The LayGuy Eye is a new thing I want to incorporate into my blog. Having been absent from my feeds for a week, I was bombarded by hundreds of posts I had to wade through. A lot of them, I simply skimped. A lot I read and enjoyed. But some really grabbed my attention.
As my avatar is a big fat blue eye and the fact that “eye” rhymes with LayGuy, it only seemed natural in my non-marketing mind to name this segment the LayGuy Eye - it’s my “eye on things” lol - I should stick to drinking wine. Hope you enjoy my selection of posts I found interesting. And for those of you I personally interact with, rest assured, you will get on this list eventually, I had to cull this list right down to the meds I’m on. 
Church Relevance has a great article on the top 25 multiplying churches in the US. Make sure to check out the original article from the Outreach Magazine to get into the meat of this great story. Included is a link to a PDF file of this list one could email to his or her friends if they were so inclined in order to learn what these churches are doing.
Emerging Church guru and Elvis Presley wannabe, Dan Kimball has a great article on how there are heaps of “online bashers” who like to diss their fellow Christian bro’s and sis’. Yeah on ya Mr Kimball, you are one of the convicting voices I spoke about in my edit of my “pumped” post. Kimball refers to the story on New Ager Jon Gordon’s acceptance of Christ through his conversations with Erwin McManus of Mosiac. McManus is one of my favourite “inspirers” and cops a beating from heaps of conservative Christians out there. A very interesting story to follow through.
LOL - I haven’t read the article yet but my favourite science brother Hugh Ross has a post published at The Resurgence on “The Physics Of Sin.” Trust Ross to write about the scientific consequence of sin. I will read it in due course. Mr Ross, one thing I don’t understand about you is your assumption that eternity has multiple time dimensions running through it. My question to you is, “why does eternity even have a time dimension?” By definition, eternity is a reality void of time - no the abundance of it! Oh my head ache! Love ya brother!
On the lighter side, my [spiritual] brother Seth is a funny fella. He loves to see the funny side of things on his blog. A series of posts which made me laugh are his cartoon Calvinism posts. Calvinists have a point in their 5 pointed reality called “Unconditional Election” and it has everything to do with “pre destination.” Poor old Calvin would have greatly benefited from modern physics where the pre-destination question is easily solved. But because he isn’t around for this and because it’s funny, here are Seth’s posts on Calvinism 101, part 1, part 2 and part 3.
My favourite Youth Pastor in the world - which by the way I haven’t met cause he is on the other side of the world, is Stuart. This guy’s onion layers have been peeled away time and time again on his blog. What’s left is a funny blog about his views on the world and his experience as a missionary to the youth of his area. I salute you Stuey! One thing I have the EYE on are his posts on Rob Bell’s NOOMA series. Rob Bell is the Pastor of the “other” Mars Hill (sorry Stuey, my allegiance goes to Driscoll) - placed 13th in the top 20 Churches in the US. He has a bunch of short videos called Nooma. Stuart is a legend and has posts on the following episodes. Lump. Flame. Noise. Rain. Check them out. Bell has his critics but he is also critically acclaimed - go figure!
Talking about top churches, LifeChurch.TV is seen as the top church in the US. Craig Groeschel is the Pastor and like any relevant Pastor on this planet, he has a blog. He has a series of posts he titles, “oops” where he outlines the biggest stuff up’s in his journey at lifchurch.tv. I love it when Pastors are transparent. The absence of pride gives me great joy! Moving right along, be sure to check out his posts on his 4 biggests “ooops” - 1. Stinginess. 2 Building Small. 3 Let My People Go. 4 My Ministry.
Nothing earth shattering at all. But when the Pastor of the US’ top church speaks, I listen!
Finally off to Goodmanson - the dude they say you need a dictionary to decipher his blog with! Drew Goodmanson just came back from an Acts 29 Pastors retreat where a number of very interesting things occurred - in the EYE of the LayGuy! It seems as if Acts 29 is defining “missional” and distancing itself from the “other” missional group led by John Franke or Alan Roxburgh over at Allelon.org. Led by the input of brains the likes of Keller and Stetzer, Acts 29 is repositioning itself as a “movement instead of a network.” This may mean nothing to most of you. But to me this is exciting cause I love the work these guys are doing. Make sure to check out this little multimedia take by Goodmanson before you go - a sobering thought of the reality of church in the US.
Good thing I’m an Aussie! That is until you check out the latest Census data reading religion…..
Tags: layguy eye, missional, mark driscoll, erwin mcmanus, craig groeschel, dan kimball,
Hey I enjoy the new look. I really enjoy Goodmanson as well, although I am fully in the Allelon “camp.” Keep up the good work here.
Hey Brad,
Thanks for stopping by. My other site had way too many bugs in the system and when I upgraded to Wordpress 2.2.1, many things stopped working. So the good ol’ K2 machine is what I’m sticking too for the moment.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Hi,
I just wanted to stop by and say that I really enjoy your blog. It’s quite thought-provoking. I’m also sincerely curious how modern physics solves the problem of predestination. Sounds very interesting. =)
Seth
http://www.whatum.com
theological satire
Hi Seth,
Pre-destination in my mind gets solved with a proper understanding of time. If you were viewing a street parade as a kid, you would see the whole parade in a continuous flow from the first marchers to the last.
But if you were in a helicopter high above the city, you would see the start of the parade and the end of it at the same time. You would have the Alpha and Omega perspective of the event.
What we have here is another dimension added to the human experience - in this case eternity - a dimension devoid of time.
In God’s reality, He knows who will respond to His message of salvation before he created a star to shine. He knew you and I would accept Christ into our lives before the first star shined. He knew this outside space/time.
The Bible is a document inside space/time and therefore bound to the reality of time. But in God’s mind He knew we would accept Him. In our space/time reality, we are pre destined to accept Him. Time simply has to catch up to our decision.
Calvinists have to understand that God also gives man a degree of sovereignty - aka free will.
LOL - hope that makes sense! It is late here in Australia!
Very interesting theory you got there. =)
I would only suggest a couple of things for your consideration.
1. Does the Bible ever really use any sort of time vs. eternity language in relevance to predestination? I’d be careful to make sure any sort of theory is thoroughly congruent with Scripture.
2. Calvinists don’t deny the free will/responsibility of man. If you meet one who does, then they are avert from the true Reformed perspective. Also, Calvinists emphasize that man is unable in any capacity to use his free will to choose God without His gift of grace.
Later! =)
Layguy,
Thanks for the props. We’ll have to rectify this ‘never met’ thing someday. I’m determined to have coffee with all the regulars that frequent my blog. You may be the farthest away, but it may happen someday. Maybe coffee is better on the other side of the world?
Stuart
Hi Seth,
Good question….
Although not obvious, I think it does. Look at Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
“Pre-destination” is a term defined and controlled by time. If God’s reality is outside of time then, we need to submit to an undertanding that God knew who would accept Him before He created the heavens and the earth. Remember He is the Alpha and Omega - the beginning and the end.
In His own thoughts, God speaks of being outside of time on a number of occasions. What does it mean to be outside of time? Well there is no yesterday, there is no tomorrow. Everything is “now” - maybe this is why when Moses asked God for His name, God replied, “I Am.” Not “I was” or I “will be” - I just “AM”
Later Jesus is described as “Was and is and Is to come.” “Was”, “Is” “Will Be” is the “I Am” exposed to time. Just like the only man made thing in heaven are the scars of Jesus, the “I Am” is now “was, is and will be”
So you can see that “time” is crucial in this whole equation. The sciptures say that Christ was slain before the foundations of the world and yet He had to enter into time for it to actually occur! Go figure!
So this whole “pre destined” Calvinistic model suffers in it’s simplification of the nature of time. I do not believe in a God who would have hell as the pre destined end point of the vast majority of mankind.
God’s grace is offered to all and it’s His will that all should be saved. But He knows those who will accept and those who will refuse.
In the linearity of time then, those who will accept Christ are pre destined to reach that end point. It’s an awesome fusion of mans free will and God’s provision through Jesus Christ.
Stuart - after reading all that, if you are still keen on catching up, we have the best wine in the world in Australia! I would love to catch up with you one day and talk about how the author of our faith has written your journey out as compared to mine.
And if you’re a Southern Baptist, well then we have some pretty good coffee also.
I agree that God is beyond the restriction of time. Scripture is clear about that, as you pointed out by referencing God’s communication with Moses. God is eternal, without beginning or end.
However, it’s a stretch to use that as a point of argument against election. Your position must be read into the text and is lacking solid support.
Also, the Bible does not say that Christ was slain before the foundation of the world, so that argument is moot.
Again, as I said earlier, a valid position must be congruent and consistent with Scripture. At the end of the day, your position is really a refusal to believe that God’s nature could lead him to elect some and not elect others, rather than based on Scripture.
Seth,
I ask you not to put Calvinism above scripture.
Rev 13:8, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
You will find other versions of the Bible have a different slant on this verse but ALL have to do with the provision of Christ’s sacrifice to atone for us in order to be included in the Book of Life.
Clavinism is but one way to interpret scipture. Nothing wrong with it. But even Calvin saw things as through a mirror dimly.