Another Light Bulb Joke

How many Unitarians does it take to change a light bulb?
We make no statement about how to do it or about how many agents would be necessary to effectuate the action, nor do we object if someone else does it.

Hello, Trinidad and Tobago!

Hello, Trinidad and Tobago!  Welcome to the group of readers from eighty-one other countries who also visit this blog.  I hope you find some of the posts useful or meaningful.

Eighty Countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,  Georgia, Germany,  Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Macedonian, Malaysia, Malta,  Mexico,  Moldavia,  Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan,  Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe. 

Hello, Cayman Islands!

Hello, Cayman Islands!  Welcome to the group of readers from eighty-one other countries who also visit this blog.  I hope you find some of the posts useful or meaningful.

Eighty Countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,  Georgia, Germany,  Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Macedonian, Malaysia, Malta,  Mexico,  Moldavia,  Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan,  Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe. 

Familial Relationships in the Bible: Abner, David, and Joab

Abner (Hebrew: "father is a lamp") was the commander in chief of King Saul's army (1 Samuel 14:50).  He was Saul's first cousin.  His father, Ner, was the brother of Kish, Saul's father.

Abner was murdered by Joab in revenge for his killing of Asahel, Joab's brother. (1 Samuel 2:12-32).  Joab was King David's nephew by his half-sister, Zeruiah (2 Samuel 8:16, 1 Chronicles 2:16)

I Hope She Didn't Realize What She Was Doing

First, let me say again as I have in the past: This is not a political blog.  When I do comment on a political subject, it is because it touches on some religious issue.  I am not a member of any political party or movement and do not intend to be in the future.

Froma Harrop is a syndicated columnist whose columns appear in over two hundred newspapers  She comments on business, economics, and politics. On 25 March 2011 her posted article was "Some praise for a few tea partyers."  The word "partyers" appears at first glance to be misspelled, but instead of "partiers," she is referring to members of the American Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party is a conservative political movement named for the Boston Tea Party (1773) in which a group of men boarded a British ship in Boston harbor.  In protest of what they considered to be unfair taxation and a lack of political representation, they dumped overboard the entire cargo of British tea, turning the harbor into a giant teacup.

In discussing issues concerning the Tea Party movement., Ms. Harrop said, "When it comes to my sanity, the tea party often taketh away. ... Nothing else they do would earneth more praise."

Ms. Harrop probably intended to be "cute."  What struck me almost immediately was something else.
The use of archaic English brings to mind the English of the King James Bible. and the phrase, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away," which, by the way, does not occur in the King James Bible.  The popular phrase is a misquotation of Job 1:20-21.

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,  And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Job 1:20-21.  Read the book of Job and you will know what this holy man was talking about.

What I perceived when I read Ms, Harrop's article was twofold:
1. An erroneous identification of the Tea Party with conservative Christianity.  While many Tea Partyers are Christian, many are not.  Some are motivated by social, economic, historical, and philosophical concerns.  Many conservative Christians are wary of investing their allegiance in political parties.
2. The use of "taketh" and "earneth" could be viewed as a sarcastic swipe at conservative Christians. This may not have been Ms. Harrop's intent.

The Tragedy in Japan

The recent earthquake (9.0 on the Richter scale) and subsequent tsunami in Japan combined to create a horrible tragedy for that nation.  The possible meltdown of four nuclear reactors in Fukushima adds even more concern.  The current probable death total is upwards of 30,000.  We should all be praying for these people during their ordeal.

Several people I know have expressed surprise, or even shock, at a statistic which came out during discussions about the tragedy after the current emperor, Akihiko, offered Shinto prayers for his countrymen.  The majority of the people of Japan no longer follow the Shinto religion; in fact, seventy percent are believed to follow no religion at all.   Only two percent of Japanese identify themselves as Christian.

Christian orthodoxy believes that there is salvation only in Christ.  Of the probable thirty thousand dead, twenty-one thousand (70%) had no religious beliefs at all.  Two percent, six hundred people, were Christian.

What They Think Of Us: Bill Maher about U.S. President Barack Obama

Translation

"Translation it is that openeth the window, to let in the light, that breaketh the shell, that we may eat the kernel; that putteth aside the curtain, that we may look into the most Holy place; that removeth the cover of the well, that we may come by the water."  Miles Smith  (1554-1624)

MIles Smith was a strict Calvinist and in 1612 became the Bishop of Gloucester.  He was what we in America would call a "library rat,"always found around the books, described as "covetous of nothing but books."

