Riverwood Presbyterian Church

Book Group 2010

by Jeff Miller

Like I said in the previous post, the RPC Book Group is looking forward to a new slate of books! As has been our custom, we have selected 11 works, both fiction and nonfiction and including one Shakespeare.

We hope you will join us in 2010. Please do NOT feel bound to come for the whole year. If there’s a particular work or works you want to interact with, please watch the bulletin for announcements. The list below is generally a book per month list for your reference.

The thing I hear most about why people don’t come is that the books seem too heavy, etc. Obviously, enjoying the written word is a common denominator among all our folks, but the group effort in reading, interpreting and discussing the ideas contained in what we read is where the fun is. That makes the heavy thoughts/writing styles, etc. not only bearable, but enjoyable. It also provides a sense of accountability and encouragement to read books we might not otherwise pick up.

At any rate, here is the list- join us next year as you can! True Spirituality Schaeffer, Francis

Beautiful and the Damned Fitzgerald, F Scott

Thomas Aquinas (sel. Writings) Aquinas, Thomas

Violent Bear it Away O’Connor, Flannery

Mind of the Maker Sayers, Dorothy

The Odyssey Homer

Richard III William Shakespeare

Augustine of Hippo Brown, Peter

Picture of Dorian Grey Wilde, Oscar

Girl Meets God Winner,Lauren

Demons Dostoevsky, Fyodor

Books

Book Group 2009 redux

by Jeff Miller

Well, it’s hard to believe 2009 is coming to a close. The RPC Book group has been down several different roads this year. We have seen glimpses of God’s Glory and Grace an much of man’s depravity through 11 vehicles of literature.
We have wandered from 20th c Vienna to the rural South to California to strange unnamed lands and found the human predicament consistent with what we are taught in Scripture. We really sin- a lot and we really need a Savior- a lot!. Thanks be to God, we have one in Christ! We also spent some time looking at orthodox Christian belief, the sacrament of Communion and Godhead-centered worship. That’s not even taking rabbit trails into the mix!

I’ll post about what’s coming in 2010 shortly- you won’t want to miss it!

As a reminder, here are the books we read together:

Thunder at Twilight Morton, Frederic

Everything That Rises Must Converge O’Connor, Flannery

East of Eden Steinbeck,John

Mystical Presence Nevin,JW

Blood Meridian McCarthy, Cormac

One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez, Gabriel Garcia

Better Way Horton,Michael

Tempest Shakespeare, Wm

John Calvin: Steward of God’s Covenant Calvin, John

Heart of the Matter Greene,Graham

Christianity and Liberalism Machen, J Gresham

Christian Chaff

Would Jesus Be Santa or Kill Santa?

by Clay Staggs

In the Christmas spirit, I’m offering up two simply unbelievable intersections of Jesus and Santa Claus. The second is definitely by Christians; the first by someone I believe to be a Christian, because when he was interviewed, he said that Christmas was supposed to be about Jesus, which I doubt a non-believer would be saying these days. So assuming that we’re dealing with Christians all around, here are two commentaries on Jesus and Santa:

Yes, you are seeing Jesus holding a double barrel shotgun, having just shot Santa Claus. You can read the full report, complete with video, here. The creator of this display, who claims it to be a work of art, intends it to be a commentary on how Christmas has been commercialized.

Now, before offering any comment on this, I’ll offer the contrast of the second item:

That gem was found on a local church’s signboard. (Increasingly, I think that the best thing that government could do for the church would be to ban these signboards, stopping Christians from saying things that make them look like morons.)

OK, so here we have two vastly different views of Jesus and Santa. On the one hand, Jesus is popping a cap in Santa and on the other, Jesus sort of becomes Santa, complete with the list of naughty and nice. Poor Santa just can’t win, can he?

Really, what this proves to me is how utterly the church writ large has failed to comprehend Jesus, despite having the Scriptures and thousands of years of learning about them. Of the two, I think that the signboard actually displays the worse misapprehension. The implication of Jesus having a list and checking it twice is that he’s going to find out who’s a good little boy - getting salvation in his stocking - and who’s been a bad boy - getting a lump of Satan’s coal in his. So to be saved, you’d better be good, for goodness sake!

This is works righteousness taken to its logical conclusion. How this squares with anything Jesus ever said to a pharisee, anything Paul ever wrote - indeed, with the entirety of Scripture is lost on me. What the Bible actually teaches is that we are all desperately wicked, despite any of man’s outer appearances of being good little boys and girls. Of course, for the modern American church, this is unpalatable in the extreme. So instead, it transforms Christ into jolly old St. Nick, allowing its members the illusion of working their way off the naughty list and onto the nice list. But really, Santa is much less threatening that the Christ of the scriptures, isn’t he?

All of which brings me to the dead Santa scene. This one actually caused me to have several different reactions, because, unlike the signboard, there is an element of truth to this guy’s point. No one can reasonably dispute that Christmas has been commercialized to obscene extremes. Also, it is true that Jesus is going to ultimately judge the world and will destroy such things.

That said, it seems that the guy who created this is missing several pretty important points. As a Christian, one should understand that the commercialization of Christmas springs from our completely self-centered, greedy, depraved natures as humans. Would taking out Santa stop that? I realize that Santa may be seen as a symbol for such, but I don’t think it’s obvious that this was the intent of the guy who set this up. He clearly rails against commercialization, but that’s the symptom, not the disease.

Also, I don’t think that the image of Jesus with a shotgun is exactly the way to convey either divine displeasure with commercialization or the way judgment will be carried out. The shotgun implies a very human vigilante-style justice, which is a far cry from the perfect judgment that will be carried out at the last day.

Taking both pieces together, though, it strikes me that the modern church must really be lacking for understanding of Jesus to try relating him to Santa Claus. Maybe the ones who need to get back to the true meaning of Christmas aren’t all the pagans around us, but church itself.

Humor

New Study Reveals Most Children Unrepentant Sociopaths

by Clay Staggs

From the Onion, no less.

Imagine that: teaching depravity through satire!

Best line:

“We’ve tried behavior modification therapies, but children actually learn from our techniques and become even more adept at manipulating others while concealing their shameless misanthropy,” Singh said. “Sadly, experience has taught us there is little hope for rehabilitation.”

“Just look at the way most adults act,” Singh added.