91 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 7-27-19”

  6. time for some sleep. I made three round loaves of wild rice oatmeal bread today.
    The cloud cover is back so it won’t be so cold tonight.
    Good night, Chas.

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  8. Peter, as you get older, they whizz by.
    Elvera’s dad once said, “The hours drag on, but the months and years whizz by.”
    It appears to be true.
    And, what good is a Saturday afternoon without a football game?

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  10. Over on David Guzik’s commentary on Acts 17, he had this observation about Paul in Athens:

    I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD: Paul understood that in their extensive pantheon, the Greeks had an UNKNOWN GOD, who covered any god that may have been neglected. Paul wanted to reveal the identity of the UNKNOWN GOD.

    i. Athens was filled with statues dedicated TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Six hundred years before Paul, a terrible plague came on the city and a man name Epimenides had an idea. He let loose a flock of sheep through the town, and wherever they lay down, they sacrificed that sheep to the god that had the nearest shrine or temple. If a sheep lay down near no shrine or temple, they sacrificed the sheep TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

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  11. Good morning! As you might imagine, I am still mulling over how to respond to my CA friend. This was not totally unexpected as an outcome. She had been oppositional over any prolife posts and other things I put on Facebook. One thing that seemed to really disturb her was that I expressed that there were people in alternative lifestyles that I preferred not to be around because I would feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to say something about their situation. I said I was a chicken so I avoid them. So, we are talking about a hypothetical situation, not even something that has happened. I was just being blunt about sharing my feelings from my heart. If I can’t do that with a long time friend then it feels too stiffling and that she wants to control my speech and thoughts.
    It was nice yesterday that when Karen and I talked (I did not share the situation about my other friend) that she was telling me how much she appreciates my friendship, that I am her best friend, and that she loves me. We do say ‘I love you,’ fairly often because her health is so poor and we never know how long her heart will last. It was especially nice to hear her kind words yesterday after getting blasted by my other friend. God is good to provide.

    One thing my angry friend said is that in a group meeting she attended long ago that she was told to put people above principles. Hmmm . . . I never heard that before.

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  13. My online Bible study group will start into the book of Daniel on Monday if anyone has interest in delving into that book. The group is on Facebook, Reading the Bible Together (with Kathy Howard). If interested, you need to make a request to join. I am learning a lot through this type study, and the other ladies have interesting comments. It is a nice Christian group.

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  14. Here is the introduction to our study in Daniel from the Facebook group page:
    “INTRODUCTION TO DANIEL

    On Monday, we begin 4 weeks reading through the book of Daniel. Daniel is a unique mix of literary types. It includes history, prophecy, and even apocalyptic-type (future and end-times) writing. In Christianity, Daniel is included among the prophets. But in the Hebrew canon, it’s included in the “Writings.”

    AUTHOR: Daniel was a Jewish youth who was captured and taken to Babylon during Babylon’s first deportation of Jews from Judah in 605 BC.

    STRUCTURE: The book can be divided into two halves. The narratives (historical section) are chapters 1-6 and the visions/prophecies are chapters 7-12.

    DATE: The book records events that happened beginning in 605 BC all the way through the third year of King Cyrus’ reign in 535BC. Daniel could have written the first chapters early in that time range and added to and revised all the way up to the final years of his life.

    THEMES/PURPOSE:
    The sovereignty of God is a running theme – over our circumstances, over world powers and authorities
    Power of prayer
    God’s long-range plan of salvation played out in the course of history
    God’s grace

    Let’s chat: Have you done much study in Daniel before? What to you hope to learn from Daniel? Can’t wait to dig in with you!!”

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  16. Cheryl – Your story about your mom’s heart for women in crisis pregnancies touched me. I don’t like it when I see some pro-lifers claiming that women only have abortions as a matter of convenience or self-centered reasons. A lot of those women and girls have no support – emotional or financial – and are scared, seeing no way they can support themselves and raise a baby on their own.

    *******
    Chas – Something that is often told to young mothers is that “the days are long, but the years are short”.

    *******
    Mumsee – We had our one and only family vacation in Chelsea, Massachusetts. (Hubby had won some time at a hotel there, but I forget how he won it. I think it may have been through the company he worked for at the time.) There were about a zillion one-way streets in Chelsea. Hubby went out to pick up breakfast one morning and it took him over an hour to make his way back. He actually had a great sense of direction, but those seemingly random one-way streets all over the place flummoxed him.

    I figured that there must be some secret or pattern to it that the locals knew, and I suggested that he ask at the front desk, but he didn’t. He had figured out basically enough to get us where we needed to go, and that was that. I am still curious if there was some pattern that we missed.

