Of Bald Men and Bears

I just killed my first cockroach of the year--they are everywhere here in Alabama, and there isn't much anybody can do. I see more cockroaches than flies in this part of the country. This was a pretty big one, being almost two inches long and 3/4 of an inch wide. It was a fast sucker, too, and I had to chase it all the way across my kitchen counter, under the sink, into a drawer, under the sink again, and then onto my floor where I was able to get it with a paper towel.

We'll be cleaning this weekend.

Labels: Alabama, Life

Posted by Jacob at 4:52 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, since Blogging Season is upon us, I suppose that it's time to begin. I somewhat missed blogging over the summer, but I just never feel that much in the mood when school isn't in session.

So, I'm back now, although I don't know how much time I will have to post anything. This post is largely just to stretch my internet-publishing muscles a bit as well as to record my virtual presence.

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The Huskers looked great last Saturday against Nevada, but only time will tell how the might stand up against a real team. I'll try to put up a real prediction before the Wake Forest game begins.

The interesting part of the Husker game was that, when I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings to see the game (it televised regionally, and my region went with a different game), I met two families from Omaha who now live in Birmingham. One of the families was a couple who attend Briarwood Presbyterian, and the husband was a Secret Service officer from Lyndon B. Johnson through the Reagan administration.

It was very interesting to talk to them, and it was incredibly nice to watch Nebraska games with real Husker fans. I have found out that watching games with people who don't particularly care is depressingly lonely--I'd much rather watch the game alone. So, I was very thankful to get to cheer along with fellow travelers.

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In other news, I shaved my head.

Labels: Alabama, Blogs, Football, Life

Posted by Jacob at 5:20 PM | Permalink | Comments

I know what the devil will say to you. He will say to you, "You are a sinner!" Tell him you know you are, but that for all that you are justified. He will tell you of the greatness of your sin. Tell him of the greatness of Christ's righteousness. He will tell you of all your mishaps and your backslidings, of your offences and your wanderings. Tell him, and tell your own conscience, that you know all that, but that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, and that, although your sin be great, Christ is quite able to put it all away.

Some of you, it seems to me, do not trust in Christ as sinners. You get a mingle-mangle kind of faith. You trust in Christ as though you thought Christ could do something for you, and you could do the rest. I tell you that while you look to yourselves, you do not know what faith means. You must be convinced that there is nothing good in yourselves; you must know that you are sinners, and that in your hearts you are as big and as black sinners as the very worst and vilest, and you must come to Jesus, and leave your fancied righteousnesses, and your pretended goodnesses behind you, and you must take him for everything, and trust in him.

Oh! to feel your sin, and yet to know your righteousness--to have the two together--repentance on account of sin, and yet a glorious confidence in the all-atoning sacrifice! Oh! if you could understand that saying of the spouse, "I am black, but comely"--for that is where we must come--black in myself, as black as hell, and yet comely, fair, lovely, inexpressibly glorious through the righteousness of Jesus.

--Charles H. Spurgeon, "Justification by Faith." Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1914, p. 68.

Labels: Church, Devotion, Life, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments

Four years of fan-dom.

At least three missed opportunities.

Tonight, I finally see in concert the one to whom I lost my Arminianism.

Labels: Alabama, Fun, Life, Music

Posted by Jacob at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

Today, Allison Brestel (that's my girlfriend) called me in utter joy to inform me that she is now capable of twitching her nose "like a bunny." Then she told me that I wouldn't blog about it because I would be too embarrassed to have a girlfriend who called me to tell me that.

She obviously doesn't know me all that well yet. She will learn. :)

Labels: Fun, Life, News

Posted by Jacob at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bethany first sparked my interest in the Meyers-Briggs personality test. I always seem to test as an INTJ, with J being my weakest characteristic, and sometimes I wonder if I'm really an INTP, mostly because of my uncertainty as opposed to the INTJ's certainty. So, what are you? If you don't know, here's a short little test to get a rough idea.

If I am an INTJ, I'm in good company. Supposedly C.S. Lewis, Hannibal Lecter, Gandalf the Grey, and Mr. Darcy all demonstrated INTJ characteristics. Now that I think about it, Jacob and I did always say that I was the broody Darcy.

Labels: Fun, Life

Posted by andrew at 5:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

For those of you who watch LOST, you might be interested in the article published in today's USA Today about how the series uses the names of philosophers from history as their characters. (Thanks to Grant for finding this and telling me about it.)

Unfortunately, I thought that the article was terribly misguided, so I wrote a rather long comment in response. My contention (one that I have had from Season One) is that LOST uses the names of philosophers by giving them to characters who represent the exact opposite of the philosophy espoused by their historical counterpart. I imagine that when we one day meet a character who says and does the same things as their namesake, we should either distrust that person as a fraud, or we should be tipped off that this particular character is the most important in the entire series. Right now, I am wondering if that messianic character would be Desmond.

You can read the article and my comment (at the bottom) here. Note especially my argument about LOST's use of John Calvin in an early portion of my comment.

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Edit 8:54 p.m., 3/28/07: One of the experts that the article cited (whom I contradicted) wrote back and kindly clobbered me. Oh, and I was completely wrong about John Calvin. I guess I've just learned over the years to enjoy the taste of my foot in my mouth. :)

Labels: Fun, Life, Philosophy, Television, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 5:03 PM | Permalink | Comments

I'm starting to get some pictures from Bethany's and my "Eurotrip" SpringBreakEscape 2007 in Europe!!! uploaded on Flickr.
(Better Gray?)

Labels: Fun, Germany, Life, Nature, Travel

Posted by andrew at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments

Bethany's train left for the Frankfurt airport at 3:15 AM this morning. (What all did we see and do in Europe? You'll just have to wait for that post.) I took a bit too long helping her get her bags on the train and was suddenly a captive passenger of ICE 5 headed toward Frankfurt. After explaining the situation to an understanding train conductor, who seemed to enjoy the opportunity to practice his English, I got off at the next stop around 4:45 and waited for the next train back to Göttingen.

During the wait I bought the latest copy of The Economist and holed up in an American-style diner reading it while enjoying a cup of hot chocolate. (I still don't drink coffee.) I haven't read The Economist since a brief period of addiction while leasing apartments last summer, when each week I'd eagerly await buying up the glossy-paged British periodical at Barnes and Noble and reading the articles between my apartment showings. As I was paging through the magazine, I was thinking how it is sort of my pack of cigarettes, my guilty pleasure that I treat myself to now and then. What's so great about it? Despite it's weight toward economic analyses of topics (accompanied by a strong free-trade bias), each issue has articles on a host of political, social, and (of course) economic issues, all areas in which my understanding is admittedly very weak. All of the articles are anonymously written by the editorial staff and each article presents an opinion in addition to presenting its analysis. It therefore doesn't fain a completely objective approach like most journalism, which is biased but pretends to not to be, and which has an opinion on the given subject but pretends not to. The Economist's articles are thorough, well-written, straight-forward, and often a little witty - like a thinking-man's Newsweek.

I've never been one for newspapers, feeling that most journalism lacks analysis and historical perspective that really allows people to understand the issues, but I also realize that there's a large void in my knowledge of what's going on in the contemporary world. Since I don't think I could ever commit the time to reading a daily newspaper, I hope that The Economist might help fill that void a bit.

Yes, I am a nerd.

Labels: Germany, Life, News, Politics, Travel

Posted by andrew at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments

I just had a dream that someone hacked into this blog and posted something to the effect of, "I'm appalled that Jacob hasn't written anything since Monday, especially since he has told us that he really wants to keep this thing updated. I'm not sure we can trust him any more." If the Lord has skilled any of you in dream interpretations--for do not interpretations belong to God?--I would be interested in what that means. Personally, I think that it had something to do with the 4-Alarm Spicy Chicken Sandwich that I had from Wendy's at 10:00 last night.

In other news, I am currently back in Nebraska for my Spring Break. I had an incredible flying experience on Delta through Cincinnati (both completely on time; good in-flight snacks; no layover to speak of; my luggage got in), and my parents and brother picked me up in Omaha to drive me back to Hastings. Yesterday was a long day (two tests and a paper due), so I am excited for a little R&R.

Although I have a 700-page book on the Reformation that I need to read in order to write a paper that is due next Thursday, I'm really wanting to read two books for fun. The one I haven't started yet is called Virtue and the Voice of God: Toward Theology as Wisdom, by Daniel Treier. I've continued to ponder the concept of wisdom in the Bible, and this looked like a great book to provide fodder for my thinking.

The second book is Progressive Dispensationalism by Craig Blaising and Darrell Bock. I'm reading this for two reasons: (1) I don't have a very good idea of how Progressive Dispensationalism differs from the type of Dispensationalism that I know (I read Charles Ryrie's Dispensationalism Today, now called Dispensationalism, when I was trying to decide between Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology); and (2) Beeson will be hosting Darrell Bock in April for our Biblical Studies Lectures, and I want to read something by him in order to get more out of the conference. I read about 130 of the 300 pages on the plane last night, and I was actually very pleased with how "progressive" Dispensationalism is becoming. I'll write more about it later.

Labels: Blogs, Books, Fun, Life, Nebraska, Seminary, Theology, Travel

Posted by Jacob at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments

Well, I did get to go see Nebraska play Alabama, but I use the word "play" there loosely. Nebraska got dominated, losing 8-0, marking Nebraska's first shutout in 201 games. I did have a good time, though, especially because I got to meet a handful of people from Nebraska who were down at the game for all sorts of different reasons. Also, there's just nothing like seeing my team down where I live. It's as though they made a special trip just for me!

Before you despair of our team's ability to play baseball, I should mention that Nebraska ended up winning the games on Saturday and Sunday, so Nebraska was the victor in the series 2-1. I listened to both on the (internet) radio, and they sounded like great games. I wished that I could have gone to one of those instead!

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This weekend, I downloaded the computer-game classic of my childhood, "Oregon Trail," and I spent a significant amount of time playing it. I had forgotten how much that game rules. If you want to relive your own second grade, you can download the game here. (I'm not sure if this will work on Macs or not.) Ignore the "Install" file; if you just open "Oregon.exe" you will be able to play immediately.

I had forgotten how frustrating it was to get to the end of the trail, float down the river, almost get to the landing spot, but then lose virtually everything by crashing your wagon on the rocks. Stupid rivers.

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In other news, Alabama is heading into its Spring. Being from Nebraska it's really strange to see trees blossom in early March, but I'm definitely enjoying the 70 degree weather. I can't really say that I missed having snow, though.

(Yes, I am trying to rub this in to those of you still in Nebraska.)

Labels: Alabama, Fun, Life, Nature, Nebraska, Technology, Travel

Posted by Jacob at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments

This evening, the Nebraska Cornhusker baseball team will travel today to Tuscaloosa, AL to play the Alabama Crimson Tide, and I'm going to be there. I talked some seminary friends into making the hour-long drive from Birmingham to see the game--some are Alabama fans, and some are just along for the ride.

One of the Alabama fans I'm going down with passed me this little poem, and I wanted to print it here in order to give you a taste of life down here in Alabama:

If you wanna know the password for where
     the streets are paved of gold
It ain't but one little phrase and that's
     "Roll tide, roll."

I could be in for a long drive.

Labels: Alabama, Fun, Life, Nebraska, Seminary, Sports, Travel

Posted by Jacob at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments

For my theology class, I just finished reading C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. I know that I had already read the book twice, but I may also have read it a third time before this reading. Reading it again, though, showed me just how much Lewis has influenced my thinking on a number of topics. I have believed certain things for such a long time that I came to believe that my own theology was largely the result of my own thinking and Bible study, as though I have been a pioneer in Christian thought.

Rereading this book, though, shattered those thoughts: much of what I thought was mine was really something I picked up from Lewis. I imagine that if I were able to survey, in a moment, all that I have ever read or heard over the course of my life, I would realize that I have had very few original thoughts at all (if any). What a humbling thought!

So, I have been reflecting more on this verse: "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?" (1 Cor. 4:7b). Ideally, my learning, and then (from what I learn) my teaching and my writing, should all happen because of a desire to build up the church in Christ. I should confess, though, that I am a sinner, and much of what I do in the way of studying theology and of relating it to others comes as a result of a desire to be "important" in the Christian world.

So, to the extent that what I have written or said comes from an arrogance that exalts me rather than Jesus, I truly apologize. This would, by definition, be a public sin, so I want to apologize publicly. I suppose this will probably be something I struggle against all my life, but, by the grace of God, I will one day be free from all this pride, content to gaze into the face of Jesus and discerning to realize that looking at myself instead would be foolishness. Praise God for that!

Also, I have been gaining a fresh appreciation for all the people from whom I learned Christianity during the course of my life. I remember talking about Jesus with my Grandpa as we went on long walks together. I remember learning wonderful Bible stories at my small, Mennonite church in Julesburg, Colorado from Sunday School teachers who were committed to telling us children about Jesus. I appreciate the fact that I have heard at least one sermon a week for virtually all my life. What a staggering thought, to realize that what I now know about Jesus is the fruit of so many people, who knew what they knew from so many people, and on and on! What do we have that we have not received?

Perhaps it would be helpful for those of us called to teaching to have constantly in mind our own mortality. For example, my Grandpa who taught me so much is right now losing much of his mental capacity. This is terribly difficult for me to watch, but it also reminds me that I must take advantage of the time I have to pass along what he and others have passed along to me, all the time concerned about seeing the next generation come to a knowledge of the Savior. I will one day die, even if Grandpa goes a bit sooner, and then both I and he will be forgotten in this world. But, Jesus will never be forgotten, and so, if my reputation and my name are tied up in him, why should this bother me?

Let us thank God for what we have been given.

Labels: Bible, Church, Devotion, Life, Philosophy, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments

This past year that I have been in seminary in Alabama, I have still tried to keep up with the Daily Nebraskan, the school newspaper from my undergraduate institution, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. On Wednesday, they ran an editorial asserting that the Bible should be read as literature and nothing more. I wrote a letter to the editor in response, and they printed it today. You can read my letter here.

Labels: Bible, Books, Life, Nebraska, Philosophy, Seminary, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 4:04 AM | Permalink | Comments

I mentioned awhile ago that I was writing a paper to contrast baptism and the Lord's Supper in Baptist and Presbyterian thought. I just finished the paper, although, as I began writing it, I realized that I only had enough space to focus on baptism. Here is one of the better sections:

This definition [i.e., baptism as a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace] obviously limits Presbyterian sacramental theology from the Catholic notion that baptism works of itself (ex opere operato), but it also moves beyond even the more substantive levels of Baptist theology. Notice here a fine, but important, distinction between the theology of Presbyterians and that of Baptists: Baptists understand baptism to be symbolic—a kind of pronouncement of something already accomplished in the life of the baptized. Presbyterians, on the other hand, believe that baptism points the candidate to what God promises to accomplish through faith, which is the reality behind the sign. For Presbyterians, “the efficacy of baptism is prospective,”1 but for Baptists, the efficacy of baptism is retrospective. This aspect of Presbyterian theology is behind the Westminster Confession of Faith statement that “The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered,”2 and it plays a significant role in justifying the practice of infant baptism.

The paper is nothing earth-shattering, but I did spend a lot of time on it. So, if you would like a copy, let me know through e-mail or a comment, and I will be more than happy to send it to you.

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1-William B. Evans, “'Really Exhibited and Conferred...in His Appointed Time': Baptism and the New Reformed Sacramentalism,” in The Presbyterion 31:2 (Fall 2005): 88, my emphasis.
2-WCF, 28.6

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Because of the brilliant suggestion my good friend made, I have posted the paper on Google Docs. There are some minor formatting issues, but the text is now available to any who wish to see it. Just remember my disclaimer: it's nothing earth-shattering.

Labels: Baptism, Bible, Church, Life, Seminary, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments

This is about five miles from my apartment. Are they targeting 6-year-olds?

Labels: Alabama, Fun, Life, Travel

Posted by Jacob at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

I have a very exciting week coming up. First, I picked up my good friend Dan, who goes to seminary at Gordon-Conwell, from the airport at Atlanta yesterday. He's staying with me until Wednesday. He partly came to visit me and to see my seminary, but his main justification is that...

Second, Beeson Divinity School is hosting their annual preaching conference. Our speaker will be Cleophus LaRue, the associate professor of preaching at Princeton (apparently they have an amazing preaching department there, even if their theology and biblical studies departments aren't exactly producing lots of good things to preach).

Then, on Friday I fly out to Chicago to visit my girlfriend. It should be an amazing time--I'm finally going to get to see Moody Bible Institute, where she goes to school, not to mention getting to see her for the first time in a month and a half.

It should be a very good week.

Labels: Alabama, Life, Seminary, Travel

Posted by Jacob at 6:47 AM | Permalink | Comments

When I was in elementary school, I was involved in AWANA, which is something like an Arminian, Dispensationalist, Christian version of the Boy Scouts. Every year, we had a handbook that we tried to work through, and we earned patches and awards and stuff for memorizing Bible verses and completing projects out of that handbook.

One year, I finished my handbook a little early, and, to be productive, I opted to take written tests over what I had learned that year. One of the questions was a multiple choice that said, "Christ died for _________." After some long thought, I marked "those who put their faith in him." Instead, the answer was supposed to be "the whole world."

When I talked to my AWANA leader about it, I explained, "Well, it only works for those who believe," but she didn't budge. Interestingly, I never really heard about Calvinism until I was a senior in high school, and I didn't come to accept the doctrine of Limited Atonement until late in my junior year of college, but only after I believed in the other four points of Calvinism.

Funny what kids learn by memorizing Bible verses.

Labels: Bible, Life, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 9:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

This morning at 5:56 a.m., I heard what sounded like a gunshot outside my window. I told myself that it was probably a car back-firing or something (at 5:58, I heard a car drive away), and I didn't see anything when I looked outside, but I had a nagging concern what I heard might have been something really bad. So, after deliberating about five minutes about whether I was being stupid, I went ahead and called 911 to report what I had heard.

My cell phone background turned a color I had never seen before (pink), and the words "Emergency Call" flashed across the LCD screen. After a brief conference with the 911 operator (which brought back many a memory from watching "Rescue 911" during my childhood), he assured me that they would send a police officer to make sure that everything was okay. I don't think I was ever scared, but I did have an odd sort of adrenaline rush during the whole thing.

Who knew Alabama would be so exciting?

Labels: Alabama, Life

Posted by Jacob at 7:11 AM | Permalink | Comments

This morning, I visited Briarwood Presbyterian Church, the founding church of the PCA denomination. It was a bit too big for my taste, but it was a wonderful church. I was privileged to see the sign of the New Covenant given to three more covenant infants, and, for the first time in my life, I sang the Gloria Patri (I'm 22 years old--how sad is it that I've never sung that before now?).

The sermon was on Psalm 1:4: "The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away." Of course, the pastor preached that verse in the context of the entire psalm. He mainly emphasized, though, the utter foolishness of living a life that amounts to being the chaff that will be blown away and burned.

I thought the sermon was a wonderful example of what I urged in my last post, because he did not merely preach that Christianity is correct (though it certainly is that), but that it is wise. Those who delight in the law of the LORD are firmly planted like trees by a river, whose leaves and fruit are constantly in season, prospering in all they do. With the five short words "The wicked are not so" (three words in the Hebrew) the psalmist declares that the wicked will never know the joy and abundance and prosperity of the righteousness; rather, the wicked will be worthless, fruitless, desolate, and blown away.

The pastor did not appeal to pithy apologetics, nor did he attempt to lay out an elaborate, precisely accurate theological explanation for what he was saying. He simply commended the utter wisdom of living a life according to the fear of the LORD, meditating constantly on the law (the Hebrew word "torah" = instruction) of the LORD. Then, he exposed the depraved foolishness of living a life of seeking the council of the wicked, of standing in the way of sinners, and of sitting among scoffers. One way of living leads to a truly abundant and prosperous life; the other leads to worthlessness and death.

Please do not misunderstand me--apologetics and theology have their place, and a very important place at that. Their place, though, should propel us to live wholeheartedly in the fear of the LORD, delighting fully in the instruction for living that God gives us. Unless the intellectual aspect of our studies pushes us into virtuous, wise living, it is worthless.

My point is not that we should quit studying, but that we should be ever aware of God's goal for our studying: wise, fruitful, and prosperous living. What we study should convince us further of our great need for Jesus Christ and make it all the easier for us to entrust our lives to him more completely.

Labels: Alabama, Baptism, Bible, Church, Life, Philosophy, Theology

Posted by Jacob at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments