tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73825342024-03-18T20:14:27.740-04:00John PiippoThoughts about God, culture, and the Real Jesus.John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comBlogger7057125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-52921528157431385512024-03-18T20:13:00.000-04:002024-03-18T20:13:56.215-04:00Eugene Peterson - This Video Restores Pastoral Sanity<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LaMgIvbXqSk" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Pastors and Christian leaders - I watch this video 4-5 times a year, to regain perspective. </span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-89607196496757742412024-03-17T07:59:00.001-04:002024-03-17T07:59:45.788-04:00Dr. John Piippo - How God Changes the Human Heart<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/nnXczO4nXXk?si=h4uTbrtDbz0HP3Pv" frameborder="0"></iframe>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-52562706215276647262024-03-17T07:54:00.000-04:002024-03-17T07:54:53.860-04:00To Experience God’s Presence, Abide in Christ <div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJvFNyvSGwMn7Yd6qmFXVkNC9CPsm0Rvbh98Et1VU1MHQeukgA52NjECNAzAoEXHvii-Pipa6xjXItPZYodV48Uf2oBccZ7TFsjXFNsNzmbVRnWlBLYGz2nCTscxQG9A9nE_eeg/s2048/Pear.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1354" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJvFNyvSGwMn7Yd6qmFXVkNC9CPsm0Rvbh98Et1VU1MHQeukgA52NjECNAzAoEXHvii-Pipa6xjXItPZYodV48Uf2oBccZ7TFsjXFNsNzmbVRnWlBLYGz2nCTscxQG9A9nE_eeg/w248-h374/Pear.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">(Pear tree in my neighbor's back yard.)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">This is from my book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=john+piippo&i=stripbooks&crid=BGKWK6F4142U&sprefix=john+pii%2Caps%2C134&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8">Leading the Presence-Driven Church</a></i>.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">We have an old pear tree in our back yard. As I bite into one of these pears I tell Linda, “This is the fruit of the gods!” The pears grow on the branches. The branches are attached to the trunk of the tree. This connection allows the nutrients of the trunk to flow into the branches. To produce pears, the branch just needs to stay connected. It needs to remain, or abide, in the trunk of the tree. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">To be, in the present moment, attached to Jesus is to abide in him. The word can be translated “to remain,” or “to dwell.” </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">To dwell is to truly be with someone. “Abide” is an experiential word, describing a lingering, slow-cooked, togetherness. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The Greek word is <i>menon</i>. It has the sense of tarrying, hanging around, “to be kept continually.” Menon is a <i>kairos </i>word. It connotes, “Slow down, spend the day with me. Kick off your shoes. Here’s a cup of coffee. Let’s recline in the fireplace room, and be together.” </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><i>Menon</i> is a being-word, more than a doing-word. It is a presence word. <i>Menon</i> is active, alert, focused, and engaged. It has the thickness and intensity of a lover, with their beloved. To abide with someone is to full-being be with them, interact with them, and meet with them. It is to hang out together, with cell phones off and stowed away.</span></span>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-39252559647417653222024-03-15T06:00:00.002-04:002024-03-15T06:00:00.133-04:00Character Vs. Reputation<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGfAFIv8cSAyavxcyIW_InpV5wvae9L6cUtJdHvZil1DzoSU4dcZ9MINLccBWfZci7hWcd9thcj1bfZCC2cEuZ0xTNe9GmfJTVKmFk4c4JZSKO67Sz12PkW7eoM18A7gp-NUIW0t92vpUlCv6voRTiPCftxmc1XTCJNFqAVTQ3i4HbbOhv2EpzRQ" style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1440" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGfAFIv8cSAyavxcyIW_InpV5wvae9L6cUtJdHvZil1DzoSU4dcZ9MINLccBWfZci7hWcd9thcj1bfZCC2cEuZ0xTNe9GmfJTVKmFk4c4JZSKO67Sz12PkW7eoM18A7gp-NUIW0t92vpUlCv6voRTiPCftxmc1XTCJNFqAVTQ3i4HbbOhv2EpzRQ" width="320" /></a></p><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> (Sunrise in the park, across the street from our house.)</span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">I have seen websites advertising ways to clean up your reputation. You may have an online reputation that is less than marketable. These websites promise to sanctify "you" by removing your sins (real or rumored) and producing a shiny, sparkling, attractive "you." This is called "<a href="https://www.reputationmanagement.com/">reputation</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><a href="https://www.reputationmanagement.com/"> management</a>." I kid you not.</span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Your sordid reputation can be manipulated, for a cost. But what about your character?</span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Money cannot help you here. Your reputation, which money can airbrush, is not your character. Your character is about the real "you." Money cannot change that unless, perhaps, you begin sacrificially, and from a heart of compassion, giving it away to the poor. </span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The real "you" includes who you are when offline. </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">This is what God cares about. God develops character, not reputation. </span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Everyone has a reputation. Jesus did. Isn't he just the "carpenter's son?" "He's from Nazareth, right?" </span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Reputation may align with character. You may have a reputation of being a kind person. If you are kind, in character, which means kind at home, kind on the road, kind in the workplace, kind to your spouse, kind when alone, then your reputation of being kind aligns with who you truly are.</span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Several years ago I was one of the presenters at an ecumenical prayer gathering. As I entered the auditorium a Roman Catholic leader approached me. He said he was surprised to see me here, because he had heard that I hate Roman Catholics. I told him that was untrue. I shared how one of our city's priests, with whom I was friends, had invited me to speak at the annual Unity Service. I have no idea where he got that from. Such is the nature of "reputation."</span><br /><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Forget about what people repute you to be. Focus on connecting to Jesus, who is forming himself in you. Grow and mature into Christ. Let God take care of whatever follows.</span></span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-73903764049656248092024-03-14T20:23:00.002-04:002024-03-14T20:24:46.453-04:00An Epidemic of Childhood Mental Illness<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJjiSsYDeOULj52r-bx5fK3oLu149q0dJPy78Hu-NiUS_v6i9fvZfVGK87b0abJc6t3RToaOVnt-7o11lasq5U3y8qkMHaqfvUTs95rDu1ZhyphenhyphenNJessb6hm-PMlPYzTB3SxiN7m2b1WQS1iFiF53_aggB4FQSQJDRkLTmUzD0He9jdHzA3aIZR3w/s800/Haidt%20Amxious.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJjiSsYDeOULj52r-bx5fK3oLu149q0dJPy78Hu-NiUS_v6i9fvZfVGK87b0abJc6t3RToaOVnt-7o11lasq5U3y8qkMHaqfvUTs95rDu1ZhyphenhyphenNJessb6hm-PMlPYzTB3SxiN7m2b1WQS1iFiF53_aggB4FQSQJDRkLTmUzD0He9jdHzA3aIZR3w/s320/Haidt%20Amxious.webp" width="320" /></a></div><br /> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div></div></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I am a Johnathan Haidt fan. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Haidt's </span><i style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Coddling-American-Mind-Intentions-Generation/dp/0735224919/ref=pd_bxgy_img_d_sccl_2/137-7327088-2389153?pd_rd_w=Etsn3&content-id=amzn1.sym.2b132e63-5dcd-4ba1-be9f-9e044543d59f&pf_rd_p=2b132e63-5dcd-4ba1-be9f-9e044543d59f&pf_rd_r=G3PWDA4562E9EBEAWE3V&pd_rd_wg=zvE5z&pd_rd_r=58b16189-daba-403b-ac2c-dca1a0364b3d&pd_rd_i=0735224919&psc=1">The Coddling of the American Mind</a></i><span style="font-family: arial;"> is one of the most important books I have read in the past ten years.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">His new book comes out March 26. I'll be reading it, immediately, with anticipation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Look at the blurb on the book, plus s</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ome reviews.</span></p><h1 class="a-spacing-none a-text-normal" id="title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 400; line-height: 36px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span class="a-size-extra-large celwidget" data-cel-widget="productTitle" data-csa-c-id="kmk1n0-kfb7x1-60ehub-xtbknh" id="productTitle" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 36px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.v8yHXjrkjHQj2wUrxVTCnHc1BWxUQp-QE_MU05-SXN_9v5bG7su5i2kcZexjOqy9lhbT9xzf4_jwh8vsJKrIoZnMILSWTgO6HfIFIXJ5nT-Lpu9TlMJu9-b3FHoLXPDx7qLMGECLTLxB8bO8Wa5IVqrh24CpI0RVyUrDL7kNiZ1uvgGlLSrK_rVPz30FGc3tKP8enwWc0T_lP7MD8tqRzyj9yCInwgP5SIx2vKbi1SY.OIOlNtGDMe07kLmpnjRSFadUxHP8I2NbVON7xROtR8I&qid=1710461214&sr=1-1">The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood </a></i></span></span></h1><h1 class="a-spacing-none a-text-normal" id="title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-weight: 400; line-height: 36px; margin-bottom: 0px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span class="a-size-extra-large celwidget" data-cel-widget="productTitle" data-csa-c-id="kmk1n0-kfb7x1-60ehub-xtbknh" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 36px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"><i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Anxious-Generation-Rewiring-Childhood-Epidemic/dp/0593655036/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.v8yHXjrkjHQj2wUrxVTCnHc1BWxUQp-QE_MU05-SXN_9v5bG7su5i2kcZexjOqy9lhbT9xzf4_jwh8vsJKrIoZnMILSWTgO6HfIFIXJ5nT-Lpu9TlMJu9-b3FHoLXPDx7qLMGECLTLxB8bO8Wa5IVqrh24CpI0RVyUrDL7kNiZ1uvgGlLSrK_rVPz30FGc3tKP8enwWc0T_lP7MD8tqRzyj9yCInwgP5SIx2vKbi1SY.OIOlNtGDMe07kLmpnjRSFadUxHP8I2NbVON7xROtR8I&qid=1710461214&sr=1-1">Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness</a></i></span></span></h1><div><span class="a-size-extra-large celwidget" data-cel-widget="productTitle" data-csa-c-id="kmk1n0-kfb7x1-60ehub-xtbknh" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 36px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="a-size-extra-large celwidget" data-cel-widget="productTitle" data-csa-c-id="kmk1n0-kfb7x1-60ehub-xtbknh" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 36px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">After more than a decade of stability or improvement, the mental health of adolescents plunged in the early 2010s. Rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide rose sharply, more than doubling on most measures. Why?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In </span><span class="a-text-italic" face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic;">The Anxious Generation</span><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the facts about the epidemic of teen mental illness that hit many countries at the same time. He then investigates the nature of childhood, including why children need play and independent exploration to mature into competent, thriving adults. Haidt shows how the “play-based childhood” began to decline in the 1980s, and how it was finally wiped out by the arrival of the “phone-based childhood” in the early 2010s. He presents more than a dozen mechanisms by which this “great rewiring of childhood” has interfered with children’s social and neurological development, covering everything from sleep deprivation to attention fragmentation, addiction, loneliness, social contagion, social comparison, and perfectionism. He explains why social media damages girls more than boys and why boys have been withdrawing from the real world into the virtual world, with disastrous consequences for themselves, their families, and their societies.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Most important, Haidt issues a clear call to action. He diagnoses the “collective action problems” that trap us, and then proposes four simple rules that might set us free. He describes steps that parents, teachers, schools, tech companies, and governments can take to end the epidemic of mental illness and restore a more humane childhood.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />Haidt has spent his career speaking truth backed by data in the most difficult landscapes—communities polarized by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the public health emergency faced by Gen Z. We cannot afford to ignore his findings about protecting our children—and ourselves—from the psychological damage of a phone-based life.</span></span></div><div><span class="a-size-extra-large celwidget" data-cel-widget="productTitle" data-csa-c-id="kmk1n0-kfb7x1-60ehub-xtbknh" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 36px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;"><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; line-height: 32px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Editorial Reviews</h2><div class="a-section a-spacing-small a-padding-base" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 10px 14px;"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 24px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 4px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Review</span></h3><div class="a-section a-spacing-small a-padding-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 6px 10px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">“Jonathan Haidt is a modern-day prophet, disguised as a psychologist. In this book, he’s back to warn us of the dangers of a phone-based childhood. He points the way forward to a brighter, stronger future for us all.” </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">—Susan Cain, #1 </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">New York Times</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> bestselling author of </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Bittersweet</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> and </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Quiet<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“An urgent and provocative read on why so many kids are not okay—and how to course correct. Jonathan Haidt makes a powerful case that the shift from play-based to phone-based childhoods is wreaking havoc on mental health and social development. Even if you’re not ready to ban smartphones until high school, this book will challenge you to rethink how we nurture the potential in our kids and prepare them for the world.” </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">—Adam Grant, #1 </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">New York Times </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">bestselling author of </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Hidden Potential</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> and </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Think Again</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">, and host of the TED podcast </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Re:Thinking<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“This is a crucial read for parents of children of elementary school age and beyond, who face the rapidly changing landscape of childhood. Haidt lays out problems but also solutions for making a better digital life with kids.” </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">—Emily Oster, </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">New York Times</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> bestselling author of </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Expecting Better<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“Every single parent needs to stop what they are doing and read this book immediately. Jonathan Haidt is the most important psychologist in the world today, and this is the most important book on the topic that’s reshaping your child’s life right now.” </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">—Johann Hari, author of </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Stolen Focus<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />“This book poses a challenge that will determine the shape of the rest of the century. Jonathan Haidt shows us how we’ve arrived at this point of crisis with technology and the next generation. This book does not merely stand athwart the iPhone yelling ‘Stop!’ Haidt provides research-tested yet practical counsel for parents, communities, houses of worship, and governments about how things could be different. I plan to give this book to as many people as I can, while praying that we all have the wisdom to ponder and then to act.” </span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">—Russell Moore, editor in chief of </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;">Christianity Today</span></div></div></span></span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-31313915330374752232024-03-14T19:50:00.000-04:002024-03-14T19:50:15.512-04:00Desire Goodness, and Favor Will Find You<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0Ar2mc3pPBx3vb1TNEYX8C_H3T4h-ZLPX8Y5F2uPFXJYy_Mfi_p2uHIXv6jsiLe0jideNCxucDfApN3sSUsadfKPm1M_NyMTaaNsl-L-vRWwjlXvoHDCqOahvvu6ICYbYf6h0IAkOPNF2RHkd5JvIm5Ig7Qvy3Jswb6nXjcVqsCt3IdIGIvgN5Q" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="280" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0Ar2mc3pPBx3vb1TNEYX8C_H3T4h-ZLPX8Y5F2uPFXJYy_Mfi_p2uHIXv6jsiLe0jideNCxucDfApN3sSUsadfKPm1M_NyMTaaNsl-L-vRWwjlXvoHDCqOahvvu6ICYbYf6h0IAkOPNF2RHkd5JvIm5Ig7Qvy3Jswb6nXjcVqsCt3IdIGIvgN5Q" width="320" /></a></div><br /> (Which one is the world's most interesting man?)</div><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">It's Thursday evening, and I am in Proverbs chapter 11.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">7:30 PM.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Every proverb is a meal, to be slowly digested, and assimilated into the heart until it becomes the heart.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Here are some thoughts on 11:27. Which <span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">says,</span><br /><br />
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>Whoever seeks good finds favor, </i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>but evil comes to one who searches for it.</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">If you have to search for favor, then you are on the lowest level of influence. Stagnate on this level, and bad things happen. You become, to others, an irritant, an annoyance.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Seek goodness, not reward. Seek goodness, not acknowledgement. <br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Stop eyeballing favor! It's like growing spiritual fruit. Do not <i>try</i> to do this. Instead, focus on the connection.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The proverb says, seek goodness, not favor. Focus on that. Don't look to make favor happen. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Stay attached to goodness. <br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">A heart that seeks after goodness is private. It does not live to be admired. The result will be, over time, that the Lord's favor will find you.</span></span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-24803400441833563612024-03-13T16:27:00.002-04:002024-03-13T16:27:23.129-04:00Piippo - Speaking Events<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hello everyone,</span></p><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Tomorrow I travel to Boston where I will be the speaker at the spring retreat of the Alliance of Asian American Churches.(March 15 & 16) (I'll be back for the chili luncheon!)</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sixty Asian pastors and leaders will be there.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">This is an American Baptist Churches organization.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">My three messages:</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fri. night - "The Presence of God as our Distinctive"</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sat. morning two messages</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Praying and the Presence of God"</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Abiding in Christ and the Presence of God"</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Next Monday night and the following Monday night (3/18, 3/25) I am doing two zoominars on "Two Step Leadership." This is for ABC Indiana/Kentucky pastors.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, on Thursday night, March 21, I will speak at Monroe County Community College on <a href="https://www.monroeccc.edu/events/the-historical-case-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus-presented-by-dr-john-piippo-with-a-q-a" style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="https://www.monroeccc.edu/events/the-historical-case-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus-presented-by-dr-john-piippo-with-a-q-a">"An Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Christ."</a><a href="https://www.monroeccc.edu/events/the-historical-case-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus-presented-by-dr-john-piippo-with-a-q-a" style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="https://www.monroeccc.edu/events/the-historical-case-for-the-resurrection-of-jesus-presented-by-dr-john-piippo-with-a-q-a"> </a>We are thinking there could be 100 students/people there.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Thank you for praying!</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">John</div><div id="appendonsend" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHCW_tiW4qloIv88yY-qIUiEGxz83ABeYkQJRsT8rqXwh-cFDU38OJR8-G5xfGGZytwRXTJbd0Ot0ZIPHx_2gEE4KLjs7WKJb0W1QLNhAZAJQgN3HUoWUu7_y7eJ6z69mlnppXq2z8cN1MBGIBuFZDDJ0efitMoa_M8o0sVDwri6EEsGEQ0JVUHg=w348-h451" style="border: 0px; color: inherit; font: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 860px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-67978022482178440232024-03-12T07:00:00.001-04:002024-03-12T07:00:00.135-04:00Non-Discursive Experience (more on...)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUutZyOgqeJOOiFjUxFPEfW1Ng_AHNKXNh02ldauj8iYywWg7irv40pd-v371OAWPmWRD5399PpECMBBPol_78VMVRaVSNBN1wVnjA7efekZBGeMTddb3scEJDOU-lzTyR-vIyeK5fNeoZcI2pLybaaVHGTt2P-vqelMiAKRJYaetMEtfCDh37dA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjUutZyOgqeJOOiFjUxFPEfW1Ng_AHNKXNh02ldauj8iYywWg7irv40pd-v371OAWPmWRD5399PpECMBBPol_78VMVRaVSNBN1wVnjA7efekZBGeMTddb3scEJDOU-lzTyR-vIyeK5fNeoZcI2pLybaaVHGTt2P-vqelMiAKRJYaetMEtfCDh37dA" width="180" /></a></div> (Kitty Hawk, NC)<p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Words-Readings-Buechner-Frederick-ebook/dp/B000FC1PT8/ref=sr_1_5?crid=220YRNHF7OK5Z&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.yj7WrF8cd_HesExpyARAYVwUHVYmP3l-VGyqNDg1-IlU5G8c-CXuUfNFVtI35ERrPTON2bEI87z1jkbddv_4J7zmQWN6h6aRYcyFF2GgfJ_f0WFRhJ054BjFpKVptNEVR_Hvf7xV5llBzgos6GW4GMTIgW7SDpahbYvhVd78Yf06167541XZTN4f9NYhkSqsUr2RxhtpBruECFS_rWouLz0rvQ24iHGIWccEEBP54pg.yJU-QxJUO-mho5DledTG6Lk8Z85YKbApd16PbZ47kM8&dib_tag=se&keywords=beyond+words&qid=1710204638&s=books&sprefix=beyond+words%2Cstripbooks%2C129&sr=1-5">Beyond Words</a></i>, Frederick Buechner writes:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"I have called the collection Beyond Words because in one way or another all the words it contains point to the realm of mystery and depth that lies beyond our ordinary experience and thus could be called beyond-words. To say something is beyond words is also to say that it is beyond the power of even beyond-words to convey adequately. Beethoven’s last string quartets, falling in love, the death of a friend—how can we possibly describe such things other than to say that they are ultimately indescribable? You can know them only by experiencing them for yourself."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(For my take on "beyond-words," see my post "N<a href="https://www.johnpiippo.com/2009/04/non-discursive-experiences-of-god.html">on-Discursive Experiences of God.</a>")</span></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-70062530855045222942024-03-11T20:23:00.000-04:002024-03-11T20:23:07.325-04:00Expectations<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUskQpIzlU6d_DuA8OJp-xq9vPp4ZYxQyGUkGXw-9ePRzF4r3zeIlqWYHbOvhQ53cno5uu96iabb9lNeBAd50I22Q_ODhggmICNNUJQstxcB8i7JyZv5WV86ZP3obzgz39ntGX7Kl9RAUveW7OzVx84W0NUC3LoKeZxNKGZtyeSNG-iLOzJcyoJQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="441" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUskQpIzlU6d_DuA8OJp-xq9vPp4ZYxQyGUkGXw-9ePRzF4r3zeIlqWYHbOvhQ53cno5uu96iabb9lNeBAd50I22Q_ODhggmICNNUJQstxcB8i7JyZv5WV86ZP3obzgz39ntGX7Kl9RAUveW7OzVx84W0NUC3LoKeZxNKGZtyeSNG-iLOzJcyoJQ" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> (I hit this ball so hard that, as you can see, it started off low but then began to rise.)</p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Linda and I will have been married fifty-one years this coming August. One thing we have learned is to take time, every day, to share our schedules, appointments, and expectations for the day.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I am not exaggerating when I say <i>we share expectations every day</i>. And discuss how they can be met. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is crucial, since unmet expectations ignite emotions of anger. (See <a href="https://www.johnpiippo.com/2017/08/understanding-and-overcoming.html">here</a>.)</span></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-49578438180246728742024-03-11T08:18:00.000-04:002024-03-11T08:18:46.234-04:00Confess and Forgive<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwoHl1r62DF9s0BjJhDyaePn2v7JUyqn8IlR8Iwwn6cmGBqiGH95171yLi0yhNTzh-EzmRgeIB2pf7askwD2IPyiiLmFoBX4TT0Pj1BH-efGcOf6rttNXCyR6YH0rVwQ9Px96/s1600/aa1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuwoHl1r62DF9s0BjJhDyaePn2v7JUyqn8IlR8Iwwn6cmGBqiGH95171yLi0yhNTzh-EzmRgeIB2pf7askwD2IPyiiLmFoBX4TT0Pj1BH-efGcOf6rttNXCyR6YH0rVwQ9Px96/s400/aa1.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Store, in Ann Arbor)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">When Linda and I are asked "What makes for a good marriage?" we respond: confession and forgiveness. C&F. </span><br />
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C&F is more important than clear communication. When X says to Y, "You are stupid" and Y responds with "I hate you" (with a four-letter word added), they <em>are</em> communicating clearly. But this kind of clear communication does <em>not</em> make for a good marriage. </span><br />
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Here's how I confess to Linda (and she to me). I say the words, "I was wrong to <u>(do or say this specific thing)</u>." </span><br />
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Then I request, "Would you forgive me for doing/saying this?"</span><br />
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She responds with, "I forgive you."</span><br />
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C&F is more powerful than apologizing. Apologizing can be a one-way street; C&F moves two ways. Every confessor needs a forgiver. A certain kind of loving response is needed.</span><br />
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To confess requires humility. In confessing I take responsibility for my hurtful actions, and do not blame the other for "pushing my buttons." After all, those buttons are mine, and if I didn't have them I wouldn't have reacted the way I did. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">It's also destructive to look for hot buttons on others, and use words or actions to set them off. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">A confessor admits their own culpability in wrongdoing. This requires humility, accompanied by regret ("I am sorry I did that to you. Would you forgive me? I never want to treat someone I love that way.") Don't let pride keep you from doing this.</span><br />
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To forgive means: to cancel a debt. When Linda and I forgive one another (which we have done many times over 45 1/2 years), we release the other from any indebtedness. Forgiveness cancels indebtedness. If the Federal Government forgave your student loan you would not have to make any more payments. When X forgives Y, X will not in the future "make Y pay" for whatever Y did. Again, don't let pride keep you from doing this.</span><br />
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To forgive is <em>not</em> to forget. But our experience is that, when this is practiced as needed (and it <em>is</em> needed in every marriage and friendship), a lot of forgetting happens. This is because C&F cuts loose the heavy anchor that had us stuck in that bad place, and now we're moving free from it. We no longer spend our hearts and minds brooding over the details of the struggle, because the matter has been settled and healed.</span><br />
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Why practice C&F? Linda and I do this because we are like the <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke%207:36-50&version=NIV">sinful woman</a> who kissed and poured perfume on Jesus' feet. She had been forgiven much. Therefore she loved much.</span><br />
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(Note: If you repeatedly keep hurting your loved ones, then get help for yourself. If a loved one keeps hurting you with their words or actions then: 1) forgive them; and 2) assist them in getting help for their repetitive harmful behavior. If you live in our Southeast Michigan area make an appointment to get help <a href="http://www.mpccd.com/mpccd/new_index.htm">here</a>.)</span><br />
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For scholarly, empirical data on C&F see University of Wisconsin scholar Robert Enright's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgiving-Life-Overcoming-Resentment/dp/1433810913/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395504252&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+enright">The Forgiving Life: A Pathway to Overcoming Resentment and Creating a Legacy of Love</a>; and check out Enright's <a href="http://www.internationalforgiveness.com/">International Forgiveness Institute</a>.</span><br />
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The best practical guide to C&F is David Augsburger's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Caring-Enough-Forgive-True-Forgiveness/dp/0830707492/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1395504393&sr=8-2&keywords=augsburger+forgive">Caring Enough to Forgive</a>. </span></span>
John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-84005923566127773432024-03-10T13:00:00.001-04:002024-03-10T13:00:00.135-04:00Is God in the Old Testament a Moral Monster?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvoilbF5Yib3mImi8OEDmBtzXWm5dtL_tsFbdlYbVbci3Z_H6Hp7dzEa-fQfJjnN1LCgy53W610esoPh5f6Mcfu8eNa56LQHNmCSE2qWVwBwJDaOKaNROHDV1hiCZ2U_f_gqPwOkJMVNzjmoZDjLLAELU_u0Tnf_ZYetw3cNOw0yiUcp9h8cNFA/s4000/20220906_194726.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1800" data-original-width="4000" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTvoilbF5Yib3mImi8OEDmBtzXWm5dtL_tsFbdlYbVbci3Z_H6Hp7dzEa-fQfJjnN1LCgy53W610esoPh5f6Mcfu8eNa56LQHNmCSE2qWVwBwJDaOKaNROHDV1hiCZ2U_f_gqPwOkJMVNzjmoZDjLLAELU_u0Tnf_ZYetw3cNOw0yiUcp9h8cNFA/w495-h223/20220906_194726.jpg" width="495" /></a></div> (Monroe, MI)<p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In 1 Samuel 15:3 we read: <i>“Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">In Deuteronomy 20:16 ff. we read: <i>"</i></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span class="text Deut-20-16" id="en-NIV-5444" style="background-color: white;">in the cities of the nations the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span> your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Deut-20-17" id="en-NIV-5445" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">17 </span>Completely destroy<span class="footnote" data-fn="#fen-NIV-5445a" data-link="[<a href="#fen-NIV-5445a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]" style="display: inline; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+20&version=NIV#fen-NIV-5445a" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; min-width: 0px; vertical-align: text-top;" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</span> them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span> your God has commanded you.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="text Deut-20-18" id="en-NIV-5446" style="background-color: white;"><span class="versenum" style="display: inline; font-weight: 700; line-height: normal; position: relative; top: auto; vertical-align: text-top;">18 </span>Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span> your God."</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span class="text Deut-20-18" style="background-color: white;">Joshua 6:21 says: </span></span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i><span style="background-color: white;">They devoted</span><span style="background-color: white;"> the city to the </span><span class="small-caps" style="background-color: white; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white;"> and destroyed</span><span style="background-color: white;"> with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">These verses, and several others, talk about <i>"herem</i>," a Hebrew word that can be translated as "devote to destruction.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The idea of <i>herem</i> has led some to say the God of the Bible is a "moral monster."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Here are some resources from Paul Copan that have helped me understand these troubling verses.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">BOOKS</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Paul Copan, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Moral-Monster-Making-Testament-ebook/dp/B004EPYPY4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1A5M9S7U15K8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s-1jFBqSCDJ8VqflxylKmHfV-hxPQJMnHgvSaZpdOaEgRnn6b8MG-K0LDINpw48b2A8k1NLzd4x9EDWIGZjZ5RzGw-RLqbUY06XHW6AO4UD6S3a2xOghQkiyKQYPYkhkTDnbMyIFVpAGK4mhoBVhMQGzA9SNVg1ldPoM3HPdJroGTgaw6UktHdMnlNbbOOv6a6w0pl6EVjlEIDwYkaLHb0U_og0kgYPKtf6WrtXdwcZB1u7BG8ly9jFa5CwbrRulNS5YirBG9GClNA3pZLpHivWrp5AE8lYl69LYqXURfbI.CQKD-4k4VDZXj9mAxOG2rBundoP8cBvRBClnI3V9lw0&dib_tag=se&keywords=paul+copan&qid=1709922630&s=books&sprefix=paul+copan%2Cstripbooks%2C132&sr=1-2">Is God a Moral Monster: Making Sense of the Old Testament God</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copan, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Did-God-Really-Command-Genocide/dp/0801016223/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1A5M9S7U15K8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s-1jFBqSCDJ8VqflxylKmHfV-hxPQJMnHgvSaZpdOaEgRnn6b8MG-K0LDINpw48b2A8k1NLzd4x9EDWIGZjZ5RzGw-RLqbUY06XHW6AO4UD6S3a2xOghQkiyKQYPYkhkTDnbMyIFVpAGK4mhoBVhMQGzA9SNVg1ldPoM3HPdJroGTgaw6UktHdMnlNbbOOv6a6w0pl6EVjlEIDwYkaLHb0U_og0kgYPKtf6WrtXdwcZB1u7BG8ly9jFa5CwbrRulNS5YirBG9GClNA3pZLpHivWrp5AE8lYl69LYqXURfbI.CQKD-4k4VDZXj9mAxOG2rBundoP8cBvRBClnI3V9lw0&dib_tag=se&keywords=paul+copan&qid=1709922630&s=books&sprefix=paul+copan%2Cstripbooks%2C132&sr=1-4">Did God Really Command Genocide: Coming to Terms With the Justice of God</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copan, I<i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Vindictive-Bully-Reconciling-Portrayals-ebook/dp/B09V6M3V84/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1A5M9S7U15K8&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.s-1jFBqSCDJ8VqflxylKmHfV-hxPQJMnHgvSaZpdOaEgRnn6b8MG-K0LDINpw48b2A8k1NLzd4x9EDWIGZjZ5RzGw-RLqbUY06XHW6AO4UD6S3a2xOghQkiyKQYPYkhkTDnbMyIFVpAGK4mhoBVhMQGzA9SNVg1ldPoM3HPdJroGTgaw6UktHdMnlNbbOOv6a6w0pl6EVjlEIDwYkaLHb0U_og0kgYPKtf6WrtXdwcZB1u7BG8ly9jFa5CwbrRulNS5YirBG9GClNA3pZLpHivWrp5AE8lYl69LYqXURfbI.CQKD-4k4VDZXj9mAxOG2rBundoP8cBvRBClnI3V9lw0&dib_tag=se&keywords=paul+copan&qid=1709922393&s=books&sprefix=paul+copan%2Cstripbooks%2C132&sr=1-2">s God a Vindictive Bully?: Reconciling Portrayals of God In the Old and New Testaments</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copan (ed.), <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Violence-Christian-Views/dp/1514002345/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?crid=2MRPYDKUOHVX3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IrIb0KyBeN52LlHEkZeLbHgi32vxRFZVEWmeJ-wD5zk.RbQC_mhVKjOiHSDsYoi9KgEN5wBm9OIb76W4pq90IlA&dib_tag=se&keywords=paul+copaqn+war+peace&qid=1709923187&s=books&sprefix=paul+copaqn+war+peace%2Cstripbooks%2C142&sr=1-1-fkmr0">War, Peace, and Violence: Four Christian Views</a></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">VIDEOS</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copan (Interview with Preston Sprinkle), </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_0DGVnkx-w">I<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">s God a Moral Monster? Dr. Paul Copan (youtube.com)</span></a></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Copan (Interview with Sean McDowell), <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_0DGVnkx-w">Is God a Moral Monster? Dr. Paul Copan (youtube.com)</a></span></p><h1 class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" style="-webkit-box-orient: vertical; -webkit-line-clamp: 2; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #0f0f0f; display: -webkit-box; line-height: 2.8rem; margin: 0px; max-height: 5.6rem; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; text-overflow: ellipsis; word-break: break-word;"><yt-formatted-string class="style-scope ytd-watch-metadata" force-default-style=""><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzNRddDuPMk">Confronting the Cringe-Worthy Bible Verses with Paul Copan - The Dr. Jeff Show</a></span></yt-formatted-string></h1><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">PIIPPO BLOG POSTS</span></p><p><a href="https://www.johnpiippo.com/2011/03/is-god-moral-monster-5.html"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">John Piippo: Is God a Moral Monster?: #5</span></a></p><p><a href="https://www.johnpiippo.com/2011/02/is-god-moral-monster-4a.html"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">John Piippo: Is God a Moral Monster?: #4a</span></a></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-19577429999040206082024-03-08T23:23:00.000-05:002024-03-08T23:23:37.194-05:00What the Dark Night of the Soul Is, and Is Not, About<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><br />
</div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_IzbwsT1qQ5mX0KaoHI9vykft5f3wuMrcblQhrUh1ei8F15tiKEn7fWpyHelroABqiXfNz_6dGWFyH23FmqcxHiPrITDgegylI4JhuHamgN1MXJbWOd3k_SOBU8lJ9prBJYH/s1600-h/dark-night.jpg" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="306" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg_IzbwsT1qQ5mX0KaoHI9vykft5f3wuMrcblQhrUh1ei8F15tiKEn7fWpyHelroABqiXfNz_6dGWFyH23FmqcxHiPrITDgegylI4JhuHamgN1MXJbWOd3k_SOBU8lJ9prBJYH/w454-h306/dark-night.jpg" width="454" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The "dark night of the soul," </i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>at least according to the originator of that phrase, </i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>is not about "going through a hard time."</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div>At times I have read or heard someone say that they are going through a "dark night of the soul," and by this refer to a time of personal suffering. This is <em>not</em> the "dark night" St John of the Cross was speaking of in the classic <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Essential-St-John-Cross-Spiritual/dp/1604592842/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261409107&sr=8-2">The Dark Night of the Soul</a>. </i>This<i> </i>"dark night" is far more interesting than that.</div>
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To explain. John of the Cross was a mystic. "Mysticism" comes from the Greek word <em><a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mysticism/">muo</a></em>, which means "to conceal." There is, on mysticism, a way of "knowing" God that cannot be gained via things like the physical senses. Mystical literature speaks of such knowing as "dark knowledge." <br />
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John of the Cross, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Essential-St-John-Cross-Spiritual/dp/1604592842/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261409107&sr=8-2">The Ascent of Mount Carmel</a>, writes: "The first night or purgation is of the sensual part of the soul, which is treated in the present stanza, and will be treated in the first part of this book. And the second is of the spiritual part; of this speaks the second stanza, which follows; and of this we shall treat likewise, in the second and the third part, with respect to the activity of the soul; and in the fourth part, with respect to its passivity." In the first "night" or "purgation" of the soul one's senses are "darkened." If one wants to know God in the sense of a God-encounter than this, precisely, cannot be gained via the 5 physical senses. They must be darkened.<br />
