Blogizomai

Monday, January 30, 2012

2012 Presidential Debate 19: Republican Hopefuls Make Their Case

"The Meaning of Marriage" by Timothy Keller

There have been a lot of recent books out discussing the issue of marriage. Among the most prominent are Mark and Grace Driscoll's book Real Marriage and Timothy and Kathy Keller The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God. Keller, in contrast to Driscoll, offers a book that is essentially free from controversy with a heavier emphasis on the gospel.

The Keller's offer a detail look into Paul's words in Ephesians 5 regarding marriage. Each chapter looks carefully at what Paul, and more broadly the whole Bible, teaches on the many important issues in marriage like friendship, gender roles, sex, singleness, etc. But what I loved most about this book wasn't just his advice towards couples, but his emphasis on marriage being a picture of the gospel. What makes this book so rich is that it is a book that has the gospel as its driving force. They write, for example:

In Ephesians 5, Paul shows us that even on earth Jesus did not use his power to oppress us but sacrificed everything to bring us into union with him. And this takes us beyond the philosophical to the personal and the practical. If God had the gospel of Jesus's salvation in ind when he established marriage, then marriage only 'works' to the degree that approximates the pattern of God's self-giving love in Christ. What Paul is saying not only answers the objection that marriage is oppressive and restrictive,but it also addresses the sense that the demands of marriage are overwhelming. There is so much to do that we don't know where to start. Start here, Paul says. Do for your spouse what God did for you in Jesus, and the rest will follow.

This is the secret - that the gospel of Jesus and marriage explain one another. That when God invented marriage, he already had the saving work of Jesus in mind. (47-48)

This is just music to my ears. Marriage is about the gospel. It isn't about you, your plans, your ideals, nor is marriage to be a picture of chick flicks, Disney fairy tales, or romance novels, but of the gospel. Its about Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, and the glory of God. I am saying something about the gospel in my relationship with my wife. How I treat her, love her, serve her, sacrifice for her, and lead. Its about the gospel.

This is the argument that drives the book. Marriage isn't about me. Its about my spouse. Its about the Savior. This is the key to happiness in marriage. You will be more happy when you serve your spouse, not demand from them. He writes:

Seek to serve one another rather than to be happy and you will find a new and deeper happiness. Many couples have discovered this wonderful, unlooked-for reality. Why would this be true? It is because marriage is 'instituted of God.' It was established by the God for whom self-giving love is an essential attribute, and therefore it reflects his nature, particularly as it is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. (59)

Central to this understanding is how we understand the Trinity. Though Keller might have gone in more detail here, he makes it clear that we can only understand and apply the gospel to marriage when we understand the Trinity and how they relate to one another. They serve one another and love one another even though there seems to be, if we could use the word, a sort of hierarchy within the Trinity. The Son clearly submitted Himself to the Father as does the Spirit, yet they are in an eternal loving dance without jealousy or abuse. This, in fact, explains the gospel. Christ would not have sacrificed Himself in obedience to the Father without this loving relationship with the Father. Christ died in obedience to God. Imagine that! Yet how can we nag, whine, demand, and complain about everything in our marriages?

Consider for example the question of co-habitation. The authors brilliantly show what this says about love.

But when the Bible speaks of love, it measures it primarily not by how much you want to receive but by how much you are willing to give of yourself to someone. How much are you willing to lose for the sake of this person? How much of your freedom are you willing to forsake? How much of your precious time, emotion, and resources are you willing to invest in this person? And for that, the marriage vow is not just helpful but it is even a test. In so many cases, when one person says to another, 'I love you, but let's not ruin it by getting married,' that person really means, 'I don't love you enough to close of all my options. I don't love you enough to give myself to you that thoroughly.' To say, 'I don't need a piece of paper to love you' is basically to say, 'My love for you has not reached the marriage level.' (78)

More could be said about this book. In all of its discussions and advice, what makes it s a great book is that it is focused on the gospel as revealed in Scripture. Compared to other books on marriage, the emphasis isn't on just the sexual aspect (though there is an entire chapter dedicated to the subject), but on the gospel. Its the gospel stupid and it is rare that such books come along.

Many have already praised this book and rightfully so, but I can't think of any better compliment to give to the authors than to say that one cannot read this book without a more profound appreciation, understanding, and love for the gospel and how that affects our relationships, our lives, and our marriages. I highly recommend this well written, gospel-centered book.

