Theolatte
Nothing goes better with a steaming latte than an engaging discussion about theology and philosophy. Sit down with your favorite caffeinated beverage and peruse the thoughts of a pseudo-intellectual.
Author Archive
Ode to Dog Vomit
June 30th, 2010
Proverbs teaches us that words fitly spoken are like apples of gold in settings of silver. I’m not sure how this beautiful categorization relates to the eleventh verse of Proverbs 26:
“As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”
(Proverbs 26:11)
Gold and silver are precious commodities used to commemorate achievements and celebrate relationships. They are of great worth.
In contrast, when we repeat our foolishness we are likened to a dog returning to its vomit. Nothing can turn my stomach more than the word “vomit.” It conjures up the worst of mental images, sounds and smells. Perhaps a more euphemistic term would be better. I guess a rose by any other name is still a rose.
The metaphor stops short because the idea is that a dog returns to its vomit to consume it. Sometimes I’m convinced the master Proverb collector was a youth pastor. This illustration has all the call signs of a youth camp sermon.
Disgusted? Then you get the point.
Don’t repeat your foolish mistakes.
Ask God for the grace to advance in your spiritual life.
Be wise. Avoid dog vomit.
Punctuated Intervention
June 28th, 2010
Why do bad things happen to good people?
This is a perennial philosophical question that requires answers from every person in every generation. It is often answered with hollow rhetoric from isolated and insulated academicians. There is little comfort in religious jargon when one encounters personal loss and grief. Like a toothache, there are few options for true relief. That’s why my friend Mike Calhoun’s book is an honest and helpful resource for following Christ in a fallen world: Where Was God When.
I’m honored to be a part of the “blog tour” related to the theme of this book. Here are a few thoughts of my own about the topic of why bad things happen to good people:
RULING
Let’s begin by acknowledging the fact that God rules sovereignly over the universe. It is his creation and there is nothing outside of his purview. As Creator, God is clearly all powerful and thus entirely able to cause or prevent anything He desires.
LOVING
God has revealed himself as loving in the narrative of Scripture. The Apostle John says it powerfully, “God is love.” The fact that God is sovereign and that he has revealed himself as loving create a perceived dilemma for many people. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, how can he allow evil? This leads us to a very brief analysis of the human condition.
UNRAVELING
The first two chapters of Genesis provide complementary accounts of the creation of the world. The third chapter shocks us with man’s rebellion against the Creator. Thus, the Garden of Eden spans a mere eighty verses in the Bible. An earthly utopia seems to have been a brief experience. Anyone longing for an existence free from troubles must either seek to go back to the garden or to have God’s Kingdom established on earth. Christ has promised to do the latter.
The three chapters of Genesis reveal that man’s sin has brought about the curse of physical death, spiritual disharmony, relational strife and environmental turmoil. God has promised redemption for the cursed earth that is unraveling to the cadence of God’s providence and for the purpose of his glory. It is in the wait for this redemption that our hearts are tempted to doubt God’s promises.
STUMBLING
Humanity seeks to navigate the increasingly chaotic landscape with a broken moral compass. The free decisions of a confused populace coupled with the natural disasters prone to a cursed cosmos make for a dangerous world. The people and the planet are longing for an existence free from perils and filled with pleasure. It is what we were created for. This leads us back to God.
LONGING
God has created us for himself. In him alone can we find safety and satisfaction. In this world we can know neither fully. We can taste and know that God is good, yet we still live in a fallen world and we long for more of him. When a person places their faith in Christ, God removes their sin guilt. However, he does not remove them from their sin prone flesh or immediately transport them out of a sin saturated society.
They will suffer from both. They will hurt. They will cry. They will long for more. They will long for God’s Kingdom to be established on earth as it is in Heaven. Their longing will one day be realized.
INTERVENING
The true danger for the heart of every believer is keep a biblical perspective of God in the midst of suffering. If we are not careful we will begin to think that God operates through a method of punctuated intervention. He chooses to intervene here or there, but he essential functions like the Deistic God of Thomas Jefferson. This is not the God of the Bible.
He is always active. He is always present. He is ever sovereign. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He sees the end from the beginning. In a way too high for us to understand, our temporary sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed for those who love Christ. This can be a hard pill to swallow in the midst of suffering, but it is the promise of God’s future plans for believers.
The cursed world will continue to unravel until the time of his promised return. Until that day we can find comfort in knowing Christ and believing he will one day right all wrongs. Bad things happen to all people, believers and unbelievers alike. Disasters result from human inventions and natural calamities. Both result from the fall. Christ alone is the hope for hurting people. While we may observe grief, all who long for his return will be surprised by joy.
