Category Archives: Christianity

Christianity, Racism

Ending Racism

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A racist act in progress. Sorry that I couldn’t find the photographer’s name to give proper credit, but hope they would find this use acceptable.

And, after a fair number of posts about racism, talking about the difference between racism and racist acts, about the existence of latent racism, I’m finally at the point of discussing racism itself. If you remember, in prior posts I have differentiated between racist acts—things done or said in the open—and racism—the condition of the heart that gives rise to racist acts.

This may be splitting hairs. Others may not see the difference. I do, however, because I think the way to combat them, to eradicate them, is different. Racist acts can be legislated against. When implementation of laws fails, steps can be taken to improve things. That’s not necessarily easy, but a path forward exists.

But racism, the condition of a person’s heart that may be held inside for long periods and only infrequently give rise to racist acts. How do you combat that? How do you change a person from the inside out? How do you convince them 1) that those with a different skin color are human; 2) they have equal natural rights endowed on them by God; 3) that your inner condition of racism will someday come out with a (or many) racist act(s); and 4) they can change if only they want to.

I’m sure someone will respond that I’m crazy. People can’t change, and they sure can’t change on their own. I would reply that’s true. My own belief is that only God can change the heart. Many people don’t believe in God, or don’t think of Him as a personal God who interacts with people. Would those people say that a racist can’t change? I don’t think so, at least not all people who live without a belief in a personal God believe that.

That brings us to a question of what our role is in combating racism.  If God is the one who actually changes the heart, does that leave me out of the equation, or do I have a role to play? If so, what is that role?

I’ve thought a lot about this, and believe my role is to move people to a place where God can change them. How do I do this? As I said briefly in a prior post, by example, education, and persuasion. I may not be qualified in each of those. I may have one out of those I can do well. Maybe I can educate someone as to equality and the lack of difference in the person simply because of skin color. Maybe, after that education, I can persuade them that they can and should change. Their heart won’t change because of my words, but maybe they will think about it, move a little closer to God, and be in a place where he can change their heart.

What about change by example? I hope, hope, hope I was a good example to my children of a person who is not a racist. I hope that is continuing with my grandchildren. But, I have many more people I can persuade than just those. With the corona virus self-quarantine/reduced activities, chances for in-person interaction are greatly reduced, but they are still there. Included in those might be a few opportunities to model acceptance of people of all races.

Social media gives a chance for interaction, however. In fact, right now that’s perhaps the main chance. I have lots of chances to model full acceptance of all races as equal, as endowed by God with the same rights I am endowed with.  To my way of thinking, the main contribution I can make to any discussion is calm reasoning. Someone on either side of the racial divide commits a racist act on social media (which, of course, is limited to speech). I can pour water or gasoline on the situation. I can also ignore it, which I often do. But when I sense someone’s posts which seem benign enough are actually a mild racist act, I try to counter them with calm reasoning.

I’ve done that a couple of times in the last three or four days. It’s a first attempt with each of the individuals. I don’t know that my words did any good. But it’s a first attempt. I’ll make another attempt and then another. At some point I’ll make my calm reasoning a little stronger. Maybe they will be nudged a little closer to the One who can work a change in them. That’s my goal. I think that I’m happy with my efforts, though thus far they are too few. We’ll see how this works going forward.

Bible study, Christianity

My Next Bible Study Will Be…

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Yes, I’ve made up my mind. After much consideration, and looking at the easiest items, as discussed in my last blog post, I’ve decided my next Bible study to write will be:

Entrusted To My Care: A Study of 1 and 2 Timothy.

My reasoning behind it is:

  • I have the best notes from past teaching
  • It’s been taught twice, to two different groups in our church
  • The subject still interests me
  • I think it will make the right length book for a Bible study

I just found the sheet I made back in January that laid out writing goals for 2020, divided into months. They might not truly be called goals but more properly my 2020 writing program. On that I show selecting my next Bible study in February and beginning to write it in May. I was a little behind (ten days only) making the selection, but beginning the writing per that sheet is still doable.

Why make the decision now if I’m not going to work on it for a couple of months? I’ll pull my notes together and get them into a place where I can work on them at any time. I’ll take some time to read the two Timothy books again. I might do a little more research. Just knowing what I’ll be working on and when will help me focus my mind in preparation for the task.

Of course, there’s no magic in what’s on that sheet. As the months roll on, what I’m accomplishing should inform later months, and my interests should come into better focus. I can make any changes I want to: accelerate some things, delay others, decide not to work on something because my interests now lie somewhere else.

I’m pretty sure ETMC isn’t going to go away. And I’m pretty sure I should write a Bible study in 2020. The months might change, but I’ll be working on this later in the year.

Bible study, Christianity, Writing

My Next Bible Study

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I found too many errors in this book to let it go. So I corrected the text and re-published.

One of my March goals is to make a decision on what Bible study I will write next. Last year I published Acts Of Faith: Examples From The Great Cloud Of Witnesses. So far the feedback on it is good, even though the first print run had two embarrassing typos in the running heads and more than a few typos throughout the text. I also published a Leader’s Guide for this, which turned out to be an entirely new book.

My wife thinks I should write and publish more Bible studies. One woman in our Life Group at church wants me to submit Acts Of Faith to our denominational publishing house. Others have said I should write more like that.

In fact, I would like to write more Bible studies, and have made it a goal for 2020 to write and publish one more. Over the years, as an adult Life Group teacher, I’ve developed a number of Bible studies that I’ve then taught to our Life Group. I had my teaching notes for most of them (can’t find one, and another has rather thin notes). Any of those for which I have notes I could most likely expand into a book.

In addition, ideas for more Bible studies have come to mind. Several times over the last year I’ve listed these, even planning some of them to gauge how difficult their preparation would be. It’s one thing to say, “Hey, that would be a good Bible study,” and another to actually put it together and teach it.

Yesterday I took time to list them, the ones taught and the ones in the planning/brainstorming stage. Here they are. The ones taught are in the order I taught them in. The dates are approximate. I didn’t keep a running record of what I was teaching when, and the only way I can pin the dates down is by reviewing my teaching notes and see what dates I wrote on them (which I usually do and hope I did in the beginning).

Here are the ones taught.

  • A Study in Isaiah. This was a 20-lesson series, developed and taught around 2008. So far I haven’t found my teaching notes for this.
  • The Prophetic Duo: Lessons from the Lives of Elijah and Elisha. This was originally around 14 lessons, but the class wanted to look at some events in the prophets’ lives that I skipped, and it grew to 18 lessons. I believe I taught this around 2009 or 2010.
  • Life on a Yo Yo: Learning from Peter’s Ups and Downs. I put this together probably in 2009 and taught it in 2010. I think it was 14-15 lessons.
  • What One Thing Is Strongest? This is not, strictly speaking, a Bible study as it is from the apocryphal book of 1 Esdras. This was just a five lesson series, and the class loved it. There are some challenges in publishing it. The writing, I think, would go fairly easy.
  • Malachi, the Answer Man. This study in the book of Malachi was around six or seven lessons. I didn’t seem to make a lot of notes as I taught this, though I have a couple of more places to look.
  • Good King, Bad King. I did this one summer, maybe in 2013. It was to be a study of the kings of Israel and Judah. I only did two lessons, but have programmed out around 12 to 14. This one should probably be in the not-yet-developed category.
  • Sacred Moments: Special Times in the Lives of Believers. This was a study of the sacraments, the seven of the liturgical churches with special emphasis on the two of the evangelical churches. I believe I taught this around 2014 in ten lessons. In addition to the sacraments, two other special times could be added to make a twelve lesson series.
  • Know My Story. This was a summer fill in series of a few lessons, maybe six or seven, on lesser-known biblical people. It was well received by the class. This could be extended to almost any number of lessons. I think 14 to 18 is most likely. I’m not sure where my notes are, though I think I do. I just haven’t pulled them off the shelf since I taught it. I could almost put this in the not-yet-developed category.
  • Entrusted To My Care. A study in 1 and 2 Timothy, this looked how much of Paul’s instruction to his protege pastor applies to laymen. I taught this in 2016-17, and it was taught again last fall at a Wednesday evening class, mostly by another teacher from my notes, but I took a couple of weeks of it. This is the Bible study for which I have the most notes.
  • A Christmas Study. This took a look at all the biblical events of Advent and Christmas, put them in a chronological order, and studied them. I forget how many lessons this was, but I think ten or so, maybe a couple more. We did this over Christmas 2018 and into 2019. One lady in our class has encouraged me to publish this.
  • Acts Of Faith. Developed, written, and published in 2019, we started

