Is This Really the Gospel?

Like many of you, I have been intrigued by the seven day sex challenge offered by pastor Ed Young of the Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX. More than that, I have been intrigued by the pragmatic preaching of many celebrity preachers designed to reach the religious consumer market in the United States.

I would venture a guess: The Thesis behind such preaching is that God's sole purpose is to make us happy and successful. God wants us to be great leaders (Jesus modeled servanthood), have great sex lives (taking care of one's spouse seems to be the norm in scripture), be successful (all Jesus' healing and teaching ministry got him was a cross), and have a hunky-doory life (suffering is the norm in this world for Christians).

First, regarding sex, one clear issue driving Jewish worship regulations was God's desire to separate sex from worship. If some of these ministers had any education worth speaking about, it would be clear that the polytheistic religions of the day used sex in worship. They worshipped fertility deities. Our word Easter comes from the goddess Ishtar, the fertility goddess of the Arabic world (that's why rabbits and eggs are symbols of Easter, and why I prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday.) Many religious cults of the ancient world incorporated sex into the service. Priests had intercourse with cult prostitutes on the altars to these gods and goddesses. Furthermore, it is interesting that polytheistic religions expressed their deities with male and female characteristics, as well as having the male deities have sex with human women, creating heroes such as Hercules, Perseus and Gilgamesh (Genesis 6:1-4 takes a jab at these).

In the book of Leviticus, worshippers could not worship (they were unclean, or common, rather than holy) if they had intercourse within 24 hours of worship, if the woman was in her monthly period, if a man had a nocturnal emision. Yes, you will remind me that we are free from the law. You are correct to do so. However, the purpose behind such regulations was to separate sex from the worship scene. I hear the "there is something spiritual about sex" in the preaching of these ministers. However, I think that it is worth pointing out that the ancient world was aware of this, and God was separating sex from worship.

Second, when I hear of such sermon emphases, I ask: "What about the teens in the audience, the single adults, the divorcees, and the widows. What about those who struggle with sexual issues?" Furthermore, what about the story that Scripture tells? I believe that there needs to be an arena to talk about sex in church. However, is the morning worship service the appropriate arena. What about a couples class? What about youth groups in which parents are aware of that content? Is this appropriate material for worship? (By the way, worship is celebrating the story of salvation in such a way that we really believe that what the Bible says is real. It is not a program.)

Finally, it is interesting that the New Testament says very little about sex. Paul encourages periods of abstinence in marriage for prayer. Fasting from sex. What a revolutionary idea? Jesus reminds men to be faithful to their spouses. In Genesis, we are reminded that sex is God's means of procreation. How quickly we forget that.

The concern for Christians is preparing for God to complete his work in the future and being about his mission in the present. While I understand that contemporary churches, post-modern emphases in churches, the emergent church are reacting to the mistakes and misunderstanding of the gospel found in many traditional churches, the implication that God's gospel is but another self-help guide book to make our lives more enjoyable is just as much missing the point as a traditional church's passion to preach the gospel without meeting the physical needs of the poor. I believe that we need help for our couples in our churches to learn how to relate to one another in healthy ways. But consider this...

Is the consumer mentality in religion just the result of the fact that we are bored? We are staring into the sky, like the disciples who watched Jesus disappear behind the veil that separates Heaven and earth. Rather, we should be about the gospel. Teach the lordship of Christ. Realize that we are blessed to be a blessing, not to enjoy being blessed. And, we are called to bear a cross. Life will not always be perfect. But perfection is participating in the narrow journey and completing that journey, rather than getting every step right along the way and enjoying that. Why are we self-centered? Because our life-application religion is teaching us to be.

I remember an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond when Robert and Amy had just been married and had Debra and Ray over for dinner, along with Frank and Marie, and Amy had just read a book on how to have a better relationship in marriage. She shared it with Debra and they began talking about all the theories that the book presented. Marie, whose personality gives me the heeby-jeebies, gave the greatest advice ever. Marriage is not always perfect. People are not perfect. You are going to have your fights, your ups and downs, and your struggles. That is life. However, in the end, there is something greater than sex, romance or affection. There is love.

But maybe I am just a fuddy duddy.

