Don't Bifurcate Your Mind When Reading God's Word

You have to love the wisdom (and vocabulary) of D.A. Carson. As someone experiencing the very challenge of seminary described here, I found this counsel very helpful. As we critically study the Word of God (for assignments, sermons, teaching, etc.), how do we balance that with a warm devotional life? How do we keep the reading of God's Word from becoming dry?

Socrates and the Effect of the Internet on Book Reading

I just finished Tony Reinke's book, Lit!, and I found it quite helpful in many respects when it comes to reading. He's very practical and provides a lot of concrete things to take away and apply immediately. I found this section on the effect of the internet on our reading particularly interesting.

Socrates was concerned that scholars would rely on external details found in books rather than pursue deep thought and meditation. He was concerned with externalized knowledge replacing internalized wisdom. The oral tradition encouraged a healthy fostering of internal wisdom; libraries of books would become crutches of external reminders.  

I’m not sure if Socrates was aware of the tremendous benefits of books—including preserving his own words about books (ironic). But it was clear that Socrates saw the dawn of books as the dusk of the human memory.  

The dangers that Socrates foresaw have now arrived in the modern Internet. When we can access the sum total of human knowledge with one thumb on a smartphone in 0.2 seconds through a Google search as we drive 70 mph down the freeway, what happens to the human memory? Who needs to remember details? The memory shrinks like a grape my kids left in the backseat of the car.  

An honest Wired magazine writer confessed, “The line between where my memory leaves off and Google picks up is getting blurrier by the second.” That was a chief concern of Socrates. As online search engines become highly refined mechanisms for finding information, our internal memory becomes less necessary. We make decisions based upon access to external reminders rather than from an internal storehouse of cultivated wisdom.  

The implications are huge for book readers: how we read online affects how we read offline.  

Christian book readers who frequently use the Internet and social media will be faced with four temptations that will make it difficult to preserve and cultivate book reading skills.  

(Tony Reinke, Lit!, Page 140). 

 The 4 Temptations Reinke identifies:

1. Fragmented Browsing vs. Sustained Comprehension 
2. Reacting vs. Thinking 
3. Ready Access to Information vs. Slowly Digested Life Wisdom 
4. Skimming with the Head vs. Delighting with the Heart

The Middle-Aged White Guy's Guide to Christian Rap

This is funny. And probably helpful for some people.

Tim Challies put together an infographic explaining the basics of Christian rap music. Pretty good introduction if you're new to the scene.

(If you can't read it, click over to Challies' site where you can download a larger file.)

I love a lot of Christian rap. Lecrae, Trip Lee, Shai Linne, FLAME, Propaganda, Odd Thomas...These guys can all bring it, both musically and theologically. I find their music very edifying.

Challies' "Top Ten Tracks" at the end is a pretty good place to start. Mine would be slightly different in terms of tracks, but pretty consistent in terms of the actual artists, although I would add some of the guys from Humble Beast (Odd Thomas, Propaganda, Braille, etc.).

Documentary of the Life of Charles Spurgeon

My wife and I watched this hour-long documentary on the life of Charles Spurgeon on Friday night, and I really enjoyed it. It's done pretty well, and I was struck once again by the amazing ways that God worked through this man's life. Inspiring and encouraging. I highly recommend it.



HT: JT

Music Video of the Week: 12 Stones

12 Stones - "Infected (Lyric Video)"

Tim Keller: The Grace of the Law

Tim Keller:

At Redeemer we talk a lot about how we are saved by grace, not by our good works or obedience to the law. Indeed, Paul says we are not ‘under law’ but ‘under grace’ (Romans 6:15.) But what does that mean as far as having an obligation to submit to God’s will as written in his Word? Do we still have to obey the law? Absolutely. 

To be ‘under the law’ refers not to law obeying but law relying (Galatians 3:10-11). When we think we can win God’s approval through our moral performance and obedience becomes a crushing burden, then we are ‘under law.’ But when we learn that Christ has fulfilled the law for us and that now we who believe in him are secure in God’s love, then we naturally want to delight, resemble, and know the One who has done this. How can we do this? By turning to the law! Paul puts it this way. Though he is not under the law, ‘I am not free from God’s law, but I am under Christ’s law” (1 Corinthians 9:21.) Though he is not ‘under’ the law (as a way to earn salvation) he now is freed to see the beauties of God’s law as fulfilled in Christ, and submits to it as way of loving his Savior. How does this work?

Keller has 6 main points about how we should understand, embrace, and obey the law:

1. We embrace the law of God in order to learn more about who our God really is.
2. We embrace the law of God in order to discover our true selves.
3. We understand the law of God as fulfilled in Christ.
4. We realize that the law's painful, convicting work is ultimately a gracious thing.
5. We turn to the law of God in order to get a true definition of what it means to love others in our relationships and in society as a whole.
6. We turn to the law of God because sometimes we need to do things just because God says so.

I highly encourage reading the whole article. It's very helpful in thinking through the role of the law in a New Testament context.

Social Media Explained

Seen this a few places recently. It gave me a chuckle:

HT: Trevin Wax

Every Life Has a Story

This is REALLY good.

Tim Brister:

A church unwilling to read and address the stories of people will be satisfied with skimming the surface with conversations that probe no deeper than a “Hey, how are you doing?” which almost always is met with a disingenuous response. No gifts of the Spirit are exercised because no one is listening.  

Now, imagine if we took just one of those stories, one of those individuals and placed them in a context where every member listened, understood the story, and felt personally responsible to play a redemptive part in contributing through the spiritual gift entrusted to them by the Holy Spirit? What role would an exhorter play? A giver? An agent of mercy? A leader? Someone with wisdom? Someone with great faith? And so on?  

Paul Tripp nailed it when he said that we are all called to be instruments in the Redeemer’s hands because we are helping others change while at the same time we ourselves are in need of change. Every person you meet is a mess needing someone willing to get messy. Every person is a sinner needing someone to help them walk in repentance and faith, growing in the gospel, extending mercy and forgiveness to other sinners. And the Holy Spirit animates the life of the church by His work in and through Christians sovereignly gifted to do good to one another and so edify the church.  

Next time you see people, consider why their lives (the subtext) might be really saying. Everything in us militates against listening and engaging–our comfort zones, our busy schedules, fear of man, selfishness, etc. Yet, we have in us the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead giving life to our mortal bodies. He intends to do in us what no strength of the flesh can accomplish. I pray the stories of people we encounter will be rewritten by the gospel of Jesus as it is applied to their hearts and transforms their lives.

Chuck Colson on Civil Disobedience to New Healthcare Laws

Denny Burk:

Chuck Colson rightly calls on Evangelicals to stand with Roman Catholics in civil disobedience to this law for as long as it stands. That’s right. He’s calling on Christians to risk fines, prison, or other penalties in faithfulness to our convictions about protecting the unborn. In Colson’s own words:

We have come to the point—I say this very soberly—when if there isn’t a dramatic change is circumstances, we as Christians may well be called upon to stand in civil disobedience against the actions of our own government. That would break my heart as a former Marine Captain loving my country, but I love my God more… I’ve made up my mind—sober as that decision would have to be—that I will stand for the Lord regardless of what my state tells me.

Al Mohler's SBTS Convocation Address: To Those Who Reside as Aliens

Al Mohler's Convocation Address at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary yesterday. I had the privilege of hearing this in person and found it fascinating. Worth the time.