It has been quite a while since I have taken the time to do a ramblings article on this site. I guess some could argue that rambling is all I ever do, but that would just leave me feeling all depressed and defensive.
As I write this my children are behind me trying to figure out just who or what Santa Claus is. There seems to be some confusion as to whether he is real or fake and just what his relationship is to God. “Can God see me whatever I do?” “Yes” says mom. “Can Santa Claus?” “He’s not real” says mom. “Yeah, but can he see me?” No matter how often we tell them that he isn’t real they just don’t quite seem to understand it. They keep getting mixed messages from the media and advertising and their friends and their parents. I suppose sooner or later they will figure it out – I just hope they learn to differentiate between a real God and a fake Santa.
For those who have asked, yes, I do intend to continue the series on Bible translations. As I began to write more articles about it, I realized I had to take a step back, of sorts, and learn some more background information. I am currently letting all of that percolate in my little brain and hope to begin the series on the different translations as early as this week.
This past week I have spent a lot of time researching the doctrine of justification. It is a doctrine with which I have a fair degree of familiarity (thanks to my Reformed upbringing) but can still learn much more about. I am continually amazed when I see the number of ways justification has come and is coming under attack. Even within Protestantism there are so many different emerging views on this doctrine, each of which undermines the historic and biblical view that justification is by faith alone. Every other version adds something to this. It may be something as seemingly insignificant as being justified by an obedient faith, but there is always an addition. If we lose site of justification by faith alone, we lose sight our very identity as Protestants. Even worse, we truly lose sight of our identity as Christians.
After Eli Manning’s performance in New York I guess I can no longer make fun of the guy. He finally had a fairly decent outing, throwing two touchdowns. For a little while he actually seemed to be a little bit in control of the offense. He still has lots of work to do and I’m not so sure he’ll ever be the franchise quarterback the Giants hope he can be, but there may be a future for him yet. Of course he still hasn’t picked up that first win…
