We Traveled out into the middle of the Lake of Galilee and had a worship service by roping our boats together.
we went to Capernaum and talked about Peter’s house, the synagogue, the miracles that Jesus did.
However, it wasn’t about the miracles it was about the message.
After a Galilee fish lunch, I was priveleged to baptize eight people in the Jordan River.
In the evening was a huge barbecue with 500 people from the tour sitting by the edge of the lake while Aaron Wong played his guitar.
Dead Sea to Galilee
Kelli and I flew into Tel Aviv without much bother. We met our guide Francis and she took us through Philistia to the Dead Sea.
We went ‘swimming’ the Dead Sea and ran six miles. It was good to get in some running over here. the ‘swimming’ just involved pulling up the feet and enjoying a sort of weightlessness.
The picture is from Day Two where Kelli and I were at Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were unearthed. We will be seeing some of them at the Shrine of the Book later this week.
We also went to Masada, and En Gedi. En Gedi is where David hid from King Saul in the Judean wilderness and cut off the hem of the king’s garment.
Day Two we went past Jericho and via the West Bank to Galilee. At the Roman ruins of Bet She’an we had a praise and worship session. After that Kelli and I with the group (‘Naphtali’) that we are leading went to the top of the Tel where King Saul’s decapitated body once hung.
Kelli went swimming in the spring of Sacchne and I paddled my feet. Then at En Herod I told the story of Gideon because that is where it really happened.
Finally we went to the top of Mt. Arbel which has a panorama of the Sea of Galilee. Tomorrow I will be baptising 8 people in the River Jordan.
I am concerned about the abortions that happen in America. But I am concerned that we deal with the issue so simplistically. One side state that they are pro-life, does this insinuate that the other side is pro-death? One side is pro-women’s rights; does this imply that the other side is for the taking away of women’s rights? It seems that the dialogue is doomed before it starts because the discussion is couched in language that polarizes and demonizes the opposition.
I am concerned about same-sex marriage. I believe in a design that shows intention of a marriage between man and woman. The deviation of the model of marriage is sin. However, although I am opposed to homosexual behavior and believe it to be sin I know that I am a sinner saved by grace and want to deal with sinners with compassion.
I believe that we are stewards of God’s resources. We need to adopt responsible environmental policies. The book of Ecclesiastes clearly indicates that the world is not designed for us to gain anything. Our souls leave this world, but the material we are made of goes back into the cycle of life. From dust we are taken and to dust we return.
I believe that the disenfranchised, the disabled, the unemployed need caring for. I am a skeptic about the ability of mankind’s drive to care for his/her fellow man to work through faith based charity. I believe that in many cases those who have have a responsibility to share God’s blessings in their life with those who have not. This may need administrating by the state. Of course, the present government systems of caring for those who can not take care of themselves is flawed and needs reform. But it doesn’t need abolishing per se.
Many Christians in North America would agree with these ideas. It seems though that to be a Christian in America is to put abortion as the primary concern and then defend against the attack on the family. I believe Americans vote as citizens of America primarily. What would it mean though, if they voted primarily as citizens of a globally situated Kingdom of God?
I am not American, I am British. I have lived in Japan and seen the Japanese conduct their elections. I watched the PPP sweep to power in Pakistan when I was there in the late 80’s. I have been in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the late 90’s when the rule was quite different. So in coming to America I have a view of the current elections in a global context. In the first election that I observed in America, I heard a debate where one of the candidates talked about flexing American muscle and I became concerned for what that would mean. I thought of the implications for the world.
Politics is a very complex business. Webs of ‘social relations involving authority and power’ run throughout the world. The USA occupies a unique position at the centre of world politics. It plays the role of chairman, arbitrator, polluter, villain, hero, conspirator, savior, and bank to the world. No other country has sway over life and death like America does. How do we become aware of the effects of ICI factories in India and the deaths they cause? How do we become aware of how drug companies test their drugs and sell them in the global market? How do we hold a government responsible for decisions that ripple outward to the ends of the earth? What would happen if we voted as citizens of the Kingdom of God in God’s world? Would American murders of unborn children trump the deaths due to the environment or social justice? Does the issue of godly marriage outweigh whether companies can move into mountains and remove glaciers that provide vital water to whole river systems?
Voting as an American is unique. It bears a great responsibility. In many ways the government of America is the government of the world. So let’s move away from the simplistic analysis of one or two issues, but engage in discussion about God’s world and work the redemptive plan on a global scale.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.
Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.
So you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way but you’re older,
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death.
Every year is getting shorter never seem to find the time.
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I’d something more to say.
(Pink Floyd)
My mother-in-law received a letter from her doctor saying that life-expetancy for someone with her condition is 3 years from the time of diagnosis. We are in the third year.
The clock ticked on past my 38th birthday on April 16th.
China is still holding our application to be parents. We have a ‘log-in-date’ with them of August 16th 2006.
The English way is to hang on in quiet desperation (see above). What is God’s way?
On February 28th, Judge H. Walter Croskey of the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles said that homeschooling is only legal if one of the parents is a certified teacher.
Many homeschooling parents are crying fowl and that this is a breach of freedoms, even discrimination. However, this statement shows what is lacking in homeschooling. I have had to pick up the pieces from many failed homeschooling experiments where parents have underestimated the rigours of teaching. I have had a mother in Afghanistan tell me that her child did technology because he was allowed to use the satellite phone. I have had many parents excel in teaching reading and social studies, but mathematics, science and spelling were just not as well covered. Rather than an even education so many homeschoolers I have tested have had ‘peaks and troughs’ in their academic profile almost as pronounced as learning disability.
