I’m somewhat stunned but not quite condemning that Piper has Rick Warren coming to his NatCon in September.  I mean, it is Piper’s conference and he can invite whoever he wants to it.  Furthermore, I have worked for DG and will continue to work for them whenever possible because of all that they have done in bringing me to a deeper knowledge of the truth.  I doubt seriously that everyone is going to go serve Satan after Warren’s message and I’m sure that they are all discerning enough to know what is right and wrong in Warren’s message.  Seriously people, relax!  You’d think Lucifer himself was coming...

After getting over the initial shock and anger (because I was both shocked and angry) I have composed this list of differences between Mark Driscoll (another of Piper’s controversial invites) and Rick Warren to demonstrate why Driscoll was a good choice and Warren is not a good choice (regardless of his smoke and mirrors).

A Comparison of the Likenesses of Mark Driscoll and Rick Warren

1. Mark Driscoll is a pastor, Rick Warren is a pastor
2. Mark Driscoll has appeared on TV, Rick Warren has appeared on TV
3. Mark Driscoll likes people, Rick Warren likes people
4. Mark Driscoll has written books, Rick Warren has written books
5. Mark Driscoll planted a church, Rick Warren planted a church
6. Mark Driscoll preaches the gospel, Rick Warren planted a church
7. Mark Driscoll likes Jonathan Edwards, Rick Warren planted a church
8. Mark Driscoll is a Calvinist, Rick Warren planted a church
9. Mark Driscoll occasionally apologises for being foolish, Rick Warren planted a church
10. Mark Driscoll has a spine under pressure, Rick Warren planted a church
11. Mark Driscoll is transparent about all of his beliefs when he talks to John Piper, Rick Warren planted a church
12. Mark Driscoll is Reformed, Rick Warren planted a church
13. Mark Driscoll preaches the whole Bible, Rick Warren has had Barack Obama preach in his church

I don’t usually talk about these things but people think that I worship Piper.  I don’t worship Piper.  He occasionally does, says, and writes dumb things.

Just...like...all...of...us...do.

‘Nuff said....

R. D. Thompson

(PS. Perhaps now you understand why I don’t allow comments?  No comment wars here!  You can email me but no one else will ever know what you said!  HA!)

(PPS.  Maybe, God forbid, you could LEARN something when Warren speaks at the NatCon in September)  *tries to hide target on forehead*

Death doesn't seem like that huge of a deal to me.  I handle death pretty well.  When I find out that someone near or dear to me has died, young or old, infant or ancient, my response is one of momentary sorrow proceeded by a realization of the reality.  You see, I don't view death as an earth shattering loss.  People die.  People that I know die.  People that I love die.  People that hold my life together die.  But here is the deal: you are going to die.  This is what death does for me.  When people die I do not wail, I do not scream, I do not shed tears.  For the believer, death is a celebration.  For the believer, "To live is Christ and to die is gain" (Phil. 1:21).  Death is not any great loss.  Is it a loss for me?  Perhaps, but I would rather that the believer be dead than living.  Lucky dead believer!  For the unbeliever, death is the beginning of eternity in fiery torment.  Yes this is harsh, but it is reality plain and simple.  Thus, the death of a saint is not cause for alarm but for rejoicing.  Likewise, the death of an unbeliever is not cause for years, months, or even days of personal anguish but is a call to me to repentance and faith in God.

I do not entirely understand why people hang on to death so much.  The reality is: death is inevitable.  Adam sinned therefore, all sinned and therefore, all die (Rom. 5:12).  My mind instantly bends to the theological and biblical reality of death.  Death helps us to remember that our days are but a vapor as the great preacher has said, "Vapor of vapors...all is vapor" (Eccl. 1:1).  This is one quick wisp of a life and the death of a loved one, Christian or not, does not cause me to shudder but to pray for continued faith, strengthened evangelistic efforts, success in strenuous study, a warm heart, and joy in God.  All is a vapor, one moment it is here, the next moment it passes, so when someone near and dear dies I do not believe that it is cold, unfeeling, and pessimistic to be reconciled to the reality of their death and what it means and to mourn little.

In fact, I think that this foppish, ridiculous, and bouncy view of life as a neat little trek through candyland is short-sighted.  I'm not sure if you've checked recently but this isn't candyland.  No wonder people respond so strangely to death when they have a warped view of how life should be spent and what life is.  Think again of Qoheleth when he says, "It is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living wil lay it to heart...the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth" (Eccl. 7:2, 4).  That's right, Qoheleth says that if you are interested in finding wisdom you'll go do some meditating in the morgue while contemplating what is the end of all mankind and, in specific, what is the end of you.  Qoheleth says that instead of going and "celebrating life" at a party you should go spend some time in a graveyard.  Is this a sadistic, macabre morbidity or is it a reconciliation with reality?  Are we reconciled to the reality of death or are we attempting to pretend that it just won't happen?

I have experienced the death of people who are dear to me.  It is not that I have no idea what it feels like to lose someone beloved and important.  I know what that feels like.  However, their death isn't a cause for incessant selfish doting on my hurt feelings but is a call to repentance, to faith, prayer, and evangelism.  It is a call to deeper joy in God.  It is a daily reminder that this life is not a joke, it is serious, and eternal life and death hang in the balance.

If you are wondering, "Why me?  Why that person?  Why so young?  Why the infant?  Why the grandfather?  Why my mother?" let me tell you Qoheleth's answer: Their end is your end too.  As Jesus said, it isn't that you've done something horrible, it's that you are horrible and "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Mark 13:1-5). 

You are going to die.  Are you prepared for it?  Have you spent any time dwelling on that fact?  Have you spent any time reconciling to the reality of death?  I encourage you to do so.  Qoheleth, the wisest living man before Christ, did exactly that.

Contemplating With You Beloved Friends,

R. D. Thompson

Today I got to walk around five miles near my house.  It's an unbelievable Colorado bluebird day so I found my gloves and fleece flapped baseball cap to be just a little bit too much warmth.  I ended up taking most of my padding off but for my coat!  I listened to a sermon by Mark Driscoll on the humilty of Jesus which was a beautiful recollection of Christ's humbling of himself from a "Holy, Holy, Holy," position of grandeur to a "Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him," position of debasement.  It really is stunning if you think about it.  Driscoll rightly notes that Christ's incarnation is totally beyond our comprehension.  Noting that trying to say things like, "The incarnation of Christ is like you becoming an ant," is a terrible attempt to makes sense of the whole thing he says something along the lines of (and this is not verbatim), "It's more like, and not like, Barack Obama cleaning your toilets, Bill Gates cleaning the kitchen, and Warren Buffet raking the lawn and all of them saying, 'Go ahead and murder us and we'll come back to life and finish the job in three days.'"  Of course, he is clear that no analogy properly fits the incarnation because analogies like the one above compare creation to creation and not creation to creator.  The creator, God Himself, became a man.  Something that is completely beyond our comprehension but must be contemplated.

After listening to Driscoll I stopped off at Starbucks on Hampden and Holly Place and read some of 1st Kings.  I find Kings and Chronicles becoming my favorite books of the Bible because they have more humor, irony, sarcasm, and bitterness than any other book.  They are some of the best literature that explains to us the course of God's people in the Old Testament.

I always find Adonijah's attempt at the throne in 1 Kings 1 somewhat humorous because it is so sketchy.  Here is a guy who has never actually been told, "You are going to be king/not going to be king," by David and knows that if he is going to get power he'll need to sneak in there real quiet like.  Adonijah takes a second rate priest, a bunch of bulky bodyguards, David's somewhat failed friend Joab, and a few of his buddies down to En-Rogel and sacrifices and tries to have his own coronation party (without telling anyone).  The problem, of course, is that none of David's approved men are with Adonijah (like Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the bodyguard, or Zadok the priest, or Solomon...you know, that guy who David told Bathsheba would be the next king?).  The other problem is that having your coronation at En-Rogel instead of the Gihon spring is like the Queen of England being coronated in the conference room of a Motel 6 down the street from Westminster Abbey instead of actually in Westminster Abbey.

