It seems that we sometimes take the idea of the grace of God and amplify it beyond what is Biblical. The Bible says in Romans that where our “sin abounded grace abounded the more” (5:20). It’s true, and God is really a God of grace and a God of mercy, but at some point along the way, if we are not careful, we may shake off the memory of Mt. Sinai and lose our sense of the holy. That attitude can lead to flippant worship.
We can come to Him with boldness, but not carelessness.
I need to be qualify that phrase above:“lose our sense of the holy,” I don't mean that we should be legalists. That's not what I'm stating at all. What do I mean by legalism? Majoring on the externals and making the non-essentials vital. Oftentimes people elevate preference to the point of the truth. When that happens, they have committed a sacrilege by legalism. I’m reminded of the Pharisees who took the traditions of men and taught them as the command of God...
Matt. 15:7-9 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
Some may take the holy and make it profane, but some take the profane and make it holy.
So when I speak of "losing the sense of the holy," I'm not speaking of reverting to legalism (which, in itself, is a slap to the holiness of God in that legalism basically says that we can do enough good things to earn, nay, deserve the approval of God. I'm reminded of the statement that one made: "If holiness were just a matter of following a set of rules and doing certain things at a certain time in a certain way, then a computer could be programmed to be holy.")
I'm glad that God relates to us with the grace found in Christ. Grace is shown in Jesus taking my own sinfulness upon Himself and giving me His righteousness. It’s the Grand Cosmic Exchange. I can't very well be proud, simply because I didn't do anything to earn His righteousness and holiness. It is a gift from God.
When I came to Christ, it was not a matter of God becoming less holy than He is in the Old Testament, but about a human becoming a new creation for His glory and being given His holiness. He is still holy.
Is. 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones."
In the past, people would go to God and fall before Him, weeping over sin, mourning over those things displeasing to Him, shaking in the presence of One who is completely holy.
Unfortunately, when we think of holiness we don’t usually equate it with being broken, instead, we immediately think of “you must do this" or "you must not do that" and push ourselves back into legalistic thinking.
Remember: Our life with Christ is not a series of regulations that we attempt to follow, but it is a relationship to enjoy. There are things we should keep ourselves from, and certainly there are things we are to do in order to be obedient to him. But that is not the whole of it; we can't reduce a life with Him to a checklist.
Far too often we leave the doctrine of the Cross at salvation, and fail to apply it to the rest of our lives. Our lives as Christians are wrapped in the Cross. I often ask, “When does eternal life begin for you as a Christian?” It does not begin when you die; it begins at the moment of salvation. You become a new creation, and you start living eternally from that very moment. Our eternity is wrapped up in what Jesus did on the cross. But we often fail to live like it now.
So how are we to live with this knowledge of the Cross? How is it that we are to approach living this life with that mindset? The answer is found largely in the idea of sacrifice.
Just as on Mount Sinai blood was shed to consecrate and purify, in the Temple blood was shed for the same reason essentially: to cover and atone for sin. And Jesus shed His blood on behalf of our sin. Yet there is a difference in these sacrifices that we find in the book of Hebrews in that the blood of these animals was shed year after year, after year, after year. Jesus offered a once for all sacrifice, a sacrifice that need not be repeated because it was perfect (Heb. 9:11-15).
Do you think those bulls, those oxen, the sheep and goats, and the doves that were sacrificed under the Levitical system understood why they were being sacrificed? Do you think they had a comprehension of that? Of course not.
They didn’t...but Jesus did. Jesus understood. You don’t find Jesus on the Cross saying, "I don't really get why I must go through this; this makes no sense. I don't really understand this ‘sins-of-the-world-being-placed-upon-Me’ idea." We do find Jesus in the Garden of Gethesemane, agonizing over what is before Him, facing the dread of being separated from the Father by bearing the sins of humanity. Matthew relates:
Mt. 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”
“Not My will but Your will be done.”
We find Him saying earlier that He had come to do "the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34; 6:38). Unlike the sacrificial animals, Jesus knew exactly what He was facing, He knew why He was dying, He laid His life down on His own accord…He said so (John 10:18). So just as the animals were sacrificed, their blood was sacrificed, their lives were taken, their physical life ended...they did not understand.
Christ sacrificed His body, His physical life, and shed His blood, but you can’t ignore the fact that He also sacrificed His will. His sacrifice was voluntary. He surrendered to the will of the Father. So the Cross then is not just the surrendering of His physical life, but the surrendering of His very will.
And it's the same for us. Sometimes we get so caught up in the externals, the trappings, the appearance of Christianity that we don't focus upon our wills and what’s going on inside of us. Jesus did not die so that you can have better self-esteem, and so that you could look better to those around you, and be well-liked, more appealing, accepted by society, and have your “ticket punched” so that you would have eternal life when you die.
Approaching a holy God means that you not only surrender your physical life, but that you surrender your personal will. Your desires, your glory, what you believe is best...you sacrifice all of it for His desires, His glory, and what He knows is best. That's not legalism, that's living a crucified life.
The writer of Hebrews gives us an understandin of how we approach our God...The Holy One:
Heb. 12:28-29 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
We have been given grace, but let us never separate that grace from godly fear. Why? “For our God is a consuming fire.”
Ex. 19:18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
He’s still the Holy One.
He says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:16). He doesn't say, "Act holy, for I am holy."
Don't just do, be. Live a life crucified, in body and will, to the Holy One.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Jesus, Etc.
Once, a friend of mine was at a concert at a church where a well-known singer was playing. Her friend in high school had come along with her and had been asking people questions about following Jesus. When he asked this visiting singer (on his way to the stage), “What does it cost to follow Jesus?” the answer was: “You have to give up everything.” My friend, who was the only other person present at the conversation, said, “I didn’t appreciate him saying that! I really lost a lot of respect for the performer. My friend might have come to Christ if that singer had not said that! You don’t just tell a lost person that you have to give up everything when they ask!”
Or do you…?
When someone says, “I’m not ready to give up everything.” We essentially say, “Well, just give up as much as you can right now, maybe later God will help you to be willing to surrender more.” That’s not Biblical.
We’re just so casual about our worship, about our service…Minimum standards and thinking like that. “What’s the least that I can do to get by?” is the question we ask. If you look at His words, Jesus didn’t say anything to cushion the blow. In fact, Jesus seems bent on driving people away.
He talked about hating your father and mother when comparing your love for them to your love for Him:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
He continued in the passage to talk about counting the cost of following Him.
He spoke of putting your hand to the plow and the necessity of not looking back:
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
He spoke to the rich young ruler and told him to sell at that he had:
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
When the disciples left their nets, we find that “left” was a word that meant “to totally forsake” something. They left them to follow Him.
Why, why then do we expect our lives to be any less radical?
Maybe it’s because we like comfort, or maybe we like to “keep our options open.”
That applies to our acceptance of Biblical teaching as well. When I teach, I sometimes have some likely (well-meaning) people make comments to me that run something like this: “You don’t really appeal to many people because you break down the verses. You should try to teach the Scripture in a pure narrative format; people want to hear stories. Because if you say that the Bible is completely authoritative you’re going to scare some people off. Nobody wants to feel confronted with a truth they have to line up with; people need to feel relaxed, like you’re sitting across from them drinking a cup of coffee sitting on a comfy sofa, just having a comfortable conversation, no pressure, nothing expected, no authoritative truth brought up. Just tell how it applies to your life, but don't suggest that there are universal truths…That’s what will really engage people. You should be that casual about it.”
How do we expect to worship God in the way He calls us to worship Him, yet refuse to listen to Him and apply His truth if it runs contrary to our schedules, desires, prejudices, plans and our pre-determined way of thinking?
We make Him out to be less than the King of the Universe, then blame Him for His perceived shorcomings or His apparent inability to make things comfy for us.
“Where does God fit into what I’m doing?” is the question many ask. That’s the acme of selfishness. “Where do I fit into what God is doing?” is the real question.
Or do you…?
When someone says, “I’m not ready to give up everything.” We essentially say, “Well, just give up as much as you can right now, maybe later God will help you to be willing to surrender more.” That’s not Biblical.
We’re just so casual about our worship, about our service…Minimum standards and thinking like that. “What’s the least that I can do to get by?” is the question we ask. If you look at His words, Jesus didn’t say anything to cushion the blow. In fact, Jesus seems bent on driving people away.
He talked about hating your father and mother when comparing your love for them to your love for Him:
Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
He continued in the passage to talk about counting the cost of following Him.
He spoke of putting your hand to the plow and the necessity of not looking back:
Luke 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."
He spoke to the rich young ruler and told him to sell at that he had:
Mark 10:21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
When the disciples left their nets, we find that “left” was a word that meant “to totally forsake” something. They left them to follow Him.
Why, why then do we expect our lives to be any less radical?
Maybe it’s because we like comfort, or maybe we like to “keep our options open.”
That applies to our acceptance of Biblical teaching as well. When I teach, I sometimes have some likely (well-meaning) people make comments to me that run something like this: “You don’t really appeal to many people because you break down the verses. You should try to teach the Scripture in a pure narrative format; people want to hear stories. Because if you say that the Bible is completely authoritative you’re going to scare some people off. Nobody wants to feel confronted with a truth they have to line up with; people need to feel relaxed, like you’re sitting across from them drinking a cup of coffee sitting on a comfy sofa, just having a comfortable conversation, no pressure, nothing expected, no authoritative truth brought up. Just tell how it applies to your life, but don't suggest that there are universal truths…That’s what will really engage people. You should be that casual about it.”
How do we expect to worship God in the way He calls us to worship Him, yet refuse to listen to Him and apply His truth if it runs contrary to our schedules, desires, prejudices, plans and our pre-determined way of thinking?
We make Him out to be less than the King of the Universe, then blame Him for His perceived shorcomings or His apparent inability to make things comfy for us.
“Where does God fit into what I’m doing?” is the question many ask. That’s the acme of selfishness. “Where do I fit into what God is doing?” is the real question.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Distance
I was reading today in Exodus 19 about God telling Moses to set boundaries around Mt. Sinai to keep the Israelites from approaching. God gave specific instructions regarding this prohibition: “You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, 'Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.' When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come near the mountain" (19:12-13).
Did you get that? God shows that He is holy, so much so that if someone broke this rule, then no one would even touch that person…He would be stoned or shot with an arrow instead.
Moses then climbs the mountain to meet with God, and while he probably huffs with his hands on his knees, God tells him, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish” (21).
Moses states the obvious and reminds God of His earlier command. After all, surely His people wouldn’t transgress a clear message from the mouth of God, right?
God insists, and Moses trudges back down to the people to remind them of the serious nature of God’s holiness.
When God said, “Don’t come any closer!” the reaction was to do the thing He said to not do.
Now this holy God is the same God that we serve, the same God who has placed His Spirit into every believer, the same God we can approach with boldness because of the sacrifice of Christ…And we so often ignore Him and neglect spending time with Him, even though He made a way for us to know Him.
Given an advantage unheard of throughout the Old Testament, we chose to undervalue it.
There’s something patently wrong about that.
Did you get that? God shows that He is holy, so much so that if someone broke this rule, then no one would even touch that person…He would be stoned or shot with an arrow instead.
Moses then climbs the mountain to meet with God, and while he probably huffs with his hands on his knees, God tells him, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish” (21).
Moses states the obvious and reminds God of His earlier command. After all, surely His people wouldn’t transgress a clear message from the mouth of God, right?
God insists, and Moses trudges back down to the people to remind them of the serious nature of God’s holiness.
When God said, “Don’t come any closer!” the reaction was to do the thing He said to not do.
Now this holy God is the same God that we serve, the same God who has placed His Spirit into every believer, the same God we can approach with boldness because of the sacrifice of Christ…And we so often ignore Him and neglect spending time with Him, even though He made a way for us to know Him.
