MzEllen & Co.

Some time ago I purchased “The King James Only Controversy” by James R. White (LibraryThing doesn’t include the “R” but I had a visitor to my library list ask me to add it because there’s another James White out there). I had breezed through it then, but (with school and all) hadn’t really absorbed it. One of the things that I want to teach my kids is that there is good doctrine and bad doctrine - and it matters. So when I see these controversies come up, I talk about them with my kids and I take the opportunity to read both side.

My goal is to be able to step up and tell what I believe and why. We live in a time when it is easy to allow somebody (whether it be individuals or organizations) do our thinking for us - I believe it is the responsibility of every Christian to educate themselves as well as they can and to evaluate new or different (or opposing) teachings against Scripture.

So…here we go.
I’ll cover the introduction today.

The question is asked: why worry about the controversy?

• The King James Only controversy, by its very nature, disrupts the community. It brings contention right into the pews of the church.
• Due to the nature of the “King James Only” beliefs, the advocates believe that their message of “only one true Bible” needs to be heard loudly and quickly.
• The King James Only controversy alleges grand and complex conspiracies” on the part of the more modern translators and distrust of other Christians who use other translations.
• The strictest adherents to this extra-Biblical doctrine will go so far as to state that users of any Bible translation, other than the 1611 authorized version are of the devil.

Our relationship with Christ is not based on a particular translation, it is based on the blood of Christ. Men and women led Christian lives for 1500 years before the 1611 version, so it is obvious that the salvation is not dependent on the “authorized version”.

This controversy, as with many others, feeds upon the ignorance among Christians regarding the origin, transmission and translation of God’s Word. Those who have studied and made themselves truly knowledgeable are not likely candidates to be taken in by this doctrine.

It is vital to note that refuting “KJV-only-ism” does NOT make any claims that the KJV translation is not a fine Bible. It is. The point that White is making is that the claim that there is only ONE valid translation that God DEMANDS that we use is neither Biblical nor logical.

White asks that those people who picked up this book out of curiosity give his arguments full thought. He also asks that those who are committed to the AV (authorized version) ONLY examine their believes in light of logic, history and Scripture.

The last two sentences of the introduction:

Those who are blind to their own traditions are the least likely to be fully Biblical in their beliefs. We all must constantly test our faith by Scripture, and we must pray for a willingness to abandon those beliefs that are found to be contrary to God’s revealed truth.

I’m a new Amazon affiliate (if you click on my link and buy…I get Amazon gift certificates!)

If you wonder how a person can pray for the destruction of his(or her) enemies, this book gives a good perspective.

Not that I really understand, but I made a good run at it…

Yet another book for my summer reading list

And another…

1…. Start your list here!

1. Clean the fridge inside and out (tomorrow is shopping day)
2. change my sheets (that means more laundry)
3. do more laundry
4. get ALL caught up on dishes
5. shine my sink (HT: flylady)
6. Re-read and post on King James Only Controversy
7. remember how to spell controversy the first time. 
8. make lots of iced coffee
9. take a good walk (something that I haven’t done is several days
10. resync my iPod (before I take my walk)
11. got through my blog post and edit to put posts into categories (something I forget the first time around - my goal and limit is to edit 10 posts per day)
12. Try a different disc golf course with Tom (the last one we tried didn’t go so well)
13. Enjoy my family!

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!
1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

HT: Military Motivator via  A Storm in Afghanistan.

The short story is:

Fort Michilimackinac was at the center of the vast Great Lakes fur trade in 1763, when Native American dissatisfaction with the British erupted in a series of attacks—including the siege of Fort Detroit —called Pontiac’s Rebellion. At Michilimackinac, local Ojibwa staged a game of baggatiway, or lacrosse, near the fort’s gate. Warriors who chased an errant ball into the fort suddenly drew knives and tomahawks and took the fort by force.

Last week we were there and several times a day there was a game of baggatiway - fort employees (reenactors) invited visitors to join in. This is quite an amazing game - there are very few rules, people got killed, there was no limit to the number of players or the size of the field. There are recorded games (according to the guide) of games including over a thousand players, with a field 15 miles long.

I just thought this was a cool photo of Tom (and one of Manda below - I think she thought the ball was going to hit her)

Note - some of these I’ve had for a while, they just were not added

Looking for organization with this aspect also - and something that would give me specific exercises and stretches to help shin splints.

I’ve had this for a while but haven’t sat down and read it cover to cover

A devotional to read before walking.

The true story of a Iraqi woman imprisoned and tortured under Saddam Hussein.

I’ve only read a few pages - I bought it before vacation and thought I’d have WAY more time than I really had.

June 12, 2007—Synod today encouraged Christian Reformed churches to become familiar with the Belhar Confession, a declaration focusing on justice, unity and reconciliation.

1. We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects and cares for his church by his Word and his Spirit, as he has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end.

2. We believe in one holy, universal Christian church, the communion of saints called from the entire human family.

We believe

• that Christ’s work of reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another;
• that unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the church of Jesus Christ; that through the working of God’s Spirit it is a binding force, yet simultaneously a reality which must be earnestly pursued and sought: one which the people of God must continually be built up to attain;
• that this unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted;
• that this unity of the people of God must be manifested and be active in a variety of ways: in that we love one another; that we experience, practice and pursue community with one another; that we are obligated to give ourselves willingly and joyfully to be of benefit and blessing to one another; that we share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptised with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one name, are obedient to one Lord, work for one cause, and share one hope; together come to know the height and the breadth and the depth of the love of Christ; together are built up to the stature of Christ, to the new humanity; together know and bear one another’s burdens, thereby fulfilling the law of Christ that we need one another and upbuild one another, admonishing and comforting one another; that we suffer with one another for the sake of righteousness; pray together; together serve God in this world; and together fight against all which may threaten or hinder this unity;
• that this unity can be established only in freedom and not under constraint; that the variety of spiritual gifts, opportunities, backgrounds, convictions, as well as the various languages and cultures, are by virtue of the reconciliation in Christ, opportunities for mutual service and enrichment within the one visible people of God;
• that true faith in Jesus Christ is the only condition for membership of this church;