Archive for January, 2007

The Blind Side

Published
by
Mike
on January 17, 2007
in Books, Salt and Light and sports
. 75 Comments

Which of the following, on average, would you guess is the second highest paid position in football (behind the QB)?

a) Wide receiver
b) Left tackle
c) Running back
d) Middle linebacker

The answer is (b): the second highest paid position in the NFL is the left tackle. Why?

1. Because of Bill Walsh. You could say, more generally, the West Coast Offense. But there were two versions of the West Coast Offense: one went deep and the other (Walsh’s version) went wide. Spread out the field. Send four or five receivers out for shorter passes, raising your completion percentage and extending the run after the catch. Sending more people out, however, left the quarterback more vulnerable.

2. Because of rule changes in 1978. No longer could a cornerback “bump-and-run” with a receiver all the way down the field. Now he’s limited to five yards. And offensive linemen, who formerly were forced to block looking like clothes hangers, were suddenly allowed to use their hands.

3. Because of Lawrence Taylor. If you still wince when you hear the name “Joe Theismann,” then you’re probably a football fan. Taylor was a QB-destroying machine. The new profile for the blind side pass rusher became that athlete who is large, fast, and violent. In other words, someone not easily blocked by a running back.

Michael Lewis’s The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game tells the story of why the left tackle, the person who guards the blind side of the quarterback from the Lawrence Taylors of the world, has become such a valuable position.

The new profile for an NFL left tackle is what Lewis says the scouts call “a freak of nature.” He’s tall (6′4″), big (320+), quick, and has a wide butt, long arms and big hands. Think Orlando Pace or Jonathan Ogden.

Like Michael Oher, now a left tackle for Ole Miss. Much of this excellent book tells his story.

It’s the story of Memphis — a city with an invisible Berlin Wall between white and black. Lewis talks about the Christian academies that sprang up quickly with forced integration so wealthy white children wouldn’t have to go to school with black children. He talks about the pilgrimage east — as far away from the problems of West Memphis as possible.

But this story is specifically told through one young man: Michael Oher. He was a child who seemed to have no hope.

He was one of ten children of a crack cocaine-addicted mother. At times they had no shelter. When asked what he remembers about his first years of life, Michael says: “Going for days having to drink water to get full. Going to other people’s houses and asking for something to eat. Sleeping outside. The mosquitoes.”

For a few years they lived in Hurt Village — a community of about 1000 with no — count them, ZERO — two-parent families. Seventy-five percent of the adults there had some mental illness. Drug lords waited with crack in hand at the first of the month when welfare checks arrived in the mail.

By the time he was 15, Michael Oher hadn’t been to school much. He’d been tested, and his IQ came out to be 80.

But all that changed. I’ll leave the details for you to enjoy the book. But the short story is this: he fell victim to the love and nurture of one wealthy, white family in East Memphis. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy (a former basketball player and a former cheerleader at Ole Miss) welcomed him into their family. He suddenly had a family, including a sister his age and a younger brother. He had a school to attend — Briarcrest Christian School. He had clothes and food. His IQ rose from 80 to 110.

Whether you’re a football fan or not, you’ll love the chapters on the recruiting of Michael Oher. Every college coach in the country began salivating when he saw tapes of Oher treating large opponents as if they weren’t there. In one game Briarcrest played, every offensive play consisted of giving the ball to the running back and telling him to stay behind Oher’s butt until he heard a whistle. They destroyed their opponent on that one play.

This is a hard book because of the despair. You realize that most people in the Hurt Villages of our inner cities don’t have a Tuohy family to help them.

But it’s also an inspiring read because this one family — this one white, wealthy, Evangelical family — brought a monstrous kid into their lives before anyone knew he had athletic super-talent. He was lost, and Leigh Anne Tuohy was going to care for him.

Michael Oher became what Lewis calls “a freak of nurture.”

XLI

Published
by
Mike
on January 16, 2007
in sports
. 41 Comments

I know you’re waiting for my predictions before you place your office bets:

Colts over Patriots
Bears over Saints

Bears over Colts

That would be a great Super Bowl for us (though we’re Colts fans), with Danieal Manning from ACU playing safety for the Bears (along with Cedric Benson from our district and from UT) and with Dominic Rhodes from Abilene Cooper at running back for the Colts.

By the way, is the new star of television advertising Peyton Manning? This is still one of my all-time favorites.

(Footnote: Holton, a junior at AHS and one of my main sources of sports info [I think he could “stump the Schwab”] tells me I’m way off. He says the Saints will beat the Patriots in XLI. What do you think?)

Christian Evidences

Published
by
Mike
on January 15, 2007
in Books and faith
. 92 Comments

If I was going to argue the position of atheism, I’d argue about like Sam Harris did. I’d speak about these things:

1. A sense that something is very wrong with this world — something that is hard to mesh with a believe in a loving, all-powerful God. I’d ask why this God doesn’t protect his people better. (How hard would it be to keep an SUV full of teenagers who are returning from a youth rally from turning over on I-20? How difficult would it be to answer the prayer of thousands of believers asking for a 5-year-old with cancer to be healed?)

2. A conviction that the personal testimonies aren’t enough. The same testimonies to healing, answered prayer, and changed lives have come from Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Mormonism, etc. People who believe dramatically different things have offered witness to the amazing things they’ve seen their God do.

3. An observation that people have continued to be willing to kill each other over their holy books. Partly, this is saying that the faith doesn’t seem to “work.” While we might say that’s just talking about the inconsistencies of the people of faith rather than of the faith itself, Jesus said, “By your love they will know you’re my disciples.” Apparently, if they live with grudges, bitterness, and murderous intent, it’s fair enough to assume they’re not Jesus’ disciples.

4. A feeling that the holy books of the various religions have serious problems. Each religion finds serious flaws in the holy books of the other religions. Few are able to back off and say that they all are problematic. (E.g., just pointing out that the OT has a higher moral than, say, the Babylonians, doesn’t really answer all the questions about killing teens who talk back and about taking women as personal spoils of war.)

All right, you may be wondering. Has Mike converted?

Nope. But I’ve always had a deep appreciation for serious struggles of faith. Several people introduced me to an approach to Christian evidences of the EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT variety when I was in college. Shortly after I graduated, I started a Bible study with university students at UNC-Wilmington who were searching for faith. It quickly became clear that the EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT perspective only demands a verdict if you already believe. (There is, of course, some value to that.)

First, let me mention a couple books I read over the holidays that I think help us think through Christian apologetics in our current world context. One is Greg Boyd’s Letters From a Skeptic. The book contains a series of letters that Boyd exchanged with his father, Edward Boyd, who was an unbeliever.

In the preface Greg Boyd writes: “Exceptionally intelligent, intensely skeptical, very strong-willed, and 70 years old — could a more unlikely candidate for conversion be found than my father? He had given me little grounds for hope.”

The letters from the dad ask the good, tough questions; the letters from the son are honest and hopeful.

The last letter in the book says:

Dear Greg:

Well, as I told you over the phone, I finally “took the leap.” Hallelujah! As I sit here and read over all of our correspondence, I still can’t believe how I’ve changed from a smart-ass-know-it-all to an actual believer! Jeanne can’t believe it either! It’s probably even confused the hell out of our dog! The angels whom you say rejoice over this sort of thing are probably giving each other high-fives! . . .

As you know, I’ve still got a number of questions, and I’m sure we’ll continue to hash these out. But my disposition has completely changed. I’m asking them no longer as a skeptic, but as a believer. You don’t need to end your letters “with hope” any longer. . . .

Lots of love, with faith (!)

Dad

The other book is Alister McGrath’s brief (123 pages) Glimpsing the Face of God: The Search for Meaning in the Universe. It’s the kind of book that I’d be glad to put in the hands of those university students whose rental house I met in weekly so many years ago.

Here are a couple of my conclusions about Christian evidences:

1. My central arguments for faith aren’t cosmological (”nothing comes from nothing”), teleiological (”there’s an intricately designed watch, so there must be a watch-maker”), moral (”why does everyone agree that Hitler was evil?”), or ontological (”I can imagine that there is a God . . . so there must be a God”). I begin as a Christ-follower. I am a believer in the story of Jesus Christ. That’s where I begin. I believe because I have committed myself to this one who came from God “to put the world to rights” (as N. T. Wright would say it). So I’m inviting others to consider that possibility with me. My opening move is one of story. Within the consideration of that story, the other traditional Christian evidences find their value.

2. The whole EVIDENCE THAT DEMANDS A VERDICT doesn’t ring true for many seekers. If there were evidence that DEMANDS a decision, they’d already believe. Some are dishonest, of course, but many are not. Many are genuine truth-seekers. I prefer to speak about clues. There are footprints in the sand. We’re trying to figure out the story behind those footprints.

“What if nature is studded with clues to our true meaning and destiny, and fingerprinted with the presence of God? This book is an exploration of this fascinating possibility.” (McGrath)

Someone asked in my last post how I could question Harris’s statement that atheism is “simply an admission of the obvious.” And the reason is because you can’t prove faith in atheism. There is no scientific discovery that can conclude definitively that there is no God. The man who was a primary driver in the Genome Project is himself a devoted believer!

Again, from McGrath: “There has never been any shortage of people who will tell us that the evidence is totally persuasive, and that — unless we are complete fools — we will accept that there is no meaning in life, and no God behind this world. Some argue that atheism is the only logically and scientifically respectable worldview. Yet this overlooks the inconvenient fact that the truth claims of atheism simply cannot be proved. How do we know that there is no God? The simple fact of the matter is that atheism is a faith, which draws conclusions that go beyond the available evidence.”

Finally, today, these words from Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

Tomorrow Morning (Updated Sun AM)

Published
by
Mike
on January 13, 2007
in Highland
. 13 Comments

Because of the ice that has come, the cold temperatures, and the ice on its way tonight, everything at Highland tomorrow has been cancelled EXCEPT for our 10:15 assembly. We’ll make a call on the assembly early tomorrow morning depending on what happens tonight.

This cancellation includes the service of lament and remembering that had been scheduled for tomorrow evening.

UPDATE: After talking to the Abilene Police Department this morning, we have decided to cancel everything (including the 10:15 assembly) at the Highland building today. Please be safe!

How Husbands Are Like Exotic Animals

Published
by
Mike
on January 12, 2007
in General and marriage
. 18 Comments

I’m planning to follow up on yesterday’s blog. Perhaps later today. Or tomorrow. My buddy Jim just picked me up to take me to lunch, knowing that my type-A is starting to get the best of me. The kind young woman at Subway asked what had happened to me. I explained that I’d just had knee surgery. She quickly responded, “You’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Where seldom is heard
A discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day.

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Here’s the #1 read article from 2006 at nytimes.com.

Letter to a Christian Nation

Published
by
Mike
on January 11, 2007
in Books and faith
. 99 Comments

I know this seems strange, but over the break I’ve been doing some reading of works by atheists. I’m not in the market for conversion. But I also want to hear what’s being said.

There are some resources online, such as “Why Does God Hate Amputees?” There are even videos on YouTube such as this one or this one.

Again, I think it’s obvious that I’m not in agreement with what’s said. But in order to “give a reason for the hope that’s in us,” we need to know what unbelievers are saying. Scripture recognized long ago that the big battle isn’t against atheism but against idolatry (reducing God by trying to find life in someone or something other than God). But still, I’ve wanted to know what voices are out there, rather than just assuming some stereotype.

Last year I read Sam Harris’s The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason, and over the break I added the much shorter Letter to a Christian Nation.

Harris begins by talking about the irony of the Christian assumption that their faith is primarily about love and forgiveness.

“The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents [since the release of The End of Faith] always cite chapter and verse.”

He opens with this honest declaration: “Either the Bible is just an ordinary book, written by mortals, or it isn’t. Either Christ was divine, or he was not. . . . So let us be honest with ourselves: in the fullness of time, one side is really going to win this argument, and the other side is really going to lose.” (I’m reminded here of Pascal’s famous “wager argument”!)

