College Bowl Season

It’s the most wonderful week of the year, as ESPN reminds us 20 times a day. That is it’s college football bowl season. I am primarily interested in the outcome of games involving ACC teams.

• Georgia overran Syracuse in the Tangerine Bowl
• Virginia was upset by Fresno State in the Humanitarian Bowl
• North Carolina vs. Boston College in the Tire Bowl in Charlotte – just started, but I predict UNC to win.
• Miami vs. Florida in the Peach Bowl – I predict Florida to win
• Florida State vs. West Virginia in the Gator Bowl – FSU to win
• Virginia Tech vs. Auburn in the Sugar Bowl – I predict Auburn.

In the BCS games, I predict:

• Michigan over Texas in the Rose
• Utah over Pittsburgh in the Fiesta
• An Auburn win in the Sugar
• Oklahoma’s running game to shut down Southern Cal.

College football is a particular passion/ hobby of mine. An I am not alone, judging by the money made in it. This time of year you will hear many a sports journalist go on their yearly crusade to decide a “true champion” by a playoff. That would be the worst development possible. Bowl games are a unique, market driven, community led American insitution that would not be duplicated anywhere else in the world.

Essentially exibition games, usually between student-athletes of schools that would rarely face each other; bowls offer fans the opportunity for a little winter travel, athletes the opportunity to be rewarded for amatuer athletics and to usually partake in activities to assist the less-fortunate in children’s hospitals, and for communities to share some civic pride in a winter festival after Christmas. All positive things that bring good to many, for all their crass commercialism and indulgence at times.

A playoff in the sport would add the worst sort of modernity. Treating amatuer athletes in a more mechanical fashion than they already are would turn the sport even more away from the athletes and more towards the accountants and the demands of the disinterested fan. Having been to three of these bowls in my life, I’ve seen first hand how they honor the best in athletic competition and maintain a teaching element for the players.

The Knight Foundation – whose findings I will write more later – has written for more fairness in the current set-up, including academic reforms. I hope their efforts are succesful. Any academic reforms will be much harder to put in place if there were ever a playoff system, with its introduction of money and winner-take-all systems.

Christmas Unwrap

Christmas has come, and while I suppose it is still Christmas season for those that follow the 12 day pattern, the decorations are coming down all around. It was a good Christmas for many reasons. Any opportunity to celebrate the incarnation of our Lord is always good. For my wife and family, it was time well-spent – in three different states for us.

Beyond the spiritual joys of the season, great gifts were enjoyed, which I would recommend to anyone. My wife and I enjoyed a family get-together last week at this time at her Uncle & aunt’s new Inn/ Lodge on a mountain ridge near Gatlinburg, TN. It’s called the Quail Ridge Inn and I highly recommend it since it’s open for business and brand new.

Good wine, for us at least, is always a great gift. We received two bottles that we’ll try out in the new year. Horton Vineyard in Virginia’s Chardonnay and McWilliams Vineyard in Australia’s Merlot.

Also, completing our Lord of the Rings collection, I got the extended version of the Return of the King DVD. At nearly an hour longer in length and with 6 hours of documentaries including excellent background on Tolkien’s literary heritage and the making of the movie, it’s a keeper. It’s too bad that the Scouring of the Shire was not filmed, but the three movies are as good a representation of the book as is possible.

A nice treat was also the DVD set of old Looney Tunes cartoons. Completely childish I know, but they are art in their own way and are still funny 50 years after creation. They make a nice blend of Technicolor and the American/ Andrew Jackson view of the world – leave us alone or we’ll make you wish you never saw us – or at least that is how I see Bugs Bunny and the Roadrunner.

I bought for my brother a book by the humorous commentator of all things pop-culture, James Lileks, called the Gallery of Regrettable Food. Lileks does as good a job as anyone I know of showing the vapidity of modernity and pop-culture in a laugh out loud fashion. I like to call him the family man’s Lewis Grizzard.

The wife and I enjoyed a day last week, using the year pass that we gave each other last Christmas, at the incomparable Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. We loved visiting the estate several times this year and find it a beautiful place, but after a few trips, the house takes on a creepy air of its excessive beauty.