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For John of the Cross there are a series of darkenings, which then leafe the soul without any of its ordinary tools to rely on in the quest to know and be known by God. This is good, since, for a mystic like John, God cannot in principle be known this way. John writes: "And the second night, or purification, pertains to those who are already proficient, occurring at the time when God desires to bring them to the state of union with God. And this latter night is a more obscure and dark and terrible purgation, as we shall say afterwards." (Ascent)<br />
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The soul is purged of its active senses and eventually becomes passive, receptive. This is what Meister Eckhart means when he uses the word "Gelassenheit" to mean a passive "letting be," as opposed to an active grasping-after God. In the "Passive Night of the Senses" God purges the soul of its default ways of knowing. John calls this purgation "horrible," since in it we lose our normal way and can feel disoriented. But this is a holy disorientation, as we are being prepared for a unitive knowledge of God that cannot be gained with the separative physical senses. One experiences a great sense of loss, only to emerge into the greatest gain possible: knowledge of the ineffable God that comes to meet us.<br />
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The heart of John's "dark night" is expressed in these words:<br />
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"The night which we have called that of sense may and should be called a kind of correction and restraint of the desire rather than purgation. The reason is that all the imperfections and disorders of the sensual part have their strength and root in the spirit, where all habits, both good and bad, are brought into subjection, and thus, until these are purged, the rebellions and depravities of sense cannot be purged thoroughly."<br />
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I have long been attracted to the mystical tradition, for the following reasons.<br />
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</span><ol><li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Surely knowledge of God cannot be captured in the steel nets of literal language.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Surely God, in his essence, is beyond what our abilties can grasp.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If "God's ways are not our ways," then it seems reasonable to think that there are limits to our human abilities when it comes to knowing the ways of God.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have often had the sense, especially in times of praying, that I am meeting God in a way that is both "beyond" me and more real than sense experience.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Weekly I talk with ordinary non-theologians in my congregation who describe encounters with God that are both real and indescribable (in essence).</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jesus' words in John chapters 14-17 imply a strong "in us" and "in God" experience that is better captured, often, in Christian mystical literature than in the evangelical hyper-rational environment I was trained in and loved.</span></li>
</ol><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">The greatest danger of over-emphasizing mystical experience of God is that, at times, the mystical literature describes the contemplative union with God as an ontological union, a union of being. Here one gets "lost in God" to the extent that one is metaphysically the same as God. Surely, on Christian theism, there remains a metaphysical distance between us and God. Mysticism, at its extremes, conflates us and God so that we are ontologically one. I do not think that is true, nor do I find it helpful.<br />
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On another note, when I read the early pages of Dark Night I see similarities between the way our church and others worship. Reading sections of Dark Night remind me of the worship songs that are songs sung by the beloved to the Lover of our souls. To me that is very good, since there is a hymn-culture that more stresses the distance between us and God, thus taking the Emmanuel-encounter out of the church.</span>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-51805403727967151312024-03-08T14:02:00.000-05:002024-03-08T14:02:54.778-05:00The Cure for the Entitlement Disease: The Hard Way Principles<div class="main-outer" style="border-top: 0px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="fauxborder-left main-fauxborder-left" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: repeat-y; position: relative;"><div class="region-inner main-inner" style="margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 30px 0px; position: relative; width: auto;"><div class="columns fauxcolumns" style="padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 310px; position: relative; zoom: 1;"><div class="columns-inner" style="min-height: 0px;"><div class="column-center-outer" style="float: left; position: relative; width: 630px;"><div class="column-center-inner" style="padding: 0px 15px;"><div class="main section" id="main" name="Main" style="margin: 0px 15px;"><div class="widget Blog" data-version="1" id="Blog1" style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="blog-posts hfeed"><div class="date-outer"><div class="date-posts"><div class="post-outer"><div class="post hentry uncustomized-post-template" itemprop="blogPost" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; min-height: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="font-family: Allerta; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><br /></h3><div class="post-header" style="line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2809319224551560430" itemprop="description articleBody" style="line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><img height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhryKKssykFkufp-sH_KkJIXNG26OWna46eFh4gZvRsdzcz5aYYpGxjAa2p3f_LbTowlxX84Xi1ryINie6LXdNhPBMbb81zZWfu-dNROkACSMQirPE0R65bG54_qm6scDj7ogdt/w511-h384/eagle+8.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 0px;" width="511" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">(Bald eagle in a tree near our house)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Psychologist John Townsend's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Entitlement-Cure-Finding-Success-Things/dp/0310330521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447422669&sr=8-1&keywords=townsend+cure" style="color: #970c0c; text-decoration-line: none;">The Entitlement Cure</a></i> is a helpful read. It's guiding me to look closely at areas of "pocket entitlement" that I have. It's giving insights to help others who have pocket entitlement, and even global entitlement.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Here are some things about the entitlement disease.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Entitlement directs us to judge God for how the world works, for the bad things that happen to us that we don’t understand, and for things that didn’t happen that we desired. Entitlement says, “My way of looking at life is beyond his,” because entitlement creates a deep sense of being special and above it all." (50)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Entitlement goes deeper than a person thinking, <i>It’s okay if I want to be lazy because someone else will bear my burdens</i>, or <i>I’m so special that the rules don’t apply to me</i>. In fact, entitlement goes so deep that it rejects the very foundations on which God constructed the universe. At its heart, entitlement is a rejection of reality itself." (51)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Ever since Eden, we humans want to be like God, with all his privileges and power, and — the very definition of entitlement — <i>we feel it is our right</i>. Entitlement infects our brains with the notion, <i>I have a right to more and better; in fact, I am owed that</i>." (52)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">All this is unreality. Townsend says that God's principles lie at the core of reality. The more you experience and follow them, the better life becomes for you and those in your life. Townsend calls this "the hard way."</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The "Hard Way" Principles are:</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">1. <i>Humility and Dependence - We Are Completely Dependent on God.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Humility is simply <i>accepting the reality of who God is and who you are</i>. When you see the reality of his power, his love, and his care, you more easily see yourself as who you are: a loved creature, a special creature, an important creature, but a creature nonetheless. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dependence</i> means you look to him for your sustenance, for every breath you take." (54)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement, however "tells you to be your own boss and determine your own destiny. Entitlement teaches you to say, "You're not the boss of me!" It implies that you can be and do anything you want, demand of the others around you anything you want, and that it’s lame to depend on anyone." (55) </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">2. <i>Connectedness - We Are Designed to Live in Connectedness with Each Other.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"We live in a relational world and a relational culture, summarized by Jesus’ teaching: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15: 12). Love comes from him, and we are to love not only him but each other." (56)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The entitlement mentality subverts healthy relationships and community in two ways. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">First, entitlement <i>objectifies</i>. "When one person treats another as a need-meeting object or as a dispenser of some desired commodity, that is objectification. People objectify each other sexually. A good listener may be sought out for her ability, but who remembers to ask how <i>she’s</i> doing?" (56)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"The self-absorbed attitude of entitlement makes it difficult to see people as having needs, feelings, and lives of their own. Forget “walk a mile in my shoes” — entitled individuals can only envision the lives of others as an extension of their own. They can’t enter fully into the experience of the other individual." (58) </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Second, entitlement creates <i>unhealt</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hy self-sufficiency. </i><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the idea that I don't need others to sustain and support me. "Entitlement is anti-need; it will cut you off from the supplies that your life requires to carry on." (59)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"If connectedness is the fuel of life, then entitlement results in an empty tank for the entitled person. And that causes breakdowns in relationships, love, career, self-care, and spirituality." (59)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">3. <i>Ownership - We Have to Take Responsibility for Our Own Choices.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement builds a huge obstacle to healthy ownership, in two ways: low ownership and externalization.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>Low ownership</i>: Individuals who don’t take ownership of their lives sometimes live as if their actions have no consequences. They tend not to see beyond the present; their concern is for what they need and desire right now. They’re surprised when they lose jobs or relationships. Most of us are aware of the basic principle that “If you sow X, then X is what you will reap,” but not the entitled person." (60)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"<i>Externalization</i>: People with an attitude of entitlement often project the responsibility of their choices on the outside, not the inside. The fault lies with other people, circumstances, or events. They blame others for every problem. Their entitlement prohibits them from taking the beam out of their eye and asking the all-important question: <i>How did I contribute to this latest problem?</i> Instead, they default to answers outside their skin. The result? They tend to be powerless and unhappy. They tend to see life through the eyes of a victim. And their suffering is unproductive — it doesn’t get them anywhere." (61) </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Blame," writes Townsend, "is a first cousin to entitlement." Blame is a life-killer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">4. <i>Accepting the Negative - Your Flaws Can't Be Forgiven and Healed Until You Admit Them</i>.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"God made a way through Christ so that we could live with the negative as it truly is, without denying it or minimizing it. In a relationship with Christ, we feel permission to be who we truly are, warts and all. We don’t have to hide, pretend, or put our best face forward. We are known and loved just as we are by the one who matters most. This enables us to love others the same way. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The result of acknowledging and accepting the negative is that <i>the negative then can be transformed.