Staying Clear of Bibliolatry

A couple of days ago I was reading in Demarest and Lewis' Integrative Theology, where I came across the following quote in relation to the fact that original manuscripts of the New Testament no longer exist. "Why did the Lord permit this? Perhaps it is because the lack of the originals prevents any museum or church from treating them superstitiously as relics. The written form of God's Word was not given for purposes of bibliolatry. Christians do not worship a book, but the God who has not only acted, but also spoken, in the foundational writings of the prophets and apostles" (pg. 153).
The authors seem to have hit the nail on the head concerning the current English translations debate. Obviously the choice of which version an individual will use needs to be based upon thoughtful research. However, when that conclusion is reached, we must each guard against elevating a certain version to the extent of making it more important than the Author of the Word.

Musing about Responsibility

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting in Starbucks, enjoying my latte, and the following quote was on the back of the cup:

"Flying by myself in a tiny aircraft over lonely woods: I have no one to blame if I make a bad judgment, and the laws of physics won't listen to my excuses. What would my life be like if I always had to take full responsibility." - Mark Olson (National Geographic Emerging Explorer)

Being a pilot myself, I could relate to what he was saying, and that got me thinking. Here, this very probably unsaved man has come to grips with the responsibility that all of us bear. One day, everyone will stand before God and have to give an account for his or her life. Unbelievers on why they did not accept His gift of eternal life, and believers on what they did with their lives. Each of us will have to take full responsibility for our actions and motives, just like a pilot has to take responsibility for each decision and judgment made.
What will your accounting be?

Ants!

Yesterday morning I went down to the kitchen to make my morning pot of coffee. Hmmm . . . While I was putting the ground coffee in the filter, I noticed an ant crawling around on the counter. That's not an oddity in our kitchen, so I promptly squashed him, washed him down the sink, and went on in preparing my coffee. My next step was to take the back part of the coffee maker out to fill it with water. As I was taking it over to the sink, I noticed that the ant had invited his friends to come crawl all over that part of the coffee maker! I rinsed the water canister out as well as I could, sending quite a few ants to a watery grave. Hopefully I got them all. But, what can a little protein matter, right? Coffee, any one?

These are a few of my favorite things . . .

As stated in my last post, I'm enjoying a more relaxed pace of life out here in California than I knew during my grad school days. Today, I've decided to share with you my favorite thing to do out here. My parents live about a ten minute drive from the ocean, so when I have a nice chunk of time, I like to hop into the car and drive to downtown Carlsbad (the next city south of here) to the Starbucks there. I usually get my standard - a grande peppermint latte. Then I grab my coffee and my book and walk the five minutes down to the Pacific ocean.






See the pictures below. This is really what it looks like. :)

From sunny southern California

After having finished out three months of summer school, I'm finally done with my master's work. Praise be unto God for His faithfulness towards me!
Now I'm back with my parents in sunny southern California. The next steps ahead of me are still ambiguous, but I am enjoying my break from school and work.

From the Old World

Greetings from Germany! It's hard to believe that the first week of my trek around Europe is almost to an end. So far my brother and I have seen Paris, Munich, and Salzburg. I've taken a lot of pictures, but haven't been able to post any yet. I will do so as soon as I get a chance.

It's been really great to be back here. I think I had forgotten how much of an impact living in Germany made on me as I grew up. As strange as it might sound, it's as if I've come back to a little bit of home.

August 27th - I added a few select pics from my trip