conversation with the postman

i've written a few thoughts about money lately. HERE & HERE (& even HERE within the context below.)

so, when i was reading my buddy Scott's blog recently i was really intrigued by his post. it's about money, but it's changing the subject from what i've been writing about money. it's a different kind of conversation. and it is brilliant (in a sneaky sort of way).

Scott is a brilliant guy. getting his doctorate right now, but that's not what makes him brilliant. he could be teaching those classes. this guy's brain works in fascinating ways.

he's a great writer too. he has written posts here on renown several times. his writing style is different than mine and obviously more polished, but he has an ability to be transparent, raw, and authentic at the same time.

btw - i asked Scott for permission to post this, of course, but in the conversation i never asked if the postman is a literal postman or even a literal, real person or not. i guess you can attempt to interpret that for yourself.
hopefully i'll actually get to sit down with Scott up in NY this month if our schedules sync up. maybe we can talk more about this.

maybe you have found yourself having these types of conversations with a "postman" of your own?

Postman by Scott Grace


The postman told me that money can’t buy happiness. 


I told him I sure doubt that’s the case. 


I have yet to see a rich person sad for having come upon a large sum of money. The only crying is a happy sort of crying. 


The postman assured me that with more money comes more problems, 


but I assured him that if my worst problems were what to do with all my money then I would be ok with that. 


The postman never seems to care that money is what pays for his service and his service pays his rent and buys his food and cares for his young children. The postman always seems to preach that life is not measured by the number of zero’s in your bank account. I have never seen more than five zero’s in my bank account including the cents, but I promised the postman that if there was a time in my life when I saw ten zero’s in my bank account then I would certainly feel a measure of satisfaction and perhaps some sort of success. 


The postman assured me that money is like a bird, and soon flies away. 


But I told the postman that I would much rather watch money fly away than never be able to watch it fly away. 


I guess the postman thinks that money is somewhat overrated. 


I kind of sympathize with the postman, but I sure would like to know money problems, how much happiness money can buy, and how it feels to see a lot of zero’s in my bank account. 


I trust the postman though, seems to have a good sense of things, especially when it comes to money.

any thoughts for me or Scott or the postman?

"What is wrong..." (guest blog)

This is a guest blog from my friend Scott Grace. (You can read "Part 1" in yesterday's post.)



continued...

"So I have said all this without introducing the point. What am I trying to say? Glad you asked.
During one of the Geisler sessions, Norm began by giving some alarming statistics on how children raised in Christian homes are leaving the church never to return. At the end of the session, during the Q/A time, one man asked “What is wrong with the church today?” Geisler answered profoundly (not really), “We are spending too much time entertaining and not enough time training.” There was a good round of applause following his answer. Little did they know that he was talking about them (We are the church)! I thought that was ironic. We all assume that the problem is with “other” people and never ourselves. That made me chuckle. Anyway, moving on.

Geisler’s answer shows where he places his emphasis: “training.” Whatever he means by “training” is a mystery since he didn’t explain, but I would venture to guess he would have everyone become apologists of the faith; he would have people become great defenders of inerrancy, cal-minianism, premillenialism, and so on. I don’t know what he meant by entertaining either, but I certainly feel that Geisler thinks the solution is raising up a generation of apologists who will save the children from the snares of this world. Well… I think he is right, but only to a small degree. We must have thoughtful, reflective, and culturally astute people, but I think he has missed something so tremendous, something so huge that only a man stuck in seminary offices and classrooms, behind grand volumes of theological literature, could miss. Certainly the church has “dumbed-down” its message to appeal to the broader culture, but is “training” (of an intellectual type) really going to save the children? I can’t imaging that is the case. Jesus never said, “Go into all the world and train.” Certainly Paul placed a heavy emphasis on knowing the Scriptures… I cannot deny that, but Paul’s reason for knowing the Scriptures was not for the sake of defending the faith, the reason was to preach the gospel to the world.

I don’t think intellectual, biblical, and theological training is the cure-all, though I cannot deny that intellectual, biblical, and theological training have influenced my life greatly and will do the same for others. But training does not fix my brokenness. It can’t, and never will. I have been “trained” and I have the ability to “defend the faith” but that is not what sustains my faith, though it certainly provides a level of support. What sustains my faith is the power of the gospel, the experience of the transforming nature of the life of Jesus Christ lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel is unlike any other message in the world. It brings HOPE, RESTORATION, FORGIVENESS, RECONCILIATION, and HEALING to the world. Training can never do those things, only the preaching of the cross of Jesus Christ and the life living out the gospel of Jesus Christ on a daily basis can change the world.

If I were to answer the question (and I did not because I am not Norman Geisler) I would say that what is wrong with our churches is that we are living as though the gospel is only something we believe and not something we live. We are too comfortable. We are too easily distracted with what matters little, we are too self-centered, we have too much, we care too little, we do not grasp the nature and power of the gospel of Jesus, the Christ. God is going to restore all things and make them new. He has done this through Christ and will continue to do it through us. Our task in this life is to mimic that process in our day by day lives, in our homes, workplaces, schools, families, neighborhoods, countries, and continents. When Christians start living the forgiveness they have found then possibly the kids will see what Christianity is: a way of life rather than something we do on Sunday. We must spend less time entertaining and more time living the gospel."

the preface (guest blog)

This is a guest blog from my friend Scott Grace. (I introduced him in yesterday's post.)
This is just the "preface" or Part 1... you can read Part 2 tomorrow.

"I went on vacation this past week to Camp-of-the-Woods (it’s in the Adirondacks). In my pea-brain mind I assumed that this camp was somehow related to the famous Word of Life Camps (just over the mountains). Any how, I was wrong. Apparently the camp (Camp-of-the-Woods) is run by “The Gospel Volunteers,” an organization started by constituents who, being unhappy with the liberalizing Salvation Army, left and began their own ministry. It was started as a conservative reaction to the “social gospel” that had infiltrated the Salvation Army.

One of the perks of the camp is they invite “big name” evangelicals to come. I heard Josh McDowell, his son Sean McDowell (who was the best of the three speakers by far), and Norman Geisler. Honestly, I have never really been a huge fan of Geisler primarily because he is so “sure” about everything (sort of like John McArthur, but a little more of a gentle spirit). Long ago his book Chosen but Free made me mad during my defender-of-Calvin days. So, I was interested to hear him speak, but I had made up my mind to be skeptical of whatever he said, and I was. I guess I am too sure about my own opinions, I apologize, Dr. Geisler.

Anyway, his topic for the week was “Can we trust the Bible?” and as you can imagine he spent a full session defending his “inerrancy” position. I find his methods of philosophical deductions valuable, but I think he missed painting the whole picture to the hearers. There was no mention of the Bible as ancient expressive religious literature. He presented it as a series of propositional statements (proof texting). He left very little room for hermeneutical issues, tradition, and genre issues, but I guess when you’re dealing with a random group of people (mainly old people) who are on vacation, you don’t want to get too crazy in your study. People will get upset."

to be continued...