this life and the next

In March 2009 I had a few blog posts about why Christianity offers more hope and meaning to human existence in the light of life and death.

Two years ago my last grandparent died and a year later her sister died. A month ago her husband, my great uncle died. All three were strong believers in Jesus Christ and had been for most of their lives. They all lived into their 90s.

Throw Them All Out

Yesterday I finished reading the book with the title of this post. I find it more than disheartening that our leaders both in the business and political spheres are in business and public office more to enrich themselves than they are to serve the public. I urge you to read the book before the next election.

The author, Peter, Schweizer, describes ways that national political leaders use their insider knowledge to enrich themselves. This includes stock purchases, land deals, and more. This involves both parties, and several administrations back. It's not a Right vs. Left or Republican vs. Democrat issue. It's about politicians who are enriching themselves in ways that you or I would go to jail for. It's about them feeding at the public trough and helping their business friends get rich and avoid the consequences of their poor actions.

These politicians and business leaders are responsible for creating the economic climate that has created our current financial crisis. But we, the voting public are to blame as well. We vote by party, or because our "guy in DC" has influence or gives us goodies. Well, the time has come to end all of this.

So what's to do?

Schweizer elaborates:

• trading on insider, nonpublic information must be illegal for everyone, including government officials and their aids.
• members of Congress must not be allowed to trade stocks in companies in areas where they are involved in committee work
• whistleblower laws must apply to Congress
• earmarks that Congressional members receive any benefit for must end
• no campaign contributions must be allowed when Congress is in session
• the federal government must not make loans or give grants. The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers.

His end paragraph is telling:

"The problems we face today are not the result of the individual failings of a few leaders. What we face is a system that is compromised by the perception that U.S. public policy is a marketable commodity. It's time to fix it. Let's relegate the Government Rich to the ashbin of history. If you want to get rich, do it the legitimate way. Go out and produce a useful good or service that you have a right to sell." (176, see Amazon.com link above for the reference)

So, my opinion is to vote against everyone in Congress and the White House and start over. Send them a warning that we will not, we CANNOT continue with things as usual. Otherwise there won't be much of a country left to pass along to our children and grandchildren.

Bonsai as spiritual lesson

Last Saturday my wife, daughter, and I visited the Denver Botanical Gardens to see the Bonsai show that the local Bonsai Society holds every Father's Day weekend. There were many beautiful and interesting trees on display.

At one point we watched a demonstration. One of the society members had previously purchased a pyrocanthus bush. It had an interesting central trunk, but the remainder of the three foot high bush was full of small branches growing in all directions.

As we watched, the gentleman explained how and why he pruned the branches away until about an hour later what was left resembled a small tree. As he worked, what came to my mind was John 15.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Now, I know that Jesus was speaking of grape vines not bonsai trees! Nevertheless, I think that their is a significant lesson to be learned. I also know that there are other

ways of obtaining bonsai materials such as growing materials from seed. Ignoring these, here's what I learned.

When the bonsai artist finds a wild specimen or a nursery item, he takes what is already there, twisted, gnarled, more or less growing as it wills. Then he looks at that specimen to find a tree that he can form. Each specimen is different, even material from the same species and area. So the bonsai artist cuts off what doesn't match what he thinks is best for that tree, and when he's done, he has the beginnings of a tree. Then comes the trimming of the roots, and then the longest part - training the tree so that the parts are in proportion and the tree is beautiful. The trimming and pruning may take a few hours initially. The training may take years.

So too, God takes us as we are, wild, gnarled, damaged, growing our own way. Then, he cuts. And cuts and cuts, and trims so that we begin to fit the form that he has in mind for us. Each of us is different. None of us will be identical. Some need more trimming, some more training. When he's done, he has a human shaped as he wills, unique, a master piece of his working with our imperfections and sins. And the artist receives the praise.

Now the cutting, trimming, and training is not pleasant. While plants do not feel pain, I can imagine that if they could they would be protesting the entire pruning, trimming of roots and the boredom of the training.

But the end product is a tree of great beauty, a tribute to the artist.

