the people i love bug me ...

Andrew Jones, of Tallskinnykiwi fame wrote this witty and insightful post. I thought it was interesting since today at lunch as my friends mentioned various cities I tossed back my favorite restaurants in each.

I love poor people and spend most of my time with them.

But

poor people bug me with the amount of DOGS they have. The greater their poverty, the more dogs they adopt. The dogs are always larger than they should be and they are always mean. In fact, the meanness of the dogs is proportional to the poverty of their owners.

I love rich people and I couldn't work in social enterprise without their support.

But

rich people bug me most when they boast about finding the best restaurant. Name a city and they immediately tell you the best place to eat, as they puff up like a peacock and pride themselves on their discovery. The degree of restaurant-boasting is proportional to the obscurity of the city. Hey - finding a restaurant is nothing to boast about. Learn to cook something fabulous and then boast about that!

I love non-Western countries and spend most of my time in them.

But

non-Western countries bug me most when they mess with their jeans. They just cant leave a pair of jeans alone. They have to add extra pockets and extra zips and little strips of fabric. Then they make up a stupid western sounding name and put 17 labels on it. The amount of junk on non-western jeans is proportional to the geographical distance to the west. Hey come on! Jeans look best when minimal. The more stuff you add to a pair of jeans, the less value. Just make a simple pair of jeans and leave them alone for all our sakes!

I love Western countries and I grew up in them.

But

Western countries bug me when they destroy a pair of jeans and try to charge me more money for them. They wash them with stones and razor blades. They beat the crap out of them and think they are doing me a favor. The extent to which a pair of jeans is forcibly decimated is proportional to the high price. The more holes, the more money. Hey - I can wear out my own jeans. Really.

miracles of jesus

Well, I still like a good miracle ...

christianity is not socialism

I've had many people tell me Jesus was a socialist. I don't buy it. I like this from Terrell Clemmons.

Christianity: What's mine is yours.
Socialism: What's yours is mine.

Christianity: I am my brother's keeper.
Socialism: My brother is my keeper.

you ate my halloween candy

Wow!!! What kind of kids are we raising?

homeopathic medicine

This is making the rounds on the internet ... homeopathic emergency room ...

desperate prayer

Paul Miller: "We pray not out of discipline, but out of desperation."

status posting

Wonder where you should post your status? Here's help [click to enlarge].

social justice index

Justin Elliott writes:

A new study from the Congressional Budget Office, for example, found that income of the top 1 percent of households increased by 275 percent in the 30-year period ending in 2007. American households at the bottom and in the middle, meanwhile, saw income growth of just 18 to 40 percent over the same period.

There's something about that that just feels wrong to me but I don't know what or why. I'm also not sure about the reliability of the data and if it is valid to present in this simplistic way.

But that aside, I know this, some Christians are latching onto this as an issue for believers. I absolutely do not see that. What I see is people stirring up class envy under the banner of Christ and I see people promoting their socialistic (or socialistic-leaning) agenda also under the banner of Christ.

I don't see it as such. I do not see what in the Bible would make me think these statistics are one that I should have any negative reaction to. In fact, as I play it out, I think my negative reaction is due to some preconceived ideas.

clear communication

As someone that travels the world I fully appreciate communication issues.

more love = more hate

Yes, the more you love the more you hate. John Murray explains in Redemption Accomplished and Applied.

If there is still sin to any degree in one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, then there is tension, yes, contradiction, within the heart of that person.

Indeed, the more sanctified the person is, the more conformed he is to the image of his Saviour, the more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God.

The deeper his apprehension of the Majesty of God, the greater the intensity of his love to God, the more persistent his yearning for the attainment of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the more cautious will he be of the gravity of the sin which remains and the more poignant will be his detestation of it.

