Haggai and Zechariah

By | October 10, 2010
0 Comment

No, this is not a birth announcement.  It’s just the continuation of the Bible Reading Guide I wrote for my son.

Haggai

All of the prophets you’ve been reading so far were written before Israel and Judah were carried into captivity or while they were still in exile. But the last three prophets were all written after the people came back to the land from Babylon. The historical context of each of these books is thus important. Haggai is short and has a simple message: get to work building the temple! You may remember that he and Zechariah were both mentioned in Ezra 5 and 6. Both of these prophets were trying to get the people to finish building the second temple. The main way that Haggai motivates them is by promising them, in chapter 2, that one day the temple, and the people, and the ruler are going to be so much better.

Zechariah

As I said, Zechariah also is telling the people to finish the temple. But he does this mainly by relating visions that he has seen and oracles that God has given him. Frankly, this book is hard to understand. It may be the most difficult book in the whole Bible. With only a few words, I don’t think I can be all that helpful to you. But I ‘ll try to summarize it this way: in chapters 1-6, the messages are all positive for Judah—God is going to do good things for his people, including rebuilding the temple, cleansing them of their sin, and sending the Messiah. In chapters 7-8, he tells the people to be obedient so they will be blessed. The last six chapters are tough, but keep your eyes open for verses that talk about the Messiah. Many of these were already fulfilled in the New Testament and are quoted there, so you may recognize them. Finally, read chapter 14 slowly. This is such a very, very good chapter that talks about the future kingdom that God is going to establish. Hopefully Jesus will come soon and do all these things!

Mark in action

By | October 9, 2010
1 Comment

Excluding the game that I missed, Mark has scored every goal for his team this season.  He has never played forward, either. (I didn’t say that it was a good team.)

Mark playing soccer, 101009417tb

I see that I posted a picture of Mark playing soccer shortly after we moved to the US three years ago (and more here).

October 6

By | October 6, 2010
1 Comment

Deep Springs College – I’d never heard of it, but I admit that I’m fascinated by what they do and how they do it. 

I was interviewed a few weeks ago on Time to Revive radio show with Kyle Martin.  Our topic was David and Goliath.  A direct link to the audio is here.

Do you use techniques in arguing that are unfair or unhelpful?  I probably do.  That’s one reason I liked this blog post.  Another is that it was entertaining.

The myth of the perfect parent – this article at CT has some good observations.

And finally, here are 13 of the most bizarre lakes in the world.

Zephaniah

By | October 4, 2010
0 Comment

This book is one of the least known in the whole Bible, I think. Most people can’t remember anything about him. I think, however, that if I was teaching a class on the prophets, I might start with Zephaniah. The reason is that he’s a very normal prophet but he is short. So by studying this book, you learn a lot about the main emphases of a prophet. One special emphasis of Zephaniah is on the Day of the Lord—the time in the future when God will judge his enemies and save his chosen ones.

[There’s a course at a nearby school where the book they choose to introduce students to the prophets is Jonah.  That’s wrong in so many ways.]

Thoughts on Baby Names

By | September 30, 2010
6 Comments

Thanks for participating with us in the latest edition of “Name That Baby!“  We enjoyed your responses.  The night we posted the survey was the night we “decided” on a name.  I put that in quotation marks because nothing is final until the ink is dry on the birth certificate.  But we think we finally know.

This isn’t the first time we ‘ve needed the right name for a baby boy.  Luke was an easy name for us, as we had had it in mind for some years.  But the names after that were not as easy (excluding our first daughter, who also had a name from very early in our marriage).

Because our first son is named Luke and our second son is Mark, some people think we named our kids after two of the writers of Gospels.  We did not.  We like the name Luke, and we like the name Mark.  It’s true that we also like books by the same names, so we don’t deny the influence of good associations (and thus, we didn’t name any of our boys “Judas”).  People who know that the first movie I went to slept through in a theater was Star Wars may think our oldest got his name from one of the characters.  But that’s not the case either, though our son does sometimes call himself “Skywalker.”

It’s only natural that people who know the names of the Gospels will joke that our next kid will be Matthew (or John).  We understand their amusement, but can’t say that we share it.  Our reply, usually unspoken, is that our third son was named Timothy.

We do like the names Matthew and John (one more than the other), but we ‘ve eliminated them from consideration because those who knew all of our kids (which will be fewer as the days go by) would have the wrong idea.  It strikes me as well as a bit too “cutesy,” even if I know there was no such intention.

As for your suggestions/predictions, the one that was the most humorous was Eugene Jehu.  For those who don’t know, Eugene is the name of a OT scholar who wrote a very important book on the history of Israel.  Jehu is the subject of my (anticipated) dissertation.

We got lots of biblical suggestions/predictions, including most commonly Ezekiel(!) and Isaiah.  All three of the middle names we ‘ve given to our boys were suggested multiple times: Nathan, Josiah, and David.  Todd was suggested as a first name and a middle name.  So was Mahershalalhashbaz (by the same clown who proposed I’mgoin ‘).  Other biblical names suggested were Jericho, Judah, Noah, Shiloh, and Silas.  As for names of prophets, it’s easier to list the ones that weren’t suggested; no one seems to like Zephaniah or Malachi.

Some thought that we should go with a Texas-themed name, like “Dallas Austin.”  Another said she ‘d name her kid “Wilberforce Spurgeon.”  We decided that we ‘ll not steal her idea.  There were only two anonymous suggestions, with one suggesting “Todd” and the other offering up “Nehemiah Thunderheart.”  That does remind me of one of the names I’ve teased Kelli that I would insist upon: Thor.

