Take Your Pick

The big race starts in just a couple of days!

Looking for a 3-peat are Volkswagen with their race Touareg:

We've already seen BMW's newest entry (the Mini... which is really just as much X3 as it is Mini). But they've also got their usual fleet of X5s:

The French Team Dessoude will be entering their usual selection of Nissans: (the interesting stuff starts at about 2:20)

And, of course, Robby Gordon will be back in his Hummer!

Get Ready for it...

For me one of the biggest highlights of the sporting year is the annual Dakar Rally.

For those of you unfamiliar with this extraordinary event, it is a 16 DAY rally race including motorbikes, quads, SUVs, and big trucks. This year the rally returns to Argentina and Chile.

Normally I've been a Mitsubishi guy, but with Mitsubishi's withdrawal a few years ago I've taken up cheering for the BMW X-Raid team... especially once I saw that they were entering a MINI in this year's race!!!

If you care, follow the race on OLN or on their YouTube channel. This year's race runs from Jan.1-16.

A Christmas Meditation

This is a brief excerpt from Augustine's Confessions as he ponders the meaning of Jeremiah 23:24 which says, "Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord." (my emphasis)

[1.3] (all the "you"s are referring to God) "Do heaven and earth, then, contain the whole of you, since you fill them? Or, when once you have filled them, is some part of you left over because they are too small to hold you? If this is so, when you have filled heaven and earth, does that part of you which remains flow over to some other place? Or is it that you have no need to be contained by anything, because you contain all things in yourself and fill them by reason of the very fact that you contain them? For the things which you fill by containing them do not sustain and support you as a water-vessel supports the liquid which fills it. Even if they were broken to pieces, you would not flow out of them and away. And when you pour yourself out over us, you were not drawn down to us but draw us up to yourself; you are not scattered away, but you gather us together.

"You fill all things, but do you fill them with your whole self? Or is it that the whole of creation is too small to hold you and therefore holds only a part of you? And is this same part of you present in all things at once, or do different things contain different parts of you, greater or smaller according to their size? Does this mean that one part of you is greater and another smaller? Or are you present entirely everywhere at once, and no single thing contains the whole of you?"

There's no doubt that trying to wrap one's mind around the immensity of God is an exercise in futility!

... and this mind-bogglingly BIG God became a human baby...

Chritsmas, Trees, and the Beginning and End of Time

In past Christmas seasons I've blogged about all sorts of different aspects of our Christmas traditions. Usually I just pick a pet peeve and sort of "have at it." In typical post-modern fashion I've picked apart perceived portions of the narrative that I think are inaccurate; things like the non-existent inn, the time frame of the magi, the date of Christmas itself, and the whole "x"mas thing.

But I was reminded, as I was picking out our Christmas tree for this year, that I haven't blogged about the origins of the Christmas tree yet. So, maybe you'll know some of this, maybe you won't. Either way, here it goes:

Many people have tried to claim that the Christmas Tree has more roots in paganism than in Christianity. Certainly a case can be made; there are all sorts of different pagan religions that have used evergreens in their religious symbolisms. Naturally, these are also often in connection with the winter solstice. This just makes sense, 'cause what other symbol would you want to use to remind you of life and hope in the middle of winter than the only plant that is still alive and green!

There are a number of good examples of this: winter solstice in ancient Egypt involved decorations of green date palms. In Rome it was evergreen boughs for the celebration of Saturnus, the god of agriculture. In old Britain the druids put evergreen boughs over their doors to ward away evil spirits. And other northern European religions had traditions like the yule log.

None of these are anything quite like the Christmas tree, but you can see how people would extrapolate these pagan traditions and use them to explain away the origins of the Christmas tree. After all, there's nothing more that some people like than to "prove" that Christianity is really just a complex amalgamation of older pagan religions.

Anyway, regardless of it's questionable pagan origins, the vast majority of people agree that the Christmas Tree itself originated in Germany. There are two very interesting tales that root the Christmas Tree's origins to Christianity: Boniface & Luther.

St. Boniface was as missionary to the Germanic/Frankish people in the 700s AD. The story goes that one day Boniface ran into a large group of people worshiping a pagan god under an oak tree. As he had been ministering to these people for quite some time now, out of anger and frustration he ran over to the oak and started to chop it down. Of course, the people were shocked and warned him of the "heresy" he was committing, but Boniface (in very Elijah-like style) simply said that if the god was real he could strike him dead for this blasphemy... and continued to chop down the tree.

Well, the tree fell and Boniface was still alive, so the people converted to Christianity. It was then noted that in the place where the oak had once stood a fir tree grew in its place. This was then taken as a symbol of the supremacy of Christianity and Boniface supposedly then used the triangular shape of the fir tree to teach the people about the trinity.

Well, that doesn't quite take us right up to the Christmas Tree, but it shows us an early origin of the evergreen tree as a symbol of Christianity over and above paganism.

The other story takes us right into the period of the Reformation. This story goes that, after being ousted from the Catholic Church, Martin Luther had a lot of time on his hands and spent a significant amount of that time roaming the woods of Germany, thinking about his beliefs and the beliefs of the Church.

Well, one evening on Christmas Eve, Marty was walking through the woods and was struck by the astounding beauty of God's creation. He was blown away by the beauty of a stand of fir trees in the snow, lit by moonlight and stars. Trying to explain this experience to his family, but unable to put it into words, he went out and cut down a tree, brought it into his house, and then decorated it with candles. Since it was Christmas Eve Luther then taught his children about how Jesus, whose birth they were about to celebrate, was the light of the world. From then on, this tradition spread among Protestants as an alternative to the Nativity Scenes that the Catholics had become so enraptured with (Francis of Assisi started that one!).

So, whether these stories are to be taken at face value, are purely fictional, or are legendary in the sense that they have a seed of historical fact, I leave up to you... but such are the Christian origins of the Christmas Tree.

The only other thing that I'll mention is this: if anybody has the right to claim trees as a religious symbol it is Christians (and perhaps Jews). After all, the Bible uses trees as its "bookends":

In the beginning we see: Genesis 2:9 (ESV) ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And in the end we see: Revelation 22:1-3 (ESV) ¹ Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

As I did a quick search I found literally dozens upon dozens of different passages that use trees as symbols for our faith. This post is already too long as it is, so I'll just leave you with these:

Psalms 92:12 (ESV) ¹² The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Proverbs 11:30 (ESV) ³⁰ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.

Proverbs 13:12 (ESV) ¹² Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 15:4 (ESV) ⁴ A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8 (ESV) ⁷ "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. ⁸ He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit."

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday, and the Day Before

So, as I hinted at yesterday, this last Monday we took a trip into the forest to find, cut down, and bring home our Christmas tree. It's become a bit of a Christmas tradition in our family.

[Some of these pictures were just taken with my phone, so please forgive the lack of quality]

There was a fair bit of snow, so it was a lot of fun driving in.

It was a beautiful day. The temperature was about -10*C and not much for wind; a great day for a walk in the woods.

Unfortunately, Juanita caught the flu the night before so she couldn't come. Fortunately, Auntie Jess was willing to carry Luke around so he could still come on his first tree run.

We found our tree...

... strapped it on the Jeep...

... set it up at home...

... and then, yesterday, we decorated it.

It was a great day to spend in God's amazing creation with good friends and family!

And yes, this is a picture of a Jeep pulling a Ford up a hill! ;)

Yesterday

I found a Unicorn!

Yup, I found a unicorn... in the BIBLE!

Well, sort of.

I've been reading through the Psalms for my regular devotions, and to mix it up I've been reading them in the Septuagint (LXX); yes, I'm on a bit of a LXX kick.

Anyway, just yesterday I was reading through the famous Ps 22 when I bumped right into a unicorn. Needless to say, neither of us were expecting it, but neither me nor the unicorn were hurt in any way, so I think we're all good.

Any normal translation will read something along the lines of this:

Psalms 22:21 (ESV) "Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!" [ESV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, NKJV all say "wild oxen"]

What I read in the LXX was:

Psalm 21:22 [22:21] (SAAS) "Save me from the lion's mouth, My humiliation from the horns of the unicorns."

That I know of, there are only 3 published English translations of the LXX (Sir Lancelot Brenton's, the St. Athanasius Academy Septuagint [SAAS], and the New English Translation of the Septuagint [NETS]) and they all have "unicorn" in this verse!

The word here is "monovkerwV" (monokeros) meaning simply, "one-horn" (mono = one; keras = "horn"). So, with the help of my old Greek prof, we put together the following:

- The LXX is a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures (i.e. the Old Testament).

- This translation was done by Jews in Alexandria, Egypt

- The term "wild oxen" has been taken to be referring to an antelope type animal known as an "oryx"

- In Egypt, the hieroglyph for oryx is something that looks a lot like: ó

- Based on the hieroglyph one can easily see how people would then call the oryx a "one-horn"

But, why then would it not just be translated as a "one-horn" or oryx?

Well, the fact is that this word, monokeros/one-horn, was also used in ancient Greek literature to describe what is thought to be the origin of the "myth" of the unicorn.

Ctesias, a Greek physician from the 5th century BC, writes about an unusual creature they (supposedly) found in India:

"[§45] In India there are wild asses as large as horses, or even larger. Their body is white, their head dark red, their eyes bluish, and they have a horn in their forehead about a cubit in length. The lower part of the horn, for

about two palms distance from the forehead, is quite white, the middle is black, the upper part, which terminates in a point, is a very flaming red. Those who drink out of cups made from it are proof against convulsions, epilepsy, and even poison, provided that before or after having taken it they drink some wine or water or other liquid out of these cups. The domestic and wild asses of other countries and all other solid-hoofed animals have neither huckle-bones nor gall-bladder, whereas the Indian asses have both. Their huckle-bone is the most beautiful that I have seen, like that of the ox in size and appearance; it is as heavy as lead and of the color of cinnabar all through. These animals are very strong and swift; neither the horse nor any other animal can overtake them. At first they run slowly, but the longer they run their pace increases wonderfully, and becomes faster and faster. There is only one way of catching them. When they take their young to feed, if they are surrounded by a large number of horsemen, being unwilling to abandon their foals, they show fight, butt with their horns, kick, bite, and kill many men and horses. They are at last taken, after they have been pierced with arrows and spears; for it is impossible to capture them alive. Their flesh is too bitter to eat, and they are only hunted for the sake of the horns and huckle-bones."

The people of the day thought of the monokeros/unicorn (latin: uni = one; cornu = horn) as an actual, true to life animal and not as a mythological creature (as opposed to, say, sirens). The best I can understand, it was only in the middle ages when the unicorn began to take on more mysterious, magical, and mythological traits... although based on what Ctesius says, it's easy to see why.

On the other hand, some people think that the monokeros is really just talking about a rhinoceros.

Incidentally, the King James also says "unicorn" in this verse as it follows the latin Vulgate for this verse (Jerome used the LXX to translate the Psalms).

So, I guess that's that.

Uh, I guess, feel free to comment (or not) as you feel fit?

Jesus, History, and the Greek NT

Here's a great little clip (OK, it's about 10 min.) of BW3:

Jesus and History from CPX on Vimeo.

Yes, this is funny

Michael F. Bird strikes again!

Here he's doing a silly little promo for the SBL's (Society of Biblical Literature's) new critical Greek Text of the New Testament. They are doing their best to give the NA27/UBS4 a run for their money! And yes, in case you weren't sure, this is funny.

And while we're at it, I want to share a link with you that may prove to be extremely valuable for those who care. Here (yes, click here) is a website that someone has put up listing EVERY SINGLE CHANGE in the various forms of the NIV (NIV'84 - TNIV - NIV'11). This is an insane amount of information! So, if you want to know how these various updates differ, this is the place to go.

Ah, good ol' Joshua:

Yesterday Ben Witherington posted an interesting discussion between himself and colleague Lawson Stone. Drs Witherington and Stone are both Profs at Asbury Theological Seminary. Witherington is Professor of New Testament Studies and Stone is Professor of Old Testament Studies. Here they get into a gracious debate about the nature of violence in the Bible and the idea of God as a Warrior. If you've ever struggled with the violence in the Bible or the whole issue of war, non-violence, and pacifism you should check this out. Very interesting.

They both posted the discussion:

Witherington's Page (here)

Stone's Page (here)

All is Calm?

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm..." Really? Calm? Have you ever seen a woman in labour? And I can't help but think that adding a bunch of stinky shepherds to the mix is going to help anything. "How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is giv'n..." Wondrous, yes. Silent, not likely!

"It came upon the midnight clear..." Well, I suppose it could have; it just doesn't say. All Matthew has to say is "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem..." (Mt. 2:1) and Luke simply states that "while they were there, the time came for her to give birth" (Lk. 2:6). Yes, the angels appeared to the shepherds at night (Lk. 2:8) but that's the closest time-frame we've got... I guess, in all fairness, the song is talking mostly about the shepherds and the angels... but then what's the point of the song? If it's not about Jesus, why bother singing it?

It doesn't take much to find some Carols that have inaccuracies, poor theology, or just silly statements. So should we scrap them?

Just this morning I ran across this quote which attempts to answer that question:

Should we get rid of Christmas Carols?

“Only with great care. For thousands, carols will be their only link with a church. At the same time, sentimentality is perhaps the single most dangerous feature of our Church and culture—and the sentimental air is never thicker than at Christmas. The Incarnation is messy, dirty, and resonates with the crucifixion. We need a new wave of carol writing that can gradually swill out the nonsense and catch the piercing, joy-through-pain refrains of the New Testament.” - Jeremy Begbie, professor of theology, Duke Divinity School

What do you make of that?

What carols are worth keeping?

Which carols are worth ditching?

Do you know of any new Christmas/Advent songs that are worth singing?

Word Designs

A while ago I discovered a website by a guy named Jim LePage. Jim is a graphic designer and has been doing a project simply called "Word." Basically, he's been doing "book covers" for each book of the Bible. He's come up with some pretty interesting stuff. Check it out: here. Click on the picture to see a larger view and a write-up/reflection on his thoughts as to why he did what he did for that particular book.

Here are a few samples.

Some of them are pretty straightforward, like this one from Nehemiah:

Some of them are mildly ironic, like Job:

You get the idea.

Ecclesiastes:

1 Samuel:

Judges

All of the ones I posted here are pretty tame. Others of his are a little more provocative. There are some of these that, in his own words, "will probably not be hanging in the youth room of your church."

Anyway, check out his pictures and his little write-ups.

Which ones stand out to you?

Why?

Hearing Music Everywhere!

I ran across Charles Spearin's "The Happiness Project" a while ago (I think it was on CBC Radio 2's "the Signal"). The idea totally intrigued me: He had interviewed a whole bunch of his neighbours about what they thought it meant to be happy in life. Then he listened to the natural tonality in their conversations and turned it into music.

I know it's totally outside of most of our musical boxes, but you gotta check this out:

So?

The New NIV

Some of you may be aware that the NIV has been undergoing an overhaul. Well, the revision is pretty much done and, while it won't be in print until next year, they have given the text to BibleGateway.com so that people can preview it. So, head on over to BibleGateway (click here) and check out a few of your favourite verses.

Just for clarity: the revision has been referred to as the "NIV2011" during this process to help distinguish between the current NIV (1984) and the revised one. However, when it hits the printers it will simply take over the name "NIV" and the older one will become known as the NIV1984. The only reason why I mention this is because this is what you will find on BibleGateway's site.

There are about a zillion reviews of this revision online so I don't feel the need to do a critique/comparison here (nor have I read it extensively yet). However, as I've casually browsed through it I noticed a few things:

Yaaaay! The "inn" is no more!: Yes, one of my old Christmas hobby horses (seen here and here) has been corrected in the updated NIV which now reads: (Lk 2:7) "⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

Gender Inclusive Language: For a lot of people this is a big one. The new NIV has followed suit with the NRSV; they have used inclusive language where they believe it fits the context but then use a footnote to inform the reader of what they have done. Here's what I mean: (Rom 1:13) "¹³ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^[d] that I planned many times to come to you..."

We then see that footnote ^[d] reads: "The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 7:1, 4; 8:12, 29; 10:1; 11:25; 12:1; 15:14, 30; 16:14, 17."

I find it interesting that this is the reversed version of what the ESV did. The ESV translated "adelphoi" simply as "brothers" but then had a footnote saying that, because the word is referring to a family unit, it could equally be translated as brothers & sisters.

There's lots of other stuff that could be mentioned but there's no need for me to do it. Check out the revision yourself and let me know what you think! I would highly recommend that you read (or at least skim) the translator's notes (click here).

If you read a handful of verses and don't notice any big differences, that's because approximately 95% of the text is identical to the old 1984 NIV.

Yup, more Dawn Treader Clips

Here's the full theatrical tailer:

And here's a clip of Lucy, Edmond, & Eustace "transitioning" into Narnia:

On Servant Leadership

A good word from Brother Francis:

"'I came not to be served but to serve' (Mt. 20:28) says the Lord. Those who are appointed to rule over others may not boast of their position any more than if they were to be assigned to the duty of washing their brothers' feet. And if they are more disturbed about the possibility of losing their position than they would be about losing the duty of foot-washing, they will expose their souls to great danger."

"No one Touches the Tail"

Here's the first "Dawn Treader" TV Spot:

The Greater Good

Recently I ran across this quote by John Cassian (360-435 AD) which I found interesting:

"There is a great difference between those who put out the fire of sin within themselves by fear of hell or hope of future reward and those who from the feeling of divine love have a horror of sin itself and of uncleanliness and keep hold of the virtue of purity simply from the love and longing for purity. They look for no reward from a promise for the future, but delighted with the knowledge of good things present, do everything not from regard to punishment but from delight in virtue. ... it is a much greater thing to be unwilling to forsake good for good's own sake than it is to withhold consent from evil for fear of evil. For in the former case the good is voluntary, but in the latter it is constrained either by fear of punishment or by greed of reward and more or less violently forced out of a reluctant party. Those who abstain from the allurements of sin owing to fear will, whenever the obstacle of fear is removed, once more return to what they love and so will not gain any permanent stability in good."

Meet Bilbo Baggins

I'm sure there are a lot of you out there that are pretty big Tolkien/Lord of the Rings fans. Well, in just the last week or so we've finally heard some proper news about the upcoming "The Hobbit" film.

Yes, it will be directed by Peter Jackson. Yes it will be filmed in New Zealand.

And finally we have some casting confirmations including the key role of Bilbo Baggins!

Bilbo Baggins: Martin Freeman
Thorin Oakenshield: Richard Armitage
Fili: Rob Kazinsky
Kili: Aidan Turner
Dwalin: Graham McTavish
Oin: John Callen
Gloin: Peter Hambleton
Bombur: Stephen Hunter
Dori: Mark Hadlow

It is also rumored that the voice of Smaug will be none other than Bill Nighy.

I hadn't heard of most of these guys before (with the exception of Martin Freeman and Bill Nighy) so if you care you can check out their bios at: theonering.net

Serpents, Sirens, Scripture, and Starbucks

What is your favourite Starbucks drink?

I've been doing some prep for a study I'm going to be leading through the book of Micah. As part of my prep I was reading through Micah in the Septuagint (LXX). For those of you unfamiliar with the LXX, it is (in simple terms) the Ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament.

Why would anyone study the Greek OT when we have the Hebrew OT?

Well, most importantly, it is well documented that the Early Church used the LXX as their scriptures! The LXX was

the "Bible" for the vast majority of Christians during the apostolic era and beyond (in fact, the Greek Orthodox Church still uses the LXX as their OT). So, if we want to understand what the early Christians believed it is obviously very helpful to read and understand the scriptures that they were using. There are other compelling reasons to study the LXX, but I'll leave it at that for now.

Anyway, as I was comparing the LXX to my ESV (based on the Hebrew text) I ran across this:

Micah 1:8 (ESV) ⁸ For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches.

...versus...

Micah 1:8 (NETS - LXX) ⁸ For this she shall lament and wail; she shall go unshod and naked she shall make lamentation like that of dragons, and mourning like that of the daughters of sirens.

For those of you who might care:

wJV drakovntwn (hōs drakontōn: of serpents) ... yes,

dravkwn

/ drakōn, "serpent" is where we get our word “dragon” from!

wJV qugatevrwn seirhvnwn (hōs thugaterōn seirēnōn: of the daughters of sirens)

Without getting into the details of why the Hebrew and Greek are so different, what struck me (I was quite shocked!) was the appearance of sirens in scripture (and dragons for that matter! Although "serpent" is probably a better translation) .

For those of you who might not be familiar with sirens, they are legendary figures from Greek mythology. Supposedly they were beautiful sea women who would lure men to their deaths with their beautiful voices. They would sing their irresistible songs and sailors would then seek out the source of the music only to crash their ships on the rocks and drown.

Probably the most famous encounter with sirens is in Homer's Odyssey (book 12... portrayed here in this picture) where

Odysseus plugs his men's ears with wax so that they can't hear the voice of the sirens while he straps himself to the mast so that he can hear their beautiful song without the danger of succumbing to it.

So, while this is certainly an extremely loose translation of the original Hebrew text, it definitely portrays a very vivid picture of the mourning prophesied by Micah.

There is very little doubt that "serpents/dragons" and "sirens" were not part of the original text written down by Micah (or his scribe) however, as I already mentioned, this is what the people of the early church would have read and thought of as scripture during the first few centuries of Christianity.

Just imagine! Thousands upon thousands of Christians... for literally centuries had serpents and sirens used as similes in their scriptures! What might the Apostle Paul have said about this text had he been preaching from Micah?

What do you make of pagan, mythological figures showing up in scripture?

Can you think of any other examples of this type of content showing up in scriptures?

Anyway, over the course of history different Greek authors and poets adapted the sirens and eventually they became mermaid-like creatures... always singing their irresistible song and luring people to their demises. Understandably they came to represent indulgence and temptation.

And so I find it appropriate that Starbucks uses a siren as their logo. It's not quite as clear on their newer logo, but their original logo shows the siren quite clearly.

... mmmmm... Starbucks...

Another "Dawn Treader" Trailer

Here's the official poster... in Polish

And here's the newest trailer (with Polish subtitles!).

And, for those of you in the Saskatoon area, make sure to pick up those last minute tickets for the David Crowder* Band concert next Wednesday!

I'm not sure what that had to do with anything... other than the fact that clearly the DC*B has way too much time on their hands.

New Testament Poetry

All of us who are Bible readers are pretty familiar with poetry in the scriptures. However, for most of us, our experience with Biblical poetry is pretty much limited to the Psalms. We probably also understand that sections of Job, the prophets, etc are also done as Hebraic poems, but honestly, the only way we really get that is 'cause our English translations indent the text in a way that says to us: "THIS IS POETRY."

Without having at least a basic understanding of Hebrew or Greek there's no way we'd know that certain sections are poetry. This is where having a GOOD commentary helps immensely.

Recently I've been walking through Paul's letter to the Colossians with a group of guys.

Colossians just happens to be one of the New Testament books with a strong poetic presence. There isn't a lot of poetry in the New Testament (although there is likely a lot more than we usually make note of; ex. 1Tim3:16; 2Tim2:11-13; etc) and with the language barrier, what poetry is there we often miss.

One of the most amazing, powerful, and beautiful images of who Christ is, is provided for us in the form of the poem in Col. 1:15-20. Maybe in another post I'll break this one down, because I love it and think it's amazing! ...

... but this isn't the kind of poetry/literary device that I'm talking about. With this poem we can see it's structure and form even in English and can, as such, identify it as poetry. There are also sections of Colossians that are chiastic (don't know what a chiasm is? Click: here). These can also be identified in English.

But there's so much more going on within the text that we just can't see without the help of either a good commentary or a knowledge of (in this case) Greek.

Here are a couple of examples:

Alliteration:

Colossians 2:1-2 (ESV) ¹ For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ...

It was Ben Witherington's Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Colossians that pointed out to me that the phrase "all the riches of full assurance" is, in fact, an alliteration: pan ploutos tes plerophorias.

Rhyme:

Here's where Witherington's emphasis on rhetoric really comes into it's own (speaking of Col. 2:16-19):

"Again, this section can best be appreciated if heard and not read. For example the end rhyme sets the cadence in 2:16 with brosei, posei, and merei and in vv. 18 and 19 with thelon, ton angelon, embateuon, kraton, ton haphon, syndesmon, and then epichoregoumenon and symbibazomenon. The length of the terms goes from two syllables to three to seven and six. By the very sounds of the rhetoric, Paul is building to a conclusion and the most polysyllabic terms, those that make the biggest impression, are served up last" (pg 151).

I know that this might look and sound a little technical, but surely you can see how (even if you don't know a lick of Greek) these groups of words rhyme with each other and that the rhyming words are grouped together by the number of syllables.

Punning?:

Colossians 2:8 (ESV) ⁸ See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

In N.T. Wright's commentary on Colossians (his IVP/Tyndale commentary, not the "for everyone" commentary) he proposes that the Greek verb for "take captive" (sylagogein) is a pun off of synagogue (synagoge). This makes perfect sense providing you agree with his thesis that the threat to the Colossian church is one with Jewish roots (ie. don't get "taken captive" into a "synagogue").

So, obviously not many of us will ever learn the original languages of the Bible in a way that we would be able to catch these subtle (or not so subtle) poetic/literary devices, but we are all capable of picking up a good quality commentary! Unfortunately, the more accessible the commentary, the less likely it will pick up on stuff like this... it's the more difficult-to-read, scholarly commentaries that will make note of this.

What other literary devices can you think of that show up in the NT?

How important do you think it is that we are able to identify these literary devices?

How do the existence of poetic/literary devices in a text influence how we interpret/translate a passage of scripture?

Do you ever read commentaries? If so, which ones?

Beauty from the Dust

So, I think the theme from this song follows up well from our theme last week: (those guitar players out there make sure to watch the whole thing as he explains how to play all of his fancy chords!)

I discovered "Gungor/The Michael Gungor Band" a few years ago and have eagerly gobbled up all of their albums. I find it rare that a "Christian band" has such a blend of creativity and ability.

In case you doubt his ability on the guitar:

And in case you are curious enough to listen to a little more:

God in the dark?

Those of us who are Christians and regularly read the New Testament are used to the imagery of light. We are familiar with statements like "I am the light of the world" (Jn 8:12) and "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 Jn 1:5), etc...

However, last spring I was going through the covenant passages and ran across an interesting description of what happened when God made His covenant with Abraham:

Genesis 15:12, 17-18 (ESV)

¹² As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him... ¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram...

At the time I found this imagery of darkness striking and intriguing but didn't think too much about it until just recently as I read through the book of Exodus where I found more darkness associated with the presence of God. As Moses is up on Mt Sinai receiving the Law we see this:

Exodus 20:21 (ESV)

²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

And Deuteronomy's description of these events is very similar:

Deuteronomy 4:11 (ESV)
¹¹ And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

And when Solomon dedicated the newly built temple:

1 Kings 8:12 (ESV) [also: 2 Chr. 6:1]
¹² Then Solomon said, "The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness...

We also see a fair amount of darkness language associated with God in the Psalms. This is just one of numerous instances:

Psalms 18:9-11 (ESV)
⁹ He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰ He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.

Now, of course there is also a whole lot of light language used to describe God... in fact, as we would suspect, there is much more light language than there is darkness language but I find these scriptures fascinating.

What is your initial reaction to associating darkness with God?

What do these darkness scriptures say to you about who God is?

Any other examples?

Fairness vs Justice

How often do you hear people say things like, "... but that's not fair..."?

People often appeal to some sort of sense of fairness; in many cases I think that this is good and appropriate, but sometimes it clearly is not.

Sometimes people also appeal to fairness as if it's some sort of Christian/theological virtue. But when you actually think about it, I don't think there's much of a case to be made for fairness if you look in the scriptures.

The reason why this comes to mind for me is that I recently ran across this quote in an article written by N. T. Wright:

"Justice never means 'treating everybody the same way' [ie. fairness], but 'treating people appropriately', which involves making distinctions between different people and situations." (This was written in the context of the homosexual debate within the Anglican Church; if you care you can read the whole article here).

A quick search found that, in the entire Bible (ESV), only Dt. 25:15 used the word "fair" (there were other usages of "fair", like "fair weather" but that's not what we're talking about), and 2 usages of "fairness" in 2 Cor. 8:13-14.

Compare these 3 usages of fair/fairness to 139 hits for "justice"! (There were 212 hits for "just" but I was to lazy to sift through alternate usages of that word... ie. "these things happened JUST as the LORD said", etc...).

What do you think:

Is God fair?

Is God just?

How are these two concepts similar/dissimilar?

What do you think of Wright's definition of justice?

What might be some the results, theologically speaking, of saying that God is fair vs saying that God is just?

New Stephen R. Lawhead novel

So, as a big Stephen R. Lawhead fan, I'm pretty pumped that he has just come out with the first book in a brand new series. The book is, The Skin Map; the series is the Bright Empires Trilogy.

Also, I was surprised that they put out a "book trailer" for this new book. Check it out!

The trailer's a bit cheesy... but kinda cool. So far the reviews on amazon.com have been pretty strong too!

Spiritual Sweet Tooth?

Do you have a sweet tooth?

How about a spiritual sweet tooth?

If you pay attention to the sidebar on this blog you may have noticed that over the past number of months I've been reading through a bunch of Christian classics. There's a cool little series of books called "Upper Room Spiritual Classics" (see them: here) that takes selected portions of Christian Classics and compiles them into nice little books of about 100 pages. They're cheap, easy to read, and I find them interesting because it's cool to see how people viewed their relationship with God throughout the centuries.

One of the books I finished recently was selected writings of the Spanish Carmelite, John of the Cross. I actually didn't really connect with much of what he had to say (when you're reading stuff written in the 1500s by a Spanish Catholic mystic in the middle of the Spanish Inquisition you want to have your filters up maybe a little more than usual!): I found that some of they ways he used scripture was questionable and that he leaned more toward philosophy than theology than I would like. Nonetheless, I couldn't question his sincerity.

Anyway, one thing that did strike me, particularly because of today's post-modern emphasis on personal experience, was his criticism of what he called a spiritual sweet

tooth.

The major theme of his writings that I picked up was the need to imitate Christ in self-denial. I think he takes this theme to questionable extremes but was intrigued when he noted that often people convert to Christianity for selfish reasons (again, remember that he was writing during the Spanish Inquisition... people would convert to Christianity [Catholicism] in order to save their hide). Even beyond this, he says that people who are constantly searching (no matter how legitimately) for a fresh experience with God are usually doing so for personal benefit/pleasure rather than out of a desire to imitate Christ... who always practice self-denial rather than self-gratification.

He says of this attitude of self-serving spirituality: "Such an attitude is not the hallmark of self-denial and nakedness of spirit but the indication of a spiritual sweet tooth" (pg 37).

As I said before, I think this connects within our own context of post-modernism. In many ways Church is seen in a consumeristic way: "if I don't experience God in a way that I like I'll move on to the next church... and the next church until I find what I want."

You see people who become worship junkies... even worship connoisseurs moving from one religious experience to the next seeking their next spiritual fix.

"A person makes progress only by imitating Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one goes to the Father but through him, as he states himself in Saint John. Accordingly, I would not consider any spirituality worthwhile that wants to walk in sweetness and ease and run from the imitation of Christ" (pg. 38).

I think this is a much needed challenge for many of us today.

I know most of you probably don't follow soccer, but I do.

Toronto FC is the team representing Canada in the CONCACAF Champion's League this year. On Tuesday they played Arabe Unido from Panama. It was one of the most disgusting, laughable games I've seen... everything that people make fun of soccer for was present. Toronto lost 1-0 after having every single Panamanian player flop around on the ground until the ref called a foul. TFC had two players ejected for virtually nothing. And so, TFC's official website posted this clip to lighten the mood. Enjoy.

I'll try to have a real post up early next week.

Introducing Eustace

Yay! More clips from Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!

We finally get to see some clips of Eustace:

Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Clip #3: Sea of Lilies from NarniaFans.com on Vimeo.

On Silence

The second portion of Henri Nouwen's book, The Way of the Heart, is on silence.

Obviously, the disciplines of solitude and of silence are interconnected. This is how he connects the two:

"Silence is the way to make solitude a reality... Silence is an indispensable discipline in the spiritual life. Ever since James described the tongue as a 'whole wicked world in itself' (James

3:6) Christians have tried to practice silence as the way of self-control. Clearly silence is a discipline needed in many different

situations: in teaching and learning, in preaching and worship, in visiting and counseling. Silence is a very concrete, practical, and useful discipline in all our ministerial tasks. It can be seen as a portable cell taken with us from the solitary place into the midst of our ministry. Silence is solitude practiced in action" (Way of the Heart, 35-36).

Essentially, he is saying that (at least in part) the discipline of silence is our way of practicing solitude without having to literally leave the world behind us. We see Jesus putting this sort of thing into practice quite frequently: Matt 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, 6:12...

Nouwen insists that in our "wordy" culture these times of silence are more and more important:

"Wherever we go we are surrounded by words: words softly whispered, loudly proclaimed, or angrily screamed; words spoken, recited, or sung; words on records, in books, on walls, or in the sky; words in many sounds, many colours, or many forms; words to be heard, read, seen, or glanced at; words which flicker off and on, move slowly, dance, jump, or wiggle. Words, words, words! ... The result of this is that the main function of the word, which is communication, is no longer realized. The word no longer communicates, no longer fosters communion, no longer creates community, and therefore no longer gives life. The word no longer offers trustworthy ground on which people can meet each other and build society" (38-39).

I think he is right about this, particularly when encountering post-modern philosophy where language is viewed as a power tool; a tool to manipulate others toward a personal/corporate agenda.

But, as always, there are similar pitfalls for those of us within the church as well:

"Often it seems that we who study or teach theology find ourselves entangled in such a complex network of discussions, debates, and arguments about God and 'God-issues' that a simple conversation with God or a simple presence to God has become practically impossible. Our heightened verbal ability, which enables us to make many distinctions, has sometimes become a poor substitute for a single-minded commitment to the WORD who is life" (39).

Whether this applies to each one of us is a matter of individual introspection... But, as he always does, Nouwen does not allow this spiritual discipline to foster individualism. Instead, it is a way for God to refuel us to accomplish His ministry:

"Silence is primarily a quality of the heart that leads to ever-growing charity... Charity, not silence, is the purpose of the spiritual life and of ministry" (57).

So, what do you make of all this?

What other scriptures can you think of that address words, language, and silence?

On Solitude

Over the course of this Summer I've been striving to immerse myself in more spiritual disciplines. One of the wonderfully humbling things about practicing spiritual disciplines is that they immediately show you how poorly you practice them!

One of the books I picked up to help challenge me along this path was "The Way of the Heart" by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen asserts that in order to be an effective minister of the Gospel in today's culture we need to habitually practice the disciplines of solitude, silence, and prayer.

Today I'll provide you some of his insights on the spiritual discipline of solitude.

Are you the kind of person who longs for times of solitude or dreads it?

"Just look for a moment at our daily routine. In general we are very

busy people. We have many meetings to attend, many visits to make, many services to lead. Our calendars are filled with appointments, our days and weeks filled with engagements, and our years filled with plans and projects. There is seldom a period in which we do not know what to do, and we move through life in such a distracted way that we do not even take the time and rest to wonder if any of the things we think, say, or do are worth thinking, saying, or doing. We simply go along with the many 'musts' and 'oughts' that have been handed on to us, and we live with them as if they were authentic translations of the Gospel of our Lord" (Way of the Heart, 12).

Have you ever felt like this?

Have you ever wondered if the things you are thinking/saying/doing are worth thinking/saying/doing?

Nouwen says that solitude is the place where transformation happens. Of course there are numerous Biblical examples of this: Israel in the wilderness, Elijah fleeing into the wilderness, John the Baptist baptizing in the wilderness, Jesus being tempted in the wilderness, etc.

Nouwen says that as long as we remain (at least mentally/spiritually, if not physically) in our culture we will remain victims of our culture. And so there is a need (at least mentally/spiritually, if not physically) to flee into solitude were we can allow God to strip away all that needs to be removed in our lives.

"Solitude is the furnace of transformation. Without solitude we remain victims of our society and continue to be entangled in the illusions of the false self. Jesus himself entered into this furnace ... Solitude is the place of the great struggle and the great encounter -- the struggle against the compulsions of the false self, and the encounter with the loving God who offers himself as the substance of the new self" (15-16).

However, Nouwen challenges us to make sure that our times and places of solitude don't become places/times of selfishness: "... solitude is not a private therapeutic place. Rather, it is the place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs" (17).

And he reminds us that the purpose of solitude is NOT escapism. The purpose of solitude is not to flee the world forever; after all, our mandate as Christians is to engage the world. Rather, our times of solitude allow God to shape and form us and provide us with a perspective conducive to ministry: compassion.

"Here we reach the point where ministry and spirituality touch each other. It is compassion. Compassion is the fruit of solitude and the basis of all ministry. The purification and transformation that take place in solitude manifest themselves in compassion... It is in solitude that compassionate solidarity grows... What becomes visible is that solitude molds self-righteous people into gentle, caring, forgiving persons who are so deeply convinced of their own sinfulness and so fully aware of God's even greater mercy that their life itself becomes ministry" (24, 25, 27).

What role has/does solitude play in your life?

Do you agree with his perspective on Solitude?

What other scriptures can you think of that connect with the spiritual discipline of solitude?

New Dawn Treader Trailer

Hey, check out the 2nd VTD Trailer:

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

So, we just got back from our holidays. I'll do my best to have more "normal" posts starting next week.

We spent some time at Last Mountain Lake:

And we went and visited my parents in the Calgary area. While we were there we went to the Calgary Zoo. Kaleb loved all the animals but was enthralled by the animatronic dinosaurs!

I also enjoyed watching TFC beat CD Motagua to qualify for the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League: