Ligonier National Conference - 2010 (part two)

This is a continuation from last week’s blog about the Ligonier Conference that I attended two weeks ago in Orlando, FL. The theme was “Tough Questions Christians Face.”

You can view each session at www.christianity.com/ligonier/.

I suggest that you make time to watch each streaming video, especially the Pre-Conference Bits, Bytes, Blogs & Bibles: Christian Communication in a Hypersocial World.

The Pre-Conference focused on the so called new social media, yet attendees were reminded that it’s really not new, but how we actually “talk” and interact currently, via IPods, IPads, IPhones, Facebook, Twitter, Email, LinkedIn, RSS Feeds, Text messages, mobile phones, GPS devices and so on. The speakers made important distinctions gave clear warnings, cautions, risks and benefits to how we communicate, especially important for the church at large.

Al Mohler in his “The Hypersocialized Generation”, says there is a shift in our social engagement, the “most fundamental since the human language and the invention of the printing press.” He said there is a temptation to withdraw into our own private world, a propensity to over relate and withdraw simultaneously.

The digital revolution is here to stay and is interwoven in our lives. We’ve become reliant upon this relatedness and “not being connected” is thought of as worse than being dead! Mohler warns parents to take control and not forfeit responsibility and that the rules should not only be about usage of time, but content discussions as well. He said that adolescents shouldn’t have cell phones in their bedroom at night, or have Internet access in their bedroom. Parents must model this themselves.

Although there are Kindle and other e-book opportunities, the absence of reading and silence have created voids necessary for our souls. Multi-tasking is not something to “gloat over”, since our minds are not meant to participate that way, contrary to what we are told. Our lives are nourished by distraction. An interesting phenomenon has also resulted from multi-tasking – the loss of ability to read facial expressions.

We need to find the best use for these technologies and to establish boundaries. The risks seem to outweigh the benefits. The question is how to be connected and remain faithful? Mohler ended his session with, “May God give us guidance.”

In the earlier session with Ed Stetzer, he said that there are “drive-by posters” who are anonymous, others not accountable in relationships, still others who create false community. Also, that we have been reduced to a “sound-bite culture”, so that’s how we communicate, i.e. 140 character tweets! He also said that there’s a tendency to trivialize important things - simplism, reducing things beyond their capacity to be reduced. On the positive, he said that we could assist in inspiration, in introductions, in exhortation and creating community. His warnings included the enhancement of pride and a degree of narcissism in social media, e.g. rankings, the number of “friends”, blogs named after individuals – the creation of a “fake world.”

Tim Challies spoke about “texting/truthing in love”, actually how we should conduct ourselves and the principles of communicating in this digital frontier. Burk Parsons spoke about making the best use of our time and we should be kingdom focused, set our minds on heavenly things, edify the body of Christ, maintain unity and purity in the church and ultimately to glorify God personally and corporately. He ended with the question, “Why are you using this media, for the glory and kingdom of God or the advancement of our own empire?

Again, this is only a summary and brief recap just from the Pre-Conference sessions, so I still suggest that you view them in their entirety to grasp the importance of all of their messages. There’s a terrific Q & A session as well.

These speakers are gifts to the body of Christ. Listen to their warnings and advice and we can save ourselves and loved ones from potential harm and evil. We should all think about how The Lord would have us communicate via this “new social media”, to give Him glory, to preach His Word, to go into all the world and make disciples (not blog followers).

Joe Capozzi

Ligonier National Conference - 2010

Last week, I attended Ligonier Ministries’ 23^rd Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida. The theme was ‘Tough Questions Christian Face”. The conference brochure states:

“Christians are bombarded with difficult questions every day about Scripture, theology, science, and many other topics. As believers in the one true God, we are not without answers to the hard questions of life, for the Lord has spoken and has given us a revelation that directs us to the One who holds the answers.”

A pre-conference seminar on the role of new media in the church and the world and the issues that confront us as believers was well attended. The main conference sessions addressed the origin of evil, the inerrancy of Scripture, the interpretation of the Bible, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ, the age of the earth, God’s command in the Old Testament for Holy War, and the resurgence of interest in Reformed theology. Here are some of the titles of those sessions and the speakers who were assigned the topics:

• Why Did Jesus Have To Die? - John MacArthur
• Does the Doctrine of Divine Decrees Eliminate Human Will? - John MacArthur
• What is Evil and Where Did It Come From? - R.C. Sproul
• Is The Bible Just Another Book? - Steve Lawson
• Is The Exclusivity of Christ Unjust? - Alistair Begg
• Why Do Christians Still Sin? - R.C. Sproul, Jr.
• Why Does the Universe Look So Old? - Albert Mohler
• Can We Enjoy Heaven Knowing of Loved Ones in Hell? - R.C. Sproul

The other speakers included Michael Horton, Derek Thomas and Burk Parsons, who spoke during the two and a half day conference!

