Tag Archives: family

February 24, 2011

Open Letter To My Girls

By Pooka

(And anyone else who needs to hear it). Of course this letter is long. Long for my 14 and definitely not reading for my 7. But it’ll be around for a while. And I need to say it. I tell my girls portions of the message below on a daily basis, so this is more of a developed line of thought that I hope will serve some benefit.

The blogosphere is awash with open letters of late. I’m a good copycat, so here comes mine.

Beloved, you are getting too old for me. I am ever more in awe of our Lord, every day, it seems, when you show just that little bit more understanding of His ways. You demonstrate a knowledge of the Scriptures that I’m sure I did not have when I was your age. You know the Gospel, the theology that has only been in my mind for less than seven years and you can discuss it with impressive capacity. I love it and I know your Mama loves it. And we know God is most pleased with your growth in knowledge of His things.

But I want to encourage you. That’s what this letter is all about. There are hard parts to knowing God’s Word and being His disciples. I think it’s especially hard when you are home, as children, with parents who are so anxious to see you grow in the fear and admonition of the Lord. We desire so much for you to lay claim to the promises of God and to live out the life that He has set before you. I think that you hear about obedience more than anything else at times, and I know focusing on that can become an obsession in all of us. Enough that it may appear to blot out the most important part of God’s message to you.

God’s message is that you have been forgiven. Because Jesus lived in perfect obedience and also took the your sins with Him to the cross and took the punishment for them there, you are forgiven. You girls believe that. I’ve heard it from your lips a maybe a thousand times in your short little lives and just hearing your confession is a blessing to my weak heart. You see, I’m not any sort of super guy as far as being faithful and trusting in our Lord. I’m sure you feel the same way too sometimes. Maybe a lot of times. When you, Mama and I are all weak and sinful in our family, we usually lose sight of the promises of God, at least for a while. And so you should hear this. I hope it makes good sense and that you keep it for those long days ahead when you need the message most.

Beloved, you’re forgiven. You’ve believed the Gospel and God has made you promises that you can trust. When you hear me and Mama calling for you to obey, we’re not telling you anything you can’t do. We’re believing a promise too. God has promised that, because you believe, the Holy Spirit is making it so you can do good works. So you see, we’re just working with you to make you stronger in Him, to do just what He has made possible for you. I think if you look at us as helpers, especially when you’re grown up and remember all these days of homework and chores and lessons on loving each other, you’ll see the Gospel message, God’s promises, and not just a bunch of laws and rules and discipline.

You see, some people don’t seem to realize that there’s a need for the Law after the Gospel. Or sometimes they don’t seem to see what the Gospel does to us. It really does make a difference when we believe. It’s not just a thing that happens one day and then we have to start keeping the Law in order to get good grades in God’s test. The rules, those things we’ve learned from the Bible as Law, change their purpose when we belong to Jesus. They’re now the instructions that help us to know what is the right way to live, to live like He originally designed us.

You remember the verse that Jesus says in Matthew 22.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

All the rules that we hold you to are based on this message from our Lord. Oh, we hope that you see this. Sometimes I’m sure it’s very hard to keep in mind, when it seems there are days when you know you can’t get anything right. Believe me, Mama and I have the same feelings ourselves, when we also sin day in and day out, without being able to see any improvement. And we forget the promise of God, that He has given us a heart, a new heart made of flesh, not of stone like the old one we had before we believed Him. We want you (and us too) to live our lives in love of God! That’s what we’re aiming for! And we believe you’ll get there, not because we make it happen but because God will make it happen!

I think God works in us quietly and without any sign to keep us mindful that it is not us growing ourselves. You guys get that lesson enough from us that I’m pretty sure you know it. Our improvement in God’s ways, trying to be like Jesus, is not something we do ourselves. Our improvement is because of the Holy Spirit the Jesus promised us. The Spirit that is working in us, so secretly most of the time, that we don’t realize what’s happening.

We go to church, learn, celebrate with our fellow Christians over the resurrection of our Lord. We confess our sins and are forgiven. We cling to the hope that this week will be better than last week. But it usually seems like nothing’s changed. You guys get busted. Mama and I, we lose our cool. We all sin. Just like last time and the time before that.

But have you noticed? Have you noticed that we all hate that thing about sinning? Pay attention to that hope you had on Sunday. Remember, I just said that we hope this week will be better than last week. That’s the thing you need to think about. We don’t love our sin. We don’t love to disobey our Lord. None of us do. It’s clear enough, isn’t it? That’s the sign you need to think about. God changed you in a heartbeat when you believed Him. You are now free to love and follow Him. No more being trapped in sin, loving to sin, looking forward to your next bad deed. He’s made it so, even when you sin, you don’t want to and really know and want to do the good works you were designed for!

