Cooling Twilight

Blog

  • Musical History in the Making

    Wynton MarsalisAs I write this, we are in the midst of a momentous event in musical history: the greatest living jazz musician has been performing the greatest music of the greatest musician of the 20th century.

    That’s right, Wynton Marsalis has been performing the music of Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens all this week at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. And the best part is that they are being broadcast live, for free, over the internet! That’s right, free! Tickets for these events cost $350 and $500 — of course those include cocktails and a 4‑course meal…but still, you can’t beat free!
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  • Follow-Up: Can you be a Christian and still believe … ?

    Chi RhoMy post Can you be a Christian and still believe … ? caused quite a bit of furor on the interwebs, so I’d like to take a moment to offer a few explanatory notes as well as provide some resources for further exploration of these topics.

    First, the point of the post wasn’t to provide a litmus test for Christian faith (liberal or otherwise). The moment we use any of these issues to judge someone else’s relationship with God, we’ve stepped into dangerous territory — territory that belongs not to us, but to God alone. What you believe about these things doesn’t include you in or exclude you from the Kingdom of God. (more…)

  • Can you be a Christian and still believe … ?

    Chi RhoGuess what? You can still be a Christian even if you believe that:

    1. Evolution is true.
    2. The Bible isn’t inerrant.
    3. Women have the same rights as men.
    4. Homosexuality isn’t a sin.
    5. Owning a gun isn’t a God-given right.
    6. America isn’t God’s chosen country.
    7. Republicans aren’t God’s chosen political party.
    8. The modern state of Israel isn’t God’s chosen people.
    9. Decisions about abortion should be left up to individual women.
    10. Non-Christians won’t burn for eternity in hell.

    And you just might be a bit closer to the Kingdom of God if you do believe some of those things.

    Update #1:
    For those of you on Facebook, I’ve created a nice little meme of this post.

    Update #2:
    I’ve provided a list of resources regarding these beliefs in my follow-up post, coincidentally titled: Follow-Up: Can you be a Christian and still believe … ?

  • Christmas Conspiracy?

    Cigarette Smoking ManOn Christmas Eve I received a padded manila envelope in the mail. It was addressed to me in careful script. The return address listed a PO box in North Carolina and a name I’ve never heard of (if you’re reading this, hello!). In tiny letters on the lower right corner of the envelope was written “JFK”.

    Despite warnings from my wife about anthrax and letter bombs, I tore it open and discovered a CD‑R inside, labeled “Kennedy 2hrs”. Again throwing caution to the wind, I popped it into my computer and was treated to a montage of video clips documenting the “truth” about the Kennedy assassination.
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  • Merry Christmas!

    Merry Christmas!

  • Psalm 8 — A Poem

    Psalm 8

    I stare into the night,
    straining to see past the stars,
    trying to catch a glimpse of your hands.

    My hands reach out,
    clean and pale and soft,
    the darkness slides between my fingers.

    Yours must be worn and tired,
    the scarred hands of a sculptor
    whose work has faded into obscurity.

    The moon floats above,
    I huddle in its glow,
    a lost child.

    I listen to the cold wind,
    longing for a voice,
    the silence stings my cheeks.

    You stand just beyond my grasp –
    unfathomable, incomprehensible,
    watching from above.

  • Love God with all your…

    Jesus loves the NLTIn a recent article discussing the New Living Translation, Daniel Block argues in favor of dynamic equivalence translation (“thought for thought”) over formal equivalence translation (“word for word”). He claims that Jesus himself favored this translation philosophy, citing the differences between Luke 10.27 and Deuteronomy 6.5 as evidence. Block says: (more…)

  • No Words

  • Should Experience Determine Doctrine?

    What lens are you using?I recently heard a pastor say that “experience shouldn’t determine our doctrine, only the Bible should.” He went on to explain that we might experience all sorts of things that lead us to believe one thing or another, but that the only true, infallible source of doctrine is the Bible and whenever our experience causes us to question Biblical doctrine, we must always defer to Biblical teaching, since it is the Word of God.

    For those from a conservative/fundamentalist background, such an admonition will not come as a surprise — it’s the standard trope of “The Bible Says It, I Believe It, That Settles It.” But when I heard those words I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why? Because such a hermeneutical framework, while seemingly the safest path towards following the teaching of God, is actually the most dangerous! (more…)

  • The Hell-Raiser Letter

    I recently wrote a letter to the New Yorker in response to their profile of Rob Bell. It was published in the 17 December, 2012 issue. You can read it on their site here, or below:

    Kelefa Sanneh’s Profile of the ex-megachurch pastor and ersatz theological liberal Rob Bell provides a fascinating glimpse inside the struggles of American evangelicalism (“The Hell-Raiser,” November 26th). Bell’s “evolving faith” in many ways mirrors my own: I graduated from Wheaton College several years after Bell, and his formative experiences with Christianity and his subsequent efforts to come to terms with the strengths and weaknesses of an evangelical subculture resonate deeply with me, and perhaps with many others of my generation. (more…)