Daddy, I’m not giving up!

Six weeks ago we bought our 5 year-old (Caleb) his first bicycle. On Sunday, we bought our 3 1/2 year-old (Elijah) his first bicycle. His tricycle just couldn’t keep up with his big brother’s bike. He was getting tired of pedaling fast and going nowhere and we were getting tired of waiting for him to catch up.

Every evening we can be found touring our neighborhood at speeds that only a 5 and 3 1/2 year old could call fast. We wave at neighbors, brake for frogs, turtles, and rabbits, and occasionally run into each other and get our pedals and spokes tangled. It has become the highlight of my day.

Last night, we were struggling to climb a hill. As Caleb and I passed Elijah, he said, “Daddy, I’m not giving up!”

Am I sure that I am saved?

A great discussion here about the nature of personal salvation. Perriman has articulated quite well a concept that I’ve been unable to adequately put into words.

Am I sure that I am saved? I do not think that the Bible defines ‘Christianity’ fundamentally or centrally as a religion of salvation, and certainly not of the highly individualized personal salvation that is characteristic of modern evangelicalism; so I do not think that the question ‘Are you sure you are saved?’ really gets at the heart of the matter. I believe that the God who called Abraham has called me to be part of his own people, and that my inclusion in that people is a matter of grace and is a consequence of Christ’s death and vindication. It could not have happened without the victory over Israel’s sin, its alienation from God, the prospect of judgment, and the opposition of the powers that ruled over Israel, that – to my mind – is best captured in the story about the suffering Son of man who receives ‘dominion and glory and a kingdom’ from God. This is a narrative of salvation but it is worked out primarily at a corporate level and it is set within a larger narrative of the calling or election of a people to be a place of God’s dwelling in the world.

What is the Kingdom of God?

Scot McKnight points us to this quiz about the kingdom of God.

My results:

You scored as Kingdom as a Christianised Society. Christians shouldn’t withdraw from the world, but by being present in it they can transform it. The kingdom is not only spiritual, but social, political, and cultural.

Kingdom as a Christianised Society

92%

The Kingdom is mystical communion

67%

The Kingdom as Earthly Utopia

67%

The Kingdom as a counter-system

67%

The Kingdom as a political state

42%

The Kingdom as Institutional Church

25%

The Kingdom is a Future Hope

25%

Inner spiritual experience

0%

What is the Kingdom of God?
created with QuizFarm.com

A Retelling of an Old Story

Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was an American Christian and the other a Pharisee. The American Christian stood tall, and with outstretched arms, prayed, “Lord God, thank you for allowing me to be born in this great country and for making me who I am. I could have been born in Africa or be a homosexual or a Democrat or even a legalistic Pharisee.

When the Pharisee prayed, he was overwhelmed by the ugliness of his self-righteous pride. He fell to his knees and prayed, “Oh God, I’ve exalted myself by pushing down others. I’ve excluded those who should have been included. I’ve burdened hurting people with heavy rules that you didn’t create. Have mercy on me, a sinner.

I tell you the truth. It was the Pharisee, and not the Christian from America, who went home right with God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Random Summer Post

Lots going on, but not much to talk about.

I had a great “getting things done” day around the house yesterday. I checked off a long list of to-do’s that needed to get done.

I’m reading Simply Christian by N. T. Wright. As is usual for Wright, it’s good. I’d love to get a curious pre-Christian’s opinion about it. Anybody know one who would be interested enough to read a book by the Bishop of Durham?

I saw Nacho Libre with Riddle on Friday night. There are plenty of quotes in there for everybody. My favorite: They don’t think I know a butt-load of crap about the gospel, but I do. I may put this one on my blog header.

Here’s a nice quote from Crunchy Cons that explains what the author means by “Crunchy Conservatives.”

There is an older, less-ideological tradition, a sensibility that comes out in people I call crunchy conservatives. We are are conservatives by conviction and temperament, and usually vote Republican, but we’re “crunchy”–as in the slang for “earthy”–because we stand alongside a number of of lefties who don’t buy in to the consumerist and individualist mainstream of American life. It seems to crunchy cons that most Americans are so busy bargain-shopping and bed-hopping, or talking about their shopping and screwing selves, that they’re missing the point of life. Sex and commerce are find things, but man cannot live by Viagra and the Dow Jones along. A life led collecting thing and experiences in pursuit of happiness is not necessarily a bad life, but it’s not a good life either. Too often, the Democrats act like the Party of Lust, and the Republicans the Party of Greed. Both are deadly sins that eat the soul, and crunchy cons believe that both must be resisted in our personal and communal lives. Mainstream liberalism and conservatism, as the agrarian essayist Wendell Berry said, are “perfectly useless” to combat the forces of contemporary American society that are pulling families and communities apart. Berry says that most liberals won’t take a stand against anything that limits sexual autonomy, and most conservatives won’t oppose anything that limits economic freedom.

If you like that quote, read the book. You won’t agree with everything he says, but you’ll do a lot of thinking and soul-searching.

Cruncy Cons, Nacho Libre, Wendell Berry,