Archive for the Category »Brian «

December

Dare I go here this early in this series?? I wasn’t planning on going here this early, but Elliot’s well thought/written comment yesterday as well as parts of others’ comments have begun to address the topic of truth. With this being such an important topic in postmodern epistemology, I think it is actually best to talk about truth early in this series.

Now, Jason had a very good word in his comment that I need to emphasize before writing on this topic. FEAR. Appropriate word from Jason as this emotion/reaction often clouds our thinking and responses to what could otherwise be great conversations. Please don’t respond with fear as you read this post.

Image from Getty Images

For the Christians reading this, you must hear me say – I believe the Bible is Truth, every word of it (specifically in its original language), I believe that God inspired the biblical authors so that we humans can know God through knowing truth, and I believe that we have reliable English (and many other languages) translations by which we can study and know truth. (I am not going into the nuances of inerrancy or infallibility for this post, but rather am concerned with some philosophical approaches to truth in our postmodern cultures)

For those who are not of the Christian faith, you must hear me say – I hold my beliefs with firmness and with humility. I am very committed to what I believe as an individual, a husband, a father, a pastor, and one who is on mission to extend God’s grace to all peoples of the earth. Along with that, I am willing to discover truth in all of God’s creation in all disciplines of humanity. I would love to hear from all perspectives in this conversation.

I am an evangelical Christian and recognize that this evangelicalism was born out of the Enlightenment era and world view. However I was born in 1972 just as postmodernism was taking over (at least in America) our culture in mainstream thought. Over the years (especially in the last 7) I have read much and considered this epistemological struggle crucial to forwarding the message of Jesus Christ into the world now and the future. I believe that for Christians to continue to talk about truth as we have in the past (enlightenment/modern) will only cause more to walk away from their faith with the conclusion that faith has no bearing to their “real” life. To give some definition to what I am talking about, let me mention a paragraph from the work of Stanley Grenz:

“The Enlightenment perspective assumes that knowledge is not only certain (and hence rational) but also objective. The assumption of objectivity leads the modernist to claim access to dispassionate knowledge. Modern knowers profess to be more than merely conditioned participants in the world they observe: they claim to be able to view the world as unconditioned observers – that is, to survey the world from a vantage point outside the flux of history” (Stanley Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism, Eerdmans, 1996 p4)

All of us, in our pursuit of truth MUST acknowledge that none of us stand outside of a vantage point or bias, but we all come from a certain context and bring that context to our observations and interpretations. Now some would quickly say that the Bible is God’s revealed truth and God stands outside of time/history so it is unconditioned truth. This is valid to a point, however God chose to use human authors who are in time/history through which to reveal his eternal Truth. I believe even the fact that there are 4 perspectives (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John) of the earthly life and ministry of Jesus included in the canon of inspiration points to the multiperspectival dimension of truth. The four gospel perspectives all point to and are records of the same Truth but from different viewpoints. This is where humility must enter into our truth claims as Christians or any other discipline. Let’s back away from theology for just a bit and consider this in the field of science.

In Jason’s comment yesterday he linked a great and witty article about scientists’ new fascinating work with neutrinos possibly traveling faster than the speed of light thus potentially messing with Einstein’s theory of relativity. In this article, the author pointed to the dynamic nature of the discipline of science:

“The whole point of a scientific theory is that it is there to be shot down – to be shown to be false by new experimental evidence, or to be replaced with a better, more accurate theory that explains more.”

Now don’t throw stones yet I am not saying that the doctrines of Christianity are merely theories to be shot down or shown false. In science we have “laws” and “theories”, both of which can be challenged and overturned (we do live in the

Image from NASA

age where Pluto lost its planethood, a process in which Pluto didn’t change, but our understanding of it did) I believe that in theology we have some things that are “laws” that through the years and rigors of theology we can hold onto very strongly, allowing our core person and communities to be shaped by them. We also have “theories” (I’m even uncomfortable using that word in conjunction with doctrines) which in our best efforts express truth as we know it. We can trust these “theories” (beliefs), we can live life with confidence around these beliefs, but we continue to learn and grow as people created in God’s image (my bias) who are intelligent and seeking to know a God who can be known. And it is possible that through further studies, new evidences, additional experiments, different applications, etc. we come to better, more accurate explanations. (This is the task of theology after all)

Now, I think I have said enough for today and enough to process in some thoughtful commenting. Tomorrow, I shall continue with some about rationalism in the postmodern epistemology and more.

Category: biblical studies, Brian, Church, culture, ministry, Post-modernity, Science, seminary, Theology, Truth Tags: epistemology, faith, Grenz, postmodernity, science, Theology, truth 6 Comments

Science, Faith, and Leaving Christianity (Part 1)

December

written by:brian | 15 Comments

50-75% of teenagers who attended church leave their faith as a young adult! The stats vary in different reports, but any of the stats are alarming. In one study the Barna research group reported that “Overall…nearly three out of every five young Christians (59%) disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.” (Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church)

This is a troubling number as I have spent the last 20 years working with teenagers in the context of a church. It is those stories of young adults walking away from their faith that sadden me the most. Through reading and talking with others, I have come to believe that most of the time a large contributor to their apostasy is the church or people in the church. It seems that although the church has done so much good over the years (another post to come on this in a few days) we have been in a defensive posture in modern and postmodern times. Many have characterized the church as people who are against ________ (you fill in the blank) rather than what we are for. Sadly, if I can make a general observation, this is the attitude of the Pharisees, the most criticized group of people in the records of Jesus’ life on earth.

