I will be combining the Suffering Christians blog with this one. I have created a Suffering category at the right. Anything I would have posted there will be posted here under that category. I will be leaving that blog up indefinitely because of all the resources under the categories of Article, Personal, Prayer, Quote, Reading and Scripture. I wish more people who could use it would have visited that site but I think it may be more useful here. There are more people out there suffering than we realize and we all need to be as prepared as we can be.

Saw this retweet by Bryan Lilly on Twitter:

RT @jaredcwilson: Seeing the cross in Esther 7:10. Blows me away. The gallows Satan meant for our defeat is his own defeat.

I just read Esther and this went right over my head. Feel kinda dumb. I need to keep my eyes more open and also have help in seeing these kinds of things. It’s amazing how this is all over the Old Testament.

Baker Book House Church Connection
And it’s a great blog run by a great guy.

Justin Taylor writes What Was a Church Service Like in the Second Century?

Eric Carpenter has been posting about Strawman Arguments Against House Churches.

I wrote a post a while ago on Hebrews 10:24-25 and quoted David Black.

I like the quote within this post by Tim Challies titled Prudes and Puritans. The only thing I don’t like is the mis-characterization of Puritans as prudes. From what I’ve read, most of them would actually agree with the quote and aren’t “prudes” when it comes to sex.

Also see:
Who Were the Puritans?

“Almost every time I study one of the books of the Bible I think it has become one of my favorites.”

Colossians is pretty special for me though, in addition to the Gospels, and Hebrews, and Ecclesiastes, and Revelation, and the prison letters and Proverbs. Next maybe Genesis? I like Titus and Philemon a lot too.

(For a while I’m going to try to post at least 6x a week. I can at least post a quote.)

Our biggest problem comes from the inside; the only solution comes from the outside. To get it the other way around is to miss the gospel.

–Tullian Tchividjian

I’ve got to start posting more again. I know all of you have been crying yourselves to sleep every day that there isn’t a post here.

I’m going to follow Jason’s post on Fall Reading. At the same time, I’m considering combining my Scripture Zealot 2 and Suffering Christians blogs. Both of those have more personal things in them so I’m not sure. In Scripture Zealot 2 I often write about what I’m reading and studying in case I want to look back and see when I read what. So it may be better to keep it separate. I don’t know.

I’m getting near the end of finishing reading the Old Testament using NLT’s 24/7 chronological Bible, reading ahead a little. From then on HCSB will be my main Bible while using NLT quite a bit still. I’m going to be sad when I’m done. Obviously I can read it again, but I like what I learned and the process I went through and that will never be the same again. Of course, the next time may be even better.

I’m concentrating on the OT this year and because of having surgery and spending a lot of time sleeping because of medication I’ll be going at least through the first three months of next year too.

We’re going to be studying Proverbs in our small group starting next month. We will be using a NavPress study guide which is pretty good as those awful things go. I used that as an excuse to buy a two volume commentary by Waltke. I wanted to read through it while doing the study, but the study guide is more topical than going through it in the order it’s in. So I don’t know how that will work and if I’ll read the whole two volumes or just refer to parts. The introduction itself, which takes up about a fifth of the first long(er) volume, should be very good.

Then I have Haggai Zechariah Macachi by Evangelical Press which they sent me just to be nice because I reviewed How To Enjoy Your Bible. I will review that one too.

After that I’ll go through Creation and Blessing which is a commentary/exposition of Genesis and Handbook of the Pentateuch.

Then finally Finding Jesus in the Old Testament which I’m really looking forward to because I love reading anything about Jesus.

I also have Isaiah by Moyter but I’m afraid I’ll only use that for reference.

Depending on how much I can read each day, I’m guessing it will take well into next year. Then I’ll go back to reading commentaries on Luke and Acts and I have read one commentary for each book of the NT.

I just got done reading How Long O Lord by D.A. Carson which is a good theological way of looking at suffering, compatibilism and God’s providence. I will be posting a lot of quotes from that.

I’d like to read Randy Alcorn’s book on suffering, If God Is Good. I wrote to the publisher requesting a review copy and haven’t heard anything so I’m not sure if I should buy it yet. For you reviewers, maybe you know that limbo.

I’m behind on Greek vocabulary because of surgery and am trying to get that back before I get back into going through Black’s beginning book. I feel like I forgot everything. I may just read through the book from the beginning yet again to where I am which is a little more than half-way through.

I’ll stop there. More to come on these things I hope.

Here is a great article:
Praying Beyond the Sick List by David Powlison

In the three strands of prayer mentioned a ways down, I seem to overemphasize #2. I find that in group prayer by and large #1 tends to take over.

HT: Between Two Worlds

Also see:
A Sample Prayer Plan

Thank God he comforts his own differently than his enemies. Praise God he sent his Son to die and rise again so that when we believe, we will receive the Holy Spirit and be comforted directly by God–never sarcastically as shown below which would almost be humorous if it wasn’t so tragic and horrific.

Another OT example of how much God hates sin and will punish it but also the lengths He’ll go to show his people how much he loves them and is fiercely on their side.

