Gender Neutral??

One more quick comment for the week...

I don't understand the concept of a gender neutral bible (TNIV, NLT, & MSG [if you can call that the Bible]). I'm not saying that these translations are completely useless, but depending on the motivation I'm afraid that the reality of them is un-Christian. God's not an egalitarian God. As I have started to study and learn Hebrew it has made the idea of "gender neutrality" in translation of the Old Testament ridiculous.

You see, adjectives, verbs, and nouns all have a gender assigned to them. I'm sure there are other languages like this. I'm still learning basics...and through the advice of pastor Wayne I'm hoping to study with a Rabbai in town (to learn more of the language). But this idea is coming on strong!

TNIV and other "gender neutral" folks. What are you thinking??

Have a good rest of the week everyone!

Three Books I'm Excited About

Evangelism is not only misunderstood, it is often unpracticed. Many Christians want to share the gospel with others, but because those Christians don’t grasp the fundamentals of witnessing, they feel intimidated and incapable of sharing the truth of the gospel.

Yet those believers fail to recognize that God has already established who and how we are to evangelize. In The Gospel and Personal Evangelism, Dr. Mark Dever seeks to answer the four basic questions about evangelism that many Christians ask: Who should we evangelize? How should we evangelize? What is evangelism? Why should we evangelize? In his answers Dever draws on New Testament truths and helps believers apply those truths in practical ways. As readers understand the fundamentals of evangelism, they will begin to develop a culture of evangelism in their lives and their local churches.

What is an ideal church? While many Christians may never have considered that question, they probably have some preconceived idea of the perfect church in their minds. Yet they often have no clue what the ideal church looks like or how it works in our society.

Author Mark Dever reveals the key characteristics to a healthy church: expositional preaching, biblical theology, and a biblical understanding of the gospel. Dever then challenges believers to develop those characteristics in their churches. By following the example of New Testament authors and addressing both the pastors and members of churches, Dever challenges all Christians to do their part in maintaining the local church. What Is a Healthy Church? offers timeless truths and practical principles to help all members fulfill their God-given roles in the church.

Many Christians are puzzled by what is being called the “new perspective on Paul.” Seminary students, pastors, and laypeople encounter it in lectures, on the Internet, and in numerous books in the Christian market, and some evangelicals have received it with enthusiasm.

Dr. J. Ligon Duncan sees that this new perspective on Paul, which raises questions about the traditional understanding of the doctrine of justification, could lead to significant shifts in the historic biblical and Protestant understanding of the Gospel itself. He defines the issue, examines its background, and assesses its serious flaws. His treatment of the topic is both careful and concise, and he provides resources for further study of this “new perspective.”

Senator McCain

I’m going to hear John McCain speak on Friday @ work…It’ll be in a venue of probably 300 or so people...so we might have the opportunity to ask questions…

Do you have any questions that you would ask Senator McCain…if yes, what would it be? If you do and I agree with your question I’ll ask, if given the opportunity. Let me know!

Morning Sky

Here's a pic in case you missed the morning sky yesterday...AWESOME!

Rugged Individualism

Just curious what everyone thinks out there. Something one might notice through observation in Iowa is that from time to time people won't accept grace. Particularly, when something happens and a person needs help they tend to not accept the grace of another person to help out.

I've noticed this at work. Sometimes someone will be buried in work and I'll offer to help and they'll just respond saying something like, "I don't need any help...I can do it on my own." "I wasn't questioning that," is usually my response.

Why is it, do you think, that people won't accept grace from other folks (especially in in Iowa)? Is this just an Iowa thing?

Just curious what everyone out there thinks...

[BTW, I've been crazy busy w/ homework the last couple weeks...I need to let my yes be yes and no be no, so I'm not going to say that this week I'll get back to the church series...but soon I will. My last final is on 5/4/07, so your guaranteed some writing on the church series at that point in time.]

Prayer Request: Virginia Tech Situation

Current numbers are 32 dead and 15 wounded.

Just pray.

In Christ
Noah

Understanding Radicalization and Islamicization

Please listen to this lecture. It broke my heart for what is going on in the West. This lecture hit me pretty hard emotionally. I pray that this sober reality will help us to weep for ourselves and our neighbors, and to pray that those in Islam will come to into a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t need to be afraid because Jesus is Lord, but I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I’m afraid how God might use Islam as a rod of judgment against the West.

Henry Forum Lecture: Understanding Radicalization and Islamicization given on 4/13/2007, 11:29pm @ Capitol Hill Baptist Church

I’m going to try to forward this lecture to some of our state representatives. Please pray with me that they might actually listen to it.

In Christ
Noah

Demonstrative and Subject Pronouns

Please pardon these Hebrew posts, but I have found that it helps me to memorize all this stuff if I post it on here...that way when I go to take a break it reminds me that I need to be working on this instead of blogging. And then I don't even have to get off the internet and just work on it online. I have a test Tuesday so the Hebrew posts will slow down a bit after that time.

The Church Series...on Pause

I'm not going to be able to post anything for the Church Series until late this next week due to tests, homework, and term papers. I'll jump right back in though in about a week. Keep coming!

Sold!

Praise the Lord...we accepted an offer on our house LAST NIGHT! It was hard to sleep.

No doubt God is teaching us a few things! Once again, by God's grace, on good friday God gave provision! It's amazing how an offer on the house can remind you of the cross, but that's exactly what it did.

A little background. We started to try to sell our house about a year ago this week. We have struggled with depression and thoughts as to whether or not God was really calling us to do what we had discerned.

So that brings us to the last couple weeks. I didn't do very well on my last Hebrew test, so I knew I was going to have to study a lot this weekend. Also, last week I received the letter of acceptance for the internship program out at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC with two weeks to respond. Also, I received an email on Thursday that about how there is a recording studio in India that is starting that would be used for Christian music recording and recording of preaching and lectures and they need a keyboard (which we are hoping to give the funds for).

Then we met the @ the Marks' house for accountability Thursday night. We knew that a realtor was showing our house so we prayed. Then yesterday, after a pretty stressful week of school and work Linds was making dinner and we received a call that the same realtor wanted to show our house to the same couple. I was optimistic because he was asking if we had any other offers and clarifying exactly how long our house had been on the market. So we packed up everything we were doing...picked up a little and went to Starbucks while they looked at the house. The guys at Starbucks gave us free cake and coffee...and Linds and I had a great conversation. After all of that we headed back home.

We weren't hungry, so we sat down to worship the Lord in remembrance of good friday and my phone started to ring as we praying. After we prayed I turned the sound off the phone so we wouldn't be distracted. When we were through - worshipping, reading the Bible, a snippet of the Death of Death and the Death of Christ, and singing some hymns - I listened to the message. I called our realtor (around 9:15pm) and he told me the offer they made. We took about ten minutes to crunch numbers and pray about it and we countered halfway between their offer and our asking price. At around 9:35pm he told us they had accepted the counter offer and everything is contingent on how an inspection of our home goes (within seven days from yesterday).

We are elated! We still need to depend on the Lord, even though there is nothing wrong with our house (it's about two years old), but it is all in God's hands. It may not go completely through. So we are praying to be content with God's will, whatever it is. After the paperwork is signed and everything is said and done we're going to have a party! So we'll keep you informed:)

Please keep us in your prayers, because we need to figure out where to live in DC, if I'm going to take "J-term" and summer classes, what to do with all our stuff, our/Lindsey's job, insurance...etc.

Praise the Lord!

In Christ
Noah

Psalm 1

Also trying to memorize the following, please pray for me;)

Happy 4th B-day Trix!

Our cat Trixie turned 4 yesterday. Her present was a few cat treats;) She only ate one.

By the way...she's not the only B-day girl this month...mom:)

Hebrew Pronominal Suffixes

Well, I'm currently trying to memorize masculine and feminine singular and plural nouns' suffixes. The first one below [masculine] is סוּס "sous", horse, and the second below [feminine] is שִׁפְחָה "shivchetha", maidservant. Enjoy!

Horse [masculine]:


Maidservant [feminine]: