Friday, November 30, 2007
Yesterday and Tomorrow
Yesterday I was reading some comments about the Roman Empire again. In many ways, I think that empires of the past provide a clue as to the future of the U.S., where I happen to live. It would be nice if I could hold on to the hope that we remain on the high road as a country, but you can see what's going on around you. What is it about the photo above that gives me reason
to be optimistic? These are the pop icons of the U.S. of A.
Look at yesterday's news features on yahoo. The masses are entertained with 'a tour of 50 Cent's dining room'. Ugh. Today it's 'the ten highest paid actresses'. We already know that
celebrities are well paid. I'm not sure why I am supposed to want to read this story. Tomorrow
will the feature be 'rap star's dating highest paid actresses', or 'rap star's paying most for
actresses' or something? It's all glitz and glamour and we all be smokin' crack. Like the quote
from yesterday, 'we really don't want to deal with it.' The 'it', is life, in the real world.
So, I'm starting to work on a suggestion that I was given the other day -- to take a look at Psalm 90. It's not a simple passage. But it provides a perspective on the subject of human time. Interesting subject indeed.
What's the point of reading about history? If it's well written, it makes a great story. But beyond that, there is in history, the recognizable habitual behavior of man. In other words, history repeats or rhymes because the nature of man, at all times and in all places, never changes all that much. We mostly kid ourselves about change. Look at Ecclesiastes:
Ecc 1:8 All things are full of weariness beyond
uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 That which has been is that which shall be;
and that which has been done is that which shall
be done: and there is no new thing under the
sun.
Some people see this as conspiracy. Maybe, but it's not easy to prove. I see it as the ever reliable folly of man. A consequence of sin.
So you have to ask the question, Can we look at yesterday and know something about what will happen tomorrow? I think so. You don't need
the gift of prophecy to know some things about the future. I know that if I bring up certain subjects around the house, that I will get a particular response. If you have kids, you know what I mean. They are always angling for an advantage and they will gladly rat out a sibling if they see any advantage. To confuse the issue some say, there are only two things certain in life --
death and taxes. But you have to admit that human behavior is mostly routine.
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
However, on the Jesus Bus, there is a better hope for sinners. The verse above points straight into the future. We are bound by time. The entire physical universe can only move forward in time. The fantasy of time travel is entertaining. But unless something really big changes about the nature of the universe, time will always be a one-way street.
Have you ever said to yourself, I wish I would have done that differently? I have. If onlyI had a time machine, I could fix that. Yeah, right. If I'm really honest about it, I realize that going back in time probably wouldn't make much difference about the really important blunders in life, because I don't have a capacity for perfection.
There is the future though. And the future can take a different shape.
II Cor 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation. The old things have passed
away. Behold, they have become new.
Notice, it's not that 'old things' pass away of their own, or by human will and effort. No,there is only one power that can really change things. The resurrection proved it. In context, this
verse is not about our actions. It's about our guilt under the law. And being made, not guilty.
On the Jesus Bus we are given power that is able to change the sinful condition of the human heart. Jesus can't change your past. But he is the only thing powerful enough to change our eternal future.
Oh. Just a thought for the weekend. If you have not seen it yet, pick up a copy of 'Amazing Grace' and watch it over the weekend. I saw it the other night and can recommend it. It's a
story about a thin slice of British history and the part played by William Wilberforce.
William Wilberforce (24 August 1759–29 July 1833) was a British politician and philanthropist. A native of Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 and became Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784–1812), and independent supporter of the Tory party. A close friend of Prime Minister William Pitt, in 1785 he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian. In 1787 he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Beilby Porteus and Hannah More and Lord Middleton.
At their suggestion he was persuaded to take on the cause, and became one of the leading English abolitionists, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade, which he saw through to the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce
to be optimistic? These are the pop icons of the U.S. of A.
Look at yesterday's news features on yahoo. The masses are entertained with 'a tour of 50 Cent's dining room'. Ugh. Today it's 'the ten highest paid actresses'. We already know that
celebrities are well paid. I'm not sure why I am supposed to want to read this story. Tomorrow
will the feature be 'rap star's dating highest paid actresses', or 'rap star's paying most for
actresses' or something? It's all glitz and glamour and we all be smokin' crack. Like the quote
from yesterday, 'we really don't want to deal with it.' The 'it', is life, in the real world.
So, I'm starting to work on a suggestion that I was given the other day -- to take a look at Psalm 90. It's not a simple passage. But it provides a perspective on the subject of human time. Interesting subject indeed.
What's the point of reading about history? If it's well written, it makes a great story. But beyond that, there is in history, the recognizable habitual behavior of man. In other words, history repeats or rhymes because the nature of man, at all times and in all places, never changes all that much. We mostly kid ourselves about change. Look at Ecclesiastes:
Ecc 1:8 All things are full of weariness beyond
uttering. The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
9 That which has been is that which shall be;
and that which has been done is that which shall
be done: and there is no new thing under the
sun.
Some people see this as conspiracy. Maybe, but it's not easy to prove. I see it as the ever reliable folly of man. A consequence of sin.
So you have to ask the question, Can we look at yesterday and know something about what will happen tomorrow? I think so. You don't need
the gift of prophecy to know some things about the future. I know that if I bring up certain subjects around the house, that I will get a particular response. If you have kids, you know what I mean. They are always angling for an advantage and they will gladly rat out a sibling if they see any advantage. To confuse the issue some say, there are only two things certain in life --
death and taxes. But you have to admit that human behavior is mostly routine.
Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever.
However, on the Jesus Bus, there is a better hope for sinners. The verse above points straight into the future. We are bound by time. The entire physical universe can only move forward in time. The fantasy of time travel is entertaining. But unless something really big changes about the nature of the universe, time will always be a one-way street.
Have you ever said to yourself, I wish I would have done that differently? I have. If onlyI had a time machine, I could fix that. Yeah, right. If I'm really honest about it, I realize that going back in time probably wouldn't make much difference about the really important blunders in life, because I don't have a capacity for perfection.
There is the future though. And the future can take a different shape.
II Cor 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation. The old things have passed
away. Behold, they have become new.
Notice, it's not that 'old things' pass away of their own, or by human will and effort. No,there is only one power that can really change things. The resurrection proved it. In context, this
verse is not about our actions. It's about our guilt under the law. And being made, not guilty.
On the Jesus Bus we are given power that is able to change the sinful condition of the human heart. Jesus can't change your past. But he is the only thing powerful enough to change our eternal future.
Oh. Just a thought for the weekend. If you have not seen it yet, pick up a copy of 'Amazing Grace' and watch it over the weekend. I saw it the other night and can recommend it. It's a
story about a thin slice of British history and the part played by William Wilberforce.
William Wilberforce (24 August 1759–29 July 1833) was a British politician and philanthropist. A native of Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 and became Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784–1812), and independent supporter of the Tory party. A close friend of Prime Minister William Pitt, in 1785 he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian. In 1787 he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Beilby Porteus and Hannah More and Lord Middleton.
At their suggestion he was persuaded to take on the cause, and became one of the leading English abolitionists, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade, which he saw through to the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Today's News
There's an 'Unlucky lottery winner' who's a convicted bank robber. There's a 'tour of 50 Cent's dining room'. There's 'GOP debate'. And there's 'Supermodel inspires NBA'. These are yahoo 'featured' stories this morning. Is it any wonder I don't watch much TV. Then, screaming past
the window of the Jesus Bus I see there is the new extreme sport of motorcycle racing in your underwear, pictured above. Only sissies wear leather.
"Mass psychology plays a role here. We know something unpleasant is on the way, but we
really don't want to deal with it.
Polls show most people think that as a nation we are headed down the wrong track. We might call these people the middle class, not just for economic reasons, but because they try to play
by the rules and they show loyalty and affinity
to political and religious beliefs. Most try to feather their own nests and, if asked, a good
portion will say that their situation is fine. This dichotomy between what they sense in the "big picture" and what is happening in their
personal lives causes subliminal anxiety. Excess
debt adds another layer of anxiety and fear for many. "
(Quote taken from another blog's comments. No link.)
If there is an explanation for what I'm seeing out the window of the Jesus Bus, this is a good candidate. The 'news' is pure trivia. I suspect it's chosen because it has entertainment value. But, for the most part, I see it as a distraction from the mass psychology the blog commentor mentions above. '...we really don't want to deal with it.'
My psychology works a little differently. You can tell by now that I like my place out here on the fringe somewhere. It's a space as far away from the 'herd' as I can get. I've learned that this makes some people uncomfortable. The feeling is mutual. The 'herd' doesn't give me a sense of comfort -- just the opposite. Does that mean I'm a bad person? There is always the popular characterization that the 'loner' is a sinister person. But the 'maverick' is either eccentric or idolized, depending on their net worth. Like a Howard Hughes. The pitiful
things that we make into idols.
Jesus was thought of as a madman, by some.
Jn 10:19 Therefore a division arose again among
the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is
mad! Why do you listen to him?"
21 Others said, "These are not the sayings of
one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the
eyes of the blind?"
22 It was the Feast of the Dedication at
Jerusalem.
23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the
temple, in Solomon`s porch.
24 The Jews therefore came around him and said
to him, "How long will you hold us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you
don`t believe. The works that I do in my
Father`s name, these testify about me.
26 But you don`t believe, because you are not of
my sheep, as I told you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me.
28 I give eternal life to them. They will never
perish, and no one will snatch them out of my
hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all. No one is able to snatch them
out of my Father`s hand.
30 I and the Father are one."
31 Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone
him.
He says we are his sheep. Fitting description.
Now, here we see the time tested technique of demonizing someone you can't agree with. It's understood that Jesus does not agree with popular religion. So, given that he has the power to demonstrate his authority by miracles, the accusation is that he's of the devil. That accusation just won't fly. But stones will do the trick. Some things never change, my friends.
Here's what I know. It's out along the edges that life offers it's greatest opportunities. Because few are willing to venture out there. It can be a lonely and unpredictable place. At least, in my mind, it beats the alternative.
What really is sad is that the 'church' has decided lately to take the low road. The way of popular culture and mass psychology. Like others their view is '...we really don't want to deal with it.' Let's try to make everyone comfortable.
Jesus never played it safe, as far as his willingness to challenge the status quo. Of course, he had a specific purpose to fulfil, as messiah. But he had alot to tell us about the good news that there is a way out of this world. He clearly identified the situation at the personal level as a condition of sin. That sin has separated us from G-d. And, that the
deepest desire of the human heart is to experience the love of G-d. That is heaven.
Mass psychology being what it is '...we really don't want to deal with it.' Set aside, for the moment the mass Psych thinking, and realize that Jesus is the friend of sinners. Everyone wants a friend. Everyone needs a friend.
Mt 11:18 For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, `He has a demon.`
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and
they say, `Behold, a gluttonous man and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners!` But wisdom is justified by her
children."
----------
Mt 11:25 At that time, Jesus answered, "I thank
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you
hid these things from the wise and
understanding, and revealed them to infants.
26 Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in
your sight.
27 All things have been delivered to me by my
Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father;
neither does anyone know the Father, except the
Son, and he to whoever the Son wants to reveal
him.
28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are
heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I
am humble and lowly in heart; and you will find
rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
-------
Jn 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever
I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the
servant doesn`t know what his lord does. But I
have called you friends, for everything that I
heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You didn`t choose me, but I chose you, and
appointed you, that you should go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that
whatever you will ask of the Father in my name,
he may give it to you.
17 I command these things to you, that you may
love one another.
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has
hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would
love its own. But because you are not of the
world, since I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Sinners are welcome on the Jesus Bus. Jesus is the friend of sinners. Mass psychology is not your friend.
the window of the Jesus Bus I see there is the new extreme sport of motorcycle racing in your underwear, pictured above. Only sissies wear leather.
"Mass psychology plays a role here. We know something unpleasant is on the way, but we
really don't want to deal with it.
Polls show most people think that as a nation we are headed down the wrong track. We might call these people the middle class, not just for economic reasons, but because they try to play
by the rules and they show loyalty and affinity
to political and religious beliefs. Most try to feather their own nests and, if asked, a good
portion will say that their situation is fine. This dichotomy between what they sense in the "big picture" and what is happening in their
personal lives causes subliminal anxiety. Excess
debt adds another layer of anxiety and fear for many. "
(Quote taken from another blog's comments. No link.)
If there is an explanation for what I'm seeing out the window of the Jesus Bus, this is a good candidate. The 'news' is pure trivia. I suspect it's chosen because it has entertainment value. But, for the most part, I see it as a distraction from the mass psychology the blog commentor mentions above. '...we really don't want to deal with it.'
My psychology works a little differently. You can tell by now that I like my place out here on the fringe somewhere. It's a space as far away from the 'herd' as I can get. I've learned that this makes some people uncomfortable. The feeling is mutual. The 'herd' doesn't give me a sense of comfort -- just the opposite. Does that mean I'm a bad person? There is always the popular characterization that the 'loner' is a sinister person. But the 'maverick' is either eccentric or idolized, depending on their net worth. Like a Howard Hughes. The pitiful
things that we make into idols.
Jesus was thought of as a madman, by some.
Jn 10:19 Therefore a division arose again among
the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is
mad! Why do you listen to him?"
21 Others said, "These are not the sayings of
one possessed with a demon. Can a demon open the
eyes of the blind?"
22 It was the Feast of the Dedication at
Jerusalem.
23 It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the
temple, in Solomon`s porch.
24 The Jews therefore came around him and said
to him, "How long will you hold us in suspense?
If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you
don`t believe. The works that I do in my
Father`s name, these testify about me.
26 But you don`t believe, because you are not of
my sheep, as I told you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me.
28 I give eternal life to them. They will never
perish, and no one will snatch them out of my
hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all. No one is able to snatch them
out of my Father`s hand.
30 I and the Father are one."
31 Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone
him.
He says we are his sheep. Fitting description.
Now, here we see the time tested technique of demonizing someone you can't agree with. It's understood that Jesus does not agree with popular religion. So, given that he has the power to demonstrate his authority by miracles, the accusation is that he's of the devil. That accusation just won't fly. But stones will do the trick. Some things never change, my friends.
Here's what I know. It's out along the edges that life offers it's greatest opportunities. Because few are willing to venture out there. It can be a lonely and unpredictable place. At least, in my mind, it beats the alternative.
What really is sad is that the 'church' has decided lately to take the low road. The way of popular culture and mass psychology. Like others their view is '...we really don't want to deal with it.' Let's try to make everyone comfortable.
Jesus never played it safe, as far as his willingness to challenge the status quo. Of course, he had a specific purpose to fulfil, as messiah. But he had alot to tell us about the good news that there is a way out of this world. He clearly identified the situation at the personal level as a condition of sin. That sin has separated us from G-d. And, that the
deepest desire of the human heart is to experience the love of G-d. That is heaven.
Mass psychology being what it is '...we really don't want to deal with it.' Set aside, for the moment the mass Psych thinking, and realize that Jesus is the friend of sinners. Everyone wants a friend. Everyone needs a friend.
Mt 11:18 For John came neither eating nor
drinking, and they say, `He has a demon.`
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and
they say, `Behold, a gluttonous man and a
drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and
sinners!` But wisdom is justified by her
children."
----------
Mt 11:25 At that time, Jesus answered, "I thank
you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you
hid these things from the wise and
understanding, and revealed them to infants.
26 Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in
your sight.
27 All things have been delivered to me by my
Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father;
neither does anyone know the Father, except the
Son, and he to whoever the Son wants to reveal
him.
28 "Come to me, all you who labor and are
heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I
am humble and lowly in heart; and you will find
rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
-------
Jn 15:14 You are my friends, if you do whatever
I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the
servant doesn`t know what his lord does. But I
have called you friends, for everything that I
heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
16 You didn`t choose me, but I chose you, and
appointed you, that you should go and bear
fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that
whatever you will ask of the Father in my name,
he may give it to you.
17 I command these things to you, that you may
love one another.
18 If the world hates you, you know that it has
hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would
love its own. But because you are not of the
world, since I chose you out of the world,
therefore the world hates you.
Sinners are welcome on the Jesus Bus. Jesus is the friend of sinners. Mass psychology is not your friend.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Year of Jubilee
As I look out the window of the Jesus Bus, I am left to wonder about how well the modern system of government provides a model for social stability. It seems that the family unit isin trouble. There are a lot of single parent families. And when the population is transient,there is often no strong sense of community.In many ways, the current model seems to be flawed. Yet, I'm hoping that it doesn't lead to serious social instability. That is the kind of result that benefits no one. Social order and justice is better than anarchy. These elements are probably more critical to social stability than the accumulation of 'wealth'. Do you want to live in a place where you are not safe outside the four walls of your house? You don't have to travel very far to find out what it's like. Go visit some inner cities. It
would be sad to see this happen in all of the
U.S. The Year of Jubilee gives us a model for social stability and how it relates to the redistribution of wealth.
Lev 25:8 You shall number seven Sabbaths of
years to you, seven times seven years; and there
shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of
years, even forty-nine years.
9 Then shall you send abroad the loud trumpet on
the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day
of atonement shall you send abroad the trumpet
throughout all your land.
10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and
proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the
inhabitants of it: it shall be a jubilee to you;
and you shall return every man to his
possession, and you shall return every man to
his family.
11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you:
you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows
of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it
of the undressed vines.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you:
you shall eat the increase of it out of the
field.
13 In this year of jubilee you shall return
every man to his possession.
14 If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy
of your neighbor`s hand, you shall not wrong one
another.
15 According to the number of years after the
jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, [and]
according to the number of years of the crops he
shall sell to you.
16 According to the length of the years you
shall increase the price of it, and according to
the shortness of the years you shall diminish
the price of it; for the number of the crops
does he sell to you.
17 You shall not wrong one another; but you
shall fear your G-d: for I am Yhwh your G-d.
18 Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep
my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell
in the land in safety.
19 The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall
eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20 If you shall say, What shall we eat the
seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor
gather in our increase;
21 then I will command my blessing on you in the
sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
the three years.
22 You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the
fruits, the old store; until the ninth year,
until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old
store.
23 The land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for
the land is mine: for you are strangers and
sojourners with me.
24 In all the land of your possession you shall
grant a redemption for the land.
25 If your brother be grew poor, and sell some
of his possession, then shall his kinsman who is
next to him come, and shall redeem that which
his brother has sold.
26 If a man have no one to redeem it, and he be
grew rich and find sufficient to redeem it;
27 then let him reckon the years of the sale of
it, and restore the surplus to the man to whom
he sold it; and he shall return to his
possession.
28 But if he isn`t able to get it back for
himself, then that which he has sold shall
remain in the hand of him who has bought it
until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it
shall go out, and he shall return to his
possession.
29 If a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled
city, then he may redeem it within a whole year
after it is sold; for a full year shall he have
the right of redemption.
30 If it isn`t redeemed within the space of a
full year, then the house that is in the walled
city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who
bought it, throughout his generations: it shall
not go out in the jubilee.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no
wall round about them shall be reckoned with the
fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and
they shall go out in the jubilee.
32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the
houses of the cities of their possession, may
the Levites redeem at any time.
33 If one of the Levites redeem, then the house
that was sold, and the city of his possession,
shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of
the cities of the Levites are their possession
among the children of Israel.
34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities
may not be sold; for it is their perpetual
possession.
35 If your brother has grown poor, and his hand
fail with you; then you shall uphold him: [as] a
stranger and a sojourner shall he live with you.
36 Take no interest of him or increase, but fear
your G-d; that your brother may live with you.
37 You shall not give him your money on
interest, nor give him your victuals for
increase.
38 I am Yhwh your G-d, who brought you forth out
of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of
Canaan, [and] to be your G-d.
39 If your brother has grown poor with you, and
sell himself to you; you shall not make him to
serve as a bond-servant.
40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he
shall be with you; he shall serve with you to
the year of jubilee:
41 then shall he go out from you, he and his
children with him, and shall return to his own
family, and to the possession of his fathers
shall he return.
"The name. --The name jubilee is derived from
the Hebrew jobel , the joyful shout or clangor
of trumpets, by which the year of jubilee was
announced. The time of its celebration. --It was celebrated
every fiftieth year, marking the half century;
so that it followed the seventh sabbatic year,
and for two years in succession the land lay
fallow. It was announced by the blowing of
trumpets on the day of atonement (about the 1st
of October), the tenth day of the first month of
the Israelites’ civil year (the seventh of their
ecclesiastical year). (Smiths Bible Dictionary)
Jubilee"a joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the
name of the great semi-centennial festival of
the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this
year the land was to be fallow, and the
Israelites were only permitted to gather the
spontaneous produce of the fields (Leviticus
25:11,12). All landed property during that year
reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-
24), and all who were slaves were set free
(25:39-54), and all debts were remitted."(Easton Bible Dictionary)
"The reasons for the institution of the jubilee.
--It was to be a remedy for those evils which
accompany human society and human government;
and had these laws been observed, they would
have made the Jewish nation the most prosperous
and perfect that ever existed. (1) The jubilee tended to abolish poverty. It
prevented large and permanent accumulations of
wealth. It gave unfortunate families an
opportunity to begin over again with a fair
start in life. It particularly favored the poor,
without injustice to the rich. (2) It tended to
abolish slavery, and in fact did abolish it; and
it greatly mitigated it while it existed. "The
effect of this law was at once to lift from the
heart the terrible incubus of a life-long
bondage --that sense of a hopeless doom which
knows no relief till death." --Cowles."(Smiths Bible Dictionary)
Yeah! This year I'm 49 years old. It's my year
of jubilee.
Besides the year of jubilee, there was the sabbatical year. The general idea is that if you can't
pay for something within seven years, you can't afford it. And all means of wealth production
(the land) are subject to a fifty year lease period. Every family unit will always have a means
of production by way of inheritance. Kinda' neat if you ask me.
Sabbatical year each seventh year, by the Mosaic code, was to be
kept holy. (Exodus 23:10,11) The commandment is
to sow and reap for six years, and to let the
land rest on the seventh, "that the poor of thy
people may eat; and what they leave the beasts
of the held shall eat. It is added in ( 15:1)
... that the seventh Year should also be one of
release to debtors. SBD.
There is the idea that the G-d in the Hebrew scriptures is a G-d of anger and wrath. That he is a mean and harsh Deity. I don't think so. It seems to me that he was interested mostly in social justice, especially for the poor. Those passages, and there are a few, that describe the destruction of the wicked, are meant to show that there is a day of justice for the people who refuse to turn from their evil ways. This is good because it removes from civil society the corrosive influence of corruption. So it lends stability to a society. Destructive influences are discouraged and creative activities are encouraged.
People talk about justice, but it's a two-edged sword. In scripture, there is recognition of the fact that those in power will often choose to exploit the poor and the powerless. This is not an example of good government. In
scripture, all people are treated equal under the law. Justice is a tough subject, because it goes straight to the point of what is right and true. Without truth, there will be no justice. When there is a wobbly idea about truth, justice cannot be done. That's one reason why I am skeptical about the way that modern courts handle the notion that the U.S. Constitution is an evolving document. But since I have no legal expertise, I have to defer. All I can say is that it smells fishy to me. And recognize the truth that justice serves the better interest of all parties, because nobody wants to be the
victim of injustice.
The whole idea behind these laws is to provide social stability to the nation. It does not favor one person over another. It simply allows for the debtor to be released from his burden and get a fresh start. My guess is that most of the population was hard working and fair minded. They did not accumulate debt, except when they had to, because of illness or injury. So the one who met with personal misfortune was allowed to recover. Since it was an
agricultural society, they had their land
returned to them and could begin working the
land again. This resulted in a stable
population, because the community included all
members of the extended family. The family is
the nucleus of the social structure.
It's an excellent system for social stability. Nobody is allowed to be poor forever and nobody is allowed to accumulate excess wealth. You can imagine that over time, the better managers will become wealthy, and the less able will always have a struggle to survive. But the extended family is always going to remain intact in the place that they have their inheritance, and that will provide long term stability.
would be sad to see this happen in all of the
U.S. The Year of Jubilee gives us a model for social stability and how it relates to the redistribution of wealth.
Lev 25:8 You shall number seven Sabbaths of
years to you, seven times seven years; and there
shall be to you the days of seven Sabbaths of
years, even forty-nine years.
9 Then shall you send abroad the loud trumpet on
the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day
of atonement shall you send abroad the trumpet
throughout all your land.
10 You shall make the fiftieth year holy, and
proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the
inhabitants of it: it shall be a jubilee to you;
and you shall return every man to his
possession, and you shall return every man to
his family.
11 A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be to you:
you shall not sow, neither reap that which grows
of itself in it, nor gather [the grapes] in it
of the undressed vines.
12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you:
you shall eat the increase of it out of the
field.
13 In this year of jubilee you shall return
every man to his possession.
14 If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy
of your neighbor`s hand, you shall not wrong one
another.
15 According to the number of years after the
jubilee you shall buy of your neighbor, [and]
according to the number of years of the crops he
shall sell to you.
16 According to the length of the years you
shall increase the price of it, and according to
the shortness of the years you shall diminish
the price of it; for the number of the crops
does he sell to you.
17 You shall not wrong one another; but you
shall fear your G-d: for I am Yhwh your G-d.
18 Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep
my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell
in the land in safety.
19 The land shall yield its fruit, and you shall
eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20 If you shall say, What shall we eat the
seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor
gather in our increase;
21 then I will command my blessing on you in the
sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for
the three years.
22 You shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the
fruits, the old store; until the ninth year,
until its fruits come in, you shall eat the old
store.
23 The land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for
the land is mine: for you are strangers and
sojourners with me.
24 In all the land of your possession you shall
grant a redemption for the land.
25 If your brother be grew poor, and sell some
of his possession, then shall his kinsman who is
next to him come, and shall redeem that which
his brother has sold.
26 If a man have no one to redeem it, and he be
grew rich and find sufficient to redeem it;
27 then let him reckon the years of the sale of
it, and restore the surplus to the man to whom
he sold it; and he shall return to his
possession.
28 But if he isn`t able to get it back for
himself, then that which he has sold shall
remain in the hand of him who has bought it
until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it
shall go out, and he shall return to his
possession.
29 If a man sell a dwelling-house in a walled
city, then he may redeem it within a whole year
after it is sold; for a full year shall he have
the right of redemption.
30 If it isn`t redeemed within the space of a
full year, then the house that is in the walled
city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who
bought it, throughout his generations: it shall
not go out in the jubilee.
31 But the houses of the villages which have no
wall round about them shall be reckoned with the
fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and
they shall go out in the jubilee.
32 Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the
houses of the cities of their possession, may
the Levites redeem at any time.
33 If one of the Levites redeem, then the house
that was sold, and the city of his possession,
shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of
the cities of the Levites are their possession
among the children of Israel.
34 But the field of the suburbs of their cities
may not be sold; for it is their perpetual
possession.
35 If your brother has grown poor, and his hand
fail with you; then you shall uphold him: [as] a
stranger and a sojourner shall he live with you.
36 Take no interest of him or increase, but fear
your G-d; that your brother may live with you.
37 You shall not give him your money on
interest, nor give him your victuals for
increase.
38 I am Yhwh your G-d, who brought you forth out
of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of
Canaan, [and] to be your G-d.
39 If your brother has grown poor with you, and
sell himself to you; you shall not make him to
serve as a bond-servant.
40 As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he
shall be with you; he shall serve with you to
the year of jubilee:
41 then shall he go out from you, he and his
children with him, and shall return to his own
family, and to the possession of his fathers
shall he return.
"The name. --The name jubilee is derived from
the Hebrew jobel , the joyful shout or clangor
of trumpets, by which the year of jubilee was
announced. The time of its celebration. --It was celebrated
every fiftieth year, marking the half century;
so that it followed the seventh sabbatic year,
and for two years in succession the land lay
fallow. It was announced by the blowing of
trumpets on the day of atonement (about the 1st
of October), the tenth day of the first month of
the Israelites’ civil year (the seventh of their
ecclesiastical year). (Smiths Bible Dictionary)
Jubilee"a joyful shout or clangour of trumpets, the
name of the great semi-centennial festival of
the Hebrews. It lasted for a year. During this
year the land was to be fallow, and the
Israelites were only permitted to gather the
spontaneous produce of the fields (Leviticus
25:11,12). All landed property during that year
reverted to its original owner (13-34; 27:16-
24), and all who were slaves were set free
(25:39-54), and all debts were remitted."(Easton Bible Dictionary)
"The reasons for the institution of the jubilee.
--It was to be a remedy for those evils which
accompany human society and human government;
and had these laws been observed, they would
have made the Jewish nation the most prosperous
and perfect that ever existed. (1) The jubilee tended to abolish poverty. It
prevented large and permanent accumulations of
wealth. It gave unfortunate families an
opportunity to begin over again with a fair
start in life. It particularly favored the poor,
without injustice to the rich. (2) It tended to
abolish slavery, and in fact did abolish it; and
it greatly mitigated it while it existed. "The
effect of this law was at once to lift from the
heart the terrible incubus of a life-long
bondage --that sense of a hopeless doom which
knows no relief till death." --Cowles."(Smiths Bible Dictionary)
Yeah! This year I'm 49 years old. It's my year
of jubilee.
Besides the year of jubilee, there was the sabbatical year. The general idea is that if you can't
pay for something within seven years, you can't afford it. And all means of wealth production
(the land) are subject to a fifty year lease period. Every family unit will always have a means
of production by way of inheritance. Kinda' neat if you ask me.
Sabbatical year each seventh year, by the Mosaic code, was to be
kept holy. (Exodus 23:10,11) The commandment is
to sow and reap for six years, and to let the
land rest on the seventh, "that the poor of thy
people may eat; and what they leave the beasts
of the held shall eat. It is added in ( 15:1)
... that the seventh Year should also be one of
release to debtors. SBD.
There is the idea that the G-d in the Hebrew scriptures is a G-d of anger and wrath. That he is a mean and harsh Deity. I don't think so. It seems to me that he was interested mostly in social justice, especially for the poor. Those passages, and there are a few, that describe the destruction of the wicked, are meant to show that there is a day of justice for the people who refuse to turn from their evil ways. This is good because it removes from civil society the corrosive influence of corruption. So it lends stability to a society. Destructive influences are discouraged and creative activities are encouraged.
People talk about justice, but it's a two-edged sword. In scripture, there is recognition of the fact that those in power will often choose to exploit the poor and the powerless. This is not an example of good government. In
scripture, all people are treated equal under the law. Justice is a tough subject, because it goes straight to the point of what is right and true. Without truth, there will be no justice. When there is a wobbly idea about truth, justice cannot be done. That's one reason why I am skeptical about the way that modern courts handle the notion that the U.S. Constitution is an evolving document. But since I have no legal expertise, I have to defer. All I can say is that it smells fishy to me. And recognize the truth that justice serves the better interest of all parties, because nobody wants to be the
victim of injustice.
The whole idea behind these laws is to provide social stability to the nation. It does not favor one person over another. It simply allows for the debtor to be released from his burden and get a fresh start. My guess is that most of the population was hard working and fair minded. They did not accumulate debt, except when they had to, because of illness or injury. So the one who met with personal misfortune was allowed to recover. Since it was an
agricultural society, they had their land
returned to them and could begin working the
land again. This resulted in a stable
population, because the community included all
members of the extended family. The family is
the nucleus of the social structure.
It's an excellent system for social stability. Nobody is allowed to be poor forever and nobody is allowed to accumulate excess wealth. You can imagine that over time, the better managers will become wealthy, and the less able will always have a struggle to survive. But the extended family is always going to remain intact in the place that they have their inheritance, and that will provide long term stability.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Building Boom in Heaven
Today the Jesus Bus does a drive-by of the internet and takes a look at the Amerika passing
by our window. There is a building boom out
there that we can see. And there is another
that we can't see, just yet. This one is temporary, that one is never ending.
Most days I spend several hours reading over favorite blogs and internet news. Where I live right now, there isn't much in the way of entertainment, and I gave up on TV as a source of entertainment quite a few years ago. So my window to the larger world is the internet.
I'm hoping that the internet remains an open
community where anyone can rant and rave and comment. I like the idea embodied in our constitutional bill of rights that allows 'free speech', even though I am aware that nothing is free. It was paid for by dead white guys. They must be turning in their graves about now. Free speech was not provided just to protect
pornographers.
"The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country, although the degree of freedom varies greatly. Industrialized countries also have varying approaches to balance freedom with order. For instance, the United States First Amendment theoretically grants absolute freedom, placing the burden upon the state to demonstrate when (if) a limitation of this freedom is necessary..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech
As I read various blogs,news and message boards,I get an idea who might stumble upon the blog that I'm writing. One question that I ask myself is, Will they get it? Am I writing something that can be understood by almost anyone? I'm wondering. And I'm thinking that for the most part, nobody will bother reading much of this stuff that I write. That doesn't concern me. I'm not writing because I want to win a blog popularity contest. How can I compete with Britney Spears? I write because I enjoy it, and because I want to put some ideas into print. Besides, blogger is free and it gives me a space on the WWW, just in case anyone asks what I do in my spare time. From reading internet material, I can see that there are a few people who get Christianity. There are far more who don't have a clue. Based on what I see, there are those who don't want a clue. They are the happy existentialists, who only want to live for the moment in hedonistic pleasure. That seems to take in a fairly significant portion of the population.
In any case, there are the others, who are at least a little bit like me. People who recognize and enjoy the benefits that are part of the christian heritage of the U.S. Like me, they see it slipping away. Although I've been called many things in my day,
I don't see myself as being any kind of a
leader. But I don't see myself as being much of a follower either. I'm an observer. G-d gave
me a brain, and I want to at least try to use
it, so I can see what is happening around me
in the world. As I look around, I see Jesus is unique. What I do know is that Jesus is
the one we want to follow. He's the good
shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep.
Jn 19:4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to
them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you
may know that I find no basis for a charge
against him."
5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of
thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to
them, "Behold, the man!"
6 When therefore the chief priests and the
officers saw him, they cried out, saying,
"Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take
him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no
basis for a charge against him."
----------------------------------------------
Mt 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine,
and doesn`t do them will be like a foolish man,
who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell
-- and great was its fall."
The building boom never ends. Civilizations rise and fall. The world is a rapidly changing place. It's always been changing, but the pace has become more frantic. Some of it seems reasonable, some of it looks like folly. History records an almost endless account of
human folly. Well, they try to put a spin on it
to make it look as if there is some reason to be optimistic. I can grant that there are small victories. But for the most part, the history of civilization is endless war and
oppression. It almost seems as if people want to live in a world of misery. Why else would anyone want to build on sand?
I'm thinking that it has to do with the
difference in perspective. There is the short term and there is the longer term. In the short term, the hedonist finds their reward. But we all know that in the extreme, this is disaster.The crack head or the meth addict obviously are headed for trouble. One of the puzzling aspects of the current homosexical agenda, is the
totally short term focus. I've seen the longer term health effects. I moved to the city in about 1980 or so. The agenda was just beginning to gather steam. I thought it would never catch on. I mean, who would really want that kind of lifestyle? Gomer Pyle said it best -- Surprise,Surprise, Surprise! Apparently, there are quite a few who think that this is a promising alternative. Even now, the gay marriage thing
just won't go away. Fine. Do what you want, but please, don't call it marriage. Marriage has enough problems already. Reminds me of the joke -- Gay marriage doesn't bother me. They should have the right to be just as miserable as everyone else.
But the shorter term victory, ends up in a longer term failure. When I got to the city, I would go to Lincoln Park every morning to take
in my daily run, and on the weekends to get some fresh air. There was sexual activity all over 24 hours a day. Fast forward to the 1990's and it was really sad to be able to go out in public in the city and see all
those dying of aids. I met several of them over the years. I heard their stories. I always thought that they had no idea what the
consequences of their behavior would be, in the long run. It was fun while it lasted, sort of. Did they know that they were building sand castles on the beach? Not really. By the time they were older and wiser, it was over.
In other words, the level of public discourse these days is badly lopsided. The public outlets are blaring only one message and it's usually a misguided one. It's usually the
glittery reward of immediate gratification. Get what you want now. Hurry before the opportunity gets away! I'm hoping that I will be able to teach my children better than that. They need to know that immediate gratification does not lead to long term satisfaction.
Shouldn't it be obvious? Apparently not.
There is no explanation other than the
consequence of sin. The true nature of man is a fallen nature, deeply flawed. One reason that I can be so sure of that is because I struggle with it every day. I clearly see it in myself. I wish I could shake it. I want to get above
it. But perfection is not to be in this world.
So what does all this have to do with building? I just want to know what kind of country we are building to leave for our children. I want to look at the longer term, and see where it leads
to. In scripture we get a look at the longer term point of view. Jesus had a longer term point of view. He spoke of the temporal and the eternal. The things of earth and the things of heaven. Our time here is a few years, our time in eternity, is alot longer.
Mt 6:19 "Don`t lay up treasures for yourselves
on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and
where thieves break through and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and
where thieves don`t break through and steal;
21 for where your treasure is, your heart will
be there also."
Do you get a hint of modern Amerika? Or here's an even more extreme passage.
Mt 19:21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be
perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and
come, follow me."
22 But when the young man heard the saying, he
went away sad, for he was one who had great
possessions.
There's that problem of perfection again.
I can't ever remember in my lifetime, hearing a sermon preached on this passage. There are
obscure and uncertain passages in the Bible. This is not one of them. But like Mark Twain put it -- It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me. It's the parts I do understand.
Some people would have you believe that if you follow Jesus then all your dreams will come
true. Well, I can't say it's not so. It
depends on what you dream about. But the idea that following Jesus is going to be easy has never been the case. You will be going against the flow. Just look at scripture.
Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If
any man desires to come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my
sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he will
gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or
what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of
his Father with his angels, and then will he
render to every man according to his deeds.
Some people look around and see that things have not changed much over time. They are accused of 'doom and gloom'. It depends upon your perspective. If you are living only for what you can get for yourself, then you don't want the party to end. This is nothing new.
"Bread and circuses" is a phrase that can
criticize either government policies to pacify
the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires
of that same citizenry... This phrase originates
in Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal of the
late 1st and early 2nd centuries. In context,
the Latin phrase panem et circenses (bread and
circuses) is given as the only remaining cares
of a Roman populace which has given up its
birthright of political freedom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
The Roman Empire gave in to the 'bread and
circuses' mentality. It eventually led to its demise. I suppose you could debate whether it was a cause or an effect of their demise. But either way, it is not a matter of 'doom and
gloom'. It is the record of history. I suppose if you want to believe that it's different now, that we have evolved, you are entitled to wishful thinking. Myself, I'm sad to see things taking that direction. That's the real doom and gloom -- the notion that we can live carelesslyand still enjoy never ending peace and prosperity. It's never been that way in all of recorded history, as far as I know.
On the Jesus Bus, scripture provides another view. There is a new world coming, once this present order is removed. This is 'doom and gloom' for those who love this present system, but it's good news for those who look forward to something better. In the book of Revelation there are 55 references to heaven. It is a book about the future. Good news for believers, doom and gloom for others. The word heaven is translated :
"the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat
of order of things eternal and consummately
perfect where G-d dwells and other heavenly
beings."
Based on what I've read, the idea of a 'heaven' in the sky above, is a literal translation. But
the idea is of a dimension beyond our four
dimensional physical universe. It is eternal
and transcendent. And I'm sure that words used
to describe it are lacking. But we are given a glimpse of it in Revelation.
Rev 21:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
the first heaven and the first earth have passed
away, and the sea is no more.
2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from G-d, made ready as a
bride adorned for her husband.
3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying,
"Behold, G-d`s tent is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they will be his people,
and G-d himself will be with them as their G-d.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; neither will there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The
first things have passed away.
5 He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I
make all things new." He said, "Write, for these
words are faithful and true."
Right now, there is another building boom goingon in heaven. All in good time, this old earth that we live on, will be replaced by something better. Who needs global warming
anyway?
by our window. There is a building boom out
there that we can see. And there is another
that we can't see, just yet. This one is temporary, that one is never ending.
Most days I spend several hours reading over favorite blogs and internet news. Where I live right now, there isn't much in the way of entertainment, and I gave up on TV as a source of entertainment quite a few years ago. So my window to the larger world is the internet.
I'm hoping that the internet remains an open
community where anyone can rant and rave and comment. I like the idea embodied in our constitutional bill of rights that allows 'free speech', even though I am aware that nothing is free. It was paid for by dead white guys. They must be turning in their graves about now. Free speech was not provided just to protect
pornographers.
"The synonymous term freedom of expression is sometimes preferred, since the right is not confined to verbal speech but is understood to protect any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
In practice, the right to freedom of speech is not absolute in any country, although the degree of freedom varies greatly. Industrialized countries also have varying approaches to balance freedom with order. For instance, the United States First Amendment theoretically grants absolute freedom, placing the burden upon the state to demonstrate when (if) a limitation of this freedom is necessary..."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech
As I read various blogs,news and message boards,I get an idea who might stumble upon the blog that I'm writing. One question that I ask myself is, Will they get it? Am I writing something that can be understood by almost anyone? I'm wondering. And I'm thinking that for the most part, nobody will bother reading much of this stuff that I write. That doesn't concern me. I'm not writing because I want to win a blog popularity contest. How can I compete with Britney Spears? I write because I enjoy it, and because I want to put some ideas into print. Besides, blogger is free and it gives me a space on the WWW, just in case anyone asks what I do in my spare time. From reading internet material, I can see that there are a few people who get Christianity. There are far more who don't have a clue. Based on what I see, there are those who don't want a clue. They are the happy existentialists, who only want to live for the moment in hedonistic pleasure. That seems to take in a fairly significant portion of the population.
In any case, there are the others, who are at least a little bit like me. People who recognize and enjoy the benefits that are part of the christian heritage of the U.S. Like me, they see it slipping away. Although I've been called many things in my day,
I don't see myself as being any kind of a
leader. But I don't see myself as being much of a follower either. I'm an observer. G-d gave
me a brain, and I want to at least try to use
it, so I can see what is happening around me
in the world. As I look around, I see Jesus is unique. What I do know is that Jesus is
the one we want to follow. He's the good
shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep.
Jn 19:4 Then Pilate went out again, and said to
them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you
may know that I find no basis for a charge
against him."
5 Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of
thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to
them, "Behold, the man!"
6 When therefore the chief priests and the
officers saw him, they cried out, saying,
"Crucify! Crucify!" Pilate said to them, "Take
him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no
basis for a charge against him."
----------------------------------------------
Mt 7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine,
and doesn`t do them will be like a foolish man,
who built his house on the sand.
27 The rain came down, the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell
-- and great was its fall."
The building boom never ends. Civilizations rise and fall. The world is a rapidly changing place. It's always been changing, but the pace has become more frantic. Some of it seems reasonable, some of it looks like folly. History records an almost endless account of
human folly. Well, they try to put a spin on it
to make it look as if there is some reason to be optimistic. I can grant that there are small victories. But for the most part, the history of civilization is endless war and
oppression. It almost seems as if people want to live in a world of misery. Why else would anyone want to build on sand?
I'm thinking that it has to do with the
difference in perspective. There is the short term and there is the longer term. In the short term, the hedonist finds their reward. But we all know that in the extreme, this is disaster.The crack head or the meth addict obviously are headed for trouble. One of the puzzling aspects of the current homosexical agenda, is the
totally short term focus. I've seen the longer term health effects. I moved to the city in about 1980 or so. The agenda was just beginning to gather steam. I thought it would never catch on. I mean, who would really want that kind of lifestyle? Gomer Pyle said it best -- Surprise,Surprise, Surprise! Apparently, there are quite a few who think that this is a promising alternative. Even now, the gay marriage thing
just won't go away. Fine. Do what you want, but please, don't call it marriage. Marriage has enough problems already. Reminds me of the joke -- Gay marriage doesn't bother me. They should have the right to be just as miserable as everyone else.
But the shorter term victory, ends up in a longer term failure. When I got to the city, I would go to Lincoln Park every morning to take
in my daily run, and on the weekends to get some fresh air. There was sexual activity all over 24 hours a day. Fast forward to the 1990's and it was really sad to be able to go out in public in the city and see all
those dying of aids. I met several of them over the years. I heard their stories. I always thought that they had no idea what the
consequences of their behavior would be, in the long run. It was fun while it lasted, sort of. Did they know that they were building sand castles on the beach? Not really. By the time they were older and wiser, it was over.
In other words, the level of public discourse these days is badly lopsided. The public outlets are blaring only one message and it's usually a misguided one. It's usually the
glittery reward of immediate gratification. Get what you want now. Hurry before the opportunity gets away! I'm hoping that I will be able to teach my children better than that. They need to know that immediate gratification does not lead to long term satisfaction.
Shouldn't it be obvious? Apparently not.
There is no explanation other than the
consequence of sin. The true nature of man is a fallen nature, deeply flawed. One reason that I can be so sure of that is because I struggle with it every day. I clearly see it in myself. I wish I could shake it. I want to get above
it. But perfection is not to be in this world.
So what does all this have to do with building? I just want to know what kind of country we are building to leave for our children. I want to look at the longer term, and see where it leads
to. In scripture we get a look at the longer term point of view. Jesus had a longer term point of view. He spoke of the temporal and the eternal. The things of earth and the things of heaven. Our time here is a few years, our time in eternity, is alot longer.
Mt 6:19 "Don`t lay up treasures for yourselves
on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and
where thieves break through and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and
where thieves don`t break through and steal;
21 for where your treasure is, your heart will
be there also."
Do you get a hint of modern Amerika? Or here's an even more extreme passage.
Mt 19:21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be
perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and
come, follow me."
22 But when the young man heard the saying, he
went away sad, for he was one who had great
possessions.
There's that problem of perfection again.
I can't ever remember in my lifetime, hearing a sermon preached on this passage. There are
obscure and uncertain passages in the Bible. This is not one of them. But like Mark Twain put it -- It's not the parts of the Bible I don't understand that bother me. It's the parts I do understand.
Some people would have you believe that if you follow Jesus then all your dreams will come
true. Well, I can't say it's not so. It
depends on what you dream about. But the idea that following Jesus is going to be easy has never been the case. You will be going against the flow. Just look at scripture.
Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If
any man desires to come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my
sake will find it.
26 For what will it profit a man, if he will
gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? Or
what will a man give in exchange for his life?
27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of
his Father with his angels, and then will he
render to every man according to his deeds.
Some people look around and see that things have not changed much over time. They are accused of 'doom and gloom'. It depends upon your perspective. If you are living only for what you can get for yourself, then you don't want the party to end. This is nothing new.
"Bread and circuses" is a phrase that can
criticize either government policies to pacify
the citizenry, or the shallow, decadent desires
of that same citizenry... This phrase originates
in Satire X of the Roman poet Juvenal of the
late 1st and early 2nd centuries. In context,
the Latin phrase panem et circenses (bread and
circuses) is given as the only remaining cares
of a Roman populace which has given up its
birthright of political freedom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses
The Roman Empire gave in to the 'bread and
circuses' mentality. It eventually led to its demise. I suppose you could debate whether it was a cause or an effect of their demise. But either way, it is not a matter of 'doom and
gloom'. It is the record of history. I suppose if you want to believe that it's different now, that we have evolved, you are entitled to wishful thinking. Myself, I'm sad to see things taking that direction. That's the real doom and gloom -- the notion that we can live carelesslyand still enjoy never ending peace and prosperity. It's never been that way in all of recorded history, as far as I know.
On the Jesus Bus, scripture provides another view. There is a new world coming, once this present order is removed. This is 'doom and gloom' for those who love this present system, but it's good news for those who look forward to something better. In the book of Revelation there are 55 references to heaven. It is a book about the future. Good news for believers, doom and gloom for others. The word heaven is translated :
"the region above the sidereal heavens, the seat
of order of things eternal and consummately
perfect where G-d dwells and other heavenly
beings."
Based on what I've read, the idea of a 'heaven' in the sky above, is a literal translation. But
the idea is of a dimension beyond our four
dimensional physical universe. It is eternal
and transcendent. And I'm sure that words used
to describe it are lacking. But we are given a glimpse of it in Revelation.
Rev 21:1 I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for
the first heaven and the first earth have passed
away, and the sea is no more.
2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down out of heaven from G-d, made ready as a
bride adorned for her husband.
3 I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying,
"Behold, G-d`s tent is with men, and he will
dwell with them, and they will be his people,
and G-d himself will be with them as their G-d.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more; neither will there be
mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The
first things have passed away.
5 He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I
make all things new." He said, "Write, for these
words are faithful and true."
Right now, there is another building boom goingon in heaven. All in good time, this old earth that we live on, will be replaced by something better. Who needs global warming
anyway?
Monday, November 26, 2007
The Road Ahead
On the Jesus Bus there's a lot of road to travel as we make our way toward the final stop.
There's the creation account and eschatology and the doctrine of salvation, soteriology for the theologically inclined, and how it all fits into modern thinking.
Jesus did not get a warm reception when he was here on earth. Most of his messengers were not well received either. You have to wonder why the message of heaven is at odds with the way of the world. There is a rebellion on earth against the authority of heaven. The Bible tells the story in one of the parables that Jesus spoke.
33 "Hear another parable. There was a man who
was a master of a household, who planted a
vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress
in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers,
and went into another country.
34 When the season of the fruits drew near, he
sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his
fruits.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat one,
killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the
first: and they did to them in like manner.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son,
saying, `They will respect my son.`
38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said
among themselves, `This is the heir. Come, let`s
kill him, and seize his inheritance.`
39 So they took him, and threw him out of the
vineyard, and killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard will
come, what will he do to those farmers?"
41 They told him, "He will miserably destroy
those miserable men, and will lease out the
vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the
fruits in their seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in
the scriptures, `The stone which the builders
rejected, The same was made the head of the
corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous
in our eyes?`
43 "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of G-d
will be taken away from you, and will be given
to a nation bringing forth its fruits.
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will
scatter him as dust."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke
of them.
46 When they sought to lay hold on him, they
feared the multitudes, because they took him for
a prophet.
In every time and place, there are those who want to listen and there are those who do not. I ask, what difference does it make? OK. Suppose I want to believe in Jesus, and you
don't. How does my desire to believe take
anything away from your desire to not believe? The conflict is not a conflict of belief, it is a conflict of actions. Beliefs have consequences. We act on our beliefs. And this has a lot to say for christianity as soon as you take a closer look at the connection between belief and action. If everyone wanted to do what is right, then there would be no conflict. Instead, we spend a lot of time arguing about who has rights, instead of who is right. Jesus is right. The problem is that we don't want to do what's right. Here's the Apostle Paul:
He says that he is not able to do what's right. But he goes on to say that there is a remedy. The only cure for the human condition is Jesus. That's not the answer that some want. But there is
no substitute.
Rom 7:16 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, I
consent to the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin
which dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,
dwells no good thing. For desire is present with
me, but I don`t find it doing that which is
good.
19 For the good which I desire, I don`t do; but
the evil which I don`t desire, that I practice.
20 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, it is
no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in
me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I
desire to do good, evil is present.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me
out of the body of this death?
25 I thank G-d through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So then I of myself with the mind, indeed serve
the law of G-d, but with the flesh the law of
sin.
The only answer that I can rekon is that the conflict between belief in Jesus and another way is to assume that there is something that others
want to do that is at odds with what Jesus
taught. I am not going to want to do what I
know is wrong. I am going to object, because I know that it will harm others as well as
myself. Jesus was motivated by love. It was not a love for this world. It was a love for the kingdom of heaven.
In the passage above, Jesus was concerned that
the religious leaders were not teaching the
truth about scripture. Later on he had a direct
confrontation with them as recorded in this
passage:
Mt 23:13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you devour widows` houses, and
as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore
you will receive greater condemnation.
14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of
Heaven against men; for you don`t enter in
yourselves, neither do you allow those who are
entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and
land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes
one, you make him twice as much of a son of
Gehenna as yourselves.
In the passage above, he points out that they were not willing to recognize his authority. It is implied that they did not want to recognize his authority, because they wanted to see themselves as the rightful owners of the vineyard. They would not see that the land that
they wanted was not theirs. And they made the mistake of thinking that there would never come a day of rekoning.
As far as I'm concerned, people can believe whatever they choose to believe. The truth is out there, if you want it. And if you don't, there are plenty of ways to avoid the issue. But it should be obvious at this point that there has never been a successful effort to stamp out the truth. All of those efforts end in failure. Look at what happened after Jesus' resurrection. There was a good deal of persecution aimed against the disciples. But it did not stop the spread of the Gospel. Paul preached the Gospel of the resurrection from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. In the end, all that happened was the destruction of Jerusalem and the religious order that stood opposed to Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to this day. Maybe there is another way to spin the account of history. It's not as if some don't try to revise history.
I can almost hear the objection, so what's the big deal about history. The simple answer is if we don't know how we got to where we are today, we will be mistaken about how to get to where we want to go. We won't be able to understand the lessons of history. That's the reason that the creation issue is important. It provides an accurate account of where we came from, and how we got into the mess that we are in today. We were created for something better. We were created for a purpose. That purpose is to glorify G-d. We reach that purpose by living to please him and not ourselves. And that causes conflict.
As I heard this Sunday, and Jesus preached over and over. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everything else is of lesser consequence. Get on the bus!
There's the creation account and eschatology and the doctrine of salvation, soteriology for the theologically inclined, and how it all fits into modern thinking.
Jesus did not get a warm reception when he was here on earth. Most of his messengers were not well received either. You have to wonder why the message of heaven is at odds with the way of the world. There is a rebellion on earth against the authority of heaven. The Bible tells the story in one of the parables that Jesus spoke.
33 "Hear another parable. There was a man who
was a master of a household, who planted a
vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress
in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers,
and went into another country.
34 When the season of the fruits drew near, he
sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his
fruits.
35 The farmers took his servants, beat one,
killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the
first: and they did to them in like manner.
37 But afterward he sent to them his son,
saying, `They will respect my son.`
38 But the farmers, when they saw the son, said
among themselves, `This is the heir. Come, let`s
kill him, and seize his inheritance.`
39 So they took him, and threw him out of the
vineyard, and killed him.
40 When therefore the lord of the vineyard will
come, what will he do to those farmers?"
41 They told him, "He will miserably destroy
those miserable men, and will lease out the
vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the
fruits in their seasons."
42 Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in
the scriptures, `The stone which the builders
rejected, The same was made the head of the
corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous
in our eyes?`
43 "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of G-d
will be taken away from you, and will be given
to a nation bringing forth its fruits.
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but on whoever it will fall, it will
scatter him as dust."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke
of them.
46 When they sought to lay hold on him, they
feared the multitudes, because they took him for
a prophet.
In every time and place, there are those who want to listen and there are those who do not. I ask, what difference does it make? OK. Suppose I want to believe in Jesus, and you
don't. How does my desire to believe take
anything away from your desire to not believe? The conflict is not a conflict of belief, it is a conflict of actions. Beliefs have consequences. We act on our beliefs. And this has a lot to say for christianity as soon as you take a closer look at the connection between belief and action. If everyone wanted to do what is right, then there would be no conflict. Instead, we spend a lot of time arguing about who has rights, instead of who is right. Jesus is right. The problem is that we don't want to do what's right. Here's the Apostle Paul:
Rom 7:15 For I don`t know what I am doing. For I
don`t practice what I desire to do; but what I
hate, that I do.
He says that he is not able to do what's right. But he goes on to say that there is a remedy. The only cure for the human condition is Jesus. That's not the answer that some want. But there is
no substitute.
Rom 7:16 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, I
consent to the law that it is good.
17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin
which dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh,
dwells no good thing. For desire is present with
me, but I don`t find it doing that which is
good.
19 For the good which I desire, I don`t do; but
the evil which I don`t desire, that I practice.
20 But if what I don`t desire, that I do, it is
no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in
me.
21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I
desire to do good, evil is present.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me
out of the body of this death?
25 I thank G-d through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So then I of myself with the mind, indeed serve
the law of G-d, but with the flesh the law of
sin.
The only answer that I can rekon is that the conflict between belief in Jesus and another way is to assume that there is something that others
want to do that is at odds with what Jesus
taught. I am not going to want to do what I
know is wrong. I am going to object, because I know that it will harm others as well as
myself. Jesus was motivated by love. It was not a love for this world. It was a love for the kingdom of heaven.
In the passage above, Jesus was concerned that
the religious leaders were not teaching the
truth about scripture. Later on he had a direct
confrontation with them as recorded in this
passage:
Mt 23:13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you devour widows` houses, and
as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore
you will receive greater condemnation.
14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of
Heaven against men; for you don`t enter in
yourselves, neither do you allow those who are
entering in to enter.
15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and
land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes
one, you make him twice as much of a son of
Gehenna as yourselves.
In the passage above, he points out that they were not willing to recognize his authority. It is implied that they did not want to recognize his authority, because they wanted to see themselves as the rightful owners of the vineyard. They would not see that the land that
they wanted was not theirs. And they made the mistake of thinking that there would never come a day of rekoning.
As far as I'm concerned, people can believe whatever they choose to believe. The truth is out there, if you want it. And if you don't, there are plenty of ways to avoid the issue. But it should be obvious at this point that there has never been a successful effort to stamp out the truth. All of those efforts end in failure. Look at what happened after Jesus' resurrection. There was a good deal of persecution aimed against the disciples. But it did not stop the spread of the Gospel. Paul preached the Gospel of the resurrection from one end of the Roman Empire to the other. In the end, all that happened was the destruction of Jerusalem and the religious order that stood opposed to Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to this day. Maybe there is another way to spin the account of history. It's not as if some don't try to revise history.
