QotD: Bounds & "programs"

"We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel.  This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization.  God's plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else.  Men are God's method.  What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use--men of prayer, men mighty in prayer.  The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods but through men.  He does not come on machinery but on men.  He does not anoint plans but men--men of prayer."

~ E. M. Bounds

Three needful (and short) reads

Some days I feel like Chicken Little. Some would suggest an even stronger resemblance.

The little red light on the dashboard of our country flickers with far greater regularity than it once did.  So steady is it now days that most folks ignore it thinking it's merely a problem with the light and not with the nation as a whole.

The God who is there weighs nations in his perfect balance (Jeremiah 18:1-10).  Based upon God's word, we have been tipping the scales.  The warning light is full on at all times.  Here are three prominent issues rattling under America's hood.

• Islam:  A Christian America is not incompatible with other religions, irreligion, or even atheism.  In fact when you look around the world and through history, the nations that have proven themselves most friendly toward the free exercise of one's convictions have been those with a strong biblical foundation.  If we take a look at those nations founded upon the Koran, those that hold most fervently to it have proven the most hostile toward other religions within their borders.
  
  So how does a free America deal with a group of people that shows itself increasingly antagonistic to who we are and our way of life?  It's a question our government is ignoring.  Read Andrew McCarthy's, Islam and the State of the Union.
• Christianity.  The least tolerated philosophy in the public arena today is anything associated with Judaism or Christianity.  Television, film, universities, and courtrooms across the country demean, dissect, insult, and dismiss them as though they birthed all things evil and as though they have manacled American progress.  Ironic because it is the source of our freedoms in America.  Don't think so?  Read Dennis Prager's, God and Congress.
• Life.  Amidst Sanctity of Human Life Month, Congressman Rick Santorum had the audacity (harumph!) to compare abortion to slavery.  Considering we have nobody around who has experienced either, the harumphing should be kept to a minimum.  Does the analogy fit?  Is he comparing the level and quantity of atrocity or is he comparing how one group of humans can consider another group of humans non-persons?  Read his own words in Life is a Civil Right.

Maybe the sky isn't falling, but it sure appears that the curtain is.  Stay informed.

The humanity

There exists in America a segment of society that has no voice in the public arena save those who will speak on their behalf.

Within New York City that same segment runs the risk of being killed at the hands of another (typically referred to as "murder") at a rate of 40%.  How would you like to live in a neighborhood where you know that two of the five of you will be dead by next Thanksgiving?

That segment of our society has this death sentence on their head and they don't even know it.  They are the children in the womb.

Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Day.  As we approach that day, let me encourage you, if you have never thought about the rights of the child in the womb to read a few articles about what's been happening in America lately.

• The story of a former abortion provider:  here
• Humanity and law:  here
• A sober look at abortions in America.  Only for the life of the mom?  Rape and incest?  Not so much.  Read:  here.
• Here, too, is my post from yesterday, a pained look at those who come to understand what they've done here.

"The baby in my womb leaped for joy."

~ Elizabeth upon seeing Mary who was pregant with the Christ (Luke 1:44)

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

~ God to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5)

Death, life, and hope

Jolene hung up and wept.  When her sister announced she was pregnant, all the feelings she thought she'd dealt with crushed her like an ocean wave.  It'd been three years since "the decision."  Derek bolted as soon as he'd heard.  She didn't dare talk it over with her mom.  In fact, she'd discussed it with no one save the clinic's counselor who said that it was no different than having a wart removed.

That was a lie.  Jolene had begun to feel the baby move before "the procedure."  Where once she felt the flutter of tiny feet, a void as dark as night had embedded itself.  And now for the next nine months, Jolene would paste on a smile and feign delight over each step of her sister's pregnancy.  As the baby grew, so would Jolene's grief. 

Carolyn knew that same, debilitating pain.  Her despair grew to such a size that it seemed only suicide could slay the beast.  Then she heard a friend talking about finding forgiveness from God in Jesus Christ.  She shared that what Jesus had done on the cross covered the sin of all mankind and covered her sin, too.  Carolyn's heart leapt for a split-second and just as quickly sank back into her solitary abyss.  Nothing could atone for what she'd done.  Still she lingered on that "gospel" message.

