The Crusader Mentality
The Crusader mentality is a negative term used by adherents of Islam who resent and resist continued involvement of the U.S. or others who are not Muslims in Islamic countries.
In short the “Crusader” mentality is the flip side of the coin of Jihadist mentality. Both refer to holy war. The Jihadist conducts holy war against infidels (non-Muslims) whereas the Crusader fought to free the holy lands from Islamic control. The Jihadist fights to spread the faith of Islam and believes that death in that enterprise assures him of a spot in Paradise. Likewise, the Crusader believed that death in carrying out their “holy” mission would automatically open a space for the one who died in heaven.
Note the following quote from Osama bin Laden in a tape, as reported by Reuters News Service today:
The lion of jihad ... Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ... was killed in a U.S. raid. We hope to God he accepts him as a martyr," said the speaker who sounded similar to previous recordings attributed to al Qaeda leader bin Laden.
Islam fears the Crusader mentality because it is as absolute as itself. It is similar to the situation where an irresistible force moves an unmovable wall. Both beliefs are absolute in nature, both are extreme and uncompromising, and the result is continued conflict until one side prevails or the two sides are so exhausted that they default to the status quo.
Although there are evangelical groups in the U.S. who may support Israel, this fight (either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) is not about spreading Christianity into Islamic countries or setting up a Christian state. Instead the fight appears to be about self-protection (against Islamic attacks on the U.S.—elsewhere in the world or in the U.S. itself). It is about a declaration of war by Islamic militants against the U.S.
To some degree, the fact that the U.S. has been allied with Israel automatically caused the U.S. to be seen in the same light as Israel, which to an Islamic mentality is very reasonable. You are known by your friends.
However, our fight must be about our democratic values. There should be freedom of religion, freedom of press, and treatment of women as equals. In Islamic countries, this is not allowed. These freedoms are worth dying for. Therefore, the issue is not the expansion of Christianity into Islamic countries. The issue is one of individual freedoms.
Ah, but you may respond that those people do not want individual freedom (This sounds like a discourse with the Grand Inquisitor in the Brothers Karamazov). My response is this. First, do not be so sure. People in Islamic countries are not able to speak or write dissent without punishment. Second, people desire order even more than freedom. When the National Socialist brought order in economic chaos, the majority of people were content to live under it even if the minorities, including the Jews, were persecuted.
In Afghanistan, people may prefer to live under the Taliban than under a place where every local leader is a tyrant and there are no laws. And so they may be forced to live under draconian Taliban religious law rather than no law altogether. They may prefer bad laws harshly enforced by those with limited corruption to no law and corrupt enforcement. It is not a matter of religion, but of life and of getting along in hard times. It is a human condition and predicament, and not uniquely Islamic.
Is there a middle ground in the conflict between the Crusader mentality and the Jihadist? Unfortunately, for the true believers on either side there is not. However, sometimes there can be grounds for compromise by enlightened men of good will.
During the Crusades, the great Islamic leader Saladin, did not kill all the infidels in Jerusalem when he took it. He let them live. He was more generous and enlightened than today’s Islamist militants.
For years Jerusalem has been a free city where many beliefs coexist. And sometimes people of good will have cooperated, even in areas of belief. For example, two Christian groups have competed for centuries over the Church of the Nativity. The keeper of keys of the door for that venerable church is a neutral Muslim. Although, ironic, this is a symbol that people of different faiths can live in peace if they work together.
Unfortunately, people of peace, when Christian, may be viewed as less than stellar. Muslims who work for peace may be viewed by those of their religion as being less than stellar Muslims. That is the nature of extremism: it tries to wipe out the reasonable people who would compromise. No compromise is allowed by extremists of whatever religious persuasion.
Jesus spoke of a broad road that leads to damnation. There are many desiring to journey on the broad road of hatred.
As for those who are dying by suicide to kill others, I have this thought (which I admit is not Scriptural). What if God were to give the key to Paradise or to heaven to the victims of this war? Under Islamic law, opportunity is often given to the victims to have their say. What if the Supreme Being did the same thing?
What if the perpetrator of a suicide bombing were to show up in heaven and find that the key to Paradise or Heaven had been granted to those victimized by the action? What if the innocent people harmed by the action have the key to Heaven or Paradise?
Perhaps a young soldier blown up by the suicide has the key. The person who committed the suicide has to ask for the key from the young soldier. The young soldier might say: “I was drafted into the war; I believed I was fighting for my country; I never again saw my young wife, or my parents, or my sweet child. Why should I give the key to you?” What if the person committing suicide killed a young innocent child who had nothing to do with the war at all, or a young mother and her baby. In this scenario we ultimately must find that the word “martyr” is an inappropriate word to use and that “killer” is a more appropriate word.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wake Up, Church
Wake Up, Church.
“Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds in the sight of My God.”
---Rev. 3:2
An early American story tells about Rip Van Winkle by Washington, Irving. It recounts the story of a man who falls asleep in the mountains and sleeps for twenty years. When he awakes he finds that everything has changed and that he has missed the American Revolution.
The U.S. church has been like Rip Van Winkle. We have fallen asleep and while we were asleep profound events have occurred. And our sleep has been far longer than 20 years.
The U.S. church during its period of sleep has been blissfully unaware of the new challenges that have risen in the world.
One of the challenges for the church is population growth. For instance the world population has been increasing according to the statistics below according to an article on Population Growth found in Wikipedia:
1802—1 billion
1961—3 billion
1974—4 billion
1987—5 billion
1999—6 billion
See the world population clock at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
in order to check the current world population. At the time that this is written, it is in excess of 6.5 billion people.
Some of the fastest growing population areas are outside of the U.S. including China, India and the Mideast. Non-Christian religions, especially in India and China are expanding not through conversion, but through population growth alone.
Further, U.S. dollars and jobs are flowing steadily from the U.S. to other parts of the world. The manufacturing industry is step by step moving outside of the U.S. and going to the Orient. For instance, go to the local Wal-Mart store and start picking up products and you will see where they are manufactured.
U.S. oil comes largely from the Middle East and U.S. dollars are flowing in exchange for this oil in order to maintain large numbers of U.S. vehicles running.
In addition, U.S. corporations are burdened with increasing governmental regulations that result with them being inefficient when compared to their international counterparts. Competing, with one arm tied behind their backs, they are increasingly being outdistanced by their international competitors. In an effort to compete they are moving most manufacturing operations overseas. International investments are becoming more lucrative for investors and U.S. investments are becoming less attractive.
Yet the church sleeps on as momentous events occur.
As we trade our wealth for oil, this wealth flows to Islamic countries where there is no religious freedom. The church has not made an issue of this, because it sleeps.
Meanwhile, world religions have grown. Some of the statistics are as follows:
Islam—1.3 billion
Secular, Agnostic, Athiest—1.1 billion
Hinduism—900 million
Buddhists and Chinese Traditionalists—770 million.
In Islamic societies, there has been for years a spiritual Berlin wall keeping Christianity out. Those who convert are persecuted more greatly than under old communism. Yet the church has said little. Islam is tied to political power . Interestingly, in “Christian countries” people are free to convert to Islam. In Islamic countries, they forbidden to convert. Two different sets of rules.
We live in a double standard world. It is considered reasonable for Muslims to have state supported religion. However, if Protestants or Catholics did so today where the religious leaders ruled, there would be world-wide complaint.
Of course, as these population numbers continue to increase, we look around ourselves with bleary myopic eyes and hardly see no change at all. All of this because the church has lost its world vision for missionary work and evangelization.
The U.S. church has lost its vision because we have taken our eyes off Jesus Christ. We have been more interested in fighting each other than facing a hopelessly lost world.
We have built ourselves, large churches, akin to spiritual pleasure palaces rather than face the myriad of beliefs. We attend these churches, give to support to their large superstructures and return to life having paid our spiritual tithe so to speak. In return, we hope to receive some regular help from God for our problems.
How does one keep an international perspective. The Latter Day Saints have done it by sending their young men and women as missionaries to other parts of the world. An attorney I work with, for instance, has sent one of his children to Brazil to work there as a missionary for two years. That child will return knowing Portuguese and having a good feel for Brazil and Sao Paulo. In short, the young man will have an international perspective.
Other Christians allow their children to go on mission trips to foreign countries where they pick up a feel for another culture, some of the language and a knowledge that much of the world is far different than us. An emphasis on missions or world evangelism is important. We are instructed to “Go unto the entire world, making disciples “.
Like Rip Van Winkle, it is time for the church to wake up and be aware of what is going on around us. It is not a case of business as usual.
In the U.S. we deal with a growing drug crisis, national and international crime, an increasing prison population fueled largely, but not exclusively by, drugs and increasing abortion. Our society which at one time was based on God, if not Christianity, is rapidly being transformed into a godless society with a hedonistic and materialistic moral code. Instead of evolving into a more enlightened society we are falling back into more pluralistic and materialistic societies like the Greeks and Romans.
Rip Van Winkle drank the wine of the trolls and went to sleep. Our drink has been drugs, and entertainment. Pornography and violence have become our opiates Our books are filled with things that would have been abhorrent to earlier generations and the media must keep up serving new and unusual entertainment in order to keep the attention of the viewers. Video games must do the same.
And so while the church has been asleep, society is changing. And the change is not unexpected. It is changing back to its basic fleshly roots.
How is this situation to be remedied? To be frank, I do not have a good answer to this question.
However, I do know this. Sometimes, an event will cause us to wake up. We are jarred or shaken. It may be a wrong turn down a barrio. It may be an overseas trip. It may be having a child on drugs. But something wakes us up. It jars us out of our complacency. And we remember who we are. We remember that we are the Children of God, born from the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are the Family of God.
We return to the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. We return to prayer. We seek the face of God. We ask for the guidance of God.
The Holy Spirit will give us this guidance and will lead the way. We return to our spiritual roots-Jesus Christ and we follow the guidance given to us. Our love for Christ begins to transcend our love for ourselves, our families and our world.
I can not tell you what to do or where you will go. I can only tell you to seek God and He will be found. Follow God and He will lead you.
My prayer is that the church will wake up and return to its first love, Jesus Christ. In Christ lies our future and our destiny.
It is to Him we must return.
“Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds in the sight of My God.”
---Rev. 3:2
An early American story tells about Rip Van Winkle by Washington, Irving. It recounts the story of a man who falls asleep in the mountains and sleeps for twenty years. When he awakes he finds that everything has changed and that he has missed the American Revolution.
The U.S. church has been like Rip Van Winkle. We have fallen asleep and while we were asleep profound events have occurred. And our sleep has been far longer than 20 years.
The U.S. church during its period of sleep has been blissfully unaware of the new challenges that have risen in the world.
One of the challenges for the church is population growth. For instance the world population has been increasing according to the statistics below according to an article on Population Growth found in Wikipedia:
1802—1 billion
1961—3 billion
1974—4 billion
1987—5 billion
1999—6 billion
See the world population clock at http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
in order to check the current world population. At the time that this is written, it is in excess of 6.5 billion people.
Some of the fastest growing population areas are outside of the U.S. including China, India and the Mideast. Non-Christian religions, especially in India and China are expanding not through conversion, but through population growth alone.
Further, U.S. dollars and jobs are flowing steadily from the U.S. to other parts of the world. The manufacturing industry is step by step moving outside of the U.S. and going to the Orient. For instance, go to the local Wal-Mart store and start picking up products and you will see where they are manufactured.
U.S. oil comes largely from the Middle East and U.S. dollars are flowing in exchange for this oil in order to maintain large numbers of U.S. vehicles running.
In addition, U.S. corporations are burdened with increasing governmental regulations that result with them being inefficient when compared to their international counterparts. Competing, with one arm tied behind their backs, they are increasingly being outdistanced by their international competitors. In an effort to compete they are moving most manufacturing operations overseas. International investments are becoming more lucrative for investors and U.S. investments are becoming less attractive.
Yet the church sleeps on as momentous events occur.
As we trade our wealth for oil, this wealth flows to Islamic countries where there is no religious freedom. The church has not made an issue of this, because it sleeps.
Meanwhile, world religions have grown. Some of the statistics are as follows:
Islam—1.3 billion
Secular, Agnostic, Athiest—1.1 billion
Hinduism—900 million
Buddhists and Chinese Traditionalists—770 million.
In Islamic societies, there has been for years a spiritual Berlin wall keeping Christianity out. Those who convert are persecuted more greatly than under old communism. Yet the church has said little. Islam is tied to political power . Interestingly, in “Christian countries” people are free to convert to Islam. In Islamic countries, they forbidden to convert. Two different sets of rules.
We live in a double standard world. It is considered reasonable for Muslims to have state supported religion. However, if Protestants or Catholics did so today where the religious leaders ruled, there would be world-wide complaint.
Of course, as these population numbers continue to increase, we look around ourselves with bleary myopic eyes and hardly see no change at all. All of this because the church has lost its world vision for missionary work and evangelization.
The U.S. church has lost its vision because we have taken our eyes off Jesus Christ. We have been more interested in fighting each other than facing a hopelessly lost world.
We have built ourselves, large churches, akin to spiritual pleasure palaces rather than face the myriad of beliefs. We attend these churches, give to support to their large superstructures and return to life having paid our spiritual tithe so to speak. In return, we hope to receive some regular help from God for our problems.
How does one keep an international perspective. The Latter Day Saints have done it by sending their young men and women as missionaries to other parts of the world. An attorney I work with, for instance, has sent one of his children to Brazil to work there as a missionary for two years. That child will return knowing Portuguese and having a good feel for Brazil and Sao Paulo. In short, the young man will have an international perspective.
Other Christians allow their children to go on mission trips to foreign countries where they pick up a feel for another culture, some of the language and a knowledge that much of the world is far different than us. An emphasis on missions or world evangelism is important. We are instructed to “Go unto the entire world, making disciples “.
Like Rip Van Winkle, it is time for the church to wake up and be aware of what is going on around us. It is not a case of business as usual.
In the U.S. we deal with a growing drug crisis, national and international crime, an increasing prison population fueled largely, but not exclusively by, drugs and increasing abortion. Our society which at one time was based on God, if not Christianity, is rapidly being transformed into a godless society with a hedonistic and materialistic moral code. Instead of evolving into a more enlightened society we are falling back into more pluralistic and materialistic societies like the Greeks and Romans.
Rip Van Winkle drank the wine of the trolls and went to sleep. Our drink has been drugs, and entertainment. Pornography and violence have become our opiates Our books are filled with things that would have been abhorrent to earlier generations and the media must keep up serving new and unusual entertainment in order to keep the attention of the viewers. Video games must do the same.
And so while the church has been asleep, society is changing. And the change is not unexpected. It is changing back to its basic fleshly roots.
How is this situation to be remedied? To be frank, I do not have a good answer to this question.
However, I do know this. Sometimes, an event will cause us to wake up. We are jarred or shaken. It may be a wrong turn down a barrio. It may be an overseas trip. It may be having a child on drugs. But something wakes us up. It jars us out of our complacency. And we remember who we are. We remember that we are the Children of God, born from the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are the Family of God.
We return to the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. We return to prayer. We seek the face of God. We ask for the guidance of God.
The Holy Spirit will give us this guidance and will lead the way. We return to our spiritual roots-Jesus Christ and we follow the guidance given to us. Our love for Christ begins to transcend our love for ourselves, our families and our world.
I can not tell you what to do or where you will go. I can only tell you to seek God and He will be found. Follow God and He will lead you.
My prayer is that the church will wake up and return to its first love, Jesus Christ. In Christ lies our future and our destiny.
It is to Him we must return.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Pi is not Square.
Pi is not square; pie is round.
Pie sings. Generally you have to cut it. Once a piece of pie is cut, it begins to sing. This is especially true of lemon merange pie, especially if it has grahm cracker crust. Key lime pie does the same.
During the day, when there are sounds and noises and meetings and kids about, you song is a low song that you almost can not hear.
Pie sings better at night and its sirene song is sung best between 12 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. in the morning. The pie sings at its loudest. I can hear it sing : "Eat me, I am good for you--I am the best pie in the universe."
When you are asleep and T.V. is not blaring and there are no sounds of phones or of children, then the ears can hear the seductive sound of pie promising delights unheard of, if only you will get up and visit it. It sings: "I am delicious, I am calory free, eat me and you will live forever."
Pie sings lying songs and like the sirene songs sung to Odyseus of old, it attempts to take your diet and crash it disastrously on the rocks.
Attemps to shut down pie songs by placing pie into refrigerators has been proven scientifically to have been unsuccessful. It seems that cold only calls pie to sing louder and more insistantly.
Pie has also proven to contribute to memory loss. Many of you like me have opened the refrigerator in the morning to get the milk out and you notice that another pie of pie is missing from the pie plate, and you wonder where it went.
And while you are at it, most pie goes great with milk. So you sit down in the morning to have a glass of milk and a piece of pie instead of the scrambled egg that is your normal breakfast.
And the vicious cycle has just begun. Because once pie begins to sing, it continues to sing until the last piece of pie is finally eaten.
What is worse, pie ages well. Like lasagne or certain types of cheese or red wine, it only get better with age or so it is believed. Unfortunately, this can not be proven, since most pie is eaten completely before it has a chance to age.
And so pie has a more haunting melody than the most beautiful tragic opera by Puccinni. Tragically it is wiped out early in the opera; but its memory births more pies that inevitable will sing and call during their short lives until they too are eaten, causing a ghost yard of devastated wrecks of diets surrounding pie and its beautiful sirene song in the night.
Pie sings. Generally you have to cut it. Once a piece of pie is cut, it begins to sing. This is especially true of lemon merange pie, especially if it has grahm cracker crust. Key lime pie does the same.
During the day, when there are sounds and noises and meetings and kids about, you song is a low song that you almost can not hear.
Pie sings better at night and its sirene song is sung best between 12 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. in the morning. The pie sings at its loudest. I can hear it sing : "Eat me, I am good for you--I am the best pie in the universe."
When you are asleep and T.V. is not blaring and there are no sounds of phones or of children, then the ears can hear the seductive sound of pie promising delights unheard of, if only you will get up and visit it. It sings: "I am delicious, I am calory free, eat me and you will live forever."
