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I'm still working my way through a series by John Piper. There's been a lot of interesting stuff that's been discussed lately, particularly in the discussions on prayer and worship. I'd like to elaborate on a few of those ideas here.

One of Piper's sessions on prayer seemed really more about the idea of fasting. Piper argues that fasting should be part of the normal pace of Christian life. This argument is based somewhat upon Matthew 9:15:

And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. (ESV)

Do you agree with his conclusions about fasting? (He was quick to warm that fasting could be both an act of worship or a legalistic act). I've never fasted for any non-trivial amount of time - at least not a fast with any intentional theological significance. Should I take up such a practice?

Secondly, I was rather surprised a week or two ago to hear that a rapper sang in a service at Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper's home church) a while ago. Somehow based on what I had heard him speak before, I would have predicted a somewhat more traditional style of worship. (At the same time, he does seem to get along with Mark Driscoll in spite of some disagreement largely over Driscoll's style of speech - see Mark Driscoll's conversation with Piper on this over at his blog).

Piper quoted from John Calvin in the Institutes on the style of worship (I've linked to this quote in the context of a page discussing head covering in worship which some other readers might find interesting):

But because he [God—RPNA] did not will in outward discipline and ceremonies what we ought to do (because he foresaw that this depended upon the state of the times, and he did not deem one form suitable for all ages), here we must take refuge in those general rules which he has given, that whatever the necessity if the church will require for order and decorum should be tested against these ... Lastly, because he [God—RPNA] has taught nothing specifically, and because these things are not necessary to salvation, and for the upbuilding of the church ought to be variously accommodated to the customs of each nation and age, it will be fitting (as the advantage of the church will require) to change and abrogate traditional practices and to establish new ones

A third topic which John Piper spoke about was humour in worship. This is a topic that we've discussed before. John Piper stated that he hadn't told a joke in 20 years of ministry during a sermon, but at the same time that there had been laughter in his church when certain humourous things and he seemed comfortable with this. Church != stand-up comedy, but at the same time I think that it should not be totally devoid of laughter. I guess that I tend to prefer laughter in worship as something acceptable, but preferentially unintentional.

I kind of like the simpler Shakespearean form of this question - to be or not to be. However, lately it's been the phrase that titles this post which I've been thinking about. This issue is one that needs to be dealt with fairly shortly.

• I won't have to take classes in January if I stay a Master's student, but if I do transfer then I think that I have a few more classes to finish yet before I get past that bit of the Ph.D.
• Skipping a Master's degree is more risky - what if you decide later that you don't want to go through the hassle of getting a Ph.D.? There'd be no Masters degree to fall back on
• Skipping the Master's degree means skipping the hassle of investigating and applying to other graduate schools
• Transferring to the Ph.D. program would mean one flowing through one less school
• Doing a Ph.D. can allow one to explore more research areas
• If memory serves correct, statistically the average person with a Masters is making more money than the average Ph.D.-holding person
• Not getting a Master's degree on the way should speed things up as there's one less thesis to write.
• Transferring to the Ph.D. program would mean not having a shorter thesis as a "practice round" prior to a doctorate.
• It's more common in places like Britain to do a Ph.D. straight away after the Bachelor's degree, but from what I've heard doing a Ph.D. straight away is relatively unusual in North America.
• With a Ph.D. you run a higher risk of being considered overqualified when job-hunting
• May need to worry more about funding my studies if I do a Ph.D. later somewhere else.

Today on Between Two Worlds, a post discussed a topic that I've heard mentioned a number of times before.

To quote one of the articles linked: "I'd heard from counteless others that the 'Church crowd' is hands down the worst group of people to wait on. I never believed them, mostly because I was always part of the Church crowd. Unfortunately, I've come to find out how right they were."

Something for you to consider when eating out...

When concluding the purchase of my laptop on Saturday I had to refuse some interesting freebies (particularly a memory stick) to avoid the hassle of being saddled with a free printer. This would be my second free printer refusal of the year.

Why refuse something that's free? Because it isn't - you pay in the form of taxes on the pre-rebate price, the form of time for filling out rebate forms, waiting, and depositing any cheques that appear. Postage stamps are a further cost, and things also occasionally get lost in the mail.

That would be just the financial cost, not the cost of space or the environmental impact of more junk kicking around.