partsofspeaking

Preliminary: What have we learned so far about Job that we didn’t know before? Old King James in James 3:1 said, “Be not many masters.”   The modern versions say something like, “Let not many of you become teachers, knowing we shall receive a stricter judgment.”   Many people have the gift of teaching—some of you in this room do—but we are warned of the responsibility of teaching.   These verses appear at the beginning of a discourse on the power of the tongue, of speech.   I have been thinking lately about silence—of God and ourselves.   Let me read this article. What have you learned in the silence? Chapters 26-31 are Job’s long last hurrah; in fact it says at the end of 31, “the words of Job are ended.”   Except for a response to God in the second to last chapter, this is his last recorded speech.   Is everything Job says about God true?   Is everything his friends say about God true?   I am going to be provocati...

Job 22-27 Some preliminary thoughts:   Job may have been contemporaneous with the patriarchs (Abraham, 2500-2000 BC).   He mentions iron; “Items that were likely made of iron by Egyptians date from 2500 to 3000 BC.”   There is also no mention of the Mosaic Law, and he offers sacrifices for his family (serving as priest), which would have been forbidden by the Mosaic Law   23:17:   NIV/ESV:   yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face. Job teaches us not to trust internal sources of wisdom; to mistake man’s technology for wisdom; nonBiblical versions or sources of wisdom.   It is very clear that man’s access to wisdom is very limited, that it comes from rightly understood fear of God.   I must teach the Bible in context, so I’m going to start with chapter 22 and make a few observations, spend some time in the beautiful chapter 23, and then move on quickly to this passage today ...

This link goes to an insightful piece on the times we believe God is silent.  I am studying Job for a lesson and it is far more eloquent than I can do. http://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/dr-james-emery-white/the-silence-of-god.html Using silence as a teaching tool is hard for us today, but there is really no learning without silence.

This link will take you to a commentary on Down's Syndrome. http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/23401?spMailingID=7026969&spUserID=OTQ0MjIyMjM4S0&spJobID=89847665&spReportId=ODk4NDc2NjUS1 I am not going to pretend that having a child with Down's is easy, but neither is a child with epilepsy (as mine was), juvenile diabetes (a friend), severe allergies (lots of friends), heart condition, learning disabilities, ADD, etc.  If you want an easy life, don't have a child.  the high rate (reportedly 90%) of people who abort their Down's babies is concurrent with a better quality of life for Down's children.  Ironic.  In this link, they comment on the fact that Time Magazine put football on a cover in the U.S. but Putin on it in other countries.  While the link above is heartwarmig, this one is maddening.  http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/23389?spMailingID=7018727&spUserID=OTQ0MjIyMjM4S0&spJobID=89710741...

I am twelve years or more behind in posting this (there wasn't blogging back then, really).  I finally watched this movie the other night because it was on TCM, late.  I managed to stay up for it despite its going off at 1:30. It was imaginative; it was more Spielberg than Kubrick; it was too long, with a tacked on ending.  Kubrick would have ended it with David staring forever at the blue fairy underwater; he had a darker vision.  Spielberg has a habit of sinking into some unneeded pathos at times.  His best movies are Schindler's List and Lincoln --and maybe Saving Private Ryan --where he couldn't do that.   Of course he is one of the greatest filmmakers, but that doesn't mean I have to like all of them.  Faulkner was brilliant but I am not going to read him for enjoyment. I had two issues with the movie as far as getting emotionally involved in it.  We are supposed to fall in love with David, but I couldn't.  He was just a machine, an...

One can understand her poetry much better after visiting Amherst! 

I ran across this blog post.  It is more valuable, I think, for its insights on Christian literature than for its review of The Shack , although that part of it is quite good, too. http://golfsierra.org/blog/?p=57&cpage=1#comment-104554