Corrie ten Boom was an old, Dutch spinster, a watchmaker with her family business.
She was also a dangerous contra-Nazi subversive, hiding Jews in her own house, serving as a central link in the communications of the Dutch resistance, and stealing massive stacks of meal tickets from the Nazis to make sure Jewish people were fed.
She and her sister and father were eventually captured and sent to a series of prisons, where they were stripped naked, beaten, and starved with Jewish and other political prisoners. In the barracks at Ravensbruck she secretly led prayer and Bible study, and administered vitamin drops to prisoners with materials she and her brave sister had miraculously secreted in.
If you haven't read her own rather short and gripping account of her resistance to the Nazis, may I commend to you her book, The Hiding Place.
In honor of the liberation of the Jews at Auschwitz, here are some of her quotes, (presented at goodreads website), she who faced extreme hatred and fear -- and responded in courage and love.
"In darkness God's truth shines most clear."
"Some knowledge is too heavy... you cannot bear it...your Father will carry it until you are able."
"Whenever we cannot love in the old human way, God can give us the perfect way."
"This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person he puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see."
Monday, November 21, 2016
What's Deuteronomy Got to Do with It? (re-post)
One segment in Nancy Guthrie's series "Help Me Teach the Bible"
Scott Redd on Deuteronomy
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/help-me-teach-the-bible-scott-redd-on-deuteronomy
In this audio, Scott lays out ideas for how to teach and explain Deuteronomy to lay people. Included is the following: a discussion of the context for the book historically and a descriptive word picture of what is happening among the Israelites at the time, the covenantal framework of the book, the idea of using the Ten Commandments as an outline for the laws, a handling topics like slavery and punishment within the context of Scripture, and how we are to view sacrifice and purity laws, theocratic laws, and moral laws as believers today -- as not one jot or tittle of the law has passed away. Scott also discusses something he calls Mosaic Eschatology -- Moses looks ahead, and at the end of the discussion, grave errors he has encountered in approaching teaching OT Scripture.
"The Old Testament is not rejected, denied, or refuted by Christ and the apostles...They [the OT books] still make claims on us....How do they, in light of the work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ."
"We are still called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and all of our selves, and all of our strength today."
Scott Redd on Deuteronomy
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/help-me-teach-the-bible-scott-redd-on-deuteronomy
In this audio, Scott lays out ideas for how to teach and explain Deuteronomy to lay people. Included is the following: a discussion of the context for the book historically and a descriptive word picture of what is happening among the Israelites at the time, the covenantal framework of the book, the idea of using the Ten Commandments as an outline for the laws, a handling topics like slavery and punishment within the context of Scripture, and how we are to view sacrifice and purity laws, theocratic laws, and moral laws as believers today -- as not one jot or tittle of the law has passed away. Scott also discusses something he calls Mosaic Eschatology -- Moses looks ahead, and at the end of the discussion, grave errors he has encountered in approaching teaching OT Scripture.
"The Old Testament is not rejected, denied, or refuted by Christ and the apostles...They [the OT books] still make claims on us....How do they, in light of the work, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ."
"We are still called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and all of our selves, and all of our strength today."
Strengthening the Executive Function (re-post)
Three publications look at how to develop your frontal lobe function-- Psychology Today
-- Sharp Brain
"Examples of neurobic exercises are listed below:
Writing or using a utensil with your non-dominant hand.
Walking down your hallway with your eyes closed.
1-leg balancing exercises.
Spend time outside smelling all the plants and flowers.
Eat foods with lots of colors to stimulate your visual senses.
Feel the texture of different objects like rocks, shells, etc.
Walking down your hallway with your eyes closed.
1-leg balancing exercises.
Spend time outside smelling all the plants and flowers.
Eat foods with lots of colors to stimulate your visual senses.
Feel the texture of different objects like rocks, shells, etc.
Additional neurobic activities include:
The use of essential oils – take a sniff to excite your brain.
Brushing the teeth with your non-dominant hand.
Listening to classical music or music that has different tones, melodies and instruments than you are used to listening too.
Surround yourself with lots of different colors.
Play a new instrument or try a new sporting activity.
Do a crossword puzzle.
Walk barefoot outside and pay attention to the unique feel of the rocks and ground with your feet.
Sit in a park and journal about all the unique sounds and smells you are experiencing.
Read a book or recite a speech out-loud while pacing with your eyes closed
Try a new, healthy dish with unique flavors you are not accustomed too."
Brushing the teeth with your non-dominant hand.
Listening to classical music or music that has different tones, melodies and instruments than you are used to listening too.
Surround yourself with lots of different colors.
Play a new instrument or try a new sporting activity.
Do a crossword puzzle.
Walk barefoot outside and pay attention to the unique feel of the rocks and ground with your feet.
Sit in a park and journal about all the unique sounds and smells you are experiencing.
Read a book or recite a speech out-loud while pacing with your eyes closed
Try a new, healthy dish with unique flavors you are not accustomed too."
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Christianity and Foreign Policy
Dad from Shangri-La, Vice Admiral J.S. Redd, Ret., signs a statement about Christianity and US foreign policy:
"A Christian Declaration on American Foreign Policy" Providence Journal
"A Christian Declaration on American Foreign Policy" Providence Journal
Women in Direct Ground Combat
Brother from Shangri-La, Scott Redd, and Friend of Shangri-La, Jennifer Marshall, write about pragmatic and biblical concerns with intentionally putting women in direct ground combat roles.
"Deploying Women to Direct Ground Combat" from Providence Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy
In Christian theology, responding to God’s call to that cultural task is imperative for human beings seeking to honor God. Incorporating Bavinck’s observation above, honoring God means honoring him as his image. From this perspective, if sexual difference is part of humanity’s imaging of God, then recognizing and respecting sexual differences is essential to honor God. This conclusion has implications both for individuals inhabiting sexually differentiated bodies, and for males and females relating in community.
"Deploying Women to Direct Ground Combat" from Providence Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy
In Christian theology, responding to God’s call to that cultural task is imperative for human beings seeking to honor God. Incorporating Bavinck’s observation above, honoring God means honoring him as his image. From this perspective, if sexual difference is part of humanity’s imaging of God, then recognizing and respecting sexual differences is essential to honor God. This conclusion has implications both for individuals inhabiting sexually differentiated bodies, and for males and females relating in community.
To strive for [gender] interchangeability fails to reflect the fullness of the image of God. Similarly, to set up typically male achievements as markers of female success risks denigrating aspects of God’s image that he has revealed in the nature of females.
Monday, November 7, 2016
Begin at the Beginning
When we persuade mothers and fathers that it is acceptable to kill their own children, we have no hope in bringing peace and love to our land. The process of peace and love and healing begins with truth, forgiveness, and a new direction.
A long and beautiful speech, of which this is one short part:
Mother Theresa 1994 National Prayer Breakfast
A long and beautiful speech, of which this is one short part:
Mother Theresa 1994 National Prayer Breakfast
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Pleading the Case for the Mundane
(Re-posting)
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Pleading the Case for the Mundane
A letter to a gifted prep school friend
Dear Friend,
You are caught up in a hundred little deaths of your soul these days. You are forced to sit through classes which are beneath you.
You know more about these books, these histories; you understand them better than your peers. You are better read than some of your teachers. This is really true, at least in an academic sense.
In other classes you are made to study material you know you will never use. Odds are good you won't need that quadratic formula in graduate school or in cooking your dinner.
And this is an indignity. You, O Suburban Minion, must abide the endless chores of polite conversation, lunchroom shufflings, leading questions, obvious observations, endless chores, polite conversation....
You have better taste.
Every day you are forced to eat food lacking in subtlety, speak to people lacking in insight and nuance, and grind through homework assignments lacking in imagination and spark, taught by adults who punch the card when you include "setting," "characters," and an ample amount of ham-handed adverbial verbiage.
Similes that sit like a knuckle sandwich in your mouth.
What's the use? Where are Sartre and Camus and Kerouc and Woolf in all of this mundane flotsam and jetsam? Where is the Green Knight?
Where is Keats in this tedious homework assignment to analyze Fanny Brawne -- 'til the Bright Star herself becomes thick-limbed, ugly, and graceless with dead eyes? Nothing like the sun.
Oh to be one of those noted intellectuals! Those brilliant sparks, caught up in thought and conversation, and not hampered by The Daily Bourgeois of suburban high school and carpool line and vacuuming the stairs.
Oh to feed that bright fire of the mind, all day, with people who understand and appreciate the heat!
Yet, you are well-read. What about those characters you know so well?
What about Saruman in his tall tower hanging in the thin air far above the plains and the little men and the beasts.
What about Uncle Andrew and Queen Jadis, and their "high and lonely destiny"?
What about that Invisible Man, and his lone scientific pursuit of autonomy, fed by a withered heart lacking in human connection?
What if Dr. Frankenstein was a monster and the Monster had a soul?
What about Virginia's Lighthouse? Did it help her see the rocks?
And you have read The Intellectual Greats. What if:
What if many of those ivory tower intellectuals were tiresome bores in the pub or the parlor?
What if it would be insufferable to share just one drink with them? What if they were the ones everyone avoided at the cocktail party or on the street?
What if they were people that made other people look at the clock to mutter about appointments and traffic and "needing to go, so nice to touch base with you...."
What if -- in their rejection of humility, humanity, and the simplicity of duty -- they lost touch with glory, divinity, and the deeply complex?
What if, in their single-minded pursuit of truth and beauty in isolation -- in the rarefied company of themselves and their toadying salons -- they lost both. (Truth and beauty, that is.)
What if we all felt sorry for their wives and children and dogs and next door neighbors?
And more.
What if Mother Teresa was a genius and Sartre was a fool (himself telling tales full of sound and fury, signifying nothing)?
What if Einstein practiced piano scales daily as a kid?
What if the capitalist down the street is a philanthropist, the humanist down the street is a misanthropist, the scholar is a bigot, and the small town sheriff is a sage?
What if theology is the queen of the sciences?
It's complicated, isn't it?
Think:
What if we maintain our connection to the divine, in part, by maintaining our relationship with the human?
What if we love God in part by loving others and performing daily duties?
What if even the Word Himself became flesh. And dwelt among us.
And what if to love and know and learn, we have to go where the unwashed they are, and live where the un-nuanced they live, and eat their casseroles, boiled vegetables, and drink their iced tea, and do their homework assignments?
And in meeting with daily life and daily people, what if we find not just truth and beauty, but also ourselves -- right there?
What if we find that we, in fact, are just another one of them: merely a co-regent of all creation. (Nothing big.)
My friend, what if we find our best selves in the mundane performance of daily duties that bring order and abundance, done with love, joy, and humility?
Here is your next homework assignment for "Life 101"
* Read the Gospel of John to yourself aloud and slowly
* Read "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Andrew
* Read "Intellectuals" by Paul Johnson
* Discuss with your fellow co-regents. (Ie, your middle class parents, teachers, and friends. You might be surprised at how much they know.)
Sincerely,
An old friend who once hated homework, wore black turtlenecks, and choked on both gnats and Camels
Dear Friend,
You are caught up in a hundred little deaths of your soul these days. You are forced to sit through classes which are beneath you.
You know more about these books, these histories; you understand them better than your peers. You are better read than some of your teachers. This is really true, at least in an academic sense.
In other classes you are made to study material you know you will never use. Odds are good you won't need that quadratic formula in graduate school or in cooking your dinner.
And this is an indignity. You, O Suburban Minion, must abide the endless chores of polite conversation, lunchroom shufflings, leading questions, obvious observations, endless chores, polite conversation....
You have better taste.
Every day you are forced to eat food lacking in subtlety, speak to people lacking in insight and nuance, and grind through homework assignments lacking in imagination and spark, taught by adults who punch the card when you include "setting," "characters," and an ample amount of ham-handed adverbial verbiage.
Similes that sit like a knuckle sandwich in your mouth.
What's the use? Where are Sartre and Camus and Kerouc and Woolf in all of this mundane flotsam and jetsam? Where is the Green Knight?
Where is Keats in this tedious homework assignment to analyze Fanny Brawne -- 'til the Bright Star herself becomes thick-limbed, ugly, and graceless with dead eyes? Nothing like the sun.
Oh to be one of those noted intellectuals! Those brilliant sparks, caught up in thought and conversation, and not hampered by The Daily Bourgeois of suburban high school and carpool line and vacuuming the stairs.
Oh to feed that bright fire of the mind, all day, with people who understand and appreciate the heat!
Yet, you are well-read. What about those characters you know so well?
What about Saruman in his tall tower hanging in the thin air far above the plains and the little men and the beasts.
What about Uncle Andrew and Queen Jadis, and their "high and lonely destiny"?
What about that Invisible Man, and his lone scientific pursuit of autonomy, fed by a withered heart lacking in human connection?
What if Dr. Frankenstein was a monster and the Monster had a soul?
What about Virginia's Lighthouse? Did it help her see the rocks?
And you have read The Intellectual Greats. What if:
What if many of those ivory tower intellectuals were tiresome bores in the pub or the parlor?
What if it would be insufferable to share just one drink with them? What if they were the ones everyone avoided at the cocktail party or on the street?
What if they were people that made other people look at the clock to mutter about appointments and traffic and "needing to go, so nice to touch base with you...."
What if -- in their rejection of humility, humanity, and the simplicity of duty -- they lost touch with glory, divinity, and the deeply complex?
What if, in their single-minded pursuit of truth and beauty in isolation -- in the rarefied company of themselves and their toadying salons -- they lost both. (Truth and beauty, that is.)
What if we all felt sorry for their wives and children and dogs and next door neighbors?
And more.
What if Mother Teresa was a genius and Sartre was a fool (himself telling tales full of sound and fury, signifying nothing)?
What if Einstein practiced piano scales daily as a kid?
What if the capitalist down the street is a philanthropist, the humanist down the street is a misanthropist, the scholar is a bigot, and the small town sheriff is a sage?
What if theology is the queen of the sciences?
It's complicated, isn't it?
Think:
What if we maintain our connection to the divine, in part, by maintaining our relationship with the human?
What if we love God in part by loving others and performing daily duties?
What if even the Word Himself became flesh. And dwelt among us.
And what if to love and know and learn, we have to go where the unwashed they are, and live where the un-nuanced they live, and eat their casseroles, boiled vegetables, and drink their iced tea, and do their homework assignments?
And in meeting with daily life and daily people, what if we find not just truth and beauty, but also ourselves -- right there?
What if we find that we, in fact, are just another one of them: merely a co-regent of all creation. (Nothing big.)
My friend, what if we find our best selves in the mundane performance of daily duties that bring order and abundance, done with love, joy, and humility?
Here is your next homework assignment for "Life 101"
* Read the Gospel of John to yourself aloud and slowly
* Read "The Practice of the Presence of God" by Brother Andrew
* Read "Intellectuals" by Paul Johnson
* Discuss with your fellow co-regents. (Ie, your middle class parents, teachers, and friends. You might be surprised at how much they know.)
Sincerely,
An old friend who once hated homework, wore black turtlenecks, and choked on both gnats and Camels