This was written by a friend of mine named Duane Harris whom I graduated high school with in 1994. We recently reunited and I will be going to a high school reunion held in Gatlinbug, TN in a few months and will see him as well as other friends for the first time in years. Can't wait!
"I just finished watching Saving Private Ryan. I have watched this movie probably ten times before tonight. As I sit here tonight I was moved with thoughts and emotions that compelled me to write you all today. I know there is a chance that you guys would think it is just another cheesy thought from Harry, but I figured since you know how I am any way you would forgive me if you did. As I watched that movie I had thought about the ultimate sacrifice that was made by so many. We as Americans so easily forget what those who have gone before us and served in combat have given up. Not only has the cause they fought for been so just, but the life that they could have would be a life in the most privilaged nation on Earth. I think about the men and women who have served our country in war over the decades. I thought about how each man who lost his life in combat lost all of the things we enjoy every day as well. We live in America. We are the richest, most powerful, and most enveyed nation in the world. Why?, because God has chosen to bless this nation. I feel a big reason for that is because the American fighting man has always faught for what was right. He bled and died for people who he never met in foriegn countries so that they may be free from oppression, dictatorship, and slavery. The American military has been the only force capable of accomplishing those tasks. The American soldier has not only preserved our own nation's freedom but the freedom of many nations all over the world. That, I believe, is a big reason God has chosen to bless and keep this great nation we call home. The ultimate sacrifice has been made by so many, but not only those who have died need to be remembered. The ones who are currently serving over seas and the ones who have been badly wounded in combat, never to live a normal life should also be remembered. I know that Veterans Day is over but that doesn't mean that we can't take a moment to thank our God for the men and women who have made it possible for us to live our lives as we do in this great nation. Everything we enjoy can be traced back to a lonely, scared, cold, tired, strong, brave, well trained, and unwavoring soldier fighting on the battlefied of today or on the battlefieds over years gone by. I don't want anyone to thank me today for my service. This is not about that at all. I have done nothing compared to the ones I have referred to in this email. I just want everyone to take a moment today to thank God for the American fighting man, pray for the ones serving right now, and thank a Veteran if you get a chance. Especially a WWII vet. Love you guys and I hope you all have a great day. God bless America. Honor the flag, and when you see one flying today where ever it is, remember them."
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Sunday, November 13, 2005
TO: Commander In Chief, Spiritual Armed Forces, Jesus Christ.
FROM: Officer of Battle, Spiritual Armed Forces, Weary Warrior
RE: Request For Transfer
Dear Sir,
I am writing this to You to request a transfer to a desk job. I herewith present my reasons: I began my career as a private but because of the intensity of the battle You have quickly moved me up in the ranks. You have made me an officer and given me a tremendous amount of responsibility. There are many soldiers and recruits under my charge. I am constantly being called upon to dispense wisdom, make judgements, and find solutions to complex problems. You have placed me in a position to function as an officer, when in my heart I know I have only the skills of a private. I realize that You have promised to supply all I would need for the battle but Sir, I must present You a realistic picture of my equipment. My uniform; once so crisp and starched is now stained with tears and blood of those I have tried to assist. The soles of my boots are cracked and worn from the miles I have walked trying to enlist and encourage and instruct the troops. My weapons are marred, tarnished and chipped from constant use in battle against the enemy. Even the Book of Regulations I was issued has been torn and tattered from endless use. The Words are now smeared. You have promised You would be with me throughout, but when the noise of the battle is so loud and the confusion is so great, I can neither see nor hear You. I feel so alone. I am tired. I am discouraged. I have Battle Fatigue. I would never ask You for a discharge. I love being in Your service but I humbly request a demotion and transfer. I will file papers; anything. Just get me out of the battle; PLEASE Sir!
Your Faithful But Tired Servant,
Weary Warrior
TO: Officer of Battle, Spiritual Armed Forces, Weary Warrior
FROM: Commander In Chief, Spiritual Armed Forces, Jesus Christ
RE: Your Request For Transfer
Dear Soldier,
Your request for transfer has been denied. I herewith present my reasons.....
You are needed in this battle. If you leave your post, your comrades-in-arms will be exposed to the enemy. I have personally selected you and I will keep My word to supply your need. You do not need a demotion or transfer. You need a period of R and R (Renewal and
Rekindling) I have set aside a place on the battlefield that is insulated from all sound and is fully protected from the enemy. I will meet you there and will give you rest. I will remove your old equipment and make all things new. You have been wounded in the battle, my precious soldier. Your wounds are not visible, but you have received grave internal injuries. You need to be healed and I will heal you. You have been weakened in the battle and need to be strengthened. I will strengthen you and be your strength. I will instill in you confidence and ability. My words will rekindle within you a renewed love, zeal and passion to fight the enemy. Report to me tattered and empty for I will refill you, soldier.
Compassionately Yours,
Jesus Christ, Commander In Chief
FROM: Officer of Battle, Spiritual Armed Forces, Weary Warrior
RE: Request For Transfer
Dear Sir,
I am writing this to You to request a transfer to a desk job. I herewith present my reasons: I began my career as a private but because of the intensity of the battle You have quickly moved me up in the ranks. You have made me an officer and given me a tremendous amount of responsibility. There are many soldiers and recruits under my charge. I am constantly being called upon to dispense wisdom, make judgements, and find solutions to complex problems. You have placed me in a position to function as an officer, when in my heart I know I have only the skills of a private. I realize that You have promised to supply all I would need for the battle but Sir, I must present You a realistic picture of my equipment. My uniform; once so crisp and starched is now stained with tears and blood of those I have tried to assist. The soles of my boots are cracked and worn from the miles I have walked trying to enlist and encourage and instruct the troops. My weapons are marred, tarnished and chipped from constant use in battle against the enemy. Even the Book of Regulations I was issued has been torn and tattered from endless use. The Words are now smeared. You have promised You would be with me throughout, but when the noise of the battle is so loud and the confusion is so great, I can neither see nor hear You. I feel so alone. I am tired. I am discouraged. I have Battle Fatigue. I would never ask You for a discharge. I love being in Your service but I humbly request a demotion and transfer. I will file papers; anything. Just get me out of the battle; PLEASE Sir!
Your Faithful But Tired Servant,
Weary Warrior
TO: Officer of Battle, Spiritual Armed Forces, Weary Warrior
FROM: Commander In Chief, Spiritual Armed Forces, Jesus Christ
RE: Your Request For Transfer
Dear Soldier,
Your request for transfer has been denied. I herewith present my reasons.....
You are needed in this battle. If you leave your post, your comrades-in-arms will be exposed to the enemy. I have personally selected you and I will keep My word to supply your need. You do not need a demotion or transfer. You need a period of R and R (Renewal and
Rekindling) I have set aside a place on the battlefield that is insulated from all sound and is fully protected from the enemy. I will meet you there and will give you rest. I will remove your old equipment and make all things new. You have been wounded in the battle, my precious soldier. Your wounds are not visible, but you have received grave internal injuries. You need to be healed and I will heal you. You have been weakened in the battle and need to be strengthened. I will strengthen you and be your strength. I will instill in you confidence and ability. My words will rekindle within you a renewed love, zeal and passion to fight the enemy. Report to me tattered and empty for I will refill you, soldier.
Compassionately Yours,
Jesus Christ, Commander In Chief
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
This is a message that I sent to another group that I believe never got posted because of an "end of thread notice." It was a bit off-topic for that group, but I thought that others that read this blog might get some helpful info from it:
"I am a first-year seminary student studying for my Masters of Divinity degree at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. I received a free copy of Today's New International Version from my seminary which I believe is the translation that the gender-neutrality has come up. I might be wrong about that, but that is my understanding of it. If that is the case, I did peruse the translation and looked up some key passages. In particular interest to me was the 1 Timothy passages on requirements for overseers and elders. It is important to note that these passages were not changed to be gender-neutral. As a matter of fact, from what I could see, there were no changes made to parts of the Bible that obviously had to do with one gender. In other words, Jesus was never made out to be a woman and masculitnity or feminity (sp?) was not stripped of anything where context showed the gender being obviously specified. What was changed was phrases such as "brothers" now read "brothers and sisters" and the like.
"David, you are right. There are no perfect Bible translations. According to the textbook which I am using right now in my Hermeneutics class, Michael Gorman lists the versions which he will and will not use for exegesis. Please keep in mind that this was written before the current TNIV controversy. They are as follows:
Versions Preferred For Exegesis:
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
New American Bible (NAB)
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Versions Acceptable For Exegesis, With Caution:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Revised English Bible (REB)
New International Version (NIV)
Versions Unacceptable as the Basis for Exegesis, but useful in other ways:
The Message
Good News Bible (GNB)
Contemporary English Bible (CEV)
New Living Translation (NLT)
New Jersuselem Bible (NJB)
Versions Unacceptable for Exegesis:
The Living Bible (LB)
King James Version (KJV) or Authorized Version (AV)
New King James Version (NKJV)
"That's right. Gorman considers the King James an unacceptable Bible for exegesis. The reason being is, "Since 1611, many older and better manuscripts of the Bible have been discovered..." and the increase in textual criticism. All of this information is taken from Elements of Biblical Exegesis by Michael J. Gorman. From everything that I could read, Gorman is moderate in his theology, so I do not agree with everything he writes, but the point about the KJV version of the Bible is well taken. My preferred translation is the NIV, but I also have the priviledge of being able to read some of the original Greek and there is no better way to read it. However, a caution must be added here also. If you want to learn Greek or Hebrew in order to read the Bible in the original language to "find out what it really says," you will be very dissapointed. For the most part, the Bible in English as we have it today is a very accurate reflection of what the Greek and Hebrew says. Greek and Hebrew help you increase your knowledge of what the Greeks mean when they use certain words, but rarely does it aid you in changing the meaning of a passage when it is read in English. A good example of what I'm talking about is the use of three words for love in Greek that mean different things versus the one word that we have.
A good tool for any layperson who wants to increase his knowledge of Scripture and his enjoyment of the study of Scripture is a good Hermeneutics textbook which could be recommended by your pastor and learning how to use a Greek and Hebrew lexicon. I would never suggest, however, to simply use a Hebrew and Greek lexicon without some knowledge of hermeneutics because just because that word means something and it is in that particular place does not mean that it means that in that particular place. As the old saying goes, "A text without a context is a pretext" and as my undergrad Greek professor drilled into our heads: 'Context is king.'"
"I am a first-year seminary student studying for my Masters of Divinity degree at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. I received a free copy of Today's New International Version from my seminary which I believe is the translation that the gender-neutrality has come up. I might be wrong about that, but that is my understanding of it. If that is the case, I did peruse the translation and looked up some key passages. In particular interest to me was the 1 Timothy passages on requirements for overseers and elders. It is important to note that these passages were not changed to be gender-neutral. As a matter of fact, from what I could see, there were no changes made to parts of the Bible that obviously had to do with one gender. In other words, Jesus was never made out to be a woman and masculitnity or feminity (sp?) was not stripped of anything where context showed the gender being obviously specified. What was changed was phrases such as "brothers" now read "brothers and sisters" and the like.
"David, you are right. There are no perfect Bible translations. According to the textbook which I am using right now in my Hermeneutics class, Michael Gorman lists the versions which he will and will not use for exegesis. Please keep in mind that this was written before the current TNIV controversy. They are as follows:
Versions Preferred For Exegesis:
Revised Standard Version (RSV)
New American Bible (NAB)
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
Versions Acceptable For Exegesis, With Caution:
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Revised English Bible (REB)
New International Version (NIV)
Versions Unacceptable as the Basis for Exegesis, but useful in other ways:
The Message
Good News Bible (GNB)
Contemporary English Bible (CEV)
New Living Translation (NLT)
New Jersuselem Bible (NJB)
Versions Unacceptable for Exegesis:
The Living Bible (LB)
King James Version (KJV) or Authorized Version (AV)
New King James Version (NKJV)
"That's right. Gorman considers the King James an unacceptable Bible for exegesis. The reason being is, "Since 1611, many older and better manuscripts of the Bible have been discovered..." and the increase in textual criticism. All of this information is taken from Elements of Biblical Exegesis by Michael J. Gorman. From everything that I could read, Gorman is moderate in his theology, so I do not agree with everything he writes, but the point about the KJV version of the Bible is well taken. My preferred translation is the NIV, but I also have the priviledge of being able to read some of the original Greek and there is no better way to read it. However, a caution must be added here also. If you want to learn Greek or Hebrew in order to read the Bible in the original language to "find out what it really says," you will be very dissapointed. For the most part, the Bible in English as we have it today is a very accurate reflection of what the Greek and Hebrew says. Greek and Hebrew help you increase your knowledge of what the Greeks mean when they use certain words, but rarely does it aid you in changing the meaning of a passage when it is read in English. A good example of what I'm talking about is the use of three words for love in Greek that mean different things versus the one word that we have.
A good tool for any layperson who wants to increase his knowledge of Scripture and his enjoyment of the study of Scripture is a good Hermeneutics textbook which could be recommended by your pastor and learning how to use a Greek and Hebrew lexicon. I would never suggest, however, to simply use a Hebrew and Greek lexicon without some knowledge of hermeneutics because just because that word means something and it is in that particular place does not mean that it means that in that particular place. As the old saying goes, "A text without a context is a pretext" and as my undergrad Greek professor drilled into our heads: 'Context is king.'"
Monday, October 31, 2005
The Conversational Lord's Prayer
Man: Our Father Who Art In Heaven.
God: Yes?
Man: Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.
God: But -- you called ME!
Man: Called you? No, I didn't call you. I'm praying. Our Father who art in Heaven.
God: There -- you did it again!
Man: Did what?
God: Called ME. You said, "Our Father who art in Heaven" Well, here I am. What's on your mind?
Man: But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like fulfilling a duty.
God: Well, all right. Go on.
Man: Okay, Hallowed be thy name . .
God: Hold it right there. What do you mean by that?
Man: By what?
God: By "Hallowed be thy name"?
Man: It means, it means . . .good grief, I don't know what it means. How in the world should I know? It's just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?
God: It means honored, holy, wonderful.
Man: Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what 'hallowed' meant before.
Thanks. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
God: Do you really mean that?
Man: Sure, why not?
God: What are you doing about it?
Man: Doing? Why, nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if you got control, of everything down here like you have up there. We're kinda in a mess down here you know.
God: Yes, I know; but, have I got control of you?
Man: Well, I go to church.
God: That isn't what I asked you. What about your bad temper? You've really got a problem there, you know. And then there's the way you spend your money --all on yourself. And what about the kind of books you read?
Man: Now hold on just a minute! Stop picking on me! I'm just as good as some of the rest of those people at church!
God: Excuse ME. I thought you were praying for my will to be done. If that is to happen, it will have to start with the ones who are praying for it. Like you -- for example.
Man: Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that you mention it, I could probably name some others.
God: So could I.
Man: I haven't thought about it very much until now, but I really would like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, you know, be really free.
God: Good. Now we're getting somewhere.We'll work together -- You and ME. I'm proud of You.
Man: Look, Lord, if you don't mind, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. Give us this day, our daily bread.
God: You need to cut out the bread. You're overweight as it is.
Man: Hey, wait a minute! What is this? Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden you break in and remind me of all my hang-ups.
God: Praying is a dangerous thing. You just might get what you ask for. Remember, you called ME -- and here I am. It's too late to stop now. Keep praying. ( . . pause . . ) Well, go on.
Man: I'm scared to.
God: Scared? Of what? I know what you'll say. Try ME.
Man: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
God: What about Ann?
Man: See? I knew it! I knew you would bring her up! Why, Lord, she's told lies about me, spread stories. She never paid back the money she owes me. I've sworn to get even with her!
God: But -- your prayer -- What about your prayer?
Man: I didn't -- mean it.
God: Well, at least you're honest. But, it's quite a load carrying around all that bitterness and resentment isn't it?
Man: Yes, but I'll feel better as soon as I get even with her. Boy, have I got some plans for her. She'll wish she had never been born.
God: No, you won't feel any better. You'll feel worse. Revenge isn't sweet. You know how unhappy you are -- Well, I can change that.
Man: You can? How?