Pretty soon you’ll have another sign to think about, one most powerful and significant that will follow you for the rest of your life. Your baptism is coming up and though I regret we waited so long to get you there, I am more excited about that than anything. And your Mama is too. And your church! Think about that! There are a couple hundred people all excitedly awaiting the day when you’re baptized. That day is when you get marked out for good, on the outside, for all the things God has already done on the inside! You’ll belong in a whole new way, to your Christian family, including even your aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces and nephew!

That right there, I hope, sticks with you along your whole life. It’ll be a great reminder of God’s faithfulness, even when you’re stuck in some rotten sin that even though you hate it, you just can’t seem to get over it fast enough. One great benefit that you have in your baptism coming so late is that you’re really well educated on what it means. Remember the Ring! You know the promises and benefits of being baptised. That makes it worthwhile for certain.

So, bottom line, my beloved, don’t look at growing up in our house as rules rules rules. Look at it as me and your Mama working for God to bring you together into doing the things He’s already prepared you for. Look at it like this: when you sin, when you mess up the stuff and we’re bugging you about it, your forgiveness is guaranteed, you’re still beloved Christian sisters who are our neighbors in Heaven and you belong to Jesus!

That’s where you come from when you do good works. No points in Heaven, just rewards. All the work is done in you by our mighty Lord. He is mighty to save us. And He saves us every time we turn around, from our little sins and our big sins and our sadness and our worries. Best girls, trust your Lord and Savior. He won’t depart from you. Ever.

Soli Deo Gloria
For God’s glory alone
In Him,

Your loving Daddy.

Yes, comments are open. Don’t worry about it being a personal letter. It’s personal enough that I certainly welcome criticism, applause or just plain perspective comments.

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February 14, 2011

Three Big Arguments For Covenant Baptism

By Pooka

My buddy at church asked a great question today. So I’m gonna do a final post on Baptism to do a better job of answering him. I hope this comes out making sense and is of value to someone.

1.  It’s already true whether we like it or not!

Children in a family headed by either both or one believing parent are by their temporal disposition in the covenant. They are, unlike the children of unbelievers, being raised in the church under the Word of God. Therein they are receiving the Law and the Gospel, the training in righteousness, the fear and admonition of the Lord as if they really are a part of the covenant community. They have the benefit of being raised in the church, the covenant people of God and to perceive or treat them as anything other than actually as part of the visible covenant people of God is to be inconsistent with all of our teaching.

How can we hold our children to the Law and Gospel warnings and promises consistently if we cannot honestly warn and promise them? It’s a logic problem! And if it makes sense that our children do partake in the covenant community, then they should be initiated into that community. The Church Visible should claim her own as soon as they can be claimed and waste no time doing so.

2. It is integral to our corporate identity!

Baptizing our children is commensurate with upholding the idea of a covenant people. Visibly, tangibly giving our children to God and so to the Church through this ceremonial cleansing and identification puts us all under oath to do just what God has commanded for our spiritual government. Parents are to raise their children and the church is to guard her people for the Lord. We have marching orders from God to do so. Just as the church has membership to provide for accountability, believer to elder and vice-versa, baptism puts an entire family into the sphere of membership.

To fail to baptize our children is to deny the total package of the sovereignty of God. His law and Gospel are applicable to all who are in His church. When we come to worship on Sunday, we are corporately involved in preparation, confession, absolution, exhortation, , intercession and benediction. Can we say that the entirety of worship is wasted on young ears? If we say it’s worthy for all ages to come, let’s embrace them fully. Children in the covenant underlines the vitality of the high view of the Church as God’s minister of the entire covenant.

I wanna make clear first: This is not a big old apologetic of scholasticalisticity. I’m putting out what really hits me about the value and place of Household Baptism. By the way, I think we get too hung up on “Infant Baptism”. That’s not the model in the Bible. It’s Household Baptism from the OT to the NT, which includes infants. Anyway, Here you go:

3. It makes their place real and secure!

Baptizing our children sets them on the path to belief and repentance from the beginning. In baptism there is the tangible application of cleansing and identification that they can know, from their earliest memory. It connects them, personally with the body of Christ from the start. It is a means of demonstrating the gravity and importance of setting foot in the church. It also gives them a seal of belonging. They belong. I don’t think this can be stressed enough. They aren’t just told they belong, something very significant has been done, under the solemn administration of the Church of Christ, under God’s very cognizance, to bring them into the protection and grace of God’s people!

What a woe it must be for children to be excluded from the fullest relationship with true Israel. I’m sure it isn’t often considered or carefully, but seriously think of how we can provoke our children to wrath by telling them they belong by preaching and teaching, calling for confession and then forgiving all within the confines of the Church of Christ and then with the other hand proclaiming that they are still outsiders, to be identified with the gentiles who carry on in the world without a clue about Christ and His work of redemption.

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February 8, 2011

No Hope For Our Children?

By Pooka

Another in my process into the Reformed Faith or Covenant Theology or Household Baptism (a.k.a. Paedo Baptism). Again, props to a great source on all this; thanks, RubeRad. Previous post related is Rings here at LAH.

I think this is a simple line of logic. Makes clear sense to me, anyway. It’s hard, but faith is built on hard rocks and difficult depths.

There are three positions to take

  1. All babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.
  2. Some babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.
  3. No babies and others who cannot respond to the outward preaching of the Gospel will go to heaven.

I’m going to take option 2 based on demonstrations in history (bible): Some children are/were saved Genesis 7, Hebrews 11, Joshua 2:18, Psalm 103:17, Acts 2:38-39, 16:31, Titus 1:6. Some were not saved: Eli’s sons: 1 Samuel 2:12,  Absalom and Esau. Some may argue that there was an age of accountability in these examples. I wonder, since we’re all known before our birth Psalm 139. God doesn’t, in my understanding of Scripture, make decisions based on looking forward to our decisions.

David’s statement about his infant son who has died in 2 Sam 12: “I will go to him, but he won’t return to me.” is not clear, but is used as classic proof for infant salvation.

wcf 10.3 covers Effectual Calling. God is pleased to call to Himself, failing in no way, all people He has chosen. He doesn’t make mistakes, nor is there a “blanket” call to all people amongst whom only a portion respond. There is the call of the Gospel to all people and there is the Effectual Call of God to His elect.

I believe it is very important to think of this calling out of the elect as a lifetime process. Someone who is called to repentance and faith in Christ later in life is to be considered elect. They may not believe but they are elect from the get-go, right? Say they are born and baptised into a believing, churched family yet do not come to the family of God until they are middle-aged. Should not their baptism be of great value? Can they not look back allllll the looooong way back to their baptism and see there, in hindsight the engagement ring and promise that was sealed unto them many years ago and then appreciate all the more God’s promises?

Conversely, a child not baptised but born to a family that is faithful and churched, though coming to saving faith in Christ at middle-age is still saved, baptised when converted. But at what loss? I think, though baptism doesn’t play a part in salvation (it’s not salvific) is it not sad that this person was decidedly different in upbringing from the first? In what I’ve been coming to appreciate about the integral part that baptism and the church play in the family from cradle to grave, it seems a great disservice and a lack of putting perspective on the lost years of God’s promise.

Yes, God’s promise is eternal and yes, it works backward in the life of a man whether baptized in youth or not. Just as a believer who dies never baptized still has the promise. But there’s a richness, a fulness that is lacking. O to look back on the day of my baptism and say here, right here, did God declare that I belong to Him, though it took me twenty eight long years to run to Him in belief and faith. But I don’t have that joy. Do I regret it? Somewhat. It is what it is, of course. But, knowing what I know now, I surely don’t want to lay the foundation for that lack in my own children and for their children. So much would I like to see the better horizon for them and their offspring and if that can be realized, the seal of God on my household, that I would be a fool to avoid it or neglect due attention to it.

But what about those who don’t believe and are still baptized? They still benefit from the common grace that God maintains in His church. They are raised in the moral and spiritual environ of the church and their believing families. They may truly be raised up for God’s judgement, but is not His judgement, His glory and holiness magnified in what He does?

Rather than stew and trouble over this dark side of God’s covenant, is it not better to lay our hopes in Him, to trust our Lord to make all right in the end? He has promised us eternity and salvation. What God does is right, period, and our understanding only comes into play when He wills it to be so. We may not know what will happen or why this side of Christ’s return, so we must go with what we have at this time. God has promised His blessing, however richly full or limited, according to His good pleasure and devices.

So, bottom line, baptize your children. Dedicate them to the good name of our Lord and His promises. He will sort out the rest. And when they are baptized, they must be, by their inclusion, part of the church visible, part of the instruction in righteousness, party to the counsel of God, the discipline of His church and all other things. We owe it to them just as we owe our witness to the Gospel to every pagan around us who has not known God, or His holy things.

Hebrews 8. It’s a covenant. Not just for us but for our children!

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December 19, 2010

Moving Churches And … Return to Christmas Shock and Awe

By Pooka

We’ve moved out to a new church. The decision was rather abrupt, but I think it was brewing to a head over the last few months. I don’t want to spend a profuse amount of words explaining; primarily because it was somewhat difficult but on good terms. Mostly, the more I try to elaborate on the explanation, the more it begins to sound like “God told me to,” which is simply ridiculous. Rather, it became clear that we “belong” someplace else. I’d rather just enjoy trying to capture what’s so good about where we are now.

So we’re at New Life Presbyterian (PCA) church. We are blessed by our new family and are experiencing a depth of fellowship and communion with the Body of Christ that is quite refreshing and comforting. Our pastor preaches the Gospel and the Law in good proportion, and the body reflects this immersion in the preaching and teaching. Worship on Sunday is structured, following a solid routine of preparation, Law, repentance, restoration, Gospel and the Lord’s Supper. It’s faithful and Scriptural.

This is not to disparage our previous church. I’d prefer to say that we’ve upgraded, gone to a better thing from something that was already good. We spent a solid year at PH, learning the Word, Biblical Christianity and the Reformed way of looking at things. It was enriching and essential to clearing a lot of mud from my eyes especially. There’s nothing like sitting before a pulpit that proclaims the Word of God in faith and truth.

Practically, though I don’t call myself qualified to go into depth, the sacraments are administered here such that we’re really a part of them. The Lord’s supper is more than just a remembrance and memorial of Christ’s death. It’s hard to explain, being a novice in this area, but we’re really a part of the event. And it’s not a once-per-month ceremony here. I guess I’ve sold out to Reformed, Calvinistic, Covenant theology. And it’s sweet. It’s comforting to come to the Church of Christ the Lord and His people and really belong. The last year of study and preaching at PH wasn’t a failure, rather it lent speed to a launch into this home. Almost frightening, knowing it’s most likely that our time here will probably be short – a year or two at most (though the Lord can always keep us here until my time with the Navy is up in 2016).

I love the idea of confessing the Westminster and the use of the Catechisms. There is so much more life to confessing more that “no creed but the Bible” as seems to be so popular today. I am enjoying the study of these documents and the depth of their immersion in the Scripture. The fact that the Church includes them in our worship brings a tangible credibility to them and we have a relationship with that deep teaching, immediate amongst the congregation every Sunday (not to mention through all the following lessons and discussions throughout the week). One of the girls is going through the Catechisms in Sunday school as well, which is awesome.

There’s a lot more to ingest here regarding the Presbyterian way (I guess that works for a descriptive term?). There’s the Book of Church Order in addition to the Creeds and Confessions. Though I’ve been studying for the last several months on Covenant Theology, I don’t have a concrete stand on the practice of paedo-baptism. I have reached a tentative decision that it makes sense and is valid in the practice that is espoused at our church. I am fairly convinced that further understanding of this Covenant Theology mess will result in a thorough understanding of baptism and tie up that package eventually.

In the end, there’s so much here that points to glorifying God and points us to Christ, His life, suffering, death and resurrection for our salvation. Christ died to save us. I’m saved. Saved from God’s wrath. YEAH! And that is what we get here, despite the complicated last 5 paragraphs.

Continue reading

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November 30, 2010

Our liberties are in a box in a TSA warehouse, along with 10,000 nail clippers.

By Pooka

Doug Wilson rocks on this one.

People should speak up even more.

So I’m linking to it in hopes someone else catches the breeze.

Touching Sensitive Areas, or TSA For Short

I think the whole TSA imbecillity is an offense on our privacy and our dignity. It elevates a group of people out of the requirement to act with common decency and respect. It violates any consideration for the sensitivities of people who have been molested, exploited or traumatized by human hands on their bodies. And children? C’mon, man! Kids do NOT need to suffer this insanity.

It’s all over YouTube and the rest of the net. DJP has put up a little bit too:

TSA Grope’n'Porn

FOOEY on this stuff. I’ll drive if I have to. I don’t want MY 5 girls under the camera OR the hand.

So the BIG question: How to render unto Caesar when this really isn’t Caesar’s? I’m not willing to concede that the Gov has employed an acceptable method for waging the war on terrorism.

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November 29, 2010

Christmas Wish Lists

By Pooka

I found a ton of stuff that could make a list, if I really wanted to make one. Tools and other man-stuff; a pipe or two; clothes and stuff. Nothing really sticks and I’m just plain cool with NO PRESENTS this year. Really.

Except I’d really go for one of these:

Reformation Study Bible

REFSTUDYBIBLE

Just FYI.

Of course, I’ll be more than happy to buy one for me by myself. Cause I’m selfish like that.

My girly girls have started cute lists of neat stuff.

As usual, Anika hasn’t said much.

My wedding ring broke again, so maybe I should get us a new set, but that’s for our anniversary, not really Christmas.

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November 4, 2010

Good Reads Rollup November 2010

By Pooka

I like these, maybe you will:

I have been collecting all kinds of articles and neat stuff for a good while on LAH. I update the collection from time to time and here we are again with a few new ones atop the stack. (If the link doesn’t work, I’ll eventually find out and fix it. This should only occur with older stuff farther down the page).

Reading Counts

AWESOME listen of MacArthur on Becoming A Better You from the Christless Christianity Conference back in March. WOW.

Dr. Mohler on this week’s Election.

Team Pyro on this week’s Election.

Let’s call it what it is rather than come up with pretty, romanticized terms for our sinful nature. IOW a moratorium on “brokenness”.

R.C. Sproul’s tale relating to Abraham’s potential sacrifice of his son.

Team Pyro’s Dan Phillips takes on our need to forgive ourselves. With a bucket of caustic and a wire brush. Love how this guy doesn’t mince. Seems nice in light of the above moratorium. And here is the follow-on to DJP’s first post: How to forgive yourself; or instead…

Some nice stuff from Ligonier about Luther and Reformation Day.

How should Dad approach Daughter’s appearance? Check this out at My Two Cents.

A very interesting discussion “Thinking In Public” podcast from Dr. Al Mohler. This is about a book that surveys religion in America and has some grenades.

…………………………………………………..older…………………………………………………………………

Challies found this on Facebook. Others May, You Cannot.

9Marks article on The Washington Post, Blind Spots and the Noetic Effects of Sin.

This just before I get to my first “retirement”: R.C. Sproul on The Biblical Concept of Retirement.

A new favorite of mine: Extreme Theology on Bikes.

And another newb with a quote from Tozer on Bible Reading.

Mohler on Yoga.

A good article about what a believer knows about an unbeliever, and how it relates. From Team Pyro.

Ahem, this explains your cat’s spiritual condition.

This, a masterful and world-shattering piece from The Internet Monk (well worth the read): When I Am Weak

And a partner to the one above: Our Problem With Grace

Short and beautiful story: The Portrait from Team Pyro.

An article on Video Games, Idols and Your Child’s Heart from Sovereign Grace Blog.

Cool toy idea from new company. Auditorium Toys.

Humorous joke in mildly bad (but still funny) taste from The Churchwarden.

A God-Centered Understanding of Sin from Reformation21.

A treat! A tour through the halls of a legalistic family. Easily visited through the convenient internet to Head Heart Hand.

A timely (for me) post on the Promises of God by Dan Phillips. Not only are God’s promises unbreaking but our promises should be like His as we are conforming to Him. I sure wish Everything was made like Rubbermaid.

Intolerance is Tolerance: Uncool and probably a foreshadowing of what God’s children face in the days to come.

If you’ve heard of Harold Camping or Family Radio, here’s a full dose of what’s up with that from Α & Ω Ministries.

Mohler again with an important, SO important read about the disappearance of men. It’s a systemic infection, frightening and reflective of how disconnected we have all become from God’s design for the sexes.

Short short about doing the right thing @ sixyearmed.

Trusting God with what matters most, a meaningful introspection from Challies.

Marriage: Biblical and powerful. From Desiring God.

Awesome music free from Andrew Case. He’s great. Also: Free E-Books from him on prayer (I have them and they’re great too).

Sweet photography from Girl Talk a blog run by some of the women at Covenant Life Church (C.J. Mahaney)

Article and presentation on sexual purity from Rand Alcorn.

Definitely an awesome testimony here from a guy named John Shore.

Excellent article on Primary, Ancillary and Contributing problems.

How To Disarm An Angry Person @ CCEF.

Very important discussion on Marriage Between Different Denominations and a second one in Response.

Parenting article for dads with a link to a free e-book.

Calvinist testimony from Phil Johnson @ Pyromaniacs.

