Are Elders Necessary Today?

The church of Christ has long believed itself to be the lone example of the church established on Pentecost. When we look at our history we see a different reality. A group of Presbyterians with a Baptist here or there disgruntled over the practices of their respective churches wanting to use only the bible. The Church of Christ prides itself on following New Testament practices and in some situations it makes first-century conveniences modern day law.

 

We use as an example to require giving to pay the bills of the congregation the collection intended to help the poor saints in Jerusalem. The collection today has little to do with helping anyone other than ourselves. Sure some goes to missions and some goes to benevolence but for the most part it is spent on us. There is no example in the bible for what we do today but we accept it because we want to.

 

Acts 14:19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. 20 But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. 21 When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. 23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

These were all young or new converts, and yet among them the apostles appointed persons to watch over and instruct the rest but what purpose do they serve today?

When elders were appointed in the New Testament the congregations did not have preachers, educated in biblical studies. On a practical level what purpose do elders serve today?

 

We have four elders.

 

1 lives and works in a different country;

1 lives in a different county;

1 lives in a different city;

1 spends most of the week at the other side of the state.

The preacher lives in a different city.

 

Whatever you concluded as the purpose of elders can individuals living and working as listed above fulfill such purposes? If so, no problem; if not whom are we kidding when we consider ourselves an example of the New Testament church?

Adventists Lead the Rebellion Against Evolution Church of Christ Follows.

At the end of the nineteenth century almost nobody was arguing directly in favor of a young earth with an age of less than ten thousand years. Enthusiasm for this view was confined primarily to the Seventh-day Adventists, who followed the writings of their founder Ellen G. White, considered a prophet by the Adventists. In one passage White described a vision she had of the creation of the earth. In another vision God revealed to her that Noah's flood produced the fossil record. Early Adventists could reconcile the geological data found in the early nineteenth century with a literal reading of the flood story of Genesis 6-8, by assuming that Noah's flood did all the work. White's vision grew dramatically in its influence, as it was embraced first by fundamentalists and then by most evangelicals.

 

The early twentieth century movement known as "fundamentalism" did not embrace young earth creationism and was even friendly toward versions of evolution.

 

The widespread creationism of today gained traction as an anti-evolution movement that simply reinvented the "flood geology" of Ellen White's vision. This flood geology was presented in a series of books by George MacCready Price a self taught geologist. By the early 1960s Price's ideas, updated in "The Genesis Flood" were becoming the mainstream belief of anti-evolutionists of many theological stripes. This shift can be attributed mainly to timing.

 

As has been the trend the Church of Christ has taken the ideas of people with whom they would not assemble and treat them as supported by the Bible. 

Had God Forgotten to Create a Mate for Adam?

 

By the end of the nineteenth century, as Charles Darwin's theory became more broadly accepted by scientists, many theologians accepted evolution except for the human species, which they argued possessed properties, like morality, that evolution could not explain.  Some of their hesitancy derived from concerns that evolution could undermine morality and even the larger social order, or that evolution could conflict with Christian claims that human beings were created in the image of God.

 

B. B. Warfield because he had strong views on the complete inerrancy of Scripture is often cited by today's most conservative young earth creationists and other fundamentalists. And yet he wrote:

 

The upshot of the whole matter is that there is no necessary antagonism of Christianity to evolution, provided that we do not hold to too extreme a form of evolution. To adopt any form that does not permit God freely to work apart from law and which does not allow miraculous intervention (in the giving of the soul, in creating Eve, etc.) will entail a great reconstruction of Christian doctrine, and a very great reconstruction of Christian doctrine, and a very great lowering of the detailed authority of the bible.

 

Despite his acknowledgement of difficult issues with evolution---including the creation of Eve---his stance on the interpretation of Scripture was clear. Although committed to the plenary verbal inspiration of the bible, he did not see any need for a wholesale rejection of Darwin's theory of evolution.

 

The Language of Science and Faith

---Karl W. Giberson & Francis S. Collins

The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^] of it you shall surely die." Does the Bible tell us Adam passed this tidbit of information along to Eve who did not exist at this time?

Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 

Does anyone believe God had not considered Eve until this point in time?

Age of the Earth and Other Subjects

 Hi Al, hope you are feeling better.

 

From what I have read when Charles Darwin published "The Origin of Species" in 1859, many church leaders in the late nineteenth century actually embraced his theory as an insight into the means God used to create the world. B. B. Warfield, a conservative Christian theologian, wrote:

 

"I am free to say, for myself, that I do not think that there is any general statement in the Bible or any part of the account of creation, either as given in Genesis 1 and 2 or elsewhere alluded to, that need to be opposed to evolution."

 

According to authors of books I have read reading Genesis in a literal way and the widespread insistence that it can only be read this way is a recent development i.e. mid-twentieth century.

 

Sixteen-hundred years ago changing one's interpretation of the Bible on the question of fixed-earth – moving-earth because the "truths of science" and the "truths of the Bible" do not contradict must have been as difficult to accept as considering evolution is today. Instead of listening only to people with whom we agree we should listen to others or at least read what they have written and decide if we agree or disagree and why. "Ideological amplification" is the result of listening only to people who share one's opinions and results in opinions becoming more extreme; more entrenched; and worst of all mimics our Congress.

 

Accepting that the earth is 10,000 years-old requires reconciling that conclusion with the reports that scientists have found trees, whose rings they believe show are six-thousand-years-old and dead trees they believe are older; that lake beds have been found at the bottom of lakes suggesting layers as old as thirty-five-thousand years; and ice rings in glaciers that show ice 123,000 years old in Greenland and as old as 740,000 years in Antarctica? (I have asked Dr Harrub how he reconciles these conclusions.

 

Research shows that many young people believe Jesus committed sins; that Satan is symbolic and not real; there are no moral absolutes; and Judas was a fictional character. If we deny science without providing evidence imagine how our evangelistic efforts will be received.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"It is, in the end, cheaper to feed the whole flock for a year than to fight them for a week."  

---1850 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs

"If the tale of the poor wretches...could be impartially related, it would exhibit  a picture of cruelty, injustice, and horror scarcely surpassed by that of the Peruvians in the time of Pizarro."  

---1852 Gen. E. D. Townsend in his California Diary of the Indians facing pressure from the 1849 gold rush

Why it Matters....at least to me

 

Nature tracks the passage of time.  Trees form yearly rings on their trunks, we can determine the age of the tree by counting its rings. The oldest living trees on earth are said to be the six-thousand-year-old bristlecone pines found in the Sierra Nevada. The dead trees lying beside them are said to be almost twice as old. Similarly, lakebeds are said to accumulate sediments with seasonal variations: minerals in spring, pollen and plant material in summer and fall. This creates distinguishable annual layers on the bottom of lakes that can be counted, just like counting tree rings. Scientists have found lakebeds with layers as old as thirty-five-thousand years.

 

Seasonal ice rings in glaciers provide another example. Ice rings form through the accumulation of years of falling snow, and seasonal differences can be distinguished---such as increased dust and larger ice crystals in summer---that allow the age to be determined. Scientists have drilled ice cores deep into the glaciers and found ice that is 123,000 years old in Greenland and as old as 740,000 years in Antarctica.

 

Such dating methods are straightforward. Pull a cylindrical plug from a glacier and count the layers. The clarity is one of the reasons scientists react negatively to claims that the earth is less than ten thousand years old. They consider that an ice core with 500,000 seasonal summer layers of pollen can no more be ten thousand years old than a massive oak with two hundred annual rings can be two years old.

 

Some weeks back you asked why what we believe concerning the age of the universe matters: In the January 2010 issue of Smithsonian magazine there is an article about the Dead Sea scrolls. The article says the thousands of tourists who flock to Qumran each year, where the scrolls were discovered, are told the site was once home to a Jewish sect called the Essences, who devoted their lives to writing and preserving sacred texts. An Israeli archaeologist disagrees, and says the settlement was originally a small fort that was later converted into a pottery factory to serve nearby towns. Which story sounds better to the tourists? Do they want to know the truth or do they want to continue to believe what they want to believe even if it might be false? Do we?

 

Consider the history of the United States. Do you want to know how things really were or are you comfortable with someone's story?

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"It is, in the end, cheaper to feed the whole flock for a year than to fight them for a week."  

---1850 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs

"If the tale of the poor wretches...could be impartially related, it would exhibit  a picture of cruelty, injustice, and horror scarcely surpassed by that of the Peruvians in the time of Pizarro."  

---1852 Gen. E. D. Townsend in his California Diary of the Indians facing pressure from the 1849 gold rush

Judas

 

Last night in response to Jim's question if Judas was forgiven or even saved there was a woman who repeatedly said "NO!" Paul Franks allowed Judas may have been but the woman was certain Judas was in hell and dare I think she sounded happy about that.

 

While it is a question only God can answer I find folk's attitude interesting, especially for a loving people. Based on Jim's comments concerning avoiding "being of the world" it will be interesting to see how Al convinces his "audience" to be more evangelistic.

 

Did hanging himself prove Judas' remorse at what he had done? I don't believe Judas had any idea that Jesus would be killed. Could he have been trying to force Jesus to take the throne of Israel? Is God merciful only to those who do not need mercy?

 

There is a Gnostic Gospel "Gospel of Judas" that suggests he was Jesus' favorite disciple and the only one Jesus could actually trust.  On the other hand some believe Judas was a fictional character from a collection of myths and short stories.

 

James says: "Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions" and I don't need Satan's help and neither did Judas.. 

 

Oh well, as we know the bible is best studied in isolation.

 

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"Science and theology have things to say to each other since both are concerned with the search for truth attained through motivated belief."  

---John Polkinghorne

Reading or Not Reading

Yesterday in one of your talks you mentioned the world does not read the bible. 

 

Recently I read an interview of Jeff Bezos the founder of Amazon.com. He started Amazon.com as a book store but quickly diversified, selling DVDs, VHSs, CDs, video, and MP3 downloads/streaming, software, video games, electronics, apparel, furniture, food, toys, jewelry etc. The reason for diversification was that his advisors convinced him books were a limited market since most people do not read. 

 

Several years ago I read that 33% of high school graduates will never read a book after high school and 42% of college students will never read another book after they graduate. Sad to me is there are members of GSMCOC who make similar claims.

Concerning reading or not reading the Bible, Scott McConnel of Lifeway Research says most churchgoers to not read or study the Bible on a daily basis. His numbers breakdown as 19% say they read or study the Bible outside of church "every day," 36% say the engage the bible once a week, once a month, or a few times a  month and 18% say they rarely or never read or study the Bible outside of church.

It could explain not only the dumbing of America but the ineffectiveness of the church.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"Science and theology have things to say to each other since both are concerned with the search for truth attained through motivated belief."  

---John Polkinghorne

Augustine of Hippo

"In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it. That would be to battle not for teaching of Holy Scripture but our own, wishing its teaching to conform to ours, whereas we ought to wish ours to conform to that of Sacred Scripture"

Augustine of Hippo

"In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different ways without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines this position, we too fall with it."

Christians Fear Science

Many Christians cannot fully appreciate how science enriches our understanding of God's creation. They have been robbed of this experience by an unfortunate misunderstanding that the scientific picture of the world is not compatible with their believe that God created that world. For various reasons Christians have come to fear---and even reject---science.

6017, 10000, or 4.5 billion?

Based on Brad Harrub's comments it appears, at least to me, that he believes there is a vast far-left conspiracy to remove God from the educational system. When most likely they are just trying to sell text books which are out of fashion today. Reminds me of folks who think going to college causes one to lose their faith. 

 

Ussher deduced that the first day of creation began at nightfall preceding Sunday, October 23, 4004 BC, in the proleptic Julian calendar, near the autumnal equinox. Lightfoot similarly deduced that Creation began at nightfall near the autumnal equinox, but in the year 3929 BC. Hmmm, 75 years difference.  Based on Ussher, creation was 6017 years ago and Lightfoot 6042 years. Dr. Brad was pretty emphatic creation was 10000 years ago, differs with Ussher by 3983 years but does not explain his thinking. Which are we to believe?

The Bible May Not Change but Our Understanding of It Does!

In the sixteenth century Nicholas Copernicus suggested that the earth moves, when Scripture seems to teach the earth is immovably fixed in space.

 

This may not seem to be a huge deal nowadays, but at the time it was a very hot topic. The reason? In the fourth century BC the Greek philosopher Aristotle taught that the earth was fixed in the center of the universe and that the sun, stars, and planets revolved around it.  This fixed-earth view held sway for centuries even though, as early as 250 BC.a sun-centered system was suggested. After all, it made a lot of sense to ordinary people; the sun appears to go round the earth; and, if the earth moves, why aren't we all flung off into space? Why does a stone, thrown straight up into the air, come straight down if the earth is rotating rapidly? Why don's we feel a strong win blowing in our faces in the opposite direction to our motion? The idea that the earth moved was absurd.

 

Aristotle's work was translated into Latin and in the Middle Ages it came to influence the Roman Catholic Church. The fixed-earth seemed to fit in well with what the Bible said.

 

tremble before him, all the earth; yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. 1 Chron 16:30

 

The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt.
Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Psalm 93:1

 

He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved. Psalm 104:5

 

He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's,
    and on them he has set the world. 1 Samuel 2:8

 

Furthermore, the Bible seemed not only to teach that the earth was fixed; it seemed equally clearly to say that the sun moved:

 

Their voice goes out through all the earth,
    and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5     which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
    and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
    and its circuit to the end of them,
    and there is nothing hidden from its heat. Psalm 19:4-6

 

The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens to the place where it rises. Eccl 1:5

 

So it is no surprise that when in 1543 Copernicus advanced the view that the earth and the planets orbited the sun, this startling new scientific theory was called into question by Protestants and Catholics alike. It is alleged that even before Copernicus published his book, Martin Luther had rejected the "heliocentric" point of view in rather strong terms:

 

"There is talk of a new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around instead of the sky, the sun, the moon, just as if somebody were moving in a carriage or ship might hold that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved. But that is how things are nowadays: when a man wishes to be clever he must needs invent something special, and the way he does it must needs be the best! The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside-down. However, as Holy Scripture tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun to stand still and not the earth."

