The Martyrs Den

Posting on Schleitheim.com

2009-05-23T15:10:00Z

Kimbrah and I have moved our blogging over to Schleitheim.com. While still working out a lot of kinks, this place will serve quite a few purposes. In the near future I will put together a true "About" page that will give more explanation. We still love lifewithchrist.org, especially the wonderful people, many of which have become friends. Hope to see you all over at the new place.

Kumbuka Africa items for sale

2009-02-09T01:43:00Z

I've opened up an online store to help raise money. For what? Well...

I have been very quiet on the blog front lately. Most of that is a result of the fourth youngster in our house. It's been a wild ride so far and I'm still adjusting to certain things. But, the blog silence does not mean little has been happening in our little sphere.

If you follow me via Twitter, you'll have a good idea on what's going on. And while I will get into more details at another time, we are striving towards working with Wycliffe Bible Translators. This is an immense deal for us, and we are taking things in baby steps, and trying to gather as much information as we can along the way. We have the long term aspiration of my working full time in the realm of translation for those who have no Scriptures in their tongue. We are also hoping to get involved in some short term work, possibly this year.

The kicker in this is our target region: eastern Africa. From the numbers I've seen there is a major need for translation work there and would also offer numerous opportunities for Kimbrah to get involved within any community. Again, more details will come in time.

We are only in the preliminary stages right now. We are still in the process of talking with the Wycliffe rep's. So, only God knows how this will all end up. But what is very clear is how our eyes seem to be focusing in on this. I am extremely excited about the prospects...and scared as well.

I know we will need to eventually be involved in raising funds, petitioning the local body to support us and so forth. So I am starting early by creating and selling designed shirts and items having to do with Africa. The first installment is called Kumbuka Africa. I am working up a few other ideas to add to the items, country specific. Feel free to check out the online shop. All profits will go towards Wycliffe related endeavors. So you can consider it a donation.

We know this is a long road and are taking things relatively slow. We are keeping our eyes wide open for what the Lord seems to be doing in and around our lives. So far I can see a door opened for us to Africa, and we are starting to step through. Keep us in your prayers; there are so many things to be done should things start to truly take action.

The Old Testament as Myth

2009-01-13T23:32:00Z

Despite the reliance of the OT for its history in the Church, Christians read and use the OT as mythology not unlike the stories from Ancient Greece and Rome.

Now before you start with the sighs and eyes rolling around, check out the title of this post again: "The Old Testament as Myth." That's different than "is myth." What do I mean by that?

It's simple really. Practically speaking Christians tend to use the Old Testament for the stories we find in the massive collection, and then we use those stories to develop or support an ethical and moral standard. For parents, think about what you read to your kids. Tonight I was reading a a volume of a Bible Story Book set to our three older ones; the littlest one just isn't in the listening mood quite yet. This volume was about every child's favorite choice, David and Goliath.

As I finished up I was struck by how much the story sounded just like the Ancient Greek and Roman myths I've studied for years. Being a classical lover I have taken a lot of time to familiarize myself with the ancient stories that tried to give answers for all the questions about the world and people in general. And when you read this Old Testament stories—creation, the flood, the creation of many languages, Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt, David and Goliath, Daniel, Esther, and so forth—at least I cannot help but understand completely when someone considers these stories myths and legends. Yet that is an idea the Church in general, at least the conservative end, battles against. They want to ensure everyone that the Old Testament is God Breathed, accurate and infallible history.

But despite such a desire, for so long the stories of the Old Testament have been treated as nothing more than myths and legends usable for ethical and moral teaching. In a very practical way, the history is treated no differently than the myths of Ancient Greece and Rome. We'll read the story of David and Goliath to our kids in a very simple way, according to their level of understanding, and then sum it all up into an ethical package along the lines of, "See, we just need to trust in God and not in our own strength. He takes care of us."

In reality I could have garnered that message from any number of Greek and Roman tales. And I could do it without having to then explain to our kids that it's not ok to have or use a sling shot. Even though he didn't use a sword he still used an act of violence to vanquish the enemy and that is not alright. But that goes on a tangent from there.

And consider this: do you treat the Old Testament the same way you do the New Testament? Do you sum up the teachings and work of Christ into some generalized moral lesson? Or are you a little more serious about Christ's teachings and commands? Or the travels and activities of Paul? Are they merely ethical guides?

