Luke's Reflections

School Is Out

Sat, 14 May 2011 12:31:00 -0700

Dear school,

I know you love me and that you are good for me, but I am enjoying not having you.

Sincerely, Luke

Why am I enjoying it?

Here’s what I got done this week:

Website project for my awesome cousin Kelsey.
Webapp to keep me focused (it can do it for you, too): makesomethingpeoplewant.org.
Webapp to help me search Amazon in a snap: Amubosé.
Restarted the M'Cheyne Bible schedule.
Slept.
Listened to a great missionary presentation.

Yes. I love not having school.

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The Nine Qualities of Men Used to Bring Revival

Fri, 13 May 2011 17:13:00 -0700

Jon Crocker gave an excellent missionary presentation (which was, incidentally, their first deputation meeting) on Wednesday night at my home church. He concluded his presentation with a searching list of the qualities often found in men that God uses to bring revival. The list was included in an introduction by Horatius Bonar to John Gillies' book Historical Collections of Accounts of Revival.

Roughly written down on Wednesday night, it goes as follows:

Men that God uses to revive His people often are:

Men that live in earnest.
Men bent on success.
Men of Faith
Men of Labor
Men of Patience
Men of Boldness
Men of Prayer
Men of Strong Doctrine
Men of Deep Spirituality

Do you exhibit those qualities?

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Sobering Realities

Wed, 04 May 2011 13:38:52 -0700

You may have heard this saying by Dr. Bob III.

The most sobering reality in the world today is that people are dying and going to Hell today.

However, that adage of Dr. Bob is not quite right:

The most sobering reality in the world today is that people are dying and going to Hell today, and they never heard they didn’t have to go.

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Why reinvent the wheel?

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:05:00 -0800

Because if we didn't, we would still be using circular stones as our wheels.

So, today, reinvent something that annoys you. It might change the world.

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Amazing Thanks

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:05:00 -0800

Yesterday, I posted an essay called Expect Amazing. As was pointed out to me in an email, it was a negative side of a very necessary positive attitude. So here is to encourage you to the positive.

Our God is amazing. That is why we need to be eternally thankful. We need to be thanksliving. We are commanded, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV)

So here’s what I’m thankful for:

God
God’s Word
God’s Amazing Love
God’s Amazing Grace
God’s Amazing Salvation
God’s Providence
God’s Direction
God’s Shepherding
Mom & Dad
Gretchen :–)
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ
My Pastors
My Health

Need I continue? Those are only 13 things, and I have by no means exhausted my list. We have lots for which to be thankful! So post lists of what you’re thankful for on Facebook and tweet it to your followers. Be careful, because God wants all your love and all the praise, make sure you attribute praise where praise is due.

Don’t just be thankful at Thanksgiving, but truly do it all the time.

Soli Deo Gloria.

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Take Your Breath Away

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:55:00 -0800

This is an observation from devotions today.

“And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.” (1 Kings 10:4-5 ESV)

The queen of Sheba had her breath taken away by the Lord’s blessings to Solomon. Have you ever had the blessings of the Lord take your breath away? So often the indescribable blessings are taken with hardly a praise.

If you’ve never had your breath taken away, take a step back and consider your blessings. Our blessings are so much more than Solomon’s, for the New Convent far exceeds the Old. Your breath will be taken away, if you only count your blessings.

Praise the Lord!

Remember God today. Remember His blessings. Remember to praise Him.

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Expect Amazing

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:35:00 -0800

The Dangers of Excessive, External Thankfulness

Introduction

God is marvelous. He is amazing. He embodies the synonyms of “awesome.” That means praise is an integral part of any relationship with Him — a lack of praise displays not only a dead relationship with God, but the epitome of human pride.

Unfortunately, as is often the case, one aspect of a relationship can and does get off-track. It happens when the relationship focuses solely on one facet, albeit a good facet. The relationship misses the big picture, or worse, morphs into entire misconception. It happens in marriages, best friendships, and in every conceivable human relationship. That includes a human’s relationship with their creator, maker, and ultimately (as is His plan) Father.

