HOLLYWOOD PAST ITS PRIME

There was a time I would have counted down days to seeing an Indiana Jones sequel. But that time was decades ago.

The first was released in 1981. I was 13 and I had never seen any movie quite like it. I could have watched it over and over and not grown tired of it.

The 5th Indiana Jones movie was released last weekend ... and I refuse to see it.

I rarely spend money on a movie without reading the reviews - or nowadays watching reviews on YouTube - but even without seeing what others thought, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this sequel was a bad idea.

In the first place, how do you create an action adventure script for an 80 year old Harrison Ford? 

That's a tall order for the best of writers - but for current Hollywood writers, it's a guaranteed insurmountable challenge. 

They can't seem to manage coherent plots or interesting and coherent characters these days. Basic things. 

I don't know for sure what has happened to Hollywood writers, but I have a theory.

All of Hollywood seems to be mirroring the downfall of Christian movies. The thinking seems to go like this: "As long as I have an important message to spread, there's no need to worry about artistic merit."

"And since my protagonist is the embodiment of my message, he or (more likely these days) she shall be flawless, put upon by a misguided world but ultimately (easily) triumphant in the end." 

I now wonder about secular Hollywood creators the same things I have always wondered about Christian movie makers: Do those who make purely propagandistic films recognize how terrible the final product is ... and just ignore it?

Or are they so impressed with the righteousness of their message that they are actually incapable of seeing the shoddiness of the writing, acting, and storytelling?

Like Indiana Jones, Hollywood is past its prime. 

WRITING & THINKING

“If you’re thinking without writing, you only think you’re thinking.”  — Leslie Lamport

I am finding this to be true. 

I have another big paper due this week. This one will be over a passage from Galatians. 

Although I am already dreading the amount of time and energy it will siphon from my week, I know I will learn some things about Scripture that would otherwise remain elusive. 

And that's going to make my preaching that much more effective.  

WITH DEEDS?

I've been working with the "Faith and Deeds" passage in James chapter 2 for this week's sermon and a question just now hit me:

How do Calvinists interpret this passage?

(I don't remember ever hearing this addressed by any Calvinist teacher.)

James writes, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him?" 

If faith is an irresistible, out-of-the-blue gift from God, why have a discussion about proper faith needing to include action? And why would James urge his audience to complete their faith with actions? 

James says of Abraham, "His faith was made complete by what he did." (2:22)

According to Calvinism, either God has given each person an effective, saving faith or not. 

If God has given such faith, there is nothing the person needs to add. The very idea would appall a Calvinist. 

If God hasn't granted an individual faith, there's nothing he can add. He is incapable, being still lost. He would still be so depraved in nature that he cannot comprehend spiritual truth. 

If Calvinism were Biblical, it seems like this whole discussion about proper faith would be the perfect opportunity for the Holy Spirit, through James, to emphasize that faith is God's initiative and comes only after a person has been born again. 

As it is, isn't it odd to leave people thinking they are responsible for the depth and vitality of their own faith!?

STUPID?

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" - James 2:14

I was a youth pastor in LeMars, Iowa at the time, planning my very first youth mission trip. 

If my memory serves, we were going to do some work in some of the rougher parts of Kansas City for several days. We would do some group fundraising, but each participant would still be required to come up with 2 to 3 hundred dollars themselves to help cover transportation, food, and housing. 

Our work schedule would include serving meals, painting at a community center, and doing whatever odd jobs we could to be helpful. 

My church was not used to the idea of short term mission trips. 

My first idea had been to spend several days at a nearby Native American reservation. I couldn’t make that fly, though, because too many of the church people disdained the Indians as lazy and drunk. They didn’t care to help them in any way – it would be a waste of time. (I was told to give that idea up.)

This Kansas City trip, though, was going to get off the ground even if we had only a small team willing to go. 

One evening, early in the recruitment process, I was leaving the Pizza Hut as two of my teens were coming in. I wasn't sure if  Nate and Matt were on board, so I asked them point blank if they were going to Kansas City with us. 

