Tag Archives: Timothy Keller

Saturday Six-Pack (38)

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Happy Mother’s Day to every Mom and child of a Mom!

Here’s the latest installment of the Six-Pack, as assortment of worthwhile reads I’ve recently discovered. Most are ministry-minded or faith-focused, with a sprinkling of who-knows-what.

If you need direction, begin with my two *Picks of the Week*, and move out from there.

Follow me on Twitter ( @JasonBandura ), where I share sharp quotes and solid articles 3-4 times daily.

Today’s edition:

1) The End: A Conversation with Dr. Scot McKnight
Since hearing Scot McKnight speak several years ago, I’ve paid increased attention to his work and writings. Here he reflects on the end-times-obsessed soil in which his early faith sprouted. Some good reflections here for any Christian who’s ever wondered how to make sense of end-times teachings.

2) Old Testament Law and the Charge of Inconsistency (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
Okay, that title will not draw you in! But this is a great little article. Within some discussions (regarding homosexuality among other topics), Bible-believers sometimes get accused of being inconsistent in their picking and choosing of Old Testament laws to enforce. Timothy Keller provides this sharp primer on how to make such distinctions with theological integrity. Valuable read for believers and non-believers alike.

3) 33 Leadership Quotes from Jim Putman and Francis Chan
Brian Dodd was at Exponential ’13. While listening, he put down these quotes from two presenters. Don’t expect flow or context; these are simply quotes taken on the fly by one listener. Jim Putman is a minister in Idaho who has had some influence upon the leadership of our church; he is dead serious when it comes to making disciples and one of the straightest shooters I’ve ever visited with.

4) Ten Ways to Grow a Small Group
Some great points; some less than that. Either way, several pitfalls toward healthy and thriving Small Group ministry are noted here.

5) Baptism as WarfareA guide in an ancient church once showed me a baptistry and highlighted how its styling made it a vivid point of declaring new allegiance. Or as this article highlights, it was a declaration of war. This image adds great depth to a teaching that is tired in some circles and misunderstood in others.

6) Open Letter from a Non-Mom on Mother’s Day (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
Amy Young puts forward this thoughtful piece on how churches handle Mother’s Day. It actually impacted what will happen in our service later this morning.

Blessings on you, my friends.  May your weekend be refreshing in rest, play, and worship.

YOUR TURN: Direct other readers to the best stuff above by making a comment below, or weigh in on what you read.  Your input makes this post better!

[Subscribe to this blog via RSS or email, in the upper right corner of this page.]

Saturday Six-Pack (28)

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Welcome to the weekend and to the latest Six-Pack of recent gems I wanted to pass on. Typically ministry-minded or faith-focused, be prepared for a bit of who-knows-what as well.

If six choices overwhelm you, begin with my two *Picks of the Week*, and move from there.

For a steady stream of such links, follow me on Twitter ( @JasonBandura ) to the right of this post.  Sharp quotes and solid articles are tweeted 3-4 times daily.

Today’s edition:

1) Balancing Acts (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
Two of the “pastor books” that generated big buzz in 2012 were Andy Stanley’s “Deep and Wide” and Timothy Keller’s “Center Church”.  This interview, from Christianity Today, gives both authors some space in which to respond to questions tied to those contributions.

2) A Circle of Honour
By regularly giving people praise and recognition, we reflect Christ’s ministry and the relationship of the Trinity.  So says Robert C. Crosby in this piece for Leadership Journal.  How could you be a more steady source of such positive forces?

3) They Cuss in E.T.?! WTF!
Is violence now more permissable than swearing or nudity in our movies? Psychology Today explores the evolution of “what goes” in our entertainment.

4) The Top Five Career Regrets
Regardless of how you earn your paycheck, you’ve almost certainly dreamed of other jobs, perhaps even that “dream career” that isn’t yet yours.  Or maybe you’re in that job already, just looking to give your best and taste of the resulting satisfaction and success.  Whatever your specifics, it never hurts to learn from other people’s mistakes.  This HBR post offers you that opportunity.

5) Saved from Meritocracy  (*PICK OF THE WEEK*)
Western society is constructed largely on the ideal of meritocracy, the conviction that if one works hard enough, he can become or achieve anything.  While the moral of countless films and stories, the snag is that this teaching runs completely counter to the Gospel of Jesus at several key junctions. The Red Letter Christians offer this perspective on this struggle to “fit” the grand Gospel into our small system.

6) Share the Gospel and Your Life
Writing to the Thessalonians, Paul comments: “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess. 2:8). The Resurgence offers this piece on how to go about this, the essence of true evangelism.

Blessings on you, my friends.  May your weekend be refreshing in rest, play, and worship.

YOUR TURN: Direct other readers to the best stuff above by making a comment below, or weigh in on what you read.  Your input makes this post better!

[You can subscribe to this blog via RSS or email, in the upper right corner of this page.]

Hope for the World

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one wayOne facet of Christianity that rubs hard on many twenty-first-century minds is summed up tightly in this word: Exclusivity.

In a world of nearly infinite options, it seems unthinkable to some that one should feel “pigeon-holed” when it comes to the salvation.  And so we hang on the walls of our minds scenes of mountains with multiple paths of ascent or heavenly cloud-scapes reached by seven billion-plus uniquely crafted ladders.

babelIn a sense, our hearts long for a return to the Tower of Babel, a design-as-you-wish blueprint that, if you are faithful in your efforts, will surely deliver you to whatever awaits “up there”.  “All roads lead to God” is the common tongue of every labourer on this scaffolding.

But as in Genesis 11, the word “gibberish” is quickly associated with this scenario.

vramachandraIn a twist on this discussion, Vinoth Ramathandra (a man to whom Timothy Keller introduced me) addresses an associated critique of Christianity, one that depicts religion as being dissociated from the “real world”, as being obsessed with the “spiritual” and out-of-touch, even inappropriately unconcerned, with the here-and-now world.

Ramathandra’s response will induce a pause for both hearty believers and hardened skeptics:

“Christian salvation lies not in an escape from this world but in the transformation of this world. You will not find hope for this physical world in any other religious system or philosophy. The biblical vision is unique.  And that is why if someone says, ‘Surely there is salvation in other faiths,’ I always ask them, ‘What salvation are you talking about?’

Not this salvation.

No faith holds out a promise of eternal salvation for the world like the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ do.”

Christianity, if personified, is not the arrogant or presumptuous jerk that some portray, despite the fact that you may have met arrogant and presumptuous jerks with Bibles in hand.

Rather, Christian doctrine is unique by its very nature.  You can narrow your gaze on a concept like love or goodness, and then preach on the “common truth” that underlies all religions and philosophies, but you will only be adding to the static.  An observation like Ramathandra’s tunes in tighter to the signal and in turn, heightens the dialog.

HopeFor Christian fundamentalists, it highlights the care of God toward His current creation.  Unlike humanity, God is not always racing ahead to “what’s next”.  He deeply loves “what is” and is working for its redemption. For cynics of Christianity, such doctrine at least forces a reconsideration of the concept of hope.

What well do you draw yours from, not just for yourself but for the world in which you live?

Is there any?

Is it wrapped solely in the evolution and development of humanity? Strictly in scientific discovery? An alternative philosophy? A different religion?

YOUR TURN: What do you make of Ramathandra’s assessment of Christianity’s unique tone of hope for this world?  Christian or not, what are you striving to do/be as an agent of hope in our world?  Your input makes this post better!

[You can subscribe to this blog via RSS or email, in the upper right corner of this page.]

Hell: A Reality Worse than the Imagery

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love-wins-setThe topic of hell has received an unusual amount of attention in Western theological discussion over the past decade.  Of course, the most popular strand of this discussion centered around Rob Bell’s book “Love Wins”, with denser strands weaving through the academic realms of publication and discussion.

Much of the conversation is built around distaste for the concept of never-ending punishment, particularly as it is wrapped in imagery of fire and burning.  This leads to several valid questions:

  • What depiction of hell is truly biblical, and what has been developed through the art and literature of the ages?
  • How literally or metaphorically are we to take what Scripture does tell of the final judgment?
  • What do biblical words like “Gehenna” really mean?

These are just a sampling of the sub-topics that factor into the larger discussion of “What do you make of the concept of hell?”  Certainly, this discussion matters; to some, it appears to matter immensely.

I am not among that number.

Part of that is due to the following quote from Timothy Keller:keller3

“To say that Scripture’s image of hellfire isn’t wholly literal is no comfort whatsoever—the reality will be far worse than the image.”

We can hardly be blamed for our flesh-fettered views. Nerves and neurons, skin and sensation, these are the means by which we experience our world. And in that light, it is easy to see why heaven’s depiction is golden and lavish, while hell’s is dark and despairing.

But what if our senses misguide us?

sensesWhat if the imagery–as vivid as imagery and language can formulate–fails to capture the intensity?

What if the most intense scenes of suffering that a human imagination can generate are pitifully poor metaphors for communicating the reality of a creature cut off from its Creator?

It seems easy to convince people that heaven will actually surpass an experience revolving around golden streets and massive mansions.  We recognize that the extravagant physical depictions fail to express even a sliver of the spiritual reality. We acknowledge that the core of that experience will center upon the overwhelming and unmissable presence of God and upon the river of life-to-the-full that will flood-flow from Him to His companions.

Humanity’s heaven imagery is pale and poor to communicate the intensity of the reality.

Yet seldom is an equivalent argument applied to hell.  And if the case is made, then it’s made only halfway.  It is one step to recognize the limitations of imagery and vocabulary.  One can say that without saying much.

But it is a big-as-a-beast statement to suggest that the imagery of hell, the metaphors that make us squirm, even buck against the entire concept, are actually too weak to communicate the magnitude of the reality.

If heaven is actually better than jewel-encrusted architecture, then the counter-statement stands too.

Hell is worse than burning.

C.s.lewis3C.S. Lewis used to speak of “the unsmiling concentration upon Self, which is the mark of hell.”  Unchecked and freely reigning within a life, self-centeredness consumes in ways sparks never will.  It scars the soul and warps one’s world.  And it appears that anyone who desires this path can have it. So powerfully are we created that our choices in the present life ripple through eternity.

But we’d be wise to make our choices, aware that the imagery is not nearly so fierce as the reality.

Hell is worse than burning.

YOUR TURN: How do you handle the Bible’s imagery of the afterlife, in light of the thought that the imagery is actually light-weight when compared to the reality?

Become part of the conversation. Your voice makes this post better.

[You can subscribe to this blog via RSS or email, in the upper right corner of this page. As well, follow me on Twitter ( @JasonBandura ) for 3-4 daily tweets daily of of insightful quotes or intriguing articles, sprinkled with occasional goofiness.]

Saturday Six-Pack (15)

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Welcome to the weekend, and thanks for spending some time “Wandering & Wondering”.

This week’s Six-Pack features the usual: A half-dozen of the best articles I’ve read this week–mostly faith-focused or ministry-geared, with a bit of who-knows-what tossed in!

This week’s load:

1) Good News VS Good Advice
The Gospel is only one of these, and it is amazingly easy to get this mixed up.

2) Four Results of Christ’s Ascension
A couple years back, a friend called.  He had been assigned to preach a sermon about the significance of Christ’s Ascension.  We both agreed that we’d heard much about Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, but somehow the Ascension had always been treated as something of an assumed afterthought.  If I could go back, I might at least send him to this piece as a starter.

3) Why Do Christians Need to Make it All Better?
Many believers rush through pain to get to the hope. But is that the best way?

4) Fake Love, Fake War: Why So Many Men Are Addicted to Internet Porn and Video Games
I’ve seen at least a few articles recently based on this same pile of research.  This is some insightful stuff on what makes men tick AND why these two counterfeits are so dangerous in how they impact those who consume them.

5) The Story of Send
Ever wonder what happens to your email after you hit the “Send” button? If so, you might be interested by this entry from Google Green.  Ironically, following the story takes far longer than actually sending and receiving an email in the first place, but it’s a pretty entertaining way to learn something new.

6) How Mosquitoes Survive Collisions with Raindrops
Mosquito to raindrop equals person to school bus.  How would you deal with such mid-air meetings if you could fly?  Should that ever be useful information, this post is for you.  For the rest of us, it’s just for fascination’s sake.

Enjoy your weekend, friends, through renewing yourself and reverencing God.