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Are Bedbugs the Modern Day Leprosy?

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One of the blogs I read is “The Red Letter Christians.” Today, Bart Campolo shared a story about a man who showed up at one of their meetings and he was almost literally covered with bedbugs. He writes this:

Sure enough, Stanley ’s back was literally crawling with bedbugs.  How did I know they were bedbugs, you ask?  Around here we learn to spot our bedbugs the way an endangered horror movie hero learns to spot her zombies.  Della knew too.  “You gotta get him out of here, or my family’s leaving,” she told me. “I love y’all, Bart, but we can’t be getting no bedbugs.”  And just that quickly, everything changed between Stanley and the rest of us.

I’ll am not judging Della. I know how she feels. We live in New York and are afraid to go anywhere near where bedbugs might be. What did Bart and his group do? Go to the blog to read the rest of the post to find out.

Would you (or do you) hang out with people who have bed bugs? Why or why not?

Beautiful Sounds

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Life is full of beautiful sounds. Children laughing. Birds chirping. The crash of ocean waves on the shore. Snow falling in the forest (yes, it has a distinct sound).

And my current personal favorite, the tick… tick… tick.. tick. tickticktickticktick. tick. tick.. tick… tick… tick of hot water pipes in the wall at 3:17 AM. Although I used to find that sound incredibly annoying, especially when it woke me from my peaceful slumber, it was the most beautiful sound in the world last night.

Why? Because it meant we had heat in the house again.

During the cold snap the last few days, our heating pipes froze and we were without heat. So I spent a dozen hours or so over the past couple days using hair dryers, pulling back carpet, moving furniture, climbing around in freezing crawl spaces, and other assorted methods, all in an attempt to locate the frozen pipe and get the heat going again. Also, I was dreading that when it did start flowing, I might end up with a burst pipe.

And then, last night, at about 10:30 PM, while I was on the phone with a friend from Oregon, my wife ran in excitedly and said, “The walls are ticking! I heard the walls ticking!” We both ran to the wall and listened to the beautiful noise of the copper pipes heating up inside the wall. Last week, it was the most annoying sound in the world. Last night it was the most beautiful sound. And at 3:17 AM, I didn’t even mind being woken up it.

Funny how perspective changes everything…

Take curse words and coarse jokes, pointed questions about the accuracy of Scripture or the deity of Jesus, or even mindless chatter about Jersey Shore and sports statistics.

All these things used to annoy me. But now, just like the ticking pipes in my wall, they are beautiful sounds, because they tell me I’m hanging out with the right people, the kind of people Jesus hung out with… the people whom God loves.

Homiletical Hermeneutics for the Sesquipedalian

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Uh…what?

Yes, that’s what many people think when they attend church and hear pastors using Greek, Hebrew, theological terminology, and other Christian jargon. I’m not against such things, but big words do not help others understand you, nor do they help others want to follow Jesus. People are most drawn to followers of Jesus who can talk about normal things in normal ways.

And besides, I somewhat suspect that most of the people who use big words don’t know what the heck they’re talking about either. They think the big words will mask their ignorance. As an example, I recently heard a woman talk about her “self-defecating humor.” Unless she was into extreme forms of bathroom humor, I think what she meant was “self-depreciating.”

If you can’t say it so a fourth-grader understands you, you probably don’t understand it yourself. When you use big words, nobody is impressed.

Oh, and about the title:
Homiletics is the art and technique of preaching.
Hermeneutics is the art and science of Bible Study.
Sesquipedalians are people who like to use big words.

So the title basically means “Preaching and Bible Study methods for people who like to use big words.”

…But that’s so boring. My original title was better. Maybe big words aren’t so bad after all…

Is Your Church Hateful?

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Have you ever heard of a church that thought of itself as unloving, or bad for families?

Of course not. Every church in the country would probably describe themselves as a warm and loving family church. But is it possible that all churches truly fit this description? Not likely.

So what truly is a loving church? How do you know if a church if good for families? What does it look like? What do they do?

I Love Google!

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Thanks to Tommy over at Christ en vous l’espérance de la gloire I learned that I can read blogs in other languages. He showed me that Google translates webpages! How did I not know that? So here is his page translated into English: Christ in You the Hope of Glory.

He was speaking in tongues, and Google was my interpreter. Pentecost has come again!

I was also able to add his blog to another favorite thing of mine, Google Reader. If you don’t use a reader to read blogs, you really should start. You don’t have to remember which blogs you read, or keep checking to see if new entries are posted. For a while, I was using the built-in Internet Explorer reader. But it stayed on my home computer, and I couldn’t access it anywhere else. So by switching to Google Reader, I can read the blogs I subscribe to anywhere I go. And as with all things Google, it’s free and easy.

And if you want to subscribe to my blogs, here are the feeds:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/tillhecomes
http://feeds.feedburner.com/gracecommentary

To Subscribe, either copy and paste the two links above into your Blog Reader, OR click on each link, and subscribe from the choices at the top.

Are there any other aspects of Google you highly recommend?

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics:

6 Ways to Pray Like a Leper (Luke 5:12-15)

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pray like a leper Luke 5:12-15Ever struggle with what to pray for and how to pray? Learn a few lessons from the leper in Luke 5:12-15.

