This is a great illustration of how God’s promises help us through difficult situations.
10 Ways Churches Drive Away First-time Guests
This is informative.
I’ve Never Read the Bible. Where Should I Start?
I’ve had this question several times. I appreciate the fullness with which John Piper answers this question.
So You Think Theology Is Impractical?
Marc Cortez talks about the fruit of what some call impractical theology.
OK Go continues to amaze. This is no exception:
Last week, Brian Mattson wrote a great response to an argument by Peter Enns. In his new book, The Bible Tells Me So, Enns argues that Exodus 12:8-9 and Deuteronomy 16:5-7 flatly contradict one another. One says boil the Passover lamb and the other says don’t boil it.
In his article, Mattson compellingly shows that Enns’ argument doesn’t hold water. If you consider the Hebrew, Exodus says don’t boil and Deuteronomy says cook it. There isn’t a contradiction and Enns a Hebrew scholar ought to know this.
I’m not a Hebrew scholar by any means. I got a solid D in my Elementary Hebrew class and I’m postponing taking Hebrew Syntax and Exegesis until the very end—hoping that Christ returns before having to take it. I’m terrible at Hebrew. But even so I wouldn’t have been convinced by the argument of Enns for one simple reason…
The Hebrew people weren’t idiots
If there really was a contradiction between Exodus 12 and Deuteronomy 16 don’t you think the Hebrew people would have noticed it? Especially on something as important as the Passover.
We are talking about the people that at various seasons went to such great lengths to observe God’s law that they’d strain out gnats. And so somehow we are supposed to believe they missed this glaring contradiction in their Hebrew Bibles. Nobody, apparently, ever asked the question, “Wait, are we supposed to boil the thing or not boil it?”
It seems to me that we only listen to these supposed contradictions because of a combination of ethnocentrism and chronological snobbery. We assume that we are more intelligent people living in a more intelligent age and so we can dismiss the thousands of years of other people that looked over these texts. We, in all our superiority, have been able to find the contradictions that these silly Jews weren’t able to see.
I am not intending this to be a definitive argument. After all, I would level a similar charge of contradiction against other religious works. But I would hope that I wouldn’t do so from the assumption that they are idiots that never realized their religious book has a glaring contradiction.
She excitedly held the pregnancy test out to her husband.
“What does that mean? What am I looking at?”
“I’m pregnant!”
“What?!?! Awesome. Oh my gosh! Let’s tell our parents and…”
“No. I want to wait until, you know, later on. Just in case…” she trailed off. He knew what she meant but did not want to say. In case the baby didn’t make it. In case there was a miscarriage.
———-
How many of us have gone through something similar? The exhilaration of pregnancy leads to nervous unease as the days pass. Husband and wife pray, and wait, hoping this pregnancy will make it. Hoping this one is viable. If the heartbreak of miscarriage comes and the news wasn’t shared, then it will be less people to share such pain with. There is no shame to share with everyone. No one has to know you failed…. wait.. what?
Friends, this should not be. Every pregnancy is a gift from God, a tiny human growing inside a mother as the miracle of life begins anew. There is hope, dreams, the promise of a future child and the years to come teaching them, enjoying them, loving them. Conversations are shared as parents think about the future and worry if they are ready, or if it’s not your first child, stocking up on diapers and sleeping as much as possible now.
Why do we hide the wonderful news of conception? I can understand the pain of those who have experienced a miscarriage, which are far more than is shared or talked about. It may seem easier to you not to share the news in case a miscarriage happens. Who wants to deal with so many well meaning people when that news is shared? They’ll call. They’ll want to talk. You’ll cry.
Is that so bad? We must grieve. A child has died. It’s not a mass of cells as though you lost a finger. From the point of conception forward it will be nothing other than a human child, always. Grieve that loss, and don’t do it privately. It is not healthy to keep such sorrow pent up inside you, burning fresh holes in your heart day by day as you cry silently with no shoulder but your grieving spouse.
There is also no shame as there is no failure. You did not fail. Let me say that again, you did not fail. God knows the beginning and end of all things including whether that child will be born or not. In reading the Bible where it speaks of women being barren until God opened their womb, do you think that means they were always incapable of pregnancy? Could it be that they miscarried anytime they got pregnant as well? The language used is often, “she conceived and bore a,” but that doesn’t mean she never conceived before. Only that before now she had not conceived and given birth. Idle speculation perhaps, but something to think about.
If we hide pregnancies we hide the dignity, wonder, and beauty of human life. We dehumanize the miracle of life that is the child in the womb. Why would you not want to share that something so wonderful and exciting has happened? By doing so, family and friends can pray for you and the baby. Sharing this hope allows you to be open about the hope and happiness of a child. Celebrate that new life that has begun.
“But,” you object, “what if the baby doesn’t make it? I don’t want to deal with all those people.” Friends, I know. Before Gabriel was born we miscarried. Last week, we miscarried again. I know the shock, sadness, utter disappointment, grief, and heartache of miscarriage. I have one beautiful child here, and two more waiting in heaven. I don’t like dealing with so many people expressing sympathy because it seems to bring it up over and over. I don’t like to cry, especially in front of other people. That’s not what 6’2″ big guys with beards do. (But really, we do.)
Yet, I cannot handle that weight alone or shared only with my wife. I live in community with other believers in Christ who rejoice with me when I rejoice, and weep with me when I weep. I’m much happier being alone or with my wife, but grieving is something that happens in community. Share the news when you get pregnant, rejoice in that blessing. If a miscarriage happens and you lose the baby, it is a comfort to have the saints of God there for you.
Do not let the world harden your heart towards your baby, whether they see the light of day or not. The world, and some of your parents and friends, say wait until the first trimester is over. Wait and make reasonably sure the pregnancy will “make it.” Friends, don’t wait. Throw open the doors on that treasure of a child. Let the world know you are parents! You’re not going to be a parent some day, once you conceive you are “mommy” or “daddy.” Whether you get the blessing of raising them or not, you have the blessing of being that child’s parent. Declare to the world and do not be ashamed, then, at the glorious thing that has happened.
My wife and I are grieving. We have lost another child, this time at 7 weeks. We do not grieve as those who have no hope. We rejoice through tears at the honor and blessing of being parents again, even as we say goodbye, for now, to our child. Friends circle their arms on our shoulders from near and far and cry with us. We look forward to that day, that glorious day, when we shall behold Christ. Somewhere in that waiting throng of saints on high are two children we have yet to meet, but we will.
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV)
14 Questions Church Leaders Should Ask about Church Finances
It’s that time of year when churches are planning next years budget. Here are 14 questions you might want to consider in the process.
What did Edwards teach children?
This is an interesting look at how Jonathan Edwards taught children.
Here are a few great expositors sharing the hardest places that they’ve preached through.
Yesterday, Brittany Maynard committed suicide to have control over her cancer. Here are some reflections before the event from John Piper.
If you woke up this morning hoping to hear a chicken sneeze…here you go: