Wir sind bettler. Hoc est verum.

1 Timothy 3:2a “Now the overseer must be above reproach”. Recently there has been some discussion in the world I walk in as to what being “above reproach” means, specifically for us leaders in the church, namely for Elders and Pastors (of which I am neither). Set in the context of some “super” sin, what does it mean to be “above reproach” (although I believe that the Bible teaches degrees of sin, there is a sense in which all sins are “super” since they offend a Holy God, what I mean by “super” is essentially the sins God seemingly point out as greater: murder, adultery, theft, etc. which are essentially listed in 1 Timothy)?

Some people argue that if you commit any of these “super” sins at any time in your life, then you are ineligible to be an Elder or Pastor, due to being not above reproach. Others argue that it is ok if you commit these sins before your vows as Elder or Pastor, but not after. And still others argue that Grace covers all these sins so that even after committing these sins as an Elder or Pastor there is a chance, although slight, that one might eventually be able to be an Elder or Pastor again. Personally I do not think Scripture is clear in support of any of these sides, thus we must appeal to something else and Scripture at the same time.

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John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This verse is one of the most popular and frequently quoted verses of the entire Bible, and rightly so. It gives us an intimate look into God and His love. God’s love is a powerful subject, and a most important one, however it is not in the scope of my writing today.

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I am at lunch with a good friend, my phone rings, I instinctively pick it up to see who is calling, oh it’s my wife. I ask for permission to pick it up, knowing he wouldn’t say no. A professor is sitting in his office talking with a student, the student’s phone rings, he picks it up, it’s his wife. Another professor is talking with a student in his office, his phone rings, he doesn’t pick up, the student is confused. I call a good friend who is out to dinner with his family, he picks up.

These are all true stories, and they all have something in common. In each of these stories, there is a battle going on, a hidden, unspoken battle. It is the battle between the face and the phone.

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I have been thinking about marriage, and while talking with some people I have decided to put down a few things I think we all should look for in a spouse, but let look at it from the other direction: ourselves.

One of the more important things in life is the ability to introspect your own self. I think we all spend too much time thinking about and talking about how everyone else should improve themselves, and not ourselves. So allow me here to challenge us all to better think about and work on ourselves, so that we can be the better spouse, and if we can be better, we will be in a better position to know and look for the right qualities in the other person.

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Have you ever thought about beauty? I mean really sat down and thought about what it is, where it comes from, and why it matters? I never really did until recently, so you are let of the hook, but now let us reason together.

You most likely have heard it said: “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, a sentiment that I ultimately reject. Now I do not rule out people’s preferences, but what it ultimately boils down to is, the intrinsic beauty of something, is not dependent on what people feel or think about it.

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This reminds me of the story of the two Bakers.

There were two Bakers in a town whose shops were across the street from each other. The first baker was an older man named Tom, and the other was a younger man named Bill. Tom had been baking in that city for many, many years, so many so that Bill wasn’t even born when Tom started Baking. Bill grew up in that town, eating Tom’s baked goods and quickly fell in love with baking himself. When he was 12 he promised himself that he would open a bakery right next to Tom’s and would bake just like Tom, and everyone would love him and his goods as much as they loved Tom and his.

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You know what scares me? The fact that our country, our government is still charging forth, like a raging bull, on its pilgrimage to rid us of Global Warming. The fear mongering, and hysteria that revolves around this “danger”, is mind numbing. It reminds me of the history story about the witch hunts. You remember that back in Salem in 1692 people were running around looking for witches. The sad thing to me is that back then they had more evidence for witches existing than we do of man made Global Warming. Global Warming: the 21st century’s witch hunt. That’s what it really boils down to, a witch hunt for something that there is no evidence that exists.

Yes, I said it, there is no evidence that man made Global Warming really exists. Perhaps the Globe is warming, that is still in debate, but the evidence is that man has nothing to do with it. In fact there are scientists who argue that a warmer Globe would be way better for the world. The BBC claims on The Great Global Warming Swindle (watch it here), that perhaps Global Warming has no evidence as being man made.

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I think Eric and I are pretty much done talking about spiritual gifts, but if you have any questions feel free to ask either of us. In light of this, I would like to quickly and clearly lay out my basic thoughts on the gifts in hopes of reducing any confusion as to what I believe regarding the gifts.

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I was at the debate between Hitchens and Craig at Biola and this is a good blog on the subject, although I disagree with his conclusion, you should check it out.

The author claims he believes that Hitchens won the debate, not from a fact or even debate point of view, but from an emotional point of view. He thinks the crowd favored Hitchens and was most convinced by him. Now I do not know where to begin with this, but I have a few thoughts: either this author is weak minded and is very emotional, which I doubt, or the general population has generally gone mad, or I am completely wrong on my judgment of people. What I mean is either this author was convinced of Hitchens points, or people leaned more towards his rabbit trails and insults than facts, or people could actually see who truly won the debate even if they don’t want to admit it.

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“I’m born gay”. Have you ever heard this said? I have and it doesn’t mean what you think it does, or what they think it does too. Do not be fooled by this argument, it is attempting to “trick” you into sympathizing and using your emotions to judge and not your head. What they are saying is this: “I am born gay, I cannot help how I am born, it is out of my choice, thus who are you to judge how I was born?” or “If I am born this way, it must be ok”. Both of these really, truly miss the point, and I can point that out with a simple analogy. What if I told you I was born a murderer? What if I had the murder’s DNA code? I can’t help it, that’s how I was born. So, then it must be ok for me to murder, and you cannot say its not, because this is how I was born.

Do you guys see the problem with that? What if I take it farther and say that I have the gay murder’s DNA code? Would that be ok? What if I have the gay hater’s gene? Would that be ok? According to the “I’m born gay” argument, all these would be ok.

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