The importance of blogging

I saw an interesting link this morning regarding the state of the "Christian" publishing world. Turns out that HarperCollins Publishers, which bought Zondervan in 1988, has purchased Thomas Nelson. This means that one company now controls a huge percentage of the publishing business aimed at Christiansm, around 50%:

HarperCollins Publishers today announced it was buying Christian/inspirational publisher Thomas Nelson "for an undisclosed sum." It's a huge move since the company will now reportedly control about half of the Christian publishing market.

The question now is how the acquisition will play with Zondervan, Thomas Nelson's chief competition. HarperCollins, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, acquired Zondervan in 1988. (It also owns religion and spirituality imprint HarperOne.) Thomas Nelson says it is reportedly the largest Christian publisher in the world and the seventh largest trade-book publisher in the United States. Zondervan says it is the world's leading Bible publisher.

You can be sure that people like Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo will freak out because Rupert Murdoch is the force behind all of this. Conspiracy theories will abound!

This is simply the free market at work. These companies provide what Christian, or at least religious, consumers by and large are demanding. Lots of books by Max Lucado, schlock and trinkets, fluffy books and self-help guides dressed up in churchy language. That doesn't make it right, it just makes good business sense and if Rupert Murdoch is anything he is a good businessman.

This is also why blogging is so important. Sure the blogging world is rife with kooks and semi-professional watchbloggers and some really, really poor writing but it also is a huge outlet of writing and thought and discussion that frankly wouldn't make the cut in a highly commercialized operation. Most bloggers wouldn't make it in the world of mass publishing but that doesn't mean their voices are less important. It is also all the more reason we should support independent publishers like Energion Publications and those authors who self-publish. Niche publishers like Presbyterian and Reformed Publications will continue to publish their works as well. The end is not upon us and we are not facing an exclusive future of recycled fluff churned out by one massive publishing house. We do however need to encourage alternate outlets of thought and discussion. Bloggers, independent publishers, self-published authors, etc. all give voice in the church to dissent, to questions, to the issues that make people uncomfortable and hopefully shake the trees once in a while. We can't depend on the big religious publishing houses for that and really never could. Nor should we in 2011.

So my fellow bloggers, blog away! Buy books from Energion and P&R! Write a book of your own! make your voice heard because all of us have something to say even if what we have to say doesn't make any sense!

Orphan Sunday

This Sunday is "Orphan Sunday". What a great time to raise awareness about the needs of orphans around the world!

A reform in deeds as well as in doctrine

Dave Black weighs in on Reformation Day and has some excellent thoughts...

In a nutshell, the way of salvation is just that: a way of living. This does not mean that the Gospel is not worthy of our best theological thinking. It is worthy of the best of everything. But the genius of Christianity, as far as world religions go, consists in the fact that its beauty lies in another direction altogether. Its glory lies not in clever phrases but in the Spirit and in power. There is no simpler way to state it than in the words of the apostle Paul: "The only thing that matters is faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6).

If we reform our thinking but not our living, we haven't really reformed a thing. That is the great danger of a reformation only half done and it is far too apparent that we often seem content to be "halfway men" like Luther and his fellow magisterial reformers.

Another plea for consistency

Eric Carpenter wrote a great post dealing with the idea of consistency in hermeneutics, A Pilgrim's Progress: Why Believer's Baptism?. Eric addresses one of my personal challenges and something I think needs far more attention in the church: consistency when interpreting and applying the Bible. As Eric points out, many of us are pretty inconsistent about how we interpret and apply what we read in the Bible.

Personlly, I hold to believer's baptism because that is what we see in scripture. I also hold to the other above things for the same reason.

What I'm begging the church for is consistency. We need to treat the biblical model fairly and consistently. Picking and choosing what makes us feel comfortable is simply not a fair way to handle the bible.

The reason I hold to believer’s baptism is the same as Eric: it is what we see demonstrated and commanded in Scripture and further it is the only position that is consistent with the change to the way God deals with His people under the New Covenant. This is the same reason my wife covers her head and that I choose to educate my children at home and that I hold to the doctrines of grace. Where I find myself struggling is when I see what Scripture teaches and yet kick against the goads because it runs contrary to my traditions. The use of the sword by Christians is a perfect example. The Bible is painfully clear on this issue. Christians are to seek to live peaceably with all people but that runs smack dab into our Western tradition of asking God to bless our troops while they are killing the enemies of the state we were placed in and the exaltation of military service by so many in the church. It has been a hard road for me and one that often is lonely but that is the price for trying to be faithful and consistent in interpreting and applying the Bible. The Bible is not a 21st century morality manual, it is a ancient document that depicts a radical change in life for those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, a radical way of life that is going to cause friction with the world.

