New Series on Cranial Collision

Get ready for a new series on Cranial Collision: "Can the Bible Be Trusted?"

It's going to be big!

Finished reading: "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul"

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge.

This was definitely a good book. However, it was assuredly written with women as the target audience. I do believe that I gleaned some good information from it, and that it will help me understand my wife better. However, there were many sections that simply didn't apply to me, as well as sections where I felt completely lost in an alien world of estrogen.

I still have much to learn.

Finished reading: "How to Stay Christian in College"

How to Stay Christian in College

Click here for my first post about this book.

This book did prove to be an easy-to-understand guide to college life. I definitely recommend it to Christians entering college as freshmen, as well as new Christian converts currently in college.

However, I do not think this book is in depth or authoritative enough on its own to stand up against all the rigors of differing opinions that will be thrown at you in a secular university. But still it is a good starting point, and may whet your appetite to do more personal research in pursuit of truth.

Hypocrisy in the Church: a commentary on two short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I saw much of what Michael Lancaster and Margaret Dukes wrote about in their posts, but I primarily saw Hawthorne taking this subject of sin a slightly different direction. From the subject matter of both of these texts, I believe that Hawthorne was speaking out against what he saw as rampant hypocrisy in the church of his day.

Starting with The Minister's Veil, it soon became apparent that the minister himself had a great sin to hide. He refuses to confess it to God, and go forward living a life of joy in the forgiveness and grace given by Jesus on the cross. Instead, he attempts to cover it up, and atone for it on his one through some sort of lonely suffering. The people of the town were both convicted by his hidden sin, and on the other hand condemnatory of the minister, even though they themselves had sins that the would never reveal to the world.

Secondly in the story of Young Goodman Brown, they hypocrisy of the leaders of the church is clearly evident, much more blatantly so than in the previous story. The deacons and the ministers were revealed to actually be consorting with the devil. The old lady that had taught the protagonist his catechism was, in fact, a witch. I believe it was the deacon that was quoted as saying he would rather attend that night's evil gathering than attend any sort of sunday service. While young goodman brown eventually resisted the urge to join the evil ranks of the devil, he was haunted for the rest of his life by the knew knowledge that he had of the secret evil inside everyone. He snatched the young children away from the old catechism lady, and shunned the minister and the deacons. He could not even trust his wife, because he did not know what had happened to her that night, or what her secret sin even was.

This recurring theme is one that I believe many of us can resonate with. The question is, we will be part of the problem, or part of the solution?

Matt

Volunteering at the 706

I have had the privilege of volunteering with an awesome student ministry over the past year through Compass Church. It's called the 706. Here are a few images from one of my last evenings there:


Andy, the student ministries intern. He's a cool guy.


Wesley Odum, the Youth Pastor, speaking.


Worship

South Carolina

I'm heading over to South Carolina tonight after youth group. Gonna hit up some gnarly singletrack over the next couple of days, read my bible and some other books, and just take a break from the internet, work, responsibilities, and people. It's going to be amazing!

And it's going to be too short.

Currently Reading: "Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul"

Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul by John and Stasi Eldredge.

Currently Reading: "How to Stay Christian in College"

How to Stay Christian in College

This is proving to be a very concise, yet accurate and effective book for laying out many things that current day christian college students should be aware of.

I've heard much of the information before, but some of it is new. This guy (who has a really long last name) writes well, but with a very laid back, conversational style.

Finished Reading: "His Needs, Her Needs."

His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair Proof Marriage by Willard F. Harley, Jr.

This was an incredibly insightful book! It put words to many things that I have been feeling, but couldn't explain, and brought to light many things that I had simply never thought about before. Hopefully, in 30 days when I FINALLY get married to my love, Summer, it will help me to love and serve her as best as I possibly can!

Finished Reading: "Three"

Thr3e by Ted Dekker.

This book was an excellent commentary on the battle within every Christian between the sin nature and the redeemed man. I really liked it!

Finished Reading: "In the Name of Jesus"

In the Name of Jesus (Reflections on Christian Leadership) by Henri J.M. Nouwen.

I got this from Rob S. at the end of my youth ministry internship in Montana (and I actually didn't just read it now, I read it a couple of months ago), and it was very insightful.

