kent kersey

Mraz's Beautiful Mess

2011-02-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

I know I put up a U2 song as my favorite, but this one is running a close second these days.

My daughter and I saw Jason Mraz a while ago and I was completely blown away with his voice. This song works on many levels. First of all the music is just amazingly smooth. The harmonies are so tight.

The lyrics paint a wonderful picture of complexity and simplicity. The idea of a beautiful mess is powerful. Believe it or not, the version he does at his Chicago concert is even better.

2011-02-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

I love this song because its sound and its message. This song was written when U2 was near their musical peak (that peak came with Achtung Baby).

I think the message accurately portrays Paul's sentiment in Philippians 3:12 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."

The lyrics speak of belief and doubt in the same breath. I think that's an accurate view of what a believer experiences in life. I think the strongest lyric is, "I still believe."

power of pictures

2011-02-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

The power of pictures.

2011-02-04T13:04:00.001-08:00

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war.html

"The king stay the king."

2011-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

**WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

This is a scene from the first season of The Wire. Many television critics have claimed that The Wire is the best television show of all time.

This scene shows D explaining the game of chess to two of his "pawns".

This scene reveals that the cultural ethos of inner-city Baltimore transcends mere stereotypes. These young men are involved in a chess game that involves more than just a casual chess board. They are playing a life and death game.

The writing here is brilliant.

What is real?

2011-01-19T09:38:00.000-08:00

This is the title track from The Script's new album, "Science and Faith." Here's the chorus of the song:

You won’t find faith or hope down a telescope
You won’t find heart and soul in the stars
You can break everything, got the chemicals
But you can’t explain a love like ours.

Its the way we feel, yeah this is real
Its the way we feel, yeah this is real

This is an interesting dichotomy between different realities. The stars are real. Faith and hope are real. But they seem to be real in different ways. The feelings between the singer and his girl (I assume) are just as corporal as the basic elements of a chemical compound.

I don't know a lot about The Script, but since a lot of their lyrics on their first album were labeled "Explicit", I'm assuming they aren't believers. However, they are Irish, so the language thing might not mean much.

It is encouraging to know that feelings, faith, and hope are real . . .

Best Picture of the Year

2011-01-10T15:25:00.000-08:00

My favorite movie of last year is The Social Network. It is so important for many reasons. Way too many reasons to cover in a blog posting . . .

The movie shows that relationships are the core of human existence. Facebook is revolutionary because it found a way to link people in a way that was never possible before. If people link together in meaningful ways, they become more human.

Gospel according to Clint Eastwood

2011-01-10T15:21:00.001-08:00

Gran Torino was one of the most theologically rich movies I've seen in a long time.

Eastwood's latest movies have dealt with the issue of faith in mostly negative terms. In this film, however, Eastwood seems to come to terms with the nature of faith as something that provides more than shallow, self-serving comfort. True faith, true love, provides comfort and salvation for others.

The racist Eastwood develops a relationship with his foreign neighbors. The friendship grows into real concern. This concern ultimately forces Eastwood to give more than he can imagine to insure their safety, their salvation.

Without spoiling the ending, I just want to point out that this movie illustrates my belief in limited/unlimited atonement. I consider myself a 4.5 point Calvinist because I think Limited Atonement has some merit to it; I don't believe, however, that it is the whole story. Yes, Christ's atonement is limited to the elect in a salvific way, but his atonement also benefits the whole world in a more general way. For example, Billy Graham's salvation was paid on the cross in a way that only benefits believers. But Graham's salvation through the atonement has benefited all of mankind through good works.

What if God were one of us?

2011-01-10T15:15:00.001-08:00

This is a fascinating song by Joan Osborne. She places the video in the context of a freak show. The "freaks" in the show are human (so they are sort of like us), but their differences intrigue us and make us stare at them. This would fit with the description of Jesus, yes he was human like us, but also so different he seems to be from a foreign universe.

I'm also intrigued by the scenes of people putting their faces in the "God cut-out". In a sense we all do this; we play God and think he looks just like us.

Most people probably won't pick this up, but Osborne gives a nod to Bob Dylan in this song. She asks what if God is, "trying to make his way home, just trying to make his way home, like a holy rolling stone." In Dylan's famous song "Like a Rolling Stone" he asks, "how does it feel to be without a home, like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?" Osbourne seems to place God in Dylan's song. God is the unknown. He might be right in front of us, but he is unseen and unfelt . . .

