Picking Piper's Brain: Think (4)

"How does the act of thinking relate to the rise of faith?" That is one of the primary questions Piper seeks to address in Chapter 4 of "Think". Let us look at Matthew 16:1-4.

The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' And in the morning, 'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." So he left them and departed.

Here Jesus affirms the logical capacities of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They use their minds well to draw the logical conclusions from their observation of the sky. Jesus seems to be approving of this empirical use of their minds, and this acknowledgement that they have working minds is actually the grounds for the indictment of the second half of the passage. In other words, "You obviously have the ability to interpret, and yet you cannot see who I am. You reject me."

That they "cannot" interpret the signs of the times does not mean that they do not have the sensory and rational capacities necessary. So what then is the nature of this "cannot"? Answering this question should help us understand how faith and reason are connected.

Other Blogs

I am such a sinner, and I have been so blessed by the grace of God. I have been blessed with the opportunity and the energy to write this blog. I have been blessed to hear of readers who have, by God's grace and certainly not my spiritual or intellectual prowess, been helped in various ways. I want to take this opportunity to point out some other blogs and resources from people who are more qualified to write and who most certainly live out the realities our words point to better than myself.

Picking Piper's Brain: Think (3)

In Chapter 3 of "Think" Piper takes a closer look at what he means by thinking. He acknowledges that the act of thinking can be very broad and that different people use different definitions. To invest the concept with content appropriate to the theme of the book - knowing and loving God by using our minds - he examines good reading as a primary act of thinking.

Thoughts from West Virginia

I am currently in West Virginia at a Ski Resort with my church's youth group. I was invited as a guest speaker and teacher, and I am supposed to lead our group meetings at night. My topic of study for these few days is one that has been with me throughout my time in college. We are studying the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Paul Tripp video - "War of Words"

War of Words by Paul Tripp from David Jimenez on Vimeo.

I am currently reading through Paul Tripp's book on marriage with Nicole. He is definitely Gospel-centered, and he is very good at drawing out practical life implications and applications from major Scriptural truths. It has been a few months since I watched this talk, but it is very convicting and perspective-enlarging on a topic we don't think about too much - how we use our words.

A Simple Call - Through Death to Life

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)

"Be holy as I am holy." (1 Peter 1:16)

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

This will be a simple entry. It is a call, brothers and sisters, simply to hate our sinfulness. My sin, too often, becomes an abstract thing to me, as I put it quickly within my mental theological construction. I talk of my sinfulness often, but I do it in a sanitized way, and I do it mainly as a piece of the puzzle to help explain the world to others. And to get them to look at their own sin, as I effectively ignore my own.

An Editorial on TV-watching

Dear friends,

The following is an editorial I am considering submitting to the Dalton Daily Citizen. It is fairly offensive to probably all of us, including myself. It takes a swing at excessive TV-watching, but I think that category could also be widened to all media, and beyond that, to all things that take time away from God and seek to replace him in our lives (idolatry).

There are a lot of ideas and several sermons packed into quite a tiny space here - I had only 500 words. It is not an explicitly Christian editorial, but one that certainly draws deeply upon Christian truth. It was my intention to get a wide audience with this one, and then offend them into deep conversation - specifically about who they are...

Television is ruining America! That’s polemic, I know, so grant me this article to properly qualify it. Rest assured, my solution is not to abolish TV, else I would prove to be quite the hypocrite.

First, there is plenty of objectionable content on television: drugs, cussing, sex, and violence. It is often a coin toss whether we will witness a couple making out (pornography with clothes on?) or someone getting blown up. By the end of elementary school, a student will have watched, on average, 8000 murders on television. Yes, the content can be bad, but let’s delve further, lest we miss the forest for the trees.

The second, deeper issue runs straight to our hearts, presses the uncomfortable question of identity, and asks us who we are? We will reap what we sow. The average American who lives to 65 will have watched 9 years of TV in his life. What will be the harvest reaped from 9 years sown in front of the tube?

We live in noise with thousands of voices vying for our attention. My voice here is one small drop in an ocean of them, many of them coming from media. What, we should ask, are they trying to tell us (during those 9 years)? It is precisely here at this pressing question, against the naïve assumption that I can watch unaffected, that I am chiefly disturbed. My natural tendency, and I suspect yours as well, is to be (perhaps) worried about the objectionable material, and when it is absent, to be relieved. Telling our brains, “No worries here”, we remain unaware of a deeper war for our minds and hearts. Being therefore defenseless, we are slowly slain by what is “okay”.

By necessity, I have a set of most basic beliefs, not all of which are consciously formed. For every belief or action, we may ask, “Why do you believe/do that?” For a basic belief, the answer is something like, “Just because.” How can you tell a man’s basic beliefs? Look at his time, his money, and what he runs to when nothing else demands his attention. I am worried because we often run most easily to TV, and we unintentionally give TV the power to tell us where to run.

By our TV habit, America soaks up ruinous basic beliefs. In most of the unobjectionable “okay” material, we still receive this message: “Everything is about you. You should get what you want… right now.” And then the commercials: “Let me tell you what you want.” As Charlie Brown complained of Christmas, so I complain of modern life - it’s too commercial. A Charlie Brown reference to prove this point – what irony!

As an American, I argue vehemently for your freedom to watch television; as your friend, I argue just as vehemently that you should not waste your freedom mainly in that way; as a man, I argue that putting self at the center will end in ruin for self and eventually for society.

To My Professor (and Class)

By way of introduction, I am in a class at Kennesaw State University with a very liberal professor and a lot of students who take in the erosion of truth without much thought. I could use a lot of prayer. The following is a reflection that I posted on our website that everyone gets to read. I posted it after most of the students would have read, but my hope and prayer is that it would be a cause of deep thought for my professor. I know this will be hard to read, but I still believe some of you guys may appreciate it...