Given an advantage unheard of throughout the Old Testament, we chose to undervalue it.
There’s something patently wrong about that.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
The Cleaner
"NO EXTRA CHARGE FOR FAST SERVICE"
That's one of the signs over the counter at the shop of my new cleaner. I smiled when I saw the sign. Half of the smile was due to the jovial way that this small-statured man of Asian ancestry went to find my suits from the rack. The other half of the smile was due to the reminder that people assume that service is an "add-on" and not the norm.
What is assumed at the cleaners is too often also assumed in the Church.
That's one of the signs over the counter at the shop of my new cleaner. I smiled when I saw the sign. Half of the smile was due to the jovial way that this small-statured man of Asian ancestry went to find my suits from the rack. The other half of the smile was due to the reminder that people assume that service is an "add-on" and not the norm.
What is assumed at the cleaners is too often also assumed in the Church.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Premodern, Modern and Postmodern Thought: A General Comparison
PREMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
Characteristics:
o The supernatural exists; God exists.
o He has perfect knowledge, and we can only know what He reveals to us.
o Humanity is, at the most basic level, bad, and is subject to God.
o Meaning and purpose come from Him.
MODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural and the natural are on two different levels. If humans are rational, and we depend upon what we know, then the supernatural is seen as being irrational…therefore inferior. Eventually, this idea moved deeper into…
o Naturalism (nature/the physical world is all that exists). Therefore God, being non-material, is obviously a creation of the human mind (so too for all religions).
o We can use observation, methods and cause/effect relationships to build upon the foundation of our knowledge and eventually achieve certainty. We don’t need revelation from God.
o Humanity is the measure of all things (we don’t exist to serve a higher being, we alone determine truth, and any authority can and should be questioned and tested).
o Secularism—there is no eternal, only right now. If there happens to be a supernatural world, it doesn’t have any impact upon reality in the present.
o At the most basic level a human is full of vast untapped potential to discover, tame and harness the unknown...we are, at heart, good.
POSTMODERN THOUGHT
Characteristics:
o The supernatural may well exist. But there is no one overarching purpose or meaning or universal foundation (authorities, including religion, exist to create a contrived hierarchy for the means of domination).
o We can never know anything for certain, and history itself is subject to interpretation and reinterpretation. Our set of knowledge arose from our society and culture alone.
o Truth is determined by whatever community you are in and is adopted for the community. There are multiple “truths.” Objective, absolute truth simply does not exist.
o Relativism—each person adheres to a personal system of values that “work” for the individual, and each value system is “right” for that person.
o Pluralism—all ideas are equally valid, except those that would claim superiority over another (those are wrong). No one religion is right.
(Check out Radically Unchurched by Alvin Reid and Thinking Against the Grain by N. Allan Moseley for a more detailed treatment of the topic of worldviews...Excellent resources...)
To use a metaphor…In Pre-modern thinking, God is the captain of the ship, standing at the helm, wheel eternally in hand. He supplies the wind, the ocean currents, knows the direction and destination, and we serve as His crew having been liberated from our chains of sin.
In Modern thinking, humanity is functioning as the captain of the ship, wheel firmly in hand. By reading the winds and predicting the currents with scientific accuracy we can discover the direction by science and reasoning and then chart a new destination to explore.
Postmodern thinking lowers the sails, cuts the anchor free, disables the rudder chain, lets the wheel turn as it may all while cursing the meaninglessness of the wind and waves as they push the ship randomly about…and casting furious opposition at those who might suggest that they must choose a captain.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Things I Don't Like So Much...At All...
Since some have asked (and since I've been posting those things that I do like), here, in no particular order, are some things that I've come to realize that I do not enjoy...
1. Flossing (though I do it daily...actually, multiple times daily...which may be why I don't like it).
2. Music by Tiny Tim.
3. Garbage Truck noise early in the morning.
4. Weeks when I don't have some time to be alone and recharge.
5. When people don't celebrate others' success.
6. Keyboards that have a key that's a little too hard to push. Sometimes my "A" KEY IS THAT WAY AND i OVERCOMPENSATE AND HIT CAPS LOCK BY MISTAKE.
7. Dried ketchup (or "catsup," if you like) collected around the mouth of the ketchup bottle. What's worse is catsup on the ketchup bottle...How'd that happen?
8. False humility (aka masked pride).
9. Theft.
10. Laziness.
11. Kimchi.
12. Driving anywhere for a long period of time.
13. Insecurity in leaders.
14. When a wrench slips off the nut or bolt head and your knuckles get bashed against something.
15. Sitting next to someone at a red light while they have their music up way too loud...So I turn up mine...Usually it sounds something like Biggy vs. Bach. (Bach, by the way, always wins...I mean, who will be listening to Biggy 300 years hence? No one. Point made. And yes, I know that few, other than me, use the word "hence" anymore...alas.)
16. Building kingdoms of our own instead of His Kingdom...Or worse still, building our little kingdoms and proclaiming them to be His. I mean, what part of "majesty" and "sovereign" do we not get?
17. The fact that few people read classic books. And by "classics," I'm referring to something older than the 1960's...much older...
18. Writer's block.
19. The fact that I can't paint well (I'm not talking about walls).
20. The reality that I let things bother me...
1. Flossing (though I do it daily...actually, multiple times daily...which may be why I don't like it).
2. Music by Tiny Tim.
3. Garbage Truck noise early in the morning.
4. Weeks when I don't have some time to be alone and recharge.
5. When people don't celebrate others' success.
6. Keyboards that have a key that's a little too hard to push. Sometimes my "A" KEY IS THAT WAY AND i OVERCOMPENSATE AND HIT CAPS LOCK BY MISTAKE.
7. Dried ketchup (or "catsup," if you like) collected around the mouth of the ketchup bottle. What's worse is catsup on the ketchup bottle...How'd that happen?
