September 29, 2007 by iMonk
Featuring cuts from “Ghosts and Spirits,” the new project from Phil Woodward. This CD is a musical adaptation of C.S.Lewis’s The Great Divorce.
Lectionary preaching podcasts, Goings on around IM this week, “Modesty” in I Timothy.
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September 27, 2007 by iMonk
“Lessons from Mere Christianity 4″ The fourth podcast examining Lewis’s apologetic approach in this classic book. I discuss Lewis’s way of talking about Jesus.
Coffee Cup Apologetics now has its own website: ccapologetics.wordpress.com
All the episodes of Coffee Cup Apologetics are now on iTunes. Go to iTunes and search for “Apologetics.”
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September 27, 2007 by iMonk
I’m absolutely enthused over two sermon podcasts I’ve been listening to for several weeks. Both are examples of Anglican/Episcopal Churches that are standing for historic orthodoxy, but also embodying the Gospel in relevant, lively, ground-level Christian communities. I want to recommend these podcasts for all my listeners. Both are simple outstanding, and both are lectionary preachers who take care of business in less than half an hour. What’s not to like?
One warning. This isn’t verse by verse exposition. This is preaching the Gospel lessons in the lectionary. Lots of application and encouragement to take the message and live it. LIVE IT!
First is Saint Peter’s Anglican Church in Tallahassee, Florida. A variety of preachers appear on the podcasts, but I’m especially impressed with Fr. Eric Dudley. Check out his current sermon on “The Street Smart Christian.” (If you are in the Tallahassee area, this is a great church. Check it out. I’m miserable that I can’t get there.)
The other is Trinity Church in Greenwich, CT. This is the church pastored by Ian Morgan Cron, author of “Chasing Francis.” What a fine preacher! So real and honest, and such outstanding wrestling with the application of the text to one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S. Listen to the current sermon “The Parable of the Unjust Steward.” I want to be this honest. I can’t forget this one and neither will you.
These aren’t high profile preachers, but you are really going to be glad you added them to your weekly podcast listening.
September 27, 2007 by iMonk
Somewhere in the backlogs of this web site I recounted what it was like being on staff at a church full of seminary students. Everyone knew so much that we had real difficulty doing anything- like buying stamps- without endless debate.
Of course, there were advantages to having a lot of smart people in the church. Our liturgy was far ahead of most churches, so on an intellectual and aesthetic level, it was a thing of beauty. We never had problems getting Sunday School teachers. We had problems getting our Sunday School teachers to not use too much Hebrew grammar. And, of course, because we were a rather intelligent bunch, we enjoyed the blessing of not being ignorant.
I’m quite serious. It’s not a good thing to be ignorant, and Christians shouldn’t hold up ignorance itself as any sort as a virtue. As much trouble as it was, I was glad there was always someone around to remind us that economic decisions had connections and repercussions in the real world. I was glad we were made sensitive to racism, sexism, discrimination against the disabled and so forth. I was even glad when some homosexual Christians came by to talk with the pastoral staff about their concerns. They didn’t get what they wanted from us, but it was a conversation that I wasn’t ashamed to participate in. [Continue reading]
September 26, 2007 by iMonk
“What Belongs to All of Us” is exactly what it says.
Colossians 1:12 …giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Comments: The work of the Father is the focus of this passage. Paul invites all Christians to worship the Father for what he has done for his family. He has taken the orphans and offscourings of the universe, the disenfranchised, the no-names and the worthless, taken them and qualified them for the inheritance of the saints, God’s holy ones who live in God’s light. An inheritance is always received, in this case from the same Father, and indisputably belonging to all of his children. With his name and his son’s blood on the paperwork, no accuser or enemy can take away this inheritance.
The motif changes, now to deliverance. Here is a Father whose children are captured and held prisoner in a dungeon of darkness. But this Father does not forget them. In their darkness and chains, all men may forget them, but God does not. They may be humiliated, but he is the lifter of their head. He comes and delivers the slave and the captive in free grace. He sets the prisoner free. The Father sends a rescue force captained by the Lord Jesus Christ into the darkness of a spiritual Mordor and delivers us from the forces of spiritual darkness and sin’s captivity.
