Quote of the Day

“If you plan on having friends for the long haul, then you better be a forgiving person” – Robert Jimenez

Mobile Posting

I thought I would give this a try and see how it works. You can post to your blog via your smartphone or pda just like I did this one and you can also add tags. Go to m.wordpress.com and check it out.

Palm Pre

Palm has finally released a smartphone that will compete with the iPhone and has some great innovations built into it.  Also, they introduced their new Operating System — WebOS based on Linux.  It is being introduced on Sprint, I don’t know if that is a good or bad thing.  It will run on their 3G (EVDO) network.

My plans this year are to upgrade to a smartphone.  I wanted to give the competition enough time to come up with something competitive to the iPhone, but they seem like they just don’t get it.  I mean is it that difficult?  Apple has shown the way, so figure it out and do it better.   Two years later after the iPhone we finally got the Google phone on Tmobile.  Not a great deal of advertising, and it seems to have generated very little enthusiasm — to date I don’t know anyone that owns one.  I do think that the Google phone has the right plan and over time will show itself to be a real competitor, but for now maybe the wrong carrier, or lack of advertising.

You see Apple also knows that with great products you need great marketing.  Remember when the first ipod came out?  MP3 players where nothing new, but boy did Apple figure out how to package and market it and everyone knew about it.  Just like everyone knows about the iPhone.

I think finally we have a competitor that is not afarid to go head up with the iPhone juggernut — the Palm Pre with it’s new WebOS.  I am not going to post the pros and cons since I don’t have one.  But I will say this I am very impressed with what I have seen and read.  Also it was a good move by Palm to hire Jon Rubinstein ex-senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division, and the electrical engineer who was instrumental in the creation of the iPod.

Here are a few links that may be of interest:

Palm Pre – Loyal Palm Fans Re-United

Palm Pre: Can it trump the iPhone? Will it matter?

Palm Pre Views

The Art in Photographing Preachers

One of the things I love to do besides reading is photography.  I did it as a living for around 3 years, not much of living but I had a lot fun in the process.  I still do photography on the side and if you are interested you can check out my Photo blog DowneyImages.com

I thought I would share with you guys some photos I have taken over the years.  Some are well know preachers, others may not be.  As a photographer people are always interested in speaking with you, as a result you end up making new friends.  Through my photography I have had the opportunity to become good friends with John Glass (also a photographer), and I also was able to spend time with Dr. John Holland before passing away.  I was blessed to know that they requested some of my photos as I was the last professional photographer to take his picture.  They did use one of my photos for his funeral services.  Anyhow, this is a bit different so I hope you all enjoy.

So here we go…

Not of this World Clothing – Aurelio F. Barreto III

Christian Hosoi — American professional skateboarder

Dr. John Holland – President Foursquare Church

John Glass– General Superintendent of the Elim Pentecostal Church

Jack Hayford

Erwin McManus

Understanding the humaity of Christ – Part 2

Was Jesus truly tempted as we were?

The supporting scripture(s) on this are: Hebrews 4:15

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are?yet he did not sin.” TNIV

Luke 4:1-2 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. TNIV (ESV, NLT, HCSB all use “tempted”)

James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

In Hebrews 4:15 the ESV also uses the word “tempted”, HCSB uses the word “tested”, and the NLT uses “testing”.  According the ESV Study Bible (ESVSB) “The Greek (peiraz?) can refer either to temptation intended to bring one down or to testing designed to build one up; both connotations probably apply here”.  The NLT Study Bible (NLTSB) says “Our High Priest understands our weaknesses, our human pull toward sin, because he faced all of the same testings we do. He was tempted with all the essential aspects of sin, such as lust, greed, unforgiveness, and dishonesty.”

From these two notes it would be fair to say that Jesus was not only tested, but also tempted as we are. However, is it accurate to say as the NLTSB states that “He was tempted with all the essential aspects of sin…”?  Is that a correct understanding?

“This meant that he had to obey in his human strength alone. If he had called upon his divine powers to make the temptation easier for himself, then he would not have obeyed God fully as a man.”, [Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology]

This in my opinion is a correct statement, but later Grudem states that Christ was fully tempted, yet he could not sin.

“But if Jesus as a person had sinned, involving both his human and divine natures in sin, then God himself would have sinned, and he would have ceased to be God. Yet that is clearly impossible because of the infinite holiness of God’s nature. (5) Therefore, if we are asking if it was actually possible for Jesus to have sinned, it seems that we must conclude that it was not possible. The union of his human and divine natures in one person prevented it.”, [Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology]

This is where we part ways in our understanding.  Now in a way it is a moot point for it is clear from Hebrews that Jesus never sinned.  However, I think that if we follow the logic that I have laid out that Jesus did not take advantage of his divinity, which Grudem supports if I understand him correctly.  Christ is no longer relying on or taking advantage of his divinity making him subject to these temptations.  Grudem holds to what is referred to as the “impeccability of Christ,” which means that Christ was not able to sin.

But it would appear to me that a temptation is not a temptation if there is never the real ability to fail (i.e. sin).  How can there be a temptation if there is no capacity to fulfill it?  I think that it was possible for Jesus to have sinned, but would not sin (notice I did not say could not), because he was God, and because his humanity was completely in submission to the Spirit, and was totally obedient to the Father. He lived a truly obedient life, led by the Holy Spirit, and thus fulfilled all of the requirements of the law. He is our perfect (human) example.

To deny his humanity is as equally wrong to deny his deity. If it was not possible for him to sin then he was not human, and we are missing the whole point of what Phil 2 – is trying to teach us. It’s kind of like saying Jesus cheated because he was not truly capable of sinning, so none of the temptations or testing really matter. Jesus could have sinned but He did not. Why? Not just because he was God, but because he was obedient.

This is why:

And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death?even death on a cross! God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Phil. 2:8-11 TNIV

How did He humble himself? By becoming obedient!  I fear that somehow that by acknowledging that Jesus was truly human we somehow think that we are denying that He was God. And that is just not the case.

References:

Understanding the humanity of Christ – Introduction

Understanding the humanity of Christ Part 1

Gordon Fee Pauline Christology – Philippians 2

Gordon Fee “Pauline Christology” 2007 Hendrickson

Donald Macleod “The Person of Christ” IVP 1998

4TH & 5TH CENTURY DEVELOPMENTS IN CHRISTOLOGY

Have questions regarding the HCSB 2nd Edition?

Will over at Anwoth blog will be conducting an interview with Dr. Blum (editor HCSB) again, and wants to know if there are any questions you would like to ask.  If if you do have questions hop on over to his blog and let him know.

HCSB 2nd Edition update

I have been in contact with Jim Baird from B&H Publishing, and the new Limited Edition Ministers Bible is not the HCSB 2nd Edition, however there is an HCSB Study Bible scheduled to be released in September 2009 and will be the HCSB 2nd edition.  I hope that they make all of the same offerings as ESV & NLT has done (i.e. an online version).

Goals for 2009

I have been giving this some thought and finally decided to post them. I need a record of it anyhow so that I can refer back to it.

Personal Goals

• Continue to spend lots of quality time with my family
  • Take my son horse back riding at least 4 times this year
  • Try to figure out some projects we can do together
• Stay focus on what I am reading
  • I want to complete:
    • Gordon Fee “God’s Empowering Presences”
    • Thomas F. Torrance “The Incarnation”
    • Allan Coppedge “The God who is Triune”
    • Ben Witherington “The problem with Evangelical Theology”
    • N.T. Wright “Paul” (which is very small but just having a hard time getting into it)
  • Once I complete these I can move on to other books.  I do have another reading track for ministry goals.
• Read the entire Bible this year
• Lose 20lbs (I currently weigh 170lbs) by:
  • Exercising daily
  • Eating better
• Try not to miss church on Sundays
  • I suffer from really bad allergies that give me migraine type headaches where I can’t move at all, however when I don’t have migraine headaches I have really bad headaches, that’s when I don’t want to miss.  This Sunday I had one and I went to church anyhow.
• Post a blog at least once a week.
  • Blogging for me consist of reading and writing, and I do read a lot of them on a daily basis
• Settle on a primary bible translation – looking like the TNIV

Business Goals

• Learn a new technology every 3 months
  • They would be:
    • Websphere, DB2, FileNet Process Analyzer, & FileNet P8 4.5
• Work hard
• Stay organized
• Stay focus – that means limiting my time blogging while I am working

Ministry Goals

• Impart my life into the life of some of the young men in our church.  Many of them are looking for mentorship, and guidance I hope to make myself available to them.
• Put together a course on Salvation from an Arminius perspective.  If any of you already have one and don’t mind sharing it I will take it.  This course material will be used for our Bible Institute.  I need to develop a student guide, and lecture notes.
  • I will be reading/working with the following books:
    • Systematic Theology, Thomas Oden
    • Why I am not a Calvinist, Jerry L. Walls & Joseph R. Dongell
    • Arminian Theology – myths and realities, Roger Olson
    • The Faith Once for All, Jack Cottrell
    • The Cross & Salvation, Bruce Demarest (Research only)
    • Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem (Research only)
    • A Theology for the Church, Daniel L. Akin (Research only)
    • The Mosaic of Christian Belief, Roger Olson (Research only)
  • Dead line February 10th
• Write some bible studies lessons for our church
• Fill out my ordination papers!  I keep putting that off.

Limited Edition Ministers Bible – HCSB

Holman just released a Limited Edition Ministers Bible HCSB, in a fine soft, supple cowhide leather bible.  The retail price for this gem is $150.00, if it is anything similar to their Legacy Bible (the nice one, not the original one that was made out of some stiff cheap leather) then it will be a very nice one to have. This is a wide margin single column black letter edition and it appears that they have added a few more minister helps as well.

If I understand the advertising correctly the leather bible cover is made by Biblias Abba, they produce some of the best leather bibles so you can be sure this is a fine quality product.  By the way they will also rebound your favorite bible as well.

I own the prior edition which I really like to read.  The fonts are excellent, the spread between the text is nice, and the leather is a good cowhide, but not soft or supple, or flexible in anyway but it is a nice grain matte finish.  I have often thought of sending this one out and having it rebound.  I used mine the other day when I had to speak at a funeral.  You can read a bit more about it here.

I don’t know if it contains the 2nd Edition or not, if it did that would be awesome.  I have an email out to Jim Baird (B&H Academic – Vice President of Marketing & Sales) asking him to verify.

UPDATE:

The Limited Edition Ministers Bible is still the first edition (i.e. not HCSB 2nd edition)

HCSB 2nd Edition Ephesians Review

I read through Ephesians and highlighted as best as I could every change that I encountered.  I do hope that I did not miss any, and I also hope this gives you a glance as to some of the changes that are in place.  I might do another small epistles.

Emphasis added by me

HCSB First Edition	HCSB Second Edition
Chapter One	Chapter One
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the saints and believers in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.	1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will: To the faithful •saints in Christ Jesus at Ephesus.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, in Christ;	3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace	7 We have •redemption in Him through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
11 In Him we were also made His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will,	11 We have also received an inheritance in Him, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will,
13 In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—in Him when you believed—were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.	13 When you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed in Him, you were also sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
18 [I pray] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,	18 [I pray] that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,
Chapter Two	Chapter Two
2 in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient.	2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, , the spirit now working in the disobedient.
5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved! 6 He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus,	5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens
8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—	8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” done by hand in the flesh.	11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” [which is done] in the flesh by human hands.
12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, with no hope and without God in the world.	12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
21 The whole building is being fitted together in Him and is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.	21 The whole building, being put together by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord. 22 You also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
Chapter Three	Chapter Three
8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints!—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,	8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints [EXCALMATION POINT REMOVED]—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah,
11 This is according to the purpose of the ages, which He made in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness, access, and confidence through faith in Him.	11 This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. 12 In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father	14 For this reason I kneel before the Father
20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think —according to the power that works in you—	20 Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think [DASHED REMOVED] according to the power that works in us—
Chapter Four	Chapter Four
1 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,	1 Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to •walk worthy of the calling you have received,
10 The One who descended is the same as the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.	10 The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
22 you took off your former way of life, the old man that is corrupted by deceitful desires;	22 You took off , your former way of life, the old self , that is corrupted by deceitful desires;
24 you put on the new man, the one created according to God’s [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth.	24 you put on , the new self, the one created according to God’s [likeness] in righteousness and purity of the truth.
29 No rotten talk should come from your mouth, but only what is good for the building up of someone in need, in order to give grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. 31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness.	29 No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by Him for the day of •redemption. 31 All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice.
Chapter Five	Chapter Five
6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient.	6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.
19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord in your heart,	19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord,
27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless.	27 He did this to present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless.
Chapter Six	Chapter Six
3 that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land.	3 so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land
4 And fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.	4 Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
7 Render service with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men,	7 Serve with a good attitude, as to the Lord and not to men,
9 And masters, treat them the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their and your Master is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him.	9 And masters, treat your slaves the same way, without threatening them, because you know that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with Him
18 With every prayer and request, pray at all times in the Spirit, and stay alert in this, with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.	18 Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
21 Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything so that you also may know how I am and what I’m doing.	21 Tychicus, our dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me so that you may be informed.