One such area that we (the church) have been historically against is science. In fact in the aforementioned article by the Barna Group, it is reported to be reason number 3 in the top six reasons young Christians leave the church. “…[T]he research shows that many science-minded young Christians are struggling to find ways of staying faithful to their beliefs and to their professional calling in science-related industries.”

It is this aspect of science and faith that I would like to discuss first. In this “anti” position the church has stood in for a long time and in a strong way against science. There are many illustrations of this in history, but most notably are Nicolaus Copernicus’ development of the heliocentric theory, proposing that the earth is not the center of the universe, but rather moves around the sun. Even more known is the conflict this developed into between the church and Galileo Galilei for the support of heliocentrism. “In 1633 Galileo was convicted of grave suspicion of heresy for ‘following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture,’and was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life.” (Catholic Church and Science) Although there was a process of the church stepping back from this decree against this scientific theory (become proven in reality), it wasn’t until 200 years later (1835) that all traces of this ban were gone.

What was the central issue in this controversy? Scripture. Heliocentrism was refuted because what the Bible “said”. However, one must now see that it wasn’t what the Bible said, but what was the accepted interpretation of what was written in the Bible. This brings us back to the point of the relationship between faith and science. And at the center of this in today’s world is what has become known as the creation-evolution debate. Most polemically this debate is between those who state that the Bible (Genesis 1&2) says God created the earth in 6 literal days by His spoken word and those who say the earth was formed over billions of years beginning with a cosmic explosion of very dense matter.

Now my purpose here is not to state what I believe on origins and give all evidence to support/defend it. (To acknowledge my bias I do believe that what we know of as life and the earth we live on has its origin in God and is written about in God inspired scripture) My purpose is however, to engage Christians with the possibility that we can fully embrace the sciences and be completely true to scripture! In fact, I believe that our faith can be enriched by the sciences! In addition, my purpose is to engage with those who have rejected faith for science in such a way as to create conversations of understanding.

Recently, through a friend and former pastor, I came across an organization seeking to do just what I described, create space for conversation between faith, science and culture. The Colossian Forum created the following video (well worth 8 minutes of your time) to highlight their organization’s purpose and mandate; something I believe is desperately needed.

More Light, Less Heat from The Colossian Forum on Vimeo.

Over the next ten days I am going to be publishing several articles related to the Christian faith in our current postmodern context.

(full disclosure…this is fulfilling an assignment in a seminary class as well as a desire of mine to be blogging more often and interacting with what I am learning)

I would enjoy receiving and interacting with any and all comments you might have regarding my posts. I certainly can’t have any conversations if this is only one-way communication.

Category: biblical studies, Brian, Church, culture, ministry, Science, seminary, Theology Tags: conversation, creation, debate, evolution 15 Comments

Ch..Ch..Change

February

written by:brian | One Comment

The other day I Retweeted a quote about change from Leonard Sweet who said“For some people, change is life. For some people, change is death. For all people, change is difficult.” I would have to add to that, “change is inevitable so embrace it!”

I have found that my life in many ways has been a lot about change recently. We use the word “transition” often in our family & church, and start to wonder if all of life is in transition, but just at various speeds. I enjoy much about change, new surroundings, new ways to drive home, new experiences, and more. That invigorates me. Then there are things I don’t like about change that seem like losses to me…I don’t like to loose friends, shared experiences, privileges, etc. Possibly that is why the older we get the less we like change. When you’ve been through so much change it makes you tired.

I was encouraged by my friend, JR, last year through his blog to keep a few quotes or statements on note cards to remind you of who you are, where you are going, and how you are going to get there. So I began making my collection with some of his and some of mine and some of others. I have about 15 or so now, here are a few of them which remind me of how I as a leader relate with change:

Change is so important and is so biblical! “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”2Cor3.18 When we embrace the change that the Spirit of God is doing in us we also embrace the change of how He desires us to share His good news with the rest of the world so that they to can experience that transformation.

We tend to resist change and become miserable in the process. I remember when I was growing up, our pastor wanted to have an overhead projector in the pulpit, to use the technology to better teach/communicate the word of God to people. But people tell me that he received a lot of criticism about that kind of change. But it’s not just in the church that people complain about change. It is incredible to hear all the griping that goes on when Facebook changes the layout of our profile pages! We have to get over it and realize that they are attempting to create a better product so we can have a better experience. I have also noticed that it is rare that Facebook changes things back to the way they “used to be”, they simply say this is how we can be better at our desired goal and let you decide if you are going to stick with them.

How do you deal with change? How is your direction set? What keeps you on course?