Smith was a member of the First Oxford Company of translators of the KIng James Version of the BIble.  The First Oxford Company translated Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Malachi.  The quotation above comes from the Preface, which Smith wrote.

What Do You Do In the Dark?

The Kiss in the Tunnel (1899) is a humorous one minute long short in which a couple sneaks a passionate kiss when their train goes into a tunnel.  The film is terribly crude by our standards, but remember that it was made one hundred and two years ago.

The film opens with one of the first "phantom rides" ever seen in a film.  This consisted of strapping a cameraman on the front of the train, probably a very frightening thing at the time. The film then switches to a brightly lit studio set (which is supposed to have gone totally dark, but then we would not have been able to see).  We would not have been in on the shocking act.

The couple consisted of the director, George Smith, and his real-life wife, actress Laura Bayley.  When the train leaves the tunnel, the couple quickly ends their liplock and gets back to proper behavior.  The man is in such a hurry that he sit on his hat.



The obvious imagery is sexual, even phallic, as the train enters the tunnel.  Commentators have suggested that nineteenth century British audiences would have missed this symbolism.  I doubt that.  They lived in a very restrained culture but they were not stupid.

The Christian application of this film is as an illustration.  What things do we do in the dark that we have to scurry to hide when the lights come back on?  Don't we realize that all our actions and thoughts happen before God in His bright daylight?

Hello, Nigeria!

Hello, Nigeria!  Welcome to the group of readers from seventy-nine other countries who also visit this blog.  I hope you find some of the posts useful or meaningful.

Eighty Countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,  Georgia, Germany,  Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Macedonian, Malaysia, Malta,  Mexico,  Moldavia,  Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan,  Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe. 

Christian Board Games

True Light Christian Store has many other products as well but I was intrigued by the idea of their Christian adult board games.  The more recognizable games are Bible editions of the famed games Apples to Apples and  Guesstures.


Chapter and Verse Bible Game description: "An archeologist, Dr. S needs your help to decipher and uncover secret words. He needs assistance sifting through ancient tiles and linking them together to gain clues to a message. Dr. S has started a Log Book detailing the links between the tiles. According to the legend, when you recreate the messages using the ancient tiles you will uncover clues to a secret word(s). Find the tiles, build the links, read the writings and claim your reward of wisdom, one word at a time."

Hello, Congo!

Hello, Democratic Republic of Congo!  Welcome to the group of readers from seventy-nine other countries who also visit this blog.  I hope you find some of the posts useful or meaningful.

The “Translate This Page” gadget directly above the “Total Pageviews” Counter has the capability of translating the English text of this blog directly into French.

Eighty Countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,  Georgia, Germany,  Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Macedonian, Malaysia, Malta,  Mexico,  Moldavia,  Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan,  Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.

Another ASL Video, This Time With Extreme Metal

This video is an odd hybrid of American Sign Language for the Deaf and Christian extreme metal music.  The signer is an American, Teresa Baez.  The music is by Mortification , an Australian Christian extreme music band. 

Here is a sample of music by Mortification.  The title is "Blood Sacrifice."

A Christian Song in American Sign Language for the Deaf

This song is "Completely," sung by Ana Laura.  It is translated into the American Sign Language for the Deaf by a nineteen year old American who identifies herself only as Corene.  The Google advertisement bar disappears after a few seconds or you can remove it immediately by clicking on the "X."

Hello, Austria!

Hallo, Österreich! Willkommen in der Gruppe von Lesern 70-8 anderen Ländern, dieauch unter diesem Blog. Ich hoffe, Sie finden einige der Stellen für nützlich odersinnvoll.

Der "Diese Seite übersetzen " Gadget direkt über dem "Total Pageviews" Counterhat die Fähigkeit, für die Übersetzung des englischen Textes dieses Blogs direkt ins Deutsche.


