I was looking for what the Word says about Old and New Testament, From Dec 06
I really like John 5:45-47 " ...for Moses wrote about me...if you do not believe his writings, how can you believe my words."
Jesus doesn't pre-empt the writings of Moses. "For Moses wrote about me."
Luke 24:27 "He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."
Monday, August 13, 2007
Context, Perspective, Reality
Context,Perspective,Reality.....this is a follow up to this posting
David Terry: long term view and impact as a thinking American "I better get the added 3 yr warranty, now I'm thinking long term."
God's reality (clue, this is the only view that counts) : Dead King David influencing his children's children, because of how he thought and what he did, longer than the United States of America has been a nation. Think about it.
Context, Perspective, Reality
Ps, Let's not ride on the short bus, I am not advocating buying long term warrantys as thinking multi-gen, it's just an example. It might be wise and it might not be wise to buy long term warrantys depending on all the factors.
David Terry: long term view and impact as a thinking American "I better get the added 3 yr warranty, now I'm thinking long term."
God's reality (clue, this is the only view that counts) : Dead King David influencing his children's children, because of how he thought and what he did, longer than the United States of America has been a nation. Think about it.
Context, Perspective, Reality
Ps, Let's not ride on the short bus, I am not advocating buying long term warrantys as thinking multi-gen, it's just an example. It might be wise and it might not be wise to buy long term warrantys depending on all the factors.
Speaking of Missing the Exit
this is a follow up to this Taking the Wrong Exit and then Missed The Exit Again
My daughter Jamie likes to quote Ignorance, one of the characters from Pilgrim's Progress. When we hear or read about shallow thinking, based on feelings and emotions. She will pipe in, "Ignorance says...My heart tells me so! and, I just believe, that’s all! "
The following is an exchange between Chrisitan and Mr. Ignorance....
Christian...Then, directing his speech to Ignorance, he said, Come, how do you do? How stands it between God and your soul now?
Ignor. I hope, well; for I am always full of good motions, that come into my mind to comfort me as I walk.
Chr. What good motions? Pray tell us.
Ignor. Why, I think of God and heaven.
Chr. So do the devils and damned souls.
Ignor. But I think of them and desire them.
Chr. So do many that are never like to come there. The soul of the sluggard desires, and hath nothing.
Ignor. But I think of them, and leave all for them.
Chr. That I doubt; for leaving of all is a hard matter; yea, a harder matter than many are aware of. But why, or by what, art thou persuaded that thou hast left all for God and heaven?
Ignor. My heart tells me so.
Chr. The wise man says, "He that trusts his own heart is a fool."
Ignor. That is spoken of a evil heart; but mine is a good one.
Chr. But how dost thou prove that?
Ignor. It comforts me in hopes of heaven
Chr. That may be through its deceitfulness; for a man’s heart may minister comfort to him in the hopes of that thing for which he has yet no ground to hope.
Ignor. But my heart and life agree together; and therefore my hope is well grounded.
Chr. Who told thee that thy heart and life agree together?
Ignor. My heart tells me so.
Chr. Ask my fellow if I be a thief. Thy heart tells thee so! Except the word of God beareth witness in this matter, other testimony is of no value.
My daughter Jamie likes to quote Ignorance, one of the characters from Pilgrim's Progress. When we hear or read about shallow thinking, based on feelings and emotions. She will pipe in, "Ignorance says...My heart tells me so! and, I just believe, that’s all! "
The following is an exchange between Chrisitan and Mr. Ignorance....
Christian...Then, directing his speech to Ignorance, he said, Come, how do you do? How stands it between God and your soul now?
Ignor. I hope, well; for I am always full of good motions, that come into my mind to comfort me as I walk.
Chr. What good motions? Pray tell us.
Ignor. Why, I think of God and heaven.
Chr. So do the devils and damned souls.
Ignor. But I think of them and desire them.
Chr. So do many that are never like to come there. The soul of the sluggard desires, and hath nothing.
Ignor. But I think of them, and leave all for them.
Chr. That I doubt; for leaving of all is a hard matter; yea, a harder matter than many are aware of. But why, or by what, art thou persuaded that thou hast left all for God and heaven?
Ignor. My heart tells me so.
Chr. The wise man says, "He that trusts his own heart is a fool."
Ignor. That is spoken of a evil heart; but mine is a good one.
Chr. But how dost thou prove that?
Ignor. It comforts me in hopes of heaven
Chr. That may be through its deceitfulness; for a man’s heart may minister comfort to him in the hopes of that thing for which he has yet no ground to hope.
Ignor. But my heart and life agree together; and therefore my hope is well grounded.
Chr. Who told thee that thy heart and life agree together?
Ignor. My heart tells me so.
Chr. Ask my fellow if I be a thief. Thy heart tells thee so! Except the word of God beareth witness in this matter, other testimony is of no value.
Terrifying Words, We're From the Government, We're Here to Help
I'm using this article to showcase how far our nation/government has managed to push itself away from the constitution. That document was one that limited govt to specific things it could do. It was a limiting document,on the government. But as you can read for yourself now our government sees itself above the Consitution (for the good of the people of course)and even as a definer of the Constitution. A logical extension of everyman doing what is right in his own eyes is for the government to do what is right in its own eyes (for the good of the people of course)
The Coldest Monster, The Cruelest Slavemaster
by William Norman Grigg
It's not that often that we can say with perfect confidence that a judicial ruling will lead directly to the needless agonizing deaths of innocent people. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. handed down just such a ruling (.pdf) in a case brought against the FDA.....
....Bobbing in the porridge of intellectual perversity served by the court is this particularly unpalatable morsel: "[C]reating constitutional rights to be free from regulation based solely upon a prior lack of regulation would undermine much of the modern administrative state, which, like drug regulation, has increased in scope as changing conditions have warranted."...
From this single observation we can extract the logic (if that word can be tortured into applying here) of the entire ruling:
Constitutional rights are a government artifact, "created" primarily by the courts.
Since "rights" are creations of the State, they can be summoned into existence, summarily abolished, or modified as the government sees fit, in order to serve the
State's "compelling interests."
The fact that certain freedoms have been historically exercised by Americans – such as the right to seek alternative treatments for life-threatening conditions, a right exercised by Americans without qualification for most of our nation's history (from the colonial period until 1962) – is of no consequence when the State decides to expand its own regulatory mandate.
If, in defiance of the foregoing assumptions, terminally ill patients are permitted to exercise ownership over their health by seeking treatments not approved by government, then the entire rationale for the "administrative" State will be fatally undermined. It is better that we let a few innocent people die in agony, than to permit the State's regulatory powers to be undermined in any way...
In a dissent that is as intellectually taut as the majority opinion is flaccid, Judge Judith Rogers italicizes the obvious – namely, that the "right of a person to save [his] own life," which was entirely ignored in the decision, is the fundamental human liberty. An illustration of the court's alienation from reality is found in the fact that Rogers considered it necessary to fortify this "Well, duh" proposition by supplying quotes from Blackstone and Samuel Adams on the subject...
Read more>>
The Coldest Monster, The Cruelest Slavemaster
by William Norman Grigg
It's not that often that we can say with perfect confidence that a judicial ruling will lead directly to the needless agonizing deaths of innocent people. The U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. handed down just such a ruling (.pdf) in a case brought against the FDA.....
....Bobbing in the porridge of intellectual perversity served by the court is this particularly unpalatable morsel: "[C]reating constitutional rights to be free from regulation based solely upon a prior lack of regulation would undermine much of the modern administrative state, which, like drug regulation, has increased in scope as changing conditions have warranted."...
From this single observation we can extract the logic (if that word can be tortured into applying here) of the entire ruling:
Constitutional rights are a government artifact, "created" primarily by the courts.
Since "rights" are creations of the State, they can be summoned into existence, summarily abolished, or modified as the government sees fit, in order to serve the
State's "compelling interests."
The fact that certain freedoms have been historically exercised by Americans – such as the right to seek alternative treatments for life-threatening conditions, a right exercised by Americans without qualification for most of our nation's history (from the colonial period until 1962) – is of no consequence when the State decides to expand its own regulatory mandate.
If, in defiance of the foregoing assumptions, terminally ill patients are permitted to exercise ownership over their health by seeking treatments not approved by government, then the entire rationale for the "administrative" State will be fatally undermined. It is better that we let a few innocent people die in agony, than to permit the State's regulatory powers to be undermined in any way...
In a dissent that is as intellectually taut as the majority opinion is flaccid, Judge Judith Rogers italicizes the obvious – namely, that the "right of a person to save [his] own life," which was entirely ignored in the decision, is the fundamental human liberty. An illustration of the court's alienation from reality is found in the fact that Rogers considered it necessary to fortify this "Well, duh" proposition by supplying quotes from Blackstone and Samuel Adams on the subject...
Read more>>
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Can Anyone say Flood Model
Stone Age Settlement Found Under English Channel
Friday , August 10, 2007
By Heather Whipps
Erosion on the floor of the English Channel is revealing the remains of a busy Stone Age settlement from a time when Europe and Britain were still linked by land, a team of archaeologists says.
The site, just off the Isle of Wight, dates back 8,000 years, not long before melting glaciers filled in the Channel and likely drove the settlement's last occupants north to higher ground....
Read more>>
Friday , August 10, 2007
By Heather Whipps
Erosion on the floor of the English Channel is revealing the remains of a busy Stone Age settlement from a time when Europe and Britain were still linked by land, a team of archaeologists says.
The site, just off the Isle of Wight, dates back 8,000 years, not long before melting glaciers filled in the Channel and likely drove the settlement's last occupants north to higher ground....
Read more>>
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Missed The Exit Again...World views on parade
More from Barna Group, a follow up on the earlier post
Americans Not Concerned About Their Spiritual Condition
Ventura, CA) - Most Americans value their faith and regularly engage in faith practices, surprisingly few say they have specific challenges related to the development of their faith. A national survey of Christian parents commissioned by Good News Holdings and conducted by The Barna Group discovered that four out of every ten Christian parents of children between the ages of 3 and 18 said they do not face any spiritual challenges in their life...
...When asked to identify their biggest personal challenges related to faith or spirituality, the most common response related to raising moral children or youngsters with a strong faith. In total, one out of every seven parents (14%) who identified themselves as Christian listed this as their spiritual challenge. Only one other response - the need to personally invest more time in religious activities, such as reading the Bible or praying - was mentioned by at least one out of every ten parents (10%).
..One out of every three parents (34%) said having enough time to devote to their faith was a major challenge. Almost as many (30%) said helping their children to become more spiritual was a major challenge...
(David adds: note this just screams out about how modern Christians have a compartmentalized faith, a sacred/secular split, the disconnect in world views that would say " having enough time to devote to their faith was a major challenge." they see their faith as something you go do, like getting gas or taking a kid to soccer. Rather than their faith permeating everything you do. This same view of life and their faith will be passed on to the kids. If I were to say that in Romans we're called to give Jesus "Preemimence in all things" I'm sure they would say, Amen. Lord help us, we've been taken captive!)
...George Barna, author of more than three dozen books about the faith and lifestyles of Americans, pointed out that a much larger proportion of survey respondants portrayed each of these challenges more significant than was apparent when those same people were asked earlier in the survey to identify their spiritual challenges. He explained that this is common when people are not conscieous of such challenges and therefore are not seriously engaged in addressing those issues.
..An examination of various faith segments also demonstrated noteworthy differences in emphasis. Evangelical Christian parents were three times more likely than other Christian segments to identify responding to the declining morals and values of society as a major challenge. They were also notably more likely than other Christian parents to feel they failed to devote enough time to their faith - even though they invest a larger share of their time each week to faith-related activities...
"Our studies show that the faith principles and practices that a child absorbs by age thirteen boldly shapes their spirituality for the duration of their life," the researcher stated. "Parents have a greater impact on that process than anyone else." Barna also expressed surprise that the percentage of parents indicating such concern was so small. "This was a study exclusively of Christian parents with young children in their household. Given companion surveys showing that such parents often convey dismay over the eroding cultural environment for raising children, and how difficult parenting is these days, we anticipated a broader emphasis upon the challenges related to bringing up spiritually whole and healthy children."
Read more
Where's my rolaids...
Americans Not Concerned About Their Spiritual Condition
Ventura, CA) - Most Americans value their faith and regularly engage in faith practices, surprisingly few say they have specific challenges related to the development of their faith. A national survey of Christian parents commissioned by Good News Holdings and conducted by The Barna Group discovered that four out of every ten Christian parents of children between the ages of 3 and 18 said they do not face any spiritual challenges in their life...
...When asked to identify their biggest personal challenges related to faith or spirituality, the most common response related to raising moral children or youngsters with a strong faith. In total, one out of every seven parents (14%) who identified themselves as Christian listed this as their spiritual challenge. Only one other response - the need to personally invest more time in religious activities, such as reading the Bible or praying - was mentioned by at least one out of every ten parents (10%).
..One out of every three parents (34%) said having enough time to devote to their faith was a major challenge. Almost as many (30%) said helping their children to become more spiritual was a major challenge...
(David adds: note this just screams out about how modern Christians have a compartmentalized faith, a sacred/secular split, the disconnect in world views that would say " having enough time to devote to their faith was a major challenge." they see their faith as something you go do, like getting gas or taking a kid to soccer. Rather than their faith permeating everything you do. This same view of life and their faith will be passed on to the kids. If I were to say that in Romans we're called to give Jesus "Preemimence in all things" I'm sure they would say, Amen. Lord help us, we've been taken captive!)
...George Barna, author of more than three dozen books about the faith and lifestyles of Americans, pointed out that a much larger proportion of survey respondants portrayed each of these challenges more significant than was apparent when those same people were asked earlier in the survey to identify their spiritual challenges. He explained that this is common when people are not conscieous of such challenges and therefore are not seriously engaged in addressing those issues.
..An examination of various faith segments also demonstrated noteworthy differences in emphasis. Evangelical Christian parents were three times more likely than other Christian segments to identify responding to the declining morals and values of society as a major challenge. They were also notably more likely than other Christian parents to feel they failed to devote enough time to their faith - even though they invest a larger share of their time each week to faith-related activities...
