Las preguntas de Dios by Emilio Castro

The third book I read in 2012 was:

Las preguntas de Dios: la predicación evangélica en América Latina by Emilio Castro

[The Questions of God: Evangelical Preaching in Latin America]

This is a book about preaching from a Latin American perspective. The first section is a brief theological discourse on preaching; the second part consists of fifteen sermons based on questions in Scripture. Overall, it is a satisfying book, but I was expecting more after having read the back cover. In general it shows considerable influence of Barth, who by me is a welcome voice in moralistic Latin American protestantism. There was a strong parallelism between Castro's first section and Barth's "The Preaching of the Gospel" (which was the last book on preaching that I read). His description of the elemental content of Christian preaching is summarized as follows:

"referencia a lo que está sucediendo en la vida del pueblo, referencia a lo que ha sucedido en la vida del pueblo, referencia a lo que ha sucedido en la historia de la fe cristiana y del pueblo de Israel, conjugación de las dos vertientes en una explicación del propósito de Dios para el momento, y culminación en una exhortación al arrepentimiento, al cambio de vida, a aceptar el mensaje del evangelio, la oferta que Dios hace" (p. 11).["reference to what is happening in  the life of the people, reference to what has happened in the life of the people, reference to what has happened in the history of the Christian faith and the people of Israel, conjugation of both stories in an explanation of God's purposes for the moment, and a culmination in a call to repentance, change of life, to accept the message of the gospel, what God is offering"]

The second part is divided into sermons based questions which God poses to humanity (1-10) and questions which humanity poses to God (11-15). The most compelling sermons were, in my perspective, No. 6 "Why do you look for the living among the dead? "--about our tendency to hole God into preestablished categories-- and No. 13 "Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" about the Christian hope of a new future. I was a bit disappointed by No. 11 "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", which ended up emphasizing the doctrine of the humanity of Christ rather than approaching the human experience of loneliness before a seemingly distant God (which it proposed to do).

I appreciate Castro's emphases and expressions, and I would consider using the book as a supporting text for a class on preaching. I give it three and half stars.

A prayer for our son

This is the prayer my wife and I prayed when we presented our young son before our church family (translated from the original Spanish):

B: Lord Jesus, we bring before you and your people our little son, T. B. We recognize that he belongs to you and that you have every right to his life.
V: We rejoice in your goodness demonstrated through his life, and we pray that his life would be a testimony that you are good. We are glad at the love that fills our hearts, which is but an outcome of your love, Jesus.
B: And yet, Lord, we acknowledge our sinfulness and limited perspective. So we plead for your wisdom and grace as we care for him. We marvel that you know not only the child T., but the man whom he will be.
V: Grant us the joy of guiding him in the knowledge of you as Lord and Savior, that he would be our brother in following you. Bless him with health and contentment, that his heart would always turn to you in gratitude.
B: And make him an agent of peace and reconciliation, that your name would be honored through his deeds. Be his refuge and hope, guard him from wicked men and women, and place him in communities where he can experience the grace and justice of your Kingdom.
V: We have full confidence in your good will for his life, and we will always hold high your name in our home. It is in this name we pray, amen.

Lenten readings

Two brief essays on the fact that life isn't about me, and spirituality isn't about improving myself:

"Teach Children the Bible is Not About Them" by Sally Lloyd-Jones
"Giving Up Self-Discipline for Lent" by Mark Galli

Behold! 2-21-2012

Behold!: some noteworthy pieces over the last couple of days:

Technology, society, spirituality

• Jason Allen has a piece at TGC about if Facebook tempts you, especially on the dangers of envy in a social media world.
• Dana Goldstein writes that homeschooling violates progressive values. Frankly, I didn't realize that in our postmodern world you could still describe things as "progressive"... hasn't "progress" been debunked?
• D.L.M. echoes my disdain for politics in the light of the Kingdom of God
• NPR reports on a certain Open Source Ecology farm, which is the kind of thing I (and probably D.L.M.) could really get excited about.

Random

• Nuns run. I'm tempted sign up as a shadow runner, but won't.
• Andrew Peterson shares more about songwriting, and even offers up a new song.

Fatherhood

• Tim Keller's wife writes about why the city is a wonderful place to raise children, also at TGC. My mother and I were raised in the suburbs, my wife and father in the countryside. I've occasionally worried about living in the a huge metropolitan area with a kid, but Mrs. Keller puts a good turn to things. Not that all of the cool stuff on the list at the end actually applies to Asunción, but there are some things.

The Myth of Certainty by Daniel Taylor

“One influential Christian speaker says Nietzsche should be burned rather than read, and suddenly, reading Nietzsche is strangely attractive.” (p. 37)

This was one of several moments in which I totally identified with Mr. Taylor as I read his 1986 book The Myth of Certainty. Basically the book responds to the query “How can a thinking person with a keen, sometimes crushing, awareness of the complexity and contingency of all things make passionate commitment to act in the service of any contested cause?” (p. 98) Taylor is a professor who finds himself straddling the line between two very different worlds, that of the secular academy and that of the conservative Christian church. And yes, he is an English professor, which explains the alliteration of that last quote. In this book he shares his struggles and wisdom, and takes a lot of cues and epigraphs from Karl Barth, Flannery O'Connor, Soren Kierkegaard, and Blaise Pascal.

It's not an amazing book that shook my world, but it did affirm me in a lot of what I've come to believe. It's kind of cheesy at times, as he includes fictional accounts of a character which mirror the reflections of each chapter. Some interesting quotes from the book:

     "While a little learning alienates, much learning often reconciles" (18).

     “[Kierkegaard] recognized how subtly intertwined are our beliefs with our instinct for self-preservation, and counseled the greatest sensitivity for those who seek to lead someone from error into truth:

    First and foremost, no impatience… A direct attack only strengthens a person in his illusion, and at the same time embitters him. There is nothing that requires such gentle handling as an illusion if one wishes to dispel it. If anything prompts the prospective captive to set his will in opposition, all is lost… [T]he indirect method…, loving and serving the truth, arranges everything…, and then shyly withdraws (for love is always shy), so as not to witness the admission which he makes to himself alone before God—that he has lived hitherto in an illusion.

    ...Only those with great confidence in the truth they hold can risk Kierkegaard’s approach.” (25-26)

     “T.S. Eliot sees a certain kind of doubt as inevitable in matters of faith and correctly suggests that one’s attitude toward doubt is more significant than one’s having doubt: ‘Every man who thinks and lives by thought must have his own skepticism…that which ends in denial, or that which leads to faith and which is somehow integrated into faith which transcends it.’ The notion of transcending doubt by accepting it into faith, rather than by suppressing it (for it can never be destroyed), is crucial. Perhaps doubt, rather than something to be crushed, can be made to serve faith.

      “Doubt can only be robbed of its paralyzing and destructive qualities when it is admitted for what it is—which isn’t nearly as much as it appears when not admitted—and is accounted for in the process of faith. Normally doubt is seen as sapping faith’s strength. Why not the reverse? Where there is doubt, faith has its reason for being. Clearly faith is not needed where certainty supposedly exists, but only in situations where doubt is possible, even present.” (80-81)

    “The reflective Christian must steer between unfounded claims of certainty on the one hand and an equally spurious absolutizing of relativism on the other.” (92). “The Christian should neither seek to deny the risk inherent in faith nor accept the implication that the secularist is on surer ground.” (97)

    “Truth cannot be adequately evaluated on an objective or propositional level. How one holds a truth, one’s intention in regard to truth, the use to which a truth is put, the position against which a truth is asserted, the relationship between one truth and an equally valid balancing truth—all these and more determine the ultimate character of truth in our lives. Sadly, even truth can be made to function as falsehood when it is fragmented, distorted, or isolated from its position to the whole.” (129)

     "We should avoid being sucked into negative struggles that are characterized primarily by what they are against, depending often on fear, suspicion, and even hatred for their primary motivation. Seek out, instead, constructive tasks that bring healing, enlightenment, and encouragement rather than bitterness and enmity.... Criticize the church when such criticism is called for, but also seek ways with your own life to make it what it should be. And aside from controversial things, there should be paintings painted, plays performed, poems written, discoveries made, ideas explored, causes pursued, and tasks accomplished which have nothing to do with partisanship of any kind, simply because we are human beings whom God has given many, many things to do." (136).

Happy Valentine's Day

Here are some fun resources to help reflect upon love on a February 14th:

"A brother and sister get married"

This is a well-done NPR story --with picture show included-- about a friar and nun who get married, and how their love endures: "The romance didn't slow down for him at all. He was someone who was completely unable to separate his devotion to God from his devotion to his wife."

NPR Valentines

This is probably only funny for public radio listeners, but as an avid one, I thought it was great fun.

Under the Radar's Valentine's Day special

Under the Radar is a great source for Christian music listeners who don't necessary like "Christian music"; this is a nice episode, despite the fact that he plays a Chris Rice song [slight cringe]. It includes nice stories from Randall Goodgame and Jenny & Tyler, plus a cover of "Holding out for a Hero." 

Why I have a cheap cell phone

"The unfortunate thing, I think, is that part of what's happening is that we've lost our sense of actually experiencing things. We're just constantly, constantly recording things." - George Clooney during an NPR interview

I've thought about this for a good many years, especially every time I go to Iguaçu Falls in Brazil and observe how most visitors spend all their time snapping photos and recording videos. It seems no one is actually looking at the Falls, let alone giving time for their body to take in the beauty. No matter how amazing your camera is, you can't capture one and half miles of waterfalls in a picture. And if you spend all your time trying to capture a photograph, you might not even get the slightest sense of the breath-taking character of the falls.

I'm not against photos. It's nice to have some to share with friends, to put on your desktop background, to bring to mind fond memories. But I'd much prefer vivid memories of quality time lived out in the presence of great masterpieces (be these mountains or artwork or personalities).

It's important to think about why and how one wants to use technology. The trend of this our technological age is that these devices hold an ever more powerful sway over us. I, however, want to utilize technology according to my purposes, not be guided by its ever greater capabilities.

"The Beard" by I. M. Shannon

In my job as theological librarian, I came across a pamphlet in the archives of our library

Cover of the the pamphlet "The Beard" by I. M. Shannon (undated).

Allow me to quote at length from the pamphlet (I've tried to be faithful to the spelling and punctuation of the original):

       These facts I have written regarding the beard have for their foundation the Bible, and nature, and are especially written for the Christian man who truly wishes to gain eternal life...
      Shaving is very popular, but does the popularity of shaving make it the right thing to do? JESUS, whom you worship, and who is the Christian man’s example wore His beard. (Isa. 50:6) and He is well pleased when His men followers imitate Him in this as in other respects. Obeying Him in practice and precept. 1 John 2:6. The beard grows by a divine law; it is a part of creation that God pronounced “very good.” Gen. 1:27. When men destroy the beard they are out of harmony with God’s original thought... There is a great intelligence and wisdom behind the laws of nature, and when these laws are broken, those who break them will stand a punishment sooner, or later...
        A good question is raised: Why should God put a beard on a man’s face if He did not design that he should wear it? We cannot charge God with folly, a deficiency of understanding, and that the beard was a stupid mistake on His part. Men directly insult the wisdom and intelligence of God when they shave off their beards. Isa. 29:-6; Eccl. 7:29. A razor is an invention to thwart God in nature. Men have becomes slaves to the razor, for no reason, as a rule, except to make their faces smooth like the woman’s, or follow the worldly fashion. They will say it is for sanitary reasons. In saying this they practically accuse their Saviour of being unsanitary, for he wore His beard, so did the apostles, prophets, patriarchs, also our pioneer brethren in the Churches. Wholesale destruction of the beard is of recent date. To shave is an open violation of the laws of nature. It is God’s wisdom and design that a man wear a full, well-kept beard. It is the outward mark of manhood. To be smooth-faced is a sign of YOUTH, or EFFEMINACY.
       It is not the plan of God for a man to de-whisker himself, shaving away his distinguishing feature, calling it unsightly and unsanitary. It isn’t the intelligent thing to do. There is nothing that man can do to make himself appear more womanish than to shave off his beard. The dictionary says: “to be beardless is less than a man.”
       Men shave daily, but God in nature rushes to repair the wound, and starts a new growth, showing that the beard should be a permanent fixture on the face of man. The beard is a beautiful arrangement, a princely feature. IF taken care of. Men have long abused the beard, and that fact shows up when they try to wear one. Many men can hardly wear it after having shaved for so many years. It is stiff and bristly. Those who have made this a study know it is true. It is unatural to shave, a daily operation to remove it. If the same amount of time were devoted to its care, as it takes to remove it, it would be beautiful, and not hideous as some seem to think. He who effeminates himself follows the example of apostacy instead of Christ. Be Christlike. Honor His beard by wearing one...

That’s most of pages 3 to 6. He then goes on for 8 more pages to make further arguments based on the image-of-God, comparing shaving to the sins of Eve and Esau, explaining away why “Joseph of Bible fame” shaved (“JESUS, not Joseph, or any other man is man’s example”), differentiating shaving from the sin of cutting finger and toe nails (?!), placing shaving within the saved by faith/works argument, and clarifying that the effeminate will not enter the Kingdom of God. On page 14 his conclusion begins:

       To establish the truth of the beard we have THREE witnesses: NATURE, JESUS’S EXAMPLE (Isa. 50:6), and the LAW. Lev. 19:27, 28. The FACT stands established. 
       Jesus said, “The very hairs on your head our numbered.” Matt. 10:30. King David said “I will praise the Lord, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well…and in Thy BOOK all my members are written.” David we see praised and upheld God’s works. The beard, if let grow, is the most conspicuous member that a man has. I wonder what it will be when men meet their Maker “face to face.”

Upon first reading I found this really funny. I almost have to wonder if it was actually written as a parody of bad interpretation. But since I suspect it wasn't, it’s actually rather sad, for it represents all those instances in which we manipulate the sacred texts in support of teachings which are not in fact truthful. We are wise to approach the truth of Scriptures with great humility. Daniel Taylor warns in The Myth of Certainty: “How one holds a truth, one’s intention in regard to truth, the use to which a truth is put, the position against which a truth is asserted, the relationship between one truth and an equally valid balancing truth—all these and more determine the ultimate character of truth in our lives. Sadly, even truth can be made to function as falsehood when it is fragmented, distorted, or isolated from its position to the whole.” (129)

On the internet and intentionality

I’m back with an online “presence,” after taking a month of internet abstinence to reflect on the meaning of all this. Last year I found myself caught up in Facebook and my list of RSS feeds in such a way that I would describe as lustful. Lust in the sense that Oswald Chambers taught me to see, this desire for immediate stimulus and gratification, that ends up emasculating one’s soul. I’m convinced that one of the keys to human flourishing is in self-denial of such lusts and the training of one’s soul for slow, deep delights. And yet, there I was, hanging on the edge of the most frivolous updates, seeking meaning in a new post, wasting time and mismanaging my soul. It got to the point where I didn’t even read any of these interesting sites I was following, I just quickly skimmed it for some sort of intellectual or spiritual stimulus.

Clearly this was not a path I wanted to continue. Deep, reflective thought and reading has always been an important part of who I am. To let that be replaced by (un-)social media and RSS (does-not-)feeds would not contribute to my growth and pleasure. So following the Christian tradition, I cancelled my RSS subscriptions and deactivated my Facebook account in a sort of fast. Fasts are powerful to reveal to us our underlying motives and unfilled desires, and they serve as opportunities to reevaluate our priorities.

One of my constant concerns is inspired in the Apostle Pauls’ resolute “I refuse to let anything have power over me” (1 Corinthians 6:12, CEV). I want my will to be robust and tenacious, unreduced by sedatives and distractions. I want my psychological health to be independent of material goods and outside stimuli (aside: I sometimes worry that I have a certain dependency on yerba mate). Time away from the internet reminded me that life is just as abundant when I don’t read every last narcissistic expression of my acquaintances, or keep up to date on the latest theological disputes in the blogging world. Moreover, I was reminded that unless I dialogue reflectively with this deluge of information, I will be undesirably molded by it. I need to read less and more deeply, and I need to write my thoughts out (with paper and pen).

One of the better news stories I heard on NPR during January was this author interview with Clay Johnson about the subtle but ruinous dangers of our information diet, and how easy it is to become closed-minded. He notes that “what choice of information gives us is the ability to misinform ourselves in all kinds of new ways.” I am reminded as well of Marva Dawn’s admonition to avoid becoming a liar by a L.I.A.R. (low information-action ratio). What good is it to know, know, know more and more if I’m inert in regards to such “knowledge?” Dear St. John would say that this is indeed no knowledge as all, as knowing and doing are so inseparable in his theology.

So I’m back online, but I purpose to be more modest and intentional about it, by reading more deliberately and writing more thoughtfully. I pray that this information diet would lead me to relate with greater loyalty to those who surround me, and to act with greater faithfulness in service to the world.