Ezekiel 32:31
When Pharaoh and his entire army arrive, he will take comfort that he is not alone in having his hordes killed, says the Sovereign LORD.

Ezekiel 33:11
As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?

2 Corinthians 5:20b
We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”

2 Corinthians 1:3-5
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.

Have you heard people pray for God to put a “hedge of protection” around someone? I was wondering where this came from. All I could find is that Satan said that God had a hedge of protection around Job before all of his troubles. That’s it.

So is this a legitimate thing to pray for? What if God doesn’t want to put a hedge of protection around someone? I suppose you could say the same for healing. We pray for it and God decides if it’s his will. But just this one mention of it? How often does Paul pray this way (which I haven’t looked at yet). It seems to be one of those things where it gets started somewhere and then spreads like wildfire, kind of like saying “just” once a sentence in some evangelical circles when praying. (“We just ask that you would just help our brother to just…”) We really need to stop minimizing our prayers but that’s a different topic.

Last night I was reading a verse and thinking how bad it would be if taken out of context and obeyed, which is what we do with all kinds of verses, some of them OK, some not.

Jeremiah 44:25
This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You and your wives have said, “We will keep our promises to burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the Queen of Heaven,” and you have proved by your actions that you meant it. So go ahead and carry out your promises and vows to her!’

Then today I read a post by Jason called Why Literal Interpretation of the Bible Can Be Bad which you can read if you want to be consternated.

Also see:
Quoting Scripture Out Of Context

is my friend Stan at just after sunrise. And it looks like One Monk’s Journey Through Faith will switch too.

Two others on my wish list:

• Derek at THEOparadox
• Eric Carpenter at A Pilgrim’s Progress

I read Genesis in January and I’m finally blogging just a couple of thoughts about it.

In the beginning (sound familiar) there is day with light, night with darkness, morning, day etc. “[E]vening passed and morning came, marking the second day.” Later in the Old Testament He tells us to keep the Sabbath day holy.

I never before noticed that it repeats “produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came” twice, “each producing offspring of the same kind” and “God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind”.

He also repeats, “And that is what happened.”

I see some emphaticness here of some sort. Just an observation of what I read, no real conclusion here other than He made specific things happen each day and things that produce the same thing that they are. Worms don’t produce humans etc.

By far the most important thing is God’s sovereignty. Women would say that God closed up their wombs. Then God would say to some that He will open them. People knew God had control over everything and that He is the Sovereign Lord.

I don’t think that they used this language even though He supposedly wasn’t exercising that much control and then humored them anyway by saying things like He would open up a woman’s womb when it was really just chance.

I notice a contrast between this and how most of us think and talk today about God and how much control He has over everything. Colossians 1:15-17 is reality but I don’t think most of us really ponder, understand and believe that enough. It’s a challenge for myself.

(I reserve the right to make up words. Also anyone who happens to say that the Bible isn’t a science book will have their comment deleted. I already know that.)

Also see:
Reading the Old Testament

A rare off-topic post here.

There are some people I really love that have a blog on Blogspot or whatever it’s called. I’m tired of having to log in to wordpress.com only for it to show my old blog and not this one, or using a Google account that’s different than the one I’m logged into for mail, or having to manually write in my username and URL, even though I have macros for those words.

I’m sorry. I’d urge you to switch to WordPress. I know there are many many people who feel the same way. I know you may have your reasons for Blogspot. I transferred my Suffering Christians blog from Blogspot to WordPress without a problem except for a few longer subject lines being truncated but I think that has as much to do with the theme as anything else.

I wasn’t sure what the subject of this post should be so I just made one that would get some Google hits.

I was looking at Suzanne’s Bookshelf to see what she’s been writing lately. (This post isn’t about her.) In a post called Jana Chapman Gates on Complementarianism she quotes Thomas Schreiner:

because of the different inclinations present in Adam and Eve. Generally speaking, women are more relational and nurturing and men are more given to rational analysis and objectivity.

– “An interpretation of 1 Timothy 2: 9-15: A dialogue with scholarship” in Women in the Church: A Fresh Analysis of 1 Timothy 2: 9-15 Eds. Andreas Kostenberger, Thomas R Schreiner and H. Scott Baldwin (Grand Rapids: Baker Book Houser, 1995) 145-6.

I like Thomas Schreiner a lot. I’m disappointed in this. It’s as bad as psycho-babble. I very much believe that any counseling done in a Christian setting should be based on the Bible, not the Bible plus… If we, especially Reformed people like Schreiner and myself, believe in Sola scriptura and that “God has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him” (2 Peter 1.3), then we shouldn’t need to rely on spurious descriptions like this or if we do use arguments like this, they should always be backed up by Scripture, not just human logic. (Sorry for the long sentence.) Maybe in the larger context it is, but I doubt it. If anyone has it handy let me know.

Some may say it’s obvious, but I don’t think so. Some people could see the terms used and think that men get the smart ones and women are just good with the children and being sympathetic.