</i> When you are okay knowing your failings, you can face them, bring them to God and to the people with whom you feel safe being vulnerable, and heal whatever is driving those feelings. This is the key to great growth. It’s a paradox, but the ones who run from the negative will suffer from it, while the ones who accept the negative will find the power to change it." (63)</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement drives you away from admitting your flaws. The entitled attitude has three directions that destroy the "It Is Well With My Soul" life. They are:</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Denial</i>. "</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The person in denial simply turns her back on reality. She refuses to admit her flaws to herself or anyone else, which eliminates any possibility of deep and satisfying relationships."</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Perfectionism</i>. "</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The person caught in perfectionism beats himself up for failures, </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">minor or major. His standard for performance is perfection, and he offers himself little grace when he stumbles. He constantly scrutinizes and condemns himself, and never makes it to a point of self-acceptance."</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Narcissism.</i> "</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The narcissistic person adopts a grandiose view of himself that hides his flaws, which usually lie buried under deep shame and envy. He is so afraid to see himself as he really is that he reacts in the opposite direction, toward the “I’m special” stance, in which he becomes arrogant and selfish and has difficulty feeling empathy for others."</span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">5. <i>Finding Our Role - To Live Long and Contentedly Find Your Purpose in Life and Fulfill It.</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><br /><br /><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"Finding your role means that you are giving back to the world over time in a sustained and steady way, and this attitude actually contributes to your living longer. Research indicates that the number one factor in longevity is not social relationships or happiness, but <i>conscientiousness</i>, described as persistence, dependability, and organization." (66)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Entitlement block this in two ways.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div><ul style="line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Entitlement limits the person's goals. "</i>One of the most </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">limiting ideas of entitlement thinking is that the end goal of life is happiness: “I just want to be happy, that’s all.” Entitlement says that the highest good is to be a happy person — but in fact, that is one of the worst endgame goals we can have. People who have happiness as their goal get locked into the pain/ pleasure motivation cycle. They never do what causes them pain, but always do what brings them pleasure. This puts us on the same thinking level as a child..." (66)</span></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Entitlement limits the individual's growth</i>. Entitlement freezes development. "It keeps us from growing, learning, challenging ourselves, or trying new things. It whispers to us, “That sounds really hard and it doesn’t look like it’s worth it.” When we listen to this voice, something inside us goes to sleep. We might become couch potatoes, video addicts, chronic partiers, or simply get in a rut and routine that becomes boring and deadening." </span></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-7252012363877230722024-03-07T16:09:00.000-05:002024-03-07T16:09:46.280-05:00Living Faithfully In the Discomfort Zone<br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">On occasion I hear someone speak about their "comfort zone." Like: "Sorry, but what God wants me to do is out of my comfort zone." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The comfort zone is the environment where they feel safe. This is the place of little discomfort. This is a utilitarian approach to life; viz., do what gives me the most comfort most of the time, and the least pain most of the time.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br />This is the American H-god. It's "Happiness." As one song says, "Clap along if you think that happiness is the truth, Because I'm happy." (See <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N6PCKYU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o03_"><span style="color: #ec23c4;">The <i>Happiness Industry: How the Government and Big Business Sold Us Well-Being</i></span></a>. See also: "<a href="http://www.vqronline.org/essays-articles/2015/10/if-everything-so-amazing-whys-nobody-happy"><span style="color: #ec23c4;">If Everything Is So Amazing, Why's Nobody Happy?</span></a>") </span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" itemprop="description articleBody"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div class="post-body entry-content" itemprop="description articleBody"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">I don't even know what "happiness is the truth" means.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /> The idea of a "comfort zone" is a recent European and North American invention. It has nothing to do with God's plans and purposes. (See <i>Happiness Industry</i> - the "comfort zone" is rooted in the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham.) Yes, we find great promises of peace and rest throughout the Scriptures. No, you will not find comfort zone maintenance there.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /> In Scripture we see that what really pleases God is "faith." We are told that <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+11%3A6&version=NIV"><span style="color: #ec23c4;"><i>without faith</i></span></a><i> it is impossible to please God. </i>"Faith" and "comfort zone"<i> </i>do not overlap. We do not read the book of Hebrews saying, <i>By faith Abraham stayed in his comfort zone.</i></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i> If we stay in our comfort zones, it will be impossible to please God. Faith entails going into places and situations and human lives where, to be honest, we would rather not go. (See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+21%3A18-19&version=NIV"><span style="color: #ec23c4;">here</span></a>, e.g.) Faith moves from comfort to discomfort. That is its nature. Jesus may tie a belt around you and take you where you don't want to go. (See <a href="https://biblehub.com/john/21-18.htm">here</a>.)</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /> "Faith" is RISK. Obedience by faith escorts us into the Discomfort Zone for the Cause of Christ. Think of missionaries. Then, think of yourself as a missionary, planted where you are. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">As Jesus died on the cross he was bleeding in the Zone of Universal Discomfort, for you and I. He was not there to furnish our man-caves with decorative crosses. He calls us to a life of faith that is accomplished by cross-bearing, within the enemy territory of this world's present darkness. We move out of the comfort zone and into the fire.</span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /> In Revelation 14:4 we read about the martyrs who refused to worship the beast: <i>They follow the Lamb wherever he goes</i>. It was uncomfortable. Their suffering was redemptive. </span><br />
<span><span><br /></span><span>If we give our lives to Jesus as Lord he will own us, tie a belt around our waist, and lead us into places we would rather not go. He will increase the borders of our comfort zone to those of his kingdom.</span></span></span><br /></div>
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John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-34399127502451185702024-03-06T04:00:00.001-05:002024-03-06T04:00:00.255-05:00Ministry Demands More Than Our Best<p> </p><div class="post-header" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 10.8px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5602645554207128028" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; color: #4d4d4d; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 5px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><img alt="Image result for john piippo abide" height="476" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnQwE9jZB3QCa0NKdEohqtAZrToJ0O2iJB_e17HdcPdTXHSWdAb1wHuEIiauOqluF_YkETgBdsMgHK-I1S5Xlb8l8W-sPQwtYTpoPnaosNFg933UMRt5fe_crcsPERUo-3K3CX8g/s640/22496388_1895712120444529_2175049212422090077_o.jpg" style="background: transparent; border: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 0px 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 0px;" width="640" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 10.56px;">Next to Payne Theological Seminary, Wilberforce, Ohio</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Jesus tells me that, if I connect with him, if I live the connected life, I will do the things he did. </span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>Very truly I tell you, whoever believes<span class="crossreference" data-cr="#cen-NIV-26681S" data-link="(<a href="#cen-NIV-26681S" title="See cross-reference S">S</a>)" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 22px; position: relative; top: 0px; vertical-align: top;"></span> in me </i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>will do the works I have been doing...</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">John 14:12</span></div><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now <i>that</i>... would greatly help me as a pastor. God would work through me to heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, raise the dead, and speak with an authority that is not from me.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My meager abilities, even when working with excellence, fall short of what Jesus did. If ministry was a game of horseshoes, Jesus is throwing nothing but "ringers," while my tosses are landing a foot in front of me.</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>More than me is needed.</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Stephen Seamands writes:</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"Of course, ministry deserves our best-all that we have to offer. But it also demands more than our best, more than anything we have to offer. To participate in the ongoing ministry of Jesus, to do what the Father is doing, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Only through the Holy Spirit's directing and empowering us can we fulfill our calling."</span><br /><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">- </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Stephen Seamands, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ministry-Image-God-Trinitarian-Christian-ebook/dp/B001HN6KQM/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523394190&sr=1-3&keywords=stephen+seamands" style="color: #970c0c; text-decoration-line: none;">Ministry in the Image of God: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service</a></i>, Kindle Locations 248-250</span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-26807173759005134662024-03-05T22:42:00.000-05:002024-03-05T22:42:14.796-05:00True Praying Breeds Compassion for Others<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111; font-size: 12pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglERhhAU3y2KTZCmbi6OrH-IUbpUtYo2AABkrguM-wIGEE75kLV9ebaye9D4TKTkm8oEGU5S-s0Ck25dcCwN5MrdDrPPRpcs4NQu8Lwe_VkL-6ioj0DVGmkEbuSzjp5gfqPESJUDYqt13h51td-wcJkJ4Pm8Gotpe2rpP5OU03MvHmWU-tw6JeEw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEglERhhAU3y2KTZCmbi6OrH-IUbpUtYo2AABkrguM-wIGEE75kLV9ebaye9D4TKTkm8oEGU5S-s0Ck25dcCwN5MrdDrPPRpcs4NQu8Lwe_VkL-6ioj0DVGmkEbuSzjp5gfqPESJUDYqt13h51td-wcJkJ4Pm8Gotpe2rpP5OU03MvHmWU-tw6JeEw" width="320" /></a></div><br /> (Praying at Redeemer)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin: 9pt 0in 0.0001pt;"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111; font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span>1 John 2:7-11 tells me - </span><i><span>If I say I know God and love him but hate my beloved Christian brothers and sisters, I'm walking in darkness and blindness</span></i><span>. Since God has no fellowship with darkness (</span><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+john+1%3A5&version=NIV"><span>in him there is no darkness at all</span></a><span>), I disfellowship myself in the act of hating.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111;"><span>These verses haunt me, because I have hated other
Christians. At the point of my hatred I have </span><i><span>not </span></i><span>known, loved, or followed Jesus. Worshiping
Jesus as Lord on Sunday morning and hating people is just acting, and
hypocritical. </span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111;"><span><br /></span></span>
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111;"><span>A Jesus-follower who hates others is a contradiction. Because
"God so loved the world," right?<br />
<br />
The antidote to my hate-filled heart is a Spirit-transformed, Jesus-shaped heart.
So, I am praying for a heart of love. </span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111;"><span><br /></span></span>
</span><span face=""arial" , "sans-serif"" style="color: #111111;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span>I want to look at others with the same
compassion Jesus had. I want to love and forgive others from the heart, as Jesus
did when he hung on the cross. I want the freedom Jesus had from a spirit of
victimization.<br />
<br />
How can this happen? One way is </span><i><span>in the act of praying for others</span></i><span>.