T4G is an awesome repository of good learning. The resources are here.

Sad note, filled with serious truth. Adoption isn’t off our charts in my family.

REALLY good prayer reading, free e-book version for Him and Her.

A short, lovely poem.

Bit of history on a cartoonist.

A decent hour on “A New Kind Of Christianity” by Brian McLaren. Discussion by Mohler and faculty.

This will annoy and fascinate: Animated GIF FTW!

Christian Bookstores and Thanking Your Pastor. Right on!

Soteriology mathematics. I loved this one.

Christian Brats. Just what we usually are.

Excellent questions for anyone in church, though officially drafted up for pastors.

Good reasoning for really long and tedious writing (well, only properly tedious): Wordiness

Cooperating with God. Article from Ligonier Ministries

Church vs. world. Article about separation.

Discussion of Intelligent Design. Wow.

Marriage summed up in one sentence. If I can get here with my Beloved Anika, I’ll call it good.

Always on the lookout for a new and awesome song to sing. Before the Throne of God.

A series on the top 10 complaints from atheists regarding Christians.

Cool ad for the 2010 Ligonier National Conference.

We were attending a church that smells just like this. It’s not so easy to realize this if you’re not looking for it. Which is all the more reason to have a firm rooting in the Word; MEAT not milk: Antinomianism.

DON’T read this unless you’re REALLY interested in how horrible the Emergent thing is getting: TICKLE.

Read this if you’re looking for a decent opinion on the Dave Ramsey financial buzz.

Read this if you want a REALLY good perspective on the basic stuff of the Christian faith. Warning: It might convert you.

We are so like Oprah. AAAaaargh! Visit Evangel

Dichotomy of man, or Trichotomy? Something I’ll have to spend thinking about, for sure.

Kerux Noemata has Christian Example, Exhibit #1: Richard Baxter on Delighting in God.

Family Example, Exibit #1: Mr. Piper’s 31 years of work.

Kids make you happy? Think again. Here’s an article from Boundless.

This is more of a listen than read from 22 Words: 22 Songs

This is a book review that made me want to see about getting the book by J. C. Ryle: The Duties Of Parents.

Challies put up a pretty prayer: Father of Mercies, Hear me for Jesus’ sake

This is nice. Simply put by Piper: Nothing Works – Try Everything

A wonderful bit on Dad by Tim Challies. WONDERFUL. Like my dad. Almost a perfect capture. Read Boundless.

A bit on mothering from the Upward Call.

This is a good angle on what it’s all about. In 22 Words.

A bit about the dark cost of our technology and culture that I’ve considered for a long time: Tech and Permanence.

The PyroManiac article that really says a LOT about Christian thinking. I love this one. These guys are bright.

Sometimes we doubt we’ll ever get to learn again, or our knowledge is fading from misuse. I like this thread of thought from the Upward Call

This lady has a lot of wisdom about grieving. I have a couple of her blog posts here: how to, Helping With Food, , The Hallmark Issue, and there are a few others.

Think the kids are tough? Try looking at parents too! We can relate. Challies

Belated Easter Poem from Challies: O Little Child Of Salem

If you want a really cool treat, check out Enya’s website. She’s one of my all-time favorite musicians, but she’s got some good web designers too.

Obi Wan Auto Master

Be Holy. Nuff said.

29 things, most of which I do, or try to do, but always need to do more, to glorify God as a parent.

Some Fiscal Wizardry from a guy concerned with the future. Try Banking on God.

Here’s a comparison of a good witness in regards to hell and a truly apologetic witness in regards to Hell. Pyromaniacs.

SHORT read on terminology. Tomato? Tomahto? I think not.

Need a refresher on your Star Wars Memory? These will Help: Episode 1, EPISODE 5 And there’s some behind the scenes discussion from the viewpoint of the pilots in 4. The Original Score from the Death Star Philharmonic.

Work or Faith? These Girls Talk about which is which.

Little sins grow. The Upward Call on competition.

Turn off your music box, open the link and let this page load completely. Don’t look anywhere else until it’s done.

About giving and grumbling.

Pyromaniacs delivers a sobering discussion of the Gospel and Evangelicals.

I have a fairly low opinion of professional athletes. This guy’s interview does not support my sentiments at all.

Do you want to know what fearing God means?

The English Language is doomed, and it’s all HER FAULT.

Are you into all that scientific Mumbo Jumbo? Here is some rEvolutionary fun.

I feel like this.

I am so GLAD my Beloved doesn’t.

