Soren Sorely Sought Solidarity

But, there is nothing new under the sun.

Recently reading Soren Kierkegaard’s “Fear and Trembling” has got me thinking about postmodernism, truth and reality and why we seem to have such trouble defining them. Soren wasn’t too well liked in his day, maybe because like any good philosopher he questioned a lot of popular premises, but like a child reacting to a parent’s heavy hand, he utilized the premise he criticized.

In his preface to “ Fear and Trembling,” Soren seems to be frustrated with “the new generation” for beginning where every other generation ended up. (Most ancients began doubting and questioning after lives of self deprivation, study and seeking wisdom, whereas his peers began doubting and questioning without enduring the proper steps as did their elders. )Though building on another’s framework seems to be highly celebrated in business, politics, industry and family wealth, Soren keenly pointed out that there is then something lost in the sincerity of that henceforth achieved.

Privilege of doubting without the struggle of searching promotes devaluation of wisdom which turns healthy reverence into sinister criticism and careless dismissal much like Prince Charles and Harry expend the popularity of their envied lineage. Unfortunately, Soren himself popularized the same sort of trend with more dangerous tools than misplaced criticism or reckless squandering.......

Those are the tools of faith and fact, placed on the potter’s wheel of existentialism and postmodernism as effectually as Soren retold the story of Abraham and Isaac. Soren recapitulated the philosophy he criticized but more dangerously cloaked in the guise of reform. Most commonly known as a “fresh look,” a “fresh gospel,” or “a different light,” but “what happened to the days of John Adams when facts were known as “stubborn things?” Facts are stubborn things yet, for though we have left behind fact in pursuit of fiction and fantastic illusions of life, facts will stubbornly return to our reality or the reality of our children with the jealousy of a woman scorned, and we will not be able to ignore them.

This will be well illustrated in the current financial crisis. For while philosophies devoid of fact, and banknotes devoid of currency flirt with speculation, possibility, and human nature, the deficit of these are more patiently waiting their eager and painful revenge. Because like hard cash, facts cannot be at their core manipulated or corrupted. They can be temporarily inflated, uselessly tossed about, or denied, but there is a fortunate, created order that will set all things back in motion as they should be, and mankind will once more have a chance to seek Soren’s solidarity.

back in black

So I am now back in the US after 6 months in Europe, and what a relief it is to be back! Not only because I am working again and get to see my fiancee often, but I forgot how free we are in America! If someone wants to do something here, they can, and though it has its disadvantages for the victims of hedonism, freedom is a blessing for the rest of us.

I am thinking about how to integrate the Christ-like principles I learned from life there into life here with a different mindset and practices. Like having to see how much I have depended on material possessions for my security and peace of mind. When the ability to affect the state of these things was lost by leaving the country, I had to trust in the Lord, and I realized how difficult it is.

I have also come to see how prosperous our culture is, and even myself. Though I have never lacked, I never saw myself as rich until I visited countries where poverty means something different. I think it would be more striking to visit southeast Asia or Africa.

I have also been convicted about the extreme waste that we as North Americans support for convenience sake. Though the Bible doesn't say too much about this, I can't help but feeling guilty for using so much and throwing away more. A friend of mine just started working for 1-800 GOT JUNK and he was telling me how much almost new stuff he sees ditched every day. I think it says something about a culture when we can hire people to not only deliver new things, but to also take away the things we don't want to trash them simply because there is an excess. It used to be that things were consumed when there was a want or need. Now, consummation is an addiction, maybe even an a god

Should Christians be setting different trends? Why?

my camera is broken. sorry no more pictures of Holland and the Corrie Ten Boom Huis.....

I am excited to come back to America, but I am enjoying my 11 days in Holland. I am getting a lot of course work done for Tyndale, and having a great time with Ariel's family.

Les Sept Laux

The last post's pictures were taken on the mountain in the far left of this first photo right above the guy's head. The French Alpes are beautiful and it has been a privilege to stay here for the past 6 months and traverse all over them.






Sort of bizarre seeing this here but really neat at the same time.

steel mills and toyotas

Grenoble- from the Bastille. What a view! I was wondering why I kept getting sick, but then I realized that it might have been that entire steel mill I breathed in. If you look closely you can see it floating around in the sky.
Harriet, Joram, Rebekah and I some others went up a mountain. It was quite a view also though I wouldn't recommend hiking in snow without snow shoes. There is also Mont Blanc (the tallest mountain in Europe) in the center of this photo.
I think this picture clearly shows the steel mill. It is between the tops of the mountains and the tops of the hills.
This might not look like much, and it wasn't much...room, that is. We were all four crammed into the back of a Toyota something. I think it was too skinny for production in America. Normally they tell you how many airbags they put in your car, but they were telling us how many cars they put into their airbags. WHAT?!?!?

spelling lesson

I guess "Eiffel" is spelled like that and not this "Effiel."

