G.K. Chesterton on Evolution

"It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into anything."

Objective, Universal Moral Values?

"A great many of those who 'debunk' traditional or (as they would say) 'sentimental' values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process."

-C.S. Lewis

Affliction

"I know that all distress inflicted by Heaven is a mercy."

- William Blake

My Dad and Son

My Dad passed away on January 13, 2006. This afternoon, as I was looking through some old photographs, I came across this one of my Dad and my son, Ryan. It is a touching picture for me, capturing the love my Dad had for Ryan and the joy he had in teaching him how to fish. The picture was taken at Lake Junaluska in North Carolina. 

The Gospel of Judas

"The Gospel of Judas Iscariot" is a fourth-century Coptic, gnostic document which shows a completely other view of the betrayer of Jesus and was featured on National Geographic (TV) on Sunday evening, April 9. The 2-hour program was unbelievably biased in favor of this view of Judas as opposed to the accounts of Judas which are recorded in the four New Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Unfortunately, no conservative scholars' views were presented, leading me to ask two primary questions: (1) Why is National Geographic so "evangelistic" about getting this document to the public? and (2) Why was this strongly liberal presentation brought to the public without conservative debate during the Passion Week of our Lord?

Consider these facts about Gnosticism:

1. Gnosticism is syncretistic. It is nothing more or less than an assimilation of imperfectly understood Christian doctines to a fundamentally pagan scheme. The Gnostics sought to combine Christian ideas with contemporay ones.
2. Gnostic systems did not come into existence until the 2nd century AD.
3. There is no Gnostic literature which can confidently be assigned to the first century.
4. Gnostic literature is obscure in thought (compared with the straightforwardness of New Testament thought).
5. According to the Gnostics, all matter is evil.
6. The Gnostic gospels appear with no life-context.
7. Gnostics maintained that man's chief need is knowledge. Christians maintain that we are saved by grace through faith (not mere knowledge).
8. Gnostics believed in the creation of matter by an inferior power or demiurge, not by God.
9. Gnostics make a distinction between the man Jesus and "the Christ" who descended on Jesus in the form of a dove after he was baptized. "The Christ" left Jesus before he died while "the Christ" remained immune from suffering, since he was a purely spiritual being.
10. The gnostics were not one school, but many. It took many different forms.
11. A characteristic teaching of all gnostics was the fundamental antithesis between the material and the spiritual universe.
12. Many gnostics believed that the origin of evil came about when woman was created and that to have children is to multiply souls who would be in bondage to the powers of darkness.
13. Gnosticism is a system of ontological dualism. It pits the transcendent God of the Bible against an ignorant, obtuse demiurge (often a caricature of the Old Testament Jehovah).
14. Salvation is through a secret gnosis (knowledge) and not by the completed work of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross.
15. Early Christian writers such as Irenaeus (AD 180) denounced Gnosticism as heretical.
16. Ask yourself: "Why didn't Gnosticism win out?"
17. Ask yourself: "Why and how did Gnosticism disappear?"

Leaving a Legacy

I just finished reading one of John Steinbeck's major works, East of Eden (1952), and discussed it with our literary group on Saturday evening, March 4. I was captivated by Steinbeck's brilliant insights and character development and couldn't put the book down. Always reading with pen in hand, I noted some of his greatest lines. Here are three:

"You're going to pass something down no matter what you do or if you do nothing."

"Hate cannot live alone. It must have love as a trigger, a goad, or a stimulant."

"Tom got into a book, crawled and groveled between the covers, tunneled like a mole among the thoughts, and came up with the book all over his face and hands."

John Steinbeck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

Oldest Archaeological Remains of a Church in Israel

The church was discovered on the grounds of a prison in Megiddo, in northern Israel. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the find "an amazing story."

Go to http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9950210/ to read the full story.

Notice the two fish in the mosaic. The fish was an early symbol of the Christian faith. Each letter in the Greek word for "fish" became the first letter of the following five words: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. 

A Kingfisher in Narnia

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, author C.S. Lewis writes that the "Beavers and the children were walking on hour after hour into what seemed a delicious dream." The snow was melting in Narnia; Spring was arriving. In the first paragraph of chapter 12, the children had seen so many signs of Spring that they stopped saying, "Look! there's a kingfisher..." Quite a beautiful bird, isn't it? 

