Nate (N. D.) Wilson is one of my favorite writers. He has given us some excellent fiction and non-fiction books. He knows what makes a story work.

Nate was in town recently, and we had a conversation about books, beauty, and bestsellers. Naturally, we talked about The Hunger Games. His take on it was too good to keep to myself, so I asked if I could share it here.

Why Hunger Games is Flawed to Its Core
N.D. Wilson

Almost everywhere I go, I’m asked about The Hunger Games (book, not film). The questions used to fly about Twilight and Potter, but Katniss and dystopic death-matches have taken over.

First, I completely understand why The Hunger Games took off. Suzanne Collins knows how to suck readers into a page-turning frenzy. The pace of the book grabs like gorilla glue and the kill-or-be-killed tension keeps fingernails nibbled short. She knows her craft, and I have to say that I’m grateful to her for expanding our mutual marketplace (in the same way that Rowling did). That said, Collins stumbles badly .  .  .

Read the rest here.

Reformed theologians historically have held to a “covenant of works” (or covenant of creation) between God and Adam.  Many evangelical scholars today deny that such a thing existed. I believe that it does.

This following questions and answers cannot do justice to the relative complexity of the debate, but perhaps it will be helpful for the theologically inclined to see why some of us do believe that the Bible teaches there was such a covenant with Adam.

Was there a covenant between God and Adam?

A fruitful way to answer that is by examining the two most common objections to the presence of a covenant in the garden: (1) The Hebrew word for covenant isn’t found in Genesis 2-3 (it doesn’t show up until Genesis 6:18); (2) Covenants have to have either explicit oaths or ratification ceremonies (like animal ceremonies in Genesis 15:7-21), but this is not found in Genesis 2-3.

Read more here.

HT: Gunny

It all began when the National High School Journalism Conference invited a gay rights activist named Dan Savage to speak to students in Seattle about the need to prevent bullying. But it turned out that this was a lesson Savage badly needed to learn himself.

To the shock of the students, Savage launched a vicious attack on the Bible and Christian beliefs. As he put it, “We can learn to ignore the BS in the Bible about gay people.” Of course he didn’t say BS. As Savage continued his attack, some students broke into tears. Dozens of offended students walked out of the auditorium. As they left, Savage heckled them with vulgar words I can’t repeat on the air.

One of the teachers present — Rick Tuttle of Sutter Union High School in California — said the speech “took a real dark, hostile turn … It became very hostile toward Christianity.”

Savage later apologized for using vulgarity to describe the students. But he refused to back down on his other comments —including his offensive comments about the Bible.

Now, what are we to make of this conundrum?

First, I think we can safely assume that the term “bullying” has gone the way of “tolerance.”

Read the rest here.

HT: Denny Burk

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Only God stills the “Wild Things” of life (Psalm 67:7).

When our children were young, Where the Wild Things Are was a favorite.  I can still quote most of it.

The story is simple.  Max mouths off to his mother and gets sent to his room.  To occupy himself, he imagines that his room is a far away land infested with terrifying “Wild Things.”

The Wild Things are a scary bunch.  They roar their terrible roars, roll their terrible eyes, and gnash their terrible teeth.

Max is having none of it.  He says, “Be still!” and tames them with the magic trick of staring into their yellow eyes without blinking once.  After that, Max and the Wild Things are friends and the wild rumpus begins.

Max has sold more books than Houghton-Mifflin.  Where the Wild Things Are has been made into a movie and it all goes to show that something about the story strikes a chord with people.  (As a lover of books, making a good book into a movie strikes me as positively Canaanite.  It is what it is, as we say).

So, what is it about this children’s story that resonates?  I wonder if what it is that we like about Where the Wild Things Are is that we all like to imagine ourselves as Max.  We like to dream that we can tame the terrifying problems of life by saying, “Be still,” in a commanding voice.  It’s satisfying to pretend that we are in charge.

Yet, it’s only a children’s story.  If we had known only one person with terminal cancer or studied one war, we have learned that it doesn’t work for us to tell the problems of life to be quiet.  We have no magical powers.  The more we insist on being able to command all the chaos of life, the more fatigued we will find ourselves.

Yet, there is hope.

Psalm 67:7 assures us that only God who established the mountains (v. 6) is the one who can quiet the roaring seas and the tumult of the people.If right now there are some wild things in your life, understand, that it is the God of Heaven and earth can say, “Be still.”

So, if you are sent to your room without supper, rather than issuing mandates to the wild things, be still and know that God is in control.  Ponder the power of the One who by his strength established the mountains being girded with might (Psalm 65:5), and yet chooses to atone for our transgressions (Psalm 65:3-4).  Rest in God, and when you finally are released from the confines of what has been troubling you, your supper will still be hot.

Visit Progressive Primitive Baptist of Murfreesboro, TN by clicking here.

I read this story in Todd Billings’ award winning book, Union with Christ, and thought there might be a devotional in it. I know I should post more than my latest drafts for Our Daily Journey, but it’s either this or give all my students incompletes for the semester.

In 1857 a few white members of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa asked permission to celebrate the Lord’s Supper separately from their black brothers and sisters. The General Assembly believed their request was wrong, but it acquiesced “due to the weakness of some.” This concession soon became the norm, as white Christians increasingly chose to observe the Lord’s Supper without their black siblings. . .

Read the rest here.

Any healthy church must have some level of inward focus. Those in the church should be discipled. Hurting members need genuine concern and ministry. Healthy fellowship among the members is a good sign for a congregation.

But churches can lose their outward focus and become preoccupied with the perceived needs and desires of the members. The dollars spent and the time expended can quickly become focused on the demands of those inside the congregation. When that takes place the church has become inwardly obsessed. It is no longer a Great Commission congregation.

In my research of churches and consultation with churches, I have kept a checklist of potential signs that a church might be moving toward inward obsession. No church is perfect; indeed most churches will demonstrate one or two of these signs for a season. But the real danger takes place when a church begins to manifest three or more of these warning signs for an extended period of months and even years.

1. Worship wars. One or more factions in the church want the music just the way they like it. Any deviation is met with anger and demands for change. The order of service must remain constant. Certain instrumentation is required while others are prohibited.
2. Prolonged minutia meetings. The church spends an inordinate amount of time in different meetings. Most of the meetings deal with the most inconsequential items, while the Great Commission and Great Commandment are rarely the topics of discussion.
3. Facility focus. The church facilities develop iconic status. One of the highest priorities in the church is the protection and preservation of rooms, furniture, and other visible parts of the church’s buildings and grounds.

Read the whole thing here.

Let’s face it folks: sometimes it ain’t easy going to church. Church can be really messy, sticky, frustrating business sometimes.

There’s that friend of yours who has really been ticking you off lately. He keeps making comments on your Facebook wall that are so irritating! And if you go to church you’re going to have to see him in person! There is no “unfriend” function in real life.

Then there’s that needy guy who always hijacks you for twenty minutes, preventing you from talking to anyone else. He’s always talking about how hard his life is! Talk about a downer!

And sometimes the worship just isn’t that great. . .

The rest here.