theologer

Okay what?

That was my reaction this morning in hearing this on the radio at 4:50am this morning on the way back from dropping my parents off at the airport. The vatican just came out with another bone-headed move, but it's okay because for the most part us Christians are not looked highly upon.

The BBC article begins by saying:
"The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out."

Which is almost awesome in itself. Why do they issue statements like this? What is the point?

But then the article goes on to conclude:
"To strengthen its scientific credentials, the Vatican is organising a conference next year to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the author of the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin."

Wow, we're not just talking of aliens, we're celebrating Darwin. Way to go Vatican, way to go.

"And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison." - Judges 16:21

"They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon." - 2 Kings 25:7

I was reading a survey of the Old Testament for class a few weeks back and wrote this down. I find it fascinating that what happened to Samson also happened to the last king of Israel. Pondering the significance of this had led me almost nowhere I just don't know what to make of it.

Maybe the Lord gouged out these leaders eyes to emphasize the finality of their rule as leaders. A sort of, "how can you lead if you must be led by the hand," or "now you will see no future." But these thoughts are mostly just musings with little to back them up. I also find this verse interesting:

"But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, 'On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I gouge out all your right eyes, and thus bring disgrace on all Israel.'" - 1 Samuel 11:2

Saul came up and destroyed these Ammonites but this was their condition should Jabesh-gilead choose to make a treaty with them.

Can you make any sense of this gouging of the eyes? I found an interesting blog article about these first two verses and "How sin blinds and binds." But I'm not sure this application answers my question.

Alright Peter Kirk tagged for my first meme, so I suppose I should do my best to take part... I don't know if I can pull off 5 of each but I'll see what I can do.

1. Waterdeep - "You are beautiful my sweet sweet song . . . you are my strong melody, you are my perfect ryhme, and I want to sing forever."

A great song... but weird imagery.

2. Keith Greene - Create in me a clean heart-
"Cast me not away
From thy presence oh Lord
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation
And renew a right spirit within me"

Another song I love but a friend pointed out the Lord will not take his spirit from us, making this a weird thing to pray/sing.

3. Hands down the best is Bobby Bare - Dropkick me Jesus:

Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal-posts of life
End over end, neither left nor to right
Straight through the heart of the righteous up-rights
Dropkick me, Jesus, through the goal-posts of life. (follow that link and see the whole lyrics... well worth it)

Okay... thats all I can think of... but dropkick me Jesus has to earn me like 15 points and even me out to the 5 I'm supposed to do.

People I'll tag:

Nathan - Disciplus Scripturae
Martin - The Scroll
Tim - If I were a bell I'd ring
TC - TConnecting
Ben - The Openswitch

(see the original post at David Ker's Blog Lingamish)

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21

I guess I'm surprised I haven't addressed this yet. Maybe I have and I've just forgotten, either way I'm too lazy to do a search for it on my own site, and this one is a doozy so it's fine to address it again. I'll keep this simple.

Treasures I have on earth:
Wife (1 hottie)
Baby girl (1 cutie)
Macbook Pro (1)
iPhone (1)
Soft Couch (2 biggin's)
Awesome antique furniture (6 pieces)
Electric bike (1 piece of junk but I still love it)
Bicycle (1 $7 hunk of awesomeness)
Books (many but few I'll reference later in life)

Treasures I have in heaven (this is difficult):
A God who loves me (1 awesome'n)
Friends (many)
My own brewery/vineyard (ya'll can come by for a drink)
Books (many of which I'll prolly enjoy reading again and again)
Eternal hope/life/joy - no pain (1)
Final grasp of all the things on which I've mused on earth.

I wish I could think of more things to look forward to for eternity, but I suppose its the quality of the treasure not the quantity. What treasures do you have here and there?

"Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." - Hebrews 13:1-2

Its a wonder to me why the Lord would send His angels to be entertained by man. But that said, its even more a wonder to me this would be used as a reason to show brotherly love to all. Imagine everyone you're friendly to and hoping maybe they're an angel and somehow blessing an angel is a better thing to do than blessing man.

Either way, I think it more likely that occasionally there have been angels entertaining us, or helping us along. I remember one time as a child traveling through a remote part of Austria we were very very lost and on foot and very tired. No one around spoke English and my father's German wasn't quite good enough to ask for directions. There was no one for several miles as we walked and then randomly on some steps to a very old building was a man sitting outside reading "Jurassic Park."

Not only was it a surprise he was reading an English book but even more so he knew the obscure place we were heading and was more than helpful in getting us there. As we walked away I remember my mother commenting that she'd thought that man was an angel. I was young and I remember being impressed an angel could look so warm and welcoming.

Whether he was or not, he showed us brotherly love, and I hope someday someone might be wondering the same thing about me and some help I'm able to offer.

I also wonder if the Lord and His army of angels has some affinity for Michael Crichton.

Okay I just wanted to update my thoughts on this whole wife becoming Roman Catholic deal. I posted briefly here.

And want to say after further reading it was much less one-sided than I originally read. My new view of what went down is available in the forums.

"But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." - Hebrews 11:16

I chewed on this for a bit knowing it to be significant but not able to sort out what I thought about it. Barnes' New Testament Notes brought it into a focus a bit for me. These are the people who are "so heavenly minded they're of no earthly good." Or rather, they are forgetting the things of the world and doing what pleases their father because they're looking forward to heaven.

This comes in the midst of the long section in Hebrews on faith, a section I have skipped over many times as it has often seemed monotonous. But reading this yesterday brought what was dull to light for me. The Lord is proud to call those who seek the eternal His children. Are you seeking the eternal? So many things on this earth have become so attractive to me that I often forget the eternal.

I'm reminded the significance of living by faith, living for the eternal, after all those who lived by faith,

"conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection." - verse 33-35.

Nathan Stitt just introduced me to this horrifying story of a relational split between husband and wife as the wife began to feel called to become a Roman Catholic. I cannot believe it went down as it did.

The link to the story is here.

The link to the forum where Nathan brought it up and at least we will be discussing it (probably not till tomorrow) is here.

I'm off to bed. But chew on that. I read it to my wife. We were both pretty shocked.

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6

I love that he rewards those who seek Him. I cant always pull it together, but I always hope He has grace for those who are earnestly seeking. I want to seek God. To seek Him more than comfort, wisdom, even knowledge, fame, peace, health. All things I've worshipped.

Help me Father, to seek you.

"But he said, 'Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'" - Luke 11:28

One of my brothers in law is here staying with us for the weekend. He'll be heading home today but he's an interesting guy to talk with as he's in the last semester of his seminary education. He's also lived overseas for a couple of years doing ministry and will likely go back.

I was talking with Him this morning about some of the blogs I read and how many people I read who are educated in the original languages or carry seriously interpretive Bibles to church on Sunday mornings and scrutinize everything the pastors say. I don't mean this in a bad way, being educated and not taking everything your pastor says at face value is not a bad thing. My comment was how I wasn't sure I would want to preach to these people feeling like they would pick apart my every argument.

His response was something along the lines of how it doesn't matter if you can preach to those people or not. There are people out there who are much more interested in the academia than they are in being able to preach and relate Christ. You need to worry yourself with the latter.

I thought this an interesting argument. The field in which I work is filled with several seminary educated people but our discussions are never about theology or scripture or these things at all. Rather we're always discussing what so and so needs to hear before they'll likely turn to the Lord, or about broken relationships, or disfunction in our churches and how we address such issues.

Then I get on a plane and I go to seminary in the summer for a few weeks at a time and I'm surrounded by people who care much more about a specific interpretation of one verse, or how great of professors they've had etc...

The field is just a different world than the academic campus. I guess I'm glad I get the best of both worlds. I just want to make sure I'm hearing the word of the Lord and spending my time keeping it rather than scrutinizing it. Seeking the Lord and loving Him and following His commands needs to have precedence in my life over my head knowledge. Both are important, but the Love and obedience need to come first.

"Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming." Matthew 24:42

How do we take this to heart? I spoke maybe two weeks ago about the difficulty of living like the return of the Christ is imminent. But today I want to talk a bit about what we might be doing when the Lord comes.

Before I was married I tried to quietly hope the Lord wouldn't return before I had a chance to see what sex was like. I know, thats crude, but its true. Now that I have a child I actually sit and wonder about her growing up before the Lord returns. Part of me doesn't want to live like the Lord could return at any time because that seems like something only the wackos believe. The other part of me fears my not being able to see my child grow up. Or more frequently I think about this verse:

"And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!" - Verse 19 of the same chapter.

What if my wife is still nursing our infant? What sort of horrible thing will I have brought on my wife and child if I raise them during the tribulation? My eschatology here is vague which may be part of my fear, I tend to lead towards a-millennialism but these verses seem pretty clear it will be terrible for everyone.

The other thing I think about is what if, on the day the Christ returns, I'm in the middle of a good game of rugby? Or what if he returns just before the Broncos win the superbowl? Can I cope with that sort of thing? These things seriously bother me. How can I be awake? Do I want to be awake? Ideally I will be bored to tears and the Lord will return and it will be a sort of "saved by the bell" situation.

