Bonfire @ Wesson's

The HangOUT tomorrow night is going to be over at the Wesson's for a good ole Bonfire. We'll be meeting at the Renfro Center (map) @ 7pm and leaving from there. We'll try and have the van so everyone doesn't have to drive. There will be a couple people driving in case some want to come back earlier or stay later. See ya'll tomorrow.

What happens when you mix the 7 deadly sins?

Well heck I don't know...but this lady (who, by the way, has a very cool blog with tons of this index card humor) came up with a neat graphic on an index card explaining this. Check it out below.

The Self-Esteem Movement Backfires -- When Praise is Dangerous

The Self-Esteem Movement Backfires -- When Praise is Dangerous
By: Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr

The self-esteem movement has transformed much of America, but this is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the schools. A brilliant article in New York Magazine provides a fascinating glimpse into why the movement is crashing and burning.

As writer Po Bronson explains:

Since the 1969 publication of The Psychology of Self-Esteem, in which Nathaniel Branden opined that self-esteem was the single most important facet of a person, the belief that one must do whatever he can to achieve positive self-esteem has become a movement with broad societal effects. Anything potentially damaging to kids' self-esteem was axed. Competitions were frowned upon. Soccer coaches stopped counting goals and handed out trophies to everyone. Teachers threw out their red pencils. Criticism was replaced with ubiquitous, even undeserved, praise.

Author Melanie Phillips offered a devastating critique of the movement in her book All Must Have Prizes. As she revealed, achievement in all areas was being replaced with exercises intended to boost self-esteem. Every player on the team has to receive a prize and all prizes have to be equal. She put it this way in 2003:

Surely, in the immortal words of John McEnroe, they cannot be serious? Alas, the latest pronouncement from those in charge of our exam system is truly beyond satire.

Their new idea for boosting examination success is to abolish the very idea of failure, along with the difference between the right and the wrong answer to a question.

That was in Britain, but the same trends are fully present on this side of the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the point of Bronson's article is that the tide appears to be turning. Take a look at this section:

For a few decades, it's been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.

When parents praise their children's intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it's important to tell their kids that they're smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a growing body of research--and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system--strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of "smart" does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.

It seems that a growing body of research indicates that the self-esteem movement, which argued for praising intelligence rather than effort, may be hurting the kids it claims to help. Bronson reports on the research conducted by Carol Dweck, Lisa Blackwell, and Roy Baumeister:

Dweck and Blackwell's work is part of a larger academic challenge to one of the self-esteem movement's key tenets: that praise, self-esteem, and performance rise and fall together. From 1970 to 2000, there were over 15,000 scholarly articles written on self-esteem and its relationship to everything--from sex to career advancement. But results were often contradictory or inconclusive. So in 2003 the Association for Psychological Science asked Dr. Roy Baumeister, then a leading proponent of self-esteem, to review this literature. His team concluded that self-esteem was polluted with flawed science. Only 200 of those 15,000 studies met their rigorous standards.

After reviewing those 200 studies, Baumeister concluded that having high self-esteem didn't improve grades or career achievement. It didn't even reduce alcohol usage. And it especially did not lower violence of any sort. (Highly aggressive, violent people happen to think very highly of themselves, debunking the theory that people are aggressive to make up for low self-esteem.) At the time, Baumeister was quoted as saying that his findings were "the biggest disappointment of my career."

Now he's on Dweck's side of the argument, and his work is going in a similar direction: He will soon publish an article showing that for college students on the verge of failing in class, esteem-building praise causes their grades to sink further. Baumeister has come to believe the continued appeal of self-esteem is largely tied to parents' pride in their children's achievements: It's so strong that "when they praise their kids, it's not that far from praising themselves."

More:

New York University professor of psychiatry Judith Brook explains that the issue for parents is one of credibility. "Praise is important, but not vacuous praise," she says. "It has to be based on a real thing--some skill or talent they have." Once children hear praise they interpret as meritless, they discount not just the insincere praise, but sincere praise as well.

Scholars from Reed College and Stanford reviewed over 150 praise studies. Their meta-analysis determined that praised students become risk-averse and lack perceived autonomy. The scholars found consistent correlations between a liberal use of praise and students' "shorter task persistence, more eye-checking with the teacher, and inflected speech such that answers have the intonation of questions."

Dweck's research on overpraised kids strongly suggests that image maintenance becomes their primary concern--they are more competitive and more interested in tearing others down. A raft of very alarming studies illustrate this.

The article indicates that older children and teenagers learn to become cynical about the undeserved praise they receive from parents, teachers, and others. They actually perform better if they receive serious and skilled criticism, rather than empty praise.