I can almost hear the objection, so what's the big deal about history. The simple answer is if we don't know how we got to where we are today, we will be mistaken about how to get to where we want to go. We won't be able to understand the lessons of history. That's the reason that the creation issue is important. It provides an accurate account of where we came from, and how we got into the mess that we are in today. We were created for something better. We were created for a purpose. That purpose is to glorify G-d. We reach that purpose by living to please him and not ourselves. And that causes conflict.
As I heard this Sunday, and Jesus preached over and over. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Everything else is of lesser consequence. Get on the bus!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Fly Away As An Eagle
Pro. 23:5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that
which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle
toward heaven.
This morning, I look at the Yahoo news stories of the day, and I see a variety of news. None of it interesting. Is it just me? Do I really need to know 'Which cities are America's most obese'?Maybe I need to dig a little deeper.
Yesterday they were calling it black Friday. Does that make today black Saturday? It kinda' lends new meaning to the name of the older rock band Black Sabbath. The meaning of 'black' in context is that on the first day of Christmas shopping season, retailers balance sheets go from 'in the red' to 'in the black', meaning that they become profitable on the first day of Christmas shopping season. Again, this is not an exciting story. But this use of the word black would make Black Sabbath mean something like 'first profitable day of rest'.
It's just something that I've been trying to
figure out since I was a teenager listening to
their music. How to make sense of their name.
It was when I read through Schaeffer's 'EscapeFrom Reason', that I came to fully realize what was going on in modern Amerika. I mean, I had noticed the disconnect between what people say and what they do, but was (and still am) totally baffled as to why the effort to hide from ourselves. Now I know that under this influence, there is no reason that anything has to make a lick of sense. It provides good cover for all the popular nonsense that's going on around us.
There are passages of scripture that make
reference to an aspect of black Friday -- the
profit motive.
Pro 23:4 Take no care to get wealth; let there
be an end to your desire for money.
5 Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for
wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in
flight up to heaven.
6 Do not take the food of him who has an evil
eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
7 For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is
he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his
heart is not with you.
8 The food which you have taken will come up
again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
9 Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man,
for he will put no value on the wisdom of your
words.
Over and again I've heard reference to verse 7. But I can't remember ever hearing it in proper context. Maybe it's just me.
The metaphors of scripture are fascinating to me. Verse 5 is one of them. Makes me think of the line 'They say that money talks. Mine just says goodbye.'
Still, if you are a christian, you ought to make yourself aware of the explicit commercialism of the Christmas season. I know, taking a pause in the busy holiday schedule to think about what we do, and how it is related to what we believe is no fun at all. I've never really enjoyed the whole shopping experience very much, so I don't get all caught up in it. It kinda' bores me.
But when I am forced to get out during the season and look around, I find that I am hard
pressed to find any semblance of a celebration of Jesus birthday.
See, if it were up to me, I would take the
position -- fine, you don't want to recognize Jesus birthday, I won't participate in your commercial holiday. I'll buy stuff some other time. There's a long story here, that really cuts against the grain. From reading the passage above, you have to think that the profit motive
is not the highest aim of the Christian, in the greater scheme of things.
With everyone home today, I gotta' go. Get on the bus.
which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle
toward heaven.
This morning, I look at the Yahoo news stories of the day, and I see a variety of news. None of it interesting. Is it just me? Do I really need to know 'Which cities are America's most obese'?Maybe I need to dig a little deeper.
Yesterday they were calling it black Friday. Does that make today black Saturday? It kinda' lends new meaning to the name of the older rock band Black Sabbath. The meaning of 'black' in context is that on the first day of Christmas shopping season, retailers balance sheets go from 'in the red' to 'in the black', meaning that they become profitable on the first day of Christmas shopping season. Again, this is not an exciting story. But this use of the word black would make Black Sabbath mean something like 'first profitable day of rest'.
It's just something that I've been trying to
figure out since I was a teenager listening to
their music. How to make sense of their name.
It was when I read through Schaeffer's 'EscapeFrom Reason', that I came to fully realize what was going on in modern Amerika. I mean, I had noticed the disconnect between what people say and what they do, but was (and still am) totally baffled as to why the effort to hide from ourselves. Now I know that under this influence, there is no reason that anything has to make a lick of sense. It provides good cover for all the popular nonsense that's going on around us.
There are passages of scripture that make
reference to an aspect of black Friday -- the
profit motive.
Pro 23:4 Take no care to get wealth; let there
be an end to your desire for money.
5 Are your eyes lifted up to it? it is gone: for
wealth takes to itself wings, like an eagle in
flight up to heaven.
6 Do not take the food of him who has an evil
eye, or have any desire for his delicate meat:
7 For as the thoughts of his heart are, so is
he: Take food and drink, he says to you; but his
heart is not with you.
8 The food which you have taken will come up
again, and your pleasing words will be wasted.
9 Say nothing in the hearing of a foolish man,
for he will put no value on the wisdom of your
words.
Over and again I've heard reference to verse 7. But I can't remember ever hearing it in proper context. Maybe it's just me.
The metaphors of scripture are fascinating to me. Verse 5 is one of them. Makes me think of the line 'They say that money talks. Mine just says goodbye.'
Still, if you are a christian, you ought to make yourself aware of the explicit commercialism of the Christmas season. I know, taking a pause in the busy holiday schedule to think about what we do, and how it is related to what we believe is no fun at all. I've never really enjoyed the whole shopping experience very much, so I don't get all caught up in it. It kinda' bores me.
But when I am forced to get out during the season and look around, I find that I am hard
pressed to find any semblance of a celebration of Jesus birthday.
See, if it were up to me, I would take the
position -- fine, you don't want to recognize Jesus birthday, I won't participate in your commercial holiday. I'll buy stuff some other time. There's a long story here, that really cuts against the grain. From reading the passage above, you have to think that the profit motive
is not the highest aim of the Christian, in the greater scheme of things.
With everyone home today, I gotta' go. Get on the bus.
Friday, November 23, 2007
.JPG)
Divine Initiative
Rom 5:8 But G-d commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
THE DIVINE INITIATIVE 2CORINTHIANS 9:7-15; JOHN
15: 16-17 MAY 21, 2006 – MITZVAH DAY THOMAS H.
YORTY, WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
There are moments in life when we make choices
or some divine initiative in us, some power
greater than us helps us make a choice that
changes things for the good. Last week I read in
my alumni magazine how a Presbyterian minister,
a Methodist minister, a Catholic priest and a
rabbi – no this is not a joke – each gave their
life jackets to fellow soldiers in the first
seconds after the USS Dorchester was struck with
a torpedo from a German U-boat. Over 900 troops
were being transported to Europe on the
Dorchester. The year was 1942. For some reason
there weren’t enough life jackets. So the four
chaplains gave theirs to four men who didn’t
have any. The soldier, who received a life
jacket from the Presbyterian chaplain and
graduate of my alma mater, said that the four
chaplains, after giving away their jackets, went
about quieting the panic, helping men who were
“frozen” get into life boats, and were praying
for the safety of the others as they went down
with the ship. There are moments in life when we
make choices or some power greater than us helps
us make a choice that bridges the walls that
divide humans and changes things for the good.
That night on the Dorchester those four
chaplains made such a choice. And based on their
choice I submit to you that they were authentic
servants of a great God. Their selfless act that
fateful night inspired a ministry in
Philadelphia dedicated to people of all faiths;
several novels and documentaries; and a
foundation in Minnesota that honors those who
have risked their lives to protect others of a
different faith or race. What I love about that
story is if you think of 1942, it was another
world. Protestant, Catholic and Jew did not
mingle or talk much to one another in those
days. But these four transcended those barriers.
I’d like to talk today about the impulse in our
Christian faith to bridge the differences that
divide people. It is a subject worthy of our
consideration this Mitzvah Day when
congregations of three different faiths with
much current tension between themhave chosen to
work together for the common good. This is a
special day. And every time I tell someone from
out of town about Mitzvah Day, as I did recently
a classmate who is President of the United
Church of Christ in Massachusetts, they say how
remarkable this ministry is and how they wish
their community had a Mitzvah Day. Today’s
reading from 2 Corinthians picks up the theme of
breaking down the dividing walls and cooperating
for the good of the whole. St. Paul writing to
the church in Corinth was asking them to give
money to an emergency relief fund he was
collecting for poor Jewish Christians in
Jerusalem.The significance of the fund is that
it was given by Gentile Christians for Jewish
Christians—two groups much at odds in the early
church.
If you want to read the entire text go to:
http://www.westminster-bflo.org/sermonrepository/2006/may2106.pdf.
For today, I'd like to look at the first line in the passage above:
"There are moments in life when we make choices
or some divine initiative in us, some power
greater than us helps us make a choice that
changes things for the good."
Except that I want to change the last words in that sentence to -
...a choice that changes things forever. There is no way that I know of
to measure the significance of choices that we make.
This is salvation. It is illustrated in the story above clearly. Some will die unless they are given something that they need. In the illustration, those who are perishing know exactly what they need for survival. The need is not always so obvious. Until we take a look at scripture. Then we see what we need and why we need it. We see sinners in need of a saviour, and we see the Divine Initiative. Our creator has provided all that we need for salvation.
It begins in Eden with Adam, and the fall of
man. And it ends at the empty tomb, with the resurrection of Christ. These are the two pivotal events of human history. Personal history pivots at the moment of conversion. All of these events are motivated by Divine Initiative. Here is what scripture has to say:
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who gave you the knowledge
that you were without clothing? Have you taken
of the fruit of the tree which I said you were
not to take?
Gen 3:23 So the Lord G-d sent him out of the
garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from
which he was taken.
This passage describes the fall of man and the entrance of original sin. Adam did what he had been told not to do, even though he knew that the penalty was death. He was forced to leave Eden, and enter into a world of pain as a
consequence of sin. Everything about Adam's world changed in an instant.
Look around. If you can't see the effect of sin in the world, you must be smokin' crack. There is pain, death, war and on and on.
Even though, in this world, there is no way to avoid the consequence of original sin, salvation provides an escape from the eternal penalty of sin. Look at the quote below:
Ro 5:12 For this reason, as through one man sin
came into the world, and death because of sin,
and so death came to all men, because all have
done evil:
13 Because, till the law came, sin was in
existence, but sin is not put to the account of
anyone when there is no law to be broken.
14 But still death had power from Adam till
Moses, even over those who had not done wrong
like Adam, who is a picture of him who was to
come.
15 But the free giving of G-d is not like the
wrongdoing of man. For if, by the wrongdoing of
one man death came to numbers of men, much more
did the grace of G-d, and the free giving by the
grace of one man, Jesus Christ, come to men.
16 And the free giving has not the same effect
as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's
sin was punishment by the decision of G-d, but
the free giving had power to give righteousness
to wrongdoers in great number.
17 For, if by the wrongdoing of one, death was
ruling through the one, much more will those to
whom has come the wealth of grace and the giving
of righteousness, be ruling in life through the
one, even Jesus Christ.
18 So then, as the effect of one act of
wrongdoing was that punishment came on all men,
even so the effect of one act of righteousness
was righteousness of life for all men.
This is the Divine Initiative. We were dead in sin, by our relationship to Adam. But through the work of Christ, who paid the penalty for sin on the cross, we find salvation through faith. There is nothing that we can DO.
Christ did everything for us. Look at this:
Eph 2:4 But G-d, being full of mercy, through
the great love which he had for us,
5 Even when we were dead through our sins, gave
us life together with Christ (by grace you have
salvation),
6 So that we came back from death with him, and
are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ
Jesus;
7 That in the time to come he might make clear
the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us
in Christ Jesus:
8 Because by grace you have salvation through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given
by G-d:
9 Not by works, so that no man may take glory to
himself.
We have the offer of a free ticket on the Jesus Bus. Although it's not really free -- it was paid for by Jesus dying on the cross. The price is paid, a price so high that we could never pay it on our own. It was paid by Divine Intitiative.
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
THE DIVINE INITIATIVE 2CORINTHIANS 9:7-15; JOHN
15: 16-17 MAY 21, 2006 – MITZVAH DAY THOMAS H.
YORTY, WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
There are moments in life when we make choices
or some divine initiative in us, some power
greater than us helps us make a choice that
changes things for the good. Last week I read in
my alumni magazine how a Presbyterian minister,
a Methodist minister, a Catholic priest and a
rabbi – no this is not a joke – each gave their
life jackets to fellow soldiers in the first
seconds after the USS Dorchester was struck with
a torpedo from a German U-boat. Over 900 troops
were being transported to Europe on the
Dorchester. The year was 1942. For some reason
there weren’t enough life jackets. So the four
chaplains gave theirs to four men who didn’t
have any. The soldier, who received a life
jacket from the Presbyterian chaplain and
graduate of my alma mater, said that the four
chaplains, after giving away their jackets, went
about quieting the panic, helping men who were
“frozen” get into life boats, and were praying
for the safety of the others as they went down
with the ship. There are moments in life when we
make choices or some power greater than us helps
us make a choice that bridges the walls that
divide humans and changes things for the good.
That night on the Dorchester those four
chaplains made such a choice. And based on their
choice I submit to you that they were authentic
servants of a great God. Their selfless act that
fateful night inspired a ministry in
Philadelphia dedicated to people of all faiths;
several novels and documentaries; and a
foundation in Minnesota that honors those who
have risked their lives to protect others of a
different faith or race. What I love about that
story is if you think of 1942, it was another
world. Protestant, Catholic and Jew did not
mingle or talk much to one another in those
days. But these four transcended those barriers.
I’d like to talk today about the impulse in our
Christian faith to bridge the differences that
divide people. It is a subject worthy of our
consideration this Mitzvah Day when
congregations of three different faiths with
much current tension between themhave chosen to
work together for the common good. This is a
special day. And every time I tell someone from
out of town about Mitzvah Day, as I did recently
a classmate who is President of the United
Church of Christ in Massachusetts, they say how
remarkable this ministry is and how they wish
their community had a Mitzvah Day. Today’s
reading from 2 Corinthians picks up the theme of
breaking down the dividing walls and cooperating
for the good of the whole. St. Paul writing to
the church in Corinth was asking them to give
money to an emergency relief fund he was
collecting for poor Jewish Christians in
Jerusalem.The significance of the fund is that
it was given by Gentile Christians for Jewish
Christians—two groups much at odds in the early
church.
If you want to read the entire text go to:
http://www.westminster-bflo.org/sermonrepository/2006/may2106.pdf.
For today, I'd like to look at the first line in the passage above:
"There are moments in life when we make choices
or some divine initiative in us, some power
greater than us helps us make a choice that
changes things for the good."
Except that I want to change the last words in that sentence to -
...a choice that changes things forever. There is no way that I know of
to measure the significance of choices that we make.
This is salvation. It is illustrated in the story above clearly. Some will die unless they are given something that they need. In the illustration, those who are perishing know exactly what they need for survival. The need is not always so obvious. Until we take a look at scripture. Then we see what we need and why we need it. We see sinners in need of a saviour, and we see the Divine Initiative. Our creator has provided all that we need for salvation.
It begins in Eden with Adam, and the fall of
man. And it ends at the empty tomb, with the resurrection of Christ. These are the two pivotal events of human history. Personal history pivots at the moment of conversion. All of these events are motivated by Divine Initiative. Here is what scripture has to say:
Gen 3:11 And he said, Who gave you the knowledge
that you were without clothing? Have you taken
of the fruit of the tree which I said you were
not to take?
Gen 3:23 So the Lord G-d sent him out of the
garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from
which he was taken.
This passage describes the fall of man and the entrance of original sin. Adam did what he had been told not to do, even though he knew that the penalty was death. He was forced to leave Eden, and enter into a world of pain as a
consequence of sin. Everything about Adam's world changed in an instant.
Look around. If you can't see the effect of sin in the world, you must be smokin' crack. There is pain, death, war and on and on.
Even though, in this world, there is no way to avoid the consequence of original sin, salvation provides an escape from the eternal penalty of sin. Look at the quote below:
Ro 5:12 For this reason, as through one man sin
came into the world, and death because of sin,
and so death came to all men, because all have
done evil:
13 Because, till the law came, sin was in
existence, but sin is not put to the account of
anyone when there is no law to be broken.
14 But still death had power from Adam till
Moses, even over those who had not done wrong
like Adam, who is a picture of him who was to
come.
15 But the free giving of G-d is not like the
wrongdoing of man. For if, by the wrongdoing of
one man death came to numbers of men, much more
did the grace of G-d, and the free giving by the
grace of one man, Jesus Christ, come to men.
16 And the free giving has not the same effect
as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's
sin was punishment by the decision of G-d, but
the free giving had power to give righteousness
to wrongdoers in great number.
17 For, if by the wrongdoing of one, death was
ruling through the one, much more will those to
whom has come the wealth of grace and the giving
of righteousness, be ruling in life through the
one, even Jesus Christ.
18 So then, as the effect of one act of
wrongdoing was that punishment came on all men,
even so the effect of one act of righteousness
was righteousness of life for all men.
This is the Divine Initiative. We were dead in sin, by our relationship to Adam. But through the work of Christ, who paid the penalty for sin on the cross, we find salvation through faith. There is nothing that we can DO.
Christ did everything for us. Look at this:
Eph 2:4 But G-d, being full of mercy, through
the great love which he had for us,
5 Even when we were dead through our sins, gave
us life together with Christ (by grace you have
salvation),
6 So that we came back from death with him, and
are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ
Jesus;
7 That in the time to come he might make clear
the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us
in Christ Jesus:
8 Because by grace you have salvation through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is given
by G-d:
9 Not by works, so that no man may take glory to
himself.
We have the offer of a free ticket on the Jesus Bus. Although it's not really free -- it was paid for by Jesus dying on the cross. The price is paid, a price so high that we could never pay it on our own. It was paid by Divine Intitiative.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
ICor 15:57 But thanks be to G-d, which giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things
unto G-d and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ;
IThe 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is
the will of G-d in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord G
-d Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to
come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great
power, and hast reigned.
1619 Thanksgiving, Berkeley Hundred in Virginia 1619
Thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia.
On December 4, 1619, a group of 38
English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred,
comprised of about eight thousand acres (32 km²)
on the north bank of the James River near
Herring Creek in an area then known as Charles
Cittie (sic) about 20 miles upstream from
Jamestown, where the first permanent settlement
of the Colony of Virginia was established on May
14, 1607.
The group's charter required that the day of
arrival be observed yearly as a "day of
thanksgiving" to G-d. On that first day, Captain
John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving.
Here is the section of the Charter of Berkeley
Hundred which specifies the thanksgiving
service:
"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival
at the place assigned for plantacon in the land
of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually
keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty
G-d." [3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
The National Thanksgiving Proclamations
National Thanksgiving Proclamations proclaim
thanks for G-d’s providence in the events of the
nation and, as President Washington explained in
his Thanksgiving Proclamation, "for the many
signal favors of Almighty G-d" in the lives of
the people.
As congress recognized the importance of
Thanksgiving observance, President George
Washington issued a national Thanksgiving
Proclamation in 1789. He wrote, "Now therefore I
do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of
November next to be devoted by the People of
these States to the service of that great and
glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of
all the good that was, that is, or that will
be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto
him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind
care and protection of the People of this
Country...for the signal and manifold mercies,
and the favorable interpositions of his
Providence which we experienced in the
tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have
since enjoyed...and also that we may then unite
in most humbly offering our prayers and
supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of
Nations and beseech him to pardon our national
and other transgressions—to enable us all,
whether in public or private stations, to
perform our several and relative duties properly
and punctually...To promote the knowledge and
practice of true religion and virtue, and the
increase of science among them and us—and
generally to grant unto all Mankind such a
degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows
to be best."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Proclamation 1789 G. Washington:
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1789.htm
If we take a look at the history of the U.S. there is no question that the country was founded and institutions were established by Christian people. We have a Christian heritage. We need to recognize that many of the benefits that we enjoy, and take for granted were provided by our G-d and people who believe in him. I can't find a secular purpose in the statements above.
Lookin' round, I think we've lost our way.
Happy Thanksgiving.
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things
unto G-d and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ;
IThe 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is
the will of G-d in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord G
-d Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to
come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great
power, and hast reigned.
1619 Thanksgiving, Berkeley Hundred in Virginia 1619
Thanksgiving at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia.
On December 4, 1619, a group of 38
English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred,
comprised of about eight thousand acres (32 km²)
on the north bank of the James River near
Herring Creek in an area then known as Charles
Cittie (sic) about 20 miles upstream from
Jamestown, where the first permanent settlement
of the Colony of Virginia was established on May
14, 1607.
The group's charter required that the day of
arrival be observed yearly as a "day of
thanksgiving" to G-d. On that first day, Captain
John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving.
Here is the section of the Charter of Berkeley
Hundred which specifies the thanksgiving
service:
"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival
at the place assigned for plantacon in the land
of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually
keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty
G-d." [3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
The National Thanksgiving Proclamations
National Thanksgiving Proclamations proclaim
thanks for G-d’s providence in the events of the
nation and, as President Washington explained in
his Thanksgiving Proclamation, "for the many
signal favors of Almighty G-d" in the lives of
the people.
As congress recognized the importance of
Thanksgiving observance, President George
Washington issued a national Thanksgiving
Proclamation in 1789. He wrote, "Now therefore I
do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of
November next to be devoted by the People of
these States to the service of that great and
glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of
all the good that was, that is, or that will
be—That we may then all unite in rendering unto
him our sincere and humble thanks—for his kind
care and protection of the People of this
Country...for the signal and manifold mercies,
and the favorable interpositions of his
Providence which we experienced in the
tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have
since enjoyed...and also that we may then unite
in most humbly offering our prayers and
supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of
Nations and beseech him to pardon our national
and other transgressions—to enable us all,
whether in public or private stations, to
perform our several and relative duties properly
and punctually...To promote the knowledge and
practice of true religion and virtue, and the
increase of science among them and us—and
generally to grant unto all Mankind such a
degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows
to be best."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Proclamation 1789 G. Washington:
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/ThanxProc1789.htm
If we take a look at the history of the U.S. there is no question that the country was founded and institutions were established by Christian people. We have a Christian heritage. We need to recognize that many of the benefits that we enjoy, and take for granted were provided by our G-d and people who believe in him. I can't find a secular purpose in the statements above.
Lookin' round, I think we've lost our way.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
.JPG)
Marriage and Sex In The City
Well, not so much about sex, but I'd like to look at what we on the Jesus Bus believe about marriage. Yesterday sorta' touched on the subject, when I wrote about some of my personal experience. If you ever saw the TV show Sex in the City, you get an idea about how marriage is viewed (by some) in modern Amerika. Oh, we like the sex play, but as far as having any remote idea about marriage as it was intended by it's Creator, not. The city of man has it all wrong. I hope to avoid going into autobiographical accounts about the subject, although there are a bunch of illustrations I could use from my experience. Maybe?
There I was, driving along I-80, westbound, in the western part of Nebraska. I was, as I did daily, thinking about whether it would be OK if I just left my wife. You know, she basically ignores everything I have to say, except she remembers to always feel slighted by any thing that I say uncomplimentary. And she watches Sex In The City...
Now there's a program that is 21st Century Amerika. Problem is that many are so completely
post modern in their thinking that they can't even recognize that it really is nothing more than a mockery of women. But it's funny, right. Ugh.
The marriage theme has been a topic of political discussion in the recent past. When I was a single guy, all of this marriage stuff was a topic pushed onto the back burner by me. It was mostly irrelevant. Just another mass of modern nonsense, that keeps others busy with some silly dogfights. I kept it all at arm's length. No sense getting all tangled up in someone else's brawl. It's another one of those modern debates that up until I became married, I had no skin in the game. And as usual, each side postures to defend its own position, in an effort, not to do what is right, but rather to justify their actions. When the christian community surrendered the book of Genesis to the religious revisionists, they gave up the scriptural basis for marriage. It's been given away.
What did Jesus have to say about it? Here is a passage where Jesus is involved in a debate about marriage. Guess it always was a hot topic. It's only after the fact, that I discovered just how relevant this passage is. I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would have the least concern about the subject. You know, I won't ever marry someone who has er, ah, problems. I have a lot to learn, boys and girls.
Mt 19:3 And certain Pharisees came to him,
testing him, and saying, Is it right for a man
to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he said in answer, Have you not seen in
the Writings, that he who made them at the first
made them male and female, and said,
(In verse four, don't miss the point about 'who made them at the first'.)
5 For this cause will a man go away from his
father and mother, and be joined to his wife;
and the two will become one flesh?
6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Then let not that which has been joined by G-d
be parted by man.
7 They say to him, Why then did Moses give
orders that a husband might give her a statement
in writing and be free from her?
8 He says to them, Moses, because of your hard
hearts, let you put away your wives: but it has
not been so from the first.
9 And I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife
for any other cause than the loss of her virtue,
and takes another, is a false husband: and he
who takes her as his wife when she is put away,
is no true husband to her.
10 The disciples say to him, If this is the
position of a man in relation to his wife, it is
better not to be married.
Hmmmm. Looks to me like Jesus, in his own subtle way, is telling them that if they were not
so messed up to begin with, they wouldn't even be asking this question.
The disciples get it (this time). I get the impression that they didn't like it, though.
As an aside, notice that the concept of marriage is explicitly an arrangement between a man and a woman. OK. You want something homosexical. Fine. Just don't call it marriage. That's totally offensive to hijack a timeless tradition in order to accomodate deviant proclivities.
Here's the part that's a puzzle to me. There is no outcry. The whole concept of modern marriage has been degraded to the point that there is even a discussion about homosexical marriage. You've come a long way baby.
Anyway, it seems that the crux of the issue is that, even in Jesus' day, men had a sense of helplessness about their relationship to their wives. And not being able to hold over their head the threat of divorce, was being put in a position of defeat. You have to recall back in that time, when a woman was divorced she did not get an alimony. Without a husband she was economically abandoned. So, the threat of divorce gave a husband a means of defending himself against any foolishness on the part of the wife.
The part that is most sad to me is the realization that I came to, that in marriage as in all of human interaction, there is the base human instinct that longs for power. The object is all about who has 'control' over the situation. The feud is always smoldering in the background somewhere. The kids pick up on the rebellion on the part of the wife and then they learn to play it for all it's worth. They want to have it their way too. Let's just go to Burger King.
The original intent is that there is a hierarchy, designed by the Creator. He sits in his rightful position at the top of the hierarchy. He is a magnanimous king. We, as his subjects, will find our greatest satisfaction in following his intent, because it is where we will find our greatest reward. He knows what's best for us just like a parent knows what's best for their child. A husband has his place, and a wife has her place. The idea is that the Creator provides for the husband, the husband provides for the wife. The larger part of that provision, is the idea of guidance. The Creator says that there are things that I need to get done. The husband recognizes these things, and says to his wife, there are things that we need to do, in order for the plan of G-d to unfold.
Not such a bad scheme, if you ask me. But, it's not hard to see that it has been ignored. Now, we are entertained by TV programs about whores living glamourous lives in NYC. Wonderful. ( Outstanding role models for the young women of Amerika! \sarcasm ). Does art imitate reality or does reality imitate art? All I can tell is that we've come a long way from 'Happy Days'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days
Beyond all of this, there is another level of significance in marriage. It represents the union between Christ and the church. Over and over in the hebrew scripture, the nation is portrayed as an unfaithful wife. They have not been true to the Lord. For those of us on the Jesus Bus, there is a much deeper significance to the marriage covenant, and it needs to be carefully guarded against degradation at the hands of the secular agenda. It's not an issue of power or
control. It's an issue of order. Once order is gone, nobody is in control. Look familiar?
===================================
Correction. Just got Acts and Facts from ICR. I said that the Bible is not a science text.
Look at this link.
http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_tbiatos/
Look at their position. I will have to clarify my own position in the context of a prior post.
There I was, driving along I-80, westbound, in the western part of Nebraska. I was, as I did daily, thinking about whether it would be OK if I just left my wife. You know, she basically ignores everything I have to say, except she remembers to always feel slighted by any thing that I say uncomplimentary. And she watches Sex In The City...
Now there's a program that is 21st Century Amerika. Problem is that many are so completely
post modern in their thinking that they can't even recognize that it really is nothing more than a mockery of women. But it's funny, right. Ugh.
The marriage theme has been a topic of political discussion in the recent past. When I was a single guy, all of this marriage stuff was a topic pushed onto the back burner by me. It was mostly irrelevant. Just another mass of modern nonsense, that keeps others busy with some silly dogfights. I kept it all at arm's length. No sense getting all tangled up in someone else's brawl. It's another one of those modern debates that up until I became married, I had no skin in the game. And as usual, each side postures to defend its own position, in an effort, not to do what is right, but rather to justify their actions. When the christian community surrendered the book of Genesis to the religious revisionists, they gave up the scriptural basis for marriage. It's been given away.
What did Jesus have to say about it? Here is a passage where Jesus is involved in a debate about marriage. Guess it always was a hot topic. It's only after the fact, that I discovered just how relevant this passage is. I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would have the least concern about the subject. You know, I won't ever marry someone who has er, ah, problems. I have a lot to learn, boys and girls.
Mt 19:3 And certain Pharisees came to him,
testing him, and saying, Is it right for a man
to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he said in answer, Have you not seen in
the Writings, that he who made them at the first
made them male and female, and said,
(In verse four, don't miss the point about 'who made them at the first'.)
5 For this cause will a man go away from his
father and mother, and be joined to his wife;
and the two will become one flesh?
6 So that they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Then let not that which has been joined by G-d
be parted by man.
7 They say to him, Why then did Moses give
orders that a husband might give her a statement
in writing and be free from her?
8 He says to them, Moses, because of your hard
hearts, let you put away your wives: but it has
not been so from the first.
9 And I say to you, Whoever puts away his wife
for any other cause than the loss of her virtue,
and takes another, is a false husband: and he
who takes her as his wife when she is put away,
is no true husband to her.
10 The disciples say to him, If this is the
position of a man in relation to his wife, it is
better not to be married.
Hmmmm. Looks to me like Jesus, in his own subtle way, is telling them that if they were not
so messed up to begin with, they wouldn't even be asking this question.
The disciples get it (this time). I get the impression that they didn't like it, though.
As an aside, notice that the concept of marriage is explicitly an arrangement between a man and a woman. OK. You want something homosexical. Fine. Just don't call it marriage. That's totally offensive to hijack a timeless tradition in order to accomodate deviant proclivities.
Here's the part that's a puzzle to me. There is no outcry. The whole concept of modern marriage has been degraded to the point that there is even a discussion about homosexical marriage. You've come a long way baby.
Anyway, it seems that the crux of the issue is that, even in Jesus' day, men had a sense of helplessness about their relationship to their wives. And not being able to hold over their head the threat of divorce, was being put in a position of defeat. You have to recall back in that time, when a woman was divorced she did not get an alimony. Without a husband she was economically abandoned. So, the threat of divorce gave a husband a means of defending himself against any foolishness on the part of the wife.
The part that is most sad to me is the realization that I came to, that in marriage as in all of human interaction, there is the base human instinct that longs for power. The object is all about who has 'control' over the situation. The feud is always smoldering in the background somewhere. The kids pick up on the rebellion on the part of the wife and then they learn to play it for all it's worth. They want to have it their way too. Let's just go to Burger King.
The original intent is that there is a hierarchy, designed by the Creator. He sits in his rightful position at the top of the hierarchy. He is a magnanimous king. We, as his subjects, will find our greatest satisfaction in following his intent, because it is where we will find our greatest reward. He knows what's best for us just like a parent knows what's best for their child. A husband has his place, and a wife has her place. The idea is that the Creator provides for the husband, the husband provides for the wife. The larger part of that provision, is the idea of guidance. The Creator says that there are things that I need to get done. The husband recognizes these things, and says to his wife, there are things that we need to do, in order for the plan of G-d to unfold.
Not such a bad scheme, if you ask me. But, it's not hard to see that it has been ignored. Now, we are entertained by TV programs about whores living glamourous lives in NYC. Wonderful. ( Outstanding role models for the young women of Amerika! \sarcasm ). Does art imitate reality or does reality imitate art? All I can tell is that we've come a long way from 'Happy Days'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days
Beyond all of this, there is another level of significance in marriage. It represents the union between Christ and the church. Over and over in the hebrew scripture, the nation is portrayed as an unfaithful wife. They have not been true to the Lord. For those of us on the Jesus Bus, there is a much deeper significance to the marriage covenant, and it needs to be carefully guarded against degradation at the hands of the secular agenda. It's not an issue of power or
control. It's an issue of order. Once order is gone, nobody is in control. Look familiar?
===================================
Correction. Just got Acts and Facts from ICR. I said that the Bible is not a science text.
Look at this link.
http://www.icr.org/home/resources/resources_tracts_tbiatos/
Look at their position. I will have to clarify my own position in the context of a prior post.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
.JPG)
Autobiographical Excursion
Schaeffer is a hard act to follow. It's not as if I've exhausted the material on Schaeffer, I just don't know where to begin. I'll have to digest those ideas for a while. So, I'll put on a pot of morning coffee, and see if I can get the Jesus Bus started this morning.
I'm thinking that a few autobiographical notes might be OK for today. Right now, as I type, I am facing the same struggle that I've been in for years now. There is the location and the marriage and the employment situation and the likelihood of bankruptcy and the generally sad state of current affairs. None of these present an exceptional challenge. I mean, that these are things that are common to all. Everyone has struggles. I can be thankful -- on the thanksgiving theme -- that my struggles are not with a chemical addiction or a serious health problem -- getting old doesn't count -- or legal problems or being in Iraq...
As a youngster, as soon as I finished high
school, I joined some high school friends for a three year hitch as a paratrooper. In those days, I would have gladly gone to Iraq, Afghanistan or another far flung corner of the world. In my early years, I didn't have a care
in the world. Yes, it helps to be a little
crazy. It's not a job for the faint of heart. It was mostly a fun time for me. I enjoyed the activity, but the routine aspects of
military life were, at times, tedious. Seems there was always an inspection of one kind or another. Yeah, my boots are still black and my uniform is still green. When are we gonna' get another chance to ride in a Huey? When can I go ride my
motorcycle?
ITh 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is
the will of G-d in Christ Jesus concerning you.
In one translation the word 'thanks' is rendered 'praise'. In the daily routine of life, I don't always see beyond the drudgery. When circumstances are uncomfortable, when life begins to seem like a prison, it is time to remember that G-d is in charge. And he wants us to be thankful in all the circumstances of our lives. Somewhere in the trouble and dissapointment, there is an opportunity. Usually, it means that we can find something to do that will benefit others. It's the idea of christian service. And that is how we render praise to G-d. Too often I get lost in my own misery, and sense of loss, which is easy to do. But it will not help. What can I do to serve Jesus today?
Years ago, I read the G. Gordon Liddy book,
'Will'.
George Gordon Battle Liddy (born November 30,
1930) was the chief operative for White House
Plumbers unit that existed during several years
of Richard Nixon's Presidency. Along with E.
Howard Hunt, Liddy masterminded the first break
-in of the Democratic National Committee
headquarters in the Watergate building in 1972.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy
I vaguely remember a comment he made about the time he began his prison sentence. He saw it as a graduation from the boy scouts to the big leagues. In a sense, we are serving time in prisons of our own design. So, why is it that we find the situation that we have of our own will and effort designed, not entirely satisfying? It seems to be universal.
In my case, I have a sense that a large part of my daily struggles have to do with the fact that I have little control over the events of my
life. It's not that I can't make changes, it's that I can't get the outcome that I would like. Isn't that the story of life? Another way of saying it is that life is full of surprises. I would rather that they be pleasant surprises.
Act 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money
perish with thee, because thou hast thought that
the gift of G-d may be purchased with money.
One common idea is that money is the answer to everything. Look around. You can see that there is a general pursuit of money and the things money can buy. It's OK, I guess. But it is not the currency of the kingdom of heaven. It has a utilitarian usefullness, but it is not the end of all things. If I have the money, I pay my bills. If I don't, maybe next month.
One of the rules that I've made for myself is to
never again go into debt. It's an outdated
notion. But it is the path to financial
freedom. Being a debt slave is no way to go. That path leads to financial ruin. Leverage is a dangerous tool to work with.
Money is the currency of the kingdoms of man. And scripture provides warning as to its place in the larger scheme of things.
ITim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of
all evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows.
So, my life is not about money. There are very few things that I've done in my life 'for the money'. I am motivated by the challenge or for the adventure or by an interest. My mind has always been restless. That's not something that finds satisfaction in money.
Ec 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be
satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth
abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ec 5:9 \5:10\He who has a love for silver never
has enough silver, or he who has love for
wealth, enough profit. This again is to no
purpose.
Funny, how scripture gives us a clue that some things that we love, are not going to be able to provide lasting satisfaction. It has to do
with the way that we are made. It's one reason that advertising works so well. In the world of advertising, appearance is everything. We gobble it up.
But right now, I find that my circumstance is such that I lack the things that I really need, the pursuit of challenge, adventure and interest. I've never been in a prison like this before. My inclination is to blame it on my marriage. For those of you who are single, you need to know that there is, plain and simple, a lot of drudgery in married life. I like steak and potatoes, everyone else in the house wants pasta (yuck). So, you get to eat pasta till you would rather starve than eat another bite. At least I don't have to concern myself with a 'diet'. Just going to the dinner table suppresses my apetite, much of the time. So,
although I don't have to worry about dying of
heart disease, boredom presents its own risks and challenges. Enjoyment, is being able to see that others enjoy their meal. Especially, my younger son, who gets more food on the floor and the table sometimes, than he gets in his mouth.
Yeah, I went through the pre-marital counseling
thing before I was married. Books have been written on that subject. Pre-marital
counseling, like many other formalities in life, does not indulge in the serious challenges of married life. Maybe, they
just don't want to scare you too much. You
might change your mind if you really know what
you're in for. Not that it would have been able
to discourage me, I've already exposed my
inability to be overly concerned with risk.
And in a nutshell, I think that herein lies a significant difference between those who manage to gain greater control over the outcomes of life. They have a better perception of risk. They are fearful of the things that they ought to be fearful of. They can see hazards strewn along the path of life better than others. Over time, these skills can be learned. But they don't come easily to some of us. We muddle through the best we can, in an effort to avoid repeating our worst mistakes.
That's one reason I enjoy reading about the lives of the faithful found in scripture. They are people who have blundered just as badly as anyone else. Or in some cases have been faced with circumstances that they have no control over. Look at the life of Joseph, for instance. He was sold into slavery when he was still a boy. As a slave he had no control over his situation. In fact, he even did a stint in prison, accused of something that he was not guilty of. It looks like he was dealt a lifetime of hard knocks. But in the end what did he have to say?
Gen 45:5 Now do not be troubled or angry with
yourselves for sending me away, because G-d sent
me before you to be the saviour of your lives.
8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but G
-d...
None of the experiences of Joseph's life make much sense until you get to the end of the story. Then, it is revealed that in all of the misfortunes that he suffered, there is a purpose. The purpose is hidden through all of the years of drudgery of his life as a slave.
You have to know that it was not a pleasant
experience. But once the purpose is known,
there is a deep and lasting sense of pleasure.
That's where we need to go. Whether it is in a
situation beyond our control, or otherwise,
pursuit of pleasure is likely to lead in the
wrong direction.
Not that I can relate to the significance of Joseph's life. No, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, I am of ordinary significance. I was born into an ordinary family. I grew up in an ordinary small town. I went to an ordinary public school. I did an ordinary stint in the military. All in all, I have had a very ordinary life. If there is anything different about my life, it would be that I have read more than average, and I have travelled more than average. And I have definitely gone fishing more than average. Lately, I haven't had time to do much of this.
Over the years, I have stood at the crossroads of purpose and pleasure. As the journey winds along through life, these two roads will
intersect in some of the most difficult terrain that life can bring your way. I have been there before saying 'eenie, meenie, mienie, mo...' unable to clearly recognize the difference.
Eventually, you learn something from your mistakes. It has a way of making you more considerate of the decisions that have to be made, with a concern for the risk involved in making a poor choice. Because over time, I have seen that lasting satisfaction is a resultof taking the direction that leads to purpose rather than pleasure.
World-view comes into play here. If we believe that the universe is an accident, we are left with a sense that there is no greater purpose, instead of a sense that the purpose of things is hidden from view.
The Larger Catechism puts it this way:
Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify
G-d, and fully to enjoy him forever.
http://opc.org/lc.html
I'm thinking that a few autobiographical notes might be OK for today. Right now, as I type, I am facing the same struggle that I've been in for years now. There is the location and the marriage and the employment situation and the likelihood of bankruptcy and the generally sad state of current affairs. None of these present an exceptional challenge. I mean, that these are things that are common to all. Everyone has struggles. I can be thankful -- on the thanksgiving theme -- that my struggles are not with a chemical addiction or a serious health problem -- getting old doesn't count -- or legal problems or being in Iraq...
As a youngster, as soon as I finished high
school, I joined some high school friends for a three year hitch as a paratrooper. In those days, I would have gladly gone to Iraq, Afghanistan or another far flung corner of the world. In my early years, I didn't have a care
in the world. Yes, it helps to be a little
crazy. It's not a job for the faint of heart. It was mostly a fun time for me. I enjoyed the activity, but the routine aspects of
military life were, at times, tedious. Seems there was always an inspection of one kind or another. Yeah, my boots are still black and my uniform is still green. When are we gonna' get another chance to ride in a Huey? When can I go ride my
motorcycle?
ITh 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is
the will of G-d in Christ Jesus concerning you.
In one translation the word 'thanks' is rendered 'praise'. In the daily routine of life, I don't always see beyond the drudgery. When circumstances are uncomfortable, when life begins to seem like a prison, it is time to remember that G-d is in charge. And he wants us to be thankful in all the circumstances of our lives. Somewhere in the trouble and dissapointment, there is an opportunity. Usually, it means that we can find something to do that will benefit others. It's the idea of christian service. And that is how we render praise to G-d. Too often I get lost in my own misery, and sense of loss, which is easy to do. But it will not help. What can I do to serve Jesus today?
Years ago, I read the G. Gordon Liddy book,
'Will'.
George Gordon Battle Liddy (born November 30,
1930) was the chief operative for White House
Plumbers unit that existed during several years
of Richard Nixon's Presidency. Along with E.
Howard Hunt, Liddy masterminded the first break
-in of the Democratic National Committee
headquarters in the Watergate building in 1972.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy
I vaguely remember a comment he made about the time he began his prison sentence. He saw it as a graduation from the boy scouts to the big leagues. In a sense, we are serving time in prisons of our own design. So, why is it that we find the situation that we have of our own will and effort designed, not entirely satisfying? It seems to be universal.
In my case, I have a sense that a large part of my daily struggles have to do with the fact that I have little control over the events of my
life. It's not that I can't make changes, it's that I can't get the outcome that I would like. Isn't that the story of life? Another way of saying it is that life is full of surprises. I would rather that they be pleasant surprises.
Act 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money
perish with thee, because thou hast thought that
the gift of G-d may be purchased with money.
One common idea is that money is the answer to everything. Look around. You can see that there is a general pursuit of money and the things money can buy. It's OK, I guess. But it is not the currency of the kingdom of heaven. It has a utilitarian usefullness, but it is not the end of all things. If I have the money, I pay my bills. If I don't, maybe next month.
One of the rules that I've made for myself is to
never again go into debt. It's an outdated
notion. But it is the path to financial
freedom. Being a debt slave is no way to go. That path leads to financial ruin. Leverage is a dangerous tool to work with.
Money is the currency of the kingdoms of man. And scripture provides warning as to its place in the larger scheme of things.
ITim 6:10 For the love of money is the root of
all evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows.
So, my life is not about money. There are very few things that I've done in my life 'for the money'. I am motivated by the challenge or for the adventure or by an interest. My mind has always been restless. That's not something that finds satisfaction in money.
Ec 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be
satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth
abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
Ec 5:9 \5:10\He who has a love for silver never
has enough silver, or he who has love for
wealth, enough profit. This again is to no
purpose.
Funny, how scripture gives us a clue that some things that we love, are not going to be able to provide lasting satisfaction. It has to do
with the way that we are made. It's one reason that advertising works so well. In the world of advertising, appearance is everything. We gobble it up.
But right now, I find that my circumstance is such that I lack the things that I really need, the pursuit of challenge, adventure and interest. I've never been in a prison like this before. My inclination is to blame it on my marriage. For those of you who are single, you need to know that there is, plain and simple, a lot of drudgery in married life. I like steak and potatoes, everyone else in the house wants pasta (yuck). So, you get to eat pasta till you would rather starve than eat another bite. At least I don't have to concern myself with a 'diet'. Just going to the dinner table suppresses my apetite, much of the time. So,
although I don't have to worry about dying of
heart disease, boredom presents its own risks and challenges. Enjoyment, is being able to see that others enjoy their meal. Especially, my younger son, who gets more food on the floor and the table sometimes, than he gets in his mouth.
Yeah, I went through the pre-marital counseling
thing before I was married. Books have been written on that subject. Pre-marital
counseling, like many other formalities in life, does not indulge in the serious challenges of married life. Maybe, they
just don't want to scare you too much. You
might change your mind if you really know what
you're in for. Not that it would have been able
to discourage me, I've already exposed my
inability to be overly concerned with risk.
And in a nutshell, I think that herein lies a significant difference between those who manage to gain greater control over the outcomes of life. They have a better perception of risk. They are fearful of the things that they ought to be fearful of. They can see hazards strewn along the path of life better than others. Over time, these skills can be learned. But they don't come easily to some of us. We muddle through the best we can, in an effort to avoid repeating our worst mistakes.
That's one reason I enjoy reading about the lives of the faithful found in scripture. They are people who have blundered just as badly as anyone else. Or in some cases have been faced with circumstances that they have no control over. Look at the life of Joseph, for instance. He was sold into slavery when he was still a boy. As a slave he had no control over his situation. In fact, he even did a stint in prison, accused of something that he was not guilty of. It looks like he was dealt a lifetime of hard knocks. But in the end what did he have to say?
Gen 45:5 Now do not be troubled or angry with
yourselves for sending me away, because G-d sent
me before you to be the saviour of your lives.
8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but G
-d...
None of the experiences of Joseph's life make much sense until you get to the end of the story. Then, it is revealed that in all of the misfortunes that he suffered, there is a purpose. The purpose is hidden through all of the years of drudgery of his life as a slave.
You have to know that it was not a pleasant
experience. But once the purpose is known,
there is a deep and lasting sense of pleasure.
That's where we need to go. Whether it is in a
situation beyond our control, or otherwise,
pursuit of pleasure is likely to lead in the
wrong direction.
Not that I can relate to the significance of Joseph's life. No, I realize that in the grand scheme of things, I am of ordinary significance. I was born into an ordinary family. I grew up in an ordinary small town. I went to an ordinary public school. I did an ordinary stint in the military. All in all, I have had a very ordinary life. If there is anything different about my life, it would be that I have read more than average, and I have travelled more than average. And I have definitely gone fishing more than average. Lately, I haven't had time to do much of this.
Over the years, I have stood at the crossroads of purpose and pleasure. As the journey winds along through life, these two roads will
intersect in some of the most difficult terrain that life can bring your way. I have been there before saying 'eenie, meenie, mienie, mo...' unable to clearly recognize the difference.
Eventually, you learn something from your mistakes. It has a way of making you more considerate of the decisions that have to be made, with a concern for the risk involved in making a poor choice. Because over time, I have seen that lasting satisfaction is a resultof taking the direction that leads to purpose rather than pleasure.
World-view comes into play here. If we believe that the universe is an accident, we are left with a sense that there is no greater purpose, instead of a sense that the purpose of things is hidden from view.
The Larger Catechism puts it this way:
Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify
G-d, and fully to enjoy him forever.
http://opc.org/lc.html
Monday, November 19, 2007
Francis A. Schaeffer
There are a handful of christian writers or speakers who have a heavy influence on the direction of my journey through life. The first was Walter Martin and the Bible Answer Man radio program. It was much later that I was introduced to Schaeffer -- by a member of the charismatic catholics. That introduction was even more influential, because Schaeffer deals even more directly with pop culture than Martin. By that, I mean Schaeffer confronts not just the drive-by religious fads, but also takes on the delusions of the secular humanist as well. Here's a
Schaeffer quote:
When all is done, when all the alternatives have been explored, "not many men are in the room" -- that is, although world-views have many variations, there are not many basic world-views or basic presuppositions. -Francis Schaeffer
Francis August Schaeffer (30 January 1912 – 15 May 1984)[1] was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland. Opposed to theological modernism, Schaeffer promoted an orthodox Protestant faith and a presuppositional approach to Christian apologetics, which he believed would answer the questions of the age. A number of scholars credit Schaeffer's ideas with helping spark the rise of the Christian Right in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer
Of the different books that I've read over the years, and audio tapes that I've listened to, Schaeffer is right up there at the top. He offers unique insight into modern ideas, from the perspective of the quote above. Too bad for us that he's gone already to a better place.
"Every generation of Christians has this problem of learning how to speak meaningfully to its own age. It cannot be solved without an understanding of the changing existential situation which it faces. If we are to communicate the Christian faith effectively, therefore, we must know and understand the thought forms of our own generation. These will differ slightly from place to place, and more so from nation to nation. Nevertheless there are characteristics of an age such as ours which are the same wherever we happen to be. It is these that I am especially considering in this book. And the object of this is far from being merely to satisfy intellectual curiosity. As we go along, it will become clear how far-reaching are the practical consequences of a proper understanding of these movements of thought."(Francis A. Schaeffer, Escape From Reason, Introduction)
http://www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/escape.html
One goal of my blog is to take from some of these ideas and attempt to make them accessible to someone like my young son. These days there is the popular idea that christianity is anachronism -- it's out of date. From where I sit, there is no reason to believe that the essential nature of man has changed in the least, over the time span of all recorded history. Like Schaeffer says, 'there are not many basic world-views'. The scripture puts it like this:
Ecc 1:9 That which has been, is that which is to be, and that which has been done, is that which will be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.
'New' ideas, once you scratch the surface, are just old ideas dressed up to look modern and sexy to the latest consumer.
You see, it boils down to a matter of historical perspective. This is where the modern revisionist earns his pay. Take the past and make it appear as if there is something fundamentally different about men in the past and men in the present, as if we have discovered something 'new'. They want to make you think that 'it's different this time'. Boys and girls, all you need to do is spend a little time either on the WWW or at the library and you can prove to yourself that human nature never changes. You may not want to believe it, since the indoctrination that was provided by your public education system will lead you to believe the lie of secularism -- that religious ideas and institutions have no place in public life. Ohhhh, that's so not true. In fact, it is the very reason that we have a 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. It prohibits the federal legislature from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" (the "Establishment Clause") or that prohibit free exercise of religion (the "Free Exercise Clause"), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment
What about historical perspective? The most popular historical framework -- the one approved by the secular educational agenda --is the evolutionary framework. Evolution is a theory of history, it pretends to be a theory of biology. The reason that it is a theory of history is that it is an attempt to tell the story of pre-history from the secular point of view. It's an old myth, that appears to be something 'new'. It rejects scripture as 'religion',and then replaces it with the 'new' religion of secularism. Scripture offers another view of pre-history, based on Divine origin. The secular view, offers a materialistic origin. Well, almost. Because, if you take a closer look at the theory of evolution, you will notice that it does not have an origin -- matter just emerged out of nowhere. That's called magic. Biology rejected spontaneous generation a while back, as superstition (magic). Still, it is a theory about earth history. Facts are a whole other category than magic.
I can write all this without any reservation. I don't have any skin in the game -- I don't have an academic credential to protect. Don't think for an instant that the issue of credentials is inconsequential. It's a sacred cow my friends. Look at all the hysteria surrounding any proposal to try something as simple as teaching intelligent design along side evolution. What's so awful
about discussing the relative merits of alternative theories? Honestly, I never expect to see the
day when the full truth comes out about the sacred cows of secularism. But at least it can be
put in its proper category -- as an alternate religious view.
What the gentle reader needs to recognize is that, in spite of all the rhetoric, there is essentially no difference between evolution and creation as far as their religious significance. The point is that they are -different- religions. They are at odds with each other. They represent two competeing world-views that Schaeffer refers to. One world-view is materialism, and the other is not. Here's how scripture puts it:
Gen 1:1 At the first G-d made the heaven and the earth.
Now, that makes sense. It begins at the beginning. But it does not begin with magic. It begins with an eternally self existent being. G-d is what we know as a spirit being, not a material being and is therefore not subject to materialistic principles. That means, he can create matter out of nothing and be consistent in his identity. It's not magic -- it's Divine authority.
As I look out the window of the Jesus Bus, I see a creation ex nihilo. No magic, myth, superstition or escape from reason allowed. None is needed, unless you reject scripture.
IIPet 1:16
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Since it's Thanksgiving vacation week for the boys, posting may be sporadic this week. It's a challenge writing from the middle of a three ring circus. Maybe a thanksgiving theme this week would be appropriate.
Schaeffer quote:
When all is done, when all the alternatives have been explored, "not many men are in the room" -- that is, although world-views have many variations, there are not many basic world-views or basic presuppositions. -Francis Schaeffer
Francis August Schaeffer (30 January 1912 – 15 May 1984)[1] was an American Evangelical Christian theologian, philosopher, and Presbyterian pastor. He is most famous for his writings and his establishment of the L'Abri community in Switzerland. Opposed to theological modernism, Schaeffer promoted an orthodox Protestant faith and a presuppositional approach to Christian apologetics, which he believed would answer the questions of the age. A number of scholars credit Schaeffer's ideas with helping spark the rise of the Christian Right in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Schaeffer
Of the different books that I've read over the years, and audio tapes that I've listened to, Schaeffer is right up there at the top. He offers unique insight into modern ideas, from the perspective of the quote above. Too bad for us that he's gone already to a better place.
"Every generation of Christians has this problem of learning how to speak meaningfully to its own age. It cannot be solved without an understanding of the changing existential situation which it faces. If we are to communicate the Christian faith effectively, therefore, we must know and understand the thought forms of our own generation. These will differ slightly from place to place, and more so from nation to nation. Nevertheless there are characteristics of an age such as ours which are the same wherever we happen to be. It is these that I am especially considering in this book. And the object of this is far from being merely to satisfy intellectual curiosity. As we go along, it will become clear how far-reaching are the practical consequences of a proper understanding of these movements of thought."(Francis A. Schaeffer, Escape From Reason, Introduction)
http://www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/escape.html
One goal of my blog is to take from some of these ideas and attempt to make them accessible to someone like my young son. These days there is the popular idea that christianity is anachronism -- it's out of date. From where I sit, there is no reason to believe that the essential nature of man has changed in the least, over the time span of all recorded history. Like Schaeffer says, 'there are not many basic world-views'. The scripture puts it like this:
Ecc 1:9 That which has been, is that which is to be, and that which has been done, is that which will be done, and there is no new thing under the sun.
'New' ideas, once you scratch the surface, are just old ideas dressed up to look modern and sexy to the latest consumer.
You see, it boils down to a matter of historical perspective. This is where the modern revisionist earns his pay. Take the past and make it appear as if there is something fundamentally different about men in the past and men in the present, as if we have discovered something 'new'. They want to make you think that 'it's different this time'. Boys and girls, all you need to do is spend a little time either on the WWW or at the library and you can prove to yourself that human nature never changes. You may not want to believe it, since the indoctrination that was provided by your public education system will lead you to believe the lie of secularism -- that religious ideas and institutions have no place in public life. Ohhhh, that's so not true. In fact, it is the very reason that we have a 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. It prohibits the federal legislature from making laws "respecting an establishment of religion" (the "Establishment Clause") or that prohibit free exercise of religion (the "Free Exercise Clause"), laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment
What about historical perspective? The most popular historical framework -- the one approved by the secular educational agenda --is the evolutionary framework. Evolution is a theory of history, it pretends to be a theory of biology. The reason that it is a theory of history is that it is an attempt to tell the story of pre-history from the secular point of view. It's an old myth, that appears to be something 'new'. It rejects scripture as 'religion',and then replaces it with the 'new' religion of secularism. Scripture offers another view of pre-history, based on Divine origin. The secular view, offers a materialistic origin. Well, almost. Because, if you take a closer look at the theory of evolution, you will notice that it does not have an origin -- matter just emerged out of nowhere. That's called magic. Biology rejected spontaneous generation a while back, as superstition (magic). Still, it is a theory about earth history. Facts are a whole other category than magic.
I can write all this without any reservation. I don't have any skin in the game -- I don't have an academic credential to protect. Don't think for an instant that the issue of credentials is inconsequential. It's a sacred cow my friends. Look at all the hysteria surrounding any proposal to try something as simple as teaching intelligent design along side evolution. What's so awful
about discussing the relative merits of alternative theories? Honestly, I never expect to see the
day when the full truth comes out about the sacred cows of secularism. But at least it can be
put in its proper category -- as an alternate religious view.
What the gentle reader needs to recognize is that, in spite of all the rhetoric, there is essentially no difference between evolution and creation as far as their religious significance. The point is that they are -different- religions. They are at odds with each other. They represent two competeing world-views that Schaeffer refers to. One world-view is materialism, and the other is not. Here's how scripture puts it:
Gen 1:1 At the first G-d made the heaven and the earth.
Now, that makes sense. It begins at the beginning. But it does not begin with magic. It begins with an eternally self existent being. G-d is what we know as a spirit being, not a material being and is therefore not subject to materialistic principles. That means, he can create matter out of nothing and be consistent in his identity. It's not magic -- it's Divine authority.
As I look out the window of the Jesus Bus, I see a creation ex nihilo. No magic, myth, superstition or escape from reason allowed. None is needed, unless you reject scripture.
IIPet 1:16
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Since it's Thanksgiving vacation week for the boys, posting may be sporadic this week. It's a challenge writing from the middle of a three ring circus. Maybe a thanksgiving theme this week would be appropriate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)