As I watch my Twitter and Facebook feeds fill up with posts about Reformation Day this morning, it strikes me that, as usual, Protestants prefer to see this issue as a black and white issue. Law is bad, Gospel is good. Catholicism was wrong, Luther was right. We like to ignore the many complexities that brought about the Reformation. Sure, theology was a central issue, but politics and social reform were driving forces as well. Luther was not the first to point out the errors of the RCC, nor was he the last or even the most well-articulated. But for the sake of your time and the length of this post, I just want to focus on what I think is a central misunderstanding of the theological issues surrounding the Reformation.

It is unhelpful and unbiblical to say that Law and Gospel stand in direct opposition. We must maintain a dialectical tension between the two. We are saved by grace through faith, as Luther said, but we show our faith through works, as James said. James 2:14-18 reads, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Luther really didn’t like this passage, and considered for a time removing James from the canon of Scripture. Let’s not make the same mistake he did.

One other issue that seems to always creep up for Protestant’s is the issue of Church tradition. We use the rallying cry of Sola Scriptura to argue a form of Biblicism. This is interesting to me in that it is a form of works based salvation, something most advocates of sola scriptura would be firmly against. Church Tradition is full of incredibly helpful men who devoted their lives to Christ and to the study of theology and Scripture. I love the Church Father’s, men like Irenaeus and Athanasius. We would be reaching into the heights of arrogance to claim that we can understand the things of God better than these great saints. We need other Christians to help us understand our faith, and to keep us from heresies.

So let us not fall into the Protestant mistake of drawing strict black and white distinctions in issues that are complex and require prayer and exegesis to even begin to understand. Learn about our history and tradition, read the great saints who came before us, don’t give in to a strict biblicism that destroys theological probing. Nothing goes against the Reformation tradition more than blindly accepting and simplifying complex theological issues.

1. Be Humble
You are studying what is probably the highest of all disciplines, the study of our Lord. It is really, really easy to get prideful. Fight this pride with your life. Nothing will kill your spiritual life faster than pride. Theology should be done on your knees. Theology should be prayer. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition there are very few “theologians.” For them, a theologian means “one who prays.” Theology should drive us on to a greater love of God. Gerald Bray lectured at Union during my sophomore year and something he said has stuck with me ever since. “The most dangerous thing in the world is a theologian who does not know how to say, ‘I don’t know.’” My sophomore year was me at my worst. I liked to correct everyone who said something just slightly wrong theologically. I loved correcting pastors and professors and Sunday school teachers. Keep your mouth shut. You’re still learning. You don’t know everything. If you’re correcting a pastor, try to remember what they’re dealing with, they are shepherding people’s souls, they are accountable to God for that. If you’re correcting a professor, remember that they have a doctorate and you haven’t finished your bachelor’s (or master’s) degree. This is the most important thing I could tell you. Be humble.

2. Read
This should be obvious, but let me elaborate. Read theology you agree with. Read a lot of theology you don’t agree with. Be open-minded and I think you’ll be surprised what you’ll learn. The times where I have been stretched the most have been times where I read theology that I profoundly disagree with. This helps you sharpen your own theology and teaches you humility. Read fiction. You need a break from thinking. I love to read good sci-fi or just fiction. I love to read non-fiction like history and biographies of non-Christians. Read biographies of theologians. You can’t really understand a person’s thought if you don’t know what drove them to that thought in their life. Never stop reading.

3. Sleep
It’s really easy to stay up all night writing that 30 page paper of theology. Here’s my advice (or at least what I did). Work hard until around 10, read fiction or watch a movie or television for an hour while hanging out with your roommates or friends, go to bed around 11 or 11:30. Wake up early and finish writing or reading. I discovered that if I worked too late, my work started slipping. I was sharper if I woke up at 5 or 6 A.M. after grabbing some sleep than if I stayed up late without sleep and kept working. My worst work was done when I was tired. My best papers were written before 10 P.M. or after 5 A.M.

4. Get Critiqued
I still do this today. Have people you trust read your papers. Don’t just give them to your mom or roommates who will say it’s great because they like you. Find people who will tell you what sucks, where the holes in your thought are, where you didn’t cite a source, where your logic is flawed, etc. I have 5 people I always send my papers to who critique the grammar and content of the paper. Without them, I’d be in a lot of trouble. They have sharpened my thought and helped me get around some real problems in my work.

