QotD: Eustace Clarence Scrubb

Really, I am very sorry if you are not a reader. Obviously, you read some things or you would not be here (I'm not as dense as granite, you know).

I have not always been a reader but the continued prodding of men I respected greatly to read much and read broadly has impelled me to read beyond my comfort zones. I wish I could read faster; many books remain untouched on my to-be-read shelf. The chuckles I've enjoyed and the insights into the soul that have come my way through reading are too numerous to cite.

I have always read to my children, and I have tried to press their comfort zones, too. Still, we will often return to favorites. I have lost track of how many times I have read aloud "The Chronicles of Narnia" in my family. In our current reading of "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," I came across this description of the parents of Eustace Clarence Scrubb, the spoiled cousin of the Peavensie children whose name pretty much says it all. Lewis wrote:

"He didn't call his father and mother "Father" and "Mother," but Harold and Alberta. They were very up-to-date and advanced people. They were vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotallers and wore a special kind of underclothes."

While that last phrase seems to be indicting the LDS, Lewis has skewers enough for all, particularly for those of us in religious communities who like to declare certain conduct to be sin or at the very least inappropriate for those who call themselves Christian.

Many of us who are conservative believers bristle when we hear of the government wanting to restrict gun ownership. Yes, guns can be used as tools to inflict harm. Sometimes the harm comes about unintentionally. At the same time, a gun can be used for good and for pleasure when one is responsible. The Christian understands that.

Then the believer turns right around and condemns some manner of food (soft drinks? Meats? Anything non-organic?), any form of smoking, or any usage of alcohol for the very same reasons. None of these things is condemned in principle or in fact in the word of God. Their misuse, as with guns, is certainly condemned, but not their use. In fact, wine enjoyment often goes hand in hand with celebration and times of rejoicing. 

Really, it's amazing with all the ale and wien drinking and revelry in Lewis' children's books that they are even read within some circles. Perhaps they're not. Or perhaps they're edited. Either would be tragic.

Kermit Gosnell: This is nothing new

Have you heard the name Kermit Gosnell recently? If not, you're in good company. I mentioned his name a short time ago to two Christians, and they just shrugged in non-recognition. Why? The Mainstream Media has by and large ignored this story. Why? Because it's about the nightmare in an American abortion clinic.

It's been over two years since I first wrote of Gosnell (here), and it was six months before that that I heard of his barbarity. Now he's on trial for bringing about the death of one mother and seven children (here. The children had survived his attempt to abort them, so this man finished them off after they'd drawn breath.

And for the most part, the media has said nothing during that timeframe. Only now and in a few scant outlets can you hear about Kermit Gosnell.

Is what happened atrocious? Yes. Grotesque? Yes. Horrifying? Yes. But this is nothing new. This happens every day all across the country.

Randy Alcorn writes:

I must say that while I agree the revelations in the case are all horrific, in fact I am not shocked about them. Why? Because I already knew what was going on in abortion clinics. I already knew that innocent people are killed there by the hundreds ...every week. Twenty-four years ago I looked in the dumpster of an abortion clinic and saw pieces of human flesh. This is not news to me. I knew that the lives of women are ruined there, and I knew that the “doctors” who spend their lives killing babies in most cases know exactly what they are doing. (Yes, I have talked with them.)

The “shocking discovery” that an abortionist who made millions of dollars from child-killing had such a low regard and such a profound disrespect for the lives of babies and women is properly responded to with a “Huh?” As in, didn’t we know that already? And, if we didn’t, what is wrong with us? (And by the way, while Gosnell is on trial for the murder of seven babies, the fact is that he killed thousands and thousands of children. Anyone who only counts them as babies once they get big enough is an accomplice to this man’s evil deeds.)

Could we please stop pretending? Abortion is in fact the ruthless killing of an innocent human being. That’s what it always has been, and that’s what it always will be. When Planned Parenthood and NOW and politicians deny this, they are simply lying. There is nothing new about this. If you are surprised to discover, as in the case of this Pennsylvanian abortion clinic, that those who kill babies for a living are really not very good people, my question is…where have you been, and what have you been thinking goes on in these clinics? And if some abortionists are better at sanitizing the walls and disposing of baby body parts, do you really think that makes them any better in the sight of God Almighty, Creator of these children, and Judge of us all?

While the major networks are ignoring this story, it's interesting that former NARAL president Kate Michaelman recognizes the gravity of this case and has decided to try some slight of hand and verbal contortions. To get our eyes off the death that is caused by every abortion and the trauma caused to each and every mother, Ms. Michaelman thinks the key point in the Gosnell trial is that

"It is critically important that the women of Pennsylvania know that abortion is legal and is a safe medical procedure."

People, abortion has NEVER been a safe medical procedure. For one, it is nearly always deadly. Kermit Gosnell is not an aberration. He was just sloppy. The same thing he did is going on in clinics across our country and around the world. Legally.

That is what should disturb our souls. 

Perhaps this will wake us up like a cold slap in the face, much like Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" did with regard to slavery. Yes, Americans knew of the atrocities that were taking place in the South, but the fictional imagery in the book shook a nation to its core and proved to be the push the nation needed to abolish the notion of men as property.

Will this macabre trial of what takes place in every abortion clinic across the country build such a groundswell as did Mrs. Stowe's novel? Certainly not if people do not hear about it. If then, what? Only time will tell.

Who knows? You might be the voice that changes the tone of the American conversation. Speak out. Harriet Beecher Stowe used your pen. What are your talents? Use those talents for the sake of mothers and their unborn children across the country. 

Please.

42: A tale of two men

Let us never diminish what Jackie Robinson did.

Branch Rickey

Becoming the first black man in the majors took a toll. His body received abuse upon abuse from purposely errant baseballs and cleats because he had a bit more melanin than the average Jackie. Not only did his body receive abuse, so too did his soul and mind. As a human being, he was treated like an animal, but throughout his ordeal, Jackie Robinson ever remained a man.

That's one reason I am excited about Warner Brothers upcoming movie "42." The other reason is other
man in this saga. Baseball junkies will know who the other man is. Most of America does not. You see, Jackie Robinson would never have gotten his shot without the courage of Branch Rickey.

Ford as Rickey

Branch Rickey was the owner of the Dodgers, the thorn in the backside of the remainder of the major league owners. Rickey saw the talent in the Negro Leagues and thought it a travesty that such men could not play in the Majors because of their skin color. What informed Rickey? His passionate and fervent relationship with Jesus Christ.

In "42," Harrison Ford has been transformed into an amazing likeness of Rickey. Watching the clip, he'd created the same gravelly, cigar-scarred voice. My only question: how will Hollywood treat Rickey's devotion to his God?

The story of Robinson cannot be untethered from Rickey and vice versa, despite the fact that Rickey did many more extraordinary things for baseball outside of bringing it into the then twentieth century regarding civil rights.

Said Robinson about Rickey, "I realized how much our relationship had deepened after I left baseball. It was that later relationship that made me feel almost as if I had lost my own father. Branch Rickey, especially after I was no longer in the sports spotlight, treated me like a son." He also said, "The thing about him was that he was always doing something for someone else. I know, because he did so much for me."

So this April, I'll be dropping some cash at the multiplex hoping to see a great story about two great men.

Homosexual marriage and moral relativism

Rob Bell's in favor of homosexual marriage. Surprised? You shouldn't be.

The former pastor has rejected a biblical view on most issues. His book, "Love Wins," denied a hell for those who have rejected the free gift of redemption from hell through the very expensive death of God the Son on the cross. So to chuck the plain reading of God's word regarding homosexuality should be no acrobatic stretch for him (here).

This is nothing new for those who profess to be leaders of God's people. Long, long ago, God hammered the prophets and religious leaders through the words of Ezekiel.

-- Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing...
-- ...They say, "Declares the LORD," when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word...
-- ...You have disheartened the righteous falsely, although I have not grieved him, and you have encouraged the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to save his life.

Ezekiel 13:3, 6, 22 

We live in a nation that no longer honors God's word as such. Few in the church adhere to its tenets. Few believe it is his special revelation to his creatures. In fact, if you stand upon God's word, if you truly believe what he has said, if you live your life to honor him and love him in your obedience, you will be mocked, ridiculed, and rejected. The tolerance in America for vocal Bible-believers is wearing thin, and this has caused many church leaders to try and adapt God's word to the culture.

Said Mr. Bell, "I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think … we need to affirm people wherever they are." Affirm away, but I must ask, is it love to encourage and embrace the actions of another if you know such conduct is a direct affront to the God who loves them? As I pled with my dad and my mom as a lad, "Cigarettes will kill you," do I not have a moral responsibility to declare the truth to those careening toward an eternity of torment separated from the God who so loved his creatures that he provided them an off-ramp from that destination?

Every congressman in America may be in favor of homosexual marriage, but that does not make it good or right. Our nation will continue to reject the absolute nature of God's word. I must not. I cannot. If I untether myself from the only sure anchor-point in the universe, the word of God, all becomes relative. 

I believe Mr. Bell is correct. The ship has sailed. America has left its biblical moorings far behind. Without that foundation, marriage becomes a meaningless merging of any number of persons, creatures, or objects. Why can I not marry my sofa?

In reality, though, Love has won. God the Son absorbed the full wrath and condemnation of God the Father on our behalf. Until man takes hold of that gift and lets God reorient him to reality, he still stands in rebellion and in hostility toward God. He stands condemned and his doom is sure, despite his personal enlightenment on issues cultural and political.

We must remain anchored upon the sure foundation. With tears in our eyes we must continue to cry out to our nation, "Please, don't go that way," and point them back to their God and their Savior.

Even if we are the only one left on the dock.

Amazing rehab. Amazing man.



Buster Posey / AP photo by Morry Gash from ESPN.com

 A few years ago I took a German friend of mine to an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game. He left that experience stating without reservation, "Zat vas ze most boring sing I have ever done in my life."

Well, Theo, I love baseball. I could give you more reasons than there are days in a year and most defy logic. The man above is one of the reasons.

Buster Posey is the near-pubescent phenom catcher for the San Francisco Giants. By opening day, he will have turned twenty-six years old. He has amassed two World Series' rings, a batting title, and an MVP. Three of those came after what to most appeared to be a career-ending injury defending home plate.

For those of you who cannot wait until opening day, here are two great articles, one is about Posey's prodigious talent and the other was about what it took for him to get back on the field after the nightmarish injury. Enjoy.

"The quiet confidence of Buster Posey," by Jerry Crasnick, ESPN

"How the Giants put Posey back together", by Andrew Baggarly

The sanctity of work

If you are a Christian who attends a Bible-teaching, Christ-exalting church, have you ever heard a message that includes an annecdote about a young man or woman who is particularly gifted and studying to become a brain surgeon but then "God gets ahold of their life," they chuck all their studies, and soon they turn their full attention to pastoring or the mission field? When you hear such a tale told, the tone is usually giddy. What a great thing this person has done!

Should a believer be concerned about such a radical shift?

We would expect an eye-roll from the world for usually fiscal reasons. Dude, think of all the money you've wasted. Think of all the money you won't be making. To which the career-shifter will smile thinking about the treasures that they are storing up in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21). But even a Christian might raise a justifiably skeptical eyebrow at such a move?

Before I go any further, a few thoughts. Many need God to get ahold of their lives because they are careening down the causeway of self toward certain catastrophe. God often alters the direction someone is going in their life and even their vocation (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew, and Paul to name a vivid few), but as much as God calls men to leave their nets to follow him, much, much more God calls men to stay at their nets and follow him.


Jarome Iginla, Captain - Calgary Flames
Christ follower



Here is my concern. The call of many well-intentioned biblical teachers to "chuck it all for kingdom work" draws a line that the Bible does not, a line of superiority between secular vocation (mechanic, parent, and plumber) and kingdom vocation (generally pastors and missionaries), between secular service (changing oil, changing diapers, and changing toilet rings) and kingdom service (praying, passing out tracts, and potlucks). Vocational work and church-building work are both work that God has given man to do.

Paul admonishes the Corinthians at the end of the section on Spiritual Gifts and love to "be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Contextually, this speaks to their wide and varied ministries in the church. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul emphasizes the sanctity of all work when he says,

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." (3:23-24)

Now, you cannot be a hooker unto the Lord. Drug dealing for the glory of God doesn't fly. Willful violation of what God has revealed as good and right will never earn his favor.

