Friends

On his freelance cartooning website, Australian Baptist pastor Matt Glover features a cartoon in which a man wants to "friend" God but he can't because he hasn't been able to find Him on Facebook. His simple cartoon speaks to the shallow nature of modern pop culture. A "friend" can be someone you've never met and will never meet; you just share trivialities on an internet social network. Some people on the networks have thousands of "friends."
A true friend is much more than an acquaintance and much more than a "friendly" person. The truth is that a true friend is not just a friend; actually they love you. They are willing to inconvenience themselves for you and they are still your friend if you sometimes treat them badly.
It is not a coincidence that a famous gospel song is entitled "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." He endured the ultimate inconvenience for us even while we were still not His friends.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

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Matt Glover's cartooning website is at http://www.mattglover.com/ and his personal blog, which features his religious insights is at http://www.mattglover.com/wordpress/wordpress/

Deleted websites

I am removing the following websites from my list of websites because they seem to be abandoned with no recent posts.
Prayer Pups
Christian Affiliate Marketers
The merchants Cross Blog
The Christian Sports Blog
Christian Gamers Blog

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 8

In this paper, several passages from the Gospels have been examined to find whatever light they shed on the human knowledge possessed by Jesus. Starting from the orthodox view of Jesus as fully human and fully divine each passage has been scrutinized always with an effort not to claim too much or too little from what is implied in the verses.

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To ascribe absolute knowledge to Jesus is to make Him no longer Human. To deny that He ever showed supernatural knowledge is to deny scripture. Every time Jesus demonstrated supernatural knowledge , he did so with a purpose in mind.
A rational idea is that Jesus chose to accept the limitations of humanity and spoke only what the Father told him to speak. Although He could at any time have taken on all knowledge and power (Matthew 26:53), He knew only what He was able to learn for Himself or what God told Him. When He said he didn't know, He didn't know. He used "infused knowledge" only when it was necessary to further His mission.
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Fifty-one notes and a forty-one entry bibliography followed. Incidentally, the paper received a grade of A+.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 7

SUPERNATURAL KNOWLEDGE?
Mark 11:7; Mark 14:131-16; Luke 19:30-34. Jesus told his followers a colt and a room would be available for them. All they had to do was ask. While this may imply supernatural foreknowledge, Jesus may simply have made arrangements ahead of time.
Luke 2:46-52. Jesus was clearly a precocious child but supernatural knowledge, while implied, is not necessary to the passage. What is important that Jesus claimed Sonship to God.
John 6:64-70; Mark 14:18; Matthew 26:21. These passages flatly imply a supernatural precognition unless one accepts the assertions of the gnostic Gospel of Judas which declares that Jesus arranged the whole thing.
Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5: 24-34. In recording this event, Mark declares that Jesus knew that "power had gone forth from him." I think that the passages may mean that Jesus knew who touched him but the point is that He did not simply let the healing occur. In all of the healing miracles Jesus expected and sometimes demanded an act of faith.
Matthew 17:24ff. Supernatural foreknowledge is clearly implied here. "Natural" explanations all fall short.
Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:4; Luke 17:22. "He knew their hearts." Of course he did. It was obvious that they considered him to be a blasphemer and he intentionally provoked it by openly claiming to be not only one with God, but to be God.
Matthew 16:21; Matthew 17:22-23; Mark 9:31-32; Luke 9:22. Any rational person could have foreseen Jesus' arrest and probable execution. His resurrection is another matter.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 6

Demonology
The absolute assertion that Jesus was mistaken in his belief in the existence of evil spirits and demonic possession is based in truth on a philosophical prejudice. How do you know that demons don't exist?
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LIMITS TO JESUS" KNOWLEDGE?
Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature. He could learn, meaning he did not possess all knowledge. Bonsall described this a s a pure white lily which unfolds, revealing what is already there.
In Mark 11:13 and Matthew 21:19, Jesus curses a fruitless fig tree. Since this event probably occurred in April, before the fig season began, some see this a a sign of Jesus' ignorance and unreasonable annoyance. Frank Stagg, says that Jesus knew full well that the tree would have no fruit and that he used it as a parable. Since the tree had the outward appearance of being fruitful but was in truth fruitless, it was cursed. The main sin of the Jewish leaders of Jesus' time was that they were more concerned with outward appearances than they were with their own hypocrisy.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 5

ESCHATOLOGY
This centers on Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:34-36 in the phrase "ουδε ο υιοσ," "neither the son." Some feel that this phrase was added later (it does not appear in all manuscripts) to smooth over the apparently incorrect short-range prediction made by Jesus in Matthew 10:23; Luke 21:32; Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Mark 13:30; and Luke 9:27.
Jesus said "this generation" (γενεα) would not pass away until "all this" came to pass.
Some say that Jesus was simply wrong. Others say that Jesus as God knew the time but as a man he did not. Others say Jesus was not authorized to tell us what he knew, others that it was an Arian interpolation. Some say that "γενεα" refers to the end-time generation. Possibly the best explanation is that the knowledge of the end time was available to Jesus but for two reasons he chose not to take it up. A human could not have such knowledge and the knowledge of the end time was not necessary for the fulfillment of Jesus' mission. (And perhaps the coming of the "kingdom of god" meant something else to Jesus than his hearers understood. In Jewish theology any "signal event" in history was regarded as God coming in history. All of the Twelve lived to see the Transfiguration, and only Judas died before seeing the Resurrection. Many, myself included, believe the Resurrection, to be THE SIGNAL EVENT in history.)
Another event, the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., which the Baptist theologian, Frank Stagg, pointed out was entirely foreseeable, was witnessed by some, but not all.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 4

The question of Jesus' human knowledge is important in much of modern Christology, especially in that centered on Phillipians 2:5-11, the "kenosis" passage.
Thomasius (1655-1728) declared "he emptied himself" (εκενωσεν) to mean that Jesus emptied himself of the "relative attributes" of divinity (omniscience, omnipotence, etc) and retained only his "essential attributes" (holiness, love, justice, etc). The assumption is that, upon his ascension, Jesus resumed his divine attributes. If pushed to far, this could imply that Jesus was God, became man, and then ceased to be man in order to once again become God.
In response to Thomasius, H. Brash Bonsall, who defines an attribute as an essential characteristic, says that if Jesus gave up any of the divine attributes, he ceased to be God. Bonsall feels that the incarnation involved the temporary laying aside of the divine attributes and prerogatives but not the abnegation of the possession of them (John 17:5; Philippians 2:6-8; Hebrews 2:5-10.) This idea is based on the orthodox christology od The Council of Chalcedon (Jesus has two has two distinct and unmingled impersonal natures in one person with a communion of the attributes of the two. The twoo natures could not be mixed without changing the nature of each. Therefore, if Jesus as a man did not have limited knowledge then he was not truly a man. If, as God, he did not have full divine knowledge, he was not God.
Before discussing two general categories of Bible verses implying either limited knowledge or superhuman knowledge on the part of Jesus, it would be good to zero in especially on two "problem areas."

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 3

     Medieval scholasticism defined three types of human knowledge which were different than the knowledge which Jesus enjoyed as God.

      1. Beatific Knowledge: This is also termed the "beatific vision" and entails seeing the essence of God and all the things which are in that essence.

     2. Infused Knowledge: This is knowledge which is directly implanted by God.  It is knowledge which is known prior to any possible experience which could have produced the knowledge.

     3. Acquired Knowledge: THis is knowledge which is gained by direct human experience and learning.

     These three types of knowledge will be re-introduced where necessary in the subsequent discussion.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 2

      "Unless he was human to the lowest depths of his conscious and unconscious life, he was not truly human at all." John Knox said this and then went on to declare that we can't really say that Jesus was sinless without separating him from true manhood.  If, in any respect, even in sinning, Jesus did not share with us , he only seemed to be human.

     Aside from rejecting the idea that Jesus ever sinned (see Hebrews 2:17-18; 4:15), I must also quarrel with Knox on another point.  He seems to take the viewpoint that sin is an attribute of human nature.  An attribute is an essential characteristic of a thing or person which cannot be altered  and still have the one to which it is attributed remain the same person or thing.

     Sin is not an attribute of human nature.  It is a gangrene attacking human nature; it is not essential to it.  Jesus, in His life, showed for all time that it is possible to be sinless and fully human at the same time.

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     The question of Jesus' human knowledge has been presented as have been several possible approaches to the discussion.  IT would now be fruitful to begin our study by examining several possible sources of Jesus' human knowledge, for the time being ignoring and supernatural source.

     P. J. Temple says that there were three major sources of knowledge open to every Israelite; cultural traditions, nature, and the Scriptures.  It is obvious from His actions and His teachings that Jesus was intimately familiar with the Law and the Prophets, the Psalms, and Daniel.

     At least one scholar, the Unitarian theologian, Charles Francis Potter, makes much larger claims for Jesus' education.  He feels that Jesus obviously knew classical Hebrew and the commonly spoken Aramaic as well as the surrounding culture's Koine Greek.

     With this supposed knowledge of Greek "Jesus could ransack some of the chief depositories of religious books in Galilee.  These repositories were in the private houses of well-to-do people, in the meeting places of various religious circles or sects whose books were held in common, as well as in the synagogues."  Potter comes to dubious conclusion; Jesus became an Essene from studying their literature and that Christianity is an Essene sect.

On the Human Knowledge of Christ, Part 1

     For the next few days I will be posting, with slight editing and in short manageable segments, a paper I submitted on 3 Dec 1976 in Dr. Frank Stagg's New Testament Theology class at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  My personal inclination is to take the Bible at face value but the issues discussed in the paper are important because others do not always do so.

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     "There is nothing more negative than the result of the critical study of the life of Jesus."  So says the highly respected Albert Schweitzer.  Many modern theologians have felt this same way.

     There is a problem in recovering the exact words of Jesus but to declare that nothing can be known of Jesus or of his mind is a mistake.  It is also an error to declare that everything possible is known about the mind of Jesus.

     Dr. Frank Stagg, for many years a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary spoke to the issue; "The student of the New Testament cannot afford to be intimidated by what has been written in disparagement of a 'self-interpretation of Jesus.'  It is not naive to understand Jesus as concerned with his own identity and mission."

     It is also not naive to attempt to study the question of Jesus' personality, especially that part of the subject dealing with his human knowledge.

     Inherent in any study of Jesus' human knowledge is the question of Christology.  One part of this question which must necessarily come up is the problem of whether admitting that Jesus did not have absolute knowledge is also to declare that he could be in error.

     Traditional Roman Catholic scholastic theology attributed to Jesus a human knowledge of all created things of the past, present, and future, at least as far as these things were related to Jesus' work in salvation.  The scholastics also believed that Jesus possessed the beatific vision  from the moment of His conception in Mary's womb.  "Scholastic theology is not content that the soul of Christ knows all, but will have it that it knows all in all ways."  Earlier, Jerome, Augustine, Clement of Alexandria, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Cyril of Alexandria all attributed no ignorance and no mental development to the Christ-child.

     The Catholic Fathers all rejected the apocryphal Childhood Gospels but they did not attack or condemn the portrayal of Jesus' childhood as being one of absolute perfection.

     The New Testament writers seem to have felt this same reluctance to attributing any sort of limitation to Jesus, especially concerning His inward nature.  They do admit that He underwent moral and spiritual growth.  They seem to regard Him as statically perfect.  This is the ground on which the Fathers and the later scholastics built.

     There is a middle view spoken of by Benjamin Warfield, "One fresh from reading the gospel narrative will certainly fail to understand the attitude of those, who we are told exist, who for example, 'admit his growth in knowledge during childhood,' 'yet deny as intolerable the hypothesis of a limitation of his knowledge during his ministry."

     Some theologians, such as E. L. Mascall and C. K. Barrett, believe that Jesus was in error on some points.  Barrett said it was necessary for Him to be in error to be fully human.

 

 

Bollywood, Nollywood, Hollywood

     Hollywood is the movie capital of the world but it is not the movie production capital of the world.  It's actually third.  Number one is Bollywood, the Indian film industry which produces multiple thousands of films annually.  The name "Bollywood" is Hollywood with a "B" because the actual name of India is Bharat.

     Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, produces thirty to fifty low-budget films a week.  Since the industry was virtually non-existent before the 1992 release of Living in Bondage by Kenneth Nnebue, this explosive growth is extraordinary.

     Most of the films are produced for about $15,000 and filmed in three to five days.  The DVD's sell for $2.00 and earn their producers huge returns.  The reason they are being discussed here is that a great many them are based on Pentecostal Christianity, even, or especially, the ones we in America would recognize as gore and violence filled horror films.  These films are on the level of the Christian Hell House phenomena.  

     The 1992 Igbo language film, Living in Bondage, started it all.  The plot goes like this: a group of men sacrifice their wives and drink their blood in a pagan ceremony which causes them to become rich.  The trouble is that their wives won't leave and continue to torment them as ghosts.  The men are saved when they beg forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ into their hearts.  The film almost immediately sold over seven hundred fifty thousand copies.

     The larger Christian ministries in Nigeria have their own production facilities and their films feature gore, witchcraft, cannibalism, violence, exorcisms, and Pentecostalism. 

"About Nollywood," http://nollywood.com/

"Cinema of Nigeria," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nollywood

Lapeyre, Jason, "Nollywood Nightmares. Inside Nigeria's Homegrown Horror Industry," Rue Morgue, Toronto, #92, 2009.

Ir Ovot, Israel

     Ir Ovot is a kibbutz in the Israeli Negev (Hebrew = "desert"). The name means "City of Oboth."  This anti-Zionist kibbutz was formed in 1967 by Messianic Jews led by Simcha Perlmutter, of  Miami, Florida.  He had been a law student and court clerk. 

     The kibbutz has an evangelical ministry called "Blossoming Rose" and is a 501(c)3 charity which promotes educational travel to Israel. 

Film Comment: Over and Over Again, With Variations

     Hinduism and Buddhism are the major religions which believe in reincarnation, the belief that one returns to a new human (usually human) life after death.  In the new life, one advances or regresses in their spiritual evolution based on their actions in their prior life.  Eventually everyone becomes so spiritually advanced that they return to their true self, God, and are not reborn on Earth.  In essence, everyone gets a second, third, ... three-thousandth, ... four millionth chance to get it right.

     Numerous films and television episodes have grabbed onto this idea over the years. Here are a few:

1961: "Shadow Play," The Twillight Zone (television series).  A man is found guilty of murder and sentenced to the electric chair.  He insists to everyone around him that it's all a nightmare; that he'll be back in court after his execution, with all the same people present but playing different roles.

1992: "Cause and Effect," Star Trek: The Next Generation (television series). The Enterprise becomes caught in a repeating time loop which always results in the destruction of the ship.  Luckily, one of the crew is an android who can think outside the loop.  He realizes what is going on and takes steps to stop it.

1993: Groundhog Day.  This funny Bill Murray film has a totally bored weatherman reliving the same day over and over, with him making slight changes in his actions each day in an effort to finally get things right and escape the loop.

1993: 12:01.  At one minute after noon, a man repeatedly tries to prevent the murder of a woman.

1998: Dark City. A man with no memories realizes that the same night is being repeated over and over again with changes each time.

1998: Run, Lola, Run.  This is a love it or hate it film; a mixture of cartoon and live action footage.  Lola has twenty minutes to come up with 100,000 deutsche marks to give to her boyfriend so he won't be forced to rob a supermarket, so ... she runs, and runs, and runs.  Several different possible outcomes are presented by the film. 

2004: The Butterfly Effect. A man finds that he can return to earlier events in his life.  Each time he tries to make changes in events, unexpected twists make things worse than before.

2006: The Deaths of Ian Stone. Ian is brutally murdered each day, only to wake up in a new life and be murdered again.  He meets the same people, always in different roles, in each life.  This continues until one day one of the recurring people lets him in on the secret.

2006: The Butterfly Effect 2.  Largely a rehash of the earlier film.

     This idea of repetition of events until one "gets it right" makes for good stories, but is not compatible with a Christian understanding of reality.  It is clear that the Bible teaches that we have this one life and are responsible for what we do with this one life.  

"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" Hebrews 9:27

Book Comment: Butler's Lives of the Saints

     Make no mistake, this is a very Roman Catholic book.  The Catholic idea of sainthood seems to Protestants to be at odds with the Bible, especially on two points.

     The eremitical saints renounced the world and went to live alone in caves, in the woods, or up on the tops of tall poles.  Many of the Roman Catholic saints slept with stones as pillows, wore very little clothing regardless of the weather, some wore harsh clothing which irritated their skin, and some physically punished their bodies.  Many practiced extreme asceticism and "mortification of the flesh."  

     Protestants would point out that most of the the saints of the Bible were actively involved in the world, not withdrawn to a cave.   There were a few exceptions such as John the Baptist.

     The other point concerns the Intercession of the Saints.  Protestants believe in the priesthood of the Believer; that each believer may approach Jesus with no need for an intermediary.

