“…when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” Luke 15:30
What a statement! I’ve always focused on the older son when he’s on the scene, but his words reveal an incredible perspective on the Father.
After a month into 2008, I have actually made progress on most of my goals for the year. Here’s a quick update on some of the more interesting goals I have.
I’m right on schedule in my training for the 13.1 mile run ahead of me. The race isn’t until the end of April, but this month I’ve already run a total of 51 miles in training. I’ll really start adding on the miles in the next 3 weeks or so.
Dr. Pepper – I love you, but you’re bad for me, especially since I’m running. I’ve had no Dr. Pepper since the first of the year. Running has been my major motivation for this.
I’m well into three books right now. Even though I’ve not completely read a single book yet, I would say that the progress in this area is moving forward. We’ll see how far a make it through the already growing stack of books.
Rosetta Stone arrived in the mail about two weeks ago. This is really the only avenue I have to start learning Spanish right now. To quantify this goal in some way, I think I’ll try to make it through at least the first CD within the year (Rosetta’s recommended time is about 6 months). The lessons so far have been a lot of fun. I’m really excited about this one.
The time frame for this goal is a year, but the pace I’ve been at will have me finished within 10 months. Those extra two months will definitely come in handy when I have to review huge quantities of the book at once. I have currently memorized through the first chapter.
Although I do have more goals including, financial, family, and social goals, these are just a few of the more easily measurable ambitions that I’m excited about.
What are some of your goals for the year, and how is your progress coming along?
Malachi says that the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings.
This Sun - Jesus - did arise, and he physically healed many people as seen throughout the gospels. But, did healing come from his wings? Read More
Follow the Rabbi is a great resource for historical, cultural, and religious context of Jesus as Jew and a rabbi.
The great thing about reading both the KJV and NASB is that every time I come across a difference in a verse, I have to stop and really think about what the passage is saying.
This happens a lot since I’m so used to the KJV.
Two weeks after I placed an order for a NAS thinline Bible I received a call from LifeWay letting me know the Bible still hadn’t arrived, but they did receive one I might be interested in. Sure enough, I was interested, and I quickly grabbed this with some remaining birthday funds. Here it is.
It took me a while to make it past the first paragraph on this one, but the rest of the article is quite interesting:
In his interview with Larry King (CNN, June 20, 2005), Joel Osteen said that he is not sure what happens to people who reject Christ. King followed up with the question about Jews, Moslems, and other non-Christians. “They’re wrong, aren’t they?” Osteen replied, “Well, I don’t know if I believe they’re wrong. I believe here’s what the Bible teaches and from the Christian faith this is what I believe. But I just think that only God will judge a person’s heart. I spent a lot of time in India with my father. I don’t know all about their religion. But I know they love God. And I don’t know. I’ve seen their sincerity. So I don’t know. I know for me, and what the Bible teaches, I want to have a relationship with Jesus.” Michael S. Horton
Comparing Translations is a great resource from a mostly objective point of view for understanding where our current Bible comes from. This is a great chart comparing Bibles’ literalness.
Why is it that when I try to research where translations of the Bible come from, I either get overwhelmed with ultra-detailed information, or end up with a verse-by-verse list of differences between any version and the KJV?
My last post talked about the building blocks mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3 and what those are based on the immediate context.
From a broader context and even some things mentioned in the comment by NJ, you might beg the question:
“But wait, isn’t Paul talking about building into the church, not individuals?”
Yes and no.
I’ve been looking at 1 Corinthians 3 through two different views.
The first idea expands from what I mentioned before about wood, hay, stubble, gold, silver, and precious stones, and uses this premise to determine the rest of the context.
The second idea is based on actual people being our work, not what we put into those people. In other passages people are our work, but is this what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 3?
Looking at context will help you see where these views are coming from—and where they end up. Read More
The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon - History, archaeology, textual criticism, and other disciplines combine to shed light on what is true…and what is false.
What! How can they not burn?
Of course wood, hay and stubble are easily consumed by fire, but what are wood, hay and stubble in the first place?
Paul writes to the church at Corinth about many different issues, but in 1 Corinthians 3, he mentions an interesting concept.
Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
(1 Corinthians 3:12-15)
A common understanding of this passage is that every person’s works can either be gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or stubble.
Once these works are tried, the bad ones—wood, hay and stubble—will be burned up, and the good ones—gold, silver and precious stones—will remain. Even though a person does bad works, they will still be saved.
This popular view doesn’t specifically answer what Paul means by this section of his letter.
Paul reveals through the context of his letter what he truly means by gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble. Read More
After more than a month of persistence from the Mormon missionaries, my wife and I finally set aside time to meet with them.
Last night two Mormon elders came to our house to share with us their message of the “complete” gospel. I have to be completely honest—I know almost nothing about Mormons. To show my ignorance on the topic, I learned for the first time last night that Joseph Smith—the founder of the movement—was only 14 when he received his “first vision.”
That’s young.
As we welcomed them into our house, my wife and I quickly noticed the missionaries’ observations about us—that we have a Strong’s Concordance, Scripture artwork, etc.—even though we tried not to let them know too much up front.
This was our first experience together with Mormons, and we wanted to hear from them as if we were just another couple. Needless to say, we were just another couple to them, and they did make their assumptions about us before sharing anything. Read More
Gregory Boyd, author of Myth of a Christian Nation, reveals a very different approach to evangelism than that of Ray Comfort.
While Ray’s primary method of evangelism is centered on the law—more specifically the Ten Commandments—Gregory emphasizes building a case for Christ from what the receiving audience already believes.
This approach is illustrated by Paul when addressing a non–Jewish audience.
Rather than making his case on what he, as a Jew, believed, he made his case on the basis of what his Gentile audience believed.
The clearest example of this approach is found in Acts 17. Paul is discussing Christ with a group of non–Jewish philosophers (Acts 17:19), and instead of pointing to their sin, he immediately commends them for being so religious (Acts 17:22). Read More
Who did Christ die for?
You could easily start some serious debates by asking that one little question.
But, what if you changed it to ask: What did Christ die for?
What if the New Testament view of salvation isn’t limited to human beings?
My thoughts for this week have been primarily focused on answering that very question after I came across a quote of James Kallas, saying:
…. since the cosmos itself is in bondage, depressed under evil forces, the essential content of the word “salvation” is that the world itself will be rescued, or renewed, or set free. Salvation is a cosmic event affecting the whole of creation….Salvation is not simply the overcoming of my rebellion and the forgiveness of my guilt, but salvation is the liberation of the whole world process of which I am only a small part. 1
I recently listened to a brief audio clip by Ray Comfort called, “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.” The message goes through what Ray believes is the major problem behind modern day evangelism methods. The problem—and tragedy—is that current evangelism has forsaken the law and its ability to covert the soul. Instead of using the law, the church has resorted to giving a message promising to enhance the quality of life.
This message is what causes so many Christians to turn away from the faith—being discomforted by Christianity and not seeing any enhancement to their life.
They received a parachute in hopes of enjoying a better flight instead of receiving a parachute to save them from sudden death on a flight guaranteed to crash. Read More
Peter spoke from experience when he reminded a group of people who were about to undergo persecution how Jesus responded to persecution.
Peter said, “When he [Jesus] was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously” (1 Peter 2:23).
These words had to have come deep from within Peter’s heart because of his recent experience with Christ—who demonstrated in a dramatic illustration how to respond to persecution in love rather than retaliation. The scene plays out John 18 as the officers come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Read More
