At lunch yesterday I learned that God had been working behind the scenes to bring a new DivorceCare facilitator to the fore.

On a Friday I got word that our DivorceCare facilitator would have to step aside for personal reasons. On Sunday I taught a session in our Ministry Partner’s Training forum. The following Thursday I got the spiritual gifts inventories and interest assessments from those who attended the forum. And on top of the pile was the form from a man with excellent administrative and teaching gifts who indicated that his first interest was working with the the divorced!

A week later (yesterday) we had lunch to discuss his interest and our opportunity. He told me that the night before I called him he and his small group buddies had been discussing his desire to get more involved in a ministry at the Heights. My call comes the next morning!

Is that a God thing or what?

Over 35 years ago an attorney friend warned me that “justice” is an illusion in America’s courtrooms. “The law means what a judge says it means,” he told me. The outcome of any given case is always a coin toss. The Supreme Court’s recent antics are case in point.

So it will interesting to see what becomes of the latest goofball litigation. A homosexual has recently filed a $70M lawsuit against several Bible publishers, claiming that their Bibles have inflicted harm and violated his constitutional rights.

Weasel words by a judge don’t surprise anyone anymore. In response to the case, brought by an ex-con, a federal judge said, “The Court has some very genuine concerns about the nature and efficacy of these claims.”

But catch what the legal eagles from Zondervan have to say! “Since Zondervan does not translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations we publish, we are not in a position to comment on the merits of how a word should or should not be translated.”

Right. This from the folks who pushed TNIV.

Weasels.

Tags: Homosexual Agenda, Federal Courts, Bible Translations, Zondervan

Doomed to a fatal delusion over climate change | Herald Sun

Writing in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of our Royal Children’s Hospital say this delusion was a “previously unreported phenomenon”.

“A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events.”

“The patient had also developed the belief that, due to climate change, his own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people through exhaustion of water supplies.”

But never mind the poor boy, who became too terrified even to drink. What’s scarier is that people in charge of our Government seem to suffer from this “climate change delusion”, too.

Tags: Global Warming, Environmentalism

Time magazine seems to be an “early adopter” when it comes to novel ideas and oddball theories about the origins of Christianity and the ancient church. They rushed to print the debunked idea that the bones of Jesus’ brother, James, had been discovered, but word of the refutation never saw the light of day on Time’s pages.

They’re at it again. Fiction writer Reporter David van Biema asks, “Was Jesus’ Resurrection a Sequel?” as a means of suggesting that a hitherto unknown tablet may point to a pre-existent fable of a dead messiah rising from the dead on the third day. It is a thinly veiled screed filled with innuendo, what-ifs and sensational wonderment, all based on the hunch of “one Israeli scholar.”

It begs the question of whether or not the doctrine of a dead-and-risen messiah is to be found in the Old Testament.

This, in turn, undermines one of the strongest literary arguments
employed by Christians over centuries to support the historicity of the
Resurrection (in which they believe on faith): the specificity and
novelty of the idea that the Messiah would die on a Friday and rise on
a Sunday. Who could make such stuff up? But, as Knohl told TIME, maybe
the Christians had a model to work from. The idea of a “dying and
rising messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone
thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism,” he says. “But
for the first time, we have proof that it was the other way around. The
concept was there before Jesus.” If so, he goes on, “this should shake
our basic view of Christianity. … What happens in the New Testament
[could have been] adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an
earlier messiah story.”

File that one under “Duh”. The real question is not whether there was a literary antecedent for the belief in a risen messiah, but whether or not it is to be found in the prophetic passages of the Old Testament.

Take a few minutes, see if you can tease out the reporter’s logic and presuppositions and poke holes in the argument.

Tags: Resurrection, Messiah, “Gabriel’s Revelation”, Time Magazine

I started some preliminary research in Matthew in preparation for preaching the book when my name comes up in the rotation. In my mind the primary message in Matthew, the idea I want to convey in an overview sermon of this type, is that “the kingdom will be established when the king returns.” It’s not as precise and comprehensive as I might like, but it’s a good place to start.

Right now I’m reading the book to capture the big picture and to understand how the various pericopae fit into the argument of the book. At the moment I’m simply making a few brief notes about the chapters, with occasional notes that help me frame how the challenging portions fit.

