Secret Sins

By | November 8, 2006
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What if?   What if Ted Haggard had, 3 years ago, 3 months ago, or even 3 weeks ago, recognized the vile sins he was engaged in and gone to the leaders of his church and told them he was unqualified to be their pastor?   If he had, he would have been placed on leave and suffered some measure of humiliation and discomfort in his family and his church.   Instead he has disgraced himself, humiliated his family, and brought worldwide shame to the person and body of Christ.

Why is it that everyone waits until they get caught?   Why can’t believers admit their guilt themselves?   Why are we unwilling to face the rightful consequences of our sin?

There are so many examples, from King David on, where the consequences of sin are made so much more severe by the unwillingness to confess and repent.

Are there secret areas in your life that no one will know about until you are caught?   You’ll probably never be exposed on national TV, but if you get away with it successfully, you’ll try it again.   Maybe you’ll never be exposed publicly; maybe your family will never live in shame of what you’ve done; maybe you’ll never lose your job or ministry position.   But you’ll be living a lie, you will not have an intimate relationship with the Lord, and you will be dishonoring the One who redeemed you.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.   If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.” (1 John 1:9-10)

Marring the Edges of Your Beard

By | October 31, 2006
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The Jewish lesson for today is on payot or sidelocks that are worn by many Orthodox men. The reason that these exist goes back to Leviticus 19:27, which states:

“You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard” (ESV).

Rabbis have interpreted this in different ways, such that some believe that payot must never be trimmed. Others say that it is permissible to trim or cut these with scissors but not a razor.

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One of the questions that I am often asked but cannot answer concerns why different Jewish men wear payot in different ways. For all of you who felt that your trip to Israel was incomplete because I couldn’t answer this, I offer this short explanation from Wikipedia.

Although there is no prescribed style of wearing peyos, there are certain styles which usually identify the person to which sect or group he belongs.

Yemenite – The Yemenites wear distinctive long and thin twisted locks, often reaching to the upper arm. The actual area where the hair grows and where the ringlet begins is neat and tidy. The Yemenites refer to their peyos as “simanim” (signs) as this was the only external feature that made them recognisable as Jews and which distinguished them from their Muslims neighbours. There are those that claim that these may have been the way that the ancient Jews wore their peyos in Temple times, as the settlement of the Jews in Yemen dates back to after the dispersion after destruction of the Second Temple, and until modern times they remained virtually isolated form the rest of world Jewry.

Breslov – Breslov Chassidim sport long and thin locks, differing from the Yemenite style in that the upper section where the hair actually grows is much more thick and frizzy before descending into the actual locks.

Belz – The peyos are wrapped around the ear a number of times.

Gur – The peyos are raised from the temple and tucked under the yarmulke. This custom started in their native Poland as a way to stop antagonism from non-Jews. To this end, in Jerusalem where the Rebbes of Gur reside, the Chassidim are accustomed to let down their peyos.

Skver – The peyos are twisted around themselves into a tight coil and are left protruding in front of the ear.

Litvish – A relatively few, short strands are left uncut and are neatly placed behind the ear. This is most commonly found among yeshiva students who may remove them after marriage.

Brisk – The hair is brushed straight down, usually reaching till the ear lobe. Sometimes some is retained and curled back behind the ear.

Harmony of Israelite History

By | October 30, 2006
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My favorite harmony of the Israelite monarchies is that by James D. Newsome, A Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. Unfortunately it’s been out of print for many years and I’ve seen it selling used for up to $200. I now see that Wipf & Stock are reprinting it and it’s available for a measly $22.50, plus shipping. If you do any reading or study of this part of the Bible, I highly recommend this harmony. In my opinion, it is better than:

William D. Crockett, A Harmony of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. I don’t like the translation (Revised Version of 1884), the typeset (old), or the lack of features that Newsome has.

John C. Endres, et al., Chronicles and Its Synoptic Parallels in Samuel, Kings, and Related Biblical Texts. This is good if your starting point is Chronicles, but I more often work from Samuel-Kings.

Jason L. Snyder, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles: A Harmony of Histories. This is the newest, the most basic, and the most expensive ($40). It is more properly a synoptic view than a harmony, which means that there is no alteration to the chronological order, but each book is presented in its entirety with parallel passages presented alongside. I have reviewed this work in the next edition of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society.

Suffice it to say, I have been so discouraged by the lack of availability of Newsome’s harmony that a friend and I started thinking about writing a replacement. Now it seems like that will not be necessary. Cheers to Wipf & Stock for making it available (and to Baker for giving them the rights)!

Here are three reasons why I like Newsome’s harmony:

1. The inclusion of parallel passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezra.

2. The fixed position of Samuel-Kings in the left column, and parallels in the right column.

3. The modification of the English version (RSV) to reflect the underlying Hebrew when the English has a different translation for the same Hebrew words (between Samuel-Kings and Chronicles). These changes are discretely noted.

I’ll certainly require this as a textbook for the History of Ancient Israel class the next time I teach it.

Between Rain Storms

By | October 29, 2006
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If you were anywhere else, you missed a great sunset last night…

Sunset over Mediterranean Sea

Just thought my former moshav mates might like the chance to reminisce.

Sunset over Mediterranean Sea
Later this week we’ll be watching the sun set over a different sea.