Here is a frontal blow from Harris as he considers how nations of the world are willing to kill each other over their holy books and their confident interpretations:

“The idea that the Bible is a perfect guide to morality is simply astounding, given the contents of the book. Admittedly, God’s counsel to parents is straightforward; whenever children get out of line, we should beat them with a rod (Proverbs 13:24, 20:30, and 23:13-14). If they are shameless enough to talk back to us, we should kill them (Exodus 21:15, Leviticus 20:9, Deuteronomy 21:18-21, Mark 7:9-13, and Matthew 15:4-7). We must also stone people to death for heresy, adultery, homosexuality, working on the Sabbath, worshipping graven images, practicing sorcery, and a wide variety of other imaginary crimes.”

What about Christianity — as set out in the New Testament?

“If you think that Christianity is the most direct and undefiled expression of love and compassion the world has ever seen, you do not know much about the world’s other religions. Take the religion of Jainism as one example. The Jains preach a doctrine of utter nonviolence. While the Jains believe many improbable things about the universe, they do not believe the sorts of things that lit the fires of the Inquisition. You probably think the Inquisition was a perversion of the ‘true’ spirit of Christianity. Perhaps it was. The problem, however, is that the teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. You are, of course, free to interpret the Bible differently — though isn’t it amazing that you have succeeded in discerning the true teachings of Christianity, while the most influential thinkers in the history of your faith failed?”

Harris is aghast at the way Christians talk about morality — usually about sex — while ignoring the relationship to suffering.

“Relieving suffering seems to rank rather low on your list of priorities. Your principal concern appears to be that the creator of the universe will take offense at something people do while naked. This prudery of yours contributes daily to the surplus of human misery. . . We now have a vaccine for HPV that appears to be safe and effective [in battling cervical cancer]. The vaccine produced 100 percent immunity in the six thousand women who received it as part of a clinical trial. And yet, Christian conservatives in our government have resisted a vaccination program on the grounds that HPV is a valuable impediment to premarital sex. These pious men and women want to preserve cervical cancer as an incentive toward abstinence, even if it sacrifices the lives of thousands of women each year.”

“Kids who are taught abstinence alone are less likely to use contraceptives when they do have sex, as many of them inevitably will. One study found taht teen ‘virginity pledges’ postpone intercourse for eighteen months on average — while, in the meantime, these virgin teens were more likely than their peers to engage in oral and anal sex. American teenagers engage in about as much sex as teenagers in the rest of the developed world, but American girls are four to five times more likely to become pregnant, to have a baby, or to get an abortion. Young Americans are also far more likely to be infected by HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. The rate of gonorrhea among American teens is seventy times higher than it is among their peers in the Netherlands and France. The fact that 30 percent of our sex-education programs teach abstinence only (at a cost of more than $200 million a year) surely has something to do with this. The problem is that Christians like yourself are not principally concerned about teen pregnancy and the spread of disease. That is, you are not worried about the suffering caused by sex; you are worried about sex.”

He scoffs at the idea that God answers our prayers:

“While many people of faith seem convinced that prayer can heal a wide variety of illnesses (despite what the best scientific research indicates), it is curious that prayer is only ever believed to work for illnesses and injuries that can be self-limiting. No one, for instance, ever seriously expects that prayer will cause an amputee to regrow a missing limb. Why not? Salamanders manage this routinely, presumably without prayer. If God answers prayer — ever — why wouldn’t he occasionally heal a deserving amputee? And why wouldn’t people of faith expect prayer to work in such cases?”

And he’s unmoved by personal testimonies about changes that have come into people’s lives:

“I have no doubt that your acceptance of Christ coincided with some very positive changes in your life. Perhaps you now love other people in a way that you never imagined possible. You may even experience feelings of bliss while praying. I do not wish to denigrate any of these experiences. I would point out, however, that billions of other human beings, in every time and place, have had similar experiences — but they had them while thinking about Krishna, or Allah, or the Buddha, while making art or music, or while contemplating the beauty of Nature.”

