I'm sure I missed the memo again, the one that told how all secular people are now to ignore 2 millenia of acceptable grammar.
Now it is becoming acceptable, even if not "proper", to speak the letters A.D. (Anno Domini) after the year in question. It doesn't take a lot of savvy to know that Anno Domini means "in the year of our Lord" and should be, and always was, used as a precedent to a year designation. We were supposed to say "A.D. 70" or "A.D. 325" but now that is being tossed out along with Sunday being the first day of the week on our day-planning calendars. Of course, saying "the first (or third or twentieth) century A.D." is still and always has been the acceptable form for referring to centuries.
As usual, this trend is spreading to the church—which should know better. It's another one of those small things that illustrates how badly our society wants to eliminate anything Christian, however subtle. Monday the first day of the week? A.D. being used by pastors as a suffix? No, I don't like it and someone has got to get the church to wake up and fight these trends, not buy into them. PLEASE.....put A.D. back where it belongs, at least in church sermons if nothing else. If we the church can't get it right, who will ever take us seriously?
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
And the Angels rejoice......
This past Monday I had the honor of being the one that God used to bring the soul of a dear, long-time friend to salvation. There is not much else to say about that. Because of knowing me, another soul is now saved from the fires of Hell. Hard to believe that I could be that used by God...but that is just another form of pride....let's just say I was there at the right time when the Holy Spirit had his heart prepared and God used the attitude of his heart to bring him the healing he needed. Amen and hallelujah!
What makes it so interesting is that everything took place via email! I don't think this is a first ever, but it certainly ranks as a personal first! I want more of these moments in my life....moments when I know another soul has found salvation and I actually had something to do with it......wow....just wow......
What makes it so interesting is that everything took place via email! I don't think this is a first ever, but it certainly ranks as a personal first! I want more of these moments in my life....moments when I know another soul has found salvation and I actually had something to do with it......wow....just wow......
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Judge Not......
I don't know the statistics but from experience, I know that many folks believe capital punishment is not only necessary but is also just. What surprises me is how many professing Christians feel that way. I'm convinced capital punishment is merely legalized murder and no matter what rationalization we use, no matter what euphemisms we apply to it, at its core it is revenge, not justice.
We are incredibly complex and highly irrational creatures incapable of rendering truly impartial decisions. There can be no capital punishment where the slightest possibility exists that the innocent could mistakenly be executed. This has been proven in a rash of instances where convictions have been overturned, most often due to new and better science, DNA for one, new evidence, or witnesses who later recant their testimony, etc. Some states here in the U.S. have repealed or are seriously considering repealing their death penalty laws as a result of these alarming facts. But there's a more important reason that capital punishment is totally in error......
Jesus, Himself, completely tossed-out the death penalty.
In John 8:3-11, a woman caught in adultery was brought before Him. The mob that was going to stone her was made up of the scribes and Pharisees not concerned with justice; they were specifically trying to lure Jesus into saying something that would give them grounds to cause Him trouble. Let's examine the case:
1. The Law, handed down to Moses by God, specifically stated that a man and a woman caught in adultery were both to be put to death by stoning, outside the city walls (Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:22). This mob brought only the woman— the man was most likely one of them, or someone whom they could not or would not prosecute.
2. Jesus knew the law about adultery thoroughly—He should have—as God, He had created it—and as God He could enforce it Himself if He so chose. But since the advent of Christ in the world, this was the age of grace, not sacrifice and judgement; Jesus chose the better way, the way of grace.
3. He said to the mob "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."(NIV). If you know nothing else about Christian teachings you should know this: as human beings, we are all sinners. That's why Christ came, to pay for all our sins, for everybody, past, present and future, by His death on the cross so we could be forgiven if we confess our belief in Him. Compassion and forgiveness is what He was (and is) all about.
4. Jesus did not condemn the woman and told her so. He let her go!
5. Hence-- as God, Jesus voided His own death penalty. He told the crowd, in effect, that only if they were as sinless as God Himself were they qualified to be the woman's judges and executioners. They had to drop their stones and walk away because they were convicted in their souls about the reality of their own sins. They too knew the law and knew that they were born as sinners—they had no defense to state otherwise.
So, why no death penalty? Aside from the aforementioned travesty of executing the innocent, the most important reason is simply this: our Lord showed us clearly, simply and most definitely that we, as born sinners, can never presume to be Godly enough to pre-empt God's authority over life and death. Only His judgement of sin is perfect. Only His justice is pure and motivated only by a desire to eliminate evil. His justice is not subject to the error, questionable motives and just plain irrational thinking that even the most noble of humans bring to the process of alleged 'justice'. Jesus Himself was arrested, illegally tried in "kangaroo courts", and executed by people who had personal and political agendas. Nobody can claim credit for killing Him either; the Jews put Him on trial, the Romans handled the execution, but He had said that He would lay His life down and later, take it back—and that's exactly what He did.
In the Old Testament, whenever God executed someone or caused someone to be executed, it was because they were guilty—period. In the New Testament, under the covenant of Grace, the most important theme is love. One other major theme running throughout the collection of books is mercy. God's charge to humanity is to live in and be like Christ, that is, living in love being merciful. The closer we get to being like Him, the less our human natures will make us want to destroy each other— among other things. We are no more qualified to judge another human being's right to live or die as we are to explain the mind of God. Let us not attempt to usurp the authority that rightfully belongs to God.
Where capital punishment exists, it must be eliminated—we are not God.
We are incredibly complex and highly irrational creatures incapable of rendering truly impartial decisions. There can be no capital punishment where the slightest possibility exists that the innocent could mistakenly be executed. This has been proven in a rash of instances where convictions have been overturned, most often due to new and better science, DNA for one, new evidence, or witnesses who later recant their testimony, etc. Some states here in the U.S. have repealed or are seriously considering repealing their death penalty laws as a result of these alarming facts. But there's a more important reason that capital punishment is totally in error......
Jesus, Himself, completely tossed-out the death penalty.
In John 8:3-11, a woman caught in adultery was brought before Him. The mob that was going to stone her was made up of the scribes and Pharisees not concerned with justice; they were specifically trying to lure Jesus into saying something that would give them grounds to cause Him trouble. Let's examine the case:
1. The Law, handed down to Moses by God, specifically stated that a man and a woman caught in adultery were both to be put to death by stoning, outside the city walls (Lev. 20:10, Deut. 22:22). This mob brought only the woman— the man was most likely one of them, or someone whom they could not or would not prosecute.
2. Jesus knew the law about adultery thoroughly—He should have—as God, He had created it—and as God He could enforce it Himself if He so chose. But since the advent of Christ in the world, this was the age of grace, not sacrifice and judgement; Jesus chose the better way, the way of grace.
3. He said to the mob "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."(NIV). If you know nothing else about Christian teachings you should know this: as human beings, we are all sinners. That's why Christ came, to pay for all our sins, for everybody, past, present and future, by His death on the cross so we could be forgiven if we confess our belief in Him. Compassion and forgiveness is what He was (and is) all about.
4. Jesus did not condemn the woman and told her so. He let her go!
5. Hence-- as God, Jesus voided His own death penalty. He told the crowd, in effect, that only if they were as sinless as God Himself were they qualified to be the woman's judges and executioners. They had to drop their stones and walk away because they were convicted in their souls about the reality of their own sins. They too knew the law and knew that they were born as sinners—they had no defense to state otherwise.
So, why no death penalty? Aside from the aforementioned travesty of executing the innocent, the most important reason is simply this: our Lord showed us clearly, simply and most definitely that we, as born sinners, can never presume to be Godly enough to pre-empt God's authority over life and death. Only His judgement of sin is perfect. Only His justice is pure and motivated only by a desire to eliminate evil. His justice is not subject to the error, questionable motives and just plain irrational thinking that even the most noble of humans bring to the process of alleged 'justice'. Jesus Himself was arrested, illegally tried in "kangaroo courts", and executed by people who had personal and political agendas. Nobody can claim credit for killing Him either; the Jews put Him on trial, the Romans handled the execution, but He had said that He would lay His life down and later, take it back—and that's exactly what He did.
In the Old Testament, whenever God executed someone or caused someone to be executed, it was because they were guilty—period. In the New Testament, under the covenant of Grace, the most important theme is love. One other major theme running throughout the collection of books is mercy. God's charge to humanity is to live in and be like Christ, that is, living in love being merciful. The closer we get to being like Him, the less our human natures will make us want to destroy each other— among other things. We are no more qualified to judge another human being's right to live or die as we are to explain the mind of God. Let us not attempt to usurp the authority that rightfully belongs to God.
Where capital punishment exists, it must be eliminated—we are not God.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Another listening Gem....
I have become a fan of a totally unique TV show called Wretched, with Todd Friel. It's social satire in a way, and features Mr. Friel standing in a "hip" room doing a monologue about current events, but presenting them from a distinctly Evangelical Christian viewpoint. He claims to be "the wretch the song refers to". He closes every show with the admonition: "....go serve your King."
He's not afraid to be direct and doesn't mince words; if something is bothersome, otherwise out of whack or just plain un-Biblical, he says so and gives references in scripture to support it. The style is, in a word, manic and the jumpy camera work can be annoying, but his content is always right on the money.
Check you local listings to see if Wretched is available in your area or on your provider's system at all. On our FIOS system here in West-central Florida it's broadcast on the FamNet station (#242). You can also get to it on the web at http://www.wretchedradio.com/ where you can listen to the rerun radio stream or catch the live feed from 3-5 PM Eastern time.
He's not afraid to be direct and doesn't mince words; if something is bothersome, otherwise out of whack or just plain un-Biblical, he says so and gives references in scripture to support it. The style is, in a word, manic and the jumpy camera work can be annoying, but his content is always right on the money.
Check you local listings to see if Wretched is available in your area or on your provider's system at all. On our FIOS system here in West-central Florida it's broadcast on the FamNet station (#242). You can also get to it on the web at http://www.wretchedradio.com/ where you can listen to the rerun radio stream or catch the live feed from 3-5 PM Eastern time.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Of Monumental Import.......
I finally decided to make the split....I have now created another blog called "Tuesday Afternoon" where I can write my rants and commentary about secular (that means non-Christian to all you non-Christians) subjects.
I decided go this route after careful consultation with myself, deciding that it was time to separate the "sacred" from the "profane". Not to worry, I don't really indulge in the kind of profanity that the rest of the world does....it's just an expression from the Bible that explains how we should be living our lives....not mixing holy with everyday.
You can get to my new, improved totally political and un-holy blog at:
Tuesday Afternoon ........how simple is that?
I decided go this route after careful consultation with myself, deciding that it was time to separate the "sacred" from the "profane". Not to worry, I don't really indulge in the kind of profanity that the rest of the world does....it's just an expression from the Bible that explains how we should be living our lives....not mixing holy with everyday.
You can get to my new, improved totally political and un-holy blog at:
Tuesday Afternoon ........how simple is that?
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Thanksgiving at any Time
Yesterday I had a first-class and first-hand example of God's love working through the body of this thing called "the church".
Last Wednesday my car broke down suddenly and irreparably due to a malfunctioning starter. Of course, this meant I wasn't going anywhere. It also wasn't going to get fixed because I have zero money. On Thursday night I got a ride to and from band practice with the worship leader, Mark. As we talked I told him about my car trouble and how I was flat broke and unable to have it fixed. He said something cryptic about seeing what he could do and we said goodnight. I really didn't think any more about it.
So, yesterday, Saturday, I got a call from our pastor, Greg, who offered to pick up the starter and come over to install it for me. This totally took me aback to say the least. So he said he'd be over about 1300 (1 o'clock, PM). Well, he showed up with the part and we proceeded to tackle the removal and installation of a Ford Taurus starter with a 3.0 litre engine with A/C.
We had quite a few laughs, got very greasy-dirty (oh! Shades of the old days!), and actually had a nice time of fellowship in my driveway. God really blessed us too because right in the middle of two days of heavy, almost non-stop rain, He was kind enough to let us have 3 hours without a drop. Talk about blessings....the rain stopped, the installation went along pretty darn smoothly (except for a few panicked moments when we were scouting out metric wrenches) and the car now works. I don't think anyone skinned a knuckle either....a doggone miracle!
I don't know about anyone else....but to me that's cause for some serious Hallelujahs and gratitude for seeing the church doing what the church is supposed to do....love and care for each other. This was an example of just such love in action....also known as compassion. And to make it even more praiseworthy, when I asked pastor Greg (totally out of curiousity) what the new part cost, he wouldn't tell me. Said it didn't matter. You know, he's right, because somewhere down the road I'll pass this blessing along to someone else, amen.
Love is the most valuable commodity each human being possesses, but until it is expressed in acts of service, that compassion thing, it doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot
I urge you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 if you have any questions about love. It is probably the best description of the subject ever written, for love is so ethereal it almost defies definition, and goodness knows that writers have been trying for millenia to nail it down, but I believe the Apostle Paul came darn close. Thank you Father for this beautiful little church of your people doing your will, Amen.
Last Wednesday my car broke down suddenly and irreparably due to a malfunctioning starter. Of course, this meant I wasn't going anywhere. It also wasn't going to get fixed because I have zero money. On Thursday night I got a ride to and from band practice with the worship leader, Mark. As we talked I told him about my car trouble and how I was flat broke and unable to have it fixed. He said something cryptic about seeing what he could do and we said goodnight. I really didn't think any more about it.