Neunundsiebzig Länder: Argentinien, Australien, Österreich, Bahrain, Belarus,Belgien, Belize, Brasilien, Bulgarien, Kanada, Cayman Islands, China, Kolumbien,Costa Rica, Kroatien, Tschechische Republik, Dänemark, Ecuador, Ägypten, ElSalvador, Estland , Äthiopien, Finnland, Frankreich, Georgien, Deutschland,Griechenland, Hong Kong, Ungarn, Indien, Indonesien, Iran, Irak, Israel, Italien,Elfenbeinküste, Japan, Jordanien, Kuwait, Lettland, Litauen, Luxemburg, Mazedonien, Malaysia, Malta , Mexiko, Moldawien, Marokko, Niederlande,Neuseeland, Norwegen, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Philippinen, Polen,Rumänien, Russland, Saudi-Arabien, Senegal, Singapur, Slowakei, Slowenien, Südafrika, Südkorea, Spanien, Sri Lanka, Schweden, Schweiz, Taiwan, Thailand,Türkei, Ukraine, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate, Vereinigtes Königreich, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe United.

UAB Gospel Choir

This is the UAB Gospel Choir (The University of Alabama at Birmingham) singing Bishop Hezekiah Walker's composition, "God Favored Me.".




Hezekiah Xzavier Walker (b. 1962, New York) is a Grammy award winning gospel music songwriter a nd musician with eighteen albums of his own and others by groups he sponsors. He is the founder of the Covenant Keepers International Fellowship.

Book Comment: If the Church Were Christian, Chapter 3

Our old friend, Quaker pastor Philip Gulley returns.

If you are joining this book review series mid-stream , you can read the comment from the beginning by going to the LABELS section following the last post on this page and clicking on PHILIP GULLEY

Gully, Philip, If the Church were Christian.  Rediscovering the Values of Jesus (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010)

CHAPTER  3: Reconciliation Would be Valued Over Judgment

Pastor Gulley in this chapter is reacting to stereotypical thinking, which sadly,  too many Christians and Christian churches have traditionally fallen into.    He describes this stereotype as the view of God in which He is thin-skinned, always just before erupting into violent anger, and deeply concerned with trivia like whether or not you argued with your sister.

God is easily offended and you had better do something about it.  He has to be appeased or He will lash out at you.  So you stand in line and confess your sins.  You say some prayers you have memorized and hope God will forgive you … this time.

This is just for your little daily sins!  What about your big ones, and what about THE BIG ONE, the one you were born with?  For that one, God can only forgive us if He is satisfied by the gruesome death of Jesus.  Pastor Gulley call this a “dreadful view of God,” and he is right.

Gulley charges that “appeasement theology” was used to give the Church (I think he largely means the Catholic Church) power over its followers and to make itself rich. He points out that the Roman Catholic Church once had a list of financial penalties to be paid for absolution of specific sins, and he quotes Johann Tetzel, “As soon as a coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs.”   Pastor Gulley is correct that this was an abomination.  Thankfully, that is in the past. (The Church, of course, is the entire body of Christian believers of every denomination.)

Gulley insists that what Jesus wants from us is that we sacrifice our ego and pride.  He is correct.  The very essence of sin  (a word the modern world hates to hear or discuss) is choosing one’s own will rather than the will of God.

Where I, and orthodox Christian theology, differ from Pastor Gulley, who is a Universalist (everyone will be saved), is indeed over the Atonement. He denies the need for the Atonement.

Pastor Gulley’s understanding of the doctrine of the Atonement is a caricature.  The wrath of God is real, but it is the result of His utter holiness. The Bible speaks of Him; Holy Holy Holy.   He will not tolerate imperfection because He is perfect.  That sort of leaves us out. But, because he is Love, He Himself solved the problem we could never solve.  He accepted into Himself all the imperfections, all the sin, all the evil.  It killed Him.  Then, He stood up.

The picture which Pastor Gulley paints as that of the traditional Church, he rightly rejects.  It has, sadly, been the one which many in organized Christian religion have presented to the world over the centuries.  Think of Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God.”

To many today, it is the only “gospel” they know.  It is an insult to the true gospel (εὐαγγέλιον , the good or true news/message).  No wonder so many have rejected it.  Listen to one of them , Spanish film director, Elio Quiroga, quoted in Fangoria Magazine (#296, Sept 2010, p. 34);  “All of us Spaniards have been inculcated with this dark, guilty, ominous way of seeing life propagated by the Roman Catholic Church.  All this Catholic shit colors the whole of Spanish society, like a storm cloud, permanently over their heads.”  They think the same thing about Baptists, and Lutherans, and Methodists, and Russian Orthodox, and all the rest of us.  In Scandinavia, they even call us morkemen (“men of darkness.”)

God is turned into an unreasonable  bloodthirsty monster who demands sacrifices so maybe He won’t wipe us all out.    If we’re good.

Where in this caricature is the cause of the joy which enabled Paul and Silas to sing hymns while manacled to the wall in a jail? (Acts 16:25)  What in this enabled Paul to say that we don’t have a spirit of fear? (2 Timothy 1:7)

Pastor Gulley says that the Christian scriptures, which he denies are God’s inerrant word, justify both compassion (1 Corinthians 13) and cruelty (Galatians 5:12).  The Galatians quotation was just Paul using sarcasm to express his point.

My assessment: Pastor Gulley is correct that a culture of “recrimination and judgment “ has too often been the emphasis of conservative Christians.  Fire and brimstone to scare shaking sinners into faith.  The problem is that fire and brimstone, which is a biblical concept, can only produce fear.  Fear cannot produce the proper relationship with God: joy, praise, love, sanctification, holiness.

A climate of fear misses the point.    It really is fearsome to be alienated from God because Hell is real.  But, the true biblical meaning of the word “fear” in relation to God is positive: respect, admiration, astonishment, “awestruckness.”

The statement that “God is Love” is correct, but totally insufficient.  God is action, He is movement, He acts, He purposes.  The three Persons of the Trinity are united as One in their love for one another and we are given power to become sons of God, to share in that unity of love.

The false dichotomy between the fearsome “God of the Old Testament” and the loving “God of the New Testament” comes from our failure to understand the true nature of God.

The sacrifice which God demands is our ego, our pride, our self-sufficiency. We need to learn our place.

The paradox is this … once we learn our place as creatures created to praise, worship, and glorify the Creator, we are given the power to become priests and kings, and as C.S. Lewis points out, we are made sons (and daughters) of God, on the road to our ultimate destiny of absolute perfection, of partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

This is part of a continuing chapter-by- chapter response to this book.  More to come.  

Venezuelan Christian Music

This musical group is from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Caracas, Venezuela.

Book Comment: Think

Think.  The Life of the Mind and the Love of God (2010), by John Piper, is a book which challenges Christians to use their minds.  "My goal is to encourage you to make serious thinking an important part of the way you pursue the knowledge of God." In the book Piper opposes prideful intellectualism, Christian anti-intellectualism, and the poison that is relativism.

Relativism, the philosophy that there is no universal external standard for judging the truth or falsehood of any statement, is seen by many Christians as a cancer on the world.  Piper goes further, he declares relativism to be evil (2 Timothy 4:3-4) and a treason against God.  Piper attacks the relativist philosophy, showing its gaping logical inconsistencies and exposes it for what it really is, a glorification of the self in opposition to God, which is what all sin ultimately reduces to.

Pastor Piper is no kinder to Christian anti-intellectualism.  One subchapter heading is Not Thinking Is No Solution for Thinking Arrogantly. "I we abandon thinking, we abandon the Bible, and if we abandon the Bible we abandon God."  Rather than being suspicious of deep thinking, we need to learn a humble way of thinking deeply.

"... the main reason God has given us minds is that we might seek out and find all the reasons that exist for treasuring him in all things and above all things.  He created the world so that through it and above it we might treasure him."

The Good Infection

Blogger has a statistics package which enables its members to learn information about the viewing history of their blogs.  We can see the number of total page views, the browsers being used, the operating systems being used, and the number of visits from each country.  We can also see the originating search pages and search terms, but we cannot identify a particular visitor.

Since the statistics feature was added to Saints on the Loose! in May of 2010,  there have been 6460 visits to the blog by persons from sixty-eight different countries.  The top ten countries and their numbers of visits are: the United States (3026), Russia (419), the Netherlands (351), Germany (331), Denmark (264), Slovenia (258), the United Kingdom (186), Canada (177), the Ukraine (103), and Israel (94).

By browsers: Internet Explorer (59%), Firefox (19%), Safari (10%), Opera (8%), Chrome (1%).  Java, NSB, Jakarta Commons Http Client, Translate Google, and Netscape each were used by <1% of the viewers.

By operating systems: Windows (86%), MacIntosh (11%), Unix (1%).  iPhones, Blackberries, iPads, Linux, iPods, mobile devices, and Microsoft Windows were each used by <1% of viewers.

Interestingly, at least two of the visitors to this blog have come from pornographic sites.  I can imagine their surprise.  I can only hope that they became infected while they were here.

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, spoke of the "good infection."  Jesus was/is fully God and fully man.   Through him "we can, if we let God have His way, come to share in the life of Christ. ... One of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him."

Let us pray that our visitors from the pornographic sites were touched by Jesus while they were here.  Once He touches you, He keeps coming back to touch you again.

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, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

John Croyle: (b. USA) Former University of Alabama football player who turned down a National Football League (NFL) contract to found (1974) The Big Oak Ranch, a home for boys from troubled and abusive families in Alabama.  In 1988, he and his wife, Tee added The Girl’s Ranch.  He needed $30,000 as a down payment on the original parcel of land for the ranch: Croyle’s teammate and fellow Christian, John Hannah, donated his $30,000 NFL signing bonus to make the payment.  Croyle is the father of NFL quarterback, Brodie Croyle.

http://www.bigoak.org 

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Bringing-Out-the-Winner-In-Your-Child/John-Croyle/e/9781581823516 

John Brodie Croyle: (b. 1983, Alabama, USA) Son of Big Oak Ranch founder, John Croyle.  University of Alabama college football player, professional football quarterback.

Hermann of Reichenau: (b. 1013, Swabia (Germany) – d. 1054: aka> Hermannus Contractus, Hermannus Augiensis, Herman the Cripple) Son of the Duke of Altshausen.  Benedictine monk, scholar, composer, music theorist, mathematician, astronomer, poet, beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1863.  He is probably the first to make a numerical-chronological listing of the Popes of the Roman Catholic Church.  He was crippled from birth, born apparently with cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and possibly spina bifida; he went blind as an adult.

Giovanni Battista Cybo: (b. 1432, Republic of Genoa (Italy) – d. 1492; aka. Pope Innocent VIII) Roman Catholic Pope 1484-1492. An opponent of witchcraft and of the Waldensians.  He appointed (1487) Tomas de Torquemada as Grand Inquisitor of Spain.

Hubert Ira Davis: (b. 1970, North Carolina, USA) Professional basketball (NBA) player, ESPN college basketball analyst.  He is the nephew of former professional basketball (NBA) player, Walter Davis.

The Haynes Sisters

This is the Haynes Sisters (Tiffany, Tonya, and Tara) performing with the choir and orchestra at Denton Bible Church in Denton, Texas, USA.  You may prefer to see the picture better by viewing this on You Tube .  The woman at the bottom of the screen is an interpreter translating the song into the American Sign Language for the Deaf.

Christian Marriage, Part 3

(This is the conclusion of the blog posted yesterday.)

The only personal name for Himself which God Himself gives us in the Bible is "ehyeh" (in English texts it is usually rendered as YHWH) which means something like "I am who I am" or "I will be who I will be"
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה וַיֹּאמֶר כֹּה תֹאמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶהְיֶה שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם׃
This is Exodus 3:14. The bold Hebrew text says "ehyeh asher ehyeh" which the Septuagint translated into Greek as ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν "ego eimi o on" ("I am the one who is.")  K.J. Cronin points out that the Hebrew word "ehyeh" is the first person singular of YHWH.  Cronin's discussion of Exodus 3:14 runs into many pages and is quite technical, but highly interesting.  His conclusion is that the name of god is I AM, in the traditional understanding as absolute and eternal being. 


God never changes (Malachi 3:6).  He does not want or need, he purposes to do.  He does not love, He is Love.  Active love, love which takes the initiative; He's the God who came to us.  We didn't go to Him.  This is where our Trinitarian understanding becomes important in Christian marital relationships; because God the Holy Spirit is in each one of us.


As Christians, we are to become increasingly like Jesus.  So we should do love (action) rather than love in an abstract sense (emotion).  Romantic love is not "wrong," it can be a wonderful and thrilling thing.  But, a marriage based on only romantic love can fail.  Look around you.  How many people explain their divorces with "we just don't love each other any more."?  Emotions waver and flutter, sometimes they are intense, sometimes lethargic.