This “off-track-ness” of praise for God is often shown in the simplest of online communication — a status message. The quintessential status is an all-uppercase screaming of “WOW! GOD ANSWERED MY PRAYER!”[1] This exuding of thanks is often a mere pretext for the basest of human emotion and failure.

Faithlessness

Many a “genuine” status testifies of faithlessness. God promised in John 14:14, “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” And in Matthew 17:20, He promised, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”

Responses of total shock cannot fit those promises. God fathers His children. He loves them. He cares for them. God wants—He literally longs, as every father does—to answer His children’s prayers. He also demands the simplest of favors: He jealously desires His children’s trust. Sadly, His children respond in faithlessness.

Some posts portray faithlessness, and others reveal a more ignoble purpose.

Selfishness

A “spiritual” post on Facebook garners many “likes.” It is almost “un-Christian” to not “retweet” an answer to prayer. Such practices transform Christianity from a humble practice of godliness to an external practice of “God-talk.” Fully understanding this point requires a short detour explaining social status. Social status fulfills a human craving, viz., attention. It is generally obtained by sheer charisma; having money; or, in one word, work.

Because social status is normally linked to cultural values, Christians, who are commanded to be counter-cultural (1 Peter 1), are automatically disqualified or significantly hampered. It doesn’t matter how much “work” devoted, they will deny either the world or their faith.

However, the emergence of “bubbles”[2] in Christianity reset all normal (i.e., cultural) values and proceeded to redefine them by “more Biblical” standards. While there is nothing wrong with more Bible (or more application thereof), the by-product of highly-spiritualized environments presents a real problem.

Social status normally takes a lot of hard work, but now, in this bubble, “spirituality” is not only popular, but it is required and expected. This kind of Christianity requires much less backbone or work. “Spirituality” can be obtained by imitation in this environment (and be motivated by social status). Because it now is easily obtained, the outcome is dangerous and a recipe for life-disasters.

The results are striking: a narcissist motivation for so-called “spiritual” activity. Because a “spiritual” post gets bonus points, they can be posted with the wrong motivation. Consequently, the dough of narcissism has already been mixed and leavened, if you will. Egocentric social networks bake it to full maturity. It is not over yet, and the bread will not taste good.

The feedback loop of social approval — feeding the ever growing self-monster — started years ago. The shallow, un-tested, crowd-pleasing “Christian” generations are only now coming to fruition and, scarily, leadership.

It is all because of innate selfishness. In the wiles of the Devil, he tricked them into believing they were doing a good thing.

Faithlessness and selfishness are not the worst traits, even if combined. Both never should happen. Faithlessness and selfishness are Biblically disallowed. There are zero loopholes.

Yet they still happen, and the reason is simple: the Bible, though crystal-clear, is misinterpreted.

Misinterpretation of Scripture

This misinterpretation occurs in two ways.

God’s Answers Misinterpreted

“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:23-24 ESV)

“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 18:19 ESV)

Perhaps a Christian should wonder (i.e., at God’s grace) not when his prayers are answered, but when they are not! A Christian should still glory when God doesn’t answer prayer with, “Yes.” He has still answered. He is still worthy of magnificent praise and adoration.

The posts miss an entire side of God’s incredible answers! Oft the answer “No.” turns out to more good than a prayer answered, “Yes.”

God’s Answers Misemployed

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.”

(Matthew 23:27 ESV)

The Pharisees are no exceptional case. Teens of today make very good Pharisees. All is focused on the external. Pharisees disgusts and appalls; it is as far from God’s plan as possible. It hurts to imagine that a gracious answer from God is spun to vain social appeal! It’s more than “un-Christian;” it’s straight from the father of lies. Satan has warped malleable children of the King to be once again instruments in his hand.

Jesus very accurately described it. Attempts at painting a better picture are futile. It stinks. It smells. It is detestable, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, and disgusting. Just as God is a thesaurus list of words for “awesome,” this practice is a thesaurus list of words for “abominable.&rdquo. Faithlessness seems infinitely better when compared with Christians reduced to base tools in the sin-monger’s hand.

Conclusion

Facebook statuses are important — just like every other relational interaction. What we do is important. That’s right, what you and I do is of inestimable value to someone. It’s time people start realizing it. Your Facebook status matters. It either lifts up God or self.

