Laughing Waters
September 29, 2008
Or, if you are an Osage Indian, hahatonka or, if you are at the Lake of the Ozarks, Ha Ha Tonka State Park. Here is an excellent site that tells all about this unique State Park. It is the location of Missouri’s eleventh largest spring, one that pumps out an average of 48 million gallons a day at a frigid 55 degrees all year round, more than enough to make the water downstream ripple and laugh. Here is what the spring looked like during a recent visit with daughter and son-in-law Linda and Kim Schmidt.
The spring feeds the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks. Another attraction at the Park is a ‘castle,’ perched at the top of a steep bluff some 316 steps and 200 feet above the spring. I just have to mention that this septuagenarian negotiated those steps without puffing, first down and then back up. Here is the castle as viewed from about halfway down the steps.
The castle was built of limestone blocks. The link above gives some of the details. The several buildings were built in the 1930s and destroyed by fire in 1942. Today, many of the blocks are still scarred by the fire. The view of the Ozark forest from the castle looks like this.
There are many nature trails for the hikers and naturalists. There can’t be many better ways to spend a fall day.
Dave
Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:24-28
September 28, 2008
This passage is the concluding part of the author’s argument about Christ’s service in the heavenly sanctuary, an argument tailored to his primary audience of newly minted Christian Jews of his time. Jesus Christ is the unique perfect High Priest who eliminated for all time the necessity for repeated human intercession before God on our behalf.
9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands – the representation of the true sanctuary – but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. 9:25 And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, 9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. 9:27 And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, 9:28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.
How should I understand that Jesus ‘put away sin’ by suffering death on a cross some 2000 years ago? What does it mean that Jesus bore my sin? My starting point is to admit that my understanding is only partial and that I am just part of the crowd of those who are waiting for the promised time of full understanding. What I do understand is that I have the peace of knowing that my sin has been dealt with, even if I am not yet aware of the full implications of that truth. I am also told here that a final chapter of God’s plan is yet to come. Some day I will get the “rest of the story.’
Dave, feeling dumb but loved.
-sdg-
Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:15-23
September 21, 2008
I don’t know for sure what provision God made for Old Testament believers, but this passage makes it clear the role Jesus plays in dealing with my violations of God’s call. In this passage, both the new and old covenants are likened to a will, which becomes valid only at the death of the maker of the will.
9:15 And so he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance he has promised, since he died to set them free from the violations committed under the first covenant. 9:16 For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be proven. 9:17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it carries no force while the one who made it is alive. 9:18 So even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 9:20 and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.” 9:21 And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. 9:22 Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 9:23 So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these.
In Old Testament times, this death was symbolized by sprinkling of the blood of sacrificial animals. Without this shedding of blood there could be no forgiveness. Blood ritual, however, was only a sketch of purification in heaven, and the ritual had to be performed over and over again, because the people and their priests knew that their forgiveness was not complete.
The passage to follow explains how the new covenant under Jesus Christ completes the sketch and provides true forgiveness.
Dave
-sdg-
Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:11-14
September 14, 2008
There are two reasonable responses to the words below - the response of faith and the response of human skepticism to all things supernatural. We naturally wonder why one reasonable person responds one way and another equally reasonable person comes down on the other side of the divide. In a sense the whole Bible exists to answer just that question.
Christ’s Service in the Heavenly Sanctuary
9:11 But now Christ has come as the high priest of the good things to come. He passed through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, 9:12 and he entered once for all into the most holy place not by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood, and so he himself secured eternal redemption. 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow sprinkled on those who are defiled consecrated them and provided ritual purity, 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.
If I am becoming more aware of the huge gap between my fumbling, stumbling effort to “be good” and the perfect “goodness” of the God of the Bible, in all His omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign power; and if I crave some sort of fellowship with my Creator, these words have the ring of truth, and I can respond to that truth.
And yet, …and yet, my neighbor and friend, also a pretty smart fellow, and a reasonable person, reads these same words as patent nonsense. Why?
Which is to ask why God operates on some people’s thinker one way and doesn’t extend the same gift to others. The only possible answer seems to be “just because he did.” Who am I to question God’s judgment when a better response is my heart’s response of “thank you?”
Dave, just a lump of clay in God’s hands.
-sdg-
Digital dumb-down?
September 12, 2008
“Is Google making us stupid?” asks reviewer Paul Boutin in his WSJ review of Neal Stephenson’s latest book.
Good question, I thought to myself. Can it be true that there is a very dark side to the convenience of “googling” rather than researching the hard way?
“The threat of digital dumb-down has prompted science-fiction author Neal Stephenson, in “Anathem,” to concoct a deliciously nerdy alternative world, one populated by characters who possess what he calls “attention surplus disorder.” The 937-page novel isn’t a cautionary tale; it’s an escapist fantasy for readers who miss the joys of studious immersion in math, science and philosophy. What if, Mr. Stephenson wonders, the world’s most earnest intellectuals cloistered themselves, shunning any thought of Internet video or quarterly results, to focus on 1,000-year projects? If word problems got you excited in school, this is the novel for you.
I groan a bit at the prospect of adding yet another book to my Mt. ToBeRead, already in danger of becoming snow-topped, but the last paragraph in the review is a real grabber.
The third act, in which Erasmus and friends suit up to save the world, is a throwback to classic sci-fi. It feels like literary red meat and comes as something of a relief after so much cerebration. But the lasting satisfaction of “Anathem” derives not from the action but from Mr. Stephenson’s wry contempt for today’s just-Google-it mindset. His prose is dense, but his worldview contagious. Three hundred pages in, I fervently resolved to shut down my blog and spend the next millennium reading books.
Shut down my blog? Will it really come to this? (Oh, my!)
Dave, his finger hovering over “Buy now with 1-Click.”
Bible Diary - Hebrews 9:1-10
September 7, 2008
In today’s largely atheistic culture, it’s hard to appreciate what a big deal sanctuary worship was for those people of long ago living under the first covenant. Unlike so many of us, they had a strong sense of their need of forgiveness. Their elaborate and tradition-based sanctuary with their priest’s elaborate rituals had but one purpose: to remove the guilt of sin. It never quite worked.
The Arrangement and Ritual of the Earthly Sanctuary
9:1 Now the first covenant, in fact, had regulations for worship and its earthly sanctuary. 9:2 For a tent was prepared, the outer one, which contained the lampstand, the table, and the presentation of the loaves; this is called the holy place. 9:3 And after the second curtain there was a tent called the holy of holies. 9:4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. 9:5 And above the ark were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Now is not the time to speak of these things in detail. 9:6 So with these things prepared like this, the priests enter continually into the outer tent as they perform their duties. 9:7 But only the high priest enters once a year into the inner tent, and not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. 9:8 The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing. 9:9 This was a symbol for the time then present, when gifts and sacrifices were offered that could not perfect the conscience of the worshiper. 9:10 They served only for matters of food and drink and various washings; they are external regulations imposed until the new order came.
Today most would deny the guilt of sin. And yet, in those rare moments when we are alone with ourselves and not distracted by the busy-ness of our frantic lives, the idea that we are somehow missing the mark steals in on our consciousness. It makes us uneasy, so we quickly yield back to our busy lives.
The sanctuary with its annual ritual of atonement for sin did not solve the problem of man’s guilt and sin. External regulations are not enough. In the fullness of time, God established a new priesthood to bridge the infinite gap between God and man. Stay tuned.
Dave, too often distracted.
-sdg-
Mountains of Creation
September 4, 2008
When we think much about creation we are treading dangerous ground. We live within a tiny slice of space and time, and mankind’s expanding ability to probe the far reaches of the cosmos is where the danger lies. Are there any human minds at all that can draw valid conclusions from such images probing space and time?
Credit Lori Allen, Xavier Koenig (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA), JPL-Caltech, NASA. Astronomy Picture of the Day, August 29, 2008.
Giant star forming region W5 is over 200 light-years across and about 6,500 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. W5’s sculpted clouds of cold gas and dust seem to form fantastic shapes in this impressive mosaic of infrared images from the Spitzer Space Telescope. In fact, the area on the right includes the structures previously dubbed the Mountains of Creation.
I question whether my mind can anywhere near adequately process such a look back in time. The idea of light-years just doesn’t compute. It’s probably best that I ration the precious hours allotted to me and not spend too many of them wondering about such mysteries.
Dave, in awe of the Mind behind such mysteries.
Forehead of the sky
September 1, 2008
Here are some spectacular images for Labor Day, courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day. In 1989, Roddy MacKenzie, stood at the peak of Mount Everest and shot a beautiful panoramic image. Below are 4 segments from the image. The explanation below tells it all.
Explanation: What would it be like to stand atop the tallest mountain on Earth? To see a full panoramic vista from there, scroll right. Visible are snow peaked mountains near and far, tremendous cliffs, distant plateaus, the tops of clouds, and a dark blue sky. Mt. Everest stands 8.85 kilometers above sea level, roughly the maximum height reached by international airplane flights, but much less than the 300 kilometers achieved by a space shuttle. Hundreds of people have tried and failed to climb the behemoth by foot, a feat first accomplished successfully in 1953. About 1000 people have now made it to the summit. Roddy Mackenzie, who climbed the mountain in 1989, captured the above image. Mt. Everest lies in the Himalaya mountains in the country of Nepal. In the native language of Nepal, the mountain’s name is “Sagarmatha” which means “forehead of the sky.”
Credit & Copyright: Roddy Mackenzie
Astronomy Picture of the Day for Saturday, August 30, 2008
Dave, happily earthbound at 0.015 kilometers.
