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Weekend Readings.

A collection of updates, responses, postings, and the truly bizarre for your weekend reading pleasure. Enjoy.

Robert Cargill responds to his critics regarding why Christians should adopt the BCE/BC dating system.

Scot McKnight jumps into the discussion on Rob Bell and the corruption of the term "evangelical". I think he is measured and dead on right.

Christianity Today interviews Don Miller regarding his latest book and how to embrace life as a better narrative. I had the opportunity to hear Miller speak last weekend at Mariners Church. His thoughts on life as narrative are very insightful.

And finally, just when you thought "Christianity" couldn't get any stranger, or more disturbing, along comes this beauty from Sojourners. [Be sure you click through and watch the "Taking the Hill" video.]

Have a great rest of your weekend...

"Evangelical?"

Today, Out of Ur posted a portion of the Boston Globe interview with Rob Bell about his current tour Drops Like Stars. The interview invariably turned to the term "evangelical" and it's use in our culture:

Q. What does it mean to you to be an evangelical?

A. I take issue with the word to a certain degree, so I make a distinction between a capital E and a small e. I was in the Caribbean in 2004, watching the election returns with a group of friends, and when Fox News, in a state of delirious joy, announced that evangelicals had helped sway the election, I realized this word has really been hijacked. I find the word troubling, because it has come in America to mean politically to the right, almost, at times, anti-intellectual. For many, the word has nothing to do with a spiritual context.

Q. OK, how would you describe what it is that you believe?

A. I embrace the term evangelical, if by that we mean a belief that we together can actually work for change in the world, caring for the environment, extending to the poor generosity and kindness, a hopeful outlook. That’s a beautiful sort of thing.

Now while one might agree or disagree with Rob's response to the final question, there's something larger going on here that we should not miss.

We live in an age where the term "evangelical" has indeed been corrupted to mean a myriad of things that perhaps were never a part of the original intent. I think a worthy question that needs to be asked is this, What does the term "evangelical" import today in this culture. Is what is often portrayed by the term "evangelical" something Jesus would attach himself to? [Could we "be taking the Lord's name in vain" by attaching the name "evangelical" to what we do?]

So what should the term "evangelical" mean today? Is it a term that still has importance?

Once Again... Stranger Than Fiction.

Seriously, you simply cannot make this stuff up. Crazy...

[HT: James McGrath]

Musician, Yes... but Open Theist?

Perhaps one of the better Google searches bringing someone here:

is david crowder an open theist

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

Stranger Than Fiction [part 2].

Someone please tell me this is not for real. [If it is, it says something deeply disturbing about the state of Christian publishing.]

What the... ?

Perhaps you've seen these kinds of people before, the ones who put scripture verses on their cars either by way of bumper sticker, or some other means?

Well this week, I was driving on the 91 Freeway and saw this verse on a car [as a huge decal on the back window]:

Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle

Can't say that I have ever seen anyone go after this verse as one that captures their journey with God. What exactly is this person saying? [Perhaps they are a part of the military, or an aspiring UFC champion?]

Writing and a Question.

I'm spending the day doing some much needed writing on my thesis. [More on this later...]

In the meantime, I've been chewing a bit on this post by Robert Cargill. Maybe you're like me, I grew up hearing "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" until it became a mantra. I've always felt a bit uncomfortable with this kind of thinking. It seems so trite and so self-centered, like God exists for me and my "wonderful plan." I've also never really been satisfied with how we reconcile the issues of pain and evil into this "wonderful plan" thing. Seems like our efforts are all to fraught with mental and theological gymnastics.

Cargill answers the pressing question, "Does God really have a wonderful plan for our lives?" His answer and thoughts may surprise you. It is a read well worthy of your time and pondering.

Enjoy.

The Things of God.

I had lunch with one of best friends today. It seems that whenever we get together something comes from the discussion that is good for my soul. Over lunch our discussion veering into things of faith and life. He made the comment that he was trying to explore what it meant to live in the present, being led into the things that God is involved in rather than being led by the things God is not in.

This got me thinking. Sometimes I find it disturbing to be around some kind of Christians, the ones who easily label everything that God is not in. It seems that they live their lives in some kind of "sin avoidance" mode, trying to sniff out everything that is not of God and making sure that everyone around them knows exactly what those things and, often times, who those people are.

What if we spent as much energy finding the things God is moving in? What if we sough to have the eyes of God, not in order to label and identify the "other," but to passionately seek to be about the things God is inviting us to?

Something like that could change the world.

Hhhmmm.

While perusing some of the blogs I read regularly, I came across this. It probably does not come as too big a surprise, but I was taken back a bit by this statement of LIberty University's "distinctives":

"An uncompromising doctrinal statement, based upon an inerrant Bible, a Christian worldview beginning with belief in biblical Creationism, an eschatological belief in the pre-millennial, pre-tribulational coming of Christ for all of His Church, dedication to world evangelization, an absolute repudiation of “political correctness,” a strong commitment to political conservatism, total rejection of socialism, and firm support for America’s economic system of free enterprise."

Is it just me, or are there just a few things that seem very, very out of place in that list?

[HT: Michael Bird]

Hope.

For in hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [Romans 8.24-25]

I've been doing some thinking about the idea of hope lately. It seems that everywhere you turn this advent season this idea of hope is central. This week's advent readings from Mars Hill have focused on the idea of hope and have only added to my questions about hope. Here's what I've been wrestling with lately: What is it that we are hoping for? This is not a question about who we are hoping in, or where our hope is placed. The question I think is much more base. What is it that are we waiting patiently for? And following that - How does the advent season offer a glimpse of this hope?

My hunch is that how we answer this question says a lot about our relationship with God, self and others. I think it also has a lot to say about what we think Christianity is and how we practice our faith in this world.

I think it for some it would be easy to say that our hope is for the forgiveness of sin, but I'm not completely convinced that the center piece of our hope is forgiveness. I don't really hear the collective cry of the people of God in the day of Jesus as a need for forgiveness of sin. I think that is part of it - but it is only a part, and perhaps a small part, of something much bigger.

The more I think about the idea of hope and what we are hoping for, I keep coming back to the idea of "salvation." I think our hope is for a completely and all-encompassing salvation.

I think the great heresy of the popular Christianity [evangelicalism?] is the reduction of salvation to merely a transaction based upon a set of propositional beliefs. Salvation, the kind we find in the text and in the cultural understanding of the day, appears to embrace something much larger in scope. Salvation was something that impacted all of creation, not merely a segment of it. Romans 8.18-27 delves more deeply into this, even invoking creation as a recipient of the hope of salvation.

Our hope needs to be in reference to something larger than merely the forgiveness of our sins and "being in heaven someday." Our hope needs to be for something more tangible, as well as transcendent. Our hope is for something to happen in this world. It is a hope for something in our lives and the lives of those around us. It is also a hope that somehow this world is fundamentally changed - that all of creation feels the impact of salvation and the coming of Jesus.

Jesus came to bring salvation, real salvation, to this world. He came to bring hope and light in the midst of darkness. He came to touch, and heal, and restore. He came to speak words of love and grace. He came to die and rise again. All of these things are intimately woven into the fabric of our hope.

Our hope is for restoration and reconciliation. It is for all things to be made new again, made whole and right again. It is for all things, for all creation, to be put back to rights again.

This is a hope worth hoping for.