Joe Thorn has captured an SBC moment. Here in Clay Co., it would be a guns and dogs moment.

And let me just go on record as saying that the “emerging ‘relabeling’” you speak of I find pretty icky. That’s why, as I said, I have no intention of trying to replace the word with another one (or even a set sentence or speech, necessarily). I have no desire to “relabel,” which I find intensely silly most of the time. A library is a library, not a Learning Resource Center, I don’t care how many millions you spent on it.

Yes, Michael, “anti-Christ” was the first thing my wife suggested I call myself when I told her of this project. So clever, all of you.

Pay the Devil: I already have downloaded “Playhouse” - the advance track from the album, and I am ready to snatch the whole thing up the second it hits the shelves. As for giving up Van the Man for Lent…well, since his album is coming out right in the middle of Lent, um, no.

He is also going to be in Nashville at the Ryman in March, which makes me angry, because when I lived an hour or so from Nashville he never came anywhere near. Now he’s there and I’m not :( And to go see him would simply require too many irresponsible acts (it’s on a Tuesday night (I teach a 5 pm class on Tuesdays), it’s five hours away from me, and the cheapest ticket is (was—they’re so gone now) $85). One (maybe two) irresponsible acts I could maybe talk myself into. sigh Sometimes it truly sucks to be an adult (and to act like one).

I wondered if you had considered that someone might see this as somewhat similar to much of the emerging “relabeling” that is going on. Churches now with trendy names: “Mosaic,” “The Bridge.” Or pastors now called “cultural architects” or “speakers.” Donald Miller almost always renames or says something somewhat slanted.

Really, I need to have a name to call you- other than the anti-Christ. This may demand a contest.

I’ve also thinking of renouncing the titles “fat” and “bald.”

 Pay the Devil: Van Morrison Here Rigney. Give this up for Lent. (jn)

Yes, Michael, I saw that comment, but frankly, I don’t see letting that kind of thing upset me too much. They will think I am trying to convert them if I say I am a Christian and they will think I am trying to convert them if I say I am not a Christian? How can I win?

Also, it implies that he (whoever “he” is—the commentator never identifies the speaker) will use such a change in label as proof that “it’s all hooey” anyway, and I am proving it by jumping ship, at least in name, and hiding from the disgrace that Christianity really is.

Again, I don’t know how we can win either way. If I say I am a Christian, I am one of those fools following a dead man; if I say I am not a Christian, but still follow the dead man, it just shows that I realize that following the dead man is silly, so I have decided to follow him anyway. Or something.

In short, the person the commenter seems to be speaking of appears to be the type of person who is dead-set against thinking there is anything worthwhile in following Christ—and I waste no time trying to convince such people. Not that I don’t care about them, but until someone is ready to listen, why talk to them?

But back to bait-and-switch. Yes, if I were operating from a modern evangelical, let’s-make-our-church-so-different-people-will-be-so-refreshed-they
can’t-help-but-be-impressed-and-come-to-Christ stance, I could see that happening. Kind of like going door-to-door saying you are conducting “surveys,” only to use that as a way to “witness” to someone. It’s sneaky and dishonest. But I am not at all operating from that standpoint—the beliefs from which I operate are not new and shiny and WOW! They’re the same old beliefs (really old—older than the name Christian). They are the deeper magic, from before the dawn of time. And since I would tell such a person immediately, if asked, what was going on, I don’t see it being an issue.

Resources for Orthodox Great Lent Plenty of good things here, Orthodox or not.

Jason: Atreyu from the Never Ending Story is also what I was thinking of. But the student had never heard of it.

leif: An IM commenter says this: “Even some Christians have begun to realize how indefensible Christianity is and are trying to fool you into thinking they’re something else… It’s just a typical dishonest Christian bait-and-switch.”

Have you considered that some educated non-Christians will interpret your choice as a tactic that implies you can push “Christianity” on them without the name? I don’t believe your choice is primarily evangelistic, but one of honesty and embracing a faith that is Jesus-focused and with minimal baggage. But the sharper non-Christians may interpret this as a “play up” to them, in disguise.

What say ye?

Michael, I have to second Joel’s call to pray for Janet Reitman.

That was some seriously scary stuff. There are sites online by former members, too, and it’s just as bad. Everyone, please, please pray for Janet. She needs it.

Leif, I may have to disappoint you further. When you mention Atreyu, I think of The Never Ending Story. But don’t give up hope. I do enjoy reading.

For those following our little soap opera, I have posted the latest installment from the Heretic Outpost.

That’s funny, Jason, because I saw a student one day in class wearing a shirt with that band name on it, and (like every good nerdy English teacher) I was excited—until the student informed me with blank, hooded eyes that it was a band and he’d never heard of any book. Judging by his lack of enthusiasm, I didn’t get the impression that he was going to rush right out and familiarize himself with it.
I’ve had similar experiences seeing people wear shirts that said “Atticus” and “Atreyu.”

Scientology should be used as proof that Christianity is a hoax. If someone can convince a whole lot of people to fiercely believe that crap then getting people to believe in the resurrection is cake. Judas. That’s a messed up group of people.

This will be my last post here until April 16th. I’ve decided to take some time away from the internet for Lent. I needed to do it for a lot of reasons and Lent was as good an excuse as any. As Jim Rome would say, I’m going into the basement. I’ll see y’all in 40 days.

(Further detail/explanation)

Leif, are you sure you didn’t mean to link here?

Unfortunately, the only Faulkner I’ve read was The Sound and the Fury. Even less fortunate, I was a senior in high school and didn’t pay enough attention to how good it was.

The Jollyblogger has a good post on some discoveries he is making about scripture. I like this post, but I am not very excited about the idea that the “story” can be still be used as “principles.” Saying, for instance, that the Bible is a book where Proverbs tells me specifics of parenting is too far off center for me. It’s like a back door into the very thing that David has finally been let out of- a “grocery list” view of the Bible that stacks up verses to prove points and fix everything. The principle should be what Jesus said in Luke 24: It’s all about him. And what Hebrews 1 says: Jesus is the FINAL word.

My advice is to find the people with the most Christ-centered view of the story- the Biblical theology/Biblical narrative gang- and pick up with them. If the principles aren’t directly derived from the heart of the story (like Ephesians 5 for instance) then I’d be suspicious.

Here’s a good next step. All basic, but the perspective is right, and we won’t be teaching child psychology from Proverbs.

Mark down that article’s author (Janet Reitman) in your prayer journal. Seriously.

Jason Blair said:
That said, Darl does need to be taken out to the woodshed.

I don’t know if I agree with this, Jason. After all, it could be said that Darl was the only one who truly loved his mother—he was the only one to try to give her a decent send-off.

SW

Rolling Stone : Inside Scientology Must read profile of Scientology.

My dog really wants to go cover the TR convention. I’m tying him up in the back yard, but that dog is resourceful folks. Gotta keep an eye on him.

John H has a funny. MS redesigns the ipod.

If I were going to drop a load of cash on a tool I don’t need, this would be a good candidate: The IVP Ancient Christian Commentary for Accordance.

quote

Sarcasm is anger’s ugly cousin.

end-quote

“Take me to someone who can teach me html.”

Phillip: The Linux kernel is GNU software. At least, it is released under the GNU license. And for better or worse, it is all about the options. Plenty of commercial endeavors making use of Linux. Stallman is a scary, smelly hippy, but his contributions are valuable. And, thankfully, the GPL doesn’t give him control over the projects that use it.

Besides, he’s a pacifist. He wouldn’t kick my butt. He’d just write unfriendly letters about me.

Regarding software patents: The whole Amazon “One Click” fiasco should have been a wakeup call to the patent office. It needs to reform and refine itself to adapt to a changing landscape.

Josh: I love patents, but just as you are offended by the idea of a patent on math—and I agree completely—I’m offended by a patent on a software concept. Code is copyrighted, so that’s fine. But if someone says to me, hey, I saw this neat software where you could press a button to change this other widget, and it was cool, and I can duplicate that easily without ever even seeing the original application, and certainly not seeing the source code, then how on earth should that be patentable? I’m not even copying it exactly, just the rough idea.

The reward for having an idea first is that you can be first to market. But the state of the art isn’t advanced when people are prohibited from doing obvious things because someone filed a patent on an “idea.”

People lose their minds when it comes to software, making analogic representations to real-world examples which don’t apply at all. That’s how we end up with patents on mathematical formulas, or software algorithms. It’s crazy.

We have Kutless at Campus Ministry. The worship record is standard stuff, played pretty hard, if you like  that Switchfoot sound. Casting Crowns is unlistenable for me.

Xian Music: So I’m going to buy one—and only one—“Christian” album, and I’ve already got the Good Stuff, so at this point I’m trying to decide between Casting Crowns and Kutless. Are either one worth listening to?

Michael: I thought about linking that video a week or two ago, and decided it was too close to the PG-13 line for me. I’m glad you linked it though! The truly sad part is watching it and mentally reciting the names of the celebrities she’s mocking. “Oh, there’s Lindsay Lohan… Tori Spelling… Lohan again… Hilton again… Anna Nicole Smith!”

Hey, you never gave a post-mortem on your experience at the emergent church!

Kurt: I don’t think you can believe in options and use GNU software. If Stallman knew, he’d kick your butt. And blame Eric Raymond for it.

Richard - my bad. fast typing. not paying attention. (sort of like my errant confusion of our patron saint’s discussion group with that other blog we like to raz from time to time)

That said, Darl does need to be taken out to the woodshed. Only SCO gets more hate from geekdom than Microsoft.

Jason, it seems they’re both in September. The one in Rollag is steam and run by some real studly (and mechanically brilliant) dudes, the one in Dalton has a lot of steam entries too and is a lot of fun. Both great times in pretty dang good WestCentralMN weather…we’re just starting to get some crisp evenings by late August.

Now, now, Jason. Would I ever say that some poor chap should be dragged through the street and shot? Me? Remember, I’m the peaceful Canadian guy. I’m way too nice for such talk. Kurt is perpetrator.

I may have mentioned this before, but I play roto baseball with the author of this book. It tells the story of his conversion after Buckner’s error (you’ll have to read the book) and is also a trip down nostalgia lane. If you’ve ever loved the smell of a spring day on a baseball field or at a game you’ll like this book. Mike is also a first-class smack talker who would be deeply appreciated at the BHT.

The Rocket called up Jim Rome this morning after Rome told of Koby’s knock. Rome asked him if he was proud are ticked that Koby took him deep. Roger said both. Which I guess is why the next one was a little tight. You gotta love it when your old man says, “Sorry about that pitch inside. I was trying to change the view of the ball for you a little bit.”

Kent, the Thresherman’s Reunion sounds a lot like the Pioneer Power Association event that happens down near New Prague. A good friend of mine took me there one year – very cool “retro-tech.” Kind of makes me want to setup a mad scientists lab in the basement, except my wife might frown on it. When does your event happen?

Michael: Pink video – amen. I’ll be showing that one to Paula as soon as she gets home. (Her employer runs some kind of draconian tyrant net filter. She can’t even look at BHT!)

Richard: “Except for Darl McBride, who should be dragged naked through the streets and shot. Oh, and patent abusers too. Those folks need a hurtin’.” My brother, preach it to me. I admin a mostly-MS shop, with a few nice OSS tools thrown in. Why-oh-why is it so hard for some to accept that it’s perfectly responsible to run both OSS and proprietary software? Just use what works. (rant over)

I second that article on baseball, Michael. I think it could be a real corker.

How can anyone go outside today (at least here in KY) without thinking/smelling/feeling baseball?

I guess I’m out of the loop. I thought Cuba had been banned from this tournament, no? This changes things. They may well have the best team there or at least the best prepared team at this early stage of the season.

BTW – I still look forward to the upcoming IM essay on the soul soothing properties of Baseball, Michael. How about it?

Michael: That “Stupid Girls” video is awesome. I’d dare any TR blog out there to link to that.

