I was checking my RSS reader on Sunday morning before getting rolling, and I come to find out, one of my aviation mentor's was getting a building named after him. Cool! until I read further. He was getting a building named after, because he got killed last January.
And then reading further, it was even more troublesome, as even though he was my mentor and taught me so much twenty years ago... he was little older than I am. The guy was a genius!
I'm sad, as I never really got to tell him how much I appreciated all the stuff he taught me, and perhaps more so, his approach to wrenching airplanes. Its easy to replace parts, its tougher to diagnoze the unknown, and its tougher still to sign on the line that this aircraft is safe for flight. Yet, as a mere 20 something, this fellow was signing off on large airliners, building planes in his basement, and on nights/weekends, we would do annual and 100 hour inspections on general aviation aircraft.
Aviation is a strange career arena, it can be quite consuming, and there is this unseen brotherhood of aviators. Everything from the student pilots hanging out together, to the old guys in the QB's reliving crazy times of years long past. I'm not sure why this is, its unlike most of the other careers I've been involved with since then. Perhaps its because aviation alines itself with birds of a feather in a literal sense, perhaps it is something different. I don't know, but there is a different comaradery involved. I mean, today, I can't even remember the names of the pain researchers I used to work with, nor many of the engineers when I was in the semiconductor world... yet, looking back, I do remember every mechanic, every CFI, and most every pilot.
I remember when he took me up for some limited acrobatics, playing crop duster, and even firing off the simulated machine guns. Those were some great times, and I still remember looking up at the top of the plane, only to see earth instead of sky, to say nothing of the reverberation of propane power machine gunsin a steel hanger.
Perhaps the funniest, was when he was moving to a new house, and had carefully measured the wing he was building in his basement to make sure it would make it up the stairs. Well, it turns off 1/4" too big, is 1/4" too big, and it was time to drill out rivets and take it apart.
Those were some great times we had.... I never made it a point to say thanks over the years, figuring sooner or later I'd run into him again. I mean sure, I wrote a letter saying thanks maybe 15 years ago. But he gave me a lot of life lessons back then, many of which I didn't understand until years later.
It would be easy to think God took him too soon... but perhaps it is better to say God took him, when he called him back home. It is God's time, not ours, just as God grants us many people who come and go out of our lives over the years. If there is someone from your past you happen to think of while reading this, perhaps its time to fire off a note, saying hey thanks for being in my life, and/or fire off a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessings God has granted as he gifts us with the presence of others. I know I have some notewriting and prayer to do.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses. When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
"...the role of Christians was not to seek power over
others by controlling governments, passing legislation
or fighting wars. Christians should instead seek to
have power under others winning peoples hearts by
sacrificing for those in need, as Jesus did"
He said Christians these days were constantly outraged about sex and perceived violations of their rights to display their faith in public.
“Those are the two buttons to push if you want to get Christians to act,” he said. “And those are the two buttons Jesus never pushed.”
Rev Boyd took a stand for Christ, and as a result he lost about 1000 members of his congregation.
Galations 1:10 comes to mind.
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The power is in Jesus, our pride wants to make us right, and control others to be and do as WE SAY, rather than to let the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus lead them to follow his commands. I think too much of contemporary Christianity is focused on us, our pride, our power, our position rather than on Him, and service onto Him and others.
No doubt Pastor Boyd anguished over the set of sermons he was about to give. Yet, he chose the hard way of the cross, rather than the easy way of man.
Let us pray for him and his congregation, and that many will come to know Jesus and grow closer to Him.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
The greatest commandment.
[bible]Mark 12:30[/bible] Google shows 186000
The second greatest commandment
[bible]Mark 12:31[/bible] Google shows 478,000
The 6th or 7th commandment depending on your doctrinal stance of numbering commandments. Yes, there is a difference.
[bible]Exodus 20:14[/bible] Google shows 573000
The 4th or 5th commandment
[bible]Exodus 20:13[/bible] Google shows 1,080,000
Something is really fishy here. The greatest commandment should be #1, followed by #2. If they are to be followed, the rest will drop into place.
