Thoughts on Hurricane Katrina

As I find myself watching the news, trying to wrap my mind around what has happened in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, I keep wondering about the thousands upon thousands of people who are now destitute, homes and families torn and scattered in city and country streets.

I wonder, what kind of real answers does our culture offer to these people? With a society that revolves around the highs and lows of Wall Street and the gas pumps, idolizes vapid people on Hollywood screens because they have attained wealth and fame, that has built an opulent house of golden cards, calling it “the good life” and “the American Dream,” what will that culture have to offer these people?

People on the news and around the country are struck with the thought…”what would I do if that was me?”

God, in His providence and His sovereignty, has a way of making His points with enormous exclamation points. Did we learn anything from the tsunami on the other side of the world? Will we learn anything from the hurricane in our backyard?

What will it take for us to realize that our things, our dreams, even our families, are not our hope? We cannot count on any of these things. We cannot count on our science or that our homes will not burn down while we are at work.

All we can trust in is Him who is sovereign over hurricanes, who brings healing and mercy after destruction. All we can cling to is Him who created us in His image and, though we have fallen and seek all our lives to worship ourselves while despising Him, sent Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins, bringing forgiveness and ushering us into fellowship with God.

What will it take for you to repent and turn to God, so that your sin may be wiped out and you might be redeemed and made holy? What will it take?

Jonathan Edwards: A Salute

One of my favorite courses this semester, if you tied me down and forced me to pick, is a class focused on the life and theology of Jonathan Edwards. It is an incredible class, taught by Dr. Tom J. Nettles, a hilarious and brilliant historian with a deep regard for our holy God.

The first reading we were assigned for class was the entirety of the Founder’s Journal looking at Edward’s life and, specifically, the influence he has had on the Baptist Denomination. While the second article, chronicled Edward’s massive influence on Baptist Theology, is excellent, I particularly want to recommend Dr. Nettles article entitled “Jonathan Edwards: An Appreciation” with the hope that those unfamiliar with Edwards would become familiar with Edwards, catching his passion and delight in the supreme excellency of our God.

For those of you unfamiliar with Christianity, I delightfully point you to Edwards knowing that reading him will help to shed light on many of your misgivings. The article is not long and I would kindly recommend it to you, for your consideration and response.

For the Entire Journal:
http://www.founders.org/FJ53/contents.html

Oren Martin’s Thoughts on the Trinity

I might as well warn you now, Monday – Wednesday are my crazy school days when I just don’t have the luxury of writing much for the blog. So, I am going to reward those of you who faithfully check the site every day, not just when I send emails, by pointing you to some outstanding thoughts and insight from people I have great respect for.

Today my recommendation is for you to go and check out Oren Martin’s thoughts on the Trinity, a tremendously neglected foundational doctrine in the church. It is short and sweet and you will enjoy it tremendously.

Visitors from the Land of Texas

This weekend, Beth and Lee were overjoyed to have Lee’s Brother Mike and his (Mike’s) girlfriend fly up from Texas to spend the weekend in Louisville. We were able to go and chekc out Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is run every year, and had some outstanding meals due to great Louisville dining and Beth’s incredible cooking.

For those of you who might be interested, we have plenty of space and room and board is very cheap at the Wilson household…we would love to have you!!!

Next weekend we will be flying into Austin for the wedding of Logan Gentry to his beloved fiance Amber Robinson. We are looking forward to being home, where you must drive at least six hours to cross the state border, and seeing all of our loved ones. Dinner at Salt Lick this Friday night!!! Be there or be square.

Photo Op!

Mike and Rachel – Mike, the aspiring bridge engineer,
striking a pose with his awesome girlfriend, Rachel,
in Indiana looking toward Kentucky

"But What About…Terrorists?"

In response to my two posts about the trustworthiness of the disciples and the reliability of their accounts of Jesus’ teachings and the resurrection, I received a couple of inquires that demonstrated a bit of confusion regarding the nature of the disciple’s martyrdom.

Evidently, whenever the idea of dying for what one believes is mentioned in our culture, the gut response is, “But what about terrorists who die for what they believe?” I want to clarify the distinction between the disciples and terrorists, using that distinction as a jumping off point for us to see how the nature of Christianity and the resurrection distinguish Christianity from the other religions in the world.

Every time we turn on the news we hear reports and see vivid images of terrorism throughout the world. Few nations, if any, have not been scathed by the terror waves of the past decade (though terrorism has existed for much longer than that, mind you). We see photos of burned out vehicles, bloody sheets covering mangled souls, soldiers patrolling the streets and subways, menacing men with cold eyes staring out of the television screen with hatred in their eyes. The people that perform such horrific acts of terror hold deep religious convictions that motivate their destruction. They are devout, passionate, and zealous extremists who deeply believe what they are doing is for their god, Allah.

I can see why people might be quick to confuse zealous men who are not afraid of death with other zealous men who were not afraid to die following the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. If you were to think about it from the perspective and terms I just used, it would be difficult to make the distinction and easy to label all zealous men “fundamentalists” and write the entire group off as divisive, dangerous, nut jobs.

