tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87280152011-04-21T12:34:41.915-07:00Matt's perfect little world.Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comBlogger471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-4847694679967741672006-09-20T07:04:00.000-07:002006-12-11T08:06:31.001-08:00

.I am now blogging at a new location. Go there!.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-43679869833052411322006-09-18T11:37:00.000-07:002006-09-18T11:44:34.138-07:00

I've been thinking recently about my blog and how it should function. I want my posts to be original and of high quality, which means spending some time thinking through, researching, and editing posts. And I also want to post on a regular basis, more so as a practice of discipline than anything else. I've realized I'm a pretty lazy person and need to do some things about that. So, this blog

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1157122083778873872006-09-01T07:27:00.000-07:002006-09-01T07:48:03.790-07:00

I've been trying to come up with a good day to start posting again (in addition to finding the proper motivation). Since graduating in May, I haven't had a chance to do much writing, and I've been missing it noticeably. So, blogging is a good avenue for me to hopefully keep my writing skills sharp. I guess there is no better day to begin posting than on "Blog Day." From Jason Clark:"Sometime

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1139507770744078972006-02-09T09:55:00.000-08:002006-08-25T17:44:09.036-07:00

I decided I wanted to use the ESV version next to read through Galatians and found a website that had the ESV in audio format, so I listened to the book of Galatians today.  It was nice to hear the word out loud and not be distracted by footnotes, verse numbers, and section heading.  Since this was the way most people originally heard the letter to the Galatians, I think it was a worthwhile

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1139373693357035292006-02-07T20:40:00.000-08:002006-02-07T20:42:33.796-08:00

A few random observations as I read through Galatians using the Holman Christian Standard Bible:1:1 - Paul is an apostle not ordained by men, but by God. In fact, later in chapter 1 he goes on to mention that he did not seek out the other apostles after Christ reveals himself to Paul. I wonder if this tells us anything about the ordination of people and how this differs from other NT passages

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1139263386930896592006-02-06T14:03:00.000-08:002006-02-06T14:03:06.980-08:00

In addition to all of my Galatians writing, I plan on doing some general writing as well, so this post falls into this category.  I was sitting in class today wondering why it is that academia has such an influential role in the church when I realized that your average pastor doesn’t have close to the amount of time necessary to do what most academics do.  Most pastors can’t just spend hours

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1138984617133323602006-02-03T08:36:00.000-08:002006-02-06T13:46:05.450-08:00

The style of the NASB, which I appreciate for intense study and exegesis, doesn’t make for good reading when consuming mass quantities of scripture.  I found myself having to go back and reread a lot of verses because of the odd wording of some sentences.  Nevertheless, it was a good experience, and I will try to read some more “literal” translations as I complete my practice of reading through

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1138894857314655762006-02-02T07:39:00.000-08:002006-02-02T07:40:57.326-08:00

This semester, I’m taking a class called “Capstone Seminar in Christian Life.” It’s pretty much the “capstone” course for every single person who graduates from JBU, reserved only for seniors. One of the main focuses in the class is to examine, study, practice, and hopefully cultivate spiritual disciplines in our own lives. Since my degree falls within the realm of the Bible division, I am

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1127235601747746652005-09-20T09:47:00.000-07:002005-09-20T10:02:00.180-07:00

In keeping with the theme of my last post, I found this quote from Anthony Smith, someone who has more authority to talk about racial issues in the church than I do:For instance, many Christians are influenced by a particular form of individualism that makes it extremely difficult to see how we are complicit with the "principalities and powers" in how they continue to divide the body of Christ

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1127158494662106242005-09-19T11:35:00.000-07:002005-09-19T12:53:27.856-07:00

It’s a good thing no one actually reads my blog, because I might get in trouble with this next post.It’s not as timely as it could be, but I’ll write it nonetheless. It has to do with hurricane Katrina. I had been thinking about the racial implications of what was happening those first few days and trying to decide if there was some weight to the argument that the slow response to aid the victims

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1126215795216525312005-09-08T14:31:00.000-07:002005-09-08T14:45:32.403-07:00

I've been thinking about my pragmatism post lately. In it, I said that maybe the event wasn't as successful as I thought, even though it had good "results." I had read a post on pragmatism saying that we shouldn't be happy with results and should instead focus on obedience, which I agreed.The problem I have been wrestling with however, is that, as heretical as this may sound, "obedience" is

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1125939624397417442005-09-05T09:50:00.001-07:002005-09-05T10:00:24.396-07:00

