The Church is the Temple

James Jordan expounds on the Church:

I think a watershed in our  understanding of the Epistles is what kind of context we put them into. To  be crass about it (I intend no insult; I just want to get on with it): Either

1. The apostolic church started from scratch after the OT order  was cancelled, as a bunch of believers (new converts with no background)  sitting around in various houses and gradually coming up with new orders  that had no continuity with the OT orders; or,

2. The apostolic church was made up 99% of converted Jews and  God-fearers who were fully at home in the OT order and simply transformed  it, who used various homes as temples, who used temple worship in these homes on those occasions, and who very rapidly set up separate houses of worship when they could.

In my circles, this comes down to whether the Church “grew out of” the synagogue or the Temple.

For my money, it’s obviously the latter. The NT does not say that  the Church is the new synagogue, but the new Temple. Her worship consists  of living sacrifices and sacrifices of praise. All of the language about the Church is taken from the OT Tabernacle/Temple order. (The synagogue was never anything but a partial extension of the Temple anyway.) Unlike the synagogue, the church has two major temple elements: song with musical instruments and the breaking of bread as a covenant-renewal. ( Gasp!

Breaking bread at places other then the Jerusalem Temple! Hey, Josiah put people to death for that! So did Paul. But this only shows that these churches were TEMPLES!! If they’d just been synagogues there’d have been no scandal.)

The word kohen in the OT simply means “palace servant,” and is used occasionally of secular servants of David’s palace, but 99% of the time of the servants of the Temple (= Palace in Hebrew). Everything in the NT epistles sets a context in which there would be such special servants in the new Christian Temple. And that’s what we find.

When Paul and Peter tell these Christian Jews that they are a Temple of God offering sacrifices, he does not need to spell out to them that their meals should be supervised and initiated by Temple servants (Christian kohanim), nor that such must be men.

More, for a very long time protestants (at least) have ignored the “apocalyptic” context of the NT revelation. (I reject “apocalyptic” since the symbolism of such literature is actually “liturgical” and entirely comes from the Temple and sacrifices.) If this context were better known, however, we would know that all Jews knew that the Temple was an image of heaven, that the shoeless wing-dressed priests were angels, that the objects in the Temple stood in the place of worshippers, and that the entire liturgy took place “in the heavenlies.” Now in Rev. 2-3, the pastors of the churches are called angels. This is not some Brand New Idea, but is completely in continuity with the Temple/priestly tradition. Unlike, however, the Old order, where only such angelic priests might enter the Temple heavens and the rest of the believers were located there only symbolically in the various items of furniture, now in the fullness of time the symbolic furniture is gone and believers are able to enter the Temple heavens along with their “angelic” palace-servant special-priests.

Rev. 2-3 are not letters to churches. They are letters to the priest-pastor-angels of the churches. Jesus threatens THEM. If you want to understand this, read Numbers 18. The people will be punished for their sins, yes, but the Levites will be punished if they fail to warn them.

I submit that if the NT epistles are read in their actual Biblical and historical context, then it will be very clear that Apostolic worship looked a whole more like liturgical and even Eastern orthodox (sans icons) worship, and not in the least like Puritan, Anabaptist, or Brethren worship.

And bringing all this back to Wright, while I don’t know what on earth Wright would say to this, the fact is that he is part of a movement to recover the so-called apocalyptic and Jewish context of the NT writings. The more this context is recovered, the more it will be clear that this “Church came from the synagogue” stuff is nonsense, that this “believers sitting around in homes” stuff is nonsense, and that the epistles mean something very concrete and liturgical when they refer to the Church as temple, worship as sacrifice, leaders as men (women could be everything else in the OT, so saying men-only MEANS “priest”), etc.

Or do we continue the sad rationalism of the last few centuries, and see “temple” and “sacrifice” as mere theological ideas, and not whole-life liturgical matters? There’s about 90% of the trouble, you see. All of these “Levitical” matters are taken as nothing but snapshots of Jesus’ coming work. They are that, but they are also ritual processes that take place in time, means of worship. This is why the Church continues to “move” in a “sacrificial” manner. In Leviticus 1-3, the worshipper Ascends (ch. 1), with Tribute (ch. 2), and then sits down for Communion (ch. 3). This is what the Church also does: Enters, has Offertory, and then Communion. This is not some speculation on my part. It is what the epistles mean when they refer to offering ourselves as living sacrifices. This and nothing else is what the first hearers of these epistles would have understood.

But this is set aside. What WE hear is that these Levitical rituals were just ideas, just pictures of Jesus. And now our worship consists of sitting around and thinking and talking about it. That is NOT what the 1st century hearers and readers of the epistles would have taken from them. I promise you. Believe me. (Trust me!) They would have heard something quite different.

And this is why the Church, as soon as she was able, built Temples for worship, and instituted what to many of us is quite ritualized and liturgical forms of worship. This was no “fall.” It was simply the Church filling out in practice what the epistles teach.

This is NOT to say that anyone TODAY “has it right” or that the Reformers “had it right.” But it is to say that the epistles need to be read in context.

I’ll give one more example. When Jesus broke bread and said “Do this for My memorial,” the apostles knew exactly what that meant. It was the new form of Leviticus 2, something they were very familiar with since it happened every morning and every evening. But how many people today think of that? Precious few. Why? Because they do not put themselves into the shoes of being Jews of the 1st century listening to what Jesus said. They hear this completely out of historical context.

It would not have occurred to anyone in the 1st century that Jesus said, “Do this in memory of Me,” to remind yourselves about Me. Not after 1500 years of bread broken as memorial, as something done to call upon God, to remind God, and to ask Him to come to us! “Do this in memory of Me” is utter nonsense. “In death there is no remembrance of Thee” says the psalmist? No way. “In death there is no performance of Memorial to Thee” is what he said. Memorializing is by RITUAL LITURGICAL ACTION. Don’t believe me? Look up the relevant Greek and Hebrew words. “Cornelius, your  prayers

have come up before God as a Memorial.”

We need to stop reading the epistles as if they dropped out of  heaven onto a blank-slate, and read them in the whole-life liturgical context into which they were written. They look rather different when we do so.

Free Music!!!

I found a cool site today: www.noisetrade.com

They essentially offer “fair trade” music in exchange for a donation that you seem worthy or for telling 5 friends. I just downloaded an album that would have otherwise cost me $15 for telling 5 friends. Anyhow, go check it out!!!

Joel 2:18-27 Rick Hogaboam Sermon “Jealous God = Glad People”

Here is a pdf file: Joel 2.18t27 jealous god equals glad people

Text pasted below.

Joel 2:18-27 “Jealous God = Glad People”

Joel 2:18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.
Joel 2:19 The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.
Joel 2:20 “I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things.
Joel 2:21 “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!
Joel 2:22 Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
Joel 2:23 “Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before.
Joel 2:24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
Joel 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.
Joel 2:26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
Joel 2:27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Joel 2:18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

-          “Then”: response to the people’s lament and repentance

-          “…the Lord became jealous for his land”: Our God is a jealous God, works zealously to uphold His name. I want to spend more time on this one verse because it is the foundation and cause for all else that proceeds in the following verses, and also the foundational truth for all that God does in all of history.

• God acts to uphold His name, His fame, His glory:
  • just a couple passages besides even the ten commandments where God declares that He is a jealous God:

Obama, Sotomayor, & the liberal double standard

The unfortunate double standard used by democrats is shameful.  They will constantly use this against the conservatives.  I will admit there are probably some in the conservative group who are prejudice but doesn’t mean ALL are.  That is just a lie they want you to believe.

Now that the republicans face a nomination, in which they may largely disagree on, they are in no win situations.  If they speak out against her, of course they will unfortunately be branded racist or prejudice in some form or fashion.  If they let this fight go, they will in some ways be compromising their core values and consciences.  I say let the fight be fair & balance.  Let the process go on & Sotomayor be scrutinized & grilled like Pres. Bush’s nominees were.  Why should she be spared the ridiculous “test” that the others have endured?  I don’t think she’s necessarily racist by her controversial comment about a latina making better judgements than a white man but it definitely represents some already preconceived dispositions she has on her leanings & how she will judge.  Judges are supposed to be objective & nonpartisan.  Is this the “bridging the divide” Obama was touting?

Countdown to Pentecost Sunday: Pentecostals, Greatest Global Movement?

Time magazine had recently cited the “New Calvinism” as one of the most important ideas in the world. While I am excited about such as a Calvinist myself, I was somewhat surprised by the omission of Pentecostalism.

Jenkins calls Pentecostalism,“the most successful social movement of the past century” (Jenkins 2002:8). Jenkins, P. (2002) The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. Oxford:Oxford University Press.

That is high praise. Not the most successful religious movement, or Christian movement, but the most successful social movement. I would recommend Harvey Cox’s (professor of Divinity at Harvard) book, “Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the 21st Century”. He is pretty objective in his documentation and commentary of the Pentecostal movement.

Anyhow, on my list of ideas shaping the global scene, I would add “Pentecostalism” to the “New Calvinism”, much to the shagrin of most Calvinists and Pentecostals. However I, along with a growing consticuency, find myself planted with feet in both camps and predict that the Evangelical Church, not too far from now, will be filled with either Reformed Christians (confessional and neo-Calvinist TULIP types) or Pentecostal/Charismatics (or perhaps a hybrid of both). Recent polls that I have looked at suggest that the two growing sects within Christendom fall into these two groups, whereas all others are declining or holding par.

Countdown to Pentecost Sunday:”Teaching a Calvinist to Dance” by James K.A. Smith

Professor at Calvin College, James K.A. Smith, offers some thoughts on how Reformed theology and Pentecostal practice complement each other. BTW, the picture on the left is that of a dancing Abraham Kuyper (Dutch Calvinistic Giant). Link at Christianity Today here.

You will find this less academic, more biographical, and perhaps a bit challenging devotionally. Also, here is a link to the author’s blog, commenting on the article. BTW, I refer to myself as a “Pentecostal” like Smith, not in the narrow Assembly of God statement concerning necessity of tongues as “initial physical evidence”, but rather as one who adheres to a distinct empowering work of the Spirit that is complimentary to the soteric (saving) work of the Spirit (not ordinarily subsequent nor solely evidenced by speaking in tongues). Enjoy the article below:

“It can be a little intimidating in a Reformed context to admit that one is Pentecostal. It’s a bit like being at the ballet and letting it slip that you’re partial to and country music. Both claims tend to clear a room. And yet I happily define myself as a Reformed charismatic, a Pentecostal Calvinist.

It’s been said that testimony is the poetry of Pentecostal experience, so permit me to begin with a personal poem to provide some background. I wasn’t raised in the church; rather, I was quite “miraculously saved” the day after my 18th birthday through my girlfriend (now wife!), who was doing a little missionary dating.

I received my earliest formation among the Plymouth Brethren, in a sector that defined itself as anti-Pentecostal and took a certain pride in knowing that the “miraculous” gifts had ceased to function with the death of the last apostle. Through a path that is convoluted and riddled with hurts, our spiritual pilgrimage eventually took us across the threshold of a Pentecostal church where we were welcomed, embraced, and transformed.

Countdown to Pentecost Sunday Readings: Robert Menzies, “Luke’s Understanding of Baptism in the Holy Spirit”

As we march towards Pentecost Sunday on May 31, 2009, I will offer some daily resources that will be academic, pastoral, and devotional in nature. This work here is academic in nature, but will be very helpful for all Evangelicals to better understand Reformed and Pentecostal approaches to the Holy Spirit, as well as to better understand Luke and Paul’s distinct, yet complimentary theologies of the Holy Spirit. I generally agree with Dr. Menzies assessment below. One thing of particular interest is the quotation from Zwingli, who notes two distinct Spirit baptisms.

PentecoStudies, vol. 6, no. 1, 2007, p. 108–126
Robert P. Menzies, Luke’s Understanding of Baptism in the Holy Spirit
ISSN 1871-777691
Luke’s Understanding of Baptism in the Holy Spirit
A Pentecostal Perspective
Robert P. Menzies
Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
The article endeavours to offer a fresh Pentecostal perspective at Luke’s two-volume work,
specifically with regard to Luke’s understanding of Spirit baptism and its significance for
Pentecostal theology. By looking at the how the Reformed tradition has understood the New
Testament metaphor of baptism in the Spirit, and tracing the manner in which Luke uses this
term, it is argued, that there is a distinct Lukan perspective on spirit baptism, which must be
placed alongside the soteriological dimension so prominent in the writings of Paul. In
consequence, both dimensions of spirit baptism must be upheld by Pentecostal theology, the
reception of the life-giving and indwelling Spirit by every Christian and the baptism in the
Spirit as distinct from conversion, which serves as an anointing for service and mission.
Not long ago a Chinese house church leader commented, “When Chinese believers read
the book of Acts, we see in it our own experience; when foreign Christians read the book of
Acts, they see in it inspiring stories.” My Chinese friend’s point was clear: their experience of
opposition and persecution impacts how they read Luke’s narrative. Chinese believers tend to
read Luke-Acts with a sense of urgency and desperation, a sense of hunger generated by their
need. So, they easily identify with the struggles of Peter and John, of Stephen and Paul. And
so also they readily accept the promise of the Spirit’s enabling to persevere and bear bold
witness to Jesus in the face of opposition. Implicit in my friend’s comment was also the belief
that Christians in a stable and affluent West, living in contexts where the Christian church has
a long and storied history, may have a difficult time reading the book of Acts in this way. He
was suggesting that we in the West may find it hard to identify with the struggles and needs of
the early disciples, and thus we do not read with the same sense of solidarity or with the same
sense of urgency.

Tedashii “Identity Crisis” Album Review

Tedashii’s Album “Identity Crisis” Review

Track 2, I Work

-          Good song about the life of a Christian in general and as a rapper in particular. “I sweat, I work, I grind” is the chorus…its all about laboring in vocation for God’s glory. Tedashii encourages the believer to press in against the world and Satan, and all voices that would distract us from our high calling in Christ.

Track 3, 26’s feat Lecrae

-          This songs disses all those who make their 26 inch chrome rims their life. Part of the chorus, “26 inches is a pretty low throne”, is confronting how vain it is to pursue material goods for joy. This idolatry is predominant among younger folks who make their cars their god. What are you going to do if your car is jacked? Find your joy elsewhere.

Track 5, Hollywood ft Rozie Turner

-          Tedashii reminisces about his youth filled with: house parties, DJ Quick, Ice Cube, Ghetto Boyz, and Hollywood movies. Boyz in the Da Hood, Poetic Justice, etc. Anyhow, Tedashii talks about how dangerous it was to fill his mind and heart with these “Hollywood” things and warns fellow believers to be careful with what they fill their minds with.

Down syndrome & challenges of finding love

I just read a disgusting story of an adoptive mom who is desperately seeking sexual experiences for her down syndrome son. Read story here.  I find this notion so utterly offensive.  I’m a mom of a down syndrome teenager and for that mom to insist that for her son to be and feel normal is for him to experience sex “like any other 21 yr old”, even if it means resorting to prostitution.  Yeah, prostitution!  How any mom can be ok with prostitution for her son, I can’t fathom.  This story just infuriates me.

What do you think?

Remembering Ralph Winter

Ralph Winter passed away to be with the Lord He so diligently and zealously served…the Lord for which He sought to increase the purchase of His ransom in the call to mobilize missionaries, etc. His edited book, “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement”, was one of the most influential books I have ever read. John Piper shared his thoughts about Winter as follows:

John Piper’s Personal Tribute to the Late Ralph Winter

May 21, 2009  |  By: John Piper
Category: Commentary

At 9:05 PM, May 20, 2009 Ralph Winter, the founder of the U. S. Center for World Missions died.

Nobody in the area of missions had a greater impact on me. Others had a greater impact on me in the area of missions, like Jonathan Edwards, but no one actually in missions affected me more than Ralph Winter.

First, he was a professor of mine at Fuller Seminary and introduced me to the stunning works of God in missions in the last two hundred years. His vision of the advance of the gospel was breathtaking.

He wore a bow tie in those days, iconoclast that he was, and was fined by the seminary for not returning our papers on time. None of us begrudged him his scattered approach to life. It was thrilling in those days.

Second, in 1974 at the Lausanne Missions Congress Winter reached up and pulled the unseen rope called “unreached peoples” that rang a bell that reverberates to this day.

This concept, and the subsequent emphasis on unreached peoples (as opposed to unreached “fields”) has been globally seismic in the transformation of missions. It gripped me and shaped all we have done in missions at Bethlehem ever since the mid 1980s.

Third, in the 1980s he bought a 15 million dollar college campus with virtually nothing in his hand to start the U. S. Center for World Missions; and he paid for it by persuading enough of us (thousands) to give “the last thousand.” Brilliant! I think I sent $2,000. Couldn’t resist the vision.

The point of the U. S. Center was to trumpet the vision that there are unreached peoples in the world, and then equip the church to reach them.

Fourth, Ralph Winter was probably the most creative thinker I have ever known. I mean, on any topic that you brought up, he would come at it in a way you have never dreamed of. He saw all things in relationship to other things that you would never think of relating them to.

This meant that stalemates often became fresh starting points. If you were struggling with a tension in your church, he might say: “Well, think about the Navy.” Or if you were having a marriage problem, he might say, “Did you notice how that bridge was built?”

Fifth, Ralph Winter befriended me. He encouraged me. In my most restless early days, he would tell me to stay at Bethlehem because I could do more by sending than by going.

Finally, he did not waste his life, not even the last hours of it. He was busy dictating into the last days. He taught me long ago that the concept of “retirement” was not in the Bible.

What a gift he was to the church. To the world. Thank you, Father, for the legacy of this visionary, risk-taking, creative, encouraging lover of unreached peoples who lived unstoppably for the glory of God.

Quotable by John Gill on Prayer…Is he speaking of tongues???

You will find the quotes below….notice the part in bold text, which sound surprisingly similar to the “prayer language” glossolalia that some Pentecostal/Charismatic folks advocate.

1. Take notice of the various sorts of prayer, which will lead on to that; for there is a praying with all prayer, which denotes many sorts and kinds of prayer.

1a. There is mental prayer, or prayer in the heart; and, indeed, here prayer should first begin; so David found in his heart to pray ( 2 Sam. 7:27 ), and it is “the effectual fervent,” or ενεργουμενη , “the inwrought prayer of the righteous man that availeth much;” which is wrought and formed in the heart by the Spirit of God ( James 5:16 ). Such sort of prayer was that of Moses, at the Red Sea, when the Lord said to him, “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” and yet we read not of a word that was spoken by him; and of this kind was the prayer of Hannah; “She spake in her heart,” ( 1 Sam. 1:13 ) and this may be performed even without the motion of the lips, and is what we call an ejaculatory prayer, from the suddenness and swiftness of its being put up to God, like a dart shot from a bow; and which may be done in the midst of business the most public, and in the midst of, public company, and not discerned; as was the prayer of Nehemiah in the presence of the king ( Neh. 2:4, 5 ), and such prayer God takes notice of, and hears; and, as an ancient writer observes, “Though we whisper, not opening our lips, but pray in silence, cry inwardly, God incessantly hears that inward discourse,” or prayer to him, conceived in the mind.

1b. There is prayer which is audible and vocal. Some prayer is audible, yet not articulate and intelligible, or it is expressed by inarticulate sounds; as, “with groanings which cannot be uttered;” but God knows and understands perfectly the language of a groan, and hears and answers. ^[1]

 

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^{[1]John Gill: A Body of PRACTICAL Divinity. Joseph Kreifels, S. 347}

Quotable from Charles Hodge on Prayer

Hodge also preached on prayer as a means of communion with God. Prayer in his view can be solemn and formal “in the use of articulate words and on set occasions in the closet, family or sanctuary” or it can be ejaculatory “and thus constant as the bubbling of a spring of living water” or it can be on the highest level “the unuttered aspirations and longings of the soul after God, like the constant ascent of the flame towards heaven.” As this last phrase intimates Hodge’s injunctions occasionally reveal mystical language.^[1]

 

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^[1] Westminster Theological Journal. electronic edition. Philadelphia : Westminster Theological Seminary, 1998

Happy Ascension Day!!!

Ascension Day often gets overlooked, but it is a most glorious truth that we celebrate today…the risen, exalted Christ, reigning from on high, expanding His kingdom and subdoing His enemies.

John Polkinghorne on “The Nature of Science”

That’s the title of the second chapter of his book One World: The Interaction of Science and Theology (2007, originally 1986).  He argues that the triumphal view that science comprehends the universe with complete objectivity is false, just as the postmodern critiques of science as a purely social phenomenon that depends only on the judgment of the scientific community (in other words, charging they make decisions without any reference to evidence) is false as well.  He argues instead that factual information interacts with scientific judgment to try to get closer and closer to describing the universe as it actually exists.  I found his principles of science to be well-explained, based on the idea of critical realism, which balances the confidence that there is a reality to know with the caution that there is a human element in the process of knowing.

First, it has to recognize that at any particular moment verisimilitude [or the probability of being true] is all that can be claimed as science’s achievement  — an adequate account of a circumscribed physical regime, a map good enough for some, but not for all, purposes….

Second, our everyday notions of objectivity may prove insufficient as we move into regimes ever more remote from familiar experience.  [Here he gives the example of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle in quantum theory, which states that we can't know both the location and the momentum of an electron.  Electrons are still real, though.]…

Third, a critical realism is not blind to the role of judgment in the pursuit of science….

We are to take what science tells us with great seriousness, but we are not to assign it an absolute superiority over other forms of knowledge so that they are neglected, relegated to the status of mere opinion.  Our discussion has taken science off the pedestal of rational invulnerability and placed it in the arena of human discourse. (quotes taken from pages 28-31)

Polkinghorne is an Anglican priest (I don’t know which theological tradition of Anglicanism he belongs to) and had been a mathematical physics professor.  I appreciate his approach because it takes science and reason seriously without indulging in the overconfidence or arrogance that has sometimes characterized scientists or defenders of scientific theories.  At the same time, it avoids the postmodernist critique that we can ultimately know nothing.

Rising numbers of ProLifers

Newest gallup poll in May 2009 shows an increase of pro-lifers in America @ 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice. I just wonder if these same people who consider themselves pro-life also deem it so important that they vote accordingly?  Or is it one of those, “well, “I” personally believe it’s wrong but who am I to say it’s wrong for someone else” type thing, which I think is utterly cowardly.  In this case of life, it’s either wrong or it isn’t.  Which is it?  Why can this be wrong for one and not another?

It’s such a sad day when a people or country will say that it is more important to save a species of plants (trees, flowers, etc), animals, insects even, but not a human life.  It was troubling humorous when I was searching about some insect I sometimes found crawling in our bathroom when we lived in upstate NY.  I searched the internet to find out what it was & if it was harmful in anyway.  There were people who were pleading for others not to kill the million-legged creepy crawler!  I mean, c’mon!  I smashed that thing everytime I found one & the thing’s legs would still wiggle for a while after being chopped & smashed.  I bet some, if not all those people were also pro-choice.

I also find it ironic that many who are involved in helping the poor of third world countries value those struggling lives of the people over there, including children & babies, when those are the very babies that democratic leaders & those of the left mindset find abortion worthy or necessary to curb this dilemma.  While I don’t condone the sexual ignorance, irresponsible  practices of those who abuse sexual pleasures that in turn can create hardships for themselves & others, life is life once conceived, & therefore inherently valuable.  right?

ShamWow towels (& weird infomercial guy) disappoints

Some of you may know that the guy that does the commercial for those infamous orange towels that claim to pick up an ocean of liquid w/o any effort, y’know the one with the spikey hair, hyper, yeah, him.  So, I found out he was arrested and charged with battery a few months back.  Apparently, he & a prostitute got into a brawl…well, whatever.  You can look it up online & read the details.  Pathetic story.  Disappointing too.  We thought that guy was funny.  He’s not so funny anymore.

Anyway, the towels, which is the real reason I write tonight, is that it DOES NOT do all that it claims!  I’m glad I encountered such a great deal & having only paid less than $5 for the 8 pk. that I had comtemplated buying for a long time that originally sells for, at best, $20 at walmart.   I would of returned the whole package, used and all, if I had paid full price for those towels that don’t do even a “good” job at sucking up liquids.  I’m glad I didn’t do any trials on my carpet.  I would of had to throw down or something!  I’ll stick to my dependable, handy, conveniently-sized microfiber towels, thank you.  I love my microfiber towels and would HIGHLY recommend them to all!  The ones I’ve enjoyed I just got from the Dollartree store.  I bought some at Ross that, as pretty as they are, don’t work as well.

“Taken” Movie Review

Spoiler Alert:

Briefly, the movie was decent…6/10…Liam Nelson shows some physical skills that I have yet to see in any of his other roles. He does suprisingly well in the overplayed “angry vengful dad recovering kidnapped kid” role.

The movie does highlight what is a very real human trafficking problem and gives some insight into how this corrupt practice operates. It does show a father willing to do everything to assure his daughter’s safety, even torturing, killing, etc. I don’t condone such acts, but you can’t help but think you would do the same thing when you know that you have apprehended someone who definitely has information that is vital in recovering your daughter before she is turned into a sex slave.

It saddens me that thousands of such young women are not recovered and that worse yet, some are sold into slavery by their very own parents. I pray for justice and measured retribution for such acts here and now, but am consoled that Christ will measure out His vengence on those who perpetuate such evil when He shall return.

Anyhow, not a must see…overplayed genre, but Liam Nelson does suprisingly well in this role.

Peter Berger on Globalization and Religion

I listened to Speaking of Faith program (transcript and audio here) from 2006 today that talked about how globalization has impacted religion.  You might be familiar with the rather Eurocentric thesis that said that secularism would accompany modernization, just as it had in Europe.  In fact, sociologist Peter Berger held this view as well, before realizing that it just hasn’t played out that way.

Rather, he said, modernity has brought pluralism and increased contact with multiple points of view.  People don’t live in areas where everyone shares a common belief system, where religion is taken for granted.

Now, this taken-for-granted status is lost with the coming of pluralism because you realize there are other possibilities of belief and of life. And therefore people are forced to make choices, and that is a very big change.

I’ve described modernity as a gigantic transformation from destiny to choice. People must choose what they believe, how they define themselves, how they are to live, which is quite a burden. I mean, it can be a liberation, but it’s also a burden. And then you have to ask, what are the ways in which people can cope with this loss of taken-for-granted status?

There are three options, as he sees it:

One is to try to restore taken-for-grantedness in the entire society, the totalitarian system. Now, the other little more plausible project is to forget about the larger society and to create a taken-for-granted subculture. So, if you like, it’s the sectarian option. You create little groups, tightly controlled, and within those groups, whatever the religious tradition is, it again becomes taken for granted. There are lots of examples of this. It’s also difficult because of the turbulent pluralism outside. So you have to keep very tight controls over your members. The third possibility is to engage with the pluralism and to enter into dialogue with the alternatives that exist to your own traditional belief system. That is difficult also. There are no risk-free options in any of this. But it’s possible, and many people go that way.

This helps to conceptualize the different responses we see around the world to modernization and globalization, I think.

