A half truth is a whole lie. ~Yiddish Proverb

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. ~Mark Twain

Who lies for you will lie against you. ~Bosnian Proverb

No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar. ~Abraham Lincoln

The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousand fold. ~Aristotle

The most dangerous untruths are truths moderately distorted. ~Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

A lie has speed, but truth has endurance. ~Edgar J. Mohn

When you stretch the truth, watch out for the snapback. ~Bill Copeland

A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future. ~Author Unknown

We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams

Truth fears no questions. ~Unknown

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. ~Thomas Jefferson

Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. ~Winston Churchill

If you want to ruin the truth, stretch it. ~Author Unknown

Respect for the truth is an acquired taste. ~Mark Van Doren

When a man lies, he murders some part of the world. ~Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on. ~Winston Churchill

Beware of the half truth. You may have gotten hold of the wrong half. ~Author Unknown

When truth is divided, errors multiply. ~Eli Siegel

The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~Adlai Stevenson

The truth is the only thing worth having, and, in a civilized life, like ours, where so many risks are removed, facing it is almost the only courageous thing left to do. ~E.V. Lucas

Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships. ~Author Unknown

[You may say,]“Everything is permissible for me”–but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”–but I will not be mastered by anything. ” …  The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

- St. Paul

If we name Jesus and claim to understand His Gospel, we must acknowledge that His gracious and sinless blood was not shed to give us a license to be selfish and live without self-control. Our lives tell God, “This is how much I love You.” Our lives also give others a picture of God, regardless of how well we are representing Him.

Oh, may we live new lives that are for His glory and pleasure (which oddly produces the most possible joy for us in the process). May we not take lightly or ignore the one called King, Lord, Almighty, Alpha & Omega, Savior, Holy, Master, & Redeemer. May we imitate, not frustrate the One who was pierced for our transgressions. May we trust His way is actually better than ours.

Amen.

VERSUS

Mark your calendars now…
This Saturday, January 23, we are performing on the longest-running music series in American television history, Austin City Limits!

To get you all ready for the big show:
You can read our program preview, set list, and a have a look at photos from our recording now on austincitylimits.com.

ACL is also featuring a clip of our “I and Love and You” performance, which you can watch here!

Austin City Limits airs on PBS: check here for your local listing.

Can’t wait for you to see it!

Best,
The Avett Brothers

]]> http://www.justindetmers.com/?feed=rss2&p=1021 http://www.justindetmers.com/?p=959 http://www.justindetmers.com/?p=959#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:24:40 +0000 Justin http://www.justindetmers.com/?p=959 *Disclaimer - A man wiser than myself has said that people should think about the word “heretic” like they would the word “rape.” Heresy is a such a serious claim that it must only used when it has to be. I concur and I squirm in the presence of excessive suspicion and those who want to split hairs.

But, because I hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that I can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it (Titus 1:9); I must be the provocateur, faithful to my theological & intellectual commitments. Thus, from my historical examination, I do not see King as a faithful steward of the Gospel of the risen God-man Jesus Christ, who is to get primacy and priority in everything. Further, I wonder if King could be called a Christian, as far as historical orthodoxy is concerned.

In his 1949 paper, “What Experiences of Christians Living in the Early Christian Century Led to the Christian Doctrines of the Divine Sonship of Jesus, the Virgin Birth, and the Bodily Resurrection”, MLK appears to deny these historic orthodox Christian doctrines: 1 - the Bodily Resurrection, 2 - the Virgin Birth, and 3 - the Deity of Jesus Christ.

1 - King argues the doctrine of the Deity of Christ (Jesus was God) was developed by the early church from the influence of Greek philosophy and was thus not a historical fact.

Because Christians are people of the scripture, it is there we find a total rejection, unless we doubt the clarity, authority, and reliability of the text itself. In Mark 2:28, Jesus claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath (Exodus 20:10), He claims to be greater than the prophet Jonah (Matt 12:41), King Solomon (Matt 12:42), and even the Temple itself (Matt 12:6). In Mark 2:1-12, Jesus claims authority to forgive sins and miraculously heals to prove it; something blasphemous and crazy if He wasn’t God. Jesus told the Pharisees, “…before Abraham was born, I AM!” - another divine title (John 8:58-59) that references one of God’s name in the Old Testament. John called Jesus “the eternal God” in clear and powerful language, and he sites John the Baptist’s agreement on Jesus in John 1. Peter and Paul also affirmed the divinity of Christ scores of times, e.g. Colossians 1:15. (To site all the references in the text would be ridiculous, just pick up a Bible if you think I’m bluffing)

2 - The “virgin birth” was unscientific and untenable; like divine Sonship, this doctrine developed as a way for the early church to indicate how highly they valued the uniqueness of Jesus.

