One church asked their community to define value and ended up painting a bridge in the park.

I’m torn. I find myself agreeing primarily with Josh’s kids are kids argument, though I understand the outrage over a teacher facing criminal charges for academic efforts inside a classroom. I never did read the original story, so I’m going entirely on big-picture stuff. I would say that if the kids in question are teenagers, my reaction is probably much different than if they’re, say, nine. (My oldest child is nine.) The criminal charges stuff also seems a bit overwrought for a “mere” reading assignment, but then again, I don’t know the book that was assigned. There are definitely teachers and school districts pushing books I consider inappropriate at children I consider much too young for them, though I don’t think it’s widespread.
The thing is, in my teens I read all sorts of books that would drive the average Christian home educator insane, and while one or two of them might have been unwise (like Fear of Flying when I was 14 or so), I’m generally in favor of making just about anything available to my kids in their teens as well. Of course, I’m their father, and I can decide that (assuming my wife buys in), while having a teacher—who is clearly not as heavily invested in my child’s life as I am, no matter how passionate the teacher—making that decision would be uncomfortable at least.

Maybe this is why we educated our children at home—so I can expose them to a diverse range of stuff without worrying about overly-anxious parents screwing things up! :-)

Speaking of homosexuality…my wife and I were watching TV and a commercial announcing the teams for the next Amazing Race aired. My wife heard “lesbian ministers” and I heard “Wesleyan ministers” (I was farther from the TV). She was right.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports on Darrin Patrick’s talk at Covenant.

Josh: thanks for the “minors are minors” argument; it’s why we finally decided to homeschool our son, despite misgivings, and despite him having had two magnificent public school teachers in 1st and 2nd grade. One of the experiences that helped me along: when my wife and I objected to a movie that was shown, school officials wanted us to write out our objections to the content of the movie. Having the bloggers’ flaw of being easily drawn into epistolary argument I was ready to jump right in, when I realized: I don’t care whether these people agree with me. I want to raise my own son.

Leopard lives and works. Took me about 90 minutes.

Off to see Elizabeth today. We haven’t been in a movie theater since I joined Netflix.

One of my mentors and heroes is a man named Henry Walters. He came to OBI from many years as a pastor and public school administrator. His wife passed away here, and he stayed on teaching and eventually serving as principal. He retired and continued working with students in a state placement facility as a chaplain. He’s a brilliant, eclectic, quick-witted, jazz-loving, book-reading combination of Socrates, Steve Brown and Mike Yaconelli. Many of the men (and many, many of our male students/graduates) have been befriended and mentored by Henry and love him dearly. This past week he had a massive stroke, is paralyzed and has lost his speech. He’s in a rehab center in Lexington and several of us hope to see him soon. I can only imagine what it must be like to be trapped inside a body that cannot move or communicate. Pray for Henry, his family, and those caring for him. He gave us many great years and we love him.

At OBI, this has been a week that we’ll be talking about for many years to come. Events planned and unplanned came together, and our school community lost- through expulsion- more students in 4 days than we usually lose in half the year. Very, very painful. Lots of tears. But also lots of blessings as I’ve seen some amazing examples of repentance, forgiveness and love. One thing that remains with me is what a toxic culture so many of our students have absorbed. What goes in does come out, and it’s sad. Pray for me this weekend as I preach twice to the students and try to encourage them. Everyone lost friends and it’s hard to grieve and then move on, but that is what needs to happen. So please pray again.

Richard: I have many thoughts on that video. The main one is this: Any decent classroom teacher should work on the assumption that education can be promoted in classes, but it happens spontaneously, at moments in, but (mostly) outside of, class, in ways that transcend the entire process of formal school. Any of us with an education know this. It is a combination of teachers, books, moments, anger, reason, relationships, discoveries, eurekas and so on. School takes up too much time- I totally agree with that- but anyone who thinks “school=education” is in the dark.

If you haven’t read Half-Blood Prince, don’t click on “more.” More »« Less

If you haven’t read all of the Harry Potter books, especially The Half Blood Prince, don’t click on “More”. More »« Less

Tom, I agree. This is Rita Skeeter at her worst. The media has been ridiculous with this, acting as though Rowling strutted out on stage for the purpose of saying, “Dumbledore is gay.” When she talked specifically about the books’ Christian content, only mtv reported it. When she said, “I’ve always thought of Dumbledore as gay,” it was on all the major news sites that night, and it was a media explosion the next day.

The conversation at “The Dumbledore Dialogue” actually isn’t about Dumbledore or the books at all. It’s a conversation about Christians and homosexuals in our culture that resulted from the initial “Dumbledore is gay” statement.

I’ll be totally honest here. I’m sick of the “Dumbledore is gay” stuff. Rowling also discussed the Christian symbolism in the Harry Potter books, but nobody’s talking about that. It’s all “gay, gay, gay, gay” like that’s the only thing that matters. To me it just shows, once again, the idiocy of pop culture. I didn’t see Dumbledore participating in any sexual activity, gay or otherwise, so it’s really irrelevant. The Christian symbolism, on the other hand, is right there in the books, but nobody gives a crap. I’m tired of it and I’m done with it.

The Dumbledore Dialogue. 

If anyone thinks I’ve absolutely lost my mind, let me know.  Otherwise, over the next several weeks, I’d appreciate any and all constructive criticism on how this all plays out.

My initial post will go up tomorrow night, and then I’ll start posting at the beginning of next week.

Preachers and teachers, listen up!

While I grant that there’s more than a bit of self-indulgent whining in this video I think that the students did a good job of telling us a bit about themselves and what their lives are like. These are the people we have to teach. These are the people we have to proclaim the Gospel to. What’s the best way of doing that? I’m not at all into technology as a means of proclaiming the Good News. But how do we communicate to this generation? What do you think?

I know the Left Behind video game is old news, but I saw a copy for the first time today and read the box.  You have the option of playing as Tribulation Force or the forces of the AntiChrist.  I know that this is the Christian alternative to evil video games and all that, but isn’t being a minion of the AntiChrist worse than being a space mercenary or an orc?

Josh, I totally agree.  After three years with Jesus, grandeur is not the issue.  The priorities for me would be:

• A kickin’ band, and lots of emotion in the worship


• An Aggressive compassion that helps the poor in the community and around the world


• racial diversity


• and the best prospects for organizing the local church around me so I could be the “rock star” and center of attention. 

If I’d spent three years with Jesus, which club has the greatest grandeur would be the absolute least of my concerns. No JN.

Leif, I absolutely, unequivocally disagree that it should be up to the teachers to decide what minors are able to handle, and that if the parents don’t like it, the burden on them is to prove that what the teacher is doing is inappropriate. That’s why minors are minors and why your idea essentially transfers the powers and rights of the legal guardian to the teacher. To the contrary, any time the teacher is doing something that may be over the bounds of his rights as the non-guardian, he should do what he has to do in any other situation involving the kids: check with the parents. Teachers can’t even put the kids on the bus and take them to the museum without getting the parental OK; why should assigning reading material with explicit depictions of necrophilia be any different? Textual descriptions of sex acts are less subversive and dangerous than riding a bus or playing basketball? When education so much as thinks about giving the appearance of maybe requiring the educator to sort of step into territory exclusively reserved to the legal guardian, we always require the parental OK a priori rather than putting the burden on the parents of constantly monitoring the teacher’s activities and proving to some higher authority he’s overstepped his bounds.

Where I’m coming from is minors are minors are minors. In that context, it doesn’t matter why some non-guardian thinks they should be the final arbiter over what a particular minor can and can’t do. It doesn’t matter if it’s for the pursuit of truth and beauty and educational exploration or if it’s just to make a quick buck. Minors are people who legally aren’t allowed to make significant decisions for themselves, but their guardians can. Any time you start moving that power away from the guardians and to anyone who claims a right to on purely ideological grounds, you’re on shaky, dangerous territory. You’re an educator, so you have a strong bias toward trusting teachers to make these decisions without prior parental consent…but what if you were a casino boat manager? What if you ran a sex shop? Loan shark?

