Struggling in Prayer: Seeking to 'Pray Big' with Alistair Begg

 About a month ago, our pastor bought copies of Alistair Begg's Pray Big: Learning to Pray Like an Apostle (TheGoodBook Company, 2019) for our congregation, inviting us to pursue a life of persistent and purposeful prayer together.  Personal prayer has always been a struggle for me.  It's not that I find it difficult to find some time to pray for the needs of family and friends; it's not that I find it hard to praise God for His majesty, glory, and goodness; it's not that I doubt God's attentiveness or responsiveness.  Rather, I struggle to find intimacy and connection in my prayer life, and as a result have found it difficult to devote significant time and energy to spending time alone with God in my 'prayer closet'.  

In several other fashions, I experience what I think is a close and vibrant relationship with God: I experience His reality and presence in worship; I love His Word and experience His truth communication through reading Scripture; I enjoy learning, reading, and teaching theology, Bible, and apologetics; I find spiritual reward in serving others through church and community.  But I have always felt that my prayer life is lacking.

I'm not convinced that reading Alistair Begg's Pray Big has cured my shortcomings in prayer.  But nonetheless, I was reminded of many important truths regarding prayer, and learned a number of new things.  Given my passion for reading and teaching, I wanted to share six insights from Pray Big that I pray will be an encouragement and exhortation for you.

The Gospel in Dorothy Sayers - Part 4: Pride

 It has been a couple of weeks since I've found time to post ... suffice it to say that life has been on the busy side.  I return today to my dearly-loved and deeply-appreciated Dorothy Sayers, as presented in Carole Vanderhoof's winsome The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers.  Today, I want to share (without comment) Sayers' words on pride, the root of all sin.

V. Pride: The Root of 'The Other Six Deadly Sins'

"But the head and origin of all sin is the basic sin of Superbia or Pride.  In one way there is so much to say about Pride that one might speak of it for a week and not have done.  Yet in another way, all there is to be said about it can be said in a single sentence.  It is the sin of trying to be as God.  It is the sin which proclaims that Man can produce out of his own wits, and his own impulses and his own imagination the standards by which he lives: that Man is fitted to be his own judge.  It is Pride which turns man's virtues into deadly sins, by causing each self-sufficient virtue to issue in its own opposite, and as a grotesque and horrible travesty of itself.  The name under which Pride walks the world at this moment is the Perfectibility of Man, or the Doctrine of Progress; and its specialty is the making of blueprints for Utopia and establishing the Kingdom of Man on earth.

"For the devilish strategy of Pride is that it attacks us, not on our weak points, but on our strong.  It is preeminently the sin of the noble mind - that corruptio optimi which works more evil in the world than all the deliberate vices.  Because we do not recognize pride when we see it, we stand aghast to see the havoc wrought by the triumphs of human idealism.  We meant so well, we thought we were succeeding - and look what has come of our efforts!  There is a proverb that says that the way to Hell is paved with good intentions. [Incidentally, that was one of my father's favorite sayings!] We usually take it as referring to intentions that have been weakly abandoned; but it has a deeper and much subtler meaning.  For that road is paved with good intentions strongly and obstinately pursued, until they become self-sufficing ends in themselves and deified." ("The Other Six Deadly Sins," in The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers, pp. 67-68).

I strongly encourage you to get and read the book:

Carole Vanderhoof, ed., The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers: Selections from Her Novels, Plays, Letters, and Essays. Walden, NY: Plough, 2018.

Texas Abortion Law Upheld ... and Protested

 As many folks know, the State of Texas has passed a law banning abortion after about 6 weeks' gestation  in virtually all cases.  The 6-week provision is based upon clear scientific evidence that this is the point in pregnancy at which the unborn baby's heart begins to beat.  Yesterday, the Supreme Court (in a split decision) rejected a request from Texas abortion providers for an injunction against the law.  Hence, at midnight, abortion in Texas became illegal after 6 weeks gestation.

I do not intend here to comment on the law, the debate surrounding the law, or the Supreme Court decision - though I have very strong rational and emotional positions on all of those.

Instead, I would like to comment briefly on a single picture (which I have cropped) contained in a news report on the Supreme Court's decision.

CBC.ca (Canada's federally-funded media outlet) published this picture in their article, "Chaos at Texas Abortion clinic as new restrictions come into effect."  The article, unsurprisingly, painted workers at Whole Woman's Health as heroic victims fighting the oppressive machinery of narrow-minded bigots who oppose women's reproductive health - you can read the whole article HERE.  

What I would like to point out is the glaring logical incoherence of this unfortunate soul's protest sign.  Overlooking the grammatical imprecision (it should be either 'Abortion Saves Lives' or 'Abortions Save Lives'), the reality is that abortion does the precise opposite of saving lives - it is the practice of intentionally ending lives.  Granted, a small fraction of abortions are performed in cases where the mother's physical life is clearly endangered by the pregnancy - such abortions save one life by ending another; but it is also worth noting that, so far as I can tell, the new Texas restrictions do not outlaw post-6-weeks abortions where the mother's life is in jeopardy.

There can be some reasoned debate over whether an unborn baby (or a fetus if you prefer that terminology) possesses personhood and thereby is deserving of protection under the law.  But there is really no scientific or moral debate that an unborn baby (or fetus) is a living member of the human species.

I think precision in terms is important.  And frankly, trying to pretend that "abortion saves lives" is about as logically untenable as pretending that banning abortion "protects women's choices."

Perhaps the sign could instead have read: "Abortion Ends Lives - but Justifiably So."  At least then there's something worth debating.

The Gospel in Dorothy Sayers - Part 3

Dorothy Sayers has long been one of my favorite intellectual heroes.  I have loved her mysteries (particularly the Lord Peter Wimsey series) since my youth, and upon my introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy in freshman year of college, have admired her as a brilliant translator/poet.  Further in my academic career I encountered her essays and monographs on theology and ethics (my favorites being The Mind of the Maker and The Man Born to Be King).  All told, Sayers is a tremendous wit, an acute scholar, and a sharp student of humanity and culture.

Carole Vanderhoof has brought together poignant thoughts and penetrating insights from Sayers' diverse literary corpus in Plough Press's The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers.

In today's blog post, as I continue working through this brilliant compilation, listen to Sayers's indictment of the religious ignorance of her (and our) post-Christian society.

IV. Christian Doctrine, Misunderstanding, and Religious Ignorance

"'Any stigma,' said a witty tongue, 'will do to beat a dogma'; and the flails of ridicule have been brandished with such energy of late on the threshing-floor of controversy that the true seed of the Word has become well-nigh lost amid the whirling of chaff. ...

The Gospel in Dorothy Sayers - Part 2

My admiration for Sayers prompted me to purchase a clever volume from Plough Publishing House: The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers: Selections from Her Novels, Plays, Letters, and Essays (Edited by Carole Vanderhoof. Walden, NY: Plough, 2018).  Vanderhoof collates passages (ranging from individual sentences to multiple pages in length) from diverse Sayers works under 20 editorial categories (e.g., Conscience, Belief, Despair and Hope, and Incarnation).

Today I continue my reflections on The Gospel in Dorothy Sayers, and I hope to inspire you to purchase the book yourself!

II. Nature, Sin, Judgment, and God

"The word 'punishment' for sin has become so corrupted that it ought never to be used.  But once we have established the true doctrine of man's [fallen sinful] nature, the true nature of judgment becomes startlingly clear and rational.  It is the inevitable consequence of man's attempt to regulate life and society on a system that runs counter to the facts of his own nature. 

The Gospel in Dorothy Sayers - Pt 1

 Dorothy Sayers has long been one of my favorite intellectual heroes.  I have loved her mysteries (particularly the Lord Peter Wimsey series) since my youth, and upon my introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy in freshman year of college, have admired her as a brilliant translator/poet.  Further in my academic career I encountered her essays and monographs on theology and ethics (my favorites being The Mind of the Maker and The Man Born to Be King).  All told, Sayers is a tremendous wit, an acute scholar, and a sharp student of humanity and culture.

My admiration for Sayers prompted me to purchase a clever volume from Plough Publishing House: The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers: Selections from Her Novels, Plays, Letters, and Essays (Edited by Carole Vanderhoof. Walden, NY: Plough, 2018).  Vanderhoof collates passages (ranging from individual sentences to multiple pages in length) from diverse Sayers works under 20 editorial categories (e.g., Conscience, Belief, Despair and Hope, and Incarnation).

In this short series of blog posts, I will share excerpts from The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers, sometimes accompanied by my own reflections.  I hope to inspire you to purchase the book yourself - and I myself am eagerly anticipating purchasing and reading the other volumes in Plough's The Gospel in Great Writers series: Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, George MacDonald, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.  Great stuff!

I. Ethical Foundations

"We have seen, too, what happens to reason divorced from theology.  Encouraged by its success in subduing the material universe, it refuses to admit the validity of anything that is not capable of scientific proof.  Its next step is to try to justify the natural virtues by their material results - whence we get the ugly and egotistical doctrine of enlightened self-interest and the hideous tyranny of economics.  The last achievement of reason is always to cast doubt on its own validity, so that the final result of rationalism is the appearance of a wholly irrational universe.

"Thus, human ethics, left to themselves, became helpless and self-contradictory - exactly as they did in pagan times.

"The men who now rule Germany [the Nazis], having thrown over the Christian theology, see clearly enough that the Christian ethic will not work without it.  Therefore, they have jettisoned the ethics as well.  We are greatly shocked by this.  But have we the right to be surprised?  If Christ is the only guarantee that reason is rational and goodness is good, then, the logical result of repudiating Christianity is the repudiation of reason and virtue." (Sayers, "The Religions Behind the Nation," March 5, 1941. Cited in The Gospel in Dorothy L. Sayers, p. 19)

Jacob Shatzer - The Pandemic and Virtual Church

 I've got lots of thoughts on how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected Christian worship and witness ... mostly how the impact has been harmful.  But instead of writing a lengthy diatribe, I thought I would just quote some words from Jacob Shatzer's Transhumanism and the Image of God.

In the midst of talking about the importance of place in a Christian understanding of the church (and how virtual reality will never be real reality), Shatzer writes:

"Bearing witness requires presence; it requires being somewhere.  Christians can certainly bear a form of witness in virtual places, and as those virtual experiences provide more and more of a sense of presence, that will become more common.  Yet the virtual will never be the same as physical presence.  We cannot shed the metaphor of the church as the body of Christ - the analogy being to the physical body of Christ, not Jesus's Second Life avatar.

"I think that deep down, part of us still knows that presence matters, and this vestige points to something true.  For instance, being present at a wedding or a funeral is obviously different from joining via teleconferencing. ...

"There will certainly be ways of doing church using virtual technology, but to the degree that we neglect physical presence with other believers, we neglect the form of being the body of Christ that has shaped Christianity for the past two thousand years.  We haven't always been able to gather together, but that has always been a centering ideal.  Humans were created as physical beings in physical proximity, in face-to-face relationships." (Shatzer, Transhumanism and the Image of God, p. 139)

So, to those who wonder whether online church is just as valuable as in-person church ... it's not.  Even drive-in church is preferable to online.  To those who wonder why persecuted Christians in closed countries would risk imprisonment etc. by meeting in person ... wonder no longer.  To those who wonder why churches in the Western world were chafing at lock-down rules during Covid ... wonder no longer.  The physical gathering of the body of Christ in person is a central defining feature of what it means to be the Church.  Human beings are embodied creatures, and physical presence and contact is a non-negotiable need of human life.

Thank you, Dr. Shatzer, for putting into words the centrality of the local gathering of believers for worship!

For more, and an excellent discussion of transhumanism and post-humanism as philosophical and cultural trends in society, see:

Jacob Shatzer, Transhumanism and the Image of God: Today's Technology and the Future of Christian Discipleship. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2019.

Reflections on Jared Wilson's "Gospel-Driven Ministry"

 I've been enjoying a good bit of diverse reading this summer.  One of the books I recently finished is Jared Wilson's Gospel-Driven Ministry: An Introduction to the Calling and Work of a Pastor.  I have no intention (nor desire) to write a full-fledged review of the book ... but I would like to share a handful of wise nuggets that Wilson shares. 

Northern Reflections Part 3 - Body & Spirit

 Earlier this summer I read a delightful book of reflections by Desmond Carroll, an Anglican priest (Irish by birth) in Canada's Arctic.  The book also contains original painting-illustrations by Ted Harrison, a renowned Canadian artist.  I'd like to share just a few of Carroll's words of wisdom:

"Let Us Run with Patience"

The race that is set before us ... (Hebrews 12:1)

One can only marvel at the physical capabilities of the athletes performing in the Olympics ... The discipline and sheer hard work that has gone into producing these efforts must be admired and is a reminder to all of us of the potential of the human body.  St. Paul many years ago drew on the comparison of faith and athletic discipline, reflecting upon his own time and the affairs of that day that could encourage and give insight.

But there are dangers as we pay exclusive attention to the body and forget the spirit.  The Christian faith is incarnational - that is, it seeks to integrate the physical and the spiritual.  Too great an emphasis on either of these things can distort the true character of the message of the Good News.  There is the cult of physical perfection that would seek to claim some sort of eternal quality, some kind of ideal, that can only be reached through athletic prowess.  On the other side are those who would tend to despise the body (the physical) and forget that God made each one of us in his own image and of flesh and blood.

The incarnate nature of our faith begins to come into its own as we try to balance the physical and the spiritual.  Each carries its own discipline, each can be supportive of the growth of the other, and each can lose its strength as it seeks to journey on its own.

Carroll, Northern Reflections (p. 91)

Northern Reflections Part 2 - Enthusiasm and Delight

 Earlier this summer I read a delightful book of reflections by Desmond Carroll, an Anglican priest (Irish by birth) in Canada's Arctic.  The book also contains original painting-illustrations by Ted Harrison, a renowned Canadian artist.  I'd like to share just a few of Carroll's words of wisdom:

"Ah-ha!"

"All the world's a stage" - according to one of Shakespeare's characters, and the players thereon represent all sorts and conditions of men and women.  Let's imagine that there are three types of players who walk upon the stage and interpret life in a general sense.

The first type could be called the 'yeah-buts', those who generally respond to ideas and proposals with a cautious 'putting-on-the-brakes' routine.  "That's not a bad idea, but ..." is a frequent response.

The second type could be called the 'ho-hums', those who ponder at great length the issues of the day, weigh all things in the balance, and find it difficult to come to a decision.  They can be persuaded to adopt a position, but often need applied pressure to reach a conclusion.

The last type could be called the 'ah-has', those who embrace life with enthusiasm and express delighted surprise as life unfolds before them.  They always seem poised to jump and engage the issues of life with a hopeful expression on their faces, reaching out towards the vision.

Can we try to be 'ah-ha's'?

Carroll, Northern Reflections (p. 77)

For what it's worth, I love the sentiment that Carroll expresses, but also think he fundamentally mischaracterizes both the yeah-buts and the ah-has.  The 'ah-ha' approach, if undirected by wisdom and prudence, can lead to jumping off bridges into shallow waters and being shattered upon submerged rocks.  The 'yeah-but' approach, if combined with a true excitement about the possibilities of life, can lead to rigorously analyzing ideas and proposals in order to arrive at a workable and exhilarating outcome.  Where I can fully agree with Carroll is being suspicious of the 'ho-hums'.

Northern Reflections Pt 1 - Facing the Loss of Loved Ones

 Earlier this summer I read a delightful book of reflections by Desmond Carroll, an Anglican priest (Irish by birth) in Canada's Arctic.  The book also contains original painting-illustrations by Ted Harrison, a renowned Canadian artist.  I'd like to share just a few of Carroll's words of wisdom:

The Loss of a Companion

Someone has died.  The one who died was a young man, still growing into maturity, knowing the responsibilities of husband and father - life stretching before him, with that sense of immortality which can be so deceptive.

All this has gone and the family that once felt its oneness and completeness, is fragmented and shattered.

A friend has left us, a companion has died; we sense the disappointment and the sadness and yet we confront a mystery that is ever present.  In the silent moments we begin to glance at those who share our pilgrimage, and reach out to touch and be touched by our other companions who will share our burdens and sorrows.  We experience the fellowship of the Spirit that heals and binds together as the journey of life is continued.

The human race is not immortal, so why should death come as such a surprise and catch us so unawares? ...

For the ones that remain, especially one who has been chosen as a life companion, the time is confusing and there is a grasping for that which gives meaning.  Ancient words, borne towards us by our spiritual roots and traditions, sound true as they confront the reality of life.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want ... yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil ... For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalm 23)

Somehow, what has been up to this time a private world, begins to be transformed into a world which is universal and timeless. ... We do not hide our sadness in the sands of religious ritual, but rather our faith gives us strength to face the emptiness that death brings, and to grasp, at least initially in some small way, that life shared with God transcends time and space.

Carroll, Northern Reflections (pp. 36-37)

The Power of Story

 I'm just about finished reading Kyle Beshears' new book: Apatheism: How We Share When They Don't Care.  It's a tremendous volume which accurately diagnoses the prevalent spiritual malaise of the Western world (apatheism: lack of interest in God questions) and proposes numerous suggestions for engaging our apatheistic neighbors with the Gospel.  I highly recommend the book!

But this short post is to share one particular nugget from Apatheism, in which Beshears talks about the power of sharing the Gospel as the story which has transformed our life to bring us enduring joy.

Stories compel us because they draw on the power of imagination to penetrate our hearts and minds.  They have an uncanny ability to sneak past our barricades of belief, invade our buffered selves, and change us without our permission and sometimes even our awareness. (p. 105)

Earlier, Beshears talks about the centrality of joy in the Christian life and witness, and the necessity of incarnating and communicating joy in our interactions with apatheists (who themselves are pursuing joy but cannot find it amid the transient happiness that worldly goods obtain).

We as Christians have joy because of what God has done through the Lord Jesus Christ, and we rejoice in spite of our circumstances, whether we are healthy or hurting, satisfied or suffering, glad or grieved.  With Christ, it's possible to smile amid poverty, to rejoice in the face of cancer, and laugh through tears. (p. 78)

Kyle Beshears' Apatheism is the fruit of over a decade pondering contemporary spiritual disinterest.  It is a worthy, convicting, and encouraging read.  Highly recommended!

Descartes on Philosophy

 This semester I have the privilege of doing an Arranged Course on 'The History of Modern Philosophy' - not a subject I normally teach, and one that I am excited to work through.  I am looking forward to interacting with some of my philosophical heroes, and sharing golden nuggets from their thoughts.  Usually I will share some quotations or insights with relatively little of my own commentary or analysis.  This week: Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the French rationalist often considered the 'father of modern philosophy.'

Descartes' definition of Philosophy: "Philosophy means the study of wisdom, and by wisdom we understand not only prudence in affairs but also a perfect knowledge of all things which man can know both for the conduct of his life and for the conservation of his health and the invention of all the arts." (Principles of Philosophy, Preface)

Project & Goal: “Descartes ideal aim, therefore, was to construct [a] comprehensive scientific philosophy.  In metaphysics, the roots of the tree according to his analogy, he starts with the intuitively apprehended existence of the finite self and proceeds to establish the criterion of truth, the existence of God and the existence of the material world.” (Copleston, A History of Philosophy, IV.2, 71)

Self & God: “Descartes is concerned with the ordo cognoscendi, the order of discovery, not with the ordo essendi, the order of being.  In the latter order God is prior … But in the order of discovery one’s own existence is prior.  I know intuitively that I exist.” (Copleston, 79)