Friday 14 October 2011

Mormonism 101 (Kevin DeYoung)

A helfpul summary of the history and central teachings of mormonism from Kevin DeYoung's blog.


Mormonism 101

Mormonism is back in the news. And with two Mormon presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney (the front runner for the Republican nomination), there’s a good chance we will be hearing much more about Mormonism for the next twelve months. Denny Burk has a very helpful piece onwhether Mormonism is a cult, and Albert Mohler has written a thoughtful article on “Mormonism, Democracy, and the Urgent Need for Evangelical Thinking.” I won’t repeat their arguments, except to reiterate Mohler’s reminder that voting for a president should include examining the candidate’s religious beliefs, but should include other considerations as well.
Presidential elections are important. But believing the truth is even more important. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to provide a brief overview of Mormon history and theology. I won’t try to debunk Mormonism or prove Christianity. But I hope this quick survey will show that the two are not the same.
A quick note on secondary sources: Christian materials do not always treat Mormonism fairly or go the extra mile to present Mormon ideas as a Mormon would recognize it. One book that does is Andrew Jackson’s Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach and Practice. I also recommend A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints by BYU professor Robert Millet. Richard Mouw concedes too much in his Foreword and Afterword, but it’s still helpful to get Mormon Christology from a Mormon himself.
Mormon History
Joseph Smith was born in rural Vermont in 1805, the fourth of nine children. With little success farming in Vermont, the Smith family moved west to Palmyra, New York.  There Joseph Smith was exposed to different revival movements, and most of his family became Presbyterians, though Smith later said he leaned toward Methodism.
The presence of so many variations of Christianity bothered Smith. Which one was right? How could he choose?  At one revival meetings, a preacher quoted from James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (KJV).  Smith, 14 years old at the time, went home, reflected on these words, and went into the woods to pray.
According to Mormon tradition, this is when Joseph Smith had his first vision. In this visions, which is foundational to the Mormon faith, Smith claimed to see two “personages.” The one-God the Father-pointed to the other and said “This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!”  Smith asked them what sect he should join.  They answered that he should join none of them.  They were all wrong.  All their creeds were an abomination and their believers corrupt.
Three years later, Mormons believe Smith received another vision. In this vision the angel Moroni told Smith of golden plates buried under a hill near Palmyra.  The plates were revealed in 1827 when Smith was provided with two reading crystals–urim and thummim–by which he could translate the writing (Smith claimed the plates were written in hieroglyphics).  In 1830 Smith published The Book of Mormon, which contains the story of the lost Israelites who migrated to America in the sixth century BC but were killed in battle in AD 428.  Smith later received another vision from John the Baptist giving him the Aaronic Priesthood.
That same year (1830) Smith founded the “Church of Christ.”  In 1838 he changed the name to “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
Smith continued to receive revelations telling him to move from New York to Ohio to Missouri and eventually to Illinois where he and his followers built a town called Nauvoo.  There Smith and his followers tried to live out an utopian vision of society.  They also instituted polygyny as early Mormon leaders argued that Jesus had had many wives.  Smith and his brother were arrested in 1844. Later a mob stormed the jail and killed them both.  Mormons consider Smith a martyr.  Others say he died in a violent shoot-out.
Following Smith’s death there was a schism.  A small group called the Josephites became the Reorganized Church with headquarters in Missouri.  Most followed Brigham Young, who became their First President and prophet.  In 1847, Young took the followers to Utah and built Salt Lake City.
Today there are more than ten million Mormons worldwide-about half in the United States.  Mormonism is the largest new religious movement from the West since Christianity (which really came from the Near East).  It is also the first homegrown American religion.  Mormonism continues to grow because of it missionary impulse and its commitment to doctrinal and ethical distinctives.
Mormon Theology
Let me highlight seven areas of Mormon doctrine. Again, I won’t try to refute the Mormon position, but I hope you will see the explicit deviation from the historic Christian faith.
1. View of history. In Mormon thinking, the rise of Mormonism was not merely a reformation or renewal of the church. It was a complete restoration. Following the death of Christ’s apostles, the church fell into complete apostasy.  The church lost divine authority and true doctrine. There is no unbroken continuity from the early church to the present. Christianity, for almost all of its history, was false and without the truth—until Joseph Smith and his revelation. As Mohler points out, Mormonism not only rejects historic orthodox Christianity, their whole religion is based on the need for such repudiation.
2. View of revelation. Mormons believe the Bible (the KJV version), but do not consider it inerrant. Neither do they consider the Bible complete. What makes Mormonism unique is their belief in continuing revelation sustained through prophets, seers, and revelators. So while Mormons affirm the Bible, they also affirm the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Through an elaborate hierarchy of President, First Presidency, Twelve Apostles, First Quorum of the Seventy, and Second Quorum of the Seventy, Mormons can receive authoritative interpretations and new authoritative revelations.
3. View of man. According to Mormon theology, men and women are the spirit sons and daughters of God.  We lived in a premortal spirit existence before birth. In this first estate we grew and developed in preparation for the second estate. In this second estate we walk by faith in this second state.  A veil of forgetfulness has been placed over our minds so we don’t remember what we did and who we used to be in our premortal existence. Our purpose in this life is to grow and mature in a physical body to prepare us for our final eternal state.
Mormons do not believe in human depravity. We are not implicated in Adam’s fall. We are basically good in our eternal nature, but prone to error in our mortal nature. The human is a being in conflict, but also a being with infinite potential.
4. View of God. In Mormon thought, God has a physical body. According to Doctrine and Covenants, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also;” but “The Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.”
Whether God the Father is self-existent is unclear. There was a long procession of gods and fathers leading up to our Heavenly Father.  Brigham Young once remarked, “How many Gods there are, I do not know.  But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds.” What is clearer is that the Mormon God is not a higher order or a different species than man. God is a man with a body of flesh and bones like us.
Mormons do not believe in the Trinity. They will talk about the unity of three personages, but the unity is a relational unity in purpose and mind, not a unity of essence. The three separate beings of the Godhead are three distinct Gods.
5. View of Christ. Mormons believe Jesus is Redeemer, God, and Savior. He is endless and eternal, the only begotten son of the Father. Through Jesus, the Heavenly Father has provided a way for people to be like him and to live with him forever.
But this familiar language does not mean the same thing to Mormons as it does to Christians. Jesus was born of the Father just like all spirit children. God is his Father in the same way he is Father to all. Whatever immortality or Godhood Jesus possesses, they are inherited attributes and powers. He does not share the same eternal nature as the Father. Jesus may be divine, but his is a derivative divinity. As one Mormon theologian puts it, Jesus “is God the Second, the Redeemer.”
6. View of the Atonement. Mormons believe Jesus died for sins and rose again from the dead. The atonement is the central event in history and essential to their theology. And yet, Mormons do not have a precise doctrine of the atonement. They do not emphasize Christ as wrath-bearing substitute, but emphasize simply that Christ somehow mysteriously remits our sins through his suffering.
While the atonement itself is not overly defined, the way in which the atonement is made efficacious is much more carefully delineated. Salvation is available because of the atoning blood of Christ, but this salvation is only received upon four conditions: faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end by keeping the commandments of God (which include various Mormon rituals).
Finally, it should be noted Mormon theology stresses the suffering the garden rather than the suffering on the cross. Atonement may have been completed on Golgotha, but is was made efficacious in Gethsemane.
7. View of salvation. The goal of Mormon salvation is not about escaping wrath as much as it is about maximizing our growth and insuring our happiness. Salvation is finding our way back to God the Father and recalling our forgotten first estate as his premortal spirit children.
Mormon theology teaches that we cannot receive eternal reward by our own unaided efforts. In some respects, salvation is based on what we have earn, but what we earn is by grace. How this plays out in Mormon life may differ from person to person, but they stress that the gift of the Holy Ghost is conditional upon continued obedience. Mormons must keep the First Principles and Ordinances, which consists of the Ten Commandments, tithing, chastity, and the “Word of Wisdom” which prohibits tobacco, coffee tea, alcohol and illegal narcotics.
Temples are also important in Mormon doctrine and practice. Couples must be married in a Mormon temple to have eternal marriage, and every Mormon must be baptized in one of their 135 (and counting) authorized Temples. Because of the importance of baptism in the Temple, baptisms for the dead are extremely common. Mormons keep detailed genealogical records so that their ancestors can be properly baptized. By one estimate more than 100 million deceased persons have been baptized by proxy baptism in Mormon temples. Those who received this baptism are free in the afterlife to reject or accept what has been done on their behalf.
Death in Mormon thinking is seen as another beginning, complete with opportunities to respond to postmortem preaching in the world to come. We will live in the spirit world, and at some point our spirit and body will be reunited forever.
There are four divisions in the afterlife. The Lake of Fire is reserved for the Devil, his demons, and those who commit the unpardonable sin. The Telestial Kingdom is where the wicked go. It is a place of suffering but not like the Lake of Fire. Most people go to the Telestial Kingdom where they are offered salvation again. The lukewarm-not quite good, not quite evil-go to the Terrestrial Kingdom when they die. This Kingdom is located on a distant planet in the universe. The Celestial Kindgom is for the righteous. Here God’s people live forever in God’s presence. We will live as gods and live with our spouses and continue to procreate. This the aim and the end of Mormon salvation.
Conclusion
I encourage you to study Mormonism for yourself if you have more questions. I think you’ll find that though the language sounds similar at times, the beliefs are quite distinctive. Mormons do not understand history, God, man, salvation, heaven, hell, the cross, Jesus, or the Trinity as the canonical Scriptures teach, nor do they agree with the doctrine taught by the holy, catholic, apostolic church over two millennia.

Video of The Book of Hebrews Preached as a Sermon (the only infallible sermon!)

The Book of Hebrews preached as a sermon from memory. You can see the original post here.

The only infallible sermon I’ve ever heard

This was quite amazing to be in the audience of. You get the full weight of Hebrews being a sermon when it’s preached like this. I also saw connections in the preaching of Hebrews that I’ve missed in the reading of it – probably because you just aren’t allowed to follow rabbit trails when you’re following it like this. More than anything, I walked away from this sermon feeling the weight and glory of Jesus Christ – the central point of Hebrews. Certainly it’s impressive and inspiring that my pastor memorized the whole book, but I walked away more aware of Jesus Christ than I was of Joel. I hope you have the time to give to watching this and are edified.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

Video on daily life in the Wall Street Protests

Right Here All Over (Occupy Wall St.) from Alex Mallis on Vimeo.

Video on the Wall street Protests

Interesting Video that gets at some of the philosophy behind the protests from some of the protestors. Some see themselves not simply as protesting against something, but as modelling a new kind of community.

Nobody Can Predict The Moment Of Revolution from ivarad on Vimeo.

Timelapse Video of Norwegian Fjords & Waterfalls

100 free courses from the Best universities (itunes u)

Skip the Tuition: 100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World





We've shown you how to take online classes for free, but not everyone has the patience or time to spend sitting at a computer. These courses let you take your classroom with you, so you can get an education while you're sitting in traffic or just hanging out in the park. Check out these courses from some of the best colleges and universities out there to get a high quality education on the go.




Stanford




Stanford offers free podcast downloads via iTunes. You'll be able to study physics, computer design, and much more.




  1. Quantum Mechanics: Learn about classical mechanics, theories of relativity, and more in this physics course.
  2. Human-Computer Interaction: This course features a variety of speakers on interaction design.
  3. Geography of World Cultures: This podcast takes a look at geography and considers the way it impacts world cultures.
  4. Hannibal: In this course, you'll study the life and archaeological trail of Hannibal.
  5. Modern Theoretical Physics: Learn about quantum entanglement and other theories of physics in this course.
  6. Ben Franklin and the World of Enlightenment: You'll get to learn about Benjamin Franklin's life and achievements, as well as how he affected and was affected by the Enlightenment.
  7. Straight Talk About Stem Cells: This course discusses the fundamentals of stem cell biology as well as its surrounding controversy.
  8. The Geography of World Cultures: Here you'll be able to explore locational dynamics and the way they affect languages, groupings, and religions.
  9. The Future of the Internet: This course discusses the issues of network neutrality and ownership on the Internet.
  10. The Literature of Crisis: Learn the art of living and take a look at the circumstances of existence through discussions on writers and thinkers including Socrates and Shakespeare.
  11. Historical Jesus: This course considers the historical evidence of Jesus against that of traditional Christianity.
  12. Virgil's Aeneid: Here you'll get an analysis of this work that is essential to the canon of Latin literature.
  13. Computer Systems Colloquium: In this podcast, you'll hear from guest lecturers that discuss topics like VoIP encryption, computer architecture, and balancing methods.



UC Berkeley




These courses from UC Berkeley are freshly completed from the Fall 2007 semester, and they should be available in full. Highlights include environmental studies and issues in new media.




  1. Foundations of American Cyber-Culture: This course takes a look at computers, new media, and the world wide web.
  2. General Biology: In this biology course, you'll cover cells, genetics, animal development, form, and function.
  3. The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs: This course offers an introduction to programming and computer science.
  4. Structure and Interpretation of Systems and Signals: Get a look at mathematical modeling of signals and systems in this engineering course.
  5. Crossroads of Earth Resources and Society: Check out this course to learn about the way geological processes intersect with American culture.
  6. Issues in Foreign Policy After 9/11: This course discusses international issues and events with relation to 9/11.
  7. Metal Cutting: Here you'll learn about processes, procedures, and theories of metal cutting.
  8. Juvenile Delinquency and Juvenile Justice: Listen to this podcast to hear about juvenile courts, theories of delinquency, and the justice system.
  9. Human Emotion: Consider emotion with evolutionary grounding as well as a social constructionist approach.
  10. Time, Money, and Love in the Age of Technology: In this course, you'll take a look at the meaning of life, visionary business, and going beyond being human.
  11. Earthquakes in Your Backyard: Learn about seismology, tectonics, and natural disasters throughout history.
  12. The Ancient Mediterranean World: This course discusses the history of ancient Mediterranean empires.
  13. Search Engines: Technology, Society, and Business: Consider search psychology, economics, spam, and other topics relating to Internet search engines with this course.
  14. Introduction to Human Nutrition: In this course, you'll get an overview of digestion and metabolism.



MIT




MIT's courses feature either audio or video, sometimes both, and are available as podcasts by department feeds.




  1. Aircraft Systems Engineering: This course offers a view of the aircraft as a whole system, with an experienced astronaut as well as a shuttle project manager as professors.
  2. Introduction to Biology: In these video lectures, you'll cover core biology material.
  3. Introduction to Psychology: Introduction to Psychology is presented as a series of audio lectures, with accompanying lecture notes.
  4. Neuroscience and Behavior: These audio lectures discuss neuronal integration, anatomy, and physiology.
  5. Brain Structure and its Origins: You'll learn about CNS structures in this series of audio lectures.
  6. Animal Behavior: Learn about adaptive behavior from animals with this audio lecture course.
  7. Principles of Chemical Science: In this introductory chemical course, presented in video, you'll take a look at basic principles.
  8. Principles of Chemical Science: These video lectures build upon the previous chemistry course, further emphasizing basic principles.
  9. Media, Education, and the Marketplace: This set of video lectures discusses using interactive media to enhance education.
  10. Circuits and Electronics: Get an introduction to electrical engineering with this video course.
  11. Introduction to Algorithms: Learn about techniques in design and analysis of algorithms with these video lectures.
  12. Principles of Digital Communication: In this course, you'll focus on coding techniques for the Shannon limit of AWGN channels.
  13. Introduction to Copyright Law: This course offers both an introduction to copyright law and general American law.
  14. Engineering Ethics: Learn all about the ethics and philosophy of engineering through the cases in this audio course.



Duke




Duke offers a wide variety of podcast courses, from Italian to discussions on Nintendo.




  1. Nintendo: A History of Innovation: This course discusses Nintendo and some of its more innovative creations.
  2. Documentary Research Methods: Consider the relationship between Duke and Durham with student research and community fieldwork from this course.
  3. Gli Immigrati: In this course, you'll take a look at the situation of immigration both in Italy and the US.
  4. Gli Sport: Gli Sport considers popular sports in Italy and America.
  5. Italiano 2.02: Una Guida: This course highlights some of the important things in US and Italian culture, like museums.
  6. Italiano 2.02: L'Italia: Take a look at Italian culture, including food, agriculture, and monuments.
  7. Italiano 1: Progetto Museo: Learn about the operas of Museo Nasher in this course.
  8. Game2Know Focus IDC: This course considers topics in online gaming and beyond.
  9. How They Got Game: How They Got Game discusses RPG, Atari, WoW, and different genres of gaming.
  10. Young Latino Immigrants & School: This course will put you face to face with children of migrant farm workers in North Carolina and discuss their educational aspirations.
  11. Italiano 1: Conversazioni: This conversational Italian course covers descriptions, sports, film, and pasta.
  12. Principles of Effective eCommerce: In Principles of Effective eCommerce, you'll take a look at important figures of the Internet, such as Tim O'Reilly and Jakob Nielsen.
  13. Nursing Informatics: This course delivers graduate level content in systems and management.
  14. Business Ethics: In this course, you'll learn about business ethics, specifically the difference between stakeholders and stockholders.



Harvard




Much of the media available from Harvard is presented as one full podcast, but we've hand picked a few of their courses and recurring series that you should look for.




  1. The City of Sardis: Approaches in Graphic Recording: Learn about the preservation and recreation of the ancient City of Sardis in this very detailed series.
  2. Human Systems Explorer: Available as video, this course looks at an interactive teaching tool that's used to teach pathophysiology.
  3. String Theory, Black Holes, and the Laws of Nature: These videos cover a beginning understanding of the basic laws of the universe.
  4. Women and War in the Twentieth Century: Consider the history of gender and war to get a better understanding of war itself with this series and tour of historical collections.
  5. Justice: This very popular course offers an introduction to moral and political philosophy, discussing great philosophers as well as debates on contemporary issues.
  6. 50 Years in Media: Changes in Journalism: You'll hear from eight panelists from the Harvard Class of 1955 as they discuss the changes journalism has experienced in the past 50 years.
  7. In the War Zone: How Does Gender Matter?: Here, you'll get access to discussions from a Harvard conference that considers gender and war.
  8. Interntional Relations: New Approaches in a Complex World: Take a look at important issues in international politics with this series.



Queen's University




This Canadian university offers a few iTunesU courses in engineering and social issues.




  1. ELEC 377: This core course for Computer Engineering covers basic concepts of operating systems.
  2. SOFT 423: You'll learn about advanced requirements in software engineering with this podcast.
  3. Ethnicity & Democratic Governance: This series discusses, globalization, democracies, social construction, and much more.



UCLA




UCLA has BruinCasts for a number of courses online. Many of them are restricted for student use only, but we've listed the ones that are publicly open for the current academic year here.




  1. Atmospheric and Oceanic Science: Take a look at atmospheric circulation and its relation to the oceans in this podcast.
  2. Spectacle Entertainments of Ancient Rome: Look back at some of the ways Romans entertained themselves with this course.
  3. Genetic Engineering in Medicine, Architecture, and Law: In this course, you'll learn about the way genetic engineering touches many facets of daily life.
  4. Genetics: This genetics course takes a look at a number of topics, from Mendelian genetics to gene structure and function.
  5. Politics and Strategy: Take a look at the use of strategy in politics with this podcast.
  6. Social Psychology: This course takes on psychology as it relates to social situations.
  7. Freshman Computer Science Seminar: You'll get an introduction to important topics and key ideas for computer science and engineering with this course.
  8. Money and Banking: Take a look at the principles of money and banking in the US, processes, monetary policy, and more with this Money and Banking podcast.
  9. Life: Concepts and Issues: This course offers an introduction to important concepts in life science, such as the evolution theory.
  10. Electoral Politics: Public Opinion and Voting Behavior: You'll learn about political attitudes and public opinion in this course.
  11. Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory: Take a look at various topics in behavioral neuroscience with this course designed for Phsychobiology and Psychology students.
  12. Art as Social Action: Learn how artists can spark social action in this world arts and cultures podcast.



University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine




UCSF's Office of Continuing Medical Education currently has podcasts available on the subjects of depression and obstetrics/gynecology.




  1. Depression: Psychiatric Pitfalls & Treatment: Consider the treatment of depression with this podcast course.
  2. Depression: Anxiety Disorders and Exercise: This course taks a look at the link between exercise and anxiety disorders.
  3. Depression: Differentiating Unipolar from Bipolar and Treating Dementia: You'll learn about assessment and treatment of a few different mental afflictions with this course.
  4. OBGYN: Women's Medicine: This course will teach you to consider obstetrics and gynecology with a woman in mind.
  5. OBGYN: High Risk Pregnancies: Take a look at some of the risk factors and treatments for troubling pregnancies in this course.
  6. OBGYN: Issues in Women's Health: This course will ask you to consider health issues for women that every OB/GYN needs to know.



University of Glasgow




The University of Glasgow has a handful of courses in podcast form, offering downloads through RSS as well as individually through their site.




  1. Kant: Take a look at A Priori, transcendental logic, and more in this course.
  2. 2D Digitisation: Learn about the importance and use of digitization in teaching and beyond through 2D Digitisation's 20-part lecture collection.
  3. Document Encoding: In this course, you'll learn about encoding standards, different types of text, and the examination of text.
  4. Consciousness: Listen to this course on consciousness, and you will get a look at the debate about consciousness in humans, animals, and machines.
  5. Heritage and Cultural Informatics: This course explores information technology as a way to improve access to cultural and natural heritage.



Yale




Yale offers a small sample of their courses online, with MP3 downloads for each session.




  1. Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics: This Yale podcast offers information on extra-solar planets, black holes, and dark energy.
  2. Modern Poetry: In Modern Poetry, you'll learn about major poets, concerns, and the characteristic techniques of modern poetry.
  3. Death: Face the inevitable with this course that explores death.
  4. Fundamentals of Physics: In this course, you'll get a good introduction to the principles and methods of physics.
  5. Introduction to Political Philosophy: Examine important thinkers and writings of Western politics in this course.
  6. Introduction to Psychology: Introduction to Psychology answers questions about the mind and provides an overview of the study of thought and behavior.
  7. Introduction to the Old Testament: This course discusses the Old Testament as it relates to religious life and Western Civilization.



More Courses




Learn even more from these podcast courses.




  1. Politique: Every week, you'll hear analysis on a new political subject in this course.
  2. Oxford Medieval English Lectures: Study Medieval English with some of Oxford's best in this podcast.
  3. Saviors: You'll learn about politics, economics, philosophy, and other news in this podcast.
  4. Controversy: Hear opposing views on science, politics, and more here.



This list is by no means all-inclusive. Although we've specifically highlighted a few iTunesU courses, there are a number of other schools that share lectures there and through the Higher Education portal as well. Additionally, you can visit Princeton's UChannel to access a huge collection of individual lectures and events from worldwide universities.

Should a Pastor take a day off (from Practical Shepherding Blog)

You can read the original post by clicking on the title below.


Should a pastor have a day off every week?

Here is my simple and straightforward answer…yes.  No caveats.  No disclaimers.   Just, yes.  Here are a few reasons I feel so strongly about this:
Sunday is a work day for a pastor.  I know it is the Lord’s Day.  I know some pastors are preaching on Sunday and some are not.  Regardless, while most are getting a break from their weekly grind on Sunday, the pastor is experiencing the pinnacle of it.  Sunday is a joyful day, but it is also an emotionally draining day and is far from being low-key and restful.
A pastor never really leaves work.  Regardless how we spend our evenings or how hard we try, the pastor never completely checks out.  Even if the phone does not ring or no one stops by, the sermon is still on the mind and heart, that elderly saint’s battle with cancer still weighs on the shoulders, and there just is not a clock we ever punch that magically causes us to forget about the burdens of caring for souls until 9:00 am the next morning.  Although the burdens never complete leave, a day where we can try to focus on our families and escape the daily grind is invaluable for our soul and long term ministry stamina.
A Pastor needs a weekly day where his family comes first and they know it.  There are many sacrifices and crosses to bear by the pastor’s family.  Because of this, taking a day when they know they will be “dad’s focus” helps them give dad up to the busyness of the other days. There are fewer effective ways to communicate your love for your family than for them to know there is a day for them, it is scheduled regularly, and regardless the craziness, it is coming soon.
One of the best decisions I have ever made for the benefit of my family and ministry has been to commit to a day off every week.  Only funerals, true emergencies, and a few other exceptions causes me to compromise it.
My day off is Friday because it fits best in our schedule.  Pick a day that works best for you and your family. The point is pick a day.  Let your family and church know when that will be and stick to it.   I still manage to work about 50-60 hours a week with a day off.  For that reason alone, I am so glad I take it.  My family looks forward to it.  Your family will too if you schedule it in your week and honor it.
Here  are a few other related posts:

Review of Vatican II

You can view the original post here.


Vatican II

Today (October 11) is the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council in 1962. Vatican II meant a lot of things to Roman Catholics on the ground (from changes in practices of fasting, to rumors that everything was about to blow wide open), but here is a theological overview of this epochal Roman Catholic event, as reported by Avery Dulles and Walter Kasper, according to me.
Vatican II is such a major event for Roman Catholicism that twentieth-century Catholic theology can be instructively viewed in two movements: first, leading up to the council, and then developing from it. The rise of the “nouvelle theologie” in France (the big names are de Lubac, Bouillard, Daniélou, Congar, Chenu, Montecheuil, Dubarle, and even Teilhard de Chardin) is exemplary of the form taken by theological progress in the first half of the century: it was deeply rooted in a historical recovery of the grand tradition (especially Thomas and the Fathers, including the Eastern Fathers), open to revising ingrained Neo-Scholastic assumptions, and under constant scrutiny from a suspicious magisterium (in fact the name “new theology” was given to the movement by opponents charging it with innovation).
Avery Dulles once offered a list of ten basic teachings of Vatican II, which he considered to be “obvious to anyone seeking an unprejudiced interpretation of the council.” (The Reshaping of Catholicism, San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1988, 19-33).
Aggiornamento. Translatable as updating, adaptation, or even modernization, John XXIII’s catchword seems specifically designed to counter the hostility and suspicion of all things modern which had become characteristic of recent Catholicism. The council expresses great respect for the truth and goodness that modernization has brought with it, including the new humanism. The church should keep pace with the times, in order to enrich itself and better understand the treasures of Christ.
Reformability of the Church. The church is to be understood as the biblical People of God, which, though always sealed by the covenant, is nevertheless sometimes unfaithful. Since the Reformation, the idea of church reform has been understandably suspect to Catholics, but Vatican II harkened back to the earlier tradition of admitting, confessing, and repenting of abuses. The term “sinful church” remains off limits and distasteful, but “church of sinners” is appropriate.
Renewed Attention to the Word of God. After a period of neglect in which the Bible seemed to be a remote source of doctrine, Dei Verbum recovered the primacy of Scripture. The two-source theory was set aside in favor of a view of the teaching office which is “not above the word of God, but serves it, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it faithfully (DV 10).” This constitution also recommended the use of Scripture to all of the faithful, and called for a renewal of scriptural preaching.
Collegiality. Without denying the primacy of the pope, Vatican II did much to take apart the rigid pyramidal structure of the church. The pope is the head of the college of bishops, where all power in the church resides. Individual bishops are now seen as pastors in their own right, and even referred to as “vicars of Christ” (LG 28). This collegiality is expressed in many new institutions: the worldwide synod of bishops, conferences, diocesan pastoral councils, priests’ senates, etc. The quest is for structures that do justice to both pastoral authority as well as the spirit-filled community; neither an army nor a New England town meeting is a proper model.
Religious Freedom. Each person has religious freedom, and the right and duty to follow conscience with regard to religious belief: that this principle was endorsed by Roman Catholicism at Vatican II was not something self-evident, and was largely due to the influence of John Courtney Murray, whose advocacy of a religiously neutral state had previously called his orthodoxy into question.
Active Role of the Laity. Catholic Action, between the two wars, had managed to involve elite members of the congregation in the affairs of the apostolate of the hierarchy, but Vatican II went further than this by teaching the laity has an active apostolate in its own right as baptized believers. This is not simply a division of labor (clergy have a churchly mission, laity a secular), but a call for lay action “in the Church and in the world, in both the spiritual and the temporal orders” (AA 5)
Regional and Local Variety. Instead of emphasizing the universal church, Vatican II conceived of the church as a communion of particular churches, each under a “vicar of Christ,” its own bishop (LG 23). Speaking specifically of the difference between East and West, Vatican II said that diversity of customs and observances is an enrichment and not an obstacle to unity (UR 16).
Ecumenism. Anathema yielded to dialogue as the Catholic Church began to recognize in other Christian churches marks of truth and salvation, and accorded these heritages due reverence. Formal reunion seems a remote possibility at best, but ecumenical dialogue has led to greater mutual understanding, respect, and solidarity.
Dialogue with Other Religions. A corresponding shift took place in the attitude toward other religions: holding mission and dialogue in dynamic tension (rather than the antithesis that is often portrayed), the council called for respectful and mutual relationships of learning from each other, as well as the abiding necessity of missionary work so that Christ may be acknowledged among all peoples. Special attention was given to Jewish-Christian relations.
Social Mission of the Church. Working toward a just social order, while it has been on the modern Catholic agenda since at least the social encyclicals of Leo XIII, had previously been based on adherence to natural law. With Vatican II, the apostolate of peace and social justice began to appear as part of the church’s mission to carry on the work of Christ himself. The preferential option for the poor has its roots in the theme of the church’s special solidarity with them, mentioned in GS 1.
Implementation and Interpretation of the Council: Walter Kasper has described three phases in the reception of the council (“The Continuing Challenge of the Second Vatican Council,” in Theology and Church(New York: Crossroad, 1992)). The first phase was exuberant celebration, especially on the part of those who had been longing for change: the council seemed to be a complete new beginning, the start of an ongoing conciliar revolution in the church. The doors seemed to be flung wide open, and new ideas were advanced “in the spirit of the council” which went further than the documents themselves (167).
Inevitably, the next phase was characterized by disappointment, as collegiality and communio did not characterize the church at all levels, or in the radical way that some observers hoped for. Also, influenced by the general change of atmosphere in the 1970s, the church seemed to experience an identity crisis, a diffusion of the specifically Catholic, and church attendance and religious vocation declined. Conservatives and progressives squared off over against each other.
The third phase was officially inaugurated on January 25, 1985, when John Paul II convened an extraordinary synod of bishops to discuss the reception and interpretation of the council, an official admission that implementing the council was a task yet to be accomplished.
One of the most important challenges in reaching this goal is developing a hermeneutic of the conciliar statements: how are we to read them? This is a thorny problem for three reasons: 1. Vatican II issued no condemnations, so its positive declarations cannot be sharpened by polemical definition. 2. John XXIII deliberately gave the council a pastoral tone, rather than a dogmatic or disciplinary/legal tone; pastoral statements are harder to interpret. 3. The documents contain purely formal compromises between conservative and progressive statements, which stand side by side and unreconciled. There is especially “a juxtaposition, a double viewpoint, a dialectic, if not actually a contradiction between two ecclesiologies” (170), the hierarchical and the communio model.
There is a kind of reversal in the constitution of the so-called progressive and conservative parties: the council’s “progressives” were in fact the representatives of the greater and wider tradition as oppposed to its levelling and simplification in neo-scholasticism, while the “conservatives” were mainly interested in upholding recent tradition, especially Vatican I. In this situation, Vatican II followed the standard conciliar method of reconciliation: it described the limits of the church’s position on either extreme, but did not generate a comprehensive theory to explain their unity. As usual, this theoretical mediation is the task of post-conciliar theology.
According to Kasper, this situation suggests four hermeneutical principles for the doctrinal statements: 1. the texts must be understood as a whole, with constitutive tensions. 2. The letter and spirit of the council must be understood as a unity. 3. The council must be viewed in light of the wider tradition, rather than as the watershed between an old church and a new church. 4. The continuity of what is Catholic is to be understood as a unity between tradition and a living, relevant interpretation in the light of the current situation (171-2).

A Biblical Chronology from Abraham to Paul


A Biblical Chronology from Abraham to Paul

I’m not aware of any recent book that attempts to do what Andrew Steinmann(professor of theology and Hebrew at Concordia University, Chicago) has done with his new book: From Abraham to Paul: A Biblical Chronology (Concordia Publishing House, 2011). In fact, Eugene Merrill says that “this meticulous and magnificent [work is an] addition to (indeed, replacement of) such magisterial works on biblical chronology as those by Edwin Thiele and Jack Finegan.”
You can download a 48-page excerpt from the book here. You can also see his basicNTChronology and OT Chronology online.
Nicholas Perrin (Franklin S. Dyrness Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College Graduate School) writes in the foreword:
Andrew E. Steinmann’s From Abraham to Paul . . . is a book which should have been written decades ago. Here’s why. Steinmann not only assumes quite rightly that history matters, but he also shows two things about biblical history.
First, he shows that in many cases with a little scholarly spadework we can have a pretty good idea as to when key events took place, events like the life of Abraham, the Conquest of the Promised Land, the birth of Jesus, or Paul’s Second Missionary Journey. These events are not the yarn of legend: on the contrary, there is every good intellectually-compelling reason to accept them as history, history that really happened in time and space. . . .
The second thing Steinmann shows about history and this is no less important is its complexity. Some of the questions which the book takes up are thorny questions indeed, having provoked lots of black ink and fiery debate along the way. The author’s approach is never polemical, but always clear; the positions taken are not necessarily always the standard positions, but they are always defended from the evidence. Indeed, it is precisely this quality that makes the book such a delight to read. . . .
We should be grateful for books like this. We should be grateful, because God made history and history matters. Apart from the conviction that our faith is a historical faith, we are left only to cast about. But, when we are fully persuaded that sacred history meshes with the history in which we live and move and have our being, that is when biblical faith becomes a real possibility. Likewise, every intellectually serious reader of the Bible (pious or not so pious) will learn to think twice before allowing himself or herself to be bullied (happily or anxiously) by the skeptics. True, there is so much we don’t know. But, by the same token, there is much we can know and know with some confidence.

Don Carson on How could a Good God allow suffering: Audio

Autumn Photographs from the Atlantic

A selection of photos from the Autumn section of the Atlantic photo blog. You can see all 30 here.



Sunday 9 October 2011

Steve Jobs & his legacy: Audio & Video (English Teaching)

A collection of videos and audio from the BBC and the Economist looking at Steve Jobs' life and influence on the world.

BBC video on his life.
BBC Video of his product launches

Economist Audio:

After his announcement that he was stepping down as CEO.



After his death looking at his legacy.



Here's a link to the print version of the article

Video: A collection of the full versions of Steve Job's Product Launches.