For more:
Reviews - "Generous Justice" by Timothy Keller
Reviews - "The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World"
Reviews - "The Prodigal God"
Blogizomai - "Is Hell For Real Or Does Everyone go To Heaven?"
Blogizomai - "After All, We'll Never Be the Right One Either": Stonestreet on "The Right One" Fairy Tale
Reviews - "Real Marriage" by Mark & Grace Driscoll

Sunday, January 29, 2012

"The Greatness of Being a Slave" by John MacArthur

Here is an example of good exposition from Dr. John MacArthur. Best quote: "You want glory, [but]you don’t want suffering." That sums up this entire text.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Jr. on Sr.: Louisville Guard Opens Up About His Dad

Another reason to love Louisville Cardinals starting guard Peyton Siva.

Around the World: Links For Your Weekend - January 28, 2012

Ben Witherington - And Now we Know the Rest of the Story about the Mayan Calendar | I love this. This explains everything.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. - “Abortion is as American as Apple Pie” — The Culture of Death Finds a Voice | A great article from Dr. Mohler and timely as it came right before Sanctity of Life Sunday.

Abortion is now America’s most common surgical procedure performed on adults. As many as one out of three women will have at least one abortion. In some American neighborhoods, the number of abortions far exceeds the number of live births.

Most Americans will pay little attention to the 38th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. In 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to arrange the killing of the unborn life within her. Since that decision was handed down, more than 50 million babies have been aborted, at a rate of over 3,000 each day.

One of the most chilling aspects of all this is the sense of normalcy in American life. Abortion statistics pile up from year to year, and each report gets filed. Moral sentiment on the issue of abortion has shifted discernibly in recent years, as ultrasound images and other technologies deliver unquestionable proof that the unborn child is just that — a child. Nevertheless, the larger picture of abortion in America is basically unchanged.

Dr. Russell Moore - Should I Marry a Man with Pornography Struggles? My Response | Although Dr. Moore doesn't directly answer the question the article raises, his advice to the young fiance is great and how he characterizes pornography is really helpful.

Far too many women are watching “The Notebook” or “Twilight” for indicators on what kind of man they should marry. Instead, you probably should watch “The Wolf Man.”

Have you ever seen any of those old werewolf movies? You know, those in which the terrified man, dripping with sweat, chains himself in the basement and says to his friends, “Whatever you do, no matter what I say or how I beg, don’t let me ought of there.” He sees the full-moon coming and he’s taking action to protect everyone against himself.

In a very real sense, that’s what the Christian life is about. We all have points of vulnerability, areas of susceptibility to sin and self-destruction. There are beings afoot in the universe who watch these points and who know how to collaborate with our biology and our environment to slaughter us. . . .

Pornography is a universal temptation precisely because it does exactly what the satanic powers wish to do. It lashes out at the Trinitarian nature of reality, a loving communion of persons, replacing it with a masturbatory Unitarianism.

And pornography strikes out against the picture of Christ and his church by disrupting the one-flesh union, leaving couples like our prehistoric ancestors, hiding from one another and from God in the darkness of shame.

And pornography rages, as Satan always does, against Incarnation (1 Jn. 4:2-3), replacing flesh-to-flesh intimacy with the illusion of fleshless intimacy.

CNN (Albert Mohler) - My Take: Why the abortion issue won’t go away | Another great article from Dr. Mohler.

First, the radical character of Roe – overthrowing abortion laws in 49 states – galvanized pro-life forces. The judicial imposition of abortion on demand, virtually without restriction until the third trimester, produced both shock and outrage among those who believe that the unborn child has an inalienable right to life.

Within months of Roe, an organized pro-life movement came into shape, looking for any means of limiting and eventually ending the termination of unborn life.

Second, Roe also had the effect, surely unforeseen by the Supreme Court, of bringing millions of evangelical Christians into the fight on behalf of unborn life. Prior to Roe, even many evangelicals believed that abortion was a Roman Catholic issue.

Roe was a legal earthquake that awakened a massive number of evangelicals to the deadly reality of abortion. With remarkable speed, evangelicals soon educated themselves on the issue and then mobilized themselves both politically and culturally.

Third, the death spiral of abortion simply defies adequate calculation. Over a million abortions are performed in America each year. Reports last year indicated that over 40% of all pregnancies in New York end in abortion, a rate that increases to almost 60% of pregnancies among African-American women.

The sheer scale of the death toll sears the pro-life conscience. Young people can now see that millions are missing from their own generation.