I am embarrassed but this is what I get for learning a second language. I have forgotten the first, which is a problem because I can't write in the second yet either.

What is even more embarrassing is that I was corrected by someone for whom English is a third language.

Thanks Joram.

Chasing Shadows

I have been thinking about how we prefer suck on the wrapper of life than eat the candy God provides. When we are given an opportunity to store up candy for the future, we more often opt to chew the wrapper for taste right now. This sounds a bit ridiculous in this context, but we often do this in our spiritual life. God promises us every good thing that we could possibly want, but the attainment of these good things does not come 'til the future. Like the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of our future inheritance in Heaven, God has given us shadows of future glory on earth. These come in the way of relationships, places, possessions, entertainment and food. All these things will be present in Heaven in some perfect way for us to enjoy in the presence of God, but attaining them requires present sacrifice and difficulty on earth. Because God is good, He has given us true joy in sacrifice and every spiritual blessing in earthly trials, but why do we settle for the shadows?

Why do we spend our energy searching out satisfaction in present relationships, entertainment, or possessions? These things are just shadows of our future hope and glory. My shadow tends to be the places I find myself. I like to make them comfortable, without stress or tension, and friendly. Sometimes God chooses to bless me with these things, but more often than not, I will have to wait 'til heaven to experience the perfect place. I can spend all my time trying to find or create or fix this shadow, but it will never work. Well, it might, but when life is dead and gone, I will have to forgo the words, "well done my good and faithful servant." Instead I would get, "Well done on the shadow chasing, you can now enter the shadow you chased......... the shadow of the blessing you would have obtained if you sought first My Kingdom." I know that I don't want to be caught chewing short-lived sweetness from a plastic wrapper when I am called on to enjoy it's contents.

ok, ok, I'll post pictures of Paris.and berlin

ok, well i do do more things than just hang out here in Europe. This is a picture of me and a few young kids i was watching with Mike for a church event in Germany. Don't let their sweet little faces fool you- they were vicious. the three yr old in the pink could formulate sentences that would baffle Shakespeare.
Mike and I were posing on the red carpet when these Serbian girls asked to have their photos taken with us.

This is the famous Sony center. That big white thing is a roof that is situated over a bunch of skyscrapers. Pretty cool.
Paris
The Notre Dame Cathedral
Effiel Tower. Never ask someone to take your picture WITH THE EFFIEL TOWER and assume they are going to do a good job. And WHY is my spell corrector telling me that Effiel is not a word.
You won't see this shot in National Geographic. The Effiel tower is not as big as it looks.
The cool thing about Paris is that all the buildings are like this. And everyone wears black and doesn't talk to each other. So the black against the light stone and the erie silence is unnerving. I think they speak Spanish in Paris. I stopped for directions three times and every time they couldn't tell me anything because they only spoke Spanish. WHAT?!?!? NO COMPRENDO?

the series

I decided to delete the two previous posts and abstain from posting the last post in this series. I just had this sneaking feeling that maybe someday when I will older and wiser I would disagree with what I had written.

It also might have something to do with the fact that I had a conversation with a guy who encouraged me not to be too hard on fellow Christians that are philosophically or doctrinally confused. I have a tendency to be quite vocal about my disagreements, but I agree that since we are on the same side, whether or not I agree it might be wise to let God sort out the balance.

I am getting ready to wind down these last two weeks here in Grenoble. I have been sick as a dog since Saturday, but hopefully I am coming down to the tail end of it. Being sick is making me more excited to go back to the US, and I am excited to get chances to work and rebuild my physical stamina.

Berlin vs. Paris

I recently took a trip to St Etienne, Lyon, Berlin, and Paris. There weren't that many impressive things to show you pictures of in the other places, but Berlin was quite possibly the coolest place I have ever been outside of Banff(thank you Andrew). In order, there is a concentration camp, a gate that is really famous, the Berlin wall, and checkpoint Charlie with my friends Mike and Jesslyn. It was very sobering seeing the history of the Nazi and Soviet Regimes and it is thoroughly documented at each point of interest. After the three of us went to each place, it was a bit difficult to talk because of the atrocities committed there.
On a lighter note, it was great to hang out with Mike and Jesslyn. They are a neat couple and are excited to learn German and start making an impact for Christ there. We had a lot of neat German foods and we even got to visit the world premier of a film and stand on the red carpet.

