Dangling participles, and the sort

Okay, I have not written recently, so here goes.

Most of my stuff has been fairly heavy reading, so here is something in a lighter vein.

I recent began some independent contract (IC) work for several companies. Part of the work involves writing reports, the companies are anxious to have well written reports from the IC's that do not require a lot of editing before the reports are usable. Thus the companies "threaten" the IC's by saying that their reports will be downgraded, and perhaps their fee will be reduced, if the spelling and grammar is poor.

In the middle of one such "threat," I found the following sentence: "Our system may be a little tougher than some other companies you might shop for; we have very high standards." So, what is the problem? Having first checked with my grammarian daughter, she confirmed my suspicion that the quoted sentence is itself poorly written. She suggested the sentence might be rewritten as follows: "Our system may be a little tougher than some other companies for which you shop; we have very high standards."

Later in the same list of requirements I also found a few misspelled words, mostly dropped letters from the ends of the words. No problem really, the sentences are perfectly understandable as written. I cannot claim to be a master of typing, let alone writing, myself; I tend to drop the "h" out of the word "the," I guess I am typing too fast.

I do, however, use the spell checker to find my spelling and grammar errors; plus I am not demanding that others attain to that which I myself do not comply.

My daughter is right, the more "correct" ones writing is, the less "readable" it becomes. It also tends to have less personality and punch. But, why do people demanding spelling and grammatical correctness not comply with their own standards? I just had to laugh about it!

How many of my errors can you find in this posting?

Discussions with a Calvinist

I regularly go to the Yahoo! Questions and Answers site for the Religion & Spirituality pages. Recently, one of the questions asked: If God gave us scissors, and told us not to run with them and we did anyway, is Hell still a possibility for disobeying Him?

I recognised it as a phishing question. Not phishing for personal information, but a question that was a set-up for some other issue he (I assume this was a "he") wanted to push.

Sure enough, a couple of days later I got a question from this guy through the double-blind email system of Yahoo!.com. His hidden agenda was Calvinism. He did not call it Calvinism or predestination, until I used those terms. He asked me if I thought God is in control, my answer to that is always Yes, God is in control. He said, Because God is in control, God chooses who is saved and who is not saved.

My answer to this is that Calvinism and Arminianism is a misreading of what the Bible teaches. Arminianism is just a variation of Calvinism; in fact Calvinism was the "official" church response to Arminius' theology of salvation (soteriology). Genesis 3 tells: Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth," Genesis 1:26.

Because we are created in the image of God, we are created like Him. Not that we are gods, but that we the characteristics of God.
God is omniscient, while we just have knowledge but not all knowledge.
God is omnipotent, while we have power but not all power.
God is everywhere, omnipresent, while we are merely present in one place at a time.
This also extends to the sovereignty of God, the "free will" of God to do as He pleases, when He pleases. The sovereignty of God is unlimited, ours is limited. I am free to swing my fist around in the air as much as I please, as hard as I please, until I come to your personal space. I cannot violate your personal sovereignty by the free exercise of my own. neither does god violate the sovereign choices we make as His creation, even when that means we sin.

Isaiah 55:8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways My ways," declares the LORD." We may not understand why God is doing what He does, but we are not capable of understanding all of God's purposes.

My Calvinist friend, who was always friendly and not acrimonious, said that God chose all the elect before the foundation of the world, and that everyone else is left alone in the sins that condemn them to Hell. To this I replied that for that to work, God choosing the people before the foundation of the world, they were elect or reprobate before creation, before sin, would mean that not only did God "elect" some to salvation, but that He also had chosen all others to "reprobation." The Calvinist demurred from the idea that God would actively send people to Hell, but that was a result of the sin of Adam, which we all inherit. But if God chose one to election, He chose the other to reprobation at the same time, by the same sovereign choice.

I have no problems with some of the teachings of Calvinism, but some of the points of the Calvinist TULIP I reject.
Total depravity of man; Yes, we are all utterly dead in sin, incapable of saving ourselves.
Unmerited favor of God; Yes, none of humanity deserves to be saved,
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; [9] not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Limited atonement; No, the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross did not provide salvation just for the elect. Otherwise, John 3:16 is meaningless. If God loved the world, and He does, how did He choose to send those He loves to Hell, before any sin or rebellion? He didn't.
Irresistible grace; the electing grace of God is irresistible. No, the grace of God is resistible, it's called sin; unless that is, you want to say that God causes mankind to sin as part of His irresistible will. But see James 1:13-14:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.
Perseverance of the saints; Yes, if by this one means one-saved-always-saved. No, if by this one means that the Christian will always persevere in Godliness, a sinless life.

I am still not a Five Point Calvinist, my conversationalist still is a convinced Calvinist. I think our conversation is over; I know I am not going to pursue it. Amazing.

It is FINISHED!

John 19:30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

τετελεσται "It is finished" has several meanings in New Testament Greek.
The dificulty of the Gospel of John is not to discover which meaning John intended for us to find, but to find ALL the meaning John intended.

τετελεσται The most infrequent meaning was "Paid in Full." When a loan or a debt was paid off, τετελεσται was written across the face of the loan document, the debt was "paid in full." The debtor was free of debt; the debtor was free! A debtor no more!!

τετελεσται was the command of the victorious general. The victorious army was home, the victory parade was over, the troops were assembled for the final formation. The last command from the general to dismiss and discharge the troops from service was τετελεσται.

Jesus had just said (John 19:28) "I thirst," and was given the sour wine to drink, in order to fulfill the last of the prophecies about His crucifixion. Fullfilling (τετελεσται) the prophecies, everything was complete, everything that needed to be done was accomplished, "It is finished," τετελεσται.

Saying that, Jesus dismissed (remember the general?) His spirit.

Romans 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Hebrews 7:27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

Hebrews 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.

Hebrews 10:10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

Jude 1:3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

The faith, once delivered.
Christ died, once for all.
Once for all time, never to be repeated.
Once for all people, without exception.
"It is FINISHED."
τετελεσται

The Joy of Modern Medicine

What did people do 150, or even 100 years ago?

No Novocaine and general anesthetics were largely unknown, except for whiskey.

Have you seen the obstetricians tools from that era? They look like something straight out of a horror movie about torture, the only missing thing was the Iron Maiden!

Have you had a tooth extracted lately, or a root canal?

Today I went in for a root canal. I barely felt the first needle, and the second one was less than a mosquito bite. He worked on me for over an hour to get the root canal done.

Oh, yeah, but the root canal was NOT completed, and I have to go back to get it finished in three weeks. The nerve of the third root on the tooth was too calcified for him to get it this time. My question is, What is going to change by waiting three weeks to try again? Will the nerve root be less calcified? Will he have a new tool that will make it possible for him to complete the job? Or did he just run out of time for my appointment this time, is that all he needs? more time?

Then I get to go back to my regular dentist a week after THAT to be fitted for a temporary crown, while the permanent crown is being manufactured! Then, I get to go back two weeks later for the permanent crown. By then we will be into the month of May! Wow.

Aren't we blessed to have the modern miracles that medicine provides? We certainly are. I cannot imagine doing this without Novocaine, amoxicillin, and Darvocet and Ultracet. We are blessed to have highly trained doctors and dentists that are able to treat us so well.

Remembering Dr. Metzger

He has died at 92 years of age.
Dr. Bruce Manning Metzger has died.

Though I never knew him, I have admired and used his works since seminary, and now he is gone.

I had bought his autobiography, Reminiscences of an Octogenarian, and was reading it when the news came through the Christianity Today website. Of course no secular news source cared that one of the brilliant minds of our age has died, when there are such important things to cover as Anna Nicole Smith (Who was she? ANC was not her real name) passing.

Like so many books by great people that write autobiographies, there was not so much personal about the book as there was about his professional life and accomplishments. Dr. Manning accomplished many things, but surely there are personal insights and interesting incidents to write about as well. I found the same kind of thing in Billy Graham's autobiography, Amazing Grace.

When I finished Dr. Manning's autobiography, I went to my library and pulled out his early book, The New Testament, It's background, growth, and content. I happen to have a first edition of the book, and there have been several, three I think, newer editions. This is a good introduction to the New Testament; it has some information that I knew, but for which I did not have a source. I think I will pick up a more technical book of his next, about the transmission of the Sacred text, how it was almost lost, and then restored. I have also enjoyed his The Bible in Translation.

I have also been reading Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology as a bed time text. Because I pick it up when I am tired and sleepy, I tend to not read more than about 5 pages at a time. His defense of the Trinity is good, but everything he says is slanted by his Calvinism. I found out that there is a downloadable version of the entire book available as a PDF document that is searchable by topic and by word/phrase. Thing is, the download is the same price as the hardback! Ah well.

I will miss that faithful scholar of God's Word. I hope, and believe, that he has entered into the rest provided by his Lord. Rest in Peace, Dr. Metzger.

Am I wasting my life?

Don't forget to go to the post I titled "Another Missive" to see the videos of Coach Tony Dungee as he testified at the Athletes in Action breakfast in 2006. I hope you have a high speed connection so you can see the videos! Don't miss these.

I am reading the John Piper book "Don't Waste Your Life." Like so much that Piper writes, the book is a challenge spiritually. In it he tells the story of a couple that has worked hard all of their lives, acumulated wealth, retired, bought a large RV to travel the country in, and began to collect sea shells and play baseball and golf. Can you image what they wil say to God on Judgment Day? "Here, God; Look at all my pretty sea shells!" Or, "I hit a hole-in-one just the other day. Aren't you proud of me?"

Piper recounts the stories of several of the young heroes of WW II that died taking Iwo Jima, as examples of serving a higher purpose; others before self, etc. What are you living for? Piper talks about a war time mentality for Christians. Spiritual warfare. Not just in pastoring, or missions work, but working for God in our everyday. Who is doing research into cancer prevention? It appears that all the funds for cancer research are going into cures: surgery, medicines, radiology. Who is working on the prevention of cancer?

I am reminded that Texas wants to require all young girls to take a vaccination that will (partially) prevent HPV, human paploma virus, from causing cervical cancer in young women. The problem is that HPV is sexually transmitted, and not caught from a sneeze or cough like rhino-viruses (colds). The underlying supposition is that young people are going to be sexually active, so make it "safe." The only problem is that HPV can still be caught the old fashioned way, even with the vaccination!

Did I say "the only thing?" This vaccination does nothing to prevent all the other STD's; gonorrhea, syphilis, HIV/AIDS; to say nothing of pregnancy, and the emotional damage that early sexual activity brings. Damaged relationships, loss of self respect, and the list goes on.

You may have the ability to cure cancer, if you take it seriously as a purpose in life. That would glorify God.

You may have the ability to solve our dependency on oil, hydro-carbons; to solve the pollution problems. That would glorify God.

You may be able to win souls to Jesus. That would glorify God.

You may have the ability to get, and give, wealth that would solve other problems, like modern forms of slavery and poverty. That would glorify God.

You may simply be able to do nothing more than pray. Prayer is much more than the "simple" thing you think it is!

The President of Southern Seminary, Al Mohler, is recovering from a life threatening pulmonary embolism. He says that while he was so desperately sick, he could not even muster his thoughts to pray a coherent prayer. His comfort was Romans 8:26 -- In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

When I was sick with hepatitis 25 years ago, I experienced the same thing, except my comfort was Romans 8:28 -- And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. And, John 3:16 -- "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." And, John 14:1-6 -- "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. [2] "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. [3] "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. [4] "And you know the way where I am going." [5] Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?" [6] Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

When you stand before God on Judgment Day, what will you bring Him? Pretty sea shells? Holes-in-one? Souls?

The old song "Rock of Ages" by Augustus Montague Toplady has this line in it:

"In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."

Bible reading revisited

How are you doing with your Bible reading this year?

Like all New Years resolutions, we tend to fade out come February! Take heart, you (and I) are not alone in this! Keep at it; you will reap the benefits if you faint not (AV). Galatians 6:9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (ESV)

My wife, God bless her, is listening her way through the Bible. Because she drives such distances for her work, I think this is working out better for her than just reading, though she is doing some reading of the New Testament too. Because she is listening so much, I think she is actually ahead of me in this endeavor.

I have an English Standard Bible, an update of the much maligned Revised Standard Version, which I am marking up as I read it. I hope this Bible will go to one of my grandchildren someday, should we be blessed with grandchildren. The ESV is the translation that John Piper says he hopes will become the accepted and generally used translation in homes and churches in the English speaking world.

I have seen plans that say that if we will just spend 30-45 minutes a day reading our Bibles that we could actually get all the way through it in about a month? Any takers? I thought not. Still, that should challenge us to spend at least a minimum of time with God in Bible reading, so He can speak to our hearts directly from His word. How else can we possibly know the voice of God if we never listen (as I speak, my TV is turned off)?

How about throwing in some Bible memorization to boot? I have some verses memorized, but I can do more; I just know I can. To help you with this, the Navigators have a Bible Memory kit with perforated cards that have keys verses on them, and a card pack to keep them in. They are available from Christian Book Distributor’s website www.Christianbook.com

I recommend it! I have it, and I use it.

No Shibboleth

The Problem with Mere Christianity

These evangelicals hit one roadblock that arises when "mere Christianity" severs our ties to theological traditions. At its best, mere Christianity can be summed up by Augustine's proverb: "In essentials, unity. In nonessentials, liberty. In all things, charity."

I subscribe to the magazine Christianity Today, and I get their articles in ChristianityToday.com emails daily. Most recently was the above article titled The Problem with Mere Christianity. The tile is an obvious take off from Clive Staples Lewis’ book Mere Christianity. The idea is that we cannot give up doctrines because there is controversy about them. Lewis' book, in contrast, developed a very thorough doctrine of God. The idea of the article is that Christianity cannot be reduced to some Mere (read, lesser or reduced) Christianity, cheap grace; a shibboleth.

In the first season of the television show The West Wing, there was an episode entitled Shibboleth. In the show, there was a group of Chinese Christians that had made it to the New World as illegal immigrants, and who were looking for sanctuary because of religious persecution in their homeland. President Josiah Bartlett calls in one of the groups’ leaders to question him about why they are really in America, suspecting that they are not true Christians but merely feigning faith.

Bartlett asks the man about their religious practices, how do they worship? “We hear sermons, we read the Bible, we say the Lord’s Prayer, we sing hymns, we pray,” was his answer. But he senses that President Bartlett is looking for more, for proof positive of his faith; he says “Mr. President, there is no shibboleth.” To this, President Bartlett replies, "You just said the magic word."

Judges 12:6
then they would say to him, "Say now, 'Shibboleth.'" But he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it correctly.

I was blown away when I heard that. His doctrine was exactly correct, no shibboleth, no magic words to make one a Christian. President Bartlett was wrong, there are no magic Christian words.

In Islam, the "shibboleth" is:

“There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is his Prophet.”

In Judaism, the "shibboleth" is Deuteronomy 6:4-5 --

"Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! 5 "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

But in Christianity there is no shibboleth, no magic words.

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Romans 10:9-10
"that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

If there were a Christian shibboleth, maybe it would be Luke 18:13

"But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'"

The problem is that one can say the words and never be converted, never really changed from the inside by God. These are the ones called hypocrites by people in and outside the church. They are still lost in their sins. Confession does not equal repentance.

Proverbs 28:13

He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:4

The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;

John 14:15

"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

Another Missive

The above link is for Tony Dungy's presentation to the Athletes In Action Superbowl breakfast from 2006. There you will hear Coach Dungy give his personal testamony. See below for the second video that completes the testimony.

Sorry, but you will need a high-speed connection to view the videos.

They only take a few minutes, less than 20 minutes I think. These videos are worth the time to watch, and to show to high school age youth.

Below is the second in the series of two.

Then the last video is Coach Lovie Smith giving his (shorter) testimony of faith. All three are worth your time!

Get a young person to watch these with you. You will both be blessed by these.

Reading the Bible

Each year we try to challenge our church members to read through the Bible. We give them Bible reading plans from Discipleship Journal to choose from; one is just the New Testament, another begins in Genesis and ends with Revelation, and another spreads the reading across four sections of the Bible at the same time.

The first time I read through the Bible was circa 1975. I mean, I had read enough of the Bible to “figure” that I had read all of it before, but not systematically. I was working on a Service Call Desk, every third night, awake all night I had lots of time to read after midnight. One of the TV programs that came on one night was a Billy Graham Crusade, with an offer for a free copy of Kenneth Taylor’s Living Bible. All you had to do was to write for one, and the BGEA would send it to you (they still do this with books, their offers are on their website www.bgea.org). So, I sent in for a copy of this new version of the Bible.

When I got my copy, I took it to work with me and I began reading. I would put a dot by the chapter numbers as I read that chapter. At first I just read a chapter or two. Then I branched out and I read from different portions across the genres of the Bible: Law, Poetry, History, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets, Gospels & Acts, Epistles, and Apocalyptic. As the astute bible students will know, some of these overlap. Some of the Prophets overlap with Revelation, e.g. I was soon reading ten chapters at a setting. Then I found that I could not read enough at a setting, and I was reading many chapters at a time. I soon found that I was re-reading chapters that I had read before; the chapter dots, you know.

Then I found that some of the things I was reading in Matthew 24 corresponded with what I was reading in Revelation and Ezekiel and Daniel. Jesus and Paul quoted a LOT from the Psalms.

This year, we again challenged our church to read through the Bible. We gave them the same reading plans as before. As happened in years before, almost all of the copies were take home by the people. I suppose they are reading from them.

As part of my Bible reading plan, I found my NASB on CDs set. Then I ripped the NT to the hard drive on my laptop so I can listen to them anywhere without lugging the two pound pack of CDs in addition to my laptop. The CDs are fine if one listens to them while driving, but one more thing to take in/out like luggage is problematic. I am now listening to the Bible, even as I write. I am preaching a sermon series from the Gospel of Mark, and so I am listening to Mark on my laptop!

How are you “reading” the Bible? Which translation are you using? I know of some websites that will “read” the Bible to you on-line (a highspeed connection strongly recommended), one is www.blueletterbible.com. Christian Book Distributors has a good selection of Bibles on CD collections, if you want something like this. Will you take the challenge? Will you read the Bible through?

Google Earth

Not to advertise for anyone, but I heard about Google Earth several months ago. Well, a couple of weeks ago I went ahead and installed the program on my computer, and began poking around the world. Literally, around the world.

Ten years ago this month, my family and I left Misawa Japan for the States as I retired from the USAF after 24 years, 2 months, and 23 days of service (then I quit counting), and thirteen and a half years in Japan. Our kids grew up there; from before the time they were old enough to remember, everything was Misawa and Japan.

How are these two things connected? Well, I “Googled” (is that a verb?) Misawa, Japan this week and, sure enough, the globe spun to the West, so far west that I was looking at the Far East: Japan. And then it zoomed in on the city of Misawa, and the military base of Misawa Air Base. I could look from thousands of miles high down on the city and the air base. I can see the steeple of Calvary Baptist Church! I can even find two or three of our favorite hot baths.

Oh, Look! There is the Base Exchange and Commissary, Headquarters, and the Post Office with its’ horribly designed parking lot. There is the Burger King, and even the old Goofy Golf/ Put-Put course. It looks like they are replacing the old Legal office with a new building of some sort, and something is going on at Flag Pole Circle; I can see a crane. One of the Navy hangers is getting a new roof, right down to the rafters.

And there is the main base housing area! But it looks different, somehow. When we left ten years ago, they were going to tear down our housing area (USA Housing) and build housing towers; until, that is, I asked a question at the Base Facilities Board: “Would the new towers be far enough away from the runway for take off clearances?” They considered “mini-towers,” or half-towers, but that was unresolved when we departed.

Well, Google Earth showed me that there are new houses where our old one was located. The loop of our road was kept, but all the old USA houses are gone. They needed to be “gone.” They were originally at Chitose Air Base right after WWII, and when we gave that base back to the Japanese Self Defense Forces, the housing was dismantled and relocated to Misawa! Ours were perpendicular to the street, but the new ones are parallel to the street; and there is a new road through TOW (Termination of War, WWII, that is) housing leading to the area.

Looking at Security Hill, I can see that some of the things I was planning for when I left have been accomplished! The old water tower, damaged in an earth quake in 1996, is gone and the new one is up. There is a gym building right where I had projected it to be in our “out-year-plan.” There is another building next to it that I don’t recognize, but the old ESG HQ building is gone (I didn’t have anything to do with those projects). The Project ASSETT antenna is plainly visible; it was actually under construction when we left in 1997. Project ASSETT required the removal of unused cables to the defunct Project Landway antennas. Well, Project Landway, and all eight of its antennas and support building are gone! YES! That was a nose bleed for me, at the end! All I could do was get the cables cut, someone else got the antennas and supports taken out. My project to replace the old electrical substations on the roof with units on the ground has been accomplished! YES!! But my project to replace the Tohoku Denki electrical substation appears to have not been done. The project may have been scrapped, or just not done yet. That one would have required GOJ (Government of Japan) involvement, maybe even their funding; well, no wonder then.

Also, I had submitted plans for the demolition and removal of two “temporary buildings” inside our compound. There was some controversy about their demolition, because once a base gets a building, no one really wants to give it up. But, in my proposals, I had found out that the authorization for the two buildings was a “temporary authorization” from Congress; and when the permanent buildings were in place, the old ones were supposed to go away. Well, many years later these buildings were a maintenance and security nightmare as far as their being SCIF’s was concerned. Google Earth showed me that both of those buildings are gone: the original Project LadyLove building is gone, as is the ancient “Training Section.” I know the 301st Security Police people were happy when that was done!

I can see where our old Prime BEEF encampment on the Hill has been made into a permanent training area for the Base Civil Engineers, and a Rapid Runway Repair training area has been added, good idea someone. A mock “runway” has been paved, and it has been used it a few times; I can tell because of the look of the concrete that is there.

Both “Port-a-Mod” plastic dome/roofed storage buildings are still there, I see; right across from the baseball fields. The roofs of these 'buildings' used to leak, and the manufacturer wanted mega-bucks for repairs. These buildings were only supposed to be there five years; twenty years later there they are!!

I see that the base got smart about the road to Security Hill between Rockies’ Roost and the Ski Lodge. Turn lanes have been constructed so vehicles don’t have to stop at the top of the hill to connect to the Base Perimeter Road. A new base commander wanted to make it a full stop for the people coming from Security Hill until I challenged the wisdom of the idea (with all due respect) because of the ice on the road during the winter months.

And, drop my jaw, Deep Space is gone; I mean the buildings are there, but the antennas are not! Deep Space began after I went to Security Hill in 1988, but was still going when we left Misawa.

The base was going to close the old POL gate (its official name was changed to something else, but I can’t remember what that was). Looking through Google, I see that, far from closing it, there is an entirely new gate system and building there. A new back gate to the housing area has also been added!

Well, enough reminiscing; I know that I have bored you to tears.

Google your Earth! It's free.

Genesis 3:16 ~ Desire

I recently read a part of an old sermon titled “I Now Know Who’s the Boss,” from a Southern Baptist trustee. Something about the sermon just did not sound right. Here are two excerpts from adjacent sections of his written message:

Introduction: Remember Sunday morning I said that in my understanding of marriage forty years ago, we operated best when my wife understood who was the boss -- and “God said I’m the boss.”

I based my view on an understanding of the following verse.

Genesis 3:16 - “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

After the fall in the Garden, God said two things about Adam and Eve's relationship with each other.

1. Eve … she will 'desire' her husband The word 'desire' is often misunderstood. It means in scripture 'to exert domininion' and the word is used just a chapter later:

Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his (sin's) DESIRE . . .”

Well, his subject was relationships within marriage. Is the husband to dominate the wife? Or is the marriage to be mutual? Based on Ephesians 5:18-21 “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ,” he said:

So what does a spirit-filled person look like?
v. 19 – joyful – this Spirit produced
v. 20 – grateful – this Spirit produced
v. 21 – serving, submissive – this Spirit produced

This would appear to completely negate the headship of the husband, and make marriage a purely complimentary relationship. Now, I will be the last one to say that the husband is to “dominate” his wife, because the implication there is that the husband is “using” his wife. “Using” one another is not Scriptural, not Spiritual, or Christian.

