The Twelve Stones Taken From The Jordan

Joshua 6 -
6 That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
7 Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.

The twelve stones, representing twelve tribes, memorialize an important moment in history. The Hebrew tribes, chosen and purified, enter the promise land. Compare this to Moses, at the end of his life on Mount Nebo; another great moment. The end of Deuteronomy and the book of Joshua lay out a time of such promise - we almost forget the nature and ways of man that, for the Hebrews, ended up in captivity......

Old Testament Brutality

Deuteronomy 3
3 So the LORD our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.
4 And we took all his cities at that time, there was not a city which we took not from them, threescore cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
5 All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars; beside unwalled towns a great many.
6 And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.
7 But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves.

Like an ancient, Biblical genocide....I really have trouble with the Old Testament brutality of Moses and Joshua....Then again, all sinners, in the end, are destined to a fiery eternal hell........

John and Church

1 John 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

Radio Christians. TV Christians. Christians between churches. Bible believing Christians not currently members of a church. These are my guys. Reading John, though, I think maybe I underestimate the importance of church membership - and knowing and loving the bretheren.

Biblical Brutality

1 Kings 18
37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

Matthew 25
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I am struck by Old Testament and New Testament brutality. But, then again, we know that life is, at times, harsh.

Baptist Acronym

I like looking at statements of faith, confessions, creeds, lists of denominational distinctives. These types of documents show how groups organize their beliefs into a comprehensible whole. Fascinating. And there are a lot of great stories about how these documents come to be. I particularly like this list of distinctives:

B Biblical authority
A Autonomy of the local church
P Priesthood of the believer
T Two ordinances (Believer's Baptism and Communion)
I Individual soul liberty
S Separation of Church and State
T Two offices of the church (Pastor and Deacon)

Things I'm Not Necessarily Against....

....but definitely not interested in....

Arminianism
Antinomianism
Previent Grace
Entire Sanctification
Papal Infallability
Icons
Crosses
Speeking In Tongues
Intelligent Design
Purpose-driven Anything

2 Timothy 2
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

WWTD

Acts 16
3 Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek.

WWJD? Climb up on the cross, and die for the sins of man. It seems to me to be an inappropriate question to ask.

WWT(imothy)D? Much better question.

Sins of the Father

Lamentations 5
7 Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities.

From Commentary By Jamison, Fawcett, and Brown:
"borne their iniquities" -- that is, the punishment of them. The accumulated sins of our fathers from age to age, as well as our own, are visited on us. They say this as a plea why God should pity them.

It is amazing how our fates are intertwined with the fates of our fathers. Our personality, our ethnicity, our race, our economic status, our religion. Somehow, much of what we received from are fathers is good. And, maybe, most the the iniquities we inherit, we inherit not from our fathers but from Adam.

Maimonides and The Word

Deuteronomy 32
44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
46 And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.
47 For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Here are the traditional 13 principles of the Jewish faith set forth by Maimonides. This is our Judeo-Christian heritage and is wonderful grist for Christian meditation.

o Existence of God. God is the creator and ruler of all things. He alone has made, makes, and will make all things.
o God's unity. God is one. There is no unity that is in any way like His. He alone is God. He was, He is, and He will be.
o God's spirituality and incorporeality. God does not have a body. Physical concepts do not apply to Him. Nothing resembles Him at all.
o God's eternity. God is first, and He is last.
o God alone should be the object of worship. It is only proper to pray to God. One may not pray to anyone or anything else.
o Revelation through God's prophets. All the words of the prophets are true.
o Preeminence of Moses among prophets. The prophecy of Moses is true. He was the chief of all prophets, both before and after.
o God's law given at Mount Sinai. The entire Torah that we now have is that which was given to Moses.
o Immutability of the Torah as God's law. This Torah will not be changed, and that there will never be another given by God.
o God's foreknowledge of human actions. God knows all of man's deeds and thoughts, as it is written, "He has molded every heart together, He understands what each one does." (Psalms:33)
o Reward of good and retribution of evil. God rewards those who keep His commandments and punishes those who transgress them.
o Coming of the Jewish messiah. However long it takes, we await his coming every day.
o Resurrection of the dead. The dead will be brought back to life when God wills it.