On the other hand, God is pleased by a well designed insurance building at the hand of a man who does so for the glory of God. God is pleased by the hockey player who hits the weights, skates lines, and shoots thousands of pucks to hone his skills to be the best possible team captain he can be if he does so as serving his true King. God delights in the mom who wipes noses, bandages knees, washes and folds laundry, prepares menus, and...and...and...with joy knowing that her labor that God has assigned her is never in vain.

Please, saint, don't be guilted because you are not in the jungles of Africa (there are men there who ought not be). Don't rue being a school teacher or a home school teacher or a school janitor or a home contractor. Don't be coerced into giving up what has been your passion (very likely God-given) for something else about which you are not white hot...unless God is making this thing very plain to you. Then pursue with leonine veracity.

Whatever you do, whether trying to build a church on the arid coast of Chile or build a restaurant in downtown Chattanooga, labor as unto the Lord and that labor will not be in vain.

(I heard a great sermon on the sancity of work this past weekend by a local pastor.  If you have the time, you'll find it here. If you only have a few minutes, pick it up at about the 14:30 mark and listen for fifteen minutes. It's worth your time.)

Miserable cities

Forbes Magazine puts out a list upon which no city wants to find its name. How would you like to be living in one of "America's Most Miserable Cities?" You may have thought it was the color you painted your house. No, the problem goes deeper than that.

The things examined by Forbes to come up with this inglorious list include "the serious" and "the less weighty." Things like unemployment and inflation, violent crime, foreclosures, taxes, and home prices appear alongside quality of life downers like weather and commute times.

Below I have listed Forbes' top 20. As you examine the list, notice which states show up again and again. Consider what these places have in common.

1. Detroit, Michigan. Home prices tanking. Violent crime through the roof
2. Flint, Michigan. People are leaving the city faster than sponsors are leaving Lance Armstrong.
3. Rockford, Illinois. Illinois. Need I say more?
4. Chicago, Illinois. Another feather in the cap of Rahm Immanuel.
5. Modesto, California. Third highest unemployment in the U.S.
6. Vallejo, California. Hmmm...Michigan, Illinois, California...hmmm...
7. Warren, Michigan. We have Michigan by a nose.
8. Stockton, California. Largest city to file for bankruptcy in 2012. Top 5 in crime and unemployment.
9. Lake County, Illinois. Okay, this started out kind of funny. It's turning tragic.
10. New York, New York. You knew this had to break the top 10.

There's the top 10. Have you noticed the similarities? On with the show.

11. Toledo, Ohio. Another state heard from. Apologies to Cpl. Klinger.
12. St. Louis, Missouri. I'm not surprised. I've been to their bus depot. Sounds like mis-er-y.
13. Camden, New Jersey. 42% of residents living below the poverty line. How can that be?
14. Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Interesting choice. Forbes didn't like their winters nor their property tax.
15. Atlantic City, New Jersey. I guess casinos aren't the solution to the world's ills.
16. Atlanta, Georgia. Breaking out of the mold. Housing collapse and heinous traffic.
17. Cleveland, Ohio. Forbes said, "Only Flint and Detroit have a faster exodus rate."
18. Poughkeepsie, New York. Cutest name in the top 20. Lousy weather and commute.
19. Gary, Indiana. Sandwiched amidst Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, what did you expect. Kentuckians are thankful for the Ohio River!
20. Youngstown, Ohio. Nothing left to say.

Three from Michigan. Three from Ohio. Three from Illinois. Three from California. Two each from New York and New Jersey. These are places steeped in government and social law. There are other common factors, too (union thuggery, broken families, and out-of-wedlock births), that I'll not address here.

So how's the state as savior working out for them?

If big government is crushing cities on the local level, what makes us think big government will cure all ills on the national level? Freedom constrained breeds blight and sucks the life from the organism.

The nanny state is unsustainable. We must jettison it soon by choice and pick up the heavy and productive yoke of personal responsibility. If we do not, it will come crashing down all around us, and great will be the fall.

Election!

One of the most craw-sticking ideas in the Bible among believers is the doctrine of election. Most, sadly, find it repugnant.

If you have wrestled with election and God choosing whom he will, let me encourage you to invest 40 minutes to listen to a Bible-infused, Bible-laced message on the topic. You may not like the speaker; set aside your preconceptions and hear what he says. You may not be a fan of the web-site; open your Bible and compare what is being said with what God's word says.

Pause. Chew. Meditate. Think. Pray. And let the God of all bless your soul.

You'll find the message here.

Suicide's aftermath

If you've ever watched M*A*S*H, you have heard the music. If you've seen the movie, you've heard the lyrics. As the chopper breaks over the mountain, the guitar licks to "Suicide is Painless" introduce the show, but lyricist Mike Altmann (son of the movie's director, Robert Altmann) had it horribly wrong. Suicide is anything but painless.

I can think of little save divorce and tornadoes that leaves such a wake of unforeseen destruction and devastation.

Eleven years ago this March, I picked up the phone and heard my friend Lou choke out words no man should have to form. Our friend, Kevin, had taken his life. How do you respond when all the oxygen gets sucked from the room? What do you say when your brain crashes to a standstill?

As a Christ-follower, I could do nothing but cling to him. I held fast to his unwavering word when all the world had become in an instant as heaving as the Bering Sea. More than a decade later, I still do not understand. I still see and feel the effects of that decision that changed so much for so many.

I have long been a fan of the Newsboys. I particularly like their work that has Steve Taylor's fingerprints upon it. You might not know Steve; most don't. He's a singer in his own right and is a fantastic producer and song writer. He wrote a song that the Newsboys cut on their Going Public CD titled Elle G. It's a song about a guy trying to come to terms with a Christian friend of his who has taken their own life. He finds no tidy answers, and in the end, he's left to cling to the garments of God.

I found it a comfort in the painful days following my friend's suicide. Perhaps you will, too.

The case for women in combat

Sorry, I can't make that case. You'll have to look somewhere else.

Here's why opening combat roles to our sisters and daughters is a horrible thing:

WOMEN ARE WEAKER. Really, I don't have to go any further. No doubt some will argue that some women are stronger than some men. Yes, that's right, but note the adjective used twice. "Some." Try this on: NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB, and PGA. Or find me an Olympic sport where men and women compete at the same level outside steeple chase or badminton. Even the military has discriminatory athletic standards for men and women. All well and good when your cranking and banking your F-22. A bit different when infantry personnel can't all tote their required packs.

HAMSTRINGING MEN. Forgive the chauvinist pig in me, but it is a natural response for a man to protect a woman. You are asking men to ignore that response when going into combat. The slightest hesitation in a firefight can be life and death. Can men be trained to treat women as men? Yes, probably, but is that really what we want of our men?

NOT ALL WOMEN WANT COMBAT ROLES. Many women have volunteered to serve but never had any desire to see combat. In the past, this was no issue. Political correctness has doomed all that. A man enlists, he's at the whim of the DoD. "But I don't want the front lines!" You're in the wrong line of work, Sonny. Not so our lasses. It used to be considered beyond the pale that we would send our women to the front lines, especially if any men were left standing. Now our women will have no choice. If they do, then we have further discrimination within the ranks.

NOT ALL MEN WANT THEIR DAUGHTERS ELIGIBLE FOR COMBAT. My sons have to sign up for the draft. Does this mean that my daughters will have to sign up also? Not on my watch.

IT WEAKENS OUR MILITARY. As has been stated, this has all come about in the name of political expedience. We are NOT doing this to strengthen our military. Why did the Broncos do the Cirque de Soleil to get Payton Manning? They wanted to win. Why do we have the tanks, planes and ships we have? We want to win any military conflict we face. So please explain to me why on God's little green acre if we have sufficient able-bodied men enlisting for military service would we then open combat positions to women? "Because Helen Reddy wants to" is a dumb reason.

The fundamental fabric of our flag is unraveling at a rate that makes my head spin. With nothing to lose, our president is in a full-court press to make every liberal talking point the law of the land with little regard for the consequences. Sticking our sisters and our daughters into foxholes is just the next step.

Quote of the Day: God's goodness in suffering

"If people want to get into discussion with me about the sovereignty of God, I will tell them front and center that God doesn't like spinal cord injuries. he takes no pleasure in multiple sclerosis or children born with spina bifida. John Piper talks about how God looks at suffering through two lenses. He looks at the isolated incident through a narrow lens and loathes it. His heart loathes it when you go through a divorce. His heart aches when you give birth to that child with multiple disabilities. He hates the isolated lens of suffering. But he delights in the wide-angle lens. He sees the mosaic. He sees how it all fits together into this incredible pattern for not only our good, but the good of all those around us, and for his glory. I'm grateful that God is sovereign. His fingers hold back a deluge of evil in this world. I'm grateful that He only allows to slip through his sovereign fingers that which He's convinced will help our souls and fit us better for eternity."

