A Texas-Sized Mistake
April 28, 2006
OK, I’m willing to go out on a limb here, and sometimes, I’m sure wrong, but I will take my chances on this one: the Houston Texans just made a Texas-sized mistake!
Who’s No. 1? Texans, Williams sign contract
I mean, it’s right here in cyberspace that you can feel free to check five years from now, but it says here that Mario Williams, who may or may not turn out to be a pretty good player, will categorically not be the best player to come out of the ’06 draft. If I’m the New Orleans Saints right now, I feel like I’ve just hit the jackpot, although as many needs as they have, if I’m them, I’m working the phones hot and heavy, hoping to drop down several spots and pick up another high pick and a money-in-the-bank player for some team willing to go nuts for Reggie Bush. Bush is a prospect that doesn’t come along often, and both Matt Leinart and Vince Young could be super-talents. Brick Ferguson is probably going to be a better pro than Williams, and he might drop down as far as seventh or so (though I doubt it); as many times as David Carr wound up on his butt this past season, you’d think that Houston would be interested in Brick.
I could be wrong, and it won’t be the first time, but today is a good day not to be a Houston Texans fan…
UPDATE: Chuck Klosterman agrees with me…
UDDATE II: So does Len Pasquarelli…
Azusa Street: None Dare Call it “Heresy”
April 25, 2006
Warning: Controversy Ahead. Buckle up.
This article
Rick Warren’s Presence at Azusa Street Questioned
tipped me off to the ongoing “Azusa Street Centennial” currently being held in Los Angeles. It is a celebration, of course, of the 100th anniversary of the Azusa Street phenomenon, which is widely seen as the impetus for the modern charismatic movement. Now, I do not consider myself, of course, to be “charismatic”; at the same time, I certainly appreciate many of my charismatic brethren and sistern. I do not believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a subsequent experience to the salvation event in one’s life, nor do I believe that that event is marked by the ability to speak in tongues. I don’t want to limit God and suggest that in no circumstance could tongues possibly be a gift given by God in this age; He’ll do what He chooses. That said, I understand Holy Spirit baptism to take place at the time of salvation; I understand that the Spirit sovereignly bestows gifts upon the church today; I believe that each believer has at least one gift; I believe that no gift is normative for all believers, nor evidence determining the reality of one’s salvation. All of that said, I don’t have a problem accepting as fellow believers those who differ with me on that point.
But here is the problem I have with the contemporary charismatic movement, and this Azusa shindig (and yes, I consider it disappointing that Rick Warren chose to participate) illustrates it well: concomitant with Pentecostal theology there tends to be an unfortunate unwillingness to exercise discernment on the part of a huge segment of the Pentecostal/charismatic crowd. Evidence of this is the roster of speakers for this event. They include the charlatan Benny Hinn, Faith/Prosperity quacks Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, Jerry Savelle, Creflo Dollar, and Fred Price, and questionable-at-the-least-on-the-Trinity T.D. Jakes. Rod Parsley is there…icck. I’m sorry, but I have a massive problem with this (not that anybody asked me!). Where is the discernment? And the answer is that it isn’t there, that unfortunately one of the stepchildren of this movement appears to be such an ungrounded experientialism that the Word of God becomes secondary, and doctrinal issues are relegated to the back burner.
Frankly, it’s a lot easier for me to swallow an honest difference in theological understanding regarding the working of the Holy Spirit than it is for me to accept this gross lack of discernment, this unwillingness to draw lines between truth and heresy. Much as I don’t mind—and even in some ways welcome—the idea of joining hands together across denominational lines to proclaim Christ, it is precisely this issue, illustrated by events such as this, that make me shrink back, at least from jumping in gung-ho with some charismatic brethren. I’m not sure that “lack of discernment” is the most problematic shortcoming of the contemporary evangelical church, but it’s certainly right up there.
First Amendment? Niiiiice Concept, Judge White…
April 25, 2006
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”; that thar statement would be the first line of the First Amendment. Congress can’t get into the business of restricting the free exercise of faith. Apparently, a district court judge thinks that he can:
Court Tells Christian Club Its Mission Not Harmed by Non-Believing Leaders
Okay, let’s parse this for a moment. Perhaps a good argument can be made that this law school (ironic there, ain’t it?) should not be forced to provide funding and recognition for this Christian student club, although denying recognition, at the very least, would seem to amount to viewpoint discrimination; fair enough. But the basis upon which that judgment is reached by this judge is just preposterous: the admission to leadership/voting membership status of those who do not subscribe to the basic Christian tenets of the club does not constitute an incursion upon the club’s free exercise of religion. Incredible.
Assumedly, then, a Jewish student group could not bar Ku Klux Klan sympathizers from membership/leadership, right? An animal-rights group, assumedly, could not bar gun-toting NRA members from membership/leadership (and, theoretically, eventual takeover). We call it freedom when there is no way to regulate the membership/leadership of a given organization in such a way that the goals/beliefs/purposes of the organization are safeguarded? And in this case, the very point of a Christian student club is to do…Christian things! But according to this judge, apparently, there’s no way that such a group should be able to bar, say, a Buddhist from leadership/membership—because it really doesn’t “crimp the club’s style” for this to happen.
Astonishing.
Meeting Jesus at McDonald’s
April 25, 2006
God does some surprising things sometimes, doesn’t He? About twice a year, I guess, on average, I get a call from a couple I don’t know, asking if I’ll perform their wedding ceremony. I have some pretty strict standards (a good bit of required counseling, predicated upon the fact that both are Christ-followers). I send out a letter to this effect, and that has the effect of eliminating most of the applicants, folks who apparently like the idea of a “church wedding” done by a “preacher”, but who really aren’t interested in the whole Lordship of Jesus thing. In all my years of doing this, I’d only had one couple actually read the letter and set up a first meeting with me, and they, despite their words that they were very interested in pursuing things, never met with me again. The offer is sincere, of course; if people are—or are willing to become—serious about following Jesus and honoring Him in their marriage, I’m willing to walk that path with them. No one under such circumstances, however, has ever taken me up on the offer.
Until now.
They contacted me a couple of months ago, a couple planning on getting married but neither professing faith in Christ. I sent them the letter, and they said that they wanted to meet. We met, and I laid out in detail what I was talking about, and suggested that they talk about things and get back with me. To my surprise, they did, and so I instructed them to purchase the counseling manual I use (Preparing for Marriage God’s Way, by Wayne Mack). They bought it, did the first two chapters, and set up our first counseling session together. By this time, I confess, I’m pretty surprised, so I spend most of our first session not talking about marriage, per se, but about what I was really, really calling them to—just to make sure that they hadn’t somehow mistaken what I was talking about. They assured me that they weren’t, and so I told them that I needed to meet with them one-on-one, at McDonald’s, to talk with them further.
I met with her yesterday, and him today. And they each, after I presented the gospel, placed their faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. And they’re each serious, I believe, about following Him in their lives and in their marriage.
And that, folks, is pretty cool. And if you get a chance and will take a moment, stop and pray for them and for their relationship.
Carry me Back to Ole Virginny for a REAL Conservative?
April 22, 2006
’08 is light years away, and just around the corner. Since by then it will have been two decades since a conservative occupied the Oval Office, it’s not a bad idea to take a look at FreddietheBeetleBarnes’ commentary on the junior senator from the Old Dominion:
The Virginian: Will Sen. George Allen bring a “libertarian sense” to the White House?
Tip of the Cavaliers’ cap to Commonwealth Conservative for this one.
A Poetic Response to DaVinci and Judas
April 21, 2006
Courtesy of Tom Graffagnino, another wonderful retort to the skeptics:
I Don’t Suppose There’s Anything WRONG with This…
April 20, 2006
But doesn’t it just strike you as, well, weird???
A jersey that looks for all the world like Carmelo Anthony’s Denver Nuggets “15″—but instead of “Nuggets 15″, it says “Genesis 15″. “Psalm 23″ instead of Michael Jordan’s famous “Bulls 23″. A jersey emblazoned “Judges” across the front instead of “Jays” for the Toronto Blue Jays (I’m just trying to envision a Biblically-illiterate fan reading that and scratching his head). A jersey that looks for all the world like the Philadelphia Phillies jerseys from the 1960′s—except that it says “Philippians 2″ instead of “Phillies 2″ (was that Larry Bowa’s number? Somebody help me out…).
I learned about this from an AgapePress blurb about a “pro football team” (I’m sorry, I guess that it’s technically correct, but I have to crack up to hear a minor-league Arena football team described as “pro”), the Birmingham Steeldogs, doing some Biblical promotions. Oooooookeydoke!
Pro Football Team Promotes “Faith Nights”
Like I said, I don’t know that there’s anything at all wrong with it, but it just hits me as weird as all get out…
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
