Writing Elsewhere

I recently had a piece posted on Prayers For Blowouts, entitled Kobe-Like Christianity.

Spurgeon on Understanding Scripture

From his sermon on Acts 8:26-40,

This was the question, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" Ah, my brothers, you and I have need to understand the Bible. I will suppose you read it—let me hope I am not mistaken; but when you read it, do labor, above all things, to understand it. The Book was written to be understood. It is a book which speaks to us about our lives (for the soul is the true life), and about the bliss eternal, and the way to win it. It must be so written as to be understood, since it were a mockery for God to give us a revelation which we could not comprehend. The Bible was meant to be understood, and it benefits us in proportion as we get at the meaning of it. The mere words of Scripture passing over the ear or before the eye, can do us little good. I heard a person say once, concerning a great doctrine which I hold to be very plainly taught in Scripture, that he had read the Bible through—I think he said six times—on his knees, but he could not find that doctrine. I replied, "Brother, that is an awkward position in which to read the Bible. I should have sat upon a chair, and studied the page in a natural and easy posture. Moreover, I should not have galloped through it at the rate at which you must have raced over the chapters. I should rather have read a little at a time, and tried to understand it."

"Understandest thou what thou readest?" that is the question. "I read a chapter every morning," says one. Quite right; keep that up, but "Understandest thou what thou readest?" "Well, I learn the daily text." Yes, but "Understandest thou what thou readest?" That is the main point. The butterflies flit over the garden, and nothing comes of their flitting; but look at the bees, how they dive into the bells of the flowers, and come forth with their thighs laden with the pollen, and their stomachs filled with sweetest honey for their hives. This is the way to read the Bible: get into the flowers of Scripture, plunge into the inward meaning, and suck out that secret sweetness which the Lord has put there for your spiritual nourishment. A thoughtful book needs and deserves thoughtful reading. If it has taken its author a long time to write it, and he has written it with much consideration, it is due to him that you give his work a careful perusal. If the thoughts of men deserve this, what shall I say of the supreme thoughts of God which he has written for us in this Book? Let us bend ourselves to the Book; let us ask for increased capacity, and let us use what capacity we already possess to reach the inmost soul of the Word of God, that we may understand it, and be fed thereby. The Bible can be understood, I do assure you. I will not say that any man here understands all of it. I do not believe there is any man alive that does. I could not myself believe in it if I could understand it all—for I should imagine that it came from my equal, and not from that supreme Master mind, whose thoughts must be above our thoughts, even as the heavens are above the earth. All that is right, all that is fundamental, all that is essential to our soul's eternal good, can be understood by the help of God if we desire to understand it. Digest the word, I pray you. Be prepared to answer this question, "Understandest thou what thou readest?"

Welcome Home, from a guest blogger

Now that the NBA Finals are finally over, we can turn our attention to more pressing NBA matters: Christian’s fan allegiance. After years of worship at the false idol of the Detroit Pistons, news from Milwaukee reveals that Christian has finally repented and joined the throng of followers for the Milwaukee Bucks. Certainly on paper this decision seems like a strange one, Detroit has 3 NBA titles (all coming in the last 20 years) while the Bucks have only one (well before Christian was born), the last decade has been one of statistical dominance (though not championships) by the Pistons, while the Bucks had two really good seasons, several mediocre years, and a few awful seasons.


So it may seem that this is not the best time to jump the Detroit bandwagon, but I want to argue otherwise. First, if you make the switch now no one will ever accuse you of being a front runner. I made the argument the last time the Pistons won the Finals, but sadly to no avail. Think of the emotional hardships you could of missed, collapse, after collapse, after collapse in the Eastern Conference Finals. Even if the ideal time has passed, the argument still works now. Second, the Pistons roster as you know it is about to be blown up. Again this decision is three years overdue, but few if any of your favorites will even be Pistons in two years. Third, the Bucks are about to be on the rise, just no one has realized it yet. This is really the best reason, and also sheds some light into what it means to be a Bucks fan. For my entire childhood, the Bucks were the second, third or fourth best team in the NBA (often behind the Lakers, Celtics and occasionally the 76ers). We had really good players, really good teams, but never the best players (Bird, Magic, Moses, etc…) In short we were the 00’s Pistons, but in the 80’s. Near the end of the 80’s we got old, drafted bad, and became mediocre. My favorite player growing up was Sidney Moncrief (check out his hops), but his knees slowly went, and we tried to replace him with the oft injured Jeff Grayer. None of this worked.


We went through like 10 coaches in 8 years, we drafted Todd Day, Marcus Haislip, got fleeced on draft day trades that still rank as some of the worst trades in the history of basketball (Tractor Traylor for Dirk? Two independent sources confirm my claim.) We haven’t really had a point guard since I could get into PG-13 movies without my parents. On the rare chance we have been able to select a hall of fame point guard (hear Jason Kidd, Chris Paul and maybe Derek Williams) we took Glenn Robinson and Andrew Bogut. Even when draft day trades have worked (remember Ray Allen for Stephon Marbury?) the team was so strangely constructed that we were really only able to make one good run at the title, only to lose to a team with a great point guard. We then traded the nucleus of that team, ran the coach out of town, gave up on the GM, and for as long as Christian has been married, we have gone back to being miserable. So why is now a good time to be joining the Bucks side? This run will turn. We have a good GM, a good coach and slowly but surely the Bucks will make a run. When that happens, you will be able to look back and say, “I was here when they were awful.” That will be a feeling which being a Piston’s fan your whole life could not have prepared you for. Welcome to the club, and stay tuned for my next post on how the Bucks can change there future in four easy steps (none of which includes signing Lebron James).

