Lead Pastor @calvarychurchpp Preaching Coach @preachmechanics CEO @ContextLG
Los Angeles, CA
Joined August 2010
- Tweets9.2K
- Following0
- Followers0
- Likes3.6K
Justin Anderson retweeted
Imagine thinking that being married for 55 years, raising four kids, and selling millions of books isn’t an exciting life.
Justin Anderson retweeted
That feeling knowing you're a slave to Christ, not Rome. Happy Reformation Day! (I just had to post it again 😁)
Justin Anderson retweeted
Martin Luther's strategy during the Reformation?
Proclaim God's Word, take a nap, have a beer with friends, and sit back while God's Word transforms the world.
Justin Anderson retweeted
These are 3 things most Christians don’t know about Reformation Day.
1. It is possible October 31 wasn't a random date.
Some historians think Luther chose October 31st to circulate his 95 Theses (and post them on the Castle Church doors according to tradition) because the following day, November 1, was All Saints’ Day.
This was a major religious celebration when large crowds of pilgrims would gather at Wittenberg's Castle Church to venerate its collection of sacred relics.
So here comes Luther… and in Thesis 36 he argues that every truly repentant Christian has a right to “full remission of penalty and guilt even without an indulgence letter.”
In other words, Luther was challenging the indulgence system immediately before a major religious celebration involving indulgences at his own university's church.
2. Luther was not trying to create a new branch of Christianity.
Luther was a devoted Catholic monk and professor of theology. When he published his 95 Theses in 1517, his goal wasn't to start a new church, but to reform the one he was already part of.
As the controversy developed, Luther wanted ordinary Christians to read the Bible themselves and believed all church teachings and traditions should ultimately be evaluated against the authority of Scripture.
By 1522, some of Luther's followers were already starting to call themselves “Lutherans” but he was against that.
In his work “A Sincere Admonition to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion” he wrote: "I ask that men make no reference to my name, and call themselves not Lutherans, but Christians."
3. The printing press was the “social media” of that time… and it changed everything.
A lot of people imagine Martin Luther as a rebellious monk who nailed his 95 Theses to a church door so the whole world would hear his criticisms of the Church.
Nope.
Luther wrote the theses in Latin for academic debate. Most ordinary people couldn’t read Latin.
The printing press had been developed in Europe only about 70 years earlier, and printers began reproducing and distributing Luther's writings. His 95 theses spread quickly beyond Wittenberg, and German translations helped make his arguments accessible to ordinary people.
In other words, Luther’s work went “viral” before “viral” was a thing.
And as Luther's writings continued to spread, more and more people were being exposed to statements like these...
"When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance." (95 Theses, Thesis 1)
"We do not become righteous by doing righteous deeds but, having been made righteous, we do righteous deeds." (Disputation Against Scholastic Theology, Thesis 40)
"My conscience is captive to the Word of God." (Diet of Worms, 1521)
And after that, the world would never be the same.
Justin Anderson retweeted
Start with church...
How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to William Jackson Harper latimes.com/travel/story/202…
Justin Anderson retweeted
The Massacring of CS Lewis & Why it Matters
The thing that is going on with these insufferable film adaptions in which characters like Odysseus and Aslan are neutered and feminized is not simply a result of the Left having no good stories to tell on their own. It is a strategic infiltration after decades of successfully and systematically eroding the foundations of the Christian West. It's not that Hollywood and Netflix couldn't produce original stories with big names and big budgets, it's that they have moved on to the humiliation ritual phase of their conquest.
CS Lewis is, without question, the most important, influential, and unifying Christian creative of the last three centuries. He represents the absolute antithesis of modern secularism, of woke leftism, and - way more than most realize - of feminism.
The only reason why everyone knows his name is because millions of Christians, Evangelical Christians, bought and read his books, and continue to buy and read his books.
Lewis was the Christian answer to the Enlightenment humanism preceding him. And he was the prophetic voice against the postmodernism that came after him. A once in a millennia talent, Lewis wielded a spectrum of literary genres, and at every turn, he masterfully dismantled the idealogical enemies of historic, orthodox Christianity. More than that, he positively presented the beauty of Christianity with unmatched brilliance.
The enemies of Christ are definitionally subversives. The hijacking of Narnia, the transing of Aslan, this is a deep work of deconstructive subversion.
Aslan is not a masculine lion merely as an echo of Christ, for the same reason that Christ is not called the Lion of Judah as a simple poetic figure of speech. The question is, which direction is the metaphor moving? Is Christ called a Lion because He is kind of lion-like? Or do lions exist because they echo something of what Christ is like? The latter is the reality of things. The archetype is never creation. The archetype is always the Creator.
