I just got back from a drive-in movie extravaganza at work. We drove our cars onto the soundstage and watched Star Wars on a big screen. (Ah, drive-ins…just like the old days.)
Besides the fact that my friend and co-worker, Emily, began the evening with, “Wow! I've never seen this on a big screen before,” thus making me feel extremely old, it was quite a night. But the crowning moment for me was when the line was said: “May the Force be with you,” and Emily immediately responded in proper liturgical form, “And also with you.”
Of course this sent me into fits of laughter; but later, driving home, I ended up reflecting on the fact that this religious sentiment isn't far from the truth for many people. We are now living in a world where England officially has more Jedi than Jews, and the faithful can attend a Jedi Academy in Romania to learn how to handle a lightsaber and speak Wookiee. (They recently added these courses, as meetings, lectures, and dressing like Jedi were “no longer enough.”)
This only goes to show that we were designed to devote ourselves to someone; and the need to know, love, and serve someone or something greater than ourselves is strong enough to drive some even to Romania for “Princess Leia Danish Doughnut” cooking classes.
Posted in Amy's Posts, Culture, Main Page, Religion (General) 
No Comments »
August 19, 2005 Posted by Roger Overton
closeAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
Hands down, this has been my favorite song through the
years. In many churches I’ve attended, hymns such as this one are not often
sung, if at all. When it is sung, though, there is little that could possibly
ruin that day. Even the Red Sox being crushed by the Angels or Tim Wakefield
being pegged by a line drive (which was even more painful to watch in person)
cannot detract from how this hymn sets my heart and thoughts toward Christ.
Earlier this year I discovered a verse of the hymn I’d never
heard before. It is the third verse presented below. This verse is just as
beautiful as the others, and I’m almost upset that I’d never seen or heard it
before. I also recently discovered the history of the hymn, which is
fascinating. Here are some excerpts on the background of the hymn:
“The words to this hymn come from the Irish monastic
tradition. Some scholars argue that they may date from 700 CE. It is an example
of a “lorica” or breastplate – almost a sort of incantation to be
recited for protection arming oneself for spiritual or physical battle…”
“The text is set to the hymn tune “Slane.” This
tune is of Irish folk origin. It is named for a hill about ten miles from Tara
hill in County Meath. It is on Slane hill, according to an account in the
“Confessions of St. Patrick” that the Irish saint defied the command
of the pagan king Loigaire by lighting the Pascal candle on Easter Eve. St.
Patrick's act was done in defiance of the king's edict that no fire could be
ignited before the royal fire was lit by the king's hand on Tara hill. The
royal fire was kindled to celebrate the pagan Spring festival and symbolized
the return of light and change of season following the darkness of winter.”
The context from which the elements of the hymn has
been put together makes it all the more rich. I cannot now sing the hymn
without also reflecting on what the music and words have meant to those who
composed it. My prayer is that we may all be so bold as St. Patrick with Christ
as our vision…
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Posted in Main Page, Poetry/Scripture/Liturgy/Etc., Roger's Posts 6 Comments »
August 18, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
According to Mark Oestreicher, President of Youth
Specialties, the A-Team Blog, as well as the STR blog, exists for debate. Since
this isn’t a debate blog, I’m not going to debate Marko regarding his comments;
I’m simply going to analyze them. All sorts of sarcastic comments came to mind
when I read his latest post, but contrary to Mr. Oestreicher, I don’t think
sarcasm is conducive to conversation. So here are my serious, honest, and
sincere reflections about what he said today, which I hope will lead to a
fruitful conversation about how we should represent Christ and the ministries
we are involved in:
1)
The first paragraph makes a mockery of Brett Kunkle and the
work he does at Stand to Reason. Apparently Brett “has spent his life developing
debate points about” evidences and logic. The sort of ridicule Mr. Oestreicher
engages in here is very unbecoming on someone who presides over an
internationally respected organization such as Youth Specialties, and detracts
from any potentially useful points he may make elsewhere. The sarcastic
question of what Mr. Oestreicher is smoking further damages his cause.
2)
He then goes on to make several points about the purpose of
his blog and how he handles comments. On one hand, I can understand his desire
to not be drawn into debates about his comments, especially since some
commenters don’t make friendly “debaters.” On the other hand, there is a
responsibility inherent to making a public statement as a public figure that
can be substantiated and provide such substantiation when the statements are
called into question.
Initially, I believe D.A. Carson
violated this principle when he hadn’t responded to any of the criticisms of
his public work on the Emergent church (though he’s done better with this more
recently). Mr. Oestreicher repeatedly makes statements that are incredibly
controversial, but when questioned about them he typically evades the questions
almost completely.
