This is a useful book for any Christian who cares about proper belief (which should be all Christians) but I can especially see it being useful for those in the blogging world. If you maintain a blog (or regularly comment on blogs) and write about issues related to Christianity, it can be easy to use that platform to pummel those with opposing views without giving any thought to humility or patience or charity. Harris provides a much needed corrective to the vitriol often seen on Christian blogs where brothers and sisters in Christ effectively destroy their witnesses in an effort to score points.

A final thought on the length of the book. Yes, this is a short book but I like it that way. Harris could have made this book much longer if he had desired to do so. By keeping it short it forces everything to stay very practical and to the point. You won’t find a lot of deep theological ruminations in this book. It is meant to be a timely and easy to digest book about a practical issue related to the Christian life.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a positive review.

We were also very fortunate to get to make the trip toddler free! Now, don’t get me wrong, we love our little velociraptor but a seven hour road trip to a cozy bed and breakfast in Arkansas is not exactly a recipe for relaxation when a toddler is in tow. Thankfully, my mom was able to take some time off of work and come hold down the fort while we were gone. From the report I heard after we got back it sounded like both grandma and grandson had a good time but grandma was reminded why people have kids in their younger years after a few days of corralling a toddler.

We were blessed with great weather that was a bit on the cool side for this time of year. The cooler weather really made it enjoyable to get out and walk around downtown Hot Springs. We didn’t have any big plans. We just knew we wanted to stay at a nice place and eat some good food. Check and check. We also made a little day trip into Benton to watch “Oblivion.” We don’t get out to see movies as much any more. It is tough to find a babysitter and we live an hour from good theaters in Wichita. So we took advantage of the opportunity to see a movie and we both really enjoyed the film.

If you are ever in Hot Springs I can’t recommend highly enough the Hilltop Manor Bed and Breakfast. It is definitely on the expensive end but it ranked right up there with the BnB where we stayed on our honeymoon in Victoria, B.C. Absolutely wonderful breakfasts, friendly staff, great atmosphere, and a whole bunch of other nice little touches really made the stay enjoyable.

I snapped a few pictures while we were out and about. Hot Springs is truly fascinating. It is a mix of urban decay, well kept old buildings, and a lot of interesting history. We mostly just stuck to walking the streets and peering into the old bath houses (of which only two are functioning as bath houses today). There are also some neat shops. We stopped in one that sold homemade soap and bought my mom a little something to say thanks for watching the velociraptor.

Who Do You Think You Are? 

The book reads like an exposition of the book of Ephesians. The overarching theme that ties the chapters together is the identity that Christians have in Jesus versus the identities we create for ourselves. Each chapter begins with a text from the book of Ephesians and proceeds to use that text to reinforce different aspects of Christian identity. The names of a few of the chapters should give you an idea of what to expect: “I Am New,” “I Am Forgiven,” “I Am Adopted.” Each chapter serves as a reminder to Christians that their true identity is not in their job, their past, or their stuff but rather in Jesus.

The biggest weakness of this book, from my perspective, is the personal stories that Mark Driscoll shares at the beginning of each chapter to serve as practical examples of people who have had their identities changed by Jesus. Many of them have a common thread of sexual sin and sexual abuse. Those are certainly huge and pressing issues that many people face but I think that some folks will have a hard time identifying with some of the examples included in the book. Perhaps this is a symptom of his last book being Real Marriage and still having a host of unused stories and examples. Whatever the reason, it is something to keep in mind should you decide to pick up this book.

Overall, this is a strong effort by Mark Driscoll. It is an especially useful book for a new Christian who is wanting to learn more about their new identity in Christ.

Disclaimer- I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my review. I was not required to write a positive review.

The answer is incredibly simple yet so easy to dismiss and analyze away. Sin. Sin is the reason why humanity time and time again destroys itself. Sin is the reason we have mental illness. Sin is the reason why taking innocent life can seem like a viable course of action. Sin is the reason our minds and souls become so dark and so blackened that an image bearer of God would place explosive devices, laden with ball bearing and BBs with the sole purpose of ending lives and maiming bodies, near crowds of unsuspecting people. Sin is the reason why we don’t think twice about a baby being killed in the womb (and in some cases outside the womb). Sin is the reason a “doctor” can become so hardened to the gift and beauty that is life that he would snuff it out even as he held it in his hands and it cried out for love, protection, and care. Sin takes what God intended to be good, human beings created in his image, and twists and distorts and strangles and blinds. It makes the unthinkable both thinkable and doable. It is the reason evil happens and the reason it continues to happen. It is the driving force behind the bombs on a marathon course, the starvation of untold numbers of people in North Korea, and the unspeakable genocide of people in Africa. It seems so pervasive. So unstoppable.

Where is God? When tragedy strikes, whether it be within our own homes and families or on a much larger stage, where is God? Does he care? Is he there? Is he silent? To borrow from Francis Schaeffer, God is here and he is not silent. When tragedy happens, no matter how horrific or unthinkable, we can rest assured that God is not distant and silent. Why? Why shouldn’t we believe in the God of deism where a cold and uncaring being creates a world and then leaves it to implode while he watches from a distance?

Because of a manger and a cross. A manger was the unlikely place where the creator of the universe inserted himself into human history. A manger signaled that change was coming. A new beginning was on the horizon. Spring was in the air the day that Jesus was born. But winter was not done yet. Despite the proclamations of a new beginning and a new kingdom. Despite the healings, the feedings, and raising of the dead the people did not welcome this new kingdom or the God who was inaugurating it. Winter pushed back. God sweat blood in a garden as it seemed that the long and bleak darkness of human sinfulness might indeed have the last laugh. That Satan might win. That winter might be permanent. That there would be no hope.

So where is God? Having his back ripped to shreds. Carrying a cross in front of jeering and mocking crowds; the very people he created. Dying between two criminals. In the greatest tragedy that sinful humanity has ever perpetrated, we executed God. The only truly innocent man and we killed him. Our hearts so blinded and consumed by sin that we could not see that our creator was staring us in the face.

Where is God? In a cold borrowed tomb. Dead. Gone. Lifeless. Winter has won. Death has won. Sin has won. There is no hope. No hope for Boston, Newtown, Aurora, North Korea, Africa, and on and on and on. Life is bleak and meaningless and winter has won the war.

But it hasn’t. The most horrific act in history was planned by God. He allowed himself to be killed. He then walked out of that borrowed tomb. Spring has arrived and it signals new life  and a new beginning amidst a bleak winter. Thanks to Jesus, the winter is ending.

Why should a brutal execution bring us comfort when we consider our own depravity? When we think about the horrible things that human beings do to each other? Because God knows and understands these things. Because he has been on the receiving end of an unjust execution. Because in the midst of that most horrific of sins in which we plunged nails into the body of our creator is our only hope. Our God knows what it is like to have a foreign object, created by humanity, pierce his skin. He understands the suffering of the marathon bombing victims who had BBs and ball bearings tear through their bodies. He is not distant in tragedy. He has lived it.

The only hope for humanity is in the God who is here and who is not silent. The God who knows rejection and suffering. The God who put himself in the hands of his own creation that he might rescue them. The God whose heart breaks when tragedy strikes because he has experienced the greatest of tragedies. The God who is not silent in the midst of unspeakable horror because he has given us his heart, his mind, and his words in the text of Scripture. It is only in the one who defeated Satan, sin, and death on a brutal instrument of terror and torture that hope can be found in a broken world.

But we know it will not always be so. The world will not always be broken. The first buds of spring that broke through the bleak winter when Jesus stepped out of a stone tomb are still there and they are spreading and growing. It is inevitable. The snow and ice are melting. Winter does not want to go. It is fighting back with everything it has. It is Attempting to snuff out life and keep human hearts lost in blackness and despair. But spring is here and it is coming and winter stands no chance. Despite the best efforts of sin, the calling of God on a human heart is irresistible and with each heart that turns to Jesus winter is pushed back and the full onset of spring grows nearer.

So we do not grieve as those who have no hope. We do not look at winter as it gasps and writhes in the throes of death and submit to a master who is already dead but just doesn’t know it yet. No, we look at the spring, the spring that has already come and the spring that is yet to come, and we join our voices with the voices of Christians past and cry out to the God who is here and who is not silent, “Come quickly!”

Source

Should this film be considered a classic? I think this Chinese period drama should definitely be a classic. I enjoyed it far more than the Hong Kong drama In The Mood for Love that was released in 2000 and is also on this list. One of the things I enjoyed the most about this film was beautiful camera work. Zhang utilizes static shots for the majority of the film. This means that no artificial drama could be created through the use of the much maligned “shaky cam” that is so popular in modern movies. The actors, their delivery, and their movements are what solely sell the drama. The score is also a perfect fit. It is minimal but very effective when employed and is used to clue us in to major happenings in the plot. This film seems to be an exercise in minimalism that truly puts the focus on the actors in front of the camera and that is a very good thing. This deliberate use of static shots and minimal music makes one of the final scenes where the camera goes handheld all the more effective because it so unexpected. This is definitely one to see if you enjoy foreign films and period dramas.

Would I own this film? Probably not. While I enjoyed it and would definitely consider it one of the classics, it did not have a story that I feel the need to revisit. It certainly was not a bad story. In fact, I thought it was a very compelling and very emotional story that was well told. It is certainly a film that will stick with me. Maybe that is why I don’t see the need to own it. It was memorable enough that I don’t feel the need to revisit it.

Check out this opening scene from the film that perfectly illustrates the static camera I mentioned above.

Let me state the obvious. This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. The venerable NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams intoned, ”A firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from Rush Limbaugh,” as he teased a segment on the brouhaha. Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn’t make the cut.

You don’t have to oppose abortion rights to find late-term abortion abhorrent or to find the Gosnell trial eminently newsworthy. This is not about being “pro-choice” or “pro-life.” It’s about basic human rights.

The deafening silence of too much of the media, once a force for justice in America, is a disgrace.

Since I read a lot of evangelical bloggers the Gosnell trial had been on my radar from the get go. Denny Burk, a professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has done an outstanding job keeping up the coverage. But I wondered if what Powers said was true. Were most media outlets really ignoring one of the most sensational murder trials in recent history? Isn’t the media all about sensational stories and running wall to wall coverage of them?

This morning I sat down with my tablet to do an informal survey of a number of news sources. I wanted to see what was on their home pages knowing that the Gosnell case had just had some incredibly grisly testimony delivered. I took screenshots of my discoveries. Let’s see what is deemed most newsworthy in this little survey.

North Korea, Gun Control, and Theater

North Korea and Gun Control

North Korea and the economy

The backwards GOP

Two Gosnell related stories on this popular conservative bastion

A TV show, gun control, and a question about being pro-choice

North Korea gets top billing but Gosnell coverage is on the upper left of Drudge’s links

Evangelical publication “World Magazine” has an editorial at the top right of the front page plus several other abortion related stories

It is all about gun control at the Daily Caller

North Korea and a South Korean pop star make the front of The Daily Beast

Hot Air, a popular conservative blog, gives the Gosnell trial a mention

Christianity Today has a good bit of coverage related to the suicide of Rick Warren’s son but nothing on the front page about Gosnell

Patheos is a popular network of religion blogs and gives the Gosnell trial the spotlight

Yahoo News has North Korea, Bitcoins, and Paul Ryan’s abortion comments front and center

At CNN gun control is bigger news than North Korea. Gosnell is nowhere to be seen.

NBC has North Korea in the spotlight. You’ll also notice a bit further down an article about Rick Warren’s son using an unregistered gun (as if that would have made a difference) so gun control again makes an appearance.

Fox News hits North Korea and gun control. It is also the only media outlet in this survey to mention the Army Chaplain from the Korean War who received a posthumous Medal of Honor today.

A local news source has a Gosnell story pretty high on the list.

This local news outlet gives no mention to Gosnell on the front page.

What do you think? North Korea is obviously a huge news story. But one thing that really jumped out at me is how so many of these publications are pushing gun control stories. Obviously that is a big deal to the editors running those publications. But there is definitely a noticeable lack of stories related to the Gosnell murder trial.

This trial does not fit the liberal, pro-choice narrative. When most of your mainstream news publications are liberal and pro-choice they are less likely to publish something that does not fit with their narrative. Gun control is a big part of the liberal narrative so it gets wall to wall coverage in many of these outlets. The grisly murder of hundreds of infants as well as the deplorable deaths of a number of women? Yeah, we best not talk about those lest the American people get the idea that abortion really is horrific and really is the taking of an innocent human life and really does leave emotional and physical scars on many women (and men).