To feminize Aslan is not a matter of mere stylistic preference. It is not just screwing up an allegory either. It is desecrating the archetype, which is to say, it is a subversion and an explicit mockery against Christ, against Christianity, and against Christians.
"But [in your world] I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”
Aslan, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
"As to Aslan’s other name, well I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in this world who (1.) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas. (2.) Said he was the son of the great Emperor. (3.) gave himself up for someone else’s fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people. (4.) Came to life again. (5.) Is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb…. Don’t you really know His name in this world. Think it over and let me know your answer!"
CS Lewis, in a letter to Hila Newman (age 11), who had asked about Aslan's other Name.
Justin Anderson retweeted
🚨*PSA For Young Families*
Don’t despair.
1) Not every family has a wimpy dad with a nagging mom surrounded by disrespectful, selfish, immature teenagers.
2) Morning’s don’t have to be tornados of chaos. Ditch the tech. Open the Bible. Pray over your family. Peace.
Justin Anderson retweeted
Unpopular opinion: AI companies are pushing society to accept an unacceptable level of risk for a non-essential technology.
Justin Anderson retweeted
Hard to take seriously the philosophers who deny personhood to unborn babies but apply it to AIs.
Justin Anderson retweeted
In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.
Justin Anderson retweeted
“That’s a lot” vs. “We won’t miss it.”
A powerful word for parents of teens. 🔥
Justin Anderson retweeted
Yes, it is interesting that historicist religious relativism is almost exclusively a Western, European belief that is far more geographically predictable than Christianity which is found on every continent.
Justin Anderson retweeted
You do not become a better writer by having AI write for you, just like you don’t become a better athlete by having someone else play in your place.
Justin Anderson retweeted
Josh Howerton explains why Jesus had to die on the cross. @howertonjosh
Justin Anderson retweeted
This is one of the coolest things I can recall seeing live at a baseball game
To merge all the posts in my timeline, should a baby who is born in church be allowed to stay or be forced to go to children's ministry?
Quick reflections on the "kids-in-worship" post:
1. Thought it would spark discussion, but not THAT much.
2. "Grieved" was a dumb word. Sounded melodramatic. I wasn't grieved, but I thought it was too bad that parents were so distracted.
3. I stand by the point I was making.
4. Kids ministry is a gift. Some reasons:
a) It's good to have godly adults invest in my kids lives in addition to our family.
b) It's good for parents — especially with little ones — to have intentional time without interruption to re-center on Christ, his word, and his priorities.
c) It's more interesting and fun for most kids to have teaching & activities at their age-level.
d) It gives many people a space to serve and use gifts that bless the body.
e) It creates a hospitable place for those who are new to church to be less overwhelmed by the experience.
5. I agree that having kids in the worship service is valuable, but only when they are ready. They see mom and dad sing wholeheartedly, take communion, listen attentively to God's word, and they're shaped by the liturgy. But until they are old enough to sit still — and no 3 year-old is — it's just not that valuable. They aren't really gleaning all that much.
6. How my family does it. When our kids were little (under 6) it was all kids ministry. Then as they got older, we did both — attending worship at one service, and kids ministry in the other.
7. Preachers better step up their game. If y'all have a bunch of kids listening, you should work twice as hard to have word-pictures & illustrations that engage them. Because, sitting in a pew last Sunday, if you lose the interest of the kids, there is a big ripple effect. You work too hard on your sermons to let them fizzle out by dis-engaged listeners.
8. Too many professing believers are vile & cruel. My feelings were 0% hurt by comments (mostly it was fun and funny to get bodyslammed by family-integrated and Roman Catholic folks). But some of y'all are nasty — and that is also forming your kids. You can integrate as much worship as you want, but if your words are the overflow of your heart, I am grieved (intentionally chosen this time) for your kids' future.
9. I'm not immune. On one interaction yesterday, I returned insult for insult. Thankfully, a friend reached out personally and called me on it. I apologized and deleted my comment. But it's good to more publicly acknowledge as well.
10. On to other things. What will X stir up for us in the next 48 hours?
Justin Anderson retweeted
For years, I have heard Smart People say we should always remember there are 'real people on the other side of the keyboard' when we use social media.
I have come to conclusion that this is wrong: we should always imagine that there is no one is real here, that everyone is an avatar of themselves, that every act of communication on social media is not only artificial, but so ephemeral that no one is themselves when they post here.
I had a post recently about a trivial matter (the NBA! flopping!) go semi-viral, which naturally brought out the best from everyone. I was at first astonished at the level of vitriol such trivialities could induce, then amused.
Maybe, ironically, we would be more generous and patient on this platform if we remember that accounts are not persons here, but decontextualized words that matter far less than any of us care to think.