In light of his record for not
engaging questions, one has to wonder what he means by his blog’s “primary
purpose” being “a semi-accountable journalling space for me.” It appears that
his accountability is only to those who understand everything he says and agree
with him, or perhaps those who have sat in his hot tub, which in either respect
is an odd sense of accountability.
3)
If President Bush were to start a blog where he occasionally
mocked Senator Ted Kennedy, people would most certainly hold him accountable
for his comments. It may not be an “Official White House Blog,” but it would
still need to reflect and respect the position he holds. Similarly, Mr.
Oestreicher’s blog should reflect and respect his position as President of
Youth Specialties. By repeatedly making controversial statements and then
refusing to be held accountable for them, as well as ridiculing those who
disagree with him, he demeans the ministry he is a part of as well as the
Christ he seeks to serve. I don’t claim to do any of this very well here, but I
do try.
This should be a lesson for us in the importance of
words. James calls the tongue “a world of unrighteousness.” Words can build up,
but they can more easily cut down. Written or spoken, our words must be chosen
carefully and responsibly, especially when we are in positions of importance.
The guiding principle, James tells us, is wisdom. Wisdom depends on knowledge
and character. One way of putting it is that wisdom is the respectful use of
knowledge. This is what we are called to pursue with our words, as well as our
thoughts and deeds. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.”
(James 3:17)
Posted in Main Page, Roger's Posts, Theology 8 Comments »
When big news happens, very soon everyone in talk radio-land is talking about the same thing. I look forward to these times because they offer this interesting opportunity: if I switch back and forth between conservative radio and Air America I can hear 1) both sides of the arguments and 2) how each side understands and represents the opposing side. This has given me more insight than I have time to go into now, but I would like to relay to you my most recent encounter with this phenomenon.
The setting was the controversy over Bill Frist's new push to use federal money to support embryonic stem cell research. First, I listened for a few minutes to an interview on a Christian station where the subject of ESCR was being carefully explained–the difference between adult and embryonic stem cells, how the research is done, what has and has not actually been accomplished, and the principles behind the moral implications of the work.
I switched over to Air America just in time to hear the following:
“You know why Christians are really against stem cell research? It's because every time a scientific advancement is made, it repudiates everything they believe. They're not pro-life, they're anti-science!”
I'm sorry to say that I've heard this sentiment expressed on Air America before. Besides the deep misunderstanding this shows of both science and Christianity, I see another major problem with these statements–they reveal the opposing side's complete lack of awareness of the arguments for the pro-life position. Sadly, I think much of the blame for this situation falls squarely on pro-lifers.
If you're pro-life and you can't explain why, you should know there are some excellent resources out there to help you clearly understand and articulate the pro-life position. However, knowledge about the issue isn't enough. The Christian radio show was very instructive, and there have been many such shows; unfortunately, more likely than not, only Christians were listening. The burden falls on us to enter into one-on-one discussions with our friends and family who disagree, explaining to them our reasoning and concerns. To do so, you'll surely have to endure some ridicule, so this will take some courage.
God created us with incredible minds, and we ought to be honoring him through excellent thinking and bold (yet respectful and kind) discussion. When people think of Christians, what ought to come to mind (if we're faithful to live out the wisdom that comes from knowing God and His truth) is a group of people with the highest standards in every area of thought and practice. Instead, we keep quiet–or worse, we speak loudly without understanding–and we're seen as ignorant hicks, waving our pitchforks at the scary science that's threatening to steal our little god. This is not honoring to God. The picture people have of us is untrue, but they'll never know this until we're brave (and patient) enough to engage them in conversation.
Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Main Page, Politics 2 Comments »
August 17, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
What have we to put our hope in these days? The reunion of Stryper! Their new album, Reborn,
was released today, minus the skills of Tim Gaines. Why isn't he in the
band? The only explanation I can think of is he wouldn't grow out his
hair again.
Brett Kunkle has taken Mark Oestreicher to task on some incoherent comments he made
about proof, logic, and evidences. (By incoherent I mean they don't
cohere to the real world.) Oestreicher's offered a completely dissmissive response to Brett. So much for listening to people who disagree…
Need a laugh? Head over to “Star Wars Episode III- Backstroke of the West.”
It's no joke. It's an actual translation of the Chinese translation of
the movie. Only there do we finally discover that the Jedi Council was
actually the Presbyterian Church.
C.S. Lewis will soon be coming to a city near you! Well, not exactly, but many Lewis scholars will be participating in “Narnia on Tour” this fall. For more Lewis, check Timbo's post of Jack's essay “Bulverism; or The Foundation of 20th Century Thought.”
Our friend Richard Abanes has started up his own blog- SLice Of LaODicEa CHurch. He's also posted a review of Deceived on Purpose
by Warren Smith. Apparently I'm more important than I thought, since he
repeatedly cites “Overton, who is himself known as a critic of
purpose-driven teaching/preaching.”
