Constantly learning and organizing

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So I write…a lot.  And I’m still a learning, work-in-progress when it comes to this whole blogging thing.  Pacing when it comes to managing a blog is a learned skill with a bit of a curve to master.  There’s a balance to it.  If you don’t publish enough, you won’t keep people around long enough to get invested in what you have to say.  But, if you publish too much, you wear people out and overwhelm them to the point that they give up on you.  As your email inbox or Facebook feed may have clued you in, I’m not likely to fall victim to the former challenge.  The latter, however…well…I might possibly lean in that direction from time to time.

With that in mind, I’m going to try something new going forward.  I’m going to dial back posts to just three days a week: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  On each of those days there will be a combination of Morning Musings and Digging in Deeper posts.  But now, instead of having so much pressure to read right away because the next wave is coming, interested readers will have a bit more breathing room before the next set of posts will run.

Prayerfully, this will be a bit better a pace both for you, my faithful readers, and also for me, the verbose writer.  Thank you for coming with me on this journey and learning with me as we together explore how the Christian worldview serves as the nexus for all of life.  If you like what you are finding here, sign up to follow this site at the bottom of the page and share it with your friends.  Together we can build a community here that grows day by day (okay, well, three days a week for now) to not just understand, but live out of the life that is truly life.

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:25-29

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“Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience.  For ‘the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience–I do not mean your conscience, but his.  For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Here are Paul’s final thoughts on the issue of eating meat that came from a pagan sacrifice: Eating it doesn’t matter.  If you want to eat it, go ahead.  If you don’t, don’t worry about it.  It’s meat.  Making a mountain out of this molehill is a worthless effort.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Psalm 99:8

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“O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

One of the things that can be so frustrating about the Scriptures is that over and over they take two ideas which seem to be contradictory, declare them both to be true, and, rather than resolving the tension, simply leave it in place.

Some examples of this would be divine sovereignty and human responsibility, Jesus’ full humanity and full divinity, and the three-persons and one-person nature of the Trinity.  Right here we see another tension.  The psalmist declares God to be both a forgiver of sins, but also an avenger of wrongdoings.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:20

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“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.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Wait, I thought Paul’s conclusion was that eating the meat that came from a sacrifice at one of the local pagan temples was not morally problematic?  Now it’s demonic?  What??

We actually get more clarity on Paul’s final position a couple of verses from now and there is no contradiction.  I’ll deal with that in a subsequent post.  What is worth reflecting on here is not Paul’s main point, but some of the broader implications for what he has said.  Most notably, that the pagan sacrifices were demonic.   Read the rest…

Morning Musings: 1 Corinthians 10:13

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“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Temptation is everywhere we look.  The Siren song of sin sings sweetly at every corner.  Sometimes it feels like all we ever do is drift from one temptation to another.  And yet, Paul’s observation here is true and powerful.  I think there are several things we can say about our efforts with the Spirit’s help to walk in the righteousness of the Lord based on what Paul says here.   Read the rest…