~ 63-year old Joni Eareckson Tada

who has lived with quadriplegia for 45 years

from a diving accident when she was 17.

From an interview in World Magazine

God's word tells us to give him thanks in all circumstances, and in fact, the very act of giving thanks is God's will for me as a follower of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). This implies an absolute trust in my God and King. Now, if God is not sovereign over all things, isn't it foolish to give him thanks in all my circumstances? It would be like thanking my wife for the grass or for elephants. Neither had anything to do with those things. But I thank my wife for her awesome Oatmeal Scotchie cookies because it was by her hand that they came. For God to tell us to give thanks in all circumstances implies that no thing comes to us apart from his divine goodness--as hard or as easy as those circumstances might be. If he is not sovereign over all, he has no business asking us to give him thanks.

Will I trust him today?

Moms and Guns

This was written by a friend of mine about her experience with guns and evil in the world. You might pass this on to any who have the heebie-jeebies about having guns in their home.

Over 20 years ago, a single young woman was home alone. It was around 1 in the morning. She was awakened by noises coming from her front door. She quickly got up, grabbed her shot gun, and headed for the door. She waited, listening intently, when the door knob shook from the outside, and she heard something being wedged into the crack of the door. She shook with fear, but was more fearful of the person who was trying to break into her home... HER HOME! She became righteously angry, and pumped that shotgun shell into the chamber. It was loud, and she was right by the front door. The noise and the shaking of the door knob abruptly stopped! Her heart had been racing, then she began to hear footsteps pound the pavement. She looked out the window beside the front door, and saw a man running away! She tried to call the police... NO DIAL TONE! The wire had been cut (cell phones were not so prevalent, then). She sat in the living room of her home, trying to breathe again, thanking God that she had purchased that shot gun (and that semi-auto rifle, many years ago, to plink around at targets with friends). The intruder obviously was scared off... by the loud sound of that pump shot gun! 

Thankfully, the woman was not kidnapped, raped, murdered, tortured, or.... who knows what other things could have happened, if the intruder had gotten in! She was safe!

I know this woman... she is now happily married, is a mom to 5 beautiful kids. She loves her family, her friends, her country, and GOD.

This woman is ME! I thank God for His protection, and for the thought in my head to buy those guns to begin with. (And yes, when I first became a mom, I bought into the idea of keeping the idea of guns away from my little son. That didn't last long! He, and his brother, and their sisters are well versed in gun safety, and how to shoot!) 

Thanks for sharing, Jori! 

Hearing check

I came across this in my reading this morning and it stuck in my mind like an American in a European round-a-bout. When we read the Bible, what do we hear? Can we hear? And how well do we hear--and I mean really hear?

"Whoever is of God hears the words of God."

Now, most of us will shrug it off thinking we are aware of God in the cosmos, but Jesus drives it deeper.

"The reason why you do not hear them (the words of God) is that you are not of God." (John 8:47)

Again, how well do you hear? As a former fighter pilot, I have a number of friends who cannot hear certain frequency ranges due to decades around jet engines. They hear nothing in that range. God's giving us a very plain hearing test, and it doesn't require sitting in a sound-proof booth and mashing buttons when you hear an imaginary tone.

Here's the test: open the Bible and read it. You'll fall into one of three categories:

1. You REJECT it. You won't even take the test. You probably don't want to stop back by this blog anymore.

2. You're PERPLEXED. As you read the pages of the Bible, you don't understand what all the falderol is about. It's like reading somebody else's mail. But if you'd like to understand, ask the Author. You might be surprised what he'll show you (see John 3). If you think it's stupid, go back to category #1.

3. You're TICKLED. You hear his voice pretty well (John 10:27).

It all hinges upon God's word. Can we hear it? It's either true or it's not. If it's true, the consequences are enormous. It's like learning of a hidden treasure. Would you not do all within your power to obtain it? If it's false, then Jesus of Nazareth and all of his followers are the foulest individuals for selling millions a bill of goods.

So the question still hangs there. How's your hearing?