Now all of those loved, adopted and rescued by the Father are transferred into a new Kingdom. Their chains are replaced with freedom. The Son of God is more than a liberator; he is a King who reigns over the Kingdom of his love. This is the Kingdom of light, the home of the saints made complete in Jesus’ liberation and love. We are triumphantly brought into this new Kingdom, with all the rights and privileges of citizens and sons/daughters. As the children of the Father, gifts and trophies of his Son, Jesus, we have seats of honor at his table.
No matter how we are treated in the Kingdoms and prisons of this world, the Kingdom of the Son is our true home. Our names may be despised and forgotten, but they are known to our Father and our King. He never forgets our faces. We are always before him. In Jesus we have redemption from slavery and forgiveness of the sins that gave the evil one right and power over us in the first place. Our identity, our inheritance and our deliverance are all sure in Jesus.
This belongs, completely, to all of us who trust in Jesus to save.
Prayer: Father, your salvation is a great salvation. It is never just one thing, but reveals itself eternally as gift within gift within gift. I worship you that you would give me a single thought, and kneel in praise and worshipful prayer for the abundance of blessings revealed in your salvation. I especially praise you for the sure and certain promise that this story of redemption, adoption, rescue, delieverance and forgiveness becomes the story of all those who belong to Jesus. He has given to us this salvation by giving us himself. It is all him, and he is ours in his fullness. As he is beloved by you, so we are loved in him, secure in him, forever yours in him. So in Jesus I pray.
September 25, 2007 by iMonk
UPDATE II: Ok. Plunge on ahead.
UPDATE: A number of memorable comments have appeared today, but none more entertaining than this one.
Really, it would be best to stop blogging. It’s the end of the road. Decision time. Carl’s devastating “fisk” has caused an eruption of cognitive dissonance. Deep down, you know the truth, but it’s too painful for you to act on, entrenched as you are. From this point on, for you it’s “Become Catholic or dissolve.”
Dissolve? What the…..
Carl Olson’s fisking of me today did something to me. It’s hard to describe exactly what, but I’m going to try. (And let me be sure to say that Olson’s piece was not a personal attack on me or offensive. He’s more than welcome to state his faith and use my post as fodder.) [Continue reading]
September 25, 2007 by iMonk
Isaiah 40:25 To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power [Continue reading]
September 24, 2007 by iMonk
These posts will celebrate the Bible’s descriptions of what belongs to ALL Christians. Christian unity cannot be found in continually debating our differences, but in acknowledging what we all possess through union with Jesus Christ.
Galatians. 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave* nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
September 22, 2007 by iMonk
UPDATE: Carl Olson fisks this post. Just in case anyone missed it, I’m not trying to talk you people out of your Catholicism or tell you I’m glad I’m not a Catholic. James White’s blog is elsewhere. Comments are closed on this post. Mr. Olson can provide you the space to discuss this one, and I will not publish comments that appear on other IM posts.
I realize I send out some fairly confusing signals on the subject of Roman Catholicism. I hope this post, and one to follow, will provide some clarity and material for further discussion and exchanges.
1. On a scale of 1-10, ten being conversion to the RCC and 1 being fundamentalist opposition to the RCC as the Great Harlot of Babylon, where are you.
Hmmmm. This is interesting. I’ll never convert to the RCC for any reason I can currently anticipate, and I’ll always consider believers in Jesus who are part of the RCC to be my brothers and sisters in Christ. My post-evangelicalism is a recovery of much that I appreciate and affirm in Catholic spirituality and tradition. I read a lot of Catholic Biblical scholars, Thomas Merton is an important life mentor and I go on retreats at Catholic facilities. But……..I have some fairly profound differences on classic Catholic/Protestant issues, especially regarding authority, the sacraments and ecclesiology. Minus infant baptism and episcopacy, I’d probably be a pretty good Anglican. So let’s say “7,” but leaning- permanently- to the Protestant side. (By the way, I’d put my current church at about 8 
2. What’s your issue with church authority? [Continue reading]
September 21, 2007 by iMonk
Be sure and read the original post first. As always, endless gratitude to Robert Capon.
1. The Biblical worldview is one of sacramental reality. The glory of God and his Son fill the universe. The purpose of creation is sacramental. Matter is fully capable of mediating the glory of God in whatever way God determines. Psalm 19:1-6 is true: Day to day pours forth speech.
2. The sacramental view of reality has the effect of making all things holy. Christ comes to us in the poor and suffering. God is with us in depths of the Sheol experience. There is no place where his Spirit does not find us. There is no “secular” world to the person whose eyes and heart are opened by the Spirit. The universe is God’s cathedral. To one who is holy, all things are holy. [Continue reading]
September 21, 2007 by iMonk
Sabbath and Tithing in Leviticius, Hebrews mp3, Jesus and the demonic realm, speaking schedule. (This is a reload of 71 for iTunes.)
Internet Monk Radio is on iTunes Podcasts for free. Search for Monk. I’ll appear right under monkeys.
The Internet Monk Radio Podcast is brought to you by The Theology Program.
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September 20, 2007 by iMonk
Many of the books I review here at IM are books that are either sent to me by publishers or recommended by friends I respect. In the case of Daniel Taylor’s The Myth of Certainty, I found the book on my own, and quickly fell in love with every single page. I can’t think of a book in my library where I am more enthused over every sentence. If you’ve found this web site and my writing to be speaking your language and describing your experience, get this book.
Taylor is an English teacher at a Christian college and is known for his books on the value of stories. Taylor is also the voice of what he calls the “Reflective Christian” who finds him or herself somewhere between the certainties of Christians and the certainties of secularists. Taylor analyzes both sides of the certainty game, and encourages the thinking, thoughtful, often isolated believer in his or her journey. [Continue reading]
September 20, 2007 by iMonk
“Lessons from Mere Christianity 3″ The third podcast examining Lewis’s apologetic approach in this classic book. I discuss Lewis’s introduction of Satan into his apologetic.
Coffee Cup Apologetics now has its own website: ccapologetics.wordpress.com
All the episodes of Coffee Cup Apologetics are now on iTunes. Go to iTunes and search for “Apologetics.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
September 19, 2007 by iMonk
Answering the question “Where can you get your Jesus?” is very important.
Many of the divisions among Christians are actually a commentary on the relationship of the person of Jesus to various means of “accessing” or “localizing” Jesus. In other words, the question “Where is Jesus?” is an extremely important question and the claim to have a certain answer to the question is a matter around which Christians legitimately unite or divide.
On several occasions, Jesus said “I will be with you.” For instance, in Matthew 28, Jesus says “..And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” In Matthew 18, Jesus says “…For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” In John 15, in proximity to passages that speak of Jesus going away and sending the Holy Spirit as the “Helper,” Jesus tells his disciples repeatedly to “abide in him” in order that they bear real “fruit.” To abide or remain in Christ implies that Jesus is present. Jesus also spoke of himself as present in those to whom we minister, particularly the poor and the suffering.
How is Jesus, who left the world, present with us in it now? Is this presence of Christ connected to some “means” of accessing the reality of Christ, or is Jesus accessible to all Christians? Is the promise of Jesus to be “with” us tied to a church, or to the eucharist or a person? How localized, incarnated and mediated is Jesus in a particular local and physical reality? [Continue reading]
September 18, 2007 by iMonk
Or think for a moment about the Beelzebul controversy in Mark 3. Jesus is accused of being in league with Satan. Now notice how Jesus responds to this charge. He doesn’t say, “I couldn’t do otherwise, because God foreordained me to do this, whether in league with Satan or on my own.” No, Jesus calls it blasphemy! To attribute the work of God to the work of the Devil is ‘blaspheming the Holy Spirit’ who only does good always. Now the corollary of this is also true. To attribute the work of the Devil to the work of God is also blasphemy. Careful Rev. Piper, you might being falling under this warning Jesus gave here to his interlocutors.
Read the entire post at Witherington’s web site, and prepare for the response.
Witherington’s point about ignoring secondary causes and attributing the work of the devil to God is exactly what certain other theologians were saying….and that brought forth the charge of committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. As I said then, it’s a common objection, and certainly has been part of the Wesleyan tradition of rejecting some views of God’s involvement in tragedy for a long time.
But this cannot be said of Rev. Piper, I am afraid. He’s just guilty of having an unBiblical view of God, that ironically is closer to the fatalistic one found in the Koran, than the Biblical one found in the New Testament.
Time for another round.
