...thoughts expressed here are not necessarily final.

March 22, 2004 Big Blue Cheese Nation Fails

Double Stink Hog Farm belongs. Maybe this link from last week was was prophetic- here is my first and final rant about the loss yesterday. Then we will move onto more important things.

I thought about calling in sick today, cause I am sick about the WAY they lost and I am sorta glad the whole world didn't see it. Part of the fun of college basketball is second guessing and carping when your team loses, so here goes...

It was disappointing on many fronts- I was your typical armchair coach- I couldn't understand why Tubby didn't put in a taller team to get offensive rebounds and block shots, and inbound the ball. If something is not working, make the change necessary. Hawkins was continually holding his back in pain. UAB also had the play of the tournament that I suspect we'll be seeing over and over.

UAB just simply wanted it more- they were swarming all over the KY players and KY acted like they didn't know what to do. They continually outquicked UK on loose balls and intecepted passes throughout the whole game. Although it was also one of the worst jobs of officiating I had seen- WAY too many fouls on rebounds that they didn't call. I think that tone set by the officials of not calling lots of stuff encourages UAB to play the way they did. With other officials their starting lineup would have fouled out.

Under the circumstances UAB did everything right, causing turnovers and hitting their shots while Kentucky lost the ball and missed theirs. Hmmm...that sounds like a great way to guarantee a loss. I hope UAB goes far but I really don't think they will.

And then I remembered it is just a game :-(

The rest of the tournament just won't be the same without UK though.

A friend says she got ribbed about it when she ordered a salad last night and was asked if she wanted Blue Cheese dressing.

Ministry completes translation of NT into ASL

American Sign Language, that is. Translators appear on camera, signing the New Testament's 7,959 verses. After editing is completed, the translation should be available on DVD and videotape this summer. Here is the link at CNN

Blood-thirsty zombies ruled the multiplexes this weekend

Variety reports that the zombie remake Dawn of the Dead has toppled The Passion of the Christ as toi top box office draw this week. Betcha the liberal media will run with that story. Boxofficeguru has a non subscription story.

Another message making much of man?

From time to time when I am out of town on the weekend it is nice to visit local churches to see what God is up to in the community I find myself in. We went to a large evangelical church of Baptist extraction this weekend and enjoyed some vibrant praise and worship. Up to a point. Then the focus turned away from God to man. We heard the following things that I want to explore a bit. It is so important if a pastor or worship leader desires to express an insight into scripture that it not be a private interpretation. It needs to be built upon the more sure word. Originality is not what the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is about!

"We are God's Glory" ???

I quote: "We are God's glory. All He has does for us is for the sole purpose that we may be with Him, even at the very cost of the life of His only begotten Son."

Everything God does is for the purpose of bringing glory to Himself. He delights in doing this, and it is right that He do so. We declare His glory by word and deed from grace to grace. We cannot give him more glory as he is already perfectly glorious. As we become conformed to the likeness of the Son, we understand it is ALL about God, not us. We are NOT His glory. His glory is the radience of his holy and righteous character. It is doxos and shekina and kabod and we share in the weight of it and bear it it but we are never said to BE the glory.Somebody show me the chapter and verse.

"We are the center of God's universe."???

No, God is STILL the center of God's universe. This sentiment (I stop short of saying heresy- but perhaps that is a misappropriation of grace? )is rampant in evangelical circles. The purpose of the incarnation, ultimately, is the glorification of God, not man. We can enjoy it for sure. This teaching in effect makes much of man and in the process makes little of God. Yes, he loves us, he died to save us from the wrath which is to come but that says more about Him than us. We are still sinners who owe all to the fact that we are now clothed in His rightwousness if we believe and receive the good news.

Zephaniah 3:17 taken out of context.???

I first heard Dennis Jernigan do this- the context is God's declaration of what He will do to glorify himself by justifying a people- the remnant of Israel- in the midst of a description of the "wrath that is to come" at the end of the age. It is a beautiful promise to us as well, as we share in the blessings of Abraham but a bit problematic to use as a self esteem indicator which is often done- hey God sings over you, so YOU must be really valuable. The passage focusses on God's work of justification and his initiative in creating a purified people for Himself who serve Him alone. Check it out:

Zephaniah 3:9 "For then I will give to the peoples purified lips,
          That all of them may call on the name of the LORD,
          To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.

Jesus IS the son explored in the parable of the Prodigal Son???

I think the point the pastor was TRYING to make was that Christ was forsaken and then received by the Father on the cross. I can go for that. If He was not forsaken we are not forgiven. But to categorically assert that the parable is about Christ is a looney pretext. Lost coin, lost sheep, lost son. The lost things cannot return of their own accord. Jesus on the other hand, laid down his life and took it up again. There is a sense in which you can make some linkage in that he became sin for us that we could become the righteousness of God.

Then the preacher switched gears and said it was about restoration of someone who wanders off the path, confounding things even more.

The prodigal son is said to have "come to his senses" and that can only happen by the power of the Spirit. The son was lost and then found. So this is about salvation, not restoration of a "backslider"(which is itself a term Jeremiah used for an apostate Israel, not a sinning Christian.)

I don't want to trash the good God is doing out there in spite of the confusion, but I must be zealous for the proper handling of the Word.