The article is a must-read for parents, teachers, and all concerned with the culture around us. The article is devastating to the self-esteem movement, but encouraging to all who hope for a recovery of cultural sanity -- at least on this one significant point. Praising effort and achievement yields positive results. Praising for the sake of praising hurts far more than it helps. It is a recipe for individual and social disaster.

Valentines Day Special

Well many of you probably didn't realize this...but we just passed our 1 year anniversary of this blog on Feb. 6. What made me remember this today of all days is one of my favorite blogs that appeared on the site last year. So in the spirit of V-day here's the best post of '06 from the Foundation blog.

The "Valentines Day Bologna" post:

Well first off let me say that I kinda have a very biased opinion when it comes to Valentine's Day, well actually when it comes to anything, but if you are offended that I bash this corporate-commercial-bologna-holiday, I'm sorry, but this is a blog, haha, read at your own risk.

So my spill on Valentine's Day: The reason why this holiday is no different than any other day to me is probably because I celebrate the holiday as being, "Singles Awareness Day," (a holiday I celebrate everyday, haha) the term which is becoming very popular in Western Culture for Feb 14. This is basically because I never really have had to worry about buying a girl chocolate, roses, and dinner on Feb. 14 becuase I've always had the great joy of being single when it comes to the big V-day (That's right all 21 years of my life, I've never had a gf on Valentine's Day, what a lucky guy). So to my point and how this relates to this God-blog:

St. Valentine's day can be traced back to a Catholic Church feast day in honor of St. Valentine. The important thing to note here is that there are at least 3 different St. Valentine's in the Catholic Encyclopedia who are listed as early martyrs under the date Feb. 14. So we don't know who exactly Valentine is and the day's association with romantic love didn't arrive until after the High Middle Ages. The first recorded, "romantic" written valentine note dates to the 1300's in England and Feb. 14 was traditionally held as the day when birds paired off to mate. So anyways, my point is this, this holiday is a purely Corporate America, Commercial holiday with it's sole purpose of making money. There isn't any kind of Christian connotation which somehow merits this holiday, and in fact, I would bet that many Baptist's would denounce Christian connonations when they found out it was related to the Catholic Church! (Yes that was a diss on Baptists, but I am one, so I can do it). It wasn't till the mid-1900's that people started buying chocolate and sending rose's to their lovers on Feb. 14 and it wasn't until the 1980's that the diamond industry started promoting V-day as a holiday to give jewelry. And why do we send so many cards? In fact there are over 1 Billion Cards sent on V-day and that makes it the 2nd largest "card day" behind another now-commercialized holiday, Christmas.

My point is this: Valentine's day really doesn't mean anything. It's shallow. Its a commercial holiday which helps stimulate our economy. Valentine's day has become nothing more than an experience that we look forward to having once a year. Girl's look forward to the experience of getting cards, flowers, chocolate, and a date. While guy's look forward to sadly enough, 'scoring' with their woman.

Many people have done the same thing to Christianity and following Jesus. We have made it simply an experience. If we don't "feel" something or experience something then we have missed out and we don't know God. Many people turn away from the faith when they don't feel God, or see Him work in 'signs and wonders.' In a sense, we have turned going to Church into something thats not much different than a "shallow-holiday" when we go seeking an experience and not the Divine God of this Universe. Following Jesus isn't about doing it when your all tingly inside or its easy, anyone can do that. We only deepin our faith when we follow Christ through the trials and hard times. So let's not turn Jesus into just an experience and make Him into another once-a-week bologna-holiday!

Repentance by J.I. Packer

Here is a short article on repentance by one of my favorite theologians.









REPENTANCE A CHRISTIAN CHANGES RADICALLY by J.I. Packer

.... I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. ACTS 26:20 The New Testament word for repentance means changing one’s mind so that one’s views, values, goals, and ways are changed and one’s whole life is lived differently. The change is radical, both inwardly and outwardly; mind and judgment, will and affections, behavior and life-style, motives and purposes, are all involved. Repenting means starting to live a new life.

The call to repent was the first and fundamental summons in the preaching of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2), Jesus (Matt. 4:17), the Twelve (Mark 6:12), Peter at Pentecost (Acts 2:38), Paul to the Gentiles (Acts 17:30; 26:20), and the glorified Christ to five of the seven churches in Asia (Rev. 2:5, 16, 22; 3:3, 19). It was part of Jesus’ summary of the gospel that was to be taken to the world (Luke 24:47). It corresponds to the constant summons of the Old Testament prophets to Israel to return to the God from whom they had strayed (e.g., Jer. 23:22; 25:4-5; Zech. 1:3-6). Repentance is always set forth as the path to remission of sins and restoration to God’s favor, impenitence as the road to ruin (e.g., Luke 13:1-8).

