Doing some REAL reading

A while back I looked up the list of United States Poets Laureate just to see, out of curiosity, how many I'd ever read or heard of.  I figured, since I'd excelled in English and Literature in High School and college, that maybe I'd probably had some exposure to a bunch of them.  Little did I know... Literally...

Since the inception of the program in 1938, there have been 51 poets laureate, and my score was a rousing 4 (8%) (if you count Robert Penn Warren twice since he won it twice.)  I was ashamed.

So, I figured I'd look up the Nobel Laureates in Literature.  Those guys were more famous, so certainly I'd do better on that one.  Not really.  Of the 103 Nobel Laureates in the past 110 some-odd years, I'd read or heard of 28 (25%)

So, I moved on to the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  Perhaps since those guys were all famous American authors, I'd do better on them.  Of about 87 Pulitzers awarded, I'd heard of about 19 ((22%).

I was triple-shamed.

So I decided to start at the beginning and rectify these apparent lapses in my education.  Starting with The Pulitzer list, I intend to read my way through the past century.  Then I figure to sample my way through the list of Nobel Laureates, followed by the Poets Laureate.

Perhaps just an obsessive streak in me, but I intend to improve on this facet and enjoy doing it!

Negotiating with terrorists?

Back in the 1980's, Reagan made famous the policy, "We do not negotiate with terrorists."  A lot has happened between then and now, and a lot of scandal about who has been supplying and equipping and training whom...

Today I was reading mark and came across this famous story...

Jesus and his disciples arrived on the other side of Lake Galilee, in the territory of Gerasa. As soon as Jesus got out of the boat, he was met by a man who came out of the burial caves there. This man had an evil spirit in him and lived among the tombs. Nobody could keep him tied with chains any more;          many times his feet and his hands had been tied, but every time he broke the chains and smashed the irons on his feet. He was too strong for anyone to control him. Day and night he wandered among the tombs and through the hills, screaming and cutting himself with stones.
 
He was some distance away when he saw Jesus; so he ran, fell on his knees before him, and screamed in a loud voice, “Jesus, Son of the Most High God! What do you want with me? For God's sake, I beg you, don't punish me!” (He said this because Jesus was saying, “Evil spirit, come out of this man!”) 

So Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”  The man answered, “My name is ‘Mob’—there are so many of us!” And he kept begging Jesus not to send the evil spirits out of that region. 
 
There was a large herd of pigs near by, feeding on a hillside. So the spirits begged Jesus, “Send us to the pigs, and let us go into them.”          He let them go, and the evil spirits went out of the man and entered the pigs. The whole herd—about two thousand pigs in all—rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned. Mark 5:1-13 GNTD

So, my question is...why did the demons bother begging for concessions from Jesus, when they obviously knew him.  They knew that from day-one he has been about his father's work - about the coming of the kingdom of God...

Is it just demons' nature to grovel at the feet of the master?

Better get a boat!

I'm reading through Mark, and the following jumped out at me...

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. (Mark 3:7-12 ESV)

His disciples had to prepare an escape from Him, God Incarnate.  Reminiscent of the time that the people were trying to throw him off the cliff and he just slipped away.  It also brings to mind His instructions to His disciples that they'd better arm themselves...

And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing." He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about me has its fulfillment." And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And he said to them, "It is enough." Luke 22:35-38 ESV

Why does God choose to do things through people (like wield swords and prepare escape boats) when he could just slip through the crowd and go about his business?

Who knows?

Darn good history and government lesson

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Etymology of righteousness

A little etymology from our Men's bible study this morning.

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Based on the following meanings (from http://www.etymology.com/), is it possible to be right, upright, or righteous, without having an objective external reference - something to be right with respect to? In a physical sense, upright only makes sense with respect to gravity (think aikido and judo). You can't be upright floating in space. In a moral, spiritual sense, righteousness only makes sense with respect to Christ (see Hebrews 1, especially v8 and following.) You cannot be righteous in the absense of Christ.

right (adj.)