Each meeting began with prayer and worship and ended with a few “infomercials”!

I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and was convicted, educated, edified, encouraged and challenged. I was equipped to answer some of these tough questions to, “…always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;” (1 Peter 3:15b)

The most impact for me came from the pre-conference titled: Bits, Bytes, Blogs & Bibles: Christian Communication in a Hypersocial World. The session titles and their respective speakers were:

• Session 1. The Brave New World of New Media – Ed Stetzer
• Session 2. Principles for Conduct in Communication – Tim Challies
• Session 3. Taking Captive New Media for the Church – Burk Parsons
• Session 4. The Hypersocialized Generation – Al Mohler

I could have left after these sessions and still be enthralled by the content and challenged with the issues. Especially since the intention of the pre-conference speakers was to help those who are wary of the internet/ new media and to provide cautions/yield signs – do we rush headlong and embrace this new technology?

There’s so much I’d like to disseminate that I’ll continue in next week’s blog. There are inescapable trends in the new media that need to be highlighted and we need to realize that vast geographic distances have now been closed. Most importantly, The Lord has prepared technology over the course of history to break down the geographic barriers for the fulfillment of His purposes, “… to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had pre-destined to take place.” (Acts 4:28 ESV)

See you next week!

Joe Capozzi

Abraham's Greater Love

For the last couple of weeks, I've been holding on to an article that was written by one of our elders, Jason Mathisen, who recently underwent a nerve-wracking incident with his son Tristan. This crisis led Jason to some serious thinking about fatherhood, the gift of children, and the treasure of God Himself. Jason recorded his thoughts on paper, and at the prompting of his wife Lauren, passed them on to me.

The original title of Jason's article was The Love That Abraham Had for God Was Greater Than That for Isaac. May the Lord be pleased to challenge your hearts through the following testimony.

When my son Tristan was 6 years old he had spent the afternoon fishing with his “pampie” which is our term for grandfather on my wife’s side. (I guess that’s not as strange as "KeeKee," which is what my kids call my father which actually started out as "Kukie".) Well, anyway. . .

Pampie had picked up Tristan from school, and my wife dropped my daughter Peyton off to meet them so that the three of them could go fishing - or in my son's case feed the mosquitoes. (He can get a bite on the side of his forehead and end up looking like the sketches of Cro-Magnon man. I swear you could show a movie on his forehead and charge admission.)

As you can probably guess, Tristan got a lot of bites and had a pretty bad reaction, for we forgot to remind Pampie to put bug spray on him. Well, we were prepped and ready with Benadryl cream and kids' Benadryl liquid to administer to my son to keep him from looking like Quasi Moto or the Elephant man.

So the fishing expedition arrived with big smiles and tales of two fish, one that got away and the one that was caught which was respectably the size of my 6-year-old son's foot. Oh, and there were baby geese and turtles that peed on them and of course my son's trophy mosquito feedings…

Benadryl to the rescue.

We sat down to eat supper, and as the adults talked, the kids retired to the living room with cookies in hand to watch a cartoon.

Well about a half hour later my informant daughter came in to tell us that Tristan had crashed out on the couch. No big issue there, considering his long day at school followed by fishing.

After my father-in-law left, I was getting ready to take the dog out and heard my wife call my name from the living room. "Just a minute," I said. "I'm taking the dog out."

Now there are times when you can pick up on tone, and this was one of those times. She called me again, to which I replied (tone missed on this try), "Just a ..." - "JASON, COME HERE!" Tone received ... registered in brain ... dog can wait.

I proceeded to the living room to see my wife kneeling next to the couch where my 4-foot tall 67-pound son was lying. As I got to her side I could see the reason for the “tone” in her voice. Now when I say "tone" I'm not suggesting that there was yelling or sarcasm in her voice. It's hard to explain, but I new she was dead-serious. It was a tone that said, "GET IN HERE - I NEED YOUR HELP NOW."

To my dismay I saw what looked like vomit coming out of the corner of my sons mouth as he was lying mostly on his side. I grabbed his shoulder and shook him lightly and said his name. Then I shook him again - this time not so lightly - and raised my voice to the level of what we call in our house “loud talking”.

Tristan did not move, and at this point a cascade of triage from years of training went thru my head but emotions that I had not been prepared for took a hold of me as well. In discussing my feelings with my wife later, she remarked that she had never seen me this way before. Not outright panic, but definitely a look of "controlled fear" on my face.

After assessing the situation, I realized that my son was breathing normally was not choking or passed out. He was simply in a very deep sleep.

From the time my son Tristan was two years old, a bomb could go off in the next room, and he would sleep through it without batting a lid. Mix this with a little Benadryl and a half-chewed cookie, and that explains the sludge oozing from the corner of his mouth!

Well, now that my heart could be visibly seen pumping away at 180 beats per minute, I decided to clean him up and bring him to his nice comfy bed where the air conditioning was keeping things cool (unlike my body, which was producing mega-sweat on my forehead!).

With Tristan now safe and tucked into his bed, I knelt next to it and thanked God that my son was okay. I also thanked the Lord for this reminder I had just received that He is sovereign, and I am to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I realized how fragile life is and how undone I would be on a constant basis if I thought that the lives of my loved ones rested in my feeble hands.

Yes, we are to be good stewards of what God has given us: wife, kids, family, friends, job, etc. But are we careful to keep them in their proper place, putting our relationship with the Lord first?

Well, with all the drama of the evening now past, I decided to vacuum the house. Yeah so, 7:30 at night and I was going to vacuum. What of it? I had already gone for a run, so this was the best way to release the tension from all the adrenaline that had just rocketed through my body!

While I was pushing the vacuum around, the Lord spoke to me. Not audibly, but through His Word in my head. What came to mind was the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Abraham had a son who had been a long time in coming - a "miracle child" as it were. God promised that a great nation would come through him, and he and his descendants would have unimaginable blessings. The boy's name was Isaac, and oh, how Abraham loved him!

Imagine Abraham's shock and chagrin when one day God commanded him, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Gen. 22:2).

What would you have done, had God directed this command to you? What would I have done? This is the question that weighed upon my mind. I thought about how much I loved my son Tristan, and like a wave crashing onto the shore, the thought occurred to me: "Is my love for the Lord in its rightful place?" Forgive me, Father, for putting anything - anyone - before You. An idol is anything that takes precedence over the Lord, and I needed to be reminded of this.

Now that the incident is passed and proved to be nothing serious, I can look back on it and almost laugh. Still, I can remember the heaviness of the moment. It left a mark on me - a mark of remorse for the love I had failed to show my Father in heaven.

I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice,

To worship you - oh, my soul, rejoice!

Take joy, my King, in what you hear;

May it be a sweet, sweet sound in Your ear.

Afraid of the Captain's Voice?

On Memorial Day I was standing on our back deck with my son Ethan who had his BB gun in hand. He said, "Hey, Dad, watch this." Ethan took careful aim and hit a tin coke bottle that lay on the ground at least fifty feet away. He nailed it three times straight!

Impressed by Ethan's sharp-shooting, I remarked, "You should go into the military!" To which Ethan replied, "No ... I'd be afraid of the captain's voice."

Not enemy fire. Not parachute jumps. Not minefields. Just the captain's voice! I thought that was so funny. I would have never guessed that one in a million years!

Praise God, this is one fear we never have to face as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ! Did you know that in Hebrews 2:10, Jesus is referred to as "the Captain of [our] salvation"? The idea being presented in this particular context of Scripture is that Jesus has gone ahead of us as the author, the founder, the pioneer of our salvation.

This came at a great cost, for the writer of Hebrews explains that God, "in bringing many sons to glory, [made] the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" (Heb. 2:10). The next verse goes on to say that we as believers are united to Christ, which is why "He is not ashamed to call [us] brethren." Jesus laid down His very life for us, counting us as His brothers.

Simon Kistemaker writes that as a result of Jesus' successful mission, "He received the appointment to lead the elect out of a life of slavery in sin to a life of eternal happiness in which they are considered sons and heirs with Christ." (New Testament Commentary: Hebrews, pp. 70-71).

Jesus Christ is one Captain whose voice we as His followers never need to fear! He has won our hearts through His selfless love, and therefore we make it our aim to be well-pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9). God, help us to be "good soldiers of Jesus Christ" (2 Tim. 2:3)!