THE INESCAPABILITY OF POP CULTURE
On one of the Basement Tapes from the Highland Study Center, I think Lawrence declares that he gauges his sanctification by whether he recognizes who's on the covers of the supermarket tabloids. When I first heard him say that I was immediately convicted of my own secret affair of the heart with pop culture. See, I grew up in the 80s, the world of Atari and Rick Springfield, Sixteen Candles and Duran Duran, "Who Shot J.R.?" and leg warmers. I didn't give a second thought to my involvement in the latest and greatest that pop culture had to offer. It was as routine as brushing my teeth. Gotta find out who's on the Top 40. Gotta see the new episode of Dallas or whatever show was hot at that moment. It's only been recently that I've seen how pervasive my love of pop culture has been. It's also been extremely difficult for me to wrench myself free of its grip. I know it sounds stupid. But somehow I keep on believing Satan's lie that if I don't know what's going on with the latest celebrity couple or any other thing going on in pop culture, I must be missing out on something tremedously important. "You see," Satan lies, " your life really is pretty boring without these things. What in the world would you do with yourself if you didn't have 'Survivor' to keep you company on Thursdays and Trading Spaces to entertain you every day at 4pm?" Let's not underestimate the intelligence of our enemy. He really knows our weaknesses and what it's going to take to make us ineffective soldiers of Christ. He tries to draw my affections away Christ and towards the world. One way that always succeeds is in my idle times. Unfortunately this week I've been in a lot of waiting rooms, either at the doctor's or somewhere else like the barber shop waiting for my boys to get done with their haircuts. There's always a magazine lying around and there's always a People magazine lying around it seems. This sounds silly, but it's always a challenge to not read those rags of pop culture. Why am I drawn to them? Like I said before, part of me really believes that I'll be missing something if I don't read them. Another part of me ironically feels superior to read about these people and their vacuous lives. So that feeds the other weakness Satan knows and exploits, my pride. Oh man, I feel like reciting the end of Romans 7 right now. Again, many would read this and think I'm overreacting, going way too far in my introspection. All I can say is that as I am working out my salvation, I'm finding attitudes and mindsets that are more worldly and characteristic of the 'old man' instead of the new creation my Lord had made me into. Think on what Peter has said in his first epistle -
"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the
passions of your former ignorance, but as He who
called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'"
1 Peter 1:14-16
I think I'll be meditating on this for a while. More later.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Thursday, July 22, 2004
PSALM 101 AND THE SEARED CONSCIENCE PT. 2
"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me." Psalm 101:3
About nine years ago the pastor of the church I attended challenged us to write this verse on a piece of paper and tape it to our television screens. Nine years later I would say that you probably couldn't turn on the TV and still abide by this verse; most everything on TV is worthless today.
As I was reading this psalm this morning I began to realize that we (I include myself, too) have become so encultured that we can't even discern what is acceptable and what isn't. Now I don't want to fall into legalism but I do believe the Bible calls us to be wise, prudent and most of all holy in all our behavior. Just for a minute, imagine that the world is represented by the sewer. The things of this world, as 1 John 2:15-16 describes, the lust of the eyes, the flesh and the boastful pride of life are the sights and smells of the sewer. As Christians we are called to set our minds on the things above, a la Colossians 3, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Romans 12 says. If we as Christians climb down and get in the sewer sooner or later the things we see there and the things we smell there will seem to be normal. If you remember from science class, even the raunchiest smells start to fade the more you expose your smeller to them. So the more we continue in the sewer, our ability to discern what is holy and what is profane will quickly begin to disintegrate. Let me give you a real life example. On the plane home from Europe last weekend there were two very bad movies playing. The first was Starsky and Hutch starring Ben Stiller. I knew enough about Ben Stiller movies to know that I didn't want to watch this film even though I was desperate for diversion as my fanny fatigue reached levels unknown. Not only are Mr. Stiller's films usually laced with sexual innuendo but a film set in the 70s is surely to include many references to and images of loose women and casual drug use. Unfortunately many of my fellow believers on the plane were watching the movie and sometimes laughing. And even more unfortunately I was lured into watching the next bad movie, Welcome to Mooseport. Even two Oscar winners couldn't save this wretched piece of filmmaking. During this film we were exposed to a former President who was power hungry and ego driven who had just divorced the first lady. The town hero was a buffoon of a man played perfectly of course my Ray Romano. He had been dating his girlfriend for more than six years and they were involved in pre-marital sex. The fact that I am uncomfortable using the word fornication to describe their relationship proves how much of the world is still in me. I'd rather use the PC terms than the biblical ones. Praise God for the brave men and women at places like VisionForum and the Highland Study Center among others who are not afraid to call a spade a spade. Anyway, back to my point. Allowing ourselves to watch such worldly and banal entertainment just for the sake of diversion does something to our spirits. And that something is captured perfectly in a quote by John Piper --
"It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch. This makes us small and weak and worldly and inauthentic in worship."
I'm sorry if these thoughts aren't as put together as they could be. I guess my concluding thought would be this. If our identity as Christians is that we are children of a now reigning and conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords, shouldn't are sensibilities be radically different from the world? Shouldn't our tastes and desires be radically realigned to the holy and truly beautiful things of this world?
Perhaps we don't realize that there is a whole other world outside the sewer. Let's climb out and take a peek.
"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me." Psalm 101:3
About nine years ago the pastor of the church I attended challenged us to write this verse on a piece of paper and tape it to our television screens. Nine years later I would say that you probably couldn't turn on the TV and still abide by this verse; most everything on TV is worthless today.
As I was reading this psalm this morning I began to realize that we (I include myself, too) have become so encultured that we can't even discern what is acceptable and what isn't. Now I don't want to fall into legalism but I do believe the Bible calls us to be wise, prudent and most of all holy in all our behavior. Just for a minute, imagine that the world is represented by the sewer. The things of this world, as 1 John 2:15-16 describes, the lust of the eyes, the flesh and the boastful pride of life are the sights and smells of the sewer. As Christians we are called to set our minds on the things above, a la Colossians 3, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, as Romans 12 says. If we as Christians climb down and get in the sewer sooner or later the things we see there and the things we smell there will seem to be normal. If you remember from science class, even the raunchiest smells start to fade the more you expose your smeller to them. So the more we continue in the sewer, our ability to discern what is holy and what is profane will quickly begin to disintegrate. Let me give you a real life example. On the plane home from Europe last weekend there were two very bad movies playing. The first was Starsky and Hutch starring Ben Stiller. I knew enough about Ben Stiller movies to know that I didn't want to watch this film even though I was desperate for diversion as my fanny fatigue reached levels unknown. Not only are Mr. Stiller's films usually laced with sexual innuendo but a film set in the 70s is surely to include many references to and images of loose women and casual drug use. Unfortunately many of my fellow believers on the plane were watching the movie and sometimes laughing. And even more unfortunately I was lured into watching the next bad movie, Welcome to Mooseport. Even two Oscar winners couldn't save this wretched piece of filmmaking. During this film we were exposed to a former President who was power hungry and ego driven who had just divorced the first lady. The town hero was a buffoon of a man played perfectly of course my Ray Romano. He had been dating his girlfriend for more than six years and they were involved in pre-marital sex. The fact that I am uncomfortable using the word fornication to describe their relationship proves how much of the world is still in me. I'd rather use the PC terms than the biblical ones. Praise God for the brave men and women at places like VisionForum and the Highland Study Center among others who are not afraid to call a spade a spade. Anyway, back to my point. Allowing ourselves to watch such worldly and banal entertainment just for the sake of diversion does something to our spirits. And that something is captured perfectly in a quote by John Piper --
"It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch. This makes us small and weak and worldly and inauthentic in worship."
I'm sorry if these thoughts aren't as put together as they could be. I guess my concluding thought would be this. If our identity as Christians is that we are children of a now reigning and conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords, shouldn't are sensibilities be radically different from the world? Shouldn't our tastes and desires be radically realigned to the holy and truly beautiful things of this world?
