who do you trust? part II

Posted on July 23, 2009 by bkingr

earlier we talked about God’s thoughts on divorce and what Jesus had to say. Jesus proves his bona fides to us in his instructions because he is the good shepherd who laid down his life for us. We thus are forced to believe that he has our best interests at heart when he tells us what he told us about divorce.

Now let’s look for a minute at what Solomon had to say with the wisdom provided to him by God. Proverbs 5 is one of the few extended arguments made by Solomon in the book of Proverbs. It is addressed to “my son” and warns against going after strange women. In these modern times we live in, the warning is also applicable to “my daughter” and should be read also as the danger inherent in going after strange men.

what specifically does Solomon have to say about the dangers of adultery?

For the lips of a a forbidden [1] woman drip honey,
and her speech [2] is b smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is c bitter as d wormwood,
e sharp as f a two-edged sword.
5 Her feet g go down to death;
her steps follow the path to [3] Sheol;
6 she h does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.

At the beginning her lips “drip honey” but “in the end she is as bitter as wormwood”. Ever think about the fact that after the jolt of fresh infatuation, you will be stuck all over again with a human being. This new human being will have his or her own fresh set of strengths and weaknesses. This new human being will have a whole new set of emotional baggage and hidden minefields. This new human being will get depressed and stressed just like the one you left behind.

lets go on with Solomon

Keep your way far from her,
and do not go near the door of her house,
9 lest you give your honor to others
and your years to the merciless,
10 lest strangers take their fill of your strength,
and your j labors go to the house of a foreigner,
11 and at the end of your life you k groan,
when your flesh and body are consumed,
12 and you say, l “How I hated discipline,
and my heart m despised reproof!
13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers
or incline my ear to my instructors.
14 n I am at the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled congregation.”

By giving in to adultery, you will be giving your honor to others, you will be giving your years to the merciless and your labors in the house of a foreigner.  At the end of your life you will be consumed and groan about the fact that you neglected wise counsel and did your own thing.

Do you hear what he is saying?  By taking the deceptive path toward what you think will bring you happiness, you are actually heading in the direction that will use you up and leave you empty.  You will have forsaken the ones you love and who love you back for the emptiness of excitement with strangers.  As a promise breaker, you will no longer be trustworthy either to the ones you betrayed or to the new crowd you seek to join.  You will be surrounded by strangers and ruined in front of the assembled congregation.  Everybody will know what you are.

Now lets look with Solomon at the flip side.

Drink o water from your own cistern,
flowing water from your own well.
16 Should your p springs be scattered abroad,
streams of water q in the streets?
17 r Let them be for yourself alone,
and not for strangers with you.
18 Let your o fountain be blessed,
and s rejoice in t the wife of your youth,
19 a lovely u deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts v fill you at all times with delight;
be intoxicated [4] always in her love.
20 Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with w a forbidden woman
and embrace the bosom of w an adulteress? [5]
21 For x a man’s ways are y before the eyes of the Lord,
and he z ponders [6] all his paths.
22 The a iniquities of the wicked b ensnare him,
and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.
23 c He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is d led astray.

ahhhh. cool water from my own well. so refreshing. so wonderful. so intoxicating.  If we keep our fountain at home then it will be blessed.  God sees what we delight in.  God has made us in such a way that when we live disciplined lives obeying the teaching that He has set before us, then we are fulfilled and truly happy.  We can choose to be delighted and intoxicated by the spouse of our youth.

think about it.  who knows you better than your spouse?  Your strengths, weaknesses, lessons learned the hard way etc etc.?

You guys went through stuff together.  you signed your first mortgage together with fear and trepidation, but yet trust in God and each other that the future was bright enough to pay it.  You suffered a miscarriage together and went through the agony of lost dreams, still born in the womb.  You then joyfully welcomed that first child into the world and brought it home only to realize that the hospital forgot to provide the instruction book and you have no idea what to do with it.  You learned together how to care for that baby and the ones that followed.  You endured layoffs and unemployment together.   you celebrated that big promotion and the raise that went with it, by buying a new couch and finally getting rid of that eyesore from college days. You moved to a strange city in a strange state together. And so on and so on, through all of life’s twists and turns.

In short, you grew up together with all the joy, pain, boredom, grief, sickness, etc that life brings.  If you decide to turn your back on that, then you put the rest of your life into the hands of strangers who will never know you the way that the spouse of your youth knows you.  If you decide to take delight in the spouse of your youth, then your history remains intact and God approves of your ways.

Do you see it?

Avoid the temptress or tempter.  keep your feet on the path of truth.  God is watching.

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who do you trust?

Posted on July 23, 2009 by bkingr

Jesus said in John 10:10 that the thief came only to steal kill and destroy. By contrast, his purpose was to bring life and that life “abundantly.”

Jesus goes on in John 10 to assure us that he is a good shepherd. The proof that he is a good shepherd with the sheep’s best interest in mind is that he lays down his own life on behalf of the sheep.

do you believe that? Do I believe that? Do I believe today that Jesus wants me to have life and to have it abundantly? Do I believe that there is a thief and liar out there who wants to steal from me, kill me and destroy everything that I love?

If I believe it, or if you believe it, then why do we ignore what Jesus told us to do and how he told us to live? Doesn’t it follow that if Jesus has our best interests at heart, (which he demonstrated by dying for us even while we were powerless and sinners with nothing to offer back) then perhaps we should listen to him and follow his instructions for life?

Specifically, let’s talk about divorce. Unfortunately, several couples (I can think of five right off the top of my head) that I know are currently in various stages of this destructive act. Who hasn’t seen Mark Sanford’s slow motion public self-immolation?

All of us are at risk of taking steps down that path. So let’s think a minute about what our good shepherd who died for us so that we could have abundant life and his Father say about divorce. Let’s think about the counsel they left for us through Solomon. Then let’s think about the lie that the thief whispers in our ear. I have talked about these before here and here and I will keep doing so, because we tend to forget.

God hates divorce. Its that simple. God hates the promise breaking violent act of divorcing the spouse of our youth and the lackadaisical attitude it demonstrates about all of our promises and specifically the way that it demonstrates our faithlessness to Him.

10 Have we not all r one Father? Has not s one God created us? Why then are wet faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers? 11 Judah has beent faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For u Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. 12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant [1] of the man who does this, who v brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

13 And this second thing you do. w You cover the Lord‘s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. 14 x But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord y was witness between you and the wife of your youth, z to whom t you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. 15 a Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? [2] And what was the one God [3] seeking? [4]b Godly offspring. So guard yourselves [5] in your spirit, and let none of you bet faithless to the wife of your youth. 16 “For c the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, [6] says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers [7] his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and t do not be faithless.”

do you see the connection? Malachi says that in our marriages, God “mixes a portion” of His spirit in the union and that He was a witness (the most important witness) of the promise that we made to each other that glorious day when we swore to love one another through thick and thin, sickness and health, wealth and poverty till parted by death.

Ephesians 5 makes this allusion of Malachi’s specific to us in this age. God demonstrates His relationship with His people to the rest of the world in our marriages. Our marriages are God’s illustration to the world of Christ and the church.

He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because n we are members of his body.31 o “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, andp the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, q let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she r respects her husband.

Jesus talked about divorce in several places two of which are in the Gospel of Matthew. In the sermon on the mount, he briefly touches on it. He did so more extensively in Matthew 19.

3 And Pharisees came up to him and r tested him by asking, s “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, t “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, u ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and v the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. w What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 7 They said to him, x “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them,“Because of your y hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 z And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.” [1]

10 The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11 But he said to them, a “Not everyone can receive this saying, but onlyb those to c whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs d for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”

emphasis added

Jesus makes plain that it is our own stubborn selfish hard hearted rebellion that causes divorce. It is not God’s plan. It is not the “abundant life” that he came to bring us. It is a sop to our hard heartedness. You have to get that. Jesus says that the only reason God allowed Moses to put divorce into the law was because humans were hard hearted and that in the beginning it was not so.

now let’s turn to Solomon.

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more on Justification

Posted on July 22, 2009 by bkingr

I have mentioned the topic of the Justification debate between John Piper and N.T. Wright before. I also linked once to John Piper being interviewed on the topic.

Anyone who wants to know the Biblical basis for them to be declared righteous before God should listen to the podcast at the last link above.

Now Kevin DeYoung has weighed in with some comments and questions for N.T. Wright. Excellent theological discussion at a very high level.
He has done so in three parts and in the form of four questions for professor Wright.

part 1 general comments and background
part 2 first two questions
part 3 last two question

take some time and go read all three of these posts. The amazing thing is the subtlety of Wright’s error and the detailed way that DeYoung teases out the truth.

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but I'm a good person

Posted on July 21, 2009 by bkingr

this one stung. more than a little bit.

I spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on my kids sports and extra curricular activities each year while children in poverty in my community and around the world are ignored by people like me with means to help, but I am a good person.

My neighbor is confused about spirituality and has been burned by the church in the past, but I don’t dare raise spiritual topics with her because she might think badly of me, and after all, I am a good person.

….
I have interpreted the command of Jesus to “Go make disciples of every nation” and to “love my neighbor as myself” to mean that I should congregate in comfortable chairs on Sundays with others who do the same, and love only those in my holy huddle, but I am a good person.

much more at the link.

HT to Todd Hiestand

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God's will for our lives

Posted on July 20, 2009 by bkingr

Julie Neidlinger nails it again in talking about people searching for God’s will for their lives.

A marked memory I had of my one year in Bible college was that of people frantically trying to find the will of God. It came out in all sorts of heartfelt and religious prayers and confessions, and ended in two ways:

1. Misery.
2. God telling all the guys to date and then marry the gorgeous girls. (”God told me I was to marry you.”)

…..
Or, if this is not the answer you want, try this: The will of God is that you stop freaking out about you and live and love and sacrifice in your own life as you were told to. It is less about external circumstances as it is about him changing you.

emphasis added.

go read the whole thing.

The point she makes in the second bit clipped above is the key. The key to God’s will is to do what what we have been told to do. We have this wonderful book that He inspired men to write. Most of us have several copies in several sizes and versions.

Let’s pick one of those up and read it. In it we see all kinds of unambiguous commands from God regarding the manner in which we ought to live right now.

In whatever job we work, whoever our spouse is or isn’t, in whatever city we live, we are to live as children of light and have nothing to do with deeds of darkness that we once walked in.

Let’s just start here in Ephesians 5. once we get this list completed, we should read some more of chapter 5 and do what it says about loving and submitting to our wives and husbands. then we can try out chapter 6, its a doozy. that bit about putting on the belt of truth and breastplate of righteousness and other stuff so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil is awesome, but how do we do that? what does it mean to have feet that are shoed in the preparation of the Gospel? then we can read and do the stuff in Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, etc. etc. I promise you, that is God’s will for our lives.

Walk in Love

1(A) Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2And(B) walk in love,(C) as Christ loved us and(D) gave himself up for us, a(E)fragrant(F) offering and sacrifice to God.

3But(G) sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness(H) must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4Let there be(I) no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking,(J) which are out of place, but instead(K) let there be thanksgiving. 5For you may be sure of this, that(L) everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous ((M) that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6(N) Let no one(O) deceive you with empty words, for because of these things(P) the wrath of God comes upon(Q) the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore(R) do not become partners with them; 8for(S) at one time you were(T) darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.(U) Walk as children of light 9(for(V) the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10and(W) try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11(X) Take no part in the(Y) unfruitful(Z) works of darkness, but instead(AA) expose them. 12For(AB) it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13But when(AC) anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

(AD) “Awake, O sleeper,
and(AE) arise from the dead,
and(AF) Christ will shine on you.”

15(AG) Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16(AH) making the best use of the time, because(AI) the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what(AJ) the will of the Lord is. 18And(AK) do not get drunk with wine, for that is(AL) debauchery, but(AM) be filled with the Spirit,19addressing one another in(AN) psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20(AO) giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father(AP) in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21(AQ) submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

emphasis added.

Really, when you think about it, the hard part of God’s will isn’t finding it out. The hard part is doing it. Thank God, that in His grace, He gives us the power to do just that.

3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him(A) who called us to[a]his own glory and excellence,[b] 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become(B) partakers of the divine nature,(C) having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith(D) with virtue,[c] and virtue(E) with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control(F) with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness(G) with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection(H) with love. 8For if these qualities[d] are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or(I)unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he(J) is blind, having forgotten that he was(K) cleansed from his former sins. 10Therefore, brothers,[e] be all the more diligent to make your calling and(L)election sure, for if you practice these qualities(M) you will never fall. 11For in this way there will be richly provided for you(N) an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.


