Psalm 49

Even with all the wealth and greatness in the world, man without God is no more than a beast. Everyone is going to die, and this psalm describes the state of a soul whose body has been destroyed but which is still stuck in Sheol.

Hope can only be found in God.

Review: A CONTEMPORARY ANABAPTIST THEOLOGY by Thomas N Finger

The first half of this book consists of a retelling of the the histories of the three major strands of Anabaptism: Swiss, South German-Austrian, and Dutch. It's also very boring.

The second half might be better, but I never made it that far. This is an extremely dull book, and I don't recommend it.

Psalm 48

Jerusalem shouldn't rejoice because of its fortifications. It should rejoice because God is there.

The last time I preached was about this same topic. Nothing else matters except knowing God and being known by him. Jerusalem wasn't protected by towers and fortresses. It was protected by God.

Father, hallowed be your name

The first thing I notice is that the KJV has a much longer Lord's Prayer than the ESV does. There seems to be a lot missing. We have to remember, though, that the King James Version isn't the standard all Bibles have to meet. The fact that we might be used to it doesn't make it right, and it's just as sinful to add to Scripture as it is to subtract from it.

The important thing to notice here is that this model prayer begins with an acknowledgment of God as father and a recognition of his holiness. God is not referred to as a slavedriver or taskmaster; he's a loving father, not a whip-cracking overseer. Now, I know some people had very bad fathers, or no fathers at all in their lives, and they don't particularly want one now. I understand that, but it overlooks the fact that God is a perfect father. He is never absent or abusive. He sets rules, but he loves unconditionally,

The Lord's Prayer also recognizes that God is holy. That's all "hallowed be your name" means. To hallow something means to hold it sacred, to treat it as more important than yourself. To say something like that is to say that God is so great that even his name is too important to misuse. It's an acknowledgment that God is big and we're small.

Psalm 47

Be happy, because God is God. We don't need another reason. The one who loves us and wants to spend eternity with us is the same one who sits on the throne of the universe.

Praise God!

Review: JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL by Susanah Clarke

This book is set in the early 1800s, which offers Clarke two advantages, which she uses to great effect. First, it allows her to mimic the style of the time. That partly explains the book's length, and why parts of it read like Jane Austen.

The other is that it lets Clarke use the Napoleonic Wars as a background. They come to the foreground as a result of Strange's involvement in the Peninsular War, and both there and as a backdrop it works well.

The book is basically about the conflict between the careful, systematic, "scientific" Norrell, who wants to isolate and control magic, and the wilder, more traditional Strange. Around this antagonism is built a fascinating alternate history of England, and Clarke leaves a good bit untold.

This is a very well-written book, with enough action, character moments, and mystery to fill its prodigious page count. I recommend it.

Psalm 46

You don't have to worry when God's in charge.

He won't give you everything you want. He never said he would. But he did say he would give you everything you need. That includes protection. God's people never have to be afraid, because he will stand up for his people, and nothing gets past God.

A philosophy of work

No one in the Bible retired. Moses was 120 when he died, and worked up to that day. Joshua led the army of Israel when he was 80. The Apostle John was around 100 when he got his great Revelation. If those men never stopped working for God, who am I to quit?

No, I'm not equating myself to those men. I think they were much greater than I am. I also know, though, that the same God who empowered them empowers me, and I'm capable of much more than I've done.

Psalm 45

People notice when you obey God.

Unlike most psalms, this one focuses on a man rather than on God. After extolling a warrior's prowess and wisdom, the psalmist reveals the source of that prowess and wisdom: the warrior's devotion to God.

Review: THE WORD OF PROMISE AUDIO BIBLE (NKJV) by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

This is a dramatized recording of the whole Bible, with music, sound effects and a large cast of well-known actors. I shudder to think what it cost to produce.

It came out in the wake of The Passion of the Christ, and this is reflected primarily in two ways. The packaging looks a lot like the movie's, and Jim Caviezel is cast as Jesus. I don't want to seem like I'm attacking Caviezel, but he's not a good enough voice actor to have such an important role. He seems to have been cast mostly because he played that role in the movie.