Matt said, "I haven’t really paid much attention. What is happening again?" 

And so I explained that we would be working in the inner city for several days helping local residents and the cost of the trip was going to be around $200. 

Nate was surprised: “Wait a minute – you mean we pay money to go work for free for somebody else?”

I was caught off guard. "Well, yeah, basically."

I will never forget Nate's response: “Gawd, that’s stupid!”

Neither one of these young men went with us. And it was too bad - they missed out on a great trip. 

FROGS

Mark Twain once said, "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it's your job to eat two frogs, it's best to eat the biggest one first."

"Eat the frog" has become a catchphrase in business and productivity circles. I came across it in a book by Chris Fox entitled 5,000 Words Per Hour: Write Faster, Write Smarter. Fox explains that it is meant to illustrate a habit for success: Start your day with whatever task you most dread and the rest of the day will be more productive. 

Why? Because if you leave the frog uneaten, it will sit and "croak at you all day".

This is useful advice.

I procrastinated for weeks on cleaning up my home office. Every time I sat down to work, I was surrounded by little piles of things that needed attention. 

Most were small, but when they were all together in a single room, they become a chorus of frogs – like you'd find on a summer night by the lake shore. Loud. Insistent. Demanding attention. Each one rather insignificant, but together a powerful chorus which cannot be ignored. 

I once read that having a messy desk adds three hours of additional effort to a person’s work week. I don't know if that stat is true, but experience supports it – at least for me. 

So I cleaned my office, little by little throughout the day. Swallowing one frog at a time. 

And now it's finally quiet enough to get some work done. 

SARDINIA

My family gave me a drone for Father's Day and I haven't even opened the box yet. My hesitation has been the steep learning curve which I know it will bring. 

Today, though, I thought of a use for it that might finally get me motivated to take it for a flight: I would like to get video of Sardinia Baptist Church from the air.

Sardinia is a unique community. It's the proverbial "wide spot in the road". The road in this case is Highway 3. 

Traffic along 3 isn't required to make a full stop, but it is slowed to 45 mph briefly.

There are maybe 40 or 50 houses in Sardinia. I am told there used to be a restaurant here, a grocery store, and more than one gas station. Today nobody would believe that Sardinia used to have its own motel if the proof wasn't sitting right there about a 100 feet back off of Highway 3 to the west. 

The restaurant, grocery store, gas stations, and motel are all defunct, but one operation that predated them all has also outlasted them all. Right at the geographical center of Sardinia is the only church in town: Sardinia Baptist.

I would like to use the drone to get some video footage to remind the congregation of this reality: We are the body of Christ and we are at the heart of our community geographically.

We need to be at the heart in every other possible way as well. 

WHO DO I SUE?

This was traumatizing.

On a sweltering summer day only three-fourths of the way through the month of July, I walk into our local Lowe's Home Improvement store to see this: 

Stop!

It's JULY for heaven's sake. 

[P.S.: I wish I had the same level of disposable income as other people seem to have.]

BIAS AND THEOLOGY

After noticing yesterday that Simon the Pharisee seemed a textbook example of the human tendency to always be on the lookout for new evidence to confirm our prior beliefs (while disregarding all evidence against), tonight I googled "examples of confirmation bias in the Bible".

It was one of those rare searches that turns up absolutely nothing along the lines of what I was looking for. 

Seems like this could be an area worthy of some thought and study.

What Google did turn up was lots of Christian websites warning that humans sometimes experience confirmation bias and, if we're not careful, it could affect our theology. 

"Sometimes" is not reality. We all experience this bias and it happens multiple times a day without our awareness. 

And it definitely affects our theological formation. 

It's one more reason to hold theological convictions in "probability space" and to resist letting too much of our identity get invested in them too soon. 

PSYCHOLOGICAL SHORTHAND

Not too long ago I wrote about how Christians tend in general to be supportive of science (properly understood), but get pretty tense when the science in question is psychology.

