John McCain hit a home run today with his choice of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his choice for his vice-president running mate. Not only is she a "babe," making the Republican ticket the best-looking one by far, but she is decisive and sure of her values. She is pro-life! She will certainly make this campaign a lot more fun and interesting.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Friday, August 29, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
THE BLESSING OF WORK
". . .cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. . .In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread" (Genesis 3:17&19).
"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest labor with his hands, so that he may have something to give to those in need" (Ephesians 4:28).
"For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: 'If any one will not work, let him not eat'" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
"They all worked until they died. That after all is the final test of the degree of interest in one's work. Professor Hans Virchow once said to me while I was laboring with an exasperating lymph-vessal injection: 'He who has never shed tears over his work does not know what it is to try'" (Dr. Arthur E. Hertzler speaking of his professors in medical school in Berlin, Germany. Hertzler practiced medicine on the Kansas frontier in the 19th and early 20th centuries.).
"A friend once found De Condoyle the great anthropologist hard at work late at night. This friend remarked that he must love his science to be working so late--the professor was then eighty years of age. 'No,' replied the old scientist; 'it is not love of science that drives me. It is to drown my grief'"(Dr. Arthur E. Hetzler).
The necessity of work is reality. The nobility of work is determined by the attitude that is brought to it. Indeed, many work harder at avoiding work than actually doing the tasks that are required of them to do because the tasks are unpleasant and disagreeable to them. I have seen active people busily avoiding the real work that needed to be done. It should be noted that work did not become toilsome and tedious until sin entered the world. It is our sinful attitudes that contribute the most to making our work seem unpleasant. Certainly, painful physical conditions play their part in all this, but they can be battled through if one views her work as a high-calling.
And, even very lowly work is a high-calling if it is done for the Lord. There is no honest work that is demeaning!
Every human being has three needs which must be met or he or she will have problems. These needs are: to love, to be loved and to do something worthwhile. That there is a considerable amount of over-lap between loving and doing something worthwhile is admitted, but try living life without doing something worthwhile and you set yourself up for a major loss of self-esteem and the addition of some diagnosable mental health disorder. People feel better about themselves if they do honest labor; they are not only blessing themselves, but those around them too.
One of the blessings of work is that it is a distraction from heart-ache and grief. Grief never goes away until we make it to heaven and Jesus wipes every tear from our eyes. But, four things help us to bear our grief on this earth: our Faith, the fellowship of our friends and family, our tears and our work. Sweating-hard work offers a respite from the gnawing pain of grief and loss. Too much time alone in introspection increases the pain, making it much harder to bear.
So, thank God that you have work to do and get to it!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
"Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest labor with his hands, so that he may have something to give to those in need" (Ephesians 4:28).
"For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: 'If any one will not work, let him not eat'" (2 Thessalonians 3:10).
"They all worked until they died. That after all is the final test of the degree of interest in one's work. Professor Hans Virchow once said to me while I was laboring with an exasperating lymph-vessal injection: 'He who has never shed tears over his work does not know what it is to try'" (Dr. Arthur E. Hertzler speaking of his professors in medical school in Berlin, Germany. Hertzler practiced medicine on the Kansas frontier in the 19th and early 20th centuries.).
"A friend once found De Condoyle the great anthropologist hard at work late at night. This friend remarked that he must love his science to be working so late--the professor was then eighty years of age. 'No,' replied the old scientist; 'it is not love of science that drives me. It is to drown my grief'"(Dr. Arthur E. Hetzler).
The necessity of work is reality. The nobility of work is determined by the attitude that is brought to it. Indeed, many work harder at avoiding work than actually doing the tasks that are required of them to do because the tasks are unpleasant and disagreeable to them. I have seen active people busily avoiding the real work that needed to be done. It should be noted that work did not become toilsome and tedious until sin entered the world. It is our sinful attitudes that contribute the most to making our work seem unpleasant. Certainly, painful physical conditions play their part in all this, but they can be battled through if one views her work as a high-calling.
And, even very lowly work is a high-calling if it is done for the Lord. There is no honest work that is demeaning!
Every human being has three needs which must be met or he or she will have problems. These needs are: to love, to be loved and to do something worthwhile. That there is a considerable amount of over-lap between loving and doing something worthwhile is admitted, but try living life without doing something worthwhile and you set yourself up for a major loss of self-esteem and the addition of some diagnosable mental health disorder. People feel better about themselves if they do honest labor; they are not only blessing themselves, but those around them too.
One of the blessings of work is that it is a distraction from heart-ache and grief. Grief never goes away until we make it to heaven and Jesus wipes every tear from our eyes. But, four things help us to bear our grief on this earth: our Faith, the fellowship of our friends and family, our tears and our work. Sweating-hard work offers a respite from the gnawing pain of grief and loss. Too much time alone in introspection increases the pain, making it much harder to bear.
So, thank God that you have work to do and get to it!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Saturday, August 23, 2008
HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZARENE
*
The top picture is of the cliff that the people of Nazareth attempted to throw Jesus over when he said things that angered them. The bottom picture is one that was taken in old Nazareth. The present Nazareth is a city of about 65,000 people. In first century it was too insignificant to make Josephus' list of Galilean towns.
*
"A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him" (Isaiah 11:1-2a).
*
"Therefore he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, 'He will be called a Nazarene" (Matthew 2:23).
*
"'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor'. . . Then he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'" (Luke 4:18,19&21).
*
Matthew has been ridiculed because there is no mention of Nazareth in the Old Testament. So, how could Jesus fulfill a prophecy that was never prophesied? The name Nazareth is derived from the Hebrew root netser which means shoot. An insignificant shoot that grows out of dry ground, out of an old dead stump. The history of the town of Nazareth was like that. Archaeologists have found continuous occupation there from 900 to 600 BCE, then a break of about 300 years, and then reoccupation beginning about 300 BCE. The line of the "Davidic" kings was like that too. It seemed that the linage of the Davidic kings ended in the Babylonian captivity; it was an old dead stump! But out of "old-dead stumps" shoots can grow and Jesus was that shoot and to make sure the name was identified with him, he was raised in "Shootsville," Nazareth. Nazareth was so insignificant that is was said, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" The inscription placed above Jesus' head on the cross read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" (John 19:19). Jesus was an unlikely king, arising from a dead stump, and out of an unlikely town. The term "Nazarene" was a term of ridicule and was applied to all who gave allegiance to the "shoot."
*
It seems to be a theological truth that God specializes in using impossible situations and the most unlikely people to bring about His purposes. That means there is hope for you and me! We are "Nazarenes!"
*
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Friday, August 22, 2008
THE LIES WE BELIEVE ABOUT MARRIAGE
"For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).
In honor of 38 years of marriage to my wife, the lovely and gracious Helen, I am writing about the lies we believe about marriage.* In our humanity, we have all believed at least one, if not all, of them.
1. The purpose of marriage is our personal happiness. In our culture, personal happiness trumps everything else on the list for determining worth; "If it doesn't make me happy, it isn't worth it." But the purpose of marriage is not for our personal happiness, it is for oneness. Oneness is getting past your own egotism. Marriage is the opposite of self-centered conceit, you can't even have a true friendship without getting past your narcissism, rather, it is giving up of your self to the other. Thus, there are sacrifices, disappointments and heartaches that are inevitably involved with oneness; without them oneness cannot be achieved. The great reward for oneness is to be able to look back on many years of life working and playing with an unfailing friend and finding joy in a life shared together. The memories of conquering difficulties, finding forgiveness in failures, investing in children and keeping the Faith all bring a abiding sense of joy and gratitude.
2. Love is what holds a marriage together. One of the questions I ask a couple when they first come for premarital counseling, "Why do you want to get married?" Almost always, they will answer, "Because we love each other." Well, as doctor Laura often says, "Love isn't enough." The truth is that love will wax and wane in a marriage. At times it will seem as if it is absent altogether. If a couple vows to stay together as long as love shall last, they really have vowed nothing; marriage has become as disposable as paper plates used at the reception. Actually, romantic love is an emotion and is tied to how we are thinking of the marriage. What we are thinking about the marriage frequently changes.
Marriage is a faith commitment, a commitment made before God. Marriage is not just a commitment made to each other, it is one made to God, who is the author of marriage. It is a relationship in which the most mature kind of love can grow, "Love is patient, love is kind . . ." (I Corinthians 13:4).
3. The goal of marriage is fulfillment of the individual. How could single people ever find fulfillment if marriage is the necessary way to find it? There are singles out there who have fulfilling lives; I know several. Rather, the successful marriage requires an abandonment so complete that we give up ourselves to the other. That is what is involved in making a covenant with another. It isn't merely a contract between equals, but a treaty of surrender of two sovereigns to each other.
At one time or another, I believed every one of those lies and our marriage suffered for it. I'm glad that God gave me an understanding and forgiving wife!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
*These thoughts are adapted from an article in "Christian Counseling Today" by James Mcmahon and Michael Mcmanus.
In honor of 38 years of marriage to my wife, the lovely and gracious Helen, I am writing about the lies we believe about marriage.* In our humanity, we have all believed at least one, if not all, of them.
