Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Month: June 2009


Faith and Hope, an Inseparable Pairing – John Calvin

Wherever this living faith exists, it must have the hope of eternal life as its inseparable companion, or rather must of itself beget and manifest it; where it is wanting, however clearly and elegantly we may discourse of faith, it is certain we have it not. For if faith is (as has been said) a firm persuasion of the truth of God – a persuasion that it can never be false, never deceive, never be in vain, those who have received this assurance must at the same time expect that God will perform his promises, which in their conviction are absolutely true; so that in one word hope is nothing more than the expectation of those things which faith previously believes to have been truly promised by God.

Thus, faith believes that God is true; hope expects that in due season he will manifest his truth. Faith believes that he is our Father; hope expects that he will always act the part of a Father towards us. Faith believes that eternal life has been given to us; hope expects that it will one day be revealed. Faith is the foundation on which hope rests; hope nourishes and sustains faith. For as no man can expect any thing from God without previously believing his promises, so, on the other hand, the weakness of our faith, which might grow weary and fall away, must be supported and cherished by patient hope and expectation.

Jon and Kate Plus 8 and Evangelical Culpability

(Original): The Gospel and the Gosselins

(Archived): The Gospel and the Gosselins

Reality shows honestly make me ill, kind of like Jerry Springer shows in the middle of the day when you are sick and nothing else is on so you just wind up turning the thing off. The concept is worn out, over-used, uncreative, trivial, trite, shallow, and mind-numbingly boring. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather not watch on television than reality shows, because they are anything but what they claim to be and cheapen the very concept of … well, reality. TV becoming “reality”? I don’t get it and fail to understand how an entire culture is okay with this stuff.

Huxley’s vision of the future, portrayed in Brave New World, is coming to pass and we’re okay with the mundane, the brainless, coming to love our servitude to nonsense and emotionalism. Instead of having an outside oppressor like a totalitarian regime control us by brute force, as portrayed by George Orwell in 1984, instead what we love is killing us and holding us captive (Amusing Ourselves to Death … read it, everyone). Coincidentally, that is exactly what sin does. I honestly believe these shows are all loosely scripted to give the portrayal of “reality” and lack any level of depth that would give them some form of lasting cultural value (you know, like a Shakespeare work or Homer’s Iliad). They are trivial and a giant waste of time to be involved in.

But that’s all just an opinion. On the basis of someone else’s taste preferences, the same could probably also be said of shows that I like such as 24, The Office and FoxNews. My taste preferences are not the same as others. TV in itself is a waste of time (in general) … and I honestly like some of it. Guilty as charged.

Regardless of what I think concerning reality shows, many people like them, and can’t wait for the next episode to come around. Okay, fine and good, I don’t take issue with that. However, the “reality” show Jon and Kate Plus 8 on TLC has brought to light something evangelicals really don’t want to talk about (which the fact we don’t want to talk about it is a whole other issue in itself): our acceptance and absorption of the cultures’ worldly, materialistic, narcissistic, self-absorbed values; the slow (or fast, depending on the timeline we’re talking about) slide toward the secularization of the evangelical church in America.

Tiller Murder To Set Back Abortion Debate, Promote Fairness Doctrine Acceptance

It is one thing to loudly proclaim the utter grotesqueness and obvious immorality of a practice that has been accepted by law in this country and then call for its reversal; it is quite another to murder those supporters or doctors of such practices and defies the very nature of the life movement at its foundation. We should never execute judgment or vengeance on those with whom we are in disagreement, even in the face of gross, rampant immorality.

It is also one thing to be in strong disagreement with those of us in the life movement; it is quite another to say that our ‘rhetoric’ or ‘opinions’ are what brought about this murder and then call for the silencing of conservative free speech via the Fairness Doctrine. Just wait, it’s coming.

The Tiller murder has now set a terrible precedent for the abortion debate, amongst other issues. This has not advanced the life movement, but has instead set it back. Killing one doctor does not take care of the root of the problem in the abortion debate, but instead exacerbates the level of outrage against pro-lifers that many on the far-left already hold to.

Page 2 of 2

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén