I just came across another AP article on abortion doctors being charged for murder. The story is disturbing, of course, and just one more indication of how the culture of death marches on.

And yet, I was strangely comforted by the outrage in the comments section, particularly from those who still call themselves “pro-choice.” In fact, I’ve been perusing the comments and haven’t found anyone yet who defends the aborting of a viable fetus. It’s only a matter of time before the our society’s revulsion at late-term abortions is pushed back toward the beginning of the pregnancy.

When it comes to abortion, the tide is turning. Take a look at some of these comments.

• 36 weeks? isn’t that almost nine months?
• An abortion at 36 WEEKS??? People, that’s a 9 month pregnancy! Who in their right mind would abort a baby who is at full term to be born?! O.M.G.
• What about the mothers. They should be arrested and charged as they knew what they were doing.
• I agree, both the doctors and the mothers should be held responsible. Most states have made it somewhat easy to drop off a baby at local hospitals, churches, etc…if the child is not wanted.
• While I am pro-choice, even I am appalled and baffled at the thought of aborting a 36 week old fetus. What were the participants thinking? There MUST be a cut-off point; even I think ending the life of an about-to-be-born baby is murder.
• My son who was born into this world at 32 weeks was a mere 4 lbs but is a fighter and made it after a 3 week stint in the ICU. I CANNOT FATHOM someone killing this child at 36 weeks . #$%$ is wrong with people. I am sure these babies would have brought a couple struggling to have children all the joy in the world. I am lucky my son made it and is as happy and silly as any little guy out there…I feel terrible for these poor little guys…
• That’s pretty disgusting… a 36 week old fetus? My son was born at 37 weeks and was a beautiful, pink, 7 pound baby. The thought of aborting him at that gestational time makes me physically sick. And the thought of him being born & having his little spinal cord severed makes me want to vomit. I’m not saying that I’m completely against abortion in all cases, but this story has brought up feelings in me about abortion that I never even knew existed. Completely sickening.
• As a supporter of a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy, I am pro choice. I do NOT condone abortion at 36 weeks… Before the fetus is viable… yes.. After NO. If it took you 36 weeks to figure out you don’t want to have a child too bad.
• Why kill the babies! why not go full term and allow adoption by qualified parents that have not been able to have children of their own. There are thousands of them hoping every day to receive a call that would be a dream come true. These doctors and their patients should all be charged with murder or conspiracy to commit murder. There is just no excuse for their actions.
• I am against abortion personally (When I found myself pregnant for the first time at age 36 & single, I refused to have one even though the father who was 44 and had no kids insisted. Boy was he angry about my decision!). However, I am pro-choice, but late term abortions are just wrong. If the fetus has a chance of survival outside the uterus, I call that murder. This is all about substituting conscience for greed.
• As a Pro-Choice person, I am extremely sickened by the actions of these doctors. There is a line and they have definitely crossed it!
• You can’t have it both ways folks. Either a woman has a right to choose what she can do with her body, or she doesn’t. Make up your mind and pick a side.
• I don’t have the words for this story……

Here is the first (official) trailer for The Hobbit:

Francis Schaeffer (from Letters of Francis Schaeffer):

Marriage is wonderful, but unless both are children of God through faith in Christ, and unless both put Christ first as Lord in their lives, then a marriage can never be what the Lord meant marriage to be. This would always be true, but it is doubly true in a day such as our own which is so filled with confusion and tensions. It is only when each one puts Christ first that there can be a sufficient base. And though at first it might seem as though this would be disruptive to a marriage – to have even Christ put before the other one – yet it is not this way. This is so because, if we put Christ before the other person, we will then be able to love and be thoughtful of the other person in a way that would not be possible if that person was put first.

Tim Keller from The Meaning of Marriage:

As a pastor I have spoken to thousands of couples, some working on marriage-seeking, some working on marriage-sustaining, and some working on marriage-saving. I’ve heard them say over and over, “Love shouldn’t be this hard; it should come naturally.” In response, I always say something like, “Why believe that? Would someone who wants to play professional baseball say, ‘It shouldn’t be so hard to hit a fastball?’ Would someone who wants to write the greatest American novel of her generation say, ‘It shouldn’t be hard to create believable characters and compelling narrative?’”

Charles Spurgeon:

A well-matched couple carry a joyful life between them, as the two spies carried the cluster of Eshcol. They are a brace of birds of Paradise. They multiply their joys by sharing them, and lessen their troubles by dividing them: this is fine arithmetic…

Marriage was the last relic of paradise left among men, and Jesus hasted to honor it with his first miracle.

Iranian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani will remain in prison:

In late September of this year, he was given four chances to recant his faith in court and refused each time. His case then was referred to the ayatollah. The American Center for Law and Justice reported one of his court exchanges.

“Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?” Nadarkhani asked.

“To the religion of your ancestors, Islam,” the judge reportedly replied.

“I cannot,” the pastor responded.

Related: Youcef Nadarkhani’s Letter to His Church

Last week, I was a guest on World magazine’s excellent weekly radio show The World and Everything In It. Host Joseph Slife asked me about my favorite Christmas song and my favorite Christmas recording. I chose “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” as my all-time favorite Christmas song and the more obscure “Christ Is Born” as my all-time favorite Christmas recording.

Here is a link to the segment(which features the music, not just my talking about these songs), a downloadable mp3, and below is the transcript.

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”

Over the years, the Christmas song that continues to move me is one of the oldest Christmas songs that we still sing in our churches today, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” I believe it goes all the way back to the 12th century. It has a very mournful melody. But then there is that lyrical command of the chorus to “Rejoice!”

The song is sort of a bridge between Advent and Christmas. Advent being the time of anticipation as we are mourning in the exile, knowing that God’s full promises have not been completely fulfilled, and yet we also know that because of the birth and life and death and resurrection of Christ that God has already accomplished our salvation and we are awaiting Christ’s return and we are waiting for the time when joy really will flood the world as other Christmas songs remind us.

I also enjoy the second verse of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” which is not as often sung… the verse that says, ‘O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight!” I love the fact that Jesus did not only defeat sin and evil… He also conquered the greatest enemy to God’s good creation, which is death itself. And so, this is a Christmas song that for me is a bridge to all the rest of the story that the Gospels give us, where we go from the wooden manger to the wooden cross and then the empty tomb and then Christ’s ascension and the anticipation of His return.

One of the reasons I enjoy this song so much is because it not only allows us to go back and put ourselves in the shoes of the first-century Jews, so to speak, who were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah as they mourned in lonely exile as the song says, but it also allows us to take that quality of anticipation from the first-century Jews and to have that again even now as we look over the evil in our world, as we see the evidence and the effects of the curse that still lingers and know that even though Christ has come and that the world is being made new, we are like the first-century Jews, still in a sort of exile as we await Christ’s return and await for Him to make good on all the promises that God has made in His covenant.

“Christ Is Born”

Another favorite Christmas song of mine is one that is a bit more obscure. It is a song called “Christ Is Born.” Like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” it was originally written in Latin by the choir director at the Sistine Chapel, Father Domenico Bartolucci. And Ray Charles of the Ray Charles singers talks about how he went to see Father Bartolucci in his apartment, and he says that he had a big Ampex tape machine and a box of tapes. He brought out a tape of a gorgeous piece he had written and he played it for the singers and the words were in Latin.

Later Perry Como decided that he wanted to record it. So there was an English adaptation of the song that was produced called, “Christ Is born” and Perry Como used it on various Christmas shows that he did.

The version that I have really grown to love is one done by The Carpenters in 1978. There is a very understated majesty to this song. I really like the line that says, “Hear him crying in the manger,” and then that is juxtaposed by the line “King of heaven, Son of God,” which then leads to the worshipful response “Alleluia.” And you really have the mystery of the incarnation there in a nutshell. You’ve got it described so beautifully with a crying baby in a manger and yet this is the King of heaven, this is God in the flesh, this is the Son of God.

Last week, I sat down with Keith and Kristyn Getty to talk about their new Christmas album, Joy: An Irish Christmas. I’ve long appreciated the Gettys for the way they serve the Church through their hymn writing. Reading this transcript, one can sense Keith and Kristyn’s heart for evangelism, for the Church, and for praising the Lord who took on flesh to save us.

Trevin Wax: How do you go about choosing songs for a Christmas album? You probably have so many favorites.

Kristyn Getty: It’s a long, long process. Was it two years ago when we first started thinking about a Christmas album?

Keith Getty: Yes. Judson Baptist in Nashville asked us to do a Christmas show. And we didn’t have one.

Kristyn: That’s right. So we had to put some songs together for it, and that was the beginning of the sorting process. Then we developed the Irish theme with an Irish friend of ours who is fantastic at arranging music with an Irish side to it. Then, for the album, we brought out a few songs we wrote many years ago for a project that we did at home in the UK called Incarnation.

Keith: So it was basically a mixture of those three things: the older carols we’d written, the new carols we’d written, and carols that we loved that other people had written.

Kristyn: It was quite refreshing, actually, because for all our other albums, we have tried to write everything. It worked out well that in the year we were having our first child for us to take on a project where we didn’t have to write as much.

Trevin: Do either of you have a personal favorite Christmas song on the album?

Keith: My favorite Christmas song isn’t on the album because it didn’t fit the style of where we were going – “Once in Royal David’s City.” I love the melody, but it really doesn’t fit an Irish approach.

Kristyn: I enjoy singing “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Our arrangement with the band has a lot of energy.

Trevin: How has having a baby changed Christmas for you?

Keith: Well, we have a song called “How Suddenly a Baby Cries,” and it’s true that things are forever changed.

Trevin: Your song “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven” has some lines about the glory of the incarnation. When I first heard that song, it reminded me of when we had our first child. He was six months old at Christmas, and I remember thinking about how helpless a baby is. And the glorious mystery of the incarnation hit me like never before…

Kristyn: You taste it in a new way. You know, you understand it before, but life experience helps you understand it differently. You view childbirth differently too. In one of our songs, we had a line that described Mary as “frail.” And after I’d given birth, I thought, Frailty has nothing to do with the process! So we changed the word to “young.” The song “Magnificat” has been meaningful to us because we’ve sung that song through the journey of the struggle to conceive, waiting for her to come and then now that she’s arrived.

Trevin: Whenever I hear “Magnificat,” I think of SBTS professor Chip Stam. There’s a YouTube video of you all at the hospital singing the song for him.

Keith: Chip was a good friend of ours who died this year of cancer. Track 9 on the album, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is dedicated to him. That hymn melody is actually called “Stam.”

Trevin: Thinking about Chip and other men like him, are there some particular authors or worship leaders you turn to when you are looking for inspiration in the hymn-writing process?

Keith: The Bible is the primary inspiration. We read the whole Bible every year systematically. Likewise, our church focuses on expositional Bible teaching. In the last two years, I’ve been inspired by the whole history of Christian verse, especially poetry in English language. So I enjoy that. Authors? Tim Keller and Don Carson are two of the people who we’re closest to in terms of understanding theology. They’ve got a broad vision of understanding the gospel but in a sense that’s culturally relevant and artistically fulfilling.

Kristyn: Also, my uncle, Dr. John Lennox.

Keith: Yes, Professor Lennox introduced us. I had sort of a skeptic phase, and he helped me.

Kristyn: He’s one of those people whose strong faith makes you stronger. Whenever I’m with him, within a few minutes, either in conversation with myself or other people, he’s talking about the Lord and trying to find a way of communicating the gospel. He’s a phenomenal evangelist and a great Bible teacher.

Another person who has inspired me is Joni Eareckson Tada because of the contagious joy that she has, her unbelievable cheerfulness, and her deep faith that has been tested and shines brightly. Regarding some of the gentler songs that we’ve done – perhaps not an individual line – but the thought of her sometimes informs my singing.

Trevin: Does the fact that churches immediately grab on to certain hymns surprise you? Do you ever expect a hymn to take root quickly and then find it didn’t become as popular as expected?

Kristyn: Well, everybody’s different. And different denominations, different groups, link on to different things.

Keith: But I think different songs have different value. The last song we wrote is always the one we’re most excited about. Take two songs on the Christmas album: “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” and “Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven.” The second one, a children’s hymn, is useful and timeless, but has a sense of immediacy. The first one, “O Savior of Our Fallen Race,” is probably one of our best melodies ever, but it will be a gradual build, as it’s not in the style for the popular evangelical church. So different songs find different homes.

Trevin: One of my favorites is “Jesus Is Lord,” but it’s not on any of your American albums.

Keith: It was the closing hymn at Chip’s funeral, actually. He wanted his funeral to finish up with the theme of Jesus as Lord.

Kristyn: I like that one too, but it’s not one we do with the band very often.

Trevin: Looking beyond to other singers, bands, and artists… are there any particular songwriters or people you look up to or respect?

Kristyn: There’s Stuart Townend and then everybody else! After him, I loved Vikki Cook’s melody to “Before the Throne of God Above.”

Keith: Graham Kendrick pioneered the way. “The Servant King” is pretty unsurpassed.

Kristyn: Our worship music diet growing up was Graham Kendrick…

Keith: And deserved to be because it was head and shoulders above everything else.

Trevin: What’s your impression of the other side of the modern hymn movement – the practice of taking old, obscure, forgotten hymns and giving them new music with a band and things like that? Sojourn, Red Mountain Church, etc.

Kristyn: I think it can be very, very good. The only thing I would say is that if the original melody was greatly loved, I’m usually disappointed unless the new melody is incredible. But the way these groups are taking more obscure texts that people don’t sing anymore and composing a beautiful melody for them is fantastic.

Trevin: How do you recommend people approach this Christmas album?

Kristyn: Carols are a further opportunity to help tell the gospel story. It’s incredible that you can be in supermarkets and malls and street corners and hear songs like “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” We pray that the songs that are old will be heard in fresh ways and that the new songs will be an avenue for the gospel to reach into people’s lives.

Keith: Christmas in our culture is our biggest chance. Once a year, the culture determines that it’s okay to bring your friends to church, to have the gospel presented in songs and sermons and on television. This opportunity probably won’t be around forever, not to the degree that it is now. So it’s a huge opportunity. You’ve got captive audiences every time. We’ve got to be strategic about these things.

Kristyn: If a little bit of Irishness might draw some more people in, that’s exciting. Christmastime is also an incredibly difficult time for people. Our culture creates a sentiment, and the expectation is that we all have to tap into it somehow. Yet many people feel outside of that sentiment because that’s not where they are. That’s an opportunity for us to present the gospel story that gives people answers to their deepest longings.

Trevin: Thank you both. That is good counsel for church leaders and church members who want to reach out during Christmastime. And thank you for your service to the Church through your hymn writing.

Just once, I’d like to see a TV interview go more like this:

Host: You are a Christian pastor, and you say you believe the Bible, which means you are supposed to love all people.

Pastor: That’s right.

Host: But it appears to me that you and your church take a rather unloving position when it comes to gay people. Are homosexuals welcome to come to your church?

Pastor: Of course. We believe that the gospel is a message relevant for every person on the planet, and we want everyone to hear the gospel and find salvation in Jesus Christ. So at our church, our arms are outstretched to people from every background, every race, every ethnicity and culture. We’re a place for all kinds of sinners and people with all kinds of problems.

Host: But you said there, “We’re a place for sinners.” So you do believe that homosexuality is sinful, right?

Pastor: Yes, I do.

Host: So how do you reconcile the command to love all people with a position on homosexuality that some would say is radically intolerant?

Pastor: (smiling) If you think my position on homosexuality is radical, just wait until you hear what else I believe! I believe that a teenage guy and girl who have sex in the backseat of a pick-up are sinning. The unmarried heterosexual couple living down the street from me is sinning. In fact, any sexual activity that takes place outside of the marriage covenant between a husband and wife is sinful. What’s more, Jesus takes this sexual ethic a step further and goes to the heart of the matter. That means that any time I even lust after someone else, I am sinning. Jesus’ radical view of sexuality shows all of us up as sexual sinners, and that’s why He came to die. Jesus died to save lustful, homo- and heterosexual sinners and transform our hearts and minds and behavior. Because He died for me, I owe Him my all. And as a follower of Jesus, I’m bound to what He says about sex and morality.

Host: But Jesus didn’t condemn homosexuality outright, did He?

Pastor: He didn’t have to. He went to the heart issue and intensified the commands against immoral behavior in the Old Testament. So Jesus doesn’t just condemn adultery, for example, as does one of the Ten Commandments. Jesus condemns even the lust that leads to adultery, all with the purpose of offering us transformed hearts that begin beating in step with His radical demands.

Host: You say he condemned adultery, but he chose not to condemn the woman caught in adultery.

Pastor: That’s right, but He did tell her to “go and sin no more.”

Host: But who are you to condemn someone who doesn’t line up with your personal beliefs about sexuality?

Pastor: Who am I? No one. It’s not all that important what I think about these things. This conversation about homosexuality isn’t really about my personal beliefs. They’re about Jesus and what He says. I have no right to condemn or judge the world. That right belongs to Jesus. My hope is to follow Him faithfully. That means that whatever He says in regard to sexual practices is what I believe to be true, loving, and ultimately best for human flourishing – even when it seems out of step with the whims of contemporary culture.

Host: But you are judging. You are telling all the gay people watching this broadcast that they are sinners.

Pastor: I’m not singling out gay people. I’m pointing to Jesus as the answer to all sexual sinfulness.

Host: But you are referring to gay people. Why are you so focused on homosexuality?

Pastor: (smiling) With all due respect, you are the one who brought up this subject.

Host: Are you saying that you can’t be gay and Christian?

Pastor: No. I’m saying that you can’t be a genuine Christian without repentance. Everyone – including me – is guilty of sin, but Christianity hinges on repentance. We agree with God about our sin, and we turn from it and turn toward Jesus. When it comes to Christianity, this debate is not about homosexuality versus other sins. It’s about whether or not repentance is integral to the Christian life.

Host: But do you see why a homosexual watching this might think you are attacking them personally? You’re saying that something is wrong with them.

Pastor: I think Jesus’ teaching on sexuality shows us that there is something wrong with all of us – something that can only be fixed by what Jesus did for us on the cross and in His resurrection. That said, I understand why people might think I am attacking them personally. Most people with same-sex desires believe they were born with these tendencies. That’s why they often see their attraction as going to the very core of who they are, and so they identify themselves with the “gay” label. So whenever someone questions their behavior or desires, they take it as an attack on the very core of their being. That’s usually not the intent of the person who disagrees with homosexual behavior. But that’s the way it is perceived. I understand that.

Host: If it’s true that a person is born with one sexual orientation or another, then how can it possibly be loving to condemn one person’s orientation?

Pastor: Well, we really don’t know for certain about sexual attraction being innate and set from birth. All we have is the testimony of people who say that they’ve experienced same-sex desires since childhood. Christianity teaches that all people are born with a bent toward sin. It’s possible that some people will have a propensity toward alcohol abuse or angry outbursts, while others may have a propensity toward other sins. Regardless, Christians believe people are more than their sexual urges. We believe that human dignity is diminished whenever we define ourselves by sexual urges and behaviors. Consider this: married men are sometimes attracted to multiple women who are not their wives. Does this mean they should self-identify as polygamists? Not at all. And surely you wouldn’t consider it hateful for Christians to encourage married men not to act on their desires in an effort to remain faithful to their spouses. It is the Christian way, after all.

Host: No, but it still seems like you are telling people not to be true to who they are.

Pastor: It only seems that way because you believe sexual desire reflects the core of one’s identity. It would help if you and others who agree with you would understand that in your putting pressure on me to accept homosexual behavior as normal and virtuous, you are going to the very core of my identity as a follower of Jesus. The label most important to me is “Christian.” My identity – in Christ – is central to who I am. So I could say the same thing and call you intolerant, bigoted, and hateful for trying to change a conviction that goes to the core of who I am as a Christian. I don’t say that because I don’t believe that’s your intention. But neither should you think it’s my intention to attack a homosexual person or cause them harm merely because I disagree.

Host: But the problem is, your position fosters hate and encourages bullying.

Pastor: I recognize that some people have mistreated homosexuals in the past. It’s a shame that anyone anywhere would mock, taunt, or bully another human being made in God’s image. That said, I think we need to make one thing clear in regard to civil discourse: To differ is not to hate. I hope we can still have a real conversation in this country about different points of view without casting one another in the worst possible light. The idea that disagreeing with homosexual behavior necessarily results in harm to gay people is designed to shut down conversation and immediately rule one point of view (in this case, the Christian one) out of bounds. As a Christian, I am to love my neighbor and seek his good, even when I don’t see eye to eye with my neighbor. Furthermore, the picture of Christ on the cross dying for His enemies necessarily affects the way I think about this and other issues.