5. Have Fun
Theology should be fun. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, do something else. After I graduated I got really excited because I realized I got to read whatever theology I wanted, and I’ve done just that. I have a blast researching and writing, I love to read dense, tough theology. It grows me and teaches me more about the Lord that I love. If you’re miserable doing theology, you probably aren’t called to be a theologian. That’s not a bad thing, not everyone has the same calling. Just find what you enjoy, what you’re called to do, and do it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I’m a huge fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In my previous post, I said to read Metaxas’ biography of Bonhoeffer. I would no longer recommend that, it’s a fairly biased take on Bonhoeffer that tries to paint him as an American evangelical instead of taking in the complexities of his context and his thought. With that said, here’s a few good books by Bonhoeffer and about Bonhoeffer.

Sanctorum Communio by Bonhoeffer: http://amzn.to/n5rhr8 Bonhoeffer’s first book. Lays out his theory of Christ-existing-as-church-community

Act and Being by Bonhoeffer: http://amzn.to/peW0dF Bonhoeffer’s second major work. Hardest book I’ve ever read. Worth it.

Creation and Fall by Bonhoeffer: http://amzn.to/q3NHA1 This is probably my favorite book by Bonhoeffer.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality and Resistance by Larry Rasmussen: http://amzn.to/p02OD4 A good introduction to Bonhoeffer’s ethics

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1906-1945 by Ferdinand Schlingensiepen: http://amzn.to/onF4nL A fantastic introductory biography that handles the complexity of Bonhoeffer well.

Theology
Here are a few great theological works that you should be aware of:

40 Questions about Christians and Biblical Law by Thomas Schreiner: http://bit.ly/hVCElh A great primer on what role the Old Testament law plays in believer’s lives. Really a great work.

What St. Paul Really Said by N.T. Wright: http://bit.ly/qUdHkC This is the book that made N.T. Wright a target for evangelicals. In this work, he lays out his New Perspective on Paul, and I thought it was a fantastic read.

Justification by N.T. Wright: http://bit.ly/ofQ7oT Wright’s response to Piper’s response.

Letters to a Young Calvinist by James K.A. Smith: http://bit.ly/q5FW0P I wish someone gave me this when I first began exploring Reformed Theology. A fantastic and humble approach to the Reformed tradition. Smith argues that there is much more to Reformed Theology than the five points of Calvinism.
So there’s just a few recommendations for you. Hope you find them helpful.

This could be a brief post. I could say everyone’s wrong, that Jesus said Himself that only the Father knows when Christ will return (cf. Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32). However, that’s not the point of this post. It’s to show the sensationalism surrounding TV specials and movies about the end of the world, then I’ll deal with the “Christians” later.

Let’s face it, the end of the world makes for good television and film. There’s something innate in humans that knows the world is going to end one day (for a great post on this see this post: http://bit.ly/gNZsnZ). One end of the world special I watched even said that the end of the world is the only thing that religions agree on. I would disagree with this. While most religions do have some sort of end of the world myth, all of them differ on how it will happen, when it will happen, and what happens after the end of the world. Christianity is often credited with a great end of the world myth in the Book of Revelation. (Side note, notice I said Revelation, not Revelations. Pet peeve of mine is when Bible “experts” say book of Revelations. Even the most novice Biblical scholar knows it’s a singular word, not plural. Even Wikipedia gets it right.) However, while there are many chaotic and violent predictions in Revelation, the Bible does not predict an end to existence. The Apocalypse does not mean total destruction of the world. In fact, after the destruction is finished, God renews all things. So according to Christianity, the world will not end, it, along with everything else in Creation, will be renewed. In Revelation 21, we see God wipe away the devestated earth and make it new. “Behold I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). The Kingdom of Heaven is established on the New Earth. But let’s be honest, the renewal of all things by a loving God isn’t all that exciting to non-believers or apocalypse junkies (unless you add in all that pesky stuff about sinners burning in Hell for all eternity, seperated from that loving God, but that’s just too depressing and obviously fantasy, right…?).

Now, on to the “Christians” who claim “secret knowledge” revealed to them from God. Well, this is nothing new. There were these guys back when Christianity was a wee little tot called Gnostics. If you ever don’t know the answer in a theology class when asked about a heresy, go to Gnosticism, they’re pretty much the major Bad Guy in early Christian history. Without getting too in-depth, Gnostics believed in a “secret revelation” to a select few enlightened ones. If you go to the cult website, you see many verses taken out of context claiming that God reveals knowledge etc. While it’s true that God does reveal Truth about Scripture to Christians, He cannot contradict Himself. His Word is Scripture, and Scripture should be our authority. Any “revelation” we get that contradicts what He has already said (remember Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32) must be suspect. Therefore, the Christians are contradicting Scripture and adding to the words of God, which is clearly warned against (cf. Revelation 22:18).

So, in conclusion, the end of the world is sexy. The real version of the end of the world is a glorious truth for believers and terrible news to those living in rebellion. Revel in the truth found in Scripture, that one day we will be reunited with Christ in His Kingdom established on a New Earth. We have nothing to fear of the “end.”

P.S. The best book I’ve read about the Christian version of the end of the world is N.T. Wright’s Surprised By Hope. Get it here

I’ve been wanting to make this list for awhile now but I needed to see a couple of more movies before I felt like I could do justice to 2010 films. While there’s still one movie of 2010 I haven’t seen that I desperately want to (The King’s Speech), I feel like I can go ahead and make my top 10 favorite movies of 2010 list. This isn’t me saying these are necessarily the best movies of the year, but they are my favorites of the year. Enough talk, on to the list!

10. True Grit

I definitely had high hopes for this movie. I love westerns, Jeff Bridges, and anything by the Coen Brothers. I wasn’t let down at all. It was a lot funnier and had a lot less action than I anticipated, but I loved it nonetheless. Worth a see for sure.

9. The Book of Eli

This is one of the few movies I’ve ever seen that has presented Christianity in a way that didn’t make me cringe and that challeneged my faith at the same time. Theologically rich and an amazing movie to boot.

8. Tron:Legacy

I’ll admit, I’m a nerd. That makes me a bit biased towards this movie. I loved the original Tron, and I loved the video game. The references to nerd culture and the stunning visual effects won my heart. Sad that this is the only fun, good sci-fi movie that came out this year. Maybe 2011 will be better for science fiction.

7. Tangled

I know I can lose some man points for this, but does it make it better that I saw this with my fiancee? Regardless, I love Zachary Levi and Disney movies. This was a fun, funny princess movie. And I’m not ashamed to say I love it.

6. The Fighter

Christian Bale had no reason to prove his acting chops, yet in The Fighter we see again how great of an actor he really is. I was engrossed from start to finish with this film. Worth seeing if for nothing else than to see Christian Bale’s performance.

5. Toy Story 3

I went into Toy Story 3 as a skeptic. I didn’t believe that the third installment of an animated series could be worth seeing. I was so wrong. Toy Story 3 just may be my favorite movie of the series. It’s definitely better than the second installment. I even felt bad for getting rid of my childhood toys by the end of the movie. Pixar is definitely making the best animated films.

4. Inception

Do I even need to say anything about what is possibly the most popular movie of the year?

3. Winter’s Bone

Winter’s Bone was a surprise. I’d never even heard of it until a friend tweeted about it and I decided to take his advice and see it. Some of the best acting I’ve ever seen in a film. I forgot I was watching actors at times. I couldn’t stop watching. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and rent it.

2. Exit Through the Gift Shop

This is either a great documentary or an elaborate and hilarious hoax. Chronicles the rise of Mr. Brainwash and his interactions with noted street artists Banksy and Shepard Fairey (both of which I was a huge fan of before watching this). Hilarious and fascinating.

1. Shutter Island

Shutter Island was by far my favorite movie of 2010. The acting was phenomenal, the atmosphere was tense, the writing was amazing, and the twist at the end took me completely by surprise. Amazing.

Honorable Mentions

The Social Network-I really wanted to love The Social Network. It was written by my favorite screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin. But I was a little disappointed. I don’t think it deserves the praise it has garnered thus far. Is it good? Yes. Is it the best movie of the decade? Absolutely not.

