“If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today.”
-Martin Luther (maybe)

We looked at the popular evangelical view of the end of history in part one. From that perspective it would be utter foolishness to spend the final day planting an apple tree. But are there other ways of interpreting the end of all things and Luther’s apple tree–ones that don’t make planting a tree seem quite as absurd?

There seems to be a growing popularity today for radical Calvinism. Yes, there are many moderate Calvinists who find Calvin’s writings to be a helpful guide to understanding Christian thought and Scripture, but who do not hold Calvin on equal standing with Christ. (I for one really…

Not long ago I came across a curious quote supposedly from Martin Luther. “If I knew that tomorrow was the end of the world, I would plant an apple tree today.” The saying is most likely apocryphal, but whether or not Luther said it is not my concern. (Strangely, the line was used on more than one occasion by Martin Luther King Jr. as well and it sometimes falsely attributed as original. But that is neither here nor there.)

The reason the quote has stayed with me is because I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting on what people think about the end of the world and the climax of history (otherwise known as eschatology by the theologically inclined). With all the hubbub about earthquakes and tsunamis and…

Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of being a guest on “PrimeTime America,” a program on Moody Radio hosted by Greg Wheatley. numerous times. Greg is now hosting a new program called “Inside Look” on Saturdays where he goes much deeper with a single guest for an hour. On Jan 15 I was his guest. The first half of the program focused on my background and a discussion of big trends in the church today. The second half was an exploration of my upcoming book, WITH: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God. Listen to the interview on the “Inside Look” website. (Some versions of Firefox may not play the audio file.)

It seems like Calvinists are everywhere these days. Thousands gather for conferences-Together for the Gospel, The Gospel Coalition, Advance. Mark Driscoll is on Nightline and dominates among church leaders on YouTube. Church planting networks (pseudo-denominations) like Acts 29 are attracting a lot of young leaders wearing plaid shirts with pearl-snap buttons. And both secular and evangelical news outlets are taking notice. Christianity Today did a cover story on the young Calvinist phenom. But is it all just an illusion?Barna released new research that says there are no more Calvinist pastors today than there were 10 years ago. David Kinnaman, Barna Group president, summarized the findings:

“there is no discernable evidence from this research that there is a Reformed shift among U.S. congregation leaders over the last decade.

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 I. You  shall not make for yourself an idol out of Scripture. 

This is a particular temptation among evangelicals who hold a very high view of Scripture. We forget that our highest calling is not to have a relationship with the Bible but with Jesus Christ of whom the Bible testifies. (John 5:39)

II. You shall honor the Scriptures as sufficient.

We have a common temptation to get “behind the text” or discover what “really happened.” While archeology and other disciplines are incredibly important, we must not forget that what God has given in the Scriptures is enough for life and faith.

III. You shall remember the metanarrative and keep it wholly.

In my experience more Christians can recap the meta-narrative of the Star Wars saga…

Scott Nehring has an article at Relevant asking a great question: why are Christian movies so bad? He describes Christian movies in terms many of us have heard before: “intellectually vacant,” “disconnected from reality,” he says they suffer from “substandard production values, stilted dialogue and childish plots.”So why are they so bad? According to Nehring the issue is evangelical isolationism. He says that dating back to the 1960s, many Christians became uncomfortable with popular culture and retreated into “cocoons”-safe places for Christians to hide from the big, bad culture and where they could discuss what they “hoped the world was like rather than dealing with how things are.”This isolation resulted in “poorly trained artists” and Christian filmmakers not “playing with the big boys.” He calls today’s

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Pixar Studio deserves the avalanche of awards it has won. Every time I think they’re about to blow it with an impossible story (a French rat in a five-star restaurant, a nearly silent film about robots in love) they manage to prove me wrong. Toy Story 3 was no exception. I was worried that they were pushing the franchise too far. The first two films were fantastic, but a third? Surely they’re going to “jump the shark” this time. Wrong again. It was brilliant…the best of the bunch.

There is plenty to praise about the movie, but I want to focus on just one thing—the monkey. The hideous, hilarious, and haunting monkey! For those who have not yet seen the…

One of the most popular blog posts I’ve written was a theological exploration of evil through the lens of the film, The Dark Knight. To continue the theme of superhero movies and theology, let’s talk about Superman.

After traveling a few weeks ago, I retuned home late one evening after the kids were in bed. After debriefing with my wife, I decided to vegetate by watching Superman Returns…the effort by director Bryan Singer to “reboot” the Superman movie franchise for Warner Brothers. Most critics, including myself, were very disappointed by the film. Superman Returns gives homage to Richard Donner’s Superman films (starring Christopher Reeve) by lifting characters, plot devices, dialogue, and even laugh lines from the original movies. But it had none of the Donner films’ magic.

The…

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of the Lenten season prior to Holy Week and Easter Sunday. Vice President Joe Biden sparked curiosity when he appeared in public and on television with a smudge of ash on his forehead. One news anchor in the UK had no idea what it was. “What’s happened to his head?” asked Kay Burley on Sky News. “It looks like he’s walked into a door!” The co-host speculated that he had fallen on the ice while attending the Winter Olympics. (As if we needed more evidence that Britain is an utterly post-Christian secular culture.)

Biden is a practicing Catholic, and the ash was part of the Ash Wednesday mass he had attended earlier in the day. While usually associated with Roman Catholic…