Monday, April 24, 2006

At 45 minutes past
noon on April 24, 2006, Robert Andrew Settergren was born. He wasn't all that little either. 9-2 and 21 inches long. Lots of pretty thick dark hair. We'll see how long that lasts. I'll make you wait for dad and mom to post their photos.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Here is a post geared
mostly toward my sister. I suppose many others might (and should) find it interesting because of what it pertains to. But in my sister's case, she should find it more interesting than others. When I was a senior in high-school, my sister, who I suppose had just come home for the summer from college, was reading a book which I think was titled something like "In the Twilight of Western Thought". It was written by a guy named Herman Dooyeweerd. I never, in all the 40 years that have transpired since that day, did read it or even ever figured out what good 'ol Herman was up to. Until last week.

How's that, you ask? Well, his philosophy came up in our Pentateuch class. If you want to get a quick survey of Herman Dooyeweerd, go to my other blog where I record my class notes. (I do this so that I can always find them - plus the Biblegateway verse links are great). The notes for April 18 are what I am referring to. Don't just scroll to the bottom, unless you just can't stand this stuff. The gist is that the WSCAL prof. and the whole school as far as I can tell, has a two kingdom world view and rejects the transformationalist viewpoint that wants Christianity to do a makeover on the culture.

Put your comments if any on this blog. You will notice that no one has ever commented on that blog mostly because no one really is aware of it and getting dialogue going was never its purpose.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

When I was a kid
growing up in the Christian Reformed Church, one of the things that all of us knew was that in addition to the authorized ten commandments, there were several others that were right up there along side them that were just as inviolable. These were, among others, dancing, movies, card playing and gambling. (To digress a bit, there was a whole set of rules that were a fallout from observing the Sabbath day. This resulted in nearly all commercial establishments being closed on Sunday. It also resulted in many paper boys not having to lug the Sunday paper around since the local CRC Dutchmen knew that God would frown on them causing these paperboys to work on the Sabbath).

I'm here to tell you that in less than a half century the denomination has swung from some seriously goofy legalism to what can only be described as new revelation from on high. According to an article in the April 2006 Banner, which is the official publication of the denomination, not only is there "no explicit biblical teaching that gambling is inherently wrong" but "what we search for in the game of poker is really just an expression of what we're meant to ultimately search for in life".

I can't spit out anything cogent having read this quote from a CRC pastor. But I don't need to. This guy said it better.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Please extend a warm
welcome to the newest kid on the block.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Here is some food:

Modernity has assured us that we are in the consummation, knowing good and evil without any ethical obligation except to be true to oneself. It is the autonomous voice or vision within, not the verbum externum, that we are told to heed. It is not surprising, then, that a theologian of glory like Hegel would find the faith of Israel so mundane. Vincenzo Vitiello notes, "Hegel recalls the disappointment of Pompey, who 'had approached the heart of the temple, the center of adoration and had hoped to discover in it the root of the national spirit... the life giving soul of this remarkable people... only to find himself in an empty room'". After generations had thought we were in the promised land of pure presence, postmodern thought has reminded us quite truly that "under the sun," we are in the desert, or worse, in the desert of deserts. Mark C. Taylor says that our existence is "endless straying," "erring," and "wandering." Biblical faith does not hesitate to affirm this as the form of life in this present evil age that refuses to meet a stranger, but it treats this as an ethical rather than a metaphysical problem. The pointless existence that Taylor celebrates is precisely this "empty way of life" passed down to us by our pagan ancestors from which Peter tells us we have been liberated (1 Peter 1:18). We may be in a desert, "exiles and sojourners" in this age, but Egypt is behind us even more fully than it was for the Israelites in the wilderness. The tomb is empty. We are not in an empty room but seated with Christ in the Holy of Holies. It is not a time for either the beatific vision or the funeral dirge, but for the songs of Zion as we make our way to the City of God, for the Stranger of the Emmaus road and the upper room still meets us, to bring us into his Sabbath joy by his Spirit through Word and sacrament. Even if we are in the desert rather than the promised land, it is not a desert of deserts. A theology of pilgrims will have to suffice - and does suffice, for meeting a Stranger.

from "Lord and Servant - A Covenant Christology" by Michael Horton