May 07
Andrew J. NicewanderEssays Bible, Communication, James, New Media, Scripture
Christian Ethics and the New Media: Introduction and Media Defined
Scripture and Communication
“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4:5-6)
A primary, driving force behind any Christian’s ethic is going to be Christ’s dual command, to love God with all the faculties of one’s being and to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:37-40). Furthermore, this command is given flesh for the Christian be remembering what Christ did for him on the Cross. He shows His children much love and much patience. As such, He expects their ethics to follow that same, Grace-driven trajectory. The Christian is called in Colossians by Paul to be gracious in her speech. His communication is to be seasoned with salt. Her actions are to be wise and time-redemptive.
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:29-32)
Secondly, the Christian is called to communicate in such a way that grace is given to those being communicated to. Christ-followers are not to be causes of unbiblical division and strife. They are called to be “kind”, “tenderhearted” and forgiving. Blog Battles and Flame Wars[1] are to be “put away”. Meanness and a harsh spirit have no place within the Christian community. Christians have been redeemed by the Holy Spirit, in Christ and by God’s kind Grace. To use the New Media to communicate in such an evil, wicked way is to grieve the Spirit.
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:13-17)
Finally, the New Media is not wicked in and of itself. Media of all types can be used for much good. When Johann Gutenberg created his printing press, it created untold (and at that time, unparalleled) possibilities for spreading the Word of God to men and women all over the world.[2] Yet, that same technology has also been used for much evil over the centuries. Likewise, the New Media, those vessels of that ever culturally-precious commodity, information, can be used for much good and much evil. The rightness is not in the thing itself, but in the use of it. It’s not the medium in which the ethical question lies but in the use of the media. Such abilities to spread information should be viewed as gifts from God. The problem lies within the human heart and its propensity towards evil and unethical actions.
[1] Stephen Leahy, “The Secret Cause of Flame Wars,” Wired, February 13, 2006,, Blog Post, http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/02/70179.
[2] Heinrich Wallau, “Johann Gutenburg,” in The Catholic Encyclopedia, 7th ed, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07090a.htm. (accessed April 26, 2010).
Feb 04
Andrew J. NicewanderQuote of the Week Al Mohler, Bible, Christianity, Hell, Liberalism, Theology
The lesson of theological liberalism is clear—embarrassment is the gateway drug for theological accommodation and denial.
Be sure of this: it will not stop with the air conditioning of hell.
- Al Mohler, “Air Conditioning Hell: How Liberalism Happens“,
Jul 23
Andrew J. NicewanderArt and Culture, My Writings, Poetry Bible, Faith, God, God's Glory, God's Grace, God's Sovereignty, Jesus, Suffering
When waves come crashing, smashing down onto the sandy shore
When winds come ripping, slashing in and blow a little more
When homes are thrown and torn in two and some are left to stand
When lives are changed for good or ill, we know we’re in God’s Hands
When little boys get very sick, so that they might soon die
When parents see their children ill, and watch their young ones cry
When tests are done, and bad news comes, with surgeries galore
When hope seems lost, and death seems near, we know we serve our Lord
When dearest friends go through life’s throws and find it hard to stand
When Christian sons and daughters true are weak in God’s strong Hand
When our good God does see it fit to give and take away
The solemn cry “Blessed be His Name” is what our hearts must say
When life goes up and then comes down, when side by side it flies
When all the future once so sure just seems to up and die
When we don’t know what life next holds, when nothing is real sure
When we despair and question God, we see the One Who’s Pure
When God’s Good Will just seems so vague, and it is hard to trust
When we lose faith and hope seems lost, into His arms we’re thrust
For God protects and holds His own, the Children of the Lamb
The Unknown has now been made Known, because God is I AM
We do not need to know what comes today or in the morn
We trust in Christ who loves His sheep, He has His Grace well shown
We do not need to fret the things that in this life seem hard
For all are in our God’s Strong Hands, His Grace He does impart
So when we want to doubt and fret about all things unknown
We must remember that we serve the God Who’s on His Throne
He Rules and Reigns, and knows all things, for He’s our Sovereign Lord
We know the Unknown is made Known, His Grace is on us poured
Jul 21
Andrew J. NicewanderArt and Culture, My Writings, Poetry Bible, Grace, Jesus, Law, Love, Scripture, The Word, Truth
I come before You honestly with shaking and temerity
I do not seek You faithfully, I do not love Your Word
The devil roars and roams about, so with my quaking voice I shout
“Lord Jesus come and save Your son, equip me with Your Sword!”
Your Word’s a Lamp unto my feet, a shining Light unto my path
By it I know Your Holy Will, by it I know of Christ
Protect me from my wickedness, and make me like my Savior blessed
To fear Your frightful holiness, and love Your tender Grace
Make me receptive to Your Word, to treasure Your Commands and Laws
So wisdom will be near and dear, I glorify Your Name
From You comes Truth and Knowledge sweet, and love from Christ, my Mercy Seat
I read Your Word, so You I’ll meet, and then Your fame proclaim
Incline my heart unto Your Truth, the Knowledge of my Savior God
By it I know I’m lost without the work and death of Christ
I am a sinner lost and frail, I need the Cross, the Thorns and Nails
Without Your Love I’m lost to Hell, but now in Christ I’m saved
By Jesus’ blood I’m justified, the Spirit works to sanctify
So I’ll in God be glorified and live eternally
A sinner lost who now is found, adopted urchin with a crown
Once sinner dead, now Glory bound, all praise to Christ I’m free!
May 23
Andrew J. NicewanderBook Reviews Bible, Celtic Christianity, Christianity, Culture, Evangelism, Ireland, Jesus, Love, Missional, Missions, Story
“The Celtic Way of Evangelism” by George G. Hunter III is an interesting, somewhat informative, trite and simplistic study of early Celtic Christianity and its historical role in missions and evangelism.
The book begins strong with a solid synopsis of Patrick, the “Apostle to the Irish” and does a decent job of telling the high points of Patrick’s life and ministry. Hunter does an equally good job in describing the community and lives of early Celtic Christianity, expressed in their loves for men and in their hospitality towards strangers. Hunter additionally goes to great lengths to articulate the Celtic Christian’s superb ability to relate to the culture around him and to contextualize the Gospel of Jesus to a lost and dying world. He describes the Celts’ love for art, music and story and he speaks of the Celtic Christian’s ability to craft music and narrative in such a way as to present the Gospel message to the barbarians of their day in the British Isles and to the lost on the European Continent in a meaningful and powerful way.
Hunter spends much of the last half of the book postulating how contemporary Christianity can communicate the Gospel message in the Celtic Way. By itself, this is not a bad goal. Hunter rightly notes the emergence of the post-Christian “New Barbarians”, making a semi-direct correlation between the New Barbarians of today and the barbarians of yesteryear. He notes in these New Barbarians the same worshipful regard for nature, the same disbelief in the God of the Bible and the same self-destructive behaviors of the barbarian. This is not necessarily a wrong correlation to make nor is it unwise to not only learn from past mistakes, but to learn from past successes and ask ourselves how we can use those means to communicate the Gospel. The problem in this book is with Hunter’s approaches to evangelism and Gospel Communication. Instead of asking himself first what the Bible says about missions, Hunter considers the task from a uniquely American and Pragmatic standpoint and asks the dangerous question: “What Works?”.
This faulty approach leads Hunter to trivialize the comparison of the Celtic vs. Roman ways of Christianity and because the Celtic Way “worked” in the British Isles, in Hunter’s mind it so dominates Roman means so as to leave Roman methodologies impotent to affect true change (no matter that Roman Christianity ended up winning and “working” in the long run). Hunter does make a valid point in his comparison, namely that it is better to aim for a people’s heart rather than the outward trappings of culture and society. Yet his pragmatic approach to applying the Celtic Way negatively colors his valid points and leaves the reader feeling his postulations are somewhat lacking.
The book is a good read and is, at the beginning especially, fairly thought-provoking. Hunter’s analysis of the Celtic Way is beneficial and it will cause the reader to desire to study the topic further. Still, the lack of thought given to the Biblical Way of evangelism and Gospel communication is disappointing at best and a dangerous precedent for the serious evangelist.
May 17
Andrew J. NicewanderBook Reviews Bible, Christianity, Church, Culture, Emergent, Paul, Theology
Rediscovering Paul – An Introduction to His World, Letters and Theology. By David B. Capes, Rodney Reeves and E. Randolph Richards. InterVarsity Press, 2007.
329 pages. Hardback.
