From TableTalk this morning, reflecting on 1Pt 2:9-10:

The biblical view (which is sometimes mistakenly called “replacement theology”) does not say that the church “replaces” Israel. Rather, it affirms that true Israel always was, always is, and always will be comprise of those who trust in Christ alone for salvation…That the church is the Israel of God does not mean that every church member has authentic faith.

True Israel = true believers /= church ¹By “/=” I mean “does not equal”. Not that A excludes B in “A /= B” but that A and B are not exactly the same thing. A may include B but there is not parity.. I guess this could also be expressed “Israel /= true Israel = true believers /= church”. But is this good and necessary consequence of what the Scriptures say? Sure, Rom 9:6-7 affirms the first part of that equation, but where do you get the second?

I suppose you could get it from John 6:60&66 where people called Jesus’ disciples grumble at his teaching and then stop following him. One could say that here were Jews, members of Israel who followed Jesus and then stopped following him. Thus they proved that they were not part of the true Israel. But that doesn’t answer it does it? Didn’t we already establish that Israel /= true Israel from Rom 9? Were these disciples part of the church? Had they been baptized? See, this is at a transitional time in redemptive history and is really not a good place to make one’s case for this.

Another place that might be appealed to would be the curses of the New Covenant, namely Heb 6:4-12 and Rom 11:17-24. In these passages, it is averred, show that those in the covenant can be excluded from the covenant for failing to believe. So it can be that there are those who are in the church but are not true believers. Indeed, Matt 18 on church discipline seems to affirm this. But are those people really considered as part of the church, or are they “not of us” (1Jn 2:19)? I think that if we want to admit that there are those in the church who are not true believers, then we have a problem with particular redemption. In Acts 20:28 Paul describes it as “the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.” I suppose you could do some wiggling by saying that the church is different than the church of God and that the church of God is the true church which consists of all believers. Or you could say that Jesus is reconciling all things through himself (2Co 5:19) and so he did purchase believers and non-believers in the church but not in the same way. But are these things what Paul is saying in Acts 20? He doesn’t seem to be making those kinds of distinctions there.

Well, that little discourse didn’t do much to clear up the curses. Frankly, I’m a bit befuddled by the curses. They seem to be genuine threats but real believers cannot lose their salvation. That means that either a) the threats are theoretical and designed to keep real believers from losing their faith, or b) the people the threats describe are not real believers but they think they are and perhaps convince others that they are. Hebrews 6 sounds like these people have come close to believing, “tasting” the heavenly gift and the goodness, but not quite making it. Romans 11 makes a comparison between the natural branches who were cut off and the wild, ingrafted branches. Were those natural branches who were cut off true believers? If so, why were they cut off?

Okay, exploding frogs? How long are we going to let natural processes destroy the planet? We have to do something. Key quote “toads’ entrails are propelled for up to a metre (3.2ft).” How can we revolt against baby seal clubbing when we sit idly by and allow amphibians to spontaneously erupt? Surely these explosive toads are somehow the victims of the failed Bush second term. There has got to be a link the the Greenhouse Effect. Maybe this is the result of new and undiscovered ozone hole that has opened over Germany. We have to immediately scale back on gas consumption and ban SUVs. The Kyoto Protocol must be enacted now or this horrible plague could spread to other lower life forms. How would you feel if your dog or cat burst like a hamster in a microwave?

This was just so funny that I have to blog it. Windows XP is launching a new campaign to “Start Something.” They are trying to showcase how they can do all those same things that Mac OS X can do. Well, except that the image was produced on a Mac. They figured this out by viewing so of the “metadata” that accompanies these file types.

So go ahead, Start Something! But use a Mac to advertise it. :)

I took my computer to Disneyland.
I got a nice room at the Disneyland Hotel, it faced the park. I could hear the people screaming on the rollercoasters from
my room.
I played Rollercoaster Tycoon a lot. I got a brochure when I checked in and I built a park that was just like
California Adventure. It was a lot of work but I think I did a good job.
I brought food so I could eat in my room. The grocery store didn’t have Mickey Mouse waffles like they sell at
Goofy’s Kitchen but I got something pretty close.
It was really cool, I downloaded all the commercials for Disneyland and watched them on my computer over and over. I would point at the screen and think, “Man! That is where I am right now!” I can even sing most of the songs from them.
I bought some souvenirs at the gift show when I checked out. I got Mickey Mouse ears and a really cool t-shirt so that people will know that I went to Disneyland.

Trinity is in the media spotlight. Three students “of color” received threatening letters via campus mail. When the third letter came in the minority students were moved off campus to a hotel while the investigation is underway. This morning when I came to school there were vans lined up in the parking lot. The media has descended. So far they’ve been pretty fair but I’m watching. They tend to spin things out of proportion to get ratings.

On a related note, the lady who found a fingertip in her Wendy’s chili has been arrested. Has she been tried in the media? Who knows. I know of a local family who reported something extraordinary (no UFOs or anything like that) to the police and within a week the media camped on their front lawn and started questioning whether they made it up to get attention.

Update: As I drove back in after lunch I saw a group of about 15 students in a circle praying in the center of the campus in the cold rain. I did not, however, see any media recording it. That is for the best no doubt.

Mark Dever loves me! He’s written a book and done a lot of speaking about “9 Marks of a Healthy Church”. Today when I got to school I was given a booklet form of the book (which you can download as a PDF if you’re interested) and a CD with an interview with Mark. It was for MDiv students.

It is nice to see that 9Marks is concerned for the church. By giving these resources to current MDiv students (and I assume that TEDS was not the only school that received them) they are seeking to ensure their message gets out, not simply that money comes in. Desiring God does the same thing with their “whatever you can afford” policy. The message is what they want to get out, let God provide the means to get that done. It isn’t reckless finances, it is faith.

Admittedly, it will be a while before I can read the material. I’m way backed up from school as it is, so on to the ‘gonna read some day’ pile it goes. I just thought the intention was nice.

How many brewers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
About one third less than for a regular bulb.

How many real estate agents does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Ten but we’ll accept eight.

How many audience members does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Two. One to screw it in and another to say “Rose, he’s screwing in the bulb now.”

How many boring people does it take to screw in a light bulb?
One.

In the Bible there is a tendency for resurrected people to eat. Consider the following verses:

Luke 24:41-43 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Luke 8:54-55 But taking her by the hand he called, saying, “Child, arise.” And her spirit returned, and she got up at once. And he directed that something should be given her to eat.

Luke 24:40-43 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

John 11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”

John 11:43-44 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

John 12:1-2 Six days before ithe Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at the table.

It doesn’t happen in every instance, but it does happen often enough to make you wonder what is going on. Are people still hungry after they die? Well, maybe, but I think there is a little bit more behind it. It seems that spirits (including angels) cannot eat food. In Genesis 18 when Abraham is visited by angels, he sets food before them (v 8) [EDIT: Actually, yes it does say they ate right there in verse 8!] but it doesn’t say that they ate it. They begin talking to him, not eating. In Judges 13 at the announcement of the birth of Samson, the angel who tells Manoah and his wife about Samson refuses to eat food offered him (v 16).

There is extra biblical evidence as well. In the apocryphal book of Tobit, the angel Raphael who had visited Tobit and helped him finally reveals himself as an angel at the end of the story. He says “All these days I did appear to you; but I neither ate nor drank, but you saw a vision.”

I think the reason that people are given food after they are resurrected is to prove that they are really alive, that it isn’t a ghost or an angel. The resurrection will be literal and physical. Our bodies will be reanimated and renewed. Freed from sin.

I went to the mall today. I just needed a book on managing an Airport network from Barnes and Nobel but after buying it I decided to wander into the mall and eat at the food court.

What a sad place. I looked at the store windows and saw immediately the lie. In the windows the models and mannequins are slim and beautiful. The clothes hang on them perfectly. The lighting is placed specifically to make them look their best. There isn’t any mustard on the sleeve of the jean jacket or creases in the lower back of the blouses imprinted from a long ride in the car. It is imaginary.

Reflected in the glass that separates us from that world I saw the reflections of real people. The man with the large gut that strained his t-shirt. The middle-aged couple pushing their baby in an oversized baby carriage, neither looked particularly attractive and both looked like they needed sleep. Their clothing chosen for functionality over aesthetics. I saw my own reflection. I need a haircut and a shave. My clothing fits loosely because it is more comfortable that way. I don’t look like that male model on the poster, I am nondescript. I blend in.

But there we all are. We are walking through the shopping wonderland than tells us what we need to be happy and then packages it so that we’ll come to them to get it. As if they know what we need. As if they could package it. As if they could profit from it.

Then I see the group of girls who are juniors in high school (who are followed by a similar group of boys). They are trying desperately to look like the models. They have bought the lie and are trying to live it. Next week they’ll have to come to the retail temple and offer their sacrifices of plastic to get the next thing to keep them at the top of the ever shifting social structure. It never ends my friends, it never ends.

So what is a Christian to do? One answer seems to be that we eschew the entire mess and crawl into an enclave somewhere. We only buy from companies that have a fish symbol on their logos. We homeschool our kids. We get rid of the television. We only listen to Christian radio and Christian music. We isolate. This is the Protestant form of monasticism.

Another answer is to try to blend in. Dress, shop, talk, act like them but all the while we have a secret joy in our hearts. We can make our churches compete with whatever they have going on a Sunday AM or Saturday night or whatever. Worship as concert, preacher as entertainer.

The most common way is neither of those, as surprising as that seems. The most common way amongst American Christians is to just live in the midst of it as if it is all normal. Oh sure, we’ll avoid Abercrombie and Fitch because they’re immoral. We don’t listen to rap or heavy metal but K-LITE radio is fine, nothing there is too offensive. We shop just like everyone else: we shop as if owning stuff defines us. Jesus is a option in the American lifestyle. A little Blockbuster, some Claire’s, a touch of Pier One, gotta have some Gap then sprinkle it with Jesus when we get home.

Keep in mind that I currently include myself in this entire thing. I am just as deeply involved in all of this as most everyone else. This isn’t countercultural Tim judging the unenlightened masses. We suburban Americans all live in the same basic fishbowl, swimming in the same water, eating the same fishmeal. It is the world we live in.

I’ve had a chance to step back a bit because for the past three months my life has been constricted to school and work. Today was the first day in a while I got a chance to get out and do something unstructured and impulsive. So what did I do? I went shopping of course. That is what suburbites do.

But is this “Christian”? I think we’ve come to believe that it is. This is what life is like. This is just how things are done. Isn’t this how we do church? The term “church shopping” isn’t inappropriate or accidental. We go to the church that meets our needs and has the programs we’re after. I have even heard about people who choose their church based on which night of the week the AWANA program is! Shopping and choosing. A little of this, a little of that. We like the music. The pastor is a bit longwinded at times. My kids have friends in the Sunday School classes. The youth program fits our schedule and it isn’t teaching heresy. We attend retreats that show us how to be better dads or husbands. Sometimes we feel challenged and convicted.

Isn’t it a lot like the mall? There is an image behind glass that is attractive and unattainable by us. But there are people who will tell us what we need to do to get there. But when we look in the glass and see our own reflections, they don’t match.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ? James 1:22-24 (ESV).

There must be more than shopping. There is something that we’re supposed to be doing, to be “being” that we (myself not only included but as and example) are not. Jesus fits like another commodity in our lives. We have the right words to confess, we sing the right songs and carry the right study Bible, but we aren’t who we think we are. We’ve look in the glass of the shop window, stared intently at our natural face and having turned away, we’ve forgotten who we are and look for the next bargain.

There is a way out of this quagmire. I know there is. And I want to find it. I want to live my life like Jesus really is God incarnate. Like God really was born in a stable. Like he really did heal and preach the kingdom. Like spikes really did pierce his hands and feet. Like he really did hang from those spikes on a Roman torture device. Like he died bearing the burden of sins. Like he really did come to life from death after three days in a cave. Like his actually ascended into the sky and vanished from his friends sight. Like he really is coming again to rule and judge and reign. Like he really is my savior and not just my latest
purchase.

Today’s installment comes via a RoamAbout PCMCIA card in my PowerBook, the old Airport card back in the iBook and a new Airport base station. Yes folks, the house has a wireless network. Very much geeking out.

I got the Airport base station and the RoamAbout card for the price I would have paid for the RoamAbout card everywhere else I looked. So, using government accounting practices, I invested the money I didn’t spend elsewhere on something I didn’t need.

A couple of items of interest on this. First, the Airport software built in to OS X is great. I have an Airport card in the iBook and with it I can tell the Airport base station to dial up the internet and hang up. Totally cool. But with the Roamabout card in the PowerBook I have to use third party drivers. The Airport extensions don’t work. So I had to get a Java app to do this for me. These work wonderfully. If this is an option for you, get this software. I was hoping that, being a Java app, someone had turned it in to a Konfabulator widget, but I haven’t found one yet. Here’s hoping.