Gorbal Warning

If you haven't heard anything about Al Gore and global warming, then you must have been under a rock somewhere. The media love promoting this guy, his movie, and now his Nobel Prize. Of course, you have to be a little skeptical about this whole thing. We are now getting climate lessons from the guy who "invented the internet". It's amazing to me how much Kool-Aid the public will drink without even thinking about it. I mean, how many times does the New York Times have to lie and involve itself in so many scandals before it loses it's integrity? I guess that just continues to prove that people don't really care to know the truth, just what they want to hear.

Here are a few quotes posted by Tim Blair on the topic of Al Gore.

"Al “No Errors” Gore in that perfectly accurate
movie of his: We can’t sell our cars in China today because we don’t
meet the Chinese emissions standards. The US has been selling cars in China for years. And now: General Motors Corporation and its Shanghai General Motors joint venture have signed a multi-year agreement, worth more than US$800 million, to export American-built Buick Enclave SUVs and other vehicles and components to China, beginning in 2008. The Enclave is built in Lansing, Michigan ... The Buick agreement is the second of two China export agreements signed by GM this year; in May, the company signed a deal to export US$700 million worth of Cadillacs and components to China from the U.S. Let’s hope they continue to meet China’s strict emissions standards. "

In addition, here is a quote from a great article by Mark Steyn on this topic. Mark is intelligence with comedy and you need to read his stuff. If nothing else, he will make you laugh!

"A schoolkid in Ontario was complaining the other day that, whatever subject you do, you have to sit through Gore’s movie: It turns up in biology class, in geography, in physics, in history, in English.
Whatever you’re studying, it’s all you need to know. It fulfils the same role in the schoolhouses of the guilt-ridden developed world that the Koran does in Pakistani madrassas. "

As Tim Blair said, "In the West, we study the Goran"

On the Existence of God

Here is an interesting article I came across today about a recent debate over the existence of God between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox. If you know anything about Richard Dawkins, he is a professor at Oxford who is an atheist that has written several books trying to disprove God's existence. His most recent work is entitled, The God Delusion. He is the master of the straw man and ad hominem fallacies. He likes to just name-call and try to belittle those of faith, especially Christians. I thought this little article was well written, but since it mentions my seminary, as well as its great Apologetics conference, I thought I would give it props by posting it here. Enjoy!

Concert Review: Matt Wertz and Dave Barnes

Okay, so last Friday night, I took the fiancée to see a guy whose music I really like, Matt Wertz. Also, we really like a couple of songs by Dave Barnes so I knew it wasn't going to be hard to get her to go. First of all, let me just say that this picture isn't the "official" tour poster for this one. I couldn't find one so I just posted this one up. Okay, so enough about the introductory things, here is what I thought about the concert.

My overall impression (and that of my fiancée) was that it was a great show. If you have never been to a Matt Wertz show (this was my first time seeing Dave Barnes), then you really need to go check him (and now "them") out. Of course, only if you like their music. I don't go to many concerts and the ones that I enjoy the most are the ones where there isn't a lot of smoke and video hi-tec stuff. (Think U2, though I might be one of the few people in this world that doesn't think they are the best band EVER!) Don't get me wrong, I like a good technological display as much as the next guy. I too like to be spellbound and standing in awe like anyone else (think green martians in Toy Story). However, I just don't pay money for those shows. I just like the sit-down shows where you can enjoy the music. Okay, I just found a rabbit trail so I'm going down it for a bit. Here is something I just don't get at all. Why do people go to a concert and then TALK THE WHOLE TIME!!!! You might wonder from where this temporal rage came, but yes, it happened at this particular concert. Isn't the point of paying money to go see someone play music is to actually hear them play music? I mean, if you want to hang out with your friends or hit on some girls, then do it outside or go somewhere else. Okay, my rant is over.

We had great seats at this concert, which was on an elevated part to the left of the stage (stage right). The venue was smaller so it worked out great. I've been listening to Matt Wertz since he was an unknown guy doing the YoungLife circuit. I really like all of Matt Wertz' music and he always puts on a great show. The thing I loved about this show is that they would each play a few of their own songs (backing up and playing for the other one) and then alternate to sing the other person's songs. They are both funny guys who get a little crazy on stage, but they keep it fun. I am pretty skeptical of people who try to be funny, but they pull it off. The best part of the show (for me) was towards the end when it was just the two of them with their acoustic guitars, singing and playing together on their ballads. Of course, the best was when Dave Barnes played, "Nothing Fancy" and "On a Night Like This" which are two of my fiancées and I's favorite love songs. As expected, they came out and did an encore which was demanded by the crowd. They did a great job by playing "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by The Police and "Here I Am Baby. Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours". (Don't know the real name).

Overall, this was a great show and everything I had expected going into it. This concert was the third time I had seen Matt Wertz and he delivered once again. My first time seeing Dave Barnes was great too because he has a little different sound then Matt, but great to see "live". If you haven't seen either one of these guys in concert, then I would go to their website and see if they are coming to a town near you. If you like their music, you will love the show!

The World We Live In

Here is a quote by C.S. Lewis from the book, C.S. Lewis's Case For Christ by Art Lindsley:

"It is not a theory they put into his [a student's] mind but an assumption, which ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never recognized as a controversy at all."

I found this quote to be extremely interesting and believe it to be very true, especially in regards to modern day in the classroom, media, and a society that just wants to "get along". If you look at how ideas in society are taught to us, Lewis is absolutely correct in that they don't just come out and teach it to us in order for us to learn it. It is taught through assumption, wherether in a media report, a television show, movie, or song. The other popular tactic today is used by many of the liberal persuasion...the name-calling tactic. You know, where you scare people into thinking a certain way because you have called them a name like homophobe or racist or hate speech or the worst one of all (hold on to your hat) ... fundamentalist (bum, bum, bum) As we continue to hear certain ideas and positions over and over, we suddenly start believing them and affirming it without really knowing how we came to that point.

I don't watch that many movies these days. No, I'm not a holyroller who believes that movies are evil and we should shun any and all forms of entertainment. I enjoy a good movie just like the next guy (or gal or should I say "person"? This little example is exactly my point!) Anyway, the reason I don't go to movies very much is that we have too many people trying to shove their ideas and worldviews down our throat. I almost get physically nauseated by the political correctness in our society. (Please no mental images!) Movies are a great vehicle by which we can share creativeness and stories. However, I want to be entertained...not taught. I want to watch a movie so I can forget about the world around me and enjoy myself. I don't want to watch a movie and then have it tied nicely in a bow with some cheesy message about how evil I am and that I just need to get along with everyone. The same thing with a TV show.

Does anyone else feel like they are constantly walking on eggshells because you might do the unpardonable sin of hurting someones feelings. I like people who shoot it straight and don't beat around the bush. I'm white...not caucasion or Anglo. At this moment, I'm not musically challenged, I just suck at playing the guitar or any instrument. That's why I love the British. Have you ever been to the United Kingdom and just talked to normal people? I mean, they are almost worse at this political correctness stuff than we Yanks, but that's just because they are afraid of the Muslims. Yet, on the day-to-day stuff, they are pretty straight forward. Or how about those in Latin America? When I travel down to Ecuador, my friends are quick to point out down there how much I have changed. They don't say, "You know, you might have a thyroid issue or a horizontal problem". No, they just tell me I'm fat. Of course, you never take their word for it because I usually weigh the same as I did the last time I was there. I think most people today just want people to tell it to them straight. However, we have been so programmed through culture, society, and various forms of media that we need to be careful what we say and how we say it. Language is robbed of its beauty and effectiveness. By the way, does anyone else out there hate the word, bling? It's not bling, it's jewelry! Or the phrase, All up in my grill? No, that's my face! Sorry, I got sidetracked. Back to my point. All of this goes back to our humanistic culture where "Me" is at the center of everything.

The really sad part is that this political correctness has infiltrated our churches. Instead of preaching the Word of God, proclaiming right from wrong, and the essence of salvation, we have thrown out the Bible and claim that what was written in there is outdated and directed towards a first-century audience. Since we don't want to hurt anyone, we throw out all that stuff about judgment and hell because certainly a loving God wouldn't do that to people. Of course, if you read Rob Bell then you would know that hell is really when you don't live in the way of God. I guess that's what all those biblical images of hell must have been describing. When I don't recycle or transform this planet into God's home. Don't you love when people just pick one attribute about God and make it seem that that is the only one that He is? The popular one now is LOVE. We tend to forget that God is JUST and that His justice must be satisfied or else He wouldn't be just. Yet, it all goes back to our culture defining Christianity instead of God defining how we should live.

DISCLAIMER: Now, let me just say a few final things here. As Ross King likes to say, please understand what I AM saying and what I am NOT saying. I'm not saying that we should walk around being completely honest to the point where we offend them or be mean to them or treat them in any way that is not Christ-like. God is love and we do need to show His love to those around us. However, there are times when we need to just be honest and shoot it straight with people like John the Baptist did. I'm sure it hurt Herod's feelings when he told him he was living in sin, but it didn't change the truth. I'm not advocating that we walk around with a bullhorn and condemn the world to hell. That isn't very effective and we need to speak the truth in love. Let's just be honest!

Also, concerning anyone I quote on here or post on here, it doesn't mean that I agree with 100% of what they say, believe or do. I don't agree with everything that C.S. Lewis taught or wrote, but I do agree with a lot of it. I think he was a brilliant man who had some great insight and defenses of the Christian faith. Please do not label me something I'm not. Despite our societies belief that, "What's true for you is not true for me", you don't have your own interpretation into this matter. If you want to know what I believe or think, then just ask. So put your pocket-sized Derrida away and stop trying to deconstruct it. I mean what I say and you don't have the right for your own interpretation of it. I think that goes for the Bible too!

Buy Yours Today!!!

This picture really speaks for itself. I wrestled with even writing anything after it, but I just couldn't refuse. Here are some thoughts: Can I get an Amen!!! or Hallelujah!!!! ? I don't know about you, but I am so thrilled that I am alive just in time to actually find out the secret message of Jesus. I feel so sorry for all those fools throughout history (including the Church fathers) for having believed something that was wrong. I do know that I need to take another trip up to the northeast of the US of A. There must be something especially divine in the water up there. Apparently, it is only up there where God speaks to certain men in order to clarify and give the correct gospel. Right, Joseph Smith? That's why everyone needs to go out and buy one of these decoder rings in order to truly understand what Jesus was trying to teach us. I'm thinking the movie National Treasure is a better depiction of the gospel than The Passion. Forget all that baloney about "justification by grace through faith, the free gift of salvation, Christ being a substitutionary sacrifice for…sin” (p. 91) Don't you know that God just wants us to save the planet? Cheers, Al! I mean, it's not as if God is sovereign or anything. So next time you want to be truly spiritual, drop the whole "sin and salvation" act in your witnessing and just carry your own bag to the grocery store. No need to waste paper or pollute with plastic! I'm a history buff so this little fact just lit my fire. I never knew the Romans were such polluters of the earth. I mean, why else would they have killed the disciples and early Christians? They were just trying to make the empire sparkle just that much more! Hear that, Nero? I guess we should also ignore the Second Law of Thermodynamics. What universe running out of energy? Isn't this whole thing eternal? What's that, Bertrand Russell?

As you contemplate your new spiritual journey and living out the true gospel according to McLaren (oops, I mean Jesus), you might wonder whose example you should follow. Peter? Nah. Paul? Nope. John the Beloved? Not quite. You should probably look at these cats...Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela (p. 78, 125, 169). I know where I'm headed. Drop that ring and Bible and just head to the bookstore for a good biography! By the way, when you are in heaven sitting at the table feast with God, just remember to pat Muhammed, Krishna, Buddha, and all their fellow followers. According to our "Secret Agent Man", they will be there too...as long as they recycled and dropped a few coins in the poor box. Have you ever heard Aristotle's definition of "nothing"...what rocks dream about? I have another shout out to all those "dreamers" among us...excuse me MLK...do you know what God dreams about? Apparently, an earth where he can feel at home. He must have been feeling like the prodigal son for all of these years being outside of time and space without the world he created. Do you think THAT could be the secret message of the Prodigal Son? Let me check my ring!!! Apparently Tolkien was on to something there with that whole "Ring" thing. Perhaps Yahweh feels at home on that kind of earth because he used to be a man on another planet earth? Oh, excuse me Joseph Smith, we seem to have bumped into each other again.

So go get your decoder ring and find out all the secret messages that everyone throughout the centuries has gotten wrong and start living that missional life. Oh, and by the way, make sure you check your brain at the door before you drink the Kool-Aid!

On Truth: The State We Find Ourselves

Last week, I went to the Wednesday night service here at

church. The past few weeks we have had a gentleman holding the seminar, "Walk Through The Bible" and he is going through the Old Testament. I knew what was coming even as I approached the door to the sanctuary. I'm usually not the type that likes to get too active during church services or even draw any attention to myself whatsoever. I usually try to find out where the spotlight is and then run the other way. However, my fiancée loves doing that stuff and really wanted to go to the service. Being the ever-loving and supportive companion that I am, I swallowed my natural instinct and sweatiness, and joined her in the service. For those of you who have never been through one of these seminars, they basically take you through the Old Testament and help you remember everything by getting you to do hand motions, etc. However, even though I didn't really enjoy it myself that much, God spoke to me as we went back over those rich stories found in the Hebrew scriptures.

The very last verse in the book of Judges reads, "...everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25) As the speaker went over that verse, it hit me that not much has changed in the thousands of years since those words were penned. I don't think I need to explain this point in any great length for the average Christian (and maybe some non-Christians) to realize and agree that that is exactly where we find ourselves today. Everyone in our society thinks they can do whatever they want and it is no one else's business. Even more so, you certainly can't say that anything is right or wrong because that might be....(now brace yourself).....judging!!! (no pun intended with the aforementioned verse! Also, I won't delve into the self-defeating nature of these statements either at this time). However, everything is boiled down to preferences. The individual is the only person who determines what is right or wrong. It basically comes down to whether something "works" or not.

The bad part is that this cultural obsession has infiltrated the church. Isn't it interesting that when people want to do what they want, believe what they want, and say what they want, they remove the "standard" by which to determine whether it is right or wrong? It is this outside moral standard that played a major role in C.S. Lewis coming to Christ. He complained that there couldn't be a God since there was so much evil in the world. (A common objective, even today, by many atheists, naturalists, etc). However, Lewis realized that he couldn't know that anything was evil unless he knew what was good. The only way to determine either was to appeal to an outside, objective standard. In secular society, the "standard" that has been removed is God. Take God out of the equation and no one can tell you that something is wrong..it is just a matter of their personal taste. In the Christian world, God would never be removed (for obvious logical purposes), but the Word of God is pushed aside or minimalized or said to be a "human product" in order to develop and push new ideas, pseudo-theologies, etc. Once you remove the standard (truth), then you can make any claim you want. This problem is exactly what is occurring in many emerging churches. I won't dig deep into this area right now because there is much to be said. Yet, I just find it interesting how ineffective the Church has become in modern society. It reminds me of a song by Ross King where he says, "Washing water down the Gospel until its nice and clean." We have tried in various ways to water down the Gospel in order to make it more palatable for non-Christians, whether we make it seeker-friendly, promise them wealth and health, build cool youth buildings to lure them in, or the latest version of transforming the gospel into what we like and totally something different in order to reach a postmodern audience. Yet when they see that new version of Christianity, they notice very little difference between that and what they are doing now. It is just easier to remain where they are because they can continue to do what they want and not have the guilty baggage to go with it.

On Truth

In the future, I will be posting quite a bit on truth. One of the most foundational aspects of the Christian faith is the view of truth. In our society today, the belief that truth is relative and subjective has infiltrated to the deepest fabric of our thinking. It is sad to see it taking such a prominent place in the thinking of our leaders and those who are pushing it to captive minds in universities all over the country. If it is disheartening to see it pushed throughout secular society, it is even more alarming and frightening to see it within contemporary Christian churches. However, it many churches today, the idea that truth is absolute (applies to everyone, everywhere, and at all times) has crumbled under the weight of modern philosophy. Instead of using the word of God as the guide by which we should live our lives, modern church leaders are trying to mold and make the gospel palatable to a postmodern generation. It is on this topic that I will be posting various observations on what I believe is the danger that faces the church today and the errors I see in not only their methodology, but also the internal contradictions that cause it to crumble under its own weight.