HEAD(hed), (n.) 1. the top part of the human body or the front part of an animal where the eyes, nose, east and mouth are. "Your brain is in your head." DIBS(dibz), (n.) 2. a thick, sweet syrup made in countries of the East, especially the Middle East, from grape juice or dates. [Arabic "debs"]--World Book Dictionary, 1976.
Actually, it’s an ad-duck-tion. I missed the perfect opportunity to say, “and they’re in a row, too!” Silly goose.
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Good News, Bad News
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Part of my daily routine is simple: check the news. I open my browser, select my news source and skim the headlines--I like to be informed by my local news source that I can trust (morning news, "Drive time" news, mid-day news, evening news and late night news). News can be breaking, hard, soft, canned, managed, slanted, spot or straight. News categories include general, national, science/tech, entertainment, environmental, political, religion, digestive, organic, earth-friendly, pregnancy, nutrition, diabetes . . . Our choices are no longer relegated to the newspaper or newsletters because we can get it via tv, internet, cell phone and all variations in between. Remember when we were young and thought "good news/bad news" were our only choices?
What if we gave bad news in a good way . . . ?
I like to be informed, but then what? I don't know what to do with this information. I really can't do anything about what I read, can I? Neil Postman wrote: "Our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death . . . . [M]ost of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action." (from his book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business") Yet, I still check the news.
Perhaps we check the news because we are fearful of the self-destructive patterns of other human beings--how close to home? "Newspapers, news magazines, and television news shows contain constant reminders that most news is bad and seems to be getting worse. What happens on a national and worldwide scale, however, is simply the magnification of what is occurring on an individual level. As personal problems, animosities, and fears increase, so do their counterparts in society at large." (MacArthur, J. "Romans : Grace, Truth, and Redemption. MacArthur Bible studies . W Publishing Group: Nashville, 2000)
The biggest news right now is the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Those who remember the Exxon Valdez disaster are having flashbacks--especially those who were directly involved with that cleanup and are still paying the price for their efforts today. Bottom line: oil is toxic, to say nothing of it's other properties. One memory that troubles me is that I grew up in Houston and spent countless hours on the beaches of Galveston. I remember as a boy watching clumps of oil wash up on the beach. Sometimes oil would wash up overnight and then get covered with sand--you walk along the beach and step on a glob of oil, hidden underneath, and it would get all over you. We used to buy and carry extra cans of charcoal lighter fluid with to wash the junk off. The oil spills then did not get as much attention.
Perhaps we skim the news because we are looking for something unusually good, something so virtuous that headlines will just collapse under the weight of carrying the story. Good news makes up jump and do fist-pumps. We smile more and are perhaps a little more generous when we hear good news. Colors look brighter, food tastes better and nobody cares if it rains or shines when good news abounds.
If bad news were flood waters, Paul's letter to the Romans might be viewed as a guage for water levels. Imagine standing on the front porch of your house (it's easy to imagine one), checking to see how close the danger is to home. The first chapter of the book talks about people far removed from where we are, completed flooded over in evil. "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . ." (1:18). Poor, unfortunate pagan souls. Glad it's not me!
Then, he reports on our religious neighbors, those a little closer to home and we realize the flood waters are much closer than we thought: "therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things." (2:1) Poor, unfortunate religious souls!
And if that were not enough, look at what Paul says to the Jews: "But if you bear the name, 'Jew' and rely upon the Law, and boast in God and know His will, and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law . . . You who boast in the Law, through your breaking of the Law, do you dishonor God?" (2:17-24) By the time we get to 3:23, we discover our front-porch viewpoint is already underwater!
Paul's epistle to the Romans is about the bad news, but it's message is foremost good news. Good news is the promise of God through His prophets in the holy scriptures, all pointing to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (1:2-3) who died on the cross to save mankind from sin. The person of the good news is the promise of the good news.
July 2004 I went to Kenya, Africa to speak in two Pastor’s Conferences on the subject of Man, Sin and Salvation. At the end of each day I left just over an hour for questions (half the time were questions touching the subject of my lectures, and the other half for “open questions”; that is, people could ask anything). For the next few weeks, I will be sharing the questions that were asked of me, and my answers—and believe me when I say these people really know how to think! Question from Kenya #1: “Men and women who saw God in the Bible: Why did they not all die?” [“ But He said, ‘You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! ’” (Exodus 33:20) was the basis of the student’s question]. Answer: First, consider those who did see God—how did they respond when they saw Him? They were instantly aware of their sinfulness, and God’s holiness and righteousness (to name a few. And notice also that each responded in an attitude of worship, bowing down): Abraham built altars, wors
“My God, where is that ancient heat towards thee, Wherewith whole shoals of martyrs once did burn, Besides their other flames? Doth poetry Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn? Why are not sonnets made of thee? and lays Upon thine altar burnt? Cannot thy love Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove Outstrip their Cupid easily in flight? Or, since thy ways are deep, and still the fame, Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name! Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose Than that, which one day, worms may chance refuse. Sure Lord, there is enough in thee to dry Oceans of ink; for, as the Deluge did Cover the earth, so doth thy Majesty: Each cloud distills thy praise, and doth forbid Poets to turn it to another use. Roses and lilies speak thee; and to make A pair of cheeks of them, is thy abuse Why should I women's eyes for crystal take? Such poor invention burns in their low mind Wh
“In primitive times, when man awakes in a world that is newly created, poetry awakes with him. In the face of the marvellous things that dazzle and intoxicate him, his first speech is a hymn simply. He is still so close to God that all his meditations are ecstatic, all his dreams are visions. His bosom swells, he sings as he breathes. His lyre has but three strings—God, the soul, creation; but this threefold mystery envelopes everything, this threefold idea embraces everything. The earth is still almost deserted. . . . He leads that nomadic pastoral life with which all civilizations begin, and which is so well adapted to solitary contemplation, to fanciful reverie. He follows every suggestion, he goes hither and thither, at random. His thought, like his life, resembles a cloud that changes its shape and its direction according to the wind that drives it. Such is the first man, such is the first poet. He is young, he is cynical. Prayer is his sole religion, the ode is his only form of