Something is very wrong, when google shows killing and adultry concerns higher than loving one's neighbor as themselves, and worst of all to Loving God. Granted, my search terms were anything but scientifically chosen, but it sure seems way off that web pages seem to be missing the mark.
What prompted this, was a couple bro's I know who need help, and have found the Christian community anything but helpful. The church turns to psych, and says.... gee, if we help these guys, we are enabling errant behavior, they need to be like us first. I don't seem to recall Jesus saying anything like that.
Or, the church says... well. we only have so much money to work with, all the while going on mission trips to exoctic vacation hot spots. Please don't get me wrong, the well off need Christ, just as much as the homeless man on the street. However, it is quite likely they have local Christians right there, as there is little danger as contrasted with Northern Israel or other war torn areas, where the word of Christ, and food/supplies/medicine are really needed.
And perhaps lastly, a perception that we really aren't emphasizing loving God like we should be. I found a really cool sermon from Charles Spurgeon thats a must read at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0162.htm
Here are some high points
1. To begin, then. This command demands a duty. That duty is, that we should love God.
2. That brings us to the second point—the measure of this law. How much am I to love God? Where shall I fix the point? I am to love my neighbor as I love myself. Am I to love my God more than that? Yes, certainly. The measure is even greater.
3. And now, very briefly, I have just to state God's claim upon which he bases this commandment. "Thou shalt love him with all thy heart, soul, mind, strength." Why? First, because he is the Lord—that is, Jehovah; and secondly, be cause he is thy God.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Last edited by mnphysicist; 13th August 2006 at 08:18 AM.
Time for a fun post... got a new phone, or is it a camera
My old phone took a header, so I got a new one last night. The thing is, its almost a camera, where they added a phone as an after thought, as the earpeace volume is really really low, even cranked all the way up. But then as a camera, its sort of odd too... LouLou my cat does not have a blue ear!
I think I got a bad phone, so I'll need to go return it in the next couple days, hopefully before I get concrete in it, or LouLou scratches it all up... However, the phone, if I get one that works is really cool. Its big enough I can push the buttons, and it has a nice user interface. I just hope that they all don't have a blue shift and low audio.
Here is TC on the left, and LouLou on the right.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
I did a little digging around, as I have a rather unpopular interpretation of these verses, and being the oddball, just wanted to see what the Greek had to say... and that opened a major can of worms. I guess its part of the problem when you grew up with a very old school, and very old paster who was into following God's word, rather than what your congregation wanted you to preach....
If you google this... you find out most all web entrys seem to focus on sexuality. To be fair, there is an element of truth in this interpretation as orderliness and proper are within context, although the amount of skin showing is perhaps pushing the interpretation a bit.
It may well be that such a position was what the Holy Spirit led an author to write at one time, yet, it seems so odd as to why at least a decent percentage of folks don't comment on the obvious intent... perhaps it is because it is hard to hear, just as many things God gave to us are hard for us to hear.
The key point is
GOOD WORKS and Fruits of the Spirit!!!
If we are to look at power struggles on the human side... it becomes pretty easy to play the sex card, instead promoting good works and fruits of the spirit. It is easy to fuss about scantiliy clad women's clothing. It is not so easy to fuss over symbols of wealth.
To jump on a popular bandwagon just because others think it is so, is not cool, even though we might happen to agree with them. My old pastor, and my current one were fans of the Bereans, as written about in Acts 17.
[bible]Acts 17:11[/bible]
Of course, this doesn't mean we throw respect or reverence out the window, when it comes to attire, but that our focus should not be on the outside, but instead, on the inside. Putting aside symbols of wealth is a way of respecting others, and showing humility and love, rather than boasting.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Last edited by mnphysicist; 27th August 2006 at 06:09 AM.
Reason: arghh.... Bible tag formatting, finally got it!
