Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

I like football, I'm not crazy about football, but I do enjoy a game if one of my two teams is playing. I am originally from the Buffalo NY area, which means that I have two teams to root for:

    1. The Buffalo Bills

    2. Any team playing against the Patriots

Which means going in to Super Bowl LII I should have been an Eagles fan, had I bothered to watch the game. But like an increasing number of people I didn't care. Being a veteran and friend of many a disabled veteran I found myself not caring about multi millionaires and their pet peeves.  

I could go on and on but in the end it's not about freedom of speech, it's about respect. If you want to say it's about freedom of speech, then this is me being free with speech by saying you're wrong, it's about respect. There are things bigger than their issues and maybe the NFL would be better place if everyone with a million dollar paycheck had emulated JJ Watt, and instead of sitting down they should have stood up and made a difference. That being said I now wish I had paid more attention to the Eagles. After reading this article and this article and this article I found reason to enjoy the Eagles, maybe I'll watch one of their games next year... if they play the Bills (or the patriots)

A Kern County Superior Court judge rules that forcing a Christian baker to decorate a wedding cake for a homosexual couple is a violation of that bakers right to free speech

Polyamory and polygamy – the next big social change? 

Yet another reason is why the secular world looks down on Christianity (and it's not just the faux-Christians listed in the article)

WWUTT Wednesday - Upon Further Review

Your Team just scored the go-ahead touchdown! Then the official steps into camera range, clicks on his mic and utters those fateful words

"Upon further review..."

Your Star Receiver who hauls down a hefty seven digit annual salary stepped out of bounds when catching the winning pass. Oh well, it happens. False teachers step out of bounds too, but I'll bet you don't get as upset with those who are trying to ruin your salvation as you did with that guy who just ruined your Sunday afternoon. Heck, there's false teachers who do nothing but teach people how to be false teachers. You think you're immune to the whiles of a false teacher? Jesus Christ himself said 'not so fast mister...'

"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24)

I answered a question on this in another forum using Matthew 24:24 there too, but I had admitted I didn't look at the original Greek. Today I looked at the Greek. I pray that what we use is a very good translation because "if possible, even the elect" εἰ δυνατόν καὶ τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς can also be translated "if mighty, also the elect". Try reading this verse and end it with "if mighty, also the elect" It's terrifying! I have a friend or two who may be able to help with the translation here, but right now, let's use this as a warning not to step out of bounds;

Satan's New Gig: Queering The Bible

RELG 033. Queering the Bible

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This course surveys queer and trans* readings of biblical texts. It introduces students to the complexity of constructions of sex, gender, and identity in one of the most influential literary works produced in ancient times. By reading the Bible with the methods of queer and trans* theoretical approaches, this class destabilizes long held assumptions about what the bible--and religion--says about gender and sexuality.
Humanities
1 credit.
Eligible for GSST
Fall 2018. Kessler.
Catalog chapter: Religion 
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/religion

No, this isn't something I made up, this is something that Rabba Gwynn Kessler ("Rabba" is a female Rabbi, and yes, it is a thing)  and she even has a book: Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives. It must be a gem, it's a $65 book but it's going for $5.70 on Amazon. Hurry, because they only have three copies left (and oddly it has NO reviews) It's ranking in Amazon is #1,249,981 with a bullet. Swarthmore college also teaches this class:

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Something has been weighing on my heart a lot lately and that is the response we as Christians should take on attacks on our churches. Last November a hate filled failure of a human being walked into a church in Sutherland Springs Texas and murdered 26 people. Officials tell us that attacks on the church are not religiously motivated, which is not true. Just about every shooting in a house of worship could have happened somewhere else. 

The Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting was politically motivated, it could have happened at a any DNC office. The Charleston church shooting was racially motivated, it could have happened almost anywhere. The Sutherland Springs shooting was motivated because a hate filled failure of a human being hated his mother in law. He could have attacked her in her home, her grocery store, anywhere she liked to be. These three and other shootings could have happened elsewhere but they didn't. I believe that these shootings happened in a house of worship because that's where Satan wants the war taken. Churches across the country are beefing up security because of these and other shootings, and I could come up with a security plan, but churches short of money pits like Castle Osteen couldn't afford it. So how do you fight Satan? You can't. You do what you can and you take your worries to Jesus. Let Him do the heavy lifting.

Pray for our Chinese brothers in Christ who disappeared and are probably being held by the Chinese government security apparatus. Christian persecution is rampant in China.

Presented with evidence that unborn babies can feel the pain of being chopped to pieces in the womb, the Democrats stand unified in their resolve that The Slaughter Must Continue and high five each other to celebrate the continuing holocaust of the innocent

Speaking of the slaughter of the innocent, one of the only US clinics to perform no questions asked abortions up to the point of birth was blessed by Rev. Carl Jackson, Rabbi Charles Feinberg, the Rev. Cari Jackson and the Rev. Barbara Gerlach

If you plan to go to Canada and you are a Christian, Prime Minister Skippy Justin Trudeau does not want you there

Spurgeon Thursday - Charles Spurgeon's Evangelistic Fervor

CHARLES SPURGEON’S EVANGELISTIC FERVOR

From the book, The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon by Steven J. Lawson

Throughout his prolific ministry, Charles Spurgeon sought to maintain the important balance the Scriptures give to divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Perhaps no preacher ever held these two truths more carefully in balance. Being committed to the full counsel of God, Spurgeon embraced both truths with equal allegiance. He clung tenaciously to God’s sovereignty in the salvation of His elect, but he was equally convinced of the mandate to extend the offer of the gospel to every person. Emphasizing one of these truths to the exclusion of the other, he believed, would result in an unbalanced ministry.

Spurgeon was once asked how he could reconcile the apparent contradiction between these two truths. He replied: “I never have to reconcile friends. Divine sovereignty and human responsibility have never had a falling out with each other. I do not need to reconcile what God has joined together.” He confessed: “Where these two truths meet I do not know, nor do I want to know. They do not puzzle me, since I have given up my mind to believing them both.” Spurgeon simply embraced both divine sovereignty and human responsibility as clearly taught in the pages of Scripture.

By maintaining this balance, Spurgeon avoided a grave danger to evangelism known as Hyper-Calvinism. This teaching holds firmly to the doctrines of grace, but it neglects any urgent appeal to lost sinners to be converted. Iain Murray explains: “Gospel preaching for Hyper-Calvinists means a declaration of the facts of the gospel but nothing should be said by way of encouraging individuals to believe that the promises of Christ are made to them particularly until there is evidence that the Spirit of God has begun a saving work in their hearts convicting them and making them ‘sensible’ of their need.” Thus, Hyper-Calvinism rejects a universal invitation for sinners to believe, but argues that the gospel is to be preached only to the elect. Only those who feel the full burden of their sin, Hyper-Calvinists suppose, should be encouraged to seek relief in the Lord.