I think it is fairly humorous too that when Adonijah and his second-rate group of cronies get their party crashed they split like street racers when a cop shows up.  If you've ever seen The Fast and The Furious you know exactly what I'm talking about.  I've been at street races and it is almost exactly like it's portrayed in that movie.  Everyone tenderly hangs around watching a race nervously aware of every side street and on the watch for anything that might be a cop.  When the cop inevitably shows up someone yells, "Cop, Cop, Cop!" and everyone flies to their car to spread out on every side street they can find.  Adonijah and Co. knew that they shouldn't be there doing what they were doing and they split like crazy when they found out.  Why?  Ancient Near Eastern practice was to kill any and all rivals and their friends upon coronation.

The thing I always find stunning about this story is Solomon's immediate qualification for the job.  He proves that he is the right guy within a couple of verses of his coronation.  Before this account we know virtually nothing about Solomon and yet, when he is properly coronated as king, he doesn't immediately turn around and kill Adonijah and his friends even though Adonijah would certainly have killed Solomon, Bathsheba, Nathan, Benaiah, and Zadok if his coup hadn't failed.  After Adonijah runs to the temple and grabs the horns of the altar and yells, "Base!  I'm on the base!  You can't tag me!" Solomon instantly promises that he won't kill Adonijah if he proves himself to be a just man and stay away from any attempt at a coup.  Now that is mercy in Ancient Near Eastern culture.  Adonijah knew that he was in trouble, knew that he was doing something wrong, and so did Solomon, yet Solomon doesn't punish him and sends him off on his merry way as long as he promises not to make trouble.  Solomon is clearly God's man from the start!

Adonijah got just a wee presumptuous and somehow didn't get the punishment he justly deserved...yet...he dies eventually for being an insubordinate rebel.  Shoulda stayed on the straight and narrow Adonijah.

R. D. Thompson

If there is one thing I've learned lately it's to copy my internet friends outright, have similar experiences, and then give them credit.

My good friend Michael Spotts has been traveling and keeping a travel blog over at Pedadidact.com.  I like to travel loads.  Since I'm no longer single I could never even dream of undertaking Spottsies tri-state northwestern bike trip or his coast-to-coast-to-coast bus, train, and boat trek.  However, I can travel in the little world surrounding me and by borrowing the lovely idea of meandering from another friend (good aquaintance really) Abraham Piper and carrying a camera and my thoughts around I can get my own healthy dose of contemplative travel.

The idea at left is totally lifted from Abraham.

I thought I would take a wander up Colorado Blvd today and look for a weekly planner because I have lost quite a bit of organization in my life by not having one.  I went to Office Max just down the street and found nothing.  So I thought I'd just walk to Office Depot at Colorado and I-25.  They didn't have what I wanted either so I decided to walk all the way to Barnes and Noble up Colorado.  They didn't have what I wanted either so I grabbed some coffee, browsed books, and then came home the same way I went.  I ended up just getting a cheap planner at Office Depot :-)

8 miles in all.  I haven't walked like that in years.  Thanks Abraham and Mike for the inspiration!

This exercise has lent me yet further insight into the fact that we need to dump some of the media out of our lives and spend some more time contemplating.  Walking was a very contemplative exercise.  I hope to do it again very soon!

We spend far too much time doing wasteful nothings on computers and watching entirely too much television.  Kill your television and turn off your computer.  Go read a book.  Go for a walk.

R. D. Thompson

Douglas Groothuis says,

[T]elevision relentlessly displays a pseudoworld of discontinuity and fragmentation. Its images are not only intrinsically inferior to spoken and written discourse in communicating matters of meaning and substance, but the images appear and disappear and reappear without a proper rational context. An attempt at a sobering news story about slavery in the Sudan is followed by a lively advertisement for Disneyland, followed by an appeal to purchase pantyhose that will make any woman irresistible and so on, ad nauseum. This is what Postman aptly calls the 'peek-a-boo world'- a visual environment lacking coherence, consisting of ever-shifting, artificially linked images. In order to detect a logical contradiction, 'statements and events [must] be perceived as interrelated aspects of a continuous and coherent context.' When the context is one of no context, when fragmentation rules, the very idea of contradiction vanishes. Without any historical or logical context, the very notion of intellectual or moral coherence becomes unsustainable on television.

See the whole essay here.  I'd have to say, I couldn't agree more.  Kill your television.  Today.