There's been much said in Reformed circles about the recent resolution condemning Calvinism that was passed by the Arbuckle Baptist Association in Oklahoma. I've held off, simply because so much has been said elsewhere that I figured my comments would get lost in the clamor. But I really think that we need to look at this resolution as an opportunity to learn for both Calvinists and non-Calvinists, because there seems to be more to this issue than just a misunderstanding about what Calvinism is, and the differences between Calvinism and hyperCalvinism.

Wes Kenney has a bit of an insider's view of the issue, and makes some good points in his article about the controversy. One thing that he writes was very telling, to me, anyway.

The pastor who was the driving force behind this move, Dr. Joe Elam of First Baptist Church in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, had until about eighteen months ago a Calvinist staff member who did much, both before and after he separated from the church, to undermine Dr. ElamÂ’s leadership of that church.

Charity. Disagree with people, but don't undermine their authority or ministry because of that disagreement. If you find that you cannot work with someone else because of their theology, then don't work with them. Leave -- don't try to tear apart a church or tear down a ministry because of it. If you've ever wondered why so many Southern Baptists don't seem to want to work with Calvinists, maybe it's because so many Southern Baptists encounter Calvinists that won't work with anyone else.

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I mentioned when I started this meme that I'd stolen it from someone. Now I'm going to copy even more by posting some links to music I've been enjoying lately.

First up is Three Cord Wonder. First band I ever played on my podcast. The video is black and white, but it is a great indication of the energy this band has.

Next is Willet. This is a group that's from my hometown of Westminster, MD, and these brothers rock.

Breaking the Silence -- Stand. This is an outstanding band that I found on MySpace. And, as with the other bands I've featured on this post, they also rock.

And finally, a little blues. The Reverend Jimmie Bratcher, live in concert.

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(and yes, I know I skipped a week. shhh!)

An odd thing happened to me after I started seminary, and it's all Al Mohler's fault. On my first day of Systematic I, he told us that his goal was to make us think theologically about everything. And now, I do.

Especially music. I can deal with musicians who make no faith claims at all who write music that I have philosophical/theological disagreements with, but artists who tag themselves with the name Christian should be much more careful with their lyrics. And I know there are some things that Christians are going to disagree with -- write a song about the Rapture and odds are good that you're going to upset more people than you make happy, for example. But there are basics that we all do agree on, and those basics shouldn't be messed with in the lyrics to Christian songs.

Which brings me to today's rant. Ever since Radio U's transmitter here locally stopped transmitting (the risks of listener-supported radio), I've been listening to KLove. NOT my first choice, but I've gotten used to listening to CCM, especially since my iPod fried on me. There's one song that I absolutely have to change the station for whenever it comes on -- Point of Grace's "How You Live (Turn Up The Music)."

Turn up the music
Turn it up loud
Take a few chances
Let it all out
You won't regret it
Lookin' back from where you have been
Cuz it's not who you knew
And it's not what you did
It's how you live

How we live has no relevance if we don't know Christ. In fact, the Bible teaches us that how we live cannot please God at all. How we live apart from Christ is irrelevant -- it is, in fact, all about who we know.

Now, I don't expect songwriters to be theologians, though some of the best hymn writers in Christian history were theologians (Luther, Wesley, etc.). I do expect them to realize that their songs are not just fluff pieces for the entertainment of the masses -- that there is some significance in what we sing when we sing to God. So maybe they should have some familiarity with basic Christian doctrine, so that they don't write songs that contradict it.

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IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-191
Canadian Army

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We beat Coastal.

VMI next weekend in the 'Burg, then we head to Gardner-Webb for the game that will probably decide who wins the Big South conference. Go Flames!!

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Al Mohler quotes Garry Wills today concerning abortion. According to Wills, abortion is not a theological issue, since the Bible doesn't mention it, and the church councils never address it. Mohler reminds us that while the councils don't address the issue, it is addressed by the Didache -- in the very second chapter, in fact. So it would seem that the early church at least thought it was an important issue for the Church to recognize.

But I really think that theology, and theological disagreement, is at the heart of the abortion issue. Christians believe in the imago Dei -- the image of God, and the idea that we are all created in that image. Rejection of the imago Dei leads to a low opinion of human life -- the idea that we're all expendable, especially if there's a possibility that we're unwanted, or will be less than the ideal child. Too many abortions are matters of convenience -- kids will just "cramp our style." And unfortunately, too many of those abortions are insisted upon by the father, who lacks the emotional ability to actually be a Daddy. The child isn't even seen as a choice -- it's an inconvenience, and embarrassment. We see it as getting rid of a bit of tissue. We don't look at this child as a being that is created in the very image of God -- a gift to us.

I've gotten a few bad gifts in my life -- and I've given a few, too. But I would never simply throw the gift away -- I express my appreciation to the giver, and I find a way to make that gift a part of my life. I've worn ugly sweaters, read terrible books, and eaten nasty food, simply because it was a gift, and I don't want to offend or upset the giver.

Unfortunately, we've forgotten the Giver. We think of our unborn as simply biological byproducts, something that's disposable (we can always make another one, right?), rather than a gift given to us by our Creator. A gift that is made in the very image of the One who gave it.

As Christians, our motivation to end abortion is theological. Abortion is a theological issue -- it goes to the very heart of who God is, and what we are.

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This weekend, we headed down to Lynchburg (Virginia, not Tennessee) for Homecoming at LU. Highlight of the weekend was the football game against Presbyterian College -- a PC-USA school that's just making the jump to Div. I (FCS) football. At the beginning of the season, this looked like a turkey shoot for LU -- the Flames are favored to win the Big South conference this year, and Presby is just making the jump, after all.

But Liberty has dropped a few close games (48-41 in 2 OT vs. William and Mary and a 35-34 heartbreaker to Toledo) and one they should have won (42-14 against Elon College, of all places). And Presby beat VMI and Coastal Carolina in pretty convincing fashion. So the results of this game were in doubt.

Up until about 2PM on Saturday. Liberty led 20-0 at the half, and went on to win 48-14.

All in all, this looks to be a promising rivalry (especially if Ergun Caner gets into it. I can hear the "Remember Servetus" chants now ...). We play them on the road next year, and fans of both teams are already looking forward to it.

EDIT: And I almost forgot -- BEAT COASTAL

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The RIAA won their case against Jammie Thomas in a decision that's going to cost her $222,000. She's going to lose a good healthy chunk of her $32,000 salary for the rest of her life. $9,250 per song. Think she could have bought her friends a few CDs for that kind of money?

But the case wasn't always considered a slam dunk, and there are still some folks who question her guilt. There's still the second-thoughts -- should she have just taken the RIAA's settlement offer of $5,000? This is a case that's going to set precedent. And it's an expensive precedent. It's going to be expensive for some people -- and some peoples' parents, who are going to be liable for their kids' collections of illegal downloads.

I've been pondering the irony of one aspect of the case. Technology is to blame, they say, for the sad state of the music industry. Technology is making it possible to pirate music, and share it with people all over the world. BUT technology is also making it possible for the industry to catch these pirates. It's easier to catch them now than it ever was before.

Think about it for a minute. Back in the '80s, we all made tapes for our friends. I discovered a LOT of music my freshman year at Liberty, thanks to the guy next door who had a broad collection of bands. Prodigal, Servant, Allies, Bash-n-The-Code -- all new experiences for me, and fueled by what the RIAA calls music piracy.

Funny thing is, I actually bought more music because of those tapes. I spent a LOT of money in school buying music. I made tapes for my friends, and THEY bought more music. The mix tape made the recording industry a TON of money back in the day, and they couldn't stop us.

The mix tapes, and bootleg tapes, and copy tapes -- they all had one benefit. They were anonymous. You got them from a friend's friend, or your roommate, or a friend's cousin, or something like that. There were no IP addresses, and no user IDs. Nobody could trace you, because there was nothing to trace. And RIAA never sued anyone.

Now, they can track people down. IP numbers can be logged, user names are tracked down. Viruses are spread sometimes, and offenders can be traced that way. The very technology that RIAA is complaining about is what is making their lawsuits possible to begin with.

RIAA is realizing how irrelevant labels are becoming. RIAA sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and it's a train, getting ready to run them over. Musicians don't need them, and now music fans are starting to see that they don't need them either.