Brian McLaren complains that criticisms of him fail to correspond to who he is. I'll withhold comments on that until I've read the whole article. (HT: Ochuk)
Doug TenNapel recently posted on “worship etiquette” for the next time you go to church. More reasons I'm glad I'm now attending an incredibly Reformed church.
Posted in Main Page, Miscellaneous, Roger's Posts 1 Comment »
You must choose between two roads on your journey to influence the world for good. In one direction lies the path of self-promotion. You could work hard to build up a name for yourself, gaining as much influence as possible then using your name and influence to get your message out to as many people as your voice could reach. On this road, you would gather numerous men and women around yourself who would pour their talents anonymously into your work (through ghost-writing and other behind-the-scenes work). The resulting single, concentrated voice would be powerful; once you were gone, however, there would be nothing left. The people who surrounded you would have never gained their own voices and audiences, so your influence would end with you.
The other road is the one chosen by Phillip Johnson as described by Nancy Pearcey in her foreword to Johnson's book, The Right Questions. Pearcey notes, “A single high-profile celebrity might succeed in attracting money and media attention, but it takes a large-scale movement to bring about an intellectual revolution.” Again, I think this can be related to us bloggers (see here and here for the beginning of this discussion) and our desire to do our small part in influencing our culture.
Johnson's strategy is simple: he concentrates on building up and promoting the distinct voices of others who are taking on the issue of intelligent design from their own unique perspectives and specialized knowledge. In this way, he spreads out the influence of ID ideas through many voices, all of whom are now achieving their own credibility, respect and influence. This requires a submission of Johnson's own ambition to the importance of the message, for he does this at the expense of his own fame; but this is much closer to the biblical model of the Body working together, building up the gifts of others for the good of the larger purposes of Christ. When Johnson is gone, the healthy body will continue to function.
As Christian bloggers, we need to all ask ourselves why we're doing what we're doing. Do we love the message of Christ and the truth that reflects Him more than we love being recognized? Are we generous with our praise and promotion of other blogs, or do we try to keep our readers to ourselves? Are we afraid of others stealing our ideas, or are we encouraging the spread of those ideas even if we don't get the credit? Do we meet the successes of other Christian bloggers with celebration or jealousy? This last question is key, for it reveals what is most important to us–our message or ourselves.
Let's train, build up, and promote each other. We need to suppress our egos (not always an easy task!) and place the importance of spreading the message above our own fame and influence. Let's welcome the magnification of God's truth from whichever source it comes and lose ourselves for God's purposes as he weaves all of our small voices into one large, complex, textured tapestry declaring His glory from all directions.
I pray that we would all have the heart of John the Baptist who, when his disciples expressed concern that he was losing followers to Jesus, stepped out of the spotlight willingly and responded:
He [Jesus] who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.
Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Culture, Main Page 3 Comments »
August 14, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
A few weeks ago I blogged on the suppression of the Gospel
by Mariners Church during the open house of the Mormon’s Newport Beach Temple.
Since I recently moved, I didn’t have a chance to go down to the temple until
today. First, my roommate, Brian, and I took the temple tour. It
begins in the Visitor’s Center with a video describing the role of the temple
in Newport Beach and in Mormonism.
Following the video we were lead to the front of the temple.
We put on some slippers to keep from getting the carpet dirty. First, we saw
the baptismal being supported by twelve oxen. That is where baptisms for the
dead are done. Next, the tour goes into the first of two Ordinance Rooms. The
first one has a magnificent mural on the walls of the California coast. The
second is almost completely white, to signify progressing in understanding and
purity. The tour then leads to the Celestial Room. In this room Mormons sit and
quietly meditate surrounded by grand architecture. Finally we were led into a
Sealing Room where couples are sealed in marriage and family members are sealed
to one another.
After the temple tour we spoke with an Elder about
various things while eating some delicious cookies provided by the Church. We
then went out to the street to see my friend Rob Sivulka, who runs
MormonInfo.org.
We joined him
in holding signs and passing out literature. Rob always inspires me to
be bolder than I would be on my own. We were on the corners in
front of the temple, which is the only place any ministry can be done
during the week due to Mariners Church.
(Yes, I'm short, but my roommate is 6'6''.) On Saturday, the LDS use a
hospital's parking lot so literature can be passed out there. While
we were in front of the temple some brothers were working the parking
lot.
The reaction we get is always mixed. We strive to be friendly, smiling
and waving at people who drive by.
We received some stuck-out tongues,
hand signals, thumbs up, and other things. Overall, we know that when
people visit the websites they will be challenged by the Truth, as
many have been already. These times of ministry, aside from giving me
sun burns, return my thoughts and prayers to those deceived by the
false gospel of Mormonism. I cannot be so involved without having my
heart broken once again for these people.
Posted in Main Page, Mormonism, Religion (General), Roger's Posts 15 Comments »
I still intend to continue with my posts on engaging the culture, but something has come to my attention that I found interesting and worth addressing, so I'm going to interrupt my original plan to bring you the following:
In the course of an interesting conversation over on Good But Not Safe, Tyler put up a link to a Jon Stewart clip. The clip is titled “Someone disagrees with you? Compare 'em to a Nazi. Works like a charm. A Hitler charm.”
Besides the fact that this clip is pretty darn funny, this all brings up an interesting question…why do people so often use Hitler to refute opponents' ideas? My suspicion is that this happens because Nazism is the last idea in this culture we're not willing to relativize. Since we're not allowed to argue that moral ideas are right or wrong (because all such ideas have been declared opinion only, and not fact), our only hope to convince people to take on our position is to somehow show that the opposite idea is similar to some idea of Hitler's. Hitler's evilness is the only moral absolute we accept. He is, in a strange way, the new bible of our culture. He is the new absolute standard. We're no longer allowed to compare ideas to the standard of the Bible to determine their worthiness because the Bible, after all, is only the opinions of certain men–opinions that are no better than anyone else's. Instead, we must evaluate ideas using the only moral standard accepted as knowledge and fact–Hitler's ideas were evil.
Since moral arguments can only be validly made by comparing ideas to an ultimate standard, people are forced to resort to references to Hitler in order to say another idea is wrong if they have any hope of people accepting their claims as moral fact.
Here is the unfortunate part of this: as Hitler’s ideas are compared to things like ending the filibuster, a sense of the truly evil nature of his actions will eventually be lost. When this happens, we'll be left with nothing. We will no longer have any standard by which to compare moral claims, and the last small sense of moral intuition we have left will be crushed by the weight of politically correct relativism.
Posted in Amy's Posts, Apologetics, Culture, Ethics, Main Page, Politics 19 Comments »
August 11, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
Our monthly discussion group will be meeting this Friday, August 12th at 7:00 pm. Our topic is “Can Christians hold the values of the Democratic Party?” This month we will be meeting at my new apartment in Buena Park! (Hopefully I'll be unpacked by then.)
The Ambassador's Table is a pot-luck style dinner and discussion. We like to call it “intellectual fellowship.” If you're interested in joining us, email me at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.
Posted in Main Page, Miscellaneous, Roger's Posts 3 Comments »
August 10, 2005 Posted by Roger OvertoncloseAuthor: Roger Overton
Name: Roger Overton
Email: rogeroverton@hotmail.com
Site: http://ateamblog.com
About: Roger Overton is currently pursuing a Masters degree at Talbot School of Theology. He has addressed various churches, schools and youth camps throughout the United States. Roger was co-editor of The New Media Frontier (Crossway, 2008) and God and Governing (Wipf & Stock, 2009).
Roger can be emailed at rogeroverton@hotmail.com.See Authors Posts (570)
Occasionally I receive emails either directly
challenging my views or from fellow Christians who need help answering
challenges. The following is correspondence from a Christian friend, edited for
the blogdom.
Question: “1. The claim was made that the God of the Old Testament is
different than the God of the New, i.e. wrathful, vengeful est. 2. If God is
Love then how can He be jealous and vengeful and angry? This in context of the
love chapter from I Corinthians.”
My response:
This objection is much like if I were to say, “Bill Gates is
American” then be aghast upon finding out he likes Mexican food. The
description of God being love is only one thing about Him. God being love
cannot be separated from His justice, goodness, etc. Additionally, we need to
be careful not to read our postmodern understanding of love into how the Bible
describes it. Though it may appear that God's treatment of Israel was often
un-loving, the Bible is clear that God did what He did out of love because He
was preparing His bride.
We must also remember that God owes us nothing. It is we who have sinned
against Him, so if we (as many of the peoples in the Old Testament) experience
God's wrath, vengeance, judgment, etc. it is just, we get what we deserve. This
truth can be found throughout the New and Old Testaments. See also
http://www.carm.org/questions/jacobesau.htm
Nancy Pearcey says, in her book Total Truth, the Biblical worldview is
made up of Creation, Fall, and Redemption. The Old Testament explains Creation
and Fall, it sets up the story. It explains to us why we need redemption. The
New Testament appears more “loving” because it completes the story
with redemption, but it would be completely irrelevant without the first 2/3 of
the story. We don't need a savior if there's nothing to save us from. The O.T.
shows us how desperately lost we are, how hopeless our position is, and the
judgment from God we deserve. All of that vengeance and wrath was poured out on
Christ on the cross, the most vengeful and wrathful part of the entire Bible.
There is nothing more violent in all of history than God putting the sins of
man on the shoulders of His own Son and making Him pay for it. There is also
nothing more loving.
Posted in Apologetics, Main Page, Roger's Posts, Theology 1 Comment »
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