Here’s a little exercise in advanced level hermeneutics for some of you theological thinkers out there. I came across this passage the other day, and although I have read it various times in the past, the implications of what it said struck me like never before, and quite frankly, left me a bit perplexed. The passage, in case you want to know right up front, is Esther chapters 9 and 10, though I want to set the stage a bit before diving into it. In order to help you understand what it is about this passage that causes me such consternation, let me go over a few of my interpretational … [Read more...] about The Mordecai Dilemma
Social Issues
The Life We Can’t Erase
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” – Revelation 21:5 I wish -- though I don't believe in wishes -- that I could take a number two pencil and write down on a blue-lined piece of three-hole-punched notebook paper the moments of my life, label it "draft," study it a bit, and then turn the pencil around to the pink side -- the eraser -- and smudge away forever a line here and there . . . many lines, major smudges. Study it a bit more, swipe away with my hand the little black rubber crumbles, dirty from the mix of pink eraser and pencil lead, onto the … [Read more...] about The Life We Can’t Erase
Applying Lessons from Penn State to Pine Chapel
The news and the general blogosphere have been giving a bigger emphasis to issues of child abuse and criminal sexual misconduct since the Penn State scandal broke loose. Within a short period of time Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, updated the school’s policy regarding the obligation to report instances of child abuse: I discovered yesterday that the policy handbook of the institution I am proud to lead calls for any employee receiving a report of child abuse, including child sexual abuse, to contact his or her supervisor with that report. That changes … [Read more...] about Applying Lessons from Penn State to Pine Chapel
The New Math of Forgiveness
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” -- Luke 23:34 Nothing hurts like hurting about hurts that make you hurt others. What a compound of pain that leads us to do unto others because something was done unto us and we've come all undone over it. So, we hurt and we cry and we ask ourselves why. And we hide and we run and we pray and we seek and we rise and we walk and we declare ourselves done. And then we see . . . we're not. For the carnage lies along the trail we yearn to leave behind and it calls out to us, to which we can only, in exhaustion … [Read more...] about The New Math of Forgiveness
Adrian Rogers on Solving the Problems of the World and the Mission of the Church
I just came across this quote, and thought it was pretty relevant to the current discussion on the mission of the church. Now the problem with the world today is we've never really seen where the problem is. And the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart, which is desperately wicked. But I wouldn't expect anyone to stand up in Congress and say, "Gentlemen, the problem is sin." Would you expect that? Or would you expect someone to stand up in one of our great universities—a PhD—and say, "Sirs, I have finally found the problem with mankind. It's sin"? Of course not! Would … [Read more...] about Adrian Rogers on Solving the Problems of the World and the Mission of the Church
Another Blind Eye to a Small Boy’s Cry
(Note: Once again, little ones have gone unprotected, with small boys victimized by both the twisted and broken and the blind and indifferent. I was sexually- abused decades ago, at the age of 8. No victim ever forgets. For the hope of the Penn State small boys and other children being abused, often despite the awareness of others who look the other way, I'm sharing my story here. If you are aware of a child predator, please speak up. Silence truly like a cancer grows.) The little one who smiles and hides the pain Lets tears fall when he plays out in the rain. The innocence … [Read more...] about Another Blind Eye to a Small Boy’s Cry
“Who Told You You Were Naked?”
One of the most discouraging aspects of battling a deeply-internalized sexual issue or other commanding presence of repetitive sin is that, even after you face it, fight it, and deprive it, something in that deep-internal goes right back to work to revive it. You choke it, pound it, bury it, surrender it and then, before you know it, you're back under it. You toss it out the window on your journey to freedom and about the time you peek in the rear-view mirror, it's splatting on the windshield. I've heard of . . . and would like to shake the hand of -- some people who faced-down the … [Read more...] about “Who Told You You Were Naked?”
Mormons, Missionary Strategy, and American Politics
The place was Badajoz, Spain, the time about 15 years ago. I was at that time missionary-pastor of the local Baptist church, back when there was still a place for that type of assignment within IMB strategy. We were hosting a few volunteer workers from the States, and that night they wanted to eat hamburgers, so I took them to the local Burger King and ordered their food for them in Spanish. As we were waiting in line, speaking to each other in English, the store manager took notice and started up a conversation with us in broken English. He told us he was interested in improving his English … [Read more...] about Mormons, Missionary Strategy, and American Politics
The Lengthening Shadow of Pro-Gay Theology
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. -- I Timothy 4:3-4 SPOILER ALERT: Pro-gay theology is untrue. I remember a time, way back in the '70s, when I had an ah-hah moment and it seemed obvious to me that the people around me -- especially my fellow Christians -- had somehow avoided the truth about homosexuality. Out of their in-bred squeamishness … [Read more...] about The Lengthening Shadow of Pro-Gay Theology
How Sensitive Are Our Souls?
I wrote this back in early June while we were still in Ecuador. Enjoy. Last week Zachary missed his first school days of the year. Coughing, hacking, dizziness, fever; he tolerated it all quite well, for a 10-year old. As usually happens when he is home without his siblings, Zach wanted to watch a movie with me. He's like that; "Just the two of us," he says. We settled in to watch a movie I had already seen and approved for his viewing. My only real concern was the 5 or so cuss words that I knew came up during the flick; however, I was sure Z had already heard them all. Besides, … [Read more...] about How Sensitive Are Our Souls?