While our pastor is in Poland, Croatia, and elsewhere with a team from Prepare International ministering the gospel in Eastern Europe, I have the privilege of writing his Monday Morning Review.

So, if you get a minute, check out On Courage, Missions and Other Cool Stuff.

Earlier this week in What About Infants?, I directed my readers to TC’s post When Infants Die: Hell? Heaven? or Limbo?. As predicted, it generated a healthy discussion. I can’t definitively say who’s right or wrong, but I wonder if we shouldn’t be more worried about adults than the children.

Jesus said,

Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3 (NASB)

I have a strong suspicion that the children will be fine. We, on the other hand, seem to have a harder time getting it.

I think we get all worked up over sin and original sin, when our accountability begins, right and wrong, and the like. And that is the very problem.

God’s a pretty smart Dude, and when He forbade us from eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it was for our own good. He knew we would spend the rest of our lives worrying about whether we did good or evil. If not because of our own shortcomings, then because the enemy would beat us over the head with it.

And as if that wasn’t enough, now we’ve got to worry about whether our kids will be held accountable. It’s too much to worry about. And God knew it.

That’s where we go wrong, in our need (or desire) to know. We were better off before the knowledge of good and evil, innocent like a child.

I just wanted to share this sermon on walking with the Holy Spirit. It is one of the best sermons on the Holy Spirit I’ve heard in a long time (and from a Baptist preacher, no less).

I think our mindset is backward. We think we (1) meet Jesus, (2) get saved, and (3) progress into the things of the Spirit, when it is the power of the Holy Spirit that can enable our walk with Jesus from the beginning if we allow it.

Disclaimer: We attended this church (Beltway Park Baptist Church) for a few years, and absolutely loved it. We attended through a satellite campus which closed, so we found a local church. Enjoy!

Beltway Media Player

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Note: the conference referenced is the Global Awakening School of Healing here and here (which my wife is actually attending as I’m writing).

I didn’t start this one (I did start this one), but TC has a more specific discussion on what happens to infants who die prematurely. I expect it will generate an interesting discussion. Head on over and share your thoughts.

The NLT Interlinear is now online. I just signed up (which is a short and painless process). It looks great. Check it out. (Old Testament interlinear is not up yet.)

NLT Interlinear

• Announcement on NLT Blog.
• Announcement on NLT Study Bible Blog.

I want to plug all veterans and say, “Thank you so much.”

My father is a veteran of the war in Vietnam, my grandfather of World War II. Both survived the wars they fought in, but yesterday, while attending a funeral (incidentally of another veteran), a realization hit me that I can’t let go: it’s not only those who die in the line of duty who sacrifice their lives for freedom.

I don’t mean that because of the risks involved and assumed in battle, I mean that very literally. All who live to be called “veterans” sacrifice a life without battle scars for an altogether different battle-scarred life. If not physically, certainly emotionally.

I don’t in anyway want to diminish those who literally lose their lives in battle;  they should rightly be remembered and honored, much moreso than we do now. But the survivors who return home rarely return home the same. They and their families need ministry also.

I don’t mean this as a heavy read, more as an opportunity for the body of Christ to be ministers of healing.

Have a great Veterans Day!

Beauty of the Bible was recently listed on an altogether different type of blog list, the Texas Bar Blog’s list of Texas lawyer blogs. It’s obviously not a list of exclusively legal or law-related blogs, but it is a list made up exclusively of blogs published by Texas lawyers.

There are also humor, food, news and other non-legal blogs. If you need a little more to read, you might check it out.

Following yesterday’s 5 Sources of Bad Theology, I thought I’d mention a few buzz words that we need to re-define. And not so much re-define as just take back. But here goes:

5. Moral/Morality – Despite efforts of organizations like the Moral Majority, the fight for “morality” is a lost cause. Why? Because it labels everything and everyone else “immoral,” or worse yet, “amoral.” And when you do, someone who was moral does something immoral and tries to explain why the immoral act was actually amoral and it’s a great big morality mess. Let the philosophers have it back, and let’s worry about changing hearts rather than changing behavior.

4. Born Again – I know Jesus said it, and I believe it is absolutely necessary, but we Christians should really evaluate whether we are indeed “born again.” Lest we be born again, we cannot enter the kingdom of God, and lest we be born of water and of the Spirit, we cannot. Going to Church doesn’t make you born again. I went to church for years completely ignorant of this, as do many, I’m sure.