Fourth, abortion has proved to be exactly what pro-life activists warned it would be: a deadly threat to human dignity that would target specific populations. Prenatal testing has produced a deadly reality for unborn babies considered less than acceptable by their parents.

The vast majority (90%) of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are now aborted. Sex-selection abortions are legal in the wide-open “right” to abortion declared by the court. Prenatal testing of other characteristics means that parents can now abort a baby that does not meet their specifications and try again.

Fifth, powerful imaging technologies now allow a look inside the womb, a privilege unknown to previous generations. That window has transformed the equation, as millions of parents have seen their unborn children and witnessed the miracle of life.

They have seen the little human form and the actions of the unborn child, sucking its thumb as it nestles within its mother. Millions of siblings have seen the images of their unborn brothers and sisters taped to the refrigerator door.

Justin Taylor - Sex, Marriage, and Fairytales | The latest video from Jefferson Bethke.

Kevin DeYoung - What the Debates Say About America | Some good insights from DeYoung. Here is number 6:

6. The debates over the past months, and the election in general, exposes a number of inconsistencies about Americans.

We want to be rich and want politicians who will promise to make us richer. But we don’t like our politicians themselves to be wealthy.
We want candidates to give straight answers and not dodge hard questions. But when they give specific answers to hard questions their answers will be ridiculed as dull or will be held against them.
We want our leaders to be super confident, super competent, and super intelligent. But we hate elites.
We want the president to be one of us and above us and unlike us at the same time.
We want someone to be an effective executive in the labyrinth of legislative, judicial, bureaucratic, military, and diplomatic tasks that face the modern President. But we also want him to be a complete outsider with no experience in how any of that works.
We want politicians unsullied by the real life tradeoffs, lobbyists, and interest groups of politics. But what they are like in the rest of life doesn’t really concern us. They can compromise in everything but politics.

Dr. Denny Burk - President Obama’s Asinine Remarks on the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade | The brief statement from the President is extremely problematic especially the closing sentence: And as we remember this historic anniversary, we must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

It was the last line of the statement that provoked me the most. The President says he wants “our daughters [to] have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons.” Who could disagree with that statement? I agree with it totally. The problem is that President Obama does not really mean it. At the same time he calls us to protect our daughters’ rights, President Obama praises the decision that has led to the legal killing of at least 25 million of our unborn daughters. Clearly he does not want to protect the rights of all of our daughters, but only some of them. How can he not see the moral absurdity of his own words?

There was no reason for President Obama to speak today. In fact, I would rather that he would have put his hand over his mouth and kept silent. On today of all days, his calloused indifference toward our unborn daughters is a stunning and sad spectacle.

Past Imperfect - The Stalking of the President | An interesting article telling the story of the assassination of President Garfield. Wild.

President James A. Garfield lay in a rodent-infested sickroom in the White House, a bullet lodged in his body. Weeks had passed since the assassin had struck, but more than a dozen doctors were struggling to save him. Day after day, summer temperatures approached 100 degrees, and mosquitoes thrived in the swamps around Washington. Four White House staff members had contracted malaria recently, as had the first lady, Lucretia Garfield. The president’s internal infections raged and spread, fevers came and went, and his heart began to weaken. He felt it most in his lower extremities—the acute neurological sensations he called “tiger’s claws,” which seized him regularly. Aides at his bedside would squeeze his feet and calves with all their might to relieve the 49-year-old president’s pain.

“Yes, I suffer some,” he told one attendant. “I suppose the tigers are coming back, but they don’t usually stay long. Don’t be alarmed, old boy!”

His three oldest children, Harry, James and Mollie, all teenagers, were taken into his room for visits, advised to do most of the talking and not to bring up anything unpleasant out of fear of aggravating their father’s condition. Doctors desperately probed Garfield’s abdomen with unsterilized tools and unwashed hands in search of the bullet, which had lodged harmlessly in soft tissue near his vertebrae. Such a gunshot wound today would require no more than a few days in the hospital. But the 20th president of the United States was spiraling rapidly and inevitably to his death—bravely and for the most part in good cheer as his physicians made one mistake after another, from nutrition to medication.

Take Your Vitamin Z - The Heavens Declare the Glory of God | Dido that!

Christianity Today - Sovereign Grace Ministries Reinstates C.J. Mahaney as President | Good news for CJ.

Six months after CT reported that C.J. Mahaney was taking a leave of absence from his role as president of Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), the organization announced Wednesday it has returned Mahaney to his role.

