While I am frequently reminded how many things I have to be thankful for, one thing I wish I had more of was “outdoor time.” I live most of my life in front of the monitor. This evening I happened to walk by the front door and see a strange light in the street. I had my camera out for another purpose and decided to walk outside and take a look. It was raining lightly and the sun was shining directly down our street.
Yet everything looks different when you point the camera the other direction.
If you missed (as I did) most of the hubbub about the medical ethicists who made a case for “after-birth abortion,” you might find this article helpful.
Does driving a shiny expensive car entitle you to cut off cars and ignore pedestrians? Apparently their drivers think so.
The Chronicles of Narnia, all 7 books, are available in audio readings in streaming or podcast format.
The conference messages from the latest Bethlehem Conference for Pastors are now online.
After four years of collecting, and a year of looking for Illinois, we now have all 50 state quarters. The last one was sent to us by a friend in Romania. I guess Illinois quarters are more common there than in Texas…
Last year I took a risk and asked for suggestions for our summer trip. (The risk, in part, is related to offending someone if we do not take the suggestion.) It worked out better than we could hope, not only with some very good ideas for places to visit but also with an invitation to spend time with a wonderful family in New Hampshire.
This year Kelli’s parents are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and we would like to visit some interesting sites on our way to Illinois. With a move planned for next summer to California, we are interested in seeing part of the country that we will not likely be able to travel to in coming years. Specifically, we ‘d like to visit interesting sites in:
Kansas
Nebraska
South Dakota
North Dakota
Minnesota
We also may potentially have a little time on the way back from Illinois (Missouri?).
If any of you have recommendations for us, we ‘d love to hear them!
After once telling us in chapel to mail our NIVs back to the publisher, John MacArthur has agreed to an NIV version of the MacArthur Study Bible. It’s absolutely not about the millions of dollars to be made, but it’s about having study notes to help those reading an inferior translation. Sigh :-). But maybe now I ‘ll get my kids one :-). Except it’s the NIV2011, so scratch that.
I agree with this statement: “Many of our English translations make it easy to do word studies; and painfully difficult to grasp the meaning of a paragraph.”
Sexual Sin in the Ministry – I couldn’t believe what I read about the statistics on this. They can’t be true, though even if they are half, we are in big trouble.
I am guessing that this will be a very good (short) introduction to the Bible’s origin, reliability, and interpretation.
This infographic explains how spam works…
I’ve heard good things about these books by Andrew Case:
Water of the Word: A practical prayer-book designed to help husbands intercede for their wives consistently and biblically.
Prayers of an Excellent Wife: A practical prayer-book designed to help wives intercede for their husbands consistently and biblically.
Setting Their Hope in God: A practical prayer-book designed to help parents intercede for their children consistently and biblically.
They are now available in pdf, Kindle, and other formats here for free.
This 19th century writing makes a very important point.
From William Bacon Stevens, 1815-1887, via GraceGems:
What if science, as at present understood, and the Bible, do not agree? Shall we be troubled thereat? I think not. I rejoice to know that what is termed modern science and the Bible do not agree. I would be sorry if they did agree! Modern science is changeable–the Bible is unchangeable!
The science of today is not the science of last year, and will not be the science of the next year.
The Bible of today, is the Bible of all the Christian centuries; and will be a thousand years hence–just what it was nearly eighteen hundred years ago, when the canon of Scripture was closed!
Mark the changes which have taken place along the whole line of sciences since the beginning of this nineteenth century. What a catastrophe then would it have been–had it been proved that the Bible and science as known at the beginning of this century, fully agreed; that all the assertions of the Bible could be squared with the facts of science as then understood! The great tidal waves of science which have rolled over the world since, would have left the Bible stranded and ruined!
And just so now–could it be made clear today that every truth in the Bible accords with the received theories of science–what would become of the Bible fifty years hence, when science will have moved on with even more rapid strides, and left behind more wrecks of theories and more stranded speculations?
In the meanwhile, the Bible stands still in the solitary grandeur of its own perfection. It waits, as the ages roll on, for confirmation and acceptance. It was said by one of old, "God is patient, because He is eternal;" and the Bible, as the book of the God of truth, has this attribute of its divine Author. Its strength is to sit still. It does not go out hastily to meet a half-formed science, and embrace it as an ally–lest it should turn into a foe. It calmly tarries in the consciousness of its own truth–as the advances of science come nearer and nearer; and every advance of true science does bring it nearer to the Bible.