Without solving, or even addressing, the question of the headship of the husband over his wife (Who’s the Boss?), I want to deal exegetically with one of his passages. My problem with his sermon is what he said about Genesis 3:16: “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.’”

The preacher said that his previous misunderstanding came from the meaning of the word “desire,” that this did not mean that the wife “desired” her husband:

Eve … she will 'desire' her husband. The word 'desire' is often misunderstood. It means in scripture 'to exert domininion' and the word is used just a chapter later:
Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his (sin's) DESIRE . . .”

My question is this: What does the word “desire” mean in the original Hebrew text and in the LXX Greek translation of that text? Let me show you what I found without boring you with the actual Hebrew and Greek texts:

This noun appears only three times in the Old Testament, once in Song 7:10. The woman says of her beloved: “I am my beloved's and his 'desire' is for me.” The two remaining references are Gen 3:16 and Gen 4:7. In the latter passage God is speaking to Cain and says to him that sin is like a crouching beast "hungering, intent upon" Cain. In the former passage God says, "Your 'desire' shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you." This is obviously neither an intensification nor a warping of a pre-existing hierarchy between the sexes for no such hierarchy is alluded to.

There are two differences between the Gen passage (Gen 3:16) and that in the Song of Solomon. In the former the reference is to the wife's desire for her husband. In the latter it is the bridegroom's desire for the bride. Second, in the Gen passage the reference to "desire" is in a context of sin and judgment. In the latter, the reference is in a context of joy and love.

Eve desires her husband, and the bridegroom desires his bride; and, in a twisted way, sin crouched at the door for Cain and desired him. Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Sin lusted to possess Cain; now that is powerful temptation! Headship is another question altogether, aside from this preacher’s misuse of Genesis 3:16.

Clearly the word “desire” does not mean “dominion” as the preacher said. Eve did not want dominion over her husband (that’s not what she wanted), and Adam did not need to “dominate” Eve. This is a sexual term. Christians need not be prudish about sex in the proper relationship of marriage! We need not pretend that the Bible does not speak to these issues. We also need to not be imprudent about discussing the topic. Discretion and propriety in all things, please!

Mentoring and Disciplship

I have recently taken up a new hobby: on-line evangelism. This is where I met the JW I spoke of in an earlier blog. Many of the questions posted in the Yahoo questions site are either not serious questions, or are phishing for someone to argue with. Often there are a lot of atheists that lurk there, and they pounce on the innocent questions/ questioners.

To those who are not serious questioners, I love using lines of Scripture that point to their lack of faith, and disbelief in God and the Word. To the innocent questioners who are seriously asking for information, I also use the Word, but less confrontationally. Sometimes I find a strong Christian there and enjoy a brief fellowship in private emails as we share the faithfulness of the Lord.

I believe that the people who come into the Yahoo Questions web page, come there of their own free will; that is, they come there because they are drawn there by God, the Holy Spirit: John 6:44

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.

For the JW's and Mormons, I tell them that they do not worship the same Jesus that I worship, because their Jesus was either just a man (Mormons), or else their Jesus was just an archangel (Michael). Neither of their Jesus' is the Jesus of the Bible, neither of them is the Divine God-Man.

For the atheists, I put in extra voltage, even sarcasm. For example, one guy was making a joke about worshipping "baby Jesus," saying "Oh, yeah, I forgot, we don't need to worship him. He never existed." I tackled him with archeology, then apologetics, and then Scripture:
2 Thessalonians 2:11

"For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false,"

Ending with, "Oh yeah, I forgot, you are deluded."

I do this in the spirit and expectation of Isaiah 55:11

"So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

God's Word is what is at stake, not me or anything about me.
God has made a promise, and His reputation is what is at stake.

I wield the Scripture in the spirit and expectation of Hebrews 4:12

"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

Deeply Saddened

I am intentionally not posting the link to the website and the blog to which I here refer. There is a website and a blog site that are all about the pastoral mistakes, and problems that are happening at Bellevue Baptist Church since Steve Gaines came on as their senior pastor.

My wife reads the blog, I do not. She does read some of the "better" postings to me, the "eyuu"'s, the "ahh"'s, and the "ah ha"'s, and I think that is cathartic for her.

Communications are not occurring. Repentance is not occurring. Forgiveness is not occurring. Self-glorification is occurring, humility is not occurring. Self-agrandizement and hagiography (leader worship) are common. There is an air of "gottcha," and an attitude of "you-can't-touch-God's-anointed." I cannot tell you how sad and distressed this entire situation makes me.

Isaiah 52:5
"Now therefore, what do I have here," declares the LORD, "seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?" Again the LORD declares, "Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long."

Romans 2:24
For "THE NAME OF GOD IS BLASPHEMED AMONG THE GENTILES BECAUSE OF YOU," just as it is written.

The short and the long of this is: the entire situation at Bellevue Baptist Church is negatively impacting the work of soul-winners, missions work overseas, and it is destroying the fellowship at Bellevue itself; people are leaving that church. It may yet destroy the relationship between Bellevue and Mid America Baptist Seminary. It appears to this lover of Jesus, and Baptist non-Bellevue preacher, that things are going Satan's way fast.

Please pray for repentance, restitution, and fellowship at Bellevue Baptist Church; that the Kingdom of God be increased and Bellevue Baptist Church be restored to her former glory. There is much to be done for this to occur.

In My Daughter's Eyes

Saturday was the funeral for our oldest church member. Clara was 87 years old, her husband had died 16 months before, and her health had been especially declining in the last six months. She was the matriarch of the church, the treasurer and Sunday School secretary.

I had teared up at the hospital when I went with her son and grandsons in to see her in the recovery room where she had died, and to clear out the hospital room of her effects. I went through the visitation on Friday night with the family and friends with no trouble, and encouraged them to the best of my ability. It helped that Clara had written instructions that her funeral and visitation were to be closed casket. During the funeral, I was able to get the audience to chuckle a couple of times as I talked about Clara, and I also presented the Gospel.

I was fine at the grave side service too; the weather was breezy and rather cool, but not freezing. I read and spoke from 1 Thess. 4:13-18:

"13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words."

Fine that is, until I looked into the eyes of my daughter, SonnetJoy. Her Spiritual gift is compassion; she feels very deeply, and with great empathy, the suffering and emotion of others. SonnetJoy was leaning into the arms of her husband, ThePendragon, and weeping quietly. That's when I nearly lost it. My throat began to close, my eyes watered, and I momentarily lost my focused concentration, which is so necessary for preaching. I had to look away as quickly as I could, clear my throat, and press on. It worked. I have learned that I cannot look into my daughter's eyes when emotions, joy or sorrow, are running high.

Please comment

Somehow, I have no idea how many people actually read my blogspot. If you are reading, please leave a comment so I know you are there.

My daughter linked to one of my recent blogs and I got two comments, and my sister has commented twice. Other than that, I don't know if I am blogging to myself! I was encouraged by an old friend of our family this weekend, when they said that they read here every couple of weeks.

I wish I had a counter for my blogspot, but I haven't found one yet; so, I am counting on your comments until I get a widget to count for me!

8th Grade Math

So, I've been sitting in the hall as a security guard for a group of college classes, and I've been listening to the teacher as he lectures the students on how to do basic Algebra. Then my daughter can't do some math for herself, and takes an on-line 8th grade math test, 9/10! Pretty good.

How would I do?

You Passed 8th Grade Math

Congratulations, you got 10/10 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Math?

Well I got 10/10! Wow, was I surprised!
How did you do?

My Library

I was recently "turned on" to a library web site called Library Thing (http://www.librarything.com/) by my son. Blogsopt.com won't accept their widget to display my books! LibraryThing is a pay-for-service site, but the lifetime fee is minimal, at $25. I guess they make their money from the fact that they have a link with Amazon.com, hoping that you will see the books in my library and purchase them through Amazon.

Well, okay, they have to make their money somehow, and it doesn't come out of my pocket, only yours if you see something you like and go to buy it from Amazon. Personally, I buy most of my books through Christianbook.com (CBD) because their prices are cheaper, and because I know that the CBD folks are not donating money to un-Godly causes that some other enterprises contribute to. I guess being used can work both ways!

I have entered ratings for most of the items already loaded into my library site, and I am adding my comments/ reviews about the volumes and book-sets after I get them entered. You will see that most of my stuff is theological in nature, but there are a few books that are fiction, primarily Tom Clancy, and John Gresham. I have read JK Rowling's Harry Potter books, but I borrowed them to read, and have not purchased them (yet).

The LibraryThing site will also sell you a barcode scanner (it looks like a cat!) that will automatically enter the data for the book for you. My problem is that the bar code thing is fairly new, and many of my books do not have the bar codes for the ISBN's and some of the older books don't even have an ISBN, and some don't even have Library of Congress codes! I had to do some research in the LoC site and used book sites to get the information for some of my books.

Take a look!

Deliberations with a JW

Wow, I just finished a four day on-line discussion of the Trinity with a person who will not admit that he is Jehovah's Witness, but wants to accuse me of dodging the issue when I tried to be friendly. He was not friendly, but tried to egg me into personal attacks. When I tried to engage in normal conversation with him, he wanted to bait me about "still dodging the question, are we?"

The 1,500 character limit, including spaces and paragraph returns, in yahoo's answers' email program was a major limitation to both of us, as it was hard to make a complete case with that severe of a space limit.

No amount of biblical reasoning, however, could change his ideas that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. He would not even capitalize the name of the Holy Spirit; instead calling the Spirit "it." He wanted to know "If Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Father, then where was the Holy Spirit?" He wanted the Holy Spirit to be a "force" of God in the world. I refused the idea of the Holy Spirit being merely a force, like something used in a Star Wars movie.

He would not answer the Bible facts I presented. E.g., that the Holy Spirit could be grieved (Eph 4:30) and lied to (Acts 5:3-4, where God and Holy Spirit are synonyms), is an attribute of a person; but that an impersonal force could neither be lied to nor offended. Or that only God can forgive sin, Mark 2:7 "Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?" Jesus accepted their theology, but not their conclusion.

The Trinity being seen at Jesus' baptism (Matt 3:15-17) was meaningless to him, as was the Trinitarian formula in the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20). He accused me of tri-theism and polytheism, because in Gen 1:1 God is "Elohim," a plural Hebrew pronoun, so I believe in plural Gods.

My affirmation of Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!" was useless to him. The English all caps "LORD" in the Hebrew is the tetragrammaton, the Holy Name of God, where the Hebrew YHWH is mixed with the vowels from Adonai "lord" to make it pronounceable; and, the "God" there is Elohim. This identifies the two words as synonyms for the same person, God; which he also refused.

My debater wanted to use the words of Matthew 28:18 "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth," as meaning that Jesus is NOT God because He was "given the authority He had, and did not have it intrinsically."

I guess I did fail to bring in that the Septuagint (LXX) reading of Lord is the same as the Greek NT: Kurios, LORD. When Paul says Jesus is "Lord" throughout his Epistles, it is the same word the LXX used throughout the OT for God's personal name.

(Sigh)

Ah, well. I tried to end it on a friendly note, "Resistance is futile." LOL

The Red Cape

Today we delivered a cape to our youngest daughter to match the new dress she bought.

She bought the dress because her job requires all employees to dress up formally this Sunday for a "by invitation only" sale at Dillards. You get the invitation to the sale by spending $XX,000's of dollars there in the previous year. So, she found this cocktail dress for $195.00, that was marked down 50%, further reduced another 75%, with her employee discount, she paid $19.50 for a $195 dress. She has always looked so good in red, and with red sequins, it is a very nice dress.

The only problem is, the dress IS a cocktail dress; low cut in the front and no back until the waist. To make it modest, my wife made a red satin cape for her to wear over her shoulders. The colors match, and it looked good. However, when the girls saw it, they wanted it a little shorter so it would not get in the way while she works, and they wanted a fringe to dress it up. So, now the finished cape had to be modified, shortened and a fringe made of a white boa. So, trim four inches off the perimeter, and machine tack on two $10 boas to reach all the way around (thank God for inventing the sewing machine). The boa has shiny silver and effervescent feathers mixed into the white, making it shine in the light.

When she saw the finished cape, her eyes lit up and a big smile broke across her face. It was worth the trouble just to see her smile. The outfit will be beautiful. So is our daughter.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

This holday we we glad to have all our children home, plus the new in-laws. As usual, we ate until we are in pain.

Part of our tradition is a family Lord's Supper; Communion together. When we give thanks to God for our food, we become so used to the idea that it becomes routine. Communion does not let us be complacent.

When I read Paul's instructions for the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24: 23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, "This is My body, which is (broken) for you; do this in remembrance of Me."
I choked up and began to cry as I read the text. When I prayed, and we ate together, it was time for the cup.

1 Corinthians 11:25-26
25 In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.

We praise God for His love for us,
For Jesus, who died and rose again.

Psalms 100:1-5
1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Serve the LORD with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
3 Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
5 For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.

"I'm dyin', Preacher"

Tuesday, 14 November, I got a call from a hospice in J’boro, asking me to contact a dying man that lives near me. I contacted the hospice to get the necessary information, and then contacted the dying man to make an appointment to go see him. I’ll call the man “Charles.”

Charles is dying of cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, and hepatitis. Charles was released from prison to go home to die. He was in prison for drug convictions. One of his sisters is staying with him to make sure he takes his medicines and to take care of him until he dies. Charles has a morphine patch on his chest for the pain he suffers. He takes a cocktail of other medications too. The medicines and hepatitis makes him sick to his stomach all the time. Everything in his apartment is rented. He has no money. He has nothing to pay for his final expenses, no funeral, no insurance, nothing.

Charles has loads of tattoos on his back and his stomach. Some are the typical eagles, flags, and naked women. But there were two that struck me. One goes around the front of his neck, over the collar bones; and the second arches over his abdominal muscles. The first one says “ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME;” the second says “ONLY GOD KNOWS.” His hepatitis is from dirty needles when he got his tattoos.

When I came in to see him, I asked Charles how I could help him. Charles moaned out, “I’m dyin',” with a crack in his voice. The TV was blaring with a western movie playing (starring a young William Shatner). I asked him why he had asked the hospice people to contact a preacher, a chaplain. “I’m scared,” he croaked. “You’re scared of dying?” “Yeah,” he moaned.

I said that we are all going to die; he just has a better idea of when, but that I could beat him to it. I could be driving home, and a bob-truck or an 18-wheeler could run me over and kill me on the spot. “Really,” I said, “this is a mercy from God for you to know that you are dying soon.”

I asked him if he knew any of the Bible stories; “I can’t read.” I said that I was not asking him to read anything, in fact I would show him some pictures; and I used the Evangecube (www.evangecube.com), which I had in my pocket. So I showed him the eCube and then I explained to him that this means him.

I asked him how he came to be so sick, He said that he had cirrhosis from the alcohol and drugs, and hepatitis from needles for the tattoos. I asked him “What was your drug of choice?” “Meth.” “But,” I said, “You still have all your teeth. Meth eats out your teeth.” “Dentures,” he said. “Was it worth it Charles, the rebellion, the alcohol and dope?” “No, sir, it sure wasn’t.”

Then I told him the story of the thief on the cross, from Luke 23.
Luke 23:39-43 (NASB) And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, "Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!" 40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 "And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!" 43 And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

I asked Charles if he could see himself in that story. “Yeah.” “Where?” “The second thief.” “Does that help you, Charles?” “Yeah. I’m goin’ to bed now.” I prayed with him, and he went to bed.

I talked to his sister for about five or six minutes more after he was in bed. She cried softly as we talked, and said that this was so hard. Her other sister would not come and help, even though she lives in the same town, and Charles’ son could not get out of prison to help either. I told her that she was doing something really good, and that if she thought she is not doing any good, that she was wrong. “Really, Preacher?” I told her the parable in Matthew 25:38-40: 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'

I told Charles’ sister that she was doing what Jesus said, and doing these things for her brother is like ministering to Jesus Himself. She thanked me, and I promised to come back to see Charles on Sunday afternoon. He could be dead before then.

I know that people will wonder about whether or not this man is "saved." He lived such a bad life; his entire, short, 43 years. I think I will say that as little as we can know one another's hearts, Charles gives the appearance of genuine repentance. Charles is sorry for his life, for his mistakes. He has as much faith as the thief on the cross had, he has as much chance for restitution and good works as the thief had.

For my part, I rely on Jude 1:22-23 "And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh."

Post Script
Charles died at 7:10 AM, November 21, 2006

Jesus and the Father

Jesus and the Father

Last August I wrote in this blog that one of the books I am reading is Jesus and the Father, by Kevin Giles. In that posting I said that Giles “hints” that those with the opposite position are heretics. Please allow me to amend that statement; Giles flatly says that theologians who hold to subordinationism are heretics of the Arian variety, specifically Grudem and Geisler. As I read the book I found that my opinion on Giles' topic, anti-subordinationism, was unformed. As I finished reading Giles' book, I found that my opinion was formed more by his bad arguments than by evidence in the text. As I did my own research on the topic, I became more and more firmly convinced of my opinion.

Without writing an entire review of the book right now, I will later, let me simply say that Giles has violated almost every rule for debate, from circular arguments and begging the question, to his bad exegesis of Scripture, and his use of anachronistic definitions while demanding his “debating opponents” stick with the historic definitions of the early creeds. Giles interprets the Scripture, not from Scripture, but from the Ant-Nicene Fathers and the Creeds, and the Filoque. In all of this he fails to differentiate between `omoousius and `omoiousius in dealing with the essence of the members of the Trinity. He also wants to denigrate the use of kefale, as meaning “head” in any meaningful way.

Giles appears to be arguing more against the recent phenomenal arguement about women’s place in the Christian home and church than for the doctrine of the Trinity. The two are at least seriously conflated in the book.

Just because recognizing and respecting (fearing?) Divinity is a pet peeve of mine, ... Giles often fails to capitalize words referencing persons of the Divine Trinity, but he deigns to designate the Trinity as “triad” more than once!
GRRR.

The Holidays are Begun

The holiday season is upon us again.
Reformation Day has passed (October 31st), and Thanksgiving is bearing down upon us; Christmas is not far behind, and then the year will be over (already).
In your Christmas season, please set aside time for this movie The Nativity Story. This movie is supposed to do for the Christmas story what The Passion of The Christ did for Easter. This is a family movie, but don’t think you know the story the way it is told in this movie! Click on the movie trailer below to see what I mean!

(I have removed the movie link to allow you to see the blog with out the music, and the long load times for those with dial-up service.)

Famous People's Sin

Famous People

When we see people like Terrell Owens misbehaving in public and in private, why are we surprised?  These are just people who are able to grab the spot light because they perform their work in the public eye.  It’s not just football either; basketball, baseball, and hockey all have their self-important players.  And it’s not just sports.  Famous people somehow think that because they are famous, that their voice should sound louder than anyone else’s voice.  Oprah can launch a book and author from obscurity to fame and fortune with a simple mention on her television show.  Dr. Phil is famous for no other reason than that he got a start from Oprah.  Some people are famous for being famous.  Others have actually done something to earn their fame.  But when they behave badly, it is for the same reasons that anyone else behaves badly: they are sinners.

Somehow we have gotten further and further away from the concept of sin.  In 1974 Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a book called “What Ever Became of Sin?”  Since the publication of his book, the discussion of sin has done nothing but gone downhill, so has social responsibility, personal responsibility, and even religious responsibility.  We simply do not feel we are responsible for our sins.  We may make a few mistakes in our lives, not too many though, but we certainly have not sinned.  And anything that goes wrong must be someone else’s responsibility, someone I can sue for what goes wrong, especially if you are a professional with insurance of some kind.

We need to remember what Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

The way to peace is not finances, property, or even family.  The way to personal peace is repentance.  

Luke 18:13
    "But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'

Hebrews 8:12
        "For I will be merciful to their iniquities,
        And I will remember their sins no more."

Things to Do

My sister-in-law recently posted a list of 50 things to do before she dies. Her list is condensed from a list of “100 things to do before you die.” Looking over the list, it is amazing how many of these things my wife and I have actually done! Here is the list of things we have done out of the list of 50 things to do. We have not done all of the 50, but many of them.

5. Skinny Dip
In Japan, we went to an outdoor, roadside hot bath and, yes we skinny dipped in the steaming hot water pool by the river, next to the road, under the stars. We got out pretty quickly when we saw headlights stop on the road above us!

6. Eat in New Orleans French Quarter
We had beignets at the famous restaurant by the canal. The girls did not want to go to Disneyland, so we opted for New Orleans. While we were there we saw Atlantis' contrail as it come in for a landing at Cape Canaveral. Of course, this was before Katrina.

8. Make love in the Redwood forests of California
Well, some things don't need commentary!

13. Camp in Yosemite
When I was just a kid, maybe 5 years old, we went through Yosemite, fished in the river and swam in the lake. Even in the 1950’s it was super-crowded.

16. See "Old Faithful" spout
When I was 15, Mom, Dad and I made a vacation trip to see their "old home places." Dad had picked up a hearse for a funeral director in our home town, and was driving it back to Oregon. Since we were in a hearse, everyone yielded the right-of-way to us and we got through in record time. There are many more hearse stories, but not for this venue.

17. Shower in a waterfall.
When we were in Japan, we went with friends to a sulfur river fed by a waterfall. We spent hours in the hot spring sulfur water, playing in the water and under the waterfall. We just had to be careful not to get the water in our eyes because it stung them.

19. Spend New Year's in an exotic location.
Does Tokyo count as an exotic location?

22. Drive across America from coast to coast.
When we were stationed in Florida, when our son was an infant, we drove from Florida to California in just over 48 hours to visit her parents. We did not tell my Dad we were going. When he tried to call us at home and he got no answer, he called the base locator at my duty station to see if something had happened to us. They told him we were on leave, and he got mad that we had not told him we were leaving.

25. Spend a whole day in bed ----- reading!
Well, I was sick and contagious; reading was better than sleeping, having slept as much as I could.

33. Be debt free
We sold our trailer house in Florida when we PCS'd to Nevada. This is how we were able to afford buying a house when we moved to Las Vegas. We were debt free when we moved from Japan to the US, if you don't count the mortgage for the house we never lived in at Willow Creek CA.

34. Go to the top of the Space NeedleWell, not the Space Needle. Does the Tokyo Tower (replica of the Eiffel Tower) count?

36. Ride in a horse-drawn carriage
We took my sister to see Beale Street in Memphis. There was a carriage there, and my sister said she had always wanted to ride in one, so we took a tour of downtown Memphis in a horse drawn carriage. The funniest thing was that the horse had this "catcher" under his be-hind, so he would not "foul" the city streets.

38. See a tornado.
Having seen several, I recommend you skip this one. They are terrifying in their awesome power. Then when you see the after effects in destroyed property, you are amazed that people survive these things, and heartbroken for the loss of life and property. Lives are changed by these “acts of God.” There is no such thing as “tornado proof.”

40. Fly first classThis was no big deal. The coffee was served in real mugs instead of paper cups, and the seats were wider with a bit more leg room. But everyone arrived at the same instant at our destination, and some of the people sitting in the "normal" seats actually got their luggage first and cleared the airport before we could.

45. Tour the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl HarborThis one was definitely worth the tour price. I wept as I stood at the memorial and read the names of the men who are entombed in the ship below. I saw the oil bubbling up from the ship to the surface of the harbor. If you get to see this, don't miss the theater video and the museum/gift shop there.

49. See the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)
This is definitely an awesome event. You don't have to be in Alaska to see it, but I guess you could combine this effort with an Alaskan cruse! The lights we saw were in Japan. The lights were shades of purple and hues of yellow mixed together. The meteorologist said it could not have been the Aurora, but offered no convincing alternative, saying they were the lights of fishing boats reflected on low hanging clouds. Even the local Japanese people said it was the Aurora!

Good luck with your list.

Reconnecting

This last week I have reconnected with a friend that we knew from our days in Las Vegas, at Sunrise Baptist Church.  When we left Las Vegas for Japan, our friends had gotten married and had graduated from seminary at Golden Gate.  We were in Japan for 13 ½ years, and our friends had pursued the Lord’s leading in their lives too.  That led them to missions work in old parts of Europe.

He taught in a seminary there and did translation work for books to be used in his seminary, and pastoring, and … well, everything that missionaries do.  Their children were born there, and are third culture kids, just as ours are.  

There is something special about third culture kids.  They were strangers in a strange land while they were “over there,” but they also missed out on more than a decade of their formative years of American culture.  The things other people their age experienced, they missed out on.  On the other hand, they have multicultural experiences from the host country that American inculcated people know nothing about.  Who would understand “You don’t see what you don’t look at,” if you never went to a public bath house?  Who would understand driving on the “wrong side of the road,” if you were never in a foreign location, not under Americanization?  Why would anyone want to go about the house in sock feet, or bare foot, if they never lived where shoes were “dirty” and tracked mud into the house if they were not dumped in the genkon, or mud room?  Who would think to BYOTP (bring your own toilet paper) in a public place?  Or that bicycles are the accepted mode of transportation, because gasoline is too expensive, and public transportation is how EVERYONE gets around.

Anyway, the old friends are back in America, as are we.  They are pastoring a church, as are we.  They have kids that are just younger than ours, ours are adults now.  It’s good to reconnect, when the connection was so good in the beginning!

More Books I Am Reading

Okay, it's time for more of the books I am reading. I pick up various titles, depending on my present mood. It's almost never fiction, though I really like the writings of John Gresham and the techno-thrillers written by Tom Clancy, but his more "factual" books interest me not at all.
Jon Meacham wrote American Gospel, talking about the religion and faith of various American leaders, especially the founding fathers and Presidents. Jon critiques the faith of others, but does not understand the Bible himself. He has adopted the "public religion" of John Dewey, and denies the reality of religion in the public square. What ever happened to tolerance and academic freedom, to say nothing of freedom of speech?
Jesus and the Father, by Kevin Giles, is a defense of non-subordinationist Trinitarian theology. Giles sees all three persons of the Trinity as co-equal in every way. Since that is so, where is the Holy Spirit in the title of his book? How does he differentiate which person of the trinity is active at any point of Scripture? Why then does Jesus address the Father as He does? Jesus and the Father is a lengthy and detailed examination of the doctrine of the Trinity, written in response to Wayne Grudem'sSystematic Theology, which holds to subordination of the Son to the Father in function of role only, but not in person, or any other way. Giles says that subordination in any form is unthinkable, even hinting it is heresy. I am anxious to get to the parts where Giles deals with Jesus' statements about His being obedient to the Father; now, that should be an interesting read in anti-subordinationism!
I try to keep at least one book about preaching open all the time. If I am going to improve as a preacher, I must keep studying the practice and the art of preaching. The preaching book I am reading at the moment is Preaching Evangelistically; it was written by several people and is a compilation of various preachers. Nothing exciting in the first two chapters; I'll let you know how it goes as I get further into the book. While not technically not a book I am reading, I subscribe to Preaching Today on CD. :-)
A couple of years ago our church went through The Purpose Driven Life {:(. I bought and am going through the companion Journal. I don't like the way Rick Warren jumps around in various translations and versions of the Bible for the verse form he likes at the moment. My own reaction to the "open-ended" comments and questions of the text is interesting to me.
I am still reading The Journals of Jim Elliot. I am amazed at the things he wrote in his personal journal. Surely Jim Elliot did not think that anyone would ever be interested in, or certainly study, his personal journals; and they are very personal. I doubt that I could write at that personal level, even in a journal intended only form my personal growth and reflection.
Vanhooser's The Drama of Doctrine tries to deal with theology as a literary form. The interpretive form for his idea is that the Bible was given mostly in the form of stories. The stories must be understood in the societal context of the time it was given. This, however, ignores what Peter said; "As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow," 1 Peter 1:10-11. The interpretation of Scripture is not entrely dependant on the social context of the time, but on the intent of its Author. The literary form, the genre of the text, certainly matters but it cannot be the paramount criteria. More Readings to follow in the days ahead.

Books I am Reading

Okay, I admit it. I’m a bibliophile.

There I said it, I admit it: I love books.

Someone has said, When I have money, I buy books. If there is any left over, I buy food. If there is still some left, then I pay bills. Well, I’m not that bad about it. I recognize my fiduciary responsibilities, but I would rather own a good book than a good car.

When I was in the second grade, my teacher wrote a note for me to take home to my parents saying that I was going to be held over in the second grade because I could not read. We were reading Dick and Jane stories in school. “See Dick. See Jane. See Dick and Jane run.” Dad wrote back to the teacher and said that did not make any sense, because I was reading the King James Bible at home and in church.

If I have a duplicate of a book, I don’t keep it; instead I give it to a library. Maybe the Mid America Baptist Theological Seminary, my alma mater. Or maybe I give it to the Rivercrest High School library if it is fiction or something I think it would be good for high schoolers to have access to. I also don’t keep a poorly written book. I may or may not agree with the author, but that does not make it a bad book, I care more about the quality of the writing.

This brings me to books I am reading. Mark Buchanan is my new favorite author. He writes religious books, but they are powerfully written with vivid prose. My first encounter with his work is in the book The Rest of God. When I first saw the title, I was not sure if it meant the book looked at something about God that we were missing, or if its subject was Sabbath. When I got the book and saw the cover, it said that it was about Sabbath keeping. Having almost finished reading this book, I find I must read it again, because there is such a rich content that absorbing it all in one reading is not possible. Nor is it possible to read the book in one setting, not while employing its teaching and meaning. I hope to absorb more of Buchanan’s imagery in my own preaching!

Anne Graham Lotz is another of my favorite authors. Heaven, My Father’s House was a good introduction for me to her writing; her video of the same title is also excellent. I also picked up her book Why? Trusting God When You Don't Understand. Because I am interested in theodicy, this book and others on the topic are primary sources for my search for the root cause, the real origins of evil in the cosmos. Lotz’s Just Give Me Jesus is an unusual commentary on the Gospel of John, though it reads more like a devotional. Lotz’s tendency to ask questions and make lists in the middle of her texts is disruptive to her text, and I do not find the lists helpful, though the rest of the books are. Lotz’s sister, Ruth Graham’s In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart is more than biographic in nature, it read like she is trying to win acceptance for herself and her bad life choices, and sympathy for the bad things that have come into her life. She used a ghost writer, but was honest about it in that she credited Stacy Mattingly as her co-author. Ruth’s story is an informative read in how the good children of good leaders in the faith can suffer evil.

I have just finished a book by Charles Coleson, Loving God. Mostly a series of stories, this is a devotional book that tries to motivate readers for a change in prison policy and prison ministry. In How Now Shall We Live?, Coleson tries to motivate Christians to convert not just souls and minds to Christ, but to convert society to Christian values. When did Jesus call us to save our culture? He was concerned with the individual, the sufferer, the outcast, to bring them to faith, to demonstrate His sovereignty over every form of good and evil: “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them,’” Matthew 11:4-5. Jesus, however, never tried to establish a theocracy; “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm,’” John 18:36. We need to do good in society, but that is not the form Jesus wants for His kingdom, for His church.

There are several more books I am reading, but I have bored you long enough. I’ll discuss the others in a blog later.

Today is a new day

Ok, this is not the best picture of me ever taken, but it fits my mental image of myself. I used to think of myself as this young, can-do guy. Now there is snow on the roof, and I spend most of my time preparing for preaching. When I try to "can-do" I wind up with lower back pain. I have talked to my doctor, but he prescribes muscle relaxers and pain pills, but they put me to sleep. The chiropractor seems to be my best answer for (almost) immediate, if temporary, relief. At times my back hurts so much I preach sitting on a bar stool behind the pulpit. Because of my bad back, and the intensity of the heat this summer, the grass has not been cut like it should have been. Thus the grass is too thick to cut and leave on the ground, but must be bagged. The bagger fills after five or six feet and must be emptied. After ten or twelve bags, the garbage can is full! ARGH! Well, it does not make a living, but it is the sweat of my face (Gen. 3:19).

Speaking of hair, I was teasing a church member because we saw a picture of him with more hair than he has now. Rubbing his head, his wife said, “This is a LOT of hair … in your soup!”

My wife goes back to school today, to teach seminars for the “Reconvening” at her college. The teachers have to have recurring training in WebCT, and she is the one teaching the teachers! She really enjoys teaching, and most of the people she is teaching are friends. She always makes lots of friends where ever she is! She is, however, a little bit stressed over the challenge of teaching four different sessions on four different subjects about WebCT. She will do great, she always does! For those of you who don’t know about WebCT, it’s a software package that allows for record keeping, class design, and even content teaching via the internet. Some of it is intuitive, but much is not, and for teachers who have a fear of computers, it can be downright intimidating.

We are getting new glasses this week. I never did like the ones I have been wearing because they have such a narrow strip across the bottom for reading, which is most of what I do, and then I see the edge of the glasses as a bright line under the text of what I am reading. I think these new glasses will solve that.

We were talking last night about our youngest, and we affirmed that she has achieved what we hoped and prayed for her, the ability to live and work independently, and to be happy in her life. One has a hurt knee; another is planning to go back to school again; all will be fine in the life God gives them.
Numbers 6:22-27
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
The Lord bless you, and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’ “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

My wind chimes

As I sit here in my living room, I hear the gentle clang and bong of the wind chimes my wife bought for me last month.  As the breeze blows across our porch, the hammer in the chimes is moved by the wind catcher, ringing the chimes and making them sing for me.  The song they sing is my wife’s love song to me, singing to me of her devotion to our marriage.  

Great Uncle Drenth

Okay. So I have not written in my blog for over a month.
I’m claiming that this is natural and not aversion or phobia.
Writers are told to write a minimum number of words every day, whether they feel an inspiration or not; whether they have a subject to write about or not. Well, I haven’t and I still don’t, but I owe my blog something, so here’s this update to the blog.

“But,” I should “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;” 1 Peter 3:15, NASB. “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.” 1 John 3:5, NASB.

I have recently found out that there is an infamous person in my family history. My great uncle, my mother’s uncle, Herman Drenth, was hung for multiple murders, and he apparently told the police “You’ve got me dead to rights on five, what good would fifty more be.” From this the newspapers assumed that there were at least fifty more and ran with it from there, along with some other quotes he gave police. The quotes were apparently after the police had beaten him severely. “Drenth” is listed in several web sites as Harry Powers, plus several other aliases. I only found this out because of a call from a person doing research for a project; we have no family memory of him, no stories, no legends, and no whispers from anyone, ever, about him. The family lineage is correct, but we knew nothing of him before this month.

I sure am glad for the promise “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself,” Ezekiel 18:20 (NASB).

And that “21But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 “All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. 23 “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?” Ezekiel 18:21-23 (NASB).

They're married!

May 23rd, I got to perform my second wedding as a Minister of the Gospel. Our middle child was the first of our three to marry, and I got to perform the wedding!
I was fine until I was giving the vows to my daughter, and I looked up at her face, for her to repeat after me. Then I choked up for just a minute, and then I was able to recover command of myself and finished the ceremony with out further ado. She was a radiant bride, and he was a proud groom; they made a happy couple!
None of it would have been possible if it were not for the labor and love of church members, friends, and family. Thank you to one and all. You made everything wonderful! Some debts can never be repaid, and this is one of those debts of love and gratitude.
Now she has to go back to work, and he has to find a new job! Honeymoon’s over! Actually, here’s wishing the happy couple many, many more happy honeymoons. We are celebrating our 35th honeymoon this October 16th. Happy and blessed us!
We are doubly blessed, because our other daughter was in a wreck in her Chevy S-10 pickup with an 18-wheeler in Jonesboro, AR, on May 31st. She had stopped at a yield sign as cross traffic went in front of her. Seeing a break in the traffic, she started into the right lane, because she thought the 18-wheeler was in the left lane; he apparently was not. The truck hit her at the wheel and driver’s door, sending the little pickup about 100 feet off the road, over a ditch, and almost into a parking lot. The trucker said that he had no place to go when she pulled out in front of him. I think he was probably speeding, and may have, in fact, changed lanes to take the same break in traffic she was pulling into.
She was emotionally shaken at first; afraid we would be mad at her, and terrified of the policeman (She ws not cited by the policeman), but basically okay otherwise. She did crack a rib (we think) and her neck was sore the next day, so we made a visit to the doctor for x-rays and for pain medicine and a muscle relaxant. She went to work that day, after filling out all the police reports, and rented a car the next day to drive herself to and from work (she really did not want to miss work!). The insurance people say the S-10 is totaled, so she’ll be buying a new vehicle soon! The bottom line is that she is getting better, is not afraid to drive, and is moving on with life. Praise the Lord!

God Bless this Mess!

When I was assigned to the 301st IS, in Misawa, JA, I often offered the prayers for events surrounding promotion ceremonies and similar things. One of those events was a promotion dinner for newly selected promotees to the rank of Master Sergeant.

I was asked to give the invocation for the dinner. This was a fun evening, and my invocation reflected the fun. The prayer was so outrageous that I had people looking at me with raised eyebrows all evening. Here is that prayer:

LET US PRAY TOGETHER,

DEAR GOD, THIS MESS ASKED ME TO GIVE THE INVOCATION FOR OUR GATHERING. SO GOD, I ASK YOU TO BLESS THIS MESS!!
I ASK FOR A SPECIAL ENDOWMENT FOR THESE MASTER AIRMEN, BECAUSE THEY'RE SURE GONNA NEED IT! SO GOD, BLESS THIS MESS!!
LORD, YOU KNOW BETTER THAN I CAN SAY HOW MUCH THIS MESS NEEDS A BLESSING FROM YOU. SOME OF US NEED YOUR BLESSING BECAUSE WE ARE UGLY, SOME OF US BECAUSE WE ACT UGLY; AND SOME OF US NEED MORE OF A BLESSING THAN OTHERS. SO GOD, BLESS THIS MESS!!
BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE WE REALLY ARE, WE AGREE WITH THE WRITER OF PSALMS (75:6-7) THAT "PROMOTION COMES NEITHER FROM THE EAST, NOR FROM THE WEST, NOR FROM THE SOUTH, BUT GOD IS THE JUDGE: HE PUTS DOWN ONE, AND SETS UP ANOTHER." SO, IF WE HAVE BEEN SET UP LORD, IT'S YOU THAT HAVE PROMOTED US. SO GOD, BLESS THE MESS YOU SET UP!!
WHILE WE ARE HAVING FUN CELEBRATING THE PROMOTIONS OF OUR FRIENDS AND COMRIDES, WE ALSO WANT TO THANK YOU THAT THE LAST OF OUR COMRADES-IN-ARMS ARE SAFELY OUT OF SAMOLIA. WE ALSO ASK FOR YOUR CARE AND BLESSING FOR OUR COMRADES WHO ARE NOW HELPING THE REFUGEES OF ROWANDA. WHAT A MESS MANKIND BRINGS UPON HIMSELF!
WHILE I'M ASKING FOR BLESSINGS LORD, I'D LIKE A SPECIAL BLESSING FOR DAVID S. PRICE, CHIEF MASTER SERGENT, USAF, TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR ON 11 MARCH 1968 IN LAOS. I ASK THAT YOU COMFORT HIS FAMILY. I ASK FOR REMEMBERANCE OF HIS SACRIFICE, AND THAT OF THOUSANDS OF OTHERS LIKE HIM, BY THE LEADERS OF OUR NATION. OH GOD, PLEASE BLESS THIS MESS.
OH YEAH LORD, BLESS THE RUBBER CHICKEN AND HAMBURGER (steaks) WE'RE ABOUT TO EAT. SO GOD, BLESS THIS MESS!!
AMEN!!