What is in a 2008 Hope Chest? I am thinking of proposing this to my Beloved and see if maybe it’s something we can work on with our girls.

Mohler talks about what we are doing to our little girls.

Story about a man who left town

Preacherthoughts: List of Church Inhibitors

Jollyblogger: The 5 Whys

Team Pyro: Angels In The Field. (A small part of this near the end that reminded me of some important parent skills)

Girl’s writings opening new window on autism

And her conversations

Challies: Learning How To Rest

Mohler: “Are We Teaching Our Children To Lie?”

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October 3, 2010

Totally Distracting

By Pooka

This is some very valuable information. I listened to this podcast from the Whitehorse Inn today.

Here is a link to additional information.

I think just about anybody would benefit from this discussion of how electronics, digital communication and all that goes with it are frying our ability to focus and learn. If not us, then our kids.

I don’t think I need to comment. Listen to the discussion.

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October 2, 2010

Un – Parenting

By Pooka

The GTY blog, which I cruise around from time to time, had a post that tweaked my participatory interest.

“The Pressures of Parenting, Part 2″

There were 3 questions after a short audio clip on the subject:

(1) How have you seen churches cater to the self-esteem parenting movement (e.g., parenting classes, youth programs)? Be specific.

(2) God has provided every social institution with a means to promote order and discipline—to the government, the sword; to the church, excommunication; and to parents, the rod of correction. What happens in society, in the church, and in the home, when God-ordained authority refuses to implement discipline? What are the parallels?

(3) Parents, what advice would you give to a mom or dad headed down the road of self-esteem parenting? Is it too late for them to turn around? If it’s not too late, what practical changes can they make?

Here are my (expanded) responses:

#1. Youth programs when I was a teen focused on how to “get along” in school and peer groups while maintaining a Christian image. We talked about tricks to avoid getting into drinking or drugs or situations that put us at risk for premarital sex. It was mostly practical maneuvers and how to talk and act among peers so that we did not offend while maintaining our “witness.” Nowadays, my own kids have been in churches that fill huge rooms with couches, promote slovenly behavior and casual, even irreverent places that directly oppose the solemnity of proper worship services. They talk about good uses for the internet and cellphones. It’s legalistic at best in most of the churches I’ve seen. At worst, it’s group fun with ice-breakers and soda-pops. Teaching avoided the clear presentation of sin and grace. Instead, youth pastors have taught my kids how to use verses from the Bible to keep themselves out of trouble. Pastors, when they rarely approached the subject of parenting, talked about family time (dinner table tradition) and how to “talk to kids” in order to build rapport with them and get them to trust us and build friendship friends.

So there was plenty of candy and other treats, treatises on how to dress or how to date, slouching and texting, the latest pop-xtian praise session (Passionately Breathless in the Garden Cuz I’m Lost Without You to Rock Me Funky). It was almost the same when I was a kid, except we had the fold-up steel chairs and had to read our Bibles along with the rest of it. One time, I remember going to my grandparents’ church and we showed up at Sunday School in time to hop in the Church Van for some shopping (!). I remember the grape Hubba Bubba most from that day.

-Related: I was listening to Focus on the Family recently: about elementary aged kids who dressed and acted like adults. The guidance to parents about “keeping them children during their child years” was prefaced with “DON’T tell your kids NO outright: that will cause their hearts to harden and they’ll rebel.” Sounds like some of the teaching in my past.

You know what happens when you affirm your kids’ “right” to be liberated, themselves, feminist or whatever and simply give them advice about what God would prefer or what would best serve them in their lives? Without telling them “NO, That’s WRONG!” they don’t ever learn what sin really is. You have just affirmed their own impression of their status as free men, free to do and think as they please for there is no governing standard. Meaning they’re slaves to sin, in the end.

#2. Kids with no discipline get a clear message that there are no boundaries. Result: a mushy quality to the Law and towing the mark. There’s no positive statement about what is wrong and right. That means there’s no clear grasp of what sin means. That makes it hard for them to understand a need for the Gospel. The problem perpetuates itself as kids grow up without clear standards. They have no tools for applying discipline in their own families or society (or church). Therefore the truths of sin and redemption get more and more confused.

#3. Advice? Repent. Realize the sin of this form of parenting and take it to the Lord in prayer. Ask for forgiveness and for direction to correct the problem. Take action!

–1. If your church is not actively combatting the irresponsibile and syncretistic philosophy of this age with clear Biblical teaching, bring the subject up to the pastor or leave for a church that does keep up the fight.

