I saw yet another story last week about a Christian “celebrity” who announced his “deconstruction,” meaning leaving Christianity, or in his case, re-defining it. This “Grammy-winning vocalist,” Kevin Max, is a member of “the popular Christian band DC Talk.” He calls himself an “#exvangelical,” which is an obvious slam against Evangelicals. Now as an ex-Evangelical he follows “the Universal Christ,” whatever that means. I have a hunch I know, but you can be sure it’s not the Christ of the Bible. That Christ is so regressive, so uptight about sexuality and just doesn’t fit into 21st century postmodern hipster religion. As you read through the piece, you’ll see something typical of these “deconstructionists,” his disdain for conservative Evangelical Christianity. I couldn’t help thinking as I read it how self-righteous and judgmental this guy is. I also thought that his reasons for “deconstructing” are so cliched that they are an insult to clichés! (more…)
Well, that wasn’t so hard now, was it. This thought came to me as I was reading an article yesterday about “How the body builds a healthy relationship with ‘good’ gut bacteria.” There is only one explanation, only one, for the preposterous complexity of the human body’s immune system (not to mentioned everything else), and that would be our almighty Creator God! The Apostle Paul tells us “the secret” to seeing God in everything: “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so they are without excuse.” So, when we open our eyes in the morning we should see . . . . God! He is invisible, but everything that exists has been made by him and reflects him, including our eyes, brains, nervous systems, and every cell in our bodies that allows us to see and perceive him through all that he has made. So when I read the first few paragraphs of the article, guess who I thought of? Give up? (more…)
In case you didn’t get to see it live, here is the YouTube recording of my discussion with Joel Settecase of the Think Institute Podcast. He’s a great guy, and it was an absolute blast. Plus he loves the book!
Until I read a thoughtful article about her a couple days ago at The Federalist, I had never heard of pop superstar Billie Eilish. Being officially “old” it doesn’t surprise me that much of pop culture passes me buy, and I’m happy to let it do so. The state of affairs that is our secular Western culture is deeply shallow and painfully dysfunctional. It’s impossible not to conclude that when 40,000 people a year in America successfully kill themselves. The young superstar herself, having fame beyond imagining and what she dreamed of as a child, deals with depression. I listened to a song or two and wasn’t impressed, but a lot of people are. One video of a new song with her newly blond hair and new look had almost 50 million views. That’s a lot of views! I also found this interview she did a couple years back, and I was struck by this 17 year-old girl being listened to and treated as if she was really, really important. Watch the interview to see what I mean.
It should be obvious that God is by definition incomprehensible, yet human beings, you and me included, somehow think we can comprehend him. This happens in subtle and not so subtle ways, but the pretension is the same. Somehow we think that our finite brains are capable of understanding the being of God, his ontology, the knowing of God, his epistemology, and his working, the how and why of it, both in creation and redemption (or re-creation). The ontological argument for God’s existence states that “God is a being than which no greater can be conceived.” Exactly. If we could conceive of anything greater he would not be God, he would be a figment of our imagination. Unfortunately, as sinners we are really good at creating a God that is a figment of our imagination. It just never bears any resemblance to the God who is actually there. (more…)
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