Posts made in February, 2006

too much is just too much

Posted by on Feb 25, 2006 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

This week I didn’t work on Monday. That was wonderful! Of course, then on Tuesday I worked ten hours, on Wednesday eleven hours, on Thursday thirteen and today nine and one half hours. People should not do that. It is bad for your sleep, skin, emotions, marriage, and especially, your eyes.

I promised you pictures of our science experiment from dinner last Saturday and though you may have expected something involving mushed up food, cause you’re totally like that. You are wrong. I mentioned that it was cold last weekend and, for Texas, it was frigid. We have giant single pane windows that are very drafty. Also we have a very old apartment that has one giant grate in the corner of our living room where the heat comes from. So, as you can imagine, our two hour dinner got a little chilly. By the end, though still having a good time, our toes were pretty cold and some of us were sitting on our fingers.

Then, Jud stood up and found the heat.

It was cold down here.

And hot up here.

So, it’s true. Heat rises. They weren’t just foolin around.

Also, though completely unnecessary, Tawnya sent a beautiful thank you card for the weekend and for being their friends.

(Yes, this is me shamelessly promoting my love of cards that I would never take the time to mail. I recognize that I am a hypocrite. I own that. But you are good at mail, friends, and you should send me some because I love it. Or, you could just comment on my blog to let me know you are reading. Both are welcome.)

And finally, in our world of teasing you with promises of rugs and leather chairs and bedroom furniture, we went to World Market to check out this bedroom set.

We chickened out and decided that our concentration should focus on rugs. So, if you have suggestions for rugs….$400 or less that you would like to share, please comment on them below. We would love you forever and take pictures of the thing you told us to buy for all to see (nothing like external motivators to make adults get a job done!).

Instead of buying the furniture, we bought this instead.

I am flying to Phoenix on Monday morning and staying through Wednesday. Business travel makes me feel all important and stuff. It also makes me slightly nauseated.

And finally two items of note:
1. One of my friends’ moms found a lump in her breast. Please pray for her and for my friend.

2. Another of our friends got word this week that they will be adopting a baby in about three weeks. They’ve been waiting a really long time and have been promised this before only to have mothers back out and babies never come. Pray that this will be the end of the waiting and the beginning of a new chapter.

Posted by on Feb 22, 2006 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

Here is one of the pictures that Kim would have liked to have included in her last post. This is from our trip to the farmer’s market on probably the coldest day I’ve experienced here in Dallas. Our friends made it back home safe and sound without the fires, ice, and other encumbrances hindering their progress. We were so blessed to have them down here and wished they were moving here instead of Wisconsin. Sam and Tawnya were raising support for their work they will be doing at Camp Forest Springs in the future. They are at about 50% of their 2006-2007 budget so if you would like to support them, please contact them

Jeremy (far left) will be moving down in late June/early July to also attend seminary so I’m pretty excited about all of that. It will be super nice to have him down here. Hopefully I can help him and Rachel get an affordable apartment close to where we live. Kim always comments that Jeremy is like our brother and I really don’t think that there is a better way to put it. Jeremy is a stud and we look forward to him being here but we also know that he will be sorely missed in Omaha. Anyway, that’s all I have for now, I better get back to paper writing.

monday, monday

Posted by on Feb 20, 2006 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

da, dah, da, da, da dah

So we had a GREAT weekend with our friends, Jeremy, Sam & Tawnya. If I knew where the camera was right now, I’d prove it to you. Here’s the run down….

They got in on Thursday night while Jud was at class after driving out of a snow storm, and into a fire storm, leaving the interstate that was closed for said fire. Although it took them 14, yes, fourteen hours to get here, they did not despair and were in fact excited to finally be in the Bid D. It was something like 86 degrees that Thursday, but by the time they got here it was windy and turning cold. We pretty much just hung out and talked on Thursday night and I went to work the next day. I think the guys played video games.

Friday came and I went to work where I continued my battle against the stomach. I have no idea what happened to me last week, but starting on Wed night I had these intense hot stabbing pains in my stomach. I heard all sorts of ideas on why I was hurting….everything from ulcers and gird to b a b i e s. I don’t think any of those things are correct now because all of the pain is gone and I feel fine. Oh, and for all of you rooting, for the last one (mother), it’s most assuredly not a b a b y. By the time I got home on Friday afternoon I was pretty sure that my insides were this close to exploding, so we decided to go out for Mexican food (mexican food + stomach pains = good times). We went to this place called Zuzu and it was just okay. The prices were low (nice) but the food wasn’t anything I couldn’t do at home (meh), and really I could probably do it better at home. Sam & Tawnya had driven over to Sam’s uncle’s place to visit and tell them about CFS, so it was just Jud and Jeremy and me. We rented Farenheit 9/11 and Farenhype 911. We watched the left wing one on Friday and the right wing one on Saturday. Political conversations ensued. Good thing we are all of the same opinion on most things political or that could’ve been bloody. Sam and Tawnya came back and I think the guys played video games.

Saturday dawned bright and early, although I was not awake for the bright or early parts. After being the last one out of bed I made my way downstairs and cooked breakfast with Sam. He made the sausage gravy and I made the biscuits and smoothies. It was delicious! Then we went to the Farmer’s Market and bought green peppers and squash. The green pepper man gave us some jalapenos for free! Thank you very cold farmer’s market merchant! Your suggestion to “spice up your world” was followed and spiced up it was. Then we went to scary WalMart. It was a normal experience for us and a bit disturbing for our friends. The strange carnival-esque music and ridiculous outfits were excellent entertainment. Later, one of our friends said it was strange to not see anybody who looked like us there. True. When we got back we watched the movie and then made brats. Also, I fell asleep. I think the guys left for a while. I don’t remember. Supper was so good. Brats, baked beans, squash medley and onions and peppers. D-licious! It took us two hours to get through the meal and we loved every minute of it. I’ll show you pictures of our science experiment when I find the camera. Saturday night was more video game playing while I bored Tawnya with pictures.

Sunday was church and Tawnya sang with Jenn to lead music. I’ll fill you in on the details of the church stuff in a different post because the details, they are many. We went out to eat at Pei Wei and stuffed ourselves with delicious Chinese Bistro delights, Daniel and Jenn came too. When we got home we did something, but I can’t remember what. Then Jeremy, Sam, Tawnya and I played Settlers and….I won! I’ve played twice and won twice! I LOVE that game!! Tawnya and I went over to Jenn’s and met up with Hancey over there too. We watched a movie and chatted for a bit and eventually got home around 11:30. Then we stayed up and talked some more until we finally said goodnight.

I slept until noon today. The friends, they are fun. The sleep, it was too short. Now I’m off to help Zanna babysit a friend’s kids because the parents are so sick. I’m off to the Baby Factory (aka Swiss Tower)!

Kisses,
k

Posted by on Feb 14, 2006 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

As Kim has liklely either mentioned or alluded to, we have both been pretty busy with things at the church we’re currently attending. Kim is teaching kids on wednesday evenings, writing the lessons and etc while I am helping with sunday morning worship and assisting in the same kids ministry where Kim serves. It has been a really interesting time for both of us and it has intensified my already busy schedule.

So far, my course load has been fairly enjoyable, busy but enjoyable. During my Monday evening Old Testament History course, Dr. Allen spent about 2 hours and 10 minutes on the first 5 verses of chapter 6. Because I so enjoyed this lecture, I have posted my notes on this lecture below. If you have time and or interest in who the parties involved in this passage are, these notes should prove insightful.

Genesis 6:1-5 is probably the largest short interpretive problem in the entire book of Genesis. Every phrase of this passage is debated. Ron Allen typed 57 pages in 12 hrs for his Doctorate on this passage.

Views on this Passage

Key Words to Genesis 6:1-4

v Bene [J1] – ha Elohim – the distinctive, true Deity usage, thus they would be sons of the true living God.

v Benot ha adam – The feminine term for human woman, the daughters of Adam[J2] .

v Ha (n)nephilim – lit. “the fallen ones,” not monsters or giants. They are those who are not quite what they ought to be. The term “giants” was a literary guess probably derivative of the Septuagint. (ref. Numbers 13, the story of the spies entering the land. Davar ra – an evil report was brought back [v.26]. The Anak was a real people group of very tall people. The spies said that the land itself was hostile and that it destroys those who live there, this was a lie. They proceeded to exaggerate the size and might of the people. They said that all the people were great and they saw the nephilim, which was also a lie. The term nephilim was deliberately provocative of fear. And the whole account was a lie given by the spies.)

