I was raking leaves today & a thought crossed my mind I felt worth sharing. It is completely political speculation. Realize at the outset I'm not really worried about this, but I do hope people are 'awake' to the possibilities. To catch up with my wandering mind a few assumptions must be revealed.
We can't ALWAYS trust Government, sometimes they are wrong, intentionally or accidently. There are many parallels of principle between government & religion. History will repeat itself, those who do not know their history are DOOMED to repeat it...?
This lesson from Church History illustrates a possibility for Political History.
About 500 years ago the common man in Western Civilization saw religion in fairly simple terms. 'The Church' centered in Rome & some may have known of the 'crazy lunatic fringes' that would occasionally rise & fall. In fact, a few may have even thought those fringes were closer to the truth than the major religious school issuing forth from Rome. Finally, a scholar professor began a fringe movement that quickly went beyond what he had even imagined. In a matter of 100 years 'fringe' schools could now compete with the dominant approach to religion. Dr. Luther is no longer considered a lunatic heading a fringe group.
Politically speaking most of us in Western Civilization see politics in fairly simple terms. The 'Democracy & Capitalism' centered in America & there might be some other political philosophies out there but ours is best, the others fail, especially communism. We know there are professors amidst the fringe groups saying something else is possible, something else is better, but do we really believe they could overcome the dominant school of democracy & capitalism? I think they could.
You actually have fairly respected political & economic authority figures talking about ideas that are completely foreign to my friends & family living here in the American West. I'm not saying the ideas are better, but if they were to take over & win the minds of American political leaders, will we be caught off guard?
Are we awake to the possibilities? This isn't to scare anyone. This isn't meant to be alarmist. Ultimately our government structure in America is nothing compared to the structures of the earth created by my Father. 'Who has held the winds of the earth in his hands, who has stretched the oceans out like a curtain?' No government leader, no professor of political philosophy. So what if God permits or produces a new political structure on America other than Democracy & Capitalism. HE IS IN CONTROL.
Here is where I'll lose most people, lets return to the spiritual:
Some of my brethren, they claim God's will is to 'take up arms' for democracy, capitalism, & freedom... 'As for me & my house,' we'll 'lift up holy hands' & fight with the oldest & strongest weapon known to man, Prayer. Do you really think Bunker Bombs are more powerful than talking to The One who designed & spoke the Universe into existence?
'If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight...' John 18:36
I got lost when you said "raking my yard" and its January. Now THAT is interesting. I think your seasons are a little different than ours. And I think some of what you say is probably right but I don't think we have control over it and ultimately it won't matter. We are pilgrims and I'm looking forward to being with that perfect creator who is more powerful than bunker bombs.
Becky is right, & I join in thankfulness for men who die in my place for protecting the country. A clarification that might be helpful is that I'm not sure Christians should Fight for democracy & capitalism, if it were to come to that.
UPDATE: Marty told me, "See Footnote 47 in my essay in the book on the Psalms honoring Phil Roberts." He thinks '3rd day' is a reference to Psalm 16. 'not undergo decay'
This will be more my cup of tea moving away from economics.
Some of the people who read this blog are already aware that Marty Pickup was published recently in a professional peer-reviewed journal, The Journal for the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS). If you weren’t aware it was in the June 2008 volume. Those who have had Mr. Pickup for most upper-division classes will know what the paper discussed just from the title, ‘The NT Interpretation of the OT: The Theological Rationale of Midrashic Exegesis’ If you don’t know it from the title, you probably failed his class. Others may have attended his FC lecture discussing the use of various Psalms in the book of Acts. Others may have first read it in his essay in the tribute to Ferrell Jenkins, 'For God So Loved the World.'
His argument is well known to many, so I will not take the time to elaborate or analyze it here. What is exciting about this presentation of his view is that the paper will be reviewed by other scholars throughout the scholarly evangelical world. Mr. Pickup left no stone unturned in interacting with other popular scholars among conservative evangelicals. From D.A Carson, to D. Moo, to Walter Kaiser, to Bruce Waltke, & many others, Mr. Pickup has left an open invite for responses within the world of academia. Surely someone will respond with a critique of his approach & that should be interesting.
As a tribute to Mr. Pickup I want to make my own little contribution following his thesis. One of the interesting passages of Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians (there are many), is 1 Cor 15:4 ‘and that he was buried, & that he was raised on the third day,’ here is the tricky part, ‘according to the scriptures.’ I’ve never really looked into this much in commentaries or remembered hearing much on it in classroom settings. Recently a teacher asked the class, ‘What scripture says he will be raised on the third day?’
I answered rather weakly, that it may have been a reference to a saying of Jesus regarding the sign of Jonah who also was raised on the third day. The teacher said he was going to ‘go out on a limb’ & suggest that ‘scripture’ referred to Luke’s gospel which had already been written & Paul & his audience were familiar with it. Maybe so.
I think Mr. Pickup’s thesis about midrashic exegesis may offer us some help here. Often times when reading Paul’s letters we forget that he has already done his initial teaching with the group. He has already ‘reasoned in the synagogue’ with them & some of the material in his letters is an elaboration on a point he has already emphasized in person & doesn’t need to repeat in his letters.
It is possible Paul used midrashic exegesis to show ‘scripture’ (in Paul’s sense, the OT) had suggested the resurrection would occur on the third day. Just read Hosea 6:1-2. Using midrashic exegesis, Paul could put his emphasis on 6:2b ‘the third day.’
Out of context you say? Not if you understand midrashic exegesis, go look at other similar problematic NT citations of the OT. Marty’s article will help you with the first three: Hebrews 2:5-9 & 1 Cor 15:24-28 & their use of Psm 8:4-6; Eph 4:7-12 & its use of Psm 68:18; & finally Mt 2:14-15 & his use of Hosea 11:1.
********Nick Soyers also reminded me that Matt Harber recently suggested in 'Beneath the Cross' that Isaac was as good as dead for 3 days, then God delivered. The early Christians would have certainly seen Isaac as a foreshadowing of Christ, maybe even down to the '3 days good as dead' part. ******
He's holding our meeting in January. Maybe we can have him speak just on "midrashic exegesis" for four days because I would love to hear him say those two words over and over. They roll off the tongue so well.
One thing that makes any of our written Gospels so unlikely a reference for Paul's mentioning of "according to the Scriptures" in 1 Cor 15 is that the credal formula is something that he said he preached to them out of what he received before he ever established the Corinthian church years before. Just when was Luke supposed to have been written? Most critical scholars date the credal formula Paul cites in 1 Cor 15 to within two years of the cross.
Craig was absolutely thinking of the same movie you were. I remeber when he had to go buy it when it came out and to be honest I think we have two copies of it because his sister bought it for him too.
I will double check for the second copy. I know Lauren said she wasn't big into Halloween... neither is Craig- it is Reformation Day as far as he is concerned. I believe our kids (when we have them) will be Martin Luther on Halloween. As I said in my post, I'm going to read Martin Luthe's By Faith Alone as my daily devotional this year. During my studies before I was baptised into the Lutheran church I studied Luther's Small Catechism on top of the bible. As someone who was new to the church it was very helpful.
This may be apples & oranges & I can just go back to biblical things & not fool with math, business, & economics... but here is my pondering today after reading Walter Williams.
Two Companies both make & sell the same type items.
They are generally thought of as two different nationalities but both have factories & workers mainly in the same nation.
One uses 'x type' employment the other uses 'y type' employment.
Generally speaking 'x type' make better products, than 'y type.'
Generally speaking, 'x' charges more & makes more profit.
While, 'y' often charges less & is supposedly going bankrupt.
Is it too simplistic too say that the difference in employment type is hindering quality, productivity, & profit margins?
You may guess who I'm alluding to & get carried away with a debate on that topic if you wish, I'm truly trying to teach myself economics & business with this question since I was too scared to take Dr. Dickey's class on it.
You are correct. Given that 'y' outsold 'x' considerably last fiscal year, there is obviously demand for 'y' products as they are. So the products themselves aren't the problem.
Of course, you need to factor in whatever ethical issues may be involved with how y outsold x last fiscal year, but I'm starting to wonder if I have any idea what we are talking about, so I'll leave it at that.
Union workers making $75/hour, plus being paid after layoffs and pension plans cost US Automakers tons of money.
This is far from the only problem.
They have historically had lower quality and higher gas mileage in their vehicles.
Some of these things may be changing, so some say, but it takes years to undo the bad impression in quality that many US Automakers have (with trucks being the exception)
Although Toyota is making some gains in the truck market
Toyota passed GM worldwide, but I'm not sure about purely US sales. Quality/Reliability are an issue: Consumer reports steadily has non-US cars rated higher in several categories. I think GM had the market swallowed up for a while, charged what they wanted, and invested too heavily in average cars and way-too-big SUVs. Gas prices go up, and they come tumbling down.
I'm thankful for Dudley Berthold. He has had a bigger impact on me than he or those around him realize. He is a great saint that resides in the Louisville KY area & is in serious need of our prayers.
Dudley has helped me more than he or any of his family realize. He has four great kids & a wonderful wife. They have a love for all the saints. He has wonderful in-laws who have been impacted deeply by the live he has tried to live in Christ.
He works hard, he is the epitome of the Protestant work ethic. But he doesn't work too hard. He brings others into his work, whether it is his own sons, or another young man in the faith who needs to learn a trade & in the process learn the faith. He doesn't have to be asked to fix things around the meeting place, he would take note & show up after or before a long work day & quietly complete his task repairing, painting, or cleaning what needed to be done where the saints gathered. He worked hard, but not too hard, & he worked in the right ways.
He loves to give. He doesn't just give to the local collection of saints where he gathers, he gives to needy saints & needy preachers who have sacrificed for others. He was not afraid to stick his neck out & beg from all of those gathered saints in Louisville, KY in an effort to raise money for the Gardner Hall camp in NY. He didn't just give financially, he also gave out gems of teaching to those who wanted to learn from him. Some may only wish he gave more in this latter area, but he was too humble to suppose others needed his advice or teaching. He loved to give, in many ways & that is what drove his work ethic.
Dudley was the permanent substitute on the duty roster, ready at a moments notice to step in for someone who wasn't prepared. His youngest son joined him in that assignment. They understood the importance of serving the congregation in any & every task. In word he called me the little little preacher, but his language did not reflect what he thought of me, he thought of all us as important. From those who didn't do anything publicly all the way up to our most well known preacher at Douglass Hills (Paul Earnhart). Dudley loved to be a servant in the faith.
The present tense describing words have changed to past tense only for but a moment. This great saint in the faith, who will be embarrassed if he hears of this silly tribute to him, has a physical setback that will have a spiritual effect. No he will not allow this to set him back spiritually, he will find other ways to serve spiritually despite what may happen to him physically. But for now we must pray that God's will be done as he recovers from a fairly serious stroke that has given him paralysis in his left side. The LORD's army needs this great general fighting & fight he will no matter what plans lay for him in God's permissive will. Maybe this slow down of his physical activity will lead to a whole new era, maybe it will lead him back to preaching, in which I'll close this tribute with a story from his son-in-law who loves him so much. (Why would one guy marry the sister of three big boys & daughter of a man such as this? Well that is a whole different post about a different kind of servant of God, Steve Garrett)
Steve tells the story of an epic sermon series that Dudley once boomed to a crowd of saints that has been silent in words but loud in action that maybe once again will be heard. The Tater Christians. What, you've never heard of the Taters? (I hope my memory gets this right) The Procrastinator, The Agitator, The Instigator, etc. etc. the list went on, but I can't remember them all.
Will you join me & many others in praying for this man's health & his family? Pray that their great work in the kingdom will continue in what ever method & means it can. Thank you.
--------------------UPDATE:---------------------------------
Report from the family was good news, he has regained some movement in his left arm & a little in his leg.
I am so grateful you posted this. I love Mr. B so much and the fact that one would write a "tribute" to him, really speaks volumes to his name, as he has spoken volumes for the Lord's. I am aching for the whole fam and looking forward to serving them however I can. Hannah and I were just talking Sat that there is no doubt the saints there will shine in helping our fam. Thank you (and them) for their love and works. God bless you all!
No - "holla" is a shoutout. :) the only way we've been able to do the Black Friday thing is because we spend the night at my parents and my dad just watches the kids for us in the morning. There were lots of people there with their kids and I just think that's mean. It was really cold in KC. I was freezing and I saw bare skin on some babies.
Thanks for your comments, bro. I would like to see the movie. I remember someone else feeling strongly about it before, too. Its kind for you to say Luther made you think of me a few times. I understand the limits of the intent of that comment, though ;)
Underneath the religious controversy of Reverend Wright, president-elect Obama made an effort to gain ground in the ‘faith’ vote. That effort worked.
In a recent posting from the Pew Forum.org, exit poll stats show an increase in ‘Democratic’ voting from ‘people of faith.’ While the election still showed a huge gap between the ‘faithful’ who voted for Obama & those who voted for McCain, Obama did better with every ‘faith’ group than John Kerry or Al Gore.
Here are some of the surprising results:
Religiously Unaffiliated : 61% Gore; 67% Kerry; 75% Obama
Evangelicals: Kerry 40%; Obama 45%
He actually made gains in every area EXCEPT 'white protestant non-evangelicals', in which there was 'no change.'
Catholics: Obama 54%; McCain 45%
(Let’s look closer at that last one: An 8 point jump from Kerry, a Catholic, who lost to Bush by over 13 points among Catholics!)
And now a S.C. Catholic priest is banning communion to his parishioners who voted for Obama!
I wonder if he heard about these stats? Besides, how does he know who did & who didn’t?
I think the disparity bt Kerry votes and Obama is b/c Kerry is actually Catholic. I think people expect more sameness from someone who claims to be of the same religious group...therefore Kerry's stance on abortion was more offensive to Catholics that Obama's...that's just my guess.
I wonder if we're looking at things and making to much out of them. The fact is Obama won because almost all groups voted for him in higher numbers. I'll give Obama some credit, but this election was in large part voting Democrat because of where the economy and war are.