Internet Advertisements (how to get rid of them)

By | October 27, 2006
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I was working on someone else’s computer today when I saw an ad on the internet (and it was offensive). I suggested a course of action to resolve this problem, and it made me think that others might benefit from this short lesson. Do not do this if you like advertisements that flash in your face, show immodestly dressed women, or promise that you are a winner.

Step one: download and install Firefox. This is free and henceforth you will use it instead of MS Internet Explorer.

Step two: install Adblock.

Step three:   if it comes up with a screen about a subscription check the dot on the top one (it is the one labeled easy something, it is the one for English web sites). If it does not come up then go to this web site to subscribe to the subscription: http://adblockplus.org/en/subscriptions

That’s it. It is amazing how wonderful it is to browse the web without that garbage being shoved in your face. Actually, you’ll forget all about it…until you use someone else’s computer.

UPDATE (8/24/07): I updated some instructions and links that a friend noted were outdated.

Do you…wear headphones?

By | October 27, 2006
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This week’s links are to articles that express ideas that I have had, but expressed much better.

Many of my readers are iPod users, I would guess.   The iPod (or any mp3 player) is really just a newer and smaller Walkman, but because of their small size and ability to hold thousands of songs, they have become overwhelming popular.   There are some inherent dangers for iPod users, which Bob Kauflin points out in a post this week.   If you have a device with headphones, I recommend that you read it.

Gunner has some good thoughts on the words we use in talking about salvation.

And if you’re wondering why of late I am only posting links to what others are saying, it’s because 1) they say it better; 2) I’ve been working on a couple of longer blog posts, which may show up on the BiblePlaces Blog next week; and 3) I’ve been digging here.

Friday Links

By | October 20, 2006
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Here are some links I’ve come across this week that are worth checking out.

Gunner has moved to Raw Christianity. In his introductory post, he writes:

I said that what I’ve always wanted to be is someone who doesn’t seek to be a polished disciple or a smooth Christian but who is authentic and on-edge and full of faith and biblical risk-taking. I don’t want my life to be full of monotone prayers and programmed evangelism and dull worship and bland confessions and dutiful quiet times and shallow relationships and American comforts and spineless choices. I want to be aggressively Christian. I want to have a Bible-soaked mind and an unwavering endurance and a tireless passion and a trembling fear of God.

The New Attitude Blog has some good thoughts on how to disagree humbly. One of the points that Mark Lauterbauch makes is this:

Be quick to hear the position of those you disagree with and make sure it is understood so well that they tell us we are stating it fairly. I like to begin my rebuttal while they are speaking but that is a mark of pride. Pride also results in false stereotypes, generalizations, and extreme examples.

Carolyn Mahaney links to a video that shows how beauty may not even be fleeting, it may be fake. In her comments on it, she writes:

God did not send Jesus to this earth to die so that women could get over their self-esteem problem and feel better about themselves. No, He sent his Son to die to rescue us from our sinful, futile quest for physical beauty and to reveal to us the satisfaction that comes from knowing God—whether we are beautiful or not!

And before I can wear out my Valley of Vision CD, I see that Sovereign Grace is releasing a Christmas album, Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man.   With a title like that, I doubt it’ll have a Jesus version of Jingle Bells or Frosty.   You can download one of the songs for free here (though checkout is req’d).

And I read most of this overview of religious affections to my class yesterday.

Favorite Sermons Online and Free

By | October 18, 2006
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If I can’t find what I’m looking for on the internet within one minute, I usually conclude that it’s not there. Last week, however, I was determined to find the latest biographical sermon by John Piper on William Tyndale. I found the manuscript and I found links to all of the other messages. And of course I found the mp3 CD which you can buy for $20. That’s easily one of the best values for the money anywhere in the universe but I already bought most of those messages twice (once on cassette and then the mp3 CD a year or two ago). I just wanted this latest message and so I spent about 30 fruitless minutes, concluding at the end that I’d post about my failure with hopes that somebody could help me.

Well, I didn’t have time yet to post, but Justin Taylor today provides the answer. All of the biographical messages, including this year’s, are now online here.

They are all free.

What is your response to a free offer like this? My response is to want to give to this kind of ministry. The ministries that charge for everything – well, I figure that I’m paying and I’m not motivated to give anything else. But Desiring God has for a long time distinguished itself by their generosity. That’s not because they don’t have bills to pay, but because they trust God to provide for their needs while they give their stuff away. The result is this: Ministry A which charges $5/sermon gets no-few purchases from me and nothing in donations. Ministry DG charges $0 and gets far more than they’d get if I paid fair market value.

I don’t say this to reveal what my right hand is doing, but to encourage you to consider your own response to those ministries which benefit you.

And if you haven’t heard me say it before, listen to these messages. They may change your life. My favorites include John Bunyan, Adoniram Judson, John Paton, and Charles Spurgeon.

Please Leave Your Underwear At Home

By | October 17, 2006
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I figure one convent sign deserves another…

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Perhaps my Russian friends can tell me if the original is less humorous.

Lest you think this blog is going downhill fast, here’s a link to translation issue that I think may be helpful to some in clarifying how “dynamic equivalence” in translation works. “Dynamic equivalence” is a bad word in circles I come from and it shouldn’t be. The reality is that dynamic equivalence is often a more accurate method of translation than a literal approach. Read “What’s the Joke” at Better Bibles Blog.