I mentioned that a couple of people have  cautioned me about bringing any sort of social science into my upcoming dissertation, and I continue to give that a lot of thought.

This morning in Sunday school, I brought up "confirmation bias" in relation to the story of Simon the Pharisee inviting Jesus to dinner at his house and then being aghast at Jesus allowing a sinful woman to touch his feet, anoint them with perfume, and wipe them with her hair. 

As Simon watched this scandalous behavior, he thought to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:39)

But this was confirmation bias - he had already made his mind up about Jesus. We see this when Jesus points out that Simon had failed to give him any water to wash his feet and had failed to greet Him with a kiss. 

If Simon had thought there was even a 5% chance that Jesus was prophet, a man of God, would he have treated Him so nonchalantly? 

Nope. His mind was made up. 

And seeing this woman at Jesus' feet just confirmed it: Jesus was no prophet! 

(Funny how Simon assumes he knows exactly how a man of God should react to a sinner touching him! Watch out for religious types who are experts at predicting God's moves.)  

Being right is very important to us. Reassurance that we are right, then, is incredibly valuable. Our brains are ever on the watch for further evidence that our opinions are correct. 

Nobody in class had heard the term "confirmation bias" before, but they had all seen it. Because they all have experienced human interaction! As far as I could tell, nobody in class was put off by the fact that social scientists have studied this aspect of human behavior. It's a genuine phenomenon.

So why should psychology intimidate a believer? 

It doesn't dictate human behavior. It just describes it.

And having a label as a shorthand description of some aspect of the human experience can be incredibly useful at times. 

VBS LESSON

We had an evening VBS program tonight at Sardinia Baptist. 

It was all good, but the best part of it was simply the unhurried fellowship time.

And the best part of the fellowship was that it wasn't all "in house" - we had some kids and adults from the community participate. They actually responded to our door-to-door invitations! 

I was told that had never happened before - at least not in recent memory.

I need to give it some more thought and prayer, but the lesson seemed to be that there are people in our little town who are hungry for connection - to other people and to God.

All they need is an invitation. 

I think what we learned tonight was the importance of making the first move. 

AHEAD OF THE GAME

I just finished writing a 16 page exegesis paper, so I am done writing for the day.

On the bright side, this means my preaching is just about entirely in manuscript form already - which is one of the requirements for this Sunday's sermon - the one based on this exegesis and needing to be submitted on video for a grade.

It is good to be this far along on the sermon because tomorrow (Saturday) evening is our VBS program. There will be no time for last minute sermon writing tomorrow evening! 

I do still need to put together a PowerPoint presentation with it. I did the PowerPoint last week and it proved to be useful for keeping me on track and the congregation engaged, so I plan to make it a regular habit.

I prayed the Lord's prayer this morning - a new habit I am cultivating. Whenever I get to "give us this day our daily bread", I always take that to mean, "Lord, give me whatever it is that I need today to make this day successful". So this morning I asked for the grace and the strength and the mental sharpness to finish this paper.

And now it is finished. With an hour and 25 minutes to spare! 

Thank you, Lord, and goodnight.

THE GOOD KIND OF HOMEWORK

Although I have been grumbling a bit lately about the workload I have to carry for my classes, when I truly got into this week's assignment, I got caught up in it and time passed very quickly.

That's a good sign. A sign that the homework is accomplishing its purpose - and not just getting turned in for a grade. 

This work is a multi-layered inductive Bible study of James 1:19-27 serving both of my classes. Tomorrow it becomes a paper for hermeneutics class and next the basis for my sermon this Sunday morning. (To be videotaped and submitted to be graded in my homiletics class.) 

Anyway, as I have been working on this study, I am once again impressed with two preaching realities in particular:

1) Context is the starting point. Verses out of context cannot be properly understood by either the preacher or the congregation. Too many sermons fail to launch right here. 

2) Scripture's language is so rich and deep that if you take the time to make observations and ask questions, two verses can provide more than enough material to pack a 30 minute sermon. 

