Theologically Correct Bible Songs (part 1)

Part of a series dedicated to revealing the concrete effects of imbalanced theologies by re-writing hymns and children's songs as if the theology were actually true.  The songs are somewhat funny, obviously badly warped, and certainly nothing we would want to teach our kids or congregations.  And yet, I think they faithfully carry out the explicit logical conclusions of certain types of theology.  If the theologies are correct, and something that people can actually believe, then WHY NOT sing these songs?  But, if the songs are horrendous, how can we keep believing the theology that underlies them (even if in a kinder, gentler, more nuanced version)?

Enough logic.  On to the songs...

An Open Letter to Those thinking of leaving their Christian Traditions

This is a letter primarily to some of my good friends (you know who you are) who have expressed severe disenchantment with their own Christian Traditions, and are currently thinking of moving over to the Anglican, Roman, or Orthodox Communions.  But this letter is also for everyone who may be thinking about "jumping ship".  I want to begin with a quote by St. Paul:

"To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.  To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.  To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:20-23)

Now let me tell a little story to illustrate the points I want to make:

How do you get "saved" in the Anglican Church?

This article was originally an essay in a booklet I am putting together called "Explaining Anglicans". But, today I read a wonderfully touching, yet insufficient, explanation of salvation from a fellow Episcopal youth minister. You can find it here.

Although I really, truly sympathize with the pastor who posted this article, I believe he frames the issue in an EITHER/OR debate: Either salvation is individual, other-worldly, and about doctrinal correctness (as in Fundamentalism) or salvation is communal, this-worldly, and about loving social justice (as in Liberalism). I think this is too simplistic. Salvation is rather both-and.

An Open Letter to the Republican National Committee

2018 Note: There are several things about this blog I really do not agree with now. Notably, I have long since evolved to embrace marriage equality, and see same sex marriages as equally and fully families that should be strengthened and embraced. I leave this up on blog as a monument to personal growth and change over time. 

I received an email on February 13th, 2006 from the Republican National Committee asking for feedback about the GOP.  Not letting any opportunity slip to tell someone what I think, I penned the following letter:

SOVEREIGNTY AND FREEDOM, HOPE AND HELL

Examining The Paradoxes Of Creator And Creation In The Light Of Ultimate Reconciliation Through Christ

Copyright © 2006 Nathan L. Bostian

Out of all of the doctrines of the Christian faith that cause problems for both believers and those who are yet to believe, the doctrine of hell seems to create the most problems.  The traditional view that hell is the last word God gives to the unrepentant, even if hell is a self-chosen reality, seems absolutely horrific if God is as loving and powerful as Christians say that He is.  How could God be anything like a loving Father if He is content to give up on any of His children, and allow them to suffer forever.  Wouldn't He keep reaching out to them if there was any possible way to reach them?  And if anything is possible with God (cf. Mat 19:26), is there ever a reason for God to stop reaching out?  Why then is hell apparently God's last word to a significant portion of humanity?

Or is it?

Needle Pricks, Crocodile Tears, and Divine Providence

I think I learned something about God this morning.  At 9am it was time to take my daughter to the doctor for her 15 month checkup.  My wife is a teacher with a very structured daily schedule, and since I am a youth minister with a completely variable schedule, I usually get to take our daughter to the doctor.  I do not like going to the doctor.  I hate getting my blood drawn, and I hate shots. But I have found out that there is one thing I dislike more than getting a needle stuck into me.  It is getting a needle stuck into my daughter.

They don't get it but maybe they will someday

I just switched over media players on my computer, and I am tidying up my music collection.  You find some strange and wonderful things when you do that.  I found an album on my hard drive by a band called "Concrete Blonde".  They are an L.A. club band with a hard edge to them.  I loved them in high school.

I stopped listening to them because they are blatantly anti-Christian.  It is clear from their lyrics that some person(s) who claimed to be Christians hurt some of them very badly when they were younger.  Concrete Blonde was also into the "Anne-Rice-Interview-with-a-vampire-dark-goth-vampire" thing in the early 90's.

They have great lyrics.  Passionate, painful, haunting lyrics.  Angry lyrics.

Last night I began reading Anne Rice's new novel, "Christ Our Lord".  She used to be a bitter anti-Christian for the same reasons that Concrete Blonde still is.  Anne Rice was deep into the dark-voodoo-vampire thing in New Orleans.  She is now a passionate believer in Jesus Christ.  If you doubt it, read the last 17 pages of her novel.

I wonder if the same thing that happened to Anne might happen- by God's grace- to Concrete Blonde as well.

A good debate on spiritual gifts

Hey folks. I am participating in a really good discussion with the boys over at Fide-O about whether or not the Spirit has ceased giving the gift of "prophecy" and other spiritual gifts (called "cessationism"), or whether the Spirit continues to give these miraculous gifts (called, guess what, "continuationism").

I am on the continuationist side of things, and I think my arguments are better than theirs (no surprise here). But, they like their arguments too. And, they bring up a lot of good points and a lot of problems associated with the use and abuse of spiritual gifts. Definitely worth reading.

Go see what we have to say at:

The introductory article (filled with good links too):
http://fide-o.blogspot.com/2006/01/oops-holy-spirit-messed-up.html

Where the discussion gets a bit better:
http://fide-o.blogspot.com/2006/01/schizophrenic-god.html

God tricked me into reading it again...

At one of my Pre-Christmas Youth Minister gatherings we had a "book exchange" instead of a gift exchange.  I love and hate book exchanges because while there is a great chance of getting introduced to a great author that someone else treasures, there is also a great chance of getting stuck with a book that has been stuck, un-read, in a drawer by someone's toilet for the last three years.

But, one of my good friends, Molly, is a very literary and spiritual soul, and usually brings good books.  So, I looked forward to stealing her book as soon as possible.  She is also a Henri Nouwen fanatic.  I read most of a small book by Nouwen in college, and it just didn't do anything for me.  I though He had three strikes against him: He was Catholic (which I had no taste for at the time), he was Canadian (still not sure about them), and he did not teach in what I considered a very "Biblical" way (I was, at the time, a fundamentalist-ish Bible Church Christian who believed that good teaching came in the form of Biblical proofs, using Biblical prooftexts, constantly saying "and the Greek/Hebrew of this text really says...", while throwing in a funny and relevant illustrative story every now and then).

So, while what he said was nice and didn't seem heretical, it just didn't speak to me.  I never finished the book.

Gig'em Bevo

Greetings my friends from that other University in Texas!

I just wanted to say congratulations from the Texas Aggies on your incredible victory over Southern Cal to win the National Championship. You did a fantastic job, and your quarterback is a pretty good guy, considering he isn't an Aggie (maybe he should have been...). It is good to see that Texas is teaching all of those weenies in California what real football is all about.

I have attached a commemorative picture celebrating your achievement. Gig 'em Bevo!

Oh no they didn't...

We have some work to do! It seems that there is a website (and publishing company) out there called "Lighthouse Trails Research Project", who claims to "expose the truth about contemplative spirituality, the bridge that unites all religions andthus denies the gospel of Jesus Christ". They hate people and movements as diverse as contemplative prayer, the emergent church, the charismatic movement, Rick Warren, Roman Catholics, and basically anything that does not fit into the Biblicist fundamentalist [lack-of-a]mindset.

You can find them at: http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com/index.html

These people are mean, nasty, anti-everything-fundamentalists who lie and spread gossip about their self-proclaimed enemies in the name of Jesus Christ, without offering much more than a shred of evidence (if that much). For instance, did you know that Henry Nouwen was a homosexual, or that the Alpha Course is tied into the New Age? That's what they chaim. They make the guys over at Fide-O look like Oxford University. At least those guys can marshal a strong Scriptural argument.

SNL finds Christ in Christmas?!?

Merry Christmas all y'all!!!

Saturday Night Live is not known for being very Jesus-friendly, yet one of their skits last night hits it RIGHT on the head. It is an animated short about Jesus trying to find any Christ in modern Christianity.

It is, may I dare say it, prophetic...

This was almost our Christmas Card...

Civilization IV: How God spends His free time

I feel that the holidays are a time to completely veg out and enjoy a Sabbath.  Sabbath, for me, includes doing two things: First and foremost, setting aside some intentional time to hang with the Big Guy.  Set aside some time every day to pray a little (idea: using the Lord's prayer as an outline, go walking with God in a park or around your neighborhood, and take each phrase and elaborate on it and pray it back to God by finding as many ways as you can to "hallow His Name", "ask for His Kingdom to come", "ask for His will to be done", etc.).  Also, set aside some time every day to read some Scripture (idea: read one of the Gospels all the way through over the next two weeks... If you read Mark you will only have to read one chapter a day, the other Gospels will be two chapters a day... as you read, underline and circle everything that sticks out and ask God to show you what it means).  

OK, so spending time with Jesus in prayer and Scripture reading is the first thing.  What is the second, you may ask?

The History of Electronic Music

Hey folks... Little known factoid about me: I love electronic music (techno, industrial, house, acid, etc.).  Just ran across this incredible shockwave interactive presentation on the history of electronic music.

It features 5.5 hours of mp3 samples of electronic music, and about 100 genres.  It is really a great piece of work.

Disclaimer: This site does use quite a bit of profanity.  So if you are one of my youth or parents from Church checking this out, you are warned.  Look at it this way: you get to hear the good, bad, AND ugly of postmodern music over the last 30 years.  Enjoy...

http://www.di.fm/edmguide/#

Also interesting:

http://www2.abc.net.au/arts/soundsliketechno/

Will Candy Canes and Lawyers Bring God's Kingdom on Earth?

Well, I am watching the morning news, waiting for my darling daughter to wake up from her slumber, and I see story number 8,376 on the "Christmas Wars" between "good" evangelical Christians and the "evil" world system.

It seems that another elementary school child in a Texas school district is being used as a puppet by his parents, who are being used as puppets by their pastor(s), to push the Moral Majority Christian platform at school.  Supposedly the kid wants to distribute Candy Canes with the "Story" of the Candy Cane attached, which is actually a Gospel presentation.  The "Gospel Story" of the Candy Cane is actually pretty good.  I share it IN CHURCH about once every other year.

But... 

Santadolatry?

Alright, I am not the biggest "anti-Santa" fanatic in the world.  I used to be, then I became a youth minister that occasionally has to work with young children, and I had a young child of my own.  I mean, I see the Consumerism in the whole thing.  I also hate the Santa-Claus view of God, in which God is benevolent grandpa in the sky who only gives good gifts to good girls and boys.  And, I think that Santa, as we know him in 21st century America, contributes to both consumerism and the Santa ideal of God.

Yet, just as the idea of Saint Nicholas as been co-opted to become the Santa Claus of mass marketing, so also the Santa Claus can be co-opted back to teach about Saint Nicholas and the Spirit of selfless giving that flows from Christ.  If the "Santa Myth" can be "spun" for bad, then it can also be "spun" for good.  So, I do not mind Santa so much anymore.  He is a morally neutral tool that can be used used to serve Jesus just as easily as he is used to serve selfishness.

Luther, Nominalism, and the Nature of the Church

This is an odd post, because it addresses a couple of issues raised by an email from a friend (Steve) in which he asked about some recent posts. Regarding my recent post on Martin Luther and Reformation Day, Steve asked "How can you not like and respect someone that said 'Whenever the devil harasses you, seek the company of men and drink more.....Sometimes we must drink more...and even sin a little to spite the devil....'".  Point taken Steve... I will address this below.

Also, Steve said that he is "very much leaning against the view that the Church somehow is the possessor and distributor of grace" (such as the Catholic view).  He is "much more now seeing that we are called to only be a Proclaimer, and especially a WITNESS as the Church... Anything else seems to me at present to somehow almost "interfere" with the work Christ". He also said that he is re-thinking the sacraments, and is very influenced by some views of Karl Barth regarding the Church and the sacraments.

So, I actually find all of these issues to be related.  In the following post I want to deal with Luther, then Karl Barth, and then the idea of whether or not the Church is a "Witness" to Christ (as Proclaimers), or the continuing "Incarnation" of Christ (as the Body of Christ).  

Could Hell be Redemptive and not merely Retributive?

The following way-too-long article started as a reply to a question about 2Thessalonians 1:8-9.  It morphed into a full-out defense of Hell as a redemptive process, not merely a retributive destination.  It is 9,500 words, and I would appreciate it if you did not comment until you have read the whole thing because some of your objections might be answered later on.

One of my older youth named Chris asked the question that got the ball of wax rolling.  It was basically:

WWCSLD?

Most people who have known me for long know that I am a CS Lewis junkie. I don't really do the Catholic "patron saint" thing, but CS Lewis would probably be my patron saint if I did. I have almost everything he has ever published except for the really expensive three volume set of his collected letters (only have volume 1... Christmas presents anyone?). For me, his books are just below Scripture, and he is one of very few people who write books that I will read more than once. So, just below the Holy Trinity is CS Lewis... Father, Son, Spirit... and "Jack".

Just kiddin' on that last sentence... But everything else is pretty much true.