Category: Brian, culture, leadership, spiritual life Tags: Change, Culture, Leadership One Comment

BookSneeze: The Search for God and Guinness

January

written by:brian | One Comment

Last year I came across a program through Thomas Nelson Publishers called BookSneeze. This is where they send books to bloggers (me) and in return I write a blog with my thoughts on the book. I got to choose from a list of available books at the time and so I chose one that looked interesting and out of my norm of reading, The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield. When I started reading it I realized that this could cause some division with those who read this blog because of differing opinions about drinking alcohol and differing life experiences involving alcohol. Even so, I feel that I need to complete my review and actually encourage readers to check this book out because it is very well written, thoroughly researched, and inspires a life lived in all areas of life to glorify God, regardless of your stand on alcohol. (This is not a blog to encourage drinking!)

Stephen Mansfield’s quest to understand the fact and fiction behind the stories and legacy of the Guinness family yielded a fascinating story of a family who sought to honor God through living with a sense of calling and do good for their community. Arthur Guinness who began the Guinness brewery in Dublin in 1759 also founded the first Sunday schools in Ireland. I was inspired to see how many vocational ministers came through the Guinness line through history. “What distinguishes his story is that he understood his success as forming a kind of mandate, a kind of calling to a purpose of God beyond just himself and his family to the broader good he could do in the world.”(59) Of course, when you trace a family through that many generations you get all sorts of people who make all sorts of life choices, good and bad. It was fascinating to read how the Guinness brewery responded to local and international times of crisis and how pivotal choices affected the long term success of the company.

An equally interesting part of Mansfield’s book was his history on the origin of beer and tracing the uses of it through history. I learned that “Clearly, beer and wine used in moderation were welcomed by the early Christians and were taken as a matter of course.”(20) And, “The popular attitude toward drink was that of earlier generations of Christians: alcohol in moderation is a grace of life but drunkenness is both sin and a plague upon society.”(217) I also read about many a negative consequences of abuses of alcohol, something of which many of us in our current day society know from family or friends whose lives have been wrecked with substance abuse. Mansfield dips into some of Martin Luther’s thoughts concerning alcohol: “‘Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused,’ he once wrote. ‘Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then prohibit and abolish women?’”(29) I am thankful for those in my life who have displayed healthy uses of alcohol and those who have sought health by overcoming past abuses.

Bottom line…I enjoyed reading this book, learning through history, and considering the legacy that we all have through the small daily decisions we make.

Incidentally, our Pastor of Adult Ministries, Steve, recently preached a solid sermon about Jesus’ first miracle of turning water to wine…although the point of the message was not about drinking, he had a nice caveat addressing issues on both sides, you might want to check it out.

Category: Book Reviews, Brian, insights from books, spiritual life Tags: book review One Comment

Tuesday’s Tunes – A Little Longer

November

written by:brian | Leave a Comment

Years ago one of the students in our ministry gave my friend Greg Despres a CD with a song sung by Jenn Johnson which was so impacting that he shared it in one of his messages. Upon hearing it I immediately went to purchase it because of how deeply it struck my heart. This song has continued to impact my life so much that at times I open iTunes, select the song, select the repeat 1 song option, and press play. I sit and pray, sometimes through tears because of the message of the song. This past summer some of our students found this video and played it during an all night prayer/worship gathering. Watch below and see if it might strike your heart in a deep way:

Here is the part of the song that hits me the hardest:
“Then hear you saying to me
Listen, you don’t have to do a thing
Just simply be with me
and let those things go
‘Cause they can wait another minute”

It is so easy to get caught up in ministry or any christian service with a “do” attitude (which can turn in to a “do-do” attitude) rather than a “be” attitude. Take a moment today and just be with your creator God, listen, relish in God’s love, and then stay there a little longer…those other things can wait another minute.

This Sunday morning in Calvary Church’s Sr High Insight this song fits so perfectly into our current series and will be featured…you don’t want to miss the way in which this will be creatively featured!

Category: Brian, Insight, Music, spiritual life, youtube Tags: Music Leave a Comment

Tuesday’s Tunes

November

written by:brian | One Comment

One of the things that has been very powerful in my life through the years is music. I think that is mostly universal for people, and we all resonate with certain types of music. I love all types of music, but the words are important to the experience that I have as well as they style of music.

So here is a place that I want to share some of the songs that have impacted me through the years and currently.

This summer we loaded the family up in the suburban to take our long Oklahoma/Texas/Georgia tour, as we were leaving town we stopped at our traditional first stop, Starbucks! Mandy went in to get the drinks and I stayed back with the kids…then this song struck me at the heart

I bought it on my iPhone right there while waiting on Mandy, and it quickly became one of those “our song” types of songs between Mandy and I. His advice for making it in marriage is right on! We could use this stuff in the premarital counseling we’ve done…

“Be a best friend,
tell the truth,
overuse ‘I love you’
go to work, do your best
don’t outsmart your common sense,
never let your prayin’ knees get lazy,
and love like CRAAAZY!”

“Always treat your woman like a lady,
never get to old to call her baby,
never let your prayin’ knees get lazy,
and love like CRAAAAZY!”

Now, That’ll Preach!
May the Lord grant us 58+ years together.