Heart Aflame for God (Matthew Bingham)

"This book is about living the Christian life. And a basic biblical assumption about the Christian life is that it ought to be a growing life." We are to grow "in grace and knowledge" (2 Peter 3:18), "into maturity" (Colossians 1:28), "up into salvation" (1 Peter 2:2), and "in conformity to the image of Christ" (Romans 8:29). "Such growth in Christ is, first and foremost, the work of the Holy Spirit" . . . but "the Bible also makes clear that growth in the Christian life involves our active, intentional effort and energy." How are we to do this? And do we do it today, or is there a 'sanctification gap' in the church, where we do not pursue growth as we ought? 

In A Heart Aflame for God, Matthew Bingham walks through core concepts related to growth (or spiritual formation), using the Puritans as our guide (arguing that "good, biblical solutions" are found there). Highlights follow.

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Part 1: Foundations

The Bible commands us to keep our heart with all vigilance (Proverbs 4:23), which is a holistic charge (encompassing all we say/think do) and involves not only battling sin but also "a positive cultivation, an activate maintenance, and a daily 'fight for joy.'" This book examines the "means or tools" God gives us to do so—to pursue spiritual formation.

Spiritual formation is the conscious process by whiche we week to heighten and satisfy our Spirit-given thirt for God (Psalms 42:1-2) through divinely appointed means and with a view toward "work[ing] out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) and becoming "mature in Christ " (Colossians 1:28).

Bingham starts by looking at how the Reformation's Five Solas (see here) shifted our understanding of how we approach our spiritual formation, "distinguishing between God's work for us in justification . . . and God's work in us through sanctification." We pursue growth not to earn salvation but out of love for God and what He has already done in giving it. We both "rest in justification" and "work in sanctification." From that basis, we have a Reformed approach to spiritual formation, which Bingham argues has "three interrelated emphases". It is:

- Word Centered ("God's people are most profoundly shaped and formed by God's Word.")

- Marked by a Biblical Simplicity ("shorn of all extrabiblical accretions")

- Committed to Engaging the Heart via the Mind ("the ordinary God-ordained means for keeping the heart and cultivating God-honoring affections involved setting one's mind on God's truth.")

Part 2: The Reformation Triangle

The Reformers identified three areas from Scripture that are foundational to spiritual formation. They are "three sides of the same basic thing: communion with God" which "reinforce each other and merge into one another. They are Scripture, Meditation, and Prayer.

Scripture (Hearing from God)

• "Scripture is God's appointed means for communing with his people. And it is through communion with the living God that the people of God are conformed more and more to his likeness." In short: read your Bible.
• We must read Scripture "frequently, actively, and expectantly."
• Frequently: "By pursuing daily devotion in the morning and often again at night, early modern Protestanst bookended the day with God, acknowledging themselves to be made in his image, fallen in Adam, redeemed in Christ,a nd renewed daily by the Spirit."
• Actively: we should have "an approach to Bible reading that is strategic, intentional, and thoughtfully designed to maximize . . . one's time in God's word." This could include reading "with pen in hand," ready to take notes on texts that hit home (comfort, convict, confuse, or direct toward Godly living).
• Expectantly: We need to come to the Bible with "a sense of expectation that herein I am meeting with the one who made me and sustains my every breath." That reading is communion with God (which mean we may wrestle with it!).

Meditation (Reflecting on God)

• Meditation can be a loaded term. What the author means by the term is not deliberate "physiological manipulations" but "directing one's attention toward God and his promises as revealed in Scripture with the aim of stirring up God-honoring affections." In short: deliberately dwelling on God to move his truth from our heads into our hearts.
• This "involves taking God's word to heart, chewing it over, pondering it, and working through its implications for every facet of life."
• Meditation transforms "mere thoughts about God and the things of God into heartflet, soul-stirring, life-transforming convictions about the same." "Who we are is revealed by what we give our sustained attention to."
• Meditation forces us to slow down in an increasingly busy world and helps us avoid a dry intellectualism that knows about God but doesn't really know God.
• Five tips on doing this:
• Hold meditation and Scripture closely together
• Distinguish between 'settled' and 'occasional' meditation
• Grab hold of a thought and don't let it go
• Apply God's truth to yourself
• Don't overthink it

Prayer (Responding to God)

• "Prayer is real communication with a God who is actually there and really does listen." It can be done during set and focused times or be short and spontaneous.
• Prayer is essential: "it is the vehicle through which we express praise and thanksgiving to God" and "it is largely in response to our prayers that God has promised to bless us." In it "we express and cultivate our childlike dependence on our 'Father who is in heaven'."
• Prayer must be:
• Thoughtful: consisting of carefully chosen and "coherent, intelligible petitions and praises" 
• Heartfelt: it "must actually reflect one's desire for and interest in God and the things of God"
• Tightly tethered to scripture: "fidelity to God's revealed will was [and is] a key mark of a true and effectual prayer." "God has addressed us through his word, and we respond to him through our prayers." 

Part 3: Widening Our Scope

In this section, Bingham looks at self-examination, the natural world, and Christian relationships, and how each aids in spiritual formation.

Self-Examination (Looking Inward)

"Life contains deep wells of memory, emotion, and meaning, wells that are often unexplored, or are least underexplored," and "part of our spiritual formation is to try and unearth a little bit more of [truth] each day." The Bible calls us to be a "remembering people," which includes both our fallenness and God's goodness. 

We examine ourselves to identify and battle against indwelling sin; through this we "come to better understand [our] characteristic weaknesses and vulnerabilities to [we] can more effectively guard against them." As we look inside, we find "unacknowledged sin" and "a storm of scarcely perceived attitudes, assumptions, and motivations [that] swirls underneath our outward actions."

We also examine ourselves to "think deliberately about one's life as a story that God is writing." We are called to be "a people who never forget and actively call to mind God's redemptive dealings with them," as remembering God's past faithfulness to us is "fuel for present-day strength and hope."

The Natural World (Looking Outward)

Pondering creation "draws our thoughts and affections toward the one who called it into being by the power of his word." "If creation is a theater, or mirror, of God's glory one could do no better than study diligently the splendors God has placed there" (William Dyrness). 

The natural world reflects God's glory, teaches God's truth, and aids in spiritual formation. "God is both invisible to us and yet continuously seen through his creation," and so long as we look at creation in a way that "accords with and flows from God's word," we can use these reflections on the world to "call to mind what I've learned from Scripture, illustrating it, amplifying it, and helping me apply it in fresh and invigorating ways."

Christian Relationships (Looking to One Another)

We all have an "intrinsic need for social connection," and so "Christianity is an inherently corporate endeavor." In community, we use the God-given gifts to build each other up and learn from each other, as "we humans are more quickened and stimulated by example than by instructions and warnings" (Campegius Vitringa).

Friends "coordinate their energies to accomplish common goals," "hold each other accountable," "encourage each other to pursue godliness and run the Christian race with joy," and "pray for one another."

Part 4: Challenges

Bingham concludes by considering the role our physical bodies (and senses) play in spirtual formation, and then looks at "when things go wrong," focusing on the reality of spiritual struggling (it won't always be easy, for a number of reasons).

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I really liked this book. Bingham focuses on how the Reformation and Puritans considered spiritual formation, not because they are to be idolized but because they 1) were thoroughly biblical in their approach, and 2) they represented a shift in the Christian religion's approach to the topic—they offer a "helpful corrective" to our present age.

Rating: A

Daredevil: End of Hell

Continuing from last time . . .

Things are getting to a breaking point in Hell's Kitchen. Cops have been told to stay out. Rival mob bosses are posturing. Something must be done.

Matt and Elektra make a play, stealing from the mob and giving to the poor. Supervillains are called in to extinguish hope . . . Daredevil and unlikely allies are determined to provide it. Who will win the day? And can Matt finally extinguish his demons?