"morally correct," O.E. riht "just, good, fair, proper, fitting, straight," from P.Gmc. *rekhtaz (cf. O.H.G. reht, Ger. recht, O.N. rettr, Goth. raihts), from PIE base *reg- "move in a straight line," also "to rule, to lead straight, to put right" (see regal; cf. Gk. orektos "stretched out, upright;" L. rectus "straight, right;" O.Pers. rasta- "straight, right," aršta- "rectitude;" O.Ir. recht "law;" Welsh rhaith, Breton reiz "just, righteous, wise"). Cf. slang straight "honest, morally upright," and L. rectus "right," lit. "straight," Lith. teisus "right, true," lit. "straight." Gk. dikaios "just" (in the moral and legal sense) is from dike "custom." The noun sense of "just claim" was in O.E. and P.Gmc. As an emphatic, meaning "you are right," it is recorded from 1588; use as a question meaning "am I not right?" is from 1961. The phrase to rights "at once, straightway" is 1663, from sense "in a proper manner" (M.E.). The sense in right whale is "justly entitled to the name." Phrase right off the bat is 1914, earlier hot from the bat (1888), probably a baseball metaphor; right stuff "best human ingredients" is from 1848, popularized by Tom Wolfe's 1979 book about the first astronauts. Right on! as an exclamation of approval first recorded 1925 in black slang, popularized mid-1960s by Black Panther movement. Right of way is attested from 1768.

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righteous

early 16c. alteration of rightwise, from O.E. rihtwis, from riht (see right) + wis "wise, way, manner." Suffix altered by influence of courteous, etc. Meaning "genuine, excellent" is c.1900 in jazz slang.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Ending 1st Peter

Yesterday we finished 1st Peter and next week we'll be starting into Hebrews chapter 1. It's not entirely clear the exact order these 2-3 books were written, so I figure to do Hebrews next so that our Bible study will synch up with the Missions Conference theme (Heb 12:28-29):

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

Where we found James to be a very pragmatic book about Christian faith, we found 1Peter to be about the hope that is associated with that faith (1Pet1:3, 1:8, 1:13, 1:21, etc...). But 1Peter also deals with pragmatic, how-to-live issues. See 1Pet1:13f, 2:11f, 3:1-7, 3:15, 4:1ff, etc...). 1Peter concludes with an exhortation to the elders in particular regarding their performance of their duties (1Pet5:2-3) and regarding their faith and hope (1Pet 5:1,4).

I found it very interesting that these two books, James and 1Peter, being two of the first NT texts to be written, both quote (1Pet5:5, Jas 4:6) the same pasage of the OT as justification for their exhortations - Proverbs 3:34:

I also thought it interesting that they both tell Christians, "submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (Jas 4:7) and "humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God... Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1Pet 5:6f)

Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.

Faith... Pragma... Hope... Submission... Resistance...

Makes you want to go back and re-read James AND 1Peter again!!!

I'll look forward to seeing y'all this Sunday at Church, and again next Tuesday. Since were'starting a new book (Hebrews) this would be a prime time to invite some of your buddies to join us.
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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Vampires, aaarrrgh!

In the previous post, I mentioned several generes that I love. Now I have to mention one I hate with a passion.

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I am so thoroughly tired of the gothic horror genere that I could scream! I was telling my wife the other day that if I never see another vampire movie or book, it'll be too soon. As it is, you can't go to a movie without seeing a trailer or ad for Twilight or some such inane crapola. The vampire genere is so tired that they decided to try to spice it up by throwing in a bunch of werewolves - bah! The most interesting, creative vampire flick that has come out in a long time was Van Helsing, and even it was barely tolerable.

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But it's not even just the most recent rash of sexy teen vampire flicks that has tired me. The Anne Rice books and films were intensely popular when I was in college, and I read a handful of them before I realized what an incredible waste of time they were. Of course I had to read Bram Stoker's Dracula, and it was tedious. And then there were the Blade movies... Aaargh!

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The lone exception in this dreadful genere is Shadow of the Vampire - a true classic starring John Malkovich and Willem DaFoe. I would recommend this one vampire movie to anyone and everyone as a must-see for the Haloween season!

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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The Next Great American Novel

Photo courtesy of Flowery Luza

I am a writer. I write both professionally and as an amateur. I have written longer (hundreds of pages) pieces and I write shorter (~500 words) blog posts almost every day. I've done fiction, non-fiction, and technical. I've been paid to write and I've won prizes for my writing. I even enjoyed the thesis and dissertation components of grad school much better than I liked the make-work nonsense that is greater than 50% of undregrad.

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Since I was a child, barely old enough to understand that people made books, I have wanted to be a career novelist. I love soft (humanistic) sci-fi and sweeping sci-fi epics like Herbert's Dune. I like classic fantasy like Tolkien and Peake. I love creepy horror like Lovecraft and true crime and mystery and I especially love westerns - particularly Lamour's. So, what has kept me from writing the next great American novel?

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I can't lie. Part of it has been the simple fact that I have not devoted the time to doing the writing that it takes to develop the craft. But I also have a couple of hang-ups that I have not yet been able to overcome.

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One is the apparent necessity in modern fiction writing to include the obscene . I don't think I could (and I don't want to) write about sex - especially the deviant sexuality that I see in much of what people buy and sell and read now. For instance, I'm into the second book of John Scalzi's Old Man's War right now. Utterly fascinating space opera with tons of thought-provoking technological twists and a good story line too. But the sexual promiscuity is over the top. Not that it isn't realistic in the universe that Scalzi has created. It's a reasonable part of that created universe, but that doesn't make it less obscene (literally, something that should not be seen, or which should be off-stage). Sex writing is one of my hangups that I haven't overcome.

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Another hurdle is a technical skill - a part of the novelcraft that I haven't developed, which is the ability to expand or condense time. Like in an epic fantasy, there might be journeys that take months or years (or generations) that some masters will cover in a few pages. But on the other hand, there might be an encounter that lasts minutes or seconds (or less) that deserves to occupy many, many pages. I haven't developed that ability sufficiently yet.

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But my life is not over, so watch out! I still dream of being a career novelist when I grow up, so you never can tell when I might release the Next Great American Novel!

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Takeaway points: James' Epistle

This week we finished up with James. There are several take-away points:

• James' Epistle was the first NT text written. It was apparently penned sometime between AD44 and 60, as early as 15 years after the Crucifixion and perhaps as early as 15 years before the first Gospel. As such, it represents a link between the OT and the NT. It is very representative of Job and Psalms and Ecclesiastes, while also being perfectly in accord with Jesus teachings in the Gospels and Paul's NT teachings.
• Also, because it came first, it filled a need for direct, practical teaching on Christian living in a time when everyone was still trying to figure out what Christianity was all about and how to go about being a Christian.
• The central theme of the book appears to be expressed in Jas 1:22f and Jas 2:14f - the idea that we are to be doers of the word instead of mere listeners because faith without works is dead (not real faith at all). We are to live Christianity rather than simply professing or confessing Christianity.
• James seems to cover numerous topics other than this central theme of listening vs. doing. James discusses diverse topics including faith, patience, suffering, trials, blesing, self-control, wisdom, worldliness, money, and prayer.
• James appears to jump back and forth between these topics in a disjoint, almost random manner, as if he didn't have an outline of what he was writing. The disjoint appearance of the book can give the initial impression that James might have been either uneducated or senile, but a more likely reason is that he was just trying to cover a lot of material and didn't think he had much time or space to fit it into. This seems likely because it was the first and only instruction of its kind and because of the persecutions that he mentions.
• Though it was the first NT text written, James was one of the very last to be fully accepted into the canon of scripture. For years it was considered antilegomena (lit. "spoken against"), almost second-rate or apocryphal by church leaders including Martin Luther. However, James was accepted and confessed to be inspired, apostolic in origin, and canonical at Westminster, which we use as our denominational standard, so It does us far more good to dig in and study James than to gripe about the form of it or to try to diminish its importance.

Next week we will be beginning 1st Peter at chapter 1. Even the first reading of 1Peter makes it clear that it was written by someone very different from James, but we'll be that 1Peter and James are very much concerned with the same message. See for example, Jas 4:6 and 1Pet5:5, which quote the same OT passage.

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I look forward to seeing any of y'all that can make it on Tuesday mornings to help me with this study.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Worthwhile memory verse

A very precious promise (as Peter calls them - see 2Peter1:4) - worth memorizing:

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. (James 4:7-8)

Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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The logical form of James 3

James, in his third chapter discusses taming the tongue and striving for heavenly wisdom instead of earthly wisdom. It seems to me that most of the first part of this (taming the tongue) is an extended example of men not being perfect. It takes the form...

• IF there were any perfect men then they would be able to perfectly control themselves (Jas 3:2)
• BUT no man can even control his tongue (Jas 3:5-3:12)
• THEREFORE we are imperfect and should think twice before presuming to teach our folly to others (Jas 3:1)
• AND if you are really knowledgable, you'll seek heavenly wisdom instead of earthly (Jas 3:13-18).

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Clint Eastwood and James, Brother of Jesus

If any of y'all like Clint Eastwood movies, you might like to watch his new one, "Gran Torino." The language is rough, but the movie does a pretty good depiction of inner-city violence, prejudice (James calls it 'partiality' in chapter 2), redemption, and in the end, sacrifice.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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Acting "as if..."

Another way of thinking about this supposed controversy between faith and works is this. In many situations, you can begin changing your life or by "acting as if..."

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You know, if you're depressed, get up and go for a walk. If you want to be more professional, then start dressing and acting as if you were more professional. If you want to have stronger faith, do the things that faithful people do.

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Sola fide, BUT ALSO ora et labora!

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Go and work out your salvation (Phil 2:12f). Start acting as if by being a doer of the word (Jas 1:22f) like Abraham and Rahab did (Jas 2:20f).

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Learning and faith

There is a definition in education circles now that says the purpose of "learning" involves changing your life for the better. In this line of reasoning, if you are learning then you are changing your life. If there is no life change going on then there is no learning going on.

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James is saying the same thing in chapters 1-2. Faith without works is not really faith at all because works are the natural consequence of faith. If there are no works there is no real faith. The Reformation Study Bible has a great essay on Faith vs. Works that delves deeper into the idea of superficial (intellectual) faith vs. real faith, if you want to go check that out.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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James and the Great Commission

You know, it seems like a really superficial reading that leads folks to the James vs. Paul, Faith vs. Works issue. Compare Jas 1:22f and Jas 2:14f with Mat 28:16f (red-letter words of Christ).

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You'll notice that in the Matthew passage, the disciples are having a crisis of faith, and what does Jesus tell them? He reassures them in their faith (v18, v20b) but he also tells them a bunch of verbs, "Go... evangelize... baptize... teach... observe..." Christ is saying, Have faith, but go and do good works too." This is almost verbatim James' message in the controversial passages. James is right in line with Jesus teaching with respect to the Great Commission.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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How I do Bible Study

Photo courtesy of eye2eye

I'm not going to tell you how thou shalt do Bible study, but I thought I'd let you know how I generally go about mine.  I usually alternate OT and NT books but right now I'm doing Non-Pauline epistles in approximate chronological order starting with James.  I do one chapter per week in the following manner:

• Always start out with a prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit - a prayer for understanding and tutoring.
• Read the entire chapter each weekday.
• By about the 2nd or 3rd day, start chasing down cross-references.  I subscribe to the idea that you want to "let scripture interpret scripture," thus cross-references are better than commentaries.
• Note any cross-refs or connections that occur to you but are not in the list.
• By about the 4th or 5th day, maybe look through the commentaries. 
• First cross-references, then commentaries, then word study.  It is too easy for me to go off on a tangent when I get to as microscopic level as word study.
• Read the whole book (or several chapters) every weekend.  This way, you get a broader view of the topic and the structure of the book makes more sense.
• Make notes in the margins.  Underline.  Write your own commentary.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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James' Epistle as a missing link

The first chapter of James is sort of an expanded introduction to the rest of the letter. In the first chapter he foreshadows much of the rest of the book.

• James 1:2f points forward to James 5
• James 1:9f points forward to James 2
• James 1:26f points forward to James 3

At the same time, James 1 points us back to the OT (The only inspired scriptures available at the time James was writing)

• James 1:2f reminds us of Job
• James 1:9f reminds us of Ecclesiastes
• James 1:21f reminds us of Micah 6:8

And what's more, I think you'll find that James 1-2 is largely parallel with Matthew 7 (which would be written later) - so in a sense, it seems James foreshadows the later NT texts. This makes sense, because as a part of the canon, James would have to be consistent with the rest of the Bible.

So, James is not just an introduction to the rest of the epistle (and even the rest of the NT), but it serves as a link between the OT and NT.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Faith vs. works - James vs. Paul

Today we started our Tuesday morning men's group. We run this group in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. This year we'll be doing the non-Pauline epistles in roughly-chronological order.
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Today we got cranked up with the Epistle of James. James was the first NT text to be written, dated approximately 40-50 AD, which places it about 10-15 years post-crucifixion and 10-15 years before the first Gospel account. This means that James was the first inspired text in hundreds of years, and was one of the only good texts available to folks in the middle of the first century when people were still trying to figure out what Christianity was all about and how to be Christian.

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James is a highly pragmatic text, having been called "the Proverbs of the New Testament." Some of the Reformers, most notably Luther, contended that James was not inspired or apostolic. He cited several reasons, but they primarily boil down to the apparent contradictions between James and Pauline theology - the faith vs. works dilemma.

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Despite the objections of these reformers, James was retained in the New Testament and was confessed to be inspired and inerrant at Westminster. As such, it doesn't do us any good to moan about the tension in James. Rather, it does us much good to take ourselves through the material that led to the apparent James-Paul tension. As Adler points out in How to Read a Book...

The faithful reader of a canonical book is obliged to make sense of it and to find it true in one or another sense of "true." ... In any case, he is obliged to accept the resolution of the problem that is offered him. He reads essentially without freedom; but in return for this, he receives a kind of satisfaction that is possibly never attained when reading other books.

In other words, we know (or we have declared) both James and Paul to be true. Now we have to figure out in what sense they are both true. It is spiritually enriching to go through the process instead of resolving the tension by diminishing the importance of one or the other.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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Doubt - a great movie!

Ooh! I just watched SUCH a great movie! DOUBT with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. I can't recommend this movie highly enough both as a just-plain-great movie and as a discussion starter.

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Interested in buying the movie? It is available from Amazon...

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282
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My two biggest holes

Today I got to thinking about the two biggest holes in my Biblical knowledge (at least right now from my POV).  And I figure to lay them out and set out to make some progress in these areas.  So far as I can tell, my two biggest difficulties  in studying the Bible are:

Chronology surrounding the Exile - This is due to the non-chronological nature of the history and the way it is spread out through several books of the OT.  I think I know how to better organize this in my mind now.

Personal names - Good Grief, it seems like there were only about 5 common male names and perhaps that many female names.  Seems like half the people you read about were named James or John or Mary.  That confuses my small mind.

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Patrick Parker, is a Christian, husband, father, judo and aikido teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282

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