Steve Bush over at Generous Orthodoxy thinks "Resisting consumerism is surely one of the primary ecclesial tasks in the 21st century world." Although his primary concern in the article isn't with consumerism, but with the mis-labeling of all liturgical creativity as consumer-driven, this sentence nevertheless struck me. And I wholeheartedly agree. Way to go Steve.If I had more time, I'd think up

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1125328998217893832005-08-29T07:56:00.000-07:002005-08-29T08:23:57.243-07:00

This past Saturday, an event took place at our church (where I am the youth pastor). It was an event that I really wasn't excited about and didn't want to be a part of. But, being the youth pastor, I was sort of forced into it. Let me explain.A few months ago, a lady in the church came up to me telling me that she really wanted to get Jami Smith to come to our church and do an event for the youth

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1124911902692001742005-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:002005-08-24T12:34:39.673-07:00

The next book I hope to read for my own personal pleasure and edification (read: not for class) is Stan Grenz' Primer on Postmodernism. I was flipping through the pages today and noticed that in chapter 7, "The Gospel and the Postmodern Context,"Grenz has subtitles describing post-individualism, post-rationalism, post-dualism, and post-noeticentricism (is that a word?) as they pertain to the

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1124544090187859882005-08-20T06:21:00.000-07:002005-08-22T13:36:18.943-07:00

So, it seems like I’ve been reading a lot about people’s praise for Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace, so I decided to check it out for myself. I’m only about 65 pages into it, but so far it is, as Tony Jones calls it, “mind-bendingly good theology.” A few quotes that struck me:His explanation of Paul’s reconciliation of the universality of God's being with the cultural particularity of his

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1124241669583518942005-08-16T17:53:00.000-07:002005-08-16T18:29:00.826-07:00

I just finished reading Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. It was a refreshing read. I didn't know what to expect and read it on a recommendation from Rusty, who said it was a good, and easy, read. He was right about it being an easy read. It's one of those books where you read it and you look down and say, "wow, I've read 30 pages already" when you think it's been like 10. I guess that's a good

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1123611270720137302005-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:002005-08-09T11:16:35.616-07:00

I get to see Noah today. I'm in Siloam on "business" and so we're meeting up for a bit. Should be exciting.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1123200932435972642005-08-04T17:13:00.000-07:002005-08-08T08:06:55.453-07:00

Honeymoon pictures and other week-of-wedding pictures are here.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1122498132737672072005-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:002005-07-27T14:05:32.016-07:00

So, I've been a little busy lately and haven't blogged much as a result. I got married, went on the honeymoon, then came back to work with VBS only a few days away. So, blogging has been put on the back burner. I was doing good there for a while. Oh well.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1120057836297273682005-06-29T08:07:00.000-07:002005-06-29T08:10:36.303-07:00

Brian Mclaren has a good post at the Emergent-US blog. Check it out. Tag: emergent

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1120019576320585742005-06-28T21:22:00.000-07:002005-06-28T21:32:56.326-07:00

I was reading through Matthew 4 as part of my daily Bible reading this evening and I got hung up on a phrase that I have read over and over. In verses 5 and 8, the phrase "the devil to him (Jesus) to [5-the holy city; 8-a very high mountain]." The devil took Jesus? Can the devil lead us in a way that is not sinful? Is obedience to Satan always sin? It's been a while since I've looked closely

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1119930582712000412005-06-27T20:43:00.000-07:002005-06-29T10:47:56.983-07:00

Apparently the good folks at Blogger thought it would be a good idea to make a quick and easy way to publish your post without having to go into that huge hassle of having to actually click on the "publish post" button and thought, "Oh, we'll just make it so you can publish by pushing Ctrl + S" (wow, long sentence). Not a bad idea.Unless you are a college student with Microsoft Word. Those of us

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1119929404483031322005-06-27T20:28:00.000-07:002005-06-27T20:58:46.560-07:00

Not surprisingly, I scored as Karl Barth. When we were studying Karl Barth in Church History last semester, I had to write the reading summary on him for the class (Which meant that was the only chapter in the book I read all semester. Unless Dr. Johnson is reading this blog. In which case, I meant to say, "I loved Olson. I read it cover to cover."). It worked out really well because as I read

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1119897375172018812005-06-27T11:35:00.000-07:002005-06-27T20:57:06.836-07:00

I decided that I needed to change my blog's name to something that was shorter and more broad. Before, the title was like a hundred letters long. And it didn't even roll off of your tounge nicely. "Oh, you want the url to my blog? Well, do you have a few sheets of paper to write it down?... Oh, ok. Sorry about that. Maybe some other time."Also, it was fairly narrow in scope. It centered around

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1119674868288900752005-06-24T21:45:00.000-07:002005-06-24T21:47:48.296-07:00

I’ve pretty much decided that I am going to attend the Emergent Gathering this October in New Mexico. My ex-roommate Rusty is doing his youth ministry internship in Roswell, NM and told me that he could probably get us some free lodging for the event, which would be baller. I’m really looking forward to it and I hope that this deal doesn’t fall through. Ever since I heard of emergent, I have

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1119662088268319672005-06-24T17:12:00.000-07:002005-06-24T18:14:48.310-07:00

So blogger will now allow you to add a picture. But, my dial-up connection is so slow that it is taking an hour. Nuts.Tag: blogger

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1118677472051046652005-06-13T08:42:00.000-07:002005-06-13T08:44:32.056-07:00

For some reason, my dial-up internet connection doesn't seem to want to publish new blog posts. So, I guess I won't for a while.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1114726391409644142005-04-28T15:09:00.000-07:002005-04-28T15:16:25.983-07:00

In light of my last post about my amazon.com wishlist, it might be good to explain a little bit about my apparent obession with books. First of all, people who write books are a heck-of-a-lot smarter and wiser than I am. So, as someone with a future in the ministry, getting some sound theological exposure is always a good things. But, and maybe more more importantly, I see books as a way to have

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1114726061637911232005-04-28T15:04:00.000-07:002005-05-23T07:46:50.856-07:00

So, last time I said something about my Amazon.com wishlist, it was at something like 83 books. I've read a few of the books that were on my list since them and purchased many others. However, in spite of all that, my list has now grown to an unthinkable 163 books. So, if you want to do me a favor, go to my wishlist and buy me something. Go to the top of the page and sort it by "Priority" and buy

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1114565264476072942005-04-26T18:21:00.000-07:002005-04-26T18:27:44.476-07:00

For a while, I wondered why I even blogged, even though I don't do it on a regular basis. But last night, as I was writing a 10-page paper for one of my classes, I realized that I had blogged about a few things that were relevant to my paper. So, since it was my work, it was original, and fairly well-written, all I had to do was a little bit of copy-paste from my blog to my paper and--boom--I had

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1114538317566962982005-04-26T10:54:00.000-07:002005-04-26T10:58:37.566-07:00

I think the research sited in my previous post is taken from a new book on the religious lives of American teenagers called Soul Searching. The conclusion is that most teens are "therapeutic, moralistic deists." I have to read the book for my internship this summer. It should be a good read. Anyone involved with working with youth in the church should pick it up.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1113973233924814792005-04-19T21:43:00.000-07:002005-04-19T22:00:33.926-07:00

So, we were talking about liberal theology (of the Adolf Harnack variety) in Church History. It became readily apparent that, although I consider myself to be fairly generous theologically, liberal theology falls well outside the scope of Christian orthodoxy. It was quite absurd to me that these people even considered themselves Christians because their faith had virtually no resemblance to

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1113881456119116972005-04-18T20:21:00.000-07:002005-04-18T20:30:56.120-07:00

So, I'm a fan of Tony Campolo and Brian McLaren's book Adventures in Missing the Point and I think that self-esteem should be thrown into the mix. Or maybe it is in their book and it's been so long since I've read it I've forgotten.Regardless, I was thinking today about self-esteem for some reason. Maybe I read something about it or overheard someone talking. I don't know. What it comes down to

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1112334147448404952005-03-31T21:42:00.000-08:002005-04-19T19:59:25.886-07:00

As I am almost done with three full years at a non-denominational Christian university, I am able to look back on my time here and reflect on what has occurred in my faith during my time here. As could be expected, my pre-college expectations were demolished. Being raised in a conservative non-denominational (which basically meant Baptist without having any sort of official affiliation) church

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1109739824704906162005-03-01T20:56:00.000-08:002005-03-01T21:03:44.706-08:00

As I observe life, the world, and the scriptures, I am increasingly becoming a believer in total depravity. It seems clear to me that we all have God, as well as the life that he has called us to, dead wrong. And I don't mean just a little bit wrong, but a lot wrong. To even reflect on the thoughts of being free in Christ as compared to how we live our lives and "do" church makes it obvious

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1107580728377256002005-02-04T21:18:00.000-08:002005-02-04T21:18:48.376-08:00

I’m not sure what to think of this. As I was leaving Alicia’s room over in her dorm, I saw a flyer advertising a new weekly worship get-together in the lobby of the dorm. That got me thinking. How much is too much when it comes to “doing stuff.” We’ve got chapel three days a week, we have passion groups, we have campus ministries, students are involved in churches, there are retreats for