From Pearl Harbor to Calvary, The Story of Mitsuo Fuchida

33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals-- one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:33-34, NIV)





Being that today is the 67th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, I thought that the story of Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese leader of the raid, might be interesting to see how radical God's forgiveness and salvation really is. Here is the link. What do you think?





www.biblebelievers.com/fuchida1.html

Grace and peace,

Tim

Citizens of Heaven

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/november/16.34.html


"Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!" (Philippians 3:17 - 4:1, NIV)

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. (1 Peter 2:9-12, NIV)

They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated-- the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:37-38)

I miss Duke, especially during election season. I miss the theological conversations with classmates and professors who stretched my mind to consider other possibilities and sharpen my own thoughts and convictions.

Reading an article like the one above calls me to remember the importance and place of the church in the world, the relationship of the church to the world, and the mission of the church - to be the church.

Elections are over, finally. I am excited that I can get on with the work of ministry. I will pray for Barack Obama, just as I prayed for George W. Bush, and his father, along with Bill Clinton.

However, the church should no longer sell herself short. We do not change the world by votes, loud talking, picket signs, but by shed blood.

Someone's blood was shed, and the world has never been the same. The church followed suit. They lived peaceably among the First Century World. They contributed to society, but they lived to the beat of a different drum. Their citizenship was elsewhere. They heard a different voice. That voice called. They answered. They lived for it, and died for it. They were strangers in a new community, aliens in a foreign land, living a foreign way of life. It was the life of a different world.

They died for it. Martyrs, church-goers, radical reformers, charismatics. They died for the faith that led them to call home "Heaven."

Christians are political people. We speak with our life. I appreciate Jordan Hylden, a Duke student, for speaking up in Christianity Today. Thank you for reminding me of the lesson I learned so well at Duke - that the first responsiblility of the church is to be the church, regardless of the world around.

Maybe there is a way beyond conservative and liberal, Republican and Democrat, Capitalism and Socialism. May we open our eyes, and join Jesus on the way (Mark 10:46-52). Maybe that way will lead us home.

Grace and peace,

Tim

Evangelicals and Torture?

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080912/poll-golden-rule-coaxes-evangelicals-to-rethink-torture-stance.htm


"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies..." (Matthew 5:43-44, NIV)

I have just read an interesting article on evangelicals and torture (link above). A poll showed that 46 percent of Obama supporters and 67 percent of McCain supporters believe that torturing prisoners can be justified to extract information from captured terrorists. I am not for giving these folks steak dinners, big screen TV's and grounds privileges, but it seems to me that this is contradictive of both Christianity and the political opinion of both candidates.

Let us not forget that one of our presidential candidates spent over five years incarcerated during the Vietnam War. Let us not forget that he endured cruel torture, both mental and physical, until his release in 1973.

Let us not forget that Christians through the centuries were subject to cruel and unusual punishments and even death at the hands of those who were threatened by Christ's claim to power.

Let us not forget that Christians, when in positions of power, have proven no better through the centuries. They have burned heretics at the stake.They tortured mentally-ill people, claiming they were demon-possessed or witches. Protestant state-supported churches martyred many radical reformers, including Baptists, who refused to assent to the claims of these churches. Let us not forget that the bloodiest war per capita known in the history of the western world was fought between Protestants and Catholics.

And may we never forget the cruel torture Jesus endured as Jesus went to the cross to be publically humiliated before He died.

Can we do no better?

As a Christian, my ethics can never be based upon the intended result ever justifying the means to the result. For Christians, our witness is dependent upon the means and not the end result. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his Ethics that this is the rebellion of humanity that began in the garden, not to do evil, but to be our own judge of what is good and evil. Part of living in the world is that my safety and security, and that of my loved ones, is dependent upon God. Part of living in this world is that there are people who intend to do what they believe to be justified harm. Part of living as a Christian is the conviction that for Christians, in the end death does not have the last word, but the last word is spoken by the God who raises the dead. He is in fact "the Alpha and the Omega."

Tim

Remembering 9/11

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death." (Revelation 20:14, NIV)

Where were you on 9/11? At 8:45 AM Central Time, Amy Corbin, then secretary to the Dean at Beeson Divinity School in B'ham, AL, interrupted Dr. Fisher Humphreys' theology class with a message from his wife: "Turn on the TV right now!" Dr. Humphreys turned on the mounted television in our classroom to find that the World Trade Centers and the Pentegon were under attack. Three airplanes had crashed into the buildings. No one new how many were killed. A fourth plane had just crashed in western Pennsylvania. Word was that the state department was to be evacuated due to threats that a car bomb was set to explode outside. It never happened. However, no one knew that day when the madness would end. Our lives changed forever. The stronghold of the United States of America had been breached.

