Rising from the Ashes

As my handle Sibbesian suggests I love those words of Isaiah fulfilled in Jesus that he will not break the bruised reed or extinguish the smoking flax. Harry Reeder’s book ‘From Embers to a Flame’ has caused me to think about those words not only in a personal context but also in the context of the church. Reeder’s book is about the revitalisation of what to the human eye are dying churches. Here in this book he helps the reader to think through biblical principles that he has put into effect in his own ministry. It is a helpful book that is of value to any church leader. As someone involved in a small church there was much here that we have considered but there was also a lot of food for thought, a lot to challenge and yes, inspire. For those in difficult church situations it offers no magic bullet but it does offer hope for those prepared to commit themselves to seeing the local church revitalised.

The Moral Collapse of the UK

If ‘righteousness alone exalts a nation’ then in the last 48 hours the United Kingdom has demonstrated its abasement. In a series of votes passed in Parliament we have seen permission granted for the creation of animal human hybrids for research purposes, permission granted for the creation of ’saviour siblings’ that is the creation of one life purely for the preserving of another, permission for lesbian couples to have babies without any legal role for the father and the denial of a reduction in the number of weeks at which a human being may be aborted. I feel immensely sad at what has happened. Sad because of what it reveals about the state of the country. Sad for the countless lives that will be destroyed in labs, in wombs and in the aftermath of lesbian adoptions. I feel sad too, indeed ashamed, at my own quiet complicity in all of this. Did I make my voice count? One feeble signature on a petition. Did other Christians make their voices heard?  I scarcely heard a word said by the churches.

I recognise my own need for repentance and that of the nation at this time. We are under the judgement of God and will one day face that judgement. Today we must therefore humble ourselves, repent and call upon His name.

Finally a word of thanks to those courageous men and women in Parliament who sought to withstand this moral capitulation.

Dispatches: In God’s Name

Channel 4’s Dispatches programme looked last night at the influence of Christian fundamentalism in Britain in a documentary called ‘In God’s Name.’ ( If you missed it you can watch it online at Channel 4 on demand). It was an attempt by the programme maker to alert Britain to the rising political influence of this movement. It followed a number of key figures in this movement as they campaigned on a number of issues including homosexuality, embryology legislation, blasphemy and Islam. Whilst the programme was sensationalist many who appeared on the programme did themselves no favours. The fact that no-one could explain why they believed the earth was only 4,000 years old was embarrassing. Whilst there was undoubtedly an undercurrent of racism in some of the remarks made about Islam. These remarks are not and cannot be acceptable to Christians.

However the tone of the programme and some of the comments made in the press about it also strike a note of alarm. One of the things that seemed most offensive about this group was what they believed. To believe in a young earth was enough to have these people dubbed sinister. Also rather alarming was the suggestion that for Christians to have access to Parliament and to have a voice in the public square was unacceptable. Of course Christians in this country have a long history of seeking to promote the values of the kingdom of God. This is not some sinister new development as the programme seemed to imply. Were it not for the influence of Christians we might still have a slave trade and be sending small boys up chimneys. It also appeared that to fundamentally disagree with homosexuality, Islam and abortion was unacceptable. If you want to find something sinister here it is- people stoking up the fires of resentment against Christians who do not hold their values. It is alarming that whilst people and their methods may be objectionable that their views are not only held up to ridicule but that secularists wish to silence them completely. Where does this end? The supposed toleration of the makers of this programme is not as tolerant as it thinks it is. It is in fact secular fundamentalism.

We have met the enemy, and he is us

I’m not sure who Kris Lundgaard is but the book he has written, The Enemy Within, is one that deserves to be widely known. In this short book he distills the essence of two of John Owen’s tomes on temptation and sin and how to overcome these. In doing so he has created a very readable and practical book on what has sadly become a much neglected topic amongst Christians. In Lungaard’s book there is a good deal of what used to be called the cure of souls. With Owen in the background he wisely diagnoses the disease of sin, offering advice on how to recognise the symptoms and how to effect a cure. Here is a book that will profit every Christian and I cannot recommend it enough.

Only the Good Die Young?

This week saw the death of Tommy Burns one of the coaches of Celtic football club. He was a comparatively young 51 years. He seems to have been a genuinely decent bloke and his death touched not only his family but those involved in Scottish football. I read with interest one of the comments on his death by the BBC Scotland football correspondent Chick Young. Young wrote, ‘The good Lord hasn’t really got the hang of this. He really shouldn’t keep taking all the good guys. Poor Tommy. Snatched from us ridiculously early. It is scandalously unfair, this evil business of cancer.’ It reminded me of the obituaries that can often be read in the local newspapers. They run something like, ‘Jimmy you were one of the best because God only takes the best.’

What does this type of thinking say about us? On one level it shows that we are often hopelessly sentimental in the face of death. It also shows that despite declining church attendance in the UK we are a nation where ‘Christian’ folk religion is still very evident. (The comment that we believe in justification by death comes to mind.) It also reminds us that in a culture that scorns religion we still look to God for both answers and comfort in the face of death. The really sad corollary of this is that most people don’t look too hard. And they settle either for the suggestion that God is to blame and they have been robbed. Or for the comfort that their loved one is in the heaven they had no interest in whilst alive.

Above all they reflect a culture which largely denies death. Death in inevitable but only at a distance. Any death short of three score years and ten (plus another 20) is viewed as a savage act. Most people, according to one writer, envisage death in their early nineties after two sets of tennis, a good lunch and having made love to their partner. Then they will painlessly slip away. But death is no respecter of persons or age or our designs. Instead it is the great certainty for which we must be prepared. And it is in seeing death as that which Jesus has conquered in his death and resurrection that we come to realise that to be with Christ is no loss. Instead it is better by far.

Testing the Spirits

One of the great needs of our day it seems to me is the need for us to consider the nature of religious experience. For an age that is so taken with the idea of religious experience there is comparatively little examination of such experience. Instead it seems to increasingly be the case that all religious experience is considered to be authentic religious experience. Previous generations took the task of examining the nature of religious experience much more seriously. And whilst lacking the tools of modern psychology they also understood it remarkably well.

One example of this is found in the work of Archibald Alexander in his 1844 work ‘Thoughts on Religious Experience.’ In this work Alexander gives detailed consideration to true and false religious experience. As someone who lived through times of revival offers many wise words that all who are interested in the true work of God in their own lives and in the lives of others would do well to read. This work offers a helpful antidote to the superficiality that afflicts the contemporary church. And where sadly many are deluded with regard to the true nature of religious experience. Alexander’s work touches upon issues of eternal consequence which we would all do well to heed. He covers many helpful topics including dreams, true and false conversions, the effects of age on spiritual vigour, the variety of conversion experiences, the relationship between sin and dreams and draws on many historical illustrations of his points.

Velvet Elvis has Left the Building- III

Credit where credit is due. Rob Bell’s chapter on holistic Christianity and the need for leaders not to seek validation through their ministry is better than the earlier chapters of the book. But still the questions linger about his understanding of the Christian faith.

For example what does he mean when he speaks of ‘a new kind of Christian faith…for the new world we find ourselves in’? What is wrong with ‘the faith once for all delivered to the saints’? If the world is changing rapidly does that mean that Christianity has to change with it? Is there something wrong with my faith because I do not see things the way Bell does?

Then there are the New Age type of comments, ‘The energy in the place was unreal.’ What exactly does that mean? Whose energy? Where did it come from? Or ‘We have to listen to what our inner voice is saying.’ Do we? I’m not sure that’s a biblical category? Surely our need is to listen not to ourselves but to the voice of God.

Also there are the statements which play fast and loose with doctrine, ‘It is possible for the cross to have done something for a person but not in them.’ That is not an interpretation of either the atonement or the Christian life that I find anywhere in the Bible- that a person can be truly justified and yet not have their life transformed by the power of God.

It seems to me that there are several possible to understanding Bell’s throw-away lines. One is that he is theologically ignorant-which I doubt. Two, these really are throw-away lines and Bell does not realise what he is saying.  But his work is too well-crafted for that. Thirdly, and most likely, Bell is trying to reinvent the historic language of the Christian faith. He is either doing this because he is trying really hard to be hip- yuck! If that is true he is arrogant and deliberately seeking to alienate other Christians. Or he is reinventing the language because he is reinventing the faith. Only time will fully tell where Bell is going.

Mileygate

With the media obession that seems to follow here everywhere Miley Ray Cyrus aka Hannah Montana has created a feeding frenzy. This because of her decision to pose semi-nude for Vanity Fair magazine. The shoot has caused controversy for a number of reasons. In the first instance it has caused a furore because Miley’s demographic is 9-14 year old girls. What message does this send out? It has caused problems for Miley herself who says shes is embarrassed by the pictures and was conned into them. Obviously getting undressed in front of a photographer didn’t ring any alarm bells then! Furthermore, Miley’s actions have caused controversy coming on the back of her stance as a self-confessed born-again Christian who derives strength and direction from her faith- rewind to Britney Spears. Sadly the question she now faces is whether she has simply sought to trade on her ‘faith’  to bolster her girl next door image which now lies in tatters.

However badly Miley comes out of this those who really come out badly are  her family to whom she ascribes her Christian values. For they are prepared to see their teenage daughter sexualised in the quest to further her career and to keep the golden goose laying.

Miley Cyrus has again shown the perils of using the Christian faith as little more than a marketing tool where Christianity is seen as a market to be wooed. She will undoubtedly be lambasted by some but hopefully she will also hear words of grace. Hopefully the spotlight will move from her to her acquisitive family and they will be called to account. Hopefully too some in the Christian world will take a long hard look at the kind of Christianity that creates poster girls like Miley who are built up for commercial purposes and allowed to be sucked into the show biz beast

Velvet Elvis has left the Building-II

I managed another chapter of Velvet Elvis. It struck me as Schleiermacher for the 21st century- Schleiermacher being widely acknowledged as the father of theological liberalism. According to Bell, like Schleiermacher, all our experiences of transcendence are experiences of God. Its difficult not to conclude that Bell’s theology is taking him in the direction of either pantheism or panentheism. It one point he tells the story of a couple getting married who choose a scene of outstanding beauty to exchange vows because ’something holds it together.’ They agree that same force also brought them together and they agree to call this ‘glue’ God. The problem of course is whether this ‘glue’ bears any correlation to the triune God of the Bible? What authenticates Christian ‘experience’ from all other experience?

Its not hard to see where Bell is going. I imagine little will be said in this book about sin impairs our capacity for spiritual understanding let alone our relationship with God. His arguments will unless I am much mistaken will lead towards inclusivism.

Velvet Elvis has left the Building

At long last I have got around to reading Rob Bell’s ‘Velvet Elvis’ -well, starting to read it, I’ve managed the first two chapters and haven’t decided if I’ll bother with the rest. It’s a great title, well laid out and written in a style that makes me feel like an old square. But it is a book that already has raised many concerns. The fact that it is stacked high in a key spot in the local Wesley Owen bookshop is a worrying development. It will be attractive to many young Christians but if this is their diet then we are in for a lot of trouble. Here and there Bell make sense but sometimes its where he makes sense that he is most alarming.

What concerns me about the book is not only what is said but the way in which it is said. it has the appearance of wisdom and yet its basic arguments are deeply flawed. Example- in chapter 1 Bell argues that doctrines ought not to be thought of as bricks in a wall creating an edifice that will crumble should one brick be removed. Instead they ought to be treated as springs in a trampoline which give expression to our experiences of God. Like Bell I find the prospect of jumping on a trampoline more exhilarating than defending a brick wall. But what good is the trampoline if there are no springs? And might you not wish to defend your trampoline every bit as much as your brick wall if someone were trying to steal its springs? Bell is in effect talking gibberish.

Bell also speaks in this chapter of inviting people to join him on his trampoline. (Do they bring their own springs or use Bell’s -I’m not sure!) For him this is how one becomes a Christian by living the Christian life and discovering its reality. It’s a far cry from NT pictures of the Christian life which begin not with an experiment but new birth and wholehearted, life-surrendering commitment to Jesus. What happens in Bell’s version when the experience doesn’t measure up to their expectations as often happens in the course of our spiritual journey? Is there any reality beyond what we experience?

Nor does Bell’s logic improve in chapter 2. Here he gets himself in a right muddle- along with anyone else who cares to listen to him. Here he suggests that Matthew 16:19 is the hermeneutical key to Scripture. According to Bell this is Jesus giving his followers authority to make new interpretations of the Bible. Clearly that is not what the passage is about. I know of no serious Bible commentator who would suggest that. Bell clearly takes a flier on this one. But then goes on to criticise those who do not interpret the Bible in community but read it on their own. He criticises those who read the Bible assuming they do so free from outside influences- physician heal thyself.

Alarmingly for all that Bell says about reading Scripture in context he he seems to ignore that rule himself. More alarmingly he appears to be leading others down the road that Scripture has no fixed meaning.

This book is so logically flawed and misdirected I’m not sure if it is worth precious time finishing it.