To say it was the end of an era, in Bob Hope’s case, is not a cliche. It’s the truth, and the more I think about it, the more I know it’s true. He was truly the last of the “old school” comedians (like Red Skelton, Jack Benny, etc.), and he towered above them all.

Situations like this remind me why I wish so much I could be a universalist. I know nothing of Bob Hope’s spiritual beliefs, but, sentimentally speaking, heaven would have to have a place for a man who brought so much joy, laughter, and good-will to the world. I’d hate to get to heaven and find the only comedians being crappy “Christian comedians” like Mark Lowry (hope I don’t offend anyone by saying this). I’d like to think that old Bob is up there right now entertaining the troops who have died in combat for our country. Is it wrong of me to feel this way for awhile, to dream that maybe God in His grace welcomed Bob into His presence? Or do I have to go back so soon to being a hard-hearted “theologian” wondering if he’s roasting in hell right now because he didn’t come to Christ? (I don’t know if he did or not, now, I’m just specuating)

This is the type of thing that makes me think of life and death, and it touches upon Michael’s previous post about struggling with the concept of life after death. I’ve always been convinced there is life after death, but just what is it really like? Are the “streets of gold” in Revelation to be taken literally, or is it symbolic of a present reality of the church as the New Jerusalem? Is the “light at the end of the tunnel” that so many see, is that reality or just illusion? Lots of questions, not many answers.

BTW, the book “The Resurrection of the Son of God” by N.T. Wright deals with a lot of the questions about how life after death was viewed in the ancient world and among the Hebrew people in Old Testament times. But that book is just SO DARNED LONG I doubt if I’ll ever read it all the way through.

Yahoo! News – Boone, Bowden Fired in Reds’ Management Purge. Ohhhhh. Ohhhhh. Blood on the dugout floor. Good for the Reds. This is the best thing they’ve done all season. Now let’s see either Dave Miley of Ray Knight run this team.

CT on the Tolkien method compared to other Christian writers. This is particularly a survey of his method.

I am truly disappointed you guys didn’t send me to this conference.

Kay Hymowitz enters the bizarre world of Michael Moore. Read this and then go take a shower, but it’s worth the trouble.

Kids who refuse to be kids. What about the adults who make billions perpetuating this craziness?

One for Rigney. The Paste Interview with John Hiatt.

All you people who really dislike American, go do something else. Skip this post.

My whole life, Bob Hope has stood at the top of whatever that mountain is called entertainment. Clean. Classy. Excellent. Hard-working. Funny. A master of five mediums. The friend of Presidents. The quintessential American entertainer, and a man who loved the military. When someone asked him the secret of a happy marriage, he said “Be home just three weeks a year.” If you couldn’t find Bob Hope, you knew where he was. Bob Hope was something of the very soul of America.

Irreplaceable is what Johnny Carson said today. That is an understatement. Today, the entertainment establishment that benefits from America freedom is also the entertainment establishment that loathes America, and especially the armed forces. Hope simply was a reflection of the basic goodness of America. The goodness of laughter in families, pool halls, after a day working in the fields, and yes, of soldiers knocking back a few beers far from home. Hope cared enough to go, and to represent America as he went. And when he stood before our troops, it was a visit from home, an ambassador from a country that loved its troops and from a man who loved them.

Entertainers like Hope and his generation are never going to replaced, because today Eminem is entertainment. Leno and Letterman are pale shadows of Bob Hope. There are still entertainers who go and give to our troops. They will never go unappreciated. But as cliched as it is to say, last night truly was the end of an era, and if you grew up along with the television era, you know what I mean. The celebrities of today pass instantly- thankfully- and there are few who are worthy to stand anywhere near the shadow of a man like Hope. Something truly great in America is over. Godspeed, Bob. I pray you were on the right road, and the laughter came from the author of all that goodness you spread around.

Three new Larry Norman CDs and one new Randy Stonehill all arrived today. I’m off to my office to do some work and rock out in an annoying manner for a while.

PhillipW: I have to write something definitive on youth ministry. I devoted 13 years of my life to the Youth ministry game. Then I raised my kids totally out of it in a tiny church with nothing for them but catechism class. The results are fascinating, and have turned my views upside down. Holland is right on track, though even his approach needs to be washed out of any large church assumptions, but you get the drift. Godliness, not entertainment, is the deal.

Michael: I am still reading the Rick Holland piece on youth ministry. Reading with tears in my eyes, actually. Excellent stuff, possibly life-changing. Thank you. My wife and I have both been exceedingly frustrated by what we’ve seen passing for “youth ministry” over the years, and I’m moaned about it here, but Holland gives me hope. Not much, maybe, but some, just a little. I’m going to bat-mitzvah my daughters and bar-mitzvah my sons. Adults at 13, that’s my goal. :)

NYC opens first school for gay, bisexual and transgendered students. I am sitting here thinking about the curriculum, but I won’t go there. I’m sure the prom will make the news.

washingtonpost.com: Bob Hope Dead at 100.

here’s a gem to start your gay...uh…day. Good morning ladies and gentleman you are listening to wgay, the only station with a phalis for an antenna! ROCK ON!

I enjoyed spending a good bit of the Lord’s Day listening to Dr. John Macarthur’s 2002 Mullin’s Lectures on Preaching at Southern Seminary. There is a rich treasure of great preaching and teaching at the SBTS on-line audio library page. It’s wonderful to hear the chapel speakers that now come to SBTS. Safe to say that during my day things were of a different flavor.

Judd: Great links. The statement from Knox seminary is heartening. May sales of Left Behind drop by 1% as a result and may someone burn the book in celebration. I’d like to make two comments about the “brights.”

One: I fully agree that Dennett is repackaging rationalism or naturalism, and the package is a not-so-subtle pejorative about the intelligence and honesty of “not-so-brights.” In other words, religious people are kinda dumb, pretending that something is there that ain’t. Freud said it much better. It probably will make a nice web site, but I can’t see Dennett selling too many t-shirts or having much of a convention. Brights are not quite as cheerfully inclined as he would like us to believe, and the reason, as some of the bloggers pointed out, is Dennett can’t successfully put a smiley face on the end of ethics. It’s not a cherry announcement that there is no longer any reason to assume right, wrong or significance. Read Ecclesiastes or a good suicide note to get more of the appropriate flavor.

Two: (Get ready for a shock) Life after death is the most difficult part of the Christian worldview for me to believe in. I do not struggle with the deity of Christ, the love of God or anything in the Gospel. But I can get downright morose about death, particularly the idea that we survive the finality of death and go to heaven. Part of my problem is the near-absence of this in the Old Testament. The other part is simply the finality of death, particularly the lack of tangible evidence that anyone survives death. (I’m a Houdini type. I’d love to hear a message from the other side, but I just can’t buy John Edwards, etc.) There is no point my personal faith is stretched more than acknowledging those parts of the Apostle’s Creed that take us beyond the grave. My own half-brother’s atheism frequently ridicules the idea of humans living “forever” as being a torturous and bizarrely unappealing notion. I understand what he’s saying.

Of course, there are two things I keep in mind. One is that our fallen nature is now particularly at war with the idea of life after death. Human nature is now blind and dead to this reality, and clings to this physical life with a tenacious idolatry. We cannot rightly think of God or of the life God intends. We must shrink it all to the human span. The other thing is that God’s plan is not for disembodied souls to float around in a spiritual state of eternal Vineyard worship services, but there is a new heaven and a new earth coming. A return to the original universe and the paradise of fellowship with God and real life in a real world. Resurrection. The rescue, remaking and renewal of creation. This is something most “brights” have never considered, and even most Christians miss what “eternal life” actually means in Bible. It is God taking all this death and making it into something entirely new and devoid of death. Sounds good to me.

RIGHT ON.

Neuhaus notes a statement on Israel from Knox seminary. First, the crux-

Bad Christian theology regarding the ‘Holy Land’ contributed to the tragic cruelty of the Crusades in the Middle Ages. Lamentably, bad Christian theology is today attributing to secular Israel a divine mandate to conquer and hold Palestine, with the consequence that the Palestinian people are marginalized and regarded as virtual ‘Canaanites.’ More »« Less

Neuhaus takes on Bernard Lewis’s article “I’m right, you’re wrong, go to hell.”

I particularly like this gem, it’s very repeatable.

I will say it again: the reason we do not kill one another over our disagreements about the will of God is that we believe it is against the will of God to kill one another over our disagreements about the will of God.

Interesting commentary from Charles Murtaugh.

By now every blogger and his brother has taken a whack at Tufts philosophy prof Daniel Dennett’s weak op-ed in Saturday’s New York Times:

The time has come for us brights to come out of the closet. What is a bright? A bright is a person with a naturalist as opposed to a supernaturalist world view. We brights don’t believe in ghosts or elves or the Easter Bunny — or God. We disagree about many things, and hold a variety of views about morality, politics and the meaning of life, but we share a disbelief in black magic — and life after death. More »« Less

Tim Keller is considered the most influential young reformed pastor in the country. I like him, his style, his innovations and respect for traditions. This page from D.J. Chuang’s really well done personal site is a good intro to Keller. Here’s a good quote.

Any proponent of “historic” corporate worship will have to answer the question, “Whose history?” Much of what is called “traditional” worship is very rooted in northern European culture. While strict contemporary worship advocates may bind worship too heavily to one present culture, strict historic worship advocates may bind it too heavily to a past culture.

. . . A refusal to adapt a tradition to new realities may come under Jesus’ condemnation of making our favorite human culture into an idol, equal to the Scripture in normativity (Mark 7:8-9). While contemporary worship advocates do not seem to recognize the sin in all cultures, the historic worship advocates do not seem to recognize the amount of (common) grace in all cultures.

I’ll dedicate this to our old friend Ron H, who is one of the casualties of my own bull-headedness. He would have liked that quote very much. I miss you, Ron, and the BHT is not as good without you.

D.J. has a nice index of worthwhile audio messages on the web.

Jim: I’m going to make it this time. Mid to later this week probably. You aren’t leaving til the weekend right?

These woods are lovely, dark and deep. Fortunately, I have no miles to go before I sleep. Still no sign of Bill. Oh, and after 4 years of broadband, dial-up sucks. Have fun picking on liberals. I’m off to bed.

Shall the Fundamentalists Win? This is a famous sermon by Fosdick, and it has a number of fascinating sections, particularly the one on the idea of progressive inspiration. Fosdick was at war with William Jennings Bryant, and whatever you think of the sermon, you will have to admit it was a different day than John Shelby Spong. Fosdick was a liberal Christian. Call him an accommodate or a compromiser, but he was genuinely trying to be a Christian with integrity. He doesn’t say the Muslim and the Christian are both right. He says the Bible is the progressive revelation beyond the Koran, and also within itself. As I said, like it or hate it, it’s intelligent. What happened to liberals like this?

Remembering Harry Emerson Fosdick. Years ago, I read a book called The Meaning of Prayer, by Harry Emerson Fosdick. HEF was a liberal of the old school, when liberals were Christians and not new age wackos, and the book was one of the most wonderful books on prayer by anyone anywhere. I am glad to see Fosdick remembered fondly.

‘Definite petition has its place…But…the thought of prayer as communion with God puts the centre of the matter where it ought to be. The great gift of God in prayer is Himself, and whatever else He gives is incidental and secondary…’

’...the thought of prayer as communion with God makes praying an habitual attitude, and not simply an occasional act. It is continuous fellowship with God, not a spasmodic demand for His gifts. ’

’...prayer is not beggary, it is not soliloquy, it is communion with God.’

’...the innermost nature of prayer (is) the search of the soul for God rather than for His gifts…’

“Recall St Augustine’s entreaty in the fourth century, “Give me Thine own Self, without Whom, though Thou shouldest give me all that ever Thou hadst made, yet could not my desires be satisfied.” Recall Thomas a Kempis…praying “It is too small and unsatisfactory, whatsoever Thou bestowest on me, apart from Thyself.” And then recall George Matheson … “Whether thou comest in sunshine or in rain, I would take Thee into my heart joyfully. Thou art Thyself more than the sunshine; Thou art Thyself compensation for the rain. It is Thee and not Thy gifts I crave.”’

Harry Fosdick, The Meaning of Prayer

Turning the Mainline Around – Prospects for Optimism in Mainline Protestantism. Well, all you pessimists avoid this one. Here is a dandy of a survey of what is going on in the mainlines, and why there is great reason for hope. It made my toes tingle with possibilities.

Among the good news: Liberals are old and dying, or gathered around the issue of homosexuality, which is an issue that actually involves a peripheral of churches. The renewal groups in the mainlines are coming from younger people, youth groups, outside the mainline seminaries, parachurch organizations, and most importantly, from grassroots churches (like mine) that just won’t surrender. They are cooperating, and they are growing. Liberals underestimate them. So read this and pray pray pray it’s all true. This opening illustration is worth keeping. How sad:

Elaine Pagels, the famous historian of early Christianity, once told a revealing story about the social world behind the scenes of high-powered biblical scholarship. As a young up-and-coming professor at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, she was invited to a closed-door, after-hours smoker. The men there (Pagels was the only woman) were all prominent Bible scholars. Many of them didn’t even believe in God, and those who still called themselves Christian were anything but orthodox.

The liquor flowed freely, and as these men got in their cups, they began to sing old gospel songs. To her astonishment, they knew all the tunes and words by heart. Then it dawned on her- these atheist and liberal Bible scholars must have grown up in evangelical churches.

I posted a long entry at The Scriptorium about a discussion we had in my adult Bible study class on what the Bible says about women staying home or going to work. I’ll just link to it and you can read it over there, but if you have a comment bring it over here. This comes out of a growing movement at our school that seems to be saying our women should all be at home, even though it is specified in our contracts that both spouses work for the ministry, and a good day care, run by our staff, is right in the middle of campus, literally a few yards from most people’s offices or classrooms. So you can see the context for some of this discussion.

Here’s the thoughts on Titus 2:2-10.

I’ve been teaching Titus for a while in my Sunday morning adult Bible study class. This morning’s passage, Titus 2:2-10, reminds me of some frequent problems Christians have in interpreting passages that come from the social world of the first century. So here are some of my thoughts on a passage that is commonly interpreted as a commentary on women in the workplace, and is sometimes used in a way that is hurtful. I anticipate some disagreement, but I hope the study will stimulate some discussion. More »« Less

Hello everyone. How are things in the world of working computers? I finally get a shot at one, and it won’t even let me read the entries. So sorry I can’t comment on anything that’s being said (what’s the emoticon for “fuming”?)
I miss you guys. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, indeed.
Please pray for me: the eye Dr. told me the other day that I have bad neural scarring behind my eyes. It’s one of the signs of hystoplasmosis, but he says that’s not what’s going on—he thinks I was born with it. It’s not an earth-shattering surprise: I’ve figured for years that SOMETHING was causing my vision to get worse every year. Anyway, the prayer is that I will not have to have surgery for this stupid problem. The Dr. did not mention such a thing, but some of the people I’ve mentioned it to say they know so-and-so who had that problem and had to have surgery. I spend most of my day trying to keep sharp objects AWAY from my eyes, so I’d rather avoid any occular cutting.
Life is good—just got back from the 30th annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha conference (Faulkner and the Ecology of the South), and I’m going to Kings Island w/ the fam tomorrow. I’m back in the classroom again soon (which means back in the office, which means back at a computer—yea!!), and I got a small raise. God is good.
Hope everyone is well!

Rob: I certainly have no objection to all sides being heard, though I have strong suspicions that it is impossible to have a purely scientific- or even consistently philosophical- conversation with the YE creationists. When scientists are disagreeing over a matter, the primary differences are at the level of the interpretations and not at the level of basic presuppositions. Scientists tend to agree on the nature of the scientific method and the use of a philosophical “authority” structure. But the discussion between YE Creationists and other scientists tends to be less over what is evidential and more over what is fundamental, eventually getting down to one side defending and depending on a particular interpretation of a particular text. I find it extremely, extremely significant, scientifically speaking, that there appears to be no one who interprets YE evidence into the YE conclusion but does not also accept their interpretation of Genesis 1-11 as an authoritative scientific text. I mean, even the pro-life position has atheistic adherents, but such does not seem to be the case here, which leaves me feeling quite a bit of sympathy for those who say that we are not dealing with two comparative evidentiary cases for origins and teaching both in public schools along side one another is impossible. (Not so with the Intelligent design position of origins, by the way, which does not use Genesis 1-11 as an authority structure.) I think we are dealing with two cases for origins, one of which must defend a particular interpretation of a religious text as an essential, fundamental component. No matter how much good, alternative science the YEs present, they must, at the end of the day, defend their use of the text. Not just a philosophical position, but their interpretation of Genesis 1-11. It is essential to key components of their view of everything. And a discussion between Christians defending Genesis 1-11 and scientists defending a philosophical position and interpretation of evidence seems to be a totally fruitless conversation, much like an atheist and a fundamentalist Muslim debating why The Hussein brothers died.

My YE creationist friends- who are quite up to date on the latest level of creationist argumentation- are presently quite enamored with evidence the speed of light may not be constant. Apparently Science Magazine cover storied some of this evidence in the last couple of years. One of my general complaints about creationist science is that it tends to 1) be a counter-argument to whatever mainstream science is saying 2) unless mainstream science says something they like. So science is corrupt, evolutionist, flawed, etc, unless some maverick out there is doing research on the variable speed of light, then all of a sudden this is the most important, most established fact in all of research.

YE creationism makes me feel like God is deceiving us without purpose. Wine, Fish, the age of Adam- it all has a purpose. A 6,000 year old universe that looks 15 billion to the best minds we have- that seems a far different matter. I also see my creationist friends telling young people to ignore reason and believe the Bible, as if the Bible does not present a reasonable worldview, and as if our perceptions of the universe are completely deceptive. I think this contributes majorly to abandoning Christianity as flawed, and even evil.

Mike: I have an amusing story about a drunk guy trying to play my first drum kit three years ago. My bandmates and I were practicing at this comic shop, and this guy from the local public house stumbles in, and announces that he works for Viacom. Of course, we’re skeptical, but we play along since we hope to see some good drunken antics. He says he likes our sound, and that he could “hook us up” to play some “hot backyard parties.” He says we could “get paid, and get LAID!” Then he asks if he can play my drumkit. I say no.

Then the guy stumbles out muttering something or other. We felt robbed, since we didn’t get to see any good drunken antics. But the “get paid, get laid” statement still makes us laugh now.

Besides, what sort of party would want to listen to metalcore anyway?

Charlotte 3, Louisville 2. But a great game at a wonderful park on a perfect night. We’ll go back.

Rob: I’d just call it science. Science admits its imperfect nature and also admits its dependence on previous science. It is less eager to admit presuppositions, but Christians doing or analyzing science can admit that, and many others do as well. It is imperfect science, I’d say. To call it guessing seems to imply a lack of method and a lack of real serious consideration of the evidence. I can tell when a student is guessing on a test and when the student is using the right method, but imperfectly. Same with an auto mechanic trying to solve a problem with my car. Guessing and intelligent, but imperfect method are very different. I see science more in that light. I think that the critique that science can’t recreate the beginning so all it has to say about it is suspect is a given, but it doesn’t undercut real work in astrophysics, radio astronomy, etc. to the point of dubbing it all as guessing.

Some of you guys didn’t categorize your posts. Do I have to or can you do it?

Korg Triton Pro
E-mu VK-1
Yamaha CS2X
Korg Prophecy
Zoom MRT-3 MicroRhythmTrak
Peavey KB-100 Amp

Role in the band: Look pretty while being drowned out by guitars and drums. Actually, I don’t even look that pretty.

Bill, email sent. I’ve also verified that I can connect via dialup from my laptop. As to how to reach us, here’s a map. Mapquest to “Dewey Road” in Hermon should get you directions.

All: I’m off. To the woods. By the Lake. For a week. nnaaghh nnaaghh nnaaghh nnaaaaaaaghh nnaaaaaaghh. Be good. Try to survive without my incisive wit and pleasant personality. If I get bored of swimming, canoeing, hiking, fishing, sunbathing, and taking it easy, I’ll drop a post.

BTW, Judd: It gets so loud in hear on a Friday night that for a second there I thought you said “skin” whistle, not “tin” whistle.

Mike Birch

Primary instrument: Six piece, midnight blue Tama kit with oversized everything. 14” Zildjian K hats; 16” and 18” Paiste 502 crashes; 20 Paiste Rude Power Ride; all Tama hardware except for DW 5000 double bass pedal; cowbell; and, of course, one Rhythm Tech tambourine mounted on the hat stand for that John Henry Bonham sound.

Secondary instrument: Roland TDE 7 electronic drum kit with eight dual trigger pads, kick trigger, and hat trigger. That’s right, kids, over 500 percussion sounds at the touch of a button.

Overall role in the band: Mentoring young Alex in the fine art of “accidentally” spilling stuff on drunks who ask to play your kit between sets.

Jim: Email me your cell # and how to find you at Trout lake. billmac@slic.com

Instruments:
Button accordion. Tin whistle. Unkeyed wooden flute. Beer bottle.

Primary role:
Providing tuning notes for the band, since my instrument is fixed pitch.
Sitting in corner playing beer bottle since nobody in the band plays Irish dance music.
Being the comic foil for the lead vocalist.
Repeating the following dialogue with audience members:
“What is that?”
“It’s an accordion.”
“I thought accordions had keys?”
“Real ones have buttons.”
“Is that a flute?”
“No, it’s a tin whistle.”
“What is that?”
“It’s a flute.”
“I thought flutes were silver, with keys.”
“Real flutes are wooden with no keys.”
“Huh. Why aren’t you amped? Everybody else is.”
“Because electricity is of the devil, and these guys are all going to hell.”

Primary instrument: four piece, cranberry stained DW drum kit, Pearl steel snare drum, Gibraltar drum rack, two Sabian AAX sixteen-inch crashes, a Sabian AAX twenty-inch ride, and fourteen-inch Sabian AAX fast hats. I have a Pearl double bass pedal and a Tama Iron Cobra single bass pedal, although I like the double bass a lot (ex-metal drummer). Oh yeah, and a cowbell. More cowbell is always good…

Secondary instrument: A Gretsch acoustic/electric guitar with Fishman pickup.

I like the indie rock and the metalcore/hardcore stuff, so none of these white Southern Calvinists wanna play with me (sniff). They like their bluegrass and Garth Brooks (JN).

Hunting for Bambi was a hoax. Read my comments when Michael suggested it might be. Then turn off the news once and for all.

Rob, one thing is certain: I’m no reliable indicator of age. Half the time, I feel like I’m 80 years old because of the arthritis; the rest of the time, my wife is telling me that I’m acting like a child.

I like this guy. And, for the record, I also refuse to fly domestic flights because so-called security measures do nothing to protect me, and are a complete inconvienence. I, for one, think it would be tremendous victory for the good guys in the war on terrorism if the entire airline industry went out of business. We’ve subsidized and rescued the commercial airlines for far too long; we can’t afford to keep unprofitable businesses going at taxpayer expense.

I’m off to pack.

Primary Instrument: Yamaha RBX-350 4-string bass, run through a Zoom Multi-Effects Device, an Ibanez Guitar Chorus, into a Marshall amp. Am willing to upgrade amp to something that doesn’t suck.
Secondary Instrument: Washburn Acoustic-Electric Guitar.

And if anyone has a piano, a drum set, a psaltry, a strumstick, a banjo, a harmonica, or a kazoo – I’m there. Oh, and I’ll go ahead and volunteer the services of a clarinet-playing wife.