"Our studies show that the faith principles and practices that a child absorbs by age thirteen boldly shapes their spirituality for the duration of their life," the researcher stated. "Parents have a greater impact on that process than anyone else." Barna also expressed surprise that the percentage of parents indicating such concern was so small. "This was a study exclusively of Christian parents with young children in their household. Given companion surveys showing that such parents often convey dismay over the eroding cultural environment for raising children, and how difficult parenting is these days, we anticipated a broader emphasis upon the challenges related to bringing up spiritually whole and healthy children."
Read more
Where's my rolaids...
More Ron Paul
What I like about Ron Paul is his stand concerning the Constitution, if it's not in it, the govt has no right to do it. He's weird like that.
The Ron Paul Ultimatum
by Mark Thornton
..I’m seeing the same sort of conversion happening across our country. People are realizing that President Bush and Vice President Cheney represent evil and then they see Ron Paul and a light goes off – the answer is the US Constitution. Bingo! Government by the rule of law, limited government, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy – that is what made America great. These new converts may not necessarily understand the entire message and may have policy disagreements with Ron Paul, but they realize that our country needs an entirely different direction and it’s the direction of Ron Paul...
Read more>>
The Ron Paul Ultimatum
by Mark Thornton
..I’m seeing the same sort of conversion happening across our country. People are realizing that President Bush and Vice President Cheney represent evil and then they see Ron Paul and a light goes off – the answer is the US Constitution. Bingo! Government by the rule of law, limited government, sound money, and a non-interventionist foreign policy – that is what made America great. These new converts may not necessarily understand the entire message and may have policy disagreements with Ron Paul, but they realize that our country needs an entirely different direction and it’s the direction of Ron Paul...
Read more>>
Ron Paul
Having Fun Doing Good
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
...The sense of urgency on the part of Paul’s supporters comes not just from his message, and not just from his honesty and integrity – qualities even his opponents usually concede. It comes from a sense that this may be our last chance. After Ron Paul there is only a line of hacks as far as the eye can see. We may never see his like again, and we may never have such an opportunity again.
We have a man who tells the truth, who – gasp – answers the questions posed to him. We have someone who doesn’t feed us the same old lies about war and empire. And we have someone who cannot be bought, period. Some candidates promise us all kinds of goodies, paid for by looting our neighbor – or by looting us, in the form of inflation. Ron Paul makes no such promises. He promises only peace and freedom, the radical yet common-sense message that neither party can get right....
Read more>>
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
...The sense of urgency on the part of Paul’s supporters comes not just from his message, and not just from his honesty and integrity – qualities even his opponents usually concede. It comes from a sense that this may be our last chance. After Ron Paul there is only a line of hacks as far as the eye can see. We may never see his like again, and we may never have such an opportunity again.
We have a man who tells the truth, who – gasp – answers the questions posed to him. We have someone who doesn’t feed us the same old lies about war and empire. And we have someone who cannot be bought, period. Some candidates promise us all kinds of goodies, paid for by looting our neighbor – or by looting us, in the form of inflation. Ron Paul makes no such promises. He promises only peace and freedom, the radical yet common-sense message that neither party can get right....
Read more>>
Friday, August 10, 2007
Taking the Wrong Exit
From The Barna Group
Barna is forever with his finger on the pulse of the church, adults, youth, he is always bringing forth the word on what "the body of Christ" (I'm using this term loosely)is into. I think he does a good job of perceiving what is going on. What he presents as the remedy for what ails the modern Church is where I don't always see eye to eye with him. Most of his suggestions come from a worldview that is missing a biblical understanding on jurisdictions as set up by God. So some of his solutions entail the church as being at the center of the issue when many times by God's view the problem should be handled by the family. Can we expect God to move on our behalf, when the method we choose to address something, is contrary to His will. Methods are not neutral.
Bill Einwetcher did a great talk on this subject from the second Uniting Church and Family conference. Opened my eyes so wide at the time that they almost fell out. I think you could also go to Sermon Audio and download it there at no charge.
A lot of the time when I read what is going on in the "Church" from the Barna Group I wind up looking for the rolaids.
Harry Potter’s Influence Goes Unchallenged in Most Homes and Churches
The vast majority of teens - regardless of gender, ethnicity, faith, or other characteristics - has been personally exposed to the story. For instance, even a large majority of teenagers from groups that have objected most stridently to the stories of wizards and witchcraft have indulged in this fantasy world. Three-quarters of all church-going teens (77%) and born again Christian teenagers (78%) have seen or read Potter...
..Overall, a majority of teens - Christian or other - are ingesting the mythology of the child wizard without any guidance from their parents or church leaders. Instead, teens are feeling their way through the spiritual themes either on their own or with the influence of their peers...
I loved this part,...teens are feeling their way through the spiritual themes either on their own or with the influence of their peers...