Alice in Wonderland-I didn’t expect the direction this movie went. It was good, and enjoyable, just not the classic story I expected to see. Nonetheless, it’s worth a watch.

Restrepo-Documentary about the war in Afghanistan. Worth seeing.

Date Night-Relatively cliche, but it was a good date movie with my fiancee. Not to mention it had a great pro-marriage message.

Kick-Ass-I’m a sucker for superhero movies. This would be my number 11 if I had to add one to my above list. Fun movie about an ordinary kid deciding to become a superhero.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World-Nerdy fun.

So that’s my list. Hope you enjoy it and somewhat agree with it.

Novels

Ender’s Game-Phenomenal novel and the start of a phenomenal series. Philosophical sci-fi that attempts to tackle metaphysical questions like what makes a human, what is good and evil, etc. Read it. Thank me later. http://amzn.to/cD9QZT

Till We Have Faces-C.S. Lewis’ retelling of the classic myth of Cupid and Psyche. Beautiful, probably my favorite Lewis novel. http://amzn.to/aw7zXD

The Sound and the Fury-This is one of the harder books I read in high school, but it was worth it. Faulkner’s stream-of-consciousness makes it a tough read, but it’s such a great story. http://amzn.to/ax1d2O

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time-Sort of a mystery, told from the perspective of an autistic boy. Such a great read. http://amzn.to/cmCaBx

The Dark Tower Series-Stephen King’s magnum opus. Some of the best books I’ve ever read. http://amzn.to/b3AZuV

General Christian Living

When I Don’t Desire God-Piper gives a great account on how to fight for joy when we don’t want to. http://bit.ly/9o75SD

The Message of the New Testament-Mark Dever gives a great exposition book by book of what the New Testament books teach. It’s a semi-commentary. http://bit.ly/d530T3

Blue Like Jazz-I know it has potential to get me burned in effigy, but I liked this book. Worth reading if for nothing else than figuring out what everyone else gets so mad about (if you figure it out let me know). http://bit.ly/bbWfSz

Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be)-I know the emergent church is essentially done, but nonetheless this is a good book. It has some great stuff to be learned beyond the emergent church. http://bit.ly/9nIouJ

Crazy Love-Although not as great as it’s made out to be it’s still helpful. http://bit.ly/ahg2V2

Young, Restless, Reformed-A good look into the New Calvinist movement. Interesting and informative.
http://bit.ly/aVBrKv

Surprised By Hope-N.T. Wright’s book is phenomenal, and it helped me understand the importance of the resurrection. http://bit.ly/cMQG0f

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory-A fascinating and loving look into the evangelical sub-culture. A must-read. http://amzn.to/cNvgjz

The Pursuit of God-This classic changed my life. http://bit.ly/aRZK97

Knowing God-This is a great book by J.I. Packer that has become a modern classic. http://bit.ly/aL1xD4

Historical Theology

The First and Second Apologies of Justin Martyr-A great contribution to orthodoxy. Very different from what most of us would think, but the parts I agreed with were great. http://amzn.to/bNEXmS

On the Apostolic Preaching -Irenaeus had a great view of the Trinity long before the Trinitarian controversy. Great contribution to Western theology. http://amzn.to/9bVW2l

On the Incarnation-Phenomenal book on the importance of the Incarnation in Christian theology. If you don’t read another book from this section, read this one. http://amzn.to/a533Lo

Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy-Edited by one of my professors, we had to read this for my Great Texts and Theologians class. Great collection of essays by some of today’s leading theologians on the Church Fathers and Medieval theologians. http://bit.ly/aDMNU7

Systematic Theology

Wayne Grudem’s Systematic-This is the most popular modern systematic. It’s decent, but not the best one on the market. http://bit.ly/bOAzuM

Christian Theology by Millard Erickson-This is the best one volume systematic that has been published in recent history. Engages with post-modernism and conveys a great Reformed view of theology. If you have to get one systematic, skip grudem and get this one. http://amzn.to/bkV9Dv

Relationships, Marriage, etc.

