Author Archives: MzEllen

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Life has been busy and this blog has (again) gone quiet.  But MzEllen has been a great way for me to work out a few things, share a few things, vent about a few things.

I live with a new husband, live in a new state, go to a new church, hang out in new places.  These are all good changes and I want to - I don't know - write, for one thing.  I like to write.

I do keep track of politics, so that will show up here, but from a conservative Christian view (some might criticize putting "conservative" first, but "Christian" is the descriptor, "conservative" modifies.)

I'm not an authority on pretty much anything, but I know a little bit about lots of stuff!  So if I can get anybody to think about some of the things, that's good.

So, as of the January 1, consider it sort of a "relaunch"

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I think I need to reduce "Currently Reading" (which means finishing a Christian book and a secular book quickly 😉

 

Currently Reading:

  • Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl)
  • The Days of Noah (Fiction, Mark Goodwin)
  • A High View of Scripture (Craig D. Allert)
  • After the Event (Fiction, T.A. Williams)
  • Seven Days that divide the World (John C. Lennox)
  • Citizen Soldiers (History, Stephen E. Ambrose)
  • The Dangers of a Shallow Faith (A.W. Tozer)
  • The Sacrifice Game (Fiction, Brian D'Amato

Reading With a Group:

  • On Christian Doctrine (Augustine)

Finished and waiting to Review:

  • The Lost World of Genesis One (John H. Walton)
  • The Splendour Falls (Fiction, not reviewing)
  • 47 Ronin
  • Everyday Prayers (Scotty Smith)
  • Bonhoeffer: A Biography (Eric Metaxas) - review scheduled
  • God and the Gay Christian: A Response to Matthew Vines
  • The Formation of the Canon of the New Testament (B.B.Warfield)

Devotional On Deck (I don't use all of these all the time, sooo...just that.)

  • Lifting Up Our Hearts
  • Milk and Honey
  • New Morning Mercies (Paul David Tripp)
  • Joy:  A Godly Woman's Adornment (Lydia Brownback)
  • Praying for your Husband from Head to Toe (Sharon Jaynes - this might be moved from "Devotionals" since it's not set up very well)
  • Couples of the Bible (Robert and Bobbie Wolgemuth)
  • Worship Leaders, We Are Not Rock Stars (Stephen Miller)
  • Keeping the Ten Commandments (J.I. Packer)

Coming up Soon:

  • Biblical Inerrancy: the Historical Evidence
  • My Battle Against Hitler
  • Ten Myths About Calvinism

Working through a study

  • The Good News We Almost Forgot (dropped part way through, will pick up again)
  • Taking God at His Word (ditto)
  • New Testament Documents, Are They Reliable? (For a study
  • Jesus and the Eye Witnesses

 

 

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My allergies might be out of control...or I have a continual respiratory infection (but I've done the antibiotic run)  - so after this weekend it's back to hard core diet stuff.

There are many facets to health and fitness, some are spiritual.  Is Christ honored in my body?  Keep that in the front of my mind...

 

This recipe wins out as a favorite - easy, healthy and (except for the rice) pretty paleo.  (This is a photo I took myself, no staging, etc.  So this is what "my version" looked like.)

lighterorangechicken

 

 

 

* Exported from MasterCook *

LIGHTER ORANGE CHICKEN

Recipe By     :
Serving Size  : 4     Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    :

Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
3              large  boneless skinless chicken breasts -- pounded to 3/4 inch thickness and cut into bite sized pieces + salt & pepper to taste
1/2           cup  orange juice
1         tablespoon  orange zest
3        tablespoons  soy sauce
3        tablespoons  honey
2        tablespoons  rice vinegar -- (may sub white vinegar)
1/2      teaspoon  crushed red pepper flakes
2          teaspoons  minced garlic
1         tablespoon  cornstarch -- mixed with 1 T water and whisked until dissolved
1/4           cup  green onion -- sliced
1         tablespoon  sesame seeds
3               cups  cooked white rice

Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Spray a large pan or non stick skillet generously with cooking spray. Cook chicken 5-6 minutes, stirring through out for even cooking, until cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to transfer chicken to a paper-towel lined bowl. Drain and wipe out the pan.