3 things to do:
-Contemplative prayer
-Confession and forgiveness
-Theological reflection

Currently Reading: The Bible

Cookie Creation

I shot this video! (But didn't do the editing)

Finished Reading: "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist"

I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist

by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek

I finally finished reading this book cover to cover. While I got an overview of it during my Apologetics course at Big Sky Bible Institute, I decided to go back through and read the entire thing word-for-word.

This is an excellent book! If you want to know why you believe what you believe, are looking for evidence to back up your faith or refute people posing hard questions, or are an atheist searching for truth, this book is a great place to start looking!

At 447 pages, it may look a little long at first, but I think that this book strikes a great balance between being too short and simplistic, and too long and wordy. They include great quotations, awesome facts, easy to read charts, and parable-like stories to aid understanding. These guys back up their facts and quotations with excellent citations, but still write in easy to understand english. Basically, they say really smart things and you can understand it.

A little bit about the authors: Norman Geisler has authored or coauthored over sixty books, has taught at the university and graduate level for over 40 years, and has debated in all 50 states and 25 countries, has a Ph.D. in philosophy, and is president of a seminary. Frank Turek has two masters, and (at the time of publication) is going for a doctorate of apologetics. He's vice president of the same seminary as Geisler (Southern Evangelical Seminary), and is a renowned writer and speaker.

Here is the general thought process that the book follows, and the points that it consequently proves beyond a reasonable doubt:

1. Truth about reality is knowable.
2. The opposite of true is false.
3. It is true that the theistic God exists. This is evidenced by the:
a. Beginning of the universe (Cosmological Argument)
b. Design of the universe (Teleological Argument/anthropic principle)
c. Design of Life (telological argument)
d. Moral Law (moral argument)
4. If God exists, then miracles are possible.
5. Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God (i.e., as acts of God to confirm a word from God)
6. The New Testament is historically reliable. This is evidenced by:
a. Early testimony
b. Eyewitness testimony
c. Uninvented (authentic) testimony
d. Eyewitnesses who were not deceived
7. The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God.
8. Jesus' claim to be God was miraculously confirmed by:
a. His fulfillment of many prophecies about himself;
b. His sinless life and miraculous deeds;
c. His predictions and accomplishments of his resurrection.
9. Therefore, Jesus is God
10 Whatever Jesus (who is God) teaches is true
11. Jesus taught the Bible is the Word of God.
12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God (and anything opposed to it is false)

And I love how Geisler and Turek quote loads of atheist sources that support their points...

(Read this book online on Google Books)

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14a.

Fear God.
Do what he tells you.

And that's it.

Quotations from "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist"

A couple of good quotations that I may use for a powerpoint on Biblical historicity.

"While the major works of the New Testament were immediately seen as authentic by these early church fathers, most of the New Testament was accepted before A.D. 200, and all of it was officially and finally recognized as authentic by the Council of Hippo in 393. (p. 368) (From Geisler and Nix, General Introduction to the Bible, 294)

"...of about 40 authors over nearly 1,500 years to get his message across." (p. 372)

In fact, our conclusion on inerrancy would be falsified if someone could trace a real error back to an original scroll. (17) But to this day, after nearly 2,000 years of looking, no one has found such an irreconcilable problem. (This is truly amazing when you consider that the Bible is really a collection of documents written by about 40 authors over a 1,500-year period. Where could you find such agreement on a variety of issues from 40 authors who all live today, much less over a 1,500-year period?)
(17): Copyist errors have been found in manuscripts, but they are easily identified and known not to be in the original by comparing the many manuscripts in existence (see chapter 9). While no Bible originals have yet been found, earlier manuscripts of other works have survived. So it is possible that a Bible original may someday be discovered.

I really like the statistic in bold (found in 3 places above). Gives a great perspective of the vastness of the work, effort, and study that went into JUST the writing of the books (inspired, of course), not to mention the immense work that took place to fastidiously copy them and translate and transmit them down to us. Incredible how God has created and protected this precious love-letter to us!

The 706

It's crazy when the kids speak truth to you as much as you speak truth to them!

706 rocked!

We rocked it tonight at the 706!!! Worship was AWESOME, and small group discussion was great!

Totally killed it!

Sweet chorus:

"There is none so high and holy,
King of Kings, the one and only
You are adored, You are the Lord of all!!!"

Currently reading: ''I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.''