tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82467058826828260492024-03-14T02:03:31.434-04:00Musings of a SnickerdoodleSarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-33973985334360884222022-09-26T11:34:00.000-04:002022-09-26T11:34:36.461-04:00The Problem With Self Control - Rick Lambert<span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-large;"><b>"Self is a fleshly weapon. It's useless in spiritual battles."</b> I really liked this study that Rick Lambert (author of <i>Polycarp: A Destroyer of Our gods</i>) is doing on 'self control', that the term is actually translated incorrectly in our Bibles and that there is a better term that captures the meaning of the original greek word better. He is working on a book that will deal with this concept (among other things). In this talk, he is doing a test run to try to get his explanation of the concept perfected.</span><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="412" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SudQ1VOwqfw" width="727" youtube-src-id="SudQ1VOwqfw"></iframe></div><br /><div><br /></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-88563680768844017912022-09-12T09:32:00.005-04:002022-09-12T09:32:47.896-04:00The Journey of the Purple Heart as told for him by Robert W. Baumer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSfcpDIqEK53j_a8Ymwe9yAF4xNNrWeVeW_-JUZ0WGa3DkTfSHXZB69XtNaSbA__URAx1Wb90mIr8iIcBtOr-SLudA_ANV4SoD0RwcPb--wKlcr7DFv3N3gyZN0jk56nLJ_ni_eRmAa3iIOJsr0ttv904TsLFSZ5XVYPK0jWLS7ILYOROEUtlEpyt/s940/Baumer.png" imageanchor="1" style="font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="624" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguSfcpDIqEK53j_a8Ymwe9yAF4xNNrWeVeW_-JUZ0WGa3DkTfSHXZB69XtNaSbA__URAx1Wb90mIr8iIcBtOr-SLudA_ANV4SoD0RwcPb--wKlcr7DFv3N3gyZN0jk56nLJ_ni_eRmAa3iIOJsr0ttv904TsLFSZ5XVYPK0jWLS7ILYOROEUtlEpyt/w424-h640/Baumer.png" width="424" /></a></div><p><b> </b><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Journey of the Purple Heart</b> by <i>Robert Baumer</i> is an interesting account of his uncle (also his namesake) who fought and died in World War II. This book follows Bob Baumer, a soldier, from the start of World War 2 all the way to his death just after Normandy. This book has a unique twist in that it is written in the form of a novel. The author does admit that he takes some liberties but all with a good knowledge of what his uncle was actually like (he interviewed family members, friends, fellow soldiers, read his letters...etc.) so it is quite an accurate account.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">It starts and ends by telling about the author's research into his uncle. With the semi-fictional retelling of his uncle's history in the middle. It <span>is written from various perspectives, that of Bob's mom, his brother and of course Bob himself. It also gives high level overviews of what was happening at various times. I</span><span>t 'pulls you in' in many places, making you feel as if you are with them while the various events are happing. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Bob joins the army before the war, not really expecting to actually have to fight, but then war breaks out. You then follow Bob and his fellow soldiers to various countries where they are sent to fight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">One of the things I found very interesting about this book, something that made me really feel as though I were 'in' the time period, was the descriptions of actual documents of the time. There are things like written announcements from commanding officers that were send to all of the soldiers, a detailed description of what was in an issue of Life magazine at the time, a summary of what was in pamphlets introducing them to whatever country they were about to enter, even the inspiring message given over a loudspeaker to the men when they were on a transport ship to North Africa. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">A part that I especially liked in the book was where Bob's Mom was listening to the radio hearing about the Normandy invasion. Let me give a small excerpt from that part here: <b>"Viola now knew she would be up for the rest of the night so she gave up any thought of even trying to go to bed. She'd pay for that at work tomorrow, but she did not care. Minutes were running together, and at 2:55 a.m., a new voice, that of Richard Harkness and ringing with clarity, broke in to tell his NBC listeners: 'The German radio claims this morning that the Allied invasion has begun…..' Viola cringed when she again heard, 'There is no confirmation from Allied sources,' before Harkness followed by offering, 'the German broadcast could be one which Allied leaders had expected would be made with the purpose of upsetting plans inside the conquered country.' But listeners were also cautioned that Prime Minister Winston Churchill had previously warned that any news of a landing at places like Le Havre could be a feint, and Allied forces may land elsewhere in the main invasion. Viola ,like other Americans who were hearing this broadcast felt nothing but total frustration. Was this real, or not? Then the broadcast took a new turn….."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">That part was toward the beginning of the book and it was what really started drawing the picture in my imagination and giving me the sense of the times.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I really love the use of (and really appreciate the research that must have gone into) these little details that really bring this book to life.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Now the book is quite accurate to the time so I do want to mention that there is some foul language, off color jokes, and some descriptions given of some of raunchy entertainment given to the troops. Bob and some of his buddies do ultimately decide against going to a brothel when the opportunity comes up.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">It was an interesting way to learn more about World War II. You'll learn many things along the way, from the beginning where you'll learn something in a discussion between Bob's brother Sonny and their mother, that America initially had a smaller military than Germany, smaller even than Switzerland! To the end where Bob's mother gets a letter telling where in France Bob was temporarily buried and a photograph of the cemetery. All in all, I think that this book, in its giving the perspective of Bob Baumer, his mom and brother, gives the perspective of the average soldier in World War II and the average family with relatives on the front.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Many thanks to the author and the publisher, Hellgate Press, who sent me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable)!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>This book may be purchased on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Purple-Heart-Infantry-Stateside/dp/1954163274/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=journey+of+the+purple+heart&qid=1662988288&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a> and from the publisher, <a href="https://www.hellgatepress.com/product/the-journey-of-the-purple-heart-robert-w-baumer/" target="_blank">Hellgate Press</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>You may also want to read Robert W. Baumer's other book: <a href="https://snickerdoodlesmusings.blogspot.com/2018/08/old-hickory-30th-division-top-rated.html" target="_blank">Old Hickory: The 30th Infantry Division</a></i></span></p>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-3043175204994405062021-08-19T08:02:00.005-04:002021-08-19T08:15:38.095-04:00Your Old Testament Sermon Needs to Get Saved - By David King<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjCxmLlHahmdOilV_l-4-CfKtfhUNDwh3RrXvOB3eSZCu0qz79aZjgaQPJbiPuGRORH96wAxmLLU5EXA1vno4aXtCNxz_OVCJSw2Li1M1CBpT-AZuqwQMqsBH7_SiureWHxYva6W_4Azc/s2048/YOSNTGS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1325" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjCxmLlHahmdOilV_l-4-CfKtfhUNDwh3RrXvOB3eSZCu0qz79aZjgaQPJbiPuGRORH96wAxmLLU5EXA1vno4aXtCNxz_OVCJSw2Li1M1CBpT-AZuqwQMqsBH7_SiureWHxYva6W_4Azc/w414-h640/YOSNTGS.jpg" width="414" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">I've known something about the "Christocentric" hermeneutic for many years now. I need to admit up front that I've always disagreed with it in theory, but have never really fully formulated why I disagree with it. I saw <b>'Your Old Testament Sermon Needs to Get Saved'</b> by <i>David King</i> and figured that it would be good chance to read the whole argument for Christocentrism in preaching and think it through more thoroughly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">One of the main arguments that King makes for a Christocentric interpretation of everything is the Lordship of Jesus. <b>"We start with the simple but sweeping confession: Jesus is Lord. Take a second to ponder the weight of that three word sentence. Could there be a more persuasive argument for preaching Christ from the Old Testament? If Jesus is Lord, then He is Lord over the Old Testament - and Lord over our Old Testament sermons, too." </b>At first, it was hard to figure out how to reply to such an argument. A lot of the arguments in the book are similar to the one above in that they seem to be made up of 'gotcha' questions and statements, such that you feel wrong disagreeing with them. Here are some other snippets: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>"do you believe that there are portions of the Old Testament that have nothing to do with Jesus?" </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>"If Christ is the final word from God, then all previous words lead to Him"</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>"Everything about the Old Testament flows to and through Jesus."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> These arguments are too vague. Take for instance the first one, that Jesus is Lord. Of course Jesus is Lord! But what does that entail? One could use a similar argument to say that since He is Lord over everything then He is Lord of any secular book too, such as Moby Dick. Should we preach Christ from Moby Dick? Should we preach him from Star Wars?</span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">And then of course you have the "Emmaus road" argument, <i>"And beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."</i>(Luk 24:27 ASV) I've always read that to mean that Jesus pointed out that the Scriptures had clearly prophesied about Him, and that He went through the Scriptures and showed them the particular places that prophesied of Himself, not that He showed them that He was in (or the point of) EVERY SINGLE THING written in them. King also uses what Christ said later that night to try to further his point: "<i>These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."</i>(24:44-47). I have always read "everything written about me" as a clarification, that all of the prophecies of Christ in those books must be fulfilled, not that those books were prophesying about Him in everything they said. I've never read those passages as if they said, "Everything in the Law of Moses, the prophets and Psalms was speaking of Me." Or "He showed them that everything that the prophets wrote, and everything written in the Scriptures concerned Himself." I see "the things concerning Himself" and "everything written about me" as narrowing the focus to particular passages, not encompassing everything in the law, prophets and Psalms. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Next, the author says that "the apostles adopted a broad prophetic understanding of the Old Testament". </span><span>The illustrative verse used for this section is Matthew's pointing out the fulfillment of a prophecy in Hosea, "Out of Egypt have I called my Son", in Mary and Joseph taking Jesus and coming back to Israel after having gone to Egypt in obedience to God's command to Joseph to flee there. Many commentators have thought that Matthew was viewing "Israel" as a type of Christ because the statement before "out of Egypt I called My Son" says,</span><i>"When Israel was a child, then I loved him</i><span>" (Hosea 11:1). I don't see that Matthew absolutely has to be viewed as interpreting a passage about Israel by applying it to Christ - one could make the case that the juvenile Israel who was loved is not the same as the Son who was called from out of Egypt. Especially since Matthew only specifically states that the return of Mary, Joseph and Jesus from Egypt was fulfilled by the particular statement </span><i>"out of Egypt I called My Son"</i><span> and he doesn't mention that it fulfills the statement about God loving Israel when Israel was a child. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>King states that</span><span>,"</span><b>Christ can be proclaimed from old Testament texts in a manner that pushes the boundaries of our own prophetic understanding. Matthew wasn't mistaken." </b><span>I agree, Matthew wasn't mistaken but I don't see that he was necessarily pushing the boundaries, and I would probably argue the same about any other prophecy. I think that more, perhaps all, of the "Messianic prophecies" are more explicitly speaking of Christ than many people assume. Many seem to think that some of the Old Testament texts quoted in the New are not explicitly speaking of Christ but had a 'secondary fulfillment' in Christ, that they had 'double' fulfillments. I think that a case can be made for assuming that any Old Testament texts that are said, in the New Testament, to be speaking of Christ are direct prophecies of Christ and that we need to align our understanding and study of those texts around that assumption. Even Christ called his Jewish disciples fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken(Luke 24:25), I rather think that heavily implies that the prophecies that spoke of Him were very plain, very obvious. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">King thinks that if Christ is not preached in every sermon, then you are preaching a<b> "synagogue sermon"</b>, not a Christian sermon. <b>"…. you must consider whether the Father means for His Son to be preached as an appendix to the sermon rather than as the heart. Until the conclusion, such sermons are suitable for the synagogue."</b> He seems to think that 2 Timothy 3:15-17 (Are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathe out by God and is profitable for teaching…") supports his point. <b>"To be just a tad provocative, Paul isn't saying that all Scripture is profitable for making us competent Jews. He's saying that all Scripture is profitable for making us competent Christians. And we don't have to infer that this is what Paul means - he states it plainly. The sacred writings, he says, are able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."</b> Why would we assume that the Scriptures are only profitable (and wise for salvation) for Christians if you preach Christ from every text, rather than preach what the text says?</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> What if a pastor is preaching through the book of Ezra, and on this particular Sunday he is in Ezra chapter one and he doesn't preach Christ as THE POINT of these texts. Rather, after exegeting the text, he applies it by talking about how God's promises and prophecies always come to pass, and he goes on to emphasize the greatness of God, and how every single detail of His prophecies come to pass; he reminds the people that later down the line every detail about the Messiah and His salvation would happen exactly as foretold but he doesn't focus on this, he just mentions it, and moves back to talking about how God does exactly what He says, how God is sovereign even over our salvation, reminding this Christian congregation that they ought never to doubt God, they should always trust Him. Was that not training in righteousness? Or was it not because the pastor applied the text by focusing upon God's sovereignty rather than on Jesus Christ and His redemptive work? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Even if one does believe that one should preach Christ from every text, King warns that one can preach too much of Christ or too little of Him, you can also do it in a "kooky" way (finding Christ in the wood of Noah's ark, that the wood symbolizes the cross). <b>"The path between the text and Christ is not found in a twister hermeneutic. Our goal instead is to understand how the text is fulfilled in Jesus."</b> I don't understand. Why would finding Christ in the wood of Noah's ark be wrong? The more you see of Christ the better, right? Here's another excerpt from the book which might help you understand my confusion:<b> "Jesus drives an interpretive stake in the ground by in asserting that all the Old testament is fulfilled in Him. In other words, Jesus changes how we read the Old Testament. Not just parts of the Old Testament, but all of it is fulfilled in Him! Every dot and iota of every passage - every jot and tittle…..Jesus' fulfillment language here clearly goes beyond obvious messianic promises and prophecies and patterns. It includes everything!……Jesus is the goal of every detail in the Bible."</b> I don't understand, based on arguments like this, how you could go wrong with connecting Christ to every single thing in the Old Testament. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">King says that, <b>"Failing to preach Christ from the Old Testament is a serious problem. It's exegetically and theologically wrong. It dishonors Jesus as the fulfillment of Scripture and the centerpiece of salvation history. It leads people astray by perpetuating a Christless notion of Old Testament and, worse, by inadvertently directing them to rely on God, or even themselves apart from Christ."</b> I don't understand these statements. I don't think I know of any pastor who promotes the idea that Christ was never spoken of or referred to in the Old Testament. Nor do I understand how they would rely on God or themselves apart from Christ. I have actually noticed that "seeing Christ" and focusing on Him has become THE MOST important thing in some Christians' goals over and above God's plain revelation in any given text (even over and above revelation coming directly from Christ Himself). What a text truly says becomes irrelevant as long as someone's view of Christ is built up, as long as Christ is magnified, it doesn't really seem to matter what the any given text actually says. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Let me critique one more thing in particular. The author uses Jeremiah 29:11 as an example of how to preach Christ from any given text. <b>"…God's plans for the welfare of exiled Israel is a prophetic promise. Since all the promises of God find their Yes in Christ (2 Cor 1:20), you must locate the fulfillment of this verse not in modern-day Israel, or America, or in any other nation-state but in Jesus and, by extension, those who are united to Jesus through faith. Whether Israeli, or Palestinian, American…..a person receives the benefits of Jeremiah 29:11 only in Christ."</b> I agree that one mustn't locate the fulfillment in modern day Israel (as if it were already fulfilled) or America, or any other nation-state. But I do believe that the fulfillment, whether past or future, will have happened to Jews, the ethnic descendants of Jacob, and not to Gentiles. A few verses later on seem to explain what the fulfillment of this verse would look like (after Israel has called upon the Lord with all their heart): <i>"And I will be found of you, saith Jehovah, and I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith Jehovah; and I will bring you again unto the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive."</i>(Jer 29:14 ASV) </span><span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The people of Israel were promised that they would be gathered from all the lands and brought back to Israel when they seek the Lord wholeheartedly. The promise to return them to the land is repeated many times in the Old Testament (Deut. 30,Ezek 37,36,39, 39, Jeremiah 23: 1-8, Amos 9…etc.). But of course, the Israelites cannot seek God with their whole heart on their own, apart from His grace. Because of their innate inability to make themselves seek Him, will what God repeatedly told Israel through the prophets about their being brought back to the land permanently never come true? That's absurd! The days are coming when those prophecies will be fulfilled. Though many individual people of all ethnicities are the beneficiaries of the New Covenant at present, one day God is going to establish the New Covenant with Israel as a nation (Jeremiah32:36-44, 31:31-37)). God clarifies in His prophecies through the prophet Ezekiel that He is not going to act favorably toward them because they have all of a sudden changed and are now seeking Him, Oh no! there is no indication that they have changed themselves for the better. Rather, God says that He will act Himself, not doing it for their sake but for His holy name, He will create in them the required conditions of the fulfillment of the promise to bring them back to the land of Israel: <i>"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."</i>(Eze 36:26-28 ASV) He also said this through the prophet Jeremiah: "<i>Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul. 'For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.'"</i>(Jer 32:37-42 ESV) Even in the more famous New Covenant prophecy in Jeremiah 31, after having promised to make a New Covenant with Israel, God emphasizes that ethnic Israel will always be a nation before Him, that He will not fully cast them off despite all that they had done.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">And thus Paul(Romans 9-12) explains to the Roman Christians that God is still going to do what He promised to the Jews as a people, and that Christian Gentiles shouldn't become arrogant toward the Jews, emphasizing that God will one day save the whole nation of Israel, through Christ's salvatory work just as He saves us individually through that work (11:26-27):<i> "And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob'; 'and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.'"</i> (Rom 11:26-27 ESV) And I say all of that to make the point that I don't believe that one can make a true biblical case that Christian Gentiles are ultimately the ones addressed in that particular promise in Jeremiah 29, and also to note that many Christians seem to have already arrived at what Paul warned against: them becoming arrogant toward the Jews (Rom 11:25-36), as though God is fully done with the ethnic descendants of Jacob as a people and that He has replaced them with the 'true Israel': the church. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">This is quite long so I had better wrap up. My last argument against a christocentric hermeneutic is that Jesus Himself didn't preach Himself from every Old Testament text. For instance, in Matthew 24:15, Jesus spoke of Daniel's prophecy of the Abomination of Desolation, He didn't preach Himself from that text, He told the people what to do when it came to pass. When you see the abomination, run! He demonstrated that He didn't read it as a symbol of something spiritual, or of Himself in some way, but rather as a particular thing that would happen in the future that they were supposed to be watching out for. I don't see how anyone is dishonoring God and not respecting Christ's Lordship by preaching what the text says, obeying God's will, submitting to His sovereignty, obeying Jesus' commands, mimicking good examples of faith, believing all of the prophecies (including Christ's Revelation to the churches about things to come) and even just by reading the historical accounts and 'seeing' what God ordained to happen in the past. What does Jesus command? Do it. Where did Jesus look and point to? The Father. So should we. Jesus honored the Scriptures, preaching them as though they meant what they said, pointing out that people were not understanding their plain meaning, not their hidden meaning. We don't want to be guilty of the same.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>Many thanks to the folks at <a href="https://www.mpnewsroom.com/" target="_blank">Moody Publishers</a> for sending me a free review copy of this book! (My review did not have to be favorable)</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">This book may be purchased at <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Your-Testament-Sermon-Needs-Saved/dp/0802423272/ref=sr_1_3?crid=2GB8R3C07FTPU&dchild=1&keywords=your+old+testament+sermon+needs+to+get+saved&qid=1629373867&s=books&sprefix=your+old+testa%2Caps%2C244&sr=1-3">Amazon.com</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-76457550859836552432021-07-13T12:46:00.007-04:002021-07-13T13:03:58.550-04:00Quote of the Day<p> <span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">The good news is that demonstration of what God is accomplishing in spite of me. It makes it the best news possible because it doesn't depend upon my right response. Even after Jesus told Peter he was going to deny Him, if faith then was built on his (Peter's) response, then he failed in faith! But Jesus had already told them, before He admonished them regarding "don't let your hearts be troubled", 'You're going to do this' (to deny Him, to forsake Him), 'this is going to happen</span><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">, He didn't say "you might", He didn't say "you might". "You will!" That's the beauty of the Gospel! We're troubled in every way! And yet God is still doing His work! We doubt Him, and God is doing His work, we may even deny Him and yet God is still doing His work , in us, through us, for us - bringing us to that glorious conclusion that "this is what I've (God has) done." And so we go in faith to the Word, and that Word builds that faith. We don't go with our faith to the Word, we go with the faith given to us by the Spirit of God to the Word and that (faith) is built and developed</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">- Rick Lambert</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">(Author of <a href="https://snickerdoodlesmusings.blogspot.com/2015/12/polycarp-destroyer-of-our-gods-by-rick.html" target="_blank">Polycarp: A destroyer of our gods</a>)</span></p><p><span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">From his sermon: <a href="https://dbc.sermon.net/Live_Audio_Stream/main/21818528" target="_blank">Love's Message</a></span></span></p> <iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="232" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/50SZgAwWPdMntCuixIbWF5" width="100%"></iframe>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-78241464685850355512021-06-24T11:36:00.005-04:002021-07-13T12:59:18.821-04:00Quote of the Day<p> <i style="font-size: xx-large;"> Speaking on James 1:14: </i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Temptation finds its strength and source from within ourselves. The brutal truth of our sin, personal sinning, is that it is all in and of ourselves - not only can't God be blamed, but no other (person or thing) can be blamed - it is sad to realize how many still trust the validity of their 'blame shifting' and then add an extra 'perimeter fence' of protection by no longer identifying sin as sin - sinners are encouraged by other sinners to find shelter in their being a victim.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The process is ls illustrated by James as being , first, each person being tempted (tested to prove slavery to sin) by their own desire/lust (ἐπιθυμίας - passions, inner cravings and inclinations) - this process of temptation first "lures" (NASB has "carried away") - "lure" is a better descriptive word since it was used of luring a fish with bait and visuals. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Then they are "enticed" (another hunting/fishing term) and so are trapped and ensnared - there is an attraction, leading to exploration, ending in entrapment (hooked) - these lusts then become the trap itself (prison, unhookable hook).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">This can be pictured as if there are internal counselors working to achieve an inner desire - the counselor of <b><i>feelings</i></b> begins to prod us for attention for some "needed relief" or fulfillment, followed closely by the advisor of<b><i> reason</i></b> (not considering that <b><i>feelings</i></b> has paid-off/bribed or blackmailed <b><i>reason</i></b> by its relentlessness and insistence) - the advisor of <b><i>reason</i></b> is then accompanied by the scholar of <b><i>memory</i></b>, vividly portraying past yielding, only showing photos of the "good times" - with all such counsel, we play along (disregarding the Holy Spirit) and so the manager of <b><i>decision</i></b>, believing all needed research has been dutifully done, signs-off to action (sin). </span></p><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">So rather than being a victim of the external influences to sin, we discover we are instigators, working with even the enemies from without to conquer any convicting and motivating work of God within us - the "conspiracy" ends up being us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>- </i><span>Don Lambert</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>From his sermon series on <a href="https://dbc.sermon.net/main/main/21808362" target="_blank">James</a></i></span></p><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;">You can find more quotes on my quotes blog: <a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com">snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com</a></span></p><iframe allow="encrypted-media" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="232" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/5MpRVfaSG3eTpUXsGByJ0n" width="100%"></iframe>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-39121827064657008082021-06-19T10:35:00.003-04:002021-06-19T10:35:53.070-04:00Getting Over Yourself - By Dean Inserra<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: xx-large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaWzFA9XrEotua2IBHMBXTmK8Ttx0DWAXJJ1x5aajL-sX0rSPxI226roR6a2AOWOxwPyqpQSEEc6ytife47AJb-GW_9Loa-Jp9E9XfT234MEYXK9u9u2i3Ff5p4FAxyrgGyDcdEtZt8I/s734/Getting+Over+Yourself.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="734" data-original-width="469" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaWzFA9XrEotua2IBHMBXTmK8Ttx0DWAXJJ1x5aajL-sX0rSPxI226roR6a2AOWOxwPyqpQSEEc6ytife47AJb-GW_9Loa-Jp9E9XfT234MEYXK9u9u2i3Ff5p4FAxyrgGyDcdEtZt8I/w408-h640/Getting+Over+Yourself.jpg" width="408" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's been a while since I've seen a book I wanted to review. I was looking at the Moody Publishers Newsroom website and the title of this book caught my eye: Getting Over Yourself: Trading Believe-In-Yourself Religion for Christ-Centered Christianity. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">If I remember correctly, when I was looking at the preview of the book online the chapter titles were a big part of what convinced me that this would be a good read, Here's a little sample of them:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>1.LOSERVILLE : Is Christianity for the Cool, Trendy, and Successful?</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>4. HASHTAG FILTER: The Promise of a Socially Approved Life</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>5. THIS IS SO BORING: The New Prosperity Cardinal Sin of Settling For The Mundane</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">I love the title of Chapter 5, it's so true! The living a mundane life really does seem to be a sin in our age. It really looked like this guy had a lot of the same thoughts my dad (a pastor) has had on the state of modern 'Christianity', so I ordered the book.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Of course, it turned out that the chapter titles weren't the only interesting thing; their content is also interesting. Inserra does a lot of Biblical critiquing of modern popular Christianity. But the critique often hits close to home, many of his chapters are quite convicting and yet oddly comforting in that they are reminders that the Christian life is supposed to be hard, and that dying to self really will be painful. Here's an excerpt from one:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>"Jesus told His disciples, 'If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it' (Luke 9:23-24). Jesus is calling HIs disciples to attend a daily funeral for their own ambitions and pride. The cross was not a piece of jewelry in New Testament times. It wasn't a living room decoration carved nicely to fit on the mantel. There weren't crosses hanging in any place of worship. A cross meant one thing: death. It was a curse to hang on one, to receive capital punishment in a gruesome manner for crimes committed. It would be the equivalent of being told to pick up your lethal injection or electric chair. For Jesus to tell His followers to carry their crosses (prior to HIs own death, which would probably have shed light on the metaphor) meant a call to die to themselves. This probably sounded insane, but is much better than the alternative given in the next verse: 'For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?' (Luke 9:25)"</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">One little statement in the book I found particularly thought provoking: </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">"Our problem is when we're trying to use Christianity to be a better version of ourselves rather than a more accurate reflection of Him…"</b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> That truly fits more with our having become a new creature (not just bettered creatures), in Christ, and turns the focus away from having our own talents used by God and level sets our gaze toward whatever work God has for us, whether it utilized our talents or not. After all, God will probably often put us in positions that we are not naturally talented at/fit for to show His power in us. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">As I mentioned, my dad is a pastor, and he has done lots of counseling over the years. At one point, I found a section of this book particularly startling in its correlation to what I know dad has experienced over the years in counselling wives in troubled marriages. My mom can attest to it as she accompanies him in these counseling sessions. Inserra's list of what wives will say: <b>"'I feel like I settled' 'What if I married the wrong person?'….. 'I just feel like I need to focus on myself for a while…. And then the famous line: 'I believe that God just wants to be happy.'"</b> fits exactly what mom and dad have heard from unhappy wives. As the author laments:<b> "The life God has given you, and (in the case of marriage and parenthood) has directly called you to, becomes a symbol for all that is keeping you from a 'truly' fulfilling life."</b> This is all in the chapter about the sin of mundaneness. Our idea of the Christian life seems to be that of a life of self service, and self glorification rather than the service of God and others. In the book it's noted that: <b>"Contentment is a borderline curse word in pop-Christianity, because not pursuing or desiring something 'better' is seen as settling for less than God's best……Ironically, the discontented life is one that is actually settling for less than God's best….The yellow brick road to God's best life for us is one of contentment in Christ, obedience to Christ, fulfillment in Christ."</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Now, I need to mention that there were a couple of things in the book that I didn't think were particularly Biblical, but the only one that I feel the need to address is where Inserra talks about running into someone who had left the church he's the pastor of, this woman had left because she had begun a same-sex relationship and knew that the church stood with God's Word against those types of relationship. He seems to indicate to her that she didn't have to leave - apparently she still would have been welcome to attend the worship services and Bible studies. That concession really surprised me because of Biblical instructions like in the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians where he tells them not to associate with professing Christians who are living in unrepentant sexual immorality: <i>"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. 'Purge the evil person from among you.'</i>(1Co 5:9-13 ESV) Of course, if a fellow Christian sins, we don't immediately kick them out of the church, we try to restore them first (Gal 6:1, James 5:19-20, Titus 3:9-11…etc), but if they are persistent and will not repent, we must separate, and perhaps God will use the separation to lead them to repentance (2 Thess 3:14).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">But for the most part Inserra seems very Biblically focused. To reiterate what he demonstrates and critiques clearly in the book: modern 'Christianity' is obsessed with self. I especially see it in memes on Facebook, like those depicting a girl saying to the Devil, "I am the storm" (how arrogant!). Others brag about being princesses because we're daughters of the King, but their intent (at least from my perspective) seems to be aimed at making people treat us like Princesses. It has been lamentable to see the focus of Christianity trending toward self, rather than God. We worship our worship, worship our devotion to God, and worship our own 'potential'. This book is a breath of fresh air. It was refreshing to read a book written from a Biblical perspective that reiterates the Bible's focus on God, not on ourselves. I'll end with one more quote from the book: <b>"It's clear that God is fully satisfied with Jesus. Am I?"</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>Many thanks to the folks at Moody Publishers Newsroom for the free review copy of this book (my review did not have to be favorable).</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">This book may be purchased at </span><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/yourself-trading-believe-religion-centered-christianity/dean-inserra/9780802423078/pd/423075" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Christianbook.com</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802423078?pf_rd_r=N4JZ1T0195G4AVA9GMEQ&pf_rd_p=5ae2c7f8-e0c6-4f35-9071-dc3240e894a8&pd_rd_r=9074ccf4-60db-4653-a288-4b29ff26f451&pd_rd_w=vRsAh&pd_rd_wg=mOmkU&ref_=pd_gw_unk" style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Amazon.com</a></span></p><div><br /></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-31031937322824075762021-04-17T10:11:00.004-04:002021-04-17T10:11:51.621-04:00Quote of the Day <p> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The progress of Christianity has been confessedly tardy. From the places where first its light shone, the candlestick has been removed; and where now we speak of it as established, we are constrained to make the humiliating acknowledgment that nine-tenths of the profession is false. Our missions proceed also but slowly, indeed more slowly than we will allow ourselves to think; and though we hang upon the lips of the newly arrived missionary, and drink in with avidity the reports of each society, when we come in the moment of cool reflection to ask, what has been done? I say the answer is, but little. Nor is it from want of exertion: for never was there such a host of instrumentality brought to bear on the promotion of Christianity as of late years: and, without making the state of things worse than it really is, I yet say that the mind that would take for its data, on which to expect the speedy establishment of Christ's kingdom, the means now in use, and the success attending them, must be indeed must sanguine. I know how unwelcome are these observations. I know that it will be said they serve no purpose but to check Christian exertion, - to damp Christian energy. But it is not so; they may check the exertion and damp the energy which owe their existence to false stimulus; but the exertion or the energy which has for its motive the glory of God - which appreciates the value of the immortal soul, and carries with it the recollection that 'there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over ONE sinner that repenteth: will not be diverted from its purpose merely by having its expectations corrected. Indeed on the contrary; for, as it is said that "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," I fear there is more danger of the exertion relaxing which is subject to disappointment, than that which has for its measure and guide a more moderate but more certain prospect. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The truth is, as it appears to me, that we have altogether mistaken the object of this, the Gentile dispensation. That 'the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ," - that "the Son shall have "the Heathen for his inheritance, and the ut-"most parts of the earth for his possession,"- that "'the kingdom and dominion UNDER the "whole heaven shall be given to the saints of "the Most High;" - all this is most true: these are the sure promises of God. But that they shall not be fulfilled during this dispensation, is also and equally sure and true. At the sounding of the "seventh trumpet" shall be the first, (Rev. xi.15.) at the destruction of the Antichristian confederacy, is the second, (Ps ii.8,9,) at the falling of the stone on the feet of the image, and the judgment on the little horn of the fourth beast, is the third; in a word all three at the SECOND COMING of Christ. Consider these passages and you will see that so far from this dispensation being appointed to convert the world it actually stands in the way of it - that the apostasy of the Gentiles denoted by "the working of the mystery of iniquity," retards (if I may so speak) that wished for event; and that not until it is judged, in order to which it must first be consummated, will the kingdom of our God come with power. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i>William De Burgh from his book <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Apocalypse_Unfulfilled_Or_an_Exposit/4ZxdAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&kptab=overview" target="_blank">Lectures on the Second Advent [</a></i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Apocalypse_Unfulfilled_Or_an_Exposit/4ZxdAAAAcAAJ?hl=en&kptab=overview" target="_blank">With an introduction on the use of Unfulfilled Prophecy]</a> </i>Published in 1832</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">See more quotes on my quotes blog: <a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com">snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com</a></span></span></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-63079239205084375402021-01-27T14:42:00.004-05:002021-01-27T14:43:26.967-05:00Quote of the Day<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span style="font-family: verdana;">When we turn from the restless entreaties and exhortations which fill the pages of our modern missionary magazines to the pages of the New Testament, we are astonished at the change in atmosphere. St Paul does not repeatedly exhort his churches to subscribe money for the propagation of the Faith, he is far more concerned to explain to them what the faith is, and how they ought to practice it and keep it. The same is true of St Peter and St John, and all of the apostolic writers. They do not seem to feel any necessity to repeat the great Commission, and to urge that it is the duty of their converts to make disciples of all the nations. What we read in the New Testament is no anxious appeal to Christians to spread the Gospel, but a note here and there which suggests how the Gospel was being spread abroad: 'the churches were established in the faith and increased in number daily', 'in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything', or as a result of a persecution: 'They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word'......I know not how it may appear to others, but to me this unexhorted unorganized, spontaneous expansion has a charm far beyond that of our modern highly organized missions. I delight to think that a Christian travelling on his business, or fleeing from persecution, could preach Christ, and a church spring up as the result of his preaching, without his work being advertised through the streets of Antioch or Alexandria as the heading of an appeal to Christian men to subscribe funds to establish a school, or as the text of an exhortation to the church of his native city to send a mission, without which new converts deprived of guidance must inevitably lapse. I suspect, however, that I am not alone in this strange preference, and that many others read their Bibles and find there with relief a welcome escape from our material appeals for funds, and from our methods of moving heaven and earth to make a proselyte......</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The Spirit of Christ is a Spirit who longs for, and strives after, the salvation of the souls of men, and that Spirit dwells in them. That Spirit converts the natural instinct into a longing for the conversion of others which is indeed divine in its source and character.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">- Roland Allen</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>From his book: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spontaneous-Expansion-Church-Causes-Hinder/dp/1579101984" target="_blank">The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><i><span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bolder;">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</span></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0b8043; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</span></a></p><p><br /></p>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-70276776054622760382021-01-12T09:50:00.007-05:002021-01-12T09:54:55.411-05:00Flight For Freedom by Kristen Fulton<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tx3LqDeE27qMy9xFIoQPgRgZIFgiYBAtj6VZlzpT85gRin7lqJ8pP9DE0Wcnp56hDAQiGouRrfMGHX5P9QTQEkjGrd_1vwvEm4m7YJdNUCnt3VFlt3zvmKrJi5lq9wuqJ8byefpdF48/s1707/Flightfreedom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1707" data-original-width="1243" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_tx3LqDeE27qMy9xFIoQPgRgZIFgiYBAtj6VZlzpT85gRin7lqJ8pP9DE0Wcnp56hDAQiGouRrfMGHX5P9QTQEkjGrd_1vwvEm4m7YJdNUCnt3VFlt3zvmKrJi5lq9wuqJ8byefpdF48/w466-h640/Flightfreedom.jpg" width="466" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Several years ago my family and I watched the movie Night Crossing by Disney, about two families, living in the 1970s, who escaped from Soviet West Germany in hot air balloon. I was looking around for any books about the escape and came across this account written for kids</span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Flight for Freedom by Kriston Fulton is written giving a child's perspective. Little 6 year old Peter Wetzel knows about the plan to try to escape East Germany in a hot air balloon. He understands the seriousness of the situation as he watches his parents and the other adults plan and orchestrate the escape. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">It is written quite simply, conveying the story simply enough for children to follow along.<b> "Each morning when Peter woke, he expected to find proof that his parents were building a balloon. But, the house was exactly as it had been the day before. Everything hidden. Everything quiet. Peter wondered if it had been only a dream. Would he ever escape East Germany? Have a sleepover? Not be afraid? He wanted to ask his mama and papa, but they had made him promise never to talk about the picture. Hard as it was, Peter kept his promise."</b> The illustrations help carry the story along, and are very well done, interesting to look at. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> I found the 'more information' parts at the back particularly intriguing (and they helped satisfy my craving for more grown-up information about the escape). There you find that the Wetzel and Strelzyk families made three hot-air balloons altogether, the first two didn't work, the third did. It also tells about some the experiments they did to get the hot air balloon to work, as apparently all they really had to go off of was a picture of a hot air balloon, they had to figure out how to build it and how it worked all on their own: <b>"After testing the porosity of several fabrics using a vacuum cleaner hose, among other materials found at home, they settled on nylon - a sturdy, lightweight material that also has a high melting temperature. Because acquiring large quantities of nylon was both challenging and dangerous (as it could be seen as suspicious by East German authorities), they also used other fabrics such as bedsheets and shower lining." </b>Also, if I remember correctly, the Disney movie makes it seem as though the Wetzel family pretty much gave up escaping altogether, but this book explains that they were concerned about the safety of the balloon and decided to find another way to escape, before eventually rejoining the Strelziks.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> My little brother is reading through the book, he likes the pictures and asks questions (and makes comments) about what he reads. It's a very good teaching tool that can get conversations going with children about the different types of governmental systems and which one offers more freedom for individual people.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">All in all, this is a nice teaching resource to have for kids.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>Many thanks to the folks at Chronicle Books for sending me a free review copy of this book! My review did not have to be favorable.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>*****</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>This book may be purchased at <a href="https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/flight-for-freedom" target="_blank">Chronicle Books</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Freedom-Family%C2%92s-Germany-Nonfiction/dp/1452149607">Amazon.com</a></i></span></div><div><br /></div><p></p>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-11447775309045913762020-12-15T13:50:00.000-05:002020-12-15T13:50:04.212-05:00Hosanna in Excelsis<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NpeJMgXSSd5p4iQLbF2hIHn90_q2rHwcZG4VUUQTyvj3qZNu9QOD9MvsYBT80ier-oo39VUnJWDmBAkon5QUTID5L_eoe86lGsrcx4ScJNHx0WFc6jzqIQbWYZXIjCO4EFrlKYyX83U/s2048/Hosanna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NpeJMgXSSd5p4iQLbF2hIHn90_q2rHwcZG4VUUQTyvj3qZNu9QOD9MvsYBT80ier-oo39VUnJWDmBAkon5QUTID5L_eoe86lGsrcx4ScJNHx0WFc6jzqIQbWYZXIjCO4EFrlKYyX83U/w426-h640/Hosanna.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br />Hosanna in Excelsis by David and Barbara Leeman is a nicely bound book of Christmas carols with individual short histories of their composition and contemplations of the message of the carols themselves. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">There are many familiar carols, O Holy Night, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Away In A Manger…etc. And some new ones. The summarized biographies of the authors and composers were quite interesting too. Sometimes the information was quite tantalizing, leaving you wanting to know more about the author, and for others it was more disappointing to hear the background, though in some cases discouraging. "O Holy Night" has been a favorite carol of my family, but the background behind it was anything but inspiring ,"<i>Written by a man with little belief in the Christmas story, put to music by a nonbelieving Jewish musician, and translated by a liberal theologian….".</i> We of course, still really like the song, I suppose it just goes to show that you can have head knowledge of Christianity without being a Christian, without being a "new Creation".</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"> There were also a few songs that were new to me that I found quite inspiring, like "The Hands that First Held Mary's Child", I found this part of the third stanza of that song was quite stirring: "<i>This child shall be Emmanuel, not God upon the throne, but God with us, Emmanuel, as close as blood and bone…"</i>. Interesting way to describe God's unique choice of how He would demonstrate that He is 'with us'. And then in "<i>Joy Has Dawned Upon the World", Son of Adam, Son of heav'n, given as a ransom; reconciling God and man, Christ our mighty Champion! What a Savior! What a Friend! What a glorious myst'ry.</i>" </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I really appreciated the concern with the biblical accuracy of songs. For instance, They make sure to point out that the author of The First Noel probably wasn't very well instructed in the Bible, as they had the Shepherds see the star, which the Bible does not indicate. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Most of all, I really liked how they really wanted you to contemplate what you are singing, that you are not just singing for nostalgia but proclaiming profound truths/concepts. In the contemplation of one of Charles Wesley's carols they comment, <i>"As is characteristic of the hymns of Charles Wesley, every phrase is packed with Theology and allusions to or quotations of scripture…(list of vs.)…Reading each one before you sing will give you a deeper appreciation of songs written from Scripture rather than simply from personal experience or emotions." </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I really like this book, this is not merely a sentimentally pleasing look at Christmas Carols, it directs ones thought truly to the implications of what these songs are addressing, which brings more than sentimentality, it brings awe and chills to think of God's amazing work of salvation.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">I'll end with an excerpt from the book's contemplation of "What Child is This?": <i>"Notice that the first two stanzas ask two profound questions, 'Who?' and 'Why?' The first, 'What child is this?' is rhetorical, a way of asking 'who is this one?' Although you know the answer, you sing as an expression of wonder and awe, a way of saying, 'this appears to good to be true!' Is this baby on Mary's lap really Christ the King? The 'why?' follows: Why would God in Jesus come to earth 'in such mean estate' (a lowly place)? And why would 'nails, spear…pierce him through'? A false view of Christmas expects Christmas songs to be only lullabies of happy thoughts. Think of secular Christmas songs. While a few are melancholy, can you think of any that speak of death or tragedies. We understand the nativity is only the beginning of the story. We cannot stop at the stable. David Mathis writes: 'The light and joy of Christmas are hollow at best, and even horrifying if we sever the link between Bethlehem and Golgotha…'Nails, spear shall pierce him through' doesn't ruin Christmas. It gives the season its power."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i>Many Thanks to the folks at MP Newsroom for sending me a free review copy of this book! My review did not have to be favorable.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">This book may be purchased at <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/hosanna-in-excelsis-david-leeman/9780802419934/pd/419934?event=ESRCN#review-text">Christianbook.com</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">And at <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Hosanna-Excelsis-Devotions-Christmas-Season/dp/0802419933/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1608057542&sr=1-1">Amazon.com</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-66344246255343866072020-11-16T14:16:00.004-05:002020-11-18T16:34:18.889-05:00Jesus, Divorce and Remarriage by Gordon Wenham<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U9PSiZ6AT9BheNFLkYAJgeiUoi9Tcnyl3OXmnEBLcFOuioiA7fW7gg2MRTMMs0wUTJlU2HBqkXaG6JvcCLrSdHQwVIqUgJGscc7UOmAU9fG7_ODNojcPefnLH7AkXM6TOgl7tkQUCL4/s2048/Wenham.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1280" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U9PSiZ6AT9BheNFLkYAJgeiUoi9Tcnyl3OXmnEBLcFOuioiA7fW7gg2MRTMMs0wUTJlU2HBqkXaG6JvcCLrSdHQwVIqUgJGscc7UOmAU9fG7_ODNojcPefnLH7AkXM6TOgl7tkQUCL4/w400-h640/Wenham.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><b>Jesus, Divorce and Remarriage </b>by <i>Gordon Wenham</i> is a nice very summarized look at this controversial topic. A concise, examination at what God's Word teaches us about how we Christians are to look on divorce, remarriage, and of course, marriage itself. It doesn't really deal with modern Christian views on divorce, as the goal of this little book is to focus on what Jesus taught about divorce and remarriage and what the popular views were at that time. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Now, though informative background information regarding the contemporary views of the people Jesus is talking to is interesting, the most interesting parts to me were where the Biblical texts are focused on. Jesus' teachings in particular (In Matthew 5, 19, and in the other Gospels).Wenham makes you really look at what Jesus is saying, getting past the clutter of our preconceived notions of what He must, in our view, be saying. We see that Jesus goes after terms like "murder" and "adultery" reveals what these concepts really entail; what really amounts to "murder" or "adultery" before God. The people, even the scholars of the day didn't really understand. The book points out that, in defending the life-long union of marriage, Jesus doesn't say that the term "divorce" should be removed from the vocabulary, or that it doesn't exist, what He basically does is say to the religious leaders that 'divorce' doesn't mean what they thought it meant, and that the act of the divorce itself can be considered an act of adultery by God. By pointing the religious leaders back to the beginning of Creation, the original design, ("In the beginning God created them male and female…what God has joined together let not man separate") He reminds them that Marriage was to be lifelong, the man and woman really are no longer two, but one flesh in God's eyes. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">The religious leaders seem to take Jesus' pointing back to the beginning as an attack on the validity/concept of "divorce" altogether. They bring up the law, that Moses allowed them to write a certificate of divorce. But as Wenham says, <i>"Jesus is not fazed by their appeal to the law. He argues that the need for a law on divorce proved their sinfulness, not their piety." </i>And then Jesus tells them that marriage to a divorced person is adultery. It is noted that He essentially tells these people that their thought that the one flesh union is ended by legal divorce and/or physical separation is completely wrong. <i>"…The divorced couple, though separated from each other, are still related to each other in the one-flesh union". </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Apparently, though marital adultery is the 'adultery' of 'marriage', it is not the ending of a marriage; adultery doesn't put the man and wife asunder before God, rather it introduces someone else into the marriage who should not be included. Jesus didn't say that Moses permitted divorce because the marriage had been ended, before God, by whatever the wife did, rather He said that divorce was permitted because their hearts were hard. By implication, the marriage before God was actually still intact, but men didn't want live with that reality. So divorce was allowed, but Jesus clarifies that the only time divorce isn't considered adultery (before God) is if there has been sexual infidelity (which clarification is the so-called 'exception clause' that takes place in divorce/remarriage discussions). But Jesus does not give an "exception clause" to anyone marrying any divorced person. Thus, though it is not always adultery to divorce/deliberately leave your spouse, it is always adultery to marry a divorcee (divorced for whatever reason).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Now, as with, pretty much, any book I read, there were some statements made in the book that I wasn't sure about. I'll just bring up one: Wenham brings up a question, which I'll paraphrase here: how many times should one forgive one's spouse? What if they keep lying about their repentance? Should one separate/legally divorce from them? What apparently some early Christians thought that one ought to divorce one's spouse (though not remarry) if they committed adultery, but if they repented they should accept them back. <i>"…if the guilty party repents, the other party must welcome the restoration of the marriage. But there should be a limit on the number of times the innocent party is expected to forgive the unfaithful spouse; while Jesus spoke of seventy-times seven, Hermes(an early church leader) reckoned once should be the limit." </i>Wenham seems to agree with Hermes that there should be a limit of some sort. And I understand the practical dilemma. But (I'm just going to think 'out-loud' here. not take a definitive stance) if forgiving once, or even ten times, is the limit for forgiveness of a person for a specific sin, then wasn't Jesus statement about forgiving seventy-times seven nonsensicall? At least seventy-times seven, though it is shocking to us, makes mathematical sense in one's mind; but if Jesus didn’t mean what He clearly said then that makes His statement irrelevant in the long run, merely a shocking statement without substance. God demonstrates forgiveness Himself to believers: How many sins do we think that has God forgiven us? One? One BIG one? Several? I would think much more than 70 times seven. So perhaps He even redefined the common view of 'forgiveness'? Clarified what it really looks like. Shocking us even there! </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Now, as Wenham rightly brings out, there is the BIG point that as Christians we are told in God's Word that we are to disassociate from professing Christians who are living ungodly lives and refusing repentance (1 Cor 5, and I understand that a whole church body should do that in such a case, but I kind of wonder if it would be absolutely imperative, say for a wife, to divorce her professing Christian husband who is living in sin. But I think that one might presume, based on how connected the couple is before God in marriage (pretty much becoming one person), that a spouse might be treated somewhat differently. Yes, if a professing Christian husband is committing adultery, and refuses to repent, then the church body should exercise church discipline/separation from that him as a body. Yes, apparently, Biblically, the offended wife may choose to separate as well, as that seems to be allowed based on Jesus' clarification that separation from a sexually unfaithful spouse would not be adultery. But I'm wondering if it obligatory on the faithful spouse's part to divorce? You have a few texts from the Bible we might take hints from: one is the person who is married to an unbeliever (1 Cor 7). Now, how much more 'spiritually' separated can you be from your marriage partner than having a spouse who is spiritually lost? But interestingly, if the unbeliever consents to live with the believer that apparently allowed. And then, perhaps more specifically to the point, you have Paul (apparently speaking for the Lord - "not I but the Lord") saying that couples should not divorce, but if they do, they are to remain unmarried or else be reconciled (Still 1 Cor 7). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">And then you have 1 Peter 3 which talks about how a wife is to respond if her husband is "disobedient to the Word", so he is apparently a professing Christian (it would seem strange to designate an unbeliever by that description as his being 'disobedient' would seem like a given). It doesn't say how he is disobedient to the Word. That statement is probably deliberately vague: 'disobedient to the Word'. That covers quite a lot of sins, and kind of seem like, "just fill in the blank", and yet Peter says that the wife is supposed to win him over without a word by her submissive behavior (1 Pet 3), not by separating from him, or even lecturing him from the Word. And then, husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25), so would there ever be a point where Christ would refuse the church coming back to Him in repentance? So how should a husband act toward his wife who commits adultery many times and yet comes back sorrowful and repentant? Because of verses like those, I'm not so sure that divorce is obligatory on the part of the offended/faithful spouse, though church discipline may need to be administered by the church body.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Things like the above may be practical things we'll have to work through (perhaps, we should just cross that bridge when we come to it?). But we need to get down to what the text actually says and work from there, regardless of our practical difficulties. And Wenham does a good job at just looking at what Jesus says, not letting fears of what He might be saying cloud our vision. Wenham states: "<i>it is clear that Jesus is putting forward a more demanding ethic than his hearers had ever known previously. Their righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees…." </i> What Jesus is saying truly is initially shocking. Jesus is essentially telling both contemporary 'sides' (Wenham explains those) of the divorce remarriage issue that they didn't understand marriage at all. Just as His clarification that what amounts to 'lust' and 'murder' before God is truly startling and beyond self-righteous mankind's expectations, His clarification of "marriage" is just as startling. I'll end with one more quote from the book that pretty much sums all up: "<i>At no point does he (Jesus) concede that they may have a point. Marriage is permanent, full stop. So Jesus challenges all who want to follow him to embrace the principle of no remarriage after divorce. 'Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.'(Matt 19:12)"</i>. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i>Many thanks to the folks at <a href="https://lexhampress.com/product/175899/jesus-divorce-and-remarriage-in-their-historical-setting" target="_blank">Lexham Press </a>for sending me a free review copy of this book! My review did not have to be favorable.</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i>My rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><i>*****</i></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">This book may be purchased at <a href="https://www.christianbook.com/jesus-divorce-remarriage-their-historical-setting/gordon-wenham/9781683593287/pd/593280">Christianbook.com</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Divorce-Remarriage-Historical-Setting/dp/1683593286/ref=sr_1_3?crid=4QXP3DE7YXCT&dchild=1&keywords=jesus+divorce+and+remarriage&qid=1605553531&sprefix=Jesus+divo%2Caps%2C184&sr=8-3">Amazon.com</a></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div></div></div><div><br /><br /><p></p></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-84232082883964382662020-10-09T06:00:00.002-04:002020-11-16T14:18:33.009-05:00Quote of the Day<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I</span><span style="font-family: arial;">n the kingdom of Christ, insubmission to the plain letter of Scripture, a wish to look into the secret purposes of God, and 'to be wise above what is written,' has, at all times in some measure, and at this time in particular, distracted the church, and tainted the simplicity of divine truth. So much of corrupted nature is there in us, men will even here be thinking for themselves, and call their views deep, enlarged. These biblical freethinkers take the word of God for their rule, but then it is in a different sense - in any sense, they do not much care what, so it be but different from that in which any simple mind would understand it…..Such critics have made intellect seem the enemy of truth, which God could never mean it should be. He foresaw, indeed, that it would become so. He knew how powerful an instrument in Satan's hand would be the reasoning, questioning pride of man, when induced to array itself against the reception of the word. When He determined to reveal to babes what was hidden from the wise and prudent, it was not that He held in abhorrence gifts He had bestowed; or that superior endowments made the creature an object of dislike to his Creator, that He should exclude him from His mercy. Impossible! But it pleased Him to clothe His Gospel in such a form, that non but the simple-minded could receive it; and while He gave His revelation in terms so plain, the way-faring man, though a fool, could not err therein, unless willfully choosing darkness rather than light…….</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">It pleased Him there should be but one way to divine knowledge; the ignorant, the poor, the simple, were ready to enter it, and his Spirit had only to unclose the gate- but for the wise, the learned, the disputatious, a previous process was required: 'If any man will be wise, let him become a fool.' They must go back and enter by the same gate of child-like ignorance, receiving the dictation of the Spirit without question and without dispute. This the All-wise foresaw they would not do. They would take His word as if it were the word of man, and examine it by the light of their own wisdom; and doing so, would either reject it wholly, receive only so much of it as they could fully explain; or, admitting its divine authority as a whole, would subject each separate part to whatever construction seemed most agreeable to their natural reason. Well might God foretell that not many such would be saved, although He named a way by which they might be. That which seemed impossible with men, was possible with God. Some such are saved; not by conforming His plan of salvation to their character, and unclosing His mysteries to satisfy their wisdom, but by quite a different process. Touched by His Spirit, they consent to become fools, to read, believe and obey. But, alas! How often is this the end, when it should be the beginning; even of a religious course. What years of holy contentment are lost; what seasons of doubt and despondency endured, because men will reason when they should believe, or will have other guides for their belief, than the plain letter of the Scriptures! ………</span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">…A Christian who…knows no right, no wrong, but according to God's revealed word. If he is questioned, there is his reason - if he is reproached, there is his defense - if he is in doubt, this, and this only, can resolve him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">- <b>Caroline Fry Wilson</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">From her book: <i>Christ Our Example</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><i><b>Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</b></i></span></p><p><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</span></a></p>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-91893059664848349442020-10-08T14:54:00.005-04:002020-10-08T14:55:28.952-04:00Quote of the Day<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">FAITH , like a simple, unsuspecting child,<br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Serenely resting on its mother's arm<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Reposing every care upon her arm,<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;">Sleeps on his bosom, and expects no harm:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>Receives with joy the promises he makes,<br /></span><span>Nor questions of his purpose or his power;<br /></span><span>She does not doubting ask, "Can this be so?"<br /></span><span>The Lord has said it, and there needs no more.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>However deep be the mysterious word,<br /></span><span>However dark, she disbelieves it not;<br /></span><span>Where Reason would examine, Faith obeys,<br /></span><span>And "It is written," answers every doubt.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>Faith, with a keen and realizing glance,<br /></span><span>Revels in things yet distant and unseen,<br />A</span><span>nd tastes a joy as exquisite, as true,<br /></span><span>As if no veil of darkness hung between.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>It is no cold, reversionary bliss,--<br /></span><span>No distant hope the trusting bosom proves;<br />F</span><span>aith has already wing'd the soul to heaven,<br /></span><span>In search of Him whom seeing not she loves.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>If clouds and darkness rest upon the soul,<br /></span><span>Darkness is welcome, since it is His will;<br /></span><span>In nature's saddest moments Faith can say,<br /></span><span>"Though he should slay me, I will trust him still!"</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>In vain, with rude and overwhelming force,<br /></span><span>Conscience repeats her tale of misery;<br /></span><span>And powers infernal, wakeful to destroy,<br /></span><span>Urge the worn spirit to despair and die.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span>As evening's pale and solitary star<br /></span><span>But brightens while the darkness gathers round,<br />S</span><span>o Faith, unmov'd amid surrounding storms,<br /></span><span>Is fairest seen in darkness most profound!</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">- <b>Caroline Fry Wilson</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">From her book: <i>Serious Poetry</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></span></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-26335126989626989532020-10-06T07:38:00.006-04:002020-10-06T07:38:58.688-04:00Quote of the Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"If any man in the world needs the special presence of God with them and His blessing in order to succeed, certainly ministers do. For what is the design and end of their ministry? Is it not to open the eyes of sinners to turn them from darkness to light? And from the power of sin and Satan to God and Christ? And who is sufficient for these things? In a work of this nature, what can ministers, of themselves, do? Verily, they may preach even to paleness and faintness, until the bellows are burnt, until their lungs and vitals are consumed, and their hearers will never be the better; not one sinner will be converted until God is graciously pleased, by the efficacious working of His Spirit, to add His blessing to their labors and make his word, in the mouth of the preacher, sharper than any two-edged sword in the heart of the hearer. All will be vain, to no saving purpose, until God is pleased to give the increase. And in order to do this, God looks for their prayers, to come up to His ears. A praying minister is in the way to having a successful ministry."</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><i> John Shaw</i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></span></div></div><div></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-71319791293191759362020-09-23T10:33:00.005-04:002020-09-30T09:17:38.155-04:00Dangerous Virtues - by John Koessler<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYEBTf-d_AfGxCAw7ezVVtwxp2LtmrIC6d0BMwV8CtZ7VTklk0JrdXQdDB9BTr6-HysZp8w6dOLQ1jc9pU26YpzT2hMlnKFWT_iOrXKWJcCPQT3qrgr8KEfdLSIT7YyNJFLMa5NNWSmo/s2048/75538DB1-16DD-4BD8-B609-C9E9FF69CF97.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRYEBTf-d_AfGxCAw7ezVVtwxp2LtmrIC6d0BMwV8CtZ7VTklk0JrdXQdDB9BTr6-HysZp8w6dOLQ1jc9pU26YpzT2hMlnKFWT_iOrXKWJcCPQT3qrgr8KEfdLSIT7YyNJFLMa5NNWSmo/w480-h640/75538DB1-16DD-4BD8-B609-C9E9FF69CF97.jpeg" width="480" /></a></span></div><span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The title of this book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Virtues-Follow-Jesus-Masquerades/dp/080241964X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">Dangerous Virtues: How to Follow Jesus When Evil Masquerades as Good</a> by John Koessler, caught my attention when I was looking at Moody Publishers books offered to reviewers. I looked at the description and realized that this was a book that might be a pretty interesting read. I wasn't disappointed.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Koessler makes the case that the 'seven deadly sins' have become the seven dangerous virtues of our day. Rather than moral ambiguity being the main problem of our day; our age actually has a standard of "morals" that they hold to quite firmly (though their justification of them is probably ambiguous). The problem is that those 'morals' don't meet God's standard of morality and in some, or most cases, our age's morals are actually evils in disguise or, as the author puts it: "dangerous virtues". Things that used to be obvious sins are now praised and held up as high moral standards of our day. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Koessler talks about those things, but I appreciate that he really focuses on what the Bible says "good" really is, who can truly do good (Christians) and why good is done (not to be made righteous, but because God has made them righteous):</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>"Righteousness or virtue has the same expansive quality that sin does. When Jesus describes the true nature of sin in the Sermon on the Mount, He also exposes the true nature of righteousness. Righteousness is not an accumulation of actions that can be classified as good but the other way around. What Jesus says is true of our speech also applies to our actions ' good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil out of the evil stored up in him" (Matt 12:35, Righteousness in the Christian life is not a collection of good acts that balance out our bad deeds. Righteous actions spring from righteousness. Individual acts reflect the nature of those who do them. We have been made righteous to be righteous." </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Here are some insights in other chapters that I found insightful:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">In his chapter dealing with gluttony, I find interesting his point about how a sense of personal shame has been/is being removed from the commission of sin in our society (even in our churches) by moving sin from the realm of the 'spiritual' into the realm of the medical/physical. <b>"According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, approximately thirty million people suffer from eating disorders in the United States. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, approximately fifteen million adults over the age of eighteen and estimated 401,000 adolescents suffer from Alcohol Use Disorder. Calling these behaviors disorders rather than sins and consigning them to the realm of mental health seems to reduce the potential for shame for those who suffer from such problems. It also moves their treatment out of the spiritual dimension, which seems vague and imprecise (if not positively medieval) to moderns, into the more enlightened realm of medicine."</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The church of course, is not making thing better by emphasizing certain sins and then making it seem as though other sins aren't so bad and do not need to be addressed at all. <b>"A one-sided view of lust causes the church to send mixed messages regarding lust. Many biblical conservatives are deeply concerned about the normalization of homosexuality. They rightly consider this particular form of immorality to be a threat, not only to the individual's soul but to the future of society as a whole. They do not, however, seem nearly as troubled by heterosexual immorality, which many in their circles have practiced for some time. They emphasize the Bible's explicit condemnation of homosexuality while ignoring its equally explicit condemnation of divorce." </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> It seems that much of social media, blogs, books and the news, even (perhaps 'especially' is a more fitting word) the 'Christian ones', are promoting 'dangerous virtues' rather than Christ-like ones. On Facebook I keep seeing memes (posted by professing Christians) about how you need to stop doing things for others who wouldn't lift a finger to help you. Even recently, a post that said something along the lines of: Love people who make you think love is easy (not sacrificial and forgiving…like God's love of us). And of course, posts that cater to pride: You are the best person ever, don't hang around people who don't build up your pride! - especially if you're a woman. Women need to be as arrogant as we can possibly be…after all, we are "the storm" (and ironically, many women really bring chaos and destruction with that mindset).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">It is such a relief to read a book like this. One that takes God's Word seriously, not as though it is merely a book full of suggestions with a 'get out of jail free' card of God's love and forgiveness included. I'll end with one more of the quotes that I liked from the book:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>"When Jesus sent His disciples out into the world, He knew that He was sending them out like sheep among wolves and warned them of the need to live shrewdly (Matt. 10:16). Shrewd living requires vigilance. It demands that we become holy skeptics who do not automatically believe that everything that the world around us calls good is good. More than anything else, such a life requires that we take God at His word and allow Him to show us the true shape of virtue."</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Many thanks for the folks at <a href="https://www.mpnewsroom.com/books/dangerous-virtues" target="_blank">Moody Publishers Newsroom</a> for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">This book may be purchased at </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.moodypublishers.com/dangerous-virtues/" target="_blank">Moody Publishers.com</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.christianbook.com/dangerous-virtues-follow-jesus-masquerades-good/john-koessler/9780802419644/pd/419641" target="_blank">Christianbook.com</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Virtues-Follow-Jesus-Masquerades/dp/080241964X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">Amazon.com </a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><p></p></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-1177289017637567102020-09-21T09:34:00.004-04:002020-09-21T09:48:03.420-04:00Quote of the Day<p> <span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"To sin is to love yourself at the expense of your neighbor. More than that, it is to love yourself at the expense of God. Sin-shaped love expresses itself primarily in the form of narcissism. It is self-absorbed love. This affection is hate masquerading as love, compelling us to engage in self-destructive behavior. Sin promises freedom and delivers slavery. It speaks the language of friendship while treating us like enemies. Sin is a cruel master who promises good wages only to reward our loyalty with hard service, disappointment and death. For some reason, we return again and again to this false lover and expect a different result.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The answer to sinful lust is love - God's love, which comes to us from the outside, like the righteousness of Christ. Adopting the language that Martin Luther used to speak of Christ's righteousness, we might call it 'alien love' because it does not originate with us. It is a love that begins with God and can come to us only as a gift. For the Christian, this greater love is the organizing force for all our other desires. In this regard, love is not so much an emotion as it is a disposition. We might call it a divinely empowered direction for our lives.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">....What is true of lust is true of all capitol sins. Change may require discipline, but it does not begin with discipline. What is required is a miracle of grace.</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;">" </span></p><p><i style="font-size: x-large;">John Koessler</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Dangerous Virtues: How to Follow Jesus When Evil Masquerades as Good</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-9404939755446270322020-09-02T09:12:00.010-04:002020-09-02T09:25:14.798-04:00Photo Enhancer<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span>I haven't been
writing as much lately as I haven't found any new books I want to read and
review (yet), I seem to be growing pickier and pickier, at least when it comes
to 'Christian' books. And I haven't yet found any more history books that I
want to read and review. But in the meantime, I've been working on a lot of
family history/genealogy research stuff for fun.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">One of the resources
that I use for that is MyHeritage, I utilize their free family tree building
software. They came out with a special technology that really, really impressed
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It impressed me so much that I wanted
to share it here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have released a <a href="https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer" target="_blank">Photo Enhancer,</a> which brings the faces of people in your old photos
into sharp focus using a 'deep learning' technology….which, somehow, seems to be able to
figure out what blurry faces looked like in real life…if that makes any sense…</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Anyway, I tried it
out when they first came out with it, and was kind of impressed, but it didn't
quite work on some of the photos I was uploading and I reached the limit of how
many photos I could do with my free account (10).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, this month they announced that they
were letting people enhance as many photos as they wanted, for free, for a
month (Ends Sept 10th).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I decided to do it some more,
uploaded more photos, 'enhanced' them and became more and more impressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So impressed that I just have to advertise
it.</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Here's an example. This is an old photo of my great grandfather and his family (so, great great aunts, uncles and great great grandparents too). </span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfqIObhmXfiPUSLM-p0QFR0ZTomvgiGjJ6b6SeBoWyczjjwoJyCyQq9mQB1hKlMNqWQ98iP0BYYlr3Pwxo6ueul-GLpRNBZmsEZhdEm-HSpcE1eKUkxW-QkaoxmuBQxPpYp5Hudpos0E/s2048/Great+grandpa+and+his+famiy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1607" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxfqIObhmXfiPUSLM-p0QFR0ZTomvgiGjJ6b6SeBoWyczjjwoJyCyQq9mQB1hKlMNqWQ98iP0BYYlr3Pwxo6ueul-GLpRNBZmsEZhdEm-HSpcE1eKUkxW-QkaoxmuBQxPpYp5Hudpos0E/s640/Great+grandpa+and+his+famiy.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">And here's that same photo enhanced:</span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWgZZ5YZPRDrB1eL8uoPKA3aCTYPxV8CkjHWc51V7HlFqGP2JqawA1rzK749_mr1PnK4N3Mw4_RIq6NFXhiDjXaNo3Ur9ne1v6wQV6kL2JIf3bq99eczxf6fmCvYrvxOZnt7_5KMHUa4/s2048/Great+grandfather+and+family+enhanced.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1603" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpWgZZ5YZPRDrB1eL8uoPKA3aCTYPxV8CkjHWc51V7HlFqGP2JqawA1rzK749_mr1PnK4N3Mw4_RIq6NFXhiDjXaNo3Ur9ne1v6wQV6kL2JIf3bq99eczxf6fmCvYrvxOZnt7_5KMHUa4/s640/Great+grandfather+and+family+enhanced.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p style="font-family: calibri; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">You might think, well I don't see too much of a difference. Well, look at what happens when you zoom in. Here's my great, great grandmother and great, great Grandfather (Before and after enhancement) zoomed in:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLXfR8FWTDt0UutKXpdKGnZdQf1fQmcGy5TjQs7LGpspX1CdQKT_AQMcmwGnLbi-1p61MpCzOzDXks-hhXijwXGSoAZslsQU1gFs1f0bzKeoo4IbQiY8MTM3wqW8yqg0fnd_sG0CMhBE/s1027/Dora+comparison.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1027" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLXfR8FWTDt0UutKXpdKGnZdQf1fQmcGy5TjQs7LGpspX1CdQKT_AQMcmwGnLbi-1p61MpCzOzDXks-hhXijwXGSoAZslsQU1gFs1f0bzKeoo4IbQiY8MTM3wqW8yqg0fnd_sG0CMhBE/w800-h399/Dora+comparison.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstdSazAcTIIXISPgKV4lht7MobNEnXQO0mpKXmDVXxnTYtpJ7AF4zz2YbFzokJtpCJiWgePDQsgubprNPhU1mmIDxnlvfKjIXHOPEA_1aWpcJ14YP6UZkErbhvOsWAGxoE6gKxF8667I/s1027/Great%252C+great+Grandpa+enhanced.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1027" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhstdSazAcTIIXISPgKV4lht7MobNEnXQO0mpKXmDVXxnTYtpJ7AF4zz2YbFzokJtpCJiWgePDQsgubprNPhU1mmIDxnlvfKjIXHOPEA_1aWpcJ14YP6UZkErbhvOsWAGxoE6gKxF8667I/w800-h399/Great%252C+great+Grandpa+enhanced.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Here's one of another relative:</span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXzyQo4mEX0F35fpWBwGl5cZKGoTIYwk0nIHRgaRpiLv0c6r8yrBmZsCBScsvTiI7Ol3VYcNvijtX_wEve2wBAi9zrsv0DyeE6AVgYOtqRZiV-iVRYnJ-BxRaaU_zzrGWttSckeEE-5U/s1027/Relative%252C+compare.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1027" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvXzyQo4mEX0F35fpWBwGl5cZKGoTIYwk0nIHRgaRpiLv0c6r8yrBmZsCBScsvTiI7Ol3VYcNvijtX_wEve2wBAi9zrsv0DyeE6AVgYOtqRZiV-iVRYnJ-BxRaaU_zzrGWttSckeEE-5U/w800-h399/Relative%252C+compare.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><br /><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><span> </span><span>Now, it's not perfect. Sometimes I'll do a photo and my relatives will confirm that it doesn't look much like the person it is enhancing. Sometimes, the results are truly ugly and, every once in a while, it will try to enhance faces that aren't really there. Let me give you an example of one we found hilarious:</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Here's a screenshot of the page where I enhanced an old photo:</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1I86WSlspWJRfcJMAZSQyn_ZMMjoXyf35MU2rodbxntcMW04685mCSVm1VdqFgg-7L7xyB6E_AzTOwO9Ofq_H0ZHipyhQu33ynoGzCAjyumbbo5nFt4Bk1KdnXa7h5-yE3HDzhwlXCXA/s1306/Creepyfaceinflowers.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1I86WSlspWJRfcJMAZSQyn_ZMMjoXyf35MU2rodbxntcMW04685mCSVm1VdqFgg-7L7xyB6E_AzTOwO9Ofq_H0ZHipyhQu33ynoGzCAjyumbbo5nFt4Bk1KdnXa7h5-yE3HDzhwlXCXA/s640/Creepyfaceinflowers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"> At the bottom of the page you can see the circular images of the faces it detected to enhance. There is only one person in this photo, but the enhancer detected two faces. The white square on the image is where it found the other face. It found one in the flowers. When you zoom in here's what it did to that spot:</span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; margin: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChLle_VZzbQZ0B_5wyOBSOCwEBiLbeRiY6TykHHRzzePi_3rLRz2qw2F4IJ6s-O0lZN3PB7cR8LFKkO-YICK55EvXC-j9Gpy-Nqk_fKCqqwunNMS9ac1UL_i3wDH0A8NBU39FliHck7c/s1027/Creepyfaceinflowers2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1027" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChLle_VZzbQZ0B_5wyOBSOCwEBiLbeRiY6TykHHRzzePi_3rLRz2qw2F4IJ6s-O0lZN3PB7cR8LFKkO-YICK55EvXC-j9Gpy-Nqk_fKCqqwunNMS9ac1UL_i3wDH0A8NBU39FliHck7c/w800-h399/Creepyfaceinflowers2.jpg" width="800" /></a></div><span><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">Pretty creepy!!! :) </span></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">So it does make mistakes, but I'm still very impressed with how well it does on other photos. You can download the enhanced photos, just know that if you're using a free account (like I am) then it will put the MyHeritage logo, and little enhancement wand logo on the downloaded picture. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anyway, so it's free to enhance as many photos as you want until September 10th. You probably ened to make a free account with MyHeritage though. </span><a href="https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.myheritage.com/photo-enhancer</span></a></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: calibri; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-90261848418551001172020-08-21T09:44:00.001-04:002020-08-21T09:48:18.617-04:00Quote of the Day<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> "True spiritual illumination comes from Scripture, which is 'profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for every good work' (2 Tim. 3: 16-17). As the man of God is equipped for every good
work, we see that Scripture is not only indispensable, but also
sufficient. No other supposed sources of
truth need be consulted to receive the spiritual illumination necessary for
salvation. " </span></p><p><i style="font-size: x-large;">Victor Kuligin</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Language of Salvation: Discovering the Riches of What it Means to be Saved</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-52168203858396341472020-07-20T11:00:00.001-04:002020-07-20T11:00:54.983-04:00Quote of the Day<font face="verdana" size="5">A
heart for others and their actual needs should be what stirs us 'to the heart'
- we are to look on others, not for how they can encourage us, but how we may
encourage the. The potential of lives forever changed should drive us, fulfill
us, as it did our Lord - many did not respond as this group (later in Jesus'
ministry), but it did not change His 'fulfilling sustenance' (doing the will of
God and not allowing predictable norms to dictate the possibilities we look
for) Our focus is to be looking for God's working (readiness for harvest)
realizing He may have been "working on" someone long before we met
them.</font><div><font face="verdana" size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana" size="5">- Don Lambert </font></div><div><font face="verdana" size="5">excerpts from his studies on John 6</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><i>You may listen to the sermon here: <a href="http://dbc.sermon.net/main/main/21629112">http://dbc.sermon.net/main/main/21629112</a></i></font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><font face="verdana">Find more quotes on my quotes blog:</font></div><div><font face="verdana"><br /></font></div><div><a href="http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/">http://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-23917725665731556262020-07-06T11:02:00.001-04:002020-07-06T11:02:49.162-04:00Quote of the Day<div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="6"><b>What is it to wait on the Lord?</b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet"><i>June 7, 2017</i></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet">By: <b>Rick Lambert</b></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet"><i>(When I was going through some of the most difficult trials I have ever experienced)</i></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Is it a blessing or is it berating?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">I'm talking about the trial of waiting;</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">That heavy weight of God's neglect that is ever-stating,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And the purposeless days that are so devastating.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">The endurance it demands is perplexing,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And the energy it consumes is distressing.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">The long days and lonely nights that keep me guessing</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">As I search and ponder what happened to God's blessing.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Each day, joy crumbles and is replaced with mourning,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And peace disappears into forlorning.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">But such an event must become the loud warning</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">That my heart is being deceived into scorning.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Is waiting really as bad as I am thinking?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Perhaps it is a wonderful tool to stop me from shrinking</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">As it stares in silence at me without blinking.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Surely it cannot be present for my sinking.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Waiting actually seems painless in the scheme of its framing,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And maybe with God's good intentions are aiming.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">However, it does hurt somewhere in my soul I keep exclaiming,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">But one thing is for sure, it works toward my taming.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Why does it hurt; this great hour of testing,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">That steals away my precious hours of resting?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Maybe it's my need for growth, God's Word keeps suggesting,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And the fruit of righteousness it is investing.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">So, let's examine this unusual work in our seeking,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">With hope that we'll see God's clear speaking.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For I'll see that it accomplishes a great work worth keeping,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And without this view, what will I do but continue weeping.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">I can now see that waiting is the sound of patience preaching,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And clears away life's distractions so I can perceive God's teaching.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">It can become the gracious renewal in the morn's beseeching,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And must be evening's consoling mercy that's far-reaching.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">The Word tells me that waiting is good for those in God's making,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For it generously energizes me and protects me from breaking.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">With precision and wilful intention I find it is a divine undertaking,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And accompanying it is grace to keep me from aching.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Waiting on God requires more than human coping,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For God's will and ways require great scoping,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Without this insight I am bound to keep moping,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">But by looking deeper than how I feel, I can continue hoping.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">To those who are waiting, God keeps you from fainting,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And with His finger, a beautiful vista is painting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For this is His way with those whom he is sainting,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">With the end result showing no signs of tainting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Those who persist in their trust of him, he keeps us running</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">In order to show the glory of what we are becoming.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For waiting on God, we find he is not shunning,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">But rather reveals wonderful blessings forthcoming.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">With renewed strength we keep plotting,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">And with the vigor of young eagles the prize we keep spotting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">For with life and growth comes trials and training for allotting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Revealing a testament of God's faithfulness for our heart's jotting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Is it a blessing or is it berating?</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">I'm talking about the trial of waiting;</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">It is a blessing God is creating,</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5">Preparing us for eternity with him in our ultimate awaiting.</font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><font face="trebuchet" size="5"><br /></font></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">See more quotes on my quote collection blog: </span><a href="https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a></div>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-46945169191420247882020-06-11T12:53:00.001-04:002020-06-11T12:53:58.017-04:00Quote of the Day<div><font face="verdana" size="4">Let
me add in conclusion, that the passage which I have chosen for my text (Rev 1:3), in
which a blessing is promised to all who read or hear this prophecy, has long
appeared to me, to be utterly inconsistent with the popular historical or
polemical interpretations. If such
interpretations, or even the principles upon which they proceed, be true, the
Apocalypse can be read and understood by the scholar and the man of learning
only: by him who has penetrated into the secrets of history, and traced the
rise and progress and downfall of dynasties and doctrines; but to the poor, the
unlettered, and to those who read the words of the prophecy alone, to those,
who from their inability perhaps to read, are forced to content themselves with
hearing it read by others; to such it is impossible, on the principles of the
historical commentators, the Apocalypse can be any thing but an enigma and a
riddle. How can they keep those things
that are written in this prophecy, to whom the things written are
unintelligible, and necessarily unintelligible?
How can they look for the time as at hand, if the time of the prophecy
be spread already over nineteen centuries?
Surely then such a promise as that which is contained in the text, must
be understood, as implying, if not as asserting, that in the words of the
prophecy itself, carefully considered and diligently 'kept,' we have that can
be necessary to the right understanding of it; and the reason that is given for
our keeping them in our hearts, namely, 'because the time is at hand.' would
seem to intimate, that the period within which the prophecy shall be
accomplished, shall not be, not a long and tedious series of many centuries,
but a brief and rapid space; for the approach of which, we are to watch, as men
that know neither the day nor the hour of their Master's coming; 'looking for
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ;' and ever bearing in mind the prophetic warning of our Lord and
Savior. 'for as the lightning cometh out of the
East, and shineth even unto the West, so shall the coming of the Son of
Man be." </font></div><div><font face="verdana" size="4"><div> </div><div><br /></div></font></div><div><font face="courier"><font size="4">Excerpt taken from <b>Six Discources on the Prophecies Relating to Antichrist in the Apocalypse of St. John</b></font> by <font size="4"><i>James Henthorne Todd</i></font></font></div><div style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br /></font></div><div style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br /></font></div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">See more quotes on my quote collection blog: https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</font>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-40178318341834840372020-06-05T05:00:00.001-04:002020-06-05T05:00:01.739-04:00Quote of the Day<div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;">The smiles of an encouraging, if not a believing world, have long followed the writers and preachers of evangelical truth, making smooth and pleasant their allotted tasks. We believe that it will cease to be so: the envoys and ambassadors of the Most High will be dismissed with ignominy on the approach of war, where in a time of apparent peace, they have been feted and applauded…… Shall any be found wanting? Shall voices that in more halcyon days were heard on the Lord's side, grow now so confused and indistinct, that it cannot be known what is piped or harped? Shall trumpets that were used to echo through the camp of Israel their notes of victory or warning, give now so uncertain a sound that none shall know whether to prepare themselves for battle, for fight, or for submission? It may be so. Men sometimes seem to want in things spiritual the wisdom and courage that not uncommonly characterizes the children of this world in their generation. When the wind sets in, and the tide flows strong upon a rocky shore, the skillful mariner turns the vessel's head, makes for the sea , and calls all hands together to keep her off the land. Our helmsmen are doing contrariwise: they have set their sails to wind and their head to the tide, and are doing all they can to near the fatal shore. In some instance they have gone the utmost length their principles will admit, to conform themselves to the fashion of the times, to avoid the imputation of extreme opinions, and relieve themselves of a name they would once have been ashamed to be without…..</span></div><div><font face="verdana" size="4"><div><br /></div><div>…we are apt to talk a little too vaguely about opinion - as if all religious truths were matters of opinion, subjects of reasoning, exercises of judgment. It is not so. The most important truths of the Gospel are not opinions - they are matters of revelation, and therefore matters of fact. A positive declaration, statement, or command in the Holy Scriptures excludes opinion - forbids opinion - stamps on opinion the sin of unbelief. There are more of such things in the book of God than some people are aware of; and the 'I think,' and 'I don't think' of common talk, grates harshly sometimes on the considerate believer's ear; falls unbecomingly sometimes from the inconsiderate believer's lips. He who insists upon such truths as these, however imperatively, is not dogmatical: he who condemns all contradiction and contravention of them, is not uncharitable; while the believer who when called upon to contend for the faith, from deference to opinion concedes or compromises, or withholds these plain declarations of the word of God, is a traitor or a coward, and no true soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. </div><div> </div><div><br /></div></font></div><div><font face="courier"><font size="4">Excerpt taken from <b>Christ Our Law</b></font> - by <font size="4"><i>Caroline Fry Wilson</i></font></font></div><div style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br /></font></div><div style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;"><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br /></font></div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">See more quotes on my quote collection blog: https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</font>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-35233061186038313052020-05-28T13:39:00.002-04:002020-06-01T18:44:05.951-04:00Blaze of Light by Marcus Brotherton<div style="margin: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Blaze of Light is an account of Green Beret Medic Medal of Honor recipient Gary Beikirch. He earned his Medal of Honor in Vietnam.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">I've honestly been dreading having to write this review because…well, I didn't like the book. And I feel horrible about saying that I don't like a book about a Medal of Honor recipient! It's not that it isn't interesting, it is. But it's depressing.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">The book is written well in that , while following Mr. Beikirch through his life you see, even feel along with him, his depression, lack of purpose in life. Joining the Green Beret's gave him more of something to aim at. That was actually the most interesting part of the book to me, it was fascinating to hear about the amazingly tough training they went through to become Green Berets, and even tougher training to become a Green Beret Medic. His time in Vietnam was intriguing as well. Especially his actions that earned him the Medal of Honor, and they truly are admirable.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">But there is sort of a despairing feeling throughout the book. He was seeking for some sort of purpose, but the purpose he finds, at least as this book presents it, is lacking in… ironically, lacking in purpose.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Some of Mr. Beikirch's relatives, who were professing Christians, lead him to God's Word. He becomes a professing Christian, gets married and then ends up ordained as a chaplain. He still sounds depressed though and ends up having arguments with his wife, has a big argument with her, goes back to visit Vietnam, meets a former enemy soldier who has found that he needs to forgive in order to heal from the war and Gary is amazing at this. While he's gone his wife leaves their home without telling him, he goes to find her and patches things up.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">The book then ends with him having come to the conclusion that you need to die to yourself and live for others instead. <i>"The battles are fought in our hearts and minds. The weapons are the values of love, sacrifice, integrity, and service. Whenever we fight battles with those weapons, life takes on a meaning that others will never know." </i>That falls far short of a message of true purpose. Why? Why live for others? Because it satisfies ourselves? What if one finds that living for others really doesn't give them fulfillment? What if living a life of selfishness really does satisfy them? Or what if living for others makes one feel like a good person? These motives make the purpose of doing or not doing good works contingent on pleasing ourselves, and self is still the ultimate focus. It may take on new meaning by loving and serving others, but not the meaning God wants us to find. He wants us to live for Him first of all. As Christ Himself said, <b>"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment."</b>(Mat 22:37-38)</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Ultimately the book as a whole gives the impression that you don't really need God because some people do truly good works without God. The former enemy soldier had forgiveness towards his enemies, and the book never mentioned that that soldier was a Christian, it also gave other accounts of other, presumably non-Christian, people selflessly living for, dying for and forgiving others.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Any righteousness we come up with on our own isn't righteous enough and is actually offensive to God. Without Christ's perfection being applied to our account, we will ultimately end up experiencing God's wrath forever (See the books of Romans and Ephesians) . Only Christ's righteousness will get us into Heaven. This book, by it's 'living for others' is true living message, just seems to present believing in Jesus Christ for salvation as an optional thing with no consequences for not believing whereas the Bible never presents it that way. As it says in John 3, "<b>Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."</b>(Joh 3:36 ESV) This isn't something that we can just take or leave. It's serious. It's literally a matter of life or death.</font></span></div>
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<font size="4"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;">I wouldn't be so critical if I didn't think that this book was supposed to be about a man who discovered that true living is living for God. But it didn't, it made it seem as though anyone can have true living without Christ. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"> Understanding our position before God and His requirements of us, is the most important thing to realize, even more important than sacrificing oneself for others. </span></font></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">The Bible doesn't say that we will find true life if we deny ourselves and sacrifice for others. We will only find true life by denying ourselves for Christ's sake. And not just denying ourselves but taking up His cross and following Him: <b>"And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?"</b>(Mar 8:34-36 ESV) We WILL deny ourselves and sacrifice for others and consider them more important than ourselves if we are Christians (followers of Christ), but we do not do these things in order to GET and FIND true life, but because we already have true life: "<b>When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."</b>(Joh 17:1-3 ESV)</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Again, I feel compelled to say all of this because this book is intended as a potential means to introduce people to Christ but it offers a means to life fulfillment, true living (loving others) that falls short of the Christian/Biblical message of fulfillment.</font></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><font size="4">Thanks for the folks
at <a href="https://waterbrookmultnomah.com/books/608039/blaze-of-light-by-marcus-brotherton/" target="_blank">Waterbrook Multnomah</a> for sending me a
free review copy of this book (My review did not have to be favorable).</font></span></div>
<br />Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-22249369445390505742020-05-22T09:48:00.002-04:002020-05-22T09:48:31.057-04:00Quote of the Day<font face="verdana" size="4">"…our
society is strongly individualistic and 'me-centered.' We have a tendency to 'look out for number
one' and often have less regard for others.
Whereas in many of our organizations and structures individuality is
encouraged, there is little place for it in the body of Christ. Can you imagine an arm proclaiming its
independence from the rest of the body?
Not only would the arm become gangrenous and rot away, but the body
would be damaged by its absence. While
the world tends to teach us to be self-focused, as believers we must endeavor
to be others-focused. This is expressed
in Jesus's command to deny ourselves....... Many believers today envision the Christian faith as more of a picnic or a walk in the park than a bloody sacrifice of the self, but the former is not the biblical portrait."</font><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: calibri; font-size: large;"><br /></span></i><b style="color: #222222; font-family: calibri; font-size: x-large;"> Ten Things I Wish Jesus Never Said </b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: calibri; font-size: medium;"><i>by Victor Kuligin</i></span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: calibri; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: calibri; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">See more quotes on my quote collection blog: </span><a href="https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: verdana, sans-serif;">https://snickerdoodlesquotes.blogspot.com/</a>Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8246705882682826049.post-68350612867220047362020-05-01T06:10:00.000-04:002020-05-01T06:10:44.531-04:00The Lexham English Septuagint<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzvXZWBgRqEnn_Zl5gFW13IUM5fkyZeebGLsrcso85Ij0tXhidW6d9nzxoh5SEe7j0NtfSU5BXmAXTIdeJ6nzgoXjWZwMdHZ6ZpmecT4xbK8j9pXyep_uPR6SRyCrojOTAaYnbLX0iXY/s1600/Lexham+review.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYzvXZWBgRqEnn_Zl5gFW13IUM5fkyZeebGLsrcso85Ij0tXhidW6d9nzxoh5SEe7j0NtfSU5BXmAXTIdeJ6nzgoXjWZwMdHZ6ZpmecT4xbK8j9pXyep_uPR6SRyCrojOTAaYnbLX0iXY/s640/Lexham+review.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was quite excited
when I saw that a new English translation of the Septuagint was coming out. I'm
always interested in new Septuagint resources.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Septuagint is an
old, Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Some (or all?) of the
manuscripts of the Septuagint that we have today are much older than the Hebrew
manuscripts on which most of our English Old Testaments are based so it can be pretty
useful in textual criticism and Bible study as well (Some quotations that the
Apostles made, from the Septuagint, are significantly different than our
current Hebrew Old Testament text).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If an English speaking person says they're
quoting from "the Bible", we don't associate "the Bible" as
only referring to one particular translation (unless you're KJV only). When we
talk about the "Septuagint", it's sort of like saying<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"the Greek translation of the Old
Testament", it's just a shorter way of saying it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were several old, Greek translations of
the Bible and we don't know which one is the 'original' one that was around in
the Apostles' time and that they would have utilized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also, there doesn’t seem to be a reason to
think that there was only one Greek translation during the time of the
Apostles, there may have been more than one, and good and bad translations,
just like we have today with good and bad English translations. Since we don't
know exactly which Greek Version(s) the Apostles used, it's good to have a
variety of copies of the LXX, the English translation of the Greek translation
in my case, since I don't really know Koine Greek.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>translation is a nice one to add to this list, it is particularly
interesting because of the way they give more, unique translations that you may
not have otherwise considered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
instance, in the Psalms, one of the "headers" I'm used to seeing is
usually something like,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"To the
Chief Musician: A Psalm of David".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In one of the other English LXXs I have, the NETS Bible, it is
translated, "Regarding Completion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A Psalm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pertaining to Dauid."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, this new translation, has, "For
the End: A Psalm of David". When I saw that it was a like a lightbulb
turned on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"For THE END?" As
in, the "End times", "last days", the end of the
world? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I mentioned it to
one of my sisters (who loves studying and learning koine Greek), and she looked
up the word for "end" and it was telos, which is used in some other
places in the Bible to refer to the end times (For instance, Matt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>24:13-14).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That sort of put a whole new perspective on the Psalms, not that we
didn't think any of them were prophetic before (obviously the Messianic ones
were), it's just that, if this view is correct, many of these Psalms are
directly said to be speaking about the end times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of them certainly sound eschatological,
for instance, <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Our God is a place of refuge
and strength, a helper when afflictions find us very much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On account of this, we will not fear when the
earth is troubled and the mountains are transferred in the hearts of the seas…Come,
see the works of the Lord, which he set as wonders upon the earth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Removing wars until the ends of the earth, he
will crush bow and shatter weapon….</span>" (Psalm 45: 1-10)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Another interesting
nuance in translation is Amos 9:1. The ASV (Using the Masoretic text)
reads:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">"I
saw the Lord standing beside the altar: and he said, Smite the capitals, that
the thresholds may shake…"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Brenton's English
LXX reads: <span style="font-weight: bold;">"I saw the Lord standing on the
altar: and he said, Smite the mercy-seat, and the porch shall be shaken"</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The LEX reads, <span style="font-weight: bold;">"I saw the Lord standing by the alter, and he
said, 'Strike upon the lid of the Ark of the Covenant and the gateway will be
shaken…" </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That's interesting
in that, if it is the Ark of the Covenant, then that would (If I remember
correctly)be a later reference to it in the Old Testament, than in the current
Hebrew Old Testament we use. I don't remember the Ark of the Covenant being
mentioned again after the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar. Just
an interesting thing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You'll notice some
significant/interesting differences between this text and the Masoretic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you grab a Hebrew based Old Testament and
turn to Daniel 11:1-2, I'll quote it from the ASV: "<span style="font-weight: bold;">And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I
stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth.
Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be
far richer than they all: and when he is waxed strong through his riches, he
shall stir up all against the realm of Greece."</span>And then compare it
to this English Septuagint:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"And in
the first year of King Cyrus, he spoke to me to strengthen me and to make me
act valiantly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And now I have come to
impart the truth to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look, three
kings have arisen in Persia, and a fourth will arise…." </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's a rather significant difference as it
changes who the coming Kings are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we
supposed to count starting from Darius or Cyrus? Makes for some interesting
eschatological problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the main
reasons the Septuagint is so interesting is that there are places in the New
Testament where, when Christ and the Apostles quote certain texts from the Old
Testament and their quotations line up significantly more with the LXX than
with the Masoretic text.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And that's
where I want to explain a part in this translation that I didn't particularly
like. In Psalm 39 (Psalm 40 in a 'regular' Bible) vs 7 is translated,
"You did not want sacrifice and offering, but you restored a body to
me." "Restored", instead of, "prepared" or
"made" a body for me as English translators often render that word in
translating the author of Hebrews' quotation of that verse in 10:5. Now
some may point out that it's still better than the Masoretic text<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(the Hebrew text recension pretty much all of
our Old Testaments are based on now), which doesn't say anything similar. The
problem I have is that, to me, "Restored" sounds as though a body was
had, taken away or lost, and then given back. It just seems to carry
a different picture from how the author of Hebrews saw/read the text in Hebrews
10 (and the Greek word there seems to be the same as the one in Swete's Greek
text for the Psalm). The author of Hebrews seemed to view that verse as
indicating that a body was prepared for Christ to offer it as a sacrifice. Now
I can see a way around it by saying, "well, look at it this way,
'restored' makes it seem as though He'd been given a body back that he'd had
before, so maybe it could be referring to the resurrection of Christ." Ehh…maybe?
But again, that's not how the writer of Hebrews seemed to read it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Anyway, I felt like
I had to get that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Moving on now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Be sure to read the
Introduction to this translation, it's very interesting, telling about the
translators'/editors' goal of making your experience in reading this
translation like the experience of those originally reading the Greek
translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So instead of trying to
bring the terminology to match today's culture, they "bring today's reader
to the ancient culture", so if the language was originally not as gender
inclusive as we would be today, they stick with the more gender exclusive
language.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the original Greek
translation of the Hebrew was a bit awkward, the English will read
awkwardly,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"The English translation should feel
idiomatic where the Greek is idiomatic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It should feel formal where the Greek is formal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should feel foreign where the Greek feels
foreign.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In other words, it is not only
acceptable, it is positively desirable for the LES to feel like a translation,
to the extent that the Greek readers would have been aware that they were
reading a translation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ideally, the
translation should be as rough or as smooth as the Greek would have seemed to a
Greek reader who knew no Hebrew…" </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I really appreciate that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I like the format of
this book as well. I don't want to check right now, but I’m pretty sure that
all of my other English translations of the LXX have the text laid out in two
columns on each page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one only has
one column of text, so it reads like a regular book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cover is very beautiful as well, I was
quite impressed just by its looks when I opened up the box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I really like the
LES overall. I own several English translations of the LXX, and I have never
really found one that I prefer above the others, rather, I find all of them
equally great study and reference resources to have around. This one is a great
edition to any collection of Septuagints. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Many thanks to the
folks at <a href="https://lexhampress.com/product/188040/the-lexham-english-septuagint-2nd-ed" target="_blank">Lexham Press </a>for sending me a free review copy of this book (My review
did not have to be favorable).</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>This book may be purchased at<a href="https://www.christianbook.com/the-lexham-english-septuagint-new-translation/9781683593447/pd/593447?product_redirect=1&search_term=Lexham%20english%20&Ntt=593447&item_code=&Ntk=keywords&event=ESRCP#review-text" target="_blank"> Christianbook.com</a> and at <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lexham-English-Septuagint-New-Translation/dp/1683593448/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3BR2TQYNE7H85&dchild=1&keywords=lexham+english+septuagint&qid=1588271190&s=books&sprefix=lexham+eng%2Caps%2C202&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzR0RQMVcwOE4zSVpHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjg1NzM4MzFGTExJRExEUk4xRCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzUzNDE2MUtIOTJBWkFHUFgyWiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a></i></span></div>
<br />Sarah L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13672663482802830133noreply@blogger.com2