Nope. I’ll let wikipedia take this one for the sake of space and time.

3 - The resurrection of Jesus was an attempt by the pre-scientific early church to symbolize the experience that they had with Jesus.

Paul is very clear about what this doctrine means to Christianity:

“…if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”

(1 Corinthians 15)

In sum:

Because I’m not aware of MLK recanting on these central doctrines, I’m left with two unfortunate conclusions about this great civil rights leader. If he believed these, he couldn’t be a (by definition) a Christian, and if he taught these, he would have to be (by definition) considered a heretic.

His efforts for justice were undoubtedly good and deserving of the Noble Peace Prize. BUT, without the Gospel or instead of starting with the Gospel and letting a concern for social justice flow out of that; the Gospel was either omitted or spun into something else.

The Gospel is not about justice or sexual purity or any good thing as ultimate. Those things cannot truly save humanity and cure the affects of sin. Anything not ultimately centered on the atoning work of the divine Jesus will be based on a relatively cheap morality and the futility of human effort. We will be with a hope that is not eternal and a righteousness rooted in imperfection. But, when get the Gospel at the center, we truly have inspiration, hope, morality, justice, and all good - which all flow from the Gospel; we’ll have a true and eternal perspective that glorifies what God has done and empowers His people to truly be virtuous.

That is why Paul addresses those who are,

“…turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all…trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” [He continues] “…even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:6-9) And in 1 John 2: 22, John also has harsh words for those that don’t affirm Jesus as He claimed to be.

*If you want a thick explanation of the Gospel, click and listen here.

This is the first of 2 posts on MLK, simply highlighting a few of his provocative quotes. I have great respect for the bravery, truth, and boldness King demonstrated as a leader - I would have loved to have marched or have done a sit-in with him. Yet, the next post (which should happen by tomorrow) will take a critical look at his theology; if you want to hear (read) me scrutinize an icon, stay tuned. In the meantime, the Social Studies teacher in me can’t resist presenting you with these:

1 - “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”

2 - “…power without love is reckless and abusive and…love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice.”

3 - “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defence than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”

4 - “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

5 - “It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.”

6 - “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

7 - “Most people…are thermometers that record or register the temperature of the majority’s opinion, not thermostats that transform or regulate the temperature of society.”

8 - “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.”

9 - “The profit motive, when it is the sole basis of an economic system, encourages a cutthroat competition and selfish ambition that inspires men to be more concerned about making a living than making a life.”

10 - “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

As far as literacy goes, we’re off to a good start indeed! Yet, my goal is to move her on to refereed scientific journals & existential philosophy by her second birthday…there’s nothing cuter than a toddler quoting Nietzsche!

“The gospel of justifying faith means that while Christians are, in themselves still sinful and sinning, yet in Christ, in God’s sight, they are accepted and righteous. So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope — at the very same time. This creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth. It means that the more you see your own flaws and sins, the more precious, electrifying, and amazing God’s grace appears to you. But on the other hand, the more aware you are of God’s grace and acceptance in Christ, the more able you are to drop your denials and self-defenses and admit the true dimensions and character of your sin.”

— Tim Keller

“My name is Conan O’Brien and I may soon be available for children’s parties.”

- Conan O’Brien

Bounce your eyes…

Avoid her…

When you’re in her company, play the dweeb…

A dweeb is the opposite of a player. In relationships players send and receive social signals smoothly. Dweebs do not. When a player wants to send attraction signals, there are certain things he’ll do. He’ll flirt. He’ll banter. He’ll smile with a knowing look. He’ll talk about hip things. In short, he’ll be cool…

As a married man, however, a little social suicide is very much in order. Always play the dweeb. Players flirt…learn to un-flirt. Players banter…learn to un-banter. If a woman smiles with a knowing look, learn to smile with a slightly confused look, to un-smile. If she talks about things that are hip, talk about things that are un-hip to her, like your wife and kids. She’ll find you pleasant enough but rather bland and uninteresting. Perfect.

- Every Man’s Battle, p. 171

OR, as Paul says it in 2 Timothy 2:

20 In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. 21 If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. 22 Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.