I have often wondered why there are so many vast differences between brothers and sisters in Christ. Such diversity in some cases, rather than showing the wonders of God's creation, and the power of the Holy Spirit ends up putting the fruits of the spirit and the light of Christ under a curtain.
I think part of it is due to the fallen nature of man to put God in a box. The Holy Spirit reveals scripture to us as we need to hear it. For a specific scenario, the Holy Spirit may lead us towards understanding A, and that is good. Where the problems begin, is when we lock that understanding A in a box and try to codify it, thus forever ruling out the fact that understanding B may be valid in another situation.
If one studies folks over time... in many cases, you will see their point of view changes as the Holy Spirit leads them to different places. I think our tendency to lock in where such and such was when they did their last writings. That may or may not be valid codification, and imho causes no small amount of upset and disunity within the body of Christ.
I think we have to go back to the Bible, and be willing to let its mysterys remain, rather than relying on the key writings of men who wrote for a specific time and place. We also need to be willing to recognize that God's word is inerrant and timeless. The writings of man's commentaries are probably not. In keeping this in mind, we also need to have the fruits of the spirit be our focus in diversity discussions, rather than our pride get in the way and we be a stumbling block for others.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
I was going to post, and then went whoa.... I could end up tearing someone down, who thinks they are doing the right thing, or worse, shake someones faith in a husband or wife, and thats not cool. Scripture is for correction yes... but its a powerful tool that also comes with responsibility. Not all may be able to hear. So I am posting it here... and if God brings folks to read it, may the Holy Spirit guide them.
****************************
What is all this lust stuff and lack of accountability anyhow within the Christian man.
What ever happend to the fruits of the spirit within the Christian man?
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility) and self-control
What happened to loving ones wife as Christ loved the church?
What happened to personal responsibility of Christian men?
Are we letting a certain socio/political stance or worldview keep us from following God's word by coming up with excuses that its not our problem, its her problem?
If this is an issue with Christian women's clothing, what about secular attire? This is extreme, but I have never seen hooters attire in church, but its not uncommon at the mall or grocery store.
Paul writes of adorning with good works, no wealth/status symbols, and order and proper clothing is part of his message. Why are mens selling out to pop psych and excuses.... rather than seriously considering whether the car they drive and affluence is really the problem Paul is addressing.
Why do we sin by replacing God's word with something we find easy to swing the blame for our sin unto someone else... and worst of all, unto our sisters in Christ. I do not get this.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
So the question becomes, why is this? Sin is rampant, yet by observation, God does seem to hear our prayers
Psalm 66:18
If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
Cherishing sin in ones heart, to me would seem to indicate it is a choice to reject the leading and conviction of the Holy Spirit. As such, this does make sense. We may be filled with a multitude of different sins of which at a point in our walk, we are only aware of some of them, and are working out our santification in trying to follow Christ's command. The net result, we are not cherishing sin, but instead taking the ones we are aware of to the cross, yet others remain.
Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Most interesting.... we are all wicked, and fallen away, yet through Jesus, we are seen as a new creation. Where this seems difficult is amongst those who are not Christian. Can God still hear their prayers? I would like to think so.... certainly he is far from their hearts, yet, even with repentance, they still fall far short without Jesus. Yet, how can they recieve Him without God's action? I don't think we can justify picking and choosing what scripture is applicable at which time.
John 9:31
31We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
Taken on its own, without context, this is pretty bad news. No one does His will, so no one is heard. Yet, if we look within context, this was spoken by the blind man upon questioning by the Pharisee's probably in reference to the OT verses.
Zechariah 7:8-13
8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah: 9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' 11 "But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. 13 " 'When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.
This is indeed distressing. The contemporary church often chooses to not pay attention to social causes and stuff up their ears, yet their prayers are at least by observation are answered. This seems to be so very clear cut, as to what not to do.
