Tried With Fire

I started reading You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K.A. Smith. I had seen his books referenced in other books, and friends had mentioned this one in particular on social media. It also happened to be on sale. I downloaded an audio version too, which was providential. My daughter picked it up after dinner last night, and I joked that I would find her still reading the book after I got home from a meeting. She was. She also mentioned we might be fighting over the book. It's that good. Smith starts out his book questioning the idea that "You are what you think." We may not even know who Rene Descartes is, but we have absorbed the idea that "I think. Therefore, I am." And if our diet of information is only post Enlightenment, then we have no other frame of reference. So "we imaging human beings as giant bobblehead dolls: with humongous heads, and itty-bitty, unimportant bodies." It "reduces human beings to brains-on-a-s...

Here is what Herman Bavinck has to say about the human body and how it belongs to the image of God as much as the soul. "In the fourth place, also the human body belongs integrally in the image of God. A philosophy that either does not know or rejects divine revelation always lapses into empiricism or rationalism, materialism or spiritualism. But Scripture reconciles the two. Man has a "spirit" ( pneuma ), but that "spirit" is psychically organized and must, by virtue of its nature, inhabit a body. It is the essence of humanity to be corporeal and sentient ... The body is not a prison, but a marvelous piece of art from the hand of God Almighty, and just as constitutive for the essence of humanity as the soul. It is our earthly dwelling, our organ or instrument of service, our apparatus; and the "members" of the body are the weapons with which we fight in the cause of righteousness or unrighteousness. It is so integrally and essentially a part of ou...

In the light of the controversy surrounding Paige Patterson  and his comments on abuse and women, I am sharing this slightly edited post from 2014 that I wrote for domestic violence awareness month.  It's funny how the things we care about the most are often the most painful and emotionally exhausting to put into words. How do you encapsulate an issue that touches theology, history, and culture? How do you write about something so personal and not dredge up memories and feelings that you'd rather consign to oblivion? I wrote drafts that are probably too volatile to be published because they tipped a few sacred cows that we cling to as conservative Christians. It helped to get those thoughts out of my head, but I'm still frustrated at the huge blind spot that the evangelical church seems to have - a sort of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about domestic abuse within its walls. After much research, thinking, and praying, I am convinced that domestic violence...

Wendy Alsup wrote two posts ( part 1 & part 2) in response to the Nashville Statement. I agree with her concerns that the issue is bigger than just taking a stand against sexual immorality. The doctrine of Imago Dei is at stake: We are fighting now for an orthodox understanding not just of homosexuality, but of Imago Dei. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be made in the image of God?...Who bears human dignity? How should they be treated? (part 1) In the 2nd part , Wendy examines Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology and a recent statement from John MacArthur. She comes away with the concern that -  it seems that image bearers need to respect role and authority to actually show God’s image. Practically speaking, if you are perceived as not respecting either role or authority in life, you go down the priority list for protection as an image-bearer. Folks who see image-bearing dignity mitigated by how well you respect role and authority tend to work in a...

Dr. John Dunlop writes about the importance of honoring dementia patients as God's image-bearers, which I fully affirm, but I think his point is valid for other areas. How do we see people and think about them? Are there certain qualities and categories that would cause us to treat them as less than fully human and less deserving of respect? In the quote below, Dunlop call this devastating and a tragic error . I agree. In a day when there is much confusion as to what it means to be a person, the church must teach a robust view of personhood that is based on our being made in the image of God... if you asked what that really means, it's likely they would say something like, "Well, I guess that means they are like God, they are intelligent, can make their own choices, and have the ability to relate to others." If you probed further and asked, "Does that mean people with severe dementia, who are not intelligent, cannot make their own choices, and do not have ...

There's a beautiful and poignant post over at Fathom Mag by Tasha Burgoyne. Almond Eyes is a letter from a mother to her daughter telling her that she is made in the image of God no matter how people treat her. This article is even more meaningful because of a prior post  where her child, still young enough to be riding in a stroller, was the subject of racial remarks. In some ways, this country has come so far, and in other ways, it's as though nothing has changed. When Tasha writes  about "people who might pull back the corners of their eyes and laugh at you on the playground," 40+-year-old memories came to mind. I still remember the faces of the kids who thought it was hilarious to mock the only Asian in the school. I remember some of their names. Not because I've been holding a grudge all these years, but the whole "sticks and stones" is wishful thinking. Words leave scars that take a long time to heal especially when they have undermined your se...

How we measure a person's worth determines how we treat them but also how we see ourselves. The messages we hear from the culture and from our closest influences feed into that understanding. Am I worth something based on my education or salary? Am I worth something because I am married and have children? Am I worth something because of physical abilities or beauty? Am I worth something because my kids have turned out okay and I am set for retirement? These things, which are not bad in themselves, are temporal and can change in a heartbeat. What are we left with when an incurable disease is chipping away at our ability to function at the most basic level? One of the saddest things I have heard from a person with memory loss is, "I can't do what I used to anymore. What is the point of living?" Is that true or is there another source of value that goes deeper? I think there is. We have to go back to imago dei - being made in the image of God. dementia is a threat ...

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. George Santayana The following is the trailer for a PBS documentary on the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act . I don't remember learning about this in American history. Do you? I'd have a hard time forgetting because if I had lived back then, I would have been excluded. The Chinese were a source of cheap labor during the California gold rush and the building of the transcontinental railroad. But when economic times got tough, they were accused of taking work from "real" Americans. They were considered unassimilable and inferior by their very nature thus unfit to become citizens. In 1882, the federal government banned any Chinese from entering the country and denied citizenship, which led to an eventual ban on all Asian immigration until 1943. Even with repeal of the exclusion act, only 105 Chinese per year were allowed to immigrate until 1965. This is the first law to single out a specific ethnic group for ex...

I have been reading Unashamed by Heather Nelson with a group of women in the church. The last chapter we covered was on social shame. If you've never experienced it, please tell me, what is it like to not be socially awkward? For the rest of us, we know that sinking feeling of wondering how  and even if we fit in. Thoughts go through our heads such as - "I don't know what to say. I don't know who to talk to. Will I be accepted?" It's especially hard when it is a group where there should be strong sense of belonging such as the church. During our discussion, I threw out the question of whether men or women were more accepting of differences. There was no hesitation. The unanimous answer was "Men." Very interesting. I had suspected this as well, but I still wanted to understand the "why" behind it. So I started reading  Disunity in Christ . The author, Christena Cleveland, has a PhD in social psychology, so her book draws from research...

I finished listening to White Trash: The 400-Year-Old-History of Class in America by LSU history professor, Nancy Isenberg. If you believe that America is a classless society founded on the principle of equal opportunity for all, this book will burst that bubble. The following quote from the epilogue jumped out at me because it accurately assesses, in my opinion, how politicians have manipulated different sectors in society including the "Christian vote."  Moved by the need for control, for an unchallenged top tier, the power elite in American history has thrived by placating the vulnerable and creating for them a false sense of identification - denying real class differences whenever possible. pg. 313. I also highly recommend this Pass the Mic podcast with Andy Crouch, author and executive editor of Christianity Today. His take on the dynamics of the 2016 election, politics, and the treatment of the vulnerable is spot on. Now when "class inequality" is...

This doesn't happen very often, but every now and then I will read something and think, "This puts into words exactly what I have been thinking and feeling for most of my life." The first time was when I read the essays in "Are Women Human?" by Dorothy L. Sayers. This is the second time. As a member of a minority group everywhere in my country except among family or through the self-conscious effort to find other Asian Americans, I alternate between being conspicuous and vanishing, being stared at or looked through. Although the conditions may seem contradictory, they have in common the loss of control. In most instances, I am who others perceive me to be rather than how I perceive myself to be. Considered by the strong sense of individualism inherent in American society, the inability to define one's self is the greatest loss of liberty possible. We Americans believe in an heroic myth from the nineteenth century, whereby moving to the frontier gives a ...

To begin, please read this post -  Presxit: The Church of the Normal .  This is so good that I don't want to take away from it by trying to paraphrase what the author wrote so well. However in case you didn't click the link, in a nutshell he is calling the church to greater empathy. Not at the expense of orthodoxy but perhaps a better way to "deploy our orthodoxy." If every presbytery asked every ministerial candidate what it means to love the people of God and how that would play out in their ministry, and if every pastor and every session committed themselves to creating a culture of nurturing, accepting, and accommodating diversity in their congregation, then it would open the way for truer understanding of ourselves and others by leading us behind the generalities of norms and expectations. It would lead us to encounter individuals on their own terms, as they’d have themselves be known. Creating such a culture starts with active empathizing, and it starts wit...

In light of the recent and lively debate about the Eternal Subordination of the Son and gender, here is Kevin Giles on the word "role." The French word role originated in reference to the part an actor played on stage. In the 1930s, it became a key term in functional sociology. It was only in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as the study of sociology became established in the universities, that the word began to be widely used in the English-speaking world. I can find no evidence of Christian usage of the word in theological discourse before this time. 1 Giles then gives an example of an officer and a private in the army. They have different roles, but the roles do not imply inferiority of one to the other. Likewise the roles are not intrinsic to the persons involved. A private may be promoted up the ranks. The officer may be demoted. 2 Makes sense, right? A parallel cannot be made with the complementarian-hierarchical view of women. In this case, because a woman is ...

"[W]e need to recognize that Christendom is a system which is partly merged with culture while trying to sustain itself separately. But Christendom, like all institutions when endangered, tries to protect itself. And if you doubt that, you expose a case of child abuse by a pastor and watch what happens. Christendom has used scripture to support or conceal slavery, racism, domestic violence, and many other cruelties that our God hates. I fear the Christendom today has become less interested in truth and more interested in power..." "Christendom is not Jesus Christ. Do not be deceived..." "Do not follow the siren of culture even if someone baptizes it for you. Its categories are not God's. Do not be seduced by the allure of Christendom nor heed the word of God when it is used to sanction something that is utterly unlike Jesus Christ... Know Christ so well that you can discern what is unlike Him no matter how seductive or the religious garb it wears......

Imago dei has been rather life changing for me especially in terms of my identity. In his sermon No Little People , I appreciated Francis Schaeffer's brief discourse on this doctrine's importance in how we relate to humanity as a whole and to fellow believers. I am also reading Ordinary   by Michael Horton   with my small group. One of the problems Ordinary addresses is celebrity Christianity, so I found it interesting how Schaeffer relates a right understanding of imago dei to leadership and warns what may happen when we forget this common ground: Our attitude toward all men should be that of equality because we are common creatures. We are of one blood and kind. As I look across all the world, I must see every man as a fellow creature and I must be careful to have a sense of our equality on the basis of this common status. We must be careful in our thinking not to try to stand in the place of God to other men. We are fellow creatures. And when I step from the creat...

This a talk by Jen Wilkin at the 2014 TGC Women's Conference. I loved it. If you are looking for what I would call "traditional" advice, this may not be the talk you are looking for. Wilkin shares quite a bit about imago dei and not succumbing to popular culture or  the Christian subculture either. But to my mind, that's a good thing. Listen or download here . ht: Christie Davidson for the heads up.

Trigger warning: Rape, violence against women, target/victim blaming, objectification. The Bible isn't a book of nice moral stories on how to be a good person. It contains very stark pictures of the sin and the brokenness of mankind after the fall. One of these depictions is in Genesis 34. Jacob's daughter, Dinah, is seen by Shechem, a prince in the city where they are sojourning. He takes her and rapes her. Then he wants to marry her. What follows is mutual deceit on both sides. Shechem's father suggests they strike a bargain and begin to intermarry, which is agreed upon by Simeon and Levi but only if the men are circumcised. The men of Shechem think this is a small price to pay because they will eventually assimilate Jacob's family and his wealth. But Simeon and Levi are plotting to kill them in their weakness and not only that - they have misused and abused a covenant sign from God to exact their revenge. Once the deed is done, Jacob's sons take the property...

Dorothy Sayers clearly describes what happens when we forget that people are individual human beings made in the image of God. We are not clones. We are not the Borg . We are not data points to be placed on a bell curve and judged accordingly. God is not a statistician or a manufacturer who churns out copies of a limited set of models over and over again. He is Creator, God, and Father who has fashioned mankind out of His infinite creativity. I think her words are applicable, not just to my country but to the church as well. What have we lost because we have forgotten what it means to be human and to treat others as human beings too? What is repugnant to every human being is to be reckoned always as a member of a class and not as an individual person. A certain amount of classification is, of course, necessary for practical purposes…What is unreasonable and irritating is to assume all one's tastes and preferences have to be conditioned by the class to which one belongs... To o...

I sometimes wonder how much of the mess in this world can be traced back to our failure to acknowledge that people are people. All you need to do is turn on the TV or crack open a history book, and you will see sharply drawn lines of division. These lines run deep and are as old as the Fall. Relationships became adversarial. Conflict sprang up between the man and the woman, between brother and brother, and these scenarios are still being repeated on a seemingly endless loop. God's common grace does come to us through the means of education and legal reforms for which I am very grateful. But they can only do so much because they can only address the outside. In the end, the change has to happen from the inside out. I don't believe we can treat people as people until we are humbled at the foot of the cross. When we see the underserved love and favor of God extended to us through the death of Jesus Christ, self-importance, entitlement, and superiority are given a fatal blow....

I had good intentions of posting more about domestic violence this month, but alas it was not to be. It's funny how the things we care about the most are often the most painful and emotionally exhausting to put into words. There were times when I stared at a blank screen and didn't know where to begin. How do you encapsulate an issue that touches theology, history, and culture? How do you write about something so personal and not dredge up memories and feelings that you'd rather consign to oblivion? I also wrote drafts that are probably too volatile to be published because they tipped a few sacred cows that we cling to as conservative Christians. It helped to get those thoughts out of my head, but I'm still frustrated at the huge blind spot that the evangelical church seems to have - a sort of hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil about domestic abuse within its walls. After much research, thinking, and praying, I am convinced that domestic violence is an imag...