Head-dibs

He tried and he tried hard, but despite his determination and effort, despite his good intentions, he just could not do it. He was not trying to break a world record, nor demonstrate some marvelous feat of ingenuity or intelligence. He was just trying to be, well, morally perfect. Benjamin Franklin, the great American inventor, philosopher and statesman had been reading from a sundry of works that directed his thinking concerning virtue. Franklin collected from these works a list of virtues that, he felt, could help him become morally perfect, provided he mastered them: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquillity, chastity and humility. His plan involved a 24-hour, 7 day system with his “intentions being to acquire the habitude [sic] of all these virtues”. There are many presuppositions concerning the meaning of a Christian life and the presuppositions reflect this same kind of attitude. Some feel that being Chr...

Luther Burbank, an American horticultural scientist who developed the sturdy Burbank potato, is quoted in the January 22, 1926 publication of the San Francisco Bulletin, as saying, “The God within us is the only available God we know and the clear light of science teaches us that we must be our own saviours.” This statement reflects the concept of what modern man conceives to be true of himself and his relationship to God: man needs salvation of some kind, but is the only one able to save himself. How can the one who needs help provide the very help he needs? Despite his attempt to declare autonomy, Burbank finds himself wrestling other truths as well: there is something or someone known as “God”; man needs to be saved; and, there is a savior. In the present time there are many concepts of “savior”. In literary circles, Isaac Asimov won’t refer to God, Jesus or use the name “Lord” or any other related term and has reduced religion down to a business venture. [i] To Asimov, the univers...

Recently reviewing some materials from a local church, I came across a permission slip for a youth activity. At the end of all acquittals, disclaimers and discharges was this statement: " I understand that ________ Church is a Christian organization and that my child may be exposed to Christian principles and Biblical activities ." I am stupefied. Well, at least I was yesterday when I read this . . . no, wait . . . yep--I am still stupefied. Did you know that the Church was a Christian organization? Ok, granted the term “church” has been politicized enough so it means just about anything to any organization who wants to use it—like the “church of satan” or whatever. But really—do people need to be told that even certain groups of people who want to use the term “church” are “Christian?” Something is very wrong here. Someone is assuming that the reader of the document knows what “Christian” means and because the “church” is redefined, both “church” and “Christian” are equated ...

Oswald Chambers: " “Prayer honors God; it dishonors self” (Purpose in Prayer [Chicago: Moody, n.d.], 43). A friend (who makes a point to visit me each week) made a comment that I can't seem to shake. We were talking about the things that keep us busy and off-balance, distracted in life. He said to the effect that in some ways our busy-ness is in fact our "fighting God." So, the next someone asks how you are doing, or what you are doing, say, "I'm fighting God." This can be one way to look at prayer. The Christian life is dangerous! God will not let us stay the way we are--we are in a constant state of change, being delivered from this body of death and being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. When we pray, we pray less about ourself and more about Him! We used to sing a long time ago: " From glory to glory He's changing me, changing me, changing me, His likeness and image to perfect in me, the love of God shown to the world. For He...

It's all catching up to me again: Sunday School, we are taking a break from Mark and spending a couple of weeks on Philippians 4:1-9. Ethics--spending the next couple of weeks on Genetic Engineering, which to me is a "non-issue" when you remember how a theological basis redefines everything (short version: man is not God). We find ourselves awash with all these ethical delimmas that should not be happening! I will be introducing the topic tonight with Huxley in one hand and Chesterton in the other ( Brave New World vs. Eugenics and Other Evils ). Writing these lectures are killing me--getting a theological response to these issues is necessary, but not easy! Family: this whole teenager thing is really rocking the boat. I learn something about kids: you feed them, they grow. I am learning every day how much parenting is more about discipleship than anything else. A friend of mine (a Kenyan pastor) smiles when I complain. "Look at how strong God is making you in all...

Ever heard the saying, “If you rub the cat the wrong way you can always turn the cat around?” Absurd, yet true. Of course, one may stop rubbing the cat . . . but these conjectures lead us away from our subject . . . How about this one: “Let us say the Lord’s Prayer . . .” Anyone ever said it? I’m the guy who sits somewhere near the front, scratching his head wondering how “Our Father who art in heaven . . .” got to be named “the Lord’s Prayer.” I know. I could crack open one of my books to find the answer—but I am more interested to know why others aren’t asking the same question. Think about it: The Lord’s Prayer. 1) THE Lord’s Prayer? I can’t seem to find in my Bible any place that says, “No other prayer but this one, folks.” Since I find more warnings about empty and repetitious prayers I am not convinced there is any one particular prayer that Jesus says MUST be prayed. Matthew 6:9ff is a model for praying, not a prayer in itself: “pray in this way” as opposed to “pray these words”...

"Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer." --John Bunyan. Writing this entry I realize how coldly academic this can become. I have already commented in numerous entries on prayer and would like to submit more as I study and grow; however, the danger is that I would have more to say about prayer than actually getting it done. Worse still, that I would echo what others have said and fail to carry through on what I learn. The more I study and think about prayer, the more I realize I should seeing prayer accomplished; nevertheless, as my prayer life grows, so will observations. God has been at work and my prayer life has been growing. We have had many things to seek the LORD concerning, and He has wonderfully demonstrated Himself in changing us or in making changes around us regarding prayer: providing us a home (and letting us keep it thus far); providing us a vehicle (and letting us keep it thus far); providing us children (and . . ....

Is the Bible a collection of interpretive difficulties to be solved; or, Is the Bible Divine speech to be recieved? In other words, how much does "It's your/my opinion" weigh against "It is written" and "It is finished?" ******************* "Imagine, for a moment, that you woke up one morning to find the front door of your house wide open, the brisk morning air blowing into the room. Your first thought, of course, is for your family. You race upstairs and throw open the door of your son's room. He is lying peacefully asleep. Breathing a prayer of thanks you cross the hall, opening the door to your daughter's room. Her blankets are in a heap beside the bed, her nightlight on, but she is nowhere to be seen. Frantically you search the house, calling for her, begging her to answer you. But she is gone." Read more on "Confidence in the Bible" here .