8. False humility (aka masked pride).
9. Theft.
10. Laziness.
11. Kimchi.
12. Driving anywhere for a long period of time.
13. Insecurity in leaders.
14. When a wrench slips off the nut or bolt head and your knuckles get bashed against something.
15. Sitting next to someone at a red light while they have their music up way too loud...So I turn up mine...Usually it sounds something like Biggy vs. Bach. (Bach, by the way, always wins...I mean, who will be listening to Biggy 300 years hence? No one. Point made. And yes, I know that few, other than me, use the word "hence" anymore...alas.)
16. Building kingdoms of our own instead of His Kingdom...Or worse still, building our little kingdoms and proclaiming them to be His. I mean, what part of "majesty" and "sovereign" do we not get?
17. The fact that few people read classic books. And by "classics," I'm referring to something older than the 1960's...much older...
18. Writer's block.
19. The fact that I can't paint well (I'm not talking about walls).
20. The reality that I let things bother me...
Friday, April 24, 2009
Things I Like #6
Goat cheese...Yes, goat cheese. I know that it's strong. I know that it's probably an acquired taste. Silver Goat is by far the best I've tasted.
Crumble it in a sandwich of crusty bread and grilled shrimp. Or, my favorite (I know this may sound repulsive, but this is what I like...If you have really strong feelings about that, then be my guest to start a blog for things you don't like and put this at the top of the list): a sliver of goat cheese on an organic wheat cracker with a dab of blackberry preserves.
Try it before you berate me.
(This gives me an idea...I'll do a series of my favorite cheeses...stay tuned.)
Coal Mines and Other Deep, Dark Places
Centralia is a town in Eastern Pennsylvania. In the early 1900’s millions of tons of coal were being mined in the region leaving behind an extensive web of excavated mine shafts, some more than 500 feet below the surface. In May 1962, on the outskirts of town, a garbage fire was burning in one of the old strip mine pits. This fire ignited one of the exposed coal seams which, in turn, made its way to the network of mine shafts. Over time, it spread underground until the ground began to seep smoke and fissures started to open in roadways. The grave nature of the problem emerged in 1981 as a young boy walked through the neighborhood and found the ground under him fall away into a 150-foot-deep hole. He was saved by clutching exposed tree roots until his cousin could rescue him. Though coal mine fires are common in the region, the danger of the fires being so close to the surface got the attention of the state. It was determined that a digging project to extinguish this fire would cost an estimated $660-million, and there were no solid guarantees that the attempt would work. The government began to buy the land and homes of the residents so they could relocate to safer ground. In 1981, there were 1600 people living there. Now, in 2007, there are 9.
This fire, started in 1962, has been burning now for 45 years. Currently, the fire is eating away at an stretch of an 8-mile-long coal seam that experts say will keep it burning for another 250 years.
Reminds me of bitterness…
We find in Hebrews 12 the command: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (vs. 14,15). We are warned to guard against a “root of bitterness” that would cause hurt to ourselves, to others, and most importantly, to our witness for Christ. Bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment…they all spread, and they all have a source. One incident, one person, or one word viewed in the wrong way can light a small fire in a little, secluded area of your life. Soon, if left unchecked, the flames of bitterness can find a way into a major seam and begin to creep slowly and methodically though all the foundational supports you depend upon, feeding the fire. Eventually, what is going on underneath makes its way to the surface, and people begin to recognize the damage. The major difference is this: you can’t just simply move away from the bitterness. No matter the cost, you must put out the blaze, lest the fire that burns against another consumes you as well.
This fire, started in 1962, has been burning now for 45 years. Currently, the fire is eating away at an stretch of an 8-mile-long coal seam that experts say will keep it burning for another 250 years.
Reminds me of bitterness…
We find in Hebrews 12 the command: “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (vs. 14,15). We are warned to guard against a “root of bitterness” that would cause hurt to ourselves, to others, and most importantly, to our witness for Christ. Bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment…they all spread, and they all have a source. One incident, one person, or one word viewed in the wrong way can light a small fire in a little, secluded area of your life. Soon, if left unchecked, the flames of bitterness can find a way into a major seam and begin to creep slowly and methodically though all the foundational supports you depend upon, feeding the fire. Eventually, what is going on underneath makes its way to the surface, and people begin to recognize the damage. The major difference is this: you can’t just simply move away from the bitterness. No matter the cost, you must put out the blaze, lest the fire that burns against another consumes you as well.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
What You Leave Behind
“A man's life is always more forcible than his speech. When men take stock of him they reckon his deeds as dollars and his words as pennies. If his life and doctrine disagree, the mass of onlookers accept his practice and reject his preaching.” -C.H. Spurgeon
One of the things that I heard often when growing up was this: “That’s going to leave a mark.” I tripped and scraped my knee…“That’s going to leave a mark.”
Ran into the barbed-wire fence…“That’s going to leave a mark.” Fell from the top of a tree I had climbed…“That’s going to leave a mark.” And those situations did, in fact, leave their marks. We all have scars from accidents and incidents. We all have marks. But it’s easier to focus on the marks made upon us than it is to focus on the marks we make.
I think of parents who fail to guide and guard their children with a clear biblical focus…“That’s going to leave a mark.” People steadily pursuing habits that distance them from an intimate walk with God…“That’s going to leave a mark.” Or when anger, or gossip, or bitterness arises and governs behavior, sullies a life, or destroys a relationship…“That’s going to leave a mark.” We all have marks; we all leave marks.
In the New Testament, a certain word, tupos, surfaces periodically. The word means “the mark of a blow.” It is the word used to describe the act of minting a coin by striking it with a die, or leaving an impression in wax or clay by the application of pressure. It’s the same word translated as “pattern” in Philippians 3:17: “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have for us a pattern.”
He uses the word again (translated as “example”) in I Thessalonians 1:7: “So that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.” Paul uses the same word to encourage both Timothy and Titus to be examples to those before them.
You will leave a mark. You will make an impression that will, in some way, no matter how seemingly small, shape the lives of others. I saw a quote once that read, “No matter who you are, someone is looking to you as an example of how to believe and how to behave.” Who is watching you? Could it be said of you that you strive to live a life that strikes the right kind of die in the lives of others? That your lasting impression is one that shamelessly glorifies Christ and points others clearly to Him? Are you, like Paul, willing to say to those around you, “The things which you…saw in me, these do” (Phil. 4:9)?
What kind of example do you display?
What impression do you make?
That’s going to leave a mark…what will it be?
One of the things that I heard often when growing up was this: “That’s going to leave a mark.” I tripped and scraped my knee…“That’s going to leave a mark.”
Ran into the barbed-wire fence…“That’s going to leave a mark.” Fell from the top of a tree I had climbed…“That’s going to leave a mark.” And those situations did, in fact, leave their marks. We all have scars from accidents and incidents. We all have marks. But it’s easier to focus on the marks made upon us than it is to focus on the marks we make.
I think of parents who fail to guide and guard their children with a clear biblical focus…“That’s going to leave a mark.” People steadily pursuing habits that distance them from an intimate walk with God…“That’s going to leave a mark.” Or when anger, or gossip, or bitterness arises and governs behavior, sullies a life, or destroys a relationship…“That’s going to leave a mark.” We all have marks; we all leave marks.
In the New Testament, a certain word, tupos, surfaces periodically. The word means “the mark of a blow.” It is the word used to describe the act of minting a coin by striking it with a die, or leaving an impression in wax or clay by the application of pressure. It’s the same word translated as “pattern” in Philippians 3:17: “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have for us a pattern.”
He uses the word again (translated as “example”) in I Thessalonians 1:7: “So that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.” Paul uses the same word to encourage both Timothy and Titus to be examples to those before them.
You will leave a mark. You will make an impression that will, in some way, no matter how seemingly small, shape the lives of others. I saw a quote once that read, “No matter who you are, someone is looking to you as an example of how to believe and how to behave.” Who is watching you? Could it be said of you that you strive to live a life that strikes the right kind of die in the lives of others? That your lasting impression is one that shamelessly glorifies Christ and points others clearly to Him? Are you, like Paul, willing to say to those around you, “The things which you…saw in me, these do” (Phil. 4:9)?
What kind of example do you display?
What impression do you make?
That’s going to leave a mark…what will it be?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuning In
His name was John Romulus Brinkley, but he called himself “Doctor.” Attending a school that taught non-traditional medicine and receiving a certificate (valid in only eight states) gave him the supposed right to confer such a title upon himself to lend reputability to his “practice.” He sold his cure-alls via radio show broadcast beamed from a 1000-watt tower in Milford, Kansas. When Kansas pulled his medical “license” and caused him to lose credibility, Brinkley ran for governor as a write-in candidate (his main motivation seems to have been to become governor so that he could reinstate his own medical license). Quickly converting the Milford radio station into the central means of self-promotion for the campaign, Brinkley made blatant comparisons between the way he was being treated and the trial and death of Jesus, and proclaimed his own brand of quack-medicine to be the salvation of the masses. Ultimately, he did not win the governorship though he tried more than once. Upset by his losses, Brinkley moved to the border town of Del Rio, Texas and set up a radio transmission tower across the Rio Grande in Villa Acuna, Mexico. Whereas the United States had a limit upon the wattage of a radio transmitter (50,000 watts), across the border this regulation was not in place. The new station, XERA, operated with an effective wattage of one million watts. Locals said that birds flying near the tower would drop dead, the old dynamo-powered headlamps on trucks in Del Rio would flicker, and barbed-wire fences would hum all over Texas when XERA operated at maximum power. The “X” overrode the transmissions of Atlanta, Chicago, and even some Canadian stations. So powerful was the signal that it is reported that transmissions reached Russia where the organization that was the precursor to the KGB used the broadcasts to give English lessons to the spies-in-training. Brinkley’s messages of bizarre treatments, fortune tellers, and promised restored health helped him to rake in a reported sum of $12 million in five years. Letters and payments came in from every state of the Union as well as from 14 other countries. These letters were written by the hurting in the hope that a quack doctor with a widespread voice sitting on the banks of the Rio Grande could cure what ailed them.
Sometimes we wonder why confusion and uncertainty exists at such a level today. Could it be that we listen to too many voices? Not every voice that speaks of the promise of comfort and peace is the voice of God, no matter how loudly, widespread, promising or authoritative that voice may sound. Messages pound us daily, but we must select the station to which we listen. In the din of multiple voices, all blaring at once (and sometimes contradictory in meaning and purpose) we must make the time and effort so we will not miss hearing the “still, small voice” of God (I Kings 19:12). We must be aware of the false messages that bombard us, but listen to and follow the truth offered from only one source: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
DCG
Sometimes we wonder why confusion and uncertainty exists at such a level today. Could it be that we listen to too many voices? Not every voice that speaks of the promise of comfort and peace is the voice of God, no matter how loudly, widespread, promising or authoritative that voice may sound. Messages pound us daily, but we must select the station to which we listen. In the din of multiple voices, all blaring at once (and sometimes contradictory in meaning and purpose) we must make the time and effort so we will not miss hearing the “still, small voice” of God (I Kings 19:12). We must be aware of the false messages that bombard us, but listen to and follow the truth offered from only one source: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).
DCG
Yet Another Likeable Thing...From Mississippi (like me)
I read it for the first time years ago...and it was good.
I've since read it a number of times...and they've all been good.
It's The Bear by William Faulkner. A story of a boy who faces the wild, the wild that is being eaten away gradually by cultured civilization, like so many things grand and frightful. He faces one of the most important rites of passage of his life to date. (The bit about the dog facing the bear, not included here, is priceless).