 

John Calvin believed that the earth was fixed:

 

"By what means could it (the earth) maintain itself unmoved, while the heavens above are in constant rapid motion, did not the Divine Maker fix and establish it?"

 

Some years later Galileo challenged the Aristotelian view. This incident has gone down in history as an iconic example of how religion is antagonistic to science.  Galileo, far from being an atheist, was convinced that the Creator, who had"endowed us with senses, reason and intellect," did not intend that we would"forego their use and by some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them." He believed the laws of nature are written by the hand of God in the "language of mathematics" and that the "human mind is a work of God and one of the most excellent."

 

Galileo was attacked for his theory of a moving earth, first by followers of Aristotle and then by the Roman Catholic Church. The issue at stake was clear; Galileo's science was threatening the view held by academy and the church. The conflict was more between two "scientific" world-pictures than between science and religion.  History records how the Church treated Galileo.

 

But now we need to face an important question: why do Christians accept this "new" interpretation, and not still insist on a "literal" understanding of the "pillars of the earth?"  Why are we not still split up into fixed-earthers and moving-earthers? Is it really because we have all compromised, and made Scripture subservient to science?

 

And then we have young-earthers and old-earthers.

Science and Religion

Christians believe that everything exists because of God---from subatomic quarks to black holes. Science often claims to explain nature without including God in the picture. Which do we choose?

 

We do not have to choose, Science dose not over throw the Bible. Faith does not require rejecting science. We can accept both. God cares for and interacts with his creation; science offers a reliable way to understand the world he made.

 

Individuals who, with an open mind , are willing to seriously wrestle with questions about the relationship of modern science with Christian faith will resolve those most common questions about Darwin and evolution using actual results of research in astronomy, physics, geology and genetics. 

Holy or Just Insightful?

Chickens accompanied Roman armies and their behavior was carefully noted before battle; a good appetite meant victory was likely. On one occasion, the night before a battle at sea, the chickens did not eat. He had them thrown overboard. He lost the battle. 

 
12 centuries ago the church considered the chicken special. In Leviticus 5:7 a guilt offering of two turtledoves or pigeons was acceptable if the sinner in question was unable to afford a lamb but nowhere does God request a chicken be sacrificed. Matthew 23:37 tells how Jesus likened his care for the people of Jerusalem to a hen caring for her brood. During the ninth century Pope Nicholas 1, decreed that a figure of a rooster should be placed atop every church as a reminder of how special the chicken is to God. Imagine the shock and dismay of the parents when the teenagers rejected their belief in the holy chicken. 
 

Love and punishment are not mutually exclusive

 

There is the need for punishment and consequence. we punish our children for their misbehaviors, we can expect no less from God. But, no loving parent would send the child to their room forever nor would they inflict pain everyday of their child's life.

 

Jesus told the story of a rich man and a beggar as an example of eternal punishment. Jesus said the rich man lived the good life while the beggar starved at his gate. In the next life, the beggar is in paradise while the rich man is in hell. The story ends with Abraham and the beggar refusing to dip their fingers in water to relieve the rich man's misery. The only act of compassion is the rich man's request that someone warn his brothers. Where is the justice in this story? Even when judged by the command of an "eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," the rich man's sentence seems excessive. How do we justify punishing a lifetime of sin with an eternity of suffering? At what point are the scales balanced?

 

How does eternal punishment bring glory to God or is it strictly God's retribution?

 

Love and punishment are not mutually exclusive. But parental punishment is never designed to inflict pain. It desires to redeem, shape, or protect. When it is excessive, it becomes abuse. Eternal punishment contradicts even the harshest concepts of justice its only purpose is to create pain and suffering.

Finding What Some Folks Think

There is an unwritten standard on the Internet that permits one to find opposite thinking on subjects or people and that is the term "sucks."

The Internet has an environment where corporations who have had major Public Relation catastrophes can find out what is being said about them which permits them to begin to address the issues of the catastrophe. "BP Sucks" was a good one as well as Obama, ObamaCare, George Bush, Iraq, etc all followed by the "key word." Of course if you do those you must be prepared for some "non-religious thinking."

If you google our weekend speaker followed by the term "sucks" you will find people who disagree with him on various topics as well as people defending him. 

On occasion it is amazing what you can find on the Internet. The ostrich could not survive in the Internet World.

