Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

It's been a rough year here in my mile high retreat, and now that my wife and I are both disabled we know it's not going to get easier. Our best hope is our faith in Christ that He will guide us as our days grow grayer, and our wonderful church family. But Colorado... I always knew that Colorado was weird, in fact back in the 70's we used to joke that if the US were a bowl of granola the flakes would get blocked by the mountains and settle in Boulder. It's very pretty here when it's not on fire, but it's also evil. 

Colorado just elected an openly gay Governor who is for gay rights, against gun rights, precedes the term 'religious freedom' with the words "so called", believes in the fairy tale of 100% renewable energy, and changed his name from Schultz to Polis not long after attacking a woman to protect his political career. I'm not blaming the problems of Colorado on Governor Elect Polis, nor am I saying (yet) that he is going to compound them. What I am saying is that he is an example of how strange Colorado has become. The political climate of Colorado is almost like God is giving us proof that using marijuana causes brain damage. Colorado is proof of the needs for an electoral college. When the people of Denver and Boulder get a crazy idea in their heads the rest of the state is burdened with their crazy idea because we can't vote them down. Our latest burden of crazy; Colorado just added the option of "Undecided" as a gender on drivers licenses

Texas prosecutors raid Catholic Archdiocese for 'secret archives'

Police raided the office of Cardinal DiNardo, presidents United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, for evidence of sexual abuse cover-up

A Roman Catholic Vatican official said that the death Penalty is "never justified". They must have missed that whole Genesis 9:6,  Exodus 21:12, Numbers 35:16-17, Numbers 35:30, Acts 25:9-11, 1 Peter 2:13 thing

Ten Commandment Tuesday - Stealing is More Than Taking

I've heard many examples of street preaching and in them the street preacher shows the need for salvation by going down the list of the commandments and showing examples of sins that many people commit, often without thinking. The prime example of stealing is always the office pen which "follows" the office worker home.

But stealing is more than walking home with a company pen in your pocket and seriously - no one accidentally walks home with the local 7-11 cash register in their pocket either.  Then again, the Kansas City Royals' Whit Merrifield will not be held accountable before the Great White Throne for 45 stolen bases (unless God is a Tigers fan). Stealing can be highly personal and can shatter a person, even though their possessions remain untouched

A good case can be made that the Eighth Commandment, "Do Not Steal," is the one commandment that encompasses all the others.

How does "Do not Steal" encompass the other commandments? Murder is the stealing of another person's life.  Adultery is the stealing of another person's spouse.  Coveting is the desire to steal what belongs to another person.  Giving false testimony is stealing justice.  And so on. 

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I looked at my calendar today and noticed, in horror, that today, the day after Thanksgiving, is now shown as a holiday: Black Friday. It seems not that long ago when I thought the whole thing was a joke, but sadly the whole thing has gained steam. I'm not going on a screed against capitalism, quite the opposite - capitalism is what saved the Plymouth colony. 

The original Pilgrims arrived with a starry-eyed ideal that they could make a socialist utopia here in North America, everyone had an equal share in all possessions of the colony, and an equal share in the fruits of their labors, regardless of their own labor. Soon the Plymouth colony was near starvation a second time, their idealistic society was falling apart. They learned to their horror that slackers abound when socialism rules. William Bradford made a brilliant move that saved the colony: he gave each colonist an equal section of land to do with as they will, and encouraged trade. Soon the colonists were producing lumber, building individual homes rather than a communal hall, and they quickly had food surpluses and were able to trade with each other and with the natives. They took to heart what Paul spoke of in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 - you don't work, you don't eat. So on this blackest of Fridays, say another prayer of thanks, pray that our starry eyed new socialists may be struck with enlightenment  that the Lord gave William Bradford. And maybe pray that we can celebrate our next Thanksgiving the way our ancestors did: in solemn thankful prayer followed with venison, lobster and oysters.

That pope fella never learned the lesson of the Plymouth Colony

Catholic Bishops celebrate trans-gender day of remembrance

A new study suggests the Catholic priest abuse scandal isn't about pedophilia, but about rampant homosexuality within that church.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up Dept. - Brian Murphy, the founder of oxymoronic “Queer Theology”, claims that Jesus is in a “pansexual, polyamorous” relationship with the Church which means that Christians can be polyamorous too. And blames this all or Ephesians 5:32. The Catholic priest that's helping Mr. Murphy - Father Shannon Kerns, she's a transsexual.

WWUTT Wednesday - Born Again

John 3:3

Back in the 60's the "Jesus Freaks" strode the countryside advertising their born again-ness. A few years later main stream Christians began calling themselves as Born Again Christians (as opposed to Born Again Heathens?). What would happen if "again" was something else?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but hear me out. In John 3:3 Jesus says “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” to which Nicodemus famously asked "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?" The word again in the original Greek was ἄνωθεν (anōthen) which means "again" but it also means "from above" In John 3:5-6 Jesus clarifies that He meant being born of the spirit which to me indicates he was explaining that when He said ἄνωθεν (anōthen) he didn't mean "again" he meant "from above", so John 3:7 could rightfully be translated to “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

While I try to find a Born From Above Christian t-shirt, feel free to tell me what you think about my take on ἄνωθεν (anōthen). 

Ten Commandment Tuesday: Keeping the Family Together

This is Pieter Brueghel's painting "Le Christ et la femme adultère" dated around 1600. It is the scene from John 8:1-11 where the pharisees bring a woman to Jesus and accuse her of having committed adultery. They did not bring her partner in adultery before Jesus, which makes the charge a bit absurd because as any theologian knows, it takes two to tango.

In John 8:6 and John 8:8 Jesus bent down to write in the ground with his finger. The bible never says exactly what he wrote (wouldn't it be cool to see what God in the flesh had to write?) but here in the painting Brughel had Jesus write "Die Sonder Sonde is..." which losely translated is "He that is without sin [among you]..." There are three messages in this Bible vignette; one is of course that all of us are sinners. The second is "From now on sin no more" and the third is (and I've never heard this taught, but really should be) - take your sins to Jesus and He will forgive you.

 There is an old joke about The Seventh Commandment, "Do Not Commit Adultery."  Moses comes down from Mount Sinai, and announces:  "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I got Him down to ten. The bad news is that adultery stays."

The joke is telling. The prohibition on a married person having sexual relations with anyone except his or her spouse may be, for many people, the most consistently difficult of the Ten Commandments to observe.  The reasons shouldn't be hard to guess.