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  19. Janice, it sounds like your friend isn’t a Christian? She may be a close friend in some ways, but I would let comments about people you avoid because you’re a Christian be confessions to fellow Christians, not to unbelievers. It probably wouldn’t hurt to go back to her and tell her you meant that to be admitting failure, not something you were proud of, and that you would hope God would give you the grace to love anyone He places in your path.

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  20. Janice, I would like to address something you said, that there were people in alternative lifestyles that I preferred not to be around because I would feel convicted by the Holy Spirit to say something about their situation.
    I understand the impulse to say something when someone is in the wrong, but, I am not sure the impulse to say something always comes from the Holy Spirit. To quote Paul: “I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world… For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? But God judges outsiders.” (I Corinthians 5:9-10, 12-13, HSCB). The Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11) and the conscience of the unbeliever (Romans 2:14-15) are sufficient to bring condemnation of sin.

    The fleshly impulse of humanity is to immediately pronounce judgement upon the obvious sin of others (Matthew 7:1-5), like the Pharisees bringing the woman caught in in the act of adultery before Jesus (John 8:1-11). But Jesus did not react the same way. Instead, he pointed out to the Pharisees that their sin, hidden and unspoken though it was, was as worthy of judgement as the woman’s sin, “for whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point, is guilty of breaking it all” (James 2:10, HCSB). As Jesus said on another occasion to his disciples, when discussing a disaster, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5, ESV).

    Both the Pharisees and the woman needed Jesus’ salvation. The woman recognized the need, calling Jesus Lord, and His response shows that her faith had saved her, for there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). But the Pharisees refused to see their need (John 9:39-41). Jesus observed, when the Pharisees criticized him for eating with tax collectors and sinners, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick… For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:10-13, Mark 2:15-17, Luke 5:27-32, ESV). Jesus deliberately interacted with the poor, the needy, the sinful – those who were outcast and on the margins of society – bringing them hope.

    In the eyes of God, there is no human born to man that is not sinful and in need of salvation (Romans 3:23). But, why is it we feel the need to immediately say something only to those unbelievers who are openly sexually immoral? Why not to those who are, as Paul listed, greedy, swindlers, or idolaters – in other words, to every unbeliever? With the majority of unbelievers we interact with on a daily basis, we, following the instructions of Jesus to let our light shine (Matthew 5:16) simply being a witness by living blameless lives and taking the opportunity to speak about the hope of Jesus Christ when it is offered (I Peter 3:13-16). It is no different with those from an alternative lifestyle – I would recommend Rosaria Butterfield’s Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert for an example of how to interact with those from an alternative lifestyle.

    Paul wrote strongly against any kind of immorality within the Church, but when he spoke to unbelievers, he spoke only of Christ. When he addressed the crowd on Mars Hill, he spoke to those whose idolatrous religions practiced ritual adultery and open prostitution of both sexes, as both archeological and historical documents bear witness. Yet, Paul simply speaks them to them of Jesus. I recently spoke to a missionary from a country in southern Africa and in the course of her conversation, she recounted a recent church planting effort in a new area of the country. She said that the people asked if the Christians would require them to stop drinking. The national pastor who was preaching to them replied, “The Holy Spirit will show you what you should do, I am just here to tell you about Jesus.” And they listened.

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  22. To make it clear, I am not a Bible thumping Christian as my friend thinks of me. And she truly believes she is a Christian and attends church regularly and does many good works. I would never jump on someone about their lifestyle right away. But in getting closer to people like that, I feel they want to suck me into their lifestyle and I feel vulnerable when alone and outnumbered by people like that. They talk about things I don’t want to discuss. For example, one told me about her first lesbian encounter even after I indicated I did not want to hear about it. I have not felt trustful of being in that situation again. I am a person who usually eminates peace. I am a conflict avoider. So I prefer to stay away from unknown people of questionable standards. It takes a lot of words to thoroughly describe what I meant by what I said and I do not like even discussing such things. The situation I mentioned happened in a restaurant. I felt somehow abused by hearing about such things. It is self protection rather than being judgemental.

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  23. It is difficult for me to write a lot because it is all on my phone and I still have eyesight issues. I appreciate all that you all have said. It is all relevant. I did send a quick note back to my friend saying I am still processing and in deep consideration and prayer but wanted to acknowledge receipt of her email.

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  24. Janice, I know what you are saying. I do not recount on here all that I hear spoken out in the world and I have heard a lot of dirty talk in the last three years. But in my experience, those unbelievers who would label themselves heterosexuals are just as loudmouthed in recounting their sexual encounters and just as liable to try to draw one into their lifestyle. It is not something limited to my generation either – people from earlier generations are just as unrestrained, as I have often heard for myself. Have you ever read God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew? He talks about his experiences working at a factory and how unrestrained the unbelieving employees were in the subjects they talked about and how they tormented him about his convictions. I often think about that section of the book when I hear conversations at the nursing desk or on the bus that that I would rather not hear.

