David Whiting Live

How to Think about the Bombing in Boston (as Christ-followers)

Whenever a tragedy occurs, the nation goes into shock and the responses are expected, predictable, and understandable:

• People (often politicians or law enforcement) say things like - "Evil will not win."
• Observers often say things like, "How can this happen? I don't understand why anyone would do such wicked things."
• Politicians and law enforcement ensure the public that "We will find who did this..." "They will be brought to justice..." etc... 
• Many, many strong statements of patriotism are made and the usually divides of Republican versus Democrat go away for a short period.

All of those are understandable. Of course, we take even a stronger interest here because a women from our church and worship team was in Boston near the explosions and was one who underwent surgery yesterday (I haven't heard an update yet on Gina).

And I just want to remind you of how Christians should think about such things. All of the above ideas are right, good, and fair, but there should be a couple of thoughts that enter the minds of Christ-followers every time there is a tragedy. Let me suggest a few:

1. We live in a fallen, sin-cursed world.This world is broken and because of sin, sinners do terribly wicked and sinful things. Although each instance shocks us, we should never be surprised. 
2. Hope is not found in capturing the perpetrators (as much as we all want that to happen). If and when we capture the individual(s) who did this, that won't solve the problems of our world. We root for justice in these situations and we want justice, and that is good. But we can't set our hope in capturing the terrorists of this event. 
3. The cross of Christ is the only remedy for evil. Tighter security will not keep us safe. More laws will not keep things like yesterday from happening (I'm not opposed to proper laws for public safety, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking solutions are found in more laws). It is only radically changed hearts - whose compositions have been rearranged by the Gospel - that can solve the problem of evil.
4. God is sovereign and can be trusted. I don't understand why He allows such things as yesterday, but I know for certain He is sovereign and can be trusted, and that is where my hope is.

When we keep those four things in mind, it helps us to navigate tragedies such as yesterday. What other Truths should be kept in mind at times like this? Do you have suggestions?

Free Book: Cold-Case Christianity

I like free! I'm a big fan of free. Especially if it is something that is worth paying for. And its even better if I would have been willing to pay for it. 

Here is a free deal you shouldn't pass up!

Right now you can get the book "Cold-Case Christianity" by J. Warner Wallace for free at Amazon for Kindle. Even if you don't have a Kindle, if you have a smart-phone, tablet, or computer you can use a Kindle app to read the book. 

You can get it for free HERE. You can also read a description there too.

J. Warner Wallace is a homicide detective and a former atheist examining the claims of the Gospels. It may be a great book to encourage your faith or to challenge an unbeliever.

ENJOY! I'd love to hear what you think. Get it soon. I'm not sure how long the deal will exist!

How Do You Pray About the Hurricane?

Yesterday afternoon, three of us took a direct flight from Rochester to Baltimore and drove 90 miles to Fredericksburg, VA. Friday night we stayed in a hotel in the Fredericksburg area (60 miles north of Richmond). We are here for a free one-day conference that helps us prepare for multi-site. You can't beat a free conference... the problem is - HURRICANE IRENE!

We also discovered that our flight back to Rochester tonight is already cancelled, and all three of us have Sunday AM responsibilities. Waiting to fly back until Sunday isn't an option. So as soon as the conference ends this afternoon, we will drive back home. We hope to stay ahead of the worst of the storm as we head north. Wind gusts are expected tonight in the DC area between 30 to 60 mph and up to five inches of rain. (Don't worry, we will keep an eye on the weather in case we need to leave the conference early.)

But that raises a question - how are we supposed to pray about this hurricane and other natural disasters?

Yesterday while driving around Rochester, I heard someone pray concerning the hurricane and their prayer slightly annoyed me. The host praying on K-LOVE seemed to pray as if bad weather is something God can control if He wants to (and if we pray hard enough) but he prayed almost as if Satan creates bad weather. I do believe God allows Satan at times to use weather for his means (see the book of Job), but the bulk of biblical evidence doesn't indicate Satan's regular control of the weather. And the biblical material doesn't seem to correlate with how we often pray.

Here are some verses that come to my mind:

• Psalm 147:8, 16-18 - He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills... He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
• Psalm 148:7-8 - Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lighting and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding.
• Job 37:6-7 - He says to the snow, "fall on the earth" and to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour." So that all men he has made may know his work, he stops every man from his labor.
• Isaiah 45:7 - I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
• Lamentations 3:38 - Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?

So - how do verses like that impact how we should pray? Do you ever hear someone praising God for showing his power through natural disasters?

"Can Romance Novels Hurt Your Heart?"

I read an article today called "Can Romance Novels Hurt Your Heart?"  You can read the entire article HERE. It may be worth reading. I'd be interested in your perspective. Are Christian Romance novels often a type of Christian female pornography? 

I love the last paragraph of the article:

This is not to equate morally “romance novels” with the grave soul destruction of pornography. But it is worth asking, “Is what I’m consuming leading me toward contentment with my spouse (or future spouse) or away from it? Is it pointing me to the other in one-flesh union or to an eroticized embodiment of my own desires? Is this the mystery or a mirage?"

What GREAT questions!  Here are two other paragraphs that I really loved:

A lot of this genre, though, is simply a Christianization of a form not intended to enhance intimacy but to escape to an artificial illusion of it. Granted, there’s no graphic sexuality here. The hero and heroine don’t sleep together; they pray together. But that’s just the point.

How many disappointed middle-aged women in our congregations are reading these novels as a means of comparing the “strong spiritual leaders” depicted there with what by comparison must seem to be underachieving lumps lying next to them on the couch?

What do you think? Is that fair or unfair?

Do We Celebrate Bin Laden's Death?

I've been asked a few times in the last couple of days about how we should think and feel about Osama Bin Laden's death.  I hadn't even thought about it until I saw video on Monday morning of people celebrating and cheering outside of the White House and that just didn't sit well with me. I was happy that we "got him."  But to see Americans cheering and flag waving over his death didn't sit right with me.  Since then, I've seen some good articles and blogs on it, and was thinking about writing my own.  But when I read what John Piper wrote - I decided just to re-post it.

You can read it HERE, but I've re-posted it below...

IS GOD GLAD OSAMA BIN LADEN'S DEAD?
May 02, 2011 by John Piper

God’s emotions are complex—like yours, only a million times more. Right now, your emotions about bin Laden are not simple, i.e. not single. There are several, and they intermingle. That is a good thing. You are God-like.

In response to Osama bin Laden’s death, quite a few tweets and blogs have cited the biblical truth that “God does not delight in the death of the wicked.” That is true.
                                   
It is also true that God does delight in the death of the wicked. There are things about every death that God approves in themselves and things about every death that God disapproves in themselves.

Is God Double-Minded?

This is not double talk. All thoughtful people make such distinctions. For example, if my daughter asks me if I like a movie, I might say yes or no to the same movie. Why? Because a movie can be assessed for its 1) acting, 2) plot, 3) cinematography, 4) nudity, 5) profanity, 6) suspense, 7) complexity, 8) faithfulness to the source, 9) reverence for God, 11) accurate picture of human nature, etc., etc., etc.

So my answer is almost always “yes, in some ways, and no in other ways.” But sometimes I will simply say yes, and sometimes no, because of extenuating circumstances.

Here is why I say God approves and disapproves the death of Osama bin Laden:

In one sense, human death is not God’s pleasure:

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? . . .  For I do not pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. (Ezekiel 18:23, 32).

In another sense, the death and judgment of the unrepentant is God’s pleasure:

Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. (Ezekiel 5:13]

[Wisdom calls out:] Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you. (Proverbs 1:25–26)

Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her! (Revelation 18:20)

As the Lord took delight in doing you good . . . so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. (Deuteronomy 28:63)

We should not cancel out any of these passages but think our way through to how they can all be true.

God is Not Malicious or Bloodthirsty

My suggestion is that the death and misery of the unrepentant is in and of itself not a pleasure to God. God is not a sadist. He is not malicious or bloodthirsty. The death and suffering considered for itself alone is not his delight.

Rather, when a rebellious, wicked, unbelieving person is judged, what God has pleasure in is the exaltation of truth and righteousness, and the vindication of his own honor and glory. (For further discussion of God’s heart in judgment see the section in The Pleasures of God called “How Is God Like George Washington?”, pp. 147–149.)

When Moses warns Israel that the Lord will take pleasure in bringing ruin upon them and destroying them if they do not repent (Deuteronomy 28:63), he means that those who have rebelled against the Lord and moved beyond repentance will not be able to gloat that they have made the Almighty miserable.

God is not defeated in the triumphs of his righteous judgment. Quite the contrary. Moses says that when they are judged they will unwittingly provide an occasion for God to rejoice in the demonstration of his justice and his power and the infinite worth of his glory (see also Romans 9:22–23).

A Warning

Let this be a warning to us: God is not mocked. He is not trapped or cornered or coerced. Even on the way to Calvary he had legions of angels at his disposal: “No one takes my life from me; I lay it down of my own accord”—of his own good pleasure, for the joy that was set before him.

At the one point in the history of the universe where God looked trapped, he was in charge, doing precisely what he pleased—dying to justify the ungodly like you and me.

(Adapted from The Pleasures of God, pp. 66-74.)

A Random Thought

You show me the most out of control area of your life and I will show you THE area that God does not control.

It could be your time, your money, your thought life, your sexuality, marriage, relationships, schedule...

Just a thought...

Changes in EQUIP - part 3

Read the previous posts on this topic HERE (part 1) and HERE (part 2)...

The summary of the first two posts is that EQUIP is not as successful as we had hoped for.  So - we are going to try something different. In summary, here it is:

• We will continue two classes for now on Sunday mornings: Starting Point and the Ambassadors class (times to be determined because of service schedule changes).
• The other classes will no longer meet on Sunday morning.
• The PRIMARY EQUIP class will take place one Saturday morning a month. I will be the teacher, and the subject will be SPIRITUAL INFLUENCE.  
• The amount of instruction will be the same (two hours a month).
• In the fall, we plan to offer occasional, short-term EQUIP classes on Sunday mornings (Financial Peace, Parenting, Theological topics, etc...).  But they won't be age-based.

More details on the format of the Saturday AM class:

• This class will meet once a month for a year.
• Participants will be expected to read (approximately one book per month). This is hard work, but will triple the value of the class.
• The format of the class will include book discussion, group discussion at tables, teaching from me, and a Q&A time.
• There will be no childcare.  Each family needs to work out their own childcare solutions. (If you will pay to go on a date, why not pay to learn how to impact people for eternity?)

What I Will Be Teaching:

• I will focus on teaching you to use the Bible to help people solve their problems.
• I will teach you to lovingly confront people and speak the truth in love to them.
• More than anything, it the class will probably help you solve your own sin problems (and mine).
• I will focus on how God's Word truly is enough for answers in life.
• We will compare/contrast secular psychology and counseling with biblical counseling.
• We will study specific issues that most commonly arise in people's lives. 
• We will learn how to think through a problem to help people get to the root of the issue, supply hope, and provide biblical solutions.

Dates you can mark on your calendar right now (at the first meeting, the entire year's calendar will be set up):

• April 16
• May 14
• June 11
• July 9

A Favorite Quote

One of my all-time favorite quotes of which I LONG to live out the reality:

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

- C.T. Studd

 

Video of "Ever After" from Sunday

At Northridge Church this Sunday, Mark sang "Ever After."  There was a video that showed while he sang. The video is of Mark and his youngest daughter, Paige. The audio/video below is from the first service.  ENJOY!

Ever After from David Whiting on Vimeo.

If you receive this by email, be sure to click HERE or click on the title above to see the video.

Q&A on Music and Church - part 2

Here is part 2 of the video on Q&A with church music.  It is part of the promotional videos for the 16:5 conference in January (10-11, 2011). 

How and Why Did You Change Worship Styles - part 2 from David Whiting on Vimeo.

 

If you receive by email, click HERE or on title above.