I am looking forward to preaching this weekend - even more than normally do.

WORSE THAN ADDICTION

Author Andrew Klavan is fond of saying that anger is "the devil's cocaine". 

He's right. Anger is addictive. It feels so good sometimes.

Anger, though, is most often only a symptom of a deeper problem: self-righteousness. 

Self-righteousness expresses itself in more than just anger, though. To name a few, there's virtue signaling and feeling offended and looking down on others.

Worst of all, self-righteousness keeps you unaware of your need for Christ's righteousness. Worse than addiction, it is flat out deadly to one's spirit. 

So if anger is the devil's cocaine, self-righteousness is the devil's fentanyl. 

AN EPISTLE OF STRAW?

I am currently preaching from the book of James and so I have read through the book as a whole several times now.

It's an interesting process to read a Biblical book repeatedly before focusing on some smaller part of the whole - you find that much of the depth of Scripture is not revealed in casual or patchy reading. 

The book of James used to strike me as being a fairly random collection of commandments, but I am starting to see the author's framework more clearly. James seems to build the entire book around a basic contrast of how believers are to act and to speak within God's family as opposed to how the godless world carries on in their ignorance and unbelief. 

It seems a relevant reminder that the world which the believer has left behind still exerts a powerful draw upon him or her. It still holds influence over our actions and speech. 

James really is a striking bit of Scripture.

So I was surprised in my research to come across a rather negative take on the book from none other than Martin Luther who, according to N.T. Wright, "dismissed James for containing nothing evangelical, teaching nothing about Jesus." Luther, in fact, "declared that it is not an apostolic letter but an epistle of straw"! 

That should serve as yet another warning against putting too much stock in the theological opinions of any pillar of church history. 

CONTEXT

Context is so important when it comes to understanding specific Scripture verses. But most preachers put little effort into studying the context themselves and so have little to pass along to their listeners. 

It doesn't take much effort to reveal the unavoidable importance of context to comprehending a speaker's meaning. 

Consider the following scenario:

You are looking over a transcript of a conversation I had with a friend and come across this sentence from me: "People are weasels. I don't trust anybody." 

I said what I said. 

Does it matter what the conversation as a whole was about?

You betcha. 

Was the topic of the conversation my family ... or was it politics?

Either one shifts the meaning in a very specific direction. 

The fascinating thing is, if you take those two sentences by themselves, they communicate something entirely different from what would be understood by reading them within either of those two possible contexts. 

(P.S. My family is great.)

A MIST

James, the brother of Jesus, asks, "What is your life?" (James 4:14)

And then he offers his own answer: "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

I guess he wasn't into sugarcoating.

When I think of a mist, the words that come to mind are fragile and temporary.

This morning at church we prayed for a boy with leukemia, my mother-in-law battling cancer, and others who were victims of car accidents. 

A good friend was recently diagnosed with celiac disease.

Our oldest child, Caleb, is experiencing chronic fatigue and brain fog.

But even with so much infirmity in our circle, it is somewhat amazing that there isn't more - considering how fragile the human body is. 

Each and every one of us.

As fragile as our bodies are, though, we humans somehow manage to maintain a daily illusion that we are in control of our futures and we are immortal. 

OMISSION

I think "sin" is another one of those basic theological words that we assume we understand - but in reality we just don't hold an accurate definition in our minds.

In this case, we tend to think too narrow. We associate "sin" with drunkenness or gambling or drug abuse or cheating on your spouse. 

If we're not guilty of that sort of living, we assume we're doing pretty good in God's eyes.

We always think of sin in terms of commission - doing what we shouldn't be doing.

But Jesus said the 2 greatest commandments were to love God and love our neighbors. Those are both actions and we can break either command simply by doing nothing.

We can sin by taking no action.

Those of us who don't get drunk or chew tobacco or steal from our employers can rack up a hefty debt of sin by not doing what we are supposed to do. 