No joke, if your church is failing in this area, they’re failing in all areas. You can toot all day long about how loving they are or how close-knit they are. You can parade around town with all the service badges you’ve earned through working with your church. But you’re not a part of a church that is faithful to the Word of God. Your church should be preaching THE WORD as the First Thing. This means teaching absolutes.

–2. Read the Word! Focus on cause and effect. Rebuild understanding of the Law and what Christ does to deal with failure to keep the law.

–3. Be honest with the kids. Explain what’s wrong and what you’re going to do about it. Parents are sinning against their kids in this situation. This means we have to address the problem with the kids.

–4. Seek guidance from church.  (see advice 1)

–5. Finally, find hope in the Lord, for He really is faithful and knows all that is going on in you and your kids.

If you’re a parent trying to parent faithfully, you’re going to see, if you don’t already, how painful and depressing it is to raise kids. They’re sinners, just like you. They’re going to disappoint, defy, rebel and sometimes make all your hard work look like it’s wasted. If you aren’t putting your faith in Christ and His faithfulness, you’ll give up or worse. Stay in the Word, keep yourself immersed in the Gospel that you need to hear Every Single Day!

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October 1, 2010

It's All Messed Up

By Pooka

Everything seems to fail at some point or another. Our successes even seem to rot before our eyes. Our kids not only drive us to distraction but present insanely impossible problems that we as kids experienced (That we somehow have lost the ability to deal with or comprehend somewhere along the way). Our drive and dedication rarely pay out dividends that fairly correlate and when they do, the fanfare and sunshine fade all too quickly. We do the wrong things, hurt people, damage ourselves incessantly no matter how high-and-lofty our motivations. Our motivations, though we believe with all our might to be right, consistently boil down to flawed and self-centered things of frustrating fiats.

Sometimes we have genuine cares for others, trying our bestest to lift them up out of the mire of the world, protect them or feed them the tools to succeed, especially where we are conscious of our own failure. But we fail at that, too. Isn’t it all just a big cycle of failure?

Can you identify, in your life, one persistent quality or action of your own that has a timeline that evades the rot process entirely? I propose that it cannot be done.

IF we start from a fundamentally flawed foundation, we will always always end up with a failed result. Things will not turn out right. The end state will still be flawed, just as the beginning was flawed.

Truth Claim Here: Everything that is wrong is wrong because of sin. Everything that is wrong is wrong because we are sinful people living in a sin-cursed world.

Stupid religious freak. Quit waving it around in public. What you think is right doesn’t have to apply to me because it’s only true for you.

Um. Ima letcha finish, but first: Re-read everything before the IF paragraph again. Is that true or not true for everybody?  For those who are not NPCs, who think and live, do we not see this everywhere? Regarding those we perceive to cruise along, oblivious bastions of success or happiness, do not the observers see the truth that NPCs are walking fail-factories as well?

Yeah, whatever. Just because I don’t have all the answers, and nobody else does, so we mess up. A lot. Nobody is perfect. Nobody is “all that” so there’s nothing we can do about it but keep trying.

This wickedness and evil hasn’t gone away. It’s only got worse. Worse by driving deeper and deeper into our culture and personalities and spirits. In this era, it has so permeated us that we cannot even stop to listen to reason, to the thundering whisper that something isn’t right, much less come to grips with the undeniable fact that I, you, them, we’re all so messed up, so dead wrong, so just plain dead that there is no hope of attaining a recovery.
Yep. Just like a treadmill, it keeps rolling but you don’t get anywhere. And if you fall, it keeps rolling, doesn’t it? There’s no hope. None. All you get to look forward to is another round of going nowhere with no horizon of completion or really living in view.

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. – Genesis 6:5

There you go again. You quoted some of that Bible garbage. Why in the world should I listen to that drivel. It’s all a mess of rules and made-up stories and garbage. It has some sick idea of a deity that kills entire races of people, tells people what to do and makes them bow down and submit. There’s nothing worthwhile there and it certainly doesn’t apply to modern day.

Sure thing. Take a second look. Just look at it from the position of what it says about everything being messed up. Look at the incredible descriptions of people who lie, cheat, steal, subvert, corrupt, fail, underachieve, chicken out and pretty much screw up everything they touch. Tell me again that it’s just made up junk. Tell me it doesn’t apply to modern day. Tell me there isn’t a touch of truth in there.

The only document that clearly depicts the condition we’re in is….. Guess!

That’s it for today. I’ll do some more soonly. Maybe this will start reaching out to someone.

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