However, should your consideration stop following such a brief analysis, you would be making a grievous and foolish assumption that could not be more wrong.

Terrorists have deeply held convictions in the teachings of the Koran that they believe to indicate that simultaneously murdering infidels and subsequently dying is a tremendously Allah glorifying act of Jihad, or Holy War. They believe deeply that they will reap rewards and honor in the afterlife for such actions. Obviously, they are not lacking in belief or the willingness to live out what they believe, but they do lack truth in what they believe (see articles listed below).

The Disciples were markedly passionate men, full of zeal and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. They too were men who were willing to die for what they believed to be the truth and they did. The tremendous distinction between these men and the terrorist mentioned above is that the disciples had truth on their side. Where the terrorists are willing to murder innocent people and die for their cause, the disciples died as martyrs, tortured and humiliated for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Terrorists’ belief is incredibly strong; however, they have no evidence or reasonable cause to believe in the religion for which they die. The Disciples of Jesus are a stark contrast to the terrorist when it comes to Truth being on their side. As eyewitnesses of the gospel, of Jesus’ perfect life, His miraculous ministry, His death for the sins of those who believe in Him, and His resurrection from the dead, the disciples were martyred for what they personally knew, with absolute certainty, to be true.

In a culture where tolerance (read “immediate concession of all beliefs”) is the highest virtue (read “the only acceptable rule of absolute truth”), there is great pressure to dismiss claims for ultimate truth without second thought. My desire for all of us is stop getting scammed by a philosophical system that is self-defeating and creating a huge number of spineless, thoughtless people. Instead, think deeply and seek to understand truth claims, be intelligent and don’t fall for such nonsense.

Realize how tremendously important it is that Christianity is founded on the testimony of a group of men who were with Jesus throughout the course of His ministry, witnessed His death, saw Him resurrected, and died because they refused to deny Jesus Christ. If it is true it has tremendous implications for all of us; so, with so much on the line, be certain to think deeply and seek out answers for your questions in the Bible, the foundation of the Christian faith.

And, speaking of the Bible, soon we will be taking a look at what Jesus of Nazareth had to say about Himself. Did He ever say He was God? The Messiah? Did He ever say anything about Hell? What did He say about us?

Articles:
James White. “Examining Muslim Apologetics”
Part 1 – http://www.equip.org/free/DM822-1.htm
Part 2 – http://www.equip.org/free/DM822-2.htm
Joseph Gudel. “A Post 9/11 Look at Islam”
http://www.equip.org/free/DI911.htm

Golf Excitement and Seminary

So, this week has been a great week so far for the wonderful Wilsons of Kentucky. There has been some excitement…we went and played our first round of golf together, Lee started seminary on Tuesday, and the hole in our ceiling is officially patched and painted in time for Mike and Rachel’s visit tomorrow (thanks to Steve the awesome painter).

Friday afternoon, we received an invitation from our friends Dave and Kathy to play a round of golf with them Sunday evening. Lee, having come from the prodigious talent of Sue Leach, is always primed and ready to hit the links (kind of). Beth, on the othe hand, had never played golf in her life. We ended up playing 7 1/2 holes of a public par three course and we laughed a whole lot. It really was quite a blast. As we were approaching the green on the 7th hole it started to rain and lightning like crazy…it snuck up behind us…and we got drenched. But, forgunately, we were able to protect our borrowed clubs and made it out alive. It was so much fun that we will be doing it again (especially since we got a rain check for a free round).

Tuesday marked the beginning of Lee’s full-time, on campus carer at Southern Baptisit Theological Seminary, and it was tremendous, everything he has been anticipating. He is taking a course on Jonathan Edwards, Elementary Hebrew, Church History I, and Doctrine of the Trinity. All of the classes are amazing, and they are going to be very challening. Lets all give a shout out and round of applause to Scott and Lesa Wilson, who are so gracious as to provide to the furtherance of Lee’s education for the sake of the gospel to the glory of God through Jesus Christ! I love you Mom and Dad!

And, lest we forget, the huge (4’x8′) hole in our ceiling is no more, it has been patched! Yes!!!

Feel free to email us or leave a comment! We miss you! Pray for Lee to not get destroyed by Hebrew!

Class Has Begun!

Hey all, I have great news for most of you. I have started up classes full time for the semester here at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Besides my learning some new things to share here at Focal Element, that means that my course loud will force me to become a more concise blogger.

I am so awful at making a quick point because a couple of paragraphs just does not suffice to ask important questions and provide adequate answers, but it looks like I am going to have to make it happen.

So, congratulations to you! When you check my blog every day or so, instead of occasionally finding a 6 page essay, you will find threads that you don’t have to rearrange your schedule to read.

I look forward to the new relationship with you, my readers, due to the change…but don’t worry, I don’t plan on wasting your time or mine with blathering blogs about insignificant bologna.

Private Tour of the Wilson Home

Due to popular demand, we have elected to add a guided tour feature to the blog. You will begin at the front door, looking into the kitchen and, after the living room, you will be escorted upstairs to see the two rooms on the second story. Enjoy!!!

The kitchen – This is where Beth struts her cooking skills