    As Peter said, “they are surprised that you don’t plunge with them into the same flood of wild living—and they slander you” (I Peter 4:4, HCSB). In Hebrews, we are encouraged, when we feel faint to “think about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up” (12:3, HCSB). The word sinners in that verse is the same as the word sinners in the passages where it says that Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. After all, it was not just the hypocritical Pharisees who mocked Jesus on the cross, the obvious sinners did too (Matthew 27:44). The closer I walk to the Lord, the less I am affected by all that I hear and see from the world. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 8:10).

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  25. Good afternoon, or good other time of day.

    DJ, yep, I did almost run off to bed 🙂 with the burst of energy I finally got at the end of the day, after running. Though it took me a while to get to sleep (about an hour, which is very long compared to my usual minutes it takes to fall asleep most nights), I slept very well last night (from midnight until almost 10:00am), and today I feel fantastic!

    Janice, I never thought of a stationary bike. Thanks for mentioning it. I used to use one regularly when I had a gym membership in college, but haven’t used or thought of one since.

    Asking directions — my husband is apparently different than a lot of men in that he doesn’t mind asking for directions if he needs them.

    Janice, regarding Rosaria Butterfield (mentioned in Roscuro’s 12:49pm, end of paragraph 4), I have found Rosaria’s videos to be helpful in understanding the homosexual community better and helping me know more about how I as a Christian can respond. They were recommended to me by a friend after I’d mentioned that someone I’ve met recently is in a lesbian relationship — a person with whom I now have weekly contact.

    You can find her videos here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rosaria+butterfield

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  26. 6, thanks for that link — I’m familiar with Butterfield, have read *about* her, but haven’t read her books or watched any of her videos. I’m watching the first one now, posted by the Gospel Coalition of her talk at a conference, and it’s very good (about 50 minutes long). I’d highly recommend it.

    The LGBT culture and influence are so strong in our culture today and I’m afraid the Christian community hasn’t a clue as to how to respond. She talks about how the pastor who first engaged her in friendship and conversation had an approach that few of us probably have put into practice.

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  27. 6 Arrows, in the past I was able to find used exercise bikes for very little cash because people want to have the space back that they take up. I have found much higher quality bikes than I could have afforded new. But that is here in a big city.

    Thank you Roscuro and 6 Arrows for your book and video suggestions.

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  28. Are there any writings that tell us what worship was really like in the early church?

    On one hand, Catholics and the Orthodox believe it was highly liturgical. An Orthodox friend wrote that there were priests, an altar, incense, and vestments. She went on to say that it was like the Jewish worship in the temple, and said that the way worship is described in Revelation is similar.

    On the other hand, I’ve heard that it was more “low church” than “high church”, like in an evangelical church, and that the vestments and such, which marked a distinct separation between clergy and lay people, came after a couple or few hundred years.

    So I wonder if there is any writings from the very early church that would give us an idea of which of these views is closest to the truth. When people say, “Well, in the early church. . .” I wonder how they know.

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  33. Kizzie, the earliest description of a church service, outside of the Bible, would be in Justin Martyr’s First Apology, written circa 155 AD (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library/The_First_Apology_of_Justin_Martyr):

    ‘And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.’

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  34. Karen @ 3:23
    Phos has an example. But I think that lack of a prescribed method is God’s intention.
    There is ne official way of worship. Nor should there be.
    Those who worship God, worship in Spirit and in truth.
    I would not think that the “modern” church service is the only way.

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  35. Tertullian, from North Africa, also wrote an Apology, circa 197 AD, in which he described the gatherings of the Christians. Tertullian was much harsher in tone than Justin, frequently sarcastic, and I have omitted some of his bitingly ironic asides (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Apologetic/Apology/Chapter_XXXIX):
    ‘I shall at once go on, then, to exhibit the peculiarities of the Christian society, that, as I have refuted the evil charged against it, I may point out its positive good. We are a body knit together as such by a common religious profession, by unity of discipline, and by the bond of a common hope. We meet together as an assembly and congregation, that, offering up prayer to God as with united force, we may wrestle with Him in our supplications. This violence God delights in. We pray, too, for the emperors, for their ministers and for all in authority, for the welfare of the world, for the prevalence of peace, for the delay of the final consummation. We assemble to read our sacred writings, if any peculiarity of the times makes either forewarning or reminiscence needful. However it be in that respect, with the sacred words we nourish our faith, we animate our hope, we make our confidence more stedfast; and no less by inculcations of God’s precepts we confirm good habits. In the same place also exhortations are made, rebukes and sacred censures are administered. For with a great gravity is the work of judging carried on among us, as befits those who feel assured that they are in the sight of God; and you have the most notable example of judgment to come when any one has sinned so grievously as to require his severance from us in prayer, in the congregation and in all sacred intercourse. The tried men of our elders preside over us, obtaining that honour not by purchase, but by established character.

    ‘There is no buying and selling of any sort in the things of God. Though we have our treasure-chest, it is not made up of purchase-money, as of a religion that has its price. On the monthly day, if he likes, each puts in a small donation; but only if it be his pleasure, and only if he be able: for there is no compulsion; all is voluntary. These gifts are, as it were, piety’s deposit fund. For they are not taken thence and spent on feasts, and drinking-bouts, and eating-houses, but to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined now to the house; such, too, as have suffered shipwreck; and if there happen to be any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or shut up in the prisons, for nothing but their fidelity to the cause of God’s Church, they become the nurslings of their confession. But it is mainly the deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand upon us. See, they say, how they love one another, for themselves are animated by mutual hatred; how they are ready even to die for one another, for they themselves will sooner put to death. And they are wroth with us, too, because we call each other brethren; for no other reason, as I think, than because among themselves names of consanguinity are assumed in mere pretence of affection. But we are your brethren as well, by the law of our common mother nature, though you are hardly men, because brothers so unkind… One in mind and soul, we do not hesitate to share our earthly goods with one another. All things are common among us but our wives…

    ‘Our feast explains itself by its name. The Greeks call it agapè, i.e., affection. Whatever it costs, our outlay in the name of piety is gain, since with the good things of the feast we benefit the needy; not as it is with you, do parasites aspire to the glory of satisfying their licentious propensities, selling themselves for a belly-feast to all disgraceful treatment,—but as it is with God himself, a peculiar respect is shown to the lowly. If the object of our feast be good, in the light of that consider its further regulations. As it is an act of religious service, it permits no vileness or immodesty. The participants, before reclining, taste first of prayer to God. As much is eaten as satisfies the cravings of hunger; as much is drunk as befits the chaste. They say it is enough, as those who remember that even during the night they have to worship God; they talk as those who know that the Lord is one of their auditors.

    ‘After manual ablution, and the bringing in of lights, each is asked to stand forth and sing, as he can, a hymn to God, either one from the holy Scriptures or one of his own composing,—a proof of the measure of our drinking. As the feast commenced with prayer, so with prayer it is closed. We go from it, not like troops of mischief-doers, nor bands of vagabonds, nor to break out into licentious acts, but to have as much care of our modesty and chastity as if we had been at a school of virtue rather than a banquet. Give the congregation of the Christians its due, and hold it unlawful, if it is like assemblies of the illicit sort: by all means let it be condemned, if any complaint can be validly laid against it, such as lies against secret factions. But who has ever suffered harm from our assemblies? We are in our congregations just what we are when separated from each other; we are as a community what we are individuals; we injure nobody, we trouble nobody. When the upright, when the virtuous meet together, when the pious, when the pure assemble in congregation, you ought not to call that a faction, but a curia—[i.e., the court of God.]’

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  37. Although Tertullian makes no mention of vestments and incense in his account of how Christians worship, he does mention both while criticizing pagan worship, (incidentally confirming what I said previously about Paul’s audience on Mars Hill): ‘But if I add—it is what all know and will admit as readily to be the fact—that in the temples adulteries are arranged, that at the altars pimping is practised, that often in the houses of the temple-keepers and priests, under the sacrificial fillets, and the sacred hats, and the purple robes, amid the fumes of incense, deeds of licentiousness are done, I am not sure but your gods have more reason to complain of you than of Christians.’ (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Apologetic/Apology/Chapter_XV)

    That is the sort of observation from an early church father that many a critic of the Catholic church would gleefully leap upon as proof positive that Catholics were perpetuating pagan customs in their practices. I am not so sure of that. In every supposedly pagan origin of a Christian custom I have investigated over the years, one inevitably hits a snag – either the first use of a custom predates a similar pagan custom (e.g. the dating of the birth of Christ to late December predates the Roman pagan holiday of Sol Invictus) or the first use of a custom so far postdates any similar use in paganism as to make the relationship exceedingly questionable (e.g. the first use of the Christmas tree appears sometime in the late 1400s, nearly 1000 years after the conversion of Europe to Christianity). Incense and vestments were both mandated in Jewish worship, long before the Romans even existed, and the Catholics and Orthodox were more probably influenced by the Hebrew Scriptures than by paganism, which the early church vigorously opposed. As Chas wisely observes, the details are left vague to allow for freedom of conscience in worship. Beyond the observances of baptism and communion and the practices of prayer, hymn singing, reading of Scripture and exhortation, the order of service is left to the believers to determine for themselves.