Heh heh.

Phillip: I’m not sure where the open-source zealot image of me comes from. Honest, I didn’t grow this beard to join the ranks of Stallman and Alan Cox and all.

Open Source is cool. Commercial software is cool. Having options is cool. Everybody should just get along. Except for Darl McBride, who should be dragged naked through the streets and shot. Oh, and patent abusers too. Those folks need a hurtin’.

NHT Fellows: If the URL by your name is to a dead, defunct or non-functioning web site, update it or something.

Also, I am going to start nagging Kurt to update the Bios soon, so check out the “member profile” category and be sure you have something up to date there. If not, repost a fresh one.

Richard: I think it will be great to see the team fielded by Cuba and the DR. Baseball is baseball. It’s a soul thing with me.

I preached today, and when I finished, another staff member came up to do a drug education thing. Lots of ballons. Popping and going all over the room. I told Denise, I dream of Anglicanism, and this is what I get. Of course, I am the dinosaur.

I’ve requested the school buy me a video projector. Next….candles. ECOBI is here.

It’s both funny and sad to see a dad sail some chin music at the old kid old sock for going deep on him. But I take this as a small portent of an exciting and weird baseball season to come. I’m glad we’ve dipensed with the brief foosball interruption so we can get to sports. ducks under bar before Angus can storm in and smash him like a grape

Happy autograph hunting, Michael. We’re in the midst of a snowstorm here so thoughts of Baseball are comforting. I can’t wait – though I don’t yet have much interest in this WBC thingee. Do you?

I don’t think Roger can play in low “A,” no matter what. AA is probably as low as a major league can regress. What we are hearing is 1) Why didn’t Cinci buy the Rocket since Lex is one hour away? 2) Roger will be at any number of Legends games, so I will have my old Clemens baseball cards ready.

Michael: Any kid who can take the Rocket deep has to be exciting. I’m sure the old man didn’t groove one for him. Is there any buzz in Ky about the rumor that Roger might begin the season with the Legends?

Phillip: Do say “Hi!” to Bill, Leslie et all from us!

Content wise, Pink’s “Stupid Girls” is the shizzle several times over. (WARNING: Mature themes and scantily clad actresses involved, as well as killer satire on the current celeb chick culture.)

Seriously: Is distributing literature about the inerrancy of the Bible the same thing as evangelism?

Richard: Coby should be playing for the Lexington Legends this year. Whooot.

The Wright Brothers are a great case-in-point regarding pursuit of patents. They were obviously awesome innovators but after they achieved success they forsook innovation for protection and lost their ability to keep up, the technology was growing so quickly. This is not to say that they were losers by any means, but they did cause some studders in aviation development as others needed to design their way around the Brothers.

Overall I found it sad as I learned about them.

Michael: If you don’t use burnt palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday, it’s not really Ash Wednesday. So saith The Didache. JN

Christopher: For my own part, I release my photos and my blog on a Creative Commons license, and use a lot of Free software, and don’t mind it. But in that case, it’s a choice. What I don’t like is the idea that all software should (or must) be GNU-licensed. There’s a reason we originally had patents, and it’s to promote innovation. Inasmuch as our IP laws promote innovation, I like them. Where they shift from promoting innovation to solely protecting revenue streams, I don’t like them. And the laws are pretty darned shifted at this point.

Plus, Richard Stallman is smelly. It’s mostly his hair.

Anyway, I write a ton of PHP web software. And who knows? Someday I might release it under some sort of license. Probably a commercial one, though, in that case.

Richard: Bill Lovell says hi. I had lunch with him today, and he asked about you.

You gotta love this story. Roger Clemens pitched to his son Koby yesterday and the younger Clemens went yard on the first pitch from his dad. You can guess what followed. On Koby’s next at bat Dad came in high, tight and hard. I love this game!

I had a great talk with a niece one time after I corrected her and told her to call me “Uncle Kent”. I told her over and over that it’s not that she had to call me “Uncle Kent”, it’s that she gets to call me “Uncle Kent”. After a while she ‘got’ it. Nieces and nephews are pretty cool; I’ve around 34 or so (and I’m an only child).

That prompts me to add an adoption update…we are working our way through our “home study”; a process which somehow should be made a precursor to pregnancy. The financial aspects of the whole process are daunting, but I think I’m beginnning to see the light of some hope. Please continue to pray for us if you have been, or start praying if you haven’t.

Jason, every year there’s a ‘Thresherman’s Reunion’ in Dalton MN (you’d be welcome to stay with us) that is basically a small town of long-ago. They have old-style print shops, stores etc. along with the threshermen running steam tractors and such. There are some historic anachronisms as in any community celebration event, it’s awesome Americana. Laurie and I go just to dance to the old-timers playing their music. The best part is to talk to the old people that come to remember.

I can see it now. A room full of little ones saying, “ฟAwesome uncle Strongbad, um, Josh, D๓nde està¹?n sus pantalones?”

Richard, thanks. I’d still like to get my hands on the original and do a proper scan. I don’t mind the wrinkle lines being there from the original photograph, but I hate the lines from the cheap scanner I just used to put the pic online.

If anyone can run a press- an older offset style- OBI has a job waiting for you. We have a huge, beautiful print shop collecting dust.

I always wondered why it isn’t “grand-uncle.” We have grandparents before great-grandparents. Do uncles get to skip a rank??

Jason, I think that’s a great picture and the quality is just what it should be. Lovely. An artist at work.

For the press itself, I humbly sumbit this:

I’m told it’s an image of my Mom’s (great?) uncle Pete at an old printing press. Forgive the poor quality here – it’s a scan of a scan of a really old 3” picture. (One of my “someday” projects is to re-scan it and clean it up.)

Well, if the photos are of scenes in the pub, why not? (See our laddie to the left, there. It always looked to me that he was about to hold forth on the hypostatic union. Or take a nap. Can’t tell.)

Hey, what about theologically informed photography? Does anyone else around here know how to run a printing press? I do, or at least did back in ‘77-79. I imagine things have changed a bit since then.

I got to run this thing one time called a Heidleburg Windmill…cool old-style letterpress machine. Fascinating, complicated, intricate and so obviously German.

The BHT Press. I like it, Joel. We could even print the books on 100% recycled paper just to keep Josh happy :-)

After skimming an interesting paper by Peter Candler on Tolkien and Nietzsche, it dawned on me what the BHT needs: a press. Based on Dr. Candler’s allusion, I have an idea for the first monograph.

The thesis of the inaugural volume of the Boar’s Head Tavern Press should be: the proper site for theology (or theologically-informed thinking, speech and writing) is the public house, amongst convivial friendships nurtured around innately religious substances like beer and smoke. The Eagle and Child was a necessary condition for the production of Lord of the Rings and Narnia.

Nietzsche is the antithesis. He had few friends. He was a notorious teetotaller and ascetic always longing for “pure air.” He complained that there was too much beer in German thought (Twilight). Sub-thesis: Nietzsche was anti-christian because he was too religious, i.e., a fundamentalist.

Edit: Note to conscientious alcohol, tobacco and firearms objectors: please note that one can be a teetotaller without being Nietzschean. Nietzsche suffered from that overly finicky kind of gluttony that Lewis nailed in Screwtape. Just be careful, that’s all I would say. :-)

Michael, HIPPA does not work that way. Minors and individuals under guardianship cannot keep information from their parents or guardians. HIPPA is built upon guardianship and parental law, it does not supplant it.

Christopher: No! Sorry, I was being sarcastic—a rather stuck state of mind for me. I just think “coolchurch” is not only a stupid name for a website, its further evidence that our desire to be “relevant” has outweighed our love. There’s is amazing beauty and diversity existing in churches that aren’t “COOL’ as defined by ?????.

Commentaries: Divine Comedy at the Cineplex – Christianity Today Movies Craig Detweiler on comedy, theology and the movies.

The idea that comedy is based upon our broken condition is quite appealling to me. C.S. Lewis has some very interesting comments on humor in Screwtape, and I often thought he was suggesting the same thing. While there is laughter in heaven, I think it is the joyful laughter or delight, but also the laughter that is born of redemption.

I’m preparing the Ash Wednesday service at church. I always get cramped on where to find good ashes. We don’t burn palms from the previous year, so I have to make do.

Van Til wants to do some live blogging from a certain conference, but I am not inclined to let him loose. But who knows. The dog has fans, and I am weak.

Fred Craddock on Lent.

Denise tells me that HIPPA prevents parents from knowing the medical procedures performed on minor children unless the child gives permission. Anyone know the specifics?

We continue to have a number of critical personel needs at OBI: Auto mechanic, welding teacher, middle school history teacher, print shop pressman. Pray or visit www.oneidaschool.org for more information.

Phillip, why, do you not like the FSF and OSI? What area of programming do you primarily do?

Dennis, you go to John’s (the gink) church?
Aaron, was Endymion cancelled Saturday because of the rain? My family told me that it was pretty bad around 2 (when Endymion “starts). i remember eight years ago, when i was in high school, marching in Endymion. That is a pain. We were in the middle section (i think it was after float 56) and had to be at the staging grounds (Delgado CC) by 12 Noon. We then waited an hour and a half before the parade moved enough for us to get in line. This was before they extended the parade route by a half mile (so, late 90s) and it was still 12.6 miles. We finished the route exiting the Superdome (where the ball is normally held) at 1 am. At least i wasn’t in the band, though, as they had to get up early Sunday to march in Carrolton. We never marched in Bacchus, but we were the first group for Harry Connick, Jr’s organisation (Orpheus). Their ball is definitely nicer than Endymion, if just for the fact that it’s not as crowded and has a cleaner feel to it. Drunk, rich people at Mardi Gras balls are funny. So, did you go to Zulu today and get your hand-painted coconut handed to you as they can no longer throw them? Did you stay for Rex?

As a writer and software developer, I most definitely have an interest in this aspect of IP law, though I’m generally ostensibly disgusted by it, and this is no exception. I don’t blame the courts; I think they’re probably within bounds in applying the laws as they ostensibly are. I blame congress, for making laws in response to campaign donations rather than the benefit to society that IP laws are ostensibly supposed to provide.

Of course, I’m not an “information wants to be free” guy, either; that’s Kurt’s ostensible role. I just think that information wants to be cheap. :-)

On Passover we dip the Karpas (vegetable) which represents life into the salted water which represents the tears of the enslaved Jewish people. My memory is telling me that the salt also represents the Messiah, but I can’t remember all of the connections, it seemed to have somthing to do with the covenant.

It would probably be best to forget the Jewish stuff and dig into 2000 years of church history to tell us what we need to know – maybe it has something to do with ‘Lent’, I’m sure NTW would concur. (jn)

Joel, you’re correct. I was looking at it from the “how do we get salty” POV. That’s what I get for firing off a rapid response. 8-)

As for being salt: If we are to be preservatives, then I’ll echo what Mark said. If we are seasoning, perhaps our contributions to art, culture, society, etc., season the world to enhance it with some greater sense of a pre-fallen state.

Said another way, if the world were an uncooked meat pie, without Christians (made to be salt by Jesus), it would be a flavorless, spoiling mess. With Christians, it becomes seasoned and preserved, such that when God bakes it (or puts it to rights in NT Wright’s terms) it comes out perfect.

OK, that’s lame. I’m just on a food kick. It’s too close to lunch time.

“See, the Gospel is about using low-flush toilets and driving economy cars.”

You don’t agree, Josh? Huh. I’m shocked.

You’ll have to take my word for it: I’m not asking about salt with an agenda in mind. It was the subject of the sermon and some points were made that got me curious about how salt figures into the Scriptures as a whole. Open-ended, non-Green, non-deceptive questions. I get your point about the cultural angle, but I still think it’s curious that grain offerings also had to be salted. That seems…what? Fanciful? Imprudent? Extravagant?

Quick interjections. Jason, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, I need more than your first take on #2. It seems that insofar as we are salt, we are for the world (how we “get salty” is another issue). If it is as a preservative, then the imagery suggests that we live in the world in order to counteract or retard the “natural” process of rotting. [Oops, Mark has just made this point.] Josh, I think it’s the Leviticus text that describes even the grain offerings being salted. So there’s something more than functional to the salt in the covenant of salt.

I think another aspect of salt is that a Christian presence in society helps keep things in the world from being as bad as they could be. Retarding spoilage, etc.

I attended yesterday’s forum sponsored by the local Federalist Society chapter of students at UK’s College of Law on the issue of teaching intelligent design. One of my colleagues from the philosophy department, Professor Brandon Look, took the negative position that ID is bad science, bad philosophy and bad religion, and thus shouldn’t be taught in public schools as science. Professor Paul Salamanca, a legal conservative, offered a legal and sociological perspective. More »« Less

Joel, this is off the cuff, so I apologize in advance if this isn’t what you’re looking for:

1. Do you understand the salt to be a preservative or a seasoning?

Both. As a seasoning, salt doesn’t necessarily have its own flavor, unless it’s the kind with a high mineral content, or a kind of sea salt, where the impurities give it a “flavor.” Otherwise, when a food is not over-salted, its flavor is enhanced by the salt rather than seasoned. (Proper use of salt can reveal the difference between a cook and a chef.) As a preservative, salt removes the water from a food (typically meat), making the resulting environment inhospitable to bacteria. For all this, I thank God for the wisdom of Alton Brown, my culinary hero, and the only one who makes Food TV watchable.

2. If a preservative, what are we preserving and how do preserve it?

Food – preserve meat. Spirit – preserve ourselves from the decay of sin. Be salted by the Word of God.

3. If a seasoning, what are we seasoning and how do we season it?

Food – well, everything. Spirit – As we are saturated/preserved by the Word, our lives are seasoned by wisdom and truth. We, then, act as seasoning and preservation to those who do not have truth by sharing what we have.

4. What does it mean that “everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49)? How, if at all, is it connected with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew?

In the larger context of Mark 38-49, we’re being called to be purged of our sin. The salt as spiritual seasoning/preservation works here, too. However, I’ll defer to Michael on this one, as he’s the Mark scholar. Otherwise, here’s the study note from the NET Bible:

The statement everyone will be salted with fire is difficult to interpret. It may be a reference to (1) unbelievers who enter hell as punishment for rejection of Jesus, indicating that just as salt preserves so they will be preserved in their punishment in hell forever; (2) Christians who experience suffering in this world because of their attachment to Christ; (3) any person who experiences suffering in a way appropriate to their relationship to Jesus. For believers this means the suffering of purification, and for unbelievers it means hell, i.e., eternal torment.

5. What does the “salt of the covenant” or “covenant of salt” (Lev 2:12; Num 18:19, 2 Chron 13:5) have to do with newer testament saltiness, if anything?

Sorry, I’m off the cuff and at work, so I can’t spend too much time here. (This could make for a fun devotion, though.)

6. Leaven was not permitted on the altar, whereas salt was required. Yeast is a fermenter; salt is a preserver. Significance?

Hmm. I’m just throwing this out – feel free to disagree or correct: fermentation as the image of a small but negative influence that affects the whole seen as corruption of the original vs. salt as the image of preservation affecting the whole by destroying the corrupting influence?

7. Despite these positive senses of salt and saltiness, there are the several instances in which salt indicates some malediction, e.g., Lot’s wife. So is salt merely a flexible metaphor, or is there more to it than that?

Not sure – but at least with food, too much salt ruins the meal. I’m not sure that’s where the story with Lot’s wife is going, though. There were salt pillars all around the area where Lot’s wife was destroyed, so maybe the image is that she died and returned to the dust of the earth for her disobedience. (?)

Any thoughts on salt?

Your Church sucks! My church is one of the CoolChurches!

Between Two Worlds: C.S. Lewis Audio HT to Justin Taylor

1 Corinthians 9:23-27  23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.  24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Our church has a bulk subscription to the Lifeway magazine, Deacon. Man, you’ve got to check out the cover of the latest issue that just came in the mail. Here it is.

The issue is entitled “Success” and the picture says it all. By the way, the articles are: “9 Measures of Success”, “Getting the Pastor and Staff You Want”, “Measuring Financial Success”, and “Finding God’s Strength.” I did a heavy skim through the magazine and, no, the cover photo is apparently not meant to be a joke. There is a little piece from Howard Dayton on money in which he mentions that greed is bad, but that only makes the cover that much more interesting.

Reminds me of Os Guinness’ story about a professor of his at Oxford telling him in the 70’s that “in 20 years the most materialistic Christians on earth will be fundamentalists.”

Sad. I’m wondering how this issue of Deacon will go over among Christians in, say, Sudan.

Ok, I’m getting off the soapbox now.

Our congregation doesn’t observe Lent as such but I do seek to lead them into the season by having the regular preaching of the cross become more focused on the Passion and Crucifixion as we move toward Good Friday.

Personally I am planning on observing Lent this year in the following ways…

1) A drastic cutting back on computer time. No reading the news online. No surfing. No following of links sent by friends. Keep up with BHT and a few other blogs for one hour on Monday morning (my off day)

2) Cook several times a week. My wife is a wonderful cook who delights us daily. But I should serve her in this way also and will look upon it as a Lenten discipline for the next six weeks. I may combine this with reading Capon’s Supper of the Lamb. Cooking food beats giving up food if you ask me :-)

3) Take longer scripture & prayer walks, daily. Praying through the book of Hebrews as I walk.

4) Pastoral development. Seek to be very deliberate in living out the “new” pastoral priorities that I and the other church leaders are working on – these are not really new but they are clarified and more deliberately organised around the priorities of proclamation, pastoral care and missionary bridge-building.
I think this should all be sufficiently “hard” and edifying as Lenten disciplines

Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog: The Da Vinci Code’s Sources: Did Dan Brown Really Borrow From Holy Blood, Holy Grail? | Carl E. Olson

Throwing the baby out with the bath water

Lent saved me. Actually God used Lent to get my attention and focus on Him. In 1996 I knew I was living far from God. Something was stirring within me and Lent was soon approaching. In my dorm room I made a bargain with God. I laugh at myself now that I was trying to bargain with God but it was an honest and sincere effort on my part. I prayed “God I have been living far from you. I will dedicate this season of Lent to you. Just take my life over.” What is awesome is that he did and I have not turned back since. I grew up in the PCUSA. We recognized and somewhat followed the liturgical calendar. Now it makes me sick because every year I have to explain to my Baptist friends what Lent is. Michael, Wyman and other Baptist can correct me if I am wrong but I believe us Baptist’s have made too much of an effort to rid ourselves of the Christian calendar because we want to distance ourselves from Catholicism.
Lent is a great time to focus, fast, reflect, sacrifice, and renew our commitment to Christ.

Brandon: What a great question. Seriously.

This is only my second year seriously observing Lent, so I may not be the most qualified person to answer your question. Nonetheless, here are some things that I would recommend:

1. Do whatever your church is doing. Many churches have traditional fasts that are recommended during Lent, so keep that. Alternately, your church may promote a particular kind of observance or fast during Lent. By doing this you keep in touch with your church community and make Lent an exercise in communal repentance rather than a solo run.


2. Do what your pastor recommends. Talk to him about your desire to observe Lent , and take your advice.


3. Do something difficult. The traditional Lenten fast (total abstinence from meat, dairy, and eggs) is traditional because it’s so hard. If you’re not going to do the strict, traditional fast (which most people, including me, don’t), then choose something that will challenge you just as deeply.


4. Don’t forget what the point is. Fasting is not an end in itself, but a way to “buffet the body” and become more obedient to Christ. Peter Leithard posted two thoughts on Lent this weekend that you should read: Pre-Lent and Exhortation.

Michael: As I was typing the word “Celebrate”, I knew that wasn’t the word I wanted, but I used it still. Alas, I should have used a different word!