Always Reforming

I recently shared an article  on Facebook that argued that Judge Rosemarie Aquilina crossed the line from justice to vengeance in her sentencing of Larry Nassar.  If you're not familiar with Nassar, go ahead and familiarize yourself.  None of this will make sense if you are not.  Assuming you are, let me say a few things.  Because my sharing of this article did not go over very well, I want to explain very briefly what I do mean and what I do not mean.  Let's start with the latter. Here's what I am not saying: 1) Nassar's crimes weren't heinous.   They were.  He is a bad person and he deserves to have bad things happen to him.  I'm not sure what an appropriate punishment would even be.  Emasculation is not out of the question.  2) The Judge shouldn't be incensed.   Judges are humans.  You can't expect them to be anything less when acting as a judge.  The overwhelming nature of the evidence in this case should cau...

There is in our modern day this attitude that views open-mindedness as the highest of intellectual achievements.  What some would call synergy, many view as true enlightenment.  Instead of holding to the faith handed down by our fathers, we are invited to draw bits of truth from all available sources.  That, it would appear, is true wisdom.  While I do believe in learning anything that is worth learning from anyone from whom you can learn it, I also believe that we should be cautious when opening our minds to information and influences.  For some this is more important than for others, as some are more easily led astray, but all Christians should be careful about what they allow into their minds.  This is particularly true when someone is causing you to read the Bible in a way that is new and innovative.  When you stumble across something new and exciting that seems to be entirely plausible, and when the source of that new and exciting idea comes from ...

Well, it happened--minimum wage went up ...again, at least for 18 states in our fair union.  Unfortunately, my state, Ohio, is one such state.  For many this is a time of jubilation as they celebrate the instantaneous raise that they did nothing whatsoever to earn, but for those of us who have brains that are even remotely economically-inclined, we know that the minimum wage going up is not a good thing.  For those of you who don't generally think about economics, here's why Uncle Sam (or, in this case, Uncle Sam's little brothers) raising the minimum wage is not a good thing: 1) It's a sign of the decline of our dollar.   We can argue over whether or not it's good for the economy to raise the minimum wage, but one thing is clear: it's not a sign of a thriving dollar.  Raising the minimum wage is the logical result of inflating the dollar, so, once again, the problem we're trying to fix is of our own making.  Many economists seem to think some infla...

Trump's recent comments about immigrants coming from "@$#%hole countries" has created quite a buzz. Perhaps you've heard about it. One can understand why the President of the United States of America referring to other countries of the world in that way might not be appreciated, and, yet, we should be careful not to misconstrue his statements.  Here are a few quick thoughts on the matter: Firstly, Trump was absolutely wrong to say what he said.  It was wrong because he's the PotUS, and that's not very presidential, but it's also wrong because he's a human being, and human beings shouldn't say things like that.  It's pretty straightforward.  What did Momma always say?  "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"  That would apply here.  What Trump said, was, for lack of a better word, mean.  He's a rich billionaire who has a distaste for poverty.  Let me be clear, Trump shouldn't have said what he...

When you sit in the pew, listening to a sermon, do you have to listen to what you hear?  To put it another way, is preaching authoritative?  Is there something about the pulpit that compels or obliges a congregant to heed what is being said?  I believe we can answer this in both the affirmative and the negative.  Yes, you have to listen to what your pastor says.  No, his sermon is not authoritative.  Allow me to explain. Let me begin by explaining why I believe that preaching is not authoritative.  There are many different views as to why preaching would be authoritative.  Some, such as Charismatics, believe that preaching is directly inspired, though usually in a manner differently than Scripture, by God.  Others, usually independent churches, simply believe that "Pastor Bob" is called by God's man and so you gotta listen to him.  Others yet believe that a worship service is a dramatic picture of redemption and that the pastor represe...

When you're young, you think you know everything, but, as you get older, you learn that maybe your parents, and parents in general, weren't lying when they tried to tell you what you didn't know.  As you mature, you gain more knowledge and wisdom and you are more useful to God, your family, and society.  As you learn what you don't know, you are humbled and try to learn so that you can teach the next generation.  That is, at least, how it is supposed to work. I don't know if I ever thought I knew everything  about being a father (I was the youngest after all), but I'm sure I didn't know what I didn't know.  I didn't know that I knew little to nothing about being a father.  I didn't know how hard being a father is.  Let me tell you, being a father is really hard.  Well, let me say that another way.  Being a good father is really hard.  I know I've been less than that at times.  My temper has been too short, as has my attention span...

There is a verse , which inspired a song , that tells us that there "is a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance."  As I mature in years, and hopefully in wisdom, the more powerful that truth becomes.  Spiritual immaturity, to make no mention of spiritual dearth, is often demonstrated by an inability to react appropriately to the different situations of life.  Then again, immaturity generally produces a lack of nuance.  A lack of familiarity, or experience, with any given thing reveals itself in a lack of nuance.  Young children, being mentally immature, cannot understand why they are not allowed to do the things that their older siblings may do.  The grammatically immature do not know that they are misusing their own language.  Someone who has never watched baseball can't tell the difference between a slider and a fastball, and my lovely wife, bless her heart, still identifies automobiles primarily by their color. Ju...

This past Sunday I preached a sermon entitled "Making Good Choices in 2018."  It was drawn from Ephesians 5:15-21 and discussed 1) using our time wisely and 2) watching our walk closely.  I wanted to share just one point from that passage that I found very powerful. Verse 17 says, "Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."  Note the contrast here between folly (literally "without reason") and having an understanding of God's will.  Paul presents us with a dichotomy here, just as he does in Verse 15 ("not as unwise but as wise").  One can be a fool or one can do what God says.  Those are your two options. To be wise is not simply to know, but is to apply what we know.  Wisdom, accordingly, is not simply knowledge, but includes an experiential element.  Wisdom is applying the knowledge that you have to the situations that you encounter.  Paul has called on the Ephesians to walk carefully, which implies caut...