God: Forgive Ann. Then, I'll forgive you; And the hate and the sin, will be Ann's problem -- not yours. You will have settled the problem as far as you are concerned.
Man: Oh, you know, you're right. You always are. And more than I want revenge, I want to be right with You…(sigh)…All right, all right…I forgive her.
God: There now! Wonderful! How do you feel?
Man: Hmmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all! In fact, I feel pretty great!
You know, I don't think I'll go to bed uptight tonight. I haven't been getting much rest, you know.
God: Yeah, I know. But, you're not through with your prayer are you? Go on.
Man: Oh, all right. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
God: Good! Good! I'll do that. Just don't put yourself in a place where you can be tempted.
Man: What do you mean by that?
God: You know what I mean.
Man: Yeah. I know. Okay.
God: Go ahead. Finish your prayer.
Man: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
God: Do you know what would bring me glory --What would really make me happy?
Man: No, but I'd like to know. I want to please you now. I've really made a mess of things. I want to truly follow you. I can see now how great that would be. So, tell me . . .How do I make you happy?
God: YOU just did.
Man: Our Father Who Art In Heaven.
God: Yes?
Man: Don't interrupt me. I'm praying.
God: But -- you called ME!
Man: Called you? No, I didn't call you. I'm praying. Our Father who art in Heaven.
God: There -- you did it again!
Man: Did what?
God: Called ME. You said, "Our Father who art in Heaven" Well, here I am. What's on your mind?
Man: But I didn't mean anything by it. I was, you know, just saying my prayers for the day. I always say the Lord's Prayer. It makes me feel good, kind of like fulfilling a duty.
God: Well, all right. Go on.
Man: Okay, Hallowed be thy name . .
God: Hold it right there. What do you mean by that?
Man: By what?
God: By "Hallowed be thy name"?
Man: It means, it means . . .good grief, I don't know what it means. How in the world should I know? It's just a part of the prayer. By the way, what does it mean?
God: It means honored, holy, wonderful.
Man: Hey, that makes sense. I never thought about what 'hallowed' meant before.
Thanks. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
God: Do you really mean that?
Man: Sure, why not?
God: What are you doing about it?
Man: Doing? Why, nothing, I guess. I just think it would be kind of neat if you got control, of everything down here like you have up there. We're kinda in a mess down here you know.
God: Yes, I know; but, have I got control of you?
Man: Well, I go to church.
God: That isn't what I asked you. What about your bad temper? You've really got a problem there, you know. And then there's the way you spend your money --all on yourself. And what about the kind of books you read?
Man: Now hold on just a minute! Stop picking on me! I'm just as good as some of the rest of those people at church!
God: Excuse ME. I thought you were praying for my will to be done. If that is to happen, it will have to start with the ones who are praying for it. Like you -- for example.
Man: Oh, all right. I guess I do have some hang-ups. Now that you mention it, I could probably name some others.
God: So could I.
Man: I haven't thought about it very much until now, but I really would like to cut out some of those things. I would like to, you know, be really free.
God: Good. Now we're getting somewhere.We'll work together -- You and ME. I'm proud of You.
Man: Look, Lord, if you don't mind, I need to finish up here. This is taking a lot longer than it usually does. Give us this day, our daily bread.
God: You need to cut out the bread. You're overweight as it is.
Man: Hey, wait a minute! What is this? Here I was doing my religious duty, and all of a sudden you break in and remind me of all my hang-ups.
God: Praying is a dangerous thing. You just might get what you ask for. Remember, you called ME -- and here I am. It's too late to stop now. Keep praying. ( . . pause . . ) Well, go on.
Man: I'm scared to.
God: Scared? Of what? I know what you'll say. Try ME.
Man: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
God: What about Ann?
Man: See? I knew it! I knew you would bring her up! Why, Lord, she's told lies about me, spread stories. She never paid back the money she owes me. I've sworn to get even with her!
God: But -- your prayer -- What about your prayer?
Man: I didn't -- mean it.
God: Well, at least you're honest. But, it's quite a load carrying around all that bitterness and resentment isn't it?
Man: Yes, but I'll feel better as soon as I get even with her. Boy, have I got some plans for her. She'll wish she had never been born.
God: No, you won't feel any better. You'll feel worse. Revenge isn't sweet. You know how unhappy you are -- Well, I can change that.
Man: You can? How?
God: Forgive Ann. Then, I'll forgive you; And the hate and the sin, will be Ann's problem -- not yours. You will have settled the problem as far as you are concerned.
Man: Oh, you know, you're right. You always are. And more than I want revenge, I want to be right with You…(sigh)…All right, all right…I forgive her.
God: There now! Wonderful! How do you feel?
Man: Hmmmm. Well, not bad. Not bad at all! In fact, I feel pretty great!
You know, I don't think I'll go to bed uptight tonight. I haven't been getting much rest, you know.
God: Yeah, I know. But, you're not through with your prayer are you? Go on.
Man: Oh, all right. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
God: Good! Good! I'll do that. Just don't put yourself in a place where you can be tempted.
Man: What do you mean by that?
God: You know what I mean.
Man: Yeah. I know. Okay.
God: Go ahead. Finish your prayer.
Man: For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
God: Do you know what would bring me glory --What would really make me happy?
Man: No, but I'd like to know. I want to please you now. I've really made a mess of things. I want to truly follow you. I can see now how great that would be. So, tell me . . .How do I make you happy?
God: YOU just did.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Someone just brought up in a class that I am in the similarities between Gnosticism and the modern-day cult Scientology. After some brief research, I came across this famous article written in 1991 by Time magazine about Scientology.
Check it out at:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html
Dave M.
Check it out at:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Fishman/time-behar.html
Dave M.
David G. McDowell
IT501: Biblical Hermeneutics
Historical Components of Deuteronomy 4:1-31
Introduction
The theme of this passage is obedience to the law of the Lord, the fruition of the covenant given to the people of Israel for inheritance of the Promised Land and, because of the gift of the law and covenant, the abstinence from idol worship. In the context of its chapter, it is the first half of a transitional passage from the history mentioned in the first three chapters of Deuteronomy to the reiteration and exposition of the law given after it.
Book-wide Insights
The author of this passage appears to be Moses, writing at the end of his life to the Israelites before they take possession of the Promised Land. This is evidenced according to the reference in Deuteronomy 4:21-22 where Moses laments that he will not be allowed in the Promised Land. The books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings also attests to the authorship of Moses as well as the very words of Jesus in the gospels . However, controversy exists on the exact meaning of the word “Moses” and if it refers to authorship or simply a reference to the law in general. Uncertainty also exists in regards to how the book may have been edited in later dates. Scholars range the authorship of the book as early as during the life of Moses to as far away as the 7th century B.C. However, it is clear that the majority of the material found in the book of Deuteronomy did come from the mouth or the pen of Moses, even if was compiled at the latest of dates.
Passage-Specific Insights
On the solemn occasion of Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land, he seems to use this book as his last will and testament. In the chapter before this, the book speaks of Moses on top of a mountain looking in all directions. It must have been a bittersweet moment for Moses, looking behind at the lands that they had conquered, which were highlighted in the first three chapters, and looking forward to the Promised Land that, because of his sin, he would not be able to enter. In Numbers 20, Moses was commanded by God to speak to a rock in order to produce water for the Israelites to drink. Instead, Moses struck the rock and according to Numbers 20:12, Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land because he “did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites.” It is important to note here that this passage is often misquoted as Moses striking the rock given as the reason that Moses is not allowed in the Promised Land. The banning of Moses from the Promised Land goes beyond mere disobedience. Moses was a leader, and as a leader, and as one who had conversed with God, he had a responsibility to represent God and his holiness. When Moses struck the rock in anger, he did much more than merely lose his temper; he misrepresented God, and as such, was banned from entering the Promised Land.
He gives a brief history and reminds the Israelites of God’s faithfulness as he expounds the law and the covenant. It is apparent that Moses has high regard for the law because it comes straight from God and he cautions the Israelites not to subtract from it (vs. 2). It strikes this writer as very interesting that the verse only says “subtract.” Was not adding to the law the problem in Jesus’ time? Yet, that is not mentioned here. One could glean from this passage that God may have stricter standards for those who subtract or ignore laws rather than those who add to it.
There is a reference to Baal Peor in verse three that is also referenced in 3:29. This reference in chapter four refers to a situation recorded in Numbers 25 where men began having sex with the women of Moab. In the Moabite culture, sex was linked with idol worship. According to Numbers 25, the men were even going to the sacrificial rituals associated with pagan idol worship to have sex with these women, eat with them and bow down to their gods as part of their worship. God demanded that Moses use the leaders of the people and kill those who did this. According to this passage, twenty-four thousand men died as a result of this sin. The importance of this is the reinforcement to the children of Israel, and this writer would even say to God’s covenant children today, that God, as revealed in his law and covenant, does not tolerate idol worship.
Another reference to a historical and geographical place is in verse ten when Moses refers to Horeb. For all practical purposes, Horeb is synonymous with Mt. Sinai. This is the place where Moses gave the Ten Commandments. This place is of great significance because it is a geographic reminder to the people of Israel that their law was given directly to them by God and a reminder to them, according to verse nine, that they should pass these laws down to their children.
Conclusion
It is important in this passage to understand the historical significance of this moment. Without a proper understanding of the meaning of Horeb, one might lose the significance of the symbolism it has with the law. Without an understanding of the events at Baal-Peor, one may miss the importance that God places on having no other gods before him. Without this background, it would be increasingly hard to understand the intricate roles that the law and the covenant play in our rich Judeo/Christian history as well as the importance of passing those down to future generations.
Bibliography
Howard Marshal ed. et al. New Bible Dictionary 3rd ed. (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1996) , 275.
David Noel Freedman, ed, The Anchor Bible Dictionary vol 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1992, 553.
George Arthur Buttrick, ed, Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible vol. 4, 21st ed. ( Nashville: Abingen Press, 1990), 377
The Holy Bible. New International Version
IT501: Biblical Hermeneutics
Historical Components of Deuteronomy 4:1-31
Introduction
The theme of this passage is obedience to the law of the Lord, the fruition of the covenant given to the people of Israel for inheritance of the Promised Land and, because of the gift of the law and covenant, the abstinence from idol worship. In the context of its chapter, it is the first half of a transitional passage from the history mentioned in the first three chapters of Deuteronomy to the reiteration and exposition of the law given after it.
Book-wide Insights
The author of this passage appears to be Moses, writing at the end of his life to the Israelites before they take possession of the Promised Land. This is evidenced according to the reference in Deuteronomy 4:21-22 where Moses laments that he will not be allowed in the Promised Land. The books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings also attests to the authorship of Moses as well as the very words of Jesus in the gospels . However, controversy exists on the exact meaning of the word “Moses” and if it refers to authorship or simply a reference to the law in general. Uncertainty also exists in regards to how the book may have been edited in later dates. Scholars range the authorship of the book as early as during the life of Moses to as far away as the 7th century B.C. However, it is clear that the majority of the material found in the book of Deuteronomy did come from the mouth or the pen of Moses, even if was compiled at the latest of dates.
Passage-Specific Insights
On the solemn occasion of Moses not being allowed into the Promised Land, he seems to use this book as his last will and testament. In the chapter before this, the book speaks of Moses on top of a mountain looking in all directions. It must have been a bittersweet moment for Moses, looking behind at the lands that they had conquered, which were highlighted in the first three chapters, and looking forward to the Promised Land that, because of his sin, he would not be able to enter. In Numbers 20, Moses was commanded by God to speak to a rock in order to produce water for the Israelites to drink. Instead, Moses struck the rock and according to Numbers 20:12, Moses was not allowed into the Promised Land because he “did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites.” It is important to note here that this passage is often misquoted as Moses striking the rock given as the reason that Moses is not allowed in the Promised Land. The banning of Moses from the Promised Land goes beyond mere disobedience. Moses was a leader, and as a leader, and as one who had conversed with God, he had a responsibility to represent God and his holiness. When Moses struck the rock in anger, he did much more than merely lose his temper; he misrepresented God, and as such, was banned from entering the Promised Land.
He gives a brief history and reminds the Israelites of God’s faithfulness as he expounds the law and the covenant. It is apparent that Moses has high regard for the law because it comes straight from God and he cautions the Israelites not to subtract from it (vs. 2). It strikes this writer as very interesting that the verse only says “subtract.” Was not adding to the law the problem in Jesus’ time? Yet, that is not mentioned here. One could glean from this passage that God may have stricter standards for those who subtract or ignore laws rather than those who add to it.
There is a reference to Baal Peor in verse three that is also referenced in 3:29. This reference in chapter four refers to a situation recorded in Numbers 25 where men began having sex with the women of Moab. In the Moabite culture, sex was linked with idol worship. According to Numbers 25, the men were even going to the sacrificial rituals associated with pagan idol worship to have sex with these women, eat with them and bow down to their gods as part of their worship. God demanded that Moses use the leaders of the people and kill those who did this. According to this passage, twenty-four thousand men died as a result of this sin. The importance of this is the reinforcement to the children of Israel, and this writer would even say to God’s covenant children today, that God, as revealed in his law and covenant, does not tolerate idol worship.
Another reference to a historical and geographical place is in verse ten when Moses refers to Horeb. For all practical purposes, Horeb is synonymous with Mt. Sinai. This is the place where Moses gave the Ten Commandments. This place is of great significance because it is a geographic reminder to the people of Israel that their law was given directly to them by God and a reminder to them, according to verse nine, that they should pass these laws down to their children.
Conclusion
It is important in this passage to understand the historical significance of this moment. Without a proper understanding of the meaning of Horeb, one might lose the significance of the symbolism it has with the law. Without an understanding of the events at Baal-Peor, one may miss the importance that God places on having no other gods before him. Without this background, it would be increasingly hard to understand the intricate roles that the law and the covenant play in our rich Judeo/Christian history as well as the importance of passing those down to future generations.
Bibliography
Howard Marshal ed. et al. New Bible Dictionary 3rd ed. (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1996) , 275.
David Noel Freedman, ed, The Anchor Bible Dictionary vol 1 (New York: Doubleday, 1992, 553.
George Arthur Buttrick, ed, Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible vol. 4, 21st ed. ( Nashville: Abingen Press, 1990), 377
The Holy Bible. New International Version
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
The Semi-Pelagian Narrow Catechism
1. Q: What is the chief end of each individual Christian?
A: Each individual Christian's chief end is to get saved. This is the first and great commandment.
2. Q: And what is the second great commandment?
A: The second, which is like unto it, is to get as many others saved as he can.
3. Q: What one work is required of thee for thy salvation?
A: It is required of me for my salvation that I make a Decision for Christ, which meaneth to accept Him into my heart to be my personallordandsaviour
4. Q: At what time must thou perform this work?
A: I must perform this work at such time as I have reached the Age of Accountability.
5. Q: At what time wilt thou have reached this Age?
A: That is a trick question. In order to determine this time, my mind must needs be sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to the division of bone and marrow; for, alas, the Age of Accountability is different for each individual, and is thus unknowable.
6. Q: By what means is a Decision for Christ made?
A: A Decision for Christ is made, not according to His own purpose and grace which was given to me in Christ Jesus before the world began, but according to the exercise of my own Free Will in saying the Sinner's Prayer in my own words.
7. Q: If it be true then that man is responsible for this Decision, how then can God be sovereign?
A: He cannot be. God sovereignly chose not to be sovereign, and is therefore dependent upon me to come to Him for salvation. He standeth outside the door of my heart, forlornly knocking, until such time as I Decide to let Him in.
8. Q: How then can we make such a Decision, seeing that the Scripture saith, we are dead in our trespasses and sins?
A: By this the Scripture meaneth, not that we are dead, but only that we are sick or injured in them.
9. Q: What is the assurance of thy salvation?
A: The assurance of thy salvation is, that I know the date on which I prayed the Sinner's Prayer, and have duly written this date on an official Decision card.
10. Q: What is thy story? What is thy song?
A: Praising my Savior all the day long.
11. Q: You ask me how I know he lives?
A: He lives within my heart.
12. Q: And what else hast thou got in thine heart?
A: I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
13. Q: Where??
A: Down in my heart!
14. Q: Where???
A: Down in my heart!!
15. Q: What witness aid hath been given us as a technique by which we may win souls?
A: The tract known commonly as the Four Spiritual Laws, is the chief aid whereby we may win souls.
16. Q: What doth this tract principally teach?
A: The Four Spiritual Laws principally teach, that God's entire plan for history and the universe centereth on me, and that I am powerful enough to thwart His divine purpose if I refuse to let Him pursue His Wonderful Plan for my life.
17. Q: What supplementary technique is given by which we may win souls?
A: The technique of giving our own Personal Testimony, in the which we must always be ready to give an answer concerning the years we spent in vanity and pride, and the wretched vices in which we wallowed all our lives until the day we got saved.
18. Q: I'm so happy, what's the reason why?
A: Jesus took my burden all away!
19. Q: What are the means given whereby we may large crowds of souls in a spectacular manner?
A: Such a spectacle is accomplished by means of well-publicized Crusades and Revivals which (in order that none may be loath to attend) are best conducted anywhere else but in a Church.
20. Q: Am I a soldier of the Cross?
A: I am a soldier of the Cross if I join Campus Crusade, Boys' Brigade, the Salvation Army, or the Wheaton Crusaders; or if I put on the helmet of Dispensationalism, the breastplate of Pietism, the shield of Tribulationism, and the sword of Zionism, having my feet shod with the gospel of Arminianism.
21. Q: Who is your boss?
A: My boss is a Jewish carpenter.
22. Q: Hath God predestined vessels of wrath to Hell?
A: God hath never performed such an omnipotent act, for any such thing would not reflect His primary attribute, which is NICENESS.
23. Q: What is sanctification?
A: Sanctification is the work of my free Will, whereby I am renewed by having my Daily Quiet Time.
24. Q: What rule hath God for our direction in prayer?
A: The rule that we must bow our hands, close our heads, and fold our eyes.
25. Q: What doth the Lord's Prayer teach us?
A: The Lord's Prayer teacheth us that we must never memorize a prayer, or use one that hath been written down.
26. Q: What's the book for thee?
A: The B-I-B-L-E.
27. Q: Which are among the first books which a Christian should read to his soul's health?
A: Among the first books which a Christian should read are the books of Daniel and Revelation, and The Late Great Planet Earth.
28. Q: Who is on the Lord's side?
A: He who doth support whatsoever is done by the nation of Israel, and who doth renounce the world, the flesh, and the Catholic Church.
29. Q: What are the seven deadly sins?
A: The seven deadly sins are smoking, drinking, dancing, card-playing, movie-going, baptizing babies, and having any creed but Christ.
30. Q: What is a sacrament?
A: A sacrament is an insidious invention devised by the Catholic Church whereby men are drawn into idolatry.
31. Q: What is the Lord's Supper?
A: The Lord's Supper is a dispensing of saltines and grape juice, in the which we remember Christ's command to pretend that they are His body and blood.
32. Q: What is baptism?
A: Baptism is the act whereby, by the performance of something that seems quite silly in front of everyone, I prove that I really, really mean it.
33. Q: What is the Church?
A: The Church is the tiny minority of individuals living at this time who have Jesus in their hearts, and who come together once a week for a sermon, fellowship and donuts.
34. Q: What is the office of the keys?
A: The office of the keys is that office held by the custodian.
35. Q: What meaneth "The Priesthood Of All Believers"?
A: The Priesthood Of All Believers meaneth that there exists no authority in the Church, as that falsely thought to be held by elders, presbyters, deacons, and bishops, but that each individual Christian acts as his own authority in all matters pertaining to the faith.
36. Q: Who is the Holy Spirit?
A: The Holy Spirit is a gentleman Who would never barge in.
37. Q: How long hath the Holy Spirit been at work?
A: The Holy Spirit hath been at work for more than a century: expressly, since the nineteenth-century Revitalization brought about by traveling Evangelists carrying tents across America.
38. Q: When will be the "Last Days" of which the Bible speaketh?
A: The "Last Days" are these days in which we are now living, in which the Antichrist, the Beast, and the Thief in the Night shall most certainly appear.
39. Q: What is the name of the event by which Christians will escape these dreadful entities?
A: The event commonly known as the Rapture, in the which it is our Blessed Hope that all cars driven by Christians will suddenly have no drivers.
40. Q: When is Jesus coming again?
A: Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening, and maybe soon.
41. Q: When the roll, roll, roll, is called up yonder, where will you be?
A: There.
42. Q: Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!
A: Praise ye the Lord!
43. Q: Praise ye the Lord!
A: Hallelujah!
44. Q: Where will we meet again?
A: Here, there, or in the air.
45. Q: Can I hear an Ay-men?
A: Ay-men.
1. Q: What is the chief end of each individual Christian?
A: Each individual Christian's chief end is to get saved. This is the first and great commandment.
2. Q: And what is the second great commandment?
A: The second, which is like unto it, is to get as many others saved as he can.
3. Q: What one work is required of thee for thy salvation?
A: It is required of me for my salvation that I make a Decision for Christ, which meaneth to accept Him into my heart to be my personallordandsaviour
4. Q: At what time must thou perform this work?
A: I must perform this work at such time as I have reached the Age of Accountability.
5. Q: At what time wilt thou have reached this Age?
A: That is a trick question. In order to determine this time, my mind must needs be sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce even to the division of bone and marrow; for, alas, the Age of Accountability is different for each individual, and is thus unknowable.
6. Q: By what means is a Decision for Christ made?
A: A Decision for Christ is made, not according to His own purpose and grace which was given to me in Christ Jesus before the world began, but according to the exercise of my own Free Will in saying the Sinner's Prayer in my own words.
7. Q: If it be true then that man is responsible for this Decision, how then can God be sovereign?
A: He cannot be. God sovereignly chose not to be sovereign, and is therefore dependent upon me to come to Him for salvation. He standeth outside the door of my heart, forlornly knocking, until such time as I Decide to let Him in.
8. Q: How then can we make such a Decision, seeing that the Scripture saith, we are dead in our trespasses and sins?
A: By this the Scripture meaneth, not that we are dead, but only that we are sick or injured in them.
9. Q: What is the assurance of thy salvation?
A: The assurance of thy salvation is, that I know the date on which I prayed the Sinner's Prayer, and have duly written this date on an official Decision card.
10. Q: What is thy story? What is thy song?
A: Praising my Savior all the day long.
11. Q: You ask me how I know he lives?
A: He lives within my heart.
12. Q: And what else hast thou got in thine heart?
A: I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
13. Q: Where??
A: Down in my heart!
14. Q: Where???
A: Down in my heart!!
15. Q: What witness aid hath been given us as a technique by which we may win souls?
A: The tract known commonly as the Four Spiritual Laws, is the chief aid whereby we may win souls.
16. Q: What doth this tract principally teach?
A: The Four Spiritual Laws principally teach, that God's entire plan for history and the universe centereth on me, and that I am powerful enough to thwart His divine purpose if I refuse to let Him pursue His Wonderful Plan for my life.
17. Q: What supplementary technique is given by which we may win souls?
A: The technique of giving our own Personal Testimony, in the which we must always be ready to give an answer concerning the years we spent in vanity and pride, and the wretched vices in which we wallowed all our lives until the day we got saved.
18. Q: I'm so happy, what's the reason why?
A: Jesus took my burden all away!
19. Q: What are the means given whereby we may large crowds of souls in a spectacular manner?
A: Such a spectacle is accomplished by means of well-publicized Crusades and Revivals which (in order that none may be loath to attend) are best conducted anywhere else but in a Church.
20. Q: Am I a soldier of the Cross?
A: I am a soldier of the Cross if I join Campus Crusade, Boys' Brigade, the Salvation Army, or the Wheaton Crusaders; or if I put on the helmet of Dispensationalism, the breastplate of Pietism, the shield of Tribulationism, and the sword of Zionism, having my feet shod with the gospel of Arminianism.
21. Q: Who is your boss?
A: My boss is a Jewish carpenter.
22. Q: Hath God predestined vessels of wrath to Hell?
A: God hath never performed such an omnipotent act, for any such thing would not reflect His primary attribute, which is NICENESS.
23. Q: What is sanctification?
A: Sanctification is the work of my free Will, whereby I am renewed by having my Daily Quiet Time.
24. Q: What rule hath God for our direction in prayer?
A: The rule that we must bow our hands, close our heads, and fold our eyes.
25. Q: What doth the Lord's Prayer teach us?
A: The Lord's Prayer teacheth us that we must never memorize a prayer, or use one that hath been written down.
26. Q: What's the book for thee?
A: The B-I-B-L-E.
27. Q: Which are among the first books which a Christian should read to his soul's health?
A: Among the first books which a Christian should read are the books of Daniel and Revelation, and The Late Great Planet Earth.
28. Q: Who is on the Lord's side?
A: He who doth support whatsoever is done by the nation of Israel, and who doth renounce the world, the flesh, and the Catholic Church.
29. Q: What are the seven deadly sins?
A: The seven deadly sins are smoking, drinking, dancing, card-playing, movie-going, baptizing babies, and having any creed but Christ.
30. Q: What is a sacrament?
A: A sacrament is an insidious invention devised by the Catholic Church whereby men are drawn into idolatry.
31. Q: What is the Lord's Supper?
A: The Lord's Supper is a dispensing of saltines and grape juice, in the which we remember Christ's command to pretend that they are His body and blood.
32. Q: What is baptism?
A: Baptism is the act whereby, by the performance of something that seems quite silly in front of everyone, I prove that I really, really mean it.
33. Q: What is the Church?
A: The Church is the tiny minority of individuals living at this time who have Jesus in their hearts, and who come together once a week for a sermon, fellowship and donuts.
34. Q: What is the office of the keys?
A: The office of the keys is that office held by the custodian.
35. Q: What meaneth "The Priesthood Of All Believers"?
A: The Priesthood Of All Believers meaneth that there exists no authority in the Church, as that falsely thought to be held by elders, presbyters, deacons, and bishops, but that each individual Christian acts as his own authority in all matters pertaining to the faith.
36. Q: Who is the Holy Spirit?
A: The Holy Spirit is a gentleman Who would never barge in.
37. Q: How long hath the Holy Spirit been at work?
A: The Holy Spirit hath been at work for more than a century: expressly, since the nineteenth-century Revitalization brought about by traveling Evangelists carrying tents across America.
38. Q: When will be the "Last Days" of which the Bible speaketh?
A: The "Last Days" are these days in which we are now living, in which the Antichrist, the Beast, and the Thief in the Night shall most certainly appear.
39. Q: What is the name of the event by which Christians will escape these dreadful entities?
A: The event commonly known as the Rapture, in the which it is our Blessed Hope that all cars driven by Christians will suddenly have no drivers.
40. Q: When is Jesus coming again?
A: Maybe morning, maybe noon, maybe evening, and maybe soon.
41. Q: When the roll, roll, roll, is called up yonder, where will you be?
A: There.
42. Q: Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!
A: Praise ye the Lord!
43. Q: Praise ye the Lord!
A: Hallelujah!
44. Q: Where will we meet again?
A: Here, there, or in the air.
45. Q: Can I hear an Ay-men?
A: Ay-men.
Friday, September 16, 2005
I can finally tell this story!
Last year, after a scare that my undergrad school, William Tyndale College in Farmington Hills, Michigan, would close, I discovered that I could finish my degree with three classes that I needed. They were all on a Monday and they were all three-hour classes back to back to back. That would be nine hours straight of classes on a Monday. It was a tough order but I knew I could do it. At the time, I worked at a credit union Monday through Friday during the day. I approached them with my opportunity and, to make a long story short, they were unable to grant me a half a day off during the week for a few months in order for me to finish my degree. After much thought and prayer, I decided that my best bet would be to search for a job in retail since they would offer the most flexible schedule. After submitting my resume in several places, I got a call from Target. After several interviews, I was offered a position making $2 more on the hour with a schedule that would allow me to finish school and at a store that was only ten minutes from my home in comparison to a 45 minute drive with the credit union. I thought it was a no-brainer and I accepted the position readily.
My official title was “Housewares and Domestics Team Leader.” There was Lie #1. I never had a team and I never lead anything. I was told that I would be running the housewares and domestics department like a small store. I would be responsible for almost all aspects of the departments. Lie #2: Although I was “responsible” for those departments, I had very little control over anything that occurred . Most of the time, I worked in other areas of the store that were not even part of my job description, all under the guise of “teamwork.” When I finally questioned what was going on, I was chastised like a child. The ETL (Executive Team Leader) of Team Relations, which is a fancy term for a Human Resources Supervisor denied she ever told me that job description which was yet another lie. However, I hung in there and the job allowed me to finish my schooling and graduate this past January with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Thought. It turns out that I had made a correct decision to do what I did because that semester was the last semester that Tyndale remained open and I was part of very last graduating class. At the time of my graduation, I had just made the decision for sure that I wanted to pursue a Masters Degree and it took a few months for me to settle on Ashland. During this time, I struggled in my position because it was not what I had signed for. Although I had very little control over what happened in the department, I was always given the blame for anything that went wrong.
My biggest pick with Target was always payroll. Target stores are categorized from A-D with A being the highest volume store and D being the lowest. The Monroe, Michigan store that I was employed at was categorized as a D store, ultra-low volume, and Target does not even open up D stores any more. Apparently, whatever formula that was used for payroll to tally up the number of hours needed always left us short-handed. So basically, I was given responsibilities to do in the store that were never part of my original job description, required to carry out those responsibilities and to be held accountable for them while also being held responsible and accountable to the departmental needs of my own departments. I was rarely given time to work on my own departments and I was never, and I do mean never, given team members to help me with those responsibilities. Even though I was a “Team Leader,” I never had one person that answered directly to me. In other words, I never had a team. Most days, particularly during the week, there were no sales floor team members on the sales floor, only team leaders. Many, many chiefs, but never enough Indians. And there was never, ever enough people to get the store where it needed to be.
Now, on March 12th, I was involved in a very serious car accident in which I broke my ankle and I had to take a six-week leave of absence. Just a couple of weeks before, I decided to quit fighting the system. If Target wanted me to be a “yes man” in order to keep my job then I would do just that. Everyday that I went in, I went straight to the LOD (Leader on Duty) and asked them what they wanted me to do. I was always given a list of things and I always did them all. Just two or three days before the accident, I was called into the office by the STL (Store Team Leader) and was praised for my new attitude and performance. As I left the meeting, I remember thinking how ironic and stupid this situation was. Three days later, I was in the accident and six weeks later, I was back to work. Three days after I returned, I was written up for poor job performance. My first question was, “How could I be written up for poor job performance when I wasn’t even here to perform?” The answer: “Well, this was going to happen before the accident, but we did not get to it in time.” My next question: “Why was I called into the office just three days before the accident and praised for my new attitude and performance?” The answer: “Well, those were dealing with certain issues that you had shown improvement in and not all of them.” In a nutshell, I had failed to meet Target’s expectations even though I was told that I was.
At that moment, I decided that I would not go quietly and I certainly did not. I stood up for myself and my performance every chance I could. I did my job the way that it should have been done and not always the way Target wanted me to. I did all of this while still trying to appease everyone that I could. But I was never silent on things I saw that should have improved and I beat that drum until I left.
Now, when I left the credit union, the team was very gracious and chipped in and bought a card and movie tickets for me and my wife. It was a small gesture, but certainly a very much appreciated one. But yesterday, I only had one Senior Team Leader wish me good luck. My own boss never even told me goodbye. And when I finished the project that I was on fifteen minutes before the end of my shift and asked the LOD what I was supposed to do, I was told, and I quote, “Well we’re sure as hell not going to pay for you sit around. Clock out and go home.” My response: “Well goodbye to you, too Melissa.” Yes, her name was Melissa and she is the only Senior Team Leader on the sales floor. She works over in softlines in the Monroe, Michigan store. If you’d like, be sure to look her up and tell her how I feel. Believe me, my response was much more reserved than what I wanted to say. My wife even commented that it surprised her that it didn’t say more. I clocked out and went home and nobody even noticed.
Needless to say, I won’t be shopping at Target unless I have to. From now on, I’m a Walmart man.
Last year, after a scare that my undergrad school, William Tyndale College in Farmington Hills, Michigan, would close, I discovered that I could finish my degree with three classes that I needed. They were all on a Monday and they were all three-hour classes back to back to back. That would be nine hours straight of classes on a Monday. It was a tough order but I knew I could do it. At the time, I worked at a credit union Monday through Friday during the day. I approached them with my opportunity and, to make a long story short, they were unable to grant me a half a day off during the week for a few months in order for me to finish my degree. After much thought and prayer, I decided that my best bet would be to search for a job in retail since they would offer the most flexible schedule. After submitting my resume in several places, I got a call from Target. After several interviews, I was offered a position making $2 more on the hour with a schedule that would allow me to finish school and at a store that was only ten minutes from my home in comparison to a 45 minute drive with the credit union. I thought it was a no-brainer and I accepted the position readily.
My official title was “Housewares and Domestics Team Leader.” There was Lie #1. I never had a team and I never lead anything. I was told that I would be running the housewares and domestics department like a small store. I would be responsible for almost all aspects of the departments. Lie #2: Although I was “responsible” for those departments, I had very little control over anything that occurred . Most of the time, I worked in other areas of the store that were not even part of my job description, all under the guise of “teamwork.” When I finally questioned what was going on, I was chastised like a child. The ETL (Executive Team Leader) of Team Relations, which is a fancy term for a Human Resources Supervisor denied she ever told me that job description which was yet another lie. However, I hung in there and the job allowed me to finish my schooling and graduate this past January with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Thought. It turns out that I had made a correct decision to do what I did because that semester was the last semester that Tyndale remained open and I was part of very last graduating class. At the time of my graduation, I had just made the decision for sure that I wanted to pursue a Masters Degree and it took a few months for me to settle on Ashland. During this time, I struggled in my position because it was not what I had signed for. Although I had very little control over what happened in the department, I was always given the blame for anything that went wrong.
My biggest pick with Target was always payroll. Target stores are categorized from A-D with A being the highest volume store and D being the lowest. The Monroe, Michigan store that I was employed at was categorized as a D store, ultra-low volume, and Target does not even open up D stores any more. Apparently, whatever formula that was used for payroll to tally up the number of hours needed always left us short-handed. So basically, I was given responsibilities to do in the store that were never part of my original job description, required to carry out those responsibilities and to be held accountable for them while also being held responsible and accountable to the departmental needs of my own departments. I was rarely given time to work on my own departments and I was never, and I do mean never, given team members to help me with those responsibilities. Even though I was a “Team Leader,” I never had one person that answered directly to me. In other words, I never had a team. Most days, particularly during the week, there were no sales floor team members on the sales floor, only team leaders. Many, many chiefs, but never enough Indians. And there was never, ever enough people to get the store where it needed to be.
Now, on March 12th, I was involved in a very serious car accident in which I broke my ankle and I had to take a six-week leave of absence. Just a couple of weeks before, I decided to quit fighting the system. If Target wanted me to be a “yes man” in order to keep my job then I would do just that. Everyday that I went in, I went straight to the LOD (Leader on Duty) and asked them what they wanted me to do. I was always given a list of things and I always did them all. Just two or three days before the accident, I was called into the office by the STL (Store Team Leader) and was praised for my new attitude and performance. As I left the meeting, I remember thinking how ironic and stupid this situation was. Three days later, I was in the accident and six weeks later, I was back to work. Three days after I returned, I was written up for poor job performance. My first question was, “How could I be written up for poor job performance when I wasn’t even here to perform?” The answer: “Well, this was going to happen before the accident, but we did not get to it in time.” My next question: “Why was I called into the office just three days before the accident and praised for my new attitude and performance?” The answer: “Well, those were dealing with certain issues that you had shown improvement in and not all of them.” In a nutshell, I had failed to meet Target’s expectations even though I was told that I was.
At that moment, I decided that I would not go quietly and I certainly did not. I stood up for myself and my performance every chance I could. I did my job the way that it should have been done and not always the way Target wanted me to. I did all of this while still trying to appease everyone that I could. But I was never silent on things I saw that should have improved and I beat that drum until I left.
Now, when I left the credit union, the team was very gracious and chipped in and bought a card and movie tickets for me and my wife. It was a small gesture, but certainly a very much appreciated one. But yesterday, I only had one Senior Team Leader wish me good luck. My own boss never even told me goodbye. And when I finished the project that I was on fifteen minutes before the end of my shift and asked the LOD what I was supposed to do, I was told, and I quote, “Well we’re sure as hell not going to pay for you sit around. Clock out and go home.” My response: “Well goodbye to you, too Melissa.” Yes, her name was Melissa and she is the only Senior Team Leader on the sales floor. She works over in softlines in the Monroe, Michigan store. If you’d like, be sure to look her up and tell her how I feel. Believe me, my response was much more reserved than what I wanted to say. My wife even commented that it surprised her that it didn’t say more. I clocked out and went home and nobody even noticed.
Needless to say, I won’t be shopping at Target unless I have to. From now on, I’m a Walmart man.
So I’m sitting here in a Holiday Inn Express playing the “if I were a wireless network, where would I be?” game. Well, I found a network. But I can’t get on it because it requires a code that I am assuming is only issued to guests. Oh well. The wireless revolution hasn’t quite hit us all the way yet. Someday soon though, a person will be able to log on anywhere in the country. Verizon is already trying it and it won’t be long before others jump on the bandwagon and let us in. Until now, and until I figure out the future for my ISP needs, I’m stuck at Panera Breads and coffee shops and maybe even libraries until I can sit once again in the comfort of my home and surf the internet.
Speaking of comfort, the reason that I’m here is because a local transmission shop is looking at my truck. I’m a little scared to hear the diagnosis, but it needs to be fixed and we actually have the money to fix it…hopefully. I’m pretty tired after waking up at 6:30 to make sure I was at the place when it opened so I can hopefully get it around lunchtime and get to Ashland. Then I walked half a mile to a Big Boy where I had breakfast and coffee. Now I’m sitting here hoping the place calls soon because I’m bored and tired and have no place to go until it’s fixed.
It’s been an interesting few weeks for me. Two weeks ago, my wife and I moved our belongings to our new apartment in Ashland, Ohio where I will be attending Ashland Theological Seminary to earn my Masters of Divinity Degree. We returned back to Carleton to stay with some friends so I can work out my work notice. Last week, we went back and unpacked boxes and made the place livable. My last day at Target was yesterday and as soon as my truck is fixed, I’m heading to Ashland. My wife will follow this evening. Tonight we will stay at the apartment and tomorrow we will travel to my in-laws in Massillon, where we will spend some time with my brother-in-law before he leaves Sunday for his first year at Ohio State. Kandice will travel back to Michigan on Sunday morning to be here for a baby shower and she will remain in Michigan during the week until she finds a new job in the Ashland/Mansfield, Ohio area. She will be back down next weekend to attend a seminary picnic on Saturday the 24th that will follow orientation. The next weekend is still undecided as to who will be going where but classes for me start on Monday October 3rd.
There’s an update for now. More to come later.
Speaking of comfort, the reason that I’m here is because a local transmission shop is looking at my truck. I’m a little scared to hear the diagnosis, but it needs to be fixed and we actually have the money to fix it…hopefully. I’m pretty tired after waking up at 6:30 to make sure I was at the place when it opened so I can hopefully get it around lunchtime and get to Ashland. Then I walked half a mile to a Big Boy where I had breakfast and coffee. Now I’m sitting here hoping the place calls soon because I’m bored and tired and have no place to go until it’s fixed.
It’s been an interesting few weeks for me. Two weeks ago, my wife and I moved our belongings to our new apartment in Ashland, Ohio where I will be attending Ashland Theological Seminary to earn my Masters of Divinity Degree. We returned back to Carleton to stay with some friends so I can work out my work notice. Last week, we went back and unpacked boxes and made the place livable. My last day at Target was yesterday and as soon as my truck is fixed, I’m heading to Ashland. My wife will follow this evening. Tonight we will stay at the apartment and tomorrow we will travel to my in-laws in Massillon, where we will spend some time with my brother-in-law before he leaves Sunday for his first year at Ohio State. Kandice will travel back to Michigan on Sunday morning to be here for a baby shower and she will remain in Michigan during the week until she finds a new job in the Ashland/Mansfield, Ohio area. She will be back down next weekend to attend a seminary picnic on Saturday the 24th that will follow orientation. The next weekend is still undecided as to who will be going where but classes for me start on Monday October 3rd.
There’s an update for now. More to come later.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Here is a story that I recently shared with one of groups online that I belong to:
My parents used to own a cleaning business (They were not janitors, they were sanitation engineers, thank you very much). The side business blossomed and very shortly my parents landed a job cleaning a local Southern Baptist Church. Every Saturday morning, I would wake up at the crack of dawn and go with my parents to this church where they would start cleaning and I would catch up on my Saturday morning cartoons until I was old enough and awake enough to help out. Before we got to the church, we would always go to Hardees for breakfast. Every Saturday morning, and I do mean every Saturday morning, a man would also show up for breakfast. He went by the name "Happy." To this day, I don't know his real name. He would come in every Saturday morning and greet everyone. Those he knew, he would chat with a bit. To those he did not know, he would introduce himself and then quickly excuse himself. He never was overbearing or pretentious, just a genuinely nice guy. Here's the thing: Happy was a nickname given to him. The man was so happy that he actually got a nickname for it! Happy even began attending my home church for awhile, but he never joined. Even then, before he even walked down the aisle to take his seat in the pew, everyone knew him as Happy. If someone ever had the courage to ask Happy why he was so happy, Happy was always very quick to tell you the difference that Jesus had made in his life.
One sad day, my Dad picked up the newspaper and brought to our attention that Happy had passed away. Although none of my family knew him very well since he had just started attending our church, and I think that this was the first time that my parents actually knew his real name since it was printed next to his picture in the obituary, we decided to attend the funeral. I was very young, only seven-years old or so, but I will never forget this funeral. It was the closest thing to a party that I had ever witnessed at a funeral. I will never forget my Dad saying that this was not a funeral, this was a "home going."
To this day, if I ever eat at a Hardees (and that is rare since they are no longer in Michigan), I always think about Happy and his smile and his eagerness to tell others why he had got his nickname. To this day, I don't think I have ever met a man quite so happy.
My parents used to own a cleaning business (They were not janitors, they were sanitation engineers, thank you very much). The side business blossomed and very shortly my parents landed a job cleaning a local Southern Baptist Church. Every Saturday morning, I would wake up at the crack of dawn and go with my parents to this church where they would start cleaning and I would catch up on my Saturday morning cartoons until I was old enough and awake enough to help out. Before we got to the church, we would always go to Hardees for breakfast. Every Saturday morning, and I do mean every Saturday morning, a man would also show up for breakfast. He went by the name "Happy." To this day, I don't know his real name. He would come in every Saturday morning and greet everyone. Those he knew, he would chat with a bit. To those he did not know, he would introduce himself and then quickly excuse himself. He never was overbearing or pretentious, just a genuinely nice guy. Here's the thing: Happy was a nickname given to him. The man was so happy that he actually got a nickname for it! Happy even began attending my home church for awhile, but he never joined. Even then, before he even walked down the aisle to take his seat in the pew, everyone knew him as Happy. If someone ever had the courage to ask Happy why he was so happy, Happy was always very quick to tell you the difference that Jesus had made in his life.
One sad day, my Dad picked up the newspaper and brought to our attention that Happy had passed away. Although none of my family knew him very well since he had just started attending our church, and I think that this was the first time that my parents actually knew his real name since it was printed next to his picture in the obituary, we decided to attend the funeral. I was very young, only seven-years old or so, but I will never forget this funeral. It was the closest thing to a party that I had ever witnessed at a funeral. I will never forget my Dad saying that this was not a funeral, this was a "home going."
To this day, if I ever eat at a Hardees (and that is rare since they are no longer in Michigan), I always think about Happy and his smile and his eagerness to tell others why he had got his nickname. To this day, I don't think I have ever met a man quite so happy.
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
It is always easy to play Monday morning quarterback. That's my favorite
position in my favorite sport, because I always win, and the other team
always loses. Disasters like Hurricane Katrina beckon us to join in the
fray. I've heard New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin blamed, Louisiana Governor
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco blamed, and President George W. Bush blamed. Do
they have blame? Sure. Only the Lord Jesus was perfect; except for him, no
other human ever acts without the influence of sin, even when we truly
believe that we are acting completely selflessly, solely for the glory of
God and the good of others.
The rest of humankind is not only fallen, we are finite. We make stupid
judgment calls, especially under pressure. It took me almost one full
minute to remember the last four digits of my home telephone number this
past week when I was filling out a Red Cross volunteer form. On Friday, I
couldn't remember where I put my keys and searched our house for fifteen
minutes before giving up, only to find them sitting on my desk at work -- we
used my wife's keys to unlock the doors. Those little physiological things
illustrate that the brain is simply another organ of the body, subject to
sensory and emotional overload and fatigue, an organ that cannot operate
very long without renewal. In spite of the power of the will to choose to
act, there are limitations on our system, limitations that keep us from
functioning the way that we may choose. The President, Louisiana's governor
and New Orleans' mayor are not really any different from you or me. They,
too, need to eat regularly and go to the bathroom, and they need to get
enough sleep, or they will simply go nuts.
I am thankful for God's gift of civil government. The temporary loss of it
within a major urban area this past week demonstrates the truth that God has
ordained civil government for our good, and "there is no authority except
that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been
established by God." (Romans 13:2.) Civil government is "God's servant to
do you good." (Romans 13:4.) It has been "sent by him to punish those who do
wrong and to commend those who do right." (1 Peter 2:14.) Yet government
does not have the ability to solve all our problems.
First of all, the American system of government is inefficient, deliberately
so: our founders feared centralization of power and created a form of
Constitutionally limited, representative government with basic liberties
reserved to individuals and the states. Nowhere is power concentrated in
one political body. At the federal level, we have three branches of
government: legislative, executive and judicial, and they are often at odds
with each other. Furthermore, Federal authority is strictly limited and
balanced with state authority, while state authority is limited and balanced
with local authority. The American system wasn't designed to be a
dictatorship, so it isn't as efficient as some people might want it to be in
times of great crisis. I have heard it said that Benito Mussolini made
Italy's trains run on time, but he did that by shooting inefficient people.
Is this true? I don't know -- I wasn't there. But one thing I know: I
don't want to live under a President Mussolini, a Governor Mussolini or a
Mayor Mussolini. And the framers of the U.S. Constitution wrote the
document the way they did because they didn't want to live under a Mussolini
either.
Furthermore, government is limited in its ability and subject to the sinful
choices of fallen people. In the modern West, many people have the tendency
to view government in an almost God like way, as if government can keep us
from disaster and provide a safety net that is able to keep everybody from
dropping through. But government is limited. It doesn't have the ability
to spend money on and on without dire consequences. It doesn't have the
ability to correct every problem at home or abroad. If we put money and
people in one place, we won't have money and people to put in other places.
That is simply how it is.
As a citizen of Louisiana, I am grateful for all of the help, public and
private, that is flowing into our state. And I am grateful for the good
sense that our President used in putting an African-American, Louisiana
native in charge of the whole three state project: Lt. Gen. Russell Honore,
born and raised near Baton Rouge and a graduate of Southern University, a
great Black institution. I thank God for General Honore, because "The
Reverend" (I hate that damned title and never use it.) Jesse Jackson was
here in Alexandria, Louisiana, over the weekend, grandstanding and playing
the race card. The last thing we need is a racist demagogue, exploiting
this tragedy by further polarizing the races. From such may the good Lord
deliver us.
Amen,
Bob
"Why do you say that you are righteous by faith only? Not that I am
acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only
the satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ is my righteousness
before God; and I can receive the same and make it my own in no other way
than by faith only." (The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 23, # 61.)
Robert Benn Vincent, Sr.
Grace Presbyterian Church
4900 Jackson Street
Alexandria, Louisiana 71303-2509
Tutissimum Refugium Sanguinis Christi
80 Hickory Hill Drive
Boyce, Louisiana 71409-8784
318.445.7271 church
318.443.1034 fax
318.793.5354 home
bob@rbvincent.com
http://www.rbvincent.com
http://www.grace-presbyterian.org
http://www.gcsla.org
It is always easy to play Monday morning quarterback. That's my favorite
position in my favorite sport, because I always win, and the other team
always loses. Disasters like Hurricane Katrina beckon us to join in the
fray. I've heard New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin blamed, Louisiana Governor
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco blamed, and President George W. Bush blamed. Do
they have blame? Sure. Only the Lord Jesus was perfect; except for him, no
other human ever acts without the influence of sin, even when we truly
believe that we are acting completely selflessly, solely for the glory of
God and the good of others.
The rest of humankind is not only fallen, we are finite. We make stupid
judgment calls, especially under pressure. It took me almost one full
minute to remember the last four digits of my home telephone number this
past week when I was filling out a Red Cross volunteer form. On Friday, I
couldn't remember where I put my keys and searched our house for fifteen
minutes before giving up, only to find them sitting on my desk at work -- we
used my wife's keys to unlock the doors. Those little physiological things
illustrate that the brain is simply another organ of the body, subject to
sensory and emotional overload and fatigue, an organ that cannot operate
very long without renewal. In spite of the power of the will to choose to
act, there are limitations on our system, limitations that keep us from
functioning the way that we may choose. The President, Louisiana's governor
and New Orleans' mayor are not really any different from you or me. They,
too, need to eat regularly and go to the bathroom, and they need to get
enough sleep, or they will simply go nuts.
I am thankful for God's gift of civil government. The temporary loss of it
within a major urban area this past week demonstrates the truth that God has
ordained civil government for our good, and "there is no authority except
that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been
established by God." (Romans 13:2.) Civil government is "God's servant to
do you good." (Romans 13:4.) It has been "sent by him to punish those who do
wrong and to commend those who do right." (1 Peter 2:14.) Yet government
does not have the ability to solve all our problems.
First of all, the American system of government is inefficient, deliberately
so: our founders feared centralization of power and created a form of
Constitutionally limited, representative government with basic liberties
reserved to individuals and the states. Nowhere is power concentrated in
one political body. At the federal level, we have three branches of
government: legislative, executive and judicial, and they are often at odds
with each other. Furthermore, Federal authority is strictly limited and
balanced with state authority, while state authority is limited and balanced
with local authority. The American system wasn't designed to be a
dictatorship, so it isn't as efficient as some people might want it to be in
times of great crisis. I have heard it said that Benito Mussolini made
Italy's trains run on time, but he did that by shooting inefficient people.
Is this true? I don't know -- I wasn't there. But one thing I know: I
don't want to live under a President Mussolini, a Governor Mussolini or a
Mayor Mussolini. And the framers of the U.S. Constitution wrote the
document the way they did because they didn't want to live under a Mussolini
either.
Furthermore, government is limited in its ability and subject to the sinful
choices of fallen people. In the modern West, many people have the tendency
to view government in an almost God like way, as if government can keep us
from disaster and provide a safety net that is able to keep everybody from
dropping through. But government is limited. It doesn't have the ability
to spend money on and on without dire consequences. It doesn't have the
ability to correct every problem at home or abroad. If we put money and
people in one place, we won't have money and people to put in other places.
That is simply how it is.
As a citizen of Louisiana, I am grateful for all of the help, public and
private, that is flowing into our state. And I am grateful for the good
sense that our President used in putting an African-American, Louisiana
native in charge of the whole three state project: Lt. Gen. Russell Honore,
born and raised near Baton Rouge and a graduate of Southern University, a
great Black institution. I thank God for General Honore, because "The
Reverend" (I hate that damned title and never use it.) Jesse Jackson was
here in Alexandria, Louisiana, over the weekend, grandstanding and playing
the race card. The last thing we need is a racist demagogue, exploiting
this tragedy by further polarizing the races. From such may the good Lord
deliver us.
Amen,
Bob
"Why do you say that you are righteous by faith only? Not that I am
acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, but because only
the satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ is my righteousness
before God; and I can receive the same and make it my own in no other way
than by faith only." (The Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 23, # 61.)
Robert Benn Vincent, Sr.
Grace Presbyterian Church
4900 Jackson Street
Alexandria, Louisiana 71303-2509
Tutissimum Refugium Sanguinis Christi
80 Hickory Hill Drive
Boyce, Louisiana 71409-8784
318.445.7271 church
318.443.1034 fax
318.793.5354 home
bob@rbvincent.com
http://www.rbvincent.com
http://www.grace-presbyterian.org
http://www.gcsla.org
This is a post from a man that I not only count as a friend, even though I have never met him, but a man that I have a great deal of respect for. Bob Vincent is a pastor in Alexandria, Louisiana and has helped some refugees from New Orleans as has even driven a bus to the city to pick up some directly. Here are some of his thoughts regarding Katrina's aftermath:
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
How should we respond to a harsh providence like Katrina? We focus on
Romans 8:28. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
1. Bad things really do happen.
When we ponder my favorite verse in the Bible, Romans 8:28, we need to keep
in mind that it does not teach that everything that happens is good.
This past week was full of the sights and sounds of suffering . . . and the
smells. After an earlier trip transporting elderly folk from Baton Rouge to
Lafayette, my wife and I went in a convoy to the Superdome to take people to
the New Orleans airport temporary triage unit. One of our people was a
woman who was completely out of her mind. A man on our van told us that she
had entered the Superdome with five children, and now she had none. What
happened? He had no idea. He only said that he had seen things he didn't
want to talk about, didn't want to think about. Yes, there were gang rapes.
Young men beat old people in wheelchairs to steal their meager belongings.
There were rotting corpses. The stench . . .
So much that happens to us is bad . . . really bad. There is nothing good
about death or the things that lead to death. I was with my father for the
last twelve hours of his life. I listened to him gasp for breath for two
hours, literally drowning in fluid, gurgling with the death rattle. That's
not good. That's terrible. I'll never forget the sights, sounds and smells
of his death, or that of my mother or mother-in-law -- of scores of other
people.
I've sat with literally hundreds of people who've had their lives torn apart
by some sexual sin, seen the response of dozens of folk as they discovered
for the first time that their spouse had been unfaithful to them. Adultery
is not good. It's vile and brings unbelievable pain to others. People have
horrible reactions when they hear a spouse confess to infidelity. I've had
to pull somebody off of a spouse, seen a man break his knuckles as he hit my
wall, felt the dent in the paneling from where a wedding band bounced off.
I've ministered to bleeding children, wounded by the sword-thrusts from two
fools who couldn't keep their mouths shut in front of their children,
especially in the wake of a divorce.
2. When we encounter these bad things, we must earnestly pray for divine
intervention.
Our Lord teaches us this by his example in the Garden: '"Abba, Father," he
said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I
will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36.)
At least four things stand out in that verse:
2.1. Jesus rests in the love of God. God is his Father and his stance toward
his child is one of affection and delight: "Abba, Father."
2.2. Jesus rests in the absolute sovereignty of God: "Everything is possible
for you."
2.3. Jesus really prays: "Take this cup from me."
2.4. Having prayed, Jesus rests in submission to God's good purpose: "Yet
not what I will, but what you will."
Over the years I've discovered that people tend to minimize either the third
or the fourth actions of our Lord. I've encountered many people who are so
ensnared by the false, materialistic "gospel" of "name it and claim it" that
they can never come to rest in the sovereign goodness of God who ordains
sometimes evil things to bless his own. I once had to ride in an automobile
with a man who was obviously suffering from a viral infection, but he had
become so superstitious about what he said that he wouldn't acknowledge the
reality of his plight, and so he confessed, "I am catching a healing." He
seemed to ignore the truth of Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous."
But there is a second half to that verse, the part that another group of
Christians tends to minimize: "But the LORD delivers him out of them all."
Fatalists, those who believe more in line with Islam than with biblical
Christianity, so focus on the sovereignty of God that they rush to rest in
the sovereignty of God without the struggle of persistent, prevailing
prayer. They forget the biblical truth, summed up so well:
"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own
will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as
thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the
will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes
taken away, but rather established." *
I find the above paragraph thoroughly biblical; it asserts God's absolute
sovereignty, while affirming that certain seemingly incongruous doctrines
are also true: 1. God is not the author of sin; 2. God does not force his
will on his creatures; 3. God's foreordination includes not only the end
result, but also all of the means to that end. Biblical predestination is
never fatalistic.
In the light of that truth, we must really pray. Indeed, our Sovereign God
admonishes us to give him no rest: "You who call on the LORD, give
yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and
makes her the praise of the earth." (Isaiah 62:6, 7.)
Under the overarching, immutable decree of God, it is because Moses refused
to accept God's admonition as final that we have the people of God, as we
know them today:
'"Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may
destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." But Moses sought
the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger
burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and
a mighty hand? . . ." Then the LORD relented (niphal, waw-consecutive,
imperfect of _NACHAM_, "repented, changed his mind, came to regret," etc.)
and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.' (Exodus
32:10-14.)
The truth of the matter is that our sovereign God makes use of second causes
and sometimes sovereignly limits himself by people's lack of faith: 'JESUS
said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own
house is a prophet without honor." He COULD NOT DO ANY MIRACLES THERE,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed
at THEIR LACK OF FAITH.' (Mark 6:4-6.)
Saint James admonishes us: "You do not have, because you do not ask God,"
and goes on, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:2.)
God help the Christian who simply acquiesces to a severe providence without
earnestly and persistently pleading the promises of God. If my child is
caught in drug addiction or sexual sin, may God deliver me simply from
praying, "Lord, give me grace to endure this trial. Your will be done." No,
I need first to fight the circumstances, and I need to wrestle with the
Lord, as did Jacob at Peniel. (Genesis 32.) That's what Jesus did in the
Garden of Gethsemane.
3. We must come not simply to accept a severe providence fatalistically, but
to embrace it, in time, with cheerfulness.
There comes a point in prayer where we are brought to surrender. It may be
in a few moments, or it may be weeks or even months or years. But that is
what our Lord does when finally he comes to pray, "Yet not what I will, but
what you will." (Mark 14:36.) Saint Paul's response to his "thorn in the
flesh," his tormenting "angel of Satan," serves us well as another example:
'Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to
me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.' (2 Corinthians
12:8-10.)
3.1. We must remember that God has destined both the good and the bad things
that happen to us for his glory and for our good.
The reason that we can come eventually, cheerfully to embrace a severe
providence is because of what the Bible teaches us about our relationship
with our sovereign God. Because God chose us out of a sinful and fallen
humanity, chose us for no reason inherent in us, chose us not because he
foresaw our faith or good works, but unconditionally, we STAND under his
grace and will NEVER come under his condemnation. (Romans 9:6-18; Acts
13:48; Ephesians 1:3-2:10; John 6:37, 44; 10:28, 29; Romans 5:1ff; 8:1,
31-39**.) Even when we experience suffering in this life, it is never as a
condemning consequence for our sins, but part of God's benevolent plan for
our lives, including his Fatherly discipline, whereby he causes whatever
happens to us, even our own sins, failures and foolishness to work together,
not only for our own individual good, but for the good of all God's people
in all ages and places. (Romans 8:18-30***.)
Because our Lord was cursed and condemned, we NEVER will be (Galatians
3:13.) -- "in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come
to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith." (Galatians 3:14.) "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up
for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all
things?" (Romans 8:32.) When we read of those dreadful curses and
condemnations, we know that they will never be visited on us. Rather, all we
ever receive is the blessing of God. We are united with the one true Seed of
Abraham, and we are therefore the inheritors of all the good things and none
of the bad. (Romans 8:17.)
And all this is so because God did not "spare his own Son, but delivered him
up for us all." (Romans 8:32.) He did not spare him from one ounce of guilt
that is yours or mine; he did not spare him one piece of the defilement and
consequences of that guilt; he did not hold him back from experiencing the
full brunt of his just wrath due for our sins, but abandoned him to hell on
the cross. Who can bring any charge against us? (Romans 8:33.) Who can
condemn us? (Romans 8:34.) There is no longer condemnation (Romans 8:1.)
because there is no longer any guilt left.
"What is your only comfort in life and in death?" asks the _Heidelberger_
and answers:
"That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but
belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has
fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the
devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not
a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for
my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal
life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him."
3.2 We never thank God for evil in abstraction, but for his goodness in
every circumstance, because he has ordained whatsoever comes to pass for our
good -- full conformity to the restored image of God in Jesus Christ.
(Romans 8:29.)
"Thank you, God, for my spouse's adultery and for the financial destruction
it is going to bring. Thank you for the psychological torment that it is
going to bring on our little children as the hate daily grows between us."
Of course, we should never pray that way -- that is the prayer of a fool.
Rather, we give thanks to God that we are not alone in these trials and that
our faithful Savior was tempted in all the ways that we are and that he,
too, suffered injustice in this world, that we have a Friend in heaven who
is praying for us with a full awareness of what we are going through. We
give thanks that God is still in absolute control and that his loving hand
is orchestrating all these things for our ultimate welfare in Jesus Christ
that we may be like Jesus. (Romans 8:29.)
Resting in the biblical truth of God's absolute sovereignty, we approach
life differently than the rest of humankind.
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for
this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)
There is tremendous power in our praising God in the middle of the Chaos of
our lives "under the sun," but this is only possible as we focus on our
Lord, his goodness and his good goal, not on ourselves and our sometimes
miserable circumstances. How poignantly this was brought home to us last
night. Our son and his wife came up from Baton Rouge with a fifteen year
old, single, pregnant African American woman. Several days back, Benn had
received a telephone call from one of his old Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship friends from Tulane days. Benn's friend had received a phone
call from this young woman, stranded in a shelter in Gonzales. Her family
had been transported away, but she had been left. Benn went that night to
the shelter and brought the young woman up to Baton Rouge to stay with them.
Then they came on to Alexandria, and Benn took her to catch a flight early
this morning. Benn's IVF friend's wife's family is going to take the young
woman into their home to live. The young woman's mother is a crack cocaine
addict from the poorest section of New Orleans, but this young woman and her
baby will live with an obstetrician and his family. She and her soon to be
born baby will live in a nurturing Christian environment with wonderful
opportunities in the future. As Sandy and I interacted with Neal last
night -- I once called her Katrina by accident -- we found her to be bright
and an avid reader. Romans 8:28 is still true.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18.)
To the degree that we are full of Jesus rather than full of ourselves,
colored and controlled, not by psychotropic drugs and other coping devices,
but by the Holy Spirit, we can maintain this response of gratitude:
"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be being
filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ."
(Ephesians 5:18-20.)
We don't do this with a Pollyanna-esque denial of reality, but with a
"cynical" realism that chooses cheerfully to be optimistic by faith and
chooses to express that cheerfulness in regular seasons of thanksgiving
before God and man, and especially in the sanctuary of our own hearts.
Under God's Grace in the Wake of a Storm,
Bob
bob@rbvincent.com
www.rbvincent.com
* _The Westminster Confession of Faith_, III, i
** 'It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended
from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all
Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your
offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children
who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are
regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated:
"At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." Not only
that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order
that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who
calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is
written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What then shall we say? Is God
unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not,
therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the
Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I
might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all
the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he
hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:6-18.)
"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the
Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48.)
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus
Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance
with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and
understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to
his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when
the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also
chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who
were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And
you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a
seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the
praise of his glory. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in
the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to
which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is
like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to
come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way. As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit
who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following
its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace
you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him
in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he
might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness
to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so
that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians
1:3-2:10.)
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I
will never drive away." (John 6:37.)
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will
raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44.)
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch
them out of my hand." (John 10:28.)
"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch
them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:29.)
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by
faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God
has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has
given us." (Romans 5:1-5.)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,"
(Romans 8:1.)
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will
bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was
raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
8:31-39.)
*** "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation
for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected
it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to
decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were
saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it
patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not
know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows
the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in
accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he
justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:18-30.)
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
How should we respond to a harsh providence like Katrina? We focus on
Romans 8:28. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
1. Bad things really do happen.
When we ponder my favorite verse in the Bible, Romans 8:28, we need to keep
in mind that it does not teach that everything that happens is good.