The opposition to that Bible, comes only from a class whose utterances, Paul has justly characterized as "the profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science falsely so called."
These differences between science and Scripture cannot be settled–because science is not settled. And science will never be settled, so long as there is an undiscovered fact in nature, or an inquiring mind in man!
"Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in Heaven!" Psalm 119:89
"The grass withers and the flowers fade–but the Word of our God stands forever!" Isaiah 40:8
From Best of the Web Today (WSJ):
If there is one word that captures the Orwellian nature of contemporary feminism, it is "choice." It’s not just the word’s wide use as a euphemism for abortion. You can understand why people on that side of the abortion issue prefer to frame their position in abstract terms, as a defense of liberty, rather than concretely discussing the specific freedom they are defending. Some of them are no doubt sincere in saying that they favor "the right to choose" in general and have no brief for abortion in particular.
[…]
But in any case, why does it so bother Miller that the Romneys, Santorums and Pauls (and also the Palins, whom she mentions in another paragraph) made the choice to have large families? If she cared about choice, she would recognize it’s none of her business. But contemporary feminism does not actually value choice, except as a means to an ideological end, which is the obliteration of differences between the sexes. The biggest such difference consists in the distinct and disparate demands that reproduction makes on women. Thus in order to equalize the sexes, it is necessary to discourage fertility. Implicit in contemporary feminism is a normative judgment that having children is bad.
The whole thing is good and makes some larger points related to the government mandate for contraception and the ultimate “success” of feminism.
And on another subject in the same issue:
Obama’s class warfare isn’t really about defeating the rich. It’s a divide-and-conquer strategy aimed at trapping the middle class in a much more powerful entitlement state.
I wrote something recently for the group for my church that I’m taking to Israel next month. While it is geared for those going to Jerusalem, I think it is just as suitable for those who have already been to Jerusalem (and that is most, if not all, of the readership here).
It’s always good to memorize God’s Word, but there are certain portions that are particularly meaningful for one who has been to or is going to Jerusalem. I would like to suggest a few psalms for you to consider memorizing. None of these are long, and all of them are rich beyond just a visit to the Israel.
Psalm 48 – I’ve quoted a few verses of this psalm to students in Jerusalem for years, but I feel like I only understood it once I memorized it while in Jerusalem in January. This psalm helps me to understand why Jerusalem is considered to be so beautiful and full of joy: “God is in her citadels…Mount Zion rejoices…because of your judgments.”
Psalm 63 – This is the only psalm where it specifically says that David wrote this while “in the wilderness of Judah.” If you have this psalm in your heart when we are standing in the dry and desolate landscape, you ‘ll really know what David meant when he wrote “my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you.”
Psalm 84 – There may be no better psalm that expresses the desire to be in God’s presence. “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.”
Psalm 122 – One of 15 psalms that were sung by pilgrims as they ascended to Jerusalem to worship at the temple, this psalm exhorts us to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” This is a good one to help prepare your heart for our time when “our feet” will be “standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.”
Psalm 125 – Some of these psalms are so short that you may be able to memorize 2, 3, or more before we go. As you walk around Jerusalem, your faith will be strengthened as you recite, “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.”
God is so very good, and memorizing psalms can help us to rejoice in him all day and “through the watches of the night.”
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1–2).
Breaking the silence is hard to do. I find that I get into patterns and when I haven’t done something in a while (like write on this blog), it’s not easy to return to it. I think of this blog as a place where some of the “spillover” of my thinking can occur. The lack of writing here could suggest that I’m not thinking much these days, but that’s not true.
I was motivated to write tonight in order to suggest a few good books I’ve read recently, but before I get to that I might just give a brief summary of where things are at in my life. Since I passed my exams in April, I have stepped aside from all PhD work in order to complete a major revision and expansion of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands. I had planned to finish that by Labor Day, and then by Christmas. Now it looks like it will be March before the work is finished and I begin research for the dissertation. The family is doing well and we are blessed in many ways.
In the last few months I’ve read some excellent books that I would commend to you with a few brief words.
Darlene Deibler Rose, Evidence Not Seen – the autobiography of a missionary who spent four long years in a Japanese internment camp during World War II. It is a very powerful presentation of great suffering and even greater faith. I highly recommend it.
Eric Metaxes, Amazing Grace – this biography of William Wilberforce and his campaign to end slavery in the British Empire is extremely well written. If you ‘re like I was, you probably have no interest in reading a whole book on Wilberforce. But if you ‘re like me, you ‘ll have trouble putting this one down. The author not only presents Wilberforce’s strong faith but shows how one’s beliefs should shape one’s public life.
Ken Duncan, In the Footsteps of Paul – this one is unlike the others, but I liked it so much that after returning the book to the library, I ordered my own copy. I wrote more about it here.
Lois Tverberg, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus – this book comes out next month, but I can tell you from an advance copy that it is outstanding. If you want to be challenged in your faith at the same time you learn fascinating insights into the culture of the time of Jesus, this is the book to get. I read the whole thing on a flight to Israel and couldn’t wait to email the author to tell her how much I loved it.
Paul Maier, Pontius Pilate – whoever failed to tell me about Maier’s historical fiction 20 years ago is on my black list. I love historical fiction, and it doesn’t get any better than when the historical time period is biblical, but somehow I didn’t get the memo. Maier’s historical fiction is particularly good because he is a historian by profession. I see that the book is still in print 44 years after it was first published. (Note: I recommended his Flames of Rome two years ago.)
In the last couple of months, I’ve read some other very good books but they weren’t quite “5-star” for me.
J. R. R. Tolkein, The Hobbit
Mosab Hassan Yousef, Son of Hamas
Ronny Reich, Excavating the City of David
Duby Tal, Moni Haramati, and Shimon Gibson, Flights into Biblical Archaeology
Ed Moll and Tim Chester, Gospel-Centered Family
I recently heard a teacher explain that the lesson of Obadiah is that if you curse others, you will be cursed. Because I think this is a natural way that Bible teachers often arrive at wrong applications, I thought I’d use it as an example of why it is so critical (1) to properly understand the message of the text and (2) to make sure that applications derive from that message. Let me say it a different way: since the power of God’s Word comes from its message, an inaccurate interpretation or application of that has no power or authority. Specifically, the authority for stating that one who curses another will be cursed comes from the teacher and not from God, since it is not what Obadiah is teaching.
First, let’s briefly consider the message of Obadiah. These 21 verses condemn Edom for persecuting Israel and predict restoration for the defeated nation. It is true and important that Edom is faulted for cursing Israel. They cursed them not only in their speech but also in their hearts and in their violent actions. Edom is guilty for how they treated God’s chosen people. The basis for their guilt, and this is critical background, is their violation of God’s promise to Abraham. (This is why I recently told a friend that people should not be allowed to study the Bible until they get a good handle on Genesis!) The reason why it is wrong to curse is because God had said “whoever curses you [Abraham] I will curse” (Gen 12:3). There’s nothing here that says it is inherently wrong to curse [anyone]; in fact God himself says he will curse. The point is not the cursing, the point is the object of the cursing. Edom was guilty not for cursing but for cursing Israel. Obadiah’s decree that Edom would be punished was simply the fulfillment of that age-old promise.
If that is the message of the book, then what is (are) correct application(s)? Does Obadiah provide textual authority that those who curse others will be cursed? I cannot see how one can make such a case from this text beyond Israel. The application today is that if one curses Israel (even in a time of divine punishment!), one risks being cursed by God. If one curses Mozambique, Minneapolis, or Michael, one may be judged, but I have no textual warrant to come to such a conclusion on the basis of Obadiah. If I want to teach a lesson to my congregation that they should not curse others, I must teach from another passage.
I believe it is a common failing among those who teach the Bible to make a point that the text does not make. In that sense (but not in others), they are no better than false teachers or cult leaders. Those who trust these teachers and fail to discern are no better in this regard than those who follow false teachers and cult leaders. If we could teach people these basic principles of interpretation and application, we could empty a lot of (bad) churches. Those who cared about what God was saying could not stay under a teacher who was not faithful to the message of the biblical text.