Christian love is stable, active, and controlled by the mind of Christ.  Christian wives, would you rather be loved by a romantic man or by a man who is thinking the thoughts of God?  Christian husbands, would you rather be loved by a romantic woman or by a woman who is thinking the thoughts of God?

Hello, Colombia!

Hola, Colombia! Bienvenido al grupo de lectores setenta hasta siete otros países que también visitan este blog. Espero que algunos de los mensajes útiles o significativas.

El "Traducir esta página" gadget directamente sobre el "páginas vistas " total "contra el tiene la capacidad de traducir el texto en Inglés de este blog directamente en español.

Setenta y ocho países: Argentina, Australia, Bahrein, Belarús, Bélgica, Belice, Brasil, Bulgaria, Canadá, Islas Caimán, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croacia, República Checa, Dinamarca, Ecuador, Egipto, El Salvador, Estonia, Etiopía , Finlandia, Francia, Georgia, Alemania, Grecia, Hong Kong, Hungría, India, Indonesia, Irán, Irak, Israel, Italia, Costa de Marfil, Japón, Jordania, Kuwait, Letonia, Lituania, Luxemburgo, Macedonia, Malasia, Malta, México , Moldavia, Marruecos, Países Bajos, Nueva Zelanda, Noruega, Pakistán, Panamá, Paraguay, Filipinas, Polonia, Rumania, Rusia, Arabia Saudita, Senegal, Singapur, Eslovaquia, Eslovenia, Sudáfrica, Corea del Sur, España, Sri Lanka, Suecia, Suiza, Taiwán, Tailandia, Turquía, Ucrania, Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Reino Unido, Estados Unidos, Vietnam, Venezuela, Zimbabwe.

Hello, Malaysia!

Halo, Malaysia! Selamat datang di kelompok pembaca 70-7 negara-negara lain yang juga melawat blog ini. Saya berharap anda menemukan beberapa posting kepada atau bermakna.

"Terjemahkan halaman ini" Gadget terus di atas "Display Laman Jumlah " Counter memiliki kemampuan menterjemah teks Inggeris dari blog ini terus ke Melayu.

Tujuh puluh lapan Negara: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Kanada, Cayman Islands, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Republik Czech, Denmark, Ecuador, Mesir, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia , Finland, Perancis, Georgia, Jerman, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Itali, Pantai Gading, Jepun, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico , Moldova, Morocco, Belanda, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Filipina, Poland, Romania, Russia, Arab Saudi, Senegal, Singapura, Slovakia, Slovenia, Afrika Selatan, Korea Selatan, Sepanyol, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turki, Ukraine, Emiriah Arab, Inggeris, Amerika Syarikat, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe. 

Christian Marriage, Part 2

(This is the continuation of the post begun yesterday.)


... so that we would not have to!!


"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  2 Corinthians 5:21


This is where the Trinitarian part comes in.  We are Christians, which means "little Christs."  The name seems to have been given to us by outsiders (Acts 11:26) in Antioch (near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey) and was probably intended as an insult.  This Greek name comes from Χριστιανος, "Kristos" (annointed) plus "-ianos" (belonging to, carrying the idea of "being a slave of.") To be worthy of the name is actually an honor.

The third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is fully God, just as Jesus and The Father are fully God, indwells every Christian.  This means that God Himself is in me.  God Himself is in you.  Our pupose, our reason for existence, is to act out His purposes, to further His Kingdom.  Each of us is Jesus to this world and we may be the only Jesus some ever see.  What a responsibility!.  I know this sounds strange to modern ears, but this is what Paul said in Philippians 1:21: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

We don't, and can't, live up to it, but we do better the more we get ourselves out of the way and let the Holy Spirit guide our actions.  The more we insist on control, the more we can be petty, or jealous, or unreasonable, or snippy.

By the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2) we increasingly think the thoughts of Jesus; we take on the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:14-16).  This doen't mean we are no longer ourselves, but that our thinking is brought in line with that of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).

(Part 3 of this post will appear tomorrow.)

Christian Marriage, Part 1

On Friday 21 January 2011, Rick Burgess of the Rick and Bubba Show made a statement with which I totally agree.  It is a way of looking at marital love which many people have never encountered. but it is based firmly in Burgess's orthodox trinitarian view of God.  And, he is correct.

The point Mr. Burgess made was that romantic love is intense and enjoyable but it really isn't something on which to build a lifelong Christian marriage because it is based on emotion.  Emotions wax and wane.

Christian love is action, not just emotion or sentiment.  This applies to Christian marital love as much as it does to any other type of Christian love.  Faith without works is dead just as love without action is just sentiment.

A Christian acts out his love for his wife and children by providing a safe and loving environment for them, an environment in which he ideally nurtures their hopes, interests, needs, and their spiritual development. 


Paul spoke of this, likening marriage to the relationship between Christ and His Church: "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Ephesians 5:22-32


There is nothing in this biblical passage of the world's insulting caricature of a holy Christian marriage: no husband lording it over his slave of a wife who is ordered by God to indulge her husband's every whim or face the fires of Hell.  Husbands are to love their wives as Jesus loved the Church.  How did Jesus express that love?  He emptied Himself of the privileges of deity and took upon HImself the worst that the world had to offer, He accepted upon Himself the consequences of the world's sin, so that we would not have to!!


(The conclusion of this post will follow tomorrow.)

We Are Adults, Not Children

Occasionally, I will quote persons who may say things which would not normally be said in a Christian blog.  Sometimes they may express anti-Christian ideas or attitudes which we may find offensive.

I will occasionally give you explanations, definitions, and discussion of subjects which may cause you discomfort or embarrassment.  Other subjects may merely be puzzling or shocking.

We are all adults and, even though this is just a blog, this is serious business.  I have no intention of censoring quotations or of limiting the subjects which will be discussed.

We live in a flawed world which has willfully separated itself from God.  We need to be wide-eyed and aware, not stuck in what in what C.S. Lewis called "little boy religion." We are supposed to be like children in our innocence and our dependence on God, but adults in our understanding. We have nothing to fear from knowing exactly what is actually going on around us.

"That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;" Ephesians 4:14

"Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." I Corinthians 14:20

"And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. " 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

United States Church Attendance (By State)

This is very interesting, informative, and somewhat disappointing.

http://www.religionfacts.com/religion_statistics/church_attendance_by_state.htm

Religious Place Names

Picket Wire, Arizona, United States: from “purgatoire,” French for “purgatory.”

Kilkeel, Ireland: The Irish name is Cill Chaoil, meaning “church of the narrow place.”

Omagh, Northern Ireland:  The Irish name is Ar Omaigh, meaning “the sacred (or virgin) plain.”

Pernik, Bulgaria:  Perun (an ancient Slavic deity) plus “nik,” a place name suffix.

Wodensborough, Kent, England:  From Odin, the Norse father god, plus Old English “bury/burh,” meaning “fort.”

Names in the Bible: Jesse

Jesse was the son of Obed and was a grandson of Ruth and Boaz. He had eight sons and two daughters and his youngest son was the future King David.  The meaning of Jesse's name is not known.

The video below really has nothing to do with this blog, but the dog's name is Jesse.

Free Christian Clipart

GospelGifs is a website which features "free original Christian web and design graphics for web pages, newsletters, email, greeting cards, Twitter backgrounds, worship backgrounds, Facebook,  MySpace, PowerPoint slides, Bible studies, Sunday School art, church ministry & personal witness.  Easy to use.  No fees, no membership or registration, no email address required. " (The text within the parentheses " " is from the website.)  The artist is named Jim Sutton.


The term "clip art" refers to what was originally quite literally "clip" art.  Scissors or a blade were used to cut images out of other printed material and to paste the images into a new format (similar to the technique used for collage.) "Gif" is an abbreviation for Graphic Interchange Format, an electronic bit mapping useful for graphics and logos.  It can display up to 256 colors and some limited animation.  


Sample pages from the website:

Smiling Jesus

http://www.gospelgifs.com/clips/art_02/smiling_jesus-001.htm 

Page 24 of over 50 pages of Free Christian Clip Art

http://www.gospelgifs.com/clip_art/art024.htm 

The Jesus Page

http://www.gospelgifs.com/category/jesus.htm 

Three Thai Christian Songs

Three Thai Christian Songs

We Are the Salt

God’s Love Never Changes

I Love and Worship Jesus

What Did jesus Look Like?