Sacred Marriage-Me and my fiancee are reading through this now. Amazing book that helps you understand the purpose of marriage beyond just our happiness. http://bit.ly/bxSj0f

God, Marriage, and Family-A Great theological look at the three things mentioned in the title. http://bit.ly/d0CcsG

This Momentary Marriage-The first half of this was great, the second half on divorce I wasn’t so crazy about. Read it anyway. http://bit.ly/dfILqj

What He Must Be…If He Wants to Marry My Daughter-A great and challenging book about what a man must be in order to be married. http://bit.ly/aPyuYf

Real Sex-Don’t let the title scare you. It’s phenomenal, and a great Christian sexual ethic. http://bit.ly/aJFJTP

Theology

The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God-Tough little book on a tough doctrine, but a great work of theology nonetheless. http://bit.ly/cKHYCr

Orthodoxy-G.K. Chesterton’s classic work is witty and theologically sound, a must-read. http://bit.ly/cuTrmX

Anything by Dietrich Bonhoeffer-He’s kind of my guy.

Redemption Accomplished and Applied-Great little book on the atonement. A great exposition of Calvinism. http://bit.ly/9mCZUS

Is There A Meaning in This Text?-A great exposition of the importance of a word-centered faith. http://bit.ly/9AacsT

In the Beginning Was the Word-Another great work on the importance of a word-centered faith. http://bit.ly/cK93aH

Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology-A great book with four different views on how to do theology. http://bit.ly/8XqKo8

Biographies

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas-Reads more like a novel. Great read, not academic. http://bit.ly/cx1MCv

St. Francis of Assisi-Great biography by G.K. Chesterton. http://amzn.to/9FCSNr

Martin Luther by Martin Marty-Written by one of my favorite church historians. Good read. http://amzn.to/bdGYVN

The Church/Pastoral Ministry

The Reformed Pastor-There wasn’t a single page of this that didn’t destroy me. So good. http://bit.ly/ccnus1

The Contemplative Pastor-Good read. Not the best book on pastoral ministry, but incredibly helpful nonetheless. http://amzn.to/dtW2pz

An Earnest Ministry-Yet another book that destroyed me while I read. http://bit.ly/cG0DGx

Brothers We Are Not Professionals-Great collection of essays by John Piper on pastoral ministry. http://bit.ly/axubAH

Deep Church-This book has helped me immensely in thinking through my ecclesiology. http://bit.ly/bcMEaj

The Cross and Christian Ministry-a great book on pastoral ministry from 1 Corinthians. http://bit.ly/aALOxj

Why We Love the Church-A good book on the importance of the Church, but not great on missional living. Ignore the unfair straw-man of missional living and enjoy the rest. http://bit.ly/aSPYVA

Well that’s about it for now. I hope this list proves helpful to you, dear reader.

On the night of February 5th, 2008, a EF-4 tornado struck the campus of Union University. It destroyed a majority of the student residential complexes and caused damage to numerous other buildings on campus. The above picture was taken right outside of my dorm, my car was in that stack of cars. It’s been 2 years since that night and we have rebuilt and come back stronger than ever. I would like to reflect a little bit about how God used to the tornado in my life.

Page found in the rubble containing James 1:1-8

When the tornado hit, I was at the lowest I had ever been in my life. I was discontent with the Church, I was discontent with Union, and I was fed up with God. I was incredibly close to walking away from my faith altogether. I woke up on Tuesday morning and had no idea what was coming that night. In Jackson, we regularly have severe weather so no one thought anything of the dark clouds moving in by mid-afternoon. At around 6:00, my roommates and I were in our living room watching TV when we saw a tornado touch down in Memphis, about an hour and a half west of our campus. We knew our building wasn’t too sturdy so we decided to go to a safer building on campus to work on homework and wait out the storm. I remember as I grabbed my books from my bedroom pausing for a second at the door and looking back in with an odd sense that I wasn’t going to see it again. Around 6:55 the electricity went off. We were sitting in complete darkness listening to the haunting sound of tornado sirens. We walked outside to see the lightning. We were 18 and invincible and no one thought the tornado would actually hit us. A security guard ran up and told us to get inside to a room with no windows. We laughed because we figured he was overreacting. At 7:02 every door in the building was sucked shut at the same time and the candle that was lit in the student lounge was extinguished. Someone whispered, “I think we just got hit.” We all walked slowly into the hall and noticed the shattered windows. The next thing we heard will be forever burned into my mind. The same security guard from earlier ran up and urged us to start calling 911, “The girls dorms are down and there are still a lot of girls inside.” My stomach turned. I suddenly didn’t know who was alive, if I was ever going to see some of my friends again. I left campus in a car with someone I didn’t know, to this day I have no idea who took me to their house. I was still clueless about how many were dead, who I was going to see again in class, if we were even going to have class, and still ignorant about the extent of the damage. Everyone else in the house went to bed. I laid on the couch all night, unable to sleep, and watched local news reports about the damage. I found out that everyone had been accounted for and that not a single person was killed. A miracle to be sure.

Relief worker among the ruins of dorms.

The next morning I walked on campus wearing a borrowed sweatshirt to try to get to my dorm and get some of my stuff out. We were informed that the dorms were unsafe and we weren’t being allowed on campus. I could see the dorms from where I stood at the guard shack and was shocked into silence. My mom drove to Jackson to pick me up. On the drive back to Nashville a leaf hit the windshield and I remember being convinced it was going to come through and kill me. I ducked to the floor. I think that’s when I realized exactly how traumatized I was. To this day, when the wind is a little more than a breeze I still get insanely nervous.

For a few months after the tornado I got incredibly mad at God. I blamed Him for everything that had gone wrong in my life and wondered why instead of getting a break, I lost everything in a tornado. I finally got to the point where I was going to leave it all behind when I read these words, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” I began reflecting on the life of Paul, the man who wrote those words in Romans 5:1-5. I realized how much more suffering he endured than I had. I realized that he was able to come through it all with a trust in the sovereignty of God. That night I decided that I needed to begin taking my faith seriously and that I needed to trust God the way Paul had. Paul says in Romans 8, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” He even uses things like tornadoes for our good.

Without the amazing leadership after the tornado of Dr. Dockery, Union's president, I don't think we would be where we are today.

Two years later, I’m able to look back at February 5th and see God’s providential hand guiding me towards Himself. I never thought on that night that I would be praising Him two years later. I never thought that I’d see Him in the midst of devastation. I never thought that I would love Union University as much as I do now. I know now that He was using something like a tornado in hundreds, if not thousands, of different ways for students all over Union’s campus. For me, he was calling a prodigal son right back into His house. He was making sure that I knew He loved me, and making sure that I was relying on Him completely rather than temporal things around me.

In the weeks after the tornado, Union University’s rallying call came straight from the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 4, “We do not lose hope.” The entire passage says, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”

I know that I am still far from the man that God has called me to be, but I know I am even farther from the man I was becoming two years ago thanks to 2/5/08. And I will never stop praising my God for that grace.

Some of my readers will know that my step-dad was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer about a year and a half ago. We’ve been fighting the cancer hardcore ever since. Tom has had surgeries and been on 4 different chemo treatments. In the past couple of weeks, he has rapidly deteriorated. About 2 weeks ago he stopped eating. When he went to the doctor, we were informed that once the cancer reaches a certain stage it starts cutting off signals to the brain that tell it that the body is hungry. We were told to “prepare ourselves.” When doctors tell a family to prepare themselves, it’s not a good thing.
Saturday night, Tom was in an enormous amount of pain. My mom had been trying to get Tom in to see a doctor for 3 days but kept getting the run around. She finally got fed up and rushed Tom to the E.R. He was running a 104 fever, deadly for an adult. It turns out that Tom had a staph infection. We were informed that staph infections will kill you at day 4. Tom was on day 3.

After treating him with antibiotics, they are thinking that they will have to do surgery to clean the infection out. In the midst of all of this, they performed an endoscopy and discovered that Tom had an inordinate amount of acid in his stomach. This accounted for why he had not been able to eat.

All of this has somewhat turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He’s been weak because he was fighting off an infection we didn’t know about, he couldn’t eat because he had so much acid in his stomach. While the cancer is far from being healed or far from being okay, it may not be nearly as bad as we were led to believe by the doctors.

We are far from being out of the woods, even with the infection, but things aren’t nearly as dark as we thought they were just a few days ago. Tom is struggling, all of my family is struggling. Please be praying that Tom will be healed of this infection and that he will be able to eat again, and please be praying for our family as we continue this battle.

Scott Thomas- “Honored and Awed—This is What Graciousness Looks Like” http://bit.ly/2hRR4k

Al Mohler- “Younger Pastors and the Hope of a Future” http://bit.ly/4rkFsA

I attend three churches: one in Jackson TN called City Fellowship Baptist Church which is a church plant of the Southern Baptist Convention, and two in Nashville; one called Immanuel Church and one called The Axis Church-both are Acts 29 churches. The Axis Church is a plant of Immanuel Church that is still getting off the ground. Normally I wouldn’t attend two churches in the same city, however, since The Axis Church is a brand new plant, I’ve been attending both Immanuel and The Axis.

A few weeks ago here at Union University, we had a conference titled “Southern Baptists, Evangelicals and the Future of Denominationalism” where some of the most brilliant scholars in the SBC converged on my school to talk about why we should stick with the SBC and what challenges lay ahead for the SBC. Some of my biggest heroes spoke at this conference and it had a large impact on my thinking.

During one of the panel sessions, I decided it was time for me to ask my question: should I plant a Southern Baptist church or should I go Acts 29; is it an either/or situation or a both/and situation? I got the answer I expected along with something I didn’t expect. The response was that I should stay within my denomination and plant SBC. That answer would work with a majority of church goers, but as I said above I attend Acts 29 churches and a SBC church. What I didn’t expect was a veiled attack on the NAMB’s church planting division from a high ranking official in the crowd.

My question stemmed from my experience at the Southern Baptist Convention this summer where I heard plenty of motions against the Acts 29 network. With so much hostility within the SBC, why would I want to plant a church that is both SBC and Acts 29? Would most SBC church goers even want me in their denomination if I was Acts 29? I know I am not the only young man facing these questions, this is a burning question for plenty of next generation church planters.

When I was reading Scott Thomas’ blog post, I literally got chills when he was speaking to the SBC. Here is what he said for those of you who did not follow the links I posted at first (shame on you), “Our posture has maintained that we love the SBC, even if disagreements exist. Of the eight main sessions at our recent boot camp at Sojourn, an SBC church, five were Southern Baptist pastors, We are in this together. As a Network, we want to pursue the extension of grace in humility and respectfully request grace from those in the Convention who might misunderstand our mission or motivation. I believe we can image the gospel through our mutual grace orientated collaboration for the glory of God and the expansion of His Kingdom through the planting of local churches.”

I greatly appreciate both the SBC and the Acts 29 network. If I’m being totally honest, I lean more towards the idea of planting an Acts 29 church apart from the Southern Baptist Convention, but I also know that God’s plans are greater than my own and I am perfectly willing to bow to His will. I praise God for all three of my churches which exemplify the Gospel and are looking for the best ways to fulfill the Great Commission within their respective communities and to glorify God through the advance of His kingdom.

Sola Scriptura
Scripture is the only inspired Word of God and the only source for Christian Doctrine. We do not look to man to create new Spiritual laws, nor do we look to new books to define what our Doctrine is. Our authority is Scripture.

Sola Fide
Justification is received by faith alone, not through our works. Luther struggled with this doctrine quite a bit, even going so far as considering removing James from Scripture since it seemed to preach a works based salvation. While works don’t justify us, the believers life will be marked by good works.

Sola Gratia
Our salvation comes only because of God’s unmerited grace. We are bound by our sin and are only capable of being saved through the grace that God gives.

Solus Christus
Christ is the only mediator between God and man. He is our great high priest who intercedes for us before the throne of God, there is no need to pray to saints or have priests intercede for us.

Soli Deo Gloria
God alone is worthy of glory. All that we do should bring glory to Him since He is perfect in every way. Man deserves no glory because we have infinitely offended God.

This is a very brief overview of each of the “solas” of the Reformation. Meditate on them today and ask yourself if our Christianity today reflects these. Also, keep in mind another cry of the Reformation, Semper Reformanda, or Always Reforming. The Christian life is one of continual repentance, and through our repentance we should continually reform our churches and our lives. I thank God for men like Martin Luther and the other Reformers who literally risked their lives for the sake of the Gospel.