Permit an excerpt:
He was sixteen. For six years now he had been a man's hunter. For six years now he had heard the best of all talking. It was of the wilderness, the big woods, bigger and older than any recorded document:--of white man fatuous enough to believe he had bought any part of it, of Indian ruthless enough to pretend that any fragment of it had been his to convey.... It was of the men, not white nor black nor red but men, hunters, with the will and hardihood to endure and the humility and skill to survive, and the dogs and the bear and deer juxtaposed and reliefed against it, ordered and compelled by and within the wilderness in the ancient and unremitting contest according to the ancient and unmitigable rules which voided all regrets and brooked no quarter; -- the best game of all, the best of all breathing and forever the best of all listening, the voices quiet and weighty and deliberate for retrospection and exactitude among the concrete trophies -- the racked guns and the heads and skins -- in the libraries of town houses or the offices of plantation houses or (and best of all) in the camps themselves where the intact and still-warm meat yet hung, the men who had slain it sitting before the burning logs on hearths when there were houses and hearths or about the smoky blazing piled wood in front of stretched tarpaulins when there were not. There was always a bottle present, so that it would seem to him that those fine fierce instants of heart and brain and courage and wiliness and speed were concentrated and distilled into that brown liquor which not women, not boys and children, but only hunters drank, drinking not of the blood they spilled but some condensation of the wild immortal spirit, drinking it moderately, humbly even, not with the pagan's base and baseless hope of acquiring thereby the virtues of cunning and speed but in salute to them.(pp. 185-186).
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Center Stage
A brief history lesson, if you will…
For years upon years, humans held to the basic theory that the Earth, not the Sun, was at the center of our universe. Claudius Ptolemaeus, a Greek living in the 2nd century A.D., was the first to offer a detailed explanation of this theory. His work was accepted for many years afterward as true. We refer to this arrangement of the universe as the Ptolemaic model: Earth is in the center and all things (the Sun, the planets, the stars, etc.) move in orbits around it. Only after the passing of a millennium (and some change), was this theory toppled by the extensive scientific work starting with Copernicus in 1543, then Galileo and, after him, Kepler. Now we hold a Copernican view of the universe: the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center. (Interestingly, a recent study shows that 1 in 5 Americans think that the Earth still occupies the central position.)
But long before Ptolemaeus formalized the popular Earth-centered theory, a man named Aristarchus of Samos, born in 310 B.C., offered an alternate idea. He said, even then, that the Sun was the center of our universe. Though he was right, his suggestion was considered ridiculous. According to history, he had only one known supporter, a man named Seleucus.
Seems that suggesting our little world isn’t the center of the universe wins few popularity votes…
Today, even though the old Earth-centered model has passed from the scene, a new way of thinking has emerged: a “me-centered” universe…and it has plenty of followers. We live in an entitlement society: our rights must be met, preferences catered to, freedoms to do “whatever we want to do” preserved, and atop it all, we must be entertained. In short, we feel like the world, others, and even God, owe us something. This line of thought stretches to include the way we shop, vote, and even how we worship.
Someone considering being involved with our Singles Ministry asked me a question once with a tone that sounded very much he was haggling over the options offered on a new car, and I was the salesman:
“So if I come to your Bible Fellowship class on Sunday, what exactly is in it for me? I want to know exactly what you can offer me.”
So, I was truthful.
“Opportunities for people to become followers of Christ, know Him more deeply, become more like Him, and glorify Him through sacrifice and service,” I said.
By all accounts, though it is the right answer, it wasn’t the desired or expected answer.
The “me-centered” universe doesn’t square with the reality found in Christ. In fact, Colossians tells us that “All things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16). He must be the “center of my universe” because He’s the only one worthy to occupy that position.
Jesus doesn’t exist for me; I exist for Him. Or, as a pastor said long ago, “It’s not about what you’re going to get out of God, but what God’s going to get out of you.”
DCG
For years upon years, humans held to the basic theory that the Earth, not the Sun, was at the center of our universe. Claudius Ptolemaeus, a Greek living in the 2nd century A.D., was the first to offer a detailed explanation of this theory. His work was accepted for many years afterward as true. We refer to this arrangement of the universe as the Ptolemaic model: Earth is in the center and all things (the Sun, the planets, the stars, etc.) move in orbits around it. Only after the passing of a millennium (and some change), was this theory toppled by the extensive scientific work starting with Copernicus in 1543, then Galileo and, after him, Kepler. Now we hold a Copernican view of the universe: the Sun, not the Earth, is at the center. (Interestingly, a recent study shows that 1 in 5 Americans think that the Earth still occupies the central position.)
But long before Ptolemaeus formalized the popular Earth-centered theory, a man named Aristarchus of Samos, born in 310 B.C., offered an alternate idea. He said, even then, that the Sun was the center of our universe. Though he was right, his suggestion was considered ridiculous. According to history, he had only one known supporter, a man named Seleucus.
Seems that suggesting our little world isn’t the center of the universe wins few popularity votes…
Today, even though the old Earth-centered model has passed from the scene, a new way of thinking has emerged: a “me-centered” universe…and it has plenty of followers. We live in an entitlement society: our rights must be met, preferences catered to, freedoms to do “whatever we want to do” preserved, and atop it all, we must be entertained. In short, we feel like the world, others, and even God, owe us something. This line of thought stretches to include the way we shop, vote, and even how we worship.
Someone considering being involved with our Singles Ministry asked me a question once with a tone that sounded very much he was haggling over the options offered on a new car, and I was the salesman:
“So if I come to your Bible Fellowship class on Sunday, what exactly is in it for me? I want to know exactly what you can offer me.”
So, I was truthful.
“Opportunities for people to become followers of Christ, know Him more deeply, become more like Him, and glorify Him through sacrifice and service,” I said.
By all accounts, though it is the right answer, it wasn’t the desired or expected answer.
The “me-centered” universe doesn’t square with the reality found in Christ. In fact, Colossians tells us that “All things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16). He must be the “center of my universe” because He’s the only one worthy to occupy that position.