HT:JP

the death of death

Paul David Tripp in Forever: Why You Can't Live Without It:

The God of forever, who created people to live with him forever, set in motion a plan to deal with death, the one thing smack-dab in the way of forver. To the one who is the Author of life, death is unacceptable. For death to be alive and well is not all right. For every human being to face and fear death is not okay. Nor is it acceptable for the spiritual death of separation from God and the physical death that ends every person’e life to dominate the human story. This enemy of forever, this horrible intrusion, this painful interruption, must be defeated. Somehow death must be defeated. Death must die because it stands in the way of the forever we were created to enjoy. But there is nothing we can do about it. The story of the Bible is the story of God’s doing the one thing we don’t have the ability to do: kill death.

HT:OFI

right living

Psa 24.3-5

In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster wrote, "The desperate need today is not for greater numbers of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deeper people."

To Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote, (1 Tim 4.6-8) "If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

I like this from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: "Godliness, as denoting character and conduct determined by the principle of love or fear of God in the heart, is the summing up of genuine religion. There can be no true religion without it: only a dead “form” (2 Tim 3:5). The term is a favorite one in the Pastoral Epistles. The incarnation is “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim 3:16)."

The discipline and outward change must flow from an inward recreation initiated by God Himself. When this is the sequence, godliness is differentiated from goodliness in no small way.

antipsalm

David Powlison sees that there are two ways of doing life. He writes:

From Jesus' point of view, there are two fundamentally different ways of doing life. One way, you're connected to a God who's involved in your life. Psalm 23 is all about this: "The Lord is my shepherd… and his goodness and mercy surely follow me all the days of my life." The other way, you're pretty much on your own and disconnected. Let's call this the antipsalm 23: "I'm on my own… and disappointment follows me all the days of my life." We'll look first at the antipsalm way of doing life.

Antipsalm 23

I’m on my own.

No one looks out for me or protects me.

I experience a continual sense of need. Nothing’s quite right.

I’m always restless. I’m easily frustrated and often disappointed.

It’s a jungle—I feel overwhelmed. It’s a desert—I’m thirsty.

My soul feels broken, twisted, and stuck. I can’t fix myself.

I stumble down some dark paths.

Still, I insist: I want to do what I want, when I want, how I want.

But life’s confusing. Why don’t things ever really work out?

I’m haunted by emptiness and futility—shadows of death.

I fear the big hurt and final loss.

Death is waiting for me at the end of every road,

but I’d rather not think about that.

I spend my life protecting myself. Bad things can happen.

I find no lasting comfort.

I’m alone . . . facing everything that could hurt me.

Are my friends really friends?

Other people use me for their own ends.

I can’t really trust anyone. No one has my back.

No one is really for me—except me.

And I’m so much all about ME, sometimes it’s sickening.

I belong to no one except myself.

My cup is never quite full enough. I’m left empty.

Disappointment follows me all the days of my life.

Will I just be obliterated into nothingness?

Will I be alone forever, homeless, free-falling into void?

Sartre said, “Hell is other people.”

I have to add, “Hell is also myself.”

It’s a living death,

and then I die.

The antipsalm tells what life feels like and looks like whenever God vanishes from sight. As we hear about Garrett and the others, each story lives too much inside the antipsalm. The "I'm-all-alone-in-the-universe" experience maps onto each one of them. The antipsalm captures the drivenness and pointlessness of life-purposes that are petty and self-defeating. It expresses the fears and silent despair that cannot find a voice because there's no one to really talk to. Our five friends are spinning out of control. They might implode. Something bad gets last say, when whatever you live for is not God.

And when you're caught up in the antipsalm, it doesn't help when you're labeled a "disorder," a "syndrome," or a "case." The problem is much more serious. The disorder is "my life." The syndrome is "I'm on my own." The case is "Who am I and what am I living for?," when too clearly I am the center of my story.

But the antipsalm doesn't need to tell the final story. It only becomes your reality when you construct your reality from a lie. In reality, someone else is the center of the story. Nobody can make Jesus go away. The I AM was, is and will be, whether or not people acknowledge.

When you awaken, when you see who Jesus actually is, everything changes. You see the person whose care and ability you can trust. You experience his care. You see the person whose glory you are meant to worship. You love him who loves you. The real Psalm 23 captures what life feels like and looks like when Jesus Christ puts his hand on your shoulder.

god is faithful

My dad sent me these Scripture references on God's faithfulness ...

Deuteronomy 4:31: “For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

Deuteronomy 7:9: “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”

1 Kings 8:20: “The LORD has kept the promise he made: I have succeeded David my father and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as the LORD promised, and I have built the temple for the Name of the LORD, the God of Israel.”

1 Samuel 15:29: “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind."

1 Kings 8:56: “Praise be to the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses.”

Psalm 9:10: “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”

Psalm 36:5: “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”

Psalm 40:10: “I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.”

Psalm 89:2, 8: “I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself... O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you.”; (33) “but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.”

Psalm 92:1-2: “It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night,”

Psalm 105:8: “He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations”

Psalms 111:5: “He provides food for those who fear him; he remembers his covenant forever.”

Psalm 117: “Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.”

Psalm 119:89-90: “Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations; you established the earth, and it endures.”

Psalm 119:160: “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.”

Psalm 143:1: “O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.”

Isaiah 25:1: “O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago.”

Isaiah 46:11b: “What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

Isaiah 49:7: “This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel— to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Isaiah 54:10: “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

Lamentations 3:22-24: “Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Romans 3:3-4: “What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."

1 Corinthians 1:9: “God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”

1 Corinthians 10:13: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

2 Corinthians 1:20: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

I Thessalonians 5:23-24: “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it”.

Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful”.

I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Revelation 19:11: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.”

technology

Trevin Wax posts an excerpt from John Dyer's From the Garden to the City. What did the Apostle John think about technology? Here is the excerpt ... what do you think?

We mentioned the apostle John’s view of technology found in 2 John 12, where he wrote, “Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.”

John was comfortable using the communication technology—pen and ink—of his day, but he did so with a set of values that were contrary to the tendencies built into the technology of writing. Whereas a letter requires that one isolated person write a message and then another isolated person later read that message, John says that his joy is never complete until he is physically present with his community.

And yet, aware of this problem, John used writing because he understood both its helpfulness and its problematic value system. From that perspective he was able to use technology in service of the embodied communal life that Christ taught him. When John could not be physically present with his community, he was comfortable using technology to communicate with them. But he was always careful to state that he considered technologically mediated relationships to be inferior to embodied relationships.

For John, both embodied and disembodied communication were “real”; he simply believed that only face-to-face reality offered him “complete joy.” The great temptation of the digital generation is to inadvertently disagree with John and assume that online presence offers the same kind of “complete joy” as offline presence.

Our problem is not that technologically mediated relationships are unreal, nor is the problem that all online communication is self-focused and narcissistic. Rather, the danger is that just like the abundance of food causes us to mistake sweet food for nourishing food, and just like the abundance of information can drown out deep thinking, the abundance of virtual connection can drown out the kind of life-giving, table-oriented life that Jesus cultivated among his disciples.

Social media follows the device paradigm in that it masks the long, sometimes arduous process of friendship and makes it available at the press of a button. Yet, just because social media follows the device paradigm does not mean that we should abandon it any more than we should abandon air-conditioning. Though such speculation is rarely useful, we can only assume that if the apostles were alive today, they would continue using the technology of the day. Yet, as John modeled for us, they would do so with their value system in mind, always seeking to use technology in service of embodied life, not as a replacement for embodied life.

biblical contradictions

There has always been those who would try to disprove or discredit the Scriptures. One tact is to attempt to show its contradictions. I think John Piper does an excellent job shedding some light on a weak attempt and in doing so increased my faith - not because I doubt the text but because when a regenerate person wrestles honestly with Scripture it is food to his soul.

Paul says in Romans 4:2,3: “If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about; but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? 'And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness'.”

James says in 2:21: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar?”