In fact, the casting is the biggest problem here. In fact, many people seem to have been cast for name value alone. I'm not saying that anyone does a poor job; this is fantastically done. I am saying that a recording of the Bible shouldn't depend upon unconverted people. For that reason I don't recommend it.

Psalm 44

The psalmist wonders why God has forsaken him when he's done nothing wrong. Sometimes you just have to keep going and trust that God is there, he knows what's going on, and he's in control.

I know that from personal experience.

Review: THE INDIVIDUAL AND WORLD NEED by Eberhard Arnold

This isn't about the world's economic needs, like I would have guessed. Instead, it's about the world's need for Christ.

This is a very short book but it's all about missions, and more importantly how individual Christians can be involved in the mission of the church as something other than moneybags. We in the West should give, but that shouldn't be all we do.

In the end, Arnold's little book is both inspirational and practical. I recommend it.

Psalm 43

Why do we worry, if God has promised to be with us?

It's hard to trust something you can't see; sometimes it's hard to even believe it exists. But it does. God does, and he's promised to be a defense and a refuge for those who trust him. 

The Lord's Prayer

Next week I'll start breaking it down and looking at each phrase. First, though, here's the whole thing, from Luke 11.2-4:

Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.

Psalm 42

Just like yesterday's psalm, this one is praising God's constancy. Where the other one looked at the fickleness of human beings and the steadfastness of God, this one focuses on the fact that he always defends his people.

So why should our souls be troubled?

Review: CITY OF MAN by Michael Gersnor and Peter Wehner

This is a guide for how Christians should engage with secular government. Unfortunately, the authors' solution seems to be "more of the same". 

I was going to give a very long and detailed refutation of this argument but I'll keep it short and simple by just giving two reasons against it that should be sufficient:

1. The New Testament never tells us to take over a government, and never gives us an example of it to follow..

2. It never works anyway.

This is a more scholarly book than most I've seen on the subject, but ultimately it's no different. I don't recommend it.

Psalm 41

Everyone will fail you. But God never will.

Every person around you, even your best friend, is only one decision away from turning his back on you. But God has promised never to turn his back on the one who obeys him.

Welcome, and a little about me and the blog

If you're new here, I want to welcome you. If you're not, I want to welcome you back. I took about a month and a half off from this blog, but I'm back, which is better than the movie We're Back!, if only because it's shorter.

I'm 41 and I from Birmingham, Alabama. I have a beautiful wife and two gorgeous daughters and I'm so crazy in love with all of them it's not even funny. I also have both of my parents, two brothers and a sister, and about a thousand nieces, nephews, in-laws, and cousins. Foremost, though, I'm a Christian who tries to obey the New Testament explicitly. That means I'll offend you at some point, but it's never because I want to, or out of hatred.

The blog has settled into a schedule I try to keep. Mondays I write whatever I want. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays I post book reviews, though if I ever catch up that'll go back to just Fridays . Wednesdays are what I call New Believers' Days. I try to give a little bit of basic teaching on something I think Christians should know about. Saturdays are for catching up and working on other things, and Sundays I rest and don't try to do anything productive. And every weekday I read a chapter of the Bible and write about it. It's not a commentary, devotional, or summary; it's just what goes through my mind as I read.

If for some reason you want more, I also post something every Saturday morning on The Bible Exchange (www.bibleexchange.com) and I write humor at COBRASAURUS!!!!! (www.cobrasaurus.blogspot.com).

Oh, and in early 2013 I had a stroke and have been paralyzed from the eyeballs down since. I forgot to say something about that.

1000

This is my 1000th post on this blog. That's a milestone, no matter who you are.

God has been extremely gracious in allowing me to do this. I've tried to honor him and build up his kingdom with this blog, and hopefully I've done it. In the meantime, though, I'm tired.

I decided a while back to take a break when I reached a kilopost. So that's what I'm going to do. I'll continue to put something new up at The Bible Exchange every Saturday, and there are a few things I've been putting off that need attention, but I don't plan on updating this blog until May 2016.

Psalm 40

This is both a psalm of praise for what God's already done and a prayer that he'll keep doing it.

The first part of the psalm just tells about all the good that God has done. If he had been that good to David in the past, why wouldn't he trust him in the future?

Psalm 39

No book review today. You'll find out why tomorrow.

This is another imprecatory psalm, in which David asks God to help him while att the same time bringing down his enemies. David had done everything he could, but it wasn't enough.

Swords are useful, but only God can guarantee victory.

Psalm 38

Cry out to God, even when your enemies.

Who was David talking about in this psalm? We really don't know. But we do know this: if God is on your side nothing else matters. And if God is against you,then nothing else matters.

I was going to start the Lord's Prayer today, but never mind now

I'll explain why Friday.

Psalm 37

Unfortunately, many name it and claim it types have claimed the psalm, or part of it, as justification for their beliefs. "Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart" is not a license for greed.

If you delight in the Lord, then he will be the desire of your heart.

Review: THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, A FOUNDLING by Henry Fieding

This was one of the first modern novels, I'm told. Unfortunately, this means it was written several hundred years ago, so it's both hard to read and dull.

The life of Tom Jones has many twists and turns, but it wasn't interesting. (Not the singer Tom Jones, although it's not unusual to confuse them.) I don't recommend this book.

Psalm 36

In this psalm we read "man and beast do you save". Does this mean that animals go to Heaven?

We have to be careful not to read the Old Testament through the understanding of the New. As far as we know, David just expected to go to Sheol like everyone else, and God's salvation was just physical.

Christ is a job description, not a name

Ever heard of Jesus H. Christ? I've heard it plenty of times, though no one has ever told me what the "H."stands for. The only thing they've all been sure of was that his last name was Christ. It wasn't.

If you want to be technical, in his earthly life he was probably known as Yeshua bar-Youssef: Jesus son of Joseph. There were no last names as such among the Jews of first-century Judea. So where did "Christ" come from? It comes from the Greek word christos, which is just a translation of the Hebrew word messiah, or "Anointed One". A Christ was a person anointed by God to save his people.

Jesus was not the son of Mr. and Mrs. Christ. He was the Saviior chosen by God.

An announcement

I have a new essay up at The Bible Exchange, "Belief has made me a skeptic".

Psalm 35

David asks God to defeat his enemies for him. A lot of people have a problem with this sort of imprecation, but it just shows that David brought everything to God.

Even the parts we don't like. 

Review: COMPLETE WORKS by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and "The Hunting of the Snark" are ridiculously silly and have long been among my favorites. After finding a lot of Complete Works collections for very reasonable prices -- public domain books are free or nearly so on the Kindle -- the first one I read was by Lewis Carroll. I was eager to see what else he had written.

I shouldn't have bothered.

The late 1800s were a very sentimental time in England, and Carroll was more sentimental than most. He seems to have seen things, especially nature and children, as idealized. A lot of what he wrote was just glurge, a mixture of chicken noodle soup and sugar. The former is supposed to be good for you and the latter is supposed to taste good, but together they just sound disgusting. It's because of all the glurge that I don't recommend this.

Psalm 34

The most famous line from this psalm is, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." I've seen it on aprons, cookbooks, dishes, and anything else that could possibly be connected with food.

The only problem is that this psalm has nothing to do with food.

Review: GOD'S REVOLUTION by Eberhard Arnold

Arnold dressed, acted, and thought differently from other people, and his ideas on revolution were different as well. He cared nothing for political revolutions, but wanted people to revolt against the system of this world in favor of the Kingdom of God.

By beginning with what God wants to accomplish through the Church, Arnold is able to show what a truly godly revolution would look like. I recommend this book.

Psalm 33

Have you ever stopped to think that the God who pursues you is the same one who created the universe?

This psalm is a single paean to God's greatness. It is a litany of reasons for being in awe of him. It's a song of praise to a being who created galaxies with a word but troubles with the least concerns of his creatures.

The Ten Commandments redux and what comes next

Last week we finished going through the Ten Commandments. Here they are again,in a greatly simplified form.

No other gods.

No idols.

No blasphemy.

Keep the Sabbath holy.

Honor your parents.

No murder.

No sex with someone you're not married to.

No stealing.

No lying.

No coveting.

Next week I hope to start the Lord's Prayer.