The doctrine of the incarnation, however, gives us hope that God is here. In a sense, he is one of us. And he is knowable.

Colbert vs Ehrman

2011-01-10T15:13:00.001-08:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Bart Ehrman

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Religion

This is a great interaction between Stephen Colbert and Bart Ehrman. Ehrman, the scholar, proposes his premise. According to Ehrman, it is not proper to harmonize the gospel accounts. This is not based on any historical conclusion; it's based solely on his commitment to a methodological atheism and thoroughgoing naturalism. Colbert, the voice of reason, makes perfect sense, "could it be that Jesus is an elephant?"

Classic!

Historical Jesus

2011-01-10T15:12:00.001-08:00

This is a fascinating debate between William Lane Craig and Bart Ehrman. Particularly interesting is Ehrman's insistence that a proper historian cannot even consider God as an explanation for anything. My only question is: well, what if God did do something? Doesn't that mean he is willing to limit his choices simply due to his a priori philosophical commitments?

One of the best songs I've heard in a long time.

2010-03-17T22:19:00.001-07:00

Twitter: the new CNN

2009-06-14T20:22:00.001-07:00

I was listening to This Week in Tech and they were mentioning that the recent election in Iran has propelled Twitter past CNN as the place to follow breaking news. While Iranians were tweeting in real time about the dramatic election, CNN was showing a rerun of Larry King interviewing the guys from the chopper show.

Could we be at the beginning of a big change in the way we get our news?

pretty cool Kindle

2009-05-17T18:03:00.001-07:00

I found this picture on line recently. Somebody made this wooden kindle. It really looks cool, but would be beneficial only if you wanted to read the same page forever.

Good thing we're still here

2009-05-17T17:58:00.001-07:00

I was at the gym today and while I listened to a philosophy lecture on my iPhone the TV in front of me was playing a History Channel program called Life After Humans.

This show illustrated that when humans have left the earth (I guess after some apocalyptic event) pets will turn feral, weeds will overtake baseball stadiums, and after fifty years, the Sears Tower in Chicago will collapse due to dry rot.

This reminded me of Gen 1:28 where God tells the first humans to 'subdue the earth.' Part of the cultural mandate means that we maintain the earth. Man has brought a lot of disorder into the world due to sin, but we have also brought in a lot of order.

Last read

2009-03-19T08:02:00.001-07:00

I recently finished Dog On it, a fun book by first time author Spencer Quinn. The book is written from the perspective of Chet, a dog who seems to be a bit more in touch than his owner, Bernie. Bernie is a private eye who is on the track of a runaway girl (or is she kidnapped?). Along the way, Chet himself gets kidnapped and figures things out before his owner.

As a dog owner and dog lover, I loved reading this. Quinn does a good job of telling us what Chet is really thinking.

Another thing about this book: I read the whole thing on my iPhone using the Amazon Kindle app. It was actually very easy to use and surprisingly easy on the eyes. It's really nice having your book in your pocket at all times. For example, I went to one of our favorite take-out restaurants and placed my order. During the ten minute wait, I just sat down, opened up the book and read a chapter. Very, very cool.

A picture of real worship

2008-11-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

I went to a worship/music conference a couple weeks ago and saw a great picture of true worship.

I was attending a small workshop of some 'unplugged' worship with Scott Wesley Brown, and Billy Smiley (from Whiteheart). Anyway, they were joined by a vocalist, keyboardist, and bass player.

I noticed the bass player being very laid back, playing some very simple bass parts and fully engaging in the worship experience. I thought he was a great picture of a humble worshiper.

When the time was over Smily introduced the band and it turns out the bass player who was completely in the background was David Ellefson, the long time bass player for MegaDeath. I guess he's a believer now.

I thought it was amazing that this brilliant musician who was the focus of millions of fans for many years was happy to just sit in the background and play a very small role in this great worship experience.

2008-03-18T12:03:00.000-07:00

I was able to go to Wittenberg last weekend. The picture of me in front of a big wooden thing is me in front of Luther's pulpit.

I was able to see the castle church where Luther nailed the 95 theses to the door and kicked in the Reformation. Luther is buried there, so I paid my respects to Martin. The other highlights were seeing his house which now hosts the biggest collection of Reformation 'things' in the world. There were so many incredible things there including many old, old, old documents including original Luther writings. It also has Luther's living room in its original condition, including his famous table from the "Table Talks".

