Perceiving What Has Always Been

Perceiving What Has Always Been ...Many today are bantering around the slogan "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." Apart from being simplistic, and even bordering on deception, this sloganeering completely misses the point. We believe whatever "it" is that God has said. I, for one, will go on record as believing anything that comes from the mouth of God. We also believe that whatever God has said "settles" it. The real issue is...

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Love Hurts.

Who remembers this one? Classic from Hair of the Dog ... one the the greatest albums of all time. The song and video sort of hit close to home for a lot of people in this world ... sit back and experience the power of lyrics touching an inner co...

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Musings from the Desert

Its Sunday afternoon here in the desert. We had a wonderful (I think) time at the Gathering at PV today. It is still quite hot out though I learned driving across New Mexico and western Texas that they seem to be in the 70s and 80s ... not so here! I ate at a fast food mexican joint called "La Salsa" with some friends from PV today. One asked me "what do you do on Sunday afternoons?" As you can tell ... NOTHING! I don't really have anything significant...

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Old LA Tonight - Ozzy Osbourne

fallin 2 pieces ...

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Poetry From the Road

Poetry From the Road ...Well I intended to stay longer in Abilene. I am beat though. My phone, which is also my alarm clock, died in the night. I did not wake untl 8:20 ... about 6:20 AZ time. I was/am tired. I visited with Dr. Berryhill for a little while and went to the Center for Restoration Studies and dug around for a while. I discovered a few sources on Moser in some of the J. D. Thomas papers and found more on John P. Lewis too. But I decided to head back to the desert. First I stopped by ACU/Leafwood Press to visit with my friend...

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ACU Lectures Day 3

ACU Lectures Day 3What can I say. The lectures are now over. I am sitting at my friend Carisse's house and blogging about the day. My day started later than yesterday ... I didn't get up until 7 am today. I met my friend Ed Robinson for breakfast in the student center. Ed ran off to class and I reviewed my power point for Dawn: The Spiritual Legacy of Moser. Attendance was smaller today as many folks already left the day before but we still...

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ACU Lectures Day 2

ACU Lectures Day 2Wow! What a day. I got to bed late last night and got up at 6 am this morning. The day began for me at the 6.44 Restoration Quarterly breakfast. Sat with Wendell and John Willis, Doug Foster and Mark Hamilton. We listened to Curt Niccum talk about minor characters in the Gospel of John. I did my class again today and it was again filled ... I have been pleased with the turn out. Has to be the subject matter!!!I was surprised...

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ACU Lectures Day 1

ACU Lectures Day 1 Wow! What a day it has been. I arrived in Abilene about 2 am ish. Long drive over from Tucson to here. Left Tucson about 12:30 after church, dropped the girls off and headed off toward taht citadel of higher education. Got pulled over for "speeding" on the east side of Colorado City about 12.30ish ... but got off with a warning. Was glad of that! Got into bed around 2:30 got up at 7 and have been going all day long. I am...

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ACU Lectures ... Jerusalem of the West

ACU Lectures...Jerusalem of the WestThis coming week I will be joining thousands of others in the annual trek to "Jerusalem of the West" ... or "Rome" depending on your point of view I suppose ... for the ACU Lectures. I will actually be leaving tomorrow after morning worship, I drop the girls off with their mother (wish they could come!), and proceed to make the 12 hour drive through New Mexico and West Texas.I am excited about the lectures this...

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How Great Is Our God - Chris Tomlin

God is indeed great. In spite of it all ... I join my voice with those saints before me. During the ACU lectures the coming week, I confess how great is our G...

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When Spirituality is "Too Spiritual"

"There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God. God never meant for man (i.e. Humans, B.V.) to be a purely spiritual creature. That is why He uses material things like bread and wine to put new life into us. We may think this rather crude and unspiritual. God does not: He invented eating. He likes matter. He invented it." (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 65)C. S. Lewis points to a biblical truth, embraced by historic Christianity, and...

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Creed - My Own Prison

The decisions we make through life often can become sort of like "a prison of my own making." This song reflects both the angst and the possibility of hope for people who have truly screwed up."See a Vision of a crossI feel the pain that was givenOn that sad day of lossA lion roars in the darknessOnly He holds the keyA light to free me from my burdenAnd grant me life eternallyShould have been dead on a Sunday morningBanging my head ..."Creed. Love their music. Blessings on a Sunday morni...

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Cultural Literacy: Improving Our Bible Reading

Cultural Literacy: Improving Our Bible ReadingGreetings from the land of Saguaros & Scorpions. I share this brief discussion of the importance of context. Context can signify several different things and all are necessary for a proper interpretation of not only Scripture but most any piece of literature. Because of the "sloppiness" of the term context some linguists distinguish between cotext and context. The word cotext would refer to the...

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The Kings Men: A Talk With the KJV Translators

One of the tragic victims to the god of capitalism for the classic King James Version was the Translators to the Reader. This was the defense of the original 1611 KJV authored by Myles Smith who later became Bishop of Gloucester. This 11 page document is commendably honest about the art of biblical translation into the English language. The intention of this essay was to respond to the anticipated avalanche of criticism towards the labor of the...

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Exhibit A - Baptist Pastor Comparing the NIV against the King James Bibl

I almost apologize for posting this to my blog ... if you can handle nine minutes and 52 seconds!! But this is a teaching illustration.Ok. If you made it through that painful video you may have the gift of patience!! Some one pointed me to this video and I watched it and found myself with raised blood pressure by the end. Let me suggest to my readers that our pastor is exhibit A of why we need to read a book or books that help us understand and interpret the Bible.First, the whole KJV only thing is based on pure ignorance. This is painfully...

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In the Shadow of the Temple: A Review

In the Shadow of the TempleModern Christians in general assume that the Judaism that nurtured Jesus and the early Church was simply the religion one reads about in the Hebrew Bible. And Protestant Evangelical Bibles do not contain the Apocrypha so it more or less assumed that what Paul was reared in is the same as what we read in the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. Such an assumption is, however, mistaken. Thus begins the recent work by...

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Q & A on the Necessity of Hermeneutics

Over the last couple of weeks I have had an ongoing discussion through email on interpreting Scripture and whether or not we actually do it. This conversation was not initiated by myself but I have attempted to respond as I could to the questions. This exchange consisted of a number of questions I guess to peg me somehow. I have decided to share my rather off the cuff responses to this correspondent with my blog readers ... I will preserve the...

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Respect The Winds

In honor of the Gulf Coast dealing with the wind of Gustov. In the Bible the "wind" can destroy or heal ... it is powerful and unpredictable. It is to be respected. This is a beautiful instrumental (no words) by Van Halen for the movie Twister. It is incredible. Watch it. Be moved by the images and the music. Blessings on all ... brings back lots of memori...

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Labor Day Ride

Labor Day Harley Ride Through ArizonaWell it is a holiday they tell me. Labor Day! I had nothing to do today. I even tried to sleep in but I was awake by 6:30. So I decided to get my can out of bed, hit the shower, and hit the road. I decided I would just go south and west and see where the road goes.So I saddled up my Iron Horse and made sure there was plenty of petro in the tank. At first I headed south to I-10. I had a quarter and decided...

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