Oct
31
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on
October 31, 2005
In case you’ve been missing these, Doug Wilson has been posting an occassional series to his blog about Bible Stories. These are wonderful summaries of covenant history told through the Bible, with the grand unifying narrative always pointing to Christ, as the Lord Himself taught us. As usual, Wilson does a masterful job. Here are his posts thus far:
I am sure that Doug still has at least one more post to do — on the Apostles — and perhaps more. To check in from time to time on your own to see if he has posted more, here is the link to Doug Wilson’s Bible Stories archives.
Oct
30
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on
October 30, 2005
I don’t care for Halloween. No matter how many cute costumes there are, the fact of the matter is that this is a holiday that celebrates the grotesque over the beautiful, and the deviant over the upright. It celebrates darkness over light, and evil over good.
“Oh please, Eric,” I hear some of you saying. “It’s all in good fun; it is harmless.”
Nevertheless, from an aesthetic standpoint alone Christians should be repulsed by this pagan “holy-day”:
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)
Meanwhile, Paul preaches against the very things much of Halloween seems to glory in:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred… (Galatians 5:19-20f)
The “nature” of many of the (dis)figures people delight in on Halloween exhibit the very traits listed above, do they not? Moreover, this day is one in which people revel in death, a further symptom of our dying culture. Shouldn’t we be celebrating life instead?
In discussing this with a friend the other day, she asked if my objections to Halloween are because it seems to sanction the occult. I said “yes.” But let me qualify my concern here. My concern does not flow from a fear of the occult. The occult — or at least the “spirits” occultists worship and serve and invoke — is impotent. Indeed, Christ has vanquished the spirits of the darker realm — “the powers and principalities,” as Scripture describes them (Romans 8:37-39), and has “bound the strong man” (Luke 11:20-22) to bring deliverance to His people.
The following passage from a short novel by Douglas Jones, entitled Scottish Seas, illustrates this fact and the appropriate attitude we should have toward the occult:
… Mac asked, “Can the witch in the village make me fly?”
Father coughed on his pipe for a moment. “Naw, naw,” he said, “witches can’t harm Christians. Remember the catechism question your brothers are learning? ‘How does Christ executeth the office of a king?’ Answer, ‘Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering his and our enemies.’
“As a king, Christ has ’spoiled principalities and powers,’ and witches and demons. He conquered them. His power is so very far above theirs. They can’t bother us anymore. Witches are nothing to fear. And if any remain, they are weaker than babies. You may not be afraid of them. And certainly, you may not cry about them.”
So, my concern is not that we empower the occult through our Halloween costumes and decorations, but rather that in celebrating it we act as though it still had power and that Christ failed to fulfill his promises.
Halloween happens to fall on the anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg in 1517, known as Reformation Day or “The Festival of the Reformation.” Almost as if in anticipation of the silly antics of Halloween, Luther penned the anthem of the Reformation, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” His words seem to echo what I just stated above, particular these:
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us: The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, One little word shall fell him.
But all in all, my greatest problem with Halloween is, again, aesthetic.
We have yet to ever take Samuel and Maggie “trick-or-treating.” We shall not do so this year. This is not, however, an absolute prohibition — in part because to do so would belie the truth of the devil’s impotence. Witches and goblins are silly, and deserve a hearty and mocking guffaw from those of us who know better. But that silliness does not legitimate our participation and revelry in them.
Someday - perhaps as soon as next year - Samuel will ask to “trick-or-treat.” When that day comes, Bonnie and I will allow him and Maggie to do so; with us, of course. But we won’t encourage it. And we will educate them about what we dislike about this day. And their costumes will not resemble that which Christians should have no part of.
Oct
25
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on
October 25, 2005
In my previous post, I outlined how my beautiful wife made me feel like a king for a weekend for my birthday.
Well, with regal privileges come regal gifts — and boy was I lavished from all directions. My humble thanks to friends and family for their generous expressions of love. These gifts included thoughtful calls from a brother, warm cards from my Dad, my Mom, and various friends, and some great gifts, including:
- a four-pack of one of my favorite beers, Boddington Pub Ale
- a bottle of white wine, Gessinger’s 2004 Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett
- to go with the wine, Amber Valley Double Gloucester with Stilton cheese, along with Bremner Wafers
- to replace my old shaving brush, a Badger Shave Brush from Crabtree & Evelyn, and from the same company, Saddlewood Shave Soap in a wooden bowl (there is no better way to shave!)
- a gift certificate to a great Mexican restaurant, Rio Grande
- a book, How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis, that I’ve already begun to read
- and last, but certainly not least, an evening of babysitting
All in all, gifts fit for a king. :o)
Oct
25
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on
October 25, 2005
I’ve got to hand it to my wife: she provided me with what is most likely my best birthday celebration ever this last weekend.
First, on my Friday birthday, with my Mom and our friend Joanie still in town for one final evening after a nice week with us, Bonnie took all six of us — Samuel and Maggie included — to a special dinner out at Old Europe in Georgetown. About twice a year I get to feast at this wonderful German restaurant. The atmosphere is warm and inviting and the food is the best. And of course, the beer is great. On this particular night we had weisswurst and pretzel for an appetizer and then I enjoyed German goulash and spatzel for dinner. And it all went down oh so well with my half-pint of Oktoberfest Bockbier.
This in and of itself is more than I could have asked for for my birthday: a wonderful night out with my family, Mom, and good friend at my favorite restaurant. But Bonnie topped that in a big way the following night.
I knew all along that our longtime and good friends Dennis and Suzanna would be coming to our place for dinner on Saturday with their children, Theodore (4) and Virginia (10 mos). And I also knew that Bonnie was planning on making lasagna — my traditional request on my birthday. And I knew from the day before that my Mom made apple pie for me, just as she so often did when I was growing up (and she makes great apple pie!).
What I didn’t know right away was that Bonnie was planning to surprise me with another set of great friends and their children for dinner. I should have suspected something on Friday when talking with our close friend Veronica, who also works with me at the Bill of Rights Institute, when she said that she and her husband Kyle were also planning on having dinner with friends that have two children, just as Bonnie and I were. Well, when I was out shopping for some last minute dinner items Saturday afternoon and Bonnie slipped while calling me on the cell phone and said that I should “pick up some hot dogs for Aidan and Julian in case they don’t like lasagna,” I finally put two and two together. Aidan (4) and Julian (2) are Kyle and Veronica’s children, not Dennis and Suzanna’s. Still, it could have been a verbal mistake. But I’m usually not asked to pick up a bag of ice for just one set of guests!
Anyway, fast forward to dinner, and Bonnie did a marvelous job of setting the table with fall decorations and candles — for six — plus setting up a kid’s table in the adjacent room with fun little scarecrows for the six children. The lasagna was perfect, the salad awesome, and the wine gladdened the heart. But best of all — by far — was a perfect evening spent enjoying the company of some of the best friends anyone can ask for in this world, and all of us marvelling at all our covenant children playing together. (And here are some great pictures of the party, esp. of the kids — thank you Veronica!)
All in all, Bonnie made me feel like a king for the weekend, and confirmed again why I am so blessed to be married to her. Thank you, Sweetie. :o)
Oct
24
Posted by Eric F. Langborgh on
October 24, 2005
So, it’s been a month and a half since I’ve last blogged. Oh well, I did say I am “semi-retired” from blogging!
Anyway, during this time I have kept myself fairly busy with a number of other things. One of those is reading. What follows is a quick listing of many of those books:
- The “Crown & Covenant” series — by Douglas Bond.
I posted my thoughts on these three books — Duncan’s War, King’s Arrow, and Rebel’s Keep — a short while back, here.
- Freakonomics — by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
I bought this one during a recent flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico and had it mostly finished by the time my return flight landed. This is an intriguing read looking at a hodge-podge of topics with the only connecting thought running through the whole book being “Why do people and societies do what they do, often contra expectations?” (BTW, if you need a teaser: one chapter in this book is the reason Bill Bennett said what he said recently about abortion and the crime rate.)
- Huguenot Garden, Scottish Seas, and Dutch Color — by Douglas Jones III.
These three short but splendid books are unconnected in any way, but each does a wonderful job of bringing real life experiences in the history of the church to life for modern believers. Like the “Crown and Covenant” series mentioned above, each book is an historical fiction written esp. for younger eyes but is equally good for family reading, providing great inspiration and role models for Christian living against the backdrop of hardship and/or persecution. I am currently reading Scottish Seas a second time — this time to Bonnie and the kids.
- The Last Battle — by C.S. Lewis
This one I didn’t technically read recently, but I did finish reading it last month to my family (well, mostly to Bonnie), bringing to completion my off and on reading over the course of two years of the complete seven book masterpiece, “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. Bonnie and I loved it, and look forward to starting up the whole series again in a year or so when Samuel can enjoy it more. In the meantime, I can’t wait for the movie, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, due in theaters on December 9!