Pie sings lying songs and like the sirene songs sung to Odyseus of old, it attempts to take your diet and crash it disastrously on the rocks.
Attemps to shut down pie songs by placing pie into refrigerators has been proven scientifically to have been unsuccessful. It seems that cold only calls pie to sing louder and more insistantly.
Pie has also proven to contribute to memory loss. Many of you like me have opened the refrigerator in the morning to get the milk out and you notice that another pie of pie is missing from the pie plate, and you wonder where it went.
And while you are at it, most pie goes great with milk. So you sit down in the morning to have a glass of milk and a piece of pie instead of the scrambled egg that is your normal breakfast.
And the vicious cycle has just begun. Because once pie begins to sing, it continues to sing until the last piece of pie is finally eaten.
What is worse, pie ages well. Like lasagne or certain types of cheese or red wine, it only get better with age or so it is believed. Unfortunately, this can not be proven, since most pie is eaten completely before it has a chance to age.
And so pie has a more haunting melody than the most beautiful tragic opera by Puccinni. Tragically it is wiped out early in the opera; but its memory births more pies that inevitable will sing and call during their short lives until they too are eaten, causing a ghost yard of devastated wrecks of diets surrounding pie and its beautiful sirene song in the night.
Parallel Universe
Life and death continue at Goose Island just outside of a major Fortune 500 Company in Ozarklandia.
The geese are content to have their own lives . Their universe is parrallel to a universe where business is done and profits are made.
Generally speaking the geese are a peaceable people. They seem happy to have many other water fowl visit the area and even don't run when the wild turkeys come marching through their kingdom.
The geese do not have a church but somehow they seem to be at general peace with the universe. I see they watching the sunsets sometimes and suspect that they must have a general awareness of the Creator.
They seem to be devoid of clubs, but not clicques however. They do not attend People Unlimited banquets or take up collections. They do leave deposits however; which calculatingly placed before the doors entering into the company premises. They seem to show some calculation in doing this.
The geese do not have titles; but occasionally one gets on top of one of the Company cars. I suspect this goose has concluded that it is a Vice President-Geese and has concluded it is entitled.
The young goslings are out. They appear to be busy learning goose ways and becoming products of goose living. They are protected by their parents and are developing beautifully. They have learned to march across the road, to fly, to swim and to generally stay with the flock. The other geese seem to be fairly good natured about all this, thinking back to their gosling days.
Sometimes, little groups of geese get together. Often these are small family groupings of brothers and sisters that have grown up together.
The things that are so important to all the people in the building do not seem so important to the little flock. They seem unconcerned about the cost of housing and play in the sun and sometimes play in the winter. They are unconcerned by their clothing and seem to have enough feathers not only to wear but to leave some on the ground.
These geese do work for their living and all is not play all the time. About three times a day they go bug and food hunting and no worm or bug is safe for the day. The fertilizer count in the area suggests that they are not without success.
They take nice naps. They have one in morning when they lay out in the sun and sun themselves. Later after noon, they move to the trees in the heat of the day and have polite conversation and sleep a little more.
Things seem to be going fairly well in Goose Land. I suspect that their stock is up and they are more than satisfied with their options.
HarleyDad
The geese are content to have their own lives . Their universe is parrallel to a universe where business is done and profits are made.
Generally speaking the geese are a peaceable people. They seem happy to have many other water fowl visit the area and even don't run when the wild turkeys come marching through their kingdom.
The geese do not have a church but somehow they seem to be at general peace with the universe. I see they watching the sunsets sometimes and suspect that they must have a general awareness of the Creator.
They seem to be devoid of clubs, but not clicques however. They do not attend People Unlimited banquets or take up collections. They do leave deposits however; which calculatingly placed before the doors entering into the company premises. They seem to show some calculation in doing this.
The geese do not have titles; but occasionally one gets on top of one of the Company cars. I suspect this goose has concluded that it is a Vice President-Geese and has concluded it is entitled.
The young goslings are out. They appear to be busy learning goose ways and becoming products of goose living. They are protected by their parents and are developing beautifully. They have learned to march across the road, to fly, to swim and to generally stay with the flock. The other geese seem to be fairly good natured about all this, thinking back to their gosling days.
Sometimes, little groups of geese get together. Often these are small family groupings of brothers and sisters that have grown up together.
The things that are so important to all the people in the building do not seem so important to the little flock. They seem unconcerned about the cost of housing and play in the sun and sometimes play in the winter. They are unconcerned by their clothing and seem to have enough feathers not only to wear but to leave some on the ground.
These geese do work for their living and all is not play all the time. About three times a day they go bug and food hunting and no worm or bug is safe for the day. The fertilizer count in the area suggests that they are not without success.
They take nice naps. They have one in morning when they lay out in the sun and sun themselves. Later after noon, they move to the trees in the heat of the day and have polite conversation and sleep a little more.
Things seem to be going fairly well in Goose Land. I suspect that their stock is up and they are more than satisfied with their options.
HarleyDad
Thursday, June 22, 2006
The Accursed Property Clause
The Accursed Property Clause
Those churches who seek to be faithful to Christ and endeavor to extract themselves from the apostate mainline Protestant church, run into what I call the “accursed property clause.” This clause enforces a superficial unity by specifying that any property of the church does not belong to the local congregation (or session if you are Presbyterian). Instead it belongs to the greater denomination. So if a church leaves the denomination, it must leave its property behind to be used for the denomination.
This clause was birthed from a materialistic point of view. The concept is that the people of the denomination are free to depart; the property that they have used and purchased is not free to depart. There are a number of arguments as to whether these clauses are binding but sometimes they have held up. Therefore some churches leaving the denomination make cash settlements so that there will not be litigation regarding the property and the clause will not be enforced.
Other difficulties relating to extraction relate to faithful ministers who have contributed for years to pensions who may find difficulties upon liberating their monies or getting payments if they leave. These things should be checked. Hopefully they are vested in their contributions but again this is an aspect that should be considered.
For the individual members, they do not have all the considerations that a minister tied to the denomination has. Most can pick up fairly easily and move to a church that hues a closer line to our historic faith.
In writing this, I am very mindful that it is quite easy to tell another to pick up their cross and follow Christ and then to find that cross to be very heavy when it comes your turn to pick it up.
One good friend of mind, John, is an elder in his church and clerk of his Session. He has always been a Presbyterian and loves the Presbyterian church. At heart he is a Scotsman and a faithful Presbyterian. He is considering resigning as a member of the Presbyterian Church thereby depriving the General Assembly of the “head tax” on his membership yet continuing to attend his local Presbyterian church. Other families in his church are drifting elsewhere rather than try to maintain unity where there is no real unity due to the departure of the denomination from historic Christianity to a modernism devoid of a real Christ but populated with a neo-Christian nomenclature to fool the less discerning.
And so I suspect the erosion of the denominational church will continue. The denomination is captured by a powerless liberalism that cloaks itself in a pharisaical spirituality but be devoid of real spiritual power. It will adorn itself with the respectable buildings of the past and spend time congratulating itself on its diversity and enlightenment. Meanwhile, those who seek to follow Jesus Christ will move on.
The choice to stay or go is an ancient one. Abraham had to make this choice. He had to leave Ur of the Chaldees and to live in tents. The Jews had to come our of Egypt at a later point in their history and live in tents as well. We who seek to follow God have often had to leave our buildings behind. In the time of the Reformation, it was often necessary to leave the cathedrals with the Catholic church. Today we are faced with the same choice.
We have been a people on the move, a people who do not have a permanent home on this earth. We are the people of pilgrimage. The Jews reminded themselves of this in many ways. While in the desert and for many years the Holy of Holies was found in a tent. The Jews celebrated the Feast of Booths yearly reminding themselves that they were a people of the tents. We are are forced sometimes to leave our permanent buildings behind.
Somehow, in all this process, we become citizens of a new Jerusalem. Our permanent buildings are on the other side of this life. Church buildings like our natural bodies pass away, but we have a home that is eternal.
The church is not a building. It is perhaps obvious, but a building is a building. The church is the people in it. So my feeling is let the denomination keep the buildings; let Christ keep the people. We will build what buildings we need. The important thing is that we follow Him. Who knows but that if we leave our buildings to follow him, perhaps we as people will find a new sense of freedom and mission. Our choice will have been a good one for we have chosen Christ over material things.
The leaders of the mainline denominations can have the buildings and support them if they can. If they can not, they can sell them back to the living body of Christ who will purchase them if they have any further interest in them. However, in many cases, I suspect that we may find that the work of Christ has been shackled with the support of aging, expensive buildings endowed by those now long dead, who ,by the way, might be greatly surprised to see how low the modern church has fallen.
Without our buildings, we also might find that we have greater unity with the faithful in poorer countries who see more clearly because they have not been as rich as the American church or as decadent.
Without our church buildings we may find ourselves more closely identifying with Christ who said of Himself in Luke 9:58: “The foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Again if that state is good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for us. In the same passage Jesus at Luke 9:60 said “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
Good advice. Perhaps we should do the same thing. Allow the denominational dead to bury the dead that remain, whereas we should leave the denomination and proclaim the kingdom of God.
The issue of a choice between our property or following Christ is a recurring theme in the Bible. In Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to the rich young ruler: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor , and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow Me.” The Bible relates in Matthew 19:22 …”But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was the one who owned much property.” And shall we grieve as well for we have much property tied up in the mainline church.
The disciples, on the other hand, left their property behind to follow Christ and we should join them and do the same.
Finally in Luke 12:34 we are taught by Jesus that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
And so the ”accursed” denominational property clause is perhaps not so “accursed” after all. It is a simple indicator as to where the denominational treasure is. And that treasure is in the buildings, not in the people.
Let us render to the denomination what the denomination treasures, which is the buildings. However, let us give to God what God treasures, which is the people in the buildings.
Together we will build a new and finer building to God, a people that are faithful to him. And someday, we will take our place as living stones in the City of God that vibrates with the living presence of God in its midst.
And so I encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ, not to fear leaving their buildings behind if necessary. Find freedom in following Christ. And let the dead bury the dead.
Those churches who seek to be faithful to Christ and endeavor to extract themselves from the apostate mainline Protestant church, run into what I call the “accursed property clause.” This clause enforces a superficial unity by specifying that any property of the church does not belong to the local congregation (or session if you are Presbyterian). Instead it belongs to the greater denomination. So if a church leaves the denomination, it must leave its property behind to be used for the denomination.
This clause was birthed from a materialistic point of view. The concept is that the people of the denomination are free to depart; the property that they have used and purchased is not free to depart. There are a number of arguments as to whether these clauses are binding but sometimes they have held up. Therefore some churches leaving the denomination make cash settlements so that there will not be litigation regarding the property and the clause will not be enforced.
Other difficulties relating to extraction relate to faithful ministers who have contributed for years to pensions who may find difficulties upon liberating their monies or getting payments if they leave. These things should be checked. Hopefully they are vested in their contributions but again this is an aspect that should be considered.
For the individual members, they do not have all the considerations that a minister tied to the denomination has. Most can pick up fairly easily and move to a church that hues a closer line to our historic faith.
In writing this, I am very mindful that it is quite easy to tell another to pick up their cross and follow Christ and then to find that cross to be very heavy when it comes your turn to pick it up.
One good friend of mind, John, is an elder in his church and clerk of his Session. He has always been a Presbyterian and loves the Presbyterian church. At heart he is a Scotsman and a faithful Presbyterian. He is considering resigning as a member of the Presbyterian Church thereby depriving the General Assembly of the “head tax” on his membership yet continuing to attend his local Presbyterian church. Other families in his church are drifting elsewhere rather than try to maintain unity where there is no real unity due to the departure of the denomination from historic Christianity to a modernism devoid of a real Christ but populated with a neo-Christian nomenclature to fool the less discerning.
And so I suspect the erosion of the denominational church will continue. The denomination is captured by a powerless liberalism that cloaks itself in a pharisaical spirituality but be devoid of real spiritual power. It will adorn itself with the respectable buildings of the past and spend time congratulating itself on its diversity and enlightenment. Meanwhile, those who seek to follow Jesus Christ will move on.
The choice to stay or go is an ancient one. Abraham had to make this choice. He had to leave Ur of the Chaldees and to live in tents. The Jews had to come our of Egypt at a later point in their history and live in tents as well. We who seek to follow God have often had to leave our buildings behind. In the time of the Reformation, it was often necessary to leave the cathedrals with the Catholic church. Today we are faced with the same choice.
We have been a people on the move, a people who do not have a permanent home on this earth. We are the people of pilgrimage. The Jews reminded themselves of this in many ways. While in the desert and for many years the Holy of Holies was found in a tent. The Jews celebrated the Feast of Booths yearly reminding themselves that they were a people of the tents. We are are forced sometimes to leave our permanent buildings behind.
Somehow, in all this process, we become citizens of a new Jerusalem. Our permanent buildings are on the other side of this life. Church buildings like our natural bodies pass away, but we have a home that is eternal.
The church is not a building. It is perhaps obvious, but a building is a building. The church is the people in it. So my feeling is let the denomination keep the buildings; let Christ keep the people. We will build what buildings we need. The important thing is that we follow Him. Who knows but that if we leave our buildings to follow him, perhaps we as people will find a new sense of freedom and mission. Our choice will have been a good one for we have chosen Christ over material things.
The leaders of the mainline denominations can have the buildings and support them if they can. If they can not, they can sell them back to the living body of Christ who will purchase them if they have any further interest in them. However, in many cases, I suspect that we may find that the work of Christ has been shackled with the support of aging, expensive buildings endowed by those now long dead, who ,by the way, might be greatly surprised to see how low the modern church has fallen.
Without our buildings, we also might find that we have greater unity with the faithful in poorer countries who see more clearly because they have not been as rich as the American church or as decadent.
Without our church buildings we may find ourselves more closely identifying with Christ who said of Himself in Luke 9:58: “The foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Again if that state is good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for us. In the same passage Jesus at Luke 9:60 said “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”
Good advice. Perhaps we should do the same thing. Allow the denominational dead to bury the dead that remain, whereas we should leave the denomination and proclaim the kingdom of God.
The issue of a choice between our property or following Christ is a recurring theme in the Bible. In Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to the rich young ruler: “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor , and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow Me.” The Bible relates in Matthew 19:22 …”But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was the one who owned much property.” And shall we grieve as well for we have much property tied up in the mainline church.
The disciples, on the other hand, left their property behind to follow Christ and we should join them and do the same.
Finally in Luke 12:34 we are taught by Jesus that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
And so the ”accursed” denominational property clause is perhaps not so “accursed” after all. It is a simple indicator as to where the denominational treasure is. And that treasure is in the buildings, not in the people.
Let us render to the denomination what the denomination treasures, which is the buildings. However, let us give to God what God treasures, which is the people in the buildings.
Together we will build a new and finer building to God, a people that are faithful to him. And someday, we will take our place as living stones in the City of God that vibrates with the living presence of God in its midst.
And so I encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ, not to fear leaving their buildings behind if necessary. Find freedom in following Christ. And let the dead bury the dead.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Isolation of Mainline Protestant Churches
ISOLATION OF THE US MAINLINE PROTESTANT CHURCHES
Two of the mainline Protestant churches recently had events that not only demonstrate their departure from the historic Christian faith, but will drive wedges into their own denominations both within the U.S. and more importantly outside the U.S.
The Episcopal church elected Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada. Ms. Schori is the first woman leader of the 2.3 million leader of the Episcopal church. It is reported that Ms. Schori has taken the position that homosexuality is not sin and that homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender. For that, she will be applauded by those who support the gay agenda.
The second was the recent decisions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. In the process of their meeting, they were able to vote down three proposals affirming marriage. In addition, they able to eradicate national ordaining standards thereby allowing gays and lesbians to be ordained depending on the choice of the local presbytery. Further, various PCUSA organizations have been promoting same sex unions.
It seems that the question of gays and lesbians, and whether homosexuality is a sin, has been and continues in some circles to be a burning issue. The Episcopalians have now concluded it is not a sin whereas the Presbyterians are allowing that decision to be made on a local option basis.
The issue is not whether God loves the homosexual. Instead the issue is whether homosexuality is considered a sin requiring repentance or is not a sin at all. The corollary proposition is whether a practicing and unrepentant homosexual should be ordained to the ministry. (After all, one need not repent from what is not wrong.)
Upfront I will confess my beliefs (or biases, if you prefer). I believe that homosexuality is a sin, just as pride is or anger is. And all of us are sinners. I believe that the word of God is clear on both items. In an effort to deal with the word of God, most proponents simply ignore it, or say that it is uninspired, or was culturally driven. In short you can’t believe that Scripture is mistaken about homosexuality and presumably not about anything else. Ethics becomes moral relativism and the final arbiter is either yourself or some type of majority agreed upon societal norms (unless those norms disagree with something else you believe). So homosexuality is OK for instance but war is wrong. In short there is an internal intellectual inconsistency.
Interestingly, one could also argue that despite what the Bible said about adultery, it was perfectly all right. After all King David should not have been punished for stealing another mans wife. Some men simply find women to be attractive including married ones. They might even form groups advocating adultery. And so they might also petition to be ordained into the ministry saying “I believe in adultery, I practice adultery, I advocate adultery.” Further they might proclaim that they really are nice people, they love others and should be ordained despite what they believe.
I presume based upon what I read that the Episcopalians would gladly ordain them and the Presbyterians would leave it up to the Presbytery.
Therefore I believe the issue is what do we consider to be sin. If we rewrite the Bible and maintain, for instance, that adultery and anger is not sin, we cast out the Scriptures and the Word of God (which seminaries have done for years).
One would wonder based upon all that is said by those promoting the views that homosexuality is not sin, that homosexuality was indeed a unique 20th century development.
Yet obviously, homosexuality is not unique to the 20th century. For instance one could look to the early Jewish story of Lot and his visitors that came to Sodom. To the liberal mind, the story could not be true. Accordingly, surely the story could not have happened. God would never destroy a people just because they were evil. And the story of the men of the city wanting to break down the doors of Lot’s house to have sex with his visitors is fictional. After all, they probably wanted to come in and have tea and read a few scrolls. And so we rewrite the Bible to make sure it says what we want it to say or we ignore it all together. We conclude that Sodom never existed and if it did it was destroyed by a natural catastrophe. Surely God would not have been involved.
And what about Paul and the early Christians. We throw out Acts 15:20 where Christian believers are instructed to “abstain from…sexual immorality.” We invite back the man that slept with his father's wife into the church without requiring repentance and in fact go so far to say that it is not really sin and the person is fit for ordination and to be a spiritual leader. That attitude says volumes about the state of the modern US church.
I remind you of the proposition that I am as big a sinner as any of the above. The difference is that I do not proclaim my sin as being “not a sin” nor do I destroy Scripture to justify my ways. Instead, I ask forgiveness and move on until I need forgiveness again, which seems to be daily more often than not.
Paul wrote from areas that were strongly homosexual. One can hardly postulate that Corinth, Ephesus, or Rome were homosexual free. Moreover we do not proclaim Jesus who did not marry or Paul who did not marry as being homosexual as some gay apologists have written in order to justify ourselves.
I have confessed that I am a sinner. I work with Christians and non-Christians who I respect and like and confess as friends. And the same goes for some that are homosexual. Again the issue is not whether we sin, but whether we will call it “sin” or not.
And yet, I can not throw out or twist Scripture for the comfort of myself nor of my friends regardless of their beliefs or sexual persuasions.
I do believe in the love of God for all of us. But at some point, at some time, we all must repent. We must submit ourselves to the word of God and let it deal with us as it will.
It seems like God reveals Himself (Pardon me, ladies) to those that are poor and humble. I believe God has something to say to Mainline Protestantism in the U.S. from our brothers and sisters in other countries. They are pleading with the U.S. church not to go down these paths that in the name of love and unity lead instead to apostasy and the abandonment of our historic faith. If we are unwilling to listen to the Word of God in Scripture, perhaps we would do well to listen to what they have to say.
And one last word for my friends and neighbors who are gay or lesbian. You are no bigger a sinner than I , and I believe that God does love us both.
Two of the mainline Protestant churches recently had events that not only demonstrate their departure from the historic Christian faith, but will drive wedges into their own denominations both within the U.S. and more importantly outside the U.S.
The Episcopal church elected Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada. Ms. Schori is the first woman leader of the 2.3 million leader of the Episcopal church. It is reported that Ms. Schori has taken the position that homosexuality is not sin and that homosexuals were created by God to love people of the same gender. For that, she will be applauded by those who support the gay agenda.
The second was the recent decisions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) meeting in Birmingham, Alabama. In the process of their meeting, they were able to vote down three proposals affirming marriage. In addition, they able to eradicate national ordaining standards thereby allowing gays and lesbians to be ordained depending on the choice of the local presbytery. Further, various PCUSA organizations have been promoting same sex unions.
It seems that the question of gays and lesbians, and whether homosexuality is a sin, has been and continues in some circles to be a burning issue. The Episcopalians have now concluded it is not a sin whereas the Presbyterians are allowing that decision to be made on a local option basis.
The issue is not whether God loves the homosexual. Instead the issue is whether homosexuality is considered a sin requiring repentance or is not a sin at all. The corollary proposition is whether a practicing and unrepentant homosexual should be ordained to the ministry. (After all, one need not repent from what is not wrong.)
Upfront I will confess my beliefs (or biases, if you prefer). I believe that homosexuality is a sin, just as pride is or anger is. And all of us are sinners. I believe that the word of God is clear on both items. In an effort to deal with the word of God, most proponents simply ignore it, or say that it is uninspired, or was culturally driven. In short you can’t believe that Scripture is mistaken about homosexuality and presumably not about anything else. Ethics becomes moral relativism and the final arbiter is either yourself or some type of majority agreed upon societal norms (unless those norms disagree with something else you believe). So homosexuality is OK for instance but war is wrong. In short there is an internal intellectual inconsistency.
Interestingly, one could also argue that despite what the Bible said about adultery, it was perfectly all right. After all King David should not have been punished for stealing another mans wife. Some men simply find women to be attractive including married ones. They might even form groups advocating adultery. And so they might also petition to be ordained into the ministry saying “I believe in adultery, I practice adultery, I advocate adultery.” Further they might proclaim that they really are nice people, they love others and should be ordained despite what they believe.
I presume based upon what I read that the Episcopalians would gladly ordain them and the Presbyterians would leave it up to the Presbytery.
Therefore I believe the issue is what do we consider to be sin. If we rewrite the Bible and maintain, for instance, that adultery and anger is not sin, we cast out the Scriptures and the Word of God (which seminaries have done for years).
One would wonder based upon all that is said by those promoting the views that homosexuality is not sin, that homosexuality was indeed a unique 20th century development.
Yet obviously, homosexuality is not unique to the 20th century. For instance one could look to the early Jewish story of Lot and his visitors that came to Sodom. To the liberal mind, the story could not be true. Accordingly, surely the story could not have happened. God would never destroy a people just because they were evil. And the story of the men of the city wanting to break down the doors of Lot’s house to have sex with his visitors is fictional. After all, they probably wanted to come in and have tea and read a few scrolls. And so we rewrite the Bible to make sure it says what we want it to say or we ignore it all together. We conclude that Sodom never existed and if it did it was destroyed by a natural catastrophe. Surely God would not have been involved.
And what about Paul and the early Christians. We throw out Acts 15:20 where Christian believers are instructed to “abstain from…sexual immorality.” We invite back the man that slept with his father's wife into the church without requiring repentance and in fact go so far to say that it is not really sin and the person is fit for ordination and to be a spiritual leader. That attitude says volumes about the state of the modern US church.
I remind you of the proposition that I am as big a sinner as any of the above. The difference is that I do not proclaim my sin as being “not a sin” nor do I destroy Scripture to justify my ways. Instead, I ask forgiveness and move on until I need forgiveness again, which seems to be daily more often than not.
Paul wrote from areas that were strongly homosexual. One can hardly postulate that Corinth, Ephesus, or Rome were homosexual free. Moreover we do not proclaim Jesus who did not marry or Paul who did not marry as being homosexual as some gay apologists have written in order to justify ourselves.
I have confessed that I am a sinner. I work with Christians and non-Christians who I respect and like and confess as friends. And the same goes for some that are homosexual. Again the issue is not whether we sin, but whether we will call it “sin” or not.
And yet, I can not throw out or twist Scripture for the comfort of myself nor of my friends regardless of their beliefs or sexual persuasions.
I do believe in the love of God for all of us. But at some point, at some time, we all must repent. We must submit ourselves to the word of God and let it deal with us as it will.
It seems like God reveals Himself (Pardon me, ladies) to those that are poor and humble. I believe God has something to say to Mainline Protestantism in the U.S. from our brothers and sisters in other countries. They are pleading with the U.S. church not to go down these paths that in the name of love and unity lead instead to apostasy and the abandonment of our historic faith. If we are unwilling to listen to the Word of God in Scripture, perhaps we would do well to listen to what they have to say.
And one last word for my friends and neighbors who are gay or lesbian. You are no bigger a sinner than I , and I believe that God does love us both.
EKKLESIA
Ekklesia
The term church comes from the Greek word ekklesia suggesting that Christians are those who come out from the world. They are separated from the world.
We live in a time when the Protestant church has many similarities to the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. Instead of the church being those who are called out from the world; it has become an entity which was once called out but now has been reinfected by the world. The result is that we are now in a state which is worse than when we began.
To take the analogy further, the church is like the person in the Bible who was cleansed of the demonic and then demons worse than the first have repossessed it.
The Protestant church in the U.S. has been repossessed by all the evil that it desired to escape. The result, like the demoniac that was repossessed, is that we are seven times worse off than before.
Harsh words perhaps. But I believe that it is true.
As a Christian, I am not tied to one denomination. I began as a Baptist , but have spent substantial time in the United Church of Christ, Christian church, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches. My daughter is educated in a Catholic parochial school and I have a masters from a major university specializing in the history of the Catholic church. I have studied comparative religion and have spent time in both the Orient and India. I have attended services in mosques and in temples in order to learn more about people and their beliefs. I also have a degree in law from a major university.
Although I believe that God has a profound love for all people, be they Buddhist, Muslim or non-believers, the Christian church is not made up of those who believe that there is a God of love. It is made up of those who believe that Jesus is the Christ. However, hopefully we also believe that God is a loving God.
The term church comes from the Greek word ekklesia suggesting that Christians are those who come out from the world. They are separated from the world.
We live in a time when the Protestant church has many similarities to the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. Instead of the church being those who are called out from the world; it has become an entity which was once called out but now has been reinfected by the world. The result is that we are now in a state which is worse than when we began.
To take the analogy further, the church is like the person in the Bible who was cleansed of the demonic and then demons worse than the first have repossessed it.
The Protestant church in the U.S. has been repossessed by all the evil that it desired to escape. The result, like the demoniac that was repossessed, is that we are seven times worse off than before.
Harsh words perhaps. But I believe that it is true.
As a Christian, I am not tied to one denomination. I began as a Baptist , but have spent substantial time in the United Church of Christ, Christian church, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches. My daughter is educated in a Catholic parochial school and I have a masters from a major university specializing in the history of the Catholic church. I have studied comparative religion and have spent time in both the Orient and India. I have attended services in mosques and in temples in order to learn more about people and their beliefs. I also have a degree in law from a major university.
Although I believe that God has a profound love for all people, be they Buddhist, Muslim or non-believers, the Christian church is not made up of those who believe that there is a God of love. It is made up of those who believe that Jesus is the Christ. However, hopefully we also believe that God is a loving God.
The church is not the equivalent of the world, it is made up of those who are called out from the world. When you are called out from the world by the living Christ, you become a chosen people. There is a sense of difference, and perhaps to be bolder, there is a sense of exclusivity. Without this separation there can be no conversion, no call, and nothing that makes the Christian unique.
In an effort to be all things to all people, the current Protestant church has become a stew, and an unappetizing one at that. Instead of being the salt of the earth, we become trampled upon by all that is unholy in the world.
For those who are called to be Christian, we are identified with Christ. In His time, people did not like Him for who He said He was . He was judged to have been blasphemous for proclaiming his relationship to God. Before His crucifixion He warned us that if the world hated Him we expect nothing less. If it crucified Him, that was what we could also expect.
Jesus was hated and we are hated as well because we proclaim that we are different from the world. We are called out from it. There is a sense of separation and exclusivity and an implicit condemnation that not just any belief will fit. We proclaim the danger of being different from the world. That proclamation condemns the world and causes hatred to be our inheritance in this life.
Jesus proclaimed that he was THE way, not a way.
And so there are distinctives. Gradually as our denominations try to accommodate all beliefs under the terms love, acceptance and grace the denominational lines have been stretched to the point of breaking. We try to stay together in the name of unity and one church, but there is no unity. At some point, you can not accept both Jesus and Mohammed as Lord. Even in Hinduism which is often called the umbrella of religions there comes a point where the fabric tears. For that reason there is enmity between Islam and Hinduism.
I applaud the famous saying: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; but in all things, love. But then how do we determine the essentials.
Our problem today is not far different from the early church. Their effort to deal with what was essential was a creedal response using the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. It was not a bad response.
Below for instance is the Apostles Creed:
I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost;
Born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy catholic church;
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting. Amen.
So if you want basics and essentials, there they are.
Other groups trying to deal with modern day apostasy masquerading as Christianity have tried other attempts at trying to separate the wheat from the tares. One noteworthy attempt is The Confessing Church Movement that seeks churches to proclaim that they are committed to the tenets below:
That Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way of salvation.
That holy Scripture is the Triune God’s revealed Word, the Church’s only infallible rule of faith and life.
That God’s people are called to holiness in all aspects of life. This includes honoring the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the only relationship within which sexual activity is appropriate.
The creedal approaches are attempts by early Christians and more recent Christians to make distinctions.
But distinctions are not in favor today. In fact they never have been. Jesus taught us about a broad way, an inclusive way, that led to destruction. Then there is a narrow way that led to salvation. That narrow way is the way of embracing Christ and his word. It is not a popular way. It is not surprising that today’s protestant church has chosen a broad way. But that way does not lead to Jesus Christ even though it is posted with signs of love and grace and encourages acceptance and an affirmation that any action when properly understood is not really sin.
And so my call and plea to those who follow Christ is to return to our first Love. We are to love Him and His word first. Then we can love our neighbor. I have learned the hard way that love is not always acceptance. Acceptance without repentance only leads to a downward spiral. The Loving Father met the prodigal son when he came home. However, the prodigal son came home with a spirit of repentance. I do not believe that we can rewrite the story to say that had the prodigal son brought the swine that he tended and the prostitutes that he partied with, that his father would invited the whole group into the house and given a great party for all of them. Instead the son, had to become separate and leave those things behind.
In an effort to be all things to all people, the current Protestant church has become a stew, and an unappetizing one at that. Instead of being the salt of the earth, we become trampled upon by all that is unholy in the world.
For those who are called to be Christian, we are identified with Christ. In His time, people did not like Him for who He said He was . He was judged to have been blasphemous for proclaiming his relationship to God. Before His crucifixion He warned us that if the world hated Him we expect nothing less. If it crucified Him, that was what we could also expect.
Jesus was hated and we are hated as well because we proclaim that we are different from the world. We are called out from it. There is a sense of separation and exclusivity and an implicit condemnation that not just any belief will fit. We proclaim the danger of being different from the world. That proclamation condemns the world and causes hatred to be our inheritance in this life.
Jesus proclaimed that he was THE way, not a way.
And so there are distinctives. Gradually as our denominations try to accommodate all beliefs under the terms love, acceptance and grace the denominational lines have been stretched to the point of breaking. We try to stay together in the name of unity and one church, but there is no unity. At some point, you can not accept both Jesus and Mohammed as Lord. Even in Hinduism which is often called the umbrella of religions there comes a point where the fabric tears. For that reason there is enmity between Islam and Hinduism.
I applaud the famous saying: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, freedom; but in all things, love. But then how do we determine the essentials.
Our problem today is not far different from the early church. Their effort to deal with what was essential was a creedal response using the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed. It was not a bad response.
Below for instance is the Apostles Creed:
I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost;
Born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, dead and buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
The holy catholic church;
The communion of saints;
The forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body;
And the life everlasting. Amen.
So if you want basics and essentials, there they are.
Other groups trying to deal with modern day apostasy masquerading as Christianity have tried other attempts at trying to separate the wheat from the tares. One noteworthy attempt is The Confessing Church Movement that seeks churches to proclaim that they are committed to the tenets below:
That Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way of salvation.
That holy Scripture is the Triune God’s revealed Word, the Church’s only infallible rule of faith and life.
That God’s people are called to holiness in all aspects of life. This includes honoring the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the only relationship within which sexual activity is appropriate.
The creedal approaches are attempts by early Christians and more recent Christians to make distinctions.
But distinctions are not in favor today. In fact they never have been. Jesus taught us about a broad way, an inclusive way, that led to destruction. Then there is a narrow way that led to salvation. That narrow way is the way of embracing Christ and his word. It is not a popular way. It is not surprising that today’s protestant church has chosen a broad way. But that way does not lead to Jesus Christ even though it is posted with signs of love and grace and encourages acceptance and an affirmation that any action when properly understood is not really sin.
And so my call and plea to those who follow Christ is to return to our first Love. We are to love Him and His word first. Then we can love our neighbor. I have learned the hard way that love is not always acceptance. Acceptance without repentance only leads to a downward spiral. The Loving Father met the prodigal son when he came home. However, the prodigal son came home with a spirit of repentance. I do not believe that we can rewrite the story to say that had the prodigal son brought the swine that he tended and the prostitutes that he partied with, that his father would invited the whole group into the house and given a great party for all of them. Instead the son, had to become separate and leave those things behind.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Party at the House
Well, that is the way it is sometime. It is party hardy-not party Harley.
Now a number of years ago we were down in Texas visiting relatives for Christmas. And we got the phone call that you always dread to hear. You know the kind, the kind that begins: "Did you know that..." Well this came from the next door neighbors. It begain this way: "Did you know that a party had been going on in your hourse for the past three days, but the police came by and finally shut it down."
Well, true enough we did not know. And true enough it did happen. However, I am delighted to say it was not Her Majesty the Imp Queen. It was one of the others (who I might add called me today to wish me a Happy Fathers Day.) Well, by gones are by gones, by golly.
Now having the Imp Queen in your house growing up was like taking the two movies "Species" and "Animal House" and combining them into one uproariously frightening movie, complete with tutus and fast car chases.
However the Imp Queen was not to be outdone. First she calls at 6:05 a.m. to wish me a Happy Father's Day. Now that is what I call a clever, yet considerate daughter. She gets her call in first. By that was not enough. She next high jacks my blog and blogs away about flatulance in pretty pink on my manly Harley Blog causing my friends and acquaintances to wonder whether I have had a sex change operation and now call myself "Her Majesty, the Queen." Well, I am as non-discriminatory as the next Harley Rider, but I assure you that is not one of my titles.
Then harkening back from days of yore she invites her buds over to my blog for a party. Well, I have told her time after time that if you are not in leather and over 30, you stay out of my bloggin' house.
At any rate, it has been a great day. I organized my shoe closet, poked fun of the speaker at church and dug a post hole for my new postbox. I then filled the box with concrete. Wait until those young whippersnappers (redundant) hit it with the baseball bat next time. Also the added value is that the postperson (see how politically correct I am) can not insert bills and advertisements into it. (Just think about it, when was the last time you got something good out of your mail box).
In a paroxym of Fathers Day Celebration let me thank the following:
HMIQ-for stealing my blog in her own inimitable way. Bless you my child may you reign forever.
Emerald Prince-for calling and sending me the drawings. Great drawings. They cost many a cigarette and I appreciate the call, the thought and the consideration.
The Von Jetts-for the wonderful card and for defending the freedom to blog and to photograph without fear (other than the fear of having your blog kidnapped).
Brokerbelle and Princessbelle-For love (and the money was not too bad either)
Gloria of TatooFun-for my new tatoo (oops, perhaps I should not have mentioned that).