And then not even be aware of our sinfulness!

That's the tricky thing about sins of omission. 

DEGREES OF CERTAINTY

Last Sunday, after hearing me preach for the first time, my old college friend visiting from California said something like the following:

"This might sound like a criticism, but it's not meant to be. You don't preach like you've got the Bible all figured out. I really appreciate that."

I am glad.

I strive to be as authentic as I can be - in and out of the pulpit. So it would be extremely difficult for me to preach like I have Christian faith and the holy Scriptures all figured out - because I don't.

This might be a liability in some ways - I think people do crave certainty and it's natural for a congregation to take comfort in the (false) notion that their preacher has plumbed the depths of the Bible and, given enough time, can explain every nook and cranny in 25 minute increments. 

But in recent years as everything has gone topsy turvy worldwide (and knowing who to trust has become nearly impossible), I have become more comfortable with "degrees of certainty" thinking.

Here's what I have in mind: In my opinion, instead of saying, "The Bible teaching on women being prohibited from preaching is purely cultural", a pastor should be able to say something like, “I am ninety percent convinced that Paul’s prohibition against women speaking in church is cultural.”

Being overly certain of one’s position on a doctrine or interpretation can bring cognitive dissonance when it is challenged. (Which is a type of blindness.) It can also tempt you toward reading your own assumptions into every passage. 

Instead of tying your identity too closely to an idea being right or wrong, expressing “degrees of certainty” thinking can keep you open to new discoveries, because it expresses a willingness to change your mind. 

If the great New Testament theologian Paul had to say himself, "Now we only know in part" (1 Cor 13:9), then how confident, certain, and settled can the rest of us be?

A 24/7 WILL

I used to have a narrow understanding of God's will.

It was only at major forks in the road where I would "seek God's will":

• Which college should I attend?
• Is this girl "the one"?
• Should I take this job or that other one?

But at the right time - which happened to be on a plane leaving Haiti after my first visit in 2010 - the Lord revealed that the phrase "God's will" means so much more.

I was reading the Bible and came across a passage that triggered an insight - I don't remember which verse it was exactly, but something like one of the following:

1 John 2:17  The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.

Ephesians 5:15-17 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 

1 Thessalonians 4:3 For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

And it wasn't just the passages that spoke directly about "God's will" - I suddenly understood that the point of the whole Bible was to reveal "God's will" for His creation.

And what "God's will" boiled down to was the rescue of humanity from the darkness of sin and brokenness.

And to join in THAT work was God's will for me, no matter where I went to college, no matter whom I married, and no matter where I worked.

God has a will that involves me 24/7, not just occasionally at the forks in life's road. 

IF IT IS GOD'S WILL

The second time God spoke to me through Scripture in my teenage years came just a few days after the first time. 

I am certain I have written about the first here before, but because the first and second were closely connected, I will recap it here:

It was the end of my junior year of high school and my Sunday school teachers had challenged us to read a chapter a day in our Bibles. 

I had read a good portion of the New Testament by the time Memorial Day weekend rolled around and a car accident took the life of my friend and classmate, Phil. 

God first spoke to me an answer to the most heartfelt prayer of my life which I cried through the day I heard the news: Give me a sign that I will see Phil again someday.

It wasn't so much a question of whether heaven existed. I was asking God to prove that He Himself existed.

After a weeklong hiatus from Scripture reading to process the accident and then the funeral, I picked up where I left off in the Bible: I was ready to begin Hebrews 11.

When I read verse 1, I knew it was an answer to my prayer:

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen."

The second verse that hit me right between the spiritual eyes came just a few days later. I had moved on to the book of James. There, I read the following:

'Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.'

There's so much truth in those few verses - and it all reinforced what I had just learned the hard way.

I suppose this has come to mind now because of Hannah's car accident last night. Today was quite normal around my house but I am well aware that it could have been a drastically different day.

A nightmarish day.

I was 17 when Phil passed away. He had driven past my house just an hour or so before he hit a pothole and lost control of his speeding car on a country road.

