Bible Reading Update

Back in July I had posted a piece about some folks who had done some incredible things when it comes to reading the Bible. That post got me thinking and challenged me with regard to my own Bible reading habits. So I set myself a goal to read the Bible through in three months.  It’s at that point – August thru October - and I thought I’d let you know where I’m at.

For a variety of reasons, I missed several days of reading. Laziness I imagine. Then I also trailed off on my enthusiasm and stopped doing weekends consistently. Needless to say, I am behind. I’ve managed, according to the pages numbering in the Bible I’m using, to get a little more than half way. So, hitting the six month goal, is certainly doable.

Here’s what I’ve learned. At times I am more intent on the pages read than the content of the pages. Of course, that happens to me even if I’m not trying to reach a certain goal. I’ve also learned that the arbitrary chapter and verse numbering is cumbersome at times and does not allow for a full flow of theme or content. We can thank Stephen Langton (1227) and Robert Stephanus (1551) for that little bit of confusion.

Most of all, I am learning there is little perceived value in this exercise. Of course, I can say “I’ve done it”, again, but what will that mean to anyone. I could have “done it” a hundred times, but if I am not a keeper of Justice and doer of righteousness (Isaiah 56:1), what value is it?

Now having said all that, let me say that I do not intend to abandon the exercise even if it takes me a year. It will have value, if for nothing else than for me to say, “I’ve completed the exercise.”  I don’t complete a lot of things I start. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s simply that something else comes along to draw my attention and I begin chasing that particular “idea.”  Even though that is not a bad trait in and of itself, it can be frustrating.

One other note, I’ve started reading The Blue Parakeet – Rethinking How You Read the Bible, by Scot McKnight. It is indeed an interesting read. The book has already given me a bit of insight in to how I read the Bible and what type of things I expect, or choose, to take away from the reading.

Well, there ya have it. My update. Ain’t life grand!

God Help Us All

The piece below was sent to me by a friend. I did some checking on www.snopes.com and it appears this article is truthful. Now I would say it is not only truthful in the fact that Huntley Brown said these words, but truthful in its CONTENT. 

 

I wanted to send this article from Huntley Brown - a fabulous concert pianist, a man of God and a black man. I appreciate so much his reasoning for not voting for Obama. I would like to see his article published or spread out via Email to as many as possible. It’s good stuff! 

Why I Can’t Vote For Obama 
By Huntley Brown 

Dear Friends, A few months ago I was asked for my perspective on Obama, I sent out an email with a few points. With the election just around the corner I decided to complete my perspective. Those of you on my e-list have seen some of this before but it’s worth repeating… 

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support. Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain why I will not be voting for him. 

Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can’t dictate the terms He does because He is the leader. 

I can’t vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because that’s who I am. Christian first, black second.  Neither should anyone from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won’t be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior. 

In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning to name a few, wrong economic concerns will soon not matter. 

We need to follow Martin Luther King’s words, don’t judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I don’t know Obama so all I can go off is his voting record. His voting record earned him the title of the most liberal senator in the US Senate in 2007. 

NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007 (01/31/2008) 

To beat Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton as the most liberal senator, takes some doing. Obama accomplished this feat in 2 short years. I wonder what would happen to America if he had four years to work with. 

There is a reason Planned Parenthood gives him a 100 % rating. There is a reason the homosexual community supports him. There is a reason Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas etc. love him. There is a reason he said he would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court. There is a reason he voted against the infanticide bill. There is a reason he voted No on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. There is a reason he voted No on banning partial birth abortion. There is a reason he voted No on confirming Justices Roberts and Alito. These two judges are conservatives and they have since overturned partial birth abortion. The same practice Obama wanted to continue. 

Let’s take a look at the practice he wanted to continue 

The 5 Step Partial Birth Abortion procedures: 

A. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby’s leg with forceps. (Remember this is a live baby) 
B. The baby’s leg is pulled out into the birth canal. 
C. The abortionist delivers the baby’s entire body, except for the head. 
D. The abortionist jams scissors into the baby’s skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the hole. 
E. The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child’s brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed. 

God help him. There is a reason Obama opposed the parental notification law. 

Think about this:  You can’t give a kid an aspirin without parental notification but that same kid can have an abortion without parental notification. This is insane. 

There is a reason he went to Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years. 

Obama tells us he has good judgment but he sat under Jeremiah Wright teaching for 20 years. Now he is condemning Wright’s sermons. I wonder why now? 

Obama said Jeremiah Wright led him to the Lord and discipled him. A disciple is one in training. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19 – 20 ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ This means reproduce yourself. Teach people to think like you, walk like you; talk like you believe what you believe etc. The question I have is what did Jeremiah Wright teach him? 

Would you support a White President who went to a church which has tenets that said they have a …

1. Commitment to the White Community 
2. Commitment to the White Family 
3. Adherence to the White Work Ethic 
4. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community. 
5. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions 
6. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System 
7. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System. 

Would you support a President who went to a church like that? 