Perhaps we don't realize that there is a whole other world outside the sewer. Let's climb out and take a peek.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
SACRIFICING OUR CHILDREN
I am so upset right now. I was just making dinner while listening to Focus on the Family. They were having a "town hall meeting" in Kentucky where participants were asking questions of Dr. Walt Larimore and another expert whose name I cannot recall. A man stood up and asked for wisdom concerning his six year old daughter who apparently will be entering public school this fall. This father was concerned about the homosexual propoganda that his daughter would be exposed to and he was asking for advice about what he could do to protect and prepare his daughter. The answer he received made me so upset. The so called "expert" basically said that the fact that his daughter would be exposed to this ungodly information was inevitable and the only thing he could do would be to help his daughter learn the truth and make sure she respected the teacher even if she didn't agree with him/her. He also added that you couldn't expect the daughter to stand up to the teacher when she was six but maybe when she got to high school or college she'd be better prepared!!!??? So let us look at this situation logically. This man's daughter is six and is just about to enter a classroom with 20 or so of her peers from different families and religious backgrounds. She may not be a believer in Christ and if she is she is not well grounded yet at all in her faith. Children her age are very influencable (sorry if that's not a word!). Now let's look at the amount of time she spends at home and at school with her classmates and her teachers. Each day she would leave at 7 am or so and return around 2:30 or 3 pm if she lives where I live. That is about 8 hours per day. At the end of five days that adds up to 40 hours. If she goes to bed around 8 or 9 pm at night that means she spends 5 or 6 hours a day with her family but the best of her day and attention is spent at school. Plus the hours after school and at night are probably not spent in intensive religious instruction with her parents. She's probably going to piano lessons or soccer practice and doing homework or playing with her friends. So the best part of her day where she receives most of her instruction is at a government school where her teachers are not allowed to teach from the Bible or mention Jesus Christ. She is also being influenced by her peer group who may or may not be Christians all in the name of being properly socialized. Therefore, I propose that but for the grace of God and extreme diligence of the parents, this daughter will not be able to properly defend her views if she even knows them well enough by the time she enters high school or college. Most likely this daughter will be an encultured young woman who looks more like the world than anything else.
This so called expert gave the wrong answer and the wimpy answer. He should have told this father to grab his daughter and take her away from the godless government school system and either put her in a Christian school or even better, start homeschooling her. This way she would be grounded in the faith of her father and not continually get mixed messages from her father. On the one hand he wants to ground her in the faith but every day when his daughter gets home from school he and his wife have to correct what she is learning so it comes from a biblical worldview. AND that assumes the parents are aware of everything she is learning NOT to mention the attitudes she's getting from her friends and classmates at school. Please tell me how this qualifies as training our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord??
I am so upset right now. I was just making dinner while listening to Focus on the Family. They were having a "town hall meeting" in Kentucky where participants were asking questions of Dr. Walt Larimore and another expert whose name I cannot recall. A man stood up and asked for wisdom concerning his six year old daughter who apparently will be entering public school this fall. This father was concerned about the homosexual propoganda that his daughter would be exposed to and he was asking for advice about what he could do to protect and prepare his daughter. The answer he received made me so upset. The so called "expert" basically said that the fact that his daughter would be exposed to this ungodly information was inevitable and the only thing he could do would be to help his daughter learn the truth and make sure she respected the teacher even if she didn't agree with him/her. He also added that you couldn't expect the daughter to stand up to the teacher when she was six but maybe when she got to high school or college she'd be better prepared!!!??? So let us look at this situation logically. This man's daughter is six and is just about to enter a classroom with 20 or so of her peers from different families and religious backgrounds. She may not be a believer in Christ and if she is she is not well grounded yet at all in her faith. Children her age are very influencable (sorry if that's not a word!). Now let's look at the amount of time she spends at home and at school with her classmates and her teachers. Each day she would leave at 7 am or so and return around 2:30 or 3 pm if she lives where I live. That is about 8 hours per day. At the end of five days that adds up to 40 hours. If she goes to bed around 8 or 9 pm at night that means she spends 5 or 6 hours a day with her family but the best of her day and attention is spent at school. Plus the hours after school and at night are probably not spent in intensive religious instruction with her parents. She's probably going to piano lessons or soccer practice and doing homework or playing with her friends. So the best part of her day where she receives most of her instruction is at a government school where her teachers are not allowed to teach from the Bible or mention Jesus Christ. She is also being influenced by her peer group who may or may not be Christians all in the name of being properly socialized. Therefore, I propose that but for the grace of God and extreme diligence of the parents, this daughter will not be able to properly defend her views if she even knows them well enough by the time she enters high school or college. Most likely this daughter will be an encultured young woman who looks more like the world than anything else.