After the funeral, I had tried to remember what had been said in our short conversation but I could only remember how I had ended it:

"See you later."

To this day, at 55, I try to avoid that phrase. 

And if I do hear it come out of my mouth, I add a silent "If it is God's will". 

OK - THANK GOD

I sat down to write and within 60 seconds Melissa's phone rang. It was Hannah and she started the conversation with "I don't want to freak you out. I'm OK."

She had just walked away from her car - likely totaled - now sitting on the shoulder of an interstate in New Jersey. She told us she had been going about 60 mph when she hit a deer. The airbag had deployed but she managed to get the car stopped safely.

Thank God.

Melissa and I had worried about her traveling around Europe by herself all through the month of June and had breathed a sigh of relief when she returned to the States a couple of weeks ago.

But it doesn't take more than a deer to shake up life. 

It is 11:00 pm Tuesday, July 11 as I type. A police officer is now on the scene with her. If you happen to read this in the next few hours, would you lift Hannah in your prayers? 

She's shaken up pretty good.

But she's OK. 

TRANSLATIONS

I recently heard a Bible teacher say, "Remember that every translation is an interpretation."

It's true and we don't give it enough thought.

I took a semester or two of Greek when I was at Asbury Seminary in the late 90s but I never used it and so I lost it. 

Since starting this doctorate program, I am wishing not only that I had Greek but that I had at least some knowledge of Hebrew.

In this age, though, there are plenty of options for those of us who don't know the original languages firsthand. I love looking up verses on Biblehub.com, for instance. You can find all sorts of information on the original wording there with just a little digging.

You'd be surprised at how often it can make a difference in how you understand a particular verse.

Take 1 Corinthians 14:20, for example. (For context, Paul has been lecturing the church on how much more edifying it is for individuals to practice prophesy during their gatherings than to have everyone speaking in tongues all at once. But this comes across like a good general rule for believers to follow in all matters.) 

Here's King James: 

Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

And the NIV for comparison:

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

Here's an example of what you can locate on Biblehub.com for this passage:

All of the blue lines are clickable links.

1. The top blue line is the location of that Greek word in Strong's Greek Concordance - where you can see how it is used in other places across the New Testament.
2. The second blue line is the transliteration of the Greek word into the English alphabet, so you have some idea how it is pronounced.
3. The black line is the word written in the Greek alphabet.
4. The orange line is a basic English translation following the order of the original Greek.
5. The bottom blue line gives you information on how the word functions within the sentence - part of speech, number, tense, etc. 

You don't even have to go digging too deep into this to see its use - just being reminded that what you read in the English is obviously based on somebody else's interpretation is useful in and of itself. 

But when you discover the Greek teleioi translated by NIV as "adult" and KJV as "men" - "in your thinking be adults" - is translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "mature" or "complete" or even "perfect", it starts to reshape your understanding of what Paul is trying to communicate here. 

Or the word phresin that gets translated as "thinking" by the NIV and "understanding" by the KJV. This verse is the only place in the New Testament where phresin is used and it means literally the midriff - the core of the body. Your heart. It is the root word for our English "diaphragm". It involves both thinking and feeling, but we don't have an English word that quite captures both aspects. 

I'm still chewing on what all that means, but I can say this for sure: I love how it opens up new dimensions of meaning to consider when you don't just settle for perusing the English translations. 

SCIENCE AND SPIRIT

Come October I will be free to begin my dissertation in earnest. Of course, I have been mulling over possible topics and friends are starting to ask what I have in mind.

I haven't talked to any of my professors formally, but here's what has my interest right now:

I would like to appropriate what social scientists have learned in recent years about habit formation and apply it to spiritual formation within the church.

It seems to me that at least the modern American church is lacking in discipline and that our lack of seriousness about prayer and Bible study and fasting is a genuine hinderance to the depth of our faith and the effectiveness of our work.

