Always Reforming

"For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.     This verse from Romans helps us to understand the nature of the covenant signs in the Bible--circumcision and baptism--as well as the sacramental meals.  There are two extremes to which people gravitate when it comes to signs in the Bible.  Some downplay them, ignore them, and neglect them.  This is usually a reaction to the other extreme.  On the other side of the spectrum are those who idolize the signs.  They invest saving power into the signs that God never intended the signs to carry.       Signs are exactly that--signs.  Their very nature is to point to something greater.  Too often we look at baptism and we think that the very act of placing water on a person (or dunking them, if that floats your boat) mystically does something.  Some people believe it removes sin.  Some believe ...

(You'll need your Bible for this one) John 6:22-51     Before reading the passage, establish context.  Verses 1-15 recount the story of The Feeding of the Five Thousand, where Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men, besides women and children, with nothing but two fish and five loaves of bread.  Verses 16-21 tell the story of Jesus walking on water to meet His disciples.  He had not set sail with them because He had withdrawn into a mountain by Himself because He knew that the people wanted to make him their king.  Jesus stayed in the mountain until evening and then met His disciples and crossed over to the other side of the sea with them.  This is where our story picks up in verse 22.      Read verses 22-27.   This was at the height of Jesus’s popularity.  The people had witness His healing ministry and they had been fed by His miraculous multiplication of the bread and fish, and they wanted to see what else He h...

    A topic that has been on my mind lately is that of experience.  How important is experience?  Many times employers will ignore a candidate with a degree and hire a person with ten years of life experience because, so the thought goes, ten years of doing something is worth way more than three or four years of learning about something.  When it comes to trades and careers, that is usually the case.  My question is, does this cross over into the Christian life?     There are many things I've learned that I feel like I learned from experience.  These are life lessons that I have learned from the many mistakes that I have made.  The question must be then, is that the best or the only way to learn life lessons?  Personally, I think not.     The Bible says that the beginning of wisdom, the very crucial foundation of wisdom, is the fear of the God (Proverbs 1:7).  In other words, acknowledging who God i...

John 20:19-31     Today I would like to discuss the topic of doubt.  We can learn many things about this subject by observing this episode between Jesus and Doubting Thomas; but first, let’s look at the context.  Verse 19 tells us that it was the evening of the first day.  This was the Sunday on which Jesus was resurrected.  The first 18 verses of this passage describe for us Mary’s encounter with the empty tomb.  Upon finding the tomb empty, Mary immediately went and alerted Peter and John, who ran to the tomb and investigated.  Surely enough, all that was left in the tomb was the burial cloths of Jesus.  Peter and John went home without seeing Jesus at that time.  Mary, however, stayed by the tomb weeping and Jesus appeared to her.      Mary went and told the disciples that she had seen Jesus.  Can you imagine the joy they would have had?  Their crucified Teacher had arisen from the dead!...

"For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."     The debate over the continuity/discontinuity of the Old and New Covenants rages on.  There are those who see absolutely no continuity between the covenants with regard to redemption and the moral code.  They would see little need to read the Old Testament.  On the other side you'll find those who incorrectly see no distinction between the covenants.  They say the only difference is that the New Testament now includes the previously-ostrac...

    We see here in Joshua 20 the repeating of a command given by God to Moses in Numbers 35.  It was a command that was not in effect in the Wilderness, but now that Joshua had led the Israelites to victory in the Promised Land of Canaan, it was time to implement it.  We have basically three characters in this passage.     Firstly, we read of the manslayer.  This was a person who had caused the death of another person unintentionally.  As verse 3 puts it, a manslayer is one who had struck any person without intent or unknowingly.   If two men were working on a house and one man accidentally dropped a stone and it struck the man below him and killed him, he would be labeled as a manslayer.  If a man struck a tree with what had been a perfectly intact axe and the head flew off and struck a bystander, he would be a manslayer.  This category did not include what we would call murderers — anyone who tried to kill another p...

    I was going to post a status on Facebook, but I realized that it would be way too long, so I decided to blog about it.  Here goes my rant.  Today I had a conversation at work with one of my bosses about why I should vote for Mr. Romney.  He didn't like that I said I plan on voting for Ron Paul even if I have to write his name in.  Now, it is not my attempt to discuss the merits of individual candidates.  I have made my choice.  You can make yours.  It is my desire to discuss briefly the peer pressure conservative folks apply to those who wish to vote their consciences and not along party lines.     My criteria for casting my vote behind a political candidate is based upon a Biblical understanding of the duties and qualifications of a leader.  I do not believe it venerable to cast away principles in lieu of pragmatism. When did it become morally superior to choose a candidate who can win instead of somebody who deserves my...