More Keller

From Timothy Keller, The Reason for God (Intermission),

"Which account of the world has the most 'explanatory power' to make sense of what we see in the world and ourselves? We have a sense that the world is not the way it ought to be. We have a sense that we are very flawed and yet very great. We have a longing for love and beauty that nothing in this world can fulfill. We have a deep need to know meaning and purpose. Which worldview best accounts for theses things?

Christians...believe that the Christian account of things- creation, fall, redemption, and restoration- makes the most sense out of the world...

If the God of the Bible exists, he is... the Playwright. That means we won't be able to find him like we would a passive object with the powers of empirical investigation. Rather, we must find the clues to his reality that he has written into the universe, including into us.

In the Christian view... the ultimate evidence for the existence of God is Jesus Christ himself. If there is a God, we characters in his play have to hope that he put some information about himself in the play. But Christians believe he did more than give us information. He wrote himself into the play as the main character in history, when Jesus was born in a manger and rose from the dead."

(Chapter Eight: The Clues of God)

"St. Augustine in his Confessions reasoned that... unfulfillable desires are clues to the reality of God. How so? Indeed... just because we feel the desire for a steak dinner doesn't mean we will get it. However, while the hunger doesn't prove that the particular meal desired will be procured, doesn't the appetite for food in us mean that food exists? Isn't it true that innate desires correspond to real objects that satisfy them, such as sexual desire (corresponding to sex), physical appetite (corresponding to food), tiredness (corresponding to sleep), and relational desires (corresponding to friendship)?

Doesn't the unfulfillable longing evoked by beauty qualify as an innate desire? We have a longing for joy, love and beauty that no amount or quality of food, sex, friendship, or success can satisfy. We want something that nothing in this world can fulfill. Isn't that at least a clue that this 'something' that we want exists? This unfulfillable longing, then, qualifies as a deep, innate human desire, and that makes it a major clue that God is there."

(Chapter Eleven: Religion and the Gospel)

"The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued and that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less. I don't need to notice myself- how I'm doing, how I'm being regarded- so often."

Keller Quotes

From Timothy Keller's The Reason for God (Chapter One: There Can't Be Just One True Religion),

"Christians believe that all human beings are made in the image of God, capable of goodness and wisdom. The Biblical doctrine of the universal image of God, therefore, leads Christians to expect non-believers will be better than any of their mistaken beliefs could make them. The Biblical doctrine of universal sinfulness also leads Christians to expect believers will be worse in practice than their orthodox beliefs should make them. So there will be plenty of ground for respectful cooperation.

Christianity not only leads its members to believe people of other faiths have goodness and wisdom to offer, it also leads them to expect that many will live lives morally superior to their own. Most people in our culture believe that, if there is a God, we can relate to him and go to heaven through leading a good life. Let's call this the "moral improvement" view. Christianity teaches the very opposite. In the Christian understanding, Jesus does not tell us how to live so we can merit salvation. Rather, he comes to forgive and save us through his life and death in our place. God's grace does not come to people who morally outperform others, but to those who admit their failure to perform and who acknowledge their need for a Savior.

Christians, then, should expect to find nonbelievers who are much nicer, kinder, wiser, and better than they are. Why? Christian believers are not accepted by God because of their moral performance, wisdom or virtue, but because of Christ's work on their behalf. Most religions and philosophies of life assume that one's spiritual status depends on your religious attainments. This naturally leads adherents to feel superior to those who don't believe and behave as they do. The Christian gospel, in any case, should not have that effect."

(Chapter Two: How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?)

"The Biblical view of things is resurrection- not a future that is just a consolation for the life we never had but a restoration of the life you always wanted."

"Everything sad sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having once been broken and lost."

(Chapter Three: Christianity is a Straitjacket)

"Christianity requires particular beliefs in order to be a member of its community. It is not open to all."

"The idea of a totally inclusive community is...an illusion. Every human community holds in common some beliefs that necessarily create boundaries, including some people and excluding others from its circle."

"...freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, the liberating restrictions. Those that fit with the reality of our nature and the world produce greater power and scope for our abilities and a deeper joy and fulfillment."

(Chapter Four: The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice)

"...the essence of Christianity is salvation by grace, salvation not because of what we do but because of what Christ has done for us[.] Belief that you are accepted by God by sheer grace is profoundly humbling. The people who are fanatics, then, are not so because they are too committed to the gospel but because they're not committed enough.

Think of people you consider fanatical. They're overbearing, self-righteous, opinionated, insensitive, and harsh. Why? It's not because they are too Christian but because they are not Christian enough."


"The typical criticisms by secular people about the oppressiveness and injustices of the Christian church actually came from Christianity's own resources for critique of itself. The shortcomings of the church can be understood historically as the imperfect adoption and practice of the principles of the Christian gospel."