Things I Think…
1. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Donât be afraid.â â Buechner
2. âNow the earth was corrupt in Godâs sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.And God said to Noah, âI have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them.â(Genesis 6:11â13 ESV)
The Scriptures prophecy that in the end, things shall be as they were in the time of Noah. We might be there…because we’ll find a way to politicize and dehumanize what happened in Vegas last night. Then we’ll forget it in a couple of weeks and start muttering Civil War threats to each other…
3. Sarah wrote better than I will on all this…
4. While we’re praying for Vegas, we may want to pray about the violence in our own hearts…
5. The Protestant belief that we are not saved by obedience has led to an utter discounting of the place of obedience in the Christian walk…
6. I’m bone tired of those who want to destroy any entity that they disagree with. Ruin Target, level the NFL, etc. If we have to annihilate everything we differ with, there won’t be anything left but scorched earth and death…
7. It is a strange dichotomy that the information age has resulted in a massive increase in ignorance…
8. It is a cliche to say that the problems we have are spiritual, but some cliches are true. The other true cliche is that spiritual problems are only solved by spiritual means…
9. More and more, I think I’m the problem…
10. FLAGS
(Arnold/Bell)
Driving into work, looking out my window
Somethingâs surely happened, flags are hanging low
Some one else is gone, maybe more than one
Maybe some child, some motherâs only son.
Thinking about the reason, so donât raise that flag too high
Isnât it a pity, somebody had to die…
Story on the radio, itâs another act of rage
Learned what kind of gun, heard the killerâs age
Not sure how many died, names are all withheld
Lookinâ for a answer, just seems too hard to tell
Thinking about the reason, so donât raise that flag too high
Isnât it a pity, somebody had to die…
Traveling cross the city, or walking in the street
Sitting in a classroom, donât know the fate youâll meet
Worried âbout the uniform, âbout the color of my skin
With all this hatred now, itâs clear nobody wins
No question âbout black or white, or even whatâs wrong or right
No question âbout how you love, or even who youâre thinking of
Only question is why…
Why anyone had to die
Thinking about the reason, so donât raise that flag too high
Isnât it a pity, somebody had to die…
This will not stop with might power law or brutality but only with wisdom from heaven and grace to restore the hedges that have fallen down.
We are not yet at a point where we desire grace more than victory over our perceived enemies…
I’ve treasured listening to my son Drew’s i-pod as it has given me a connection to his passion for music and insight into his heart and mind before he died. I listened to Johnny Cash’s “Man in Black” lyrics yesterday and found them more appropriate than ever.
fil,
That song shaped a part of me when I was a kid…it still rings true.
wonderful thinking that cannot really be commented on… too much to think on… too much
this morning’s post is a blessing for me to read, thank you, Michael
#5
This book is worth looking at. The idea is that faith is better translated as fidelity or faithfulness.
https://www.amazon.com/Salvation-Allegiance-Alone-Rethinking-Gospel/dp/0801097975/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
Thank you, Em! đ
I think there’s a meta-worldview growing in America which sees America as a country or empire in decline. America is unable to impose its will around the world and other nations are rising in prosperity and influence.
What this means for people who hold this view is that the “pie” is a set size or more probably shrinking. Therefore, people are fighting each other over the size of their respective pieces and even the crumbs. It is self-centeredness and fear on a growing scale.
What this worldview produces is a mindset that is hostile to other peoples’ or groups’ progressing (or even getting a fair shake), because their gain is perceived as my loss. We are taking not only from each other, in the form of racial and/or economic injustice against working classes and minorities, but we are also taking from our children and grandchildren by running high budget deficits and now planning to add massively to the debt in the form of tax cuts.
This mindset is angry and hostile because the pie and it’s crumbs are all these people have to fight over. It is anti-God, because the treasure God offers in Christ has no value to rejoice in. The future God offers in Christ has no value over what temporal present happiness we might purchase (at what cost?).
No one, much less our elected officials, are offering any long term solutions to the disease that has afflicted our country. Most of what we as a nation are suffering is self-inflicted. But, we have suffered so much that we are ready to shake off our denial.
“The future God offers in Christ has no value over what temporal present happiness we might purchase (at what cost?).”
There is the root…
“The Protestant belief that we are not saved by obedience has led to an utter discounting of the place of obedience in the Christian walk⊔
Totally false – I don’t believe that we are saved by obedience (other than the command “come to me all you who are under heavy burden, and I will give you rest.”) – in fact it is blasphemous to think such. However, Christians (note to be a Christian is post salvation) there is a call to, what the Book of Concord calls A New Obedience.
#5 is a terrible non Christian comment. (now I need to run over to the rule book to the right and see if I broke any rules with this comment.)
Correction to the last sentence of my #8: “But we have NOT suffered so much that we are ready to shake off our denial.”
MLD,
I’m not arguing for salvation by works.
I am arguing that much of the church is walking in anti- nomianism, declared or not.
Michael
Thanks for including the lyrics… My bandmate Michael’s niece, Ashley, was at the concert in Vegas last night. She was unharmed, but considerably shaken up. These things hit closer to home than we sometimes think….
Duane,
Thank you for allowing us to do so.
I’ve spent much of the morning hoping that this doesn’t hit too close to my home…
MLD has misinterpreted again at comment #10 – do Lutherans do that a lot? đ
but i’ve said enough today…
To Michael & Em – No, the comment said that the doctrine itself (a doctrine that is true) has caused the problem.
“âThe Protestant belief that we are not saved by obedience has led to…”
It was not stated that people abuse a true doctrine to cause this issue – it says that the doctrine itself is to blame.
Now, the RCC & EO would make that charge.
I will take responsibility for a poorly written point…now we can discuss what I meant…
MLD, yes we would.
“now we can discuss what I meant⊔
OK – so if you know anyone who says that or lives that way, tell them they are going to hell if they don’t straighten out.
If we are going to comment on what others believe, it is well to read what is actually taught. For the RCC –
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s1c3a2.htm
Much, much close to what most of us believe than we might wish to think.
MLD,
If that alone determines our eternal destiny, hell is going to be packed.
The truth is that I’m constantly disobedient in thought, word, and deed, and worse, I don’t worry about it much because I’m saved by grace.
Facebook and this blog alone could be enough to damn me…
Obedience occupies a much higher place in the Scriptures than in our practice…
Michael – again, that is not what you said in your comment – the 2nd part.
“has led to an utter discounting of the place of obedience in the Christian walkâŠâ
There is a difference, at least in my mind of being disobedient and saying that there is no place for obedience in the Christian life.
I believe in the New Obedience, the strict application of the 3rd use of the law – and at the same time am disobedient.
Everyone here, except MLD, to my knowledge, knows exactly what Michael meant in his original article.
Keep digging friend.
Thank you, Jean.
I’m often writing out of personal conviction believing that people here pretty much know my doctrinal stance…but I will seek to be more clear.
I think Jean broke a rule by belittling my comment. Where is the respect? đ
#10 flags, pretty powerful.
Thanks for these thought today Michael
Filbertz, praying for you today.
Thank you, Dusty. đ
Duane and Michael, my coworker’s wife’s cousin and his wife were at the concert last night in Vegas too. They survived thankfully. My coworker showed me a selfie they took before sundown, and in the background is the Mandalay hotel. It was a chilling photograph. They had to live by diving over a fence and under the stage.
Yes, it impacts us all to some degree.
#27 Dusty
Many thanks. I wrote the song “Flags” over a year ago. At the time, I told my friend Michael that there would be plenty of occasions in the future to share the song… I wish that I had been proven wrong, but, tragically, that has not been the case.
Well done, Duane.