Culture

Ladies and gentlemen (are those politically correct words to use?)!

Welcome to the final and most awesome rap battle to ever grace this sweet planet we call Earth!  In one corner we have the Son of Man Himself, the Bread of Life, the Rose of Sharon, Advocate, and Lamb of God; itsssss Jesussss!

In the other corner we have the most power angel to ever leave heaven, the father of lies, and prince of darnkess; itssss Satannnn!

Okay, so that’s just a sweet little metaphor I created; sorry to get your hopes up.  We’d all love to hear Jesus spit some rhymes on the mic and show everyone what Godly flows sound like.  The next best thing to Christ rapping would have to be someone rapping about Christ.  Am I right?

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Am I just wrapped up in the words
Or do I sincerely know?
Have I believed what they have heard¹
Are my sins washed as white as snow?²

There’s something uplifting in the tune,
A kid could lose himself to the beat.
Another shall be “saved” real soon
Despite his future in eternal heat.

Let it not be that I depart from thee,
Or lose sight of the radiance³
For hands held high don’t make me see.
I could be taken by an ambulance

To a bed of terrors, horrors, frights
Chained to suffering and turn my face.
Your face, your love brings me light⁴
And takes the sinner’s disgrace by grace.⁵

1. Isaiah 53:1 [↩]
2. Psalm 51:7, Isaiah 1:18 [↩]
3. Hebrews 1:3 [↩]
4. Revelation 1:16, John 4:4-5 [↩]
5. 1 John 2:2, Hebrews 2:17 [↩]

A news article has recently sparked my memory.  CBS reported two days ago,

A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said. 

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo,Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. 

The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

My freshman year at high school was the year I really started loving God and the Bible.  I read it before, during and after classes while attending church, youth group and a men’s bible study. It was an intense year of growth for me.   

I became enthralled with the romance of Christianity, things like dying to live and uncanny sacrifice made me passionate about my religion.  They also made me aware of what my religion had been, was currently, and could become.  

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Is this attainable?

The reality of death seldom hits college students in a culture that values youth. Whenever companies market to us, we see their image of what it means to be young and how we have the world before us. Additionally, other companies market to older folks selling them some cream that will supposedly make them look younger.

This, too, can permeate into our lives as Christians. A friend of mine shared with me the mentality of men looking forward to marriage and that gift being a primary concern on their minds. Many books that female authors write focus on biblical femininity alone.

In a sermon on (1 Peter 4:12-19), John Piper talks about how ludicrous our thoughts on death are. Because we underestimate the reality of death, Piper says, we can make statements like this:

A true Christian must be willing to say, “I will not renounce Christ, even if it costs my life.” But as soon as we say that, it makes a whole lot of things in our lives look ridiculous. I will die for you, but I can’t find time to sit and read your teaching each day. I will die for you, but prayer doesn’t seem real… One of the best ways to bring wonderful Christ-honoring changes into your life is to measure your way of life by your willingness to die for Jesus.¹ Read the rest of this entry »

1. Piper, John. “The Holy Spirit Will Help You Die.” Bethlehem Baptist Church. Minneapolis, MN. 10 June 1984. [↩]

B2C is excited to announce our first seasonal Big Series called Allegiance. Mike’s message on Thursday was in perfect timing to prepare our hearts and thoughts for this series.  The B2C authors will be thinking and discussing the implications resulting when a Christian counts the cost of being Jesus’ disciple in today’s culture. We will be specifically exploring our Allegiance to Christ as it affects us and how we respond to the culture we live in.  Get excited because the series is coming October 17th.

Today, the politicians, legislatures and many leaders of our multifaceted society have strived to resolve the breakdown in cohesion and unity among our nation’s people. Philosophers, scientists, religious leaders and special interest groups have tried to change our society and solve our problems, but they have missed the mark by a hair. Through women’s rights, gay rights, animal rights, black rights and the many other “rights” activists, we’ve come to the conclusion our society lacks one important element – tolerance.

From many years of debate and deep thinking on the topic I have seen the results of “tolerance” and I am certain it is the cause of more destruction within our society than unity. An advocate of tolerance has this mindset: “I don’t care what you do, so long as it doesn’t affect me or anyone else - have at it.” He is “tolerant” on issues like drug use.

I went to a high school where at least 80 percent of the people I knew smoke marijuana and drank themselves dumb at least once a month, some once a week. Tolerance dictates that I should not be wary of their actions, and my peers even told me this. They say the drinking and drug habits of others do not in any way affect me and because of this I should stick to my own business.
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With recent news of McCain calling for a leadership summit to spear head the economic crisis, and the recent bailouts of AIG, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, how should Christians look at and respond to these issues? Several prominent Christian thinkers have sat down to analyze what is going on and how we should look at it through biblical lenses. Here are some articles that I found recently that may help you build a Christian view of the economic crisis in our generation:

Albert Mohler talks about and helps explain what’s going on with the economic crisis here.

Matt Perman, from desiringGod.org, gives us a look at how scripture leads us to respond to the economy here.

On Friday, The New York Times ran a feature about a disturbing sexual revolution going on in Chile. The South American country, once known as a “conservative” culture, is experiencing change in the wrong direction. As the Times notes, when the Chilean youth is released from the rules, they explore their sexuality promiscuously.

We too can become caught up in this sort of nonsense. While grace from God alone saves us, we sinners abuse that grace when we give ourselves a license to sin. Galatians 6:7 says, “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap…” As the apostle clearly informs us, our sins have consequences. The children of this sexual revolution will face consequences for their sins.

What can people of God do in culture where sexual immorality, abusing God’s grace and carelessness are promoted? Read the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” A Biblical view on an active rebellion against God contradicts and offends our worldly culture, as it does Chile’s culture. But God is not mocked–we are accountable for what we do with our lives. How can we glorify God if we are not satisfied in Him enough that we turn to sex for our joy and contentment?

Read the full article here

On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton talks with R.C. Sproul, Chairman of Ligonier Ministries and author of numerous books including The Holiness of God, The Truth of the Cross, and Knowing Scripture. Mike & R.C. discuss many of the themes relating to the year-long WHI theme, “Christless Christianity,” and evaluate the overall health of Evangelical Christianity.

For the past week and a half, the Olympics have dominated the headlines of every major news outlet. While the press has endured many instances of censorship, such as limited internet access in Beijing, the sports spectacle continues to grab hold of the world’s attention. America’s “Redeem Team” has smashed all of its preliminary opponents. Usain Bolt paraded through the last ten meters of his astounding 100-meter gold medal finish. Inside the Water Cube, Michael Phelps swam his way to eight gold medals and idol status. Read the rest of this entry »

No matter whether or not God exists, there is no denying that one Biblical truth hit us right up on the nose. There is no denying that humanity is dead in its sin. You’d figure that after 10,000 years of our species walking on this green Earth, there would be some sort of growth, some sort of intellectual evolution. But apparently, we all were asleep during those 100 centuries; probably dreaming about a fantasyland of unicorns and rainbows. Morality was just a job we didn’t want to wake up to.

One place that I think this is evident in is our philosophies. I hate all of this talk about “post-modernism” because that is just another example of mankind’s laziness. Whereas Nietzsche had the audacity to proclaim that God is dead and then build up a plan for how humanity would deal with that “truth,” whoever came up with post-modernism just basically stated something we already were aware of. We know nothing. I am sure there is some stupid essay about this that says we are incapable of establishing some universal moral code or truth, but that’s not really an idea. That is reality. We have spent those precious centuries of life debating about how the world has taught us some new divine truth, some God-given law that we ought to heed to. I doubt anyone but one man has ever even got close to what God’s plan is for humanity, and yet we have prophet upon prophet saying they know what it good for us. Give me a break. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, in respect to an orthodox Christian doctrine and biblical view, no, they are not Christian.  The funny thing is that they would agree with that, or at least one of the most famous Mormons would agree with that.  This Mormon goes by the name of Orson Scott Card, and happens to be one of my favorite authors. Actually, if it wasn’t for his Ender Series, I probably wouldn’t enjoy reading at all.

So, as Christians of a more orthodox nature and doctrine, how should we view Mormons’ Christianity status?  I am glad you asked, because the same question as my post’s title was asked in another blog: BeliefNet. Their post asked “Are Mormons Christian?”[click for post] They posed this question to two of the greatest minds in each arena:  On one side was Dr. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and on the other side was Orson Scott Card, an award winning author of science fiction.

It is a short debate with only 6 posts.  Please take a few minutes to read the posts of each side, because I believe this is very revealing and very informative.   Enjoy!

You know that little stamp or tag on all the products we use everyday that says where that product was made?  Every American, at some point, thinks: “Why is this made there and not in America?”   Well, there is one industry that has been perfected by Americans, and we are the major makers of this product: Entertainment.  

Whether in profitable times or in slow economic depressions, we never spare on entertainment.  For some reason many people find temporary, sweet satisfaction in movies, TV and music.  Some people only border the line of obsessive expectations for entertainment, but many cross that line and are obsessed with Hollywood and the buzz that comes out of it.  This is probably a product of modern media, however we can’t place the blame on an obscure entity.  Thus the blame shifts back to the average Joe Shmoe, the guys and gals that read the news articles and celebrity gossip columns.

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