Later that morning, all students and faculty gathered in the beautifully adorned chapel to worship. We had to make sense of the chaos around us. Many had to make sense, and give interpretations. At the time I was a Minister to Students at a large church outside Birmingham. I want to share the contrast of stories that were told in chapel with that large Baptist Church.

At Beeson we gathered at the Lord's Table. We opened the word. Dean Timothy George preached an eloquent, intelligent, and timely message regarding the events that unfolded hours earlier. We remembered The Story. We remembered that the greatest tragedy was not the falling of the Trade Center, but that the world crucified its Savior, its Lord, and its God. We remembered that evil is all around. Try as we might, we cannot offer an explanation for the vid of evil that eats away at the fabric of God's creation and God's creatures. This is what human beings do - we trash true goodness when it is embodied in our world. This is what we do, unless God acts. We remembered that God took the gift of His Son, the gift we threw out, and did something even greater - He raised the dead. This is the power of God, as Paul writes to the Ephesian church in chapter 1. God is not a God who is thwarted by human decision, evil and death. God is a God who brings life where there is none - especially in the midst of death. We rememembered those gifts as we ate bread and drank from the cup. His body. His blood. For us.

At the local Baptist Church, the flavor was different. The room was filled with Red, White and Blue. We told a different story. We did not talk about His body and His blood. Instead, we found comfort in Patriotic Songs, our colors, and that God was on our side - America's side. Some suggested that God was judging America for our country's sins. Others suggested that God had lifted his hand of protection from America, and allowed this atrocity to happen to bring the country back to God. No gospel. No power. Only blame, hurt, and bad theology.

I imagine that many, like me, turned to both these stories. I love my country and I was mad that we were made to look naked, vulnerable, and dishonored before the world. I was startled that I no longer lived under a stronghold of a nation that could nuke any nation that even thought about attacking our soil. Those thoughts ran through my mind. But also, thanks to the worship leaders at Beeson, I remembered what God does with evil. I remembered the story that shaped my destiny, that shapes the destiny of the church, and the destiny of the world.

Yet, the next day was Wednesday, and I had a room full, probably 80 plus teenagers that I had to address. I had a choice. How was I to explain 9/11? I remembered in chapel looking at the bust of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, one of the six Twentieth-century martyrs mounted on the wall of Beeson's chapel, and remembered these words:

"Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love...What makes the Christian different from other men is the "peculiar"...the "extraordinary," the "unusual," that which is not "a matter of course....What is the extraordinary? It is the love of Jesus Christ himself, who went patiently and obediently to the cross - it is in fact the cross itself. The "extraordinary" - and this is the supreme scandal - is something that the followers of Jesus do." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, trans., NY: Simon and Schuster, 1995)

As the youth gathered, we had a question and answer time. Our students asked whether or not this really was God's judgment, whether or not this was leading to end-time events. Then, a seventh-grader - a timid, shy, red-headed girl - Melanie Carrol, preached the sermon when she asked: "Doesn't the Bible say that we are to love our enemies?"

And so we told the story. We broke bread. We drank from the cup. We remembered: His body. His blood. For us.

When tragedy strikes, in your body, your family, your community, your country, or even your world, what story do you tell? What story makes sense to you? What do you lean on and rely on for support? For meaning?

For me, it was on 9/11 "The old, old story of Jesus and His love."

May the power of God that can and will undo death be with you today and forever.

Tim

Politics, Passion and Potential Poison

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."1 Timothy 2:1-4, NIV


As I have surfed the blog-o-sphere, I have been amazed at the number of one-sided comments regarding the upcoming presidential elections. It seems that there are many Christians, mostly Republican, but some Democrat, who seem to think that their particular political party is completely representative - and thus their presidential candidate - of Christianity and Christian values. Sure, I applaud Republicans for their emphasis on family values, the rights of the unborn and abstinence outside of marriage. I also applaud Democrats for championing the cause of the poor, the minorities, and the women's rights. I find much good with both parties, and values that leave much to be desired.

Furthermore, I am concerned over Christian leaders who seem to think that the election of their particular candidate is the answer to all the problems our country faces. We hold the dillusion that the president will help with our mortgage payments, return overseas jobs or create new ones here. We believe that Roe v. Wade will be overturned, which it has not. We believe that we will treat each other equally, and that the poor will be lifted from poverty. We believe all this because who wins the presidential election.

Subsequently, I am amazed at how passionate we are about our politics. We are so passionate that we fail to walk in the other's shoes. We fail to see things from the other's point of view. We fail to sympathize with the plight of our opponents. And, we fail to understand that the issues on which we base our decision are more nuanced than "Pro-life" or "Pro-choice." They are more nuanced than "continue the war" or "bring the troops home." They are more nuanced than "trickle-down" economics or tax breaks for the poor and lower middle class. It is interesting how I have seen that my own family situations have both benfitted and suffered at the hands of policies supported by both Republicans and Democrats.

The potential poison of politics is that we eventually come to believe that God somehow magically waves his wand of blessing over the country that has His ideals on their lawbooks. The fallacious and potentially evil suppositions that God released his hand of protection over America (as if God ever had a hand of protection on it) on 9/11 or that Hurricaine Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 as God's punishment to all those who are immoral are unwarranted in scripture and dangerous to all. Yet this thinking dominates our pews on Sunday Morning. We fail to understand how God blesses, how He judges, His intent in salvation, and the depth of his love for a lost world. Also, we some how seem to rest our faith in who is elected for our well-being, rather than remembering from whom our well being comes.

This election I will:
1. Vote my conscience, using my own faith to shape my politics.
2. Pray for our leaders. God is pleased with this. I am thankful for everyone who aspires to public office, because it is a difficult job. They accomplish a lot of good, whether we like their affiliation or not.
3. Not lose a bit of sleep over who is elected.

Why? Because the God I serve is at work regardless of who is elected president. Because I believe that Christians still make a difference in this world, with every adopted child, with every Christian who ascends to political office (locally, regionally, nationally), with every new job created by a Christian businessman or businesswoman, with every student who sits under a Christian teacher in the classroom, with every prayer I say with my kids, and with every breath taken in the world.

Voting makes a difference. But standing on the sideline hoping that my candidate will change things is un-christian. We are called to politics. Our faith is public. It permeates every aspect of our lives. God has called the church, equipped the church, and exalted the church to be Hs people, His politics, at work in the world empowered by the Spirit to embody the character of Christ in the world.

I will not share my voting habits, but everytime my candidate lost, the sun still shined. Most of all, I cling to the promise of Matthew 6:33: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you." Someone else is still in control.

Grace and peace,

Tim

Wrong Stadium Tar Heel!

When I heard about the UNC game ball landing in Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday Night, I could not help take a poke at the Tar Heels. How do you explain that?

I am a huge football fan. I could care less what happens on the basketball court. Roy who? Coach K (can I buy a vowel?)? Actually I do like basketball. It gets me through the winter in time for spring practice. Now that a Birmingham man, a Bear Bryant Disciple, and the guy who coached both Peyton and Eli Manning is the head ball coach at Duke, Duke has the opportunity to arise from the ashes of embarrassment to at least the level of mediocrity. So I thought I might stoke the fire of the UNC-Duke gridiron rivalry, if you can call it that.

Wallace Wade actually was the head coach at Alabama who started it all for the Crimson Tide. He won three mythical national championships at Alabama in 1925, '26, and '30 before leaving the Capstone for Duke. He wanted to coach football at a school that valued academics. Well he got it. Though Wade never won a national championship at Duke, he did coach two Rose Bowl teams, losing both. By the way, Wade and Cutcliffe are not the only Crimson connections to Duke. Former Alabama quarterback and Bryant Disciple Steve Sloan coached Duke in the mid 80's before returning to his alma mater as Athletic Director.

Though you may not be interested enough in football trivia, especially in North Carolina, the Chapel Hill blunder is the perfect illustration of human sinfulness. Let me explain. When we think of sin, we think of stumbles, temptations, white lies, coveting (we've all done that, right? Actually, coveting is a more churchy sounding word for lust). And these things are not good things. Don't hear me wrong and don't underestimate sins with the little S.

But Sin with a capital 'S' as, Paul describes it, is much more than that. Paul says that we are slaves to Sin and that we are dead in Sin. We do not realize the depth of the problem either until it is too late, or until God acts. The problem of Sin, of which little sins serve as perfect examples, is that we are headed off course with our lives. Though the pilot of the plane and the parachuters flew a perfect flight, executed the proper procedures and though the parachuter executed a perfect jump, landing safely, the fact still remains that the game ball wound up in the wrong stadium.