Psalm 32

Have you ever had something unpleasant to do that you just kept putting off? The longer you went without doing it, the more it weighed on you. Sin is a lot like that. Confessing it and having it forgiven is like having a load taken off of your shoulders.

The next time it comes to mind you can just remember that you've already done that.

Review: ESV GLOBAL STUDY BIBLE by Crossway Books

The Bible sacred to me, and the English Standard Version is my favorite translation of it. I'm not reviewing the Bible itself, but rather the articles unique to this edition.

Many of these articles are general introductions to the different parts of Scripture, but some are more theological, and obviously written from a Refomed or Calvinist perspective. This isn't surprising, given Crossway's known institutional bias, but it is unfortunate. 

Crossway should be commended for publishing an outstanding Bible translation in specialty editions like this, but there are places to get the background information without the theological bias. As much as I want to, I can't recommend this book.

Psalm 31

You're never alone.

Even in the depths, David knew that God heard his prayers. It's no different now. No matter who you are, no matter where you are, God will be there when you turn to him.

A little about Locked-In Syndrome and the schedule

In January 2013 I suffered a very rare kind of stroke. This left me with the condition known as Locked-In Syndrome, which basically means that my mind and body are fine, but there's little to no connection between the two. Autonomic functions like breathing, circulation, and digestion are controlled by the brain stem, so they still work, I have almost no voluntary movement other than my eyes.

As for the schedule for this blog, it's settled down to this. Mondays I write about whatever I want. Right now I do book reviews on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays I try to teach about the basics of the Christian faith, and I try to put an announcement here when I upload something to The Bible Exchange on Saturday mornings. And each weekday I comment on a chapter of the Bible.

An announcement

I have a new post, "100%", at The Bible Exchange (www.bibleexchange.com).

Psalm 30

You might be under the wrath of God now , but his wrath is momentary. His love lasts forever.

God may chasten you for a while, and that's fine. If we weren't his children, he wouldn't bother correcting us. But after the correction comes the love, and God's love is neverending.

Review: THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD by William Morris

This is one of those books that seems to have been foundational for an entire genre, but which is hardly ever read anymore. It was one of the first modern fantasy novels, predating the works of both Lord Dunsany and Arthur Machen.

At first it also seems to be unnecessarily archaic,which I just assumed was an affliction shared by Victorian writers, until I learned that he meant to write like that. The entire book was written in conscious imitation of an author from centuries before.

Whatever the reason for the style, there's no doubt that it makes things more difficult for the reader now. It takes some work, but it's worth it, and I recommend this book.

Psalm 29

How great is God? Even his voice can change the world.

This isn't a long psalm, but it's all about God's majesty and power, and David praises that majesty and power by praising one aspect of it, his voice. The voice of a king may change the course of a nation, but the voice of God brought the universe into being.

Review: THE BABY ECHOLALIA OF CHRISTENDOM

I know nothing of Wayne O'Connor except that he wrote a book that looked fairly interesting. And even that turned out to be wrong. 

The first problem is that O'Connor has misunderstood Christendom to be a synonym for Christianity. It's actually an old name for Europe, the "domain of Christ". Secondly, this book is in serious need of an editor. The fact that something is self-published doesn't mean it has to look or read like it.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the message of the book, but that message is unnecessarily hard to get to. I didn't even finish this book, and I don't recommend it.

Psalm 28

People reap what they sow.

That's very good for those who trust God, because they will never be left alone. It's very bad for those who trust in themselves, for exactly the same reason,

The tenth commandment

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

-- Exodus 20.17, ESV

Again, it all comes back to trusting God. He's promised to give us what we need, but by wanting what someone else has, we're saying he won't.

Psalm 27

This is nothing but praise to God. While many psalms blend supplication and praise, this one is pure and unmixed, simple song of worship.

Sometimes you just have to be glad that God is God.

Review: DRACULA by Bram Stoker

This wasn't the first vampire novel, but it's defined the genre like nothing else. Its closest competitor is Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and that's a very distant second. For all practical purposes, Count Dracula is the vampire in the English-speaking world, and vice versa.

That said, it's still a very unusual book. It's epistolary, meaning it's written in the form of letters. Since the letters and diary entries are by several different characters, this not only allows Stoker to be an omniscient narrator without seeming like one, but also lends the book a sense of immediacy that raises it from a pretty good story to a classic. It also requires Stoker to juggle several different writing styles, but he's up to the challenge.

It takes some doing to make a book a century old scary, especially when the end is already well-known. That's what this book is, and that's why I recommend it.

MERCY RULE and why "Christian" entertainment generally sucks

I MERCY RULE is a movie starring Kirk Cameron and his family. It is rated G because there is no sex, violence, or foul language in it. More importantly, it doesn't feel like it's missing those things.

BROTHER WHITE, unfortunately, is far more typical of entertainment directed at professing Christians. It's clichéd throughout, and bears no resemblance to biblical Christianity. It makes a big deal about being a "Christian film", but it ultimately tells a story that could be -- and has been -- told by anyone.

Don't get me wrong; MERCY RULE is not a perfect film. There are some obvious directorial tricks, and the daughter's part in particular seems larger than it has to be. But it is a very good one. BROTHER WHITE is not. It just feels like a Christianized version of a secular movie.

And that seems to be the problem with most of the entertainment industry for professing Christians. It just churns out what everyone else likes, sanitized and with a thin veneer of Jesus on top. It's almost as if they were saying, "We know you'd rather watch or read or listen to X, but here's a version without cussing or boobs."

We claim to worship the source of all creativity, so the world has the right to expect more from us than insipid imitations of popular trends. Our ideal has shifted from excellent to good enough, and that's not good enough.

Psalm 26

How perfect is your integrity? Would you proclaim it to God?

That's what David does in this psalm. He not only asks God for things, and thanks God for what he already has. He also boasts about his own faithfulness, in a way that glorifies God and not himself.

Psalm 25

Even when things look bad, God can be there.

David knew this, which is why no matter where he was or what kind of trouble he was in he always called on God. God was there not only because of his omnipresence, but because David had brought him.

Review: WHY DO WE LIVE IN COMMUNITY? by Eberhard Arnold and Thomas Merton

This is a bit of a mixed bag, consisting of a short book by Arnold coupled with two essays by Merton.

I tend to share Arnold's Anabaptist beliefs, but not Merton's Roman ones, and the two don't mesh well. I think Arnold's book should have been offered alone and Merton's essays included in a collection of his work. A German Bruderhof is very different from a monastery in Kentucky.

In the end the current structure hurts both authors. Since Arnold's thoughts on the subject can be found elsewhere, I don't recommend this book.

Psalm 24

David praises God, the King of Glory, and calls on the very walls and gates of the city to praise him as he passes through. And why not? He deserves all the praise he can get.

Even from walls and gates.

Review: THE LORD OF THE RINGS by JRR Tolkein

This is the greatest fantasy epic of all time.

Notice I didn't say it was the best. But in terms of sheer influence, it's a giant among giants. Nothing else even compares. There are very few contemporary fantasy writers who don't imitate it in some way.

All that said, this isn't an easy read, mostly due to Tolkein's highly artificial style. Every utterance sounds like an epic speech, and there are a lot of utterances in this book. It's meant to give it a mythic feel, and it works.

Despite the fact that it's a long book that takes some effort to read, or maybe because of it, I recommend this book.

Psalm 23

In some places this is known as the death psalm, because it's always read at funerals.

It's more than that, though. God is called a shepherd, which says a lot about the relationship between him and David. A shepherd provides for and protects his sheep, and the sheep is to trust and obey his shepherd.

The ninth commandment

16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

-- Exodus 20.16

A simpler way to put this is "Don't lie." I've always told my daughters that lying is the worst thing they can do to someone. It's one thing to do something wrong but lying is like spitting in someone's face while you do it.

And don't try to be technically honest while trying to deceive people. You might fool some human beings in this world, but you'll never fool God.

A brief explanation of why THE SECRET is just stupid

I'm paralyzed from the eyeballs down. There's your explanation.

For those who don't know, The Secret is a self-help book that came out about ten years ago and has fooled a lot of people, including professing Christians. It claims to be the long-hidden wisdom of the ages but is really just another rehash of the Law of Attraction, an old idea that basically says if you think about stuff, you'll get stuff. Of course, if you think about bad things, they'll happen too, so it blames the victims as well.

Who was responsible for millions of dead Jews in the Holocaust? Obviously not the Nazis, but the millions of dead Jews. How about the African children who've had their hands or feet chopped off? Must have been the mutilated kids' fault.

And what about me? Did dwelling on an event I'd never considered leave me in a condition I'd never heard of? That's what The Secret would say.

The Law of Attraction is a vile, vicious, subhuman belief. And it's stupid too.

Psalm 22

it is honestly difficult to see how someone could know this psalm and not see it as a prophecy of Jesus Christ. I understand that it would have meant something else in 1000 BC, but on this side of the resurrection it seems obvious.

Who else could it be about?

Review: THE INFORMATION by James Gleick

I know that Gleick makes his living primarily as a journalist, but I admit that if I've ever seen any of his articles I don't remember it. He's written several books about math and science, though.which have done a great deal to popularize the sometimes-obscure origins of things that affect our everyday lives .

This book is no different. Information theory has become one of the most important branches of mathematics in our time, and involves both a centuries-long history and insanely complex problems. Gleick makes all of it understandable, and I recommend it.

Psalm 21

"Omnipotent" means "all-powerful".

That's what God is. He always saves his people, and he can't be beaten. His strength and power are infinite, and yet he loves and cares for weak and feeble creatures like us. When it comes down to it, all we can do is praise him.

An announcement

I have something new at The Bible Exchange, "This is my Father's fallen world".

www.bibleexchange.com

Psalm 20

If God is for you, it doesn't matter who's against you. If he's not, it doesn't matter who's against you.

The best that we can hope for is that God will hear our prayers and give us what we ask for. He can do that because he's all-powerful, and nothing is too difficult for him. We can hope for it because he's also also all-good.

Review: SALT AND LIGHT by Eberhard Arnold

In this book Arnold looks at how a Christian can positively influence the world around him. First and foremost,Arnold says, he must live as a Christian, which will make him seem very strange to the world around him. It's only by practicing what he preaches that a Christian can hope to get a hearing.

This is a challenging book, even more so when one realizes that Arnold lived this way in the first years of the Third Reich. I recommend it.

Psalm 19

David makes an audacious claim in this psalm. Keep in mind that he's talking about the Five Books of Moses, the Torah, one of the parts of Scripture we least like reading.

He doesn't say the law is good. He says it's perfect.

Review: JACK OF FABLES VOL.1 by Bill Willingham, Matthew Sturges, and Tony Akins

This was the first spin-off from the main Fables series, and is much funnier than the original.

A lot of the humor comes from the disconnect between how Jack views himself, as the greatest Fable of all time, and his true self, which is arrogant and a little stupid. Despite his stupidity, his cunning and charisma make him a natural leader and a good comic-book protagonist.

The art is fine. While I might seem to be damning it with faint praise, I'm actually not. It's not as good as that of the main Fables book, but it's at least as good as most others. The art isn't perfect, but it is perfectly suited to the story. It's also worth noting the sheer number and variety of things artist Tony Akin is called on to draw.

The biggest problem with the book lies in its own nature and that of its main character. The book is funny, but in a broad, farcical way, deriving humor from sex and violence (and there are plenty of both. Jack seems to have no inclination to improve his world, instead living only to satisfy his own appetites. The book reflects this empty, adolescent philosophy, and I don't recommend it.

Psalm 18

Remember the song "Count Your Blessings"? That's not a bad idea.

Trusting God isn't just about asking him for stuff for the future. It's also about remembering what he did for us in the past and thanking him for it. After all, why would you depend on someone tomorrow if you couldn't depend on him yesterday?

The eighth commandment

15 "You shall not steal.

-- Exodus 20.15, ESV

This is another commandment that's very simple and very straightforward. But what if I really need something? Don't steal. But what if somebody steals from me? Don't steal. But what if -- ? Don't steal.

You're not allowed an excuse. That's why they're called the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions.

Psalm 17

David isn't worried about his standing with God, because as far as he knows there's nothing to worry about. Though Israelite kings could and did fall from God's favor, David isn't concerned, any more than a dutiful son would be concerned that his father might disown him.

Not being eternally secure doesn't mean that you're eternally insecure.

Psalm 16

Those who say God is cold and joyless have obviously never read the Bible.

In The Screwtape Letters the senior devil Screwtape quotes this psalm specifically when he accuses God of hedonism. It's worth noting that those who know God best are always talking about his joys and gifts; it's only those who don't know him who think he's harsh or cruel.

Review: THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES by Charles Darwin

For many years I didn't read this, because I didn't think I needed to. After all, I had already heard all about it. The professing Christians I knew (mostly Fundamentalist Baptists) thought it was the worst book ever written because it has been used to prove evolution and disprove the existence of God. The evolutionists I knew (mostly intellectual atheists) thought it was the best book ever written for exactly the same reason So I never got around to reading it.

Until I did.

I'm convinced that both its friends and its enemies make such grandiose claims because few of them have actually read it. The fact is that it is a product neither of Heaven nor of Hell. It's a book, and an old and dull one at that. Charles Darwin was neither a great genius nor the Antichrist. He was a man who wrote some observations and opinions in a book.

Since by his own standards these opinions have been proven wrong, I don't recommend this book.

Bread

Of all the good things God's given us to eat, I think I miss bread the most.

I miss all kinds of food: cereal, cheeseburgers, apples, devil's food cake, raw spinach, catfish, oatmeal, steak, pizza, pancakes, black-eyed peas, granola, cherry pie, pork chops, bananas, donuts, bacon ... but for some reason, I really want bread. I can spend hours thinking about it, from loaf bread to biscuits to pizza crust,

A better person (and a better writer) would tie this into how Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," and make some life-changing point. I'll just say this:

I miss bread.

Psalm 15

Who can dwell with God? The one who does what God says. That means a lot of people are in for a rude awakening.

You're not saved by works. But you're not saved just because you say you are, either. Your outward works reflect your inward beliefs. Besides, who'd want to spend eternity with a God with whom you disagree? It would be like an ant dancing with an elephant; no matter how careful the elephant is, it's not going to end well for the ant.

Review: THE DIVINE COMEDY by Dante Aghlieri

This is another of those great classics that I haven't gotten around to reading until the last couple of years. And I'm mostly doing it now so I can say I did.

Frankly, I didn't think it was worth the effort. The poetry did nothing for me, and since I don't care for Roman theology or 13th century Italian politics, there's not much else to pay attention to, and I don't recommend it.

Psalm 14

If not for God, the righteous would have no chance. In this psalm, David describes God's people as surrounded by evil men, but also by the protection of God.

And if you have the second, the first doesn't matter.

Review: THE PRAYER GOD ANSWERS by Eberhard Arnold

Plough.com has a great many books for free so as you'll see I've read a lot of Eberhard Arnold books.

Arnold was the founder of the Bruderhof movement, which has become a worldwide network of Christians living communally. This book looks at the relationship of prayer to such a life, and determines that the prayer God answers is the one that already matches up with his will.

Since Arnold made his living as a teacher, lecturer, and editor, it's not surprising that the book is well-written. It's also worth every penny I spent on it. I recommend this book.

Psalm 13

If God has always come through in the past, it makes sense that he would do so in the future. 

David starts by questioning God and ends by praising his faithfulness. This is only natural. The normal reaction to someone who's already proven himself trustworthy is to keep trusting him.

The seventh commandment

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

-- Exodus 20.14, ESV 

This is very simple. Adultery is just sex with someone you aren't married to. Therefore, don't have sex with with someone you're not married to.

That's black and white. Only people make it complicated.

Psalm 12

The phrase "purified seven times" is sometimes used by those who believe the King James Version is the only real Bible. Since the KJV was the seventh major English translation, they say, this is proof of their case.

This overlooks the simple fact that their "proof" is silly.

Review: CHAOS by James Gleick

I think books on math and physics are very interesting, especially the theoretical aspects. Unfortunately, I've never had any aptitude for those subjects, and I never learned to do the math necessary to really understand them. What this usually means is that I generally understand them until the equations come out, and then I get lost.

Gleick's books are different, in that he's not a mathematician or physicist either. What they may lack in precision -- which would be lost on me anyway -- they more than gain in readability. This book is particularly good in this regard, both because it's nearly 30 years old and because there are a great many illustrations of Mandelbrot sets, as well as many photographs and charts that make the text clearer.

Chaos may not have lived up to the rapturous expectations of the 1980s, but it has still proven to be an important concept, and this book does a good job of introducing it. I recommend it.

Psalm 11

Evil people can do what they like. God is still God.

They can scatter the righteous, slander them, and even try to kill them. In the end it just doesn't matter. God will always be God, and he'll always take care of his people.

What "Built for Glory" means

First, it comes from one of my favorite songs, "Built for Glory, Made to Last", by one of my favorite bands, the Lost Dogs. Go on and look it up. I'll wait.

Now that you've heard a good song, I'll continue. It also means that though we've adapted ourselves wonderfully to the world in which we live, it's not the world in which we were meant to live.. It's been marred by sin; it's hard and hostile, and while we survive here, we were designed for something else.

We were designed for a perfect world, and for communion with God. Instead, we're just strangers in a strange land, stumbling blindly behind him.

An announcement

The Bible Exchange has let me put something else up there. Here's the link.

Psalm 10

You're not getting away with anything, you know.

This psalm is both a prayer that God would see the deeds of the wicked and a promise that he will. God sees everything; that's what omniscience means. It's not like anyone can slip something by him.

Review: HEART OF DARKNESS by Joseph Conrad

This is the book that took me the longest to read. I started it my senior year of high school, and finished it 17 years later. And it's not that it's long, either. A dead-tree copy is about 75 pages long, so it's barely a novella.

The fact is that I found it boring. I still do, and I don't recommend it.

Psalm 9

If God does something for you, tell people. The last eight psalms have asked God for justice, and here David is thankful for what he's received and what he will receive.

Like I said, if God does something for you, tell people.

Review: THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS by John Bunyan

This is without a doubt the most famous allegory in the world, and other than the Bible it's the most-translated book in history. But is it any good?

The first thing to notice is that this is an old book. Between the outdated spelling and vocabulary and the archaic punctuation, it can be a challenge to read. Because it's been in the public domain for so long, though, there are plenty of audio and modernized versions that pretty much eliminate that problem.

A second consideration is the story, which is divided into two parts. The first, the tale of Christian's journey to Heaven, is the best-known and better of the two, while the other, which tells about his wife Christiana and their children as they follow him, is both somewhat repetitive and less interesting.

Overall, this is a book that rewards the effort put into it, and which deserves its status as a classic. I highly recommend it.

Psalm 8

God is the one who made the universe, and that's who wants to speak with you.

We've sent spacecraft billions of miles. We've seen trillions of miles. Some of what we think are stars in the night sky are actually galaxies of tens of millions of stars. Everywhere we look we see the handiwork of God, even though he's that great he still cares about each one of us.

The sixth commandment

13 "You shall not murder.

-- Exodus 20.13, ESV 

While governments were given the right of capital punishment immediately after the Flood, and unintentional killing could be forgiven under the law, premeditated homicide has always been strictly forbidden. The murder of an image-bearer of God is extremely serious, and should be treated extremely seriously 

Psalm 7

Why do we think only evil can hurt us? Good can too, and when it has to be it's far more terrible than evil. If your enemy is Satan or one of his minions, you can pray to God for deliverance, but when God is your enemy,where do you turn?

After all, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Review: BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL by Friedrich Nietzsche

There are atheists, and then there's Nietzsche.

While our modern atheists tend to want the benefits of religion without a God telling them what to do, Nietzsche looked at a world without God and was horrified. When he had a character in another work say that God is dead, it was a cry not of triumph but of despair.

This book explores more of what it would mean to live in a universe where man is the only authority. Specifically, since morality tends to come from religion, without religion mankind would be beyond morality, too. While part of me thinks everyone should read this just to see what lies behind celebrity atheists like Richard Dawkins and Penn Gillette. Another part, though, knows it's pretty dull. Evil, it seems, really is banal. 

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.