I don't really have pictures to post from Paris. I wasn't as impressed with it. The architecture is unbelievable, and it was a cool place, but after about four hours there I visited a few friends and then took the next train back to Grenoble.

Swinging like Monkeys

I was recently at a Bible study which had quite a culturally-progressive flavor. This culturally-progressive flavor allows for many ideas to circulate, often unchallenged, and this sometime results in heresy espoused. At this study, there were many important questions, opinions and truths thrown around, but little heresy suggested. This was surprising because of the increasingly popular tendency that not only fails to point out or condemn heresy but almost encourages its expression. As I see it, an ideal study according to our culture allows everyone to state their opinion and feel appreciated without condemning or putting one’s opinion over another. Not distinguishing between truth and error forgoes the uncomfortable necessity to claim absolute truth that would follow, and helps to avoid offense. Bible studies are finding it easier to meet these requirements, but this was ideal because it surpassed the minimum, and that is quite a rare thing in light of rising Biblical illiteracy. The convenience of this method allows people to take what they want or can, in a way conveniently non-condemning. They seem to be a perfect balance for those who have been Christians for 40 years, and those who aren’t even considering Christianity. No one is right or wrong, and everyone has a say. Therefore the non-Christian can be heard and the Christian also, and no one is the worse off for it. The problem apparent me is that not only is “no one worse off,” no one is the better off either. In the name of cultural relevance, everyone coming, choosing a passage and then discussing seems to be an improvement over the more distant sunday-school teacher trends. This ideally seems great- people will be able to distinguish between truth and error in their minds, and everyone will walk away owning their ideas. The reason it seems dangerously but inconspicuously unhealthy, is that it is a fairly new method and the weaknesses are almost imperceptible as of yet. But these trends are direct descendants of the modernist philosophy that grandfathered them, and are inherently flawed by the same cultural bias. Modernism would like to believe that everything can be established by foundation and method, and therefore the label of correct theological opinion goes to the most rational and intelligent among us. Those who have mastered enough Greek and Hebrew to be closest to the original Scripture, and those who know the correct exegetical method. So then if postmodernism has removed the method, which is exegesis, and the objectivity of knowledge, which in itself contains the need for knowing Scripture, and it removes the (modernist) solid foundation, which is the closeness to the Hebrew and Greek, than what is left? Opinions that gather around to discuss the Scriptures and go away personally inspired but not united in Faith, Lord or Baptism(Let alone other essential doctrines of the faith). This lack of unity and abandonment of useful doctrine and preparation is a handicapping weakness of the postmodern method. There are many Scriptures that contradict the self-glorifying, falsely seeming objectivity of the modernist, but there are many that would declare a foundation and method to be essential, and a plurality of perspectives(not interpretations) helpful and necessary, according to the New Testament. We must return to the cleansing affect of Scripture on our minds and hearts, so we can see in full view our biases and cultural weaknesses. It will not suffice to continue swinging blindly from one set of weaknesses to another, and all the while miss the blessing God has for us firmly rooted in the unifying effect of His truth. There are many truths to be overlooked without a proper study and method of exegesis, and on the other hand, there are many important truths and questions ignored if only one person has the ability to comment on the text. I would then postulate that though we might be gaining some ground in cultural sensitivity, we are losing more ground in what really matters, the uniting of God’s people around His truth.

ma fiancee et moi

Here I am attempting to show you a bit of what happened for Ariel's proposal. The last picture is us outside the restaurant after getting engaged. My engagement gift to her was the wooden rose, a placard made with exotic woods from all over the world. The shading is done by burning each piece just so in hot sand. It took me three days to make it. The Puzzle was how I proposed to her. I took the pieces from the puzzle and gave them to all her family and some significant people in our lives here in Europe and then throughout Christmas, each person gave them to her in envelopes that she wasn't allowed to open of course. When we went out to the restaurant I could tell she was nervous so I asked her if she was worried I was going to propose to her that night. She said maybe so I pulled out the puzzle frame and all the envelopes containing the pieces and said, "here is a Christmas gift for you that will tell you when I'm going to propose so you don't have to be anxious anymore." The first two words she put together were, "marry me." After that, she had quite a good idea about when I was going to ask her. Then I gave her the ring box upside down and fumbled out a speech neither of us can remember- probably for the better. All that matters is she said yes, we just don't remember what, yet. Speaking of that, that ambiguity might be useful someday! The first picture is a picture of Ariel when we went ice skating in Geneva, Switzerland with the fountain in center ville and the Alps behind us. The second is the ring that came from the same jeweler as my late grandmother's. We are happy with it. Voila, that's the story according to me!

the object of our tolerance: ideas or people

I find myself quite frequently asking questions about why people in a post-modern era are so lonely. If this is supposed to be the age of relationship, tolerance and cultural relativity, why is culture such a sensitive matter? Why is honest, committed relationship so rare? Why is tolerance so debated, misconstrued and barely functional?

