Psalm 119 Yodh

Anything worth doing is worth doing right, but some things just aren't worth doing.

We spend a lot of time and energy worrying about other people. But we aren't supposed to worry about other people. It's not our job. Our job is to hear the word of God think long and hard about it, and build our lives around it.

The commands of Jesus III

You, therefore, must be perfect ... (MAT 5.48)

Since I've already done several from chapter six, I'll just pick up where I left off.

But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven ... (MAT 6.20)

... do not be anxious about your life ... (MAT 6.25)

Therefore, do not be anxious ... (MAT 6.34)

Judge not ... (MAT 7.1)

... first take the log out of your own eye ...(MAT 7.5)

Do not give what is holy to the dogs ... (MAT 7.6)

... do not cast your pearls before pigs ... (MAT 7.6)

Ask, and it will be given to you ... (MAT 7.7)

... seek, and you will find ... (MAT 7.7)

Psalm 119 Teth

How many of us can say that it's good that we suffer if it helps us a little closer to God? How many of us would give up everything we own to know God's word? 

These are questions we need to ask ourselves.

Review: MARTYR'S MIRROR by Thielman van Braght

I once read that every Mennonite home had a copy of the Bible and one of the Martyr's Mirror. That said, this is an even older Dutch book, which was definitely a product of its times.

It is not, as I'd thought, just a lot of names of martyrs through the ages with a particular.focus on the Anabaptists. Between the martyrologies, though, are several chapters apparently meant to be educational. These are often polemics against whoever opposed them, which for the Dutch Anabaptists meant pretty much everybody. This is a particularly anti-Roman book. 

I don't recommend it. I understand that it's a valuable historical document and I'm glad I read it, but I don't see doing it again. There are better martyrologies out there, and better screeds.

Psalm 119 Heth

What's the psalmist's secret? A correct understanding of God's law.

The rules God made are not meant to be a prison, keeping us from something we need. That was the serpent's lie in the Garden of Eden. Instead, they're supposed to be a guardrail, keeping us from danger.

Biblical morality and REPUBLIC OF DOYLE, or Why would I want to watch things that helped kill Christ?

For those who don't know, Republic of Doyle is a Canadian TV show set and shot around St John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. I've wanted to see if for years, but could never find a way to watch it outside Canada. When it showed up on Netflix a few weeks ago, I was very excited to finally watch it.

I liked the first episode a lot. I liked the setting, the mixture of mystery and comedy, and especially the fact that the main character, while had all the accessories of a cool private eye (black leather jacket, GTO, perpetual stubble, the name "Jake"), he was kind of a dork. The second episode made me uncomfortable, though and I turned thie third off almost as soon as it started.

I haven't watched it since, and I have no intention to. Why? In the case of RoD, it's an appalling level of sexual immorality. With most shows it's either that or a comfort with violence, lying, theft, blasphemy, or something else forbidden to Christians.

I know I have have very high standards, and I'm certainly not trying to be legalistic and insist that everyone think like me. I was a sailor before I was a pastor, and I know that people have interesting things under their clothes and do interesting things with them. I'm not a prude.

I also know some things have been forbidden by God, and that Christians shouldn't even think about those things, much less watch and be entertained by them. As always, I just want people to think. If we worship Christ, how can we love the things that helped kill him?

Psalm 119 Zayin

When was the last time any of us really had to suffer for our faith?

I'm not even talking about the physical suffering people all around the world go through every day. I'm just talking about being made to feel uncomfortable. And the psalmist says that the very thing people deride him for is where he turns for comfort.

Review: THE LIFE AND THOUGHT OF MICHAEL SATTLER by C Arnold Snyder

Michael Sattler was an early Anabaptist leader and the principle author of the 1525 Schleitheim Confesion. Records in the early 1500s were often incomplete, and the first part of Snyder's book is filled with suppositions and speculations.

Oddly, calling these guesses what they are make them more reliable. Snyder won't say with certainty what he doesn't know with certainty, and the reader gets the impression that if he can be trusted when he's unsure, he can be trusted when he's sure. Snyder is a very careful historian, and I recommend this book.

Psalm 119 Waw

The psalmist makes a lot of promises, but he trusts that God will help him keep them because God has always been trustworthy in the past. Listing his own promises leads the psalmist to remember God's, and how they've been kept.

If you haven't figured out what they're saying yet, you're pretty dim. God can be trusted. 

Review: ONBOARD FRENCH/FRENCH CANADIAN by The Eton Institute

I'm interested learning French, primarily because I want to be a missionary to Canada, and because it's one of the most widely-spoken languages in the world. These Kindle books claim to teach you a language "before you land", and they were free, so I got them.

Simply put, its claims are false. The books are word lists, nothing more. I found them to be a waste of time, and don't recommend them.

Psalm 119 He

Just before reading this part of the psalm, I read my news feed.

Two articles struck me as particularly incongruous. Beside each other were two headlines, the first about a mother widowed in the Filipino drug war and the second about the most fabulous cars driven to a famous auction. I remember wondering who could possibly care about both, and thinking that the former just seemed more important. Then I read from God's word and realized that though nothing in this world will last forever, the word of God will.

The commands of Jesus II

it seems I skipped Matthew chapter five entirely, and everything last week was really from chapter six. Sorry 'bout that.

In the same way, let your light shine before others ... (MAT 5.15)

... leave your gift before the altar and go. (MAT 5.24)

First be reconciled to your brother ... (MAT 5.25)

If your right eye causes to sin, tear it out and throw it away ... (MAT 5.29)

And if your right hand causes you to sin, tear it off and throw it away. (MAT 5.30)

... Do not take an oath at all. ... 5.34)

Let what you say be simply "Yes" or "No" ... (MAT 5.37)

Do not resist the one who is evil ... (MAT 5.39)

... but if someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (MAT 5.39)

... Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you. (MAT 5.43)

Ten more next week!

Psalm 119 Daleth

No matter how good we think we are are, it's just never good enough. We can't even obey his commands until he remakes us: as this psalm says, we all need him to enlarge our hearts.

We just can't do it on our own,

Review: TAKING GOD AT HIS WORD by Kevin DeYoung

One of my core beliefs is that God is not an idiot. He's fully capable of saying what he means to say, when he means to say it. There are good reasons to believe the Bible.

That's basically DeYong' point. Instead of expecting the Bible to prove itself or looking for reasons to reject it, we should give it the same consideration every accused criminal gets: it should be considered innocent until proven guilty. I agree, and since it's also well-written, I recommend it.

Psalm 119 Gimel

The soul wants structure from God like the body wants water.

We are made to desire the things we need need. Our bodies crave food and water, and our souls crave order. This isn't because Christians are spineless,weak-willed wretches who just want someone to tell them what to do. That's just the way people are designed.

Psalm 119 Beth

Having been a young man, I know from experience that their way is not naturally pure.

There's only one way to make it that way, and that's by the word of God. Not by hearing it once and forgetting about it, but by meditating on it constantly.

Review: NEXTWAVE VOL 2 by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

What I said about volume one applies here. But more so.

The writing is hilarious and over-the-top. The art is superb. It seems that by the end of this volume Ellis is using his incredible creativity to try and come up with things Immonen can't draw. Fortunately for us, Immonen seems to be able to draw anything.

This is one of the best comics I've ever seen. It's so good I'm going to suspend my judgment on its violence and recommend it.

Psalm 119 Aleph

Since Psalm 119 is so long -- the longest chapter in the Bible! -- I'm going to do it a section a time. This section tells about the blessedness of the one who walks in the law of the Lord. While we like to claim that blessedness for ourselves, but we have to remember that it's not just for those who know God's law, but for those who keep it.

Sayin' don't make it so.

Review: REVOLUTONARY! by David Pearce

This book was written for those Christians who want to evangelize through their art, and I am at best only marginally talented at any kind of art, I still found it an interesting and informative read. Pearce's writing is clear and concise, and the steps he lays out are applicable whether one is an artist or not.

The price deserves mention. This is a full-sized book, and very well-designed, but it cost less than a dollar for the Kinda edition. Though I know such an edition costs almost nothing to produce, that selling price isn't designed to make a writer or publisher rich. Instead, it seems meant to ensure a wide distribution. Regardless, while most publishers charge $10 for an ebook, it was nice finding one so inexpensive. I recommend it. 

Psalm 118

Like many other psalms, this seems to exist solely to praise God,

It used to bother me that God condones and even demands so much praise from people. Then I realized we always praise what we love, even unworthy things. God is just the only thing that's worthy.

The commands of Jesus I

Jesus said some things that he wanted obeyed. Here are ten.

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them ... (

MAT 5.1)

thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you ... (MAT 5.2)

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing ... (MAT 5.3)

And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. (MAT 5.5)

But when you pray, go into your room and shut your door and pray to your Father who is in secret. (MAT 5.6)

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do ... (MAT 5.7)

Do not be like them  ... (MAT 5.8)

Pray then like this ... (MAT 5.9)

And when you fast, do not look gloomy ... (MAT 5.16)

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face ... (MAT 5.17)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth ... (MAT 5.19)

(All quotations are from the English Standard Version.) I didn't pick these with any agenda in mind. They're just the first ten in the Gospels. I plan to do the next ten next week, if the Good Lord's willin' and the creek don't rise, and since I live near the top of a mountain I'm not too concerned about the creek.

Psalm117

This is mostly known as the shortest chapter in the Bible, but the content bears looking at, too. Even in the shortest psalm, the focus is on God. The psalmist invites his listeners to join him in praise.

It's almost like he can't open his mouth without praising God.

Review: CHRISTIAN ATTITUDES TO PEACE, WAR, AND REVOLUTION by John Howard Yoder

Just as JI Packer is the brain of modern Calvinism, providing its intellectual basis, John Howard Yoder was and remains the brain of modern Anabaptism. Despite the fact that he's been dead for several years and that his books are, in my experience, scholarly and difficult, he remains the major intellectual voice of the movement, especially when it comes to nonexistence.

This book is a collection of essays detailing Yoder's beliefs about how a Christian should react to state violence. Since it's a collection rather than a coherent work, it's choppy and repetitive at times, and while I agree with his conclusions, I've never found Yoder very fun to read. I can't recommend this book.

Psalm 116

If God has been faithful to us, then why wouldn't we be faithful to him?

This psalm is about praising God for what he's done. It's not so much loving God for what he can do for us as loving him for being the kind of God who's always been there for his people.

Five books plus one

I'm a reader, and I always have been. Other than the Bible, there are very few of the thousands of books that I've read that have had a profound effect on me and what I believe. Here are five.

1. The Screwtape Letters 

I've always said Mere Christianity was the book that led me to God, but this was the first Lewis book I read, and the one that still affects me nearly 30 years later.

2. Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up 

It would be difficult to estimate the impact this small book, and the person who first loaned it to me, have had on me. All I know is that when I started this book I wasn't a Christian. When I returned it a week later, I was.

3. The Cost of Discipleship 

It's not just the gate that leads to life that's narrow. The way beyond it is, too.

4. The Ragamuffin Gospel 

This is a hard book to read. I don't like it because it's hard, but because it's true.

5. The Myth of a Christian Nation 

We're far too ready to claim this as a "Christian nation" without really thinking about what that means. In its most basic sense, "Christian" means "like Christ", and that's something this country's never been.

And here's a bonus:

Revolution in World Missions 

Jesus didn't just die for Americans. He died for everyone.

Terror, horror, and the gross-out

I like being scared. Not disgusted; you don't make something scary by adding fake blood. Like I told my wife, creepy is good, but gory isn't.

A long time ago, Stephen King wrote, "Always try to terrify. If you can't terrify, then horrify. If you can't horrify, go for the gross-out." The last one is obviously different, but for years I didn't know the difference between terror and horror.

I think the first thirty minutes of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining are some of the most terrifying ever filmed, and nothing scary happens. The atmosphere is just so oppressive that my nerves just get wound tighter and tighter in expectation. The fact that it stars Jack Nicholson at his creepiest doesn't help make it a ray of sunshine either.

The same movie has a good example of horror as well. When the woman in the tub turns out to be an old woman's bloated corpse, the very idea is horrible. It's something that we never wanted to see, and never want to eye again. It's repulsive, and that repulsion is the difference between terror and horror; terror is fear of something unknown, while horror is fear of something known.

What most things have degenerated into, unfortunately, is just gross. Too much of modern "horror" is just fake blood and guts, which derives directly from the slasher movies of the 1980s and indirectly from The Shining's corridors of blood. What few directors seem to learn, though, is that a drop of blood can be more effective than a corridor of it, and when it comes to gore, less is usually more.

At least that's my opinion.

 

Psalm 115

Giving glory is good,  but you have to give it to the right one.

God deserves praise. Man doesn't. God has done unbelievable, unexpected things that have changed the world. Man hasn't. The burden of glory has never rested easy on man's shoulders,but it fits God's.

Review: FOLLOW ME by David Platt

When I was listening to this as an audiobook, my lovely wife asked me why, since I was such a fan of Platt's, we had never been members of his church. I said something about him being Calvinist. If that's  true, she asked, then why do you like his books so much? I said it was because he usually didn't talk about Calvinism.

This book is the exception.

It's not about Calvinism, but Platt is clear about his position and it forms an unmistakable undercurrent to the book. Though I don't share his theology, I thought the book, which is about following Christ, was very good. I recommend it.

Psalm 114

Even the earth itself is called on to acknowledge the greatness of God. This psalm even gives examples of how it already has. Even the hills and mountains can't be still around him.

When you control the whole universe, a few rocks or an ocean won't slow you down.

Review: WORKS by John of the Cross

The works of John of the Cross, a medieval Spanish monk and priest, have inspired people for centuries.  Along with his friend, the nun Teresa of Avila, he is considered one of the greatest Christian mystics of all time.

While I got this Kinds book for a very good price, that's because it's a public-domain translation. As a result, it's very old, and as a result of that, it's not a lot of fun to read. It was a book I read more because I felt I should than because I wanted to. While I wanted to know what it said, I would've been better off just reading a summary. I don't recommend this book with extreme prejudice.

Psalm 113

Who is like the Lord? No one, that's who.

The psalmist makes his point by listing some of the great works of God, works that no human being could have done. This psalm praises God for being what we never could.

Next

And that's it for the Schleitheim Confesion. Seven articles, in this case summarized and commented upon. That means that so far on Wednesdays we've covered the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Schleitheim Confesion. Next I want to go over some of the commands of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 112

though this psalm begins with praise for God, that's not really what it's about. It really tells of the greatness of the man who fears God, and who follows his divine instructions.

God has never sought perfect people, just obedient ones.

Review: THE SPACE TRILOGY by CS Lewis

This is old science fiction, with all that implies. Apparently Lewis wrote the first book just because he feared JRR Tolkein liked SF. In the days before probes explored the surfaces of other worlds, there was more fiction than science in the genre and imagination was needed to fill in the huge gaps in knowledge. As a result, neither his Mars nor his Venue resembles our current picture of either planet.

While that's to be expected when reading old SF, Lewis is and was best-known as a Christian author, and as such his attitude toward violence here is extremely hard to justify. In these three books he offers a paradisical world in which death is an accepted part, an edenic world based on murder, and a version of our world where a man is brought from the past to defeat evil by brute force.

It seems that Lewis is saying that the only way to win against the Devil is to beat the snot out of him, and that's why I can't recommend it, even though I really want to.

Psalm 111

We shouldn't just trust him because of his great works; we should expect great works because we trust him.

God has done great things, and his power is beyond imagining. He should be praised for both. The most amazing thing isn't what he's done in the past, though. It's that he's promised to do it in the future.

What the stroke has done for me

More than three years after my stroke, I still can't reliably move anything but my eyes. It's a terrible way to live, and not one I wouldn't wish on anyone. But it's still taught me some valuable lessons.

First, by making me absolutely dependent upon other people, it's shown me that we're all absolutely dependent upon God. That's an idea that I've always given lip service to, but never really believed.

It's also taught me that eternity is closer than we think . There are several times when I've come close to dying, and I've got to be ready for it at any time. Again, that's something I've always said I believed, but it's really been driven home the last couple of years.

Psalm 110

Part of this psalm is quoted in Hebrews. Another part is quoted by Jesus Christ. If for no other reason, it's important for that.

My ignorance embarrasses me. I knew these were references to the Psalms, but I didn't know to which psalm, or to where in it. In the end, it won't matter if I know more than someone else, because I won't be judged on a curve. I'll be judged by God's standard, which is perfection.

Review: OISHINBO A LA CARTE VOL 3 by Tetsu Kariya

Ramen is not the same in Japan as it is here. While we tend to think of as very cheap bricks of noodles with flavor packets in the packages with them. In Japan, it's more of a handmade noodle soup. Gyoza are deep-fried dumplings, usually flavored with garlic, and often served with ramen.

I only know the because I read Oishinbo A la carte vol 3, which focuses on ramen and gyoza. Other than that, it's just like the first two volumes. I recommend it.

Psalm 109

There are several kinds of psalms; this is both a plea for help and an imprecation against enemies. It's important to remember that the command to love your enemies hadn't been given yet.

This was the easy time.

Review: THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO ... by Peter Enns

To be perfectly honest, I didn't finish this book. The premise seems to be that the the Bible can't be trusted, because it's just the product of ancient nomads who didn't know any better. The idea is a terrible one, and I don't recommend this book.

Live and learn, I guess.

Psalm 108

No, actually everyone is not equal in God's sight.

God chose a nation for himself. The Israelites were his chosen people. By definition, everyone else wasn't. In particular, three nations had plagued Israel throughout its history: Moab, Edom, and Philistia. This psalm describes them as worthless and defeated.

The Schleitheim Confesion, Article Seven

The Oath 

No oaths should be taken because Jesus prohibited the taking of oaths and swearing. Testifying is not the same thing as swearing. When a person bears testimony, he is testifying about the present, whether it be good or evil. 

---

I was initially confused about the difference between swearing and testifying. An illustration helped me understand. Imagine yourself in a courtroom. There is nothing wrong or sinful about sitting in this witness stand, telling what happened and the effect it's hot. But taking the oath beforehand is wrong and sinful, because our Savior has forbidden it.

Psalm 107

This psalm offers an answer to problem of evil. Sometimes, people suffer just suffer as a consequence of what they do. It doesn't explain all suffering, but it's a start.

But the main point is to be thankful to God.

Review: TEACH US TO WANT by Jen Pollock-Michel

it seems strange to have to ask to be taught desire in a culture that screams, "Gimme!" Very often, though, Christians are told not to want anything and to just be satisfied with what we have. While it's clear we're not to indulge our selfish desires, just being satisfied is the opposite of what Jesus taught.

This book is about biblical wanting, asking so that we can glorify God rather than gratify ourselves. It's not the kind of thing I would ordinarily get, but it was a free download from Christianaudio.com, and "free" is my favorite genre.

I didn't expect to like this, but I did. It was entertaining, informative, and biblical. I recommend it.