John Michael Lane

Rationality is an essential aspect of God’s character. We see this in the creation story. Creation was made in a very rational and thoughtful process.

• On the first day God created the heavens and the earth.
• On the second day God created separated sky and waters.
• On the third day God gathered the waters into one place allowing dry land.

The events that we see in the creation story are no doubt the work of a rational and thoughtful God.

Rationality, reason, and thinking are attributes that we inherit by virtue of being created in God’s image. It something that is inescapable of humans. We think and act with rationality in everything we do. This is something we do by virtue of existing and bearing God’s image. Learning to think and reason correctly is something that must be taught to students.

“…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Romans 12:2

We must teach our students and children to think correctly, to reason as image bearers of God, and to view the world as God views the world.

Now, this next part is VERY important. There are those who would say it is better to wait to teach children reason or logic until they are older. They say that the “child” is not capable to be taught how to reason correctly; however, this view is incredibly incorrect and dangerous. To say this is to deny that children, regardless of age, are image bearers of God. It says that the “thinking” aspect of God’s character doesn’t apply to young children. But any parents who’s child has argued and convinced them to stay up past bedtime knows that children are capable of thinking rationally.

All of the attributes of God that we inherit by being made in his image are present in us from the beginning. They must all be developed and trained to be used correctly from the earliest age.

When we look at our children or students, we must understand that they bear the image of a rational and thoughtful creator. We must acknowledge this ability for students of all ages. It is something that we must develop and instruct correctly and with purpose in order to educate them to perfectly and completely fulfill the purpose that God has for them.

Almost daily I visit the Desiring God website. It is a great source of encouragement and edification for me. This morning I stumbled upon this video. It is a video of Noel and Talitha Piper, John Piper’s wife and daughter.

John Piper rediscovered an incredible theology called ”Christian Hedonism”. It is essentially the idea that we are able to take pleasure in God and pleasure in Life because God takes pleasure in himself. It is a beautifully simple idea that can be hard for many Christians understand, but Noel Piper explains the idea through the simplicity of apple pie.

Legalism is a hot button topic right now. Its a word that is often thrown around without much thought given to what the word even means. Its easy to look at colleges, churches, and families with strict rules regarding behavior and label them legalistic. To be a Baptist preacher one must abstain from alcohol, to attend BJU one must adhere to a certain dress code, to be a good Christian you mustn’t curse. All of these statements could be labeled legalistic; however, I believe legalism is something more than a construct of rules regarding one’s behavior.

To understand whether or not one is being legalistic, one must look to the heart. Legalism is not a construct of rules, its a belief. Its a theology that depends on behavior. Its a theology that believes that salvation comes from the Law rather than faith in Christ. When one looks at baptists, BJU, or conservative families, its easy to label them as Legalistic, but without knowing their hearts, when we call them legalistic based on only their behavior are we not being legalistic? Are we not holding them to a set of standards that we hold regarding what legalism is?

To sum up, calling a rule or standard legalistic without first understanding the heart of the rule is indeed, legalistic.

My wife and I recently saw the new movie by Sherwood Pictures, Courageous. I can honestly say it was the best movie I’ve seen this year. Now, those of you who know me know how critical I am of Christians in the arts. Its not because I don’t think Christians should be involved in the arts; but rather, when Christians are involved in the arts they tend to be really bad at it. That being said, this film was really good for many reasons, but mainly for three I list below.

Production Quality:
Most Christian films have very poor production quality. I’m not hating on Christian film makers but the bottom line is that most christian films don’t have a big budget and don’t have the experience to make a good film. That being said, Courageous was an exception. They still didn’t have a HUGE budget, but the production quality was equal to any other A list movie out there, and the artistry of it was equally as good.

Story:
The story of courageous was great! It was funny, deep, and heart felt. There wasn’t anything ground breaking about the story, but it was sure communicated well and with excellence. Yes, its still corny in parts, but it was still better than any other movie I’ve seen this year! My wife and I left the movie having laughed more than when we saw “Date Night” and cried (at least Windy cried) more than any movie we’ve ever seen!

The Gospel Message:
The movie Courageous had the Gospel message in it. It was so prevalent that it I even felt like it was preaching to me (and not in a bad way). Christian artists will understand just how difficult it is to create a movie that contains the Gospel Message that is neither completely corny and preachy, nor so vague that its drowning in metaphors to an extent that Woody Allen can’t figure out the point of the movie.

Bottom Line:
This was a great movie that I would encourage anyone to see. Its not quite where I would like to see Christian film, but its sure closer than anything else I’ve seen.

I recently read an article in the New York Times regarding the poor state of mathematics education in the United States. Ever since NCLB, districts, schools and teachers have had to teach mathematics as a way for students to score well on the SAT. Math and other subjects are being taught in a way that has no real world applications.

“Today, American high schools offer a sequence of algebra, geometry, more algebra, pre-calculus and calculus (or a “reform” version in which these topics are interwoven). This has been codified by the Common Core State Standards, recently adopted by more than 40 states. This highly abstract curriculum is simply not the best way to prepare a vast majority of high school students for life.”