It has been said over and over again by many men wiser than myself that one of the fundamental tenets of postmodernism is tolerance. This tolerance then should allow relationship to flourish without cultural, ideological differences threatening to disintegrate the ideal social relationship. The difficulty with this tenet is that the content and definition of tolerance has changed in the past 20 years. It has changed from tolerance of people, and has increasingly become centered on the ideas of people. At a first glance this has nothing to do with the moral, relational breakdown in society at large, but I believe it has everything to do with it.

Think about the most relational man who ever walked the face of the earth, Jesus. He was completely tolerant of the most ignorant, backstabbing thieves; one of whom dared to trade the life of not only the Son of God, but of a respected and followed religious leader, for a few pieces of silver. Jesus did not even refuse his kiss as he was betrayed. What an example of selfless tolerance and true love for humanity! But than why did Jesus storm through the temple with a whip driving out the hypocrites and thieves who were trading their integrity for a few pieces of silver? I believe it is because though all men are created equal, all ideas and “truths” are not. Think of how Jesus could eat dinner with the scum of the earth, a gesture that not even the kindest of religious leaders would have initiated, and also call them for repentance because they were destined for hell.

This does not fit with the postmodern ideal of tolerance. However, I believe this is a better tolerance, for it allows for true honest, committed relationship. The other kind of tolerance does not, however, for it is a tolerance based on ideas, not people. People must listen to another’s ideas because it is wrong to say they are wrong. Therefore, there are a few billion liars in the world who think the others’ ideas are crazy and cannot say so. Indeed, their ideas are crazy, for they have never been challenged with a measure of refining truth, for it is not polite to do so. So then if an identity rests in this shared, shallow shell of one’s ideas, to challenge one’s ideas is to challenge their identity. One the other hand, if one’s identity were to rest in their person, and ideas could be discussed and freely challenged as in Jesus’ model of tolerance, it would be an act of a honest, committed relationship to challenge the ideas of another.

I think that most people can sense this truth deep down inside, and it is a cause for loneliness that no one truly cares about what they think. This indeed is not surprising, for people cannot care about what they cannot adopt as their own, and they cannot adopt as their own those ideas with which they are not at liberty to disagree with more convincing proofs. They cannot disagree for it is inappropriate to challenge the ideas of another, no matter how obvious the fallacy. I think what is even more striking then these observations, is the fact that this false, degraded thinking has permeated the church more than we can know. I also believe we will be feeling the fall-out of this deceit sooner and more forcefully than could be imagined.

In the French Alps 1

These are a few pictures from the past week in the French Alps with Ariel and her family. It was a neat time to have my French family come up and join us for two days as well. You can see them in the third picture from the bottom. It was a great time hanging out and the complicated language barriers made for the beginnings of several new languages I think. It was an awesome mix of English, Dutch and French, though and our common bond in Christ made the whole thing a great experience and encouragement for everyone. It was great as well to do some snowboarding as you can see, and also to get engaged to my new fiancee, Ariel. I will do another post about that later. In fact, I have several post ready that I am still working on, so sorry for the wait. The second pic from the bottom is a pic of me and Ariel on top of the Alps with the tallest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc in the background. It was so high, we both got a bit sick on the way up, but the 2 mile ski down was totally worth it. The bottom picture is our engagement photo! We both feel it captures a bit of our personality, though Ariel's mom thinks I look dead in pictures because my eyes are always half closed. Sorry guys, those baby blues aren't on display today. Ariel's a real beauty though isn't she? The first pic is her bros and sis. They are a neat family. The second pic is me and Ariel and her dad getting ready to try breaking our necks snowboarding. It is really tough even for a young guy like me, but I am very impressed with how well her dad did and he stuck with it the whole day. The third pic is Ariel and her parents in a little vacation town in the Alps. It really was a blessing to spend the time surrounded by God's creation with the opportunity to get to know her family more. More to come..........soon.