Thursday, May 15, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

In the movie War Games, a brilliant man has created a computer program that the defense department uses to determine strategies for conducting war. A teenager hacks into the system and finds the games menu which includes global thermonuclear war. He believes it to be a game when in reality it is the real deal and begins playing. The computer takes over the game and the country is soon headed towards a doomsday scenario. The teenager and a girl friend track down the designer who comes to help save the day. In the end they three get into the “mind” of Joshua, the computer, and trick it into shutting down the game in futility that in the end nobody wins. Read the rest of this entry »

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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

What does it mean to know and to be known? Through the Old Testament God continually says that he knows us, in fact He has known us since before He formed us in our mother’s womb. His knowledge of us essentially has no boundaries, for David in Psalm 139 that is originally a burden and then he finds comfort in that reality, essentially God knows him because he cares so deeply for him. In other Psalms he asks what is man that you are mindful of him. Through Hosea God speaks of having taught Ephraim to walk, through Isaiah He says we are inscribed on the palms of His hands. In the Gospel of John, we are told in the second chapter that Jesus knew what was in man and in other places we are told the same. God’s knowledge is complete and yet he loves us anyway. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tuesday, May 13, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

We use the term “child of God” too loosely, in a way that God doesn’t. John says in his Gospel that Jesus’ work on the cross gave us the right to become children of God which implies that without faith in that work we are not children of God. We bear his image by default of creation but that doesn’t mean we are his children, the family resemblance isn’t enough to have it simply in the flesh. We need the new hearts He promised through the prophets and made possible through the giving of the Spirit in order to reveal God to the world. The Spirit doesn’t sanctify our desires in the sense that whatever we now do is sanctified, He sanctifies us by changing what we desire. That process though requires effort on our part, the spiritual disciplines matter. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monday, May 12, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

When Paul speaks of the law of sin and death in Romans 8, is he speaking about the 10 Commandments or is he simply speaking of Genesis? The law of sin and death can be simply stated as sin brings death, beginning with Genesis, it wasn’t a new concept in Exodus 20 with the giving of the law constituting the nation of Israel as God’s people. The law of sin and death applies to all flesh. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sunday, May 11, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

I just read an article from England that says the country may lose one in five churches in the next generation. The sad reality is that the main concern is the loss of the buildings, which represent the country’s cultural heritage. The people most concerned seem to be government officials who are prepared to work via tax laws and funding for maintenance of the buildings. When the church simply becomes a building, is it still a church? Read the rest of this entry »

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Saturday, May 10, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

When John wrote his Gospel he simply picked up in Genesis and tags his Gospel onto it. By using those first three words, “In the beginning God,” John says, this is the continuation of the story that begins in Genesis 1.1. It isn’t a new story or a different story as Marcionists would have you believe, it is the same story and the same God. Read the rest of this entry »

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

The metanarrative (grand story) of the Judeo-Christian faith begins in Genesis and if we don’t take the time to understand the beginnings how can we even begin to understand the final book in the Bible. For a long time Christians have been obsessed about what will be and many trees have sacrificed for the cause of understanding. The Bible is one of the few books I know of that anyone would pick up and read the final chapter without bothering with the first chapter of the story. In this way, Christians have more to do with the loss of metanarrative than the postmodern philosophers. We have completely neglected to immerse ourselves in the story of our faith. Read the rest of this entry »

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Wednesday, May 7, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

So what that the Bible tells me why the world isn’t fair? I know that without reading the Bible, I know that by living. What the Bible tells me that the world doesn’t is that it wasn’t God’s design or plan for our lives or for the world. It tells me how things went wrong from the start, and it tells me of the God who has the same ideas about things that I do when I am most idealistic. It tells me that I can have another standard other than the standard of the world and that it won’t make life easier to live by that standard but it will make it better and give me the hope of a meaningful life. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

From the time my kids could talk they have had a concept of fairness, just like all of us. When they were little though they learned to avoid saying something wasn’t fair. They heard the “fairness” lecture too many times from me and it was not something to look forward to. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monday, May 5, 2008 by Big Kahuna.

Doesn’t that describe the state of the world today? That is actually how God described the world to Noah. It has described the state of the world most of its existence as long as there have been people. Prior to our creation the earth and all that was in it were described as good. Read the rest of this entry »

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