But Lewis holds up a good, solid argument for why there has to be a moral standard. Even today, there are people who claim to have found that morality is relative, and that each individual has the freedom to decide what is moral and what is not. But even in those people, you will find that if you press had enough there will be something that causes them to break from their speech, and declare that there are indeed absolutes (they may nor phrase it as such, but it is there). My view of morality and yours may not stack up, but by comparing them and holding one over the other we are declaring that there is a standard to hold to. If there were no standard, there would be no superior morality.

Lewis also makes a great point that The Law of Human Nature is external, and not programming we have been taught or to be confused with our other human natures (self-preservation, a desire to help those in need, etc.). If we hear someone in danger we have two instincts, one is to flee and preserve ourselves, the other is to provide help. If we only had our regular natures inside of us, we would allow the stronger of these two to win out in a battle. But often the stronger instinct is silenced in favor of The Law of Human Nature.

This chapter was a relatively easy read. It flowed nicely from the preceding piece, and allowed Lewis to shore up some of his perceived weaknesses in his argument. At times I found myself wondering where he was going, but in the end, I find that I agree with Lewis on this concept. Morals are external, and in my opinion, they come to us from the God who created us.

Scripture Used: None officially, several were referenced

Additional Resources Used: The second half of the movie To Save a Life

Evening in a Sentence: God calls us to serve as His hands and feet in the world, so how can you do that in your world?

Element of Fun: In the Movies, like the other games this month it was a guys vs. girls challenge where students had to be the first to identify a location in a film based upon clues about that location and the movies it was in. The guys won in points, but because they tried to steal the prize before the game began I docked their winning points (I warned them before we started that I would dock 2 points if they won by two or less, and they did indeed).

What Worked: Watching a significant portion of the movie was a definite plus. Students were excited to be able to immerse themselves in the film, and it led to some deep discussions. Dinner being served during the movie was another positive change of pace, and it created a very relaxed atmosphere that allowed students to really engage. The game was enjoyable, and there was a large amount of teens who registered to win the To Save a Life prize pack. Students were largely respectful and engaged during our time in worship through music. The film really connected with a lot of our group, and led to some great discussion about how it impacted them. There were a couple of new teens here tonight, and even a potential new leader to help with our overflowing senior high girls group!

What Needs Work: We got a slightly later start and ran a little light on LIFE|Group time.

Summary: The evening was a very strong finale to our series. Students were engaged, shared their insights, and genuinely enjoyed the evening. Our new students really seemed to respond well, and our new potential leader seemed to leave impressed and excited.

Student Numbers: 30

Leader Numbers: 6 (+1 potential leader)

Okay, this really is not new news (especially if you are a fan of Five Iron Frenzy), but one of the most influential bands of my adolescence is back. Five Iron Frenzy has created some of the deepest, most challenging and most worshipful songs in my entire collection. They have also crafted some of the most entertaining and amusing songs as well. Their music has helped me grow in my own life, and I have been able to use it in my ministry to teenagers as well. FIF disbanded in 2003 and have explored other options on their own since then. I followed lead singer Reese Roper’s work with Roper and braveSaintSaturn (largely because of his ability to write deep and moving songs) and was overjoyed to find that Five Iron was coming back!

This time around they are self-producing the new album and used Kickstarter as a fundraising source. If you have never heard of Kickstarter, go check it out. It is a clever idea and has great potential. The band was looking to raise $30,000 for their album and had 2 months to do so. The project was fully funded in less than 55 minutes! Since then they have raised almost 7 times the amount they needed for the project. Check their page out!

I share this to say that I am very excited to see what FIF will be bringing to the table when their album releases in 2013, and to draw attention to Kickstarter. I hope to explore their services myself in the near future, possibly for our church (gotta see what their rules are). Five Iron is making music again, and they are following in the footsteps they laid out for themselves years ago when they used to sing against the evils of how corporate America can run, especially record companies.

Creative people using a creative avenue to produce and share what should be amazing music that brings glory to God. I cannot wait!

“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people”

And thus opens Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline. I began reading this book back in college, and judging from my underlining work, I did not make it very far in. I wanted to include it in my devotional readings this year in an effort to help myself grow deeper and become one of those that Foster refers to. Not more intelligent, not more gifted, but deep. Deep in my faith, in my walk with my savior.

The Spiritual Disciplines are not something we hear of very often today. Sure the 30 Hour Famine has made fasting popular, and prayer is talked about all the time. But what do we ever mention about simplicity and solitude? Or submission and service? Confession? Guidance? The modern American church seems to have successfully created a belief that the Christian life consisted of simply following after Christ (which to a point is indeed true), but there are directions to help us in how we follow Him. Foster makes the argument here that the Disciplines are not what will grow us, but they are what will place us before God so that He can grow us. Foster writes very clearly on the thin line we walk: We cannot do anything to save ourselves (or grant ourselves sanctification), yet we have to do something to draw closer to God. The Disciplines are in place for that. They plant us in the soil so that God can tend to us.

Foster also calls to light the idea that the word discipline immediately brings to mind imagery and thoughts of dull drudgery that is designed to eliminate joy and laughter. The soul that is disciplined is a soul that is liberated from slavery to fear and self-interest. It is this self-interest and the idea that we have to do work that combines to create another falsehood: We cannot eradicate our sinfulness.

It was very refreshing and encouraging to me to read that we cannot eliminate our sins. We can make every effort, and we can strive to flee from sinful temptations (and we should), but unless God is in charge we will fail. Foster compares our lives to the ocean. We have a sinful nature. The natural motion of our lives kicks up the dirt and sediment that is sin in our lives. We do not need to do anything to create it, it is already there. We need to be careful of being so confident in our own willpower to resist a sin that we do not give into “will worship.” If we are not putting our full trust in Christ to eliminate the sin from our lives, we will continue to fall into it time after time. This is where the Spiritual Disciplines can aid us. They can place us at God’s feet, asking Him to do His work within us. They open the door into our souls for Him to do so much more than if we merely said a prayer and did not think any more of it. His gift of grace is totally free, but it is not cheap. To grow in our Spiritual lives, we must devote time and energy to them. Just as we would study for other fields, we must be willing to put real effort into our growth as Christians.

I am excited to see where God leads my reading of Celebration of Discipline this time around. I already see that I will need to make some large changes in my life to give adequate time to studying and employing the Disciplines. And that is a good thing. I feel like over the years I have taken my faith for granted, and I am excited (and perhaps a little bit scared) to see what is next.

Scripture Used: James 1.14-15, Hebrews 11.25, Jeremiah 17.9, Galatians 6.7-8, John 14.6, Acts 4.12, 2 Corinthians 5.17, Hebrews 9.22, 1 Corinthians 15.57, Ephesians 6.10-11, Joshua 24.15

Additional Resources Used: 7 clips from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, video of Like a Lion, mp3 of After All (Holy)

Evening in a Sentence: Narnia is an amazing allegory for the awesome work of Christ.

Element of Fun: Movie Lines, in which students are challenged to be the first to identify what movie a particular line is from before the movie title is revealed. The guys once again won, though the score was separated by only one point.

What Worked: We got a little creative with our worship this week. Though I was not able to chat with any teens about their experience, they seemed to be deep in reflection during After All (Holy). (We gave each student a card with the song lyrics and some directing thoughts for them to focus on while spaced out around the room). The students really enjoyed being able to watch a large portion of the movie (as compared to other weeks), and Lauren did an excellent job of teaching and engaging the group with her message. The game was very involving, with nearly half of the crowd on stage to compete. Having Toby draw the winning entry for last week’s challenge was very well received. Having a text-based competition for this week’s challenge went over well, and I was able to allow teens to have a back door in for that one (and I forgot to mention that they can find the information they need through our Twitter account!)

What Needs Work: We did not have enough time for LIFE|Groups this week with so much content during the lesson, which was unfortunate since tonight was basically a Gospel presentation and we had two new (new to me) students here, and a couple of fresh faces who have only been once or twice. Several students still do not grasp the idea of reverence during times of worship through music.

Summary: The evening was a success. Students were engaged, they thought about the lesson, and though we were not able to go deep in discussion I feel that the point landed. Who will you follow, what will you choose? Will you follow after Christ toward life, or will you succumb to the temptations of the evil one?

Student Numbers: 27

Leader Numbers: 5

BONUS: After All (Holy) video

I have been loving it.

Not for the 90′s-era music stylings (okay, 1989). Though the music is beyond what passes for a lot of rap these days (especially gangsta-rap, if that term is still appropriate), I do  appreciate why my parents were so relieved when I discovered other musical acts. But lyrically the content is still incredibly bold and in-your-face, and surprisingly deep. A very evangelistic effort. About a week ago our Senior High went on a Destination Unknown trip, and I offered this album up to the teens as an example of early Toby Mac. I didn’t get to make it past “Heavenbound.” Teens today.

Anyway, I discovered the music video for Heavenbound on YouTube. I did not realize that they had produced a video! So, in all its late 80′s/early 90′s glory, I give you DCTalk!

Jacob went close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” He did not recognize him, for his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. “Are you really my son Esau?” he asked.
“I am,” he replied. Then he said, “My son, bring me some of your game to eat, so that I may give you my blessing.” Jacob brought it to him and he ate; and he brought some wine and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come here, my son, and kiss me.” So he went to him and kissed him. When Isaac caught the smell of his clothes, he blessed him and said, “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed... Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it, then, that hunted game and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came and I blessed him—and indeed he will be blessed!”                              Genesis 27.22-27, 33

Aside from the incredibly foreign nature of a true blessing for this American (I can only wonder what my father would be able to bestow upon me on his deathbed), which I find very intriguing, I have always wondered something.

Why when Isaac heard Jacob’s voice did he trust his hands more? We are told his eyesight is poor, but is his hearing so far gone as well? Just something that I ponder…

Originally posted as a note at YouVersion

Just this past fall I taught a multi-part series on adolescent culture. A portion of that series was an exploration of Post-Modernity – what it is and how it affects adolescent behavior today. One of the prevailing tenants of Post-Modernity seems to be relativism – a disbelief in absolutes that rule over all individuals. This is a radical simplification, but the logic stands. Within relativism, what is right for me may not be right for someone else. This extends even to morality, as what is moral behavior for me may not be expected for you. But at our core all humans do still hold to this Law of Human Nature. Even if it is only because of our own selfish nature, that we desire others to treat us as we would treat ourselves. We all seek some sort of absolute.

Lewis successfully argues this point. Aside from Nazi sympathizers (modern or historical) I cannot think of one individual who would argue that the Nazis were right, that would defend their right to commit genocide in the name of themselves. Lewis draws this point, that if we were not ingrained with this Law of Human Nature we could not blame them for their actions any more than we could blame them for the color of their hair. We expect others to behave in a manner that is beneficial to the world, to ourselves. We want them to do so, and we are upset and angry when they do not. Even when someone has declared that there are no absolutes, they will go back on their word and cry foul when they themselves are wronged. (Seriously, spend 5 minutes on YouTube and look for absolute truth debates). Corner someone who has declared there are no absolute expectations for human behavior and you will get them to fall all over themselves to explain their stance.

We all in some part believe that there are good actions and bad actions, right choices and wrong ones. If we did not, we would not make excuses for our bad behavior and blame it on things like lack of sleep or a rough day at work. And we would not take credit for our good choices and actions. Think about it. When was the last time you blamed your good actions and attitude on a lack of sleep or something else negative? Though he does not come straight out and say it, I believe that Lewis is arguing that the Law of Human Nature (the only law of nature we can break) is set inside us by our Creator, God. I believe this as well. Humans are far too flawed as a species to have come up with this by themselves.

What do you think?

Bonus: Fun Video of Someone Who Argues For Moral Relativism