"The Best Christmas Present Ever"

"We had prepared to spend Christmas without him – we thought we'd be planning a funeral. Instead, it was the best Christmas present ever..."

These stories have had a particularly big impact on me as of late, as you can well imagine.

Read the whole story here.

HT: Zach Nielsen

God's Problem of Suffering

You'll hear it said quite often that people shouldn't talk about two things: politics and religion. Even if that is true, they sure are reading about it, especially when it comes to religion. Look over the NY Times bestseller list and you'll consistently find books ranging from simple books on spirituality to hard-hitting books denying the existence of God to fantastical novels about Jesus. People love to read about religion. But on anything in particular? Yup. Christianity. I heard Newsweek's editor say once that their bestselling magazines were always the ones with something about the Bible or Jesus on the cover. Some would say that this fascination is due to our rich Christian heritage. I think differently (see Romans 1:19-20).

Bart Ehrman became very popular at the release of his book Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. Ehrman is not a fan of Christianity. But what is fascinating about Ehrman is that he used to be Christian. Now I don't mean some nominal believer. Eherman was overtly evangelical and even attended Moody Bible Institute. He is home grown. But after years spent pondering the Christian faith court-side, Ehrman has changed his mind. He has seen the goods and does not like them.

Thus the publication of his new book God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer. His thesis is not that Christians misinterpret the scriptures and misunderstand God's purposes in suffering and evil. His thesis is that the God of the Bible gets it wrong. I suspect that this will be a huge best seller like his previous book, and I don't need to explain why. We all suffer. GracePoint has been hit hard in recent months with much tragedy and suffering (my family included). Even with our faith held close, the inexplicable nature of suffering, with its mysterious impetus and purpose, drives us to question God himself. If that is where we are, where are those without God?

I have embedded the audio to an interview that NPR's Terry Gross did with Ehrman. It is long, but fascinating. What do you agree with? What do you disagree with? Is this disconcerting to you? Does the Bible answer the question of suffering? Listen closely at 9:05 where he describes "redemptive suffering."

And pray for Bart Ehrman. Suffering, perhaps, has driven him to reject the God we love.

Also, for a different look at suffering, download this Tim Keller message.

HT: Denny Burk

Keller Quotes

From the Introduction of Tim Keller's The Reason for God:

“Only if you [believers] struggle long and hard with objections to your faith will you be able to provide grounds for your beliefs to skeptics, including yourself, that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive....But even as believers should learn to look for reasons behind their faith, skeptics must learn to look for a type of faith hidden within their reasoning. All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs....Every doubt...is based on a leap of faith.” - p. xvii

“The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it. How do you know your belief is true? It would be inconsistent to require more justification for Christian belief than you do for your own, but that is frequently what happens. In fairness you must doubt your doubts. My thesis is that if you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs--you will discover that your doubts are not as solid as they first appeared.” - p. xviii

Also check out the new website called "The Reason for God" based around the book.

HT: Steve McCoy

Point Class: Acts

We invite you to join us for our Sunday morning Point Class to explore the Acts of the Apostles

Our look at the book of Acts and the first Christian church continues this Sunday. If you missed it last year, there's no reason you can't start now! By studying the book of Acts with teacher Craig Utley, you'll learn history, bible study methods and how you can apply the scriptures to your life today. It is not something you should miss. It meets from 9:00-9:50AM at the end of the hall by the auditorium.

If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Phelps at rphelps@gracepointne.org.

Tim Keller

Though I have only known about Tim Keller for a few years now, he has had a huge impact on my life. A mega-church pastor in the heart of New York City, he is equal parts super-intellectual, superlative teacher, and "he can talk to anyone" pastor. His grasp of the culture and how Christians fit into it is astounding. But I think it's his communication style that is so impressive. He preaches as though he's having a conversation with himself, coming upon, as if by happenstance, magisterial truth after magisterial truth. Though his style makes it seem as if he has nothing to say, you go away as though he has taught something you wish you had known your whole life. Check out the recent Newsweek article on him here.

Interestingly, he has only one book (written some time ago) and a new one forthcoming. Though I haven't read it, I know it will be good. It is based on a series of sermons I listened to a while back called "The Trouble With Christianity: Why It's So Hard to Believe it." The way he tackles issues like the authority of Scripture, the exclusivity of Christianity, and suffering doesn't feel defensive at all. It's not an "I'm right, you're wrong" apologetic. It's an "I am only right because of the grace of God and if you would only see it, you would be changed and so would the world." It's called The Reason For God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism. I commend both the sermons and the book to you.

The Youth at Deep Freeze

Adam and the youth went on their annual winter retreat at Camp Berea this past January. Here's what he has to say what went on...

"The student ministry (Impact) got back from there annual winter retreat a couple weeks ago, Deep Freeze at Camp Berea in Hebron, NH. While the crowd was a little smaller this year we still all had a great time. We got off to a great start because this year we made it up there Friday night. Last year if you remember we got a random snow storm in March that kept us in Andover on Friday. So this year we got to experience all three days which was very exciting. We were also blessed with great weather for our outdoor activities and games; no negative wind chills this year. Praise God!! The most popular activity for the retreat this year was paintball, everyone played and enjoyed running around the woods trying not to get hit. We also had a good time playing in a massive dodge ball tournament; our team name was the Lumber Jacks. But more importantly we had a very dynamic speaker this year and a very good worship band. The theme for the weekend was Legacy: How do you want to be remembered? The students were challenged to live their lives in a way that they would be known as God followers. We had a few students who really celebrated their commitment to Christ, and another who committed his life to following Christ, not just being a nominal Christian. God did an amazing work in the student’s life. Jessica and I were so blessed to see God working on their hearts throughout the weekend. We had many good one on one conversations with each student to help them process how God was moving in their hearts."

Pre-Born Heroes

Every night when my pregnant wife and I go to bed now, I spend about 10 minutes with my hand on her tummy, hoping to feel a kick or punch from my little girl. Obviously, that movement is necessary to a baby's physical development. I had no idea that it could be this important.