Teaching a concrete subject like mathematics in an abstract way that is separated from how we all use mathematics is a flawed way of teaching. It only confirms to students that they will never really use mathematics after highschool. After all, when was the last time you used pre-calculus?

We recently finished staff training for Artios Academies. During staff training I gave a workshop on “Project Centered Teaching”. While this workshop was focused on teaching the arts, I gave an example of when mathematics became real to me.

For my 14th birthday, my Grandmother gave me a mutual fund with $100.00 in it. I knew that the 5 year average of this mutual fund garnered a 10% annual return that compounded monthly. As we all do when we we see the prospect of making money, I took out my calculator and tried to see how long it would take me to make $10,000. I saw that if I put $110.00 per month into the mutual fund at a 10% ROI that compounded monthly, I would have $10,974.00 in my mutual fund by the time I was 20!

When I figured that out, Math became very real to me! It wasn’t some abstract formula, I had just used algebra to make money! Who wouldn’t study Algebra if they knew it made money! Taking math out of the realm of abstraction and into the realm of life application is how we should study math. Consider the quote from the NYT article below:

“Imagine replacing the sequence of algebra, geometry and calculus with a sequence of finance, data and basic engineering. In the finance course, students would learn the exponential function, use formulas in spreadsheets and study the budgets of people, companies and governments. In the data course, students would gather their own data sets and learn how, in fields as diverse as sports and medicine, larger samples give better estimates of averages. In the basic engineering course, students would learn the workings of engines, sound waves, TV signals and computers. Science and math were originally discovered together, and they are best learned together now.”

The problem with Education in this country isn’t what we are teaching, but rather, how we are teaching it. At Artios we teach subjects in an integrated, creative manner. Its a method that makes the subjects real to the students immediately. The article ends with the following quote, and it is a quote that can be applied to all forms of education, not just mathematics.

“It is through real-life applications that mathematics emerged in the past, has flourished for centuries and connects to our culture now.”

I strongly encourage you to read the entire article in the New York Times. Look at the underlying philosophy of the article. Think about applying this method of education and teaching to all subjects, not just mathematics.

Pride must be the most pervasive of sins. It can creep into the hearts of even the most religious and faithful of men. But how can we cope with it? How, as christians, are we to overcome this sin? The most obvious, short, and simple answer is Christ. Through Christ we can be set free from the bondage of pride. When we approach Christ with pride and self-righteousness, our sins and lowliness will be exposed. We must acknowledge that we are totally and completely unworthy to stand in the presence of God, let alone, experience his Grace and Mercy.

“When you feel yourself to be utterly unworthy, you have hit the truth” -Spurgeon

I love this quote by Spurgeon. I love that Spurgeon uses the phrase “…you have hit the truth”. He doesn’t say, “and you will see God”. While the latter might be true, Spurgeon’s says “You have hit THE TRUTH”. The one truth that man has is that we are totally fallen, utterly unworthy, and irredeemable. When man begins to understand and internalize this doctrine of total depravity, Christ and the Cross become more glorified, and man becomes humbled.

So, how should Christians fight Pride? With Truth.

“The fact is, we sometimes read Scripture, thinking of what it ought to say, rather than what it does say.” – Spurgeon

In case you can’t tell, I’m on a huge Spurgeon kick right now, and the previous quote is just another example as to why I love reading Spurgeon! This quote cut me to the core almost immediately. Often times I approach scripture, or life in general, with a notion of what I think scripture says or how I think life should be. Its a notion of self-centeredness. What we ought to do is study the scriptures and seek to understand what God is saying to us. We should seek to understand the intent of the text and let the text speak to us rather than trying to make the text say what we think it ought to say. When we try to morph the text into what we think it should say, we are in effect, telling God that we know better, which rarely goes well.

In light of the Spurgeon book Give Away still going on, I thought it would be fitting to write something else about Charles Spurgeon. The following quote will make Spurgeon every woman’s favorite pastor. Theologians often get pegged with the being distant, un-relatable, and far too abstract. While I’m sure this is true of many, the quote below will surely discredit the idea that Spurgeon could be pegged as a “distant theologian”.

“A true wife is the husband’s better half, his flower of beauty, and his heart’s treasure. In her company he finds his earthly heaven; she is the light of his home, the comfort of his soul.” -Charles Spurgeon

I’m not a parent yet, but I can imagine parenting is probably a lot like this commercial. When you become a parent, you are thrust into something you’re not really prepared for, you can’t really plan for it, and you can’t put life or your child on hold while you try and figure it out. You’re literally trying to build airplanes in the sky. So, here’s to the parents who are figuring out how to parent on the fly.

I love film! Its the only all inclusive art form. Something I find profoundly interesting about movies are the title sequences. Its the equivalent of having pre-show music before a play. It immediately sets the tone for the entire movie.It can prepare you to laugh throughout the movie, or it can make yourself brace for the drama that is to come. Below is a title from a movie coming out in 2012 about the first World War. Watch it and let me know your thoughts! You can also read about the making of the title sequence here.

Herbst titles from clemento on Vimeo.