Historic Brattonsville, in York County, South Carolina, has an annual Christmas tour. It’s a historic village with excellent restorations of the colonial-era buildings. The movie The Patriot was filmed on site. The Christmas tour involves telling the story of the Scot-Irish Presbyterian Bratton family from the 1770’s to the 1850’s, along with German immigrants and slaves and how Christmas impacted them. It was as well-done a historical presentation as I have seen. Visitors went from house to house, with paths lit by gas lanterns, and reinactors acted out how Christmas was celebrated in their time period and culture. I recommend that anyone who can, view their Christmas candle-light tour. Actors portraying ministers, slaves, farmers, etcl were allowed to speak in as close to their voice as possible.

Christmas was and is always for me deeply profound. It can be silly, serious, crass, spiritual and materialistic. It is good we tell ourselves every year of the coming of Christ. I’m convinced that if we didn’t, it would be harder to believe that it already is. I love the line in the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe that describes the time of the White Witch – always winter and never Christmas. That says a lot in the negative

Here is wishing to all a healthy joy for the truths of Christmas throughout 2005.

South Asia Floods

Friday evening, I sung this line at a Christmas Eve church service from Joy to the World:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the
ground;

He comes to make His blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,Far as the
curse is found,Far as, far as, the curse is found.

Now today I hear that the death toll in the South Asia tsunami is over a 100,000. Some would say there is a disconnect here, that the song is just wishful thinking, that the incarnation of Jesus is just a tradition; and that catastrophe’s like the tsunami are the reality of a harsh world. I disagree. The pain and greif caused by these waves are a result of living in a cursed world, and will remain so until the end of time. Some I’m sure, believe they know the particulars of the mind of providence about this. I certainly don’t want to claim any knowledge of Providence’s particulars – which would be foolish.

We live in a world where death, destruction and pain have been
the norm. Most of us will die in unpleasant, painful ways. Which is why it
is important to not pass over the glow of Christmas so quickly. Anyone who
just spent weeks celebrating the incarnation has an obligation to at least
pray for the millions affected by this curse of creation. Where possible, monetary donations are appropriate to groups like:

• World
  Vision
• Southern
  Baptists

And to be discerning of groups that would take advantage of the
genorisity of others as the New
York
Sun reports.

Newsweek vs. The Incarnation

Hugh Hewitt has asked for responses to the recent Newsweek cover story, which can be read online here, about the birth of Christ. I saw this article in a Borders the other day, barely gave it a second thought. Frankly, I’m used to the Mainstream Media trotting out skeptical stories about anything to do with Christianity at Easter and especially at Christmas.

These articles are mostly pointless, poorly written but full of Renaissance Biblically-themed graphics; so the readers are left with the idea that these are authentic somehow. They remind me of any of the “Mysteries of the Bible” episodes on the Discovery channel. My favorite one of those was the episode on the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 – which is neither mysterious nor in the Bible. Generally, these sorts of articles or documentaries fallow a set template:

• Present Biblical event agreed upon by Christians of all sects, denominations and groups – from Baptist churches in Waco, TX to Coptic monasteries in the Egyptian desert
• State that while agreed upon by a large majority of Christians, nevertheless, some scholars/ recent scholarship disagrees with the conclusion of the other 99.999999% of the world’s Christians
• Interview the scholars with disagreeing information, note that none of these scholars take the Bible as a historically accurate document by presupposition
• Throw in a few quotes from a Reform, maybe, just maybe a Conservative Rabbi – never an Orthodox Scholar
• Fail to interview any theologian, pastor, teacher or professor who takes the Bible seriously as a historically accurate document
• Conclude the document with a nice, sweeping generalization that even if the actual event in question did not happen as described in the Bible, it doesn’t matter, because we all can come together with a heart of faith, to hope for the best in our spirituality and goodwill towards our fellow man

Quite frankly they’re boring articles, and Jon Meacham’s article is no different. It suits the spirit of the age which is nothing more than skepticism and cynicism. For all who have written like Meacham in recent years, the appeal is one of pride. The hope is that by always being skeptical of the silly ol’ traditions that the folks back home believed in, you can achieve a sense of accomplishment over your former equals. Folks like that used to get beat up by their old high school buddies when they went back home in December for the non-sectarian, Winter Solstice, happy, happy, family gift giving time with historic religious overtones on the 25th.

As far as the content of the article, well let me speak as one who has only taken a graduate level course on the Gospels at RTS, involving some study of higher criticism and as someone who has studied dating issues in the four Gospels. I would have gotten a D for this article. It is poorly written, offers no counter to the theme that some scholars dispute Matthew and Luke birth narratives, and disregards the Biblical account as a poor source for itself.