And it’s time people start realizing the awesome God of the universe wants to help them. It’s time for His amazing answers to be given proper thanks. It’s time for the thanks to be in Biblical moderation. It’s time that God-praise is the motive, not the pretense.

So go out and thank God. Praise God. Glorify God. Because our God is an awesome God. Just don’t do it without consulting God through scripture. Just don’t do it without abhorring self.

And me?

I’ve done it too. That’s why I hate it so much. I fell — I’ll probably do it again. It’s easy, but that leaves me no excuse. I could even have done it, ironically, in this post. I hope I didn’t.

And them?

They probably don’t realize what they have done. They probably didn’t mean to do it either. I’m not trying to criticize, I’m trying to inform and reprove.

Soli Deo Gloria.[3]

[1] This is obviously not the literal rendering, but it resembles a large majority of renderings.

[2] A bubble is simply a highly-protected and highly-spiritualized environment. It is not inherently wrong. However, it comes with its dangers.

[3] Latin for “To God alone be the glory.”

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Something Different

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:07:00 -0700

Google introduced a new feature recently. It’s called Something different.

What’s it for? Probably to drive more searches (and thereby more ad revenue $–) ). Anyhow it’s an interesting feature, even though I don’t like it. Personally, I think Google should do what they are good at — giving me relevant search results, not off-topic ones. Oh well, maybe it will be useful on of these days …

For those of you who’ve been to the Wilds and seen Willie do his “Something different” skit it holds an entirely different bit of humor. I laughed when I saw it.

“So what do you want to do now?” “Sumthin' different!”

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Take It for Granted

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:51:00 -0700

“take for granted”: take to be the case or to be true; accept without verification or proof) “I assume his train was late” ~ wordnet.princeton.edu

I’ve heard all my life that because of the locality in which I’ve been placed (mainly) and many other reasons I am inequitably blessed. I don’t have to worry my next meal — or my next 100 meals. I don’t have to worry about a roof over my head, or a multitude of other things billions of people worry about every day. I have talents, and more importantly the ability to hone them.

And, just about every time, I’ve been reminded to not take them for granted.

That’s rubbish. And I’ll tell you why.

I am promised these things

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things [what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on] will be added to you. Matt 6:33 (ESV)

If my priorities are right, I won’t have to worry about an iota of earthly possessions. My Heavenly Father will totally provide.

That’s taking for granted if I ever saw it. Even more, I’m told to do it.

I am promised good

What about my church, pastor, and all the other non-essentials?

God has an answer for that too:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (ESV)

While I think that verse is so well-known it often loses its effect, it is very applicable to the topic. Consider: God knew that having Little Joe Africa born on the poorest continent was the best for him. God also knew having me born into the richest country was best for me. Now, the verse doesn’t directly involve unbelievers, but the principle that God does what is best always still applies.

Ergo, I can take it for granted; it was an omniscience God giving me the best [for me].

What I do not mean

I didn’t write the above to be proud, or to call attention to myself; I wrote it to praise God. God is pleased when I “take it for granted.” It’s called faith.

I’m not calling faith ingratitude. I can’t. For I am exceedingly thankful; only God could have orchestrated my opportunities.

Conclusion

To sum up? I can take it all for granted if I am seeking God fully. And praise him for it.

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Keep it Simple

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 11:21:15 -0700

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci

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Chicken-and-Egg Mystery Finally Cracked

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:23:20 -0700

British scientists believe they have found the answer to an ages-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Scientists cracked the puzzle after discovering that the formation of eggs is possible only thanks to a protein found in chicken’s ovaries. That means eggs have to be formed in chickens first.

The protein — called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) — speeds up the development of the shell. Researchers from Sheffield and Warwick universities in England laid out their findings in the paper “Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein.”

They used a supercomputer to zoom in on the formation of an egg and realized the protein is vital in kick-starting the crystallization process. It works by converting calcium carbonate into the calcite crystals that make up the egg shell.

Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University’s Department of Engineering Materials, said “it had long been suspected that the egg came first — but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first.”

“The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation, but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process,” Freeman said.

“It’s very interesting to find that different types of avian species seem to have a variation of the protein that does the same job.”

It is hoped the discovery leads to the invention of new materials.

via foxnews.com

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.

