Year 5

He was a foreigner, looking for a home,
a promised land where countless would descend.
He, though believing, could not have become
a father with his frame as good as dead.

And what of her? For barren was her past.
The way of women many years had ceased.
Though trusting God, she could not help but laugh
when strangers came announcing God’s decrees.

Though they were promised (and with faith received)
yet we are promised now with so much more.
A child! Indeed, God’s words can be believed,
For He had giv’n His Child to us before.

With child-like faith our joys are multiplied
when Christ becomes the child that we desire.

Year 4

Away – away from home, inheritance,
from kith and kin, and to another place,
was Abram called (beyond a circumstance,
necessity, or making sense) by faith.

What countless sands would he have had to pass;
What countless nights in deserts! Looking down,
would he have seen the grains, as countless as
the streams of silver lights shone on the ground.

But dear, oh dear, he was not there alone!
Of course his loving wife was by his side.
His nephew too! And yet there was a Stone
To whom they went, yet in them He did hide!

For grains became his body – yes, the bread –
and streams of light, the wine for us he bled.

To My Christian Brothers Watching Game of Thrones

So a few weeks ago, Keven DeYoung dropped this little gem on why Christians should not watch Game of Thrones (GoT), which was controversial enough for him to write a follow-up.  (Personally, I think John Piper’s article that DeYoung cites is a good read, no matter where you land on this issue.)

Since posting DeYoung’s articles on Facebook, I’ve had several Christians who strongly criticized DeYoung and disagreed with him.  I wont address the criticisms about the tone of the article nor the criticisms that somehow attribute malicious motives on the author.  The tone is hard to judge, and motive impossible to substantiate.  Instead, I would like to address some of the criticisms of the merits of DeYoung’s arguments.

1. “The author … singles out the sex scenes as though they are somehow more sinful than lying, cheating, stealing, killing, etc, “

So why is DeYoung singling out sex on television?  TV is a visual medium, and there is a strong link between seeing and lusting.  Seeing people have sex will naturally cause arousal.  That is why there’s so much porn on the internet; people want to be aroused and they watch porn. (And frankly, that is why the sex scenes are shown in such graphic detail in GoT contrary to their descriptions in the books, as someone who has read the books informed me.  The creators of the show stuck it in there to get you to watch the show.)

The Bible is not blind to this strong link between seeing and lusting.  Jesus said “I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.” Matthew 5:27-29.  Gouging out your eye may be a hyperbole, but it should not diminish the gravity of his warning against wandering eyes.

Jesus doesn’t talk about anger in this way.  There is no proximate or causal link between seeing a person that causes anger.  Same with divorce.  Same with oaths.  To drive this point further, consider Piper’s 8th question in his article: “Am I assuming nudity can be faked?”  Anger, killing, etc. is faked on screen.  Nudity is not.  And if you’re watching people even pretend to have sex, you’re opening yourself to temptation.

I’m sure GoT is a great show.  But do you love the show more than your eyes? Gouge out the show instead.  It’s better for you to have not watched the show than to struggle with lust rest of the afternoon or later at night before you fall asleep.

But let me spur you further.  Consider this instead: “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman.” Job 31:1.

2. “We’d probably have to stop watching the news, too. [W]e would have to skip the parts in the bible…. To witness sin is not to celebrate it. “

I like the word you use, to witness.

To witness is to see something that happens or has happened in the real world, like the news, like the bible.  So when we watch the news or read the Bible, we’re not celebrating the horrific sinful acts.  Witnessing sin is not necessarily celebrating it .  There is a lot of brokenness in the world, and we as Christians are called to be salt and light in it.  We should not put our heads in the sand and avoid all contact with the world.

But compare witnessing some real event vs. watching as a form of entertainment.  Entertainment is a matter of enjoyment.  GoT is a TV show, set in a fantasy world, made for entertainment, created for your enjoyment.

What you take joy in – that is what you celebrate.

Let me spur you further.  To witness has another meaning.  In a court of law, a witness is someone who testifies to what she has seen.  So what are you a witness of, in this waiting, watching world? What will you testify to them about? That you watch the same shows as them?

3. “But the point is that context matters.”

I wholeheartedly agree.  The context in which the sinful acts are presented matter a ton.  Some of the scenes you describe, of rape, incest, etc., are of course set within the story.

Step back, though, and look at the water you’re surround by.  Look at the bigger context of the broken world we’re living in.  Look at the rampant pornography use in the world, in our churches that stunt the spiritual lives of believers.  Look at our society where 1 in 5 women are raped some time in their lives.  Look at the context of the how the show was created, how the gratuitous and unnecessary graphic details of sex were put in there solely to attract more viewers by arousing them.

Yes, context matters, and your choice of entertainment should be informed by it.

Let me make some recommendations.  I just watched the movie “42” few days ago.  It’s a movie about Jackie Robinson, the first African-American baseball player to play in the MLB.  There are scenes of intense racism and hatred.  Are we called not to watch that movie due to its depiction of racism and hatred?  By heavens, no!

The Medium is the Message: Role of Music in Corporate Worship

An interesting question came up during Bible Study today. Is there such thing as a Death Metal worship song?

My instinctual response is that generally, some mediums are more suitable for certain messages. Death metal, for instance, is less suitable for the message of the Good News, than Getty’s In Christ Alone accompanied by piano. The medium is, if not the message, invariably tied to the message. There is, after all, a reason for the incarnation.

Furthermore, I posit that worship music should never be about trying to produce an emotion. Worship, by definition, is about ascribing to God who he is and what he has done. Worship music is a form of worship. Body worship can be a form of this as well. This does not mean that one cannot worship God dancing naked, as King David did. But surely, the sons of Korah were not singing the psalms in order to produce an emotion in David so that he would dance naked.

And I warn of a danger here: it is when we assume that we can produce or affect a genuine sorrow of repentance rather than fleeting momentary ennui, or soul-consuming joy rather than a mere saccharine high, that we are close to the dangers of assuming the role of the Holy Spirit. We are in fact like Simon the sorcerer.

Furthermore, there is appropriate time for the ‘manifestation of the Spirit’ as some have argued. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, there is to be intelligibility to worship. If you want to speak in tongues, for example, do it at home if there’s no interpreter.

18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.

If you want to worship so much that you dance naked, great! But how does that build up the church? Or would you assume that you are like king David, pure in heart? Or that there is no edification of the body, i.e. the people of God, in a king throwing off his royal garments so that he could be a nobody with the Ark returned and worship with the commoners? Does not that edify the people? Surely, better is one day as a nobody than thousands elsewhere as a king.

Worship may very well produce emotions, and good uses of emotions can be made when they come. But emotions is never the goal but a mere by-product of encounter with the living God. Never get in the way of that. The bible never commands joy out of joy’s sake; it commands joy in God.

Year 3

What ruin met, what scattered stones here lay!
This place where men had dared to climb above.
Their hearts, ambitions filled, were led astray-
united, yet so far away from Love.

A tower, they had hoped, would bring them fame;
with undivided speech, they baked their bricks.
They spake the tongues of angels just to blame
each other – clanging came the ruin swift.

So here we stand, our union, may it be
not as the ones who came to such an end.
Instead of building up, dear, let us see
above and find the Ladder here descend

For only by this Ladder can we dream
to see the Love that fuels our love unseen.

 

Good News to All

As I reflect on all the injustice around the world, I am confronted with the question that a Christian must come to terms with. How can the Gospel be ‘good news’ to the world? For the elect, for the chosen, it’s obviously good news. And even if you don’t believe in predestination, for Christians who die and go to heaven, it’s still obviously good news. But what about for those who are ‘perishing’, the reprobate, those who are cast out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?

Even the most liberal of theology outside of universalism cannot merely say that the Christian message is good news to everyone. And even in that simplicity of universalism, its entailments on the nature of heaven quickly turns the facile ‘goodness’ of its doctrine to something vapid and incongruous with our innate human longing for justice.

For the vast majority of Christians who do believe in some version of hell, how can we keep a straight face and proclaim to the world that the Gospel is “good news”? Is it merely good because someone has a chance to go to heaven? In which case, the gospel is good in the sense a lottery ticket is good! No, when Jesus talks about his kingdom, there is no hint of chance; there is sovereignty of God, the finality of his rule, and the good pleasure he has in all that he does.

That kingdom of God, i think, is what makes the Gospel message good news to all. Even though there are some who will be in hell (and we wont know who), the unveiling of God’s sons, the inauguration of God’s kingdom, the restoration of the universe has begun. The Eden is restored and made more beautiful. Those around us (Matthew 5:16), even those who do not believe, cannot help but praise God in some way, even as some of them are headed to destruction.

Sonnet Year 2

He traveled from some distant lands, compelled
By forces inexpressible to him.
She likewise could not tell the way she felt
But journeyed at a more than passing whim.

And even when they saw each other first –
though recognizing then that they’re the same –
politely nodded he; she gave a terse
reply – no further brays were then exchanged.

A crowd appeared that mocked their every step.
Unfazed, the two went on, with hopes unseen –
to save them from a storm unknown as yet.
They marched, the two, the pair so called unclean.

The donkeys climbed together on the ark;
Likewise, on crossing beams we place our hearts.

 

Things You Give Away

When winds of time have blown away
the things that you hold dear –
the oft-repeated, judgment day
is here, to your dismay.

What will you have, within your grasp,
allaying all your fears?
Your wealth and fame? that you’ve tied fast,
and thought would ever last?

Behold; for things that you have kept
will trickle like the years.
for you have sought the right, but left
yourself with love bereft.

Awake, oh sleeper, from your sleep
before that coming day;
the only things you truly keep
are things you give away.

Autism, Alzheimer’s, and Adoption

Mental disabilities can be uncomfortable to face.  As American individualists, we want to believe that one can do anything he sets his mind to.  As secularized Christians (who are at once less American yet more individualistic), we want to believe that each person will get a chance to choose God – a fair, well-balanced, and rational choice.  We hold dearly, not to grace and adoption, but to human rationality.  The secularized Christian may not explicitly consider these truth claims but appropriate them by default.

To us, to this secularized Christian, mental disabilities are especially impossible to entertain.  Our view of God as this fair bargaining fellow – someone who will inform you thoroughly so that you will make a fair decision – cannot square with this idea that some people do not have the mental capacity to make such a decision.  Even worse, we cannot face the idea that even our memories will fade away.  When the mere accouterments of personality are stripped away by loss of memory, of self, of identity, what will assure us that something resembling faith (much less mental capacity to choose) will remain?

I must affirm, against all may pride, that I am saved not by my mental faculties, that these children are not condemned due to their disabilities, that grandma’s salvation does not depend on her maintaining her lucidity .  For we are held, much tighter than we are holding.  Though we forget, He remembers.  Though we may close our eyes, He still sees us.  For nothing can separate us from the love of God – not Autism, not Alzheimer’s.

Sonnet, year 1

When Adam slept the deep and lonesome sleep,
What were his wants – desires that fueled his dreams?
He must have truly seen himself unique
when all the beasts were coupled as a team.

What pains would he have felt and most confused
would he have been if seeing God reach inside,
abstract a rib, and leave an empty groove.
No wonder God did not let man decide!

My wife, what could I’ve known to pray before
I met, then wedded thee! What sweet desire
would adequately mirror you! What’s more,
for us, I’d give my body to the fire!

Oh blazing flames, light us towards the font
that’s streaming from His side, and shapes our wants.