Category Archives: Christianity

Thank You to All Who Have Prayed For Us

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jan-5-09-ultrasound-imageAll we can do is say “Thank You” to any and all who have been praying for us. Regular fans and readers will recall being asked to pray for Teresa and our unborn child some weeks back. In 2002 and 2004 we had early term miscarriages, and were uncertain about this pregnancy from the very start. Pictured at left are two ultrasound images, the top from Jan 5 (9 weeks) and the other from Feb 2 (13 weeks). The baby is now 6.51 cm, with a fetal heartbeat of 162 bpm. It is too efeb-2-09-ultrasound-imagearly to determine gender, and atour next appointment (17 weeks) we will probably still have to wait.

If you click on the thumbnail image it will open full size. They were scanned at only 200 dpi so they could be uploaded more easily.

In December I asked Christians to please pray, and so I wanted to update my readers of our progress. The doctors say everything is perfect. The due date is August 10th.  You can keep tabs on us by checking the Journal page of My Other Blog from time to time. I blog theology and religion on The Master’s Table, with the goal of being God honoring, Christ Centered. Check out My Other Blog for news, humor, politics, funny pics and videos, and the events of my life.

UPDATE: 1) Johannah Lorelai was born August 11 (my wife’s birthday) 2009.  You can read more here.  2) There is no longer a journal page on My Other Blog, but the above link still goes to the home page.

On the Lighter Side (2)

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research1A young man inherited everything in his grandfather’s library, but did not share his grandfather’s love of books.  His friend dropped by as he was boxing up loads of old books for the garbage.  “Some of this stuff could be worth something.  You should check up on the stuff you’re throwing out” his friend warned.  “All of this is junk” the young man insisted.  “Take this for instance.  It’s a weird German Bible by some Gutenberg character.”  “Oh my God!” his friend exclaimed.  “A Gutenberg Bible!  There are only 46 of those known to exist.  You can’t throw that away.  Do you have any idea?”  “No, no, no” he protested.  “This one is all worn out, and wouldn’t be worth nothing anyway.  Some guy named Martin Luther done scribbled in it.”

There is a serious post coming on the Protestant Reformation and Church History, I just can’t write it tonight.  It’s after 11:30 already.  UPDATE: Here it is.

Jesus’ Example (What Did Jesus Do?)

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wwjdWhat would Jesus do:  Remember that one?  Just in case you missed the 90’s, that was the Christian youth catch phrase to end all others.  There were backpacks, bracelets, t-shirts, teddy bears, pencils, bumper stickers, and the list goes on.  If it could be printed, it was.

The question wasn’t new.  “What would Jesus do” is asked by the characters in the short novel In His Steps by Charles Sheldon.  The locals of a small church congregation are challenged to ask this simple question before making any decision of consequence, and their lives are changed in the process.  The only problem, of course, is that we cannot always know for certain what Jesus would do in a particular circumstance.  What then?  Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example: Resisting Temptation

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temptation-of-jesusThe temptation of Jesus is recorded in Matthew 4:1-11.  We will be referring to these verses many times.

Walking the earth as a man subjected Jesus to all things common to humanity.  The Epistle of James teaches that God is not tempted by sin, and does not tempt anyone to sin.  But Jesus is God in the flesh; he experienced all the things we experience and can thus empathize with our weaknesses, feelings, emotions, frustrations, and so forth.  Whatever we experience, Jesus himself has been there.  And so it is with temptation.  Continue reading →

Answering Tough Questions

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question_mark_3dRichard Dawkins and Sam Harris are raising an army of New Atheists who are ready to do battle with the people of faith.  It is no longer enough to simply not believe in God; the “New Atheists” don’t think anyone else should have the right to either. 

The issues of creationism, evolution and Intelligent Design have been pushed into the forefront of debate in recent years, thanks to films by Ben Stein and the opening of the Creation Museum.  The battle of words takes place not just in pulpits or auditoriums, but in board of education meetings at the state and local level that determine curriculum and policy.  In both issues science, reason and logic are dragged through the mud by both sides in order to “prove” one side is right and the other wrong. 

Abortion is and perhaps always will be a hot topic in this country.  Continue reading →

Answering Tough Questions: Abortion

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question_mark_3dI’ve just read a blog post entitled “How to stump an anti-abortionist with one simple question.”  The question is this: If abortion were illegal, what should be done with mothers who get one?  According to the post, asking anti-abortion protesters this question draws puzzled looks and poorly thought out responses.  If Christians can’t articulate a well constructed response to this simple question, we need to work on that.  I responded thusly: Continue reading →

Commandments and Traditions, Jesus in Mark 7

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jesus_teachingThis lesson is from Mark 7:1-22.  Jesus is being questioned about why his disciples eat without washing their hands.  Jesus’ response says a lot about first century Jews’ attitudes toward the Old Testament Law, and how they lived out their convictions in real life. 

Jesus’ immediate reply to their criticism is to quote from Isaiah “this people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.”  Jesus tells them that they ignore God’s commandment to keep the commandment of men.  Continue reading →

Jesus’ Example: Growing Up

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child-jesusWhile it’s true that the whole Bible is about Jesus, what we know about his life on earth is found in four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.   The story of his birth (Christmas) is only recorded in two of those, Matthew and Luke.  What we know about his childhood is very limited, basically one paragraph in Luke 2.  Yet even in this short story Jesus provides us with an example we can learn from.  Continue reading →

Israel, Hamas, and My Friend That Lives There

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isreali-tank-in-gazaUPDATE:Israel has announced a unilateral cease fire, Hamas has pledged to keep fighting.  Read the full story here. 

I have somehow avoided blogging on the Israel/Hamas conflict, at least mostly.  I mentioned that there was a conflict in my Welcome 2009 post, and I’ve commented on other blogs about the situation.  I plan to be brief.

Peace in the Middle East: It’s a catchy slogan, rhymes well, and became very popular back in the 80’s.  It is also highly unlikely.  Correct that; according to the Bible it is not going to happen.  Continue reading →

Rapture Index = 158

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rap-indexmap3It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there is a website called Rapture Ready that has a vast menu of things to read on endtimes prophecy, current events, and more articles on how Russia is Magog than you can shake a stick at.  But on the Rapture Ready mainpage is a link to the Rapture Index, and this thing is a hoot. Continue reading →