Silent Monks Singing?

I saw this creative presentation of the Hallelujah Chorus the other day. Check it out.

Book Giveaway

Kingdom People is having a book giveaway. Here are the details from Trevin Wax:

For the next ten days (Dec. 15-25), you have the opportunity to register to win all ten of my favorite books this year. Plus, an ESV Study Bible and a copy of my forthcoming book, Holy Subversion. That’s $240 worth of books! (Click here to read about last year’s winner.)

#1. SOUTHERN BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 1859-2009 – Greg Wills
#2. UNFASHIONABLE – Tullian Tchividjian
#3. DEEP CHURCH – Jim Belcher
#4. THE CASE FOR LIFE – Scott Klusendorf
#5. THE GOD WHO SMOKES – Timothy Stoner
#6. ADOPTED FOR LIFE -Russell Moore
#7. MANHUNT – James Swanson
#8. COUNTERFEIT GODS – Tim Keller
#9. WHY WE LOVE THE CHURCH – Kevin DeYoung & Ted Kluck
#10. THE GOD I DON’T UNDERSTAND – Christopher Wright

How to Register for the Kingdom People Christmas Giveaway

1. You must be a subscriber to my blog via email or RSS. (See the sidebar, upper right-hand column to subscribe. I also have a Twitter account if you prefer to follow me that way.)

2. Send me an email, letting me know that you are a subscriber. Include your name and shipping address.

3. On December 25, I will randomly select one person who will win the ten books and ESV Study Bible.

* BLOGGER BONUS *
If you have a blog and would like to increase your chances of winning, add my blog to your sidebar and send me an email with a link to your blog. I will add your name to the list twice. If you also write a post about this Giveaway, I will add your name to the pot a third time.

© Copyright by Trevin Wax

HAPPY READING

United Nations Wants To Regulate Free Speech Of Every Nation

Here's a frightening development in the UN threatening our freedom of speech to criticize religion, particularly Islam. Even if it wasn't Islamic nations sponsoring this I would still be against it. How truly weak one's beliefs must be if he can't bear to have them criticized and have to defend them.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

HT: Caffeinated Thoughts

Vigilantes of Love: "Resplendent"

Here's a song about hard times, like the one we're all going through. A hauntingly, beautiful song by Vigilantes of Love.

Bible Study Magazine

Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take a look at all the cool tools they have to take your Bible study to the next level!

Cruel Logic

Here's a short film by Bryan Godawa which takes debating to a whole new level. One question remains:"How should morals be grounded?"



HT: Stand To Reason

Glenn Beck Speaks Up About All of the Extra Money We're Printing

The Treasury Department has been buying up ink by the barrel trying to print money to keep the economy going. How will that affect us in the future?



"The question whether one generation has
the right to bind another by the deficit it
imposes is a question of such consequence as
to place it among the fundamental principles
of government. We should consider ourselves
unauthorized to saddle our posterity with
our debt, and morally bound to pay those
debts ourselves." - Thomas Jefferson

Downhere - Here I Am

My wife posted this video a couple of days ago. I thought this song was so good, so here you go

HERE I AM

by Downhere

Sometimes your calling, comes in dream
Sometimes it comes in the Spirit's breeze,
You reach for the deepest hope in me,
And call out for the things of eternity.

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say,

CHORUS:
Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is part of your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.

These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing
(chorus)

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

HT: Abundant Harvest Homestead

Kingdom People's Interview With Tim Stoner

Part 1 & 2 of Trevin Wax's excellent interview with Timothy Stoner author of the 2008 book The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditation on Faith. Very insightful.

Trevin Wax: What’s with the title? Why “The God Who Smokes”?

Timothy Stoner: “A God who Smokes” speaks to me of both aspects of the character of God the Consuming Fire: His holy, passionate love and His anger.

As the Psalmist says: Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; love and mercy go before you.

The column of smoke was grace in the wilderness—shade and direction. The smoke on Mt. Sinai was a mercy that protected the Israelites from the blinding brilliance of God’s glory.

We are told that when God is angry, fire comes from His mouth and smoke rises from His nostrils (Ps. 18:8) while Isaiah tells us that “The Name of the Lord comes from afar with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke.” Smoke in the book thus represents God’s goodness and severity.

Trevin Wax: You write about being “Emergent” before it was cool, but now that Emergent is cool, you no longer consider yourself “Emergent.” What aspects of the Emerging Church do you appreciate?

Timothy Stoner: I appreciate Emergent’s critique of a tendency within certain streams of fundamentalism and evangelicalism toward a divisive, narrow intolerance of those it considers enemies, and a mean-spirited, fear-based rejection of culture which it considers synonymous with “the world”.

I affirm its emphasis on wholistic and integral mission and its priority for justice and mercy.

I also believe its call to affirm the goodness of the creation, the value of listening to and respecting those who hold divergent opinions to be a very healthy and helpful corrective.

Trevin Wax: So why would you distance yourself from the movement today?

Timothy Stoner: I disagree with its equating authority with oppression, eliminating the element of wrath from God’s character, deconstructing the gospel so that it centers around politics (Jesus died to subvert a cruel, violent oppressive system) and ethics (the purpose of the cross was to give us an example to follow) rather than being essentially about man’s sin, God’s mercy, justice and glory in paying for man’s redemption and appeasing His wrath that rebels might be forgiven and restored. I also find no biblical warrant for its denial of an eternal hell for unrepentant sinners who persistently reject God’s love in Christ.

Most troubling is its universalist trajectory which denies the exclusivity of faith in Jesus and provides a back door to salvation for the sincere who do good. This is, of course, an utter denial of the necessity of the Cross.

Since my book is intended to provoke a dialogue about this theological movement, let me add the following critique which I think is quite ironic. Whereas Emergent promotes the virtues of tolerance and a generous inclusivity as its highest virtues, it seems to me to be surprisingly reactionary and polarizing. It majors in creating false antinomies: forcing choices between supposedly mutual exclusives. In other words, it is as divisive as the tradition it is most repelled by.

Use the links above to read the rest or read the intro and first chapter of The God Who Smokes: Scandalous Meditation on Faith.

When She's Near - Fiction Family

Fiction Family is the new band created by Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins (member of Nickel Creek). Here's their first video.



Fiction Family - When She's Near from ATO Records on Vimeo.