Read Piper here to gain a clear understanding of the terms used by Paul and James. His bottom-line;

James 2:14-26 and Romans 4 are not saying the very same thing; their aims are different. James aims to confront the error of a man who has a kind of faith, but turns away his hungry brother unfed (2:16). Paul aims to confront a self-righteous Judaism which thinks it can boast before God on the basis of works (3:27; of 2:23). Confronting such varied problems we should not ask that they use the same terminology or say the same thing.

But do their viewpoints clash? There is ample evidence that Paul agreed with James that without deeds of love everything else is useless (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3; Romans 8:4,13; Galatians 5:21; 1 Thessalonians 4:6). When Paul refers to saving faith he includes obedience (Romans 1:5; 16:26) and works of love (Galatians 5:6).

Our Standing Rests Entirely on Grace

There is also evidence that James agreed with Paul that our standing with God rests entirely on grace and that there is no room for boasting before God in our righteousness. He refers to the start of Christian existence as a divine act of creation whereby we are “brought forth by the word” (James 1:18; i.e. by “the hearing of faith" [Galatians 3:2,5]) He refers to the continuation of the Christian life as a product of the “wisdom from above” (James 3:17) just as Paul describes it as the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). And finally, he calls for deep humility before God (James 4:10) in view of how “miserable” we are (James 4:9).

In view of these agreements, I would suggest that the tension between James 2 and Romans 4 is properly resolved when we recognize that “works” in James 2:14-26 is what Paul means by “faith working through love” in Galatians 5:6 or by the “obedience of faith” in Romans 1:5 and 16:26.

old age text codes

Text codes for my aging friends and family ...

ATD - At the Doctor's
BFF - Best Friends Funeral
BTW - Bring the Wheelchair
BYOT - Bring Your Own Teeth
CBM - Covered by Medicare
CUATSC - See You at the Senior Center
FWIW - Forgot Where I Was
FYI - Found Your Insulin
GGPBL - Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low
GHA - Got Heartburn Again
HGBM - Had Good Bowel Movement
IMHO - Is My Hearing-Aid On?
LMDO - Laughing My Dentures Out
LOL - Living on Lipitor
LWO - Lawrence Welk's On
OMSG - Oh My! Sorry, Gas
ROFL...CGU - Rolling on the Floor Laughing...Can't get Up!
WAITT - Who Am I Talking To?
WTFA - Wet the Furniture Again
WTP - Where's the Prunes
WWNO - Walker Wheels Need Oil GGLKI - Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking in!

sola scriptura

As Phyllis Tickle and others race along the path of misleading others regarding Holy Scripture, Michael Patton does a nice job outlining what Sola Scriptura really means and in doing so reminds me of why I so love God's Word.

Read his post here ... I've copied his conclusion below ...

In the end, the doctrine of sola Scriptura means that the Bible is the final and only infallible source of divine revelation and is, therefore, the ultimate source for the conscious of the Christian.

I think that this is an accurate way to put it:

The bible is carried by reason, aided by experience, guarded by tradition, but ruled by none.

7 billion

As we race toward a world population of 7 billion, these ladies wait in line for a Cesarean section (c-section) procedure at the Santa Ana public maternity hospital in Caracas.

From The Big Picture ... check out the other photos ...

don't occupy wall street

I'm not a big fan of the 'occupy wall street' gang. I've heard only one rationale issue that may be motivating some of the protestors but the rest of what I heard was rubbish. Regardless of what the point is and what I think of the specific issue, I think these wise words by John Mark Reynolds are overarching. 

Here are the money lines (pardon the pun).

Instead of occupying Wall Street, all Americans need to restore our ethics and our ability to self-govern.

Americans must recognize that greed and immorality come from “we the people” and not from outsiders. We have lived beyond our means. We have forgotten that just because a thing is legal does not mean it is good. We do not resent graft, but are angry we did not get our own cut.

Christian values are the solution, love of neighbor and self-restraint, but those values need to be lived in my life. God help us occupy ourselves in pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty in our own lines and only then dare help our neighbor.

Read the post here.