What are some things that are in the Bible that show intrinsic differences between men and women other than any kind of roles which I don’t want to get into here? The only verse or passage I can think of is the “weaker vessel/nature/partner” (1 Peter 3.7) which I believe refers to physically, and being sexually and generally vulnerable to being dominated.

Ezekiel 18:23 
Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.

2 Samuel 14:14
All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.

2 Peter 3:9
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

I like this video. I’m surprised at some of the things Christians use to entertain themselves. One example is Christians who play games like Grand Theft Auto. Do you know how absolutely mindbogglingly shocking this would have been 50 years ago? But for some reason, for some people it’s OK today. I have a story at the end if you want to read it.

This clip is of Driscoll talking about books for teenagers but I think some of the things he says, especially at the beginning, can be applied to just about everything.

I’ve been wanting to write about this type of thing and personal holiness, but I just can’t figure out a way of doing it. Maybe I just don’t have the authority to be writing things like this. So I’ll just show a video that’s close. Someday I’ll find something better. If you know of anything, let me know because I’d like to have something to point people to.

Quite a few years ago I took a self portrait of me and my wife at her parents house. We were under the shade of a tree with some sun coming behind us. I was for some strange reason wearing dress pants and a tie (I don’t know what was going on) and my wife was wearing a dress. The picture ended up looking very nice.

So we go to my grandparents house and show them our album with this picture in it. My grandma is like, Oh my, the sun is going through there. I didn’t know what she meant. She said the sun was shining through my wife’s dress and you could see her legs. That hadn’t even occurred to us. In my grandma’s day and age, that would have been immodest. Modesty is a very Biblical subject. I really don’t know if showing some leg in shadow is bad or not, but it just shows how we can not even be aware of things that people used to be shocked by. I wonder how many things I do or watch on TV that God isn’t happy with. I don’t wrangle over it, we just try to limit what we watch and live as holy of a life as we can.

For a long time I’ve been praying that I would love what God loves and hate what God hates, always seeking His will (Psalm 97:10; Matt. 6:33; Col. 1:9; 1 Peter 1:15-16).

Exodus 20:26
And do not approach my altar by going up steps. If you do, someone might look up under your clothing and see your nakedness.

I have a new photography blog that’s languishing. I asked about advice on promoting it. Our blogging friend Nathan suggested combining blogs which he does for all of his interests.

I know I don’t want to combine photography and Scripture because my objective with this blog has always been to stick to Bible and Christian related stuff. I don’t want to write about what I had for dinner and I don’t think others are interested in that either. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I just want to write about, collect links and quotes and learn about Bible related things from commenters.

But it did cause me to think about combining Suffering Christians, where I mainly share information about things related to chronic suffering and Scripture Zealot 2 which is mainly just for myself for keeping track of what I’m reading and studying.

The topic has changed from promotion to saving time, making these other things visible here and organization.

Some of the suffering stuff might be a little much for some people but then again we all need to be prepared as well as we can and need to learn how to deal with people who are suffering (although all of you who comment here are so great you seem to know that already). And I don’t want to bore people with my personal stuff about what I’m reading.

I’m not sure if it would really save time. I would either write stuff here or somewhere else. But more people may see it here. Let me know what you think.

Since I’ve been posting so little I’m going to resort to commenting on other people’s posts. Or at least this one. For those who may be somewhat new to translations/versions of the Bible, Rick Mansfield wrote a very detailed and helpful Top Ten Bible Versions: Revisited (2010) which has links to reviews he did of most of these translations in 2006.

In case you’d like to know what I like (not that it matters), it’s very similar to him.

His list:
1. Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
2. New Living Translation (NLT)
3. NET Bible (New English Translation)
4. New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
5. New American Standard Bible (NASB)
6. Good News Translation (AKA Today’s English Version; GNT/TEV)
7. The Message
8. New Jerusalem Bible (NJB)
9. Revised English Bible (REB)
10. Today’s New International Version (TNIV)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The King James Version, English Standard Version, The Modern Language Bible, God’s Word.

——

My top 9:

His 1 and 2 are my primary and secondary.

I like the NET but some of it reads a little strange for me and I don’t like replacing fear (of God) with respect and awe, although I always use it for comparison. I love the concept of the fear of God. It would go to about eight for me even though it’s fine I’m sure.

NRSV is my #3 and was my main translation for three years prior to switching to the HCSB and NLT combo last year.

I still like the NASB also. I’ll take that over the ESV.

I also like the GNB (GNT on his list–I like to use the older GNB designation, Good News Bible, so that it doesn’t get confused with the Greek New Testament). Gordon Fee seems to like this translation as his go-to dynamic version in some of his commentaries.

I would put The Message at #9 for comparison purposes only. If you look real hard you’ll find a good verse or two.

Then I would have TNIV at #6 (NIV was my main translation for over two decades–maybe I’m tired of it) and REB at #7 (its predecessor, the NEB, was F.F. Bruce’s go-to dynamic translation from what I saw) which is a great literary translation. That makes nine.

But I mainly wanted to point out Rick Mansfield’s post and the links he has to his prior reviews in case anyone new to this kind of thing wants to go look it up.