Da Wings

I have to... HAVE TO... post this...



Yeah, baby...

Dilbert and the ECM

You know... I'm beginning to see greater and greater correlation between ECM-speak and Dilbert...

Two Killer Posts

First, from The Blog Of Which We Do Not Speak, this, and then from Master Chris Elrod (TM), this.

'S'all I have time for right now. At my day-job-to-support-my-habit, filling out paperwork so that I can hopefully get paid. And then get formula & diapers. Both of which it turns out are worth several orders of magnitude of their equivalent weight in gold. And cost as much.

And are worth it.

Peace out.

More Pics of my Little Hockey Puck

'S'been a while, so to break the monotony of no posting, here's some pics of my baby boy.

While I was working at my day-job-to-support-my-habit, my lovely and gracious wife, taking the Bible's admonition to "train up a child in the way he should go" took our son to an exhibition hockey game with the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings were signing autographs... you know; sweaters (...that'd be "jerseys" for the un-hockey-ed masses who might not otherwise know), sticks, books...

My boy was born with a club foot. As part of the treatment, he wore a cast for the first five weeks of his life. My wife, when she got to the head of the line for autograph signing, handed our boy over so the players could sign his cast.

This pic is of Tomas Holmstrom penning his John Hancock on my boy's cast.

Five other wings, including Ozzie and Lilja also got their names immortalized on my boy's cast.

After the signing, wife and son enjoyed the exhibition game.

Myth and the ECM

Over yonder on the WordPress mirror of this blog, I've been interacting with an ECMmer regarding Chris Elrod's recent series of blogposts. Said ECM individual mentioned that Chris' writings were entertaining but confused the important issue of the "pre-easter jesus" and the "post-easter jesus" - the PreEJ being the historical Jesus, and the PostEJ being the mythical Jesus.

Among the other things that ECM Mike stated, was this:

It appears that the real core of our disagreement can be traced to a different understanding of the word “myth”.

I’m using the word to mean a story which reveals a truth, but is told through grand symbolic language rather than simply transmitting historical facts. Myth is not a synonym for false. All myths have some history and/or truth behind them and their symbolism brings that truth to life.

This is something I've heard more and more from the (liberal wing of the) Emerging/Emergent Church Movement - the idea of "true myth."

Here's my question: If the Gospels (and the rest of the Bible - say, Genesis, for example...) are to be regarded as mythical, and that myth is now "not really true but really true in a real sense that has truth but isn't really true unless you have the super-secret decoder ring..." How is that any different from, say, the claims of Asatru?

Compare ECM Mike's quote on myth to Asatru's explanation of myth.

First, ECM Mike's quote on myth:

I’m using the word to mean a story which reveals a truth, but is told through grand symbolic language rather than simply transmitting historical facts. Myth is not a synonym for false. All myths have some history and/or truth behind them and their symbolism brings that truth to life.

Now, Asatru's quote on myth:

The myths are stories about the Gods and Goddesses of Asatru. We believe they are ways of stating spiritual truths. That is, we would say they contain truths about the nature of divinity, our own nature, and the relationship between the two. We do not contend that the myths are literally true, as history. Rather, myth can be thought of as "the dream of the race" or "that which never happened, but is always true."

What is the real, substantive difference? If the Bible is only myth (even "true myth") then why is it any better than Asatru's Poetic and Prose Edda? Why is it any better a guide than the Sri Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism? Or the Upanishads?

If the Bible (whether the whole thing, or the Gospels, or Genesis) is merely myth (even "true myth") then what possible reason is there to believe that Jesus is God and therefore your only Savior - why is that position any better than the Astatruar's devotion to the Aesir and Vanir?

Guys: IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCE.

I have to get ready for tentmaking. More later.

Everybody Loves Chris

...Elrod, that is.

And by "love," I mean that only if you're Biblically conservative.

Theological "moderates" and those leaning even further leftward aren't going to be too happy with his latest blogposts.

Which means, he's my new hero.

Check 'em so far:

1. Love Doesn't Win, which I referred to in my previous blogpost


2. Jesus Wasn't A Social Worker, and


3. The Mythical Jesus

All I can say is: OH, MY...

I'm ruining the last blogpost for you (go over and read it anyway), but this quote is absolutely priceless:

The Mythical Jesus came not to be a Savior…but some kind of ancient Mother Teresa…with a little Al Sharpton thrown in for good measure. He didn’t like the rich…or the Republicans…or war…or church…or corporate worship…or pretty people…or absolute Truth. He only came to hang out with prostitutes, homeless people, sick people, rebels and liberal people…and shunned everyone else. He staged protests against the Roman Empire, loved to pray in labyrinths and only read Scripture in the confines of a communal home environment with zero accountability. He questioned all that His Father stood for and only asked questions without ever giving answers…in order not to offend anyone. He was a pacifist that never got angry and practiced tolerance…except with those that disagreed with Him. He used a lot of big words to describe what He did…words that nobody else understood…but made Him look cool. He also spent a lot of time drinking beer and talking about all the stuff He was going to do different.

The Biblical Jesus…was none of the above!

Chris Elrod: TRUTH Wins

Chris Elrod of Compass Point Church, has some interesting and timely things to say RE: the whole "Love Wins" thing that we see a ton of here on the Lakeshore, being as we are in Rob "Jesus' Dad Was Larry" Bell's backyard.

My favorite quote from Chris's blogpost:

Christ said…”I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Love wasn’t mentioned. God can love us a bunch…but that love won’t get us into Heaven. We can love God a bunch…but that love won’t get us into Heaven. We can love people a bunch…but that love won’t get them into Heaven. Only true repentance of our sinful nature and total acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Savior will get us into Heaven. There is no other way. It is not love that wins…it is solely the knowledge and total acceptance of truth that wins.

Good stuff - read it.

D-Week

I'd like to ask both of my readers for y'all's prayers for my family this coming week.

We are in the process of trying to adopt a wonderful baby boy, whose birth mom made a series of particularly unwise decisions while she was thirteen years old leading up to, nine months afterwards, Masen's birth - which was about ten weeks ago.

Birth dad, who just got out of jail for the statutory rape of birth mom, is fighting the adoption.

He failed to appear for a deposition last week, his last chance for that is Monday. Then he has his hearings before a judge on Wednesday, and then again (if needed) on Friday.

So this is going to be a very stressful week in the Macon household - "D-Week". We will find out, by the end of this week, whether or not we can proceed with the adoption... or have to give Masen up.

To add to it all, I'm not even at home at the moment; I'm in High Point, NC, for "tentmaking," to pay the bills (oh, those lawyer bills...)

So, I'd really covet y'all's prayers...

---

UPDATE:

Yesterday sure was a full day. That morning, I was in High Point, NC, finishing up teaching a class on CNC programming for my day-job-to-support-my-habit. That evening...

My lovely and gracious wife called me from the courthouse as I was heading home from the airport in Grand Rapids to pick up my guitar and head back to GR to fill the pulpit for a brother in that city (which works, since their mmidweek study is on Wednesday, while ours is on Thursday). It seems the whole court proceeding took all of 15 minutes. The longest part of it was the judge's explanation of his ruling.

He ordered the termination of birth dad, which means after 21 days (the time frame for appeals), we can proceed with formal placement.

Thank you, all of you who prayed...

Bit of "Ha Ha"

Holy Firestorm, Batman...

Okay, looks like I've gone and kicked myslef up a hornet's nest.

For all of my readers (the both of you), to bring y'all up-to-date:

1. I put up a blogpost commenting on one of the more amusing ongoing discussions over on the super-increasingly-aptly-titled open source theology blog.


2. Andrew Perriman, moderator of said blog and author extraordinaire, responded here.


3. I responded back.


4. He responded to my response.


5. I responded back.


6. He responded to my response to his response.


7. After a few rounds of the same, John Doyle responded...


8. I responded...


9. Andrew responded...


10. ...and after several more rounds, John posted his summary of the discussion thus far...


11. and on it goes.

Yeesh.

Now all my readers (you both, over there) are up-to-speed on the fracas thus far.

To summarize my summary above: The issue really boils down to a question of authority.

In other words, what is the basis for truth? If you jettison inerrancy, you are left with... well, nothing.

Andrew is maintaining that his "trust is not in the supposed perfection of a text but in the God who is revealed through the testimony of the text, through the historical experience of the community." My contention is... no, he's not. If that was in fact true, he'd agree with the doctrine of the supposed perfection of a text, since the Church Universal has always believed that (to varying degrees, it is to be admitted) - the point of contention really being a matter of whether or not that Perfect (read: "Inerrant") Text is self-illuminating, or whether there must also be magisterial authority vested in a separate entity (i.e., the Church). But the perfection of the Text itself is not in question, within the context of the "historical experience of the community."

Either way, sola scriptura or sola ecclesia, the (liberal wing of) the ECM evaporates. What the (liberal wing of) the ECM really believes is solo mio.

But that's just my opinion. Which along with $.50... oh, nevermind...

Anybody else care to weigh in...?