Until then we will laugh and weep, but most of all we will long. May your heart be encouraged as you await for the return of the redeemer. Maranatha.
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If you enjoyed this post you might like my blog book “Rotten in Denmark“
On Being Human
June 22nd, 2010
The following is a poem by C.S. Lewis contrasting the experiences of angels and humans. Enjoy.
ON BEING HUMAN
By C.S. Lewis
Angelic minds, they say, by simple intelligence
Behold the Forms of nature. They discern
Unerringly the Archtypes, all the verities
Which mortals lack or indirectly learn.
Transparent in primordial truth, unvarying,
Pure Earthness and right Stonehood from their clear,
High eminence are seen; unveiled, the seminal
Huge Principles appear.
The Tree-ness of the tree they know-the meaning of
Arboreal life, how from earth’s salty lap
The solar beam uplifts it; all the holiness
Enacted by leaves’ fall and rising sap;
But never an angel knows the knife-edged severance
Of sun from shadow where the trees begin,
The blessed cool at every pore caressing us
-An angel has no skin.
They see the Form of Air; but mortals breathing it
Drink the whole summer down into the breast.
The lavish pinks, the field new-mown, the ravishing
Sea-smells, the wood-fire smoke that whispers Rest.
The tremor on the rippled pool of memory
That from each smell in widening circles goes,
The pleasure and the pang –can angels measure it?
An angel has no nose.
The nourishing of life, and how it flourishes
On death, and why, they utterly know; but not
The hill-born, earthy spring, the dark cold bilberries.
The ripe peach from the southern wall still hot
Full-bellied tankards foamy-topped, the delicate
Half-lyric lamb, a new loaf’s billowy curves,
Nor porridge, nor the tingling taste of oranges.
—An angel has no nerves.
Far richer they! I know the senses’ witchery
Guards us like air, from heavens too big to see;
Imminent death to man that barb’d sublimity
And dazzling edge of beauty unsheathed would be.
Yet here, within this tiny, charmed interior,
This parlour of the brain, their Maker shares
With living men some secrets in a privacy
Forever ours, not theirs.
Right Brain Theology
June 16th, 2010
You have selective hearing. At least that is what my mother told me as a child. Apparently this is an epidemic that afflicts a large percentage of the population. People often don’t hear what we tell them, or at least they don’t hear what we intend for them to hear.
Over the last few days I have found myself thinking a lot about the way people hear and process the gospel. I noticed a pattern as I worked through defining general categories through which people respond to information. This is far from scholarly research, but it is grounded in personal observation. The categories quickly began to fit into right brain vs. left brain domains.
People respond and resonate with information differently. I think the following contrasting categories illustrate this point:
SIMPLE – COMPLEX
ABSTRACT – CONCRETE
NARRATIVE – PROPOSITIONAL
I think that left brain thinkers resonate more with presentations that are complex, concrete and propositional. On the other hand, right brainers are more responsive to presentations that are simple, abstract and narrative.
This is a concept I plan on working out more in the future, but thought I would give you a glimpse into my right brained thinking process. More to come.
The Mere Gospel
June 15th, 2010
The gospel is beautiful in its simple and complex expressions.
Martin Luther referred to John 3:16 as the gospel in a nutshell. A simple declaration of this verse can provide something that a thorough exposition of Romans cannot do. Conversely, one must consult the entire canon of Scripture to capture the breadth of God’s redemptive work.
The gospel is simple enough for a child to comprehend, yet complex enough to offer a life-long challenge for the serious student of theology. It is beautiful as a simple summary such as 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, or as a comprehensive study of the doctrines of grace.
Both are true and both are necessary.
There is a reason John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress continues to be one of the best selling books of all time. This abstract representation of the gospel is truly powerful. I have been encouraged to treasure Christ through parables, poetry, hymns, and art. The gospel is beautiful in its abstract expressions.
One of my favorite required readings from seminary is Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. I have led college students through this book chapter by chapter, some of whom are now leading their own students through this wonderful resource. The gospel is beautiful in its concrete expressions.
The gospel is nothing less than the essential core expressed in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. However, the expression of the gospel is varied and it can be communicated through simple, complex, abstract and concrete ways. When such expressions are based on an orthodox understanding of the faith once for all delivered to the saints they are truly beautiful.
Not only is the gospel beautiful, according to the promise of Scripture, it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe; Of this we need not be ashamed.