I think my favorite place was St. Mary's church. This was the church where Luther preached nearly all of his sermons and was the very first Protestant church. There is an original altar piece by Lucas Cranack which is absolutely incredible. Most historical sites this old (14th Century) have been remodeled so frequently they don't feel very old. St. Mary's was kind of showing its age and felt really old; I liked that a lot. I even went to church there on Sunday morning. I'm sure it was a nice service, but it was all in German so I didn't understand very much. I think it's pretty cool to say I worshiped in the very first church to move away from the Catholic mass.

Overall, this was a great experience for a theology nerd like me.

Very Cool

2008-01-21T20:31:00.001-08:00

This video reminds me of the fact that we are works in progress. As I watched this I cringed when the artist totally changed the picture. It's a great art form that shows how God continues to change us and we will look differently at various times.

Proof that Microsoft is a very innovative company

2008-01-13T23:03:00.001-08:00

Very Funny

2008-01-13T22:59:00.001-08:00

Great Rant by Mark Driscoll

2008-01-08T21:25:00.001-08:00

Are we deluded?

2007-08-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of finishing Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion. I have already read Sam Harris' The End of Faith and A Letter to a Christian Nation.

These books, along with Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great (which I hope to read before school starts) are current shots at the basics of theism. The basic premise of Dawkins and Harris (and maybe Hitchens) is that religion is bad for two reasons. First, religion is bad because some religious people are bad. Even someone with a basic grasp of logic sees right through this argument. Is it logical to say that all Germans are bad because some Germans do bad things? This argument, that religions are bad based on bad religious people, does nothing to prove that religion, in and of itself, is bad. It just proves that it's possible that religion is frequently misused.

The second argument Dawkins and Harris use to discredit religion is to attack the nature of faith. They say that religion is based on faith. Then they go on to make a logical fallacy of setting up a straw man. (That is, they present a representation of something and then attack that representation; unfortunately, the representation does not link to what they are really attacking.) They say that faith is believing in absence of evidence. This is the farthest thing from the truth!

Faith is the exercise of an action that is reasonable based on evidence that might not be readily available but that is logical based on other beliefs. I would say that this is an accurate definition of faith throughout the Bible. I strongly believe that C.S. Lewis would buy into it, although he would say it with much more elegance. I believe Dawkins and Harris use this kind of faith all the time. When they go to the pharmacist and receive a bottle of pills, they exercise faith when they pop one in their mouths without performing extensive laboratory research on the chemical makeup of each pill. They don't have comprehensive evidence that a pill is not poison, but it's reasonable to believe this based on other logical beliefs they hold, such as the pharmacist has never given poison pills before.

So, even though Harris and Dawkins are brilliant people, their logic simply doesn't hold up.

The Gospel According to Spiderman

2007-05-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you've seen Spiderman 3 or not, but it's a great one for spiritual discussions. There is a definite link between the doctrine of sin and Batman's new 'black persona'.

There is also a strong imagery of the power of God. Spiderman sheds his evil at a church. Good move. I think it's also interesting to see that Spiderman is Arminian rather than Calvinist. It's his choice to turn good again. He’s the one who gets rid of the evil side. In fact, the main message is that you can choose to be whatever you want to be. (I can imagine John Calvin watching this movie, popcorn in hand, screaming at the screen, “It’s God, not you!”) If the movie were to be more Calvinistic, Spiderman’s “conversion” would have been a bit less of him.

I know, I'm reading too much into a comic book movie. But it is important to understand that every piece of good art tells a story and has a certain point of view. (Spiderman 3 good art?)

Anyway, thumbs up for the movie. Thumbs down for my stupid decision to go the day after it opened at a 3:00 matinee. What was I thinking? There were out-of-control five-year-olds running everywhere and kicking the back of my seat through the whole movie. Grrrr . . . (If only I had spidey powers; I could have tied them all to their seats.)

Barth Vader

2007-03-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was amazed when I came across this site. Karl Barth is the most important theologian of the twentieth century. I don't agree with everything he says, but if you are going to be a 'real' theologian, you need to at least understand what Barth was all about.

This site summarizes Barth's Church Dogmatics.

N. T. Wright

2006-10-30T16:30:00.000-08:00

This is a good summary of N.T. Wright's views on Jesus and the Kingdom. Check it out here

Is Theism Reasonable?

2006-10-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

Check out this lecture on theism by J. P. Moreland. Right here

Jesus Seminar

2006-10-30T16:00:00.000-08:00

This is a radio show that pits Robert Funk against James White.
check this out: file