(Psalm 19:1-3 ESV)

"The Heavens declare the glory of God ... ", and so does a minute protein. The wonders of our God -- even though they aren't attributed to him -- are inestimable.

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Overthinking

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:49:12 -0700

I love to think. I love to analysis. Not that I’m the best, but I do it all the time. I analyze sports, politics, finances, technology, theology, just to name a few. Is that a good thing? Yup. Always? Nope.

There are many times I overthink; I get so caught up in the details I can’t see the big picture — I can’t see the forest for the trees. And, unfortunately, I oftentimes do it with God and his things. Yes, it’s great to think about him, probe his being. But more often than not, I just need to let God show me himself.

You will seek [not think or logic about, but search for diligently!] me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD … (Jeremiah 29:13-14a ESV)

I need to stop overthinking and just seek God. I must leave the rest to him.

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God or Nothing

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:00:04 -0700

God. Quite possibly the most debated question in the history of the world, and the most critical question to any individual.

Is he or is he not?

The answer guides your lifestyle. And, considering the sheer claims of God, guides your after-life (if there is such a thing).

Introduction

Properly understanding the question begins by reducing it to the possible answers: God is, and God is not. Let’s call them “God” and “anti-God.” While many facets lay claim on this debate, these are the most elemental.

Anti-God

First, anti-God. This is the simpler of the two; though by all means not uncomplicated. For this answer, science is the undisputed banner-carrier. It is looked to as the ultimate explanation of man, bumblebees and Mount Everest, and succinctly, everything. It’s headed up by a belief in evolution, the theory of natural selection instated by the Big Bang. Man is simply a by-product that happened to excel all the others. He is dominate for now. In 7 million years? Who knows.

While science is one tenet of anti-God, humanism comfortably fills it out. This is a direct logical extension of science. Man dominated, therefore has the right to rule, and be considered top-dog (i.e., god[s]) — it’s only natural [selection].

Anti-God does deal with the precursory belief in God by attributing him to illogic, archaism, and vested manipulators. The remnant that believes is considered foolish and backward, quite possibly less-evolved than the “enlightened”.

God

This side is very intricate and tightly-woven. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of religions: Hinduism, Islam, Taoism, Christianity, just to name a few. But they all have one thing in common: they believe they are right. 99% believe in a god or a multiplicity. 99% are mutually exclusive. They want to solve man’s intrinsic problem, and furthermore, believe they are the sole solution. Though given many other names, that problem is sin. For the sake of this post, sin will be defined as moral or legal failure, as a debate on the exact nature of sin is beyond this post’s scope.

Back to religions. All want to solve this problem; however, each has a slightly nuanced means. In all, man must do a single thing, or a series of things in hopes of forgiveness of sins. Some demand daily prayers, some self-sacrifice, still others monetary gifts, but they all have a single strain. Man. What he does earns him something, i.e., forgiveness of failures.

How foolish!

Think about it: man failed. Now he’s going to fundamentally change? Not only change, but totally repent, do drastically better (i.e. perfect), and redeem himself?! That requires an intrinsic nature change; the very thing that cannot be provided if man is the mover. He cannot change himself in any fundamental way. Yet all ancient and modern religions rely on it.

Save one: Christianity.

That is the lone exception. It stands alone. How? It asks nothing of man. It states man as born worthless and irredeemable. However, the Gospel provides the necessary change.

The Gospel, doesn’t present God as angry, ready to destroy all creation, but the polar opposite: loving. Imagine that! The Bible tells God’s story. (What a story, for it is God’s good news to man!) That story boils down to this: a gift of God to man. The gift of his only Son as fully God, fully man, so he could succeed where man miserably failed, and provide the only logical remedy to man’s problem. Transformation.

And that is why Christianity must stand alone. And stand for God. He laid it out, and there is none other. If by no other reason than logic, God is and must be represented in pure and unadulterated Christianity, as laid-out and defined in the Bible.

If man’s failures are to be remedied, his character must change. Christianity only provides.

Purpose

Usually the purpose of a post is stated at the beginning, not this time. No amount of reasoning can convince anybody of either side as outlined above. Wait. Wasn’t that the purpose of this post? Wrong. I can’t do it. As explained in Matthew, when Peter declared Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God:

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17 ESV)

Flesh and blood, i.e., I, cannot convince man of anything. It must be left up to God.