Repentance is a fruit of faith, which is itself a fruit of regeneration. But in actual life, repentance is inseparable from faith, being the negative aspect (faith is the positive aspect) of turning to Christ as Lord and Savior. The idea that there can be saving faith without repentance, and that one can be justified by embracing Christ as Savior while refusing him as Lord, is a destructive delusion. True faith acknowledges Christ as what he truly is, our God-appointed king as well as our God-given priest, and true trust in him as Savior will express itself in submission to him as Lord also. To refuse this is to seek justification through an impenitent faith, which is no faith.

• In repentance, says the Westminster Confession, a sinner, out of the sight and sense not only of the danger, but also the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, as contrary to the holy nature, and righteous law of God; and upon the apprehension of his mercy in Christ to such as are penitent; so grieves for, and hates his sins, as to turn from them all unto God, purposing and endeavoring to walk with him in all ways of his commandments. (XV.2)

This statement highlights the fact that incomplete repentance, sometimes called “attrition” (remorse, self-reproach, and sorrow for sin generated by fear of punishment, without any wish or resolve to forsake sinning) is insufficient. True repentance is “contrition,” as modeled by David in Psalm 51, having at its heart a serious purpose of sinning no more but of living henceforth a life that will show one’s repentance to be full and real (Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20). Repenting of any vice means going in the opposite direction, to practice the virtues most directly opposed to it.
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From: Concise Theology: A Guide To Historic Christian Beliefs

The Screwtape Letters

Here is an article I found on making The Screwtape Letters into a film. Should be interesting!

Walden Media, the family-friendly and just-a-bit religious company behind The Chronicles of Narnia, has announced plans to make another, non-Narnia film based on the works of CS Lewis. But this time, it’s the turn of The Screwtape Letters.

The book takes the form of a series of letters from an experienced demon called Screwtape to his young protégé, Wormwood. Set against a background where demons, out in the world, attempt to turn people away from faith and generally cause mischief, the letters highlight examples of human weakness and chinks in people’s faith that the young demon can take advantage of in order to corrupt and weaken those he targets.

It’s a little difficult to see how it would be turned into a film with an actual plot, and there remains the problem of getting the (probably) religious target audience to go see a film about a demon, but it’s an undeniably interesting read and a humourous look at human foibles, so it could work very well, even for those who are less than committed to any religion at all.

There’s no word yet on a writer or director, let alone cast, but it’s to be produced by Fantastic Four producer Ralph Winter, along with Randy Argue and CS Lewis’ stepson Douglas Gresham.

The Winter Adventure

Well we are almost at our 1 year anniversary of this blog and last night marked a big day for us Foundation Guys....we finally got our PA system (that's Professional Audio for ya'll non-geeks). Man we have been talking about and dreaming about having our own gear for a long time, so we can go anywhere we'd like and have a worship service...and sound dang good doing it too.

So what makes this story even greater is the Winter Adventure me and Walk had to go on to get this dern thing. Well, originally our sound guy Hal from Harrison Productions, was gonna drive up from Clemson to deliver the system and do a sound check with us, but his father had to undergo some surgery and he couldn't come all the way up for the service Sunday...so we were going to meet him in Spartanburg to get the system.

Well then it snows yesterday, and of course you don't want to haul around an expensive PA in the back of your truck in the snow so Hal decided to just bring it later. Well then it was going to be sometime next week, and man waiting that long would drive me crazy...I mean heck we've been wantin this thing for a year now...So me and Walk decided to hop in the car and drive all the way down to Anderson, SC...home of Perry Noble...and pick this thing up in the snow. Oh and we had to get there and back in 2 1/2 hours...which was not going to happen. Anyways, we go haulin down 85 in the slush running 70mph the whole way and finally meet up with Hal in the back of a Wendy's parking lot. We get out of our vehicles, swap big cargo containers, briefcases, and metal boxes and end with a handshake, get in our cars and pull off. Man I wish we had on some suits....the drive-thru ladies would have thought we were the Redneck Mafia with some "hot" goods.

After our exchange we grabbed a bite to eat and went sliding in the slush all the way back home and finally got to set our baby up in the Renfro Center. It was way better than Christmas...and it wasn't even a present, in fact we'll be paying on this thing for a while, haha....but oh boy, did it sound sooo good. So anyways, I'm very excited about the service this Sunday because we'll get to put this sweet rig to good use and I'll get to talk out of some fancy little ear microphone that's so small I'm afraid it's going to get lost in my ear.

See yall Sunday.

Know Your Role

"Know your role and shut your mouth!" A line from the greatest smack-talking wrestler on the planet and also the title of this week's message at the Foundation Worship Gathering.

The service will be in the Aldersgate Gym @ 2pm. Come check us out and bring a friend. See Yall Sunday.


Directions to Aldersgate

Young, Restless, Reformed

I am sorry I haven't been able to finish my posts on Calvinism yet. The more I study, the more I realize I don't know. I am still wrestling hard with some of these issuses, and when I feel like I about have it figured out, something else pops up and I am back to square one again. I hope to start finishing the posts now that I have began to draw conclusions. So be on the lookout, it should be good, we are now at the meat and bones of the debate, the three most controversial segments of TULIP, Irresistible Grace, Limited Atonement, and Unconditional Election (predestination).

In the mean time, check out this article on Calvinism.

Why Satan is Left on Earth

Why Satan Is Left on Earth: Incentives in the Battle for Joy in Jesus
By John Piper

Part of the problem of evil is the problem of why Satan is given so much freedom to harm the world, when God has the right and power to throw him in the pit. God will one day do away with Satan altogether (Revelation 20:3, 10). That will be no injustice to Satan. Nor would it be unjust for God to do it today. So why doesn't He, in view of how much misery Satan causes?
Satan roams like a devouring lion to destroy faith (1 Peter 5:8); he makes people sick and diseased (Acts 10:38); he tempts to sin (Luke 22:3-4); he blinds the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4); he takes people captive to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26); he kills (Revelation 2:10). One day God will stop him from doing this. Why doesn't He stop him now?
Could it be that there is a chance the devil and his angels will repent? Is God is giving them time? No. The Bible teaches they are irredeemable. Jesus said that "the eternal fire . . . has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). Jude confirms this when he says that the fallen angels are being "kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6).Why then does God tolerate Satan? The key is that God aims to defeat Satan in a way that glorifies not only his power, but also the superior beauty and worth and desirability of his Son over Satan. God could simply exert raw power and snuff Satan out. That would glorify God's power. But it would not display so clearly the superior worth of Jesus over Satan. That will be displayed as Christ defeats Satan by his death and then by winning superior allegiance from the saints over the lies of Satan.

Central to this plan is that God defeats Satan in stages through the work of Christ. Paul says that when we were forgiven all our trespasses by Christ's death on the cross, God thus "disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him" (Colossians 2:15).

This was the first stage of Satan's defeat. How was he defeated by the cross? The lethal weapon of soul-destroying sin and guilt is taken out of Satan's hand. He is disarmed of the single weapon that can condemn us - unforgiven sin. We see this in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, "O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Without sin and law to condemn us, Satan is a defeated foe. He is disarmed. Christ has triumphed over him, not yet by casting him into hell and nullifying his influence on earth, but by letting him live and watch while millions of saints find forgiveness for their sins and turn their back on Satan because of the greater glory of Christ.

That is a second stage of defeat: the conversion of people by the power of the gospel of the cross. Jesus says to Paul that his mission to the Gentiles is "to open their eyes, so that they may turn . . . from the power of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). This is what happens when God removes the blindness caused by the devil and gives us the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4-6). This enables people to see the ugliness of Satan and the beauty of Christ so that their choosing Christ glorifies not only God's power, but Christ's superior beauty and worth over Satan.

This way of defeating Satan is a costly triumph. Christ suffered and the world suffers. But God's values are not so easily reckoned. If Christ obliterated all demons now (which he could do), His sheer power would be seen as glorious, but His superior beauty and worth would not shine so brightly as when God's people renounce the promises of Satan, trust in Christ's blood and righteousness, and take pleasure in the greater glory of Jesus over Satan.
This means that our treasuring Christ above all the promises of sin and Satan is part of the triumph of that God designs for this age. Take up arms! Be glad in the Son of God!

Feature Blog:Simply or Merely? Comparing Mere Christianity and Simply Christian

Seeing how Mere Christianity is one of my all time favorite books, I found this InternetMonk Blog to be a great fit for this "featured blog." Make sure you go read the entire blog here.



Mere Christianity and Simply Christian are far more different than they are similar, and comparisons of one to the other are probably not necessary. Both have a role to play. Here’s my assessment of which is the better book when I look at both in various ways.

Best Conversation Starter With A Non-Christian: Lewis. Hands down. His logic, voice, illustrations, humor and unforgettable conclusions are as provocative as ever.

Best Apologetic: The answer here depends on how we define apologetics. Both Ravi Zacharias and James White are apologists. In the sense of making an appealing and convincing case, I give the nod to Wright. If I were voting on the strength of individual arguments that might “score points,” then Lewis.

Readability: Lewis’s prose is accessible, but less and less as time goes by. Still, if I had to give one of the two books to the average literate adult in my home of Clay County, I’d go with Lewis. Much of Mere Christianity is still accessible to even a high school audience. Wright goes deeper, and even when he is writing a non-scholarly book, he sounds more like an Oxford professor than a blue-collar pastor. (That’s not a bad thing. I just think Lewis was able to talk with ordinary people in an unusual way for such a scholarly giant.)

Best Presentation of Jesus: Wright has a lot more to say about Jesus. His sections on Jesus are outstanding summaries of the current state of Jesus scholarship. Lewis keeps his discussion of Jesus almost entirely on the incarnation and the atonement. Wright does the better job here.

Best Overview of the Faith: Wright. No contest. This would be an excellent book for a “Christian Theology 101” weekend or short class. Lewis never intends to overview the whole Christian story.

Most Successful at What Was Attempted: I think Lewis wrote a great book somewhat by accident. Wright, on the other hand, set out to produce a simple, accessible overview of the faith, and I think he succeeded completely. Wright gets the nod.

Most Theologically Conservative: Lewis simply doesn’t show his hand at many issues. Wright is orthodox, but certainly doesn’t buy into fundamentalism, or even some of the common assumptions of conservative evangelicalism. Lewis wins here, but on presumption. Wright is no liberal on the essentials, that’s for sure, and much of his contribution is to get beyond these labels to something more useful.

Best Organization: Lewis’s chapters build on one another at key points. Wright’s book is elegantly harmonious and exceptionally crafted. Wright wins.

Can Only Buy One: Go to Amazon and buy both used. No way you need to make that choice.

Amazing Bowling Extravaganza

So...I have no idea if that's how you spell extravaganza but in any case, thats what this is. Tomorrow, Thrusday, we're going bowling. It's gonna be amazing. It's gonna be an extravaganza, hence the title. If you come you will be rewarded, with kangaroos. Its a proven fact that kangaroos are excellent bowlers, and entertainers. Be at the Renfroe at 7:00pm.

P.S. There wont actually be any kangaroos. I'm not sure why I lied. I guess i just wanted to impress you. Did it work?

Worship Gathering Pictures

Here's some sweet pics taken by our good buddy Derek from this past Sunday's worship service. Great shots bud!

Technical Difficulties

Apologies for the technical difficulties. If the foundation banner at the top of the site has been disappearing in your browser then you're probably as confused as I am. I can't figure out why it keeps happening. Now that we switched to our www.thecorefoundation.org domain name, everything has been quirky. But we're workin on it...

Reflections: 1st Worship Service of the New Year

Well I've been thinking a bunch about how slack I've been when it comes to contributing some worthwhile reading to this thing we call the Foundation blog and decided I would write some reflections on yesterday's Worship Gathering...the first of '07.

1. It's been way too long from our last service until this one...good gracious I didn't realize how much I missed having a worship service to go to that I actually enjoyed. I know, I know...that sounds bad but really, why should a worship service be boring? Who said you shouldn't enjoy praising God. In fact, it's probably a sin when a service is boring, because God is not boring, and if our half-hearted efforts to create a routine, run-of-the-mill service cause something that ends up boring...then my friend, we have misrepresented the God we claim to worship.

2. New People. I'm always thrilled to see new folks coming to The Foundation events and its a great feeling every time to see people come back for a second time. I really hope we are doing a good job at providing authentic community. We are working really hard at that and I hope we'll see some improvement in that area due to our new leadership structure.

3.We have the best band ever. So OK, maybe that's a slight overstatement but, I think the music this service was the best it's ever been (must be the sound guy, haha), but again maybe that's because it's been 2 months since the last service. Props to the new girl in town, Amy, who sang with the team for the first time. I'm so ready for the new PA. Great song selection this time Aaron.

4. Webb had a great message on what Church really is. He had it tough this time, since topical preaching isn't his cup of tea, he's more of an exegetical man, but he did a terrific job communicating what God's family really is. I'm really excited about the next message on what our role is within the Church. That'll be happening on Feb. 4th, 2pm-Aldersgate Gym.

5. We had a first time ever happening at a Foundation Service, we actually asked for money, haha. We just bought a new PA to help us in our efforts of getting over to the CCC campus to do ministry and we took up an offering after the service in some buckets at the back. Mad props to some generous broke college kids who gave almost 600 bucks towards the new PA. Thanks to all the "older" folks who pitched in as well, we love yall too!



That's all for this week....feel free to leave some comments or reflections on how you thought the service went...