Doesn’t matter at all whether it was built by slave trade money, mafia money, or abortion industry money.  Again, I think it is human nature to think that if God is going to be represented by anyone it would be royalty, internationally recognized political power etc.  That’s why Jesus was born in a great palace, lived a rich care free life, and after receiving laurels of honor, crowns and diadems with gem stones, and the adoration of all, he was beamed back up to heaven….  where He could inspire us all to improve ourselves and live our best life now…

So on the Catholic side, we have buildings that represent the selling of Jesus for cash. And on the “Protestant” side, we have renovated basketball arenas that represent the selling (a really watered down version) of Jesus for cash – by a guy who has better teeth and hair than the Pope.

How about we all build some really nice buildings somewhere just because they’re really nice?

At least there’s the Hagia Sophia. Oh wait, a whole different group took that one over. Crap.

Well, given that it’s a bunch of ex-Calvinists joining the RCC with reasons like “the mystique of the buildings,” and it’s a bunch of ex-Catholic Hispanics down at the Pentecostal store front, and a bunch of twenty-somethings of all varieties turning black rooms into emerging churches, I think we’re not going to see the era of the Cathedral much longer unless Joel becomes pope of a resurgent, formerly Presbyterian wing of the RCC.

Since the topic has come up again (thanks, Josh!), I’ll something: I spent the weekend in Boston a couple of weeks ago, and I shot ~1000 photos, many of which were of churches. However they were financed (and I’m more or less with Josh there), whatever value they might or might not have, I observed a few things about churches in Woonsocket, RI, and Boston, MA.

The biggest, most beautiful church buildings were either Roman Catholic or Episcopal. The ugliest, most run-down church buildings tended to be pentecostal. I saw a couple of really nice Baptist buildings, and a variety of Catholic but non-Roman buildings.

As a complete outsider, I could certainly understand why people would feel drawn to the group that could build such grand buildings, or feel repulsed by the idea of leaving one to hang out in a run-down rat-hole. Of course, it should be more complicated than that, because most of the RCC buildings were largely empty, one even for sale, but I suspect that has more to do with the activities of the arch-diocese of Boston vis-a-vis molested kids than anything else.

Should it be why people ignore the protestants? Of course not. But is it? I see how it could be. In some areas, at least.

This is way late, sorry, but grad school is kicking my butt. I wanted to just point out to Bob Myers that all that beautiful stuff in Vatican City was largely built in the Renaissance and funded by indulgences, taxes, and the spoils of war. The money hardly came from the average European’s idealistic love of great art or strong desire to see the churches in Europe beautified for the sake of God’s glory. So no, the Vatican doesn’t give me “Catholic envy” in the slightest once I realize where it came from. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the building of St Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, there might not have been a Reformation at all.

I know this is way delayed, but it’s kind of a pet peeve of mine to hear people talk about the beauty and grandeur of Vatican City as though it were some kind of evidence that Catholics are more godly with their money than Protestants when in fact it is a lasting testament to the willingness of the Renaissance-era popes to sell Jesus for cash.

I have no idea how much of Rome’s cash today comes from sales rather than freewill offerings.  I suspect that selling candles and Masses is not a neglibible part of Rome’s income.

Oh what a difference 50 years makes.

• William Willimon, former chaplain at Duke and now a United Methodist bishop, tells about the time he invited Jerry Falwell to speak. He did it on a dare, not expecting Falwell to accept. But Falwell showed up with bells on, so to speak. The Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered Alliance demanded Willimon be fired for inviting a man infamous for his “closed-minded, racist, homophobic, self-righteous, incendiary rhetoric.”