Some part of that neglect of the disciplines - and I don't know how much - is due to a perceived weakness of the human will and ignorance of how the brain is wired for habit formation. Much has been discovered in even the last decade which, if properly applied, could greatly increase the odds of a believer's success in starting and maintaining spiritual disciplines.

One hurdle in this pursuit is fascinating to me: I have had at least two thoughtful Christians warn me that believers may be put off by pairing what the Bible has to say about spiritual formation with what science has to say about human psychology. 

This is interesting to me. It does seem to me that many believers are skeptical of "science" in general these days. (And often for good reason. I hate being told "Trust the science!" as if science is a settled thing.) But it also seems like psychology is held in particular suspicion.

For example, if I wrote a Christian book on treating your body as the temple of God and included scientific data about best practices for exercise and diet, I don't think anyone would think to question the legitimacy of citing the science. It would be welcomed and expected. 

But for some reason, to speak of psychological data when discussing spiritual formation raises red flags. 

Why would that be? 

(This is a serious question and I welcome feedback. I may need to address this matter even in my proposal before the real work begins.) 

THE UPSIDE OF TONGUES

In the interest of demystifying speaking in tongues, here is the upside of this practice as gleaned from the first few verses of I Corinthians 14:

It is a spiritual gift.

It is speaking to God, not to other people.

It is "uttering mysteries with one's spirit". 

It results in self edification. (i.e., it is something you can do to build yourself up.) 

Paul would like every one of the Corinthian believers to speak in tongues. 

You can pray or sing in tongues.

When praying in a tongue, it is your spirit which is praying. 

Paul suggests the best practice is to pray both ways (by mind and spirit) and sing both ways as well.

***

I don't know what you think of that list, but when I isolate just the positive aspects of this practice - and try to release all the baggage that comes along with the term "speaking in tongues" - it sounds rather ...

Pleasant. 

And useful.

And almost as ordinary of a practice as praying with your conscious mind. 

SKIPPING OVER TONGUES

Like "being filled with the Holy Spirit", the Biblical topic of "speaking in tongues" is one of those things that makes people nervous. So we avoid discussing it.

Speaking in tongues is mysterious and controversial - we can't even agree if it is something that continues today or was just a feature of the early church. And the vast majority of us have not even been in the same room with someone who is speaking in tongues, much less experienced it firsthand.

But it seems too prevalent in the New Testament to simply sweep it under the rug.

(That doesn't stop us.)

When we brush it aside, though, we miss out on some portion of the experience of being a Christian. 

I was reading 1 Corinthians 14 this morning and there Paul narrows his discussion of "spiritual gifts" to just two: speaking in tongues and prophesying (another "mysterious" concept!). 

Paul draws a basic contrast between the two: speaking in tongues edifies only the speaker while prophesying edifies the church. Nobody beside the speaker understands what is being expressed in tongues (unless the speaker or someone else interprets for the crowd) but the one who prophesies brings something to the entire congregation:

• Revelation
• Knowledge
• Prophecy (as narrowly defined)
• A Word of Instruction

And Paul tells the whole congregation that each of them should "eagerly desire" this gift of prophecy!

The larger point is that EVERYONE is to speak words of edification to the Body, not just the pastor. 

That's something we miss if we skip over passages regarding speaking in tongues!

GOOD NEWS FOR THE PERFECTIONIST - 1 COR 13:12

Anyone can second guess an important decision -

• Buying a used car
• Choosing one college over another
• Getting engaged

But expert-level overthinkers like myself can fourth, fifth, and sixth guess even trivial decisions -

• What do I do first?
• How should I spend the next hour?
• Should I eat that?

I know this is tied to my perfectionistic tendencies. If I think about it long enough, surely I will find the perfect solution. If I don't think it through well enough, I am likely to make a mistake.

But certainty is elusive, so I go round and round in my mind.

Knowing this is how I am wired, I take great comfort in 1 Corinthians 13:12  "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known."

It encourages me to recognize that perfection and certainty are necessarily elusive. BECAUSE my knowledge is incomplete. 

Just before this passage, Paul writes, "When perfection comes, the imperfect disappears" (10).

True perfection is coming One Day. And all that is imperfect will fade away. Meaningless.

That's good news to the perfectionist: Your striving for perfection isn't wrong, it's just premature. Give it time and some day you will see God reveal the Perfect. 

Until then, admit to yourself that you know nothing in full. There will be mistakes. 

CONTAMINATION

Before I started preaching on a weekly basis, my personal Bible study time had reached new levels of depth. I was making big connections between various strands of theology at the same time I was starting to notice important things that seemed to be outside the major concerns of any systematic theology I was familiar with. 

My time in Scripture was something I looked forward to every morning. My day just seemed off on the rare occasions I allowed it to be squeezed out of my schedule. 

Now my Bible study experience has changed and I am trying to figure out how to spend time daily on sermon prep without that being my only time in Scripture. 

I have no idea what other preachers experience, but I know for me there is something corrupting about the anticipation of presenting on Sunday to other people whatever it is that I might gain from my study this morning. 

The approaching sermon can't help but contaminate my thinking and my motivation. 

And I am not sure how to overcome that. 

But it needs to change because I miss what I had before. 

DESIGN FLAW?

Twenty years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, John Adams famously wrote, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

I don't want to sound pessimistic about the future of this country, but it seems to me this could turn out to be a major design flaw!

STARTING LINE

We had a video chat with Sarah tonight. She is loving her time with the mission team in El Salvador.

She shared her testimony in front of a whole lot of students today and that makes this father's heart swell with pride and gratitude.

Sarah also talked of the team sharing the Gospel with the crowds and seeing some of students come forward to receive Christ.

I know I should be rejoicing over that - and I do - but my joy is always tempered by reservations over the way we tend to do evangelism, especially with strangers.

Too often we treat "getting someone saved" as if it is an act akin to crossing the finish line. 

But getting someone saved is more like getting them to the starting line. 

The race is yet to be run. 

I would rejoice a thousand times more - and with no reservation - if I were somehow to hear a year from now that those same students were all walking with Christ daily. 

FIREWORKS

This weekend I was remembering a 4^th of July celebration Melissa and I found ourselves in about 20 years ago. 

We were living in Indianapolis, not far from downtown. Nearby Rhodius Park was a perfect place to watch the official Indy fireworks without battling the traffic. 

So as the sun set, we walked over with our toddlers in the stroller and sat at the top of the hill on the near end of the park. 

We staked out our spot and spread a blanket, anxious to see our kids' reaction to the fireworks. But we didn't stick around long. Within a few minutes, bottle rockets and other fireworks came whizzing through the gathered crowd. 

It was impossible to know if the people shooting fireworks through the crowd were being careless, stupid, or just plain malicious. 

The motivation didn't matter - we didn't want a family member taking a rocket to the eye and so we left. 

I think there is a reason why this memory has resurfaced this year. 

Perhaps I am finding a symbol of my present-day experience of mixed patriotic feelings: the desire to celebrate the greatness of this country being frustrated by the fear and irritation inspired by the poor decisions of some fellow citizens. 

OBLIGATIONS

Is it just me? When progressive Christians say "God loves you", does it not seem to carry the implication the Lord makes no demands of human beings? 

All love. No expectations or requirements. 

And when they say "God loves you", is it not assumed the words "just the way you are" can and should be tacked on the end? 

I sense a similar vibe when progressives claim "We are all God's children". 

Are we children in a household characterized by a generous allowance and lots of hugs and the complete absence of chores and responsibilities? 

How can such a household function?

If a human father doesn't lay down the law for his children, then "everyone does what is right in his own eyes". And the result is chaos.

People end up hurt. And lost. 

Relationships get broken. 

For a truly loving Parent, there is no contradiction whatsoever between "I love you as you are" and "Here are the expectations on you as a member of this family". 

Being a part of a family necessarily brings obligations.