Feelings are not enough

I know quite well, and wish you, my brethren, never to forget, that feeling is not enough; that it is not enough merely to feel and nothing more; that to feel grief for Christ's sufferings, and yet not to go on to obey him, is not true love, but a mockery. True love both feels right, and acts right; but at the same time as warm feelings without religious conduct are a kind of hypocrisy, so, on the other hand, right conduct, when unattended with deep feelings, is at best a very imperfect sort of religion.

Cardinal Newman, Sermon 10, The Crucifixion

Being "green" a la Scripture

Did you know that in The Law, God seeks to protect the trees and the birds.?

About trees we read this:

“When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them and you shall not cut them down.  For is the tree of the jeld a man, that it should be besieged  by you? Only the trees which you know are not trees for

food you shall destroy and cut down in order that you may construct siege works
against the city that is making war with you until it falls” (Dt. 20:19, 20).

To which a biblical commentator writes:

Notice that the argument God gives calls attention to the place of trees in His scheme of things, and the value He places on them. Just as God regulated Adam’s use of the trees of the garden of Eden, so He continues to regulate man’s use of trees.

And on birds we read:

“If you happen to come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young; you shall certainly let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, in order that it may be well
with you, and that you may prolong your days” (Dt.  22:6, 7).

To which the same commentator writes:

While the ecological benefits of this law would indeed have the effect of prolonging the life of man, in itself such a rule would have only slight effects. The import of this law is that it tells us that God will bestow life on those men who respect the life He has given to other creatures. It is His concern with the birds, as well as with men, which lies behind this legislation.

So to the green lobby we can say PAH! God got there way before you!

Commentary from Jim Jordan's, The Law of the Covenant

Pro-Abortion = Anti-babies

That abortion is abhorrent to God is clear from the Scriptures. I mentioned one such place where this is clear in my last post here.

When challenged with this, the world tends to respond in one of two ways. One is to embrace the unashamed motto of the atheist zealot which basically says "God is not there and if He is, I don't care". The other route is to retreat into the bunkers of agnosticism and declare that no one really knows if life begins at conception or at birth. Well if that is you, doubt know more. Thanks to the advances of technology, it is easy to get a vivid picture of how wicked and evil an abortion is... as the video below shows it is an act which screams nothing short of "I'm pro-abortion because I'm anti-babies" OR more clearly "Thou shalt not limit a woman's freedom because she wants to kill her babies"

HT: David Baker

Thought for the day: Why aren't we Brits mad about babies?

These past few weeks, my dear wife and I have been reading Exodus as part of our daily devotions. Yesterday from chapter 21 we read:

22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Apart from the striking observation that the lex talionis is set in the context of feticide and is not some general rule to be banded about, I was struck by the seriousness that the LORD treats the destroying of fetual life. So why is it that Christians/The Church in Britain doesn't seem that fussed about this issue? Why are we BIG on Biblically dubious issues like "fair trade" and "climate change" whilst being quiet on the Biblically abhorrent issues like abortion and homosexuality?

Woodland Bach

This is the kind of thing someone would mention to me at the idea stage and I'd think somewhat impossible or maybe, an utter waste of time and then someone actually does it and you think, huh! I wish I'd helped to make that... Ah well not this time and as you prepare for the Lord's Day tomorrow, please take time to enjoy this beautiful cantata by Bach done in a woodland stylee...

Three locks before opening

The lock on the door of your mouth should have three keys—is it true? is it kind? is it necessary?

HT: Pastor Doug Wilson

ADHD increases as you travel East...

...and other fascinating points about education in the video below.

If you're involved in "public" education or have young children this is well worth watching...