Pro-life folks all over the country are up in arms over the blackout on this story because it only proves what we have been saying for decades. Abortion is not safe, legal, and rare. Abortion takes a human life. Abortion physically, emotionally, and spiritually scars women (and men too). Abortion being legal does not mean that abortion clinics are being properly regulated. Abortion is decidedly not rare and is literally a holocaust that many people refuse to condemn because they value “convenience” and “choice” and “women’s rights” more than the most basic human right which is a right to life.

Here are some excerpts:

The first chaplain to serve in Korea deployed there with the initial American ground force to enter the conflict: Task Force Smith, an under strength battalion of the 24th Infantry Division’s 21st Infantry Regiment. The battalion’s chaplain, Carl R. Hudson, had been looking forward to a routine tour of garrison duty in Japan upon his assignment to the unit a few weeks beforehand. Chaplain Hudson and the rest of the task force’s 540 soldiers had little time to do anything after settling into a defense position just north of the town of Osan during the early morning hours of July 5, 1950.

A large force of North Korean tanks and infantry attacked just a few hours later. By early afternoon the task force was completely overrun, its survivors scattered. Chaplain Hudson, along with the battalion’s surgeon and a large group of walking wounded, spent most of the following night and day making their way southward to the safety of the nearest American unit.

Other chaplains of the 24th Infantry Division had experiences similar to that of Hudson during that difficult month of July 1950, narrowly escaping as one American position after another fell before the North Korean advance. All survived, with the exception of Chaplain Herman G. Felhoelter of the 19th Infantry Regiment.

With his battalion falling back as the American position along the Kum River collapsed, Felhoelter volunteered to remain behind with a group of critically wounded men. A North Korean patrol came upon the group and executed the prostrate soldiers and their praying chaplain. Felhoelter was the first of twelve chaplains to die in action or as a prisoner during the Korean War. The second also perished in July 1950, when Chaplain Byron D. Lee of the 35th Infantry Regiment (25th Infantry Division) was mortally wounded during an attack from an enemy aircraft.

For the opening battles of the Korean War, as with most wars, those who are already in uniform at the start of the conflict bore the burden of the opening battles. The eight chaplains lost in 1950 were all members of the pre-war Chaplain Corps. Six were veterans of World War Two. Burdue, Lee, and Simpson had served continuously since the 1940s without a break in service. Hyslop, Kapaun, and Felhoelter also served in World War Two, but were released from active duty in 1946. Within two years, however, they decided to continue their service to God and country; all three volunteered for recall to active duty in 1948. Conner and Brunnert joined the others in the pre-war era, being commissioned in 1948 and 1949 respectively.

None of these eight veteran chaplains knew what the year 1950 would bring, but all rose to the challenges that came with ministering to Soldiers under fire. Only a few received public recognition for the actions that ultimately cost them their lives: Conner was awarded the Silver Star, Felhoelter the Distinguished Service Cross, and Kapaun received numerous awards.

Kapaun will be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama, April 11, 2013, at the White House.

All eight earned the undying thanks and gratitude of the Soldiers they served — the only award for which any of them would have asked.

But it would be dishonest to say that there aren’t challenges, frustrations, and moments of absolute insanity. In fact, there are some days where it feels like we have a one word vocabulary: “NO!” Over and over and over and over again, “NO! NO! NO! NO!”

The latest challenge is hitting. Yes, our little boy is a hitter. Sometimes he’s also a biter. This makes having him around other small children an adventure. Mostly for the other small children. For us it is more like extreme embarrassment as we imagine that all the other parents must be staring at us and thinking, “Are they letting that kid run wild? Are they giving him a steady diet of Mountain Dew and Kit Kats? He’s a pastor’s kid so he’s doomed to end up in some EMO punk rock band in Portland with a bunch of godless, unwashed hippies.” (As an aside, I really like Portland. I have family who live there. I think it is a really great city and I always enjoy it when I am there. I just like to poke fun at it.)

So now we are trying to learn how to discipline. It isn’t the most pleasant aspect of parenting. I’m not even sure if we’re doing it right. I mean, bribing the kid with fine cheeses and dark chocolate is not something found in most parenting books. I kid! I kid!

I guess what I’m really trying to say is that being a parent is tough. I’ve written before about how marriage is hard but it is a good kind of hard. Parenting is the same way. All we can do is pray and trust that God is sovereign and that He will use our bumbling and fumbling attempts at raising this little boy for His glory and our sanctification.  Now, the punklet is getting unruly again. Where’d I put the mimolette?