Five points to the first person to note in the comments why this juxtaposition was counter to my expectations:
NIV 1Co 7:26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.
TNIV 1Co 7:26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
I’ve now persuaded even my wife to get into LaLa.com (she’s usually a bit skeptical of my technological forays). We’re enjoying it very much. I wrote this in my profile description for the site:
I love choral music. God created beauty, and even those who rebel against Him have been left with His image. Their ability to create incredible beauty reflects God’s own creativity. So whether Tavener, Pärt, Vaughn Williams, Hillier, Rutter, Joseph Jennings, and those fantastic King’s Singers acknowledge God’s rule through Christ or not, they bring glory to God.
The past was supposed to be better than today. I’m a conservative, aren’t I?
Did you know that people in America used to memorize poems and read stuff longer than a blog post? Did you know there was a day when kids’ brains weren’t full of Hannah Montana—or Eminem, for that matter? I always assumed these factors would create a higher level of discourse in the nation. But, if anything, political ads in 1952 were worse than today. Click that link for a fascinating site.
Obi-Wan Kenobi delivers a line in the final Star Wars movie (III) which has achieved some level of fame. It appears 8,270 times on the Web, including as the name of a blog.
Anakin has just informed him, “You’re either with me, or you’re my enemy!”
Obi-Wan replies with that now-famous line: “Only a Sith deals in absolutes!”
I love Anakin’s reply. He stops, cocks his head, smirks, and says, “Obi-Wan, are you absolutely sure?”
Ok, no, he didn’t really say that. I think that was Ravi Zacharias and D. A. Carson in chorus.
Such a saying, however, does reveal something about the melange of philosophy which has melted into Star Wars. Here’s another, a comment Qui-Gon Jinn makes to Anakin’s mother as they watch young Anakin serving others:
“He gives with no thought of reward.”
This line is a little harder for Christians to process than the first, I think. We Christians all know that truth is absolute, but it sounds nice when someone works for no reward.
But that idea is not Christian. It’s anti-Christian. Simply put, God offers rewards.
I didn’t say you could earn your salvation. I didn’t say that it’s up to you to muster up some spiritual strength or work up some grace or alter your will. That’s all God’s work. But Jesus says you should rejoice and be exceeding glad when people persecute you for His name’s sake—because great is your reward in heaven! I seriously doubt that God intends for you to forget about that reward while going through your trial. The reward is the reason (γαρ) for the joy you’re supposed to have during persecution!
And God offers other rewards:
ESV Ps 19:11 Moreover, by them [God's words] is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
ESV Pr 22:4 The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honor and life.
ESV Heb 11:26 [Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
ESV 1Co 3:14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
ESV Gn 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”
The NIV and KJV render that last one with God telling Abram, “I am your shield, your very great reward.” Whichever rendering is correct, both are true. God is the ultimate reward for His children. Don’t deny yourself this reward. Sell all your possessions to get it, if necessary. Ask God for grace to want this reward, to never let it leave your mind and heart!
I am dedicating this post to DN and all of the faithful BJU Wellness Program devotees who won iPod Touches and now—congratulations—have them in hand! May the Lord help you to use this helpful tool to His glory!
I got a free iPod Touch with my iMac. I had had my eye on it for a while because I needed a Palm replacement—after using a Palm IIIxe through seven years of grad school. Here are the applications I have installed right now (I’ve put especially useful ones in bold in the list below):
(Just go to these sites in Mobile Safari, then click the plus sign, then add them to home screen.)
lala.com—you’ve got to check it out. I just added to my playlist a huge number of Chanticleer and King’s Singers tracks, most of which I’ve never been able to listen to in entirety.
I win, because I get to listen to some excellent choral music. lala wins because I may just buy some of these tracks now that I’ve been able to listen to them. I can “buy” a whole online CD for $1.00. I can’t take it with me, but it will be wherever the web is.
What a great way to find and try new choral music!
(Or, ok, any kind of music you may like.)
I’m afraid the hype proved too much for me, and I succumbed. I bought an ESV Study Bible. I got the Brown TruTone for $48 at my church’s bookstore.
I used the rest of my birthday money.
It literally hurt my back in church yesterday because, at almost 2,800 pages, it’s practically a stone tablet.
But it’s an impressive piece of planning, typography, scholarship, devotion, illustration, printing, design, and, yes, viral Internet hysteria.
On my first major read in the thing I found I liked the single-column paragraphed format very much—but I missed the totally uncluttered text in The Books of the Bible.
I encourage you to check it out. It’s something I want my family to have long-term. And as for me, I decided it was worthwhile to have maps, charts, good articles, an online version, and sound scholars’ quick summary interpretations of passages I may not have looked at recently. I resisted (for four days) buying the Bible because I know I shouldn’t be relying on these notes; I should read the commentaries and journal articles of the men who wrote them! But it was in fact good conservative commentators who wrote notes on books they know well. That is bound to be valuable.
This is what the Catholic church claims:
In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a share in his own infallibility. By a “supernatural sense of faith” the People of God, under the guidance of the Church’s living Magisterium, “unfailingly adheres to this faith.”
The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful—who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals. . . . The infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter’s successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium,” above all in an Ecumenical Council. When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine “for belief as being divinely revealed,” and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions “must be adhered to with the obedience of faith.” This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself.
Check out the Vatican’s official site sometime. It’s good to be aware that it exists, and I have to admit I think the design is pretty cool—even though it hasn’t changed much for a long time.
I highly recommend this new site and the method of exegesis it explains. I use it, too, though typically in a different format more suited for my tools (namely Word and Excel). But now that I have an online tool I might switch! Going through a closely-reasoned epistle, isolating propositions, and naming their relationships forces me to ask questions of the text that even a careful reading may not have raised.
You could use the arcing method even as a high school student. If you’re a seminary student and don’t yet know about it, this site is perfect for you. Make sure to benefit from the extensive training regimen they’ve provided, including instructional videos!
Let me also recommend for the same purpose Interpreting the Pauline Epistles by accomplished exegete Thomas Schreiner. It was Pastor Mark Minnick’s text for the one exposition class I got to take with him in seminary.
I’m now at work on my first online arc:
Duncan Johnson has provided a noteworthy comment on my Ubiquity post: he links to his brand new esv-insert command.
I subscribed to it right away. It works great!
Now you can insert any ESV passage into a Gmail message. Thanks, Duncan!