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1107491890219879662005-02-03T20:37:00.000-08:002005-02-03T20:41:08.210-08:00

I’m pretty close (I hope I hope I hope) to getting a job as a youth pastor, which is really exciting. However, as usual, when someone new comes in to anything, there will eventually be some sort of changes taking place. Inevitably, this means that people will be uncomfortable and skeptical about changes because they aren’t used to them yet. So, I thought it would be good to think about making

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1106944349905704132005-01-28T13:08:00.000-08:002005-01-28T12:32:29.906-08:00

Found at http://www.theotherjournal.net/: "I’m not mad at liberals who want to perform some procedural form of democracy. What I am upset about are Christians who think that is their primary task in the world in which we find ourselves. And I want them to remember that our first task is to be the church of Jesus Christ, that’s our politics. " - Stanley Hauerwas "Evangelicals tend to turn the

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1106888172549349882005-01-27T20:52:00.000-08:002005-01-27T20:56:12.550-08:00

I just wrote a fairly lengthy entry and then it got lost. So I'm a little upset about that. Oh well. Instead, here's some quotes from Kenda Creasy Dean in the latest round of articles from youthspecialties.com. Interesting stuff. It's worth reading the whole article. "In other words, instead of winning teenagers' trust for the sake of presenting a Christian message (think, playing crazy

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1106627472835383752005-01-24T20:24:00.000-08:002005-01-24T21:01:56.133-08:00

I had something that I wanted to write about, but as I logged on to do it, I totally forgot about what that was. So, in attempt to jump-start my thinking, I'm just going to write. If this goes into nowhere, I'm sorry. But, since no one reads this anyways, I'm only wasting my own time. A great opportunity has come my way in the past week. Last Tuesday, I found out that two out of my three

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1106109473285878262005-01-18T20:09:00.000-08:002005-01-18T20:37:53.286-08:00

Random thoughts: - So, it's been 2 months now since my last blog, pretty bad if you ask me. I really need to work on that. - I can't believe some people's blogging habits (or should I say addictions). It seems like all they do is read stuff on the internet and write stuff for their blogs. Do they get paid for this? Some people write stuff that's fit for a journal article, not a meaningless

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1100829640626616842004-11-18T17:58:00.000-08:002004-11-18T19:04:18.880-08:00

I title this as post #1 because there will probably be a lot more to say about this as I continue to formulate my thoughts. When I first heard about the emergent movement, I really felt as if it was something that dealt with the needs I saw in the church as a whole and became really excited about it. However, I must say that I am getting a bad taste in my mouth with a few of the people who claim

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1098332057455818542004-10-20T21:10:00.000-07:002004-10-20T21:14:17.456-07:00

I was informed today that in the local newspaper (small, Bible-belt town) that a letter to the editor was published saying that voting for Kerry would be like voting for Satan. I'm glad he spoke for all us Christians. Now those of us with a brain have to undo crap that people like this say. Arg

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1098159283174280212004-10-18T21:13:00.000-07:002004-10-18T21:14:43.173-07:00

The Astros won game 5! Amazing. Who woulda thought? I got to see my fiancee today. That was wonderful. I missed her.

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1097899431776768372004-10-15T20:39:00.000-07:002004-10-16T20:40:22.993-07:00

After winning the first playoff series in franchise history, the Astros look like they are up to their old tricks. I missed most of game 2, but from what I could tell, middle relief gave up the game yet again. We've gotta win these two at home to stand a chance. On a totally separate note, my fiancee is out of town and I miss her. I hope she is having a good time. Tomorrow I get to look over

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1097862494263172382004-10-15T10:31:00.000-07:002004-10-15T10:48:14.263-07:00

Over the past few years, I've been adding books to my amazon.com wish list that I eventually want to buy. As I take all of these cool classes at school and hear about good books in class and from other people (or stumble upon them myself), I put them on my list so one day I will eventually get to read them. The problem is, the list is growing WAY faster than I can purchase, nevertheless read,

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8728015.post-1097811875633875792004-10-14T20:37:00.000-07:002004-10-14T20:44:35.633-07:00

Well, I guess that it was only a matter of time before this happened. I mean, everyone's doing it, so why not me? As much as I hate to be a conformist, blogs are an amazing idea. You can post your thoughts and let other people tell you how dumb or brilliant you are. This blog is for me as much as anyone esle. I've come to realize that I do a lot of thinking here as I'm in college and I

Matt Cleaverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11702675117384036467noreply@blogger.com