If we say we love Jesus and want to conform ourselves to Him by studying the revealed will of God in the Bible and applying it in our lives, we must seek to do so consistently. We are so often guilty of picking and choosing, taking one portion of Scripture as a hill to die on but then taking another portion of Scripture and relegating it to the culture of the day. Sometimes we do this within the same chapter of Scripture! Baptism, infant or believer’s only. Election and predestination or “free will”. Congregational or Presbyterian or Episcopal church government. Pre, post or amillenial. On and on.

Being consistent is pretty difficult because we are often blind to those areas of Scripture where we are less than consistent. No one that I know of is proudly proclaiming how inconsistent they are in interpreting Scripture! This is why an individualistic hermeneutic is dangerous (2 Peter 1:20). Unfortunately the “solution” typically put forth in the church as a defense against heresy and error is an “expert hermeneutic” where one man, usually the pastor who has a seminary degree, is given virtually all of the interpretive authority in a local church so that each local church functions under a very narrowly focused hermeneutic lens. That is just as dangerous as an “every man for himself” hermeneutic because this is a breeding ground for inconsistency and often heresy.

This is where a community hermeneutic comes into play. When all of the brothers in a local assembly are engaged in the teaching and interpretation of Scripture rather than just one man it is far more likely that a consistent hermeneutic will appear. A Southern Baptist pastor trained in a Southern Baptist seminary and ministering to a Southern Baptists congregation (as his job no less) is likely to produce a Southern Baptist hermeneutic and no one is going to question it. If an individual does come to a different interpretation, they will more than likely just leave that church because they don’t really have a say in the interpretation of Scripture unless they are the pastor or perhaps one of the elders/deacons. I think we fear letting people say the wrong thing or ask the wrong question so we restrict the conversation.

Brothers, we must constantly strive for consistency and be willing to lay it all on the table, all of our presuppositions and traditions and pet peeves. When we hold back one area, one tradition, one favorite or culturally popular doctrine we are being unfaithful in our interpretation. The Body of Christ must not fear itself. We who are born-again believers in Christ all have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit and that is the best teacher any of us can have.

Happy Reformation Day!

October 31st is a day for the annual reminder of the traditional start of the Protestant Reformation and a reminder of how important these issues are still today. It is also crucial that we remember that the men so many revere as "heroes" and "great men" of the faith were no less flawed than any other Christian and that the Reformation itself only went part if the way to restoring Biblical Christianity.

Sola Fide! Sola Gratia! Solus Christus!
Sola Scriptura! Soli Deo Gloria!

-----

October 31, 1517

On this day in 1517, a German monk nailed his 95 theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany and launched a movement that would change the world. While much of the world celebrates Halloween, we will celebrate Reformation Day with popcorn and a private home viewing of Luther.

The issues with Roman Catholicism are as true and pressing today as they were then. Justification by faith alone, one of the cornerstones of the Gospel, still stands anathematized by Rome. In other words the Gospel is declared anathema by the man who styles himself to be the Vicar of Christ on earth. The words of the Council of Trent still stand, and until Rome rejects those teachings there can be no reconciliation between Rome and Christianity.

Today is a day we should celebrate our Lord raising up flawed men like Martin Luther who He used mightily in the propagation of His Gospel against those who would reject it. It is also a day of sober reflection on the constant assault against the Gospel and the perpetual need to guard the faith delivered once for all, and entrusted to the church for all time. Pray that God will continue to raise up men like Martin Luther. We certainly could use some today.

Thoughts on titles

Good thoughts here from Brian Daniels on Andreas Karlstad, What would you rather be called, "doctor" or "brother"?.... I have come to see that titles among believers serve to separate and divide the church and as such are prideful and harmful traditions that should be rejected. Check it out, good stuff on the day before Reformation Day!

Are We Too Gospel Focused?

What an odd question?! How could we be too focused on the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ? If anything it seems clear that we are not focused enough on the Gospel!

Here is what I am thinking. Some parts of the church seemed focused on using the Gospel, or at least what they misunderstand to be the Gospel, as a slogan to add members to "their church". Other parts of the church seem to view the Gospel as a mandate for social change, either "social justice" which is defined as liberal political activism or "restoring Judeo-Christian values" which is defined as conservative political activism. Still other parts of the church see the Gospel as a doctrine to be studied and parsed over and over again. I think all of these views of the Gospel are missing the boat.

When we think about the Gospel, there are two questions we need to ask. What does the Gospel tell us and how does the Gospel compel us?

One can spend a lifetime reading about theology, digging deep into the ordo salutis, studying the great thinkers and preachers and writers of the church and miss the significance of the Gospel. It is spiritually unhealthy to spend all of our time talking about, thinking about and reading about the Gospel while not actually living as the Gospel commands us. We end up with spiritual bodies that have giant brains and bodies withered away from atrophy. While the Bible speaks clearly about predestination and election, justification by faith alone, the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, etc., it also is quite clear about what these truths compel a believer to do. Not "do" as in "do this to be right with God" nor "do this as a trudging ritual you feel obligated to do in remembrance of me" but "do this out of love because of the change that has been made in you". "Do" as is caring for the poor, "do" as in every Christian being called to proclaim the Gospel, "do" as in teaching and training our children, "do" as in visiting the widow and the orphan. That "do" has been largely missing in the church since the Gospel was reclaimed during the Reformation and still is today. Our call to "go" and "do" has been reduced to "stay, pray and pay".

My wife and I spent six hours driving yesterday and during that time we listened to some talks from the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology. The talks dealt with the topic of justification and were deep and rich, saturated with Scripture. Yet something was missing. These were not evangelistic talks aimed at unbelievers. These were talks targeted at mature believers but the talks were all about "what and how" and virtually nothing about "what now?". The speakers lamented that we don't talk about the Gospel enough but I wondered what the people in "Gospel centered churches" understood the necessary consequences of the Gospel to be? Coming to church? Being a "member"? Getting baptized? Obeying the church authorities and contributing to the operation of the church? These talks and books and sermons that are "Gospel focused" seem to me to be like reading half of one of Paul's epistles, the parts where he speaks of the Gospel proper, while ignoring his admonitions and examples of how the church is to live as a family and to live as witnesses to the world. So when I ask, "Are we too Gospel focused?", this is what I mean...

We can get so caught up in studying the Gospel that we forget to live out the Gospel.

As we approach the 494th anniversary of Luther famously nailing the 95 these to that church door in Wittenberg it is high time for the church to start giving the Gospel its due. It is far more than a slogan to make "converts" to add names to membership rolls. It is in no way a political platform to be claimed by one party or the other. It is not an esoteric academic concept to be studied over and over. It is the declaration of what God has done for His elect that leads to what God calls His elect to do: be ambassadors of Christ, serve others with the towel and basin, love our neighbors as ourselves in deed and not just in theory, take the Gospel to the lost, be salt and light in the world. Believe me, I cringe when I hear a lot of people talking about "the Gospel" with only a vague, fuzzy comprehension of what the Bible reveals it to be but I also cringe when I see people so caught up in their studies that they fail to see the need to love their neighbor who lives across the street. We need to understand the Gospel far better in the church but that understanding must lead to going and doing. The Gospel compels us to action and if your understanding of the Gospel doesn't capture that, you don't really understand the Gospel at all.

The Battle for Haiti

My wife and I watched this tonight. It is a look into the parts of Haiti that we know are there but don't see from the windows of our bus that takes us from the airport to the orphanage. It is hard to watch but this is the reality, this is the world that the orphans often come from.

Watch Battle for Haiti on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

A great post on Christians and capital punishment

My mom sent me a great link this morning. Ben Witherington has a simply outstanding essay on Christians and capital punishment, Why Capital Punishment is not such a Capital and Christian Idea. Ben takes on not only capital punishment but the use of violence by Christians of all stripes. In this essay., Ben properly distinguishes between the ethic of secular worldly government, the topic of Romans 13, and the Kingdom ethics of the Lamb who was slain while also recognizes that violence is incompatible with a life following Christ. Here is a portion:

Jesus did not tell his disciples, pick up your swords and follow me, he said pick up your crosses and follow me. And when in extremis two desperate disciples at the Last Supper said ‘we have two swords, we are ready to rumble’ Jesus’ response was ‘enough of this!’. Sadly they had not gotten the point after lo those many months of his teaching them the ethic of non-violence and forgiveness. And when one of them actually used a sword to try and prevent his capture, Jesus not only stopped such action dead in its tracks, he paused to heal the wounded servant, on his way to execution. Who lopped off the slave’s ear? The very person who asked Jesus about forgiveness (see below).

