Recent Movie Watching

I picked up a few movies today. Blade-Trinity, Eragon, and Children of Men.

I also watched Pan’s labyrinth tonight for 2 bucks at Ackerman.

That’s a lot of movies.  Here are my reviews thus far:

1. Blade-Trinity.  Good action, woefully (or wonderfully, depending on who you ask) cheesy punchlines,  but vampires + big guns +kung fu? hard to miss the target.  Some unnecessary scenes though.  It’s exactly what you bargain for.  A black vampire doing roundhouse kicks to the face.

2. Pan’s Labyrinth. dark, suspenseful, and excruciatingly violent.  Reminds me of my dreams when I was in elementary school which were borderline nightmarish. Personally, I loved it. It was pure nostalgia.  It’s the sort of magic kids experience when their imaginations are forced to function in the real world.

to come, Eragon (I hear that it is easily one of the worst films of the year, Rotten Tomatoes says watching it makes you lose the will to live)  and Children of Men (I hear it’s one of the best films of the year)

Hopefully I’ll get to watch them all.  Yay.

Does God lead us into Temptation?

When you think about the Lords’ prayer, it sure seems like it. When you read the words “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” there seems to be the implication that God is the one who controls whether or not we enter into temptation by means of either leading or delivering.

But immediately, the systematized student of the Bible will protest “It is against the nature of God to tempt man!” and I would answer, this is true. Indeed, the brother of our Savior says:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ” (James 1:13,14 NAS95S)

But here I must remind you concerning James’ words, to remember that we are not only talking about lusts for sinful physical pleasures. This concept applies to all sinful pleasures, mental, emotional, and materialistic. The Arena of sin is after all much greater than the body and the senses. When we are in difficult situations, are we not tempted to be anxious? When we face adversity, are we not tempted to despair? When we are rejected by our friends for the Gospel, are we not tempted to be frustrated and even bitter at God? Notice how sin offers pleasure in every sphere of humanity, it is an ever present enemy to the Christian.

With that said, after understanding the prevalence of temptation in the Christian walk, I must say, as carefully as I can, God does indeed lead us through valleys of temptation. When I read verses like, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” (1Cor 10:13 NAS95S) The implication is that God does indeed allow us to be tempted, but within limits. He brings times of trial into the Christians life which cause him to stand toe to toe with the temptation to either give up on God or cling to His promises. The greatest example I can think of is persecution such as that experienced by the Apostle Paul. I for one would be tempted to deny God or disbelieve His promise “all things work together for the good of those who love Me” if I felt the lash of the scourge over and over again upon my bare back. But this was exactly the plan God had for Paul from the start. “for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.””(Acts 9:16 NAS95S) Truly, in every refinement of the saint’s soul, there is a point of temptation where he may disbelieve in God, distrust Him, and so sin against Him.

Now let’s return to the verse. Can it still be understood in such a way that James 1:13,14 is maintained in its potency of meaning while simultaneously preserving the natural reading of Luke 11:4? I think so. Notice that not once here have I said that God is the tempter. That is blasphemous and heretical. However I will say that God is the shepherd who sometimes leads the sheep through valleys of death. I believe that. I drew this diagram while sitting in the pews at church a few weeks ago. It helped me, maybe it will help you.

Notice how God does not do the tempting but rather leads us through it. The shepherd leads his sheep through the valley of death and God leads us through temptation. He does this with the aim that our souls might be purified and our faith strengthened.

We should not ask for temptations, we do not want them, but God will lead us through them. And when he does, remember, “Thy staff and rod, they comfort me.” Just as God can “lead us into…”, he can “deliver us from …” Now let’s listen to James again:

“ Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
(James 1:2-4 NAS95S)

The Echo & The Sound Itself

Have you ever gone running and come back breathless, exhausted and longing to quench your thirst with a big cold bottle of Gatorade? Do your remember when you lift the bottle up and start to pour the cold liquid down your throat; for a moment it is the most wonderful feeling, like inhaling pure, refreshing, air after being stuck in a stuffy room for far too long. But to your dismay, the pleasure and refreshment doesn’t last. You need to breathe, your tongue gets numb, the taste starts to fail, your stomach says enough. That wonderful feeling of pleasure which at first seemed to rush over you like a tidal wave suddenly falls away like sand between the fingers of a clenched fist. I hate that feeling. Our current capacity for pleasure is so small. It’s frustrating. Everytime things like this happen (and it doesn’t only happen with food or drink e.g. music, imagery, emotions) I start thinking about what C.S. Lewis once wrote. I’d like to believe it is the greatest chapter of literature outside of the Bible I have ever read. It is the last chapter of his insightful book The Problem of Pain. In it he says the following:

Are not all lifelong friendships born at the moment when at last you meet another human being who has some inkling (but faint and uncertain even in the best) of that something you were born desiring, and which, beneath the flux of other desires and in all the momentary silences between the louder passions, night and day, year by year, from childhood to old age, you are looking for, watching for, listening for? You have never had it. All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it — tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled; echoes that died away just as they caught your ear. But if it should really become manifest – if there ever came an echo that did not die away but swelled into the sound itself - you would know it. Beyond all possibility of doubt you would say ‘ Here at last is the thing I was made for.’

I’d like to believe that the pleasure I experience when I drink cold Gatorade is an echo. But when at last I kneel to drink from the river of life, the heavenly taste of divine water, cool upon my tongue, quenching my thirst, will neither fade nor subside in its refreshment but swell into that wonderful pleasure of what Lewis calls the “sound itself” and what the awestruck psalmist calls “the fullness of joy.” And then I will say with Lewis, perhaps in my own words, “Here at last, is the stuff I was made for.”

Maranatha, the best is yet to come.

self-control and healing

By now I’ve become very familiar  with the process of getting hurt and watching my body heal.  Whether it be a large cut or a small cut, it all goes through same process of fixing itself.  First, when the wound is inflicted, a sharp pain, then a uncomfortable throbbing feeling, then the scab begins to grow, then the itchiness, then the scratching, then the wound reopens, and all over again until I finally keep myself from scratching it again.

Wounds in the heart are like that too, almost at every level.  And until you stop scratching the itch you’ll never heal up. It’s all about self-control really. Control your thoughts, and your heart will heal itself.  You might not feel like brand new but at least you’ll feel like you’ve healed.

The Intimacy and Timelessnes of God

Who doesn’t like the Matrix? Come now, lets be honest. Flying bullets stopping in mid air, punching so fast your fist looks like a thousand blurs, dodging bullets fired from fully automatic machine guns …we all wish we could either move that fast or make time feel that slow.

When I first thought of the Timelessness of God, meaning that God is not contained by the constraints of Time, I thought of it like God holding a film strip between two fingers.  The film strip is the complete timeline of our current reality.  And as he holds that film strip he sees both the end and the beginning in one glance.  In that sense he stands outside of time and can observe it completely.  (This does not however nullify His ability to affect time or the series of events of which it may consist.)

I haven’t changed my mind about that but I have thought about it more.  You see, that illustration is okay when it comes to describing the abstract concept of Timelessness and grounding it in something understandeable. However, it makes God seem distant, impersonable, and relationally uninvolved with individuals.  That’s not right, because God is deeply involved with individuals.  So I’ve thought of a better way to think about the Timelessness of God which preserves His intimacy with His creation.

So, back to the Matrix idea.  One of the powers I’ve always wanted was the ability to slow down time leading to the super rad ability to dodge bullets or punch really fast.  What that really means though is that in some way or another, I would like the ability to perceive and experience my own time independent of the Time the world experiences.  So if I slowed down everything down, that would mean I could be walking around normally while everyone was frozen still.  I could stand in front of a random person and observe him as he slowly blinks, perhaps taking a full hour before his eyes are finally shut.

Now back to God.  First let me say that God is able to do far more than what I have just mentioned.  This little scene about slowing down time is just a human idea which takes into consideration human limits and perceptions.  God is wholly different in his transcendence and greater abilities.  But, let’s stick with the idea anyways.  If God were able to do this, and He can, He could experience every second of our lives like they lasted a thousand years.  I mean, would it not be possible that even in this moment before I type the next letter God has already spent a week just standing next to me watching my fingers slowly descend to hit the key?  The point is this, if God is timeless, He is far more intimate with us than we can imagine.

Now I know that may be a lot to swallow.  And I admit I’ve already bit off more than I can chew.  But it’s a thought that I keep thinking about not only because it is mentally astonishing but also because the thought of someone spending more time with me than I could ever spend with them makes me feel very loved,  to the point of being overwhelmed.

I am certain that all of us have experienced sorrowful times in our lives when we have felt either ignored, abandoned or very alone. I think we would agree that those are the times we want to feel the intimacy of our God the most.  Now let this thought sink in.  Perhaps, in those moments when we are hurting the most, God spends them with us for a thousand years.

Just a thought.

“I will heal your faithlessness”

    ““Return, O faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness.””
(Jer 3:22 NAS95S)

I really believe all Israel will be saved.  By the grace of God the faithless will become faithful again!

“I have heard.”

With his head bent down his eyes
Were locked upon the screen, Despite
The hour, far too late for most.
As a guard might keep his post
With bright eyes, and attentive mind
He was alert, and felt a kind
Of unmistakable unrest.
The study of the word, the chest
Of treasures giv’n by the Lord
Was all this young man hungered for.

A single lamp with golden light
Shed just enough for human sight
To recognize the forms of words
And in the silence, he whispered
Them to himself. So deep
And meaningful. He’d reap
As much as he could of this truth.
Wisdom is not barred from youth,
Was what he thought when he first turned
His quiet times to lessons learned.

The last four years were years of change
Both great and small. Great in that stage
Where faith is stripped of all pretense
And discipleship is made intense
By reconstructing frames of life
From pagan forms to forms of Christ.
And also small in that one sense
where things, mundane, are reassessed
to realign to Scriptures scale
or be discarded if they fail.

The years that passed were not without
Its share of griefs and tears. About
Two years ago he walked a road
That he believed was all he’d know
For all the years to come. Who knew
That God would break his heart. And through
The brokeness show him his hope
Had gone beyond the holy scope
Of Jesus Christ. No other stone
Could be his base. He stands alone.
The Holy Son, amidst the shards
Of dreams once gods, now dust.

Apart
From all the pain he felt,
He knew that still his soul was well.
And from that sad and desperate stand.
He made his peace with God’s great hand
Of love and wisdom. There he stood
Before the seat of Sovereign good.
And from that point theology
Became far more than knowledge. He
Saw how the truth could truly be
So deep in its reality.
That he should make his sole delight
The Lord was simple in his mind
But when it came to crushing blows
Where treasures of his heart were thrown
Into the purifying fire
Of God’s decree. His true desire
was there laid bare, a clear display
by means of God’s relentless Grace.

Now sitting there he read the Word
While not a single sound was heard
above the turning pages and
The tapping of his fingers. Hand
Upon his chin his mind was full
Of thoughts and hopes, the pull
Of heaven and of holy dreams
Filling him with living streams.
And in the quiet of his room,
While thousands slept, as though in tombs.
This man walked in truth, set free
From every bond, captivity
Was in the past. Because
Of Jesus cross. He was
Delivered now From death and hell
And hopeless striving’s cursed spell,
And also from the fear of loss
And sorrow from the fullest cost
Of giving all to gain but Him
By finding there, Joy infinite.

The highest love and brightest light
Has shone upon the weary plight
Of grieving Christians everywhere.
God yet has gracious good to spare
For his dear children. I am one.
Every battle has been won.
Yes, Fighting now, though sitting still.
By letting Truth, from His word spill
Upon the anxious thoughts and fears
And overwhelming sorrows tears
by pouring joy through blissful hope
That while in darkness now I grope
For answers I will one day touch
The face of God, it is too much
For me to dream yes, even now
When I have yet to die. The crown
Of righteousness is mine
If I refuse to here repine
Before my time on earth is gone.
God be my strength and grace beyond
my wildest dreams. my confidence
in Scripture gives my soul a sense
of greater truths and greater bliss
For One alone do I exist.
All life and joy are in your Word.
I have believed, and I have heard.

“Isaiah”

“He heard the sound of thunderstorms,
it shook the bones beneath his skin
and caused the ground he stood upon
to quake and heave and yawn. Within
his mind he could not grasp this sight
not for the smoke or blinding light
but for the deeper clutching in
his soul, a hand too small to grip
the whole of it. He found no words
but “Woe is me.” And barely heard
from him: a whisper torn and ripped,
“I am a man of unclean lips,”
“I dwell among men of the same.”
His words stopped short in his own shame,
for here before the living God
he stood in all his sinful sod
shown cleary by the radiance
of royalty divine. He pressed
his face into the ground and wept
for all the sins he ever kept
and did not cast before His feet.
At last, he stood before God’s seat.Yet there the roar seemed all at once
to fade. He turned his eyes still hunched
upon his knees to see the tongs
of heaven close and draw
a coal of fire from the flame
to cleanse the filth of Isaiah’s shame.
and there it touched and purged his lips
and scorched the flesh until the skin
blistered from the heat of God.
But there he felt the gracious heart
of Yahweh, called by angels thrice
Holy. In this precious sight
Isaiah found his hope renewed
to preach though judgment was the news
And so within his feeble heart
there stirred a flame from only sparks.
And lifted up his voice again,
Isaiah drew his breath and said
Send me, O Lord, and I will go.
and go indeed did he to sow
the seeds of truth to hardened hearts
until their blades tore him apart.

And we must join Isaiah’s voice
and we like him must make the choice
to follow what we know our God
desires for us despite the cost.
Though we should preach to hardened hearts.
the face of God will feed our spark.”

Amazed by Holiness on June 23, 2005

A bitter providence

This is a poem I wrote around two years ago, when I was a Junior in College. It brought back some tough memories and even tougher lessons. But I still stand by it. I pray that I understand it better today.

“…O King of mercy, God of Grace, Job knew it in the end,
that providence releases praise through suffering’s clenched hand

When walls of confidence are cracked and ruin hems us in
When bricks we’ve stacked are blown to bits by unexpected winds
the eyes that brim with tears are right to weep thought not for long
for soon the same eyes shall perceive the suff’ring was not wrong.
When man at long last finds himself with no word on his lips
both foolish and intelligent will by Him be convinced,
that God is God and He is wise beyond the mind of man
He gives and takes away despite our ignorant demand
for grace at all times in our life and in the shape and form
of our idea of good when our idea falls ever short
of what the Lord God has in mind, his kindness is not chained
by what we say or think or dream, for Freedom is His Name.

So Lord I come with open hands to take what you will give.
Regardless of the pain and grief that may well come with it.
My hands are yours to take what you have chosen to bestow
that I may see you better and your son more deeply know.
Hear me Lord and grant me faith that fastens to Your Name
for, the glory of the Sovereign God will surely be my strength.”

-Sept 7, 2005

Happy Easter fellow believers.

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching, our faith, our witness, is worthless,we are still in our sins and all who have died before us have perished. And we Christians are the most pitiable and tragic of all people.

But, He is risen, even as He said.

““DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”(1Cor 15:54-57 NAS95S)