Large Font

The Vikings, winners of three straight thanks to some very unlikely late rallies, were just issued a 77-page manual on proper behavior, covering everything from lewd and lascivious conduct to smoking. ''Basically everything was, 'Be smart,' '' Marcus Robinson said. ''Just be smart about everything you do, on and off the field.'' It took 77 pages for that? Must be a really big font.

Funny thing, that. The more prosperous and successful we are, the more we tend to ignore rules. It doesn't matter if you're a child, like my adorable 4-year-old girl who is so cute she can get away with a lot, or a really rich public figure, like a football player, or an ex-president.

Eventually, we all run into a wall called authority. Someone above us tries to remind us of reality. "You can't do that! You say everyone is doing it? That's because they're all following your example!"

The Vikings published a 77-page pamphlet on proper behaviour. It was boiled down to 'Be Smart.' Oh yeah, Jesus said it better. "Love God. Love your neighbor."

Talk about large font, is that big enough for you.

Chocolate pie

Thanksgiving Dinner was really good. Both of them. I brought rolls and sugar cookies to work for our potluck. Afterwards, I went to my in-laws for our family dinner. More turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, and pie. I am so full right now.

This is a picture of Hope putting whipped cream on the chocolate pie. I hurt. I have eaten chocolate, cherry, and pumpkin pie, as well as my sugar cookies.

Want my sugar cookie recipe?

1 c. sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter or oleo
3/4 c. cooking oil
2 beaten eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
4 1/2 c. sifted flour

Cream together sugar, powdered sugar, butter, and cooking oil. Mix all ingredients together and then chill dough. Form into small balls. Place on a cookie sheet, and flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Use ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 until golden brown. (I cook mine for 8-9 minutes.)

Cool tats

My children, the rebels!

My parents gave them some tatoos, and my son just found them in the clutter of his room. So, he needed them now. And what he has, she wants too.

At least they have good taste.

"Discovered"

"They have not discovered thine iniquity." The word 'discovered,' in the King James Version, has a multitude of meanings.

We think of discovered as finding something that was hidden or lost. Finding treasure, lost keys, or true love.

But a more modern rendering of this word would be "to reveal." To make known that which was unknown.

And that was a big failing of these prophets.

We tend to think of prophecy as relating to End Time events. And surely it does, but that is a narrow view. Prophecy is much more 'forth-telling' than it is 'fore-telling.' Plainly speaking the revealed Word of God for todays people.

These prophets were sent to tell of Israel's future, but their future could have changed if they had changed their present actions and attitudes. "Stop sinning. Stop the outward obedience. Bring your hearts close to God, not just your lips. Lift up the weak, the orphans, the widows. Mercy and justice. Compassion."

This message might have saved Judah from destruction. If they had listened and obeyed. If they had truly repented.

But, as Paul says in the epistle to the Romans, "how can they hear if no one is sent." Did God send these prophets, only to have his message twisted by them? Or did they desire the power and acclaim for themselves, and proclaim themselves to be prophets?

I don't know. But, this I do know: They didn't help the people they were meant to serve.

Bad Info = Bad Choices

False & Foolish Visions--What is false? Webster's Dictionary says it is 'not comformable to fact.' It communicates what is not true. It could be intentional, with the purpose of deceiving, or unintentional, being based on flawed knowledge.

What is foolish? It means to be void of understanding or sound judgement. Void, empty. Useless, possibly dangerous.

I live in a desert. Last year we had two people come here riding dirt bikes. They didn't know the area, and rode into an open mine, or a well. I don't remember which. It was 700+ feet deep. One lived, one didn't. It was a void, an empty place in the desert. A dangerous place.

Visions, in the scriptural sense, are revelations from God. He used, and still uses them, to inform his people of his will. Sometimes of future events, direction for our lives, wisdom for handling current situations.

What happens when we receive false and foolish visions? Look at the world around us. Wars and rumours of wars. Abortion. Divorce. Freedom from religion. The list goes on.

President Bush is accused of twisting the facts to lead us into war. Earlier, the CIA was accused of twisting the data. Who knows? Personally, I don't think anyone lied to us. We got the data, and misinterpreted it. (Or waited too long to act on it.)

Bad info leads to bad choices.

Star Student

Woohoo! Ryan is student of the day. That means he gets to lead the class when they leave the room.

He was excited, and I'm excited for him.

BTW, I'm not sure what happened to the picture. I'm gonna try re-sending it, and see what happens. Maybe it'll turn out better.

Christian channel opens in Egypt

On the surface, this sounds like good news. It sounds like flame to the oil to me.

