February 27, 2006 by iMonk
BHT Fellow leif rigney abandons the name “Christian,” but holds onto the faith once delivered.
One of my finest friendships is with OBI graduate, former OBI teacher, former member of the church where I preach, current English professor and BHT fellow lief (eric) rigney. He’s a top ten friend who I was always honored to share my pulpit with during the years we worked together.
leif grew up in Baptist revivalism and endured six years of Baptist boarding school, so he knows the side of evangelicalism that produced the Internet Monk. For the first two years of the Internet Monk site, he was a co-author, writing some of the best pieces to appear in these spaces. His defenses of Harry Potter and Cussin’ are still popular essays. [Continue reading]
February 25, 2006 by iMonk
Are evangelicals blind to the obvious faults of the Apostle Paul….and, consequently, to many of their own?
I’m reading Charles Freeman’s book “The Closing of the Western Mind.” It’s not exactly an unbiased presentation of Christianity, though Freeman’s thesis that established Christianity squelched the rational tradition of the Greeks is interesting and worth discussing. His early chapters on the source figures of Christianity, however, are another matter. The chapter on Jesus is, well, atrocious, but the chapter on Paul gave me a thought.
As one who seems uninvested in any kind of “pro-Christian” view of Paul, Freeman writes what I believe any number of intelligent people would write if they studied the New Testament without Christian assumptions that the documents being read were “the Word of God.” [Continue reading]
February 23, 2006 by iMonk
I just finished reading the current edition of the Highland Study Center’s monthly publication, Every Thought Captive, with the theme “Revolt Against Maturity.” It’s a good issue, and it will eventually be on the net, but not yet. Several of the articles, such as “Theologians in Diapers,” are excellent, and I would welcome access to them when available.
The general critique of the HSC authors is one that is being marshalled all across the God-blogosphere these days: men in our culture are immature, and are postponing maturity while embracing adolescence. They are addicted to juvenile ideas, activities and behavior. They engage in the pursuits of children long after they should be married and embracing adulthood. It is the avoidance of marriage and responsible maturity in the support and nurture of Christian families that is at the root of much of the culture’s invasion of the church. [Continue reading]
February 16, 2006 by iMonk
I am speaking at an emerging worship service this weekend. I’m pretty excited. I figured out the other day that in the last 15 years, I have spoken to the same audience (different people) over 2,000 times. So any opportunity to speak to a new audience is exciting for me.
In preparing, I try to develop original illustrations. This is difficult work because I am not particularly imaginative or creative, even when I want to be and have the freedom to try out new ways of presenting the Gospel.
So here is something of what I am going to use in my talk Sunday night. It’s a good bit of the first part of the message (which is actually going to be a talk on “Love and Sacrifice.”) [Continue reading]
February 14, 2006 by iMonk
Andrew Jones- a.k.a. the Tall Skinny Kiwi- is a missionary spokesmen to and for the global emerging church. Andrew wouldn’t like me saying this, but I see him as an apostle for the movement and the absolutely must-hear voice to understand the emerging church.
He is the type of emerging church leader our Truly Reformed ™ watchblogs won’t listen to and chose to ignore when they base their continuing portrait of the EC on straw men and ignorance. Listening to Andrew is an education, and I recommend him to everyone who reads IM, particularly those of you in the reformed camp who suspect that the continuing “analysis” of the EC you are hearing is woefully one-sided. [Continue reading]
February 11, 2006 by iMonk
Some of my BHT posts have me in the usual trouble I get in around Valentine’s Day. Here are a few thoughts that might clarify things….or make them worse. Try to remain calm.
As best I can tell, romance is our poor imitation version of the love of God that is ours in the Gospel; a kind of minor league salvation story for people who need to be “saved” from being alone and unloved. What the love of God in the Final Word, Jesus the messiah and mediator, is for us infinitely and perfect, romance imitates and celebrates imperfectly, and often, tragically.
I have four primary experiences of romance that dominate my own consideration of the topic. [Continue reading]
February 8, 2006 by iMonk
UPDATE II: Gene Bridges addresses the issue of the universal church, and reprints Dagg on that subject. (J.L. Dagg was Southern Baptists’ first writing theologian.)
UPDATE: Tom Ascol adds some more historical material that further demonstrates Baptists have never rejected Baptism on the basis on Arminianism. More from Ascol here: The Philadelphia Association accepted Free-will baptism. [Continue reading]
February 8, 2006 by iMonk
We like the creeds….except for the catholic parts.
“I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints…” -The Apostle’s Creed
“And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins;… Amen.” – The Nicene Creed
I’ve been in probably 3000+ Baptist led worship services. With the exception of seminary and two years that I was on staff at Highland Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, I have almost never been in a Baptist church service or class where we used the Apostle’s or Nicene Creeds for any reason. (OK…the Founder’s Conference. You guys get some love.)
That’s because we knew they were trouble. And I know why. Let’s journey back to my youth among the Landmark version of Southern Baptists, a common variety in Kentucky in the 50’s and beyond, even to this day. [Continue reading]
February 7, 2006 by iMonk
UPDATE: Jason Boyett’s “Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse” is a great book for anyone interested in the basics of evangelical apocalyptic eschatology.
Advocates of the rapture make much of the texts in Luke and Matthew that speak of “one taken, one left.”
Luke 17:34-35 34 I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding together. One will be taken and the other left.”
When discussing texts that supposedly teach the secret rapture, it is important to have the advocate of this belief answer several questions. [Continue reading]
February 3, 2006 by iMonk
The series to this point:
Whatâ??????s Wrong With The Sermon?: It’s Too Long.
Whatâ??????s Wrong With The Sermon? II: It’s Boring.
Whatâ??????s Wrong With The Sermon? III: “I don’t understand it.”
Whatâ??????s Wrong With The Sermon? IV: “It isn’t practical.”
While an appreciation of stories is essential to understand and communicate the Bible, Biblical preaching should use stories to illustrate, not dominate, the sermon.
“We are constantly assured that churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine–’dull dogma,’ as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man–the dogma is the drama.” -Dorothy Sayer
Good preaching uses good stories. This is unarguable from several perspectives. [Continue reading]
February 1, 2006 by iMonk
For the past year, I’ve been reading N.T. Wright more than any other author. His “big books” have been mountains that I was determined to climb carefully and thoroughly. Today I finished what easily goes to the top of my list of books that have impacted my life, my ministry, my faith and my understanding of the Bible: Wright’s Jesus and the Victory of God, the second book in his Christian Origins and the Question of God series. [Continue reading]