True praying breeds compassion. And togetherness.<br />
<br />
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:<br />
</span>
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span>"A Christian fellowship lives and exists by
the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no
longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he
causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me,
is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom
Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner. This is a happy discovery for the
Christian who begins to pray for others."</span><a href="file:///F:/PRAYING%20-%20Why%20I%20Pray.docx" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span> </span></span><br /></span>
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<a href="file:///F:/PRAYING%20-%20Why%20I%20Pray.docx" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span face=""calibri" , "sans-serif"" style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Life-Together-Classic-Exploration-Community/dp/0060608528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410185938&sr=8-1&keywords=bonhoeffer+life">Life Together</a>, 86</div>
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John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-12335392607419851322024-03-05T11:56:00.005-05:002024-03-05T11:56:39.747-05:00Speaking in Boston March 15-16<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHCW_tiW4qloIv88yY-qIUiEGxz83ABeYkQJRsT8rqXwh-cFDU38OJR8-G5xfGGZytwRXTJbd0Ot0ZIPHx_2gEE4KLjs7WKJb0W1QLNhAZAJQgN3HUoWUu7_y7eJ6z69mlnppXq2z8cN1MBGIBuFZDDJ0efitMoa_M8o0sVDwri6EEsGEQ0JVUHg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="838" data-original-width="647" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHCW_tiW4qloIv88yY-qIUiEGxz83ABeYkQJRsT8rqXwh-cFDU38OJR8-G5xfGGZytwRXTJbd0Ot0ZIPHx_2gEE4KLjs7WKJb0W1QLNhAZAJQgN3HUoWUu7_y7eJ6z69mlnppXq2z8cN1MBGIBuFZDDJ0efitMoa_M8o0sVDwri6EEsGEQ0JVUHg=w348-h451" width="348" /></a></div><br /><p></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-89064625082135754902024-03-04T07:54:00.002-05:002024-03-04T07:54:43.317-05:00The Historical Case for the Resurrection of Jesus<p> </p><div class="region-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="block-pagetitle" style="background-color: #525252; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 0px;"><div class="container" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1040px; padding: 0px 15px;"><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: large;">THE HISTORICAL CASE FOR THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS </span></span></h1><h1 style="box-sizing: border-box; color: white; line-height: 1.1; margin: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-size: large;">PRESENTED BY DR. JOHN PIIPPO WITH A Q & A</span></span></h1></div></div></div></div><div class="page-without-sidebar" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;"><div class="container" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 1040px; padding: 0px 15px;"><div class="region-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding-bottom: 45px; padding-top: 45px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="views-element-container" id="block-views-block-events-interior-block-1" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="js-view-dom-id-de47f9539cb92b4169e3217c33a4ce7c5dfeaa49d756c7df84ce70f930fa2a78" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="event-interior-main" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 10px;"><div id="mccc-view-events_interior" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="views-row" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="views-field views-field-field-date-time" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h2 class="field-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #a32136; font-size: 2.11em; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px;"><time datetime="2024-03-21T22:30:00Z" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Thursday, March 21</time></h2></div><div class="views-field views-field-field-date-time-1" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.11em; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><div class="field-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><time datetime="2024-03-21T18:30:00Z" style="box-sizing: border-box;">6:30 PM</time> TO <time datetime="2024-03-21T20:00:00Z" style="box-sizing: border-box;">8:00 PM</time></div></div></div></div></div><div class="event-interior-attachment" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="views-element-container" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="js-view-dom-id-d12c76807b49f56106ae5568dfa7f74e2f5197978612067acbe94b457cc72b7b" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div></div></div></div><div id="block-mccc-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><article data-history-node-id="4802" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="body-content" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="event-information" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-right: 23.7969px; width: 665.391px;"><div class="field_location" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.11em; font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">LA-Z-BOY CENTER ATRIUM</div><div class="body" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 15px 0px 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">MCCC Christ-Centered Community</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Is Easter the celebration of a myth or legend of a man rising from the dead? Or is it a bold historical claim that welcomes intellectual scrutiny?</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;">We believe that the historical claim that Jesus of Nazareth rose to life from the dead has strong evidence that any open-minded intellectual should take seriously.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;">Whether you are a Christian or not, thinking deeply about the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection will help you understand why billions of people throughout the world of every age, race, gender-identity, and economic class think this is good news.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;">Skeptics, non-believers, pagans, and people of all faiths will be loved, honored, and welcome to hear our case, and ask hard questions!</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px;">John Piippo has a PhD in Philosophical Theology from Northwestern University. John taught Philosophy at MCCC for eighteen years. John is the author of six books and serves as a pastor at Redeemer Fellowship Church in Monroe.</p></div></div></div></div></article></div></div></div></div></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-80945129523549101272024-03-03T21:48:00.000-05:002024-03-03T21:48:02.108-05:00Richard Dawkins on Wokery, Sex, and Gender<p> </p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Allerta; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> </span></h3><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-5428691585335459006" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiP3FxCNsD8hikMeNQNUsExJFrcFSybeN6RP6qCPkvuVtHvEpgEsVKXvG6NINqdYSqx1MON9PGLnztuM-E_Hm0518BVsbPASkkBP_RfrT5rQgKGbv7l3-5deljuhTeigsnz8VnWwIV7xOYIFIZ68jTGP9D8piSDIZLEZ0rDxtCNCW-zlcfvmhs" style="color: #970c0c; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="329" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiP3FxCNsD8hikMeNQNUsExJFrcFSybeN6RP6qCPkvuVtHvEpgEsVKXvG6NINqdYSqx1MON9PGLnztuM-E_Hm0518BVsbPASkkBP_RfrT5rQgKGbv7l3-5deljuhTeigsnz8VnWwIV7xOYIFIZ68jTGP9D8piSDIZLEZ0rDxtCNCW-zlcfvmhs" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(233, 233, 233); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="158" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">If you don't like this, take it up with evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins. He can handle it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">He likes to discuss. And, he knows more about genetics than you do. ( For Dawkins and theistic geneticist Francis Collins in dialogue, go <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ3EU58AzFs" style="color: #970c0c; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dawkins is still the world's most famous intellectual atheist. And, his book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Selfish-Gene-Anniversary-Landmark-Science-ebook/dp/B01GI5F2FS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=FEG2LTQF6PAX&keywords=richard+dawkins&qid=1679440434&s=books&sprefix=richard+dawkins%2Cstripbooks%2C150&sr=1-3" style="color: #970c0c; text-decoration-line: none;">The Selfish Gene</a></i> has been used in university biology classes.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Dawkins was interviewed by Piers Morgan. The full interview is <a href="https://talk.tv/news/6378/richard-dawkins-there-are-two-sexes-and-thats-all-there-is-to-it-piers-morgan" style="color: #970c0c; text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>. I find it interesting.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Here's a snippet, on sex and gender.</span></p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Piers</strong>: They (woke-ists) want to de-gender and neutralise language, but they're doing it from a completely false pretext that you can somehow pretend biology doesn't exist, particularly when it comes to someone's sex. A small group of people have been successful in reshaping swathes of the way society talks and is allowed to talk.</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Richard</strong>: It's bullying. We've seen the way JK Rowling has been bullied, Kathleen stock has been bullied. They've stood up to it, but it's very upsetting the way this tiny minority of people has managed to capture the discourse to talk errant nonsense.</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Piers</strong>: What's the answer?</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Richard</strong>: Science. There are two sexes. You could talk about gender, if you wish and that's a subjective.</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Piers</strong>: But when people say there are 100 genders?</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Richard</strong>: I'm not interested in that. As as a biologist, there are two sexes and that's all there is to it.</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Piers</strong>: Why have we lost that ability to actually have an open and frank debate?</p><p class="css-4uxl50" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Montserrat, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 25px 0px 0px;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">Richard</strong>: There are people for whom the word discuss doesn't mean discuss, it means you've taken a position.</p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Again, <span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;">If you don't like what Richard Dawkins is saying here, I recommend you take it up with him. I simply report this to you.</span><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;"> </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span class="x3nfvp2 x1j61x8r x1fcty0u xdj266r xhhsvwb xat24cr xgzva0m xxymvpz xlup9mm x1kky2od" style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505; display: inline-flex; height: 16px; margin: 0px 1px; vertical-align: middle; width: 16px;"><img alt="🙂" height="16" referrerpolicy="origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/emoji.php/v9/t4c/1/16/1f642.png" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px;" width="16" /></span><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;"> </span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;">A heads-up. To dialogue with Dawkins you must understand what he means by 'science' and its limits.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #f0f2f5; color: #050505;">Remember also that Dawkins, as a scientist, despises postmodern thinking.</span></span></div></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-27445808688486833462024-03-02T12:10:00.001-05:002024-03-02T12:10:11.684-05:00Renewal School of Ministry - SPRING CLASSES<p> </p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Study with great Christian leaders. Only $10/class!</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 27px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Renewal School of Ministry</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Spring Term Starts March 18, 2024</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">For more information or to register please go to our web page at </span><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="0" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Z_mVaIoLjBKbb90BH1h0uqx2RRn6mF-_UP-1PBWZJWKN_VyC9e4QIYwSYP8R0gLgF1iDmpr2zbhzjOkP57oqit2gAhWQrLGfg%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239517569%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=dl1pN2qDmucodW%2B3ej2Zvi8xA9SPbQ5hJFIbbQoOjuk%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Z_mVaIoLjBKbb90BH1h0uqx2RRn6mF-_UP-1PBWZJWKN_VyC9e4QIYwSYP8R0gLgF1iDmpr2zbhzjOkP57oqit2gAhWQrLGfg==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="TwdMJ3ZjnAp/B2YUdBd4sNTETZJj50BvW1VW/RuJCWcTXL/miqALuAE0YzC5N4/jx4dHD4ScPGEIfxyMNB8vmaD2Q6xv4tUEGZDxbFXNAci19FHnDiaKfD57SoRsX+sPwEWwpd117c+cUdzTy0vkHhJK4TMoXK5O79t0mY7ZZWM=" style="border: 0px; color: #315fc3; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Z_mVaIoLjBKbb90BH1h0uqx2RRn6mF-_UP-1PBWZJWKN_VyC9e4QIYwSYP8R0gLgF1iDmpr2zbhzjOkP57oqit2gAhWQrLGfg==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">www.hsrm.org/rsom.