Tag Archives: Christianity

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From Tom McMahon

tags: beatles, flow chart

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More Americans are "pro-life" than "pro-choice" -

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A great blog I discovered by a military wife

Found through "Obama doesn't "get" the military he commands" - a great post.

tags:  military, Obama, politics

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On the other hand...

tags:  military, W., Bush, politics

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Four Types of Theologians - from Parchment and Pen

"Where do you roast your marshmallows?"

tags:  Christianity, religion, theology

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Well of course!  If there are too many books on the conservative best seller lists...give them their own list!  (That way they're not competing with the liberals...)

In a Nov. 9 entry on The Huffington Post that laments Fox News host Glenn Beck pulling a feat not done before - holding the number one spot on The New York Times' four lists: hardcover fiction, hardcover non-fiction, paperback non-fiction and children's - they suggest a separate category altogether, not for political non-fiction, but conservative non-fiction.

tags: conservative, books, Huffington Post, politics

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How many people died at Fort Hood?  Fourteen...A grim reminder of the ones who are forgotten...

tags: Fort Hood, military

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This is interesting...from the "religion of peace" and all...

Coworkers told police that Hamid's actions were out of the ordinary and that he had worked at the kiosk for years. (...) Through an interpreter, Hamid requested a public defender and was scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Thursday where he is expected to enter a plea.

What's up with that?  He's been working at a mall in California for YEARS...and needs an interpreter to ask for an attorney?

tags:  Islam, politics, religion

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Blackfive...another new blog I'm reading...

this post made me cry. - Lest we forget...

tags: military

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For those who want a "level playing field" - here's a woman who...well...read.

tags: sports, disabilities

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2009:

President Barack Obama recently told ABC News' Jake Tapper that he shares Pelosi’s belief that jail time is an appropriate punishment for not buying health insurance.

2008

And I think that it is important for us to recognize that if, in fact, you are going to mandate the purchase of insurance and it’s not affordable, then there’s going to have to be some enforcement mechanism that the government uses. And they may charge people who already don’t have health care fines, or have to take it out of their paychecks. And that, I don’t think, is helping those without health insurance.

and Pelosi dodges...

tags: health care, Obama, Pelosi

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"Christian"?  Or "The Way"?

Both work for me...

tags: Christianity, religion, Jay E. Adams

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I posted on this a long time ago...it wasn't well received then...or would be now I suppose.

Egalitarianism and Homosexuality:  Connected or Autonomous Ideologies?

Evangelical Christian organizations that hold to a complementarian view of gender roles, such as The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), have expressed concern over a possible connection between an egalitarian view of male/female gender roles and homosexuality. For example, in the list of central concerns stated in Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood-perhaps the most thorough defense of complementarianism-the authors declare, "We are concerned not merely with the behavior roles of men and women, but also with the underlying nature of manhood and womanhood themselves.

tags:  egalitarianism, complementarianism, homosexuality, Christianity, religion

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Let's play:  One of these things is not like the other.

or...

"Why Can't Jill BIden Take Mrs. Utopia Shopping Sometimes?"

I like these guys...

tags: politics, fashion, Michelle Obama

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via "Cruising Down the Coast of High Barbaree" who thinks this explains a lot...

“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.” --BHO, 2008

tags: politics, Obama

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"Why I Think Women Need to Study Theology"

I have a confession to make.  I am not fond of women’s ministry programs.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my sisters in Christ and enjoy fellowshipping with them.  But programs that involve some type of teaching, such as workshops or conferences, generally don’t appeal to me.  Why?  In my experience, gatherings to hear teaching have been little more than encouragement sessions to make us feel better about being “God’s women”.  Unfortunately, I find the same thing on women’s blogs, even ones that have been advertised as a place for serious thinkers.  There are a few exceptions, but generally, I find them lacking in rich theological substance.

tags:  women, theology, Christianity, religion

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From "The Parables of Jesus: Entering, Growing, Living, and Finishing in God's Kingdom" by Terry Johnson.

We know that Jesus taught with parables (not the only way He taught, but (Johnson says) that whenever it is recorded that Jesus taught, He included parables.

He gives 5 related by slightly different definitions of "parable".

(1) "wise sayings of a pictorial kind" (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 354)
(2) "A story taken from real life (or a real-life situation) from which a moral or spiritual truth is drawn" (J.M.Boice)
(3) "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning" (an old Sunday School definition)
(4)"examples of popular story-telling that are meant to evoke a response and to strike a verdict" (A.M.Hunter, Interpreting the Parables")
(5) " a comparison, a putting of one thing beside another to make a point" (Robert F. Capon, The Parables of the Kingdom)

The parables are interesting because they sometimes turn what we "know" upside down.

"bad people are commended, good people are scolded and unanticipated pople are rewarded and punished" (p.16

The parables illuminate those with the key, but obscure it for those who do not. The disciples had to ask about the parable of the sower.

Johnson says,

Jesus' answer is that parables are uniquely suited to the central principles of redemption in that they in fact both reveal the truth and veil it. They are illuminating for some and at the same time obscuring for others.

  • do the definitions make sense?
  • why would Jesus use a confusing method of teaching?

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Charity of the week:

C-snip.

We'll be making a trip here over Christmas break (the vet wants to wait until Toby's skin as really cleared up before we have him "fixed".  For an extra $10 I have have him micro-chipped and registered.

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This sounds like a good series that I may save up for.

(tag: Christianity, books)

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Interesting thought:  "If you consent to it, it's not a crime."

(tag: politics)

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Should Christians Say That Their Aim Is to Convert Others to Faith in Christ?

(tag: Christianity, salvation)

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One way to fund the new "health care" bill - tax life saving and life enhancing equipment.

Speaking as a person who uses a C-pap, and with a parent with multiple joint replacements...yippee.

AND

Shutting Off the Miracle Drug Spigot

(tag: politics, health care)

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For those who claim the Gospel of John was written by a group of people - ummm...yes.

(tag: Christianity, Scripture)

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Brain Cramps for God: Free...and a Slave

(tag: Christianity, doctrine)

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Borrowed Light:  Bare Minimum Required

(tag: Christianity, salvation)

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Resurgence:  What is Scripture?

(tag: Christianity, Scripture)

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Denny Burk: Pro-life Conversion at Planned Parenthood (what a difference a picture makes)

(tag: abortion)

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Of First Importance:  (I like this quote:)

“Spiritual experience that does not arise from God’s word is not Christian experience. . . . Not all that passes for Christian experience is genuine. An authentic experience of the Spirit is an experience in response to the gospel.  Through the Spirit the truth touches our hearts, and that truth moves our emotions and effects our wills.”

-  Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway Books, 2008), 31.

(tag: Christianity, Scripture)

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Zero Net-carb Bagels - might be worth a try

(tag: food, low-carb)

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White Horse Inn - The Virgin Mary and ECT, a Response from Michael Horton

(tag: Christianity, Evangelicals and Catholics Together)

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Another good quote:

"Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle that fits them all." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

(tag: Christianity)
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- I like

(tags: Christianity, Reformed, Solas, clothing)

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Why Evangelicals Turn to the Church Fathers

(tag: Christianity, church fathers)

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I just read the letter to the church as Ephesus again.

...For he himself is our peace...

Christ is our peace, if we look anywhere else, we won't find it.

...He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near....

Christ is our peace and He came to preach peace and He sends us to preach peace. Not peace with the world, but peace with the Father, because it is only through the Son that we can reach the Father.

...I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.

Paul was a servant of the gospel...yes, and a slave to Christ. For him, his position of servant and slave was a position of strength, not weakness.

When Paul wrote this letter, he was in prison for preaching the gospel, and he kept right on preaching. He was no wimp. He was a strong leader and he was a devoted servant.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4:12,13)

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Today is the Jewish Day of Atonement and it brought to mind a post I wrote a while ago:

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When I think of "sacrifice" - the first sacrifice that comes to my mind is the sacrifice of my Saviour. The story of the scapegoat is such a beatiful "looking forward" to Christ. Too many times we read the New Testament through the eyes of the Old Testament; today I read the Old Testament with eyes fixed on Christ.

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt, 1854. Hunt had this framed in a picture with the quotations "Surely he hath borne our Griefs and carried our Sorrows; Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of GOD and afflicted." (Isaiah 53:4) and "And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a Land not inhabited." (Leviticus 16:22)

Leviticus 16:7-22.

The only time this word "azazel" is used in the Bible is in reference to the "Day of Atonement"

Aaron was to take two goats and cast lots over them - one of the goats would be for the sacrifice, the other would be for "Azazel" (KJV translates "azazel" as scapegoat; the word has two roots ez [she-goat, goat, kid] and azal [to go away, evaporated, gone])

Before anything - Aaron was to sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself and to make atonement for himself and his household...

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil

Aaron was to do with the first goat as he had done with the bull - the blood of the sacrifice was to be sprinkled on the mercy seat.

And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself

Many people have never read this story - we know the word "scapegoat" but don't really know how Biblical it is.

The people of Israel were sinners (aren't we all?). On their Day of Atonement, all of their sins were placed on the scapegoat and sent away.

How does this relate to us?

As Christians, our day of atonement came on the day Christ died on the cross. On our Day of Atonement, all of our sins were laid upon the Lamb of God.

Romans 3:25
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

Just as Aaron laid the sins of Israel on the scapegoat, so God laid on Christ the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:6) Christ his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24), just as the goat bore all of Israel's iniquity on itself.

The goat went out into the wilderness. The Hebrew word is midbar {mid-bawr'} and means (among other things) "uninhabited land" - a place where nobody was. Psalm 103:12 tells us that "as far as the east is from the west,so far does he remove our transgressions from us. That's a long way. Not only that, but our sins are gone out from us, Jeremiah tells us that (under the New Covenant) God will forgive our iniquity and remember our sin no more.

Our sin is GONE and God will remember it NO MORE!

The carnival theme is "the Beauty of Sacrifice" - how beautiful is "NO MORE"?

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From Spurgeon's "Morning and Evening"...good words

Justified by Christ

"Just, and the justifier of him which believeth."
--Romans 3:26
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Conscience accuses no
longer. Judgment now decides for the sinner instead of against him. Memory
looks back upon past sins, with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no
dread of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt of His people
to the last jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless
God can be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for
whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be
one of the very principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God
is just; we feel that it must be so, and this gives us our terror at
first; but is it not marvellous that this very same belief that God is
just, becomes afterwards the pillar of our confidence and peace! If God be
just, I, a sinner, alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but
Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for me; and now, if God be just,
I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be punished. God must change
His nature before one soul, for whom Jesus was a substitute, can ever by
any possibility suffer the lash of the law.

Therefore, Jesus having taken the place of the believer--having rendered a
full equivalent to divine wrath for all that His people ought to have
suffered as the result of sin, the believer can shout with glorious
triumph, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" Not God,
for He hath justified; not Christ, for He hath died, "yea rather hath
risen again." My hope lives not because I am not a sinner, but because I
am a sinner for whom Christ died; my trust is not that I am holy, but that
being unholy, He is my righteousness. My faith rests not upon what I am,
or shall be, or feel, or know, but in what Christ is, in what He has done,
and in what He is now doing for me. On the lion of justice the fair maid
of hope rides like a queen.

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From the blog of Lydia Brownbeck:

A wise man told me, "Life is a testing ground, not a resting ground."

Life may not turn out the way we want it to...many times it may not turn out the way we expect it to.

We may lose that which we cherish, we may never get that which we want desperately.

Through it all, we are told to trust God...but trust in what?

Trusting that God will make it all turn out the way that we have it all planned is not trust.

Trusting that God is in control and will make it turn out according to His plan...that is trust.

God sees with eternity in mind...we can only see this life. HOW we trust God may end up nearly as important to our spiritual growth as THAT we trust God.

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Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid,
nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

God has led me through some frightening times...times of not knowing what the future will bring.

Maybe even more frightening have been the times when I knew exactly what the future was going to bring.

And there is more frightening times and more uncertainty facing me right now.

Yet God has commanded us...commanded...that we not be afraid.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." (Romans 8:15)

Woodrow Kroll writes "Lessons for Living"

A child had to walk each evening past a dark, spooky house. Some adult
friends tried to give him courage. One handed him a good-luck charm to
ward off the ghosts. Another installed a light at a particularly dark
corner near the house. A third took a more spiritual approach, saying,
"It's sinful to be afraid. Trust God and be brave!" It was good advice,
but not much help. Then one friend said with compassion, "I know what it
is to be afraid. I'll walk with you past the house." Instantly the child's
fears were gone.

"Lucky charms" don't work, mantras don't work.

It is because we are adopted children of God that we know that He walks with us.

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. (Psalm 18:32)

So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6)

Do not trust men...they will fail you  Only God will never fail.  And He will walk with you through the scary parts.

You can go through life thinking that there will always be somebody there - a "rock" - but that's not true.

Sometimes, it's just you...and God.