The Blog
Blog Archives9 Things That Remind Me I’m Not God (part 1)
I’m starting a series over on my other blog called “9 things that remind me I’m not God.”
Part 1 is up (numbers 1-3). Check it out.
Poem: Today (unfinished)
Today
when i open my lips
may i breathe life and healing
may i not get caught up in the singer or the singing
but may the object of the song leave my ears ringing
my heart spinning
my soul winning
God’s Choice For President
In a few hours, barring major controversy, lawsuit, and other scandal or error and confusion, we will get to see who God has appointed as president for us, and how he feels our House and Senate should be balanced.
All speculation over who Jesus would vote for will be over and we will know what his will for our country is. This gives me great peace in this otherwise very stressful time.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. Romans 13:1-2
Faith, Trust, Repentance, and This Year’s Election
I wish I could have said it like this.
In God We Do Not Trust - Mark Driscoll.
…people are longing for a king who will keep them safe from terror in his kingdom. In the Old Testament the concept of a peaceable kingdom is marked by the word shalom. In shalom there is not only the absence of sin, war, strife, and suffering but also the presence of love, peace, harmony, and health. And, this thirst for shalom is so parched that every election people cannot help but naively believe that if their candidate simply wins shalom is sure to come despite sin and the curse. The bottom line is obvious to those with gospel eyes. People are longing for Jesus, and tragically left voting for mere presidential candidates.
What young non-christians think of christians
Gabe Lyons on Doing Internet Ministry:
“Non-Christians aged 16-29 years old were asked, ‘What is your current perception of Christianity?’
- 91% said antihomosexual
- 87% said judgmental
- 85% said hypocritical
- 78% said old-fashioned
- 75% said too involved in politics
- 72% said out of touch with reality
- 70% said insensitive to others
- 68% said boring
- 64% said not accepting of other faiths
- 61% said confusing”
Fair or unfair? Are we these things?
We often say in counseling others that when someone is offended, the reality of the situation (in a sense) takes second place to the perceived reality.
That is, if someone is offended, it is unhelpful for the offender to demand clarification of the offense so as to show that offense should not have been taken. Rather, apology (explanation) should be humbly, gently, and sensitively made for having given the grounds for offense. Once the situation is “defused” a bit, then we can start talking reality, admit mutual fault, and ask for apology for overreactions.
We call this “peacemaking.”
I wonder what would happen if we applied the same to our apologetics…
(Via ChurchRelevance.)
Welcome, Katharyn Joy!
My wife and I are delighted to announce the birth of our second daughter: Katharyn Joy (Kate) Heerema!
Born yesterday (October 12) at 3:45pm.
Vital stats:
- 9lbs 13oz
- 22 inches long
- head circumference: 15 inches (I’ve been told by several women that this is an important stat… ;-) )
They say she’s a large baby but she seems perfect to me. Happy and Healthy. Mom is doing well also.
We’ll have copious amounts of pics available on flickr for those who are interested.
Katharyn is derived from the greek “katharos” meaning “pure”. The “yn” spelling comes from my dramatic flair ;-). We’re calling her Kate. I’m pretty sure I will be calling her Katie within days, which Nancy isn’t a fan of because that’s the name of her parents’ cat. I say “bah”. Katie is a cute name.
Once again I am proud father. I now have two beautiful daughters. Elena and Kate. They are going to be quite the pair.
Theology Quiz: Being Born Again
Most of my Ames friends are at Encounter this weekend, which I had to miss in order to finish preparing for the imminent birth of our second child. Can’t wait to hear all about it. I have a question for you all though:
Consider the following scene.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?…”
Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, one of the most religious and studied Jews alive at the time didn’t seem to understand what Jesus was talking about.
What does Jesus mean by being “born of water and the Spirit”, and why can’t you enter the “kingdom of God” until you are?
The fact that he was surprised (that or asking an ironic question to slam Nic, which could be the case) that a teach of Israel didn’t catch his meaning, leads me to think he was referring to something… do you know what he was referring to?