Jesus doesn’t exist for me; I exist for Him. Or, as a pastor said long ago, “It’s not about what you’re going to get out of God, but what God’s going to get out of you.”
DCG
A Few of My Favorite Things...what is this? # 4 on the list, I think...
Greek food is great.
Sushi is great.
How many times have you thought, "How I wish I could find a place to get sushi AND Greek food?"
Wish no longer.
Kalamata Kitchen (9405 S. Northshore Dr., Knoxville, 37922) right here in Knoxville, has both!
Let me go on record as saying this: They have a samurai roll that is the absolute best thing on the menu. It's unlike any other samurai roll you have ever had...I promise. Seared scallops, great sauces atop it all...you need one...now.
Friday, February 13, 2009
What's That On Your Wrist
I was the only 5th grader in Study Hall reading Soldier of Fortune magazine...
I know that's weird. It was a bit strange then too. There were lots of questioning looks from teachers; I was always glad that no discussion of future plans was brought up in that time:
"Now children, what would you like to be when you grow up?"
"I'd like to be a doctor."
"Good, how about you?"
"A scientist."
"Very good...Dustin? How about you?"
"I would like to travel to various places of conflict about our globe and bring justice to the oppressed."
But anyway, back to SOF magazine. I always saw these ads in the back for elephant hair bracelets...and I always wanted one.
So early last year I found one at a great website (which is approved by numerous elephant hair fans as all the hair is gathered in humane ways):
http://justelephant.com/
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Fast Pitch
I saw one for the first time when I was in 4th grade. It was a hardball. I know that we use the term “hardball” to differentiate a baseball from a softball, but this was no baseball, it was a true hardball. A kid named Chris brought it to school; he was the guy with the crew-cut hair and the hands stained from playing in red-clay dirt. A group of us were playing tag when Chris showed up with this thing in his hand. “Who wants to play?” he asked. If I remember correctly, we tried to run away, after all, it was a hardball.
It was a little smaller than a baseball, but was not made of a leather-cased, rubber core wrapped with twine. This ball was solid, with a seam running around it like an equator, and was scarred from impacts against brick walls and gravel driveways. This was no toy; it was a miniature planet…a world of hurt. He held it up in the sun for us to see and chided us for our cowardice.
“What if it hits one of us?” a friend asked.
“Do you know how much that would hurt?” said another. Someone suggested that we roll the ball to one another. Others nodded with enthusiasm, rolling seemed so much safer. Chris snorted, “You throw hardballs.”
And that’s what we did. At times, seeing that ball drop down from a blue sky toward you, the only thing you could think was, “It’s going too fast. It will slip through my fingers and hit my head.” And sometimes you would sidestep the hurtling little planet and watch as it thumped against the ground leaving a sharply-defined crater near your feet. But, at other times, you would step up, stretch out your hands, and catch it.
God plays hardball. He is a loving God, a God of comfort, and a merciful God, yet He is a God of truth. He plays hardball. John gives us the response of some of Jesus’ disciples after hearing Him teach on the subject of His coming death; “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" (John 6:60). John goes on to write in verse 66 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” The hardball was pitched, and they stepped out of the way.
Having taught high school English for a few years before going into the ministry, I had developed one unit about knowing and acting upon the truth of a matter. I would always ask at the beginning of that unit the same question, “Would you rather hear the hard truth, and possibly have to make corrections to your life, or believe a “soft” lie, and remain comfortable, not having to change anything?” Many, many students chose the second: the comfortable, soft, non-challenging lie. That’s what Jesus encountered. “Don’t give me the truth, give me something easy.” His followers wanted the comfort of the miracles, but cared little for the core of the message. Sidestep the hardball, let it fall to the ground; it’s safer that way.
Perhaps God is playing hardball with you. Maybe you’ve been reading His word and He has pitched a ball to you. You are in the game, but then you see it dropping out of the sky, and think, “I should step aside.” Or maybe you would say, “God, why don’t You roll the ball to me? It’s safer.” Maybe you’ve grown so scared and discouraged that you’ve stepped from the game. Don’t step aside, don’t complain, and get back in the game. Step up to the truth, even if the corrections you face are painful. Remember, His goal is to make you like Him; “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
It was a little smaller than a baseball, but was not made of a leather-cased, rubber core wrapped with twine. This ball was solid, with a seam running around it like an equator, and was scarred from impacts against brick walls and gravel driveways. This was no toy; it was a miniature planet…a world of hurt. He held it up in the sun for us to see and chided us for our cowardice.
“What if it hits one of us?” a friend asked.
“Do you know how much that would hurt?” said another. Someone suggested that we roll the ball to one another. Others nodded with enthusiasm, rolling seemed so much safer. Chris snorted, “You throw hardballs.”
And that’s what we did. At times, seeing that ball drop down from a blue sky toward you, the only thing you could think was, “It’s going too fast. It will slip through my fingers and hit my head.” And sometimes you would sidestep the hurtling little planet and watch as it thumped against the ground leaving a sharply-defined crater near your feet. But, at other times, you would step up, stretch out your hands, and catch it.
God plays hardball. He is a loving God, a God of comfort, and a merciful God, yet He is a God of truth. He plays hardball. John gives us the response of some of Jesus’ disciples after hearing Him teach on the subject of His coming death; “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" (John 6:60). John goes on to write in verse 66 “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.” The hardball was pitched, and they stepped out of the way.
Having taught high school English for a few years before going into the ministry, I had developed one unit about knowing and acting upon the truth of a matter. I would always ask at the beginning of that unit the same question, “Would you rather hear the hard truth, and possibly have to make corrections to your life, or believe a “soft” lie, and remain comfortable, not having to change anything?” Many, many students chose the second: the comfortable, soft, non-challenging lie. That’s what Jesus encountered. “Don’t give me the truth, give me something easy.” His followers wanted the comfort of the miracles, but cared little for the core of the message. Sidestep the hardball, let it fall to the ground; it’s safer that way.
Perhaps God is playing hardball with you. Maybe you’ve been reading His word and He has pitched a ball to you. You are in the game, but then you see it dropping out of the sky, and think, “I should step aside.” Or maybe you would say, “God, why don’t You roll the ball to me? It’s safer.” Maybe you’ve grown so scared and discouraged that you’ve stepped from the game. Don’t step aside, don’t complain, and get back in the game. Step up to the truth, even if the corrections you face are painful. Remember, His goal is to make you like Him; “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” (John 17:17).
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
A Few of My Favorite Things 2
Hummus...Some say it's merely ground chickpeas and olive oil (well, that is true), but it's so much more than that. Sabra is the creamiest hummus I've ever had (and I've had a lot). By far, the best.
Sometimes when I'm out to eat, and I see hummus on the menu, I like to say, "Bring me a hummus, and make it a Sabra."
Okay, no, I don't really do that...
But you should really try this stuff...it's great.
(By the way, I'm getting nothing for heaping such accolades upon this noble product...But, People of the Sabra brand (or Sabra-ites/Sabrans, whatever you may be called there at the company) if you happen to read this and feel compelled to send me some of your hummus, I shan't turn it away.)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
More Timely After 30 Years...
"The Mush God has been known to appear to millionaires on golf courses. He appears to politicians at ribbon-cutting ceremonies and to clergymen speaking the invocation on national TV at either Democratic or Republican conventions. The Mush God's presence is felt during Brotherhood Week and when Rotarians come together. He is the lifeless deity President Carter was referring to when suggesting peace might come to the Middle East because the Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister both worshipped the Great Mushy One.
"The Mush God has no theology to speak of, being a Cream of Wheat divinity. The Mush God has no particular credo, no tenets of faith, nothing that would make it difficult for believer and non-believer alike to lower one's head when the temporary chairman tells us the Reverend, Rabbi, Father, Mufti, or So-and-So will lead us in an innocuous, harmless prayer, for this god of public occasions is not a jealous god. You can even invoke him to start a hooker convention and he/she or it won't be offended.
"God of the Rotary, God of the Optimists' Club, Protector of the Buddy System, the Mush God is the Lord of secular ritual, of the necessary but hypocritical forms and formalities that hush the divisive and the derisive. The Mush God is a serviceable god whose laws are not chiseled on tablets but written on sand, open to amendment, qualification, and era-sure. This is a god that will compromise with you, make allowances and declare all wars holy, all peaces hallowed."
Nicholas Van Hoffman (1978)
"The Mush God has no theology to speak of, being a Cream of Wheat divinity. The Mush God has no particular credo, no tenets of faith, nothing that would make it difficult for believer and non-believer alike to lower one's head when the temporary chairman tells us the Reverend, Rabbi, Father, Mufti, or So-and-So will lead us in an innocuous, harmless prayer, for this god of public occasions is not a jealous god. You can even invoke him to start a hooker convention and he/she or it won't be offended.
"God of the Rotary, God of the Optimists' Club, Protector of the Buddy System, the Mush God is the Lord of secular ritual, of the necessary but hypocritical forms and formalities that hush the divisive and the derisive. The Mush God is a serviceable god whose laws are not chiseled on tablets but written on sand, open to amendment, qualification, and era-sure. This is a god that will compromise with you, make allowances and declare all wars holy, all peaces hallowed."
Nicholas Van Hoffman (1978)
Something to Ponder
"Rome fell September 4, 476AD. It was overrun with illegal
immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths,
Burgundians, Lombards, Jutes and Vandals, who at first assimilated
and worked as servants, but then came so fast they did not learn
the Latin Language or the Roman form of government. Highly trained
Roman Legions moving rapidly on their advanced road system, were
strained fighting conflicts worldwide. Rome had a trade deficit,
having outsourced most of its grain production to North Africa, and
when Vandals captured that area, Rome did not have the resources to
retaliate. Attila the Hun was committing terrorist attacks. The
city of Rome was on welfare with citizens being given free
bread. One Roman commented: 'Those who live at the expense of the
public funds are more numerous than those who provide them.' Tax
collectors were 'more terrible than the enemy.' Gladiators provided
violent entertainment in the Coliseum. There was injustice in
courts, exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, immorality
and perverted bathhouses. 5th-Century historian Salvian wrote:
'O Roman people be ashamed... Let nobody think otherwise, the vices
of our bad lives have alone conquered us'." ---William Federer
immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths,
Burgundians, Lombards, Jutes and Vandals, who at first assimilated
and worked as servants, but then came so fast they did not learn
the Latin Language or the Roman form of government. Highly trained
Roman Legions moving rapidly on their advanced road system, were
strained fighting conflicts worldwide. Rome had a trade deficit,
having outsourced most of its grain production to North Africa, and
when Vandals captured that area, Rome did not have the resources to
retaliate. Attila the Hun was committing terrorist attacks. The
city of Rome was on welfare with citizens being given free
bread. One Roman commented: 'Those who live at the expense of the
public funds are more numerous than those who provide them.' Tax
collectors were 'more terrible than the enemy.' Gladiators provided
violent entertainment in the Coliseum. There was injustice in
courts, exposure of unwanted infants, infidelity, immorality
and perverted bathhouses. 5th-Century historian Salvian wrote:
'O Roman people be ashamed... Let nobody think otherwise, the vices
of our bad lives have alone conquered us'." ---William Federer
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Few of My Favorite Things 1
I've decided to share a few things I've found along my way that I like, enjoy or find generally amusing for some reason.
To begin, the scent that I like and wear often: Idole by Lubin.
People smell it and say, "Oh, that smells like..." and trail off into confusion.
For those of you into that sort of thing, here's the breakdown:
Top Notes-
Rum Absolute, Saffron, Bitter Orange Peel, Black Cumin.
Middle Notes-
Doum Palm, Smoked Ebony, Sugar Cane.
Base Notes-
Leather, Red Sandalwood.
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