Yet, as 1 John 2 clearly states: 1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
And Jesus ties things together very neatly in John 9:39-41
39Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" 41Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
In aviation, we have a term called messed up. Technically, its a step between PTSD, and intense short term emotional distress although closer to the latter rather than the former. It often times knocks a guy right out of the air.
In 20+ years of flying, I've had a few emergencies, a few close calls, stuff happens, you deal with it and move on. As a young pilot... not quite so easy. I did get messed up, was within about 15 seconds of buying the farm and it took the better part of a year to get back to an even strain, although I was back in the cockpit within 3 days.
What I found comforting was the verse in my sig.... taken from 1 Peter 5
The reason for bringing this up now, was a cool verse I found on Hey Vern! It's Equal
"A relaxed attitude lengthens life; a jealous one rots it away.
Granted, this is the NLT version of Proverbs 14:30, but wow is that cool or what! I think back to one of my mentors at the time. an retired air traffic controller. We used to joke that his tower cab could have caught on fire, and he would sit there calmly telling folks about it, and causually mention that he would be delayed for a little bit while he put the fire out, all the while eating a sandwich.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
Close to 20 years ago, I took Greek with about 15 other guys who were heading off to seminary. It was a cool class, in that it was super ecumenical. Amongst the student mix, there were only a couple instances where a demonination was duplicated, otherwise, we were an extremely diverse group. I still remember the days of handwriting practice, and the discussions after class lasting into the wee hours of the morning.
I occasionally venture into GT.... I do make it an occasional practice, as it would be all too easy to get tied up there and spend all of my time, and getting nothing done IRL. So, bumbling along and all, and like wow, here is this cool thread, and I start digging into it. I dig out Thayers and Strongs
And this is where it gets dangerous.... I start digging through the Greek texts, and its like whoa, I always thought this verse meant this, and yet, within the Greek, that doesn't appear to be the whole story. So now, I start looking through Strongs to look at word usage, and then I find wow, there are more than 10 citations in the book of Mark alone. This could well turn into a 80 hour research project just to answer what seemed a very simple question.... Its very easy to get led astray when digging through Greek texts, as there are a multitude of things going on, so I tend to go exceedingly slow, as I know my skills are not up to par.
There is a lot to be said for a child like faith, where we accept the teachings of Jesus and just try to follow them. It is a good thing! Where I found myself getting in trouble, is relying on a man's commentary on scripture as an absolute explanation. While it might have been the direction that man was led to on that day and time, commentaries are not timeless, unlike the Word of God.
The goal of a commentary is to make a point, or to simplify things, and most commentary writers admonish the reader to view the scriptures themselves and be open to the Holy Spirits leading.... yet I found myself taking the easy way and just accepted the commentary as face value, rather than digging into the Word for myself.
By the same token, Greek is a tool, just as commentaries are a tool; they do have their place within one's walk and both need to be used properly. These tools of Bible study, if not kept sharp and current, can be very much like a circular saw with no blade guard. It can do wonderous things, but it can also be incredibly dangerous.
__________________ [SIZE="1"]To those that are cast down on account of their sins Christ must be introduced as a Savior and Gift, and not as an example. But to sinners who live in a false assurance, Christ must be introduced as an example. The hard sayings of Scripture and the awful judgments of God upon sin must be impressed upon them. Defy Satan in times of despair. Say: "O cursed Satan, you choose a nice time to talk to me about doing and working when you know very well that I am in trouble over my sins. I will not listen to you. I will listen to Christ, who says that He came into the world to save sinners. This is the true Christ and there is none other. I can find plenty of examples for a holy life in Abraham, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and other saints. But they cannot forgive my sins. They cannot save me. They cannot procure for me everlasting life. Therefore I will not have you for my teacher, O Satan."[/SIZE]
[CENTER]Martin Luther, Commentary on Galations 5:8[/CENTER]
However, the phone, if I get one that works is really cool. Its big enough I can push the buttons, and it has a nice user interface. I just hope that they all don't have a blue shift and low audio.
Linear Mode
