truth

Wonder

By Bryan R. Salminen –

A friend of mine took the GRE  5 times. The GRE stands for the Graduate record examination and is a necessary evil requirement for most graduate schools. Each time he took it, he came out thinking how dumb he really was. He took it 5 different times because he kept graduating and going to a new university and each time he was hoping that maybe this time, this year, he would shine and prove to the world he was smart. Although the exam is not graded on a pass/fail system, he knew he had failed miserably. I met him after one attempt and outside it had been raining and there was this huge rainbow “Look,” I said, and I meant it, “I just want you to know that whatever exam results you get I think you’re a really kind and lovely person and to me that is far more important than any exam results. And I know this too, being the kind and the caring person you are is actually far more important in your life than any grades in an exam.”  “Thank you,” he said, but without sounding at all convinced. But it is true – my friend is an incredibly kind person – he notices the person sitting on their own in a gathering and goes over to talk to them, he notices if someone is upset, he is attentive if there is work to be done or a meal to be prepared, or washing up that needs helping with, he has nursed his guinea pig through cancer, he is brilliant with a mom who has dementia; he is incredibly kind. But you don’t get grades in kindness or generosity or thoughtfulness or awareness of others. You don’t get GRE’s in compassion or attentiveness. And yet those qualities too are the essence of the formation of our lives.

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Playing Hide and Seek with Pat Robertson

By Paul Koch –

“Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” (Isaiah 45:15)

Commenting on this verse, Luther wrote, “These are the words of the prophet, who had already predicted these words of consolation. Now he is snatched into a trance of the Word of God, as if to say, ‘Dear God, how strangely you deal with us!’ It is a matter beyond comprehension to which reason cannot attain.” In one breath, the prophet praises God as a God who hides and then proclaims him as the one revealed to be the God of Israel and our Savior.

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Nihilism in the Moonlight

By Tim Winterstein –

I’m not going to lie; there’s a little bit of hipster in me. It’s much harder for me to get enthusiastic about movies or music that other people recommend to me, except for a couple of people. I like to be the one who recommends things. I know that’s a fault, but there it is. This is especially true of those things that win at major award shows, such as the Academy Awards. I still haven’t seen Spotlight, though it’s on my list, and I kept putting off seeing Moonlight until last night.

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I Cannot Stop Listening: Gut Reactions to the New Derek Webb Album

By Bob Hiller –

Remember that song by Garth Brooks where he sang, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers?” Yeah, unfortunately, so do I. It’s this sappy romantic song about how Garth and his wife went back to his hometown and ran across his boyhood crush, the one he had prayed and prayed for God to let him marry. After seeing her he looks at his wife and is just so thankful that God ignored his prayers for the crush so he could marry his wife. God didn’t answer Garth’s prayer. He had a better plan in mind.

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The Cost of Changing a Mind

By Tim Winterstein –

How do minds change? We tend to assume that if only we can present our opinions in the right way, and if the other person would simply be reasonable, then our rational opinions would surely change their rational minds. Those assumptions lead us to the conclusion that if I present my opinion and the other person doesn’t change his or her mind, then that person must be unreasonable or something worse. Who wouldn’t be willing to change his or her mind when confronted with the excellent and reasonable arguments I present, about which I am already convinced? So, disagreement has become not a sign of a rational, contingent opinion held in good faith, but a sign of a disease or poison that must be eradicated in order for reason and justice to prevail. That’s not a good recipe for civil discussion.

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God and Man and The Planet of the Apes

By Tim Winterstein –

Warning: Spoilers! If you haven’t seen the film and plan to, you may want to postpone reading this until afterward.

In light of last week’s post, I hesitate to make too much out of my movie of the week, War for the Planet of the Apes. That is to say, you need find nothing particularly meaningful in the movie to enjoy it. Not only is it a great conclusion to Rise and Dawn, War is certainly the best of the three films. The story is complex and well-paced. In the few scenes where the story slows and feels like it might get bogged down, it is saved by raw emotion or humor (such as Steve Zahn’s Bad Ape). The CGI on the apes is astoundingly good, particularly with Caesar and Maurice. There’s nothing mechanical or unrealistic about them.

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Killing Clichés

By Tim Winterstein –

On my last post, John Joseph Flanagan (who must have been a 19th-century Irish priest in a former life—no, I do not really believe in reincarnation) commented,

“I think you should consider filling your mind and exposing your eyes to more uplifting entertainment than horror movies and stories about zombies. After awhile in the cesspool of life, one can become really quite soiled you know. And if you just happen to be a Christian or at least profess to follow Jesus, you might consider the choices you make as indicative of your character and the virtues you embrace. ‘Guard your heart,’ the Bible tells us. Even Christian liberty can be abused, and to open yourself to the garbage you write about will surely lead to a dark path indeed, and away from the faith and far away from your Lord.”

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God: The Ultimate Environmentalist

By Joel A. Hess –

A couple of weeks ago, our president took the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. No matter your opinion on the matter, it does say something on which Christians, atheists, and everyone else can agree. The earth is beautiful, and we should take care of it. Of course, there are many different ways one can accomplish this. When it comes to witnessing, all creation is quite a witness, as Psalm 19 agrees. Even the most extreme atheist usually agrees with the wonder of creation. It’s sad how often Christians so quickly dismiss their liberal environmentalist friends. What a great talking point this is! After all, we know the creator: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!

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The United States of Hysteria: We are a Nation of Toddlers

By Joel A. Hess –

While it’s been coming for some time, we have finally become a nation that reacts to everything with hysteria, much like a toddler. Instead of waiting for all the facts, carefully digesting them all, and considering for a moment that an event or person is not 100% evil, we like to jump out the window with inflamed accusations, speeches, and marches! 

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Lessons from a Son

By Paul Koch –

Last week, I travelled to Fort Wayne, Indiana for the 32nd Annual Symposium on Exegetical Theology and the 40th Annual Symposium on the Lutheran Confessions. These two conferences hosted back to back at the seminary are always packed full of great insights and discussion by top-notch scholars. To be sure, leaving the beautiful confines of Ventura, California to travel to Fort Wayne in the middle of January isn’t always to joyful undertaking. Nonetheless, I go every year. I go for the opportunity to learn and so that I might be a better pastor and teacher, but most of all I go because every year I gather together with a handful of very good friends. It is their presence, their laughter, their banter in the bars late into the night that make it all worthwhile.

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Intercepting the Hail Mary

By Bob Hiller –

Before I was writing here for the good ol’ Jagged Word in any official capacity, I was an avid reader of the blog. Every week, I looked forward to reading “The Emperor’s Chair.” I always found Graham’s views on politics and ecumenism (specifically his views on the relationship between Rome and Wittenberg) to be challenging and even refreshing as he had the guts to speak in ways that are different from the standard Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod way of thinking. I disagreed with much of what Graham said but was always impressed with his willingness to dialogue and think outside the norm for what he believed was the good of the Church catholic.

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The Loss of Civil Discourse

By Scott Keith –

A few years ago, Dr. Rod Rosenbladt retired from Concordia University in Irvine. Rod’s retirement gave him the occasion to give a final public lecture, which I attended. I had Rod as a theology and philosophy professor and considered him a “theological” colleague. It seemed natural to expect that Rod’s lecture would be on a topic of theology, and I settled into my seat ready for just that. The lecture was not at all what I expected. Knowing Rod for as long as I have, I have come to expect the unexpected. Rod’s lecture, “Education, Gospel, and Freedom,” was more or less on the state of education and the disintegration of academic discourse.

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