Just change the word from white to black and you have the tenets of Obama’s former church.   If President Bush was a member of a church like this, he would be called a racist. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been marching outside. 

This kind of church is a racist church. Obama did not wake up after 20 years and just discovered he went to a racist church.  The church can’t be about race.  Jesus did not come for any particular race. He came for the whole world. 

A church can’t have a value system based on race. The churches value system has to be based on biblical mandate. It does not matter if its a white church or a black church it’s still wrong.  Anyone from either race that attends a church like this would never get my vote. 

Obama’s former Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: ‘Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him.

Cone is the man Obama’s mentor looks up to. Does Obama believe this? 

So what does all this mean for the nation? 

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing – judgment. 

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel 1:9 ‘Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do.’ 

Then God says 

1 Samuel 1:18 ‘ When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.’ 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. ‘We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.’  21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, ‘Listen to them and give them a king.’ 

Here is what we know for sure. 

God is not schizophrenic 

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain. As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God. 

Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it. 

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the face and say; Father based on your word, I am voting for Obama even though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you.  I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this.  I know I can look the other way because of the economy. 

I could not see Jesus agreeing with many of Obama’s positions. Finally I have two questions for all my liberal friends. 

Since we know someone’s value system has to be placed on the nation, 

1. Whose value system should be placed on the nation. 

2.  Who should determine that this is the right value system for the nation? 

Blessings, Huntley Brown

**********************

I understand there always needs to be a choice when it comes to election. However, for any rational person to think that this election is not about race is not thinking clearly. In addition, if anyone thinks for a moment that a $1,000 tax credit will in some way offset the huge tax bill that will come with Obama’s entitlements is not thinking clearly.  Sure, I would like to have more money in my pocket, but I’ll take McCain’s tax cut over Obama’s smoke and mirrors anytime.

Should Obama win, and Republicans lose seats in the House and the Senate, America will see a runaway train for liberal politics like never before. And the sad part is, those who believe in a free economy, rationale moral values, and less government not more, may get run over quickly by those who have been given a free ride at others expense.

Democracy was what this country was founded on not socialism. Hang on to your pocketbook, hang on to your guns, and hang on to your rights as afforded by the constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights.

Philosophy? Theology?

In an October issue of WORLD Magazine, there is an article entitled “A Chemist and God“.  It is a brief description of Henry Schaefer’s faith and how it interacts with science. It’s a short and interesting read.

Here is what intrigued me about the article. Schaefer notes that “Scientists who speak definitely about how the universe began…are going beyond science. Then he makes this statement, “When you read or hear anything about the birth of the universe, someone is making it up – we are in the realm of philosophy. Only God knows how what happened at the very beginning.”(World, October 18/25 2008, 60)

Doesn’t that put us in the realm of theology? Is theology any more credible than philosophy when it comes to determining how the world began? Aren’t both based on certain suppositions?  If only God knows and the Genesis account may not reflect the reality of how the world began, than wouldn’t both branches, philosophy and theology, be speaking from a certain frame of reference that is reflected by a belief system and not necessarily evidence?

As I have mentioned before in previous posts, each side can line up the “experts” on their side and present credible evidence to support a position. Naturally, each side picks those experts that present what seems to be the most plausible argument for their particular position and allow the hearer to decide. After all, if only God knows and someone shuns belief in God than science is the only alternative. If someone believes in God and views evidence from that perspective, than things like intelligent design, God created using evolution, and other postulates are the alternatives.

Now I’m not a philosopher nor a theologian. I am just a regular guy who gets confused easily. But it seems to me, trying to prove the unprovable, whether using philosophy or theology is similar to that old discussion of how many angels can dance on the head of pin/needle. It is an endless argument without substantive support.

Simply based on scientific evidence, the universe functions with such precise action and interaction that to think the process is random is almost ludicrous. The only other real option to explain how that precision came about is intelligent design – a creator. Now whether one makes the leap from “a creator” to a personal faith in God through Christ, might be a stretch, but it’s a start. As the article points out:

In Schaefer’s view, a natural nexus exists between Christianity and science: ‘In many respects [Christians] are not different than anybody else in science, but we do have a deep-seated trust that God is a God of order and that by following rational methods we will find truth in the scientific sense.’ (60)

As you ponder the imponderable, ponder that! 

Anxious

It’s been said that “Worry is like a rocking chair – it gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.” The axiom is completely true however it does not stop some people from worrying no matter how many times they recite it. I am a worrier. I am anxious most of my waking hours. Even when things seem to be going good, I am anxious that they will all fall apart. When things are going not so well, I am anxious that they will get worse. Some how I think God is getting some obscene pleasure from making my life miserable.

Here’s the irony. I am anxious about everything – my wife is anxious about nothing. She is a walking testimony to Philippians 4:6 “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (RSV).”

Now I will admit, I have been banging the doors down when it comes to letting my requests be made known. And naturally, it seems I always stand empty handed. But then the context never says God will answer the requests, simply that His peace ”will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (v.7).” Not quite what I was hoping, but certainly better perhaps than God simply answering those requests gushing forth from an anxious heart and mind. Then again, I am not at peace; seldom ever at peace. Can’t recall too many times in my life when I was ever in a state of peace. When things are going good, I’m expecting God to pull the rug out from under me. When things are going bad, I am wallowing in the “see I told you so” of my own expectations.

My wife made an observation that our energy is better spent becoming the people God wants us to be and He will take care of the rest. Similar to what Jesus said about seeking the Kingdom of God first and the other things necessary for life will be provided (Matt. 6:33). But I want the table to be set before I sit down for a meal. I anticipate and expect that perhaps things should be in perfect order before I take the next step. That all the lights should be green before I go to town. That somehow God owes me that.  Of course, I’ve had that conversation with myself before and realize the absurdity of it, none the less it still bounces off the walls of my mind and seems impossible to shake.

 I suspect it’s obvious by now, I am a glass-half-empty guy. Someone who, for whatever reason, thinks if it’s going to get done someone else is going to fill the glass for me. Naturally, that never happens. I suppose I could adopt Wayne Dyer’s philosophy and say to myself, “What’s the worse that can happen and can I live with that?” Or I could settle in and simply take life as it comes and resign myself to the fact that that is God’s will. Neither seem totally satisfactory.

Are the concepts of anxious and faith opposites? Can the two co-exist and produce a semblance of harmony? Will anxiousness always trump faith? Is the “peace of God” the goal?

These are difficult times. I am sure, in fact I am positive, that there are others who are under a much heavier weight than me. Because of economic conditions we (me in particular) simply live with the thought of what tomorrow will bring. Others already know what that “tomorrow” has delivered to their door. So I suppose I should be thankful for that element of uncertainty, at least it carries a ray of hope, but little peace.

Well, after reading this, if you’re not as depressed as I am perhaps you should be. Then again, if you are not perhaps you have the same kind of faith my wife has. She is the one constant in my life and for that I am eternally grateful. Then again, I wonder why God would ever saddle her with me. She deserves so much more.

Soon…Very Soon

Well, it won’t be long and this whole political parade will come to an end. Someone will be our new President and bring along with them a type of Vice-President. Then we will wait to see the “change” and realize for all intents and purposes it will be business as usual when it comes to politics and not so business-as-usual when it comes to social reform and the implementation of moral and ethical agendas. The first won’t surprise me at all, the second one scares me to death. Actually, Obama scares me! His agenda scares me! His messiah-like persona and following scares me.

I am not at all certain the people of this country are sensitive to what might lie ahead when it comes to the new morality. I say that in broad strokes because it is hard to ferret out the nuances of Obama’s values in the midst of his elaborate rhetoric. However, that is not my point….

In a cursory study of a doctrinal piece called The Baptist Faith and Message, the doctrinal position of Southern Baptists, I came across an interesting resolution put forth in the 2007 SBC convention. It was a resolution entitled “On Pastors, Culture, And Civic Duty (with Amendment)” and it’s thrust is as follows:

WHEREAS, There is a great need for a new generation of pastors to take the lead in courageously confronting an American culture and government that is hurtling downward to new depths of moral decadence and for pastors to stand firm in the face of continued threats to the sanctity of human life, the sacredness of marriage between one man and one woman, and the fundamental freedom to express our faith in the public arena; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in San Antonio, Texas, June 12-13, 2007, urge our pastors to preach the whole counsel of God, not only passionately inviting people to Jesus, but also prophetically declaring biblical truth concerning the burning moral issues that are being debated in the culture and government; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we encourage pastors to model and promote informed and active Christian citizenship among the membership of our churches; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That we support our pastors as they lead their congregations to engage their communities, our culture, and our nation as salt and light, showing the way to the only hope for America and for the world, who is Jesus Christ.

Now here is what I found intriguing about that resolution – the fact that it was needed at all. Why should a convention find it necessary to openly encourage their pastoral leadership to become engaged in cultural issues and the ramifications of such issues on behalf of their community and congregation? 

We are often told from various pulpits that Jesus was a champion of the weak, the poor, the disenfranchised,  those suppressed by society. But it is not often we hear the charge to carry that message beyond the pew in concrete action to those people who are victims of such oppression.

Naturally, taking a stand either politically or socially carries with it certain risks. Not the least of which is alienation of those who have differing opinions or political views. And I suspect many pastors are not willing to run that risk. The I-want-people-to-like-me gene kicks in and prevents any substantive action.

I’m not a prophet or the son of a prophet, however I suspect that this election could indeed change the course of our country in a way that no other election has, at least so say many pundits. Will that thwart the Kingdom work, absolutely not. What it may do is challenge the church to be more relevant in the community.

God Bless America!

Note: In the upcoming years there will indeed be another discussion of Roe V Wade. Now, not from a judicial side, rather from an ethical side, Christians will be faced with discussing the issue of abortion again. There is a good discussion of the topic here that was helpful for me in seeing the biblical context of the issue, or lack thereof.