On the appointed evening, the student crowd was baited for bear. One of the first questions was, “How many African Americans do you have at your Liberty University?” “Young lady,” said Falwell, you could not have asked a question that hurts me more deeply.” He went on about how hard he had worked over the years to recruit minority students and how he regularly discussed the matter with Coretta Scott King. “She told me not to be so consumed with this problem. But I can’t help myself.” He finally allowed that only 12 percent of the students at Liberty are African Americans.

Then he asked, “Do you know, by the way, how many African Americans are enrolled at Duke?” No response. Falwell said, “I’ll tell you. Six percent. Six percent! Your endowment is 50 times bigger than ours. You have had years to work on this issue (though admittedly you spent half of your life as a racially segregated school). In fact, I struggled with whether the Lord wanted me to come here tonight to a school that, though you have been given great gifts, has such a poor record of minority enrollment. I pray that you will let the Lord help you do better in this area.”

Willimon writes of the students, “They were putty in this Baptist’s hands. When Jerry finally finished his avuncular banter, he received a warm ovation. ‘This man’s no fool,’ I thought to myself.”

As Long As They Spell Our Names Right by Richard John Neuhaus
Copyright© 2007 First Things (November 2007).

Just to show you that I can laugh even when the leader of my own theological home team is lampooned, let me be the one to link to Brant on Piper on manliness and preaching.  Hilarious.

Jason: Thanks for the tip re Norton. I suspected that might be the culprit.

I’ve now managed to restore my sanity by booting into Puppy Linux from a USB key. (Not that I’m a hopeless geek or anything…)

This morning, I resisted the Leopard temptation by spending exactly what Leopard costs on getting rid of more debt.

I don’t always have that sort of wise presence of mind (usually don’t, actually), so I went for it while I could.

I want to go (watch the video). But the best I can do is to re-read Screwtape over the weekend. Oh, well!

I’ve already got a Family Pack of Leopard on the way, but I’m not going to upgrade tonight. Not because I’m concerned some of my apps might not work properly afterward, though that’s possible, but because I don’t want to take the time right before my wife and kids return from a long vacation tomorrow.

Next weekend, maybe.

It does look impressive.

Kurt is bound to love this.

Found through “John”.

Leopard today…I’m going to have to spend the day convincing myself that I have enough money for that.  I should NOT have watched the guided tour at apple.com.

Michael, count me in on that Lexington BHT-3D.  And if you (or any of you other fine BHT’ers or lurkers) happen to be in Lexington in November, you can come see me make an ass of myself in real life (instead of just here in the typed world):

November 15-17, 8pm, Lexington Downtown Arts Center: I am Ralph Waldo Emerson in “The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,” a surprisingly entertaining play.

November 30, 2pm, Bluegrass Community and Technical College Library:  I will be reading some of my original writing.  Come see why no one will publish me!  Eat standard refreshments!  Watch the enrapt faces of the crowd (as they make grocery lists in their heads and wonder why Jim Nicholson quit Facebook)!

Interesting: In promoting Tim Challies’ new book, Adrian Warnock takes a two paragraph bite out of Phil Johnson’s contention that Willow Creek has a lot more to do than just repent of bad programs.

Leopard arrives today. School play tonight. Preaching three times before Monday. I want a BHT 3-D in Lexington.

I’ll pass on the Huckabee bandwagon. Kucinich, on the other hand, appeals to my demographic. The big black triangular craft have signaled their support for DK. That’s good enough for me!

The truth about the Druids.

We have several correctional facilities in our immediate are and several more downstate.  Given our local economy, the facilities are often seen as an inevitable career move for young and older men alike in this area.  We have COs in our church, in my wife’s family, and have more church members and family investigating it.  Although I understand how these guys feel drawn to this job, I shudder every time one of them jumps. From what I have seen, it is a life-sucking, joy-killing job.  The moment you enter, you begin counting the days until you retire.  I hate to see it.