</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="1" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239527319%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rRZNB4xLUa2o4ttc5jStaW6nSfdkQVo6yobEdC8mCmA%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="bw2+1OC8maJXjrbyPJxw3SLZTwnUg0nyER8XzHvI5EMRXH4SFZ7uwsN61qTpTmSosBzjGonE2nZY6p2gUto4VXZuxzpjClqooTNMheSVlwtkkFGNmBIIv+pRJ9zQHVgqq6u4sboCRbyueLNoSAB42/wzQEExn7wqGRMJpM/msrY=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">1. Christian Leadership - Pastor</a><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> John Grove</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Starting Monday March 18,2024 @ 8 PM ET for 6 weeks</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="2" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239532583%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=gSraMHi5Wz5RcCTw3OUAJMJZ5aC%2B%2B8Q7JzZlDhZQvvU%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="V5mf3Pr9NvSgXvo8yPKEp9MrRFoON2n0YfWxZWAk/gKD61UnBNGGBDIEC7xf43Bhy9tliI77KaGXAP8ZDqmjNtMYyH5XU2A1IhLCYWvqM70E4AxzMhRRj3c2QMkh+3eCwJuzuZYoSuiPnBIAdW33JTMZgfPugBm1yvQJJVP/ZaY=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">2. Church History and Polity </a><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="3" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239537514%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=1WvR0GucL4TH6OA1MW6CHFFL5AP7UcVfLrJc%2F%2Bn4olM%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="ySqXrZxvIf4X1effJpf5Tt+m+UWcwy067NtHg7Sbf0lhgzCbWKrsCAVhL6z2FQKblewO0ae7VG5bLVddgXPq9ErV+wda7sy8TwEBPlWGfdRfCRI97Lq1ZhLN/8w+qvUqAq6Y325o0O/ZdbX5KRxAZJU3FDiT2dXuNnWsbmrnmr8=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">- </a><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="4" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239542491%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=4JEj16QgnKWglEx2M%2FfCpanv3SQY%2FDAXAhhwLz1fTWg%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="PamsW0t0oNg3ULxHrQyuoEHPAH9Uma/jQdNQmd1Ntpv8sDfmZo7m2Rjc906tsJmYaFG+FAz4liM5xhvx6lWmRmFTdwwe5CzOWC2rNE5vDJIZyj7q/ofREOSlk5w9RVEFNlqbZ4YkTENK+2y+IFhl20iemmF8tW0QQPJouHn4i8g=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">Pastor Ed Owens</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Starting Thursday March 21,2024 @ 8 PM ET for 6 weeks</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="5" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239547384%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=tZ8LKiH4Makj5y290ZXSjIX0s7G4zIBRlqE3CmCr0w4%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="Q5XvnukqhijtoWZwPAXckJludK09en7E26GXyYXB9J6ynELwV9o8xnpp4JXh1KJ2I7KqfE5KbbaPBNf+IJMorAdib/w041JXcYc9g1343XlFcPTKlpBzUQSR2KPP6Wo7YnbsFe/yBVlSOS8zg6ceEKi3IMBjDLqYg5yxhbR6J9s=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">3. Ambassadorship 101 Seminar - Dr Clayton Ford</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saturday, March 23, 2024 10:30 am to 1:30 pm ET, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm CT, 8:30 am to 11:30 am MT, 7:30 am to 10:30 am PT</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="6" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239552421%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=uUHcMGBkmV6LMwD%2Fo5S02eTEnX2uJfq3K3LqI5L3Vto%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="GnMc30sQRAwdq77c3pz6j0xMUuTko27pM0JaIFHRfBuVT7T1FrjkFKyn+M4MsmsNDjGZWRxxdMsDJD8DB0R5ixiPAUOrnYgkLyO4K78+EtZo17uuiFMtsZOp0wdEWW/Q8ufw+xTNSNMMHz5uHO8vvDK+VkaN2H57juked10zxHQ=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">4. Ready or Not -Tribulation, Rapture & the Second Coming of Christ Seminar</a><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="7" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239557298%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rjriEdszLbNOxrOkrHRkZgEy1Y16jlvXVKv0%2FpGE%2BoI%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="tNqda0oiIEEUroFVmuDGGefHaQKKDMzKeZpI6WdDQmAU4sY6DCdFZ6sxLX5RKSyJp81OQLFB8jnYij8xbPI6agDPumNK73v3BfwK+MCb0GioCoeHLs0sJj1xLiXNnnRJVKPSC1BEsVsM4D44dLMAJjNrBDEQu8UJ6WtUU9NwFiE=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">-</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="8" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239562115%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=7YMnGxGmB%2Bq%2Fe5G%2FQxv1X8w1wPFeNPqTwECveJowuek%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="u+m/Q0CGs0ujW8ftineLTMu9wniISfhqVuwk4IzrOkz+ZzNiEa1KWJfUahIwQDt0f/hfUBp9QMlEX9ouGB+uYAtgSdVeSzdgiAjT0jalzm6gKXEZyNTbQxY7T/OqBOwXiDEYsgkD76ywhr5/nLytwycRobf6OPhaWJJ3D0mvEm4=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link."></a><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="9" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239566998%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2BFVX4KBzEJHSOlgxWh5Vfnz1YPFLHFHA52gjidNZNZs%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="qN44sD9AAJtF6sTl1N7/qscN4e4r7yXWPrgzBxXJ+a5ZmunVWyZq0UfDdL6F/v0j/8VWhChgQiQm2TjHuED5XjJ4uwuygUutg6D8867H9JQUo3ED5amvkcJ36GHwRD5FSSjnWPgrDk9QFxQwIVCdaDFAVo88HjD1AqLwQP8SLn8=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">Dr. Clayton Ford</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saturday April 13, 2024 10:30 am to 1:30 pm ET, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm CT, 8:30 am to 11:30 am MT, 7:30 am to 10:30 am PT</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br aria-hidden="true" /></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">5.</span><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="10" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239572243%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=vKUfG9F%2BYl67c%2BIIdJi81AdF7880LYAcG6KUhz4aFNw%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="LDgB1R/NQGBWPD1oUSDY/gO9dBsOctqFLGw8ssmVszulpVd+K1BrkmwTKqmxXIB2Fq9J68aIAe2JYQZect8VWrhI4lSAO1JFCnPMlDDZ22XsXWB5K+cwRpcjB2rAwGnMSiREeAvpGPxGS1ruHHjEBXUlfokvveL3vVRpIxPNB1E=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">Hearing God’s Voice’ ---- Streams Ministry teachers, Doug & Pam Wantz</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday, April 21, 2024 - 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm ET, 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm CT,</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">3:00 pm – 6:00 pm MT, 2:00 pm – 5:00 pm PT</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="11" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239577142%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=OxKFNMo3g9%2FCEd02BnmlCJPIg0rely2V%2FhATV0gJGFA%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="n/l4RKagIstvvepDnn5MhjpHRlbawMv4+HAYUf7MSqgM8XokJqLp/F3PS/kAwqSStjezgwyyVXrlvzREI1HA9G1yoBjZWl2Lb4hx5Kqic4iKDoPIH1MUP/q27E9aze578y68TDUAxPVxZGvi/x+lLa5HvsF7s6GesGuezGE/pj8=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">6. </a><a data-auth="Verified" data-linkindex="12" href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fr20.rs6.net%2Ftn.jsp%3Ff%3D001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g%3D%3D%26c%3D6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw%3D%3D%26ch%3DI89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q%3D%3D&data=05%7C02%7C%7Ce0d13c1dc55e4de2bd5f08dc3ab8b6fd%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C638449812239582219%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=2OFmw%2Bt97z9MlagysWwxzVY1lxvOgbKyWphHHnIKZTs%3D&reserved=0" originalsrc="https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==" rel="noopener noreferrer" shash="tgXdnMRVJOnA4RY9sCkaZZN6sPkfE9Krmb3k0DQdkoAspROz9nChwTiSL1OwrgMYJoMD4/BlUci55nvAqu8CbVw3rzw5QNE20jX5BgAQHbHm5q1M+K8bEg45YKXxphjC46q6L7Mtb9uZ+a9xXhZmsUex9tAghpJ9HSudbweebvc=" style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Protected by Outlook: https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ICFSwCcSOx3sLuUy69aiDgRfbZisjebAdJs0yUe37NxDvhYsOyLx3Q2kaCEL2idEozzcSJLu5lwOGICXD7lK9bSvdxWq62oBLlnGgxlCC1t9yYDpCL8q7pMG2ShbvKLzwUQGcpPvCVWcLlGwzpH7snN6xnGO4r-GeUVy1nU8VfmB0xZWwXGt1g==&c=6gxne4AKxSM8fakQFDXKyzldTH9xLThTlEB28_8CS1zIfqN0W3JULw==&ch=I89DdaKvuNRNVE5omD1eql_Iadu0VPKnK5H5az7ljZFEReAl7Qis3Q==. Click or tap to follow the link.">Biblical Answers to Cultural Values Seminar</a></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Panel of Clay Ford, John Piippo, & Holly Collins</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saturday April 6, 2024</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8am to 10am (PT), 9am to 11am (MT), 10am to noon (CT), 11am to 1pm (ET)</span></p><p style="background-color: #e8e3db; color: #3e3e3e; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="border: 0px; color: #222222; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-8980948970126756602024-03-02T08:45:00.000-05:002024-03-02T08:45:00.943-05:00Church: Performance-Based or Spirit-Formed? <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is your church performance-based or Spirit-formed? </span><br />
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<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Are you trying to attain your goal by human effort or by the empowering presence and leading of God’s Spirit? </span></li>
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<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">What would have to change for your church to become a Spirit-formed community?</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">James van Yperen, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Making-Peace-Overcoming-Church-Conflict/dp/0802431852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321152143&sr=8-1">Making Peace: A Guide to Overcoming Church Conflict</a>, asks these questions. (p. 74). Van Yperen knows that many American churches are performance-based rather than Spirit-formed. This is not good, and explains a lot of church conflict.</span><br />
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">He writes: </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"Pick up almost any book about church growth or leadership today, and the dominant theme will be performance—how you can do more and achieve more. Words like “effective,” “dynamic,” and “productive” describe the values and goals of leadership. Much is given to models and methods of leadership and growth. Little is said about spiritual formation." (73)</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">After beginning with the Spirit, many are now trying to "do church" in their own strength and by their own wisdom and efforts. (Galatians 3:3) </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This distinction is key to understanding church conflict. The performance-based church creates an "audience," a bunch of "consumers," and audiences and consumers do what they do best: critique and complain. </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"A Spirit-formed community," in contrast, "is formed by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, not the personality or gifts of a man or woman." (74) </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The questions of the Spirit-formed community are not: "Do you like the worship?" or "Do you like the pastor?" In the Spirit-formed church people are not worshiping to please you.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Van Yperen is so good here. He writes:</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"When a church gathers around a central figure who leads out of his or her knowledge, experience, or gifts alone, the church’s identity is inevitably tied to the ego and self-esteem of the leader. It becomes performance-based. By performance-based, we mean that planning and evaluation are focused on human achievement. Success or failure is measured by the growth and size of the church, the number of conversions, the latest facility expansion, or whether people approve of sermons, music, and so forth. Identity is measured by position, power, and accomplishment." (Ib.)</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Real "church" is about God and Jesus, not some pastor or worship team. The consumer-audience will not understand this. Some pastors and worship teams don't want to understand this. This is one reason why, in our context, we don't put some "great musician" on the platform with our worship team if they are not primarily a passionate worshiper of Jesus and walk in humility and self-denial.</span></span>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-59078255657926458952024-03-01T13:25:00.003-05:002024-03-01T13:25:32.707-05:00Orthodoxy and Progressivism: The Two Rooms<p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYBE1p3ghW4oiyUQ-o3rdM7NHhsPBQO5SkWwtfU0lUv4HuS2e5WW7TJ2ptRfQUUq-BhDPJq2o2gpeDy0t7te8jPZPXiirMYhnU9_g1kU0DjMa7MqJebVpMANN489nPGzhzP79mvurSmQVzlhgPoOS0XZCvkvDdzpD0F36uAmmyL-s-emyW7BNKw/s1600/Trinidad%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvYBE1p3ghW4oiyUQ-o3rdM7NHhsPBQO5SkWwtfU0lUv4HuS2e5WW7TJ2ptRfQUUq-BhDPJq2o2gpeDy0t7te8jPZPXiirMYhnU9_g1kU0DjMa7MqJebVpMANN489nPGzhzP79mvurSmQVzlhgPoOS0XZCvkvDdzpD0F36uAmmyL-s-emyW7BNKw/s320/Trinidad%201.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-small;"> (I took this when Linda and I were teaching AME pastors in Trinidad.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">(This is from the Introduction to my book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deconstructing-Progressive-Christianity-John-Piippo/dp/B09HFXXBDK/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IphnqsXQY6SOdRqEzX1gtHVx68wY5AXtJCgJnPSjMjWYBu40k55gvryNdA3bnPntTLrYk0ACtvpkZb2VNm-dpSCqkGA0OjLgow0LBymzTmg.VnbRvu-XLHNkqry959j6A4kuIlGMQn_qluJJ6mwjnbQ&qid=1709317351&sr=1-4">Deconstructing Progressive Christianity</a></i>.)</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is a book about beliefs.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Progressive Christians are introducing people in our churches to a heterodox kind of Christianity. </span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">I have officiated at many weddings over the past five decades. That’s a lot of great eating at the wedding receptions! Several of these have been memorable. Here’s one I will never forget. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Jessica and Jason’s wedding ceremony was beautiful, especially because of the spiritual beauty of this couple. Linda and I love being part of weddings where the bride and groom are passionate Jesus-followers. That was us, too, at our wedding on August 11, 1973! Jason and Jessica had their reception in a banquet hall in Toledo. The hall had two large gathering rooms. These rooms were identical twins, mirror images, of each other. I did not know the other room that was set up exactly as the one we were in. This is important to understand. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Connecting the two rooms was a long hallway, with rest rooms in the middle that were utilized by both rooms. So, we have two identical rooms, with shared bathrooms between the rooms. Do you understand?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">During the reception I needed to use the rest room. I walked out of the banquet hall, down the hallway, and turned right into the rest room. Upon leaving, I turned right and walked down the hallway, through the door, and back into the banquet hall. Can you see where this story is going? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">While I knew many of the people at Jason and Jessica’s wedding, they had several guests and family members I had not yet met. As I walked around the banquet hall there were people I did not recognize. OK. That’s to be expected. Then I saw the table Linda and I were seated at. She was not there. OK. I’ll look for her. What was weird was that strangers were seated where we had been sitting. I admit to feeling upset about this. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">As my eyes scanned the room, there was no one that I recognized. The wedding dance for Jessica and Jason was beginning. I strained my eyes and looked closely at the bride. It wasn’t Jessica! And Jason wasn’t holding her in his arms! I thought I heard the four notes from “The Twilight Zone” in my head. Here I stood, in a room identical to the one for Jessica and Jason. But something was not right. I exited that wedding reception, walked back down the hall, past the rest rooms (where Ishould have turned left), and into the correct room. There, Linda was seated at our table. My friends were there. Jessica and Jason were finishing their wedding dinner at the main table. What a relief! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">This is how it is, for me, with “progressive Christianity.” Some of the furniture seems identical to what I believe. Indeed, some things are good, such as the desire for greater community, and working to bring God’s justice upon the earth. And there’s more than that. But, as I have met with progressive Christians, and read their literature, some things don’t feel right to me. Indeed, some things seem downright wrong, dangerous, and, if I may use the word, heretical. Heterodox. It feels like another religion to me, an offshoot of Christianity. I see Progressive Christianity as being in a different room, with a different story, with different beliefs.</span></p>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-18749804900083290312024-03-01T07:46:00.000-05:002024-03-01T07:46:27.241-05:00Master/Slave Marriages<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for husbands love your wives john piippo" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBIvBK-qghotLidGYj2R3069ckeTK84MAxvKAHvXtSpk4XRXsVYPJ5bd7POTezQAmRLa4_PCvADcpvQxytU6ONVC7hKRYDgh2A0HSBpw3oY86fkka-PN__5n4ykWLfVD6gp4uB/s640/mon+6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(My back yard)<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Linda and I have been privileged to meet with many marital couples over the years. We have seen God heal and renew broken marriages. We have seen marriages that should have experienced healing but remained in their sickness.