When cool is not so cool

It's cold in Philadelphia. I'm here to talk about my latest child, Reformation21. A chilly breeze is blowing in from the North-east that cuts right through to the bone.

It reminds me of "home" (Wales, that is, not Mississippi). I have been thinking of those days when I walked to the village to catch the bus to school, hands blue with the biting Siberian wind that threatened snow and ice. Strange to say, I like the cold. I still can't get used to the feeling of always being "wet" with the Mississippian humidity causing me to break out in a sweat. It's simply not cricket.

But cool isn't always a good thing. Take the latest book that Christians are talking about, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It is another volume that purportedly helps us Neanderthals understand and communicate with "our generation"--the postmodern world which doesn't seem to know what truth means, that is offended by doctrine and communicates better by a series grunts and coded phrases interspersed with brand labels.

But Miller's thesis presents a Jesus that is so "cool" that the Bible authors would scarcely recognize him; more of a camp fire "listener" who likes shmores than a hell-fire, Scripture quoting no-nonsense preacher who insists that he must endure the wrath of God as a substitute so that sinners can be saved.

But don't take my word for it, read a trenchant review here.