The purpose of this post is to show the results of the most basic and most necessary answer in human existence. Is God or is God not?

Choosing anti-God

Choosing the anti-God is defined by a choice of the supremacy of logic and science. They will rule all. Forever. God is not observable; therefore doesn’t exist; therefore is not logical. However, man can see man. He dominates. He earned the right to rule and make his own rules. Therefore he will. He’ll define his own laws and his own structure.

This idea results in several behaviors, which are causal.

Hedonism

The first logical step is hedonism. Man, as an individual, should live as one. He has but one life, and that is incredibly short. Therefore he should enjoy it to the fullest; it’s all he’s got. “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.”

Because it’s all he’s got, go for it. Hedonism results in a consumption of as much amusement as possible. Only allowing for musing, working, etc, as little as is necessary to sustain proper amusement. And he usually bemoans any work the entire time. Walk into the average workplace, my point will be self-evident.

Egotism

The second, and final step is egotism. The ultimate selfishness results. After living life for a while as a hedonist, man realizes helping others doesn’t actually help him all that much. Time is short and thereby supreme. Pleasures must be enjoyed now, carte blanche. Otherwise, his short life is entirely pointless. Hedonism has grown to engulf life itself, the very essence of egotism. Pleasures are best enjoyed alone, sans the fleeting pleasure of mutual enjoyment.

Man decides anarchy is best. It takes less time. Anarchy will take it’s toll on man resulting in dark age style chaos. Chaos results in total loss. Man has become just another animal, fighting for survival. He no longer dominates. Evolution has spoken.

Man has nothing.

Choosing God

Choosing God is an answer focused on externals, that is, outside of man. Man realizes he cannot fix his own problem. He gives up. Choosing God requires humility, something that choosing anti-God doesn’t. It requires man admit his own failures, but instead of being further humiliated, he is forever changed. God doesn’t “rub it in.” God doesn’t do anything remotely similar. God changes man. He removes the powerlessness over sin. He gives man a relationship. Forever.

Choosing God directly results in:

Love of God

The love of God consumes man. It is the single motivator of his life. Hedonism and egotism are dealt one swift, lethal blow. Because man has been redeemed by God, he gives himself fully up. He is consumed by an overwhelming desire to know more about God. He wants God’s loves to become his. He wants God’s hates to become his. Simply, man wants to mirror God. And why not!

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 ESV)

God’s desire for man, that is, conformity to himself, and man’s desire for man have unified. Which is an unstoppable force in man and in the world.

Love of Fellow Man

Second, man can love freely. Not only can he love God, but he can turn that love into an overwhelming passion, primarily for the souls of man, and secondarily for the bodies and emotions of man. This is the pinnacle of God-love, when an overwhelming passion for God turns into an unending altruism for the unlovely, the cast-offs, the rich. It is unparalleled in human existence.

To love is to mirror God. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, (and implied everything). God will not hold back any good thing from his children. Therefore, to mirror God is to have everything.

Man has everything.

Alternative Option?

Many intellectuals have thought through the paths presented already. Nearly as many have chosen number one, and to their defense, they think they can break the mold. They believe nothing (the ending of) can be avoided. And, by George, it looks like they’ve done it. Right? The world has survived Darwinism for 150 years. Medicine has increased. Wealth has increased. People are generally good.

Dear friend, read the newspaper.

Wars have increased. Man has had not one, but two world wars. AIDs and HIV proliferate Africa. Food is scarcer; water increasingly valuable. Crime is more violent and more prevalent than ever before. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. And yet world peace is the goal?

Many other people have decided that God is fine for them. But they claim religion, while denying the power thereof. They want the rewards of God, the hedonism of the world, and the hope of heaven. They are “worldly” Christians. That is an oxymoron. To love the world is to hate God. You cannot have both.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24 ESV)

Man claims he can waffle between the two, till he understands them better, and then decides to pick. He can’t. He is pre-programmed to follow anti-God.

There is no alternative.

It is God or anti-God.

Pick wisely, lest you perish.

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Grace and Knowledge » A Post-Patriotic Thought or Two…

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:24:10 -0700

Is it just me, or is the Fourth of July one of the hardest holidays for Christians to figure out? Sure, Halloween is controversial, Santa might be an anagram for Satan, and Cadbury Eggs seem to be the only legitimate reason to posit the existence of an Easter Bunny, but none of those issues affect corporate worship. Check out the Christian social media sphere around July 4, and you’ll find scores of articles, statuses (stati?), and tweets expressing opinions about patriotism and Christianity. You’ll find everything from “America is God’s chosen country so let’s quote OT verses about Israel as if they applied to the USA” to “patriotism is flat-out idolatry and has no place in church at all.” Here are a few thoughts about patriotism and Christianity that I mulled over last weekend.

First, America is not God’s special chosen nation. That’s so obvious it hardly needs mentioning. Yet Christians persist in the error of printing Israelite-nation-specific verses on red, white & blue placards. (I’m looking at you, Ps. 33.12 people!) To be frank, the belief that America is God’s chosen nation in some unique way borders on nationalistic arrogance. It exaggerates the Christian influence on the country’s founding and ignores America’s more recent history and current status. Of course, the deepest problem is that this elitism is impossible to support Scripturally. Ironically, the people who pretend America is a chosen nation (replacement theology of a sort!) are often strongly dispensationalist in their statements of faith.

Second, America is not as good as heaven. How many of you sang “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” in your church services? I nearly choked on the second stanza:

My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.

To begin with, I like America’s rocks, rills, woods and hills. They’re beautiful, but I don’t exactly love them. But that last line – “my heart with rapture thrills like that above” – I cannot sing out loud. To sing that the joy of seeing America’s geography is like the joy of heaven is idolatry. Yes, the issue really is that simple and clear. That stanza has no place on a Christian’s lips.

The question of whether “hymns” addressed to and extolling the alleged virtues of a nation have any place in a church service dedicated to God’s glory is an issue I’ll not answer at length here. I’ll simply say this: any song whose primary message is anything other than the character, work or worth of God is unworthy of inclusion in corporate worship.

Third, America’s founders were not all Christians. In their eagerness to see Christianity at America’s founding, many well-meaning people have incorporated quotations from Jefferson, Franklin and other outright unbelievers into their services. Let’s think carefully about what this actually does. It may seem patriotic to say, “Look, even people who weren’t quite Christians still believed in prayer and Judeo-Christian values.” What it might actually communicate, however, is “It’s OK if you’re not really converted as long as you pay lip service to an Almighty Being of some sort.” That’s not patriotic; that’s sad.

Proving America’s “Christian heritage” by referencing men who rejected the Gospel blurs the meaning of the word Christian. It implies that Christian simply means “believing in or influenced by conservative, semi-biblical values” and it marginalizes the core of Christianity: Christ’s sacrifice to redeem His people! Since so many churches intend their patriotic services to be evangelistic outreaches, the last thing they ought to do is validate a Gospel-less “Christianity” of mere ethics.

Fourth, God’s providence is evident in America’s history. A patriotic service that accurately praises God for that providence is a great idea. Admittedly it takes more restraint than usual to dial down certain extremes and to avoid certain pitfalls that often accompany patriotism. Furthermore, looking God’s providence is a lot deeper than being thankful for war veterans and political freedom. Focusing on all of God’s providence in America also takes us right up to His present providence. What is America today? It’s one country among almost two hundred others. It’s less than 5% of the world’s souls. It’s a country that needs Christ far more than it imitates Him. That is God’s providence today: we have a mission. Not a political goal, not an ethical target, not a national unity to pursue, but a mission for Gospel living and preaching. Any nostalgic look at our providential past that leaves us happy and satisfied with the status quo is insufficient.

One final thought in closing: I’d like to see a “patriotic service” that focuses the worshipers on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (but not just as a riff off of the sacrifice of war heroes), that magnifies the providential power of our personal God (not merely the vague “Power that hath made and preserved us a nation”), and that motivates the worshipers to go out and present the Gospel with their needy neighbors one-at-a-time (without getting distracted by dreams national revivals).