1. The purpose of marriage is our personal happiness. In our culture, personal happiness trumps everything else on the list for determining worth; "If it doesn't make me happy, it isn't worth it." But the purpose of marriage is not for our personal happiness, it is for oneness. Oneness is getting past your own egotism. Marriage is the opposite of self-centered conceit, you can't even have a true friendship without getting past your narcissism, rather, it is giving up of your self to the other. Thus, there are sacrifices, disappointments and heartaches that are inevitably involved with oneness; without them oneness cannot be achieved. The great reward for oneness is to be able to look back on many years of life working and playing with an unfailing friend and finding joy in a life shared together. The memories of conquering difficulties, finding forgiveness in failures, investing in children and keeping the Faith all bring a abiding sense of joy and gratitude.
2. Love is what holds a marriage together. One of the questions I ask a couple when they first come for premarital counseling, "Why do you want to get married?" Almost always, they will answer, "Because we love each other." Well, as doctor Laura often says, "Love isn't enough." The truth is that love will wax and wane in a marriage. At times it will seem as if it is absent altogether. If a couple vows to stay together as long as love shall last, they really have vowed nothing; marriage has become as disposable as paper plates used at the reception. Actually, romantic love is an emotion and is tied to how we are thinking of the marriage. What we are thinking about the marriage frequently changes.
Marriage is a faith commitment, a commitment made before God. Marriage is not just a commitment made to each other, it is one made to God, who is the author of marriage. It is a relationship in which the most mature kind of love can grow, "Love is patient, love is kind . . ." (I Corinthians 13:4).
3. The goal of marriage is fulfillment of the individual. How could single people ever find fulfillment if marriage is the necessary way to find it? There are singles out there who have fulfilling lives; I know several. Rather, the successful marriage requires an abandonment so complete that we give up ourselves to the other. That is what is involved in making a covenant with another. It isn't merely a contract between equals, but a treaty of surrender of two sovereigns to each other.
At one time or another, I believed every one of those lies and our marriage suffered for it. I'm glad that God gave me an understanding and forgiving wife!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
*These thoughts are adapted from an article in "Christian Counseling Today" by James Mcmahon and Michael Mcmanus.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
CITY OF DAVID
"It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful . . ." (2 Samuel 11:2).
I took this picture while standing on what would have been the roof of David's residence at the time of this incident in the text, looking toward the likely location of Bathsheba's place of bathing. My opinion is that Bathsheba knew what she was doing; I do not view her as the innocent victim in this. Both David and Bathsheba sinned, but David was the king; he had to take responsibility for his failure.
My purpose for this post is to share a link to a website that my friend from Israel sent to me. It is simply fantastic! It is the closest thing to being in the City of David, in Jerusalem, with out actually being there. Here it is, http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/ It is the best presentation of old Jerusalem on a website that I have seen. If you are interested in archeology and history you will certainly enjoy this site!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Sunday, August 17, 2008
JESUS' BAPTISM IN THE PROPHETS?
". . . He said to me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You'" (Psalms 2:7).
"And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering . . ." (Daniel 9:27).
The pictures are of the area in the Jordan River, immediately south of Galilee, where baptisms can be done. It was cold the day my group was there. Consequently, we didn't get one of the older women completely immersed because she began to hyperventilate. We didn't want her to have a heart attack. In the picture, one of the younger women was completely immersed.
The other picture is from the same area, but of the scriptures that are posted there in different languages. This one is in Pidgin--it made me laugh.
None of the prophets specifically speaks of Jesus' baptism, however, Jesus' baptism marks the public statement from God himself that Jesus is His beloved son (Matthew 3:17). And,
many Bible scholars understand the beginning of the 70th week in Daniel 9:27 to be Jesus' baptism. The middle of the week to be his death burial and resurrection and the end of the week to be the stoning of Stephan, which occurred three and a half years later. Some scholars put the destruction of the temple, which would occur some 36 years later, as the end of the 70th week.
There is no doubt that his baptism did mark the beginning of Jesus' three and a half year ministry and it was the point in time when God announces publicly that Jesus is His Son.
One of the things we know for sure about Daniel's prophecy is that we are in the last days!
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Saturday, August 09, 2008
MY TWO UNCLES: THE MALE BIOLOGICAL CLOCK
"Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his sight was unimpaired and his vigor had not abated"* (Deuteronomy 34:7).
Women know that they have a biological clock. By the time they are in their 30's the bio ticking gets louder and louder. There is a lot of psychology connected with the feminine biological clock.
But, is there a male biological clock? Yes, but what guy is checking the time? Guys assume that they will always make sperm so, what is the hurry? What is important for guys to know is that, from a fertility and health perspective, having children is for the young. The biological material is just better. After 35 deterioration is beginning to set in. Men 40 and over are nearly 6 times more likely to have offspring with autism than men younger than 30.** By age 60, 85% of sperm is clinically abnormal. Increased age in the father increases the risk of schizophrenia in the children.
I have 2 uncles in my family history, one on my dad's side and one on my mother's side. Both of these uncles did not marry until they were 40 years old. One uncle fathered 4 children who grew up to be responsible, well-functioning adults. The other uncle fathered 3 children, 2 of them grew up to be good citizens, Christians and parents. The oldest child of the second uncle developed normally. He was a good student and was dedicated as a Christian too. During his college years he developed schizophrenia. This mental illness led to his tragic death and was the cause of a great deal of anguish for the family too.
Would this have happened had my second uncle fathered children earlier in life? We cannot know for sure, but if there is a question about the timing of having children, put the odds in your favor and do it sooner rather than later.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
*James Michener said in "The Source" that the verse meant that Moses was good in bed at 120 years old. I doubt that he took any supplements either, but then all his food was organic.
**Statistics came from an article in "Psychology Today" called "A Man's Shelf Life," by Mark Teich. I had read similar statistics in other publications on this subject so it seemed like they were credible.
Women know that they have a biological clock. By the time they are in their 30's the bio ticking gets louder and louder. There is a lot of psychology connected with the feminine biological clock.
But, is there a male biological clock? Yes, but what guy is checking the time? Guys assume that they will always make sperm so, what is the hurry? What is important for guys to know is that, from a fertility and health perspective, having children is for the young. The biological material is just better. After 35 deterioration is beginning to set in. Men 40 and over are nearly 6 times more likely to have offspring with autism than men younger than 30.** By age 60, 85% of sperm is clinically abnormal. Increased age in the father increases the risk of schizophrenia in the children.
I have 2 uncles in my family history, one on my dad's side and one on my mother's side. Both of these uncles did not marry until they were 40 years old. One uncle fathered 4 children who grew up to be responsible, well-functioning adults. The other uncle fathered 3 children, 2 of them grew up to be good citizens, Christians and parents. The oldest child of the second uncle developed normally. He was a good student and was dedicated as a Christian too. During his college years he developed schizophrenia. This mental illness led to his tragic death and was the cause of a great deal of anguish for the family too.
Would this have happened had my second uncle fathered children earlier in life? We cannot know for sure, but if there is a question about the timing of having children, put the odds in your favor and do it sooner rather than later.
Grace&Peace,
Tom
*James Michener said in "The Source" that the verse meant that Moses was good in bed at 120 years old. I doubt that he took any supplements either, but then all his food was organic.
**Statistics came from an article in "Psychology Today" called "A Man's Shelf Life," by Mark Teich. I had read similar statistics in other publications on this subject so it seemed like they were credible.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
BETHLEHEM IN PROPHECY
"Now you are walled around with a wall . . ." (Micah 5:1). Part of the security wall that Israel has erected near Bethlehem to discourage terrorism. That the wall has created economic hardship for Palestinians is true. However, Israel did not put up the wall to hurt Palestinians, but for self defense. If the Palestinian culture cannot produce enough positive peer pressure to stop the terrorism, then the wall has to exist.
"But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). This scripture is quoted again in Matthew chapter 2 when the wisemen from the east who had followed the star inquired of Herod where the King of the Jews had been born.
"But some asked, 'Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? Has not the scripture said the the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?'" (John 7:41-42).
One of the great evidences for the inspiration and credibility of scripture is fulfilled prophecy. Micah prophesied of the birth place of the Messiah about 700 years before Christ. The Messiah was expected. Serious students of scripture knew where he would be born; they could not, however, accept the humbleness of his birth and life. The main door to the Church of the Nativity is so short that even a short person has to bend over to get in. That is why it is called the "Door of Humility."(The Church of the Nativity is the traditional site of the birth of Jesus Christ.) The humbleness of the birth, the life and the death of Jesus was not what a Messiah should be, from the Jewish perspective, and that is why he was rejected by the Jews of his day.
Jesus was rejected as Messiah because he did not fit the preconceived notions of what a Messiah should be. Our prayer should always be, "Father God, help us to see Jesus as he is, not as we want him to be."
Grace&Peace,
Tom
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
WORD PICTURES OF TRUST
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psalm 23:4).
"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time" (Andre Gide).
Grace&Peace,
Tom
"One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time" (Andre Gide).
Grace&Peace,
Tom
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