The Read and Share File

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overloadIf you wonder what I’ve been reading lately:

Easter is coming up when we celebrate the death, burial and resurrection. Read Cloudwatcher on Justification: No Record.

There are three headlines in the Internet Monk post Updates on the Creation Wars, but I want to specifically draw your attention to the one on homeschooling parents and their choice of science textbooks.  “Jen Baird Seurkamp, an evangelical who homeschools her children, avoids textbooks that discredit evolution. “Our science curriculum is one currently used in public schools,” she says. “We want our children to be educated, not sheltered from things we are afraid of them learning'”

ESVBible.org will be upgrading their website shortly. Take a look at this page detailing the new features and functionality.

Here’s a scary read: The Freedom from Religion Foundation is suing the Treasury Department on the grounds that “In God We Trust” discriminates against atheists and other Americans who do not believe in any god. More at HLN.

Two Tests of Faith

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question_mark_3dAnd from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. (Mark 7:24-30 ESV) 

Jesus’s response seems harsh. Is he calling this woman a dog? The short answer is yes. He was a Jewish messiah sent to the Jews, and she was of mixed Greek heritage and in short a Gentile. The Jews had two classifications of people, Jews and everyone else. But Jesus knew the thoughts and intents of her heart; her faith was in Jesus to heal her daughter. She was trusting him to do for her what no one else could.  Jesus tested her in such a way as to make her faith public. Recall his words to the woman with the issue of blood: “Your faith has made you whole.”  When put to the test, she passed with flying colors.  Belief can be stated, faith must be demonstrated. Continue reading →

Happy Monday

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Screenshot 2013-03-07 at 7.30.35 AM Continue reading →

The Fourth Man in the Fire

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Screenshot 2013-03-10 at 2.19.14 PMIn Daniel chapter 3, Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego were called to appear before King Nebuchadnezzar. They were charged with not worshiping the gods of Babylon nor bowing down the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar himself. He is willing to give them another chance, and if they will bow down then all will be well. But instead:

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  -Daniel 3:16-18 Continue reading →

Chicken Church

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Screenshot 2013-03-08 at 9.15.40 AMEarlier this week I took my mother to lunch at the Big Chicken. Anyone from north Georgia, particularly the greater Atlanta area, knows about the Big Chicken, which is actually a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, in Marietta. The thing is a landmark and part of life in Atlanta, like the Coca-cola museum or Turner Field.  It is certainly no accident that the building looks like a chicken.

The Church by the Sea in Tampa Bay, Florida may be another story.  My mother told me she saw it this morning on Headline News (HLN). Church members say it’s not unusual to see tourists stopping to take pictures. What do you think? Is it a great coincidence or a bit of careful planning that resulted in the big chicken church?

Screenshot 2013-03-08 at 8.48.19 AM…

And here’s my thought: If tourists drive out of their way to snap pics of a church that just happens (if that’s the case) to look like a chicken, they will also see Jesus on the cross. Is that not what the church is called to?

Meet Dr. Hannah Gay

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Screenshot 2013-03-07 at 7.19.26 AM

Did you hear the one about the baby born with HIV being cured?  No, it’s not a joke.  A child born to an infected mother was treated shortly after birth with a cocktail of three drugs, and months later (now 2 years later) tests negative for the virus.  Paul and Hannah Gay are Southern Baptists that spent 25 years working with pediatric AIDS patients in Africa.  Click the above image to read more.

Happy Monday

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Proof read carefully, because there are some things spell check can’t fix: 

hap mon, bloopers

Continue reading →

The Bible on History

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Bible, on HistoryI said the same prayer for the History Channel’s presentation of the Bible that I did for GSN’s Great American Bible Challenge last summer: please Lord, don’t let it be stupid. For the sake of Christian’s everywhere, I hoped it would not be something I had to apologize for to non-Christians/ unbelievers.

The Bible premiered tonight on History. For the most part, I would have to say that I liked it. Getting the story of all scripture into ten hours is an ambitious undertaking. Some things must be left out, and other parts of the story condensed. But if that’s the case, then why add anything that is not included in scripture? For all the drama the Bible contains, why add anything for dramatic effect? The producers must have known that some of us would be watching that know the Bible well. For our sake, why not remain as true to the original as possible? Continue reading →

The State of Marriage to be a Federal Issue

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wedding rings“The Obama administration abandoned its states’ rights position on marriage Thursday (Feb. 28) by asking the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8, and in the process it laid the legal groundwork for legalizing gay marriage nationwide.” -Baptist Press, March 1, 2013

Last year president Obama announced his support of gay marriage and made it an issue in the campaign, but at that time indicated the legal specifics of marriage should remain the business of each state. Last year he said  “I think it is a mistake to try to make what has traditionally been a state issue into a national issue.”  Now in his second term he can say and act on what he really thinks.  The Justice Department is asking the Court to use a form of review known as “heightened scrutiny” which is much more likely to result in Prop 8 being struck down than “rational basis.”  Reviewing California’s Proposition 8 under heightened scrutiny could be a big step in legalizing gay marriage nationwide.

Read the full article here.