5pointers

from the Reformation 21 article on Domestication of Radical Ideas.

…in all of the effort to free the Bible from domesticated categories, it is sometimes forgotten that the taming of Christianity is not limited to the biblical text. For example, once theological education became competitive big business, the marketing of it turned into something well beyond the simple description to prospective students of what goes on at a seminary or a college. There is a complex relationship between traditional curricula, the demands of the church, the expectations of the students, and the ability of the marketplace itself not simply to satisfy needs but also to create needs and open up new markets. The implications of theology as commodity have not yet been self-consciously addressed by educational institutions; and, given the nature of the free market as something of a sacred cow in current Western thinking, such questions are unlikely to be pressed in the foreseeable future.

(HT: JT)

(Can you tell I’m up past my bedtime?)

We’ve all heard it, something like: “doing the same thing and expecting a different result is a definition of insanity.” I’ve heard it from college profs, read it in magazines and blogs – it seems to be accepted in our culture. The problem is, that if we stopped and actually considered it, we’d realize either it’s an unsatisfactory definition, or we’re all insane.

Everybody goes to sleep each night and wakes up in the morning. Do we expect a different result after a night’s rest? Do we expect today to be different from yesterday? Yes. We’d be crazy not to.

I’ve been reading The Cross of Christ by John Stott and here are some excerpts that I’ve read the past couple of days. Enjoy and I would recommend this book as well!

The reason why many people give the wrong answers to questions about the cross, and even ask the wrong questions, is that they have carefully considered neither the seriousness of sin nor the majesty of God (Stott 91)

All inadequate doctrines of the atonement are due to inadequate doctrines of God and humanity. If we bring God down to our level and raise ourselves to his, then of course we see no need for a radical salvation, let along for a radical atonement to secure it. When, on the other hand, we have glimpsed the blinding glory of holiness of God and have been so convicted of our sin by the Holy Spirit that we tremble before God and acknowledge what we are, namely “hell-deserving sinners,” then and only then does the necessity of the cross appear so obvious that we are astonished we never saw it before. (Stott 111)

Stott, John. The Cross of Christ. 20th Anniversary Ed. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

In Chesterton’s chapter on Mr. Berhnard Shaw in the work Heretics, he suggests what should be running through Shaw’s mind when he catches a sight of his own feet:

What are those two beautiful and industrious beings,” I can imagine him murmuring to himself, “whom I see everywhere, serving me I know not why? What fairy godmother bade them come trotting out of elfland when I was born? What god of the borderland, what barbaric god of legs, must I propitiate with fire and wine, lest they run away with me?”

I’ve been pondering a question the past several weeks and have started asking others their thoughts.

Why do a lot of Christians who go off to college find non-church organizations (i.e. Campus Crusade, Navigators, IV, etc) more attractive than a local church?

Now I humbly ask for your thoughts and opinions!

Soli Deo Gloria, Adam