The Holy Spirit, the personal presence of the Father and Son with us, is the One who guarantees that at the end of the day our life ends up on the right course.

Go Duke! Thank you, Tar Heels, for the life lesson.

And, may the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today and always!

Tim

Internet Awareness

Dear Readers,

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and to converse. I have made several changes to my blog page out of concern for the security of my family. Due to the threat of online predators, I have removed the name of my home town and all photographs of my family. I love my family and have the desire to show them off. However, in this day and age I have come to the conclusion that it is best not to do so. Furthermore, I love my church and wish to brag on them. Again, I feel that it is best not to do so. I hope to create a personal site, maybe using MySpace or some other service that will only allow "friends" to view the content. While this blog has that capability, I do want to keep it open to visitors, etc.

Along those lines, as a pastor and a parent, I encourage each of you to be aware that the internet is not a 100% safe resource. If you are the parent of a teenager or child, I encourage you to monitor your child's internet activity. Last night, my wife and I saw an Oprah episode in which a teenage boy and a former undercover FBI agent shared horror stories of how Child-porn viewers take advantage of innocent children and teenagers through online communication. Child-porn viewers asked this young boy to do horrible things in front of his internet camera, sending him money and gifts each time. The boy's own mother worked with troubled teens, and had no idea what was happening until it was too late. The FBI agent said that many children have gone missing, while countless others have appeared on the internet in still shots or movies. While many federal agencies are currently busting online predators, they are often slow in following through. The damage is done before these kids can be saved. This is not a danger that is far away, only happening in other states or countries. It can happen in your own back yard. The agent said that most of these predators work in jobs that serve children. They are people from all walks of life.

Not only do predators use the internet for pornography, but scams as well. I encourage you to never give out your personal information to anyone who initiates contact with you. Never respond to lottery notices, or anything that is too good to be true. Please use good judgment when engaging internet resources, opening email, etc.

Monitor the time that you spend on the internet. Satan's best ploy is creating apathy. He does not want you to hate God, but to get you to become indifferent.

The internet can be a valuable resource. I continue to update links to "safe" webstites for Christians. These sites have a plethora of information regarding Bible Study, spirituality, and denomination interests. I hope that you find them helpful. Again, I welcome any suggestions for this blog, and look forward to conversation.

Grace and peace,

Tim

Vacation Bible School

I am supposed to finish my Sunday Morning sermon right now, but I wanted to gather a few thoughts about this weeks' VBS at First Baptist Church. Still decked out in my lime green T-shirt, VBS is fresh on my mind. VBS is one of the few times that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is mixed with dry ice, whipped cream, styling gel, floating bowling balls, soapy mud and beakers filled with daily challenge bubbles. It is one of the few times that John Newton's Amazing Grace and Chris Rice's Untitled Hymn are sung in the same service. It is one of the few times that THE WORD in church is not "Amen" but "Aha!" It is the only time that our Bible heroes like Jesus and Peter team up with Bible Buddies such as Max, Electra, Sparki, Fizz, and Dewd to teach wonderful truths about God's word.

Jesus gives us the power to be thankful!

Jesus gives us the power to help others!

Jesus gives us the power to be brave!

Jesus gives us the power to live forever!

Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God!

Yes, I love Vacation Bible School, always have, still do and always will. Its a difficult week for many of the workers who work 8-5 jobs and then come straight to church. They rarely leave before 10 PM. My hats off to them! The lives of children are the greatest investment of our time and money. It is the only investment guaranteed a return. At First Baptist, we had many who volunteered their time and money for this wonderful cause. I thank them.

VBS is special because it is another opportunity for God to use our unveiled faces to reflect His glory to others who rarely experience unconditional love. I know all our volunteers met children who needed to see what unconditional love looks like and feels like - hugs, smiles, chocolate pudding, high fives, held hands, and heads bowed in prayer. We never know what many children go home to find. We never know what ordinary life is like for many children. It was nice to break from the ordinary to have a taste of fulfillment, of knowing that we did something to promote the kingdom of God. I hope that it was only a start -for Jesus gives us the power to tell others about God!

Aha! and Amen!

What's Forever For?

I remember Dr. Robert Smith preaching a sermon by this title at Beeson Divinity School. The title intrigued me. What is "forever" for?

My interest in the eschaton - God's ends, God's goals for his creation and for humanity, the crown of his creation - is no secret. It led me to go forever into debt to pursue two more years of study at Duke!

I received an email from a good friend, Glenda Duncan, a couple of weeks ago. Glenda is the church treasurer at Antioch Baptist Church in Jasper, Alabama and her husband, Dennis, is one of the deacons. A year ago in June Glenda's nephew, Daniel, died at the age of 5 from a brain tumor. He had just attended VBS at Antioch, where he learned of Peter walking to Jesus on the water, where he was disappointed that the girls defeated the boys for the third consecutive year in the penny drive for the missions offering. Glenda's brother and Daniel's father, Alan Goforth, had no idea that anything was wrong with Daniel. Daniel began vomiting on the Saturday after VBS. Doctors dismissed it as a stomach bug. After a weekend of vomiting and lethargy, Daniel was admitted to the hospital in Jasper where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In route to Children's hospital in Birmingham, Daniel slipped into a coma, and died two days later - Wednesday, June 20.

Glenda's email contained a link to an article in Jasper's paper, The Daily Mountain Eagle, on the anniversary of his death. Glenda recalled Daniel comforting a crying classmate at VBS. Daniel's parents recalled Daniel's selflessness and protective instincts for his baby sister, Lauren. Most importantly, they shared their faith, the content of their faith - they would see their son again. "It makes heaven real," Tracie is quoted saying, commenting that her faith gives her the assurance that all is not lost.

The New Testament is quick to point out that humans instinctively believe death has the last word. However, God has the last word. "I am the resurrection and the life," Jesus spoke to Martha, whose brother Lazarus had died four days earlier.

In life, Daniel reflected the glory of God with his arms around a distraught child. In death, Daniel in spired the children of Antioch Baptist to collect $712.00 for Operation Kid to Kid, in pennies! In the resurrection, Daniel will be all that God ever intended him to be, reunitied with his parents, siblings, and family, shaped in the image of Christ, giving God glory forever with a life unbounded by death.

What's forever for? It is for life magnified, enhanced by the God who raises the dead, for the purpose of His glory, the glory that our God can undo death!

"How sweet it is to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives. But greater still the calm assurance this child can face uncertain days because Jesus lives!" (from Bill and gloria Gaither "Because He Lives" in Baptist Hymnal, 1991, 448)

"When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun!" (from "Amazing Grace" in Baptist Hymnal, 1991, 330. Words to final verse anonymous.)

Grace and peace,

Tim

Beginning

Yes, I am taking the plunge. I am entering the blog-o-sphere!

Why another blog? Many exist. No one has time to read or respond to them all, so why write? (However, when I do read other blogs, and see an individuals numerous responses, I think that they must have plenty of time! Where is all this spare time?)

First, I am writing for me. I have learned that even though I may have an idea in my head, I have difficulty in expressing it in words. When doing theology, words are important. Precision is imperative. The failure to articulate theology with clarity is detrimental! Slight differences in theology translate into vastly different practices. Therefore, I am trying to put thoughts into words for the big game. The blog-o-sphere is my practice field.

Second, I am writing for you, the reader. I do hope that someone will read. I do hope someone will respond. Theology is best when it happens in conversation. I hope to learn from you, converse with you, and disagree (in love) with you. I hope that you will sharpen me as I hope to sharpen you.

Finally, I hope to have the freedom to write on contraversial issues - issues that require nuanced responses rather than those that merit simple answers. However, I admit fallibility at the outset. No Christian has the whole truth, though we may think that we do. No one sees a clear picture of the Blessed Trinity.

Thus is the reason for the title and chosen scripture passage for the blog. Christians see God's glory as thought it is reflected in a mirror. Recalling 1 Corinthians 13:12, mirrors were not then the clear glass as we know them. The reflection is not perfect. Paul's view of the Lord's glory was not perfect, but came as a mirror's reflection. Spiritual maturity - transformation into the image of Christ - is a process, not an instantaneous event. However, it is done visibly, that is with the veil removed from the face of the Christian, so that the glory of the Lord is visible before the world, in the lives of those He transforms.

Thus, the process continues.

I am looking forward to hearing from you, to writing for my own benefit, and to further clarity of the Lord's glory.

Grace and peace,

Tim