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Note: This is the first in what I'm hoping is going to be an ongoing thing. Each Monday I'll have a few posts about music: the music industry, musicians, etc. I've been writing a lot about music lately, and I want to keep on doing it, but there are other things I want to write about, too, so the music posts will go on Mondays, unless it's something breaking or urgent.

Techdirt had a piece today about musicians and "venture capitalists" (record labels). It made me think about the functions of a record label, and whether bands need them anymore. Lets think about what labels actually do for their bands: more...

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Remember the Blogroll Cruise? When I cruised through my blogroll quoting people that you should be reading? Well, I'm doing it a bit differently now.

Looking at the blogroll(s), there are a LOT of blogs I don't read, for whatever reason. And there are plenty of blogs I DO read that aren't on there. I'm working on a fix, but for now, I'm calling the cruise what it really is -- the RSS Reader Cruise.

I rarely read blogs at their web sites anymore. I dump them all into Google Reader and read them there (unless they only send the first 200 characters or something to the feed; then I have to go to the page and finish the article if it's interesting enough. You understand why I don't do that with this blog ...). So here we go:

Jared Wilson. Heck, I read whatever he writes -- if he wrote cereal boxes, I'd read more of those. I learn something every time I read one of his posts. And I love this one. Especially this part

I believe Jesus is for the cool. I believe you can be cool and follow Jesus. I believe there are cool Christians. But what if -- honestly, what if -- Jesus asked you to give up all your coolness to follow him? Would you still want to? What if following Jesus meant dressing up in a suit and having an Alfalfa haircut and listening to CCM? I mean, it doesn't, obviously (and thank God). But what if it did? Would having Jesus still be worth it?

The truth is, a great many of us desperately need to nail cool to the cross.
Life in Christ is about dying to self.

I've always loved parody and satire, and recently discovered Tominthebox News Network. Just read anything there, laugh, and then think about what it's trying to say. I think that's the problem with satire -- it assumes that people think. I'm not sure that's true anymore.

Ditto for SBC Outpests, but for different reasons. They've been silent for a while, but it's worth monitoring.

Joe Thorn blogs about unplugging, which ties in with a book I reviewed not long ago. Technology is good, but it should be our servant -- not our master. That's a lesson I'm trying very hard to learn.

I've got more, but that should keep you for a while.

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I've never been a real fan of any of the viable third-party options that exist today. I'm not saying that I don't like third parties -- I think that we need one, now that the GOP and the Dems are starting to look a LOT alike, especially fiscally. But the Libertarians don't appeal to me (I'm too much of a social conservative), and the Constitution Party is too isolationistic for me (I've talked about them before). There's always the Lighthouse Party (who I've mentioned before as well), but they don't even have a platform yet, so I don't see them getting anything ready for 2008.

But I find myself in the same boat as James Dobson. If the GOP nominates a pro-choice candidate, I can't support them. I'm not a single-issue voter (I have other concerns with Giuliani), but the abortion issue is important to me, on some very personal levels. And I don't see a Democratic candidate that I could come close to supporting. So I have an interesting problem.

So I'm watching the campaign with an interest I've not had in a long time. And I'm hoping that I don't have to go third party, because I really do think that the departure of even a small majority of conservative evangelicals will ensue that the GOP loses the 2008 election.

But maybe that's what needs to happen. More and more, evangelicals are being treated like the red-headed stepchildren of the Republican Party. They kiss up to us every election year, and court us hardcore every four years, but all it is is lip service. And I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. If a loss gets the attention of the RNC, then maybe that's what the country needs, long term.

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I am lamenting the passing of a wonderfully funny blog, the Secret Diary of D. A. Carson. This was a blog that, much in the same vein as the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, poked a bit of fun at evangelical Christianity in general, and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in particular. The creators of the site came under fire from the administration at TEDS, and have decided to stop blogging ... for now.

...here's to the administration at TEDS. Hey, admin people, you know how at the end of every Friday the 13th movie they always think they've killed Jason off for the last time? Just checking...

