Josh Crews's blog

All future posts at joshcrews.com

2009-10-10T18:44:00.000-05:00

All my future blogging will be at

http://www.joshcrews.com/category/blog/

Public apology for Progesterex

2009-09-29T19:06:00.002-05:00

I want to publicly apologize for Progesterex--a stupid, mean, immature email forward that I wrote 10 years ago.

If you read it, I am sorry. It was very wrong of me to write it.

Again, I want to say that I'm sorry.

Josh

I can feel the beginnings of conviction

2009-09-29T10:20:00.003-05:00

A little web surfing, a little Facebook, a little folding of the hands around the smart phone and spiritual poverty will come upon you like a robber.

http://www.joshharris.com/2009/09/selfcontrol_in_a_wired_world_1.php

We will take any needful baby brought to us

2009-08-25T14:11:00.004-05:00

We want to publicly state that any women scared about having her baby or an abortion can bring the baby to us, and we will provide for the baby and give it a loving Christian home.

(We aren't searching for babies; but we feel called to joyfully receive all babies to our home and we will provide for them)

Contact:
joshandstephie@yahoo.com
615-354-4655
816 Meridian St.
Nashville, TN 37207

Coverage of the Atlanta pastor's offer that sparked this statement.

Christ died for the ungodly

2009-08-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

In old Delhi in bicycle carriage with Eric Brown

2009-08-09T04:43:00.000-05:00

Creation Museum in NYTimes

2009-07-01T07:33:00.003-05:00

Very excited to see the Creation Museum get covered in the NY Times*.

I haven't been to the Creation Museum yet, but its special to me because it's parent ministry, Answers in Genesis has been a very helpful resource in answering many questions about the Bible and science.

From my 5 years of following and supporting their ministry, I testify that these are solid, biblically-faithful, gospel-centered men and women that seek to serve God before man. They are playing a good part in building up the body of Christ in our day.

*The article doesn't support Answers in Genesis, but they are fair in reporting about the museum.

Eric Brown at Ugly Mugs

2009-06-27T18:26:00.002-05:00

We saw Food, Inc. movie at Belcourt

2009-06-27T17:56:00.003-05:00

A very solid food industry documentary/propaganda (I mean propaganda in a positive sense).

The main message: trace American food back to its roots and it's profit-driven evil at its worst. By bringing the factory model to farming and meat-production, it's making us sick.

The unexpected star of the film (for me) was Joel Salitan, a sustainable philosopher/farmer in Virginia.

John McGary sent me a link to a talk that Joel did with Michael Pollan at Berkeley in 2005. If you want know what it's about watch this talk. Joel Salitan at Berkeley.

Reformed Hip-Hop Discipleship Conference in Chicago

2009-06-11T22:14:00.002-05:00

Stephie and I are going to Chicago at the end of July to the Legacy Conference. I'm attracted because it has

The best Christian song writing happening in our generation
By young, black rappers
And a preacher that has benefited me greatly, Paul Washer

Sign up for Puritan Picks

2009-06-10T20:16:00.002-05:00

I just signed up and I'm so excited!

www.PuritanPicks.com
a Christ-centered DVD lending library

Netflix for Calvinists!

Outnumbered, Awkward questions about Jesus

2009-05-23T10:16:00.004-05:00

Here's a clip from a British series I saw on YouTube. It's secular--which is to say it comes from a worldview that says what it measured is real, and the supernatural is doubtful and not worth basing your life on.

That used to be my worldview.

In the clip some funny kids ask some hard questions about Jesus.

The questions are filmed as if they don't have good answers.

They do, and I wanted to take a shot at them.

Boy: Why didn't baby Jesus zap King Herod when Herod wanted to kill him?

This question needs to be made harder: why at any point hasn't God zapped all his enemies? Why not at the rebellion of Satan? or Adam?

The answer is not fully given by God. But the primary concern of God is not to minimize all-time evil in the world, but maximize the enjoyment of his glory. And there is greater enjoyment of the character of God through redeeming the world by the death and resurrection of his son than 'zapping' people before the redemption is finished.

God will 'zap' all evil soon.

Girl: And besides Jesus knew that when King Herod died, God would roast him until his eye balls exploded.

While it's likely that Herod's eternal torment has already begun in Hell, I don't think it was a motivating factor for Jesus not to zap him as a 2-year old.

Boy: And why has God given 15 thousand billion years in which to live until the sun dies?

Good question, because the sun wasn't meant to die on us one day. It is an effect of God cursing the creation, that it now groans, waiting for God to finish the redemption of humanity AND restore creation to where it works (Romans 8).

We don't deserve the sun to not supernova on us today and destroy all life. That is the severity of our sin.

Also, the Bible seems to indicate that we have a lot less time than 15 thousand billion years before it is God brings The End.

Boy: Why didn't Jesus shape-shift into a Roman when the Romans were searching for him and then kill them in their sleep?

Before time began, God wrote people's names in the 'the book of life of the Lamb who was slain' (Revelation 13). The suffering and crucifixion of Jesus was planned by the Father and the Son from before time began.

So shape-shifting to avoid the cross was not Jesus' mission. If he had wanted the reward of the cross without the Father's plan, he simply could have agreed to Satan's proposal to bow down to Satan and receive authority over all the nations.

After Peter cutoff the ear of someone in Jesus' arresting party, Jesus said:

"Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

What would Jesus do if someone took a rocket up to Heaven and came up to him and punched him in the face? Would he forgive him or would he fight back and knock that man out of heaven?

A crazy hypothetical, but we have some hints as to the answer.

1) Satan rebelled against God, with (millions?) of angels and they got no promise of anything but hell and torment. (1 point for 'knock that man out of heaven')

2) I don't think it's a stretch to see myself as that man--give me a rocketship up to Heaven, I'd like to punch Jesus in the face.

Is that not what Paul thought of himself as? "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it."
But later Pauls says of Jesus, "who loved me and gave himself for me".
And "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”

(10 pts for the grace of God in Jesus Christ)

So I expect the rocketship man to receive the just punishment for his offense; but never count out the explosive grace of God, recklessly declaring sinners to be 'right' in Christ.

Girl: Couldn't he find a another way like writing to someone and telling them be a bit better or something bad is going to happen?

Amazing question! That is the answer of 80% of Christendom, or Church-ism: be better or something bad is going to happen. (or sometimes the message is just, 'be better! ok?')

If 'be better or something bad is going to happen' could work, there would be no need for a bloody cross to redeem sinners.

God would be amazingly good to just give us his law and the warnings of breaking it (be better or something bad is going to happen).

But I was dead in my sins. "Be better" just brought more death because I was powerless to obey, a slave to my passions.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved me even when I was dead in my trespasses, made me alive together with Christ—by grace I have been saved!

"Be better" was hopeless for me. I need a savior who can a) pay my sin debt and release me from it's power in my life, b) send me supernatural help to live.

Boy: While Jesus was being crucified why didn't he have God send a meteor to kill the Romans?

This has been answered. But he vicar's answer is pretty good too.

Vicar: God wanted to show us sacrifice and forgiveness by sacrificing what was precious to him, his only son, Jesus.

Girl: Then why did he kill him?

Oh, what a wondrous mystery! Why did the Father crush the Son? How is that even possible? Why am I standing here, incredible guilty but forgiven; and Jesus has holes in his hands? What wondrous love is this, oh my soul, oh my soul!

Boy: What if someone stole Jesus' mobile (cellphone), would he forgive him?

I don't know. I only know that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Boy: What if he were attacked by a polar bear?

Wouldn't Jesus just say 'still' and the polar bear would become as gentle as a puppy?

I don't know the answer. But I do know that we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and you can ask him on that day.

He's alive!

What Happened to Me, 5

2009-05-15T23:04:00.002-05:00

A series on how I've changed since my conversion to God (December 30, 2003)

Death lost it's sting

Dudes, death is coming. It waits, and then it rips apart everything human. It's like a gloating opponent who knows he has the checkmate. "I'm going to take you down."

Death also makes this boast: Can you name your great-grandparents? No? Well you too will be forgotten from the Earth within a hundred years.

Before my conversion, I didn't think much about death. But it's existence rendered my whole life meaningless. My lifeplan was 'make the most out of these 40-70 years, because it's lights out when you die'.

After my conversion, I taunt death. "Where is your sting death? Where grave your victory?"

My savior died; and my old self died with him. My savior rose from the grave, and I'll be united with him in a resurrection like his.

I may die, but God will undo my death.
I may die, but God will bring me instantly into the joy of my master.

What Adam did for me in bringing death into the world; Christ defeated for me to give me life.

What Happened to Me, 4

2009-05-14T22:47:00.001-05:00

A series on how I've changed since my conversion to God (December 30, 2003)

I got a wife!

God gave me a wife!

Before my conversion, I thought wives were for when you are 34 years old.

After my conversion, I had a lot of wrong thinking about women, marriage, manhood, and sexuality corrected while at the same time being in love with a Christian girl.

I believe Stephie's "yes" to marrying me is also a witness to answered prayer. She had a lot of concerns and fears about marrying me; but who can stop a God who loves to do good to his people?

A wife isn't a promise of God to new converts. But it's a great change for me since my conversion.

What Happened to Me, 3

2009-05-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

A series on how I've changed since my conversion to God (December 30, 2003)

The Bible went from yeah-whatever to precious

Before my conversion, it was hard to read the Bible. I didn't really get it.

After my conversion, the Bible became a source of real joy to me, because it about the real God--the same one who saved me and let me in on the great plan of all history. I liked that it was all about God--God creates, God rescues, God kills people, God gives laws, God seeks out the lowly, God makes promises, God remembers promises, God tells people "wait a minute, your army is too big, send most of them home so that I get the credit for the victory".

P.S. Bible reading still has some hard days where I don't start the day ready to dive in.

What is the Gospel? (video)

2009-05-13T17:42:00.001-05:00

What Happened to Me, 2

2009-05-12T22:09:00.000-05:00

A series on how I've changed since my conversion to God (December 30, 2003)

I got weaker in some respects

Before my conversion, I didn't need any spiritual sustaining.

After my conversion, if I neglect thinking about God, praying, reading my Bible, trying to remember the gospel; I lose strength.

Sometimes I am weakened even when I haven't neglected those things.

This is speculation on my part, but I'm suspicious of this prayer, "Lord, whatever it takes, make me like Jesus" as being involved in my added weakness. I think it creates suffering which produces godliness.

I'm also suspicious of these Bible verses being involved in my new found weakness:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It really stinks being weaker in some ways. Sometimes I despair of my life and want to fold on Christianity. I really hope that

Jesus can keep all his sheep
This turns out to be for my good and God's glory

I hope to continue this series.

What Happened to Me, 1

2009-05-11T21:37:00.004-05:00

Something serious happened to me on December 30, 2003--my conversion to God.

I'm starting a new series to document what happened.

Part 1: My major philosophy/life questions have real, verifiable answers

Some people never ask the big questions of life, but many do. And I did.

Who am I? What is reality? Is there a guiding force/destiny to it? What can I know for sure? Is there a God? Is he knowable?

Before my conversion the best answers to these questions were: take your best guess or very little is knowable for sure: study some varying view points.

After my conversion, the answers become clear! They all tie back to Jesus Christ.

Here are all the answers

Who am I? A human being, created in the image of God. I am beautiful and thinking and feeling because I am made in God's image. I am corrupt, and my life has suffering, and stuff doesn't work right because Adam (the first man) sinned and God cursed man and creation.
What is reality? Primarily, God is reality. He is the realest real. All other reality is created by God, and sustained by God, and is real because God says it's real.
Is there a guiding force/destiny to reality? Yes. Before this was a hard question, because history seemed to have an "author", but who? The author is God, and reality/history has a great purpose--to bring glory to God primarily by man's fall into sin and what God is doing in Christ to restore a sin-stained world.
What can I know for sure? I can know that God exists. I can know that I exist, and I am not God (I am a creature). I can know everything that God has chosen to reveal about himself to me (and mankind). That knowledge is revealed in creation and the Bible.
Is there a God? Yes! But because of my inherited crookedness, I'm naturally blind to God until God does something (out of his mercy) to reveal himself to me.
Is he knowable? Yes, on a personal level like I know my friend. I know God through Jesus Christ. Jesus helps me in my weakness as one who knows all my fears and faults.

Glory be to God because

I didn't think these questions were ever answerable. Mankind's greatest thinkers tried hard and failed to find answers to these questions
The answers are so good! Although my situation was a lot worse than I thought (being an unearthly monster and under God's wrath); God's initiation towards me showed me I am more loved that I dared hope! Everything I need to get all the blessings of God, God provided me in Christ.

I hope I continue this before/after conversion series.

Cream cheese

2009-05-05T11:10:00.002-05:00

I discovered letters that spelled out my name is cream cheese this morning.

Stephie wrote it.

My neighborhood, East Nashville, feels like the perfect microcosm of America

2009-04-30T19:29:00.000-05:00

What is the perfect microcosm of America? The place you bring a visitor that would let them sample the diverse qualities of a big place in a small, visitable place. Think Epcot World Showcase in Disneyworld.

In a big city, but not in a Big city
If I were in New York or DC; those cities' importance and personalities would dominate at the expense of the rest of the country.

In a city, but in a village within the city
East Nashville has the proximity to the city (jobs, stadium, venues, restaurants, services); but the Cumberland river creates an enclosed community that causes daily life for East Nashvillians to stay more local.

The schools are bad
Perfect example for America.

Captures the religious flavor of the whole country
Nashville will give you the ache of "Christless Christianity"-- the bad feeling you have when christians seem to be everywhere, and are less compassionate and reasonable than secularists and atheists.

All four seasons
Los Angeles would be too consistently sunny, and Chicago cold too long. In Nashville each season has it's right place and comes at the right time.

The poverty is hard
America has a large class of people who rely on the state for support. Poverty really sucks, and it's here in East Nashville.

The "blue state" village within a "red state"
Red State = Only Alabama and Alaska voted more strongly for McCain than Tennessee.
Blue State = When I was in a church meeting in East Nashville, we introduced ourselves by name and home state. The most popular home state, by far, was California. Then Michigan, Tennessee and Ohio.

East Nashville has both flavors of American zeal-- red, white and blue patriotism; and "Yes we can!" Obama optimism.

Conclusion
I thought of this post idea as I was imagining living in other countries, and became thankful to God for where I do live and how it captures the diverse American experience in a small visitable place.

What is the Bible School of Awesomeness?

2009-04-28T21:28:00.003-05:00

The Bible School of Awesomeness is our vision for a part-time Christian school.

The ministry is to serve the parents, supporting them to raise their children in the Lord. The goal is that their children would grow up to have deep taste buds for the glory of God and that they would find a satisfaction in Jesus Christ.

The method for doing this is somewhat like a home-school co-op.

The details and timing aren't clear, but we've had this vision for a couple years.

An inspiration from the scriptures

"And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had one for Israel."

But something happened.

"And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel."

It looks like the generation that experienced his salvation, received his word, and saw the mighty works didn't teach their children. Every aspect of the children's lives were terrible.

Summary

I don't know when or if the Bible School of Awesomeness will come to pass, but we already have a great love for children and want to help parents be supported and encouraged to transmit a great love for God to them.

Shai Linne -- Jesus is Alive

2009-04-24T14:13:00.001-05:00

Nero is dead, Constantine is dead. Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun are dead. Alexander the Great is dead- however. Jesus is Alive.

Our sewer overflowed into our backyard

2009-04-21T11:09:00.012-05:00

This is story of a one day adventure, and what we did to fix it (in case you are Googling this page and our experience might help you)

10am: I found that a piece of solid waste (poop) was floating at the top of our sewer drain! That's not good. And other people have spent thousands of dollars fixing problems such as these.

I asked our neighbors, the Wards, what I should do. They own a plumbing company, so they were very helpful. He told me to try to manually unclog the open sewer access pipe.

What's abnormal about our situation is that our sewer drain access pipe wasn't covered. It should be covered.

11am: I start breaking up the clog in the drain. I loosen part of the clog and 20 gallons of human waste came out! It was so much I wondered for a moment if the city's sewer wasn't backing up into my home.

Water continued to flow out of the access pipe for another 20 minutes. We had a lot backed up.

12pm: Call for a plumber, but no one was available until later.

Here's what we did that worked

We went to Home Depot. The plumbing aisle guy guided us to tool rental, and we got a 100-ft "electric snake". It cost about $60 after tax, insurance and some gloves for 4 hours (only $20 more for 24 hour rental).

The machine twists a metal-pronged head as you feed it down the drain, breaking up clogs. It was totally awesome.

This is an image of what was clogging the drain. My theory is that it was a) hardened grease, b) a chemical/biological reaction that formed a styrofoam-like substance, c) couch cushions. One of my motivations for posting this is that I had a hard time Googling for other images/stories of drains getting clogged with a substance like this.