Finally, I want to thank those of you who read the blog. And for you I have a special treat. Perhaps you have always wondered about mail boxes for farmers and horse proctologists. Above are pictures (or at least they will be there later when I get to my other computer). I hope I do not have to explain them; however if I do, please see Her Majesty, who is a nurse, and she will explain them graphically. Call her at her 900 number it is only $8.72 per minute and she will give you a very slow and detailed explanation. If I don't get the pictures up, use your imagination and call Her Majesty and she will describe them anyway.
Now a number of years ago we were down in Texas visiting relatives for Christmas. And we got the phone call that you always dread to hear. You know the kind, the kind that begins: "Did you know that..." Well this came from the next door neighbors. It begain this way: "Did you know that a party had been going on in your hourse for the past three days, but the police came by and finally shut it down."
Well, true enough we did not know. And true enough it did happen. However, I am delighted to say it was not Her Majesty the Imp Queen. It was one of the others (who I might add called me today to wish me a Happy Fathers Day.) Well, by gones are by gones, by golly.
Now having the Imp Queen in your house growing up was like taking the two movies "Species" and "Animal House" and combining them into one uproariously frightening movie, complete with tutus and fast car chases.
However the Imp Queen was not to be outdone. First she calls at 6:05 a.m. to wish me a Happy Father's Day. Now that is what I call a clever, yet considerate daughter. She gets her call in first. By that was not enough. She next high jacks my blog and blogs away about flatulance in pretty pink on my manly Harley Blog causing my friends and acquaintances to wonder whether I have had a sex change operation and now call myself "Her Majesty, the Queen." Well, I am as non-discriminatory as the next Harley Rider, but I assure you that is not one of my titles.
Then harkening back from days of yore she invites her buds over to my blog for a party. Well, I have told her time after time that if you are not in leather and over 30, you stay out of my bloggin' house.
At any rate, it has been a great day. I organized my shoe closet, poked fun of the speaker at church and dug a post hole for my new postbox. I then filled the box with concrete. Wait until those young whippersnappers (redundant) hit it with the baseball bat next time. Also the added value is that the postperson (see how politically correct I am) can not insert bills and advertisements into it. (Just think about it, when was the last time you got something good out of your mail box).
In a paroxym of Fathers Day Celebration let me thank the following:
HMIQ-for stealing my blog in her own inimitable way. Bless you my child may you reign forever.
Emerald Prince-for calling and sending me the drawings. Great drawings. They cost many a cigarette and I appreciate the call, the thought and the consideration.
The Von Jetts-for the wonderful card and for defending the freedom to blog and to photograph without fear (other than the fear of having your blog kidnapped).
Brokerbelle and Princessbelle-For love (and the money was not too bad either)
Gloria of TatooFun-for my new tatoo (oops, perhaps I should not have mentioned that).
Finally, I want to thank those of you who read the blog. And for you I have a special treat. Perhaps you have always wondered about mail boxes for farmers and horse proctologists. Above are pictures (or at least they will be there later when I get to my other computer). I hope I do not have to explain them; however if I do, please see Her Majesty, who is a nurse, and she will explain them graphically. Call her at her 900 number it is only $8.72 per minute and she will give you a very slow and detailed explanation. If I don't get the pictures up, use your imagination and call Her Majesty and she will describe them anyway.
HarleyDad
Happy HarleyDad's Day!!
(as guest hacked by one ImpQueen, World Monarch... hehhh.)
Happy HarleyDad's Day, Daddy!
There are myriad things that could be said in these fine pages, clearly designed by a genius, about the man we know and love and call HarleyDad.
It could be said that his flatulence is fragrant, his wit rapier-sharp, his patience... okay, back to flatulence. One could hold forth on his learned mind, his knowledge of everything except how to spell, his devotion to God, family and a never-ending quest for art, beauty, and a better Ouzo.
A wise observer would note his outstanding taste in spouse, his brilliant but bloody awful children, his amazingly talented and beautiful grandchildren.
But all these things pale in light of the comment made by one Tristan Alexander, aged nine, during a private conversation yesterday with a friend:
"Hey, you know my Ernie-Papa? He drives a motorcycle. No, man, not just ANY motorcycle... he drives a HARLEY!"
Happy Father's Day, Daddy. We love you to the ends of the earth and back: yea, even enough to hack your blog.
Love, Julie
Happy HarleyDad's Day, Daddy!
There are myriad things that could be said in these fine pages, clearly designed by a genius, about the man we know and love and call HarleyDad.
It could be said that his flatulence is fragrant, his wit rapier-sharp, his patience... okay, back to flatulence. One could hold forth on his learned mind, his knowledge of everything except how to spell, his devotion to God, family and a never-ending quest for art, beauty, and a better Ouzo.
A wise observer would note his outstanding taste in spouse, his brilliant but bloody awful children, his amazingly talented and beautiful grandchildren.
But all these things pale in light of the comment made by one Tristan Alexander, aged nine, during a private conversation yesterday with a friend:
"Hey, you know my Ernie-Papa? He drives a motorcycle. No, man, not just ANY motorcycle... he drives a HARLEY!"
Happy Father's Day, Daddy. We love you to the ends of the earth and back: yea, even enough to hack your blog.
Love, Julie
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
ED
James Edwards (“Ed”) Hutcherson.
There it was in my hands. An obituary of James Edwards Hutcherson printed on a funeral program. The picture on it was a formal looking man, and it said a number of nice things about Ed.
Ed. That is what they called him. Everybody called him “Ed.” Yet some how, the write-up left something to be desired. It was unsatisfying. You know what I mean. Like drinking skim milk instead of the real thing or eating sugar free ice cream. Some how the obituary left the sugar out.
Yes, it talked about his wonderful wife, Burnell, who had been with him as long as I had been alive, and even longer. It mentioned his children and grandchildren, his great love for his local Baptist church and Hawaii Baptist Academy where he had served on the Mainland Advisory Council for a number of years. It talked about his service to his community, his contributions to Baylor University and his real estate and insurance practice.
But all that being said, it missed something. The program had omitted to mention the wonderful twinkle in his eye, and the mischievous grin. Inside an 85 year old man, burdened with the pain of arthritis. was a very funny little boy, an impish lad, who had lived there as long as I could remember.
No mention was made of the young man from the oil field who would drop by and bang his hard hat on the concrete to make our dog Mike come yapping.
And what about all the camping involving our family and others out at Tyler State Park where Ed and my father put up tarps strung to trees and all the families slept on cots, trying to keep the mosquitoes away and woke up with the dew of morning on them.
There was the Ed who took all the local kids sledding when it snowed in that now long-gone town of Pickton, Texas. Ed got his car and tied sleds and plywood behind the auto and pulled the kids through the snow. I remember. And I never had so much fun as that. Now over a half century later, I still remember that day and that winter. It was my favorite.
Our families were close. Ed and Burnell’s kids were close to us. Sylvia, Sharon and Jimmy. I remember them well. They were family. They knew me by my nickname. I had one back then. It was “Butch” and the Hutcherson family always called me by my nickname. I can still hear Ed and Burnell call me “Butchie.”
That knowledge and family relationship took some explaining. Many years after I had left Winnsboro, I had also left the Butchie name behind as though it was one of the small toys of my youth; like the die cast cars left under concrete pillars of our woodframe Pickton home. I was mature now. Married, with a daughter, and in law school. My wife is out in the front yard when Sylvia happens to come by (who my wife had never met). Sylvia throws her arms around me and squeals out “Butchie”-a name for me that my wife has never heard. Sylvia had known me since we were both children and our families were connected, closer than relatives. Now having a strange woman call you by a name your wife has never heard takes some explaining .
Scripture says somewhere, that a friend close at hand is better than a relative far away. And I guess that it is the way it was. The Hutchersons and Jetts were friends, real friends. Not acquaintances, not neighbors, not school chums, but friends—the kind that people get to be when they go through war together and have depended on each other and then even live close together.
But Ed was not short on friends and neither was Burnell. These are friendly outgoing people. Generous to a fault, willing to give you the shirts off their backs. At least that is how I remember it.
Dad had come out of the army and Ed out of the navy. I know that because I remember seeing pictures of Ed in his Navy garb. Dad worked as an accountant for an oil company and Ed worked in the oil field. They both were Baptists, both were deacons and they hit it off.
But getting back to that funeral program. It did not get the glint in Ed’s eye. Now I have said it. That is what really troubled me about it. Ed later on would leave the oil patch, he went into insurance and real estate and made some money—but somehow, he never lost touch with the common man. And he never lost the twinkle in his eye.
Ed was outrageous. I remember him getting a CB before anybody but the truckers had them. We were on a trip to Colorado and Ed would make signals to the truckers and they would blow there big truck horns in response. He decided on that trip to make snow cones out of ice on the mountain top and got cups and sugary snow cone syrup and make snow cones for both families. We all loved it-- parents and children alike. We laughed and took pictures and talked about it for years. It was a great day and a great vacation. Somehow in Ed was an elfish glee. And Ed winked at us, and warned us not to eat the yellow snow.
