Image Projection vs. Human Connection
From World Magazine, an excellent critique of our times by Janie B. Cheaney, Tragically Famous: Image Projection is a Very Poor Second for Connection. An excerpt:
There was a time when fame meant success: military victory, artistic accomplishment, scientific achievement, “Hail to the Chief.” It came with cheers, banners, and confetti. A famous man was preceded by his reputation; his deeds were known better than his face. But a significant shift occurred around the turn of the 20th century. In 1915, the most famous man in the world was not a king or conqueror. He was a commoner associated with thwarted ambitions: Charlie Chaplin.
…Meanwhile, another era begins: from the Public Face to Facebook. If fame consists of image projection, Andy Warhol’s prediction (“In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes”) seems spookily relevant. Much of the projection via social networking sites and webcams is harmless, but it spreads us wide and thin. While deciding what to share with our public we’re also editing ourselves, taking online quizzes to determine our Most Compatible Historical Era or Star Wars character. But true self-knowledge remains as elusive as ever. We see not only others, but also ourselves, “as through a glass darkly.”
Pastor Help
Pastors, here’s a very helpful article by James Emery White, Survival Skills: What You Need to Minister With Your Spirit Intact. If you’re tired, burned out, or disillusioned with ministry, this is timely reading.
Genesis Cover?
My friend Jon Wong is working on potential covers for the study guide I’ve written on Genesis. Here are his first few designs. Which one do you like?
Start your thinking with the first verse of the Bible
We too easily give our devotion to that which has not created us. But more subtly, we align God to our programs rather than aligning ourselves to God’s program. This is what happens when our thinking begins with self not with God….We fail to start with the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning God.”…If your thinking does not rest on God but on yourself, if you forget “In the beginning God,” if you have too small a view of God or too high a view of self, then you are placing too great a burden on yourself, a burden you were not made to carry.
-Bernard Bell
The God Who Wired Us
God’s design…makes us mysterious. We are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made,’ and the God who ‘wired’ us initially continues his work, molding us through the complexity of life experience…Both nature and nurture are in his hands. Dare we believe that this Craftsman’s work might be less subtle or marvelous than Michelangelo’s? Dare we expect to figure ourselves out by the time we reach college, or at midlife, or even on our death beds?
-Charles Drew, A Journey Worth Taking: Finding Your Purpose in This World p. 40
Genesis Bibliography
I’m two days away from finishing Volume I of a study guide I’m writing on Genesis. It’s been a lot of work and a great joy to put together this resource on Genesis. In addition to the biblical text, here’s the bibliography that’s informed my study.
Genesis: Creation. Rebellion. Redemption.
Volume I: Genesis 1-16
Bibliography
Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative (BasicBooks, 1981)
Bell, Bernard. Creation: Genesis 1:1-2:3 (Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino, 2007)
Bell, Bernard. In the Garden: Genesis 2:4-25 (Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino, 2008)
Bell, Bernard. Paradise Lost: Genesis 3 (Peninsula Bible Church Cupertion, 2009)
Bell, Bernard, Unpublished papers and lectures on Genesis (Peninsula Bible Church Cupertino)
Drew, Charles. A Journey Worth Taking: Finding Your Purpose in This World (P&R Publishing, 2007)
Duguid, Iain. Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham (P&R, 1999)
Duguid, Iain. Living in the Grip of Relentless Grace: The Gospel in the Lives of Isaac and Jacob (P&R, 2002)
Fesko, John V. Last Things First (Christian Focus: 2007)
Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from Genesis: Foundations for Expository Sermons (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2007)
Jolley, Reed. Studies in Genesis (Santa Barbara Community Church, 1998)
Keller, Timothy J. Genesis: What Were We Put in the World To Do? (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2006)
Kidner, Derek. Genesis, The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series (Inter-Varsity Press, 1967)
Longman, Tremper. How to Read Genesis (InterVarsity Press, 2005)
Motyer, Alec. Look to the Rock (Kregel, 1996)
Ross, Allen. Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Baker, 1988)
Sailhamer, John The Pentateuch as Narrative (Zondervan, 1995)
Sarna, Nahum. Understanding Genesis (Schocken, 1966)
Tripp, Paul David. A Quest For More (New Growth Press, 2008)
Waltke, Bruce K. Genesis, A Commentary (Zondervan, 2001)
Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis Volume 1, Word Biblical Commentary (Thomas Nelson, 1987)
Wenham, Gordon J. Genesis Volume 2, Word Biblical Commentary (Thomas Nelson, 1994)
English Standard Version Study Bible (ESVSB) (Crossway, 2008)
Christianity is about a Person
In my sermon yesterday I used this great quote from Martyn Lloyd Jones:
The fundamental thing is that Christianity is about Jesus…Christianity is not a teaching—it is a person…The Lord Jesus Christ was the theme of the preaching of the early church…This is the tragic thing that has been forgotten at the present time. ‘What we need,’ people say, ‘is the application of his teaching.’ But it is not. What you need is to know him and to come into relationship with him.