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  38. Sitting here watching the ranch rodeo as I am working standby. I was able to complete my final assignment for the class I’m taking.

    It will be a long day as I worked last night and again tonight.

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  39. Janice, praying for your conflict. I work with several who embrace an alternative lifestyle. Should they ever describe their sexual experiences to me, they would immediately know my feelings about all of it. I don’t want to hear of anyone exploits. Thankfully, all the wild ones at work are aware of this and keep it to themselves when I am present.

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  40. The basics as roscuro pointed out — baptism and communion and the practices of prayer, hymn singing, reading of Scripture and exhortation — would be the essentials (our church would argue that communion should be weekly). How that’s organized, the order of worship, is left up to the church body. And every church has a ‘liturgy’ (an order of worship), whether considered “high” or “low.”

    I’m still feeling washed out from this virus, I kept losing my voice on the phone interviews I did yesterday and today I’m sounding congested again (chest and head). It’s all moving out, still, but there is a lot of it to ‘move.’ And it’s noisy and messy.

    I slept the night through and am probably going to take a nap in a little while, I don’t really have much energy to go out and really “do” much of anything (and it’s still hot). I’m running the dishwasher and that’s about the extent of my activity today.

    One person I interviewed yesterday said she’d had this virus as had a few people she knew. (I kept apologizing for my voice going out toward the end of these conversations.)

    I just got the bills paid online so that’s done. I love online banking, esp when it comes to paying bills and checking balances. What a major convenience.

    I’ll still need to water out front later today as well. My poor impatiens, the big clay pot filled with beautiful red flowers, collapsed in a mass, wilting protest late yesterday. I submerged the whole thing in a huge tub of water to soak for a few hours and that revived them. But I need to keep an eye on those, make sure they get daily water in this high heat.

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  45. A funny little thing. . .This morning, I was once again ruminating on the various changes to my life since Hubby’s death. One of the things I said to myself was that I have my own “apartment” now. Well, except for how much time the “upstairs neighbors” spend down here. But even so, I thought it sounded kinda neat to think that I have my own “apartment”.

    Then it occurred to me – “Karen, you own the whole house. You own a house!”

    Had to laugh at myself. 😀

    (The single women – or formerly single, in Cheryl’s case – who have owned your own homes may wonder why owning my house seems like such a big, kinda scary, deal to me. But while Hubby was alive, I considered it our house, but with him having primary ownership, even though my name was on the deed. That’s just how I thought of it. So it’s kinda weird for me to think that I now own a house.)

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  46. Michelle, no, the early church was very much distinct from the Jews in worship as well. When I said the Catholics and Orthodox influenced by the Hebrew Scriptures, I was think of the later early church, from the 4th century on, which split up to become the Coptic (split off in the 400s), Assyrian (also 400s), Orthodox (1000s), and Catholic branches. In the first couple of centuries, before the great Arian controversy of the 300s, the Church took as much pains to distinguish herself from the Jews as from the pagans. Justin Martyr again, this time from his dialogue with Trypho, a Jewish philosopher (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library/Dialogue_with_Trypho):
    ‘ For we too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined you,—namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your hearts. For if we patiently endure all things contrived against us by wicked men and demons, so that even amid cruelties unutterable, death and torments, we pray for mercy to those who inflict such things upon us, and do not wish to give the least retort to any one, even as the new Lawgiver commanded us: how is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us,—I speak of fleshly circumcision, and Sabbaths, and feasts?’

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  48. This is from Tertullian’s answer to the Jews. It is fascinating to observe that Tertullian is much gentler with the Jews – using careful reasoning rather than ironic asides – than he is with the pagans [Justin, on the other hand, is somewhat harder on the Jews than on the pagans] (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Apologetic/An_Answer_to_the_Jews/Of_the_Observance_of_the_Sabbath#cite_note-2):
    ‘It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary.

    ‘For the Jews say, that from the beginning God sanctified the seventh day, by resting on it from all His works which He made; and that thence it was, likewise, that Moses said to the People: “Remember the day of the sabbaths, to sanctify it: every servile work ye shall not do therein, except what pertaineth unto life.” Whence we (Christians) understand that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all “servile work” always, and not only every seventh day, but through all time. And through this arises the question for us, what sabbath God willed us to keep? For the Scriptures point to a sabbath eternal and a sabbath temporal. For Isaiah the prophet says, “Your sabbaths my soul hateth;” and in another place he says, “My sabbaths ye have profaned.” Whence we discern that the temporal sabbath is human, and the eternal sabbath is accounted divine; concerning which He predicts through Isaiah: “And there shall be,” He says, “month after month, and day after day, and sabbath after sabbath; and all flesh shall come to adore in Jerusalem, saith the Lord;” which we understand to have been fulfilled in the times of Christ, when “all flesh”—that is, every nation—“came to adore in Jerusalem” God the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, as was predicted through the prophet: “Behold, proselytes through me shall go unto Thee.” Thus, therefore, before this temporal sabbath, there was withal an eternal sabbath foreshown and foretold; just as before the carnal circumcision there was withal a spiritual circumcision foreshown. In short, let them teach us, as we have already premised, that Adam observed the sabbath; or that Abel, when offering to God a holy victim, pleased Him by a religious reverence for the sabbath; or that Enoch, when translated, had been a keeper of the sabbath; or that Noah the ark-builder observed, on account of the deluge, an immense sabbath; or that Abraham, in observance of the sabbath, offered Isaac his son; or that Melchizedek in his priesthood received the law of the sabbath.