Bonsai as spiritual lesson

Last Saturday my wife, daughter and I went to the Denver Botanical

Keep Your Greek, chapters 9, 10, supplemental material

Chapter nine
What if your Greek is rusty and slipping or even partly gone? Chapter nine tells you how to get your Greek back if it's gone or going. Having relearned Greek two or three times, I agree with Campbell when he says that it's easier the second or third time. It's a matter of gaining the courage to retrace the ground that you've lost.

Chapter ten
Putting it together. Campbell tell us how he puts these tips together in his schedule to keep up not just his Greek but other languages as well.

Supplemental material
Appendix: Campbell mostly address students here, stressing the importance of getting it right the first time. If you have a good foundation it's harder to lose, easier to maintain, and easier to regain if needed.

Resources for all sorts of Greek. Worth checking out.

In summary:
For $10, this book is a good buy. The hints and suggestions are well worth the price. Of course whether or not you or I follow is up to us, but the author has laid a good foundation for how to keep up your Greek (the suggestions would also work for Hebrew) after leaving seminary or for getting it back if it's slipping. I would recommend the book for those about to leave seminary, or those who have graduated and feel that they need to regain their slipping skills.

Keep Your Greek, chapters 6, 7, 8

Chapter six: Read fast

Chapter seven: Read slow

Contradictory? No. Just as in English I may skim an article quickly for the main points, so too it is useful to be able to skim a Greek passage for the main points. When we can do this, we can quickly read to see what the author was speaking about. When you can skim well, then you know that you are more at home with the language. Again, read the blog hints at the ends of the chapters. On the other hand, at times you need to read slowly, with great care, paying attention to every detail and knowing every part and the function of every part.

At times you need to read fast, at others, you need to read quickly.

Chapter eight: Use your senses Read aloud, listen to tapes of vocabulary and others reading the text. Some people are singing Greek. I remember Dr. Owens at Colorado College singing Classical Greek according to the accents. Apparently there exist songs for verb and noun endings. I wish they had been around when I was teaching Greek! Lastly, writing out paradigms shows that we really know them.

The Wrong Metaphor

In a post yesterday by Albert Mohler, Mohler responds to McLaren's criticisms of Mohler that Mohler had made of Bell.

Mohler quotes McLaren:

If a human father decided to throw his child in a fireplace for just ten seconds as punishment for disobedience, we wouldn’t fault the father simply for being unsentimental: we would say such behavior was unholy, an act of torture in violation of our most fundamental sense of justice. Any definition of justice and holiness that involves being unsatisfied unless the imperfect are suffering eternal agony seems to many of us as unworthy of a human being and if so, how much more unworthy of God whose justice must be better than our own.

And this is so true. But this is the wrong way to look the situation between God and humanity. We are not God's children by creation, we are rebelling citizens. And kings (and presidents) deal harshly with rebelling citizens. It is their right (and responsibility) to do so. Jesus related several parables where God as the king punishes his enemies severely and tells others that there will be great punishment for those who rebel against God. These include Matthew 8:5-13, 13:40-42, 21:33-44, 22:1-14.

Now, I realize that these passage don't settle whether hell will eventually be emptied, but they do speak to a God who is justified in punishing those who rebel against him and who sin against him. These passages speak to a Jesus who believes and teaches exactly those same things.

In RC Sproul's book, The Prayer of the Lord, he discusses the idea of the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man.

I think Harnack was wrong in his analysis of the essence of Christianity. I don't think these two propositions are at the core of the Christian faith. In fact, I don't think they're even a part of the Christian faith. I think these propositions are actually antithetical to the Christian faith. (22)

I think that RC is exactly correct, and that McLaren has bought into Harnack's error. The fatherhood of God is for those who are believers in Jesus Christ, and no others. That God has a creatorial love for his creation is true, but that does not mean that he loves all humanity in the same way. Challenge: is RC correct? Is there anywhere in the Bible that refers to God as the father of all humanity?

So, as we discuss the relationship between God and humanity we must be careful to use the correct metaphor for the correct relationship. For believers in Jesus Christ, he is Father. For all humanity, he is the king and creator to whom all owe allegiance and obedience. Those who will not give obedience and allegiance will be treated at some point as the rebels that they are.