Well, there’s so much I’d like to say in response. When he says that “atheism is not a philosophy . . . it is simply an admission of the obvious,” I think he’s self-deceived. Isn’t that like an overly-confident declaration of being opposed to over-confidence? And when he’s utterly amazed that “80 percent of Katrina’s survivors claim that the event has only strengthened their faith in God,” perhaps he should ask if there is more going on in this world than a scientist can test and a rationalist can figure out.

Why does faith flourish in pediatric oncology wings of hospitals? (It’s the question that led Dr. Diane Komp, a pediatric oncologist, back to faith.)

But having said that, I think Harris has done us a favor by writing honestly and clearly about what faith looks like from his perspective. He has pointed out some things that we must face if we’re going to have a voice in this world. I’d love to be in a study group with a bunch of university students working through this. I trust that our faith is not too fragile to face such arguments with compassion and truth.

Calling All Peacemakers

Published
by
Mike
on January 10, 2007
in Baseball, justice, missional and preaching
. 42 Comments

I guess the medicine going directly into my knee — medicine that runs out sometime today! — is responsible for keeping me awake through the night. So far I’ve had LOTS of time to read. Watch for coming blogs about books by Lawrence Wright, Sam Harris, and Greg Boyd.

But I also had time to listen to a message that was recommended to me by a blog reader who had heard me preach on some of the themes in the sermon.

Find 50 minutes and listen to this incredible message by Rob Bell. Go to this site, and find message #411 (December 10, 2006).

- - - -

I haven’t yet gotten to listen to Rick Atchley’s three lessons on “The Both/And Church” (explaining their decision to add an instrumental service), but they are found here.

- - - -

Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn made it easily into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But here’s my question: what 13 people voted AGAINST Gwynn? The man played two decades with the same team, and retired with a lifetime .338 batting average. He’s among the very best the game has ever seen.

Perspective

Published
by
Mike
on January 9, 2007
in grief
. 26 Comments

This morning, Diane and I were watching The Today Show when we saw a Malibu homeowner interviewed. As you know, a strong wind spread a fire among several mansions, all estimated between $5,000,000 and $21,000,000.

When they asked him about his loss he replied, “This is nothing. Last year our daughter died. This is nothing.”

We understood perfectly.

Yesterday I had my arthroscopic surgery. That would have been a big deal, but it’s really not. For yesterday my niece lost the baby she was carrying.

Grief — true, deep grief — has a way of putting life in perspective.

(Since many of you were praying for me, let me mention that it seemed to go well. I’m supposed to be off my leg completely for a week . . . and then we’ll see. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.)

The Magnificent Seven

Published
by
Mike
on January 8, 2007
in missional
. 35 Comments

Several weeks ago, the NT Times carried a feature article on seven children in Ghana who were sold into slavery by their impoverished parents.

So what happens? The 1.6 million subscribers read the story, feel bad about it, and go on — right?

Normally, maybe. But, thankfully for the children, this article came out when my brother and my sister-in-law were in NYC. As I’ve mentioned before on the blog, since their son’s death in 1999 they have been on a mission to provide care for orphans around the world. In the beginning, it was mostly in SE Asia. But that concern has expanded.

Since the article came out, it has expanded to children in Ghana.

My sister-in-law has been praying for those children since then. But it was prayer backed up by action (the best kind). She asked me for contacts in Ghana. So I put her in touch with Dan McVey, a longtime Ghana missionary and now a prof at ACU, and with Tommy Drinnen, who is one of the leaders at Village of Hope. Through those contacts, the seven children were rescued and brought to Village of Hope.

Recently, Pam and my niece, Crista (an ACU freshman), went to Ghana to care for the children. They have horrifying stories — such as one young boy who was tied to a tree for a night because he hadn’t met his quota — yet they also have amazing stories of hope and deliverance.

Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done–
on earth as it is in heaven.

- - - -

I’ll be spending this morning with my friend Butch.

Butch is an orthopedic surgeon.

