Web List

A few final items to include in the list are web-based audio resources that have been a big part of my thought life recently:

• Francis Schaeffer lectures from Jerram Barrs, these are from Covenant Theological Seminary professor Jerram Barrs, who worked with Schaeffers in Switzerland and later helped start and run the English branch of L'Abri. His stories are littered throughout these 45-60 minute lectures, which range from biographic details of the Schaeffers' lives and how God used them and brought them to start L'Abri, to in-depth discussions of their books and the criticisms which have been laid on Francis' philosophy and theology. Dr. Barrs' insights in the later lectures, dealing with the divide between the "upper and lower stories" in the modern mind and the crossing of the "line of despair" by philosophy, have plain application in discussing current topics in Evangelicalism and Western culture at large.
• 50 Factors Within Nations that Determine Their Wealth or Poverty by Wayne Grudem. I listened to a shorter version of these lectures which I think was available through Gordon-Conwell Seminary's iTunesU page, and found it a very interesting study. Grudem showed how the biblical principles which were part of the worldview in the development of this nation are responsible for its subsequent prosperity.
• Doctrine: What Christian Should Believe by Mark Driscoll. This series of sermons at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA formed the basis for the book discussed above. Pastor Driscoll lays out a great deal of information in each of the 13 hour-long videos, and provides a 15-20 minute summary version of each as well. We have used these summaries for our Bible study on Sunday nights for the past several weeks. Tonight we are watching and discussing "Fall: God Judges", and Amelia wants to play ultimate frisbee afterward.
• White Horse Inn Podcast. This podcast, hosted by Michael Horton, Rod Rosenblatt, Kim Riddlebarger, and Ken Jones, who all teach in seminaries and/or preach in churches in Southern California, is dedicated to helping people know what they believe and why they believe it. The free podcast is supplemented by the (not free) magazine Modern Reformation, which is published six times each year. This year, both the podcast and the magazine are dedicated to issues concerning Scripture, including textual criticism, inerrancy, the formation of the canon, and hermeneutics. If you sign the guest book at their website, they will send you a free copy of the current Modern Reformation and a CD of WHI classic material.

And that's most of it. 

Reading List

So, on we go. I only had 7 in the previous post, not 8. Oh well.

1.  Introducing Covenant Theology
2. Advent of Evangelicalism
3. A History of the American People
4. Kinda Christianity
5. Just Do Something
6. Monstrous Regiment
7. Galahad at Blandings
8. Basics of Biblical Greek, by Bill Mounce. I am basically just listing this because I have technically gone through the first 4 lessons, so I'm technically in the middle of it. Realistically, though, I need to get on this piece if I'm going to be ready for school in January. There it is though.
9. Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2004. Why the 2004 edition? Because that was the one that was available on Paperback Swap the day I checked. Rick Steves has to be around our home because he reminds us of how lovely it would be to be able to go see Europe in its glory someday. I'm very glad that Amelia and I are agreed on this point.
10. Rick Steves' Ireland Guidebook 2006. Amelia got this guidebook when she went to Ireland in 2006, and likes to reminisce about the sights. I glanced through most of what is written here, and I agree with her that Ireland would be a wonderful place to be most of the time. If only they were clamoring for forklift drivers...
11. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. This is the historical novel on which the movie Gettysburg is based. It shows the events immediately before and throughout the battle from the points of view of the soldiers and commanders involved. The primary protagonists are Generals Longstreet and Lee of the Army of Northern Virginia, and General Buford and Colonel Chamberlain (of Little Round Top fame) of the Army of the Potomac. Shaara spends a good deal of time detailing how he thinks Lee came to decide to fight at Gettysburg, and seems to play up Longstreet's understanding of the situation until he becomes something of a prophet. I read this a long time ago, but I misplaced it after a couple of days of rereading it and it just turned up again.
12. The Good War by Studs Terkel. Brotha Steve Koch (my brother-in-law) placed this book in my hands while I was in California and gave it high praise. I don't think I ever got started reading it out there, but I have recently got a copy and am setting out upon it. The generation of men and women who fought and worked and won World War Two are given the microphone in this book, and so far I've enjoyed reading the many different perspectives from which they came to their posts in the Pacific Islands, on the European mainland, or in the States.
13. Five Red Herrings by Dorothy Sayers. I got about halfway through this book after reading the first several of Sayers' Lord Peter books, and I got muddled up and have yet to return. However, it'll get done eventually. Lord Peter is an ever-amusing fellow, and Amelia insists that I get to know him.
14. Baptism: Three Views edited by David Wright. The "three views" mentioned in the title are: 1) Credobaptism, presented by Bruce Ware, 2) Paedobaptism, presented by Sinclair Ferguson, and 3) Dual-Practice Baptism, presented by Anthony Lane. In the end, Ferguson won the argument, in my view, but I am still not a paedobaptist. Although Ferguson's defense was winsome and I thought Ware's points were somewhat weak, I still did not see enough  in the paedobaptist view to change my doctrine. Thus, Harriet remains unsprinkled. I will keep trying to figure out whether that is the biblical practice, however, as this book has made me think quite a bit.
15. The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content by Bruce Metzger. Dr. Metzger's study of the New Testament has helped me to understand the means by which critical scholars seek to understand the writing of the New Testament autographs, particularly in the Gospels. I am constantly challenged as I read this to try and think through just what inerrancy and inspiration mean, and to determine how the Gospels ought to be harmonized.
16. Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. This book has been helpful in refreshing my mind with the constant reminder of what our faith is all about. Driscoll and Breshears give several interesting bits of information, drawn from recent archaeological and biblical studies, which help set this theology apart from the older systematic theology we used in Bible school. Their emphasis is on teaching, if not "Mere" Christianity, at least a fairly firm orthodoxy which can be agreed upon by all Evangelicals. Their Christological focus and conviction shine throughout, and their topics are ordered along the lines of progressive revelation, from God in eternity, to Creation, the Fall, the Incarnation, the Cross, the Resurrection, the establishment of the Church, and finally ending in the coming Kingdom. All told there are 13 chapters in this study, and it fills about 450 pages.

So much for books.

what I've been reading...

I have decided today to use this web log to log something on the web. Since most anyone who ever reads this would tend to be a fairly close friend or family member, I figure you wouldn't care to know somewhat of what I'm up to. So here's what I've been reading and listening to for the past several months.

1. I just a few moments ago finished Introducing Covenant Theology by Michael Horton. I bought this book a few weeks before Amelia and I got married, and it's taken me several goes to get through it. The biggest difficulty I had was with his first 4 chapters, in which Horton lays the exegetical foundation for his theological insights in the remaining five chapters. I found that, fairly often, I could not follow the flow of his argument. Whether this was lack of ability on my part or of clarity on Dr. Horton's, I leave to history to decide. In the meantime, his fifth chapter, on Covenant Theology as a system, and the sixth, on the doctrine of Providence and common grace, in which he details the "two kingdoms" view of Christianity and culture, were very helpful. These chapters and his denial of supercessionism in later sections made wading through the heavier material at the beginning worthwhile- even if I felt at times that Horton could have used a chart or some subheadings in those exegetical discussions.
2. At the same time that I bought the above monograph, I also ordered The Advent of Evangelicalism edited by Michael Haykin and Kenneth Stewart. I am not done with this anthology yet, but it has been very exciting to pick up and read for little bits at a time. It is a series of essays challenging the "Bebbington Thesis," which places a great emphasis on the ties between Evangelicalism at its inception with the Enlightenment. A lot of the claims by the Pomo crowds are given a veneer of scholarship by clinging to this kind of a linkage, so it is good that a great many scholars could be rounded up to challenge Bebbington's claims. The final entry is a brief response by David Bebbington himself, and maybe someday I will actually get there. I am dog-eared in at the beginning of chapter 12, Jonathan Edwards: Continuator or Pioneer?, by Douglas Sweeney and Brandon Withrow. That means there are only seven chapters to go!
3. Another book which I have nibbled on since leaving home for Calvary Bible College in January 2009 is Paul Johnson's History of the American People. I stole this from my Dad's shelf while I was home for Christmas, and I have slowly managed to reach the 20th Century, so I must be about two-thirds of the way through. It's been about 10 months since I last read any further in it.
4. I read two books during a trip to St. Louis a few months back. One of them Amelia read aloud in the car. It was Kinda Christianity by Ted Kluck and Zach Bartels. It was kinda funny, but really short.
5. The other was Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung. It was a very quick, balanced take on decision-making, marked by a challenge (especially to young men) to "just do something." DeYoung showed how a great many young people use a mystical quest for God's hidden will as an excuse to sit around and ignore the opportunities God has given them. He says that such folks need to use God's Word and their sanctified reason to find someone to marry, or to choose a career, or to make any big decision. While DeYoung spends a chapter of the short book pointing out that God can and sometimes does interrupt our cerebral will-finding with occasional moments of supernatural leading, we should not use the lack of such leading as an excuse to sit and contemplate our navels. On the whole, the book was helpful.
6. Terry Prachet's Monstrous Regiment was sitting on our bookshelf downstairs and I picked it up and read it throughout last week. It was a pleasant enough story, though I liked the characters and pace of the only other Discworld novel I have read, Going Postal, better.
7. I also ran through P.G. Wodehouse's Galahad at Blandings last week. It was pleasant and quick. Wodehouse is a lot of fun, whatever he's doing.

So, that's the first 8. I'd better get these up before Blogger's terrible posting program dumps all of my links again.

A baby robin is a good chance to teach on the difference between merciful lordship over creation and mere sentimentalism in environmentalism

The baby robin is a good chance to teach on the difference between true mercy in our lordship over creation and the mere sentimentalism of

the cake is a statistic

   With a few things happening in recent weeks, I have not posted on the topic of video games again yet. However, I have not forgotten this commitment! 
   Now, as Amelia is sleeping and I am awake (though I did manage to go to sleep at about 1am my first night off. That is a pretty remarkable achievement. I will probably be taking a nap whenever she gets up writes her blog post, but still it is nice to see the morning for the first time in about a week (besides the five minutes it takes from walking out of the warehouse to plopping into bed).
   Finding myself at the computer, I will proceed to tackle the beginning issue here, that of a Typical Christian's Response to the Idea of Video Games. But first: A note on that word, “typical”


   I am aware that many Christian brothers and sisters make a fair amount of a ruckus at the prospect of statistics and numbers and polls and the like. I do not usually invest myself very heavily in these things. I do not trust statistics, and I will not be making use of many throughout my life time, I expect. 
   What a statistic says is that, if a small number of people will behave in such a way, then a large number of people will behave in a basically similar way. The problem with this is that people are not at all consistent. You can interview 10% of America about their view of baseball's importance in feudal Europe (about 30 million people, which would be a much bigger test than any poll I've ever heard of... besides the census, I guess) and run your numbers, but you will not necessarily get that good a picture of what the whole 100% of Americans would think about the importance of baseball in feudal Europe. Actually, you will know what 30 million individuals who happen to be sitting around with absolutely nothing to do think about this issue. Actually, you will know only what they say they think about it. Actually, you will know only what your questionnaire allows them to say about what they say they think about it. And that is where your very data is going to be flawed. Then, just start to interpret and apply that data, and you have left the realm of science for some arcane, alchemical mysticism.
   So, all statistics are guesses at best, though they are more often lies. And so, I do not care to use them.
  Now, I am to proceed with a description of “typical” Christian responses to video games. This is based on 0% statistical analysis. I have no idea what fraction of the Christian base might lean one way or another, but that does not matter. My case rests on the fact that most one or more of these responses to the idea of video games will sound familiar to each one of us that has grown up with them around, even those who did not grow up playing them. I will try to leave aside inhuman statistics floating in ethereal nebulae (redundant though that phrase may be), and will attempt to focus on a picture of one fellow with his Christian commitment firmly placed in his affections, sitting down on the couch or at his desk, and considering whether he ought to go get a video game of some sort to occupy his attention for a while. I guess if he has time to sit and consider this, maybe he has time to fill out a questionnaire for the Barna Group.


That was on my mind as I was considering how to start this. Maybe it is good enough to post. Amelia is asleep, so I'll check with Florianus.


He said that the post was up to my usual standards. I am not sure what that means, but he also wanted me to include a picture, even a picture of my faithful dachshund. So I figured that was a good enough idea.

Video Games and the Christian

   A good deal of my thinking gets done in the car. I suppose that driving is an expression of freedom, in which I direct the car whichever way I will it to go. The environment out the windows changes drastically as the Broncito takes me from Nebraska's plains to mountains, rivers, and coastlines of the great American landmass. However, the car also forms in itself an exact, almost unchanging environment. It supplies its own white noise with the road and engine, creating a set background of sound to the conversations I have with myself or my wife. Perhaps it is because of this constancy amidst diversity that we seem always to return to the same few topics of conversation. These are:

1. Kvetching about relationship stresses
2. Baby topics
3. Rehashing old hobbies and happenings
4. Video Games, their use, abuse, and place in society and our own lives (mostly my life)

   As we drove along NE-2 East of Broken Bow, recently, Amelia and I got onto that topic of video games, once more. I think it is because I grew up playing games like Commander Keen and Jetfighter 2 on our old 486. Though I never became a very intense gamer, due primarily to the fact that I did not get a real job until I was finished with Bible school, I always enjoyed various types of virtual entertainment.
   Now I am married, and my wife Amelia is not at all a gamer. She grew up reading a lot, and doing crafty things, and generally taking care of everyone around her and being a productive individual. This, it seems, was antithetical to the acquiring and playing of video games. Thus we discuss the history and evolution of games on consoles and pcs, and my personal experiences with various games, and at times even find spiritual significance in some of the parallels which games make to real life. On this particular afternoon, we reached the topic during a discussion of guilty pleasures.
   Guilty pleasures are those activities which, while not bad of themselves, make us feel guilty when we enjoy them. Video games have often played this role in my life, softening the cry of my heart for closeness with God and my fellow man by keeping my brain occupied for a few hours. However, the annoying thing about this guilt I felt was that I really could enjoy video games in what I thought to be a perfectly righteous way. I could enjoy relationships with fellow humans, exercise my mind (and occasionally a muscle or two), and delve into a deep and involving story, all while enjoying the art and craftsmanship of an industry filled with energy and talent. So, how could we redeem the use of these pleasures from their guilt?
   The key, we felt, was in exercising our minds to prevent the wrongful use of video games. The principles of this were pretty similar to those by which we can enjoy any other media, whether it is attending live theater, strolling through a gallery, listening to music, or watching television. Essentially, we exercise our minds and attempt to understand what the artist is trying to convey (not only cerebrally, but what he wants me to feel or do, to), then we compare that with what Scripture says about reality, and we evaluate what we've seen. More often than not, in today's world, we will usually find the message of a film, game, or canvas to be very far off from the Message of the Scriptures, but we can still see glimmers of God's image in the artist's attempt to make his worldview correlate with what he knows ought to be true. This engagement with the art and the artist will be beneficial to the Christian and to society, Lord willing.
   So, as we continued to discuss things, Amelia and I hashed out a few major points, which I decided would be worth posting on for a little bit. Perhaps this will provide the sort of mission I can keep writing about. We thought about writing reviews of some of the games coming down the pike, so hopefully in the future I can do that and exemplify some of this interaction with games that I would like to promote. The following points will serve as an outline for our introduction to the topic, after which I will try to tackle some of the biggest games around nowadays, and perhaps explore the different uses of games in the various genres of gaming.

• Typical Responses of Christians to the Idea of Video Games
• The Danger of Guilty Pleasures
• Reasons to Play a Video Game or Two
• A Christian's Unique Perspective on Gaming... and Everything Else

   And with that, I will sign off for now.

Setting up a pc

There is something inherently soothing about setting up a pc, whether it is a new pc with a bunch of factory nonsense software to root out or an old one that just needs to be freshened up for continued life. I am enjoying this today, and thinking about the wonderfulness of AVG Free and trying out the excitement of Google Chrome. Good windy, cloudy day fare.

...crickets chirping...

It's been a while since I posted last. This four days off should be a good time to get back onto the PC and whatnot. I think I have managed to completely avoid this sad, empty blog for the entire period in which Amelia and I have had internet in our home. That's what you call ironic.