Bodwin

You remember when you sat down in your church, your car, or maybe even a friends' house, and then it came. The person to whom you were listening dropped a hundred pound weight on the balance of your mind in the form of a shocking quotation. Each of us no doubt has experienced it. I would like to recall an experience of mine from this summer at Junior Camp. The speaker was Ed Dunlop. If the name sounds familiar, you may remember him because he is a ventriloquist, in addition to being a youth speaker. He brought a message about television to the 4th-6th graders and their counselors. The statement went something like this: (loose quote with no meaning or emphasis changed/lost) "With the hours and hours of television kids watch a week (I think the amount was in the 20's), kids engage in less than 5 minutes of meaningful conversation with their parents in a week." When it first rang in my ears, I thought, "No way...impossible! Less than 5 minutes?!" After regurgi

This will be the second time I've posted regarding a quote from my General Psychology textbook. Regardless of your thoughts on psychology, these quotes are quality. In discussion about mental handicaps and disorders, the author of the book said, "Labels are debilitating at best." He is referring to the assigning of labels to kids or adults with seeming handicaps. He is not speaking of people who actually are mentally disabled, but rather of people who receive a label and consequently act a certain way because that is "who they are" now. The more I talk with Christians, the more this truth is apparent in Christian circles. It almost becomes a game of "Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" with their beliefs. Corresponding Question : Does our being a _____ make us believe a certain way, or does the fact that we believe a certain way (based on Scripture, I hope) make us have a certain label in others' eyes. For the sake of many things, I hope th

I feel that as of late I have been blogging off of my 'soap box.' However, I must continue. I have many more stones to throw from atop my perch. Today's topic is balance. I must say the idea isn't all mine as far as originality of topic. A professor of mine said, and I quote, "Truth can often be found in the middle of two extremes." Quotes like that make my ears perk up as I fasten my ever-critical (denotatively) 'thinking cap.' So I thought, "Is there 'truth' in that statement. Is 'truth' found in the middle?" This statement immediately caused me to remember a conversation I had with a certain person. We were discussing some controversial phrases in a song about God's choosing and knowing (relationship, not mental knowledge) us as His elect before the world was framed. The comment was made: "Yeh, we changed a few words to make the text more balanced , even though the words [we changed] were straight from Bible text.

Recently there was an excellent message preached in chapel at a 'certain' Bible college regarding the virgin birth of Christ. After carefully expositing Matthew 1 (the latter portion of the chapter) implications were given as to what that had to do with salvation. In the next days, I was discussing the sermon with some friends, and one of them said: "I thought it was a great message, but I just thought it lacked application." I was amazed at the statement. Yet I think it represents a problem that is rampant. We have a major problem when our preaching is application-centered and not God-centered. To the above statement by my friend I would reply, "Your application is 'Praise God for what He has done to provide salvation for you.'" I don't think a sermon has to include a 'get out of your chair and perform this certain action' to be applicational. If all we seek out of Scripture is rules for life, we are simply missing the point. We must p

After conceding a year to the nemesis down the road a few miles, the best has risen to the top of the charts again. And no, I am not talking about the controversy between the local Fundamentalist and 'New Evangelical' churches in the area. What I am referring to is the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team. (You may quit reading if you have a conviction about the morality of the mascots of sports teams.) After a disappointing, yet understandable Sweet 16 loss to Michigan St. in last year's NCAA tourney, Duke is again ranked pre-season #1 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls. This is almost undebatable (sorry Big X fans) considering the return of National Player of the Year and 1st Team ACC guard J.J. Redick and the Defensive Player of the Year Shelden Williams, aptly nicknamed "the Landlord." On top of two preseason All-Americas (Redick, Williams), Duke boasts the #1 recruiting class for 2005. Three of the six incorming freshmen were McDonald's All-Ame

I was doing some reading for my General Psychology class, and I stumbled upon this perceptive quote from Sherlock Holmes in Valley of Fear (Arthur Conan Doyle). Reading this brought to mind several conversations and discussions from the last two weeks or so: > "The temptation to form premature theories upon insufficient data is the bane of our profession." As a college student, I talk with many who 'believe' something with only the foundation of tradition or even rationality. This quotation reminded me that our only source of Theology is the written Word of God exclusively. It is not up to us to formulate doctrine. Nor is it our responsibility to assume that certain ideas are Truth. We have a sufficient Word.

If I've heard it once, i've heard it a thousand times: "It was almost as if God said to me... (you fill in the blank) I almost chuckle to myself because of the humor of this statement, yet it disappoints me to hear respected men of God say this. It often comes in the context of one's either being "called" to a place of ministry or the reminder of a familiar, yet forgotten truth. When this statement is made by a peer of mine who is unlearned in Theology, it easily pardoned. However, to hear this in a sermon just gives me fits. Maybe I'm too critical... (although, I think not) Friends of mine, as well as myself often joke that the canon must have been re-opened if God is now speaking to man. I am dedicated to using terminology that is Biblical. I don't think it is too radical to ask that we measure our statements according to Scripture. It is time that we leave behind statements that have been passed down by well meaning men if they are not consistent w

If you have no idea about that which I'm writing, you probably should still read on. Maybe you'll learn a bit. The U.S. Men's National Team (Soccer) played Trinidad and Tobago last night in the Second Qualifying Phase of the CONCACAF Region. We(the U.S. team) still trail Mexico by one point in the standings. That however is a bit trivial, since the top three teams advance to the World Cup. Here's a peek at the current standings: http://www.ussoccer.com/home/teamhomepage.sps?iType=8215 . With only 4 games remaining, the U.S. is almost assured of a World Cup birth in Germany next year. Next up is arch-rival Mexico, a team of unrivaled passion and extraordinary skill. Thankfully, this game is on home soil, lest we allow our record to plummet to even greater depths in the loss column. (We have never won in Mexico City.) There is much promise for this group of players. There is much talent for Bruce Arena (coach) to choose from. Only time will tell if this will be another g

I have been slowly plodding my way through Piper's When I Don't Desire God, which was recommended by a friend. I will extend that invitation to any Christian desiring to grow. The theme of the book is: How to win the battle of 'desiring God' in the flesh that naturally does not. Instead of detailing how to desire God (as he does in Desiring God ) (amazing, i know), he deals with why we don't desire Him and how to desire Him as we ought. In chapter 5, he discusses the vision it takes to see Christ in order to treasure Him as is our immense task. One section caught my attention specifically. It was entitled: "Blind By The Things We Make and Trust." A portion of this section to illustrate: Those who make them [idols] become like them, so do all those who trust in them!' (Psalm 135:15-18) Make and trust a blind idol, and you become blind. Apply that principle to the modern world, and think of the idols of our own day. What do we make and what do we tru

The idea for this post was spawned by a link posted on a friend's blog referencing a current TV show episode that made Christianity the "thing to do." From t-shirts to "Be strong" bracelets, there is nothing that the culture produces that Christians, for the most part, (lest I stereotype!) don't embrace. As I have worked at a Christian camp this summer, I have seen every t-shirt known to man, it seems. I am pretty sure I never want to own a Napoloeon Dynamite or Nintendo shirt as a result of seeing kids wear them as if they are going out of style(which they will--thankfully). As I mentioned above, this t-shirt-crazed culture has been thoroughly embraced by the Christian movement of today. I have seen "Christian" t-shirts with designs from Austin Powers to Budweiser to Mountain Dew. While I'm all for standing for Christ and sharing our faith, I'm not sure if we've hit the desired mark. Is it o.k. to communicate truth through the mode of