     The Bible describes all believers as saints set apart from the world and holy in the eyes of God (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 1:1: Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:1-2; Hebrews 3:1. )

     No matter what your religious persuasion is, you might be surprised to find out how much you would enjoy reading Butler's Lives of the Saints,  which is still in active print after first being published in 1756.  The saints include kings, empresses, hermits, widows, virgins, nurses, scholars, and soldiers from all over the world across the centuries.  They all have one thing in common: their love for God and their willingness to live and often, to die, for Him.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Salma Valgarma Hayek Jimenez: (b. 19666, Mexico) Actress, film director, film producer.  Roman Catholic Mexican of Lebanese descent.

John Henry Sununu: (b. 1939, Cuba) University professor, PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Politician, Governor of New Hampshire (1983-1989), White House Chief of Staff (1989-1991).  Roman Catholic of Palestinian-Lebanese descent.

Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell: (b. 1927, England) Film director.

Anthony Marcus Shalhoub (b. 1953, Wisconsin) Lebanese Maronite Christian.  Television and film actor. Winner of Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.

Guillaume Farel: (b. 1489, France – d. 1565) French evangelist, Reformed preacher.  Farel was an ardent critic of the Roman Catholic Church.

My Father Died Today

    My father, Bonnie Frank Mann, died today.  He had a Scottish grandmother and his name means "handsome farmer."  He was a good man.

     In his career he was a mechanical engineer with the United States Pipe and Foundry Company.  His most important accomplishment was that he was the first profoundly deaf man elected as a deacon in a Southern Baptist church in the state of Alabama. 

Loving God Today

     A biblically sound and orthodox resource which the reader should check out is the Loving God Today  website.  The site contains numerous discussions on multiple topics related to loving God and the implications and meaning of the Doctrine of Unmerited Grace.

     I have not checked out every aspect of the site but found nothing objectionable in those areas I have so far accessed.  The URL is: http://www.lovinggodtoday.com

Superheroes Have Religious Beliefs

     The superhero character Superman has long been recognized to have been based on the Christ/Messiah story.  Kal-el is sent by his father to the Earth where he is raised by foster parents.  The "el" of his name is the Hebrew root meaning "divine," or "god" and, in its plural form (more about that in a later post) occurs as elohim, one of the biblical names of God.

     There are hints during his childhood and adolescence that he is "special" but the full truth is not apparent until he reaches adulthood, when he exhibits powers and abilities not available to normal humans.  In one major story line he even rises from the dead.

      During his childhood he is raised as Clark Kent by a kindly older couple named Jonathan and Martha Kent.  A little known fact is that the character is a Christian, raised as a Methodist in Smallville, Kansas.  The two creators of the character were Jewish.

     While overt religion was historically little mentioned in comic books, it was always there, slipped in as asides and used as the basis for numerous story lines.  Overtly Christian superhero comic books and television programs have begun to appear with characters such as Bibleman, Biblegirl, The Crusader, and the Crossbreeds. 

     The religious beliefs of many superhero/supevillain characters have been determined.  The results are listed and discussed on two excellent websites:

http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.htmlhttp;//www.comicbookreligion.com

      A short list:

Ant Man: Atheism

Aquaman: Greco-Roman

Batman: Episcopalianism/Catholicism

Blackhawk: Communism

Captain America: Protestantism      

Daredevil: Catholicism

Doctor Strange: Magic

Dust: Islam

Mr. Fantastic: Humanism

Green Arrow: Marxism

Hawkman: Ancient Egyptian

The Human Torch: Episcopalian

Mandrake the Magician: Buddhism

Nightcrawler: Catholicism

Punisher: Catholicism

Red Skull: Nazism

Rogue: Southern Baptist

Shadowcat: Judaism

Sunfire: Shintoism

Superman: Methodism

Thor: Norse

Timeslip: Hinduism

Wonder Woman: Greco-Roman

Professor Charles Xavier: Judaism

   

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Cao Quang Anh: (b. 1967, South Vietnam) Attorney, United States Representative from Louisiana.  He is the first member of the United States Congress to be born in Vietnam and was the only Republican to vote for the Democratic Party’s Health Care Reform package in 2009.

Edith Claire Posener (b. 1897, Nevada – d. 1981) (aka: Edith Head) Ms. Head, an American film costume designer won eight Oscars, more than any other woman in history.  She was born as a Jew but as an adult declared herself to be a Roman Catholic.

Neil Clark Warren: (b. 1937) Psychologist, educator, founder of the eHarmony online dating service.

Alfred the Great (b. 849, Wessex – d. 899) King of Wessex (871-899) Alfred was an ardent promoter of education and an ecclesiastical reformer.  He founded numerous monasteries.

Aristobulus: Aristobulus was a personal friend of the Apostle Paul (Romans 16:10) and was possibly the following: a grandson of Herod the Great, a personal friend of the Roman Emperor Claudius,  a disciple of Luke the Apostle and one of the Seventy (Luke 10:1),  Barnabbas’ brother, and Peter’s father-in-law. 

Another light bulb joke

How many nihilists does it take to change a light bulb?

There is no light bulb.

Film Comment: Quid Pro Quo

     The film, Quid Pro Quo (200), is a really odd horror film.  There are no supernatural monsters, no demented slashers, no gore, no violence, no mad doctors, no evil conspiracies, no ancient secrets, no cannibalism, no curses, no out of control viruses, and no overarching quests for revenge.  More than anything, it's a horror film based on disturbed understandings of personal identity.

     The film is based on the actual mental disorder known as body-integrity identity disorder in which patients insist that "something is wrong" which can only be corrected by the removal of one of their body parts, usually a leg, hand or arm.  Some physicians believe that only the amputation seems to relieve the distress.  Patients refused the treatment have been known to take the "cure" into their own hands.  They say they feel wonderful after the unwanted body part is removed.

     Christians are specifically ordered not to cut or mark themselves as their bodies are owned by God and are His temple.

“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I [am] the LORD.”  Leviticus 19:28

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

      I am aware that many psychiatrists consider body-integrity identity disorder to be an affective disorder which can not be helped by merely "trying" to resist it.  This line of thought places the disorder in the same category as transgenderism, cutting, obsessive-compulsive disorder, compulsive gambling, homosexuality, addiction to pornography, sociopathy, alcoholism, illegal drug use, etc.  The medical idea is that eventually an anatomical or physiological explanation will be found for each of these.

     Christians have known for centuries that the Holy Spirit will aid the believer in battling any or all of these personality disorders. 

^13"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]." 1 Corinthians 10:13.

”I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”  Romans 12:1-2.

Good Ideas for a Christian Life

1. Be kind to animals.

2. Learn to respect children.

3. Learn about science.

4. Realize that it is not selfish to love yourself.

5. Don't get excessively caught up in your successes or your failures.

6. Don't try to live your life through your children.

7. Learn the professional attitude in everything you do.  Your personal life is your career.

8. Stay away from the occult.

9. Realize that politics will never save the world.

10. Be transparent in your dealings with others.

Christian Poetry

     Before the advent of Form Criticism it was considered that to study the scriptures as literary forms: poetry, songs, history, allegory, fables/parables, theology, etc. was to diminish the scriptures by not affording them their proper respect.  Extreme adherents of Form Criticism did this very thing, considering the scriptures only as literary forms.  Modern Biblical interpretation incorporates the idea that the Bible includes all these various forms of literature into its interpretation of the Bible as scripture. 

    Hebrew poetry is not based on rhyme or meter as much as parallelism.  The main forms are synonymous parallelism (the meaning of the two lines or phrases is similar), antithetical parallelism (the meaning of the two lines or phrases is opposite), and synthetic parallelism (in which the parts of speech correspond to their parallel and the second adds something to the ide of the first).  Other poetic forms are acrostics, beginning each line of a poem with the same letter, etc.  The Psalms and Proverbs are the most obvious examples but poetry occurs throughout the entire Old Testament. 

     Luke in the New Testament contains several poems.  Pieces of Christian hymns occur in Paul's letters.

     A Christian poetry website is:

     www.poetry-online.org/christian-poetry-index.htm

     Another is www.christianpoems.co.uk/ where poets can submit their own poetry and search the collected poems by subject.

 

Christianity is Not Anti-Intellectual

     What do Glenn Beck, Bill Gates, Walter Cronkite, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Robert Novak, and William Safire all have in common?  Yeah, they were/are all white American men.  What else?  This: none of them graduated from college.  And yet, all of them attained great success in their individual fields, all of which required "smarts."

     Christianity is often accused of being anti-intellectual, a totally ludicrous charge.  In fact, during the Dark Ages, the only educated people were the clergy.  The names of Christian intellectuals are too numerous to mention but they include the Apostle Paul, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, Karl Barth, and C. S. Lewis.  

     Christian wisdom is attained by studying the Word of God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  A college degree is not required but advanced education can do nothing but enhance the Christian's abilities to make informed judgements.

     Numerous places in the Bible the value of education and knowledge is affirmed.

Education is for everyone.

"7"Also in the third year of his reign he sent to his princes, [even] to Benhail, and to Obadiah, and to Zechariah, and to Nethaneel, and to Michaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah.

8And with them [he sent] Levites, [even] Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tobadonijah, Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests.

9And they taught in Judah, and [had] the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people. 2 Chronicles 17: 7-9.

Knowledge is of more value than money.

For wisdom [is] a defence, [and] money [is] a defence: but the excellency of knowledge [is, that] wisdom giveth life to them that have it.
 Ecclesiastes 7:12.

Book Comment: The Long, Bitter Trail

     The Long, Bitter Trail is a history of the Indian Removal Movement.  It contains nine pages specifically about Christianity as it pertains to the Native Americans of the time.  Anyone interested in American and Native-American history should read this book about a sad time in American history.

Wallace, Anthony F. C., The Long, Bitter Trail.  Andrew Jackson and the Indians (New York: Hill and Wang, 10th printing, 1999), pp. 34-36,57,61,67-68,70,110-111.

     

Christian Denominations: Disciples of Christ

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

222 South Downey Avenue

Indianapolis, Ind. 46219

     The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) arose from a merger of the followers of Alexander Campbell (Christian Church) and Barton W. Stone (Disciples of Christ).  Sidney Rigdon was a major leader in the movement until he quarreled with Alexander Campbell and left to join with Joseph Smith in Ohio.  Campbell denounced The Book of Mormon as heretical.

Church Genealogy

    I inadvertantly angered some Mormon acquaintances of mine when I submitted an article to their genealogical magazine detailing the historical development of the Mormon religion as well as its historical precedents.  This was as a follow up to a submitted article which has been posted in this blog on 15 and 16 September 2009.  Both articles were rejected by the magazine, I later learned, for doctrinal reasons.

     Mormons believe that the true church of jesus Christ had disappeared from the Earth until it was restored by God's revelation to Joseph Smith.  As such, the Mormon Church could have no historical precursors.  However, to a non-Mormon such as myself, it is obvious that no social, political, or religious movement just suddenly springs into existence without precursors.

     The Mormons historically include individuals gathered from numerous religious backgrounds, but there is a definite strong element of Congregational/Baptist thought in early Mormon history, especially through such leaders as Sidney Rigdon who rose to positions of power and authority in every religious organization with which he affiliated (Baptist, Campbellites, Latter-day Saints, and Bickertonites/Rigdonites).  

     Don't be afraid to share strong emotions with your friends and family.

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." Romans 12:15.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, their religious beliefs, or their actions.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Samson Occom: (b. -1723 – d. 1792) Mohegan Presbyterian minister.  Occom was a descendent of Uncas  and a student of the Congregationalist minister, Eleazar Wheelock.  He was the first Native American to publish documents and pamphlets in English.

Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen (b. 1692 – d. ca. 1747) German-American Dutch Reformed minister, theologian, progenitor of the Frelinghuysen family in the United States.   He was an ardent evangelical who emphasized pietism, conversion, and church discipline.  All five of his sons became ministers and his two daughters married ministers.

Oskar Schindler: (b. 1908, Moravia – d. 1974) Roman Catholic/Nazi industrialist who is credited with saving 1200 Jews from the Holocaust and is the subject of the film, Schindler’s List.  He shielded his jewish workers by employing them in “business essential to the war effort.”  He is the only Nazi buried at the Mount Zion Catholic cemetery  in Jerusalem.

Laura Sheldon Wright: (b. ca 1808, Massachusetts)  Wife of Asher Wright, a missionary to the Senecas.  She translated several hymns into Seneca.

David Brainerd: (b. 1718, Connecticut – d. 1747) Student of Jonathan Edwards. Made many converts among the Mahicans and Delawares in the 1740’s.

Another light bulb joke

How many Jews does it take to change a light bulb?

One, but he brings his lawyer brother with him.