This NY Times article argues well why even as an owner of a Kindle and a smartphone, I’d still much rather prefer using my physical Bible rather than an electronic version any day of the week — especially on Sunday morning. In the article, Grossman puts forward the merits of the codex (i.e., physical book form) over e-readers. He isn’t oblivious to the clear advantage of e-reader portability, nor is he some sort of technological prude, but he points to the versatility of the codex that the e-reader has yet to match.
When my pastor asks us to turn to a passage of Scripture during the Sunday morning message, I still think I can flip to 2 Chronicles faster than someone using an iPhone or iPad can. Dare to challenge me? Perhaps it’s the exceptional speed of my nimble fingers or the 4-plus years of seminary education that’s seared the order of Bible books into my otherwise dull mind. Or maybe it’s my subconscious ability to anticipate the passage in advance, a keen prophetic foresight developed by my own fairly unspectacular preaching ministry. Either that or a simple glance at the Sunday program announcing the chapter and verse.
But I really don’t think it’s anything owing to myself. Instead, it’s all about the medium.
E-reader search functionality is clumsy. In the time it takes for you to type out the name of the book, switch over to the numeric keypad, insert the colons and dashes in all the right places (darn you symbols), and hit enter so your device of choice can process the search inquiry, the pastor has finished reading the passage and everyone’s been duly blessed. In the meantime, you’re unedified, cranky, and miserable. Even the scrolling ability of a touch interface doesn’t solve much when you’re dealing a 66-volume book, with multiple chapters in-between.
And call me old-fashioned, but does your svelte iPhone say “reverence” like towing a weighty Bible in hand? I think not — especially if you opt for a big leather-bound one with art-gilt page edges. By the way, cheap Trutone versions with the owner’s name embossed in tacky gold lettering don’t apply here.
All kidding aside, there are other clear pros with the traditional codex form of Bibles, and any kind of book for that matter. Having a sense of spatial progression (a little gray bar at the edge of the screen doesn’t do it for me), the ability to write, takes notes, and doodle (my Microsoft Paint skills aren’t up to par yet), and oh yes, the smell of the printed page are all deal-breakers in the end.
But then again, you probably won’t leave behind or misplace your iPhone/iPad/Kindle at church like I seem to do with my Bible on a monthly basis. Okay forget what I said, use whatever you want.
Filed under: Musings
Martin Luther was by no means happy, go-lucky. Frankly, he was depressing. I imagine his very company would put an immediate damper to an otherwise pleasant and carefree day; a medieval Debbie Downer (cue trombone). Luther’s experiences with acute mental and emotional distress are well-chronicled. He lived his life cowering in fear–fear of parental disapproval, superstitious fear of nature and the elements, and ultimately, the fear of God Himself. These three objects of consternation eventually united in one of the best known episodes of his early life: his entrance into the monastery. While walking in the middle of a torrential rainstorm, the ever compliant Luther went against his father’s wishes to pursue law because of a desperate fear of being washed away. Beaten down by the rain and tossed by the wind, he shouted out a monastic vow: “St Anne help me! I will become a monk!” Can you imagine the looks Luther would get when he recounted this story after being asked, “So how did God call you to become a man of the cloth?”
The walls of the cloister proved to be no refuge. Intent to fulfill his pledge and with the greatest strains of human effort, Luther made feeble attempts to conquer sin, his flesh, and the temptations of Satan. He tried (and failed) to purge this unremitting terror by means of constant confession, fasting, and even by self-inflicted, personal lashings. No matter what he did, he could not escape his fears. Despite the outward garments, Luther knew that God could see right through him. He was an unworthy and vile sinner, and divine retribution against the stains of his wickedness were inevitable.
Luther’s life was totally enveloped by this constant sense of foreboding. He described it as Anfechtung–a word that most deem virtually untranslatable, though some have attempted to by borrowing another piece of German vernacular: “a blitzkrieg against the soul.” Modern historians believe that Luther suffered from clinical depression. Johann von Staupitz, Luther’s beloved mentor, diagnosed his disciple to be addicted to his fear, the quenching of some perverse masochism.
In time and through Scripture, Luther realized that the holy anger of God against sin was only quelled and satisfied (the Bible says, “propitiated”) through the atoning death of Christ. Luther historian Roland Bainton articulates Luther’s epiphany: Christ too had Anfechtungen. Jesus drank whole the cup of God’s judgment, the righteous indignation of divine wrath. Utterly forsaken by the Father, He experienced the full penalty for our sins. In Christ, Luther at last found the antidote to the terrors of God: Jesus tasted every bit of righteous vengeance so that he wouldn’t have to. The fear of God could only be absolved by fleeing unto the Savior. Luther now finally saw that the LORD had removed the Anfechtungen in the judgment of His Son.
I admit that Luther’s dread seems extreme to my contemporary sensibilities. In my estimation, no one should live their life in such paranoia. It’s hazardous to one’s emotional and psychological health!
But then I think about biblical accounts of men being confronted with the absolute holiness of God, who is a “consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). Isaiah was undone at the sight of the heavenly throne and the King whose robe filled the temple with glory (Is. 6). The Israelites trembled in fear at the quaking of Mount Sinai (Ex. 19). Hauling in the biggest catch of his professional life, Peter fell down before the feet of Christ and cried, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). Scripture attests that God is rightly to be feared.
Have we domesticated God? Where is our fear of the Holy? Where is our reverence for the Almighty? Prayer is lethargic, worship is void of decorum, Christian talk is reduced to idle banter, acts of service are rendered in chronic apathy. Truly in Christ, God turns His face to us as a Friend. But lest we forget too quickly, the sweetness of His countenance was at one time the piercing scowl of a Foe. Would the Church languish in complacency if we were better acquainted with the terror Luther knew so well? May God be feared and Christ be praised!
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
I want to be satisfied and full IN CHRIST.
…outside of Scripture itself.
Subjective? Perhaps. After all, I am a pastor and this directly addresses my “trade”.
Unfounded exaggeration? Not exactly.
As one called by God in heaven, I am part of the universal Church (capital “C”). However, as a believer called to live out my faith on earth as a member of a local church (lowercase “c”), I can’t think of anything more significant for life in the body of Christ than what’s contained in these pages.
In short: It’s practical without being pragmatic. It’s provocative without being abrasive. It’s firm without being overbearing.
In particular focus is how the Gospel and God’s character confront and shape conventional views of church membership, notions of love and authority, and Christian community. I’ve had two months to work through it and mull over it and it is on that basis I can say it’s the most important book I’ve read, excepting the Bible.
Buy it. Read it. Talk to me about it. I’d love to know what you think!
I just got back from T4G yesterday. It was a wonderful time of learning, worship, and fellowship with the Berean staff. We got 20 free books, had opportunities to hear from some of God’s most gifted men in the church today, and the corporate time of worship was incredible. Hearing 7,000 men sing praises in unison to the Savior is priceless.
The best part about the conference was leaving it. Throughout the trip, we met so many other pastors and leaders at the conference who, like the Berean staff, returned home yesterday to church ministry. As far as I know, at the moment of this post’s writing, not a single one of those men are sitting where so many of us had been assembled earlier in the week. Why? Because they didn’t come to be “conference” Christians. They came to T4G to be reminded of their calling and subsequently left the conference to labor in the church. That is why I was so appreciative of this post from my friend and fellow co-laborer in the Gospel, Pastor Patrick Cho from Lighthouse Bible Church, San Diego.
I love conferences as much as the next guy. Resolved and T4G have been instrumental in bringing me times of refreshing and learning. With that being said, there’s work to be done and that work is taking place in the church, with real people, real problems, and real sins. Bringing selfishness into the church will impair our ability to faithfully labor and serve in the church. This explains in part the widespread immaturity that people have with respect to the local church.
Of course the church isn’t perfect. Duh, you’re in it.
So while in the church you may not be blown away by the teaching, may lament at the quality of worship, may gripe at the seemingly chaotic form of organizational structure, remember you’re surrounded by brothers and sisters “for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15). So learn to love the church, serve the body of Christ, and honor God by committing yourself to a group of people who aren’t exactly like you (and thank God they’re not).
I especially appreciated Mark Dever’s talk at T4G because it hit on this very topic of the church as a display of the Gospel. It filled me with longing to see Berean and other churches reflecting this truth and I’ve found it resonating within me all week precisely because it was a conference message designed to serve the church. Sure, we are not what we ought to be but what we could be by God’s grace is astounding. Though the sermon was directed to pastors, I believe all church members could benefit from it. I commend it to you.
I began a new small group this month with a group of collegians I’ve never regularly met with in a small group context. Though we’ve only just begun to meet, I have high hopes for how the Lord will use the group to help us in learning what it means to love Him more. We decided to spend this week emailing one another a list of things we are thankful for. I’m always encouraged when I read these short lists from other friends’ blogs. Gratitude is good and appropriate because God always provides over-abundantly. Here is a slightly revised form of my list.
1. My Wife. Plain and simple, I love Tina. She is the freaking bomb. She is my best friend, my most reliable and consistent source of prayer, and a darn good cook. Solomon wasn’t lying when he said, “An excellent wife is the crown of her husband” (Prov. 18:22). Brothers, find someone who is attractive, someone who is funny, but most importantly, find someone who loves the Lord and you’ll never regret it.
2. T4G. Thankful that I get to travel across the country and hear from such gifted and able men of God. I went to the last Together for the Gospel conference 2 years ago and it was a huge blessing. I had a chance to visit the Louisville Bat Factory (the day before the conference), chatted with Tim Challies as we waited in the registration line for attendees with a surname beginning with “Ch”, and bought Dr. Mohler a cup of coffee (grande, black). I’m not sure what’s waiting for me this time around but I’m grateful that I can go along with the staff too since we don’t spend as much time together as we’d like. The free books won’t hurt either!
3. College Group. I’m so grateful for the youthful exuberance, excitement, and teachability in our group. We have grown numerically and it has been tough at times to keep up with the changing dynamics but I can’t imagine a better situation for a young pastor such as myself. And best of all, I think we are still improving the ministry that God has set before us so I’m thankful for the potential for real fruit-bearing that I see among the collegians.