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"Religious belief can guide one in life or strengthen one at the approach of death, but unless it is true it can do neither of these things and so would amount to no more than an illusionary exercise in comforting fantasy."  

---John Polkinghorne

This Might Be the Drugs Fighting Back in the War on Drugs

A powerful heroin-like drug that rots flesh and bone has made its first reported appearance in the United States, an Arizona health official says.

 

Known on the street as "krokodil," the caustic homemade opiate is made from over-the-counter codeine-based headache pills mixed with iodine, gasoline, paint thinner or alcohol. When it's injected, the concoction destroys a user's tissue, turning the skin scaly and green like a crocodile. Festering sores, abscesses and blood poisoning are common.

 

Arizona health officials have seen two cases during the past week. These are the first cases in the United States that have been reported, and officials are extremely frightened.

 

The drug — chemically called desmorphine — emerged around 2002 in Siberia and the Russian Far East but has swept across the country in just the past three years, according to a Time magazine.

 

Krokodil became popular in Russia because heroin can be difficult to obtain and is expensive. Krokodil costs three times less, (isn't that one-third?)  and the high is similar to heroin though much shorter, usually 90 minutes.

 

The average life expectancy among krokodil addicts in Russia is two to three years, according to Time, which called the narcotic "the most horrible drug in the world." Gangrene and amputations are common, and the toxic mix dissolves jawbones and teeth, much like the methamphetamine that Walter White cooks in Breaking Bad.

 

As with all intravenous drug addicts, krokodil users are susceptible to HIV, hepatitis C and other blood-borne diseases, and have compromised immune systems.

 

One recovering Russian krokodil addict told Time in 2011 that she injected the drug almost daily for six years. She has a speech impediment and impaired motor skills because of the resulting brain damage.

 

Her brother was among the dozen or so addicts she shot up with. "Practically all of them are dead now," she said. "For some, it led to pneumonia, some got blood poisoning, some had an artery burst in their heart, some got meningitis, others simply rot."

 

A Russian woman using krokodil in June 2011 told The Independent that a fellow junkie refused to go to the hospital. "Her flesh is falling off and she can hardly move anymore." 

 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"Religious belief can guide one in life or strengthen one at the approach of death, but unless it is true it can do neither of these things and so would amount to no more than an illusionary exercise in comforting fantasy."  

---John Polkinghorne

Golf and Prayer --Same Problem

Prayer and golf are similar in that to be successful there a thousand things you must do at the same time. 

Will God Protect Our Military?

USS Indianapolis was a Portland-class cruiser of the United States Navy. She holds a place in history due to the circumstances of her sinking, which led to the greatest single loss of life at sea in the history of the U.S. Navy. On 30 July 1945, the ship was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, sinking in 12 minutes. Of 1,196 crewmen aboard, approximately 300 went down with the ship.

 

The remaining 900 men faced exposure, dehydration, saltwater poisoning and shark attacks as they waited for assistance while floating with few lifeboats and almost no food or water. The Navy learned of the sinking when survivors were spotted four days later by the crew of a PV-1 Ventura on routine patrol. Only 317 sailors survived.

 

When we hear prayers to keep our military safe is it rational to believe God will protect them today when he did not help these sailors?

 

Maybe the way to protect our military is to stop initiating wars. 

Ideological Amplification

When researchers studied various political blogs looking at patterns of linking they discovered a sharp and unmistakable division between the conservative and liberal camps.  91% of the links originating within either the conservative or liberal community stay within that community. The two groups have different lists of favorite news sources, people and topics to discuss with only occasional overlaps.

 

The blogs researchers found that the vast majority of readers tend to stay within the bounds of either the liberal or the conservative sphere. Liberals listen almost exclusively to other liberals, and conservatives tend almost exclusively to other conservatives.

 

In 2005 a group of researchers assembled sixty-three Coloradans to discuss three controversial issues: same sex marriage, affirmative action, and global warming. About half the participants were conservatives from Colorado Springs and the other half liberals living in Boulder.  After the participants completed, in private, questionnaires about their personal views on the three topics they were split into ten groups---five conservative and five liberal. Each group spent time discussing the issues with the goal of reaching a consensus on each one. After the discussion, the participant again filled out questionnaires.

 

The results showed the deliberations among like-minded people produced what researchers call "ideological amplification." People's views became more extreme and more entrenched.

999 Hours - One other thing

Once you define an employee they are eligible to participate in any 401k program provided. To ensure management does not establish such a plan primarily for their own personal benefit participation corporate wide must be balanced. Balancing includes high-compensated employees and lower paid employees, gender and ethic groups etc. My guess is Dollywood might have a problem with balancing non-Caucasian participation. Non balancing results in the entire plan being negated, fines and tax problems. 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray." 

---Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

999 Hours

 

Around the mid 1980s a contractor who drove a trash removal truck for Procter and Gamble in Cincinnati decided to retire after 30 years. He found he had no pension, sued P&G and won. The court ruled he was an employee and had a right to the same pension they offered other employees. To protect  employees from being called contractors and denied benefits the IRS came up with a number of questions, I believe nineteen, to which the answer "yes" to any one of them defined an employee versus an independent contractor.  On of the questions involved the individual working more than 999 hours in any year.

 

There is a lot more I could say but to suffice it to say: an individual who works less than 20 hours a week / less than 999 hours in a year may be excluded from various benefits offered by the company to those folks who work a thousand hours or more in a year.

 

Now we have what we affectionately refer to as Obama-care.

Section 1513 of the Affordable Care Act covers "shared responsibility for employers regarding health coverage." The law requires that every employer with 50 or more "full-time employees" offer "minimum essential coverage" in an "affordable" manner. Employees that don't comply, if that non-compliance results in at least one worker accepting Obama-care exchange subsidies, face steep fines.

 

A "full-time employee" is someone who works at least 120 hours per month, or about 30 hours a week.  Importantly, employers will also have to add up the total hours worked by part-timers, and divide by 120, to count toward that total. So, for example, three employees who each work 80 hours a week would count as two full-time employees (240 total hours divided by two). For this reason, employers who restrict their workers to 29 hours a week may not successfully evade the employer mandate.

 

In the Procter and Gamble example I mentioned above steps government took to protect individuals from being denied benefits annoyed and hurt a lot of contractors as well as employers. Government must be big to enforce moral views so folks who want government to enforce theirs must accept that that same big government will do things they do not like such as Obama-care.

 

I figure cost saving measures to permit payment of large bonuses to senior executives will require that Dollywood as well as other employers restrict the number of hours worked by their "part-time /  seasonal" "employees."

Lets all say, "Thank you, Dolly and let us be sure to buy her newest CD which will take about 2 hours of work to pay for. 

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray." 

---Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

The Last Supper

In a book The Little Ice Age researchers studied the clouds in various pieces of famous artwork to see how artists perceived changes in the weather over centuries. Changes can be reconciled with known periods of increases and decreases of rain.  Recently two researchers analyzed the food and plate sizes in 52 of the most famous paintings of The Last Supper and found that the portion sizes in the paintings increased dramatically from years 1000 to 2000.

Using a computer program, they compared the size of loaves of bread, main dishes and plates to the size of the heads of the disciples and Jesus in the artwork.

They found that over that 1,000-year period, the main course size increased by 69%, plate size 66% and loaves of bread 23%. The biggest increases in size came after 1500.

The researchers used paintings of The Last Supper because it is the most famous supper in history which artists have been painting for centuries. The paintings provide information about plate and entree sizes over time. Food may have become more available and less expensive.

The three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), which include descriptions of The Last Supper, mention only bread and wine, but many of the paintings have other foods, such as fish, lamb, pork and even eel.

If they visited assemblies of the Church of Christ they would take note the portions continue to shrink. Folks of the Church in Corinth could not become drunk or be accused of gluttony. It must be a God thing.

John Jenkins

865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

"I have always given it as my decided opinion that no nation has a right to intermeddle in the internal concerns of another; that every one has a right to form and adopt whatever government they liked best to live under themselves; and that if this country could, consistently with its engagements, maintain a strict neutrality and thereby preserve peace, it was bound to do so by motives of policy, interest, and every other consideration. 

- George Washington, from Letter to James Monroe, August 25,1796.

Cohabitation first is new norm for unmarrieds with kids

If you didn't think too much of that transgender how about a more acceptable sin, cohabitation. USA Today is reporting cohabitation is growing in popularity. The question is why marriage? While it is considered a moral issue the Old Testament supports such behavior. Solomon is praised while he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Abraham had concubines with his wife's approval. Christians talk about Solomon and his immoral behavior as a right since he was king.   

Would You Help If You Could?

In my ongoing saga to avoid following in the foot steps of the Greeks and their worship of Zeus, which has as much of a story as the bible has about Jesus etc and whose believers were as convinced as we are, I continue my attempt to reconcile what Christians say the bible says and what I see.

One day a couple in their 30s rode Rampage via the ADA line. The woman used a walker. I thought, how sad so young. 

Would you heal that woman if you could? Why do you suppose God doesn't? 

God's creation is regulated by laws he established. This suggests a certain amount of suffering is inevitable. We benefit from the laws of nature and we suffer the consequences when they are violated.

 

Could it be that God cannot heal and abide by the laws of the nature of his creation? Is it healthy for Christians to continue to ask for and to thank God for acts he has never indicated he can or will do?

Gutenberg Squared

When the relatively new information technology of books hit ancient Greece, Plato was concerned. If reading and writing catch on, he warned, they will have a detrimental effect. Human beings will lose their capacity for memory. Instead of internalizing the information they need, people will just write it down, to consult as needed. Education will degenerate. Instead of learning The Iliad and The Odessy by heart children will just put it on the shelf. The intellect will shrink as knowledge becomes stored outside the human mind.

Plato was the first media critic. Although it might seem easy to assume that Plato was overacting --- the fact remains that Plato was right. People in literate societies do seem to lack memory capacity of those in oral cultures. African tribesmen can still exhibit prodigious feats or memory, reciting seemingly endless genealogies and thousands of lines of tribal epics, while those of us who can read and write rely on Post-its to remind us what to pickup at the grocery store. New information media do affect the way people think, the possibilities of a culture, and its worldview.

Plato was correct to see that the worldview of his beloved Greece, with its tribal virtues, would be undermined by the rise of books. But this new information technology would fit well with the worldview of the ancient Hebrews, who believed that God communicates to human beings primarily through a Book. The Hebrew Bible goes back to the origins or writing itself.  The alphabet, which breaks down sounds of speech into discrete visible symbols makes reading and writing possible and easily learned, was the invention of an ancient Middle Eastern people, the Phoenicians, whose Semitic language is related to Hebrew.

Prayer of a Righteous Man?

Does it say anything about a people's convictions when they claim prayer works and have absolute confidence God will heal their sick but are not that confident about him protecting the congregation's property?
 
How about the confidence shown by others who withhold medical treatment because their faith in God's healing is so great. Why do you suppose we think they are loony for having such a ridiculous faith? While we deny it we really do believe God helps those who help themselves.
 

I for one have never met a righteous man or at least I have not been in their presence when they were saying one of those effective prayers. I have never experienced or observed effective prayer. And from what I observed and experienced no one I know has either. We talk a lot but our prayers are hollow. My experience and observation have been the only way one gets off the prayer list is to die.

Government?

Read Romans 13:1-6. Paul told Christians in Rome their government was not to be feared because God has given it the right to do what they were doing to the people and if they resisted the authorities they were resisting God and will incur judgment.

 

Paul was talking about Caesar and history shows how Caesar treated Christians and apparently under the guidance of God. So let's change a name here and there and see how it reads today.

 

Paul told the people in Libya, the United Nations as well as the countries around the world  Muammar Gaddafi was not a terror to good conduct but to bad and if they would not incur his rath then they should do what is good and receive his approval since Muammar Gaddafi is God's servant. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists Muammar Gaddafi resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For Muammar Gaddafi is not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for Muammar Gaddafi does not bear the sword in vain for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

 

Our forefathers did not believe it either otherwise they would never have rebelled. If what Paul said is correct the people of the United States will eventually incur God's wrath. 

 

Christianity is a Fantasty

Christian religion is a make-believe religion. Anyone can believe what they want. Christianity is a fantasy.

Sins and Stocks

Since God can look into the future and see if I am going to be saved or not what purpose is there for him to notch up my sins if he sees down the road I will be saved? We have a tendency to envision we are saved, then lost then saved then lost etc. But are we really? Isn't sin like stocks and other than any residual affect of the sin the only thing that counts is when I cash them in?

Science and religion are not in conflict, for their teachings occupy distinctly different domains…..

Pope John Paul II wrote in 1996

 

"Science and religion are not in conflict, for their teachings occupy distinctly different domains…..

 

The lack of conflict between science and religion arises from a lack of overlap between their respective domains of professional expertise---"

 

Science attempts to discover how things are done while the Bible conveys what has been done. Science does not involve itself with "who" and the Bible does not involve itself with "how."

 

Christians believe that God controls history, but they do not object when historians talk about a natural cause-and-effect process. Christians believe God controls the weather, yet they do not denounce meteorologists who produce their weather maps day after day based on the predictability of natural cause-and-effect processes. Why can't evolution be thought of in similar terms?

 

The fact that embryology or meteorology do not identify God's role or that many embryologists and meteorologists do not believe God has a role makes no difference. Christians can accept the results of embryology and meteorology, regardless of the beliefs of the scientists, as processes that Christians believe describe in part God's way of working. Christians do not organize campaigns to force academic institutions that train meteorologists or embryologists to offer the theological alternative of God's role. Why do Christians' respond to evolution differently?

 

Could it be the stories of the creation and the flood are allegorical? The Bible says sin was brought in the world by Adam but also tells us Adam was the third to sin. A serpent with free will was the first, Eve was second and Adam third. Sin was not brought into the world by man but by another member of God's creation a, serpent.

