Question: What Was Jill's Study Bible?

Answer:
She had the "Reformation Study Bible" which is a great resource. You can find it here at the Westminster Bookstore.

While the Reformation Study Bible is a great resource, an even better resource that only recently came out is the ESV Study Bible. The scholars that worked on it are more broad than the Reformation Study Bible and it has more content. This study Bible can be found here at a cheap introductory price.

The Obscenity of the Cross

I was listening to a great sermon this past Sunday at church by this guy, and I was struck by the awfulness of the cross. Sometimes we wear it around our necks, or on our fingers (as I do). In many people's lives it becomes a decoration, when it was really a torture and execution device. Why don't you see people wearing nooses on necklaces? Why are there not electric chair earrings? I'm not saying we shouldn't have crosses around, I'm just saying that we don't need to forget the horrors of the cross.

This is a great quote from R.C. Sproul on the obscenity of the cross:

"In some instances, the prevailing indifference to the cross mutates into outright hostility. I once was asked to deliver a lecture explaining the relationship between the old and new covenants. In the course of delivering this lecture, I referred to Christ’s death as a substitutionary, vicarious sacrifice for the sins of others. To my surprise, someone in the back of the room yelled out, “That’s primitive and obscene.” I was taken aback for a moment, so I asked, “What did you say?” He said it again with great hostility: “That’s primitive and obscene.” At that point, I had recovered from my surprise, and I told the man I actually liked his choice of adjectives. It is primitive for a blood sacrifice to be made to satisfy the justice of a transcendent and holy God, but sin is a primitive thing that is basic to our human existence, so God chose to communicate His love, mercy, and redemption to us through his primitive work. And the cross is an obscenity, because all of the corporate sin of God’s people was laid on Christ. The cross was the ugliest, most obscene thing in the history of the world. So I thanked the man for his observation."

The cross was the most horrible, merciful, awful, compassionate, painful, loving, scandalous, restorative, punishing, justifying, propitiating, ugly, beautiful event in the history of mankind. God came and bore our sin in His body on the tree. He can truly empathize with any suffering no matter how deep and how persistent. We should not forget the full scope of the of the meaning of the cross.

What Lies Beneath

The last week or so I have felt a bit numb emotionally. Obviously, I still miss Jill often and hurt for Scott constantly. However, my grief has felt a bit shallow recently. A friend of mine gave Kristel and I a book entitled From Grief to Glory. I began reading it this morning not because I needed to feel comfort, but because I needed to feel. As I read of the loss of others, it did not take long before I once again could see and feel the deep wound to my soul that Jill’s passing has left. It felt good in a way. Does that make sense? I think at times we put makeup over our wounds instead of dealing with them. We busy ourselves so we do not have to think about the fact that we are not doing so well. Pain is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong and to slow us down. It works the same way with our wounded souls. If we ignore our pain we could stunt the growth that God intends for us during this loss. I would encourage you to find ways to stir your soul and see what lies beneath the surface. As painful as it sounds, let us tear open the wounds treated with superficial treatments and allow Christ to give us true life altering healing.

Cute and Funny Interchanges

I have been inspired by my good friends Kristen and Scott over at The Dunn Show to blog on dialogue that happens in my house hold. So I will start with humor and end on cuteness.

Daddy: Addie, why did you get out of bed?
Addie: Because I did.
Daddy: That's not a reason. You said you needed to poo-poo, but you really didn't. Why did you say you needed to poo-poo?
Addie: It's a reason!?
Daddy: (Through laughter) Well, you said you needed to, but you really didn't. What do you call it when you say something is true but it really isn't?
Addie: A mystery!


While rocking Addie before bedtime.

Daddy: I'm glad God gave you to me.
Addie: Thank you for saying that.

Things They Are A-Changin'

You'll notice a few things that may be new on the right side of the blog--->

The first box is "Organizations That I Like" these are my work websites, my church website, my favorite ministry website and Hannah Medical Center's website (not in that order).

The box below that one is a link to subscribe to my blog through an RSS feed. If you still don't have some kind of program to consolidate all of your readings into one place, get Google Reader along with your Gmail account. You WILL thank me if you use it. If you come to this site or any other site daily to see if there is new information on it, you need an RSS feeder. Google Reader is the best one I've used (yeah, it's the only one I've used, but it integrates with my email and that makes it the best. If you say otherwise, I reject your reality and substitute my own- to quote Adam Savage.)

The next box is my "Shared Items" these are articles or posts that I read that I think would be helpful to a wider audience. I consider these items as "must read."

The following two boxes are pretty self-explanatory- the blog archive, and the list of contributors.

The following box is "Blog Favorites", but it's actually Emily's so I can't change it. I will probably put my own list up and add some more great blogs to frequent.

The last box is the counter- again, self-explanatory.

Tax Saving Tip- Charitable Giving

The year is drawing to a close and and now is a good time to "make-good" on any commitments you have made to charitable organizations. The government has chosen to give those of us who are charitably inclined the great benefit of being able to deduct our contributions to 501(c)3 organizations from our income, reducing our tax liability.

Contributions to your church, your local homeless shelter, relief organizations, and other entities involved in charitable endeavors are all deductible on your tax return. In any given year you can deduct up to 50% of your adjusted gross income for charitable giving. If you give away appreciated assets, you are limited to 30% of adjusted gross income. The good news is that if you want to give away more than 50% of your income in cash or more than 30% of your income in assets, you can carry your giving forward into years where you may not be able to give the maximum.

For the most part, Americans are ungenerous. While we are one of the most charitable countries in the world with our personal income, the percentage of income that the average American gives away is only 3.2%. We are (still) one of the richest countries in the world, and we give only a token amount of our great wealth away.

As Christians our primary responsibility to give is to our local church, and then to give to other organizations that are worthy. The Hannah Medical Center is one of those worthy organizations. It is an explicitly Christian organization that seeks to communicate Christ’s love by providing life-affirming services to women facing pregnancy decisions and by upholding biblical standards for sexual integrity. I have had the privilege of being on the board of the Hannah Medical center for the past year. Jill Attebery was the Chair, and was passionate about what the Hannah Medical Center stands for. It would honor her memory to support a cause that she was passionate about.

To donate, please visit www.hannahmedical.org and click on the "donate now" button on the left hand side of the screen.

Please let me know if you have any questions about charitable giving or gifting.

Brothers In Arms

This past Sunday I was privileged to be able to meet Anthony. He is one of Jordan Thomas's friends, and he recently went through the loss of his wife back in February. They came to church Sunday night and went out to eat with us afterward. Scott and Anthony talked for a good while and it was very encouraging. One of the most encouraging things to me was just seeing someone who was 10 months removed from a similar tragedy, and to see how well he was doing.

I really appreciate Jordan and Anthony in their service to Scott during these difficult days.

Scott is doing very well. He has completed multiple home projects, and even came to church last night and went out with us in our visitation team. I am very encouraged by his demeanor these days. He still has some down times, but over all I would say he is doing as well as could be expected. He is facing this situation head on and being careful not to hide.

Year End Financial Tips

It is getting close to the end of the year and many of you may not know that I am a financial planner by vocation. I thought it would be appropriate to give a couple reminders of some things you can do to plan for your financial future.

529 Plan
In Arkansas you can take advantage of our state 529 plan. I have done extensive research in this area and it is the best plan out there for Arkansas residents. In addition to being able to save for college for your children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, spouse, or even yourself, you can get an Arkansas state tax deduction on contributions to these accounts. Money put in these accounts will grow (hopefully) tax free until they are pulled out for college expenses at which time, no tax will be owed on withdrawals as long as they are used for qualified educational expenses. Just go to www.thegiftplan.com to find out more information about these excellent accounts. You may also qualify for the "Aspiring Scholars" grant match if your income is low enough. It really does work, we did this for our girls last year and will probably do it again this year.

IRA Contributions
You have until April 15th of 2009 to contribute to your Traditional IRA or Roth IRA for the 2008 tax year. This year the limits are $5,000 each, unless you are age 50 in which case your limit is $6,000. Pay attention to how much you have in both Traditional Accounts and Roth, you should have money in both types of accounts for a tax saving strategy in retirement-Christian reengagement.

Health Savings Accounts
These are some great accounts that help you save for future health expenses and also give you an immediate tax deduction. If you have a qualifying High Deductible Health Policy you can take advantage of an HSA which will allow you to sock money away for future health expenses. The money goes in tax free and comes out tax free when used for qualified health related expenses, including over the counter medication.