Until today, I was unaware that there was an assassination attempt on former president Theodore Roosevelt. 99 years ago today, he survived an assassination attempt while campaigning in Milwaukee as the Progressive (or Bull Moose) Party presidential nominee. Despite having his shirt bloodied and the bullet still lodged in his chest, Roosevelt delivered an 80-minute speech that started out this way:

“Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot; but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose. But fortunately I had my manuscript, so you see I was going to make a long speech, and there is a bullet — there is where the bullet went through — and it probably saved me from it going into my heart. The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech, but I will try my best.”

Below are some pictures. Here is where you can find more information.

Today, I’m welcoming N.D. (Nate) Wilson to the blog to talk about truth and beauty. Nate is the author of a number of books, including Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World. The DVD of Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl is available in the iTunes store (and for my international readers, you can find it in iTunes in the UK, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands/Belgium, and Sweden too!).

Trevin Wax: Nate, thanks for taking the time to join me for a blog conversation. I’ve been beating the drum for a while now about the need for Christians to go beyond mere affirmation and articulation of Christian truth and seek to proclaim and celebrate doctrine in ways that underscore the inherent beauty of Truth Himself. As I’ve made this case, I’ve noticed that your name keeps coming up in comments and emails.

Last week, I started reading Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl and then I watched the excellent DVD based on the book. I’m happy to see that while guys like me are blabbing on about the need for beauty, guys like you are already delivering thoughtful, rich, dare-I-say exuberant prose that stirs up a sense of wonder at life, love, and the beauty of Christian truth.

Why is it important that we seek to communicate truth in persuasive and artistically powerful ways?

Nate Wilson: It is important that we communicate well (in ways that resonate artistically as well as theologically) because it adds a great deal of persuasive force – a sort of aesthetic affirmation and enticement to believe what is being said.

As a simple example, imagine being taken over to some family’s home and being told in advance that this family had really tapped into a deeper and truer and more beautiful way of relating to each other. But then, when the front door opens, all you smell are stale socks and a little pyramid of cat poo that’s lurking in the corner. The smell itself is already an argument against everything you’ve been told about these people, and anything they might have to say to you. But imagine if that door opens and you get hit with the smell of baking bread–you are now prepared to react differently. This is not to say that the wonderful smell establishes truth all on its own, but it is a testifying witness.

And this issue goes a lot further than mere pragmatic examples of efficacy in persuasion. If we Christians have the truth, and that truth is beautiful – more beautiful than any other message or religion out there – and then we present it in stammering, clumsy, irreverent, or ugly ways, well, we’re hypocrites. We’re living unfaithfully to the Truth. But if we live in a state of celebration and joy and gratitude, and if our words and our art and our presentations of that truth hit people like the smell of baking bread, then we’re getting somewhere.

Trevin Wax: Joy is a major theme in your writing. But you’re not talking about the abstract concept of joy or our need for joy or our pursuit of joy. (It’s possible to talk a lot about joy and yet be so serious about it that people don’t feel the lightness of weighty joyfulness.) No… the way joy encompasses your work is in your expression of joy and wonder. You don’t write about it; you write from it. Where did you get this emphasis on joy, and why is it important for us to cultivate joy in our lives and our work?

Nate Wilson: It all goes back to the warmth and joyfulness that my parents created and maintained in our family as my sisters and I were growing up. It was deep, constant, and completely genuine. And we (as we grew) understood that it was utterly and profoundly connected to our faith, and to the One in whom our faith rested. We laughed looking out at the world, because He was so obviously laughing as He spoke it.

We fed on P.G. Wodehouse because his words and wordplay were successful (if accidental) theological imitations of the playfulness of reality. We were in fellowship with each other. Our parents didn’t allow bitternesses or resentments or feuds to ever take root and grow – no stale socks or poo pyramids to ruin the atmosphere.

(Sidenote: My little sis has written a great book for young moms in the trenches on exactly this kind of stuff. It’s called Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches, and it’s darn good.)

Again, this all comes back to the hypocrisy of unfaithfulness (in this case, unjoyfulness). Do we have a message of joy and grace for the world, or do we not? If we do, then why don’t we act like it?

“Hey Bob,” I tell my neighbor. “If you turn to Christ, you can have a life and an outlook like mine, which, as it turns out, kinda sucks. You interested?” Joy is our strength, our gift. Joy in redemption and in reunion with God is what we have to offer, but we can’t offer the world what we don’t cultivate ourselves.

Trevin Wax: It’s obvious to me that you’ve read a lot of G.K. Chesterton. Like Chesterton, you expose the pompousness of the silly philosophy that passes as serious, and yet you maintain a whimsical sense that shows you don’t take yourself too seriously. What is it about Chesterton’s vision and writing that has inspired you? And why should we read Chesterton today?

Nate Wilson: We should read him because he was a prophet of joy, because he was a seer into the sleeping and blind souls of men, and he always seems to find the right words to slap us awake. He was/is incredibly perceptive about the seductions of self-importance and seriousness, and it’s hard to read anything he writes without gaining something.

But his book Orthodoxy should be required reading for absolutely everyone. It was the first book that I ever finished and then flipped back to the beginning to start over again. He wasn’t a Protestant, but I think we can call him a Puritan (“the last Puritan” is my tag for him). Obviously, I don’t go everywhere he goes, but I am blessed to have his writing around me, providing a voice like that of an amusing, wise, and deeply affectionate uncle.

Trevin Wax: Every time I talk about the need to express truth in the most beautiful and captivating manner possible, I get pushback from some well-intentioned folks who think that I’m advocating the kind of sophistry and rhetoric that Paul condemned in 1 Corinthians 1. There are some who think that whenever we start talking about art and beauty, we’re already stumbling down the path of doctrinal compromise and cultural capitulation. (Ironically, in making this point, these folks will use well-crafted analogies and thoughtful rhetoric.)

What’s the difference between articulating Christian truth faithfully (making good use of rhetoric, beauty, and art) and relying on rhetoric and persuasion that Paul describes as “foolishness” in the eyes of God?

Nate Wilson: First, I think the suspicious types have the right idea, and I’m with them when people tell me that aesthetic relevance is achieved (in worship, for example) by banging on drum kits while wearing skinny jeans. Beauty is a slippery concept in our culture, and less-than-helpful dupers and dupees regularly try to use it as a protective umbrella for all sorts of nonsense. But this is because they are looking to the foolish standards of the world to discover what is beautiful (which is what Paul is ripping on in 1 Corinthians). Shiny does not equal beauty. New technology does not equal beauty. Guys in skinny jeans equal the opposite of beauty. We need to backtrack a long, long way and dig into the narratives of Scripture (and natural revelation) so that we might develop a mature Christian aesthetic.

But having a Christian aesthetic is not optional. God made the world, and it is beautiful. He told (and lived out) the gospel, and it sets an aesthetic ideal for us. Grace is beautiful. Redemption is beautiful. And we should wear that on our faces, in our relationships, in and on our buildings – that’s how our lives should smell, and it’s what our art should pay tribute to.

Trevin Wax: Your dad says we might be on the verge of a Kuyperian renaissance in the arts. (See here.) Do you agree? If so, what signs point in this direction?

Nate Wilson: I agree with him. He likes to stick his finger in the wind, point to little wispy clouds on the horizon, and predict flash-floods. He has done it with educational movements; he did it with what some now call the New Calvinism; he has done it with postmillennialism (a position that’s still in process but is now off the endangered species list and growing); and now he’s predicting a wave of robust, Calvinist art. Ha! Seriously? It might seem ridiculous to some, but throw your mind back 10 years. How much more ridiculous would it have seemed then? And that, my friends, tells you which way the wind is blowing – even if it still only feels like a breeze.

But know this about my father, he doesn’t just like making predictions (preferably early enough that they seem impossible); he likes making predictions and then working his tail off to make them come true. Think of it more as a gameplan. He’s checking off his fight-these-strategic-battles list. He’s not a guy in the stands making a prediction. He’s more like a coach trying to call a play. That’s why he’s so involved in Christian education all the way up through the college level, and that’s why he predicts the things he predicts.

More on the data side of things, everywhere I go, people want to talk to me about the arts, particularly writing and film (obviously, I’m not a sculptor). I think he’s accurately spotted another cloud on the horizon, or maybe it’s actually all the same cloud, and he’s just labeling phases of one single growing storm. Call it Reformation…

Trevin Wax: Nate, I’m grateful for your work. Thanks for stopping by the blog.

Nate Wilson: Thanks so much for the chance to talk about this, Trevin. There’s so much more to say (and do), but I hope this was helpful as far as it went. In the meantime, a tall aspen tree is rattling against my attic window as one of our first Fall rains rolls in. Out in the yard, I have a four-year-old son in a raincoat, manfully doing his Christian duty on a tire swing, and I’m beginning to suspect that two floors away, my lovely wife is baking pumpkin bread. And that is a suspicion that I must confirm…

This is a world flooded with grace, as we should be.

Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl Movie Trailer from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.

Over the weekend, my wife and I went to see Courageous, the newest movie made by the good folks at Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA. The movie opened at #4 at the box office and brought in 9 million, which is a step above Sherwood’s Fireproof (2008), and makes it #5 for Christian movie opening weekends (behind The Passion of the Christ and the Narnia movies).

I thought about doing a full movie review, but there are too many ways to approach this film. I could review it in the way I review other films (artistry, character development, plotline, message), or review it in comparison to the three other Sherwood movies, or review it in terms of its message and potential impact. In the end, I thought it might be best to come at the movie from all these angles. So here are “some thoughts on Courageous.”

• Courageous is, by far, the best film that Sherwood Pictures has made. Facing the Giants was their break-out hit but was quite hokey in its concept and delivery (not to mention the prosperity-gospel message). Fireproof was a major leap forward, but Courageous goes even further. Alex Kendrick shows great improvement as an actor. The screenplay is several steps above Fireproof. The filmmaking of the action sequences rivals those put out by Hollywood. And one scene in particular (“The Snake Kings”) is laugh-out-loud funny.
• The message of Courageous is timely. The importance of fathers and the difficulties associated with fatherlessness are underscored by realistic examples of family-life. I think John Piper is right: “I would willingly take anyone to see this film, assuming they can handle suspense. And I think the conversations afterward would not be superficial.” The conversations afterward may prove to be more powerful and life-changing than the movie itself. But it’s good to see the message of Courageous igniting important questions about fathers and families.
• I get frustrated when Christians who bemoan the Church’s lack of engagement with the arts sneer at the perceived lack of artistry in movies like Courageous. It seems to me that whatever your thoughts on artistry and filmmaking might be, if you are looking for Christians to take a more active role in culture-making, then you should applaud and support anyone attempting to do something, even if you think the finished product could have been stronger. Evangelicalism has too many critics and not enough creators.
• Courageous is heavily didactic and a bit preachy at times, but I found this style to be part of its effectiveness. It’s preachy in the way that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was. Harriet Beecher Stowe was so passionate about the subject of slavery that she couldn’t help but begin sermonizing at times. The creators of Courageous feel the same way about the subject they are tackling. The purpose isn’t to create a classic movie but to get across a message. Seen in this light, it makes the didactic elements less distracting and helps make sense of the film’s purpose.
• About three quarters of the way through the movie, the plot line meanders a bit. Fifteen minutes or so could have been shaved off the film and it would have been stronger overall. Still, the characters are engaging, and there is enough character development to keep viewers interested.
• The truth that God raised Jesus from the dead is proclaimed after a tragedy. And the truth that the only way to escape judgment is by trusting in Jesus as our Substitute is presented in a way that works seamlessly into the movie. I was impressed by a scene in which one of the men complains about “feeling guilty,” to which the Christian replies, “I’ve got news for you; you are guilty.”
• The movie puts major emphasis on fathers resolving to “call out the men in their sons.” The movie condemns passivity in men as the leaders of their homes. The filmmakers want men to step up and fulfill their duty.
• One might quibble here and there with the emphasis on willpower – particularly when considering the pervasiveness of sin, but the script makes sure to ground good intentions in one’s relationship with God. “You’ve got to get right with God before you can get right with your son,” one character says. And the end of the movie features the main character calling the men of his church to step up and resolve to live courageously as fathers. Who will protect the family? “By God’s grace, I will!” he says. May all Christian fathers have such resolve!