1. Some[J3] believe that the men (sons of God) were godly people and the women (sons of Adam) were ungodly. The men were descendents of Seth and the women were from Cain. This was a mesalliaz, misalignment of two lines of people which led to this race of nephilim. Thus the Daughters of Cain were presumably beautiful and presumes that in a closed chronology or an extended, open chronology that they were two species of humanity. This is increasingly difficult to maintain. This view is exegetically strained and they don’t like the dominant view. Allen finds this view impossible.

2. Meredith Kline’s View – After examining this passage he concluded that there is no biblical evidence for the traditional view. To say that daughters of man are decedents of Cain is blatantly sexist. Therefore, the sons of God could refer to Monarchs, Kings. This is used scripturally in an honorific term. Thus, the daughters of Adam simply refer to women because all women are daughters of Adam. To read anything else in is isogesis. The Kings were looking at beautiful women and they took for themselves who ever they chose. Kline argues that this is the beginning of Royal harems and the concept of keeping women as possessions. Kings were self absorbed and showing of their wealth of women. The nephilim are unrelated. They are another ugly element in the period of time. “Fallen Ones” simply means that there were the sad and wicked ones who lived during that time. This view is exegetically based and it works in biblical theology. The Seth/Cain view is simply made up. This introduces the subjugation of women which was clearly present in the Old Testament. But it doesn’t really solve the issue of the Nephilim.

3. RK Harrison[J4] & Gleason L Archer, Jr[J5] . said that we should explore the possibility that this describes an unlawful relationship between humans and pre-impara Adamites. A pre adamite would be someone who is not fully human, some sort of Neanderthal. They hold to a very “Old Earth” creation and say that perhaps this passage is a clue to a remembrance of some sort of messalliance between humans and para-humans. This comes not from the passage but from a desire to merge current scientific inquiry with scripture. However, the passage rules it out. If you are speaking about pre-adamites, then the Daughters of Adam could possibly be unhuman or subhuman, this presenting the value of Adam’s decendants in a poor light. If Sons of God are used as human beings then Daughters of Adam are simply subhuman.

4. Most[J6] Jewish and/or Pre-Christian fathers hold that Sons of God in this passage refers to Angels and Daughters of Adam clearly refers to human women. It came to pass when man began to multiply on the earth. The emphasis is upon reproduction. The Sons of God is used of Angelic beings throughout Scripture (Job 1:6, there was a day when bene – ha Elohim came to station themselves in the presence of YHWH and the Sata[J7] n came in their midst. Many in the Seth/Cain party disagree with this because it stretches all the way to Job. Deut. 32:43, the Qumran text adds the line that says, “and worship him all Elohim.” All the authorities who have worked on this dead sea text have concluded that all Elohim refers to all angels. This is also found in the Septuagint and Allen finds this to be the correct text. Because this is in Torah further solidifies the theory that this is a reference to the fusion of women and angels. The angels would clearly not be the “good” angels but they would be the fallen angels who have rebelled with Satan prior to creation. Thus, we should not be surprised that they are mentioned in Genesis 6. This means that angels have the capacity to take on human appearance. And what if Angels are not limited for a time in what they can do? There is nothing inherent in angelology to prohibit Angels from taking on bodily form. And this bodily form is not neuter (Mt 19, in heaven angels are not procreating, they are spiritual and nonsexual, in heaven there will be no procreation) The Scofield Reference Bible presents that the sons of God could have been unfallen angels. If this interpretation is true, then the fallen angels are under a particular judgment (2 Peter 2:4[J8] , God did not spare angels who sinned but he cast them down to hell and committed them to pits of darkness.). When we are “tempted by Satan” we are really being tempted by one of his henchmen. The chronology of the 2 Peter 2 passage fits perfectly with the Genesis 6 chronology (2 Peter 2:5). Jude 6, The angels did not keep their proper domain but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” These are not the angels who bred with women. 1 Peter 3:18-20[J9] ,”while Christ was in the grave by whom He went and preached to the spirits now in prison who were once disobedient, when the patience of the God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction…” Various interpretations of this passage indicate that a) Christ preached salvation to those in prison or b) Christ simply declared his victory to the spirit beings imprisoned by God[J10] the term preaching in this passage is more of a statement of truth rather than preaching the change of mind. Thus it can be implied that the actions of Satan were much more devious than we often believe. In fact, the actions of Satan and the 1/3 were likely done as an attempt to unseat the Gospel. Revelation 9 “the opening of the bottomless pit where locusts and scorpions [J11] came upon the earth to torment man for five months. (v. 7) They become like horses who men’s faces, lions teeth, with wings, who resemble the creatures prophesied in Daniel. They will fit the classical images of the Ezekiel and the Sphinx in Egypt. The king over them was Satan.´ The view then states that the progeny of the Sons of God and Daughters of Adam are existent today in the bottomless pit who will loosed to harm humanity. Their ultimate destiny is complete destruction. These were the same people who Christ preached to after His death. Kline has a point in the identity of the Nephilim. Perhaps the Nephilim had greater powers which would give rise to much of classical Greek and Babylonian mythology. “They were the mighty men of old, the renown.”

