Pillar on the Rock

I am excited to offer to you a delayed announcement about a project that

Chris Krycho and I launched on November 9: Pillar on the Rock.

 

The purpose of Pillar on the Rock is to show others what it is that Christians  my age truly seek in churches. Our goal is to demonstrate that the biblical model of the church is one that does appeal to our generation, despite what others may say. Our passion is to help local churches reach our peers.

 

The site is going strong, with 30 posts already published. The best way to become familiar with Pillar on the Rock, would be to read the articles that we write. My recommendation would be to start with a 3-part series I recently finished on the topic of church membership – Membership Matters:

1. Membership Matters to Me
2. Three Assumptions About the New Testament Church
3. The Five Most Important Aspects of Membership

We also have a presence on Facebook and Twitter. If you are inclined to receive our articles by email, you can sign-up here.

 

You can find our homepage here, but be sure to take a look at authors and about pages too.

Book Review: Forgiveness

[Disclaimer: This is a critical review of a book written by Paul J. Meyer. I have no personal relationship with Mr. Meyer, but I know that many of my readers may know him well. Please understand that I am not criticizing him as a person, but only the words written in this book. I pray that he will be able to continue his mission of "doing all the good he can, for as many people as he can, in as many ways as he can, for as long as he can" for many years to come.]

---

Nearly all cancer patients, besides having a lifetime habit of suppressing and repressing emotions, are known to share a marked inability to forgive.₁

The above quote is from Paul J. Meyer's book, Forgiveness ... the Ultimate Miracle.

The teaching of this book is subversive, although I am quite sure this was not the author's intent. The style proves to be a combination of Christian-ese verbiage with an "I can do all things through myself" attitude. The majority of the writing (9 of the 10 chapters) is done with a Christian culturally-christian worldview, in which the author does not mention Jesus at all.₂

The primary thrust of Forgiveness is thus: following these steps will make you a great forgiver. The author also lists the personal benefits of forgiveness as the primary motivation for forgiving others. Even in his "gotcha" chapter₃, there is no mention of the real Christian motivation for forgiveness; that we should forgive others because Christ forgave us!₄

The benefits of forgiveness the author examines are not all untrue₅, but they certainly miss the bigger picture of Christian forgiveness. The author has a long list of the "fruit" of forgiveness₆, which include: Health, Money, Power, and Advancement. Are we really okay with the teaching that forgiveness brings you money? Hopefully, no one who reads this book actually expects this to happen.

A rather bothersome chapter is titled "Forgiving God". The author makes it clear that God makes no mistakes, does no wrong, and that we have no right to blame God for evil. However, in the chapter, he recommends forgiving God if it will make you feel better. No! It is not okay to blame God and then think that you need to forgive Him! We are the ones who need forgiveness, not God.

One question that must be asked while reading this book is, "Who is the author's intended audience?" If the author's target audience is non-Christians, I presume the author's intention for the "gotcha" chapter would be to share the Gospel of Christ with others who might not read through an explicitly Christian book. However, if this is his target, he is missing the mark by making culturally-christian references throughout the book, before reaching the "gotcha" chapter. The whole point of the "gotcha" method is for it to come as a surprise at the end.

If the author's target audience is Christians, then I think the author missed this mark also, because he is using thoroughly secular arguments to teach Christians to act Christianly. The meat of this book₇, has no distinctive Christian teaching in it; all of it could be passed off as non-Christian advice.

Perhaps this book most frustrating because the topic provides for a great opportunity to teach about Christ's forgiveness and the Christian's extension of that forgiveness... but it doesn't.

---

¹ Paul Meyer, Forgiveness ... the Ultimate Miracle (Orlando: Bridge-Logos, 2006), 5. Although the quote originated from Colin C. Tipping, the author uses it as support for one of his arguments.

² Yes, some of the "example stories" which are included in the book mention Jesus, but the author's teachings in the first nine chapters most definitely do not.

³ The second half of Chapter 10, "Let Forgiveness Set You Free" contains a short gospel presentation. However, its placement in the book (and the small amount of words devoted to it) are suspect. I call chapters like this a "gotcha" because it is as though the author is trying to surprise readers by concluding the book with something that was not discussed throughout the book.

⁴ See Colossians 3:13

⁵ although some are very, very wrong

⁶ Clearly, the author just made some of this stuff up.

⁷ Chapters 1 - 9

Fidelity National buying Metavante for $2.94B

Find this article here.

By STEPHEN BERNARD

NEW YORK (AP) — Fidelity National Information Services Inc. said Wednesday it will acquire Metavante Technologies Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at about $2.94 billion.

Based on Fidelity National's share price, the deal values Metavante stock at a 23 percent premium over its Tuesday closing price of $19.96. Fidelity National shares closed Tuesday at $18.20.

Metavante shareholders will receive 1.35 shares of Fidelity National stock for each share of Metavante they own. Fidelity National will issue about 162 million shares as part of the acquisition.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Fidelity National, which is unrelated to Boston-based Fidelity Investments, provides transaction processing, card issuer and outsourcing services for more than 14,000 financial institutions. Milwaukee-based Metavante provides banking and payments technologies for about 8,000 financial firms. Metavante was a unit of Marshall & Ilsley Corp. until 2007 when it was spun off as a separate public company.

The two companies combined to generate $5.2 billion in revenue in 2008. Fidelity National said it expects to achieve cost synergies of about $260 million after the acquisition is completed. The deal, which is expected to close during the third quarter, should boost Fidelity National's earnings in 2010.

The new executive team will integrate employees from both companies. Lee Kennedy, Fidelity National's current president and chief executive, will become executive vice chairman with the responsibility of overseeing the integration of Metavante.

Metavante's current chairman and CEO, Frank Martire, will be named president and CEO of Fidelity National. Gary Norcross will continue to serve as chief operating officer after the deal closes, while Michael Hayford will become chief financial officer. Hayford is currently the president and COO at Metavante.

The combined board will be made up of six Fidelity National directors and three Metavante directors.

Along with the acquisition, Fidelity National said it will receive equity investments from other firms, including affiliates of private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and title and specialty insurance firm Fidelity National Financial Inc. Fidelity National Information Services will issue about 16 million shares for those new investments.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

And that is all I know.

Our Anniversary Trip!

Katie and I have been married for more than a year now! Does that mean we're not newlyweds anymore? I hope so but, according to Nick and Jessica we'd be newlyweds until 2010! BTW, you can purchase their entire marriage on DVD here and here.

For our anniversary trip, we went to San Antonio and Gruene / New Braunfels. We stayed at a Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk for two nights and loved it. The only downside was that the weather was in the low 40s.



Here we are on the riverwalk (in our cold weather gear)


And here we are at the Alamo!


While we were in San Antonio, we bought some Texas paraphernalia for our cars and home


In San Antonio we ate at some great restaurants: "The Original" (Mexican) and "Rainforest Cafe". At the latter, I ordered paella. Below is a photo of a sea creature I enjoyed eating.


After our two nights in San Antonio we went to Gruene, TX and stayed at the Gruene Homestead Inn in their room called The Silo. It was a fun one-time stay (annoyance: the bathroom was downstairs, the bed was upstairs). Below is a picture of the outside of the Silo.


The trip was a great opportunity for us to relax after the Fall school semester and to reflect upon our year of marriage. I would like to extend thanks to everyone who has helped us and supported us before and during our marriage.

Here's to our 50th

Update on Katie

Apparently, Katie does not have a "bug".

On Sunday, her major symptom was nausea; the back pain she had did not strike her as abnormal. However, on Monday, her back pain increased severely as her nausea went down. Then Katie realized the "back" pain she was having was actually coming from her kidneys.

Katie went to a doctor at school yesterday and he confirmed her suspicions, that she has a kidney infection. Katie is now on antibiotics and is resting. Hopefully she will be able to return to school tomorrow. (she is still feeling awful)

Katie would appreciate your prayers.

Sick Days

From Friday afternoon until sometime Saturday I was ill / not feeling well. I think I ate some bad pizza. Whatever the cause, I had stomach problems. Katie did a great job of taking care of me.

Then, this (Sunday) morning at 3 AM, Katie fell ill. We think she caught a bug from a sick student on Friday (we really think my problem was the pizza). Well, Katie's still sick and I'm trying to take care of her. Of course, she is much better at tending the sick than I am... oh well.

So, we've had a very sick weekend.

Thank God Katie hasn't been sick on a school day, yet.

Please pray for us.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Some time ago, I posted a trailer for Ben Stein's documentary, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. This documentary discusses the censorship in the scientific community that has been placed on Intelligent Design.

I finally saw the documentary tonight (thanks to redbox) because it recently became available for rental. This documentary does not attempt to argue what ID is, or that it is superior to Darwinism; rather, it shows how academia has systematically repressed Darwin's dissenters.

Expelled begins by showing many well-credentialed professors and scientists who have been fired and blacklisted because of their support (or even acknowledgment!) of ID as a scientific theory. The documentary has much more to offer than merely listing names, but I will let you discover its qualities on your own.

Now, go. Spend $1.08 to rent the DVD and give an hour and a half of your time to watch this intriguing documentary.