Baptism is Our Appeal to God for a Clean Conscience

Did you realize that to fully understand Scripture sometimes the honest seeker needs to examine the original language? For example, many turn to 1 Peter 3:21 to say that baptism is our “answer” or “pledge” to God after we have already obtained a clean conscience toward God. The NIV, KJV, and NKJV all give this impression. But, reading the Greek we learn that instead of baptism being our “answer” to God it is rather an “appeal”, “earnest seeking”, “intense desire”, or “request” toward God.

The word in Greek is ἐπερώτημα, which is defined in at least 7 reputable Greek Lexicons* as an “appeal”, “earnest seeking”, “intense desire”, or “request”.

Having learned this, we can now understand that baptism is our appeal to God for a clean conscience, as translated correctly in the ESV and NASB.

*
1. New American Standard Greek Dictionary
2. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian Literature, 3rd ed.
3. The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Little Kittel)
4. Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon
5. An Intermediate Greek Lexicon (abridged Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon)
6. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains

7. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon

If God Is Good Why Do People Suffer?

Evil, Pain, and Suffering Video Transcript

We live in a world that experiences suffering. If we were to cast our eyes across the globe on any given day, we would see an immense amount of pain and suffering that is experienced by people in the world. Just recently in the southeastern part of the United States, F5 tornados struck an entire section of the state and killed over 200 people; earthquakes on a regular basis around the globe, hurricanes, tsunamis, plane crashes, car wrecks, disease, sickness, and many times those end ultimately in death.

When we survey the situation, and we see the pain and suffering that goes on, sometimes the weight of all that pain and human suffering makes us question:

"Where is God?"

"Why have all these bad things happened to us?"

"If God is so powerful and He loves us so much, why hasn't He done something to ease our pain and to ease our suffering?"

"If He loves us, why doesn't He stop the suffering?"

You know, the skeptic has used that argument to attempt to militate against the idea that God even exists. They have said that if God really exists, Who loves us, and Who has the power to stop this pain and suffering, then He would do that. They've been unsuccessful. They can't use that argument to show that God doesn't exist.

But, that doesn't change the fact that we experience pain and suffering in our lives. And, we do wonder why God allows this to happen. Why does God allow a child to be diagnosed with terminal cancer? Why does God allow a young mother to be tragically taken from her family? Gideon, in the Bible, had a very similar question in his mind. He was assured that God was with him and he said that if God is with us, then why have all of these bad things happened to us? And that's a great question.

Why have all of these bad things happened to us? We're going to explore that question. We're going to answer some of that aspect of the problem of pain and suffering. And, what we're going to do is give some reasons why an all loving God, Who is all powerful, could allow the suffering and pain that we see in our lives. And, we'll see that not only does suffering and pain not militate against God, but we will be able to see God's presence in the pain and the suffering.

When we start to look at the question of "Why does God allow the suffering and pain that He does?" we need to go to the Bible for the answer. You say, why would we go to the Bible for the answer, there's a very good reason for that. You go to the Bible for the answer because that's where we learn that there is even a problem. And what I mean by "problem" when we discuss the problem of evil, pain and suffering, we're asking why a loving God, Who's all powerful, would allow suffering and pain.

Well, where did we get the idea that God is a loving God? We got that from the Bible. Numerous passages tell us that, but in 1 John 4:8, we read that God IS love. But, where did we get the idea that God is all powerful? We got that from the Bible just as well.

In several passages we read that God is all powerful, that He's omnipotent, that He can do anything that He desires to do that would take power to do. So, we see that God is love from the Bible. We see that God is all powerful from the Bible. And, we also see throughout the Bible and throughout our human experience, that God does allow suffering. Why is that?

One reason that God allows suffering is because His love values freedom. What do I mean by "His love values freedom?" I mean that when He created humans, He made them in His image. He made humans with the ability to be able to speak, to be able to think, to be able to decide what those humans want to do or don't want to do. And, with the freedom to decide, with the freedom of choice comes the responsibility of consequences.

You see, God has the power to create a group of beings that couldn't decide for themselves—robotic creatures that would always do exactly what He wanted them to do, creatures that wouldn't have the freedom to choose. But, if He gives His creatures, humans, the freedom to choose because He loves them, then that freedom has to come with consequences.

One of the main reasons that people suffer is because we have the freedom to choose and we suffer because of our own consequences. Can you imagine a world where all of the consequences were the same? Imagine a world where a person went and worked hard all day to earn money to live, and another person stole to live and every consequence was the exact same, to the person who worked hard and to the person who stole. Imagine a world where consequences were the exact same if you decided that you were going to take care of the poor and feed the hungry, and you were going to do the best that you could to help others and the consequences were the same for that as if you decided you'd walk down the street and murder anybody that you didn't want to have deal with, or you wanted their things. You wanted to take their material possessions. What if the consequences were all the same? Could we ever learn from a world like that?

No, we certainly couldn't. In fact, in the very beginning when God put Adam and Eve in the garden of paradise, He designed that garden for them to be able to live forever. He never wanted them to have to experience suffering and pain and death. But, He allowed them to freely choose to disobey Him. And, when they freely chose to disobey Him, those consequences of their free choice, hit their lives very heavily.

Do you know that sometimes what occurs in our lives, the suffering and the pain, it's because of our own poor decisions. But, there are other reasons for the suffering and pain that goes on in the world today. We understand that much of the pain and suffering that comes into our lives is because God allows us to have the freedom to choose. And sometimes we choose wrongly. Think about a person who decides to drink alcohol. They take in more alcohol than their body can handle. They are passed the level of intoxicated. They get behind the wheel of a car. They drive down the road, they lose control, smash into a telephone pole and they're paralyzed for the rest of their life on this earth, whose fault is that? Can you blame God for wrong decisions that a person makes that cause pain and suffering in his or her life? Certainly that's not God's fault. But, you and I both know that some pain and suffering that comes into our lives is not because we made wrong decisions. No, sometimes innocent people suffer.

Imagine that same scenario with the person who has taken in too much alcohol, they're drunk, they're behind the wheel, except this time they don't smash into a telephone pole. This time they swerve into the middle of the road and an oncoming car that has an innocent two-year-old. That drunk driver smashes into that oncoming car, that 18-month-old loses his life because of the wrong decisions of that drunk driver. Does that seem fair? Why didn't God stop that? Why would God create a world where we are impacted so devastatingly by the wrong decisions of others? The answer to that is fairly simple. The answer to that is that God is no respecter of persons.

God doesn't decide who gets the freedom to choose and who doesn't. In fact, when God created humans He endowed them with the ability to make decisions that had consequences. But those consequences, they didn't just impact the person making the decisions, but those consequences impact other people around them.

You know, it might be tempting to say:

"God, I would use my freedom of choice correctly so give me the freedom to choose. But God, there are some people out there that wouldn't. Some people out there that would choose to do wrong, that would choose to make decisions that would cause pain in my life. God, I don't think you should let them have the freedom to choose. I don't think you should allow the situation to be such that their choices would have consequences like my choices have."

Now you see, that's just not the way that God operates.

When God created humans, he endowed them with the ability to choose. And sometimes those choices bring about consequences that cause pain and suffering in the lives of even the innocent. Is that unfair of God to give everyone the freedom to choose? No, it's not. Since He's no respecter of persons, we all have the ability to impact those around us.

There are other reasons why God allows the pain and suffering that go on in this world. We understand that some of the pain and suffering that comes into our life is because of our own wrong decisions. We also understand that since God doesn't respect one person over another, He allows everyone to make decisions that impact those around them. And, some of the pain and suffering that comes into our life is because of the wrong decisions of others who are living around us.

There's another reason why we experience pain and suffering. And that's because sometimes past generations have made decisions that impact the present generation. We can thing of all kinds of examples of this, but one good example is the idea and use of asbestos. For many years, people thought that using asbestos was a great idea. They mined it and they put it in insulating fibers that they used to insulate military vehicles. They used to insulate factories and it was very effective. It was fire proof, virtually, and they thought it was a great idea. And then they started seeing that the people who were mining asbestos were dying prematurely of lung disease. They started seeing an increase in lung cancer and other medical problems that were due to an association with asbestos. Hundreds of thousands of people died because people in past generations didn't understand that asbestos was not a good idea and harms people when they breathe it in. There again, are we to blame God for the deaths of those hundreds of thousands of people? No. God allowed past generations to make decisions and those decisions affected and impacted not only people in their generation, but future generations.

We might try to protest and say that "Well that just doesn't seem fair." But there are lots of things from the past generations that we accept and that we enjoy and that we are very glad that we have. Right now, I'm speaking to you and I'm wearing contact lenses. I think contact lenses are one of the most amazing inventions that have come down the pike in the last twenty, thirty, forty years. I have terrible vision, but with my contact lenses in, I can see 20/20. Now why is that? Well, that's because very smart people in past generations studied how light comes into the eye and they invented tiny pieces of plastic that you can put into your eye and you can see.

We walk into houses, many of us, and turn on water faucets and we drink clean, pure water out of those faucets. Not that we came up with the technology that would do that. We have a cell phone that we can dial a number and reach someone in Ireland. We have a computer that we can get on and we can type in something in the search engine and pull up information. Not that we came up with that technology; that has been passed down to us for many, many years.

What are we to do? Accept the benefits of the decisions of the past generations, but not accept the consequences? No. There again, we see exactly what is going on. God allows people to choose, they make decisions and those decisions impact others. We're impacted by the decisions of past generations. And, our decisions will impact future generations.

Is God unfair for allowing humans to freely choose and for their choices to have an impact on future generations, for the good or for the bad? Certainly not, we can't blame God for the pain and suffering that comes into our lives because of the wrong decisions of past generations. There are other reasons, other ways that our lives come into pain and suffering because of certain things that are at play in this universe. We'll explore some of those as we continue.

God designed a universe that's regulated by natural laws. We understand that. Natural laws we study, we use them on a regular basis to benefit us. We understand the law of gravity and we study it so we can determine what we need to do to create an airplane that would take us from one city to another city. We understand what our bodies need in order to survive... they need water, they need food. And so we find places where there are sources of clean water and we drink that water. But, the same chemical properties of water that allow us to live, can cause us pain and suffering. The same chemical properties of water that allow us to live, that water can drown us. The same properties of gravity that we use to study to our benefit, if we find ourselves in the wrong position, falling from a building, those laws of gravity and other physical laws, cause pain and suffering in our lives. That's how God designed the world.

Can you imagine a world where there were not physical laws that you could study and understand and know how they operated? Imagine a world where the physical laws did not stay the same.

Sometimes, the skeptic says:

"Why didn't God design a place where physical laws don't cause us pain and suffering?"

If we were to ask that question, we would have to then ask:

"What would a world be like where you didn't have regular, physical laws that always acted in the same way?"

Suppose in the middle of a baseball game the pitcher was throwing the baseball and it was going to hit the batter. And, so God adjusted that physical law of gravity so that that ball did not strike the batter. Suppose that a plane was going to be falling from the sky and was going to crash and so God adjusted the law of gravity. Can you imagine a world like that? That would be a world of chaos. That wouldn't be a world that we would understand to be regulated by an intelligent God and Designer. In fact, a world like that would speak more for atheism than it would for a world that was created by a loving Designer.

Natural laws are at play that cause pain and suffering in our lives. When we think of things like tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, those are caused because of the natural laws that are at play. We know sometimes we look at those natural laws and we ignore them. Sometimes a person will understand that if they will put their house, or if they build a city in a certain place, there is a high probability that there is going to be an earthquake. And, yet they will still build their house or that city by that particular location. And when an earthquake occurs and causes death or pain and suffering in that particular instance, what are we to do? Are we to blame God for creating a world that has natural laws that we can study and that we can know how things will react to other things? Is it God's fault that He created a world that natural laws will bring about, sometimes, pain and suffering in our lives, especially if we decide to ignore certain things that we could avoid? No, you can't blame God for that.

When we look at the universe, we understand that there are natural laws at play. And those natural laws can be used to our great benefit. But, sometimes, because of the way those natural laws are set up, they bring about pain and suffering in our lives. What are we to do? What we're to do in those cases is to understand that God loves us... to understand that God created these natural laws, and to, as much as possible, be aware of how they operate so that we can use them to our benefit. Those are some of the reasons for pain and suffering:

our own wrong decisions;
the wrong decisions of others;
the wrong decisions of previous generations;
and, the natural laws that are at play.
But, we've been looking at this idea of pain and suffering, asking ourselves why God allows it to happen. We've looked at some of those reasons. But, maybe there's something else we should consider. Maybe we should consider and understand that sometimes, sometimes there are great benefits to suffering. Let's explore some of those benefits.

You say:

"How can suffering, how can pain be beneficial?"

Let's just analyze that question on a physical level for just a moment.

Is it the case that sometimes a physical pain can cause us to look for a cure to something? Is it the case that sometimes physical suffering can show us that there is a greater problem that needs to be taken care of? Certainly, that happens all the time.

In fact, I'm thinking about one of my friends' father who was in a board meeting. And, in that meeting he started having some problems with his chest. He started feeling an ache and a pain. And he didn't think much about it. He thought it might have been indigestion, so he excused himself from the meeting. One of his friends thankfully, saw what was going on and followed him out of that meeting. And my friend's father started to sweat, and he started to have severe chest pain. His friend quickly loaded him into a car, drove him to the hospital. At the hospital they said that he had just a few minutes to live. He had had a heart attack, a heart attack in a certain artery that was called the "widow maker," that if he had not gone to the hospital and had not received treatment for that heart attack, he would have died within minutes.

What sent him to the hospital? The physical pain that he was experiencing alerted him to the fact that there was something that was even more important going on.

Is it the case that on a fairly regular basis, physical pain can tell us something needs to be checked out—that there is something greater at play that needs to be considered? Certainly it happens all the time.

Thinking of a young man who had severe pain in his side, he didn't know what it was, he didn't know why he was hurting, but that pain continued. So he went to the hospital. And, at the hospital they informed him that his appendix was about to rupture. If he hadn't had that pain, he wouldn't have gone to the hospital. If his appendix had ruptured, there's a good chance that he would have died. Why did he go to the hospital? Well, he went because of the pain that he was experiencing.

Is it true that pain in this life can have physical benefits and help us see something that's going on that is even greater than that pain, that needs attention and that alerts us to a severe danger? Yes. Not only can pain and suffering on a physical level have benefits and cause us to look for greater dangers, but pain and suffering can have benefits on a spiritual, emotional, psychological level. In fact, when we see a person going through severe trials and struggles, often that is where the real character of a person is built. The "metal" of a person's character is forged in the fire of trials. After all, where only the sun shines, it's always a desert.

Many times in the storms of life, that's where we really see what we're made of. That's where we really form our character. James, in the Bible, told us that this would be the case. In James 1:1-3, he said:

My brethren, count it all joy when you go through various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

The writer of Hebrews said that Jesus Christ:

…though He were a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

The psalmist writer in Psalm 1:19 said:

Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I seek Your will.

What are these verses trying to tell us? They're trying to tell us that in the middle of our suffering that's where much of our character is built. And, that's where we see human character at its finest.

I'm thinking of a young man, right now. Many years ago he was at a camp and he was blind. And, at this camp they were going around the circle and they were asking what each one of the campers were thankful for. When it came time for this young man to answer, the other campers wondered what he would say. He was blind. He didn't have the abilities that the others had. When it came time for him to say what he was thankful for, he said:

"I am thankful that I am blind, because I can see things that those who have sight cannot see."

I contacted him just recently to ask about that particular time in his life. And he said yes, he had said that. And as he had matured he understood that if he had a choice, he wouldn't have picked blindness. If someone had said to him you could go through life without being blind or being blind, he said:

"No. I wouldn't have picked blindness. But, in my blindness I have seen the love of God. And, I have seen things that I never would have seen had it not been for my disability."

I'm thinking of another man right now. This particular individual was diagnosed with a debilitating disease. After his diagnosis, just a few days, I think it was four days after he was diagnosed with that disease, his 16-year-old daughter was driving her car and was killed in a car accident. Not many months after that, he was confined to his bed where he stayed, and has stayed for many, many years. But, throughout the struggles and trials that he has been through, they have forged his character to such a degree and caused things in his life that he would never trade for all the money in the world, for all the comfort in the world. In his debilitation, he has written several books. They have been printed by the thousands and have been distributed all over the world. Those books are used to provide comfort and encouragement and spiritual understanding and edification to people, thousands and thousands of people all over the world. And, that might never have happened if he hadn't been through these sufferings and trials and struggles.

What else happens in sufferings and struggles? We see people's character shine in ways that we never, ever could see their character shine without the struggles. We see those victims of earthquakes and hurricanes and tornados, those victims being cared for by the loving and compassionate people all over the world who are coming to help in those times of struggles.

Many times when we experience pain and suffering, we realize we are not alone. There are others that care about us, that love us, and that love and care and compassion shines brighter than it ever would have shined had we not been going through those struggles and those trials. Do pain and suffering have benefits in our lives where we grow emotionally, spiritually? Absolutely.

It's important that we need to consider that we allow that suffering and pain that comes into our lives to cause us to be better, not to cause us to be bitter. You see, the same sunshine that melts an ice cube, bakes clay into a hardened substance that cannot be used for anything else other than what it has baked into. We need to make sure that the suffering and pain that comes into our lives—we use it to draw closer to God, to draw closer to others, to make us better, to melt our hearts, and to allow us to see the love of God.

But, there's another reason that God allows pain and suffering. And, that is to remind us of eternity. You see, this world was never designed to be our home. God created this world in order to be the perfect vale of soul making. God's purpose in this life for us is not for us to be comfortable 24-hours a day, 7 days a week. It's not for us to feel all the physical comforts and avoid all of the pain. God's purpose for us in this life is for us to understand that He's our Creator. And, that the only thing that can truly set us free is the truth. And, when we understand that there is a Creator, and we build a relationship with Him, then anything that helps us to draw closer to Him, well that's something that can be used to remind us of eternity.

This world is not our home. We are just passing through. We need to remember that. C.S. Lewis expressed that thought when he said pain and suffering are God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. "Why is it that the world needs to be roused?" because many humans are forgetting their purpose here in this world. They're forgetting their reason for being on this globe. And it's not so we can be comfortable. It's not so we can have everything that we want. It's so that we can form a relationship with God, because after this life there is the potential for eternal life. A life that lasts forever, that has no ending.

It's important for us to remember when we ask the very legitimate question, "Where is God when we suffer?"

The answer is very simple. God is in the exact same place that He was in when His son Jesus Christ suffered.

Jesus Christ was perfectly innocent, had never done anything that would cause suffering to come to His life. Had never made a wrong decision, never committed a sin. And yet, He suffered excruciating pain for our sins.

When we think of the suffering that comes into our lives, and we wonder where God is, we need to remember Jesus Christ hanging on that cross. We need to remember that God had the power to stop that suffering, but He didn't. Why? He didn't stop that suffering because He wanted something better for all of us. He wanted all of us to be able to experience eternal life—a life that would last far longer than the few years that we'll be here on this earth.

Where is God when we suffer? He is loving us. And, He's in the exact same place He was when He allowed His son to suffer for us. Let's use our suffering to get better and not to be bitter.

Garmin Connect - House Test

A Man's Man Weeping?

David was a "Man's Man" if there ever was one. 

• As a boy he was a fearless warrior who killed lions, bears and a giant of a man (1 Sam 17:36-54).
• He killed 200 Philistines and scalped their foreskins to get his first wife (1 Sam 18:25-27).
• He out fought the King killing over ten of thousand enemies (1 Sam 18:5-7).
• He could accommodate at least many wives and concubines (2 Sam 5:13; 1 Chr 3:1-9).

And yet we see in Psalm 6:6-7 David opening his heart to God and weeping like a “girl” (no offense ladies). 

I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes.

If a “Man’s Man” like David could open up to God... What about you? 

Corona Arch Trail: Moab, UT

Length of Hike: 1.5 miles to Corona Arch; allow 2 hours round trip.

Type of Hike: Constructed trail and slickrock. This is a hiking-only trail.

Area Attractions: Corona Arch (140 by 105 foot opening) and adjacent Bow Tie Arch; also views of the Colorado River and a large slickrock canyon.

Trailhead Location: On Utah Scenic Byway 279, 10 miles west of the Utah 279/U.S. 191 junction. (see my map below)

Route Description: From the parking lot on the north side of the highway follow the trail up to the visitor register box near the railroad; please register. Cross the railroad track and follow an old roadbed up through a gap in the rim. From the gap, follow the cairns up the wash for about 100 yards where the trail swings to the left.

Follow the trail and cairns over a low sandy pass and then down towards the base of a large cliff. Follow the base of the cliff to the first safety cable and around to the second cable where steps have been cut into the slickrock. Corona Arch is visible from this point. From the top of the second cable, climb the short ladder up over a small ledge and follow the cairns. From this point, it is an easy walk along the broad slickrock bench to the base of Corona Arch.


View Larger Map

Hidden Valley Trail: Moab, UT

Length of Hike: 2 miles to pass at north end of Hidden Valley; allow 3 hours round trip.

Type of Hike: Constructed trail.

Area Attractions: Access route to Hidden Valley and Behind the Rocks, good views of the Moab Valley and Behind the Rocks. Trail connects with the southern end of the Moab Rim four-wheel-drive trail.

Trailhead Location: Drive 3 miles south from Moab on U.S. 191 and turn right onto Angel Rock Road. After two blocks, turn right onto Rimrock Road and drive to parking area. (see map)

Route Description: From the parking area, follow the trail up to the base of the Moab Rim and then ascend a series of steep switchbacks. At the top of the switchbacks, the trail heads north and enters Hidden Valley, which is a broad shelf between the top of the Moab Rim and Spanish Valley. Follow the trail to a low rise that separates the two halves of Hidden Valley and continue along through the northern section to a point where the trail swings to the left and goes over a low pass. At the pass, the hiker will be rewarded with a view of the large sandstone fins of the Behind the Rocks area. The trail continues down the west side of the pass for about 1/3 mile where it meets the Moab Rim four-wheel-drive trail. The hike may be extended to the Colorado River by following the Moab Rim four-wheel-drive trail to its starting point. 

Note: During the late afternoon, in the summer, this trail is largely in the shade of higher cliffs. Although the Hidden Valley Trail is non-motorized, mountain bikes may sometimes be seen on it.

An Open Letter From Nadab & Abihu

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL 

FROM YOUR HUMBLE SERVANTS AND PRIESTS, NADAB AND ABIHU

Brethren:

It is with the utmost humility that we inform you of a change of worship practices.

Be assured that we bring about this change only after much prayer and study. We have recently concluded an in-depth study of the Law, and have decided to bring about a change in the type of fire used in worship.

We are aware that there is a standing tradition of using only one source of fire, but we, as priests, do not feel obligated to blindly follow tradition. Numerous polls indicate the overwhelming opinion that worshipers do not care where we get the fire. We are in agreement with the majority, as we cannot see how a change in fire will affect anything in the least about our sacrifices.

Besides all this, nowhere in the Law does the Lord forbid the use of what some detractors have referred to as “strange fire.” We feel that the lack of such a restriction was meant to give us freedom. Is there any place in the Law that tells us we cannot do something the Lord has not seen fit to condemn? Where are other fires explicitly condemned?

Also, Israel is the only religious group that limits itself to one kind of fire. We have become a laughingstock, and have been ridiculed openly by many groups. We are in great danger of appearing distinctive. This self-righteous, “only-one-fire” policy has alienated us from everyone else. We believe this change will open up many fellowship opportunities.

Now, to set the minds of some of you at ease, we will continue to offer a traditional service using the old-fashioned fire as well as a progressive service with the new fire. This approach will also make it possible to appeal to a younger audience as we discover more entertaining ways to “light the fire” of our assemblies.

For those who still oppose the use of new fire, we ask you not to be judgmental. We also hope you will not use this change as an excuse to divide our people or stir up trouble. We remind you that this has been well thought out and the majority of priests have signed on with us.

