Fuerst Best – Harry Potter Edition!!!!

Harry Potter Wants You for the Blogosphere!

Religion Dispatches on the Trouble with Harry Potter: Why Religious Conservatives Really Do Have Something to Fear.

The very notion that the world is not one of ordinary objects supervised by a supernatural deity, but rather a world of ordinary and extraordinary objects that doesn’t seem to be supervised by anything, has more in common with Enlightenment rationalism than with traditional religion. We may get distracted by the superstitions and doctrines, but really, such philosophies are resolutely secular—all the more so for being esoteric and magical.    

For a more positive, Christian appropriation of the story, read this article from Relevant Magazine on The Redemption of Harry Potter.

In the end, Harry’s sacrifice is a pale reflection of a much deeper and more profound one that really did save the world, one that really does promise to set the world to rights. But his death does what any great Christian art ought to: Using a profound story, it provides a singular glimpse into the Christian story that can both deepen and widen our experience of faith.

**I guess the such divergent takes of these two articles suggests the fantastic job Rowling has done to make good art in her Harry Potter narrative.**

Elsewhere, Andrew Peterson also does some reflection on Harry Potter, Jesus, and Me.

I couldn’t get Harry’s story out of my head. I doubled over in the back of the auditorium and sobbed with gratitude to Jesus for allowing his body to be ruined, for facing the enemy alone, for laying down his life for his friends–Jesus, my friend, brother, hero, and king–Jesus, the Lord of Life, who triumphed o’er the grave–who lives that death may die! Even now, writing those words, my heart catches in my throat. In that moment I was able, because of these books, to worship Christ in a way I never had.

Over at CNN’s Belief Blog, Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio reflects on Why We’re Drawn to Harry Potter.

In other words, it is community and love that see us through even the greatest losses. That’s the same for Rowling and for Christians, for whom God is love. It is friendship and faith that help us walk—or drive, as I was doing at that moment—bravely to our destiny.

And Finally – Just Because He LOOKS Like Harry Potter….no, SERIOUSLY, Go see!!!!! – Tim Tennent offers us part 5 of his “Why I’m a Methodist and an Evangelical” series: Sanctification. 

To be sanctified is to receive a gift from God which changes our hearts and reorients our relationship with the Triune God and with others, giving us the capacity to love God and neighbor in new and profound ways. The language of “entire sanctification” in Methodism uses the word entire in reference to Greek, not Latin. In Greek entire or complete can still be improved upon. It is a new orientation which no longer looks back on the old life of sin, but is always looking forward to the New Creation. It is a life which has been engulfed by new realities, eschatological realities, not the realities of that which are passing away.

 

 

Fuerst Best 7.13.2011

Tim Tennent on Prevenient Grace: Why I’m a Methodist and an Evangelical (Pt. 2). This is really a discussion of what the Gospel IS to a Methodist. Good stuff here.

Wesleyan thought affirms that God has taken the initiative to create a universal capacity for the human race to receive his grace. Many, of course, still resist his will and persist in rebellion against God. Wesleyan thought is actually a middle position between a Pelagian view (which makes every person an Adam and admits no sin nature or bondage due to Adam’s nature) and the Reformed view (which affirms limited atonement). What Wesleyans mean by free will is actually “freed will,” i.e., a will in bondage which has been set free by a free act of God’s grace. It is, of course, not free in every possible respect, since we are all influenced by the effects of the Fall in many ways; but we now have a restored capacity which has enabled our heart, mind, and will to respond to God’s grace. I love the fact that Methodists believe that even if you go to the ends of the earth with the gospel, you will always find that God precedes you and, in effect, “beats you there!” 

 

Tim Tennent again with Part 3 of his “Why I’m a Methodist and an Evangelical”, this time addressing the Means of Grace.

Wesley defines the “means of grace” as “outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.”1  Wesley goes on to identify three primary “means of grace” which God has given to us: prayer (private or public), Scripture (reading or listening), and the Lord’s Supper. 

 

And J R Daniel Kirk looks at the Insufficiency of Christ’s Sufferings in Colossians 1. Good stuff here.

Ministers are extensions of the saving work of Christ on the cross. The body of believers is an extension of the saving work of Christ on the cross. In the already/not yet eschatology of a world reconciled and being reconciled to God, the death of Jesus is both a one-off reconciling event and a saving reality that the church is called to extend in space and time.

 

For this week’s Taste of Insanity…

Evangelical teens more likely to be sexually active than Mormons, Jewish, and Mainline Protestant teens.

They don’t plan for sex, because they have a rule against that. But they push against the boundaries of the rule. And somehow they’re convinced they’ll be able to resist. But all the while they’re becoming at home with one incremental stage of intimacy after another. They linger at each stage–far longer than their secular friends are inclined to linger–thereby ensuring two things: first, that they become entirely comfortable with each other at that level of intimacy, entirely trusting; second, that they are fully immersed in the maximal sexual urgency that such a step is capable of producing. And so when the urgency drives them forward to the next incremental step, there is no sudden flare of distrust, no fear of boundaries violated or in danger of being violated. And there certainly is no talk of going to get a condom.”

Fuerst Best 7.7.2011

Marilyn Eliot writes a fantastic piece reflecting on women’s body-images and their spirituality in Looking for Ugly.

One of the women in Book Club was telling us about her daughter. A few years ago —- was tall, slender, an A-plus student, athletic, responsible, kind, lots of friends. But, of course, her first worry was, “Mom, Am I pretty?” Her mother, a scientist and teacher at an elite private school was sickened to discover that her daughter, despite all the mother’s best effort, still wondered if she was pretty and still worried about it.—- is now 23, almost finished her first degree, has a boyfriend and many accomplishments. She is not conventionally pretty, but she is accomplished in many ways and will be one of life’s movers and shakers. I hope she doesn’t still worry about her face.

I am 49 and a half, and I still want to be pretty.

Tim Tennent starts a series on why he’s a Methodist. Should be fun to read.

Nijay Gupta advises us on his favorite commentaries  and other works on the Gospel of John.

Roger Olson on the difference between Patriotism and Nationalism. Well worth your time.

There may seem to be a fine line between patriotism and nationalism, but actually the line is not so fine at all.  There’s a clear litmus test for distinguishing between them.  Patriotism looks to the future and hopes for and works toward the country’s achievement of its ideals.  Nationalism looks to the past and defends everything the country has ever done as necessarily good and right just because the country did it.  Thus, patriotism loves the country for what it can be; nationalism loves the country for what it has done–regardless 0f morality.  Nationalism exempts country from moral accountability; patriotism holds country morally accountable because it loves it….I love a good patriotic parade and concert.  I always get a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye when I hear the Star Spangled Banner and see the flag waving in the breeze.  I love my country and thank God I was privileged to be born here.  But none of that means I must uncritically accept whatever its government decides to do or every aspect of its culture and society.  Nor does it mean I must think it is the only God-favored nation on the planet or that it has a unique place in God’s providential plan for history.  Like all human societies it is not “the City of God” but another expression of the “City of Man.”  As a Christian, my primary citizenship is in God’s Kingdom yet to come (but hopefully already being anticipated in the communion of the saints).   My loyalty to country is subordinate to that.  Too many Christians equate the two–country and God’s kingdom.

Brian McLaren writes a fantastic letter to Albert Mohler in reference to Mohler’s prophetic words to the SBC regarding homophobia in Southern Baptist churches. Mohler defends the traditional position of the Evangelical movement, but maintains that that position should not lead to the homophobia and hatred that seems to run through Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism. McLaren urges Mohler, in light of the personal attacks he’s received, to reconsider his own approach to those who disagree with him.

 Note: I do not agree with everything in this letter, but I thought it was a good reminder of how Christians should dialogue with one another in love. 

The Fuerst Best of the Week 6.20.2011

We’re going to focus on Egalitarianism in today’s Fuerst Best of the Week.

In this piece, Suzanne McCarthy writes an email to Christians for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood expressing the need to engage and make accessible the best information available regarding gender inclusive language in the NIV2011, even though the information doesn’t jibe with CBMW’s larger theological position.

JR Daniel Kirk looks at Complementarian interpretations of the Genesis creation narratives. I’d be interested in some of your thoughts on his argument. It certainly engages the ambiguity of the Bible in regards to gender roles and hierarchy.

The Gospel…finally will not allow hierarchy to stand. Who we are “in the Lord” transforms our understanding of mutual interrelations, so that it no longer makes sense to say, “Here is man, who simply rules over his wife and family.” Now mutual interdependence and dependence come to the fore, such that both depend upon the other–a kind of relationship in which there can not, for long, be any sense of one ruling the other.

 

At CBE International (Christians for Biblical Equality International) Michael Bird reflects on teaching his students about Phoebe, the deaconess in Romans 16, in ‘Fretting Over Phoebe.” (You’ll have to scroll down a bit to get to it.)

“Could it be that the first person to publicly read and teach about or from Romans was a woman? If so, what does that tell you about women and teaching roles in the early church?”

Kyle, over at the Triniatrian Soapbox reflects on God and Gender/Sex. Kyle’s a brilliant writer from the few months I’ve been following him, so stay focused. It’s worth it. His main point is that though masculine pronouns are used for God (Father, for example), that God is not inherently a male.

The Southern Baptist Convention once again rejects the newest NIV because of it’s apparent Egalitarian bent. To me, it seems from all the evidence I’ve read, the new NIV is sound and is a good middle ground. But like many things in the SBC, if it’s not ‘our way’ then it’s the highway.

Criticism over the update has been high ever since its inception, with opponents like the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood – which support a complementarian view of manhood and womanhood – finding over 3,600 gender-related problems in the new version.

Let’s just say that I’m probably going to get an NIV2011, if they’re still available when I need a new Bible. But until then, I think I’m just going to boycott Lifeway.

Fuerst Best 6.15.2011

Methodists Behaving Conservatively.

My friend JR has two fantastic posts on Revelation:

1. The End of the World as We Know it: The Anti-Christ 
2. The End of the World as We Know it: The Mark of the Beast

JD Walt on Why the Ascension Matters Most.

Roger Olson sets the record straight — Arminians are not Pelagian.

And possibly my favorite blog entry of the month…

In celebration of being an empty-nester, and in order to reinforce her son’s decision to leave his home for good, Marilyn Elliot proposes having a Naked Night with her husband. This is really funny.

Fuerst Best 5.28.2011

The Her.Meneutics blog has posted their top 10 blog posts of the year.

NT Wright is reflects on America’s fascination with Hell.

Henry Imler links us to a discussion by Walter Brueggemann regarding the prophets – both in the biblical world and now. His reflections around the 18 minute mark on Lament is really good…but you already know this if you’re read his books.

Tony Jones offers us his recommened reading in Christian Spirituality.

Michael Hyatt offers a couple really helpful tips on improving your public speaking:

Here are the seven steps I took to make my practice effective:

1. Create a solid, easy-to-remember outline. This is the prerequisite. We spent a considerable amount of time on this at DCW. They teach you an entire methodology that works with both persuasive speeches and enabling ones. (You also learn the difference.) There’s nothing wrong with notes, but you don’t want the audience to be aware that you are using them.
2. Find a relatively private location. You want to be able to give your speech as though you were giving it live, without feeling like someone might be listening in. This was pretty easy while practicing at home. I just found an empty room, told my family what I was going to do, and shut the door. It’s tougher in a hotel room, but I did it anyway.
3. Set a timer with your assigned time. This was critical. I used the timer on my iPhone. I also found that my speeches ran about 10–15% longer when I gave them live. So set the timer for less time in practice than you have been allotted. Note: if you are going to use this when you speak live, put the phone in Airplane mode, so you don’t get a phone call or text message in the middle of your speech. Also, turn the screen saver off.
4. Stand up and give your speech out loud. This also makes a difference. Your physical posture affects your energy level and overall confidence. I put my outline on a podium, countertop, or desktop, and then moved around as though I am presenting in front of a live audience. It’s also helpful to me to visualize two or three people I am speaking to in the practice audience.
5. Work on your facial expressions and gestures. This initially sounded inauthentic to me. But I think it was because I had forgotten that 70% of all communication is non-verbal. If that’s true, it is more important to practice this aspect of our communication than the actual words. In watching my video tape at DCW, I found that my face wasn’t always communicating what my heart intended! Overall, I found that I was more effective by being more expressive and with bigger gestures.
6. Practice pauses, inflections, and vocal dynamics. This is also something I did’t often think about. As a result, my overall speech pattern was predictable—and boring. My goal is not entertainment but communication. Regardless, you sometimes have to be entertaining in order to communicate. I am now working on more variation. The only way to keep this from sounding contrived and inauthentic is practice, practice, practice.
7. Nail your closing. I have traditionally worked really hard on the opening. This is important to be sure. But I think it is even more important to finish strong. The closing is the last thing people will remember. I want to go out with a bang not a whimper. I am now practicing my closing several times, all by itself.

I can’t believe I got by for as long as I did without intentional and disciplined practice. Although I have seen immediate results, I think this will be especially helpful over the long haul. I don’t ever plan to speak publicly again without practicing it in private.

The Fuerst Best 5.19.2011

Donald Miller reflects on his conservative and liberal friends and their personality types as they relate to their theological positions. This is probably a bit reductionistic, but in general I think he’s got some fun…ehem…good observations.

Personalities that need high levels of control tend to be conservative, and personalities seeking higher levels of understanding but less control over others tend to be liberal. Therefore, each personality is developing their theology based on the filter through which they see the world.

JR Daniel Kirk has a great little piece about theology that makes people turn into jerks. Good stuff here.

If the fruit of your theology is that it creates a community of jerks, your teaching has gone awry.

Perry Noble is obsessed with lists. But that’s okay because he’s got some good lists. In this one he lists 7 things every pastor should know about his wife. 

Here To Lead offers reflections on 6 different reasons people might not be visiting your church. Good stuff here.

Roger Olson (could I possible do one of these Fuerst Best posts without linking him?) offers his top 10 favorite theology books of all time. I feel a bit ashamed that I’ve only read 2 of them.

Quote of the Day:

Christ took flesh and was made man in a particular time and place, family, nationality, tradition and customs and sanctified them, while still being for all men in every time and place. Wherever he is taken by the people of any day, time and place, he sanctifies that culture – he is living in it…But to acknowledge this is not to forget that there is another, and equally important, force at work among us. Not only does God in His mercy take people as they are: He takes them to transform them into what He wants them to be.

Andrew Walls, Africa and Christian Identity.

Fuerst Best 5.10.2011

Roger Olson reflects on whether or not Mormons are Christians.

And one thing I would like to challenge LDSers about is the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ and his unique incarnation on which everything about being a Christian depends.

Greg Boyd writes on the Heresy of Failing to Love.

Christians are known in the broader society for a lot of things, but their depth of love for one another — let alone for “sinners” and “enemies” — doesn’t make the list …if ever it is appropriate to label anything “heresy,” it is the failure to love.

Ken Schenck argues from Romans about the priority of doing over knowing.

Truth is important, but virtue takes primacy of place over truth.

C. Michael Patton over at Pen and Parchment does a quick rundown of the various Christian views of science, the Bible, and the origins of the universe. It’s a good, quick introduction.

My friend Chad Brooks preached the Easter Vigil at ATS. You don’t want to miss his awesomeness.

And Tim Tennent, president of Asbury Seminary, reflects on the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Let Osama bin Laden’s death be a reminder not of the wickedness in the “other” who has “finally gotten what is due him,” but rather a sobering and humbling reminder of the nature of the human race to which we all belong.  

Fuerst Best 4.23.2011

Thomas Irby offers us a really moving piece on his experience taking Communion on Maundy Thursday. And just because I think it needs to be said – This dude has a heart that is melting before God right now. I’m thoroughly impressed and even a bit jealous at how obvious the work of God is in his life these last few months.

I realized that I had been lacking, aching, longing for communion with God. It was in this beautiful ritual that He reveals himself to us. For the first time in many years I accepted the body and blood of Christ with a heart that was free from religion and personal attempts at holiness. For the first time in many years I truly accepted communion.

Amy Julia Becker over at Her.Meneutics reflects on how to best tell our children about Easter.

Rachel Held Evans, a blog I’ve recently started perusing a lot, suggests 12 ways to make Arminianism cool again. In case you don’t have a sense of humor, this is intended to be funny….sort of.

And Tim Tennent’s discussion of a beautiful concept: The Means of Grace. Are you struggling with your faith? Do you want to grow spiritually? Do you want to be conformed to the image of Christ? Participate in the means of grace!

Wesley defines the “means of grace” as “outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace” (Sermon 16, Means of Grace).  Wesley goes on to identify three primary “means of grace” which God has given to us:  prayer (private or public), Scripture (reading or listening), and the Lord’s Supper. 

Marcus Green reflects on his emotions about leaving his church after 11 years. (Subscribe to Marcus’s blog; this guy’s an amazing pastor with a passion and knowledge of worship that is rivaled by no one. )

Suffice it to say: being part of a Christian community is about loving & being loved. We do this in our own idiosyncratic ways, and that’s part of the joy of it. 

And since I live in Florida now, I couldn’t resist  the Top 5 Surfing Wipeouts from last year.

Finally, Obama has some reflective thoughts on the resurrection of Jesus.

The Fuerst Best 4.10.2011

I’ll start this one off with a personal note: Family Pictures!!!!

Only a minority of Evangelical leaders believe the Bible requires tithing. This is a tough question that must be addressed with all the information in scripture because it’s not simply a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.

A recent study by group that tracks church giving, called Empty Tomb, Inc., found that evangelicals on a whole give an average of 4% of their income to their church, though Olson suspects the average is much lower, around 1% or 2%.

The BBC does a story on the unsung heroes of the Rwandan Genocide.

The Catalyst blog notes a number of ways we can read the Bible the wrong way.

• The Gold Mine Approach – reading the Bible as a vast, cavernous, dark mine, in which one occasionally stumbles upon a nugget of inspiration. Result: confused reading.

• The Hero Approach – reading the Bible as a moral hall of fame that gives us one example after another of heroic spiritual giants to emulate. Result: despairing reading.

• The Rules Approach – reading the Bible on the lookout for commands to obey to subtly reinforce a sense of personal superiority. Result: Pharisaical reading.

• The Artifact Approach – reading the Bible as an ancient document about events in the Middle East a few thousand years ago that are irrelevant to my life today. Result: bored reading.

• The Guidebook Approach – reading the Bible as a roadmap to tell me where to work, whom to marry, and what shampoo to use. Result: anxious reading.

• The Doctrine Approach – reading the Bible as a theological repository to plunder for ammunition for my next theology debate at Starbucks. Result: cold reading.

Ed over at In a Mirror Dimly has written two fantastic pieces here and here on when to accept criticism  from other Christians and when to know it’s time to move on and ignore criticism. It seems like his guiding principle is that we need to have a good sense of what healthy boundaries are.

There are times in life when we have to give up on unity and ignore criticism. Sometimes relationships become toxic, and the only solution is to withdraw—hopefully only for a season…. The cross and resurrection retain their power even if my answers to the Christian theology quiz have evolved.

Donald Miller laments that the church is being led by teachers and scholars instead of fishermen and plumbers. My $150,000 education says he’s probably right. The question left unanswered is how to practically do anything about it.

Because we’ve been led by scholars for so long, we have slightly distorted ideas about Christian discipleship. If you want to grow in Christ, you should study more. Christian growth, then, is an academic path. And like educators, we only advance to become higher level educators. The point of learning is always teaching which produces further learning and then more teaching. The only difference between the church and another educational institution is that nobody ever graduates from the church. We just keep going to school.