Tried With Fire

Pastor Ryan started teaching a Sunday school class on how to read the Bible. He mentioned something briefly in his introduction that was very interesting -  The majority of believers in the past would have learned the Word of God in a corporate setting via preaching and public reading, not from their own Bibles. Think about it. Until the invention of the printing press, copies of the Bible were written and bound by hand. A laborious and time-consuming process. Until the Reformation, the Bible was not written in the language of the average person in the pew. Also the cost would have been prohibitive for the average person. But even after the Reformation, how long did it take for copies of the Scriptures to be readily available? Was it after the Industrial Revolution that books became more affordable via mass production? Even then, there was the issue of literacy, which I don't think became as widespread until reforms in public education. This brief aside in Pastor Ryan's c...

Another timely quote from Body Broken: One of the reasons Christians tend to fight with each other over politics is that we are often secret utopians. We say we trust in Christ, but we really trust in ourselves, or some human solution, to make the world a better place. We keep hoping for and believing in the "silver bullet" - the candidate, the policy, the platform, the Supreme Court configuration - that will fix things. And when we find that someone else's silver bullet differs from ours, we don't trust him anymore - even if he is a fellow believer. Or we keep clinging to the mistaken notion that American is God's chosen nation, positioned to make things right in the world: if we can just get America "right" we will put the world to rights. And when we find someone with a different vision for what it means to get America "right" we demonize him. pg. 37, location 877 I wrote some comments about the above passage, but I deleted them. I'...

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. (Psalm 138:8)  He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion. This is a great comfort. I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me. He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations, He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and ...

I started Body Broken yesterday and finished it this morning. I ordered a used physical copy because there are too many good passages that need to be underlined, passages like this one: "If the crucified and risen Messiah cannot hold Democrats and Republicans together under the same roof, if he cannot enable them to work through their differences, then he is not much of a Savior - he certainly is not the Messiah of the world. Stories like Woodland Hills 1 "prove" that in the final analysis, we are a social organization just like any other social organization - united by the same sort of bonds that unite other human groups, and apt to dissolve for the same reasons that other human groups dissolve. This is more than unfortunate. It is disobedient, a betrayal of our Saviour, the cause of which he has called us, and the purpose for which he died. It proves that we have allowed our vision of America to capture our hearts more deeply than God's vision for us as his amba...

I normally don't read from my Kindle so I forget what books I've downloaded, usually ones that were free. As I was skimming the index, I found this book - Body Broken: Can Republicans and Democrats Sit in the Same Pew? by Charles Drew. I am not looking forward to the upcoming election cycle. If we are already this polarized, can it get any worse? So I started reading. Those who bemoan the moral and social disintegration of American culture are often right. But when they speak to us in such a way as to stir up fear and panic in our hearts, they are wrong. God reigns, and therefore we need not - we must not - be afraid as we exercise our civic responsibilities no matter what seems to be going on around us. Consider the damage panic can bring. First of all, panic impairs judgment. If we give in to the voice that cries "Act now, or our great country will the forever lost!" we will find ourselves demanding easy and quick solutions to our nation's problems, when in...

How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church , C. Christopher Smith, Brazos Press, 2019, 222 pages. The Apostle Paul uses a picture of the human body to describe the Body of Christ. Our bodies are interconnected in ways that we understand and ways that are still a mystery. The brain is the control center. Yet there is a interdependence among the members and the need for some of the lowliest and smallest parts. This interdependence is seen in how the physical body communicates within itself. How the Body of Christ Talks by Christopher Smith uses this same analogy to highlight the importance of conversations within the church. As believers, our relationships are important. While those connections are the result of our union with Christ and inclusion in the church universal, they need to be strengthened and maintained in the church local. Just as our physical body needs the flow of chemical messages from one part to another to flourish, ...

“Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen; remember how He spoke unto you when He was yet in Galilee.” Luke 24:5, 6. “He is not here, but He is risen!” This was amazing news to His enemies. They said, “We have killed Him; we have put Him in the tomb; it is all over with Him.” Aha! Scribe, Pharisee, Priest! What have you done? Your work is all undone, for He is risen! It was amazing news for Satan. He, no doubt, dreamed that he had destroyed the Savior, but He is risen! What a thrill went through all the regions of hell! What news it was for the grave! Now it was utterly destroyed, and Death had lost his sting! What news it was for trembling saints. “He is risen, indeed.” They plucked up courage, and they said, “The good cause is still the right one, and it will conquer, for our Christ is still alive as its head.” It was good news for sinners. Yes, it is good news for every sinner here. Christ is alive! If you seek Him, He will be found of you. He is ...

This is a very transparent confession from Jonathan Walton in Twelve Lies That Hold America Captive , and it resonates strongly with me: When I sat in churches surrounded by those who didn't look like me, I was guarded in almost every way. I overexplained my thoughts because I feared being judged and misunderstood. I made sure to state my reasons for being presents and detailed my accomplishments and qualifications. My primary goal was not to fulfill what I judged to be their stereotypes of me... Moreover, I was suspicious when they shared traditionally liberal or conservative views, wondering what was on their reading lists, what podcasts they listened to, and what leaders developed and influenced them... I struggled to feel seen or heard and to trust them no matter how honest they were... Underneath my fear of being misunderstood and judged is my fear of rejection. So I rejected others first. This is false power... Paul takes it up another level by pressing for the intern...

I don't consider myself a very emotional person, but I was a watering pot yesterday. It started with Pastor Ryan's sermon on Hosea which culminates in God's call to return to him in chapter 14. This chapter is very personal because it was the text of one of the first sermons I ever read by C.H. Spurgeon after my ex-husband walked out. I wept then as I prayed for him to return to God and to his family. So yesterday's sermon brought a flood of memories. But God's faithfulness to the unfaithful isn't only true of those who commit obvious "bad" sins. His faithfulness extends to all of us because who among us hasn't gone after other gods in our hearts? Yet God continues to draw us again and again with a love that does not let us go. Then in the evening, a lay brother, Will Brown, spoke on Christ fulfilling the office of prophet, priest, and king using John 17 as the text. There were so many messianic expectations over the years, so many wrong ideas...

"He shall choose our inheritance for us" (Psalm 47:4). Our enemies would allot us a very dreary portion, but we are not left in their hands. The LORD will cause us to stand in our lot, and our place is appointed by His infinite wisdom. A wiser mind than our own arranges our destiny, The ordaining of all things is with God, and we are glad to have it so; we choose that God should choose for us. If we might have our own way we would wish to let all things go in God's way. Being conscious of our own folly, we would not desire to rule our own destinies. We feel safer and more at ease when the LORD steers our vessel than we could possibly be if we could direct it according to our own judgment. Joyfully we leave the painful present and the unknown future with our Father, our Savior, our Comforter. O my soul, this day lay down thy wishes at Jesus' feet! If thou hast of late been somewhat wayward and willful, eager to be and to do after thine own mind, now dismiss thy...

A few random thoughts before I cut the weeds lawn. - The Event Horizon Telescope's image of the black hole is pretty cool. The fact that they used the Earth as the telescope and that this particular black hole just happens to be facing earth is also pretty amazing. I found it interesting that one of the scientists in the press conference mentioned that it was very "humbling" to have all these factors come together. Humble is a good word for man given the size of the universe. So regardless of where we find ourselves in the origins debate, let's not make God too small. - I need to find a book club for readers of history and for discussion of how it impacts us today. It would also be nice if it was a place to mourn for the past and the present. But if history is only used to promote national pride, it's probably not popular to read about our faults. I may have to resign myself to a book club of one. - On Tuesday, some of the ladies from church were discussing...

Human beings are good at deflection. When something hits too close to home personally or our camp is exposed in an unfavorable light, we are experts at trying to turn attention to someone or something else. As a prime example of this, all you need to do is watch a parent reprimanding one of their children. It's only a matter of seconds before they hear,  "But what about...? He/she started it! He/she did it too!" This is said with a whine  the appropriate aggrieved inflection to garner sympathy. However, as any parent will tell you, this does not work. No one had to teach us how to do this as kids (and adults) because it is as old as the hills or rather as old as the garden post-fall. When God confronts Adam and Eve, they go into deflection mode by trying to minimize their responsibility by shifting the blame to another. "It was the serpent... It was the woman you gave me...." Thanks to social media, we now have new venues where we can broadcast our defensive...

"And the LORD shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and His Name one" (Zechariah 14:9). Blessed prospect! This is no dream of an enthusiast but the declaration of the infallible Word. Jehovah shall be known among all people, and His gracious sway shall be acknowledged by every tribe of man. Today, it is far from being so. Where do any bow before the great King? How much there is of rebellion! What lords many and gods many there are on the earth! Even among professed Christians what diversities of ideas there are about Him and His gospel! One day there shall be one King, one Jehovah, and one name for the living God. O LORD, hasten it! We daily cry, "Thy kingdom come." We will not discuss the question as to when this shall be lest we lose the comfort of the certainty that it shall be. So surely as the Holy Ghost spake by His prophets, so surely shall the whole earth be filled with the glory of the LORD. Jesus did not die i...

I did an Internet search for the meaning of karma . Most of the results had the same basic definition -  cause and effect. You control the outcome by your actions, temporally and even eternally. At face value, there is a small grain of truth to this. If I live heedlessly beyond my means, there are serious consequences for my actions. I will run out of money and be impoverished. But I could be very frugal and save as much as I can. What if the stock market and banks collapse as they did in the 1920s? My frugality will not overcome the bad decisions of both people and institutions. My responsible actions don't have the power to overcome the irresponsibility of others especially those who wield more power and authority to begin with. Thus simplistic cause and effect doesn't take other players and forces into account. Job's friends fell into karma-like thinking. To them, Job's suffering was obviously the result of something he did that displeased God. Therefore, the ...

This past month has been a whirlwind. I was on the road every week to visit potential grad schools with my daughter. All things considered, the trips went well. I got to meet a friend in real life for the first time and saw some friends I hadn't seen for 20 years. I wouldn't mind visiting some of these places again, but there is no place like home. We drove by the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and saw the memorial for the shooting victims. Just the previous week, I sat across the street from the statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville where the white supremacist rally resulted in the death of a protestor. Seeing these two sites in close succession was sobering. The statue was cordoned off with bright orange netting that you see on construction sites. There were flowers in front of the synagogue. What a tragic and sinful world we live in. As a result of my travels, I had a chance to do more reading. I am continuing to work my way through the stack of grimly fascina...