Thoughts on God and life from a Christian perspective
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I’m not into exercising. Yesterday my wife said, “Let’s walk around the block.” I said, “Why? We’re already here.”
– Comedian Wendell Potter
According to U.S News and World Report, the Obama administration is vetting the prayers offered by various religious leaders before President Obama’s appearances. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki says that this has “been standard since the campaign.”
In a departure from previous presidents, [Obama's] public rallies are opening with invocations that have been commissioned and vetted by the White House … Though invocations have long been commonplace at presidential inaugurations and certain events like graduations or religious services at which presidents are guests, the practice of commissioning and vetting prayers for presidential rallies is unprecedented in modern history.
Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, (who is against prayers being offered in State settings) said, “The only thing worse than having these prayers in the first place is to have them vetted, because it entangles the White House in core theological matters.” Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, comments:
I rarely find myself in agreement with Barry Lynn, but I am with him on this issue — at least with respect to his argument that this practice “entangles the White House in core theological matters.” Of course it does. When a White House approves or edits prayers, it has entered theological territory and takes on a theological function … The government has no authority and no proper role in the vetting of prayer. No Christian should allow any prayer to bear the label, “This prayer approved by the White House.”
What do you think about the practice of vetting prayers for government occasions?
Related posts:
Lenten Series:
1. What is Lent?
2. Should Christians Celebrate Lent?
3. Should I Give Something Up for Lent?
4. What is Ash Wednesday?
5. What is Maundy Thursday?
6. What is Good Friday?
7. What is Easter?
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. It is a day to focus on the holiness of God and our need for repentance from sin. In Biblical times it was common for the sinner to repent in sackcloth and ashes. Sackcloth was a symbol of humility before the Lord. The ashes are a reminder of man’s mortality. God pronounced his judgment upon man in the garden after he sinned — “You shall return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) Thus dust and ashes became a common element in public repentance. As Job said, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5-6)
The ashes on the forehead in the sign of the cross are a double reminder. The ashes remind us of our mortality due to sin. The sign of the cross is a reminder that forgiveness comes only through Jesus Christ and his death for us. It is important to remember that the ashes are only a symbol. They are meaningless apart from a genuinely repentant faith in Jesus Christ. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).
Lenten Series:
1. What is Lent?
2. Should Christians Celebrate Lent?
3. Should I Give Something Up for Lent?
4. What is Ash Wednesday?
5. What is Maundy Thursday?
6. What is Good Friday?
7. What is Easter?
Should Christians celebrate Lent? Some people think of Lent as a Catholic observance, but it is neither Catholic nor Protestant. Many non-Catholic churches celebrate Lent as well.
There is no specific command in the Bible to celebrate Lent or Ash Wednesday, but then there are no commands to celebrate Christmas, Good Friday or Easter either. These are simply special days which the church has set apart to remember certain aspects of our Lord’s life and to reflect on our proper response to him.
Although we do not observe Lent at our church, I don’t see any reason why Christians should not celebrate Lent if they so choose. It is just another way to remember our Lord Jesus and what he has done for us.
“One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5)
Lenten Series:
1. What is Lent?
2. Should Christians Celebrate Lent?
3. Should I Give Something Up for Lent?
4. What is Ash Wednesday?
5. What is Maundy Thursday?
6. What is Good Friday?
7. What is Easter?
The Lenten Season comprises forty days before Easter during which participating Christians prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The forty days are symbolic of Christ’s forty days in the wilderness in preparation for ministry. This is traditionally a time of repentance, thoughtful reflection, and often fasting. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.
If you look at the calendar, you will notice that there are actually forty-six days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The six Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter are not included as Lenten days. This is because Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day on which Christ rose from the dead. All Sundays are meant to be a celebration of the resurrection of Christ. By excluding the Sundays from Lent, Christians emphasize this often forgotten reason why we actually worship on Sundays. Every week we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection.
Someone recently asked me about Ash Wednesday and Lent at our church, so I thought it would be good to write up a brief series on the topic. Here are the proposed links to the series. I may add more as I go along. The links will become active as each article is published.
Lenten Series:
1. What is Lent?
2. Should Christians Celebrate Lent?
3. Should I Give Something Up for Lent?
4. What is Ash Wednesday?
5. What is Maundy Thursday?
6. What is Good Friday?
7. What is Easter?
Trackback: Fort Lauderdale Examiner: How can Protestant grandparents help grandchildren understand the Lenten season?
Don Carson is in the middle of a two-weekend seminar aimed at providing an overview of the Bible and the gospel message, especially for those not familiar with the Bible.
Learning to evangelize men and women who know nothing about the Bible and who are bringing their own “baggage” or “context” with them does not require a super intellect or a Ph.D. in biblical theology. What it requires is learning to get across a lot of things that we Christians simply presuppose.
There are quite a lot of ways of doing this. One of them is to focus on a variety of biblical texts drawn from across the entire Bible and work through them with people. One might begin with Genesis 1-2: “The God who makes everything.” Genesis 3 becomes “The God who does not wipe out rebels.” We keep working through the Old Testament and eventually arrive at the New, coming to topics like “The God who becomes a human being” (John 1:1-18). The wonderful atonement passage in Romans 3 covers “The God who declares the guilty just.” Gradually the Bible becomes a coherent book. It establishes its own framework; it is the context in which alone Jesus, the real Jesus, makes sense.
This is similar to the method that New Tribes Mission uses with unreached tribes that have no Biblical framework to understand Christ, sort of a Biblical-theological approach to missions. (See post here on The Taliabo Story.) Here is Carson’s complete 16-point overview tracing the storyline of Scripture:
1. The God who made everything
2. The God who does not wipe out rebels
3. The God who writes his own agreements
4. The God who legislates
5. The God who reigns
6. The God who makes his people sing
7. The God who is unfathomably wise
8. The God who is coming
9. The God who becomes a human being
10. The God who grants new birth
11. The God who loves
12. The God who dies–and lives
13. The God who declares the guilty just
14. The God who gathers and transforms his people
15. The God who is very angry
16. The God who triumphs
Related post: The Taliabo Story
This is a good cartoon.
Here is a great feel-good story out of Milwaukee:
Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night’s game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.
He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin’s name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn’t expect him to be there.
Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.
The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.
“I gathered my kids and said, ‘Who wants to take these free throws?’” Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, ‘You realize you’re going to miss, right?’ He nodded his head.”
McNeal, a senior point guard, went to the line. The Milwaukee Madison players stayed by their bench, waiting for the free throws. Instead of seeing the ball go through the net, they saw the ball on the court, rolling over the end line.
“I turned around and saw the ref pick up the ball and hand it back to the player,” Womack said in the Journal Sentinel. “And then [McNeal] did the same thing again.”
Said Rohlman: “Darius set up for a regular free throw, but he only shot it two or three feet in front of him. It bounced once or twice and just rolled past the basket.”
“I did it for the guy who lost his mom,” McNeal told the newspaper. “It was the right thing to do.”
Update: Here is the video report (length: 6:24).
Click here for more Sports related posts.
Yesterday in church we viewed one of my all time favorite mission videos: The Taliabo Story. The Taliabo Story tells the story of how God used two New Tribes Mission families to bring the gospel to an unreached people group in Indonesia.
Stephen & Mary Lonetti and Darryl & Kyla Palmer went to live with the Taliabo people in order to share Christ with them. After four years of learning the Taliabo language and culture, they began to share with them the “great story,” beginning with God and creation in Genesis.
Working chronologically forward through the Old Testament, they taught them key concepts about God, man, sin, death, judgment, mercy, and grace. All of this was in preparation to teach them about Christ. After six months of teaching, they were finally ready to share with them about Christ’s death and resurrection. You will just have to watch the video to see what happened then!
Do you have a favorite missions video? Share about it in the comments. (You can purchase The Taliabo Story on DVD here: The Taliabo Story DVD. It is also available on VHS at the closeout price of $3.50: The Taliabo Story VHS.)
Click here for more Missions related posts.
Related post: Don Carson’s Overview of the Bible
Oh, that would be me. One of these days, I will enjoy a simple, pain-free process in upgrading my blog. Today is not that day. Oh well, until I get it all figured out, I apologize for the strange layout problems you may be viewing (wide-stretched theme, misplaced sidebar, double photo in header, etc). Unfortunately, I have neither the time nor energy to fix it right now.
Update: I have temporarily switched over to the WordPress Default theme until I can get things fixed on my regular theme. The default theme does not display the links to the pages, so here they are if you are looking for them.
Blog Pages:
Archives / Profile / Resources / Sermons / Stats / Top Posts / Writings
Update 2: Fixed. It turns out there was a bug with K2 RC7 and WordPress 7.1. Here is the link if anyone has the same problem: WordPress 2.7.1 and K2 1.0-RC7 I just uploaded the new info.php file, and everything worked fine again.
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