When I went to Baylor football games, Ed and Burnell were always there. I remember going and standing by their mobile home parked in the street so they and all of their good friends (and they had only good friends) could have bathroom privileges and snacks. That is the kind of people they are.
Our family later on moved away from Pickton and Winnsboro to Houston and then to New Orleans. Even there we not too distant from Ed’s jokes and humor. I remember it well. Our home was more elegant then. In the living room our furniture was beautiful and the carpet was white. We had moved up somewhat economically since the Pickton days. The Hutcherson family had come to visit. All of a sudden, I hear Ed holler: Teeny (my mothers nickname that no one calls her except Dad and the very close relatives), Teeny, you better come look at this.” My mother is horrified to see that a dog has done its business behind the couch on her nice white carpet. However, Ed tells her that he will take care of it. He then picks up this dog poop cast in stone and begins to laugh as does every one else including my mother. Ed has done it again. The stone poop goes down in as one of many Hutcherson pranks somewhere North of the whoopee cushions that he would sometimes bring.
And although I searched the program carefully that they used at the funeral I could find no mention of the yellow snow or the stone poop or other pranks and jokes that brought joy to our heart through this most humorous and delightful father, husband and Baptist deacon. The twinkle had been edited out.
One of his best jokes involved a cow that had wandered into the road and had been killed by our car in North Louisiana. One day my father got a call from a farmer who tried to get my father to pay for the cow. The call went on for a long while. You can probably guess the upshot. Yes, Ed had gotten a friend and they had called my father and tried to talk him into compensating them for killing the cow.
Now Ed and Burnell were on the Mainland Advisory Council “MAC”of Hawaii Baptist Academy and were associated with them for well over 20 years. In fact, little Jimmy is not so little anymore and is a well known pastor and teacher there. Mom and Dad also loved the MAC and together with Ed and Burnell often went to MAC meetings in Honolulu and then spent an extra week in the Islands after the meeting. You might say that they had “Big MAC attacks.” They all love the MAC and contributed regularly. We would also visit from time to time.
Ed was the organizer of the Hawaii visits. He would get one vehicle like a van and pack as many people in it as he could and drive. The more the merrier. He made the itinerary and he handled the transportation. He got more people in that van than you see clowns getting out of the clown car at the circus. It was great fun for all involved.
I guess Ed’s story is a little like what John wrote about Jesus—at least I think it was the Apostle John that said that if all the stories about Jesus were written down there would be world enough for the books. So it was with Ed. I suppose that if all the stories about Ed were written down, there would be no end of books about him.
It also says in the Bible that God loves one with a merry heart. And Ed had a merry heart. And God loved him very much.
In conclusion, I think there is much to be said for a man who lived with a twinkle in his eye. And Ed had that twinkle.
Butchie
There it was in my hands. An obituary of James Edwards Hutcherson printed on a funeral program. The picture on it was a formal looking man, and it said a number of nice things about Ed.
Ed. That is what they called him. Everybody called him “Ed.” Yet some how, the write-up left something to be desired. It was unsatisfying. You know what I mean. Like drinking skim milk instead of the real thing or eating sugar free ice cream. Some how the obituary left the sugar out.
Yes, it talked about his wonderful wife, Burnell, who had been with him as long as I had been alive, and even longer. It mentioned his children and grandchildren, his great love for his local Baptist church and Hawaii Baptist Academy where he had served on the Mainland Advisory Council for a number of years. It talked about his service to his community, his contributions to Baylor University and his real estate and insurance practice.
But all that being said, it missed something. The program had omitted to mention the wonderful twinkle in his eye, and the mischievous grin. Inside an 85 year old man, burdened with the pain of arthritis. was a very funny little boy, an impish lad, who had lived there as long as I could remember.
No mention was made of the young man from the oil field who would drop by and bang his hard hat on the concrete to make our dog Mike come yapping.
And what about all the camping involving our family and others out at Tyler State Park where Ed and my father put up tarps strung to trees and all the families slept on cots, trying to keep the mosquitoes away and woke up with the dew of morning on them.
There was the Ed who took all the local kids sledding when it snowed in that now long-gone town of Pickton, Texas. Ed got his car and tied sleds and plywood behind the auto and pulled the kids through the snow. I remember. And I never had so much fun as that. Now over a half century later, I still remember that day and that winter. It was my favorite.
Our families were close. Ed and Burnell’s kids were close to us. Sylvia, Sharon and Jimmy. I remember them well. They were family. They knew me by my nickname. I had one back then. It was “Butch” and the Hutcherson family always called me by my nickname. I can still hear Ed and Burnell call me “Butchie.”
That knowledge and family relationship took some explaining. Many years after I had left Winnsboro, I had also left the Butchie name behind as though it was one of the small toys of my youth; like the die cast cars left under concrete pillars of our woodframe Pickton home. I was mature now. Married, with a daughter, and in law school. My wife is out in the front yard when Sylvia happens to come by (who my wife had never met). Sylvia throws her arms around me and squeals out “Butchie”-a name for me that my wife has never heard. Sylvia had known me since we were both children and our families were connected, closer than relatives. Now having a strange woman call you by a name your wife has never heard takes some explaining .
Scripture says somewhere, that a friend close at hand is better than a relative far away. And I guess that it is the way it was. The Hutchersons and Jetts were friends, real friends. Not acquaintances, not neighbors, not school chums, but friends—the kind that people get to be when they go through war together and have depended on each other and then even live close together.
But Ed was not short on friends and neither was Burnell. These are friendly outgoing people. Generous to a fault, willing to give you the shirts off their backs. At least that is how I remember it.
Dad had come out of the army and Ed out of the navy. I know that because I remember seeing pictures of Ed in his Navy garb. Dad worked as an accountant for an oil company and Ed worked in the oil field. They both were Baptists, both were deacons and they hit it off.
But getting back to that funeral program. It did not get the glint in Ed’s eye. Now I have said it. That is what really troubled me about it. Ed later on would leave the oil patch, he went into insurance and real estate and made some money—but somehow, he never lost touch with the common man. And he never lost the twinkle in his eye.
Ed was outrageous. I remember him getting a CB before anybody but the truckers had them. We were on a trip to Colorado and Ed would make signals to the truckers and they would blow there big truck horns in response. He decided on that trip to make snow cones out of ice on the mountain top and got cups and sugary snow cone syrup and make snow cones for both families. We all loved it-- parents and children alike. We laughed and took pictures and talked about it for years. It was a great day and a great vacation. Somehow in Ed was an elfish glee. And Ed winked at us, and warned us not to eat the yellow snow.
When I went to Baylor football games, Ed and Burnell were always there. I remember going and standing by their mobile home parked in the street so they and all of their good friends (and they had only good friends) could have bathroom privileges and snacks. That is the kind of people they are.
Our family later on moved away from Pickton and Winnsboro to Houston and then to New Orleans. Even there we not too distant from Ed’s jokes and humor. I remember it well. Our home was more elegant then. In the living room our furniture was beautiful and the carpet was white. We had moved up somewhat economically since the Pickton days. The Hutcherson family had come to visit. All of a sudden, I hear Ed holler: Teeny (my mothers nickname that no one calls her except Dad and the very close relatives), Teeny, you better come look at this.” My mother is horrified to see that a dog has done its business behind the couch on her nice white carpet. However, Ed tells her that he will take care of it. He then picks up this dog poop cast in stone and begins to laugh as does every one else including my mother. Ed has done it again. The stone poop goes down in as one of many Hutcherson pranks somewhere North of the whoopee cushions that he would sometimes bring.
And although I searched the program carefully that they used at the funeral I could find no mention of the yellow snow or the stone poop or other pranks and jokes that brought joy to our heart through this most humorous and delightful father, husband and Baptist deacon. The twinkle had been edited out.
One of his best jokes involved a cow that had wandered into the road and had been killed by our car in North Louisiana. One day my father got a call from a farmer who tried to get my father to pay for the cow. The call went on for a long while. You can probably guess the upshot. Yes, Ed had gotten a friend and they had called my father and tried to talk him into compensating them for killing the cow.
Now Ed and Burnell were on the Mainland Advisory Council “MAC”of Hawaii Baptist Academy and were associated with them for well over 20 years. In fact, little Jimmy is not so little anymore and is a well known pastor and teacher there. Mom and Dad also loved the MAC and together with Ed and Burnell often went to MAC meetings in Honolulu and then spent an extra week in the Islands after the meeting. You might say that they had “Big MAC attacks.” They all love the MAC and contributed regularly. We would also visit from time to time.
Ed was the organizer of the Hawaii visits. He would get one vehicle like a van and pack as many people in it as he could and drive. The more the merrier. He made the itinerary and he handled the transportation. He got more people in that van than you see clowns getting out of the clown car at the circus. It was great fun for all involved.
I guess Ed’s story is a little like what John wrote about Jesus—at least I think it was the Apostle John that said that if all the stories about Jesus were written down there would be world enough for the books. So it was with Ed. I suppose that if all the stories about Ed were written down, there would be no end of books about him.
It also says in the Bible that God loves one with a merry heart. And Ed had a merry heart. And God loved him very much.
In conclusion, I think there is much to be said for a man who lived with a twinkle in his eye. And Ed had that twinkle.
Butchie
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
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