4. My Macbook. PC’s suck.
5. The 2010 MLB season. Most prefer basketball but baseball is my favorite sport because I was bred in it as a young child. Baseball cards, going to the stadium, playing softball, are all things that immediately bring me back to my childhood and I really do believe it’s one of the Lord’s evidences of common grace that He provides recreational games for our exercise and entertainment. Now the Angels need to start picking it up!
6. My Bible and the DA Carson reading plan. This is my first time going through the reading plan which usually consists of 2 OT passages and 2 NT passages. It’s been a good experience being exposed to so many different parts of Scripture simultaneously. I’m deepening in my appreciation for the scope of God’s redemptive plan and how it finds its apex in Christ. He is gracious indeed and always has been.
7. My small group. I’m excited for the new group and thankful that every week, I can find accountability and strength through our times of fellowship. Though we’ve only met a few times, I’m already thankful for how they are spurring me on to pray and to love God more.
8. My apartment. It’s really nice. We got awesome amenities even if we hardly use them! I even like the smallest details of our place like the tightly-knit carpet that minimizes dust (and the need for vacuuming). I’m sad I have to move next month but being able to live here for the past year is a product of God’s unmerited kindness to me.
9. Email. I hate talking on the phone and text messages don’t provide enough characters to communicate anything substantial. Proper use of email is a rare bastion of efficiency in the digital age.
10. Sanctification. God is changing me. I know I get in the way and slow the pace of progress far too often but I’m thankful that He’s staying patient and making me more like Jesus. The road to my growth unto Christ-likeness remains rocky at times but I know He’s pruning me in important ways. Praise the Spirit for His patience.
Filed under: Musings
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)
I’m finding it increasingly difficult to talk to people. I’m sure a lot of it is me. I’m not all that engaging and I need to express greater interest in people around me. But personal limitations aside, even the modest goal of small talk is hard to come by. Technology is not only making us stupid but it’s rendering us socially inept. We have A.D.D., languish in general apathy, and are far too immersed in our virtual worlds. Awkward silences and epileptic outbursts of laughter over nothing in particular define conversational dialogue. We’re lucky if we resist the persistent urge to dig the cellphone out from the crevices of our pockets long enough to sustain a conversation beyond the first minute. That being said, I think unplugging altogether might be too ambitious. Maybe it’s time to brush the dust off my old sign language textbooks. Speaking of, do deaf people ever have awkward conversations?
1) If in the last week, I’ve appeared to look at you condescendingly or stare you down with my small, not-so-beady eyes, it’s because my right eye keeps twitching and I’m trying to compensate for it. If you’ve seen this look from me prior to this past week, then you probably said or did something foolish.
2) I registered for Goodreads this past weekend and have begun perusing through the virtual shelves of others. Books are our friends and other people’s books offer opportunities to make more friends. Register and add me. By the way, if you’ve borrowed a book from me, I want it back. Now.
3) A lot of people are getting married and engaged. This is good because it shows that my friends are normal.
4) As my buddy Daniel Su would say, Philippians and Hebrews are “crazy”. I’ve been stirred up quite a bit to love the Savior more as a result of our times through these books on Sundays and weekdays. I am very thankful for all the reminders of God’s grace to me in Christ.
5) 24 needs to end. This season has been deplorable, save for one fairly unexpected twist in this week’s episode. Bauer Hour should be so much better than this.
“Don’t be a donkey,” is one of my friend’s favorite expressions. Apparently, the Prince of Preachers is fond of it as well.
“Everybody thinks himself a judge of a sermon, but nine out of ten might as well pretend to weigh the moon. I believe that, at bottom, most people think it an uncommonly easy thing to preach, and that they could do it amazingly well themselves. Every donkey thinks itself worthy to stand with the king’s horses.” —C.H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Practical Wisdom: Or Plain Advice for Plain People (Banner of Truth, 2009) p. 15.
(HT: Tony Reinke)
Tina has the best insights. She noticed the high frequency of the word “receive,” when reading through Scripture. God’s people are those who are called to do many things but the Bible itself places the greater emphasis on our need to receive His grace. The receiving of unmerited favor at the moment of salvation is the genesis of a lifelong experience of joyfully embracing the gifts of the Father.
It prompted me to do a quick search on Accordance and up popped over 300 hits of the word “receive,” and its cognates. Most of these are some variation of John 1:16 which says, “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”
Well in light of all the receiving we are doing, the natural question is, “What about giving?” Surely we are called to give back to God after all we have received in Christ! After all, Acts 20:35 says that, “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” When the word “give” is inputed as the search query, nearly 1600 instances of the verb are found.
But the results are not quite what one might expect.
Though there are texts mentioning our giving to God (see above), the majority of texts mentioning “giving,” are from the perspective of God giving to us: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21).
So then in giving and receiving, the Scriptures typically speak of the same general directing of God’s gifts to His children. However important it may be to give in offering to God, the predominant posture of the Christian spoken in the Bible is one of open hands, receiving the love, mercy, and blessings of a giving God.
