Today our Sunday School class addressed John 4:1-15, the first half of the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman that commenced at Jacob's well.
After the class, several of us lingered and discussed the question of whether Jesus spoke Greek (and, by extension, whether John the Apostle spoke and perhaps wrote in Greek). This was important because I had during the class noted that there were two Greek forms of the word “well” (as in Jacob’s well) in the first 15 verses in Chapter 4 of John. (I’m using the 1984 NIV version here, as I do in the class.)
I observed that the Greek word for “fountain” or “spring” is used each time that the word translated “well” in English appears in verse 6. In verse 6, John, the author, is setting the stage for the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
The Greek word for “fountain” or “spring” is used again in verse 14. In that verse we have a direct quotation of Jesus.
On the other hand, the Greek word for “cistern” is translated “well” in verses 11 and 12. Here the word appears when John quotes the woman.
The Scholars that I read in preparation for the lesson note that this distinction is very important. Water from a fountain or spring is healthy, life-giving, and continuous, like the Spirit, like the river of water in Psalm 1. That is what Jesus offers. It is “living water.” It is water that doesn't run out.
Water drawn from a cistern, a closed container where water is collected from another source, rain for example, is often dirty, scummy, unhealthy, unsatisfying. It is dead water.It is also a limited source of water. It will run out, especially in a time when you might need it most, a drought for example.
During our discussion after the class, one of us expressed the view that Jesus spoke in Aramaic and not Greek. He suggested that this distinction may not have been in the original conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well. It might have been introduced by whoever may have translated this into Greek. His source for the idea that Jesus spoke Aramaic was the film, The Passion of the Christ. I replied that I had read that Mel Gibson’s film had been criticized by scholars for having Jesus speak in Aramaic and that it was my understanding that the characters in the NT spoke “market-place Greek” or Koine.
This afternoon I went over my notes and I found the source that discussed Mel Gibson’s film. Craig L. Blomberg, in The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Second Edition) (IVP 2007) writes as follows on page 16:
"In 2004, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Cross, enthralled viewers around the world. The film was based on some serious research but it, too, contained some glaring errors, most notably the exclusive use of either Aramaic or Latin on the lips of Jewish and Roman characters who would have communicated with each other almost entirely in Greek! [italics and exclamation point are Blomberg’s]"
The quote from Blomberg has a footnote: “For a thorough analysis, see Corley and Webb, Passion of the Christ.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Broncos 17, the Jets 13 (Updated w/ Video)
Said Broncos coach John Fox: "He's just a competitive dude. He's super competitive. He never lays his sword down. He's going to fight you to the death."
-On Tebow's 20 yard touchdown run, in the last 50 seconds of the game, to beat New York!
Link to video.
Here's an interesting analysis of TT from sportswriter Martin Manley of the Kansas City Star.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Children at Risk Because of the Standard American Diet
A new analysis of federal data provides a dismal picture of children's cardiovascular health that suggests the current generation of teenagers could be at risk of increased heart disease.
The study, which examined children between 12 and 19 years old in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the adolescents performed poorly overall on a set of seven criteria set by the American Heart Association for ideal cardiovascular health.
Diet in particular was a problem, with not one of the 5,450 children randomly selected for the survey from the U.S. population meeting the standards for diet. Taking out the diet measure, still just 16.4% of boys and 11.3% of girls were rated ideal on all of the other six criteria, which included smoking, exercise, weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.
-From today's WSJ and an article on page A3 entitled "Kids' Heart Health Is Faulted:
Analysis of Federal Data Finds Shortcomings in Diet, Exercise, Cholesterol Levels."
After Carol read the article, she had the following comments:
This goes along exactly with what they said at our Engine 2 Immersion weekend. They said virtually the entire US population – including children – now show signs of heart disease. (They figure this out by doing autopsies of children and young adults who die in accidents or by some kind of trauma.) During WWII when they autopsied young men killed in the war there was a good percentage whose arteries were not diseased, but by the time of the Viet Nam war all the young men were showing signs of heart disease. And now, they said, even children were showing those signs.
The study, which examined children between 12 and 19 years old in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the adolescents performed poorly overall on a set of seven criteria set by the American Heart Association for ideal cardiovascular health.
Diet in particular was a problem, with not one of the 5,450 children randomly selected for the survey from the U.S. population meeting the standards for diet. Taking out the diet measure, still just 16.4% of boys and 11.3% of girls were rated ideal on all of the other six criteria, which included smoking, exercise, weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar.
-From today's WSJ and an article on page A3 entitled "Kids' Heart Health Is Faulted:
Analysis of Federal Data Finds Shortcomings in Diet, Exercise, Cholesterol Levels."
After Carol read the article, she had the following comments:
This goes along exactly with what they said at our Engine 2 Immersion weekend. They said virtually the entire US population – including children – now show signs of heart disease. (They figure this out by doing autopsies of children and young adults who die in accidents or by some kind of trauma.) During WWII when they autopsied young men killed in the war there was a good percentage whose arteries were not diseased, but by the time of the Viet Nam war all the young men were showing signs of heart disease. And now, they said, even children were showing those signs.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Uncle Sam as Baal
The November 19, 2011 issue of World Magazine addresses the increasing dependency of Americans on government, especially the federal government. "Trends suggest that half of American children will use food stamps" states the cover, and there is much more inside.
The cover, by the way, is really clever, and worthy of a GlennzTees tee-shirt at least, if not a Despair poster that might say "Hello, I'm from the Government and I'm Here to Help You." (Note the lower left hand corner of the photo.)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
"The Screwtape Letters"- the Show
Carol and I saw Max McLean's performance of the Screwtape Letters on Saturday. Thus, I became reacquainted with the classic little book by C.S. Lewis in a very entertaining, even profound way. An added treat is that Mr. McLean comes back on stage after the performance and answers questions from the audience. He is very good with his answers.
The show is coming to Dallas this coming Saturday.
The show is coming to Dallas this coming Saturday.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Dr. Barnard on Losing Weight and Getting Healthy
Neal D. Barnard, MD, the author of a number of popular books on nutrition, appeared on Toronto TV recently for this interview:
Thanks, Forks over Knives!
Thanks, Forks over Knives!
Friday, November 11, 2011
Succession Non-Planning
Today at our breakfast, we considered 1 Samuel 8. The NIV section heading that covers chapter 8 is "Israel Asks for a King." Indeed, whenever I have heard a sermon or lesson on chapter 8, the discussion centered on the matter of Israel asking for a king, and God acceding to that request even though God tells his people through Samuel that it won't be good for them.
At the very beginning of that chapter, however, we see that the real problem is "succession planning" on the part of Samuel. Samuel "grew old" as it states in verse one, and appoints his sons as judges. His sons have turned out to be corrupt, just as did the sons of Eli. In fact, Samuel adopted Eli's succession plan and, again, that plan utterly fails.
This made me think of Joe Paterno and the monstrous problem now facing Penn State. The man is 84 years old, for crying out loud. His succession plan was apparently to live forever, and Penn State bought into that.
As alleged, Joe was told of the despicable act that Sandusky committed in the football team's shower room in 2002. His response was to tell an assistant to take care of the problem. That's what you might do if you are 74 years old, it's at the end of the day (or the middle of the afternoon), and the problem is not one that you feel like facing yourself. After all, you're tired and this is messy, so let one of the younger people deal with it, one of your "sons", so to speak.
What would Joe have done had he been 54 or 44? I think he would have gone to Sandusky's office, beat him to a pulp, and thrown him on the street. And then called the police.
That's why, when one gets into middle age and older, one deals with oneself and one's responsibilities differently, with due regard for the passage of time and its effects on one's body and spirit. Every organization, whether business, church, or family, needs to deal with the problem of the father or the father-figure beginning to fade, fading, and disappearing. Penn State failed at that. Israel failed at that. There is nothing new under the sun.
At the very beginning of that chapter, however, we see that the real problem is "succession planning" on the part of Samuel. Samuel "grew old" as it states in verse one, and appoints his sons as judges. His sons have turned out to be corrupt, just as did the sons of Eli. In fact, Samuel adopted Eli's succession plan and, again, that plan utterly fails.
This made me think of Joe Paterno and the monstrous problem now facing Penn State. The man is 84 years old, for crying out loud. His succession plan was apparently to live forever, and Penn State bought into that.
As alleged, Joe was told of the despicable act that Sandusky committed in the football team's shower room in 2002. His response was to tell an assistant to take care of the problem. That's what you might do if you are 74 years old, it's at the end of the day (or the middle of the afternoon), and the problem is not one that you feel like facing yourself. After all, you're tired and this is messy, so let one of the younger people deal with it, one of your "sons", so to speak.
What would Joe have done had he been 54 or 44? I think he would have gone to Sandusky's office, beat him to a pulp, and thrown him on the street. And then called the police.
That's why, when one gets into middle age and older, one deals with oneself and one's responsibilities differently, with due regard for the passage of time and its effects on one's body and spirit. Every organization, whether business, church, or family, needs to deal with the problem of the father or the father-figure beginning to fade, fading, and disappearing. Penn State failed at that. Israel failed at that. There is nothing new under the sun.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Traffic Jams Jamming Brain Development in Children
According to today's WSJ, "Scientists increasingly link vehicle exhaust with brain-cell damage, higher rates of autism."
Among other things, the article cites a New Jersey study that found that
Premature births, a risk factor for cognitive delays, dropped 11% in areas around highway toll plazas after the introduction of E-ZPass, which eased traffic congestion and reduced exhaust fumes.
Among other things, the article cites a New Jersey study that found that
Premature births, a risk factor for cognitive delays, dropped 11% in areas around highway toll plazas after the introduction of E-ZPass, which eased traffic congestion and reduced exhaust fumes.
Caffeine: the Final Frontier (Updated)
The other thing I ask people to think about is coffee with caffeine. There’s a significant study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that took a group of young adults and half got coffee with caffeine and the other half had coffee without caffeine. The group that drank the coffee with caffeine had injury and impairment to the lining of their arteries and their blood vessels. So, you can still have coffee, but we would prefer that it be without caffeine.
-Dr. Esselstyn, here.
Here is the study to which I think Dr. Esselstyn refers. Here are the conclusions of that study, at least in what I take to be the abstract:
CC [caffeinated coffee as distinguished from decaf] acutely induced unfavorable cardiovascular effects, especially on endothelial function. In the fasting state, insulin secretion is also likely reduced after CC ingestion. Future studies will determine whether CC has detrimental clinically relevant effects, especially in unhealthy subjects.
What is "endothelial function?" Wikipedia describes endothelial dysfunction in part as follows:
Endothelial dysfunction is a systemic pathological state of the endothelium (the inner lining of blood vessels) and can be broadly defined as an imbalance between vasodilating and vasoconstricting substances produced by (or acting on) the endothelium.[1] Normal functions of endothelial cells include mediation of coagulation, platelet adhesion, immune function and control of volume and electrolyte content of the intravascular and extravascular spaces. Endothelial dysfunction can result from and/or contribute to several disease processes, as occurs in septic shock, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, it can also result from environmental factors, such as from smoking tobacco products and exposure to air pollution.
-Dr. Esselstyn, here.
Here is the study to which I think Dr. Esselstyn refers. Here are the conclusions of that study, at least in what I take to be the abstract:
CC [caffeinated coffee as distinguished from decaf] acutely induced unfavorable cardiovascular effects, especially on endothelial function. In the fasting state, insulin secretion is also likely reduced after CC ingestion. Future studies will determine whether CC has detrimental clinically relevant effects, especially in unhealthy subjects.
What is "endothelial function?" Wikipedia describes endothelial dysfunction in part as follows:
Endothelial dysfunction is a systemic pathological state of the endothelium (the inner lining of blood vessels) and can be broadly defined as an imbalance between vasodilating and vasoconstricting substances produced by (or acting on) the endothelium.[1] Normal functions of endothelial cells include mediation of coagulation, platelet adhesion, immune function and control of volume and electrolyte content of the intravascular and extravascular spaces. Endothelial dysfunction can result from and/or contribute to several disease processes, as occurs in septic shock, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, it can also result from environmental factors, such as from smoking tobacco products and exposure to air pollution.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Tebow Reigns (Over the Raiders. This Week.)
Denver’s 298 yards on the ground were the fourth-highest total in team history and the most since 2000. Tebow became the 16th NFL quarterback since 1950 to rush for 100 yards and [Willis] McGahee [former Miami Springs Senior High running back] had his second-highest rushing total of his career.
- Arnie Stapleton, AP Football Writer
- Arnie Stapleton, AP Football Writer
Dealing with Tracking Cookies
Walt Mossberg addresses the subject on the All Things Digital part of the online WSJ.
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Mary Pops Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag
Mary makes popcorn in a brown bag. She puts 1/4 cup of loose popcorn kernels in a 5 1/8 x 3 3/8 x 10 5/8 inch brown paper bag, a lunch bag that you buy in a package of 50. After adding the popcorn to the bag, she folds over the top a couple of times, and sticks it in the microwave. If you want oil, you can pour a little into the bag over the corn before you close up the bag and pop it. But I don't pour in the oil anymore.
I used to think that I was fine with the microwave popcorn packages that came in boxes that said "94% Fat Free Butter." But I don't anymore since Carol got back from Austin about 6 weeks ago.
Six weeks or so ago, Carol attended an Engine 3 Immersion program in Austin with Mary Ann. She learned that you shouldn't eat oil at all, whether plant-based or not. She also learned not to trust what's written on the front of boxes containing food. She said you had to read what is on the back of the box or package.
On the back of the Act II 94% Butter-Free box, I learned that it doesn't really say what "94% Fat Free Butter-Free" really means. What is the math all about here? Instead, I looked on that little label on the back, which a Democrat Congress sometime in the dim past probably required the food industry to apply, and it indicates that there is a good deal of fat left in the packages. So now I fix popcorn in the form of loose kernels in a brown bag as Mary does, and I don't use any oil.
(It's probably unfair to say that but for the Democrats, food labels would be a complete pack of lies. What I really think is that it was a compromise. The politicians, both Republican and Democrat, told the food industry that they could say whatever they want to say on the front of the box, provided that they at least approach the truth on the back. There is even trickery on the back of the box, but if you know the tricks, then you can pretty much figure it out, as Carol and Mary Ann learned in Austin.)
As I go through yet another of these food sea-changes in my life (not sea-food changes; I don't eat sea-food anymore. I'm talking about popcorn here.), I thought I would read about how much popcorn cost. Carol would bring home from Publix for Mary's visits Orville Redenbacher's Original Popcorn Kernels, in the 30 oz. Jar, plus the paper bags. One would think that he could certainly trust Orville to be fair on the cost side.
Orville's popcorn on Amazon costs about 21 cents an ounce, if you are a Prime customer and don't have to pay postage.
Amazon also carries, however, Arrowhead Mills Organic Popcorn, sells it in a pack of six 28 oz. packages , and the cost of the corn is about 11 cents an ounce. Plus the popcorn pops into bigger popped kernels, there are significantly fewer unpopped kernels left in the the bag, and it tastes better than Orville's.
I used to think that I was fine with the microwave popcorn packages that came in boxes that said "94% Fat Free Butter." But I don't anymore since Carol got back from Austin about 6 weeks ago.
Six weeks or so ago, Carol attended an Engine 3 Immersion program in Austin with Mary Ann. She learned that you shouldn't eat oil at all, whether plant-based or not. She also learned not to trust what's written on the front of boxes containing food. She said you had to read what is on the back of the box or package.
On the back of the Act II 94% Butter-Free box, I learned that it doesn't really say what "94% Fat Free Butter-Free" really means. What is the math all about here? Instead, I looked on that little label on the back, which a Democrat Congress sometime in the dim past probably required the food industry to apply, and it indicates that there is a good deal of fat left in the packages. So now I fix popcorn in the form of loose kernels in a brown bag as Mary does, and I don't use any oil.
(It's probably unfair to say that but for the Democrats, food labels would be a complete pack of lies. What I really think is that it was a compromise. The politicians, both Republican and Democrat, told the food industry that they could say whatever they want to say on the front of the box, provided that they at least approach the truth on the back. There is even trickery on the back of the box, but if you know the tricks, then you can pretty much figure it out, as Carol and Mary Ann learned in Austin.)
As I go through yet another of these food sea-changes in my life (not sea-food changes; I don't eat sea-food anymore. I'm talking about popcorn here.), I thought I would read about how much popcorn cost. Carol would bring home from Publix for Mary's visits Orville Redenbacher's Original Popcorn Kernels, in the 30 oz. Jar, plus the paper bags. One would think that he could certainly trust Orville to be fair on the cost side.
Orville's popcorn on Amazon costs about 21 cents an ounce, if you are a Prime customer and don't have to pay postage.
Amazon also carries, however, Arrowhead Mills Organic Popcorn, sells it in a pack of six 28 oz. packages , and the cost of the corn is about 11 cents an ounce. Plus the popcorn pops into bigger popped kernels, there are significantly fewer unpopped kernels left in the the bag, and it tastes better than Orville's.
Saturday, November 05, 2011
Unlikeable Sagal a Bandit
The popular NPR program "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" pokes mean fun at people, mainly those with middle-class values. Their clever creator and host, Peter Sagal, is mostly smart, very fast-witted, irreverent, and, at least to Carol and me, we of middle-class values, thoroughly unlikeable. A couple of years ago I was simply amazed to attend a grand dinner given in Orlando by Bessemer Trust for estate planning lawyers and find him to be the speaker. Unlike his performances on NPR, he was unprepared, unfunny, and boring. (What in the world was Bessemer thinking?)
Today's WSJ reports that Sagal is one of those people who runs in a marathon but will not pay the fee. According to the WSJ article (access to which does not require a subscription), these sorts of people are called "Bandits" in the world of running-event sponsors. I'm surprised he is a runner, but am not surprised that Sagal does this sort of thing if he is. (But, yes, how bourgeois of us to think so.)
Today's WSJ reports that Sagal is one of those people who runs in a marathon but will not pay the fee. According to the WSJ article (access to which does not require a subscription), these sorts of people are called "Bandits" in the world of running-event sponsors. I'm surprised he is a runner, but am not surprised that Sagal does this sort of thing if he is. (But, yes, how bourgeois of us to think so.)
Florida Republicans Sell-Out on Gambling
Disgusting.
The[Genting] company must want to accelerate the project, because it has hired a team of lobbyists that includes fundraiser Brian Ballard, who is close to Scott; former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart; and Orlando lawyer and businessman Harkley Thornton, a close friend of House Speaker Dean Cannon.
Last night, Helen Ferre interviewed Lincoln Diaz-Balart on Channel 2. I couldn't believe it. I thought I had been transported to New Jersey. (As soon as the video of the interview is up on the WPBT website, I'll link it.)
The[Genting] company must want to accelerate the project, because it has hired a team of lobbyists that includes fundraiser Brian Ballard, who is close to Scott; former U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz Balart; and Orlando lawyer and businessman Harkley Thornton, a close friend of House Speaker Dean Cannon.
Last night, Helen Ferre interviewed Lincoln Diaz-Balart on Channel 2. I couldn't believe it. I thought I had been transported to New Jersey. (As soon as the video of the interview is up on the WPBT website, I'll link it.)
Friday, November 04, 2011
"Oversigning": Survival of the Fittest in the SEC
From the perspective of a Buckeye . . . , a Buckeye . . ., uh, a Buckeye person.
The WSJ has an article on it today, entitled LSU-Alabama: the Superbowl of Oversigning, in commemoration of the game of the young century tomorrow night.
Oversigning is a terrible, terrible thing.
Terrible.
But seriously, do you suppose there is a connection between the performance of the top SEC teams and the practice of "oversigning?" People I know who seem to understand college football tell me that the main problem that college football coaches have is of keeping the players motivated from week to week. The Herald wrote this week of Coach Golden's problems with the Hurricanes in this respect. Knowing that there is someone on the sidelines ready to eat my lunch would probably keep me focused.
The WSJ has an article on it today, entitled LSU-Alabama: the Superbowl of Oversigning, in commemoration of the game of the young century tomorrow night.
Oversigning is a terrible, terrible thing.
Terrible.
But seriously, do you suppose there is a connection between the performance of the top SEC teams and the practice of "oversigning?" People I know who seem to understand college football tell me that the main problem that college football coaches have is of keeping the players motivated from week to week. The Herald wrote this week of Coach Golden's problems with the Hurricanes in this respect. Knowing that there is someone on the sidelines ready to eat my lunch would probably keep me focused.
Thursday, November 03, 2011
"Prayer" by Marie Howe
Every day I want to speak with you. And every day something more important
calls for my attention—the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage
I need to buy for the trip.
Even now I can hardly sit here
among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside
already screeching and banging.
The mystics say you are as close as my own breath.
Why do I flee from you?
My days and nights pour through me like complaints
and become a story I forgot to tell.
Help me. Even as I write these words I am planning
to rise from the chair as soon as I finish this sentence.
(More of and about Marie Howe here.)
But compare:
Romans 8:26: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
calls for my attention—the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage
I need to buy for the trip.
Even now I can hardly sit here
among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside
already screeching and banging.
The mystics say you are as close as my own breath.
Why do I flee from you?
My days and nights pour through me like complaints
and become a story I forgot to tell.
Help me. Even as I write these words I am planning
to rise from the chair as soon as I finish this sentence.
(More of and about Marie Howe here.)
But compare:
Romans 8:26: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
Tuesday, November 01, 2011
"[A]s soon as he knows better the orthography of the language"
So Carlos and Caryn, friends of ours, our family, and our church, a Wycliffe missionary couple in Niger, write of their friend "H," who is helping with the translation:
Last month’s workshop on translation principles was a great help to the team. We recently loaded the translation software in 'H's' computer, so that he can work on translation as well (as soon as he knows better the orthography of his language). Up to now, 'H' has only worked on back translations into the official language, in preparation for meetings with a consultant. However, this would be the first time that he does actual translation. In principle, having two translators working at the same time on different passages will help the work to move along faster. In any case, please be in prayer that 'A' and 'H' would learn the orthography of their language quickly, and that they would work well together as a team.
I will be in prayer. But I am fascinated by the word "orthography." What does it mean?
Ortho, my office Webster's New International Second Edition Unabridged ("WSI") tells me, is from the Greek "orthos meaning straight, upright, right, true, hence, also correct, regular."
Thus, ortho-doxa, orthodox, a right opinion; ortho-dontia, straight teeth; finally, ortho-graphy, writing correctly, or as WSI continues:
"1. The art of writing words with the proper letters, according to standard usage; correct spelling; also, mode of spelling; as vicious orthography. 2. The art of grammar which treats of the letters and the art of spelling. 3. A drawing in correct projection, esp. and elevation."
I know a lot of people who treat spelling viciously. As for my own gifts, I think the "art of spelling" fits nicely.
Last month’s workshop on translation principles was a great help to the team. We recently loaded the translation software in 'H's' computer, so that he can work on translation as well (as soon as he knows better the orthography of his language). Up to now, 'H' has only worked on back translations into the official language, in preparation for meetings with a consultant. However, this would be the first time that he does actual translation. In principle, having two translators working at the same time on different passages will help the work to move along faster. In any case, please be in prayer that 'A' and 'H' would learn the orthography of their language quickly, and that they would work well together as a team.
I will be in prayer. But I am fascinated by the word "orthography." What does it mean?
Ortho, my office Webster's New International Second Edition Unabridged ("WSI") tells me, is from the Greek "orthos meaning straight, upright, right, true, hence, also correct, regular."
Thus, ortho-doxa, orthodox, a right opinion; ortho-dontia, straight teeth; finally, ortho-graphy, writing correctly, or as WSI continues:
"1. The art of writing words with the proper letters, according to standard usage; correct spelling; also, mode of spelling; as vicious orthography. 2. The art of grammar which treats of the letters and the art of spelling. 3. A drawing in correct projection, esp. and elevation."
I know a lot of people who treat spelling viciously. As for my own gifts, I think the "art of spelling" fits nicely.
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Overtown Diabetics Group
The Herald calls it "ground zero" for the troubled Jackson Health System. I would suggest it is ground zero for the American health system.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
What Free Market?
Friday's WSJ front-page headline reads "Cheers and Skepticism Greet European Deal." I took a deep breath this afternoon and read both of the articles linked to this headline, one datelined Berlin and the other Brussels. More required reading lives inside Section A of the paper (yes, I still prefer that hard copy. Sorry.). There I learned again of Credit Default Swaps or CDSs. These are financial instruments bought and sold in what the WSJ calls a "default insurance market," a "vast market in which banks, hedge funds and investors trade insurance against debt defaults." Debt like Greek government bonds.
The deal worked out by "euro-zone leaders" games the CDSs by skirting the technical definition of default in these contracts by defining the principal reduction that is required of lenders as "voluntary." So, then, your house is burning down and the government and your insurance company are making a deal that will give you pennies on each dollar of insurance you thought covered your risk. And you had better take it voluntarily, or find your government not very helpful in providing the permits to rebuild your home, assuming you otherwise have the money to do so.
The price that banks charge for their loans is less expensive where they can hedge in an unhindered default insurance market. Now that the market has been gamed, it will be more expensive for borrowers to get financing for ventures that will grow the European economy. The economy may grow again. Someday. But it will be much slower.
The deal worked out by "euro-zone leaders" games the CDSs by skirting the technical definition of default in these contracts by defining the principal reduction that is required of lenders as "voluntary." So, then, your house is burning down and the government and your insurance company are making a deal that will give you pennies on each dollar of insurance you thought covered your risk. And you had better take it voluntarily, or find your government not very helpful in providing the permits to rebuild your home, assuming you otherwise have the money to do so.
The price that banks charge for their loans is less expensive where they can hedge in an unhindered default insurance market. Now that the market has been gamed, it will be more expensive for borrowers to get financing for ventures that will grow the European economy. The economy may grow again. Someday. But it will be much slower.
Meat Glue, the McRib, and Other Reasons To Eat Plant-Based
Even bacon-loving Glenn Reynolds is getting concerned.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Rebuilding Soldiers and Marines
Terry Gross of NPR's "Fresh Air" interviews veteran combat reporter David Wood about the catastrophic injuries suffered by our soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan and the remarkable ways in which some are "rebuilt" and, sadly, some are not. The interview is fascinating and moving. The link takes you to an amazing podcast and related resources.
Looks Like Mary is in for Some Weather this Weekend
But maybe she's out of the direct path of this storm.
Post-Christendom vs. Post-Christian
I used "post-Christian" with Gary Cameron of IVCF at our Friday morning breakfast, in referring to our culture. He prefers "post-Christendom" rather than "post-Christian." Is that a distinction with a difference? He thinks so. Does "post-Christendom" refer to a loss of cultural hegemony, where "post-Christian" simply means the culture no longer has a certain proportion of Christians in it? I'm not sure about the distinction.
Friday, October 28, 2011
"Thy Will be Done"
It struck me this morning what this part of the Lord's prayer is about.
For my entire lifetime until now, I thought it meant that somehow my prayer was facilitating God's will being done.
This week, however, I have been thinking a good bit about God's sovereignty. This morning the light bulb finally went on about this part of the prayer. It is an expression of one's submission to God's will. Because God's will will be done, whatever I think or I pray. That's not the issue being addressed, whether it will be done or not. The issue is whether I will acknowledge him as truly, thoroughly, absolutely God and will therefore acknowledge my submission to his will.
For my entire lifetime until now, I thought it meant that somehow my prayer was facilitating God's will being done.
This week, however, I have been thinking a good bit about God's sovereignty. This morning the light bulb finally went on about this part of the prayer. It is an expression of one's submission to God's will. Because God's will will be done, whatever I think or I pray. That's not the issue being addressed, whether it will be done or not. The issue is whether I will acknowledge him as truly, thoroughly, absolutely God and will therefore acknowledge my submission to his will.
"Toddler Hit by Truck and Ignored Sheds Light on China's Moral Dilemma... "
From a blog post by Carlos Espinosa. Carlos is one of Juan's friends at Little Flower Catholic Church, where Juan and his family attend. The video is really tough to watch, but you can get the point from what Carlos writes about the matter.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Hooray!
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its first estimate of third-quarter GDP growth. The economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent. Certainly, considerable headwinds remain, but the recovery is intact.
It pays to keep a clear head and stick to the actual data. For several months now, while panic has reigned in the streets and markets, we have been saying that the U.S. economy is sound and that there was little chance of a recession any time soon. Our proprietary business-cycle indicators have consistently painted a picture of slow but continuing growth.
-from an email I received today from the AIER.
It pays to keep a clear head and stick to the actual data. For several months now, while panic has reigned in the streets and markets, we have been saying that the U.S. economy is sound and that there was little chance of a recession any time soon. Our proprietary business-cycle indicators have consistently painted a picture of slow but continuing growth.
-from an email I received today from the AIER.
Miami as Modern Day Ephesus
A casino bigger than the ones in Vegas.
Tony Villamil, an economist hired by Genting [the Casino firm], noted the company plans to let guests use casino debit cards at restaurants and other businesses off the Resorts World property. “It’s not a box where you simply put a casino,’’ he said. “It’s tied in and integrated to the rest of [the] community.”
"[T]ied in and integrated to the rest of the community?" That's just great!
Tony Villamil, an economist hired by Genting [the Casino firm], noted the company plans to let guests use casino debit cards at restaurants and other businesses off the Resorts World property. “It’s not a box where you simply put a casino,’’ he said. “It’s tied in and integrated to the rest of [the] community.”
"[T]ied in and integrated to the rest of the community?" That's just great!
Fixing Man's Brokeness with Economic Policy
"Nobody should take for granted another 50 years of peace and prosperity in Europe. They are not for granted. That's why I say: If the euro fails, Europe fails," Merkel said, followed by a long applause from all political groups.
"We have a historical obligation: To protect by all means Europe's unification process begun by our forefathers after centuries of hatred and blood spill. None of us can foresee what the consequences would be if we were to fail."
"It cannot be that sometime in the future they say the political generation responsible for Europe in the second decade of the 21 century has failed in the face of history," the chancellor continued.
-Germany's Merkel
(When I was a teenager, it was already "post-Christian Europe" among Southern Baptists. Did I say Southern Baptists? It was post-Christian Europe among the Pilgrims.)
"We have a historical obligation: To protect by all means Europe's unification process begun by our forefathers after centuries of hatred and blood spill. None of us can foresee what the consequences would be if we were to fail."
"It cannot be that sometime in the future they say the political generation responsible for Europe in the second decade of the 21 century has failed in the face of history," the chancellor continued.
-Germany's Merkel
(When I was a teenager, it was already "post-Christian Europe" among Southern Baptists. Did I say Southern Baptists? It was post-Christian Europe among the Pilgrims.)
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Theology that Conquered the American Wilderness
[Solomon] Stoddard [Jonathan Edwards' grandfather] put the case for an absolute divinity who chooses one man rather than another solely because He pleases, and who still would be a God of mercy "if it had pleased him never to have exercised any."
-from Perry Miller's Jonathan Edwards, which I read in college and which I am reading again.
-from Perry Miller's Jonathan Edwards, which I read in college and which I am reading again.
Jensen Farms Cantelope Outbreak Kills 29
Twenty-nine dead (including a miscarriage); 133 confirmed ill; 98% of victims hospitalized, according to the latest CDC figures released yesterday (October 25th).
-More here.
-More here.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
French Ambassador to Britain Calls Israel a "Shitty Little Country"
More evidence that two and a half centuries of war and emigration have essentially bled out a once great nation.
Glenn, so Funny!
Here at Glennz.com.
So what's the real story here? Maybe what happens to an American child when his parents see that he is interested in detonating water balloons. Or what the government will soon require of parents to protect their children from dangerous water balloons.
Electromagnetic Communication Between Brain Hemispheres (Updated)
Even when not connected. (Thanks, Kurzweil)
Will my brain, then, communicate with Carol's? They are often in close proximity as they are with the brains of no one else. And what about a mother with her new born or her pre-born? What about twins in the womb? Mary in Rochester and I in Miami? What if we live in a sea of thoughts?
And what about James 5:16b?
Will my brain, then, communicate with Carol's? They are often in close proximity as they are with the brains of no one else. And what about a mother with her new born or her pre-born? What about twins in the womb? Mary in Rochester and I in Miami? What if we live in a sea of thoughts?
And what about James 5:16b?
Monday, October 24, 2011
A Prophet at the Miami Herald
Before the onside kick ever bounced off the grass, off a Dolphin, back onto the grass and into the arms of a Denver Bronco, Tim Tebow and his receiver Demaryius Thomas talked and prayed.
Prayed just for the opportunity to win the game against the winless Dolphins and avoid torturous embarrassment for at least a week.
“We sat together on the sideline, talked and prayed,” Thomas said. “I just saw it in his face, his want-to.”
That prayer, of course, had no bearing on how the football bounced.
-Israel Gutierrez, Sportswriter for the Herald, writing about Denver's victory over the Dolphins yesterday.
Prayed just for the opportunity to win the game against the winless Dolphins and avoid torturous embarrassment for at least a week.
“We sat together on the sideline, talked and prayed,” Thomas said. “I just saw it in his face, his want-to.”
That prayer, of course, had no bearing on how the football bounced.
-Israel Gutierrez, Sportswriter for the Herald, writing about Denver's victory over the Dolphins yesterday.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Tebow!
Denver beats Miami in overtime!
Of course I like the Dolphins, but their season is toast. They would do well to lose the rest of their games so they could get a franchise quality quarterback in the draft.
As to Tebow, unbelievers remain (and understandably so).
Did you wince when, during the still-on-the-field post-game interview, he said, "First, I would like to thank my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ"? Then he immediately thanked his teammates and down-played his own role.
What if he had said, "First, I would like to thank [insert any of the following numbered alternatives or your idea of another source of success to which he could point]?"
1. His intrinsic moral worth
2. His genes
3. His parents
4. Natural Selection
5. The Fates
6. Random circumstance
7. God
8. Chaos
Compared to these alternatives (or your alternative), just what would be wrong with crediting Jesus, if you were looking at matters objectively. That is, from the standpoint of the authority to which or to whom you would want successful sports figures to point, what would be wrong with Jesus? I'm not asking what is wrong with the history of Christianity, the Hundred Years War, the Crusades, the Inquisition, Colonial Salem, or Ante-Bellum, Southern Presbyterian slave-owners. I am not even asking what's wrong with Christians. I'm asking about what's wrong with Jesus. What would the world be like if other leaders in our culture thought that Jesus was a model for them and a source of their success and they behaved in a way that is consistent with their model?
Christians, at least, dare not wince.
Of course I like the Dolphins, but their season is toast. They would do well to lose the rest of their games so they could get a franchise quality quarterback in the draft.
As to Tebow, unbelievers remain (and understandably so).
Did you wince when, during the still-on-the-field post-game interview, he said, "First, I would like to thank my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ"? Then he immediately thanked his teammates and down-played his own role.
What if he had said, "First, I would like to thank [insert any of the following numbered alternatives or your idea of another source of success to which he could point]?"
1. His intrinsic moral worth
2. His genes
3. His parents
4. Natural Selection
5. The Fates
6. Random circumstance
7. God
8. Chaos
Compared to these alternatives (or your alternative), just what would be wrong with crediting Jesus, if you were looking at matters objectively. That is, from the standpoint of the authority to which or to whom you would want successful sports figures to point, what would be wrong with Jesus? I'm not asking what is wrong with the history of Christianity, the Hundred Years War, the Crusades, the Inquisition, Colonial Salem, or Ante-Bellum, Southern Presbyterian slave-owners. I am not even asking what's wrong with Christians. I'm asking about what's wrong with Jesus. What would the world be like if other leaders in our culture thought that Jesus was a model for them and a source of their success and they behaved in a way that is consistent with their model?
Christians, at least, dare not wince.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 20, 2011
FL's Hurricane Fund $3.2B Short
The Herald reports that if a major hurricane hits Florida (or several smaller ones), the government sponsored insurance fund will not have nearly enough money to keep its promise to pay for the damage. Private insurance companies have pretty much withdrawn from the market or at least limited whom it will insure, because the state government limits what a private company may charge for premiums or otherwise interferes with coverage design.
The insurance coverage problem has been the case since Hurricane Andrew. What is "news" about the Herald report is that some experts looked at the problem anew and, lo and behold, it is even worse now.
Part of the problem is that the banks will not finance the acquisition of real estate without the coverage. The banks make money loaning money, however, and the state government wants Florida's real estate market to thrive. So, then, let's pretend that we have an insurance company of some sort that will supply that coverage.
There are a number of "let's pretend" games that our corporatist governments, state and federal, play. For example, let's pretend that real estate values will only go up; let's pretend that the key to social and economic success at the individual level is that a person "owns" his own home; let's pretend that owning one's home is the same as owning a small and volatile slice of equity in one's own home; let's pretend that people will tell the truth on their loan applications and that the bank's mortgage agent will not turn a blind-eye to the lies (after all, the loans will be packaged and sold to people in the rest of the world, like China sells its sickening wallboard). Government is full of "let's pretend" games. Furthermore, it's OK to play these games, because the taxpayer will indemnify any losses that occur.
PS: The Florida legislature has been dominated by the Republican Party for years and the Governor's mansion occupied by people from that party, not that the Democrats would have done any better. It's not the party, however, regardless of the posturing by the Republicans. It is the space in our economy we permit these people to occupy. As Pogo says, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
The insurance coverage problem has been the case since Hurricane Andrew. What is "news" about the Herald report is that some experts looked at the problem anew and, lo and behold, it is even worse now.
Part of the problem is that the banks will not finance the acquisition of real estate without the coverage. The banks make money loaning money, however, and the state government wants Florida's real estate market to thrive. So, then, let's pretend that we have an insurance company of some sort that will supply that coverage.
There are a number of "let's pretend" games that our corporatist governments, state and federal, play. For example, let's pretend that real estate values will only go up; let's pretend that the key to social and economic success at the individual level is that a person "owns" his own home; let's pretend that owning one's home is the same as owning a small and volatile slice of equity in one's own home; let's pretend that people will tell the truth on their loan applications and that the bank's mortgage agent will not turn a blind-eye to the lies (after all, the loans will be packaged and sold to people in the rest of the world, like China sells its sickening wallboard). Government is full of "let's pretend" games. Furthermore, it's OK to play these games, because the taxpayer will indemnify any losses that occur.
PS: The Florida legislature has been dominated by the Republican Party for years and the Governor's mansion occupied by people from that party, not that the Democrats would have done any better. It's not the party, however, regardless of the posturing by the Republicans. It is the space in our economy we permit these people to occupy. As Pogo says, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Glennz Hits Another Home Run
Glenn entitles this "Outfished," and that's clever enough.
It is even deeper (pun intended), of course. It is a marvelous metaphor for the perils of not watching your back (and right side, left side, the over, and the under). Or of being mistaken about just who it is who benignly seems to be backing you up or, as we might say, "behind you." Or of thinking that where you "are" is an unconditionally safe place, one without risk, a place in which you need be aware only of the next item of gratification that seems so near to your mouth.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
"The 'Monumental Stupidity' of Alternative Medicine"
You mean Steve Jobs didn't have to die?
When I was being treated for NHL, I learned of a missionary home on leave with the same diagnosis. A contemporary. I went for CHOP (the standard chemo at the time - monoclonal antibodies were just in the experimental stage) and prayer. He went for "macrobiotics" and prayer. He died. I lived.
Just correlations maybe. His NHL may have been far worse than mine from the outset.
Still.
(I do remember absolutely despising the way the prednizone made me feel. Prednizone is the "P" in CHOP. A lovely woman in my support group suffered heart damage from the chemo. People died in the group - half of them, which was about what the 5 year survival rate was then.)
When I was being treated for NHL, I learned of a missionary home on leave with the same diagnosis. A contemporary. I went for CHOP (the standard chemo at the time - monoclonal antibodies were just in the experimental stage) and prayer. He went for "macrobiotics" and prayer. He died. I lived.
Just correlations maybe. His NHL may have been far worse than mine from the outset.
Still.
(I do remember absolutely despising the way the prednizone made me feel. Prednizone is the "P" in CHOP. A lovely woman in my support group suffered heart damage from the chemo. People died in the group - half of them, which was about what the 5 year survival rate was then.)
"Gender Reassignment" Costs and the Tax Code
The United States Tax Court held last year that "gender identity disorder" is a disease and that the costs of hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery were medical expenses under Code section 213(a), thus qualifying for an income tax deduction and, if a third party pays those expenses, exclusion from the gift tax. (However, the court held that the cost of breast augmentation surgery was not covered because there was a lack of evidence in the case in question that such surgery treated the taxpayer's gender disorder.)
Here's a post on the case at the TaxProg blog. There is a link to the actual Tax Court opinion at that post.
Perhaps this strikes you as outrageous. Perhaps not. But this is simply another example of social engineering that is all over the Internal Revenue Code, its Regulations, and the court cases that apply the Code. We can differ, of course, on whether the engineering is benign or not in a given case. But why should there be any at all, since so much of it (if not all of it) is value driven? Let's get such engineering out of the Code, both "good" and "bad."
But what about the charitable deduction I get for my tithe? My mortgage deduction? What about the pastor's housing allowance? Etc.
What about it, I say. Why should all Americans, regardless of regious affiliation or none at all, subsidize my religious choices? Or renters my housing choices?
Here's a post on the case at the TaxProg blog. There is a link to the actual Tax Court opinion at that post.
Perhaps this strikes you as outrageous. Perhaps not. But this is simply another example of social engineering that is all over the Internal Revenue Code, its Regulations, and the court cases that apply the Code. We can differ, of course, on whether the engineering is benign or not in a given case. But why should there be any at all, since so much of it (if not all of it) is value driven? Let's get such engineering out of the Code, both "good" and "bad."
But what about the charitable deduction I get for my tithe? My mortgage deduction? What about the pastor's housing allowance? Etc.
What about it, I say. Why should all Americans, regardless of regious affiliation or none at all, subsidize my religious choices? Or renters my housing choices?
Thursday, October 13, 2011
But What About Fish?
Today I had a business lunch and one of the people with whom I ate noticed what I ordered (pasta primavera, whole wheat pasta with a tomato sauce and as little oil as possible and all the fresh veggies the kitchen had mixed in). She asked if I was a "vegetarian" and I said "vegan." She said that "for protein" she mainly eats fish, and I said something nice. Empty. But nice.
My concern with fish - other than the problem of it not being plant-based - is the problem of mercury contamination.
Today, the Forks over Knives facebook page linked to this article. It lists nine other reasons not to eat fish, in addition to the mercury problem. It grossed me out pretty much.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
It's All Coming Together
Tebow is starting for the Broncos at their next game. The Broncos have a by-week this week. Their next game is against the Dolphins on October 23, here at Joe Robbie ("Sun Life") Stadium.
That is the very game during which the Dolphins organization will, during half-time, recognize the Gators and their 2009-2009 National Champion football team. Tebow was the quarterback on that team.
The Miami Herald reports that Tebow "will not be asked . . . to participate in the half-time ceremony."
That is the very game during which the Dolphins organization will, during half-time, recognize the Gators and their 2009-2009 National Champion football team. Tebow was the quarterback on that team.
The Miami Herald reports that Tebow "will not be asked . . . to participate in the half-time ceremony."
Monday, October 10, 2011
Legoland Comes to Florida
Another reason to visit the 'Parents.
Opening October 15 near Orlando.
One half hour from Lake Kissimmee State Park.
Opening October 15 near Orlando.
One half hour from Lake Kissimmee State Park.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
Mark Achtemier's Presbytery Ordains Practicing Homosexual
We became acquainted with Elizabeth Achtemier, the Presbyterian minister and denominational leader, not personally but through our many years of attending the Christian Life Conference in Montreat. Now deceased, she was the sort of solid, orthodox person who helped maintain the backbone of the fading PC(USA). Her son, Mark, another PC(USA) minister and a teacher at Dubuque seminary, seemed to be similarly orthodox and to give some hope for the future of the denomination. But in 2009, the Presbterian Outlook celebrated his "surprising" affirmation of the legitimacy of the homosexual alternative in an article that included the following:
Mark Achtemeier, an evangelical theology professor from Iowa, is in many ways an unlikely candidate for radical change. He’s a white, middle-aged Presbyterian father and husband who grew up in the church, the son of Biblical scholars.