Just like Mom and Dad?!? Im afraid that fraze describes all to many modern believers "were feeling our way..." God turn your church back to you.
Link at the top of the page.
Barna is forever with his finger on the pulse of the church, adults, youth, he is always bringing forth the word on what "the body of Christ" (I'm using this term loosely)is into. I think he does a good job of perceiving what is going on. What he presents as the remedy for what ails the modern Church is where I don't always see eye to eye with him. Most of his suggestions come from a worldview that is missing a biblical understanding on jurisdictions as set up by God. So some of his solutions entail the church as being at the center of the issue when many times by God's view the problem should be handled by the family. Can we expect God to move on our behalf, when the method we choose to address something, is contrary to His will. Methods are not neutral.
Bill Einwetcher did a great talk on this subject from the second Uniting Church and Family conference. Opened my eyes so wide at the time that they almost fell out. I think you could also go to Sermon Audio and download it there at no charge.
A lot of the time when I read what is going on in the "Church" from the Barna Group I wind up looking for the rolaids.
Harry Potter’s Influence Goes Unchallenged in Most Homes and Churches
The vast majority of teens - regardless of gender, ethnicity, faith, or other characteristics - has been personally exposed to the story. For instance, even a large majority of teenagers from groups that have objected most stridently to the stories of wizards and witchcraft have indulged in this fantasy world. Three-quarters of all church-going teens (77%) and born again Christian teenagers (78%) have seen or read Potter...
..Overall, a majority of teens - Christian or other - are ingesting the mythology of the child wizard without any guidance from their parents or church leaders. Instead, teens are feeling their way through the spiritual themes either on their own or with the influence of their peers...
I loved this part,...teens are feeling their way through the spiritual themes either on their own or with the influence of their peers...
Just like Mom and Dad?!? Im afraid that fraze describes all to many modern believers "were feeling our way..." God turn your church back to you.
Link at the top of the page.
For My Servant David's Sake
From 2 Kings chpt 18 and 19:14 we read that Hezekiah cries out to God for help against Assyria and in verse 35 we read "and it came to pass that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians 180,000.". The number is staggering. At 19:20 Isaiah explains it is because you prayed to me...I have heard. And at 19:34 God has Isaiah end with "for I will defend this city, to save it for my own sake and for my servant, David's sake"
That little last sentence is so easy to breeze on by and miss the enormity of it. Because we are not use to seeing things multi-generationally.
For my servant David's sake.... My family got our timeline out of the different kings of Judah and Israel. God says this after David has been dead for approx 250/280 yrs. Now that is a legacy. David continued to impact his nation for a long, long, long time. We can begin to order our lives, our priorities, how we interact or do not interact with our children. We can cry out to God, to show me Lord! Lead me in a lifestyle that may impact future generations for your glory! Tomorrow we will make choices that are either future oriented or oriented for the present. We have been trained and conditioned to live for the moment, to go for the gusto and get that 10 minute legacy! God forbid it, we have been created for the glory of God
David set up supplies for Solomon to build the temple. I don’t know what it is that God would have all of us to do but at the very least we can begin to inculcate in our children that their lives are not about themselves. That they are to live for future generations. Like we should be living. God will show us if we are willing. I used to say I want to impact my children's children for 200yrs for the Glory of God. If David could impact a Nation for 250yrs why cannot I ask God to help me impact just a family line for 250yrs. A vison like this will impart purpose. Deliberateness. This is something worth living for. Worth dying for. May it be so.
For those who say we shouldn't be distracted by all this other stuff, that we should focus on Jesus, well....let's look at Jesus...God's Son, Jesus, our example, impacted and changed all of history for all eternity by living for the Glory of his Father. The ultimate mutli-generational picture! Eph 4:11-16 says that..till we all come ....to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...and...but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head-Christ. We are Chrisitans, little Christs, Follow the leader! Go and do thou likewise!
That little last sentence is so easy to breeze on by and miss the enormity of it. Because we are not use to seeing things multi-generationally.
For my servant David's sake.... My family got our timeline out of the different kings of Judah and Israel. God says this after David has been dead for approx 250/280 yrs. Now that is a legacy. David continued to impact his nation for a long, long, long time. We can begin to order our lives, our priorities, how we interact or do not interact with our children. We can cry out to God, to show me Lord! Lead me in a lifestyle that may impact future generations for your glory! Tomorrow we will make choices that are either future oriented or oriented for the present. We have been trained and conditioned to live for the moment, to go for the gusto and get that 10 minute legacy! God forbid it, we have been created for the glory of God
David set up supplies for Solomon to build the temple. I don’t know what it is that God would have all of us to do but at the very least we can begin to inculcate in our children that their lives are not about themselves. That they are to live for future generations. Like we should be living. God will show us if we are willing. I used to say I want to impact my children's children for 200yrs for the Glory of God. If David could impact a Nation for 250yrs why cannot I ask God to help me impact just a family line for 250yrs. A vison like this will impart purpose. Deliberateness. This is something worth living for. Worth dying for. May it be so.