Back in November when my knee (torn meniscus and all) kept throwing out, it was easier to commit to arthroscopic surgery. But I’ve almost backed out lately since my knee, perhaps knowing what’s ahead, has been behaving properly. I have to keep reminding myself that just because my knee is acting GOOD, doesn’t mean it isn’t BAD.

Caught in the Act

Published
by
Mike
on January 4, 2007
in preaching
. 96 Comments

I’ve heard a couple more stories recently of preachers “caught in the act.”

No — not THAT act. Not adultery, but plagiarism.

Just recently I heard the sad story of a beloved minister who, perhaps in his exhaustion, began lifting sermons in whole from a great Christian Church preacher. Word-for-word. He even told the man’s personal stories as if they were his own personal stories. Even more sadly, once he was confronted about it, he continued to do it.

There is no excuse for that. It’s wrong.

We all borrow from others. I’ve been impacted by the books of Wright, Brueggemann, Crabb, Willard, and Peterson — books that have seeped into my bones. I’m sure there are times that their words come out — not verbatim, but in essence — without my even knowing it. We’ve heard good stories and illustrations that we’ve retold. We’ve retold humorous quips. We’ve gotten sermon thoughts that proved fruitful later in our own planning.

There’s nothing wrong with that. Who, after all, has a truly original thought?

But that must not be an excuse for the stealing involved in lifting sermons. When you cut-and-paste someone else’s message while pretending it’s yours, that’s wrong. When you tell another’s story as if it happened to you, that’s wrong.

I remember as a young man hearing about an older minister in the South who was confronted because he was just buying Swindoll books and preaching his sermons — without even bothering to disguise it. His sermon series carried the title of the book and the individual sermons had the titles of the chapters. When challenged about it, he simply replied: “I bought the book. It’s my material.”

That is grounds for dismissal.

Here’s the thing: a story doesn’t lose any power by giving the source. It doesn’t have to be YOUR story. It never diminishes the impact to say that you were deeply impacted by a book you read or a sermon you heard.

When we were first married, I went through my Jim McGuiggan stage. (I’m still sort of in that stage — I just don’t get to hear him often enough.) I listened to his tapes . . . until Diane cut me off. She said I was developing an Irish accent.

Some need to be cut off from sermons. They need to quit listening to the tapes, quit downloading the MP3s, and unsubscribe to the podcasts. They’re not wrong in themselves; but if they become your shortcut that takes the place of arduous, prayerful preparation, then drop them!

Perhaps part of the blame lies with the pressure that some churches put on their ministers. They expect them to be pastoral, to be witty, to be insightful, to be humorous, and to be deep. Part David Letterman, part N. T. Wright.

If you’re a church leader, affirm the leadership and teaching of your ministers that is solid, biblical, and congregationally pastoral. Make sure the ones preaching and teaching are given time to prepare. Consider giving them an allowance so they have resources to buy good books and journals. Think about offering them sabbatical time each year just for study and prayer–time that is added to their regular vacation time. These resources and this time are not only for the benefit of the minister; they’re also for the good of the church! (By the way, these are things I’m generously offered at Highland. I’d just like to see others follow that practice.)

But, having said that, the blame can’t be placed primarily at the feet of the church. What I’m talking about is unethical. It is a red flag — just as an affair is — that something is deeply wrong.

If I hear you preach, I don’t want to hear a Bob Russell sermon. I’m sure it would be solid and biblical. But if I want to hear a BR sermon, I’ll listen to BR. If I hear you preach, I want to hear YOU. Maybe it’ll include a point or an illustration you first heard from Bob Russell. But the sermon — the heart of what you’re saying — is what you’ve agonized over. It’s what the good news of Christ has said to you on behalf of the church that week. It is passionate, prayerful, and gospel-formed. That’s what I want — and need! — to hear. For me it doesn’t have to be funny; it doesn’t have to be a home run.

In reality, it may include a LOT of things you’ve heard and read from others. But it is YOUR message. It bears your sweat; it is birthed from your confrontation with text and gospel; it is geared toward your community of faith. It is God pouring through you the gift of preaching.