We are all very much looking forward to our first new fire service. God will be watching and we anticipate that His joy over seeing His people take a great step toward throwing off the burden of binding tradition will be an electrifying experience. Our new contemporary worship service will no doubt make it easier for us to really be on fire for the Lord!

See you there ... we think this new practice is going to spread like wildfire. Please come and enjoy what we know will be an illuminating experience for all of us.

For freedom’s sake!

Your faithful priests,

Nadab & Abihu

A few days later...

“Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. Then Moses said to Aaron, It is what the LORD spoke, saying, By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored. So Aaron, therefore, kept silent” (Leviticus 10:1-3).

This open letter (expect for a few changes) was written by David Brassfield for The Bridgewood Beacon.

Book Review: Silhouettes of Life

From the Back Cover
Silhouettes of Life is a book of twenty-five chapters, filled with personal experiences of a missionary. It has been written with the hope of establishing within the hearts of young people a deep desire to do mission work. May it inspire them to strive to overcome any obstacles and to lean heavily on God.

This work is an autobiography divided into two parts. Part 1 portrays the overcoming of one obstacle after another throughout youth, which actually prepared the way for doing an acceptable service in my chosen field. Part 2 is the story of carrying out that aim in the African field as a teacher making friends with a strange people having strange custom.

The reader will see methods I used as a woman’s part helping establish Christian homes. I hope the lessons on how women can and must help to plant the indigenous church in strange lands, be they are home or abroad, will not be overlooked. There is a mission field somewhere for every Christian woman.

--Myrtle Rowe                  

Book Description: 
• Title: Silhouettes of Life
• Author: Myrtle Rowe
• Paper Back: 265 pages
• Publisher: J.C. Choate Publications (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: None
• ASIN: None
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5 x .63 inches
• Weight: 1 pound (approximate)

Book Summary:
As the author mentioned on the back cover the first part of the book is dedicated to her life here in America before she left for Africa and the obstacles she had to overcome.

Myrtle’s story begins with the birth of her grandparents in Arkansas, 1849. Her parents were married in 1896 and Myrtle was born that same year. She lived and played on the small Arkansas farm until she was six years old. Then they moved to a homestead in South Dakota. Her life in South Dakota was rough so say the least but typical of homesteaders of that time. Her description is very similar to The Little House On The Prairie series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

In September 1910 her family moved to Stuart, Oklahoma and in October that same year Myrtle was enrolled in the 4th grade at the age of 14. In 1911 they moved to Atwood, Oklahoma. She worked hard and graduated from the 8th grade in 1913 and moved by herself to Holdenville where she could work and go to high school. After finishing one year of high School she took the teachers test and began teaching elementary school.

In 1917 Myrtle married Willie Rowe and they set up a house in Mountain View, Oklahoma. She said life was wonderful and “to wash, iron and cook for Willie was a delight I had never experienced”. Their happiness was cut short when Willie was drafted into WWI in 1918 and unexpectedly died of influenza at Fort Sill a few months later. However, before Willie had left for the Army Myrtle became pregnant and after his death she gave birth to his son, Don, on January 14, 1919. She moved a few months later to a larger town and bought a house near the college so that she could rent out rooms to students for income.

In 1921 she rented out her house and moved to Cordell, Oklahoma to attend W.O.C.C. She graduated in 1925 and stayed on as the librarian for a few years. In the early 1930’s Myrtle was offered a job teaching at Harding Elementary School so she and her son moved to Arkansas to begin teaching there. During her time at Harding Myrtle met many missionaries from Africa. It was through these new friends that her desire to be a missionary in Africa grew until she decided to quit teaching at Harding and move to Africa to teach in a mission school. Don, her son, was now 19 years old.

Myrtle set sail for Africa on the Queen Mary, July 30, 1938 and safely arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Her final destination would be Zimbabwe but in the mean time she would spend some time in South Africa. She explains her new experiences and some of the differences between Africa and the United States.

Once arriving at the mission in Zimbabwe she begins setting up her home and the school. Life was very different in Africa as she beautifully explains. The school was only for boys at that time because in Africa and Europe it wasn’t proper to mix boys and girls in school. In a short time the school would develop into a boys and girls school. Her years in Africa were spent teaching the children and serving in many other roles on the campus. When school was out she would spend some time on a beautiful river for a little vacation and in the winter months she spent time evangelizing from village to village. You get a good sense of what it was like to live on the mission as she describes the campus with all of its building including how the laundry and cooking was done.

In 1943 Myrtle got word that her mother was very ill and she should return home to see her before she died. Myrtle boarded a ship in Cape Town and had a vey long, tiring and dangerous trip to America. They were afraid of being sunk by the Germans and had to be very secretive in the letters they sent home for they were never allowed to communicate anything about their ships activities. But finally, Myrtle arrived home and in time to visit with her mother before her death. While she was home she was also able to spend a lot of time with her other family members and friends.

In 1946 she left the states to return to Africa taking a ship from New Orleans. She labored in Africa for many more years before returning to the states again in 1952 to spend a year with her family. She was back in Africa in February 1953 where she remained until 1957. Upon retuning home to the states she went back to work at Harding Elementary School teaching the sixth grade until she retired in 1964.