She flipped open an old Bible she kept on the shelf (for good luck) to one of the books (why do they call chapter-sized sections "books?") her friend mentioned.  Romans.  And she read.  "The gospel...the power of God  for salvation to everyone who believes."  Everyone?  Really.  We'll see.  "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."  No kidding, Carolyn grunted.  Then her eye caught.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.  (Romans 5:6-10)

She couldn't undo what she'd done.  Could it be she didn't have to?  Could it be that despite her sin, God could still love her?  Could it be that the love of God in Jesus Christ could heal and restore?  "Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Oh my.  In hope beyond hope, Carolyn cried out to God and trusted that what Christ had done was sufficient for her, too.  She trusted his mercy and grace and collapsed into his arms.

From that day, her life had changed.  Oh, her grief remained; the past could not be undone.  But now she had a hope, a real and living hope.  God's word gave her hope for her life even now, and it also gave her hope for the afterlife.  As David said, though her child could not be brought back, Carolyn now knew that she would one day see her child whole in the presence of her Savior.

Still a cloud remained.  Despite the restoration of her relationship with God, Carolyn could not bring herself to share her history with anyone in church.  What would they say?  When the pastor would preach on the sanctity of human life, she grieved in silence, mask firmly in place, unaware that within thirty feet of where she sat, three other women wept inside as well.

The abortion coin has two very dark sides.  On one side, abortion destroys a life physically.  Churches and Christians must not be silent about what abortion is.  It is the destruction of a living human being.  Not because the Pope says so.  Not because my pastor says so.  Not because I say so.  It is killing innocent life because God in his word says so. 

Jolene and Carolyn illustrate the other side of the coin.  Millions of women live in torment over what they have done believing they have no hope.  Even those who have experienced the true forgiveness, the only true healing, that comes through Jesus Christ often keep their secret hidden within the church fearing the potential condemnation from brothers and sisters in Christ. 

Within the emotional trauma of those who have received God's forgiveness in Christ is a promise of grace.  Paul recognized himself as the chief of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15), but he was unashamed to speak of what he had done before meeting Christ (Acts 22:4, 26:11) because the vast chasm between his before and after testified to the work of his God and Savior, Jesus Christ, in his life.  The very thing that causes you grief, that very area where God has provided you forgiveness and comfort, might be the very thing that will serve to comfort one who has trod that same pathway.

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday is this week.  Those who know the redemption of God in Christ must continue speaking the truth about the horrors of abortion.  At the same time, we must begin to unashamedly offer the hope of redemption in Jesus Christ for those who have walked that midnight of the soul and to unreservedly offer compassion for those redeemed who still grieve the death of their child.

Tucson observation

Pundits and politicians continue to debate the sanity or insanity of what went down in Arizona, but the one word that none has the courage to utter regarding the nightmare in Tucson is the one word that sums up the true heart of darkness. 

 

The word?  Sin.

 

 

52 weeks

In Memory of Terri Anne Otto

52 weeks ago today, Terri died.

Really it will be one year tomorrow, January 16th, but the suddenness and suffering of a sin-stained world reared up and struck down a truly beautiful flower in the predawn darkness of a Saturday morning exactly 52 weeks ago.

This morning I woke up early to head out to a men's function at my church.  Gray and misty, God had served up an identical Saturday morning to January 16, 2010.  He seemed to dress it in the appropriate cloak of mourning because hearts still ache the loss.

For those who have lost a loved one without notice, you know well the white-hot agony that sears the soul, the feeling that all of the oxygen in the cosmos has vanished leaving you gasping for breath.  Only the spouse who has lived as one flesh with his beloved can know the sting of your wife torn from your side.  Such wounds do not heal in a week or a month.  The raw pain abates into a steady ache.

52 weeks later we give thanks to God for the years he blessed us to know Terri Anne Otto.  At the same time sadness still takes hold as to my mind it would seem far better for her to still be here.

With the limited perspective of a toddler, we will trust in the direction of our faithful Father who promises that all will be well.  We know that even now Terri is more than well as she walks in the presence of her God and Savior.

Please, God, continue to bless and comfort her man, Dave, and her children, Mattie, Nathan, and Olivia, with the solace only you can provide.

And then, come quickly, Lord.

Going to hell

How could a loving God consign anyone to hell?

That is just one of the many indictments that God's creatures lay against him.  It's an oldie, but the perspective is a bit skewed.

Take me for example.  Were I to hurl such an accusation into the cosmos, might not God arch up an "are-you-kidding-me" eyebrow?  In the span of eternity, my existence might cover 80 years, and I'm a bit over half way there.  Even at the end, my life will take part in only 1% of recorded history.

I have been to all but six of the United States, though some of those were only brief stops to a single city.  I've been to eight other countries, nine if you count Canada.  Of those nations, I know none of them intimately.

If I thoroughly read ten books each year, that's only 800 in one lifetime.  I think there are that many Harold and the Purple Crayon stories.

Does it not seem a bit presumptuous then for the creature to shake his puny fist at the Creator and question who is and who isn't going to hell?

Because the idea of ceaseless torment confounds some of us, we dismiss hell.  Often, we dismiss God, too.  We either conform him to our image or reject him out of hand.


The heart of darkness



Then along comes Jared Lee Loughner, killing six and wounding nearly two-dozen, and we pull hell out of the junk drawer and dust it off.  Okay, maybe it's a good place for some, we muse.  Surely Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and their ilk are there.  Of course Tim McVeigh, the high-jacking Muslims of 9/11, and every other Muslim who straps on C4 to self-detonate have joined the eternal damnation club.

Our problem with hell is that we think a lot about it but know very little about it, the magnitude of our own sin, or the wonder of Almighty God.

Some truths for consideration.

• God's righteousness demands justice.  Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, and Nahum 1:3 all declare, and the rest of the Bible upholds, that he does not and will not leave the guilty unpunished.  It is the very nature of God within us that bristles when we hear of a criminal escaping justice through jurisprudent gymnastics.
• God in his mercy aches for his condemned creation.  Man rebelled against God.  Each one stands guilty before him of high treason (Romans 3:10-18).  Most of us just don't look that deeply into our own hearts.  Still, hear what God says, "The Lord ... is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).  Paul writes to Timothy and states that God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

Here we stand.  All mankind rebellious against their Creator.  It's our way.  It's in our DNA.  It's our nature.  The image of God in man (good) has been marred, soiled, stained.  Seems hopeless.  Not quite.

• God, in love, intervened on behalf of his creatures.  It's the most flashed verse in the Bible.  John 3:16. 
  "For God so loved the world..."  Really, that shouldn't surprise us.  He made us in the first place, the pinnacle of his creation. 
  "...that he gave his only Son..."  Jesus.  God took on flesh to become man.  He lived a perfect life.  No sin.  He took the punishment deserved by us (Isaiah 53:4-6, 10a). 
  "...that whosoever believes on him..."  This is just trusting that his death on the cross took care of every sin you ever committed or will commit. 
  "...will not perish but have everlasting life!"  Bought back from the maw of hell and adopted into God's family to enjoy eternal life and fellowship with him.

There it is.  None have to go to hell.  None.  "Whosoever believes!"  God in his righteousness justly condemned man for his sin.  God in his mercy took on flesh to provide the sacrifice that would forgive mankind of its debt to open the doorway to heaven and eternal fellowship with him.

So hear's the deal.  If we all stand condemned already, but God in his mercy has provided a way of escape, then why should any go to hell?  As already stated, they don't have to.  But God declares, "I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices" (Isaiah 65:2, see also Romans 10:21).

The only reason that remains for man to go to hell is that he has so chosen.  He prefers self and separation from God.  He prefers to go his own way rather than admit the putrescence of his sin and accept the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23).

A loving God died on the cross so none would have to go to hell.  The real puzzler is why so few would accept God's lavish mercy.

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."  ~ Jesus (Matthew 7:13-14)

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." ~ Jesus (John 14:6)

QotD: Confrontation

Here's a quote I saw posted from an old friend.  I know I would do well to heed those words both as one who confronts and as one who needs to be confronted.

USAF Academy Chapel

But will I confront a brother in Christ in love with the word of God?

Will I drop my defenses and listen when confronted by a brother in Christ whether he shows any grace or not?

A discipline sorely missing and poorly practiced in the Church today.

Truth demands confrontation; loving confrontation, but confrontation nevertheless. If our reflex action is always accommodation, regardless of the centrality of the truth involved, there is something wrong. Just as what we may call holiness without love is not God's kind of holiness, so also what we may call love without holiness, is not God's kind of love...A false spirit of accommodation is sweeping the world as well as the Church, including those who claim the label of evangelical.

Francis A. Schaeffer

QotD: Old books

"Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books.  But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old.  And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet.  A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it.  It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light...


"...It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between.  If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones."

C.S. Lewis
In his introduction to "On the Incarnation" by Athanasius

And the winner is...

According to Wikipedia, the top grossing movies worldwide in 2010 were:

1.  Toy Story 3
2.  Alice in Wonderland
3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1
4.  Inception
5.  Shrek Forever After
6.  Twilight Saga:  Eclipse
7.  Ironman 2
8.  Despicable Me
9.  How to Train Your Dragon
10.  Clash of the Titans

Here's the MPAA rating for each of those movies.

