Author Archives: Clark Bunch

Satur-deja Vu

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The original purpose of the Satur-deja Vu, when it started back in 2019, was a week-in-review of posts and updates of discussions on The Master’s Table. This week there were actually enough posts to review them and one discussion update. I missed the 30 year anniversary of announcing the call to preach back in January. In 2018 Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday were both on February 14th. That was the first time since 1945 but it will happen again in 2024 and 2029. In 2096 Ash Wednesday will fall on Leap Day, February 29th, for the first time in the history. I finally got around to putting some thoughts in writing about the Asbury Revival, focusing more on the responses than the event itself. Here are some other news stories, fun facts and random bits that you may or may not have seen this week:

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Asbury Revival

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The Asbury Revival has been trending on social media and religious newspapers for a couple of weeks. I mentioned it Saturday only to say that I had no comment but maybe later. That story has been well covered, it has the nation’s collective attention, every armchair theologian has weighed in. The response to the Asbury Revival has become its own story. Everyone with internet seems to either be a critic or a supporter of what is being done and how. Jimmy Humphrey wrote a post and made that the subject of his weekly podcast and I finally did reply to his comment. Without looking back that went something like this:

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Lent + Valentine’s

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The guys on the Unashamed Podcast (Phil, Al and Jase Robertson) were discussing the Valentine’s Day traditions we keep and their relationship to the actual Saint Valentine. Just like Easter, Halloween and Christmas, the activities and traditions the culture is familiar with has little to do with the religious significance those holidays have for believers. Ash Wednesday and Lent are not as well known in the popular culture, even though most people have heard of Mardis Gras. There again, getting drunk and collecting plastic beads has nothing to do with thinking about the cross and preparing for Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

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Anniversary, of Sorts

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Coming up in March will be 15 years since The Master’s Table began. This week makes 26 years since my wife and I had our first date. In January I missed something of a big one. I have been preaching the Gospel for the last 30 years. I don’t know the exact date but on a Sunday morning in 1993 – I’m leaning towards the 31st – I announced the call to preach. I do remember quoting 2nd Timothy 1:9 and back then it would have been KJV:

Who has saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began…

Satur-deja Vu

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Super Bowl LVII – The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38 – 35. Yes, Rihanna is pregnant again. And the 14 minute video above is a compilation of the commercials. I must have been out of the room and missed the Tubi ad that got some innocent family members and pets yelled at. The 30 second Super Bowl spot for The Flash has the Batmobile reveal missing from the full trailer, although I have watched both several times. There is a version in the montage but my vote for best commercial from this Super Bowl is this extended T Mobile ad featuring John Travolta.

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Critical Thinking: Why Does Evil Exist?

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I don’t want to explore the problem of evil. I want to use that question and the arguments made by atheists and agnostics to discuss how we use our resources to analyze and respond to such questions. 1 Peter 3:15 is the basis for Christian apologetics: always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…

When I was college I took an honors level class simply titled Critical Thinking. I think it should have been required of all entering freshmen; definitely wished our debate team in high school could have spent a few weeks each year in that course. I didn’t go to a large state funded university that spent four years trying educate the faith out of us or teach me that everything my parents ever believed was wrong. At a private liberal arts college, affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Convention, the professor wanted us to think things through, use logic and empirical data, in order to defend whatever position we claimed. He was not an atheist trying to turn us against the Christian faith, as some have claimed when I share this story. He posed us this dilemma so that, like iron sharpens iron, we could work through a proper response: God is either all powerful or all good but cannot be both. If he is all good then evil exists because is unable to eliminate it. Conversely if God is all powerful then he must be evil as he chooses not to do away with it. Discussion ensued.

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Satur-deja Vu

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Death toll continues to rise. On Monday morning I was heading to a weekly meeting of Baptist preachers and pastors. I was listening to the news on the radio about the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. At that time the number of confirmed dead was less than 2,000. By Tuesday at noon it had risen to 5,000. That number has now passed 23,000. Turkey has infrastructure and human resources in place to coordinate efforts and distribute aid as it comes from around the world. There is a US embassy there. After years of war there is none of that in Syria. There is practically no national government to speak of. Pray for victims, survivors, military forces and humanitarian relief workers. As of Friday afternoon there were still children being rescued alive. If you wish to donate, volunteer or assist in other ways be careful of scams and scammers. Use organizations you are familiar with such as Samaritan’s Purse or the global Red Cross organization.

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More Than Jabez

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Billy Ray Cyrus had other singles besides Achy Breaky Heart in the early 90’s. Paul Reubens has appeared in movies playing characters other than Pee Wee Herman, just like Jim Varney was not always Earnest. James Best was a television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. But you probably only know him as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. Sometimes a person becomes so well known for one thing that people are unaware of anything else.

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Deep Dive: God’s Judgement

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First things first: The image above is a tweet. The current limit on characters is 280 and while that can be useful one cannot fully express the balance of a lifetime of study in a couple of sentences. Benjamin Cremer is a Wesleyan pastor with multiple degrees including a Master’s in Theological Studies. To learn more about Rev. Cremer and his views read more tweets; and he also writes books. I want to use the tweet as a launching point to make a deep dive into what we understand from scripture about God’s judgement. My post of 600 to 800 words will still fall short of everything the Bible has to say.

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Satur-deja Vu

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This meme kills two birds with one stone. Thursday was Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter while in the southern state of Georgia General Beauregard Lee did not. The New England States are getting what’s described as a once in a generation arctic blast this weekend but temps will bounce back up into the 40’s in just a day or two. It’s gonna be cold up north, who could have guessed? General Lee predicts early spring but except for a few days of single digits temps in December this winter has been pretty mild. We’ve had an abundance of rainfall but that keeps the temps pleasant.

Tom Brady has retired again but… there is one NFL franchise owner asking him to come back. Sort of. Robert Kraft would like Brady to sign a one-day contract with the New England Patriots so he can retire, for good, from that franchise.

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