Let’s just look at one quote here from the article:

“Yet almost nothing in Luke’s story stands up to close historical scrutiny; Brown finds it “dubious on almost every score.” Augustus conducted no global census, and no more local one makes sense in Luke’s time frame. Setting Jesus’ birth at a moment when the princes of this world are exerting temporal power over the people is a deft device, though, for the theological point of Jesus’ arrival is that anyone who chooses to believe in him will ultimately be subject only to God. Evoking the prophet Joel in the Book of Acts, Peter says that “it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and there is nothing any mortal emperor or governor can do to foreclose the promise of the kingdom Jesus said he was offering.”

Really? Who told you that almost nothing stands up to scrutiny in Luke’s nativity setting? Nothing about Zacharias being a Levite serving in the temple? What about Quirinias serving in Syria in 6 or 7 BC? Nothing about Jewish families returning to the city of their birth before census counts? – the Romans didn’t come up with that, try reading the Old Testament and David’s censuses – the Romans had little interest in uprooting the culture of local populations, the wanted their obedience and their money. Next time, try reading books like The Historical Realibility of the Gospels by Blomberg when in doubt over the textual issues in Luke.

It’s interesting that Meacham quotes from Celsus in AD 180 as an early source to doubt the virgin birth. Odd because Celsus was one of the most discredited members of the early church around. He wrote a piece in AD 178 called True Reason vs. Christians – ah, that fits perfect with the Meacham article. 70 years later, even Origen, uneven in many ways theologically, writes to totally discredit Celsus.

The article was the equivalent of a PR piece from a liberal seminary’s magazine. It lost all its credibility when there were no quotes from theologians or professors who do agree with the thesis of Meacham or his main source Raymond Brown, a deceased Roman Catholic priest at Union Theological Seminary (what is a Roman Catholic doing at Union?).

In the long run, Meacham’s article will do little damage, except to those in the MSM who value their position of authority in society, those looking to disregard the gospel message, and those who think they should be able to get by in life by writing in a sloppy fashion.

Christ has come most certainly. As important as the beginning of the incarnation is, it is important to remember that the gospels remain Passion week narratives with long introductions. We work backwards today from the cross and the empty tomb, hopefully backwards to a stable in Bethlehem where we discover again the real miracle of the incarnation, not only in our lives, but in all the world. The invasion of the world by God is a terrible and sweet story, let us not miss it due to Newsweek noise.

For great deconstructions of the Meacham article go and read Al Mohler and MardDRoberts.

Entertaining ourselves to Boredom?

Jollyblogger has a thought-provoking post about the power of entertainment on our lives, especially in our culture. He quotes the often overquoted Neil Postman, of Amusing Ourselves to Death fame. Postman makes some sound points, especially in his book Technopoly.

I was disappointing in his last book before he died, Building a Bridge to the 18th Century, where he attempts to come up with a solution to a fragmented world. His solution is for Western society to return to the values of the Enlightenment.

Postman is far too shallow with his solution. Which does not surprise me since he was a diest at best, definitely not a traditional Christian theist. His answers to fragmentation today were nothing more than man living by reason and the intellectual instincts, rather than the easier to follow animal instincts.

I would argue that the reason why we waste so much of our time on television, popular music, popular literature (mere reading is not enough) and all the other noises of our time is that we are bored, and bored silly at that.

I am convinced that while all outward crime and all inward atrophy begins with the pride of individuals; nothing motivates people to act on their sins as much as boredom. I am convinced that we seek so many constant entertaining outlets because we are not comfortable to face who we are, and our own place in the world. Our own pride tells us to ignore our short comings, constant entertainments help our ignorance.

Pascal, a century before the Enlightenment grew its first seed in Napoleon, was convinced that men embraced activity to avoid facing a transcendent God who interacted with them personally.

I like what Jollyblogger says about how our day-dreams tell us who we really are. There have been times in my own life where I have embraced activities to avoid: work, responsibilities or difficult decisions. The insidious nature of modern forms of the visual culture is that it takes us away from things that really do help move us towards changing who we are. What is better? To sit on a couch, alone, watching sports on TV; or to gather some friends and shoot hoops or play touch football for a few hours? Which makes someone more likely to face issues in their life?

For those who are trying to interact with people in ways to change them (teachers, ministers, parents, coaches, etc.) the temptation is massive to just give in and use unthoughtful forms of mass media. It is very hard to use the mass media in constructive ways. The medium does matter. If changing individuals is someone’s call, then whatever noise that can block communication must be dealt with as soon as possible.