Opus 2011-74, Spiritual Gifts: Discernment

(1 Corinthians 12:10 KJV)  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

Why is it that some people are so gullible and others know when something isn’t right?  It could be that one has the gift of discernment or as the KJV phrases it, the “discerning of spirits.”

The Holy Spirit gives some people the ability to tell what the spiritual state is of an idea, a person, a project, you name it.  If we look at the word being used in Hebrews we see that it involves the ability to see if you are dealing with good or evil.

(Hebrews 5:14 KJV)  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

There are many questions that we face that require this knowledge.  Should you let someone work in your nursery?  Should the church borrow money? 

I think this gift is being ignored in the church today.  Because of the teachings of multiculturalism and diversity we don’t want to take any stands that might say something is wrong or evil.  The gifts of mercy and service are being made king and without the balance of wisdom and discernment, evil gets the upper hand.

It is time to wake up and get on with the business of righteousness.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-73, Immortal Quotes: “...all men are created equal”

Most educated people are familiar with this phrase from the Declaration of Independence.  The context is also important:

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...”

First of all notice that this is considered obvious.  It is something that is universal and applied to all men.  If you are into 21st Century political correctness you might need someone to point out the the term “men” is generic, referring to all human beings.

Notice that the source of this statement is religious.  We were created.  The Creator is the one who did the endowing.  This is not an idea granted by government nor the product of a process of philosophical discussion.  Equality and rights come from God.

It does not say that all men are equal.  It says we are created equal.  This is a significant difference.  Egalitarianism is a humanist concept.  Equal before God is a Christian idea.  And the equality goes both ways, good and bad.  At one end we have,

(Romans 3:23 KJV)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

At the other extreme we have,

(Galatians 3:28 KJV)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are all different.  We have different gifts, strengths and interests.  This will make us live life at different levels.  In spite of that, we all have the same basic rights.  It is up to us to do with them what we will.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-72, Basic Beliefs: Creation, Infinity and Eternity

Recently I was out walking during the day.  It must have been a weekend.  We had just come through a time of heavy rains so the air was clear and there were some incredible cloud sculptures to enjoy.  I got to thinking about the glory of creation.  One of the beliefs of all Christians is that God created the universe.  Some take Genesis 1 as a literal statement and believe that the world was created in  six twenty-four hour days and God rested on the seventh.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who accept the theory of evolution but look at it like intelligent design instead of chance.  The universe may be billions of years old, but God was in charge of each molecule and reaction.

We also believe that God is eternal and infinite.  When I put these ideas together I got to thinking about the probability that God is still being creative.  When I am resurrected to the New Earth and the New Jerusalem I am going to have forever to explore and enjoy all that God is doing.  And He will continue doing more.  I will never even begin to catch up. 

How can I get across how beyond comprehension this is.  There are two types of creativity.  One type is what the vast majority of people do.  It is simply taking an idea a tweeking it.  The other type is genuine creativity.  Ideas that seem to come from nowhere.  For instance, who first thought of the bow and arrow?  The jump from a spear to a device that uses certain types of wood with the ends joined by a chord is really thinking outside the box.  Who thought of putting feathers on the arrow to make it fly true?  We make them longer, paint them colors or find new materials, but the real genius was the original invention.  God does this all the time.

Plan on joining the exploration.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-71, News: John McCain, Conservative?

Who said miracles don’t happen?  We have a resurrection of the dead.  John McCain is once again a conservative.  Recently the Drudge Report had a headline about the 10 most conservative senators.  If you clicked the link you found that John McCain was tied for first.  What?  Is this a humor blog? 

One of the indications that the democratic process doesn’t work and you can’t trust the American voter is the re-election of John McCain by the people of Arizona.  It wasn’t even close.  Maybe it is a case of the devil you know.  He may be a fine husband, a great father, a genuine patriot and an experienced senator, but he gave up the right to be called a conservative a long time ago.

It is time to play the laugh track.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-70, On the Street: Polling places staffing

A few days ago I was walking during the day instead of at night and I saw a lady who usually worked at the place I vote.  None of the regular faces were on the job last time.  I asked her where everyone went.  She said that in the last election, none of the regular people were called to work.  They brought in a whole new group.  She said she though they were looking for more bi-lingual people.

I think they were looking for more Democrats.  I have no reason to think that there were any irregularities at my polling place.  I saw nothing out of order, but all of the people who would recognize regular voters were gone.  In that election, California was the only state to buck the national trend.  The Democrats took all the statewide offices and even picked up a seat in the state assembly.  Is there a correlation? 

How does a political party gain power in a state that is failing because of their policies? 

I would suggest that if conservative and Republicans want to have a chance at keeping the republic then something needs to be done about voter fraud and the integrity of our elections.  In the entire history of our country there have been issues.  This is nothing new, but if we don’t want to get totally thrown under the bus we better check the drivers.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-69, Christian Cliches: “Thou shall not kill”

This past weekend I was with family and one of the topics of discussion was about history and how various religions justify and sometimes encourage war.  This morning I was discussing with an acquaintance the proper response to the pirates working off the east coast of Africa.  In both cases the phrase, “Thou shall not kill” came up.

Many people feel that the Christian believer must be opposed to any action that takes human life.  Strangely enough these same people often have no trouble with abortion or euthanasia, but that is a discussion for another day.  They are against war for any reason, capital punishment, and self defense.  They are against guns because “guns kill people.”  Many non-believers have the same position and also quote “Thou shall not kill,” even though they don’t believe the Bible is anything but a book of fairy tales. 

A proper translation of Exodus 20:13 does not say “Thou shall not kill.”  It says, “Thou shall not murder.”  Even the KJV translates the word in forms of  “murder” more than forms of “kill.”  The older the translation the more likely to translate it “kill.”  The NASB only translates it as “kill” once.  

Much of the reason for the misunderstanding is ignorance.  When the KJV was written people had a much better understanding of what the Bible had to say.  They knew that this verse could not be a universal ban on killing because they knew that the law had provision for capital punishment.  They knew that the law clearly stated that there was a difference between, manslaughter, justifiable homicide and premeditated murder.  They knew that John the Baptist did not condemn soldiers for being soldiers but for being greedy.  They knew that Jesus healed the servant of the centurion and never told the Roman oppressor that He had a problem with him being a soldier.  They know that Peter was sent to share the gospel with another centurion.  They know that Paul declared that the government wielded the sword to deal with evil.  If you read your Bible you understand that this cannot mean what warm and fuzzy people want it to mean.

In many cases the reason is not ignorance but deliberate misunderstanding.  Many people do not like what the Bible teaches so they interpret and modify ideas to fit what they want.  We all have a tendency in this way but some are more self centered than others.

The basic truth of the Bible is understandable by anyone wanting to understand.  It is also full of complex ideas that can please any scholar.  It meets you where you are.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-68, Why Is there a Distortion Pedal?

I was listening to some music as I was studying and worshiping this morning.  On the second song I thought my I-pod was broken because the sound was breaking up.  Then I realized it was the distortion pedal.  If you are my age you might ask yourself, “What is a distortion pedal?”  Understanding this may help you understand where modern culture is going and what is wrong with the younger generation.

A distortion pedal is a foot controlled devise that is connected between the guitar and the speaker.  It is sometimes built into the amp or guitar itself.  It has only one purpose, to distort.  You take a perfectly good series of notes and make it sound like you are getting severe sun spot interference.  It is the kind of sound that drove people from AM to FM.  Now they do it on purpose.  Go figure.  I once bought a little devise I could plug into my electric guitar so I could plug earphones into it and practice without bothering anyone.  It was kind of cool.  It had three settings.  The first, the one I bought it for, was normal.  What you played was what you got.  Then it had a mild distortion.  Last it had extreme distortion.  People actually pay for this kind of thing.  They even have a line of different distortion pedals that give different effects.  This is capitalism at work.  It is almost enough to make me a socialist.

So you have an entire generation that thinks the point of music is to sound like fingernails on the blackboard.  Your music is considered boring because it does not make your hair stand up.  You thought their hair styles were strange?  No, it is just the product of listening to their music too long. 

Now this is not necessarily evil.  I would not mind it if it didn’t penetrate through the windows of my car as I drive.  When I am walking I can hear them practicing in the garage from blocks away.  It is their hearing that is being destroyed.  It used to be a free country.  But I think it has some social and spiritual applications.  A growing number of people are not happy unless they are being offensive.  The more people of low ability we get involved in the media the more we see and hear vulgar sights and sounds.  When I used to do summer camp counseling I was amazed at how a cabin full of junior high boys could giggle all night from one fart.  Now I see entire TV shows with this kind of theme.  Last time I watched the TV news there was a segment on someone’s pet pig while they ignored major world issues.  It is the distortion pedal gone amok.

People take the clear and simple teaching of the Bible and turn it into the strangest distortions.  Have you heard people denying that the Bible condemns homosexuality?  They are pushing on the distortion pedal.  I have read extended posts about how Jesus did not really rise physically from the dead, written by people who are ministers in Christian denominations.  I wonder what flavor of kool-aid they have been drinking.

We all need to beware of the danger of making our preferences the baseline for right and wrong.  I am aware of that.  But calling a Twinkie a carrot does not remove the calories.  Lets work to remove the figurative distortion pedals from our thinking. 

Who knows, maybe it will disconnect the physical pedals, too.

homo unius libri