On a cold winter's day

On a cold (-1F) winter's day, when it is snowing outside there is nothing better than a hot cup of coffee (currently drinking a Kona Blend) and a good book (reading "Tell it Slant" by Eugene Peterson).

Thank you God for warm blessings. I know there are many who are not able to enjoy what I have, and I do what I can for them and pray God will protect them.

How Do We Know What We Know? part 2

I do respect scholarship because without it there would be no Bible in our native languages, but I also realize the translators are just men/women, although very sincere, with biases. On any given topic that is controversial at all there are scholars with varying opinions on what that passage of scripture means. Whose opinion would you believe? Generally all sides can present convincing arguments to those of us unskilled in those areas. I know I have read one side and thought that sounds reasonable and then read a conflicting opinion and thought that sounds reasonable too.

How do I chose? I have developed a certain opinion or way of looking at God's word. There is a set of core values I have, and everything is compared to it. When I find a new writer I compare his/hers opinions on these core values. The more we agree, the further they move up the ladder of respect, and the more willing I am to listen to their views in other areas. This may appear as if I only respect those that agree with me, and in some sense this is true.


There are Christian (?) scholars that deny the deity of Jesus, or that the resurrection took place, as a result it would be very unlikely that I would respect their teachings in other areas even though they may have great credentials and many degrees. The shortcoming to this plan is these scholars may have a good insight in another area, but I feel like I just don't have the time to wade through all the bad stuff just to find a few pearls.

Do you have set of beliefs to compare others to?

How Do We Know, What We Know?

On one of the blogs I read, the Jesus Creed, this question was brought up, "How do you 'know and understand' in areas where you are not an expert?" This is sort of a corollary to my posts on "How you look at God's word" so I thought I would write a few posts about it and see if anyone had any thoughts they might want to share. How many of us read Greek, Hebrew, or have real expertise in 1st century Roman and Jewish culture?

I certainly don't know Greek or Hebrew and know just a smattering of the culture of that time,so what am I to do? What I do know is rarely from primary sources, meaning I didn't learn it from the original. I usually depend on others whose knowledge and understanding I respect. This where the tricky part comes in who do I respect and why?

How about you? More next time.

Thanksgiving Adventure

Thanksgiving has to be one of the best holidays going. We went to Denver again this year, as we have for the past several years. The difference is we are not celebrating with the Elzeys this year because of Tamara's accident. This has only happened two or three times over the past 20 years. Josh was able to join us this year, which was great. This year Blake smoked the turkey after soaking it in apple juice over night. Not all night though because we got up at 4:30am to put it in the smoker. It was so moist, even the white meat was moist. We have roasted, fried, and bar-bar-qued turkeys over the years but smoking has to be the best. The rest of the feast was great too, although I did miss my cornbread dressing.

We had fun playing with the grandkids, talking, watching some football, talking, learning some new games, and talking. Yes, we did do some shopping, but not till Saturday. We basically just got things we are going to need when our Korean Students come to stay for 6 weeks in Jan. We have decided to be apart of the Advent Conspiracy this Christmas and limit the gifts we are giving to just the kids.

The weather was great for traveling, both going and coming. Friday night Denver received 4-5" of snow which was pretty and then it melted off the roads Saturday which was nice.

Our trip would have been perfect except about 20 miles from home a small hubcap came spinning down the road and caused a flat. Thankfully Carol didn't have any trouble controlling the car and getting it off to the side even though it was a front tire. I had checked the spare and the jack before we left so changing the tires was pretty simple. All I have to do now is go buy a new tire :>). This is the first flat tire I can remember that has happened during a trip for a long time, so I don't feel upset about it happening, as if being upset would matter anyway.

Good to be home again.