Eternal Security
When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.Before The Throne of God Above - Charitie L. Bancroft, 1863.
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
Psalm 130:3-4
Devil Music
Bad early 80’s music
Horrible plastic smiles
Hohner headless guitar
Fake drum track
What’s not to love?
True evidence of God’s sovereignty in salvation: that anyone was saved in the 80s…
Some Great Financial Advice from ING
Found some great financial advice in a e-newsletter from ING Direct in my inbox today. Wrote about it on mattheerema.com (where I will probably be writing more frequently).
A letter to my future self from my past self…
Today I recieved a letter in the mail… from myself… age 13. No, seriously.
Vote your conscience not your… wait what?
I’ve been a little perplexed by a sentiment I’ve seen rolling around the intarwebs recently… “Vote your conscience, not your religion.”
I wholeheartedly agree with the statement “Vote your conscience.” That is how we are to vote. Not by party lines, not according to media hype, not according to a resigned sense of “if ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”, not according to what anyone else tells you to do, but according to your conscience.
If your religion does not affect your conscience, then you have an impotent religion and may I suggest that you are wasting your time on your religion.
Of course I know that what is meant by “vote your conscience, not your religion” is that you shouldn’t simply vote according to how your church tells you to. I agree here (partially), see above. However, there are worse ways of determining how to vote, and I might submit that if you don’t let your church affect how you vote at least slightly, then you are in fact going to vote the way someone else tells you. (I really need to get around to writing that post on my feelings on free will… someday…). You might also be wasting your time in that church.
I also believe that a church should not mandate a particular voting direction. HOWEVER, a church SHOULD educate itself (i.e., the people in the church should eductate themselves) on what scripture has to say about various issues, let that sink into your “conscience”, and then vote accordingly.
Sad fact is, most churches don’t take the time to teach this thoroughly and so simply state one candidate is God’s man, and the other is obviously the anti-christ.
Interestingly, I’m not hearing that (yet) in this election. Probably because most church leaders are rather baffled by the (lack of) good options.
I also find it interesting that the most likely candidate for the anti-christ I’ve seen in awhile is running and no one is saying anything (oh, snap.)
“Conservative” book makes it into Boston U. classroom
I was pretty much shocked to read this article from the Sovereign Grace blog about how Joshua Harris’ “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” has been used in classwork at a liberal school like Boston University to discuss modesty as a virtue. Then again, I have to think that there is a chance that a least a few are starting to notice the devastating results of the “hook-up” culture that seems to be prevalent today. In her article in the Wall Street Journal, Donna Freitas says of her students after reading Harris’ book,
“They seemed shocked that somewhere in America there are entire communities of people their age who really do “save themselves” until marriage, who engage in old-fashioned dating with flowers and dinner and maybe a kiss goodnight.”
I could probably just rehash everything that CJ Mahaney wrote in the article, but he probably says it better himself :)
Abstinence and Temperance
Abstinence is the virtue of the weak, temperance is the virtue of the strong. - A.B. Bruce - The Training of the Twelve
Picking songs for your 8GB iPhone.
I got an iPhone
I have roughly 30GB of music. My iPhone contains 8GB of data. How to choose, how to choose…
Step 1: Create a folder in iTunes called “top ten best songs”
Step 2: Go through your playlist and add songs to that folder.
Step 3: Roughly 5GB of music later, you should have about enough.
Step 4: Sync.
What Flavor Is Your Theology?
How would you describe your theology? That is, if you’ve even ever thought about that question. Have you ever considered how you would label your theology?
The correct answer, of course is “biblical.” If you are a Christian, hopefully you would say that your theology is “biblical.” You’d say to me: “Come on, Matt, we don’t need labels, we simply need to figure out what the Bible says and do it.” (At least that’s what you SHOULD say…) However, have you ever stopped to think about what that means? How do you KNOW that your theology is biblical?
