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S u n d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 6 t h
10:54PM | Henry of Huntingdon And Things Enduring
n his History of the English, early 12th century historian Henry of Huntingdon clearly was fond of pointing out the transitive and fleeting nature of life, delusions of power and grandeur, and, in contrast to this, God's promise to us of eternal glory, wealth, and life. On the death of King Henry I he wrote:
Observe, then, reader, how the corpse of this mighty king, whose head was crowned with a diadem of precious jewels, sparkling with a brightness almost divine, who held glittering sceptres in both his hands, the rest of whose body was robed in cloth of gold, whose palate was gratified by such delicious and exquisite viands, whom all men bowed down to, all men feared, congratulated, and admire; observe, I say, what horrible decay, to what a loathsome state, his body was reduced! Mark how things end, from which only a true judgment can be formed, and learned to despise what so perishes and comes to nothing!
In one section, Henry of Huntingdon lists a summary of kings' names who ruled various prominent sections of Britain, and after naming the first two kings of Sussex, he confesses that the names of the other Sussex kings are unknown, forgotten - except the one (Ethelwold) who first adopted the Christian faith. Henry exhorts the reader:
And now, reader, observe and reflect how soon great names are lost in oblivion; and since there is nothing enduring in the world, seek, I pray you, carefully to obtain a kingdom and treasure which will not fail, a name and honour which shall not pass away, a memorial and glory which shall never grow old. To meditate on this is the highest wisdom, to attain it the highest prudence, to enjoy it the highest felicity.
12:26PM |
Sunday Readings
he Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; today was such a Sunday in which I needed to take this into account. I am sick with a cold, and thus giving my body rest was more evocative of Sabbath rest than getting up and going to church would have been; additionally, this rest should better prepare my body and health for devotion to another week of work.
I am still engaged in a semi-daily re-reading of Rushdoony's Law and Society, and though I have been at it for over two years I am not looking forward to turning the last page. This week I read, in a chapter on idolatry, Rushdoony explain Luke 6:37: "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." Rushdoony explains that this is not a blanket rule against criticism of others when their deeds are ungodly, but rather against hypocritical judgment.
The hypocrite tells the truth, i.e., he describes men accurately, but he judges as though he were God. God is on the judgment throne, not man. We are not to usurp God's judgment. the meaning of verse 37 is, "Judge not, so that God may not judge you." One who never misses a chance to cite the failures and sins of others and to judge them will have God citing their every sin and judging them.. Theirs is not righteous judgment, however correct, but censorious judgment, hypocritical judgment. It does not seek the removal of our brother's mote, i.e., the fault of a fellow believer, but to condemn him for it. It manifests neither love, patience, nor forbearance, but distaste and distance.
...Hypocrisy is thus an aspect of idolatry, because the hypocrite warps reality by judging men in relation to himself, not himself and men together in relatino to the Lord. Hypocritical judgment is personal, not theological. It is personal even when it cites moral faults only, i.e., motes in the other person's eye, because its principle in judgment is our irritation and annoyance with them, not our struggle to heal ourselves and them also of our mutual infirmities.
...Having said these things, it is necessary to add, lest Scripture be misinterpreted, that we cannot use these passages to justify overlooking heresies, being indulgent of their errors, or of any attempt to forestall a judgment of their errors. We are strictly forbidden such conduct (II John 9-11). It is never our kindly disposition which is the criterion: it is the Lord and His word. To elevate our kindliness or love in any form to a position of priority is idolatry. Judging and condemning come very easily to some; being indulgent and tolerant comes very readily to others. Neither course is godly: both are ruled by man's disposition rather than the word of God. This constitutes idolatry.
Reading the Bible this morning, I saw a note for Psalm 118:8. Did you know: this verse is the middle verse in the Bible? "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." Now go map out a chiasm with that.
W e d n e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 2 n d
10:47PM |
Debut
id you notice that the previous blog entry was written using my new computer? Best Buy is doing something really good, and that is their offering instant rebates instead of mail-in rebates on laptop purchases. They are in the process of converting mail-in rebates to instant rebates for the rest of their merchandise, so unfortunately I had to exert some saliva in licking envelopes and wading through receipts in order to mail off the rebate forms and accoutrements for money back on my desktop PC/LCD monitor/all-in-one printer. I bought a new desktop for the processing speed, as opposed to the portability of a laptop; the reason for purchasing a new computer is that, with my promotion, I had to give my laptop and backup desktop PC back to the company.
Speaking of my promotion, I have been two days at my new post, and it is already going quite well. I always knew it would be pleasant to be able to work without the phone ringing every few minutes and interrupting me with unlooked-for surprises. I've already made modification requested by the business team to the procedures that gather data from our plethora of databases and display these results as a PDF report retrievable from a certain website of ours. And these modifications were successful. I like the flexibility of liquid work hours. If I want to, and I do, I can arrive at work around 7:00 and leave at 4:00 instead of 5:00, thus enjoying a longer evening and more daylight in my life. I suck at waking up in the morning, but I do it anyway, and wish that I could handle waking up even earlier so that I can get the day started and then finished sooner.
Apparently the IRS doesn't think that 50% of my paycheck is enough. Gotta fork some more over.
T u e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 1 s t
9:08PM |
Jumping Here And There
y doctor must thing I am fat. For the first time in my life, I've been told to lose weight. I gained 30 pounds in eleven months and I guess this alarmed her. To me, 180 pounds is not overweight for my height, plus I have to consider that last December/early January I was very sick and not really eating for a period of a couple weeks. As mentioned earlier, I would like to redistribute some pounds from my belly to my muscles, but I don't want to go below 170.
I started my new position at work, and it is quite nice to be able to work without the phone ringing and interrupting me.
Today I was scouring the internet for a bagpipe mp3 or wav file to use in one of my Macromedia Director projects, and though I did not find the kind of tune I was looking for I was rewarded when I stumbled upon a website for the Mark Saul band, which is described as Celtic techno - don't think repetitive dance beat but rather a digitally enhanced, electronica accompanied bagpipe tune. I love their stuff; give an ear to their audio samples.
With the new television season underway, I thought that the tv would be a big distraction. However, the only good show on is Lost. I was watching 24 for the first few episodes at the begin of the season, but the series has become really boring and silly to the point where I can't stand it. I was watching last night's episode in the gym and did not feel like I was missing out on anything by walking out around 09:40 and missing the end. The whole show is so shallow: it's created in such a way that you can jump in on any episode and grasp what is going on... it's like everything else that has gone on before is irrelevant.
S u n d a y , F e b r u a r y 1 2 t h
10:33PM |
Partridge In A Poe Tree
e is well known for his dark and eerie stories, but I think it is unfortunate that Edgar Allan Poe is not more widely regarded for his poetry. One night before bed a couple weekends ago, I began reading some of Poe's poetry in the back of my copy of his collected works. I was familiar with his two well-known poems - The Raven and, to a lesser extent, Annabel Lee - as well as Lenore, but had overlooked the rest of the verse penned by Poe. Continuing my reading tonight I was delighted to discover the beauty of his poetry, particularly in his choice of words to convey emotion. If you are unfamiliar with Poe's poetry, I encourage you to look up some of his verse, and I imagine many have not become acquainted with Poe's poetry because they don't want to be associated with stereotypical Poe-reading melancholics. I have another one of his poems over to the right on this webpage; I decided to go with The Haunted Palace this time. I hope you enjoy it.
F r i d a y , F e b r u a r y 1 0 t h
11:51PM |
Week In Review
y week in review, starting with Sunday.
Sunday: I had to work Sunday morning. Watched the Super Bowl that evening.
Monday: Worked all day long on a project for a class.
Tuesday: Work and school.
Wednesday: Work and school.