Josephus… “Many Angels of God accompanied with women, and beget sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good…”

How does this passage fit into the text?

If the 4^th view correct, is the sin of the angels the cause of the flood? No. The cause was the sin of man. As their was sin on the earth, there was also sin in the heavens. If this train of passages hold together, it means that it is not happening today. But, if Revelation 9 is part of the train, there is a role for these beings in the time to come.

Theological Points:

1. Our lives are part of a grander scheme. The hints of Angels and Demons tell us that our lives are not the only ones. (1 Cor – trouble with women having long hair because it was associated with prostitution. Men would tell their wives that they were worshipping the God’s but were with harlots. The Harlots would shave their heads and wear ornate wigs. This is why Paul is stating that women should cover their heads so that no one would be distracted as to who was worshiping beside them. This also displays the importance of focusing upon God and not others. Paul states that the angels are embarrassed)

2. Spirit Beings are Real

3. Some Things are not understandable in Life.

4. Ultimately, good is Victorious over Evil!

Why are angels prohibited today? A: Because of the depth of their folly in going against God.

This view is not heavily focused upon today because Evangelicals are fairly shy of topics like Angelology.

CS Lewis, “Satan’s greatest accomplishment is persuading the world that he doesn’t exist.”

____________________________________________________

Genesis 6

1 Now it came to pass[J12] , when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.

3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive[J13] ^F9 with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years[J14] .”

4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.[J15] 5 [J16] Then the Lord ^F10 saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

the difference a counter can make

Posted by on Feb 12, 2006 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

There have been many people who’ve come to visit us in our wonderful new place in the Big D….Sarah, Krystal, Tom, Dad, Michael, and more. Most of them saw the place we lived in before and all agree that this place has much more character and tons more space. We love our new home….the nice closets, the adorable courtyard, the spacious living room, the great neighbors….good, good, good.
BUT (you knew this was coming, didn’t you) I’ve got a big beef with the bathroom. Before, when I washed my face, I would splash water to rinse away the soap leaving a puddle of water on either side of the sink. The puddles form because the water runs down either arm as I do the famous splash just like that Noxzema girl who was everywhere the summer of 1993, including the JC Penney catalog. She had that really curly brown hair and I thought if I could just splash my face like she splashes hers maybe I could fit into those cute high wasted jeans too. The face splash lingers but the jeans, they are gone. Anyway, you can ask Allison or Jud (the two people forced to share bathrooms with me for extended time periods) about how great I am about mopping up said puddles. They will tell you that I am horrible about it; that I must assume the water will evaporate and all will be well before the next person must use that sink even if they will use it but ten minutes later.

So if I was bad at mopping up the water on this counter….

Imagine how bad I am at mopping up the water that now pools in the floor…

The answer, of course, is terrible. The worst part is that the floor is already gross. The tile was laid and never sealed, so all of that darkness in between the tiles is not gray grout but instead mucky grime that I have attempted to clean away with all sorts of things that don’t work. So, the pools of water become these disgusting pools of muddiness. Something must be done!

No. Something other than me wiping up the grime water every night.

Of all the things Jud misses about the old place, I’m pretty sure this is the most significant.