1.  Toy Story 3 - G
2.  Alice in Wonderland - PG-13
3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1 - PG-13
4.  Inception - PG-13
5.  Shrek Forever After - PG
6.  Twilight Saga:  Eclipse - PG-13
7.  Ironman 2 - PG-13
8.  Despicable Me - PG
9.  How to Train Your Dragon - PG
10.  Clash of the Titans - PG-13

First thing to note (and completely off the topic of this post), how did Toy Story 3 escape with a G-rating?!  Despite it being my favorite movie of the year, it is perhaps the darkest and scariest of the TS-Trilogy.  Perhaps a swap of ratings between TS-3 and Despicable Me.  Other than that, I can abide the ratings.

Second thing to note which will flow into the third note:  Four animated films.  Was a time when the animated fare was mediocre at best, just something to take your kids to to break up a monotonous month.  Not any more.  I think I enjoyed the three animated movies I saw, TS3, DM, and How to Train Your Dragon, more than my six- and eight-year old daughters, and would highly recommend all three.  Mature fair all in the classic sense of the word and not in the MPAA sense of the word (which has zilch to do with maturity).

Now to the meat.  Did you notice anything interesting about the Top 10 of 2010?  Not an R-rating to be seen.  Not an F-bomb dropped in the 24-hours of movies.  Not an exposed breast.  I've seen six of the top-10, and while I wouldn't recommend some of those for your pre-schoolers, each was a worthy night of movie watching.

Why does explicit sex, mostly of the extra-marital and non-standard variety, make a movie more arty (reference the Oscar contenders again this year)?  Why does profanity make a picture more profound?  I've watched HBO's outstanding work Band of Brothers three-times now through a TVG filter which removes the profanity.  I don't think I missed an iota of what Spielberg and Hanks intended for this saga.

I bring this up because I have heard great things about The King's Speech and 127 Hours.  Both have received acclaim in conservative circles, and both are laced with profanity.  But why?

Let's take The King's Speech as an example.  TKS is a movie about England's stuttering monarch, George VI, played by the superb Colin Firth (the outstanding Mr. Darcy in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice).  Why the profanity?  Meredith Whitmore on Focus on the Family's outstanding film review web-site, Plugged-In, explains.

This touching, masterfully acted and subtly comedic film could easily have been PG-rated, making its stirring message readily available for teens and families hungry for an inspiring life lesson devoted to clawing one's way past shortcomings and limitations. Instead, director Tom Hooper opted for a profanity-laden R rating. Several times Albert angrily blurts out long streams of curse words during speech therapy, since the only times he doesn't stutter are when he sings and when he swears.

Regarding the foul language and its resulting rating, star Colin Firth told The National Post, "This isn't a non-issue. I get that people don't want their small children hearing these strong words—I don't like them. … I don't want my kids thinking it's a good way to use language—language is more beautiful than that. It should be more thought about than that. It has more power than that. That's lazy and ugly—but that's not the case in this movie. [The foul language usage is] not vicious, it's not sexual, and it's not lazy—it's anything but. These are tools, these forbidden words have become momentary tools to get a guy to break out of extreme repression. Then he immediately gets rather sheepish and apologizes. There couldn't be a more harmless context. It doesn't teach your kids to sprinkle your language with these words or direct them against people. I would hate to deny kids in that age bracket, or discourage them from seeing a film which has so much to say to people that age."

Firth continues, "As far as the rest of public opinion is concerned, certainly in our industry, I'd be kicking in a door. Because everyone seems to be in harmony on the subject."

Were I to see the edited version on a plane or on TV, will the movie lack impact?  I doubt it.  The King's Speech, because of it's R-rating, will continue to earn lavish critical acclaim.  It will earn substantially less because millions of Americans would rather not subject themselves to the profanity-laced barrages that they have to endure in the workplace.  Same goes for 127 Hours.  Most R-rated films anymore aren't worth the assault on my soul.

So, a tip of the hat to America for a pretty reasonable Top-10 movies based upon overall sales.  Movies like those and the amazing films of yesterday that you'll find on Turner Classic Movies will be the ones that capture my imagination.

And my money.

NOTE:  A correction from a regular reader.  Apparently the f-bomb is detonated early on in Iron Man 2, the token one allowable to maintain PG-13.  Plugged-In noted that the f-bomb is "bleeped twice" during the movie in a scene where a television interview is being shown.