Let me know if anyone has any questions about these tips.

"Drunk Peasants"

This was a followup question to my answer about depravity:

I think everything you said is true, and it's a great reminder. I'm still not clear about whether you think that sometimes we focus too much on our depravity and not enough on Christ's FULL redemption of us. I think it may be like recognizing a quarter only by the man on the side. (Who is on the side?) and not by the other side - that has something else on it.

Clearly, I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Example: What exactly does it mean that our hearts of stone have been replaced with hearts of flesh?

Great followup, here is what I would say:

We are like drunk peasants who are constantly falling off one side of the donkey (an illustration by Luther). The Bible speaks of both our abiding sinfulness and Christ's full redemption of us. We must not forget our sinfulness (to keep us humble), and we must not forget Christ's mighty and sufficient power to save (to keep us from sliding into despair). I have called it the "dance of redemption" which I'm sure I ripped off of somebody. As Christians we should constantly be aware of our sinfulness, repent of it, cast ourselves on Christ believing that He has borne our sin and absorbed the wrath of God, and press on, only to fall again, and repent and believe that Christ is mighty and sufficient to save... you get the idea.

As far as the heart of stone being taken out and a heart of flesh being put in. Obviously this is figurative language describing the change of heart that a believer experiences. It does not mean that all believers will have a cataclysmic shift in thinking or behavior (though some will- see CJ Mahaney's testimony for an example of a radical change.)


More than likely your experience, like mine, will not be (have been) as dramatic as CJ's. It probably looks more like a change in trajectory, or a change in direction. Primarily, regeneration softens our hearts toward God. Whereas before, we were at odds with God, and now we love Him and seek to obey Him, no matter how unsuccessful we may be at it. We want to please Him, we want to glorify Him. That is what a ransomed heart looks like.

By the way, it's Washington.

Dirty Children

Question:
Jon, I think there's something to be said for the condition of our hearts under the new covenant. In my own life it has been very hard to reconcile my theology and my reality, especially concerning depravity. (For instance, when my nonbelieving friends do something good. What do I make of that? They are indeed good people with charitable hearts. They have morals they strive to maintain and they are compassionate and helpful toward one another.)

Is it possible that we can make too much of "total depravity"? Or is it possible that we sometimes swerve too far to the right or the left when teaching certain doctrines instead of striving for the balance that wholeness of Scripture would offer?

Great Question! In fact, I was hoping someone would ask it.
Here's my answer:

There are two legitimate ways to look at acts done by humans (believing and non-believing).

Obviously there is a sense in which an unbelieving philanthropist giving $20 Million to build a hospital in Africa is a "good" thing. It is accurate to say it is better to be a good pagan nurse who seeks to help people, than be a bomb throwing anarchist. Consequently only Christianity can satisfactorily explain any moral difference between these two chosen professions!

On the other hand when looking at works from God's perspective (as only God can do). He sees a fundamental difference between works done by those who are His and those who are not.

Christians- Yes, every work we do is tainted by sin, even our best actions are like bloody tampons. Sorry to get crude, but that's the way the Bible describes our works (See Isaiah 64:6). Christians are by no means perfect, and as Romans 7 makes explicitly clear, we all live in the reality of abiding and indwelling sin, but there is also another law at work in us. Christians are sinners in whom the Spirit dwells and motivates us to put to death the deeds of the body, this is always the case with believers. We never "arrive." We never get to a point to where we have sin "licked." In this life, sin will be a constant enemy of Christians that must be put to death.

Non-Christians- Yes, every work they do is sinful in God's eyes. Even their best actions are not done in faith. Romans 14:23 says "But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." and Hebrews 11:6- "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Therefore only works done "in faith" (whatever that means) are not sinful to God. By definition an unbeliever does not have faith, and therefore every work is sinful. Even good works done by Christians not in faith are sin.

Bottom line: Being a Christian does not mean sinlessness, but it does mean that you hate sin, and fight against it. It is good and right to recognize when an unbeliever does something good and even to thank or compliment them. At the same time we should not mislead them into thinking that God is pleased with their "good works" nor that He is pleased with ours. He is pleased with Christ and anyone who is "in Him." That's what it means to do works in faith. We work trusting that God is looking at us through the lens of Christ's work.

Hope this is helpful and it may even spur more questions.