The Puritans Transforming Culture: The Mayflower Compact

The other day I caught a new show called, Drive Thru History. I don’t watch the Trinity network much (which is an example of Christ Above Culture by the way), but every once in a while they come up with something worth watching. This show is like something you might find on the History network but from a Christian perspective (another example of Christ Above Culture). Although this Christian influence negates any neutrality (as if the History channel is ever neutral) and this limits the scope of the show (for instance, they skipped the entire Protestant Reformation) I enjoy watching it.
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Anyway… the episode I watched talked about the Pilgrims coming to America. Most people know that these people were Puritans- resisting the corruption, in their minds, of the Church of England. In the context of a discussion of Christ and Culture, the Puritans are often quoted as an example of Christ Transforming Culture. The Mayflower Compact is a great example of this.

Even Trump is Insecure

My wife noticed something a couple weeks ago while we were watching The Apprentice. Not only has it been true for the last couple weeks, but looking back I think he’s always done it after he fires someone. He turns to his advisors and asks them (in one way or another) if he made the right decision.

It is funny that one of the most confident men in the world has to find validation as much as I do. He has to have someone tell him that he was right. They say that the most dogmatic and overconfident people are really trying to despirately overcompensate for their insecurities.

What do Tila Tequila and D. A. Carson have in common?

A friend and I were talking Bible commentaries the other day. Books are one of my favorite topics even before I was the assistant manager at my seminary’s bookstore. I suggested he check out D. A. Carson’s book, New Testament Commentary Survey, as a starting point to know what he should invest in. It is a rarity for anyone to ever take my suggestion, but in this case he did search the internet for the book only to find it available on MTV.com! HUH?!

As if that wasn’t wierd enough, the top suggestion off MTV’s site for people interested in Carson’s book was the “complete unsensored” version of Ms. Tequila’s show- “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila.” Now we all know how silly these alogrithms can be but this made me ask what Carson and Tila Tequila have in common that MTV would make this connection.

Christ, Culture and the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency

Full Disclosure: I have to admit that I am a McCain fan. I still wear my “McCain 2000″ t-shirt proudly (although it is in tatters by now). I have already endorsed him for the Republican nomination in this blog and made a point to go see him when he came to my town. I have tried to review the Forum as objectively as possible- yeah, right!

Christ, Football, and Culture

My sister-in-law told me that she recently saw an ESPN interview with Tim Tebow, Heisman winning quarterback for the University of Florida, where he spoke about his faith. It is great to see such a great guy become so successful. It is also neat to see him use his fame as a football player to promote Christ- an example of Christ Above Culture.

This reminds me of a time when I met another famous quarterback. Although he is not famous enough for me to actually remember his name, he played for the Bills (I think) as a backup quarterback. Through a series of coincidences he ended up playing a playoff game and helped his team win, despite the predictions to the contrary. With his success, this quarterback used his moment of glory to point to Christ.

The Archaeology of the Jesus Tomb

When I was in college a frustrated roommate snapped at me, “You are cynical about everything but Jesus!” I’ve always taken that as a compliment. No wonder I rolled my eyes when I saw the commercial for the new “documentary” The Jesus Tomb.

After watching it last night, I think Newsweek summarized it best in an article they published last week. The article sums up the case for the Jesus Tomb in four arguments.

1. “recent Biblical scholarship argues that Mary Magdalene’s real name was Mariamene”
2. “DNA tests show that microscopic human remians scaped from the Jesus box and the Maramene boz are not related, at least not matrilineally, leaving open the two humans whose bones were once in those boxes were married.”
3. “The patina on the Talipot [Jesus' tomb] ossuaries… matches that of the James box.”
4. A statistical argument saying that it is too great of a cooincidence to find all these names (surrounding the story of Jesus) to not be the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

Does this make this diffinitive proof that they found Jesus’ tomb and he did not rise from the dead? No.

Eulogy for Tim Russert

Over a week ago it was announced that NBC News Reporter Tim Russert passed away. In last week’s issue of Newsweek there was an article talking about how Russert’s faith affected him and made him the man he was. The article gives me even more respect for a member of the press I already admired, but I was surprised to find that he was so devout of a Christian. Perhaps this is because Russert tended toward Christ and Culture in Paradox- keeping his work world separate from his faith world. You can see this in the way he handled Christopher Hitchens’s appearance on his show- Russert felt he had to moderate the debate rather than voice his own personal disagreement with the guest.

Osteen and Culture

A couple weeks ago Newsweek had an article about the Osteens called, The Osteens As Spiritual Midgets. This article is the best critique I’ve read about the famous televangelist. It shows how the Osteens are more promoting a particular white, upper-middle-class culture than Christ.

Shouting to the Lord on American Idol

According to the Worship Matters blog, the song, “Shout to the Lord” was openly sung on American Idol this week. I missed it because I stop watching the show after the try-outs- because it no longer justifies me. This example, however, gives me another reason to talk about American Idol in my blog- because it relates to Christ and Culture.

McCain’s View on the Separation of Church and State

Last week John McCain was on The View. Whoppie Goldberg asked a great question of McCain about how he views the separation of church and state.
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This is an example of the Christ and Culture in Paradox view. With the rise of the Religious Right in the last few years, many non-Christians (or even non-Evangelical-Christians) start to feel uncomfortable when candidates start discussing their faith. This is because politicians have been using Christ to promote their agenda (Christ of Culture).