Passing the Baton

I began reading, "The Story of Christianity: Volume 1" today, and was particularly impacted by the following excerpt from the introduction.

Justo Gonzalez comments,
"There are episodes in the course of...history where it is difficult to see the action of the Holy Spirit...it will appear to many of us that the church has forsaken the biblical faith, and some will even doubt that such a church can be truly called "Christian." At such point in our narrative, it may be well to remember two things.

The first of these is that, while this narrative is the history of the deeds of the Spirit, it is the history of those deeds through sinners such as us...

The second is that it has been through those sinners and that church - and only through them - that the biblical message has come to us. Even in the darkest times of the life of the church there were those Christians who loved, studied, kept, and copied the Scriptures, and thus bequeathed them to us." (Page xvi, bold text mine)

I am very humbled at the reminder of the faithfulness of those who, shortcomings aside, so loved the Scriptures that they dedicated their life to passing it on to the next generation. During my brief, yet (and I don't say this arrogantly) significant life, I hope to be counted among those doing the "passing".

Night Light Reading

If you're in need of a good read-a-short-chapter-once-a-day-before-I-doze-off-to-sleep book, you've come to the right place. I have read this book three times, and it truly is a great read. It was originally published in 2004 as "The Passion of Jesus Christ", it was then re-published in 2006 under the title, "50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die". This book by John Piper is intellectually/spiritually stimulating regardless of how long you've been a Christian (or even if Christ means nothing to you).

Every chapter presents a reason why Christ came to die (...to absorb the wrath of God; ...to secure our resurrection from the dead; ...to show that the worst evil is meant by God for good), is only two pages long, and includes one or more scripture passages followed by an insightful commentary.

Here is an excerpt from chapter 28 entitled, "Christ suffered and died...to free us from the futility of our ancestry."

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"You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited form your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."

I Peter 1:18-19

Secular people in the West, and more primitive people in animistic tribes, have this in common: They believe in the power of ancestral bondage. They call it by different names. Animistic people may speak in terms of ancestral spirits and the transmission of curses. Secular people may speak of genetic influence or the wounding of abusive, codependent, emotionally distant parents. In both cases there is a sense of fatalism that we are bound to live with the curse or the wounds from our ancestry. The future seems futile and void of happiness....

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Is that Ok with You?

I'm a people watcher. At any social gathering, I enjoy just sitting back and processing it all. The subtle glances between husband and wife; the business man checking his Blackberry, again; the loner staring off into space; the extrovert hamming it up, much to the pleasure of his 'audience'; and, of course, the other 'people watchers' who, like me, are taking mental notes.

I love to analyze things, peoples, events, conversations - pretty much everything. I often will memorize important conversations, and play them over and over again in my head - trying to catch something I've missed. One thing I love to do is place people into their respective "I'm Ok - You're Ok" category. If you're not aware, "I'm Ok - You're Ok" was a very popular "self-help" book in the early 1970's, written by Dr. Thomas A. Harris.

I won't try to summarize the book here, but basically (and this is an over-simplification) there are four life positions/attitudes you may embrace.

1. I'm not Ok, You're Ok (low view of self, "high" view of others)

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2. I'm not Ok, You're not Ok (low view of self and others)

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3. I'm Ok, You're not Ok ("high" view of self, low view of others)

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4. I'm Ok, You're Ok ("high" view of self and others)

I don't share this with you because I agree with the prescriptions of Harris (I don't), I share it with you because I find his descriptions of people quite fascinating. I find these four categories very helpful in being more aware of what makes people tick. With a little thoughtful observation, I think we could understand those around us a lot more.

While, in many instances, categorizing the behavior of someone may seem a bit trivial, there are other times when it can be very important. We should train ourselves to notice the bizarre behavior of others. If someone blows their top over some minor detail (the straw that broke the camel's back), it ought first to move us to compassion and curiosity, not condemnation. In reality, their temper tantrum, off-color comment, or startling behavior may be a symptom of something deeper. It is the loving friend who notices, and (here's the kicker) does something about it.

Core

Several years ago, while at Bethany Camp, I met Dr. Charles Colton (senior pastor of the Panama Baptist Church in western New York State) and had the privilege of discussing the "sine qua non" of Christianity with him. Dr. Colton was very pleasant to dialogue with, and I enjoyed our discussion immensely. I recently had the opportunity to read Dr. Colton's book (published a year or so after our discussion), Core Christianity. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and, though I don't agree with Dr. Colton on every point, I highly recommend it.