    ‘But the Jews are sure to say, that ever since this precept was given through Moses, the observance has been binding. Manifest accordingly it is, that the precept was not eternal nor spiritual, but temporary, which would one day cease.’

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  49. Tertullian, in his treatise addressed to the Jews, makes two interesting analogies that I had not heard before. He compares the Jews and the Church first to Cain and Abel, then to Esau and Jacob, identifying the Jews with the older sons, Cain and Esau, and the Church with the younger sons, Abel and Jacob. Of course, Paul does also make an indirect an older and younger son analogy between the Jews and the Church, with the analogy being Ishmael and Isaac, in the passage comparing Jerusalem below with Hagar and Jerusalem above with Sarah (Galatians 4:22-26).

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  51. Kizzie, I do not know what it is like to own a house, but I have thought enough about it to know that I would not take such a step lightly as a single woman. When I first came home from West Africa, my mother suggested I become a joint owner with them. I rejected the suggestion, not only because of my concerns about not doing my siblings out of their inheritance, but also because I did not want the burden of caring for a house of that size on my own.

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  52. Good thinking Phos.
    A man would make a different decision, wisely.
    But men use tools and other stuff most women don’t use.
    And things are always happening to houses.
    Ask Donna.

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  53. Chas, I am too much like my father to ever be at a loss for how to fix things. Like him, I can teach myself, with some information and more thought, how to accomplish jobs that need to be done. I grew up watching my father continue to work on the house he designed and built. I learned from watching him how to swing a hammer and screw a screw. My mother was chuckling the other day because there was a picture that needed to be hung in the living room, but no one had got around to hanging it, so I got my hammer out of my tool box (I have the tool box my paternal grandfather made), found an appropriate nail, and hung the picture. My mother said jokingly, “If you want something done around here, ask (Phos).”

    I have been known to stop by the hardware store in town and pick up what I needed to accomplish a job. The year after I came home from West Africa, when I was strong enough, I bought the paint and putty and painted my room myself. The year before I went back to school and last summer, I refinished two old pieces of furniture, removing paint and rust, sanding them down (one manually, the other with a power sander) and refinishing them. I am not afraid of maintenance jobs. Given enough information and the proper tools, I know I could even do plumbing and wiring, as my father does, although he was not trained in either field. I just lack the energy to care for a house that has five bedrooms, one full and one half bathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen, and a partially finished basement with a laundry room, cellar, furnace room, storage room, and family room. It is a big house.

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  54. Also, the house has a big yard, even though two thirds of the property is woods and swamp – it is two and half acres (a little over one hectare). I know how to mow, but my asthma is distinctly irritated by me doing any such thing.

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  55. Roscuro – To be honest, the idea of owning this house is more scary than exciting to me. Someday, hopefully fairly soon, Nightingale will buy it from me, for what is left on the home loan. She wants to eventually fix it up, then buy another house and rent this one out. Being a two-family home, it should bring in a good amount.

    I would like for us to fix it up and stay. But since she is the one who will end up with it eventually, I will acquiesce to her decision. She is a very intelligent woman, and will do the requisite research on various matters involved.

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  56. Like you, Nightingale is not afraid to pick up a tool and fix something. When one of our outside machines (snow blower or leaf mulcher or something like that) wasn’t working, a friend’s husband offered to fix it for her. She insisted that he teach her how to fix it.

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  58. Kizzie, the Seconds are beginning to talk of buying this house, when they are able, which may be far into the future as they are just making ends meet right now. I am glad they like it. Well, I always knew Second loved it, but it makes me happy to see that it is growing on Second In-law. The older I get, the more beautiful the property and its situation seems. It has its drawbacks – the mosquitos are terrible this year – but the ground is fertile, allowing the Seconds to grow a beautiful garden this year in the place where my mother used to plant her second garden, before it got too much for her (the summer when she had her first rheumatic attack, the second garden grew over and we never quite got it back again, despite valiant attacks on the weeds).