This past week was full of the sights and sounds of suffering . . . and the
smells. After an earlier trip transporting elderly folk from Baton Rouge to
Lafayette, my wife and I went in a convoy to the Superdome to take people to
the New Orleans airport temporary triage unit. One of our people was a
woman who was completely out of her mind. A man on our van told us that she
had entered the Superdome with five children, and now she had none. What
happened? He had no idea. He only said that he had seen things he didn't
want to talk about, didn't want to think about. Yes, there were gang rapes.
Young men beat old people in wheelchairs to steal their meager belongings.
There were rotting corpses. The stench . . .
So much that happens to us is bad . . . really bad. There is nothing good
about death or the things that lead to death. I was with my father for the
last twelve hours of his life. I listened to him gasp for breath for two
hours, literally drowning in fluid, gurgling with the death rattle. That's
not good. That's terrible. I'll never forget the sights, sounds and smells
of his death, or that of my mother or mother-in-law -- of scores of other
people.
I've sat with literally hundreds of people who've had their lives torn apart
by some sexual sin, seen the response of dozens of folk as they discovered
for the first time that their spouse had been unfaithful to them. Adultery
is not good. It's vile and brings unbelievable pain to others. People have
horrible reactions when they hear a spouse confess to infidelity. I've had
to pull somebody off of a spouse, seen a man break his knuckles as he hit my
wall, felt the dent in the paneling from where a wedding band bounced off.
I've ministered to bleeding children, wounded by the sword-thrusts from two
fools who couldn't keep their mouths shut in front of their children,
especially in the wake of a divorce.
2. When we encounter these bad things, we must earnestly pray for divine
intervention.
Our Lord teaches us this by his example in the Garden: '"Abba, Father," he
said, "everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I
will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36.)
At least four things stand out in that verse:
2.1. Jesus rests in the love of God. God is his Father and his stance toward
his child is one of affection and delight: "Abba, Father."
2.2. Jesus rests in the absolute sovereignty of God: "Everything is possible
for you."
2.3. Jesus really prays: "Take this cup from me."
2.4. Having prayed, Jesus rests in submission to God's good purpose: "Yet
not what I will, but what you will."
Over the years I've discovered that people tend to minimize either the third
or the fourth actions of our Lord. I've encountered many people who are so
ensnared by the false, materialistic "gospel" of "name it and claim it" that
they can never come to rest in the sovereign goodness of God who ordains
sometimes evil things to bless his own. I once had to ride in an automobile
with a man who was obviously suffering from a viral infection, but he had
become so superstitious about what he said that he wouldn't acknowledge the
reality of his plight, and so he confessed, "I am catching a healing." He
seemed to ignore the truth of Psalm 34:19, "Many are the afflictions of the
righteous."
But there is a second half to that verse, the part that another group of
Christians tends to minimize: "But the LORD delivers him out of them all."
Fatalists, those who believe more in line with Islam than with biblical
Christianity, so focus on the sovereignty of God that they rush to rest in
the sovereignty of God without the struggle of persistent, prevailing
prayer. They forget the biblical truth, summed up so well:
"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own
will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as
thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the
will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes
taken away, but rather established." *
I find the above paragraph thoroughly biblical; it asserts God's absolute
sovereignty, while affirming that certain seemingly incongruous doctrines
are also true: 1. God is not the author of sin; 2. God does not force his
will on his creatures; 3. God's foreordination includes not only the end
result, but also all of the means to that end. Biblical predestination is
never fatalistic.
In the light of that truth, we must really pray. Indeed, our Sovereign God
admonishes us to give him no rest: "You who call on the LORD, give
yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and
makes her the praise of the earth." (Isaiah 62:6, 7.)
Under the overarching, immutable decree of God, it is because Moses refused
to accept God's admonition as final that we have the people of God, as we
know them today:
'"Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may
destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." But Moses sought
the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger
burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and
a mighty hand? . . ." Then the LORD relented (niphal, waw-consecutive,
imperfect of _NACHAM_, "repented, changed his mind, came to regret," etc.)
and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.' (Exodus
32:10-14.)
The truth of the matter is that our sovereign God makes use of second causes
and sometimes sovereignly limits himself by people's lack of faith: 'JESUS
said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own
house is a prophet without honor." He COULD NOT DO ANY MIRACLES THERE,
except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed
at THEIR LACK OF FAITH.' (Mark 6:4-6.)
Saint James admonishes us: "You do not have, because you do not ask God,"
and goes on, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong
motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." (James 4:2.)
God help the Christian who simply acquiesces to a severe providence without
earnestly and persistently pleading the promises of God. If my child is
caught in drug addiction or sexual sin, may God deliver me simply from
praying, "Lord, give me grace to endure this trial. Your will be done." No,
I need first to fight the circumstances, and I need to wrestle with the
Lord, as did Jacob at Peniel. (Genesis 32.) That's what Jesus did in the
Garden of Gethsemane.
3. We must come not simply to accept a severe providence fatalistically, but
to embrace it, in time, with cheerfulness.
There comes a point in prayer where we are brought to surrender. It may be
in a few moments, or it may be weeks or even months or years. But that is
what our Lord does when finally he comes to pray, "Yet not what I will, but
what you will." (Mark 14:36.) Saint Paul's response to his "thorn in the
flesh," his tormenting "angel of Satan," serves us well as another example:
'Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to
me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.' (2 Corinthians
12:8-10.)
3.1. We must remember that God has destined both the good and the bad things
that happen to us for his glory and for our good.
The reason that we can come eventually, cheerfully to embrace a severe
providence is because of what the Bible teaches us about our relationship
with our sovereign God. Because God chose us out of a sinful and fallen
humanity, chose us for no reason inherent in us, chose us not because he
foresaw our faith or good works, but unconditionally, we STAND under his
grace and will NEVER come under his condemnation. (Romans 9:6-18; Acts
13:48; Ephesians 1:3-2:10; John 6:37, 44; 10:28, 29; Romans 5:1ff; 8:1,
31-39**.) Even when we experience suffering in this life, it is never as a
condemning consequence for our sins, but part of God's benevolent plan for
our lives, including his Fatherly discipline, whereby he causes whatever
happens to us, even our own sins, failures and foolishness to work together,
not only for our own individual good, but for the good of all God's people
in all ages and places. (Romans 8:18-30***.)
Because our Lord was cursed and condemned, we NEVER will be (Galatians
3:13.) -- "in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come
to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith." (Galatians 3:14.) "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up
for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all
things?" (Romans 8:32.) When we read of those dreadful curses and
condemnations, we know that they will never be visited on us. Rather, all we
ever receive is the blessing of God. We are united with the one true Seed of
Abraham, and we are therefore the inheritors of all the good things and none
of the bad. (Romans 8:17.)
And all this is so because God did not "spare his own Son, but delivered him
up for us all." (Romans 8:32.) He did not spare him from one ounce of guilt
that is yours or mine; he did not spare him one piece of the defilement and
consequences of that guilt; he did not hold him back from experiencing the
full brunt of his just wrath due for our sins, but abandoned him to hell on
the cross. Who can bring any charge against us? (Romans 8:33.) Who can
condemn us? (Romans 8:34.) There is no longer condemnation (Romans 8:1.)
because there is no longer any guilt left.
"What is your only comfort in life and in death?" asks the _Heidelberger_
and answers:
"That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but
belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has
fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the
devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not
a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for
my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal
life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him."
3.2 We never thank God for evil in abstraction, but for his goodness in
every circumstance, because he has ordained whatsoever comes to pass for our
good -- full conformity to the restored image of God in Jesus Christ.
(Romans 8:29.)
"Thank you, God, for my spouse's adultery and for the financial destruction
it is going to bring. Thank you for the psychological torment that it is
going to bring on our little children as the hate daily grows between us."
Of course, we should never pray that way -- that is the prayer of a fool.
Rather, we give thanks to God that we are not alone in these trials and that
our faithful Savior was tempted in all the ways that we are and that he,
too, suffered injustice in this world, that we have a Friend in heaven who
is praying for us with a full awareness of what we are going through. We
give thanks that God is still in absolute control and that his loving hand
is orchestrating all these things for our ultimate welfare in Jesus Christ
that we may be like Jesus. (Romans 8:29.)
Resting in the biblical truth of God's absolute sovereignty, we approach
life differently than the rest of humankind.
"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for
this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)
There is tremendous power in our praising God in the middle of the Chaos of
our lives "under the sun," but this is only possible as we focus on our
Lord, his goodness and his good goal, not on ourselves and our sometimes
miserable circumstances. How poignantly this was brought home to us last
night. Our son and his wife came up from Baton Rouge with a fifteen year
old, single, pregnant African American woman. Several days back, Benn had
received a telephone call from one of his old Intervarsity Christian
Fellowship friends from Tulane days. Benn's friend had received a phone
call from this young woman, stranded in a shelter in Gonzales. Her family
had been transported away, but she had been left. Benn went that night to
the shelter and brought the young woman up to Baton Rouge to stay with them.
Then they came on to Alexandria, and Benn took her to catch a flight early
this morning. Benn's IVF friend's wife's family is going to take the young
woman into their home to live. The young woman's mother is a crack cocaine
addict from the poorest section of New Orleans, but this young woman and her
baby will live with an obstetrician and his family. She and her soon to be
born baby will live in a nurturing Christian environment with wonderful
opportunities in the future. As Sandy and I interacted with Neal last
night -- I once called her Katrina by accident -- we found her to be bright
and an avid reader. Romans 8:28 is still true.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet
inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary
troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18.)
To the degree that we are full of Jesus rather than full of ourselves,
colored and controlled, not by psychotropic drugs and other coping devices,
but by the Holy Spirit, we can maintain this response of gratitude:
"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be being
filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, always
giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ."
(Ephesians 5:18-20.)
We don't do this with a Pollyanna-esque denial of reality, but with a
"cynical" realism that chooses cheerfully to be optimistic by faith and
chooses to express that cheerfulness in regular seasons of thanksgiving
before God and man, and especially in the sanctuary of our own hearts.
Under God's Grace in the Wake of a Storm,
Bob
bob@rbvincent.com
www.rbvincent.com
* _The Westminster Confession of Faith_, III, i
** 'It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended
from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all
Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your
offspring will be reckoned." In other words, it is not the natural children
who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are
regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated:
"At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." Not only
that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order
that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who
calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Just as it is
written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What then shall we say? Is God
unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not,
therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the
Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I
might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all
the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he
hardens whom he wants to harden." (Romans 9:6-18.)
"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the
Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48.)
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in
his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus
Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will- to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance
with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and
understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to
his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when
the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also
chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who
were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And
you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a
seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our
inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-to the
praise of his glory. For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in
the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving
thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of
wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to
which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the
saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is
like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he
raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every
title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to
come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way. As for you, you were dead in your
transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the
ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit
who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following
its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us
alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace
you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him
in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he
might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness
to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so
that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians
1:3-2:10.)
"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I
will never drive away." (John 6:37.)
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will
raise him up at the last day." (John 6:44.)
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch
them out of my hand." (John 10:28.)
"My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch
them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:29.)
"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by
faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of
the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings,
because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God
has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has
given us." (Romans 5:1-5.)
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,"
(Romans 8:1.)
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all-how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will
bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died-more than that, who was
raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be
slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through
him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to
separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans
8:31-39.)
*** "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation
for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to
frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected
it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to
decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know
that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were
saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he
already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it
patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not
know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows
the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in
accordance with God's will. And we know that in all things God works for the
good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness
of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he
predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he
justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:18-30.)
Six in one hand and half a dozen in the other...
That's how I've descibed to my friends and family how I feel about the situation in New Orleans. On one hand, you have an entitlement society built around the poor in inner-city New Orleans, a sub-section of people who believe the government owes them something and claim that they cannot do anything for themselves, including get out of the city in advance of a major hurricane. On the other hand, you have a government that was very slow to react after the hurrican hit. Who's wrong?
Both.
The city goverment of New Orleans is wrong for not planning for such an occurence in advance. Levies were not prepared properly and there was no contigency plan in case of a worse-case scenario. In the wake of September 11th, how could such a thing happen?
The federal goverment was also at fault. Again, in the wake of September 11th, shouldn't the government have a better contingency plan for such an occurrence? It took four days for the "cavalry" to arrive, for the President to even tour the area, for really anthing to be done. Now, as most of you know, I am a staunch conservative. I voted for Bush, but in this situation, I have no choice but to criticize his lack of speed in the wake of Katrina.
So what do we have now?
Hopefully, a valuable, but very hard lesson learned.
That's how I've descibed to my friends and family how I feel about the situation in New Orleans. On one hand, you have an entitlement society built around the poor in inner-city New Orleans, a sub-section of people who believe the government owes them something and claim that they cannot do anything for themselves, including get out of the city in advance of a major hurricane. On the other hand, you have a government that was very slow to react after the hurrican hit. Who's wrong?
Both.
The city goverment of New Orleans is wrong for not planning for such an occurence in advance. Levies were not prepared properly and there was no contigency plan in case of a worse-case scenario. In the wake of September 11th, how could such a thing happen?
The federal goverment was also at fault. Again, in the wake of September 11th, shouldn't the government have a better contingency plan for such an occurrence? It took four days for the "cavalry" to arrive, for the President to even tour the area, for really anthing to be done. Now, as most of you know, I am a staunch conservative. I voted for Bush, but in this situation, I have no choice but to criticize his lack of speed in the wake of Katrina.
So what do we have now?
Hopefully, a valuable, but very hard lesson learned.
Monday, August 29, 2005
God Behind Barbed Wire
How a Nazi-soldier-turned-theologian found hope.
by Philip Yancey | posted 08/29/2005 09:00 a.m.
On a recent visit to Virginia I met one of my heroes: Jürgen Moltmann. I have plowed through almost a dozen of his books, and to my surprise, the German theologian in person exuded a charm and sense of humor that belie his scholarly works.
Moltmann was planning on a career in quantum physics until he was drafted at age 18 at the height of the Second World War. Assigned to anti-aircraft batteries in Hamburg, he saw compatriots incinerated in the fire-bombings there. The question "Why did I survive?" haunted him.
After surrendering to the British, the young soldier spent the next three years in prison camps in Belgium, Scotland, and England. When Hitler's empire imploded, exposing the moral rot at the center of the Third Reich, Moltmann saw how other German prisoners "collapsed inwardly, how they gave up all hope, sickening for the lack of it, some of them dying." As he learned the truth about the Nazis, Moltmann felt an inconsolable grief about life, "weighed down by the somber burden of a guilt which could never be paid off."
Moltmann had no Christian background. He had brought two books with him into battle—Goethe's poems and the works of Nietzsche—neither of which nourished much hope. But an American chaplain gave him an Army-issue New Testament and Psalms, signed by President Roosevelt. "If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there," the prisoner read. Could God be present in that dark place? As he read on, Moltmann found words that perfectly captured his feelings of desolation. He became convinced that God "was present even behind the barbed wire—no, most of all behind the barbed wire."
Moltmann also found something new in the Psalms: hope. Walking the perimeter of the barbed wire at night for exercise, he would circle a small hill in the center of the camp on which stood a hut that served as a chapel. That hut became for him a symbol of God's presence in the midst of suffering.
Later Moltmann was transferred to Norton Camp, an educational camp in England run by the YMCA. The local population welcomed the German prisoners, bringing them homemade food, teaching them Christian doctrine, and never adding to the burden of guilt the prisoners felt over Nazi atrocities. (Hearing Moltmann's fond recollection of those days—"they treated me better than the German army"—I could not help drawing the contrast to Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, where we are sowing seeds of hatred that will bear sour fruit for generations.)
Upon release, Moltmann began to articulate his theology of hope. We exist in a state of contradiction between the Cross and the Resurrection. Surrounded by decay, we nonetheless hope for restoration, a hope illuminated by the "foreglow" of Christ's resurrection. Faith in that glorious future can transform the present—just as Moltmann's own hope of eventual release from prison camp transformed his daily experience there.
Through all of Moltmann's dense theological works run two themes: God's presence with us in our suffering and God's promise of a perfected future. If Jesus had lived in Europe during the Third Reich, Moltmann noted, he likely would have been branded like other Jews and shipped to the gas chambers. In Jesus, we have definitive proof that God suffers with us, as Moltmann explains in The Crucified God. (During the war in El Salvador, someone sent Moltmann a picture of one of six Jesuits murdered by a death squad, and next to the body in a pool of blood lay the Spanish edition, El Dios Crucificado.)
At the same time, Jesus gives a foretaste of a future time when earth will be restored to God's original design. Easter is the beginning of the "laughter of the redeemed … God's protest against death." A person without faith may assume from the suffering on this planet that God is neither all-good nor all-powerful. Faith allows us to believe that God is not satisfied with this world either, and intends to make all things new.
Only at Christ's Second Coming will the kingdom of God take shape in all its fullness. In the meantime, we establish settlements of that kingdom, always glancing back to the Gospels for a template. Moltmann notes that the phrase "Day of the Lord" in the Old Testament inspired fear, but in the New Testament it inspires hope, because those authors have come to know and trust the Lord whose Day it is.
In a single sentence Jürgen Moltmann expresses the great span from Good Friday to Easter. It is, in fact, a summary of human history, past, present, and future: "God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him."
How a Nazi-soldier-turned-theologian found hope.
by Philip Yancey | posted 08/29/2005 09:00 a.m.
On a recent visit to Virginia I met one of my heroes: Jürgen Moltmann. I have plowed through almost a dozen of his books, and to my surprise, the German theologian in person exuded a charm and sense of humor that belie his scholarly works.
Moltmann was planning on a career in quantum physics until he was drafted at age 18 at the height of the Second World War. Assigned to anti-aircraft batteries in Hamburg, he saw compatriots incinerated in the fire-bombings there. The question "Why did I survive?" haunted him.
After surrendering to the British, the young soldier spent the next three years in prison camps in Belgium, Scotland, and England. When Hitler's empire imploded, exposing the moral rot at the center of the Third Reich, Moltmann saw how other German prisoners "collapsed inwardly, how they gave up all hope, sickening for the lack of it, some of them dying." As he learned the truth about the Nazis, Moltmann felt an inconsolable grief about life, "weighed down by the somber burden of a guilt which could never be paid off."
Moltmann had no Christian background. He had brought two books with him into battle—Goethe's poems and the works of Nietzsche—neither of which nourished much hope. But an American chaplain gave him an Army-issue New Testament and Psalms, signed by President Roosevelt. "If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there," the prisoner read. Could God be present in that dark place? As he read on, Moltmann found words that perfectly captured his feelings of desolation. He became convinced that God "was present even behind the barbed wire—no, most of all behind the barbed wire."
Moltmann also found something new in the Psalms: hope. Walking the perimeter of the barbed wire at night for exercise, he would circle a small hill in the center of the camp on which stood a hut that served as a chapel. That hut became for him a symbol of God's presence in the midst of suffering.
Later Moltmann was transferred to Norton Camp, an educational camp in England run by the YMCA. The local population welcomed the German prisoners, bringing them homemade food, teaching them Christian doctrine, and never adding to the burden of guilt the prisoners felt over Nazi atrocities. (Hearing Moltmann's fond recollection of those days—"they treated me better than the German army"—I could not help drawing the contrast to Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, where we are sowing seeds of hatred that will bear sour fruit for generations.)
Upon release, Moltmann began to articulate his theology of hope. We exist in a state of contradiction between the Cross and the Resurrection. Surrounded by decay, we nonetheless hope for restoration, a hope illuminated by the "foreglow" of Christ's resurrection. Faith in that glorious future can transform the present—just as Moltmann's own hope of eventual release from prison camp transformed his daily experience there.
Through all of Moltmann's dense theological works run two themes: God's presence with us in our suffering and God's promise of a perfected future. If Jesus had lived in Europe during the Third Reich, Moltmann noted, he likely would have been branded like other Jews and shipped to the gas chambers. In Jesus, we have definitive proof that God suffers with us, as Moltmann explains in The Crucified God. (During the war in El Salvador, someone sent Moltmann a picture of one of six Jesuits murdered by a death squad, and next to the body in a pool of blood lay the Spanish edition, El Dios Crucificado.)
At the same time, Jesus gives a foretaste of a future time when earth will be restored to God's original design. Easter is the beginning of the "laughter of the redeemed … God's protest against death." A person without faith may assume from the suffering on this planet that God is neither all-good nor all-powerful. Faith allows us to believe that God is not satisfied with this world either, and intends to make all things new.
Only at Christ's Second Coming will the kingdom of God take shape in all its fullness. In the meantime, we establish settlements of that kingdom, always glancing back to the Gospels for a template. Moltmann notes that the phrase "Day of the Lord" in the Old Testament inspired fear, but in the New Testament it inspires hope, because those authors have come to know and trust the Lord whose Day it is.
In a single sentence Jürgen Moltmann expresses the great span from Good Friday to Easter. It is, in fact, a summary of human history, past, present, and future: "God weeps with us so that we may someday laugh with him."
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Jaci Velasquez Divorced
Married less than two years, Christian music superstar says "the painful truth is that our marriage didn't work out."
By Mark Moring | posted 08/22/05
Less than two years after her 2003 wedding made the news, Christian/Latin music superstar Jaci Velasquez's marriage has ended in divorce.
Velasquez and Indiana native Darren Potuck were married on August 16, 2003, in Franklin, Tennessee. But their marriage later "took a turn," Velasquez told Christian Music Today in an exclusive statement.
"When my husband and I started out as newlyweds, we were like all newlyweds, wanting that dream marriage," Velasquez said. "Somehow, things took a turn and we have ended up in divorce."
Velasquez did not elaborate on the reasons for the divorce.
A Word Records spokesman said Velasquez and Potuck had worked to save their marriage, and Velasquez alluded to that in her statement.
"I sought counseling," said the 25-year-old singer, "but the painful truth is that our marriage didn't work out. I've had such a difficult time with this. My heart hurt so badly that I felt like I wanted to crawl under a rock and just die. I can't say that I have ever felt such pain before. My heart literally felt like it was breaking in half."
Velasquez referenced "Lay It Down," the second radio single from her new album, Beauty Has Grace, to describe what she's now experiencing. The lyrics to that song include these lines: "All of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans / Are slowly slipping through my folded hands."
"I am learning how to live out the words of 'Lay It Down' daily and experiencing God's love, grace and mercy like never before," she said. "My God is so awesome, I can feel him lift me up every time I feel like it's all too much for me."
Velasquez further said she has not discussed the divorce "because it is clearly too painful. I am still in the healing process and ask for your prayers and consideration for my privacy."
In a 2004 interview with Christian Music Today, Velasquez had described her husband as "the greatest, the funniest, and the coolest guy you'll ever meet. … Any girl wants a guy that will be hers forever, and that's how I feel with him."
Velasquez, a Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling artist in both the Christian and Latin markets, recently moved to London, but is still making appearances in the U.S. She will appear at the Soul2Soul Honors 2005 event August 26 in Louisville, and she will appear at a Nashville Hecht's department store August 27 in support of the M·A·C AIDS Fund.
She is currently working on her next CD, an all-Spanish for the Latin market. Velasquez is also the founder of her own Christian music label, Apostrophe Records.
Her divorce is the highest-profile divorce in Christian music since Amy Grant's 1999 divorce from Gary Chapman. Grant—like Velasquez a Word Records artist—later married country music superstar Vince Gill.
After Grant's divorce became public, many radio stations stopped playing her songs and many Christian retailers refused to stock her albums. But Grant has made a comeback in Christian music circles in recent years, especially with her two hymns albums, Legacy (2002) and Rock of Ages (2005).
Regarding Velasquez, a Word Records representative said the label is "not concentrating on radio or retail sales. We love Jaci, and we're concentrating on Jaci and helping her work through this."
Married less than two years, Christian music superstar says "the painful truth is that our marriage didn't work out."
By Mark Moring | posted 08/22/05
Less than two years after her 2003 wedding made the news, Christian/Latin music superstar Jaci Velasquez's marriage has ended in divorce.
Velasquez and Indiana native Darren Potuck were married on August 16, 2003, in Franklin, Tennessee. But their marriage later "took a turn," Velasquez told Christian Music Today in an exclusive statement.
"When my husband and I started out as newlyweds, we were like all newlyweds, wanting that dream marriage," Velasquez said. "Somehow, things took a turn and we have ended up in divorce."
Velasquez did not elaborate on the reasons for the divorce.
A Word Records spokesman said Velasquez and Potuck had worked to save their marriage, and Velasquez alluded to that in her statement.
"I sought counseling," said the 25-year-old singer, "but the painful truth is that our marriage didn't work out. I've had such a difficult time with this. My heart hurt so badly that I felt like I wanted to crawl under a rock and just die. I can't say that I have ever felt such pain before. My heart literally felt like it was breaking in half."
Velasquez referenced "Lay It Down," the second radio single from her new album, Beauty Has Grace, to describe what she's now experiencing. The lyrics to that song include these lines: "All of my hopes and my dreams and my best laid plans / Are slowly slipping through my folded hands."
"I am learning how to live out the words of 'Lay It Down' daily and experiencing God's love, grace and mercy like never before," she said. "My God is so awesome, I can feel him lift me up every time I feel like it's all too much for me."
Velasquez further said she has not discussed the divorce "because it is clearly too painful. I am still in the healing process and ask for your prayers and consideration for my privacy."
In a 2004 interview with Christian Music Today, Velasquez had described her husband as "the greatest, the funniest, and the coolest guy you'll ever meet. … Any girl wants a guy that will be hers forever, and that's how I feel with him."
Velasquez, a Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling artist in both the Christian and Latin markets, recently moved to London, but is still making appearances in the U.S. She will appear at the Soul2Soul Honors 2005 event August 26 in Louisville, and she will appear at a Nashville Hecht's department store August 27 in support of the M·A·C AIDS Fund.
She is currently working on her next CD, an all-Spanish for the Latin market. Velasquez is also the founder of her own Christian music label, Apostrophe Records.
Her divorce is the highest-profile divorce in Christian music since Amy Grant's 1999 divorce from Gary Chapman. Grant—like Velasquez a Word Records artist—later married country music superstar Vince Gill.
After Grant's divorce became public, many radio stations stopped playing her songs and many Christian retailers refused to stock her albums. But Grant has made a comeback in Christian music circles in recent years, especially with her two hymns albums, Legacy (2002) and Rock of Ages (2005).
Regarding Velasquez, a Word Records representative said the label is "not concentrating on radio or retail sales. We love Jaci, and we're concentrating on Jaci and helping her work through this."
Sunday, August 14, 2005
This is a great article on the Eastern Orthodox denomination:
It's All About Jesus
A convert to Orthodoxy reconsiders evangelicalism.
by Sam Torode | posted 08/12/2005 09:00 a.m.
Twenty years ago, Thomas Howard, the brother of devotional writer Elisabeth Elliot, wrote a book titled Evangelical Is Not Enough. His basic argument was that rituals don't necessarily lead to dead religiosity. Instead, sacramental rites and liturgical rhythms can bring us closer to Christ. Howard was an Anglican at the time, and later became Roman Catholic.
I've been on a similar journey. I grew up Baptist, lost my fundamentalist faith, became interested in the ancient traditions of the church, attended a Lutheran parish for a time, and eventually wound up Eastern Orthodox.
Like Howard, I now stand on the opposite side of the liturgical fence from most evangelicals. But I've come to a different conclusion than "evangelical is not enough."
Evangelical Principles
What is evangelicalism, anyhow? Evangelical seems to be an adjective more than a noun. Evangelicals tend not to identify much with their particular churches, preferring to be known as "mere Christians." There are both evangelical Baptists and evangelical Episcopalians, though the Baptist and Episcopal churches are about as far apart as country music is from classical.
For all their diversity, evangelicals hold several principles in common. This list isn't exhaustive, but here are some key emphases of evangelicals:
(1) Salvation is by faith alone, not works.
(2) The Bible is the standard for Christian doctrine and practice.
(3) Everyone needs a personal relationship with Jesus.
(4) "The church" means all Christians everywhere, and there is no "true" or "perfect" church this side of heaven.
When I became disillusioned with the Baptist faith, I eagerly drank up the writings of Catholic and Orthodox apologists (often former Protestants themselves) who challenged these four principles. I took up their arguments and shot off combative e-mails to my evangelical friends. Among other things, I argued that:
• Salvation by faith alone is not biblical. The only time the words justified, faith, and alone appear together in the Bible, it's to say that "a man is justified by works, not by faith alone" (James 2:24).
• Sola scriptura (the idea that the Bible alone is our guide—not church tradition) isn't found in the Bible, either. Since Scripture doesn't interpret itself, we need an authoritative interpretive community to make sense of it.
• The evangelical focus on a "personal relationship" with Christ tends to obscure our corporate identity as members of the church. The New Testament writers don't say anything about "asking Jesus into our hearts." Instead, they tell us to repent and be baptized into the church.
• Jesus and the apostles founded a church, not a loose affiliation of freelance believers. The apostles laid hands on bishops to oversee this church, so as to keep the doctrine pure and prevent schism. This church must still be around today, because Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. I still believe this critique has merit. (So do many evangelicals, who realize that their core principles need some qualification.) But when I consider the four evangelical principles today, I see more to applaud than to disagree with. Why the change?
It's Not About Works
When I became Orthodox, I was tired of what I saw as evangelicalism's "cheap grace." I was ready for some discipline and hard work along the path of salvation.
If it's self-discipline you seek, Orthodoxy is definitely the tradition for you. The Orthodox Church has devised many ways to deny yourself and take up your cross—for example, by abstaining from meat and dairy products every Wednesday and Friday, as well as during long penitential seasons like Lent, Advent, and the Apostles' Fast. Married couples are encouraged to take it a step further, by abstaining from intercourse on these same fast days. (That's not something Orthodox apologists like to broadcast. When I first heard it, I announced to a friend that I could never become Orthodox; later, I learned that few Orthodox follow this custom strictly.)
Faced with all this fasting, it's easy to get obsessive. We joined a parish of mostly ex-Protestants who, like us, were eager to be good Orthodox. We looked down on those "ethnic Orthodox" who still eat their gyros and feta cheese during Lent. During church fellowship times, our conversations often centered on fasting (i.e., "What do I do if my parents offer me cheesecake on Friday?"). Fast-friendly recipes were eagerly exchanged, for everything from "Lenten pizza" (no cheese) to "Lenten chocolate cake" (tastes just like the real thing!).
One Sunday, a friend in the church confided to my wife, "Sometimes, I forget it's all about Jesus." That's when it hit us—we'd forgotten that it's all about Jesus, too. Most of the time, instead of overflowing with God's love, I was just ticked off about not being able to eat a burger. Meanwhile, my wife was feeling guilty about eating dairy products, despite being a nursing mother.
In the process of healing from this legalism, we ended up finding a new church home—a Greek one. Now, we're grateful for the relaxed attitude of our "cradle Orthodox" brothers and sisters. One of the first things our new priest said to us was, "Jesus looks at the heart—not the belly." That doesn't mean we should reject the spiritual disciplines of fasting and other "works," he added, but we need to view them as gifts from God. If you try to grasp a spiritual gift before it's given to you, you'll crash and burn.
The Bible, the Standard
My wife and I like to joke that we became Orthodox because we wanted to belong to a church where we were the "liberals." But for us, the core doctrines of the faith, such as the Virgin Birth or divinity of Christ, are not up for discussion.
Beyond the core doctrines, there is no definitive teaching on many issues of Christian life. When it comes to a disputed issue, you can find an Orthodox saint, monk, theologian, or priest to back up almost any argument. How do you know what's right?
In the front of the Orthodox Study Bible (yes, there is such a thing), there is a section of quotes about Scripture from saints throughout the centuries. Here's one from St. Nikon of Optina (20th century): "Read the Holy Gospel, be penetrated by its spirit, make it the rule of your life, your handbook; in every action and question of life, act according to the study of the Gospel. This is the only light of our life."
When evaluating any notion about the Christian life, we always have to refer to the source—the Bible. In the case of fasting, we Orthodox could avoid a lot of problems by listening to Jesus' words—"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'" (Matt. 15:11).
In the Orthodox Church, no individual saint, bishop, or theologian is considered infallible. Even the greatest have taught things that were later rejected. To give just one example, St. Gregory of Nyssa was a great defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, but his ideas about universal salvation conflicted with Scripture, so they failed to enter the mainstream.
Tradition is not a separate, or superior, source of light from Scripture. It is a commentary on the Light, helping us adjust our eyes to its brilliance.
Christ, Our One Mediator
Many Protestant converts to Orthodoxy and Catholicism are looking for a "final authority" on all matters of faith and life. To them, discerning the truth for yourself sounds like relativism. They are anxious to hand over their consciences to an infallible judge.
This is truer of converts to Rome, who often criticize the Orthodox for lack of a single teaching authority. But some Orthodox cling to a cult-like obedience to their priest or spiritual father. I know of one Orthodox monk who told a follower, "If I tell you to dig a hole today, and then I tell you to fill it in tomorrow, you must obey me without questioning."
In the right circumstances, obedience to authority can be an important discipline. In his letters, Paul certainly encourages us to obey our elders in the Lord. But Spirit-led obedience is joyful, not oppressive. God gifted us with free will for a reason. He doesn't force obedience. Jesus woos us with the beauty of truth and righteousness, and he desires our free response to his love.
I can't hand my free will over to a pope, priest, or spiritual father, even though these can be helpful guides. For example, I greatly admire Pope John Paul II's teachings on marriage and sexuality, but I admire them for the beauty and truth I find there, not because I take them to be divine or infallible. I am responsible for my decisions, and I alone will answer for them.
All Part of 'the Church'
Evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox disagree about the exact identity of "the church." But when the smoke clears, we all agree that everyone under the lordship of Christ, regardless of denominational affiliation, is somehow part of the church. That's the important thing. Beyond that, I'd rather avoid judgments about who's in and who's out of the church.
I'm not arguing for relativism, but humility. Objective truth exists, but our human ability to discern it is limited. In fact, Truth is not a set of ideas—it's a person. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." We only know Truth as much as we know Christ.
I'm a grateful member of the Orthodox Church, and I'm happy to talk about the glories of this path as well as the struggles. I believe that the "trappings" of Orthodoxy—icons, liturgies, rote prayers, and other things evangelicals often are suspicious of—can bring us closer to Christ. But when these things become ends in themselves—idols instead of icons—we need to step back and remember what, or who, it's all about.
Instead of "evangelizing" my evangelical friends, I now hope to learn from them. Discussing differences is worthwhile, but it's more important to encourage each other as we grow in Christ.
It took me a while, but I think I've finally learned what really matters. Liturgical is not enough, sacramental is not enough, Catholic is not enough, and Orthodox is not enough. Only Jesus is enough.
Sam Torode is the coauthor (with wife, Bethany) of Aflame: Ancient Wisdom on Marriage (Eerdmans, 2005).
It's All About Jesus
A convert to Orthodoxy reconsiders evangelicalism.
by Sam Torode | posted 08/12/2005 09:00 a.m.
Twenty years ago, Thomas Howard, the brother of devotional writer Elisabeth Elliot, wrote a book titled Evangelical Is Not Enough. His basic argument was that rituals don't necessarily lead to dead religiosity. Instead, sacramental rites and liturgical rhythms can bring us closer to Christ. Howard was an Anglican at the time, and later became Roman Catholic.
I've been on a similar journey. I grew up Baptist, lost my fundamentalist faith, became interested in the ancient traditions of the church, attended a Lutheran parish for a time, and eventually wound up Eastern Orthodox.
Like Howard, I now stand on the opposite side of the liturgical fence from most evangelicals. But I've come to a different conclusion than "evangelical is not enough."
Evangelical Principles
What is evangelicalism, anyhow? Evangelical seems to be an adjective more than a noun. Evangelicals tend not to identify much with their particular churches, preferring to be known as "mere Christians." There are both evangelical Baptists and evangelical Episcopalians, though the Baptist and Episcopal churches are about as far apart as country music is from classical.
For all their diversity, evangelicals hold several principles in common. This list isn't exhaustive, but here are some key emphases of evangelicals:
(1) Salvation is by faith alone, not works.
(2) The Bible is the standard for Christian doctrine and practice.
(3) Everyone needs a personal relationship with Jesus.
(4) "The church" means all Christians everywhere, and there is no "true" or "perfect" church this side of heaven.
When I became disillusioned with the Baptist faith, I eagerly drank up the writings of Catholic and Orthodox apologists (often former Protestants themselves) who challenged these four principles. I took up their arguments and shot off combative e-mails to my evangelical friends. Among other things, I argued that:
• Salvation by faith alone is not biblical. The only time the words justified, faith, and alone appear together in the Bible, it's to say that "a man is justified by works, not by faith alone" (James 2:24).
• Sola scriptura (the idea that the Bible alone is our guide—not church tradition) isn't found in the Bible, either. Since Scripture doesn't interpret itself, we need an authoritative interpretive community to make sense of it.
• The evangelical focus on a "personal relationship" with Christ tends to obscure our corporate identity as members of the church. The New Testament writers don't say anything about "asking Jesus into our hearts." Instead, they tell us to repent and be baptized into the church.
• Jesus and the apostles founded a church, not a loose affiliation of freelance believers. The apostles laid hands on bishops to oversee this church, so as to keep the doctrine pure and prevent schism. This church must still be around today, because Jesus promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. I still believe this critique has merit. (So do many evangelicals, who realize that their core principles need some qualification.) But when I consider the four evangelical principles today, I see more to applaud than to disagree with. Why the change?
It's Not About Works
When I became Orthodox, I was tired of what I saw as evangelicalism's "cheap grace." I was ready for some discipline and hard work along the path of salvation.
If it's self-discipline you seek, Orthodoxy is definitely the tradition for you. The Orthodox Church has devised many ways to deny yourself and take up your cross—for example, by abstaining from meat and dairy products every Wednesday and Friday, as well as during long penitential seasons like Lent, Advent, and the Apostles' Fast. Married couples are encouraged to take it a step further, by abstaining from intercourse on these same fast days. (That's not something Orthodox apologists like to broadcast. When I first heard it, I announced to a friend that I could never become Orthodox; later, I learned that few Orthodox follow this custom strictly.)
Faced with all this fasting, it's easy to get obsessive. We joined a parish of mostly ex-Protestants who, like us, were eager to be good Orthodox. We looked down on those "ethnic Orthodox" who still eat their gyros and feta cheese during Lent. During church fellowship times, our conversations often centered on fasting (i.e., "What do I do if my parents offer me cheesecake on Friday?"). Fast-friendly recipes were eagerly exchanged, for everything from "Lenten pizza" (no cheese) to "Lenten chocolate cake" (tastes just like the real thing!).
One Sunday, a friend in the church confided to my wife, "Sometimes, I forget it's all about Jesus." That's when it hit us—we'd forgotten that it's all about Jesus, too. Most of the time, instead of overflowing with God's love, I was just ticked off about not being able to eat a burger. Meanwhile, my wife was feeling guilty about eating dairy products, despite being a nursing mother.
In the process of healing from this legalism, we ended up finding a new church home—a Greek one. Now, we're grateful for the relaxed attitude of our "cradle Orthodox" brothers and sisters. One of the first things our new priest said to us was, "Jesus looks at the heart—not the belly." That doesn't mean we should reject the spiritual disciplines of fasting and other "works," he added, but we need to view them as gifts from God. If you try to grasp a spiritual gift before it's given to you, you'll crash and burn.
The Bible, the Standard
My wife and I like to joke that we became Orthodox because we wanted to belong to a church where we were the "liberals." But for us, the core doctrines of the faith, such as the Virgin Birth or divinity of Christ, are not up for discussion.
Beyond the core doctrines, there is no definitive teaching on many issues of Christian life. When it comes to a disputed issue, you can find an Orthodox saint, monk, theologian, or priest to back up almost any argument. How do you know what's right?
In the front of the Orthodox Study Bible (yes, there is such a thing), there is a section of quotes about Scripture from saints throughout the centuries. Here's one from St. Nikon of Optina (20th century): "Read the Holy Gospel, be penetrated by its spirit, make it the rule of your life, your handbook; in every action and question of life, act according to the study of the Gospel. This is the only light of our life."
When evaluating any notion about the Christian life, we always have to refer to the source—the Bible. In the case of fasting, we Orthodox could avoid a lot of problems by listening to Jesus' words—"What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean'" (Matt. 15:11).
In the Orthodox Church, no individual saint, bishop, or theologian is considered infallible. Even the greatest have taught things that were later rejected. To give just one example, St. Gregory of Nyssa was a great defender of the doctrine of the Trinity, but his ideas about universal salvation conflicted with Scripture, so they failed to enter the mainstream.
Tradition is not a separate, or superior, source of light from Scripture. It is a commentary on the Light, helping us adjust our eyes to its brilliance.
Christ, Our One Mediator
Many Protestant converts to Orthodoxy and Catholicism are looking for a "final authority" on all matters of faith and life. To them, discerning the truth for yourself sounds like relativism. They are anxious to hand over their consciences to an infallible judge.
This is truer of converts to Rome, who often criticize the Orthodox for lack of a single teaching authority. But some Orthodox cling to a cult-like obedience to their priest or spiritual father. I know of one Orthodox monk who told a follower, "If I tell you to dig a hole today, and then I tell you to fill it in tomorrow, you must obey me without questioning."
In the right circumstances, obedience to authority can be an important discipline. In his letters, Paul certainly encourages us to obey our elders in the Lord. But Spirit-led obedience is joyful, not oppressive. God gifted us with free will for a reason. He doesn't force obedience. Jesus woos us with the beauty of truth and righteousness, and he desires our free response to his love.
I can't hand my free will over to a pope, priest, or spiritual father, even though these can be helpful guides. For example, I greatly admire Pope John Paul II's teachings on marriage and sexuality, but I admire them for the beauty and truth I find there, not because I take them to be divine or infallible. I am responsible for my decisions, and I alone will answer for them.
All Part of 'the Church'
Evangelicals, Catholics, and Orthodox disagree about the exact identity of "the church." But when the smoke clears, we all agree that everyone under the lordship of Christ, regardless of denominational affiliation, is somehow part of the church. That's the important thing. Beyond that, I'd rather avoid judgments about who's in and who's out of the church.
I'm not arguing for relativism, but humility. Objective truth exists, but our human ability to discern it is limited. In fact, Truth is not a set of ideas—it's a person. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life." We only know Truth as much as we know Christ.
I'm a grateful member of the Orthodox Church, and I'm happy to talk about the glories of this path as well as the struggles. I believe that the "trappings" of Orthodoxy—icons, liturgies, rote prayers, and other things evangelicals often are suspicious of—can bring us closer to Christ. But when these things become ends in themselves—idols instead of icons—we need to step back and remember what, or who, it's all about.
Instead of "evangelizing" my evangelical friends, I now hope to learn from them. Discussing differences is worthwhile, but it's more important to encourage each other as we grow in Christ.
It took me a while, but I think I've finally learned what really matters. Liturgical is not enough, sacramental is not enough, Catholic is not enough, and Orthodox is not enough. Only Jesus is enough.
Sam Torode is the coauthor (with wife, Bethany) of Aflame: Ancient Wisdom on Marriage (Eerdmans, 2005).
Friday, July 22, 2005
Here is another news article that I found regarding the Grand Theft Hypocrisy of the gaming industry. It turns out that Rockstar has decided to manufacture an M rating of the game after all and hopefully it will be in stores soon.
Take that Hillary!
'Explicit game' to be modified
22/07/2005 11:56 - (SA)
Related Articles
'Explicit game' for adults only
Hillary Clinton slams game
San Francisco - The maker of the cult video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas said on Thursday it had stopped production of the game after a ratings board ruled its sexy content meant it should be sold only to adults.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) slapped an adults-only label on the game because a software modification called Hot Coffee, available on the Internet, allowed players to view graphic levels of sex, violence and drug use, the board said.
Making a more suitable game
"Rockstar Games has ceased manufacturing of the current version of the title and will begin working on a version of the game with enhanced security to prevent the Hot Coffee modifications," the firm stated on the website of its subsidiary, Take-Two Interactive.
"Rockstar Games will be providing adults-only labels for retailers who wish to continue to sell the current version of the title," the New York City-based software maker added.
Grand Theft Auto features graphic designs that allow users to play the parts of street gang characters carrying out robberies, car hi-jackings, shootings and other nefarious deeds to earn points.
It sold a whopping 5.1 million units last year, making it the top selling video game in the $10bn a year United States games market.
Its new adults-only rating will significantly limit its sales to the lucrative youth market.
Controversial scenes to be deleted
Rockstar has told the board the controversial scenes were never intended for game users and it will delete the coding from the programming, said ESRB president Patricia Vance.
Rockstar said the modified game will be crafted to regain the "M", mature content, rating the board stripped it of this week.
"If they do intend to sell the product as an 'M' product, they must delete the content from the disk and assure us there is nothing left a hacker could access," said Vance.
The "mod", or modification, that unlocked sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto software showed the risk gamers take when writing around or encoding unwanted programming instead of deleting it, according to Vance.
"This is software, not like a film where your edits are left on the cutting room floor," Vance said. "Leaving things on a disk you don't intend for game play is risky."
The ESRB "has no reason to suspect" that Rockstar left the nasty secret scenes on the disks as a treat for savvy players, Vance said.
"There is no incentive for a publisher to hide content from the ESRB," Vance said. "Because, we will find it."
In the recent case, Vance pointed out, the scenes in Grand Theft Auto became a controversial issue after a hacker posted the access key on the Internet.
Rockstar will offer a free software patch for parents or others who want to block the unauthorised game scenes from being accessed.
The company predicted interrupting production of the Grand Theft Auto game and modifying the software will cost the company millions of dollars.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1741761,00.html
Take that Hillary!
'Explicit game' to be modified
22/07/2005 11:56 - (SA)
Related Articles
'Explicit game' for adults only
Hillary Clinton slams game
San Francisco - The maker of the cult video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas said on Thursday it had stopped production of the game after a ratings board ruled its sexy content meant it should be sold only to adults.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) slapped an adults-only label on the game because a software modification called Hot Coffee, available on the Internet, allowed players to view graphic levels of sex, violence and drug use, the board said.
Making a more suitable game
"Rockstar Games has ceased manufacturing of the current version of the title and will begin working on a version of the game with enhanced security to prevent the Hot Coffee modifications," the firm stated on the website of its subsidiary, Take-Two Interactive.
"Rockstar Games will be providing adults-only labels for retailers who wish to continue to sell the current version of the title," the New York City-based software maker added.
Grand Theft Auto features graphic designs that allow users to play the parts of street gang characters carrying out robberies, car hi-jackings, shootings and other nefarious deeds to earn points.
It sold a whopping 5.1 million units last year, making it the top selling video game in the $10bn a year United States games market.
Its new adults-only rating will significantly limit its sales to the lucrative youth market.
Controversial scenes to be deleted
Rockstar has told the board the controversial scenes were never intended for game users and it will delete the coding from the programming, said ESRB president Patricia Vance.
Rockstar said the modified game will be crafted to regain the "M", mature content, rating the board stripped it of this week.
"If they do intend to sell the product as an 'M' product, they must delete the content from the disk and assure us there is nothing left a hacker could access," said Vance.
The "mod", or modification, that unlocked sex scenes in Grand Theft Auto software showed the risk gamers take when writing around or encoding unwanted programming instead of deleting it, according to Vance.
"This is software, not like a film where your edits are left on the cutting room floor," Vance said. "Leaving things on a disk you don't intend for game play is risky."
The ESRB "has no reason to suspect" that Rockstar left the nasty secret scenes on the disks as a treat for savvy players, Vance said.
"There is no incentive for a publisher to hide content from the ESRB," Vance said. "Because, we will find it."
In the recent case, Vance pointed out, the scenes in Grand Theft Auto became a controversial issue after a hacker posted the access key on the Internet.
Rockstar will offer a free software patch for parents or others who want to block the unauthorised game scenes from being accessed.
The company predicted interrupting production of the Grand Theft Auto game and modifying the software will cost the company millions of dollars.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/News/0,,2-13-1443_1741761,00.html
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