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SBC in the last thirty years

Posted on July 19, 2009 by bkingr

Nathan Finn is doing a series of 3 posts on 15 things that have changed in the SBC since 1979. the first five are here. interesting stuff. looking forward to seeing the next ten.

here is number 5

5. Changing Relationships between Southern Baptists and Independent Baptists

During the 1940s and 1950s virtually the only difference between conservative SBC churches and Independent Baptist churches were that the former still gave money to the Cooperative Program. Both groups held to biblical inerrancy. Both groups focused on strong pulpit ministries and emphasized personal evangelism. Both groups abhorred progressive theology, especially in the SBC. Both groups were mostly dispensational. Both groups cultivated a generation of vocational evangelists who were among the most influential men within the respective movements. Independent Baptists even pioneered some ministries adopted in large numbers by SBC conservatives, most notably AWANAS and bus ministries. But all of that began to change in the 1960s and 1970s.

A growing number of Independent Baptists adopted a more strident view of “biblical separation” than most Southern Baptist conservatives could countenance. Many Independent Baptists made dispensationalism a test of fellowship, adopted King James-Only theology, and continued to promote racial segregation long after it had come to an end in the South. Southern Baptist conservatives rejected the “fundamentalist” moniker for these (and other) reasons. But some Independent Baptists, particularly those associated with men like John R. Rice, Jack Hyles, Lee Roberson, and Jerry Falwell, continued to cultivate relationships with individual Southern Baptist pastors and some (most notably Falwell) actually joined, or in some cases re-joined, the SBC. So the contemporary SBC is decidedly different than the strictest type of Independent Baptists, but close enough to “moderate” fundamentalists that some have even found a home among us. Many Southern Baptists are “fundamentalish” (if I can coin a term), but not necessarily fundamentalists.

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perspective

Posted on July 18, 2009 by bkingr

I have found that in taking pictures, perspective is key. getting low or getting high puts just a little different spin on reality. Joe McNally agrees. 🙂

This guy once said, get your camera in a different place. I tell ya, sometimes when you have a camera in your hands you just feel you want some sort of hovercraft. Something that will let you magically float your camera into a different, unique position.

normal angle. everybody sees it like this.
trip to Pennybacker Bridge

unexpected angle that makes it more interesting
28mm on F4e

looking down on the flowers like we all do all the time. boring (plus too much background)
Gaylord Texan

down even with the flowers making them look like giant trees in the forest
Gaylord Texan

and again with mom’s shasta daisies
July 4th flowers

more here from Stephen Zeller with an interesting picture of his own.

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Mark Steyn with a cheerful perspective

Posted on July 18, 2009 by bkingr

Mark Steyn is always full of good cheer about the demographic future of western nations.

Here is a particularly peppy bit.

The transformation of developed societies – either into old folks’ homes (like Japan) or semi-Islamized dystopias (like Amsterdam, Brussels, etc) – will lead, in fact, to emigration. A young German or Japanese circa 2040 will have no reason whatsoever to stay in his native land and have most of his income confiscated in a vain attempt to prop up an unsustainable geriatric welfare system. So many will leave. Where will they go? At one time the obvious answer would have been America – but Good King Barack seems determined to saddle us with the same unaffordable entitlements that have scuttled the rest of the west.

For much of the developed world, the “credit crunch”, the debt burden, and the rest are not part of a cyclical economic downturn but the first manifestations of an existential crisis.

emphasis added.

almost makes you want to sing Happy Days are Here Again, doesn’t it?

go ahead.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL0Qt7IF8Q4&hl=en&fs=1&]

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condescension in action.

Posted on July 17, 2009 by bkingr

just wow. watch this if you haven’t seen it already. I have been hearing about it for a few days, but only just now watched it. this is much worse than when she told the General to call her “senator” instead of maam. I really hope the people in CA are watching this buffoon embarrass their state.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE_jGD5nZ6U&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

Just remember always that this crowd is smarter than you and they care more than you do, so just sit back and let them make your world better.

sickening.

UPDATE: bonus from the House Republicans just because it is so delicious. These people are so smart, they think they can fool all of us yokels by saying now that they said something different then. too bad for them that video keeps longer than 6 or 7 months.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MjQ17kDng&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

UPDATE II: and here are a couple of glimpses under the hood into the liberal mindset when they aren’t watching their mouth too closely:

the first is Tom Harkin in a nice summation showing all of us why government ownership of industry is a bad idea. It puts Congress in charge.

Washington, D.C. – Sen. Tom Harkin said he wants Congress to use a climate bill to force auto companies to make new cars and trucks capable of running on 85 percent ethanol as well as conventional gasoline.

“We own the automobile companies. Why not? I think that will be an easy one,” Harkin said Thursday, referring to the government interests in Chrysler and General Motors.

emphasis added
the second is from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a recent interview with the New York Times. (the link takes you to a Michael Gerson column pointing out that this rankly offensive drivel is not being taken out of context) talk about taking the mask off. eugenic ambition on display right here

The New York Times Magazine printed a candid interview with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, including this portion:

Q: “Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid abortions for poor women?”

Justice Ginsburg: “Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion.”

emphasis added

Hat tip to Frank for the Gerson column link. Gerson is mad and who could blame him.

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two good ones from Focus on the Family

Posted on July 17, 2009 by bkingr

I received an email from Focus on the Family that mentioned a couple of good articles. Just in case the rest of the world isn’t already on Focus’ email list, here they are.

a good one on teen rebellion

In his book Losing Control & Liking It, Sanford offers some explanation about the struggles most parents face with their teens. He writes:

Your teenager is in the process of moving away from you. Therapists have a term for this: developmental individuating. It means your child is doing the following:

  • disconnecting
  • leaving the nest
  • launching out
  • becoming his own person
  • growing independent
  • becoming a free moral agent

These phrases sound nice and inviting when they crop up on a psychology test covering the “developmental theories” chapter. But they don’t always sound so positive and gentle when they’re lived out in your family room or kitchen.

my favorite story of youthful rebellion in the Bible is that of Rehoboam in I Kings 12. He probably was in his twenties rather than teens, but the way he reacted to the advice from his dad’s old advisors and adopted that of his peers is classic.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  7 And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”  8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.  9 And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”  10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs.  11 And now, whereas mmy father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’ ”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, o“Come to me again the third day.”  13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,  14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, m“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”  15 So the king did not listen to the people, for pit was a turn of affairs brought about by theLord that he might fulfill his word, which qthe Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

emphasis added.

side question: did Rehoboam have a choice? didn’t he do exactly what he wanted to do? Didn’t he do exactly what God intended him to do? just sayin’

and a good one on spousal communication:

A Non Sequitur cartoon by Wiley Miller pictures a couple in bed. The wife has put down the book she’s been reading and said something to her husband. Here’s what he heard: “Time for the annual review of how you make my life a living nightmare.”

All she actually said, though, is, “Sweetie, let’s talk about us.”

Why do some spouses—especially some husbands—seem to view communication as a form of torture?

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friday fotoes

Posted on July 17, 2009 by bkingr

a pelican swooping over the water last Tuesday morning
lake morning

more macro flowers
aperture experiments

and a monochromatic sunstar from the old film camera
afternoon sun

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Pedantic Pet Peeve 2

Posted on July 16, 2009 by bkingr

here is another thing that Julie and I have noticed to be on the increase.

sale is a noun. Sell is a verb.

for instance, I need to sell my trailer. (incidentally, it is a Big Tex 50LA. 16 feet, rails, hardly used. about two years old. I love my trailer and I love having a trailer, but I don’t use it enough to justify keeping it.)
or I could say that my trailer is for sale.

it is not correct to say that I need to sale my trailer.
nor is it correct to say that my trailer is for sell.

the former misusage is epidemic. everybody is trying to sale their houses and other stuff.

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what do we want?

Posted on July 16, 2009 by bkingr

Todd Bumgarner has a quote from Os Guinness that we all need to ponder long and hard.

[E]ven if we can do what we want, the question remains: What do we want? The near-omnipotence of our means of freedom doubles back to join hands with the near-emptiness of our ends.  We do not have a purpose to match our technique.  So, ironically, we have the greatest capacity when we have the least clue what it is for. Which makes us vulnerable to all the “expert services” whose “self help” methods promise us everything we crave, but end in delivering to us new forms of constraint – and charging us for them.

–Os Guinness, The Call (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson), pp 22-23.

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something about which I had never even thought

Posted on July 16, 2009 by bkingr

here is something that never entered my mind even as a possible remote concept.

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why are we so fat?

Posted on July 15, 2009 by bkingr

via challies, I discovered and read a very interesting article from Elizabeth Kolbert at the New Yorker about obesity in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

During the next decade, Americans kept right on gaining. Men are now on average seventeen pounds heavier than they were in the late seventies, and for women that figure is even higher: nineteen pounds. The proportion of overweight children, age six to eleven, has more than doubled, while the proportion of overweight adolescents, age twelve to nineteen, has more than tripled. (According to the standards of the United States military, forty per cent of young women and twenty-five per cent of young men weigh too much to enlist.) As the average person became heavier, the very heavy became heavier still; more than twelve million Americans now have a body-mass index greater than forty, which, for someone who is five feet nine, entails weighing more than two hundred and seventy pounds. Hospitals have had to buy special wheelchairs and operating tables to accommodate the obese, and revolving doors have had to be widened—the typical door went from about ten feet to about twelve feet across. An Indiana company called Goliath Casket has begun offering triple-wide coffins with reinforced hinges that can hold up to eleven hundred pounds. It has been estimated that Americans’ extra bulk costs the airlines a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of jet fuel annually.

Such a broad social development seems to require an explanation on the same scale. Something big must have changed in America to cause so many people to gain so much weight so quickly. But what, exactly, is unclear—a mystery batter-dipped in an enigma.

Go check out the article for a variety of explanations from the darwinian to the malevolent for this phenomenon.

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a bold move

Posted on July 15, 2009 by bkingr

the Episcopalian church in the U.S. has made a bold move and declared itself to be committed to the full normalization of non-celibate homosexuals within the leadership of its communion.

here is the New York Times write up and here is the Los Angeles Times.

Dr. Mohler also discusses the votes on his blog today.

As reported in The Los Angeles Times, even some who support moves toward the normalization of homosexuality and homosexual relationships saw these votes as extreme.  “I am afraid we are becoming a church of a fundamentalist left,” said the Rev. Kate Moorehead of St. James Episcopal Church in Wichita, Kansas.

Even more pointedly, one of the church’s most insightful observers declared a virtual end to conservative and orthodox influence within the denomination. “It’s a clean sweep for the liberal agenda in the Episcopal Church,” said David Virtue. “The orthodox are finished.”

what will be interesting to keep an eye on as we go forward is whether or not David Virtue’s words are prophetic or not. Are the Orthodox finished?

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worship such a God

Posted on July 14, 2009 by bkingr

Vitamin Z has a quote from D.A. Carson that is well worth repeating.

But despite all the mysteries bound up with the nature of God, I perceive, on the basis of Scripture, that he is simultaneously personal and transcendent. He is utterly sovereign over his created order, yet he is nothing less than personal as he deals with me. Sometimes it is more important to worship such a God than to understand him.

D.A. Carson – A Call to Spiritual Reformation

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Terminal Generation?

Posted on July 13, 2009 by bkingr

Dr. Mohler is wondering if we are at the terminal generation of evangelicalism. It is a very fair thing about which to wonder.

We should be very concerned about certain trends in contemporary evangelicalism that threaten this integrity. The first is an ominous confusion about the Gospel itself. The heart of the Gospel is the objective truth that Christ died for sinners, and that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ–alone. The cardinal doctrine of justification by faith is, as Martin Luther warned, “the article by which the church stands or falls.”

If so, the church is falling in many quarters. Much of what is presented in many pulpits–and marketed by flashy television preachers–bears little resemblance to this simple message. Instead, sinners are told to seek after riches, material blessings, vibrant health, and earthly rewards. Salvation is packaged as a product to be hawked on the airwaves and sold at a discount. The notion of salvation from sin and judgment is entirely missing from this scenario. Instead, salvation is presented as a gift of self-enhancement.

On the theological left, the Gospel had long ago been transformed into a social and political message of liberation from oppression. Now, among some who consider themselves evangelicals, the Gospel of Christ has been reduced to a form of self-expression or therapy. Salvation is promised as the answer to low self-esteem and emptiness. Gone is any notion of a holy God who offers salvation from sin and its eternal penalty.

the foundational issue is the exclusivity of the Gospel and our generation’s general unwillingness to take a stand thereon

Against these various attempts to evade the simple clarity of the Gospel stands the Word of God. Our evangelical integrity stands or falls on this truth–salvation is found through faith in Christ alone. This is the logic of the missionary mandate and the sustaining conviction for all evangelism. Nevertheless, the worldview held by many individuals today–especially those among the educated classes–flatly rejects such claims as imperialistic and arrogant.

Sociologist James Davison Hunter has long warned that younger evangelicals tend to go soft on this doctrine. Educated in a culture of postmodern relativism and ideological pluralism, this generation has been taught to avoid making any exclusive claim to truth. Speak of your truth, if you must–but never claim to know the Truth. Unless this course is reversed, there will be no evangelicals in the next generation.

I think Dr. Mohler is correct to be concerned. do you agree? what can we do about it? anything?

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Leadership

Posted on July 12, 2009 by bkingr

continuing his spiritual gift series, Mark Driscoll has posted on the gift of leadership.

Spiritual Gift of Leadership Defined

The spiritual gift of leadership is found in people who have a clear, significant vision from God and are able to communicate it publicly or privately in such a way that they influence others to pursue that vision.

People with the Gift of Leadership

These people tend to gravitate toward the “point position” in a ministry. Others tend to have trust and confidence in their abilities. They best serve others by leading them. They tend to operate with a strong sense of destiny.

…..

Do You Have This Gift?

  • Do others have confidence in your ability to lead?
  • Do you enjoy being the “final voice” or the one with the overall responsibility for the direction and success of a group or organization?
  • When a difficult situation arises, do others look to you for input and leadership?
  • Do you usually take leadership in a group where none exists?
  • Do you find leadership enjoyable rather than frustrating and difficult?
  • Do others look to you to make the major decisions for a group or organization?
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ennui

Posted on July 11, 2009 by bkingr

ennui is a good word, a french word, a fun word to say. what it means is not particularly good though. Here, I will let Julie Neidlinger fill you in.

Ennui: (n.) a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom, weariness, dissatisfaction

I can’t say that I’m bored, which ennui tends to mean. I have more than enough to do; I rarely get bored. I associate the word, for some reason, with a kind of depression or dullness not stemming from any obvious source, a sort of permanent state of being down, even in “good” times.

the question is are we in this country at this time in history more prone to ennui than others in the world or others who came before us here? Is ennui a natural by product of living in this country where we have constant busyness and stimulation, but no real fear of starvation and death?

Why does this feeling of world weariness seem to permeate our lives? or is it just me?

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foto friday

Posted on July 10, 2009 by bkingr

some pictures from last week’s vacation

SAFE!!
angels v. rangers 7/1/09

Joseph with his catch
he caught one

a little macro fun
aperture expirements

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Carl Trueman on Hurt Mail

Posted on July 10, 2009 by bkingr

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oj8d9rp9to&hl=en&fs=1&]

I’m so Hurt. it isn’t just an Elvis song anymore. Now it has become a tool in the hands of the mau mau crowd in their effort to shut up arguments they don’t like.

Carl Trueman is on flaming fire with this one. Love it, Love it, Love it.

here is a tease, but you have to read it all. every delicious word. there is no way any snippets can do it justice.

But I think there is more to this phenomenon of hurt and pain than a mere aping of the culture. It is more cunning and dishonest than that, Over the last couple of years, I have noticed that the hate mail in my inbox has been replaced by what I now call hurt mail. Now, the agenda of your typical hate mailers is pretty straightforward: they are simply attempting to intimidate or humiliate the recipient into silence. What you see is what you get. Hurt mailers, by comparison, are rather more subtle and duplicitous: by claiming pain, they immediately do two things. First, they make themselves the poor victims; and second, they imply that the targets of this hurt mailing are intentionally malicious perpetrators. The game is precisely the same as with hate mail — to make someone whom they dislike or whose opinions they discount shut up — but the tactic is different: to win by seizing the moral high ground that belongs to the professional victim.

…..
Expressions of hurt are too often really something else: cowardly attempts by representatives of a cosseted and self-obsessed culture to make themselves uniquely important or, worse still, to bully and cajole somebody they dislike to stop saying things they don’t want to hear or which they find distasteful.

hat tip to Challies, but I also saw someone refer to this article on their twitter feed yesterday.

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cohabitation data

Posted on July 10, 2009 by bkingr

via Allen James on his twitter feed, I read this article on the latest (2008) cohabitation data from the Census.

An article in USA Today provides a sampling of data from a new federal study of unmarried young adults, showing that “49% of dating couples and 30% of cohabitors surveyed agree that ‘my religious beliefs suggest that it is wrong for people to live together without being married,’ and “Of those cohabiting, 66% moved in before making plans to marry; 23% planned to marry but weren’t engaged, and 11% moved in when they got engaged.”

go check out the rest of the article for some other interesting nuggets.

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Great is Thy Faithfulness

Posted on July 9, 2009 by bkingr

Great is Thy Faithfulness is one of my favorite hymns of all time. when I was in high school at Permian Basin Christian School, it was our school hymn one year (I think sophomore). It has been one of my favorites ever since. What a great bass line!

Anyway, Todd Burus had a post recently about Lamentations 3 from which this hymn comes.

Todd’s post reminded me about the context of these great words of comfort that I love so much.

The book of Lamentations is not a cheerful one in the Bible as you may have surmised from the name. Jeremiah is basically pouring out his heart to God about all the bad things that have happened to the nation of Judah because of their disobedience and to him because God called him to preach to the nation of Judah that didn’t want to hear what God through Jeremiah had to say.

In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah is explicit in how bad everything is going and he blames God directly for these calamities.

Here are the first 20 verses. Not good times.

1(A) I am the man who has seen affliction
under the(B) rod of his wrath;
2he has driven and brought me
(C) into darkness without any light;
3surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.

4He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
(D) he has broken my bones;
5(E) he has besieged and enveloped me
with(F) bitterness and tribulation;
6(G) he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.

7(H) He has walled me about so that(I) I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8though(J) I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9(K) he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.

10(L) He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11(M) he turned aside my steps and(N) tore me to pieces;
(O) he has made me desolate;
12(P) he bent his bow(Q) and set me
as a target for his arrow.

13He drove into my kidneys
(R) the arrows of his quiver;
14(S) I have become the laughingstock of all peoples,
(T) the object of their taunts all day long.
15(U) He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with(V) wormwood.

16(W) He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and(X) made me cower in ashes;
17my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness[a] is;
18(Y) so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the LORD.”

19(Z) Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
(AA) the wormwood and(AB) the gall!
20My soul continually remembers it
(AC) and is bowed down within me.

But then a remarkable thing happens. Jeremiah recalls something to his mind. No exterior circumstance changed. Nothing external improved or “got better.” People didn’t start listening to the message.

Nope. All that changed is that Jeremiah remembered something that he knew.  That the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, that His mercies are new every morning, that God is faithful and that we can therefore hope in Him even when we are in the middle of the most terrible affliction.

21But this I call to mind,
and(AD) therefore I have hope:

22(AE) The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;[b]
his mercies never come to an end;
 23they are new(AF) every morning;
 (AG) great is your faithfulness.
 24(AH) “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
 (AI) “therefore I will hope in him.”

25The LORD is good to those who(AJ) wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
26(AK) It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
27(AL) It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke(AM) in his youth.

28Let him(AN) sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29(AO) let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30(AP) let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.

31(AQ) For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32but, though he(AR) cause grief,(AS) he will have compassion
(AT) according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
33(AU) for he does not willingly afflict
or(AV) grieve the children of men.

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a modern allegory

Posted on July 9, 2009 by bkingr

Kevin DeYoung has posted three parts of four of a modern day allegory named Many Are Called but Few Are Chosen in the tradition of John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. I highly recommend Kevin’s work. It is delightful.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

here is part of the beginning to tease you over there.

Don’t get me wrong, Evangelist was a cheerful, likeable guy, but many people in town said that, for some reason, he made them feel uncomfortable. Some people got off the phone feeling bad about themselves, which, of course, they didn’t think was very good. Others objected to his persistence. Many called him a troublemaker and a nuisance. Over time, more and more people simply hung up on Evangelist once they recognized his voice.

For weeks, the response had been downright dismal. Not a single citizen of Blandanddark showed any interest in traveling with Evangelist to the his hometown, The Pearl of Greatest Price. No takers, just dial tones. This was enough to make even bright-eyed Evangelist a bit gloomy. (In fact, if truth be told, one day Evangelist was so upset he tried to leave town but was order back by his Sovereign with the assurance that there were still some faithful travelers to be called in Blandanddark.)

You can understand, then, why this day had Evangelist singing, whistling and skipping all over town. In one day, out of fifteen calls, he had received a dozen favorable responses. This was unheard of, not to mention most exciting. In a burst of joy, Evangelist hurriedly made preparations for the group’s early morning departure. He worked feverishly, gathering supplies, checking maps, and most importantly, getting a good night’s sleep.

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