Some interesting things I’ve stumbled upon in the last few days…

Eins: Apparently Evel Knievel has become a follower of Jesus Christ. After he told everyone at Crystal Cathedral, Orange Country, California, that he’d turned to the Lord, there were mass baptisms - five pastors were baptising as fast as they could and it took them 30 minutes to get through the 500-800 people who stepped up. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, had this to say:

“I don’t want to make grandiose claims; I’m not a prophet. But I think it is a sign that in God’s own sovereign goodness, he sends these moments to remind us that we are all sinners and reaches out to us in surprising ways. This is something the Christian community in general, and particularly the evangelical community, needs to take very seriously.”

I’m not quite sure what to make of all that. It does lead on to a very interesting discussion about revival and how many of those who have participated in revival over the last couple of centuries have apparently said, “… they never wanted to go through a revival again. It was so agonizing, there was such depth, such conviction for sin, and the things people felt they needed to confess publicly was so difficult.” Read it here.

Zwei: Also in church-land, here’s a link to Why Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, uses the ESV Bible translation in his church. He’s made available the rationale for choosing the ESV, over the NIV, which is the defending champion. There are a couple of good comments on Marks’ rationale below. Driscoll is a good thing for the church, particularly in the US, but also for Bible-based churches in Australia. He helps us to rethink the way we do our ministry, and I can recommend reading his books on his method of reaching out to the world through church, The Radical Reformission and Confessions of a Reformission Rev. He’s also got some interesting views on manhood, which I’m not sure I agree with, but I’ll mention them because they provide a sequeway to my next link.

Drei: Speaking of manhood, is violence manly? Apparently, the film 300 would have you think so. Here are Tubby’s thoughts. For another angle on violence and manhood, have a look at this story (very well written) about a bloke looking back at the day his day told him it was time to swing a fist. Tubby, you’re going to love this. (Some bad language)

When I was 15, I was terrorized by a 12th-grade headbanger. A big, mean S.O.B. who ran with the skinheads, snorted coke before school, and walked the halls with a menacing scowl on his face and a 4-inch switchblade tucked in his vest. I was a nerd. Or, perhaps more precisely, I was an achiever: honor-service-club president, straight-A student, essay-contest winner, track-team captain…
So, I told my dad. Now, Dad and I were nothing alike. It’s fair to say that throughout my childhood, we had a strained relationship. He could be a great guy and all, but because of his ninth-grade education and bad temper, I wanted nothing more than not to be him. He’d been an outlaw in his youth, running drugs to Mexico, writing fraudulent checks, and spending 3 years in prison…
Which is why he seemed like the right guy to talk to about the headbanger. I sat him down one morning and told him about the threats, the intimidations, the months spent with my stomach in knots. He listened intently and thought for a moment, furrowing his weathered brow as I did during geometry class. Then he looked up and said, simply, “Well, you’re going to have to kick his a**.”

Great story.

Vier: Lastly, Al Mohler has listed 10 Christian biographies that he thinks are well worth reading. I’d particularly like to read the one on Augustine, who I don’t think I”ve really got a good grasp on at all, and also the one on Thomas Aquinas by GK Chesterton. That’s kind of a two-fer, since Thomas Aquinas is a towering figure in Christian theology, and certainly the most significant medieval theologian, and GK Chesterton is very worth reading, on anything. He’s been described as “a kind of English lunatic, who said that everything should be tried once, except incest and country dancing.” (Huge prize to anyone who can tell me who said that about Chesterton).