This so called expert gave the wrong answer and the wimpy answer. He should have told this father to grab his daughter and take her away from the godless government school system and either put her in a Christian school or even better, start homeschooling her. This way she would be grounded in the faith of her father and not continually get mixed messages from her father. On the one hand he wants to ground her in the faith but every day when his daughter gets home from school he and his wife have to correct what she is learning so it comes from a biblical worldview. AND that assumes the parents are aware of everything she is learning NOT to mention the attitudes she's getting from her friends and classmates at school. Please tell me how this qualifies as training our children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord??
Monday, July 19, 2004
EUROPE: LIKES AND DISLIKES
Well, I'm back. Boy, those 10 hour plane flights can just about wear a person out. Praise God that we had very uneventful flights and experiences at three separate airports. Hey, why is it that even though I was gone only a week my children seemed to have aged six months??
Anyway, I wanted to give a perspective of what I liked and didn't like in Europe seeing that it was the first time I was there. I'll start with the likes first.
What I liked about Europe:
1) Beautiful architecture and history embodied in the way cities were laid out.
2) Cafes everywhere with fresh bread and outside seating.
3) The houses in the country had the simplest most beautiful architecture and everyone had gardens and windowboxes.
4) Most people walked everywhere and pedestrians had the right of way.
5) The cobblestone streets.
6) The croissants and Nutella chocolate spread!
What I disliked about Europe:
1) Most of those beautiful cathedrals were museums and not well cared for. Sad.
2) Yes, tax and gratuity were built into the price of everything at the cafes but that meant there was no incentive to give you great service. After sitting down you had to wait 10-15 min. to get a menu!
3) At most public restrooms you had to pay 30 cents to pee! There aren't many public restrooms even in the airports and there are not any waterfountains to be found. Not that you would want to drink the water there anyway!
4) Watch your step on those cobblestone streets, dogs have more rights than you! Owners are not required to pick up their pets' messes.
5) The bathrooms and hotel rooms we stayed in were extremely tiny. Just barely enough room to turn around in. The hotel we stayed in near the airport in Brussels was smaller than my dormroom in college.
Well those are some of my observations. I'm sure many of you who have gone to Europe have experienced the same things. I'll know to bring my own bottled water next time and plenty of change!
RANT FROM EUROPE
I know I'm not in Europe anymore but I couldn't help ranting about something I read on the front page of one of the London newspapers while I was there. On the front page was a big picture of a snail. The article detailed a new law being considered which would prosecute people if they injured or killed certain animals including insects! It went on to say that even hurting or killing unborn animals was going to be prosecuted. You can imagine how quickly my blood began to boil when I read that. Since when are snails more valuable than unborn children!!!! It would almost be laughable if it weren't true. How depraved we have become. Just the fact that God doesn't strike us down now proves how unending His mercies truly are.
Well, I'm back. Boy, those 10 hour plane flights can just about wear a person out. Praise God that we had very uneventful flights and experiences at three separate airports. Hey, why is it that even though I was gone only a week my children seemed to have aged six months??
Anyway, I wanted to give a perspective of what I liked and didn't like in Europe seeing that it was the first time I was there. I'll start with the likes first.
What I liked about Europe:
1) Beautiful architecture and history embodied in the way cities were laid out.
2) Cafes everywhere with fresh bread and outside seating.
3) The houses in the country had the simplest most beautiful architecture and everyone had gardens and windowboxes.
4) Most people walked everywhere and pedestrians had the right of way.
5) The cobblestone streets.
6) The croissants and Nutella chocolate spread!
What I disliked about Europe:
1) Most of those beautiful cathedrals were museums and not well cared for. Sad.
2) Yes, tax and gratuity were built into the price of everything at the cafes but that meant there was no incentive to give you great service. After sitting down you had to wait 10-15 min. to get a menu!
3) At most public restrooms you had to pay 30 cents to pee! There aren't many public restrooms even in the airports and there are not any waterfountains to be found. Not that you would want to drink the water there anyway!
4) Watch your step on those cobblestone streets, dogs have more rights than you! Owners are not required to pick up their pets' messes.
5) The bathrooms and hotel rooms we stayed in were extremely tiny. Just barely enough room to turn around in. The hotel we stayed in near the airport in Brussels was smaller than my dormroom in college.
Well those are some of my observations. I'm sure many of you who have gone to Europe have experienced the same things. I'll know to bring my own bottled water next time and plenty of change!
RANT FROM EUROPE
I know I'm not in Europe anymore but I couldn't help ranting about something I read on the front page of one of the London newspapers while I was there. On the front page was a big picture of a snail. The article detailed a new law being considered which would prosecute people if they injured or killed certain animals including insects! It went on to say that even hurting or killing unborn animals was going to be prosecuted. You can imagine how quickly my blood began to boil when I read that. Since when are snails more valuable than unborn children!!!! It would almost be laughable if it weren't true. How depraved we have become. Just the fact that God doesn't strike us down now proves how unending His mercies truly are.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
AU REVOIR
Today we had to say goodbye to the refugees here in Belgium. We have no idea what will happen to them after we leave but we do know that our missionary friends will be able to continue to develop relationships with them. Today we performed some music for them which they loved. At one point a saxophonist with the group got up and just started playing various tunes. One was Amazing Grace. The director was heard to be humming along with the music. That was encouraging. Tonight we will be performing at the Protestant Church here in Liege. Many will come who we have met on the street and invited to the concert. Pray the eyes of their hearts would be open to the glory of the gospel. Tomorrow we will be touring the city of Brugge and then leaving VERY early on Saturday morning for the long flight home. Home to my dear husband and three precious children. I'll post more after I arrive home. I'm sure there's lots I need to think and pray over before I understand the whole impact of this trip.
Today we had to say goodbye to the refugees here in Belgium. We have no idea what will happen to them after we leave but we do know that our missionary friends will be able to continue to develop relationships with them. Today we performed some music for them which they loved. At one point a saxophonist with the group got up and just started playing various tunes. One was Amazing Grace. The director was heard to be humming along with the music. That was encouraging. Tonight we will be performing at the Protestant Church here in Liege. Many will come who we have met on the street and invited to the concert. Pray the eyes of their hearts would be open to the glory of the gospel. Tomorrow we will be touring the city of Brugge and then leaving VERY early on Saturday morning for the long flight home. Home to my dear husband and three precious children. I'll post more after I arrive home. I'm sure there's lots I need to think and pray over before I understand the whole impact of this trip.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
ON A MISSION
Bonjour! Tonight I am writing from an internet cafe in Liege, Belgium. I am on a mission trip with other church orchestra musicians from the Atlanta area. We are here with Global Missions Project. This is an organization that takes music groups to areas of the world to perform and aid other missionaries. This summer they have brought several groups to Belgium. (By the way, did you know that European keyboards are just slightly different to the point that they are completely annoying?!) Belgium is a spiritual desert; a wasteland. One missionary couple was here five years without one convert. Then something amazing happened. They and others discovered the many refugee centers in Belgium filled with people from places like Kosovo and Chechnya and Guinea and the Sudan; and places that are restricted from missions work. Here are people who are hopeless who are resonsive to the gospel. The missionaries began to visit these centers and invite the people to their homes. Because these are Red Cross Centers they have certain rules about what you can and cannot discuss - the gospel is one of the things you cannot discuss so they develop relationships and then invite these refugees to their homes where they can tell them about Christ. This week we have been going to these centers and doing activities with them. They are completely bored since all they are doing is waiting months and even years to see if they receive asylum. Only about 1% do. Many have terrible, sad stories. There are children we are playing with. The men love Bingo and Jenga. I have been playing with the children and they are precious and yet very resilient. In the evenings we are playing, or trying to play concerts in the city of Liege. It has rained though every day. It is very much a metaphor for the spiritual condition here. And yet the country is beautiful and the cathedrals are stunning. They are only museums now though. Very sad. His mercies are definitely everlasting. More later.....
Bonjour! Tonight I am writing from an internet cafe in Liege, Belgium. I am on a mission trip with other church orchestra musicians from the Atlanta area. We are here with Global Missions Project. This is an organization that takes music groups to areas of the world to perform and aid other missionaries. This summer they have brought several groups to Belgium. (By the way, did you know that European keyboards are just slightly different to the point that they are completely annoying?!) Belgium is a spiritual desert; a wasteland. One missionary couple was here five years without one convert. Then something amazing happened. They and others discovered the many refugee centers in Belgium filled with people from places like Kosovo and Chechnya and Guinea and the Sudan; and places that are restricted from missions work. Here are people who are hopeless who are resonsive to the gospel. The missionaries began to visit these centers and invite the people to their homes. Because these are Red Cross Centers they have certain rules about what you can and cannot discuss - the gospel is one of the things you cannot discuss so they develop relationships and then invite these refugees to their homes where they can tell them about Christ. This week we have been going to these centers and doing activities with them. They are completely bored since all they are doing is waiting months and even years to see if they receive asylum. Only about 1% do. Many have terrible, sad stories. There are children we are playing with. The men love Bingo and Jenga. I have been playing with the children and they are precious and yet very resilient. In the evenings we are playing, or trying to play concerts in the city of Liege. It has rained though every day. It is very much a metaphor for the spiritual condition here. And yet the country is beautiful and the cathedrals are stunning. They are only museums now though. Very sad. His mercies are definitely everlasting. More later.....
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
ESCHATOLOGICAL MUSINGS
In the past year or so I've been starting an investigation of sorts into what I believe about eschatology. To give a brief history: my first introduction to eschatology as a new believer was Hal Lindsey. For the next ten years or so of my Christian life I just assumed that what I now know as the dispensational premillennial position was all there was. I even purchased a book from a seminary bookstore debating the pre-, post- and mid-trib positions but never got around to reading it (babies, ya know!). I started out accepting the pre-trib position without question, then a seminary student friend of mine sort of convinced me of the post-trib position. Then my pastor gave a sermon outlining why he believed the mid-trib position. My head was spinning. Other questions started creeping in when I started reading and listening to teachers of the Reformed persuasion. They would throw around words such as "dispensational" and "millennial" and I wouldn't know what they were talking about. So slowly I began an investigation of the history of eschatology in the church. I learned what the four major millennial positions believed at least. But who was correct? Recently, I read Keith Mathison's book Rightly Dividing the People of God. He convincingly argues that we should not divide up the scriptures and Israel and the church. God has one plan for all His people. It just makes sense when you read all of Scripture as telling one story of the redemption of all of God's people. Right now I've been slowly reading through another of Mathison's works, Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope. I'm not ready yet to say I'm totally convinced of this view let alone able to defend it HOWEVER, his book is opening my eyes to Scriptures I'd never considered before in the eschatological debate. I assumed that if only I could figure out Revelation and Daniel and certain NT epistles I'd be set. "No," says Mathison. He reveals that an eschatology of dominion is woven throughout the Bible and is closely tied to the view of the nature of the Kingdom of God and Christ's kingship at this moment. This is really opening my eyes. At the same time, I am reading David Chilton's book Paradise Restored online at freebooks.com. This book is well thought out and easy to understand. When I started this journey, I thought that your view of eschatology was just a side issue and not worthy of debate. Now I'm beginning to see how important it really is to your faith and the way you live. More later...
In the past year or so I've been starting an investigation of sorts into what I believe about eschatology. To give a brief history: my first introduction to eschatology as a new believer was Hal Lindsey. For the next ten years or so of my Christian life I just assumed that what I now know as the dispensational premillennial position was all there was. I even purchased a book from a seminary bookstore debating the pre-, post- and mid-trib positions but never got around to reading it (babies, ya know!). I started out accepting the pre-trib position without question, then a seminary student friend of mine sort of convinced me of the post-trib position. Then my pastor gave a sermon outlining why he believed the mid-trib position. My head was spinning. Other questions started creeping in when I started reading and listening to teachers of the Reformed persuasion. They would throw around words such as "dispensational" and "millennial" and I wouldn't know what they were talking about. So slowly I began an investigation of the history of eschatology in the church. I learned what the four major millennial positions believed at least. But who was correct? Recently, I read Keith Mathison's book Rightly Dividing the People of God. He convincingly argues that we should not divide up the scriptures and Israel and the church. God has one plan for all His people. It just makes sense when you read all of Scripture as telling one story of the redemption of all of God's people. Right now I've been slowly reading through another of Mathison's works, Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope. I'm not ready yet to say I'm totally convinced of this view let alone able to defend it HOWEVER, his book is opening my eyes to Scriptures I'd never considered before in the eschatological debate. I assumed that if only I could figure out Revelation and Daniel and certain NT epistles I'd be set. "No," says Mathison. He reveals that an eschatology of dominion is woven throughout the Bible and is closely tied to the view of the nature of the Kingdom of God and Christ's kingship at this moment. This is really opening my eyes. At the same time, I am reading David Chilton's book Paradise Restored online at freebooks.com. This book is well thought out and easy to understand. When I started this journey, I thought that your view of eschatology was just a side issue and not worthy of debate. Now I'm beginning to see how important it really is to your faith and the way you live. More later...
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