Sorry for the wait, guys, I've been on vacation for a while now. Allow me to continue...
This brings us to another question: What laws are we to follow?
I think we can all agree that we no longer need to make animal sacrifices for our sins, because Christ has become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. But there are a few laws concerning the way that Hebrews were to dress, eat, and behave, that are fairly unclear in the New Testament as to whether or not to follow them. And Paul shares a good motto in Romans 14:22 to make things easier.
“So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.” (Ro. 14:22)
So you must follow your own personal convictions, and not condemn others for not following your convictions. You must be careful, though, to let your heart be soft, and allow another person’s convictions to affect your thoughts. God may plan to change your heart on the subject.
I would also like to state another scripture that may help. Though I don’t think it’s talking about the law, I give this as an effective parallel.
“If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” (Mt. 5:29-30)
My Bible’s notes on this verse say that it means to deal drastically with sin, but I would like to suggest you imagine that it is talking about following the law. The verse is not talking about giving up sins as if you were losing a part of your body, for eyes and hands can be very good and useful things. But sometimes things that can be used for good seem to have sinful tendencies connected to them, and you may have to give them up before you can conquer the sin. Eating only clean meat is a good thing, but if it causes you to become prideful about what you eat, then do away with it. It is better for you to have an unhealthy body and live at peace with your brothers than for your healthy body to go into hell. I think that following the whole law should be a Christian’s goal, only giving up parts of it when they distance you from God.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Legalism (part 1)
I’ve been thinking and reading about this subject, and I feel like it is a conflict that needs to be resolved. I’ve heard both sides of the argument. There are some people who think that even considering the law is legalistic, while others think that we should be following it all. I’m going to say from my own opinion, that following the law is not wrong, as many people may believe. God never intended us to forsake the law completely, for He said so through His son.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Mt. 5:17-18)
Many would argue that we are now under a new law, which is true. God’s previous law of firm justice has succumbed to His higher law of love and mercy.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn. 3:16-17)
Please note that the scriptures did not say that God sent his Son into the world to save the world through him and to give the world license to break the law.
Let me give an example of when the new law of love and mercy must prevail, starting with love. Say that you believe you should not eat any unclean meats. Yet during a time of financial difficulty, your friends provide you with a gift of roast pork. Would you, then, refuse to accept their gift? No! Because you love them, you will eat the unclean meat that has been provided.
Also, there is mercy. Say that your brother in Christ commits adultery. He is truly repentant, but by the Old Testament law, he must be executed. Surely you would spare his life, in order to accept his repentance and help him grow in the Lord. By law, he is guilty, but Christ has shown him mercy.
In the same way, we are not excused from the law, only given a scapegoat which we must choose. And if we have not chosen the scapegoat, then we are still subject to the law and its punishment, which is, by the way, death.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro. 6:23)
The only reason we are saved is because Christ has blotted out our unrighteousness with His righteousness. You might argue that, because of this, it will not matter if you break the law, as long as you have accepted Christ. This statement is true, but the mindset behind it is completely flawed.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Ro. 6:1-2)
The ultimate meaning behind Christ saving us is not that we are free to sin, but that we are free from sin, and from the curse of death it produces. Therefore, let us not strive to find what we are now allowed to do, but strive to find newer (and older) ways of pleasing the Lord.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Mt. 5:17-18)
Many would argue that we are now under a new law, which is true. God’s previous law of firm justice has succumbed to His higher law of love and mercy.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn. 3:16-17)
Please note that the scriptures did not say that God sent his Son into the world to save the world through him and to give the world license to break the law.
Let me give an example of when the new law of love and mercy must prevail, starting with love. Say that you believe you should not eat any unclean meats. Yet during a time of financial difficulty, your friends provide you with a gift of roast pork. Would you, then, refuse to accept their gift? No! Because you love them, you will eat the unclean meat that has been provided.
Also, there is mercy. Say that your brother in Christ commits adultery. He is truly repentant, but by the Old Testament law, he must be executed. Surely you would spare his life, in order to accept his repentance and help him grow in the Lord. By law, he is guilty, but Christ has shown him mercy.
In the same way, we are not excused from the law, only given a scapegoat which we must choose. And if we have not chosen the scapegoat, then we are still subject to the law and its punishment, which is, by the way, death.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Ro. 6:23)
The only reason we are saved is because Christ has blotted out our unrighteousness with His righteousness. You might argue that, because of this, it will not matter if you break the law, as long as you have accepted Christ. This statement is true, but the mindset behind it is completely flawed.
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Ro. 6:1-2)
The ultimate meaning behind Christ saving us is not that we are free to sin, but that we are free from sin, and from the curse of death it produces. Therefore, let us not strive to find what we are now allowed to do, but strive to find newer (and older) ways of pleasing the Lord.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Who am I?
My mother's family has be passing this email around, and I wanted to share it. This is a synopsis of Obama's life. Make sure you read it all before you see the bottom.
Who Am I?
I was raised in one country but my father was born in another. I was not his only child. He fathered several children with a number of women.
I became very close to my mother because my father showed little interest in me. Then my mother died at an early age from cancer. Later in life, questions arose over my real name.
My birth records were sketchy and no one was able to produce a reliable birth certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith, but converted to Christianity because this was widely accepted in my country. But I practiced non-traditional beliefs and did not follow mainstream Christianity.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and I embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up. It was clear to those who read my memoirs that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics when I was in my 30s and then burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office when I was in my 40s.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, very little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization. Yet I was a powerful speaker who managed to draw incredibly large crowds during my public appearances.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy. I was critical of my country in the last war. But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy. I had a plan on> how we could do better.
I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess. Mine was a people's campaign.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.
I offered the people the hope that together we could change our country and the world.
I spoke on behalf of the downtrodden including persecuted minorities such as Jews, but my actual views were not widely known until after I became my nation's leader.
However, anyone could have easily learned what I really believed if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. But they did not.
Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And the world learned the truth.
Who am I?
Adolf Hitler
Oops! Wrong person. Sorry guys, my bad!
Who Am I?
I was raised in one country but my father was born in another. I was not his only child. He fathered several children with a number of women.
I became very close to my mother because my father showed little interest in me. Then my mother died at an early age from cancer. Later in life, questions arose over my real name.
My birth records were sketchy and no one was able to produce a reliable birth certificate.
I grew up practicing one faith, but converted to Christianity because this was widely accepted in my country. But I practiced non-traditional beliefs and did not follow mainstream Christianity.
I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and I embarked on a new career.
I wrote a book about my struggles growing up. It was clear to those who read my memoirs that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.
I became active in local politics when I was in my 30s and then burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office when I was in my 40s.
I had a virtually non-existent resume, very little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization. Yet I was a powerful speaker who managed to draw incredibly large crowds during my public appearances.
At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy. I was critical of my country in the last war. But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy. I had a plan on> how we could do better.
I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess. Mine was a people's campaign.
I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.
I offered the people the hope that together we could change our country and the world.
I spoke on behalf of the downtrodden including persecuted minorities such as Jews, but my actual views were not widely known until after I became my nation's leader.
However, anyone could have easily learned what I really believed if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. But they did not.
Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And the world learned the truth.
Who am I?
Adolf Hitler
Oops! Wrong person. Sorry guys, my bad!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Well, it's come to this...
Reporting from the Burpee house live election coverage, Barack Obama is the next president. Exciting while it lasted, the race is over. Welcome to the Obamanation. Hope you can hold on for the next four years. Unless he gets impeached or assassinated, we are now stuck with a socialist in office. Perhaps things will get better after his term. I implore you to bite the bullet, continue to cling to your Bibles and guns, and explore the idea of a third party candidate for next time. Goodbye for now...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Percussionist at Heart (part 2)
The marimba is an instrument; its notes in the same order of a piano keyboard, only much larger.
The most important part of the marimba is the wood, though many may remember them by the curtain of metal pipes (resonators), which are painted in interesting colors.
The notes (bars) are usually made of Rosewood, a dense, reddish wood that seems to have a very rich reverberating quality. The notes have to be flawless, using the best wood devoid of cracks, and hand ground down to the perfect pitch.
Because of the considerable size of this instrument, marimbas are usually made to be disassembled and reassembled quickly and easily, providing for trouble-free transportation.
Here comes the poetic stuff:
I would describe good marimba music as complex rhythmic patterns dancing passionately over singing wood. Somehow this combination of wood and yarn brings to mind a musical image that few other instruments can imitate. This seems to be music in its most primitive form; carefully selected wooden bars are made to vibrate over individually sized metal chasms. It can produce everything from sweetly singing tones, to dark, depressing feelings; from broad, beautiful themes, to intense, continuous motion.
I'm so sorry I can't put a sample up here for you; I really tried hard.
I cannot help but love playing the marimba, and I hope to make contributions to the world of marimba music, incorporating it into almost every style.
The most important part of the marimba is the wood, though many may remember them by the curtain of metal pipes (resonators), which are painted in interesting colors.
The notes (bars) are usually made of Rosewood, a dense, reddish wood that seems to have a very rich reverberating quality. The notes have to be flawless, using the best wood devoid of cracks, and hand ground down to the perfect pitch.
Because of the considerable size of this instrument, marimbas are usually made to be disassembled and reassembled quickly and easily, providing for trouble-free transportation.
Here comes the poetic stuff:
I would describe good marimba music as complex rhythmic patterns dancing passionately over singing wood. Somehow this combination of wood and yarn brings to mind a musical image that few other instruments can imitate. This seems to be music in its most primitive form; carefully selected wooden bars are made to vibrate over individually sized metal chasms. It can produce everything from sweetly singing tones, to dark, depressing feelings; from broad, beautiful themes, to intense, continuous motion.
I'm so sorry I can't put a sample up here for you; I really tried hard.
I cannot help but love playing the marimba, and I hope to make contributions to the world of marimba music, incorporating it into almost every style.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Percussionist at Heart (part 1)
To introduce a new subject here, I decided utilize a little of my musical side. Sorry if I start to sound somewhat poetic in writing this.
First of all, do any of you readers know what a marimba is?
(You must comment on this before I post any more)
First of all, do any of you readers know what a marimba is?
(You must comment on this before I post any more)
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tag...I'm IT...
Well, I don't have anyone else to tag, but I can tell you some things you may not already know.
1. I LOVE pepper-jack cheese.
2. I hate clean socks turned inside out.
3. I love Subaru Bajas!
1. I LOVE pepper-jack cheese.
2. I hate clean socks turned inside out.
3. I love Subaru Bajas!
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4. I've lived in the guadalupe sand hills for about ten years now, and have never been stung by a scorpion.
5. I'm a published composer
6. I'm at a Texas Mesquite Arts Festival in Fredericksburg selling cutting boards and wooden crosses, and reading and writing blogs without a secure internet connection. (I love my laptop!)
Monday, September 22, 2008
An Analogy to Evolutionism
I wanted to share with you a little analogy I thought of to describe the ridiculous idea of Evolutionism. For this, you’ll have to depart from your Christian mindset and pretend that you are simply part of the world’s system.
Imagine that you are a writer, and for the past 6 years, you’ve devoted yourself to finishing a novel that you believe is your greatest work. You now try to publish your beautiful story, and introduce the world to an idea so profound and complex, that no matter how closely you examine the details, it only gets more amazing. Immediately, you run down to the publisher’s office and give him the story. He has never published anything by you before, but the comments he makes on the storyline you gave him sound promising, and he says he’ll look it over. Only a day afterwards, the publisher writes you back and says he loved your book. In fact, he loved it so much, that he read the whole thing that very night. He also says he can’t wait to publish it, and, after quite a bit of rambling, finishes the letter with the remark that he thinks it will go down in history as a work of art equal to that of DaVinci.
The publisher has it edited and checked for mistakes, but strangely finds none, and leaves the rough draft unchanged. Very soon after that, you begin to see advertisements everywhere, and you see reviews for it in many magazines. By six month’s time, it seems like the whole population of America has read it, and you see in the news a story on movie producers who are fighting for the rights to make a movie out of it. You see reviews everywhere on the internet by people who absolutely love it. Some experts claim its popularity will succeed Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, even Star Wars. Everything seems to be going fine, until something happens. While looking through a local bookstore, you notice a section of your books. You examine a copy, and realize that your name is nowhere to be found on the cover, and you have to look in the back of the book, where you only find a tiny biography that certainly doesn’t give you the credit you deserve. You write an email to the publisher stating your concern, but he never replies. As you follow up on this occurrence, you notice that news channels are starting to discuss rumors that you didn’t actually write the story, but just found the idea and developed it into a book. This, of course, is not true, but the rumor progresses on anyway. It begins to seem that the media thinks it was originally a folk story passed down and developed through years of storytelling, and that you were trying to take credit for it. Soon, they decide that you were really a con artist, using a phony identity to gain fortune through this story, which has been around since the ancient times. This is ludicrous, since your story relies on numerous elements of technology that could never have been thought of back then. The book continues in popularity, but your name is no longer in it at all, and it becomes taboo to speak of you in schools while discussing your book. It now seems like you do not even exist. You never saw any money for your work, and it is hard for you to continue life, because your name is no longer respectable.
Here’s the key: the writer is God, and his book is all of creation. The publisher and the media is popular culture. Even though there is endless proof against it, the common idea has now become that everything came from nothing, evolving over a absurd amount of time. Most people now days teach that God does not exist.
Imagine that you are a writer, and for the past 6 years, you’ve devoted yourself to finishing a novel that you believe is your greatest work. You now try to publish your beautiful story, and introduce the world to an idea so profound and complex, that no matter how closely you examine the details, it only gets more amazing. Immediately, you run down to the publisher’s office and give him the story. He has never published anything by you before, but the comments he makes on the storyline you gave him sound promising, and he says he’ll look it over. Only a day afterwards, the publisher writes you back and says he loved your book. In fact, he loved it so much, that he read the whole thing that very night. He also says he can’t wait to publish it, and, after quite a bit of rambling, finishes the letter with the remark that he thinks it will go down in history as a work of art equal to that of DaVinci.
The publisher has it edited and checked for mistakes, but strangely finds none, and leaves the rough draft unchanged. Very soon after that, you begin to see advertisements everywhere, and you see reviews for it in many magazines. By six month’s time, it seems like the whole population of America has read it, and you see in the news a story on movie producers who are fighting for the rights to make a movie out of it. You see reviews everywhere on the internet by people who absolutely love it. Some experts claim its popularity will succeed Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, even Star Wars. Everything seems to be going fine, until something happens. While looking through a local bookstore, you notice a section of your books. You examine a copy, and realize that your name is nowhere to be found on the cover, and you have to look in the back of the book, where you only find a tiny biography that certainly doesn’t give you the credit you deserve. You write an email to the publisher stating your concern, but he never replies. As you follow up on this occurrence, you notice that news channels are starting to discuss rumors that you didn’t actually write the story, but just found the idea and developed it into a book. This, of course, is not true, but the rumor progresses on anyway. It begins to seem that the media thinks it was originally a folk story passed down and developed through years of storytelling, and that you were trying to take credit for it. Soon, they decide that you were really a con artist, using a phony identity to gain fortune through this story, which has been around since the ancient times. This is ludicrous, since your story relies on numerous elements of technology that could never have been thought of back then. The book continues in popularity, but your name is no longer in it at all, and it becomes taboo to speak of you in schools while discussing your book. It now seems like you do not even exist. You never saw any money for your work, and it is hard for you to continue life, because your name is no longer respectable.
Here’s the key: the writer is God, and his book is all of creation. The publisher and the media is popular culture. Even though there is endless proof against it, the common idea has now become that everything came from nothing, evolving over a absurd amount of time. Most people now days teach that God does not exist.
Back On!
Sorry, guys. I've actually been grounded from computer for the last month and haven't able to write more blogs. I'll see if I can start writing them again, but that may end up only being once a week.
Monday, August 4, 2008
First Video Up
I finished the first Michigan Propaganda Video and I posted it on a different blog for security's sake. There should be a link to it in your email. If you have trouble getting to the site, drop me a comment, and I'll try to fix it.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Conference Update 2
Well, the conference continues, and a couple of us were having trouble keeping our eyes open during the seminars--not that they're boring, I guess we're just a little tired from traveling.
The worship is still exciting (and no, were not falling asleep during that.) Pat Schzebel and his boys led worship this morning, and Denon Kauflin (Bob's son) led it in the evening, introducing us to some neat songs from the New Attitude CD.
Mark Altrogge's announcements were especially hilarious, even though he had no formal announcements to make. He continued his theme on "Heroic Worship" by reminiscing on some of the old songs written by him, Bob Kauflin, and Steve and Vicky Cook.
We ended the day with Mark Dever's sermon on Seeing Christ in the Psalms, which was informative, but deep enough that it was hard to follow. And the fact that our heavy eyes were catching up with us again didn't help either. My hope is that they'll make a DVD of the conference so we can share the excitement and the fun with you guys.
The worship is still exciting (and no, were not falling asleep during that.) Pat Schzebel and his boys led worship this morning, and Denon Kauflin (Bob's son) led it in the evening, introducing us to some neat songs from the New Attitude CD.
Mark Altrogge's announcements were especially hilarious, even though he had no formal announcements to make. He continued his theme on "Heroic Worship" by reminiscing on some of the old songs written by him, Bob Kauflin, and Steve and Vicky Cook.
We ended the day with Mark Dever's sermon on Seeing Christ in the Psalms, which was informative, but deep enough that it was hard to follow. And the fact that our heavy eyes were catching up with us again didn't help either. My hope is that they'll make a DVD of the conference so we can share the excitement and the fun with you guys.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Conference Update 1
Hey, guys! We made it to Maryland, and the drive wasn't as long as I thought it would be. The conference got off to a great start, and I'm sure the rest of it will just be awesome. I wanted to share something really cool that happened while we were singing. Because there were so many musicians there, we seemed to be able to clap in perfect unison. Then we started singing The Doxology just acapella, and though it was rough at first, I thought we sounded like a 1600-piece choir. What a way to start off the Worship Conference!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
To the Worship Conference
In case you haven't heard, my dad, my brother and I are going to the Sovereign Grace Worship '08 Conference in Maryland, so don't expect to see any Michigan Videos in the immediate future. I've finished videoing the Tour of the Lakeview Lodge, but I've got to finish editing it. I'm taking my laptop to Maryland, so maybe I'll be able to post some things about the Conference from the Hotel.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Christian Unity and the Entertainment Industry
Here’s another example. We all know that the entertainment industry is going downhill, and it’s hard to find a decent, clean movie our whole family can watch now days. Imagine if all Christians decided not to watch any movie rated above G. Think about how their business would drop! They would frantically search for wholesome things, and they would come to us, begging for help and ideas!
I finished the first Michigan Propaganda Video yesterday, though it won't be the first one you see. Were going to video the tour of the Lakeview Lodge today, so I'll be posting it soon!
I finished the first Michigan Propaganda Video yesterday, though it won't be the first one you see. Were going to video the tour of the Lakeview Lodge today, so I'll be posting it soon!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Blog Theme
Are we not the body of Christ? Why then can we not act as one body? Why do we let philosophical ideas get between us? Think of the things we could accomplish if acted as one.
For example, what if we could agree that as Christians, we could only vote for one certain presidential candidate, and then we all voted for him? There would be no way he could lose. I realize that a reason this is not happening could be lack of communication, but in this day and time, that could easily be fixed.
I hope to post more on this subject eventually, but as of now I will posting "The Sivils' Michigan Propoganda Videos."
For example, what if we could agree that as Christians, we could only vote for one certain presidential candidate, and then we all voted for him? There would be no way he could lose. I realize that a reason this is not happening could be lack of communication, but in this day and time, that could easily be fixed.
I hope to post more on this subject eventually, but as of now I will posting "The Sivils' Michigan Propoganda Videos."
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