Why So Serious?

One of the movies I am looking forward to this summer is Batman: The Dark Knight. The first experience I had of this movie was through the marketing tool of billboards. On this one particular billboard, there was a distorted picture of Joker with the words: Why So Serious?

The words were creepy and ominous, yet I was struck by the relevance of the words in my life. In the midst of the busyness of ministry as a missionary in OMF and lay pastor in Faith Church, I've become increasingly more and more serious. Maybe there is a seriousness of people's sin and God's salvation that I've had a growing concern over. Maybe I'm just overwhelmed by the many responsibilities that I've lost a sense of levity.

Proverbs 15:13

A glad heart makes a cheerful face,
but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

Maybe then it is a glad heart that I should pray for. A cheerful face is telling of the heart. In that way, I will neither be serious, nor trivial (antonym). Would not the light of Christ shine in my life more brightly when it shows that I am fully cheerful in Him? So, when I ask myself, "Why so serious?" maybe I'll give the question more serious thought...

On the Use of Logic in Theology

Since my major in undergrads was philosophy and language, and in grad school I am currently entrenched in theology, I found Professor Paul Helm's article on the book "The Future of Justification" very interesting; see here.

Logic is only a means to an end, and I appreciate very much Paul Helm's emphasis of that fact. His whole article, in fact, points to the need to look at the heart of the matter. In terms of logic, it is the conclusions that valid premises need to draw; in terms of theology, it is God who is the point of systematic inquiry; in terms of justification (the Christian Doctrine), it is centrally about the God who justifies.

What I found helpful was his analysis of John Piper and N.T. Wright's analysis! He basically, and simply, writes that what we do with the evidence of God's works (i.e. justification of His elect) should not be the determinant of all of God's actions. It is crucial that God's "being", or who He is, be the primary means in which we understand God's actions. Evidence does not process actuality.

I can only hope that we are so humble to reflect on all of Christian life that way! To see that God is actuality, and evidences of God's grace point to His ultimate being. That is why we emphasize glorification. Not to diminish God's works in saving us from sin, or sanctifying us from condemnation; but to live as though God truly is the prize for our faithfulness through Jesus Christ.

It is this kind of theology, one that has a reverence for God and looks to Him as the heart of the matter, that puts me to my knees.