"The bishop in charge of Aghapy TV says the channel will not carry anything that could upset Muslims." But here is another statement, three paragraphs later: "Last month three people were killed when Muslims tried to storm a church in Alexandria because a play had been performed there two years earlier (emphasis added)which was deemed offensive to Islam."

From what I have seen, it won't matter. Give them a few months, a few years. Something will be misconstrued, misunderstood, or purposely twisted, to enflame mobs.

Christians will get hurt. Blood will be spilt. But we know, from history, that where the message of Christ is proclaimed, Satan brings opposition.

Why did we go to war?

I'm sick of all this. Bush mislead us? He lied to us? I think I'm missing something here.

My wife and I both remember 9/11. (Our daughter was born shortly after.) Buildings. Planes. Burning. Death. Massive homicides. Al Qaeda. "Let's go get them!" With me so far?

Where was Al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden? In Afghanistan. That's why we invaded this little country. What did we do? We declared war on Terrorism.

Why did we invade Iraq? The war on Terror. President Saddam Hussein was allowing terrorists to train in his country, use his resources, funding, supplies, etc.

I was not, and still am not, worried about WBD. "It's not the man with 2 dozen nukes I worry about. Its the man who only wants one." Saddam hadn't threatened us. Nor was he a threat to us. It was the fanatics, terrorists, and homicide bombers who used his country as a base of operations.

How did we get so off track?

Evolution suffers Kansas setback

BBC NEWS ran an article about the Kansas state Board of Education. They voted 6-4 in favor of throwing some doubt on the "facts" of evolution.

Finally. We can't teach creationism, because we can't teach religion. (But safe sex is okay.) Creationism has been redefined as 'Intelligent Design.' Can't these people get it through their thick heads. Intelligent Design does not presuppose Deity, just someone, or a race of someones, vastly more powerful than us. Someone who could create life as an experiment.

Arthur C. Clarke dabbled with this in 2001: A Space Odessey. An alien race took an existing group (monkeys/apes) and taught them to use tools, etc. Other authors have written along this basic theme also.

Yet people are terrified that I will force my morality on them if we even suggest that evolution isn't hard fact. After reading this article, all Kansas wants to do is tell students that there are problems, and that evolution is an unproven theory. So what, it is. As far as I know, no one has yet duplicated it in a laboratory anywhere. Any other theory has to be repeated by outside people before it is widely accepted.

I read a quote on another website tonight by a Chinese scientist, I believe. In China, they can criticize Darwin, but not the government. In America, we can criticize the government, but not Darwin.

Visions

Something here seemed off to me, until I read a little blurb in one of my commentaries. Why are these "things" they saw called visions. False, misleading, vain, and foolish. Read different translations and you'll see even more descriptive terms. But they are all called visions. Why?

Because ... they really were visions. Jeremiah wasn't the only prophet God had. He tried moving through many people. A lot of them had visions. Visions of Israel's future. The time of the Messiah. Glory and riches. Leadership among the nations. The thousand year reign of the Christ.

They sort of left out all the intervening years. The years of wandering. The years of slavery. Blood, smoke, death. Romans and Nazis. Millenia of anti-semitism.

Yes, they had visions. But they twisted them for the pleasure of their hearers. God's Truth mangled in such a way as to become dangerous to the hearer.

Lam 2.14--'for you'

"The visions which your prophets have seen for you."

It sounds to me like they had a specific target audience in mind. That's not a bad thing, if the message isn't affected. You have to change the format of your message to fit the crowd you are speaking to. Children learn differently than adults. Groups of adults learn differently from other groups. Lecture vs. multimedia vs. Veggie Tales. Put it into language the audience will understand.

But don't change the message. These prophets of ancient Israel, and maybe modern America, have skewed the message of God to fit the hearers desires, not their needs. This group of prophets forgot that they were anwerable to God, not to the people.

The visions may have been authentic, but they had been filtered for the people's short term comfort.

Lamentations 2.14

The visions of your prophets
were false and worthless;
they did not expose your sin
to ward off your captivity.
The oracles they gave you
were false and misleading.


I read Lamentations a few weeks ago, and this verse stuck in my mind. The more I look at it, the more pieces I see. I hope to take the time here to break it down into individual components, and eventually rebuild it into one mosaic. I was about to say "beautiful mosaic," but I'm not sure there is anything beautiful here, unless it be the naked truth.

The first phrase is "the visions of your prophets. Yours, not God's. Ours. Mine. Not God's prophets.

Who appointed these men to be prophets, if not God? Oh, wait a minute. I seem to remember something about gathering men to tickle our ears. We want to feel good about ourselves. We are prosperous, happy, content. Doesn't the Bible say God wants to bless us?

(oh wait, maybe I'm confusing "our prophets" with the "the whole truth".)