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">One type of troubled marriage is the "master/slave" marriage. We also call this the "controller/controlee" marriage. Instead of the mutual submission marital model given us in Ephesians 5:22-23, the husband takes on a false, dictator-like position on being "the head of the house." He imprisons his wife in a world of his own making. He fails to see his role as head of the house as being like Christ to his wife, and loving her as Christ loved the church and gave his life for her.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">I meet a lot of control freaks and controlees. Many marriages are the coming together of these anti-types. Every control freak needs a controlee, and vice versa. </span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">This is very, very bad. Keith Miller writes: "control is the major factor in destroying intimate relationships." <span style="color: #5b5b5b;">(</span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Compelled-Control-Recovering-Intimacy-Relationships/dp/1558744614/ref=pd_sim_b_2" style="color: #eb0034; text-decoration-line: none;"><i>Compelled to Control: Recovering Intimacy in Broken Relationships</i></a><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">., p. </span><span style="color: #5b5b5b;">7) </span></span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Why do we do this? Why try to control others when we can't control our own selves, and are often out of control? Miller writes:<br /><br />"The fear of being revealed as a failure, as not being "enough" somehow, is a primary feeling that leads to the compulsion to control other people. When we were children, the fear of being inadequate and shameful was tied to our terror of being deserted or rejected and we had little control over getting what we needed. To counteract that basic terror, we have evidently been trying all our lives in various ways to "get control" of life. This includes controlling other people." (14)<br /><br />A controlling person is an un-free person. Insecurity is the emblem of control. Instead, God wants to free us from the terrible burden of always having to get our own way. "Walking in freedom" and "controlling other people" ("always getting our own way") are oppositional.<br /><br />The control-freak-husband (or wife) crushes the spirit of the other person, who wears a sign saying, 'Crush me." The destructive cycle is: "I'm in control of you"/"Control me" - "I'm in control of you"/"Control me," and so on, round and round they go. This destroys marriages and relationships. The antidote is trust. Because where trust is, control is not.<br /><br />Begin breaking free by learning trust in God. Pray to be less controlling than you now are. Pray to be less controlled by others than you now are. Trust God even when you don't trust other people.<br /><br />Go basic, repeating and praying Proverbs 3:5-6:<br /><br /><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" id="en-MSG-6848" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; position: relative;">Trust <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">God</span> from the bottom of your heart;</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">don’t try to figure out everything on your own.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; position: relative;">Listen for <span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">God</span>’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">he’s the one who will keep you on track.</span></span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; position: relative;">Don’t assume that you know it all.</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><i>Run to </i><span class="small-caps" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; font-variant-caps: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: normal;">God</span><i>! Run from evil!</i> (The Message)</span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">Get help for your marriage.</span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;">You can be a team, a loving, mutually submissive partnership, the kind of kingdom marriage we see in Ephesians 5.</span></span></span><br />
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><span class="indent-1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="text Prov-3-5-Prov-3-12" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><br /></span></span></span>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-51901528974379242202024-02-28T11:46:00.000-05:002024-02-28T11:46:51.158-05:00Why I Pray<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Image result for john piippo pray" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRhwF_yhfuGx1aiIC4sg65QD1tfnKApHadHGTqpEIBM_bsjHWzSQVPm_EPbF-dVN38LAk-jqHfSAEPSfhNuUyR_XeJThG-xd6buV1S82YkLzXNUqt7FM35XbfnScObYDhOkKcbWg/s640/DSC_2583a.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Glen Arbor, Michigan)</td></tr>
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">(From my book <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Praying-John-Piippo/dp/1512737356/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God</a>.</i> All Scripture references are in my book.<i>)</i></span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The beating heart of my praying life for the past forty-two years happens on Tuesday afternoons. So, this Tuesday, I will get in my car, drive seven miles to the Lake Erie shoreline, and pray. I'll be praying anywhere from two to five hours. (If you would like me to pray for you, please send me an email - I'll share the request with Linda and no one else. johnpiippo@msn.com)</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Why do I do this?</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Because everyone in the Bible prayed.</span><br />
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<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">In the Old Testament people prayed </span></b><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Abraham prayed. “Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife and his female slaves so they could have children again…” </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Isaac prayed. “Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.” </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Jacob prayed. “Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper…’”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Moses prayed. Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. </span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Samson prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Hannah prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Samuel prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">David prayed. “Nathan hears from God and shares this with David. Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: “Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Elisha prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Hezekiah prayed. “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the LORD, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Solomon prayed. [The Dedication of the Temple] “When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Ezra prayed. “So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Nehemiah prayed. “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Job prayed. “After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Psalms – the word “prayer” is used thirty-four times in the Psalms.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Isaiah prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Jeremiah prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Elijah prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">All the prophets prayed. Jonah prayed. “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Daniel prayed. “Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help.”</span><br />
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<b><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">The early church prayed. </span></b><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">And: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles… Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts… And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">And: On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">“Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Peter prayed. About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Paul and Silas prayed. About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Paul prayed. “God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times…</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">And: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Paul counseled Jesus-followers to “Devote yourselves to prayer.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif"><b>Jesus prayed. </b></span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Jesus was often found praying, in various contexts; e.g., in the synagogue, in lonely places, etc. Jesus spent time in solitude. “Jesus began his ministry by spending 40 days alone in solitude and prayer.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">“Before choosing the Twelve Jesus spent the entire night alone in the desert hills praying.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">“When he heard of John the Baptist’s death Jesus “withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart.””</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">“After feeding the 5000 he dismissed the crowd and “went up into the hills by himself” where he prayed.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">After a long night of work, “in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">After healing a leper, Jesus “often withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.”</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Before his time on the cross he went alone to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed.</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">Jesus went out as usual [as was his custom; as was his habit] to the Mount of Olives, to pray…</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">If the God-followers in the Old Testament prayed, if the early church prayed, if Peter prayed, if the apostle Paul prayed, and if Jesus took habitual solitary times of praying out of his own need to be in contact with the Father, should I do any less?</span><br />
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<span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif">(Pages 254-259)</span></span></div>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7382534.post-12498176931580745672024-02-27T15:02:00.000-05:002024-02-27T15:02:09.659-05:00Did Jesus Actually Exist?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEfBVBLjCi1qAy1vsRvNN9mpeGq1eMqg3UqzHoSkvSzfafQYJFlCWazX6R3cYGOFiqqYiTOshpGsd6CTtQYwyn_tJocchO1kwmllEsU1yvUEkdZE7KI7wfnEKSSgkVJYCWcr-/s1600/Pictures+6015.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtEfBVBLjCi1qAy1vsRvNN9mpeGq1eMqg3UqzHoSkvSzfafQYJFlCWazX6R3cYGOFiqqYiTOshpGsd6CTtQYwyn_tJocchO1kwmllEsU1yvUEkdZE7KI7wfnEKSSgkVJYCWcr-/s320/Pictures+6015.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Door, in Jerusalem</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today I heard someone in our Monroe community make the claim that there's no evidence that the Jesus of the four gospels actually existed, and that the "Jesus" presented there is a myth. I think that view is false.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Perhaps the best explanation of and refutation of "the legendary Jesus theory" is Paul Eddy and Greg Boyd, <span id="btAsinTitle"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Legend-Historical-Reliability-Tradition/dp/0801031141/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291266026&sr=8-1">The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus</a>. While the whole book needs to be read, here's a summary of reasons why the synoptic Jesus tradition can be considered reliable.</span></span><br />
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<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"The general religious environment of first-century Jewish Palestine would not have provided a natural environment for birthing a legend/myth centered around a recent, Torah-trumping, cruciform-messianic God-man." (452)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Core "countercultural and embarrassing features of the Jesus story provide further evidence against the Synoptic portrait(s) being significantly legendary." (Ib.)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"The claims that Jesus's identity was inextricably bound up with that of Yahweh-God and that he should receive worship, the notion of a crucified messiah, the concept of an individual resurrection, the dullness of the disciples, the unsavory crowd Jesus attracted, and a number of other embarrassing aspects of the Jesus tradition are difficult to explain on the assumption that this story is substantially legendary." (Ib.)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"The fact that this story originated and was accepted while Jesus's mother, brothers, and original disciples (to say nothing of Jesus's opponents) were still alive renders the legendary explanation all he more implausible. In our view, it is hard to understand how this story came about in this environment, in such a short span of time, unless it is substantially rooted in history." (Ib. See also Richard Bauckham's excellent <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Eyewitnesses-Gospels-Eyewitness-Testimony/dp/0802874312/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=richard+bauckham&qid=1576241234&s=books&sr=1-1">Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony</a></i>.)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Attempts to argue against the historicity of the Jesus tradition on the basis of the alleged silence of Paul or ancient secular writers have not been forceful." (Ib.)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"Much of what we have learned about oral traditions in orally dominant cultures over the last several decades gives us compelling reasons to accept the earliest traditions about Jesus as having been transmitted in a historically reliable fashion." (Ib.)</span></li>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">"The Synoptics themselves give us plausible grounds for accepting that the basic portrait(s) of Jesus they communicate is substantially rooted in history. Yes they are "biased," but no more so than many other ancient or modern historical writers whom we typically trust." (Ib., 453)</span></li>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Eddy and Boyd conclude: "Where does all this leave us? We suggest that these lines of evidence, viewed from the standpoint of an "open" historical-critical method, provide reasonable grounds for the conviction that the portrait(s) of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels substantially is rooted in history. At the very least, this probability is greater than the probability of any competing hypothesis, which leads us, at minimum, to the conclusion that the a posteriori burden of proof should be born by those who claim the Synoptic Gospels are unreliable vis-a-vis their essential representations of Jesus." (Ib.)</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's a lot of quoting. It's Eddy and Boyd's summary of their book. Read the whole thing to see these bullet points reasoned for and filled out.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">(On the historicity of the four gospels, see Craig Keener's new book, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Christobiography-Memories-History-Reliability-Gospels/dp/0802876757/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=craig+keener&qid=1576241144&s=books&sr=1-7">Christobiography: Memory, History, and the Reliability of the Gospels</a></i>.)</span></span>John Piippohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10629118383980527338noreply@blogger.com