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Kenneth Taylor, b. May 8, 1917, d. June 10, 2005

Jun11

Kenneth Taylor, author of The Living Bible, died yesterday.

The Living Bible has been criticized for its inaccuracy as a paraphrase rather than a translation, but my green padded Living Bible was precious to me. I wrote in it, actually read it, and memorized from it. If there are mistakes in translation, as I’m sure there are, the Holy Spirit was nevertheless able to apply the Scriptures to my life as a teenager as I studied Kenneth Taylor’s readable, accessible paraphrase of the Word of God.

Kenneth Taylor had 10 children, 28 grandchildren, and 22 great-grandchildren. What a legacy!

God bless him and his family.

King James Bible Published

May2

King James I of England established a committee of scholars to produce a new translation of the Bible in English. The Authorized or King James version of the Bible was published on May 2, 1611. The poetry of the KJV has yet to be equalled in any other English translation, IMHO. The Psalms especially are a masterpiece of poetic translation.

1 The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof;
the world, and they that dwell therein.
2 For he hath founded it upon the seas,
and established it upon the floods.
3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who shall stand in his holy place?
4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart;
who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive the blessing from the LORD,
and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation of them that seek him,
that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts,
he is the King of glory.

Wht ringing phrases! I read the NIV most of the time, but there is a a sound and a comfort and an earthiness to the KJV that isn’t in the more prosaic modern translations.

Cafes, Cathedrals and Communities

Apr4

Cafes and cathedrals are both very good things and have their places within communities. But somehow I think that “cathedral thinking” in this century requires us to consider a vision that is both bigger than a simple cafe and smaller than a city-of-God-type cathedral. We need to be building communities. My problem is that I don’t really know how to go about doing such a thing. I do have several models and threads of ideas from various sources:

1. The mega-churches aren’t all bad, after all. Build a place that becomes a community center, a place for people to come and exercise, study, have lunch, do crafts, and worship. The problem with these mega-church buildings is that the (relatively) rich people who build them sometimes feel such a sense of ownership that the “riff-raff” are discouraged from attending the church or using the building or becoming part of the community. So we need a central space/building that is dedicated to God by the entire community.

2. The Highlands Study Center isn’t a mega-church with a huge multi-purpose building, but they are a group of Presbyterians who are building a community similar to what I have in mind.

The Highlands Study Center exists to help Christians live more simple, separate, and deliberate lives to the glory of God and for the building of His kingdom. And that’s a big job, one done not simply, but deliberately. As a ministry of Saint Peter Presbyterian Church, we stand with the Westminster Standards. Our hope is to help Reformed believers apply those principles to the way we live our lives. To that end we have a number of different ministries.

I doubt if I’m reformed enough or theologically erudite enough for them, but the idea of a community of mostly homeschooling families gathered around a church and study center is appealing. Somehow I still want to add in the outreach and evangelism component of Catez’s Open Late Cafe.

3. In her book The Severed Wasp, Madeleine L’Engle creates a Christian community that revolves around life at a fictional New York Episcopal Cathedral. The setting is based on Ms. L’Engle’s real-life experiences as volunteer librarian and writer-in-residence at the Epsicopal Cathedral of St. John Divine in New York City. Norma at Collecting My Thoughts wrote last year about her Lutheran church and its many ministries, including a Visual Arts Ministry which showcases various artists including, but not limited to, church members. Our churches and cathedrals and communities should be places for artists and poets and writers-in-residence and architects and musicians to work and worship and follow God’s calling in their lives.

4. L’abri Fellowship in its various forms and locations is another model for what I’m trying to articulate.

L’Abri is a French word that means shelter. The first L’Abri community was founded in Switzerland in 1955 by Dr. Francis Schaeffer and his wife, Edith. Dr. Schaeffer was a Christian theologian and philosopher who also authored a number of books on theology, philosophy, general culture and the arts.
The L’Abri communities are study centers in Europe, Asia and America where individuals have the opportunity to seek answers to honest questions about God and the significance of human life. L’Abri believes that Christianity speaks to all aspects of life.

5. Another model is the Celtic monastery that I wrote about here.

6. Our homeschool co-op, called REACH, is yet another example of intentional Christian community that reaches across denominational lines. We have about 100 families participating in a co-op in which mostly moms teach children from babies to high schoolers on Firday mornings. All the moms teach or help in some way; we use the facilities at a large Baptist church. We are not a church, but we have learned to care for one another in a way similar to the way a church cares for its members. And we call on the gifts of each co-op member in a way that parallels the way the great cathedrals were built. To teach our children we need mathematicians and scientists and crafters and artists and nurturers and organizers and bloggers and readers. We all work together to build and maintain an organization that we hope will help educate the children and bring glory to God.

Study and evangelism and the arts and worship and families and churches and libraries and other institutions with actual buildings—I think we should be building all of these things to the glory of God. I would like to see these things built together as a Living Cathedral that forms a vibrant Christian community. I don’t know how you organize such a vision and bring it to fruition without the huge institutional support from the Catholic Church that was in place already during the Middle Ages. I guess what I’m seeing are many scattered communities-in-the-making and ministries and churches with a bit of vision for this or that piece of the Living Cathedral I’m envisioning, but nothing to bring it all together in any one place and make something that would glorify God and draw men to Him for generations to come.
Maybe you start small and trust the Holy Spirit to bring things together into a unified whole in His own time.

The Ministry of Keith Green

Feb12

When I was a young adult and I listened to CCM, it was mostly Amy Grant and Keith Green. And Keith Green was the best. He was also, as far as I could tell, real. Christian musicians are almost required to say that they sing in order to minister to other Christians and to the lost. Keith Green said:

The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant,” is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister’s most important goal!

The difference is that he seemed to mean it. He and his wife Melody opened their home to the homeless and to those who were spiritual seekers. After his recordings became popular, he tried out a controversial experiment of giving his albums away in return for whatever one could or would give. (I remember ordering the album So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt and praying over what payment I should send in return.) Keith Green and two of his four small children died in a plane crash on July 28, 1982 (my birthday), not long after I had seen him in concert in Abilene where I was going to school. I believe these lyrics were his prayer, and his music is still influencing Christians and others today.

Make my life a prayer to You,
I want to do what you want me to,
No empty words and no white lies,
No token prayers, no compromise,

I want to shine the light you gave,
Through Your Son, you sent to save us,
From ourselves and our despair,
It comforts me to know you’re really there.

Oh, I want to thank you now, for being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see, when my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again, coming to take me away,
I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might live,
And share the hope you gave to me,
The love that set me free,

I want to tell the world out there,
You’re not some fable or fairy tail,
That I made up inside my head,
You’re God, The Son, you’ve risen from the dead.
Oh, I want to thank you now,
For being patient with me,
Oh, it’s so hard to see,
When my eyes are on me,
I guess I’ll have to trust,
and just believe what you say,
Oh, you’re coming again,
Coming to take me away.

I want to die, and let you give,
Your life to me, so I might give,
And share the hope you gave to me,
I want to share the love that set me free.

copyright Sparrow Records

25 Most Influential Evangelicals

Feb2

I was standing in line at the grocery store today, and I noticed the Time magazine cover story: 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. Here’s the Time magazine list with my comments in parentheses:
Howard & Roberta Ahmanson: The Financiers (Maybe so, but I’ve never heard of them. Maybe they’re the stealth financiers, or maybe I’m just not well-versed in the world of finance.)
David Barton: The Lesson Planner
Doug Coe: The Stealth Persuader
Chuck Colson: Reborn and Rehabilitated
Luis Cortes: Bringing Latinos To the Table (I’ve never heard of him either, but it sounds as if he’s doing great work.)
James Dobson: The Culture Warrior
Stuart Epperson: A High-Fidelity Messenger (Name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Michael Gerson : The President’s Spiritual Scribe
Billy & Franklin Graham: Father and Son In the Spirit
Ted Haggard: Opening Up the Umbrella Group (Who? Oh, the NAE guy.)
Bill Hybels: Pioneering Mass Appeal
T.D. Jakes: The Pentecostal Media Mogul (I think he’s got some doctrinal problems, but he seems like a well-meaning guy.)
Diane Knippers: A Think Tank With Firepower (Again the name sounds vaguely familiar.)
Tim & Beverly LaHaye: The Christian Power Couple
Richard Land: God’s Lobbyist
Brian McLaren: Paradigm Shifter (I hear he’s some pomo guy. Is he any good?)
Joyce Meyer: A Feminine Side Of Evangelism ( Can anyone say “prosperity gospel”? I ‘m thankful Time left most of the prosperity gospel people off this list even though some of them are quite influential. Maybe their influence is declining. We can only hope.)
Richard John Neuhaus: Bushism Made Catholic ( A great thinker, but he’s Catholic, not evangelical.)
Mark Noll: The Intellectual Exemplar
J.I. Packer: Theological Traffic Cop
Rick Santorum: The Point Man On Capitol Hill (According to Hugh Hewitt, he’s also Catholic. Great senator. I wish he were mine.)
Jay Sekulow: The Almighty’s Attorney-at-Law
Stephen Strang: Keeper of “The Faith” (Yet another vaguely familiar name.)
Rick Warren: America’s New People’s Pastor
Ralph Winter: A Global Mission (Who?)

First of all, such a list depends on the question you’re asking in the first place. Which evangelicals are influencing politics and the culture at large? Or which evangelicals have great influence among evangelicals and are beginning to influence the culture at large? Here’s my list of “evangelical influencers.” the names I hear among evangelicals every Sunday (and during the week):
1. Rick Warren,. Yes, Saddleback and Willow Creek have been tremendously influential, for better or for worse, and now The Purpose Driven Life is literally everywhere. Unlike some reformed kibbitzers, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The book presents the gospel and preaches to our me-centered culture that “it’s not about you.” So what if it’s not a full course in reformed or even Baptist theology.
2. Jay Sekulow. Yes, he’s helped evangelicals to see that they too can use the court system to win some victories.
3. JI Packer. He’s the “old man” whose wisdom is still influencing evangelicals through his book Knowing God and through his other writing.
4. Mark Noll. Yes, his book The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind gave a lot of people food for thought and started a push toward evangelical scholarship that is being carried on at schools like Baylor University and Wheaton and Biola, to name a few. I hope.
5. Richard Land. Politically very influential, and he influences other evangelicals’ political opinions.
6. Tim and Beverly LaHaye. Unfortunately, I think LaHaye has been tremendously influential. I don’t agree with his eschatology, and I’m not sure about his theology. But he is influential, no doubt.
7. Bill Hybels. Ditto Rick Warren without the best-selling book.
8. Billy and Franklin Graham. Of course. Franklin is carrying “compassionate conservatism” around the world through Samaritan’s Purse.
9. Michael Gerson. The president’s speech writer. Of course.
10. James Dobson. If these were listed in order of influence, Dobson would probably be number one. I hope he will tone down the “you owe us” rhetoric with President Bush, but as far as his radio program and the information that FoF gives out, I have few problems. And most evangelicals have even fewer than I do.
11. Chuck Colson. Yes, I see him as a man who struggles with power and the pride that is power’s accompanying temptation, but nevertheless has used his influence to do a great deal of good in the prisons, in the world, Sudan in particular, and in calling evangelicals to think about worldview and apologetics.
12. Doug Coe. I don’t know much about him, but I’m willing to go along with Time and say that he probably does have a great deal of influence in Washington evangelical power circles.
13. David Barton. I can’t believe Time came up with this name, but I agree he’s tremendously popular among evangelicals, particularly my particular sub-sub-culture, evangelical homeschoolers.
So, my list overlaps Time magazine by about half of the names. Who would I add to replace the ones I dropped?
14. D. James Kennedy. He’s still around as far as I know, still active in politics and in Evangelism Explosion, argueably the most popular tool for evangelism among evangelical churches.
15. R.C. Sproul. He has been an influence on Chuck Colson and also on many, many evangelicalswho have heard his radio program or read his books.
16. Tony Evans. Dr. Dobson sort of sponsored him several years ago, but now he’s made a name for himself with, again, books and a radio program. He’s a good preacher.
17. Ted Baehr. Editor of Movieguide a guide to popular movies from a Christian point of view.
18. Mike Farris. Former president of Homeschol Legal Defense Association and tremendously influential in that sub-sub culture I mentioned above. He’s controversial even among homeschoolers, but definitely influential. He is now president of Patrick Henry College, a colege that was designed with Christian homeschoolers in mind
19. Tony Campolo. He’s a little on the liberal side, politically speaking, which means he speaks to all those “other” evangelicals who aren’t political conservatives. Actually, there are a lot of those guys, even if the MSM seems to classify all evangelicals into one political party.
20. Marvin Olasky. Editor of World magazine and architect of the idea of “compassionate conservatism.”
21. George Barna. “Barna . . . is to evangelicals what George Gallup is to the larger culture. Pastors frequently cite his statistical findings in sermons, and his many books about church ministry sell consistently.”
22. Rich Stearns. President of World Vision. i don’t know much about the man, but I surely do hear about the organization almost daily on Christian radio, in magazines, etc.
23. Phillip Johnson. Author of Darwin On Trial and spokesman for the Intelligent Design movement.
24. Ravi Zacharius. Christian apologist and leader. He has recently made an attempt to reach out to Mormons.
25. George W. Bush. He’s certainly an influential evangelical.

I’m not saying my list is better than Time’s list. I just know about the influence of the people on my list, whereas I’m just now hearing about some of the people on the Time list. There are also a lot of “second tier” leaders who may become the really influential people in the future, at least within evangelicalism: Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, Henry Blackaby, Douglas Wilson, Gary Bauer, Nancy Pearcey. Whom do you see influencing the evangelicals and the culture around you?

Feast of the Baptism of Jesus

Jan13

Theophany: [n] a visible (but not necessarily material) manifestation of a deity to a human person

Orthodox Christians call the event of Jesus’ baptism Theophany because God appeared in Three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Catholic Christians celebrate the feast to remind themselves of their own baptism and the vows made at that baptism. I thought this was a meaningful prayer for all who have been baptized into Christ, even though I hold to believers’ baptism rather than infant baptism.

Almighty, eternal God, when the Spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan, you revealed him as your own beloved Son. Keep us, your children born of water and the Spirit, faithful to our calling. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

See Matthew 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, Luke 3:21-22, and John 1:39-34 for accounts of Jesus’ baptism.

Holy Days and Holidays

Jan9

We are not Catholic. We are Southern Baptists who recently joined an Evangelical Free Church. I was raised in a church that did not celebrate any holidays except for Christmas and Easter. However, a long time ago I read two books by Martha Zimmerman, Celebrate the Feasts and Celebrating the Christian Year. These books changed my whole perspective on holidays and celebrations. Jewish holy days were meant to be teaching times, reminders of what God did for the nation Israel and of his continuing mercy, and the Christian liturgical year and the holy days celebrated in connection with that calendar were instituted for the same purpose. I love celebrating and remembering amd learning, and I don’t mind borrowing from the Jewish calendar or from the Catholic or mainline Protestant liturgical calendar to do so. I believe God can use these special days to remind me of his everlasting goodness. So this year I added both Jewish holy days and Christian liturgical feasts and holy days to my iCal calendar And I’ll be sharing some of those with my blog readers–in addition to authors’ birthdays which I see as more occasions for celebration and remembrance. We can celebrate The Great Story, as C.S. Lewis called it, and the many stories that are pale reflections, but nevertheless reflections, of the creative power of the Living God. And it behooves us to learn to celebrate and remember for that is what we are called to do for all eternity as Christians at the Great Banquet of our Lord.

Communicating Christmas

Dec12

I wrote this short piece for an Advent devotional booklet that my church printed several years ago:

Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:6

I used to read my second grade classes the story by Laura Ingalls Wilder, “Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus.” The story describes Laura’s and Mary’s Christmas gifts in these words:

“They never even thought of such a thing as having a penny. Think of having a whole penny for your very own. Think of having a cup and a cake and a stick of candy and a penny. There had never been such a Christmas.”

I always had to try to explain to my second graders that Laura and Mary were happy about their gifts. I’m fairly sure that many of those seven year olds never did understand how anyone could possibly be happy about a Christmas where the gifts were, in their eyes, so pitifully small and insignificant.
I think there’s a similar communication gap between Christians and the rest of the world. When you get right down to it, the birth of a baby in a stable is a fairly insignificant event. The fact that the baby grew up to be a man, taught and healed people for about three years, and then was killed, is not all that impressive, especially when you ignore or disbelieve certain parts of the story such as the resurrection. We Christians say that the birth and life of this particular child, Jesus, was a unique event, the focal point of human history. The rest of the world, perhaps not taking much time to investigate the matter, is mystified over all the joy and hope we Christians say we derive from our faith in Christ.
It’s a matter of values and expectations. To make at least some of my second graders begin to understand Laura Ingalls’ Christmas, I asked them some questions: “What do you expect to get for Christmas? What gifts have you received before that made you happy? Why did those gifts make you happy?” I got some interesting answers. Maybe, if we want others to begin to understand our faith and joy in Christ, we could ask some questions: “What gives you joy? Why do these things make you happy? What do you expect God to be like? Who do you think Jesus is?” We might get some interesting answers–and close the communication gap just a little.

Columbo or Socrates or Franklin?

Sep21

Some call this the “Columbo method” of apologetics after the TV detective. Ben Franklin got it from Socrates, but he didn’t use the method for Christian apologetics but rather to gain his point in religious and political debates:

“I was charm’d with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt Contradiction, and positive Argumentation, and put on the humble Enquirer & Doubter. And being then, from reading Shaftsbury & Collins, become a real Doubter in many Points of our Religious Doctrine, I found this Method safest for my self & very embarrassing to those against whom I used it, therefore I took a Delight in it, practis’d it continually & grew very artful & expert in drawing People even of superior Knowledge into Concessions the Consequences of which they did not foresee, entangling them in Difficulties out of which they could not extricate themselves, and so obtaining Victories that neither my self nor my Cause always deserved. I continu’d this Method some few Years, but gradually left it, retaining only the Habit of expressing my self in Terms of modest Diffidence . . .”

This “humble questioner” approach can be helpful in putting people off their guard, but it does cut both ways. Answer carefully the questions unbelievers ask you. (I’ve been reading Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography for our American Literature class.)

Join Me in Glad Adoration #3

Sep12

We sang this hymn in church this morning, and I liked it very much. The tune we used is apparently modern, but the words, as you can see, are very old. It fit in well with the reading I’ve been doing for American Literature: William Bradford, Jonathan Edwards, Anne Bradstreet. Also, the sermon from Malachi, chapter 2 referenced Jonathan Edwards and his godly seed and our responsibility to be teachers of truth.

What’er My God Ordains Is Right
text: Samuel Rodigast (1675)
music: David Braud

1. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Holy His will abideth
I will be still whate’er He does,
And follow where He guideth
He is my God, Though dark my road
He holds me that I shall not fall
Wherefore to Him I leave it all

2. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
He never will deceive me
He leads me by the proper path,
I know He will not leave me
I take, content, what He hath sent
His hand can turn my griefs away
And patiently I wait His day

3. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Though now this cup in drinking
May bitter seem to my faint heart,
I take it all unshrinking
My God is true, each morn anew
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart
And pain and sorrow shall depart

4. Whate’er my God ordains is right,
Here shall my stand be taken
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine,
Yet I am not forsaken
My Father’s care is round me there
He holds me that I shall not fall
And so to Him I leave it all