And before we slam the TEDS admin for that, we better remember that the rest of us aren't much better. People would have missed The Last Temptation of Christ movie if we hadn't gotten mad about it, way back when. People would have missed Kathy "What can I say this week to make people remember who I am?" Griffin and her intentionally vulgar and insulting comment if we'd just left her alone. She's a comedian, for crying out loud -- and not a very good one at that. A D-list actor who won a D-list award (a "Creative Arts" Emmy -- for people we've never heard of who do shows nobody watches). She's trying to get attention, and she got it. I'm sure she's really appreciative of all of us.

When people say things that offend us, remember that they did worse to Jesus. And when people make fun of us, remember that there's plenty to make fun of. Unless, of course, you're perfect.

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So everyone has been up in arms about Columbia University inviting the idiot from Iran to speak. Now, the idiot from Iran is getting ripped apart by the person "introducing" him (the video is on CNN.com right now).

I'm really enjoying this one. Let's hear it for free speech!

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I've mentioned before that I was originally a marketing major, and there's still a lot of the marketing geek in me. I love watching commercials (sometimes more than the shows they're advertising on), and my family will tell you I have an annoying habit of coming up with spontaneous slogans for the little Mom and Pop businesses we pass when we're traveling. It's in me, even though my calling is different now.

One of the slogans I used to live by is "think outside the box." Marketers live and die by their ability to innovate, and that box can kill a career in no time if you let it. So I have always taken pride in my ability to think outside that darn box.

But Joe Thorn makes a great point.

There is a danger in the allure to think outside of the box, especially when it comes to new churches and dying churches. It sounds promising, exciting, and new, but for many “thinking outside of the box” simply boils down to trying something we’ve never tried before. This often means we imitate the ministries of other churches, like Mars Hill, Harvest, Sojourn, Saddleback, or FBC of Whatevertown. We see successful churches doing great things, and in our desire to see God do something great among us we simply copy another ministry. So, while we wind up thinking outside of the box of our own operation (a potentially good thing), we may wind up thinking well outside of the box of our cultural context (a bad thing).

But we also have to be careful to define what box we're thinking outside of. Orthodoxy is, after all, a box. It defines the boundaries of what Christianity is, what the "faith once delivered" consists of. The (dare I use the word?) >fundamentals of the faith. If we start thinking outside that box, we wander into territory that we're not meant to be in. We end up wandering far from the faith, and sometimes we can't find our way back. And we lead whole congregations astray -- people who depend on us to show them what's right, and true. Thinking outside that box can be fatal, and can lead people away from Christ.

So I still like to think outside some boxed. But I'm learning just how important, how valuable, some boxes can really be.

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Fantasy fans know the name -- the man who brought epic-scale fantasy back to life, many would say. The man who wrote the Wheel of Time series -- a series that now, unfortunately, may never be finished.

I started the series, but got bogged down in a few of the books in the middle of the series and never picked it back up. Jordan writes a lot like I tend to write -- detail after detail, creating a world and then wanting people to describe it. He did it better than I can ever hope to (which is why I tend to stick to non-fiction, for now anyway).

I wasn't going to mention his passing here -- though his life is certainly worth celebrating and remembering, I figured that many people reading (if I still have readers, as long as this blog has been dormant!) wouldn't know him. But reading the announcement on his blog page, I read this

Never, never loose faith. RJ did not. Harriet hasnÂ’t. I havenÂ’t. Going through what we have, our faith is only strengthened. Besides, if God didnÂ’t exist, we would have never had Jim. We did. God does. Remember my Brother/Cousin, my friend, think of him fondly and glorify GodÂ’s name.

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John McCain has decided to let everyone know that he's a Baptist. Of course, he didn't do that in Iowa, or New Hampshire, or California. He did it in South Carolina. Only place there's more Baptists around than in the Carolinas is in Texas (and that's just because it's bigger, and there's more room for us there).

Needless to say, I was skeptical. McCain has been calling himself Episcopalian for a little while now, and that's a LONG way from Baptist (at least the Baptists I hang out with). All of a sudden, with his campaign in jeopardy, he's Baptist.

But then I started thinking -- who am I to judge. And the church he's been attending looks like it's got it together. They even podcast!

But to McCain, denominational label isn't important.

In May, McCain's campaign identified his religion to The Associated Press as Episcopalian, but noted his four younger children are Baptists and he attends the North Phoenix Baptist Church when at home.

McCain grew up Episcopalian and attended an Episcopal high school in Alexandria, Va. On Monday, he spoke briefly about that history and about the Baptist church he now attends. Then, after saying his overall faith is what's important, he concluded: "I don't have anything else to say about that issue."

So is this an attempt to gain some street cred among evangelical voters? Maybe -- though for many he blew that when he went to Liberty University to speak (of couse, some of us thought Jerry was nuts to invite him in the first place -- evangelicals have long memories, after all). Personally, I think it's his way of addressing the religion issue without making it a huge issue.

And I think he did a pretty good job.

{Edit}: Here's a new wrinkle on the situation -- McCain has had his kids baptized in the Baptist church, but hasn't done it himself. “I didn’t find it necessary to do so for my spiritual needs,” he said. But he affirms that he's a Baptist. So NOW the whole baptism/church membership thing that the Christian blogosphere has been arguing and debating about (at least my own little neighborhood of it has) is now front page news, thanks to John McCain. Can you be a Baptist and not been baptized as a believer? See my comments on the piece at GetReligion.

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Just a quick note to let everyone know that The Holy Observer is back. Put on your satire glasses, read, and enjoy.

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FIRST -- go read Frazz. Now contemplate how much Frazz looks like Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes). Now it's time to discuss:

"If we pay teachers more, would we get better teachers?" more...

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They say that bad things come in threes (though I'm not sure who 'they' are, or how they got so smart). This week seems to have supported this idea, anyway, in the deaths of three people whose lives touched thousands.

D. James Kennedy was a man I watched on TV before I really knew what the difference was between a Presbyterian and a Baptist. He was religious right when religious right wasn't cool, but was willing to let others take the spotlight. He was a pastor, first and foremost, and his people knew and appreciated it. His influence will be felt for generations.

Luciano Pavarotti. Opera was always more my wife's thing (and she prefers Carreras), but even I knew Pavarotti. Of course, he ruined an excellent performance of Turandot for me several years ago, simply because the tenor (who was magnificent) wasn't Pavarotti. He was the only opera many people will ever know -- which is kinda like saying that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is the only Russian novelist that many people will know. It's OK, because they know the best.

And today, we hear about the death of Madeline L'Engle. And everyone is talking about A Wrinkle in Time, forgetting A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time, the further adventures of Charles Wallace and Meg and their family. Interconnectedness is the key, and you don't get the whole story just by reading the first book. Dig deeper, and you'll mine gold.

Three lives that made an impact. Three people who left their mark, and will be missed.

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One of the really fun things I've found in studying history (and yes, there are several) is reading letters. When someone is writing for publication, they are much more polished. There's a sense that 'this is going to last. People are going to read this years from now. I'd better make it a good one.' There's good material in those kinds of writing, to be sure, and you can learn a lot. They are valuable resources, and important to doing history.

But in letters you get much more personal. You meet the writer as they are -- they're not worried about people reading the letter decades from now, they're not thinking about the public record. They're just putting some words on paper for someone they know, giving them advice or telling stories or encouraging them -- whatever the purpose, they're very much in the moment, not concerned about the longevity of the letter. Some of my favorite books are collections of these letters -- these things people never thought would be widely read. I find myself learning a LOT more about the writer, and their time, when I read their letters.

This post at the Thinklings blog got me thinking. Actually, it got me thinking again about something that I've discussed with my wife (the American Revolution scholar). "What are historians going to do with the late 20th-early 21st centuries?"

We don't write letters much any more. (Of course, my wife will tell you that I never write letters BEFORE I got the computer and Internet access, but I digress). We email, and email is a very fragile thing. All I have to do is hit one button, type one command, and it's gone. DELETED, as StrongBad would say. Computer forensics could find some of them, but fifty years from now they'll be gone, unless we save them all. And I don't know many people that keep all their email -- I've even deleted email from my "bottomless account" at Gmail.

Will historians of the future wonder about us? Or will they be so used to electronic communications that they won't think twice about it? Will they be amazed at the amount of paper correspondence that we still do have? Or maybe they'll just spend a lot of time poking through server records, wondering why the ruler of Nigeria spent so much time trying to get people to hide his money.

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