Toggl Desktop

One of the problems with using any time-tracking software is that you actually have to tell it what you’re doing and when you start and stop. I mean, shouldn’t it just know?

Toggl Desktop has taken one step toward solving that problem for me: it lets me know if I’ve left my computer idle for an extended period of time and asks me if I want to drop that dead time from my tracking. Now, I could’ve been reading a book and just not touching the computer. But it’s still nice to have that reminder and that option. Helps me be more accurate.

As my time becomes more pressed, and running as I do a (very) small business that has to give accurate estimates on how much time something will take me, I like this feature of Toggl Desktop.

Thanks, Toggl. Thanks a lot!

Unwitting Support to the Enemy?

In her book Unprotected Texts: The Bible’s Surprising Contradictions about Sex and Desire, Jennifer Knust assumes that because the patriarch Judah committed immorality with a woman he supposed to be a prostitute, the Bible takes an ambiguous stance toward prostitution. “Hey, it’s not that big a deal—even in the Bible. Why are Christians so bent out of shape about sexual morality?” That’s her argument.*

Likewise, the cover of some free-thinker magazine (Free Inquiry maybe?) I saw years ago had a finely hand-painted illustration of Lot shoving his unwilling daughter out his front door into the outstretched hands of the lustful men of the city. The implication was that biblical morality is misogynistic because this major Bible character did this terrible thing.

Neither of these stories is new news, especially in a blogosphere where time is counted something like dog years. But these perspectives are alive and well now as they have been for a long time. The cognitive effects of the fall are on display: people come up with sometimes artful and sometimes simply boneheaded ways to justify ignoring what God says.

I’m afraid I’d put both of these in the bonehead category. These interpretations are like someone listening to the story of the tortoise and the hare and concluding that Aesop thinks fast runners should take naps during races.

Both of the authors of these pieces—the former unforgivably because as a self-proclaimed “biblical scholar” she ought to know better—assume, apparently, that everything the “good guys” do in the Bible is good. The Bible, however, contains few if any developed portraits of people that don’t contain at least some major flaw. Jesus Christ, of course, is the only picture whose thousand words contain no misspellings.

What I’m wondering is this: are evangelical Christians, who ought to know better, unwittingly aiding people like this? I think, too often, we come to the text with the same basic perspective they do 1) when we think that the major purpose of biblical narratives is to give us good examples to emulate (and the occasional bad one to avoid), and 2) when we fail to model literarily sensitive interpretation of Bible stories.

1)

Bryan Chapell was the first to point out to me that the Bible does its best to tar the reputations of even its biggest heroes. Right after Abraham receives and believes the promises of God in Genesis 15, he lies to Pharaoh about Sarah to protect his own skin. Right after he successfully petitions God to have mercy on Sodom if even a few righteous are present, he commits the same sin again. After Gideon wins an amazing victory, he starts acting funny. Like seventy sons funny.

This is a surprise if the main point of Bible stories is to provide us a list of good examples to work at emulating (this is one of the Bible’s points, but not the primary one). But if the main point of the Bible is to tell us about what God is doing to redeem His fallen creation—to save us all and put the world back the way it should be—then stories like these are exactly what you would expect.

2)

2) isn’t too far from 1), but take the story of Jephthah from Judges. A Bible textbook with which I am familiar (let us not say more than that) made the lesson of his life out to be overcoming adversity. Born to a prostitute, can’t deny that. But rose to be a great leader—what an example for today’s disadvantaged youth!

Yes and no. The Bible textbook, written for junior highers, failed completely to mention one key fact: at the end of the story, the man of faith Jephthah achieves a great victory—but only after making a foolish vow to sacrifice whatever came out to greet him after his victory. When his daughter came out to greet him, he grieved exceedingly because he knew what his vow meant. Yes, many have attempted to come up with another way to understand, “she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow that he had made” (Judges 11:39). But it’s theological pressure from problem 1) above that’s pushing them to grasp for those straws. Jephthah killed his own daughter.

Literarily speaking, Judges tells a story of continued dissolution and degradation among God’s people. With no king to restrain them and guide them, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Even Israel’s deliverers are embarrassments to them. Their poor-quality leaders are themselves a sort of judgment on Israel’s sin. Yes, Samson and Jephthah make it into the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, but see 1) above—their praiseworthy acts aren’t erased by their sins anymore than their sins can be forgotten since they did some true good.

A story doesn’t come out and make its points explicit. That’s part of the beauty of a good story. It’s bad stories that sound preachy. Christians ought to be masters at interpreting stories, at picking up the clues the narrator leaves as to how to interpret each character and the overall point(s). This will provide us the best arguments against “Christian” promoters of homosexuality, for example. Yes, God’s commands in Leviticus are part of the biblical data, but it’s the story of the way God originally made man and woman that provide the strongest argument for the way things ought to be. Jesus thought so (Matt 19:8). He got the point of the story.

Of course, He is the point of the story (Luke 24:27). And the best interpreters will come to see that most of all.

———————————————————————-

*This is what Knust says about Judah:

The Bible does not object to prostitution, at least not consistently. The biblical patriarch, Judah, for example, was quite content to solicit a prostitute while out on a business trip, offering her a kid from his flocks in payment for an opportunity to “go into” her. It was only later, when he learned that this “prostitute” was actually his daughter-in-law Tamar that he became angry. Sentenced to death for playing the whore, Tamar stood up to her father-in-law, proving to him that he had been her one customer. She was forced into the ruse by Judah, she explained, since he failed to give her the support she was due after the death of her husband, Judah’s son. Repenting of his mistake, Judah let her live, admitting, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my [living] son Shelah (Gen. 38:26). With her life spared and pregnant with Judah’s sons, Tamar went on to bear twins, Perez and Zerah, one of whom became an ancestor of both King David and Jesus. Does the Bible have a problem with prostitutes or prostitution? Not necessarily, as I have come to learn. (pp. 5–6)

Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In short, Europe’s colonization of Africa had nothing to do with differences between European and African peoples themselves, as white racists assume. Rather, it was due to accidents of geography and biogeography—in particular, to the continents’ different areas, axes, and suites of wild plant and animal species. That is, the different historical trajectories of Africa and Europe stem ultimately from differences in real estate.

Diamond views the history of the entire world through evolutionary lenses, and he has no room for God except as an evolutionary development that needs to be explained by reference to those lenses. But if I put on my biblical lenses, there’s still great value to be had in Diamond’s work.

Those biblical lenses tell me that God has a Plan A (a decretive will) that human history never deviates from, but that He uses earthly means to accomplish that heavenly work. The various plants and animals available to different peoples is surely part of how He structured his story.

I found Diamond’s description of plant domestication to be particularly interesting and engaging. I had heard about corn domestication, but it never occurred to me to wonder when and how most other staple foods were brought under human dominion.

And that little word is a tip-off to another major portion of the biblical lens: I read Diamond’s sweeping narrative (can anything but the Bible be more sweeping?) not as a record of the evolutionary progress of homo sapiens but as an outworking of God’s original mandate to man:

God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth. (Gen 1:28 CSB)

Perhaps I’m building too much on a minor point, but I believe that the word “blessed” suggests that this mandate is both an indicative and an imperative. God didn’t just give man a task but a blessing. Maoris, Austronesians, and Incas all exercise dominion whether they know about Yahweh or not, because God blessed them with that ability and yearning.

I can’t say I know the reasons behind God’s providential organization of the continents, but Diamond persuaded me that the obvious difference in axes is significant to world history. Simply the first “food production package”—the full suite of plant and animal domesticates necessary for hunter gatherers to become sedentary farmers—developed in the Fertile Crescent (any connections to the Bible there?). And that zone connects to others contiguously all across the massive Eurasian continent, making it easy for the package to spread. The same is not true for north-south oriented continents like Africa and the Americas. Developments in dominion, up to and including writing, could not make their way easily up and down through different temperature zones and over mountain ranges. And Eurasia had the best candidates for plant and animal domestication to begin with.

It was the superior food production package which gave Eurasians the edge anytime they encountered other cultures. High yields-per-man-hour allowed some people to specialize in politics, marshaling man-power to produce even higher yields through things like irrigation products. This sedentary lifestyle also helped farmers develop guns, germs, and steel. It was these things which were most effective in raising Eurasians to prominence over others. Germs were especially powerful. Farmers living close together developed immunities to certain germs, and those germs utterly annihilated North American Indian populations without anyone ever having to fire a shot. (The story of Pizarro capturing the Inca god-king Atahuallpa is especially vivid and interesting.)

In any case, this book answered for me decisively the question of whether racial superiority is the reason Eurasians have taken the ascendance in many ways in this world. Diamond tackles that question head-on and gives a firm answer: no.



View all my reviews

Greenville-Area BibleWorks Seminar

I will be putting on an area-wide BibleWorks seminar at Morningside Baptist Church. There will be two sessions:

Beginner-Intermediate (Feb 11, 9:30 am–12:00 pm)

Gain a solid understanding of how to use BibleWorks in real-life exegesis and sermon prep. I assume you know nothing and then give you all the skills you need to use BibleWorks daily.

Advanced (Feb 18, 9:30 am–11 am) + Logos 4 Crash Course (11 am – 12 pm)

We’ll cover all the advanced features of BibleWorks, including the textual critical advancements in BW 9. Then for one hour I will give you tips on how to use Logos 4 and what to buy. (Those with BibleWorks 7 and 8 should do fine except for about half an hour of the advanced course.)

There will be a break in the middle of each session, and I hope to provide generous time for questions and personal attention after each session.

Free snacks may appear if my wife is so inclined and my children are good the day before. =)

Cost:

• STUDENTS: $10 each session ($15 to attend both)
• NON-STUDENTS: $20 each session ($30 to attend both)
• $5 if you want to attend only the Logos Crash Course

We should have space for walk-ins, but click below to reserve a spot. Those who sign up will receive a very small goody hardly worth their effort.

Uncharacteristic (?) But Genuine Gushing

Jim Berg is one of my favorite preachers in the world. Of course, there are many preachers I benefit from. “All are yours,” Paul said (1 Cor 3:22)—Piper, Packer, the Puritans—and the Internet has made them all readily available for my benefit. Praise God!

But providentially, I have a pastor. And a long-time Sunday School teacher. And a former Dean at the institution where I work (that’s Berg). These, my top three favorite preachers in the world if anyone’s counting, are God’s special gifts to me and the others who share my providential space in life. These and a very few others are my “fathers” in the faith (1 Cor 4:14–15), men to whom I have and owe special respect.

Thankfully, I don’t have to force myself to give honor to these men. I feel it naturally; their love for God and skill in handling the Word make them worthy of it. I find myself praying that I might by God’s grace be like them (Paul follows up 1 Cor 4:15 with a command to be like him).

Listen to this glorious sermon!

P.S. Can you put a P.S. on a blog post? The Internet says I can. So P.S.: all the men whose preaching and teaching I value the most were trained at Bob Jones University. It is not a perfect place, and there are many other good Christian schools, but if you want to be a preacher whose head and heart are both submitted to the Word of God, BJU is a very good choice.