Billy Goat Log: December 5, 2011

• From the sanctification department: This morning I found myself irked and bothered about something not really worth mentioning. Truth was, as I thought about those things, I could feel my blood pressure going up; as in the sinful anger zone. I needed to call a time out and rein in the thoughts and passion and confess to the Lord the sin that it was. Then I got irked that I got irked... Of all the serious real life issues in a fallen and not yet fully redeemed world, I got all hot and bothered about that?
  
  

  Lord help me to see the trivial issues in life as the trivia it is. Help me to see the cares and things of this kosmos the way You see them.

• Seasons: In a few short weeks winter will officially be here. The neat thing about that is the days will start to get longer. In our more northerly latitudes in Michigan, the changes in the length of daylight between the seasons is noticeable. We think of winter as the season when everything has died and is dormant and slumbering beneath the cold winter wind and snow. But then think how the definition of winter is the period of time when the short days start getting longer. It is in that we find the hope of the winter season; it anticipates the spring that is coming.
  
• It is a beautiful thing to see the people of God show and express the love of God to those who are hurting and broken...
• My Master invited me to have a meal with Him and His people last night. The partaking of the meal with Him was a sign of His forgiveness for the wrongs I have done Him. The punishment I should have received for those wrongs was borne by the Master Himself. In His work on my behalf, I was reconciled to Him and where there was emnity there is now peace and acceptance. So it is I can eat at His table with joy and gladness of heart.
  

A Holy Meal: The Lord's Supper in the Life of the Church

by Gordon T. Smith (Baker Academic, 2005)



I found this to be an excellent reading on the Biblical meaning of the Lord's Supper.  The writing is not shallow, but neither is it overly academic.  Often one's view of the Lord's Supper is skewed by the particular emphasis of our particular Christian tradition.  Dr. Smith opens with discussion of the meaning of eating, symbol, and sacrament. He then looks at the Lord's Supper as described by the following seven chapter headings:  

1. Remembrance: The Lord's Supper as a Memorial
2. Communion: The Lord's Supper as Fellowship with Christ and with One Another
3. Forgiveness: The Lord's Supper as a Table of Mercy
4. Covenant: The Lord's Supper as a Renewal of Baptismal Vows
5. Nourishment: The Lord's Supper as Bread from Heaven
6. Anticipation: The Lord's Supper as a Declaration of Hope
7. Eucharist: The Lord's Supper as a Joyous Thanksgiving Celebration

In my own church background and circles the historic emphasis has been on the Lord's Supper as a memorial.  As Smith rightly points out, the Lord's Supper is indeed a memorial, but it is not just a memorial.  This realization makes the Table even more meaningful and personal. 

Smith does not separate the Supper from the Word or the working of the Holy Spirit.  It is the Word that gives us the context and informs us of the meaning and purpose of the Supper.  It is  the Holy Spirit that makes the meaning and purpose of the Supper real to us in our corporate church life as well as in the individual lives of each believer participating.  The author also understands there is a certain mystery to the Lord's Supper that our intellect will not fully comprehend, but it is also that same intellect that informs our humble obedience in observing the Supper.

The reader may come across a statement or two in this book that could cause the eyebrows to raise in question or disagreement.  Dr. Smith's own view of the Lord's Supper has roots that go back through John Calvin, and as such reflects an overall view of the Table that I am personally sympathetic to.   Whatever few statements raised my eyebrows were far out weighed by the positive contribution Dr. Smith has made to the church's understanding of the Lord's Supper. 

If you are sensing that there is more to the Lord's Supper then your tradition's peculiar emphasis; that perhaps there is something about the meaning and purpose of the Lord's Supper that you are missing, this will be a helpful  book to read.

~ The Billy Goat ~

Quotes from Calvin's Commentary on I Corinthians 11:23-29:
"The Lord's Supper"

...But that participation in the body of Christ, which, I affirm, is presented to us in the Supper, does not require a local presence, nor the descent of Christ, nor infinite extension, nor anything of that nature, for the Supper being a heavenly action, there is no absurdity in saying, that Christ, while remaining in heaven, is received by us. For as to his communicating himself to us, that is effected through the secret virtue of his Holy Spirit, which can not merely bring together, but join in one, things that are separated by distance of place, and far remote.

But, in order that we may be capable of this participation, we must rise heavenward. Here, therefore, faith must be our resource, when all the bodily senses have failed. When I speak of faith, I do not mean any sort of opinion, resting on human contrivances, as many, boasting of faith on all occasions, run grievously wild on this point. What then? You see bread — nothing more — but you learn that it is a symbol of Christ’s body. Do not doubt that the Lord accomplishes what his words intimate — that the body, which thou dost not at all behold, is given to thee, as a spiritual repast. It seems incredible, that we should be nourished by Christ’s flesh, which is at so great a distance from us. Let us bear in mind, that it is a secret and wonderful work of the Holy Spirit, which it were criminal to measure by the standard of our understanding. In the meantime, however, drive away gross imaginations, which would keep thee from looking beyond the bread. Leave to Christ the true nature of flesh, and do not, by a mistaken apprehension, extend his body over heaven and earth: do not divide him into different parts by thy fancies, and do not adore him in this place and that, according to thy carnal apprehension. Allow him to remain in his heavenly glory, and aspire thou thither, that he may thence communicate himself to thee. These few things will satisfy those that are sound and modest. As for the curious, I would have them look somewhere else for the means of satisfying their appetite...

...Do this in remembrance of me. Hence the Supper is a memorial,(μνημόσυνον) appointed as a help to our weakness; for if we were sufficiently mindful of the death of Christ, this help would be unnecessary. This is common to all sacraments, for they are helps to our weakness. What is the nature of that remembrance which Christ would have us cherish with regard to him, we shall hear presently. As to the inference, however, which some draw from this — that Christ is not present in the Supper, because a remembrance applies to something that is absent; the answer is easy — that Christ is absent from it in the sense in which the Supper is a commemoration. For Christ is not visibly present, and is not beheld with our eyes, as the symbols are which excite our remembrance by representing him. In short, in order that he may be present with us, he does not change his place, but communicates to us from heaven the virtue of his flesh, as though it were present...

...Until he come As we always need a help of this kind, so long as we are in this world, Paul intimates that this commemoration has been given us in charge, until Christ come to judgment. For as he is not present with us in a visible form, it is necessary for us to have some symbol of his presence, by which our minds may exercise themselves.

The reader is encouraged to check out the context of these quotes by reading Calvin's complete commentary on this section of I Corinthians 11:23-29 at the CCEL library.

Side Note Regarding Zwingli:

Thomas Davis points out that Zwingli was killed at a realitively young age (47). As such, it is not clear how Zwingli's theology may have changed and matured if he had lived as long as Luther (62) or Calvin (54).

"Rather then a bare and simple memorialism, it appears that in Zwingli, Paul's admonition to "discern the body" took Zwingli along the path of theological development, one cut short, perhaps, by his untimely death at the Battle of Kappel." This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought; (page 159),

Are Evangelicals missing something, or is it just me?

I just got back from a visit to one of our local Christian book stores. To put the following in context, you need to know that I live in the Grand Rapids, Michigan USA area of the world which is home to several Christian publishing companies and probably has more Christian bookstores per capita then 99.99% of the rest of the world.

While at the bookstore, I found the commentary I was looking for and then started browsing. I thought as long as I was browsing, I'd see what books might be there that dealt with the theology and meaning of of the Lord's Supper. After all, this was the same store where previously I had found Thomas Davis' This Is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought.

It was pretty sparse. I could only find one other book dealing explicitly with the Lord's Supper; A Holy Meal by Gordon T. Smith.

I browsed through the theological section and the "Christian Living" section, and that one book was it. There were several books on baptism, one book by a Reformed padeobaptist pastor arguing in favor of allowing baptized, but not yet confirmed children access to the Communion Table, but other then the Gordon Smith book, nothing dealing with a Biblical theology of the Lord's Table.

I could not help but wonder as I saw all the other titles on the shelf dealing with all sorts of, and sundry issues in the Christan life, "How much of this stuff would be impacted if we as Evangelicals had a more Biblical theological understanding of the Lord's Supper?"

Where is the book that gives a definitive Evangelical Biblical theology of the Lord's Supper? And it would be well if it was something that has been written recently enough to have taken advantage of the Evangelical theological and Biblical scholarship of the last fifty or so years. (Dead Puritans need not apply, though whoever writes this should not ignore the contributions of the Reformers and the Puritans.) If you know of such a definitive, more recent work as described, please let me know.

If such a work does not exist, it would be well if some Evangelical theologian/Bible scholar with the qualifications and time to do so, would produce such a work. That's my humble opinion. I really think we may be missing something...

Peace,

~ The Billy Goat ~

Billy Goat Log: January 9, 2011

• The church we attend is inter-generational. We have a pretty good balance from youngsters on up through the grey haired seniors. So it is we see the normal ebb and flow of life in the life of the congregation; births, weddings, funerals, and etc. This past week was the occasion of several deaths in the Church family.
  
  We knew Sue was not long for this world. Cancer had taken its toll on her body, and chemo was no longer effective. My wife and I went to see her this past Monday. She knew we were there, but it was hard for her to talk, and the morphine to control pain made her drowsy. Friday we got word she was now with Jesus.
  
  I'm glad we got to know Sue and her husband over the past eight years we've been at our church. I'm glad she got to hold her grandchildren in her arms before leaving this world. I'm glad my last spoken words to her were, "Jesus still loves you..."
  
  RIP
  
  
• I had to get a new mobile phone. The old one totally died. It was about three years old so it didn't have many bells and whistles. The new one has the camera and some text and e-mail capabilities the old did not. Of course I had to check out all those fancy new features. It's like having a new toy.
  
  
• The Detroit Lions finished the regular NFL season with a string of wins. The roar is starting to come back... I remember the last time the Lions were in a playoff game many, many years ago. Maybe next year...
  
  
• Back in September I posted a study on The Lord's Table. I recently had opportunity to present a more developed and expanded version of that material in an adult Sunday school class. I want to do some further work on that and sometime in the future publish that revision here. It has been of particular interest to me to read John Calvin's Commentary on the 1 Corinthians 10 & 11 passages that deal with the Lord's Table.
  
  
• Over the Christmas break we took the oldest grandson to see The Voyage of the Dawntreader in 3D. If you are a stickler about a movie following closely to the book, you will find this version of the Dawntreader a disappointment. That said, I thought the movie did retain the basic essence of Lewis' original story, and the technical things such as graphics and etc, were well done. Somethings were left out that I would have like to have seen included. Some things were included that I thought could have been left out. Overall it was passasble though not outstanding; three stars out of five.
  
  

• "With nearly 230 million total speakers, Bangla (Bengali) is one of the most spoken languages, ranking sixth in the world. The predominent religion among the Bangla people is Islam 89.5%, followed by Hindu 9.6%, and "other" 0.9% (2004, CIA Factbook). That less then 1% "other" includes Christianity."
  
  Bangla Ministries Worldwide (Facebook)
  Bangla Ministries Worldwide
  

  
  
  

Billy Goat Log; October 17,2010

• In thinking of the Lord's Supper, the question is not, "Is the Lord's table a sacrament?" The question is "How is the Lord's table a sacrament and what is the nature of the grace conveyed in that sacrament?" That there would be an ordnance of worship that is not somehow a means of grace in bringing the worshiper closer to God strikes a discordant note similar to that of a fingernail scratching on a chalk board.
  
  This week I picked up the book; This is My Body: The Presence of Christ in Reformation Thought by Thomas J. Davis (Baker, 2008). I'm just getting into it. It is a bit on the scholarly side, but traces the development of reformation thought regarding the Eucharist. Stay tuned.
  
  
• In the discussion of young earth/old earth or young universe/old universe there seems to be a missing element on both sides. Time is not constant, but relative. I don't know enough about physics to understand if or how e=mc² proves time is not a constant. I do have a philosophical rationale argument for saying time is relative based on its measurement being founded in the relationship of mass and motion.
  
  Has anyone in the young earth camp on the one side, or the theistic evolution camp on the other side, ever discussed the implications of time's relativity on the whole creation question and our understanding of Genesis 1? They may have, and if so, I'd like to see it.
  
  
• Back in May I posted a note here about second and third hand reports of some of the turmoil in the loose association of churches our former church is part of. Recently I came across first hand proof of that turmoil on one of the blogs associated with that movement. The division, (and it is a division), is between the "old path" group and the "Reforming" group. The blog post was defending the old-path side, and it was in the comments that the differences between the two became highlighted as representatives from each side set forth their case.
  
  It is not my point to get into the details of those issues. (That's why I'm not linking to that blog post). That blog post and the comments made in response reinforced the conclusions I expressed back in the May posting referenced above.
  
  Reading that blog post reminded me of why it was that nine years ago we left that church and movement. I am so relieved and thankful we are away from that atmosphere and culture; that we are now beyond all that, and have gone on with our lives. And I'm also thankful the Lord directed our paths to another church that is much more healthy and balanced. "Here to the Lord has helped us."
  
  
• Story line: "The Life and Times of St. Lester the Unbeliever and His Role in the First Intergalactic Ecumenical Synod of 3457 (CEE)¹".
  
  (¹ Common Earth Era, formerly designated AD.)
  
  
• Once upon a time, in another lifetime, I graduated from high school. One of the hit songs of 1967 was this rock classic.
  

Billy Goat Log: 09/21/2010, 11:05 PM EDST

• That Sunday, Pam sang in the choir. She chatted with her friends, and cuddled her grandchild in her arms. I remember saying hi to her in the church lobby. Tuesday morning was her surgery. It was a serious surgery, but all went well. The Doc was ready to close things up. A blood vessel burst. Only 50 years old and she was gone just like that.
  
  I was shocked when I opened the e-mail from church and read the terse one line statement. Sunday she was living.... How could she be dead? We were casual acquaintances, and Pam and her family were involved members of our church. She sang in the choir and sang in the ladies' trio with her good friends Wendy and Brinda. From the very first time we started attending our church, Pam and her family had always been part of it.
  
  The next day the news came with details about the visitation and the funeral. One son was in boot camp for the National Guard. He would be coming home to say goodbye to his mom...
  
  We were not able to make the visitation, but did get to the funeral on Saturday. I went into the church, and the casket was in the foyer, still open. I saw Pam laying there; that dear, dear Christan sister we all loved so well. Seeing her there, I came close to losing it. Then the casket was closed. She was so very much alive when I saw her Sunday. The next time I see her, she is in that casket. She was there, but she was not there. The body was there. The spirit was in the arms of Jesus.
  
  The service glorified the Lord and Saviour Pam loved and served. On her chair in the choir loft was a choir stole and one rose. Afterwards at the luncheon that was served, we offered our condolences to her husband and children.
  
  Pam is gone. When we go to church, she will not be there... Someday we will see her again. That body laid in the casket to be put in the grave will be resurrected and reunited with the spirit that had been torn from it in death. Our mourning will finally once and for all be turned to joy.
  
  In the meantime, we who knew and loved her will miss her. RIP dear sister in Christ...
  
  
• The days are shorter. The leaves are starting to turn. In two days Autumn will officially be here.
  
  
• It took me some time to do the last post on the Lord's table. Things kept coming up, and it was hard to find the concentration of time needed to work on it. At one point I thought it was ready to post, but didn't have time to finish it up. When I got back to it, I found myself rewriting some things because as I had reflected further, I found I was not in full agreement with how I had stated some things. There are some things about the Lord's table I'm still pondering on. There are times when the answers are not as clear cut, or as black and white as we want to think they are.
  
  
• Recent reading: I revisited I Sing the Body Electric! by Ray Bradbury. There is a lengthy poem at the end of the book called "Christus Apollo" which has a distinct Christan motif. That poem may be worth doing a review on sometime in the future. Bradbury has a way of writing sci-fi that makes the humanity of the characters more the story then the sci-fi setting of the story. Human needs don't change that much no matter what the technology.
  
  
• And my alma mater, Michigan State University, beat Notre Dame by using a fake field goal in overtime this past Saturday night. And it was good... :)
  
  Detroit Lions lose again... (Sigh...)

~ The Billy Goat ~

The κοινωνία of the Table of the Lord

"14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. 15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say. 16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 18 Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? 19 What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. 21 You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

(I Corinthians 10:14-22)

I have had occasion over the past several months to think about the meaning and purpose of the Lord's table,(also called the Lord's Supper). As I wrestled with the questions and issues surrounding the Lord's table, I sensed that there are some clues in this I Corinthians 10 passage that can guide us to a fuller understanding of the meaning of our participation as Christian believers in the Lord's Supper.

The key operating word the Apostle Paul uses in this passage is the noun κοινωνία (koinonia) which in the above quote from the ESV is twice translated participation in verse 16, and participants in verse 18 and 20. Other nuances of the meaning of Koinonia include the idea of communion, association, partnership, and fellowship.

Paul's immediate purpose in this passage is to address the issue of eating meat offered to idols. In the development of his argument, our participation (koinonia) in the Lord's Supper is set in a contrasting parallel with eating food offered to idols. He uses the example of Israel to make that comparison. "Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants (koinonoi) in the altar?"

The Apostle is referring to those occasions where a sacrifice was to be brought to the appointed place of worship and the worshiper as well as the priest would eat of the animal that was sacrificed (Leviticus 7:11-34, Deuteronomy 12:11-28). "The altar furnishes the table at which Jehovah's guests enjoy their covenant fellowship in the gifts of His salvation." (EGT,"First Epistle to the Corinthians", G.G. Findlay)

Paul then brings the application to the issue in hand with the words, "I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants (koinonous) with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons."

The assumption of Paul's discourse is that in religious observance, pagan or Jewish, there is a sacrifice made, and there is a participation or sharing in the sacrifice by the worshipers involving the eating of a portion of the sacrifice.

"Greek literature uses the word "table" also of pagan altars. The thought behind that was that the offerer pictured himself as sitting at a table with the idols during the sacrificial meal. A view different from this is one which conceived of the idols partaking of the flesh which was offered. The Corinthians were familiar with such views, which makes Paul's argument a very strong one."

(NIC, "Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians", F.W. Grosheide)

Those ideas very familiar to the first century Corinthians are hardly familiar at all to those of us living in a 21st century Western secular culture where the idea of religious animal sacrifice is something that we view as archaic, or even barbaric. When was the last time you watched the sacrifice of an animal on an altar? It is that cultural disconnect that perhaps keeps many Western Evangelical Christians from understanding and appreciating the full meaning and place of the Lord's Supper in Christian worship.

In the New Covenant, the concept of participation in eating the sacrifice becomes problematic since Jesus Christ Himself is our sacrifice. With the sacramental view of the cup and bread, the problem is resolved because the sacramental view sees the bread and cup as either literally Christ's blood and body, or, in some fashion, mystically Christ's blood and body.

It is not my point here to debate the issues surrounding a sacramental view of the Lord's Supper. What I want to do is dig deeper into what participation (koinonia) in the sacrifice means for how we understand the context of the Lord's Table in the worship services of the Christian church.

In pagan or Jewish worship, when the participant sits down to partake of the sacrifice, the sacrifice has already been made. The animal to be sacrificed has been slain. The blood has been smeared on the altar. The portions of the sacrifice that are to be burned on the altar have already been burned. Whatever priestly absolution was included in the rite has already been announced. The deity has been appeased. The deity's attitude toward the worshiper is now one of peace and acceptance. The worshiper can now, as the deity's guest, safely eat at the deity's table and partake of the deity's food.

It is this understanding that sets the context for what Paul says in the next chapter of 1 Corinthians regarding the Lord's Supper.

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." (I Corinthians 11:23-32)

The issue in this passage is "discerning the body" which in the immediate context is "the body and blood of the Lord".

How?

When we as Christian believers partake of the Lord's Supper by eating the bread and drinking from the cup, emblems of the body and blood of Christ our sacrifice, that sacrifice has already been made, and that "once for all" (Hebrews 7:27). The blood has been spilled. The body has been broken. The high priestly absolution has already been announced. God's wrath has been appeased. God's attitude toward the Christian worshiper is now one of peace and acceptance (Romans 5:1-2). The Christian worshiper can now, as the Lord's guest, safely eat at the Lord's table and partake of the Lord's food in the emblems of that sacrifice. And in doing so we "proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

And not only is there koinonia with the Lord at the Lord's table, there is also koinonia with all of the other guests gathered at the table. That's the point of Paul's words in chapter 10, "we who are many are one body...".

The Lord's table is not just a bare memorial rite, but when rightly understood, an evangelical gospel proclamation. That is why the use of the Word of God is a vital part of the Lord's Supper. It is the Word of God that provides the context and informs the worshiper's mind as to the meaning of the observance so the result is that "discerning the body" vital to the partaking of the ordinance. It is in connection with that Word that the Lord's Supper becomes a means of grace to the believer.

Nor is the Lord's table a place for grieving and mourning. Yes, we grieve and mourn that our sin was the occasion of the sacrificial death of Christ, but we also rejoice in the forgiveness of sins and the restored fellowship (koinonia) we have with God. That is the meaning of our participation at the table. Can you imagine feasting at a table with Jesus Christ and mourning and grieving? May it not be! Such a feast is a time of joy and gladness.

I have seen the Lord's Supper observed in a number of ways over the years I've been a Christian. In some cases the observance has had the air of a perfunctory rite to be hurried through at some point in the regular worship service. In another church, the Lord's table was never allowed to disrupt the pattern of the regular worship service (which was already an hour and a half long), but was added on at the end as another, almost separate service, when your mental and spiritual energy, and even your physical energy was already mostly exhausted.

It is when the Lord's table is woven into and made an integral part of the full service, and has a prominent focal point in the service, that I have found it most meaningful and spiritually refreshing. Not the sermon meditation dominating over the Lord's Supper, nor the Lord's Supper dominating over the meditation on the Word, but both equally together interwoven as one. Then I most fully find the Lord's Supper being the Gospel proclamation and the means of grace to my soul it was intended to be.


Citations:
EGT - The Expositer's Greek Testament
NIC - The New International Commentary on the New Testament

Of This & That

• It seems I get ideas of things to write about, but then when I do have some time to sit down and write, the energy is not there... Another reason retirement looks better all the time.
  
  
• I've been doing some thinking on the Lord's Supper and sense there is perhaps an aspect of the Lord's Supper that tends to get over looked by those who, on the one side, hold a sacramental view of the ordinance, as well as those on the other side who hold a memorial view of the ordinance. I need to pull some notes together and do some further study.
  
  
• What if what we have is an old universe, but a young biosphere? Both secular and theistic evolutionists accept "survival of the fittest" as the driver of evolutionary process. But what if instead of the survival of the fittest, the driver of evolutionary process before the fall was a benign benevolent purpose centered on creating bio-diversity in a way that did not involve death? Does the recent young-earth creationism movement read into Genesis 1 more then Genesis 1 really says?
  
  Do you want to tell someone they have to give up their belief in evolution, theistic or otherwise, before they can be saved and become a Christian? Are you ready to use the process of church discipline on someone who holds to theistic evolution? Would someone who holds that view be allowed to join your church and participate in its ministries? Do we really want to make young earth creationism a sine qua non of orthodoxy along with the deity of Christ and the trinitarian being of God?
  
  Can we evangelize in a way that the offense of the Gospel is the cross, and not the issue of creationism versus evolution?
  
  My sympathy and leaning is towards the recent-creation view. That said, I do not find I can clinch that view as tightly in my hand as some seem to insist we must.
  
  
• August 1914, ninety-six years ago. The world went insane... Strident nationalism and militarism overrode reason and prudence. Ninety-six years latter and not a lot has changed. All it will take is another "assassination" of some "archduke" and madness will again plunge the world into darkness.
  
  
• Reading books about war can really be depressing. I think this year I've read more then enough about war for a while, and "We Were Soldiers Once and Young" will have to wait. I have seen the movie, though I'm not sure I could watch it again because the memories it invokes stir a deeper grief each time they come flooding back into the conscience.
  
  
• In my last post I linked to a blog post by Dr. Russell Moore regarding a question about Robert E. Lee. (See the link in the post just below this one.) Sad to say, but not totally unexpected, one of the replys to Dr. Moore's post gives a classic example of the cultic nature of the "Lost cause" mythology regarding the Civil War.
  
  
• It is that time of Summer where the colors of leaves and plants get a sort of washed out tired look. The frenzy of bright and vibrant colors begains to dissipate in anticipation of the autumn days that will shortly be upon us. The days are noticably shorter.
  
  
• Jesus Christ is LORD...

Peace,

~ The Billy Goat ~