The Bible says nothing about the physical appearance of the man, Jesus of Nazareth.  I believe that this fact points out an important point.  The Jews were looking for a Messiah who would be an impressive military leader who would throw off Roman rule.  He might even, if successful, have become a king.

Kings, for all the history known up to that time, were massively egotistical self promoters, repeatedly building monuments and cities named for themselves. The king was always touted as a god of a man, handsome, brave, rich, powerful; his queen was the most beautiful woman in the land.  The greatest kings were known for their wealth, power, and military conquests.  How well, or how poorly, they dealt with their subjects was secondary.  This attitude toward kings has been repeated down through the centuries since the time of Christ.

Jesus was a nobody, a carpenter from an ignored small country town.  He probably looked like everyone else, like one of the modern West Bank Palestinians we regularly see on the nightly news.  While He could read and write and was obviously very intelligent (He amazed the Pharisees with His knowledge at age twelve, Luke 2:41-52), He is not mentioned as having specialized theological training or as being recognized as a Pharisee.  That He didn't stand out by his appearance is shown by the fact that the traitor, Judas Iscariot, had to point HIm out to the Roman soldiers who came to arrest Him. (Matthew 26:47-56, Mark 14:43-51, Luke 22:47-53, John 18: 1-11)

The Iconoclastic Controversy arose in the Christian community over whether or not representations of Jesus and the other persons mentioned in the Bible should be allowed within the Christian Church. The issue still causes controversy.  Of the artwork depicting Jesus, possibly the most recognizable in history (known to have been reproduced over 500,000 times) is The Head of Christ  by Warner Sallman.

Other representations of Jesus abound and reflect many different understandings of the same man.  Most appear to be honest attempts to emphasize some particular aspect of the Lord.

In Undefeated by Stephen S. Sawyer, Jesus is seen as a handsome, muscular boxer   The painting is based on Psalm 136:12.

Christ Walking on the Sea , a print by Nathaniel Currier (of Currier & Ives), emphasizes Jesus's gentleness, calmness, and kindness.  Some viewers, me included, feel that this print makes Jesus so gentle that He seems to be effeminate.  The event depicted is recorded in John 6:16-21, Mark 6:45-52, and in Matthew 14:22-33.

Sister Wendy Beckett , host of the Public broadcasting System program, "Sister Wendy's Story of Painting," in 1999 chose Jesus of the People  as the winner of the National Catholic Reporter's competition for a new image of Jesus, a peasant Jesus. 

All three of these representations of Jesus are meant in reverence. Some object to them, especially to Jesus of the People, but why?  Jesus is the Lord of every individual on Earth and His Church includes people from every race, nationality and country on the Earth.  None of these pictures above are blasphemous, unlike those detailed below, which are.  The difference is in the intent: to glorify Christ or to show contempt for Him.

Piss Christ 
Christ the Yogi 
The Truth 

Interesting discussions of what Jesus may have looked like are here  and here .  The truth is, no one knows.

ChristianShirts.net

http://www.christianshirts.net/  is a site devoted to one thing: selling tee shirts with Christian messages. The site is intensely pro-life and religiously conservative.  Many of the tee shirts are humorous and/or thought provoking; many are based on witty puns which probably would have meaning only in English.  Some may be offended by the cartoon character, Umbert the Unborn, a talking fetus inside a womb.  (I am not.) The site's overt political conservatism may bother some viewers as it seems to equate Christianity with one particular political viewpoint.

For full disclosure: I am unapologetically pro-life, evangelical, proudly trinitarian, and politically centrist.  I do not believe that any political organization speaks for God.  We are Americans, Russians, Mexicans, Latvians, Senegalese, Israelis, Jordanians. ... We should be proud of our nationalities and be responsible citizens, participating, where appropriate, in our nation's political discussions, but, our first allegiance must be to the Kingdom of God.

Hello, Zimbabwe!

Hello, Zimbabwe!  Welcome to the group of readers from seventy-five other countries who also visit this blog.  I hope you find some of the posts useful or meaningful.

Seventy-six Countries: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France,  Georgia, Germany,  Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,  Macedonian, Malta,  Mexico,  Moldavia,  Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan,  Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.