“Rediscovering Paul”, a book written by David B. Capes, Rodney Reeves and E. Randolph Richards is (for the most part) a successful attempt to provide an introductory text that gives a fair overview of Paul, his writings and his theology; giving special consideration to those topics in light of Paul’s world as he lived it. (pgs. 15-16)
Particularly, the authors strive to present a Paul that in many respects runs contrary to the preconceived notions of the students whom they teach. All three are deans of respected Universities in the Bible Belt, and all combat “Western”, Americanized misguided perceptions of Paul and his letters.
These preconceived notions of Paul (presumably the notions of the authors’ students) are at the forefront of the authors’ minds as they explore who Paul really was. For instance, one of the authors states that as he thought about who Paul was, he “…began to question if my Western, domesticated, middle-class perception of Paul was the real Paul. Had my culture superimposed its values over the biblical Paul? (p. 14)”. In some respects, this statement smacks of the same tired critiques of “the West” that have recently been offered up by those in the Emergent Movement. Yet perhaps such critiques are needed, especially those directed at church-goers.
It must be said that all three of the authors are obviously well-read and well-studied. To their credit, they have learned the ideas and writings of men throughout church history whom they disagree with, yet they present the material in a fair and thoughtful way. In the chapter entitled “Paul’s Conversion, Call and Chronology”, the authors give a substantial amount of thought and ink to dealing with the “New Perspective on Paul” contention that Paul’s “conversion” was not along the lines of the traditional Lutheran type of salvific conversion, but rather it was more along the lines of a re-focusing of his “Jewishness” to include the Gentiles as well. While the authors seem to disagree with the “New Perspective”, they do so in a balanced and somewhat refreshing way (pgs. 90-94).
Additionally, the authors do a fair job of defending the primary issues of Christian Orthodoxy. In defending the creation of the Canon, they state that “Sometimes it is necessary to question the ‘establishment,’ as Martin Luther did; however, the verdict even on Luther’s actions was determined by the church over an extended period of time. (p. 293)”. They perceptively ask the rhetorical question: “Why do we think we have the right to question a decision accepted by millions of Christians worldwide over two thousand years? (p. 293)”. While the authors are not shy about asking some hard questions of themselves, their students and their readers, they do well to not go too far and leave the walls of Orthodoxy itself.
Yet, “Rediscovering Paul” is not without its weaknesses. While the authors aimed to have a “…finished product that was relatively seamless, speaking with one voice while still drawing on the expertise of each author (p. 16)”, the book does not read as seamlessly as the authors would have liked. In the discussion on the book of Romans, much effort is given to explaining chapters one through eleven, yet chapters twelve through sixteen, the “application” part of Romans, is only given a terse two page summary. This abruptness is somewhat disconcerting, especially when viewed in concert with the long (and somewhat tedious) discussion regarding letter writing in Paul’s day (pgs. 54-82).
While many will find things in this book that will challenge them, make them uncomfortable and perhaps even anger them; the authors deal with the question of who Paul was with a necessary honesty and openness that their students and their readers would do well to follow.
Mar 24
Andrew J. NicewanderPoetic Prose Bible, Christian Living, Christianity
A man of the Book knows the Book. Being so, this man reads the Book. To Him the Book is a Food eternally more important than His morning meal. The Book refreshed His Soul and Sustains His Heart. This man cannot survive without the Book. He reads it and is intimately familiar with it. He memorizes the Book. He fills his head with as much of the Book as is possible. He thinks about the Book and learns it front to back. The man of the Book studies the Book. The man does not simply read the Book and forget its words. This man labors with the Book. Hard. He grapples with the meaning of the Book. He struggles with his own ignorance and goes to war against ideas he holds that run contrary to the Book. The man is sold out to the teachings of the Book and works with all his might to know and understand the Book. To this man, true teachings are not teachings of the Book unless they are lived according to the Book. Likewise, true living is not true living by the Book unless it is informed by the teachings of the Book. The man of the Book knows the Purpose of the Book and properly worships the Author and Object of the Book. The man of the Book knows Who ultimately wrote the Book. To this man, the words of the Book are breathed by Divinity and are worthy to be followed before Divinity. The man of the Book submits to this Divinely Authored Book and to the Book’s Teachings. He knows his need for the Message of the Book and is properly humbled and awed by it.
The man of the Book intimately knows and constantly lives the teachings of the Book. He strives to be more and more like the Object of the Book and ardently worships the Author of the Book. He understands the Gift of the Book and is eternally full of humility and thanksgiving to the Giver of the Book.
May God ever and always give us Grace to be men and women of the Book.
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