Picking up the story from last August, I was foggy on a few details, but the story remains gripping, and this volume was more satisfying than the prior. There continues to be good art and (mostly) good messages. A winner.

Rating: A-

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Last time, Shredder was defeated and imprisoned. But he won't stay down . . . and when he escapes from prison with help from powerful beings (including Krang and scientist Baxter Stockman), the turtles realize more is at stake. Much more. Krang is enlisting Shredder's help to find three pieces needed to build a transdimensional portal and unleash the power of the Technodrome . . . and only the turtles can stop them.

This 2016 sequel was much the same as it predecessor: an over-the-top fast and frenetic visual spectacle that was full of humor and not much else (character development, plot, or message). That said, I enjoyed this more than the first film. The humor was better, and it was fun seeing live-action visualizations of Krang, Rocksteady, and Bebop. The message was little-explored but dealt with teamwork despite differences and seeking acceptance in a world that forced the crew to live in the shadows. It was entertaining as a nostalgic nod to the nineties ninjas cartoon. It could have been more, but it was a fun romp.

Rating: B-

Feed the Kraken

Today's review is of the 2022 release, Feed the Kraken. For 5-11 players, it takes 45-90 minutes.

Overview

You are aboard the Instabil, a ship on the high seas. The crew seems to be of varying goals . . . some (sailors) want to go to a safe harbor. Others (pirates) want to go to a place of ill repute. And still others (cult leader and followers) desire an untimely end at the hands of the kraken. The challenge is . . . you know only what you are. Can you deduce who is on your team, and collectively work to steer the ship to your goal?

game in progress; image from here

To begin, issue secret role cards, randomly assign the captain, and give each player three guns and a unique character. Then play begins. Simplified, a turn looks like this:

- the captain assigns a lieutenant and navigator

- players can choose to mutiny (by secretly choosing a number of guns, revealing them all at once, and mutinying if that number exceeds the stated limit for the number of players you have)

- assuming a mutiny didn't happen (if it did, go back to the first step with the new captain), the captain and lieutenant each draw two navigation cards, secretly choosing one and discarding the other face-down. These are placed in a box and given to the navigator.

- the navigator looks at both cards, chooses one, and executes the command. The ship will move to the next hex to the NW, N, or NE based on the card chosen. And special symbols on the card may introduce other effects (anything from choosing a new captain to having a player secretly learn something about another).

- the lieutenant and navigator are given 'off-duty' signs, and the next turn begins.

Play continues until the ship has reached a stated victory condition. All those on the winning team are victorious—even if a player was thrown overboard during the game!

Review

This is a very highly rated party game, and I see why. It seems like a lot going on, but it is simple enough after a few rounds. It is fun to play and has high replayability. Like any good party game, it encourages fun conversation and provokes lots of laughter. Recommended.

Rating: A

DC Deck-Building Game: Rivals—Batman vs. Joker

Today's review is of the 2014 release, DC Deck-Building Game: Rivals—Batman vs. Joker. For 2 players, it takes 30 minutes.

Overview

This release is in the DC Deck-Building Game family, which has had many releases (I list those here). Since I reviewed the core game previously, see that post for a game overview. In short, this is a deck-building game where you start with a deck of 10 cards, drawing 5 and playing them to generate power. This allows you to buy cards to add to your deck, which grows more powerful over time as discarded cards get shuffled to form a new deck.

game contents; image from here

This variant is a rivals game, meaning it is two-player only and there are no common super-villains to attack. Instead, you attack each other! You each have three versions of your character (Batman or Joker), each with increasingly powerful defense and abilities. On your turn, rather than purchasing cards, you can announce a confrontation and try to generate more power than your opponent's defense. If you do, you win that card and the next is revealed. The first to knock out their opponent's level 3 character (or who has the most victory points when the lineup deck is empty) is the winner! 

Review

My son owns most of this game's expansions, giving me a chance to sample the variation across them. I like the main concept of this one, and the overall play holds true to the core game. As one of the game's earlier releases, there isn't as much interaction on non-confrontation turns (meaning attack or defense cards that can disrupt your opponent). Later releases improve on that facet. That aside, I enjoyed this.

Rating: B+

True Desire

Valentine's Day just passed, love is in the air. On my heart this month is . . . the heart.

We all have desires. Things that occupy our thoughts, take our time, drive us, and define us. Things that, if withheld, can destroy us, incapacitate us, embitter us, or sap our will to live.

The Bible talks a lot about desires; I look at some themes below.

A Promise

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)

This is a famous verse. It is common to focus on the promise in the second half: "he will give you the desires of your heart." And generally we have some worldly object in view (true love, status, career, possessions, and so on). While it is true that God gives gifts and loves doing so (see Ephesians 4:8, 1 Corinthians 7:7, Luke 11:13, Matthew 7:11, James 1:17), this verse is not an 'equation' for getting worldly things. We must grapple with our fallen nature.

A Problem

Our desires are not inherently good. When man fell, our desires were corrupted and misguided.

• For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:16-17)
• But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. (James 1:14)
• Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. (Proverbs 18:1)
• Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. (Psalm 19:2)

As God never tempts us to sin (James 1:13), so the desires mentioned in Psalm 37 must point to something else. Can our desires ever be good?

A New Hope

The Bible talks a lot about the newness we have in Christ. Our sinful nature remains, yet he is making all things new, and so we are commanded to put off the old man and putting on the new. 

• And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.(Galatians 5:24)
• . . . put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, (Ephesians 4:22)
• But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16-17)

So we can have good desires—if we walk by the Spirit.

True Desire

So in considering Psalm 37, we cannot lose sight of the first part of this verse: "delight yourself in the Lord."

If you delight in the Lord, what will the desire of your heart be? 

• Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. (Psalm 73:25)
• My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)
• In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. (Isaiah 26:8)

These verses humble. Can I honestly say there is nothing on earth that I desire besides God? That his name and remembrance are the desire of my soul? 

I too often desire God's stuff rather than God himself. And that, in the end, is the problem. 

I think Psalm 37:4 is not about earthly things but something much more important: God will be with those who seek him (Jeremiah 29:13). Only he can satisfy; he is the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13) who can truly quench our thirst (John 4:13-14). And there's only one way to him: through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

'If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.' - C.S. Lewis

What do you delight in? Lord, rightly order our desires.

To Change the World (James Davison Hunter)

In this book, consisting of three interconnected essays, the author looks at world-changing, power, and what it means to be faithfully present as Christians. A summary follows.

Essay I: Christianity and World-Changing

Creation was created with potential. “God’s intention [is] that human beings both develop and cherish the world in ways that meet human needs and bring glory and honor to him. In this creative labor, we mirror God’s own generative act and thus reflect our very nature as ones made in his likeness.” This is the ‘creation mandate’ in Genesis 1:28, and it implicitly requires the creation of culture.

The fall of man didn’t change the creation mandate but certainly affects our ability to create and change culture. “Culture is a system of truth claims and moral obligations.” Each culture reflects good or bad values. How do we as Christians change the world (and culture) for the better?

“Politics is the tactic of choice for many Christians as they think about changing the world.” And this is a problem. We “have a healthy desire to change the world, but have done so with mixed effect.” Why? “The underpinning theory that [unconsciously] guides our efforts is deeply flawed; we pursue change through evangelism, social movements, and voting. These things matter but do not change culture.” What is the problem?

“The real problem of this working theory of culture and cultural change” is idealism. “In fact idealism misconstrues agency, implying the capacity to bring about influence where that capacity may not exist or where it may be only weak.” We must discard our prevailing view of culture if we are serious about changing the world, knowing that “Contemporary Christian understandings of power and politics are a very large part of what has made contemporary Christianity in America appalling, irrelevant, and ineffective—part and parcel of the worst elements of our lade-modern culture today, rather than a healthy alternative to it.”

He argues that real culture change “occurs through dense networks of elites operating in common purpose within institutions at the high-prestige centers of cultural production.” Which leads him to power (see next essay).

Essay II: Rethinking Power

World-changing needs power, “and the implicit theories of power” that guide its exercise “are deeply problematic.” It tends towards “conquest and domination.” It politicizes everything and makes people seethe “with resentment, anger, and bitterness.” Regrettably, Christians often operate with this same understanding of power and (on Right and Left) “aspire to a righteous empire.” On both sides, we are committed to “social change through politics and politically oriented social movements.” We conflate public with political. We selectively use “scripture to justify political interests.” We confuse “theology with national interests and identity.”

What is the result? We must remember is that “influence is never unidirectional in any relationship.” The church has been influenced by the culture and the tactics it adopts. “The tragedy is that in the name of resisting the internal deterioration of faith and the corruption of the world around them, many Christians . . . unwittingly embrace some of the most corrosive aspects of the cultural disintegration they decry. By nurturing its resentments, sustaining them through a discourse of negation toward outsiders, and in cases, pursuing their will to power, they become functional Nietzscheans, participating in the very cultural breakdown they so ardently strive to resist.”

What’s the way forward? “The first task is to disentangle the life and identity of the church from the life and identity of American society.” “The second task is for the church and for Christian believers to decouple the “public” form the “political.” Politics is always a crude simplification of public life and the common good is always more than its political expression.” There is power in everyday life outside of politics.

Ultimately, we can learn a lot about power by looking at Jesus. Four things to note:

• “His power was derived from his complete intimacy with and submission to his Father.” (John 12:49-50, 5:19, 30, 8:28, 38, 14:10, Hebrews 5:7-8, Matthew 4:1-10)
• He rejected “status and reputation and the privilege that accompanies them.” (Phillippians 2:6)
• “Compassion defines the power of his kingdom more than anything else.” “those degradations he endured willingly because of his love for fallen humanity and for his creation more broadly.” (Mark 10:45)
• “The noncoercive way in which he dealt with those outside of the community of faith.” (Luke 17:12-19, John 4:7-26, Luke 9:51-56, Matthew 5:39, 44)

Instead of embracing strategies that are “incapable of bringing about the ends to which they aspire” and “are deeply problematic, shortsighted, and at times, profoundly corrupted,” what “if the flourishing of Christian faith and its cultures depends on a model of power that derives from Christ’s life and teaching?” And “what does this look like in practice?”

Essay III: Toward a New City Commons: Reflections on a Theology of Faithful Presence

Faithfulness is not “a state of abstract piety floating above the multifaceted and compromising realities of daily life in actual situations.” Instead, “faithfulness works itself out in the context of complex social, political, economic, and cultural forces that prevail at a particular time and place.” “To face up to the challenge of integrity and faithfulness in our generation, then, requires that Christians understand the unique and evolving character of our times.”

In our times, there are two challenges for religious faith: difference and dissolution.

• Difference: Pluralism today . . . “exists without a dominant culture, at least not one of overwhelming credibility or one that is beyond challenge.” Social conditions should reinforce core beliefs. That core has shifted. “Pluralism creates social conditions in which God is no longer an inevitability . . . the most important symbols of social, economic, political, and aesthetic life no longer point to him.”

• Dissolution: “the deconstruction of the most basic assumptions about reality.” Civilization is based on confidence that there is a correspondence between words and realities; “that the world and our being in it are articulable.” Everything today is subjective. “in the contemporary world we have the capacity to question everything but little ability to affirm anything beyond our own personal whims and possessive interests.”

He suggests there are three paradigms of engagement with the culture:

1. Defensive against (Conservative): “create a defensive enclave that is set against the world.” “Retain the distinctiveness of Christian orthodoxy and orthopraxy within the larger world.”
2. Relevance to (Liberal): makes “a priority of being connected to the pressing issues of the day.”
3. Purity from (neo-Anabaptist): “there is very little that can be done for the world because, in its fallen state, the world is irredeemable this side of Christ’s return.”

Problem with each? “The desire to be “relevant to” the world has come at the cost of abandoning distinctiveness. The desire to be “Defensive against” the world is rooted in a desire to retain distinctiveness, but this has been manifested in ways that are, on the one hand, aggressive and confrontational and, on the other, culturally trivial and inconsequential. Finally, the desire to be “pure from” the world has entailed a disengagement and withdrawal from active presence in huge areas of social life.”

He proposes “that Christians are called to relate to the world within a dialectic of affirmation and antithesis.”

• Affirmation: “based on the recognition that culture and culture-making have their own validity before God that is not nullified [bad word?] by the fall.” “Goodness, beauty, and truth remain in this fallen creation.” “People of every creed and no creed have talents and abilities, possess knowledge, wisdom, and inventiveness, and hold standards of goodness, truth, justice, morality, and beauty that are, in relative degree, in harmony with God’s will and purposes. These are all gifts of grace that are lavished on people whether Christian or not."
• Antithesis: “rooted in a recognition of the totality of the fall.” “All social organizations exist as parodies of eschatological hope. And so it is that the city is a poor imitation of heavenly community”, etc. Within this context, “the church is always a ‘community of resistance.’” But the resistance is “not simply negational” but “creative and constructive.” The “objective is to retrieve the good to which modern institutions and ideas implicitly or explicitly aspire.” “To offer constructive alternatives.”

His central argument is for “a theology of faithful presence.” “It can be summarized in two essential lessons.”

• "Incarnation is the only adequate reply to the challenges of dissolution; the erosion of trust between word and world and the problems that attend it.”
• "The way the Word became incarnate in Jesus Christ and the purposes to which the incarnation was directed . . . are the only adequate reply to challenge of difference.”

“In all, presence and place matter decisively.” “The very character of God and the heart of his Word is that God is fully and faithfully present to us.” “His faithful presence is an expression of commitment marked by at least four attributes:”

• He pursues us. (Deuteronomy 7:6, Isaiah 43:1, Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16)
• His identification with us (Psalms 103:14, Phil. 2:7, Matthew 20:29-34)
• Found in the life he offers (Genesis 17:3, Jeremiah 29:11, John 1:3, 10:10)
• It is only made possible by his sacrificial love. (Zephaniah 1:7, Romans 3:25, 1 John 2:1, Hebrews 10:10)

“Pursuit, identification, the offer of life through sacrificial love—this is what God’s faithful presence means.” And “at root, a theology of faithful presence begins with an acknowledgement of God’s faithful presence to us and that his call upon us is that we be faithfully present to him in return.”

1. “Faithful presence means that we are to be fully present to each other within the community of faith and fully present to those who are not.” Regardless of in or out of our faith community, “we are to pursue others, identify with others, and labor towards the fullness of others through sacrificial love.”
2. “Faithful presence requires that Christians be fully present and committed to their tasks.”
3. “Faithful presence in the world means that Christians are fully present and committed in their spheres of social influence, whatever they may be: their families, neighborhoods, voluntary activities, and places of work.” There is power in social life . . . “Christians will wield it in relationships and in the institutions and organizations of which they are a part. The question we face is how will we use whatever power we have.”

“Faithful presence calls believers to yield their will to God and to nurture and cultivate the world where God has placed them.”

This theology “obligates us to do what we are able, under the sovereignty of God, to shape the patterns of life and work and relationship—that is, the institutions of which our lives are constituted—toward a shalom that seeks the welfare not only of those of the household of God but of all. That power will be wielded is inevitable. But the means of influence and the ends of influence must conform to the exercise of power modeled by Christ.”

“Certainly Christians, at their best, will neither create a perfect world nor one that is altogether new; but by enacting shalom and seeking it on behalf of all others through the practice of faithful presence, it is possible, just possible, that they will help to make the world a little bit better.”

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Great book! I only skimmed it but still managed 8+ pages of notes, which I further condensed in the above. A lot of interesting points and food for thought. It is a mix between academic and accessible.

Rating: A