It is not that I haven't been thinking since my last post - thinking too much to be able to get it all in a straight line and onto my blog, that's all.
Topics you missed are - what can the covenant family learn from Pilgrims Progress (in connection with the series of sermons- available for free download from Sermonaudio.com - by Pastor Jim Gables which I first listened to with tremendous benefit 25 years ago....). We started on the series and many questions arose with my children regarding the necessity of a quantifiable 'conversion experience'. Enough on that subject for now.
Next Terry Schiavo - we didn't get to hear the whole story on this one from the media. check out Stannespub.com for an interview with a unique Christian man who has not only worked as a top-level surgeon but also retrained as a lawyer who has more detail on this sad, sad story.
Next missed topic was the excellent (although shoddily edited) book by Peter Hammond of Frontline Fellowship (they have a website for more info) on Islam, Slavery and Terrorism. Full of fascinating info. Hope to keep this one fresh in my mind long enough to do a book review....
missed topic number three was the illness which laid many of us low over a period of 4 weeks - thankfully we are all back up to full strength now - and, hey, you didn't really want to hear about that anyway!!
Current topic (before I run out of time or my brain fails me) is following on from a reading of 'A House for My Name' by Peter Leithart. Of course we need to cultivate a partic. Christian perspective on life. I often have been frustrated at trying to understand the happenings of the Bible because my eyes are sadly out of focus due to my many years of humanist-influenced indoctrination. I include, sadly, that which still goes on in the church. If we don't look at the happenings of the OT and NT (unfortunately we don't really have much reference to the OT - specially not as a VITAL foundation for our proper apprehension of the NT) with the right perspective we will always come to the wrong conclusions (unless the Holy Spirit miraculously intervenes). On Saturday I listened to Roger Slack speaking on the relevance of Worldview and Education at a Home Ed. day-conf. near Peterborough and it was pointed out that in Deut 7 the command to the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites was because (surprisingly - I had never noticed this before) that if they didn't the children of the Israelites would be turned away from following God. An interesting little study yesterday showed me how this affected even the throne of David with Jezebel being a baal-worshipper and drawing her husband into - then of course influencing their children and grandchildren. Roger summarised this in terms of 'what you DO affects what you believe'. Now we all know that this is a reverse of standard evangelical treatment of the connection between belief and practice but when you come to think about it you will see that the O.T. is full of details about how to LIVE a life of following God. All the way from cleansing leprose houses to Yom Kippur sacrifices including many cermonial daily cleansings for various things. DOING meant they had the opportunity to be reminded that God is real and affected how they thought and what they believed. Now, of course, with my study of John Owen on Hebrews (another missed topic....) I am painfully aware that in spite of the correct culture of the Israelites in the wilderness there was one vital thing missing amongst too many - lack of faith - but it is entirely erroneous to deduce that BECAUSE faith was missing that is the ONLY relevant thing and so long as we have that we are OK - that is to say, short of falling into obvious sin we can do what we like because we have FAITH. Think of the book of James. These works cannot (taken in the context of the whole of the Bible) just be isolated incidents and cannot be adequately satisfied by 'going to church' but MUST incorporate how we eat, wash, treat one another (manners) and everything which comes between getting out of bed one day and the next.
My class has now assembled and I have to time the calculadder maths drills....


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