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.

Canyons and Crannies in the Bible

This is (sort of) the third post in a series. 

The First Post: Geometry and How to Think

The Second Post: Canyons vs. Crannies Theology

I am sure that there are a few people who've had their toes stepped on from my posts. If not these two, then any number of previous posts I've done, may have stepped on toes. I can admit that from time to time I've posted some things with the express purpose of toe-stepping. I can admit that. Though it was never meant to be overtly mean, I can admit that there have been a few times where I phrased things knowing that whether or not it stepped on any toes, it would still be received about the same way that a stray Lego piece is when encountered on the floor in the middle of the night... when barefoot. I could argue that some people just need to put shoes on (i.e. not be so sensitive), but that wasn't my main concern when typing these things out. Even though I can admit this with some previous posts, I want to stand by my claim that these last two posts, specifically the previous one, was not meant at all for an insult to anyone. The topic that I began to cover, I believe, is one of the most important topics that needs to be addressed in our American Church.  I believe this for two reasons. 

Canyons vs. Crannies Theology

Please don't be offended by this post. If you read anything here that you find offensive, please just talk with me. 

Anyone and everyone that believes that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, is a theologian on some level.  I absolutely believe this to be true. A person doesn't always have to be a professional theologian to be a theologian. Theology is simply the study of God, so one could be a professional theologian, investing their time and energy into this study, but they might also be a lazy theologian, deeming the study of the Word to be not all that important, at least not as important as Sports Center or their Facebook feed, but both ends of the spectrum depict theologians none-the-less. If a person believes something... anything... about God, they are a theologian. And if they also believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, then to some degree those beliefs are shaped by their reading, or their lack of reading, the scriptures. 

Geometry & How to Think

I know that anyone that comes across this will most likely find it a bit on the boring side. I get that. I'm not trying to build an audience here, I gave up on that dream long ago. At the same time, what I am going to say, I believe has relevance. I believe it is important. I believe that it borders on essential. And so I write it, not thinking that it is a statement that will sweep the nation or the educational system or even the 5 people I know online. I write it instead, as an actual exercise in thinking, which is the core topic of this post. So I encourage you to read it, to think about it, and to communicate with me about it, not for social media hype, but for community and dialogue and for thinking... 

Geometry

The longer I teach Geometry, the more I believe that the real purpose of Geometry is not how to find angles and identify shapes and compare congruent triangles... No. All of those things are secondary to, what I believe is, or ought to be, the real purpose of a Geometry Course. Don't get me wrong, all of those things, along with slopes of lines and right triangle trigonometry and the surface area of spheres is all important: amazingly, exceptionally, actually important. The more technical our world gets, the more these things are drastically important. And even if I go another way with Geometry... the "Geometry in Construction" way, which is another course that I teach, these things are still really, really important. Houses still need to be built with the proper pitch of the roof. Rafters need to be cut, doorways need to be square, and floors need to be level. Again... all important stuff... but... But the longer I teach Geometry, the more I believe that the real purpose of Geometry is not necessarily any of these things. The real purpose may be... ought to be... probably should be or at least could be... how to think. 

I guess that if I am going to talk about this topic in this format, I should probably attempt to accomplish a few things in this "talk". I most likely need to say something about the need for our youth to be taught how to think. You wouldn't think that this would need an explanation, but it might. From there I should try to show you why I think that the Geometry classroom is the proper delivery vessel for students to be taught how to think... I think. Let's start with the need for thinking by thinking about thinking, you think?

Just an Old Table

This is just an old table. 

At some point in the fall of 1986, I sat at an old table in an art class at Hope Christian School and scratched out a message from God to my future self. 

I was a freshman in high school. My teacher's name was Mrs. Clingman. Since it was already an old table at the time, it was covered with scratches, indentations, stains and drops of paint. I can remember scratching the bubbles out of the dried paint drops. You can see that in this picture: 

I also remember sitting at the other end of the table and noticing a little indentation that looked like an eye. I was probably supposed to be working on some other project or listening to my teacher give instructions on the next project we were to be working on or an art technique that I was going to need to use, but instead, I was doodling on that eye. And I can actually remember thinking to myself, I am going to write "I see you!" for someone else, someone who would come along after me and see this little eye and its little message. 

...

This morning I swung by our little church on my way to teaching summer school. My father had pulled these old tables out of our storage shed to toss into the dumpster we had rented. He had texted that he needed help getting them into the dumpster the previous day. He had been able to pull them out of the shed, but with the heat, he thought it best not to attempt tossing them into the dumpster by himself. I volunteered to meet him after my school day and help him throw them in, but decided on my own that I would just swing by there in the morning and throw them away. These tables had been in my life for as long as I could remember. I had probably sat at them during a vacation Bible school when I was 6 years old. 

To be more to the point, the previous Saturday we had a church clean up scheduled (hence the rented dumpster). Some of us who had been a part of Edgewood the longest, especially those of us who had attended when we were at the previous building, were having a challenging time watching some of the items make it into the dumpster. They were items that needed to go, but each one had a multitude of memories attached to them. For my wife and myself it was especially difficult because it felt like our time in ministry... with the bulletin boards we had made and designed, the things we had kept for a potential future aspect of the ministry, white boards and chalk boards we had put teaching notes on... were all headed for the dumpster. 

So I didn't want anyone with me when I went to throw these tables away. I had thought that maybe these tables might make it into a futue fellowship hall. ... Foolish, I know. Who wants old tables in a new fellowship hall? Especially these old, and might I say, exceptionally heavy, tables. These old discardable tables. These old tables that were only used for loaning for garage sales. These old tables that had been there for countless potlucks, Easter sunrise breakfasts, and various fellowship meals. These old tables that I had griped about their weight more times that I could remember. These old tables that were resigned from ministry and in the shed, but now were going to make their way to a dumpster. Just some old discardable, useless tables, no longer fit for ministry at Edgewood Church. 

But on the very last table I picked up... I knew this table was there, because I wanted a picture of the paint drops I had scratched off... and it was the final table. And then I saw it. As I lifted the next to last table to toss into the dumpster.... as I was contemplating the similarity between these tables and my life and time in ministry... I saw it. 

Oh. I had seen it before and knew that I was most likely the one that had written it, but when I saw it this time, the memory of scratching those words into the table came flooding back, but instead of seeing these words for what my intention had been when I had scratched them into that table in 1986, I saw them ... no... I heard them spoken to me, and my Lord, my Savior, my King, my Good Shepherd said to me, "I see you!"