Joel 2:12-17 “Tear Up Your Hearts”

Joel 2.12t17 tear your hearts up

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
Joel 2:14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
Joel 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;
Joel 2:16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.
Joel 2:17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

Joel 2:12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
Joel 2:13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

-          We left off looking at Joel 2:1-11 and seeing that Joel 2.11 reveals Yahweh Himself to be the General of the invading army. As we pick up here in Joel 2:12-17, we see that the conquering general does not invade to destroy, but rather to call His people to repentance.

-          There is a lesson here not to be lost. God must invade our lives to get our attention. C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world”

-          “even now” – there is still time, it is not too late. It is never too late for us to turn to God in repentance so long as we have breath. The thief on the cross repented. Jesus gives us a parable of a master who hires servants throughout the day and pays them all the same when it is over. It is not too late for you this morning if you have never repented.

• God is here to invade and destroy his enemies, but He is graciously granting time for people to repent.

-          “return to me” – the idea of “return” signifies that they are away from the Lord. They need to come back to Him.

-          “with all your heart…fasting…weeping…mourning” – God doesn’t want a mere show of contrition, but the real deal. The fasting, weeping, and mourning all proceed from their whole heart, or ought to. Just in case these folks think they can offer up the outward, devoid of inward repentance, God asks of them the following:

-          “rend your hearts and not your garments”- first time Scripture calls for a “tearing” of the heart. God had earlier commanded His people to circumcision (Dt. 10:16), whereby the failed miserably and incurred the curses of the covenant. As part of God’s work of restoration, God promises to do the heart circumcision in Dt. 30:6. The implication is that we can’t.

• Jeremiah says that God will write His law in our hearts (Jer. 31), implication is that apart from an inward work of grace, we can’t live in a pleasing manner.
• Acts 11:18 says that God “granted” repentance.
• There is this divine mystery whereby God commands of us that which we are unable to keep. Why then does He command it of us? Does it presume our ability? NO. Rather, God is showing us our inability…it is only against that backdrop can we rightly appreciate what Jesus does FOR US. Yes Jesus did something FOR US, ON OUR BEHALF.

Ben Gifford for U.S. Congress in 2010

Ben Gifford, a former classmate at South Torrance High School who had a canon of an arm at catcher and older brother of fallen soldier Micah Gifford, is preparing to run for U.S. Congress in California for 2010. You can access his Facebook page here.

Here is his bio:

Marine, Father, American, Christian, Iraq and Afghanistan vet.

 

Brother to a fallen Soldier; CPL Micah S. Gifford (July 7, 1979- Dec 7, 2006)

Decrease Wasteful Spending, Support Our Armed Forces, Adhere to the Constitution, and promote Equality of opportunity for all Americans.

EDUCATION
Pepperdine University School of Law Malibu, CA
Juris Doctor Candidate May 2011
Activities: Federalist Society, President
Christian Legal Society
Honor Board

University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA
Bachelor of Arts, American Studies December 2000
Activities: Scholarship Athlete, Cal Varsity Baseball Team
University of California in Washington D.C. Intern (Fall 2000)

WORK EXPERIENCE
United States Court Of Appeals, Ninth Circuit Los Angeles, CA
Externship for the Honorable Arthur P. Alarcon May 2009 – August 2009

United States Marine Corps Camp Pendleton, CA; Camp Lejeune, NC; Quantico, VA
Captain, Company Commander November 2005 – August 2008
Directly responsible for all aspects of annual training for a 200-person organization. Accountable for the planning, coordination, and successful execution of operations within the unit.
• Developed an aggressive internal approach to separating entry-level Marines for criminal misconduct. Identified deficiencies in the separation process and implemented innovative approaches to streamline the process resulting in thousands of dollars in savings and a 33% increase in turnover efficiency for an entry-level separation.
• Established and supervised a comprehensive, record-keeping personnel database linked to a “real time” administrative database, which eliminated former inaccuracy plagues faced by Commanders in assessing and determining adjudication, retention and punishment for all Marines pending administrative separation for legal infractions.
• Counseled, mentored, evaluated and determined whether or not entry-level Marines pending legal action should remain in or be removed from the Marine Corps. Directly responsible for conveying separation decisions to individuals.

Captain, Task Force Sledge Hammer Commander
May 2004 – November 2005
Commanded an 89-member Task Force of infantry Marines and Light Armored Vehicles throughout Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Coordinated all operational efforts with supply, logistics and training needs to achieve mission success.
• Managed the maintenance of $5,161,950 in weapons and equipment by implementing a reporting system that promoted complete visibility and allowed for the identification of improper maintenance trends.
• Developed weekly and monthly training goals and schedules to achieve long-term Task Force objectives.

First Lieutenant, Company Executive Officer

October 2003 – May 2004
Served as second-in-command for a Company of 172 Marines during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Responsible for the employment of personnel in defense of Bagram Air Base, Hamid Karzai’s palace in Kabul and various other forward operating bases on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Each compound was successfully defended against multiple terrorist attacks.
• Maintained 100% accountability of weapons, personnel, and 2000 pounds of cargo while in transit.
• Developed a comprehensive report for the head of security at Karzai’s palace, outlining deficiencies, demonstrating better ways to integrate the Marines and identifying cost-effective ways to solve security problems.

Second Lieutenant, Platoon Commander
December 2000 – October 2003
Directly responsible for the employment and success of 43 personnel. Planned, coordinated, supervised, and executed all operations with a 100% success rate to include combat operations in Iraq.
• Led the platoon in combat operations throughout Iraq, notably during the Battle for An Nasiriyah, Iraq in March 2003.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
United States Marine Corps Honors: Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (twice) • Combat Action Ribbon (twice) • Iraq Campaign Medal• Afghanistan Campaign Medal• National Defense Medal• Global War on Terrorism Service Medal• Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal• Sea Service Deployment Ribbon (three times) • Presidential Unit Citation• Navy Unit Citation• Flag Certificate• Expert Pistol • Expert Rifle • Water Survival Qualified • Marine Corps Martial Arts Black Belt Instructor
Affiliations: • Marine Corps League • Veterans of Foreign War • National Rifle Association • California Gold Star Families

Remembering Micah Gifford

http://iraq.pigstye.net/article.php/GiffordMicah

I just found out that my old classmate was killed in Iraq. His older brother, Ben, is running for US Senate in California and it was in reading Ben’s bio that I saw mention of his departed brother.

Micah was a center on the Calle Mayor Junior High football team while I was quarterback. Centers and QB’s develop an obvious relationship as they must work together. Dale, his dad, was our offensive coordinator and I have fond memories of playing that season. There is a team picture from that season that I would post, but I fear that it is lost. One is of a dogpile with Micah on the bottom with his huge grin as usual.

I hope he is with our Lord and Savior and hope to meet him again in glory. I am grateful for his voluntary sacrifice on behalf of this country.

Teens for Life. Encourage your teen to get involved!

How cool is it that our youth have the courage to stand up for what’s right – right to life!  Teens for Life

“My Chance”, a pro-life song

http://www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/April09/nv041309part2.html – an article about the artist/singer- Jamie Thietten

the video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VROBmaeBdNE

Follow the yellow… patches of grass?

Ok, so aside from my mistakenly bad judgement of spraying our yards with weed killer at night when I couldn’t see well, other parts of our backyard is looking a bit like we’ve been warped into Oz where we would NOT be frollicking on the yellow brick road, er… I mean yellow patches of dead grass, from “the dog”.

I’m trying to train our 3 month old pup to ‘eliminate’ in one corner area of the backyard.  We’ve only had him for a month now & I’ve been working hard in housebreaking him, potty training, and obedience training.  I’ve been reading online. I even found a dog-training VHS tape last week at Goodwill, which I haven’t watched yet.  Y’know, I’m tired of training this dog.  We’re tired.  My husby is sick of seeing his grass dug and dirt patches with holes in them.  Poor guy spread weed killers, fertilizer, & grass seeds a couple weeks ago.  He’s been trying hard to get those dead patches to grow only to find the dog is digging the dirt. (Sorry honey!)

The kids love Buster, afore mentioned pup.  Husby & I tease & prod about getting rid of him to see what they do or say.  needless to say, they’d be heartbroken.  Oh, the anguish of decisions!  I have to own up to the fact that I somewhat pressured husby into getting a dog for the kids since they’ve been desperately pleading for 1 for the last 2 years.  For Cody, it’s been longer.  It’s just the constant “where’s the dog? what’s he doing? NO! drop it buster!  Come buster!  go potty buster.  is his butt clean?”  Y’know?  And we’re a bit more picky than the average person about the state of our floors, mainly carpet.  I mean, we don’t allow shoes on the carpet!  C’mon. So you know we be wiping the pup’s paws every time he comes in from outside. EVERY TIME!  And when it rains…ugh, f’get about it!  He’s out for a while. My husby is dreading winter already, and not b/c of the snow either.

I know, some of you out there may be thinking, “why’d you even get a dog?”  I told you- the kids, & me pressuring my husby to get it for the kids.  I thought it’ll be worth the work but only if my husby was going to put forth effort to help me b/c I didn’t want to do it all myself.  no way.  After long begging weeks, he caved.  I feel bad that I might have pressured him too much.  It helped that he’s such a softy to our 4 yr. old who had begged & inquired insistently.

Seriously.  So, what to do, what to do??

ACLU, out to get you!

Does the ACLU have nothing better to do than interfere with every city/state’s every litigation?  I mean really!  Last year in 08, our locaI library board voted against keeping a “pornographic”, aka, “mature” sexual books out of easy reach of the public, mainly for the protection of children.   Then the complaints came in from LB’s.  Then ACLU.  The books were still available behind the counter!  All you had to do is ask.  This story is a little old.  I started it last fall but didn’t finish it.

The ACLU claims first amendment violation.  Since the ACLU, a powerful financial giant, threaten to sue, unfortunately, the library city decided they cannot afford to go into a lawsuit, so they acquiesce. So sad that some people who claim to speak for freedom only subject our sometimes most vulnerable, to potential harm.  It seems the ACLU mostly backs the fights of liberals.  Why is that?

Anyway, here are some links for your reading pleasure on this issue…

http://www.2news.tv/news/16063517.htmlhttp://www.ktvb.com/news/canyoncounty/ktvbn-sep0908-banned_sex_books.5d1e0dc2.html

http://www.washblade.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=7658

http://www.idahovaluesalliance.com/news.asp?id=809

Mars ILL “Sound Off”

Alright fresh off my hip-hop review, I thought I’d throw up some videos of my fav artists. This is Mars ILL’s “Sound Off”. Enjoy!!!

Review of Beat Rabbi’s “Deep Space 5oul” & The Scribbling Idiots’ “Have Nots”

I had a chance to hang with Jae Choi for a couple days while in Spokane. He is an awesome cat, who helps with ministry at Christ The Redeemer Church in Spokane, AND is an owner of Illect Records, which is a hip-hop label. For those who don’t know, I am a big hip-hop fan. We hit it off right away reminiscing about the evolution of hip-hop culture, the dark years of Gansta Rap, and the reimmergence of Hip-Hop today. He gave me a few albums to listen to and I promised that I would blog a review on each of them.

The first review is for the artist Beat Rabbi and his album “DeepSpace5oul”. I really liked this album. His lyrics are tight and his assortment of beats don’t fail to impress. His creativity shines through teh entire album. I would give this album an 8.5/10. 

The second review is that of the crew “The Scribbling Idiots”.  Their album “Have Nots” employ a relentless array of thoughtful lyrics matched by great beats. I love the use of piano samples in hip hop and was pleased by the soothing piano in the background of many of the tracks in this album. This is true hip-hop from a crew that cares more about their message than their image. I know this isn’t much of a review, but I listened to the album twice and would give it a 6.5/10. Hey, I gotta be honset.

http://www.scribblingidiots.com

http://www.illect.com/site

http://www.myspace.com/scribblingidiots

Making Mother’s day last

For those of you who take joy in celebrating mother’s day, may I encourage you to appreciate your mother/sister/gramma on an ongoing basis?  Should our appreciation for our moms shine one day a year?  We should intentionally acknowledge this day, this occasion more than once a year.  Let her know how much you love her.

Just some pointers for husbands, from a woman’s (me) point of view:

Tell her how beautiful she is.  Present her flowers at random moments, even if it’s one rose.  There doesn’t have to be a “special occasion” to give flowers.  You give them b/c you are thinking of her, you love her, you care for her.  Offer to do the laundry once in a while.  Offer to take the kids out and give her some ‘alone time’.  Play intently with the children, enjoying their youth while you can, since all parents know so well how fast children grow.  Make the bed without her asking.  Plan a special dinner or night out for just the 2 of you.  Remember how you used to glare or steal glimpses if her whenever you could?  Remember when you’d call just to say “i love you” or just to hear her voice?  Remember when you cared what you looked like to impress her?  Be spontaneous!  Lead the way in romance.  Sweep her off her feet, again, and again, and again.  Don’t let the fire die.  You will be rewarded in how you treat her.  Especially as a Christian, this analogy may work:  Just as you should pursue your relationship with Christ, enduring til the very end, with faith & JOY, so also would you pursue your wife who longs for you to cherish her as a treasure & handle her as gently as a rose?

It’s NOT so much the QUANTITY, IT’S THE QUALITY of time she receives or that’s given & cherished.  It’s the quality time spent with the children.  It’s the quality of time spent in remote places, family vacations.   Turn off your phone(s).  Turn off the computer, the tv.  Don’t think about work, or emails, or chores.  Look at her with sincere interest when you are sharing a conversation.  Take a walk.  Talk.  (*NOTE: this is not an exhaustive list.  BE CREATIVE!)  REMEMBER- QUALITY, QUALITY, QUALITY.

Slumdog Millionaire, 4/5*

So we got our last free Monday rental from the Redbox, likely b/c they realized their lure wasn’t working and losing money in turn.  Oh well.  We’re thankful for all previous free movies.  Thanks Redbox!

Our (my husby and I) movie time is usually when kids go to bed & all our ends are tight and situated for the night; like having cleaned up things we meant to clean when kids were awake, getting that last drink for the night, snack, whatever…  So last night we rented Slumdog Millionaire.  Ok, when we watch movies, realize that since it’s usually so late (like after 11pm), kids are sleeping, we’ve grown acustomed to watching movies with subtitles b/c we like to keep the volume down so as to not wake up the kids and have our movie time in relative peace.  If there was ever any movie that needed subtitles, this was the one.  And with our dvd player, you need the remote to turn on the subtitles, which we didn’t know where it was b/c our darling 4 yr. old girl misplaced it somewhere earlier.  It had it’s own subtitles but was hard to see b/c the producers thought it’d be cool to put the subtitles imbedded in the movie randomly throughout, in white.  Great.  So, here we are watching a movie with one of the hardest to understand ethnic accents (no offense meant here) and we’re w/o a remote, to which we thought would assist us in understanding what was being said.  So said daughter wakes up in the middle of the movie, comes to our room & tells me I forgot to put a bandaid on her owee.  If you knew my daughter, this was hilarious.  The girl talks in her sleep & sometimes wakes up talking, in some cases continuing a conversation or thought she had before she went to sleep.  She’s got a great memory too.  She remembers some of the most random things at times.  And you know how you’re not fully “all there” when you first wake up, especially in the middle of the night, I wasn’t sure she would remember.  Hilarious.  Anyway, I take her to bed & put on a new bandaid on her finger.  Then I remembered about the mysterious vanishing remote.  I go back and ask her and sure enough, she was like, “oops, it’s on my dresser.”  It took her a second but I my husby and I had a good laugh about that.  So, relieved that we got the remote, only to be disappointed b/c the movie didn’t have subtitles for the rest.  I’m not sure why some parts of the movie had (hard to read) subtitles and the rest didn’t.

Having said all that, with my elaborate story w/daughter in all, what I could understand was worth the watch!!

Proverbs 31:10-31 “A Woman Who Fears the Lord”

I have pasted below my sermon outline from 5.10.09. I am also attaching a pdf copy here: Proverbs 31.10t31 a woman who fears the Lord

Here is a link to the audio: “A Woman Who Fears the Lord“

 

Proverbs 31 “A Woman Who Fears the Lord”

A History of Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day, in one form or another, has been around a long time. In ancient Greece, a celebration honoring mothers occurred every Spring.

In the Middle Ages, a custom called Mothering Sunday began when children, who often left home early to learn a trade or become apprentices, would be released from work every year on the forth Sunday of Lent to attend church with their families. As they returned home, they often took cakes or little gifts to their mothers. This was termed “going a-mothering.” To this day, Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.

It was in 1872 that Julia Ward Howe (author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic) suggested the idea of Mother’s Day in the United States.