considering seminary/graduate school as they enter the next phase of their lives. I was asked to speak for 20-25 minutes about going to seminary – why I found it helpful, how I’d define “success” in seminary, etc, and then we had some great Q&A as the students brought up questions that were on their minds.
As Brookside continues to raise up leaders for the church through our particular local church, one of the things this means is that there will be those involved in our congregation who may be asking some of these same questions, and considering further theological education for themselves. With this in mind, then, here’s a synopsis of what I shared with the Grace seniors:
Why read commentaries? Lots of reasons. But one reason is for gems such as these that are especially fitting as we consider this Easter weekend, both mined from D.A. Carson’s Gospel According to John (Eerdmans, 1991) in the Pillar New Testament Commentary series:
Why read commentaries? Lots of reasons. But one reason is for gems such as this, mined from Craig Blomberg’s 1 Corinthians (Zondervan, 1994) in the NIV Application Commentary:
Commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:8-9, Blomberg writes,
“How can Paul be so thankful and positive [vv. 4-9] about a church rife with divisions and abuses [as the church at Corinth clearly was]…? Verses 8-9 supply the answer: God’s character provides the guarantee. He will remain faithful to his promises ultimately to perfect his people, however immature they at times seem to be (vv. 8a, 9). When he returns, when the age of the fulfillment of all the remaining biblical promises arrives, then believers will be made wholly blameless (v. 8b). Acquitted of their past sins, they will be fully prepared for the life to come. Even now, his people are in the process of being remolded, even if it is with fits and starts…” (p. 37).
On March 24, 2012 a “Reason Rally” will be held in Washington D.C. drawing “non-theists”/atheists from around the country to (according to the “about” page of their website) “unify, energize, and embolden secular people nationwide, while dispelling the negative opinions held by so much of American society…”
In an article describing this rally, event organizer David Silverman, president of American Atheists, further clarifies the purpose of this rally: “…the main point of the rally, Silverman says, is not to tweak the faithful. It’s to encourage closeted atheists to take heart. ’The message is that if you can come out, you can out come out,’ he says. ‘And if you can’t come out, at least you’ll know you’re not alone, and maybe sometime soon you’ll be able to come out of the closet to your family.’”
The sense I get from these sorts of purpose statements is that ”coming out of the closet” and identifying oneself as an atheist will be liberating for the individual. Maybe it will be. Maybe it will liberate this “closet atheist” to finally start living a certain way, unriddled by the guilt they feel has been imposed on them by whatever beliefs about God/believers/religion they’re rejecting (or never believed in in the first place). Maybe it will be liberating to finally answer the questions they’ve been asking with responses they (for whatever reason) are more satisfied with.
Mabye…but not necessarily.
Recently Al Mohler (president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky) posted an entry on his blog that addressed both (1) his hope for the church because of the young ministers entering and preparing for ministry, and (2) challenges/issues that are on the (near) horizon that demand careful response and attention by the church.
This article was one of those pieces of writing that kept me thinking for a while even after I read it, so I figured it was worth referring along. Here are some (brief) excerpts from Mohler’s post that will give you a sense of what he’s covering (and hopefully whet your appetite to reading his whole article – we’ve provided a link to it at the end):
This weekend in Brookside’s class, “Fuel for Faith: An Important Class about Christian Theology,” I’ll be teaching on the category of systematic theology called “eschatology” (i.e., the study of the end times and the renewal of God’s design). Mention a study of the end times to someone, and you’ll usually get some variation on one of two responses. (Allow me some – but maybe not much… – exaggeration as I make a point.)
First, there’s eschatomania. The eschatomaniac is the person who – upon hearing about an end-times discussion – suddenly (and often dramatically) pulls out charts and diagrams (and maybe even the rare flannelgraph, if you’re lucky) to explain their position. For this person, the numerous references to Jesus’ return and the end of the world have become dislocated from their biblical contexts, and have instead become a sort of code to break in-and-of itself. And, often, this person’s study of the end times hasn’t only led to deeper study of select biblical texts and a few charts; rather, eschatomania often leads people to a strong, evangelistic zeal for their position, a closed-mindedness/borderline arrogance toward other orthodox options, and a narrow focus on this category of theology to the neglect of others.
Second, there’s eschatophobia. The eschatophobe is the person who – upon hearing about an end-times discussion – does their best to remove himself from said discussion by a radius of at least 100 yards. Perhaps they’ve had a negative experience in some end-times discussion in the past, are aware of the unfortunate controversy and division that can result from such a discussion, and/or simply don’t know what the Bible has to say about this topic. This person’s fear of anything slightly related to the end times has them avoiding biblical passages that deal with this topic and studies that introduce them to this area of theology in a balanced way – and the result is that an important component of the Christian faith in absent from their lives, minds, and worship.
I wonder, though, if there’s a third way beyond eschatomania and eschatophobia – an approach that takes what the Bible has to say about eschatology seriously, and yet allows that material to cultivate transformation rather than to breed speculation. Enter: transformational eschatology.