But Achtemeier, to his own surprise, has made a trek through uncertain land over the last eight years, a journey from life-long certainty that homosexuality is “a kind of destructive addiction” to what he is today: a man who sees the Holy Spirit leading the church to “a new and better place,” and who thinks that gays and lesbians should be able to marry and be ordained.
In the kick-off plenary of the 2009 Covenant Network of Presbyterians meeting last month, Achtemeier gave his testimony, telling the story of his journey in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), from a man who grew up sure that homosexual practice was wrong to one who now sees God working in the committed relationships of his gay and lesbian friends and in the faithfulness of their lives.
Yet some things have not changed.
“If there is one thing I want to emphasize above all else in this testimony, it is that this journey has not involved any kind of retreat or qualification of my strong commitment to the authority of Scripture, the Lordship of Christ, and the belief that God calls people to lives of personal holiness,” Achtemeier told the Covenant Network. “I come to you today as an out, self-affirming, practicing conservative evangelical.”
But Achtemeier, who was a member of the PC(USA)’s Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church — told of a journey both personal and theological, and to him deeply surprising.
“I cannot get around the fact that it was a God thing,” he said during a question-and-answer period.
This morning the Sun-Sentinel ran in its print edition, an article published yesterday in the LA times, under the headline "Presbyterian Church to Ordain First Openly Gay Minister." The article states in part:
[T]oday, [Mark] Achtemeier will deliver a sermon at the ordination of his friend, Scott Anderson, who will become the first openly gay minister in the church after the very restrictions Achtemeier once advocated were abolished.
In July, the Presbyterian Church USA amended its constitution to allow gay and lesbians to serve as ministers and lay leaders. With the move, the 2.3 million-member church became the fourth mainline Protestant denomination to allow gay ordination, following the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran churches and the United Church of Christ.
I checked Google News and found that the LA Times article is being republished by newspapers across the country. The left has anointed a poster-child for PC(USA) ordination and it is not the person being ordained by a commission that includes Mark Achtemeier. It is Achtemeier himself. This diabolical strategy (a phrase I use advisedly) seeks to replicate Achtimeier's "journey" or transition from a middle-class, white, cradle Presbyterian, and Orthodox believer to something else again.
Mark Achtemeier, an evangelical theology professor from Iowa, is in many ways an unlikely candidate for radical change. He’s a white, middle-aged Presbyterian father and husband who grew up in the church, the son of Biblical scholars.
But Achtemeier, to his own surprise, has made a trek through uncertain land over the last eight years, a journey from life-long certainty that homosexuality is “a kind of destructive addiction” to what he is today: a man who sees the Holy Spirit leading the church to “a new and better place,” and who thinks that gays and lesbians should be able to marry and be ordained.
In the kick-off plenary of the 2009 Covenant Network of Presbyterians meeting last month, Achtemeier gave his testimony, telling the story of his journey in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), from a man who grew up sure that homosexual practice was wrong to one who now sees God working in the committed relationships of his gay and lesbian friends and in the faithfulness of their lives.
Yet some things have not changed.
“If there is one thing I want to emphasize above all else in this testimony, it is that this journey has not involved any kind of retreat or qualification of my strong commitment to the authority of Scripture, the Lordship of Christ, and the belief that God calls people to lives of personal holiness,” Achtemeier told the Covenant Network. “I come to you today as an out, self-affirming, practicing conservative evangelical.”
But Achtemeier, who was a member of the PC(USA)’s Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church — told of a journey both personal and theological, and to him deeply surprising.
“I cannot get around the fact that it was a God thing,” he said during a question-and-answer period.
This morning the Sun-Sentinel ran in its print edition, an article published yesterday in the LA times, under the headline "Presbyterian Church to Ordain First Openly Gay Minister." The article states in part:
[T]oday, [Mark] Achtemeier will deliver a sermon at the ordination of his friend, Scott Anderson, who will become the first openly gay minister in the church after the very restrictions Achtemeier once advocated were abolished.
In July, the Presbyterian Church USA amended its constitution to allow gay and lesbians to serve as ministers and lay leaders. With the move, the 2.3 million-member church became the fourth mainline Protestant denomination to allow gay ordination, following the Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran churches and the United Church of Christ.
I checked Google News and found that the LA Times article is being republished by newspapers across the country. The left has anointed a poster-child for PC(USA) ordination and it is not the person being ordained by a commission that includes Mark Achtemeier. It is Achtemeier himself. This diabolical strategy (a phrase I use advisedly) seeks to replicate Achtimeier's "journey" or transition from a middle-class, white, cradle Presbyterian, and Orthodox believer to something else again.
Thursday, October 06, 2011
Japanese Commuters Moving to Bicycles
I like the "high-end park-and-shower" facilities that are helping this trend. (Thanks for the link, Instapundit.)
(Maybe Austin is a place to introduce a business like this.)
Years ago, I seriously considered this option. The shower problem and the sheer danger discouraged commuting downtown, but I did bike to the Metro-Rail station for years.
Think about how transformative a significant adoption by Americans of plant-based diets and greater bicycle use would be.
(Maybe Austin is a place to introduce a business like this.)
Years ago, I seriously considered this option. The shower problem and the sheer danger discouraged commuting downtown, but I did bike to the Metro-Rail station for years.
Think about how transformative a significant adoption by Americans of plant-based diets and greater bicycle use would be.
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
GIANT ALIEN SNAILS INVADE MIAMI-DADE!
I am not making this up.
From the article: "Florida is the land of opportunity when it comes to invasive exotics," Mr Gaskalla said.
Well, yeah!
From the article: "Florida is the land of opportunity when it comes to invasive exotics," Mr Gaskalla said.
Well, yeah!
Monday, October 03, 2011
Surprise!
The WSJ reports this morning that a "Senate Panel found that the U.S.'s three largest home-health companies tailored the care they provided to Medicare patients to maximize their reimbursements."
What till you see what the "largest" medical service delivery companies/insurers, etc., will do with ObamaCare.
At the risk of resurrecting a tired old slogan, why don't we think about restoring power to the people to make their medical decisions. And then letting people bear the consequences of those decisions, so that it is a real decision and not make believe.
What till you see what the "largest" medical service delivery companies/insurers, etc., will do with ObamaCare.
At the risk of resurrecting a tired old slogan, why don't we think about restoring power to the people to make their medical decisions. And then letting people bear the consequences of those decisions, so that it is a real decision and not make believe.
Saturday, October 01, 2011
Sick Employees Cost Us
Dr. McDougall's latest newsletter has an article that argues that the Standard American Diet compromises our competiveness on the world stage, because it makes us sick and less productive. So, then, it is not just the high cost of group health insurance premiums. It's those lost days and inefficient hours on the job.
This is certainly our experience at our law firm. That is, we have had employees over the years whom we like very much, who are faithful and smart, but whose illnesses have compromised their productivity. We know what they eat, and they don't eat well at all. There are other things in their lives, but this is a very obvious factor.
Dr. McDougall writes, in part:
The downhill spiral for the American worker must be stopped, and there is no better place to start than at the dinner table. Replacing the current animal-food-based diet with a starch-based diet will return workers to a productive state of health, almost overnight. You, personally, do not have to wait to be saved by another government-sponsored stimulus program. Take control, get back your health, get off medications, and away from frequent visits to doctors, laboratories, and hospitals. Switching from beef and butter to beans and barley will cut your personal food bill too, from $14 to $3 a day today. That would mean a $44 a day savings for a family of four, which equates to an extra $1,300 a month saved on food alone.
This is certainly our experience at our law firm. That is, we have had employees over the years whom we like very much, who are faithful and smart, but whose illnesses have compromised their productivity. We know what they eat, and they don't eat well at all. There are other things in their lives, but this is a very obvious factor.
Dr. McDougall writes, in part:
The downhill spiral for the American worker must be stopped, and there is no better place to start than at the dinner table. Replacing the current animal-food-based diet with a starch-based diet will return workers to a productive state of health, almost overnight. You, personally, do not have to wait to be saved by another government-sponsored stimulus program. Take control, get back your health, get off medications, and away from frequent visits to doctors, laboratories, and hospitals. Switching from beef and butter to beans and barley will cut your personal food bill too, from $14 to $3 a day today. That would mean a $44 a day savings for a family of four, which equates to an extra $1,300 a month saved on food alone.
That Bad Government Loan Aside, What Happened to Solyndra?
The market happened to Solyndra, as the prices of the competing, standard solar panel, built in China and heavily subsidized by its government, simply plunged during the recession. (The price of high-grade silicon, according to the linked-to LA Times article, went from $1,000 a pound to less than $100.)
If our government is going to subsidize industry, then I suggest that it retain as consultants the masters of the technique, the Chinese government itself, import docile, subsistence wage labor (actually we tend to do that with our easy border access, the genius of which approach is that the people who use that access are "illegal" so that they do not qualify for government benefits, making them - and us - more like the Chinese than we might like to think), and create a free zone of government regulation of all sorts, including but certainly not limited to environmental and safety regulations. We might also think about taking the lid off the small number of visas we extend annually (via lottery) to highly qualified people from other countries who want to come and live here or foreign graduates of our universities, which institutions we also subsidize, who would like to stay.
If our government is going to subsidize industry, then I suggest that it retain as consultants the masters of the technique, the Chinese government itself, import docile, subsistence wage labor (actually we tend to do that with our easy border access, the genius of which approach is that the people who use that access are "illegal" so that they do not qualify for government benefits, making them - and us - more like the Chinese than we might like to think), and create a free zone of government regulation of all sorts, including but certainly not limited to environmental and safety regulations. We might also think about taking the lid off the small number of visas we extend annually (via lottery) to highly qualified people from other countries who want to come and live here or foreign graduates of our universities, which institutions we also subsidize, who would like to stay.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Carol and Mary Ann at the Engine 2 Immersion Weekend with the Esselstyns
The gentleman on the right, Caldwell Esselstyn MD, is the father of the gentleman on the left, Rip Esselstyn.
Caldwell Esselstyn MD is 13 years older than I. I want to look like him 13 years from now.
I want to look like him 7 years from now.
I want to look like him right now.
I'm going to lose 5 pounds. Then I may lose 5 more. Then I may lose down to my weight when I graduated from high school.
(By the way, Carol and M.A. already look great! Keep on the journey!)
"The Science of Shacking Up"
The title of CT's review of the new book, The Ring Makes All the Difference: The Hidden Consequences of Cohabitation and the Strong Benefits of Marriage.
The CT review is actually an interview of the author, Caryn Rivadeneira. I love her comment on the popular idea that cohabitation helps people marry the "right person," especially what she says about Hauerwas' view:
Stanley Hauerwas, an ethicist at Duke, says that we always marry the wrong person. The sooner young couples can understand that, the better off they'll be. I hear young couples say, "You mean you don't want us to be soul mates?" But nobody marries his or her soul mate. You become soul mates by living life together through those years.
So often cohabiters are looking, in the first year, for what comes only after years—decades!—of life together. You are setting yourself up for dramatic disappointment if you think life works that way.
(More on Hauerwas on sex, marriage, politics, and love here.)
The CT review is actually an interview of the author, Caryn Rivadeneira. I love her comment on the popular idea that cohabitation helps people marry the "right person," especially what she says about Hauerwas' view:
Stanley Hauerwas, an ethicist at Duke, says that we always marry the wrong person. The sooner young couples can understand that, the better off they'll be. I hear young couples say, "You mean you don't want us to be soul mates?" But nobody marries his or her soul mate. You become soul mates by living life together through those years.
So often cohabiters are looking, in the first year, for what comes only after years—decades!—of life together. You are setting yourself up for dramatic disappointment if you think life works that way.
(More on Hauerwas on sex, marriage, politics, and love here.)
Billboard in Green Bay
I think the word is Chutzpa.
(Click on the photo to get a clearer view.)
This is from the website of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Best Apples for Baking
Here is a post that mentions "Lady Hamilton" apples. Two weekends ago we visited Mary in NY, took a road trip and picked some delicious apples at a grove just to the west of Lake Seneca, up the slope from the water. I thought the person at the grove with whom we dealt said the apples in her grove were "Hamiltons." Carol remembers Mary saying they were "Burgandies." In any event, they were simply delicious and we picked a peck of them. I'll post a photo soon.
Politics vs. the Administrative State
Great article from the September 2011 issue of Hillsdale College's "Imprimis" by Edward J. Erler, professor of political science at California State University, San Bernadino.
From the article:
One of the proofs offered in the Declaration of Independence that King George was attempting to establish an “absolute Tyranny” over the American colonies was the fact that “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.” Obamacare certainly fits the description of the activities denounced in the Declaration. The number of regulations and the horde of administrators necessary to execute the scheme are staggering. We have only to think here of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. It is a commission of 15 members appointed by the President, charged with the task of reducing Medicare spending. This commission has rule-making power which carries the force of law. The Senate, it is true, will have the power to override its decisions—but only with a three-fifths majority. There are no procedures that allow citizens or doctors to appeal the Board’s decisions. The administrative state—here in the guise of providing health care for all—will surely reduce the people under a kind of tyranny that will insinuate itself into all aspects of American life, destroying liberty by stages until liberty itself becomes only a distant memory.
From the article:
One of the proofs offered in the Declaration of Independence that King George was attempting to establish an “absolute Tyranny” over the American colonies was the fact that “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.” Obamacare certainly fits the description of the activities denounced in the Declaration. The number of regulations and the horde of administrators necessary to execute the scheme are staggering. We have only to think here of the Independent Payment Advisory Board. It is a commission of 15 members appointed by the President, charged with the task of reducing Medicare spending. This commission has rule-making power which carries the force of law. The Senate, it is true, will have the power to override its decisions—but only with a three-fifths majority. There are no procedures that allow citizens or doctors to appeal the Board’s decisions. The administrative state—here in the guise of providing health care for all—will surely reduce the people under a kind of tyranny that will insinuate itself into all aspects of American life, destroying liberty by stages until liberty itself becomes only a distant memory.
Leaving the PC(USA)?
Van is set on our leaving the PC(USA). For one thing, the strong, more conservative churches in our Presbytery all appear to be leaving. What will Presbytery look like when that happens, the question is posed. It can't be good, the answer is given. Our little church would find itself in a "liberal" Presbytery and in a denomination where the Left has finally triumphed after decades of struggle. We had better get on board.
Probably similar preparations to leave are being made by more orthodox churches all over the denomination. The thinking among these churches, as Van tells it, is that they need to come out now, before the next General Assembly meeting, when the ability of individual churches to leave will be further restricted.
On Tuesday of this week I attended as a commissioner the September meeting of our Presbytery. The main agenda item was the adoption of a procedure providing for a "gracious" (easy) method for a church to leave our Presbytery "with its property." Since there is still a majority of conservative churches in our Presbytery, the measure would surely pass, and it did. The commissioners from churches already intending to leave were not disqualified from voting. In any event, the measure passed with only one delegate voting against it. What were the other churches thinking?
The most interesting parts of a Presbytery meeting are the conversations at the site before the session begins, during lunch, and thereafter, before we go home. At the lunch, I sat with two black delegates with whom I have served on COM for several years. After everyone else at the table left, we continued to sit together; we talked about what is going to happen to our Presbytery. (Mainly I listened.) The more outspoken of the two described what was about to happen as "the rich white churches are pulling out, leaving the poor minority churches behind." (She prefaced these words with "Apologies to Paul, but . . . ") I said to her, "Arlene, you know our church has people of color" and she said something like, "Paul, I'm not including your church in all this."
But I must say that it was instructive to see how the movement of the conservative churches out of the denomination is seen by this African-American. She remarked on how few if any of the "big, rich, white churches" had any people of color in them, especially none in leadership.
After the Presbytery meeting, I spoke with the pastor and two elders of a Cuban-American church in Miami-Dade. I knew them and their church pretty well, because I had been the COM's liaison with them as they were rebuilding, following a tough several years. I represented the COM at the installation of their new pastor a couple of years ago. I sat through several of their Session meetings, conducted in Spanish of course. (Every few minutes a speaker would stop and ask me if they needed to translate what had just been said. Sometimes yes.)
I asked them what their church intended to do, but I already knew that the Latin churches would be staying in. The three confirmed that. Then the pastor said to me, "Oh, Paul, don't go. We need to be a prophetic voice for this denomination." This pastor is about 50 years old, and had been a minister in Cuba. She said that when Castro came to power, the church organizations were taken over by the Communists and many of the pastors joined the Party. A number of Christians left the organized church, "but, she said, there was a group who decided to stay in, to be a prophetic voice, and they were that voice."
We had a special meeting of our Session that evening to discuss the matter of our church leaving. I told these two stories. As to the second one, Van said something like, "Being a prophetic voice is a special call. One needs to be very sure that God is making that call."
So is the presumption that we don't usually get such calls? Is the burden, then, upon the believer to establish that there is a call? Is it that if one believes he is called to something special, especially if it against what the crowd has decided to do - then he must be very, very sure that it is really God doing the calling? That may be so. But if so, what is the weight of evidence required to rebut that presumption? Are two stories from Presbytery, a history of flourishing in a denomination already condemned as apostate by many evangelicals, and an emotional bias toward staying in place enough?
Doing a lot of praying here.
Probably similar preparations to leave are being made by more orthodox churches all over the denomination. The thinking among these churches, as Van tells it, is that they need to come out now, before the next General Assembly meeting, when the ability of individual churches to leave will be further restricted.
On Tuesday of this week I attended as a commissioner the September meeting of our Presbytery. The main agenda item was the adoption of a procedure providing for a "gracious" (easy) method for a church to leave our Presbytery "with its property." Since there is still a majority of conservative churches in our Presbytery, the measure would surely pass, and it did. The commissioners from churches already intending to leave were not disqualified from voting. In any event, the measure passed with only one delegate voting against it. What were the other churches thinking?
The most interesting parts of a Presbytery meeting are the conversations at the site before the session begins, during lunch, and thereafter, before we go home. At the lunch, I sat with two black delegates with whom I have served on COM for several years. After everyone else at the table left, we continued to sit together; we talked about what is going to happen to our Presbytery. (Mainly I listened.) The more outspoken of the two described what was about to happen as "the rich white churches are pulling out, leaving the poor minority churches behind." (She prefaced these words with "Apologies to Paul, but . . . ") I said to her, "Arlene, you know our church has people of color" and she said something like, "Paul, I'm not including your church in all this."
But I must say that it was instructive to see how the movement of the conservative churches out of the denomination is seen by this African-American. She remarked on how few if any of the "big, rich, white churches" had any people of color in them, especially none in leadership.
After the Presbytery meeting, I spoke with the pastor and two elders of a Cuban-American church in Miami-Dade. I knew them and their church pretty well, because I had been the COM's liaison with them as they were rebuilding, following a tough several years. I represented the COM at the installation of their new pastor a couple of years ago. I sat through several of their Session meetings, conducted in Spanish of course. (Every few minutes a speaker would stop and ask me if they needed to translate what had just been said. Sometimes yes.)
I asked them what their church intended to do, but I already knew that the Latin churches would be staying in. The three confirmed that. Then the pastor said to me, "Oh, Paul, don't go. We need to be a prophetic voice for this denomination." This pastor is about 50 years old, and had been a minister in Cuba. She said that when Castro came to power, the church organizations were taken over by the Communists and many of the pastors joined the Party. A number of Christians left the organized church, "but, she said, there was a group who decided to stay in, to be a prophetic voice, and they were that voice."
We had a special meeting of our Session that evening to discuss the matter of our church leaving. I told these two stories. As to the second one, Van said something like, "Being a prophetic voice is a special call. One needs to be very sure that God is making that call."
So is the presumption that we don't usually get such calls? Is the burden, then, upon the believer to establish that there is a call? Is it that if one believes he is called to something special, especially if it against what the crowd has decided to do - then he must be very, very sure that it is really God doing the calling? That may be so. But if so, what is the weight of evidence required to rebut that presumption? Are two stories from Presbytery, a history of flourishing in a denomination already condemned as apostate by many evangelicals, and an emotional bias toward staying in place enough?
Doing a lot of praying here.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Gators, the Heisman, and Presbyterians
Three of the four Heisman Trophy winners at the University of Florida were sons of Presbyterian ministers:
Steve Spurrier (1966),
Danny Wuerffel (1996), and
Tim Tebow (2007).
Steve Spurrier (1966),
Danny Wuerffel (1996), and
Tim Tebow (2007).
House Panel Launches Probe of Planned Parenthood
A Republican-led House committee has launched an investigation into Planned Parenthood, requesting a mountain of documents covering everything from audits to abortion-funding records to its policies on reporting sexual abuse.
In a move Democrats decried as "unfair and unjustified," Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., earlier this month wrote to Planned Parenthood informing them that the House Energy and Commerce Committee was looking at the group's "institutional practices and policies."
-from a report by FoxNews.com.
The wheels of justice grind slow, but . . .
In a move Democrats decried as "unfair and unjustified," Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., earlier this month wrote to Planned Parenthood informing them that the House Energy and Commerce Committee was looking at the group's "institutional practices and policies."
-from a report by FoxNews.com.
The wheels of justice grind slow, but . . .
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Bramwell, Netflix, Roku
Carol and I have enjoyed the transformation of Netflix into a sort of selective cable channel that is very inexpensive. Not only are there movies, but also older television series and among those series best of all are the Masterpiece Theater productions. Before starting a family, Carol and I were avid viewers of MP, when Alistair Cook introduced each episode. That was during the 70s, but as we became busier and busier, MP went by the way, as did TV itself, finally
But now here we are again, the two of us. With Netflix feeding into our TV set via Roku, we are catching up on 30 years of Masterpiece Theater.
Just now I viewed the first episode of Bramwell, a series about a young woman physician in London at the turn of 20th Century, making her way against the prejudice and ignorance of the male dominated profession. The first episode, hugely dramatic, was very entertaining. I can't watch any more of the episodes until Carol gets home from her weekend trip to Austin, and will go back and watch the first one again with her. This will be a series we will both enjoy. (Just don't tell Mary that the protagonist is a surgeon.)
But now here we are again, the two of us. With Netflix feeding into our TV set via Roku, we are catching up on 30 years of Masterpiece Theater.
Just now I viewed the first episode of Bramwell, a series about a young woman physician in London at the turn of 20th Century, making her way against the prejudice and ignorance of the male dominated profession. The first episode, hugely dramatic, was very entertaining. I can't watch any more of the episodes until Carol gets home from her weekend trip to Austin, and will go back and watch the first one again with her. This will be a series we will both enjoy. (Just don't tell Mary that the protagonist is a surgeon.)
GOP Stalwart Ros-Lehtinen Co-Sponsors "Respect for Marriage Act"
This legislation would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Representative Ros-Lehtinen voted for DOMA, which Herald columnist Fabioloa Santiago calls an "anti-gay measure," when that legislation was enacted in 1996.
As Santiago writes:
[W]hat a difference 15 years and parenting a child who is a member of the gay, lesbian and transgender community has made. In the last several years, Ros-Lehtinen has become a significant advocate of gay rights and her leadership, advocates say, has been crucial.
For Ros-Lehtinen, the move has been gradual, thoughtful, and painfully personal. Her daughter Amanda publicly came out as a transgender man named Rodrigo; he’s (sic) field organizer for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
On Friday, Ros-Lehtinen’s approach to her sponsorship was low-key. She declined to give interviews on her evolution on the issue of gay rights, saying she had too full an agenda, and her office didn’t issue a press release on her sponsorship of the bill but pointed to the release of others announcing it.
I like Ros-Lehtenin. She's a decent, hard-working Congressperson. I sympathize with her. A beloved member of my extended family is caught in this lifestyle, and I'm sure many families deal with this heart-breaking matter. The un-culture is toxic, and it grinds up people, young and old, marriages, politics, churches, almost everything it sometimes seems. But seemingly almost, I am careful to say. A redemptive force moves upon it. Maranatha!
As Santiago writes:
[W]hat a difference 15 years and parenting a child who is a member of the gay, lesbian and transgender community has made. In the last several years, Ros-Lehtinen has become a significant advocate of gay rights and her leadership, advocates say, has been crucial.
For Ros-Lehtinen, the move has been gradual, thoughtful, and painfully personal. Her daughter Amanda publicly came out as a transgender man named Rodrigo; he’s (sic) field organizer for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
On Friday, Ros-Lehtinen’s approach to her sponsorship was low-key. She declined to give interviews on her evolution on the issue of gay rights, saying she had too full an agenda, and her office didn’t issue a press release on her sponsorship of the bill but pointed to the release of others announcing it.
I like Ros-Lehtenin. She's a decent, hard-working Congressperson. I sympathize with her. A beloved member of my extended family is caught in this lifestyle, and I'm sure many families deal with this heart-breaking matter. The un-culture is toxic, and it grinds up people, young and old, marriages, politics, churches, almost everything it sometimes seems. But seemingly almost, I am careful to say. A redemptive force moves upon it. Maranatha!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
And You Can Grill the Portabellos, Dress Them Up in a Hamburger Bun Fit for a Texan (Provided the Texan's from Austin)
Mushrooms are about 80 percent water by weight, but the remaining 20 percent is packed with nutrients. One medium portabello mushroom has more potassium than a banana, and a 1/2-cup serving of most mushrooms has 20 to 40 percent of the daily value of copper, a mineral with cardioprotective properties.
Mushrooms are the only plant food that contains vitamin D. Shiitakes are the highest, with one cup yielding about 12 percent of the recommended daily value.
Shiitakes also contain lentinan, a polysaccharide (large carbohydrate) that boosts the immune system. Popular button mushrooms, have phytochemcials that inhibit the activity of aromatase, and thus have a role in breast cancer prevention in postmenopausal women. Rounding out the phytochemical trio are triterpenes, steroid-like molecules that inhibit histamine release and have anti-inflammatory properties.
All this nutritional firepower comes in an easy-on-the-waistline form: One cup of mushrooms has only 15 calories.
-from Sheah Rarback's column in today's Miami Herald.
Mushrooms are the only plant food that contains vitamin D. Shiitakes are the highest, with one cup yielding about 12 percent of the recommended daily value.
Shiitakes also contain lentinan, a polysaccharide (large carbohydrate) that boosts the immune system. Popular button mushrooms, have phytochemcials that inhibit the activity of aromatase, and thus have a role in breast cancer prevention in postmenopausal women. Rounding out the phytochemical trio are triterpenes, steroid-like molecules that inhibit histamine release and have anti-inflammatory properties.
All this nutritional firepower comes in an easy-on-the-waistline form: One cup of mushrooms has only 15 calories.
-from Sheah Rarback's column in today's Miami Herald.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Training-induced neural plasticity in golf novices
No wonder Mike is such a skillful physician. (Not that he is a golf novice.)
Raymond E. Brown, S.S., Ph.D
The preceding post, at it indicates, is an excerpt of a passage from Fr. Brown's first volume on the Gospel of John. The book's back cover describes him as "internationally regarded as a dean of New Testament Scholars." Wikipedia has a helpful entry on this author.
I had been looking for books to help me with our new study of the Gospel of John. Last week, in preparing for the first lesson, I used the web version of the NET Bible as a resource. One of its footnotes cited Brown, and I tracked him down. The First Edition of the NET Bible that Micki gave me includes Brown's two-volume work on the Gospel in its "List of Cited Works" on page 2463. I find it fascinating that the people who produced the NET Bible, a translation effort so closely connected with DTS, would be citing Brown, given his Roman Catholic background and his historical-critical approach: not only fascinating but commendable. I think I have found my reference books for this study.
I had been looking for books to help me with our new study of the Gospel of John. Last week, in preparing for the first lesson, I used the web version of the NET Bible as a resource. One of its footnotes cited Brown, and I tracked him down. The First Edition of the NET Bible that Micki gave me includes Brown's two-volume work on the Gospel in its "List of Cited Works" on page 2463. I find it fascinating that the people who produced the NET Bible, a translation effort so closely connected with DTS, would be citing Brown, given his Roman Catholic background and his historical-critical approach: not only fascinating but commendable. I think I have found my reference books for this study.
The Gospel of John - Beyond Skepticism
[T]he trend in Johannine studies has passed through an interesting cycle. At the end of the last century [the 19th century] and in the early years of this century [the 20th century], scholarship went through a period of extreme skepticism about this Gospel. John was dated very late, even to the second half of the 2nd century. As a product of the Hellenistic world, it was thought to be totally devoid of historical value and to have little relation to the Palestine of Jesus of Nazareth. The small kernel of fact in its pages was supposedly taken from the synoptic Gospels which served as the basis for the author’s elaborations. Needless to say, few critics thought that the Gospel according to John had the slightest connection with John son of Zebedee.
Some of these skeptical positions, especially those regarding authorship and the source of influence on the Gospel, are still maintained by many reputable scholars. Nevertheless, there is not one such position that has not been affected by a series of unexpected archaeological, documentary, and textual discoveries. These discoveries have led us to challenge intelligently the critical views that had almost become orthodox and to recognize how fragile was the base which supported the highly skeptical analysis of John. Consequently, since the Second World War there has emerged what Bishop John A. T. Robinson calls a "new look" in Johannine studies – a new look that shares much with the look once traditional in Christianity.
-Raymond E. Brown in his introduction to The Gospel According to John I-XII (Yale University Press 1995).
Some of these skeptical positions, especially those regarding authorship and the source of influence on the Gospel, are still maintained by many reputable scholars. Nevertheless, there is not one such position that has not been affected by a series of unexpected archaeological, documentary, and textual discoveries. These discoveries have led us to challenge intelligently the critical views that had almost become orthodox and to recognize how fragile was the base which supported the highly skeptical analysis of John. Consequently, since the Second World War there has emerged what Bishop John A. T. Robinson calls a "new look" in Johannine studies – a new look that shares much with the look once traditional in Christianity.
-Raymond E. Brown in his introduction to The Gospel According to John I-XII (Yale University Press 1995).
Remarks at a Funeral
Monday I went to the funeral of the grown son of an elderly client of mine. It was at a local United Methodist Church. The service had all the right scripture and the right hymns, but at one point the presiding minister said that when the son last visited the father "it was the last time they would ever see each other again." He said that without qualification.
Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, but it seems to me that if one has the perspective that a Christian ought to have, that is of the temporal nature of the present and the eternal nature of the life prepared for us by the Lord, you just wouldn't say anything like that. Furthermore, it was simply cruel.
Don't anyone dare say anything like that at my funeral. I'll be having a great time and looking forward to seeing you.
Maybe it was a slip of the tongue, but it seems to me that if one has the perspective that a Christian ought to have, that is of the temporal nature of the present and the eternal nature of the life prepared for us by the Lord, you just wouldn't say anything like that. Furthermore, it was simply cruel.
Don't anyone dare say anything like that at my funeral. I'll be having a great time and looking forward to seeing you.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
"In the beginning . . . "
Today is the first Sunday of our study of the Gospel of John. For the class text book we are using N.T. Wright's John for Everyone, Part One and Part Two, having had a very good time with him and his Paul for Everyone, Romans: Part One and Romans: Part Two, during our study of Romans.
From my bookshelf, I am using Godet's Commentary on John and G. Campbell Morgan's The Gospel According to John. Macon and Walter are leading a study of this gospel in their adult class in Austin. They are using the Wright books as well. In addition, Macon said that they are using the commentary on John by Bruce Milne from The Bible Speaks Today series, Calvin's Commentaries on John (the translators for which include the Torrances), and John Chrysostom's homilies on John.
I will also be digging into the NET Bible's website for help and also the helps at BibleGateway.com.
Turning to our lesson today, John 1:1-18, the connection between Genesis 1 and John 1:1 is obvious even without all of this learned assistance (as are all "those things [as far as Scripture is concerned, according to the Westminster Confession] which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation . . . "). But those "beginnings" are not quite the same. In Genesis, "the beginning" looks ahead, to creation. In John, "beginning" is broad enough to "look back" from creation, which is the best one can do, I think, in trying to distinguish the two uses of the noun. Of course, there is no time as we know it before the creation (was there?) but we are creatures caught in time. So I say that we "look back" from the beginning (or to the beginning?) in John 1:1. I liked this discussion of the problem in Godet:
"Several modern writers . . . understand by this beginning [the beginning in John 1:1] eternity. In fact, eternity is, not the temporal beginning, but the rational principle, of time. And it is in this sense that the word arche [Greek word for beginning] seems to be taken in Prov. 8:23: 'In the beginning, before creating the earth,' perhaps also in 1 John 1.1:'That which was from the beginning . . .' Indeed, as Weiss observes, the absolute beginning can be only the point from which our thought starts. Now such a point is not found in time, because we can always conceive in time a point anterior to that which we represent to ourselves. The absolute beginning at which our minds stop can therefore only be eternity a parte ante.
A child is aware of the problem and grapples with it. But grown-ups tired of such existential problems years ago. That's why they are called adults.
Child: "Dad, how did everything get here?"
Dad: "God created everything."
Child: "Who created God, Dad?"
Dad [turning back to the game]: "Uh . . . go ask your mom."
