Swim meet day (and a little sibling music)

Bookworm on Jun 27 2009 at 10:29 am | Filed under: Uncategorized

I’ve already been to the swim meet and back, worked out at the dojo, and am going back to the swim meet. Blogging will not be a happening thing. However, I love doing open threads because all of you post such interesting stuff.

Also, I’m using this space for a little more sibling music.

The Everly Brothers

And the Jonas Brothers (although I really don’t expect you to listen to them):

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7 Responses to “Swim meet day (and a little sibling music)”

on 27 Jun 2009 at 10:38 am 1

BrianE

OK, another blast from the past

The Cowsills- The Rain, Park and Other Things

on 27 Jun 2009 at 10:41 am 2

SADIE

The “Obama Show” came in 3rd Wednesday night after CSI. Me thinks, me hopes the public is growing weary and becoming infidels in the eyes of our leader.

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=330912418127204

on 27 Jun 2009 at 5:52 pm 3

Mike Devx

Listening to “Wake Up Little Suzie”, and then “Pizza Girl”… it was rather illuminating, Book.

on 27 Jun 2009 at 5:58 pm 4

suek

Read about this effort to close down a July 4 TeaParty. Thought it was a dirty political trick, but didn’t realize _how_ dirty a trick it was. Very interesting.

http://www.rightklik.net/2009/06/glenn-beck-exposes-obama-supporters.html

on 28 Jun 2009 at 11:52 am 5

BrianE

More sibling music.
Heart- Alone

on 28 Jun 2009 at 1:30 pm 6

BrianE

Still more siblings
The Kinks- Set Me Free

on 28 Jun 2009 at 2:19 pm 7

BrianE

I saw this in the comments section from an old post. This is religious in nature.
“Everybody has looney-tune ideas, Scott. Take a run through Deuteronomy chapter 13, which deals with how Jews (and presumably Christians, since they left it in), are supposed to handle people (even their own children) who disagree with them on matters religious and tell me how it differs from the kindly strictures of Islam. Not much forgiveness in sight, is there?
But that’s a chapter that Jews and Christians have matured sufficiently to ignore. (Though one wonders if God agrees with that viewpoint – they are after all allegedly his words!)”- Commenter jj

“Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, `Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,’ do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul.
Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him.
The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you.” Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (NLT)

While the punishment is certainly harsh, it isn’t really any different than the punishment for treason today. And that is what the offense is- treason.
The consequences of abandoning God are significant, so God is requiring the strongest possible deterrent to prevent that.
As to the law and Islam, I’ve heard it described that the Old Testament is descriptive and the Koran is proscriptive. I can’t answer how observant Jews have reconciled the law and the system of sacrifices today, but Christians understand we are not under the law, but grace.
This does not give us an excuse to ignore God’s laws though.
What is contained in the Old Testament, but made clear in the New Testament, that adherence to the law wasn’t what made a person righteous, but faith. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were placeholders for the perfect sacrifice, Jesus.
The apostle Paul explains it in Romans 4:

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith?
Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God’s point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride.
For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous.”
When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive.
But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.
King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared to be righteous:
“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.
Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord.”
Now then, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it for Gentiles, too? Well, what about Abraham? We have been saying he was declared righteous by God because of his faith.
But how did his faith help him? Was he declared righteous only after he had been circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? The answer is that God accepted him first, and then he was circumcised later!
The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous–even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are made right with God by faith.
And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
It is clear, then, that God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God’s law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.
So if you claim that God’s promise is for those who obey God’s law and think they are “good enough” in God’s sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless.
But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
So that’s why faith is the key! God’s promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.
That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn’t exist before.
When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed him. God had also said, “Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars,” even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible!
And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children.
Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.
He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised.
And because of Abraham’s faith, God declared him to be righteous.
Now this wonderful truth–that God declared him to be righteous–wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit.
It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead.
He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God. – Romans 4 (NLT)

Paul makes the case later in Romans that the law was never intended to make a person righteous, but to demonstrate the futility of relying on the law to make us righteous. The law condemns us since we will always fail to keep it perfectly, the sacrifice of Jesus pardons us through his sacrifice, once and finally.

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