This is a cemetery at Almaden Quicksilver Park in California.
Every time I'm here, it strikes me that even the grave markers are gone. Miners are buried here, a reminder of days when death was common.
The people buried here...their children are gone, grandchildren are old...they are...unknown
"No more illegal wiretapping of citizens, No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists. The FISA court works. The separation of powers works. Our Constitution works. We will again set an example for the world that the law is not subject to the whims of stubborn rulers, and that justice is not arbitrary. This administration acts like violating civil liberties is a way to enhance our security. It is not…There is no short cut to protecting Americans”.
-- Senator Barack H. Obama, 2007
"I do not believe there ever existed a Christian yet, who did not now and then doubt his interest in Jesus. I think, when a man says, “I never doubt,” it is quite time for us to doubt him; it is quite time for us to begin to say, “Ah, poor soul, I am afraid you are not on the road at all, for if you were, you would see so many thing in yourself, and so much glory in Christ more than you deserve, that you would be so much ashamed of yourself, as even to say, ‘It is too good to be true.’”
– Charles Spurgeon
That's me standing behind the "float copper" in Marquette, MI
My son said this reminded him of "Vlad the Impaler" - but it's really a sculpture from the Chihuly exhibit at Meijer Garden a couple of years ago.
Wendy Alsup posted this a couple of days ago, please read...it's good food for thought.
I'm reading "Cold Case Christianity" and this paragraph stuck out.
In those days, as I was evaluating the claims of Christianity, I demanded a form of evidence (direct evidence) that simply isn’t available to anyone who is studying historical events. I failed to see that rejecting (or devaluing) circumstantial evidence would prevent me from understanding anything about history (when eyewitnesses of a particular event are unavailable for an interview). If I continued to reject (or devalue) circumstantial evidence, I would never have been able to successfully prosecute a single cold-case killer. All of us need to respect the power and nature of circumstantial evidence plays in making the case for Christianity.
The author had explained how circumstantial evidence compares to direct evidence, and how a solid case can be built on circumstantial evidence alone.
We don't have direct evidence today for Christianity - it is all historical, circumstantial, or subjective. But if a criminal case can be built on circumstantial evidence to convict the criminal, a circumstantial case can also be built to free the slave.
The atheist will claim that we cannot prove that God exists. True, we don't have direct evidence...but what does the circumstantial evidence point to?
My friend, Phil and I were talking about the article on Christianity Today - John Piper, Is My Femininity Showing. I kept asking, why can't they get that Piper made it clear that he wasn't talking about the female body - he was saying that, as a Complementarian, he believes that a woman should not have spiritual authority over a woman.
(run down...see my post from yesterday)
Phil didn't use these words, but we have used these terms before. It's the narrative.
The author of the article made a (false) assumption that Piper's concern was about the female body...and ran with that assumption...ran fast and hard.
Once the narrative was set, no amount of reasoning was going to shift the conversation to where PIPER had his concerns...women in authoritative teaching positions over men.
It's the narrative. And we hear the familiar refrain: words like evil, bigoted, hateful, comparisons to Islam...even the theory that he's not comfortable with the menstrual cycle (???) or that he cannot get beyond the "allure" of the female body...
Unable to discern between reading a book and sitting under authoritative teaching in person...I seriously don't get that. Example: I've read several of Rob Bell's books. I've gotten some good information...but I refused to even visit his church, with was only around 10 miles away from me (he recently left) - reading his book, I can put it away...in his church, with him in the pulpit, he become my teacher. But (you know...) it's the narrative.
I'm sure that these are not unintelligent people, but they are unwilling, or unable to veer from the narrative. It is not for me to judge whether unwilling or unable, but veering they will not or cannot do.
Thoughts on "Hey John, Is My Femininity Showing?"
The offending podcast is here.
The way I'm reading it goes like this.
The basics
The question the podcast answers the question: Can men use commentaries written by women?
The logic:
Apparently, most egalitarians don't see the distinction between reading a book (sitting and gathering information) and sitting under teaching authority.
You don't submit to a book, you do submit to a teacher.
You can put a book down, you can give it away, throw it away, burn it...you can't do those things to a teaching authority. You can get yourself out from under the authority, but as long as you're in that class, you're under authority.
I understand that it's not the body parts, it's the authority. Piper makes that clear when he says, "whereas if she were standing right in front of me and teaching me as my shepherd< /strong>…I couldn’t make that separation"
This is not the voice of "femininity" - it's the voice of worldly feminism (which is antithetical to femininity.) It's the brand of feminism that cannot tolerate dissension, cannot respect differing viewpoints and must tear down those who disagree.
So Rachel, don't worry...it's not your femininity that's showing.
Wayne Grudem's article is no longer on CBMW.
I'm putting it here as a reference for myself...if Grudem doesn't approve, I'd love for him to contact me and see if he can get it back on CBMW as a reference (and to let him know that I now work with one of his former students 😉
But What Should Women Do In The Church?
Wayne Grudem