Just Some Links Today

Posted on 4 November, 2011 by Jon Gleason

A Year Ago — I stumbled on this, and know nothing of the author, but this is thought-provoking.  A reminder that this life is only temporary.

Don Johnson linked to Michael Riley’s excellent article (which I had missed) on cultural skepticism.  If you immediately think the suggestion that we shouldn’t drive cars is insane, you need to read this (and no, I’m not anti-car, we own two of them).  The point is not cars, but the final paragraph.  I would suggest his last sentence overstates the point (maybe I’ll have time to elaborate further at some point), but his primary point is excellent, and I hope you’ll read it and think about it.

Glad I Didn’t Walk Away — going out of your way a bit, saving a life.  Not emphasised in the article — there was a risk the thugs could come back.  There is a risk that they will try to hunt him down when they get out of prison.  Blair Tinline is a hero.

Kirk Losing Ministers — more ministers have left the Church of Scotland because of their position on gay ministers.

Greece is Slipping into the Abyss — to run up massive debts is to steal from our children — or from Gran.  Eventually, it hits home, and when it hits home, the whole society pays.  You can’t say, “We’re spending to protect the most vulnerable in society.”  The most vulnerable are the ones who will really, really suffer when the house of cards collapses.  The UK is still running up billions in debt.  Sometime, it will come home to roost.

OWS and Anglican Confusion — Julian Mann (an Anglican minister) on the fiasco at St. Paul’s in London, and what it says about liberal Anglicanism.  For what it’s worth, I heard one preacher say that OWS is “Selfish People Protesting the Success of Other Selfish People”. 🙂

Mez McConnell provides a good laugh.  I hope that sign was the pastor’s idea, rather than the deacons’.

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Shall We Clap?

Posted on 3 November, 2011 by Jon Gleason

God’s people have met to worship together.  There is prayer, congregational singing, Bible reading, perhaps testimonies of God’s goodness, mutual encouragement, and teaching from the Word of God.  As some point during the time together, the musicians come forward, and sing a song of praise to the Lord, while the congregation listens.  When the music dies away, as is the practice in our culture, their audience applauds — or do they?  What do the Scriptures say?

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The Pilgrim Life

Posted on 2 November, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Continuing my series of sermons on I Peter.

Tried With Fire — I Peter

#4 THE PILGRIM LIFE (2:11-25)

I Peter was written to those who are facing fiery trials. We have looked in the previous chapter at the fact that we have been chosen to be strangers, or foreigners, scattered in this world.  The trials that we face are simply part of a larger picture — this world is not our home.

As we looked at the first part of chapter two, we saw some of the ways that God has prepared and equipped us for suffering.  Now, as we look at the second part of the chapter, we will see Peter returning to the fact that we are pilgrims, and instructing us in some of the aspects of this Pilgrim Life to which we have been called.

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Halloween

Posted on 1 November, 2011 by Jon Gleason

I wanted to post this when I saw it in the news yesterday.  I dared not, because I’d have probably been blamed for any delay :).  But now baby has safely arrived!  Praise the Lord, both he and his mum are fine!  (No, not MY baby, except in the sense that he belongs a little bit to everyone in our church.)  Anyway, now I can post it.

Births drop on Halloween.  Apparently, there is a hormonal connection between a woman’s desire to give birth (or not give birth) on a particular day, and the actual timing of the birth.  Births drop by 11% on 31 October, and are up by 5% on Valentine’s Day.

So why in the world is a pastor blogging about this?  For me, as we rejoice in the birth of a new little one, it also served as a reminder of how little we understand about the amazing process by which our God gives life.  Scientists study things, and learn so much, and then a door opens to new facts, and they discover that there are immense areas of knowledge about which they were entirely clueless.  This is not true only of birth, but about everything.  Our God, in infinite wisdom and knowledge, has assembled a glorious creation, and delights in our discoveries of things He knew about before they were even made.

News reports like this should cause us to humble ourselves before the Creator, acknowledging just how far above and beyond us He truly is.

One more (totally unrelated) take away thought.  If you, as a believer, have ever wondered whether your family should take part in Halloween, you might think about the last two paragraphs of that news report.  Our family always gives it a miss.

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Difficulties of Bible Translation

Posted on 1 November, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Dr. Mark Snoeberger has an excellent article on one of the difficulties in translating the Bible (or anything else) from one language into another language.  He uses technical terms, but he explains them.  (Just to be clear, parataxis is NOT talking about two taxis driving in parallel lines :)).  Since I am bad at kicking a ball into a net, I appreciate his explanation (now, you HAVE to go read it to see what in the world I’m talking about).

Sunday, I began a series of sermons I’ve titled “That Book in Your Hand”, on Bibliology (the study of what the Scriptures are and how they came to us).  Dr. Snoeberger’s post is extremely relevant, because unless you read Greek and Hebrew, “That Book in Your Hand” is a translation.

A few words about his closing paragraph, about the NIV translation:

Does the NIV sometimes engage in “interpretation” or in “eliminating words”? Sure. Every translation does. The NIV just does these things with more self-conscious deliberation than other translations. But this does not make it a bad translation.

I agree that every translation does these things — the very nature of translation requires it.  However, I’m not sure why he thinks the deliberation of the NIV translators was “more self-conscious” than that of other translators.  My endorsement of his article is not an endorsement of this final paragraph.  The more I have studied the Scriptures, the less and less enthusiastic I have become about the NIV translation.  I’ll explain more as I continue my sermon series and blog about it over the coming weeks.

UPDATE:  I asked Dr. Snoeberger, and he explained his “more self-conscious deliberation” statement in his comments.

UPDATE again:  Part Two.

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Motivated by the Promise of His Coming — Series Summary

Posted on 31 October, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Series Introduction

Acts 1:9-11

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

I have appreciated Pastor Markle’s work on this series in part, as I said previously, because I have become convinced that prophetic teaching in Scripture is not primarily intended to give us a time-line of future events, but rather to motivate us to live today in a way that pleases the Lord.  I wanted to summarise this into a bullet-point list.

This listing of Pastor Markle’s points should serve two purposes.  First, the sheer volume of motivational instruction linked to prophecy in the New Testament provides, for me at least, a memorable demonstration of the need to apply prophetic teaching today.  May we never again approach prophetic Scriptures with a mindset of academic curiosity about future events, but rather with a humble desire to learn what God would have us do today.  Second, by putting the instructions into concise points, that which has been previously explained may sink into our hearts with an impact which differs from the way it teaches us as it is explained.

I have linked to each of the nine parts in the series in the list below, so that you can click through and read Pastor Markle’s thoughts on each point.  I have also added a new category for this series so you can click on the category and pull up each post in the series.

Without further ado, then, the motivational message of Christ’s return, from the New Testament:

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Ready for Suffering

Posted on 28 October, 2011 by Jon Gleason

Continuing my series of sermons on I Peter.

Tried With Fire — I Peter

#3 READY FOR SUFFERING (2:1-10)

I Peter was written to those who are facing fiery trials. We have looked in the previous chapter at the fact that we have been chosen to be strangers, or foreigners, scattered in this world.  The trials that we face are simply part of a larger picture — this world is not our home.  We should not be surprised by trials, for we are foreigners, nor should we be dismayed, because they are part of a glorious inheritance we have received as God’s children.

As we look now at chapter two of I Peter, we see that God has specially prepared us for the sufferings of this life.

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