Christian Theology comes in many different flavors it seems. Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Reformed, Armenian, Open, Liberal, Emergent, Charismatic, Anabaptist, Adventist, Congregational, Pietist, Puritan, this list could take up several pages. Where do you fit? Have you given it any thought? All of the above (and all the rest, many of which are utterly contradictory) consider themselves to be “biblical.” At least biblical in the sense that we all mean it when we say it: most true to what the bible would teach us to be.
How do you know that your theology is biblical? Which school of theology would you say you ascribe to? Why? By the way, you probably do fit into one. There’s very little escaping it. I submit that in order to correctly understand scripture, you NEED to go with one (or several, rather.) Understanding scripture is such a HUGE and COMPLEX pursuit that we need guidance.
Guidance from The Holy Spirit (first and foremost), guidance from each other (a close second), and guidance from field experts (in theology, the original languages, linguistics, hermeneutics, exegetics, literature, history, archaeology, paleontology, philosophy, and others) in order to get at exactly WHAT the Bible says. We would do well to stand on the shoulders of people who have gone before and done hard work for us.
Whose shoulders do you stand on? Why?
Movie Review: The Dark Knight
The Batman. My favorite comic book character of all time. Followed secondly by The Daredevil, then the usual suspects (X-Men, Superman, Spiderman, etc…)
I wrote an excited review of Batman Begins. When I heard they were making another movie in this series, I knew I had to see it. All the hype surrounding Heath Ledger made it all more interesting. The Joker was brilliant, as good as Nicholsen’s. Seriously, who among you did not raise at least one eyebrow upon hearing that he was cast in the role? I was skeptical. His performance, however, was award winning. As good as it was, the further development of the Batman character was what won me over on this movie.
July = vacation time!
Most of us have probably at one time arrived home from “vacation” feeling exhausted physically, emotionally, and/or spiritually. This post by C.J. Mahaney (who I had the privilege of hearing at a conference eight years ago) from the Sovereign Grace blog on leadership in family vacations addresses the father’s role in planning vacations that refresh instead of drain, but I think that the content can be easily applied to anyone seeking R&R.
I know that I have definitely fallen into some of the traps of “me-focused” time…forgetting to be grateful to God and picking up an “it’s all about me” attitude. I really appreciate how Mahaney brings a Christ-centered focus into something that we can tend to separate from our spiritual lives.
(Note: The link above is to the post with a complete .pdf of the article. If you prefer to not read it as a .pdf, part 1, part 2, and part 3 can be read separately.)
Wife In The Fast Lane
One of my favorite blogs, ReFem, recently featured this post entitled, “Wife In The Fast Lane.” (I wish I could have been the one to come up with such a catchy title for a post, but, nope, can’t take credit for this one. ;)) I originally just forwarded it to a few close friends who I knew would share my viewpoint and appreciate the content, but perhaps there’s someone else out there that could benefit from it.
I see my role as teammate, #1 cheerleader, a support, and helper to Matt as the most important part in my life. I know that to a lot of people this idea just sounds plain crazy, but because I believe what the Bible says about my life this is the first priority in my life, second only to my relationship with God. I think I could probably write for about a decade about all of my thoughts on this because I’d really like to thoroughly explain them, but I guess I’ll just have to do that in little chunks :)
Because this is such a large part of my life, I’ve grown to deeply appreciate articles and books on the topic. I’ve posted links to other ReFem articles before, but I think this is the first one I’ve posted on marriage. The author of this particular article has been through some major difficulties in life, and I know that I respect her thoughts even more so because of that.
In church/Christian circles, it seems that women (me included) to whom God has given a husband can often get super-involved in book studies, relationships with other women, helping to meet various needs in the church (which are all excellent things to be involved in), but this articles reminds us that our primary God-given ministry is to our husbands. This plays out in many different ways in different women’s lives, but it’s something that I believe we need to carefully consider.
Oh, dear…I think I could just rehash the whole article, but I’ll just let you go ahead and read it :)
Religion is a Problem in the World
Great explanation on one of the main problems with religion (INCLUDING CHRISTIANITY) in the world.
Meditate on this.