So, yesterday, Saturday, I got a call from our pastor, Greg, who offered to pick up the starter and come over to install it for me. This totally took me aback to say the least. So he said he'd be over about 1300 (1 o'clock, PM). Well, he showed up with the part and we proceeded to tackle the removal and installation of a Ford Taurus starter with a 3.0 litre engine with A/C.
We had quite a few laughs, got very greasy-dirty (oh! Shades of the old days!), and actually had a nice time of fellowship in my driveway. God really blessed us too because right in the middle of two days of heavy, almost non-stop rain, He was kind enough to let us have 3 hours without a drop. Talk about blessings....the rain stopped, the installation went along pretty darn smoothly (except for a few panicked moments when we were scouting out metric wrenches) and the car now works. I don't think anyone skinned a knuckle either....a doggone miracle!
I don't know about anyone else....but to me that's cause for some serious Hallelujahs and gratitude for seeing the church doing what the church is supposed to do....love and care for each other. This was an example of just such love in action....also known as compassion. And to make it even more praiseworthy, when I asked pastor Greg (totally out of curiousity) what the new part cost, he wouldn't tell me. Said it didn't matter. You know, he's right, because somewhere down the road I'll pass this blessing along to someone else, amen.
Love is the most valuable commodity each human being possesses, but until it is expressed in acts of service, that compassion thing, it doesn't really mean a whole heck of a lot
I urge you to go read 1 Corinthians 13 if you have any questions about love. It is probably the best description of the subject ever written, for love is so ethereal it almost defies definition, and goodness knows that writers have been trying for millenia to nail it down, but I believe the Apostle Paul came darn close. Thank you Father for this beautiful little church of your people doing your will, Amen.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Yeah, sure, okay......
What's fairly amazing is that I actually opened my mouth in the church service today and talked about some things I am grateful for. This was a big step for me because I rarely open up to anyone about myself. I've gotten so over the years that, rather than stick my head out and risk someone cutting it off, I just don't bother letting anyone know anything. To put it in X Files terminology, I "trust no-one". This has served me well for many years. Trouble is, it has left me with very few true friends....but they are the kind you can count on one hand and that is a blessing.
But today I was almost gushy in my expression of being thankful for some of the items on the following list, which I have expanded since this morning:
But today I was almost gushy in my expression of being thankful for some of the items on the following list, which I have expanded since this morning:
- my "adoptive parents" Bob & Lillie, the parents of my best friend, Bob Jr., who have graciously included me in their family for Thanksgiving & Christmas.
- my new church family who accept and love me as is and never indicate that they care about interrogating me about who I am or what kind of past I come from.
- that after 28-30 years I finally got to make some long overdue and heartfelt ninth-step apologies to some folks who really needed to hear them. not only did they accept the apologies, they even forgave me for all the garbage I injected into their lives all those years ago.
- 26 years of sobriety one day at a time (sometimes one hour or minute at a time!)
- strong and, so far, lasting recovery from stage 4 cancer (a miracle in itself) and how it forced me to end a 46 year dependence on cigarettes
- a roof over my head, for now.
- air to breathe, pure or not, for this purpose, it's still free.
- food (sometimes too much and too good!) to eat.
- Clean water, and good tasting thanks to Brita water filters.
- a car that's reliable, mostly.
- the love of God.
- the devotion of two little, manic fur balls who are my loyal friends and keep me warm at night.
- finally, a whole lot of blessings that I couldn't possibly be aware of but which I know have been poured out on me all my life.
Friday, November 20, 2009
We're back
I don't know why, but the Christian store Living Word has re-opened in Sarasota in the same location. I reported recently that it had been a victim of our current economy and folded.
Now....if the owners are at all astute, they will use the evidence gleaned by their computerized invrntory system to learn what sells and what doesn't, then they can concentrate on those core compentecies and eliminate the fluff stuff that really doesn't do too well. Heck, if they're really smart, they could cut the storefront and space in half (they currently occupy two storefronts).
Such steps might make for a better chance at survival. I do wish them well, this burg needs at least one Christian store, even if they're not the best in show.
Now....if the owners are at all astute, they will use the evidence gleaned by their computerized invrntory system to learn what sells and what doesn't, then they can concentrate on those core compentecies and eliminate the fluff stuff that really doesn't do too well. Heck, if they're really smart, they could cut the storefront and space in half (they currently occupy two storefronts).
Such steps might make for a better chance at survival. I do wish them well, this burg needs at least one Christian store, even if they're not the best in show.
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