Author Archives: mhick255

What did Jesus look like?

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In this post, Joe Carter respectfully disagrees with one of John Piper’s sermons, entitled “What Color Should Jesus Be?” (Friends who visit Carter’s post will recognize several of the paintings from my recent teaching series on world religions. I guess there are only so many public domain pictures of Jesus out there.)

Piper, in considering how Jesus should be portrayed, says (note that this is Carter’s transcription of the sermon),

But I think they should probably be black portrayals of Jesus, and white portrayals of Jesus, and Chinese portrayals of Jesus. And everybody knows that they’re not accurate. There isn’t one that’s accurate. That’s why it’s legitimate to do lots of inaccurate works. Because you just say we all know that we don’t know what he looked like so what we want to say with our inaccurate Jesus is something true about Jesus. Namely, he’s there for everybody. Continue reading →

How Do I Earn My Keep?

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Yesterday, a person asked me how InterVarsity staff (like myself) are funded. In his words, he contrasted two models: what he called a “mission field” model of “not muzzling the ox” and being supported by donations, vs. a “tentmaker” model where I “earn my keep” by being paid for the work I produce. It was an honest question, and I think he was primarily trying to understand how InterVarsity works. But it’s a good question, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot this morning.

My position (ESN Associate Director) is funded by those individuals and churches who share my concern and vision for the university, and who want to partner with me financially and prayerfully in this ministry. I believe that this is a Biblical model (not “the” Biblical model, though), and I also think it makes sense in a general, nonprofit sort of way. When I’m wearing my other hat, I work with several hundred Greater Cincinnati nonprofits, so I think I have a good perspective on the nonprofit world. Continue reading →

"…this alleged mortal…"

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While reading a completely unrelated online discussion, I came across this strangely worded description of Jesus.  The writer, who is not a Christian and was uncertain whether Jesus even existed, referred to him as “this alleged mortal.”  This phrase stuck with me.

Who else in history could be called an “alleged mortal”?  Who else lived a life, proclaimed teachings, and died a death so striking that even someone who doubts his very existance can only say that Jesus was “allegedly” mortal? 

I recently attended the IICS Vision Conference and listened to Dr. J. P. Moreland of Biola University.   Dr. Moreland is a gifted philosopher who deals in both academic philosophy and popular apologetics.  His topic – “How to Present an Exclusive Jesus in an Inclusive World” – laid out a philosophic argument for Christianity as the true religion.  Towards the end, he described 4 criteria for choosing which religion to follow.  The fourth and final criterion was

Pick a religion where you get all of Jesus, instead of a watered-down version of him.

A person in the audience asked whether he was stacking the deck here by making Jesus a focal person in any religion.  Dr. Moreland replied, no, because every religion claims Jesus as their own.  Muslims call Jesus the greatest of prophets.  Buddhists claim Jesus as a bodhisatva.  “Jesus is the greatest figure who ever lived,” said Dr. Moreland, and everyone wants a piece of him.

That's What Friends Are For

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So, last night, our good friends Bryan and Kelley Brandeberry invited us to Pizza Hut, but we couldn’t go because we already had some steaks defrosting and were low on cash in our eating out envelope. We, in turn, invited them to the Erlanger library’s Family Fun Night (clowns + water balloons + popsicles = fun!). We took a long time walking to the library, never saw them, and just assumed we missed them or they decided not to come.

We returned home to find the following message on our answering machine:

Hi guys. We could not make it to the library because of a long and very funny story that happened to us at Pizza Hut. We will tell you all about it later. But as a result, we received a free ham and sausage pizza. Which is now in your fridge. Enjoy!

I opened the refrigerator door. Lo and behold, a free ham and sausage pizza had magically appeared on the middle shelf.

That’s what friends are for: free pizza. God bless America.
http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf