The litmus test

To use reformation theology as a litmus test for theological accuracy represents a departure from the Reformers themselves and places them upon a pedestal which they would not otherwise care to sit on. —The Saving Righteousness of God, page 68

<idle musing>
And this is from a Reformed scholar! Would that some of the more toxic Reformed theologians would heed his advice! The only standard that should be final is the scriptures themselves, interpreted through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and weighed in the balance of 2000 years of theological insight. But, scripture is primary.
</idle musing>

One thing

The Protestant tendency to view salvation in terms of a series of consecutive ideas (justification, sanctification, glorification) fails to grapple with Paul’s conception of justification as a comprehensive and holistic term relating to redemption, forgiveness of sins, peace, resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. Thus justification is not merely the erasure of our failure supplemented by an alien righteousness, but emerges as the supreme act of God in Christ for our salvation. Furthermore, its christocentric dimension means that the imperatives of continuing love, faith and obedience are never isolated from justification itself. —The Saving Righteousness of God, page 66

Thought for today

“Surely this is our God;
we trusted in him, and he saved us.
This is the Lord, we trusted in him;
let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9 TNIV)

They go together

Jesus’ death and resurrection should be regarded as being inseparably part of the one redemptive event. The cross without the resurrection is sheer martyrdom, an act of solidarity with the persecuted nation. Conversely, the resurrection without the cross is a miraculous intrusion into history and a salvation-historical enigma. Together they constitute the fulcrum of God’s righteousness in handing over Jesus to the cross and raising him for our justification. This highlights that the justifying death of Christ is not efficacious without the resurrection. —The Saving Righteousness of God, pages 57-58

<idle musing>
How can we separate them? Yet, we tend to emphasize one at the expense of the other; some emphasize the cross to the point of depression, while others would prefer the cross never happened. Either one is a mockery of the gospel.
</idle musing>

Finney on a Tuesday

Sinners act as if they were afraid they should be saved. Often they seem to be trying to make their salvation as difficult as possible. For example, they all know what Christ has said about the danger of riches and the difficulty of saving rich men. They have read from His lips, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God." "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." This they know, and yet how many of them are in mad haste to be rich! For this end, some are ready to sacrifice their conscience--some their health--all seem ready, deliberately, to sacrifice their souls! How could they more certainly ensure their own damnation!—Charles Finney

Isaiah, again

The Lord, the Lord Almighty,
called you on that day
to weep and to wail,
to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
But see, there is joy and revelry,
slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine!
“Let us eat and drink,” you say,
“for tomorrow we die!”
The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: “Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for,” says the Lord, the Lord Almighty. (Isaiah 22:12-14 TNIV)

Fall in Grand Marais

This time of year, you really feel the remoteness and wildness of the area. The streets are pretty much empty--even on the weekends. But, the lake is beautiful; the clouds make a magnificent backdrop to it. When the sun shines through them, it is more a painting than real. The street we take to walk to Joel & Renee's house has a wonderful view of the harbor, Artist's Point, and the lake.

We went for a hike last weekend with some friends on the Superior Hiking Trail--actually a spur off of it; there are lots of spurs : ) It took us to the top of a hill that overlooked the lake in one direction and the boundary waters (BWCA) in the other. Breathtakingly beautiful. The leaves were mostly gone, so you had the stark white of the birch, the black of the deciduous, and the dark green of the spruce and balsam. So beautiful it almost made you hurt--like it was a foretaste of the new heavens and new earth. And here I feel a mixture of what C.S. Lewis said about paradise and Bonhoeffer's writings about the foretaste of glory. (If that isn't a weird mix of theologians!)

Some thoughts on a non-holiday

From Joel (my son-in-law), on death and Halloween:

I was really bothered today by the way Halloween makes light of death. I couldn't help thinking of the last moments of Emily's life as she lay on the hospital bed covered in blood because they'd been doing chest compressions on her 5 lb body a day after heart surgery. I remembered how it felt to hold her head as the fluid began to pool behind her skull. I remembered wrapping her body in a white fuzzy blanket a few days later in the funeral home, her bruises barely disguised by make-up.

And now, when a kid comes to the door dressed as the living dead with fake blood all over his face I'm expected to smile and give him candy?

How can we make light of death?

I think of the thousand upon thousands upon thousands of children who've been mutilated by war. Those today who walk streets of terror and are no stranger to death and gore. Would they celebrate a holiday of fear? We are so ignorant in our safe little suburbs of the realities of the world.

I hate Halloween.

<idle musing>
We are ignorant of the reality of what Halloween is, aren't we? It, by design, is a celebration of death. As Christians, we are to celebrate life...
</idle musing>

Union with Christ

...union with Christ is union with the justified Messiah and the now Righteous One. Jesus by fact of his resurrection is the locus of righteousness and redemption (cf. 1 Cor. 1.30; 2 Cor. 5.21; Eph. 1.17) and believers are justified only because they have been united with the justified Messiah. Whereas believers formerly shared the verdict of condemnation pronounced on Adam, now they partake of the verdict of justification pronounced of Christ. The believer passes through the eschatological judgment by virtue of their association with Christ in his death and is co- quickened into the eschatological life through his resurrection. The union is symbolized through baptism but the conduit is, as always for Paul, through faith (cf. Gal. 3.26-27; Col. 2.12; Eph. 3.17). It is union with Christ in his death and resurrection that constitutes the material cause of justification.—The Saving Righteousness of God, page 56

<idle musing>
I've heard it said that if you take the phrase "in Christ" out of Paul's letters you end up with morality. In Christ is central to Paul—and the resurrection is central to being in Christ!
</idle musing>

Isaiah on a Thursday

In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, Lord.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord , the Lord , is my strength and my defense ;
he has become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
In that day you will say:
“Give praise to the Lord, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.
Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.
Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” (Isaiah 12:1-6 TNIV)

Thoughts from Isaiah

This is what the Lord says to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:
“Do not call conspiracy
everything this people calls a conspiracy;
do not fear what they fear,
and do not dread it.
The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
he is the one you are to fear,
he is the one you are to dread...
When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness. (Isaiah 8:11-13, 19-22 TNIV)

It sure is!

There can be little doubt that the resurrection vindicates the message, person and death of Christ. The resurrection unambiguously announces the perfect obedience of Christ to the Father, his declared sonship and affirms the reality of his death as a sacrifice for sins. Furthermore, it removes any misunderstanding of Jesus’ death solely in terms of a martyr theology. Despite this, in reading the Pauline epistles one is struck with the suspicion that the resurrection is far more intrinsic to justification than merely comprising an authentication that our justification has taken place at the cross.—The Saving Righteousness of God, page 42

<idle musing>
We sell the meaning—and power—so short. It is almost like a bookend; as Michael Bird says, we tend to think of it as a martyr theology. For Paul, it is far, far more than that. We need to reacquaint ourselves with what it means; hopefully the snippets from this book will help us...
</idle musing>

Why do we do it?

Stop trusting in human beings,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem? (Isaiah 2:22 TNIV)

Finney for a Tuesday

While they [sinners] inwardly know He [God] is their real friend, yet they practically treat Him as their worst enemy. By no motives can they be persuaded to confide in Him as their friend. In fact, they treat Him as if He were the greatest liar in the universe. Wonderful to tell, they practically reverse the regard due respectively to God and to Satan--treating Satan as if he were God, and God as if He were Satan. Satan they believe and obey; God they disown, dishonor, and disobey. How strangely would they reverse the order of things! They would fain enthrone Satan over the universe, giving him the highest seat in heaven; the Almighty and holy God they would send to hell. They do not hesitate to surrender to Satan the place of power over their own hearts which is due to God only.—Charles Finney

The place of the resurrection

The problem is that Paul’s gospel knows of no divorce between the cross and the resurrection and their ensuing effect. The resurrection figures equally prominently in Paul’s most concise summaries of the gospel (cf. Rom. 1.3-4; 10.9-10; 1 Cor. 15.3-8; 2 Tim. 2.8). The tendency in the Protestant tradition to view the crucifixion in isolation and as a thing in itself apart from the resurrection represents a failure to grapple with Paul’s view of the indissoluble connection between the cross and the resurrection (cf. 1 Thess. 4.14; 1 Cor. 15.3-8; 2 Cor. 5.15; Rom. 4.25).—The Saving Righteousness of God, page 41

<idle musing>
Yep! Without the resurrection, the crucifixion is simply a tragedy; sin is still victorious. But with the resurrection, we have a hope and a deliverance!
</idle musing>

Thought for today

See how the faithful city
has become a prostitute!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!
Your silver has become dross,
your choice wine is diluted with water.
Your rulers are rebels,
companions of thieves;
they all love bribes
and chase after gifts.
They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
the widow’s case does not come before them.
Therefore the Lord, the Lord Almighty,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will vent my wrath on my foes
and avenge myself on my enemies.
I will turn my hand against you;
I will thoroughly purge away your dross
and remove all your impurities. (Isaiah 1:21-25 TNIV)

Me, me, me!

You are altogether committed to the pleasing of self. Jesus may plead with you--your friends may plead; heaven and hell may lift up their united voices to plead, and every motive that can press on the heart from reason, conscience, hope and fear, angels and devils, God and man, may pass in long and flashing array before your mind--but alas! your heart is so fully set to do evil that no motive to change can move you. What is this can not? Nothing less or more than a mighty will not!—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Will not versus can not is a huge gap. Yet, that is the chasm that grace bridges. Your "can not" is no longer valid, as God—through the power of the Holy Spirit working within you—has raised you to the point where it is now "will not." What is that but willful rebellion and putting self before God?
</idle musing>

How big was that?

"the righteousness of God, at least in Rom. 1.17, introduces the entire package of salvation including justification, redemption, propitiatory sacrifice, forgiveness of sins, membership in the new covenant community, reconciliation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, power for a new obedience, union with Christ, freedom from sin, and eschatological vindication. God’s righteousness is an all-encompassing action that includes both redemption and renewal."—The Saving Righteousness of God, page 16

<idle musing>
A bit bigger than the "say this prayer" version of the gospel, isn't it? We've been sold a watered down version of what Christ came to do to us and for us. I'll be posting from this book for the next week or two. Very interesting read—it only took me 5 years to get to it!
</idle musing>

No doubt about it

All summer long I've been meaning to do it and yesterday I finally did it. Ever since we moved here back in July, I've been meaning to ride the Gunflint Trail, a 1000 foot climb in less than 4 miles, and then ride Highway 7, a mere 600 foot rise is a little less than 4 miles.

I had been told several years ago that Highway 7 was a tougher ride than the Gunflint. The only way to really know was to do them back-to-back. So, yesterday was finally the day. It was a nice crisp 50°F, with a slight breeze from the East—not enough to affect the ride. I started with the Gunflint. About 1.3 miles into the ride, the road does a switchback—on a killer slope. I looked at the cyclometer: 8.1 MPH. I felt like I would need to get off and walk. After the switchback, it levels off some and I was able to get up to about 17-18 MPH again. Then there was another steep section and I dropped down to about 10-11 MPH. I got to the top, went over the ridge a bit and then turned around and rode down.

The view is normally beautiful, but yesterday it was so foggy you could barely see the lake. Artist's Point was wreathed in fog; it made me wish I had a camera. I hit the switchback at 23 MPH, coasting, and in less than an 1/8 of a mile, I was going 35 MPH, still coasting. I must say, coming down was a lot easier!

At Highway 7, I turned and began the climb on it. Going west is a relatively gentle slope, 5 miles to climb 600 feet. At the end of Highway 7, I took a right and rode to Cascade State Park, where I turned around. The lake was definitely fogged in! I couldn't see more than 50 yards out. It would be easy to believe I was at the end of the earth.

The real challenge was climbing the hill on Highway 7 going East. It starts out very steep. You go from cruising along to creeping in about 50 feet! I looked at the cyclometer: 10.6 MPH. Then, I heard a deer beside me in the woods, heading toward the road. I stopped pedaling and let it cross—hitting or being hit by a deer in not on my bucket list! My speed dropped to 9.6 MPH instantly. The road leveled off some, only to get steep again. 10.1 MPH. Then it leveled off again. One more steep incline: 10.6 MPH. Then it was relatively mild until the top. The descent was fast and easy.

So, I can definitely say that the Gunflint is the harder of the two. I did the climb on Highway 7 after riding 20+ miles, and I still managed to stay about 2 MPH faster. Granted, the climb going East starts out with a bang! That is probably why people say it is the harder climb...

Here's a screenshot of the route, complete with elevations.

Wealth

Those who love money never have enough;
those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
As goods increase,
so do those who consume them.
And what benefit are they to the owners
except to feast their eyes on them? (Ecclesiastes 5:10, 11 TNIV)

Your daily Finney

You are altogether committed to the pleasing of self. Jesus may plead with you--your friends may plead; heaven and hell may lift up their united voices to plead, and every motive that can press on the heart from reason, conscience, hope and fear, angels and devils, God and man, may pass in long and flashing array before your mind--but alas! your heart is so fully set to do evil that no motive to change can move you. What is this can not? Nothing less or more than a mighty will not!—Charles Finney

Why I believe the Bible

Excellent look at inerrancy by Roger Olson. As always, a nice tidbit to get you to read the whole thing:

Finally, if you base your belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord on the truth status of the Bible rather than the other way around (basing its truth on its power to transform through relationship with Jesus Christ), you are risking idolatry. Jesus is the “Sache” [theological message] of Scripture. Luther knew it as did Calvin. But fundamentalists and neo-fundamentalists put Scripture over Jesus when they try to make belief in him as Savior and Lord dependent on the inerrancy of the Bible. The Bible, then, becomes the gift in place of Jesus Christ. It should be (and is) the other way around—Jesus is the gift. The Bible is simply the Christmas-wrapped box that delivers him to us. I believe in the Bible’s truth and authority because of him. But that in no way requires belief in absolute, technical, detailed accuracy of every statement of Scripture.

<idle musing>
He says it so much better than I could. I especially like his example of textbooks: "common sense says that a person or book does not have to be flawless in every detail in order to be true and authoritative in its main subject. Hardly any textbook meets the standard of strict inerrancy. Probably none do. And yet some, at least, are considered authoritative and trustworthy."

Read the whole thing to get the full context before you flame me : )
</idle musing>

Yes, yes! Yes!!

Old, but still good, reference to cycling programs and helmet use. Here's an excerpt:

But bicycling advocates say that the problem with pushing helmets isn’t practicality but that helmets make a basically safe activity seem really dangerous. “The real benefits of bike-sharing in terms of health, transport and emissions derive from getting ordinary people to use it,” said Ceri Woolsgrove, safety officer at the European Cyclists’ Federation. “And if you say this is wonderful, but you have to wear armor, they won’t. These are normal human beings, not urban warriors.”

<idle musing>
Yep. Another good little snippet, "Statistically, if we wear helmets for cycling, maybe we should wear helmets when we climb ladders or get into a bath, because there are lots more injuries during those activities." So, get out those helmets next time you enter the shower!
</idle musing>

Thought for today

One’s own folly leads to ruin,
yet the heart rages against the Lord. (Proverbs 19:3 TNIV)

Toy pistols and battleships

"But in the midst of it all I made a great discovery. There were demon forces, of which I had never dreamed, governing this world. The Bible was right. My spiritual weapons in the face of such an enemy were as a toy pistol before a great battleship. I had been attempting to take Leviathan captive with my little toy fish-hook. Furthermore, to my utter dismay, I found that my own carnality and selfishness had given the ground they held to these monsters of hell. I myself had invited them in. I must get rid of 'self'--that was as clear as the noon-day sun. Else there could be no hope of final victory. These powers of darkness (demons are as real to me now as God Himself) which were oppressing me to the point of despair, were standing on the very ground which secret selfishness had conceded to them. How was I to get rid of this 'self-life' which had so long been standing out against Christ and making a way for the enemy to come in like a flood? Ah! had I but known of that 'Standard,' the Cross, which must be lifted up against this prince of darkness. But my hour had come. God was leading me all the while. Not a tear but what had fallen in His bottle. It was then that He focused all my being upon the Cross of Christ, and opened up to me its wondrous meaning. Every day brought its revelation. Such a struggle as mine would never issue in Victory except the Cross be given the place of absolute supremacy in my life and ministry."—F.G Huegel in The Cross of Christ--The Throne of God

Selfishness

Selfishness takes on a thousand forms and types; but each and all are sinful, for the whole mind should give itself up to serve God and to perform every duty as revealed to the reason.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
The definition of sin: selfishness. We are called to die self and live for God. Of course, we can only do that by the power of the Holy Spirit...
</idle musing>

Today's thought

“Then [when disaster strikes] they will call to me [wisdom] but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord .
Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
but whoever listens to me will live in safely
and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (Proverbs 1:28-33 TNIV)

Psalm for the day

Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil
so that I take part in wicked deeds
along with those who are evildoers;
do not let me eat of their delicacies. (Psalm 141:3-4 TNIV)

Thought for a Sunday morning

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12 TNIV)

Thought for today

Paul has a doctrine of the saving righteousness of God whereby God acquits and vindicates the ungodly because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and what is more, this enacted verdict is the gateway for membership into the cosmopolitan people of God. The saving righteousness of God means the end of all boasting whether it is in performance or possession of the law, whether it is in one’s ethnicity or religious effort. Justification is the act whereby God creates a new people, with a new status, in a new covenant, as a foretaste of the new age. Justification is forensic (it refers to status not moral state), eschatological (the verdict of judgment day is declared in the present), covenantal (Jews and Gentiles belong at one fellowship table), and is effective (sanctification cannot be subsumed under justification but neither can they be completely separated).—Michael Bird in The Saving Righteousness of God, page 4

<idle musing>
In other words, all inclusive of your entire life : )
</idle musing>

Psalm for the day

It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in human beings.
It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to trust in princes.
I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the Lord helped me.
The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done. (Psalm 118:8, 9, 13, 14, 17 TNIV)

The unexpected side effects of GMO crops

You won't see this in a Monsanto ad...

Marketed as Roundup and other trade names, glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds. About 95% of soybean and cotton crops and more than 85% of corn in the U.S. are planted to varieties genetically modified to be herbicide resistant.
“Resistant weeds have become a major problem for many farmers reliant on GE crops, and are now driving up the volume of herbicide needed each year by about 25%,” Benbrook says...

Overall pesticide use in 2011 was about 20% higher on each acre planted to a GE crop, compared to pesticide use on acres not planted to GE crops.

<idle musing>
What else should we expect? We used DDT to kill mosquitoes; we created DDT resistant mosquitoes. Why wouldn't the use of GMO crops do the same thing?

The real gem is here, though: "The presence of resistant weeds drives up herbicide use by 25% to 50%, and increases farmer-weed control costs by at least as much." Guess who pays? And guess who benefits?
</idle musing>

Thought for today

Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, you his servants;
praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes,
with the princes of his people. (Psalm 113:1-8 TNIV)

Primitive? Or common to humanity??

"One final point needs to be made concerning “sacrifice” and history. Theoreticians from Robertson Smith (1973) to René Girard (1979) have portrayed sacrifice as a product of a certain historical moment, an artifact of primitive magico-religious thought or of underdeveloped social mechanisms for mediating violence. These universal originary claims for sacrifice, however, serve Western culture as origin myths of primitive violence and the birth of inequality—yet just as religion became a “thing” in the moment of its marginalization at the hands of science and secular rationality, so too the category of sacrifice serves to exoticize safely and partition us from the social violence with which it is often associated. If the distinction between religion and politics is a modern invention, however, then the possibility of distinguishing purely “religious” violence becomes untenable, and if we recognize the culturally constituted and frequently affectively loaded nature of violence, then we must also admit that ritualized, ideologically charged killing and destruction is still very much with us. Whether they are framed as national interest, progress, ethnic purity, or sectarian atavism, our gods still demand sacrifice, and blood has not ceased flowing down their altars."—Roderick Campbell
in Sacred Killing , page 321

<idle musing>
Ouch! Too true, especially this: "Whether they are framed as national interest, progress, ethnic purity, or sectarian atavism, our gods still demand sacrifice, and blood has not ceased flowing down their altars." Good to remember as we mark 2000 dead in Afghanistan...national interest is a thirsty god! Better to serve the living God than that one.
</idle musing>

Thought for today

My heart, O God, is steadfast;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth. (Psalm 108:1-5 TNIV)

Religion?

"...attempting to demarcate sacrificial practices on the basis of a distinction between religious and secular actions or motivations is difficult, and I would argue that this approach is fundamentally, historically flawed.

"While my objection to embedding discussions of sacrifice in “the sacred” or “religion” may seem like a case of the perennial anthropological conundrum of finding an appropriate etic term to fit emic realities, the problem, in fact, runs much deeper. The issue lies in the pernicious intellectualist reification of “religion” as a unique and independent sphere of practice and (especially) belief (W. C. Smith 1962). Though scholars of ancient societies frequently note that, in the societies they study, religion was inseparable from politics, daily life, and so on, it is nonetheless difficult for post-Enlightenment Western academics to take home the point powerfully made in Asad (1993) that “religion” has come to denote little more than a perspective in the modern West. That Christianity went from “the faith” to “a faith” and then to “a religion” does not merely reflect the historical development of a concept but rather marks seismic shifts in relations of truth, power, being, and world. Though the contributions to this volume have largely steered clear of direct discussion of “religion,” it nonetheless accompanies the concept of “sacrifice” like a shadow and has problematically entangled writing on the archaeology of religion in general with its conceptual framework. Practices of ritual killing and offering were (as are all practices) embedded in intertwined ways of knowing and being in the world. In other words, “religion” (to the extent that this is even a locally meaningful category) is neither thought of nor practiced as a separate compartment of social life in most times and places. It is not just (or even mainly) about beliefs, and the same is true for putatively “religious” practices such as “sacrifice"."—Roderick Campbell in Sacred Killing , pages 306-307

<idle musing>
The heart of it is here: "In other words, “religion” (to the extent that this is even a locally meaningful category) is neither thought of nor practiced as a separate compartment of social life in most times and places. It is not just (or even mainly) about beliefs..."

The secular/sacred distinction doesn't exist in reality; your whole life is lived either for God or for self—all of it, all the time...
</idle musing>

Alien thoughts

"As diverse as the various local or regional settings of ritual killing might have been, the intricate relationship between killing and order is a particular feature of the world view in ancient Near Eastern communities. Killing, rather than being considered a complete annihilation, served either transformative, reordering, or reintegrative purposes when occurring in a ritually controlled environment, a concept alien to Western thought."—Beate Pongratz-Leisten in Sacred Killing , page 292

<idle musing>
It is hard for us in the Western world to get our minds around ritualized killing. We can handle it in the name of science, though...
</idle musing>

Thought for today

So men, in their sins, treat the realities of the spiritual world as if they were not real, but follow the most empty phantoms of this world, as if they were stern realities.
They also act as if self were of supreme importance, and everything else of relatively no importance. Suppose you were to see a man acting this out in common life. He goes round, day after day, assuming that he is the Supreme God, and practically insisting that everybody ought to have a supreme regard to his rights, and comparatively little or no regard for other people's rights. Now, if you were to see a man saying this and acting it out, would you not account him either a blasphemer or insane?—Charles Finney

Sacrifice

"In the ancient Near East in general, the sacrifice as an offering to otherworldly beings is always part of a complex ritual as a communicative action that also includes greeting, kissing, and clothing the deity, exorcistic rites, and liturgical and performative procedures. It is usually performed in a sacralized space that serves cultic practice dedicated either to the gods or to the ancestors. Rituals such as these must be distinguished from other forms of ritual killing, which pertain to eliminatory rituals designed to dispel evil and generally occur outside the temple."—Beate Pongratz-Leisten in Sacred Killing , page 291

<idle musing>
So, she makes a distinction between "sacrifice" and scapegoat or appeasement offerings. How valid is that distinction, I wonder...
</idle musing>

Thought for today

In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
So he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
they eagerly turned to him again.
They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return. (Psalm 78:32-39 TNIV)

Ritual or religious?

"I define rituals as acts that have a social meaning and are designed to communicate with an audience. Such acts are not necessarily related to the supernatural and thus are not necessarily part of religion (for example, Kyriakidis 2007); however, based on accounts provided by the ethnographic record, formal and repeated actions that result in the death of humans and modification of their remains are almost always tied in some way to beliefs in a supernatural world (Ucko 1969: 264ff.). "—Mary Voight in Sacred Killing , page 264

<idle musing>
A very good distinction. Not every ritual act is necessarily a "religious" act...
</idle musing>

Intersection or union?

"In our view ritual and sacrifice are concepts that intersect rather than interbed. Ritual implies repetition, the routinized sequence of actions, patterns that may or may not intersect with concepts of the sacred. The daily setting out of pens and pencils on your desk may be a “ritual”; whether that sequence is determined by ideas about the ineffable is a separate question. The point is that the actions are done again and again, so they may leave certain types of archaeological traces. Structuralists would suggest that these routines/rituals are expressions of core cultural values/issues (usually of a dualistic nature: male/female, us/them, and so on); thus, comparing the organization of these rituals may expose these deeper cultural skeletons. Here we enter the realm of sacrifice and its dual aspects of giving up and giving to, events that may be ritualized by repetitive sequence or events that may happen only once but, in either case, events that are infused with a deeper meaning in relationship to the sacred."—Hesse, Wapnish & Greer in Sacred Killing, page 230

<idle musing>
Our life is full of rituals—big ones, small ones, important ones, trivial ones. They are what give our lives order. As a Christian, our goal should be to live out our lives as a sacrifice—and, as they say here, that isn't necessarily the same thing!
</idle musing>

The Cosmology of sacrifice

"One thing is clear. It is being dead, rather than being killed, that seems to be uppermost in the disposition and meaning of these particular burials. Not only is there no evidence of public display, or even knowledge, of the enactment of sacrifice, but it seems possible that it was indeed carefully hidden, at least at Ur, where the wounds to the head were masked by helmet and headdress and turned to the floor of the tomb. Power may or may not be a consideration, and those sacrificed may or may not be retainers. But that sacrifice is a route to, or expression of, power is a question of function, not meaning. Systems of power can only be constructed on understandings of how the world works, and understandings of how the world works are based in notions of cosmology: where humans fit in a larger scheme that involves a host of supernatural beings, including the dead."—Ann M. Porter in Sacred Killing , page 211

-<idle musing>
I'm still trying to wrap my head around what she is saying here—but it seems pretty profound.
</idle musing>

Once they are dead...

"[it is] clear in all the materials relating to death and the afterlife here, that the dead have continued roles to play long after their demise. The dead establish the position of the living in time and space and their consequent interactions with others, human and otherwise. The dead have otherworldly status, even if they are not quite divine. Certain of them, often ancestors, act as intermediaries between all forms of being. In this framework, it may be the body, therefore, that is of central concern, and so how the body is treated and then disposed of after death is as important as, if not more so than, the moment of death itself.")—Ann M. Porter in Sacred Killing , page 194

<idle musing>
Interesting thought. I have always thought of the moment of killing as being the most important moment in sacrificial systems—and in many it is—but here (Ur) is a case where the way the bodies are handled after death is more important...food for thought. Now I'll have to look at the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament with different eyes and see if it is true there as well at times. I suspect it might be...
</idle musing>

Thought for today

Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when people succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes. 
Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
  For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.—Psalm 37:7-9 TNIV

<idle musing>
This set of verses jumped out at me this morning. The whole Psalm is great, but these verses were for me today.
</idle musing>

Why sacrifice works...

"Meaning inheres in why provisions, feasts, and gifts are considered appropriate, in what they are thought to accomplish, in what relationships they establish. Similarly with sacrifice, itself both function and meaning. Sacrifice cements alliances, creates passageways between this world and the next, and is a political tool, but its meaning ultimately lies elsewhere. It is why sacrifice is understood to be the proper way to do these things that is the ultimate object of inquiry."—Ann M. Porter in Sacred Killing , page 193 

<idle musing>
And we don't really know why, do we? "It just works" seems to be the default answer. Is there something inherent in humanity that thinks we need to offer something up? The Christian would answer yes and point to the cross.
</idle musing>

Salvation from what?

"Salvation, to be real and available, must be salvation from sin. Everything else fails. Any system of religion which does not break the power of sin, is a lie. If it does not expel selfishness and lust, and if it does not beget love to God and man, joy, peace, and all the fruits [sic] of the Spirit, it is false and worthless. Any system that fails in this vital respect is a lie—can be of no use—is no better than a curse."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
How does your religion stack up on that basis? Is your salvation a deliverance from sin? Or is it "bed frame" salvation—great at the beginning as forgiveness (headboard) and a great at the end with the promise of heaven (footboard), but it sags in the middle?
</idle musing>

The leaves they are a turning

This last week, the leaves started to turn down by the lake. I guess that means fall is coming...so, it's time to plant a garden :) And that's what I did.

Renee had the kids pull the peas that were done. Then I planted spinach, chard, kale, and beets on Tuesday in a cold frame, and a salad mix on Thursday inside a hoop house. Because the nights are getting colder, Joel and I put the tops on the two hoop houses on Friday night. They are predicting 33 degrees on Monday and Tuesday, so the ends will have to go on soon, too. I guess that means we will have to build doors, doesn't it? It doesn't do much good to have a hoop house if you can't access the produce...

On a related note, I picked a patty pan squash last Monday. I planted them on July first and wasn't sure if we would get any. It was a bit small, but too cute not to pick. Debbie said we should just let it sit on the table as decor :) I ate it the next day; it was sweet and tender. I hope we get more before they give up for the year.

Why sacrifice?

"...sacrifice is effected to permeate the borders between the worlds of human and divine, natural and supernatural. Regardless of its immediate purpose, sacrifice is ultimately transformational. Sacrifice may have been a necessary step of display in the ritual of the “royal” funeral to gain community legitimization for inherited power. The display was not only for the living audience, but also the audience of the gods whose sanction was a necessary part of community acceptance of the social order and succession"—Jill A. Weber in Sacred Killing , page 162

<idle musing>
She is talking about the sacrificial killings at the Royal Cemetery of Ur. The king was buried with a lot of his retainers in a complex layout that imitated his everyday floor plan—guards and all.

Not a whole lot has changed in the last 4,000 years, has it? We still try to get to the divine by sacrifice—we call it something else, like self-denial, or the like. But, the bottom line is we are still trying to earn salvation! It won't happen. Now how, no way. We can never earn it. It is a free gift. Accept it, live in it, and rejoice in it.
</idle musing>

Taking the short-term view

You have gone on as if the motives to sin were all-persuasive, and as if sin's promises of good were more reliable than God's. When God spread out before you the glories of heaven, made all attractive and delightful in the beauties of holiness, you coolly replied-Earth is far better! Give me earth while I can have it, and heaven only when I can have earth no longer!—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
He's got humanity pegged, doesn't he? Take the short-term view and ignore the long-term cost. We aren't good at looking at the consequences of our actions and decisions; we need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit!
</idle musing>

The life force is what counts...

"Ethnographic and historic examples such as the private farms, temples and public structures in Romano-British England where foundation deposits of animals and infants have been found suggest the release of a life force, anima, or last living breath is important to have value as a sacrifice, rather than the deposit of an already lifeless body (Green 2001). In order to create reciprocal relationships with deities or ancestors, consecrate spaces, or bring about apotropaic effects, the release of the life force or living blood spilled is usually necessary in rituals where human beings or animals are the “gift” or supernatural intermediary."—Sharon Moses in Sacred Killing , page 72

<idle musing>
There is a sermon in there somewhwere...
This book is fascinating. If you are interested in the latest theories about sacrifice, this is "must-have" book.
</idle musing>

And the answer is...

The whole question is, will you please God, or please yourself? Will you give your heart to Him, or give it to your own selfish enjoyment? So long as you give your heart to selfish pleasure and withhold it from God, it will be perfectly natural for you to sin. This is precisely the reason why it is so natural for sinners to sin. It is because the will, the heart, is set upon it, and all they have to do is to carry out this ruling propensity and purpose.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
The whole reason we don't really believe it is possible to live without sin—we don't want to. Sad, isn't it?
</idle musing>

A different point of view

"Sacrificial victims who were selected not from captive groups or slaves but from within the community, were often regarded as inhabiting roles of honor; this is a crucial concept we must embrace in order to move forward with examining human sacrifice. Too often we correlate marriage with happiness and celebration and sacrifice with sorrow and loss, when in actuality sacrifice was a time of celebration as well in the cultures that practiced it."—Sharon Moses in Sacred Killing, page 71

<idle musing>
Certainly a different point of view from our narcissistic society, isn't it? Probably closer to the biblical one, too...
</idle musing>

Miscellany

I haven't been real good about updating this blog since we moved. There are multiple reasons for that: We are living in a small cabin with one bedroom; the computer has to sit in a corner of the living room that isn't terribly convenient, otherwise I can't get the wireless to work. So, when it does work, I generally try to do as much Eisenbrauns work as I can. That doesn't leave much time for blogging. Second, I've been busy with the cabins and with building a garden at Joel and Renee's. Third, the spare time I have is used for hiking and biking.

Speaking of gardens, we are in the process of putting up two hoop houses. I'm terrible about pictures—as you well know!—but I'll try to get some. We filled in the boxes with a pickup load of aged horse manure. I planted some green beans, peas, and carrots right away. The weather was warm enough that they sprouted almost immediately. Hopefully we'll get some beans before the weather turns cold. We should; I've got row cover and the hoop houses to keep them warm.

And, speaking of hiking and biking, we've done a good bit of that the last few days. On Friday, after taking care of the cabins, we went hiking in the afternoon at Temperance River State Park and then continued on for a mile or two on the Superior Hiking Trail. One of my bucket goals has been to hike the entire trail (not all at once!). We got a bit closer to that on Friday and Saturday.

On Saturday, again, after taking care of the cabins, we went hiking. This time we went to Magney State Park and hiked to the kettle. From there we took the Superior Hiking Trail west. At the beginning of the trail was a bear trap; Debbie wasn't too sure she wanted to hike the trail with a bear trap there. I told her it wasn't baited; if a trap is baited, it smells very strongly of licorice. This one didn't have even a hint of it. Nevertheless, she was a bit skittish. We walked for a good bit, then turned around and went to the Kadunce River, which is a spur train on the Lake Superior Hiking Trail. Noticing a pattern? Because we couldn't start until late afternoon, it was getting dark, so we didn't go very far. It will be a regular on our list, though.

On Sunday, we didn't do any hiking, although I rode my bike to Lutsen and back—about 40 miles. Day of rest and all, you know :)

Today, Monday, I got done cleaning the cabins and Debbie asked me if I wanted to ride the Gitchee-Gami bike trail. It will be a bike trail eventually connecting Two Harbors to Grand Marais. Right now, there is a section about 1/2 hour from us that we have always wanted to do when we would visit Joel and Renee. I said, sure. So, I loaded both bikes into the Prius and off we went.

It was a blast! We only rode about 20 miles, round trip; that's all that is done in this area right now. Ironically, we rode right through the Temperance River State Park that we had been hiking in on Friday. We stopped on the bridge—you can never see a waterfall too often or too long!—before continuing on. We both decided this would be on our list of regular occurrences, as well.

So, that's why I haven't been posting as much as usual. Oh, and the fact that the books I've been reading aren't electronic so I can't cut and paste...besides the fact that the ones I've read lately haven't lent themselves to excerpts very well.

Truly great

"Enduring great companies don't exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders. Indeed, in a truly great company, profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life."— Good to Great, page 194

<idle musing>
Indeed! In the Theory of Constraints, a continuous improvement philosophy laid out in The Goal, there are necessary conditions and sufficient conditions. Necessary conditions are not the end in themselves, but contribute to the goal; without them, you can't get done what you want, but they are simply supporting the actual goal. That is exactly what he is saying here. Unfortunately, for most companies, it seems that making the almighty dollar is their goal and not just a necessary condition.
</idle musing>

Thought for today

“...what is being a Christian? Giving your heart to God. And what is giving your heart to God? Devoting your voluntary powers to Him; ceasing to live for yourself and living for God".—Charles Finney

<idle musing>:
Nice little nutshell description of Christianity, isn't it? Everything else is extras—not infrequently distracting extras, at that!
</idle musing>:

Holy or holey?

“The hole in our holiness is that we don't really care much about it. Passionate exhortation to pursue gospel-driven holiness is barely heard in most of our churches. It's not that we don't talk about sin or encourage decent behavior. Too many sermons are basically self-help seminars on becoming a better you. That's moralism, and its not helpful. Any gospel that says only why you must do and never announces what Christ has done is no gospel at all.”—Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness, pages 11-12

<idle musing>
Just saw this book in an e-mail and managed to read a few preview pages. This little snippet jumped out at me, though. Sadly, he's right; most of what passes for "holiness preaching" is little more than moralistic self-improvement. I have become firmly convinced that the practical theology of most american christians is just Pelagianism.

We really think we can do it, don't we?!
</idle musing>

Interesting comparison

God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words. (1 Corinthians 1:17 The Message)

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:17, 18 TNIV)

<idle musing>
Interesting
</idle musing>

On the beach

That's the title of a 1960s dystopian novel about the end of the world because of nuclear holocaust—also made into a movie. But, that's not what I'm talking about here. On Saturday night, Joel, Renee, the kids, Nancy (Joel's mother, who is visiting for a week), Debbie, and I went to the beach by Durfree Creek (about 5 miles from Grand Marais). We planned on having a fire, popping some popcorn, and then heading home once it got dark.

When we got there, Joel was talking to some one and they mentioned that Saturday night was a predicted meteor shower, the Perseids. Joel and family decided it would be fun to spend the night under the (falling) stars. So, Joel and Nancy went back to town to get sleeping bags, etc. Debbie and I decided we would only stick around until about 3:00 AM.

Once it got dark, the kids wanted to go to bed—after all, what can be more fun than sleeping under the stars? Debbie and I volunteered to wake everyone up once the show started.

There were some nice meteors here and there, about one every 5-15 minutes. That went on for a while with some very spectacular ones, but not the heavy shower that was predicted. Around midnight, I went back to town to get sleeping bags for Debbie and me. The beach was getting cold!

I think both Debbie and I dozed here and there—at least she nudged me for snoring too loudly and I heard her snoring, too :) When 3:30 AM rolled around, we decided it was time to call it a night and go home. As we were walking to the car, a bright meteor flashed across the sky as if to say good-bye to us. We drove home and crashed.

Sunday afternoon, I read that the shower started in earnest right after we called it a night...of course!

Everything else is first

The farmer pleads, "I can't be religious; I can't serve God--I must sow my wheat." Well, sow your wheat but do it for the Lord. O but you have so much to do! Then do it all for the Lord. Another can't be religious for he must get his lesson. Well, get your lesson, but get it for the Lord, and this will be religious. The man who should neglect to sow his wheat or neglect to get his lessons because he wants to be religious, is crazy. He perverts the plainest things in the worst way. If you are to be religious, you must be industrious. The farmer must sow his wheat, and the student must get his lesson. An idle man can no more be religious than the devil can be. This notion that men can't be religious, because they have some business to do, is the merest nonsense. It utterly overlooks the great truth that God never forbids our doing the appropriate business of life, but only requires that we shall do all for Himself.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Why does everything seem so much more important than the things of God? Actually, everything is to be a "thing of God" if our focus is on God. It's too easy...we are the ones who make it difficult.
</idle musing>

Rules and regulations

I went to the friends of the library sale here in Grand Marais last Friday. I like going to look; I rarely buy much anymore—especially now, with very limited space! But, I did find a book on business that I have been meaning to read for a few years now: Good to Great.

The book is over ten years old and some of the companies highlighted are in serious trouble, but the concepts he talks about are timeless. In fact, the reason those companies are in trouble is because the strayed from the things that made them great.

Anyway, thought I would share this little tidbit with you:

“Most companies build their bureaucratic rules to manage the small percentage of wrong people on the bus, which in turn drives away the right people on the bus, which then increases the percentage of wrong people on the bus, which increases the need for more bureaucracy to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which then further drives the right people away, and so forth.”—Good to Great, page 121

<idle musing>
Yep. I've seen it many times over the years and in several companies. It's endemic to our fear of letting misfits go; we try to manage them or at least minimize their negative impact. The result is we lose or at least dishearten the rest of our people.

I've done it myself. I feel sorry for a person or think I can transform them, so I don't let them go. The end result is almost always misery for them, me, and their co-workers. There's a HarperCollins book (now available from Zondervan, too) about that very thing. It's called Necessary Endings. I think I might have excerpted from it in the past. If not, I will be in the future :)
</idle musing>

Psalms and tense

Above (4.2.1. ), I argued that temporal succession is semantically effected by boundedness but is the pragmatically default interpretation of narrative discourse. What I propose here is that the association of this pragmatic-based temporally successive meaning with the narrative wayyiqtol allows the poets of Psalms to draw on the form to overtly mark temporal succession within a context dominated by static (temporally speaking), parallelistic poetry. The contrast between Hebrew narrative and poetry can be well appreciated in light of Jackobson’s famous definition of poetic function as transforming sequence into equivalency (1960: 358): “equivalence is promoted to the constitutive device of the sequence.” In other words, the relationship between predicates in successive lines (i.e., parallel stichs) in poetry is one of equivalency—that is, they refer to the self-same event—in contrast to prose narrative, in which successive predicates refer to successive events. Thus, to force a sequential reading of events in poetry, the wayyiqtol form is employed with its implicature meaning of succession from the prose narrative.—John Cook in Time and the Biblical Hebrew Verb(forthcoming from Eisenbrauns)

The needy

And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. —Acts 4:33b-34a TNIV

<idle musing>
Perhaps that is why we have needy persons among us? We might not like the implications, but that seems to be what the text is saying...Lord, pour out your grace upon us so that there might be no needy persons among us!
<idle musing>

and then you die

"Did you ever expect to be saved from sin in this world? No; but you expect to be saved at death. Inasmuch as He has been quite unsuccessful in His efforts to sanctify your soul during your life, you think He will send death on in season to help the work through! Can you believe this? While Christians disown the glorious doctrine of sanctification by faith in Christ, present, and according to each man's faith so done to him, it cannot be expected that they will teach sinners with intelligible clearness how to look to Christ in simple faith for pardon. Knowing so little of the power of faith in their own experience, how can they teach others effectively, or even truthfully? Thus blind leading blind, it is no wonder that both are found together where the Bible proverb represents both the leaders and the led as terminating their mutual relations."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
I have seen this over and over again. Sin 'til you die and then everything will be fine. After all, Jesus died so I don't have to die to myself—what's that you say? Scripture says we're supposed to die to self? Oh, that's just hyperbole. What? Be holy as I am holy? That's just a figure of speech.

NO!

Remember, we are hidden with Christ in God. We are seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We are partakers of the divine nature. But, it is all the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. It is not our righteousness or strength or deeds or...But, it is real and now! Praise God! That is the gospel: deliverance from sin—sin itself, not just the penalty. </idle musing>

Four weeks today

Hard to believe, but it has been four weeks already since we moved here. I think we are getting our heads together and moved in. Most of my books are still in boxes, but just about everything else has a home.

The days are falling into a bit of a rhythm. In the morning, I work via wireless for Eisenbrauns for about an hour or two. Then I clean cabins and do other miscellaneous stuff around Sawtooth Cabins. Then, I usually have to head over to Joel and Renee's to do some more Eisenbrauns work. The wireless I have access to at the cabin's slows down horrendously from about 10-5 each day—although this week, I was able to use it through out most days. My "office" there is a lawn chair outside their walk-out basement. Such a hard life I lead!

After that, I usually go over to the garden area. I am putting in three 16 x 3 beds. Because the area is slightly sloped, I terraced two the of the beds into eight foot each. I used 2x12 inch pine, untreated. Tomorrow, Joel and I will get a pick-up load of aged horse manure for them. Then we plant.

Joel and Renee already had six 4 x 4 boxes. The plan is to put up two hoop houses this fall: one over the two terraced 16 foot beds and one over the other 16 foot bed and 3 of the 4x4 squares. The middle three 4x4 squares are perfect for the cold frames that I brought from Indiana. So, I will end up with 2.5 times the area under cover that I had in Indiana. But, I also have a month shorter growing season and 6 more mouths I'm aiming to feed...I'm hoping to get carrots, peas, beans, and possibly cucumbers yet this year. It will be tight with the cukes, but it might happen. We'll also grow broccoli, sprouting broccoli, and broccoli raab in the broccoli family. There will be Romaine lettuce, Space spinach, and various other greens as well.

I'll try to get some pictures of the beds before we put manure in them—and after...

Today's challenge

"The Lord of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.  Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another. (Zechariah 7:9, 10 HCSB)

<idle musing>
Impossible! Watch out for yourself! That's the only way to survive! But, is that really survival? I don't think so. I would rather be ripped off for loving someone than be hard and "survive."

The Christian is called to give, to die to self, to be like Christ—after all, that's what "Christian" means in Greek. I fail to see how one can embrace the current societal system and claim to be Christian. Society certainly doesn't endorse any of the values expounded in the above passage; society says watch out for number one. The Christian has a different number one, though...
</idle musing>

"Sinners must look to Christ as a remedy for all sin. To wish to make some exception, sparing some sins, but consenting to abandon others, indicates rank rebellion of heart, and can never impose on the All-seeing One. There cannot be honesty in the heart which proposes to itself to seek deliverance from sin only in part."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! Too often we tend to categorize sins as very bad, not so bad, kinda bad, etc. In God's eyes, all sin is rank rebellion and must be abandoned. No wonder we don't see deliverance from sin! We don't want it!
</idle musing>

Good thought--well maybe not good--from Habakkuk

Won't all of these take up a taunt against him,
with mockery and riddles about him?
They will say:
Woe to him who amasses what is not his-
how much longer?-
and loads himself with goods taken in pledge.
 Won't your creditors suddenly arise,
and those who disturb you wake up?
Then you will become spoil for them.
 Since you have plundered many nations,
all the peoples who remain will plunder you-
because of human bloodshed
and violence against lands, cities,
and all who live in them.
 Woe to him who dishonestly makes
wealth for his house
to place his nest on high,
to escape from the reach of disaster!
 You have planned shame for your house
by wiping out many peoples
and sinning against your own self.
 For the stones will cry out from the wall,
and the rafters will answer them
from the woodwork.
 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and founds a town with injustice!
 Is it not from the Lord of Hosts
that the peoples labor [only] to fuel the fire
and countries exhaust themselves for nothing?
 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the Lord's glory,
as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:6-14 HCSB)

<idle musing>
Not good, but true.

I'm not sure I'm liking the HCSB translation, but it definitely is different from the TNIV and NIV that I'm used to...
</idle musing>

Thought for a Monday afternoon

Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil [plans] on their beds!
At morning light they accomplishe it
because the power is in their hands.
 They covet fields and seize them;
they also take houses.
They deprive a man of his home,
a person of his inheritance.
 Therefore, the Lord says:
I am now planning a disaster
against this nation;
you cannot free your necks from it.
Then you will not walk so proudly
because it will be an evil time. (Micah 2:1-3 HCSB)

Toe jam

No, really.

I jammed my big toe about 2 weeks ago and the toe nail started to fall off. Normally, I wouldn't blog about such inane things, but the response of the grand kids was fascinating. The adults didn't want to see it or hear about it. But, the grand kids, especially Rachel, wanted to see it. Each day, she would ask if it had fallen off yet. Once it did, she wanted to know what I did with it (I threw it away).

The new nail is growing in nicely. At first, they wanted to see it, but now it is no longer of interest...there must be a lesson there somewhere

You get what you expect

"Several times within the last few years, when persons have come to me with the question, Can I anyhow be saved from my sins--actually saved, so as not to fall again into the same sins, and under the same temptations? I have said--Have you ever tried looking to Jesus? O yes. But have you expected that you should be actually saved from sin by looking to Jesus, and be filled with faith, love, and holiness? No; I did not expect that."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
A very common response, if people would be honest with themselves...We pretend to believe, but out actions betray unbelief, don't they?
</idle musing>

Thought for the day

Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord!
What will the Day of the Lord be for you?
It will be darkness and not light.
 It will be like a man who flees from a lion
only to have a bear confront him.
He goes home and rests his hand against the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
 Won't the Day of the Lord
be darkness rather than light,
even gloom without any brightness in it?
 I hate, I despise your feasts!
I can't stand the stench
of your solemn assemblies. (Amos 5:18-21 HCSB)

First ride

On Sunday, I took my first ride here in Grand Marais. It was only a short one—about an hour—but it was definitely a hilly one. After nine years is Indiana with its relatively short hills, it was a nice change. I've always liked hills, probably because I grew up in northwestern Wisconsin along a river.

I rode along Highway 7, which goes up for about 3-4 miles, fairly gradually, then goes down to the lake for about 3 miles in a fairly steep grade. Once you get to the end, you either ride back on Highway 61—quite busy on a Sunday. Or, you turn around and go back up. I chose to go back up :)

They guy in the bike shop told me that he thinks the climb on 7 is harder than riding up the Gunflint. I'm not sure I agree, but maybe this week I'll ride both of them and decide. The Gunflint Trail goes over the ridge right behind Grand Marais in a series of switchbacks. I'm not sure how high it climbs, but I think it is about 1000 feet in a few miles. The view of the lake is beautiful as you climb.

Tense and time

"I have organized my analysis in terms of the central unifying and distinguishing feature of TAM [tense, aspect, and mood] systems: time. All three domains of TAM that are associated with verbal expression in world’s languages relate language to time and time to language. However, their precise relationship to time distinguishes among the domains: tense  has to do with the location of situations in time; the various types of aspect treat the structure of situations in time; finally, mood refers to alternative situations in relationship to time."—John Cook in Time and the Biblical Hebrew Verb (forthcoming from Eisenbrauns)

<idle musing>
There is a hot debate right now about time and tense in both Hebrew and Koiné Greek. Usually the definitions are not as nice and clear as John's. I'm having a good time reading the manuscript and can't wait for the book to be published. I don't know when it will hit the streets, probably late this year.
</idle musing>

Thought for today

The word of the Lord came to me:  "Son of man, say to her: You are a land that has not been cleansed, that has not received rain in the day of indignation.  The conspiracy of her prophets within her is like a roaring lion tearing [its] prey: they devour people, seize wealth and valuables, and multiply the widows within her.  Her priests do violence to My instruction and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they do not explain the difference between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

 "Her officials within her are like wolves tearing [their] prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives in order to make profit dishonestly.  Her prophets plaster with whitewash for them by seeing false visions and lying divinations, and they say, 'This is what the Lord God says,' when the Lord has not spoken.  The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and unlawfully exploited the foreign resident. (Ezekiel 22:23-29 HCSB)

<idle musing>
Sounds like what's happening in the U.S. today...
</idle musing>

Yes, I'm still alive

Yes, I'm still alive. It has been a busy two weeks. We're adjusting and learning and balancing things. Before we moved here, I was concerned I wouldn't have enough to do. We estimated the cabins would only take about 25-30 hours a week spread out over 7 days. That left a lot of hours in my mind—especially when you consider no transit time and no lunch period.

I shared that concern with a few people. As you can imagine, knowing me, they laughed. Well, they were right! I've got too many good things to do. And, I enjoy all of them. I'm learning to listen to God on what the do and when. A good lesson.

Hopefully I'll be able to write more this weekend : )

Sunday

This is the final post on our first week in Minnesota. As with all of these, it is one week behind reality...

Sunday was a slow-moving day. We spent a good part of the day with Joel, Renee and the kids. We rearranged some stuff in storage, organized and found room for other stuff. We were moving slow, but enjoying it.

We got over to the cabins late afternoon, intending to move in right away. We saw Dave as we pulled up and began talking. He pulled up a chair and we had a good time of fellowship. Again, if I'm learning anything, it is that people trump plans.

I hadn't checked e-mail since Wednesday, so in the afternoon, I checked it for the first time. Wow! Friday around 3:00 PM, a terrific storm had gone through Warsaw/Winona Lake. There were winds over 60 MPH. One of the casualties was a tree right in front of where we had been living. It hit the neighbor's shed, knocked out the power, and blocked our old driveway. Good thing we were gone! It didn't get cleared out until Sunday afternoon. We'd still be there!

Another victim of the storm was Andy's, Eisenbrauns webmaster, house. One of the huge trees on the island where they live had fallen—right on their master bedroom! No one was hurt, thankfully! Quite the storm. But, it was all wind and little rain. That part of Indiana is about 9 inches short for the year—quite dry. The storm only dropped about ¼ of an inch.

And that brings us up to date...

Saturday

You know the drill...

Saturday AM, I helped Joel put up gutter on their house. He works as a carpenter; they also do seamless gutters. When Joel and Renee bought the house, his boss had offered to let him use the machine to put gutter on. Saturday was the day it finally happened. Later, we moved the stuff over to the cabin.

Moving in always takes more time than you expect—especially when there are grandchildren to play with! We got going later than we planned, but people take precedence over plans.

We had to have the truck back in Two Harbors (1.5 hours away) by 9:00 AM on Sunday. That meant we had to return it Saturday night, That was a long 1.5 hours. The truck was empty, so I felt every bump and pothole. I felt like jello by the time we got to Two Harbors...

Friday--arrival!

The events in this post happened one week ago...

As I said, I pulled in to Grand Marais around 10:00 AM. Debbie and the grandkids greeted me. We had a good time talking and enjoying each others presence. In the afternoon we walked over to Sawtooth Cabins to see Dave and Geneva. They greeted us with open arms, showed us the cabin we would be living in and told us to take our time getting settled in. We went back to Joel and Renee's and began to unpack the truck. Because the cabin is a small one bedroom that is fully furnished, most stuff was going to be stored in their basement.

So, as we unloaded the truck; we had to sort into 3 sections: One section for storage, one section for Joel and Renee (we gave them some stuff we didn't need any longer—families with growing kids always need more shelves!), one to take over to the cabins.

Once that was done, we had to organize the storage and make it all fit! You don't realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it and store it! We got rid of a lot before we moved, but we still have a lot! It all fit, and is accessible, if necessary. But, Joel and Renee don't have much space left in that ¼ of their basement!

By the time we got all that done, it was too late to take the stuff over to the cabin. Instead, we went over to the cabin with some little stuff and did some analysis...

Travel day

Again, the events in this post were one week ago...

We were intending to leave on Thursday at 8:00 AM EDT. Leaving then allows you to get to Chicago just after rush hour and before lunch. As Dan at work says, if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans! We still had to clean and take care of all the last minute stuff. And, more neighbors came by to say good-bye. Hands down, people are more important than plans. No exceptions. So, we praised the Lord for the additional time with people and for the changes in plans.

Last minute details always take far longer than you expect... We finally left around 3:00 PM. Just in time to hit Chicago traffic :( We debated leaving on Friday morning instead, but felt that God was telling us to leave on Thursday.

The trip to Grand Marais is about 13 hours in a car—much longer in a truck! We planned to travel separately; Debbie had the I-Pass so she could fly through the tollway. I paid at each booth. It's much easier to travel separately. We both had cell phones, so we could call each other if necessary.

We agreed that if we got too tired, we would stop and sleep. I made it to just north of Eau Claire before giving out around midnight. So, I pulled off and slept for about an hour. Debbie called me from Superior and warned about the detours from the storms there a week earlier. She was planning to keep going.

I couldn't get back to sleep, so I drove for another hour, slept for a bit, drove a bit more, slept some more. Debbie got to Grand Marais OK, just as Joel was getting up for work. He told her it was OK to go in and kiss the kids. Only Rachel woke up, but went right back to sleep. Later that morning, Rachel woke up and told Renee that she had dreamed that Neenah (that's what they call Debbie) had kissed her! When Renee told her it wasn't a dream, she was thrilled!

Meanwhile, I was driving...It was beautiful watching the sun come up over the trees. I love northern Wisconsin; every valley has a lake—sometimes its more swamp than lake! But it is fun to drive. I got to Duluth-Superior just in time for “rush hour” which just meant there were more cars than normal :)

Joel had warned us that there was a detour on 61 because of the storms, so I just took the scenic route from the start. I stopped a few times along the way at pullouts; had breakfast from the cooler at one of them. I wasn't fully believing that it was happening. I finally pulled in to Grand Marais around 10:00 AM.

Moving!

As I said yesterday, the things in this post happened exactly one week ago...

Wednesday, we loaded the truck. On Tuesday, I had gotten an e-mail notice from U-Haul that I was to pick up the truck at a different location than I had requested. My plan had been to ride my bike to the place and pick it up. It was only about a 3-4 mile ride. But the new place was about 10 miles away. Now, I love a bike ride, but this wasn't quite what I needed before loading a truck. I spent probably ½ hour on Tuesday working things out—trying to get it transferred to the closer place. In the end, the further place agreed to come and pick me up.

Marti was listening to my frustrations with U-Haul and reminded me that we had trouble with U-Haul coming down to Indiana. I had reserved a truck for Saturday; had a crew of helpers lined up; everything was set. Except that U-Haul had rented out all their trucks. No where in the entire Minneapolis-St. Paul area had a truck. I couldn't get a truck until Monday morning—and then I had to drive to Stillwater to get it! Stillwater is on the northeast side of the Metro area; we lived on the southwest side. And, I was supposed to start at Eisenbrauns on that Monday!

She said it would be poetic justice if we had to stay an extra few days in Indiana because of U-Haul to make up for the few days we lost moving there. It didn't work out that way, though. I got picked up and collected the truck without a problem. Jim Eisenbraun had offered to assist me in loading the truck, so we had a good time together loading and talking.

Later in the afternoon, Jim and Shannon came over. They brought a meal to share and we had some bittersweet fellowship together. Jim and I finished putting the odds and ends on the truck.

While Jim and Shannon were there, Kathleen, one of our neighbors, came over; she and Debbie had a good time of fellowship. Later, after Jim and Shannon left, we went over to Kathleen's house and had some more time. It was getting late, and we still had to clean the place, so we left. As we were starting to clean, another neighbor (who doesn't know the Lord) came out. She and Debbie talked for a long time about Jesus. It was an answer to prayer. They are new to the neighborhood and we had been praying for a chance to share Jesus with them.

By then, it was too late to clean, so we went to bed...

Last day

The last week has been a blur. I finally had a chance yesterday to put down in writing what has been happening; the next few days the posts will be exactly one week after the events in them occurred...

Last Tuesday was my last day on premises working for Eisenbrauns. It was a day of mixed emotions. I am sad to be leaving Warsaw/Winona Lake after nearly nine years. But, I am excited about what God is going to do in Grand Marais, MN. The day was a flurry of last minute things that needed to get done—or at least handed over to someone else to do.

At noon, we had a lunch in the park as a company. Debbie was invited and Merna (Jim's wife—a delightful person!) was there, as well. Bev sat down beside me and said that this was not a happy day, but a sad one. I had to agree that it was sad, but it was happy as well. I have enjoyed working with all the people at Eisenbrauns over the years; they are a great bunch of people. It's more than a work place; it's almost family. People carry each other's burdens and are concerned for each other.

After lunch, it was more rush and try to get stuff done. But, lest you think it was all about stuff, it was a time of saying good-bye to people on a one-on-one basis. Some of us did a better job than others of holding in the tears. I wasn't afraid to shed tears; they are healthy.

The sadness was somewhat mitigated by the fact that I will continue to work for Eisenbrauns on a part-time, remote access basis for at least a while. My primary responsibilities will be e-mail marketing and distribution relations. But, with a new system going live today and a new web site sometime soon, there are other responsibilities as well. We're feeling our way along on how this will work.

Look away

"This looking to Jesus implies that we look away from ourselves. There is to be no mixing up of quack medicines along with the great remedy. Such a course is always sure to fail. Thousands fail in just this way, forever trying to be healed partly by their own stupid, self-willed works, as well as partly by Jesus Christ. There must be no looking to man or to any of man's doings or man's help. All dependence must be on Christ alone. As this is true in reference to pardon, so is it also in reference to sanctification. This is done by faith in Christ. It is only through and by faith that you get that divine influence which sanctifies the soul—the Spirit of God."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! There is no remedy for sin outside of Jesus; we can't do it. And, when I say remedy for sin, I mean remedy for sinning—cut it off at the root! Let Christ excise it as you live dead to self and alive in him. In Him is the key to all life, resting and abiding.
</idle musing>

Want a good cry?

This is good. Jim, my boss, forwarded it to me; I think it is on Scot McKnight's Weekly Meanderings. A short excerpt, but do yourself a favor and read the whole thing!

“Alan Strand called the other day.” Every time I’ve seen Alan Strand, he’s wearing denim coveralls, a worn-through cap.

“He was trying to figure out whether to spend the time he’s got left restoring another tractor, buying a new engine for it — or if he should try to track down his daughter. He hasn’t heard from her in ten years. Doesn’t even know where she is.”

Now this seems pretty obvious to me.

“And he decided?”

“The tractor.”

I shake my head, only a bit stunned. The words dribble out. “He intentionally considered the options, voiced them to you… and then decided the tractor?”

“Yep. He knew how to do the tractor. Little risk. The daughter, she was all risk. And you know….”

I can’t stop shaking my head. None of this makes any sense.

And yet it does.

<idle musing>
Sadly, it does...
</idle musing>

Inventory!

We did a physical inventory today at Eisenbrauns. It took us about 7 hours; we have too many books! You need to buy more from us so there aren't as many to count next time :)

thought for today

"Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?...“Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!"—Ezekiel 18:23, 30-32 TNIV

<idle musing>
Encouraging words. The door is open to us; God offers us a new heart and a new spirit. Why would anyone turn him down? I know, in a single word: "Pride!"
</idle musing>

Thought for today

But some of his subjects refuse to sympathize with this movement. They say, "Charity begins at home," and they are for taking care of themselves in the first place; in short, they are thoroughly selfish. It is easy to see what this would be in a human government. The man who does this becomes the common enemy of the government and of all its subjects. This is sin. This illustrates precisely the case of the sinner. Sin is selfishness, It sets up a selfish end, and to gain it uses selfish means; so that in respect to both its end and its means, it is precisely opposed to God and to all the ends of general happiness which he seeks to secure. It denies God's rights; discards God's interests. Each sinner maintains that his own will shall be the law. The interest he sets himself to secure is entirely opposed to that proposed by God in His government.—Charles Finney

Thought for the day

“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty."—Malachi 3:5 TNIV

<idle musing>
Hmmm...God doesn't seem to make a distinction between sins, does he? We tend to rank them in order of nastiness, but to God treating the poor with contempt is just as evil as sorcery. And, fear of the LORD appears to be linked to behavior—whodda thunk!
</idle musing>

New reading technology

gotta love those Romans and their new technologies:

HT: Jim West

Skunks!

The neighborhood has been entranced lately by about 6 baby skunks. The mother was apparently killed and left 6 babies behind. I didn't realize they could spray at such a young age, but some people found out the hard way! It ends up they can spray at 8 days old. Yikes!

I'm not sure what's going to happen to them, but for right now, they sure are cute! Just don't get too close...

I must admit to being glad we will be moved by the time they get to adulthood. Isn't that a bit selfish on my part? No one wants to kill them because they are so cute. And the animal control people don't want anything to do with them, either.

What stands in the way?

It is not the greatness of your sins, but your pride of heart that forbids your salvation. It is not anything in your past life, but it is your present state of mind that makes your salvation impossible. Think of this.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Finney had the ability to demolish people's excuses, didn't he? Reading him can be almost maddening at times—he steals your excuses and leaves you naked before God. Of course, that is a very good place to be!
</idle musing>

Mercy, not justice

None can properly be said to trust in the mercy of God unless they have committed crimes, and are conscious of this fact. justice protects the innocent, and they may safely appeal to it for defence or redress. But for the guilty nothing remains but to trust in mercy. Trusting in mercy always implies a deep, heartfelt conviction of personal guilt.—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
And without that, one can't be saved...
</idle musing>

Thought for today

"He never can save us by merely taking us away to some place called heaven--as if change of place would change the voluntary heart. There can, therefore, be no possible way to be saved but by simple faith."—Charles Finney

<idle musing>
Ain't it the truth. Furthermore, why would someone who doesn't want to spend time with God now want to go to heaven? They would be miserable—not that hell is a decent alternative! But, the whole purpose of salvation/justification/sanctification is to be "partakers of the divine nature" as 2 Peter puts it...
</idle musing>

What's going on?

Wow. About 2 weeks left...so much to do. Here's a quick summary of what's been going on.

Over Memorial Day weekend, I picked strawberries—both Saturday and Monday. Lots of strawberries—lots and lots of strawberries. We froze them whole this year. On Saturday, I opened the first bag and it smelled just like fresh strawberries; they tasted great, too. We'll be enjoying those for the next 12 months.

We've been going through stuff and getting rid of some things. It's so easy to accumulate stuff. We got rid of lots before we moved out of the house when we sold it, but it seems like we still have too much. As we repack it for the longer trip, we're taking a hard look and making some serious decisions.

On the weekends, we've been taking a bike ride, trying to see some of the spots for the last time. This weekend, I ended up going further than I intended because I wanted to see this or that hill or woods "one last time." It was hot! 91ºF hot. But, it was a good ride; on the long rides, I tend to get into a pace and let my mind meditate on the Lord. And right now there are lots of things to bring before him!

On the work side of things, we are making a transition to a new back-end computer system (I've mentioned that before). It is set to go live on July 2. But, the web side of things is bogged down. That's a nightmare that has been going on for over a year. I won't even go in to it...

The responses of people to my leaving Eisenbrauns have been interesting. Not a few people think I am retiring. I find that humorous. As it sits right now, I will be assisting at Sawtooth Cabins, doing a freelance proofing job with some Hebrew in it, and—in breaking news—working remotely for Eisenbrauns in some fashion that is being determined as we go along.

I don't think I am retiring :)

Hopefully, I will find time to post some more book excerpts, but I haven't had much time to read lately. I wonder why!

In Christ

“The importance of these elements [received by faith, joined to Christ in death and resurrection, and being 'in Christ'] is that together they demonstrate that justification is not a mere declaration of pardon that could be bestowed without any real change taking place in the sinner. Although the term refers to a change of status from sinner to righteous, justification is inextricably linked to the change in character that comes about through being united with Christ.”—New Testament Theology, page 440

<idle musing>
Indeed! Justification without transformation is an impossibility...If God gets you, he will transform you. If you aren't transformed, I doubt you ever really submitted your will to his. Strong statement, I know, but it is true!
</idle musing>

An angry God?

“Paul's gospel is the announcement of what God has done to save humanity from its plight. The caricature that Paul portrays an act of mediation by Christ between sinners and a hostile God who needs to be persuaded to forgive them is a travesty of his teaching. The same should be said of portrayals of a God whose wrath and love are in tension with each other. This is proved by the persistent stress on the love, grace and mercy of God toward sinners.”—New Testament Theology, page 435

<idle musing>
Amen! Good preaching! I couldn't have said it better myself!
</idle musing>

Jesus as Lord

“On the whole, Paul used the term Lord for God the Father when he is writing in a context influenced by the Old Testament, and especially in quotations, but he uses it for Jesus the rest of the time. Here also he can take it from Old Testament texts and assume that the reference is to Jesus rather than to God the Father without attempting to justify his interpretation.”—New Testament Theology, page 427, footnote

<idle musing>
The whole argument about when Jesus was recognized as God has always left me baffled; I stand firmly in the Hurtado camp that says "from the beginning of the church." This is but one more reason.
</idle musing>

Evil in the world

“All interpreters [of Romans] must recognize that the universe is fallen and the power of evil is active, and that we cannot explain its origin in a universe created by a sovereign God; that God has plans and can work to bring them to completion; that he treats people as persons and not as things; that there is such an activity as prayer to which God makes genuine responses; that he wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth; and that he certainly works in human lives by the Spirit.”—New Testament Theology, page 334

<idle musing>
All of which is true. Jesus said that in the world we would have tribulation—but that he had overcome the world. As I wind down my time at Eisenbrauns and try to get everything done—an impossible task—I am reminded of that. It is trivial stuff that doesn't matter in the eternal scheme of things—except for the way I respond to it. Do I respond to the setbacks on the web site with anger and frustration? Or, do I respond with thanks to God? "Count it all joy, my brethren..."
</idle musing>

The offer of salvation

'...the message that is passed on does not simply say, 'Everything is now all right, because God has reconciled the world to himself'; rather it says, 'We urge you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God'. Sinful humanity is thus called to respond to God's initiative, and it is evident that without the answering response no reconciliation can take place. The offer must be accepted; peaceful relationships must be initiated. The clear implication is that if people do not respond to the gospel, they continue to live in alienation from God.”—New Testament Theology, page 295

<idle musing>
Everything is not alright apart from Christ. But, we have hope in Christ, and Christ alone; he makes all things new and reconciles us to himself.
</idle musing>

Cosmogony and existence

"Why did Second Isaiah wish to make cosmogony and exodus parallel? For the same reason as the tradition that he inherited did: to give cosmic breadth to the historical event. As an incursion into the domain of Pharaoh the king of Egypt the exodus had worldwide effects! Those effects were underscored by associating the victory over Pharaoh with the primordial victory that brought the world into being. Both acts resulted in the emergence of a new people. From Second Isaiah's rhetorical perspective, Israel in Babylon found itself in a position like that of the Hebrews in Egypt. Away from its rightful, divinely given land, the people had ceased in any true sense to be Yahweh's people. To become fully alive again, they needed to embark on a new exodus-land taking, a new cosmogony."—Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East and in the Bible, pages 170-171

<idle musing>
Fascinating concept. Sort of like the born-again symbolism that Jesus uses in John 3...
</idle musing>