Thanks for all the consideration and time and questions - kept me on my toes this week, and I'm eternally grateful. Or at least really appreciative this morning.
Ashley asked:
Okay, here's a potentially deep one for you: What about theology in Bob Dylan's songs? (He wrote Saved that Third Day sings on one of their praise CDs.)I should know more about this, but I don't - I've never been a big fan, and other than running across some of his "salvation" LPs when I was DJ'ing in the mid-80s, I don't have alot of first-hand knowledge. But I'll ask this in return, not necessarily of Ashley but of anyone: If we find truth in a body of work that's not "sacred", is it still truth? I think that's where Dylan and so many others come in - not necessarily orthodox, but honest and truthful and able to be used of God to share truth.
My Brazillian buddy Luis asked a couple: When you are reading four books, what makes you choose the one to read for the moment?
I'm a lazy reader - the reason I'm in four books at once is that I want to read but I don't want to get up to find that one particular book. Right now, I'm looking for something fiction-based - too much "this is how to be a good Christian" non-fic, but a good story or two will do the trick.
Now a question from a brazilian: I think baseball, football, basketball and hockey have all very strong leagues in US, how did you decide what league to follow and to choose a team to support?
Location, location, location. I grew up in South Carolina, where there are no real professional teams - so for me, college sports are alot more fun. The pro baseball Atlanta Braves was the closest team for a long time, so we're fans; and the Carolina Panthers of the NFL started in the 90s and we've been following them. But it's mostly where-do-you-live and maybe what-teams-do-your-parents-pull-for (that can have alot of influence, too).
Russell asked this thought-zinger, and I meant to hit on it yesterday: Does this verse (2 Sam 6:6-7) scare the sin out of you too? Don't you think Uzzah's heart was in the right place?
Location, location, location. I don't necessarily think Uzzah's "heart was in the right place" - but that he possibly had an unhealthy view of himself as the protector of the things of God. It looks like a pride issue - "this has been in our house, we've been blessed by having it, I've seen it everyday for months, and now it's my job to make sure it's protected from harm". This thinking ignores the holiness, negates the reverance - doesn't it? I'm not making excuses for God, because I think it was way harsh. But I think it lies within the bounds of His sovereignty, and that pride-issue is deadly in the first place... besides, at least his face didn't melt off like in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
2 Comments:
you're right - even in cincinnatti, there's no Reds or Bengals fans :)
Rick asked: "If we find truth in a body of work that's not "sacred", is it still truth? I think that's where Dylan and so many others come in - not necessarily orthodox, but honest and truthful and able to be used of God to share truth."
I believe this is the most important question confronting the church today. For so long, we've boxed truth into the Bible alone and, even more tragically, into our particular reading of the Bible.
Part of this stems from an anemic understanding of the Holy Spirit as God's redemptive agent in the world. The church should find herself partnering with the Spirit, looking for the edge of God's work, but we often painfully discover that we're simply sitting in place with no real movement forward.
My sense (and there are others who agree with this, of course) is that at this particular juncture in history, God is more at work outside the boundaries of what we would call "the church" than inside those boundaries. That doesn't mean good things aren't happening, just not as many. And it also belies a rather institutional and confining view of what actually constitutes the church.
Anyway, it's a good question...I think it is the defining missiological question of our times.
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