 

If the flood was world wide who did Noah preach to for those 120 years? Who warned those folks who were thousands of miles away from where Noah lived?  If God's creation does not evolve how do we explain the various races and the millions of species?

 

The police would scoff at the notion that crimes can be solved only when they are witnessed directly. The simple fact is we can learn about the past by applying good old-fashioned detective work to the clues that have been left behind.

 

Wouldn't the same rules apply to science? We may not be able to witness the past directly, but we can reach out and analyze it for the simple reason that the past left something behind. That something is the material of the earth itself.

 

Christians need to leave "how" to science and concentrate on "what."

John Polkinghorne - In Quest of Truth

Religious belief can guide one in life or strengthen one at the approach of death, but unless it is true it can do neither of these things and so would amount to no more than an illusionary exercise in comforting fantasy.

Danger of the Certain

Doubt does not exist within the religion. Regardless that history shows a number of religions that eventually disappeared once their believers died, believers are certain they are right. Science questions everything devotees of religion question little if anything.

 

Stories in the bible such as how we came into existence do not match up with what is known. Biblical stories of the flood are little different than flood history of many civilizations and leave questions believers do not ask.

 

Christian religion teaches there is a loving God who will torture us for ever except for the intercession of Jesus, an innocent who had to be killed to let him intercede. One of the reasons the loving God will torture us for ever is if believers listen to a female teacher.

Calvin Coolidge

Leaving the presidency following five and a half years, Calvin Coolidge wrote:

"It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshippers. They are constantly and for the most part sincerely assured of their greatness."

Did the founders of our country envision professional politicians? Did the early Christians envision professional preachers? Where does the Bible authorize a professional preacher to manage the church office; supervise the office staff; publish the weekly news letter and be the source of biblical knowledge for the congregation all paid for by contributions originally meant for the poor saints in Jerusalem? 

Martin Luther believed anything the Bible does not expressly prohibit, is permissible. Apparently the Church of Christ does too. 

At what point is the church no longer the church but just another man made organization?

Difficult Choice

If God is willing to prevent evil, but not able; he is not omnipotent.

If he is able, but not willing; he is malevolent.

If he is both able and willing; whence cometh evil?

If he is neither able nor willing; why call him God?  

 

---Epicurus

Education Not a Threat

I often hear folks caution students going off to college to not lose their faith. To some, education is a threat in that it brings to light new possibilities including the possibility the Bible does not say what they have been taught it says.

 

An advantage science has that the bible does not share is the thousands of scientists trying to prove it wrong. Science does not reward corroboration and the inability to disprove something lends credibility to it just may be true. Christians rarely challenge what the local congregation's spokesperson tells them the bible says.

 

Most Christians live in a cocoon where everyone is pretty much like the other. When we step outside the cocoon we occasionally see that reality is a bit different than what we believe. 

 

In classes I like to listen to those in the cocoon. Children have angels and that sort of thing. Did you know there is a market in the sex slave business for 4 to 7-year-old girls? Where are the angels? Where is God? On the other hand God will protect us.

 

Recently I read "A Train in Winter" by Caroline Moorehead.  It is the story of 230 women who were either part of the French resistance during the WWII German occupation of France or were in the wrong place at the wrong time; everyday people whose lives were turned into a Hell on earth. But I am sure it would not have happened if they had been Christians. Maybe they just did not pray enough.

 

Maybe "new" does not cause the youth to lose their faith but expand it? Research suggests they want to be more than an audience on Sundays.

 

 

Motivation

In the most recent House to House; Heart to Heart the cover article is "do you think you are the only ones going to Heaven?

Later, on page 5, there is All Things Considered; 4 Pictures of Faith. I am not aware the bible tells us their motivation but do you suppose Abraham, David, or Job was focused on being saved or going to Heaven or did Abraham just believe God, David had confidence, or did Job just have hope for a better tomorrow? They had a relationship with God much like with a friend. Do we have or even want a relationship with God or do we follow him only because we want something he has and if it were possible we want it with or without God? The author in one book I have read on the subject asked the question would we be happy in Heaven even if God was not there.  Since people argue that is not possible I ask the question would avoiding Hell be good enough for us. 

Last month when we attended the Church of Christ on Hilton Head Island it struck me like us church is assembling to hear a man talk. Was church to Abraham, David or Job assembling to hear a man talk? Are we just a group of rule-keepers and does that lead us to believe we are the only group keeping all the rules?

John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN



Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Blogs: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/
         http://alumcave.blogspot.com/

 

"I do not feel obliged to believe the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason and intellect has intended us to forgo their use"

Galileo Galilei, an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher

 

The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/