I’m sure some of you have attended Gospel-centered patriotic services and have been blessed by a biblically accurate response to the position God has put our country in. Please share some sermon links and stories in the comments!

via graceandknowledge.com

'Tis true. And almost entirely rejected among the "Christian" community. We need more people to understand that patriotism should and must take second place (at highest) to pursuing God.

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Extreme Thinking

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:48:10 -0700

http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/archive/tough-learning/tough-learning-final.pdf

This is a great little presentation presented as an essay. His last point especially clicked with me. If I want to change a habit or learn a subject, why not do it with others? It provides motivation and quite possibly a better accomplishment, even had I done it alone.

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Sounding Boards

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:44:00 -0700

Back in the day, sounding boards were an ingenious piece of wood (usually) designed to help project the voice of a speaker, in lieu of microphones.

Man. Times have changed.

Today, they are people behind the scenes, guiding the geniuses, the entrepreneurs, and the famous to sound avenues of personal expenditure (or the little ole' “me"s to, well, avenues of … something?).

What’s so great about them? They listen to you, and tell you when you’re totally off; best part is they do it in such a blunt way it actually hits you. They patiently wait while ideas gush from your mouths; only to tell you you’re all messed up. Or in the rare case, they say, “Man. Great idea, go after it!” Simply put, they hear your ideas, and return truthful feedback.

If you don’t have one, you need one. It could be a close friend, parent, spouse, or really anybody willing to put up with you and then tell you, “You’re rubbish.” (Or not.) Maybe an acquaintance would be better fitted; they are less apt to be biased. But who doesn’t really matter; just get one. There are a million reasons why. A verse comes to mind:

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. (Proverbs 27:6 ESV)

I have a great sounding board. This blog wouldn’t be the same without him.

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Our Citizenship is in Heaven

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:17:19 -0700

I just got done posting about the distresses of our earthly economy. While we have reason to be concerned, we don’t have to worry about it:

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (Philippians 3:20 ESV)

How’s your spiritual economy doing?

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Gimme a Double Dip!

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:07:00 -0700

Recession, that is.

I’ll say it. Our economy is going to tank again; all that we don’t know is how long and how badly. Why?

1. Stimulus money

It’s only logical. You don’t borrow money to give to other people; you especially don’t borrow money to send through bureaucracy to other people. Not only do you have to pay interest plus principle, you have to pay for the cost of multiple handlers [i.e., bureaucracy].

Here are two reasons why stimulus money was (and will be) detrimental in the long run for us.

A. It’s not 1:1 money (or even 0.5:1)

What ever money is given out in a government project goes through such a rigmarole it never reaches its full potential.

Uncle Sam wanted to give a lot of John Does jobs. He claims he did, a half-million of them. Now let’s say these are median-paying jobs. This is reasonable, given that 500,000 is a significant number of jobs. Since the latest figures are roughly $32,000 a year salary for median pay, add a 10 – 20% overhead, it should cost roughly $40,000 a job.

Nope.

It cost $117,000 per job.

Now wait a second. 117,000 divided by 40,000 equals 2.9 (rounded). That means the government’s efficiency rate is 34 cents to the dollar. 34 percent! 34! Throw in the little fact we borrowed this money; that is entirely unsustainable! 34% efficiency on borrowed money is like taking out a loan for a house for $100,000, buying a $34,000 house, then going to Las Vegas, and betting the other $66,000 on a single number at roulette. Unless you hit the inordinate odds, you have 34% equity on a hundred-grand loan. Simply ludicrous. And that’s without accounting for 5% interest. (Brings efficiency to 29%, the first year.) But our government did it half-a-million times.

Absolute nonsense.

source

Not only did they do it knowingly (there are published statistics on the efficacy of stimulus); we are now shouldered with the burden.

B. It’s borrowed money

While the current leadership may never face this, it is coming for the younger generation, of which I am part (current college students, teens, tweens, kids). The government will run out of money and countries to loan it money. No need to belabor this point, respected economists agree, it’s not a question of if but when.

It all boils down to this: you and I will be paying higher taxes, receive less services, and face stunted economic growth because of national debt.