A positive response to this statement from a California judge could lead to the credibility of homeschooling increasing. I find the idea that a well-meaning parent with a high-school diploma and a prescriptive curriculum can be equivalent to a teacher with at least four years training and years of experience to undermine the professional status of teaching. That parents might learn to teach their children to think critically, to engage in the latest technology and teaching methods could be a breath of fresh air.
Of course there are some well-trained amateurs who read deeply into the philosophy of education and understand children’s development. But a dose of the trivium, For the Children’s Sake, and Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning does not make a well-trained teacher.
In Kenya there are many text messages that are being sent inciting violence and hatred. They use language that dehumanizes their opponents and calls them animal names. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQGbmv7PS34&feature=user Are we animals?
In H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds aliens from Mars farm people in much the same way that we would farm sheep. Of course, they are portrayed drinking human blood through a straw, which adds drama. Do we have a right not to be farmed?
PETA has run ads which accuse those of eating meat of committing murder. They give dignity to life. They equate human life with animal life. The Smiths in the 1980’s released an album called, “Meat is Murder”. Is eating an animal murder?
J. P. Moreland says that naturalism has turned animals into machines and that animals have souls. If they did not have a soul there would be no animating factor and therefore no life? He does not believe animals can be saved.
People who work for UNICEF want to promote human rights. Why does a human have value? Why do they have rights?
Hitler isolated groups within Germany by making them less than human and then killed them. How would you argue against him?
What is patriotism? •What is nationalism? •What country are you from? •What is good about your country? •Is your country better than other countries? •What are you free from in your country? •What are you free to do in your country? •What are Christians free from? •What are Christians free to do? •What would you like to be free from? •What would you like to be free to do? •How free is “The Land of the Free?” (Rank 1-10) •How free is Iraq? •How free is Mexico? •Is one culture superior to another? •Is ‘cultural relativism’ an option for a Christian? •Can an American Christian believe that America is the best country in the world? •Is terrorism and fighting for freedom a matter of perspective? •Why was 1776 OK, but the 1860’s were not? •Should colonials have submitted to the authority that God had placed over them? •Should the South have submitted to the authority that God placed over them? •Should Iraqis submit to the powers that God has placed over them? •Does God support preemptive strikes on ‘rogue’ nations? •What should America do about Iraq? •What would the role of a missionary be in Iraq? •What freedom would a Christian bring who also refrains from cultural imperialism? •Does a missionary have to ‘go ethnic?’ Does it help?
I heard Plymouth Argyle move into fourth place in the League Chamionship in England on BBC Radio Devon. They beat Sunderland by one goal to nil and to hear the commentator you’d have thought that they had repelled the Germans from the beaches of Normandy rather than won a soccer game.
In England there is a national depression because England failed to qualify for the European Championships by losing to the Croatians last week. Although I was embarassed by the failure of the English squad to perform I was not wearing black or calling for the manager’s head on a platter.
My attentions are focused on a sick old man who broke his hip. He used to be my team’s most loyal fan as I wheeled him to our games in a wheelchair each week. Now he is in rehabilitation and his cerebral palsey is preventing him from making progress toward recovery. We have a meeting on Tuesday which will decide his future. Do we put him in a home? My father-in-law has been our responsibility for a couple of years, and we have enjoyed sharing a house with him and his wife. The question of his health seems to put sport into perspective. Will the Bears qualify for the playoffs? Will Argyle get promoted into the Premiership? Will my father-in-law ever be free of pain?
What do we value? What are we thinking about? What grabs our emotions and occupies our time?
Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
Cultural literacy is the knowledge we have about culture which helps us to understand information. If I said to you that a bush was burning in Texas, many of you would associate Texas and Bush with the presidency of America. A knowledge of the culture can help us understand words beyond their literal meaning. V for Vendetta is a movie where the hero takes on the persona of Guy Fawkes. The British remember his Catholic plot to kill the Protestant King James I on November 5th, the day he was discovered under the Houses of Parliament protecting a suspicious pile of wood which covered a pile of gunpowder kegs. He and his conspirators were hanged, drawn and quartered after days of torture. The way that he was treated is seen by some as parallel to the terrorists detained by the Americans who are subjected to near drowning and other methods that some call torture. V for Vendetta recasts Guy Fawkes as the hero and not the villain. Government is evil and should fear the people. The movie seems to advocate an anarchy and overthrow of institutions. The movie also includes religion as a tool of the state.
How does an understanding of Guy Fawkes help us to understand the movie V for Vendetta? Should a Christian watch V for Vendetta? How should Christians react to a movie which advocates resisting a government accused of torture, unjustified war, and tesing drugs on its own people? If such a government existed should we take up arms against it or should we accept the authorites that God has placed over us?
“Guy Fawkes (1570-1606), English conspirator, born in York. A Protestant by birth, he became a Roman Catholic after the marriage of his widowed mother to a man of Catholic background and sympathies. In 1593 he enlisted in the Spanish army in Flanders and in 1596 participated in the capture of the city of Calais by the Spanish in their war with Henry IV of France. He became implicated with Thomas Winter and others in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament as a protest against the anti-Roman Catholic laws. On the night of November 4-5, 1605, he was caught in a cellar underneath the House of Lords and arrested. After severe torture he disclosed the names of his accomplices, and with them he was hanged. Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated on November 5 in the United Kingdom and some other parts of the British Commonwealth with bonfires and fireworks.” (Encarta)
On Tuesday November 20th at 7:00 p.m. I will be presenting ‘Getting the Most from Your Bible’ at the Barrington Campus of The Chapel. As well as being a professor at Moody Bible Institute, I am a Licensed Minister with The Chapel. Please check out their website at www.chapel.org for further information about the church or the event.
Plymothian 