Friday, March 27, 2009
Fiscal Responsibility
This speech, given by Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament, on March 24, 2009, has been all over the news in pieces. Here is the speech in its entirety. In three and a half minutes, Hannan makes one of the clearest cases I have heard for fiscal restraint in the face of the overwhelming urge to throw money at the current financial crisis. His rhetoric rises above its British context- these are words that every world leader, every politician and secretary, should hear and heed. We can't spend our way out of a recession, only deeper into one.
Monday, March 23, 2009
What I've Been Reading
I've been reading I Samuel in my personal devotions lately, and greatly enjoying it. The first 5 chapters (all I have read thus far) cry out with the testimony of a faithful and powerful God who blesses immeasurably those who love him while casting his wrath upon those who thumb their noses at his very being. I am moved by the gentle love God has for his servant Hannah, the working of his plan for his people through the calling of Samuel and his jealous wrath upon the unfaithful sons of Eli. The theme of redemption continues to reoccur, woven throughout the story of the unfaithfulness of God's people. Here's what I read a few days ago:
1 Samuel 5 - The Philistines and the Ark
1When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
4But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god." 8So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" They answered, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath." So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there.
9But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people." 11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people." For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
12The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Who's Your Daddy?
I realize that the blog is still a bit of a mess, and I also confess that I don't really consider simply reposting articles "blogging," but with a Greek Syntax midterm, a Biblical Counseling midterm, counseling observations and an Exegesis paper all due on or before Tuesday, I thought this might tide you over until I can actually start blogging again. Enjoy this piece from Dr. Russell Moore (henryinstitute.org), the Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Seminary and a preacher that I very much respect and enjoy. This short post by him fits into a lot of things I have been thinking about lately, about which I will post soon.
Your Birth Father Has Fangs
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Imagine for a moment that you’re adopting a child. As you meet with the social worker in the last stage of the process, you’re told that this twelve-year old has been in and out of psychotherapy since he was three. He persists in burning things, and attempting repeatedly to skin kittens alive. He “acts out sexually,” the social worker says, although she doesn’t really fill you in on what that means. She continues with a little family history. This boy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all had histories of violence, ranging from spousal abuse to serial murder. Each of them ended life the same way, dead by suicide–each found hanging from a rope of blankets in his respective prison cell.
Think for a minute. Would you want this child? If you did adopt him, wouldn’t you watch nervously as he played with your other children? Would you watch him nervously as he looks at the butcher knife on the kitchen table? Would you leave the room as he watched a movie on television with your daughter, with the lights out?
Well he’s you. And he’s me.
That’s what the gospel is telling us. Our birth father has fangs. And left to ourselves, we’ll show ourselves to be as serpentine as he is.
That’s why our sin ought to disturb us. The “works of the flesh,” jealousy, envy, wrath, lust, hatred, and on and on, ought to alarm us the way a tightness in the chest would alarm a man whose father and grandfather dropped dead at the age of forty of heart disease. It ought to scare us like forgetting the next-door neighbor’s name would scare a woman whose mother was institutionalized on her thirty-fifth birthday for dementia.
It’s easy to deceive ourselves though. The chest pains? They’re just indigestion. The forgetfulness? It’s just a hectic schedule. Even this self-deceit shows us our similarity to our reptilian birthfather. He, after all, “knows his time is short” but rages away against God and his Christ anyway (Rev 12:12).
The New Testament addresses these former Satan-imagers with good news. It’s not just that we have a stay of execution, a suspension of doom. It’s not simply that those who trust in Christ have found a refuge, a safe place, or a foster home. All those in Christ, Paul argues, have received sonship. We are now the “offspring of Abraham” (Gal 3:29). Within this household–the tribal family of Abraham–all those who are in Christ have found a home through the adopting power of God.
Your Birth Father Has Fangs
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Imagine for a moment that you’re adopting a child. As you meet with the social worker in the last stage of the process, you’re told that this twelve-year old has been in and out of psychotherapy since he was three. He persists in burning things, and attempting repeatedly to skin kittens alive. He “acts out sexually,” the social worker says, although she doesn’t really fill you in on what that means. She continues with a little family history. This boy’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather all had histories of violence, ranging from spousal abuse to serial murder. Each of them ended life the same way, dead by suicide–each found hanging from a rope of blankets in his respective prison cell.
Think for a minute. Would you want this child? If you did adopt him, wouldn’t you watch nervously as he played with your other children? Would you watch him nervously as he looks at the butcher knife on the kitchen table? Would you leave the room as he watched a movie on television with your daughter, with the lights out?
Well he’s you. And he’s me.
That’s what the gospel is telling us. Our birth father has fangs. And left to ourselves, we’ll show ourselves to be as serpentine as he is.
That’s why our sin ought to disturb us. The “works of the flesh,” jealousy, envy, wrath, lust, hatred, and on and on, ought to alarm us the way a tightness in the chest would alarm a man whose father and grandfather dropped dead at the age of forty of heart disease. It ought to scare us like forgetting the next-door neighbor’s name would scare a woman whose mother was institutionalized on her thirty-fifth birthday for dementia.
It’s easy to deceive ourselves though. The chest pains? They’re just indigestion. The forgetfulness? It’s just a hectic schedule. Even this self-deceit shows us our similarity to our reptilian birthfather. He, after all, “knows his time is short” but rages away against God and his Christ anyway (Rev 12:12).
The New Testament addresses these former Satan-imagers with good news. It’s not just that we have a stay of execution, a suspension of doom. It’s not simply that those who trust in Christ have found a refuge, a safe place, or a foster home. All those in Christ, Paul argues, have received sonship. We are now the “offspring of Abraham” (Gal 3:29). Within this household–the tribal family of Abraham–all those who are in Christ have found a home through the adopting power of God.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Under Construction
I'm updating some stuff on the blog, so you'll see things vanish and reappear for a while...don't worry, it's all under control. I think.
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