TIME TO UNWIND

In a week and two days, God willing, Melissa, Sarah, and I - and hopefully Grandma Trudy - will be heading to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to visit Hannah. We will be staying at a time share not too far from her apartment. 

Our plan is to drive part of the way after church and arrive at the beach on Monday.

Hannah will be working during the days, so we will have to find ways to occupy ourselves until evenings. Shouldn't be too hard, I imagine. 

Usually I am not too keen on spending time sitting on a beach or by a pool, but I am so desperate right now for a vacation that vegetating sounds absolutely wonderful to me.

The funny thing is that my "need" for a vacation doesn't spring from any particular job stress and it certainly isn't a result of job dissatisfaction. 

I'm just uptight. 

And as I write this tonight, it is helping me put my finger on the problem:

Because I have two main jobs and both offer largely flexible hours - and both could easily be fulltime - I never feel like my work is done. I don't get large chunks of time - like an entire weekend - to turn my attention elsewhere.

Maybe THAT is the appeal of getting out of town for a full week. 

I mean, beyond spending time with my oldest daughter and the rest of my family. ;-)

35 BUCKS?!

Is this better described as unintentional irony on the part of Hobby Lobby ...

Or intentional chutzpah on the part of the Chinese?

Can you imagine what good could be accomplished if every Christian in this country took the money they "budgeted" for Christmas presents, decorations, and food and spent it on Kingdom work instead?

I suppose there's a good chance it would crash the world economy, though.

So what can you do? 

P.S. I just realized the punctuation is off. It's missing a comma and one set of quotation marks. How could anyone buy this??? 

(And how did I not notice when I saw this on the shelf? My English teacher radar must be getting rusty.)

WORST ENEMY

If God predetermines ALL things, predestines ALL things, and is the author of ALL things ...

Yet He still has to exert patience with His creation...

And He still found Himself regretting the creation of humanity (at the time of the Flood)...

And if His wrath is accumulating as His creatures break His laws as He decreed for them to do ...

Then not only is He both the divine arsonist and the the divine firefighter, but, truly, under Calvinism, God is His own worst enemy. 

THE LIMIT

I think I might have found my limit. Life has gotten a bit busier ever since I started teaching English as a Second Language classes on Monday and Wednesday nights. 

I enjoy teaching the classes and I LOVE my students, but the prep time and the three hour commitment (plus coming and going) twice a week is putting a strain on my energy.

I'm committed through Christmas and then I will need to take a second look at continuing.

My real problem is that beyond everything I am already struggling to juggle, I need some serious time devoted to my dissertation if I am going to get it off the ground.

And so far that just hasn't happened. 

We have two more weeks before our fall break trip to visit Hannah - I need to push extra hard this week and next so that I can legit relax for a few days guilt-free.

I intend to make it happen. We shall see.

KEEP READING

I thought I would share a couple of random comments from a YouTube video created by a Calvinist who was fishing for critics of John Calvin. 

Instead, the responses were overwhelmingly positive - Calvinists turning out to support their guy. 

I share them as real life proof for any who doubt that people really buy into the idea that before time begins, God chooses some people for salvation and damns all the rest.

First up is Tony who repeats the Calvinist talking point that when God chooses only a handful for salvation and reserves all the rest for damnation it is all to God's GLORY:

Lorraine, on the other hand, prefers to focus on the positive - the lucky ones whom God chooses as His "forever friends":

Is it just me or does it seem like Tony and Lorraine are regurgitating some points they heard in a recent sermon? It doesn't sound like they have fully thought out the ramifications of their belief system.

Lorraine comes awfully close, but doesn't quite grasp the fact that the characters she mentions are "chosen" to be a part of the direct lineage of the Messiah. They are not "chosen" simply for their own salvation, to the exclusion of all others. 

Keep reading, Lorraine!

IN CONCERT

Forgot to hit "publish" last night! ...

Melissa and I went to see Amy Grant in concert tonight in nearby Nashville, Indiana. Meeting my brother Russ and his wife Alecia for dinner before going to see Grant sing some of her biggest hits, a few covers, and some of her "new" songs made for a very pleasant evening.

The last time I saw Amy Grant in concert was over 30 years ago. I was a youth pastor in Le Mars, Iowa at the time and - if memory serves me - we drove to Minneapolis to see her performance.

Amy is a 63 year old grandmother now. Still, she sang and played the guitar for almost two and a half hours. I noticed that not too many fans themselves were under the age of 50.

In between songs, Grant came across as warm and transparent, admitting she hasn't had a hit song in some time and relating challenging moments from her life like the day she agreed to accompany her adult daughter to her therapy session. 

I found it curious, though, that she didn't have much to say about her faith or her God. In fact, by the time intermission rolled around, I was considering Googling "Is Amy Grant still a Christian?"

But eventually Grant sang El Shaddai and it came across with so much power and emotion that it brought tears to Melissa's eyes. She said she doesn't remember giving a concert without singing it and she noted how the song has been with her now through significant changes in the seasons of her life.

It made me wish I could sit down with her to hear her faith journey over the last 40 years plus. I bet she has some fascinating tales.

YES, PEOPLE BELIEVE THIS

Last Sunday I was preaching on what it means to be God's chosen people and I mentioned that some Christians (i.e. Calvinists) believe that God chooses some people - long before their birth - to be saved and He chooses others - again, long before their birth - to be damned for eternity. 

My impression was that many in the congregation found the idea so shocking and inconceivable, that they couldn't believe that anyone really holds this as a theological doctrine.

But it's true. 

The most obvious place to find it in writing is the (in)famous Westminster Confession of Faith of 1647.

It is not at all uncommon to hear modern American preachers of the Calvinist persuasion quote the Westminster Confession with the utmost reverence. 

The issue of predestination to salvation or hell is explored in the third chapter which begins with this surprising bit of doublethink:

"God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeable ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established."

So the first part of the paragraph claims God planned everything that happens, down to the smallest of details, long before the world was created: 

• Which leaves dropped off the tree in your backyard today and where each would land. 
• The path of the fly that was buzzing around your kitchen. 
• The volume of the burp which accidentally escaped your lips at the dinner table.

R.C. Sproul famously quipped that if there was "one rogue molecule anywhere in the universe" it would challenge God's sovereignty.

But that also means that God orchestrates the path of every drunk driver, plans out every episode of child abuse, and directs the actions of each genocidal dictator. Throughout all of history.

The Westminster Confession recognizes this problem but goes on to assure us that this does NOT mean that God is the "author of sin" or that he takes away our free will. 

And just like that - with a few carefully crafted phrases - the problem is waved away. 

Just because God plans absolutely everything doesn't mean that He's responsible for the downside of what He planned, all the intense evil and suffering. Why not? Because Westminster says so.

Problem solved. 

Two paragraphs later in the same chapter is where the Confession explicitly teaches that some are chosen for salvation and some for damnation. This particular sentence is downright evil:

"By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death."

So according to Westminster, it's OK that God creates numerous human beings for the express purpose of casting them into hell because ... it's all for God's GLORY.

As far as I'm concerned, this is nothing less than the most detestable slur against God's good character that I can imagine. 

Unbelievable that it's been taught and retaught for almost 400 years.

But it has been and still is.