And here are the ones in the planning stage.

  • From Slavery to Nationhood. A study of the people of Israel from Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and maybe a little into Joshua. Somewhere I have programming notes on this, which I hope I can find.
  • To Exile and Back. This is to be a study of Israel from their exile to Babylon to their return. I did fairly extensive research into this a few years ago and found it harder to develop than I expected. Hence it’s on the shelf for now.
  • Lazarus, Come Forth! This is a study of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. It includes many interesting interactions with people. I programmed this some time ago, and think it would make six lessons, maybe seven. I haven’t taken this much more than brainstorming and preliminary programming.

Alas, my post is long already. On Friday I’ll reveal which one I’m going to write next.

Christianity, Church History Novels, History, The Teachings

The Teachings: a.k.a. The Didache

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The twelve apostles’ importance to the growing church cannot be over emphasized.

In my last post, I began a series of posts about my novel-in-progress, The Teachings,  saying I would make several posts to explain what my intentions are for the series and for this particular book.

Today I’ll discuss the underlying Christian document. In Greek its title is The Didache. This translates to The Teachings. That’s the short title. The longer title is The Lord’s Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations. It is relatively short, shorter than the Gospel of Mark, the shortest of the four canonical gospels.

What are the contents? You would think from the long title that it was a list of things the apostles said as the church formed in the years are Jesus died. The gospels told of Jesus’ life and teachings. Acts told about the formation and initial growth of the church. The Didache then gathered the teachings of the apostles. Peter said this, John said that, Matthew said this, Bartholomew said that.

Here’s what the full title looks like in Greek.

But no, The Didache doesn’t quote from the apostles. Rather, it is a type of church manual. One book I read calls it the earliest church manual. It begins with a section called The Two Ways, speaking of the way a Christian should live. The two ways are called the way of life and the way of death.

After this it talks about false teachers, food offered to idols, baptism, fasting, the Lord’s prayer, and communion. A section deals with teachers, apostles, and prophets who travel among the churches and how they should behave and how the churches should greet and provide for them. Additional topics are meeting on the Lord’s day, the offices of bishops and deacons, and being watchful for the second coming of Christ.

When was it written? The relative simplicity of church government suggest it was written at an early time. The ecclesiastical hierarchy developed slowly and became burdensome sometime in the 2nd Century. The Didache seems unaware of that system. I read quite a bit about this. Scholars have suggested  any time from 60 A.D. to 180 A.D. Those that favor the later date suggests that the simple church structure was the writer’s attempt to show how it was at the time of the apostles. Those who favor the earlier date point to the absence of government structure as evidence that the date of writing has to be early.

For The Teachings, I chose the earlier date. The book is set from 66 A.D to about 74 A.D. (I won’t be sure of when the book ends until I finish writing it; it may end closer to 71 A.D.

Who wrote it? No one knows, and I’ve seen no speculation about that. The two ways section is very close to a part of the Epistle of Barnabas, a non-canonical writing thought to be from the first century. Other parts of The Didiche echo other writings from outside the Bible, but nothing seems to suggest who wrote it. Most likely that will remain a mystery.

Bryennios found The Didache while rummaging in a Turkish library.

How has history treated it? That this book was once an important part of the church is evidenced by mentions of it by church fathers in the late 2nd Century up into the 4th Century. However, many years later and it was lost. No one read it; no one copied it; no one mentioned it any more. Why would it fall out of favor? Perhaps because it wasn’t considered authoritative enough to be included in the New Testament (though some early lists of Christian scriptures do include it). Possibly the primitiveness of church government made it passe once the structured church had a complicated government. Why go to the trouble of copying a book that no one used any more?

The Didache was thus known to have existed, but we had no copies of it (save for a fragment or two) until 1873. A Greek Orthodox official was looking around in a library in Turkey and found a scroll that bore a date of 1056 A.D. Several books were written on this scroll, including the complete text of The Didache. The finder published the text 1883, and within three years the collective scholars of the church, in the Middle East, Germany, Great Britain, and the USA were in an uproar, arguing about it, trying to figure out its place in the church and composition time.

For this book of mine, assuming it was put together around 66 to 71 A.D., who wrote it? Scholars see it as a composite document, not written at one time, maybe not even by one person, and perhaps not at the same place. That is the premise I’m going with. One man will primarily responsible for its assembly, but the contents will come from many places. I may even write in a delay in issuing it.

In my next blog post I’ll write about what was going on in the world at the time my man is working on The Didiche.

Bible study, Christianity, Church History Novels, Documenting America, research, The Teachings, Writing

Rested and Ready

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Well, this weekend was certainly different than last.

I don’t know that I ever formally announced this book on the blog. Maybe I’ll do that on Friday.

I have a list of blog posts I intend to write on. The problem is, each on the list takes a fair amount of forethought. I can’t just open the post box and write about rugged individualism, for example, without some research.

So, that list of posts is going to have to wait. I’ll just write about the weekend, as I did last Monday. Friday afternoon, as we were waiting for company to arrive, I received a message to say my order from Amazon had arrived. Great, I thought. That’s my copies of Documenting America: Making The Constitution. Went to the front door—to find nothing. Checked the notice again and saw that they went to my old office in Bentonville. E-mailed the receptionist there, and sure enough that’s were the package was. Even though company was en-route, Lynda and I hopped in the car to go fetch it. Took an hour in craft fair weekend traffic.

We had a good time visiting with our company, one of Lynda’s cousins. Talked all evening then again Saturday morning, and they were off to their next stop. Just as they left a light rain began falling. It continued for an hour or so, making everything outside wet, too wet to do the outside work I had planned for the day.

Confined to inside activities, I did paperwork tasks for a while, such as updating the checkbook and budget, as well as organizing the miscellaneous receipts and filing them. Food for meals was already prepared and waiting (meaning leftovers), so there was nothing else to do but read and write. Well, I suppose I could have cleaned, but that will be a next week task. The carpet in our main living area is desperately in need of shampooing. A day of vacuuming and dusting prep work, then maybe tomorrow I’ll begin shampooing. Well, if we have all the supplies, that is, which I believe we do.

It’s selling well in person. ‘Twould be nice to have some on-line sales as well.

Sunday I taught Life Group, Chapter 1 of Acts Of Faith. I sold the last three copies of it but have more on order, hopefully to arrive on Wednesday. Sold 26 of them from my order, but still no sales on-line. Alas. I napped some Sunday afternoon, continuing to read in Mere Christianity, and in the evening in my research into the Didache. The day concluded with another storm line and, after going to bed, a phone call from the county alert system saying we were in a tornado watch area. That soon passed, and I went back to bed and slept well.

Oh, yes, walked 2 1/4 miles on Saturday and 3 miles on Sunday. My weight is down a little, and my blood sugars have been nicely under control.

Today will be a writing day, as storms overnight will make it too wet to work outside. Tonight we eat with my cousin who moved to Bella Vista, and get to know him and his wife some. Hopefully I’ll be one or two chapters further in the Leader’s Guide for Acts Of Faith.

Christianity, miscellaneous

Congrats Mal McCawley

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Mal and Penny, with the two pastors (and their wives) he’s most recently served under.

Yesterday was a special day at church, as our long-time minister of worship, Mal McCawley, retired from full-time ministry. Mal’s been at our church eighteen years—this time. He was here in the late 1980s, then came back in 2001, making for over twenty years in all. Including other churches he served at it’s over 30 years of ministry.

To say Mal was our minister of worship is an understatement. He’s fulfilled many roles as an associate pastor. He did whatever needed doing, in a proactive way, but also understanding that he served at the pleasure of the lead pastor. In tributes made yesterday, he was described as demonstrating perfectly “how to lead from the second chair.” Look around, see what needs doing, and do it. Do your assigned tasks, but realize the One who you really serve may have more for you to do.

Mal, God bless you as you move into this next phase of your life. I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as I’m enjoying mine.

Bible study, book reviews, Christianity

Book Review: Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Opponent of the Nazi Regime

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Since Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the great cloud of witnesses I included in Acts Of Faith, and since I didn’t read a full biography of him in preparation for writing that half-chapter but rather relied on snippets of information gleaned from a couple of places, I decided I should read a biography of Bonhoeffer. I figured, if what I had already written was somehow off the mark or lacked vital information, I could add it and re-publish the book. So I looked in my library and, sure enough, found a suitable book.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Opponent of the Nazi Regime was written by Michael Van Dyke, published in 2001. It is part of Balfour Publishing’s Heroes of the Faith series, comprised of [then] 44 volumes. A short biography at 205 pages. In fact, it really isn’t biography per se. Rather, it is more creative non-fiction, for it contains much dialog between Bonhoeffer and others, dialog that could not possibly have been preserved to be able to reproduce in a book such as this.

That didn’t affect my enjoyment of the book. It was simple, meant to be understood by almost anyone. It didn’t go much into his early years. Starting at World War 1, the book describes an aristocratic lifestyle for the Bonhoeffer family. In the opening chapter, Walter, the oldest of the Bonhoeffer siblings, was killed fighting in France. This set the tone for the book.

The Bonhoeffer home was strict, Christian, and loving. Dietrich was studious from the beginning. He went to university and excelled there. Always a Christian based on his childhood memories, he still found a need to have an encounter with God, and for God to become personal for him. As the book says:

The one thing missing from Dietrich’s life during these pears of intense theological and philosophical study, though, was a warm heart of true faith. He was learning everything that had ever been said about God, and yet he never spoke to God himself. He never prayed or read the Bible in order to hear what God was saying to him personally. Growing up in a highly intellectual atmosphere, he had absorbed the assumption that expressions of religious fervor were something of the ignorant masses did. It was the province of those who lived according to their hearts, not according to their minds.

Bonhoeffer eventually found that experience with God. It was, perhaps, less emotional than some people experience. He came to believe that:

Christianity was the daily experience of God, both individually and corporately, to the furtherance of God’s glory alone.

Most of the book deals with Bonhoeffer’s relationship to the Nazis after they came to power. He tried to get the church to see that Hitler and his accomplices were evil and that the church should oppose them. He lamented that instead the church either embraced Hitler or acquiesced to the Nazis’ impositions on the church. He spent much time in theological studies and reflections trying to figure out what the correct response of the church and Christians should be to someone like Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a believer in non-violent resistance in the mode of Gandhi. How would that work against the Nazis?

Then World War 2 came. Bonhoeffer was of age where he could be called into the service. His brother-in-law was a member of an organization, the Abwer, that allegedly conducted counterintelligence but essentially was working to overthrow the government, either by a putsch or by assassination. Bonhoeffer joined. The violent intentions of the organization troubled him, but he went ahead with it. This is what eventually caused him to be sent to prison and, ultimately, executed.

The part of the book dealing with Bonhoeffer’s time in prison was very good. Interrogations, dealings with other prisoners, prison letters, relocation to different prisons. It’s all there.

At some point I will want to read a more comprehensive biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, but for now this will do. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this in my library or not. My wife may want to read it, so I suppose I will keep it for now.

 

Christianity

So Will I

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A hundred billion galaxies are born…if creation sings Your praises so will I.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of modern church music. What do I define as modern? Certainly the current decade, and the decade before it. How far back it goes I don’t know.

I’m not stuck in the 1970s music era, however. I find Christian songs I like in all decades. It’s just that they are harder to come by nowadays. I don’t make claims that I hear others making. “Modern songs don’t include doctrine.” “Modern songs are too repetitive.” “Modern choruses focus too much on us and not on God in the person of Jesus Christ.”

All of those, to me, aren’t good arguments. If you don’t like a style of music you don’t like it. You don’t have to defend your position or come up with a theology of songs. There’s no arguing about tastes. I don’t like rap, most 1990s popular music, and most disco. No one can argue about that. You like what you like.

Still, patterns seem to emerge as music styles change over the years. Modern choruses do seem to have a lot of repetition. I disagree that they are us-centered rather than God-centered. It’s mostly a matter of music style with me. I’m not a fan of current music styles, including current church music.

So when I find a current song I really like, it’s an event. That’s the case with “So Will I“, a song by Hillsong United. This is inspired by Jesus’ words in , during his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Pharisees object to all the adulation He is receiving and tell him to rebuke his disciples. Instead He says, “If they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” [Luke 19:40 NIV]  Meaning, He will receive worship. If mankind doesn’t do it, Creation will.

I won’t quote the lyrics from the song, as they are certainly copyrighted. The idea is that Creation will worship God, and so will I. If a hundred billion galaxies can sing Your praises so will I. If a hundred billion creatures still obey You so will I. If creation worships You so will I.

The song has enough doctrine to satisfy the staunchest believer in hymns only. It is God-centered, but joins man and God in a relationship. It has worship coming from every line.

I hope to find more of this kind of song as the years pass.

Bible study, books, Christianity, Documenting America, Life Group lessons, miscellaneous, Writing

Progress as Promised, On Several Fronts

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In my last post, I told about the de cluttering effort my wife and I are in. I spoke specifically about the multiple stamp collections I’m dealing with, as well as a few other de-cluttering activities.

The stock book I worked on. I still have a few stragglers to add to it (which fell out before my work commenced), plus perhaps some re-distribution.

This weekend, while de-cluttering is still high on the priority list, so is what I call simply “getting things done.” It began on Friday, where I worked in The Dungeon for a good part of the day, doing my normal writing and stock trading tasks. In the evening I finally finished putting loose stamps into that stock book I mentioned in the last post, and on Saturday I gathered all the stamps in one place, while on Saturday and Sunday I put them all in a larger box and into their designated place in the storeroom. Check one item off the to-do list.

Our newer minivan was overdue for servicing. I finally called on that on Friday afternoon, learned they had appointments on Saturday, and took an early one. I learned of a sensor that’s gone bad; it will be replaced later this week under warranty. I also took that van to a nearby body shop for an estimate on fixing the rear tailgate after the fender-bender I caused in June. Ah, me. Much money to be spend fixing that small folly.

Friday and Saturday remained productive for the whole days. Let’s see what I checked off the list.

  • Elliptical and walking for Friday and Saturday.
  • Work on Acts of Faith each day.
  • Work on Documenting America: Making The Constitution Edition each day.
  • Clean up in the front yard, along with weekend weeding and deadfall pick up in the back yard on Saturday.
  • Seeing about accommodations for a trip we will soon be taking.
  • Making a haircut appointment. (I hate using the phone for things like that and always put off making such appointments, so when I do it it feels like a major accomplishment.)
  • Helping the wife make an omelet Saturday noon.
  • Household budgeting on Friday; balancing the checkbook on Saturday; catch up on trading accounting on Saturday.
  • Dusting the high corners near the ceilings.
  • Preparing to teach Life Group on Sunday.
  • Working on organizing the stamp collections, in place for better storage or, perhaps, selling within a couple of years.
I found time each day to just sit and read in the sunroom, and nap there one day.

I could probably add a few more things to the list, but I’d be getting into minutia if I did. Suffice to say the weekend was full, productive, enjoyable, and, if you can believe it, restful. Yes, I had time to watch TV (while working on the stamps and crossword puzzles), to sit in the sunroom and read, to get full nights’ sleep, and to gather with God’s people in worship and study on Sunday.

Whether every weekend will be so enjoyable and productive remains to be seen. This one was, and I thank God for it.