[asa] Louie Giglio

Watched Louie Giglio's two videos this weekend, with comments below.

Indescribable:

Great motivational sermon on considering the wonder of God's power and
greatness as seen in the vastness of the cosmos. Aside from any mistakes in
astronomical detail, which I wouldn't have been able to detect without some
research, I didn't perceive any problematic theology on creation. He makes
the statement several times, for instance after talking about the incredible
power in the sun, that "God opened his mouth and light came streaming out at
186,000 miles per second". However, he doesn't take that any further to
explain whether or not he is trying to say "instantaneous supernatural
creation" - he is just restating Psalm 33:6. He talks about the millions of
light years distance to these galaxies and makes no explanation or apology
for this fact in relation to recent creationism. At the end, he shows a
picture from NASA on the "egg structure" in the middle of the Whirlpool
Galaxy, which has a shadowy image resembling a crooked cross. Yet he didn't
say that it was a cross, but just that it reminded him of the cross and thus
the forgiveness, greatness, etc., of God. If I wanted to be contrary, I
could say it reminded me of a "surfer dude", but he used it simply as an
object lesson to conclude his sermon with the power of the cross and of
God's concern for us.

How Great Is Our God:

In this presentation, he repeats some of the astronomical wonders and the
huge sizes of a few key stars compared to earth, to illustrate our
nothingness (in size), while emphasizing our importance in God's sight. He
then goes into his now-famous Laminin discussion. I'll admit that the
electron microscope view of the laminin molecule also reminded me of a
"surfer dude", although I'll defy anyone's attempt at Freudian analysis on
that point. After hearing about the laminin presentation, reading some
comments on this list and doing a little research myself, I'll admit that it
provoked my already healthy skepticism toward bad YEC and other Christian
apologetics arguments. However, after actually seeing the presentation, I
don't have much of a problem with it. Yes, he probably overstated the case
that "God has placed a cross in every molecule of our bodies," which could
be argued from a scientific point of view that it really isn't a cross, that
the similarity in shape is highly observer-biased, and there are examples in
many other molecules. But the context was a sermon on God's reliability and
our ability to depend on Him, since the "shadow of the cross" is over our
entire lives in the most important sense (spiritually, not in the "egg
structure" in the Whirlpool Galaxy, nor in the laminin molecule). God is
"indescribably" capable of upholding us in our life's concerns and problems.

For those who might have a strong objection to his use of the "laminin
parable", really I would have to ask whether they might object to the Lord's
own use of such things as the mustard seed. "The kingdom of heaven is like
a grain of mustard seed...which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when
it is grown it is the greatest of herbs". We know there are significant
scientific objections to this analogy that literalists try to step around;
yet the point was not to open Christ to accusations of scientific
inaccuracy, but to inform the minds and move the hearts of His followers on
the nature of the kingdom. Giglio's presentation is indeed spiritually
moving and thus of value, considering the purpose and the audience for which
it was intended - as long as the analogy isn't taken too much further.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Jon Tandy

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Received on Mon Jan 26 12:53:42 2009