A very excellent day.

It's beautiful and sunny and not too hot out today, and I've been getting stuff done at work but there's always a lot more to do - and not enough time each day. We're going to be meeting with some pastors around the new seminary facility in the next couple days, just getting to know them and introducing ourselves and Phoenix Seminary to people who may still not know much about us even though we've been here since 1987. Incidentally, 1987 is the year when the most excellent album of all time was released: U2's Joshua Tree, which (also incidentally), I was listening to this very morning. Coincidence? Yes.

I'm also getting ready for the new semester - only one four credit class this term! So I'll have more time, which will be very nice. Becca and I start our History of Christianity class tomorrow, and I've been reading my textbook and really find it fascinating. The development of the early church is something which I think would be so helpful for Christians to learn about - I wish I could just take a couple of years and spend all my time reading all the primary sources for the period. So much turmoil and schism and confusion as the church tried to understand its position in Christ and every member his position in relation to other members.

Also, here's a little snippet from my paper on Healing & Sickness in Acts through Revelation. Installment #1 of 4 or 5 on the topic. I've shared it with Brian, and I'd appreciate any other feedback.

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In the tradition of Peter, we find the foundation for our present hope of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing in Christ. This hope stands on the same foundation as does the present reality of our forgiveness: the once for all sacrifice of Jesus. Peter writes, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24) Peter is elaborating on an OT passage in light of the healing ministry and atoning work of Jesus: “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) In the Old Testament, the Lord sometimes healed His people in a direct response to their prayers, as in the case of Hezekiah (cf. Isaiah 38:1-22). At other times, He chose to use His prophets to even raise the dead (Elijah in 1 Kings 17:17-24; Elisha in 2 Kings 4:18-37). During Jesus’ earthly ministry, He healed the sick (i.e., Mark 2:1-12; 5:25-34; 6:5), cleansed the lepers (i.e., Mark 1:40-42), gave sight to the blind (i.e., Mark 8:22-25), gave hearing and speech to the deaf and mute (i.e., Mark 7:32-37), delivered the demon-possessed (i.e., Mark 1:23-27; 5:1-20; 7:25-30; 9:16-29), and even raised the dead (i.e., Mark 5:21-24, 35-43).[1] Not only did He do these works Himself, but He also gave those who followed Him the authority and commission to do the same works (cf. the commissioning of the Twelve in Mark 6:7-13 and of the Seventy-two in Luke 10:1-20).
Peter seems to have more in view here than solely physical healing—but physical healing not excluded from view either, particularly in light of the way in which Matthew cites the exact same passage from Isaiah 53:
[16] When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. [17] This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16-17)

It seems then unnecessary to ‘spiritualize’ this passage such that it refers then only to spiritual healing or forgiveness from sin, so that believers cannot find in this passage the same hope for healing as the New Testament authors found in it. Thus, both through the healings Jesus performed in His earthly ministry, as well as through His death on the cross, He was able to bear our iniquities and our infirmities, our sins and our sicknesses. Though it is not appropriate to put sins and sickness in too strict of a parallelism, it doesn’t seem to go too far to say that God wants us to live lives free of both. In the same way that we have been redeemed from sin and yet nevertheless experience sin’s effects until Christ returns, we also have a foretaste of the healing wrought by Christ which we will not experience in it’s fullest sense until we see Him face to face (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:12).

[1] I restricted these citations only to Mark’s gospel as a full survey of Jesus’ healing ministry lies outside of the scope of this paper. However, even this sampling established the breadth of Jesus’ authority over sickness, demons, and death. The Twelve and the Seventy-two saw no limits on Jesus’ authority and ability to heal, and so would have had no reason to view His authority and ability as inadequate for the works which He sent them out to perform. Mark seemed to be the most suitable gospel to cite in relation to Peter, in light of the early tradition passed on by Papias that Mark collected and recorded Jesus traditions from Peter.

Eschatological Ontology, or, if you prefer, Ontological Eschatology

And Jesus said unto them, "And whom do you say that I am?" They replied, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the ontological foundation of the context of our very selfhood revealed." And Jesus replied, "What?"

I just love that quote: ironically enough it's from Quodlibet - the Online Journal of Christian Philosophy & Theology. Michael Mock, a friend of mine from the seminary who has been in most of my classes thus far, just had a paper of his published on their site: "The Futility of Philosophic Inquiry" - but be forewarned, the title is merely to grab your attention, because he doesn't think philosphic inquiry is futile. Actually, the entire article has nothing to do with philosophic inquiry, but rather the perniciousness of pop-up books.

It is finished!

I completed my work for this semester and turned it all in this afternoon-woohoo! Since Becca was at a Women's Conference tonight I celebrated with John B. & Robert & Derek. Robert & I had some surprsingly authentic 'street tacos' from Rubios, then met John and watched Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which, by the way, I don't get), and then met Derek and the four of us enjoyed Guiness and cigars. It was very pleasant and a good way to end semester #2. I'll post some excerpts and stuff and I'm sure you'll all be simply enthralled by my scholarship and depth of wisdom. Well, perhaps not, but maybe at least encouraged and interested...

Years and Finals

Today is my 10th birthday! (Or, for Brian, my 120th month anniversary). 10 years ago today my ears were opened to the gospel and I put my faith in Jesus Christ. It all happened at a church drama called "Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames" which was performed at Trinity Assembly of God in Zion, Illinois on April 25th of 1995. (7:00pm, in case you were wondering). I am actualy looking at the little yellow ticket right now - it's starting to get a little tattered from being in my wallet all this time but it's still readable and in surprisingly good condition. I am grateful to my friend Jason for inviting me to the drama and being so patient in responding to my myriad objections to the gospel, for my sister April who went along with me. Most of all I am grateful to God who on that night rescued me from the kindgdom of darkness and transferred me to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Thank you, Lord, for saving me even though I was hostile to you and a stranger to your promises - You are good and merciful beyond comprehension.

This time of year will always be a time of reflecting for me, looking back on where I've been, looking forward to where I'm going. I can't believe it's been 10 years - I was sure that I would have everything figured out by now. More and more I realize I know less and less. But I am confident that God is God and that His promises are true, even if I'm slow to understand at times.

This time of year will also probably always remind me of some of the hard lessons we learned about a year ago. There were some painful experiences we went through, and I wish I could say it never crosses my mind anymore and that all the difficulties and pain had all been transformed into wisdom and understanding. That's partly true, but I guess it's another case of 'already/not yet.' Maybe next year. I can say that there has been some wisdom and some sensitivity and some greater depenendence on the Lord that has resulted, and even if it never makes perfect sense at least I can trust in God to continue leading and teaching and working inside of us to renew us in His image. Lord, don't let me stand in your way!

This week I am finishing up my finals for all my classes, and I plan to post some excerpts from some of the papers on here later this week. For my Acts to Revelation survey course I wrote a theme paper on sickness and the gift of healing and I would very much enjoy getting some other feedback on it. I've also completed my translations of Ephesians & Colossians so maybe some day, 15 or so years from now, I'll have finished translating the NT. I'm actually translating from the Greek into Interpretative Dance, so I'll have to wait until I get more space so I can post the videos. :)

Hello...

Well, I completed my first week of classes. They are all exceptionally interesting, I'll probably be posting some stuff from them on here from time to time.

Mondays 3.00-5.00
BI 586 - Jewish Literature at the Time of Jesus: An Introduction and Comparision with the New Testament

Tuesdays 6.00-8.00
NT 504 - Improving Greek Reading Skills

Wednesdays 6.00-10.00
BI 504 - Acts to Revelation

Also on Tuesdays we have a Greek Bible study on the gospel of John from 5.00-6.00. I can already tell it's going to be a very interesting semester all in all, and it's cool because I feel like all the classes mesh well and will reinforce one another. For Greek class we're translating Ephesians in class and Colossians for our individual project. It's nice to have a whole semester to spend on each of these books. For one of my papers in the Acts to Revelation survey class I'm thinking about writing on the definition and nature of the church, something that has been on my mind for some time now as many of you might know. I'd really like to investigate that topic in a more focused way.

Also, I'm not going to make fun of 4 Maccabees anymore--I used to ascribe all sorts of silly verses to it just cause it seemed so far removed from the canon, but now actually having read it I've found that it's got some pretty good stuff in it. Not Scripture, but certainly worthwhile reading on the level of Foxe's Book of Martyrs. More useful, actually, as it presents stuff that pertains to late 2nd Temple Judaism and even shows that there was an idea of one man's righteous suffering could be an atoning sacrifice for others. Plus it's just an edifying account of godly men and women who refused to disobey or dishonor God even in the face of torture and death. Not something to make fun of.

Here's a parting quote for you all to reflect on:
"I'm going to have to replace you as best friend with the new Battlestar Galactica because it's just that good." --Brian Dellisanti