Jesus wanted no violence at all done in his name. It is not merely an irony, it is a disgrace that Christians later thought Jesus might endorse a Crusade or two. Those were some of the most shameful things ever done in the name of Christ, but of course, we could name much more recent examples from the Holocaust or the dark days of Apartheid in South Africa.

Christians still have a capacity for deafness when it comes to Jesus’ life ethic. Jesus you see was totally pro-life—- not just pro birth, pro life. And above all, he believed that justice, if we are talking life and death here, should be left in the hands of God. The Biblical message is clear— ‘vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay’.

These are hard words for many Christians today to swallow, so entranced we are with the lures and lusts of the world: property, country, our own lives. The world says rise up and defend what is yours, Jesus says give it all away and I will repay.

I yearn for more and more Christians to seek not a life of being a "good Christian" and instead pursue a life with a downward trajectory as a follower of Christ. There will be glory to spare in eternity, we who have that promise have no need of it today.

Giving to a worthy cause

Maybe orphans aren't your thing but here is another worthy cause...

Nick Swardson's Pretend Time
Get More: Lady Gaga's Brother: Garry Gaga,Wheelchair Cat,Nick Swardson on Jokes.com

Thoughts on income disparity and the 1%

I wrote up a fairly lengthy and highly partisan post on my politics blog discussing why the Occupy Wall Street movement railing against the "1%" is foolish: The bogus issue of wealth and income disparity

Just in case you are interested...

I agree with Joseph Ratzinger on something!

Joseph Ratzinger, aka Pope Benedict, issued a statement expressing regret and shame that Christianity had used force in the name of Christ over the last two thousand years…

"As a Christian I want to say at this point: yes, it is true, in the course of history, force has also been used in the name of the Christian faith," he said in his address to the delegations in an Assisi basilica.

"We acknowledge it with great shame. But it is utterly clear that this was an abuse of the Christian faith, one that evidently contradicts its true nature," he said.

It was one of the few times that a pope has apologized for events such as the Crusades or the use of force to spread the faith in the New World. The late Pope John Paul apologized in 2000 for Christianity's historical failures.

I of course reject any pope’s assumed authority to speak on behalf of Christianity as a whole but I do appreciate that he recognizes the often violent and bloody history of the Western world where so much of that violence was perpetrated with the tacit approval or even cheerleading by those claiming to be Christians and leaders in the church. Especially given his position as the head of an organization that engaged in so much of the violence and bloodshed, his recognition of this gross sin in the past is appropriate. We sometimes seem afraid to admit our past failings for fear that enemies of the faith will use them against us.

This admission on Ratzinger’s part is in sharp contrast to the defenders of violence in the name of Christ among Roman Catholics and Protestants alike, defenders who invoke the idea of “just war” as cover for Christians going to war in the name of Christ or who try to gloss over the Crusades or the Inquisition or the various tortures and executions perpetrated by Protestants against Catholics, Catholics against Protestants and Catholics and Protestants alike against Anabaptists. If even one person was tortured, persecuted or martyred by someone claiming the name of Christ it is an anti-Christian atrocity and when it is carried out in a systematic and widespread fashion it is cause for deep sorrow and repentance. Of course no one alive today was involved in the Crusades or the Inquisition or the persecution of Anabaptists but we must recognize and remember the danger of seeking earthly, secular power. Seeking worldly power inevitably corrupts the church and that is every bit as true today as it was in the medieval era. We may not march off to war, although sometimes the language used in American military actions seems like we see our engagements as holy wars, but we do seek the approval of the world far too often.

I applaud Joseph Ratzinger for his willingness to own up to and recognize the often violent history of the organized church. We can never learn from our mistakes and change direction when we stubbornly refuse to admit where we erred, whether we are speaking of the Crusades or support for slavery and apartheid. The church is the church, from the first century A.D. to today and we who are called in Christ are all part of that same church. Where we have sinned and failed, we must learn from those errors to avoid repeating them in the future.