I recently began reading Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George Marsden (which I highly recommend). Whether or not you agree with his views, Jonathan Edwards is commonly recognized as one of the greatest thinkers America has produced; certainly one of the greatest theologians.

It absolutely blew me away how his personal resolution of that formerly "horrible doctrine" of individual predestination and the justice of God directly led to his conversion:

Jonathan’s alienation from his fellow students and his revulsion at their escapades can be better understood if we recognize that he was undergoing the most intense spiritual journey of his life…. discovering some of the marvels that he would eventually recognize as the essence of his conversion.

… like a great artist, he was exploring dimensions of reality that were beyond the imagination of most of his peers.

…

“I was brought to seek salvation, in a manner that I never was before.”

…

While one part of him was powerfully drawn toward full commitment, another part stiffly resisted. The resistance built its bastion in his intellect. Since childhood, as he later depicted it, he had been “full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he please; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me.”

…

His resourceful intellect provided a powerful weapon for this resistance. Like many other of the great thinkers of the era, he attacked Calvinist teachings at their most vulnerable point: that the sovereignty of God meant that by God’s decree many humans were predestined to the horrors of eternal punishment.

…

He could not believe in God’s total sovereignty, the doctrine at the very foundation of Calvinist teaching. Yet he was sure also that he had no hope on his own.

…

In the midst of this turmoil, he had a breakthrough. Suddenly he became convinced that indeed God was just in “eternally disposing of men, according to his sovereign pleasure.” The tortuous obstacle was removed. Later he remembered clearly when he had reached this conviction, but “never could give an account, how, or by what means, I was thus convinced; not in the least imagining, in the time of it, nor a long time after, that there was any extraordinary influence of God’s Spirit in it: but only that now I saw further, and my reason apprehended the justice and reasonableness of it.”

…

Not long after he began having these experiences, they reached a memorable peak. He was home for vacation in the spring and had been talking to his father about what was happening. Jonathan recalled that he was “pretty much affected” by this conversation, and when it ended he walked alone into the fields for contemplation. “And as I was walking there,” he reported, “and looked up on the sky and clouds; there came into my mind, a sweet sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express.” What overwhelmed him was two seemingly opposite attributes of the triune God “in a sweet conjunction: majesty and meekness joined together: it was a sweet and gentle, and holy majesty; and also a majestic meekness; an awful sweetness; a high, and great, and holy gentleness" (pp.39-43).

These little note cards.  I've used them for physics equations in high school, greek verbs in college, phone numbers, notes, book marks, and paper airplanes when a proper explanation of the reformed doctrine of predestination eluded me in French (yeah, I know, like it's all that clear in English).

Well, now we all spill out our lives, in ink, every Tuesday Night.  We write prayer requests on one side and our name on the other, instigating mutual prayer for the upcoming week.  Martine's cards are usually on our bedroom mirror.  Mine are on my desk in the basement.

Just another way we try to bear one another's burdens in our small groups.

Québec is the largest Canadian province (about the size of Alaska) and the only one where French is the population’s first language.  Québec is home to over 7 million people, over 6 million French-speakers, and around 700,000 immigrants.  Its import-export performance makes it one of the world’s top 20 economies. Québec is also 17 highly diverse regions: rural and urban, mountainous and maritime, French-speaking and cosmopolitan.

Economy:

Over the last number of years, Québec has had a strong economic performance. The largest Canadian province, Québec has a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $265 billion Canadian, 70 % of which comes from the service sector.  The GDP is equivalent to approximately US$205 billion or $EUR165 billion.

Although it is not a country, the province of Québec has an economy whose scope compares with that of  Portugal. Its economy therefore ranks 41st in the world, and 21st in terms of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Furthermore, Québec's GDP per person, it can be compared to that of Germany and Italy and even surpasses that of Spain.

Culture:

As the only French-speaking society in North America, Québec is deeply attached to its culture. Québec's culture is the very symbol of its identity, joining its French-Catholic roots together with the Amerindian heritage, while being influenced by its proximity to the United States and by the multi-ethnic population that shapes its demographic profile.

Recent Evangelical History:

In 1950 there were only 4 French-speaking Baptist churches in all of Québec, with less than 500 known evangelical believers of any stripe.  Several missionaries from English-speaking Canada came, preached the gospel, began church planting, and were thrown in prison by the Catholic church for a total of seven years (surprised yet?).

In the 1960’s, Quebec experienced what is known as the “Silent Revolution.”  In the early 1960’s, around 95% of French-speaking Quebeckers were practicing Catholics.  Within a dozen years, less than 5% of the French-speaking population was considered to be practicing Catholic (Basically, what took France 200 years to live out took place in one generation in Quebec).

In the 1970’s and early 1980’s the national Baptist church movement, along with the Assembly of God and Mennonite brethren movements, exploded exponentially, then slowed in the mid 80’s until around 2000.  Recently, among the Baptists, a massive church planting movement, in conjunction with a vibrant and growing French seminary, is spilling over into all parts of Quebec.  Their goal is to grow from 75 churches to over 100 by 2010.  However, even with this encouraging movement, of the six million French-speaking Quebeckers, nearly two million live in communities with no evangelical church of any kind.

A Nation Within A Nation:

Percentage of Evangelicals in English-speaking Canada:         13%

Percentage of Evangelicals in French-speaking Canada:        0.56%

This is why I speak of “French-Speaking Quebec” rather than “Canada.”  Simply saying “Canada” gives a false impression of where we work.  Vancouver, BC and Montreal QC are two radically different cultures who speak two different languages, with radically different cultural histories… much different than Denver and New York.

Google has teamed up with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to highlight the Darfus crisis using Google Earth:

Google Earth has added a Global Awareness layer to its maps program that lets you learn about the crisis in Darfur. By selecting the Global Awareness layer (in the lower left-hand corner of Google Earth) you can fly over enhanced satellite images of the war-torn region. Sprinkled over the map are icons that link to photographs, data, videos, and narratives of eyewitnesses to the genocide.

What an excellent use of internet technology to educate users about a crisis that many people probably don’t fully understand. Grab a copy of Google Earth and read more about the project at the Holocaust Memorial Museum website. I’m eager to see what other educational uses will be found for Google Earth and similar tools in the future.

HT: Justin Taylor

This is a quote from a post by Abraham on the Desiring God blog.  Convicting stuff:

I did a word search on our site and compiled a few of the more cogent quotes on today's favorite pastime.

From "Justification by Faith":

There are millions who are numb to hope because of the God-belittling things they have done and how ugly they have become. They don’t lift lofty arguments against God’s Truth; they shrug and feel irretrievably outside. They don’t defy God consciously; they default to cake and television.

From "Take Care How You Listen! Part 2":

It astonishes me how many Christians watch the same banal, empty, silly, trivial, titillating, suggestive, immodest TV shows that most unbelievers watch--and then wonder why their spiritual lives are weak and their worship experience is shallow with no intensity.

From "Advice to Pastors: How to Help Your People Be More Satisfied in God":

Help your people to turn off the television. Few things in our culture are more spiritually numbing than the television. Even the so-called "good" shows are by and large banal and low-minded and anything but cultivating of a rich, deep capacity to enjoy God. And when you add to that the barrage of suggestive advertisements that accompany virtually every program, I do not wonder why so many of our professing Christians are spiritually incapable of experiencing high thoughts and deep emotions.

From "The Children, The Church, and the Chosen":

Fathers are worked to a frazzle and so are too dogged to spend quality time with children; mothers are lured away from their little children to the work force; children have their own activities, and the one thing that pulls them all to the same room makes zombies out of them all: the television.

From "Ten Effects of Believing in the Five Points of Calvinism":

One of the curses of our culture is banality, cuteness, cleverness. Television is the main sustainer of our addiction to superficiality and triviality.

From "A Prayer for Our Church":

O Lord, by the truth of your Word, and the power of your Spirit and the ministry of your body, build men and women at Bethlehem... who don't feed their minds on TV each night.

April 5th we celebrated Passover in downtown St Jerome.  Around 50 people; 15-20 that do not know Christ; fun; intense; salvation-oriented.  To all who prayed, here's an opportunity to experience what we experienced that evening:

"Passover" and "Easter" are the same word in French, providing a beautiful continuity between the ancient Jewish holiday and its fulfillment in our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Our next event will be May 6th, with small groups and one-on-one discipleship continuing each week.

Thursday will be a multi-media experience as we celebrate a traditional Jewish Passover in downtown St Jerome. We will also watch video clips, experience music, and read Scripture portraying Jesus Christ, our passover Lamb.

We're inviting people everywhere like crazy... praying for lives transformed by the gospel.

Please mark your Calendars/PDAs to pray Thursday between 5pm and 9pm eastern standard time!

TRANSLATION (of above flyer):

-"The Jewish Passover" (title)-
-"For centuries, Jews have celebrated it. Since Jesus, Christians have celebrated it. The Passover meal, an experience to live."-
-"Thursday, April 5th, 6pm"-
-"25 rue de la Gare, St Jerome"-

KNEES: