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In a choral conducting class in college we had to conduct this piece, “O Vos Omnes,” arranged by Victoria:

The Latin text is from Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see. Is any suffering like my suffering?”

At small group tonight we took a break from our regularly schedule programming – the seven deadly sins – to talk about a question that had come up in previous discussions. Two of my guys have to write eighteen one-page papers on different apparent contradictions in the Bible, so they asked me some questions about contradictions.

Big picture stuff, right?

We briefly talked about the three different types of contradiction:

Explicit Contradiction – such as, “it is raining outside” and “it is not the case that it is raining outside.” That’s an explicit contradiction.
Formal Contradiction – a formal contradiction is when you’re given a set of premises and using only the laws of logic you can deduce an explicit contradiction. For example, “Socrates is a man,” “All men are mortal,” and “Socrates is immortal.” Using only the laws of logic we can make an explicit contradiction out of these statements. That’s formal contradiction.
Implicit Contradiction – an implicit contradiction is when using the laws of logic and some other necessary truth we can derive and explicit contradiction. For instance, “the sky is blue” and “the sky is red” are only an implicit contradiction if we accept the premise, “it cannot be the case that the sky is both blue and red at the same time and in the same way.”

So, why exactly is that stuff important? Because often people will throw out the charge that the Bible is “full of contradictions.” If we’re going to have an intelligent conversation with people who make such claims, we’ve got to know exactly what a contradiction is. A contradiction isn’t simply two statements that are hard to reconcile. We can take Paul’s “saved by grace” and James’ “justified by works” and call them a contradiction (as many do), but they only qualify as implicit contradictions, and then only if we define “saved” and “justified” in the same way. That would be the necessary truth that we’d need to add, which isn’t that easy to defend.

In other words, the burden of proof rests on the one who claims they’re contradictory, not on the person who says they can be reconciled. Another good example is the death of Judas. Matthew 27:5 says that Judas hanged himself. Acts 1:18 says that Judas fell in a field and his body burst open. Is this a contradiction? It is only an (implicit) contradiction if we assume that the two verses cannot be reconciled. But obviously, that begs the question. If, however, we can come up with even one plausible explanation for the two, e.g., that Judas hanged himself, after which the rope broke and his body fell and split open, then we’ve showed that there is no actual contradiction there.

The point of the whole discussion was to communicate that the Bible can be trusted. Some may say there are contradictions in the Bible, but upon further examination they prove to not hold up to the definition of a contradiction.

Last night in small group I taught the second lesson on the seven deadly sins, on envy.

Seven Deadly Sins: Envy

So what is envy? Well, in brief, the way we usually use the word “envy” has nothing to do with its historical meaning. Envy is when we refuse to allow God the privilege of determining our status in the world. We usually measure that status by playing the comparison game – what does that person have that I want, etc?

The ultimate problem with envy is that when we can’t make ourselves better than others, we attack the One whom we feel has stacked the deck against us. Think of Salieri in “Amadeus,” or Syndrome in “The Incredibles.” Envy is a vice rooted in the vice of pride – I’m going to make a name for myself!

So how do we get over envy? By basing our self-worth not on comparing ourselves with others, but on God’s view of us. Isaiah 43:1, 4 says:

“I call you by name, you are mine. You are precious and special in my sight, and I love you.”

Here’s the latest video! On this one I ran one of the cameras, edited the story, and color graded the footage.

I recently finished reading Rebecca DeYoung’s Glittering Vices, which blew me away. I’ve never ready anything that dealt with the seven deadly sins so clearly and so well.

I think I suffer from them all (and I’m not a hypochondriac!).

Anyway, I decided to turn her book into a small group series for a systematic theology class on angels, man, and sin. The series consists of eight lessons (one overview and one on each vice). As I teach each one with my small group, I’ll post my teaching notes up here.

Seven Deadly Sins: Overview
Seven Deadly Sins: What Are the Seven Deadly Sins?

“To flee vice is the beginning of virtue.”

-Horace

This story was really fun. My boss and I flew out to Virginia to interview Randy Hahn, the pastor of Colonial Heights Baptist Church. So on this story, I ran the Steadicam, took some stills, and shot broll. Once we got back, I edited the story and colored the footage. If you look closely, you’ll notice I have a cameo as Hopeless Guy #1!

Remember the One Story campaign? Well, the first one we filmed, the “test case,” if you will, was of me. Remember the post on how some things shouldn’t see the light of day? Well, this is the actual, final version of my One Story.

This is the my favorite Advancement story I’ve done by far. My boss and I flew to New York to interview Tom Basile, a DTS graduate, who is the director of the Bowery Mission Homeless Ministry in Manhattan. I’d never been to New York before, so I went half as a tourist and half as an employee of the seminary – it was pretty awesome.

Anyway, on this piece I ran the Steadicam during the interview and shot broll. I also cut the story, colored the footage, did the transition effects, and picked out the music.

Tom is such an awesome guy.

On this Advancement story, all I can do is boast. I wasn’t even there for the interview, but Austin did a great job cutting the story and fitting in the broll. Awesome how Naima is using her gifts to work in both the church and Hollywood.

Linda is one of the cool graphic designers I work with at DTS. I’d never heard her tell her story of coming to Christ before. She’s amazing.

I didn’t do anything on this piece but color grade the footage to give us the nice high-contrasty black and white look we like.