More to follow…

Tags: Bible Study, Gospel of Matthew

Detroit is getting the message that buyers want autos that are decked out with all the goodies - sunroof, leather, nav systems - but still sip the gas. Now that there’s an actual market for the 100 mpg auto engine, maybe the moonbats who believe the automakers have conspired against the public will get smart.

As for me, I think I’m set. The p-wife’s Honda averages 32 mpg, my Corvette averages almost 28 mpg at highway speeds, and around town I ride my bike or my 80 mpg scooter.

One thing about that USA Today article: did anybody catch the fact that gas in Europe is $7 per gallon? How is it that we can sell gas here for $4+ per and those poor dopes pay an additional $3 per? They’re closer to the oil sources in the Middle East than we are!

What’s the explanation for that?

Socialist government.

So go ahead and elect Obama. You’ll pay for it at the pump.

Tags: Oil Crisis, 100 mile carburetor, Obama

I’ve been thinking about buying a UMPCs like the Dell E, the MSI Wind, the HP Mini or the Asus EEE PC. But the p-wife and I are in the midst of preparing for financial meltdown if the local economy continues to its death spiral. So no UMPC in the works for a while.

What’s a sleepless geek to use at 3 a.m. to browse the news and write blog posts?

Felicitous circumstance (or the divine intervention of an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God) directed me to solution in a Computerworld article, “This old laptop: Revitalizing an aging notebook on the cheap.” In a moment of inspiration I thought, “I know what I’ll do, I’ll refurbish that old Toshiba that’s gathering dust in the drawer!”

It’s an old Toshiba Satellite 2805-S402 that was decommissioned years ago. I’ve thought about throwing it away on several occasions, but just never did. The machine’s taken a lot of abuse in the seven years we’ve had it; several keys were missing, the paint was worn off the case under the area where my palms rested while I typed, it was dirty and it hadn’t been serviced in years.

So it was a project. Now that the project is finished the old unit is getting a lot of new use. In fact, I’m using it to write this post. It’s been refurbished in several ways:

• A new keyboard
• Completely dismantled and cleaned
• Repainted the case (it now sports a shiny red cover and case!)
• Installed Ubuntu 8.0.4
• Blew out all the dust

The unit is now perfect for those “roaming sessions” late at night or early in the morning. It is lighter than the HP Pavillion zd7010us, it’s got a Broadcom wireless card that connects to our wireless hotspot, and all the needed software.

So by my calculations I’ve saved around $475 by NOT buying that UMPC.

Now, what can I do with that money?

Tags: UMPC, Computer mods, Toshiba Satellite

According to a University of Michigan study the world is getting happier. I know this is hard to believe, but that’s because you subject yourself to the constant barrage of the MSM. Bad news, after all, does sell advertising. And that’s what they’re in business to do!

But the rest of the world seems to be getting happier even while we Americans are allowing ourselves to wallow in misery! Even though we live in the greatest nation on earth (and in history) we’re 16th on the list, somewhere between Denmark (happiest) and Zimbabwe (unhappiest).

And the result bode ill for the future. Think for a moment about the erosion of our liberties and rights here in America, particularly the Court system’s willingness to overrule the will of the people and the legislature’s failure to exercise its Constitutional control over the courts while you read this quote from the article.

The researchers note it’s important to wonder why there’s been an increase in happiness. Over the time studied, even in developing countries, there’s been greater economic growth, democratization, and expanded social tolerance. According the the survey, democratization and tolerance have had a greater impact than economic growth on people’s self-described happiness over the past 25 years.

This leads to a rather interesting point by the researchers. “The results clearly show that the happiest societies are those that allow people the freedom to choose how to live their lives.”

A dozen or more countries around the world are experiencing ever greater degrees of liberty (and with it, happiness) while we find ourselves being slowly chained by unelected bureaucrats and judges who answer to no one.

Tags: Happiness, Freedom, Supreme Court

HT: Regina Lewis

I grabbed the May issue of National Geographic’s Adventure magazine at the doctor’s office. I figured, “What the heck? Getting the annual physical at my age is always an adventure…”

An article entitled “Ties That Bind” by columnist Laurence Gonzales captured my interest. Apparently he’s a regular contributor of an ominously named column, Deep Survival.

This particular article is a series of vignettes sharing a common theme: those with deep and meaningful relationships are more likely than loners to survive harrowing and potentially deadly circumstances. Stories of kayakers trapped in strainers, sailors stranded at sea, hikers stranded in the wilderness and of prisoners in the Nazi extermination camps pepper the story with gripping human interest.

A while back I taught our deacons and elders the biblical theology of the pastoral office. My exegetical work in the course of preparing the lessons led me to several conclusions. Among them were that the pastor must give strong, protective leadership and that he has the primary responsibility for protecting the peace and the purity of the church.

A recent discussion has motivated me to re-examine these conclusions in light of Titus 1:7. Does this verse in some way attenuate the strength of the pastor’s leadership?

The specific word in Titus 1:7 which needs to be examined is variously translated as “overbearing” (NIV), “self-willed” (NKJV, NASB) and “arrogant” (NET). The widely varying translations shout out, “Dig here. Dig deeper.”

Bottom Line

Should politicians who make public policy decisions that are in part based on their religious faith have to defend that faith, or at least that part of it that informed that decision?

That’s the issue under debate here.

This should lead to a more interesting discussion. Is it possible to develop a principled approach to government in a multicultural environment?

Tags: Religion, Presidential Politics, Barack Obama, Church and State

I had this conversation with a church guest Sunday before last. The brother visiting us was theologically astute. He wanted to know where I was “coming from.”

I replied that I am theologically conservative, that I practice LHG exegesis in the scripture, and that it is the sole source of authority for theological truth. He asked whether we had a baptistic background to which I replied, “Yes.”

Then he asked if I was an evangelical, to which I replied, “Absolutely not.”

Evangelicalism is no longer the label of choice for conervative, Bible believing Christians. Rather, it has been coopted by our feel good, roll your own religion multicultural society.

Want proof? Here it is.

Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching. In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion.

USA Today covers the report in greater detail. Highlights:

• 78% overall say there are “absolute standards of right and wrong,” but only 29% rely on their religion to delineate these standards. The majority (52%) turn to “practical experience and common sense,” with 9% relying on philosophy and reason, and 5% on scientific information.
• 74% say “there is a heaven, where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded,” but far fewer (59%) say there’s a “hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without being sorry are eternally punished.”
• 70%, including a majority of all major Christian and non-Christian religious groups except Mormons, say “many religions can lead to eternal life.”
• 68% say “there’s more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.”
• 44% want to preserve their religion’s traditional beliefs and practices. But most Catholics (67%), Jews (65%), mainline Christians (56%) and Muslims (51%) say their religion should either “adjust to new circumstances” or “adopt modern beliefs and practices.”
• 50% say “homosexuality is a way of life that should be accepted by society,” but the most consistently traditional religious groups say society should discourage it - 76% of Jehovah’s Witnesses, 68% of Mormons, 61% of Muslims and 64% of evangelicals.
• 51% have a certain belief in a personal God, but 27% are less certain of this, 14% call God “an impersonal force,” and 5% reject any kind of God. “People say ‘God,’ and no one knows who they mean,” says Kosmin, director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
• 14% of all surveyed, including 28% of evangelicals, say religion is the “main influence in their political thinking.”

D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist of religion at Rice University, sums it up this way: “The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep.” Can I have an “Amen!” to that?

Tags: Multiculturalism, Evangelicalism, Exclusivism, Christianity in America

This one? Or this one? Or this one?

One thing’s for sure; they can’t all be right. But they could all be wrong!

In light of all this, the Dredge Report’s scraming headline in red is real interesting.

Update

June polls are usually meaningless. The American Thinker observes past June polls’ failure to predict the outcome.

As hard as it may be to believe, Michael Dukakis was leading the first George Bush by an average of 8.2 percent in June of 1988. Bush went on to win the general election by 7.8 points.

Mr Bush led the relatively unknown Bill Clinton by 4.9 percent In June of ‘92, but managed to lose in November by 5.6 percent.

June 1996 polls showed the incumbent President Clinton leading by a whopping 17 points, but even Bob Dole managed to close the gap to a more respectable 8.5 percent.

2000 was different only in that George W. Bush led by 4.7 percent in June, won the election, but lost the popular vote to Al Gore by 0.5 percent.

And finally, John Kerry led in the June 2004 polls by an average of 0.9 percent, but lost the popular vote, and the election, to the incumbent Bush by 2.4 points.

41 mpg. Nostalgia. On sale at eBay.