As for the name we have chosen, one person suggested/predicted our first name and several suggested/predicted the middle.  Nobody put them together.  Lord willing, we will introduce you to our child here in about 10 days.

Nahum and Habakkuk

By | September 28, 2010
0 Comment

Nahum

God sent Nahum to predict doom for the Assyrians. Doom for the Assyrians is good news for all those who have been oppressed by them. Thus this is bad news for all nations who would oppose God, and good news for those who trust and submit to him.

Habakkuk

This prophet had two questions. First, he asked God how he could allow the evil people in Judah to get away with their crimes. God answered that he would punish them by bringing Babylon to conquer them. That raised a second and even more difficult question in Habakkuk’s mind: how could God use an even more wicked people to judge Judah? God doesn’t give a direct answer to this question. The bottom line though is that we must trust God because even when we don’t understand, we know he always does the things that are best for him and for us.

Name for Baby Bolen

By | September 24, 2010
2 Comments

Since I’ve had seven consecutive posts now with no comments, I think it’s time to re-involve the reader.  I think it would be interesting to solicit your suggestions and/or predictions as to the name of our child.  The ultrasound doctor said the child is a boy, and Kelli has a C-section scheduled for Monday, October 11.  Below you can suggest a name or predict a name.  Either way, it ‘ll be fun for us to read through and perhaps we will be influenced. 

If you either give us the name or guess the one we eventually decide upon, we will honor you publicly.  You do not have to include your own name, but we would prefer it if you do.  To make it more interesting, and to spare you the giggles (and us the old jokes), let’s rule out Matthew and John from the outset.  Perhaps one day I ‘ll write more on that matter.

I ‘ll plan as well to write a follow-up post to this, noting the most popular suggestions and anything else that catches our eye.  That way you ‘ll get to benefit from this little exercise, and perhaps you ‘ll be inspired with a name for your own little one.

UPDATE (9/25): We ‘re hoping to get some more suggestions/predictions yet, but I ‘ll share with you the most humorous one so far: Eugene Jehu.  I ‘ll have to share that with the good doctor the next time we have lunch.

Jonah and Micah

By | September 22, 2010
0 Comment

Jonah

You already know this story. Keep in mind the difference between how compassionate God is for people (even cruel people from Nineveh) and how uncompassionate Jonah is. It’s really a sad story in that regard. I think many Christians are like Jonah.

Micah

Micah is a normal prophet in that he gave good news and he gave bad news. The good news is in chapters 4, 5, and 7, and I like those parts best. You ‘ll recognize 5:2 because it is the prophecy of Jesus’s birth. I think it is important to observe that this prophecy is in the context of a Messiah who comes to rule the earth. Some people think that Jesus wasn’t the Messiah because he didn’t do this. Other people think that Jesus never planned to do this, but he only set up a “spiritual kingdom” inside people’s hearts. I am convinced that he will rule the earth in the future. All of these prophecies weren’t fulfilled when Jesus came because he had to die and the nation of Israel was not ready to be restored. God decided that one thing he would do is to create a new group of people (the “church”) who would make Israel jealous so that they would want to come back to God. One day that will happen and then Jesus will be King Jesus ruling in Jerusalem. A lot of the prophets (and the gospels, and the other books in the New Testament) say this, but for some reason I wrote it here about Micah!

Amos and Obadiah

By | September 20, 2010
0 Comment

Amos

Amos was mostly upset with how people in the northern kingdom were treating each other. The rich were nasty to the poor, and Amos said that they would suffer for it. Some of them thought that they could offer sacrifices (their equivalent of our “going to church”) and be ok with God. Amos told them they were wrong. Still, even with all of Amos’s warnings about judgments, he ends his book with a very amazing promise of God’s blessing for the future.

Obadiah

Why does Edom get a whole book devoted to its sin and destruction? First, because of all nations, they should have treated Israel better because they are “brother” countries (Jacob/Israel and Esau were brothers). Second, because in Scripture, Edom often stands for any nation that would hurt Israel (and thus stand against God’s purposes).

Clusters of Varied Fragrance and Beauty

By | September 19, 2010
1 Comment

Do you ever wonder how life seems unfair?  Why does one friend get cancer, but I do not?  Why am I burdened with a certain family problem but everyone else seems to be normal?  I found this analogy from John MacDuff helpful:

The gardener has occasionally to subject his plants to apparently rough treatment–cutting, lopping, mutilating; reducing them to unsightly shapes–before they burst into flower. Summer, however, before long, vindicates the wisdom of his treatment, in its clusters of varied fragrance and beauty. So also, at times, does our heavenly Gardener see fit to use His pruning-knife! But be assured that there is not one superfluous or redundant lopping. We shall understand and acknowledge an infinitely wise necessity for all–when the plant has unfolded itself into the full flower, bathed in the tints and diffusing the fragrance of Heaven.

I don’t have a verse that proves that this is what God is doing.  But it certainly seems reasonable that God could be giving out cancer to one believer and family trials to another in order to create for himself a beautiful variety of flowers in his eternal garden.  Perhaps this is not the fact of the matter.  But if it helps me to trust him, this analogy seems to me to be worthwhile (since whatever he is doing is infinitely wise and infinitely good and therefore worthy of trust).