Umberella, Reading the Bible, and “Fee and Me pt. 2”

a)
Was pretty excited when I found out that Mandy Moore (Danny S.’s big crush) had performed her rendition of Rihanna’s Umbrella for Yahoo Music (available online at: music.yahoo.com/promo-42778155-53-20070813). But then I was pretty sad - no one is laughing, its not smile inducing; it is pretty humourless. She takes all the fun out of the song :(.

However, after the three minutes were over, I kinda felt like she had captured the original intent of the song better than Rihanna. It was actually the first time I’d heard the song’s lyrics:

When the sun shines
We’ll shine together
Told you I'll be here forever
Said I'll always be your friend
Took an oath
I'm a stick it out 'till the end
Now that it's raining more than ever
Know that we still have each other
You can stand under my Umbrella

Anyways, not that these big feelings are big insights into human nature, but just thought it was interesting that as I watched Mandy Moore sing these lyrics while the Rihanna video played in the background, it was more the irony of Rihanna’s over-sexed top 40’s attitude juxtaposed to its lyrical content that demanded ridicule than the perhaps over-earnestness of Mandy Moore’s remake.

b)
An old belief of the Reformation (when the Protestants split from Rome) is the perspicuity of Scripture. What that means is simple: the Bible is not like latin or c++, it was written to ordinary people. It takes work to understand, including reading a passage in context, knowing the historical period in which it was written, and getting guidance from teachers you can trust who know the original languages. But when it says something really plain (like John 3:16) you don’t need four years of Theological education to understand it at its basic level.

But there are a bunch of people who want you to believe you can’t trust the clear meaning of the Bible. They want you to know that the Bible is a big code that people have misunderstood for years, but now we know that what appeared to be its clear meaning was incorrect. But what you need to know is that those people are not the Conservative Evangelicals. Those people are the liberals – those who read the Bible and then back up feminism, weird “charismatic” practices, the idea that the Bible doesn’t have anything to do with getting saved, the idea that Jesus came primarily so that we would bring cultural and economic healing to our world, and, as I read the other day, the idea that Jesus didn’t mean what he said about divorce.

You can check it out on Piper’s blog: http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/880_instonebrewer_responds_to_piper/. I won’t repeat everything, and I want to be real clear about what I believe to be true:

The Bible (specifically Jesus) puts up a very high standard for keeping the covenant of marriage. And I think it’s true that it affects women way more than men. Being with a husband who neglects his duties as a father or a provider, or with an emotionally or physically abusive husband is far worse than what I’d imagine a man would have to endure to stay in a bad marriage. However, Jesus’s teaching is clear (Matthew 19) and we have to trust God’s Word - that it is for our best, even in the worst of evils.

Anyways, Piper explains what’s wrong with the argument in Christianity Today on his site, I don’t need to get into that, but it does lead me into:

c)
I actually didn’t want to talk about this too much, but since its relevant to what I just wrote, and cause Shelly commented on it, I wanna say something about Fee’s treatment on gender roles (in the Bible book).

(Again: I’m enjoying this book, just think some things are bad)

He gives typical evangelical feminist arguments. However, he fits them all into one paragraph and doesn’t explain them at all. Most of the arguments he lists are based on really specific (and in my opinion, wrong) interpretations of short “proof texts” (more like verses) (you can see this on page 82). That he would state so many claims, ones that he knows major theologians disagree on, as facts is just bad writing. He does not even reference any books that give an explanation for his claims.

He gives a very typical argument for why Paul’s writings on women don’t apply to today:

“to determine the role of women in the twenty-first-century church, one should take into account that there were few educational opportunities for women in the first century, whereas such education is the expected norm in our society. This may affect our understanding of such texts as 1 Timothy 2:9-15…” – 84

“that 1 Timothy 2:11-12might be culturally relative can be supported first of all by exegesis of all three of the Pastoral Epistles. Certain women were troublesome in the church at Ephesus...” - 85

Sounds good – he takes the text in its original historical context and in its context in the Bible. But that’s not what Paul says! Whatever 1 Timothy 2 precisely means, its grounded not on events at the Church of Ephesus but on the Old Testament (2:13-14). That text is maybe difficult to understand, and I don’t claim to know it that well. But I am sure that it doesn’t mean what Fee makes it mean. Fee essentially makes it mean nothing.

When the Bible says something, you can’t make it say the opposite.

Cyndi CD! and "Me and Fee pt. 1"

a)

Just bought Cyndi Wang’s 2007 album, Magic Cyndi, at the local grocery store. SOO good. Will be in my cd player for quite a while. And it was one of the cheapest cd’s in the store. What are the odds??

b)

Been reading Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart’s “How to Read the Bible for All its Worth”. Lots of people say its good, I can see why – its challenging but written for the average reader, and its really practical. I’m about half-way through it, and am benefiting from it for sure.

I don’t know much about Douglas Stuart, but I do know a bit about Gordon Fee. Lemme give you my personal story of Fee:

Last year, summer of ’06, I got the opportunity to get some training in Vancouver before heading off to Asia. While there, we headed to a Church that an important professor, Gordon Fee, attended. I had no idea who this guy was, but was told he wrote a really good book on how to read the Bible. The only thing was… I didn’t really like the Church.