Thursday: Work and school. I hate computers. I am a slave to computers. It is encouraged.
Friday: Off from work today. Threw stuff around and broke things.
I don't know what I was angry about. I think I am losing my mind. I'm going to go to sleep, because I can't do anything that would get me into trouble while I'm sleeping, right? At least I had an hour a couple nights this week to get a couple pages of leisure reading accomplished. God is good; I am wretched. I don't deserve all the good things and mercies I receive from Him.
W e d n e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 8 t h
10:15PM |
Waters Of Baptism
rom an old posting by Jonathan Barlow, via Richard, Martin Luther's flood prayer:
Almighty eternal God, who according to your righteous judgment did condemn the unbelieving world through the flood and in your great mercy did preserve believing Noah and his family, and who did drown hardhearted Pharaoh with all his host in the Red Sea and did lead your people Israel through the same sea on dry ground, thereby prefiguring this bath of holy baptism, and who through the baptism of your dear Child, our Lord Jesus Christ, have consecrated and set apart the Jordan and all water as a salutary flood and a rich and full washing away of sins: We pray through your same unbounded mercy that you will graciously behold _____ _____ _____ and bless him with true faith in the Spirit so that by means of this saving flood all that has been born in him from Adam and which he himself has added thereto may be drowned in him and engulfed, and that he may be sundered from the number of the unbelieving, preserved dry and secure in the holy ark of your Church, serve your Name at all times fervent in spirit and joyful in hope, so that with all believers he may attain eternal life according to your promise; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This is a beautiful prayer, and in fine words illustrates the symbolic predecessors to baptism: Noah's Flood, the Red Sea, and the Jordan River. These comparisons bring out two aspects of baptism. First, baptism is both a blessing and damning: it is deliverance to God's chosen people, and the curse of death to those who cast it aside and trample it underfoot. Second, baptism is a means of separation, as in distinguishing - or a cleansing, if you will (separating the pure from the impure. It divides and defines God's people from the damned; like Noah and the Israelites fleeing Pharaoh's chariots, it puts us on this side of the curse. Yet, lest we be tempted to think that baptism saves us, was it really the water that saved Noah and the Israelites, the fact of the waters' interaction with those people? No, they were chosen and delivered from a hopeless state entirely by an act of God, and declared their faith in the Lord by their behavior in response to the water gathered and poured by the Lord. In this way, the presence of the water - the baptism - was/is important, and I would contend that it is important as a test of sorts rather than an instantaneous mode of salvation.
2:36PM |
Cartoon Comment
egarding the Danish cartoons that angered the Muslims, one of the best statements by a Muslim that I have read is surprising for two reasons: 1) it came from a youngster (15 years old) and 2) it was found on the BBC website. It still presupposes that what the cartoonist and the publishers printed was wrong - which to me is not black and white. However, I believe that his words are good for us to consider:
"We should not even pay attention to the cartoons. This caricaturist is an artist. He could have used his art in a much better way. If he had reflected a little more, he could have drawn something for the benefit of Christians. Then Christians could have come and said, 'You did something good.'"
Meisam, Iran
T u e s d a y , F e b r u a r y 7 t h
9:54PM |
A List
don't have much time for smalltalk right now, so instead I'll make a list: things that I like right now.
Things that I like right now:
1. Hebrews 10
2. Beef roasts for $1.99/lb
3. Programs that I write actually working
4. Everything about tacos
5. A living man who wants to attend his own funeral before he dies.
6. Spring training begins in about a month, which means that the fantasy baseball draft is coming up.
7. James Dvorak's incredible new portfolio site: Litfuse Design.
8. Underworld: Evolution
9. Director projects are complete up to date.
10. Any free time I can get.
T h u r s d a y , F e b r u a r y 2 n d
8:42AM |
Basketball Feat
high school girl in New York scored a girls' high school record 113 points in a basketball game. I like her name: Epiphanny Prince. Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie once scored 101 points in a half, back in high school.
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