Consider what the Ten Commandments are all about

This will be worth your time! I ran across this in How People Change ~a fantastic book.

"The first three commands focus on what or whom you worship. They command us to make the one true God our God, and condemn making a god of anything else. The order of the commands is important, because the commands begin by focusing on our heart tendency toward idolatry."

Deut 6:4,5 is key here: "These two verses capture the essence of the first three commands." It's all about worship.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."

"The reason we fail to keep commands 4 through 10 is because we have failed to keep the first three. If you break commands 1 through 3, you will break commands 4 through 10. Your...sinful responses to life grow out of a heart that has defected to worship something else.

'Remember the Sabbath' At the heart of the fourth commandment is the call to honor and obey God in your worship, work, and rest. But when commands 1-3 are broken, I worship and serve myself and use my time for my own self-interest. I make work my god and define myself through my career. I elevate personal peace and comfort above God.

'Honor your father and your mother' At the heart of the fifth commandment is the call to honor and obey God by respecting those in authority. But when commands 1-3 are broken, my will and honor become primary.

Are you picking up on the pattern here? With every command you can ask yourself, "at the heart of this one is the call to honor and obey God by....

So, with the sixth command (Do not murder) "honor and obey God by loving, serving, and forgiving others. But when commands 1-3 are broken, I demand to be loved and served by others. When I am wronged, I demand revenge."

Are you picking up that pattern too? When we begin to displace our utmost affection for God, (commands 1-3) then we will break commands 4-10.

Seventh: Do not commit adultery. "We honor and obey God by remaining sexually pure and by keeping my promises to others." But when we worship ourselves, our pleasures rule.

Do not steal: "...by freely and joyfully sharing my resources with others." It's opposite: "I want things for myself."

Do not bear false witness: "...by speaking truthfully, in ways that build up." Opposite: "my words are used to make me look good and you look bad."

Do not covet: "...by rejoicing in the blessings of others." Opposite: "I want what you have, and I don't want you to have it!"

Abortion

Standing outside an abortion clinic today...

Many angry drivers passing by..

One yells out his car thinking he's gonna really bring it saying, "GET A LIFE!"

HHmmm.. Maybe we should have signed him up for the rally too..

Chronicles of Narnia

So what is everyone's favorite Chronicles of Narnia passage?

Mine is the unscaling of Eustace in the Voyage of the Dawn Treader on pp's 104-through the top of p. 111.

John Newton and Doug Wilson

Newton-
"And I am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature, and to give all the glory of salvation to the LORD, yet know not what manner of spirit they are of. Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our doctrines, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous spirit. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace."

Wilson-
"The Pharisee who went down to the Temple to pray actually began his prayer with one of the solas-Soli Deo Gloria. 'I thank Thee, God...' Perfectly orthodox. And he went home unjustified to boot."

New Covenant succession

Reading I Kings 12 this am.

It is staggering to see how much apostasy took place in the OT. How could the most eminently wise King Solomon have such a foolish son-Rehoboam? Yet he failed to secure proper covenant succession and so many great men in the older covenant did fail in this way.

Adam with Cain

Noah with Ham

Abraham had Ishmael.

Isaac had Esau

Jacob had several sons that were downright wicked.

David's failure as a father is infamous.

And now Solomon is perpetuating the iniquities of the fathers from generation to generation.

But a part of the blessing in the New Covenant is a reversal of this trend..

I believe this is a part of what Jer 31:33,34 says.

The beauty of family

Give Praise

Merry Christmas

May all the glory, wonder and joy of Christmas be yours,
Sincerely,
Benjamin's Tribe

A gem from C.S. Lewis

Here is a small line from one of those classic and meaty dialogues in the Chronicles of Narnia. This one from Prince Caspian:

Trumpkin the dwarf says, "You are my King. I know the difference between giving advice and taking orders. You've had my advice, and now it's the time for orders."

Then King Caspian said, "I will never forget this Trumpkin."

Knowing one's place with authority irregardless of their respectability is truly one of the most tell-tale signs of Christian fruitfulness and maturity.

For all of the Institute in Basic Life Principles legalism and problems (Bill Gothard's group) most of their material on authority is really good. Submission to authority is one of their seven principles.

Truly, how a man relates with his authority reveals ample material about his own heart.

Not sure if this is encouraging or discouraging

"Life's tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid."

~John Wayne

The real amount~ rip off!

And my beautiful model demonstrates how mamy chips are really in the bag

Look at all that room!

What you call a rip off

Has anyone ever had Kettle brand chips? They're pretty good but I think the package they come in is completely ridiculous. In the next two pics I am going to illustrate how little chips you actually get in a big bag. "Oh, they do that because the bag needs air filling so the chips don't get smashed..." They don't need that much air!!

The Jewey beaner

Jule's a cutie

Apple Pickin'

This was from Bishop's Orchard where we went on a very cold day to pick apples for cider, a big thick apple pie, and little caramel apples. It's a fun time..

The Honey, the boy and I

Crashing the Reformation Day Party

So Jana and I had some fun planning out an invasion into our church's Reformation Day Party by dressing me up as a roman catholic cardinal. I had a little troop of minions with me and we made a procession right in the middle of it complete with a trumpet before I entered down a rolled carpet. We then took to prison a choice protestant rebel and engendered many laughs.

Laughter

Laughter is wine for the soul
- laughter soft, or loud and deep,
tinged through with seriousness -
the hilarious declaration made by man
that life is worth living.
Sean O'Casey

Another quip from our family poet

So we have a crisis in our family.. Jana calls them poop days.. What's that you ask? Ohhh, it's the days that our beloved Julia needs to use the loo. It's an all-day, public family affair. I say public because Julia whines, fights, wrestles, cries and bellows in agony for pretty much the whole day to anyone far or near. Oh, she's quite content to go in her shorts, no issue there. She wrestles like a champ, though we would prefer she wrestle with something that takes a little more courage.

So the quip comes from of course Abigail. She had one of my short tent pegs (a stand in for a magic wand) and says:

"Julia, Now with this magic wand I shall make you go poop!"

Did it work? Yes, only hours later with a movie to distract her.

Old P.J.

Granting to governments the privilege of printing unlimited amounts of money is like giving liquor and car keys to teenage boys.
- P. J. O'Rourke