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  59. DJ, 🙂 In fairness to you, repairing foundations and digging up sewage lines requires considerable expertise as well as big equipment and a team of people. My parents built their house, but they did have various people help at certain points – they needed a excavator to dig out their basement, for instance, and it was better to get a professional bricklayer. But I am always puzzled as to the assumption that women are not handy. After all, it takes considerable fine motor skill to use a needle to sew or knitting needles to knit or a crochet hook to crochet. All of my sisters can wield a hammer and screwdriver. Second used to use our father’s power saw to make things, and Youngest also refinished her furniture (she had the antique dresser that matches my vanity). There is really not that much difference between guiding material through a sewing machine and guiding wood onto a saw.

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  60. From my experience, it is easier to take care of a house if one is single because you do not have two people who have to agree on what to do about things. As a single, you have to please only yourself. There are definite advantages to that situation. Art and I never have really agreed on what to do about our house. I know another couple at church who would have had a good financial situation for renovating/remodeling but I heard they both wanted to do different things. Maybe they have progressed from the stalemate. I have not heard the outcome on that. As in most things, there is an up and down side.

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  61. On women fixing things: one of my college roommates was studying to be an aircraft mechanic. I never heard if she did go on to do that — we didn’t keep in touch after we were no longer sharing an apartment.

    3rd Arrow came home tonight while 6th Arrow was practicing piano. 3rd walked in the front door, saw me in the stairway, and stared at me a bit, jaw dropped, eyebrows raised, as she exclaimed in a surprised whisper, “I thought that was you playing the piano!”

    6th’s tone and technique have matured quite a bit this year. She finished her beginning-level piano method book series a few months ago, and is doing well navigating the path into standard repertoire. Exciting times, listening to her play!

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  62. Hello again. I am back from a long “Vaca” ( as in vacation). My lawyer says I am not to talk about it. I don’t know how to say nothing and still tell about where I have been and what I have been doing so I will just start with a week ago Friday.

    I took a walk, under a mile, got dizzy, and fell on my face. It is a good thing I landed on some nice, soft gravel in the driveway. My daughter said my nose was twice as big as normal. She didn’t like all the blood running off my forehead and nose into a puddle on the driveway so she got her boyfriend to help me up and convinced me to go to the Emergency room at the local hospital. There they kept asking a bunch of nosey questions like “Did you trip of step in a hole?”, “Did you have any pain in your chest or arm?”, “Did you lose consciousness?”. About all I can say is that I just got light headed and fell down. I landed face first. Ouch!

    They took blood (Hospitals just LOVE to stick you and get some blood to test “You’ll feel a little prick.”) and and my “Triponin” came back a little high so they stuck me again, stole some more blood and ran the test again. That pesky “Triponin started at 1 and went up to 5.4. I had a heart attack!

    I need to go right now. I’ll be back tomorrow to finish the story.

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  68. Good morning, all. A beautiful day to do Bible reading out on the deck. About fifteen or twenty hummingbirds around the feeders and the chickory and mint blooming wildly. I like where God has put me for now.

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  69. Bob Buckles! Glad to “see” you again! But sorry to hear about your heart attack. Since you are writing about it on here, I assume you must be doing at least somewhat well. Praying for a full recovery.

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  70. Although I said above that Nightingale wants to eventually buy a different house for us to live in, while renting out the two sections of this house, I think it is going to take a lot longer than she would like to get to that point. There is a lot that needs repairing – even serious repairing – or renovating here, and it is going to be expensive, so it will be done one project at a time over a period of years.

    So I sometimes suspect that the time may come when she is content for us to stay here, when the house is in better shape. But I try to come to a place of being fine with whatever may happen, and not to think that far ahead too much, and instead focus on what is happening now, and what needs doing now.

    Speaking of what needs doing now, I am hoping that Nightingale and her friend Virginia will be able to find time in their schedules soon to take a look at what is going on with that upstairs bathroom. I’m sure Nightingale is going to tire soon of having to come downstairs to use my bathroom for almost everything. (They are still using their bathroom sink, but not the toilet or shower/tub.)

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  71. Kizzie, sometimes a ‘fixer upper’ will be perfect for someone. We definitely bought one because it was all we could afford. But it was liveable and we knew we could slowly DIY it to a nice house. The main floor still needs trim all around and flooring in most of the addition, but we’ve loved living here even during the renos. In seven years we’ve put flooring in the master bedroom, gutted and completely reconfigured the master bath. Replaced several windows, completely re-sided the whole house, built a back deck, rebuilt the front deck, completely gutted and reconfigured the kitchen, put a normal garage door on one side of the shop, planted trees, gardened and probably a whole bunch more. All this was done as we had the funds or could manage it for free.

    Our plan for this fall is to tackle the leak in the main bathroom shower and possible reconfigure it to hold a stackable washer/dryer because the basement is kinda scary 🙂 Which reminds me – I need to find out the space one of those units will need (might need to move a door over). We’ll just plumb it for the units and then put shelves back in the spot until we can no longer do stairs easily.

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  72. I’m sorry to hear about your fall Bob. But you left a lot of confusion when you mentioned your lawyer. If you got dizzy and fell, what does a lawyer have to do. But then he said don’t talk about it, didn’t he.

    When it comes to buying houses, Elvera and I make a good team. I decide what to buy. She decides what goes in it. Works well.
    \(Except our president residence. I owned this house before I saw it, and the contents are leftovers from the other house. Which was well furnished. It looks real tacky, but it doesn’t matter much in our circumstances.)

    We need to remember that until the Church Conference in Acts 15, Christianity was really a sect of Judaism. Peter’s testimony convinced the church conference that Paul was correct. We still read the OT, and considered it’s teaching, but we are free from the Law.

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  75. There is a grab bar in my tub/shower that we had put in when my MIL moved in with us. I almost forgot what it really is there for.

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  80. Happy Anniversary Linda!

    What about Bob?

    We’re still waiting for the rest of that story and why you can’t talk about some of it now that you’re apparently a secret agent man or something.

    Yes, major house repairs require expertise and money, typically. I looked a a fixer-upper with an ocean view when I was looking at houses; it was an early 1900s duplex that was serving as a single resident but had only partially been converted. So the idea is what you save on the purchase you’d have to put into fixing everything. But it was certainly too much for someone like me to take on (it also had a tiny backyard, I was looking for more yard space for my dogs). I drive by it every so often, though, and am thrilled to see it’s been restored and maintained beautifully — it is a Craftsman-style home with the long sheltered porch, perfect for that ocean view it has.

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  83. Happy anniversary, Linda.

    Scary to have had a heart attack. Maybe a wake-up call?

    We had a higher toilet put in. We have been waiting since September for the rest of the bathroom to be finished. We are having the new bathtub surround to be reinforced for the bars, but not having the bars put in yet. It has been quite the experience so far.

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  86. The rest of the first part of the story has to do with jail time and, after 9 months and 17 days (but who’s counting?) insufficient evidence… This is what my lawyer says not to talk about, so I won’t.

    But back to the heart attack.

    I got sent by air ambulance from Crescent City (home) to Rogue Valley Hospital. They have the highest rated heart group for their size of hospital and population served in the nation.

    I was tested, EKG and CT scan the next morning and again on Monday morning. The doctor saw nothing wrong with my heart, valves, arteries or veins. Only elevated levels of troponin.

    So yes, I had a heart Attack but no damage was seen.

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  87. Prayers for you, Bob. Let us know how you’re doing.

    Happy Anniversary, Linda! 40’s a big one. 🙂

    Linda and Michelle, I thought of you both when I was at Bible Study this morning. Our lesson sheet, Reclaiming the 10 Commandments: The Seventh Commandment, included quotes credited to “Lutheran Church. Missouri Synod: Concordia Triglotta – English: The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. electronic ed. Milwaukee WI: Northwestern Publishing House, 1997.”

    Anyway, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod part stood out to me.

    I didn’t see any Budweiser at Bible study, though. 😉

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  88. Bob, I didn’t see your comment until after I posted mine. Thanks for letting us know. I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through. I will keep you in my prayers.

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  90. Janice, I definitely didn’t find it easier to care for a house while single. I detested the responsibility, though I knew it made sense to buy rather than rent at that point in my life. I looked forward to having the mortgage paid off and at least getting rid of that part of the responsibility. But while as a renter I always had my best nights of sleep if we had a storm overnight–somehow it put me deeper asleep, and sometimes I’d wake up to find it had stormed violently overnight and I never heard it–as a home owner I thought of such things as trees falling over or leaks developing, and I’d wake when it stormed.

    Now the physical property is mostly my husband’s responsibility–he fixes it himself or does the research to hire it done–and I have a great sense of load off my mind with that. Now, I have more responsibility now in some other ways, like food prep, but I’m glad to turn some tasks over to him. In general, as long as both people are responsible, two people have less work than one, and they can divide up the chores according to each person’s gifts to some degree. If they can’t come to agreement, it might be more stressful–but as someone who was single into my 40s, I definitely would rather be married when it comes to homeowner responsibilities.

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  91. Owning a home (alone) ruins the joy of a rain storm. I had a corner of my bedroom roof/ceiling that leaked and needed numerous repairs (roofers said a new roof wasn’t needed at that time). One night I actually had to get a big pan to catch the drips that woke me up in the middle of the night.

    (I also have a flat roof on my house and leaks in those are notoriously difficult to find, diagnose and fix.)

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