16 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Christianity, Personal, Theology
Tags
Relationships are, for me, complicated. It’s not a complication I retreat from…not as a bona fide extrovert. No, no…relationships are the lifeblood of my existence. I’d sooner do without air than friends. It’d be less painful. Continue reading »
13 Wednesday Mar 2013
Wesley Hill has written a great article over at the First Things blog. One of my favorite moments of the article is this:
This is what bothers me about what I hear from certain kinds of reparative therapies: offering hope to gay people seems to amount to a prediction of orientation change (assuming the correct regimen is followed). And whenever a Christian expresses doubt about the surety of that prediction, the response can often take the form of, ‘Well, you just don’t have enough faith.’ (Or as a licensed professional counselor, a Christian with a certain angle on reparative therapy, once said to me, ‘That sounds like depression.’)
Yeah…something like that. 
Check it out.
29 Saturday Dec 2012
Posted in Theology
Tags
experience, fear, final judgment, horror films, imago Dei, judgment, Phantom of the Opera, Reformed Theology, Scripture
And now, for something completely different…
Someone brought my attention to this video…I found it very interesting and wanted to make some brief comments on it.
So, I think something else could be added. Why exactly do people fear the aliens coming and exercising retribution for all the things we’ve done wrong?
The short answer is, that sort of judgment-scenario is evidence of the imago Dei; the stamp or image of our Creator. We understand “doing wrong,” even if we try to rationalize it away…and while we want other bad people to get what’s coming to them, we fear getting what’s coming to ourselves.
So really, scary movies are scary, at least in part, because we fear God’s judgment on some basement-level in our being.
Far-fetched? Thoughts?
PS: How does something like Phantom of the Opera work? It takes place in a city. Or does it? I mean, the basement of the opera house isn’t exactly an urban setting…maybe it’s the surrogate wilderness!
Lon Chaney, Sr., and Mary Philbin in the 1925 Phantom film. Yes, 1925–not the 1929 remake. I know my screenshots when I see them.
18 Tuesday Dec 2012
Dylan Thomas
This morning, as I study for my Hebrew exam, I was taking a short break and flipping through a book that a friend bought me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Dylan Thomas is one of his favorite poets and I think he’ll become one of mine before too much longer.
I must admit that poetry is a language which is, despite my being a composer, continually foreign to me. I’m much more at home in the language of the textbook or other prose; and yet, as a musician, poetry calls to me. This poem certainly did.
17 Monday Dec 2012
Posted in Christianity, Theology
Tags
My church had a lessons and carols service last night. What is that? you may ask.
Briefly, it’s a service that’s structured around readings from Old and New Testament passages which talk about the promise of a Savior. It’s something Presbyterian churches (and I’m sure other traditions as well) this time of year.
One of the readings that was done came from Revelation 22. I cried.
13 Thursday Dec 2012
Posted in Christianity, Personal, Theology
As in all things, I supposed, there was a great deal of frustration and heartache, coupled with joy and being overwhelmed with the goodness of God.
Regardless of my final grade in one class in particular, the professor was extremely kind to me and understanding when I was simply too overwhelmed to be of much good.
I lost a friend that I loved. He was 40. I lost a second friend who was only 31. I had the realization that I will probably have many years ahead of me where friends will die before me and then after me.
I found a job that I really like and people I really like to work with.
I’ve struggled to feel loved and to know God’s love for me apart from what I do for him. Like most guys, I struggle with knowing who I am apart from what I do. I don’t have all the answers, but I think I’m on the right track.
Come, Lord Jesus. Visit me this Advent.
12 Wednesday Dec 2012
Posted in Christianity, Personal, Politics, Theology
A new study from a researcher at the University of Tennessee suggests that homosexuality may be transmitted genetically, though there is no evidence for a single ‘gay gene:’ Homosexuality May Be Inherited (video and story).
Does this bother anyone?
11 Tuesday Dec 2012
Posted in Christianity, Personal, Politics, Theology
Tags
It’s finals time. My goal is to have all of them done by Thursday afternoon so that I can cook and clean for a house guest that will be here for the weekend, so after the end of the semester, I’ll have some new material up on the blog.
Also, I saw this article by Kevin DeYoung and wanted to pass it along.
But, in the meantime…
Yep.
16 Friday Nov 2012
Posted in Christianity, Personal, Theology
Tags
Christ, Sustainer and Redeemer of all that is:
I want no other rock to build upon than I have in You.
Forgive me if I have tried to add anything to the one foundation.
Forgive my hesitancy to carry out the good works You have given me to do.
Give me absolution through Your Word and by Your Spirit: tell me that my sins are so far removed from me that they have no power over me.
Grant that I would serve my friends and neighbors well, even in the midst of hope or despair, to the glory of Your Name.
Amen.
23 Tuesday Oct 2012
Posted in Theology
Tags
chastity, experience, Gospel, homosexuality, loneliness, relationships, sexuality, temptation, theology
Is Christian practice of chastity futile? Chastity is, culturally speaking, fairly peculiar as a life behavior. In the rare instances that one finds the broader, western/American culture endorsing chastity, it is for selfish reasons: “Wait to have sex until you’re ready. Find someone you love or at least find attractive.”
In generations previous to ours, there was a sense of shame from the community. “If I have a child out of wedlock, the neighbors will talk. I don’t want them to think I am a whore (or, if a man, a “cad,” perhaps).” This is no longer a concern for most people, having been replaced with a concern for personal pleasure.
