Santa: Reject Him, Receive Him, or Redeem Him?

'Tis the season ... for parents to decide if they will tell the truth about Santa.  Read here an article by Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, where he provides parents with a Biblical approach for redeeming the story of Saint Nicholas.  

For more information about rejecting, receiving, or redeeming cultural in general, check out this blog post by Pastor Mark.

HT: The Resurgence

Mark Driscoll's Counseling Style?

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I tried to come with a title for this post - I really did. But I can't. I'm speechless.

Santa Christ: The Problem with Creating Worship Experiences

R.C. Sproul wrote, "For one thing, in our worship at Christmas we may varnish the staggering truth of the incarnation with what is visually, audibly, and aesthetically pleasing. We confuse emotional pleasure — or worse, sentiment — with true adoration."  For many, Christmas is nothing more than sentiment.  We seek after temporal happiness, briefly cast aside differences with family, friends, co-workers, and others, and go through religious rituals mostly so that we can obtain a desired experience to coincide with the contemporary Christmas holiday.  Much in the way we dig out an old Christmas sweater, we also temporarily pull on Christ to "celebrate" his birth.

Much in the way we dig out an old Christmas sweater, we temporarily pull on Christ to "celebrate" his birth.

How?  By attending an experientially rich worship service, complete with mood lighting, lit candles, familiar and perfectly performed music, and even sweet dear grandma whose heart is warmed by the presence of your butt in the pew next to her.  Most are there to simply hear a story told, to hold a candle, and to arrive at an emotional state that culturally defines our modern Christmas.  But in the heart, this has little or nothing to do with Christ - in fact Jesus is held in the same regard as Santa Claus.  He's a means to an end.  He's an aspect of an cultural experience.  But in our hearts, He's not real, his birth, the most miraculous event in all of human history, does not move as to motivate genuine worship or even life change. 

I pray that I do not approach the Christmas service at my church with this kind of attitude.  I pray that I am focused more on Christ than on the how well the music was performed or the other aesthetic features bound to be present.  And I pray that the local church will be focused on presenting Christ, the whole messy Christmas story, in a way that pleases Him more than it pleases first time visitors who are after the sentimental feeling of the modern"Christmas" experience.

HT: Ligonier

What is Arcing, Why is it Important, & How Can You Learn How to Do It?

Learn how to arc via a free, online, video-based tutorial called ARCING 101.

HT: Bible Arc via Desiring God

A Consice Theology of Role Models

Paul gives a two-part command in Philippians 3:17—join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who live like us. This idea of imitating Paul and leaders like him is not unique to this passage (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9; 1 Timothy 4:12; 2 Timothy 1:13; Hebrews 13:7). However, the Philippians 3:18 ground to the command carries a particular weightiness.

Paul tells us to imitate him and those who live like him, "for many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ."



Paul says that apostasy is the basis for why we should imitate him and those who live like him. Paul does not suggest the benefits of having a role model, he narrows the profile of who a role model should be and he declares its essential place in Christian discipleship. I think these two points from Philippians 3:17-18 make up a concise theology of role models.

Read more here.

HT: Desiring God

How You Can Easily Slip Away From a Biblical Worldview

The message in the video above will sound right to most of us, even many Christians, but it is, at it's root, a humanist, evolutionary, anti-Christian message that promotes self-salvation. This video wonderfully depicts just how easy it is to slip from a Biblical worldview to a faith perspective promoted by the world to glorify the world.

First off, the video is terrific. It's interesting, it's fun, and it's been produced very well. In other words, it's attractive. Even without hearing the content, one would be easily drawn into the message being delivered simply because of the visual narration.

Secondly, nearly everything the lecturer states sounds right if you're not listening closely. Even from a Christian perspective, it seems perfectly reasonable that God would have wired us to empathize with each other, share in each others struggles, and intend for empathy to be a foundational element of doing life together amongst believers and non-believers alike. But if you accept that premise, what else have you accepted? Or more to the point, what have you rejected? Only that at man's core is a sinful nature, and thus man's need for a Savior, as well as God Himself. That's quite a lot to cast aside, but that exactly what you're doing the moment you start buying into the message that this video is delivering.

There's nothing new here. It's an old message wrapped in a shiny, contemporary package. The message is - there's nothing that exists outside of what has evolved, we are in control of our own fate, we can be own savior or we can destroy ourselves, etc. It all sounds wonderful, but it's not Biblical.

Social Media and Discernment

John MacArthur writes:

Twenty-five years ago Neil Postman observed that television had become an American “necessity” and lamented its effects on society. He correctly described the culture of the 1980s as one that was amusing itself to death. If he were alive today, Postman would be astonished at how quickly Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of social media have gripped our society. His earlier criticisms raise an interesting question about these current trends: If TV put our culture in the casket, has social media nailed the coffin shut?

Read more here as Pastor John MacArthur encourages all to take a careful look at social networking and encourages believers to exercise discernment.

HT: Light and Heat

Why Did He Come?

Cardboard Stories from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

Genesis 6:5: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Hebrews 9:26–28:  "Christ has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

He came to Redeem!!

HT: The Austin Stone