Random thoughts from a Tuesday morning:
- For Easter, my wife bought me an iTunes gift card, which I promptly spent on albums by Jeremy Casella (10,000 Angels) and Andy Gullahorn (Reinventing the Wheel). I recommend both highly.
- Today is the day of the “big ultrasound” – if the baby cooperates, we’ll know whether a boy or a girl is coming in late July. We’re taking our three kids with us today to watch, which should be interesting! To be helpful, I told my 3-year-old son that copious quantities of blue goo was involved. Not sure if that will prove to be a good idea or not…
- I’ve been listening through John Piper’s sermon series on the new birth, and I’m almost caught up with the podcast. In the sermon I listened to yesterday, Piper pointed out an interesting relationship between I John 1:8 and I John 2:1. The verb translated “we have” (the Greek echomen) in both is a present active indicative, which indicates a continuous state of affairs. The first verse makes it clear that we have sin – that sinfulness is my condition right now. The second verse tells me that Christ is my advocate right now – to the same extent. Right now, as I type this on my computer, two things are true about me: I am sinful, and Christ intercedes for me. Those twin truths keep me from pride on the one hand and despair on the other.
- I’m thinking about buying a Flip camcorder – they get really good reviews. Anyone out there have any experience with this device?
March 25 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
Well, the debate over the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin has new legs.
Personally, I think the shroud is a forgery. (I suspect that Nate Wilson’s theory is on the right track as far as explaining how such a forgery could have been accomplished using Medieval technologies.)
But even if the shroud is the real deal, so what? Catholics and Eastern Orthodox types may think this is significant – an icon or item for veneration – but Protestants aren’t supposed to go in for that, right? Right??? (Besides, the official stance of the Catholic Church is that it’s a fake, but that’s it’s OK to venerate it. Untangle that, if you dare.)
I mean, what the shroud tells us (assuming that it is Jesus’ burial cloth) is that it once contained a man that died by crucifixion. Is anyone disputing that? Even the most diehard atheists usually concede that Jesus actually lived and was crucified under Pontius Pilate. It certainly doesn’t prove the Resurrection, theories of Jesus’ body undergoing an effect like those in the movie Cocoon notwithstanding.
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments »
From an article on Slate.com:
Even agnostics and atheists who don’t accept Christ’s divinity can accept the general outlines of the Christmas story with little danger to their worldview. But Easter demands a response. It’s hard for a non-Christian believer to say, “Yes, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead.” That’s not something you can believe without some serious ramifications: If you believe that Jesus rose from the dead, this has profound implications for your spiritual and religious life—really, for your whole life. If you believe the story, then you believe that Jesus is God, or at least God’s son. What he says about the world and the way we live in that world then has a real claim on you.
Easter is an event that demands a “yes” or a “no.” There is no “whatever.”
March 21 2008 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment »