This is a review by Dan Marler of "The Devil's Delusion", David Berlinski.
David Berlinski is a gifted writer and he is a witty and persuasive writer. That is an interesting and fun combination.
In fact, Berlinski's wit can make his arguments seem even more forceful. Don't get me wrong, I think his arguments are strong anyhow, but you know how it is, the humor helps. Here are some examples of the Berlinski wit:
Speaking of Hector Avalos, atheist professor of religous studies at Iowa State University, "He is a member in good standing of the worldwide fraternity of academics who are professionally occupied in sniffing the underwear of their colleagues for signs of ideological deviance."
"The details may be found in Hawking's bestselling A Brief History of Time, a book that was widely considered fascinating by those who did not read it, and incomprehensible by those who did."
"When asked what he was in awe of, Christopher Hitchens responded that his definition of an educated person is that you have some idea how ignorant you are. This seems very much as if Hitchens were in awe of his own ignorance, in which case he has surely found an object worthy of his veneration."
Suddenly, it occurs to me that those comments may not seem quite as funny when they are not read in context. But they made me laugh when I was reading the book.
I know, humor is subjective.
Berlinski's book, is basically a defense of God and religion against the recent attack of atheism--particularly the haughty form of atheism that pretends to draw all of its ontological stature from a pure and inescapable scientific reason. The Devil's Delusion is even more interesting because Berlinski is a "secular Jew"--his description--with a Ph.D. from Princeton who has spent many years writing about mathematics and science. In other words, this is an apologetic for God and religion coming from a highly educated, secular man who has signficant experience in, and great respect for, science.
One of the interesting ideas that I took from the book has to do with the similarities between the faith in God that existed in the pre-Modern era and the faith in Science--yes, sometimes blind faith--of the Modern and Post-Modern eras.
If you're rolling your eyes, right now, and saying, "Oh, come on, there are no similarities between faith in God and faith in Science" my response would be: Read The Devil's Delusion.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
http://www.visitusonline.org/
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Some Thoughts On Discipleship, Part 2
This is part 2 of a two-part column on the subject of discipleship. This is not a comprehensive or systematic treatment of the subject, it is simply a few random thoughts that I hope will be helpful and will encourage further thinking by others.
Encouraging Daily Personal Bible Study/Devotional Time
The obvious point that has been coming up in current research on discipleship and spiritual growth is the importance of personal Bible study and personal prayer and devotional time, including the discipline of solitude. It seems that many people know the value of these spiritual disciplines but, probably, they don’t know how to go about doing it. Or, it may be that they find it to be boring. Or—it is a discipline, after all—they find it to be hard to do on a regular, consistent basis and they quit.
Part of our church’s job will be to encourage, foster, help and train people to engage in these critical disciplines, on their own, on a regular basis.
Serving
Part of discipleship will involve helping the disciple to find a place to serve the body. We’ve acknowledged that this is not a strong area in our church. I wonder how much of this has to do with our lack of skill at helping people find areas to serve—I know that accounts for some of the problem here. But, is this also, partly, a reflection of the fact that some people really don’t want to serve? Or, they only want to serve under ideal conditions? I think, perhaps, unintentionally, we may have given some folks the impression that serving will always be something that is fun; and joyful; and gets a person excited; and is completely fulfilling. I don’t find that reality when I look in the Bible. And I know, personally, that if I only served the church in areas that I enjoyed, there would be a lot of things that I wouldn’t do.
I’m a firm believer in gift-based serving—how can I not be, it’s biblical? But, the simple truth of the Bible is that sometimes serving, even in areas of giftedness, won’t be fun. The most obvious example is a crucifixion.
Please understand, I’m not saying that serving should be a constant drag. I hope it will often be joyful and fulfilling. But if most of the people in a church only serve when it’s convenient for them and only when it makes them feel good, then the picture of serving that you’re likely to get is the picture that we see in many of our churches, these days.
Serving is a “discipline” in which “disciples” engage. As such, I suspect it won’t always, necessarily, be fun and enjoyable and convenient.
By the way, I’ve been thinking a good bit, lately, about the things that we sometimes, unintentionally, do as a church that foster selfishness. The idea of serving only when it’s fun; and easy; and convenient; and exciting; seems like it has the potential of fostering a form of selfishness that is part of what serving is supposed to help diminish in our lives.
Transforming The Mind
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is not hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3
I’ve listed those three passages of scripture, above, because of their reference to our “minds”. The Bible clearly tells us that transformation into the character of Christ, which is a key aspect of discipleship, involves the mind.
We have the freedom to control—at least to some degree—our thoughts. In addition to this, we have some freedom of control over what our minds are exposed to. Certainly, we don’t have complete freedom of control in terms of what our minds are exposed to, but we have “some” control. Again, since transformation into the character of Christ involves the mind, we have to teach disciples about “thinking”. Our discipleship training will need to involve guidance and challenge and instruction on what we put into our minds, what we intentionally think about, and what we “allow” into our minds.
Dallas Willard, speaking of spiritual formation, says, “As we first turned away from God in our thoughts, so it is in our thoughts that the first movements toward the renovation of the heart occur. Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change.”
I don’t have a method, here, for the training of our minds, I simply mention it as something that our discipleship training will need to consider. There are some obvious actions that readily come to mind when it comes to positively training and influencing our thoughts.
What needs to go into our minds: Bible study; Bible memorization; worship songs; good preaching/teaching; good Christian reading; loving, positive, encouraging, stimulating, challenging conversation.
What needs to be eliminated, as much as we can control: Certain TV shows, certain images, certain kinds of conversation, certain magazines, that do not encourage and promote within us the light and truth of Christ and His kingdom.
Philippians 4:8 is a helpful thought: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I think a sober word of caution is in order here: When we begin to talk and teach and train in regard to “what people think”, we are dealing with a very personal and important aspect of who a person is. This is an area where we must be very gentle and extremely humble. It is a significant matter to presume to teach someone “what to think”. We must be careful to defer to Scripture as much as possible. We must be willing to be silent where Scripture is silent. We must be willing to freely admit that there are aspects of the renewing of our minds that we do not completely understand. Arrogance, presumptuousness and ungraciousness in this area can quickly be interpreted in a very negative way as an attempt by “religious people” to try to “control the minds of others”. Let’s be honest, this kind of negative perception has some valid cause for concern when we consider the history of some “Christians” and some Christian groups.
Obviously, it is not our intention to try to “control the minds of others”, our intention is to help people be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ—one of the central purposes for which we were created. But, again, when we venture into teaching and training regarding “what people think”, we are on sensitive ground and we must venture forth lovingly, graciously and very humbly—with strong adherence to Scripture—remembering that our own minds are still in the process of renewal, as well.
I humbly and lovingly submit these thoughts for your reflection.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
Encouraging Daily Personal Bible Study/Devotional Time
The obvious point that has been coming up in current research on discipleship and spiritual growth is the importance of personal Bible study and personal prayer and devotional time, including the discipline of solitude. It seems that many people know the value of these spiritual disciplines but, probably, they don’t know how to go about doing it. Or, it may be that they find it to be boring. Or—it is a discipline, after all—they find it to be hard to do on a regular, consistent basis and they quit.
Part of our church’s job will be to encourage, foster, help and train people to engage in these critical disciplines, on their own, on a regular basis.
Serving
Part of discipleship will involve helping the disciple to find a place to serve the body. We’ve acknowledged that this is not a strong area in our church. I wonder how much of this has to do with our lack of skill at helping people find areas to serve—I know that accounts for some of the problem here. But, is this also, partly, a reflection of the fact that some people really don’t want to serve? Or, they only want to serve under ideal conditions? I think, perhaps, unintentionally, we may have given some folks the impression that serving will always be something that is fun; and joyful; and gets a person excited; and is completely fulfilling. I don’t find that reality when I look in the Bible. And I know, personally, that if I only served the church in areas that I enjoyed, there would be a lot of things that I wouldn’t do.
I’m a firm believer in gift-based serving—how can I not be, it’s biblical? But, the simple truth of the Bible is that sometimes serving, even in areas of giftedness, won’t be fun. The most obvious example is a crucifixion.
Please understand, I’m not saying that serving should be a constant drag. I hope it will often be joyful and fulfilling. But if most of the people in a church only serve when it’s convenient for them and only when it makes them feel good, then the picture of serving that you’re likely to get is the picture that we see in many of our churches, these days.
Serving is a “discipline” in which “disciples” engage. As such, I suspect it won’t always, necessarily, be fun and enjoyable and convenient.
By the way, I’ve been thinking a good bit, lately, about the things that we sometimes, unintentionally, do as a church that foster selfishness. The idea of serving only when it’s fun; and easy; and convenient; and exciting; seems like it has the potential of fostering a form of selfishness that is part of what serving is supposed to help diminish in our lives.
Transforming The Mind
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:22-24
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is not hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:1-3
I’ve listed those three passages of scripture, above, because of their reference to our “minds”. The Bible clearly tells us that transformation into the character of Christ, which is a key aspect of discipleship, involves the mind.
We have the freedom to control—at least to some degree—our thoughts. In addition to this, we have some freedom of control over what our minds are exposed to. Certainly, we don’t have complete freedom of control in terms of what our minds are exposed to, but we have “some” control. Again, since transformation into the character of Christ involves the mind, we have to teach disciples about “thinking”. Our discipleship training will need to involve guidance and challenge and instruction on what we put into our minds, what we intentionally think about, and what we “allow” into our minds.
Dallas Willard, speaking of spiritual formation, says, “As we first turned away from God in our thoughts, so it is in our thoughts that the first movements toward the renovation of the heart occur. Thoughts are the place where we can and must begin to change.”
I don’t have a method, here, for the training of our minds, I simply mention it as something that our discipleship training will need to consider. There are some obvious actions that readily come to mind when it comes to positively training and influencing our thoughts.
What needs to go into our minds: Bible study; Bible memorization; worship songs; good preaching/teaching; good Christian reading; loving, positive, encouraging, stimulating, challenging conversation.
What needs to be eliminated, as much as we can control: Certain TV shows, certain images, certain kinds of conversation, certain magazines, that do not encourage and promote within us the light and truth of Christ and His kingdom.
Philippians 4:8 is a helpful thought: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
I think a sober word of caution is in order here: When we begin to talk and teach and train in regard to “what people think”, we are dealing with a very personal and important aspect of who a person is. This is an area where we must be very gentle and extremely humble. It is a significant matter to presume to teach someone “what to think”. We must be careful to defer to Scripture as much as possible. We must be willing to be silent where Scripture is silent. We must be willing to freely admit that there are aspects of the renewing of our minds that we do not completely understand. Arrogance, presumptuousness and ungraciousness in this area can quickly be interpreted in a very negative way as an attempt by “religious people” to try to “control the minds of others”. Let’s be honest, this kind of negative perception has some valid cause for concern when we consider the history of some “Christians” and some Christian groups.
Obviously, it is not our intention to try to “control the minds of others”, our intention is to help people be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ—one of the central purposes for which we were created. But, again, when we venture into teaching and training regarding “what people think”, we are on sensitive ground and we must venture forth lovingly, graciously and very humbly—with strong adherence to Scripture—remembering that our own minds are still in the process of renewal, as well.
I humbly and lovingly submit these thoughts for your reflection.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
Some Thoughts On Discipleship, Part 1
We have a task force in our church thinking and praying about the subject of discipleship. I, recently, put some thoughts into writing on the matter and it occurred to me that it might be of interest to others, so, I’m putting it here on the blog in 2 parts.
This is Part One . . .
All The Time
Part of our task is to help disciples see and understand that spiritual formation is a part of literally everything that we do. Spiritual formation happens in small groups and it happens during public and private Bible study and it happens during public and private worship, of course, that part seems obvious to us. But spiritual formation needs to be recognized as something that is a part of all of life. There is a false dichotomy that we have accepted which suggests to us that there are “spiritual” things that we do and there are “secular” things that we do. Disciples need to see that our relationship with Christ and our apprenticeship to him is a part of everything that happens in our lives, all the time, every moment, every day.
We need to teach this, we need to talk about it in our conversations; and those of us who understand our role as leaders and mentors need to be aware of living this reality.
Now, obviously, some things that we do have a much more direct and tangible influence on our spiritual formation than others. Reading and studying the Bible is a more direct and tangible act of spiritual formation than going to a baseball game. However, we may be more tempted NOT to live and respond and talk and act like Jesus at a baseball game, thereby, providing us with a different challenge and opportunity for growth than the Bible study.
I recently heard a speaker at a conference talk about being challenged—by a show on CNN—to understand the priorities of life in a way that conflicted with his beliefs and values as a Christian. His identification of what was happening to him, as he watched this show, and his understanding and commitment to his primary values—his Jesus inspired values—was an act of spiritual formation in the course of every day life.
When We Gather
In the times that we already do gather, we need to see and understand that spiritual formation is happening. This needs to be talked about and recognized. And, I think, perhaps, we need to be more intentional about spiritual formation in some of what we do when we are gathered together.
For example, if we were to think about everything that happens from the moment a person enters the church property for a Sunday morning or Wednesday night service, to the moment they leave, we might recognize that some of the things that we already do could be done in a more purposeful way.
Could our greetings of one another have a more purposeful discipleship element? I’m not trying to create a false or uncomfortable greeting—or make our fellowship times awkward—but I’m asking the question.
Could our offering time have a more purposeful discipleship element? I think it probably could.
This is not a list of all the areas, it’s just a few examples to get us thinking. My guess is that there are probably other elements of our time together that could be thought about in this way, as well.
Along these lines, it may be that we need to think of our services—and perhaps even intentionally present and structure our services—more as a time to “develop” than as a time to sit and watch a presentation.
The way I heard this described, recently, is to think of services the way you would think of a dance class or a trip to the gym for a work-out. Please don’t think I mean this in any frivolous or disrespectful way. And I’m not comparing the worship of Almighty God with a dance class. The point in the description is that we go to a dance class or a gym “EXPECTING” to grow and develop and learn, that’s the whole purpose of going there. Could we present and structure our services in such a way that people would come expecting to grow and develop and learn as part of their experience of worshiping God?
Again, I don’t presume to know the answer, for sure, I pose this as a genuine question for our reflection.
One On One Mentoring
The idea of one on one mentoring has been mentioned and I think that holds great promise. If just the few people who seem to have a particular interest in discipleship, would find one person to mentor—with part of the goal of the process being that the mentored person would someday mentor someone else—we all know the principle of exponential growth works quite powerfully in this regard.
It’s likely that many of the original mentors would say, “I’m willing. But how do I do this? Is there a some process or some guidelines I should follow? Is there some training that could help me know how to begin?” Part of the role of the discipleship task force could be to find the training help, or create the training help for the original mentors.
I believe in our last meeting, some brief conversation occurred along these lines. So, I thought I would throw in my two cents: The mentors, when looking for someone to disciple, probably need to try to find someone who they believe already shows signs of significant commitment and spiritual passion. Leaders, working in a one on one manner, are usually best advised to leverage their time and efforts with a student. And one form of leveraging time and efforts is to attempt to mentor someone who really cares, someone who is really committed, someone who demonstrates a sincere passion for God. Obviously, God’s leading in the matter is most important.
Part two of these thoughts on discipleship to follow shortly.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
http://www.visitusonline.org/
This is Part One . . .
All The Time
Part of our task is to help disciples see and understand that spiritual formation is a part of literally everything that we do. Spiritual formation happens in small groups and it happens during public and private Bible study and it happens during public and private worship, of course, that part seems obvious to us. But spiritual formation needs to be recognized as something that is a part of all of life. There is a false dichotomy that we have accepted which suggests to us that there are “spiritual” things that we do and there are “secular” things that we do. Disciples need to see that our relationship with Christ and our apprenticeship to him is a part of everything that happens in our lives, all the time, every moment, every day.
We need to teach this, we need to talk about it in our conversations; and those of us who understand our role as leaders and mentors need to be aware of living this reality.
Now, obviously, some things that we do have a much more direct and tangible influence on our spiritual formation than others. Reading and studying the Bible is a more direct and tangible act of spiritual formation than going to a baseball game. However, we may be more tempted NOT to live and respond and talk and act like Jesus at a baseball game, thereby, providing us with a different challenge and opportunity for growth than the Bible study.
I recently heard a speaker at a conference talk about being challenged—by a show on CNN—to understand the priorities of life in a way that conflicted with his beliefs and values as a Christian. His identification of what was happening to him, as he watched this show, and his understanding and commitment to his primary values—his Jesus inspired values—was an act of spiritual formation in the course of every day life.
When We Gather
In the times that we already do gather, we need to see and understand that spiritual formation is happening. This needs to be talked about and recognized. And, I think, perhaps, we need to be more intentional about spiritual formation in some of what we do when we are gathered together.
For example, if we were to think about everything that happens from the moment a person enters the church property for a Sunday morning or Wednesday night service, to the moment they leave, we might recognize that some of the things that we already do could be done in a more purposeful way.
Could our greetings of one another have a more purposeful discipleship element? I’m not trying to create a false or uncomfortable greeting—or make our fellowship times awkward—but I’m asking the question.
Could our offering time have a more purposeful discipleship element? I think it probably could.
This is not a list of all the areas, it’s just a few examples to get us thinking. My guess is that there are probably other elements of our time together that could be thought about in this way, as well.
Along these lines, it may be that we need to think of our services—and perhaps even intentionally present and structure our services—more as a time to “develop” than as a time to sit and watch a presentation.
The way I heard this described, recently, is to think of services the way you would think of a dance class or a trip to the gym for a work-out. Please don’t think I mean this in any frivolous or disrespectful way. And I’m not comparing the worship of Almighty God with a dance class. The point in the description is that we go to a dance class or a gym “EXPECTING” to grow and develop and learn, that’s the whole purpose of going there. Could we present and structure our services in such a way that people would come expecting to grow and develop and learn as part of their experience of worshiping God?
Again, I don’t presume to know the answer, for sure, I pose this as a genuine question for our reflection.
One On One Mentoring
The idea of one on one mentoring has been mentioned and I think that holds great promise. If just the few people who seem to have a particular interest in discipleship, would find one person to mentor—with part of the goal of the process being that the mentored person would someday mentor someone else—we all know the principle of exponential growth works quite powerfully in this regard.
It’s likely that many of the original mentors would say, “I’m willing. But how do I do this? Is there a some process or some guidelines I should follow? Is there some training that could help me know how to begin?” Part of the role of the discipleship task force could be to find the training help, or create the training help for the original mentors.
I believe in our last meeting, some brief conversation occurred along these lines. So, I thought I would throw in my two cents: The mentors, when looking for someone to disciple, probably need to try to find someone who they believe already shows signs of significant commitment and spiritual passion. Leaders, working in a one on one manner, are usually best advised to leverage their time and efforts with a student. And one form of leveraging time and efforts is to attempt to mentor someone who really cares, someone who is really committed, someone who demonstrates a sincere passion for God. Obviously, God’s leading in the matter is most important.
Part two of these thoughts on discipleship to follow shortly.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
http://www.visitusonline.org/
Friday, June 6, 2008
Can You Critique An Undefined Movement?
This is a review by Dan Marler of the book "Why We're Not Emergent", Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck, Moody Publishers
Young people seem to have a way of looking at the status quo and finding flaws and errors; and feeling frustrated at the existing structures and beliefs and traditions. And, so, they criticize and challenge and initiate change. Frankly, that can be good and it has its place and it is, no doubt, an inevitable part of life.
Sometimes, however, after the years go by, and these young people have aged and gained some experience at the school called “life”, they come to see that some of those old structures and beliefs and traditions had some wisdom that they had overlooked in their youthful omniscience and zeal.
That is, of course, a great oversimplification of reality, but that’s the thought about the “Emergent Movement” that kept occurring to me as I read “Why We’re Not Emergent”.
This is an interesting book that does a good job of explaining and critiquing a movement that is inherently hard to define and has no recognized headquarters or statement of beliefs—it’s a movement where even its recognized leaders and spokespersons will sometimes not identify themselves as part of the movement. The authors characterize the task of defining and critiquing the Emergent movement as being like trying to nail jello to the wall. (At least, I think I read that in this book. I might be wrong. If I am, disregard the last three sentences and move rapidly to the next paragraph shaking your head and saying, “tsk, tsk.”)
The book is interesting and funny and the positions of the authors—who are definitely not Emergent—were well reasoned and well stated. But, I appreciate that it was also, in my opinion, a reasonable and irenic treatment of the Emergent movement and its ideas and approach.
DeYoung and Kluck don’t back down from stating their beliefs, but you get the impression that they were really trying to disagree lovingly. To “disagree lovingly” is a form of tolerance that is not well recognized in our culture because we’ve redefined the whole concept of tolerance so that many believe it means that everyone is always right. But DeYoung and Kluck write in a manner that evidences the true spirit of tolerance—which includes disagreement.
Why We’re Not Emergent would be a helpful book for people who would like to gain some familiarity with the Emergent movement. And it could also be a profitable intellectual challenge and, dare I say, corrective, for those who consider themselves to be Emergent.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
www.VisitUsOnline.org
Young people seem to have a way of looking at the status quo and finding flaws and errors; and feeling frustrated at the existing structures and beliefs and traditions. And, so, they criticize and challenge and initiate change. Frankly, that can be good and it has its place and it is, no doubt, an inevitable part of life.
Sometimes, however, after the years go by, and these young people have aged and gained some experience at the school called “life”, they come to see that some of those old structures and beliefs and traditions had some wisdom that they had overlooked in their youthful omniscience and zeal.
That is, of course, a great oversimplification of reality, but that’s the thought about the “Emergent Movement” that kept occurring to me as I read “Why We’re Not Emergent”.
This is an interesting book that does a good job of explaining and critiquing a movement that is inherently hard to define and has no recognized headquarters or statement of beliefs—it’s a movement where even its recognized leaders and spokespersons will sometimes not identify themselves as part of the movement. The authors characterize the task of defining and critiquing the Emergent movement as being like trying to nail jello to the wall. (At least, I think I read that in this book. I might be wrong. If I am, disregard the last three sentences and move rapidly to the next paragraph shaking your head and saying, “tsk, tsk.”)
The book is interesting and funny and the positions of the authors—who are definitely not Emergent—were well reasoned and well stated. But, I appreciate that it was also, in my opinion, a reasonable and irenic treatment of the Emergent movement and its ideas and approach.
DeYoung and Kluck don’t back down from stating their beliefs, but you get the impression that they were really trying to disagree lovingly. To “disagree lovingly” is a form of tolerance that is not well recognized in our culture because we’ve redefined the whole concept of tolerance so that many believe it means that everyone is always right. But DeYoung and Kluck write in a manner that evidences the true spirit of tolerance—which includes disagreement.
Why We’re Not Emergent would be a helpful book for people who would like to gain some familiarity with the Emergent movement. And it could also be a profitable intellectual challenge and, dare I say, corrective, for those who consider themselves to be Emergent.
Dan Marler
Oak Lawn, IL
www.VisitUsOnline.org
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