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Can someone recommend a book for children (age 9-12) that seem keen on learning about the reasonableness of faith in God and the firm foundation laid therefor in his excellent word? This is the reason why.
To be honest, sometimes I wonder how practical a seminary education is. Will I graduate from seminary and be in the same situation that I was in when I graduated from college? College degrees are a dime a dozen, the same as graduating from high school nowadays. How practical is a Masters of Divinity from a seminary then? It depends on what you want to do when you graduate I guess. I want to be a full-time minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s my ambition. Seminary equips for that “vocation.” (Formal education will never be an adequate ends in itself. It can only feed the intellectually hungry to learn on their own. Formal education equips autodidactics. Seminary equips pneumadidactics and bibliodidactics.) Still though, I can’t help getting the feeling sometimes that what I’m learning is not very practical. Read my September post, A Plea for Multi-Learnedness, for an example: the lemon crisis that changed my life. I guess it really depends though on how you define “practical.”
Anyways, check out what happened today that gives seminary practicality. Sitting in church today for a children’s nativity presentation the young girl with whom I was sitting (aged 9) turns to me and asks, “Drew, do you believe in God?” Not something I was immediately expecting considering the farcical spectacle going on at the front of the church.
“I do, Martha. Do you believe in God?”
“No.” Blank stare.
“Well, why don’t you believe in God?”
“He ain’t done nuffink for me.”
“Are you breathing right now?”
“Not very well. I’ve got a cold at the moment.”
Haha. This was going to be fun. From here, she and I had a lovely conversation about the reliability of Scripture, the historicity of Jesus, the eyewitness accounts of Jesus contained in the Gospels, intelligent design, the teleological and cosmological arguments for God, the transmission of the Bible, the law of non-contradiction and persecution (she had been laughed at by the boys at her school for going to church). Of course, in talking about these things, I didn’t use all this hifalutin language, but these are the very subjects about which we spoke. She was intelligent, asking pointed questions about the the veracity and reliability of Scripture. Nine years-old mind you! I ended by sharing the gospel with her. Martha was for whom the gospel was meant. It’s not meant to be locked up in a bricked building in Wake Forest.
I get frustrated at seminary often. Will I have a “proper” job when I graduate? Is it even worth it? Do I even care about having a “proper” job? (I just want to provide for my wife and future family.) Is the stuff I’m learning practical? Today it was worth it: being able to share the firm foundation that has been laid for our faith in his excellent word that speaks of Jesus coming to rescue us. As Dr. Lanier reminded us in Greek this past summer “Do it for Jesus!” I add, “and do it for Martha.” Study for the nine year old that wonders about God and asks questions that most adults push out of mind. Jesus loves this little child and desires to have a relationship with her. That I can play a part in that gives me tears.
I don’t really use much cash any more, but it looks like saving your leftover change can really amount to something. A 70 year-old man bought a $25,000 Dodge Ram in quarters. Unfortunately, “no bank wants to take them.”
Someone told me that their church is a little controversial because they believe women should not serve in pastoral roles. Isn’t it supposed to be controversial when a church believes that women should serve in pastoral roles?
Salisbury Cathedral was, for me, a thin place. What is a thin place? This is a concept that I just learned of this evening at Emily’s (my wife’s) parents’ home fellowship Christmas party from a Newscastle medical student named Ellie. She asked if I had heard of whom the British refer to as Tom Wright (we Americans call him by his academic nom de plume, N. T. Wright). “Yep. He’s a bit of a controversial figure, isn’t he?” “Oh, he is? I’ve just heard his talk on the resurrection and thought it was fantastic.” The Bishop of Durham, however, wasn’t really our topic of conversation so much as he supplied the words for us to talk about Christian spirituality at certain locales, places which Ellie pointed out Wright refers to as “thin places.” Thin places are places at which the separation of earthly and spiritual is “thin.”
I was sharing with her how this past week I’ve visited Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral in the same afternoon. Some friends in American hyped up Stonehenge to me as a spiritual place where one encounters a certain amount of spiritual energy. Sorry to report that I found it rather unimpressive as a spiritual monument, but loved it nonetheless. Spiritual energy? Nope, just cold wind, runny nose, and tourists. After leaving the millenia-old enigmatic stones, we headed some ten miles south to Salisbury to see the towering spire of Salisbury Cathedral demonstrating its title as the tallest spire in the United Kingdom. This place was thin. Not to sound too dramatic but walking around inside I very nearly cried. Here stood an Ebenezer, a connexion through 750 years to the Medieval church. Our common connection: faith in Christ. This building placed my hand in the hand of the Medieval church. Me, a scrawny white American kid from West Virginia connected to the Christians of 13th century Wiltshire County England. It was too much. They loved Jesus. I love Jesus. The stones at Stonehenge, though impressive, diminish to a whisper at the sound of the glory of God sounding from the Gothic architecture of Salisbury.
[HT: Ellie, David Bole, Carmen Andres]
Hillsong London Christmas 2007 from Drew Maust on Vimeo.
Your love O Lord is like the oceans
Deeper than endless seas
Your faithfulness is like the mountains
And Your Word never fails
Glory to God
Let every heart sing
Glory to God
In the highest
Isn’t it true that we want an intelligent, “smart” president? In all the talk of Mitt Romney the Mormon, his run for the presidency, and religious test for office, I have not heard anyone mention the intellectual respectability of the man in that he’s Mormon. If a presidential candidate denies that we’ve been to the moon, that brings into question, in my mind, that man’s intellectual respectability. What do I mean by intellectual respectability? Maybe: how likely I am to look at someone and say, “That is an intelligent, learned man I want running the country.” Romney’s Mormonism calls into question his intellectual respectability. Does that make him a dumb fellow? Nope, I know smart Mormons and I know crass Christians (in fact, I’m one at times). But, that Romney knowingly and willfully accepts Mormonism, a heretical, extra-Christian faith, diminishes his intellectual respectability.
Now, saying this brings up a host of problems. First, for whom would I vote, if they be not Christian, for wouldn’t anyone not Christian similarly be considered to lack intellectual respectability for rejecting Christianity? Second, wouldn’t some consider me to lack intellectual respectability that I am a Christian? Third, simply because Romney’s a Mormon doesn’t make him unintelligent.
In response to the third question I would agree that that Romney is a Mormon does not make him unintelligent, but it decreases my respect for his intellect and moreover his fitness for presidency. Mormonism as a religion and Romney as an adherent are not the problem with his intellectual respectability, but what Mormonism teaches and denies, claims running against fact. So, that Romney would subscribe to such a religion casts doubt in my mind on the man’s ability intellectually to serve our nation. But, there are people that question the same of George W.
(Disclaimer: I don’t like politics. I don’t plan on talking a lot about the presidential race; others more intelligent and qualified do so. Look to them. This, however, is a thought I’ve had on my mind for a while and wanted to throw out there, hoping that someone would engage it).
With tons of cheap, imitative “Christian” clothing circulating around next to the Testamints, it’s a needle in a haystack to find Christian clothing worth sporting. Over the years I’ve bought two shirts and a bumper stick from OneTruth Clothing, onetruth.com. The Love shirt always gets people looking at the pierced hand. As a partnership with Seeds of Hope International (sohip.org), the Hope shirt to the right alludes to the hope that is found in Christ alone for the world, nonetheless Africa. 
After ten years merchandising, an email from Onetruth Clothing today says that they’ll be shutting down sometime in the new year. They’ve ordered a last batch of sweatshop free clothing as a last hurrah, and when it’s gone, they’re done. As a two-day Christmas sale, you can get 20% off anything on the new stuff page using the promo code dec2007. I won’t be ordering anything but if you’re not familiar with their stuff, you should give their page a gander before it’s too late. You never know, you might find a last minute present!