“Ten Little Christians”, author unknown

Not to long ago we held a conversation about a family that had left our church a couple of years ago.  They had been offended, and though I know by what, that’s not important.  This verse, from Wednesday night’s service is:

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. (Psalms 119:165 KJV)

That verse came to mind when I read this on Alfie’s Multiply page.  Have you been, or can you see, some of these who were offended:

Ten little Christians standing in a line,
One disliked the pastor, then there were nine.
Nine little Christians stayed up very late,
One slept in on Sunday, then there were eight.
Eight little Christians on their way to heaven,
One took the low road, then there were seven.
Seven little Christians chirping like chicks,
One disliked the music, then there were six.
Six little Christians seemed very much alive,
But one lost his interest, then there were five.
Five little Christians pulling for Heaven's shore,
But one stopped to rest, then there were four.
Four little Christians, each busy as a bee,
One got her feelings hurt, then there were three.
Three little Christians knew what to do,
One joined the sports crowd, then there were two.
Two little Christians, our rhyme is nearly done,
Differed with each other, then there was one.
One little Christian can't do much 'tis true;
Brought his friend to Bible study, then there were two.
Two earnest Christians, each won one more,
That doubled their number, then there were four.
Four sincere Christians worked early and late,
Each won another, then there were eight.
Eight little Christians, if they doubled as before,
In just a few short weeks, we'd have 1,024.
In this little jingle, there's a lesson true,
You belong to the building, or the wrecking crew.

I prefer the building crew!  Where do you fit in? Jesus offended His followers:

When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? (John 6:61 KJV)

What He said did offend them, and they responded as those Christians above:

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:66 KJV)

God knows we will be offended, and that we will offend. 

For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. (James 3:2 KJV)

We must work to bridle our tongue, our thoughts, our lives, building them with God’s laws.  We must let the imperfections pass pass through us, knowing that while we are not perfect He is.  We must forgive as He does, never holding on to the offense.

Do that and we’ll never be one of those nine who walked away from their church.  The choice is ours.

To See The Universe

Laser Towards Milky Way’s Centre

Just revisiting a thought I had as I wrote about Einstein the other day.

We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations.

I agree that the universe is marvelous and our minds are limited, but that doesn’t mean we should consider the universe before God. Mankind has often substituted His creation for the Creator.

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. (Deuteronomy 4:19 KJV)

We all enjoy watching the diamond sparkle of the night sky.  Every once in a while there are displays of fire as pieces of rock streak as molten lava across the skies.  We stay up late – or get up early – not to miss the show.

We build observatories, place them in space and capture photographs that man’s mind could hardly conceive. They are beautiful, and they raise some of the same questions from millennia before:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalms 8:3-4 KJV)

We have a place in God’s universe and in His plans:

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: (Psalms 8:5-6 KJV)

David’s son, after many years of giving it thought, came to a conclusion:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV)

Unfortunately, not very many came to a similar conclusion, neglecting God as they achieved great thoughts and progressed through time. They never work past the “I will” syndrome to reach “Thy will be done.”

Jesus said His presence in our world was solely to do His will:

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. (John 6:38 KJV)

He went further in the next verse, speaking of God’s will for each one of us:

And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:40 KJV)

Continue to consider the heavens, the work of His hand.  Consider the beauty of the world around us.  Speak to the Creator as part of our whole duty of man.  Then follow Moses’ advice:

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; (Deuteronomy 4:9 KJV)

What We Have

Thanks-Giving Square chapel interior in Dallas, Texas

My friend Larry posted a quote he found, and I’ve come to appreciate very much:

What if you woke up today with only what you thanked God for yesterday?

When I first read that, I was grateful that I had thanked God for my home, my family, my church, my church family, which I do on a regular basis, but there were some things I would miss from the day before.

I would have food, we give thanks to God for our meals, asking that it be used to nourish us as we do His will.  I have also shown gratitude to Him for our transportation, as well as the freedom of choices we have as to where we can go.  I’m not certain I give thanks daily for our doctors, but I do for the health that we have.  I need to give daily thanks for our doctors, too.

See, when we really consider how we express our gratitude to God, it helps us count those blessings that make our daily lives abundant. We’ve been promised abundance:

… I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b KJV)

However, can we follow Paul’s exhortation and give thanks for everything:

Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 5:20 KJV)

All things?  Even spending the day at the hospital with Second Daughter?

OK, how about – thanks there are trained professionals to walk her through the series of tests she has to undertake.  The intake clerk, the first nursing station where they put her on a moving bed (and gave her one of those airy gowns that tie in the back).  Thanks for the quick and easy blood letting by a very nice ‘vampire’, and for all of them who saw to it there were no latex gloves around her (she’s allergic!)  Thanks for the equipment, and those who maintain it.  For the sparkling (literally, you’d have to see them) floors and the cleaning staff who see to that.

And that’s all within the first hour, and there were hours more to go.

I’m still reading notes from a number of people who joined us in prayer for her test today.  Possible side effects were migraine headaches and nausea.  She really prayed that those did not happen – and they did not.  We’re grateful for the prayers, and for this answered prayers.

We’re very grateful for a personal God.  We see Him as David did:

I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. (Psalms 139:14 KJV)

I long to spend time with those who also would praise the Lord!!

Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. (Psalms 107:8-9 KJV)

Another Survey

Reproduction of the frontis of the 1611 edition of the King James Bible

I know, it appears that’s all I’ve read for the last couple of days – both on USA Today, too.  But both interest me.  Yesterday’s was on faith in America – today’s on the King James Bible.  And, do I have things to say about that!

“If thou hast a Bible in the house right now and readeth it at least once a month, chances are strong it’s the majestic King James Version of the Bible in Elizabethan English”

Now  that’s not too hard to understand, is it?  Neither is the rest of it. Look up a few words (or get e-Sword and look up the Strong’s definition of the Greek or Hebrew for even greater understanding.)

Of the 89% of U.S. adults who own at least one Bible, 67% own a King James, which marks its 400th anniversary this year, according to LifeWay Research, a Nashville-based Christian research agency.  … 82% of those who read the Good Book at least once a month rely on the translation that first brought the Scripture to the English-speaking masses worldwide.

You will find people who state they’ll “Stand by the 1611” or that the spelling of “Saviour” in the King James is the only way!  Unfortunately, for many those really are “fightin’ words.”  They shouldn’t be.

And my spirit hath reioyced in God my sauiour. (Luke 1:47 KJV-1611)
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. (Luke 1:47 KJV)

I feel much more comfortable reading the second spelling, even if it is slightly less American.  There are no changes in the meaning.

When I quote the Bible, I like the fact that the KJV is not under copy right.  A group of translators do not own what I read.  I do not need their permission to include any words in my posts.  I also like the ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ and ‘ye’, which hold different meanings besides our all inclusive ‘you,’ which covers both singular and plural. Was the promise to one, or to all?  Pronouns make a difference.

I like using a single version in services, too.  When our Junior High Girl’s Sunday School class reads the lesson, we are able to focus on what is being read in each verse rather than the differences in each version.  Here’s a small example.  Suppose three of the girls had these versions of Daniel 1:1:

NIV:  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 

ASV:  In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.

GNT:  In the third year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia attacked Jerusalem and surrounded the city.

They each provide the same concept, but reading aloud, the focus should be on pronouncing the king’s name (hard enough as it is!!) than on sentence structure.  Why not read it all together as:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. (Daniel 1:1 KJV)

I’ll leave it to theologians to discuss apologetics regarding the translations.  My family has chosen to be in a church that uses the King James Version, and I’m quite content in my reading of God’s word.

Topography of Faith

The Pew survey results are shown on the USA Today website. The site quotes Pew as saying it was a survey of 35,556 adults, based on random telephone interviews conducted in English and Spanish from May 8-August 13, 2007.  Another 1,050 interviews were added from a poll of Muslim adults in American in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu from January 24 through April 30, 2007.  The surveys are available on line at http://pewforum.org.

On the results map it is possible to cursor over states and see some extrapolated results.  Take care, however, if you wish some state results – they are combined with others (i.e. North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana).  The number of people specifying no religion is highest in the northeastern states and along the Pacific coast.

Don’t think of those being just the highly populated areas.  The combined results for Vermont/New Hampshire is 26% of the population not affiliated with any religion with Maine the second highest at 25%.
To me that’s a high percentage of people who are not affiliated with any religion.  My home state sits at 12% who consider themselves not religious.  Mississippi appears to be the lowest, at 6%.

I do pray that with that high percentage of people saying they are attending a church that there is a large display of the fruits of the spirit!

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)

(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) (Ephesians 5:9 KJV)

If they are like me, I have a tendency to fall short.  I have problems with ‘longsuffering’ – fortitude and patience.  But, I’m working on that.  ‘Meekness’, too – humility before my God is fairly easy, but there are times pride in my work takes over.  I pray to be content with satisfaction, not pride.

Love, joy, peace – those fill us quickly when we open our hearts to God, for He is love.  To know Him requires love.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:8 KJV)

Temperance – Okay, so I come up short on self-control, too.  Yes, I can admit to my faults, and there are many.  Why not?  God knows them all, too. Again, the Bible tells me so:

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. (1 John 3:20 KJV)

David understood this and shared his heart with us:

He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalms 103:10-12 KJV)

For that, I am eternally grateful!!!

Einstein

Yesterday’s quote research took me along another path.  Many famous people have been asked, and have responded, about their beliefs.

Albert Einstein made very known his religious views on many occasions, clearly stated in a 1954 quote: 

It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it. [Letter to an atheist 1954]

There were other years, other quotes.  This one gives a bit more definition to his beliefs on the intelligence behind the universe.

I'm absolutely not an atheist. ... The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds.  ... We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that moves the constellations.

Mankind as a whole has benefited from the time Einstein spent working on those laws that define the moving of the constellations. He was able to formulate concepts that keep scientists busy today searching for proof, building on his foundations. 

He also was quoted:

I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil. His universe is not ruled by wishful thinking, but by immutable laws.

In this and the earlier quotes I can see his search for the physical laws that control the dancing stars, and the understanding of a “mysterious force” that includes “immutable laws.”

Christians, too, see a mystery:

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Romans 16:25 KJV)

Christians, too, see a God who instituted immutable laws.  Breaking one of the universe’s immutable laws has consequences. Why limit the “mysterious force that moves the constellations” to the physical? Why should men deny there are also “immutable laws” within the spiritual?

Einstein’s religious concepts were partially shaped in a Catholic school in Germany, a culture that at that same time was incubating Nazism, filled with anti-Semitism.  When Christians compromise God’s laws for comfort within a culture, His will is not accomplished and the affect on others has lasting, wide-spread consequences.

The Bible tell us:

Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. (John 4:48 KJV)

Einstein saw signs and wonders through the movement of constellations, but could not accept the concept of a personal loving God:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV)

There’s nothing more personal than this, and the combination of an all powerful yet loving God is awesome. This is what Christians should be teaching through their lives.  Often we are the Bible others read.

Researching A Quote

Former Bishop N. T. Wright is considered a conservative in the Anglican Communion, which I found to be a valid statement, based on reading his 2009 Times article regarding the schism in his community:

“But saying ‘we want to stay in, but we insist on rewriting the rules’ is cynical double-think.”

The Bible is not to be rewritten nor ignored in order for selfish people to continue erroneous lifestyles.  Better they admit they do not believe all the Bible says and be open about the parts they do not wish to follow.
While I disagree with former Bishop Wright’s lack of concern about hell and his dismissal of what is termed ‘rapture,’ I do find several of his quotes right on.  The first was included in a question to him about hell:

“… it seems to me that the New Testament is very clear that there are people who do reject God and reject what would have been His best will for them, and God honors that decision.”

There we do agree.  God never has sent a person to hell, but does honor their decision not to be with Him in heaven.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18 KJV)

I found the above information while researching the source of a quote. I do not post quotes until I know something about the person quoted, even when I think it sounds worthwhile. It may have been taken out of context and not mean the same thing to the author. It appears Bishop Night and I do agree on this, too:

“...the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.”

To accept Jesus as Christ, then focus on what rewards are expected in heaven is to reject the Great Commission and the second greatest commandment. What we do in the present is of utmost importance to our future. Living within God’s will, He is able to work through us to display His glory to those around us, nothing of our own.

I love both the lyrics and music of “To God Be The Glory.”  We sang it last week in services and I was again reminded of Fanny Crosby and her gifted talent.  A blessed example of what God accomplished through her, not what He did for her.  Opening her heart to His work, her hymns are sung world-wide, her present was blessed and ours is, too.

Few people from two centuries ago are so widely remembered.  Few from this century will be remembered two centuries from now.  If we do little or nothing, we will not be among those few.

God will honor our choice to be with Him, or not.  He is available for those who seek Him.  He answers those who call upon Him. He has given us guides to find Him.  Among those guides are people who chose Him.  I do, as Joshua did:

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. (Joshua 24:15 KJV)