Today I finished my study of 2 Corinthians. I was surprised that it went so quickly and can only attribute it to the fact that I was familiar with the setting and situation after all the time spent in 1 Corinthians.
Next on my schedule is Romans, which I expect will take the rest of the year (at least). One of my commentaries is by Thomas Schreiner, who wrote an excellent book on Paul and I anticipate lots of good material from him on Romans. Romans is the last of Paul’s “big” epistles. The others are shorter, but still full of meaty material. I’m not ready to start planning a new study series for some time. Paul will keep me busy well into next year.
I’m not going to start Romans for a bit. I want to go through the text of 2 Corinthians one more time and finish my outline. I also have a couple of books I have been wanting to read and will give them my undivided attention for the next few weeks.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
No one, or so you would think. Recently I got another example of a friend who seems to feel that I have committed some offense against him because I have committed my life to Christ. I don’t understand why people think this is in any way about them. It makes no sense when someone says I can’t be their friend if I believe what I believe. I just don’t get it.
If anyone does understand, I wish they would tell me. My belief is a personal thing, between me and my savior. It’s not done out of any other purpose. In fact, it boggles the mind to think there could be any other purpose. Color me confused.
Today is Flag Day. Now there are some who actually celebrate Flag Day. I heard once about someone who went and planted dozens of flags in his friend’s yard in celebration. That might be a little extreme. Still, Flag Day mostly goes unnoticed and it is always a good thing to observe holidays. There are those who never met a holiday they didn’t celebrate … and Flag Day is especially meaningful for them.
I actually did remember about Flag Day … right in the middle of my Friday the 13th dinner.
“Everyone is a Christian, but no one knows what a Christian is anymore.” Shane Claiborne & Chris Haws in Jesus for President
Would you agree? Disagree? Make your case in comments, as I will do. (Just cause I didn’t like the book doesn’t mean there weren’t things to make one think.)
If I were still wearing my feminist hat, I would be highly incensed that a well qualified woman was passed over in favor of a less qualified man. I would be more incensed at the media and the powers that be at the DNC for their unfavorable attitudes. I would be asking some tough questions, like “Why would you assign delegates to a candidate who didn’t even appear on the ballot?” I would have a lot of other questions and I would be feeling particularly disenfranchised about now, like a lot of Clinton supporters who are posting on blogs around the politisphere.
I am wearing sweats, a thermal shirt and a fleece jacket over that. I am putting on socks and sneakers to go to the gym. I may spend all my time in the hot tub! Oh, to be warm.
It is my belief that content is everything and context is second when it comes to writing. I carry that belief over into the web sites I create and even to my own blog. That is why I continue to use the Ocadia theme that I modified for my own use rather than some of the more colorful themes. It’s clean, easy to read and the design doesn’t get in the way of the message.
When I am writing, either for the web or for The Commoner (our church newsletter) or articles for Xisti, I try to apply the same principles. I want my articles to have an opening that invites one to read the rest, interesting content that flows from one paragraph to the next and an ending that brings the article to a logical close. Sometimes I must edit multiple times to achieve the result I want.
I think pictures or graphics inserted in articles, whether for print or for the web, should be relevant, interesting and limited. One picture may be worth a thousand words, but too many is just a jumble and interferes with coherence.
Keep this philosophy in mind as you read the post below.
I bought this book on the basis of the review at CBD and the following quote:
“Having power at its fingertips, the church often finds “guiding the course of history” a more alluring goal than following the crucified Christ.” – Shane Claiborne & Chris Haw “Jesus for President”
I’m greatly disappointed in the book for a number of reasons:
The layout and design of the book annoyed me to the utmost. The pages are many colors and there are images stuck in everywhere for no purpose that I can see except to inflate the page count. CBD lists this book as having 176 pages, but it is over 350 pages due to these features.
Reading the book is a real challenge due to the items listed in #1.
The book lacks coherence, skipping from subject to subject. It also introduces a subject and then comments “more on that later” … a totally unnecessary technique that gets old in a hurry.
Because of the lack of coherence, it is hard to get a feel for the message. This is not a good thing for me. After a while, I decided the message was just a bit “off” kind of like milk on the edge of going bad.
A look at the bibliography gives me the reason for the point above. In keeping with the “style” of this book, the bibliography is not a list … no, it is pictures of the spines of books that were referenced by the authors. I am so NOT surprised to find authors who are somewhat less than orthodox in the list.
Bottom line, I do not recommend this book. If you are looking for a good book to guide you as a Christian in the political arena, my recommendation is still Why Government Can’t Save You by John MacArthur.
A few years ago, one of my mentors gave me an assignment to write a short paper on the cross of Christ, including:
What does it mean?
Why is it important?
How should we live in light of 1 and 2?
It didn’t sound like a difficult assignment and I thought the paper would almost write itself. Indeed, the first few paragraphs seemed to flow from my keyboard. But I found I was not able to fully unpack the meaning of the cross of Christ. Thus began a study that is ongoing and has been one of the most rewarding I have undertaken.
In the course of my study, I have read numerous books and read or listened to sermons about the cross. On Good Friday, my church presented The Way of the Cross, which brought home once again the enormity of the gift we have been given through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As part of this study, I recently read In My Place Condemned He Stood by J. I. Packer and Mark Dever. This collection of essays on the cross is an excellent study on its own, but also included a list of recommended reading. I’ve already read many of the books on their “top ten” list, but there are a few I need to acquire.
It seems I can’t get my wish list whittled down no matter how many books I get.
Another milestone reached! I thought about what I should post … should I write something profound or just ramble as usual? Should I do a multi-part post ala Joe Carter? Nah … I am verbose, but don’t know if I could stretch it that far. So what should it be?
I have a number of things I want to comment on, but decided this milestone should stand on its own. So here it is:
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6, ESV)