In a July 6 statement, Mahaney said he was taking leave because Brent Detwiler, a former SGM pastor, had raised concerns about “various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy” committed by Mahaney. SGM installed an interim board of directors that same month and established three separate review panels to determine if Mahaney should remain as president.

“After examining the reports of these three review panels, we find nothing in them that would disqualify C.J. from his role as President, nor do they in any way call into question his fitness for gospel ministry,” the Board said in a statement. “Therefore the Board has decided unanimously to return C.J. to the office of President, effective immediately.”

National Review - Gingrich and Reagan | This will only hurt the former Speaker of the House. Newt has prided himself as the only Reagan conservative in the GOP Presidential race. This article shows that while Reagan was in office, Newt was not exactly his biggest fan. Hypocrisy?

But the most bitter battleground was often in Congress. Here at home, we faced vicious criticism from leading Democrats — Ted Kennedy, Christopher Dodd, Jim Wright, Tip O’Neill, and many more — who used every trick in the book to stop Reagan by denying authorities and funds to these efforts. On whom did we rely up on Capitol Hill? There were many stalwarts: Henry Hyde, elected in 1974; Dick Cheney, elected in 1978, the same year as Gingrich; Dan Burton and Connie Mack, elected in 1982; and Tom DeLay, elected in 1984, were among the leaders.

But not Newt Gingrich. He voted with the caucus, but his words should be remembered, for at the height of the bitter struggle with the Democratic leadership Gingrich chose to attack . . . Reagan.
The best examples come from a famous floor statement Gingrich made on March 21, 1986. This was right in the middle of the fight over funding for the Nicaraguan contras; the money had been cut off by Congress in 1985, though Reagan got $100 million for this cause in 1986. Here is Gingrich:

“Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy will continue to fail. . . . President Reagan is clearly failing.” Why? This was due partly to “his administration’s weak policies, which are inadequate and will ultimately fail”; partly to CIA, State, and Defense, which “have no strategies to defeat the empire.” But of course “the burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on President Reagan.” Our efforts against the Communists in the Third World were “pathetically incompetent,” so those anti-Communist members of Congress who questioned the $100 million Reagan sought for the Nicaraguan “contra” rebels “are fundamentally right.” Such was Gingrich’s faith in President Reagan that in 1985, he called Reagan’s meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in 1938 in Munich.”

Weekly Standard - What Reagan Thought of Newt | More bad news for Newt. Here is the only place in the Reagan diaries where Newt Gingrich is mentioned.

"Newt Gingrich has a proposal for freezing the budget at the 1983 level. It's a tempting idea except that it would cripple our defense programs. And if we make an exception on that every special interest group will be asking for the same."

First Thought - Baby Tebows in the Womb | This is pretty funny.

Don't put these things in your microwave!!

HT: The Blaze

Friday, January 27, 2012

The State of Our Union 2012

Here is the 2012 State of the Union Address in full followed by the Republican response and the Tea Party response. Also, consider the last two videos, each of which are short.

Here is the Republican response from Inidana Governor Mitch Daniels, someone that many wish had entered the GOP Presidential race and many have commented how well he did in contrasting Republicanism and Democraticism.

Here is Herman Cain's Tea Party response:

Here is my favorite hightlight from the night. It is of Representative Jason Chaffetz's reaction to President Obama's bad milk joke:

And here is the ad already made by the RNC. What I find so interesting about it isn't its promotion of a party, but of the point it makes. The similarities of Obama's State of the Unions is remarkable.

For more:
Blogizomai - The State Of Our Union 2011
Blogizomai - The Duel Over Debt: Obama and Boehner Speak to the Nation
Blogizomai - The Gospel and the National Debt: Why Only the Cross Can Save Us From Ourselves - Part 1
Blogizomai - The Gospel and the National Debt: Why Only the Cross Can Save Us From Ourselves - Part 2
Blogizomai - The Economics of Greed: What Economics Can Teach Us About the Gospel
Blogizomai - Obama Addresses National Debt Crisis Live - 9 PM EST
Blogizomai - The Drawdown Begins: Obama Announces Drawdown of US Troops From Afghanistan
Blogizomai - "A Responsibility to Act": Obama Explains Lybian Action to the Public
Blogizomai - The Beginning of the End: Obama Announces the End of Operation Iraqi Freedom
Blogizomai - "Justice Has Been Done": President Obama Announces the Death of Osama bin Laden
Blogizomai - Prayer and Breakfast: Obama at the 2011 National Prayer Breakfast
Blogizomai - President Obama at the 2011 Easter Prayer Breakfast
Blogizomai - The Contrasts Are Clear: Obama and Jindal's Proposals
Blogizomai - To Comfort a Nation: Obama in Arizona and How the Nation Reacted

Repost | Christianity And . . .: The Subtle Formula of Idolatry

The best book I read last year was without a doubt Tullian Tchividjian's wonderful book "Jesus + Nothing = Everything." In one very helpful section, quoted at left below, Tchividjian reminds us of CS Lewis' book Screwtape Letters where Lewis, through the mouth of Screwtape, shows us how subtle idolatry can be even for the Christian. Please read the following in full.