(Cf. Matt. 18:2-3)
From my bookshelf, I am using Godet's Commentary on John and G. Campbell Morgan's The Gospel According to John. Macon and Walter are leading a study of this gospel in their adult class in Austin. They are using the Wright books as well. In addition, Macon said that they are using the commentary on John by Bruce Milne from The Bible Speaks Today series, Calvin's Commentaries on John (the translators for which include the Torrances), and John Chrysostom's homilies on John.
I will also be digging into the NET Bible's website for help and also the helps at BibleGateway.com.
Turning to our lesson today, John 1:1-18, the connection between Genesis 1 and John 1:1 is obvious even without all of this learned assistance (as are all "those things [as far as Scripture is concerned, according to the Westminster Confession] which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation . . . "). But those "beginnings" are not quite the same. In Genesis, "the beginning" looks ahead, to creation. In John, "beginning" is broad enough to "look back" from creation, which is the best one can do, I think, in trying to distinguish the two uses of the noun. Of course, there is no time as we know it before the creation (was there?) but we are creatures caught in time. So I say that we "look back" from the beginning (or to the beginning?) in John 1:1. I liked this discussion of the problem in Godet:
"Several modern writers . . . understand by this beginning [the beginning in John 1:1] eternity. In fact, eternity is, not the temporal beginning, but the rational principle, of time. And it is in this sense that the word arche [Greek word for beginning] seems to be taken in Prov. 8:23: 'In the beginning, before creating the earth,' perhaps also in 1 John 1.1:'That which was from the beginning . . .' Indeed, as Weiss observes, the absolute beginning can be only the point from which our thought starts. Now such a point is not found in time, because we can always conceive in time a point anterior to that which we represent to ourselves. The absolute beginning at which our minds stop can therefore only be eternity a parte ante.
A child is aware of the problem and grapples with it. But grown-ups tired of such existential problems years ago. That's why they are called adults.
Child: "Dad, how did everything get here?"
Dad: "God created everything."
Child: "Who created God, Dad?"
Dad [turning back to the game]: "Uh . . . go ask your mom."
(Cf. Matt. 18:2-3)
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Friday, September 09, 2011
The French are Coming! Actually, they are already here.
At our Friday morning breakfast today, one of our number told us about a young French family that is buying a home near the Indian Creek area of Miami Beach. He said that a growing enclave of French ex-patriates exists in that area, especially of Parisians, who are leaving home on account of worsening crime in the city and the weakening Euro.
The immigration trends I have observed in Miami over the last 55 years have been a sort of rotation of peoples from among Latin American countries, from Cuba first (and then again and again), then Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil from time time time although not now of course, Columbia, Argentina, and, since Chavez, Venezuela. Now I believe we are beginning to see the flight of the middle and professional classes from Europe, a trend that I would think will widen.
The immigration trends I have observed in Miami over the last 55 years have been a sort of rotation of peoples from among Latin American countries, from Cuba first (and then again and again), then Nicaragua, El Salvador, Brazil from time time time although not now of course, Columbia, Argentina, and, since Chavez, Venezuela. Now I believe we are beginning to see the flight of the middle and professional classes from Europe, a trend that I would think will widen.
Instapundit Returns the Compliment
Here. (Then click the link on Glenn's blog.)
Carol said, "This is like having your name in the New York Times!" I'm not sure Glenn would like the comparison.
And besides, as to the NY Times, been there, done that.
Carol said, "This is like having your name in the New York Times!" I'm not sure Glenn would like the comparison.
And besides, as to the NY Times, been there, done that.
Thursday, September 08, 2011
Abraham Lincoln Quotes
Carol recived these Abraham Lincoln quotations in an email she received from an Associate of Legal Administrators speaker she heard a few months ago:
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
--Abraham Lincoln
" I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can; and I
mean to keep on doing so until the end."
--Abraham Lincoln
"I don't like that man. I’m going to have to get to know him better."
--Abraham Lincoln
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
--Abraham Lincoln
"America will never be destroyed from outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves"
--Abraham Lincoln
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by
those who hustle."
--Abraham Lincoln
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."
--Abraham Lincoln
" I do the very best I know how -- the very best I can; and I
mean to keep on doing so until the end."
--Abraham Lincoln
"I don't like that man. I’m going to have to get to know him better."
--Abraham Lincoln
"I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go."
--Abraham Lincoln
"America will never be destroyed from outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves"
--Abraham Lincoln
"Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by
those who hustle."
--Abraham Lincoln
Monday, September 05, 2011
Inflorescence: Our Fishtail Palm Blooms
I've never seen this from our palm. It's a spectacular inflorescence.
Sunday, September 04, 2011
Herzlich Survives the Cut
Cancer survivor Mark Herzlich made the New York Giants’ roster after being signed as a free agent out of Boston College. The linebacker, who beat a rare form of bone cancer in college, was on the bubble — and still may be as teams search the waiver wire—but he’s on the Giants’ roster for now.
“Herzlich didn’t bat an eye the whole camp,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “Physically, he did everything you asked and more. I saw him improve literally week by week.”
-from the AP this morning, via Yahoo!Sports
He'll make it.
“Herzlich didn’t bat an eye the whole camp,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “Physically, he did everything you asked and more. I saw him improve literally week by week.”
-from the AP this morning, via Yahoo!Sports
He'll make it.
Saturday, September 03, 2011
"Let the Chips Fall, Mr. Stokes"
Among the teachers I had a Duke, a few were unforgettable. I can remember specific conversations I had with those few. Things they said, in the context they said them, are not far away in my memory, even 45 years later.
Instapundit links to a column by a college professor entitled The Amazing Colossal Syllabus. He reports that he must spoon-feed detailed, written instructions to his students at the beginning of the term on what he expects of them in his reading and writing assignments, that is to say, he has to do a good bit of threshold thinking for his students because they, having been fed on the "thin gruel" of high school education, would be lost if he were simply to assign the books for the semester and require the students write essays on them.
I remember the first day of an upper level American History course at Duke, taught by Anne Firor Scott, a fantastic teacher. She announced a research assignment in words that were few in comparison to the weight of the assignment. It was my first course with her. She was a young professor and already a giant in the department. I had a small reputation as a student, and she knew who I was. I was insecure that first day of class, as usual, insecure about how I was going to do in the course generally and, specifically, about what she wanted on the assignment.
As soon as the class came to a formal end, I approached Dr. Scott and started to politely cross-examine her on the assignment. She cut me off, looked at me directly, and said firmly, "Let the chips fall, Mr. Stokes."
I immediately "got it." Rather than being even more concerned that I didn't know what the assignment was, I was liberated by those words. She wanted me to tell her what I thought about the readings and the subject matter. A large part of my assignment was that I was to devise it. I was free to think for myself. She trusted me. I smiled and said, "OK! Thanks!"
Instapundit links to a column by a college professor entitled The Amazing Colossal Syllabus. He reports that he must spoon-feed detailed, written instructions to his students at the beginning of the term on what he expects of them in his reading and writing assignments, that is to say, he has to do a good bit of threshold thinking for his students because they, having been fed on the "thin gruel" of high school education, would be lost if he were simply to assign the books for the semester and require the students write essays on them.
I remember the first day of an upper level American History course at Duke, taught by Anne Firor Scott, a fantastic teacher. She announced a research assignment in words that were few in comparison to the weight of the assignment. It was my first course with her. She was a young professor and already a giant in the department. I had a small reputation as a student, and she knew who I was. I was insecure that first day of class, as usual, insecure about how I was going to do in the course generally and, specifically, about what she wanted on the assignment.
As soon as the class came to a formal end, I approached Dr. Scott and started to politely cross-examine her on the assignment. She cut me off, looked at me directly, and said firmly, "Let the chips fall, Mr. Stokes."
I immediately "got it." Rather than being even more concerned that I didn't know what the assignment was, I was liberated by those words. She wanted me to tell her what I thought about the readings and the subject matter. A large part of my assignment was that I was to devise it. I was free to think for myself. She trusted me. I smiled and said, "OK! Thanks!"
Friday, September 02, 2011
Still Praying, But I Think It's Time to Go
The recent decision to change our ordination standards is a rejection of Scripture and tradition as understood by more than one billion Roman Catholics. It is also an offense to more than 300 million Eastern Orthodox in their various communities in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and around the globe.
Western Christianity has been the “superpower” of the Christian world for more than a thousand years. Across the centuries we were able to define what it meant to be a Christian. This is no longer the case. As is well-known, the numerical center of the Christian world has moved South and East. That “global South” is becoming more and more important for the larger body of Christ and they (along with the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) will see us as having departed from Scripture and tradition as the Church everywhere has known it for two millennia. Our relationships with them are now freshly damaged.
-from "A Tale of Elephants and the Mouse: Presbyterians, 10-A, and the World Church," By Ken Bailey, Author and Lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies, New Wilmington, PA
(Thanks, Sean)
Western Christianity has been the “superpower” of the Christian world for more than a thousand years. Across the centuries we were able to define what it meant to be a Christian. This is no longer the case. As is well-known, the numerical center of the Christian world has moved South and East. That “global South” is becoming more and more important for the larger body of Christ and they (along with the Catholics and Eastern Orthodox) will see us as having departed from Scripture and tradition as the Church everywhere has known it for two millennia. Our relationships with them are now freshly damaged.
-from "A Tale of Elephants and the Mouse: Presbyterians, 10-A, and the World Church," By Ken Bailey, Author and Lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies, New Wilmington, PA
(Thanks, Sean)
Thursday, September 01, 2011
The Burritos Friends-with-Benefits Place on Flagler
Today Carol and I had lunch at a semi-fast, Mexican food place on Flagler Street called Lime. It opened several months ago, and has been very successful. So we visited today for the first time and tried their veggie burritos. (They were OK, but it's really hard to beat the rice-and-beans Vegetarian TropiChop at Pollo Tropico for half the price.)
Lime's had several hip signs (its ambiance is South Beach), and one of them was "Think of us as 'a friend with benefits'." Carol was not impressed. But that got us talking about how shredded to pieces was the idea of "marriage" (or, as the priest said in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" mawidge). There is so little dignity left of marriage among such a large portion of the Millineals that "friendship" is not only disconnected from it but, when connected with physical intimacy, stands on its own, and is held in greater esteem at that. Plus sex is fun and without consequence, right? So, then, Lime can sell more burritos by invoking the relationship institution of the decade.
When did marriage get so disconnected from friendship? I thought it was a gateway to greater and surer friendship, with the benefits immeasurably enhanced, at least potentially. What happened? How did we get this way?
Lime's had several hip signs (its ambiance is South Beach), and one of them was "Think of us as 'a friend with benefits'." Carol was not impressed. But that got us talking about how shredded to pieces was the idea of "marriage" (or, as the priest said in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" mawidge). There is so little dignity left of marriage among such a large portion of the Millineals that "friendship" is not only disconnected from it but, when connected with physical intimacy, stands on its own, and is held in greater esteem at that. Plus sex is fun and without consequence, right? So, then, Lime can sell more burritos by invoking the relationship institution of the decade.
When did marriage get so disconnected from friendship? I thought it was a gateway to greater and surer friendship, with the benefits immeasurably enhanced, at least potentially. What happened? How did we get this way?
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