Psalm 6

What I find most interesting about this psalm is the reason given for God's help. It wasn't ultimately for David's sake, or even the nation's. It was for God's,since dead men can't praise him.

People were made for God, not God for people.

Something else you should never do with Scripture

You are not in the Bible. At least it's very unlikely you are.

Then why do you pretend that everyone in it shares your opinions? Especially God?

When the higher criticism really took off, it was led by 19th century German seminary professors. Not surprisingly, when this group of people began to look for "the historical Jesus", they found one that thought and acted just like a 19th century German seminary professor. Everyone from the Church of Rome to American fundamentalists have found that the "real" Jesus perfectly agrees with them. The only way that's possible is that people are reading their own beliefs into Scripture, rather than getting them from it.

And it's not like I'm innocent. I'm a 21st century white male American, and that's how I read the Bible. Being born in a particular time and place means that I think a particular way. The best I or anyone else can hope for is to read in as little as possible.

Good thing we have God to help us.

Psalm 5

We're told that God hates bloodthirsty men, and it's hard to think of anyone who lived more by the sword than David.

How do we reconcile these two? First we need to realize that it wasn't his nature to kill people. He did what he did because he had to. Second, we have to understand that David was only carrying out the decrees of God, who had called for the destruction of the Canaanites hundreds of years before.

Review: FABLES VOL. 1 by Bill Willingham and Lan Medina

This is a "graphic novel" as the term is commonly used, a collection of several issues of a comic book that comprise a single story. In this case the first five issues are collected, and the story is a murder mystery.

Bill Willingham, the series' creator and writer, has built a sprawling world that amazingly feels complete in the first few pages. The chief advantage of a mystery is that it allows for the introduction of many characters and personalities, and Willingham uses it to great advantage. Throughout the investigation and various related scenes he introduces numerous characters and subplots that often don't come to fruition for several years. It's a very well-written book.

Lan Medina's art leaves me a little more conflicted. Taken alone, it's very good, but it suffers in comparison to the art of Mark Buckinghham,who became the series' regular artist with issue six. Medina's realistic, almost journalistic style is very different from Buckinghham's and from the future look of the book, but if the worst thing that can be said about the art is that it gets even better, then that's some pretty good art.

So if the story's good and the art's good, then I must recommend it, right? There are a few reasons why I don't. The first is the foul language. To go with that "adult language" are some "adult situations" involving both sex and violence. It never feels pornographic, but it does feel gratuitous. That's too bad, because other than that it's possibly the best-written comic book being published. As it stands, though, I can't recommend it, nor do I plan to read more.

Psalm 4

Anger is not a sin. Even God gets angry sometimes. It's the normal reaction to having one's will thwarted or opposed. Of course everyone should be angry sometimes. It's how we're designed.

That's why David could say, "Be angry, and do not sin."

Review: RELATIVITY: THE SPECIAL AND GENERAL THEORIES by Albert Einstein

Just a mention of the Theory of Relativity or of Albert Einstein is enough to scare most people. It scared me for a long time. When I finally read it, though, I found out it wasn't that scary at all. 

This is a short book, and entirely lacking in math until the end. That was my biggest fear; math has never come easily to me, and I just never learned to do anything beyond basic algebra. It turns out, though, that most of the book is a word picture, and is not that hard to follow.

I'm not saying that I'm as smart as Einstein. I'm saying that he communicated his ideas very clearly, which is also a sign of genius, since it doesn't matter what you think if you can't tell people. This is an idea that, like evolution, has been taken out of its context and applied where it was never meant to be. It's a foundational idea of Western culture, though, and as such needs to be understood. I recommend it.

Psalm 3

God doesn't just fight for his people. Sometimes he hides them.

In Exodus 15 Moses declared, "The LORD is a warrior." While he's not less than that, he's definitely more. He's also a refuge, a tower, and a loving father. He defends his people, but he also cares for them.

The fifth commandment

12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

-- Exodus 20.12, ESV

As with most things, it's easier to say what this commandment doesn't mean than what it does. The most important thing it doesn't mean, and the biggest misconception, involves obedience. Neither here nor anywhere else in Scripture are we told to obey our parents blindly. When you're young you should of course obey them, but when you're grown you're supposed to stand on your own two feet.

Psalm 2

Rant and rave all you want, but God'll do what he wants anyway.

God's not in the business of keeping people happy. As I've said many times, he's not running for God. He's already omni-everything, so unless you are too there's no point in arguing with him.

Review: DESIRING GOD by John Piper

This is the linchpin of Piper's ministry, and apparently the key to his whole way of thinking.  It lays out what he means by Christian hedonism, which is simply enjoying God. Unfortunately, his belief in finding one's joy in God (very good) is tied up with his Calvinism (not as good).

This is a difficult book to recommend. On one hand, it's very well-written and interesting, and I always learn something from Piper's books and sermons. On the other, I can only do that by ignoring a lot of what he says. Calvinism is simply repugnant to me. In the end, I can only recommend it very cautiously, asking the reader to take the time to separate Piper's message from his presuppositions.

Psalm 1

God will reward the good, and punish the evil.

Really, there isn't much to this psalm beyond that. In some ways it acts as an introduction to the book,showing us God and what he does. It also lets us know that though the wicked seem to do alright in this world, they still have to face the judgment of God.

Something you should never do with Scripture

Never just assume things have always meant what they do now.

The Bible's apparent endorsement of slavery is a good example. When most of us think of slavery, we naturally think of the system that prevailed in America until the Civil War, in which Africans were kidnapped and forced to work for white people. If the Bible defends that, then it deserves to be rejected.

But it doesn't. It's true that Scripture doesn't speak out against slavery, but slavery among the ancient Hebrews and Romans was very different from that practiced in 19th century America. Besides that, kidnapping and forced labor are condemned.

There are plenty of other examples; I chose that one because it's a popular reason for rejecting Christ, and frankly because it's easy to refute. It still takes a little work, but God has never rewarded laziness.

Review: OISHINBO A LA CARTE VOL. 1: JAPANESE CUISINE

Oishinbo is a long-running manga (Japanese comic) about Japanese food. Though I have no desire to eat it -- most of it sounds pretty disgusting to me -- I like the manga. In recent years it's been repackaged for Americans by not only translating it, but by collecting stories with similar themes into volumes.

The story centers around Yamaoka, a newspaper reporter and gourmet who's been assigned the task of putting together an "Ultimate Menu". As far as I know it was never completed, so it's hard to believe he'd be employed there very long, but the menu project is just an excuse to tell stories about cuisine.

The art is reminiscent of many manga from the 70s and 80s, in that the characters are simple and cartoonish, and the backgrounds more detailed. The food in particular is carefully rendered,which makes sense given that it's the real star of the book.

Overall, I found the book very interesting and entertaining, and I recommend it.

I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU!) by Stephen Colbert

When I was younger I thought humor excused everything. I believed anything could be forgiven as long as it was funny, an attitude I kept well into my 30s. I was wrong, of course. I have no doubt that many very funny people will be in Hell after Judgment Day. And that's a fact that makes me profoundly sad.

Stephen Colbert is a genuinely funny man, and his alter ego, a parody of right-wing talk show hosts who is also named Stephen Colbert, is even funnier. Unfortunately, both sometimes resort to foul language and gutter humor to make their points.

This is Colbert's first book, and in many ways it's his best. I would have loved it when I was 30, but now I don't recommend it.

The fourth commandment

8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,  10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

-- Exodus 20.8-11

One day a week. That's what God wants. And it's not as if it's some grievous tax on our time. God didn't tell his people to spend the day crawling through frozen mud under barbed wire. He said to take a day off. It wasn't a day people couldn't work; it was a day they got to relax.

Job 42

Job is justified, but not mollified. God apparently takes his side against his friends, but upon seeing God Job can only repent. Job is declared righteous, and has the opportunity to question God, but never gets his answer.

Remember the theme of the book: God is God, and Job is not.

Psalms starts on Monday.

Review: THE FIVE LAWS OF THE KINGDOM by David Bercot

By now I've read a lot of books by Bercot, and I've liked them all. This one is no exception, and I recommend it.

Job 41

Leviathan is described to illustrate the power of God.

It's described as terrible beyond imagining, but completely under the control of God. Whoever could tame such a beast must have been extremely powerful, and that's who Job wanted to challenge.

Hallelujah is not a magic word

We tend to throw biblical words into everything in an almost superstitious way. If we hear or see an ancient Hebrew or Koine Greek, we hold it in reverential awe.

Guess what? There's nothing magic about ancient Hebrew. "Hallelujah" or however you spell it just means "Praise God". The best explanation of "Amen" I've ever heard is that it means "I wish I'd said that." There's certainly nothing wrong with using words like that, but let's stop pretending that Hebrew is some kind of special, secret language.

I've heard ad nauseam that biblical Greek is a richer language than English, as evidenced by the fact that it has four words for "love" while English has only one. This is simply not true. Even if there were only one, our language has hundreds of thousands of adjectives to modify it.

Though there is no doubt something special about these languages, if only because God chose to reveal himself in them. That's no reason to fetishize them, though.

Job 40

The second verse of this chapter answers the problem of evil.

If you don't know what I mean by the problem of evil, it's best summed up by the question,"Why do bad things happen?" If God is all-powerful and all-good, how is there evil? This isn't the best answer, but it's an answer.

Review: CONFESSION OF FAITH IN A MENNONITE PERSPECTIVE by Herald Press

This is a small book, but that just highlights a problem with it: it's a book.

It's so long because it's so vague, and it's vague because it tries to offend no one. This is the statement of faith of the Mennonite Church USA,  which is one of the more liberal of the 20 billion or so Mennonite denominations.

In trying to say something to everyone, it ends up saying nothing at all. I don't recommend it.

Job 39

This chapter consists of more unanswerable questions, this time focusing on the animal kingdom. These questions are meant to lead to one inescapable conclusion:

God is God, and Job is not.

Review: A FULL LIFE by Jimmy Carter

This is a memoir of sorts, focusing on the years since his presidency and what he's helped accomplished in that time. The standard line is that he's been a far better ex-president than a president, but in this case it seems true.

I've never understood why people who say they're Christians have always despised Jimmy Carter. After a lot of thought and after reading this, I think I might have it. First off, he's a Democrat, and some professing Christians would reject Jesus Christ if he was a Democrat. In addition, he seems to be a lot more liberal than his public image would suggest.

Where his attitudes match Scripture, they have to be accepted; where they don't, they have to be rejected. I recommend it cautiously.

Job 38

It isn't one of his friends Job faces in this chapter, but God.

He basically tells Job, "Okay, bigshot. You think you're tall enough for this ride? Then I'll be happy to answer your questions, as soon as you answer some of mine." (That's my own translation, which I don't expect to catch on.)

The third commandment

7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

-- Exodus 20.7, ESV 

This commandment, like the others, has less to do with following rules and more about how a person lives. I used to know someone who thought he was obeying this commandment because he always said "got-damn" and so was not breaking it. He was wrong, because God has never been about technical obedience. Instead, he loves people and wants them to love him back.

Job 37

Elihu asks Job to think about the majesty of God. Have you ever done that? It's not something I've ever made a habit of. But think about it. God made every tree, every flower, every molecule of Earth. Astrophysicists like to say we're all made of star-stuff, but even if that were true, God still made the star-stuff.

And that's the one who wants to get to know you.

Review: SCOTT PILGRIM COLOR VOL. 1: PRECIOUS LITTLE LIFE

Though originally published in black and white, the six volumes of Scott Pilgrim have been rereleased in color. While the colors are deep and saturated, they're also subtle, well-chosen, and true to life. Unlike many colorized comics, this is never garish; instead, it looks natural, as if it were always this way. All told, it's a very good coloring job.

Since this is a comic book -- the first one that I read that earned the name "graphic novel" -- the art is almost as important as the story. Unfortunately, I don't have have high expectations when it comes to to art in independent comics, and even my low expectations are seldom met. This is better than most, and the colors help a great deal, but the characters tend to run together.

If I'm positive on the colors and negative on the art, the story leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand it's engaging, complex, and very well-written. On the other, I approach a story from a certain perspective, and it's not one that I share with O'Malley. This, simply put, is not a Christian story.

Regardless of how well something is written, it has to be asked whether it leads a person closer to God. This doesn't, so I can't recommend it.

Job 36

God gives people what they deserve.

That's Elihu's rather simplistic argument in this chapter. The problem is that it's not quite right, and we know it. We've all known decent people who were poor or who died young, and bad ones who seem to do just fine. Not everyone gets what they deserve in this life.

Why I'm not a Calvinist, even though I probably should be

I wrote a couple of years ago about my biggest problem with Calvinism (hint: it rhymes with "evangelism"). I still don't embrace what are euphemistically called the doctrines of grace; if anything, I've moved farther away.

Note that this doesn't mean that I'm denying either God's sovereignty or his grace. It also doesn't mean that I'm Arminian or any kind of Pelagian, which are words used mostly by Calvinists for people who disagree with them. For anyone who doesn't know, Calvinism, or Reformed theology, is often summed up in English by the acronym TULIP.

T -- Total depravity. People are born bad, and everything they do is tinged with self-serving evil.

U -- Unconditional election. God chose who to save regardless of what they would do or not do.

L -- Limited atonement. Christ only died for those he'd decided to save.

I -- Irresistible grace. Since God is stronger than everyone else, he'll save people against their Willard.

P -- Perseverance on the saints. People who are saved will stay saved.

If I've misrepresented any of the Five Points, I hope someone will tell me.

Since I've stopped trying to believe in eternal security (functionally identical to perseverance of the saints), I can honestly say I don't hold to any of the petals of the TULIP. The first only partially right, and the others are just wrong.

But why should I hold to them? Why do I say I probably should be a Calvinist? To start with, most of my favorite preachers, authors, and teachers are Calvinists, though that's partly explained by the fact that Calvinists never stop talking or writing, and partly by the fact that they tend to be very careful biblical scholars ... about everything but Calvinism.

Add to that that Birmingham has a very high percentage of Presbyterians for a Southern city (Presbyterians are descended from Scottish Calvinists), that most of my education as a Southern Baptist was during the Calvinist revival of the early 21st century, and that the majority of people I've spent time talking with about this sort of thing at least lean toward Calvinism.

Really, I can't think of any natural reason why I'm not Reformed. I can only thank God.

As for objections to Calvinism, other than the issue of evangelism, the biggest problem I have is that it just isn't in Scripture. Since Calvinists have always maintained that their system is eminently biblical, give me just a second to explain myself.

My objection is twofold. First, specific examples don't necessarily indicate general rules. The Bible is clear, for example, that God planned Joseph's life, but it doesn't say he did it for everybody and everything.

Second, the Bible is not a commentary on Romans. Too many people read the Letter to the Romans through a particular lens and then try to make the rest of the Bible fit that understanding. I'm pretty sure that isn't how Scripture should be approached.

There are a lot of differences between a Calvinistic understanding of the world and my own. It's still an in-house debate, though; it's hardly a sin leading unto death.

Review: WHAT HE NEEDS TO BE ... IF HE WANTS TO MARRY MY DAUGHTER by Voddie Baucham, Jr.

I originally wanted to read this for two reasons: because i like the way Voddie Baucham expresses himself, and because i have daughters. I was interested to see what he had to say on the subject. I was surprised to learn that it was about more than the title suggested; instead, it's a manifesto for biblical manhood.

Please don't misunderstand me. This is not about arranged marriages. Nor is it about controlling or oppressing women. Rather it's about teaching our daughters to expect more, to be excellent women who seek out excellent men. It's about being a good father, not by the world's standard, but by God's.

There isn't much else to say. I thought this was a very good book, and I recommend it.

Job 32

Elihu was the youngest of the four friends who came to comfort Job, and as such waits for his friends to speak. When they weren't able to rebuke Job, Elihu lost his temper,

After all, it was God's honor at stake.

Job 35

The biggest difference between God and man is that God doesn't need man. The inverse isn't true.

That seems to be the essence of Elihu's argument so far. Everything he's said to this point has boiled down to one thing: God is God, and Job is not.

Job 34

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, and Job has absolutely no right complaining.

That's the essence of what Elihu says in this chapter. He confronts Job with what he sees as his own hypocrisy. If his starting point had been right, it seems he would have been a fearless advocate for God. But it wasn't. 

Review: HAVE THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITINGS BEEN TAMPERED WITH? by David Bercot

Throughout his decades as a writer and teacher, Bercot has relied heavily on the writings of the Ante-Nicene Church, from about 100AD to 325AD. This begs the question: are they reliable?

In his usual careful fashion Bercot investigates the question, presents his evidence, and comes to a conclusion. Not surprisingly, he decides they can be trusted. Given how much he's used them, that was perhaps a foregone conclusion, but this book depends less on where he ends up than on how he gets there.

Regular readers know that I like Bercot's work. I like this one too, though it's more about methodology than anything. Regardless of what it's about, though, I still recommend it.

Job 33

Elihu preaches the gospel.

Not exactly, but close. His biggest problem -- though not what was missing from what was almost a presentation of the gospel -- is his assumption of Job's guilt. When he starts from the same point as everyone else, it's not surprising when his destination is the same too.

The second commandment

4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

-- Exodus 20.4-6, ESV 

I know some people consider this to be part of the first commandment, but in all honesty I think they're wrong.

In my experience, people tend to focus on verse five's description of God as jealous and as someone who punishes children for what their fathers did. They never seem to get to the promise of unfailing love in the next verse.

Review: THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE by Peter Brown

Brown's book is a thorough, scholarly look at wealth, Christianity, and the Roman Empire, and the complex relationships between them in the early centuries AD. It's a big subject, and it makes for a big book 

It's not written in a popular style, but it's also not so scholarly it's incomprehensible. Brown has a well-honed style that is suited to this material; I won't lie and say it was always fascinating, but I was never bored.

This was a very important period in history, and if you can handle the length of the book, I recommend it.

Job 31

Job finishes his final defense by saying that he should be punished, but only if he deserves it.

He makes a number of statements, then agrees that if he's done those he should have gotten what he did. But he continues to insist that he hasn't done anything wrong, which begs the question: if God punishes the innocent, isn't he unjust?

Eventually, it all comes down to your basic presuppositions

Everybody believes something, and they have a good reason for doing it.

 At least, it seems good to them. In reality, nearly all beliefs are based on other beliefs. The only exceptions are those things that are the basis of everything else. I call them basic presuppositions, though I'm sure some neuroscientist, philosopher, or psychologist has probably come up with something better. That's  all I have, though.

 They're basic because they're what everything else is predicated on, while they aren't predicated on anything else. They're presuppositions because we believe them without evidence. Not in spite of evidence, but not because of evidence either. Evidence doesn't even come into it.

I'd like to say that my basic presupposition has to do with the reality of God or with his eternal love or something pious like that. I certainly believe in those things like that, but there's something even more basic than those.

I have two that very seldom overlap but which between them cover everything in my life: the Bible is true, and my wife is smarter than I am. I believe in the first just because I don't have any other way of learning about him, and in the second because though our IQs almost identical, she's much wiser and harder-working than I am.