This man is full of leprosy, which means he has an advanced case. When he sees Jesus approaching, Luke 5:12 says he implored Jesus, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, You can make me clean.” Here are six things we learn from this simple request:

1. Recognize our condition. You come as a beggar, a leper, a nobody. You are not making an exchange with God. You have nothing to offer. Anything God grants is strictly by His grace and out of His love.

2. Implore. The leper “implored” Jesus. The word is very strong. It is more than a request. It is more than a prayer. It is all out pleading, a tearful and earnest begging. When used all by itself, it can be translated, “Please!” This is not a half-hearted prayer. This leper knows his need, and is not afraid to ask. He asks with all his energy and emotions. This is what it means to implore.

3. Ask Jesus. The leper doesn’t turn to another leper. He doesn’t turn to one of the apostles. He doesn’t even turn to the priest. He knows that none of them can help. He turns to Jesus. When we pray, we must turn to God alone. Jesus instructs us to pray to the Father (Matt 6:9), but this does not mean that we cannot pray to Jesus.

4. Ask humbly. The leper says, “If you are willing.” Though he is imploring, begging, pleading for Jesus to answer, he does not make demands. Again, this is due in part to his stance as a leper. He is not in a position to make demands. Today, when some pray, it seems like they are making demands of God. Some Christians even have the audacity to command God. They think this is praying with faith. I’m not sure God sees it that way.

5. Ask simply. There is no long, wordy explanation of why the leper is where he is at now, no attempt to “soften” Jesus up by telling Him how great and wonderful and awesome He is, no repetition of the name of Jesus. Just a simple, straight-forward, honest request.

6. Obey. After praying, the leper obeyed the instructions of Jesus. Prayer is not an end in itself. You cannot pray and think you have done your part, so now God must do His. No, you must often seek to be an answer to your own prayer. This does not mean we answer own prayers, but neither do we pray, then sit back, twiddle our thumbs, and wait for God to act.

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

If you have these (and other) questions about prayer, let me send you some teaching and instruction about prayer to your email inbox. You will receive one or two per week, absolutely free. Fill out the form below to get started.

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The Scholastic Shield

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I love Bible study, and bemoan the ever-increasing biblical illiteracy that pervades the modern church.

But the following quote from Søren Kierkegaard from his book, Provocations, made me stop and think a bit. Is he right? Could it be that we do not have too little knowledge, but too much, and the correction is not to learn more, but simply to follow what we already know?

Here is what he says:

The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. “My God,” you will say, “If I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world?”

Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes, it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.

What do you think?

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics:

Seminary Secrets Ahead

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When I was in seminary, I was married with three kids, I worked full time, and I attended school more than full time. Not to brag…okay, to brag…but I completed a Th.M. (120 credit hours) in three years. I do not recommend this, and neither does my wife. But at the time, it was what we thought was best for our family.

Of all my classes, Greek and Hebrew were the most difficult and time consuming. In class, we were taught to use books for exegetical papers, diagrammatical analysis, word studies, and everything else related to learning these languages and using them to study Scripture.

Eventually, a pastor friend of mine told me a secret for speeding up my language research. Prior to gaining this arcane knowledge, it was not uncommon for me to spend 20-30 hours per week on just Greek or Hebrew. After I learned the secret, I cut that time in half. This was still more than I spent on any other class, but it was a great improvement.

What is the secret? It’s one word. Or maybe it’s two. Whatever. The secret is this: BibleWorks.

BibleWorks is an all in one, exegetical research program that does almost everything you are taught to do in class, but at the touch of a button rather than with all the book pulling and page turning. Yes, you still have to know how the language works, memorize the vocabulary, understand the grammar, and be able to translate and diagram. If you cannot do this on your own, you will fail all the tests and quizzes. But when it comes to your homework and papers, using the program speeds up the process so you can do the same work in less time. That is invaluable for time-strapped fathers, parents, and students.

And if you’re a pastor who saw the value of exegetical research while in seminary but no longer have the time to do it each week, BibleWorks can help you continue the process of studying the original languages, even if you’re short on time or a bit rusty on all the details of language study.

Next week I’m going to post a list of everything that is in the newest version, BibleWorks 8. It will blow you away.

FTC Disclaimer: I was asked to review this software on my blog in exchange for a copy of BibleWorks 8.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics:

Wanted: Dying Churches

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Is your church struggling, shrinking, or diminishing in size? Do you show up every week, wondering which family has finally tossed in the towel and switched to another church?

Maybe your church is holding steady, as far as the numbers go, but you feel like nothing is happening in the way of evangelism, missions, and outreach. You want to do something, but you’re not sure what?

I would love to talk. Send me an email: jmyers AT tillhecomes DOT org

What will we talk about? As you may or may not know, I am writing a book called Close Your Church for Good. You can read some of the excerpts by clicking the tab above. The book is focused on helping churches move out of their building and into the community.

Most of the suggestions are fairly extreme and require a willingness to take risks. Of course, few of them cost any money, so we’re not talking that kind of risk. Several of the suggestions in the book are ones I have already done in various ways at various times. But several of the ideas are only that: ideas. Though I’ve heard of other churches that are doing similar things, I have never done them personally.

It has been making me feel guilty that some of the things I am writing about I have never actually done. So my wife, genius that she is, suggested last night that I post on my blog if there are any churches out there that might want to discuss trying some of these things happening in their own church.

The ideas are free. I’m free. And you could set your church free.

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