My Dwelling

These are some pictures of the outside of my dorm. The picture of my friend Ryan Beardsley was taken in the living room of him and his wife's apartment.

Questions

I have recently been reading The Confessions by Augustine and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Early last week I read one part in particular I thought would be worthy of a comment. In this section Augustine describes a comforting dream his godly, Christian mother had while he was still a pagan. In the dream a radiant young man approached Augustine’s mother, asked why she was mourning, and comforted her with the knowledge that her son would one day be a Christian. What stuck me was the comment Augustine made regarding the heavenly man’s question to his mother. Augustine writes:
“But she dreamt that she was standing on some kind of wooden ruler, and saw a young man of radiant aspect coming toward her; he cheerfully laughed at her, whereas she was sorrowful, overwhelmed with grief. He asked her the reason for her gloom and daily tears, though as usual his question was intended to teach her, not to elicit information for himself. She replied that she was mourning my ruin. He then instructed and admonished her to take good heed and see that where she stood, there also stood I. This was to reassure her.” (51)

Augustine notes that the man’s question was intended not to gain information for himself that he did not already have, but to use the question as a tool for teaching. This is a more than common use of questions, yet it seems when it comes to interpreting the Bible we often forget this. There are some who routinely point to passages in the Bible where God is portrayed as asking questions and then conclude on that basis that God must therefore not actually know the answer to his own question. This is absurd if you think about it. A common example of this can be seen in how parents interact with their children. Children are often asked, for instance, whether they did a particular thing, when it is more than clear to the parent exactly what the child did. The question in this case is asked in order to provide the child with a test, to see whether they will respond appropriately when confronted with being found out. In Scripture we can see this at work in Genesis 4:9-12 when God asks Cain where his brother Abel is. We should not assume from God’s question that he did not actually know where Abel was; rather, it is clear God asked Cain this as parents ask what their disobedient children have done. In addition to this, questions also provide opportunity for teaching in a way that simply stating the facts would not. Observe for yourselves how often in the Gospels Jesus asks his disciples questions, and then follows by providing them with teaching. Just a random thought inspired by Saint Augustine.

Piper at Wheaton

I forgot to mention it, but this last Thursday night my friends Ryan and Kelly Beardsley and I journeyed over to Wheaton College to hear our beloved pastor John Piper present a lecture on Christian suffering. As usual we left with a clearer sight of the glory of God in Christ and a better biblical understanding of the purpose for suffering. Let me include here just one quote from that evening that I found especially powerful, and true. Also, I've included a link for those interested to be able to download the message for yourself.

"The reason this world exists the way it is is so that Jesus Christ would have a place to suffer and die. The reason there is terror in the world is so that Jesus Christ would be terrorized. The reason there is trouble in the world is so that Jesus Christ would be troubled. The reason there is pain in the world is so that Jesus Christ could experience pain. This is the world that God prepared for the suffering and death of his Son."

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/805_wheaton_messages_on_suffering/

The Gospel- From Beginning to End

The Scripture passage I just posted over on the sidebar, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, portrays the entire Christian life as rooted in the gospel. The Christian life begins by hearing the gospel and receiving it. But the gospel is not just what one accepts at the beginning of the Christian life before moving on to supposed bigger, better, and more exciting things. The gospel is also what we "stand" in now, at the present. Keep in mind this is the same gospel. The gospel message by which we were converted is the same message we live out our life in now, however far along in the Christian life we may be. This gospel is also, Paul says, the means of our "being saved". Far from being only the message that "saved" us long ago, after which we continue into sanctification through some other means (will power, etc.), the gospel Paul presents is that which is present with us throughout our Christian life, from beginning to end, saving us all along the way. A read of the entire letter to the Corinthians shows clearly how functional the gospel message was to Paul. All the glorious realities about the work of Christ in his death and resurrection come to us through the application of those realities to the disordered lives of the Corinthians. For Paul, the gospel message doesn't just convert us, it informs all of our living with the realities of what Christ's death and resurrection purchased for us, and how we must live as a result. The gospel, then, is that which the Christian heard, received, stands in, and is being saved by, "if", as Paul says, "you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain." Paul thus calls the Christian to cling tightly to that same message originally believed; the same one he preached, which we received, by we stand, by which we are being saved. For if we do not hold fast this good news from beginning to end, we will not be saved, but will have believed in "vain". Hear the words of God spoken through Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:4-9:
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Hebrews reading

This is a guy named Ryan Ferguson giving a dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10. It's awesome.


http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/09/hebrews-9-10.html

Pictures from Chicago 3

Here's the final set of pictures

Pictures from Chicago 2

Here's some more pictures.

Pictures from Chicago

Here are the pictures I took when David, Angel, Joe and I walked the streets of downtown Chicago.

My first post

Greetings family and friends! I'm not sure if this is going to work but I want to try and use this blog to post pictures from my life here at Trinity so you can see what's going on. I may also occasionally try and let everyone know what's going on down here.