Where is the back of my room?

 

Are looks more important than personality? No, Actually. (My Son)

 He worked on this for almost a year. 

I'll admit two things regarding this video.  The first is that it speaks to an audience that I am (mostly) unfamiliar with.  He uses terminology that I've not heard. Mewing... Looks-maxing... etc. He acknowledged this audience, for sure, but as I learned what the words meant and who this audience is, I realized that the terms might be different, but the audience is age-old and permeates most other audiences. 

The second is that... and I've told him this... I don't think he goes far enough with his answer. Now, for the record, he goes as far as he wants to go with the video. He doesn't want to answer the question with an entirely new solution, he is primarily (as he has told me) sought to destroy the concept that looks are of primary importance. 

It is a long video, documentary movie length... but I think it is interesting... and so I share. 

The Field of Christianity is the World

Furthermore, the field of Christianity is the world. The Christian cannot be satisfied so long as any human activity is either opposed to Christianity or out of all connection with Christianity. Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all of human thought. The Christian, therefore, cannot be indifferent to any branch of earnest human endeavor. It must all be brought into some relation to the gospel. It must be studied either in order to be demonstrated as false, or else in order to be made useful in advancing the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom must be advanced not merely extensively, but also intensively. The Church must seek to conquer not merely every man for Christ, but also the whole of man.

J. Gresham Machen (Quoted by Douglas Wilson in The Case for Classical Christian Education)

Into His Gates and Into His Courts

 

source: https://x.com/uribrito 

What was it this time?

 

An Educational Challenge

Ok. I have an educational challenge for you. Here are the stipulations of that challenge... and I would like to see if anyone can come up with an ongoing, workable solution to this challenge. 

(This challenge is purely theoretical. Any resemblance to actual challenges -- persons, places, or schools -- is purely coincidental.)

Teacher Stipulations: 

• You must teach Geometry to a new group of students (or new groups of students) every year for 25 years. 
• You must gradually decrease the amount of material you cover over the next 25 years, so that you are covering no more than 40% of the original material. You must do this in such a way that it will still be considered a course on High School Geometry. 
• You must cover all of the material in the 180 days of school allotted to you. In those 180 days, your class time can range from 50 minutes to 45 minutes on average, with multiple days in the school year limited to around 15 minutes. 
• You may assign the student's practice for the material being covered for when they are not in the classroom, this may be titled "homework."  Over the 25 years of time, you must gradually decrease the amount of practice assigned as homework. (By the end of year 20, there will be at most 20% of students who complete any assigned homework.  See Population Dynamics for further details.)
• By the end of year 10, you must begin to learn how to use and incorporate new technologies each year. These technologies may or may not remain in use, and could at any point become irrelevant. Upon the demise of any particular technology, any work you have poured into that technology, creating e-learning experiences for your students, will no longer be available, and you will need to learn a new technology. 
• By the end of year 15, you will begin to duplicate all student materials into a digital format. These materials must be updated and hosted online for any student to access at any given time. Any work that has not been duplicated and hosted -- as well as posted in an easy to find format, will not be work that the teacher can require the students to complete. 
• By the end of year 20, you will be required to regularly create "gamified" versions of all practice materials that were originally considered homework. Eventually there will not be any practice given that doesn't have an element of fun attached to it. Anything that is purely work, though not prohibited, will be frowned upon by all colleagues and will be attributed as a potential cause for any failures. 
• You must post all grades in a program that students and parents can access at any given time. 
• You may not expect students or parents to be aware of the posted grades, so you must regularly contact both students and parents to update them on the status of their current grades. The contacts must be documented as evidence of parent contacts. Contacts must be attempted via phone calls, e-mails, and text messages. It is the teacher's responsibility to figure out each parent's preference on how and when they are contacted. 
• When you begin this challenge, any math instruction may be delivered in the form of direct instruction via lecture and the modeling of examples being worked on in front of an entire class. As the challenge continues, you must employ this method of instruction less each year, until around year 20. Direct instruction, though permitted, will be increasingly frowned upon as backward, unhelpful, and potentially oppressive.  You must research and/or create a myriad of methods for delivering content. Limiting delivery methods will not be permitted. 
• Around year 15, you must begin to offer additional opportunities for students to demonstrate competency with any unit of material presented. These additional opportunities will begin as simply "second chances" for a few students, but by year 20, you must anticipate that at least 30% of your students will be, not only utilizing these multiple attempts, but planning on them as a regular method of engaging in their classes. Additional attempts will eventually need to fall during regular class time, no student can be expected to offer up additional time outside of class for these additional attempts. 

Student Dynamics:

As the student dynamics change, you will not be allotted any additional time to compensate for any missing skills or any added distractions, but must find a way to include all required teaching into the given class time. 

• Basic Math Skills: In the first few years of teaching, 99% of all students will already be proficient with basic math skills. Each year this percentage will decrease until there are at most 50% of students proficient with basic math skills. The teacher must compensate for these missing skills by offering additional instruction during class time. 
• Basic Math Skills: Additionally, at the beginning of this teaching challenge, no more than 30% of problems may contain fractions or decimals. This percentage must decrease each year until year 20 when no student will be expected to engage with a problem that either contains fractions or decimals or has an answer that would require fractions or decimals to be considered correct. 
• Essential Algebra Skills: In the first few years of teaching, 99% of all students will already be proficient with basic math skills. Each year this percentage will decrease until there are at most 10% of students proficient with essential algebra skills. The teacher must compensate for these missing skills by offering additional instruction during class time. 
• Student Independence: In the first few years of teaching, 99% of students will be able to work independently of teacher assistance, once a new skill has been demonstrated. This percentage will decrease until there are at most 20% of students who will be able to work independently, without teacher assistance. 
• Student Independence: In the first few years of teaching, the 1% of students who will not be able to work independently, will only require additional assistance from the teacher 50% of the time. As that percentage of students gradually increases to 80%, there will also be an increase in the amount of time that those individual students will need individual attention in order to complete any work.
• Student Engagement: In the first few years of teaching, all students will be expected to engage in the lessons, regardless of your presentation style. By year 20, no students will be expected to be engaged, unless your presentation is engaging to that student. You will be expected to determine each student's preferred engagement and "differentiate" all experiences in order to properly engage each student. 
• Student Engagement: Starting around the 10th year of teaching, random students will begin to be given electronic devices that can play videos, play music, and the students can play games or contact their friends at any time. Each year, more and more students will be given these devices, until around year 20, 99% of students will have one or more of these devices regularly available.
• Student Responsibility: At the beginning of this educational challenge, the responsibility for student failures will rest on the student and the parent/guardian of that student. Responsibility for this will gradually shift, until year 20 when the student will no longer be held responsible for their failure, unless the teacher has completed every aspect of this challenge to its fullest. The parent / guardian will be relieved of all responsibility by year 25. 

The reward for accepting this challenge will be additional paperwork to complete each year, additional conferences to attend, and the opportunity to learn special stylized fist-bumps.

Again... I repeat, this is a purely theoretical challenge, meant to be humorous and silly, not meant to be offensive to anyone, and not meant to make any personal claims by me, the author of this challenge. In fact, my response to this challenge is... Challenge Accepted!

I believed...

I believed, even when I spoke:

“I am greatly afflicted”;

I said in my alarm,

“All mankind are liars.” 

 Psalm 116:10–11 (ESV)

Reign In Us: A Prayer of Bernard of Clairvaux

 

What It's About

Below is a clip from the Light and Truth Podcast from Desiring God. It is a clip from a sermon that was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church by John Piper on December 1st, 1996. 

The clip should start at 5:31. If it doesn't, I encourage you to forward to that time. (Obviously, you can go back and listen to the first 5 minutes of it later.) I share this clip, because I believe it needs to be heard. ... Really heard. 

Transcript from 5:31 to about 7:18... 

Now let's just get this real clear and real straight because I have the feeling we live in such a kind of touchy-feely day that Christianity is being so psychologized and so therapeutized that we really do believe this book was written for our mental health. It wasn't.  It was written to help us get right with a wrathful God. 

God is one great massive fire of Holiness. He hates sin and cannot abide it. We are little ant-like sinners of sin. And if we got within 10 trillion miles of this God we'd be consumed. 

The problem in the universe is not our frail marriages. The problem in the universe is not my failing health. The problem in the universe is not my wayward children. The problem in the universe is not the conflicts at work. The problem that the Bible was written to deal with is I have no hope of drawing near to God without being consumed: because I'm a sinner. And unless there is some kind of asbestos-like priest who can wrap me around with all he is and take me into the center of this fire there's no hope for me at all that's what the Bible is about.

There is much more here, and the whole thing, the whole series is worth listening to, but this portion might be an important clip for YOU to hear today. It might be the reason why you have been confused about the Bible and what it is telling you. It might be the reason why you have felt disappointed with God or resentful about how your life has played out. It might be the reason why you are depressed or discouraged about the world, whether big-scale or your own little world that you interact with. 

If you have been going through life, not realizing that your biggest need and your biggest problem have a solution, created by God the Father, fulfilled by God the Son, and made available by the Power of God the Spirit, then you could easily meander through this life down and discouraged. The Bible offers incredibly good news... good news that doesn't make sense until you know the bad news... and your future could be incredibly bright, and anyone can get in on this. 

Im-Prec-A-Tory

Psalm 140

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

[1] Deliver me, O LORD, from that evil person;

preserve me from their violent thoughts,

[2] preserve me from the one who planned evil things in their heart

and stirred up war with me continually.

[3] They made their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,

and under their lips was the venom of asps. 

Selah.

[4] Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of that wicked one;

preserve me from violent thoughts,

that would love nothing better than to see me trip.

[5] That arrogant one would have hidden a trap for me,

and with cords they would have spread a net;

beside the way they wished to set snares for me. 

Selah.

[6] I say to the LORD, You are my God;

give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!

[7] O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,

you have covered my head in the day of battle.

[8] Grant not, O LORD, the desires of that wicked one;

do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted! 

Selah.

[9] As for the head of that one that wished to surround me,

or schemed secrets behind my back,

let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!

[10] Let burning coals fall upon them!

Let them be cast into fire,

into miry pits, no more to rise!

[11] Let not that slanderer, that schemer, that liar be established in the land;

let evil hunt down that wicked woman speedily!

[12] I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted,

and will execute justice for the needy.

[13] Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;

the upright shall dwell in your presence. 

A rhetorical question from Amos

Amos 3:6 b (ESV)

"... Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?"

Fix the Anchor of our Hope

 Grant, Almighty God, that as you constantly remind us in your word, and have taught us by so many examples, that there is nothing permanent in this world, but that the things which seem the firmest tend to ruin, and instantly fall and of themselves vanish away, when by your breath you shake your strength in which men trust -- O grant that we, being really subdued and humbled, may not rely on earthly things, but raise up our hearts and our thoughts to heaven, and there fix the anchor of our hope; and may all our thoughts abide there until at length, when you have led us through our course on earth, we shall be gathered into that celestial kingdom which has been obtained for us by the blood of your only begotten Son. Amen. 

John Calvin (Quoted in Be Thou My Vision)

dogs and pigs

Matthew 7:6 (ESV)

Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. 

 I find it to be of great interest that this passage in Matthew, this passage, which is near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, is immediately preceded by the passage that says, "Judge not..." (Mt. 7:1-5). How can one "Not judge" and then be discerning enough to identify "dogs" and "pigs" in order to not present those "holy pearls" to them? 

Is there not a measure of, what one could call "judging"... Is Jesus not referring to people as the "dogs" and the "pigs"?  And then to refrain from presenting words, words that could be called "pearls" or "what is holy", to refrain from presenting these words to people we've deemed to be, well, doglike or piggish in the way they would receive these words: does this not require a level of judgment? 

Do not consider this to be a contradiction in the teachings of Jesus. No. Humble yourself before our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Submit yourself to his teaching and recognize the reality of clarifying words of wisdom. A verse like this does not deny, disrupt, or contradict the previous statement. Instead it gives clearer definition to the previous statement. Like a cleverly crafted lens in a pair of glasses, when placed upon your face, you can suddenly see the leaves on the tree, not just the tree, and you can now see what judging is... and what it is not. 

May it be so.

 Psalm 109 -- To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Be not silent, O God of my praise!
For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,

speaking against me with lying tongues.

They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
Appoint a wicked man against them;
let an accuser stand at their right hand.
When they are tried, let them come forth guilty;
let their prayer be counted as sin!
May their days be few;
may another take their office!
May their children be fatherless and motherless
and their spouse a widow or widower!
May their children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
May the creditor seize all that they have;
may strangers plunder the fruits of their toil!
Let there be none to extend kindness to them,
nor any to pity their orphaned children!
May their posterity be cut off;
may their name be blotted out in the second generation!
May the iniquity of their fathers be remembered before the LORD,
and let not the sin of their mother be blotted out!
Let them be before the LORD continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
For they did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
They loved to curse; let curses come upon them!
They did not delight in blessing; may it be far from them!
They clothed themselves with cursing as their coat;
may it soak into their body like water,
like oil into their bones!
May it be like a garment that they wrap around themselves,
like a belt that they put on every day!
May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD,
of those who speak evil against my life!
But you, O GOD my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
Help me, O LORD my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O LORD, have done it!
Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death. 

(ESV - with a few slight adjustments by me.)

Hope

I don't know where to start. I'm not sure what to say. 

Abandoned Danville Church Burns to the Ground

That link will take you to the WCIA news story about this old abandoned church in Danville that burned down. But it was more than an old building or an old abandoned church to me. This is... was the Old Edgewood Building with the attached Hope Christian School.

From the middle of the building, looking toward the sanctuary.