Twitter Updates for 2010-03-09

Posted on March 9, 2010 by PaulVK
  • Will Willimon on "too much practice" in the Christian Century http://bit.ly/bREpQ5 #
  • What is your favorite biography of John Calvin? #

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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-08

Posted on March 8, 2010 by PaulVK

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"Age of Decay" Is the phrase a downer?

Posted on March 7, 2010 by PaulVK

I posted this on Voices after some comments that the term is depressing.

Some in my church recoil at the phrase, but I find it helpful to name the thief that it is. One of the ways I regularly try to slip out of the grip of the gospel and into some other cheap world imitation is to imagine that things aren’t in as bad a shape as they appear, and that with a bit of new information, a bit more money, a bit more strength, a bit more self discipline, everything will be OK.  I really want to think that I’m something other than a dead man walking. I really want to believe that my good intentions really count for something. I really want to imagine that I’m a “good person” not fully appreciated rather than an outright rebel who simply needs to lay down his arms (CS Lewis). I buy into the selling short idea that “oh well, it was their time to go” when actually when we get to that point it is because the thief has taken almost everything anyway and what’s left isn’t worth fighting over. We never day that at the grave of a young person when the difference between the young person and an old person is the theft perpetrated by the age of decay.

When I have to face the age of decay, it helps me see locate many of the good and helpful things around me as being good and helpful, but insufficient to the larger task. All of these good and helpful things are gifts of the creator who finally find their place within the work of the only one who can defeat Death and Hades along with the Liar.
It also reminds me that fundamentally the problem is now with the stuff of earth, but rather its age, and that a new age has already taken hold and is making its way towards me, binding the strong man and looting his home which is filled with stolen goods anyway. I am then increasingly tempted to live in the age to come and can write off the losses of the age of decay because I know they do not last (Luke 16:8f).
It also gives me another vocabulary to talk about where I am headed, because heaven is not my home, but rather where my life is currently hid. I am a steward of earth under the rule of heaven. I am made of the stuff of earth for the care of earth. The earth is not my enemy, but is instead subject to frustration awaiting the time when the heirs of God will be revealed.
So I keep using it, hard as it is sometimes. pvk
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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-05

Posted on March 5, 2010 by PaulVK

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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-03

Posted on March 3, 2010 by PaulVK

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Twitter Updates for 2010-03-02

Posted on March 2, 2010 by PaulVK

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Twitter Updates for 2010-02-27

Posted on February 27, 2010 by PaulVK

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Twitter Updates for 2010-02-26

Posted on February 26, 2010 by PaulVK
  • CT: Marilynne Robinson, Narrative Calvinist, phenomenal author, phenomenal piece, WOW http://bit.ly/dhhcse #
  • RT @vesselproject: The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion. G. K. Chesterton #
  • RT @craigadams49: A Taxonomy of Bible Translations in English – Ancient Hebrew Poetry – http://shar.es/m0h5f #
  • RT @cicw: RT @charlesstone Should churches be as friendly as a bar? Great article in Christianity Today. http://bit.ly/9fA5Di #cicwrt #
  • RT @pwilson: Do You Want To Lead Or Boss People? http://bit.ly/99gyy7 #
  • RT @CSLewisDaily: Giving money is only 1 way of showing charity; to give time & toil is far better & (for most of us) harder-C.S.Lewis #
  • All the silly games we play at Christianity end the day we realize we're in way, way over our heads. #

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Sorry

Posted on February 25, 2010 by PaulVK

I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve had a lot of work in my day job. Hope to get back to doing more writing. Also had to fix the twitter feed plugin.

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Twitter Updates for 2010-02-06

Posted on February 6, 2010 by PaulVK

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