Opus 2026-348: It Occurred to Me

Recently I was thinking about going to Sunday school and going to church and it occurred to me that I am getting the wrong terminology. The Sunday school hour is more of a prayer-Bible study time.  I don’t have a word for that.

The second hour is not church.  It is worship.  I need to get in the habit of talking about going to worship rather than church.  I might even add a modifier and call it corporate worship.  Either way it’s a good way to frame the experience and it might even be a helpful way of witnessing.  When you say “Go to church” most people have a lot of preconceived notions.  They think of a building.  If they have a liturgical background, they might think of some fancy reciting and ritual.  The term corporate worship might make them stop and think a little bit so that’s what I’m going to try for.  We’ll see how it works.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-348: Energize the Routine

Part of our worship service very week is the Apostle’s creed. The pastor regularly reminds us to only recite it if we believe it.  It covers a lot of ground.  At the same time it misses certain points.  It does not spell out the divinity of Christ.  It does not make clear the importance grace.

Note however that no other religious or philosophical group could endorse this.  The very idea of God being personal and active in creation would rule it out for the Eastern religions.  Jesus being God’s son and the personhood of the Holy Spirit would rule out Muslims.  Some groups that consider themselves churches would refuse it because it mentions the virgin birth and the resurrection.

The Nicene Creed goes into more detail but is a bit long for reciting in an hour Protestant service.  It provides a serious place to begin and gives plenty of material for discussing what we believe with others.

Recite it with joy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-347: Boiler Plate Mansions

In the King James Bible Jesus tells his disciples He goes to prepare a mansion for them.  The actual word has to do with simply dwelling place, not glorious, gold plated mansions but most people tend to think what they want to see.

A mansion means a different things to different people.  I remember an old story about an American Indian talking to a Christian missionary, and the missionary was criticizing his idea of a happy hunting ground.  The Indian reportedly replied that his idea of eternity matched his joy in this world just like the missionary.  Whereas the missionary was consumed with gold and buildings thus, streets of gold, the Indian likeed the outdoors.

I’m wondering, if for some people the idea of a mansion or a place prepared for them might simply be a home with their own bedroom.  If you’re sharing a room with a couple of siblings, you might understand what I’m talking about.  For them their own room would be paradise.  Or someone else they might need a gym, a spa and a library.  Many different meanings to the word mansion.

I think the idea is a place that is in the same neighborhood with Jesus so we can spend time with Him.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-346: Two First Two Questions

We are all philosophers.  I know.  I know.  You say you get bored by philosophy but that does not keep you from criticizing the behavior you see going on all around you.  I does not keep you from pondering whether it is time to move out of California, or way past time.  The fact is we are all philosophers and we all do philosophy.

Do you mean to say you have never pondered the meaning of life?  How about, “Why should I go to work instead of signing up for welfare?”  Again there are philosophical questions we ask on a moment by moment basis.  Some are more important than others.  Some impact what you buy and where.  Others determine the future of your children.

Two questions are more important than any others and form the foundation for answering the others.

First and most important, “What must I do to be saved?”  This is generated by other questions such as “What is wrong with the world?”  Modern society tries to say what is wrong is in society.  It is always someone else’s fault.  The victim culture thrives.  Of course when you blame society the answer always seem to be more government and more oppression.  

If people are honest they will eventually start wondering what is wrong within themselves.  They will then seek out all kinds of therapists to help them find the inner flaws.  Some with genuine disorders may find help.  Most, after many years and thousands of dollars, will see that approach as worthless.  

Eventually they will start listening to their grandparents or the radio preacher and realize that the problem is that they are sinners.  They will then decide if they really want to answer that question or just ignore it.

The second, and equally important in God’s eyes I think, is “How then shall we live?”  If you reject the Biblical solution to the first question you will still have to deal with this but you will have no foundation to answer it.  If theft if only wrong if you get caught you will keep trying to plan the perfect crime.  If you are a child of God you know what He expects.  To be honest, this path is clearly laid out and easy to follow.  You may not like the path but it is there.  How well you follow may not keep you out of eternal life but it may influence whether your children go to hell of heaven.  It may also determine whether God lowers the boom on the country you live in.

Know the first two questions and make sure you answer them correctly.  This is pretty much a pass/fail quiz.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-345: On the Road: Off the Road

Home at last.  Two weeks on the road is enough to make you appreciate home more than ever. As an introvert, a road trip can be torture if someone else is with you.  There is no place to hide. The female questions keep coming and sometimes an answer is expected.  How did I feel about the trip?  How do you summarize the variety of feelings emerging over two weeks?

Two weeks on the road help to remind me of what a great country we have both in size and in quality.  At one point we had a three hour drive and most of the way we saw no evidence of humanity except for fences and an occasional cell tower and of course the road.  We saw little box houses next to spreading ranch style homes.  Macho hot dogs would try to run us down and the next minute someone is totally polite.  In short periods of time you can go from arid flatland to hilly forests.  In the middle of the sage you come across irrigation systems that hover over lush fields.

The fools that worried about over population need to get out more and drive from central Texas to central Wyoming.  Of course such people might not notice that most of it is empty.  Those who worry about the world starving would hopefully notice that the lack of food is political, not potential.  Water can make the desolate productive.

All that said, it is good to be home at last.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-344: Learning to Listen

I think I’m learning to listen to the preaching with a little better attitude.  I keep wanting the pastor to do it my way.  I keep wanting to him to research things my way.  I keep wanting him to actually preach out of the text that he reads.  It ain’t gonna happen.

At the same time just about everything he says is biblical.  Just about everything he says I do agree with.  It’s just that I have this idea that the preaching should actually be drawn out of the text instead of out of our background noise.

I’m going to be trying to focus on the things that he says and for my benefit use those as starting points for my own weekly worship and study.  There are times when he makes statements that just make me shake my head.  I need to get used to that and make sure that I’m shaking my head in mystery not shaking my head in negation.

I think this is called growing pains.

homo unius libri

Opus 2026-343: Words Matter

I continue to contemplate the conflict between Bible statements that seem unconditional at times and other places are clearly conditional.  One of the explanations is the use of figures of speech.  Contemporaries understand them but other times and cultures may not.  What are some examples in modern America of this reality?

Nice to meet you.  Really?  How do you know?
How are you?  Do you really care?
Fine.  Actually your life is falling apart.
It is raining cats and dogs.
I am starving.
I couldn’t eat another bite.
This is the last time I am going to tell you.
Good sermon.
This is the best day ever.

I am sure I could go on.  Others will come to me.  Some of these are polite conventions that we used to be civil.  Others are hyperbole.  Some are total fantasy.  All are clearly understood by the person of average intelligence.  How many of the “forever’s” and “everlasting’s” and “all’s” that we see in the Bible were clearly understood by the people of the day as figures of speech?  One indication is a statement that is impossible or contradicted in another place.  

People tend to be selective in their interpretation.  They have a theological system and they are going to stick with it.  They ignore the built in contradictions.  For instance many people take the repeated promise of the land to Israel as a truly forever thing.  If you disagree they quickly move toward accusations of heresy.  You are denying the clear teaching of scripture.

Those same people will look at this,

(Joh 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And deny that “whosover” means whosoever.  Why?  Because their theology demands that only the elect, chosen at creation by God, will be saved.  One place they demand literal and when it is clearly literal it become figurative.

I wonder if I amaze other people as much as they amaze me.

homo unius libri