In Dar es Salaam

Our plane touched down at 10:00 p.m. last night in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, after a 21-hour trip, including a two-hour layover in Amsterdam and a one-hour layover at the Kilimanjaro Airport. My favorite part of this journey was passing over the German and Austrian Alps. Sitting by the window on the left side of the plane, I was able to take in the snow-covered German Alps - stunningly beautiful, the majestic artwork of God.

I am enjoying reading Eric Liddell: Pure Gold by David McCasland, a biography of the 1924 Olympic champion who was the subject of the Academy Award-winning movie, "Chariots of Fire." Still a favorite movie of mine, I am having a wonderful time getting to know more about this "Flying Scotsman."

One humorous story from his early life: Eric's older brother, Rob, was learning some bad words after both of them were sent to boarding school in Scotland. When he casually used a few of them at the supper table, his mother reacted with horror. McCasland writes: "Once he understood that swearing was unacceptable, five-year-old Eric offered a simple solution: 'Just tell me what all the bad words are, and I won't use any of them.'"

Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art

George Washington by Robert Edge Pine (1730-1788)

It has to be one of America's best kept secrets. The Westervelt-Warner Museum of American Art houses one of the world's finest collections of art from the late 1700's to the early 1900's. Yesterday, July 30, Mr. Jack Warner, former CEO of his family's company, Gulf States Paper Corporation, and one of the premier collectors of American Art in the world today, took me, my Board of Directors, and a school Headmaster -6 of us - on a 2 1/2-hour, personal tour of the museum. An unforgettable experience!

The museum is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. If you are interested in the paintings of Thomas Cole, Mary Cassatt, Andrew Wyeth, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Paul Revere, Winslow Homer, Albert Bierstadt, and many more, take the time to visit this truly great private collection. Go to http://www.warnermuseum.org/ for further information.

"1776" by David McCullough

Historian David McCullough was asked by Fritz Lanham of the Houston Chronicle, "What are the biggest misconceptions American have about the American Revolution?" McCullough responded, "That it was short, not very bloody and carried out by people who looked like they were in a costume pageant."

In short, read this book! McCullough is not only an outstanding historian, but an excellent story-teller. Thanks to him, I have a new appreciation for those who gave so much for our liberty and will never celebrate July 4th the same again.

The Dutch Masters

This is the entrance to the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia where the Dutch Masters from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam are on display. All of the works are from the 17th century and include several Rembrandt's. Melbourne's Official Visitors' Guide states that this forms "the most comprehensive display of 17th century Dutch art ever seen in Australia." Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit and was reminded again and again that these painters truly understood the meaning of the word "excellence." The attention to detail and quality were almost beyond comprehension.

Split Point Lighthouse

After the pastors' conference at Hall's Gap in the Grampians National Park, my hosts drove me back to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. The two-day trip began at Warrnambool and followed the southern coast of Australia until we reached Melbourne. At Aireys Inlet, I got out to take some pictures of the Split Point Lighthouse which began operations in 1891. The tower height is 34 meters and the light has a range of 20 nautical miles. It is affectionately known as the "White Queen." If you would enjoy more info about this lighthouse, take a look at http://www.lighthouse.net.au/lights/VIC/Aireys%20Inlet/Split%20Point%20Lighthouse.htm

The Twelve Apostles

As you can see, we got caught in the rain when we arrived on Friday, July 1, at The Twelve Apostles in the Port Campbell National Park along the Great Ocean Road. These imposing figures were caused by erosion of the limestone cliffs.

The Australian Herald Sun newspaper reported today (Sunday, July 3) that another of the Twelve Apostles crashed into the sea this morning. Here is the breaking news story:

"ANOTHER of the famous Twelve Apostles limestone structures off Victoria's coast has collapsed, leaving only eight still standing. One of the giant structures off the Great Ocean Road coastline was claimed by the ocean about 9am today," Parks Victoria spokesman Alex Green said.

"If you're standing on the boardwalk on the clifftop (looking out) at The Apostles, it's the second apostle (on the left)," he said.

Hall's Gap

This beautiful valley, nestled between Mt. William and the Wonderland Mountains in Western Victoria, Australia, was the sight of a four-day conference on discipleship for 120 pastors and their wives. With a knowledgeable guide, I was driven to this lookout and was able to take this picture just before the shadows engulfed the entire valley. The conference center is located just south of the man-made lake you see at the top of the picture. Note the beautiful, clear sky - it was like this every day, though very cold (at night it was at freezing).

Little Penguins

I had never heard of the Little Penguins, the smallest penguins on the planet (only 33 cm tall), until last Saturday evening. Each night, visitors from all over the world come to Phillip Island, Australia to watch them emerge from the ocean and waddle up the beach to their burrows. The cold winter winds were blowing, but not enough to deter us from waiting on the cutest creature on earth. I was able to get within 3 feet of them, but no photography is allowed (it confuses them). So I don't have a picture to post, but recommend the official website, http://www.penguins.org.au (click on "Penguin Parade" and then watch the video). I'll never forget these little guys -they gave me quite a bit of joy that night.

Koala on Phillip Island

Cute little fellow, huh? Another great design by God.

Phillip Island

I really enjoyed feeding this little fellow on Saturday afternoon on Phillip Island, southeast of Melbourne (prounounced "Melbun," I am told). He saw the bag of "Kangaroo food" that I had and hopped right over to me and ate from my hand.

Sydney Opera House & Alps

As we approached Australia, the captain let us know that we had encountered strong head-winds on the way over and that Melbourne was covered in a morning fog. These two circumstances and the safety policies of Qantas Airlines required him to land in Sydney for re-fueling. Having a window seat on an exit row, I had a clear view of the Sydney Opera House and harbor as we were landing - an unexpected gift from God. The re-fueling stop added 1 1/2 hours to our flight, but the trip to Melbourne from Sydney also provided another spectacular view - the snow-capped mountains of the Australian Alps and the peaceful little villages and farms sprinkled throughout the Yarra Valley.

To Australia

The new book by David McCullough, “1776,” captured my attention as soon as we climbed to our cruising altitude, and wouldn't let me go until we landed at LAX. I am on my way to Melbourne at the invitation of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria to train 140 pastors and their wives in discipleship and spiritual formation. At the moment, we are about to board a Qantas 747 that will be my home for the next 15 hours, the longest flight I have ever made. I am very grateful for my exit-row seat, the poor man's first-class.

Past Loves

Last night, June 16, our literary group met to discuss our latest book, Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh. Considered the greatest satirist of his generation, Time magazine called him "one of the century's great masters of English prose." Waugh (1903-1966) penned this classic in 1945 at the end of WWII.

Men, how many women have you loved?

Consider Waugh's insight through the voice of Lord Marchmain's mistress:

"If you live with a man you come to know the other women he has loved."

In the same paragraph, Cara (his mistress) admits that she has never met Lord Marchmain's wife and has seen her only once. Ironically, however, she says, "I know Lady Marchmain very well."

Irony for Non-Religious Parents

"Do you know last year, when I thought I was going to have a child, I'd decided to have it brought up a Catholic? I hadn't thought about religion before; I haven't since; but just at that time, when I was waiting for the birth, I thought, 'That's one thing I can give her. It doesn't seem to have done me much good, but my child shall have it.' It was odd, wanting to give something one had lost oneself" (Brideshead Revisited).

How many parents avoid a relationship with God and refuse to worship Him - until their first child is born? Why is it that we want for them what we have lost ourselves?

Modern Education

A well-written assessment of modern education from Evelyn Waugh (Brideshead Revisited)...

"The trouble with modern education is you never know how ignorant people are. With anyone over fifty you can be fairly confident what's been taught and what's been left out. But these young people have such an intelligent, knowlegeable surface, and then the crust suddenly breaks and you look down into depths of confusion you didn't know existed."

Dying Of What?

One last (and humorous) dialogue from Evelyn Waugh...

"The doctors in Rome gave him less than a year. There is someone coming from London, I think tomorrow, who will tell us more."

"What is it?"

"His heart; some long word at the heart. He is dying of a long word."

In Memoriam

Anil Tode (left), one of my translators for the last two years in Nagpur, India, died unexpectedly on Friday, June 10, 2005. Please pray for his wife, Pramodini and their two children. He will be sorely missed.

Oscar Wilde

"Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing."

- Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey

Tribute to David Livingstone at Westminster Abbey

Brought By Faithful Hands

Over Land And Sea

Here Rests

David Livingstone,

Missionary,

Traveller,

Philanthropist,

Born March 19, 1813,

At Blantyre, Lanarkshire,

Died May 1, 1873,

At Chitambo's Village, Ulala

For 30 Years His Life Was Spent

In An Unwearied Effort

To Evangelize the Native Races,

To Explore the Undiscovered Secrets,

To Abolish the Devastating Slave Trade,

of Central Africa,

Where With His Last Words He Wrote,

"All I Can Add In My Solitude, Is,

May Heaven's Rich Blessing Come Down

On Everyone, American, English, or Turk

Who Will Help to Heal

This Open Sore of the World."

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Narnia Window, Holy Trinity Church

On December 9, 2005, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will open in theaters around the world.

In 1998, I had the privilege of spending two weeks at Oxford and Cambridge Universities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of C.S. Lewis, the author of the Chronicles. During the first week, I attended "A Celebration in Thoughts, Prayers and Readings" at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, the Anglican parish church where Lewis worshipped and is buried. As I entered the church, my eyes were immediately drawn to the beautiful window near the north aisle: the Narnia window. Installed in 1991, it is a memorial to the children of George and Kathleen Howe who died tragically young.

As I moved reverently across the church toward the window, I began to recognize "the Horse and His Boy," the unicorn, the lamp post, and Aslan. The service was beginning, so I made my way to a nearby pew. The Reverend Tom Honey, Vicar of Holy Trinity Church, called us to worship as we all stood to sing "Be Thou My Vision, O Lord of my heart." And then came the Collect, which few people have ever seen, but will make the upcoming film more meaningful:

Almighty God, who enlightened your Church by the teaching of your servant
Clive Staples Lewis, enrich it evermore with your heavenly grace, and raise
up faithful witnesses, who by their life and teaching may proclaim the truth
of your salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Another View of the Narnia Window

"Downfall"

I recently saw "Downfall," a movie about the final days of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. One of this year's Oscar nominations for best foreign film, it was a sobering reminder that 50 million people lost their lives during WWII, including 6 million Jews. Having visited the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., I was reminded once again that "ideas have consequences."

Go see this movie! (lest we forget). Before you do, read Roger Ebert's good review (he gave the movie 4 stars) at http://www.rogerebert.com.

Love Your Neighbors?

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies, probably because they are generally the same people."

G.K. Chesterton, The Outline of Sanity

G.K. Chesterton

"There is something to be said for every error, but, whatever may be said for it, the most important thing to be said about it is that it is erroneous."

Simone Weil

Interesting how we come to know great thinkers and writers. Several years ago, I was having lunch with Gary O'Malley at the Brookwood Grill when he told me about a (then) new book by Os Guinness entitled The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life. In only three brief sentences in chapter 2, "Seekers Sought," he introduces Simone Weil, "the Jewish philosoper and follower of Christ" (p. 10).

Why had I never heard of her before?

A trip to a local bookstore and a helpful clerk at the information desk yielded two titles: Simone Weil: A Modern Pilgrimage by Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Coles, M.D., and Waiting for God by Simone Weil.

Coles calls her "an exceptionally brilliant scholar," who had "a thorough, assured knowledge of mathematics, physics, biology - the full range of natural science," and who "had a unique capacity to keep thinking politically, historically, and economically, at the same time embracing theology and religious philosophy. Most importantly she was "a solitary seeker of God's company."

Simone Weil (1909 - 1943). A brief life of 34 years. Died of tuberculosis in a sanitarium outside of London during WWII. Here is one sample of her thought:

"The infinity of space and time separates us from God. How are we to seek for him? How are we to go toward him? Even if we were to walk for hundreds of years, we should do no more than go round and round the world. Even in an airplane we could not do anything else. We are incapable of progressing vertically. We cannot take a step toward the heavens. God crosses the universe and comes to us."

- Simone Weil, Waiting for God

The Meissen Apostles

The twelve antique statues of the Twelve Apostles that are pictured are replicas of the colossal marble statues in the Archbasilica of the Lateran in Rome. In 1775, sculptor Johann Joachim Kandler produced these copies in exquisite porcelain at the world-famous procelain factory in Meissen, Germany.

The Meissen Apostles may be seen to the right of the mantle in the Music Room at the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina. The pieces are from several different sets made for the Empresses Amalia and Maria Theresa of the Austrian Hapsburgs.

Top row from left to right: Bartholomew, James the brother of John, Matthew, John, James the son of Alphaeus, and Peter.

Bottom row from left to right: Thomas, Simon the Cananaean, Paul, Andrew, Thaddeus, and Philip.

The title Classic Discipleship refers to a leadership course on mentoring that I teach. For more information, you may contact me at:

The Jackson Institute
Tel: 770-518-7994
jmusselman@mindspring.com

Note: The picture (above) was designed by Mark Misenheimer of Misenheimer Creative, http://www.misenheimer.com

Dickens' Description of Fagin in "Oliver Twist"

“As he glided stealthily along, creeping beneath the shelter of the walls and doorways, the hideous old man seemed like some loathsome reptile, engendered in the slime and darkness through which he moved: crawling forth, by night, in search of some rich offal for a meal."

Our 8-member literary group read Oliver Twist during the month of April and discussed it on Friday night, April 22, 2005.

...one more memorable quote:

“But, tears were not the things to find their way to Mr. Bumble’s soul; his heart was waterproof."

"For An Autograph" by James Russell Lowell

Though old the thought and oft exprest,
Tis his at last who says it best, -
I'll try my fortune with the rest.

Life is a leaf of paper white
Whereon each one of us may write
His word or two, and then comes night.

"Lo, time and space enough," we cry,
"To write an epic!" so we try
Our nibs upon the edge, and die.

Muse not which way the pen to hold,
Luck hates the slow and loves the bold,
Soon come the darkness and the cold.

Greatly begin! though hou have time
But for a line, be that sublime, -
Not failure, but low aim, is crime.

Ah, with what lofty hope we came!
But we forget it, dream of fame,
And scrawl, as I do here, a name.

"Fox Hunt" by Ryan Musselman

My son Ryan's painting of an early morning fox hunt.

"We sit down before the picture in order to have something done to us, not that we may do things with it. The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way."

- C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

Jesus

"Jesus is smart. If he is divine, would he be dumb?"

- Dr. Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California

In Praise of a Good Wife

"He thought his wife a wonderful woman; he knew that without her he would hardly be more than a clerk in some other man's hotel."

- Willa Cather, My Antonia

Description of a Sunset

This is the best description of a sunset I have ever read:

"There I would often lie, as the sun went down, and watch the silent growth of another sea, which the stormy ocean of the wind could not disturb - the sea of the darkness. First it would begin to gather in the bottom of hollow places. Deep valleys, and all little pits on the hillsides, were wellsprings where it gathered, and whence it seemed to overflow, till it had buried the earth beneath its mass, and, rising high into the heavens, swept over the faces of the stars, washed the blinding day from them, and let them shine, down through the waters of the dark, to the eyes of men below."

- George MacDonald, The Portent

The Da Vinci Code

I was in the Louvre in Paris on March 14, and momentarily thought about Dan Brown's best-selling book, The Da Vinci Code. Directed by Ron Howard, the movie is coming in 2006. Will it shake the very foundations of Christianity? Was Jesus really married to Mary Magdalene? Did she bear his daughter? Christians have nothing to fear. To date, the greatest historians (even those who may want to believe the story) admit that there is no historical proof for any of these speculations. The book is fiction. I enjoyed the book, but there is no Priory of Sion and the Catholic Church is not covering up the truth about a blood-line that can be traced back to Jesus.

The Weight of Glory

My favorite essay. The Weight of Glory is the title of C.S. Lewis' famous sermon that he preached in the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, on June 8, 1941. Walter Hooper has it right: it is "an incomparable explication of virtue, goodness, desire, and glory." Lewis maintained that though Christianity is sometimes difficult to understand, it is worth fighting for and, in the second quote, argues for the supremacy of God's thoughts.

If our religion (Christianity) is something objective, then we must never avert our eyes from those elements in it which seem puzzling or repellent; for it will be precisely the puzzling or the repellent which conceals what we do not yet know and need to know.

I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except insofar as it is related to how He thinks of us.

C.S. Lewis

Walker Percy

"The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life."

- The Moviegoer

My Reminder to Give Thanks

The remains of the car in which I was riding after our head-on collision with another car on April 3, 1970. Two people died. Main lessons: the brevity of life; divine sovereignty; new resolve to live for God; boldness; the love of family and friends.

Worth Thinking About

"How vain painting is, exciting admiration by its resemblance to things of which we do not admire the originals."

- Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), Pensees, no. 36

I have benefited greatly from the brilliance of Pascal over the years. Reading his Pensees (Thoughts) has helped shape my worldview and driven me to Christ. Perhaps Dr. Peter Kreeft, associate professor of philosophy at Boston College, has said it best: "Every pensees, every word in every pensees, is a cobblestone in the road leading to the same Christ, a sign pointing to the same home."