My Thoughts On The Book:
I think Myrtle accomplished exactly what she set out to accomplish. This is seen in the fact that she has helped to create in me a deeper desire to do mission work and inspired me to strive to overcome any obstacles and to lean heavily on God.

I would recommend this book to everyone; men, women and children. Anyone who reads this book will be better off than they were

Christians and Social Drinking

When I first became a Christian I thought it was okay for Christians to drink alcohol socially or recreationally as long as they didn’t get drunk. I based this decision on the following reasons:

• In the first century they couldn’t have prevented grape juice from fermenting since they had no refrigeration.
• Jesus made wine.
• Paul told Timothy to drink a little wine.

However, after I began to hear others say that Christians couldn’t drink socially I began to study the issue secretly hoping that they were wrong. But, I’m now convinced that my reasoning was wrong and that Christians have no business drinking alcoholic beverages socially or recreationally.

They Couldn't Have Prevented Grape Juice From Fermenting
Once I started to honestly think about the situation and reflected on my own experiences making homemade beer (which is very similar to making wine) I realized it is actually easy to mess up your wort, unfermented beer, and stall the fermentation process. Off the top of my head I know that if the sugar content is too high it won’t ferment plus if you add the yeast before the wort has time to cool adequately you will kill the yeast and it won’t ferment either. My own experience should have been enough to prove my earlier reasoning was wrong and my further research only confirmed it.

It would have actually been quite easy for the people of the first century to prevent fermentation simply by boiling grape juice down to a concentrate. This would have easily killed any wild yeast and raised the sugar content too high for fermentation. After reading Jim McGuiggan’s book The Bible, The Saints and The Liquor Industry I found that this was a common practice by the ancients and that they had other ways to prevent it as well. So my first reason for dinking alcohol was shot down. But I still had hope in the fact that Jesus turned water into wine.

Jesus Turned Water Into Wine
My first let down was that the term wine, while in modern English generally means alcoholic wine, in Greek the word is not so specific but can refer to either wine or grape juice. We must decide by context. So I went on with my justification. I thought John 2:10 showed that the guests couldn’t tell the difference between the good and the bad wine because they were slightly intoxicated. But the text doesn’t say they couldn’t tell the difference between the two wines, that is only what I wanted it to say. We always put our best out first. We don’t serve hot dogs first then T-bone steaks at a BBQ, do we? No, we serve the best first then if it runs out or if it’s too expensive, then people can eat hot dogs. Why couldn’t that be the case here?

Next I thought about the situation my own desires about the text were putting Jesus in. I was saying that Jesus gave 120 – 180 gallons of alcoholic wine to people who were already drunk. That would be enough wine to serve 480 -720 people a quart of wine each. Clearly enough to inebriate anyone, let alone people who had already drank freely and depleted the wine on hand. It seems highly unlikely that Jesus would go against His own teaching concerning being a stumbling block to others. If that were the case, it would have been better for Jesus to have had a millstone tied around His neck and to have been cast into the sea. Do you see what my own desires were doing to our Lord?

Paul Told Timothy To Drink A Little Wine
Well, what about Paul telling Timothy to drink a little wine for his stomach’s sake in 1 Timothy 5:23? Again, I found no justification for drinking wine socially. First of all, if this was fermented wine it was not to be drunk socially but medicinally. Who takes medication socially? No one! Another possibility is that, it could have been mixed with water as a purifying agent, to kill bacteria. It also could have very easily been grape juice, which has health benefits for you stomach. Today we have much better medicines and ways to purify our water. There is no need to drink wine for medicinal purposes.

I could find no justification for drinking alcohol socially. I gave up the idea of justifying it. However, over the years I have heard many different arguments from people trying to justify it but after careful investigation they fail as well.

God Condemns Drunkenness
To those who insist on drinking anyway I think that we can all agree that the Bible clearly condemns drunkenness as seen in Galatians 5:19-21 where Paul lists drunkenness as one of the deeds of the flesh and that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But when is a person drunk? We would all agree that if he is slurring his speech and staggering about, he is drunk. But is that where we draw the line? I think we would agree that if a person were arrested for a DUI he would be considered drunk too.

It is interesting that different countries have different standards for what percent of Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is considered drunk.

• 7 countries have a zero tolerance policy. Any BAC is considered drunk. (Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Bangladesh and the Cezch Republic)
• 6 countries consider a .02% BAC drunk (Estonia, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Norway and Sweden)
• 4 countries consider a .03% BAC drunk (India, Japan, Russia and Uruguay)
• 2 countries consider a .04% BAC drunk (Lithuania, Saskatchewan)
• 29 countries consider a .05% BAC drunk (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland Thailand and Turkey)
• 9 countries consider a .08% BAC drunk (Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Ireland, Ireland, Singapore, United Kingdom and United States)

When following the standard BAC chart we would find that a 140 pound woman would be considered drunk in 17 different countries after only drinking one glass of wine with dinner. If she drank two glasses with dinner she would be considered drunk in 48 different countries. However if she lived in the USA she wouldn’t be considered drunk until she drank her third glass of wine. That is of course unless she was a bus driver since a bus driver would be considered drunk after 1/3 of a glass of wine.

