The Good Portion

  Charity and Its Fruits Lecture VII, part one (This week we continue our discussion of the Jonathan Edwards' classic, Charity and Its Fruits. We have just concluded reading the "Doctrine" portion of Lecture Seven through Roman Numeral One. We will complete the rest of Lecture Seven in next week's reading. The notes below follow Edwards' outline directly, with all direct quotes from the text in italics. My goal is to make each post edifying on its own, even for those who are not reading along with us. I will welcome your questions or comments in the form below.) The Spirit of Charity is an Humble Spirit "Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly." 1 Cor. 13:4,5 In our last reading we learned that Christian love prevents us from envying others what they have. In this lecture we will learn how charity "keeps us from glorying in what we possess ourselves" as well as how it keeps us from behav...

Freely you have received. Freely give. An amazing life. _____________________________________________ What makes a sociopath tick? "Scientists have long known what psychopaths lack: emotions like empathy, fear and remorse. Now, a new study focuses on what they may have, a brain abnormality that may lead them to seek rewards like money, sex or fame at any cost." Read more of the story here .  And please don't skip the interview.  It's fascinating stuff.  ______________________________________________ Just for the delight of it... Here's something you will almost never see here: a TV commercial.  But this one is so whimsical and lovely I just couldn't let it pass without sharing it. ___________________________________________ A Religious War as Old as Christianity Itself "Who do you say that I am?" asked Jesus of his disciples. And the rest of humankind has been struggling to answer that question ever since." More thoughts on t...

I've been overrun by life, and the minute and a half I've had for writing has been devoted to my joint venture with Paul.  I invite you to join us over at Iron Sharpens Iron (aka the Dueling Dodos). Perhaps that will entertain while I catch up around here....not sure when that will be....Give me a few more days. By the way, Paul has just put up his first pod-cast.  You can read his introduction to his first recording, and listen here .

Charity and Its Fruits Lecture VI, part two (This week we continue our discussion of the Jonathan Edwards' classic, Charity and Its Fruits. We have just concluded reading the "Application" portion of Lecture Six. We will continue with the "Doctrine" portion of Lecture Seven in next week's reading. The notes below follow Edwards' outline directly, with all direct quotes from the text in italics. My goal is to make each post edifying on its own, even for those who are not reading along with us. I will welcome your questions or comments in the form below.) Charity is inconsistent with an envious spirit. "Charity envieth not." 1 Cor. 13:4 From last week's reading we learned that envy is the unhappiness or discomfort we feel upon recognizing that someone is superior to us, or better than us in any way. An envious person dislikes more than anything to see someone excel above them, either monetarily, spiritually, aesthetically, or...

Yesterday marks two weeks since Paul and I went vegetarian.  Don't worry, I'm not about to try and convert anyone.  It's just what we're doing right now, for a host of reasons I won't go into here.  Anyway, the last thing I expected when making this switch was how exciting it would turn out to be. Really. It's forced me to entirely re-think the way I cook, which has gotten my latent creativity juices flowing again.  I'm a pretty good cook, by all accounts, but before all this I was really getting bored.  I felt like I was sick of everything.  Now I'm inspired.  In the last two weeks I've prepared some of the best meals I've ever had.  I have the internet and some wonderful friends to thank for a lot of great ideas.  I've only begun to scratch the surface. One of the great things I've noticed about veggie cooking is the ease with which you can make substitutions. Of course I've had a lot of practice with subbing anyway, since Paul ...

Friends of mine know, that for the last five years I've supplemented my family's income by cleaning houses part-time. In those years I've gotten quite good at it.  Sometimes my clients think I'm a miracle worker.  I'm not, but I have learned a trick or two.  Since I've gotten quite a few requests for advice of late, I thought I'd share some of my tips here. Over the years, I've tried product after product, things my clients have provided, and things I've experimented with on my own.  The products I display below are the ones I've come back to again and again, the ones I never want to be without, and the ones I always have on hand in my own home.  Heed my warning: I'm going to give advice shamelessly and un-apologetically.  Take what you can live with, and leave the rest, but I really do swear by the things I'm going to share. Let me start here: Gloves.  Don't do anything that involves water without them, even if it's just rin...

HT to John at Cogitavi

Charity and Its Fruits Lecture VI, part one ( This week we continue our discussion of the Jonathan Edwards' classic, Charity and Its Fruits. We have just concluded reading the "Doctrine" portion of Lecture Six. We will continue with the "Application" portion in next week's reading. The notes below follow Edwards' outline directly, with all direct quotes from the text in italics. My goal is to make each post edifying on its own, even for those who are not reading along with us. I will welcome your questions or comments in the form below.)     Charity is inconsistent with an envious spirit. "Charity envieth not." 1 Cor. 13:4 Here we discuss the feelings Christian love will lead us to have regarding the goods, happiness, honor, and comfort of others as compared to our our own. Edward's thesis for today's lesson is this: CHARITY, OR A TRULY CHRISTIAN SPIRIT, IS THE VERY OPPOSITE OF AN ENVIOUS SPIRIT     In explaining this we will dis...

My latest Charity and Its Fruits post should be up later this evening, but I wanted to take a moment to announce a new venture.  Paul and I have just launched a brand new blog, Iron Sharpens Iron , a collaborative effort, sort of a He Said, She Said on whatever topic strikes our fancy from one week to the next.  It's a labor of love, as learning and discussing is what we love to do best.  We thought is might be fun to include others in our process.  I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have putting it together.

non posse non peccare  translated "not able not to sin" - St. Augustine Martin Luther, reformer of the church and former Augustinian monk put it this way: "[A] man without the Spirit of God does not do evil against his will, under pressure, as though he were taken by the scruff of the neck and dragged into it, like a thief...being dragged off against his will to punishment; but he does it spontaneously and voluntarily.  And this willingness of volition is something which he cannot in his own strength eliminate, restrain or alter.  He goes on willing and desiring to do evil; and if external pressure forces him to act otherwise, nevertheless his will within remains averse to so doing and chafes under such constraint and opposition." Loraine Boettner describes the predicament of fallen man this way: "How can he repent of his sin when he loves it? How can he come to God when he hates Him?" The blindness of the fallen heart does not allow it to see the glory...

 "No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts in on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light.  For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.  Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he things he has will be taken away." Luke 8:16-18 As Christians we are given to the world as salt and light.  Our lives and our faith are to be lived in the open.  As the saying goes, we should be open books - accessible and with nothing to hide.  When the world looks at our lives the only offense they should see is the offense of the Gospel. The only crime of which we could be convicted should be that of preaching Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, assuming that ever becomes a crime.  And even that "crime" is one of which we should not be ashamed, but be willing to commit ...

"The purpose of Satan's attacks is to dislodge us from our foundation , which is Jesus Christ.  He will do that if he can.  God's purpose is to settle us on Jesus, and God has arranged things so that the attacks of Satan, rather than unsettling us, actually serve to bond us to that foundation even more firmly than before." - J. M. Boice " More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope..." Romans 5:3-4