So what’s that got to do with an economic recovery? Everything. Stimulus will cripple the current economy because it didn’t do it’s job in the first place: creating jobs for well below what they will bring back to the economy doesn’t accomplish anything. It will cripple the future economy because of unwise debt burdens, which are only exacerbated by ineffective distribution of funds.

2. The current “recovery” is, at best, tepid.

What are the factors in determining recovery? Jobs. Housing. Markets. GDP growth.

Jobs have never recovered. It’s been what is termed a “jobless recovery.” Any help in the next few months will be census workers, and seasonal farm jobs.

Housing recovered slightly. Rock-bottom can only be kept for a little while; that’s a good thing. However, the government didn’t help any here. More stimulus. Man, it worked. Till it ended. The market was on an uptrend, looking good, home values were rising, sales increasing, the full gambit. What people (the guys who say we are recovering or not) failed to note, it was all because of a government credit for home buyers. Sure, people were buying homes. But it was all artificial. Once the credit ended, the housing market is tailing.

The markets are rarely a good indicator of economic status. They are purely emotionally driven. Yeah, the stock market was up. Now it’s down, in a big way. Oil dropped a lot, now it’s drifting back up. As for gold? Finally a market that can tell you what’s really going on. Gold never dropped in price, but rather has been hitting all time highs. Which means the dollar is worth less and less. Which means those jobs, and houses, and stocks, and … aren’t even worth what they started at. Bright picture, eh?

And for the GDP? Don’t bother asking, it was up; now it’s down.

It means?

Sure, the prime indicators of recovery seemed to be trending up. Sure, the markets thought so.

But it was all fake. Hocus-pocus. Shill.

Recovery?

My foot.

Disclaimer: I’m not an economist.

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O God, My Joy

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:49:57 -0700

O God, my joy, You reign above In radiant splendor and beauty. Your Word has drawn my heart to love The awesome sight of Your glory. Your blazing light and gospel grace Shine brightly from my Savior’s face. No other wonder would I see Than Christ enthroned in His glory!

Sustained by joy in trial and pain, I trust Your wisdom and mercy. Through suff'ring that Your love ordains, More like Your Son You will make me. For Christ embraced the cross of shame, Beholding glorious joys to come. O give me faith like His to see That suff’ring lifts me to glory!

Compelled by joy, I fight the sin That turns my gaze from Your glory. Your Holy Spirit dwells within; His presence arms me for vict’ry. Let death and hell against me rise; Through death I’ll gain eternal joys. All pow'rs of hell will bend the knee Before my great King of glory!

Text by Paul Keew and Brian Pinner

mp3 source

Is God your joy?

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Even Amazon has Easter Eggs

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:54:00 -0700

Amazon’s Tribute to lolcats

In digging around Amazon’s source code to their homepage, I noticed this text in a comment.

MEOW

I couldn’t stop laughing. Even a stray programmer at Amazon has to have some fun at times, right?

Have some laughs.

Disclaimer: just because I post a link doesn’t mean I approve of the content 100%.

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Luke's Reflections

School Is Out

The Nine Qualities of Men Used to Bring Revival

Sobering Realities

Why reinvent the wheel?

Amazing Thanks

Take Your Breath Away

Expect Amazing

Introduction

Faithlessness

Selfishness

Misinterpretation of Scripture

God’s Answers Misinterpreted

God’s Answers Misemployed

Conclusion

And me?

And them?

Something Different

Take It for Granted

I am promised these things

I am promised good

What I do not mean

Conclusion

Keep it Simple

Chicken-and-Egg Mystery Finally Cracked

Overthinking

God or Nothing

Introduction

Anti-God

God

Purpose

Choosing anti-God

Hedonism

Egotism

Choosing God

Love of God

Love of Fellow Man

Alternative Option?

Grace and Knowledge » A Post-Patriotic Thought or Two…

Extreme Thinking

Sounding Boards

Our Citizenship is in Heaven

Gimme a Double Dip!

1. Stimulus money

A. It’s not 1:1 money (or even 0.5:1)

B. It’s borrowed money

2. The current “recovery” is, at best, tepid.

It means?

O God, My Joy

Text by Paul Keew and Brian Pinner

© 2008 by Paul Keew. All rights reserved.

Even Amazon has Easter Eggs

Amazon’s Tribute to lolcats