This information is surprising to me. Which standard should we follow when trying to stay out of sin? One might say, well, it would depend on where you live. But borders do not bind God’s Law. Very few of the countries listed above were in existence when God wrote the Bible let alone instruments to assess a persons BAC.

So we must ask the question when is a person drunk? Who’s standards should we use? While it would be hard to make a hard fast rule concerning this, Ephesians 5:18-19 may prove most helpful. “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.” Here we see a comparison between being filled with the Spirit and being drunk. What does one experience when he is filled with the Spirit as he sings praises to the Lord? Usually, a sense of wellbeing and relaxation, interestingly enough, this is also what one experiences when he has one glass of wine or a BAC of .03%. It seems as though God wants us to find our sense of wellbeing and relaxation in Him rather than in wine.

I highly doubt that God is too concerned with our physical ability to clearly enunciate our words or our ability to walk a straight line. I’m sure He is more concerned with our heart and mind, which just happens to be the very first things alcohol effects. We would be wise to conclude that one drink is too much and that with a BAC of .03% a person could be in danger of being biblically drunk.

It is my desire to be pleasing to my Lord and seek to do His will. With the information we now have concerning the effects of alcohol and the many biblical warnings against drunkenness it is clear to me that Christians have no business drinking alcohol socially.

I Need Thee Every Hour

Annie Hawks and Robert Lowry (1872)

Many hymns are written in the depths of sorrow or in some other extraordinary circumstance but that is not the case with I Need Thee Every Hour. This hymn was written by a common housewife who apparently lived quite a normal life. Annie Hawks, the author, was a Baptist poet and hymnist. Her pastor, Robert Lowry, was the one who put the song to music. Hawks explains how she was inspired to write the song one day as she was engaged in her housework, she wrote:

“One day as a young wife and mother of 37 years of age, I was busy with my regular household tasks. Suddenly, I became so filled with the sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain, these words, “I Need Thee Every Hour,” were ushered into my mind, the thought at once taking full possession of me. Seating myself by the open window in the balmy air of the bright June day, I caught up my pencil and the words were soon committed to paper, almost as they are being song now.” (Cyber Hymnal)

After she had completed writing the lyrics, Hawks gave them to her pastor, Robert Lowry, who added the tune and refrain. The hymn was first published at the National Baptist Sunday School Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1872. Years later and after the death of her husband, Hawks wrote:

“I did not understand at first why this hymn had touched the great throbbing heart of humanity. It was not until long after, when the shadow fell over my way, the shadow of a great loss, that I understood something of the comforting power in the words which I had been permitted to give out to others in my hour of sweet serenity and peace.” (Cyber Hymnal)

Annie Sherwood Hawks was born on May 28, 1836 in Hoosick, New York. She was a poet from a young age and at the age of 14 years old her poems began appearing in newspapers. At the age of twenty-one she married Charles H. Hawks. They lived in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the Hanson Place Baptist Church, where Robert Lowry was the pastor. When Hawks’ husband died in 1888, she moved to Bennington, Vermont to live with her daughter and son-in-law, W. E. Putnam. She wrote 400 hymns in her life, mostly for use in Sunday schools. Hawks died at the age of eighty-two on January 3, 1918 in Bennington, Vermont. You can find her grave in the Hoosick Rural Cemetery in Hoosick, New York.

Robert Lowry was born on March 12, 1826 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the University at Lewisburg which would later be renamed Bucknell University, where he became a professor of literature. He was ordained as a Baptist minister and pastored several churches; including one in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the Blooingdale Baptist Church in New York City, the Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York, the First Baptist Church in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and the Park Avenue Baptist Church in Plainfield, New Jersey. He also worked as a music editor at the Biglow Publishing Company, and helped to found the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in New York City. He wrote about 500 Gospel tunes and jointly edited many hymnals including; Happy Voices, 1865, Gospel Melodies, 1868, Pure Gold, 1871, Gospel Hymn and Tune Book, 1879 to name just a few. Lowry died on November 25, 1899, Plainfield, New Jersey. You can find his grave in the Hillside Cemetery of Plainfield, New Jersey.

Bibliography

Bonner, Clint. A Hymn Is Born. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1959.
Cyber Hymnal. Cyber Hymnal. 7 August 2007. 5 November 2009 .
—. Cyber Hymnal. 11 August 2007. 5 November 2009 .
—. Cyber Hymnal. 7 September 2008. 5 November 2009 .
Robert J. Taylor, Jr. Sing With Feeling. Novasota: Taylor Publications, 1993.
Taylor, Robert J. A Song Is Born. Montgomery: Taylor Publications, 2004.