so i am posting this in hopes that someone checks it still. i am moving my main blog address to the following - http://icameinthird.blogspot.com/

i am doing that for reasons explained there so go there and see what's up......thanks

arch

this is a post i ran across on a blog i frequent called desiring god (http://www.desiringgod.org/blog). i found it to be good for me to remember as well. thought you might like it.



What Is an Altar
July 26, 2008 | By: Abraham Piper
Category: Commentary, International Outreach

This is a guest post from a friend of ours who is a missionary doctor working with Muslims. It is a part of his guest series, "Day-to-day Observations from Asia."

* * *

I was studying Psalm 43 with a friend in Urdu the other day. We came to where it says in English, "I will go to the altar of God."

As I read along in Urdu, I did not know the word for "altar," so I asked my friend what it was. He didn't know how to translate the word into English, but he gave the following English description: "It is God's bloody place, where the throats of the animals are slit for sacrifice."

Of course. It's an altar.

Sometimes I think of an altar as the carpeted stairs and dais at the front of the church meetinghouse. But it's not. It is a bloody place—a place of sacrifice and death.

I need to remember that.

Ok so I am a jerk. I was asked to post this by my friend Jeff a couple weeks ago. I completely forgot. He doesn't have his own blog (but should be setting one up soon) and asked if i would post this on mine for now. So please read and comment to give him some feed back. Thanks!!



HIS POST BEGINS BELOW........


hey dude ... with the Iranian controversy and this missile thing I have been doing a little bit of thinking on a couple of things. I would like you to post this because I would like to know what different people think about this whole crisis.

First and foremost, I want to come out and say that I don't think that President Ahmadinejad or the government of Iran are a model of saneness or security. However, I ask a couple of questions. As Americans, especially our leaders, why do we treat these people, Ahmadinejad in this case, as though they don't exist. It seems to me that we completely ignore the individual or the government and immediately begin to threaten or "impose sanctions". Are our leaders really so weak that they cannot stand before an Iranian president, or an Iranian government for that matter, look them in the eye and tell them that the American people/government don't agree with the way they are handling things and that, in general, the world doesn't trust their current regime? Do we always, like bullies, start with the threatening language that seems second nature to the current regime? It seems as though instead of calling the Iranian government out face-to-face, we resort to sanctions, which will help Iran "get the point". Yes, I believe in consequences, but don't we as Americans usually follow the process of warning then consequence? As a human being, wouldn't you want to be talked to face to face before you were given consequence?

I will end with two things ... I am going to ask you to imagine yourself as a parent, if you aren't already, that has a kid whom is in our public school system. Lets imagine that your kid is a bit of a troublemaker that has the potential to be a pretty big problem, but he/she also has the ability to be a leader in making their class act a certain way. Your kid threatened another kid by stating that if they came near the swingset that he/she and their friends were occupying, they would "punch their lights out". This is a reasonably serious offense, which any teacher should take serious. The teacher then takes your kid to the office. The whole time not saying a word to your kid. When your kid arrives at the office, the principal says nothing to your kid, but rather announces to the office he/she "will handle this troublemaking terd". After this, the principal brings your kid into the office says nothing to the child and proceeds to lock your kid in a room for awhile while he takes a few minutes to type up a paper that revokes any privledges your kid enjoyed. These priviledges are to be posted in your child's homeroom, and it is up to the teacher to enforce these new rules with close supervision from the principal. Also understand that your child will only be informed of these consequences if they choose to read them, as the principal succeded in "blackballing" your kid. And the finale, your kid now enters his new classroom setting ...

Did your kid learn a lesson? Were they taught how to relate to the rest of their classmates? How did they feel toward the principal and teacher who used their given power to discipline? And finally ... How do you feel about your child's treatment?

My point is that no one would want themselves or their kid to be treated in this manner. Also, whether we like it or not, Iran is a big player in the Middle East, specifically so regarding Iraq, Afghanistan, and our precious oil. We need to be able to deal with them whether that is ideal or not. Why do we always get to be the bully that never has to talk to anyone, but rather, can tell people what to do? Who made us the righteous country to handle the "axis of evil" with force? What makes us so different from the Crusades that we regard as barbaric? Even if they believe things that Westerners don't, even if they are Muslims that are judged to hell by the Western Hemisphere, aren't we still responsible to Jesus' greatest commandment? I know he is a conservative Republican, but that doesn't change the one thing He commanded us regarding other people. That includes those that live in the "axis of evil".

I hope we aren't headed in this direction:

"This is why the wall of names that is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is so important. IT was not a project funded or organized by the state but by those who survived and insisted we not forget. It was part of America's battle back to truth, part of our desire for forgiveness. It ultimately held out to us as a nation the opportunity for redemption, although the state has prodded us back towards the triumphalism that led us to Vietnam." Chris Hedges, War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning

"Let me have a war, say I: It exceeds peace as far as day
Does night; it's spritely, waking, audible, full of vent.
Peace is a very apoplexy, lethargy, mull'd, deaf, sleepy,
Insensible; a getter of more bastard children than war is a
Destroyer of men." William Shakespeare, Coriolanus

so i have to post a retraction from the post just below. i had started a conversation based upon an article that i had read on a website called larknews.com. i have since realized through a friend that the website on which i had read the article is actually a parody website similar to the onion.com except instead of mocking politics it is mocking christians and church newsletters in an attempt to lighten up the christian world. however, i was completely unaware of that when i saw the site which caused my blog in all seriousness. None the less i thought the conversations that were started in relation to the 'fake' article on larknews.com have been entertaining and thought provoking. so here's to parody websites and the overly serious christians that get fooled. so go check it out and get a good laugh!!

so recently i was clicking around online and came across a website that is not really my taste but a headline on an article caught my eye. It said "Do Not Pray Lists Prove Popular" you can read the article at www.larknews.com. The article talks about people, that are put on churches mass prayer lists, who do not want to be prayed for. One man said, We do not want prayer from Christians, and we did not ask for it," he told a reporter. "It’s a violation to pray for someone without their knowledge or consent." Another lady said "I consider it spiritual harassment, even if I do think prayer is bogus." And a Hindu business owner is blaming the prayers to the Christian God for the reason he is not making more money and says that He believes the church should reimburse him for lost revenue.


i am a little torn on this topic. At the end of the article it says that some angry people want there to be a national 'Do Not Pray' list like the national 'Do Not Call' list. Where do we go from here. How do we balance a sense of religious freedom for people who believe that Jesus is the only way versus religious freedom for those who do not want Christians to pray for them? I have always believed and been taught to pray for people even if they don't want you to but from a political stand point could I, in a legal sense, be told i CANNOT pray for someone? I understand the passages about obeying the laws and authorities of the land in Romans 13 and then likewise in Acts 5 when the apostles disobeyed the law to obey God. Are there passages about praying for those who do not wish to be prayed for? I am not sure. Again, just a topic for discussion. talk amongst yourselves (topic has been given)

So over the past few days I have realized something that has really been in front of a lot of us since Senator John McCain (R,AZ) became the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican party. The thing I have realized that this presidential election is really just a one man show. From the numerous conversations I have had with people concerning the two men left, who have a real shot at becoming the next president of the United States, I am not sure that I have met one person yet who are actual McCain supporters. If you read this, and are a McCain supporter, please leave a comment and let me know, especially if we've talked and I have overlooked our conversation with this comment. But in all honesty, I really feel that most people are either voting FOR Barack Obama or they are voting AGAINST him. There have are tons of rumors and slander that have been going on since Senator Obama (D,IL) stepped into the presidential arena. All that aside however, I feel like even his stance on policies people either really support him or really oppose him but I have not found the same to be true for John McCain. This cartoon below I found on a blog website that I believe supports my theory.







I found this cartoon on a blog that is supposed to be supporting John McCain but, as with several other McCain supporting blogs I found in my brief grazing for these types of blogs, I would quickly guesstimate that at least 50% of the posts on a lot of the blogs i found were actually taking shots at Obama rather than 'support' their candidate. Now, if you know me or have had almost any conversation with me this election year you know where I stand and who I support but that is not what this post is about.



When I was in college at Texas Tech I realized what it meant to actually be a supporter of my schools team and not just oppose another school or team. I believe that there are many people who don't know what they support but only what they oppose. Now in my conversations with more democratically aligned friends I hear, mostly but not always, support for Obama, however, in conversations with my more republican aligned friends I haven't found one person that is really happy with McCain. I hear it all the time on Fox News talk radio that conservatives are not happy with McCain but that cannot stand Obama! This is a little off putting to me. I have no real place to go with this blog other than to just put it out there for comments or theories of any other nature. Let me know what you think, do you think that this election is coming down to "To Obama or not To Obama"? Or do you really feel McCain has solid ground to stand on. My opinion is that he is more or less coasting into the White House if he wins. Rather on CNN or Fox News it's a rare day I hear anything other than Pro or Con Obama and hardly ever do I hear/see something on Pro/Con McCain. Just drop some thoughts.