Am I alone in such musings?

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." - Ephesians 6:1
"Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." - Colossians 3:20

I come from a pretty spectacular family in that I genuinely respect my parents and aspire to be quite like my father. I know that few can say this. As I get older I definitely think my parents are weirder and weirder, which is either because I'm getting older and more aware of their idiosyncrasies, or they genuinely are getting weirder.

But one thing I've noticed is just how much harder this is with one's in-laws. I am in the midst of an in-law family reunion, and in my house right now there is:

My wife,
My wife's brother
My wife's sister in law
My wife's other sister in law
My wife's mother
My wife's grandmother
Two nieces
One nephew
And my daughter.

If you'll notice thats 8 women and 3 men (including me). I grew up in a male dominated home and when the estrogen outnumbers the testosterone I don't really know how to cope.

Basically, I'm just arguing that today finally, I can relate to many of you who come from difficult families and are trying to honor your parents/families. This family isn't difficult at all. In fact I really enjoy many of them. But no matter how well you get along with in-laws, their still in-laws, and ten of them is too many.

I'm just taking comfort in the fact that my wife has to go to a family reunion with my family in about 3 weeks and she will be put through the same torture.

I have to assume when Paul said, "No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments." - 1 Timothy 5:23, the reason for the stomach pain and frequent ailments was family.

I don't know if this is an idea that can/will take off with the crowd that comes here but it's something I've been wanting to try for a while. I used to spend a lot of time over at macnn forums and have always wanted to have a place to discuss things of theology.

A blog is useful for a lot of things, and the comments are useful for replying, but when you really want to discuss something a forum is the place to do it.

I want this forum to be useful for discussing the things we otherwise just pass on by. Which is why I have gone ahead and posted something on tongues as the discussion has been circulating a bit.

I also want it to be used for people to ask "hey seen any good movies lately?" I think there is something about a forum which brings people together on the internet better than some other mediums.

That said, I don't know if this will take off, but I'd appreciate it if you head over to

forums.theologer.com

registered, and posted something controversial (at least to get us started). While the link is through my site, I would really like it if ya'll begin to treat it as your own (and maybe we can eventually change the name to something more generic). For example, I would be thrilled if a few of you would be willing to be administrators with me and keep things under raps etc... But mostly I just hope its useful, I would like the community, please come join me.

Thanks eh.

-Roger

"And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all." - Luke 6:19

At the risk of sounding repetitive I'm going to talk again about just how awesome our savior is. I know I've been touching on this a lot lately, and I think it might be because I'm trying to beat it into my own head. I'm surprised at how I'll look back at some of the blog entries I wrote a year ago and think "that was a really good lesson, I wish I had learned it by now."

The truth is, our savior Jesus is more awesome, more beautiful, bigger, stronger, and far more loving and powerful than we will ever comprehend. This doesn't mean I wont try... This morning this verse struck me. Power was emanating from His body. People pressed in just to touch Him.

Remember King Midas? Everything he touched turned to gold. That would be a cool power until you wanted to hold your child (or even a TV remote). Shel Silverstein wrote a poem about a guy who everything he touched turned to strawberry jello (or something like that).

Imagine if everything you touched was made right? Imagine knowing that person and walking around with him? People would definitely press in and touch him. I've been seeing a chiropractor for back pain for about a month, I'd kill to be able to touch the Lord and see instant healing.

My point here is God is awesome. Everyone He touched -- and more -- everyone who touched Him, was instantly healed. I want to know, walk with, commune with, and love, this powerful God. I'm so happy I serve an all powerful God "for power came out from him," and not some lame person with emotional problems (or whatever other problems we often project on our Lord).

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world." - 1 Peter 5:8-9

I'm just thinking about how little I'm tuned in to the war going on around me. The Bible is very clear there are battles we cannot see going on all the time. I want to be great in the Kingdom of Heaven and the battle has been going on for some time, am I doing my part in prayer for the Kingdom?

Are you doing yours? I have a lot of people praying for me regularly, and I can tell frequently because of the absurd amount of grace the Lord gives me in overwhelming situations. Often I'll hope my prayers are being felt by others, but far too often I'm not really praying for anyone but myself.

We have to resist the devil, pray against him, and pray for our fellow believers who are suffering elsewhere in the world. Think of the many who are still imprisoned for their faith, even if its a generic prayer for their perseverance and God's comfort, it wont fall on deaf ears.