Category: Uncategorized

Dear Readers,

A few of you have mentioned that there exists an issue of one kind or another regarding the comment form. Some of you have reported struggles with commenting- that the form in different ways inhibits comments, or destroys them, or blocks them, other things that are equally frustrating

I am trying a few different things which will hopefully remove the problems some of you are

experiencing with the comment form. Please bear with me as I try this and that. In the end, if comment issues still exist I will change the template, necessitating a redesign. I mention that because a redesign is shocking and upsetting to some. I’m just letting you know ahead of time as I experiment with the forms and template and widgets. It’s important to me that commenting be as easy as possible. This blog is for encouragement and edification and instruction, and my interaction with brethren and your interaction with me is a very important part of building each other up.

On another note, I am working on a blog entry that will be a repository for all the Beth Moore blog essays I’ve written. They will be all in one place. It will also include links to others’ essays such as Tim Challies and Mike Abendroth and Matt Slick who have concerns with her teaching. Once it’s done I am going to put a link to the essay containing all BM essays on the right menu and take down all the others. This will free some space on the side menu. If there are links or things you’d like to see on the side menu please let me know.

The changes I’ve made today on the comment template are: removing the comment verification step, and changing the form from being on the same page as the essay to a pop-up in a separate window. I’m trying the easier and simpler things first. Thanks very much for your patience. If you’d like to correspond, my email is way down on the right menu bar. Thanks again.

This photo for the new header was taken at Jasper Beach, Machiasport, Maine. This part of Maine is considered Downeast, and is remote, rural, and quiet. It’s near Canada.

It is also known for fog. The fog bank rolling by came furtively and quickly obscured the pine trees in the distance, all the while amplifying the putt-putt of the lobster boat in the harbor.

It’s raining, and very cool for August, only 65 degrees. I am watching a Japanese movie called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and the cool weather has allowed me to make my first cup of hot tea for the season.

Some cool stuff

World’s First One-Person Restaurant Opens In Amsterdam
“An extraordinary pop-up restaurant will open doors in Amsterdam this Thursday. ‘Eenmaal’, as the place is called, claims to be the world’s first one-person restaurant. “‘Eenmaal’ is a restaurant like any other restaurant, but one thing is totally different: you only find tables for one person here. ‘Eenmaal’ is an exciting experiment for those who never go out dining alone, as well as an appealing opportunity for those who often eat alone at restaurants”, explains social designer and initiator Marina van Goor.”

It will only be open for two days, so book your table now.

If you’re not hungry then maybe you’re thinking of where you’d like to be sitting right now…in any of these 30 places perhaps?

Click on the link above for the other 26. They’re worth looking at!

Don’t forget the terrific link at Astronomy Picture of the Day, if you like looking up, that is!

Some sad stuff:

Church of England creating ‘pagan church’ to recruit members
“The church is training ministers to create “a pagan church where Christianity [is] very much in the centre” to attract spiritual believers. Ministers are being trained to create new forms of Anglicanism suitable for people of alternative beliefs as part of a Church of England drive to retain congregation numbers. Reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a researcher and adviser in new religious movements told the BBC: “I would be looking to formulate an exploration of the Christian faith that would be at home in their culture.”

“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:9)

Or they should hate you.

In the Bible Belt, Offering Atheists a Spiritual Home
“It would have been easy to mistake what was happening in a hotel ballroom here for a religious service. All the things that might be associated with one were present Sunday: 80 people drawn by a common conviction. Exhortations to service. Singing and light swaying. An impassioned sermon. There was just no mention of God. Billed as Louisiana’s first atheist service and titled “Joie de Vivre: To Delight in Being Alive,” it was presided over by Jerry DeWitt, a small, charismatic man dressed all in black with slick, shiny hair.”

London’s First Atheist Church Opens
” The first comedian-founded atheist church in England is set to hold its first monthly service tomorrow. Pippa Evans (a “musical improv comedian”) and Sanderson Jones (just a regular talking comedian) came up with the idea together. “We thought it would be a shame not to enjoy the good stuff about religion, like the sense of community, just because of a theological disagreement,” said Mr Jones.”

Attend your church, hug your pastor close, pray for him, and serve well. Church is an endangered species!

Some cute stuff:

Speaking of species, here is a doggie.

 

When Adam was created, he was perfect. He was fully man, a human, created in the image of God. He had perfect communion with God, perfect knowledge of God, enjoyed perfect fellowship with God, was sinless, and lived on a perfect earth.

Paradise, Lucas Cranach the Elder: 1536

I can imagine the conversations Adam had with God as they walked in the cool of the day. In his sinless state Adam probably sought God in addition to walking with Him. God always draws close to the righteous and the righteous seek God. (Matthew 6:33, Isaiah 58:2, James 4:8). Just imagine the fellowship and intimacy as Adam, in his clear, diamond-like intellectual, non-sin stained mind, sought knowledge of God and was able to receive it, fully! And the more He learned of God the more Adam loved Him and the more Adam loved Him the more Adam brought glory to God.

But then Adam sinned. Sin entered His mind. When sin enters we become blinded, lost, and darkened in mind (Ephesians 4:18). It is then impossible to seek righteousness, the spiritual become lost to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). (Sculpture, “Adam and Eve expelled from Paradise” by Auguste Rodin)

We see this after the Fall, when the first thing God said to Adam was “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). This was not a location question. God knows everything. He knew where Adam was. He was asking because Adam didn’t know where he was. Adam was lost, blinded, and stumbling around in the spiritual dark.

This is evidenced by the fact that Adam’s answer was, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10). The natural man is in the flesh and Adam’s answer was not a spiritual answer but a fleshly one. “I was naked.” No more spiritual conversations with God in the cool of the day, no response like, “I am overwhelmed by Your glory and might and deemed it necessary to hide myself from you because I sinned.” Rather a fleshly, child-like clumsy answer. This is because “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

As a matter of fact, the moment Adam heard God coming, he fled. Adam went the opposite direction and

hid from God. Indeed, that is what all sinners do, because they are afraid, naked, opened to God who sees all and so they hide in the dark to conceal their sins. Adam couldn’t go to God and say, “Help me Father, I’ve sinned and I need to get back to right relationship with You!” This is because no man seeks after God. No one understands. (Romans 3:11). It’s why Adam hid. (“Adam and Eve”, George Frederick Watts c.1865)

You see that it was God who took the initiative to seek Adam. He covered Adam in garments, (Genesis 3:21), later to be turned into garments of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) after the work of Jesus on the cross (Revelation 3:5).

I praise God that he seeks us while we are still sinners, that He clothes us to cover our shame, and that He comforts us with His presence and friendship. Most of all He gives us His grace, Himself, and eternal life in righteous robes. We can finally answer Him, “Where am I? I am right here, with you, O Glorious God.”

Machias river and lupines. Something pretty for you today.

Globe Cove, Lubec Maine