3. Believer – I have many friends who are “believers,” but very few of us actually believe the same thing. “She’s a believer, but her husband is not…,” “Is he a believer?,” “Are her parent’s believers?” Sound familiar? “Believer” is not an item on a checklist to be checked off thereby making someone okay and/or acceptable. And what if your believer daughter is dating a believer boyfriend, but he “believes” at a church that belongs to a differently believing denomination. Do you know who, often times, most need ministering? Believers! Why? Because they don’t really believe, or they don’t know what they believe. Believe me!

2. Pray/Prayer/Praying – How often do you hear, “Pray for so-and-so…,” or “You can be in prayer for…,” or “How can we pray about…”? How often do those needs really get prayed for. I think this has become a very clever, religious way of venting, or worse, gossiping. I am a part of a study group that has determined not to let real prayer requests/needs go idly by. If you ask any of us for prayer, you’re getting it. Right then. Right there. Be it on the phone, in the grocery store, at the ball game, or wherever. Plus, I’m forgetful, so I have to do it right then or it won’t get done.

1. Evangelicals – Can I be perfectly honest? “Evangelicals” who evangelize everything and anything but the gospel really bug me. If you evangelize a political cause, you are political, not evangelical. If you evangelize a political cause and mask it as a religious one, you are clever, but still political. If you evanglize yourself (other than to promote your own little Bible blog), you should be ex-communicated. Why the “Moral Born Again Believers for Life” should take a stance on interstate highway funding is beyond me. But, it does suggest that they might be mildly more political than evangelical. So, let’s leave the “evangelical” stuff to those who actually preach the gospel, shall we?.

My readers know I do my best to bring the body of Christ together rather than to divide it, but there are still sources within the body of which we need to beware and be aware. Like where we develop our theology, doctrine, and overall belief system. Might I just suggest “5 Sources of Bad Theology”:

5. Television – I don’t mean TV preachers (although that is certainly a potential source, but, on the whole, they’re not bad), I mean television that is loosely about Christianity. And I love it. I watch the History and History International channels almost religously, but I rarely make it through a program without hearing a narrator say something like, “…as Christians believe.” No wonder people think we’re nuts.

4. Bumper Stickers – Stuff like “My boss is a Jewish Carpenter” always makes me chuckle. Really? Mine isn’t. My Lord and Savior might have been a carpenter or mason, but I don’t think we know that for sure. His earthly step-dad was, but I think it is pretty clear from scripture that Jesus was a rabbi. Now He’s our High Priest and a whole host of other really cool labels, but not “Carpenter.” How about this one, “The Best Vitamin for Christians is B1″? Shouldn’t that be the prescription for “non-Christians”?

3. T-shirts – see above.

2. Blogs – Gotcha! I don’t mean our blogs of course, I mean bloggers who set up straw-man Christian positions to argue against. A loving God wouldn’t do this, this contradicts that, yada, yada, yada. You know what I mean. And shame on us Christians for taking the bait. Arguing to disprove a lie is not the same as arguing from truth.

1. Christian Music – Now, admittedly, I listen. Our church’s worship service is contemporary, and I thoroughly enjoy it and approve of it. But, I don’t think I would trust my child’s Christian education to many contemporary Christian lyricists. I won’t offend by direct quotation, but I’m sure you know what I mean.

The official BOB two-year anniversary is tomorrow 11/07/09, but I will be working a spiritual freedom retreat away from computers, so I will just have to solicit pats on the back today.

Here is what has happened over the last couple of years:

My Top 5 Posts (# of views as of today):

1. The Lord is My Shepherd (2,780)
2. What Makes A Bible Translation Authoritative? My Top 5 (1,060)
3. What’s in a Name? On Ishmael and Isaac (983)
4. A Week withthe NLT Study Bible (941)
5. How I Mark My Bible (768), and

• Oh, Crap! That Was Funny (soon to overtake them all, 649 in 3 weeks).

Absolute Must-Read Post: 10 Things Churches Do Right.

My Personal Favorite (in recent memory): Don’t Bite Your Friends.

Best Anniversary Post (besides this one): One Year Anniversary.

Most Comments on a Post: When You Die, Where Will You Go? Are You Sure? (55).

Total Number of Posts: 257.

Total Number of Comments: 1870.

It’s been a great year. Thanks for all of your support.