I’m a complementarian, which means I think guys and gals are totally equal in value, but they have different roles. One of the roles that God’s entrusted to men and not women is the eldership (Pastors) of the Church. So, when the female “pastor” came up to preach, I prayed to God that I wouldn’t be judgmental, and come with a humble heart to hear God’s Word. I can’t remember her name, but she did show that she could do just as good a job as the average male preacher. Unfortunately, this means that she used minimal Bible (the only thing I remember from the talk was an illustration about a chicken, the talk was about money. There were some verses, but drawing the meaning out of the text was definitely not her main priority). This is not to say that other women couldn’t do better, but that’s just how it was. (note: there were other good things about the Church)

So, I didn’t know what to think of this Fee guy. If he’s a good theologian, why’s he hitting up a Church with such weak preaching? Why does he go to a Church that clearly denies Biblical gender roles? Since then, I’ve heard Fee’s name in other places which have helped answer these questions:

Fee was pretty involved in the whole gender roles debate (especially in the late 80’s era), writing a lot of stuff about why gender doesn’t play a role in deciding what positions people have in the Church. Fee also was on the translation committee on the NIV and TNIV. Now he’s teaching at Regent College (in Vancouver).

But I wanted to read a book on how to read the Bible and Fee’s was recommended by people I respect and trust. So, I picked it up, kinda unsure what to expect, especially at the chapter on translations. I was pretty disappointed to find that it was just as I expected – Fee uses the book to promote his interpretation of gender roles, and he uses the translation chapter to promote the TNIV. But I did find it interesting cause I don’t often read an entire book with ideas that I disagree with. I’d like to use a couple posts to talk about that chapter, hopefully in a way that puts these things in pretty simple terms.

Hey, just wanted to say that if you think i’m wrong on something, lemme know, even on the comments, I’d like to know.

Some thoughts on "Knowing God's Will"

On my twentieth birthday, I asked myself: “If this was the last year of my life (I just turned 20), would I change anything?”

I said “no”. I had a really cool opportunity to do God’s work on Carleton as a student. If I died that year, I would have died knowing I lived 2006 for God’s Glory.

But now I’m older and need to answer another question – am I willing to close doors for God?

The other day I heard Pastor Mark Dever say that
“I think the young folks in our culture who are doing okay by the world’s standards are enslaved almost always to worshipping at the altar of the god of options” (it was an interview, if it was written I think it would sound smarter haha)

What he means is they can’t commit. They’re scared to death of limiting their options!

My Christian friends talk a lot about how to discern God’s will. Unfortunately, I think that usually means that they’re convinced God’s got a plan and we can find it…. If we figure out the code.

You hear different ideas: Do you flip your book to somewhere in the Bible (unless you are willing to intentionally flip to the front or the back, you’ll probably hit psalms*) Do you look for signs? Do you write down long “benefits and barriers” lists? Do you distill your life goals into a purpose statement – one or two sentences by which we can successfully filter through life’s choices? I think a lot of Christians (the ones I hang out with at least) get pretty obsessed with thinking about it.

I’ve realized that a big root of this problem is what Dever calls the “god of options”. Most people in the world don’t have the privileges we have in North America: we have the money to fly to the other side of the world and return in little over a day, we have access to education that usually enables us to be in high demand in most countries (even for arts degree holders like me), we don’t have to worry about money, we don’t have to worry about family as much, and our society in general puts a high value on opportunity and actively provides us with them.

But what was intended to be a blessing has been used by Satan as a curse. We’re so afraid to make decisions because we’re worried that doors might be closed. We’re terrified of settling down. We’re not so much afraid of making the wrong decision as making any kind of long-term decision at all.

A lot of questions (what school?, what Church?, what girl/boy?, what job?, what country?) need long-term answers. An education, a ministry, a relationship: these are all processes; they require time.

Jesus says “go, give up all your options, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me”. Yet we leave sorrowful, for we are people with many options.

*A friend of mine made this observation

Happy Thanksgiving!, a book i just finished, fasting, and chinese music

a)
Happy Thanksgiving!

b)
Just finished “Seeing and Savoring (sic, haha) Jesus Christ” by Dr. John Piper. This is officially my recommendation for anyone who wants to find out what Piper’s theology is about in a readable volume. This is a great devotional book: it’s all about looking at the REAL Jesus from the Bible, pure Jesus, untamed and uncensored. Really short and divided into chapters that can be easily read quickly before diving into the Word, I’d definitely recommend it.

c)
Today is the last Monday where we will be fasting as a group here. I’ve been really slow at including it as a discipline in my own life, and so it’s been a good chance to study it and think about it. I think it’s a discipline I want to more consistently do. I find it particularly hard, but God has given me grace to be able to endure (the mere 24 hour periods) haha.

d)
Think I’ve finally been able to find Chinese music besides Cyndi Wang that I enjoy. I now have a few Jay Chow songs that I enjoy, although my opinion of his work as a whole does not compare to my appreciation of Cyndi’s repertoire. I have also been enjoying this song (which you might think too poppy and happy) with Cheer Chen. Have you ever heard of her? Here’s the music video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neTMR5KtRog

That is all.