So if we aren’t naturally prone to look to the finished work of Jesus for us as it’s presented in the gospel for the ‘everything’ – where are we looking?

Typically, it’s not that Christians seek to blatantly replace the gospel. What we try to do is simply add to it. . . .

Maybe you recall how this ‘addition’ concept is brought out in C. S. Lewis’s famous work The Screwtape Letters. As the high-ranking demon Screwtape trains his protege Wormwood in satanic strategies against Christians, he discusses how (in Screwtape’s words) ‘to keep them in the state of mind I call “Christianity And.”’ Screwtape gives a few examples (reflecting some fads from Lewis’s time . . .): ‘Christianity and the New Psychology, Christianity and the New Order, Christianity and Faith Healing,’ and even ‘Christianity and Vegetarianism.’ These were all various manifestations of the urgent, Devil-fostered temptation believers face to add something else to our faith in Jesus and the gospel – all b/c of those deficiencies we sense in our own experience.

Today, Screwtape’s list would doubtless look different. The currently tempting formulas might include ‘Christian and coolness,’ ‘Christianity and self-affirmation,’ ‘Christianity and self-improvement,’ ‘Christianity and personal progress,’ or ‘Christianity and spiritual formation.’ There’s a host of causes that might crop up: ‘Christianity and environmentalism,’ ‘Christianity and home schooling,’ ‘Christianity and social justice,’ ‘Christianity and diversity and tolerance,’ not to mention abundant ‘Christianity and political action’ variations –liberal conservative, libertarian, hope-and-change, take-back-America, whatever.

Besides those, there are plenty of extras that have timeless appeal for any and all generations: ‘Christianity and popularity,’ ‘Christianity and success,’ ‘Christianity and power,’ ‘Christianity and social status,’ ‘Christianity and reform,’ even ‘Christianity and tradition.’

The list could go on and on. It will include whatever we’re clinging to, whatever we won’t let go of b/c we’re using it to fill the void only God can fill.

Screwtape is telling the demon Wormwood that if he wants to distract Christians, if he wants to debilitate them, if he wants to keep them off course, powerless, and ineffective, simply make sure they never come to a place of believing that ‘mere Christianity’ is enough. Make them feel god about affixing something further to the faith. It could be the latest fad; though perhaps far more likely it’s a more personal fixation or obsession that grips us b/c of our endless, aching search to fill our inner hollowness.

Christianity an . . . For many of us, it may be Jesus and our achievements, Jesus and our strengths, Jesus and our reputation, Jesus and our relationships, Jesus and our family’s prosperity, Jesus and our ambitions and goals and dreams, Jesus and our personal preferences and tastes and style, Jesus and our spiritual growth, Jesus and our hobbies and recreational pursuits and entertainment habits – and, especially, Jesus and our personal set of life rules.

Whatever it is our heart is drawn to – a cultural trend, a cause, a diversion, a personal ‘passion,’ a relationship, a pursuit, a venture, a comfortable routine – and however subtly it pulls us in, the cold, hard truth is that almost immediately it becomes an idol, and our heart grabs hold. As Martin Luther once said, ‘Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God’ – your functional savior. -38-40

From "Jesus + Nothing = Everything" by Tullian Tchividjian

For more:
Reviews - "Jesus + Nothing = Everything" by Tullian Tchividjian
Reviews - Top 11 Reads of 2011

Monday, January 30, 2012

2012 Presidential Debate 19: Republican Hopefuls Make Their Case

"The Meaning of Marriage" by Timothy Keller

Sunday, January 29, 2012

"The Greatness of Being a Slave" by John MacArthur

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Jr. on Sr.: Louisville Guard Opens Up About His Dad

Around the World: Links For Your Weekend - January 28, 2012

Friday, January 27, 2012

The State of Our Union 2012

Repost | Christianity And . . .: The Subtle Formula of Idolatry

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