My point is simply this: whether the Old Testament is accurate, reliable, God Breathed history or not, the text gets treated and used as myth and legend by the Church. And that is very easy to do. The text is written no differently than myths and legends from various cultures. But is that good or bad? Is that in and of itself right or wrong? Personally speaking, I have no problem with that idea. If we found out beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Old Testament was actually a collection of mythological tales created and told by the Hebrew people over the centuries, I would be fine with that. I consider even today the New Testament as more historically viable and important than the Old Testament. But that's just me.

Florida Gators, 2009 BCS and AP National Champions

2009-01-10T18:37:00Z

I've debated writing this post, gone back and forth, and ultimately decided on posting it. Careful. It's a bit long and has a little rant to it.

I have been unwaveringly happy since Thursday night, the night my Florida Gators took control of the most prolific offence in college football history, shutting Oklahoma down completely. What many of us had been saying for months now became painfully obvious to Texas and Oklahoma supporters: they had not experienced a defence like Florida's. The incredible skilled coupled with amazing speed revealed how Big 12 defences mirrored swisscheese that's been left out on the table all day.

There are so many debates going on right now trying to figure out who the real national champion is. Some say Utah because they went undefeated. Some say Texas. Others USC. Others stick with Florida.

Amidst all of this subjectivity are the irrefutable facts: Florida won the BCS championship game over Oklahoma; they were ranked #1 in the BCS poll on Friday; they were ranked #1 in the AP poll on Friday. What cannot be argued is that the University of Florida Gators are the 2009 BCS National Champions as well as the AP National Champions.

Every year there is controversy. This year there seems to have been more than in previous years, but there is always a team or two that makes a case for why they either should be in the title game to begin with or should be given the #1 ranking regardless of the title game.

The BCS has been around for 11 years. I have been an advocate for a playoff system from the beginning. But that is simply not going to happen any time soon. But to all of those who say, "Sorry Gators. Utah is the true National Champion," or "No, USC," or "Uh Uh! Texas": who took the top spot in the AP?

The AP has absolutely no association to the BCS. The AP voters can vote for whoever they want. And this year they recognized Florida. Utah was given the #2 spot, then USC and Texas.

Despite what you and me might say about who we believe and feel is or should be the National Champion, we do not decide (unless you happen to be a voter). We have no say. We only have our own opinion which is inevitably biased (if you're like me, that is). So what you cannot say is Utah is the National Champion or USC. Well, you can say it; there just won't be any substance to it.

There are reasons the AP media voters chose to vote how they did. I did not watch every game. All AP voters don't watch every game. But they do watch far more games than I do. I've seen Utah, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Penn State, Texas Tech, Boise State and USC play. The best two teams of that batch, in my opinion of course, were USC and Florida. Undefeated means nothing to me if you did it against MWC opponents and you had only one difficult out-of-conference game which happened to be the bowl game. Even if we had a playoff in place Utah would not get past Florida, USC, Texas or even Oklahoma.

Utah fans and supporters: I mean no disrespect but I am not the only one who feels that way. In fact, my opinion doesn't even matter. In the world of college football today only the voters matter (unless you're talking about conference championship games where it's the record alone, with the silly Big 12 as the exception). And you don't even need to focus on the BCS; the AP voters saw Florida as better than the rest. Last year they saw LSU as the best. The year before, Florida. Before that Texas and then USC. And that last one, if you'll recall, was the year three undefeated teams went into the bowl season and Auburn was left out of the BCS title picture. Even after USC won their game and Auburn theirs, the AP still saw USC as the champs.

Maybe some day in the future we will have a playoff. But the only thing a playoff would have cleared up this year was that Utah, Boise State and Penn State should be watching on TV with the rest of us.

But let's be very clear about this playoff thing. Even if we had an 8 team playoff, because they'd be selected by ranking there would still be tremendous controversy and people upset and complaining and protesting. We're never going to have a perfect system in college football. And while the BCS is worse, in my opinion, than what we had pre-BCS, this is what we have now. In order to stop supporting the BCS you have to at minimum only care about the AP poll but truly would have to stop watching altogether.

I don't care about the BCS when all's said and done. I am a Gators fan through the tall mountain times of Wuerffel and the low valleys of Zook. Whatever the rankings, whatever the record, I bleed orange and blue.

And today, tomorrow, and until someone else takes the title from our hands, Gators are the National Champions.

Elliott, Saint, McCully, Fleming, and Youderian on 8 January

2009-01-10T10:53:00Z

I totally missed this on Thursday, the date of the martyrdom.

On 8 January 1956, Jim Elliott, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian were killed. To remember well, check out the piece by Fred Sanders of Scriptorium Daily. He remembered. On Thursday. 8 January. I didn't.