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: Fish for Breakfast

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fish-fryOkay, this one may seem a little silly but there will be a point.  This lesson may be more about friendship than anything else.

So after Jesus had been crucified and buried, the disciples were in a tough spot.  They had given up the past three years of their lives to spend with Jesus, basically doing the world tour around the Mid East.  They had also preached, taught and cast out demons, but often disappointed Christ with their lack of faith and understanding.  So now all their hopes and dreams have been nailed to the cross.  Continue reading →

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 →

A Bit of Historical Perspective

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Obama InaugurationThis is not a “Hurray for our side” nor a “He’s not my President” type of rant.  There is not anything here you can’t find somewhere else.  I’m writing this post for three reasons:  1) I watched the inauguration live  2) I’m a history teacher, and 3) I blog, that’s what I do.

The presidential campaign was historic in and of itself.  It was the first time that two current senators ran against each other for the highest office in the land.  Of the last 5 presidents, 4 were first state governors.  Only the senior President Bush had just served as the V.P. for eight years.  We knew that on election night, we would either be choosing the first African American to serve as President ever, or the first woman to fill the role of Vice President. 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 →