For those who say we shouldn't be distracted by all this other stuff, that we should focus on Jesus, well....let's look at Jesus...God's Son, Jesus, our example, impacted and changed all of history for all eternity by living for the Glory of his Father. The ultimate mutli-generational picture! Eph 4:11-16 says that..till we all come ....to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...and...but speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things into him who is the head-Christ. We are Chrisitans, little Christs, Follow the leader! Go and do thou likewise!
They Are A Judgement On Us
I just finished hear John McArthur's talk about "When God Abandons a Nation". Very good. What rung a bell is that recently I was reading an old Credenda Agenda magazine from years ago called "Recovering the Masculine Mind" by Douglas Wilson. The article goes back and forth on saying we don't recognize we are a nation already under judgement. He lays the responsiblity on the men for not being what God has created us to be. For being conformed to the Ideas and definitions that the world prescribes. The good news is, though so much of the nation looks hopeless we can begin the restoration process by repenting as men and bearing true witness to what God has ordained. To his definitions of the Family, the Church, and the State.
Recovering the Masculine MindDouglas Wilson
The problem can be called by many names. The men of our generation have had a failure of nerve. They have abdicated their responsibilities, and we are consequently in the midst of a crisis of leadership. Men have fallen, to use the biblical term, into the sin of unbelief . God has always promised tremendous blessings for those who keep His covenant faithfully, but, to be blunt, men no longer believe Him...
...The covenants in this category are those of marriage (Mal. 3:14-15), the institution of the Church (Luke 22:20), and the civil order (Rom. 13:1-7).
These three covenant institutions have been established among us directly by the hand of God We have no authority to alter or abolish them to suit our tastes or liking. But it is not enough for Christians to acknowledge their existence; we must also correctly understand their relationship to one another. It would be a serious mistake to line them up in a row of three, and then simply assign respective biblical duties to each. Each covenant institution certainly does have its respective duties, but we must first understand that the covenanted institutions of church and civil society are made up of covenanted family units...
Because of the crisis of masculinity in the home, that representation is not being offered by our households, and if it were offered, it would be received by our civil order only with laughter, and by an ignorant theological indignation in our churches. In short, we all, from top to bottom, are in high rebellion against God's design for family and culture. We in the church like to disguise that rebellion by talking about family values which amounts, as far as I can tell, to a vibrant desire for more G-rated movies but we never talk about familial representation in the Church, or familial authority in the civil realm.
...Modern Christian men can be divided into two categories those who have acquiesced to the current dictates requiring epistemological effeminacy, and those who think they have not because they are still allowed to beat their chests at home. Those in the latter category must come to realize their broader cultural impotence. What does your leadership in the household mean? That you get to hold the remote when the family watches television? That you get to park the car when the family goes to church? What it really means is that you have the responsibility before God to wake up .
For example, when our Supreme Court made its infamous decision to allow the slaughter of infants, the Christians of our nation were so covenantally blind that we did not see it for what it was the abortion of the legitimate family. This is not to minimize in any way the horrific nature of the abortion carnage...
The fact that a man has taken a solemn vow assuming covenantal responsibility for his offspring was judged by our highest court to be a matter of no legal consequence .
It is difficult to understand what is more tragic, the decision of the Court to slaughter the children, or the inability of modern Christians to even notice that the Court had declared every child in the nation to be, as far as they were concerned, a bastard.
With the abortion decision, this rejection of the legal reality of family covenants finally came to the shedding of blood. But this lawlessness had been at work in our civil order for well over a century. We did not notice that our children had been declared illegitimate because we had already believed the lie of individualism. For example, when women were granted the right to vote, the nation had already accepted the lie that a nation is nothing more than a collection of individuals . And so the matter was framed this way men as individuals can vote, so why cannot individual women do the same? We were so muddled we thought we were giving the franchise to women when we were in fact taking it away from families.
When a nation no longer receives the ambassadors of another nation, it is in effect refusing to recognize that nation...
We must mark it well; abdication does not remove the covenant responsibilities as far as God is concerned. What it does is bring down tumbling cultural curses like an earthslide. And here we are, with rulers who do not see any liberty in the law of God. "Why do they not see?" we wonder. But we are the covenant idiots; we still do not know that they are God's judgment on us . We do not see either....
Read the whole thing!
Recovering the Masculine MindDouglas Wilson
The problem can be called by many names. The men of our generation have had a failure of nerve. They have abdicated their responsibilities, and we are consequently in the midst of a crisis of leadership. Men have fallen, to use the biblical term, into the sin of unbelief . God has always promised tremendous blessings for those who keep His covenant faithfully, but, to be blunt, men no longer believe Him...
...The covenants in this category are those of marriage (Mal. 3:14-15), the institution of the Church (Luke 22:20), and the civil order (Rom. 13:1-7).
These three covenant institutions have been established among us directly by the hand of God We have no authority to alter or abolish them to suit our tastes or liking. But it is not enough for Christians to acknowledge their existence; we must also correctly understand their relationship to one another. It would be a serious mistake to line them up in a row of three, and then simply assign respective biblical duties to each. Each covenant institution certainly does have its respective duties, but we must first understand that the covenanted institutions of church and civil society are made up of covenanted family units...
Because of the crisis of masculinity in the home, that representation is not being offered by our households, and if it were offered, it would be received by our civil order only with laughter, and by an ignorant theological indignation in our churches. In short, we all, from top to bottom, are in high rebellion against God's design for family and culture. We in the church like to disguise that rebellion by talking about family values which amounts, as far as I can tell, to a vibrant desire for more G-rated movies but we never talk about familial representation in the Church, or familial authority in the civil realm.
...Modern Christian men can be divided into two categories those who have acquiesced to the current dictates requiring epistemological effeminacy, and those who think they have not because they are still allowed to beat their chests at home. Those in the latter category must come to realize their broader cultural impotence. What does your leadership in the household mean? That you get to hold the remote when the family watches television? That you get to park the car when the family goes to church? What it really means is that you have the responsibility before God to wake up .
For example, when our Supreme Court made its infamous decision to allow the slaughter of infants, the Christians of our nation were so covenantally blind that we did not see it for what it was the abortion of the legitimate family. This is not to minimize in any way the horrific nature of the abortion carnage...
The fact that a man has taken a solemn vow assuming covenantal responsibility for his offspring was judged by our highest court to be a matter of no legal consequence .
It is difficult to understand what is more tragic, the decision of the Court to slaughter the children, or the inability of modern Christians to even notice that the Court had declared every child in the nation to be, as far as they were concerned, a bastard.
With the abortion decision, this rejection of the legal reality of family covenants finally came to the shedding of blood. But this lawlessness had been at work in our civil order for well over a century. We did not notice that our children had been declared illegitimate because we had already believed the lie of individualism. For example, when women were granted the right to vote, the nation had already accepted the lie that a nation is nothing more than a collection of individuals . And so the matter was framed this way men as individuals can vote, so why cannot individual women do the same? We were so muddled we thought we were giving the franchise to women when we were in fact taking it away from families.
When a nation no longer receives the ambassadors of another nation, it is in effect refusing to recognize that nation...
We must mark it well; abdication does not remove the covenant responsibilities as far as God is concerned. What it does is bring down tumbling cultural curses like an earthslide. And here we are, with rulers who do not see any liberty in the law of God. "Why do they not see?" we wonder. But we are the covenant idiots; we still do not know that they are God's judgment on us . We do not see either....
Read the whole thing!
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Very Very Short Book Review: Robinson Crusoe
We recently finished Robinson Crusoe, it is loaded with Godly theology. The newer versions have stripped it out I think. We read from the oldest version I could find, the English is harder to follow but since we have heard Pilgrims Progress and Christiana so many times it was doable.
Short Book Review: Reforming Marriage
The wife just finished "Reforming Marriage" by Doug Wilson. I had read it before. I still think it is the best book on Christian marriage out there. Was a big tool to help me get a biblical overview to my marriage. Now I had many good principles, but as with most of my biblical awareness it was very disjointed, compartmentalized. This book gave a skeletal structure for my bits and pieces to be hung from and joined them together. It was in the Word the whole time, but my presuppositions caused me to interpret it in harmony with most of the culture and modern evagelicalism in particular, but which left it no longer in harmony with parts of God's word. If the foundation isn't right what you build on top will of course be less than solid. This book just topples the Idols of American individualism, egalitarianism and then leaves the fork in Feminism. Small book. Big on God's Word and Principles. Debbie Pearl's book "Created To be His Help Meet" had a lot of women throwing the book against the wall while muttering "this cannot be from the Lord". I kept thinking of that as I read this book. Strong meat. Sweet to the soul. Grab a life jacket.
From The Campout: God the Dangerous
Playing catch up. I'm posting about the church campout from a couple of weeks back. I want to be able to link to this post.
The camp out was a hoot. My kids counted only 30 something bug bites on one of my arms. 2 evenings and a full day to toss out and talk about different things from God's Kingdom. The Hudelson family picked out a great spot where we could see the kids play as we continued the Reformation from lawn chairs. The tarantula that showed up in the middle of the evening devotions, in the middle of a group of 23 people, stole the show. Rob's masterful demonstration, nay, his taking dominion of God's "everything that creepeth upon the earth" should’ve been filmed. I have never seen so many skunks in my life. There was much feasting before the Lord.
While there, I had started reading a Credenda Agenda Magazine vol 16,number3 the theme was entitled "God the Dangerous". Douglas Jones wrote the main article, and using scripture painted a picture of God that had me squirming. A God who is a consuming fire, a jealous God, a God who knows what belongs to him (everything, Psm 50:10,11) and will remind us about it if we forget it. He quoted Annie Dillard when she wrote..
"On the whole I do not find the Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church: we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares: they should lash us to the pews. For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to were we can never return"
I admit that for too long I have worshiped a safe lovey, dovey God. A smaller God that comes from using a "shorter" bible as Rushdoony would say. I had thought that the Christian walk was about God loving us and sending his Son to die for us as opposed to everything and us being made for his own Glory. It’s a matter of focus and it will color everything. I Repent, and move on.
If your curious It is called
"Playing with Knives, God the Dangerous"
The camp out was a hoot. My kids counted only 30 something bug bites on one of my arms. 2 evenings and a full day to toss out and talk about different things from God's Kingdom. The Hudelson family picked out a great spot where we could see the kids play as we continued the Reformation from lawn chairs. The tarantula that showed up in the middle of the evening devotions, in the middle of a group of 23 people, stole the show. Rob's masterful demonstration, nay, his taking dominion of God's "everything that creepeth upon the earth" should’ve been filmed. I have never seen so many skunks in my life. There was much feasting before the Lord.
While there, I had started reading a Credenda Agenda Magazine vol 16,number3 the theme was entitled "God the Dangerous". Douglas Jones wrote the main article, and using scripture painted a picture of God that had me squirming. A God who is a consuming fire, a jealous God, a God who knows what belongs to him (everything, Psm 50:10,11) and will remind us about it if we forget it. He quoted Annie Dillard when she wrote..
"On the whole I do not find the Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or as I suspect does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies straw hats and velvet hats to church: we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares: they should lash us to the pews. For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to were we can never return"
I admit that for too long I have worshiped a safe lovey, dovey God. A smaller God that comes from using a "shorter" bible as Rushdoony would say. I had thought that the Christian walk was about God loving us and sending his Son to die for us as opposed to everything and us being made for his own Glory. It’s a matter of focus and it will color everything. I Repent, and move on.
If your curious It is called
"Playing with Knives, God the Dangerous"
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Conspiracy
From Chalcedon . I too, used to be all worried about conspiracys controlling the govenment, controlling this, controlling that. I first heard this type of world view concerning conspiracys from , Paul Jehle. (a charsimatic no less! of the reformed variety) I think it was from the History of the World Mega Conference and also he briefly touches on it in the dvd set Witherspoon School of Law and Public Policy. His sense of humor kills me and I have watched his 3 part episode on the Law of Nations more than once! Excellent. This is from the Chalcedon blog, you have to scroll down the page to get to it.
The part about bearing false witness torwards God caught my attention. My view of the 9th commandment was again way to compartmentalized just like it seems for all of the commandments. I've use my shorter Bible for too long.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Conspiracies: Satanic Determinism RJ Rushdoony
Too many churchmen have laid the foundation, over the centuries, for a doctrine of satanic determinism. We can call it also the conspiracy theory.
Now very clearly Scripture affirms the fact of conspiracies; Psalm 2 is a classic statement of their reality. This same psalm, however, strongly underscores their futility; God laughs at the conspiracies of the ungodly nations and summons His people to share in His laughter...
...The commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," means that we must bear true witness concerning all things. We must not bear false witness concerning God or man, and we are not to bear false witness concerning Satan by ascribing to him power that belongs only to God. The true witness of the apostles was not a testimony about the powers of Satan but of the triumphant Christ. The world they faced, as a very small handful, was far more entrenched in its evil than our own, but the apostles did not spend their time documenting the depravity, perversity...
Read more>>
The part about bearing false witness torwards God caught my attention. My view of the 9th commandment was again way to compartmentalized just like it seems for all of the commandments. I've use my shorter Bible for too long.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Conspiracies: Satanic Determinism RJ Rushdoony
Too many churchmen have laid the foundation, over the centuries, for a doctrine of satanic determinism. We can call it also the conspiracy theory.
Now very clearly Scripture affirms the fact of conspiracies; Psalm 2 is a classic statement of their reality. This same psalm, however, strongly underscores their futility; God laughs at the conspiracies of the ungodly nations and summons His people to share in His laughter...
...The commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," means that we must bear true witness concerning all things. We must not bear false witness concerning God or man, and we are not to bear false witness concerning Satan by ascribing to him power that belongs only to God. The true witness of the apostles was not a testimony about the powers of Satan but of the triumphant Christ. The world they faced, as a very small handful, was far more entrenched in its evil than our own, but the apostles did not spend their time documenting the depravity, perversity...
Read more>>