I am inspired! 

One of my heroes in this world is William Wilberforce.  After being converted to Christ as a young politician he set the course of his life to accomplish one goal - overthrowing the slave trade in England.  He started as a young man and was defeated year after year after year though serving many decades as a politician.  Yet, he persevered.

Let it be said that this man destroyed a hideous and lucrative institution through persevering faith.  In loving labor, he devoted his life in service to others - both the kidnapping of Africans and the destruction of the soul-destroying practices of the British.

You see, if a person truly knows what it means to be unshackled from the bondage of his own soul, he sets it as his goal to set other people free as well.

William Wilberforce has a movie describing his life and work to overthrow the slave trade.  It comes out February 23.  I plan to go with our Young Adults to see this movie on opening night.

Go see it, and you will be inspired.

Resources: 
First, read this biography and listen to an excellent sermon on William Wilberforce (link here).  In 70 minutes of listening you will know his inspiring story and be challenged to bold faith.

YouTube preview (or go to MySpace):
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I have entered the realm of MySpace, though for the time being, this will be my primary place of writing.  To see MySpace, click here.  It is a work in progress.

I have read a couple of things which make me think about the importance of forgiveness.

 

When we are offended we can deal with it in basically two ways: to forgive the person or to not forgive the person.  If we don't forgive another person it will lead to bitterness in our lives.  If we do forgive it will lead to joy and thankfulness.

 

One may think that there are other ways to deal with an offense other than forgiveness.  I can forget what you have said, just pass over the way you offended me, and go on with my life.  If you scorn the hard work I did for you I can just ignore it and go on with my life.  But these ways lead us to resentment and bitterness because they don't deal with the anger that we feel toward the person.  We can't just claim happiness for ourselves and ignore our own and the offenses of others.  We bury the offenses like little seeds in the soul of our hearts.  They will grow eventually.  One offense is added to the first and so on, until a whole garden of weeds exists.  This is how relationships are broken up.  Relationship do not usually break apart with a big offense but with a bunch of small offenses that end up breaking the couple apart, or culminating in a large offense done in bitterness.

 

Forgiveness is different.  Forgiveness deals with the anger.  Forgiveness points out the anger that I feel in my heart.  Anger tells the other person that you offended me and I am hurt ... but I give up any right to be bitter.  I burn the seed in the oven of forgiveness so it will never produce the seed of bitterness.  We throw the offense to the bottom of the sea and don't go scuba diving to bring it back up again.  It is forgiven and forgotten.

 

If we learn to forgive we will have good friendships for what friend won't be offended?  Forgivness makes true friendship possible because we will deal with the real combat of two people with selfish ambitions trying to come together to make a future together.  It is give and take for the sake of a commitment made to one another.

 

This is how God dealt with His people.  They had offended him and he forgave them.  He did not ignore their faults, but he dealt directly with them, forgiving them in the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.  "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. " - Romans 5:8.  He has dealt with all the offenses of every person who trusts Jesus Christ, the offenses are gone, He has sent them away, and they will not come up again in the future.  That is true forgiveness.

 

“For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." - Matthew 6:14-15

"Christianity then appeared with its central doctrine, that man was created in the Divine image, and destined for immortality; pronouncing that, in the eye of God, all men are equal.  This asserted for the individual an independent value.  It occasioned the great inference, that man is superior to the State, which ought to be fashioned for his use; ... that the state ought to exist for man; that justice, protection, and the common good, ought to be the aim of government."

 

 

As Americans we may forget our roots, but we need to remember how novel this was in the founding of our nation.  You mean the state serves the people?  You bet.

This is a fantastic quote ...

 

"The greatest and most dangerous of depotisms is that beneath which the depraved inclination of human nature, the deadly influence of the world, namely, sin, miserably subjects the human conscience.  There are, no doubt many countries, especially among those which the sun of Christianity has not yet illumined, that are without civil liberty, and that groan under the arbitrary rule of powerful masters.  But, in order to become free outwardly, men must first succeed in being free inwardly.  In the human heart the is a vast country to be delivered from slavery - abysses which man cannot cross alone, heights he cannot climb unaided, fortresses he cannot take, armies he cannot put to flight.  In order to conquer in this moral battle, man must unite with One stonger than himself - with the Son of God."

 

- J.H. Merle D'Aubigne, History of the Reformation in Europe quoted in Teaching and Learning America's Christian History, Rosalie J. Slater, pp 159.

 

Two thoughts...

I love Jonathan Edwards and it is nice that lots of his stuff is free.  If you are interested in the works of Jonathan Edwards, you will be happy to know that they are available online for free at http://edwards.yale.edu/archive/

 

Check it out!

In the midst of the debate of embryonic stem cell research I came across a type of "embryonic stem cell research" that I have not been able to find reference to from a Christian ministry.  It research done through a process called "parthenogenesis" (information can be found at bedfordresearch.org).  I sent them an email asking if they created human beings to destroy them and they said "no" and that the "embryo" they use could never result in the development of a human infant.  Could anyone give me some insight to the ethics of parthenogenesis?

 

Here is an exerpt of the letter they sent...

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Heard this same quote twice in the past week... Christian Character First

We come now to consider one of the most important features of the Christian home, as a school for the education of character . . . We there receive a training for good or for evil. . . . The will should be educated; the sense of right and wrong trained; the emotions cultivated; the passions and desires ruled; the conscience and faith developed . . . [W]e must not separate the moral from the mental,—the secular from the religious . . . Bring them up in the habit of properly reading and studying [those] books. “A reading people will soon become a thinking people, and a thinking people must soon become a great people.” . . . Christian parents! Be faithful to this duty. Diligently serve your children as pupils that God has put under your care. Educate them for Him. Reverend S. Phillips, “The Character of Home Education” from “The Christian Home As It Is The Sphere of Nature and the Church” quoted in Teaching and Learning America’s Christian History: The Principle Approach®, Chesapeake, VA: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1965 and subsequent printings, 18–19, 21.

I realized how much I could learn about leaving a good voice mail message through this web article.

 

Last weekend we had the opportunity of the year to have Paul Jehle come and speak to our congregation.  He spoke primarily on parenting with four sessions.  One session was dedicated to men (a practical view of fathering and grandparenting), he taught Sunday School and preached.

 

This was not just a conference for parents, but for anyone who wanted to understand the priorities of God through the Bible better.

 

The sermon was a feast for our congregation, calling us to consider our attitudes.  The audio is available at www.nlicc.org/sermons.asp.  I bet we are missing about 5-10 minutes at the start, but it is still worth listening to.

 

Larry Plating has audio for the whole conference.  Get a copy from him and take time to listen.

Some reflections on being 33...