In a medium bowl whisk together orange juice and zest, honey, vinegar, soy sauce, red pepper flacked, and garlic. Add mixture to pan and bring to a slight boil. Add water-corn starch mixture and stir until thickened. Add chicken and stir to coat.

Serve chicken with cooked rice and garnish with optional sesame seeds and green onions if desired.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 471 Calories; 4g Fat (7.4% calories from fat); 46g Protein; 60g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 103mg Cholesterol; 892mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 2 1/2 Grain(Starch); 5 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.

Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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20140127-185107.jpgThis is the bench where Phil asked me to marry him.

This is also one of my favorite parks to hike.  But...

A few months ago, I hiked from one of the more remote parking lots and returned to find the car window broken and some things missing.  One of them was my iPad (yeah, I know.  the "Don't Leave Valuables In Your Car" sign matters.)  Anyway, we were able to track it to a part of town where I have been warned not to go because of gang activity.

A couple of weeks ago I went up for the first time - and for the first time saw gang tags up on the road.  The gangs are taking over and I resent that they have to ruin everything.

So, I avoid that part entrance and stick to the more populated ones (so I will pass that bench more often) and enjoy the day...

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from Aish.com by Dr. Gerald Schroeder

How did I get to this site?  My thought process was something like

  1. How old is the world?
  2. How old is the world according to Scripture?
  3. How can we best understand what Scripture means (answer: find out what the people who wrote it and originally read it thought it meant.)
  4. Who would know better what the ancient Jews thought...than ancient Jews?
  5. What is the closest we can get to that?

A lot of this made my head hurt.

Dr. Gerald Schroeder earned his BSc, MSc and double-Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...

So...he's a smart guy  😉

Now...add to that, the Bible commentary he uses is all pre-1300 (so, no modern science has affected the reading of Scripture.)

In 1959, a survey was taken of leading American scientists. (...)Two-thirds of the scientists gave the same answer: "Beginning? There was no beginning. Aristotle and Plato taught us 2400 years ago that the universe is eternal. Oh, we know the Bible says 'In the beginning.' That's a nice story, but we sophisticates know better. There was no beginning."

That was 1959. In 1965, Penzias and Wilson discovered the echo of the Big Bang in the black of the sky at night, and the world paradigm changed from a universe that was eternal to a universe that had a beginning. After 3000 years of arguing, science has come to agree with the Torah.

Okay - when do the Jews say the universe began?  They start with Rosh Hoshana - the Jewish New Year.

"Hayom Harat Olam ― today is the birthday of the world."

Does it mean that (about)5,700 years ago, the universe came into existence?  According to this article, the "birthday of the world" celebrates, not the cosmos, but rather the creation of the human soul.

So (to use the article's wording) the Bible has two clocks.  The first "clock" is the time leading up to Adam, the second clock begins with the soul of Adam.

One of the reasons for seeing this concept is the language.  Is there anywhere else in the Bible where a "day" is described as "morning and evening?"  This bizarre word usage is used until Adam; after Adam "normal" human time is always used.

Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations;(Deut 32:7 ESV)

Nachmanides (died 1270 AD) saw this verse as "split time" - "days of old" = pre-Adam; "many generations" = post Adam.

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I've been quoting this, and since it's now PAGES back, I want it posted here so I can find it quickly:

To the Progressive Socialist Totalitarian Left, Christianity is a threat to the primacy of the State. The Totalitarian Left believes the Authority of the State must be absolute, because the left can control all the apparatuses of the State and impose their moral beliefs on the population. For example, the belief that unborn children can be sacrificed in the name of personal convenience and the sick and elderly can be sacrificed to save the State money. Christianity, on the other hand, teaches that there is a Higher Moral Authority than the State; and that the conscience of the individual… not the Collective Will as embodied in the State and its organs.

It isn’t necessarily because of Gay Marriage, per se, but Gay Marriage is a cudgel that the left can use against Christianity; forcing Christians to bow to the State (e.g. being forced to participate in gay weddings as bakers, photographers, and florists). The ultimate goal is to eradicate Christianity and its tenet that each individual has a conscience and a moral imperative.

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Wedding vows are not a declaration of present love but a mutually binding promise of future love. A wedding should not be primarily a celebration of how loving you feel now—that can be safely assumed. Rather, in a wedding you stand up before God, your family, and all the main institutions of society, and you promise to be loving, faithful, and true to the other person in the future, regardless of undulating internal feelings or external circumstances.

~~Tim Keller, "The Meaning of Marriage"

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The “soul of marriage” is a mystery. The apostle Paul wrote: ‘“ Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.’

Satan, and the world as his helper, is striking at the soul of marriage - in (at least) a two-pronged offensive.

Both of these are an attempt to strike at the very image of God.  If we have a warped view of marriage, we will also have a warped view of God.

If we have a warped view of God, we will end up making Him in our own image...which is no god at all.

The first way I see involves striking at the image of Christ and His bride.

The second way I see involves striking at the image of God in creation.

One aspect of the "soul of marriage" is reflection of Christ and His bride.  The beautiful wedding dance of headship and submission shows Christians what their marriages should look like, and Christian marriages should show the world what Christ and His bride look like.

Egalitarianism teaches that there are no gender roles in marriage - since Scripture tells us that Christian marriages reflect Christ and His bride, no gender roles in marriage = no leadership, stewardship, or headship of Christ over His bride.

This assault on the soul of marriage leads to a warped view of Jesus.

The second front of the battle is "4SR" (State Sanctioned Same Sex Relationships.)

The  onslaught of the world against marriage, to force the recognition 4SR as "marriage," is stunning in its swiftness.  Even five years ago, we would not be having this conversation.

While I fully believe that God the Father is beyond gender (is a spirit,) He DOES get to pick what gender He wishes to be recognized as.  God chose "Father" - so that's what we know Him by.

That said, since He is beyond gender, the Bible makes sense:

 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

It  seems that God - in His own image, created male and female.  Together, they form a "oneness" that reflects the image of God.

There is more, and I want to expand, but in a nutshell, these two points are the main offensives, with various strategies within those offenses, where Satan is attacking the institution of marriage.

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Next in the "More than 100 things every religious liberal should know"

The “Four Vedas” are sort of like the holy books of Hinduism…only more like an “order of worship” or “common book of prayer.”  Like Christianity, Hinduism has sects (denominations, as a parallel) and like Christianity, the Vedas are considered by different sects has having different levels of authority.

The Sanskrit word “veda” means “knowledge” or “to know” – like our Bible, the Vedas contain the knowledge needed to follow that religion.  Each “Veda” contains a different type of knowledge.

“Rigveda” – “praise or verse” + “knowledge.”  Some of the verses have been recited in worship since they were written, and are still being used today, making it one of the longest running religious texts in history (although not the oldest.)  Unlike Christianity, these Hindu texts are dedicated to various deities, each reflecting the beliefs of what that god has done and how Hindus honor that particular god.

“Yajurveda” – “sacrificial formula” + “knowledge.”  These writings are the “liturgy” or mantras used during sacrificial rituals.

“Samaveda”– “melody” + “knowledge” are the hymns that are sung.  Half (75) are from the Rigveda, the other half are specifically to be sung by priests in rituals were the juice of the soma plant (along with other ingredients) is offered to various deities.

The last Veda, Atharvaveda, is a combination of writings.  Spells and magic, hymns and poetry, rules and regulations.  This work includes healing (physical and spiritual, including diseases via demon possession,) writings on the nature of the universe and humanity, "household codes" (rules for running a smooth home,) marriage and funeral rituals, and more.  This seems to be the "how then shall we live" book of Hinduism.

I'm learning that all religions have a few things in common, yet all are different, and they cannot all be "true."

C.S.Lewis said (paraphrased) - all truth is God's truth.  We should be able to see what is right with other religions, and reject what is wrong with them, in order to embrace our own.