So in conclusion:

Is your sewer drain stopped up?

You may be in big trouble and have to have professionals remove and replace your entire drain.

But perhaps you can unclog the problem yourself. You'll need

an electric snake

gloves (layer vinyl/latex gloves under leather gloves)

a power cord to reach your backyard

and you need to

open the sewer access in the backyard
feed the electric snake into the sewer drain (hope it goes the right way, we had trouble with it going towards the house when we needed away)
perhaps your situation is that you have to feed the electric snake into the sewer drain for your house. Do more research, but you may need to remove your toilet and start feeding the electric snake for that point.
feed the electric snake down the drain while giving little pulses on the foot petal that controls the rotation of the cable
repeat a few times, then call a plumber/rooter company if you fail.
pray in the name of Jesus Christ. This is what worked for me! Thank you Lord.
cover the access drain back.

At the end: a clean drain! It worked!

Was God lonely?

2009-03-28T20:19:00.003-05:00

In Nashville, going north from the Capitol is the Bicentennial mall. On that mall is a timeline of the history of Tennessee.

The first entry on the timeline is a great error.

And God stepped out on space,
and He looked around and said:
I'm lonely--
I'll make me a world.

Honestly, it made me a little pissed off. This is not the type thing you want to engrave on granite as your belief about the God who runs the universe.

God was never lonely.

As Paul taught the Athenians in Acts 17, He is:

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Another reason I know he was never lonely, is because the Father had the Son. And the Son is awesome. He's a whole lot cooler than the entire creation.

Men in Nashville

2009-03-06T10:06:00.004-06:00

Nashville was just selected as the most manly city in America by a snack chip company. That's interesting, because I look around and ask "where are the men?" What I mean by "men": males who have matured, accepted the responsibilities of work, marriage, and becoming servant-leaders in their communities to the end that others might benefit.

What is much more common than men are boys, playing with toys, tools, and ESPN who enjoy the benefits of manhood (sex, leadership) without the responsibilities (marriage, fatherhood, honest labor).

From that article (Nashville is the most manly city...):

That's the conclusion of a study released Thursday that ranks "America's Manliest Cities" on criteria such as the number of professional major league sports teams, popularity of tools and frequency of monster truck rallies.

What makes a city "unmanly"? Seemingly fatherhood:

Cities lost ranking points for "emasculating" characteristics like the abundance of home furnishing stores, high minivan sales and subscription rates to beauty magazines.

Although I agree with the "beauty magazines" being criteria for emasculating.

Later the article mentions that Nashville did well because of hunting/fishing, home improvement and NASCAR. Those are manly and good things. I don't want to redefine hunting out of man-ness. But I would love to see a new generation of real men; husbands, fathers, workers; become hunters and not stay 30-year-0ld hunter-boys.

10 reasons I am a Christian

2009-01-17T00:25:00.003-06:00

1) The New Testament makes more sense of the world than any other philosophy.

Why is their beauty in the world, but also evil and violence?
Why does my heart want justice?
Why does my heart invent ways of doing evil?

When I pose those three questions to every worldview, religion, philosophy, or life slogan; the New Testament has the strongest, most believable, reasonable answer.

2) Either Jesus said and did what "The Gospels" report; or his followers made it up to start a religion.

Either the reports of Jesus's life are fakes, or they are real. God's signature is on the whole thing. I find it easier to believe that they are true and reliable, than followers invented the content of The Gospels.

3) He found me.

I believe in Jesus because he found me. He stopped my own plan for my life, tracked me down, hemmed me in and found me. He converted me.

Why does the horse like running? It's a horse; and it has a horse's nature. Why do I like Jesus; I'm a Christian and I have a new nature.

4) I haven't seen any other power for people to change

5) Animals, landscapes, human history seem designed.

There seems to be a personality behind the created order and history. It forces the question: who is it? What's he like? Does he require anything? Is he pleased or upset with me? Will he reveal himself to those who seek him?

6) Sovereign grace

I'm a Christian because God, before time began, chose me; not based on any foreknowledge of whether I would respond positively to him or not.

Though I loved breaking his law, and teaching others to do so as well, he sent his Son to die for me. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He will keep me by this same love forever.

7) I would never come out of my bedroom is Jesus isn't raised.

I'm too depressed about the state of the world, myself, where things are headed, a meaningless life, and an extinguishing death; if Jesus wasn't raised from the dead.

If he wasn't raised, I'm stupid, and we are all screwed. If he was, there is hope.

8) Answered prayers

God answers my prayers, specifically. I have not yet seen every prayer answered, but I've seen a lot. Enough that people would scoff at me for leaving Christianity after seeing this many prayers answered. I ought to start writing them down more.

9) In poker terminology, I've already gone "all in"

In poker, when you bet every chip on one hand (go "all in"), you are committed to see that hand all the way to the end. If it wins; you win big. If it loses, you lose everything.

I have a sin problem, in that I'm a sinner. I've wagered all my hope to be saved on Jesus. I've never seen anything else that comes close to being a cure for my sin problem, so I'm "all in" on Jesus.

Check out this "hand": I'm guilty. Jesus Christ lived the perfect life before God. He died the death a sinner deserves. The Son of God hung on a cross crying, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me?" and the world turned dark at midday.

He was buried. He was raised on the third day.

All of a sudden, a "giant loophole" opened in the universe. God can be just, and justify a sinner. I'm really dirty, and now God can tell me I'm clean without lowering his standards.

Jesus Christ died for sinners!

So I'm gathering up all my chips, every place where I've been hedging my bets to be safe, prosperous, and feel normal; and moving all those chips onto Jesus that he can give me more than I ever wanted.

I'm already "all in" on Jesus. So I'm going to stay a Christian until the end to see if my hope is well placed.

10) He likes me

God is my new favorite. I like history, he likes history. I like Nashville, he likes Nashville. Jesus wants to rescue a people for himself, I want to be rescued. I want to be with God and his people, where the adventure and the conversation never has to end. He's going to make it happen.

He loves... me! And I love being loved by God.

All the Josh Crews' of the world

2009-01-14T17:51:00.002-06:00

I searched for "Josh Crews" on Facebook.

I had no idea how many Josh Crews' there are in the world (really, in America).

Most of them look similar too: single white guys, in 20's, with a rural/southern influence.

These factors drive that: Josh, as a boy's name, came out of no-where in the early 1980's to be very popular. Crews, from my experience, is very much a "red-state" white name that leans toward the deer-hunting demographic.

2008-12-27T14:08:00.003-06:00

Check this out y'all: President Bush read the Bible cover-to-cover each year according to Karl Rove's article in the Wall Street Journal.

Applause! President Bush has had more responsibility, a tighter schedule, and more demands on his time than anyone I know and he read the Bible all the way through each year. (Along with a lot of other very interesting books according to Rove). Another note: he reads instead of watching TV.

I only started reading the Bible all-the-way-through each year starting last year; and I highly recommend it. We all want to know what the will of God is; and Paul writes to renew our minds daily so that we might know God's will (Romans 12).

Also, I will give a free ESV Bible that includes the daily Bible reading plan I use to anyone who asks. It only costs me $4 each, so don't worry that any burden at all for me to give these away freely.

Teaching the bad parts of the gospel

2008-10-27T12:46:00.003-05:00

Tim Challies writes a blogpost/book-review that highlights how I feel about softening the hard truths of the gospel (gospel=good news that sinners have a real hope--that Jesus came, died the death they deserve, rose, and will right all the bad in the world).

From Tim's blog:

Why would an author or a pastor seek to soften the message?
I guess there is no great mystery here. Unbelievers hate the gospel message because it insists that things are true about them that they simply do not wish to believe. It insists things are true that they are unable to believe. The gospel message tells us that we are sinners. Many people are able to accept this information; only an incredibly dishonest and delusional person could pretend that he has done no wrong. The gospel message tells us that ultimately we have not sinned against others or against ourselves, but against God. This is more difficult to digest. Few of us care to think that we have sinned against the Creator of the world. The gospel goes on to tell us that our sin against God has offended him and filled him with wrath against us. Fewer people still are able to digest and accept this information. Few people are able to believe that God is justified in his wrath towards those who transgress his laws. But the gospel reaches its ultimate offense when it tells us that we are utterly unable to do anything about all of this. None of our deeds, however noble and good, are able to make the least dent in the debt we owe to God. Furthermore, none of us would pursue any kind of reconciliation with God were it not for his prior action in our hearts. We are, in our heart of hearts, God-haters. Without God's grace we are helpless and hopeless.

This is some exceedingly bad news. And this is why so many churches seek to soften the news. It's better, they think, to welcome into church the many people who will accept a softened message than the few who will accept such a tough message. And so they tamper with it, taking the edge off. Yes, we have sinned, but let's think of it as just doing bad things or making mistakes. And though God has noticed these mistakes, he is willing and eager to overlook such offenses. What kind of Father would he be if he really insisted that we face eternal damnation for some mistakes? Soon the message is watered down into watery, tasteless baby food. Having covered this not-too-bad news, these pastors and authors offer good news. If you turn to God, you can have your best life now. He will bless you richly, giving you all the things you want and need. He will make your life better and promise you the reward of heaven where you will be reunited with all of the people and the things you held dear here on earth.

I would put this issue (softening sin) as 1 of maybe 5 things that deadens the effectiveness of the American church.

Don't despair though--our hope is not in church effectiveness; but in Jesus Christ who is governing every atom, every event, every election for the benefit of His church.

Of First Importance

2008-10-08T09:51:00.003-05:00

Something I've been blessed by recently--subscribing the the daily email of Of First Importance.

It's a blog that posts once every morning a quote about the Gospel--the good news that God became a man, shared our sufferings, died the death we deserved, rose again, and will come back to right all wrong.

So each morning, in my work email, I get a little gospel gem that disrupts the rest of my work email.

How to do it

Go to the blog
Read some posts to understand what's about
On the right side, there's a like called "Daily Email" if you want to sign up

2008-08-19T13:22:00.000-05:00

I love Jesus. And he loves me.

Photo from Josh in India, Dec 2001

2008-08-15T15:04:00.001-05:00

indian michael and jeremy, originally uploaded by joshandstephie.

This is coming out of the archive--a photo with me and two guys that hung out with me for a couple days in Delhi, India. This is after they taught me the basics of cricket.

Ugly Mugs Coffee

2008-08-08T14:35:00.002-05:00

We are at a new coffee shop in East Nashville, Ugly Mugs. It's across on Eastland. We've been talking to the owners, Jared and Courtney, and they are very friendly. They live in the community and have a desire to serve East Nashville. We are excited they are here.

Can you identify this picture?

2008-07-29T21:30:00.005-05:00

[Update: Thank you, it's been identified in the comments] I found this in my iPhone "camera roll" stuck in my photos from yesterday. I'd anyone can identify, please help me. It's text doesn't appear anywhere online according to google.

Pray up the kiddos

2008-07-28T19:34:00.003-05:00

Recently I was talking about baptizing your babies with a friend. The point came up, "What about the baptized babies who don't grow up to become Christians?"

My thesis: I am confident that God will give us our children to be saved if we are annoyingly, repetitively bold in our offering that desire to him in prayer.

Our kids becoming believers should be the norm, and not the other way around. Pray for those kids to become Christians. God may be pleased to save them through decades of persistent prayer.

I don't hear about Christians today persistently grabbing hold of God in prayers that they won't give up on. But Jesus says there's special power in going back to God over-and-over-and-over again until he grants your request.

The persistent widow

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The exact topic of persistent prayer here is justice. I believe it applies to more than justice, including praying for loved one's salvation. My non-biblical argument is "How did such an undying, persistent plea get into the believer's heart, but the Lord put it there to magnify his glory when he grants the request.

The bold requester

After teaching the Lord's Prayer in Luke, Jesus taught praying to God with crazy boldness:

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence* he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

*offensively bold behavior

Now in context Jesus closes that the Father will eagerly and freely give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him, but I believe this passage is relevant for praying for kids.

Jonathan Edwards

The puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards raised 11 believing children! I guess no one can really know if they were true Christians, but nor can we even know if Edwards was a true Christian. I think a little more research is needed for me to be confident in the 11-believing-children fact, but this google search does pretty well in establishing the point for me.

Conclusion

From these two passages, I believe that God will grant salvation to our kids if we are un-ashamed and unfailing in our unending boldness for our kids to be saved. The fact that a parent would be unfailing in prayer for their children is already an amazing sign that God is working!

But what if I'm a big failure about praying for my kids?

Go right now and ask him for what you lack--the desire to even pray!

Who doesn't feel really bad about their prayer life? Even the great praying men started out lame as prayers. But we can ask God for help where we are--to become praying parents! Ask now!

What might God do regarding parents who stayed up past midnight, wrestling with God to save their children?

Still interested, I would go to Gregg Harris's article. He and Sono have raised 7 kids with a multi-generational vision that they be lovers of the Lord. (His kids include Josh Harris of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" and pastor of Covenant Life Church in Maryland; and Alex and Brett Harris, authors of Do Hard Things.)

2008-07-26T08:10:00.000-05:00

A first-century Hebrew walks alone on a hot afternoon, staff in hand. His shoulders are stooped, sandals covered with dirt, tunic stained with sweat. But he doesn't stop to rest. He has pressing business in the city.

He veers off the road into a field, seeking a shortcut. The owner won't mind-travelers are permitted this courtesy. The field is uneven. To keep his balance he thrusts his staff into the dirt.

Thunk. The staff strikes something hard.

He stops, wipes his brow, and pokes again.

Thunk. Something's under there, and it's not a rock.

The weary traveler tells himself that he can't afford to linger. But his curiosity won't let him go. He jabs at the ground. Something reflects a sliver of sunlight. He drops to his knees and starts digging.

Five minutes later, he's uncovered it-a case fringed in gold. By the looks of it, it's been there for decades. Heart racing, he pries off the rusty lock and opens the lid.

Gold coins! Jewelry! Precious stones of every color! A treasure more valuable than anything he's ever imagined.

Hands shaking, the travelerinspects the coins, issued in Rome over seventy years ago. Some wealthy man must have buried the case and died suddenly, the secret of the treasure's location dying with him. There is no homestead nearby. Surely the current landowner has no clue that the treasure's here.

The traveler closes the lid, buries the chest, and marks the spot. He turns around, heading home-only now he's not plodding. He's skipping like a little boy, smiling broadly.

What a find! Unbelievable! I've got to have that treasure! But I can't just take it-that would be stealing. Whoever owns the field owns what's in it. But how can I afford to buy it? I'll sell my farm ... and crops ... all my tools ... my prize oxen. Yes, if I sell everything, that should be enough!

From the moment of his discovery, the traveler's life changes. The treasure captures his imagination, becomes the stuff of his dreams. It's his reference point, his new center of gravity. The traveler takes every new step with this treasure in mind. He experiences a radical paradigm shift.

This story is captured by Jesus in a single verse: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field" (Matthew 13:44).

-From Randy Alcorn's, The Treasure Principle

Owensboro Mission Conference

2008-07-16T21:40:00.003-05:00

We attended the Heritage Baptist Church Missions Conference in Owensboro, Kentucky. If you prayed for us, know that our lives and love for God have been impacted strongly. Pray even now that the impact wouldn't be a blip; but an extended blessing over our whole life.

If you would like to share in our benefit, listen to this session from the conference:

Session 9: Paul Washer, July 15 2008

It has sent me back to my first love, Jesus; when I prayed just to talk to Him; when I opened the Bible just to hear from Him. This love, this knowing God again, has quieted all my worries and untangled most of my major "issues".

What I want to hear when you raise support for missions at church

2008-07-02T23:04:00.000-05:00

Your message! I want to hear the message that I'm being asked to send to another land. What truth do you have for them? What is the good news you have gone to such trouble to deliver to them.

Make sure to insert this line into your talks before churches:

"I think it's important for you to know the good news that I'm asking you to partner in sending to the ______ people of ______. [Tell me your good news hear]*

Tell me your message, and I can know whether to support you.

That's almost the only thing I need to know. And conversely, if I know everything else about your story, your team, your strategy; but I don't know your message, I can't decide.

*and really preach it! maybe someone will get saved while you are raising support

NYTimes: Findings - Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves - NYTimes.com

2008-07-01T13:46:00.001-05:00

Findings - Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves - NYTimes.com

Psychologists running experiments to identify hypocrisy--that I will declare something to be "wrong" and then excuse myself from my own standard.

At the end of the article, they tried testing their hypothesis: can we be less hypocritical by distracting our brains. They tested "yes"--do mental math when tempted to by a hypocrite and your "gut" will have a stronger say in Right and Wrong.

One of my personal hypocrisies has been cellphones while driving. I condemn others, but still practice it myself.

Fixing my house on Google maps

2008-06-24T10:35:00.002-05:00

How to fix a wrong address on Google maps

I hope this works, Google now lets you edit the physical location of an address.

Our address has been mis-mapped on Google, at least since we moved in. We've lost packages for delivery; we've had people skip parties; and we've had utility people give up finding us. So I really hope this works.

Convergence towards the World's Last Two Remaining Religions

2008-06-24T08:12:00.001-05:00

I think C.S. Lewis predicted this: history is closing in on just two religions--"many paths to God", which is the essence of Hinduism; and Christianity, which says Jesus is the only path that a sinner has to God.

I think we are getting there quickly.

Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance

(although from the data, perhaps the direction we are going is 3 religions--Tolerance, Christianity, Cults)

Do Hard Things on Wall Street Journal blog

2008-06-17T13:25:00.000-05:00

Buzzwatch : Stealth Sellers: Why 'Do Hard Things' Appeals to Teen Book Buyers

I'm 27, this is one of my new favorite books--Do Hard Things a book written by Christian teenagers for teenagers. The Wall Street Journal "Buzzwatch" blog picks up on the book.

I've changed my mind--repented if you will--about my vision for the years of youth. Are they a vacation--a prized time of low responsibility, a lots of "fun"?--or are they an amazing window to have productivity, creativity and impact?

Our expectations for young people are very low, and I'd like to be apart of anything that reverses those low expectations and points to higher calling.

Credit to the kids that wrote the book too: some of the best writing, in terms of voice, simplicity, organization of thought, keeping the reader's interest, use of examples I've read in a while. The literary quality of the book is a great example of what young people are capable of doing.

After Years of Effort, Dark Energy Still Puzzles Scientists - NYTimes.com

2008-06-03T16:45:00.002-05:00

Article in NY Times

Physics-people are going crazy. Their observations of the stars are straining their worldview.

What they observe is "it looks like stars are racing away from us; and the farther they are; the faster they are going!"

Their conclusion: known matter in the universe is only a small percent of matter, some theoretical matter "dark matter" is causing reverse-gravity to expand the universe.

I propose a new worldview (it's not really my idea) that accounts for the Scriptures and the observations Physics-people can't explain: something crazy happened to slow speed of light in the past (and is perhaps still at work).

The reason we can see stars that look like they are dashing away from us is that the light from those stars has slowed down.

What caused this: Adam's sin affected all creation, causing it to have "bondage to decay" (see Romans 8, middle of chapter).

Adam could see the stars in the beginning, but now it takes millions of years for light to travel to earth from the stars. What happened? I think Romans 8 has the best clue.

This is dismissed by most contemporary scientists.

But why not consider it? None of us were around to take measurements in the distant past. But God was. He hasn't told us everything about the stars, but He has spoken to us in the Bible authoritatively. We can trust what He said.

The Bible doesn't say "the speed of light slowed down in the past". "Light slowed down" is just a theory within a Bible framework. There are good reasons for trusting the Bible. If God wrote the Bible AND God made the world; the Bible is an awesome tool for understanding our universe.

Revelation 4:11

2008-05-27T15:27:00.002-05:00

Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.

'

The video fails to give credit to the BBC/Discovery series Planet Earth.

Noted: Planet Earth fails to give credit to God!

YouVersion | Dashboard

2008-05-27T13:54:00.000-05:00

YouVersion

Absolutely unbelievable!!!

I have been poking around trying to create a web-based Bible that you could "mark-up" and "tag" and journal.

This looks like it!

Why "tag" the Bible?

Tagging is internet/computer term for making categories and groups out of your data. I might tag all my photos with Stephie as "stephie". Then I can find all my pictures with Stephie in them. I also might tag all my photos from weddings as "wedding". Now I can tag a picture of me and Stephie at a wedding with two tags-- "stephie, wedding". That totally beats making a Stephie folder and a Wedding folder and copying the picture into multiple places.

Now tagging the Bible. What if I'm reading the Bible and find a promise that I want to grab later? I tag it "promise". Now when I ask for all my "promise" verses, I get a collection of verses that I have personally marked as "promise". I might do the same for "money", "prayer", "the judgment", "law/grace".

It's kind of a personal concordance for life that comes out of regular Bible reading.

Hooray!

This site does more than that, and I've only used it for 3 minutes, but I'm so excited.

Psalm 30:5

2008-05-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

For his anger is but for a moment,
and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

The Shack Review

2008-05-20T15:23:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to post on The Shack, but haven't because I can easily get hurtful.

This review says everything that I'd want to say.

The_Shack.pdf

From Tim Challies, via link from Justin Taylor

Stranded in Suburbia - New York Times

2008-05-19T09:27:00.001-05:00

Stranded in Suburbia - New York Times

Each gas price increase causes me to hope more. There is a lot of pain for the working-poor in higher gas prices; but cheap gas is a barrier to neighborly community.

Cheap gas has let us live 15min-1hr away from where we work, where we shop, where we go to church, the movies, etc. That has made it easy to live isolated at home; and compartmentalize social groups (one group at work, one at church, one at school).

Expensive gas won't kill driving, but it should reshape local living in America. And for that reason, I'm hopeful as I see gas rise.

This article (top) describes what I hope happens.

Cuddly Bears

2008-05-02T18:27:00.002-05:00

Teddy Bear Mosaic, originally uploaded by Essjay in NZ.

Why do we think bears are cuddly? They are deadly! Powerful claws, sharp teeth. No one would let their kids play with a real bear.

But we think they are cuddly. Evolution should have made us hate bears by now.

Is it possible that bears and humans were supposed to play together? Were you made for a world of powerful, but peaceful and playful bears?

I feel like we were. Like a dolphin that lives it's whole life in an aquarium. It was made for an ocean! But it can't remember how it came to live in an aquarium. It just always has, but it's heart tells it that he was made for much, much more.

Going to conference

2008-04-28T20:27:00.002-05:00

We are going to the Dwell Conference (www.dwellconference.com) in New York tonight. It's Tuesday and Wednesday.

Please pray for us.

a DNA echo of Noah and the Flood?

2008-04-24T14:43:00.003-05:00

Study says near extinction threatened people

I am keenly interested in the history of the world's people groups being run by Genographic Project (I think it's mainly a National Geographic led study project).

They look at DNA samples from around the world to retrace common ancestors back to the beginning. Recently, in the above article, they are reporting a catastrophe recorded in our DNA that points to an almost extinction of humanity.

"This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history," Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement. "Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA."

Read the whole article, and the current theory is that this happened in Africa, 70,000 years ago, by a drought, reducing us to 2,000 people.

The reason for all those details is not given by the article. It would be good to look at those if available.

What does the Bible predict we'd find?

That all humans are closely related, that all nations spread out from one family at the beginning of recorded history (2,000-3,000 B.C), and that family was the only survivor of a giant catastrophe that killed off everyone else.

I think the National Geographic study is starting to flesh out those facts from our DNA.

(But maybe not! Who knows?! I don't want to force this fresh study to say more than it does)

Update: Answers in Genesis analyzes this news much more in depth.

Muslims: Let us reason together

2008-04-22T11:46:00.001-05:00

Muslims,

Your zeal for God is great. Let us reason together about standing before Him.

He may call the world into judgment at any moment--and if not now, he will call us into judgment at our death.

I do not want to stand before God's judgment. He will look at me inside and out and find me guilty. If he were to weigh my good against my bad, the bad is just too great. I will fail his judgment.

I ask you to consider that you would fail too. If God judges rightly, who can stand? If God were to only use my own standards against me, I still fail. God is great! God is good. He will not let the wicked go unpunished.

Liars must be punished. But I have lied. Thieves will not receive a reward. I have stolen. Murders will not inherit God's kingdom. But I have murdered my brother by hating him in my heart. Lust. Coveting. Sabbath breaking. Idol worshiping. Taking the name of God in blasphemy. Treating money, reputation, success as a god before God.

I have done all of these. Have you? Should we expect God to accept us? This concerns me. I hope that it concerns you.

Radical History

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Boom! There it is! I can't save myself from God's wrath. If God himself doesn't not atone for my sins, I'm toast.

Should we not expect God to get the glory in a man's salvation? God is glorious! We cannot become right with God by working to cover our bad deeds with good ones. In fact, I am so wicked that Christ had to die for me. But he did it. So God gets the glory, not me.

And God proved that Jesus is "his man" by raising him from the dead. This is an important point. If God raised a dead man back to life, we should be able to investigate it historically. This is worth the time--go find out if God really raised Jesus from the dead. If so, Jesus is God's man. Jesus claimed many times to not only be sent from God, but to also be God. If God raised Jesus from the dead, God also showed his approval of 1) Jesus's claims to be God, 2) Jesus's sacrifice of his own life as being acceptable before God.

To receive Jesus's gift of eternal life, rightness before God, and be able to truly please God you must 1) change your mind about sin--leave it and turn to God, 2) believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Submission to God matters!

Do not let Christians fool you that submission to God doesn't matter. If God is God (there is no God but God!) then he is Master. He requires full submission. If God truly saves a man, he will give him both saving faith in Jesus and good works that flow from turning away from sin.

What would happen if God had taken Jesus off the cross, and put a substitute in his place for the crucifixion?

Then there is no perfect God-man for God to pour out his wrath against sin, and we are all now still accountable before God, and we all face judgment hoping our "Good" is enough to cover our "Bad".

There is no hope for anyone who has sinned. None. God is great. He will crush every sinner and bar him from paradise.

While the Quran says that Jesus "didn't die" on the cross--it's not that he didn't die. He died. But he was not defeated. Evil was defeated through the sacrificial death of Jesus (Isa).

What if Jesus is not God?

If Jesus is not God, then God has only punished a substitute creature for our sins. His blood, although innocent, would not be sufficient to deal with the world's sins.

This sounds like two or three Gods

It's one God in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). God is one.

God created man. Man did not create God. So why does man think he can determine how God exists? God decides who he is. And God decides how much to tell man about himself.

But my family will disown me, and I may be killed for being a Christian?

Yes and No. You do not need leave your culture, shame your family. You don't need to start going to a church building on Sundays and change your name to a Christian name. If you are a Muslim, you will always in some way be a Muslim. It is your identity.

But now you can be a true Muslim, a true submitter to God, a true pleaser of God through what Isa (Jesus) has done.

You will be persecuted though, and God promises persecution to all his servants. Do not be surprised, but know that following God is expensive.

Jesus says count that cost now. You may be asked to pay it. But if God raised him from dead, he is Lord. You have been saved from your sins AND your obedience unto death will be rewarded.

Do not be killed for doing violence in God's name. But it is honoring to God to be killed for being a believer in his Son.

Let us both pray to God, that the One True God would show Himself to us. And that if there is any way that we can please Him, that he would show us and give us the power to obey and submit to him fully.

Allahu Akbar! God is Great!

blog title change

2008-04-11T08:53:00.004-05:00

I switched my blog title from "Fundamentalist!" to "Josh Crews's blog".

I think the term "fundamentalist" should be reclaimed by Christians lovingly holding to the fundamentals* of Christian teaching.

After September 11, fundamentalism is disparaged as the problem with the world. "It was religious fundamentalists who flew those planes into the towers". But as Tim Keller said, "Have you ever heard of an Amish terrorist?" Christian fundamentalism isn't the problem, but Christian unbelief in their own teachings is a problem.

I'm a sinner and part of the problem.
I can't fix the world, but I know someone who can (Jesus).
Love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you.

So I hope to see the term "fundamentalism" recovered in the culture, and for Christian fundamentalists to be known for having a love for all people, and a hope to offer the world that's not based on them, but on God.

But it's probably a little too intense for a blog title. At least for now, so I'm switching it.

*Fundamentals of Christian teaching

God is redeeming the world through one man, his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God. He died as a substitute for our sins. A sinner is counted righteous by God as a free gift through faith in Jesus. He bodily rose from the dead. He is coming back as Judge to set all things right.

A big "sticking point" for fundamentalists: the Bible should be taken literally unless the Bible suggests otherwise.

How will Jesus make the new homes on the New Earth

2008-03-19T13:45:00.004-05:00

This search term led to my website, so I'd like to post an answer (although speculative).

1) Jesus will make new homes for us on the New Earth!

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:2-3

Heaven, which after the end of history will be merged with the New Earth, has houses.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

2) Jesus is very qualified to make the homes

He spent most of his life a home-builder with his father Joseph. He also created the entire universe. While always being God, he took on human form got first hand experience in living day-to-day in houses.

3) Current building project in Heaven

Because Jesus says 1) that he goes to prepare a place for us in John 14, 2) he ascends to Heaven after 40 days after his resurrection and 3) the New Jerusalem comes ready-made out of Heaven down to Earth at the end of history in Revelation 22--Therefore, I infer that Jesus is right now working on a physical (not "spiritual") city 1,400 miles long, wide, and tall in which to dwell with his bride (the church across all time).

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Rev 21:2-3

The language of referring to the city as a bride implies to me that the Bride--people, the church--has already moved in to the city as it comes down from Heaven.

4) Marriage metaphor fulfilled

Jesus's personal attention to the building of houses just for us is consistent with the marriage image we are given throughout the Bible of God relating to his people. "I love you, I want to be with you, I have rescued you, Now come live with me forever, I've personally made a special place for us, I will dwell with you forever."

Question: How will Jesus make the new homes on the new earth? I don't know details, but he was a home-builder on Earth, can create literally anything, has promised to do it, and the Bible shows us a special city descending out of Heaven where "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people".

Relationship with God: Transposing Up

2008-03-18T17:02:00.003-05:00

I'm a young Christian, but I wanted to post things I've learned from other Christians that have benefited me in knowing our God.

Transposing Up

Transposing up is a musically term when a melody is moved up the scale to a higher key. I got it from C.S. Lewis.

It brings greater and deeper joy in life's daily pleasures. You enjoy something great, your think of the person, God, who made the thing you enjoy and your joy goes deeper. You now delight in a) the pleasure and b) the God who thought up the pleasure and shared it with you.

An example: I enjoy chips with fresh cut salsa.

Transpose it up: Who thought of such a great food? What is a tomato? A fruit or a vegetable? I don't know. But it's wonderful and it goes with onions and cilantro in a special way. Yum!--the freshness of the veggies on top of the crunchiness of the corn chip. It's great!

Now who thought of "salsa"? My God made all these foods for his own pleasure and for people to enjoy. He planned out the infinite combinations of food and spices and cooking.

I not only delight in the salsa (lower level), but in the God who made me and the salsa (delight transposed up). I fire inside is lit up, and I remember what I was made for: The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

NY Times: Priest-Cosmologist Wins $1.6 Million Templeton Prize

2008-03-14T00:07:00.002-05:00

Link

This is a $1.6 million prize given by a non-profit to "progress" in answering the big questions of science/philosophy (Where did we come from? What is our purpose? Is there a God? What can we know?)

The answers to the questions are precious. If someone had the answers conclusively they would be worth millions--billions!

Let us not find out that the answers have been clearly written in a book that we've been overlooking.

And if any person finds such a book, with THE answers to the the BIG questions of life, he ought to spend the rest of his life studying it and conforming his strivings to the answers uncovered.

The Church in the Coming Economic Collapse

2008-03-10T11:46:00.002-05:00

What should the Church in America do during the coming economic collapse of America?

By "coming economic collapse" I do not mean the current recession, although the current recession is a foretaste.

This new Great Depression comes gradually over the next 5-20 years. The US government promises for Social Security and Medicare will overwhelm our ability to pay. The promises to pay for these programs amount to a debt of $455,000 per household in America.

See this article from the resigning Comptroller General of the United States (read: the Chief Accountant!) How the U.S. can avoid a fiscal wreck. Bush's top accountant is jumping ship early to fight for this. It's big!

What will come: The U.S.'s credit ratings will fall, the interest rate on the debt will jump up, the government will need to both drastic raise taxes AND print money it's not taking in which will be a tax itself.

The situation summarized--most Americans will feel like they are working harder than ever and still can't be their bills. Some will "drop out" of working because they can't make ends meet by working, and some will drop out of paying taxes because of the high tax rate.

The Coming Generational Storm documents the problem well.

What should Christians do?

Naturally, I would probably do a mix of tax evasion, working overseas, and saving money to cover my own situation.

But for Christians: conduits of grace and renewal. Loving the neighbor, repenting of personal sin, working a job, paying the bills, paying taxes.

What the Church should do is not hard for me to see. It's me that's hard. I want to cop-out on experiencing this coming Great Depression. I don't want to work under 60% taxes with rising prices and falling wages. This prolonged depression (I predict) will try my endurance.

Article: Moses must have been high on drugs

2008-03-04T12:49:00.002-06:00

Link

The key passage:

"As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

The author is definitely grappling with this strange reality--the account of Moses is too specific and too historically rooted to be made up or legend.

I offer this evidence that he wasn't on drugs: a) the law of Moses is really, really long. That's a very extended hallucination. And it's really, really mundane listing out specific, strict regulations that have deadly consequences b) I've never heard of someone having a spiritual/drug experience and coming out of it with very exclusive views of God and his justice. They always see a cosmic, spirit being who wants them to be happy and know that there aren't any rules except 'be happy'.

Star Trek Convention Keynote

2008-02-24T14:28:00.003-06:00

This is my keynote address to a Star Trek convention, if I were ever invited.

Fellow Trekkies--let me paint you a picture.

In the very near future, the Earth falls into a terrible war. Elohim, a very intelligent and good being, came to reconquer the planet. It had slipped into darkness following a sophisticated, shape-shifting alien who covertly invaded long ago. This hostile alien subverted humanity very cleverly in the past, and caused all of our species to forget our true origins.

Now in the near future, Elohim has returned with great tribulation that the planet has never seen before, nor will ever see again.

Dramatically, as the smoke clears, the Earth and all planets and stars are restored to their former glory and then some! Out of the sky comes a pre-constructed, ideal city full of homes and gardens and coffee shops. And it's full of people! People who lived in every culture, every country, and every time in history. Peace reigns and the Earth is now the capital of an ever-expanding peaceful government of human beings who have been put in charge of the whole universe. The Milky Way with it's 100 billion stars are open for exploration, discovery, tours, settlement and contact with new, peaceful lifeforms yet undiscovered. In the coming ages as the Milky Way is explored, millions of new galaxies are added to the list of "to be explored".

And there is a King. He's like the man you were always looking for to run for president--humble, not allegiant to rich interests, a servant of the people, a defender of the poor, a fair judge, very accessible, so wise. He as at the same time the most powerful man alive and the most tender and trustworthy man too.

If you love the Star Trek world now, Jesus would like you to enlist in the Federation Starfleet of the New Heavens and New Earth.

Elohim is the Creator God--the God of the Bible. He made us. Our origins aren't from a mysterious combination of amino acids in a primordial puddle. An intelligent being, God, created us in his wisdom and power. He laid out the Earth and the galaxies and told us to have dominion over it. Our assignment--enjoy God forever! But a hostile, cunning, alien shape-shifter invaded. His pitch--you guys don't need God, you can be God! We signed up for a human-centered world. This was a big mistake and let in all types of mistrust, selfishness, cheating and lying. Sinning against God had entered humans like a disease; and then death through sin.

Part of the punishment was forgetting where we came from, and what we were made for. Sometimes we remember what we were made for and it comes out in our deepest desires--like Star Trek.

Why haven't we made Star Trek a reality? Because we are too stupid, too wicked, too busy fighting ourselves. All of these are part of the punishment and frustration that God has placed on us for sin. Sin is like a trade we have made--the glory of God for the glory of images of created things. It's like the heavens being opened up before us with all the stars shining, but being too busy looking at ourselves to behold God's glory.

Such an exchange, when you look at it closely, is disgusting. God is good to send us off to a dark prison for that crime, and all the lesser crimes we've done. Our race is on the edge of perishing because of this.

But if it's true, why has God not yet destroyed us?

He is good and patient with us is our terrible condition.

He made a very detailed reconquering and rescue plan back when we first sinned. He would be very specific in how we should live. All people would fail to follow it. He would send his own son, Jesus, to come live along aside us in all our troubles. Jesus would live right, loving God, giving thanks, and loving his neighbor. Jesus, God's son, would be rejected by us, go to trial as an innocent man, be killed by crucifixion, be crushed by God for the sin's of the world, die, be buried, and come out of the grave. The door to a restored life with God would be flung open by Jesus, and all who came as beggars to receive eternal life would obtain it as a free gift.

People from every culture, every country, every language would a "good person" by God by faith. Not that their faith is worth something, but Jesus's righteous record would be given to them through faith by God.

At the end of the age, Jesus would return in power to bearing the sword to punish all evil--Satan and wicked people.

Including us. We are all infected self-centeredness; when we need to contagiously God-centered.

At the end of that war, this earth and this heavens passes away. Burned up. But God will make a New Heavens and a New Earth. Humanity will be restored. Death and evil will be dead. A new society will be formed that will delight in God century after century after century.

Who knows what adventures there are to be had? What new friendships there are to make, what new planets to explore, what new races of beings there are to encounter. Humans have thought of thousands of cool races of beings--Wookies, Romulans, Elves, Ewoks, Klingons--how many more has God dreamed up to introduce us to over the coming ages*?

And you know who he determined to greet them, and to help them, and the govern them? People! Humans are his favorite creatures. Jesus, who is God, was not sent to die for angels even though some of them rebelled like us. Jesus died for people. Not because we are that awesome, but because of his choice. God does not love us because we are lovely. We are lovely because God loves us.

So if your heart yearns for another world, it's because you were made for one! But our sin has disqualified us and made us even blind to our terrible condition. But God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Don't be stubborn. Seek God while he may be found. Soon the door will close. For those of us who are relying on ourselves to make things right, we will recieve a fair judgment from God and the prison sentence that goes along with it. For those who would forsake their own deeds, and cling to Jesus as their only hope to make things right; they will be welcomed by God. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. Eternal life is knowing him the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom he has sent.

*Note: I do not have assurance that God will create other races of intelligent creatures, but it stands to reason. 1. He has already made the angels. 2. God acts for his glory--wouldn't more species of intelligent beings display his glory? 3. Christians are told that they will reign with Christ and even judge the angels. Doesn't it make sense that reigning may involve other intelligent creatures too. 4. If we fallen, finite humans have thought of many such fictional races, wouldn't we expect God to not only think of more, but also bring them into being?

In Quito

2008-02-18T22:09:00.001-06:00

josh stephie voto nacional basilica, originally uploaded by joshandstephie.

I've taken Stephie to Quito, Ecuador. She is posting adventures on her blog.

More gospel-centered posts coming Feb 24 when we return.

We are in Ecuador

2008-02-09T07:15:00.000-06:00

We flew into Ecuador Thursday night. Any blog posts will be done at Stephie´s blog.

LiveScience.com: Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse

2008-02-05T22:02:00.000-06:00

Marriage is hard. My marriage is far from hardened, but we've had several moments where we've been astonished at the evil we are capable of.

Here's the sum quote of the article:

In all age groups, individuals reported viewing their spouse as the most negative compared with children and friends. The negative view of spouses tended to increase over time.

And it's best insight:

As relationships with spouses became more negative, relationships with children and friends seemed to become less demanding and irritating over time. Negativity toward friends decreases over time partially because we can continuously choose and weed our friends, ditching those pals who are irritating, according to the researchers.

If a friend gets on your nerves you just take a few days off from seeing him/her. And if things get really bad, you find a new friend.

But you can't do that in marriage. I can be very arrogant - and when this affects my marriage I can't avoid it the way I can in other relationships. I must repent much more, which I am often slow to do. My lack of humility and willingness to repent (along with my awareness of my wife's sin) cause the negative feelings this article speaks of. Only in repenting daily and clinging to Jesus can we really fight for one another's "glory self" - as we are called to do in marriage.

This is how we know that God loves us. My friend Jim pointed me to this part of the book of Hebrews:

In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

When Moses was on Sinai

2008-02-04T21:36:00.000-06:00

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty..."

First Catechism revision

2008-01-29T22:10:00.000-06:00

I teach 2nd-4th graders Catechism for our church. A catechism is series of questions and answers summarizing doctrine, especially for children to memorize.

We've got different editions of the catechism book, and they (Great Commissions Publications) changed an answer!

I can see their dilemma: once saved, must I do anything? It's easy to "fall off the horse" in both directions. Here's what's different.

Question 58 originally said:

Q. What must you do to be saved?
A. I must repent of my sin, believe in Christ, and live a godly life.

Now the new edition reads:

Q. What must you do to be saved?
A. I must repent of my sin and believe in Christ as my savior.

What should we teach our kids? I would feel fine with my kids* being taught either. I think God has designed Christians to live in tension between "God has accomplished everything you need to be saved" and "you must do good deeds to be saved". It's a glorious tension that can only be resolved if God himself works in us the good deeds needed to survive the judgment (as in sheep-and-goats, Matthew 25).

*Theoretical kids, we don't have kids yet.

God runs the whole universe

2008-01-29T22:00:00.001-06:00

God runs the whole universe. From Satan, to sunsets, to car-wrecks, to global warming, to sex--he's completely in charge.

He made all things, and made them good.

Our first parents, Adam and Eve, told him to that he was a liar ("we won't really die") and that they should be God. Such rebellion introduced death, disease, futility and malfunctions into the world. We inherited a rotten nature from Adam and carry his rebellion on today. How can we prove our rebellious nature? We know that something/someone everlasting and powerful made a world full of beautiful things, but we give it/him less than 60 seconds of thought or thanks a day.

God, who foreknew our rebellion, initiated toward us with goodness. Goodness through food and sunshine. Also goodness through pain, that we might see the terribleness and futility of rebellion and turn back to him. He also gave his law to us through prophets to show us how to turn back and live for him.

All have broken the law and lack the glory of God.

Lastly, God sent his own son, Jesus, to us; born of a woman 2,000 years ago. Jesus loved God and loved his neighbor like we are supposed to. At every point where we have lied and stolen, Jesus was tempted like us but without sin.

When Jesus was crucified, he had harmed no one, but people spat on him, pulled his beard, mocked him, the Romans lashed his back with a scourge, ran nails through his hands and feet and hung him on a cross until he died. And worse than that--much worse than physical pain--God the father forsook him on the cross. The wrath God has in store for a violent, God-belittling humanity was emptied out upon Jesus. He made him sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.

More than just forgiveness! For God's chosen, he credits Jesus' beautiful life as theirs. He sees Christ's record; and not your filthy one. At the cross Jesus takes on all your grossness and cleanses you of it. And all this can never be taken away.

Jesus, after being buried, rose again on the third day. He ascended to heaven and all authority belongs to him. He will judge every single person on the last day.

Don't like injustice in the world? God has set a day to judge all things and set them right. His special love for his chosen people met that justice at the cross of Jesus Christ.

Without that cross, you will receive a fair judgment from God. Fair = an everlasting prison sentence to a horrible place designed to torment Satan and his angels. It is only fair, for God is infinitely valuable. And we all have treated his worth and beauty as ridiculous and preferred less-satisfying lovers all of our lives.

Lord, save me.

Most depressing week

2008-01-27T12:18:00.001-06:00

Depressed? I'm fighting depression. Last week (the last full week in January) is supposed to the most depressing of the year.

Factors: Bottom of winter, but without Christmas. Christmas bills coming due. Hope of keeping resolutions? Probably gone. Aspirations for 2008 being different? It's not. And it's not close enough to being Spring to be able to look forward to it.

So this post is an encouragement! The most depressing week is over.

Blue Monday's wikipedia article.

Moment of Truth on Fox

2008-01-24T19:31:00.000-06:00

We turned on the TV last night, and got Moment of Truth on Fox.

It is trash, but watch it!

Contestants answer personal and embarrassing questions in a "hot seat" with the potential to win $500,000. They have to undergo a lie-detector test beforehand. Last night a football player to the lower levels ($15,000 or $25,000), but had to answer in front of his wife, friends, 23 million viewers (and God):

Have you ever flirted with women on the internet after getting married?
Have you ever had sex with someone within 24 hours of meeting them?
Is there any secret you have that would cause your wife to not trust you?
Have you ever touched women as a physical trainer more than was necessary?

(No, Yes, Yes, Yes)

Who can stand before God with clean hands?

He has appointed a day for the Moment of Truth. That's why I want you to watch this show once. It has made me extremely desperate to find a right standing before God.

Why not Evolution?

2008-01-23T17:23:00.000-06:00

I was a evolutionary thinker from age 8 until age 22. I ridiculed my future spouse about not accepting billions of years of life and all species created from natural selection.

God caught me before I perished.

Here's one of the "glitches in the matrix" of evolution: sleep. We humans have to shut down our senses and go completely vulnerable for hours every day. That's not the predicted outcome of millions of years of biological innovation tested out in a kill-or-be-killed jungle.

This is a puzzler for evolutionists. I think this NY Times article captures a lot of the frustration.

Sicko, the movie

2008-01-21T17:48:00.000-06:00

Stephie and I recently watched Sicko, the Michael Moore film.

If in 5 years we've moved to France, it all started with this movie.

The movie raises this question--Why are we spending twice as much, but doing worse than other countries on health care?

I think part of our disadvantage is military spending. Other countries have a smaller budget item for war, so they have more for health care.

Even if all our war dollars were spent on health care, it wouldn't mean free health care--the insurance pay-per-procedure system is broken and more money won't fix it. Doctors are paid not to be your doctor but per test and procedure.

Here's what happened to doctors/hospitals. Medicare/insurance pays per test or procedure that a doctor runs. To make more money, doctors run more tests/procedures. Medicare responds to higher costs, with lower payments for procedures. Doctors feel financially squeezed and need to run more tests. Costs surge. The main beneficiaries are drug companies, medical device companies, and insurance companies.

So: socialize medicine? I don't know. What does the church do if the state takes care of the sick? Does the Bible say anything to this?

Here's what supports socializing medicine--God judges nations. Egypt, Edom, Assyria, Babylon, Moab, Sidon all get the smack down as a nation. What were their crimes--typically idolatry and oppressing the poor. We have built a system that oppresses the poor in health care. Getting sick can bankrupt or enslave the middle class in debt. The poor just die. America could have Canadian-style health-care for all. But many, many people are getting extremely wealthy off our system.

How much money would a business be willing to spend if its $10 billion company is about to wiped out by socialized medicine? Probably about $10 billion. CIGNA is worth $14 bil. Wellpoint is worth $45 bil. United Health $67 bil. Pfizer $150 bil. That's a lot of money, and it' a partial list.

So the possibility of US free health-care looks impossible by worldly estimations. In fact, if you consider the budgets of the health-care companies to invest in politics, they should only get stronger and richer in the coming years.

Givin til it hurts

2008-01-18T16:32:00.000-06:00

CNN Money has a section called "Do the Right Thing", it's a financial ethics column. I've enjoyed it. They ran a column recently called "Giving 'til it hurts".

Question: My mother, a widow in her early sixties, works in the administrative offices of a big conservation organization. While her pay is OK, she makes very large contributions to the organization she works for. In return, Mom is duly honored. But in the meantime, she has only a small nest egg, and it’s not getting any bigger. Aren’t the development people where she works, who know that her means are limited, wrong to solicit and wrong to accept so much of her money?
Our answer: Absolutely. Soliciting money from someone for something you know they can’t afford is wrong. Period... [response continues]

The columnists response continues on to be logically sound. If the grandmother is giving away too much of her income she's presuming upon others for her support later in life by not saving enough.

But Jesus wrecks our logically sound arguments. “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

And I don't think I'm supposed to fully explain it. My reaction should be, "oh crap, I'm not even close to doing this."

Midlife crisis

2008-01-16T15:06:00.000-06:00

NY Times exposes the truth of a male midlife crisis--Crisis? Maybe He's a Narcissistic Jerk.

But you have to admit that “I’m having a midlife crisis” sounds a lot better than “I’m a narcissistic jerk having a meltdown.”
Another patient, a 49-year-old man at the pinnacle of his legal career, started an affair with an office colleague. “I love my wife,” he said, “and I don’t know what possessed me.”
It didn’t take long to find out. The first five years of his marriage were exciting. “It was like we were dating all the time,” he recalled wistfully. But once they had a child, he felt an unwelcome sense of drudgery and responsibility creep into his life.
Being middle-aged had nothing to do with his predicament; it was just that it took him 49 years to reach a situation where he had to seriously take account of someone else’s needs, namely those of his baby son. In all likelihood, the same thing would have happened if he had become a father at 25.
Why do we have to label a common reaction of the male species to one of life’s challenges — the boredom of the routine — as a crisis? True, men are generally more novelty-seeking than women, but they certainly can decide what they do with their impulses.

While the effect of a midlife crisis might be terrible, we should all be having one. Each of us might be past our midlife point.

It sounds like a gift from a loving God to us saying, "Wake up! Everything that you've been chasing is meaningless.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live"

The questions of a midlife crisis are wonderful to ask. What's the point in life? Where am I going? Why haven't I found happiness? Oh crap! I'm going to die.

Christians should ask themselves these questions regularly.

Our default programming is to be like the guy in the article--to wake up, say "I deserve better!" and take what we want. I pray at that at my next midlife crisis, I wake up, repent, and dance that God is 100% for me in Christ.